National

On August 7th I wondered aloud what kind of chaos a GOP controlled Senate would unleash on the nation. There is no longer any need to wonder. Senate Minority Leader and soon to be Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is very candid about the mayhem he is going to sow.

Interviewed by Politico aboard his campaign bus, the Senate minority leader offered his vision for the Senate should he be promoted to majority leader: confrontation, manufactured crises, and the ever-present threat of a government shutdown: In an extensive interview here, the typically reserved McConnell laid out his clearest thinking yet of how he would lead the Senate if Republicans gain control of the chamber. The emerging strategy: Attach riders to spending bills that would limit Obama policies on everything from the environment to health care, consider using an arcane budget tactic to circumvent Democratic filibusters and force the president to “move to the center” if he wants to get any new legislation through Congress. “Move to the center” is a clever euphemism for “pay ransom in exchange for hostages.” And I’m not putting words in anyone’s mouth here – back in 2011, McConnell was asked what lessons he learned from threatening to put the government in default in order to extract concessions from the White House, and he said the debt limit was “a hostage that’s worth ransoming.”

Some on the left expect President Obama to wade into the Ferguson protests and demonstrations and condemn the police, to excuse the violence as justified and righteous, and take sides. Some expect a new Race Speech, like what he gave in Philadelphia during the 2008 campaign during the height of the Jeremiah Wright mess. I call bullshit on that. For a couple of reasons. First, he is the President, and as such he, as the head of the Federal Government, cannot bias any coming federal investigation or intervention with his own one sided views. Second, there is every indication that the election of President Obama was made race relations far worse in this country. It is not his fault, it is the fault of the racists. But far from isolating existing racists into further obscurity, the election of a black man as President was a Batman signal for all of the racists to let their freak flag fly. Racists, once embarrassed by admitting their racism, are now proud to. Because it is a sign of opposition to Obama, and because a legitimate political party embraced racism as an acceptable form of opposition to the President early on, even before his inauguration. So, knowing that, what can the President say that will not make the situation worse?

Copeland is really phoning it in, and why not? He doesn't have any viable statewide candidates so why should he try to make an actual case for Republican governance? He has clearly decided to punt on this round of statewide and focus his energies on building for 2016. But he still has to make a show about caring, so while he hasn't committed himself and the party to any coherent policies - he has chosen a campaign theme of sorts. That theme is a mild queasiness around the idea of "one-party rule" in Delaware. This is just the latest iteration of the perfunctory messaging coming out of Greenville:

Somebody get Deval Patrick on the phone. We have to warn him. State Treasurer Chip Flowers has announced that he is ending his campaign for reelection and his moving to Massachusetts with his soon to be new wife once his term as Treasurer is over. He will not be resigning. This makes Sean Barney (D), the defacto Democratic nominee for Treasurer, and it likely ends all GOP designs on the office. I will leave it to others to describe the incredible press conference where these announcements were made, but needless to say another ommission of fact (or as we call them, lies) was revealed in that Chip did in fact attend that Patriots game, tickets to which were purchased on the state credit card. Like I have said before, I am tired, we are all tired, and now, Chip himself is tired. Best of luck, Mr. Flowers on your future endeavors in your new state.

I don't believe this at all, given the current state of play and what we publicly know. So there must be another shoe about to drop.

Embattled State Treasurer Chip Flowers could resign after a former deputy accused him of harassment. Delaware Public Media contributor Jeff Mordock of Delaware Law Weekly reports sources tell him Flowers may step down as early as Friday and abandon his run for second term this fall. Reports of Flowers possible resignation come about a day after reports surfaced of former Deputy Treasurer Erika Benner filing harassment claims against her former boss.

In addition to seeing that justice is done in Ferguson - this 1033 program has got to go. It is really possible that in 2013 alone, the 1033 program has transferred $449 million in military equipment to police forces? Yes. They brag about it on the 1033 Program webpage.

The Law Enforcement Support Office (LESO), the facilitators of 1033 program, originated from the National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 1997 (FY 97). This law allows for the office to transfer excess Department of Defense property to law enforcement agencies across the United States and its territories. Since its inception, the 1033 program has transferred more than $4.3 billion worth of property. In 2013 alone, $449,309,003.71 worth of property was transferred to law enforcement. If your law enforcement agency chooses to participate, it may become one of the more than 8,000 participating agencies to increase its capabilities, expand its patrol coverage, reduce response times, and save the American taxpayer's investment