DL Open Thread: Thursday, May 16, 2024

RIP: Rep. Joe DiPinto.  It would be difficult to find a more civic-minded Wilmingtonian than Joe DiPinto.  To me, he was a public servant in the best sense of the word.  From former Mayor James Baker:

“Joe knew that this position gave him the opportunity to directly help the people of Wilmington through development agreements that provided jobs for city residents and revenue to support city services,” Baker said. “Joe cared about people regardless of their standing in life, race, religion, or politics. He served the people of Wilmington well. Joe made people feel comfortable discussing complicated projects.”

Joe made people feel comfortable.  Full stop.  A man of tremendous accomplishment who was truly down to earth.  He and his wife Pat came into Trader Joe’s a lot when I was working there.  Always a twinkle in Joe’s eye, and always something he wanted to talk about.  Deepest condolences to a truly wonderful family.

Supreme Court Does Something Right.  Which can probably only mean that they’re about to do something wrong.

The Supreme Court restored a congressional voting map in Louisiana on Wednesdaythat includes an additional majority-Black district, handing a victory to African American voters and Democrats less than six months before the November election.

The vote broke down on unexpected lines:

The politics of Wednesday’s decision appeared unusual, with conservatives on the court in favor of reinstating the map with two Black-majority districts. The three liberal justices — Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson — noted their opposition to the majority’s unsigned decision. Sotomayor and Kagan did not explain their reasoning, but Jackson wrote separately to say the court’s intervention was premature.

That view reflects a broader concern among the court’s liberals about the conservative majority’s instinct to prevent changes to redistricting plans and voting policies several months before an election. In her dissent, Jackson suggested the court had more time to sort out the case and determine the right map for the state.

True. But I say take the W.

I know nothing about Slovakia.  And have little interest in learning about it.  Next story.

Joe Scarbrough Eviscerates NYTimes Polls.  Worth watching because he makes some important points.  10 minutes that’ll make you feel better.

Don’t Like The Meme That Biden ‘Called Trump’s Bluff’ On Debates.  Why? Because anything short of a fecal evacuation on the stage, and we’ll hear how Trump held his own.  Bowels excluded.

About That Halt In Weapons Shipments? Uh, never mind:

After officials repeatedly warned that they would consider stopping the flow of weapons to Israel if it pressed forward with a ground invasion into Rafah, the Biden administration announced it would nonetheless attempt to send more than $1 billion in additional weapons to Israel, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday night, citing congressional officials.

The Journal reports that the latest package “includes the potential transfer of $700 million in tank ammunition, $500 million in tactical vehicles, and $60 million in mortar rounds.” Congress will have to approve the latest package.

The latest announcement comes as something of an about-face(??) for the White House: Just last week, President Biden made headlines after he told CNN that he would stop shipping certain weapons to Israel if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proceeds with a major ground invasion of Rafah—which Israeli forces have already seemingly begun, leading nearly 450,000 people to flee the area since May 6, according to the latest numbers from the United Nations.

How Extremists Took Over Israel.  Now’s as good a time as any to hear the rest of the story:

Such violence over the decades in places like Khirbet Zanuta is well documented. But protecting the people who carry out that violence is the dark secret of Israeli justice. The long arc of harassment, assault and murder of Palestinians by Jewish settlers is twinned with a shadow history, one of silence, avoidance and abetment by Israeli officials. For many of those officials, it is Palestinian terrorism that most threatens Israel. But in interviews with more than 100 people — current and former officers of the Israeli military, the National Israeli Police and the Shin Bet domestic security service; high-ranking Israeli political officials, including four former prime ministers; Palestinian leaders and activists; Israeli human rights lawyers; American officials charged with supporting the Israeli-Palestinian partnership — we found a different and perhaps even more destabilizing threat. A long history of crime without punishment, many of those officials now say, threatens not only Palestinians living in the occupied territories but also the State of Israel itself.

That should be enough to either convince you to read this, or to consign it to the same status I consigned Slovakia.

We end today with some musical (self-) indulgence.  One of my favorite songwriters appears tonight at the Arden Gild Hall.  Solo show, sold out.  You, however, can enjoy these curated videos of my fave songs by Josh Ritter.  In chronological order:

“I was singing without knowing the words.”  I’ve always loved that line:

I first fell in love with Josh Ritter’s music when WXPN started playing him.  I remember hearing those first two songs while waiting to pick my kids up from school. Such great memories.  So, XPN marked a homecoming for Josh.  Gives me chills:

What do you want to talk about?