DL Open Thread: Friday, January 29, 2021
Reasons To Not Read The News-Journal: You may be aware that they are doing a clickbait series on ‘The Most Influential Delawareans’. I will not provide a link. Well, this week, they did one on the most influential political leaders, and many of the choices were bad. Uninspired. Just plain wrong. Here’s what got my goat. From the ‘typewriting’ on noted QAnon conspirator Lauren Witzke:
She’s the latest bellwether that Delaware voters are moving away from the state’s moderate traditions and toward a more fringe, alienating style of politics that could persist and have repercussions in the state for years to come.
You see what this Sarah Gamard, who may or may not be better than Scott Goss, did here: The false equivalencies. (A) That somehow the the state’s ‘moderate traditions’ are the gold standard; (B) That somehow the anti-democratic activities of Witzke’s QAnon cohorts equate to the work of progressives, especially since poll after poll demonstrate that the policies pushed by progressives are popular with the voters; and (C) That Witzke’s Witlesses’ attempts to overthrow elections somehow equate with progressive attempts to grow voter participation. Not to mention, passage of progressive legislation supported by an overwhelming percentage of voters is not, by definition, ‘alienating’.
Don’t they teach critical thinking in college any more? But, I digress.
The Census Will Be (More Than) A Little Late This Year. Due to both incompetence and skulduggery ( by Trump, of course). It will delay the drawing of congressional and legislative districts throughout the country. Meaning, Delaware’s new legislative maps will not be in place by the end of session in June. Perhaps a special session in the fall?:
The timing for the second set of new census results — the detailed demographic data that state redistricting officials need to redraw voting districts — remains unclear. That information is normally delivered to the states by the end of March.
“You should not expect it prior to July 30,” Styles said.
Biden Nixes Trump Appointees To Defense Boards. They should’ve gotten their paperwork in on time. Sad.
‘The Enemy Is Within’. I honestly believe that the Uncivil War has begun, fueled by years, even decades, of deliberate misinformation, the match lit by Trump. Don’t know how you get the genie back in the bottle. Talk me down.
Proud Boys Leader Was A Police Informant:
Tarrio, in an interview with Reuters Tuesday, denied working undercover or cooperating in cases against others. “I don’t know any of this,” he said, when asked about the transcript. “I don’t recall any of this.”
Dude, you’re busted.
Guess Who Likes More Fed Assistance In Rolling Out The Vaccines. Some red-state governors. But not Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who inveighs against ‘FEMA camps’.
How To Get Rid Of Racist Cops. Some really good ideas here. I hope that Delaware legislators and someone in the AG’s office read this. Two excerpts:
Both police departments and prosecutors’ offices have an obligation under something called the Brady doctrine. There’s a case called Brady v. Maryland that was a Supreme Court case several decades ago, and it said the government—and the government means both prosecutors and police—has to turn over any information that’s favorable to the defense for use by the defense at trial. For example, if a complaining witness in a case has a prior conviction for perjury, that’s something they need to turn over to the defense so that the defense can cross-examine that witness with that information. Similarly, I argue that issues of police discipline and anything else you could cross-examine a police officer about should be turned over to the defense…
…Well, we can never know what’s in someone’s mind, but certainly we can fire them when they act on their white supremacist views, like publicly posting something or texting something to another officer, because that impacts the behavior of others. There are cases that say that an officer might have a First Amendment right to express some of his views, but his right to express those views don’t outweigh the police department’s interest in a good relationship with the public. Anything that undermines the integrity of the office is grounds for dismissal.
Trump And Benedict XIII: The Antipopes. Two figures who refused to bow to reality. Will Trump also establish a government-in-exile?
Report: Russia Cultivated Trump As An Asset For 40 Years. There’s a lot of detail in here.
Big Oil & Big Ag: Perfect Together? Maybe. Maybe not. Big Oil wants farmers to oppose all-electric vehicles. You know, ethanol.
What do you want to talk about?
Interesting to note the blazing insanity of QAnon is making it’s way into the government via an assortment of lunatics like the truly vile Marjorie Taylor Greene and the homegrown variety Witzke. Their headed for a big fall as the lunatics have declared that Trump will be sworn in on March 4th, LMAO at that. Racist far right cops? Good luck, their all authoritarians and it’s been common knowledge they have been infiltrated for decades by the white supremacists. As ever expect no help from the craven cowards we call politicians. As for the News Journal just go belly up and be done.
