DL Open Thread: Friday, Jan. 2, 2026
I have a question to start: We’ve had two notable murders in Delaware over the past two weeks. When the former owner of the Stone Balloon, who is also the former husband of Jill Biden, has been incarcerated for allegedly murdering his wife right here in Delaware, why hasn’t a single major Delaware news outlet reported the story?
One more question: It’s been about two weeks since the murder of Trooper Snook at the DMV. All of the accounts of the incident make clear that the alleged killer targeted Snook and, in fact, allowed DMV customers to leave before the killing. Was Snook targeted? Sure seems like it. Was he targeted because he was a police officer, or was it something specific?
Trump’s Second-Term Corruption Presented In An Interactive Format. The scope of the corruption is astonishing. A must-watch.
The Jack Smith Testimony News Dump. What, you think it was mere coincidence that Rethugs dumped the transcript of his testimony on New Year’s Eve?:
House Republicans decided to publicly release the transcript of special counsel Jack Smith’s Dec. 17 closed-door deposition on New Year’s Eve — while most of Washington was tuned out for the holiday.
Smith used the day-long grilling before the House Judiciary Committee to mount a robust defense of his investigation into Donald Trump for seeking to subvert the 2020 election. He forcefully rebutted claims that his work was tainted by politics and delivered a granular defense of his office’s tactics and prosecution strategy — all while repeatedly restating his view that Trump was guilty of a historic crime. He also revealed some new information about his witness list, and gave Judiciary Republicans a new opening to attack Cassidy Hutchinson’s infamous testimony.
I think this is the key takeaway:
Some of Smith’s most substantive testimony centered on his never-implemented trial strategy: using Republicans who believed in Trump to make the case against him.
“The president was preying on the party allegiance of people who supported him,” Smith said. “The evidence that I felt was most powerful was the evidence that came from people in his own party who … put country before party and were willing to tell the truth to him, even though it could mean trouble for them.”
Smith repeatedly drew on diehard Republicans to make the case against the man they wanted to become president but who they acknowledged had been defeated. Smith said former Vice President Mike Pence and several of the GOP elector nominees — like Pennsylvania’s Lawrence Tabas — would have fit that bill and made strong trial witnesses.
“That witness, Mr. Tabas, was of a similar group of witnesses who — these are not enemies of the president. These are people in his party who supported him,” Smith continued. “And I think the fact that they were telling him these things … would have had great weight and great credibility with a jury.”
Smith said he came to believe that Trump’s Jan. 6, 2021, tweet attacking Pence while he was at the Capitol “without question” exacerbated the danger to Pence’s life.
Trump Supports Peaceful Protestors–In Iran:
President Donald Trump vowed Friday to intervene if Iran shoots or violently kills peaceful demonstrators, as economic protests spread and evolved into deadly unrest.
If Iran “kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue. We are locked and loaded and ready to go,” Trump said in an overnight post on Truth Social.
Trump Taking Four Times The Recommended Dosage Of Aspirin?:
CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner on Friday said President Donald Trump’s explanation of his aspirin use “makes no sense.”
Trump, 79, told The Wall Street Journal that he has a reason for taking a high dose of the drug against the advice of his doctors and despite the visible bruising it’s caused on his hands.
“I want nice, thin blood pouring through my heart,” he told the newspaper. “Does that make sense?”
Reiner said it doesn’t ― noting that blood thinners such as aspirin don’t literally “thin” the blood, as Trump seems to think.
“It’s not like changing something from gumbo to chicken soup,” he said. “It doesn’t make it thinner. It makes you less likely to clot.”
Reiner, who was a longtime cardiologist for the late former Vice President Dick Cheney, said many patients were once given aspirin to prevent heart attacks, but that advice has changed over the years, especially for people over 70.
“Not only is there no benefit in terms of just primary prevention ― trying to prevent a cardiac event by giving them aspirin ― that there can be hazard,” he said. “And the hazard can be bleeding, significant bleeding.”
Trump, he noted, told the Journal that he’s taking 325 mg of aspirin daily.
“But the dosage that we use for patients even with documented coronary artery disease is a quarter that, is 81 mg per day,” Reiner said. “So why is the president taking an unorthodox dose of aspirin?”
I have a question–assuming that what Trump says is true (I know, first time for everything), is he taking the aspirin intravenously? I mean, we’ve seen the alleged injection sites on the back of his hands, right?
