DL Open Thread: Sunday, March 2, 2025

I’m BACK, be-yotches!  Ya miss me?  Big props to Al, Our Man In France, for keepin’ youse guys in line during my absence.

I’m glad I did Spring Training–once.  Especially enjoyed talking to fans of other teams in such a laid-back atmosphere.  By the 5th inning, though, the starters have left the game and you have a lot of guys with numbers in the 80’s trying to find the strike zone.  They fail more often than not.   Also saw the Phils’ first Japanese signing. Comes in an throws an 89-mph change-up.  Except it wasn’t a change-up. As evidenced by the 80 mph change-up that followed.

Keep an eye on Gabriel Rincones, Jr.  He has serious major league power.  Gonna be tough sending him down when he can change a game with one swing.  I also think that Justin Crawford is the Phils’ leadoff hitter of the future.  Wheeler and Luzardo looked real sharp.

I also learned about the mutually-assured deception of VRBO’s.  My brother does a lot of traveling and stays at VRBO’s.  Here’s the deal:  Not only does the visitor rate the VRBO, the VRBO guy rates the visitor.  In other words, 10’s all around.  In other words, you can’t trust the ratings.

Enough digressions.  Until I come up with more digressions.  Here are a couple of local things that got overlooked:

BHL Angles For A Job With RFK Junior.  She might have had a weak explanation as to why she attended the inaugural (you know, as the ‘Governor Of Delaware’).  But, her many sightings (thanks, guys) with the anti-vaxx crowd last week should disabuse all of us from any explanation save the real one:  She’s toxic in Delaware, but she might reinvent herself as a turncoat D who embraces the destruction of America’s healthcare protections.  She’s trying.  Must need the money.

Evelyn Brady Announces That She Is Officially Running For Democratic State Chair.  To revive the moribund state party from the likes of, well, you know.  That means that I’m gonna try to get chosen to be a delegate so that I can vote for her.  I recommend that those of you on committees do the same.  Who is she?  This will fill in the blanks.

Professor Timothy Snyder On The Trump Ambush Of Zelensky.  6-minute video on the ‘5 Failures In The Oval Office.’  Highly-recommended.

There Is Legit Cause For Hope, And Ways To Help Achieve It.  Don’t think I’ve ever linked to this weekly column before as I’ve always found it to be too Pollyanna-ish.  But there’s a bleepload of good stuff in here, with loads of links.  All the good news in one place.

Dog Bites Man: Israel Cuts Off. Humanitarian Supplies To Gaza.  Because they can:

Israel has cut off humanitarian supplies to Gaza in an effort to pressure Hamas into accepting a change in the ceasefire agreement to allow for the release of hostages without an Israeli troop withdrawal.

The office of the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said on Sunday it was imposing a blockade on Gaza because Hamas would not accept a plan which it claimed had been put forward by the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff, to extend phase one of the ceasefire and continue to release hostages, and postpone phase two, which envisaged an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

“With the end of phase one of the hostage deal, and in light of Hamas’s refusal to accept the Witkoff outline for continuing talks – to which Israel agreed – Prime Minister Netanyahu has decided that, as of this morning, all entry of goods and supplies into the Gaza Strip will cease. Israel will not allow a ceasefire without the release of our hostages,” it said in a statement. “If Hamas continues its refusal, there will be further consequences.”

Because, in Netanyahu’s eyes, Hamas and Gazans are one and the same.

‘Swastikars’ Being Offloaded By Owners:

Filipos is part of a growing movement of Tesla enthusiasts who are now turning their backs on the company – selling their cars, dropping their leases and getting rid of Tesla stock. Many say that, while they still love the cars, they can’t square the CEO’s politics and behavior with their own. Musk is synonymous with Tesla; his vehicles, the Cybertruck in particular, are his calling cards.

The Guardian spoke with three people who offloaded their Teslas in protest of Musk over the last month alone. All said they did so explicitly because of Musk’s salutes during the inauguration. Another person who spoke with the Guardian on the condition of anonymity started the process of dropping her lease on the day of the salute with an email to Tesla reading: “Your boss is a Nazi.”

Across Reddit, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook, dozens of posts are popping up with people saying they are also getting rid of their Teslas. Some have added photos of themselves flipping the bird as a goodbye gesture to their cars. Still more have posted receipts to prove they sold their Tesla stock, saying they didn’t want to be associated with the Maga-happy CEO.

Both Sheryl Crow and Elvira (for people of a certain age) have donated their Teslas to charity.  Crow donated it to NPR–or at least the proceeds from the sale.

Delaware (Privately) Offers $30 Mill Bribe to Merck.  Is Matt Meyer gonna stop this shit, or not?  Giving away this kind of money should never have been exempted from FOIA:

Delaware economic development officials on Monday awarded the pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. more than $30 million on the condition it expands its manufacturing operations at a location just outside of Wilmington.

The company has considered plans to build a facility at the Chestnut Run Innovation and Science Park off Route 141 but has not yet committed to it, according to state officials. Merck said that facility, if built, would employ 375 people. (Where have I heard that before?)

Because, you see, a company with a $200 billion market cap needs a bribe to choose Delaware, and perhaps some other state will offer a larger bribe.

Here’s what Carney hath wrought:

Delaware’s Council on Development Finance, which approved Merck’s grant and WuXi’s, makes its awards based, in part, on recommendations from a public-private entity governed by some of the state’s most prominent business leaders and by Gov. Matt Meyer.

That entity, the Delaware Prosperity Partnership, is a nonprofit organization first established under former Gov. John Carney to attract business development to the state. Many on its board of directors are either in the state legislature or executives of Delaware’s top businesses.  (In order to bribe companies far from the prying eyes of the public.)

Oh, the WuXi mention?:

The grant comes almost four years after the state made a separate high-dollar gamble on pharmaceuticals, when officials awarded Shanghai-based WuXi STA Pharmaceutical $19 million to build a new manufacturing campus in Middletown. 

At the time, WuXi said it would invest $510 million into the facility. But last year, Congress considered a bill to ban American companies from working with some biotechnology companies tied to foreign adversaries, including China.

That bill has placed the future of the Middletown facility into question, even as construction has continued. WuXi’s parent company, WuXi AppTec, has meanwhile sold its operations in Philadelphia’s Naval Yard.

The key word?: ‘gamble’.  With our money.  BTW, nothing looks more ridiculous than a bunch of public officials in hard hats pretending to shovel dirt.  Like this: