Saturday Open Thread [2.21.15]

Saturday Open Thread [2.21.15]

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Jake Miller at CBS examines how Common Core may become a primary issue for Republican presidential candidates. Eventually, I think it will become an issue in Democratic politics as well. If Kavips has his way, it already has:
Common Core federal education standards are riling the conservative base, and as the 2016 Republican presidential field takes shape, the standards -- seen by right wing activists as a federal overreach and a threat to parental rights -- are poised to play a big role in the GOP nominating process. That's doubly true in Iowa, where the kinds of Republican voters most vehemently opposed to Common Core -- evangelical Christians, home-schooling advocates, states-rights conservatives -- exert considerable influence over the state's first-in-the-nation presidential caucus.

The Weekly Addresses

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In his Weekly Address, President Obama underscored the importance of continuing to grow our economy and support good-paying jobs for our workers by opening up new markets for American goods and services. In an effort that will surely please education advocates throughout the state, Governor Markell shares his weekly message with U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Boy, is Markell's legacy going to be completely destroyed by his positions on education. Here is Senator Harris McDowell on Larry Mendte's Delaware Way's program, where they discuss crime in Wilmington and the Sustainable Energy Utility Program, as well as Harris' thoughts on Beau Biden, John Carney and the Delaware's Game of Thrones.
Friday Open Thread [2.20.15]

Friday Open Thread [2.20.15]

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Amy Walter: “One of the biggest assets for Democrats – especially for Hillary Clinton – going into this next election is the fact that they are much more ideologically united than the GOP. From social issues to economic ones, the overwhelming majority of Democrats are on the same page. This, of course, leaves little room for a primary challenger to Hillary Clinton to expose a gap or drive a wedge.” “Not so much for Republicans who are divided on almost everything other than foreign policy and a desire to repeal Obamacare. This is will not only make it difficult for a Republican to become a ‘consensus’ candidate in the primary, but could make it difficult to unite the party post-primary as well.”
Matt Opaliski Indicted for Illegal Gun Dealing

Matt Opaliski Indicted for Illegal Gun Dealing

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Republican Party official and former state Senate candidate in Delaware with illegally dealing in firearms. If these charges are true, and if Mr. Opaliski is convicted, then he is now the perfect symbol of the kind of criminal who get guns to people who do massive harm, such as murder and massacres. He would also be the kind of criminal who thinks he is supporting the Second Amendment when in fact he is directly harming it. Mr. Opaliski should stand trial, and if the facts are proven beyond a reasonable doubt, he should be convicted and he should serve time behind bars. Then these federal prosecutors need to check all the illegal weapons he sold, ever, because we know it is more than what is in the indictment. If any one of them were used in violent crimes, Mr. Opaliski should be charged with those crimes as well. In other words, throw the fucking book at him, and every single Second Amendment supporter in this small state and nationwide should agree, and they must agree.
Thursday Open Thread [2.19.15]

Thursday Open Thread [2.19.15]

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Hillary Clinton held a private, one-on-one meeting with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) in December at Mrs. Clinton’s Washington home, “a move by the Democrats’ leading contender in 2016 to cultivate the increasingly influential senator and leader of the party’s economic populist movement,” the New York Times reports. “The get-together represented a step toward relationship-building for two women who do not know each other well. And for Mrs. Clinton, it was a signal that she would prefer Ms. Warren’s counsel delivered in person, as a friendly insider, rather than on national television or in opinion articles. And for Ms. Warren, the meeting offered the opportunity to make clear what she believes are the most pressing national issues.” To me, it sounds like that first step in the dance we usually see when a candidate for a party nomination has just more or less locked it up and is exploring an endorsement from the principal rival without demanding an acknowledgment of defeat, not unlike the meeting in a Washington townhouse in 2008 between then Senators Obama and Clinton. But Bloomberg Politics' Emily Greenhouse, thinks it might represent more, not Clinton vanquishing Warren, but the other way around:
Some might have interpreted the report as a sign that Clinton was taking Warren under her wing. But for Warren's most vocal supporters, the self-appointed army raging for economic populism, the tête-à-tête meant just about the opposite. Ilya Sheyman, the executive director of MoveOn.org Political Action, which with Democracy for America launched the project Run Warren Run, sounded emboldened. "It's more evidence that Sen. Warren and progressives are driving the conversation within the Democratic Party,” he said, through a spokesman. “That's why we're eager for Elizabeth Warren to run for President, and any candidate would do well to speak to the issues she's led on -- like tackling income inequality, student debt, and taking on the big banks."

