25 thoughts on “Sunday open thread

    1. Nah, Dohnal, I’m a grumpier, older fart than Zach.

      That’s because I’ve been dealing at least 30 years longer than Zach with the corporate-loving, union hating, phony “pro-life” Republicans. But the situation has intensified and worsened the last 10 years with the arrival of the tea-party crazies and their radical agenda into the Republican caucus. With their arrival, the Republican politicians have become spineless fearing the wrath of a TP primary challenge if they dare to differ or, God forbid, if they work together with the Dems.

      There were some good Republicans back in my younger years; I even voted for one or twod. ,

    1. As long as we are changing the subject, none of it matters if you don’t make it out of the womb either.

    2. Barb, thanks for bringing the link. Very important topic in it’s myriad facets. Racial discrimination, out of control police brutality, and just our basic inhumanity to our fellow human beings.

      Readers can immediately ignore the commentator at 4:18/4:19 pm as he has repeatedly stated he is against supporting ready, affordable and easily accessed reproductive health care. His feigned worry about birthing of healthy children is pure and rank hypocrisy and he still has not figured out the contradiction in his positions. Fully clueless on this and so many issues.

      1. “and he still has not figured out the contradiction in his positions” says non about my pro-life position.

        My contradiction? You get worked up about the death of one 12 year old (a tragedy) but fully support the legality of what must be by now 50 million abortions (a genocide). That’s 50 million kids who would be lucky to live long enough to be killed by the police if only they had survived the progressivism/abortion complex. My contradiction?

        And I can’t have an opinion on the subject apparently because I haven’t opened an orphanage or some such nonsense.

        1. Uh, Duane, I found the total estimated abortions at 56 million since 1973, rather prominently displayed on the link you provided.

          TOTAL ABORTIONS SINCE 1973:
          56,662,169
          Based on numbers reported by the Guttmacher Institute 1973-2008, application of CDC decline % for 2009, 2010 to last Guttmacher number with projections of 1,120,775 for 2011-13. GI estimates a possible 3 percent under reporting rate, which is factored into the overall total. [1/14]

          1. Denis, the point is you provided no time period or authoritative source in your original comment.

            For example, “since the Civil War,there have been xxx,xxxx,xxxx abortions not including black lynchings by the KKK and police murders of black youth.” See: “What is really happening.”

  1. Amazing to me the sanctimonious Left believe they gain the moral high ground by stating that they would sacrifice thousands and in the case of dirty bomb, millions of people by not torturing by giving the terrorits a little swim instructions.

  2. holiday giving suggestions,

    There are many ways to support others during the traditional winter solstice related festivities. Boycott unfair labor practicing businesses, especially watch for imported items that are not certified as “fair trade,” articles and boycott those establishments. Pickett them on big weekends. Citizen action for social justice. Do your part to discourage slave labor and profits made on them by US retailers.

    Spend cash where you can and cut out Citibank’s ubiquitous 4% tax on every monetary transaction possible. Inquire about cash discounts, don’t be bashful about asking for the manager before even beginning your shopping, if this is a part of your holiday tradition. Are you making 4% on any of your money anywhere? Doesn’t hurt to ask, in this pathetically slow business climate, consumers need to exercise their clout.

  3. Yes we know that the far left hates business/capitalism/free trade etc… This was evidenced in the flames of Ferguson. Non’s boycott idea is just a subtler form of the same madness. As a retailer, I like your cash idea though.

  4. “Yes we know that the far left hates business/capitalism/free trade etc… This was evidenced in the flames of Ferguson.”

    You have got to explain yourself a bit more, Denis. That was a doozy. You can’t possibly be equating legitimate opposition to Republican policy with morons trashing cars and starting fires.

    1. Hey OS, thanks for chiming in.

      Easy to see how someone who has claimed to be a retailer might intentionally try to distract from the point I made about imported goods, say jewelry from India, fabrics from Africa, coffee from South/Central America, and be sure that it is certified as FAIR TRADE. Meaning that the third world producers were being fairly paid for their labor and goods, and certain minimal labor and ecological standards were being adhered to in the production of those goods.

      I didn’t even mention free trade, because there is no such thing. Word of mouth or picketing a store to bring attention to any imports that are likely from exploited populations or enslaved child labor or the result of ecologically unsound practices should be rejected out of hand from a social justice angle, should be publicly outed in yours or my fair cities. This should apply to neighborhood mom&pops, right up to the worlds largest retail chains, WalM and Amazon. Perhaps I hit on a sore spot with this person claiming to be a retailer. Who knows?

      We were just signed to an agreement to subsidize Citibank to the tune of $300 Trillion in the same bill that cuts low income food assistance by $93 Million. http://political-capital.blogspot.com/2014/12/blog-post_14.html Any time I can avoid giving them a dime I will, by paying in cash. About time to nationalize banks and attempt to make reasonable profits as we have already socialized their losses.

      Maybe Walker and Vos will call for drug testing everyone at Citibank. Oh, and don’t expect facts or data or any explanation from that above commentator. Won’t ever happen.

      1. non, the 3*10^14 figure you cite is at best disingenuous (0.1 on the truth-o-meter) but does well in other circles (10.0 on the laugh-o-meter). Though that’s just an aside. What really got me wondering was the comment about avoiding “giving them a dime”. Would you pay 11 cents for a dime’s worth of service to avoid Citi, or 12 or 17? I guess what I’m asking is how much of your nose are you willing to cut off to spite your face? Just the tip or full Tycho Brahe?

          1. On occasion, you can save money using credit cards. non, how much more would you be willing to spend to avoid using VISA? 10%? 20%? more? Just curious.

  5. I am not “equating legitimate opposition to Republican policy with morons trashing cars and starting fires.” I am equating non’s pointless Christmas boycotts of virtually every business that imports with the fire starting morons. The similarities are the desire to destroy (or politically silence) legitimate businesses that provide goods, jobs, tax revenue etc…

    Thanks for seeking clarification. I hope my point is more clear.

  6. I’m curious what this audience thinks about the 2016 US Senate elections. Conservatives may not want to think about them due to the numbers and progressives may still have too much of a hangover from the midterms. In short, in 2016 the Dems must defend only 10 seats. The Reps currently hold 24 including Kirk in Illinois and Toomey in Pennsylvania. On the surface, it looks like it could be an absolute slaughter with 8 or 9 seats flipping Dem. My prediction? If the deeply unpopular ACA survives round two in the Supreme Court, Republicans hold 51 to 49 (47+2) due not so much to a continued strong Conservative wave but to a weak bench on the Progressive side. What’d you think and why?

    1. If we believe that Dems do better with turnout in presidential election years, then it follows they will have some modest gains in the Senate. And if Hillary and/or Warren are on the prez ballot, Dem turnout will set a record including a nice gain in the House.

      I see nothing major happening with Obamacare. The unfavorable reaction both by the Insurance companies and the current ensured in Red states would be epic and too costly for the GOP. I would almost like to see the resulting fireworks should the misogynistic SCOTUS majority succeed.

      1. Hillary will never make it to the primaries. She is old, crotchety, nasty, witch and it shows. she has no new ideas, for years, is only 1/10th politician of Bill and everyone hates her.

          1. What do Polls have to do with it. The only polls that count are the Poles that live on the South side.

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