Tuesday Open Thread

8 thoughts on “Tuesday Open Thread”

1. A Revised Colorado Energy Plan 2040 – With the recent changes, what a sensible plan will entail

   I also walk through what AI is capable of in the context of government reports. I think that part is also super interesting.

   Log in to Reply

2. It's a cult. 

   Republican introduces bill to make Trump’s birthday a federal holiday

   This bill marks the latest attempt by GOP lawmakers to commemorate Trump and some of his “America First” pronouncements.

   Last month, Rep. Addison McDowell (R-N.C.) introduced legislation to rename Washington Dulles International Airport after Trump. 

   McDowell proposed the bill alongside Reps. Guy Reschenthaler (R-Pa.), Brian Jack (R-Ga.), Riley Moore (R-W.Va.) and Brandon Gill (R-Texas).

   Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) also introduced a new bill last week that proposes renaming Greenland to “Red, White, and Blueland,” as President Trump seeks to acquire the island territory.

    

   Log in to Reply

   1. Wonder if Buddy Carter asked the residents of Greenland; I don't quickly recall what the local people call it; what they think of his proposal?

      Log in to Reply

      1. Just quickly stealing from the internet, so of course it's probably false, and Buddy is probably nostalgic for Red White and Blue Lager anyway:

         Greenland is called Kalaallit Nunaat in Greenlandic, which translates to the 'Land of the Greenlanders'. It also sometimes go by the name Inuit Nunaat, which means 'Land of the People'. The mother tongue and official language in Greenland is Greenlandic with Danish functioning as a second language.

         Now, we can't have any funny-sounding names anymore, can we? Denali, McKinley, let's call the whole thing off!

         Log in to Reply

3. With all of the work that has been expended over the past several years to first reign in their most flagrant abuses, and then have Colorado voters overwhelmingly approve what amounted to the elimination of high-interest payday lending from the State; can someone please explain to me why our Democratic House leadership is now acting the dupe to sponsor new, and equally or even more egregious, payday lenders entry back into Colorado under the fraudulently bullshit misnomer of “earned wage access”?  WTF Majority Leader Duran?!?!

   It’s as if payday lending and app-based instant sports betting birthed a gaggle of little cycle-of-debt mini-Musks (Muskettes?) each with direct access to tap borrowers’ bank accounts every payday — again, WTF?

   Log in to Reply

4. DOGE Interns & Why you need to Follow Josh Marshall’s Talking Points Memo

   Independent journalism and in-depth analysis is exactly what’s missing in our media landscape. Maybe the big press is sold out to corporate owners, maybe they’re actually beholden to Trump, but certainly they are failing to give us the tools to deal with this crisis moment.

   Today’s Josh Marshal notes:

   Yesterday I did this post on the taxonomy of DOGE, who’s actually involved in it, the people who are formally part of it and the ones who are part of Musk’s operation but have gotten official appointments in the executive branch. In that post I asked why it is that Musk seems to continue to rely on this subset of DOGE personnel – the dozen or so under 25 techies – as the landing parties who go in and actually force their way into these departments. It happens again and again. In that post I noted that Gavin Kliger is the guy at IRS. And in a conversation with a fellow journalist I was just told that another of the original crew is the lead now in the break-in at SSA.

   I can’t confirm the identity of the person at SSA myself and in any case that’s their story to break. But the point is that this happens every time. So why is that? ProPublica has the list of all the DOGE people and there are lots of people with a lot more professional experience, either lawyers or longtime employees of Musk’s firms. So why does it continue to be this really small group of guys? They almost all have connections as interns at Musk companies. But interns, not people he’s worked with for years and presumably knows at a deep level.

   As I was sitting here yesterday evening it came to me. Musk keeps using these guys because they’re willing to do things these other more experienced people are not. I want to be crystal clear. This isn’t something I’m reporting. I believe it’s just the most logical reading of the available evidence.

   The big picture bad act here is that the Congress had the power of the purse. This whole operation involves seizing that power away from Congress. That’s the big bad act. But in the mechanics of how this is being carried out there appear to be a lot of more granular and specific criminal conduct

   Log in to Reply

5. The whole idea that peace talks regarding the war between Ukraine and Russia are being held between US and Russia with no involvement from Ukraine is bonkers to me.

   It gives me big "Don't worry, Ukraine. We'll do this for you because we know better than you" vibes from the Trump administration and I don't like it.

   Log in to Reply

   1. Hey, it worked out so well for Czechoslovakia when Hilter & Chamberlain did the same… 

      Log in to Reply