DL Open Thread: Sunday, October 16, 2022

The Machinations Behind Trump’s TruthSocial.  If you’ve got a mind for business (I don’t), perhaps you can follow the skulduggery.  Me? Here’s all I needed to know:

“Trump had already been given 90 percent of the company’s shares in exchange for the use of his name and some minor involvement, leaving everyone else to split the rest.”

“Will Wilkerson, then an executive at former president Donald Trump’s start-up Trump Media & Technology Group, was at a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.,coffee shop with company co-founder Andy Litinsky last October when Trump called Litinsky with a question: Would he give up some of his shares to Trump’s wife, Melania?

Litinsky tried to brush it off, telling Trump “the gift would have meant a huge tax bill he couldn’t pay,” Wilkerson said in an interview. “Trump didn’t care. He said, ‘Do whatever you need to do.’ ”

Five months later, Litinsky, who first met Trump in 2004 as a contestant on the TV show “The Apprentice,” was abruptly removed from the company’s board. Wilkerson said he believes it was payback for his refusal to turn over a small fortune to the former president’s wife.”

“But as the company became more legitimate, it also started running into problems. Trump’s umbrella company, the Trump Organization, disputed a long-signed agreement between the start-up and Trump himself, demanding more control over how Trump’s likeness would be used, Wilkerson said. And Trump’s adult sons — Donald Jr. and Eric — began asking for large stakes in the company, Wilkerson said, even though they had been almost entirely uninvolved.

“They were coming in and asking for a handout,” Wilkerson said. “They had no bearing in this company … and they were taking equity away from hard-working individuals.”

Tell me again why anybody would ever do business with Trump and that family.

The Shocking Divisiveness Of The Oxford Comma.  I think I still use it, but I’ve never really thought about it.  Overthinking on this will leave you–commatose:

For those who may have unwittingly stumbled onto a grammar column, a brief primer: An Oxford comma is the comma that appears before the word and in a list of three or more things — the comma after white in “red, white, and blue.”

And they’re the downfall of society.

Of course there are times when you need that comma.

Take the sentence “I’d like to thank my parents, Superfly and Jesus.” The lack of Oxford comma implies that Superfly and Jesus are my parents, which is, sadly, incorrect. An extra comma would help.

Admit it, you want to read this column.

More Florida Cruelty: Child Victim Of Incest Forced To Seek Abortion Out-Of-State.  Because cruelty is the point:

Laura Goodhue, vice president of public policy for Planned Parenthood of South, East, and North Florida, did not disclose the patient’s exact age or the state they traveled to receive an abortion, but she told BuzzFeed News they were in middle school. Goodhue had initially said another middle schooler who experienced incest was denied an abortion in Florida, then on Thursday clarified to BuzzFeed News that the cause of the second patient’s pregnancy was not confirmed.

In order to obtain the procedure, both of the young patients had to travel “at least two, three states away,” she said. Planned Parenthood helped arrange their travel, and they were accompanied by family members.

“The cruelty of forcing a very young person, who has already survived a horrible case of violence, to give birth, it just takes away their rights to bodily autonomy, and it is really turning a blind eye to what is happening in our society,” she said.

Delaware Poultry Producers About To Be Put On Notice?  USDA is considering:

…banning poultry companies from selling raw chicken and turkey contaminated with high levels of certain types of salmonella. Under current regulations, the agency allows raw poultry to be sold in supermarkets even when food safety inspectors know it’s tainted with dangerous strains of the bacteria.  In addition, the USDA said it could require poultry companies to test flocks for salmonella before they’re slaughtered and increase monitoring inside processing plants to prevent the bacteria from spreading.

…the USDA has been hampered in its ability to protect consumers. Unlike its counterparts in Europe, it’s not allowed to control salmonella on farms, where it often spreads. It has no power to order recalls and can only ask companies to voluntarily pull products from shelves after an outbreak. And even when it finds persistent contamination in a company’s poultry, the USDA can’t rely on those findings alone to shut a plant down.

So. How do Delaware producers fare?  Glad you asked:

High-risk salmonella was found in chicken parts twice as often than the national median in the Mountaire Farms Selbyville operation.

High-risk salmonella was found in, wait for it, 38.6% samples of ground chicken produced at the Perdue Foods Georgetown operation.

High-risk salmonella was found in chicken parts in 27.3% of the samples at Allen Harim Foods in Millsboro.  The national median?  4.3%.

High-risk salmonella was found in chicken parts in 10.3% of the samples at Allen Harim in Harbeson.

High-risk salmonella was found in chicken parts in 12.5% of the samples at Eastern Shore Poultry Company in Georgetown.

Meaning, only two of seven major poultry-producing facilities in Delaware met USDA standards. Don’t look for the Delaware Department of Agriculture to do anything.  They’re basically a PR arm for the poultry companies.

Maybe a, you know, local reporter might want to follow up on this.

What do you want to talk about?