Odds and ends number 132

Since I'm using the concept from monoblogue, I'm keeping the numbering system, too. Here are thinner slices of bloggy goodness.

Same venue where I took the photo for Odds and ends number 131, but a few years later. Little did we know this would be the last fireworks show my mother-in-law would attend in her hometown as she passed on the 4th of July the next year after a stroke a few weeks earlier.

As always I have the interesting stuff that stuck around in my inbox and bookmarks.

One less regressive state (maybe)

It’s a small step toward a victory, but a win nonetheless.

From Restoration News comes a story about a state taking measures to correct a mistake. A resolution to pull the state of Maine out of the National Popular Vote compact recently passed their House by a 76-71 vote.

You may remember the NPV came about because Democrats got their collective panties in a wad when Al Gore won the popular vote in 2000 but lost the Electoral College to George W. Bush thanks to Florida. Soon thereafter the NPV movement was born and in 2007 Maryland became the first state to join. (Delaware is also a member, since 2019.) The idea is once the compact gets to the point where states totaling 270 or more electoral votes sign on, those rules would go into effect and the states would automatically give their electoral votes to the national popular vote winner. It worked for most Presidential elections because the Democrats won the popular vote, by hook or by crook.

It’s a guarantee, however, that the NPV compact would have been declared null and void had the 2024 election been under those rules but with a scenario where Kamala Harris eked out victories in enough swing states to take the Electoral College despite losing the popular vote. In fact, after this past election we should have sued to have Delaware live by the rules they enacted and made them give their electoral votes to Donald Trump - if for no other reason than to make the majority party here squirm.

Steps forward, I guess

Speaking of somewhat fringe political movements, I haven’t yet sent my party switch paperwork to the state. (I may just wait and see if the Board of Elections has a booth at the Delaware State Fair next month and do it then.) Thus, I’m still in the Constitution Party, which had its spring convention back in late April. Their exciting news comes in this form:

Our new website will be launched on July 4th! This launch will begin the year leading up to the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Be ready to interact with the Constitution Party, through the website and on our social media, as we develop new ways to learn and interact on the road to Independence.

That’s all well and good, but in the meantime they’re not doing much in what should be one of the easiest states to get ballot access in if they get party leadership who is interested in doing so rather than preaching. (Which is also important, but render unto Caesar, right?)

As we work to build the Constitution Party to a dominant political party, we have to have a focus on building the base. We must have party organizations in every county and down to the local level. We must be able to run candidates at any level without expending resources on signature gathering that should be used for campaigns or for educating voters.

Given the populist bent of the nation right now, that may be a tough sell. Unfortunately, we’ve become a nation too accustomed to leaning on government to provide a solution to our problems.

The political realignment

This leads me perfectly into an article by Ken Braun, who writes for the Capital Research Center. In the April/May issue of their magazine, he wrote a piece that noted how a significant number of those who had been associated with one party have now switched sides based on the shifting perception of the issues, noting that the shift may only be temporary or transactional.

The issues that more or less differentiated the parties just a decade ago are now either reversing entirely (e.g., free trade, foreign military intervention, free speech, and national security state spying) or no longer as decisive (labor unions, climate policy, and taxes).

To one side have gravitated those who defend the regime ramparts: military interventionism, the public health bureaucracy, the national security state, the university industrial complex, public education and big bureaucracy in all its manifestations. To this we can now add the equally creepy international censorship movement and letting transsexual men play women’s sports.

Although the regime party is currently on the ropes and losing support, the Democratic Federal Workers Party has the advantage of having a cohesive agenda. Republicans are succeeding and vacuuming up traditional Democratic refugees precisely because they are the anti-regime party, but it’s not clear their coalition holds together when those factions start debating how to replace the regime they’re taking apart.

Donald Trump was the reason I left the GOP in 2016, but his second term agenda may be the reason I return. Yet it may well be transactional depending on where the party goes in the future, because on a policy level I still identify more closely with the Constitution Party - they just can’t seem to get out of their own way.

