DL Open Thread: Friday, January 17, 2025
NYC’s Top Criminal Heads To Mar-A-Lago, Seeking Pardon. Betcha he gets one:
Mayor Eric Adams of New York City, his re-election chances in doubt and a federal indictment looming over him, flew to Florida on Thursday to meet with President-elect Donald J. Trump at Mar-a-Lago just four days before the inauguration.
The mayor, a Democrat, made the trip with no advance announcement. His aides said only that the two men would discuss “New Yorkers’ priorities” when they meet on Friday.
Mr. Trump, who was convicted of 34 felonies in New York City in May, and Mr. Adams have grown publicly closer since Mr. Adams’s indictment in September on five federal corruption charges. It is part of an investigation that the mayor argues is political retribution for his criticism of President Biden’s immigration policies.
Mr. Trump has publicly commiserated with Mr. Adams and seconded his depiction of a Justice Department run amok. Mr. Adams has expressed openness to the notion of receiving a presidential pardon.
Consider it a done deal.
Mike Johnson Bans Pregnant Lawmaker From Voting By Proxy. Even though he did it about 40 times:
This week, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) denied a request by Rep. Brittany Pettersen (D-CO) to pass her bipartisan resolution to allow pregnant congresswomen to have other members cast their votes for them by proxy while they are indisposed by maternity care — something affecting her directly at the moment, as her due date is too close for her to fly to Washington, D.C.
“I’ve filed a brief with the United States Supreme Court asserting that proxy vote is unconstitutional,” Johnson told NBC News’ Sahil Kapur. “That’s been my belief as a constitutional law litigator, and I don’t see any way around that. And it’s unfortunate. I have great sympathy, empathy for all of our young women legislators who are of birthing age. It’s a real quandary. But I’m afraid it doesn’t fit with the language of the Constitution, and that’s the inescapable truth that we have.”
But this is nonsense, Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) wrote in a blistering thread on X, calling out Johnson for his hypocrisy — as he has voted by proxy dozens of times himself.
“He thinks it’s *so unconstitutional* that he did it — not once or twice — but nearly 40 times?” wrote McGovern. “First, some history. In the middle of COVID, I led efforts to allow Members of Congress who couldn’t physically attend due to the public health emergency to vote remotely so that their constituents would still be represented. It worked. Speaker Johnson is right that he joined a lawsuit claiming voting by proxy was unconstitutional, but that’s not the whole story.”
“First, he LOST! The district court dismissed the lawsuit. The Appeals Court agreed. The Supreme Court wouldn’t hear it. His view lost. Full stop,” wrote McGovern. “Second, he actually REMOVED HIS NAME from the lawsuit! You can’t make this stuff up. He and almost every other House Republican disowned their own lawsuit when it was on appeal. They walked away from it!” And the reason, he wrote, is because Johnson and the other Republicans wanted to vote by proxy themselves.
BTW, from that same Constitution, Article 1, Section 5:
“Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings.”
In fairness, perhaps Johnson’s pregnancy was a more difficult one.
Multi-billionaire Boys And Their Rockets:
SpaceX launched its Starship rocket on its latest test flight Thursday, but the spacecraft was destroyed following a thrilling booster catch back at the pad.
Elon Musk’s company said the spacecraft’s six engines appeared to shut down one by one, with contact lost just 8 1/2 minutes into the flight.
Hours earlier in Florida, another billionaire’s rocket company — Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin — launched the newest supersized rocket, New Glenn. The rocket reached orbit on its first flight, successfully placing an experimental satellite thousands of miles above Earth. But the first-stage booster was destroyed, missing its targeted landing on a floating platform in the Atlantic.
Betcha they get tax write-offs for their failed attempts to prove who has the biggest piece of hardware.
Rethugs May Eliminate Grants That Disproportionately Benefit Trump Voters:
Hostility toward the outgoing Democratic president is no surprise in Sulphur, Louisiana, a red town in a red state in a country that has handed the White House and Congress to Republicans. Yet the message felt like a poke in the eye at a time when Robertson was seeking funding through Biden’s signature climate law so her nonprofit organization could repair and retrofit hurricane-battered houses in the area — including her neighbor’s. Not even a fraying tarp, a tar patch or the piece of corrugated metal tacked on the roof could keep the rain from pouring inside.
Donald Trump has vowed to overturn the law that would provide the funding, the Inflation Reduction Act, which he has referred to as the “new green scam.”
If he follows through once he assumes office, Trump would be rolling back a law that has disproportionately benefited red areas like Sulphur that make up his base.
Though not a single Republican legislator voted for the law, an outsized portion of its historic $1 trillion in climate and energy provisions has benefited red congressional districts and states that voted for Trump, according to a report by E2, a group tracking the effects of the law. Red districts had the biggest growth in green jobs, the report said. Red states, including Nevada, Wyoming, Kentucky and Georgia, have seen the biggest jumps in clean energy investments, according to an August report from the Clean Investment Monitor, which tracks public and private investments in climate technology. Texas has received $69 billion in clean investments since the law passed, second only to California.
The benefits of the law were felt widely, spurring clean energy projects in almost 40% of the country’s congressional districts; 19 of the 20 that got the most funding were led by Republicans.
Gov.-elect Matt Meyer and Lt. Gov.-elect Kyle Evans Gay will be sworn in as Delaware’s next executive leaders on Tuesday, though weather has sparked a change of plans for their inauguration.
With an anticipated high of about 19 degrees on Inauguration Day according to the National Weather Service, Gov.-elect Meyer has moved the location for his swearing-in ceremony from Legislative Mall to the William B. DeLauder Education and Humanities Theatre at Delaware State University.
“People love tradition, but they love not getting frostbite more,” Mila Myles, communications director for Gov.-elect Meyer’s transition team, told the Daily State News.
What do you want to talk about?
Real good episode of the (on-the-road) Bunker Podcast from Leg Hall. Featuring two of Delaware’s best in Laura Sturgeon and Madinah Wilson-Anton, plus an on-target description of the vibes inside LegHall from Rob and Karl:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/e329-bowels-of-w-120154572?utm_campaign=patron_engagement&utm_source=post_link&post_id=120154572&utm_id=7cf5b43f-bf01-4ff6-9213-c73bd6988e07&utm_medium=email
Supreme Court Upholds TikTok Ban:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/01/17/titktok-ban-supreme-court-decision-ruling/
The issue is the Chinese ownership and the gathering of information about its users by that ownership.
Of course, they could always sell. Elon Musk is said to be interested. As if the gathering of information about its users would be any safer in his hands.