Song of the Day 12/13: Lenny Kravitz, “Fly Away”

Lenny Kravitz was viewed as a promising young talent when he debuted in the late ’80s, but by 1998 he was written off as someone who could emulate his multiple influences but couldn’t make anything new or distinctive out of them. Though his albums were selling and he was hob-nobbing with the glitterati, his last hit, “It Ain’t Over ’til It’s Over,” had been back in 1991.

His luck changed as he finished recording his fifth LP, “5.” He was testing a new amp in the studio, he told Guitar World. “I was listening to the way different chords were ringing, just moving between A, C, G and D, and the next thing I knew I was telling the engineer to hook up the mics and record.”

The master tapes of “5” were already in the record company’s hands when he wrote “Fly Away,” and execs were reluctant to add it to the LP. They changed their minds once they heard it. For some reason they released three other singles from the album, all duds, before trying “Fly Away.” It reached No. 12 in Billboard and topped both the Mainstream Rock and Modern Rock Tracks charts and became a top 10 hit in various countries, No. 1 in the UK. You’ve heard it in a hundred commercials in the years since.

DL Open Thread: Saturday, December 13, 2025

Trump To Veterans: Drop Dead Sooner:

The Department of Veterans Affairs plans to abruptly eliminate as many as 35,000 health care positions this month, mostly unfilled jobs including doctors, nurses and support staff, according to an internal memo, VA staffers and congressional aides.

The cuts come after a massive reorganization effort already resulted in the loss of almost 30,000 employees this year.

Agency leaders have instructed managers across the Veterans Health Administration, the agency’s health care arm, to identify thousands of openings that can be canceled. Employees warn that the contraction will add pressure to an already stretched system, contributing to longer wait times for care.

The health system grew by tens of thousands of employees under the Biden administration as more veterans enrolled in VA health care after passage of the PACT Act, which expanded benefits for veterans exposed to toxic burn pits. Then-secretary Denis McDonough urged veterans to be seen by VA doctors rather than request referrals to private practitioners outside the system.

But the Trump administration has said it wants more veterans to seek treatment outside the government system. Political appointees at VA and their allies have also said they favor a leaner health care workforce because they think physicians and other health care providers could be more productive, said one former appointee who is close to the Trump team.

Memo To All NCC Council Hacks–Read This:

CHANDLER, Arizona — This Arizona suburb sent a searing warning message to Big Tech companies after city officials on Thursday night unanimously rejected a proposed artificial intelligence data center — capping a fight that attracted powerful interests from Silicon Valley and Washington.

Outside political pressure to approve the project, perhaps most significantly from former Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, shined a spotlight on AI industry efforts to influence local decisions around development.

The Chandler City Council last night voted down a request by a New York developer to rezone land to build a data center and business complex. The local battle escalated in October after Sinema showed up at a planning commission meeting to offer public comment warning officials in her home state that federal authority may soon stomp on local regulations.

“Chandler right now has the opportunity to determine how and when these new, innovative AI data centers will be built,” she told local officials. “When federal preemption comes, we’ll no longer have that privilege.”

On Thursday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order targeting state laws regulating AI models. That order, however, did not try to override regulations tied to the nationwide build-out of huge AI data centers for housing servers and next-generation AI chips.  (Besides, the order is almost certainly illegal.)

You can stop this project–or face almost certain political defeat (of course, the cowards who are retiring already feel free to inflict whatever damage they can on our infrastructure and environment w/o worrying about that).  Or, and this is a novel idea, how about doing the right thing because it’s the right thing to do?

Oh, one more thought–the County derives its authority from the State.  If Delaware can move corporate heaven and earth to curry favor with Elon Musk, it certainly can do the same to stop this project.  Gov. Meyer has stated that he opposes the project.  Will he do anything to stop it?

Finally, A Legit Challenge To The Trump Ballroom:

Donald Trump is facing a federal lawsuit seeking to halt construction on his $300m White House ballroom, with historic preservationists accusing the president of violating multiple federal laws by tearing down part of the iconic building without required reviews or congressional approval.

The legal challenge, filed on Friday by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in the US district court for the District of Columbia, represents the most significant attempt yet to stop Trump’s 90,000-sq-ft addition to the White House complex. The organization is seeking a temporary restraining order to freeze all construction activities until proper federal oversight procedures are completed.

“No president is legally allowed to tear down portions of the White House without any review whatsoever – not President Trump, not President Joe Biden, and not anyone else,” the complaint reads. “And no president is legally allowed to construct a ballroom on public property without giving the public the opportunity to weigh in.”

The lawsuit names Trump and several administration officials as defendants, and it alleges violations of the national capital planning act, the national environmental policy act, and the constitution’s property clause, which reserves oversight of federal property to Congress.

The $300m project is being funded by wealthy people and large corporations with federal government contracts, including Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, Lockheed Martin and Palantir Technologies. The administration released only a partial list of contributors while giving others anonymity.

The president also previously said he is not bound by typical building restrictions. “They said, ‘Sir, this is the White House. You’re the president of the United States, you can do anything you want,’” Trump said at an October dinner celebrating the ballroom’s donors.

Who, pray tell, are ‘they’, eh?

“I cannot in good conscious allow my office to become a political football.”  A real quote from Julianne Murray upon resigning as acting US attorney for Delaware.  Perhaps, then, it was her subconscious that impelled her to take the position in the first place.  A blatantly-partisan R appointed to a position for the express purpose of (a) doing Trump’s bidding, and (b) avoiding the Senate approval process in order to, you know, do Trump’s bidding.

What do you want to talk about?

