Monday Open Thread

10 thoughts on “Monday Open Thread”

1. I know Aurora's not a small town anymore, but jeez, a million in dark money spending for council and mayor races? I still have my finger stuck in the dike against nationalizing and partisanizing local elections, and believe it's a morally worthy fight, although I fear the damn dam has long since broken.

   https://coloradosun.com/2023/10/30/aurora-2023-election-money/

   Log in to Reply

2. Well, I just made up my mind about Prop HH. Look who helped me: https://www.denverpost.com/2023/10/30/douglas-bruce-dont-undermine-tabor-revenue-limits-with-prop-hh/

   Log in to Reply

   1. I read Doug's opinion, but I think he's factually wrong when he says (paraphrased) you can't change TABOR in an odd-year election. I think part of HH is fairly similar to Referendum C from the odd-year of 2005 in that it changes the revenue cap, only with voter approval of course. TABOR itself is in the Constitution, and HH doesn't try to amend the Constitution, but HH and C are both in statute. I would not be surprised if C spent some time in court, but it never got overturned. 

      Log in to Reply

      1. I didn't say I agreed with him. I've always thought he was a greedy jerk. 

         Log in to Reply

         1. Oh, should've been clearer cook – my bone to pick was with him, not with you. I think you're using great restraint by leaving it at "greedy jerk!"

            Log in to Reply

3. If HH loses, my property taxes will go up around $1,200.

   But thanks to Dougie Bruce and my fellow Republicans, I'll still receive my $100 or so TABOR refund.

   Whoopee !!!!

   Log in to Reply

4. Who is Jenna Ellis? Bio Research by Liz Dye at Pulic Notice.

   Ellis’s first job as a lawyer was as a deputy district attorney in Weld County, Colorado, where she spent most of her time in traffic court. After six months she was fired “because she refused to bring a case to trial that she believed was an unethical prosecution.” Or at least that’s what she told the Wall Street Journal. The Colorado Sun reported that she was axed for “unsatisfactory performance” and then successfully won an unemployment claim because the hearing examiner determined that she was too incompetent to be fired for cause. 

   While acknowledging that Ellis had been terminated “because she failed to meet the employer's expectations 100 percent of the time,” the officer found that Ellis had only “committed an irreparable egregious act” in a small portion of her cases and was “performing the duties to the best of her ability” given the “deficiencies in her education and experience.” 

   Ellis bounced around a bit after that, including a six-month stint at a discovery processing company which had a contract with the State Department. As the Journal notes, Ellis appears to have retconned this in her bio to “an attorney for the US Department of State.” 

   Log in to Reply

   1. Thank you, Park Hill. I didn't see your story here and just posted the question elsewhere. 

      Log in to Reply

5. US Marine Corps commandant Gen. Eric Smith has been hospitalized following a medical emergency on Sunday evening, according to a statement from the service…

   Because of the ongoing hold on military promotions from Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville, there is no confirmed assistant commandant of the Marine Corps.

   Instead, Lt. Gen. Karsten Heckl, the deputy commandant for combat development and integration, is currently serving as the acting commandant of the Marine Corps as a 3-star general.

   https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/30/politics/us-marine-corps-commandant-hospitalized/index.html

   As a USMC vet I'm proud to say the Marine Corps could function with a brand new Lieutenant as Commandant if need be. However they shouldn't have to just because of one dumbshit Senator named Tuberville.

   Log in to Reply

6. Negative Pricing for Solar Electricity! via Noah Smith.

   Of course, if you keep building lots and lots of solar, eventually intermittency starts to matter more. Chase explains that this intermittency will manifest as low or even negative electricity prices during the sunniest parts of the day:

   "After grid and land issues, the next big challenge for PV will be power price cannibalization. Basically, solar plants in one area all generate at the same time. This means that they reduce the price of power at that time, “cannibalizing” their own revenues…High solar penetration resulting in power price cannibalization also affects other power plants, but not as much as it affects solar, because solar plants generate most at times when solar is pushing the price down most. This will inhibit further solar build…By 2030 most countries will have spot power prices of zero for a few hours every sunny day. "

   Intermittency doesn’t really matter when you only build a modest amount of solar. But when you build an absolutely huge amount, like we’re expected to do in the near future, it starts to bite a lot. But Chase is optimistic that batteries are going to be a pretty effective solution to that problem:

   "It may well be that "negative power prices for a few hours every sunny day, followed by high evening power prices when the sun goes down" is a problem solved by capitalism and batteries"

   Log in to Reply