all politics is local

[twoeleven]

what passes for my local government has been whining and mewling about the protests interfering with them propping up dubious local landlords.

for good and proper reasons, the local newspaper's stories tend to disappear behind paywalls, so, the key parts of the story run like this:

Gov. John Carney, Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki and several other Delaware officials held a meeting with activists Wednesday to convince them to postpone Friday's planned demonstration in Wilmington against police violence.

A recording of the meeting reviewed by Delaware Online/The News Journal shows Carney beginning the gathering by asking organizers to find a "different way" than a protest to make progress on police reform issues.

Purzycki then said Wilmington has been "fragile for some time and it's finally coming back." He pointed to the city's 2-million square feet of empty office space as an example of its fragility.

because, clearly, it's physically impossible for the city to stop police brutality while office space stands empty.

what they're worried about is that the protests might remind people that wilmington is little improved from being murdertown, USA, and the police have bad habits, like shooting dangerous wheelchair-bound people. so, i figured i'd help them out; civic duty and like that. ;>

meanwhile, tom carper, my useless senator, has sent me a smarmy message ending with:

This week, I joined my Democratic colleagues in the Senate to observe a moment of silence to honor the lives of these men and women and stand in solidarity with peaceful protestors gathering in Delaware and across the country as they call for fundamental changes to our systems and institutions

I will continue to pray for the families and loved ones of George, Ahmaud, Breonna and all victims of racial injustice but prayer alone is not enough. In fact, Scripture tells us that prayer without action is powerless. And it’s long past time that we took meaningful action to address the systemic racism that plagues our country.

We are a nation in crisis confronting matters of life and death. And we, as elected officials, have a responsibility to respond in substantive ways with a sense of urgency. Dr. King said, “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” I believe that to be true, but we have a lot of work to do. Now, it is time for action.

well! i'd glad he's observing moments of silence and praying! i wouldn't want him to take too much action on this issue. he might have to lift a finger. y'know, actually govern or something.

as the local news story ended,

“You [the mayor of wilmington] are the trained elected official,” [University of Delaware Associate Professor Yasser] Payne said he responded. “It is your job to figure this out. You know what our priority is.”

that is, their priority is getting the city to clean up its police brutality and crime problems. who knows? they might be related.

sadly, i can't punt any of these bastards come november: none of them are up for re-election this time around, and this is the governor's final term in any event.

also, technically, i don't live in wilmington any more. but nobody can punt mayor moneybags for a few more years.