Colorado – Politics Plus

Open Thread August 23 2026

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:00 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Aug 232026

Yesterday, the radio opera was Giuseppe Verdi’s “Luisa Miller” – one of his early successes which made masterpieces like Il Trovatore, La Traviata, Rigoletto and more possible. It reminds me of La Gioconda, in that both have a character who has the hots for the heroine (who is in love with someone else) and is so resentfl at being turned down that he destroys pretty much everyone else in the cast. Verdi named this character “Wurm,” so you know right up front just who he is. (Come to think of it, “Andes Chenier” has one of those too.) Off to see Virgil now – will of course check in upon return.

Dave is not the first male Drama Queen I have ever encountered – not even the first male felins Drama Queen. But he may be the loudest.

Open Thread August 22 2026

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:13 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Aug 222026

Yesterday, I got up early for me, which was not all that early, but early enough to call an institution on a 9 to 5 schedule and reach a human being. Turned out not to be necessary. It appears that if Virgil calls and I don’t answer, for whatever reason, the company that provides the phone service thinks I don’t have an account with them, and sends a recorded message to that effect. But the caller ID, instead of showing the phone company, as calls from Virgil do, but instead shows the name of the facility. I jumped to the conclusion that his case manage was trying to reach me for some reason, and that I needed to call it back during working hours. I was pleasantly surprised that that wasn’t the case.

From the Brennan Center, an analysis piece about the effects of AI on elections. There is a smorgasboard of sentence fragments and hypotheticls before you get to the actual article, so don’t give up.

Colorado Public Radio. The “Listen” does duplicate some of the written word, but with different empgasis, and has a little information not in the written part.

This is from Thursday. Malcolm is pissed. I am too. I don’t have a family history like his – although my father was in the Army during WWII as a telegrapher – and his grandfather did fight in the Civil War for the Union – that’s defnitely not unbroken. I didn’t learn about Dory Miller until long after I was out of the service – but it’s a truth I have treasured since I did learn it. Upgrading the decoration to the MOH while renaming the ship is like throwing a piece of candy after killing his or her parent. It’s not proportionate. It’s a little bit of sweet compared to an avalanche of grief. CNN has a recorded livestream here from its Laura Coates Show, in which Malcolm speaks, (about ten minutes total.) The first seven minutes are mostly with Dory’s grand-nephew, and about the last three minutes with Malcolm, who somehow manages to communicate the importance of decisions like these with no expletives – a minor miracle, according to him. I might just add he also exhibits his own dignity and with it the dignity of everyone who has ever served – and Malcolm is not a man who normally stands on dignity. But it was needed here.

Open Thread August 15 2026

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 5:49 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Aug 152026

Yesterday was a fairly quiet day – which I certainly needed. I son’t know that you’ll see that in today’s blog, though you might. The hair-on-fire stuff I couldn’t sqeeze in earlier, and the lighter stuff is newer.

From Colorado Public Radio. What was I just saying about Colorado and water? This image is probably not of the Arkansas River – but it looks like the water in the Ark usually looks, and it does show why they call it “whitewater” rafting. Now compare this to the photo in the article. That water ain’t white, and ain’t gonna be, without a whole lot of snow this coming winter. And yes, I am posting a lot about water in a very short window. Consider it a preview of what’s coming unless all world leaders get their heads on straight – or get replaced with leaders whose heads are already on straight.

This is going to be time consuming – over a half hour if you watch, and of course if you read the stranscript, that will depend on your reading speed. (for comparison, Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters From An American, when she reads them on YouTube, are usually in the 12-16 minute range.) But the amount of time it took to put this information together to present was more like months. The presentation was put together to address the coming midterms, but there is information which anyone who uses AI for any reason should be aware of.

I’m pretty sure the “Duffel Blog” is the military version of The Onion. On the other hand – Kefsbreath is dumb enough for this to be true.

I’ve been wanting to post about this but waited until Joyce Vance put it in writing. I do want to share one thing that was in the videos but isn’t here. At the point when Block said “I’ve been told it should be coming (or forthcoming as soneone else quoted),” allegedly Judge Sullivan responded, “So is Christmas.” I remember that comeback being common in the fifties, but I still find it amusing.

2fer

Open Thread August 14 2026

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:00 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Aug 142026

Yesterday, the CPR newsletter headline must have been written by Captain Obvious. It read “Drought dries up rivers.” I’m not complaining – I’m well aware how quickly the obvious can get lost, especially when people have strong feelings. As I do about this. A sweet little mountain town whixh leans heavily on tourism is being destroyed. And it doesn’t stop there. The river in question formerly continued on and fed into the Huerfano River, which in turn (I think still, but less) feeds into the Arkansas River, which provides water for the eastern half of the state, where the agriculture is.

From Colorado Public Radio. Weld County is roughly in the northeast corner of Colorado. It is at least ruby red – possibly garnet red. The corporation involved in this venture has no permits – and doesn’t appear to give a f*ck. The parts of Colorado east of I25 don’t get wildfires like the western part, I think mostly because they are low on trees, but they are by no means immune to drought. I think I wrote about the time – which must be more that six years ago, when I had to drive across half the state to see Virgil, I saw a nominal river (more like a creek really) actually burn up before my eyes. Seeing a creek in flames is an experience I wouldn’t wish on anyone. And as far as I know, the creek died in the fire. I never saw water come back to it.None of Colorado’s rivers is as healthy as it was when I came tp the state in 1976, and I’m pretty sure they were already unhealthy then – because our history reports memorable floods before that year, and I know of none afterwards. The last thing Weld County – or any county in Colorado – needs is a data center.

