DL Open Thread: Wednesday, August 13, 2025
Well. Sounds like I was better off at the concert than observing what appears to have been a political viper pit in the House last night. All I know is that Speaker Mimi had to be dragged kicking and screaming to deign to allow three amendments from Madinah Wilson-Anton to be added to the legislative package. Which smells like victory to me. Karl Baker does a great job with his chronicling of events:
Tuesday’s rare special legislative session in Dover squeezed what could typically be weeks worth of proceedings into a single day.
It also appeared to unleash months of pent-up frustrations among factions of lawmakers – particularly within the Delaware House of Representatives where accusations of political theatrics were lobbed at various members even while the chamber was pushing through legislation designed to respond to public outrage over the completed once-in-40-year property tax reassessment.
House leaders also faced criticisms from the left wing of their own Democratic party, with leading progressive Rep. Madinah Wilson-Anton (D-Bear) calling out House Majority Leader Kerri Evelyn Harris for a social media post she had made the previous day about “some” lawmakers who she said did not work collaboratively during the leadup to the special session.
In a separate image included on the same post, Harris also said Delaware needs “solutions that work, not political theater.”
In her comments, Wilson-Anton also asserted that she – and her Republican colleagues – had been “disenfranchised” from the process in the days before the special session, leaving her with little information about bills that her own party was writing.
“I didn’t see any of the bills that are in front of us today on the agenda until they were circulated to all members less than 24 hours before they were in the pre-file,” she said.
Following the criticisms, Harris responded with an impassioned defense of her own. She said Wilson-Anton had not been sidelined, instead arguing that any lawmaker will get support from leadership on bills if they collaborate.
“No, Representative Wilson-Anton, we are not trying to push you to the side,” Harris said.
Harris also said House leadership does not have the ability to force the consideration of any bill, because lawmakers can overrule leadership’s decisions with a majority vote. (Uh, who sets the agenda, pray tell?)
Is this mic on? The crafting of these bills was done without input from most of the members of the General Assembly. It was, per usual, an inside job. Just take a look at the House leadership–do they reflect in any way the best and brightest that the General Assembly has to offer? Rhetorical question. The simple fact is that the progressive proposals that were grudgingly incorporated into the bill made the bill better. There was no legitimate justification, other than enmity, for the in-over-her-head Speaker to dismiss them. And that Kerri Harris, what a fucking sell-out. However, all’s well that ends well, I guess. This time.
Fascism ON THE M-M-MARCH! BTW, the expiration of my Washington Post subscription can’t come soon enough. I won’t link to it, but yesterday’s edition featured an ‘opinion’ piece by the comically-installed-as-DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro entitled “The Fight To Make DC Safe And Beautiful”. You’re smart, no further explanation required. Oh, and from the same WaPo. ‘Opinion’ from the MAGAt head of the National Institutes Of Health. I’ll link to this one just to demonstrate that no fact-checking by the paper will be permitted for blatant falsehoods.
There’s more, of course. This one’s self-explanatory:
The heart of D.C. was in a state of lawlessness.
Roving mobs of wild men smashed windows, threatened murder and attacked the police.
One rioter struck an officer in the face with a baton. Another threw a chair at police officers and pepper-sprayed them. Others beat and used a stun gun on an officer, nearly killing him.
On Jan. 6, 2021, a pro-Trump mob committed a month’s worth of crime in the span of about three hours.
The F.B.I. has estimated that around 2,000 people took part in criminal acts that day, and more than 600 people were charged with assaulting, resisting or interfering with the police. (Citywide, Washington currently averages about 70 crimes a day.)
But President Trump’s handling of the most lawless day in recent Washington history stands in sharp contrast to his announcement on Monday that he needed to use the full force of the federal government to crack down on “violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals” in the nation’s capital.
After a prominent member of the Department of Government Efficiency, known by his online pseudonym, “Big Balls,” was assaulted this month, the president took federal control of Washington’s police force and mobilized National Guard troops. His team passed out a packet of mug shots, and Mr. Trump described “roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs and homeless people.”
Let Us Not Forget–MAGA Museums:
The Trump administration said on Tuesday that it would begin a wide-ranging review of current and planned exhibitions at the Smithsonian Institution, scouring wall text, websites and social media “to assess tone, historical framing and alignment with American ideals.”
White House officials announced the review in a letter sent to Lonnie G. Bunch III, the secretary of the Smithsonian. Museums will be required to adjust any content that the administration finds problematic within 120 days, the letter said, “replacing divisive or ideologically driven language with unifying, historically accurate and constructive descriptions.”
The review, which will begin with eight of the Smithsonian’s 21 museums, is the latest attempt by President Trump to try to impose his will on the Smithsonian, which has traditionally operated as an independent institution that regards itself outside the purview of the executive branch.
