U.S. Senate See Full Big Line

(D) J. Hickenlooper*

(R) Somebody

80%

20%

Governor See Full Big Line
(D) Michael Bennet

(D) Phil Weiser

60%↑

50%↓

Att. General See Full Big Line

(D) M. Dougherty

(D) Jena Griswold

60%↑

40%↑

Sec. of State See Full Big Line
(D) A. Gonzalez

(D) J. Danielson

(R) Sheri Davis
50%

40%

30%
State Treasurer See Full Big Line

(D) Brianna Titone

(D) Jeff Bridges

(R) Kevin Grantham

40%

40%

30%

CO-01 (Denver) See Full Big Line

(D) Diana DeGette*

(R) Somebody

90%

2%

CO-02 (Boulder-ish) See Full Big Line

(D) Joe Neguse*

(R) Somebody

90%

2%

CO-03 (West & Southern CO) See Full Big Line

(R) Jeff Hurd*

(D) Somebody

80%

40%

CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado) See Full Big Line

(R) Lauren Boebert*

(D) Somebody

90%

10%

CO-05 (Colorado Springs) See Full Big Line

(R) Jeff Crank*

(D) Somebody

80%

20%

CO-06 (Aurora) See Full Big Line

(D) Jason Crow*

(R) Somebody

90%

10%

CO-07 (Jefferson County) See Full Big Line

(D) B. Pettersen*

(R) Somebody

90%

10%

CO-08 (Northern Colo.) See Full Big Line

(R) Gabe Evans*

(D) Manny Rutinel

(D) Yadira Caraveo

45%↓

40%↑

30%

State Senate Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

80%

20%

State House Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

95%

5%

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
May 19, 2021 06:46 AM UTC

Wednesday Open Thread

  • 18 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

“The most violent element in society is ignorance.”

–Emma Goldman

Tweet
Share

Comments

18 thoughts on “Wednesday Open Thread”

  1. Outrage with your morning coffee? . . . 

    Banks Fight $4 Billion Debt Relief Plan for Black Farmers

    Black farmers have been frustrated by the delays and say they are angry that banks are demanding additional money, slowing down the debt relief process.

    “Look at the two groups: You have the Black men and women who have gone through racism and discrimination and have lost their land and their livelihood,” said Bill Bridgeforth, a farmer in Alabama who is on the board of the National Black Growers Council. “And then you have the American Bankers Association, which represents the wealthiest folks in the land, and they’re whining about the money they could potentially lose.”

    John Boyd Jr., president of the National Black Farmers Association, a nonprofit, said he found it upsetting that the banks said little about years of discriminatory lending practices and instead complained about losing profits.

    “They’ve never signed on to a letter or supported us to end discrimination, but they were quick to send a letter to the secretary telling him how troublesome it’s going to be for the banks,” Mr. Boyd said. “They need to think about the trouble they’ve caused not working with Black farmers and the foreclosure process and how troublesome that was for us.”

    . . .

    Although the government is paying 120 percent of the outstanding loan amounts to cover additional taxes and fees, banks say that unless they get more, they will be on the losing end of the bailout.

    The banking industry groups could not offer an estimate of how much additional money they would need to be satisfied. The Agriculture Department said it would cost tens of millions of dollars to meet the banks’ demands.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/19/us/politics/black-farmers-debt-relief.html

    3. 120 percent of the outstanding loans to the banks and it’s still not enough?! Don’t ever pretend there’s a level playing field out there.

      1. When will the ongoing oppression ever end, huh? . . .

        . . . seems there’s always, always, always someone who’s working and scheming to keep them rich white banker men down!?!

  3. It’s not easy being rich these days . . .

    More hard times for some connected wealthy . . .

    A company that ruined vaccine doses gave its top executives hundreds of thousands of dollars in bonuses.

    Emergent BioSolutions, the biotech company whose Baltimore plant ruined millions of coronavirus vaccine doses, awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars in bonuses to its top executives last year, and the company’s board praised its founder and chairman for “leveraging his critical relationships with key customers, Congress, and other stakeholders,” according to documents released Wednesday by a House subcommittee.

    The government, which awarded the firm a $628 million contract last year, has so far paid Emergent $271 million, even though American regulators have yet to clear a single dose of vaccine produced at its manufacturing plant in Baltimore, according to the documents released by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis in advance of a hearing Wednesday morning.

    . . . 

    Mr. Kramer received a $1.2 million cash bonus, the records show; the board found that he had “significantly exceeded expectations.” Three of the company’s executive vice presidents received bonuses ranging from $445,000 to $462,000 each.

    Sean Kirk, the executive responsible for overseeing development and manufacturing operations at all of Emergent’s manufacturing sites, received a special bonus of $100,000 last year, over and above his regular bonus of $320,611, in recognition of his “exceptional performance in 2020,” and for significantly expanding the company’s contract manufacturing capability to address Covid-19, the documents show.

