UPDATED: “Coons still a no”

UPDATED: “Coons still a no”

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This from Reuters:
Senate staffers pressured Democrats including Chris Coons of Delaware to reverse their opposition to the pipeline. But Coons had used a similar line to King's in saying Congress should not issue permits when he said last week he would vote no. "He's still a no," a Coons aide said Tuesday afternoon.
Who ‘Killed’ Sean Matthews?

Who ‘Killed’ Sean Matthews?

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No, this is not one of those comic book 'dream' issues. Somebody 'killed' Sean Matthews. And apparently 200 or more of his supporters. The 'deceased' did not know of their demise until someone from the Democratic Party caught wind of the massive tragedy.  And subsequently raised them from the dead. Here's the unbelievable story: Both Sean Matthews and Dennis E. Williams had access to the Democratic Party Voter File...until the 10th R. D. officially endorsed Dennis Williams. At that point, only the endorsed candidate had access to the file.  Until after the primary, that is.  You will recall that Matthews defeated the incumbent D Williams.  Which meant that, as of September 10, Matthews was able to access the file. Only, something had happened in the interim. Someone had gone into the Voter File and marked over 200 voters as 'deceased', including Sean Matthews. Only the Williams people had access to the file, and someone or some someones had to actively go in and change the status of these voters to deceased.  It wasn't the Party. They were the ones who spotted the mischief-making and alerted Matthews right away. BTW, virtually none of the alleged deceased were in fact deceased, if any.
Carper Changes His Reason For Voting in Favor of Keystone in the 11th Hour

Carper Changes His Reason For Voting in Favor of Keystone in the 11th Hour

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Because his prior pretext (that this show of bipartisanship will usher in a golden age of bipartisan peace and prosperity) was patently ludicrous and <a href="http://delawareliberal.net//2014/11/13/i-cant-let-it-go-somebody-talk-me-down/">every bit of it was a cynical lie,</a> Carper has updated his reason for voting in favor of the environment catastrophe known as the Keystone pipeline. Now he says he is voting for this flaming peice of toxic shit because Mary Landreiu begged him to. <blockquote> "Senator Landrieu has been cajoling, pleading with her colleagues—mostly Democrats—to provide an up or down vote on this," Carper said in a recent interview with Bloomberg Politics. "I think the time has come." </blockquote> That's some fucking bullshit. As late as yesterday, we was still trying to slide by on the cynical lie that Republicans would "reciprocate" and a golden age of bipartisan work on climate change would commence.
Tuesday Open Thread [11.18.14]

Tuesday Open Thread [11.18.14]

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David Roberts, a writer for Grist, has succinctly encapsulates what has been and is wrong with our politics over the last thirty years. And to be clear, it is something that is wrong with our current brand of post-modern conservatives, and not something that is wrong with anyone else. You must read them all....
From the Department of Obvious Findings: More Guns = More Crime

From the Department of Obvious Findings: More Guns = More Crime

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Contrary to gun-nut dogma, "right-to-carry" laws don't reduce crime. They increase it.
"The totality of the evidence based on educated judgments about the best statistical models suggests that right-to-carry laws are associated with substantially higher rates" of aggravated assault, robbery, rape and murder, Donohue said in an interview with the Stanford Report. The evidence suggests that right-to-carry laws are associated with an 8 percent increase in the incidence of aggravated assault, according to Donohue. He says this number is likely a floor, and that some statistical methods show an increase of 33 percent in aggravated assaults involving a firearm after the passage of right-to-carry laws.
Makes sense. Guns make the weak feel strong.