Weekend Open Thread

55
  by: Colorado Pols August 28, 2015 at 11:21 PM MDT

Like Labor Day Weekend, except shorter.

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55 Community Comments, Facebook Comments

  1. Duke Cox says:
    August 29, 2015 at 6:23 AM MDT

    Good morning , Polsters…

    What a busy week it has been here in Happy Valley.

    I am one of those fortunate few who gets the pleasure of driving past the "Donald, the Dragon Slayer" poster/billboard in Grand Junction. I think if I were a resident or merchant of Orchard Mesa, I might be a bit annoyed that it sits at the northern gate of my community. Tourists, not knowing the turf, might get the idea that they should just keep going south to the next, perhaps more enlightened, place they might stop…um…which would be Delta…heh,heh..little do they know.

    Anyway…I've been chatting up the working class here, about the Republican party front runner…they like him…he expresses the inarticulate frustration and resentment felt by the, dare I say, American proletariat ( I wonder if that is a keyword somewhere and now my ass is in trouble?).

    What I can tell them I like about Sir Donald, is, as I have previously said, his brash effrontery. He is as rude and obnoxious to the rich and famous as he is to anyone else. Celebrity affords you no cover from the snarling and nipping rhetoric he so merrily dishes out.  Some of my professional career was spent working in Aspen. I have met a few wealthy megalomaniacs. I once accepted a "project rescue" job from one such man…briefly…when I had successfully rescued the project for him, he wanted me to stay. I was disinclined to do so.

    If you have never lived or worked in the company of a person with his wealth and personality, I can tell you that you simply cannot trust him…he will turn on you in a second if you cross him. I will not work with such people. Donald Trump, I believe is such a person.

    I find it fascinating how easily the media dependent minds of so many of those I ask see this awful, inarticulate man as their champion…when in fact, the real solution to the inequity they decry lies in the policies of one… Bernie Sanders. 

     

  2. mamajama55 says:
    August 29, 2015 at 7:08 AM MDT

    Well written….Trump represents the very worst side of the American ideal self-made man. Of course, he would have been nothing without his family's estates. Benjamin Franklin, the most liberal founding father, and the only one who walked his talk, refusing to own slaves, would have instantly recognized Trump as a threat to the fledgling Republic.  In The Way to Wealth, Franklin wrote:

    He that is of the opinion money will do everything may well be suspected of doing everything for money.”

    He would have condemned how Trump increased his wealth by refusing to pay his debts. Franklin continually  satirized wealthy "Aristocrats" like Trump.

  3. Andrew Carnegie says:
    August 29, 2015 at 7:15 AM MDT

    Good Luck in 2016

    What are the first three words that come to mind, thinking of the top of your ticket?

    1. Liar;

    2. Dishonest;

    3. Untrustworthy.

    Happy trails.

    http://www.quinnipiac.edu/news-and-events/quinnipiac-university-poll/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=2274

    • Conserv. Head Banger says:
      August 29, 2015 at 7:24 AM MDT

      You overlook the fact that Quinnipac proved in 2012 & 2014 that they tilt to the right in their polling. And happy trails in return (no happy trails for me as I was sicker than a dog overnight and had to cancel out of my climb today with friends). 

      • BlueCat says:
        August 29, 2015 at 10:21 AM MDT

        Feel better. Something you ate or all the smoke in the air? Smokey smell woke me up after midnight and we had to close up the house. Second time in the past few days we couldn't just turn on the attic fan and suck all the nice cool air in over night. Sky to the north was all pale yellowy haze. Woke up this morning all scratchy throated and stuffed up. Can only imagine how miserable it must be all over Washington and Idaho.  There can't be anywhere that's had decent air up there since early June.

        • Conserv. Head Banger says:
          August 29, 2015 at 12:06 PM MDT

          Thank you for your good wishes. It's neither smoke related nor something I ate. It's an ongoing G.I problem that my doc is trying to figure out a cause. I had an ultrasound and CT scan earlier this year that were non-conclusive. In next two weeks, get an MRI and an endoscopy.

          • BlueCat says:
            August 29, 2015 at 1:32 PM MDT

            May they find out exactly what the problem is soon so they can treat it and you can feel better. I'm going to have to be extra nice to you as these things often involve stress.heart

          • Gray in Mountains says:
            August 29, 2015 at 6:20 PM MDT

            Does it make you fear to fart?   😉

             

          • MichaelBowman says:
            August 30, 2015 at 8:15 AM MDT

            C.H.B. – I have a family member who struggled with similar issues for over a decade.  The doc prescribed a flotilla of pills that were taken everyday, to no avail.  I mentioned that a high-CBD oil is becoming more and more of a natural option to a number of health issues.  They tried it (a 1:1 tincture CBD/THC), and after about two weeks they no longer had any symptoms.  The dosage is less than an eye-dropper each evening so there's not enough THC ingestion to give a high, but enough to create an interesting synergy for the CBD to do its work.  $80/month for the tincture has replaced $700/mo in prescription meds.

