Wednesday Open Thread [12.4.13]

Wednesday Open Thread [12.4.13]

17 Comments
Polly Sierer was officially sworn in as Newark’s new mayor last night in City Council Chambers. I admit that that I did not follow Newark's election very closely, since I do not live in Newark and it was a non partisan election focused on local issues. Indeed, I did not have to cover it since Nancy Willing at the Delaware Way did a fantastic job doing so, as she always does on local New Castle County matters. But the election took a turn to the interesting yesterday:
Roe and a small group of residents sought to delay the swearing in over questions that had regarding an outside advocacy group’s activities and confusion regarding polling place information.
Nancy has more. Kavips has much more on what he calls a power grab.
Wilmington Breaks Its Shootings Record

Wilmington Breaks Its Shootings Record

62 Comments
Over the past several days, Wilmington lived through another rash of shootings resulting in a new shootings record: 147, surpassing the 2010 record of 142. On Monday, I returned home from seeing The Godfather on the big screen at Penn Cinema to multiple flashing red lights at 6th and Madison Sts -- 2 women had been shot sitting on their porch earlier that evening. Earlier on Monday, the WPD reported arresting a man carrying an illegal gun not far from this spot -- on the 500 block of W 5th -- and credited the community with reporting this guy. On Friday, a man was shot in the 600 blk of W 6th St. Other shootings up on Lea Blvd AND at the Riverfront made this a heartbreaker of a Thanksgiving weekend for Wilmington.
Now Accepting 2013 MVP Nominees!

Now Accepting 2013 MVP Nominees!

24 Comments
Yes, the 2013 MVP (Most Valuable to the Progressive Cause in Delaware) list is coming soon. As soon as I write it, in fact. This Top Ten list reflects those Delawareans who most contributed to the advancement of progressive causes in the year-gone-by. Those on the list don't even have to be progressives (Tony DeLuca and John Sigler have made it, and that doesn't even include the 2010 winner...) , but they have to have made at least one signature contribution to the cause. Once again, I seek your nominees. Several of your suggestions have made it onto previous lists.
Tuesday Open Thread [12.3.13]

Tuesday Open Thread [12.3.13]

2 Comments
Kevin O'Holleran, who managed Mark Herring's (D) campaign for Virginia attorney general, writes that gun control was the key to Herring's narrow win.
"Political conventional wisdom has it that in a purple state, such as Virginia, support for gun-safety legislation is best played down. As manager of Mark Herring's campaign for attorney general, I got a lot of advice. One of the things I heard most frequently was that we should soft-pedal his strong record and advocacy for sensible gun legislation. It would hurt us outside of Northern Virginia and wasn't a voting issue within the Beltway, I was told. Like much conventional wisdom, this was wrong -- and we not only ignored this advice but did the opposite."
You know why? Because those who are against gun control to such an extent that it is their number 1 issue will never vote Democratic. They will always vote Republicans. So those voters are lost. And Democratic candidates will lose even more voters, from their own base, if they soft pedal or play down not only their records but their positions on reasonable gun control. Stand up and Man and Woman Up, Democrats.
Legislative Scorecards from the ADA and the PDD

Legislative Scorecards from the ADA and the PDD

6 Comments
December is the time of year for year end reviews. The Delaware General Assembly will be restarting its 147th Session this January, and now is a good time to see what they did, and how they did it. The Delaware chapter of Americans for Democratic Action released its 2013 Legislative Report Card last month. Their legislative report card focuses on the individual members of the General Assembly and how they sponsored and voted on specific progressive pieces of legislation. The Progressives Democrats for Delaware (PDD) released their legislative scorecard today, and they instead focused on how their progressive priority legislation fared in the General Assembly as a whole that is completely controlled by Democrats. The PDD report is entitled "The Good, the Bad, and the Incomplete" and states that "four legislative goals were achieved; four were defeated, while four were incomplete." The full reports are inside.
I Fear For Our Daughters

I Fear For Our Daughters

29 Comments
hen incidents like this happen a chill runs up my spine.
A Michigan woman who suffered a dangerous, painful and prolonged miscarriage when she was 18 weeks pregnant is at the center of a lawsuit that claims she was denied appropriate treatment by a Catholic hospital guided by religious, not medical, concerns.
Yeah, I know.  The new Pope is saying awesome stuff... perhaps he can back those words up with deeds? What happened to this woman is 100% unacceptable.  They knew the pregnancy wasn't viable.  They knew the safest treatment option.  They knew they were endangering her health.  And I'm sure they knew she had two children at home, because, as a mother, I can't imagine not worrying (aloud) about my children when I'm in the emergency room.  But, I'm beginning to think that these Catholic bishops, and other "pro-lifers", only consider pregnant women mothers because they seem a-okay with creating motherless children. It's as if losing a child is only okay if a woman suffers maximum pain and risks her health and life.  I can't wrap my head around that, but these incidents keep happening so that's the drill.
Looks like we have a candidate for Auditor. But what about Treasurer?

Looks like we have a candidate for Auditor. But what about Treasurer?

12 Comments
State Auditor Tom Wagner has been in office since 1988. He barely won reelection last time, in a year favoring Republicans (2010), against Richard Korn, a man that people were not rushing to vote for even before he was indicted on child pornography charges. A credible candidate beats him this time. Attorney Brenda Mayrack seems to have both the party backing, knowledge and auditing experience to be that credible candidate. Now, as for the Treasurer. The oldest addage in politics is you can't beat something with nothing, though the Republicans have really tried to test it out over the last five years. Right now, the conventional wisdom is Treasurer Flowers is in trouble and ripe for defeat at the hands of a GOP candidate. That has the Democratic establishment talking behind the scenes to Celia Cohen that they will be primarying Flowers with someone. But who?
Monday Open Thread [12.2.13]

Monday Open Thread [12.2.13]

5 Comments
Did you hear that Rosa Parks, all the way back in the 1950's, ended racism? Yes, there has not been any racism in the United States for over over sixty years now. Amazing. No racism at all. Since there was no racism any more in 1968, it seems very silly that the GOP then devised the entire Southern Strategy to attract the votes of racists. I am amazed Nixon and then Reagan won at all, since obviously they attracted zero votes with that core campaign strategy, since there were no more racists or racism.