Guest Post — A Skeptic’s View of SB 197 on Human Trafficking

Guest Post — A Skeptic’s View of SB 197 on Human Trafficking

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This is a Guest Post from multiple authors who wanted to discuss some of the weaknesses of HB SB 197 as they see it. As always, this Guest Post doesn't represent the views or opinions of the editors of Delaware Liberal -- we're giving other voices a forum to air their concerns. I'm hoping that the folks who wrote this will join in the discussion.
We (multiple authors) decided to write this post to outline where exactly we see the land lies with SB 197. This particular piece of legislation has been a long time coming, and we roundly applaud Sen. Blevins and all the co-sponsors on the bill. It should sail thru the legislature easily – who would be against stopping Human Slavery. However it seems other agencies, with the responsibility for enforcing the law seem to be either unaware or uncaring about the problem. [...]
Matt Denn is Running for AG!

Matt Denn is Running for AG!

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Is this the good news of the day or what? From Denn's website:
[...]But as I have thought about it and talked it over with my family, I’ve realized that the Attorney General’s office would allow me to take a leadership role on some issues that are critical to our state, while still staying involved in the issues involving Delaware’s children that have been the core of my work over the last six years. The Attorney General, as the state’s chief law enforcement officer, must be someone with the judgment, impartiality and will to prosecute and punish those who have violated the laws of our state. He or she should also possess compassion for our most vulnerable residents, a respect for all citizens of our state regardless of their background, and a vision to prevent crime from occurring by combining smart crime prevention with a commitment to providing Delawareans with real opportunity and hope. I believe that I possess these traits. That's why I have filed to be the Democratic candidate for Attorney General of Delaware in 2014.[...]
The Good News About Governor Markell’s Downtown Development District Initiative

The Good News About Governor Markell’s Downtown Development District Initiative

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Today, Governor Markell has visited Wilmington, Dover and Bridgeville to announce the Downtown Development Initiative. You'll remember that he discussed this in the State of the State Address and it is one of the multiple revitalization initiatives proposed by the Governor this year. The goal of this plan is to have 3 municipalities (to start, one in each county) propose and apply for a Downtown Development District, where development projects in line with the plan would be eligible for up to a 20% grant-in-aid rebate on investment. Investments could be for a single home -- or for larger, transformative projects. The pool of funds available for this is proposed at $7M, shared by those doing the development. If the pool is oversubscribed, then developers would get a smaller share, but all developers would get some rebate. In addition, the Governor proposes to reserve $1.5M in the state's Historic Tax Credits for use in the Downtown Development Districts, adding some additional incentive to help re-create the State's Downtowns.

Sunday Open Thread [3.23.14]

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The always astute Paul Waldman takes to the pages of the WaPo today to diagnose what is wrong with the Sunday Yack Shows. The only reason to watch these shows is to get a handle on the news narrative that is being crafted for the upcoming week. Because the manipulation and laundering of talking points into the reporting narrative *is* what the much vaunted journalistic objectivity looks like from the political reporting machine. This really is a boring exercise -- populated with the same old voices, arrayed in spectacularly silly ways -- when did it get to be a thing to balance a panel of wingnuts with a journalist? And is there any reason at all for George Will or Peggy Noonan to be on TV still? I get that the Sunday Morning shows are basically Company Town TV, but you'd think that a Company Town with as much people churn as DC has would be able to reach out to more voices.

Saturday Open Thread [3.22.2014]

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How about that Dianne Feinstein? Looks like she and her husband are making bank on the closing of some Post Offices. Coincidence? Probably not -- her husband's firms made a good deal of money during the BushCo too:
Between 2001 and 2005, Feinstein vetted and approved $1.5 billion in defense contracts for Perini Corp and URS Corporation – both owned by her husband, Richard Blum. In 2009, Feinstein successfully introduced a bill that routed an additional $25 billion to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), some of it for the purpose of marketing foreclosed property owned by banks that had gone under with the housing and markets crash. In a curious twist, CBRE later received a $108 million FDIC contract to market foreclosed property.

