12 thoughts on “Monday Open Thread”

1. Biden commuted nearly all civilian death row inmates. He leaves Trump with only 3 possible civilians to execute:

   It means just three federal inmates are still facing execution. They are Dylann Roof, who carried out the 2015 racist slayings of nine Black members of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina; 2013 Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev; and Robert Bowers, who fatally shot 11 congregants at Pittsburgh’s Tree of life Synagogue in 2018, the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S history.

   Last week, Polis issued 22 pardons & 4 commutations.  I'm not clear on why individuals deserving commutation require serving 3, 6, or 8 more years before becoming eligible for parole, and Polis' letters to the individuals do not include his reasoning.

   Let the RWNJ tough on criminals caucus begin their whines.

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2. On this Finest of Festivuses, Matt Gaetz is having a lotta problems with these people on the House Ethics Committee, and even worse, this account was reported by the lying New York Times:

   The House Ethics Committee is expected to accuse former Representative Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida, President-elect Donald J. Trump’s former pick for attorney general, of regularly paying for sex, possessing illegal drugs and having sexual relations with an underage girl, according to a draft of the panel’s report.

   The report, which is expected to be released in final form on Monday, found that from at least 2017 to 2020, Mr. Gaetz “regularly paid women for engaging in sexual activity with him”; and, in 2017, “engaged in sexual activity with a 17-year-old girl,” the draft said.

   The Ethics Committee found that from 2017 to 2019, Mr. Gaetz used or possessed illegal drugs, including cocaine and ecstasy “on multiple occasions,” and accepted lavish gifts, including transportation to and lodging in the Bahamas, in excess of permissible amounts.

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   1. I. Am. So. Surprised. About. Matt. Gaetz. Wow. Just. Shocked.

      I will be equally surprised if he successfully hocks "performance enhancing" supplements on OANN then becomes the 2028 GOP candidate for US President.

      (Because the internet is bad at communicating sarcasm, I just want to point out that my surprise is entirely sarcastic and not real at all.)

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   2. What I want to know is why Gaetz couldn't find a willing adult woman for free, and who was bribing him with these "lavish gifts". 

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3. Another excellent advice column to Democrats courtesy of Jennifer Rubin

   Democrats shouldn’t try to find ‘common ground’ with Trump

   Bottomline:  You can't appease a bully, you can only stand up to him and show him for the fool and coward that he is.

   Whichever of his lunatic advisors or Mar-a-Lago club members whispered in his ear about invading Panama is just the most recent example of how easily this moron can be manipulated.

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4. I see that the Colorado state's wildfire property insurance pool (aka FAIR) is going on-line soon.

   The pool will be funded by a surcharge on everybody else who does not live in a wildfire zone, and there is no mention of mandatory site mitigation required as a condition of coverage.

   I am not a fan of insurance companies by no means.  But I am also not a fan of paying the insurance for someone who has chosen to live in a (generally scenic and high-value) wildfire risk zone.  It is akin to building in a flood zone, and I am not interested in insuring those homes either.  It also appears there is not a no-rebuild clause.

   So.. it is subsidizing a risky lifestyle choice, and creating incentives for communities to continue to do little/nothing about reducing risks on their own.

   Yes, there are communities of working people living in paradise, some long-established, but it does not change the fact that other people are covering the cost of their lifestyle choice. And also the fact that there is a ton of high-dollar housing built in risk zones in the last decade when everyone knew better.

   This pool needs to be self-funded, or sunset out with incentives for communities to wean themselves.

   https://www.coloradofairplan.com/eligibility

    

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   1. I dunno’ know, Mark??  Funny thing about wildfires is that they seem to have to ability to spread (e.g., Superior) without boundary. So, while to some it might seem as though we’re just subsidizing risky lifestyle choices by incentivizing a few folks who reside in wildfire risk zones — btw, who now residing in Colorado in 2024 isn’t living in a wildfire risk zone? — to others it might just seem like a bit of common sense, even self-protective, hazard awareness?

      I guess I don’t see wildfire risk in Colorado the same situation as flood risk by new building in known flood zones.

      But I do agree, that because we have near universal risk here in Colorado, we need much more robust and near-universal mitigation and abatement requirements and regulations.

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      1. This pool is only for those areas that insurers refuse to insure – the high risk areas.  aka the mountainous woods.  Those areas that have been identified on WUI assessment maps for decades as high risk. (And also for decades have refused to preemptively mitigate).

         To my knowledge, this situation not include the suburbs and exurbs which occasionally have been overrun by particularly extreme fires.

         Granted, climate change is indeed growing the risk map beyond the traditional identified WUI risk areas, but that remains an anomaly, for the time being

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   2. Two thumbs up.  I live in Forbes Park just east of Fort Garland. It was a beautiful wonderful wildlife refuge where people live but smartly with nature. A drunk psycho just over the mountain from my home was burning his trash illegally in 2018 and took out half our wonderful virgin area in the SPRING FIRE. I full support this effort because NO MATTER where you live in Colorado you can be wiped out by an out of control wildfire.  Even urban areas recently affected. 

      Merry Christmas friends. 

       

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5. Regarding wildfires, here's a link for obtaining more information. It's a directory of CWPPs (Community Wildfire Protection Plans), listed by county.

   I tested the link. But if it doesn't work, do a browser inquiry for CWPPs Colorado (spell it in full).

   https://csfs.coloradostate.edu

    

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   1. Thanks for the link.  I believe those are largely assessments and plans?  That’s a good start.

      Alas, mountain communities are, like, 20 years behind the game on encoding that into zoning for site and construction requirements, mandatory mitigation requirements, etc. not to mention large scale local public mitigation efforts.

      One thing you can say for the insurance companies; they are forcing the issue.  My concern is that the public sector response will simply take the form of a bail-out subsidy, without corresponding direct homeowner requirements.

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      1. Yep, still lots to be done in mountain communities. The insurance companies (instead of logic) are driving actions now – insurance companies in a community with which I'm familiar are requiring grills to be removed from decks. I'm pretty sure most wildfires don't start with someone's grill, but nothing else is being prohibited. And meanwhile proper mitigation efforts are hit and miss.

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