Song of the Day 12/12: Talking Heads, “This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)”

The WXPN 885 cover songs countdown ended last evening, and there were no surprises among the top finishers: Jimi Hendrix covering “All Along the Watchtower” was No. 1, Johnny Cash doing “Hurt” No. 2 and Jeff Buckley’s “Hallelujah” No. 3, all of which were easy to predict.

There were plenty of surprises further down the list. The biggest one for me: The songs that appeared on the list most often. There was a three-way tie for the top spot, with five covers apiece. “Hallelujah,” which has been recorded by more than 500 people, naturally was one of them, and Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” another. It was the third song that startled me: the Talking Heads’ “This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody).” I had no idea it was so popular among other artists.

It’s a fairly recent phenomenon, too. Released in 1983 on the band’s “Speaking in Tongues” album, it flopped as the follow-up single to “Burning Down the House,” stalling at No. 62. It was over a decade before its first cover, by Shawn Colvin (No. 386 on the XPN list). It wasn’t until the 2010s that it became a popular choice. The Lumineers (No. 225), Kishi Bashi (No. 354) and Iron and Wine (No. 387) all recorded versions in that decade that made the countdown.

Here’s the original, with a video directed by frontman David Byrne.

Many covers succeed by stripping down a song’s original production, better revealing its lyrics and structure – Colvin, the Lumineers and Iron and Wine all treated it that way. Kishi Bashi arranged it for string quartet. But my favorite of the five was by a band I’d never heard of, Sure Sure, who basically updated Talking Heads’ synth-based arrangement while making it more danceable.

DL Open Thread: Friday, December 12, 2025

Circle yesterday on your calendar.  I think it might mark a bounce off the bottom.  I also think it might be a turning point.

Not because of anything that Democrats did, but because Rethugs have (a) finally realized that they are an endangered species en masse; and (b) some have simply had enough of Trump’s bullying.

Indiana R State Senators To The Rescue.  They’ve been bullied, threatened and doxxed by Trump and his enablers.  They didn’t fold:

The Indiana Senate rejected mid-decade redistricting today, capping off a bitter state fight for control of Congress that has divided the GOP, spurred violent threats and dramatically changed the political landscape ahead of the midterm elections.

The failure will likely be seen by President Donald Trump and his allies as a rebuke of his vision for cementing a congressional majority at all costs. Several groups have promised to spend top dollar on unseating those who oppose redistricting, setting the stage for a messy primary if the Senate did not pass the bill.

If it had succeeded, Indiana would have joined a handful of other states with maps that were changed mid-decade for political goals, likely eliminating Indiana’s two Democratic congressional seats and fracturing Indianapolis in the process.

“We finally have a resolution,” Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray, who said all along his caucus doesn’t have the votes to support redistricting, told reporters after the Senate voted it down decisively.

He denied accusations that he was actively trying to “kill” the redistricting bill behind the scenes, as Vice President JD Vance said in a post on X.

“Typically my style is to let people vote like they want,” he said. “They could come with a yes or come with a no. It’s exactly what I did this time.”

Gov. Mike Braun criticized a “small group of misguided” senators in a statement, after a majority of senators — and a majority of Republican senators — voted down the redistricting bill.

“I am very disappointed that a small group of misguided State Senators have partnered with Democrats to reject this opportunity to protect Hoosiers with fair maps and to reject the leadership of President Trump,” he said. “Ultimately, decisions like this carry political consequences. I will be working with the President to challenge these people who do not represent the best interests of Hoosiers.”

Uh, Mike?  The senators made clear that they no longer fear the Alzheimer’s-addled drool bib who is currently the President.  He won’t be any sharper if/when he journeys to Indiana to exact retribution.  Hoosier senators saw the ‘Great and Powerful Oz’, and disregarded him.  I think this is a watershed moment, and we’ll be seeing lots more of these going forward.  In fact:

Congressional Rethugs See Impending Doom, But Filibuster Ensures That It’s Real Doom:

The Senate on Thursday deadlocked on competing proposals to avert rising health care premiums, blocking Democratic and Republican alternatives in an outcome that made it all but certain that expanded tax subsidies for health coverage under the Affordable Care Act will expire at the end of the month.

Republicans squelched a bid by Democrats, who had demanded action on the issue during the 43-day government shutdown, to extend the insurance subsidies for three years.

Democrats turned back a Republican alternative that would replace the subsidies with an expansion of tax-advantaged health savings accounts and direct payments of up to $1,500 to people who buy the most basic health insurance plans.

Neither proposal could muster the 60 votes necessary to overcome a filibuster and move ahead, a long-expected result that teed up a brutal battle over health care that is likely to shape the fight for control of Congress next year.

Both plans were thwarted on separate votes of 51 to 48. Four Republicans — Senators Josh Hawley of Missouri, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, both of Alaska — joined Democrats in support of taking up the extension, while all Democrats and a single Republican, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, opposed the G.O.P. alternative.

There’s even more terror among House Republicans:

A group of House Republicans moved to force a vote on extending Obamacare health insurance subsidies that will expire in just three weeks, directly challenging party leaders who appear determined to let them lapse.

At least six Republicans signed a discharge petition filed Wednesday on a bill authored by Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and Jared Golden (D-Maine) that would extend the expiring tax credits for two years while imposing new eligibility requirements. The subsidies are currently used by more than 20 million Americans.

“It’s a time-sensitive matter, and it’s an existential matter,” Fitzpatrick told reporters after filing the petition. “You try to do things through the normal course. You try to do things through regular order. You know, [when] all those remedies are exhausted, then you’ve got to go this route, unfortunately.”

