DL Open Thread Tuesday May 31 2022
All of these murdered children are so rude! Always politicizing things that are inherently political:
All this was the context when Beto O’Rourke confronted Abbott during a press conference in Uvalde last Wednesday. “The time to stop the next shooting is right now, and you are doing nothing,” he said, adding, “This is on you.” O’Rourke, the former Democratic congressman and Presidential candidate, whose angry pledge to take away guns after the killings in El Paso was widely thought to have damaged his political prospects, is running for governor against Abbott this year. That likely explains, in part, why Don McLaughlin, the Republican mayor of Uvalde, who has appeared on Tucker Carlson’s show, called O’Rourke a “sick son of a bitch” and accused him of making the shooting “a political issue.” Senator Ted Cruz, who was also at the press conference, later said, “I get tired of all the politicking. It happens every time there is a mass shooting.” That Cruz used the phrase “every time there is a mass shooting” spoke volumes about how commonplace these abominations have become. Two days later, Cruz addressed the annual N.R.A. convention, in Houston.
O’Rourke did not politicize the shooting. The circumstances that make a mass murder of fourth graders possible are inherently political. The legal access to the weaponry involved is political. The most visible people refusing to see these things as political happen to be elected to political office. But O’Rourke was only partially right. Some of this is on Second Amendment fundamentalists and the politicians who translate their zealotry into law—the rest is on every one of us who has yet to find the courage, the creativity, or the resolve to stop it.
American Cities Are Rethinking Traffic Stops:
To prevent similar
incidentsmurders from happening in their city, Schor and other Lansing officials are trying something new in the state capitol… they banned traffic stops for minor infractions altogether. The goal is to avoid unnecessary escalations, racial profiling and pre-textual stops where an officer uses a minor violation to pull over and search a car.
Hmm…? Unnecessary escalations ad racial profiling? It seems like this takes racists cops pulling people over to hassle and murder them as a kind of given. Maybe there is a way to keep enforcing traffic laws but without all the racism and murders?
As Long As Coons and Manchin are US Senators – Is Voting in “Blue” states Pointless? Signs Point to – Yes
The United States has always, in some capacity, been governed through some form of minority rule. But the last 22 years (and the last six in particular) have underlined just how difficult it is for the will of the majority to translate into policy or governmental action. It feels like the United States is regressing, but we’re actually just getting redrawn according to this minority group’s architectural renderings of a Christian Nationalist Theocracy. We’re free to pound on the doors (politely, of course, and certainly not in a way that would make any Supreme Court justice feel uncomfortable). But we’re stuck in the design. With all these motherfucking guns.
Speaking of Coons, it is the 1 year anniversary of the New York Times publishing this nonsense:
To trail Mr. Coons on Capitol Hill is to witness how he operates as an extra pair of eyes and ears for the Biden administration in Congress, a kind of consigliere trusted by both the president and the senators — many of them Republicans — whom Mr. Biden needs to succeed.
It is a far less prestigious job than the one that Mr. Coons — who interned for Mr. Biden three decades ago, became his mentee on the New Castle County Council, campaigned for him in Iowa and now holds the seat that once belonged to him — initially sought in the Biden administration, where he had hoped to serve as secretary of state. But it can demand the same kind of shuttle diplomacy and high-stakes negotiation.
It seems like ten years ago. Nobody even pretends that there is a secret bipartisan caucus in the Senate anymore. Certainly no secret bipartisan caucus that is going to come out of hiding someday and save the Republic, anyway.
Let me just point out that Steve Wood is not smart enough to have thought of this himself.
Is the KMG trial going to be live streamed?
DOJ in a spot of bother due to defense venue motion. NCCo indictment may not fly.
Adjourned till tomorrow am.
(Bill Martin and I were in the court room for the Call and podcast respectively)
And Mike. We can’t even record or take a still photo in the courtroom.
Judge Carpenter’s orders.
Media can have devices for notes only. Can’t even live tweet it or we’d be immediately removed
Canada is doing what so many insist cannot be done in this country: freezing sales of handguns, mandatory-participation buyback of assault weapons.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/canada-gun-control_n_6295921ce4b0415d4d893137
Trial delayed.
https://www.wdel.com/news/update-start-of-trial-against-delawares-auditor-delayed-as-doj-weighs-whether-case-was-filed/article_3f13503e-e0e6-11ec-98dd-735d8449682e.html
But for how long? What a weird gimmick.
What’s the gimmick?