            Not intended as medical advice – but it might be worth a shot (or in this case, an eyedropper).

      • notaskinnycook says:
        August 29, 2015 at 1:30 PM MDT

        My sympathies, C.H.B. My wife has been dealing with serious gastrointestinal problems for almost ten years. It sucks for both of us. Here's hoping the new tests find something that can be treated. Not knowing and just hurting is the pits. Best wishes for a speedy recovery. Notaskinnycook

      • Andrew Carnegie says:
        August 29, 2015 at 4:20 PM MDT

        Hope you feel better.

      • BlueCat says:
        August 30, 2015 at 11:08 AM MDT

        CHB, just know that everyone means well and don't let tales of sick relatives worry you. 

    • davebarnes says:
      August 29, 2015 at 7:28 AM MDT

      Jeb!

      Bush
      family
      honest
      weak
      brother

      The Donald™

      arrogant
      blowhard
      idiot
      businessman
      clown

    • Davie says:
      August 29, 2015 at 8:31 AM MDT

      That's funny, AC.  Yours is the party of lies, failed leadership and broken promises.  Your base is in open rebellion, choosing a narcissistic megalomaniac as their first choice for your party's nomination.

      Whether or not Trump eventually tires of his game of "Shit on the GOP and anyone else he feels like" doesn't matter.  The rest of your candidates all have fatal flaws that will disgust and repulse a majority of voters in the general election, whoever gains your nomination.

      Trump is your creation — deal with it.

      • Conserv. Head Banger says:
        August 29, 2015 at 12:08 PM MDT

        Actually John Kasich has some good points and is gaining some ground. 

        • mamajama55 says:
          August 29, 2015 at 12:42 PM MDT

          I thought that Kasich was the sanest of the current GOP crop, until he thought that he had to prove his conservative bona fides by bashing teachers. Sigh.

          He showed that he hasn't been in a public school building for years, with his remarks to the RLS that

          If I were not president, but if I were King of America, I would abolish all teacher's lounges, where they sit together and worry about 'woe is us,' .

          WTF? Nobody has time to hang out in the lounges anymore. Teachers quickly come in, wolf down lunch, make a few copies, and spend the rest of their "duty free lunches" working.

          When called on his BS, his spokesman said that he was "using a metaphor". Oh, that makes it OK then.

          • BlueCat says:
            August 29, 2015 at 1:41 PM MDT

            I was struck by the the tone deafness of that recommendation too but agree that Kasich is the sanest of the bunch.  He also doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell. He won't be forgiven for not being rightie enough while not being the Donald and he won't get the big money. That's very good news for HRC because I bet even most of her supporters don't like her all that much. At least not the way Obama's supporters liked him. He'd be a tough opponent in the general.

            • dustpuppy says:
              August 29, 2015 at 9:09 PM MDT

              I wouldn't count on HRC winning the nomination. Her unfavorable is 63% and rising. It jumped nearly 20% from last month. The email scandal/non-scandal is affecting Clinton and her mismanagement of the whole thing shows that she cannot be trusted to run the office of the President.  She could have corralled the issue a long time ago, but chose to ignore it. That ignorance is already biting her back in the ass, regardless if it is a non-scandal.

              Bernie remains my man, and I've been driving around the city with the Bernie sticker on the back of my car, get plenty of honks. I'm going to add #FeelTheBern sticker when it arrives in two-three weeks. By then, even the state of Colorado will be Bernie-ready.

               

    • BlueCat says:
      August 29, 2015 at 10:31 AM MDT

      "Liar"  "dishonest" "untrustworthy" sound like pretty good descriptions of a resident far rightie shill who couldn't make it even a millimeter into right territory as his real self and who actually came out significantly to the left of both Obama and HRC.

      I'm surprised we didn't get a proud post of (im)moderatus' chart. Maybe he didn't manage to pass Obama or HRC on the right either and is too embarrassed? Still trying to figure out how he needs to answer, when thinking for himself, to get on the right (in both senses) side of the chart?

    • dustpuppy says:
      August 29, 2015 at 9:04 PM MDT

      That's why my man, Bernie Sanders, will defeat Clinton, and then eventually defeat whatever sacrificial lamb the Republican Party chooses.

       

       

  6. Progressicat says:
    August 29, 2015 at 11:34 AM MDT

    From the You-Need-To-Have-A-First-Thought-To-Have-A-Second-Thought Department:

    Colorado GOP decision to cancel presidential vote at 2016 caucus faces new questions

    • BlueCat says:
      August 29, 2015 at 1:53 PM MDT

      It makes sense that you would no longer be tied to a candidate who has dropped out. Maybe they're afraid of the loony base tying them to one of the more loony candidates who may still be in the running to the end and they don't want to be responsible for tipping it to that loony. That, of course, is unlikely. When's the last time it hasn't been all over but the coronation at convention time. Maybe, and this is what seems most likely to me, it's just evidence of more of the kind of bumbling that has become the salient feature of the fractured Colorado GOP as so well illustrated by the still not adequately explained self inflicted Coffmangate fiasco. 