The moves to sidestep Speaker Mike Johnson came as a growing number of mainstream House Republicans publicly warned that their leaders’ apparent plan to allow the tax credits to expire without a replacement in place will cost them their majority in next year’s midterm elections.

The Republicans joining Fitzpatrick in signing the discharge petition include Reps. Don Bacon of Nebraska, Rob Bresnahan of Pennsylvania, Kevin Kiley of California, Mike Lawler of New York and Ryan Mackenzie of Pennsylvania, with New York Rep. Nick LaLota also indicating he planned to sign. Kiggans signed the petition to discharge her own bill, along with Fitzpatrick, Lawler, Mackenzie and Rep. David Valadao of California.

GOP leaders have argued, including at Wednesday morning’s conference meeting, that the subsidies are wasteful and that there is not enough internal support to extend them. But others in the party ranks have their doubts.

“I call bullshit on that,” said one conservative House Republican in a deep-red seat who was granted anonymity to speak frankly. “Most people here know we need a bridge.”

I really hope that something gets done.  The thought of 20 million more people unable to afford health insurance is terrifying to me.  But if it doesn’t,  I think the Rethuglican Party as we know it will be in the wilderness for some time.  Starting in January, when a significant number of R’s decide they don’t want to go out on their shields.

A True Local Hero: Paola Subervi.  Standing up for the victims of Trump’s hatred:

The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown has seen students, veterans, permanent residents and even U.S. citizens detained by federal agents, while driving many immigrants in Delaware underground. A tax preparer is now on the front lines of the enforcement’s aftermath in Maryland and Sussex County — coordinating information, help and resources to affected families.

The sound of The Marvelettes 1961 Motown single “Please Mr. Postman” crept into Paola Subervi’s office from a speaker in the next room as she typed on her strawberry cream keyboard. The certified tax preparer swiveled behind her desk in prominent maroon Doc Martens leather boots as she leisurely drifted between English and Spanish.

The front of her desk displayed a jovial sign reading, “Don’t ask me…I make it up as I go.”

But each stranger in her WhatsApp inbox did, indeed, ask her. And they all needed her help. 

Someone looking for childcare because their babysitter got deported? Subervi knows someone. Want to send money to your loved one in an immigration detention center? Subervi can send it. Can’t find your relative who was detained by federal agents? Subervi can help. 

Subervi has become an expert at navigating the intricacies of the new reality that many immigrants in Maryland and southern Delaware find themselves in — often alone and unsure of what to do in the face of intense federal enforcement. Her renowned wherewithal on these processes — finding people, towing cars, managing WhatsApp groups, buying plane tickets home — has become indispensable to many.

Subervi has gained a reputation along the lines of, “If you can’t find someone, call Paola,” according to one Salisbury, Md, resident who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of immigration enforcement.

If she doesn’t know how to help, she will learn.

“You do whatever needs to be done to help,” Subervi said.

That’s a motto to live by these days.

What do you want to talk about?

Delaware Political Weekly: Week Ending December 11, 2025

“We are kings of our bikes. So, we are again really lucky to live in Rehoboth, when we park a car, we have to get back into the car. We can hop on our bikes and our ritual is that we are always biking from our home to L(ewe)s. We do a little bit of walking around, a little bit of margarita, a little bit of good food – there’s amazing food then bike right back. So the ritual, on our bikes, every chance we can, any place we can go, and eliminate the cars.”–Dan Cruce.

Now is the ideal time to donate to your favorite Democratic candidates–before the end of the year.  Contributions made before then will strengthen the coffers of. our favorite candidates in time for the $$’s to be reflected in the year-end financial reports.

Here’s the latest from the candidates who I think are deserving of your consideration:

SD 1: Adriana Bohm.

SD 5:  Shay Frisby.

RD 1:  Shané Darby.

RD 6: Rae Krantz.

RD 9: Gemma Lowery.

Michelle Wall.

RD 12: Rob Bahnsen.  Here is Rob’s campaign launch video.  It’s real good!

RD 16: Pam Salaam.

RD 38:  Maureen ‘Mo’ Madden.

Let’s give them some holiday season love!

That’s all I’ve got this week.  What’d I miss, and whaddayathink?

Song of the Day 12/11: The Mavericks, “Here Comes the Rain”

Raul Malo, founder and lead singer of the Mavericks, died of cancer Monday at 60, silencing one of the best voices of his generation.

Malo, the son of Cuban immigrants, formed the group in Miami, but they were signed as a country band and relocated to Nashville. Their sound, which owed as much to rock and Latin as it did country music, was critically admired, but it never found a big audience. Their highest charting single, “All You Ever Do Is Bring Me Down,” a collaboration with legendary accordionist Flaco Jiménez, reached No. 13 on the country chart. They hit their peak in the mid’90s but broke up at the end of the decade.

Malo sold even fewer solo records, but he was widely respected by his peers, and recorded with lots of bigger stars. His voice was a force of nature. Technically a tenor, he was equally strong in the baritone range, and he was as expressive as he was powerful, particularly on heartbreak ballads, like this one from their 1995 LP “Music for All Occasions.” It reached No. 22 on the country chart.

As a showcase for his vocal prowess, you can’t do much better than his cover of this audience-recorded performance of the Roy Orbison hit.

DL Open Thread: Thursday, December 11, 2025

Trump Seizes Venezuelan Oil Tanker.  Um, why?  Chris, you’re on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.  Care to hazard a guess?  Or say anything?:

The United States seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela on Wednesday, a dramatic escalation in President Trump’s pressure campaign against Nicolás Maduro, the leader of Venezuela.

Speaking at the White House before an event on a new luxury visa program, Mr. Trump announced the operation and said it was “a large tanker, very large,” adding, without elaboration, that “other things are happening.”

When asked about the ship’s oil, Mr. Trump said, “Well, we keep it, I guess.” He declined to say who owned the tanker. “It was seized for a very good reason,” he added.

Since September, the United States has launched more than 22 known strikes against boats in the region, killing more than 80 people. The Trump administration insists, without publicly providing evidence, that the boats are smuggling drugs. Legal experts say the strikes may violate international law.

Shoulder shrug, Chris?  No.  I found a quote:

Also speaking to NewsNation, senator Chris Coons said that while he did not know the details of the incident, he was “gravely concerned that [Trump] is sleepwalking us into a war with Venezuela”.

Might I suggest–stop sleepwalking?

I prefer something stronger, like this from US Senator Chris Van Hollen:

Chris Van Hollen, the Democratic senator from Maryland, was among the lawmakers speaking out against the Trump administration and its actions around Venezuela, taking to the senate floor on Wednesday to call on Congress to block Donald Trump from “using taxpayer dollars to launch a regime change war”.

“Last time I checked, the constitution of the United States gives Congress – this body – the power to decide questions of war or peace,” he said.

Our totally-sane President on affordability:

“You can give up certain products. You can give up pencils. That’s under the China policy, you know every child can get 37 pencils—they only need one or two, you know they don’t need that many,” Trump said, adding, “You don’t need 37 dolls for your daughter, two or three is nice, but you don’t need 37 dolls.”

Dem Proposes Impeachment Of RFK, Jr.  Resulting in–why Dems suck:

Representative Haley Stevens of Michigan, a Democrat running for Senate, filed articles of impeachment on Wednesday against Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., making an all but certainly futile bid to charge him with undermining public health, diminishing decades of scientific and medical progress and imperiling the health of the American people.

In accusing Mr. Kennedy of an assault on the public health system that constitutes high crimes and misdemeanors, Ms. Stevens said the secretary had delayed biomedical innovation through the “far-reaching” and “haphazard” termination of working scientists. She cited Mr. Kennedy’s cancellation of $8.9 billion in federal research grants, and said he was “chilling medical innovation, including lifesaving clinical research” in what amounted to a violation of his oath of office.

And though Ms. Stevens said she had discussed her impeachment push with Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the minority leader, Democratic leaders are not backing it. Some of her colleagues viewed it as the politically motivated move of a candidate who has struggled to gain traction in a heated primary, in which she is facing off against two dynamic candidates who are further to the left than she is.

All of this ignoring the basic argument–RFK Jr. is a threat to public health and should be impeached.  Instead, let’s do a strongly-worded resolution and do nothing:

Senator Angus King, independent of Maine, on Wednesday teed up a vote in the Senate that will offer lawmakers a chance to register their disapproval of Mr. Kennedy’s leadership. The measure would formally disapprove of the secretary’s decision in March to cancel a directive that required transparency and requests for public feedback on the Health and Human Services Department’s policy changes, upending a standard established in 1971.

Ouch. That’ll hurt.  Not.  Did I say something about a threat to public health?:

The measles outbreak in South Carolina is reportedly “accelerating,” thanks to a combination of unvaccinated students and large gatherings where the virus can quickly spread.

As of Wednesday, there have been 111 reported measles cases in the northwest region of South Carolina, NBC News reports. The region includes Greenville and Spartanburg.

“We are faced with ongoing transmission that we anticipate will go on for many more weeks,” South Carolina Department of Public Health state epidemiologist Dr Linda Bell said during a Wednesday news briefing.

Bell said that was a “significant increase in our cases in a short period of time,” noting that holiday gatherings and other large events — paired with lower-than-optimal vaccination rates — are responsible for the spike.

Democrats should be calling for the impeachment of Trump and RFK, Jr.  They’re not, because they suck (you can’t get this trenchant analysis on any other Delaware political blog).

1978 Redux?  I’m getting those vibes from the reaction to the presentation from the Redding Consortium on the redrawing of public school boundaries:

The Redding Consortium for Educational Equity is set to decide next week on a concept to redraw school district boundaries in the city of Wilmington and northern New Castle County. But intense opposition is mounting by those opposed to changing the lines.

The consortium is a state group created in 2019 tasked with redrawing lines for the school districts currently serving the city of Wilmington and northern New Castle County. Redding co-chairs state Sen. Elizabeth “Tizzy” Lockman and former state Attorney General Matt Denn have been presenting the redistricting choices to school districts throughout December.

But hundreds of community members descended on a Brandywine school board workshop this week to voice their concerns about the upcoming vote. Lockman and Denn faced fierce pushback from school board members and from meeting attendees against the idea.

“I’m going to be lobbying my legislators to vote down any plan you come up with,” school board member Ralph Ackerman said. “We are not pawns in your bigger game.”

Oh, it’s a game, Ralph?  Ackerman has been a voice against racial equity over his far-too-long time on the Brandywine School Board.  He demagogues this issue every chance he gets.  Look, I appreciate the concerns from parents, I understand that they currently don’t have enough information upon which to make a decision.  But Ackerman publicly says he won’t even consider any proposal.  Call him for what he is:  A racist stuck in a time-warp.

Here is everything you need to know about the Redding Consortium:

The Redding Consortium for Educational Equity, as it is officially known, is a task force created by the Delaware state legislature in 2019 to study and recommend changes to the school districts that serve the city of Wilmington.

