The December 31, 2016 Thread

“President Obama will head to Capitol Hill next week to meet with Democratic lawmakers to discuss a strategy to fight the ObamaCare repeal effort,” The Hill reports. “Obama will hold a joint meeting with House and Senate Democrats at 9 a.m. Wednesday in the Capitol Visitor Center auditorium. The notice for the meeting says the session is expected to last ‘at least one hour.'”

The December 30, 2016 Thread

“The Obama administration struck back at Russia on Thursday for its efforts to influence the 2016 election, ejecting 35 Russian intelligence operatives from the United States and imposing sanctions on Russia’s two leading intelligence services,” the New York Times reports. “The administration also sanctioned four top officers of one of those services, the military intelligence unit known as the G.R.U., which the White House believes ordered the attacks on the Democratic National Committee and other political organizations.” “The expulsion of the 35 Russian spies, who were posing as diplomats, was in response to the harassment of American diplomats in Russia, officials said. None of those officials are believed to be connected to the hacking.”

Odds & Ends

I am updating the Blog Roll on the right column. Removing a lot of dead links or dead blogs. If you know of a website that we should add, please let us know in the comments. Also, we will be having a series of polls over the next week and a half giving final grades to President Obama and Governor Markell, as they both are leaving office. We will also begin doing our approval rating polls of various state and federal officials. Of course, these polls are not scientific, as they are non-random internet polls. They are just for fun.

The December 29, 2016 Thread

Secretary of State John Kerry accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel “of thwarting peace in the Middle East, speaking with a clarity and harshness almost never heard from American diplomats when discussing one of their closest and strongest allies,” the New York Times reports. “With only 23 days left in his four-year turn as secretary of state, during which he made the search for peace in the Middle East one of his driving missions, Mr. Kerry said the Israeli government was undermining any hope of a two-state solution to its decades-long conflict with the Palestinians.” Wall Street Journal: “Mr. Kerry’s decision to deliver a broad, hard-hitting speech on the Middle East just three weeks before leaving office reflected the frustration many in the administration say they feel about the failure of peace efforts and the accusation by Israel and some of its Washington allies that President Barack Obama hasn’t been a loyal friend.” Israel has made the two state solution now realistically impossible due to the illegal settlements in the West Bank. Thus there can only be a one state solution: Israel with both Jewish Israelis, Arab Israelis and Palestinians as residents and citizens. If Israel denies the full rights of citizenship (including voting rights) to the Palestinians and Arab citizens residing within its borders (now including the whole of the West Bank), that means it is a discriminatory Apartheid state that must be opposed by the whole world. Good job Israelis.
Tip: KWS denied job in Carney Administration, May Run Again in 2020.

Tip: KWS denied job in Carney Administration, May Run Again in 2020.

From our Tip Line:
No insurance industry publications, nor the WNJ, have so far acknowledged the election of new DE insurance commissioner Trinidad Navarro, who will replace failed incompetent Karen Weldin Stewart. However, she is working hard to stay relevant, including asking John Carney for a job which he of course refused. She was interviewed at the recent national meeting of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) in Miami Beach, obviously arranged and bought-and-paid for by one of her cronies, by a representative of international insurance rating agency A.M. Best. [...] After the interview, A.M. Best published a big article with a photo of her in which she spouts off about what she sees as the future of Delaware insurance matters and how she would do things. She added she may run again in 2020 [when she will be 74 years old] or become IC in another state, or just hold off on deciding, i.e. "taking a cue from Joe Biden". Her hubris is breathtaking. No questions about Trini Navarro by the interviewer, nor an acknowledgment from her. This sycophantic crap was inappropriate and unprofessional on the part of A.M. Best, to put it mildly. Looks like you'll have to deal with this arrogant moron for at least the next four years because she ain't going away.
I am pretty sure the Wilmington News Journal has acknowledged the election the election of Trinidad Navarro when they reported the election results, both on September 13 and November 8. So I am not sure what that reference is about. As for Insurance Industry publications or the A.M. Best interview, I would have no idea. But yes, Karen Weldin Stewart should retire from attempts at seeking office. I am sure she will be present at Democratic Party functions and events because she always is. This Baby Boom generation of politicians, whether national or local, sure are clinging to power, aren't they?
Moving Forward: Your Complaints and Suggestions. Our Plans for 2017.

Moving Forward: Your Complaints and Suggestions. Our Plans for 2017.

Alright, in this down week between Christmas and New Years where it seems everyone is on vacation, I thought it would be a good time for some feedback from our readers. Yes, I want you all to be brutally honest with us about your ideas, suggestions, and complaints about Delaware Liberal over the past year. I know we need to improve our local coverage after being sucked into the Trump Vortex with all other media in the past year. To that end, we will be returning to our Vote Tracking roots in the new year, with some changes. Instead of a large post every few weeks, each relevant piece of legislation will be given its own post, and links to each individual post will be saved on the front page under a single "mothership" post. We will be doing the same for Congress this year, tracking how the Delaware Delegation fights the Fuhrer with all their might, or whether they will capitulate. I also want to explore ways to change the anonymous commenting system, if at all possible. Sockpuppetry has returned (where more than 1 person has multiple accounts). I know many value the psuedo-anonymity Delaware Liberal provides. But sometimes that leads to some pretty fervent commentary and flame wars. So have at it. Or at me. I won't hold anything you say against you.

The December 28, 2016 Thread

DR Tucker says no more drama:
Let’s all make a New Year’s Resolution for 2017: no more hand-wringing about why Hillary Clinton didn’t win the Electoral College. In the days following the dark night of November 8, I have been mystified as to why most Democrats and progressives didn’t come to the obvious conclusion that the Electoral College win of the, shall we say, uncharitable Republican nominee was a fluke, that there was nothing Clinton really could have done to avoid such a fluke, that sometimes stuff happens. Clinton didn’t lose the Electoral College because of identity politics, or because she ran a bad campaign, or because “Make America Great Again” was a more compelling slogan than “Stronger Together.” She lost the Electoral College because Trump got lucky. On any given Election Day, any candidate can beat any other candidate. Democratic self-flagellation is not needed. Can we also resolve to knock it off with the “Bernie would have beaten Donald” stuff? That’s like arguing that Bill Bradley would have kicked George W. Bush’s rear end in 2000. Sanders supporters are merely speculating when they make this sort of argument; how would Sanders have dealt with the right-wing media infrastructure striking down upon him with great vengeance and furious anger in an general election? Those who insist that Sanders would have stomped on Trump are arguing, in essence, that everyone who voted for Clinton in the Democratic primary made a mistake. Really? Democrats and progressives should spend their intellectual energy developing strategies to strip the bark off of Donald Trump, not continuing to lament a fluke outcome. If a superior team with a superior coach and a superior quarterback loses the Super Bowl to an inferior team with an inferior coach and an inferior quarterback, and it’s obvious to every spectator watching that the inferior team got lucky, the superior team shouldn’t spend the offseason despondent over the upset loss, but determined to dominate the next season and the playoffs, in order to get another shot at the trophy.
Emphasis mine.