Tuesday Open Thread [8.16.16]

Tuesday Open Thread [8.16.16]

Nate Cohn: “The Upshot’s model gives Mrs. Clinton an 88 percent chance of winning. It’s about the same probability of hitting a field goal from the 20-yard line.” “That’s a pretty good way to think about it. If Mrs. Clinton ultimately wins, we will probably look back and say she had more or less already won it by this point. If she loses, these next two months will be talked about for decades.” “The game-winning field-goal analogy has one big weakness: She may win this by a lot more than a field goal.”
Breaking: Delaware AG Matt Denn Will Not Appeal Death Penalty Ruling

Breaking: Delaware AG Matt Denn Will Not Appeal Death Penalty Ruling

Just got this press release from the AG's office:
Attorney General Will Not Appeal To U.S. Supreme Court On Death PenaltyDelaware DOJ Will Argue State Court Decision Is Not Retroactive After carefully reviewing the Delaware Supreme Court’s opinion regarding the constitutionality of Delaware’s current death penalty statute, the Attorney General has decided not to appeal the decision to the United States Supreme Court.  He has concluded that even if the United States Supreme Court reversed the opinion on Federal Constitutional grounds, that the Delaware Supreme Court would ultimately invalidate Delaware’s current death penalty statute based on the Constitution of the State of Delaware.  The Delaware Supreme Court has repeatedly stated that the Delaware Constitution provides rights to a jury trial that are independent of and in some instances more expansive than those provided by the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution.  Litigating and appealing these issues – a process that would likely take years before issues of both federal and state constitutional law were resolved -- would likely not only bring about the same result, but would also deny the families of victims sentencing finality.

Sucks to be Bonini

Poor chap. Not only did Copeland sucker him into being on the drubbed side of an electoral drubbing, now he has Lyme Disease. In all honesty, he should drop out. What does he owe the DEGOP? Why should he put his health on the line to spare Copeland the embarrassment of sitting with Laser Lafferty on Return Day? He shouldn't.
Monday Open Thread [8.15.16]

Monday Open Thread [8.15.16]

Paul Krugman: “Just to be clear, I’m not saying that top Republicans were or are personally bigoted — but that doesn’t matter. What does matter is that they were willing to curry favor with bigots in the service of tax cuts for the rich and financial deregulation. Remember, Mitt Romney eagerly accepted a Trump endorsement in 2012, knowing full well that he was welcoming a racist conspiracy theorist into his camp.” “All that has happened this year is a move of those white nationalists from part of the supporting cast to a starring role. So when Republicans who went along with the earlier strategy draw the line at Mr. Trump, they’re not really taking a stand on principle; they’re just complaining about the price. And the party’s top leadership isn’t even willing to do that.”

Saturday Open Thread [8.13.16]

Donald Trump said he “certainly” wants to take part in the presidential debates this fall, but wants to see a fair moderator, The Hill reports. Said Trump: “That’s all I’m looking for. Because we have a lot of very unfair people treating us, as Republicans and as conservatives. If you’re a Republican and a conservative, you get very unfair treatment.” That's how he back out of the debate, he will reject all of the Commission's chosen moderators.

Friday Open Thread [8.12.16]

Zack Beauchamp at Vox brings up pesky things calls facts as he explains that ISIS was founded well before President Obama took office:
In short: The group that would become ISIS was founded in Jordan in 1999, and became devoted to holding territory in Iraq after the US invasion in 2003. You can debate which of these constitutes ISIS’s "founding" in some metaphysical sense. But by any definition, the group was founded well before President Obama came into office. Trump is just flatly wrong on this. [...] Okay, a Trump defender might say, but Trump’s real point isn’t that Obama "created" ISIS. It’s that Obama withdrew US troops from Iraq in 2011, creating a security vacuum that allowed ISIS to regain its strength. This is a pretty standard conservative narrative, one not at all unique to Trump. It is, however, quite wrong. The real sources of ISIS’s recent growth were the Syrian civil war and political sectarianism in Iraq, neither of which was within the power of United States to prevent.
Hell, if we had stayed in Iraq, the only thing that would have changed is that more American soldiers would be dead today, not less Iraqi and Syrian civilians.

Friday Daily Delawhere [8.12.16]

The Heat is getting to WDEL.

And I am enjoying it. Here is there headline: Headline The story is full of sarcasm too:
On Wednesday, the high temperature was 90 degrees, and with Thursday's anticipated high of a positively chilly 91 before Friday, Saturday, and Sunday give way to 94, 95, and 95 degrees, respectively, the region is in the middle a heat wave. By Monday, Delawareans should be ready to break out the jackets again, however, when the temperatures are expected to tumble all the way to 90. [...] Accuweather officials said, because it is where humanity collectively seeks solace from the crippling heat, the biggest change felt will actually be the lack of nighttime relief from the (brutal, oppressive, almost angry) sun's effects.
Bravo, WDEL. Well done.

What are they currently thinking?

John Kasich: "I would be totally winning right now." Ted Cruz: "My Lands, I would be totally winning right now." Marco Rubio: "OMG!, I would be totally winning right now." Jeb Bush:"I would most certainly be well on my way of probably winning right now." Donald Trump: "I am totally winning right now."