The body, which includes leaders from the affected Brandywine, Red Clay, Christina, Colonial and New Castle County Vo-Tech school districts, along with charter schools, parents, and teachers, was unanimously approved by both Democrats and Republicans in enabling legislation. The Redding Consortium is led by co-chairs, including State Senate Majority Whip Tizzy Lockman (D-Wilmington) and former Attorney General Matt Denn.

Legislators empowered the Redding Consortium and the Delaware State Board of Education to be able to redraw district boundaries for the four districts that serve Wilmington.

In a compromise, state legislators required that they too vote to affirm any final redistricting plan and that it be signed by the governor.

What do you want to talk about?

Song of the Day 12/10: Simple Minds, “Don’t You (Forget About Me)”

Guest post by Nathan Arizona

There’s an ‘80s revival going on. It’s been going on since about 1990. It’s the decade that wouldn’t die.

Eighties pop culture nostalgia spiked in the 2000s, bubbled on low heat for a while and now Gen Z can’t stop TikToking about big hair, bold colors, Game Boys, shoulder pads, Rubik’s Cubes, “Straight Outta Compton,” Princess Diana, one white glove, Pac-Man, MTV, Paula Abdul, downtown post-punks, popinjay New Romantic bands and the pioneers of synthpop.

“I hate being controlled by a calendar,” one guy posted. “The year is 1984.” Probably not an Orwell reader.

This is often perceived as nostalgia for the last decade before the world went to hell. Nobody was trying to ruin your life on the internet. Ronald Reagan seems a mere grandfatherly bumbler now that every day brings a new existential crisis from Washington. These kids might be surprised to know a lot of people in the ‘80s were pining for the less edgy days of the ‘60s and ‘70s.

The nostalgia has been boosted by the popular TV show “Stranger Things,” which is set in the ‘80s and saturated with the mood and artifacts of the time. The iconic ‘80s singer Kate Bush got a welcome career resuscitation when her song “Running Up That Hill” was featured prominently on the show. A-Ha’s “Take on Me” has been rediscovered through other means.

It’s easy to get confused about decade nostalgia. There’s also a ‘90s revival going on. (What the heck were the ’90s about anyway?) Maybe thoughts of the 2010s are bringing warm memories to Generation Alpha. Yeah, it already has a name.

Nothing says ‘80s nostalgia like the John Hughes teen movies and their Brat Pack actors. Especially a John Hughes movie with a theme song by one of the era’s most popular bands. It’s hard to think about “The Breakfast Club” without thinking about “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” by the Scottish band Simple Minds. Judd Nelson thrusting his arm in the air after Saturday school detention while the song plays underneath is an iconic ‘80s image.

But the guys in the band weren’t seeing the song’s possibilities. They didn’t even write it. At first they said no when asked to record it for the soundtrack. They thought they were past the point of singing somebody else’s tune. It turned out to be the most popular song of their long and successful career.

“We couldn’t give a toss about teenage American school kids,” a chagrined lead singer Jim Kerr said later. As band guitarist Charlie Burchill put it, “We had delusions of being ultra-hip.”

Here’s the 1980s cultural touchstone.

Scottish singer-songwriter KT Tunstall and Aussie folk-rock band Boy & Bear did interesting cover versions.

DL Open Thread: Wednesday, December 10, 2025

When Does The Anecdotal Become The Empirical?  Rethugs lose two more elections:

Georgia:

Georgia Democrats scored a major upset in a special election on Tuesday night, flipping a conservative legislative district in the Athens area—the 25th such gain for the party nationwide this year, against zero for the GOP.

Democrat Eric Gisler, who works in the insurance technology industry, defeated Republican Mack “Dutch” Guest IV, the owner of a trucking company, to win the 121st House District in the Athens area by a 51-49 margin.

The district had been in Republican hands ever since its previous occupant, Marcus Wiedower, unseated a Democratic incumbent in 2018. In recent years, it had shifted rightward, supporting Donald Trump by a 56-43 spread in 2024, according to calculations by The Downballot, and handing Wiedower a dominant 61-39 win over Gisler.

Florida:

Democrat Eileen Higgins won the Miami mayor’s race on Tuesday, defeating a Republican endorsed by President Donald Trump to end her party’s nearly three-decade losing streak and give Democrats a boost in one of the last electoral battles ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Higgins, 61, will be the first woman to lead the city of Miami. She spoke frequently in the Hispanic-majority city about Trump’s immigration crackdown, saying she has heard of many people in Miami who were worried about family members being detained. She campaigned as a proud Democrat despite the race being officially nonpartisan and beat Trump-backed candidate Emilio Gonzalez, a former city manager, who said he called Higgins to congratulate her.

“We are facing rhetoric from elected officials that is so dehumanizing and cruel, especially against immigrant populations,” Higgins told The Associated Press after her victory speech. “The residents of Miami were ready to be done with that.”

With nearly all votes counted Tuesday, Higgins led the Republican by about 19 percentage points.

I’ll answer my own rhetorical question:  We’re already at that point.  While we’re at it, Texas may not be the electoral gold mine the Rethugs have redistricted it as.  The recent gerrymander used the 2024 results to carve out more ‘safe’ districts.  However:

Let’s begin with those electoral maps that Republicans redrew this summer, a move that took on additional salience last week after the Supreme Court upheld them for the upcoming election. It’s not clear that this power grab will actually yield the party the five new seats it’s hoping to snag—particularly if the national political environment continues to favor Democrats in 2026. As elections analyst Eli McKown-Dawson noted, two of those five districts aren’t actually safe red: Texas’ 28th District can easily fall in a blue-wave environment, and its 34th could fall too if the Hispanic vote shifts back to Democrats. Given Hispanic and Latino Texans’ status as swing voters and their already-observable leftward shift in the 2025 elections, this hardly seems like a safe bet for the GOP. And considering that the recent Tennessee special election showed a district moving 13 points to the left, these 2024 Texas margins just aren’t that impressive.

