DL Open Thread: Monday, November 10, 2025

Let me get this straight–Democrats win an overwhelming victory on Tuesday.  The victory being largely due to voters’ disgust over Trump’s cruel policies coupled with his Gilded Age embrace of billionaires uber alles.  The Dems take a brief victory lap until–a group of so-called ‘moderate’ Senators cut a deal with Rethugs that will likely leave tens of millions of Americans without affordable health insurance. This is precisely why Democrats can score huge victories while public perception of the Party is in the toilet.  Because it deserves to be.  Democrats were ostensibly fighting for those people at risk of losing health insurance, until they weren’t.  These people suck.

Here’s the story of the pathetic cave:

After 40 days of the government shutdown, a small — but large enough — group of Democrats has caved. For more than a month, the party incessantly demanded Republicans get on board with its effort to protect expiring Obamacare subsidies, preventing significant premium hikes for millions of Americans. But on Sunday, several Senate Democrats broke ranks with their caucus, setting in motion an end to the shutdown without a promise of extending said tax credits.

Sens. Angus King (I-ME), John Fetterman (D-PA), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) voted in favor of the continuing resolution (CR) following the bipartisan deal.

The bipartisan agreement includes a new CR that would fund the government until Jan. 30 alongside an Agriculture-FDA, Military Construction-Veterans Affairs and Legislative Branch minibus that includes a reversal of federal employee layoffs that the Trump administration executed during the shutdown, part of an effort by Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought to turn up the pressure on Democrats. The new CR text indicates the deal would also prevent any new layoffs until Jan. 30, 2026.

Senate Democrats will also get a floor vote on the expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies before the end of the year. That promise, of course, will not guarantee that the ACA bill will pass or that the House would take up the bill. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has already said he would not make a promise to bring a Democrat ACA bill to the floor. Republican senators, meanwhile, appearinterested in a separate scheme to instead use at least some premium funds for flexible spending accounts, suggesting that they will not sign on to any Democratic-led effort in the upper chamber. 

Nothing in the deal would force President Donald Trump and the OMB to spend congressionally appropriated funds in the way it requires — which was a Democratic demand at the beginning of the shutdown. The administration, over the course of 2025, has repeatedly impounded congressionally approved funds and pushed for party line votes to “rescind” funds that a bipartisan majority of senators appropriated.

I can’t even…

Dog-Killer Bought Planes Without Engines.  Yep, more Kristi Noem hi-jinks:

The secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Kristi Noem, reportedly authorized the purchase of Spirit Airlines jets before discovering the airline didn’t actually own the planes – and that the aircraft lacked engines.

The bizarre anecdote was contained in a Wall Street Journal report released on Friday, which recounted how Noem and Corey Lewandowski – who managed Donald Trump’s first winning presidential campaign – had recently arranged to buy 10 Boeing 737 aircraft from Spirit Airlines. People familiar with the situation told the paper that the two intended to use the jets to expand deportation flights – and for personal travel.

Those sources also claimed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials had cautioned them that buying planes would be far more expensive than simply expanding existing flight contracts.

Complicating matters further, Spirit, which filed for bankruptcy protection for the second time, in August, did not own the jets and their engines would have had to be bought separately. The plan has since been paused, according to the Journal.

Cruel And Incompetent.

Training For Christian Dominionists–No Separation Between Church And State:

Texas Rep. Nate Schatzline’s energy was palpable as he gazed out from the video on the computer screen, grinning ear to ear, the sleeves of his white dress shirt rolled up.

The Republican legislator from Fort Worth had a message to share with people watching the prerecorded video: As a Christian, you have an essential role in politics and local government.

“There is no greater calling than being civically engaged and bringing the values that Scripture teaches us into every realm of the earth,” Schatzline said.

The legislator was teaching a section of Campaign University, a series of online lessons he and others associated with Fort Worth-based megachurch Mercy Culture created to raise up so-called “spirit-led candidates.”

The course, created in 2021, is an extension of Mercy Culture’s increasingly overt political activities that have included candidate endorsements. The church’s political nonprofit, For Liberty & Justice, houses Campaign University.

The lessons emphasize that would-be candidates don’t need to be experts in government or the Constitution to seek public office or a place in local government. They also train potential candidates to “stand for spiritual righteousness” and teach them how to build a platform and navigate the campaign trail while maintaining a strong family and church life.

At the core of Campaign University is the idea that there is no separation between what happens within the church and what happens in the government. Students are taught to interpret the First Amendment’s establishment clause on the separation of church and state as a protection against government involvement in religion, rather than vice versa.

Previously, churches risked losing their tax-exempt status by discussing or engaging in politics. Then this summer, the Internal Revenue Service decided to allow religious leaders to endorse political candidates from the pulpit, a decision Schatzline took as a green light for him and other pastors to ramp up political activity. 

Today’s Top News-Journal Headline: ‘Former Hotel du Pont chef baking almond macaroons at Greenville store’.  Wow.Had I happened to experience subscription cancellation regret, this would have not had me running back into the fold.

Cris Barrish On Gibraltar Project:

Gibraltar is in noticeably better shape now, however.

That’s because starting in 2023, near the end of Purzycki’s term, he made salvaging the estate his pet project, albeit one using some $3 million in federal, state and city funds.

First, he used the power of his office to have a city-created nonprofit agency, the Wilmington Neighborhood Conservancy Land Bank, buy the 4.5-acre mansion and grounds for $900,000. The 1.5-acre Marian Coffin Gardens is owned by the nonprofit Preservation Delaware.

Ever since, Purzycki has guided the reclamation project, first from his ninth floor office in City Hall and then since January from his own sprawling home next door to Gibraltar.

Purzycki, who celebrated his 80th birthday this year, calls himself a citizen volunteer. He coordinates with developers and the Land Bank on reconstruction work. He meets with officials from the state Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs to ensure everything meets their standards for a building that’s on the National Register of Historic Places and has a conservation easement that governs what work can and cannot be done.

Purzycki is no stranger to redevelopment. Before his election as mayor in 2017, he spent two decades overseeing the dramatic transformation of Wilmington’s riverfront from an industrial wasteland into an entertainment and residential showcase.

While reviving the riverfront was a mammoth undertaking that helped propel him to become mayor of Delaware’s largest city, Purzycki said working to save Gibraltar has “been a labor of love.”

Police As Scofflaws:

The current state laws, House Bills 205 and 206, expanded public access to police misconduct records and required every police department in Delaware to create accountability boards. But many departments have fallen short of those requirements, advocates say. 

Eight municipalities still have not established oversight committees. Another 10 of the state’s 51 total departments list accountability boards on their websites, but those groups have only met once. 

Read the entire article to see just how weak the bills are.  There’s only one way to achieve genuine LEOBOR reform:  Replace legislators who have opposed reform with those who support reform.

What do you want to talk about?