Monday Open Thread

11 thoughts on “Monday Open Thread”

1. OK, it all makes sense now. While reading a piece from WaPo's fact-checker supreme Glenn Kessler, about a 60-second video from Sen. Tim Scott criticizing the Congressional Budget Office's take on the Big Bill of Cruelty in which Kessler found 9 mistakes, he made an oddly specific observation:

   That’s one mistake every 6.66 seconds.

   Of course, the Number Of The Beast! Careful, lest you start receiving texts from the Great Whore of Babylon or if social media sites start becoming dominated by false prophets. 

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   1. Best watch out … The "mark of the beast" is primarily mentioned in Revelation 13:16-18, which states that no one can buy or sell unless they have the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name,

       

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2. Can Democrats Seize the Crisis?

   A New Governance Model to Win the Fourth Turning

   Remember, it's not what appeals to us way out on the left, it's what will strongly appeal to most of the middle.

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3. For the Xcel JTS proceeding, which is the Big Kahuna of electricity proceedings this year, I have been using A.I. to summarize oll the testimony, comments, etc. I figured as I'm doing the work, why not post it for others.

   And I no w have over 100 views of most of the posts. There's a lot of people that are following this and are happy to get the summaries instead of wading through everything. A.I. is definitely a game changer.

   Here's the latest from me on it. The PUC is presently in the denial stage of grief over their plan for wind & solar.

   Day 4 Observations

   The PUC does not like hearing about reality

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4. In what should come as a surprise to exactly no one, name recognition at this point in an election campaign counts much more than ability or even your record.

   U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet holds decisive lead in Democratic primary for Colorado governor, poll shows

   In case the link above doesn’t work, here is a shareable link as well https://www.denverpost.com/2025/06/16/colorado-governor-election-bennet-weiser-democrats/?share=edecs6tlrmee1tovsrrs

    

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5. Preacher Collins gets his wish to make the VA for Straight Married White Guys Only….

   ‘Extremely disturbing and unethical’: new rules allow VA doctors to refuse to treat Democrats, unmarried veterans
   Department of Veterans Affairs says the changes come in response to a Trump executive order ‘defending women’

   Doctors at Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals nationwide could refuse to treat unmarried veterans and Democrats under new hospital guidelines imposed following an executive order by Donald Trump.

   The new rules, obtained by the Guardian, also apply to psychologists, dentists and a host of other occupations. They have already gone into effect in at least some VA medical centers.

   Medical staff are still required to treat veterans regardless of race, color, religion and sex, and all veterans remain entitled to treatment. But individual workers are now free to decline to care for patients based on personal characteristics not explicitly prohibited by federal law.

   https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/16/va-doctors-refuse-treat-patients

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   1. What about all the veterans who used to be married, but aren't now? I would guess that's a pretty high percentage. PTSD is tough on relationships. 

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      1. Personally (from having been a VHA employee) I think 99.9% of the clinical staff read this and go "whatever not in my clinic." It's that .1% that's going to do irreparable harm to VA patients who just want care. 

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   2. I would expect many in the VA's professional staff would be able to discern any discriminatory choices of their colleagues — and react appropriately.  I'm hoping colleagues will notice and find ways to respond if a doctor refused to see unmarried individuals seeking reproductive medical care, or gay veterans seeking medication to prevent HIV/AIDS, or transsexuals seeking any sort care,

      I keep reminding myself — the organizational policies emerging from the Trump Executive Orders may be struck down by courts; they may not stop federal employees from continuing to act in a professional manner, and they can and will be removed by a subsequent President.   

      In the meantime, I certainly reacted to one vet on my block who told me transsexuals don't exist – "There is no such thing as LGBTQ.  There are lesbians and homosexuals and that is it." If attitudes like that exist in a health care setting, they should be named and shamed. 

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6. Jury tells Mike Lindell, “Guilty! Pay up!” https://coloradosun.com/2025/06/16/mike-lindell-my-pillow-defamation-verdict/

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   1. That was a moment of delicious schadenfreude, cook. Thanks. Couldn't happen to a more deserving guy. 

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