The answer, of course, is yes.  But the media is staying away from this story.  Why?

Right on cue:

“In addition to all of that, I go out of my way to do long, thorough, and very boring Medical Examinations at the Great Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, seen and supervised by top doctors, all of whom have given me PERFECT Marks — Some have even said they have never seen such Strong Results. I do these Tests because I owe it to our Country. In addition to the Medical, I have done something that no other President has done, on three separate occasions, the last one being recently, by taking what is known as a Cognitive Examination, something which few people would be able to do very well, including those working at The New York Times, and I ACED all three of them in front of large numbers of doctors and experts, most of whom I do not know. I have been told that few people have been able to ‘ace’ this Examination and, in fact, most do very poorly, which is why many other Presidents have decided not to take it at all.”

“Despite all of this, the time and work involved, The New York Times, and some others, like to pretend that I am ‘slowing up,’ am maybe not as sharp as I once was, or am in poor physical health, knowing that it is not true, and knowing that I work very hard, probably harder than I have ever worked before. I will know when I am ‘slowing up,’ but it’s not now!”

“After all of the work I have done with Medical Exams, Cognitive Exams, and everything else, I actually believe it’s seditious, perhaps even treasonous, for The New York Times, and others, to consistently do FAKE reports in order to libel and demean ‘THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.’ They are true Enemies of the People, and we should do something about it.”

Couldn’t at least one Democrat call for the 25th Amendment to be invoked?  Just one?

US diplomats have been ordered to return to using Times New Roman font in official communications, with secretary of state Marco Rubio calling the Biden administration’s decision to adopt Calibri a “wasteful” diversity move, according to an internal department cable seen by Reuters.

The department under Rubio’s predecessor Antony Blinken switched to Calibri in 2023, claiming the modern sans-serif font was more accessible for people with disabilities because it did not have the decorative angular features and was the default in Microsoft products.

But a state department cable dated 9 December sent to all US diplomatic posts said that typography shapes the professionalism of an official document and Calibri is informal compared to serif typefaces.

“To restore decorum and professionalism to the Department’s written work products and abolish yet another wasteful DEIA program, the Department is returning to Times New Roman as its standard typeface,” the cable said.

Better that Rubio spend his time on this than, say. Venezuela.   Priorities, pipples.

The Wilmington City Council has reached a compromise with Mayor John Carney over a landlord/tenant proposal that had previously sparked the first mayoral veto in two years.

Last week, the council passed a revised version of the proposal to create a city escrow account, where tenants can deposit rent when landlords fail to provide basic services.

“What has happened is the administration was very uneasy about the ordinance that was presented a few weeks ago, and so what I’ve had to do is I’ve actually had to go back and tie up some of the loose ends,” McCoy said during the meeting.

Now, the recently approved legislation gives the city the option to secure a third-party to run the program, at a cost to the city of about $100,000.

The bill was also revised to ensure the city is not superseding state law, and only allows a tenant to participate in the program if their landlord fails to provide heat, water, hot water, and electricity. State law allows for renters to withhold rent for other services that violate a tenant’s rental agreement.

McCoy’s revisions also state that renters do not have to be current on their rent to utilize the program.

The program will go into effect 120 days after Carney signs it into law, which he has not yet done.

What do you want to talk about?

Song of the Day 12/9: Vince Guaraldi Trio, “Cast Your Fate to the Wind”

Donald Trump’s War on Wind – a particularly stupid fixation given AI’s soaring demand for electricity – suffered a setback yesterday. A federal judge ruled his abrupt cancellation of all wind power projects was “arbitrary and capricious and contrary to law.” As if that would ever stop him.

I’m sure his amateur-grade lawyers will take this to the Supreme Court, and if Trump is still alive by the time the Fixed Six address it they’ll give him what he wants. Still, I have to think that this is one of several policies – tariffs top the list – that will disappear once Trump joins the choir invisible, for the simple reason that they’re bad for business.

Our 12 Days of Christmas Songs doesn’t start until Sunday, but this song makes a good precursor. Vince Guaraldi’s composition appeared on his 1962 Latin-influenced album “Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus,” and was originally released as the B-side. DJs knew a hit when they heard one, and the instrumental spent 19 weeks on Billboard’s Hot 100, peaking at No. 22.

Lee Mendelson was driving across the Golden Gate Bridge when he heard it on the radio and thought it would be perfect for a documentary he was producing about Peanuts cartoonist Charles Schulz. That project fell through, but Mendelson tapped Guaraldi again to score the enduring Christmas special and even more enduring album that followed.

It wasn’t long before lyrics were written to accompany Guaraldi’s tune, opening it up for vocalists, starting with Mel Tormé. Johnny Rivers gave it some rock flavor and a showier production a few years later.

BTW, this was the A-side to “Cast Your Fate to the Wind,” Guaraldi’s improvisation based on “Samba de Orpheus,” from Brazilian guitarist Luiz Bonfá’s score for the 1959 film “Black Orpheus.”

