Yes, I’m late with this today. Here’s why–now that the primary campaign is over, I need a new way to get my steps in. So I went on a walk with my wife, daughter, brand-new granddaughter, and their dog. Feel exhilarated.
Bask In The Afterglow. Spotlight Delaware doesn’t bury the lede:
While well-known incumbents easily prevailed in Democratic races at the top of Tuesday’s primary ticket, the big story of the night were the wins by statehouse progressives who knocked out five incumbents and captured an open seat.
(I)n the Delaware statehouse, it was a big night for the progressive Working Families Party, an organization that has been challenging — and ousting — Democratic incumbents for the last few election cycles. The WFP won eight of the 13 races in which it endorsed candidates on Tuesday, marking its most successful cycle yet.
The wins included five new House members, one incumbent House member, one new State Senator, and a new council member in New Castle County. Their diversity — seven people of color and seven women — were also a striking addition to the Democratic field.
Perhaps the most surprising win of all of the progressive candidates was Tyeisha “Tye” Grier, who defeated Rep. Bill “Lumpy” Carson, a nearly 20-year incumbent who represents the Smyrna-area 28th House District.
And without a Republican challenger, Grier, an Army veteran and longtime progressive activist, heads straight to Legislative Hall in January after her win Tuesday night. She did not immediately return Spotlight Delaware’s request for comment.
Grier ran a grassroots campaign largely focused on affordability, pledging to work on housing prices, electricity costs and accessible childcare, while raising less than $2,000 in campaign funds.
Comparatively, Carson’s campaign spent or was aided by more than $100,000 in campaign funding, according to Spotlight Delaware’s campaign finance database.
The race was indicative of broader efforts in Democratic primaries across the state, but particularly in and around Wilmington, that saw more than $1 million spent by law firms, developers and prominent business owners to try to support reelection bids by incumbents or chosen candidates.
Here’s the thing–every vote in Dover counts the same. Doesn’t matter if the elected official had tons of dark money behind them, or if they won a campaign with limited resources. When you look at Michelle Booker, Tye Grier, Pam Salaam and Branden Fletcher-Dominguez, their votes in Dover carry the same weight as those of Krista Griffith and Nnamdi Chukwuocha.
Is Trump Trying To Lose The Midterms? I don’t think so, it’s now just about sticking it to, well, pretty much everybody, including Rethugs. These stances won’t help:
Trump To Give Israel Yet More Weaponry:
The Trump administration plans to deliver powerful 2,000-pound bombs to Israel as part of an upcoming arms deal, weapons that prompted such concerns about the possibility of mass casualties in Gaza that the Biden administration paused their delivery two years ago.
The $2.8 billion package includes 40,000 of the bombs, made up of 20,000 Mk84s and 20,000 BLU-117s, according to two U.S. officials and a person familiar with the plan who spoke Tuesday on condition of anonymity to discuss the package, which is not yet final.
Congress has been informally notified about the pending deal, most of which is to be paid for with foreign military financing — in which U.S. taxpayer dollars are given to Israel to turn around and buy the weapons from the United States.
The proposed sale is just the latest in a series of Trump administration steps to improve Israel’s military capacity. The conflict in Gaza has left tens of thousands of Palestinians dead and devastated the enclave. The U.S. brokered a fragile ceasefire, but violence has continued.
The package, which was reported earlier by The Washington Post, comes as Israel has faced increasing international isolation over its war in Gaza in response to the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas.
Trump Wants No Guardrails On AI:
President Donald Trump tried to shut down a burgeoning push for the United States to further regulate artificial intelligence on Monday morning, saying the U.S. has already done enough to prevent artificial intelligence from catastrophic risks and that the dangers posed by the technology are a “HOAX.”
In a flurry of social media posts Monday, the president decried placing additional guardrails on AI, argued that the technology and data centers will boost the economy, claimed there’s a conspiracy against it and alleged, without evidence, that there’s no real threat posted by AI.
That Exceedingly-Popular War In Iran?:
The U.S. war with Iran cost the Pentagon an estimated $38.1 billion through Aug. 1 and could cost another $2 billion to $3 billion for each additional month of fighting, according to a report released Tuesday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
More than half of the cost has come from replacing missiles and other munitions used during the conflict. Increased flying hours cost another $10.4 billion, while higher fuel prices added $2.7 billion, CBO estimated. The war has led fuel prices around the world to rise since President Donald Trump launched it Feb. 28.
The war has also consumed as much as two-thirds of the nation’s missile-defense interceptors since June 2025, largely as a result of the U.S. helping defend Israel against Iranian attacks, leaving the U.S. with reduced inventories for several years, CBO warned.“Rebuilding DoD’s inventory of interceptors would probably take at least five years — even if production was increased,” CBO said in the report, which Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., requested. He is the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee.
The CBO estimates follow the first comprehensive accounting of the war’s cost and military toll, released late Monday by the Defense Department’s inspector general. The two accountings came to similar conclusions.
The release of the new calculations could (??) fuel debate over whether the cost of the war, which Trump initially said would last only weeks, is worth it. Democrats are campaigning against the war ahead of the Nov. 3 U.S. election and pointing to higher costs for fuel, food and other things linked with the conflict, which Trump has framed as preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
Which reminds me, how is the oil gonna get out?:
The global oil market is running out of safety nets. Prices are unlikely to fall below $100 per barrel anytime soon, analysts said, with traders increasingly pricing in a significant loss of regional supply as Saudi Arabia scrambles to restore a crucial pipeline.
Saudi Arabia’s closure of the East-West pipeline, a highly strategic network that transports crude oil from Abqaiq on the kingdom’s eastern Gulf coast to the port of Yanbu on the Red Sea, has put 4 million barrels per day at risk and driven a sharp spike in crude prices.
The development is more bad news for consumers — and comes against a backdrop of renewed hostilities between the U.S. and Iran, a lightning ground offensive by the Iran-backed Houthis along the Red Sea coast and a fresh wave of attacks on Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude oil exporter.
If only Biden hadn’t started that war with Iran. If there’s anyone left to write history, Trump’s invasion of Iran may well top the list of most disastrous Presidential decisions of All-T-i-i-i-i-me!
What do you want to talk about?
