Monday Open Thread

12 thoughts on “Monday Open Thread”

1. Mesa County GOP Vice Chair, per Katie Langford  reporting at the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel (emphasis mine): 

   Alden Savoca, vice chairman of Mesa County Republicans, said he wishes the temporary ban on immigration and refugee resettlement from Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Iran, Somalia, Libya and Yemen was permanent.

   “Yes, there are policies in place that will be able to vet these people better and understand who we’re letting in and filter out people who will hurt us, but what it really comes down to is the people hurting us are the people who belong to the Muslim faith,” Savoca said. “It’s an extremely violent religion and everything about it is contrary to our system of law and our culture. There is nothing in Islam that is compatible with anything in America.”

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   1. The dumb runs deep out there – several feet under the topsoil best I can tell. The only reliable information comes in late at night over crackling frequencies that transmit the words of Mark Levin and Savage Weiner and George Noori.

       

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2. Trump rally is NOT sad, this is FAKE Fake News, really: 

   

   AC should have cashed in some Ruble tokens and flown out. Then they would have had 9 people.

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   1. or maybe it's Real Fake News, or maybe Fake Real News. 

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3. Because THIS is how we Make Dumphuckistan Great Again…just how are we going to keep them down on the farm if they have access to the interwebs? <sigh>

   New FCC chair just blocked 9 companies from providing affordable Internet to the poor

   'Government waste' is in the eye of the beholder.  Our local cooperative telephone company, Joes-based Plains Cooperative Telephone Association, has what is likely the best high-speed internet service in America.  This, because of extensive investment by our USDA programs.  There was no better friend to the funding of these kinds of programs than the Obama Administration. 

   These kinds of programs are necessary if we want a robust rural economy.  Like farm safety nets (which I believe are a necessary but should be overhauled), if our national priority is a functioning rural landscape, there has to be significant  commitments to those regions.  

   The irony is that after the Obama Administration directed over $7.2 billion in stimulus funds to rural broadband, those same beneficiaries have now put a man in office who appears to have nothing but empty campaign promises about the forgotten ones in my world (with the notable exception of his promise to make coal great again in places like Owsley County, KY)

   

    

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   1. You should be a little suspicious of Facebook memes.  Owsley County is overwhelmingly white, but it is not 95% Republican and it has not had the highest usage of SNAP benefits since 2008.  It is overwhelmingly Republican, though, and is currently number four in SNAP usage.

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      1. Good points, OTD.  I've had that meme in my picture file since '08.  They were #2 highest SNAP rate in 2009. Owsley went 1,279 for Romney/283 for Obama in '12; 1,474 Trump/256 Clinton in '16.  

         I've spent a lot of time in KY this past 12 months (within 50 mile radius of Rockcastle County).  The region certainly has its challenges but some really special people who care a lot about their (dying) communities inhabit those hills. 

         Just finished Hillbilly Elegy.  A great read. 

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   2. Michael, do you know anything about this Rural Colorado Watchdog lobby effort?

      I think it may be an astroturf organization masquerading as a citizen’s advocacy group.

      It sounds good and reasonable, building up rural telecom infrastructure. But the registered agent for the “nonprofit” rural colorado watchdog is Alexander Hornaday, treasurer of the Denver Republican Party, and a registered lobbyist. Hornaday is also active in the Log Cabin Republicans, and treasurer for a number of conservative PACS and SuperPACS.

      Psuedonymous pointed out that Centurylink has been getting a sweet deal in rate subsidies through the HCSM, ostensibly to bring broadband to rural communities. But Centurylink's prices are no better than any other company – if they're getting subsidized, they're not passing it on to consumers.  However, it would give Centurylink a strong incentive to lobby the PUC and try to get citizen testimonials bolstering its case.

      The mailer they sent out was very slick, probably cost them .50 each to send out to rural households. It's hard to imagine that expensive outreach coming from a consortium of rural phone co-ops. I did write back to the PUC, saying I was in favor of subsidies for bringing broadband to rural communities, but not in favor of subsidizing Centurylink in particular.

      I know you’re busy in hemp organizing all over the country – but wondered if you’d heard of this rural colorado watchdog outfit.

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      1. I did receive one of those mailers but it didn't get any of my attention.  Many of the rural coops (at least in eastern Colorado) took advantage of the stimulus dollars in the first Obama Administration and have some really fine service at a reasonable cost. By really fine I mean on par with our city cousins.  Who'd have thunk? Those deplorable, socialist coops providing superior service at a lower cost? 

         That leads me to agree with your assessment: 'CenturyLink'.  After you peel off the coops, that's all that's left.  

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4. Even Faux News (Your source for real FAKE NEWS) is getting tired of Trump:

   Even right-leaning Fox News is questioning some of the baseless claims coming from Trump and his team. In the interview that aired as part of Sunday's Super Bowl pregame show, Bill O'Reilly twice pressed Trump to back up his unfounded assertion about millions of illegal votes during last year's election.

   "You say things you can’t back up factually, and as the president, if you say, for example, that there are 3 million illegal aliens who voted and then you don’t have the data to back it up, some people are gonna say that it’s irresponsible for a president to say that," O'Reilly said to Trump. "Is there any validity to that?"

   "Many people have come out and said I’m right. You know that," the president responded.

   "I know, but you’ve gotta have data to back that up," O'Reilly shot back.

   Moments later, as the president repeated his unfounded claim, O'Reilly pressed again for more corroboration.

   "A lot of people have come out and said that I am correct," Trump said.

   "But the data has to show that 3 million illegals voted," O'Reilly countered.

   "Forget that," Trump said. "Forget all of that."

   What a pitiful display from The Donald.  Pretty soon even AC will be saying "Trump who?"

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   1. Never would have thought I'd be grateful to Bill O'Reilly for being an old Cold Warrior, and not cuddling up to Putin like the rest of the right wing press.

      Putin actually is a killer – if not with his own hands, he's certainly ordered it done, as head of the KGB  – and there are certainly enough suspicious deaths of political rivals and journalists, anyone who has challenged his power, to substantiate the "He's a killer" claim.

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5. Cheetolini should go back to picking on tiny economies like Zimbabwe.  He thinks the world's fifth-largest economy is out of control? And the dude…the Governator whom he chose to replace him on Celebrity Apprentice, was responsible for tripling the state's debt under his leadership and left the state budget in shambles? Only to have the Democrats reclaim the governorship and turn the trickle-down-inspired black hole into a budget surplus?  

   California and President Trump are going to war with each other

   More importantly, Trump says two things. First, that California is “out of control.” Second, that he doesn’t want to yank federal funding from the state, but he will if he has to.

   California is one of the few states where federal funding isn’t that great a point of leverage. In 2015, California generated $405 billion in tax revenue, more than $100 billion more than the next-closest state. It consumes a lot of federal funding, too, mind you. But data from Pew Research for 2014 compared to 2014 IRS data shows that California gives the federal government more than it takes.

    

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