DL Open Thread: Tuesday, December 9, 2025

Absolute Corruption–Trump Mobilizes To Stop WBD/Netflix Merger Because…:

Simply extraordinary stuff coming out this morning about the battle over what used to be Time Warner and now goes by the name Warner Bros Discovery (which includes CNN in addition to the more lucrative media stuff). The company had agreed to be acquired by Netflix. So Paramount — now the vehicle of the Ellison family successor and a Trump state media entity-in-the-making — has launched a hostile takeover effort to swoop in and gobble up WBD for itself. In its public pitch, it has openly advertised to shareholders that it is the better acquirer because the Ellisons are tight with Trump, and the White House will never let a Netflix deal go through. Trump, in comments yesterday, as much as agreed. Trump has refashioned antitrust oversight to be little more than a personal veto for the Trump family. Friends can do mergers; foes can’t. Indeed, the indifferent and uncommitted can’t either. You need to get right with the Trump family.

When you ask why so much of corporate America is beholden to Trump now, this is why. A big diversified corporation simply cannot compete and thus, in practice, can’t exist with a determinedly hostile administration.

Now we learn this: who else is part of the hostile takeover bid? None other than Jared Kushner. Yes, Jared — international M&A man when he’s not cutting “peace” deals in Israel-Palestine or Ukraine. And wait, there’s more! Just moments ago I saw that it’s not just Jared: the Saudis, Qataris and Emiratis are also in on the deal. Backstopping the deal is a fund, RedBird Capital, seen by many as a stalking horse for China.

I can’t even…

For Barristers Only:  Legal Beagles parse the nuances in the Supreme Court’s seemingly-inevitable evisceration of ‘independent agencies’:

On Monday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Trump v. Slaughter, a case that will decide whether Congress can require cause before the president removes the heads of most independent agencies.

To assess the arguments and explore the vast implications, Kate Shaw, a contributing Opinion writer, hosted a written online conversation with Will Baude, a law professor at the University of Chicago, and Stephen Vladeck, a law professor at Georgetown and the author of “The Shadow Docket: How the Supreme Court Uses Stealth Rulings to Amass Power and Undermine the Republic.”

If it reminds you of the rabbis at the Seder table discussing the number of plagues visited upon the Egyptians, you’re right there with me.

Trump ‘Defers’.  Because he’s so deferential:

President Donald Trump on Monday said he will let Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth decide whether to release the full video of a controversial military strike on alleged drug smugglers off the coast of Venezuela, backing away from comments last week when he said that “whatever” footage the Pentagon possesses “we’d certainly release, no problem.”

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump denied saying Wednesday that he was open to releasing the video — despite doing so on camera — and then attacked the journalist who asked him about his previous comments, calling her “fake news.”

Ho-kay.  I take that to mean that they’re gonna try to ‘Epstein files’ the footage of the war crime.

How Opposition Leaders Are Dealing With Authoritarianism:

Stefania Kapronczay (Hungary), former head of the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union:

“Trump’s consolidation of power in the US echoes prime minister Viktor Orbán’s authoritarian power grabs in Hungary, says Kapronczay. But with one important difference.

“It’s happening much faster, and it’s surprising for me that so many private companies and institutions just complied with the perceived or expressed will of President Trump,” she said. “I didn’t expect so many people would be so risk-averse.”

Kapronczay says she’s learned that opposition leaders need to pay closer attention to pocketbook issues. “Standing up for democracy, resisting and all this very abstract language will not reach the majority of society,” she said. “It’s only a very small progressive circle that resonates with that kind of messaging.”

But the authoritarian turn also “posed an opportunity for self-reflection”, she said. “If our previous tools are no longer working, how can we serve our mission in a more impactful way?”

Ece Temelkuran (Turkey), author of How to Lose a Country:

““When they come to power for the second time, they feel more ruthless, and they behave as if there are no boundaries any more,” said Temelkuran. “I think especially in the leader’s head, that association of ‘me and the country’ [being] the same thing becomes very prominent when they seize power for the second time.”

After writing about Erdoğan and other autocrats for more than two decades, Temelkuran says Americans need to gear up for a “long game” of fighting to rebuild democracy. “It took Erdoğan 15 years to do what Trump did in 100 days,” she said. “If [Americans] do not accept the fact that this is a long game, and it will be brutal, I think you won’t have the patience and stamina to bear it.”

Claudia Ortiz (El Salvador), federal deputy with the opposition Vamos party:

You cannot make authoritarian leaders the center of your narrative,” said Ortiz. “You have to make the people the center of your narrative, and you have to be passionate about it.”

She said that means doing more to engage with citizens – and being prepared to be surprised by what they say. “A part of the cure for this is listening to people,” she said. “Don’t be so certain about what they want, what they need. You have to ask.”

“The parties that ruled the country in the past decades weren’t capable of building a solid democracy that delivered results in the daily life of people,” she said. “But we think that the road to overcoming that is not to destroy institutions, but to make them actually work.”

“Authoritarian systems give the appearance of performing, but their solutions are not thorough, they are not sustainable, and they are not fair,” she went on. “They will decay because the way they function is to exclude, abuse, and allow massive corruption.”

NCC Council: A Buncha Bozos–And Cowards:

The New Castle County Council will delay its vote on a controversial proposal to regulate the fast-growing, data center industry the new year, the sponsor of the legislation said.

Following a series of tense debates last month, Councilman Dave Carter told Spotlight Delaware he needs more time to come up with a compromise to the ordinance, which would require data centers to have buffer zones, and to use energy-efficient backup generators, among other mandates.

Carter first proposed the sweeping set of rules four months ago amid a backlash to a developer’s plan to build a massive, power hungry data center on about 580 acres north of the Delaware City Refinery.

At the time, many residents and elected officials feared the facility would exacerbate an energy crunch that was already impacting the region.

