DL Open Thread: Tuesday, August 12, 2025
Quick Note: Depending on how long today’s Special Session runs (I’m thinkin’ real long), I might miss a lot of it while I’m enmeshed in the blues-rock stylings of Joanne Shaw Taylor. So, I need you to fill us in on what’s happening. Thanks in advance!
Why Democrats Suck–Mach Infinity: the clowns looking for their own Sister Souljah moment:
Former Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel appeared on the Megyn Kelly Show, hosted by a former Fox host, where he said that a man cannot become a woman — then joked that given the likely reaction of his fellow Democrats, that answer would require him “to go into a witness protection plan.”
As prominent Democrats begin testing the waters for potential 2028 presidential runs, some have been explicitly rejecting tenets of liberal orthodoxy in high-profile ways, often in venues that might attract independent or pro-Trump listeners.
The appearances come as many Democrats, especially centrists, are urging the party to embrace what they say is a key lesson from their 2024 loss to President Donald Trump: that Democrats must distance themselves from the most easily weaponized left-leaning positions, and that they must engage with podcasts, radio shows and other media that are outside the liberal sphere.
OK. First, this reflects the editorial bent of the Washington Post finding its way into the so-called news side. Second, these guys ignore the corporatization of the Democratic Party as a key reason for the Party’s increasing irrelevance. Third, yes, let’s make The Blacks, The Hispanics, The LGBTQ community, among others, walk the plank in order to achieve what? Electoral superiority? Without their historically strongest supporters? Good luck with that. You know what’s popular? Progressive policies. Too bad that the current corporate financial base of the Democratic Party views progressive policies as the enemy. While they cut deals with our Fascist president.
Speaking Of WaPo Interference…:
As The Washington Post documented in advance of Trump’s declaration of what looks a lot like martial law within the District of Columbia, violent crime spiked in 2023 but fell sharply in 2024, and since the start of 2025 it’s stood lower than during nearly all Trump’s first term as president (when Trump paid D.C. crime little heed). This is part of a national trend; according to the Post, homicides are down 30 percent nationwide, as are burglaries and robberies. Trump’s federal takeover of the D.C. police and his deployment of the National Guard therefore have no justification in observable reality. Even Trump’s own FBI director, Kash Patel, in a hilariously off-message statement at the press conference announcing the deployment, said that “the murder rate is on track to the be lowest in U.S. history.”
Regrettably, after the Post got finished showing “what the data shows,” someone (I’d bet an editor) added this sentence: “Not captured in statistics, though, is the grief, pain and shattered sense of safety that follow each crime.” Oh, please. In the context of an imminent and deeply troubling federal takeover of the city’s police force, I put that statement somewhere between rationalization and abject surrender. Similarly craven was the Post’s subsequent framing of the matter as a dispute between a president who thinks violent crime is going up and a D.C. mayor who thinks it’s going down. Mayor Muriel Bowser doesn’t think it’s going down. It’s going down.
BTW, don’t search The Post for any ‘grief, pain and shattered sense of safety’ when it comes to the kidnapping and disappearing of immigrants. You won’t find any.
Trump Nominates New Guy To Distort The Statistics. As always, the vote comes down to which R’s ultimately cave:
President Trump announced on Monday that he would nominate E.J. Antoni, an economist at the conservative Heritage Foundation, to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Mr. Trump fired the previous commissioner of the agency after it reported weak job growth.
Dr. Antoni, who would need to be confirmed by the Senate, has previously criticized the bureau and questioned its methods and reports. His nomination underscored Mr. Trump’s attempts to place his own allies in control of a key repository of data about the nation’s hiring, wages and prices.
Economists on both the left and right of the political spectrum say it is critical that the heads of the statistical agencies are seen as politically neutral
Many cited William W. Beach, who led the Bureau of Labor Statistics during the first Trump administration, as a model to follow. A conservative economist with decades of experience working for right-leaning think tanks, he was also widely praised for his nonpartisan leadership, and has condemned Dr. McEntarfer’s dismissal.
