DL Open Thread: Friday, January 23, 2026

Am I The Only One Not Paying Attention To Trump’s Board Of Peace?  All I needed to see was ‘$1 billion’ to know it was just another Trump scam.

White House Turns Proud Black Woman Into Crybaby:

The woman, Nekima Levy Armstrong, also appears to have darker skin in the altered image. Armstrong was one of three people arrested on Thursday in connection to a demonstration that disrupted church services in St Paul, Minnesota, on Sunday. Demonstrators alleged that one of the pastors, David Easterwood, was the acting field director of the St Paul Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office. Bondi announced the arrests on social media on Thursday morning.

The homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, posted an image of Armstrong’s arrest at 10.21am on Thursday, less than an hour after Bondi’s announcement. The image shows a law enforcement agent, face blurred out, escorting Armstrong, who appears to be handcuffed. Armstrong, dressed in all black, appears to be composed in the picture.

A little more than 30 minutes later, the White House posted another image of Armstrong’s arrest in which she is crying. The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, reposted the image. The image posted by the White House is altered, a Guardian analysis found.

Asked whether the image had been digitally altered, the White House responded by sending a post on X from Kaelan Dorr, the deputy communications director.

“YET AGAIN to the people who feel the need to reflexively defend perpetrators of heinous crimes in our country I share with you this message: Enforcement of the law will continue. The memes will continue. Thank you for your attention to this matter,” he said.

Does that not sound Nazi-like?

5-Year-Olds Commit ‘Heinous Crimes’ Too:

Liam Conejo Ramos, 5, is seen being detained in a photo released by Columbia Heights Public Schools officials that has prompted anger in the Twin Cities. Credit…Columbia Heights Public Schools.

A 5-year-old boy wearing a Spider-Man backpack and an oversized hat was detained with his father by immigration authorities on Tuesday, one of four students recently apprehended in a suburban Minneapolis school district, school officials said.

“Why detain a 5-year-old?” Zena Stenvik, the superintendent of schools in Columbia Heights, Minn., asked at a news conference about the episode on Wednesday.

The boy and his father were taken to Dilley, Texas, outside San Antonio, where they are being held at an immigration detention center, according to Marc Prokosch, a lawyer working with the family. The boy and his father came to the United States from Ecuador in 2024, he said, and each has an active asylum claim.

“These are not illegal aliens. They came legally and are pursuing a legal pathway,” Mr. Prokosch said at a Thursday news conference.

Let’s hear from the Ministry Of Propaganda:

Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement that when the agents sought to detain the father, he fled on foot and left Liam behind in the vehicle.

Ms. McLaughlin did not suggest that Mr. Conejo Arias had any criminal record, and he does not appear in any Minnesota criminal court records.

Ms. Stenvik, the district superintendent, said in a statement that another adult who lived in the family’s home had “begged” to care for Liam, but the federal agents refused to allow it.

Vice President JD Vance, who was visiting Minneapolis on Thursday, noted that he had a 5-year-old son of his own, and defended the agent’s actions.

“What are they supposed to do?” he asked. “Are they supposed to let a 5-year-old child freeze to death? Are they not supposed to arrest an illegal alien in the United States of America?”

To put this in perspective: There is absolutely no reason why this can’t happen in Delaware.

Trump’s Uncivil War Against Blue States:

The Trump administration has ordered a review of federal funding sent to more than a dozen Democratic-led states, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.

The sweeping scale of the review is outlined in a budget data request that was sent Tuesday to all federal departments and agencies except for the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The Office of Management and Budget memo, which was reviewed by CNN, requests detailed spending information to “facilitate efforts to reduce the improper and fraudulent use of those funds.” Notably, the effort “does not involve withholding funds,” the memo says and is “part of a “data-gathering exercise.”

The request signals a dramatic escalation of the Trump administration’s increasingly aggressive strategy to target federal funding in blue states – an unprecedented policy approach triggered during last year’s government shutdown that has rapidly accelerated in the wake of sweeping fraud allegations in Minnesota.

Federal agencies have until Monday to provide data on California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington state and Washington, DC, the budget data request shows.

Matt Meyer’s State Of The State Address:

In a shout-out-filled “State of the State” address, Gov. Matt Meyer touted key policy wins from his first year in office and began laying the foundation of a second-year agenda that puts affordability at the forefront.

Topics like reforming education funding, improving health care access and addressing the state’s ongoing housing crisis took center stage during Meyer’s nearly hour-long speech on Thursday.

In a moment that received a standing ovation, Meyer called for the Public Service Commission, which regulates state utilities to ensure fair market prices in an industry with no competition, not to approve any more electricity rate increases proposed by Delmarva Power.   (This, in pro rasslin’, is what we call a ‘cheap pop’.)

BTW, fuck the Rethug crybabies:

When discussing the need to bolster Delawareans’ access to quality health care, Meyer also took aim at the federal government. He called out congressional Republicans for cutting Affordable Care Act subsidies, which he said will only cause health care costs to rise.

It was one of several moments during Meyer’s address where he took jabs at the federal government, though he never expressly mentioned President Donald Trump by name.

Senate Minority Whip Brian Pettyjohn (R-Georgetown) homed in on what he called Meyer’s “partisan attacks,” in a statement released after the speech.

“Civility cannot be something we preach behind closed doors while publicly attacking Republicans in Congress, especially when Delaware’s rural health care expansion is being made possible by federal funding authorized under H.R. 1,” Pettyjohn said of the legislation better known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. “Delaware families deserve solutions, not political finger-pointing.”

He’s right.  There should be no finger-pointing at the Rethugs who are shredding the safety net.  Civility is more important.  Dope.

Gotta cut it short.  Even retirees sometimes have busy schedules.  Today is the rare day that it applies to me.

What do you want to talk about?