Archive for August, 2013
QOD — Should the US Boycott the Sochi Olympics?
George Takei has a provocative blog post arguing that It’s Time to Move the Olympics:
It’s been bubbling for some time, but the controversy over Russia’s draconian “gay propaganda” law has now boiled over.Last week, Russia’s Sports Minister confirmed that the country intends to enforce its laws against visiting LGBT athletes, trainers and fans, meaning anyone even so much as waving a rainbow flag (and I presume many men enthusiastically watching and dramatically commenting on figure skating) would be arrested, held for weeks and then deported.Given this position, the IOC must do the right thing, protect its athletes and the fans, and move the 2014 Winter Olympics out of Russia.
Late Night Video — The Repealicans
Good snark from Nancy Pelosi’s crew on the completely ineffectual House GOP (2:16 mins):
Tuesday Open Thread [8.6.2013]
The School District of Philadelphia is reviewing their options in suing some Wall Street banks for illegally manipulating an index that underlies the derivatives that the District invested in and lost money on. The Philadelphia City Paper is reporting:
The School District took out swaps with Wachovia (purchased by Wells Fargo in 2008), Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. But a lawsuit could name more banks as defendants. Philadelphia’s lawsuit names banks that were direct counterparties and also those that are accused of rigging Libor, including Citi, JPMorgan, RBC, Bank of America, Barclays, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, RBS and UBS.
How Progressive Priorities fared in the General Assembly – The Updated and Revised Vote Tracker
I finally got already to going through all the bills that were plowed through by our General Assembly on June 30. Yes, it took over a month. No, not really, I’ve been enjoying the summer too. This time, the Vote Tracker is downloadable in PDF form, rather than the Excel spreadsheet. Further, the Tracker, or rather, the legislation we are tracking, is organized into the following categories: 1) Passed and Signed Bills, 2) Passed One House, But Not the Other, 3) Waiting for Votes, either in Committee or on the floor, and 4) Defeated and Tabled Bills.
Now, remember, this Tracker only keeps track of legislation that is of a priority or of concern to those of us on the liberal and progressive side of the aisle. Indeed, the Tracker is a joint effort between Delaware Liberal and the Progressive Democrats for Delaware (PDD). The PDD announced their legislative priorities earlier this year, and it was and is a pretty good, and long, list (in no order of priority):
Minimum Wage Increase
Opposing Cuts to Medicaid
Marriage Equality
Death Penalty Repeal
Gun Control Legislation
Progressive Tax Rates
Single Payer Healthcare
Lobbying Disclosure Reform
Independent Redistricting Reform
Amending the Anti-Discrimination Law to Include Transgendered Persons
Charter School Reform
No Excuse Absentee Voting
Manufactured Home Rent Justification
So it is best to view the Vote Tracker in terms of the above priorities. That’s 13 priorities. How many were achieved? How many were defeated? And how many are a work in progress? Come inside to see.
Hillary Really Does Scare Them
On Monday, RNC Chair roused himself from their Prime Directive of finding more old white people to vote for his candidates to threaten CNN and NBC with “No Debates For You!” if they go forward with projects for a documentary and for a miniseries about Hillary Clinton’s life. Both are planned for release around the 2014 timeframe. But the RNC is so scared of Hillary that they will threaten to not participate in 2016 Presidential debates on these networks:
The Open Thread for Monday, August 5, 2013
A new poll shows that Governor Chris Christie is the only Republican candidate that has any chance against Hillary Clinton.
NATIONAL–PRESIDENT–Monmouth University: Fmr. Sec. of State Hillary Clinton (D) 43, Gov. Chris Christie (R) 39; Clinton 47, Fmr. Gov. Jeb Bush (R) 37; Clinton 47, Sen. Marco Rubio (R) 36; Clinton 48, Sen. Ted Cruz 32.
Cruz, in my opinion, is the most likely nominee. Cruz is hawkish like Christie, a bully like Christie, but 100% conservative and beloved by the teabaggers, which Christie is not. Electoral statistician Harry J. Enten at The Guardian, however, thinks Jeb Bush would be a strong 2016 presidential contender. He is wrong.
Planned Parenthood owes more to Delaware’s women
I am proudly pro-choice, and I agree with former President Bill Clinton, who said abortions should be safe, legal and rare. That’s why what’s been happening at Planned Parenthood of Delaware over the last couple of months is so unsettling.
The Open Thread for Sunday, August 4, 2013
Dana Milbank: “Republicans need to make up their minds: Is President Obama a socialist or a corporate stooge?”
Shockingly, I’d say he is closer to the latter than the former.
The Open Thread for Saturday, August 3, 2013
GOP Chairman Charlie Lamont du Pont Copeland is already at work drumming up some non-scandal.
Last week, Markell’s office said his campaign donated about $28,000 to charity after learning they could’ve been illegal contributions from D.C. accountants.
Copeland contends that under Delaware law, a candidate has to return those contributions within seven days of knowing they were illegal. But Election Commissioner Elaine Manlove says that only applies if the donations are proven to be illegal.
“My reading is that the governor acted with an abundance of caution because he could not substantiate the contributions he received were illegal contributions and it didn’t make me think that I should take any further action,” said Manlove. “But now that it’s been brought to my attention again, I can investigate further.” Manlove says she’ll follow up with the Attorney General’s office to determine the next step in the process. Copeland sent letters to Manlove and Attorney General Beau Biden Thursday asking for a more thorough investigation.
I will bet my house that if Markell had not returned the donations, Copeland would have been attacking him for not returning the donations.
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