DL Open Thread: Thursday, November 21, 2024

Let’s face it: Most of Trump’s Cabinet picks will be confirmed.  Including Linda McMahon for Secretary Of Education, despite having lied about having a degree in Education.  Or perhaps she got the nomination because she lied.

Enjoying Rethug senators having to deal with this shit-show.  Matt Gaetz.  Pete Hegseth.  RFK Jr.   Tulsi Gabbard.

Still, I think that this analysis from the Washington Post is most likely:

While several of those selections have stunned GOP leaders, including Trump’s pick of former GOP congressman Matt Gaetz to serve as attorney general and former Democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard to be director of national intelligence, multiple Republican political advisers told The Washington Post that opposing one of Trump’s picks before they have been officially nominated is viewed as politically risky. GOP lawmakers may also try to block only one or several of the most controversial nominees rather than make a stand against all of them.

Yep. Flood the zone with disastrous nominees, get most of them confirmed.  Could well lead to Rethug Senate losses in 2026.

Who Is This Antonio Delgado?  I like him:

Like Goldwater after 1964, the Democratic Party can seize defeat to establish a new order — but the era of tinkering around the edges is over.

How did we get here?

The contemporary Democratic Party emerged from the “greed is good” era of the 1980s in part by co-opting pieces of the Reagan agenda. President Bill Clinton built a coalition — part working class, part Wall Street — that led Democrats back to the White House without redefining the political system. The limitations of this “third way” came to a head during the long recession following the financial crisis, when the party was tasked with charting a new direction. The truth is, it never did.

Faced with a global economic crisis, leaders of both parties worked to perpetuate a neoliberal order that people no longer trusted. Rather than create an agenda intimately tied to the people’s pain, the Democratic establishment helped rescue the institutions that had just pushed the economy to the brink of collapse, further cementing the public’s view that our political and economic system was rigged for the rich and powerful.

Tragically, our party has failed to rescue itself ever since. Mr. Trump’s success in 2016 and this month underscored the flaw inherent in the Democratic approach of promising to move forward while looking backward.

Our philosophy must make clear that the real threat to democracy is widening economic inequality and the colossal power of big money in politics. As Franklin Roosevelt said in 1936, “We know now that government by organized money is just as dangerous as government by organized mob.”

This won’t happen from the top down as a group of Third Way types vie to be the next head of the DNC.  The good news? It’s already happening at the grassroots level, which is especially notable and successful in Delaware.  What I want to see next?:  A serious challenge to Chris Coons in 2026.  We can do this.

Bibi Charged With Genocide. Well, he continues to commit genocide every single day:

The international criminal court has issued arrest warrants for the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the country’s former defence minister Yoav Gallant and the Hamas leader Mohammed Deif for alleged war crimes relating to the Gaza war.

The warrants put Netanyahu and Gallant at risk of arrest if they travel abroad. There have been unconfirmed reports that Deif may have been killed by Israel.

The court’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, had requested the arrest warrants in May, saying there were reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant bore “criminal responsibility” for causing mass starvation in Gaza that constituted war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Israel has rejected the jurisdiction of the court, which is based in The Hague, and denies war crimes in Gaza. The ICC said on Thursday that Israel’s acceptance of the court’s jurisdiction was not required.

Looks like he’ll just have to take direct flights from Israel to Mar-A-Lago from now on as he faces arrest elsewhere.

Chicago Slow-Walks Court-Ordered Police Reform.  Here’s why:

Chicago police haven’t crafted a system for officers to work with residents to address threats to public safety.

They haven’t completed a mandatory study of where officers are assigned throughout the city and whether changes would help thwart crime.

And they have failed to move forward with a plan to alert police brass about which officers have been accused of misconduct more than once and might need counseling, retraining or discipline.

In fact, all told, police have fully complied with just 9% of the agreement’s requirements. And while excessive force complaints from citizens have dropped, complaints about all forms of misconduct have risen.

No major city exemplifies the stubborn problems of police misconduct more than Chicago, where a series of civil cases and wrongful convictions have led to expensive court settlements that regularly cost the city more than $80 million a year. Distrust in the community now makes attacking the city’s crime rate even harder.

Cops once again placing themselves above the law and refusing to comply with the courts.  If Matt Meyer accomplishes nothing else, holding police accountable would almost be enough.  Because the police won’t reform on their own.

Marcus Henry Names Pam Scott (??!!) As Co-Chair Of Transition Team.  AYFKM?  That on its own is enough to warrant a bundling party at the Tarabicos law offices.  Here’s but one article, this one by Cassandra Marshall from 2013, on the ethical malfeasance of Pam Scott, whose husband was, wait for it, NCC Executive Paul Clark.  The comments are enlightening as well.

This appointment by Marcus suggests that the Delaware Way continues to flourish in County government.  Very disappointing.

What do you want to talk about?