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October 25, 2021 07:10 AM UTC

Monday Open Thread

  • 75 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

“Initiative is doing the right thing without being told.”

–Victor Hugo

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75 thoughts on “Monday Open Thread”

  1. Rep. Boebert hits the news, again

    Rolling Stone: Jan. 6 Protest Organizers Say They Participated in ‘Dozens’ of Planning Meetings With Members of Congress and White House Staff

    “We would talk to Boebert’s team, Cawthorn’s team, Gosar’s team like back to back to back to back,” says the organizer. …

    Rolling Stone has separately obtained documentary evidence that both sources were in contact with Gosar and Boebert on Jan. 6. We are not describing the nature of that evidence to preserve their anonymity.

      1. Sadly there will be no concrete consequences for anyone who enabled the attempted coup: All evidence of the direction Trump and his Congressional minions provided for the insurgents has been out in the open for some time and nothing has happened. Even the terrorists themselves were slapped with nothing more than misdemeanors.

        It's nothing but blind unfounded hope that QBert or any of her buddies will face any consequences for anything. This country just doesn't hold powerful people responsible.

        1. Oh it's worse than that.  Jan 6 proved something that was already obvious, the right will not only tolerate treason, they will reward it.

           

          The Dems meanwhile long ago made quite clear that they have no stomach for (or interest in) a fight.  You kids can google it: Iran-Contra.

            1. I take no pleasure in pointing it out, believe me, but the lesson of the past 40 years in this country is that there is simply no accountability for anyone who does terrible things. We're simply not built to carry that out, we don't have the basic will. 

              I mean, this is the country that couldn't even keep Bill Cosby in prison for God's sakes.

                  1. In this instance, I think there's a racial component as well. Rapin' Bill was at one time renowned for telling black people to pull up their goddamn pants and stop all that cussing. He was "one of the good ones," in old school racist parlance.

        2. “no concrete consequences” “even the terrorists themselves were slapped with nothing more than misdemeanors.”

          Don’t know where you are getting your information … but you seem to have missed a bit.

           * 680 charged, and more being sought.

           * over 100 guilty pleas, mostly misdemeanors.  Punishments for those are below and above the federal sentencing guidelines.  Nearly all required cooperation of allowing access to social media accounts and email, and do interviews with law enforcement under guidelines of a US Attorney.

           * Other felonies have been charged. “At least 190 defendants have been charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers or employees, including over 60 individuals who have been charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to an officer.” 40 defendants have been charged with conspiracy

          * “Thirteen have pleaded guilty to felonies. Four of those who have pleaded guilty to felonies have pleaded to charges related to assaults on law enforcement. All face statutory maximums of 20 years or more in prison as well as potential financial penalties.”

          * The one sentence for a felony I know of was for 14 months, a monetary penalty (or restitution — I don’t remember), and 3 years supervision after release.

          1. I don’t know that you’ve negated Sparky’s point, C.H.B.             “Even the terrorists themselves were slapped with nothing more than misdemeanors.” It does seem that even the worst of them are getting off pretty lightly. I agree with Sparky that if someone from B.L.M. had done this they’d be, as my father used to say, under the jailhouse. 

            1. Often, BLM protesters are beat-up by the police, i.e. the riot control goon squads. We saw the videos last year, like the elderly gentleman smashed over backwards, without any attempt to assist his injuries.

              Sometimes BLM protesters are summarily executed, at least in Portland, where the police and the Proud Boys are in regular communication.

            3. Almost 200 charged with felonies, 14 plea bargains, and most of those have yet to be sentenced.  How are you getting "the worst of them are getting off pretty lightly?"

                1. See also this.  

                  All were charged with felony rioting. Seven face first-degree felonies for allegations they helped buy, transport and/or spread the paint on the street, or broke windows. The punishment for such crimes — among the most severe in Utah, the kind of offenses normally reserved for murder, rape and aggravated robbery — is five years to life in prison.

                  Vandalism needs consequences, but 5 to life for broken windows and some paint is a bit high for a starting figure.

          2. The fact that a minority of the insurgents were charged with felonies–but as other cases have shown, will largely result in pleading down to misdemeanors–doesn't speak too well of the situation. These monsters tried to violently overthrow the government, after all, and the vast majority are either charged with or plead down to nothing more than trespassing.