Here’s One Way To End Bad Jobs Numbers:
In an interview with Fox News Digital that was published Tuesday but took place August 4, a week before his nomination, Antoni said the BLS should publish only quarterly data until BLS can ensure its monthly jobs data is more accurate.
“Until it is corrected, the BLS should suspend issuing the monthly job reports but keep publishing the more accurate, though less timely, quarterly data,” he told Fox. “Major decision-makers from Wall Street to D.C. rely on these numbers, and a lack of confidence in the data has far-reaching consequences.”
(Stephen) Moore (head of the Heritage Foundation), who recommended Antoni for the BLS commissioner role, told CNN’s Danny Freeman on Tuesday that the nominee changed his mind.
“I think it’s a bad idea to do that. In fact I’ve talked to EJ about it and he’s not going to do that. We need monthly numbers,” Moore said. “Now what he’s talking about is we do a quarterly number that’s much more accurate than the monthly one and he’s saying maybe — but he’s backed off that. We’re going to continue to do monthly numbers.”
Destroying the government, one hen-house guarding fox at a time.
More James Talarico Please! Just watch this video. Feckless Dems: Was that so hard?
A Personal Rant To Close. Criticism of public officials is fair game. However, I don’t usually rant about ordinary people. In fact, I consider myself a people person. I even like, and get along with, some of those who I’ve criticized on this blog. However, to every rule there is an exception. And, one of the attendees at last night’s wonderful Joanne Shaw Taylor show in Arden’s Shady Grove is that exception. She materialized about halfway through the set and came out right in front of her stage. She was carrying a small dog that (initially) was wearing the Cone Of Shame. Dancing around, headed up to the stage, basically making an ass of herself and looking to get ‘the rub’ from her dog. Which, let’s face it, I have been (perhaps unjustly) accused of doing on numerous occasions. Uh, without a dog. She subsequently reappeared a few more times with the (now coneless) dog, raising the question that I’m sure Tommywonk is pondering, ‘Was the cone, like Guy Cabellero’s wheelchair, merely a gimmick?’:
Perhaps. Which reminds me–the canine, who deserves no approbation, was merely a stogie shy of being Triumph The Insult Comic Dog’s doggie doppelganger.
Which is my point–the dog had no choice but to be there. Did its narcissistic show-off owner ever think about the dog? Dogs have very sensitive ears. It’s a known fact that dogs suffer hearing loss when exposed to noise. A cursory 20-second tour of the intertubes reveal it. Here. Here. Here. And numerous other places.
So. To our dog owner, next time you want to make an ass out of yourself, do it solo. Don’t subject your dog to what can only be called animal abuse.
What do you want to talk about?
“did not work collaboratively ”
This was the cornerstone of Celia Cohen’s hobby horse, the Delaware Way. Billed as collegiality, it was actually a way of cutting off all public debate after lawmakers had settled matters behind closed doors.
Harris is a military vet, always a source of autocratic behavior. Never should have trusted her from jump.
Spot on.
if we could actually have politicians who knew their roll was a public servants for the good of the citizens it would be nice instead of those who want to get elected to have their fragile egos stroked because they now have “power”
Last night was embarrassing for the GA
Kerri was getting schooled and she just kept saying the party line….she even smirked knowing it….It was almost sad to watch
I am too flabbergasted to think after what the account of the drama and trauma inflicted on my person at leg-hall last evening. Just shook to my core, can’t trust them anymore. Women can normally be trusted but when it comes to power, shit changes. I’m going to smoke a little hash, sip a little Japanese plum wine, listen to Bob Marley’s WHO THE CAP FIT LET THEM WEAR IT and take a snooze.
Yet another bullshit Delaware Way quote from Speaker Mimi, this. from WHYY:
“We were all working collaboratively, so we just wanted to stick with what we knew,” she said. “And the thing is, those bills were vetted. We met with the stakeholders. The other bills, the sponsors hadn’t met with the stakeholders.”
‘We met with the stakeholders’. Names, please? Oh, and did you invite all the legislators to meet with the ‘stakeholders’? ‘We just wanted to stick with what we knew’. What WHO knew?
Rhetorical questions. Every time she opens her mouth, she reveals wilful ignorance.
Please refer to my post from last night for the contentious details. Madinah and her allies were stymied at every turn and she still ran circles around leadership creating amendments out of her bills and getting 3 of them successfully into the final legislation. Claire was screeching about ridiculous amendments while she and her colleagues voted for the legislation and most of her colleagues voted for the 3 amendments. Madinah and the WFP team got shit done!
Nothing from the Republicans? They count too?