    Mr. El-Hibri, who was praised for leveraging his connections, cashed in stock worth $42 million last year, according to an investigation by The Times.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/19/world/emergent-biosolutions-vaccine-bonuses.html

  4. For anyone interested in following the multi-year saga of the future of the Park Hill Golf Course land and might ask —  Will all development in Denver come to a screeching halt if we don’t build on this property?  Are perpetual conservation easements just temporary restrictions that developers and the city can simply tear up?

    Tune in here and find out more!

  5. Who'd have thunk? Grandpa Chuck suddenly concerned about packer concentration??  He's apparently lost faith in Adam Smith's invisible fist?  Maybe someone on his staff suggests he read the book Methland? It's about an *Iowa* town destroyed by packer concentration and on the NYT Best Seller list (you won't be able to put it down once you start reading)

    As Cattle Groups Making Unprecedented Move to Fight Market Monopoly, U.S. Lawmakers Also Push DOJ for Answers

    An unprecedented meeting held early this month among major cattle industry representatives has now produced plans for change. The goal of the group is to not only discuss the current price imbalance between the packer, the feedlot and the ranch, but create change they argue is needed to address a price imbalance in the cattle markets today. 

    As Drovers and AgDay first reported last week, six groups, including  NCBA, R-CALF, U-S Cattlemen's Association, American Farm Bureau, National Farmers Union and Livestock Marketing Association, sent representatives to meeting in Phoenix last week. 

    The groups, typically at odds, working together they say with the ultimate goal of bringing about a more financially sustainable situation for cattle feeders and cow-calf producers.

    1. Interesting info on a very difficult agricultural issue. I heard an analyst/rancher say on last weeks Farm Report, the income in the meat industry looks like a dumbell…big on both ends but paltry in the middle. It is hard to tell exactly what the truth is, but I'm betting the little guy loses.

      1. That's always the safe bet. We used to have several small, family-owned feedyards in Yuma County.  They're all but gone now; what's left is Brazilian-owned JBS feeders with one of the largest feedlots in the world.  All under the guise of 'market efficiency', we've managed to make a couple of corrupt Brazilian brothers billionaires (as we suck all of the water out of the Ogallala to grow corn under the federally subsidized Farm Bill programs to feed their cattle).

    2. Our company owns a 12,000 head feedlot and a ranch for cow-calf production in West Kansas.  In the six years we have owned it we have never been able to turn a profit due to price gouging on the cattle we sell to the likes of Tyson and Cargill. The system isn't sustainable and it just doesn't work for feedlot operators and ranchers. They always get the short end of the stick while the big four have a license to print money.  It is a textbook monopoly system, it is completely unfair, and if you look at all of the dying and suffering towns out there you can see this is one big reason why.

      Breaking this system up as it is and encouraging the introduction of smaller independent packers would certainly give a hand up to so many non-corporate people struggling in this industry. I applaud Senators Thune, Ernst and Grassley trying to do something about this, unless of course they're just window dressing and taking checks from the big four…

  6. This is exciting: 

    Ford to Unveil Electric F-150 Lightning Pickup Truck

    Ford Motor Co. is expected to unveil an all-electric version of its bestselling F-150 pickup truck on Wednesday night, the latest in the push to electrify the auto industry’s global lineups.

    The auto maker said it would reveal the F-150 Lightning at its headquarters in Dearborn, Mich., at 9:30 p.m. Eastern Time. The vehicle’s production is expected to start next spring at the company’s River Rouge assembly plant near Detroit, Ford said.

    “F-150 Lightning can power your home during an outage,” Ford Chief Executive Jim Farley said. He added that the vehicle would be enhanced “through over-the-air updates.”

    Silicon Valley-inspired startups and Ford’s established peers, such as General Motors Co. and Volkswagen AG , have spent billions on developing electric-vehicle models. Ford said last year that it was expanding its largest and oldest factory to make the electric pickup trucks.

    The pickup-truck category is likely to be an important battleground as auto makers race to develop electric vehicles, prodded by tightening environmental regulations and Tesla Inc.’s rapid rise.

     

      1. I haven't been watching much cable news lately but I did see the clip on MSNBC last night.  And what a great story on the lady engineer in charge of the product! 

  7. Approps of nothing, except that it made me laugh, this was posted on another political site I follow: THE EMPLOYEE SHORTAGE IS SO BAD THAT LONG-HAIRED FREAKY PEOPLE CAN NOW APPLY

Leave a Comment

Recent Comments


Posts about

Donald Trump
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Lauren Boebert
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Gabe Evans
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado House
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado Senate
SEE MORE

103 readers online now

Newsletter

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to stay in the loop with regular updates!

Colorado Pols