DL Open Thread: Friday, March 28, 2025

Trump’s Just Doing Weird Stuff Now.  Like this:

The “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” order directs Vice President JD Vance to eliminate what he finds “improper” from the Smithsonian Institution, including its museums, education and research centers, and the National Zoo. The White House fact sheet (irony duly-noted) describing the order said it will focus on removing “anti-American ideology.”

The institution, the official keeper of the American story, has operated independently as a public-private partnership created by an act of Congress in 1846. The order is an unprecedented act to edit an institution that has been expanding over many decades to include a wider, richer and more diverse telling of the nation’s history.

“Over the past decade, Americans have witnessed a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth,” the executive order says. “This revisionist movement seeks to undermine the remarkable achievements of the United States by casting its founding principles and historical milestones in a negative light.”

And this:

Restoring any monuments or memorials removed since Jan. 1, 2020, is also part of the executive order. That was the start of an American reckoning with the way Confederate icons were honored in public spaces. Numerous statues and memorials were removed or relocated by local governments.

Skadden Arps Looks To Cave.  Starting to think Shakespeare was right about lawyers:

The elite law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom has had discussions with President Trump’s advisers about a deal to avert the type of executive order that the White House has been imposing on many of its competitors, according to five people briefed on the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly about private conversations.

The talks represent an extraordinary turn in Mr. Trump’s campaign against law firms and the legal system more broadly, marking what appears to be the first time that a major firm has tried to cut a deal with the president before he could issue an executive order. Recent orders targeting other law firms have restricted the work they can do with the federal government.

Don’t these law firms have, like, lawyers?  Have none of them used the term ‘See you in court’?  Cowards, all.

Can We All Simply Agree With Everything She Says?:

Just tryin’ to add some cultcha to the proceedings.  Oh, and yes I have a point:

News just broke that President Trump has withdrawn the nomination of Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) to serve as ambassador to the UN. It’s a good reminder that though we should never take joy from the suffering of others, there are some occasions when it’s okay. Luckily for Stefanik, she has not yet resigned her House seat. But she has given up her position as House GOP conference chair. And you don’t get those back. Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI) now has that job. And I assure you she is not going to do Elise a solid and get out of the way. So now it’s time for Stefanik to crank up the campaign machinery again and for her upstate constituents to realize they were her second choice.

As you know, the House majority is already down to two seats. They really can’t afford to lose any seats. More than a couple and they could literally lose the majority. But it’s not mostly because they’re worried about losing Stefanik’s pretty Republican seat, though that is in the mix too. It’s the situation in Florida’s 6th district, the one Rep. Mike Waltz (our fat-fingered Signal friend) vacated to become Donald Trump’s national security advisor. Back in November, Waltz won reelection by 33 points. Now they’re suddenly very worried that political newcomer Josh Weil (D), a math teacher, is going to beat the rather lackluster/off-the-rack GOP candidate, state senator Randy Fine.

Let me just say that any Florida contest is fool’s gold.  The Democrats are not, repeat, not, winning that seat.  E-clip ‘n save.

‘Eet Les Chickn’:

Scores of poultry operations in the US have been reinfected by bird flu since 2022, costing hundreds of millions of dollars in federal payouts, according to documents obtained by the Guardian.

The recurring outbreaks highlight the need for more aggressive prevention, including poultry vaccination and changes to how poultry is farmed, experts say.

At least 56 poultry operations, including chicken and turkey farms, in the US have been infected twice by bird flu, according to depopulation and reinfection records from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Another 17 poultry farms have had three rounds of infections. More than half – 11 – of these farms are located in South Dakota. The others are located in Minnesota, Colorado and North Dakota. The US government payout estimate is more than $75m to these farms.

Why not do this instead of re-incentivizing poultry farming?:

The US could also help embattled poultry producers move into new forms of agriculture like growing beans or mushrooms, Hayek said.

“The incentives are going in the wrong direction,” said Hayek. Farmers’ “only option to get paid for the flocks that they’ve lost is to repopulate that flock”. That means “farms are continuing to go back to the well” in order to recoup their losses.

Governor Meyer’s Budget Proposal.  I kinda like it, probably about the best we could do under the circumstances:

Meyer is proposing a budget of nearly $6.6 billion for fiscal year 2026, up 7.4% from $6.1 billion for FY25. The plan does not touch either the state’s Budget Stabilization Fund or the Rainy Day Fund, relying on new revenue from the change in tax brackets and a hike in cigarette taxes, state park entrance fees and tolls.

Meyer is calling for emergency funding for school districts and charters with large numbers of students who are failing to read at a proficient level. He declared a “literacy emergency” in Delaware earlier this year after 8th-grade reading scores dropped to a 27-year low. He is also proposing investing $3 million directly into classrooms while also raising $3 million from private donors to put into the effort as a pilot program.

His proposal also calls for a $12 million increase for affordable housing initiatives, including $6 million for state rental assistance. The plan includes reducing homelessness and streamlining the process for constructing affordable housing.

What do you want to talk about?