DL Open Thread Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024

There’s unquestionably something wrong with these people. Once again a right-wing loonjob is in the news for killing a dog. This time it’s an excrescence on the body politic named Kevin Roberts. He’s now the head of the Heritage Foundation, but 20 years ago he was just an undistinguished assistant professor of history at highly prestigious (checks notes) New Mexico State University. He told several people at a dinner party, including his boss at the time, that a neighbor’s dog wouldn’t stop barking, so he killed it with a shovel. I’m starting to think the MAGA project’s true aim is to make Nazis look not so bad by comparison.

Florida is America’s fastest-growing state, and I’ll never understand the appeal. Sure, sunshine and no snow, I get it, but its Gulf Coast is about to get slammed by yet another hurricane. Yet Floridians complain endlessly when their property insurance rates soar, as if they couldn’t have foreseen that. The sunshine is just a come-on, folks. Buy now, pay later.

Donald Trump’s Bile and Brimstone tour visited Pennsyltucky again, where The Dotard ragged on today’s late-night talk show hosts and wondered,
“Where’s Johnny Carson?” and called for his return. A WaPo columnist pointed out that polls show Carson remains the most popular host in the field, and I have to wonder, why the fuck are they wasting people’s time asking them nonsense like that? No wonder nobody wants to talk to pollsters.

Trump campaign spokesman Oddjob Steven Cheung said the FBI told them the Iranians are trying to assassinate Trump, to which I say, hey, you buttinskis, get in line. It doesn’t say much for the Iranian black ops people if they can’t even get as close as a couple of random American gun nuts.

The floor’s yours.

48 Comments

  1. bamboozer

    Growing up on Long Island many saw Florida as the promised land, both for vacations and retirement. I didn’t get it then and see it as a fools paradise now, as in come on hurricanes! As for the slayers of dogs it’s murder, and a sign of a much deeper problem. That they seems inclined to brag about it in particular.

    • Wayne S Whirld

      This is exactly what we knew was going on with BHL slush fund. AG or someone has to put a hold on this pot of money. Conartistgo should never been given $500K. Congo family has been doing this for years. Thanks to Spotlight for the reporting

    • Arthur

      Jesus H Christ. and you dont need to make this stuff up becuase this is exactly what happens in the delaware way.

    • FWIW

      So let me get this straight.

      BHL gave the Congos $500k of opioid fund money to…. renovate their own property?

      • Arthur

        no, bhl gave them 500k over three installments to A) renovate B) open for business c) hire a program manager. that was the original agreement. BHL then gave them all the funds upfront and they used 500k to paint and do vinyl flooring and some windows? I’d love to see who the contactors were – im guess relatives of congo and the potters

    • paul

      So why does Carney want to be Mayor of Wilmington?

      • Well

        Because Chris buccini told him to?
        Because the old Delaware way demands that we stick we the status quo because that serves the rent seekers who make up the core of carneys administration and supporters?

        Pretty obvious to me

        • Alby

          After the Williams years they’ve been desperate to keep the barbarians from the gates.

  2. Alby

    Here’s the crux of the problem, in a statement from BHL’s office:

    “[T]he project will serve youth and their families by providing educational information and activities to prevent and decrease opioid use disorder in high-risk communities.”

    Right. Like that’s going to reduce opioid deaths, or like any such program would ever be able to measure its impact on the community.

    A neighborhood center might be a valuable asset, but it has fuck-all to do with preventing opioid deaths. Too many of the grants look the same.

    Treatment beds, motherfuckers. Treatment beds. Address the real issue or get the fuck out of the way.

  3. Wayne S Whirld

    if this deal was on the up and up why has ownership passed through 3 LLCs

    • Arthur

      and the funny thing is the congos are so bad at corruption (but lets be honest, in DE do you have to be good at it to benefit?) all three llcs are tied directly to them instead of disappearing into other shells

  4. Al Catraz

    Is Eric Hansen the smarmiest weasel-faced fucker to ever run for office in Delaware or what?

    • Alby

      EVER to run for office? I’m not sure he’s the smarmiest weasel-faced fucker in this election, let alone for all time.

      • El Somnambulo

        Haven’t been paying attention. But smarmy weasel-faced fuckers are what keep this blog a must-read.

        (Memo to self: Pay attention to Eric Hansen.)

        • Al Catraz

          There’s not much to pay attention to, since he’s pretty much a stuffed shirt. He’s a non-Delawarean who enriched himself as an executive at Wal-Mart on the backs of employees who constitute the largest single block of employed persons receiving public assistance of some kind. This is what he claims to have been his signature accomplishment of providing Wal-Mart customers with low prices while stealing it back in tax revenue. Oh, that, and forcing manufacturers to cut corners and reduce the quality of their goods in order to get shelf space at Wal-Mart.

          His entire campaign messaging consists of saying he doesn’t want to engage in “politics” while doing nothing other than to make negative claims about his opponent, or to churn out snarky typical-MAGA commentary on things that aren’t federal issues in the first place. This entirely negative focus is to be expected from someone who touts what a “Christian” they are.

          He’s never spent a day in his life serving anyone other than himself, and it shows in his utter tone deafness.

          I defy you to figure out what color eyes he has behind that permanent squint which is evocative of fetal alcohol syndrome.

          But it could be due to something else: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aP6jqGRZkqk

          • Alby

            Learning the names of the persons sacrificed on the Delaware GOP altar of Somebody’s Got to Run is like going to one of those farm-to-table restaurants where they tell you the name of the lamb you’re having for dinner.

