Sunday Open Thread [6.9.13]

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Here is some polling goodness for our open thread today.... 2013 MASSACHUSETTS--U.S. SENATE--PPP: Rep. Ed Markey (D) 47, Gabriel Gomez (R) 39. MASSACHUSETTS--U.S. SENATE--University of Massachusetts: Markey 51, Gomez 40. 2014 PENNSYLVANIA--GOVERNOR--Quinnipiac: Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D) 45, Gov. Tom Corbett (R) 45; State Treasurer Rob McCord (D) 43, Corbett 35.
"Already unpopular with Pennsylvania women, Gov. Tom Corbett trails the leading female challenger, U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz, and State Treasurer Rob McCord," said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "Election Day is 17 months away, but Schwartz is in a strong position to become Pennsylvania's first female Governor."
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Wednesday Open Thread [6.5.13]

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Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), "the leading Republican behind the Gang of Eight comprehensive immigration reform bill, says he will not vote for the legislation he helped write and has staked his political future on, unless substantial changes are made before final Senate consideration," Byron York reports. What a tool, and such an amateur. And what a coward.

Tuesday Open Thread [6.4.13]

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The Washington Post has a interesting article on the House GOP breaking into factions after the fiscal cliff vote and how Speaker John Boehner ultimately held onto his job during the Williamsburg Summit. Basically, God spared Boehner.
"Barely 36 hours after the caustic New Year's Day vote, Boehner faced a coup attempt from a clutch of renegade conservatives. The cabal quickly fell apart when several Republicans, after a night of prayer, said God told them to spare the speaker. Still, Boehner came within a few votes of failing to secure his speakership on the initial vote, an outcome that would have forced a second ballot for the first time in nearly a century."
You know, I pray. But I have never received an answer to those prayers from God. I may discern God's intentions and will myself from subsequent events, but that is my own deduction and analysis, based on my knowledge of God and myself. But I never heard God's voice, either disembodied in the air somewhere or in my own head, answer my prayer. So I think we need some clarification here from our wonderful Republican congressman. Did they hear a voice? Or instead, did they estimate what God's probable answer would be from their own reflections and knowledge? I would respect them if the answer is the latter. If the answer is the former, they are psychotic and must be institutionalized as soon as possible.
Guest Post: It’s Time for Fairness for Transgender Delawareans

Guest Post: It’s Time for Fairness for Transgender Delawareans

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We welcome back to DL a Delaware politico who made her mark on Delaware politics while still in high school as a member of the Jack Pack. Sarah McBride writes today about her experience as a Transgender person. My name is Sarah McBride. I’m a daughter, sister, friend, film-buff, political volunteer, and a recent college graduate. I’m also transgender. When I came out a little over a year ago, I asked Delaware Liberal to publish my coming out letter in order to raise awareness around gender identity nondiscrimination and the lack of basic protections for transgender Delawareans. It’s 2013. Yet, in Delaware, a person can be fired from their job simply because they are transgender. We can be denied housing or insurance for no reason other than our gender identity. And we can be thrown out of a restaurant or denied service because of who we are. According to a recent survey, more than 25% of transgender people report losing their job because they are transgender and nearly 20% report being denied housing. While the vast majority of Delawareans are inclusive and accepting people, it only takes one person’s prejudice in a state without basic protections to harm someone and to destroy the reputation of a great state. Discrimination based on someone’s identity is inherently wrong and it is certainly not the Delaware way. This month we can take an important step forward in ending discrimination in our state. Last week, Senator Margaret Rose Henry and Representative Bryon Short, as well as nearly 20 other members of the General Assembly, introduced the Gender Identity Nondiscrimination Act of 2013. This bill would add gender identity, a person’s deeply held sense of their gender, to our state’s hate crimes and employment, housing, insurance, and public accommodations laws.