Monday Open Thread [2.24.14]

Monday Open Thread [2.24.14]

Arizona's Republican-controlled legislature passed a pro-discrimination bill last week that gives government sanction to any form of discrimination that a bigot wishes to practice. Now, obviously this law is blatantly unconstitutional and it will not survive its first encounter with a judge, any judge, anywhere. And Governor Jan Brewer (R) vetoed a similar bill last year. So there are hopes that this bill will never take affect as law. But to prod Brewer along, and to punish the bigots who call themselves the Republican legislators, George Takei has sent a message to the people of Arizona.
Acting DEGOP Chair, “Charlie” Copeland’s confused fundraiser

Acting DEGOP Chair, “Charlie” Copeland’s confused fundraiser

There is a lot of weirdness packed into Acting DEGOP Chair, Copeland's fundraising appeal. Let's unpack it, shall we?
Dear Fellow Republican, This past week Joe Biden told his fellow tax. borrow and spend Democrats that, "There isn't a Republican Party". I need your help to prove him wrong!
That was February 14th. Way to jump on this hot news item, Charlie.
As a Delaware Republican, you've watched the strong arm tactics of the Biden family over the years, and the negative impact it's had on our nation and our state.
He doesn't say what strong arm tactics, so I guess this it just Biden hating for the sake of Biden hating. A little red meat for the downstate dummies who aren't at the cocktail parties Charlie attends with the Bidens. Maybe the strong arm tactics he is talking about is the dastardly winning of the elections? I can see how Copeland would view the ability to win elections as some sort of mysterious black magic.

Sunday Open Thread [2.23.2014]

This is an eye-candy Open Thread -- a very cool infographic featuring visuals for 50 Incredible Natural Phenomena. The magnetic north one might be controversial, but this infographic is not for creationists:

Late Night Video — Omnipotent #WaveOfAction

This is pretty intriguing -- Eminem, Ice Cube, Korn plus elements of Anonymous put together this video meant to help promote the worldwide Wave of Action on April 4,2014. There's not a ton of info at the website, but they seem to want to inspire activity around the world (protests, social service, rallies, media projects) plus create celebrations of Occupy at their major protest sites. This video is 4:46: Anyone know anything more about this event? Let us know in the comments.

Saturday Open Thread [2.22.2014]

Michael Tomasky has taken to the NY Review of Books to speculate about A New Populism in the Democratic Party. He sees signs of the party "soft-shoeing" its way leftward:
For example, the Center for American Progress (CAP), under its new president Neera Tanden, has pushed “middle-class” or “middle-out” economics as the left’s alternative to supply-side, trickle-down economics. The idea of middle-out economics is that the government, instead of investing in the top 2 percent by means of tax and other privileges, should instead invest in the broad middle through a number of left-leaning policy choices from which the bounty would radiate out to all sectors of the society. These would include a much higher minimum wage, paid family leave, and improvement of decaying infrastructure. Obama’s Knox College speech on inequality is one expression of the middle-out view in the way it ties middle-class investment to growth.4 CAP has been pushing the White House to take up these arguments, not the other way around. John Podesta, CAP’s former president, helped launch a new think tank, the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, devoted specifically to issues related to inequality. Podesta is now a White House counselor, which gives these issues respected representation in debates in the Roosevelt Room and the Oval Office. This is all a welcome shift in emphasis, but of course it doesn’t mean that populist policies are going to become reality anytime soon. There is opposition to them within the Democratic Party and its broader policy solar system. Not nearly as much as there once was; the radical rightward shift of the Republican Party has, perhaps inevitably, moved the Democratic center of gravity leftward. But the opposition to populism continues.
2014: The Year for Primaries in Delaware [Updated with Townsend Statement]

2014: The Year for Primaries in Delaware [Updated with Townsend Statement]

The chart is starting to fill in. But a lot of candidate recruiting remains, especially on the Republican side. One trend is clear: 2014 will feature a lot of primaries. Which makes some sense to a certain extent. Delaware is in many ways a one party state now. Some voters and some candidates recognize that and join the dominant majority party (the Democrats) and then the Democratic Primary is now the only place where there is a competitive election. Perhaps that is why we already have a primary for the 18th Senate District between Gary Wolfe and Patrick Emory. Other primaries result from the actions and performance of the incumbent in office. These kind of primaries take three forms. First, you can have an organic, grass roots affair with a progressive newcomer challenging an entrenched establishment figure. That was certainly the case with Senator Tony Deluca v. Bryan Townsend in 2012. Second, you can have an incumbent so incompetent and/or vulnerable that multiple challengers enter the race. Indeed, the incumbent might be so incompetent and vulnerable that even the state party establishment will turn its back and endorse one of the challengers. And example of this is the 2012 Insurance Commissioner's race with Karen Weldin Stewart, Mitch Crane, Dennis Spivak and Paul Gallagher. Finally, you can have a situation where the incumbent has pissed off the establishment in some way. It could be that the incumbent is rightfully (or wrongfully) challenging the status quo. Or it could be that the incumbent has several scandals that are damaging to the party's chances of keeping the office should the incumbent be the nominee. Or it could be both, if your name is Chip Flowers. And so the establishment puts up a candidate against the incumbent in the hopes that the incumbent will lose.