DL Open Thread: Tuesday, November 4, 2025
Today’s Election Day. Should be a real good day for Democrats–with one notable exception. Mamdani will win an overwhelming victory. Abigail Spanberger will flip the Va. governorship from R to D, and I look for D gains in the legislature there as well. Cali will approve the new gerrymander.
The exception? I think Mikie Sherrill loses that NJ Governor’s race to Jack Ciattarelli. On merit. She stands for nothing, basically hopes that Trump revulsion will be enough, which it might. She has campaigned on the platform of ‘raging competence’. Wow, that’ll drive voters out to the polls. Is Mike Dukakis her campaign manager? Ciattarelli has focused on high prices and how they’re hitting everybody. Plus, that commercial where Sherrill can’t come up with a single bill she wants passed is brilliant. I mean, even Obama couldn’t come up with a great reason to vote for her:
“Mikie’s integrity, grit, and commitment to service are what we need right now in our leaders. Mikie Sherrill is the right choice for your next governor,” Obama said in an ad endorsing her.
Ho-kay. She could win, but she is nothing more than a ‘root for the laundry’ candidate, devoid of any governing vision. In other words, a ‘centrist’ Democrat.
Darth Vader Dies. He only seems less evil in contrast to Trump. But evil he was:
Former vice president Dick Cheney, who recast an understudy’s job into an engine of White House power, becoming chief architect of a post-9/11 war on terrorism that involved bypassing restrictions against torture and domestic espionage, died Monday night. He was 84.
After the catastrophic attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Mr. Cheney, the nation’s 46th vice president, took on the role of primary strategist in all-out military deployments in Afghanistan and, later, Iraq. As part of this multitrillion-dollar campaign, intelligence officers were dispatched to use “any means at our disposal,” as Mr. Cheney put it, to find and kill terrorists and those who aided them.
Mr. Cheney and his senior lieutenants, Chief of Staff I. Lewis Libby and legal counsel David Addington, worked in strict secrecy to circumvent or reinterpret legal prohibitions against torture, domestic espionage and clandestine imprisonment without charge. Mr. Cheney said in 2008 that “it would have been unethical or immoral for us not to do everything we could in order to protect the nation.” A 9/11-style attack, he said, “wasn’t going to happen again on our watch.”
Mr. Cheney’s core beliefs — in unfettered markets and expansive presidential authority — defined Bush’s first-term action plan on taxes, spending, personnel appointments, freedom of information, environmental regulation and ballistic missile defense.
He also pushed for an aggressive new stance against Iran, Syria, North Korea and the Palestinian Authority — in addition to shaping the global war on terror.
… in the aftermath of 9/11, Mr. Cheney, without the knowledge of many of Bush’s top advisers, conceived and supervised a wide-ranging new program of warrantless domestic surveillance, code-named Stellar Wind, that circumvented legislative prohibitions and the requirements of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
Acting through proxies, Mr. Cheney also orchestrated Bush’s decision to strip terrorist suspects of the right under the Geneva Conventions to be protected from “cruel, inhuman or degrading” treatment. He advocated what he called “robust interrogation,” using methods that U.S. allies and previous U.S. governments defined as torture.
May he rest in torment.
Trump Rope-A-Dopes The Courts While SNAP Recipients Suffer:
The Trump administration says it will restart SNAP food benefits but it will pay out only half the amount people normally get.
The administration will use money from an Agriculture Department contingency fund. The administration says there’s only $4.65 billion available in that fund to pay for SNAP benefits, which is roughly half of the $8 billion in food assistance payments people receive every month.
In a court filing, officials said depleting that fund means “no funds will remain for new SNAP applicants certified in November, disaster assistance, or as a cushion against the potential catastrophic consequences of shutting down SNAP entirely.” The Trump administration declined to tap any additional funds for SNAP saying that could take money away from other child nutrition programs, like school lunch and breakfast programs.
Citing the government shutdown, USDA froze funding for SNAP beginning Nov. 1 — the first time that’s happened since the country’s largest anti-hunger program began six decades ago. On Friday, two federal judges ruled that this pause is likely unlawful.
Both judges said that Congress provided more than $5 billion in emergency funds for exactly this kind of situation, and they rejected the Trump administration’s argument that it could not legally use that money to keep SNAP going. It not only can use the money, but must, the judges said.
Call it what it is: Cruelty for cruelty’s sake.
CBS Censors Trump Remarks. I didn’t bother watching. I knew CBS was merely currying favor:
In his interview with “60 Minutes” that aired on Sunday, President Donald Trump gloated over CBS’ decision to bribe him and praised the news division’s new right-wing leader—but the network did not air these comments during their telecast.
Trump was interviewed by CBS correspondent Norah O’Donnell, and he made an explicit reference to CBS parent Paramount’s decision to pay him off for a frivolous lawsuit right before his administration approved Paramount’s merger with Skydance.
“Actually, ‘60 Minutes’ paid me a lot of money, and you don’t have to put this on, because I don’t want to embarrass you, and I’m sure you’re not,” Trump said.
He was right. The comments about the payoff did not make the program’s televised edit, but CBS posted them online later, along with the rest of the interview. Ironically, the payout to Trump was based on his complaint that edits to an interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024 amounted to election interference.
Legal experts say Trump’s suit was without merit, but CBS chose not to defend its own journalism, instead pursuing a cozier relationship with Trump amid its parent company’s major merger. Congressional Democrats recently launched an investigation into the matter, suggesting the payoff was “an offer of payment and benefits to a government official designed to achieve a specific outcome from the government—in other words, a bribe.”
The analysis focused on the three dozen corporate and individual donors the Trump administration has disclosed, plus three more that have since been publicly identified. It found the group has received $279 billion in government contracts over the past five years and spent $1.6 billion in political contributions and lobbying fees during that time. The list contains heavyweights in the tech, financial and defense sectors, including Google, Comcast and Lockheed Martin.
Based on that, $300 mill for a ballroom is chump change in this racket.
Another Special Session? No, not the one I referenced yesterday, this one:
New Castle County is working to issue property tax bills, in compliance with Court of Chancery’s recent ruling that allowed different rates to be set for residential and non-residential properties.
County Executive Marcus Henry said he is hoping for an extension for County and School Tax Payments. The State Senate will meet for a special session this Thursday November 6th to consider legislation related to an extension.
So, if only the Senate goes in, which appears to be the case, will the House consider that legislation during the Special Session already scheduled to address the budget shortfall? If so, couldn’t both issues have been addressed during the already-scheduled Special Session? I’m confused. As so many of you have pointed out, not for the first time.
What do you want to talk about?
I’m really torn up that the devil called Dick Cheney home before he could see a Muslim elected mayor of New York City. This world just keeps taking my joy from me.
I like to think Satan will invite him to go hunting.
Fireworks expected today at one of Delawares most entertaining legislative bodies….NCC Council (Wilmington city council prob takes the cake for most entertaining with laughs) debates an ordinance dealing with data centers in the county. The huge one in Delaware city I assume is the genius of this all. Lots of attention on this.
Land Use Committee meets today, 3-4 pm.
Next scheduled full Council meeting, November 18.