QOTD — When Was the Last Time One of Our Congressional Delegation Had a Town Hall Meeting?

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I saw that our Congressional delegation is having another Job Fair -- which is very cool and certainly people who need jobs could use every bit of help they can get. But when I saw this item in the NJ (an item I passed on to folks I know are looking), I couldn't remember the last Town Hall from these guys. This is particularly odd since the August recess wasn't too far back. I think that John Carney has had a forum on college costs, but that is all I can remember.

Toplines for Delaware Political Polling!

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Following up on my post from Saturday, we now have (courtesy of Mr. Paul Brewer) the toplines of The University of Delaware’s Center for Political Communication National Agenda Poll from September 2013. (pdf) I've asked Mr. Brewer about their long term plans for this poll and it looks like this might be a once a year event -- dependent upon available resources. But Fresh Delaware polling! Yay!
Friday Open Thread [11.1.13]

Friday Open Thread [11.1.13]

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Connor Simpson has some bad news for Fox News and Rupert Murdoch:
Fox News has fallen out of favor with Republicans after two years of untouched supremacy as the party’s brand of choice across any and every medium, according to a recent YouGov survey. YouGov measures which brands are preferred by each party (Republicans, Democrats, Independents) by adding and subtracting negative feedback on a 100 to -100 scale. In 2011, Fox News led all brands [among Republicans] with 68 support points, a full 5 points ahead of the rest. In 2012, Fox News led with 64.5 support points, 1.7 points above the rest. This year? In 2013, Fox News didn’t even make the top 10. [...] A Public Policy Poll released in January showed a serious decline in trust during the months after the election. Only 52 percent of those who identify as “somewhat conservative,” said they trust Fox News, down from 65 percent last year. Hardline conservatives trust Fox News less, too: 13 percent said they don’t trust Fox News anymore, compared to 6 percent last year.
LOL. You know what happened, right? Fox News dared to inform its viewers that President Obama won the election. THAT FACT IS CLEARLY UNTRUE!!!!! By reporting the President was reelected, Fox News revealed its horrible evil liberal bias, and no true conservative can watch it anymore.
More Bigotry from Bill Colley and His WGMD Enablers

More Bigotry from Bill Colley and His WGMD Enablers

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Have you heard about this? The stupid bigotry of Bill Colley has a home at WGMD and he even has a blog there. One of his recent blog posts (see here, because nothing over there gets embedded here) takes a pictures of some mattresses on the side of the road and speculates that this is the doing of latinos. Huh? Who even knew that mattresses on the side of the road was a Latino thing? Ignoring, of course, that the biggest cause of large household goods on the side of the road is the direct result of a bunch of good old boys over-estimating the carrying capacity of their vehicle OR the under-estimating the strength of their tie-downs. I mean, who hasn't seen these people on the road. What we shouldn't ignore is that this is a major Delaware media outlet who thinks that casual bigotry aimed at some of their neighbors is just fine. And it isn't. So contact them and tell them to knock if off and ask if they think that any of their advertisers would be interested in maintaining a relationship with an outlet that accepts this kind of bigotry as part of their business model.
John Bleeping Carney

John Bleeping Carney

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John Bleeping Carney. One of 30 'Democrats' to vote to enable 'financial advisors' to continue to rip you off. Worse than useless. Check out this article from Daily Kos:
The Labor Department proposal, known as the “fiduciary rule,” would change the ethical standards by which employer-based retirement products like 401(k)’s and IRAs are marketed and sold. The rule has not been updated since 1975, before 401(k)’s and IRAs even existed. The Labor Department wants to broaden the definition of a “fiduciary” to cover all financial advisers who offer individual investment advice for a fee. Under the rule, they would be legally required to work in the best interest of their clients. For example, a fiduciary would not be able to push investment products on customers in which they have a financial stake.
Delaware ranked 5th best state for women

Delaware ranked 5th best state for women

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The Center for American Progress (CAP) report, “The State of Women in America,” uses 36 different health, economic, and leadership factors to measure disparities between states and rank the best and worst states for women." Delaware women don't have it so bad (relatively speaking). We are fifth overall and our gals make $0.81 for every dollar men make for the same job. The national average is $0.77 - so not too shabby ladies. Maryland is number 1 by that measure. They pay their daughters $0.85 for every dollar their sons make doing the same job. The worst states in which to be a non-man are predictably, more often than not, in the south. Louisiana's Mesdames et Mesdemoiselles take down a measly $0.67 compared to their Messieurs. [...]
The myth of “shareholder primacy” continues to crumble; employers, employees and shareholders win

The myth of “shareholder primacy” continues to crumble; employers, employees and shareholders win

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When I was getting my MBA 10 years ago, the manifold virtues of shareholder primacy were so ingrained in the culture of business academics that, while they informed every bit of the curriculum, they were only discussed in passing. There was no more attention paid this foundational concept than you would pay attention to the concept of addition in a calculus class. Fortunately that is changing. Lynn Stout, the Distinguished Professor of Corporate and Business Law at Cornell Law School, helps move shareholder primacy into a coffin and provides some coffin nails for the myth that has wrecked our economy in her most recent book, The Shareholder Value Myth: How Putting Shareholders First Harms Investors, Corporations and the Public. This abstract of the book explores the logical connections between the 40 year rise of shareholder value thinking and subsequent declines in investor returns, numbers of public companies, and corporate life expectancy. It also shows that shareholder primacy is an bullshit economic theory, completely lacking in support from history, law, or empirical evidence. [Set aside a few minutes to read the whole thing.]
NSA Is Out Of Control. Time To Rein It In.

NSA Is Out Of Control. Time To Rein It In.

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James Clapper, the Obama Administration's Director of National Intelligence has said NSA does not "wittingly" collect data on citizens. General Keith Alexander, NSA's Director as well as his predecessor have testified that NSA is not spying on or collecting data on citizens. Even the Chair of the House Intelligence Committee has told the media that the American intelligence community is not intrusively monitoring the communications of our citizens without a warrant.