DL Open Thread: Sunday, July 24, 2022

Doubts On Death Penalty In Oklahoma. Even from deep-red pro-death penalty legislators. Of course, this time the man sentenced to death is white:

It was the third time the state of Oklahoma had tried to execute Glossip and the latest lapse in a macabre history of failure in its death penalty machinery. As a journalist who covered Oklahoma’s prison system and death row for 25 years, I reported on many of those breakdowns.

Seven years later, the state remains intent on executing Glossip, scheduling its fourth attempt for Sept. 22 despite persistent claims that the 59-year-old is innocent and allegations that prosecutors ordered the destruction of vital evidence in the 1997 murder-for-hire case that resulted in his death sentence.

Glossip’s claims of innocence have drawn an unusually bipartisan array of supporters, including 28 Republican state lawmakers, most of whom support the death penalty. The legislators commissioned an exhaustive review that recently turned up new information about prosecutors’ alleged role in destroying evidence and financial records bringing into question Glossip’s motive in the case. The lawmakers have called on the governor to order an independent review of Glossip’s case and for a state appeals court to conduct a hearing to examine the new evidence.

‘American Democracy Will Not Last For Long’.  No, it’s not a fait accompli.  But it’s getting there:

To those who track anti-democratic movements there is a chilling familiarity to this rich evocation of a president descending into an abyss of fantasy, fury and possible illegality. “The picture that the hearings depict is of a coup leader,” said the Harvard political scientist Steven Levitsky. “This is a guy who was unwilling to accept defeat and was prepared to use virtually any means to try to stay illegally in power.”

Levitsky told the Guardian that the Trump who emerges from the hearings was a coup leader, “but not a very sophisticated one. Not a very experienced one. A petty autocrat. A type of leader more familiar to someone like me, a student of Latin American politics.”

It is one thing to preach to the millions of Americans who are already horrified by Trump’s efforts to subvert democracy, but what about those who went along with it and internalized his lies about the stolen election?

Here the evidence is less comforting. When you enter the right-wing media bubble, the vision of a South American coup leader suddenly vanishes.

The media bubble is not the only barrier standing between the January 6 committee and a major repair of the country’s damaged democratic infrastructure. While the hearings focused heavily on the figure of Trump, Levitsky argues that an arguably even greater threat is now posed by the Republican party which enabled him.

Levitsky warns that the hearings have illuminated two great dangers for America, both relating to Republicans. The first is that the party’s strategists have acquired through Trump’s efforts to overturn the election, a roadmap to the vulnerabilities of the electoral system.

“They discovered that there is a plethora of opportunities for subverting an election, from blocking certification to sending alternate slates of electors to Congress. Armed with that knowledge, they may well do it much better next time.”

The second lesson for Levitsky relates to accountability, or the lack of it. The Republicans who played with fire, openly backing the anti-democratic movement, found that they were largely immune to the consequences.

But it is at state and local levels that the rot is most advanced. The watchdog States United Democracy Center calculates that at least 33 states are considering 229 bills that would give state legislatures the power to politicize, criminalize or otherwise tamper with elections. The group also notes that disciples of Trump’s stolen election lie are bidding for secretary of state positions in November in 17 states, which would give them, were they to win, control over election administration in a large swathe of the country.

I’ve exceeded fair use here.  You should read the entire article, though.

Wilmington City Council Shows How Not To Hire A Chief Of Staff.  I, for one, am glad they didn’t hire this guy, regardless of the reason:

Dougherty has worked in various capacities in federal lawmaker offices since graduating from college in 2016, which required coordinating schedules for lawmakers, managing communications and policy teams and managing compliance and fundraising during political campaigns.

He most recently served as campaign coordinator for Carper, and was also the senator’s New Castle County economic development specialist, according to Dougherty’s résumé obtained by Delaware Online/The News Journal. He previously was director of operations for U.S. Rep. David Trone, a Maryland Democrat.

Mayor Mike can deny all he wants, but Dougherty was clearly Buccini/Pollin’s choice.  Had he gotten this position, Council would have been more supplicant than they already were.  It’s time to get any taint of Carperism out of Delaware politics.  40 years is more than enough.

What do you want to talk about?