DL Open Thread: Friday, September 5, 2025
We’re Officially At ‘War’ Now: Even weirder than you might think:
President Trump will sign an executive order on Friday to give the Department of Defense a new name: the Department of War.
The change would return the department to a name that it carried for much of its history, until it became the Department of Defense in the wake of World War II. The executive order was confirmed to NPR by a White House official who was not authorized to discuss the matter.
A White House fact sheet explains that under the executive order, the name “Department of War” will serve as a “secondary title” for the Department of Defense. (W-what?)
According to the fact sheet, the order will also authorize Defense Department officials to substitute the word “war” into their titles. For example, the Secretary of Defense could use the title Secretary of War.
President Trump has previously signaled that a change was in the works. During an appearance in the Oval Office last month, Trump said that War Department “just sounded to me better.”
It’s not clear whether Trump can officially change the name without congressional action, but he told reporters, “We’re just gonna do it.”
Might I suggest another motive for this re-branding? Trump has taken countless illegal actions citing ’emergencies’, you know, exigent circumstances, to justify the illegalities. It’s all coming to a head at the Supreme Court. Why not give the Solomoronic solons a fig leaf? ‘We’re at war’ sounds especially Trumpian.
Will Bryan Townsend and Krista Griffith Get Thank-You Cards?:
Tesla’s board on Friday proposed a pay package that could make its chief executive, Elon Musk, the world’s first trillionaire as long as he meets a series of very ambitious corporate goals.
Mr. Musk, already the world’s richest person, would have to increase Tesla’s stock market value eightfold over the next decade to collect the full value of the package, according to a securities filing.
All the compensation would be in the form of Tesla shares. The package, which must be approved by the company’s shareholders, is expected to be put to a vote at an annual meeting on Nov. 6.
Mr. Musk has a net worth of more than $400 billion, according to Forbes. The new pay could add around $900 billion to that fortune if he succeeds in raising Tesla’s stock market value to $8.5 trillion from about $1.1 trillion today. It would be by far the richest compensation of any executive in corporate history.
To me, SB 21 is a Rorschach test when it comes to legislative priorities. Both Townsend and Griffith, along with, in the House, Speaker Mimi, made clear whose side they were on: The oligarch billionaires.
The topic is the September federal budget showdown, essentially a replay of the March “continuing resolution” drama in which Democrats had their first shot at real leverage against Donald Trump. As you’ll remember, Democrats under Chuck Schumer’s leadership decided to hold out for nothing. This was not only a missed opportunity. It’s fair to say it drove a catastrophic collapse of confidence in the Democratic Party’s elected leadership in Washington, DC., an impact that has been reverberating through national and opposition politics ever since.
Now we have a literal replay of that moment. The White House again needs Democrats’ vote in the Senate for a continuing resolution to keep the government open. Democratic leaders have been insisting they won’t make the same mistake again, and recent reports suggest President Trump’s increasingly aggressive attempts to seize budget authority from Congress all but assure a government shutdown at the end of the month. But a closer look suggests that Senate Democrats will insist on no meaningful brakes on Trump’s lawless actions and may, perversely, help him hold Congress next year.
Much of what I’m about to explain comes from general reporting and observation over recent weeks but also a report this morning from Punchbowl. The gist is that Senate Democrats may make their ask a short-term extension of the Obamacare subsidies which were cut as part of the President’s budget bill. Those subsidies are important. Cutting them will lead to millions of Americans losing their health insurance. Critically, those cuts kick in before the 2026 midterms, while many of the other cuts are intentionally timed to kick in after the midterms. But this move doesn’t actually restore the subsidies, just delays the cuts past the election.
The popularity of Democrats is lower than it has been in years. History suggests it’s the unpopularity of Republicans, not Democrats, that will rule the 2026 elections. But when you look at the factors weighing down Democrats, it’s not crime or trans rights or wokeness. It’s the deep-seated belief among independents and Democratic voters that Democrats are weak and feckless; their nominal positions don’t matter because they’re either unwilling or unable to fight for them.
Amen, brother.
Zohran Mamdani Is Not Feckless:
New York City’s Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani took on Donald Trump on Thursday as the president reportedly looks to “clear the field” and better former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s chances to win November’s election.
Mamdani, in response to Cuomo’s call for a series of borough-focused debates between the two, instead turned his attention to the president.
“Let’s cut out the middleman. Why should I debate Donald Trump’s puppet when I could debate Donald Trump himself?” the democratic socialist told CBS New York.
“If Donald Trump is serious about this, he should come to New York City. We can have as many debates as you want about why he is cutting SNAP benefits for hungry New Yorkers just to fund tax cuts for his billionaire donors.”
In August, Mamdani slammed Trump for reportedly wanting to get involved in the mayoral election.
“This should be a race about … who will make this city affordable, who will ensure that each and every New Yorker is safe, who will bring our city forward, not an audition for the best jester for Donald Trump and his billionaire supporters,” he told reporters at the time.
Y’see, feckless D’s, it’s really not all that difficult—except when you too are in the pockets of your billionaire supporters. (See Elon Musk above: Which reminds me, Bryan and Krista–being in the pocket of billionaire oligarchs pretty much should disqualify you from holding office–at least as Democrats.)
