Just because we’re into the Holiday Doldrums Week on the blog doesn’t mean that Trump’s destruction of everything we hold dear is slowing down.
Take yesterday, for example. Please:
Trump Goes After Greenland Again.
Trump To Shut Down Center For Climate Research.
Trump Shuts Down Wind Projects. A quote:
“President Trump has been clear: wind energy is the scam of the century,” said Taylor Rogers, a White House spokesperson, repeating a favorite administration talking point.
When you call everything a scam. you just might be–a scammer.
That’s just one day of destruction. Today’s a new day.
And don’t forget this: Trump Keeps Intercepting Venezuelan Tankers:
The United States stopped an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela on Sunday, just a day after the Coast Guard boarded another oil vessel, according to a report from Bloomberg.
The operation, which is not approved by Congress, is part of President Trump’s “blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers going into, and out of, Venezuela” in a campaign to cut an essential export that accounts for more than half of Venezuela’s revenue. Some international treaties consider blockades as an act of war.
Trump has called Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro’s administration a “foreign terrorist organization” that is using sanctioned oil to fund drug trafficking.
The US is also continuing its strikes on boats allegedly holding illicit drugs in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. According to the Trump administration, at least 104 people have been killed in 28 boat strikes. House Republicans rejected two Democratic-supported resolutions on Wednesday that would have forced Trump to get authorization from Congress to continue military attacks on these alleged terrorist organizations and its campaign against Venezuela.
A newly released batch of the so-called Epstein files includes many references to Donald Trump, including a claim by a senior US attorney that the US president was on a flight in the 1990s with the now-deceased convicted child sex offender and a 20-year-old woman.
There are numerous references to Trump, including an email that suggests he travelled onboard Epstein’s private jet with women who would have been possible witnesses to the case against Epstein’s accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell.
The email – sent by the US attorney for the southern district of New York on 7 January 2020 – has the subject “Epstein flight records”.
It reads: “For your situational awareness, wanted to let you know that the flight records we received yesterday reflect that Donald Trump traveled on Epstein’s private jet many more times than previously has been reported (or that we were aware), including during the period we would expect to charge in a Maxwell case.
“In particular, he is listed as a passenger on at least eight flights between 1993 and 1996, including at least four flights on which Maxwell was also present. He is listed as having traveled with, among others and at various times, Marla Maples, his daughter Tiffany, and his son Eric.
“On one flight in 1993, he and Epstein are the only two listed passengers; on another, the only three passengers are Epstein, Trump, and then-20-year-old REDACTED.
“On two other flights, two of the passengers, respectively, were women who would be possible witnesses in a [Ghislaine] Maxwell case.”
Hey, if you’re gonna dump this stuff, might as well do it during a holiday week.
Delaware AG Jennings Announces Settlement With Two Auto Manufacturers:
Mercedes-Benz USA and Daimler AG have reached a $150-million multi-state settlement over what attorneys general call “emissions fraud.”
The investigation that involved 50 attorneys general was led by the AGs of Delaware, Connecticut and Maryland. The settlement announced Monday stems from an investigation that showed Mercedes sold diesel vehicles equipped with software designed to cheat emissions tests between 2008 and 2015.
“These vehicles were designed to appear compliant in tests, but in practice they emitted dangerous levels of nitrogen oxides, a harmful pollutant that causes respiratory illness and premature death, and that contributes to the formation of smog and particulate matter pollution,” Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings said.
Delaware is expected to receive $3.6-million under the settlement. There are more than 1,000 impacted vehicles in The First State. Impacted consumers will receive free emissions repairs, extended warranties and $2,000 compensation for each vehicle.
WHYY’s Ask Governor Meyer. Listen, please. What do you think?
After a year of heated intraparty special election contests within Delaware’s General Assembly, possible reforms could be on the horizon.
Last week, Rep. Mara Gorman (D-Newark) announced a bipartisan bill that would require primary elections as a part of the special election process for filling vacant seats in the legislature.
The bill comes after a year that saw three high-profile special elections, including the contentious races to fill U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride and Lt. Gov. Kyle Evans Gay’s respective State Senate seats in February, which saw candidates dropping out over a lack of transparency in the special election nomination process, and Democratic Party leaders rebuffing Gov. Matt Meyer’s call for the party to hold a special election primary.
Evelyn Brady, chair of the Delaware Democratic Party, said the party supports the legislation as a way of “strengthening our democratic process” and putting the responsibility for selecting nominees where it should be – with the voters.
A prominent example of controversy over local party leaders’ selection of special election candidates came in November 2024, when McBride and Evans Gay vacated their Wilmington-area State Senate seats to assume their respective roles as a U.S. representative and lieutenant governor.
Ultimately, two candidates support by centrist Democrats, Dan Cruce (D-Wilmington) and Ray Seigfried (D-North Brandywine), received the local party committee’s nominations and went on to win the special general elections in February.
Pass this in January and be done with it.
What do you want to talk about?