DL Open Thread: Wednesday, August 6, 2025
Middletown’s Police Advisory Board was formed in 2020, in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd at the hands of police, and subsequent calls for accountability. The board was voluntarily formed, with no local or state government mandate, and held its first meeting in October that year.
Three years later, the Board was disbanded by Middletown’s mayor and town council on questionable premises related to House Bill 206 of 2023. Rebranded as the Middletown Police Accountability Committee (MPAC), a mix of new and returning members were appointed. Since then, the group has been all but hidden from public view and appears to do little, if anything, to hold the town’s police force accountable for any misconduct.
How–and why–has Middletown so successfully obfuscated police accountability and essentially rendered its current committee meaningless?
Middletown’s government has a long history of questionable and racist behavior reaching back at least six decades, and that history very clearly holds influence to the present day.
That’s just the preamble. This is a must-read.
‘Let’s Make Everybody Sick’. Kennedy Cancels MRNA Funding:
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has canceled nearly $500 million of grants and contracts for developing mRNA vaccines, the Department of Health and Human Services announced on Tuesday.
It is the latest blow to research on this technology. In May, the Department of Health and Human Services revoked a nearly $600 million contract to the drugmaker Moderna to develop a vaccine against bird flu.
The new cancellations dismayed scientists, many of whom regard mRNA shots as the best option for protecting Americans in a pandemic.
With this move, the department is “undermining our ability to rapidly counter future biological threats,” said Rick Bright, a flu expert who was ousted as chief of BARDA during the first Trump administration and resigned from a lesser position in protest.
“We’re weakening our frontline defense against fast‑moving pathogens — a huge strategic failure that will be measured in lives lost during times of crisis,” he added.
Chris Meekins, an assistant secretary for pandemic preparedness in the first Trump administration, said that ending BARDA’s mRNA work created a “national security vulnerability.”
Netanyahu Plans To Annex Gaza (as if that wasn’t his plan all along):
Momentum is building for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans to expand military operations and occupy the entire Gaza Strip, with Netanyahu scheduled to discuss the move with top defense officials Tuesday and Defense Minister Israel Katz promising to “professionally implement” whatever the government decides.
While right-wing members of Netanyahu’s government have long supported a complete takeover of Gaza, senior security officials have repeatedly insisted that Israel has achieved its military objectives of eliminating Hamas’s ability to govern Gaza or launch military offensives, according to Israeli media accounts.
“Netanyahu has decided to occupy the Gaza Strip, meaning that military operations will also take place in areas where hostages are being held,” said a person familiar with the prime minister’s decisions who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak with the news media.
He’s Finally Lost Josh Shapiro. Will Chris Coons be the last holdout?:
Gov. Josh Shapiro on Tuesday called for the United States to “dramatically increase” aid to Gaza as he joins a national conversation about the deepening humanitarian crisis there as the death toll of Palestinians waiting for food and other aid grows.
“I think it is fair to say that I’m both praying for the return of the hostages and praying to make sure that these kids get fed in Gaza,” Shapiro said. “The fact that kids are starving in Gaza is not OK.”
He said the United States “has a moral responsibility to flood the zone with aid and make sure those children that need to be fed get the food and the nourishment and the medicines that they need to be able to survive this” through a safe distribution plan.
Leaving Coons as one of the few remaining ‘pro-starvation’ public elected officials. Ironic for a guy who will never be able to button (rhymes with ‘glutton’) that sports coat ever again…
Will The FBI Go After Texas Democrats? I’m thinking yes, as it’s par for the course in a Fascist state:
President Donald Trump said the FBI “may have to” help arrest Texas Democratic lawmakers to their home state after more than 50 fled to block a Republican redistricting plan that could flip five U.S. congressional seats.
“A lot of people are demanding they come back. You can’t just sit it out. You have to go back,” Trump said at an Aug. 5 press event.
Trump made the remarks when asked by a reporter about Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn’s request earlier in the day for the FBI to “take any appropriate steps to aid in Texas state law enforcement efforts to locate or arrest” the Democratic lawmakers.
According to Texas law, the lawmakers are legally entitled to do what they’re doing. This is merely a blatant attempt to hold on to power by rigging the game. Those Texas D legislators are heroes.
I’m Opposed To Carjacking, Except, Possibly This One:
Two 15-year-olds have been arrested in Washington in connection with the attempted carjacking and beating of one of the most prominent members of the Department of Government Efficiency, renewing calls from President Donald Trump for the federal government to seize control of the nation’s capital.
