DL Open Thread: Monday, September 14, 2026

No Regulations On Flock Cameras In Delaware.  My takeaway on this Spotlight Delaware piece:

Newark resident Amy Roe’s biggest concerns about Flock cameras are her unanswered questions about their possible misuse and the nature of data-sharing with outside agencies, particularly the federal government.

Through public information requests, Roe learned Newark officers conducted more than 4,000 Flock searches last year. The documents she received included no reports or suspicion of misuse, she said.

But as for data-sharing policies, Roe is still in the dark. The Newark Police Department denied her request for data-sharing agreements, telling her they are considered internal intelligence files. 

According to Flock, it is up to individual customers to decide if outside federal agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement can obtain their  data.

What Flock Regulations Currently Exist?

Nationally, there are none.

But the Delaware Association of Chiefs of Police, Delaware Police Accreditation Commission, and Police Officer Standards and Training Commission are working together to determine how these cameras can be used in the First State.

The proposed guidelines would require agencies to maintain policies that align with a model developed years ago, Police Officer Standards and Training Commission Director Charles Emory said in an email. Those policies would address data retention, access, authorized use and auditing, he added.

Emory said finalized guidelines are expected to be discussed during the Police Officer Standards and Training Commission October meeting, scheduled to take place Oct. 13.

For Roe, the Newark community advocate, these regulations are a long-time coming.

“I just I’m appalled that we are this deep in, and we’re just looking around saying, ‘Oh my gosh, what’s in place here?’” she said. ‘There’s hundreds of cameras all over the state, and there’s no oversight requirements at all statewide.’ Every town is making it up as they go along.”

Maryland and Virginia are among 23 states with laws regulating the use of automatic license plate readers. 

Delaware simply must pass legislation addressing this, starting in January.

Trump: ‘I’m Gonna Die, So AI Might As Well Take Everyone With Me’:

Even as tech CEOs cast AI as a kind of runaway train, Trump is urging full speed ahead. “We’re leading China in AI, we’re the most sophisticated country in the world, and frankly, I want to keep it that way because whoever wins AI, wins,” he said over the weekend.

It’s an increasingly rare position, even within the Republican Party. Chair of the President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology David Sacks, however, also remains bullish — and went so far as to claim on Fox last week that criticism of AI was an “op.”

“The truth is, this was a well-orchestrated media op,” he said of warnings by Jacob Coxon, the Anthropic safety researcher who quit last week. “And it was designed to scare the public about AI — so they implement their preferred approach to AI, which is a government takeover, to have a very heavy hand in government regulation of AI.”

Trump seemingly echoed that over the weekend. “I think you have a lot of negative forces that are bringing it up that shouldn’t be bringing it up,” he said.

Dog Bites Man.

Trump: ‘I’m Gonna Die, Might As Well Take Climate Protections With Me’:

The Trump administration plans to announce Monday that the United States will no longer limit the planet-warming pollution that power plants pump into the air while burning coal and gas, according to two people familiar with the proposal.

The shift by the Environmental Protection Agency would complete the administration’s erasure of the most consequential climate policies of Presidents Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Barack Obama. If the move survives expected legal challenges, it could also prevent future administrations from regulating greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.

The power sector is the second largest source of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the United States. This pollution accumulates in the atmosphere, where it traps the sun’s heat, raising temperatures and supercharging extreme weather events around the globe. Scientists say the United States and other industrialized nations must sharply cut emissions to avoid the most devastating impacts of climate change.

Dog Bites Man.

Trump Tilting At Windmills.  Have I mentioned lately that the 25th Amendment is worthless?  BTW, why, you may ask, does Trump hate windmills?:

Trump’s hostility toward wind energy dates back around to 2012, largely driven by a personal grievance. He fought a lengthy legal battle—ultimately losing at the UK Supreme Court in 2015—to block the construction of the Aberdeen Bay Wind Farm off the coast of Scotland near his Trump International Golf Club. He argued the turbines would ruin the scenic views from his property.

‘Personal grievance’.  It’s why he does everything he does.

Another Judge Rejects Trump’s Election-Stealing Scheme:

A federal judge late Sunday ordered that the U.S. Postal Service not implement President Donald Trump’s executive order limiting mail balloting, adding another obstacle to the administration’s effort to rewrite election rules as the Supreme Court is poised to weigh in on the matter.

The nation’s highest court already is considering the administration’s appeal of an order by U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani in Boston prohibiting the Postal Service from enforcing its new rule on mail voting before this year’s midterm elections.

Late Sunday, U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols in Washington, D.C., handed down a similar hold on the rule, which was issued Aug. 21.

“Plaintiffs have demonstrated that, absent an injunction, there is an increased risk that a significant number of otherwise appropriate absentee or mail-in ballots will ultimately not be counted in the upcoming elections,” Nichols wrote in issuing the preliminary injunction. “The public has a strong interest in ensuring that doesn’t happen.”

Nichols, BTW, is a Trump appointee.

This, um, anti-Communism ploy by Trump is, of course, a lie.  The latest example:

On May 24, Donald Trump Jr. was celebrating in the Bahamas, as scantily clad dancers in stilettos and sailor caps performed for him and his guests. It was the last night of his wedding, a lavish, three-day party held across a pair of ultra-exclusive private islands. A five-tier funfetti cake had been airlifted in from Florida, and helicopters and seaplanes descended on the islands before guests settled into their oceanfront villas. That night on the beach, Trump Jr. lifted his bride into the air while fireworks launched from a barge over the sea.

“It was everything we dreamed of and more,” his wife later wrote on Instagram.

That dream was heavily funded by a secret benefactor: Umar Kremlev, a Russian oligarch close to President Vladimir Putin.

Kremlev footed the bill for hundreds of thousands of dollars of wedding expenses, according to records reviewed by ProPublica and interviews with three people familiar with the event. The oligarch paid to rent out one of the private islands, where a reception was held and where guests slept. He also covered other big-ticket items, like the fireworks show, and his team helped plan the event. Kremlev is the head of the International Boxing Association, a scandal-plagued sports group that has been financed by the Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom. The wedding payments came from an IBA-affiliated entity in Dubai that the boxing association uses for financial transactions.

The guest list numbered around 50. It included Trump Jr.’s brother-in-law Jared Kushner, Eric Trump — and Kremlev, an imposing man with a shaved head who speaks limited English. The oligarch was part of a large group whose presence puzzled other attendees. They sometimes stood off by themselves, speaking Russian.

Responding to the obvious question: “No, they never pay for anything themselves.”

What do you want to talk about?