DL Open Thread: Saturday, November 15, 2025
On Oct. 2, the second day of the government shutdown, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem arrived at Mount Rushmore to shoot a television ad. Sitting on horseback in chaps and a cowboy hat, Noem addressed the camera with a stern message for immigrants: “Break our laws, we’ll punish you.”
Noem has hailed the more than $200 million, taxpayer-funded ad campaign as a crucial tool to stem illegal immigration. Her agency invoked the “national emergency” at the border as it awarded contracts for the campaign, bypassing the normal competitive bidding process designed to prevent waste and corruption.
The Department of Homeland Security has kept at least one beneficiary of the nine-figure ad deal a secret, records and interviews show: a Republican consulting firm with long-standing personal and business ties to Noem and her senior aides at DHS. The company running the Mount Rushmore shoot, called the Strategy Group, does not appear on public documents about the contract. The main recipient listed on the contracts is a mysterious Delaware company (but, of course), which was created days before the deal was finalized.
No firm has closer ties to Noem’s political operation than the Strategy Group. It played a central role in her 2022 South Dakota gubernatorial campaign. Corey Lewandowski, her top adviser at DHS, has worked extensively with the firm. And the company’s CEO is married to Noem’s chief spokesperson at DHS, Tricia McLaughlin.
The Strategy Group’s ad work is the first known example of money flowing from Noem’s agency to businesses controlled by her allies and friends.
Government contracting experts said the depth of the ties between DHS leadership and the Strategy Group suggested major potential violations of ethics rules.
“It’s corrupt, is the word,” said Charles Tiefer, a leading authority on federal contract law and former member of the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan. He said that the Strategy Group’s role should prompt investigations by both the DHS inspector general and the House Oversight Committee.
“Hiding your friends as subcontractors is like playing hide the salami with the taxpayer,” Tiefer added.
Federal regulations forbid conflicts of interest in contracting and require that the process be conducted “with complete impartiality and with preferential treatment for none.”
President Donald Trump on Friday directed Attorney General Pam Bondi and the FBI to investigate links between Jeffrey Epstein and notable Democrats, the president’s latest attempt to deflect scrutiny over his connections to the late disgraced financier by focusing on his political opponents.
In a social media post, Trump pushed Bondi to target former President Bill Clinton, Democratic megadonor Reid Hoffman and former Harvard President Larry Summers, who served in senior positions in both the Clinton and Obama administrations, along with the bank JPMorgan Chase.
“This is another Russia, Russia, Russia Scam, with all arrows pointing to the Democrats. Records show that these men, and many others, spent large portions of their life with Epstein, and on his ‘Island,’” he wrote. “Stay tuned!!!” None of the Democrats named by Trump have been accused by prosecutors of wrongdoing.
“Thank you, Mr. President,” Bondi wrote. “SDNY U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton is one of the most capable and trusted prosecutors in the country, and I’ve asked him to take the lead. As with all matters, the Department will pursue this with urgency and integrity to deliver answers to the American people.”
Trump has swiftly turned DOJ into a corrupt political attack machine. (I do hope that Bill Clinton is seen in photos with ‘half-naked’ girls, though.)
These examples, perhaps more than anything else, is why we need new D leadership in Congress. We need leaders out there every day screaming to the rafters about the relentless corruption Trump engages in. Right in front of DOJ. Right in front of DHS. Make the point, make it visibly. Make it every single day. Schumer, for certain, is not up to the task.
‘Wag The Dog’ Is Really Happening, Folks:
Since Trump is clearly suffering from diminished mental capacity, now might be a good time for Democrats to raise the specter of the 25th Amendment, considering that said addled ‘mind’ may be ready to start a war. They won’t, though.
Trump Scales Back ‘Beautiful’ Tariffs. You know, ’cause Americans are paying through the nose:
The Trump administration is preparing broad exemptions to certain tariffs in an effort to ease elevated food prices that have provoked anxiety for American consumers, according to three people briefed on the actions.
The change would apply to certain reciprocal tariffs the president announced in April, including on products coming from countries that have not struck trade deals with the administration, the people said, discussing a pending announcement on the condition of anonymity.
The exemptions are expected to include beef and citrus products, although the people cautioned that President Trump had not made a final decision. The issue of increasing beef imports has been a source of contention among U.S. ranchers, who say it runs counter to Mr. Trump’s philosophy of boosting domestic production.
