DL Open Thread: Wednesday, June 10, 2020

Delaware State Police Detain Reporter For Doing His Job. Would it shock you to learn that the reporter is black? Would it shock you to learn that cops were roughing up protesters?  Would it shock you to learn that Speaker Pete, who had warned protesters they would be liable for any unrest, had nothing to say about the over-the-top response by his State Cop Homies?  He was unfit to be Speaker yesterday, he is equally unfit today.  Tough guy.  BTW, the leadership has decreed that the General Assembly will do the absolute minimum this year. Will either the House or Senate Democratic caucuses insist that the General Assembly address police reform this session?  I’ve seen this movie before.  Someone will put together a working group that will have ‘all the stakeholders at the table’, and you will end up with, at best, mush.

Middletown Mayor Proposes Chokehold Ban.  I’ve always liked Ken Branner.  I once thought he would likely end up in Dover, but I think he just enjoys his work in Middletown.

Real Progress Continues.  The passage of that New York law banning the ongoing secrecy of police malfeasance could be a game-changer, especially here in Delaware:

New York’s 50-a is one of the strongest police secrecy laws in the country, the spoils of the unfettered political power New York police unions have enjoyed.

For generations, the law has been used to keep officers accused of misconduct, as well as the departments they work for, from public scrutiny. To understand its tragic toll, consider some of the New Yorkers who died at the hands of officers who most likely never should have been on the job.

If we had real leadership here in Delaware from the Governor, the AG, and the legislative bosses, we could put an end to this practice in Delaware before June 30.  Don’t tell me that police reform can wait. 

A Total Unmitigated Election Disaster In Georgia. The new system was built to fail–almost exclusively in predominantly black strongholds.  2018 all over again?

Cornavirus Cases Surging In More Than A Dozen States.  The virus has seemed to take a backseat to the Black Lives Matter momentum, but it’s real and it is getting worse, mostly in states that reopened prematurely. Here’s the map that I return to most often–it highlights the status of cases and whether they are growing or ebbing in counties across the country.

Stoopid Cop Trix.  A ‘salute’ to one of Brevard (FL) County’s finest.   Have you noticed that, like Trump, the insecurities of the real bad guys get the better of them every time public support for police reform grows?

Police Union Leaders Overwhelmingly White–And Overwhelmingly Racist.  Paul Butler, who I find myself quoting more frequently, puts it in context:

The Fraternal Order of Police, the national association of unions that represents roughly 330,000 officers, or nearly half of all police nationwide, “seems committed to putting white men in charge”, wrote Paul Butler, a former federal prosecutor who is a law professor at Georgetown University and the author of “Chokehold: Policing Black Men,” in a 2017 essay for The Marshall Project. “The organization serves as a union cum fraternity for white officers and has a retrograde effect on policing, especially as it relates to civil rights.”

White supremacists aren’t going down w/o a fight. But, more and more, I feel optimistic that they’re going down.

More Reasons Why Nursing Homes Suck.  Staffing has always been an issue for lots of reasons, but largely for reasons that nursing facilities could correct if they wanted to. Low wages, low morale, transportation challenges, you name it.  The dirty secret is that virtually every nursing home violates staffing requirements. Not just staffing requirements, but staffing-by-shift. The federal CMS looks the other way, the state enforcement agencies, including right here in Delaware, look the other way.  It is both unconscionable and business-as-usual.  Take this tidbit:

Centers Health Care, which runs the facility, declined to comment on most accounts of residents and workers cited in this report. It denied any lapse of care at the home. The company disputed the contention that residents were not discovered for hours after they died.

When we worked on nursing home reform here in Delaware, we had the director of a funeral home tell us that, when a resident died during the night, the time-of-death was invariably listed as ‘4 am’.  Why? Because that’s when they made their rounds.  What they weren’t doing, because of illegal but blatant understaffing on the overnight shift, was responding to call bells that would have saved lives. It’s been a scandal forever.  If any good might come out of this pandemic, perhaps nursing home reform will be part of it.

Chris Johnson Seeks Public Release Of Police Procedures And Practices.  Looks like he might get it, although it remains to be seen what is redacted.  Hopefully, Johnson’s resolution will have more impact than what appears to have been this show pony of a resolution.  Mayor Mike and Hanifa Shabazz–a perfect formula for not getting anything done.

What do you want to talk about?