Alby's Latest Posts
March 29 Open Thread: How Real Bipartisanship Works
Chris Coons could take a lesson in bipartisanship from his 22 female colleagues. All 22 of them — 17 Democrats, 5 Republicans — signed a letter to Mitch McConnell demanding the Senate move forward with reforms to the sexual harassment protocols for Congress. Specifically, they didn’t find one Republican so they could call it bipartisan […]
Outten Outta Here
WXDE 105.9 is reporting that Republican State Rep. Bobby Outten won’t seek re-election. Outten, a lifelong Harrington resident, has represented the rural 30th District in southwestern Kent County since succeeding Bobby Quillen in 2004. No word on whether anyone else named Bobby is ready to run this November.
This Is Your Brain on Guns
Second Amendment enthusiasts — as distinct from gun owners in general — are called “gun nuts” for a reason, and it’s not because they like shooting squirrels out of hickory trees. Somewhere in this favored land some devoted NRA types are surveying the post-Parkland landscape with the calm reflection and somber dignity … oh, hell, […]
March 28 Open Thread: St. Anthony’s Finds Its Misplaced Good Sense
You couldn’t write a better ad for the effectiveness of Tom Neuberger in fighting the Catholic authorities: He got St. Anthony’s parish and the Diocese of Wilmington to back down and reinstate Padua Academy Principal Cindy Mann to her post. Neuberger, who was treating Mann’s labor dispute as pro-bono case, told the News Journal: “It […]
Coons Saves America With Bipartisan Urging
The American republic, in dire peril of collapsing into a one-party Third World-style autocracy, was saved today by Sen. Chris Coons and Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, who released a bipartisan call for the Mueller probe to be allowed to proceed without impediment. They boldly stated: We urge President Trump to allow the Special Counsel to […]
Rhetorical Shots Fired, Facts Injured in Gun Debate
State lawmakers are getting testy over gun-control legislation, at least on Facebook. Matt Bittle of the Delaware State News has the story of the spat between State Sen. Dave Lawson and House Speak Pete Schwartzkopf over a semi-true video Lawson posted urging people to oppose two gun bills. Lawson’s video made untrue claims about what […]
March 27 Open Thread: Surf’s Up
A blue wave in November is pretty much a given at this point, but will it be big enough for Democrats to retake the House? A new report says it will take the biggest electoral wave in 40 years to overcome the gerrymanders the Republicans enacted in many of the 30 states they control. The […]
Pete Peterson Is Gone, But His Bad Ideas Live On in Carper
The patron saint of Delaware Democrats, Peter G. “Pete” Peterson, died last week. He’s the former Nixon commerce secretary who made his billions co-founding the Blackstone Group, one of Wall Street’s hungriest vampire squid. To the greater detriment of Americans, he also co-founded the Concord Coalition, the bipartisan panel of deficit scolds who preach austerity […]
March 26 Open Thread: Big Bust Might Lead to Big Bust
The March for Our Lives turnout exceeded my expectations, and produced hours of riveting testimonials from children about the effects shooting have on their lives. That’s unbeatable TV, and the right knows it, which is why their media gasped for the proper response. As you would expect, they ranged from “inappropriate” to “wildly inappropriate.” By […]
March 24 Open Thread: None Dare Call It Brainwashing
A whistleblowing Cambridge Analyitica employee gave The Guardian the 27-page internal document it calls Trump’s blueprint for victory, detailing its use of social media platforms to both disseminate ads and false claims and determine which were most effective in a continuous feedback loop. It’s fascinating reading, and remember this is all not only legal but […]
March 23 Open Thread: Trump Wants Trade Wars and Hot Wars
Among all the distractions in the 24-hour news cycle, the most important story got buried amid the detritus: Trump slapped tariffs on a bunch of Chinese goods, and the American stock market took a dive the entire time he talked. Economists have an axiom that currency wars are followed by trade wars, which are followed […]
March 22 Open Thread: Facebook Faces the Music
It’s hard not to feel some schadenfreude over Facebook’s sudden fall in fortune. Mark Zuckerberg finally addressed the issue of privacy with some vague promises, but the potential legal problems have Facebook stock tumbling, and its uncertain future unleashed near-record option trading. Stripping Jared Kushner of his security clearance apparently came too late for some […]
March 21 Open Thread: Blue Dog Night
Blue Dog Democrat Dan Lipinski eked out a victory against his progressive challenger, Marie Newman, in suburban Chicago. This indicates to me that November’s blue wave isn’t about electing any particular kind of Democrat so much as tossing Republicans out. The British TV expose of Cambridge Analytica brought about the suspension of its CEO, along […]
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