If the proposal goes forward, it would be the latest rollback of one of the president’s key economic policies over growing concerns about affordability, even as Mr. Trump has insisted — wrongly — that prices are down. Last week, Democrats won elections around the country in large part by harnessing worries about the cost of living.
A federal judge on Friday denied a motion by Delaware’s gun rights lobby to halt enforcement of a new law — set to take effect Sunday — that requires a permit to purchase a handgun.
U.S. District Court Judge Maryellen Noreika rejected the bid for an emergency preliminary injunction to delay the so-called permit-to-purchase statute, also known as P2P.
The law requires prospective buyers to take a gun training course, fire live rounds of ammunition, undergo fingerprinting and pass a state and federal background check to get issued a permit.
The law passed the Delaware General Assembly and was signed by Gov. John Carney in May 2024, but lawmakers gave the State Bureau of Identification and other agencies 18 months to put a permitting process in place. The date of enactment is Sunday, but Second Amendment advocates, one gun dealer and Delaware’s National Rifle Association affiliate sued last year to overturn the law.
Their lawsuit before Noreika hasn’t been decided, but a companion suit filed this month sought the injunction to prevent P2P from taking effect now.
If A Delaware Medical School Is Built, Doesn’t Look Like Christiana Care Will Build It. Timely reporting from Nick Stonesifer:
When Gov. Matt Meyer outlined a $1 billion proposal earlier this week to expand rural health care access, building a medical school in the First State was a pillar of his plan.
He said the state would seek out competitive bids from universities to ultimately operate Delaware’s first medical school. But a weeks-old signed agreement indicates Delaware is already in talks with Thomas Jefferson University, home to one of Philadelphia’s premier medical schools.
University and Delaware leaders, including Meyer, signed the agreement two weeks prior to the governor’s announcement that the state hopes to build a medical school with a portion of a potential $1 billion federal payout.
The non-binding agreement between Delaware and Jefferson, also known as a “Memorandum of Understanding,” was not publicly available prior to the state’s announcement. After a Spotlight Delaware inquiry on Thursday about the agreement, officials added the document to the state’s public-facing funding application.
While the agreement was not initially part of the public application, there was a small mention of it in a letter of support submitted to the federal government by Jefferson.
Jefferson, in the agreement, said it hopes the partnership will improve access and quality of health care in Kent and Sussex counties. The agreement also says the university hopes to build a branch campus of its Sidney Kimmel Medical College somewhere in the state.
“The goal of this Collaboration is to establish a phased approach leading to the creation of a four-year medical school in Delaware,” the agreement said.
There you have it. To its discredit, Spotlight Delaware failed to run a poll on Delaware’s Best Cheerleading Squad. Rest easy, the News Journal did. Can someone tell me who won?
One more thing before I go: Today promises to be a Very Good Day when it comes to challenging one of Delaware’s Worst Legislators. More info as it becomes available.
What do you want to talk about?
Permit to purchase is designed to create financial and time hurdles to exclude certain classes of people (specifically black men) from buying handguns. The law has a lot of carve outs that remove barriers for other groups-overwhelmingly white men- such as current/retired law enforcement, military (both of which are more likely to be suicide risks
and domestic abusers), hunters, concealed carry permit holders, etc. No one really believes this will move the needle, but it shuts up the “Do Somethings” and antis for an election cycle. This kind of cynical legislation continues to drive otherwise reasonable people into the arms of the magas.
‘…otherwise reasonable people into the arms of MAGA’.
Whatever you say.
The country is more or less 50/50. Trump may be an unpopular clown but his base is still maga all the way down. If your baseline political theory is that either party is gonna fuck you over, you start picking the party that gives you a more tangible sense of autonomy. That can express itself in guns, vehicles, vaccine hesitancy, etc.
‘Otherwise reasonable people’ being driven into the arms of MAGA because of ‘permit to purchase’ don’t exist.
Thomas Jefferson’s system used to be the best in Philly with easy appointment scheduling, quick access to your provider, and minimal wait times. As with every other tentacled health system, they’ve blown up (eg merging with Lehigh Valley) and the quality of their medical service has taken a nose dive. They’ve also been laying people off like crazy recently. The state would be wise to steer clear of that behemoth.