‘Illegal Things At An Astonishing Pace’. Will the Supreme Court deem the illegal legal? Trump’s betting on it:
This week’s dramatic court ruling that Donald Trump’s sweeping trade tariffs, which he has used to upend global trade, were in fact illegal is the latest in a series of losses for the president’s radical agenda that are ultimately heading for a final showdown in the US supreme court.
Trump has already asked the supreme court to overturn the lower court ruling in the tariffs case. Almost certain to follow are Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans, his hostile conflict with Harvard University and his deployment of the national guard and marines to Los Angeles. All have been deemed unlawful in lower courts.
“It’s simple: the president and his administration continue to do illegal things at an astonishing pace, and so the courts are finding that these things are illegal,” said Donald Sherman, executive director and chief counsel at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
Legislators Address Proposed Data Center. Some pretty good proposals, the way I see it:
New Castle County Councilman Dave Carter has introduced an ordinance regulating how this and future data centers could be built. His measure was heard this week during a meeting of the Preliminary Land Use Service, where state agencies made recommendations on the directive and heard comments from the public.
The ordinance creates a distinct land use category, requiring a special use permit. The regulations would apply to new data center development or expansions over 20,000 square feet. The facilities could be located in industry and heavy industry zones if approved after a special project review.
Under the ordinance, data centers could not be built less than 1,000 feet from any residential area. It also mandates a battery energy storage system and creates standards for noise, traffic and water use.
Carter said he’s also hoping the state can help with drafting language around reviews of projects under the Delaware Coastal Zone Act. The act regulates new and existing manufacturing, heavy industry and bulk product facilities in the state’s coastal zone.
“We believe that hyperscale data centers, the larger ones — much different than ones we have — operate very much like heavy industry, and indeed should be considered heavy industry,” he said. “They have enormous energy use requirements. They have large-scale, often diesel, backup generation, which is an industrial use. Particularly at the scale they’re doing it, noise, heat, air emissions are very significant.”
State Rep. Frank Burns, D-Pike Creek, said he opposes the project in part because of the enormous amounts of electricity it could gobble up.
“I think that it’s a danger to the reliability of the grid and the electrical supply, as well as danger to what electrical customers in Delaware are paying in their electric bills,” he said. “As it is, it will use a significant portion of the supply that normally is used by the state of Delaware. So from an energy security standpoint, I really think it’s a bad move.”
Burns has introduced legislation to be considered when lawmakers go back into session in January that would establish a separate rate for large energy-use facilities. He said it’s intended to make sure the project doesn’t offload the costs onto state ratepayers. He added that more legislation on this issue is likely to come next year.
Hmmm, have we heard from the Governor yet?
What do you want to talk about?
Enjoyed the Rev’s latest–although your enjoyment may vary depending on your tolerance for the insipid prose of Celia Cohen:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/e361-delaware-w-138122151?utm_campaign=patron_engagement&utm_source=post_link&post_id=138122151&utm_id=418bddc2-d908-4a70-9469-78a4bc7d123d&utm_medium=email
That data center is a boondoggle waiting to happen. In addition to the strain on resources, the AI boom has a not-insignificant chance of turning into a bubble.
To address the energy issue, I’d like to see the energy company forced to charge all users the same rate residential users pay, instead of giving out volume discounts to encourage industrial use. Fair’s fair.
Eric Adams–US Ambassador To Saudi Arabia? They’re probably just negotiating over the size of his harem:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/05/nyregion/eric-adams-saudi-arabia-ambassador.html
In addition to wanting to know where the Gov is on data centers, I’d be interested to hear what his admin is doing to make sure we have access to Covid vaccines. Pritzker and other Blue State govs are taking action in this area. But at least Meyer went to the Eagles game last night.
He’s not allowed to go to an Eagles game? Our last governor made it his entire personality.
Delaware allows anyone seeking a Covid shot to get one.
The vaccines should be here within a week.
My wife’s a pharmacist at Walgreen’s, so I know the answer to that one.
Update: Several Walgreen’s got the Covid vaccines today.
Let’s get this straight:
Department of Defense suggests that we are protecting ourselves and our friends.
Department of War means that we’re ready to beat the crap out of anybody we don’t like or who does something we don’t like, such as unarmed folks in a speedboat in international waters, migrants picking vegetables or packing the meat that we eat for dinner, kids trying to learn English in our public schools, or some guy unfortunate enough to be driving at night with a broken tail light or turn signal.
Just yesterday I was reading a letter my Dad wrote to my Mom while he was serving in France, about a week behind the front-line fighting, during WWII. He’s asking her to send him stuff — bars of soap, fabric scraps, buttons and thread, even candy — that he might offer to French farm families devastated by the war. I don’t know whether Mom ever sent these items, let alone whether they were distributed, but it seems to me that my Dad’s efforts captured the true spirit of America, which is a far cry from the type of leadership we’re seeing in our government today.
Thanks for the Covid update El Som. Looking forward to getting a shot.