Wednesday Open Thread [2.18.15]

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In his article, "How Democratic Progressives Survived a Landslide: They ran against Wall Street and carried the white working class. The Democrats who shunned populism got clobbered," Bob Moser echos Jason330 that "mushy moderation has failed to convert many Republicans or Republican-leaning independents, even as it gives Democratic-leaners nothing special to get excited about." In short, either embrace your inner progressive, fight for Democratic ideals, or retire.
Game of Thrones, Episode Four: A Short Challenge?

Game of Thrones, Episode Four: A Short Challenge?

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I know Representative Bryon Short wants to run for higher office. He told us so back in December, and then his focus was on the office of Insurance Commissioner:
State Rep. Bryon Short (D-Highland Woods) today told Delaware Liberal that he is considering a run for State Insurance Commissioner. While he has not made a decision on the race, he told me that it’s important that the IC’s office does an effective job of ‘setting the marketplace’ to ensure competition and consumer choices, and to ‘effectively address the concerns and problems facing consumers’. He also said that the work of the office ‘is very important, but unfortunately people aren’t made aware as to just how important it is, and how it impacts them’. Short has attended the last two NAIC (National Association of Insurance Commissioners) meetings in order to extend his knowledge for both his House committee work and to possibly prepare for a statewide run. In his capacity as chair of the House Economic Development/Banking/Insurance/Commerce Committee, Short has been particularly active in addressing problems with Delaware’s Workmen’s Comp laws.
Since then, he has expanded his scope beyond the Insurance Commissioner's office to that of Congress or Lt. Governor. Such an expansion of focus most likely is the result being threatened by higher up party powers-that-be to lay off Karen Weldin Stewart, the incumbent Insurance Commissioner and luckiest office holder in the mid-Atlantic. To which I say, fuck them, Bryon. Run anyway!
Game of Thrones, Episode Three: The Understudies for the Role of Understudy

Game of Thrones, Episode Three: The Understudies for the Role of Understudy

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From Top to Bottom, Left to Right, New Castle County Council President Chris Bullock (D), 2014 Democratic Treasurer Nominee Sean Barney (D), Senator Brian Pettyjohn (R-19th SD), former Sussex County Register of Wills Greg Fuller, Sr. (D), Senator Bryan Townsend (D-11th SD), Senator Bethany Hall Long (D-10th SD), Senator Ernesto Lopez (R-6th SD); Kent County Levy Court Commissioner Brad Eady (D), Senator Gerald Hocker (R-20th SD), Senator Nicole Poore (D-12th SD), Representative Quinn Johnson (D-8th RD), and Representative Jeff Spiegelman (R-11th RD). The office of Lt. Governor is so unimportant, with no imperative and necessary duties assigned to it, that it can, and will, remain vacant until January 20, 2017. When former Lt. Governor Matt Denn resigned to be sworn in as Attorney General, there was some talk about passing a new law to address the vacancy (to allow the Governor to appoint a replacement or to allow a special election), but that talk has died down, and the likely scenario is that Secretary of State Jeff Bullock will remain next in line to the Governorship until one of the people above is sworn in. Yet, this office is a platform is for future ambition. You don't run for Lt. Governor so you can just preside over the Senate and cast tie breaking votes. You run to advance issues and make a name for yourself, usually for a future race for Governor. Come inside to find out whom I think is running.