17 thoughts on “Monday Open Thread”

1. Declassify the joint inquiry of 9/11 ?    https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10155059174160103&fref=nf

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2. Obama cut the national debt in half   https://www.facebook.com/RepublicanFamilyValues/photos/a.145210952205452.28751.145209655538915/810874652305742/?type=1&theater

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   1. Deficit, not debt.

      In recent history, the US national debt (the total accumulated debt of this country) has only grown smaller for a brief period during the Clinton administration.

      The deficit (the yearly contribution to the debt), on the other hand…

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      1. You are correct – I should read the headline on my own article – LOL

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         1. Lots of us fail to use those two terms correctly.

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3. Rick “frothy mix” Santorum has accused Cruz and Paul of being bomb throwers. And so the fun begins….

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   1. 

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4. I'd just like to say that I think it was really tone deaf and shabby not to send at least the VP to the historic Paris rally. I personally believe Obama himself should have attended along with the other heads of state from our closest allies. It was a record breaking historic gathering in support of arguably our greatest founding ideal as well as of the nation that helped bring ours into existence and has been our ally ever since.  Yeah, they can be pains in the ass and France has always been notoriously anti-Semitic (and I'm Jewish) but let the country that's without blame in terms of racism and bigotry cast the first stone, you know?

   While other countries will be able to look back proudly on their leaders who participated in this astounding gathering, a million and a half in Paris alone, at least three million nationally, we will not.  It also hands the right more red meat on a silver platter. My one poisonously Obama hating rightie uncle has already subjected my liberal (like the rest of the family) mother to a wacko internet talking point diatribe about that bastard N word Muslim in the White Houses showing his true colors by staying away. 

   Nobody higher ranking than the AG and Ambassador, both of whom were there already?  What on earth was the Obama team thinking?  Now they're trying to make up for it by sending SOS Kerry who also should have been there in the first place. Very, very lame.

   I really do think that living way too much in their own echo chamber bubble has been a huge part of the Obama administrations' problems, second only to the hateful obstructionism of a despicable opposition party whose only interest is in doing as much damage as possible.

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   1. So true. And even if Obama couldn’t go himself due to need for security arrangements, there was still Biden who was available. Indeed, if Biiden entertains any thought of running next year, this would have given him a great photo op.

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5. What about Angela Merkel's or the other heads of states' security? Even Netanyahu, an SOB who must have a lot more enemies in France (or pretty much anywhere) than Obama does, showed up.  But agree that at the very least Biden should have gone, especially since it's been the traditional role for the VP to represent the US at state funerals and other major occasions in the President's place. A VP presence would have been acceptable as a long standing tradition. What did happen doesn't reflect well at all on this administration, it's another unforced error, a gift to the wacko right, and sending Kerry after the fact is too little too late to make up for it.

   You'd think by now Obama would have a clue about the public relations aspect of the presidency. It's not as if things like this haven't blown up in his face before. How things look may sometimes be superficial, though in this case I think it's a lot more than that, but it's always very, very important. He owes it to his supporters, including my mom, to be better at this kind of thing. 

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   1. oops. Must have hit wrong reply. Meant this as a reply to Frank.

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6. House Democrats announce a bill to close loopholes for Billionaires for the benefit of the Not Billionaires:

   Senior Democrats,

   and voters everywhere,

   dissatisfied with the party’s tepid prescriptions for combating income inequality, are drafting an “action plan” that calls for a massive transfer of wealth from the super-rich and Wall Street traders to the heart of the middle class.

    

   You can bet that "massive transfer of wealth" was not written by anyone the so-called Liberal press.

   The centerpiece of the proposal, set to be unveiled Monday by Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), is a “paycheck bonus credit” that would shave $2,000 a year off the tax bills of couples earning less than $200,000. Other provisions would nearly triple the tax credit for child care and reward people who save at least $500 a year.

   The windfall —

   How about "minor adjustments to our far-too-complex tax code"?

   about $1.2 trillion over a decade — would come directly from the pockets of Wall Street “high rollers” through a new fee on financial transactions, and from the top 1 percent of earners, who would lose billions of dollars in lucrative tax breaks.

   The plan also would use the tax code to prod employers to boost wages, which have been stagnant for four decades despite gains in productivity and profits.

   “This is a plan to help tackle the challenge of our times,” Van Hollen said, previewing a Monday speech at the Center for American Progress. “We want a growing economy that works for all Americans, not just the wealthy few."

