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July 04, 2025 07:17 AM UTC

4th of July Weekend Open Thread

  • 23 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

“Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.”

–George Washington

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23 thoughts on “4th of July Weekend Open Thread”

  5. Good to see how many Republicans committed a Jonestown Massacre of their own party. Of course, many poor and the most vulnerable will die before they do but who needs a career in politics anymore when you're out to loot the Dept of the Treasury and pay no taxes? 

  6. Our own Ben Folds (right?) had a thing or two to say about the Kennedy Center ministry of public enlightenment takeover in today's WaPo, and Bezos published it! 

    He’s watched as patrons booed Vice President JD Vance and, later, Trump himself during visits to the center. “I was there for eight years, in the building all the time. I never saw any … people booing. … That never happened before. He brought the circus with him…The guy took over and said he wanted to put his fist on the scale. So I had to leave.”

    I'm under no illusion that putting a fist on the scale, or as another musician once put it, a boot in your ass, is not to a large extent the American way. But another side of the "America worth living in" I've known all my life is getting trashed for indefensible reasons – free press, the arts, education, research, due process among them – so I hope we all will take a look at the Declaration of Independence we're celebrating today and the grievances against King George, between the hot dog eating contests and blowing stuff up. 

    He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance…He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us.

  7. Catching up on some state news reading, was interested in an article covering the upcoming PUC decision on Tristate 

    After coal, a debate in Colorado over proposed new natural gas electricity generation

    Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association says it needs a 307-megawatt gas plant there to ensure electricity will be available for its members across its four-state service territory, but particularly western Colorado.

    Three conservation groups argue strenuously that Tri-State can keep the lights on without the gas plant — and at a cost that is $288 million less and with fewer greenhouse gas emissions. They instead recommend more battery storage in lieu of the gas plant.

    The Colorado Public Utilities Commission is scheduled to make a decision on July 10.

  8. If I were a betting man, I would bet Tri-State does not, in fact,  "need" a new gas-fired generation plant as much as well-heeled OilyBoyz would love another anchor in the nat gas market. Now is the time for all good grifters to exploit the new. lawless,  "awl bidness". The "Drill, baby, drill" crowd is fired up and ready to rock! 

    Coal-rollers …let's roll!!

     

  9. Well, by all measures this year's 4th was mostly a bust, but next year, hoooboy: UFC at the White House to celebrate Tumpmericuz bigly 250th!!!!  Maybe Emp-T-eror T**** will order Miller, Noem, Bondi and Hegseth to feed a few misidentified undocumenteds to some lions for a bigly, beautiful warmup?!?!

  10. We don't need no stinking NOAA and the National Weather Service?

    One forecast per day instead of adding forecasts for changing situations.

    1. AP coverage of the Texas flood includes

      AccuWeather said the private forecasting company and the National Weather Service sent warnings about potential flash flooding hours before the devastation.

      “These warnings should have provided officials with ample time to evacuate camps such as Camp Mystic and get people to safety,” AccuWeather said in a statement that called the Hill Country one of the most flash-flood-prone areas of the U.S. because of its terrain and many water crossings.

      The National Weather Service sent out a series of flash flood warnings in the early hours Friday before issuing flash flood emergencies — a rare alert notifying of imminent danger.

      It is Texas, however, 

      The forecast for the weekend had called for rain, with a flood watch upgraded to a warning overnight Friday for at least 30,000 people. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said the potential for heavy rain and flooding covered a large area.

      “Everything was done to give them a heads up that you could have heavy rain, and we’re not exactly sure where it’s going to land,” Patrick said. “Obviously as it got dark last night, we got into the wee morning of the hours, that’s when the storm started to zero in.”

      Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, the county’s chief elected official, said: “We do not have a warning system.”

      When pushed on why more precautions weren’t taken, Kelly said no one knew this kind of flood was coming.

      1. “Floods?  

        Hours warning?

        Noah got way more time, and we’re all outta’ Sharpies here!!! . . .

        . . . Toss us some paper towels, maybe, please??”

         

  11. Just announced – das Neue Elon-Jungen!

    Musk announces arrival of new ‘America Party’ after Trump split
    The billionaire donor has teased the launch of a third party ever since his megabill squabble with Trump.

    Musk on Saturday appeared to confirm his intention to launch his “America Party,” after posting a poll to his X account the prior day asking followers whether or not he should create the new party.

    “By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it! When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste & graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy,” he wrote. “Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom.”

