DL Open Thread: Sunday, September 3, 2023
RIP: Bill Richardson. He Made A Real Difference:
“There was no person that Governor Richardson would not speak with if it held the promise of returning a person to freedom,” Mickey Bergman, vice president of the Richardson Center and Richardson’s longtime collaborator on hostage cases, said in a statement Saturday. “The world has lost a champion for those held unjustly abroad.”
What I found groundbreaking, and frankly refreshing, about Richardson’s approach was his singular focus on the core problem — freeing American hostages. That allowed him to put aside counterproductive moral judgments. Of course, the regimes in Tehran, Moscow, Beijing and Caracas were to blame. Why waste time discussing that when the priority is the life of a fellow citizen?
As the number of Americans being taken hostage continues to increase, so much of the debate about what to do is focused on whether we should negotiate for their release. Those opposed to making concessions say that offering anything in return for an innocent person’s freedom only incentivizes further hostage taking.
Richardson understood the problem with that stance sooner than anyone else: While a no-concessions policy for hostage taking may be fine as a political position, it further victimizes innocent hostages and risks leaving them to die or languish in foreign prisons for years.
That was simply unacceptable to Bill Richardson — full stop. The void he leaves behind will be hard to fill.
DeSantis’s Florida Gerrymander Unconstitutional: Bet you missed this story yesterday. I did:
A Florida redistricting plan pushed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis violates the state constitution and is prohibited from being used for any future U.S. congressional elections since it diminishes the ability of Black voters in north Florida to pick a representative of their choice, a state judge ruled Saturday.
Circuit Judge J. Lee Marsh sent the plan back to the Florida Legislature with instructions that lawmakers should draw a new congressional map that complies with the Florida Constitution.
The voting rights groups that challenged the plan in court “have shown that the enacted plan results in the diminishment of Black voters’ ability to elect their candidate of choice in violation of the Florida Constitution,” Marsh wrote.
DeSantis Goes Out Of His Way To Avoid Biden’s Disaster Relief Efforts. Too bad Democrats keep fleeing Florida. DeSantis could make them competitive again:
President Joe Biden on Saturday saw from the sky Hurricane Idalia’s impact across a swath of Florida before he set out on a walking tour of a city recovering from the storm. Notably absent was Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican presidential candidate who declined to join Biden after he suggested that the Democrat’s presence could hinder disaster response efforts.
Biden, when asked about his rival’s absence, said he was not disappointed by the turn of events, but welcomed the presence of Rick Scott, one of the state’s two Republican U.S. senators.
“I’m here today to deliver a clear message to the people of Florida and throughout the Southeast,” Biden said after the walking tour. He spoke outdoors near a church that had parts of its sheet metal roof peeled back by Idalia’s powerful winds and a home half crushed by a fallen tree.
“As I’ve told your governor, if there’s anything your state needs, I’m ready to mobilize that support,” he continued. “Anything they need related to these storms. Your nation has your back and we’ll be with you until the job is done.’’
Trump’s Mugshot Merch Rights Could Go To…:
…the Fulton County Sheriff?:
While there has been no official report on how much the sale of these items has brought in, Politico reported last week that the campaign had raised north of $7 million since the mug shot’s release, “powered” by the sales of merchandise “bearing Trump’s scowling mugshot.”
But as various legal experts have noted, Trump’s sale of that mug shot, taken by the Fulton County sheriff, may violate U.S. copyright laws. This could mean that theoretically, the millions he is making off that photo may rightfully belong to the Fulton County sheriff — an entity that just happens to be in desperate need of funds to address the horrific conditions in the Fulton County Jail.
As a general principle, the owner of a photo’s copyright is the person (or entity) who takes that photo, not its subject. In federal criminal cases, the U.S. government is not permitted to own the copyright to booking photos, so they are considered in the public domain. However, that is generally not the case with mug shots taken in state and local criminal proceedings.
Betsy Rosenblatt, a professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, recently explained to Spectrum News 1 Ohio that the copyright owner of Trump’s mug shot is likely the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office. Other legal experts support that interpretation, including a 2022 article in the University of Georgia School of Law’s Journal of Intellectual Property Law that noted, “In the context of photographs taken by law enforcement during the booking process, the author of the mugshot photograph is the law enforcement agency.”
Hmmm, you don’t suppose Trump’s lawyers du jour told Trump what he wants to hear, do you?
The Underwater City At Ft. DuPont? Nobody’s talking as plans for RV park remain in limbo:
More than a year after construction crews left the site of a controversial RV park and campground in Delaware City, the project has yet to resume.
There’s been little word on when the developer, Blue Water Development of Ocean City, Maryland, will pick up the project. Once they do, it could be a matter of months before they open for business.
Blue Water plans to build a 400-slip RV park and campground in the mold of Millsboro’s Sun Outdoors Rehoboth Bay that will (?) bring tourism to the banks of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal.
Since then, the company has provided no public updates and has declined or not responded to requests for comment. Construction crews operated on the site for a few months last year before leaving in June 2022.
The RV park and campground was a central controversy of the early years of the Fort DuPont project, a state-backed redevelopment of an abandoned military installation between the canal and the Delaware River. The state established a private-public organization to restore some of the worn military buildings and help construct new waterfront housing and amenities. It has so far committed close to $20 million to the project.
Earlier this month, the corporation’s counsel, Richard Forsten, participated in a conference in Chancery Court regarding a lawsuit that seeks to reverse the Grassdale sale. Forsten said he tried unsuccessfully to reach counsel for Blue Water before the conference.
“My understanding is they intend to do something this fall,” Forsten said, according to a transcript obtained by Delaware Online/The News Journal. “The last I spoke with the Blue Water folks, their goal was to open next year. So, obviously, there is work to be done. But I can’t tell you if they plan to start work this month or September or if, in fact, they have put it off till mid-spring.”
Blue Water agreed to pay $3.6 million for the Grassdale property. They made a $1.4 million down payment and are due to pay $2.1 million by Oct. 29, 2025. The fort corporation issued the mortgage with no interest. The company’s stormwater management plan also expires in 2025.
This has always been a scummy deal perpetuated by the worst of the Delaware Way miscreants. The secrecy continues…
What do you want to talk about?
Do I understand correctly, that Forsten was unable to get a hold of his own client??
I believe that ‘the corporation’ refers to the Ft. DuPont Development Corporation, or whatever their latest name is.
Val Longhurst is speaking at our September meeting. Questions I should ask her?
My suggestion?: Just listen. Then report.
No bodies by the new speaker that could use uncovering? Not even the shameful Seaford bill? I don’t understand a party that remains mute when their elected officials ignore or subvert the party platform…