A Literal “Yes” or “No” Question

A Literal “Yes” or “No” Question

If you're like me, you know the law states the State Board of Education must vote yea or nay on WEIC as a whole package, as it is submitted by the Commission. No amendments, no language changes, just a straight yes or no, and they had to vote. If you're like me, you may also remember that in January the State Board decided to not vote at all on the plan, as they were legally required to do, and handed it back to Tony Allen with their reasoning for not supporting it. Remember that part about having to vote? Pepperidge Farm Remembers.
President Bartlet is Robocalling…

President Bartlet is Robocalling…

A progressive group is invoking the classic television show "The West Wing" via its star Martin Sheen to pressure GOP senators who face tough re-elections to hold hearings on President Obama's Supreme Court nominee. A robocall campaign by the liberal People For The American Way will get underway in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and target Sens. Pat Toomey (R-PA) and Ron Johnson (R-WI), respectively, who are both up for re-election. People For The American way provided the TPM with the robocall in advance of the public announcement. Come inside for the audio of the call.
Now is the time to raise the gas tax.

Now is the time to raise the gas tax.

Right now, in the Brandywine Hundred region, the price for a gallon of gas is about $1.67. So if you are going to raise the gas tax to fund infrastructure and transportation improvements throughout the state, now is the time, when the prices are low, to do it. Personally, I believe the tax is a regressive tax that punishes the lower wage earners more than the wealthy. So a gas tax is not my first choice. But if you are going to do it, now is the time to do it. And State Reps. Sean Matthews' and Michael Mulrooney's bill will allow a reevaluation if the price of a gallon of gas rises, as it surely will.
Thursday Open Thread [2.18.16]

Thursday Open Thread [2.18.16]

Kevin Drum on how he thinks the Supreme Court fight will play out: it will be a battle over Reasonableness.
So now Republicans are backing off a bit. President Obama announced in mild tones that of course he'd nominate someone—that's what the Constitution tells him to do—and Republicans are kinda sorta saying that they'll hold hearings after all. If they do, they've probably dodged a bullet since most of America isn't really paying attention yet. The next stage in this PR battle is up to Obama: will he nominate someone who's scrupulously centrist and well qualified? That would rack up some points for Team Liberal in the battle to seem most reasonable. Will Republicans then run hearings that are at least tolerably efficient and fair-minded? That would rack up some points on their side. Roughly speaking, every statement or action by anyone in the Supreme Court fight should be interpreted as a shot being fired in the underlying PR war. Most people won't care about this—they're already firmly on a team—but there's a small sliver of voters in the middle who do care, and they could make the difference in November. For that reason, it's worth it for each side to try to rein in its extremists and put up a show of being the most reasonable. Democrats have the early lead right now, but they won't necessarily keep it. After all, they have a base to keep happy too.
It depends on who the centrist is. Senator Dean Heller (R-NV) suggested the so called "centrist" Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval (R). LOLz. Meanwhile, Sri Srinivasan is also considered a respectable moderate choice, given his 97-0 Senate vote of confirmation in 2013 to the DC Circuit, the supposed minor league to the Supreme Court's big league, but he would be much more decidedly liberal in his opinions.