Monday Open Thread [8.18.14]

86 Comments
Mychal Denzel Smith writes about what matters in Ferguson, for we are in danger of losing sight of it due to continued stupid violence and looting, which of course feeds right into the county cops' and the right wing's narrative:
Michael Brown was shot and killed by an officer of the Ferguson, Missouri, police department. This is what matters. The name of the officer has been released (it’s Darren Wilson, who has been on the force for six years), alongside allegations that Brown was involved in a robbery. This does not matter. It doesn’t matter because people accused of robbery should not be shot. It doesn’t matter because people who put their hands up in surrender should not be shot. It doesn’t matter because a body should not lie in the streets for hours after being shot by a police officer. Michael Brown was shot and killed by an officer of the Ferguson, Missouri, police department. Everything else is irrelevant.
Too bad some fucking idiot criminals have seen fit to embrace violence instead of nonviolence. Thank you for giving cover to the local police. Thank you for obscuring the story. Thank you for confirming all the biases against you. Fucking idiots.

Who Gets Casino Money?

5 Comments
The other day, I listened to a story from WHYY on Delaware legislators who get money fron casino interests. The report they referenced noticed the recent casino bailout and wanted to see if there was any clear connection to votes for the casino interests with contributions from those interests. They led with their conclusion: Legislators who supported Del. casino 'bailout' received more industry cash. Referencing a recent report from the Follow the Money website called Ante Up: Gambling and Casino Contributions in Delaware, they reported:

Saturday Open Thread [8.16.14]

22 Comments
Have you been following the #iftheygunnedmedown campaign? As the conversation has evolved this week about how Americans see its black men, it is black men (and women) who have taken to Twitter to ask the question: Which picture of me would the media and authorities use to represent me if I was gunned down by the police today? Here are a few of them:
MORE BREAKING (x2): Pictures of Flowers at the Patriots Game

MORE BREAKING (x2): Pictures of Flowers at the Patriots Game

45 Comments
The NJ released video today of conversation with Erika Benner with her explanation of the Patriots tickets. Click through for the video. As of this writing, there is the video, no other reporting by the NJ. The much rumored picture of Chip Flowers at the game is shown here. Benner claims that Flowers not only knew about the charge on her state card for these tickets, he told her the charge was allowable since they were doing some State business.
DEGOP has, literally, one issue – and it isn’t a very good one

DEGOP has, literally, one issue – and it isn’t a very good one

25 Comments
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: