Weekend Open Thread

44
  by: Colorado Pols March 13, 2015 at 11:12 PM MDT

“Those who plot the destruction of others often perish in the attempt.”

–Phaedrus

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44 Community Comments, Facebook Comments

  1. mamajama55 says:
    March 14, 2015 at 6:50 AM MDT

    While the 47 not-technically-traitors mull over the wisdom of undermining nuclear negotiations with Iran, real people from Colorado are in the line of fire.

    KKTV’s “Colorado Heroes” notes that a US soldier was wounded in Baghdad.

    Ebola-fighting soldiers returned to Fort Carson from Africa.

    4,000 troops from Fort Carson are deployed in Kuwait, and hope to help hold ISIS from taking more territory.

    Iraqi soldiers are close to taking Tikrit back from ISIS.

    Just a little dose of reality to push AC’s latest “Grandma” snark further down the page.

  2. Diogenesdemar says:
    March 14, 2015 at 9:28 AM MDT

    Happy PI day everyone . . . 

    (If that allusion escapes you then it’s a pretty good bet that the three things you hate most are math . . . )

  3. DawnPatrol says:
    March 14, 2015 at 10:24 AM MDT

    Crap continues to rain down on the #47Traitors (including Con Man Cory Gardner), and especially/deservedly on their showboating POS teabagger ringleader:

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2015/03/13/tom-cotton-picked-apart-by-army-general-over-mutinous-iran-letter/?tid=pm_opinions_pop

    As the pic atop the piece demonstrates, Cotton is one homely, stupid-looking, geeky bastard. His ugliness radiates from the inside, out.

  4. notaskinnycook says:
    March 14, 2015 at 12:05 PM MDT

    He looks like the president of his high school Young Republicans club. You know, they guys who can’t get a second date to save their lives because they bore the poor girl silly explaining why trickle-down theory really does work.

  5. FrankUnderwood says:
    March 14, 2015 at 12:30 PM MDT

    How exciting!  The state GOP gets a new chair and Bristol Pailin announces her engagement all on the same day!  She is marrying Dakota Meyer. No word on whether Levi Johnson will be invited to the wedding.

  6. MichaelBowman says:
    March 14, 2015 at 1:00 PM MDT

    Here’s a long but worthwhile article on the politics of oil reserves…

    Historic moment: Saudi Arabia sees end of Oil Age Coming and opens valves on the carbon bubble

    But in a world where a producer sees the end of its market on the horizon, then every barrel sold at a profit is more valuable than a barrel that will never be sold.

    • mamajama55 says:
      March 15, 2015 at 10:32 PM MDT

      Michael, I read it twice, then resorted to Yahoo finance for the lower financial IQ version.

      If I’m understanding it, the WSJ author Elias Hinckley claims that Saudi Arabian oil producers are keeping production high because they see that in the near future, their oil stocks won’t be worth much. So they’re “riding a bubble” that will soon burst. Low oil prices are better than not being able to sell oil at all.

      They may also be motivated by humanitarian or environmental desires to not see catastrophic climate change; and for that to happen, 2/3 of oil and other fossil fuels need to stay in the ground.

      The real cognitive dissonance here is that we’ve all been raised so long on the stereotype of the rich, uncaring oil Sheiks. It is the basis for much Islamophobia and racist Muslim-baiting. 

      If instead, Saudi oil producers are more savvy about the future, and more caring about global welfare than we are, the bubble that’s bursting will be the Pop! of decades of stereotypes about Arab Oil Moguls.

  7. BlueCat says:
    March 14, 2015 at 2:55 PM MDT

    More bad news for the letter fans. Before the letter Obama’s RCP average approval was slipping slowly but surely after having made a nice gain earlier in the year. Since, it’s on its way up again. Looks like the 47 dumb, dumber and dumberest have pretty much screwed the pooch on  the political and foreign policy muscle front on this one.  The administration is under less pressure than before, Dems are reconsidering supporting legislation that once had enough support to over-ride a veto, the Iranians seem to be the only ones to consider it a joke, albeit a puerile, ignorant one, the international community and most of the American political community consider the 47 to be idiots at best with the left leaning toward the traitor side of the best to worst spectrum and a trend advantageous to the right in Obama’s numbers has been reversed. High fives all round, righties?

    I’m sure any defense from modster will incude the words “e-mail” and “Benghazi” and any from AC will come in the form of an inane and irrelevant cartoon.

    • Conserv. Head Banger says:
      March 14, 2015 at 3:54 PM MDT

      You wanted the words “e-mail” and Benghazi.”  Here you are.  Regards,  C.H.B.