   …

   “Too often, Republicans and too many Democrats think that macroeconomic growth is pretty much all you need to lift the middle class. And there’s no question that overall growth in GDP and corporate profitability are necessary. But they’re obviously not sufficient,” said Jared Bernstein, a former Obama White House economist now at the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

   Van Hollen’s plan recognizes “that there needs to be more policy in place to help reconnect middle-class families with overall growth,” Bernstein said.

   As Bernstein and Van Hollen (and you) know, most of us don't live off of dividends and can't cash out stock options when our boss decides he can't give us 40 hours this week. So, even though corporate profits are booming, and are expected to continue that way, and the stock market is settings records (despite everything that Communist Obama does), the winners chosen by government tax policy since the Reagan Revolution have done just about as well as you could expect after 30 years of Trickle Up economics.

   That said, Republicans did not blink, and gave the same answer be they good times or bad, all evidence be damned:

   Brendan buck, a spokesman for House Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) dismissed the proposal.

   “Just as the sun rises in the east, Washington Democrats propose another massive tax increase,” Buck said. “Here in the House our focus is going to be on cleaning up the tax code so that we can lower rates for all taxpayers and help create good-paying jobs, not scaring them off with punitive tax hikes.”

   It's good politics and good policy, and if congress really wants to show America its bipartisan cred then Republicans will be the ones compromising with the President and their Democratic legislative partners, not the other way around.

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7. In defense of Kansas, they are in a tough spot: sandwiched between OK and NE.  #takingourcountryback  #waaaaaayback  #racetothebottom

   Kansas will have no women in statewide offices
   

    

   "Gov. Sam Brownback downplayed the milestone… three women were on the statewide ballot in November and likely lost because they were Democrats facing GOP incumbents, not because of their gender."

    

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   1. And naturally it didn't occur to the Republicans to run any women. Got it.

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8. While Colorado Republicans and other ALEC-influences caucuses across the US spin their wheels trying to take us back to the good ol' days, when the fossil industry had a solid monopoly on energy sales, states like California are steaming ahead.  CA is the only state that has a more aggressive Renewable Portfolio Standard than Colorado. (33% vs. our 'let's-get-rid-of-it 30%)  By the end of this year, the Golden State will have half-a-million workers employed in the renewable energy sector; and now their Governor and legislature want to push the envelope, suggesting they can reach 50% by 2030.  

   TODAY, Vestas Wind Systems employs over 100x the number of workers in their Windsor, Brighton and Pueblo plants than permanent jobs promised by KXL.

   In other news today. Deutsche Bank projects that by 2017 solar will be at grid parity almost everywhere in the world.  For those utilities that haven't already initiated a transition to clean energy, most experts believe they will not escape the death spiral.  The irony of the Colorado Republican effort is that it is designed to effectively protect monopoly interests. 

   Go ahead and waste your time, Repubs. On this issue you've become the buggy whip makers of Henry Ford's day.  The Colorado mandate is the best thing going for rural Colorado – and if we're successful in beating your ill-conceived idea back, we'll have to thank only those who believe in a market place where entrepreneurship is not waterboarded by your 19th-century vision for our state.  

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   1. It's only ironic if it's unintentional. 🙂

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9. Sign of life from Senate Democrats:

   Senate Democrats blasted the House rule change as hostage-taking and urged Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) not to follow suit.

   "Holding hostage the Social Security benefits of any American, particularly those of the 9 million Americans with disabilities who are at risk in the coming years, is an untenable proposition," the letter said. "It only increases the chances of yet another unnecessary manufactured crisis, akin to shutting down the government or threatening the full faith and credit of the United States."

   The Senate can't stop the House from making its own rules, which took effect last week as soon as the rules package was approved, largely along partisan lines.

   Rep. Sam Johnson, the Texas Republican who pushed the rule change, said he did it to force Congress to reform Social Security Disability Insurance, which Republicans have criticized as rife with waste, fraud and abuse. Johnson said the rule prevents a "raid" on retirement insurance.

   "It is cynical to try and pit retirees and beneficiaries with disabilities against each other, as the House Republican rule change attempts to do," the Senate Democrats said in their letter. It was signed by Sens. Ron Wyden (Ore.), Claire McCaskill (Mo.), Dick Durbin (Ill.), Chuck Schumer (N.Y.), Patty Murray (Wash.), Debbie Stabenow (Mich.) and Sherrod Brown (Ohio) and by Vermont independent Bernie Sanders.

   Maybe Colorado's Sen. Mikey Bennet was too busy to sign the letter. He surely doesn' believe the Republican lie that they're just cleaning up a budget issue. On the other hand, maybe he doesn't want to hurt his good friends' feelings by calling them the hostage takers they are. Because everyone knows you shouldn't negotiate with terrorists, and you can't be bipartisan with them either.

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