Bond Bill Committee Zeros Out Municipal Street Aid and Community Transportation Fund

Bond Bill Committee Zeros Out Municipal Street Aid and Community Transportation Fund

This is reported to me by multiple sources at Leg Hall, (and the NJ!)with counties and other municipalities (and the REALTORS) furiously pushing back on this as well as the decrease in revenue sharing for the Real Estate Transfer tax. None of this is a done deal until the legislature takes its final vote, but blowing big holes in every single county and municipal entity here in Delaware doesn't strike me as the most productive bit of business. Of course, they wouldn't have such a big problem if they had passed a gas tax last year. Or if they had even passed the weak tea of the fee increases this week:
Scott Walker’s Wingnut Extortion Plan

Scott Walker’s Wingnut Extortion Plan

Scott Walker is threatening to NOT run for President, unless he can extort $100 grand from a bunch of suckers by June 30th.
Jason, As you know, I am nearing a decision about whether to seek the Republican nomination for President of the United States, but a decision this important takes time ... and money. Whether I run will depend on the support I receive from conservatives like you during this crucial decision-making process. To that end, we have set an ambitious goal...
Friday Open Thread [6.26.15]

Friday Open Thread [6.26.15]

President Obama delivered an emotional and powerful eulogy at the funeral service for Reverend Clementa Pinckney this afternoon. If you haven't had the chance to see this magnificent and compassionate eulogy, sit down and see it now and see it until the end:
BREAKING: Gay Marriage Is Legal!

BREAKING: Gay Marriage Is Legal!

The Supreme Court has declared that same-sex couples have a right to marry anywhere in the United States. Gay and lesbian couples already can marry in 36 states and the District of Columbia. The court's ruling on Friday means the remaining 14 states, in the South and Midwest, will have to stop enforcing their bans on same-sex marriage.
Thursday Open Thread [6.25.15]

Thursday Open Thread [6.25.15]

The coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska is one of America’s greatest wilderness. This area is the birthing and nursing ground for the Porcupine Caribou Herd,…
ACA Subsidies Upheld 6-3

ACA Subsidies Upheld 6-3

Suck it, you Teabags.
WASHINGTON –The still-controversial but increasingly sturdy Affordable Care Act survived a major challenge Thursday as the Supreme Court rejected claims that could have dismantled the health care plan. The court ruled 6-3 against four Virginia plaintiffs who had insisted that federal subsidies offered to offset the cost of health insurance purchased on a federal exchange operated on behalf of 34 states, including Texas, were illegal.
This utterly fraudulent, purely political case should never had made it this far.
Bernie Sanders packs thousands into a Denver gymnasium

Bernie Sanders packs thousands into a Denver gymnasium

Sanders is catching fire. My takeaways below:
Bernie Sanders, who’s emerged as Hillary Rodham Clinton’s chief rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, drew an estimated crowd of more than 5,000 people to the University of Denver on Saturday night for what appeared to be one of the largest political rallies of the 2016 cycle. Sanders, the self-described democratic socialist senator from Vermont, delivered a fiery speech in a packed university gymnasium, where he decried the greed of the billionaire class, saying it is “destroying this nation.” Besides the more than 3,000 people in the gym, others listened in an adjacent atrium.
General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Weds., June 24, 2015

General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Weds., June 24, 2015

The Del-Tech stench grows fouler by the hour.  Despite the fact that no public notice was given, as required by Senate rules, the Senate Finance Commitee (illegally) met today and voted the Del-Tech Relief Act out of committee.  It's on today's agenda, just as it was on yesterday's agenda.  The difference being that only one Senate rule was violated instead of the two rules that were violated in order for it to be placed on yesterday's agenda. Make no mistake. The committee met because of what we wrote here yesterday.  They're gonna try to railroad this bill through, and every homeowner will pay w/o having any say over the so-called 'Community College Infrastructure Fund'. As Al Mascitti pointed out yesterday, this is not the first time this exact same scheme has been proposed by Del-Tech. When Lonnie George did it, he at least announced the legislation in January, which gave legislators and the public enough (or, for those of you supported it, too much) time to reject it for the blatant rip-off it was.  It's no coincidence that Mark Brainard and the bill's supporters waited until June 11 to introduce the bill and try to sneak it through w/o any public input. The bill still sucks. As Al also pointed out, tuition at Del-Tech is far below the national average, and a very modest increase in that tuition would pay for this scheme w/o bilking homeowners who have no interest in Del-Tech and have no idea they're about to be bilked. I call on many of the fine legislators who inexplicably have signed onto this bill to put the brakes on this cynical maneuver.