Tuesday Open Thread [6.10.14]

Tuesday Open Thread [6.10.14]

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Jonathan Chait says Obama has accomplished all of his domestic goals that he listed in his Inaugural Address in 2009. I think when people right the book on the Obama Presidency, it is going to be the most eventful in terms of accomplishment since Franklin Roosevelt's. Consider this from Andrew Sullivan:
Imagine the legacy [at the end of Obama's presidency]: no troops in Iraq or Afghanistan; Gitmo closed; universal healthcare entrenched; Iran’s nuclear threat defused; marriage equality in all fifty states; the end of marijuana Prohibition; and carbon energy cut down to size. Repeat after me: meep meep, motherf*ckers.
General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Tues., June 10, 2014

General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Tues., June 10, 2014

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I'm hearing alarm bells over a package of corporate bills on today's agenda. Bills like these generally sail through the General Assembly in June, and reflect lawyerly obeisance to their corporate masters. Nobody usually knows what's in these bills, except for the legal sharks and the corporate forces writing the bills for/with them.  Which brings me to HB's  327 and 328.   Both sponsored by Rep. Walker, who is running them, as well as HB's 326 and 329 on behalf of the Corporate Law section of the Delaware Bar. The League of Women Voters, Americans for Democratic Action, and the Delaware Alliance for Community Advancement have all expressed concerns regarding HB 327  and HB 328.   From the ADA:
Delaware is a leader in incorporation. As such, we have responsibilities to ensure we are supporting legitimately-purposed corporations as well as not allowing our state to be used as an easy way for people to set up corporations anonymously and then use them to facilitate drug smuggling, arms trafficking, money laundering, anonymous campaign contributions, or other nefarious activities. Our state’s reputation suffers when we allow bad actors to take advantage of our laws that enable the easy establishment of untraceable shell companies. ...However, these bills are ineffective as written. They do not require information be collected about the real people, often called beneficial owners, who ultimately own or control Delaware companies, and they do not make it any easier for law enforcement to access this information—in fact, for law enforcement to access the information that is collected, someone at the company needs to be tipped off that they are under investigation.
Second Amendment Activists Shoot Down Tyranny in Las Vegas

Second Amendment Activists Shoot Down Tyranny in Las Vegas

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Las Vegas couple who spread freedom and liberty by shooting to death two police officers, and a third person delivered a anti-tyranny message as they left home before the ambush with a shopping cart of weapons, a neighbor said. "We gotta do what we gotta do," Jerad Miller told Kelly Fielder, adding that he and his wife, Amanda, were departing for an "underground world." Amanda Miller then embraced the neighbor and said, "I am so sorry." Fielder said she had heard the husband make anti-government statements in the past — including a desire to overthrow the government and President Obama and kill police officers — but was not alarmed by them.
Monday Open Thread [6.9.14]

Monday Open Thread [6.9.14]

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First Read:
"There's an important thing missing from these highlights: direct criticism of President Obama or those in his team... Clinton's book was always expected to be an important tell about her 2016 ambitions: If she aired dirty laundry, she probably isn't going to run (because such criticisms wouldn't help her with the Democratic base). But if she was 95% positive, she probably is going to run. Well, I think we have our answer here, right? This is someone who's still involved in politics, rather than an ex-politician who's ready to dish and tell."
I will be receiving my book Wednesday, and I can't wait to read it. Another excerpt: "I wasn't alone in getting it wrong. But I still got it wrong. Plain and simple." -- Hillary Clinton, quoted in her forthcoming memoir, about voting to authorize the Iraq war. More from Hillary: "“… I should have stated my regret sooner and in the plainest, most direct language possible. … I held out against using the word mistake. It wasn’t because of political expediency. … [I]n our culture, saying you made a mistake is often taken as weakness when in fact it can be a sign of strength and growth for people and nations.” Duh. If only she had said that in 2007 and 2008. She gave Obama an opening by refusing to say that.

Americans Hate Insurance Companies and Really Like Medicare

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This outfit called Morning Consult has done some polling to gauge American attitudes towards some aspects of our health care system and then created a word cloud of the responses. Interestingly, "expensive" and "greedy" are associated with insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, medical device companies and hospitals. Americans are more positive about nurses and Medicare. I'm posting the two word clouds for Insurance Companies and Medicare (thinking that the idea of being able to buy into Medicare as a Public Option was really a missed opportunity by Congress), but you should go over and see all of their word clouds -- it is an interesting narrative:

Sunday Open Thread [6.8.14]

1 Comment
I LOVE this story -- a British WWII vet busts out of his retirement home to go to Normandy for the D-Day celebrations.
An 89-year-old British World War II veteran who went missing from his retirement home was found in France enjoying a D-Day anniversary get-together with former comrades, police said Friday. Bernard Jordan slipped out of The Pines care home in the seaside town of Hove in southern England on Thursday wearing his medals under his raincoat. The former Royal Navy officer then joined a coach party heading for events marking the 70th anniversary of the landings at Ouistreham in Normandy, northern France.

Late Night Video — Feminist Terrorist Sleeper Cell

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Great video from representatives of the Lady Parts Justice Feminist Terrorist Sleeper Cell, a terrorist group responding to the crazy petition by one more exercise in bogus male victimization that is called "A Voice for Men" at Change.org asking the White House to classify Feminism as a Terrorist Group. I never thought of myself as terrorist material, but the Lady Parts Justice Feminist Sleeper Cell seems like my kind of terrorism: