Open Thread Jan. 3: Rallying for the Right to Fleece the Rubes
Conservatives must have money to burn. That’s the only explanation for why some of Sussex County’s more cretinous politicians are still thumping the tub for a county-specific “Right to Work” anti-union law. They held a rally yesterday to support the bill, which already has been declared invalid by the attorney general’s office and therefore seems certain to cost the county another six-figure legal bill to be told that its lawmakers are ignorant of the law, which everyone already knows.
Steve Bannon reportedly still advises Trump, but that’s not why he’s back in the news today. The Guardian has an excerpt from Michael Wolff’s book on the administration in which Bannon says the money-laundering practices of Donald Jr. and Jared Kushner will bring Trump down, which is not exactly a revelation but shows that even people who pretend to see nothing unseemly going on know exactly what the score is. That leaves Trump’s rank-and-file supporters as the marks in this scenario, which, again, is not exactly a revelation. The funny part, I suppose, is that for people who worship money they sure are suckered out of it easily.
Joe Biden will make an appearance on Capitol Hill today as he accompanies Doug Jones for his swearing in as senator from Alabama, presumably as thanks for Biden’s campaigning on Jones’ behalf during the special election.
The public is being played by the media on a number of levels, but none so pathetic as the fiction that Trump critics in Congress actually oppose him. Amanda Marcotte points out that Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse does a lot of sanctimonious head-shaking about Trump but backs his agenda right down the line. You’ll be able to apply the same logic to Mitt Romney should he decide to run for the Senate to replace Orrin Hatch. There aren’t people who disagree with Donald Trump. They’re people who wish Donald Trump would stop telling the naked truth because they’re too prudish to view anything that’s naked.
Does any think that Trump would have a single qualm about burning Trump Jr. if he thought it would keep his own sorry ass out of jail? I don’t.
All one hears from the 5 Sussex County councilmen is that we need manufacturing jobs, AKA slave wage bottom feeding jobs. Sussex County already has a feudal labor environment. These 5 pandering maggots never suggest we need high tech high wage jobs and that they are mainly responsible for creating the conditions to drawl such jobs but have failed miserably.
The reason nobody manufactures anything in Sussex is that it’s entirely off all shipping routes. It is literally the worst place on the East Coast to manufacture anything, and all the non-union pandering in the world won’t fix that.
The real question is, who put up the money for this charade? If the “Caesar Rodney” Institute had anyone in Delaware behind it, why wouldn’t it say so?
In short, it’s an astroturf operation that has sucked in a few of the usual right-wing noisemakers. I expect them to hire Mike Protack eventually.
Here’s the deal. Arlett wants to have a big issue he can hang his hat on, win or lose, because this is an election year. This is the perfect one because it will generate attention, money, and news coverage. He can be the defender of Sussex against those mean New Castle County union bosses while
He’s an ambitious and arrogant little fucker who has his sights set far higher than Georgetown. After he wins re-election – because Jane Hovington’s pathetic Democratic Party won’t have anyone to run against him – look for him to try for Lieutenant Governor, Congress or Coons’ seat in 2020.
@SW: Thanks for the early warning. Who’s the money behind him? This another Hudson production?
Here’s Arlett’s bio from the Council page. Has his own real estate outfit. Has lived all over the place:
“Robert B. Arlett serves as the 5th district councilman on the Sussex County Council, representing southern Sussex County, extending from the Maryland line to the Atlantic Ocean, including the communities of Dagsboro, Delmar, Fenwick Island, Frankford, Laurel, Millville, Millsboro, Selbyville and South Bethany. Elected to County Council in 2014, Mr. Arlett is a new face to County government who brings with him a strong desire to “preserve the past and prepare for the future.” Born in Rhode Island, but raised in Southern California, Mr. Arlett found his way to the nation’s second smallest state in 2005, when he started a real estate business and put down roots with his family in coastal Sussex County. The son of a career U.S. Naval officer, Mr. Arlett has lived in many areas of the United States, including California, Hawaii and Virginia, where he attended George Mason University and enlisted in the Naval Reserve. There, Mr. Arlett served as an intelligence specialist with top-secret security clearance before eventually leaving and coming to Delaware. Among his goals as Sussex County’s newest councilman are growing the economy, promoting transparency in government, and preserving Sussex County’s way of life. Mr. Arlett is the father of two sons with his wife, Lorna, and lives near Frankford.”
George Mason University…a wholly owned subsidiary of the Koch Brothers:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/davidhalperin/george-mason-students-sue_b_14660680.html
Wasn’t there another hard-right knucklehead in SuxCo who worked in Naval Intelligence? Don Ayotte, I think it was.
To paraphrase Gandhi, I think naval intelligence would be a good idea.
A guy from Koch Brothers University pushing a Koch Brothers obsession:
https://www.prwatch.org/news/2014/06/12498/who-behind-national-right-work-committee-and-its-anti-union-crusade
I’d say the Koch Brothers are behind this guy. Making him dangerous.
In addition to all of the above, he was DJT’s Delaware campaign point person.
Don Ayotte was a crypto tech. That’s not Naval Inteeligence.