DL Open Thread: Sunday, August 11, 2024

We’re gonna start our review of the Campaign Finance reports tomorrow.  We will update a lot in the coming days.  However, the Big Story is right there for everyone to see:  I can safely say that at no time in Delaware campaign history has there been such an influx of Third Party money into our campaigns.  Virtually all of it centered on the Governor’s race.  The vast majority of it, but by no means all of it, being spent on making Bethany Hall-Long Governor.  We know why: Her finances are in such shambles that the deep-pocketed Delaware Way denizens have created this work-around.  Gee-wonder how members of the New Jersey Laborers’ Union feel about having their dues go to this vainglorious miscreant.  But that’s for tomorrow. Not that you can’t comment on it today.

Here’s a prediction from me that might not age well:  If Trump’s floor is 45%, he’s getting 45%.  No more.  Ain’t nobody knocking doors for him.  Betcha those small donor contributions are drying up, leaving only the plutocrats.  Even they know when they’re throwing good money after bad.

Ukraine–Didn’t See That Coming:

Vladimir Putin fixed the commander in chief of Russia’s military, General Valery Gerasimov, with a cold stare and a look of exasperation. The video, released Wednesday by the Kremlin, showed the Russian president was not happy with news from the southern region of Kursk.

At that moment, hundreds of Ukrainian troops, backed by tanks and protected by air defenses, were advancing into the region. Russian soldiers were surrendering; hundreds of Russian civilians in and around the town of Sudzha were fleeing with anything they could grab.

In two-and-a-half years of warfare, it was an unprecedented Ukrainian incursion into Russia. Putin told the Kremlin meeting that it was “another major provocation” by Kyiv. The region’s acting governor declared a state of emergency, describing the situation as “very difficult.”

Above all, it was humiliating for a Russian state that prides itself on protecting the motherland.

Celine Dion Mic-Drops On Trump.  Asking the question that everyone asked:

“Today, Celine Dion’s management team and her record label, Sony Music Entertainment Canada Inc., became aware of the unauthorized usage of the video, recording, musical performance, and likeness of Celine Dion singing ‘My Heart Will Go On’ at a Donald Trump / JD Vance campaign rally in Montana,” said a statement shared on Dion’s official social media pages.

“In no way is this use authorized, and Celine Dion does not endorse this or any similar use,” the statement said.

The management team then questioned the song choice itself, asking: “And really, THAT song?”

Israel Continues War Against Palestinians.  Guess we stay in ‘wag the dog’ mode until the dog’s tail falls off.  At which point, an Israeli soldier will shoot it:

Israel expanded evacuation orders in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip overnight, forcing tens of thousands of Palestinian residents and displaced families to leave in the dark as explosions from tank shelling reverberated around them.

The Israeli military said it was attacking militants from the Hamas group – which administered Gaza before the war – who were using those areas to stage attacks and fire rockets. On Saturday, an Israeli airstrike on a school where displaced Palestinians were sheltering in Gaza City killed at least 90 people, according to the civil defence service, prompting an international outcry.

The Israeli military said it had struck a Hamas and Islamic Jihad militant command post, an allegation the two groups rejected as a pretext, and killed 19 militants, Reuters reported.

In Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip, the evacuation instruction covered districts in the centre, east and west, making it one of the largest such orders in the 10-month-old conflict, two days after tanks returned to the east of the city.

The announcement was posted on X and in text and audio messages to residents’ phones: “For your own safety, you must evacuate immediately to the newly created humanitarian zone. The area you are in is considered a dangerous combat zone.”

Yo, Biden, enough’s enough.  Don’t get drawn in any further.  Time to tell Bibi, KMAGYOYO:

“Kiss My Ass Goodbye, You’re On Your Own.”

The ‘Bias Of Coherence’.  Write what you saw and heard, won’tcha??:

Donald Trump’s public events are a challenge for anyone who writes about him. His rallies and press conferences are rich sources of material, fountains of molten weirdness that blurp up stuff that would sink the career of any other politician. By the time they’re over, all of the attendees are covered in gloppy nonsense.

And then, once everyone cleans up and shakes the debris off their phones and laptops, so much of what Trump said seems too bonkers to have come from a former president and the nominee of a major party that journalists are left trying to piece together a story as if Trump were a normal person. This is what The Atlantic’seditor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, has described as the “bias toward coherence,” and it leads to careful circumlocutions instead of stunned headlines.

Reporters might listen to Trump and then understandably be reluctant to start typing stories that must feel like spec scripts for The West Wing pieced together by a creative-writing circle:

The former president, lying about abortion laws, said women murder their own babies in the delivery room. He megalomaniacally claimed that he gets bigger crowds than anyone in history, and compared himself to Martin Luther King Jr. He descended into fantasy by telling a story about surviving a helicopter emergency that never happened with a man who wasn’t there.

Shane Darby Proposes Limitations On Rent Increases.  The Usual Wilmington Suspects use pretzel logic to oppose rent stabilization:

A new proposal is seeking to slow the rise in rents in Wilmington after Delaware experienced some of the highest increases in the nation since the COVID pandemic began.

Wilmington City Councilwoman Shané Darby has proposed an ambitious rent-stabilization ordinance that would provide relief for tenants. However, city developers and the mayor’s office say the ordinance will only hinder their progress in creating affordable housing.

Average rent costs in Delaware surged almost 24% in 2021 – marking the second highest increase nationwide behind only Florida, according to a report from Rent.com. The following year, the average continued upward another 14.5%.

The proposed ordinance would prohibit landlords of private apartment complexes from raising rents by more than 3% a year, or by even less during years that the consumer price index falls below that figure.

The bold legislation would only apply to multi-unit residential properties that are not owner-occupied and not operated by public housing authorities – which puts it in the crosshairs of some of the city’s biggest landlords, such as Buccini/Pollin Group, who already list most of their units at rates well above the housing authority maximums in private market competition.

This is what I call a ‘defining issue’.  As in Whose Side Are You On and/or Whose City Is it Anyway?  The other side?:

BPG also says they are “anxious” about the legislation.

Mike Hare, executive vice president for development of BPG, said they believe there are better options to resolve the issue such as increasing housing vouchers, and raising the amount of low-income tax credits to create more affordable housing.

“​​For our portfolio, we have about a 65% inherent retention rate year to year. So, we would like to at least be a voice toward a solution toward the problem. I’m not sure that rent stabilization is the way to get there,” Hare said.

BPG has almost 2,000 rental units in the city and over 600 more are currently under construction. Their monthly rents typically range between $1,100 and $3,200 for a 12-month term, depending on the number of bedrooms, according to online listings. Most units at BPG’s newest communities are priced between $1,700 and $2,100 a month.

While some may see shades of gray, this, to me, is a battle between Good and Evil.

What do you want to talk about?