Sarah Gamard is one of the worst reporters I have ever seen. Lazy and incurious. How Tizzy Lockman, Matt Meyer, or any of the Govs cabinet who have been at the forefront of the COVID response are not on this list is bananas. Even in the comments from Brian McGlinchey, he alluded to the idea that he wasn’t really involved in anything except writing a few checks on behalf of his company to some gauranteed winners and some losers.
“Walls, a pediatric psychologist at Nemours, first got involved in state politics after the 2016 election. She started by working on local midterm campaigns for progressive Democrats, and since then has made friends with tenured and new health care-minded lawmakers.” What the hell? She just got involved in volunteering for campaigns four years ago and because she now has some powerful “friends” she’s more influential than Bryan Townsend or Jeff Bullock?
Then she throws one random person of color in the the list; Probably because she doesn’t know any.
She should have just taken your list and plagerized it.
Or–taken my list and paid me for it.
It speaks directly to what purports to be a news operation relying almost entirely on young, inexperience reporters who aren’t from anywhere near here to cover Delaware.
Now that people born outside the state make up more than half the population, more than half the public probably will never know how shallowly the publication knows the state. The other near-half knows better.
FWIW, this kind of tripe article used to be the province of “lifestyle” magazines like Delaware Today, and in all the years I’ve been reading such articles I’ve never seen one — not even in first-class publications like Philadelphia magazine — get even half such a list right.
Most of the most influential people in the state don’t get their names in the papers very much — when’s the last article you read that mentioned Bob Byrd, who’s very close to No. 1 on any legitimate list? — so noobies like Sarah Gamard are unaware of how their deep their influence runs.
I haven’t seen the list — I’m not a subscriber and don’t intend to be until they pay everyone for the thousands of hours of overtime they refused to acknowledge for decades — but I’ll be she ranked John Carney above Pete Schwarzkopf.
I would like to share, with your readers, the remarks I made to the Delaware House of Representatives on 1/28/2021 regarding the passage of HR5 condemning the violence in Washington on January 6th.
“First let me thank all of my colleagues who supported the resolution condemning the assault on the U.S. Capitol and committing to a peaceful and respectful discourse in the conducting of public business.
The tragic events in Washington on January 6th cannot and should not ever be forgotten. A firm commitment by all of us must be made to ensure that it is not.
There is more to that day, however, that must be said here for the record.
When I witnessed the plight of Delaware’s first black female congressperson, Lisa Blunt-Rochester, forced to cower with her colleagues in fear for their lives, threatened by a mob of criminals and criminally intended thugs I was appalled and my heart sank. When I witnessed this woman of courage offer protective masks to her colleagues so that they might be protected from the virus my heart swelled with pride despite the fact that some of those colleagues foolishly and derisively refused her magnanimous gesture.
When I witnessed the violent mob of criminals storming our nation’s capitol, mercilessly attacking the police with weapons and fists even beating one heroic policeman to death my heart sank. But when I witnessed the uncommon bravery and courage of Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman standing in harm’s way, willing to sacrifice his personal safety and life to protect our congress-people and their staffers, even going so far as to provoke the rioters in order to lead them away from the chamber where defenseless staffers and electeds were huddled my heart once again soared. I was filled with admiration and gratitude for the heroic efforts and uncommon courage of this true American hero and for every one of those heroic policemen who defended against this assault on our democracy. They are heroes all of them.
When I witnessed the President of the United States Donald Trump urging, cajoling and inciting the mob of insurrectionists to mount their assault on one of our most revered institutions as referenced in Mitch McConnell’s own words and I quote here “The mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the President and other powerful people and they tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding of the first brand of the federal government which they did not like” (end quote). My heart sank and I felt a new wave of darkness sweeping our nation. But when articles of impeachment were approved by a bipartisan vote of the House of Representatives charging this president with inciting insurrection my heart once more swelled with pride in our great Democracy and I knew America and its people would always prevail on behalf of truth and justice”.
Representative John Kowalko 25th District DE.