DL Open Thread: Monday, October 19, 2025

Delaware Has An Issue With Foster Child Placements:

Delaware’s Auditor of Accounts Lydia York released a report last week that says some children in the state’s foster system have had to sleep in bureaucratic offices due to a shortage of in-state foster placements.

In her report, she said the use of offices for overnight stays combined with the cost of sending Delaware children in the foster system out of state for care has cost the state close to $13 million since the 2023 fiscal year. 

York’s report stems from allegations her department received about the situation in late 2024.

The use of out-of-state services alone has cost the state more than $8 million since 2023, according to the report. Still, York’s office also did an analysis of other states around the country with available data on their placements, and found Delaware’s struggles are not “uncommon nor unique.”

“Make no mistake – this is a nationwide issue, and not one that any state has resolved entirely,” York wrote. “However, I believe that this is an opportunity for Delaware to lead.”

The State is moving to address the issues:

Sarah Azevedo, the director of the Division of Family Services for DSCYF, said work is already being done to improve placements for children and offer safer temporary housing. She added children would sleep in the agency’s offices “under very limited circumstances.”

Azevedo said the cost is important to the department and its goal is to keep kids in state, but if it’s in a child’s best interest to go out of state, the department will send them.

“At the end of the day, the kids need what they need, and so we’re not going to make a decision based purely on financial reasons,” she said. 

In a response letter to York’s office, DSCYF said it had relocated some children across the state to repurposed residential facilities.

Leaders at DSCYF also pointed to a recent $6 million appropriation the agency had received to renovate a space at the Stockley Center in Georgetown for children who may not meet the clinical requirements to be put into specific residential treatment facilities. 

Azevedo said in an interview on Friday this new facility would help to better serve those children who fall under that gray zone, and would build up the state’s ability to prevent some out-of-state placements. 

According to the report, though, that renovated space is not scheduled to be complete until July 2027 and would offer 12 beds.

To me, this is how a State Auditor can and should serve:  Identify issues that need to be addressed.

It only works, though, when there’s buy-in from the agency being audited.  That, at least, appears to be happening here.

So.  I watch pro football.  There was an early game featuring the Houston Texans, and a night-time game featuring the Dallas Cowboys.  Both had ads for Ken Paxton.  Or, to be more precise, ads from PAC’s trying to weaken Talarico.  The ads were all ‘He wants to turn your boys into girls’ anti-trans fear-mongering.  Could be wrong, but I think that bird has flown.

The wall-to-wall political ads during the Iggles’ game were all of the ‘he stole your money’ variety–really nasty ads from the Willy Horton era, replete with ominous music.  Don’t think those fly any more either.

One more comment before I dig through the headlines–I think all this Democratic bedwetting over ‘what if the polls are wrong’ is unfounded.  Well over 60% of American voters disapprove of Trump’s performance.  That spells Blue Tsunami to me.

‘How A Trillion Dollar Industry Launders Illegal Gold’.  An award-worthy report on this tawdry industry that causes massive environmental destruction and relies on child labor:

In an industry riddled with abuse, the world’s banks and governments rely on one entity to keep gangsters, warlords and human rights violators from selling gold into the mainstream market.

That group, the London Bullion Market Association, is the self-described “global authority for precious metals.” With the power to blacklist companies, the L.B.M.A. is the closest thing the multi-trillion-dollar industry has to an international regulator.

Governments rely on the association’s stamp as a sign that gold has been mined without human rights abuses, environmental devastation, financial sanctions or criminality. In the most literal sense, the L.B.M.A. sets the gold standard.

But a New York Times investigation found that the association has repeatedly allowed gold into the market that has been mined by criminals, cartel members and children. Refiners lie with impunity about the origins of their gold. The rules are pocked with exceptions and vagaries, and the L.B.M.A. has repeatedly decided not to enforce them.

This reporter sums up his quest:

I’ve spent more than a year trying to answer a basic question about the world gold trade: Why are there so many destructive and illegal mining operations when most gold is sold on a tightly controlled market with rules to eliminate criminals? What I found is that the global gold trade is essentially unregulated once bullion crosses national borders. Most of the world’s supply falls under the London Bullion Market Association—an industry group with the power to bar non-compliant refiners from the majority of the global market.

“When completed, it will be open to the Public while, at the same time, designed to the Highest Level of Golf and able to hold World Class Tournaments such as the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship, the Ryder Cup, and the Presidents Cup,” Trump wrote.

Democracy Forward, which is representing the plaintiffs challenging his renovation plans, responded by saying that the course is part of a national park and recreation facility that is meant for everyone to enjoy.

“Our litigation is intended to protect this community jewel for the people and communities it serves and we will continue to work with our plaintiffs to defend it from unlawful and harmful intrusion,” Skye Perryman, the president and CEO of the group, said in a statement.

The judge in the case took notice of Trump’s online message and ordered the government to notify her by 8 p.m. EDT Sunday whether its position had changed from a court filing Friday that said “at most” Trump has given “preliminary thought” to the rebuilding plan and “there is no final agency action.”

Trump in his post echoed arguments he has made to justify his plans to remake the Kennedy Center, arguing it is in such dangerous condition that it needs to close.

“The current Course is old, broken, dilapidated, and of no further use or effect. It is in very poor condition, with falling, dangerous, and disease infested trees and, importantly, a collapsing and hazardous seawall,” Trump wrote.

Debris from the demolition of the White House East Wing to make way for his ballroom project has also been dumped on the grounds. The National Park Service has said the debris tested positive for lead, chromium and other toxic metals.

Trump also sought to justify the National Park Service’s removal of hundreds of trees that the judge paused, writing in his announcement that when the golf course was originally built, “it was famous for no trees, with views of Washington, D.C., for all to see, but now, it is completely overgrown, dysfunctional, and unsafe.”

What can I say?

Trump Administration Looking To Deport Ilhan Omar?  Sure looks like it:

On Saturday, Tom Homan, President Trump’s “Border Czar,” made explicit what had only been reported before based on unnamed sources: the administration is looking at denaturalizing Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), an outspoken critic of the president and one of the first Muslim members of Congress.

“I’m not going to get ahead of the bureau or HSI, but I’ve been told they have a strong case, and we’ll let the evidence lead where it leads,” he said on Fox.

“Of course, if you lie during the naturalization process, there is a process to denaturalize somebody,” he said at another point, adding, “And certainly, if the evidence points that way, that could happen.”

Homan, the kindler, gentler face of Trump’s immigration crackdown after Greg Bovino was shown the door amid his too-explicit fascism, is developing a reputation for his blunt comments making clear the administration is doing exactly what it appears to be doing. Long before the raid, he had been saying during media appearances that Omar was under criminal investigation.

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin also made the “strong case” claim on a Turning Point USA podcast Friday. “This was about enforcing once again our nation’s laws, and it’s a strong case,” he said.

Ri-i-i-ght.  All Evil, All The Time.

There will no doubt be more evil to report tomorrow.

Until then:

What do you want to talk about?