DL Open Thread: Thurs., Jan. 4, 2024

MAGAt Brain Part I:  Apparently Delaware Rethugs have concluded that the Scourge Of Electric Cars is their hot button issue.  You know, like abortion.  Specifically, Mike Ramone.  Filed yesterday in Delaware Superior Court:

Michael Ramone; Nandi Randolph; Samuel S. Sloan, owner of S&S Auto Repair; Richard G. Collins
v.
Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control; Shawn M. Garvin
1/2/2024 S24C-01-004 CAK Karsnitz

Seeking:

Declaratory judgment. Plaintiffs seek to invalidate a new low-emission vehicle regulation imposed on vehicles weighing less than 14,000 pounds.

Oh, the attorney representing the plaintiffs?:

Julianne Murray
Law Offices of Murray, Phillips & Gay

Somebody has to make $$’s off of this frivolous suit.  Might as well be the Rethug State Chair.  Wonder who’s paying for it–Big Oil?  An auto manufacturer?  Harlan Crowe or another Clarence Thomas benefactor?  It’s almost certainly someone who has underwritten the professorship of that climate denier at UD.

MAGAt Brain Part II:  See if you can guess who wrote this ‘think’ piece for fellow MAGAts Mike Ramone and Lyndon Yearick that was posted in the Delaware State News.  Go ahead, take a shot at it:

A controversial bill seeking to require law-abiding Delawareans to get a government permit before they can

acquire a handgun was recently moved one step closer to becoming law through the most shameful of

tactics.

Senate Substitute 1 for Senate Bill 2, also known as the Permit to Purchase Bill, flies in the face of the

constitutional right granted to all Delawareans to acquire, possess and use firearms for hunting, recreation

and defense.

House and Senate Democrats, which enjoy large majorities in both legislative chambers, are pushing the bill

through the process believing this infringement on the rights of law-abiding citizens will prevent criminals

from acquiring and using handguns.

A study by Delaware’s Criminal Justice Council Statistical Analysis Center exposes this flawed assumption.

As detailed in Delaware Shootings 2020 — An Analysis of Incidents, Suspects, and Victims, of the 158

people suspected of being involved with a shooting that year, more than three-quarters (77%) had at least

one arrest for a violent felony, with 57% having at least three such arrests. Of the 346 shooting victims, 73%

had at least one violent felony arrest, with nearly 55% having three or more.

So, although previously convicted felons are apparently responsible for the bulk of gun-related crimes,

Democrats believe these criminals will obey their Permit to Purchase bill once its enacted.

In the service of their ideological zeal, House and Senate Democrats have shed any pretense of caring or

considering any perspective not in lockstep with their own.

Consider that the latest version of this bill was introduced in the Senate on May 2 and passed by that

chamber on the same day, cutting corners on public notification and consideration.

The bill cleared the Senate easily, with Democrats using their 15 to 6 supermajority to bully the measure

through the chamber and effectively gag critics.

On Dec. 14, Democratic lawmakers continued their despotic handling of the bill by releasing it from the

House Appropriations Committee without a public meeting or advanced notice of the action.

The legislation had to move through the committee because it carries a one-time cost of more than $2.6

million to implement and nearly $8 million annually to operate.

Rather than hold a hearing, as is usually done with most bills assigned to House committees — giving the

public an opportunity to weigh in on the issue — committee chairwoman, State Rep. Kim Williams (D),

chose to allow the measure to be “walked” out of the committee.

The insider mechanism allowed the four Democrats on the committee to release the bill by simply giving

their consent, not only excluding the two Republican committee members, but keeping the action secret…

from them.

The first notice the Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee received about the bill’s release

was after House Democrats issued a press release praising themselves for their clandestine activities.

While no laws were violated, Democratic legislators have sent two clear messages through their deeds. First,

they will push the Permit to Purchase bill through the House, likely soon after the General Assembly

reconvenes Jan. 9. Second, and perhaps more importantly, they have told all Delawareans that transparency

and public inclusion in the legislative process are disposable concepts that they are free to disregard at their

whim.

House and Senate Democrats are self-assured that their policies are entirely correct, and any other viewpoint

is not only not worthy of being entertained, but must be silenced and pushed aside.

Delawareans, through their individual choices at the ballot box, have inadvertently created a functionally

oppressive regime that tolerates no dissent and has no adequate check against its authority. Only the will of our citizens,

collectively expressed through their selections next November, can return our state government to one that

embraces diversity of thought and makes decisions built on prudent consensus.