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November 09, 2021 07:06 AM UTC

Tuesday Open Thread

  • 55 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

“Don’t worry about the world coming to an end today. It’s already tomorrow in Australia.”

–Charles Schulz

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55 thoughts on “Tuesday Open Thread”

  1. WOTD from Paul Krugman: "How Infrastructure Week Finally Happened".

    In the case of mainstream Republicans, that basically means opposing everything that isn’t military spending. Anything else is “socialism,” which on the right has come to mean spending money in any way that helps ordinary citizens.

    Indeed, it’s fairly clear that what conservatives fear isn’t that new government programs will fail; they’re afraid that the programs will be perceived as successful and will help to legitimize an expanded role for government in addressing social problems.

    That is, they worry that government programs that actually help people could turn us into a “nation of takers” — maybe even a nation that taxes the rich to pay for aid to those in need.

    2. I said this earlier…I feel like saying it again.

      One may express what just happened in many ways, but I would hammer on this…

      The Democrats just did something that helps millions of people…the Republicans are furious about it.

      Vote Blue…No Matter Who!

      2. Mitch McConnell isn’t furious about passage of the infrastructure bill. He was quoted today that it’s a “godsend” for Kentucky. He was one of 19 Senate Republicans who voted for it.

        Meanwhile, the “mouth that roars,” a.k.a. Marjorie Taylor Greene, is proposing that House Republicans who voted for the infrastructure bill be stripped of their committee assignments as punishment.

        1. Coulda. Woulda. Shoulda. But he didn’t.  
           

          Democrats $1T bill: socialist

          Trumps $2T bill: great 

          Don’t forget that Nancy and Chuck also offered him his Wall in exchange for the Dreamers Act. Stephen Miller harpooned that one. 
           

    3. Excellent article.  My rhetorical question of the day is how freaking gullible, ignorant and deranged to you have to be to go so far as to call in a death threat to a member of Congress simply because they voted to improve roads, bridges and broadband ? Goddamned fruitcakes.

    1. It’s funny, Dave. It was officially the 9th, but it was on the 10th that we woke up to ABC via KOA broadcasting from Berlin that people were punching holes in the wall and tearing it down. Curious fact: the gate was officially closed on my birthday, 13 August 1963. My wife’s birthday is 10 November. Things that make you go “Hmmm…”

       

      1. I dropped by to visit Check Point Charlie the last time I was in Berlin. Not sure exactly what I was expecting but it didn’t measure up to what I thought it was! 

  3. Significant NYT article: “The Powerful G.O.P. Strategy Democrats Must Counter if They Want to Win“

    The Virginia election results should shock Democrats into confronting the powerful role that racially coded attacks play in American politics. No candidate would think of entering an election without a winning message on the economy or health care. Yet by failing to counter his opponent’s racial dog whistles, Terry McAuliffe did the equivalent, finding himself defenseless against a strategy Republicans have used to win elections for decades.

    Crucially, the Republican nominee, Glenn Youngkin, was able to use racially coded attacks to motivate sky-high white turnout without paying a penalty among minority voters. This appears to solve the problem bedeviling Republicans in the Trump era: how to generate high turnout for a candidate who keeps Donald Trump at arm’s length, as Mr. Youngkin did.

    …

    In the heat of a campaign, popularism fails because Republicans will not let Democrats ignore race. Mr. Youngkin dragged race into the election, making his vow to “ban critical race theory” a centerpiece of his stump speech and repeating it over the closing weekend — even though in Virginia the prominence of C.R.T., which teaches that racism is woven into the structures of American society, was vastly exaggerated.

    Some Democrats may resist accepting the centrality of race, pointing to the bearish national political environment and cyclical patterns. This would be a mistake for two reasons. First, C.R.T. helped create the rough national environment, with Fox News hammering it relentlessly; and cyclical explanations, like thermostatic public opinion (a longstanding tendency for voters to drift toward the views of the party out of power on some issues), do not explain Democrats’ loss of support in the suburbs or the strong turnout. Voters in New Jersey, where a stronger-than-expected Republican performance caught Democrats off guard, have been inundated with C.R.T. hype by Fox News, too.

    Second, the past half-century of American political history shows that racially coded attacks are how Republicans have been winning elections for decades, from Richard Nixon’s “law and order” campaign to Ronald Reagan’s “welfare queens” and George H.W. Bush’s Willie Horton ad.

    Rachel Bitecofer highlighted this article. She comments:

    1. Rs created CRT as a proxy for tapping into the discomfort white voters, esp non college edu white voters, have about the fact that white privilege is finally being challenged. 

    2. This will be the party’s centralized strategy for 2022 & it is designed around the idea that Ds won’t be able to stop themselves from engaging on the issue of race given the moral, ethical, substantive, & factual strength of their position. Everything except the politics .

