CO-04 (Special Election) See Full Big Line

(R) Greg Lopez

(R) Trisha Calvarese

90%

10%

President (To Win Colorado) See Full Big Line

(D) Joe Biden*

(R) Donald Trump

80%

20%↓

CO-01 (Denver) See Full Big Line

(D) Diana DeGette*

90%

CO-02 (Boulder-ish) See Full Big Line

(D) Joe Neguse*

90%

CO-03 (West & Southern CO) See Full Big Line

(D) Adam Frisch

(R) Jeff Hurd

(R) Ron Hanks

40%

30%

20%

CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado) See Full Big Line

(R) Lauren Boebert

(R) Deborah Flora

(R) J. Sonnenberg

30%↑

15%↑

10%↓

CO-05 (Colorado Springs) See Full Big Line

(R) Dave Williams

(R) Jeff Crank

50%↓

50%↑

CO-06 (Aurora) See Full Big Line

(D) Jason Crow*

90%

CO-07 (Jefferson County) See Full Big Line

(D) Brittany Pettersen

85%↑

 

CO-08 (Northern Colo.) See Full Big Line

(D) Yadira Caraveo

(R) Gabe Evans

(R) Janak Joshi

60%↑

35%↓

30%↑

State Senate Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

80%

20%

State House Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

95%

5%

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
June 05, 2015 11:05 PM UTC

Weekend Open Thread

  • 45 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

“There is no error so monstrous that it fails to find defenders among the ablest men.”

–Lord Acton

Tweet
Share

Comments

45 thoughts on “Weekend Open Thread”

  1. This story is a real Laffer…..

     

    Kansas may furlough 7,000 workers due to revenue shortage

     

    KANSAS CITY, Kan. (Reuters) – More than 7,000 state employees in Kansas would be furloughed on Monday if state lawmakers cannot agree on a new annual budget by midnight on Saturday, state officials said on Friday.

    The Kansas House and Senate are trying to make up an estimated $400 million revenue shortfall in the wake of tax cuts engineered by Republican Governor Sam Brownback in recent years.

    The state notified 7,109 non-essential executive branch employees they would be subject to unpaid furlough on Monday

     


    http://news.yahoo.com/kansas-may-furlough-7-000-workers-due-revenue-234220414–business.html

    1. But I'll bet if the toilet backs up in the KS State House, the maintenance man will suddenly not be non-essential.  And Kansas voted for Brownback again.

    2. Text book contemporary conservative economics in action. No interference from Dems who have no power in Kansas. No excuse that these policies would work just swell if only they didn't have to be watered down to make deals for passage with Dems. This is a 100% unfettered conservative Republican government.  According to their theories it's supposed to result in more efficiency, an economy stimulated by letting people keep their money and rely on the private sector as much as possibe instead of giving it to their clueless elected government who don't know how to do anything right in the public sector. And besides that, there will be enough revenue to do those few, limited things a government absolutely must do because these policies will generate so much prosperity that even rock bottm rate taxes will be perfectly sufficient. 

      Well at least they got the part about the clueless government right if that government is single party rule composed of conservative Republicans in full control with no power in the hands of any opposition. Kansas is the best possible real world example of what that looks like.

      Unfortunately the minority of Kansans with the sense not to vote for these clowns and their nonsensical economic policies, policies that no evidence has ever shown to deliver as promised and which are failing spectacularly in the purest experiment conservatives could possibly desire for the purpose of demonstrating the correctness and efficacy of their economic theory, have to suffer along with the majority who deserve exactly what they keep voting for. I wonder if most Kansans are stupid or simply so bigoted they prefer to vote their Fox fueled hate over their own and their childrens' interests?

      1. Wait…Wait…Wait! You've forgotten two major principles:

        1} Evidence doesn't matter.

        2} It's never my fault.

        These come in handy when dealing with teaching creationism in science class and denying global warming.

        And, as for the kids, the earth will end SOON. They'll just be able to go to heaven sooner.

      1. Heck, even my dyed in the wool, staunch union Dem family who didn't vote for him couldn't help but kind of like Ike. After him it was back to hating Nixon and Reagan, not thinking much of Bush the first but being totally stunned and horrified by the fact that completely unqualified blithering idiot Bush the 2nd could actually get elected. Twice. That was like a nightmare you kept hoping to wake up from. 

          1. True. Completely agree. However it's stunning enough that he got close enough to steal it in a rightie court assisted bloodless coup. You still can only do that with really close ones. If it were possible with wider margins  Obama wouldn't be Prez. 

      1. Hope when it comes tumbling down no one but him and like minded pols, maybe on their way home from some big rightie confab late at night, are on it. Or under it.

    5. See how easy that was?  Just call everyone who's 'non-essential', 'essential'.  Problem solved! (until next week).  Remember the time when Gov. Owens was facing a similar crisis and instead of paying the employees (as the state had historically done) on the last day of the month, he delayed their payment one day so that it was booked in the next fiscal year…and he was lauded a genius for balancing the books?  

      Kansas Averts Furlough Crisis (for now)

      1. Un-bee-leeev-able…

        This is not going to end well.

        Anybody wanna start a pool on the day and time the legislature delivers to him said balanced budget…?

        1. What's could possibly be wrong with unanimously declaring all state employees to be essential, so that you can require all of them to work, and then not pay them (until there's an approved budget)???  

          Anyone wanna' bet that the final approved budget won't contain provisions for paying all those back monies owed, but will instead set up a payroll system to offset any back pay owed with future "comp time"?

