DL Open Thread Tuesday November 16th 2021
Everybody hates Joe Biden because gas is expensive, so he passed some gimmicky pork barrel bill to try and buy back some approval points. That’s what the very objective DC press corps is saying, so it must be true.
Kevin Goff, the defendant’s lawyer in the murder trial of Ahmaud Arbery keeps trying to make the trial about his own racism. “How many ministers are there in the Arbury family?” Said Goff, “The seats in the court’s public gallery are different from the courtside seats in the Lakers game.”
Steven Bannon is a fine upstanding member of the Republican Party. Liz Cheney has been removed from the Wyoming GOP. In these days of glorious bipartisanship, I guess that means Coons will be reaching out to Bannon instead of Cheney going forward (?)
The UK is still being haunted by its ill-conceived, Brexit vote.
Johnson Says It’d Be ‘Legitimate’ to Suspend Brexit Deal Over Northern Ireland
Boris Johnson said it would be “perfectly legitimate” for the U.K. to suspend part of the Brexit deal with the European Union, though his government still wants to negotiate a solution to their escalating trade spat.
The U.K. is demanding a major overhaul of the divorce agreement it signed with the bloc, arguing that its implementation is causing significant harm to businesses and communities in Northern Ireland. Johnson has repeatedly threatened to suspend parts of it by using Article 16 of the so-called Northern Ireland protocol, if the bloc doesn’t agree to rewrite it.
Yet doing so carries the risk of severe retaliation from the EU. On Monday, the bloc’s top negotiator, Maros Sefcovic, told Irish lawmakers that any such move would call into question the EU’s broader trade deal with the U.K., signed at the end of 2020 to ensure tariff-free commerce. (snip)
Under the protocol, both sides agreed to an effective customs border in the Irish Sea, with Northern Ireland continuing to follow EU single market rules to avoid creating a hard border on the island of Ireland following Brexit. It means that goods moving into Northern Ireland from Britain are subject to customs checks if they are at risk of being later moved into the EU.
But the settlement has angered unionists in Northern Ireland, while Johnson’s government also blames it for disruption to the U.K.’s own internal market. It has long said that the conditions for invoking Article 16, which allows either side to take action which addresses “serious economic, societal or environmental difficulties” or “diversion of trade,” have been met.
Gas had better get a lot more expensive, and all remaining oil subsidies removed. Like the overdue exit from Afghanistan, incumbents will unfortunately pay a price for the overdue exit from fossil fuels. Green New Deal would have helped with that.
In 1993 Bill Clinton’s economic plan (OBRA ’93) passed only with VP Al Gore’s vote in the Senate, and passed the House by 2 votes (one of which was Bernie Sanders). Republicans filled the TV and press with predictions of disaster and a one-term presidency. And Republicans did in fact take Congress in 1994 which brought about the now-familar right-wing antics. But the predictions of economic disaster had been largely forgotten and they pivoted to trying to take credit for the Democratic boom and deficit reduction.
Realize in advance it’s a long lost cause but no president controls the price of gasoline and never has. Sure, it’s a know-nothing favorite and sure the corporate media will do everything they can to blow it out of proportion, but the price is settled globally. As for Bannon suspect there will be no support for our favorite old and ugly obnoxious troll, he’s nothing but another big mouth and I suspect none but the media will care about it.
Scumbag Chicago Police Union Boss Retires Before Getting Fired And–Announces Bid For Mayor:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/chicago-cop-union-boss-john-catanzara-abruptly-quits-before-he-can-get-fired-for-vile-posts
Which reminds me, anybody see this story?:
https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/2021/11/16/would-adding-retired-cops-water-down-wilmingtons-citizen-review-board/8587676002/
I mean, what’s a civilian police review board w/o a couple of ex-cops on it? Hello-o-o-o, the cops ARE the problem.
Rethug Mayor Indicted For 50 Counts Of Circulating ‘Revenge Porn’. For some reason, the Washington Post did not include his Party registration…:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/11/15/maryland-mayor-revenge-porn-charges/
…but, yep, he’s a Rethug:
https://celebsaga.com/andrew-bradshaw-political-party-is-he-republican/
Of course, this is one of those phony-baloney ‘non-partisan’ municipal elections, so presumably that’s why the mainstream press didn’t mention his political affiliation.
Theo Gregory convicted of official misconduct:
https://www.wdel.com/news/ex-wilmington-city-council-president-convicted-of-official-misconduct/article_863a0766-4657-11ec-b1bb-4f45300cd54e.html
He could get jail time. Me? I’m just happy that we finally have an AG who doesn’t look the other way when a public official violates the public trust.