Open Thread

VP Joe Biden tells CNN that he'll make a firm decision about running for President Summer 2015:

Vice President Joe Biden joked this week that being able to drive his Corvette – is one good reason not to run. But, when asked to give another good reason not to run, Biden responded simply. “I can’t.” “There may be reasons I don't run, but there's no obvious reason for me why I think I should not run,” he said in the interview with Kate Bolduan on CNN’s “New Day.” Biden went on to say he would make a decision “realistically, a year this summer.”

Is it me, or is this a little late? Realistically, there ought to be operations need to get stood up in Iowa and NH right around then right?

In a bit of good news for freedom of speech, Beau Biden's office has withdrawn its subpoena to find out who Peaceful Rioters for Wilmington, Delaware is. The relevant bit:

“They decided it wasn’t essential to the investigation and that’s a good thing,’’ MacRae said. “They have to be very discriminatory when they seek private information like that.’’ Joseph S. Grubb, the chief New Castle County prosecutor, said Biden’s top supervisors decided this week to withdraw the subpoena because the information would not further the criminal case – not because of criticism or opposition. “The investigation kind of took a turn,’’ Grubb said. “It’s proven less likely there’s a relevant connection’’ between the creators of Peaceful Rioters and the Hockessin-area missives about top county officials.

Translation: We got caught in a fishing expedition and we're trying to put a good face on our backing out of this strategy.

PPP does some interesting polling in Alaska, finding that Hillary Clinton leads Sarah Palin in a matchup for President (44-43), with Palin still having pretty awful approval ratings (39% approve). Alaskans overwhelmingly approve of legalizing pot for medical purposes (74-22) and by a smaller, but still majority margin for recreational use (55-39). I'm especially interested in the polling for a referendum measure that looks to repeal Senate Bill 21, the Oil and Gas Production Tax which provided a big tax cut to carbon energy companies. This was a controversial thing and right now Alaskans say they will vote to repeal 43-31%. People do know when they are being screwed over for special interests and maybe if more of these had to be voted upon by taxpayers, there'd be fewer efforts to pad the pockets of the people paying for elections. The caveat, of course, is who knows what will happen with the special interests ramp up their fear and loathing campaigns.

The NJ editorial this AM takes on the case of the subpoena to Peaceful Rioters (from Facebook). Frankly, I wished they would have called for all of the potential parties involved in this thing to cease and desist (I mean, who doesn't see Setting's claim of investigation the hateful material delivered to that Hokessin family as anything but a useful cover?). There are far too many Delaware Way hands who have their fingers in the pie here and I really hope that a judge gets to ask point blank exactly why Setting thinks there is a connection to Peaceful Rioters. Seriously, there are plenty of things for the AG to worry about -- not the least of which is the illegal trafficking of guns to Delaware; an unfinished implementation of the Crime-Free Rental Housing Program or even the serious conflicts of interest present in Connections employees being on Wilmington City Council. Right?