Open Thread For September 28, 2017
Matt Meyer Doesn’t Sound Like A Pathological Liar. I’m with him on his dispute with two Liliputians from below the canal. And, he got them to capitulate, aka surrender.
State Awards $1 Mill In Grants For Innovative Education Programs. Which, of course, is 1/26 of the education funds that Carny and his Mindless Minions cut out of public education this year. The only reason that someone with a straight face can claim that this is more than a drop in the bucket is b/c Carney always has a straight face. His expression never changes. Neither do his dimwitted policies.
Breaking: Trump Finally Grants Jones Act Waiver. Guess he decided that the optics of 3 million American citizens suffering meant that the desires of shipbuilders had to be placed on the back burner.
NASCAR Fans Hate Kneelers, Worship The Flag(s). Both of them. Being a NASCAR fan means flying the Stars And Bars as well as Old Glory. Being a NASCAR fan also means not seeing the irony in that. BTW, I’m beginning to really like Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
Trump Follows Delaware Lead–Wants To Eliminate Estate Tax. Of course it’s disgraceful and based on phony propaganda. Just remember–a Democratic Governor and a Democratic legislature pushed through this sop to the uber-wealthy this year in Delaware. It’s a total fucking disgrace, and those who pushed this should be made to pay with their jobs.
We’ve Only Scratched The Surface Of Russian Infiltration Of Social Media. That’s one example. Here’s another.
How Fake News Tore An Idaho Town Into Two. Brilliant and scary reporting from the NYTimes Magazine. BTW, Russia teamed with Breitbart on this one as well.
Tenants Sue Kushner Firm Over Unconscionable Fees And Eviction Threats. Welcome to Kushnerville, where you know who exploits poor tenants.
I could have highlighted at least five other pieces. Lotsa stuff going on today.
What do you want to talk about?
I heard someone comment this morning that by eliminating the estate tax, we move in the direction of becoming an “inherited” society. I hate it already.
The sick part is that the estate tax already exempts several million from being taxed
Just a slight correction. Public education funding was cut by a total of $36 million this last budget and that does not include the reduced state share to transportation costs which results in a higher local taxpayer share for those needs. Also the roughly $1.3 million in transportation funds given to charter schools that is not being used for transportation costs is once more being kept by those charter schools although Delaware law explicitly forbids the keeping of those monies. The charter schools who benefit from this outlandish and costly misuse of “Epilogue Language” permissiveness can send their thank you cards to JFC Chairs Melanie Smith and Harris McDowell and a special bouquet to Senator Bushweiller who has presented some of the most remarkably inane and unreasonable arguments to continue this legally questionable practice.
Representative John Kowalko
I must wonder about the efficacy of the $1M in grants to those schools/districts. I think Jack Markell was trying to defund the Laurel School District into extinction and John Carney is right behind Jack in that regard. A side note: back in about 2010, Jack’s education secretary’s office announce the four schools that would be re-organized under a combination of RTTT and state initiatives. This was in September of that year. All were from NCC. Subsequent to that, Jack spoke in Laurel for some reason. Then in mid-October, the state department of education announced that they had made a mistake in September, and Laurel Middle School would be placed on the list of 4, and a NCC middle school was to be taken off. The rationale was incredible. Despite the fact that LMS’s test scores were higher than the NCC middle school, it was felt that “the overall pattern in Laurel suggested that despite higher scores, LMS was on a path to decline and needed “immediate help”. Additionally, it was noted that cuts to state support for bus transportation had so cripple Laurel financially that the state hope the re-organization would help plug the money gap. I love the part about the state wanting to “help”. LMS went throught a heartbreaking process of working out a MoU to add to the teacher’s contract to extend the school day, focus on improving scores, etc. The state publicly announced that the process of developing this MoU had included efforts to give the teachers a “voice”, but I can tell you the real negotiations that occurred out of view of the public were savage and ham fisted. Teachers could either agree or be fired. Some choice, AND all under an existing contract as if that document carried NO weight of law. In the end, all “new” revenues went to purchasing one corporate package of improvement or another. Nothing actually came to the district in a form that made anything better on the ground. Teacher’s duties essentially doubled, with no compensation for the increase. My advice to the “winners” of this state “largesse” is to say, “no thank you” and stick their thumbs in the state’s eye.
Mouse: in the federal level, the exemption stops at 1.5M
John: good catch. It was 36M, not 26M. I’m appalled.
Looks like Margaret Rose Henry is retiring and Sam Guy is going to run to replace her.
Oh, thought is was higher.
Josh: I put the over/under on the number of D’s in a primary for that Senate seat at 5 and 1/2. Sam Guy is the 1/2.
Sam Guy– Charles and Velda Potter’s personal lawyer !!!?? OMG
Help us all!
@Paul Hayes
That savage ham- fister for Markell you speak of was none other than Dan Cruce AKA The Closer who just announced for the DEMs’ for Senate in the 4th.
https://exceptionaldelaware.wordpress.com/2017/09/29/markells-race-to-the-top-architect-dan-cruce-announces-bid-for-lavelles-senate-seat-in-delusionary-statement/