Trump Profits Off Of Trump. Absolute corruption corrupts absolutely. Open Secrets shines the light:
No modern president has jumped so directly from the world of business to the presidency as Donald Trump. And in so doing, Trump has refused to do as his predecessors have done: sever ties to the companies or financial interests that may pose, or present the appearance of, a conflict of interest. By keeping his assets in a family-managed trust, which he can revoke at any time, Trump and his family are in the unique position to profit directly from his public service. Special interests in Washington have caught on. Those seeking to curry favor with Trump are not only donating to his reelection campaign but holding fundraisers and galas at his resorts, private clubs and hotels – the proceeds of which benefit him and his family.
To track this new influence-buying and presidential profiteering, OpenSecrets has created this page to track payments to Trump properties from Trump-related entities and beyond.
Oh, and this doesn’t even include 2025, where the corruption has metastasized.
What do you want to talk about?
Delaware Working Families Party Calls For Consideration Of All Proposals During Today’s Special Session.
“DOVER, DE —in response to the politics surrounding today’s special session, Shyanne Miller, Progressive Governance Director for the Delaware Working Families Party, has released the following statement on behalf of the Party:
“The special session of the Delaware General Assembly is shaping up to be an exercise in the appearance of democracy. Residents are asking for transparency around the reassessment process. They are asking for protection from losing their homes. They want to make sure corporations pay their fair share. Yet, few of the proposals leadership has placed on the agenda actually address the needs of Delawareans – including the need for long-term solutions.
“While protecting homeowners from late fees and providing payment plans are necessary, we aren’t addressing the root cause of the issue. There is more than enough evidence of inaccuracies in this reassessment to warrant a deeper look. Our state and local leaders have yet to initiate one. The tax burden has moved from corporations onto homeowners. And all this is happening while schools and working families are threatened with federal funding cuts.
“After a 40 year gap, counties don’t have enough experience to do property reassessment and need more support and guardrails from the state. Resolutions are on the table to enact working groups that will address this, but LEADERSHIP REFUSED TO PUT THEM ON THE AGENDA.
“Our current state tax structure is upside down. Working families are subsidizing corporations while our public schools go underfunded. If corporations were paying their full share of property taxes, we wouldn’t have to choose between funding our schools and protecting our homeowners.
“Delaware’s working families need long term solutions. They deserve a fair consideration of all the proposals, rather than this PRE-DETERMINED STAGING OF DOING THE PEOPLE’S BUSINESS.”
I agree.
Ditto, with a caveat.
Agreed that we have to put everything on the floor (including Republican proposals) and see where the chips fall. People of all persuasions (libs, conservatives and the great mass in between) are pissed and no one sector has all the solutions.
The caveat: we’ve got to acknowledge two things. First, one day of legislating will not accomplish any more than short-term solutions, and those solutions will likely be imperfect. Second, we do need some guardrails for future reassessments and some form of expert review of what has transpired this year, but it’s going to take some planning to do that well. The best we can wish for today is that we set up some sort of task force that can report back in January and have the GA act promptly in the new year on whatever those recommendations might be. (One further caveat: We do have the Public Education Finance Commission at work now. While I’m skeptical of what its recommendations for reform will eventually include, we don’t need another task force that’s going to stomp on the PEFC’s work.)
The House is in (yes, I’m surprised they got in so soon).
They’ve done some memorials to those who have passed, and they’re now swearing in Alonna Berry. Don’t know if they’ll break for caucus after that.
Don’t know whether the Senate is in. There’s a connection issue with the video feed.
It’s always a wonderful cathartic moment in those rare occasions when someone gets sworn in after a Special Election.
And indeed it was for Rep. Berry, her family, and those who supported her campaign.
The House is now taking a ’20-minute’ break. I assume this means that there will be no further Caucus.
Senate is now in.
SCR 122 is being considered. I expect a unanimous vote.
The Resolution:
“…calls for an immediate review of the recent statewide property reassessment by the members of the General Assembly, in collaboration with state, local, and school district officials, to develop legislative and operational measures that ensure future reassessments are conducted fairly, transparently, and equitably.”
The Senate has now completed their Agenda.
Everything on the Agenda passed.
We, and the Senate, now await action from the House, which remains in Party Caucus. The Senate will remain while they wait for the House to act.
