Delaware Dem's Latest Posts
Moving Forward: Your Complaints and Suggestions. Our Plans for 2017.
Alright, in this down week between Christmas and New Years where it seems everyone is on vacation, I thought it would be a good time for some feedback from our readers. Yes, I want you all to be brutally honest with us about your ideas, suggestions, and complaints about Delaware Liberal over the past year.
I know we need to improve our local coverage after being sucked into the Trump Vortex with all other media in the past year. To that end, we will be returning to our Vote Tracking roots in the new year, with some changes. Instead of a large post every few weeks, each relevant piece of legislation will be given its own post, and links to each individual post will be saved on the front page under a single “mothership” post. We will be doing the same for Congress this year, tracking how the Delaware Delegation fights the Fuhrer with all their might, or whether they will capitulate.
I also want to explore ways to change the anonymous commenting system, if at all possible. Sockpuppetry has returned (where more than 1 person has multiple accounts). I know many value the psuedo-anonymity Delaware Liberal provides. But sometimes that leads to some pretty fervent commentary and flame wars.
So have at it. Or at me. I won’t hold anything you say against you.
The December 28, 2016 Thread
DR Tucker says no more drama:
Let’s all make a New Year’s Resolution for 2017: no more hand-wringing about why Hillary Clinton didn’t win the Electoral College.
In the days following the dark night of November 8, I have been mystified as to why most Democrats and progressives didn’t come to the obvious conclusion that the Electoral College win of the, shall we say, uncharitable Republican nominee was a fluke, that there was nothing Clinton really could have done to avoid such a fluke, that sometimes stuff happens. Clinton didn’t lose the Electoral College because of identity politics, or because she ran a bad campaign, or because “Make America Great Again” was a more compelling slogan than “Stronger Together.” She lost the Electoral College because Trump got lucky. On any given Election Day, any candidate can beat any other candidate. Democratic self-flagellation is not needed.
Can we also resolve to knock it off with the “Bernie would have beaten Donald” stuff? That’s like arguing that Bill Bradley would have kicked George W. Bush’s rear end in 2000. Sanders supporters are merely speculating when they make this sort of argument; how would Sanders have dealt with the right-wing media infrastructure striking down upon him with great vengeance and furious anger in an general election? Those who insist that Sanders would have stomped on Trump are arguing, in essence, that everyone who voted for Clinton in the Democratic primary made a mistake. Really?
Democrats and progressives should spend their intellectual energy developing strategies to strip the bark off of Donald Trump, not continuing to lament a fluke outcome. If a superior team with a superior coach and a superior quarterback loses the Super Bowl to an inferior team with an inferior coach and an inferior quarterback, and it’s obvious to every spectator watching that the inferior team got lucky, the superior team shouldn’t spend the offseason despondent over the upset loss, but determined to dominate the next season and the playoffs, in order to get another shot at the trophy.
Emphasis mine.
New Castle County Transition and Inaugural Updates
First, we have the recently released inaugural schedule, which we have in detail inside. Second, we have the schedule of transition events and hearings that are also open to the public, inside. Finally, County Executive-elect Matt Meyer has appointed Marcus Henry as General Manager of the Department of Community Services, Carol Dulin as County Attorney and Tamarra Morris as Director of Economic Development.
The Top Posts of 2016
2016 was the third best year ever in terms of traffic and views. Our best year ever was 2012, when we garnered 1,334,026 unique visitors. The second best year was 2010, for obvious reasons, when we got 1,001,373 unique visitors. This year we will end up either just over or just under a million unique visitors (we are idling at 990,000 right now with five days to go (and we average 2,500 a day)).
Come inside for the top 10.
The December 27, 2016 Thread
Dana Milbank says there is a new solution for Trump and his team of billionaires: Ignore the law.
Trump lieutenant Newt Gingrich this week proposed an elegant solution for all the conflicts of interest swirling around the president-elect and his team of billionaires: Ignore the law.
President-elect Donald Trump, Gingrich said, should let those in his administration do as they wish with their personal fortunes and business interests and pardon them if they are found to have violated laws against using public office for personal enrichment. “He could simply say, ‘Look, I want them to be my advisers, I pardon them if anybody finds them to have behaved against the rules, period’,” Gingrich said on NPR’s “The Diane Rehm Show” on Monday.
“Drain the Swamp” is so October.
In another NPR interview on Wednesday, Gingrich said Trump’s “swamp” campaign theme had been relegated to the marshlands of history, asserting that “he now says it was cute, but he doesn’t want to use it anymore.”
Excellent. That will make impeachment easier when the Dems retake Congress.
The December 26, 2016 Thread
“Merry Christmas to all! Over two millennia ago, a new hope was born into the world, a Savior who would offer the promise of salvation to all mankind. Just as the three wise men did on that night, this Christmas heralds a time to celebrate the good news of a new King.” — RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, in a statement.
This quote sparked outrage on Twitter and the Internets yesterday, as it was assumed that the good news of a new King referred to Trump and that anything involving him was good news, or that Trump was a King. Nah, as much as I loathe to defend Republicans here, this is typical evangelical speak: the new King refers to Jesus Christ. These fanatical evangelicals love referring to Jesus in that way.
Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah!
From our families to yours, we hope you all have a wonderful holiday, no matter which holiday you celebrate. And if you don’t celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah, well we hope you have a relaxing and enjoyable day. Let’s all hope 2017 is just a tiny bit better than the absolute and unmitigated disaster that was 2016.
The December 24, 2016 Thread
Since I am hosting today and tomorrow’s festivities for my family, I have not had time to put together the Open Thread today, so have at it. I hope everyone that celebrates enjoys the holidays, the Last Christmas we will enjoy in a free republic.
The December 23, 2016 Thread
Rick Klein: “Twice in the last week, access to Donald Trump’s children has literally been put up for sale. Both times, those sales were canceled, or at least scaled back, following public scrutiny. But the process that allowed those offerings to go forward at all – an auction for coffee with Ivanka, and a hunting trip with the two eldest Trump sons for big inauguration donors – suggests something in the territory of chaos and/or indifference inside the president-elect’s inaugural planning.”
“These are the sorts of arrangements that should set off bright red flags – particularly after a campaign where the Clintons were accused of all manner of pay-for-play arrangements. The Trump operation has done virtually nothing to specify its safeguards, even while new arrangements testing any planned boundaries pop up. One good way to ensure that individuals and companies don’t try to buy access and influence? Don’t offer it to them.”
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