Just the whole “wrong county” thing. Couldn’t that have come up before today? Waiting til now is bush league stuff just trying to flood the zone with shit.
Y’know, flooding the zone with shit works against McG, at least from a political standpoint.
But she’d probably stand a better chance in Kent County than in NCC.
Bush league? More like big league. And it “came up” before today. Wood made the motion today.
You understand what his role is right?
I dunno. I’m not that smart. It’s why I don’t comment much.
” Coons’ super secret bipartisan caucus”
The Gang of None.
Bill and I recorded an episode for tomorrow on this. Drops 08:00
Folks – Trial Day 1 review is up (posting the link here since I mentioned it).
https://www.patreon.com/posts/67165330
Friday’s episode will be the show with Hal Weitzman, editor in chief of Chicago Booth Review. Remember, any patron at $5/mo. or more on June 15th is entered to win one of five signed copies of Hal’s book on our state’s corporate franchise, What’s the Matter with Delaware?
Headed to Kent Co.grand jury Monday. Just got word.
They need to get a new indictment and a new trial calendar will be set.
State dropped case against McGuiness this morning because they filed in the wrong county. Is there a chance a judge won’t hear it now? Too much prosecutorial foolishness? This woman is a menace. She is a bully and narcissist and I have no doubt she sought to enrich her friends and family, as well as foster a contemptible, hostile, fear-based work environment. What she did to Kathleen Davies alone is enough to fill a book.
This is a little concerning and I’m hoping the courts will allow the case to move forward once refiled.
https://townsquaredelaware.com/state-drops-case-against-mcguiness-plans-to-reindict-in-kent-county/?fbclid=IwAR1dIbtX36rADQ8M0WVK0n_DtV2CKOq17tcikCc2Y4hEODGwm68cjgfWigw
Asked and answered – see podcast link above.
The state dropped the original indictment due to uncertainty over venue in order to obtain an indictment in Kent Co. They will present the case to a Dover Grand Jury on Monday
Obviously this isn’t guaranteed… but mostly indictments are pro forma. Especially since it’s basically the same evidence. Then a trial schedule will be set in Dover.
To keep you up to speed you should consider a podcast patronage… lol
Also, I know this space is a haven for personal gossip and politics (both office politics and the regular kind), and I love that! But the law does have, you know, rules. You’d appreciate them very much if you were seated in the dock.
The fact that an anonymous commenter thinks anyone is “a menace” isn’t admissible or salient. She seems a self-centered bully, yes. But that isn’t a crime.
This case seems to continue to show the incompetence of the AG’s office and begs the question if this was solely a political hit
Well, as we said on the show. There’s really no precedent for this. So the DOJ put on the indictment “having been elected to statewide office” rather than “in the county of X”.
Even Judge Carpenter wouldn’t rule one way or the other because there’s no citation for a previous Delaware case law.
All that said, yeah so far Steve Wood has gotten evidence suppressed and venue changed. AG definitely on the back foot.
As long as they get an indictment in Dover Monday they’ll be back on track though.
I mean, everything’s political. But the acts and the behavior as alleged seem like crimes. Take that as you will.
For me it begs the question of who’s actually steering the defense. As noted earlier, I don’t think Steve Wood is smart enough to have come up with this angle himself.
So does Jennings get a do-over for admitting the laptop evidence?
Fantastic question. I’m literally here looking at Carpenter’s memorandum decision on the discovery violations and I’m wondering whether the timing resets and the evidence gets admitted in Kent.
Time to call our chief legal correspondent. Because I’m not sure!
So – the big caveat is there’s no real case law precedent here.
But we believe that even after a new indictment in Kent the original case date and original indictment date are effective and the evidence would still be out.
But this is an educated guess more than anything.
Really enjoyed the podcast and first-person account of yesterday’s happenings. Inquiring minds need to see a photo of the Tom Wolfe suit look.
Thanks for listening.
Only one photo actually. Taken unbeknownst tome and posted by Bill Martin himself.
https://twitter.com/billmartin/status/1531664627603472386
Too hot for a jacket. Seersucker trousers, mint green linen shirt (made to measure at Wilmington’s own Wright and Simon) and a hat by Goorin Brothers (I bought in New Orleans).
Not pictured. Green suede Ralph Lauren wingtips. LOL.
I had never listened to your podcast before today. You’re really interesting and have an even better sense of humor than you do here. Consider me subscribed.
Thanks, Andrew. We try to make them good. There’s an extensive back catalog that includes many Delaware politicians/activists as well as many national journalists and academics.