Gonna have to hand this off to my Dover denizens soon…
I am on the floor and I received a “special” personal greeting from both Mimi and FOP Frank. Hey Karl let’s keep the candidate recruiting going. Frank did say “come see me” and I replied I’d see him during the Primary next year! Mimi came over and said she wanted to say hi so I stuck out my hand and Mimi: “I’m not shaking your hand you call me stupid and incompetent”. Maybe 2 primaries in 19720?
House is coming in there may be some positive progress to report soon.
Welp, it’s 5:25, they’re not in yet, and I’m heading out to enjoy some serious Texas blues-rock by way of England!
The parade of presidential contenders on these podcasts is embarrassing – they don’t realize that they are the ones getting played. They would have been in a greater position of power pre-election, but now they are effectively sitting in the cuck chair, freely admitting that the party fucked up. Rule #1 in our MAGA world – never admit you are wrong; because if you were wrong once, it will be held against you for eternity.
It helps to look at the corporatizaton of the democratic party through a different lens. Consider the wal-mart in prices corner. A veritable united nations of race, ethnicity, religion, political persuasion. Of course the common thread is that no one shopping there is earning six figures, but don’t expect to the 60-something beaded guy wearing a nine-line t-shirt and buying .223 rounds in sporting goods to consider himself having any class solidarity with the lady in a hajib buying milk. In fact, he doesn’t want to be in there any more than she does, and would not be, if not for the price point. Walmart, like the corporatized democratic party, softens all the rough edges and sells itself as the least-worst option to desperate people. They managed to file off all the rough edges and personality you might find in a smaller or more boutique business to be as inoffensive to everyone. In doing so, they have created an atmosphere where people begrudgingly participate, even if they hate to be there and are disgusted with their other shoppers (see https://www.instagram.com/peopleofwalmartofficial/?hl=en)
The democratic party cannot remain a big tent and inspire the kind of fierce loyalty that MAGA commands. It needs to pick a clearly-defined demographic, focus on simple economic issues, and double down. Anything else is a distraction. The fringes will either not participate, or pick a side that they think they have a future voice in.
I went to that Wal-Mart a couple of months ago for exactly that reason – best price on what I was looking for (potting soil). It is indeed the most multi-ethnic spot in Delaware.
What I noticed was that in a very full parking lot, there was not a single Tesla.
I disagree but only a little. Twice recently, last night and in June when she called out leadership in June over the Stell debacle.in June Madinah received extensive print and TV coverage and she was received very well by the electorate in Sussex with lots of positive social media and conservative talk radio feedback. Last night she broke through again with viral support in conservative spaces. I have seen little Muslim hate or even reference to her religion. Voters, even MAGA leaning Folks want to see competent effective leadership. The Speaker can continue acting as she has but she dies so at her own peril. I do very much agree that the Priced Corner Walmart is a microcosm of working class society. I always feel a tinge of group hopelessness as I walk the aisles. .
Back from a GREAT show. Three of Madinah’s amendments were adopted on one bill, and they’re working on the third bill as we speak.
Haven’t found out whether the Senate bills have been worked in the House yet, or vice versa.
I will say this and save the rest of the analysis. The attacks on Madinah by Claire and Maura were intensely personal, wrong on their face and showed them both to be virtual puppets of the Speaker and sell out Kerri. Minutes after berating me for characterizing her as stupid and incompetent the Speaker had her leadership pocket picked by Rep Spiegleman who took her to school on the rules and opened the door for the debate that ensued. Finally, Madinah gave a speech that laid bare the Speaker’s utter lack of competence while framing the issue which led to several of her amendments being adopted.
Finaly , hey FOP Frank when you did your tough guy thing I offered to buy you a drink at the Monday club. Guessing that won’t happen because like all bullly’s you are a coward
Claire was always going to be a sellout because she’s manipulative and life is a popularity contest for her. But Mara…besides her immigration stuff (which I most certainly give her credit for), she is an absolute disappointment. The fact we got her after Paul Baumbach makes me so sad. Mara is smart and experienced enough to know that progressive policies are popular and necessary for the overwhelming majority of Delawareans, but, unlike Paul, she chooses to turn her back on them.
Claire Snyder hall is going down the wrong path….like very fastly. She sounded like an angry Karen last night….and for what? Because Madinah had a press conference? I mean seriously. Sorry Claire, you didn’t look good yesterday
But Madinah did not respect their authoritah!
Alby, this literally made me laugh out loud!!