  7. mamajama55 says:
    August 30, 2015 at 9:54 AM MDT

    Really, Mayor Suthers? Your first act as Mayor is to make sleeping on sidewalks illegal? When you don't have enough shelters for homeless people not to have to sleep on sidewalks? Like it's their punishment for not being rich or something?

    Is this the influence of Donald Trump on the Republican party? Enough with the compassionate conservatism – the hip GOPS just cry "Loser!" and move the poor folks out of sight.

    Disgusting.

    • MapMaker says:
      August 30, 2015 at 11:45 AM MDT

      Moving inconvenient people out of the eye line of the elite has a long tradition in American cities. After all, what are cops for?

      I don't know where the people "git alonged" go. I think they just sort of randomly disperse (at least that's one model}. It would be useful to open the areas around the mega-churches and Dobson's Focus On the Fanny as places of refuge for these folks.

      But I think Struthers is acting in the grand American tradition, not just because he's a Republican.

    • Phoenix Rising says:
      August 30, 2015 at 2:44 PM MDT

      And this, just when such ordinances are being challenged as being unconstitutional. If you don't have enough shelters to house the homeless, then according to the DOJ in a recent court brief, you can't make sleeping in public illegal. The case is being argued in Federal court, in a case filed against the city of Boise, ID.

      • mamajama55 says:
        August 30, 2015 at 3:55 PM MDT

        It's doubtful that there are enough shelters to house the homeless anywhere. Housing homeless tends to be relegated to churches and private charities, and that is the Republican gospel, even though it is clearly inadequate. There will be 300 long term rehab beds for homeless veterans and mentally ill people at the old Ft. Lyons facility- but this facility serves those from the whole Front Range. Where will EPCO's homeless go? Under bridges, in abandoned buildings -places where they will not be safe from floods, fires, or crime.

        I take your point, Mapmaker, that our leaders of all stripes tend to want the homeless to just disappear quietly. However, Democrats seem to be acting more compassionately here than Republicans. Fort Lyons repurposing was moved forward almost exclusively by Democrats Angela Giron, Senator Steadman, and other Senate Democrats. It was opposed by CO GOP Senators Lambert, Renfroe, and Balmer, among others.

        Phoenix, you're right that this is probably unconstitutional. Who is going to challenge it, though? Some poor guy sleeping under a bridge?

        Greeley's shelters are packed, with 2 month waiting lists. As the oil and gas industry sheds jobs, many people are stranded, but their best hope is to relocate to Denver, or get hired at Vestas. Mentally ill and long-term unemployed folk are still S o L. Even my little UU church has people sleeping on the grounds.

        And Michael, I'd like to place the statue of Homeless Jesus  in front of every megachurch everywhere. The Pope pausing to pray by the statue is…endearing. In December, the rite of La Posada will bring the plight of homeless families to the forefront of at least the Latino Catholic communities- "La Posada" is the ritualized re-enactment of the search for shelter of Jesus' family….but December is months away.

        If I don't get some shelter, I'm gonna fade away.….

        • BlueCat says:
          August 31, 2015 at 10:51 AM MDT

          I've got an idea. Let's have Obama come out and discourage states from following Utah's example. Let him say he's totally opposed to coddling the homeless by providing them with housing, that it doesn't matter that all the law enforcement issues and people avoiding downtown areas cost much more than it costs to house them. That big government should be happy to keep spending the extra money. Then maybe conservatives could come out howling for their state legislatures to follow the sensible, money saving example of gloriously red (though slightly weird Mormon but they seemed to get over that with Romney) Utah. They might even be able to work in something about how we're a Christian nation (according to their weak grasp of our constitution) and it's the Christian thing to do to please their religious right.

      • notaskinnycook says:
        August 30, 2015 at 6:59 PM MDT

        In the Crazy Liberal Ninth Circuit? Oh, good. Sorry, mean stingy GOPers. I think you're gonna lose. cheeky

        And as to who’s going to challenge it? ACLU, check your messages.

  8. FrankUnderwood says:
    August 30, 2015 at 4:57 PM MDT

    Oh Canada!

    Scott Walker, desperately trying to generate some attention, told NBC today that building a wall along the Canadian border is a legitimate issue. (At least it will be hard to label him a racist for wanting to walk off the Canadians.)

    No word on whether the Canadians will be asked to pay for the wall, or whether it will match the "beautiful wall" that the Donald has promised along with southern border.

    I imagine what will come next is Sarah Palin demanding a wall be built to guarantee her privacy from Vladimir Putin watching what is going on her house in Wasilia.

     

  9. JeffcoDemo says:
    August 30, 2015 at 10:38 PM MDT

    Stupid and just plain mean.  Not a good combo.

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