Gen Z To The Rescue? In classrooms at least, the answer appears to be Yes:
Teach For America (TFA), a non-profit education organization, experienced a near 43% increase in applicants for teaching fellowships over the past three years.
A generation whose formative years were spent in isolation during the Covid-19 lockdown is “craving human connection and experiences that feel real”, suggested Whitney Petersmeyer, TFA’s chief growth and program officer. “Teaching is the job where they can find that.”
Gen Z is “responding to the opportunity for purpose and responsibility at a time where many entry jobs feel uncertain or disconnected from impact”, she added.
This generation came of age “in a rapidly changing world,” Randi Weingarten, president of American Teachers Federation, said in a statement, “and that lived experience helps them relate to students in powerful ways.”
New arrivals in the classroom are bringing a new perspective, according to Weingarten. “They’re reimagining how we teach, bringing new approaches to technology and social-emotional learning.”
The entire Homelessness in Delaware Series From Spotlight Delaware. My only wish is that it hadn’t run during the holidays when fewer people pay attention. So, share it with your friends.
What do you want to talk about?
The Stevenson murder has been in the news all around the world. Even People magazine carried it.
https://people.com/wife-of-jill-biden-first-husband-found-dead-after-domestic-dispute-call-11877561
I know. Why the Delaware blackout?
That article doesn’t say anything about a murder.
You’re right. No official word that I can find, but it’s apparently being treated as a death investigation, not a murder investigation.
The most recent story I can find is from the Daily Mail, whose reporter got in touch with Linda Stevenson’s daughter and went to the house with her. The daughter is claiming it’s murder, but speculation is that she suffered a heart attack during the domestic dispute.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15425489/cops-jill-biden-ex-husband-domestic-dispute-wife-dead.html
IMO it’s outrageous that a British tabloid is more on top of this story than local media is.
Maybe the British media is less likely to be sued than a local blogger falsely reporting that someone has been arrested for the murder of their wife.
We got it wrong. Accept our apologies.
HowEVER, are you telling me that, when a well-known Delawarean’s wife dies following a domestic disturbance call, and the well-known Delawarean was there at the time of her death it’s not news?
Puh-leeze.
No, I’m not telling you either of those things, which is pretty obvious since this is a written medium. Nor do I run a newspaper. I also don’t expect the police to say a whole lot about an active investigation. So, the known facts make for about four sentences worth of news.
None of which has been covered in the local media.
Not to mention, OK, I’ll mention it, police sitting on information should not be accepted policy, although they routinely do so in Delaware.
Oh, and you DID claim, contrary to your assertion, that this isn’t newsworthy. Allow me to quote from you:
“Absent there having been a crime of some kind, I don’t understand why it’s anyone else’s business. “
Don’t be an asshole. Oops, too late.
He’s a public figure, he’s gone to every press outlet who’d listen and many who wouldn’t to dish dirt on Jill. He called 911 for a domestic dispute. The cops showed up, he was gone, his wife was dead.
Maybe you think that’s not worth covering. Media the world over disagree.
Uh, who said she was murdered? And who said he was even arrested?
I have not found anything to back up either assertion here:
“When the former owner of the Stone Balloon, who is also the former husband of Jill Biden, has been incarcerated for allegedly murdering his wife”
Do you have a link for that?
As best I can tell – given that no information has been forthcoming from New Castle County police, the investigating agency – it’s being treated as a death investigation, not a murder investigation. Reportedly Bill called police after a domestic dispute and they found her dead when they arrived, and he has not been arrested, as one early account I saw claimed. She might have suffered a heart attack, but that’s just speculation at this point.
Whatever the situation, the lack of information from the police is inexcusable, as is the Delaware media ignoring the story. I shouldn’t be reading about in Le Monde before it appears the News Journal.
Absent there having been a crime of some kind, I don’t understand why it’s anyone else’s business.
In other news, Ben Ledyard gets out of work release this month. Ladies, mind your fingers.
Ever heard of a public figure? Bill Stevenson certainly qualifies.
He’s been questioned by police, as you’d expect given the circumstances. They’ll probably wait until they get autopsy results back before clearing him or charging him. If he didn’t touch her and she collapsed of heart trouble or whatever, he’s probably in the clear.
You’ll know it’s a murder investigation if state police take it over. IIRC they have jurisdiction on all murder cases.