      2. She can always distract attention from her role in 1/6 by redirecting attention to her campaign finance mess or Jayson's big, fat oil industry contract.

        2. Haven’t you noticed, It’s always some tedious and unimaginative something day somewhere? . . .

          . . . if it’s FOX you’re mainlining all day, then it must be, “Hunter Biden [blargle blargle . . . butterscotch pudding] day”

  3. Poor Melisa, still waiting for Progress Now to negotiate a living wage for her. If you have minimum skills you will live a minimum  lifestyle. If you have minimum education you will think inflation is not a tax.

    Congratulations PolCats, you are getting everything you voted for.

    https://www.coloradopolitics.com/denver-gazette/report-colorado-has-8th-highest-cost-of-living-adjusted-minimum-wage-in-the-nation/article_9395e3c6-336f-11ec-8a77-73e4a97715b0.html?utm_source=coloradopolitics.com&utm_campaign=%2Femail%2Fdaily-morning%2F%3Ft%3D2&utm_medium=email&utm_content=headline

    1. Good to have you back, Roger.  You give us food for thought.

      Okay, that food is usually pears.  But I like pears!

      If we ever drive this Covid beast to the ground, let's have an old-style meet up.  I get my booster today and hope you're well.

    2. Careful Pfruit, . . .

      . . . if you eliminate minimum skills and minimum education, where will the Republican Party go for candidates?

      These days truckng companies alone just aren’t supplying enough . . . 

      . . . but, thank god we’ve never gotten what almost no one has ever voted for.

      1. I’ve been saying for years that the Reagan era is what put us behind on low-wage jobs and we’ve never caught up; Eight years at $3.35/$2.01 for tipped employees. And for those who say adults with families to support don’t work for the minimum, They actually do. And the low minimum holds down wages for better-trained or -educated people, too.

         

        1. It's not so much "designed" to move away from a liveable wage as a consequence of setting a flat rate of minimum wage without regard for inflation. So any policy affecting the value of the dollar implicitly changes the actual wages  

          Minimum wage is only "designed" to be acceptable to the reactionists who don't want the economy to work toward helping the workers. That means a nominal evaluation of a labor value that lobbyists and dark money will never have to raise voluntarily.  

          Minimum wage ought to be designed as a living, real value of a comfortable life.

          1. Thank you, I had a hunch that seemed kinda low for a tricked out kit. A stock Raptor is like $65k.

            The electric one is supposed to be $35k, I hear?

        1. I know, right? 

          But, honestly. What rational, educated, and sensible person would have put him where he is? Good decisions don't seem to be Rons' forte.

      2. When was that recruitment?  Not too recently.

        The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is taking action to require COVID-19 vaccinations for workers in most health care settings that receive Medicare or Medicaid reimbursement, including but not limited to hospitals, dialysis facilities, ambulatory surgical settings, and home health agencies. This action builds on the vaccination requirement for nursing facilities recently announced by CMS, and will apply to nursing home staff as well as staff in hospitals and other CMS-regulated settings, including clinical staff, individuals providing services under arrangements, volunteers, and staff who are not involved in direct patient, resident, or client care.

         

  5. I would say I can't believe Donald Trump Jr. is selling T-shirts mocking the accidental death of Halyna Hutchins, but that's the America we live in right now.  What a complete low life, shitty human being.

    1. The creators of Succession had to have built the character of Kendall Roy from DJTJ.  A sad coke addict so desperately seeking his daddy’s approval there is literally nothing he wouldn’t do. 
       

      1. I guess he felt like he had to one up his Dad, who mocked Colin Powell the day after his death last week.  Such a classy bunch. If Germany hadn't permanently banished Frederick Trump for being a dirtbag like his grandson and great grandson we wouldn't have to deal with this shit.

        1. "If Germany hadn't permanently banished Frederick Trump for being a dirtbag like his grandson and great grandson we wouldn't have to deal with this shit."

          Friedrich Trump left Germany to avoid conscription in the German army. (Unlike his grandson, he never developed those legendary bone spurs.)

          After migrating to the US, his German wife became homesick and Friedrich penned a letter of repentance to the Kaiser begging for forgiveness and re-entry to Germany. (It sounded like the type of letter his grandson would enjoy receiving from one of his sycophants.) 

