Open Thread Feb. 28: Corporate America Does What Congress Won’t

My fake radio-show sponsor, Dick’s Sporting Goods (“Wherever You Find Athletes, You’ll Find Dick’s!”) announced it would stop selling assault weapons in the wake of the Parkland shooting. Problem is, Dick’s pulled this stunt once before, after the Sandy Hook shooting. Fool me once…

Why won’t FedEx cut ties with the NRA? Take a wild guess…bingo! There’s good money is shipping guns. You never have to dig very deep to find what motivates an American, a corporation or, especially, an American corporation.

Lying is central to Republicans’ existence. They lie to themselves every minute of every day, of course, but they also lie with impunity to others. Perhaps you heard about the Parkland student who claimed CNN scripted its town hall on guns, and he had the emails to prove it…except it turns out his father now admits he doctored the emails. I’m sorry, people, but I don’t see how we can co-exist with Republicans if we want a functioning country.

Hell hath no fury like a conservative scorned, which is why GOP operative-turned-Trump hater Rick Wilson is such a guilty pleasure. Today he mocks Jared Kushner for getting busted on his security clearance. Sample:

The stench of his venality and desperation hangs around him like stripper perfume, cloying and obvious. Jared all but hiked up his sassy pink petticoats while whistling “Hey, sailor!” to the Chinese, Israeli, Arab, and Russian investors he begged to invest in his failing 666 Fifth Avenue white elephant.

Kushner and his wife are locked in a death struggle, it seems, with White House honcho John Kelly, and at this point it looks like a steel-cage match, and only one side will survive. My money’s on Javanka.

Every time someone tells me I should stop insulting Lower Delawareans, some Lower Delawarean gives me reason to tell such critics to pound sand. Today’s example comes from an Indian River School Board meeting, at which member “Dr.” Donald Hattier — he’s a chiropractor, which is no closer to a doctor than a masseuse — wants to hang signs in front of each school declaring there are armed staff members on the premises.“In my opinion, you hang a sign out front that says this is a ‘gun-free zone’ and what do you get? An open invitation,” Donald Hattier said. Of all the stupid gun-hugger memes, this one has to be the stupidest, since most mass shooters don’t plan on surviving their massacres anyway. When pressed for details, “Dr.” Hattier admitted he got it from Texas.

New Castle County government is the second-largest in the state, but you’d never know it from the News Journal. WDEL’s Amy Cherry has the scoop on a secret meeting involving the county’s empire-building Farmland Preservation boondoggle. The key to the story, a quote from County Councilwoman Janet Kirkpatrick, is unfortunately buried well down:

“The state has a codified program with an open application process. Everyone knows and understands the criteria and this year they had 167 applications so it isn’t something that the farming community doesn’t appreciate and utilize. If the county pays significantly more for the development rights of a parcel of land we will become the default. Why would anyone apply to the state if they can get 4x the amount from the county. And we cannot afford that.”

The program only exists because Tom Gordon, realizing he would never be elected governor of the state, decided to become governor of New Castle County. And “farmland preservation” is a scam that would be more honestly labelled if it were renamed the “Well-Connected Farmers’ Enrichment Program.” If the state wants open land, it should buy it, not rent it until the farmer can get a better price.