14 thoughts on “Weekend Open Thread”

1.  

   When does NATO have to get directly involved?

   Poland has the coast a resurrected Soviet craves.

   Will Sweden and Finland join NATO before Russia moves west?

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   1. NATO…if and when Article 5 gets invoked…

      NATO is a defensive organization…

      Poland is on our flank, protecting the historical invasion routes of the russians…through the Balkans…and Belarus…

      Victor Orban…Hungary's dictator is a friend of republicans and putin alike…and has raised unfounded objections, thus proving he is a putin supporter…

      Erdogan of Turkeyy, is a question mark right now…another dictator who is playing a dangerous game with putin and the west…

      Republicans…in general are criminals who support the criminal regimes of dictators…

      republicans are proving to be the domestic enemies our founding fathers have warned us about…

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      1. Your commentary is so weak that it needs frequent rest breaks.

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2. It's starting to look like real campaigning money in the Denver Mayor's race. Brough leads so far at about $1.16 mill, Rougeot $786K, Herod $702K, Johnston $567K, Hansen $389K for your top 5. https://twitter.com/KyleClark/status/1628899164208738306

   I've only seen TV ads so far for Hansen and Brough. The Brough one repeated her last name so many times that I thought I was listening to a dog food commercial "Bruff, bruff, bruff." Hansen's was too dire about crime in Denver for my taste, but I'll assume that stuff sells to a certain crowd.

   And just saw that Herod's hosting a Zoom thing with Alanis Morrisette! Can only imagine an ad coming out of that one – "And I'm heeeere, to remind you….You you you oughta know!!! (whispers Vote Leslie Herod)"

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   1. What do polls say?
      The last I saw, each candidate had about 5% name recognition.

      And, more importantly, who is the tallest woman?

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      1. Only poll I've seen was sort of meaningless to me. It had a whole bunch of candidates in single digits, Brough at slightly above 7%, Herod at just less than 6% and about 60% of respondents had not made their mind up yet. kwtree pointed out the poll was linked with the Chamber somehow, and Brough is the former head of the Denver Chamber.

         You're on your own with the tallest woman thing. Brittney Griner is not from Denver.

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3. Geezuz, Joseph and Mary…

   A Christian health nonprofit saddled thousands with debt as it built a family empire including a pot farm, a bank and an airline

   Four years after its launch in 2014, the ministry enrolled members in almost every state and collected $300 million in annual revenue. Liberty used the money to pay at least $140 million to businesses owned and operated by Beers family members and friends over a seven-year period, the investigation found. The family then funneled the money through a network of shell companies to buy a private airline in Ohio, more than $20 million in real estate holdings and scores of other businesses, including a winery in Oregon that they turned into a marijuana farm. The family calls this collection of enterprises “the conglomerate.”

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   1. Read that this AM and remembered my Brother and his family joined up until they got NO twice to assistance after paying in for 5 YEARS!!!  Now my libertarian Bro and family are on Obamacare and state help for the kids.. small business owner in another state that bought into the christian family can do healthcare too.  NOT.  

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   2. JFC. Unfortunately not the worst thing I read today, but right up there.

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      1. No.  Another christian ministry shepherd family fleecing raw-dogging the faithful flock is pretty much a dog-bites-man story.

         (The fact that so many of the rubish sheeple volunteered themselves for this scam just to avoid the dread satanic “Obamacare” is, admittedly, kinda’ heartwarming, in an instant-karma sort of way. H/t Chuck Grassley!)

         This has to be the worst thing I’ve read this weekend:

         NYTimes: Alone and Exploited, Migrant Children Work Brutal Jobs Across the U.S.

         https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/25/us/unaccompanied-migrant-child-workers-exploitation.html

         No doubt there are dozens of the christian faithful involved here, too?

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         1. Yeah, that was bad.

            My worst of the weekend, though it's only 3:30 on Sunday, was this one linked below. I would only recommend reading it if anyone has pretty high tolerance for truly yucky stuff. However, it was very well written with a complex story line presented to the reader quite logically.

            https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/kidnapping-mutilation-manhunt-hossein-nayeri-1234631026/

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   3. I read that, too, Michael. As to your lead-off remark, I can't imagine that any of them are pleased. 

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4. Catching up on the news after my vacation, I finally got around to wondering what was happening with Tina Peters.

   She continues to run for Chair of the Colorado GOP.  I expected that.

   But she won a delay in the major jury trial dealing with her felony charges.  Western Slope Now posted on Feb 22, 2023

   GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KREX)—Former Mesa County Clerk and Recorder, Tina Peters made a virtual appearance at the Mesa County Justice Center on Wednesday for a status conference dealing with election interference where Peters waived her right to a speedy trial.

   Peters waved her right to a speedy trial and again requested a continuance to the original 6-day jury trial slated for the beginning of march.

   According to Colorado law, the judge must reset the trial no later than six months from the requested date. The judge granted the continuance, and Peter’s jury trial is now scheduled to start in late August.

   One reason for the delay doesn't seem like a promising development for Ms. Peters.  Apparently, there was a release of information from the Feds that required time (and perhaps expertise) for the defense to prepare for trial.  The less-than-good news: "federal investigation is ongoing."

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5. This is a good read…

   The Atlas of Impunity

   Impunity is the exercise of power without accountability, which becomes, in its starkest form, the commission of crimes without punishment. In a phrase, impunity is the idea that “the law is for suckers,” a notion that human rights leaders fear is on the rise in political institutions around the world. From behavior in conflict to economic exploitation, from environmental degradation to democratic backsliding, the battle between impunity and accountability is a critical lens for understanding what is happening in the world.

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