DL Open Thread: Monday, December 15, 2025
BREAKING: Rob Reiner and Wife Stabbed To Death:
Hollywood director Rob Reiner and his wife Michele were found dead Sunday afternoon inside their Brentwood mansion, according to officials.
The Los Angeles Fire Department said a man and a woman were found deceased inside, approximately 78 and 68 years old, around 3:30 p.m. A source close to Reiner has confirmed to NBC News that Reiner and his wife were the pair that was found dead inside the mansion with apparent stab wounds.
TMZ is reporting, to the extent that TMZ reports at all (actually it’s PEOPLE), that:
Rob Reiner and his wife Michele had their throats slit by a family member, possibly during an argument inside their Los Angeles home, leading to their tragic deaths … TMZ has learned It’s unclear what exactly triggered the violence, which went down Sunday afternoon in Brentwood … but we’re told one of Rob’s daughters found her parents dead and told police a family member had killed them. PEOPLE reports the couple’s son, Nick, is being questioned in connection with the murders.
No, it’s not the teetotaling Mormon, father-of-four who wants to “disagree better” and modeled bipartisan collegiality through his earnest chat with Shapiro who’d have the most impact on the 2028 campaign.
It’s the other Cox, the one full of righteous indignation about the impact of social media on children and phone addiction on all of us, who believes tech companies should be confronted like the opioid makers of yesteryear. It’s the second-term governor who harnessed the internet earlier than most of his contemporaries, and still fights his Twitter addiction, but who has since become radicalized and, by his own admission, is now fully “a tech pessimist.”
The matter of whether we control technology or it controls us, however, is only becoming more fundamental. And if you don’t believe me, consider how you feel each time you find yourself unconsciously reaching for your phone like a three-pack-a-day smoker — or, worse, how you feel watching your kid stare into his or her preferred screen.
While the Republican used the Cathedral event to say he’d support a 16-and-under ban on social media access of the sort the Australians just passed, there was a Democrat who beat Cox to the punch earlier in the day.
“I think it’s time for America to pick up its game and do the same,” said former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel about the Australian law. “Look, when it comes to our adolescents, it’s either gonna be adults or the algorithms. One of them is going to raise the kids.”
Here’s the idea that I really like:
While he first drew widespread national attention for his remarks after the Kirk killing, Cox has been aggressive as governor: Utah is suing Snapchat, has banned phones in classrooms and is now, I’m told by a source close to Cox, crafting legislation to pursue a digital tax a la the sin taxes on tobacco and alcohol.
The governor has also been in close contact with mogul Frank McCourt’s group, Project Liberty, which is focused on addressing data ownership. Cox is most consumed with the societal impact of technology, though, whether it’s on children’s brains or adult loneliness. He’s met with a variety of thinkers on the issue, ranging from The Anxious Generation author Jonathan Haidt to Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who last month urged people to “wake the f up” about AI risks.
Seein’ as how Krista Griffith and the Governor (figuratively) bent over backwards to carve out a special break for Mark Zuckerberg, it’s only fair that, oh, Frank Burns and Sophie Phillips, who tried to get the special break taken out of SB 21, return the favor. It’s good legislation, it’s important legislation, and it will be popular legislation. Oh, and it will raise revenue. Get to work, guys.
Rethug Attack Dog James Comer Goes After–The Clintons. Looks like there’s no ‘there’ there–and you know I can’t stand the Clintons:
A quiet, monthslong battle between Representative James R. Comer of Kentucky, the Republican chairman of the Oversight Committee, and Bill and Hillary Clinton over the panel’s Jeffrey Epstein investigation could come to a head this week. Mr. Comer has threatened to begin contempt of Congress proceedings against them if they fail to appear in person for depositions.
The threat is the starkest example yet of the attempt by House Republicans to shift the focus of the Epstein affair away from President Trump and his administration and onto prominent Democrats who once associated with the convicted sex offender and his longtime companion, Ghislaine Maxwell. (That’s precisely how a media outlet should report the story.)
After Democrats on his panel effectively forced him to subpoena the Justice Department for its files, Mr. Comer also issued subpoenas in August to the Clintons, as well as to eight former top law enforcement officials. Since then, the chairman has withdrawn the subpoenas for five former attorneys general who wrote in statements to the panel that they had no knowledge relevant to the investigation. The committee also excused former F.B.I. directors James B. Comey and Robert S. Mueller III from giving live depositions. Only one person, former Attorney General William P. Barr, has appeared to testify.
But Mr. Comer has refused to excuse the Clintons, even though they have repeatedly offered to provide the same kind of sworn statement to the committee.
Jim? We see what you’re doing here.
