Thursday Open Thread [12.18.14]

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Politico: “Obama feels liberated, aides say, and sees the recent flurry of aggressive executive action and deal-making as a pivot for him to spend the last two years being more of the president he always wanted to be.” “As of Wednesday, that includes doing what 50-plus years of predecessors couldn’t do in relations with Cuba, propelling a generational shift in American foreign policy that could bring down the last pillar of the Cold War. The Cuba announcement follows a post-Election Day sprint that included sealing a landmark climate agreement with China, shielding five million undocumented immigrants from deportation and reaching a deal that funds most of the government for nearly a year while protecting Obamacare and other top priorities.”

Wednesday Open Thread [12.17.14]

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Jason330 wrote about Senator Elizabeth Warren's speech on the Senate floor last week, and the punditry is still talking about it, and the possibility, despite her refusal, that she will run against Hillary Clinton for President. John Cassidy at The New Yorker:
Right now, the Democratic Party has three leaders: President Obama, who is term-limited; Clinton, the establishment successor-in-waiting; and Warren, whose role is difficult to define, but also increasingly difficult to ignore. Of the three, there’s no doubt who is conveying the most consistent message and generating the most enthusiasm among liberal activists: it’s Warren, with her populist crusade against Wall Street and moneyed interests. [...] The speech she delivered on the floor of the Senate on Friday evening has been viewed more than a quarter of a million times on YouTube. Also on Friday, more than three hundred people who worked on the Obama campaigns in 2008 and 2012 signed a public letter urging Warren to enter the Presidential race. [...] In saying that she’s not running, Warren can continue to use her prominent position in the Senate to promote the causes she believes in. She can also wait to see if Clinton falters. If that doesn’t happen, Warren can eventually fall in line with the party establishment and help elect the first female President. But if Clinton does stumble badly, in Iowa or before, Warren would still have an opportunity to step in. With her name recognition and army of supporters nationwide, many of them young and tech-savvy, she could quickly raise money and put together an improvised campaign operation.
And we some good polling goodness, and some pretty horrible polling badness about Americans and torture.
Finally.

Finally.

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It would appear that what began as an unexpected handshake between Cuban President Raul Castro and U.S. President Barack Obama back last year at Nelson Mandela's funeral may have turned into actual negotiations that resulted today in the release of an American prisoner in Cuba, and the start of talks between the two countries about the resumption of diplomatic relations.
The U.S. is starting talks with Cuba to normalize full diplomatic relations and open an embassy, according to U.S. officials. The expanded relationship would also open imports of Cuban cigars somewhat, according to a CNN report. U.S. President Obama, Cuba's Raul Castro plan to speak separately at noon ET about relations between the two countries. Obama plans to overhaul Cuba's policy while Cuba plans to free 53 political prisoners and to allow U.S. debit and credit cards, Dow Jones reported. This follows Cuba's release of American Alan Gross from a Cuban prison where he spent five years on espionage charges, NBC reported.
A Revenue Task Force: The Result of Tax Cowardice and the Passing of the Buck

A Revenue Task Force: The Result of Tax Cowardice and the Passing of the Buck

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Longtime readers will know my frustration with Delaware and its revenues. We have what is essentially a flat tax rate system for the middle and higher brackets of income. If one person has $60,000 in taxable income and another has $600,000 and another has $6 million, they all pay exactly the same tax rate. But we can never... NEVER!!!!!! ... raise taxes on those at the higher levels, because, you know, they are job creators and it will hurt their fees fees. So we have to scrounge around every year, waiting desperately for every DEFAC forecast to come out with good news. We have to talk about raising regressive fees and taxes, like the gas taxes, which fall disproportionately on those who least can afford to pay more. We have to talk about deeper and deeper spending cuts. And we have to resort to a Task Force to tell us what is wrong with our "revenue structure." And that task force will come back with proposals for a gas tax and a sales tax, both regressive taxes, and both unpopular, which will "force" the Governor to look to spending cuts to education and Medicaid. That's the Delaware Way.

Tuesday Open Thread [12.16.14]

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One of the great ironies of our time is that the radical Republican hates the tyrannical Big Obama Government, yet wants that tyrannical Big Government to torture. James Antle III calls out the Republican hypocrites who apologize for torture:
[T]he case for limited government is weakened when those making it ignore or defend torture, testicle-crushing, and waterboarding, complaining only about big government when someone proposes spending taxpayer dollars to help people. And I say that as someone who has written a book arguing that seemingly benign and compassionate government spending can curtail individual freedom. It is difficult to take someone seriously who thinks the imprisonment of human beings in cages and the behavior of government agents with guns have less impact on personal freedom than the capital-gains tax rate. That is one reason it is so easy for many to dismiss arguments against programs like Obamacare as being motivated purely by economic self-interest.
The truth is that there is no irony, no hypocrisy. The truth is, and this issue, and the issue of abortion, lays bare the lie that is the Republican Party today: Republicans do not hate big government at all. They love it. And they love it precisely because they are fascists. They want to control you and society. That is why they also support police officers who murder with no provocation. It is why they support torture. It is why they want to abolish reproductive choice, public education, public health, and social security. All of those things free the citizen and uplifts them. But that is not what the Republican Party wants.

