February 9, 2017 Open Thread
School closings (NewsJournal, WDEL)
Snow Totals (link)
Snow still expected in First State, but lower accumulations (link)
Two prison officers assaulted at Vaughn Correctional Center (link)
Legal support planned for Syrian family en route to Delaware (link)
B.F. Rich closes its doors, laying off 130 workers (link)
DE Turf, DelDOT announce plan for surge traffic (link)
Dover pump station spills raw sewage into Saint Jones River (link)
Mr. Klopp believes that the settlement “places mental health workers between the inmates and the Officers, usually to the detriment of the Officer.
“Repeated incidents where an Officer directs an inmate to do something only to have mental health advocates instruct the inmate not to comply occur all too often.
If we deconstruct this a little, it appears that correction officers are ordering prisoners to do things that are not acceptable to mental health professionals. Why are the COs making those demands? Perhaps it is due to staffing. Who knows. But this appears to be a war between COs and mental health workers (and it may be instigated by a lack of support from the Markell administration).
Mummmm oocysts,
http://patient.info/doctor/cryptosporidiosis
The VCC is typical of nearly all American prisons, over crowded, under staffed and ignored until there’s trouble. Having created the mass incarceration monster politicians no longer wish to pay for it, perhaps in their tiny minds they think it will go away or “heal” itself. There is going to be more expensive hell to pay until the politicians undo the laws that created mass incarceration, am not holding my breath.
Middle/lower middle class whites have to realize they could easily get sucked into this abuse by being in the wrong place at the wrong time
The replacement for Sessions has an excellent name for an arch-villain. Say hello to Senator Luther Strange.
This should cheer up Jason:
“My mentions are full of D tweeters who want to primary Carper for hugging Jeff Sessions after he voted against him.”
https://twitter.com/StevenTDennis/status/829506659236057088
Another sign of a turn in the culture: Stephen Colbert has beaten Jimmy Fallon in the late-night ratings for the past two weeks. It corresponds with Colbert taking off the gloves to pummel Trump pretty much non-stop:
https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/02/stephen-colberts-new-and-improved-approach-to-trump/515994/
Alby – We need to find a picture of Carper In flagrante delicto
Couldn’t find a still photo of them together except for one from 2010:
http://cache4.asset-cache.net/gc/98847588-sen-jeff-sessions-and-sen-thomas-carper-gettyimages.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=9QMziWNtBI6whP66vhs4oQHGO%2Fs07gwI3t847GXdXFLNKNegURifjifU22hw40CGw81ojwf1c3vRXTt5rHWzGw%3D%3D
Of course it would be totally, totally unethical to use the old photo to illustrate the new story. Totally, totally unethical. Totally.
It must have been on TV, so maybe someone can screen-grab it. Or, you know, just be totally, totally unethical.
I just watched the vote on C-SPAN, there is no screen grab to get. 🙁
From The Hill:
Here is the video I could find. Is that Carper scurring up the aisle in the bottom right hand corner?
Bizarro!!!!!!!!!! who votes against a guy for a major job and then go give him a hug??
@chris: To most of us the comity of the Senate is a sick joke, but not to those guys. Before the Tea Party caucus arrived, both parties put great stock in it. It had long been thought that by rubbing elbows with members of the opposing party, not just in session but in social settings as well, would breed an increased spirit of cooperation.
Remember, the checks and balances in the system aren’t just there to restrict overreach. They’re meant to foster compromise as the best way forward.
Treating the president badly is entirely different. There’s a long tradition of that across all parties, and almost all presidents. Even Washington.
Trump? Who Trump?
Shoppers, diner and employees at the Trump Tower and Mall in Istanbul had no idea it was THAT Trump:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/08/world/middleeast/in-istanbul-surprise-that-trump-towers-complex-is-linked-to-trump.html
DL contributor Rob Tornoe on the history and etymology of “shitgibbon” for Philly.com:
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/real-time/A-Pa-politician-called-Trump-a-S—gibbon-Heres-where-that-came-from.html
So, BF Rich is going out of business. A staple in the State of Delaware. 130 workers get axed! And, we are still giving Bloom Energy money, every month. Right now, there are 4 job openings in the state of Delaware, THERE ARE ALSO 4 OPENINGS IN INDIA & 25 OPENINGS IN CALIFORNIA!!
WHY, DOESN’T THIS MATTER TO PEOPLE! THIS NEEDS TO END!
CALL CARNEY TODAY AND DEMAND WE DEFUND BLOOM ENERGY! DON’T LET CARNEY RAISE TAXES, TAKE IT OUT OF THE BLOOM DEAL!
“So, BF Rich is going out of business. A staple in the State of Delaware. 130 workers get axed!”
According to the story, the business has struggled since the Great Recession and closed after a planned sale fell through; under those circumstances, workers are not entitled to severance.
“We are still giving Bloom Energy money, every month.”
If by “we” you mean Delmarva customers, yes we are. But the state isn’t paying out any more cash than what it already handed out; the issue is whether Bloom will ever pay it back.
“WHY, DOESN’T THIS MATTER TO PEOPLE! THIS NEEDS TO END!”
Because it amounts to $5 a month to the average customer and is only an add-on to the electric bill. When the bill is $300, not many people are going to get hung up over $5. You can’t accuse the media of ignoring it. The News Journal printed this long story about it last October:
http://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/2016/10/29/blooms-sweetheart-deal-del-keeps-givin/92667946/
“CALL CARNEY TODAY AND DEMAND WE DEFUND BLOOM ENERGY!”
This would effectively put the 277 Delaware employees out of work. Those jobs might disappear anyway in a few years, but for now nobody is going to want to take the blame for making more jobs vanish.
“DON’T LET CARNEY RAISE TAXES, TAKE IT OUT OF THE BLOOM DEAL!”
Not possible. This is a contract situation between the state, Bloom and Delmarva. The money does not go through the state. There is nothing there to “take.” Even if, by some means, the state could divert what’s being spent by ratepayers, it amounts to about $30 million a year — significant, but less than 10% of the projected deficit.