Thursday Open Thread [3.19.15]

Thursday Open Thread [3.19.15]

12 Comments
This is freaking excellent: FEMA will no longer give any disaster aid to states that do not plan for climate change. Florida is likely the state that suffers the most, as their Skeletor of a Governor had declared that no state employee can even mention the term 'climate change' without being burned at the stake. So when a Cat 5 levels Miami this September, Florida is shit out of luck. And all those tornado alley states are fucked too. Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas, all deny climate change. Good luck rebuilding. I love blackmail.
Wednesday Open Thread [3.18.15]

Wednesday Open Thread [3.18.15]

6 Comments
Josh Marshall: “The relationship between the Clintons and the press and the political class generally is codependent, toxic and frankly ridiculous on both sides – with extreme self-protection and legalism on one hand [The Clinton's] and hyperbole, nonsense and wolf-crying penalties on the other [the press and pundits]. Like any perennial and bad relationship it is exhausting to watch and generally impossible to pick apart where one part ends and other starts. Which is a reaction to the other, which is first? I have no idea anymore. It hardly matters.” The public doesn't care. Despite the controversy over her use of private email while Secretary of State, a new CNN/ORC poll finds 57% of Americans say Hillary Clinton is someone they’d be proud to have as their president.
Forced Birth Improves The Economy? Armed “young, hot little girls on campus” Will Stop Rape?

Forced Birth Improves The Economy? Armed “young, hot little girls on campus” Will Stop Rape?

15 Comments
There's just so much of this nonsense. As a woman, who's also raising a teen daughter, it's overwhelming and frightening. It's also disheartening when issues that directly impact over 50% of the country are dismissed as single-issue votes. Women do not view abortion or contraception as a "pet" issue. These issues directly affect our economy. Having a child is one of the biggest economic decisions for both men and women. If only we treated these issues with the same freak out we display when it came to a gas tax and tax cuts - and, make no mistake, abortion and contraception are a way bigger deal than things like the gas tax and tax cuts. Mainly because cutting/raising taxes won't make a damn bit of difference to a woman's (who's forced to give birth) economy. And yeah, I'm going to keep writing about women's issues, mainly because it's really all the GOP talks about. They link controlling women to every flippin' bill they pen. It's almost impossible to discuss anything the GOP puts forth without discussing women - and religion and gay people. All Republican roads lead to controlling sex.
Sheriff Lee Gets Constable Powers Because He is not an Insufferable Asshole

Sheriff Lee Gets Constable Powers Because He is not an Insufferable Asshole

8 Comments
It turns out that former Sheriff Jeff Christopher lied repeatedly when he said he and his office were "relieved of arrest powers." Why is this a lie? Well because the Sheriff's office had the power to arrest before as part of their constable powers. But the Sheriff have to reapply for that power over a period of time to the State Board of Examiners of Constables. Jeff Christopher refused to reapply for constable powers for his office in January 2011, and then went on a tea party tirade. The new Sheriff Lee got back those constable powers simply by reapplying for them.
Tuesday Open Thread [3.17.15]

Tuesday Open Thread [3.17.15]

10 Comments
Now that the General Aseembly is back in full swing, so is our political calendar. Come inside to learn about some important upcoming events. First Read: “It’s unclear the exact impact that Netanyahu losing on Tuesday could have on U.S. domestic politics, especially when it comes to the Iran nuclear debate. But it wouldn’t be good news for hawks. Think about it: Netanyahu comes to the U.S. Congress to make his final argument — on Iran, against President Obama’s foreign policy — and his party loses what had seemed to be a winnable election? Right or wrong, Netanyahu getting involved in domestic U.S. politics would be blamed for the surprising loss. So [today] is going to be a big story.” Meanwhile, Nancy LeTourneau of the Washington Monthly documents the numerous incidents of Republican failure to govern, noting that the Republican Party is in total disarray. And Fred Kaplan says "It is a useful thing when a political party reveals itself as utterly unsuited for national leadership."
The Top 10 Paid Public Employees in Delaware