    3. The really don’t care what response Ds offer up, Toni Morrison book defenses, this race-class narrative stuff (which incidentally, I see as imp long term pro-democracy work but NOT useful for short term election triage), so long as we engage them on the topic they serve up,

    4. (Race), they’ve won bc the entire point is to let them set the narrative of the race, define the terms of “combat,” and keep the Ds on defense so they do not play offense. And if 2022 plays out anything like that, we’ll see a whole lot of VAs next fall. When I say we need a

    5. Counter-offense, that is centralized, strategically driven, deployed across all competitive races at all levels this is what I mean. It’s about shaping & setting a game board Ds have a chance of winning. In 2022, w fundamentals against Ds, you can not win playing the GOP’s game

      1. That is true. To this, we should think about focus group research coupled to Fox News dominance in Rural America.

        The point of this article is that Republicans are using CRT as racially loaded messaging manages to whip up votes in the Republican strongholds while not goosing turnout in the Democratic or African American communities.

        Actually, turnout was good in Northern Virginia for an off-year election, but it was even larger and Republican margin higher in SW Virginia.

      2. No, silly goof, that's you ripping Old Man Farts like only an Old Man could! No foghorns this far inland! Just VOYAGEUR POOT TOOTS.

        (Wow, this is definitely a lot of fun, and productive to boot! Thanks, ColoradoPols!)

    2. Average rural Dem ad: "I'll expand broadband, fund small businesses in underserved towns, and help families impacted by opioids."

      Average rural GOP ad: "Communists are coming to take your guns and shut down your church."

      They are played like a cheap fiddle. 

  4. I think we could all benefit from this Molly Ivins quote this morning:

    "So keep fighting for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't forget to have fun doin' it.  Lord, let your laughter ring forth.  Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities freedom can produce.  And when you get through kickin' ass and celebrating the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was."
    ~Molly Ivins

    1. yes
      Molly Ivins should be showing up often in the Daily Open Thread quotes- perhaps she can be smuggled past Pols’ 85% – 90% quota requirement that quotes must be only from dead white males .

  5. Since the advent of Nixon’s War on Drugs People of Color the US has been quietly funding cannabis research in Israel while we prance around and pretend it’s something dangerous. We’re on track to cede the global market to others. 
     

    We have world class research institutions in this state and domestically we’re the “tip of the cannabis spear” thanks to the leadership of Gov Polis.  We have so much opportunity here.
     

    Speaking of cannabis…

    You all may have missed this but one of our treasured members has announced her run for CU regent.  Show her some love if you can! 

    America Is Giving Away the $30 Billion Medical Marijuana Industry

    “I think that there’s a greater chance of significant clinical cannabis research coming out of Colombia in the coming years than there is in the U.S.,” Russo says. “Why would people allow this loss of business in a situation where, clearly, Americans could be preeminent?”

     

    2.  We’re on track to cede the global market to others.

       

      Or, y'know, the non-capitalist reasons to research it. Framing the morally and scientifically justified research left to do as a missed opportunity for income reinforces rhetorical gentrification of Colorado's marijuana industry.  

      1. I’m not framing the issue, nor do I believe it to be, am either – or issue. We have a moral responsibility to fully (re)discover its human health potential.  It will be driven, at least in part, by capitalist markets. It’s the way the world works.
         

        Israel has been using marijuana products in its elder care institutions for some time, in part because it works and in part because its driving down the costs of health care. In our truly exceptional Merikan way of delivering health care that won’t translate into lower health care costs, it’ll create the next Rick Scott.  

        1. Driven in part, definitely. Also I agree it's not "either-or," as you say, since there are multitudinous non-fiscal reasons for rescheduling. 

          Your comments mostly employ neoliberal arguments based in such reasoning, though. 

          1. Depends on the issue but sometimes I’m a neoliberal, other times a social Democrat. Can also be conservative.  

            Almost anyvissie can be turned into a mathematical equation. In this case investment dollars aren’t restricted in private capital scenarios. Money in -> IP created  -> deal flow. Public research institutions; zero dollars committed because of federal scheduling.  Zero dollars -> no research -> zero public good. 

      2. rice,

        The article was from Bloomberg financial. Of course it’s going to focus on market share, and sales potential. 
        10 minutes with the Google should show you that Michael has, is, and will be advocating for wider public access to cannabis for all the right reasons. You really don’t want to be going after him as an evil cannabis capitalist. 

        Now tell me how I’m being mean to you by pointing that out. 

        Michael, I read the article and noted that it was written in 2018. Is it still accurare? That is, is Ole Miss still the only source of cannabis available for medical marijuana research in the US? 

        1. Yes, particularly for research institutions that receive federal dollars. As long as we keep marijuana on Schedule 1 those institutions, which could provide some public benefit from their discoveries, are largely blocked out. Which means (largely) private dollars, and capitalists, are the ones investing and will inure financially in the long game. 

