The Disgrace of Ferguson

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Take a look at this picture: I'm old enough to remember this kind of image being routine from news stories from Central and South America or the Eastern Block countries. We used to see those images as the disgrace of these dictatorships, where they have to point their armies at their citizens in order to maintain their power. That picture is from Ferguson. This St. Louis suburb can afford to equip its police as if they were an occupying army. And they are delivering on the authoritarian behavior of an occupying army.

Thursday Open Thread [8.14.14]

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I am working on two major projects today: a race by race analysis of each General Assembly race and the Statewides and a look at what each candidate raised during the last reporting period and what cash they have on hand. So the Open Thread is going to be a little bare today. Like Coffee Talk on Saturday Night Live in the 90's, I shall propose some topics for you to discuss: 1. Since Jack Markell took my advice and shaved his head, does he not look more and more like Jesse Ventura? 2. I wish I paid more attention to county politics, but they are just so boring and corrupt. Case in point.

My Stunt Double… Gary Sinise

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Post by Matt Denn.
Matt Denn has a different take on the ALS videos you see everywhere. And I agree with Matt. I'll send a check, but no ice water!
People Assaulted By Cops: Thats A Police State

People Assaulted By Cops: Thats A Police State

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So, cops with full blown military gear, weapons and vehicles? Yea, I know, bought on fire sales by locals from feds surplus. But really? Is this what our social order has come to? Press arrested, peaceful protesters arrested and battered with rubber bullets? Really ?
My Progressive Endorsement is for Matt Denn (and I’m putting money where my mouth is)

My Progressive Endorsement is for Matt Denn (and I’m putting money where my mouth is)

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There are some questions swirling around the PDD endorsements, but here is someone all progressives, ...hell... all of DELAWARE can endorse, Matt Denn. He is a legit Robert Kennedy Democrat seeking statewide office, so if you consider yourself a progressive, get off your ass and send him money. If you do I'll match it up to a total of $500. Mark your donation with 3 cents added, so the Denn team can tell me how much I owe. Hopefully that is a quick $1,000 bucks to a guy who makes me proud to call myself a Democrat.

Brenda Mayrack's New Campaign Video

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<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/j3ipmGlFxNE?list=UUJnD-LNAqlGTND4T1DYx6HQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> It's very well done, though I don't Senator Bethany Hall Long holds the News Journal that tightly in her office.
Primary Bombshell?: Claims of Harrassment Against Treasurer Flowers (Updated)

Primary Bombshell?: Claims of Harrassment Against Treasurer Flowers (Updated)

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I remarked to my source that I thought the primary in the Treasurer's race was going to be a very close. My source replied ".... assuming something doesn't break in, say, the next three weeks." Then he said.. "that is foreshadowing." That was yesterday. This is today:
Former deputy state treasurer Erika Benner has accused her former boss, state Treasurer Chip Flowers, of making harassing and threatening statements in text messages and phone calls after an incident before a July Fourth parade in Dover. [...] "Tell him to come to my house," according to the text Benner provided that she said was sent by Flowers on the evening of July 4. "I picked up something from cabelas last week that should ude (sic) just fine. Tell him I'm begging him. He fu---- with the wrong ni---."
I just knew that Cabela's was bad news the minute it opened.
Wednesday Open Thread [8.13.14]

Wednesday Open Thread [8.13.14]

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First Read: "Well, that didn't take long. Less than 48 hours after The Atlantic published Hillary Clinton's critical comments about Obama's foreign policy, she walked them back. Spokesman Nick Merrill said in a statement that Clinton called the president to 'make sure he knows that nothing she said was an attempt to attack him, his policies, or his leadership,' adding that the two will 'hug it out' in Martha's Vineyard tonight. As we've noted, Clinton's always been more hawkish than the president, but the handling of the interview and this apology just seem like more politically head-scratching decisions as she continues her book tour. The bottom line: This is not the first time Clinton and Obama are going to have a public split as Democrats transition from one standard-bearer to another. But is every one of those moments going to be as tortured as this one?" This was the first time I seriously considered not supporting Hillary AND seriously considered whether, should a credible candidate challenge her, like Warren or O'Malley, she could win the nomination. Hillary wants to walk a tight rope and appear hawkish and strong, but when she does that, she sounds like a Neocon or John McCain. And I will not be voting for a Neocon. So Hillary better get her act together. Meanwhile, what is going in Kansas? Sometimes the public just tunes out an incumbent and decides they are done with him. There are three such incidences this year: Corbett in PA, Quinn in IL, and now Brownback in KS.

Tuesday Open Thread [8.12.14]

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Ed Kilgore suspects that if the GOP does real well in 2014 (i.e. winning the Senate), then they will become overconfident in 2016 and nominate someone who cannot possibly win:
In both 2008 and 2012 the GOP managed to nominate presidential candidates with relatively moderate images and demonstrated swing-voter appeal. In both cases, the nominations were in no small part fortuitous following a demolition derby of more ideologically rigid rivals. The odds of the “most electable” candidates winning a third straight GOP nomination have been diminished by the relatively low popularity of Chris Christie (damaged significantly by “Bridgegate” and already controversial for supporting a Medicaid expansion in his state), Jeb Bush (headed for a direct collision with conservative activists for his championship of Common Core education standards) and Marco Rubio (more distant from conservative sentiment than ever as the prime Senate sponsor of “amnesty” legislation).
Personally, I think no matter how well the GOP does this year, the dye is already cast for 2016. The radical tea bagger base of the Republican Party already thinks that they lost in 2008 and 2012 because the Establishment forced them to nominate two liberals. And of course they lost because their candidate was not conservative enough.

Monday Open Thread [8.11.14]

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So President Obama will take some kind of executive action pursuant to both his executive authority and laws already passed by Congress to address the immigration problem later this summer. Whatever he does, it will be the basis for impeachment proceedings this fall. Greg Sargent, in one of his latest columns, talked to experts about the limits of executive power. One of those experts was attorney David Leopold, who was the “former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and immigration reform advocate who has consulted with the White House on immigration law.” The upshot is, the President has all the authority he needs under existing law to do what he wants to do. But the GOP will impeach him for it anyway. We also have a lot of polling goodness inside...

Saturday Open Thread [8.9.14]

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My Delaware season tickets should be coming soon. I better check on that. Especially since Delaware seems to be on the cusp of becoming a Division I school. Over the next few years, they are scheduling more games with the ACC, including games against Virginia Tech, Wake Forest and Pittsburgh. Ed Kilgore:
The only thing funnier than those who (despite widespread mockery) continue to support the Green Lantern Theory of Presidential Leadership is the phenomenon of the same people freaking out when the president assumes “leadership” to address a big problem. Nobody is a bigger Green Lanternist than National Journal’s Ron Fournier, for whom the president, like God, is held responsible every time a sparrow falls to the ground. He’s now warning Obama not to take unilateral executive action on immigration policy. The Prospect’s Paul Walman skewers Fournier for blaming the “polarization” that might ensue on Obama alone; we abundantly know by now that savage GOP opposition to Obama will be at maximum levels no matter what he does or does not do.