Archive for June, 2014

‘It’s a Shore Thing’ #3: Time for some traffic problems

Filed in National by on June 30, 2014 0 Comments

Shore beach traffic New Jersey bed and breakfast Tornoe cartoonThe Featherstones just received an email from an anonymous Christie staffer which reads, “Time for some traffic problems.” Check out episode 3 of “It’s a Shore Thing.”

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BREAKING: Hobby Lobby Ruling Today In

Filed in National by on June 30, 2014 69 Comments

I’m not sure what to expect, but I’m leaning towards the Supreme Court, yet again, not doing their job.  My guess, and I could very well be wrong, is that they rule in favor of Hobby Lobby, but pull a Bush v Gore cop out – meaning that the enforcers of the law of the […]

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General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Mon., June 30, 2014

Filed in Delaware by on June 30, 2014 4 Comments

The Longest Day. Here’s what a final day is usually like. Legislators drift in, and sessions generally begin around 4 pm or so. Dinner break a couple hours later. Because of, um, unfortunate instances of overindulgence in the past, members and staff generally dine in Leg Hall. In the past, lobbyists have paid for dinner. […]

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Monday Daily Delawhere [6.30.14]

Filed in Delaware by on June 30, 2014 4 Comments
Monday Daily Delawhere [6.30.14]

A garden entrance in the People’s Republic of Arden. 😉 Photo by xzmattzx.

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Late Night Video — Jon Stewart Explains the Reality of Sexual Assault on Campus to You

Filed in National by on June 29, 2014 58 Comments

Right:

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Why Isn’t John Carney Supporting H.R.1852, the Email Privacy Act?

Filed in Delaware, National by on June 29, 2014 3 Comments

Since the Supremes pretty clearly told law enforcement that they needed to get a warrant to search your cell phone, there has been renewed attention on H.R.1852, the Email Privacy Act. Introduced by Representative Kevin Yoder [R-KS-3] in May 2013, this law would revise the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act, requiring subpoenas to search emails, no matter how long they had been stored (they can now look at email stored for more then 180 days without a warrant) and allowing ISPs to communicate to the targets that their emails were requested by law enforcement. As of this writing (6.29.2014), John Carney has not joined the 220 Representatives (138 R, 82 D — BIPARTISANSHIP!) who are looking to refine the due process around law enforcement looking at your emails.

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Sunday Open Thread [6.29.14]

Filed in Open Thread by on June 29, 2014 5 Comments

I had a great time last night and it was great to see everyone! Hope we’ll do another DL get-together soon.

Here are two long reads for this great Sunday Morning — this piece (in Politico, but may be the best thing they’ve ever published) is from Nick Hanauer — firmly ensconced in the 1% — talking about the trainwreck to come if income inequality isn’t dealt with. This is a brilliant — and scathing — piece. He reminds us that this kind of income inbalance is at the fulcrum of alot of painful upheaval, that supply-side economics isn’t working, and that those business interests who continue to agitate for supply-side policy are arguing for long-term failure.

But the problem isn’t that we have inequality. Some inequality is intrinsic to any high-functioning capitalist economy. The problem is that inequality is at historically high levels and getting worse every day. Our country is rapidly becoming less a capitalist society and more a feudal society. Unless our policies change dramatically, the middle class will disappear, and we will be back to late 18th-century France. Before the revolution. […]

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Sunday Daily Delawhere [6.29.14]

Filed in Delaware by on June 29, 2014 0 Comments
Sunday Daily Delawhere [6.29.14]

The Cullen Bridge at the Indian River Inlet north of Bethany Beach. Photo by xzmattzx.

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Saturday Daily Delawhere [6.28.14]

Filed in Delaware by on June 28, 2014 0 Comments
Saturday Daily Delawhere [6.28.14]

The Procession of the Saints through Little Italy in Wilmington, Delaware. Photo taken by xzmattzx.

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The case for Chip Flowers

Filed in National by on June 27, 2014 48 Comments

There is no case for voting for Chip Flowers. However, I think there can be a case for voting against Sean Barney. For all his merits (and his merits are many) he is still a Carper man through and through. Do we really need anther mobbed up Carper guy on a glide path to the promised land of corporate back-scratch-a-palooza?

I probably will not run against Carney. I don’t have the guts or the time. If I don’t run, I will not have any way to register my disgust with the corporatist Democrats who run Delaware. The one vanishingly small gesture I can make is to vote against Tom Carper’s pick for treasurer.

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Hey! Don’t Forget the DL Get-Together This Saturday!

Filed in Delaware by on June 27, 2014 0 Comments

Well… in case you’ve forgotten… Saturday, June 28th 7:00pm Firestone’s (Wilmington Riverfront) If you haven’t RSVP’d in the comments (not that it’s necessary!)… have at it!

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Friday Open Thread [6.27.14]

Filed in National by on June 27, 2014 11 Comments

Even Fox News is now laughing at Michelle Bachmann.

For those who cannot bear to watch Fox News or hear Bachmann’s voice (I am with you… nails on a chalkboard), here is some quotes from Think Progress:

During an interview with Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), Cavuto belittled the effort as “an enormous waste of effort” and “a political football,” suggesting that President George W. Bush used similar executive authority. The segment devolved into a shouting match, with Cavuto laughing off Bachmann’s indignation about Obama’s use of executive powers.

“It just seems to me like an enormous waste of effort,” Cavuto said, at first gently, trying to chide Bachmann and her Tea Party Republican colleagues in Congress to do something, you know, governance-related for the American people. “It just seems to me there’s so much wrong here, this finger-pointing—’We’re gonna drag your ass to court, we’re gonna do this’— just do something, you hear what I’m saying?”

Bachmann: This is what we should do now. What we should do now is defund the executive branch when we have the option—I just ran across the street because we’re voting on funding for the executive branch all summer long. Cut it. Make it hurt. Because if they don’t have money, they don’t have power…

Cavuto: Think about what you’re saying. Defund the executive branch? Congresswoman! If Democrats had said to you, ‘We’re going to defund President Bush,’ you would laugh them out, and so you should have… I think the Democrats are in their right mind to laugh you out now. Defund them?! [shakes head] …Oh man oh man oh man oh man. Rome’s burning and you’re filing!

Defunding? Is Michelle Bachmann aware that the President of the United States has to sign anything that the unified Congress (the House and the Senate) passes before it takes affect as law?

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Supreme Court Strikes Down Massachusetts Buffer Zone From Inside Their Own Buffer Zone

Filed in National by on June 27, 2014 43 Comments
Supreme Court Strikes Down Massachusetts Buffer Zone From Inside Their Own Buffer Zone

Can we start making Supreme Court Justices go on field trips?  Because it’s obvious they have never witnessed what goes on outside of an abortion clinic.  Perhaps we can simply demand that they look in a mirror, since the buffer zone around the Supreme Court (one of the most publicly owned areas in the country) is massive.  Why does that buffer zone exist?  Why do they afford themselves and the people who work in that building protection from sidewalk counselors?  Why shouldn’t they be counseled when they arrive at work?  For that matter, why can’t we have sidewalk counselors at polling sites?  At military funerals?  Why are these petitioners/sidewalk counselors considered harassers and a threat when “pro-lifers” – who have a history of harassment and violence are not?  Consistency, please.

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