DL Open Thread: Friday, February 21, 2025

Fascism On The March.  Trump does Putin’s bidding, because he’s, as always, doing his own bidding:

The Trump administration has begun dismantling the nation’s defenses against foreign interference in voting, a sweeping retreat that has alarmed state and local election officials.

The administration is shuttering the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force and last week cut more than 100 positions at the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. President Donald Trump signed the law creating the agency in 2018. Among its goals is including helping state and local officials protect voting systems.

Secretaries of state and municipal clerks fear those moves could expose voter registration databases and other critical election systems to hacking — and put the lives of election officials at risk.

In Pennsylvania, Republican Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt said states need federal help to safeguard elections from foreign and domestic bad actors.

“It is foolish and inefficient to think that states should each pursue this on their own,” he told Stateline. “The adversaries that we might encounter in Pennsylvania are very likely the same ones they’ll encounter in Michigan and Georgia and Arizona.”

In a Feb. 5 memo, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said the administration is dismantling the FBI’s task force “to free resources to address more pressing priorities, and end risks of further weaponization and abuses of prosecutorial discretion.” The task force was launched in 2017 by then-FBI Director Christopher Wray, a Trump nominee.

‘More pressing priorities’ than stopping Putin from blowing up our elections.  This is a hostile takeover.  Which reminds me:

Rethugs Confirm Kash Patel as FBI Director:

A Trump loyalist who has fiercely criticized the agency he will now lead, Patel will inherit an FBI gripped by turmoil as the Justice Department over the past month has forced out a group of senior bureau officials and made a highly unusual demand for the names of thousands of agents who participated in investigations related to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Patel’s eyebrow-raising remarks on hundreds of podcasts and in other interviews over the past four years include referring to law enforcement officials who investigated Trump as “criminal gangsters,” saying some Jan. 6 rioters were “political prisoners” and opining that FBI headquarters should be shut down and turned into a museum for the so-called deep state.

Well, he’s now FBI Director.  One more institution to be marked off your list.  This headline from Talking Points Memo says it all:

“Trump Must First Destroy The Government In Order To Corrupt It”.

He’s almost there.  Oh, now there’s the distinct possibility that, even if the IRS doesn’t slow down your tax return, the Post Office will:

President Donald Trump is preparing to dissolve the leadership of the U.S. Postal Service and absorb the independent mail agency into his administration, potentially throwing the 250-year-old mail provider and trillions of dollars of e-commerce transactions into turmoil.

Trump is expected to issue an executive order as soon as this week to fire the members of the Postal Service’s governing board and place the agency under the control of the Commerce Department and Secretary Howard Lutnick, according to six people familiar with the plans, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisals.

The board is planning to fight Trump’s order, three of those people told The Washington Post. In an emergency meeting Thursday, the board retained outside counsel and gave instructions to sue the White House if the president were to remove members of the board or attempt to alter the agency’s independent status.

I think we can agree that there’s one thing that Trump is extremely good at:  Tying the legal system in knots via his bag of delaying tactics.

I’m calling a halt to this morning’s Fascism On The March.  There’s only so much I can take in a single day.

The Political News You Were Waiting For!!  Some people just can’t live without seeing their name, um, somewhere.  Used to be in the papers back when the papers were relevant.   Guess who just filed as a candidate for the Brandywine School District Board From District B.  Go ahead, I’ll wait.  But not too long.  Because you demanded it, may I present to you, fresh off of filling out the paperwork–Karen Hartley-Nagle.  Can’t make this stuff up.  Kristin Pidgeon, who hasn’t yet filed, is the incumbent.  Hope she has someone lined up to run if she chooses to retire…filing deadline is March 7.

Wilmington Pot Sales Going Up In Smoke.  You can’t smoke a rope while City Council and Delaware’s Worst Governor Ever play rope-a-dope:

City Councilman Alexander Hackett introduced an ordinance Thursday night that would place a 90-day suspension on marijuana retail stores until the city can debate potential zoning changes.

The Delaware Marijuana Control Act allows cities and municipalities the ability to create their own rules, or ban, any part of cultivation, manufacturing, testing, or retail sales.

Cannibus advocates, including the Delaware Cannibis Advocacy Network have expressed concerns there have been delays in background checks, with none completed in time for a January meeting of the Delaware Marijuana Control Act Oversight Committee.

They do not currently have another meeting scheduled.

In November, Wilmington City Council passed a resolution asking the state to direct some of the 15% marijuana tax towards the city.

That same night, a bill was introduced by Council President Trippi Congo and Councilman Nathan Field to ban marijuana businesses in the city completely.

Just askin’–isn’t that why G-d created the stretch of Route 13 just south of the city?  Oh, and Philly Pike just north of the city?

Judge Seitz Warns Against Legislative Overreach.  Good for him:

On Thursday, Delaware’s top judge waded into a burgeoning controversy over legislation that could impact many of the biggest companies in the world, by warning state lawmakers against impeding on the independence of a state judiciary that he said has made Delaware the envy of the nation.

Delaware Supreme Court Chief Justice C.J. Seitz Jr , who invoked his late father who was the Chancery Court judge who famously ruled to overturn the segregation of Delaware schools, added that, “the enduring success of these courts is due in no small part to the courage of the many judges who were not afraid to make unpopular decisions.”

The chief justice was referring to the cacophony of criticism and debate that has rained onto Delaware in recent weeks amid a spate of planned high-profile corporate departures. Those critics have been led by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has utilized his social media platform X to amplify his dissatisfaction with the Chancery Court after its top judge twice threw out his record-setting $56 billion compensation package. He later moved all of his companies’ domiciles to either Nevada or Texas.

“The unfortunate but unavoidable fact of deciding legal disputes is that, in most cases, the judge or a jury is going to make one side unhappy. No one likes to lose. It’s no stroke of genius for me to say that some of those who end up on the losing side these days do not take it so well and have the tools to cause judges great pain,” Seitz said in prepared remarks before the budget hearing.

The Delaware Call’s Very Interesting Interview With Bryan Townsend.  I’d love to know how you feel about this.

What do you want to talk about?