By October, the public sentiment may have shifted after powerful labor unions expressed support for the plan.  (That is not true. First, those unions are only ‘powerful’ in the eyes of cowards or sycophants.  Second, they are small in number.  Survey after survey demonstrate how unpopular these data center proposals are.)

Still, opponents to the regulations fear that Carter’s ordinance could cause the state to lose the Delaware City data center project entirely, along with the tax revenue and jobs it would bring.

Council members Janet Kilpatrick and Tim Sheldon, both opponents of the legislation, each told Spotlight Delaware that they now agree with Carter that the council needs more time to find compromises.

“We got one shot at getting this right, and there’s got to be compromises on both sides,” Sheldon said.

Why?  So that Tim can keep his members from slashing up someone’s tires?  BTW, I’m reminded by a valued reader that Gov. Meyer has already expressed his opposition to the project:

“Having a large data center come here and just draw electricity off the grid is just a non-starter for me. I will do everything I can to make sure something like that doesn’t happen,” he told Delaware Public Media.

Gov. Meyer says while he doesn’t want to dismiss the amount of construction jobs the project could bring to the state, he notes the center would not provide a lot of permanent positions for Delawareans.

Question for our Governor: What, exactly, is ‘everything I can’?

What do you want to talk about?

Song of the Day 12/8: Gloria Gaynor, “Fida Known”

Trump played MC for the Kennedy Center Honors last night, and managed to get through the evening while keeping the cringe to a minimum. But it’s Trump, so he couldn’t go without making a few vile remarks.

After praising the persistence he said marked the careers of the honorees in his introduction, Trump added, “I know so many of you are persistent. Many of you are miserable, horrible people. You are persistent. You never give up. Sometimes I wish you’d give up, but you don’t.” Classy, ain’t he? He’s yours, America.

Given that he had a hand in selecting the honorees, the list could have been much worse. Michael Crawford’s a theater guy, and Trump is known to like Broadway. George Strait is inoffensive for a country singer. Sylvester Stallone is a longtime GOP supporter; Gene Simmons of Kiss supported Trump in 2016 but turned against him in 2022.

Which leaves Gloria Gaynor, which surprises me mainly because they’re firing minorities left and right unless they’re vocally on Team Trump, and I don’t think Gaynor has ever said anything to indicate she is. Maybe “I Will Survive” reminds him of those wild nights at Studio 54. Before the ceremony Gaynor said, “[It] feels like a dream. To be recognized in this way is the pinnacle.”

Though she’s never returned to the heights of her disco-era fame, Gaynor has released new albums every few years ever since. A new EP she dropped in February, “Happy Tears,” includes this single. Even at age 82 her voice remains strong; she’s done more than survive.

Jason 330 Makes The Case Against Chris Coons As Only Jason 330 Could

Our Beloved Founder was on to the DINO from the Gore-Tex Dynasty before, well, pretty much anybody.  Here are some of his greatest hits, ideally to be replayed during the upcoming campaign:

Coons Piles On Hunter Biden–After Keeping His Mouth Shut About Jared Kushner.

Coons Willing To Sell Out Abortion Rights To Placate Tommy Tuberville.

Coons Helped Put Aileen Cannon On The Bench.  As in voted for her.  Coons and Carper were two of the twelve D’s to do so.

Coons Is A Media Whore–Officially.

Speaking Of Coons As A Media Whore:  “That was a wonderful State dinner last night.”

Coons Voted For Trump’s Destabilizing Of Dodd-Frank.  Preumably b/c ‘bipartisanship’.  BTW, was Coons working knowingly or unwittingly with Putin in destabilizing America’s banking system?

What Coons’ Vote On Dodd-Frank Led To.

Chris Coons On QAnon.  A Coons classic: “I wouldn’t understand what an appeal to the Q-anon base looks like. So if that’s what’s going on, I’m missing it. Because frankly, that’s not a frame that resonates with me.”  

Chris Coons–In All His Bipartisan Glory.  And Bi-partying glory.

Alby steps in with this one:

Coons Hounded D’s To Drop Witnesses In Trump Impeachment Because ‘People Want To Get Home For Valentine’s Day‘.  Not satire, I swear.

Coons Slobbers Over Abortion Foe Rob Portman.  You know why: Bipartisanship.

Coons Can ‘Hardly Stand Serving In Senate’ In 2022.

Yet Another Shitty Judge That Coons Enabled To Get On The Bench.  Using the same pathetic approach that Carper often employed.  Vote ‘yes’ on releasing the nomination, vote ‘no’ on the nomination itself.  Is this mic on? The vote on releasing the nomination guaranteed that the nomination would be approved.  See what that feckless ‘bipartisanship’ has gotten us?

Why Jason 330 Despises Chris Coons.  I’ll conclude with this one for now.  Why?  Because what Jason wrote in 2022 was not only prescient, but it sums up exactly how I feel about Chris Coons as well:

It is because, more likely than not, Trump is going to be president again in less than three years. Coons could give a fuck. And when he does stir himself out of his slumber enough to give a fuck, it will be way too late.

All the elite political discourse in this country is in denial about where we’re heading. That is a huge problem. It is a problem “leaders” could do something about like appearing on ‘Morning Joe’ and making a fuss, but Coons (for whatever reason) simply doesn’t give a fuck. Neither does Carper. They don’t fucking care.

And yes I said “I hate Chris Coons” which disqualifies me from talking about him according to the rules of polite society – but Jesus fucking Christ!!! I have really come to hate that fucking useless shit-head.

There’s lots more where these came from.  Just put Coons in the search engine and scroll away!