National – Page 592 – Delaware Liberal

Boehner Caves – Hastert Rule Revoked

By jason330 March 3, 20157 Comments

The "Hastert Rule" which has kept the GOP house caucus together on issues, large and small, since the mid 1990's is done. Under the rule, Boehner would not have been…

Kudos to Senator Carper, for once.

By Delaware Dem March 3, 201529 Comments

Today a foreign leader will interfere in the political affairs of the United States, and Senator Tom Carper has decided that he will not be part of it, thank you very much.

Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware will join about 40 Democrats in boycotting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s controversial speech to Congress on Tuesday. Carper called the timing of Netanyahu’s speech “wholly inappropriate,” given that the prime minister is up for re-election in two weeks. He and the other Democrats say House Speaker John Boehner broke protocol by inviting Netanyahu without consulting with the White House. “I cannot imagine an occasion when a U.S. president would invite a foreign leader — even one from some of our closest allies like France, Germany or Canada — to address Congress on the eve of elections in his or her home country,” Carper said in a statement. “Furthermore, this visit came together by completely bypassing President Obama and his administration, which breaks our country’s protocol for visiting heads of state and stands to weaken U.S.-Israel relations.”

I was afraid the good Senator was just going to leave his list of reasons at that, and granted, they are good reasons. But the truest reason to be angry about that bastard Netanyahu's speech has everything to do with the fact that he wants to scuttle any possible deal with Iran and he wants the United States to send more of our American children to die in defense of Israel in an invasion of Iran. And to his credit, Carper says that such direct interference into the foreign policy of the United States is one of his reasons. What about Carney and Coons?

Monday Open Thread [3.2.15]

By Delaware Dem March 2, 20159 Comments

Now this is what I call Karma, from Talking Points Memo:

Former Arizona county sheriff Richard Mack, a fierce opponent of Obamacare and a leader in the "constitutional sheriff" movement, is struggling to pay his medical bills after he and his wife each faced serious illnesses. The former sheriff and his wife do not have health insurance and started a GoFundMe campaign to solicit donations from family and friends to cover the costs of their medical care. "Because they are self-employed, they have no medical insurance and are in desperate need of our assistance," reads a note on Mack's personal website. Mack, the founder of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, suffered a heart attack in January and is in recovery. His wife fell ill late last year. Mack is on the board of Oath Keepers, a right-wing fringe group made up of police and military veterans, and is known for supporting Cliven Bundy in his standoff against the federal government. He is also an ardent opponent of Obamacare.

Pssst... buddy... come here... hey, I got a secret for ya.... there is this new government program that can help you out...

Breaking News: UD’s Harker Gets Out While the Gettin’s Good.

By El Somnambulo March 2, 20159 Comments

Going to...the Philly Fed. Guess someone else will have to address campus diversity.

Budget and Services Cuts Detailed in Christina School District

By Delaware Dem March 2, 20156 Comments

In response to last week's defeat of the two options open to voters in the Christina School District for raising revenue, officials in the Christina School District released a list of immediate actions they are taking to deal with the looming budget shortfall that required the referendum in the first place.

Not Gonna Do It

By Delaware Dem March 2, 201522 Comments

Governor Jack Markell just did his best impression of Dana Carvey's impression of the elder President Bush. He said "not gonna do it." Well, actually he said "not going to happen." But my way is better. The 'it' is the legalization of marijuana while he serves as Governor.

Weekend Open Thread [3.1.15]

By Delaware Dem March 1, 2015

So it would seem that, in order to get Democratic votes to extend funding of the Department of Homeland Security for another week, Speaker John Boehner had to promise that a vote would be held on a clean bill to fund the department for the rest of the year during this coming week. He is denying it now, but the proof is in the pudding, and if a clean vote happens next week, Politico reports many of Boehner's allies “are concerned [...] that his critics inside the Republican Conference may try to oust him as speaker if — as expected — he puts a long-term DHS funding bill on the House floor next week. While Boehner shrugs off such speculation, close friends believe such a move is a real possibility.” Said one GOP lawmaker close to Boehner: “There is a lot of speculation about this. People are watching for this very, very closely.”