Referred by VoteVets, specifically General Eaton. He sends a daily “Four Star” which includes 4 links to short summaries of news articles regarding the armed forcea. This one has Kegsbreath’s fingerprints all over it.

All I need to say about this article by Robert Reich is “AMEN!”

The cruelty really is the point.

Open Thread August 7 2026

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:00 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Aug 072026

Yesterday, I found a taxi service that would and could get me to the clinic and home. To the clinic went great. From was a bit tougher – I didn’t get home until five – but I did get home safe and sound. It’s called “Go Go Grandparent” and it requirea minimum technology – no apps. And it costs very litle more than the last taxi I used before there was Uber. (In fact, if I remembered what year it was I last used a taxi and adjusted that cost for inflation, GGG might turn out to be less.

This from All Rise News is interesting – not least because of the reason the Apricot Antichrist wanted Hearn’s charges to be dismissed without prejudice. I’m not inside his head – but I think it’s because he needs enemies (or believes he does) to get what’s left of his base fired up and voting.
– all three topics. There’s a photo from above of the Zorro Ranch (and you thought Trump** had bad taste!)

I don’t really need to comment on this Morning Memo story from TPM. The title alone pretty much says it all. And, as always, it’s not the only story.)

Even in fraud, Democrats are morally superior to Republicans. We used the carrot, they used the stick. (JK.) As long as I have been working elections, this could not have happened, so at least we as a state did something about it.

2fer

Open Thread June 20 2026

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:01 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jun 202026

Yesterday (technically the night before) Ukraine attacked Moscow with drones. I’m a veteran, but that was long before drones were even a gleam in Mars’s eye, this may be totally inaccurate – some of the drones were, or behaved as, incendiaries, while others were heat-seeking. Anyway, the result was that Moscow was on fire. WRT Iran, one of the points in the MOU was that if Bibi did anything hostile, the MOU would be null and void. Well, it’s null and void, less than 24 hours after the signing. So we are back to NACHO (not a chance Hormuz opens.) One very small point which I think is noteworthy – someone has managed to teach the Apricot Antichrist how to say “eviscerated.” That really surprised me.

OK, this is not an earthshaking story – though it may inspire people who live in areas where law enforcementis problematic. Alamosa and the San Luis Valley in which it is located were my home for 15 years, and I still get that “that’s home!” kneejerk reaction, alyhough everone I knre there is pretty much either gone or dead. And the story is not a downer.

From Press Watch, and right on the nose. There are indepenent journalists who actually do get this right – but traditional news oulets – not so much.

Expecting Bibi or anyone else in Israel to do anything because the Canteloupe Caligula told them to would be laughable if there weren’t human lives affected. And that’s not just Bibi. He has some ministers who are at least as crazy as he is.

Open Thread June 14 2026

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:00 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jun 142026

Yesterday, I finished a sweater just in time to get to bed early enough to get more than8 hours sleep (fingers crossed.) The previous week, I finished finished the matching pants. Now I’m off to see Virgil and show them off. I’ll check in when I get back.

Even though I was never interested in Roller Derby (and certainly never considered participating, due to balance issues even in childhood), this from The 19th makes me very glad it’s still around.

This story really warmed my heart. Too many people have for too long used others’ hair as a stick to beat them with – not just racists, but also parents of teenagers whom they considered rebellious, and probably also situations I haven’t personally seen. You may have seen this on the Today show, if you watch it. I don’t, but Trinette does.

I’ve been short of time and have skipped enough RMPBS and CPR emails that I had no idea of this till I stumbled on it. I am amazed – and can hardly wait to tell Virgil today.

Open Thread June 6 2026

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:00 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jun 062026

I’ve been thinking about this for some time, and I’m not the only one. Several pundits have said that the GOP’s gerrymandering scheme may well backfire. Using numbers I’ve made up, here’s how. Let’s assume a red southern state has a majority minority district which in 2024 went blue by 12 points. It’s adjacent to a majority red district which went red by 10 points. So the state mashes them together and redivides them, expecting both to go red by maybe 8 points. But they haven’t taken into consideration how deeply the current regime’a approval ratings have descended. Some who voted Republican in 2024 will vote Democratic in 2026. I’m guessing that more will simply not vote. Those two dictricts could easily go blue by 2 points each – which would be enough. Especially if it happened in multiple states.

Yes, this page requests donations, and no, I am not asking you to donate. I just want us to be aware of this race. It is for Joni Ernst’s seat (Grassley’s current term will be up in 2028 – he will be 94 but may run again anyway.) Turek is endorsed by Elizabeth Warren (probaly by others, but she’s the one I just got the email endorsement from.)

This from Talking Points Memo is about Todd Blanche but Bill Polte is likely to be as big a problem.

The latest on Tina Peters – which IMO shows clearly why she should still be locked up. The next best thing would be laws at tgr Federal level, and Stale laws, County lawd, and municipal laws that no convicted felon can be eligible for public office.

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