DL Open Thread Tuesday January 17 2023

WHAT ABOUT MAH FREEDOM?!?!

Alt Headline 1: What's the point of having a gun if you can't threaten/shoot people with it?

Alt Headline 2: Lewes man charged after pulling gun on woman

A Lewes man faces charges Jan. 14 after police say he threatened a woman with a gun.
Police were called at 11:17 p.m. to a home in the 20000 block of Plantation Road for a report of shots fired; they learned that Timothy Littleton, 33, had argued with a woman, 37, at the home before he took out a handgun and pointed it at her, said Sr. Cpl. Jason Hatchell of the Delaware State Police. There were three children present inside the residence during the incident, he said.

Water ??!? Pfft...we'll live off bile and memories of Ronald Reagan

Here is the thing, they could only build these houses in Rio Verde (ironically "Green River") by exploiting a loophole which meant having watered delivered (rather than being connected by pipes to some water supply).  Scottsdale was happy to send those trucks to fill everyone's tank each month.  ...up until they didn't have enough water for Scottsdale proper.   Anyway, to be pedantic, it is not really accurate to say that water was "turned off".  Also, "Are these houses here because they are exploiting a loophole?" is a question people who buy houses in the desert should probably ask prior to taking on that mortgage.  

RIO VERDE, Ariz. – Joe McCue thought he’d found a desert paradise when he bought one of the new stucco homes springing up in the granite foothills of Rio Verde, Arizona. There were good schools, mountain views, and back door cactus-studded trails.

Then the water was turned off.

Earlier this month, the community’s longtime water utility, the neighboring city of Scottsdale, turned off the faucet to the Rio Verde Foothills, blaming a crushing drought threatening the West’s future. Scottsdale said it needed to focus on conserving water for its own residents and could no longer sell water to about 500 to 700 homes — or about 1,000 people. That meant the unincorporated bevy of $500,000 stucco homes, mansions and horse ranches outside of Scottsdale’s borders would have to fend for themselves and buy water from other suppliers — if homeowners could find them and afford it, much higher ones to pay prices.

Knowing that the phrases "We Fuck Up Social Security!"  & "Self-Imposed Government Shutdown Chaos" & "Economic Collapse Caused by GOP Stupidity" didn't do well in focus groups, the house GOP has another zippy new word for that bundle of policies -prioritization. 
Republican lawmakers on Sunday renewed calls for spending concessions from Democrats as a contingency to raising the federal government’s borrowing limit, setting up another round of brinkmanship with the U.S.’s credit rating on the line. House Republicans have a plan if an agreement can’t be reached, the Washington Post reported. That is to tell the Treasury and the Biden administration to prioritize spending by making only the most critical payments, such as interest on the national debt, as well as Social Security, Medicare,...
Remember when I said that the New York State Democratic Party needed to be dissolved and the office furniture auctioned off?   

Man on the street

Whoever says 'I will make corporations pay taxes.'  That's who I'll vote for.
Someone who isn't a political weirdo, like you and I, said that to me recently. I take it as an opening for Trump, because he'll say anything.

I’ve been wondering about this.

If this deal happens it could empower Democrats too Surely someone else has thought of this: After a humiliating three-day stretch of 11 consecutive defeats in an election that is…

Briggs King Introduces a bill that doesn’t involve fucking over poor/brown people

This “right to repair” bill is out of character in that it doesn’t try to cut taxes for the obscenely wealthy or indulge in some sort of MAGAt grandstanding.

A bill that would limit manufacturer control over repairing phones and other electronics was introduced Jan. 5 and awaits action in committee.

Sponsored by Rep. Ruth Briggs King, R-Georgetown, House Bill 41 is similar to the Digital Right to Repair Act introduced last session; it died after inaction by the full House. The new act wo