DL Open Thread: Thursday, December 5, 2024
Josh Marshall–For The Win. It’s a Members-Only article, but we’re allowed to share. Here’s one example why you should ‘join’ for an absurdly-low amount:
Before getting to my main point, let me address a subsidiary one. I get people who don’t think Biden should have done this. I disagree. But that’s a respectable opinion. In the abstract, at least, it’s not best practices … until you look at the details. What I don’t get, what I think is as close as you get to being objectively wrong, is a different but seemingly common criticism. It’s the people who say that it’s one thing that Biden pardoned his son for his two ongoing criminal cases, but that it was a step too far to issue a blanket pardon going back a decade covering more or less anything that happened during that period.
As I said, if you don’t think Biden should have issued this pardon, fine. But if he did, he certainly had to and was unquestionably right to issue it as a blanket pardon. The Trump administration absolutely would have found something else to charge Hunter Biden with as payback for the pardon. They may have done so without Biden issuing the pardon at all. Trump and his top lieutenants, including his FBI director nominee, have all said they come into office wanting payback. It would be insane to issue a limited, specific pardon and then leave his son at the mercy of the Trump DOJ. This logic is so obvious it all but amounts to a mathematical proof.
This brings me back to a more general point. Democrats need to organize their future politics around the simple reality that the establishment media is structural hostile to the Democratic Party. This doesn’t mean every journalist individually, of course. But the establishment media generally — the Times, the Post, the Journal, CNN and the business news channels, all of them, and for the reasons we’ve discussed countless times. Democrats should do this not simply because it’s true but because it relieves them of the embarrassment of imagining otherwise, of speaking up for or passively allowing themselves to be identified with institutions in an age of distrust and anti-institutionalism. The status quo, the paradoxical identification, puts Democrats in the position of a jilted spouse, perpetually discomfited, let down. It’s not only damaging directly. It signals an enervating weakness. It’s time to move on. Have some some self-respect. And act accordingly.
Of Course The Supreme Court Will Weaken Trans Rights. Here’s how:
What we may see, as feared, is the “Dobbs-ification” of transgender rights, or sex discrimination law more broadly, with the conservative justices saying they must remain “neutral” on matters of intense public debate and let states decide. A “too controversial!” loophole to constitutional rights.
Book it. And be relieved that at least we live in Delaware. And remember: The cruelty is the point.
A nun was among 25 people arrested in Italy on suspicion of being part of a criminal gang with links to the country’s most powerful mafia network, the ’Ndrangheta.
According to Rai news, the nun has been a volunteer at San Vittore prison in Milan since 2010 and has also worked in prisons in Pavia and Rome.
The nun is alleged to have been the conduit between the gang and its associates in prison, according to reports in the Italian press citing the anti-mafia unit of the prosecutor’s office in Brescia, northern Italy.
The Frock brought the rock? Better than institutional pedophilia at least.
Delaware Families Suffer From Lack Of Child Care Availability And Affordability:
Parents across the state face a daunting combination of soaring costs, limited availability and long waitlists, all while trying to maintain their jobs and provide for their families.
For many, child care has become one of their highest expenses, often rivaling or exceeding the cost of housing, transportation and food. With limited financial assistance and a lack of accessible programs, families are increasingly burdened, with many finding themselves in debt, cutting back on essential needs or even reducing working hours to avoid losing child care subsidies.
Those challenges are reflected in a recent survey overseen by Kirsten Olson, CEO of Children and Families First, alongside other advocacy organizations and community groups. She said the findings highlight the undeniable strain on families.
“More than 75% struggle to afford child care that meets their needs. I don’t think that was surprising but I think it really demonstrates how child care and child care cost is a barrier for families,” Olson said. “What was disheartening to hear were stories like parents skipping meals to afford child care or turning down raises or promotions to maintain eligibility for state assistance that help them pay for child care. And that folks are even leaving the workforce altogether, because child care is such a critical issue for them.”
Time for the General Assembly to act:
As the next legislative session approaches next month, advocates like Olson and Dickerson plan to present their findings to legislative leaders, urging policy changes that include increasing state-funded preschool slots, expanding eligibility for child care subsidies and raising participation care rates to address the challenges families face.
Great reporting from WHYY. So. I head over to Delaware Online to complete my circuit of the local media. The Top Story?
“Homemade pasta & tableside tiramisu at new Italian American restaurant“.
Once and for all locking in their audience to those who go out to eat seven days a week every week. Die already.
What do you want to talk about?
Re: The Mafia nun. Given that the Catholic Church is a criminal conspiracy masquerading as a religion, which is true of most of the organized ones and a lot of the Joel Osteen types as well, is this really any surprise?
No surprise what so ever as I also see the Catholic church as the best, and longest lasting criminal enterprise of all time, and as noted with all the rest in close pursuit.
