Friday Open Thread

17 thoughts on “Friday Open Thread”

1. "Abortion is a Winning Issue for the Democrats." from FiveThirtyEight.com

   Reaction to Alito's extremist position is scaring Democratic voters to turn out. Worth a try in CO-03!

   These results are consistent with a long line of political science research that shows how threats and anger are often more motivating when it comes to people taking political action. They also dovetail nicely with more recent research on how the public reacts negatively to changes to the status quo. In fact, negative reactions to unpopular policy changes may have even affected two of the past three midterm-election outcomes, as threats to the health care status quo helped Democrats in 2018 and hurt them back in 2010. 

   Abortion has all the elements, then, of a particularly potent wedge issue for the Democratic Party. Democrats are increasingly unified and motivated to return to the status quo of legal abortions under Roe — a constitutional right that most Americans had long taken for granted. Republicans, meanwhile, are more divided and demobilized by an issue that has historically rallied its base. And independents are closer to Democrats on abortion, especially in states where Republican lawmakers have passed overwhelmingly unpopular abortion bans without exceptions for rape and incest.  

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   1. Yes, 100 percent support abortion for Democrats…….we need a little less of you.

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      1. The word is "fewer"…knucklehead.

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      2. Roger, Roger, Roger …. <sigh>

         What's the matter with Kansas? Are they all a bunch of closet libs living there?

         Here's an explanation onto which you might latch:  maybe the vote counting on the constitutional amendment was hacked by: (a) Hugo Chavez, (b) George Soros, (c) the Jewish space laser, and/or (d) the people in the basement of the Comet Pizza restaurant.

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         1. Those silly Kansans simply don't understand that a proper Gilded Age plutocracy requires a large, permanent underclass and that forced birth is an important part of the process.

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      3. Have you taken a look at mortality rates during pregnancies and during abortions, Pear?  The most immediate impact of abortion on voting is that more women who get abortions survive to vote —

         Absolute numbers are low for both abortions and pregnancy … but a published article by someone at the U of Colorado was written up, saying "Stevnson calculates that carrying a pregnancy to term is 33 times riskier than having an abortion. The Centers for Disease Control reports 0.41 maternal deaths per 100,000 abortions between 2013 and 2018 and to 23.8 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 2020."

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2. Another really good book – should be required reading for everyone involved in political campaigns from the candidate down. American Nations

   

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   1. Interesting, but a couple things missing. One is that the Pacific Northwest, in and west of the Cascades, remains as Ecotopia, as noted in the still-relevant 1970s book by Ernest Callenbach.

      Second, the author leaves out the religious tyranny practiced by the Pilgrims. Said religion led to conservative preacher, Roger Williams, leaving and founding the colony of Rhode Island. Williams was among the first prominent colonial citizens to address the need for separation of church & state.

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3. Meanwhile in Colorado’s 3rd CD Texas…

   

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   1. I'm guessing the guy on the left has a very small penis.

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   2. Someone needs to get in touch with that guy who photoshops gargantuan dildos into photos like this.

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      1. In the meantime….NSFW

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      2. Twitter has cancelled yet another creative entrepreneur <sigh>
         

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4. Forty. Five. Point. Two. Million. Dollars. 
    

   Can the grift be far behind, you ask?  (rhetorical question)

   

    

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   1. That verdict's gonna get "toart refoarmed" all to hell thanks to TX recovery caps, sad to say.

      But hey, dumbass wingnut rubes donated to buy George Zimmerman a new gun, and they'll surely donate to make this megamillionaire's life easier.

      A fool and his money are lucky enough to get together in the first place.

      ~ Gordon Gekko

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      1. Ugh. What’s the cap?  An exemption for those who commit perjury and game the system?

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         1. For exemplary (punitive) damages, it's [economic damages x 2] + [noneconomic damages or $750K, whichever is lower]. There are exceptions, none of which appears to apply here.

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