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Song of the Day 6/8: Gene Chandler, “Duke of Earl”

Filed in Arts and Entertainment by on June 8, 2021 1 Comment

Americans seem fascinated with British royalty, but they don’t understand much about it. Consider, for example, the “Duke of Earl.” There is, of course, no such thing — in the hierarchy of British peerage, a duke is below only a prince, while an earl is a separate title two ranks lower. That fact did nothing […]

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State Rep/Ex-Cop Steve Smyk Implicated In Sex Discrimination/Harassment Suit

Filed in Delaware, Featured by on June 8, 2021 17 Comments

Far be it from me to sensationalize allegations pertaining to any of the cop-legislators in Dover (he lied), but this case promises to be Sensational. It features Steve Smyk (rhymes with Dick), and, yes, he comes across as quite the dick. Allegedly. Oh, and also Speaker Pete (alleged oral history). If you have a subscription, […]

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Delaware General Assembly Pre-Game Show: Tuesday, June 8, 2021

Filed in Delaware, Featured by on June 8, 2021 13 Comments

It’s official.  Matt Bittle is the best legislative beat reporter I’ve seen during my years of working for/following the General Assembly.  Chad Livengood was the best investigative reporter, but you simply can’t beat Matt’s ongoing coverage.  It’s why I subscribe to Bay To Bay (formerly the Delaware State News).  Here is his preview of the […]

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Clear thinking on the ongoing stupidity of “bi-partisanship”

Filed in National by on June 8, 2021 0 Comments

This guy – Duncan Bowen Black (better known by his pseudonym Atrios) constantly provides the clearest, most cogent criticism of our dystopian mania for Coonsian “compromise” politics. Like this for example:

The Opposition Opposes

I keep saying this, but it’s actually appropriate for Mitch McConnell to behave as he does (mostly). Doesn’t mean I like him! He’s a Republican! I don’t like Republicans! But he’s doing what an opposition is supposed to do.We don’t have a parliamentary system, but we should and can be more like one, both in practice and in “our” understanding of how things are supposed to work. A contest between competing visions and governances is superior to endless compromises which please no one, and that was true even when those compromises sometimes actually happened. But they don’t happen anymore, and that’s ok!

A little more about Black from wikipedia:

His weblog is called Eschaton. Black was also a regular guest economics expert on Air America Radio’s The Majority Report and is currently a regular commentator on Sam Seder’s internet radio (Majority.fm) Majority Report and an op-ed contributor to USA Today.

After obtaining his BA from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Black obtained a Ph.D. in economics from Brown University in 1999. He has worked at the London School of Economics, the Université catholique de Louvain, the University of California, Irvine, and, most recently, Bryn Mawr College. He is now a Senior Fellow at the media research group Media Matters for America.

He also makes the case regularly that Elon Musk is a fraud and a hustler.

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DL Open Thread Tuesday June 7th 2021

Filed in National by on June 8, 2021 0 Comments

Today’s Open Thread is entitled – “Come Hell and Low Water”

Catchy, right? It’s my handwringing play on the saying “come hell or high water” which is an expression of determination in the face of natural and supernatural disaster.

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Carper Diem

Filed in National by on June 7, 2021 6 Comments
Carper Diem

It looks like Senator Methuselah to me.

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Minority Rule

Filed in National by on June 7, 2021 4 Comments

Timothy Synder is a Yale University history professor and the author of the excellent short book, On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century. He’s an expert on the history of fascism and totalitarianism and in the latest issue of his newsletter he describes how the United State in on a fast track to tyranny.

The scenario then goes like this.

  • The Republicans win back the House and Senate in 2022, in part thanks to voter suppression.
  • The Republican candidate in 2024 loses the popular vote by several million and the electoral vote by the margin of a few states.
  • State legislatures, claiming fraud, alter the electoral count vote.
  • The GOP House and Senate accept that altered count.
  • The losing candidate becomes the president.
  • We no longer have “democratically elected government.”

No one is seeking to hide that this is the plan.  It is right there out in the open.

The prospective Republican candidates for 2024, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and Josh Hawley, are all running on a big lie platform.  If your platform is that elections do not work, you are saying that you intend to come to power some other way.  The big lie is designed not to win an election, but to discredit one.  Any candidate who tells it is alienating most Americans, and preparing a minority for a scenario where fraud is claimed.  This is just what Trump tried in 2020, and it led to a coup attempt in January 2021.  It will be worse in January 2025.

9/11 led us to the invasion of Iraq, the foreign policy disaster that marked our century.  1/6 leads us to a catastrophe on that scale, but inside our own country.

Via BoingBoing

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Song of the Day 6/7: Bing Crosby, “Swinging on a Star”

Filed in Arts and Entertainment by on June 7, 2021 0 Comments

Does this song still turn up on children’s albums? When I was a kid, back in the Pleistocene, you heard it frequently because its sarcastic lyrics encourage little ones to go to school, exhibit good manners and not be a sneak. As an adult, I identify more with the last verse, especially when I read […]

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DL Open Thread Monday June 7th 2021

Filed in National by on June 7, 2021 6 Comments
DL Open Thread Monday June 7th 2021

In today’s news, some guy from Dover is getting some national attention for getting the Mandalorian Party recognized by the Dept of Elections because the new loves stupid bullshit.

“Digital producers” on Gannett’s Atlantic Digital Optimization (DOT) team have decided to unionize.  Good for them, I suppose.

John Carney’s take on legalizing marijuana is straight out of ‘Reefer Madness’. I’m beginning to believe that Carney is just not that smart.

And speaking of dim bulb elected… Joe Manchin reviews are coming in.

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Shorter Joe Manchin

Filed in National by on June 6, 2021 0 Comments

The terrorists who are trying to end voting must be included in the effort to stop the terrorists who are trying to end voting.

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Congratulations Coons! Your Super Secret Bipartisan Caucus is Working Wonderfully!!

Filed in National by on June 6, 2021 6 Comments

Manchin says he will vote against Democrats’ sweeping voting rights bill

  • Sen. Joe Manchin said he will vote against the sweeping federal election reform bill introduced by congressional Democrats.
  • The decision by the moderate West Virginia Democrat essentially guarantees the legislation will fail to pass in Congress.
  • The bill, also known as S.1, would require a minimum of 10 GOP votes to move past the filibuster and move to a final vote on passage.

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DL Open Thread Sunday, June 6, 2021

Filed in National by on June 6, 2021 9 Comments

The media must feel sheepish. For five years they treated every rally the Last Guy held as Big News, breathlessly reporting on how many of the slack-jawed gathered for his hatefests while rarely noting that, as a stump speaker, he’s dreadful — rambling, disjointed, frequently turning to his greatest hates for cheap applause. When it […]

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Pence agrees with Trump on “election security” but doesn’t agree that he should be hanged by a mob

Filed in National by on June 6, 2021 1 Comment
Pence agrees with Trump on “election security” but doesn’t agree that he should be hanged by a mob

As with most things dealing with the GOP, there are jokes-a-penty to be made at the expense of Mike Pence trying to curry favor among the very voters who wanted to hang him on January 6th. And yet, Pence has a valid point.Jan. 6th was “a dark day in the history of the United States […]

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