          But it fell on deaf ears. Wilhelm II knew his country was better off without that family and rejected the plea. 

      2. Michael, you mentioned that show a while back so I checked it out. My other half and I are now hooked on it!

        Shiv and Tom are dead ringers for Ivanka and Jared but is Roman supposed to be Eric? I don't see it.

        I realize that the producers have conflated the Trump children with Rupert Murdoch as the patriarch. DJT Sr. doesn't have one-eighth of the brains that Logan Roy has.

        PS  I had to Google "box set death march" after Shiv used that term on her wedding night to her husband.

        1. By process of elimination I had to assign Roman as Eric! I’m about ready to dive into Season 3 as soon as I can get this lutefisk stink off of me! You’re right, the Monarch of Mar-a-Lago is no Logan Roy although their sojourn into TRUTH social may catapult the Dumps into ‘media darlings’ status. Or not.  

    2. It's taken the creation of this t-shirt to realize that Donald Jr. is a low life dirt bag? 

      I've known that since long before the 2016 election campaign.

        1. “Vile”is the middle name for Don Sr., Don Jr., and Eric. Ivanka and Jared may be a little more civilized.

          Tiffany Trump keeps her distance from her older siblings and Barron is still a kid.

        2. My congresswoman, Lauren (Calamity Jane) Boebert, just got on the cold-hearted laugh wagon that seems to be all the rage among the Orange Horde.

          It seems to be a contest to see who can be the most vile and hateful. After all…the Chosen One is watching…

  6. How bad can a "tax cut" be if it's supported by Bill Owens, and Jared Polis says he's voting for it? . . .

    . . . Well, so bad that even the tax-and-spend socialists over at the  Denver Post think it smells like month-old gym socks stuffed with lutefisk . . .

    Editorial: Set aside spite when considering Proposition 120

    Vote no on Proposition 120 to help increase school funding

    If the full tax cut takes effect like we think it will, it also will reduce local funding to cities, counties, special districts and other property tax-dependent entities by about $1 billion.

    Proposition 120 was put on the ballot by Colorado Action Rising, which is led by Michael Fields. Fields is correct that Colorado property taxes are rising at an unsustainable rate given the inflation in housing. Colorado property taxes are based on a formula. Local assessors assign each property a “market value,” which is then multiplied by the statewide assessment rate to determine the taxable value. That taxable value is then divided by the local mill rate for each taxing entity — 1 mill equals $1 of taxes owed per $1,000 of taxable value.

    So even if a local mill rate doesn’t increase, our property values are going up by double digits, and that will mean mortgages are going up across the state to cover taxes paid most often by escrow accounts.

    But permanently lowering the statewide assessment rate is not the way to bring property tax relief to Coloradans. Property taxes affect local entities, and these discussions must happen at the local level.

    https://www.denverpost.com/2021/10/25/proposition-120-property-tax-reduction-endorsement/

     

      2. I love platypuses, kwtree.  As an aside, your use of “platypi” is fitting for these whimsical creatures — but wrong.  The word isn’t latin, it’s Greek.  In Greek, the plural would be “platypodes.”

         but in English there are two accepted plurals:

        Platypuses and

        Platypus — as in I saw one sheep Monday and three sheep Tuesday. Then I saw one platypus Wednesday and four platypus Friday.

        My own solution to the plural problem is simple: That platypus there, the one on the left.  And all the rest of them.wink

        1. Good point, V.  

          I think it’s probably less right to use the ancient greek conjugation rules than the other “wrong” forms. 

          1) Platypi have a very limited natural range, and the odds of an ancient greek sailor encountering the creature and using that same term Linnaeus chose are slim enough to dismiss as a possibility.

          2) Platypi, a criminal portmanteau of greek and latin, or “latinized” greek. This.

          3) Linnaeus used greek descriptors in genus and latin for the specific type. 

          In other words, it’s anachronistic to call them “platypodes”, and the custom for the vast, vast majority of accepted nomenclature comes from one man writing in the bastard spawn of zeus and juno.  

          Then again, I personally subscribe. to the Wittgenstenstinian argument that a word’s meaning is its use. and that works for spelling too. This is where the anglicized conjugations fall in place.

          You’re BOTH right, as long as you can understand each other 🙂

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