        2. You’re not mean for pointing that out by any means. You’re just missing the point.

          That Bloomberg is a financial institution is irrelevant to the conservative frame of reference this supposedly “progressive leaning” forum demands. I know about Michael Bowman and his work for cannabis, er, excuse me, HEMP industrialization. That doesn’t make him the be-all authority. His contributed content is entirely structured in capitalist terminology, no?

          1. Hell, gudolph– or “rice” — michael bowman has more intelligence and decency in his belly lint than you have in your whole troll’s psyche.

             

             

             

                1. Do you want to dance again, old man? I’m not going anywhere.  
                   

                  I was peaceable before because you shut your fucking hateful bigot lying boomer mouth, but I guess that was just you catching up on missed ZZZ’s, right? 

                  Seriously, fuck off. You, kwtree, et al. you’re such sad old losers playing troll like it’s 2010.  This is an incredibly sad display.

                  No drug accusations, no racist/agist/schilling accusations this time. Shape the fuck up, V. Or hurry up and die.

                  1. You truly are a  damaged human being. I recommend counseling…seriously. You are a profoundly disturbed individual.

                    I just can’t helping thinking about all the the people in your life. I am sure you have family, friends, and acquaintances. It must be tough for them

                    It must be hell living in your proximity. I ‘m pegging your emotional maturity level at about that of your average 12 year old. The potty mouth,(you REALLY think your adolescent needling is somehow devastating to grown-ups….it isn’t.), the cries of victimhood (yes, we’re all bullies here at Pols, and we love to beat up on helpless troll-babies like you) .

                    As much as you have wept and gnashed your teeth at the injustice, I can assure you…NO ONE gives a flying fuck about you. Maybe that’s why you are such a sniveling crybaby.

                    At this point, I invite you to unleash all your poopy insults. Let me have your best material. Don’t hold back! I am sitting here trembling at the prospect of your attempts at evisceration. You can really have fun beating up on an old, diapered man who struggles to maintain a noticable level of brainwaves.

                    Just remember this. There is no human on this planet less important than you. I honestly pity the sad sack of pouty victimhood you are for you will never be half the man Voyageur is.

                    You are pathetic.

                    TTFN 

                    Oh….have a lovely day. 😘

                     

                     

  6. Less than wonderful news in the Colorado Sun:

    Colorado’s slim chance at herd immunity is slipping away as people’s COVID-19 protection wanes

    … when the [Colorado] modeling group released a new report late last week, it contained a surprise: Immunity had dropped across Colorado. The new statewide immunity estimate is 62%. And in some counties or regions of the state, only about half of the population is estimated to be immune to COVID-19.

    So why are we going backwards? [Epidemiologist & Dean of the School of Medicine] Samet said the changes are the result of the team reevaluating assumptions about how long immunity lasts and how strong it is to begin with.

    “Immunity wanes,” he said. “

      1. I’m off to get Boosted myself. Hope you had a happy birthday, davebarnes. Why didn’t we see, “ Today, November 9, ( sometime last century), davebarnes was born”?

      1. My 11 year old daughter gets her first shot today, and then our whole family will be vaccinated. I will feel a lot safer at that point.  And BTW happy birthday to you Dave !

    3. This headline is disingenuous…. we lost out on the chance for herd immunity when delta appeared and we were nowhere close to ~90% vaccinated.  Now the name of the game is to treat covid-19 vaccines likes flu vaccines and ensure that people get one bi-annually with the hope that it becomes an annual vaccine. 

      Over 80% of those hospitalized in CO with covid-19 are not vaccinated and I think I'm pretty much out of f**ks given for those who have made their choice at this point.

      Sebastian Junger's new book has a fine quote on the right's fixation on freedom without civic responsiblity, "“The idea that we can enjoy the benefits of society while owing nothing in return is literally infantile. Only children owe nothing.”

      1. Karen and I have both had two shots, but she’s at St Joe’s right now and I can’t wait to get her out of there and back to her own germs. A ridiculous number of people have contracted this plague while in hospital for another reason.

        1. A dear friend of mine, who is a former polster and has lurked since, picked up Covid at St. Mary's Hospital in Grand Junction, where she was being treated for a variety of ills. She's 82. So she's back in the hospital and her husband at home now has it. No way to help other than moral support.

          Damn the willfully ignorant selfish bastards so thick upon the ground in Mesa County. The valley's four hospitals don't have a chance.

           

            1. Sometimes I envy my Deist friends who can send “thoughts and prayers” to the likes of Gertie’s friend.  They are of no help to the sick one, but at least give the well-wishers a break from the sense of helplessness in this long-drawn out crap game recall life.

              As Robert Ingersoll said, God is such a useful concept that if he didn’t exist, we’d have to invent him.

              In that spirit, I reincarnated Athena — the only deity I know who looks great in greaves.

              May Athena’s force be with you, Gertie, and massive hemorroids to the anti-tax nutballs.

          2. If you get a chance to speak to her, tell her how much we are thinking of her and send our love.

            Or if you are lurking…get well soon! I remain "positively intoning to alleviate" your illness…❤

             

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