The Top 10 Paid Public Employees in Delaware

15 Comments
Here are the 10 highest-paid state / public employees from the calendar year of 2014. To be honest, with the exception of Orlando George, none of these seem out of step with their job duties and/or the employee's degrees and status (i.e. a Doctor is going to make over 200k, sorry, but that's the breaks). Even a superintendent making over 200k is not outrageous to me. That Markell is at the bottom of this list at #85 is amusing to me. People always scream and cry about cutting the jobs and salaries of educational professionals in the school districts whenever education funding comes up. But looking at this list, it would seem to be that the real vacuum cleaner of state money are the State Police and Homeland Security jobs. I guess that comes with being a Police State.
Denn/Johnson/Henry bill would change what’s considered a violent felony

Denn/Johnson/Henry bill would change what’s considered a violent felony

3 Comments
Unwinding our idiotic, wasteful and (lets face it) racist "war on drugs" is going to take time. This isn't perfect, but it is a step in the right direction.
A bill that would soften the state's treatment of drug possession felonies and harden its stance on certain violent crimes will be introduced in the Delaware Legislature this week. Attorney General Matt Denn and a group of lawmakers unveiled Monday a bill that, if passed, would mark the first time specific crimes were taken off the state's 19-year-old list of violent felonies. Attorney General Matt Denn and a group of lawmakers unveiled Monday a bill that, if passed, would mark the first time specific crimes were taken off the state’s 19-year-old list of violent felonies. "We want to make sure the penalties are appropriate for the crimes," Denn said. "In seeking justice, we have an obligation to reduce statutory (sentences) when they do not fit the crime."
While the bill removes drug possession from the violent crime list, it adds certain crimes against children and police officers. These add on's feel like sops to conservatives to me. Protecting children is laudable, but with the way cops have been escalating their violence against citizens that they don't happen to like, I'm not crazy about that one. And yet, as Prince Otto said, politics is the art of the possible.
Delaware General Assembly Pre-Game Show: Tues. March 17, 2015

Delaware General Assembly Pre-Game Show: Tues. March 17, 2015

1 Comment
The key question facing the Delaware General Assembly as it returns from its six-week hiatus for Joint Finance Committee hearings is: On what issues, and to what extent, will the General Assembly push back on Gov. Markell's policies? We already know that the House Democratic Caucus has raised the alarm over Markell's efforts to impose more hardships on state employees and retirees when it comes to health care. We already know that many legislators are pushing for a pay increase for state employees, something that Markell has refused to do during his time in office, (Memo to Jack: I heard your interview on the Al Mascitti Show on Friday. Cutting wages during a crisis, then restoring them, does not count as an increase.) I highly recommend you listen to the interview.  Note the number of times that Markell dodges Al's questions and goes off on a different tangent.  One notable example. Al asks Markell about not proposing any raises for state employees.  Just listen to his response. Something along the lines of, "Well, I'd really like to, but what parts of my sacrosanct budget would you have me cut?" In other words, he hasn't spent one minute of his time in office seeking ways to pay state employees a living wage.  He's glib, and he's got his lines down pat.  But he only answered the questions he wanted to ask and answer, not the ones that Al posed. We know that the Joint Sunset Committee, with Sen. Bryan Townsend taking the lead, is trying to determine just what the state has gotten for its $200 million-plus that they've given to business in one form or other over the past few years. (Memo to Jack: Asking whether we'd rather have the oil refinery or not, as you did during your response, is not answering the question. Fact is, your administration and the Delaware Economic Development Office have provided next to no empirical evidence to show that the preponderance of this money is paying off at all.)  In fact, allow me to once again link to this New York Times survey which demonstrates that there is next to no verification nationwide, including in Delaware, that these dollars are doing anything more than acquiescing to extortion. We know that we're starting to reach a critical blowback on the Markell/Murphy team's attempt to destroy public education in Delaware as we know it.  Will the General Assembly intervene? We know that the General Assembly has already stopped listening to Markell when it comes to funding infrastructure repairs and projects.  Are both sides really gonna play 'chicken' again this year?