Monday Open Thread

20 thoughts on “Monday Open Thread”

1. Pope Francis has died. Yes, I’m still awake:
   :https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/04/21/world/pope-francis-updates-vatican

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   1. Why did JD Vance kill him?

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      1. Honestly, Dave, how could anyone even imagine such as that???

         (And, anyway, if Vance had been sent on that mission we surely would have read about it from one or two of Hegseth’s Signal chats.)

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      2. Clearly we need to have J.D. Vance meet with Putin next.

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         1. First, the trophy, then the Pope. Maybe they ought to send him to visit Putin

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      3. He didn't wear a tie to their meeting…

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   2. He was as progressive as  a Catholic Pope could have been. I’m sorry he’s  gone. Steve Bannon is undoubtedly trying to get some fascist installed.

      https://youtu.be/jHYM2ukztDM?feature=shared

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2. God, rest his soul.

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3. Hey, I just quoted Pope Francis on Friday! It's worth a repeat:

   "Today’s builders of Babel tell us that there is no room for losers, and that those who fall along the way are losers. Theirs is the construction site of Hell." – Pope Francis

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   1. Now, what will the Screaming Yam do to knock the Francis off the top of the headlines? You just know he won't be able to stand anyone else getting all the attention.

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4. "In the court of the chaos-monkey king." Brad deLong

   Eight years and three months after Donald Trump blew up the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and so unilaterally disarmed the United States in the runup to his launching his trade war against China, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent claims (a) he has the baton from Donald Trump to use the threat of tariffs to negotiate trade deals, and (b) his first priority is to renegotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and then have its members negotiate as a group vis-a-vis the Great Central Country that is China.

   Not having blown up the TPP would have been the best thing. The Obama team knew what it was redoing in pursuing a strategy to rebalance the U.S.-China trade relationship. But, having blown up the TPP in the past, it would indeed be the best thing to resurrect it.

   But that is not possible. First of all, none of the other potential members believe that Trump is a credible negotiating partner. Bessent wants to work with “Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and India”. They will be very happy to say they are working with the U.S. Their leaders will even come to Mar-a-Lago, and say nice words about Trump. But they all know that there is no point in conceding anything to Trump because doing so will get them the exactly zero credit with Trump that Mexico and Canada got from playing ball with Trump and doing him the favor of transforming what he said was the worst into the very best of trade agreements by renegotiating NAFTA into the USMCA agreement.

   Second, Bessent is, to put it bluntly, lying. 

   He does not have a baton. 

   There is no baton.

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5. An Urgent Call for a Thoughtful and Transparent Energy Plan for Colorado

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6. My Friday post – a cross-post from Noahpinion

   The authoritarian takeover attempt is here

   Sadly, we were warned.

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7. Whiterion Collection (Oh Boy – Daily Show Satire)

   Removing DEI content from movies. 

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8. In the Big Line for one of the federal house seats it says:

   Like most of Colorado’s congressional districts, CO-07 is only winnable for one political party.

   We've really only have 2 competitive seats. And if Hurd continues to be moderate, only 1 competitive seat.

   And that's a shame. I wish we had at least 4 competitive seats. I know it's not possible without really weird district lines, so no. But it would be nice.

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   1. It's not possible to have competitive seats David when one party follows the Anti-Christ. Reasonable people aren't going to want to have a bat-shit cultist as their representative. Hopefully Hurd isn't an outlier and won't follow the herd.

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   2. Check the criteria the people voted for in establishing the Colorado Independent Redistricting Commissions

      Hard to imagine how a commission could set up districts that would "Preserve whole communities of interest and whole political subdivisions, such as counties, cities, and towns"  and create many more "competitive" districts. 

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9. SecDUI steps on his d1ck again….

   Money quote – “How many times does Pete Hegseth need to leak classified intelligence before Donald Trump and Republicans understand that he isn’t only a f*cking liar, he is a threat to our national security?" Sen Tammy Duckworth

   ‘Full-blown meltdown’ at Pentagon after Hegseth’s second Signal chat revealed

   Existence of group chat including Hegseth, his wife and others prompt calls for defense secretary to step down

   https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/21/hegseth-second-signal-chat-pentagon

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   1. The Defense Department is a well-lubricated machine these days, I tell u wut.

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10. I don't know how to post a video like this, but there's a link at the end. There was a rumor that the doge youth would be at the federal labs in Boulder today, and a bunch of people including Rep. Neguse showed up. I'm sharing partially for the "Dems aren't doing anything" crowd, but also to sort of virtually protest what doge is trying to do. If they're reading, how about worrying about saving the US economy for a while? Dow's down 4,000 in the last month, and credible people are concerned about a recession we didn't need to have.

    https://bsky.app/profile/neguse.house.gov/post/3lndzdvslf224

    Facebook link is https://www.facebook.com/reel/788343627523811

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