    Musk’s third-party musings began in earnest after last month’s massive meltdown between the president and his former adviser over the “big beautiful bill,” which the former DOGE head has decried as wasteful.

    https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/05/elon-musk-third-party-00440033

    (They did use the wrong picture, though…)

    2. I'm having a hard time imagining the popular appeal of a Musk party. His political brand is pretty toxic, based on polling and on his spectacular defeat in the Wisconsin Supreme Court election. He showed his cards for all to see in early 2025 – DOGE was reckless, sloppy, and full of self-interest – and yep, there was that little Nazi salute episode that would not look so great on opposition TV ads. He's prone to getting out over his skis, so how's he going to effectively run a political party on top of Tesla and SpaceX? And the people who might say "oh golly sweetie pie, we've gotta join cuz the party's called AMERICA" are probably already Republican.  

      With new party launches, I usually pretty much say wake me up when they have a platform. If it's just going to be "the gospel according to Elon and Peter Thiel," again I can't imagine a critical mass of little people rushing out to sign up. But if they're serious about starting a political party and not just a big bucks candidate clearinghouse, creating a coherent platform would be a real battle royale. Although, I reckon the big bucks candidate clearinghouse part would probably have some impact on given races, unfortunately. 

      1. Elon does have a super sized ego ( Fueled by drugged megalomania?) 

        And he doesn’t seem to learn from his mistakes, judging  by the continual blowing up of SpaceX satellites, the incredibly unsuccessful Cybertruck, and the continued slide of Tesla stock. 

        So I think that elon will at least try to form a third party, possibly just to negotiate with Trump – as I think some other right wing politician – Ron DeSantis?  did recently – can’t remember who. Maybe he’s just trying to monetize a candidacy and enrich himself further, as $rump has.

        And I think the net effect will be to siphon votes from the MAGAlomaniac himself. So I’m all for it. 

      2. Xmas in July – Please, Please, Please.

        The only appeal is traditional Republican Conservatives, mostly Republican Pundits. However, all we need is for Elon to siphon off 5 or 10 points from the Republicans. Combine that with 10-15 point anti-Trump shift in 2026, and we're looking at a whole new ballgame.

  12. The end of the two-party system is at hand. Corporate Americas’ domination of both parties has been the rule for as long as I can remember.
    I mean, recall what happened to Huey Long. 

    1. The better comparison is Ross Perot. The two-party system will continue to thrive precisely because it allows Corporate America to keep us divided. They can afford to pay both parties. We have to pick one.

  13. "Language as a tool of Authoritariansim". Marcy Wheeler at EmptyWheel

    In short, liberals and journalists treat language as transparent, whereas right wingers treat language as utilitarian.

    By transparent, I mean that liberals and journalists believe language serves as a way to describe and understand reality. This is, after all, built into the definition of small-l liberalism: that one can understand and describe the world, and using that understanding, engage in rational debates about how best to live in it. One can iteratively test descriptions of the world and policy prescriptions and improve our relationship with the world and each others.

    Politicians who accept they live in a liberal (small-l) system are adhering to a system where people with competing visions describe, transparently, what they see in reality or believe it to be, and persuade others that that vision of reality is a better description of reality than their opponent, and that if that vision of reality is true, then it counsels certain actions or policies. This is the cornerstone of a successful legislative body: the shared belief that debate and discussion can result in rational persuasion and through that good policy solutions.

    Transparent language is an idea at the heart of democracy.

    …

    By contrast, right wingers approach language differently. For right wingers (a term I’ve adopted, because “in reality,” the MAGAt right is a departure from a Republican tradition that bought into assumptions about rationality and reality), language is instead a means to impose power, to impose a desired order on society. They are not trying to persuade you that living in an authoritarian hellhole will be better than living in a democracy. They are trying to bring about that helhole by disrupting debate, by policing language, by breaking the tie between language and reality. Utterances are valued not for the fidelity with which they describe the world. Rather, they are valued for the degree to which they help to attain a certain end state in which they accrue more power.

    1. I believe Marcy Wheeler has pointed out a very important dynamic at play in modern American politics. There has always been a place for dishonesty, treachery, and word spinning in the political arena. It was Republicans that changed those things from tactical to strategic.

      Such prodigious liars as.Limbaugh, Rove, Gingrich, North, Hannity, Beck, Liddy, Luntz, Conway,…the list is pretty endless…made lying and misdirection central tenets of their entire strategy for winning back the government. It isn’t, however, a new thing.

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