16 thoughts on “Tuesday Open Thread”

1. The Conservative Push for States to Amend the Constitution

   Taking advantage of almost a decade of political victories in state legislatures across the country, conservative advocacy groups are quietly marshaling support for an event unprecedented in the nation’s history: a convention of the 50 states, summoned to consider amending the Constitution.

   Log in to Reply

   1. Another good reason never ever to vote for any Republican and never ever to stay home or under vote or vote third party because the Dem isn’t pure enough. Period. No more Republican legislative majorities and take as many away from them as possible. 

      Log in to Reply

      1. If Democrats want to win, they need to put in the work.

         The remarkable Republican takeover of state legislatures, in 1 chart

         Part of the reason Republicans have gained over 900 state legislative seats since Obama became president is that they have a very well-funded infrastructure that focuses only on winning state legislative chambers. Democrats, of course, have their own state legislative arm but the major donors that tend to finance these things are less engaged on the Democratic side than the Republican one.

         Log in to Reply

         1. It is startling to see the visual indication of the shift. We need to beat the Republicans like a rented mule…and keep on beating them. Our very democracy is at risk.

            The "Free Market" abhors democracy and is a devoted supplicant to oligarchy.  This election is much bigger than just Donald Trump. It is about the future of the United States as the leader of the free world. 

            "Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding."      Albert Einstein

             

            Log in to Reply

            1. Many state races are in play. We can continue to see more obstructionism and ALEC bills in the state Senate, or we can help move Colorado forward. Candidates cannot – ever – do it on their own. This message is to everyone: Volunteer, donate, help in some way. A candidate near you will appreciate that you got involved.

               Log in to Reply

   2. The talk of a State call for amending the Constitution is an on-again / off-again appeal. It gains favor among the right wing when people are focused on deficits and the debt. It loses favor when people realize there is a risk of changing the Second Amendment to a position closer to the opinion of a large majority of the population, backing registration and restriction. In debates on an actual resolution, it loses a great deal of appeal when scholars and lawyers point out that once created, there may be no assurance of any limit of topic.

      The good news is it would take 33 states to call a convention and 38 to ratify whatever emerges.

      Log in to Reply

      1. Well said.  This canard has been floating around for at least 50 years.   It always dies when each of us realizes we have something to lose.   I;ll definitely vote to take moddy's guns away, Moddy wants to outlaw unions, etc.   Individually popular, the antis accumulate when you package the total.   The compromise of 1850 failed as a package.  Then Henry Clay broke it into component parts and passed each part.

         Log in to Reply

         1. I don't think it's possible in our era to pass another amendment to the US constitution or repeal one, much less achieve an entire constitutional convention. But even so, just to be on the safe side, never vote for any Republican in any state leg election. Can' be too careful. Must crush GOP majorities wherever possible.

            Log in to Reply

2. Nothing to see here, folks: 

   These [Southwest Asian and North African] countries have grappled with remarkably warm summers in recent years, but this year has been particularly brutal.

   Parts of the United Arab Emirates and Iran experienced a heat index — a measurement that factors in humidity as well as temperature — that soared to 140 degrees in July, and Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, recorded an all-time high temperature of nearly 126 degrees. Southern Morocco’s relatively cooler climate suddenly sizzled last month, with temperatures surging to highs between 109 and 116 degrees. In May, record-breaking temperatures inIsrael led to a surge in ­heat-related illnesses.

   Temperatures in Kuwait and Iraq startled observers. On July 22, the mercury climbed to 129 degrees in the southern Iraqi city of Basra. A day earlier, it reached 129.2 in Mitribah, Kuwait. If confirmed by the World Meteorological Organization, the two temperatures would be the hottest ever recorded in the Eastern Hemisphere.

   The bad news isn’t over, either. Iraq’s heat wave is expected to continue this week.

   Stepping outside is like “walking into a fire,” said Zainab Guman, a 26-year-old university student who lives in Basra. “It’s like everything on your body — your skin, your eyes, your nose — starts to burn,” she said.

   Republican Fear Manipulators and Professional Liars funded by Cro-Magnon Billionaires have compelled us to look away from the truly existential issues facing us — issues that America could be "great again" by solving, inventing, investigating, sharing. Instead, even the lowliest one-cent margin derived by our capitalist system is declared to be "profit" and is sitting in the bank accounts of our most greedy and shortsighted citizens, who are sure they're doing God's work by maximizing that profit using any available tool. 

   Log in to Reply

3. Interesting wonky read

   "Trump already lost this election before his disastrous last week, as only 6 percent of Clinton voters would even consider supporting Trump. The number of potential switchers in this election has shrunk to just a third of what it was in the last three presidential elections. "

   http://www.democracycorps.com/In-the-News/the-wave/?ct=t%28The+Wave+Note+Release%29

   Log in to Reply

4. Half of Clinton's nongovernment meetings at State were with donors: AP

   More than half of the meetings that Hillary Clinton reportedly took with people outside the government while serving as secretary of State were with Clinton Foundation donors, according to The Associated Press. 

   […]

   The 85 donors contributed $156 million to the charity, with at least 40 donating more than $100,000 each and 20 giving more than $1 million, according to the review.

   Log in to Reply

   1. AP has an interesting factoid. But I find it interesting 

       * any indication that the requests of donors were treated any differently than the requests of non-donors?

       * there is no analysis of which came first, the meeting or the donation.

       * there is no mention of ties OTHER than donations to the Foundation. From some of the examples I've read, there is a relationship going back years that could account for both the donations AND the visits. How many served on boards with the Clintons? How many had made political donations years before the Clinton Foundation was set up or before HRC was Secretary? How many contributed to the Obama campaign?

      Log in to Reply

5. Obama visited the Louisiana floods today, so local right-wing talk show host Michael Brown had to put his word in about it, of course… and I agree with everything he said and that feels a little funny.

   http://www.redstate.com/diary/michaelbrown/2016/08/23/politics-presidential-visits-disaster-areas/

   Log in to Reply

   1. A strange feeling indeed.

      I do think the bad press, at least on the non-loony side, could have been avoided if Obama had called a brief presser while on vacation to describe the immediate actions taken, officials sent and to explain that the Governor had requested that he not add to their challenges by forcing them to deal with and allocate resources for a presidential visit while the immediate crisis and aftermath were ongoing and that he planned to visit according to the Governor's recommended timetable. 

      Log in to Reply

      1. I'm serious, not sarcastic, when I say I wish Obama had your public relations sense. bc.

         I used tell my students that there are three rules to public relations:

         1-First fix the problem

         2-Then, brag about it.

         3-Never get the order wrong of 1 and 2.

         Obama is pretty good at fixing problems.   But in today's world, you do have to take an active role in advertising your achievement.   Obama often fails on this point.

         Log in to Reply

         1. Agree.

            Log in to Reply