            • Al Catraz

              Well, John Whalen was definitely corn fed.

              So far in the Rep. race, McBride has raised $2.9M and Whalen is just under $9k.

      • Al Catraz

        We’ve had plenty or two-faced sniveling rat bastards and we’ve had smarmy fuckers and weasel-faced fuckers, but Hansen is a rare trifecta. He is, at least, the smarmiest of the smarmy weasel-faced fuckers in a while. More than Pierre Samuel du Pont IV his own self even.

  5. El Somnambulo

    Sam Spade LLC.

    At least Congo has a perverse sense of humor.

    Nice of the City to wait until after the primary to foreclose.

    • Alby

      Giving money to the Congos might be the most Delaware Way thing possible now that they can’t give it to Herman Jr.

      • MC

        Yeah but a Holloway gave the Congos the money so it all comes full circle.

        Do we really want this woman to be pretend Governor for two weeks? Feels like a bad idea.

  6. El Somnambulo

    BTW, Orville Peck is Da Bomb!

    There’s nobody like him on the music scene today.

    That concert was awesome.

  7. Joe Connor

    No funds should be disbursed from the Opiod fund under current “leadership”.The “fill in” guv can not be throwing money at Funeral home operators and train station developers and other random friends of hers!

    • Alby

      Does the jail have a VIP section or something? Instead of bars they have velvet ropes?

  8. El Somnambulo

    This Congo-BHL scandal is so sordid that even the News-Journal might someday cover it.

    • mediawatch

      NJ is part of the Journalism Collaborative, so they will just pick up the Spotlight Delaware piece. The strongest stories the NJ runs these days are produced by Spotlight Delaware. It frees up their staff time to write about Delaware’s rank in surveys no one gives a damn about, the next full moon, new Dairy Queen treats and celebrity appearances at sporting goods stores.

      • SussexWatcher

        You describe that very well! The “content” they cover lately is just such crap. Back in the day Jeff Montgomery and Molly Murray and Maureen Milford and the rest of the aces would have been extraordinarily embarrassed to have their names attached to it. It’s gone downhill so fast all while they tout their esteemed journalistic principles.

        • mediawatch

          As one of “the rest of the aces,” I thank you.

          • SussexWatcher

            Capitalized ACE or lowercase ace?

            • mediawatch

              I was around long enough to be both.

          • Answered

            Oh, this is going to drive me crazy all day trying to figure out.

        • Factz

          I will routinely send email copies of marked-up articles back to their respective authors, along with CCing the editor and the heads of the journalism/english departments at their alma mater. It boggles my mind that these kids post this crap under their real name.

    • Joe Connor

      A little info on Sheriff sales for back taxes. The minimum bid is the full amount of taxes due. In addition the winning bidder has to put the full amount of the bid up on the spot. This makes the bid pool a limited group. Congo has top legal counsel, and the restoration of non profit status is where I see this going with this filing being a serious game of chicken, just a guess.

      • Rufus Y Kneedog

        IRS shows initial exemption approved effective 1/17/2020 with a 6/30 fiscal year end. Revocation on 11/15/2022 (due date of 3rd 990 – IRS automatically revokes exempt status for failure to file 3 consecutive 990s).
        Also, they were approved as a private foundation and not a public charity which is a bit unusual. Private foundations usually dole out grants to others and don’t receive them.

  9. El Somnambulo

    The question I have is: Will the state be able to reclaim some of the money BHL just handed to the Congos?

    • Joe Connor

      My guess on that is not likely. If the opioid money went in to improving a privately owned building which it appears it has it’s an egregiously bad use of funds meant for helping folks with substance use disorder. BHL must be kept far far away from the purse strings of anything during her hobby governorship. The damage she has done with the opiod program is yet to be fully calculated.

  10. paul

    Bryan Shupe fired by Chris Kenney?

    • Alby

      News item from the Delaware Business Times:

      Community news website Delaware Live has announced that one of its founders, Rep. Bryan Shupe (R-Milford), will be exiting the company on Sept. 30.

      The move means Delaware Live owner and ShopRite President and CEO Chris Kenny will assume the top job, as well as Editor-in-Chief. Betsy Price, who served as the outlet’s first editor, will also step down from her role as she plans to write on a part-time basis during her retirement. Kenny will continue to manage the business’s administrative, finance and human resource functions.

      https://delawarebusinesstimes.com/news/delaware-live-shupe-exit/

    • El Somnambulo

      Guess he didn’t win by enough—if he won at all.

      Either that, or he’s in line for some opioid funding, which no doubt pays better.

      • Alby

        He won by 12 votes and requested an audit, but I haven’t heard anything else so I suppose he squeaked through.

        As Delaware Republicans go he’s a moderate.

        • Arthur

          Hold on – an elected politician is a founder of a news outlet? how is that legal?!?!?!? its definitely not ethical

          • SussexWatcher

            You don’t know much about the news, do you?

  11. Wayne S Whirld

    To trigger an audit the vote margin has to be less than .5% of votes cast. 12 put the race at .526. at least that is how I understand it to be.

    • El Somnambulo

      I thought that maybe an audit might be conducted if the person requesting it agreed to pay for it. But I don’t know for sure.

      • Alby

        Shupe himself requested it, I’m guessing to fend off steal-obsessed MAGAts.

  12. nathan arizona

    Plenty of former lower cases and higher around here.

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