DL Open Thread: Tuesday, September 23, 2025

‘I Hate My Opponent, And I Don’t Want The Best For Them’.  Trump speaks his truth:

When asked about the divergent messages from the president and Mrs. Kirk, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said on Monday that the president was “authentically himself.”

That’s also true.

‘Forever Chemicals’ To Last More ‘Forever’.  You know why:

The Department of Defense has quietly delayed its cleanup of harmful “forever chemicals” at nearly 140 military installations across the country, according to a list of sites analyzed by The New York Times.

The Pentagon’s new timeline would delay cleanup around military sites by nearly a decade in some cases, according to the latest list, which is dated in March and was posted publicly in recent weeks without an announcement. The delays vary by site. They add up to a significant revision from the Pentagon’s earlier cleanup timetable, which had been released three months earlier, in December 2024, in the final days of the Biden administration.

Trump To Go After ‘Antifa’.  Raising the question, who or what is Antifa?  There’s a local crank who has an ‘Antifa’ bumper sticker on her flatbed truck.  That is literally the only knowledge I have of Antifa.  Trump’s just ginning up another all-purpose enemy, imaginary as it may be.  Which reminds me, anyone remember ACORN?

Meet Trump’s Latest ‘Prosecutor’.  What a shock–one of Trump’s many former lawyers.  No prosecutorial experience:

Former Trump defense attorney Lindsey Halligan was reportedly sworn in as interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Monday after the president forced out her predecessor for failing to turn up wrongdoing with which to charge New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) and other public figures he considers his enemies.

Halligan has no prosecutorial experience. Most recently, she worked in the White House staff secretary’s office, reportedly tasked with censoring the Smithsonian museums. Previously, per ABC, she handled insurance claims related to the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case.

Trump announced that he’d be appointing her Friday via social media. That post came shortly after one that was styled as (and possibly intended to be) a direct message to AG Pam Bondi, where Trump reamed her out for not pursuing his political enemies (including James) aggressively enough.

Also From TPM, Schumer And Jeffries Must Go:

Another weekend has passed, and with it the latest chance for Democratic leaders Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) to put to bed the endless speculation about why they haven’t endorsed Democratic candidate for New York mayor Zohran Mamdani, and whether they will.

“I’ll have more to say about the Mayor’s race sometime soon,” Jeffries said on MSNBC — perhaps a nod to a potential coming endorsement, per the New York Post.

Schumer’s dodge on CNN reads as less of a tease: “All I can tell you is, I’m going to continue talking to him.” 

The political triangulation here is too cute by half. If the fear is Fox News et al making Mamdani the face of the Democratic Party — particularly if he struggles as mayor — do Schumer and Jeffries really think foot-dragging an inevitable endorsement will give them any cover? As if the right-wing media structure hesitates to assign random social media users as spokespeople for the Democratic Party.

They’ll either endorse Mamdani or not endorse at all — and doing either decisively when Mamdani won the primary would have been less of an albatross around the party leaders’ necks than these endless iterations of fence sitting, a particularly bad look as the Democratic base clamors for brashness and vitality over hesitancy and poll-tested limpness.  (I’m stealing ‘poll-tested limpness’.  It’s better than ‘feckless’.)

Mamdani aims to be seen as doing the former. On Monday, he announced that he’d cancel a planned ABC town hall in response to the network’s suspension of Jimmy Kimmel.

“ABC pulled Jimmy Kimmel off the air after the FCC sought to pressure them,” Mamdani said at a press conference Monday. “The message that it sends to each and every American across this country is a message the First Amendment is no longer a right that can be counted on, but rather that it is government which will determine what should and should not be discussed, what can and cannot be spoken. And we cannot normalize these kinds of acts nor offenses. These must be the basis upon which we act.”

Which Reminds Me, Will These Sellouts Sell Out Again?:

President Donald Trump is expected to meet with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries later this week as lawmakers stare down a government funding deadline, according to three sources familiar with the plans.

It will take place Thursday, one of the sources familiar and another source told CNN.

Schumer and Jeffries confirmed the meeting in a joint statement on Tuesday, saying the president had agreed to meet with them this week in the Oval Office.

The ‘poll-tested limpness’?:

As CNN has reported, the Democratic leaders, as well as rank-and-file, have publicly projected a united front in recent days, and many in the party are eager for a fight with Trump. But some also worry about the party’s exit strategy if Trump and the GOP refuse to cave.

How about figuratively tar-and-feathering Rethugs for destroying everything that’s ‘good’?  The D ‘leaders’ won’t do it.  But there are plenty of D’s who can and will if we jettison these losers.

‘You Pregnant Women Will Just Have To Survive Without Your Tylenol’.  He, um, doesn’t feel your pain:

Medical experts are raising alarms after Donald Trump warned pregnant women to avoid taking Tylenol, baselessly linking the painkiller – also known as paracetamol – with a rise in autism among children.

The claims from Trump and his health secretary were also widely condemned by medical experts and regulators around the world.

Doctors have also on social media spread the message about Tylenol’s safe use.

“If you are pregnant right now and considering whether Tylenol is safe in pregnancy, I want you to know that the best available science does not show an association between Tylenol use in pregnancy and an increased risk of autism,” said pediatrician Edith Bracho-Sanchez in a Facebook video.

Dr Monique Botha, associate professor in social and developmental psychology at Durham University, was one of a number of international medical experts to state that they were “exceptionally confident” no relationship exists.

“There are many studies which refute a link, but the most important was a Swedish study of 2.4 million births published in 2024 which used actual sibling data and found no relationship between exposure to paracetamol in utero and subsequent autism, ADHD or intellectual disability.

“This suggests no causal effect of paracetamol in autism,” she said.

Delaware’s First Secretary Of Veteran Affairs Confirmed:

The Delaware Senate confirms retired Brigadier General Karen Berry as the state’s first Secretary of Veterans Affairs.

Berry made history as the first female in the Delaware National Guard to hold a Brigade Command position and earn the rank of Brigadier General.

Since 2023, she has been serving as a veterans advocacy specialist at Delaware Tech’s Owens Campus after serving for 36 years with the National Guard.

The senate convened for an extraordinary session Monday to confirm several gubernatorial appointments, including Berry as the leader of the newly created Department of Veterans Affairs.

The bill creating the state-level department requires the office to be operational by July 1, 2030.

ICE Presence Harming Downstate Businesses.  The absolute first bill the General Assembly should consider in January should require ICE agents to drop the masks:

The June Facebook video showed federal immigration agents arresting a man at the driver’s door of his work van in front of the Route 13 Outlet Market sign in Laurel, Delaware. The video garnered more than 200 shares, and word spread that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was at the longstanding flea market, which was heavily patronized by Sussex County immigrants.

The indoor market opened more than 40 years ago and hosts upward of 100 independent businesses, some of which have been there since the flea first began. The weekend-only bazaar — which sells anything from tacos and jewelry to fresh fruit and Japanese katana swords — was typically bustling with people who had made it a tradition to shop and eat at the market every weekend.

But repercussions from the ICE arrest immediately reverberated through the community. Business fell dramatically in the two weeks after the video was posted, said Entela Lynch, manager of the market.

The marketplace slump was only one of the latest impacts from the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown that’s been felt by Delaware residents. Many immigrant-owned businesses have seen a downturn in patronage, and some have even had to cancel cultural events due to community fears of federal enforcement.

The General Assembly can and must fight this attack on people’s most basic rights.  Make the storm troopers unmask!

What do you want to talk about?