    • Andrew Carnegie says:
      March 16, 2015 at 9:54 AM MDT

      BC,

      In the grand scheme of things, the letter will hurt the Republicans in 2016 about as much as the government shut down hurt them in 2014.  They picked up 9 US Senate seats as I remember after that alleged disaster..

      • BlueCat says:
        March 16, 2015 at 11:20 AM MDT

        As for Senate, first, what disaster are you referring to and second, if you’re not a complete moron you know that Dems faced a particularly challenging electoral map in the midterm year of 2014, not unlike the one Rs will face in 2016, also a presidential year, advantage to the Dems.  In the grand scheme of things you’re right that this letter will be ancient history by 2016 but some people, including a pretty good chunk of conservative pols and commentators, deplore it for reasons having nothing to do with mere politics. We can also have every hope that the 47 ignorant Republican fools in the Senate and the, if anything, even more ignorant Republicans in the House, will be the gift that keeps on giving with many new pieces of idiocy to come throughout the duration. Cheers, darling.

  8. BlueCat says:
    March 14, 2015 at 4:44 PM MDT

    More bad news for the Bibi /GOTP  partnership. Besides the fact that Bibi’s numbers are getting shakier. BTW, he blames that on a global left wing conspiracy. But here’s more evidence that his own Mossad (not to mention great big chunks of the Israeli electorate) isn’t terribly impressed with his acumen these days. Me, I always thought he was a poisonous creep leading Israel off a cliff.

    http://time.com/3744265/benjamin-netanyahu-israel-iran-nuclear-talks-obama/

    • dustpuppy says:
      March 15, 2015 at 10:01 AM MDT

      Isaac Herzog of the well-known Herzog political dynasty (they are the Kennedys of Israel and that’s a good thing) and Tzipi Livini have an excellent grasp of what is going on in Israel, and I believe the agreement to share power is a good one – first 2 years will go to Herzog, then switch to Livini for the last 2. I think they will get a good coalition going once the seats are counted on Tuesday…  They will not let Likudniks in the coalition, as long as there is understanding that the Likudniks are still acting like an ass and warmongers (much like our GOP)..

      This is the beginning of a new revolution, the left will rise once again.

      First Israel, then the US in 2016 – removing all 24 Republicans Senators from their seats and replaced with Democratic Senators. Then removing as many of the Republican Representatives as much as possible, and getting the state legislature turning blue in time for the new census of 2020.

      • mamajama55 says:
        March 15, 2015 at 4:56 PM MDT

        I really hope you’re right and that this isn’t just your usual hyperbole, at least about Israel. My sense is that Israel’s leadership can make or break peace in the middle East.

        • DaftPunk says:
          March 15, 2015 at 11:31 PM MDT

          I’d like to think so.

          I doubt if I can.  They could give away everything back to the ’67 borders, and full rights to all Palestinian citizens, and anything less than full Arab control of “The Zionist Entity” would be unsatisfactory.  

          Their rhetoric of pushing the Jews in to the sea is not a false flag IMNSHO.

          • BlueCat says:
            March 16, 2015 at 12:16 AM MDT

            It’s also true that Bibi, has no intention of ever allowing a sovereign Palestinian state, ever giving up a square inch for a Palestinian state, ever stopping the expansion of settlements and confiscation of Arab land to create facts on the ground to prevent the possibility of a two state solution and, of course, Arab Israeli citizens will never enjoy anything but second class citizenship. So Bibi and and the Arab leaders deserve each other. As for the Palestinians (as opposed to Arab Israeli citizens which Palestinians are not), they and Arab Israelis will fairly soon be the majority in a single Israeli state. At that point there can be no such thing as a both democratic and Jewish state of Israel. Period. How long Israel can survive as a state with a minority holding all the power over a growing excluded majority is anybody’s guess. History, especially recent history, tells us such a situation has a limited shelf life. The rights and wrongs of it may be debatable but it is what it is.

  9. BlueCat says:
    March 14, 2015 at 4:54 PM MDT

    How about a really great story starring athletes? OK, they’re middle school athletes but it speaks well of hope for the future. You’ll see the word “bullied” in the link but it was the athletes who who were the answer to, not the bullies. And they’ve been there for her ever since. A nice feel good story for the weekend.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/12/cheerleader-down-syndrome-bullied-desiree-andrews_n_6853032.html?cps=gravity_2425_3158181298649101052

  10. Duke Cox says:
    March 15, 2015 at 9:18 AM MDT

    An interesting read here from the AP…..

