DL Open Thread Friday, April 16, 2021
County Councilman Jea Street very publicly resigned as co-chair of council’s safety committee after condemning the fatal shooting of Lymond Moses.
“I go all the way back to when I was in high school and riots broke out in the 60s, and we looked up, here come the county police with long guns in riot gear. I was traumatized by it; it must have impacted me because 50-some years later I’m still talking about it. And there was no reason for the county police to be in Wilmington High School. The west side of Dupont Road is in the county, the east side here Wilmington High School is in the city. City police never showed up. To this day, there’s no explanation why the county showed up.”
“But that whole experience never went away from me. We couldn’t leave the school. We were going to do a walk-out, and that never went away for me, and people don’t understand, don’t realize, it’s still impacting me today. Because as Wilmington leadership met with school officials, and we prepared for implementation of the January 9, 1978 order, and we had to decide how we were going to police, city officials, including myself, city representatives, didn’t ask, we demanded that the county police have absolutely nothing to do with our children. So today, when you see the predominance of our schools are in developments, where jurisdictionally, state police have jurisdiction, that was purposeful and intentional.”
The human toll isn’t the only price we pay for police brutality. Settlements with the victims cost governments millions of dollars every year, enough to bankrupt smaller jurisdictions. You’d think those penny-pinching conservatives would take that into consideration, but nah. Small price to pay for keeping the uppities down.
A Superior Court judge has stayed the swearing in of former police chief Michael Capriglione as commissioner for the town of Newport (Motto: Too Small to Be Delaware’s Armpit) because he’s, y’know, on probation after being forced to resign in disgrace. The court’s going to sort it out.
The Republican Party, displaying the keen awareness of the problems of real people for which it’s famous, has decided to fight the Biden infrastructure plan on the hill of keeping corporate taxes low. Good choice, morans: Taxing corporations to pay for the plan polls 14 points higher than the plan itself.
Delaware is fiddling while other states burn one down, and President Joe needs to get with the program, too. The latest batch of states legalizing recreational pot means 43% of Americans now live in a state where it’s legal, proving that culture war battle has gone to the Dirty Fucking Hippies.
The Last Guy’s white-haired sidekick, Mike Pence, had a heart procedure performed. Doctors credited modern technology with helping them find the shriveled organ (no, not really. He just had a pacemaker installed.)
Still hanging on to that airline stock, hoping for a post-pandemic rebound? You might want to rethink that. Business travel is down, of course, but it appears it will stay that way even after the pandemic is over.
Over in Maryland, planners eyeing another crossing of the Chesapeake Bay have concluded the cheapest and least environmentally damaging place to do it is at the current Bay Bridge crossing site. Various groups are questioning the need given the pandemic, but officials say they’re planning for projected traffic levels in 2040.
Finally, after years of Trump tariffs, French winemakers were looking forward to an improved sales environment, but nature didn’t play along. A late freeze has destroyed up to 80% of the 2021 crop before it even got started.
The floor’s yours.
Greetings from the camp of the Dirty Fucking Hippies! Smoking since age 16 all the way thru U. of D. and Delstate, and I knew it would go this way. Yet another reminder No Cops In The Democratic Party! I knew that the clowns and clownettes in Dover would wait until the revenue train left the station, I also know that the bill they “craft” will be a joke that gives the cash to their friends and screws the end users. Home grow? Forget it! Groups that are not currently in the medical marijuana business? Good luck schmucks! Need bad and unresponsive government? No need to go to Washington, we got it right here.
What really astounds me about the Capriglione story is that he was elected Newport town commissioner with 32 votes. Not BY 32 votes, but WITH 32 votes! Too small to be Delaware’s armpit, indeed!
Hardly the “will of the people” he cites in his remarks on Delawareonline, where he also tries to downplay his willful trashing of all he was sworn to uphold as “just a misdemeanor,” as if his attempt to destroy evidence of his own crime was equivalent to failing to trim the weeds in his backyard. Deference to his years of (apparently) faithful service got his felony charges reduced to a slap-on-the-wrist misdemeanor, and now he cites it as some sort of exoneration.
Bravo to Kathy Jennings and her staff!
People have been killed for “just a misdemeanor”
One reason why Mr. Capriglione won in receiving only 32 votes in a town of over 1,000 is that Newport is one of the many municipalities that require residents to register at town hall in order to vote in the town elections. This requirement greatly reduces the number of people able to vote in those elections. Being registered with the State does NOT make one eligible to vote in the municipal election. The majority of town and cities in Delaware have this requirement. The result is that many new residents do not know about the separate registration requirement until they try to vote in the first municipal election. Many disadvantaged and minority residents were historically intimidated by having to appear at the city or town hall to register,
Representative Bryan Shupe and Senator Elizabeth Lockman are prime sponsors of HB 146, which will require municipalities to allow any resident state registered to vote in local elections. The bill allows the retention of charter provisions that exist that allow non-resident property owners to vote. The bill will be in the House Administration Committee for hearing soon. Co-sponsors to date are Senators Sokola, Paradee, Hansen and Wilson and Representatives Betz, K Johnson and Osienski.
Here is the relevant registration section of the Newport charter:
Section 8-05 Voter Qualifications
Every person domiciled in the Town of Newport who shall have reached the age of eighteen (18) years who is a citizen of the United States and who can prove the foregoing by proper identification, shall be entitled to vote at all regular and special municipal elections and referenda, except as otherwise provided in the Charter. Domicile in any area annexed to the Town by virtue of any action taken under this Charter or the laws of the State of Delaware shall constitute, for the purpose of this Section, domicile in the Town.
The Commissioners, by ordinance duly adopted, may provide for the registration of voters and require that a person, otherwise qualified to vote, must also be properly registered in order to vote in the municipal elections. Any such ordinance providing for registration of voters shall make adequate provision for the preparation and custody of registration books and for the entry therein of the names of registered voters, their qualifications as such, the fact of their voting at each municipal election, and such other matters as may be required by this Charter of the Laws of the State of Delaware. Reasonable opportunity shall be provided for voters to register, and there shall be at least five (5) registration days in each year, the last one of which shall be not more than 30 days prior to any election or referendum. Hours of registration shall be determined by ordinance. The ordinance may provide for permanent registration lists
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/04/democrats-voting-rights-contradiction/618599/
Excellent article in The Atlantic about “blue states” that make it harder to vote, particularly focused on Delaware.
Your yearly reminder: I have a felony conviction and am barred from voting in this state.
Sorry for no Open Thread on Saturday. I only yesterday got a new desktop, and both Jason and I participated in today’s NCC Democratic Convention.
I’m ready to roll now.
Don’t worry the public safety committee is in great hands with the FOPs best friend and firefighter Bill Bell