DL Open Thread Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024
For years we’ve wondered how bonkers Trump would have to get before mainstream media stopped normalizing him. We might have reached that point now that the brain worms have given up because there was nothing for them to eat in there.
Enjoying those low gas prices? You can thank Russia’s shadow fleet of oil tankers evading Western sanctions. The whole thing is kabuki theater; Western governments run scared of the backlash of high gasoline prices so they turn a blind eye.
Why are Democrats so prone to freaking out at the slightest hint of bad news, while Republicans are confident even when they’re going to lose?Josh Marshall at TPM has a theory that makes a lot of sense. He doesn’t come right out and say it, but it’s basically a case of Republicans being stupider.
Remember that cop who punched out a kid for pranking him by ringing his doorbell and running away? He was sentenced to a year in prison, the first time anyone can recall a cop being sent to the big house. However, as the article in the News Journal notes,
[W]hile the prison sentence may be seen as accountability for Walters, his actions were enabled by several officers involved in a multi-agency manhunt involving a state police helicopter, police dogs and long rifles. A State Police spokesperson wrote that an internal investigation “identified policy violations” involving other troopers, but declined to provide details, citing the Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights − a hotly debated law that allows police to conceal how they administer accountability within their ranks.
The emphasis is mine, because it shows why the accountability Matt Meyer is promising is sorely needed. Also sorely needed: Removing the Police Officers’ Bill of Unearned Privileges from state law.
The floor’s yours.
I almost feel sorry for this MAGA dumbcluck. He fell for the fever-swamp lies about FEMA, so he posted online threats, then armed up and headed for the local FEMA depot to liberate the emergency supplies kept behind some kind of fence for the benefit of illegal immigrants:
If his story checks out he’ll likely get off with a slap on the wrist.
As he should, if the story checks out. The people who should be prosecuted are the ones who posted the lies, just as someone who falsely shouted “fire” in a crowded theater would be.
I take it back, I have lived to see a cop sent to jail for yet another savage beating. As noted several others got off easy for said “policy violation” thanks to the hated Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights. If Matt Myers does the right thing, and the Dems (cowardly or not) follow thru it will be a great day indeed, this pernicious law needs to die.