    Fight over Keystone XL project doesn’t stall pipeline boom

    As fight over Keystone XL drags on, oil industry vastly expands its pipeline network…

    WASHINGTON (AP) — In a far corner of North Dakota, just a few hundred miles from the proposed path of the Keystone XL pipeline, 84,000 barrels of crude oil per day recently began flowing through a new line that connects the state’s sprawling oilfields to an oil hub in Wyoming.

    In West Texas, engineers activated a new pipeline that cuts diagonally across the state to deliver crude from the oil-rich Permian Basin to refineries near Houston. And in a string of towns in Kansas, Iowa and South Dakota, local government officials are scrutinizing the path of pipeline extensions that would pass nearby.

    While the Keystone project awaits a final decision, scenes like these are unfolding almost every week in lesser-known developments that have quietly added more than 11,600 miles of pipeline to the nation’s domestic oil network.

    Overall, the network has increased by almost a quarter in the last decade. And the work dwarfs Keystone. About 3.3 million barrels per day of capacity have been added since 2012 alone — five times more oil than the Canada-to-Texas Keystone line could carry if it’s ever built.

    http://finance.yahoo.com/news/fight-over-keystone-xl-project-142551129.html

  11. BlueCat says:
    March 15, 2015 at 10:54 AM MDT

    Here’s something juicy. And it sounds perfectly in sync with what you’d expect from the notoriously vengeful backstabbing Clintons and a team Obama response to same.

    http://nypost.com/2015/03/14/obama-adviser-behind-leak-of-hillary-clintons-e-mail-scandal/

    • mamajama55 says:
      March 15, 2015 at 5:05 PM MDT

      Hillary ‘s wishful-sounding Obama assassination comment was a bridge too far for many of us.

      • DaftPunk says:
        March 15, 2015 at 11:33 PM MDT

        When Obama first opened his mouth in the debates against McCain and showed he wasn’t the teleprompter phenomenon he was advertised to be, I thought he was too threatening not to be assassinated.  Given the unprecedented level of threats the Secret Service has dealt with during his presidency, I don’t think it’s too far-fetched.

        • Duke Cox says:
          March 16, 2015 at 6:47 AM MDT

          Not far-fetched at all. There are lots of those ex-military, militia man, white supremacist, gun nuts (the kind with whom Tom Cotton no doubt associates), who would love to use the president for target practice, I suspect.

          • mamajama55 says:
            March 16, 2015 at 7:32 AM MDT

             True. What got to me, and others, was HRC’s cold blooded calculation that O’s possible assassination would be a good reason to stay in the presidential race in 08.

            • BlueCat says:
              March 16, 2015 at 10:35 AM MDT

              Also appreciated the ad which first appeared after, let’s face it, Obama had the nomination sewed up, about how ill prepared he’d be if he got that wee hours call. Guess that one was supposed to help McCain win so she’d have her next chance for a do over four years years sooner. Just in case Obama didn’t manage to get himself assassinated. 

  12. FrankUnderwood says:
    March 15, 2015 at 12:11 PM MDT

    So Yertle McConnell announced that there will not be a vote on Loretta Lnych to be the new AG until after the human trafficking bill has been brought to a vote.

    There’s a easy way to move this along. Eric Holder remains AG until Lynch is confirmed. He should announce that he is reassessing the propriety of seeking the death penalty in all federal criminal cases. (He is already on record as being uncomfortable with it.)

    I’m guessing if he did that, Yertle would bring the confirmation to a vote immediately and suggest Obama swear her in at once.

  13. Zappatero says:
    March 15, 2015 at 2:54 PM MDT

    Doubling Down on Teh Stupid

    WASHINGTON — Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday that he had “no regrets at all” over the letter he orchestrated to be sent to Iranian ayatollahs warning them that any deal struck with the Obama administration over their country’s nuclear program could be cancelled by a future administration or Congress.

    Cotton and the 46 other Republican senators who signed his letter have come under severe criticism from both Democrats and Republicans for seeking to undermine ongoing negotiations to curb Iran’s nuclear program.

    “Iran’s leaders need to hear the message loud and clear,” Cotton declared.

    They heard it. It was poorly written. It had constitutionally dubious statements. It highlighted the fact that Iranian radicals and American radicals are on the same page. 

    And when push comes to shove, and dumb comes to dumber, Republicans can always be counted on to double down on their message and never admit a mistake. No matter how mistaken they were in the first place.

    I’ll take Sean Penn’s analysis over Tom Cotton and his boys any day.

    • BlueCat says:
      March 15, 2015 at 11:49 PM MDT

      Iran’s leaders got the message all right: The Republicans in the Senate are fools. The Iranians are apparently also the only ones who got the “cheeky” joke because they really did think the whole thing was a hoot.

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