DL Open Thread: Thursday, June 11, 2020

AG Assails Police Riot In Dover.  Make no mistake. That’s what it was.  Police don’t like to be circumscribed by pesky laws.  From AG Jennings:

“I’ve been clear with law enforcement that I do not believe civil disobedience should be treated criminally and that peaceful protesters should not be harmed,” she said.

“People have a right to free speech and to peaceable assembly in this country and our goal – regardless of their message or their ideology – is to ensure that they can exercise that right safely. Period.”

I must’ve missed it. Did Pistol Pete check in to criticize his brothers-in-arms?

Delaware Nursing Homes Seek Immunity.  This is as close to killing their (your) parents and begging for mercy b/c they’re (you’re) an orphan that you can get.  Their ongoing lack of providing anything approaching reasonable care has gone on for decades. Not only don’t they deserve immunity, they deserve to pay out every penny that they get sued for.  Far too many facilities just suck out all the money while providing as little care as they can get away with.  John, forget their crocodile tears, focus on the real tears of those whose loved ones were victimized by this industry. I’m with AARP State Director Lucretia Young:

In a June 2 letter to the governor and health secretary, AARP Delaware State Director Lucretia Young expressed her “strong opposition” to any proposal that grants immunity to long-term care facilities. 

“Nursing homes and other LTC facilities,” she wrote in a letter obtained by Delaware Online, “should know they will be held responsible for providing the level of quality care that is required of them, and for which they are being compensated.” 

“Gross Prosecutorial Abuse”.  That’s just one of the findings by retired Judge John Gleeson in his scathing review of the Department of Justice’s behavior in the Michael Flynn case.  Try this one on for size: ‘He called the DOJ’s dismissal request an “unconvincing effort to disguise as legitimate a decision to dismiss that is based solely on the fact that Flynn is a political ally of President Trump.”  His conclusion: Go ahead and sentence the bastard.

NASCAR Bans Confederate Flags.  If you’re looking for an ‘attaboy’ from me, you’re barking up the wrong lynching post.  NASCAR has tied its fortunes to the God & Guns culture forever.  It has used its platform to promote those ‘values’.  Anyone who has ever even just driven by Dover Downs on a race weekend has likely been shocked at the sheer number of stars ‘n bars flying there. Make no mistake: NASCAR did this because they had to do this. They’ve been bleeding fans for at least a decade now, they can’t afford to lose any more advertising dollars.  BTW, this decision will only hasten the ongoing and justified erosion of NASCAR’s support.  The product is boring, it tried and failed to grow beyond its regional appeal, it has an old demographic, and now they’ve pissed off the racist dead-enders. 

Ol’ Jeff Davis Kisses The Pavement.  Over and over again. Is the Confederacy finally dead?

How Trump Has Pushed For Mass Border Expulsions Under the Cover Of The Pandemic.  It’s a tough read, but this must not be ignored.

‘An American Fiasco’.  More than 2 million confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States, likely many millions more that have gone unconfirmed.  Check out the latest hot spots here. Don’t look for governors to stem the tide.

‘Stop Training Police Like They’re Joining The Military’. A must-read:

It’s not hard to see the link between paramilitary police training and the abuses motivating the past several weeks’ protests. When police recruits are belittled by their instructors and ordered to refrain from responses other than “Yes, Sir!,” they may learn stoicism—but they may also learn that mocking and bellowing orders at those with less power are acceptable actions. When recruits are ordered to do push-ups to the point of exhaustion because their boots weren’t properly polished, they may learn the value of attention to detail—but they may also conclude that the infliction of pain is an appropriate response to even the most trivial infractions.

Many police recruits enter the academy as idealists, but this kind of training turns them into cynics, even before their first day on patrol. And although most police officers will go through their entire careers without ever firing their weapons, others will inevitably get the wrong lessons from their paramilitary training, and end up like the fired Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin.

What do you want to talk about?