Archive for January, 2018

More Surprise Primaries Coming

Filed in National by on January 25, 2018 9 Comments
More Surprise Primaries Coming

The primary of Tom Carper is a welcome surprise. But elected Dems at all levels of government should be worried, particularly those Dems that have just been shuffling through the motions. What is the next step for activists who have joined marches, and committed their energies to organizations like Network Delaware and Delaware United?

There is a rumbling and grumbling across the state at the weak effort that Professional Democrats are putting into resisting, not just Trump, but Republicanism in general.

It is happening. Constantly parroting Republican talking points on the need for budget cuts isn’t going to cut it.

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Season of Reckoning, Prologue

Filed in National by on January 24, 2018 36 Comments

By RE Vanella

I’ll be brief.

I’ve been poking around these blog parts for probably ten years. Maybe more. There’s been plenty of commentary written about The Delaware Way. It seems like we get the same retread mediocre middle management types regardless of what we do. Oligarchy light. There are enough bankers and attorneys and pharmaceutical sales people and insurance company lackeys kept satiated to make for an indifferent polity. Corporate work numbs the mind. I know first-hand.

Everyone settles in middle-class and upper middle-class enclaves and the police keep the undesirables under the boot and sequestered in the “rough neighborhoods.” (That’s why “smart police” are absorbed into the same political machine, in case you’ve ever wondered.) We send our kids to private schools or move to Chadds Ford or just create an exburb in Middletown.

This arrangement is untenable.

I’ve never made a meme, but the Tom Carper in the NASCAR fire suit with adverts slapped all over is funny. Funny because it’s true. We can end that. And with your help we will.

A candidate for and of the people will be our representative and we will send her to the United States Senate.

Over the next few weeks platform and policy will be shared. Goals that will bring us together in satisfaction and security. Then, on Saturday, February 10th, our candidate will be introduced to the public at the Chris White Gallery on 7th and Shipley Streets.

I’m asking for one thing. Turn up to the event. We’ve argued for this and hoped for this. Look at the platform. Think on it. Disseminate and discuss it. Then come, rally with comrades, and meet our courageous fighter. This needs to be that kind of effort. Physical attendance will be crucial in this process. The Revolution isn’t televised or periscoped. It simply can’t be. Those tools were created for an ulterior purpose.

I’ll introduced you to her personally. Then together we do what needs doing. Deal?

Audere est facere.

https://www.facebook.com/events

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If Eagles Win, Delaware Loses $625,766

Filed in National by on January 24, 2018 12 Comments
If Eagles Win, Delaware Loses $625,766

What’s a Super Bowl victory by the Eagles worth to the team’s Delaware fans? It better be more than the sum in the headline, because that’s the difference to the state’s football wagering operation depending on the outcome. If the Eagles win, the state will pay out $354,465 to bettors who picked the Eagles to […]

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Open Thread Jan. 24: KHN, Scorned as the One Who Ran and Won

Filed in National, Open Thread by on January 24, 2018 14 Comments
Open Thread Jan. 24: KHN, Scorned as the One Who Ran and Won

Old-timers (and “Big Lebowski” fans) will remember “Branded,” the Chuck Connors Western series about a frontier soldier cashiered for cowardice. The opening credits showed his ritual humiliation — stripped of his army insignia, his sabre broken, sent into the barren landscape as the fort’s doors close behind him. I think that’s what New Castle County […]

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General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Weds., Jan. 24, 2018

Filed in Delaware, Featured by on January 24, 2018 0 Comments

Yo, Kevin Hensley: 1972 called, and it wants its Cadillac-drivin’, steak-eatin’, Welfare Queen racist stereotype back.  Yo, Sen. Pettyjohn: Why don’t you wander over to Gerald ‘Loogy’ Hocker‘s store to see all the displays hawking empty calorie products? Maybe call him out on it. We all know that Rethuglicans peddle race as their primary political […]

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Song Of The Day: Jan. 24, 2018

Filed in Arts and Entertainment by on January 24, 2018 0 Comments

We briefly interrupt Mike Dinsmore Week to bring you a song that, I hope, Mike Dinsmore would embrace and endorse.  The South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela (‘Grazing In The Grass’) passed away yesterday.  Here, from Paul Simon’s Graceland tour, is Masakela calling to bring Nelson Mandela back home to the streets of Johannesburg. Political folk […]

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This is why I hate the Democratic Party

Filed in National by on January 23, 2018 7 Comments
This is why I hate the Democratic Party

The Party is a DC based fundraising scam. This article will make you puke. Literally. Have a bucket at the ready.

James Thompson, who lost a close special election in Kansas and is again running for the Wichita seat in 2018, said the DCCC is specific about why it wants candidates to raise money. “They want you to spend a certain amount of money on consultants, and it’s their list of consultants you have to choose from,” he said. Those consultants tend to be DCCC veterans. A memo the party committee sent to candidates in December lays out some of the demands the DCCC made around spending.

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Biden Confirms: McConnell Wouldn’t Condemn Russian Election Meddling

Filed in National by on January 23, 2018 1 Comment

Joe Biden stopped by one of his favorite haunts Tuesday, the Council on Foreign Relations, where he spoke candidly about Russian interference in the 2016 elections, blaming Mitch McConnell for watering down a bipartisan warning to American voters. Biden was there to discuss his article in Foreign Affairs, “How to Stand Up to the Kremlin.” […]

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Jake Tapper: “The Patriots Are Cheaters”

Filed in National by on January 23, 2018 6 Comments
Jake Tapper: “The Patriots Are Cheaters”

CNN’s Jake Tapper was interviewed on-air about his beloved Philadelphia Eagles, and he pulled no punches. “The Patriots cheat. This is just a fact as established by investigations. They’re a cheating team.”

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For Cape Town April 12th is “Day Zero” – The Day They Run Out of Water

Filed in National by on January 23, 2018 4 Comments
For Cape Town April 12th is “Day Zero”  –  The Day They Run Out of Water

It’s been a bruising week for the city of Cape Town, as dam levels took another tumble following more unforgiving weather and increased water usage. Which, inevitably, has dragged day zero forward by more than a week. Temperatures soared in the Mother City last week, and water consumption averaged 608 million litres per day. It […]

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WARNING-THERE IS NO SURPLUS

Filed in National by on January 23, 2018 7 Comments
WARNING-THERE IS NO SURPLUS

John Carney views Corporate Welfare as a magic bullet that will someday rain economic benefits on the state…eventually….if we are patient…. trust our corporate overlords…if we give them enough…and are worthy supplicants.

It is pure bullshit of course. John Kowalko has something to say on the topic.

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Delaware General Assembly Pre-Game Show: Jan. 23, 2018

Filed in Delaware, Featured by on January 23, 2018 3 Comments

If you’re looking for quality day-to-day coverage of the General Assembly, Matt Bittle of the Delaware State News is doing the best job in Delaware. What a revolutionary idea for a paper–have someone cover the legislature as a beat.  Get to know the issues and the people who populate Leg Hall. Report on what you […]

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Open Thread Jan. 23: How to Fold a Rat

Filed in National, Open Thread by on January 23, 2018 6 Comments

So did Senate Democrats execute a simple, classic, cardboard-suitcase fold, or did Chuck Schumer craft some eleventy-dimensional origami? Lots of people are lamenting the seeming spinelessness, cursing the Gang of 30 as centrist appeasers. Digging deeper, some pundits claim this shifts the pressure to Trump. Some point out they had no choice because while the […]

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