Delaware Rethugs Got Nothing. Which doesn’t stop them from trying:
Sen. Gerald Hocker has filed a complaint against Delaware’s State Election Commissioner over state’s permanent absentee voting system.
The Delaware Constitution permits absentee voting only for qualified voters who meet specified circumstances, such as illness, disability, certain work or public-service obligations, vacation, or religious reasons.
Delaware statutes allow some voters to obtain permanent absentee status which means the department automatically sends them an absentee ballot for each election.
A voter generally remains on the permanent list until something happens—such as death, cancellation of registration, returned mail, a request to leave the program, or notification that the qualifying reason is no longer valid.
According to Hocker’s complaint, the state does not require a fresh verification of the voter’s qualifying circumstance before each election. He argues that this means someone could receive and cast an absentee ballot even though they no longer meet the constitutional requirements.
“This is another bad faith, 11th-hour voter suppression attempt from a plaintiff who seems to have forgotten that he once voted to pass the law he now seeks to destroy,” said Attorney General Kathy Jennings. “Tens of thousands of veterans, senior citizens, and Delawareans with disabilities rely on early and permanent absentee voting. We’ve beaten this lawsuit before and we’ll do it again.”
Everybody in Dover OK? These tornadoes have absolutely nothing to do with climate change. Amirite, Caesar Rodney Institute?
Private Prison Healthcare Provider Allegedly Ripped Off Delaware. Kids, when you out-source prison healthcare to the private sector, the company maximizes its profits by providing as little care as they can get away with. It has ever been thus:
Late last month, Delaware’s embattled former prison healthcare provider rebuked (‘denied’ is more appropriate) allegations that it engaged in fraud by requesting payment for medical services for inmates it did not provide.
The former provider, Centurion of Delaware, was the sole contractor responsible for providing health services to inmates at the state’s prisons during the COVID pandemic. It responded last month to a whistleblower complaint filed by two former employees, denying the fraud allegations.
Centurion’s multi-billion-dollar parent company, Centene, was also named in the lawsuit on claims the healthcare provider denied patients care and falsified claims to taxpayer insurers like Medicaid.
At the center of their lawsuit, the whistleblowers claim Centurion fraudulently charged the state for services inmates never received, and it systematically passed inmates through programs they did not complete, like drug treatment programs.
The lawsuit also alleges a pattern of medical staff denying care to patients.
Earlier this year, the State of Delaware also joined the case after a review of the whistleblowers’ materials.
The ACLU of Delaware filed a separate class-action lawsuit in 2023 claiming the company’s health staff in state prisons routinely failed to treat illnesses, leading in some cases to prisoners’ deaths.
The ACLU further claimed the failures were a direct result of Centurion’s policies, which the advocacy group said amounted to “callous and deliberate indifference.”
Also named as defendants in the ACLU case are five Delaware Department of Correction officials along with Delaware’s new prison health care provider, VitalCore Health Strategies.
Hmmm, prison healthcare during Covid. Pray tell, who might have been involved in that?:
Centurion came to Delaware in 2020 with the promise of bringing professionalism back to the state’s prison health care system after years of mismanagement by its predecessor, Connections Community Support Programs.
When announcing the new contract at the time, Centurion CEO Steven H. Wheeler said his company was committed to working with state officials to improve prison healthcare.
Claire DeMatteis, then-commissioner at the Delaware Department of Correction, told The News Journal that Centurion had “deep experience providing quality medical care.”
If the State of Delaware had a Vestibule Of Villains, DeMatteis would be a first-ballot inductee.
Enough snark about Natalie Harp! We all know that True Love is changing someone’s adult diaper when they are no longer able to do it on their own.
One reason why John Husted is in trouble in Ohio:
Data centers are the enemy–at least for this cycle.
Oh, Noes! NOT Economic Sanctions On Iran?? Translation: We don’t have enough bombs any more:
President Trump this week promised an “economic D-Day” against Iran, a “crushing” operation to “cripple” Iran. The U.S. clampdown is formidable, a combination of wartime destruction, a naval blockade and sanctions that have already put the Iranian economy under more pressure than its regime has experienced in decades.
But between the lines of the administration’s threats was a signal that Mr. Bessent made as clear as ever on Thursday: Mr. Trump does not want to go back to war right now. The president is waging an economic campaign against Iran having already spent weeks bombing the country earlier this year, and having stepped back from multiple threats since then to resume the violence.
As a result, experts say, Mr. Trump is stuck in a conflict with limited leverage, a demonstrated vulnerability and an emboldened adversary. Even as Iran reels from shortages and inflation, Mr. Trump is likely to increasingly feel the pressure of the approaching midterm elections in the shadow of an unpopular war and high gas prices. It is a dangerous combination, experts say, that could prompt Iran to sense American weakness and lash out.
If only Biden hadn’t invaded…
Yup, Another Win For Progressives, Another Loss For AIPAC:
Progressive Aisha Wahab has been elected to Congress in a special election following a bitter intra-party battle over the seat formerly held by Eric Swalwell, who resigned in April after facing sexual misconduct allegations. Swalwell has denied the allegations.
Wahab, a state senator, was widely considered the frontrunner in the district in California’s East Bay and had the backing of the state Democratic party as well as Our Revolution, labor unions, local officials and the state’s attorney general, Rob Bonta.
She won the primary for the special election for the final months of Swalwell’s term by more than 20 points over Melissa Hernandez, the president of the board of directors for the Bay Area Rapid Transit (Bart) agency.
While Wahab held a major lead throughout the race, Hernandez’s campaign received a significant boost as Super Pacs connected to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) poured money into the race.
Earlier this month, it emerged that Super Pacs had spent more than $5m in a matter of weeks on pro-Hernandez ads and Wahab attack ads. Track Aipac, which monitors the group’s funding of US politicians, recently reported that the lobby had spent nearly $6.4m to support Hernandez.
Zoe Lofgren embarrasses herself:
The race further intensified in recent days after the congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, chair of California’s Democratic delegation, endorsed Hernandez.
Lofgren said Wahab did not back an effort to elect a caretaker candidate in order to fill Swalwell’s seat as quickly as possible. (Because Californians are looking for caretakers.)
But the progressive wing of the party strongly supported Wahab, with a former chair of the progressive caucus of the California Democratic party, Amar Shergill, telling Politico that Lofgren’s actions were “astounding”, and continued backing Wahab amid the upheaval in the race in recent weeks.
What do you want to talk about?
78 year-old Zoe Lofgren. Maybe its time the geriatrics of the Democratic Party stand down and go out with some remaining dignity.
Dignity? Too late for that.