DL Open Thread: Thursday, June 11, 2026

Should Delaware Provide Funds For A Company Like This?  I’m legitimately asking:

Delaware recently awarded nearly $800,000 to a student loan company through a grant that one economic development official noted was “a little bit unusual,” because of the company’s startup status.

Founded last year by a former Sallie Mae executive, Delaware-based Gradbridge currently employs 12 people, according to company officials. They expect to have 49 employees in the coming years at a new headquarters at Newark’s Iron Hill Corporate Center.

(FWIW, I expect to hire 50 employees to run my burgeoning media empire.  If I get that state funding, I’ll set up shop in the sylvan burg of Arden.). But, I digress:

The company markets student loans with high-interest rates to college students who had been denied by traditional lenders. Its fixed-rate loans range from about 18% to 23% interest, depending on qualifying factors. By comparison, student lending giant Sallie Mae offers undergrad fixed-rate loans ranging from under 3% to just over 17%.

Small wonder it appeals to business folks in the state that legalized usury:

Gradbridge markets its loans to college juniors, seniors, and graduate students — a model that CEO Jen O’Donald said allows her company to “pick up really where the other lenders leave off.”

In an interview with Spotlight Delaware, O’Donald said the inspiration for her to launch the company partly came from threats made last year by the federal government to shutter the U.S. Department of Education.

If carried out, it would be a “massive disruption to the student loan industry, to schools, and to students themselves,” she said.

She said her company lends to upperclassmen and graduate students because they might only need one or two loans to “cross the finish line” to graduation. She also said Gradbridge requires a cosigner for its loans.

After originating loans, Gradbridge then sells them as assets to other companies. 

Fair enough.  It’s only ‘selective usury’.

‘Healthiest President Ever’ Saw 22 Medical Specialists In Latest Exam:

President Donald Trump saw 22 medical specialists as part of his annual medical exam last month, nearly doubling the number from his past check-ups and setting an apparent presidential record, according to a new analysis.

Medical experts told The Washington Post, which scrutinized the president’s exam results, that the number was unusual, the latest factor that could provoke health concerns around the 79-year-old commander in chief, the oldest person to ever assume the U.S. presidency.

“It is an extraordinary number,” Jonathan Reiner, a longtime cardiologist for former vice president Dick Cheney, told the paper.

Observers closely scrutinized the exam, given that it came after an unusual mid-year medical screening Trump got in October after his annual physical earlier that year.

One doctor told The Wall Street Journal that the exam could’ve been more forthcoming about the results of Trump’s cardiovascular testing.

The key takeaway for me?:

Others noted that, according to Trump’s medical records, he appears to no longer be taking a common hair loss prevention drug.

That, right there, is an oligarch who has just given up.

Can You Believe This?? Trump Grifting Off The UFC Spectacle?  Who could have possibly seen that coming?:

As President Donald Trump prepares to host a UFC fight at the White House this week, his family is promoting a venture aimed at profiting off the spectacle by selling gold coins priced as high as $12,000.

The “Freedom 250”-themed silver and gold medallions feature Trump’s face and are being marketed as a collaboration between the UFC and the Trump Organization, which is run by the president’s sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr.

The coins, which are being sold in advance of Sunday’s fight, have been dubbed “Trump Coins” on a website that also boasts they were “designed by President Trump.” There are four coins for sale, ranging from a silver one that costs nearly $250 to a $11,999.99 gold medallion whose holder comes with a portrait of Trump and UFC chief Dana White.

“I Love The Inflation”.  Even comatose national Democrats will likely be running that quote in endless loops.

I’m calling it now–Graham Platner will coast to an easy victory over Susan Collins.  E-clip ‘n save.

Barristers Will Love This One–An Insight Into Prosecutorial Misconduct In The Case Of The Broadview 6–Protestors against ICE tactics in Chicago.  Complete with a release of the grand jury transcripts.

More Trump Bluster On Iran:

The United States will be hitting Iran (Whose Navy, Air Force, Radar, Anti Aircraft, and all other forms of Defense, together with most of its offensive capability, are GONE!), VERY HARD TONIGHT. At some point in the not too distant future, we will be taking Kharg Island, and other oil infrastructure points, and assume total control of their Oil and Gas Markets, much like we have with Venezuela, which is working out brilliantly for both Venezuela and the United States of America. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

In further comments to Fox News, Donald Trump said the US “dropped $250m worth of bombs on them [Iran] last night”.

He said the US was “not hitting them hard enough” but also claimed Iran was “in submission, they just don’t know it yet”.

He added: “My preference has always been take Kharg Island … I don’t know that America has the stomach for it.”

The expected response:

Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA), a government agency set up on 5 May to oversee transit through the strait of Hormuz, announced the key waterway is “closed until further notice”, blaming US strikes in the region.

In a statement carried on Iranian media, the PGSA said: “Due to the tensions created by the US aggression forces in the region and the announcement by the Iranian armed forces last night, the strait of Hormuz will be closed until further notice.

Groundhog Day.

What do you want to talk about?