          You wanna' know what's wrong with Kansas?  It's populated with assclowns and fucktards.

        2. Not a chance on a pool.

          Sen Jeff Melcher (R Johnson County) said of the governor signing SB-11 (the declaration that all state workers are essential): "we now have a few weeks to get this right." Apparently Sen. Melcher thinks that state workers will magically survive without money for a few weeks.

      2. More Laffernomics — you just gotta' believe enough!  It also helps if you click the heels of your ruby slippers three times, too.

          1. That looks about right to me.

            I'm not a big fan of the Bush family but back around 1980, Daddy Bush got it right when he referred to the whole crock of supply side economics as "voodoo economics."  

            Sadly, he then renounced that remark, renounced his pro-choice position on reproductive rights, and (as Garry Trudeau put it), "He put his manhood in a blind trust" to be Ronald Reagan's V.P.

      3. So the Kansas Republicans are on record as saying all the government employees are essential? Not a single nonessential, wasteful, unneeded employee in the state government, according to law? Good to know they have changed their minds about such things!

      4. So basically they passed a bill that recognizes that voodoo conservative policies are untenable. We could have told them that a long time ago.

    6. And things got "odd" overnight, as the budget bill had magically changed between adjournment at 1:30am and opening this morning at 10:00am…

      Kansas Senator Asks Chaplain for Exorcism to Remove ALEC:

      Sen Holland (D-Baldwin City), took to the floor to demand to know what happened "this is not the same", he argued, asking senators to come forward who had proposed the changes "I want to know who proposed these changes.. Will anyone take credit?"

      The body fell still as no senator responded.  Standing for questions, Sen Donovan pointed out he "did not know" who proposed the changes.

      Sen Holland took over and noted if no one knew who changed the bill between 130am and 10am, were special interests involved?  The senator noted his belief that the state chaplain was a good man and "I believe he has more work to do. I call on the chaplain to exorcise ALEC who is infecting this chamber"

  2. The Soviet Union takes trolling to a whole new level. Ex: "The Agency".

    Some of these homegrown American right wing production companies, like tech savvy Generation Opportunity, do almost as well: creating slick videos, promulgating them on social media, writing about the fake memes in "news" programs.

    1. That's a REALLY long article but also amazing.

      As much as I love the interwebz for quick access to information, this highlights how important it is to verify information you receive on social media.

      People need to train their BS-detectors better. After 10 years of taking 911, reading about politics and being a parent, my BS-detector is well tuned. Maybe I should create a BS-detecting course.

  3. What I don't understand is why Kansas voted Brownback in again.  At least he is not in the United States Senate any longer and only damages Kansas and not the whole United States as a US Senator.

    1. Because they have the mentality that if they continue to pound the square peg into the round hole long enough, it eventually will fit right in. What IS the matter with Kansas?

      1. And they care more about what they hate… gays, minorities, poor people, Obama, libruls, Muslims, non-Christians, women enjoying sex without feeling guilty or having babies if they don't want to, science, etc…. than they do about anything else.

        1. Perhaps a new religious affiliation might help those Kansans see the light by lighting up….

           

          Tune in, toke up, smile big: Introducing The First Church of Cannabis

           

          They have weed instead of wine and a “pooh-bah” in place of a pastor who preaches the power of pot to heal the world: Welcome to The First Church of Cannabis.

          In May, this Indiana house of worship won the right to light up freely and spread its groovy gospel thanks to a newly awarded nonprofit designation from the Internal Revenue Service.

          Because the church has been deemed a charity, donors can deduct gifts made to the church on federal tax returns, and when the cannabis congregation finds a location, it will be eligible for a property tax exemption — even though neither medical nor recreational marijuana is legal in the state of Indiana.

           

          http://news.yahoo.com/tune-in–toke-up–smile-big–introducing-the-first-church-of-cannabis-155421770.html

          couldn't hurt…

           

           

          1. It would only give them a chance to show how important religious freedom really is to them and we already know that. They hate religious freedom. The only religious rights they want recognized are those of Christians with the occasional bone thrown to Judaism which they're kind of stuck with if they want to go on picking and choosing "abominations" from the Jewish book of Leviticus. Shrimp ban… superseded by the New Testament because shrimp is yummy. Gay sex ban… etched in stone forever because they have issues with sex in general and gay sex in particular. Lots of repression and self loathing both gay and straight. 

            That's pretty much what they mean by religious freedom. Oh and most of them don't mind enough to make a fuss if someone puts up a Chanukah Menorah with the Christmas stuff in December.  

              1. Now, now. My husband and most of my friends here in Colorado come from Christian backgrounds, though my husband is a no organized religion for me please type, and they hardly persecute me at all!wink

    2. It's not like Sen. Moran is any better policy-wise. He might not be the disaster Brownback is as a governor, but he's got a 92 lifetime rating from the ACU. The best you can say about Jerry Moran from a non-right-wing POV is that he doesn't seem to be a gaffe machine.

    1. Must have been a delayed time bomb type of curse because not so very long ago Kansas had great roads and highly regarded schools. But that would help explain it.

    1. The 25th longitudinal meridian, that invisible line that separates Kansas from Colorado, is increasingly looking like the Berlin Wall. 

Leave a Comment

Recent Comments


Posts about

Donald Trump
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Lauren Boebert
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Yadira Caraveo
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado House
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado Senate
SEE MORE

205 readers online now

Newsletter

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to stay in the loop with regular updates!