Tuesday Open Thread [2.5.13]

Filed in Open Thread by on February 5, 2013

First Read: “Exactly one week away from President Obama’s State of the Union address, the White House has spent the early days of the second term flooding the zone with its legislative agenda… What’s going on here: The Obama White House wants to overload Washington’s political circuits in an effort to see what it can get through Congress — without letting Congress define what issues get addressed. After all, Republicans want to solely talk about the budget before the March budget showdown…. Yet by flooding the zone, Team Obama — with the bully pulpit and the State of the Union at its disposal — wants to widen the political dialogue beyond that one issue.”

“This ‘flooding the zone’ concept is how the Obama White House operated in the first six months of the first term, and it’s where he got most of his legislative achievements. When the White House got bogged down on ONE issue (health care, debt ceiling, etc), officials determined they lost some of their political capital.”

Several Republican senators — notably John McCain — said “they would oppose a filibuster of former Senator Chuck Hagel’s confirmation as secretary of defense, moving the nominee much closer toward approval.”

Bullies always have thin skin and cry when they are hit back. Exhibit A of this: Donald Trump is suing comedian Bill Maher for what Maher said in making fun of the Donald on the Jay Leno show last month. Maher joked that Trump must be ‘the spawn of his mother having sex with an orangutan’ because he had orange hair.

Hillary has a website now, and that fact and its appearance convinces me she is running.

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  1. cassandra_m says:

    TheDonald is not happy with Bobby Jindal for an episode of truth-telling and calling the GOP the Stupid Party. I wouldn’t be lucky enough for Jindal to have trademarked that so that he could sue TheDonald, right?

  2. kavips says:

    They’re gun nuts. That’s what is wrong with them. They love their guns more than their own kids.

  3. pandora says:

    They are so ready for the worst to happen that when it doesn’t they make it happen. That guy who kidnapped the little boy off the school bus didn’t build that bunker for nothing.

  4. anon says:

    Another “responsible” gun owner leaves a gun where their kids have access, but G-d forbid anyone tries to make these “responsible” gun owners lock up their guns, because that would infringe on their 2nd Amendment right to have as many guns as possible and leave them in stupid places so their children can shoot themselves and others.

    If the 20 dead elementary school children in Sandy Hook had been fetuses, maybe the crazies would actually believe the shooting happened.

  5. Another Mike says:

    What grounds, exactly, is Trump basing his lawsuit on? Did Maher renege on a contract? When will he just go away?

  6. cassandra_m says:

    Jesus, don’t know why Gun Culture is featuring so prominently in my reading today, but how about another WTF from a responsible gun owner.

  7. SussexWatcher says:

    More from Richard Korn. I hate to say it, but PTL Tom Wagner won.

    http://www.delawaregrapevine.com/2-12korn.asp

  8. Rustydils says:

    Maher challenged trump to a bet. Trump won the bet, thats all

  9. geezer says:

    @cassandra: Tell ya what — if they raise the first quadrillion by 2020, I’ll match it.

  10. Venus says:

    He’d steal the husks right off of the Korn FAME

    He’d sue his mama to whom he was born LAME

    He’d be accused of internet kiddie porn SHAME

    Without enough sense to avoid another firestorm GAME

  11. puck says:

    It’s funny how reporters base their stories on court documents, which they then fail to provide with the story. The News Journal stories and Celia are both guilty of this on Korn.

    You see what’s happening here, right? Whichever reporter has the time and money to go to the court and gets the documents, gets to tell the story his way and shape the public debate. Without the documents, the story can’t be critically examined, which is probably the point of excluding them. In fact somebody likely sent Celia the document anyway.

    I wish we had a Delaware version of The Smoking Gun that publishes court documents of public interest.

    For dummies, this comment is neither a defense nor an attack on Korn – it is a media criticism. Because you know you are just itching to misunderstand it.

  12. SussexWatcher says:

    Do you know why they generally do not publish the court docs online? Because that makes it a snap for other media outlets to get them and do their own stories without having to do the work. Now, the competition has to cite TNJ’s or Grapevine’s reporting. Why would you provide an advantage to your adversary?

    Of course, it’s far easier to suppose a conspiracy and that all reporters are trying to spin a story in a certain direction, rather than just writing the facts as they know them.

    You truly are a dumbass. Stop whining and moaning about stuff you know nothing about – which encompasses a huge range of things, judging by your posts here – and pony up some cash to finance that Delaware TSG, if it’s so important to you. Otherwise, shut up and stop lowering Delaware’s collective IQ.

  13. pandora says:

    Somebody got up on the wrong side of the bed.

  14. puck says:

    @SW – Times and technology have changed since the 1950s – although you might not be aware of it, depending on where in Sussex you live. Even the hayseed on the corner with a straw in his teeth says “Damn, at least I’m not as dumb and mean as that SussexWatcher guy.”

    But I guess by virtue of being on this blog you are an overachiever, so I’m sure you can understand when I inform you there has been a revolution involving online journalism. There are new tools to take advantage of in online writing, and journalists ignore them at their peril.

    You offer such a plausible explanation, except that TNJ DOES publish source documents at times; here is a random example.

    I know I would competitively decide to read the outlet that publishes source documents; in fact I would be fiercely loyal to it. Newspapers are losing to blogs for just that reason, in many cases. If they are so concerned about competitors lifting the documents, they can watermark them with their mark, even automatically when they upload.

  15. SussexWatcher says:

    When you have a brain back in your head, let me know and I’ll bother to listen to you, puck.

  16. cassandra_m says:

    😆 @Geezer. There seems to be some controversy on the Death Star project making it to Kickstarter, so even though it seems like a joke, it won’t survive long enough for a match.