This is Exactly Right

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Andrew Hawkins, a football player for the NFL's Cleveland Browns, wore the T-shirt you see above during the game warm ups on Sunday. Like in St. Louis, when some St. Louis Rams players last week entered the stadium during game introductions with their hands up, the local police in Cleveland demanded an apology from the Cleveland Browns organization and Mr. Hawkins himself. The Cleveland Browns said no, no apology, stating correctly:
"We have great respect for the Cleveland Police Department and the work that they do to protect and serve our city," the Browns said in a statement, via Cleveland.com. "We also respect our players' rights to project their support and bring awareness to issues that are important to them if done so in a responsible manner."
Then Hawkins hit it out of the park with his statement......

A Progressive Economic Plan

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In a Senate floor speech last week, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) laid out a progressive economic agenda that would create millions of new jobs, raise wages, protect the environment and provide health care for all. Sanders laid out the problem facing America: the murder of the middle class by the rich.
“Today, millions of Americans are working longer hours for lower wages[.] We once led the world in terms of the percentage of our people who graduated college, but we are now in 12th place. Our infrastructure, once the envy of the world, is collapsing. Real unemployment today is not 5.8 percent, it is 11.5 percent, if we include those who have given up looking for work or who are working part time when they want to work full time. Youth unemployment is 18.6 percent and African-American youth unemployment is 32.6 percent.”
Monday Open Thread [12.15.14]

Monday Open Thread [12.15.14]

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Paul Krugman on Wall Street’s Revenge:
“Most interest groups have stable political loyalties. For example, the coal industry always gives the vast bulk of its political contributions to Republicans, while teachers’ unions do the same for Democrats. You might have expected Wall Street to favor the G.O.P., which is always eager to cut taxes on the rich. In fact, however, the securities and investment industry — perhaps affected by New York’s social liberalism, perhaps recognizing the tendency of stocks to do much better when Democrats hold the White House — has historically split its support more or less equally between the two parties.” “But that all changed with the onset of Obama rage. Wall Street overwhelmingly backed Mitt Romney in 2012, and invested heavily in Republicans once again this year. And the first payoff to that investment has already been realized. Last week Congress passed a bill to maintain funding for the U.S. government into next year, and included in that bill was a rollback of one provision of the 2010 financial reform.”
No, Cleveland cops, you are not owed an apology. You owe us one.
The Delaware National Park is the dumbest thing

The Delaware National Park is the dumbest thing

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Senator Thomas Carper realized the most significant achievement in his long congressional career on Saturday night: when the Cromnibus Bill passed, the <a href="http://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/local/2014/12/12/delaware-national-park-expansion-clears-congress/20325941/#.">long sought after Delaware National Park</a> was finally established. For years, Delaware was saddled with the indignity of being the only state in the union not to have a national park. This was the most important and damaging problem facing Delaware for decades, second only to the lack of bipartisanship, so of course our brave and tireless Senator fought to solve the problem. <blockquote>U.S. Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., who has steadfastly sought a park designation for Delaware, released a statement after the vote on Friday. "Now, Delaware can have a national park that preserves and teaches the lessons of our state's heritage and our country's history," he said. U.S. Rep. John Carney, D-Del., called the historical park a "tremendous achievement," in a written statement, saying "I look forward to taking my family and visitors from out of state to visit the natural and historic sites in our park."</blockquote> Now, I don't know about you, but when I think of a "national park," I think of a contiguous natural place that we have preserved in its wild state. I also think of a park.
WDEL to Cover Wilmington “Die In” @ 4:30

WDEL to Cover Wilmington “Die In” @ 4:30

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This appears to be what is left for us, to die. With no apparent representation in the halls of power, our choice is to die - literally or symbolically. We are wild about calling ourselves and our country "free." Have you been to a football or baseball game lately? They have become nauseating exercises in self-congratulations over our great freedoms. But what are we really free from? Are we free from debt? Probably not. Are we free from being beaten or killed by cops? Are we free from anxiety? Hardly. Free from the indignity of institutionalized injustices? We have never been less free then we are today. When the majority of Americans are not represented by a political party, inch by inch, drop by drop freedom wanes.