DL Open Thread: Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023

The Shroud Of Plankton:  ‘God’, in the form of a massive seaweed blob, is coming to exact His/Her/Their revenge on Florida.

It’ll Be Good Vs. Evil In Wisconsin Supreme Court Run-Off.  We’ve got six weeks.  You might want to start here.  If Judge Protasiewicz wins, it’s a huge victory for justice, as the Wisconsin Supreme Court has imposed a conservative agenda on the state as a whole.  More good election news!  Even more good election news!  Anybody sick of ‘winning’ yet?

Trump Soon To Be Indicted In ‘America’s Most Lawless City’.  His words, of course.  My favorite tidbit:

“We heard a lot of recordings of President Trump on the phone,” she said, declining to give specifics. “It is amazing how many hours of footage you can find of that man on the phone. … Some of these that were privately recorded by people or recorded by a staffer.”

BTW, it’d be nice if this foreperson would STFU, at least until the indictments are handed down.  Wonder is she’s signed a book deal yet?

Mormon Church Hid Billions In Shell Companies.  Hmmm, I wonder whether any of these shell companies were incorporated in, you know, Delaware:

A fund operated by the Mormon Church used a series of shell companies to hide billions of dollars of investments from the public over more than two decades, the US Securities and Exchange Commission said today.

Ensign Peak Advisors, a non-profit that manages investments for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, was required to disclose its ownership of publicly-traded securities because its portfolio exceeded $100 million. Instead, to hide the scale of the Church’s holdings, Ensign Peak created shell companies around the United States and reported them as the real owners of those securities.

The Church has said that the money is used to support its extensive missionary and philanthropy work during troubled economic times. But the whistleblower, David Nielsen, alleged that the funds were not used for nonprofit purposes and shouldn’t be tax exempt. The IRS has not taken public action on the allegations and tax attorneys are dubious that the agency will want to take on the Church in a complicated case, compared to the relatively straightforward disclosure issues that SEC targeted today.

Some members of the Church told the Wall Street Journal that more of Ensign Peak’s money should be used more actively to fight poverty rather than being hoarded. Roger Clarke, who leads Ensign Peak, has said that part of the reason the Church sought to conceal its wealth was to ensure continued tithing by believers.

Fox Whack-Jobs: East Palestine Train Derailment Fault Of The ‘Woke Mob’.  Because it’s THEIR fault that Trump dialed back Obama-era safety protections:

For a group that constantly complains that Democrats enjoy making “everything about race,” the right’s biggest names are suddenly eager to push the narrative that the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, and the Biden administration’s response to the disaster are the result of racism against white people.

That’s the big takeaway from Tucker Carlson, who has been hellbent on accusing Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg of intentionally neglecting East Palestine, a majority-white town. According to Carlson, Buttigieg is instead occupied with efforts to increase job opportunities for minorities and improve roads in Philadelphia and Detroit—cities that, Carlson sneeringly mentions, “vote Democrat.”

“East Palestine is overwhelmingly white, and it’s politically conservative,” Carlson said during a February 14 broadcast. “That shouldn’t be relevant but as you’re about to hear, it very much is.” He added: “If this had happened to the rich or the ‘favored poor’, it would be the lead of every news channel in the world. But it happened to the poor town of East Palestine, Ohio, whose people are forgotten, and in the view of the people who lead this country, forgettable.”

And East Palestine’s Mayor?:

In an interview Monday evening with Fox News host Jesse Watters, Conaway took aim at President Joe Biden, who had just made a surprise visit to Ukraine amid the country dealing with Russia’s invasion. Conaway called Biden’s trip to the war-torn region “the biggest slap in the face.”

“That tells you right now he doesn’t care about us,” the mayor, whose office is officially nonpartisan, said. “He can send every agency he wants to, but I found that out this morning in one of the briefings that he was in the Ukraine giving millions of dollars away to people over there and not to us, and I’m furious.

“On Presidents’ Day in our country, he’s over in Ukraine, so that tells you what kind of guy he is.”

It tells us what kind of guy East Palestine’s mayor is.

Sen. Paradee Reintroduces Bill Banning Food Establishments From Using Polystyrene Foam.  Passed the Senate last session, was buried in the House by Val Longhurst and Deb Heffernan, while the Delaware Restaurants Association tossed around campaign contributions.  It should pass the Senate again.  What will the House do?

Meredith Newman Reveals More Nursing Home Abuses:

It was just before noon on a February day last year when Lorece Stewart went missing at the nursing home where she lived.

Stewart, a quiet, strong matriarch whose six children had almost never seen her cry, had been in her room an hour earlier, but the nurse assigned to her care now couldn’t find her. The 93-year-old had lived at Newark Manor since 2020 in a room on the third floor − a secured unit. Her dementia put her at risk of wandering and injuring herself.

Close to 30 minutes after she went missing, a code was alerted and all of the staff began searching the building and surrounding grounds, according to a state inspection report. Nothing.

Before Stewart stepped foot into the for-profit nursing home, Newark Manor had been cited repeatedly over the last decade by the health department and received two immediate jeopardies in that time, the most serious type of deficiency.

Hundreds of pages of inspection reports from the past decade paint a concerning picture of the care some patients received there, a Delaware Online/News Journal investigation found. The facility has a history of being understaffed and not following state and federal regulations – including in emergency situations.

The state once found the facility failed to ensure the staff was knowledgeable in first aid.

Newman is now seeking to expand her reporting on Delaware nursing home and assisted living facilities.  Here’s how you can help:

The News Journal, in the coming months, is looking to report more on long-term care in Delaware, particularly assisted living facilities. Reporter Meredith Newman is looking to find more families to talk about their experiences.

Please fill out this Google form. We will not publish any information without your permission.

To contact Meredith separately, email her at mnewman@delawareonline.com or call her at 302-256-2466.

What do you want to talk about?