DL Open Thread: Thursday, December 11, 2025
Trump Seizes Venezuelan Oil Tanker. Um, why? Chris, you’re on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Care to hazard a guess? Or say anything?:
The United States seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela on Wednesday, a dramatic escalation in President Trump’s pressure campaign against Nicolás Maduro, the leader of Venezuela.
Speaking at the White House before an event on a new luxury visa program, Mr. Trump announced the operation and said it was “a large tanker, very large,” adding, without elaboration, that “other things are happening.”
When asked about the ship’s oil, Mr. Trump said, “Well, we keep it, I guess.” He declined to say who owned the tanker. “It was seized for a very good reason,” he added.
Since September, the United States has launched more than 22 known strikes against boats in the region, killing more than 80 people. The Trump administration insists, without publicly providing evidence, that the boats are smuggling drugs. Legal experts say the strikes may violate international law.
Shoulder shrug, Chris? No. I found a quote:
Also speaking to NewsNation, senator Chris Coons said that while he did not know the details of the incident, he was “gravely concerned that [Trump] is sleepwalking us into a war with Venezuela”.
Might I suggest–stop sleepwalking?
I prefer something stronger, like this from US Senator Chris Van Hollen:
Chris Van Hollen, the Democratic senator from Maryland, was among the lawmakers speaking out against the Trump administration and its actions around Venezuela, taking to the senate floor on Wednesday to call on Congress to block Donald Trump from “using taxpayer dollars to launch a regime change war”.
“Last time I checked, the constitution of the United States gives Congress – this body – the power to decide questions of war or peace,” he said.
Our totally-sane President on affordability:
“You can give up certain products. You can give up pencils. That’s under the China policy, you know every child can get 37 pencils—they only need one or two, you know they don’t need that many,” Trump said, adding, “You don’t need 37 dolls for your daughter, two or three is nice, but you don’t need 37 dolls.”
Dem Proposes Impeachment Of RFK, Jr. Resulting in–why Dems suck:
Representative Haley Stevens of Michigan, a Democrat running for Senate, filed articles of impeachment on Wednesday against Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., making an all but certainly futile bid to charge him with undermining public health, diminishing decades of scientific and medical progress and imperiling the health of the American people.
In accusing Mr. Kennedy of an assault on the public health system that constitutes high crimes and misdemeanors, Ms. Stevens said the secretary had delayed biomedical innovation through the “far-reaching” and “haphazard” termination of working scientists. She cited Mr. Kennedy’s cancellation of $8.9 billion in federal research grants, and said he was “chilling medical innovation, including lifesaving clinical research” in what amounted to a violation of his oath of office.
And though Ms. Stevens said she had discussed her impeachment push with Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the minority leader, Democratic leaders are not backing it. Some of her colleagues viewed it as the politically motivated move of a candidate who has struggled to gain traction in a heated primary, in which she is facing off against two dynamic candidates who are further to the left than she is.
All of this ignoring the basic argument–RFK Jr. is a threat to public health and should be impeached. Instead, let’s do a strongly-worded resolution and do nothing:
Senator Angus King, independent of Maine, on Wednesday teed up a vote in the Senate that will offer lawmakers a chance to register their disapproval of Mr. Kennedy’s leadership. The measure would formally disapprove of the secretary’s decision in March to cancel a directive that required transparency and requests for public feedback on the Health and Human Services Department’s policy changes, upending a standard established in 1971.
Ouch. That’ll hurt. Not. Did I say something about a threat to public health?:
The measles outbreak in South Carolina is reportedly “accelerating,” thanks to a combination of unvaccinated students and large gatherings where the virus can quickly spread.As of Wednesday, there have been 111 reported measles cases in the northwest region of South Carolina, NBC News reports. The region includes Greenville and Spartanburg.
“We are faced with ongoing transmission that we anticipate will go on for many more weeks,” South Carolina Department of Public Health state epidemiologist Dr Linda Bell said during a Wednesday news briefing.
Bell said that was a “significant increase in our cases in a short period of time,” noting that holiday gatherings and other large events — paired with lower-than-optimal vaccination rates — are responsible for the spike.
Democrats should be calling for the impeachment of Trump and RFK, Jr. They’re not, because they suck (you can’t get this trenchant analysis on any other Delaware political blog).
The Redding Consortium for Educational Equity is set to decide next week on a concept to redraw school district boundaries in the city of Wilmington and northern New Castle County. But intense opposition is mounting by those opposed to changing the lines.
The consortium is a state group created in 2019 tasked with redrawing lines for the school districts currently serving the city of Wilmington and northern New Castle County. Redding co-chairs state Sen. Elizabeth “Tizzy” Lockman and former state Attorney General Matt Denn have been presenting the redistricting choices to school districts throughout December.
But hundreds of community members descended on a Brandywine school board workshop this week to voice their concerns about the upcoming vote. Lockman and Denn faced fierce pushback from school board members and from meeting attendees against the idea.
“I’m going to be lobbying my legislators to vote down any plan you come up with,” school board member Ralph Ackerman said. “We are not pawns in your bigger game.”
Oh, it’s a game, Ralph? Ackerman has been a voice against racial equity over his far-too-long time on the Brandywine School Board. He demagogues this issue every chance he gets. Look, I appreciate the concerns from parents, I understand that they currently don’t have enough information upon which to make a decision. But Ackerman publicly says he won’t even consider any proposal. Call him for what he is: A racist stuck in a time-warp.
Here is everything you need to know about the Redding Consortium:
The Redding Consortium for Educational Equity, as it is officially known, is a task force created by the Delaware state legislature in 2019 to study and recommend changes to the school districts that serve the city of Wilmington.
The body, which includes leaders from the affected Brandywine, Red Clay, Christina, Colonial and New Castle County Vo-Tech school districts, along with charter schools, parents, and teachers, was unanimously approved by both Democrats and Republicans in enabling legislation. The Redding Consortium is led by co-chairs, including State Senate Majority Whip Tizzy Lockman (D-Wilmington) and former Attorney General Matt Denn.
Legislators empowered the Redding Consortium and the Delaware State Board of Education to be able to redraw district boundaries for the four districts that serve Wilmington.
In a compromise, state legislators required that they too vote to affirm any final redistricting plan and that it be signed by the governor.
What do you want to talk about?