In retrospect, Biden should have replied, “No comment!” when asked for years about pardoning Hunter. Of course, the GOPwould have made a case about that answer at the time. I don’t think Biden ever intended to pardon Hunter, but once Trump was back in control of the government and weaponizing all of its legal entities against Trump’s “enemies,” Hunter would have suffered way beyond the severity of his crimes. Imagine what the MAGA prisoners would have done to him even if he served a short prison term. (I hope Hunter has good security while Trump is in office.). Prediction: Trump will be “laser focused” — not just on golf and Fox News — but on bankrupting Biden with merciless lawsuits.
That’s “meritless lawsuits.”
Biden should have replied, “No comment!”
Or as is often said in diplomacy, “All options are on the table.”
But then of course the media narrative would be “Biden refuses to rule out pardon.” How quickly we forget Biden was trying to win an election, first for himself and then for Harris.
What is winning elections compared with occupying the moral high ground?
The blanket pardon was only way to protect his son and possibly the family. The republicans are still going to go after the Bidens in January. I read one senator saying that they will call Hunter to testify before congress and that due to the blanket pardon he won’t be able to use the 5th amendment since he no longer faces jeopardy. Sounds like they aren’t going to let up.
It’s not just the retribution factor.
If you’re a Republican, especially in the Senate, how would you rather spend your day: quizzing Hunter or defending your support for Trump’s cabinet selections?
Fucking Schumer just quoted how he’ll lead DEMs on their values….in this climate, we need warriors who will bite damn heads off not sit circled in kumbaya.
Schumer has long led in fundraising. Successful enough that he was able to buy loyalty through giving money to fellow Democrats to run. As good as he may be at raising money, he’s a stupe about political leadership. His instincts are always to turn in the wrong direction regardless of the issue. And he has long forgotten how Democrats win.
A clue to the healthcare exec shooting?:
“The shooter appeared to have targeted the UnitedHealthcare executive, Brian Thompson, 50, waiting for him early Wednesday morning before firing several shots, leaving him crumpled and dying on the pavement. Officials said casings collected after the shooting appear to have been inscribed with words including “delay” and “deny.”
Hey, I don’t countenance murder. But isn’t death the premature and inevitable result of ‘delay’ and deny’?
Perhaps from this book?
https://www.amazon.com/Delay-Deny-Defend-paperback-JayM-Feinman/dp/0989501701
Sure could be. Great find!
BTW, the internets are responding darkly. Very darkly:
““Thoughts and deductibles to the family,” read one comment underneath a video of the shooting posted online by CNN. “Unfortunately my condolences are out-of-network.”
“I pay $1,300 a month for health insurance with an $8,000 deductible. ($23,000 yearly) When I finally reached that deductible, they denied my claims. He was making a million dollars a month,” read one comment on TikTok.
““The ambulance ride to the hospital probably won’t be covered,” wrote a commenter on a TikTok video.”
All those dark thoughts cross my mind too but I am holding off until we get the identity and motivation of the shooter. Who knows, maybe the CEO was sleeping with the shooter’s wife or ran over his dog or something. Worst case is the shooter is some kooky leftist with no personal involvement with UHC. But yeah, the insurance industry should be reading all those dark comments and taking them to heart (they won’t).
They will–but only to the extent that the CEO’s will now travel with security.
When the plane hit the first tower everyone thought it was just an accident.
When the rich and privileged have twisted our system of justice so that the middle class and the poor are robbed legally, with no LEGAL recourse, then we should not be shocked that the desperate resort to ANY remedy.
Allegedly, the shooter was decked out in high-end products. Sneakers, but Hermes ones. The company paid a $22M ransom to hackers earlier this year, CEO has had to testify to Congress and work with the Feds. Perhaps killer is not on the side of the people after all.
You write as if the reality of his motive matters. How people interpret it is, as modern life demonstrates daily, much more important.
I guarantee you rich fucks are hoping the motive was personal. That’s why the plane striking the second tower was so important.
Agreed. Rich fucks are itching for class warfare. Investors and executives in the consumer-exploiting industries are giddy with excitement over the coming orgy of deregulation.
I don’t think rich folks are itching for violence when their relentless campaign to control the courts and guarantee outcomes favorable to themselves is so successful. They bombard us with tsunamis of corporate biased messaging every day. Money persuades.
Stumbled across this article from March while preparing my “2024–The Good, The Bad, The Ridiculous’ piece:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/08/health/united-healthcare-cyberattack.html
“More than two weeks after a cyberattack, financially strapped doctors, hospitals and medical providers on Friday sharply criticized UnitedHealth Group’s latest estimate that it would take weeks longer to fully restore a digital network that funnels hundreds of millions of dollars in insurance payments every day.
UnitedHealth said that it would be at least two weeks more to test and establish a steady flow of payments for bills that have mounted since hackers effectively shut down Change Healthcare, the nation’s largest billing and payment clearinghouse, on Feb. 21.
But desperate providers that have been borrowing money to cover expenses and employee payrolls expressed skepticism at that estimate, worrying that it could be months before the logjam of claims and payments cleared up.”
With socialized medicine, all this money that flows to these ‘just say no’ outfits would go to, you know, health care.
Josh Marshall: