Wednesday Open Thread [1.7.2015]

An insane Maryland Republican officeholder, Kirby Delauter, threatened to sue his local newspaper for printing his name without his express permission. No, he did not threaten to sue the paper for a false or defamatory report. He threatened them because they printed his name, presumably because he took some action in his official capacity as a County Councilman and such an action constituted news fit to print in a local newspaper. But according to this Republican tyrant, that news cannot be reported unless he gives his permission, or it can be, but his name cannot be used.

Needless to say, the local newspaper out in Frederick County gave the very appropriate response to such an evil fascist threat, in the form of an editorial. And make sure you take note of the first letter of each paragraph.

“House Republicans on Tuesday formally adopted a controversial change to congressional math rules that will most likely make it easier to cut taxes,” Politico reports.

“In one of the first acts of the 114th Congress, Republicans in a largely party-line vote of 234-172 approved the rules ordering lawmakers’ budget referees to incorporate the economic effects of legislation into their cost estimates — known as dynamic scoring.”

So they changed the math. To make their tax cuts more palatable, 5 minus 10 no longer equals -5. We have to add in some magical fairy dust to make it a positive number. That is just what the House has done.

Nate Silver: The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza has New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie as the second most likely Republican presidential nominee after Rand Paul. University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato lists Christie as one of the top four candidates, along with Paul, Jeb Bush and Scott Walker. And the betting market BetFair had Christie as the fourth most likely as of midmorning Tuesday.”

“These assessments seem much too bullish; Christie has three fundamental problems that are likely to prevent him from becoming the GOP’s candidate. It might be possible to overcome any one of these, but two is very difficult and three is almost impossible.”

First Read likewise wonders why Keystone should be the first order of business:

Republicans now have complete control of Congress, and the first thing they want to get done is … the Keystone XL pipeline? That’s the statement they want to make after their midterm victories? “The president’s going to see the Keystone XL Pipeline on his desk, and it is going to be a bellwether decision by the president,” Sen. John Barrasso said on “Meet the Press” this past Sunday. We get the politics of Keystone; we’ve been covering the issue for years now. But it’s such small ball — and it’s even smaller now in the midst of the lowest gas prices in years and 200,000-plus jobs being created each month. We’ve got to ask: All that money spent on the midterms, all that jockeying for control of the Senate, and first real statement from the new GOP majority is Keystone? It’s small-ball politics, whether you’re on the right, left or in the middle. It’s certainly no Contract with America.