Late Night Video — Penis Pumps Paid for by Medicare

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And penile implants too. All the while no one in Congress or any of the schoolmarm crowd who think that women should pay for their own contraceptives never seem to want to ask men to pay for their Viagra, Cialis, penis pumps or even penile implants. Interesting values here, right? Penis pumps should be taxpayer funded while contraceptives should not be. Hmm. Samantha Bee from the Jon Stewart show takes a look at the hypocrisy:

Late Night Video — A Frozen Father

Who -- like very, very many of us -- is mightly tired of the "Let It Go" song from the movie Frozen. I've only heard this cringeworthy mess a few times and *I'm* over it. Anyway, this Dad wants all of us to Let It Go:
Are Democrats Hurting Wilmington?

Are Democrats Hurting Wilmington?

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That is the question posed by John Sweeney in the NJ Opinion pages today. There's a fair amount of fluff in this piece, and does a thing I mostly hate from newspaper opinion pages -- ask a bunch of questions that its news division is not in the business of helping to answer for its readers. Some of those questions are misdirected -- schools are under the jurisdiction of school boards and the state, the city has little influence over how they operate or serve city kids, for instance. And lumping in all Democratically run cities with Wilmington's story is equally misguided. We can start with the NJ's own comparison of Providence, RI starts to show how inappropriate this is. A city that is mostly Democratic and is clearly back on a upswing -- a city that still has real issues, but a city that the NJ compared to Wilmington in terms of effectiveness in addressing violence. Democratic-run places like Baltimore and Philadelphia also present very different stories -- cities that still have more than their fair share of issues, but cities working at the kind of development and change that starts to address those problems. Interestingly, Baltimore has reasonable support from the MD GA, and Philadelphia does not from the PA GA (GOP controlled). But I don't think that the city's problem is just about Democrats -- I think it is mainly uninspired (and oft-times lazy) governing.
Predicting the Oscars

Predicting the Oscars

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It is Oscar weekend, with the award show happening this Sunday night. I know there are alot of Oscar watch parties around -- including one at Theatre N downtown. If you are a cynic about this entire business, you'll want to see Deadspin's The 2014 Hater's Guide To The Oscars. The best thing about this take is the commentary on 12 Years A Slave (and I hope they are wrong about this movie's chances of winning):
12 Years A Slave: This movie isn't winning Best Picture. I can guarantee it. And you know why I can guarantee it? Because people are cowards. Schindler's List made over $100 million and has been broadcast on network television unedited and without commercial interruption. Ditto Saving Private Ryan. And every installment of the Saw franchise mints a new fortune. Holy shit, are we fascinated by seeing white people killed. Kill them, torture them, mutilate them, have a white girl assaulted on SVU weekly—WE WILL BE THERE. Can't get enough of it. It's important to let white people know we support them in their time of suffering. But ask people to watch a movie about slavery? "WHOA HEY THAT SOUNDS LIKE HOMEWORK! And, God, it just sounds so brutal, you know? I much prefer movies about race to congratulate me and my fellow white theatergoers on our broad-mindedness. Let's go watch fucking Crash instead."

Federal Court Says Texas’ Gay Marriage Ban Is Unconsitutional

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Oh yes, I just wanted to write that headline! Remember that a court striking down Texas' anti-sodomy laws brought us Lawrence V Texas too -- invalidating the remaining anti-sodomy laws on several states' books. From TPM:
{Judge Orlando} Garcia, a Bill Clinton appointee, wrote in his decision that Texas' constitutional ban on same-sex marriage violates equal protection rights under the Fourteenth Amendment. “Texas’ current marriage laws deny homosexual couples the right to marry, and in doing so, demean their dignity for no legitimate reason," he wrote. "Accordingly, the Court finds these laws are unconstitutional and hereby grants a preliminary injunction enjoining Defendants from enforcing Texas’ bans on same-sex marriage.”