Archive for September, 2013
News Journal hides exculpatory Markell campaign facts under sensational headline
It is pretty clear that E. Norman Veasey is on witch-hunt, and the News Journal’s Maureen Milford is happy to play along. If you doubt that there are axes being ground, those doubts should be dispelled when you get to this….
Philly Blames Its Politicians, Not Teachers, For Its School Crisis
Well sometimes the truth will out, right? The Pew Charitable Trusts surveyed Philly residents and found that the majority of them blame Tom Corbitt, Mayor Nutter and Philly City Council for their current funding crisis. Only 11% blame unions. They also think of Philly as a great place to get a college education and to live if you don’t have kids. If you have kids, the survey says that a slight majority (48%)doesn’t think that Philly is a good place to raise them. They also think that public schools are getting worse.
Saturday Open Thread 9.21.13
the Weekly Addresses from the President and the Governor, plus West Wing Week.
John Carney as clueless as ever
From his facebook page:
Congressman John Carney
The Administration’s proposal to use its authority under the Clean Air Act to direct new coal and gas-burning plants cut their greenhouse gas emissions is good news and an important step in combating climate change. As a coastal state, Delaware is particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change and sea level rise. I hope my colleagues in Congress can come together to build on the President’s proposed rule. http://wapo.st/15aYgJZ
I get that this kind of talk is automatic now, but does it really help to pretend that the Teabags haven’t taken over the GOP? Is this kind of thing really helping anyone at this point?
Republicans are openly trying to fuck everything up, and why not? With enablers like Carney they never has to pay a price.
RIP, the middle class: 1946-2013
The American government (Democrats & Republicans) basically decided that low prices were more important to the economy than jobs. This Edward McClellend piece in salon will walk you through the whole sick history.
When I was growing up, it was assumed that America’s shared prosperity was the natural endpoint of our economy’s development, that capitalism had produced the workers paradise to which Communism unsuccessfully aspired. Now, with the perspective of 40 years, it’s obvious that the nonstop economic expansion that lasted from the end of World War II to the Arab oil embargo of 1973 was a historical fluke, made possible by the fact that the United States was the only country to emerge from that war with its industrial capacity intact. Unfortunately, the middle class – especially the blue-collar middle class – is also starting to look like a fluke, an interlude between Gilded Ages that more closely reflects the way most societies structure themselves economically. For the majority of human history – and in the majority of countries today – there have been only two classes: aristocracy and peasantry. It’s an order in which the many toil for subsistence wages to provide luxuries for the few. Twentieth century America temporarily escaped this stratification, but now, as statistics on economic inequality demonstrate, we’re slipping back in that direction. Between 1970 and today, the share of the nation’s income that went to the middle class – households earning two-thirds to double the national median – fell from 62 percent to 45 percent. Last year, the wealthiest 1 percent took in 19 percent of America’s income – their highest share since 1928. It’s as though the New Deal and the modern labor movement never happened.
Ted Cruz has not rennounced Canadian citizenship because he can’t prove that he is an American citizen
This is wild. Also, there is a Delaware connection I didn’t know about. The aspiring ex-Canadian has to pay a fee of $100 and submit an official “Application to Renounce Canadian Citizenship,” which could be a bother for someone with a busy schedule of Tea Party meetings and lectures for the Heritage Foundation. On the […]
A Point One Improvement.
After several months of going up, the Delaware unemployment rate finally went in the right direction (i.e. down) this past month, though just barely.
Delaware’s unemployment rate in August fell to 7.3 percent, down from 7.4 percent in July, according to Delaware’s labor department, which released its Monthly Labor Review this morning. There were 32,100 unemployed Delaware residents in August, down from 32,600 in July, and the same as one year ago, when the unemployment rate was listed at 7.2 percent, according to the report. Non-farm employment in Delaware was listed at 424,900, up from 424,800 in July, and up by 7,300 jobs from August 2012.
Delaware still struggling to leave the recession behind
According to a report by the Data firm CoreLogic, Delaware was the only state in the month of July where home prices declined, compared to the previous year. The ONLY state.
Friday Open Thread 9.20.13
Noam calls the White House thinking about helping the GOP pass a clean CR a cave. Well, no, it is a not a cave. A cave would be to delay Obamacare. That is what the GOP “compromise” position is. If he agrees to that, the President is caving. What the President has insisted on regarding the budget was a CR that eliminates the sequester. So these are the positions: 1) The GOP wants an Obamacare Repeal for a CR and 2) the President wants a Sequester Repeal for a CR. Passing a clean CR with no repeals is not a cave. It is a compromise.
Williams’ Mayoralty Headed for Potter’s Field?
Wherein the “nothing to see here folks, move along now” defense run into actual journalism.
While Wilmington officials used taxpayer money to help cover police expenses and other services at a concert last weekend promoted by a top city employee’s son, organizers of other events that weekend found themselves paying for their functions’ security.
Mayor Dennis P. Williams defended using public money to pay for some costs of the all-day, hip-hop Foxtail Fest, arguing that other events last weekend also received city services. But organizers of three other events made clear Thursday that they were not treated the same, particularly when it came to security.
Whoops.
Emmy Prediction Thread
It has been a great year for television as a medium, in fact it has been medium rare. (Hey, when did Bruce Vilanch start ghost writing these posts?) Anyway, the Emmy’s are this Sunday. Here are my airtight, rock-solid, lead pipe lock predictions:
Drama Series
“Breaking Bad” – should win
“Downton Abbey” – will win. Hollywood has an inferiority complex when it comes to overrated limey bastards. That is why all of our competition shows are judged by limey bastards.
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