The Hail Mary falls short

Maryland recently passed what’s known as the Renewable Energy Certainty Act (RECA), but the measure should have been called We Don’t Give a Damn What the Farmers and Local Counties Want - You’ll Get Solar Panels and Like Them Act. In essence, it states that the state of Maryland can override local zoning codes in the name of “clean energy.”

As State Senator Mary Beth Carozza (R - Ocean City) put it:

(The RECA) eliminates the ability of local counties to enforce land use ordinances tied to locally developed Comprehensive Plans when it comes to solar energy facilities and battery storage systems. It overrides protections for Priority Preservation Areas – lands long designated to safeguard Maryland’s most productive farmland – and imposes a top-down, one-size-fits-all approach to land use that disregards local needs and decision-making. This is especially harmful to our farming community on the Eastern Shore.

Every last legislator from the Eastern Shore, even the one liberal Democrat from a majority-minority district, voted against this bill. Moreover, it was passed in a rather cynical fashion as Governor Wes Moore led many to believe he would veto the bill before signing it at the last minute, giving a hastily-organized group of farmers and advocates less than two weeks to gather 25,000 signatures as a first step to suspend its adoption until a November, 2026 referendum where voters could have repealed the bill. Add to that some (perhaps intentional) confusion about the due date from the state Board of Elections and it’s clear this bill had its skids greased.

Meanwhile, Delaware’s majority party is trying to ram through a similar bill to eliminate county input because Sussex County wouldn’t allow U.S. Wind to use the site of the former Indian River generating plant. Despite the fact that none of the electricity generated by the offshore wind turbines is destined for our state, upstate legislators are determined to overrule Sussex County on the matter.

This Act requires the permitting of an electric substation as an allowed conditional use in a heavy industrial zone under certain conditions set forth in the Act, including that the electrical substation is being constructed to support the operation of a proposed renewable energy generation project of 250 MW or greater. This Act is being given retroactive effect such that, if a county has previously denied an application for an electrical substation that would meet the requirements of this Act, then the application shall be deemed granted provided that the electrical substation meets the requirements of this Act.

Does the phrase “hell no, we didn’t want this so piss off” ring a bell? If they need a plaintiff for the lawsuit on this ex post facto law I’m game. Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a referendum for passed laws or citizen-based initiatives in Delaware. It’s the only state without any public input on laws.

Follow-up: Parker Selby resigns

About a month ago, I told you about the case of State Rep. Stell Parker Selby, who had missed the entirety of this year’s Delaware General Assembly session because of health issues. After the local CoastTV station doggedly pursued the story, we learned on Tuesday that Stell was resigning, effective immediately.

Once the resignation is accepted by the Speaker of the House Rep. Melissa Minor-Brown, she will have 10 days to submit a Writ of Election; in turn, the state Board of Elections will have to schedule a Special Election between 30-35 days from that date. It won’t be concluded before this year’s session is over on June 30, but the second half of her term will have a new representative for the 20th District. Based on those dates, it looks like the election would occur about the 1st of August.

I pray Ms. Parker Selby has a continued recovery, and if desired would be able to run for the position again in 2026.

On Wednesday, 2024 Republican candidate Nikki Miller announced she would run for the seat again in 2026, making her the presumed favorite for the GOP to select her for the Special Election.

Another dissatisfied customer

You can’t please everyone.

Back when I did my post No kings, but plenty of jokers, I had some good feedback. But I noticed that I lost a couple subscribers, one with an e-mail address of bill@penzeys.com. For those of you who are unaware, Penzeys is a spice company with a very liberal and TDS suffering owner, Bill Penzey. Granted, anyone can use any e-mail address, but somehow that was one of my subscribers.

I wrote a note that sort of shrugged my shoulders about it, and didn’t think about it again until I cleaned out my junk mailbox the other night. Not only did I find a few “lost” posts from those I subscribe to, but I found a note from that address that simply said, “Go to hell Nazi.”

If I am unfortunate enough to go to Hades, I’m sure I know who the spice provider is. Regardless, onward and upward.

That’s enough for now. We’ll see what I come up with next month.

Until my next edition of odds and ends, you can Buy Me a Coffee since I have a page there.

Until my next edition of odds and ends, you can Buy Me a Coffee since I have a page there.