The victim, Edward Coristine, nicknamed “Big Balls,” was among the most visible figures of Trump’s DOGE, which was tasked with slashing federal bureaucracy.
Coristine was assaulted around 3 a.m. Sunday in the city’s Logan Circle neighborhood by a group of teenagers attempting to carjack him and a woman whom police identified as his significant other, according to authorities.
Two 15-year-olds from Maryland were arrested on charges of unarmed carjacking, police said.
The attack gave new fuel to long-standing Republican efforts to challenge Washington’s autonomy, with Trump threatening to bypass local authority and impose direct federal control over the city.
Florida’s As Hopeless As You’ve Suspected. You might as well take this journey and see for yourselves.
Here’s Why Your Water Bill Went Up This Month (At least ours did):
The jump stems from Veolia’s $62 million plan for customer improvements in its Delaware water system, which included $42.5 million in upgrades to the company’s Stanton Water Treatment Plant to meet new federal drinking water standards for PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) announced by the EPA in April 2024.
The plan’s price tag represents an average investment of $1,561 per average customer in water quality and service improvements, according to Veolia.(I believe them…)
The $35 million water treatment plant opened near Newport on June 18. It is the largest of its kind in the Northeast and one of the largest in the United States. The plant will remove regulated PFAS from up to 30 million gallons of water per day from two nearby rivers that supply about 140,000 Delawareans in New Castle County.
The project also included $14.9 million to replace and install new water main, customer service lines and other essential infrastructure. It required about $5 million annually in ongoing operating costs for maintenance and disposal.
Would’ve been nice if the companies responsible for dumping those PFA’s in our water paid for their crimes, but Delaware is not New Jersey.
A few thoughts on the RD 20 Special Election and its aftermath. In special elections throughout the country, Democrats have over-performed. That was not the case in the RD 20 Special Election. While we can point to several theories as to why, I think, first and foremost, that Nikki Miller was perhaps the best Republican who could have run. She already had name recognition from her run against Stell Parker Selby, and there was very little negativity in the race. We’ve already pointed out that Alonna Berry ran on a platform of nothing. When you stir in the complete lack of constituent services from the AWOL incumbent, you could argue that Berry’s victory was a surprise.
Both Berry and Miller have said they will run again in 2026. My unsolicited four words of advice for Berry: Constituent services on steroids. Do that and you should have no problem getting reelected. Otherwise, your time in office could be short.
What do you want to talk about?
so let me get this straight. trump wants 250% tariffs on pharmaceuticals because he wants pharmaceuticals made in america but kennedy is cutting pharmaceutical research by $500billion? so all these companies will want to make pharmaceuticals why?
Forget it, Jake, it’s Americatown.
You have misnamed Alonna Berry as Alonna Brady (Perhaps because of the new state party chair, Evelyn Brady)
Jeezus H. Christ.
I suck at my job. Perhaps that’s why I don’t get paid for it…
Correction incoming.
Middletown isn’t a government. It’s a mafia run by Kenny Branner. They hold elections in March where 500 or so folks vote in a town of close to 30k.
He’s been a boil on Delaware’s ass for four decades now. His is a grave I eagerly await the opportunity to piss on for creating the white-flight haven lower NCCo is today.
To be fair, Miller also ran on nothing. There’s no argument that she’s a great community member, but in 2026, she’ll have to defend her ideas on how she will govern.
Notably, Miller was backed by so many developers at a time where their popularity is diminishing – and unlike the juggernauts in NCCo, Sussex developers are garish & bold in their practices with not caring about how over run the region could become – especially in the 20th.
I am happy – but surprised – Berry won this election. But, people are ravenous still after the Stell Parker debacle. Its also telling how much Dems had to spend to win after the exhausting coverage locally of having “no representation.”
Constituent services & ensuring the Republican candidate has to answer for their support of Development & plans for education are critical out of the gate.
I’m sure Rethugs had nothing to do with this:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/08/06/texas-lawmakers-potential-bomb-threat-illinois/
I was maybe surprised that Berry won but super happy. Anyone who’s anyone in DE politics was down in Sussex canvassing for her. The amount of money spent in a short period of time is shocking though. There will be a primary in 26 with Berry and at least Ruby Shaeffer. Berry has to hit the ground running.
Ruby Schaeffer? Let her waste her money.