The Weekly Addresses

By Delaware Dem February 28, 2015

In President Obama's weekly address, the President reiterated his commitment to ensuring that all hard-working Americans get the secure and dignified retirement they deserve. In Governor Markell's weekly message, he addresses ongoing efforts to support the supplier diversity community in Delaware at Star-Med in Hockessin. This week the bipartisan House Small Business Caucus in the General Assembly took a field trip to Painted Stave Distilling in Smyrna to meet with representatives from Delaware's vibrant craft beverage industry. I am sure they did some taste testing. Rep. Bryon Short, who co-chairs the small biz caucus with Rep. Danny Short, invited brewers, winemakers and distillers from all over the state to share their success stories, as well as suggest things state government could be doing to help their businesses grow and thrive. Since the law permitting farm wineries passed in 1991, and since the law permitting craft distilleries passed in 2012, Delaware's great craft wine, beer and spirits community has grown to 18 businesses, with more coming next year.

O’Donnell Surfaces Unnoticed at CPAC

By Delaware Dem February 27, 20152 Comments

From Dave Weigel, a native Delawarean in his own right, spotting Christine O'Donnell at CPAC. His words: "Sitting outside a sports bar at CPAC, totally unnoticed: Christine O'Donnell." Well, at…

Friday Open Thread [2.27.15]

By Delaware Dem February 27, 201512 Comments

Kudos to Former Texas Governor Rick Perry. Yes, I just said that. Why?

“These are Americans. You are talking about, in the case of ISIS, people who are beheading individuals and committing heinous crimes, who are the face of evil. To try to make the relationship between them and the unions is inappropriate.” — Rick Perry, in an interview with NBC News, criticizing Scott Walker’s comparison of union protests with the Islamic State.

Scott Walker is an evil man and his political career must be destroyed at all costs. He is a slightly smarter Sarah Palin with male genitalia. Luckily, the polling boom has gone to his head, and he let some of the evil stupid contained within his brain to leak out. Eventually, he will be toxic to the general public. I mean, if even Rick Perry says you have gone too far, you are obviously off the road and in the forest.

The Dress.

By Delaware Dem February 27, 201518 Comments

It is all anyone is talking about today. And if they are not talking about that they are talking about escaping llamas, and if they are not talking about that, they are spoiling the first couple of episodes of House of Cards, which dropped its full season on Netflix at 3 am this morning (yes, I woke up at 4:22 am and have already watched one episode in bed on my phone and no I don't have a problem). Anyway, the dress. What colors are this dress?

Thursday Open Thread [2.26.15]

By Delaware Dem February 26, 20153 Comments

The Senate is moving forward on a clean bill funding DHS until September, and though it's not clear when that vote will happen, we know that House Republican leadership plans, at the very least, to let things go down to the wire. For some House Republicans, after all, a DHS shutdown is not such a big deal. First Read: “With the Senate easily advancing a ‘clean’ bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security, the ball is now in House Speaker Boehner’s court. And the timing couldn’t be more problematic for him: The conservatives assembling at CPAC probably aren’t going to appreciate House Republicans caving in their fight against the Obama administration. It’s déjà vu for Boehner: He’s caught between trying to help his caucus out of tricky situations, and looking over his shoulder for conservatives who want his head on a platter if he caves to Democrats. What we haven’t been able to understand: Why haven’t Boehner and Republicans been able to make their success (so far) in the courts against Obama’s executive action an asset here?”

Science Takes On A Zombie Outbreak

By pandora February 26, 201519 Comments

Given my and DelawareDem's love of The Walking Dead, I had to post this. This is for you, DD!

A team of Cornell University researchers has determined the best place to hide during a zombie apocalypse. A graduate statistical mechanics class was inspired by a reading of “World War Z,” a fictional oral history of a zombie war, and decided to explore what might happen in an actual zombie outbreak, reported Phys.org. [...] He said most films or books assume that a zombie outbreak would affect all areas at the same time, leaving a small pocket of survivors after a few months. “But in our attempt to model zombies somewhat realistically, it doesn’t seem like this is how it would actually go down,” Alemi said. Cities would fall quickly, the researchers found, but it would take weeks or even months for zombies to penetrate less densely populated areas.