DL Open Thread: Sun., January 16, 2022

Trump Voters Dying In Droves.  In places where Rethugs can’t afford to have them die.  To the tune of between about 1300 and 1900 Trump voters being subtracted from the rolls every day. Read this article. It will make you feel better:

As of this week, about 1,800 Americans a day are dying of Covid; the C.D.C. expects that number to rise above 2,600. Virtually all are adults. If 95 percent were unvaccinated and we assume that 75 percent of those were Trump supporters, that’s 1,300 to 1,900 of his voters being subtracted from the rolls every single day.

Donald Trump lost Arizona by a mere 10,000 votes. He lost Georgia by 12,000, He lost Wisconsin by 21,000. He lost Nevada by 33,000. Right now, about 60 Arizonans, 36 Georgians, 34 Wisconsinites and 14 Nevadans are dying of Covid each day. Seventy five percent of 95 percent of that would be minus 103 Trump voters per day—just in those four swing states. Week after week. That adds up.

Looks Like The Texas AG Broke The Law.  Rethugs’ disdain for the law is only rivaled by their professed love for police.  Hey, both groups deem themselves above the law, and the law, in states like Delaware, place the cops above the law.  Personal to Sen. Lockman: Don’t, don’t cut the legs out from under your bill before it even comes up for a vote.

Yep. Trump Meddled In The Census Count.  The Presidency was a totalitarian Presidency.  The other branches are in peril of following suit.  Only the so-called fourth branch, the federal bureaucracy, is saving us.  For now.

Is This Arrest A Turning Point In Challenging Extremism In America?  Hope so:

The arrest this week of Stewart Rhodes, the founder and leader of the Oath Keepers militia, marks one of the most significant moments thus far in the federal investigation into the January 6 Capitol attack.

“We’ve had such a good unfolding and narrative of what folks on the ground were doing, but we’ve not yet had a definitive narrative emerge about the people in power behind it and who was organizing it,” said Melissa Ryan, CEO of CARD Strategies, a consulting firm that researches online extremism and disinformation.

“Between what we see over the next few months from the justice department and whatever comes out of the select congressional investigation, hopefully a story is going to start to emerge.”

Rhodes has been a prominent figure in the far-right for over a decade. Easily distinguishable by his dark eyepatch – the result of dropping a loaded handgun and shooting himself in the left eye during his 20s, according to an Atlantic investigation – Rhodes positioned himself at the forefront of the anti-government militia movement amid its resurgence after the 2008 election of Barack Obama.

A former Army paratrooper and Yale Law School graduate, Rhodes announced the creation of the Oath Keepers at a 2009 rally on the site of a Revolutionary War battle. The group, which Rhodes marketed towards former and current law enforcement and military personnel, claimed to stand for defending the constitution and advocated for disobeying certain laws such as gun control legislation. Rhodes was careful to create a broad appeal for the organization, initially trying to distance it from more openly violent extremism and claiming that it wasn’t officially a militia.

This article’s a keeper. Read it.  They planned to overthrow the government, and almost succeeded.

Police Recruits Down In Delaware.  To me, this article buries the lede:

For those who do opt to push forward on a police officer’s path in the municipal academy, they’re in store for a wide-ranging curriculum, which begins in a “paramilitary environment that’s very high-stress, that eventually tapers off after a few weeks,” Cpl. Bumgarner said.

Break ’em down before you can turn them into soldiers, I mean, police.  At least the guy was honest.

Will Sussex County Do The Right Thing On Environmental And Waterways Preservation?  Sure, it’s at least three decades too late but still:

After a marathon session of Sussex County Council on Tuesday, Jan. 12, the proposed wetland buffer ordinance is no closer to being adopted following a deluge of public testimony and presentations.

The ordinance  calls for the county to:

• Consider strategies for preserving environmental areas from development and the protection of wetlands and waterways,
• Recognize the Inland Bays, their tributaries and other waterbodies as valuable open space areas of ecological importance,
• Identify an appropriate range of wetlands buffer distances based upon location and context, and
• Review appropriate sections of Sussex County’s zoning and subdivision codes to determine if amendments are needed that will better help protect groundwater, waterways, sensitive habitat areas and other critical natural lands in Sussex County.

While the record is being kept open until the council’s Tuesday, Feb. 22 meeting, a number of residents provided testimony in support of the ordinance with considerably fewer in opposition.

Is this why the Schells are tossing around so many $$’s to politicos?

What do you want to talk about?