Prediction: General Assembly Will Punt On Redding Consortium Recommendations. Why? Political cowardice:
Five years of discussions about where Wilmington kids should go to school will come to a close Tuesday when a state task force, called the Redding Consortium, issues recommendations to lawmakers about where school district lines should be drawn in Delaware’s largest city.
But already a backlash has emerged featuring suburban residents who live north of Wilmington pushing back against proposals that would combine their Brandywine School District with portions of central Wilmington.
At the core of the tension are plans to remove about 1,600 Wilmington students from the Christina School District and move them to districts with high schools that sit closer to the city. The Christina School District’s boundaries are centered around Newark but also contain a noncontiguous island in central Wilmington.
Asked whether redistricting Wilmington schools will be a priority in Dover, a spokeswoman for the Senate Democrats said Senate Pro Tem Dave Sokola and Senate Majority Leader Bryan Townsend will defer to their colleague and Majority Whip, Sen. Elizabeth “Tizzy” Lockman (D-Wilmington).
What happens to a plan ‘deferred’? We all know the answer to that.
What do you want to talk about?
Has there ever been a cost annalist of the school districts as to what they are trying to do now with Wilmington? Cost effective is the way to go as long as it matches up don’t you think?
There’s little point in doing a cost analysis of the three options now, when you’ve got a runway of 4-5 years before anything gets implemented and you have two other variables: a study of education pay scales and the much larger Public Education Finance Commission working on how to overhaul the state’s school finance system.
But here’s the unspoken but likely more important aspect of cost-benefit analysis: What is the impact of a steadily failing public school system on the state’s economy and its overall economic development. We might not have numbers now, but it’s fair to say that investing wisely (and more expansively) in public education, through a structure that better accounts for the needs of a student population that is far more diverse than the state had 75 years ago, should pay off in the form of a state that will be better situated to retain existing businesses and attract new ones.
The Other Mike Smith announced earlier today he’s running in the Dem primary for state treasurer.
Are mumsy and daddy gonna pay for this campaign too?
“Why? Political cowardice”
I unfortunately agree. None of the proposed solutions will be popular, all will cost $$. I’ll be astonished if the General Assembly votes on it.
It doesn’t seem like they’ve learned a thing from the reassessment fiasco which arose from the same legal action – problems like these don’t get better with age.
Absent an even more direct intervention by the courts, these folks will kick the can down the road until their leg falls off.
We’ve waited 50 years, let’s wait a little longer. Nothing like setting up for another classic Delaware Way way to stall: Redding proposal goes to the State Board of Ed; State Board finds portions it doesn’t like. Back to Redding for revisions. Stretch it ou past the end of the legislative session. Redding members quibble over how to resolve the issues manufactured by the State Board. Put it off another year — then back to the State Board, and into the lap of a new General Assembly.
The Redding Consortium goals aren’t about saving money. It’s about savings through consolidation and redirecting saving towards serving the needs of underserved as-risk students. BS !!!! Rodel’s Vision 2015 http://www.rodelfoundationde.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/LEAD_funding_study.pdf
The same Rodel that was cheerleader for Race to The Top where Marvin “Skip” Schoenhals was part of Markell’s D.C. Race to The Top dream team. Where there was a limo deal with DSEA’s Judas.
Changing district boundries will do nothing to improve education for at-risk students. Title 1 Funding went from targeted assistance to schoolwide programs that were being manipulated by NCLB waviers.
Site-base managment is needed to allow “teachers”, school level admins and PARENTS the ability to address the unique needs of each school with a discretionary budget.
Mark my words, if school districts boundries change so would the local property school tax base causing increase taxes. Also, keep in mind, the recent property tax reassessment was court ordered via the same people pushing the Redding Consortium. Lizzy Lockman was part of a secondary legisaltion calling for reassessment every five years which was signed into law that allow the districts to add 10% over and about proposed tax rate after reassessments.
The state board of education is required to approval any Redding plan and then submitted to state legisaltors. Do remenber with the Neighborhood Schools Act of 2000 the legislators failed to act themselvess on proposals presented to them by tthe NCA committee. They defered it back to Delaware Department of Education that allow the district to write their own Neighborhood School Plans where Red Clay got push back but won their way. Being an election year 2026 November , my guess the legislators who vote 100% D’s & R’s for Redding to go forwards will kick the can to avoid backlash from taxpayers.
Again, Rodel’s finger prints are all over this:
http://www.rodelfoundationde.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Summary-of-Wilmington-Reports.pdf
Summary of Wilmington Education Reports 2015
https://bpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/sites.udel.edu/dist/7/3504/files/2015/08/weic-vol1-5-2016-web-1cmlvsr.pdf
Solutions for Delaware Schools May 2026