Dael Norwood
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dael.bsky.social
Dael Norwood
@dael.bsky.social
3.7K followers 580 following 680 posts
Historian of America's old, weird political economy. Unincorporated but proudly unionized citizen of Delaware. Adding “levity to discussions of financing and high politics” since 2022. Wrote Trading Freedom: How Trade with China Defined Early America.
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dael.bsky.social
I'm just a simple Delaware country historian - and not a Big City venture capitalist whose net worth depends on the rising value of my risky AI speculations - but I just can't think of any sources that could provide an empirical basis for this normative claim, at any point in the state's history
February 11, 2026 at 4:31 PM
dael.bsky.social
First grafs of this piece, so everyone can see that the post was in fact quite representative of the story
By Jacob Gallagher Feb. 8, 2026 At the start of his Super Bowl performance, the Puerto Rican musician Bad Bunny materialized in a field of green grass wearing an outfit of angelic slightly off-white. His shoes, his pleated pants, his linebacker-padded football jersey were all nearly the color of the sidelines on the football field. His jersey was cropped to a few fingers above the waistline (what can be called the preferred Bad Bunny proportions) and on the back it read "Ocasio," part of his full name: Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio. The jersey was splayed with the number "64," sparking viewers to scour the internet for what the digits meant. Fans tossed out theories. Was it a reference to his mother's birth year; a nod to his 2020 album "El Último Tour del Mundo," which was the first Spanish-language album in 64 years to top the all-genre Billboard 200 chart; or, far more solemnlv was it referring to the initial government death toll
February 9, 2026 at 5:11 AM
dael.bsky.social
just noticed the two tabs I have open rn have a pleasing thematic symmetry
Home acoup.blog Resources for Teachers Resources for World-Builders Book Recommendation Lis Collections: The Late Bronze Age Collapse, A Very Brief Introduction • Bret Devereaux i Collections, R.A.S. January 30,2026 국 25 Minutes This week, by order of the ACOUP Senate, we're talking about the Late Bronze Age Collapse (commonly abbreviated LBAC'), the shocking collapse of the Late Bronze Age state system across the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East during the 12th century (that is, the 1100s) BC. In the broader Mediterranean world, the Late Bronze Age Collapse is the event that probably comes closest to a true 'end of civilization' event - meaningfully more severe than the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West (although as we'll see LBAC is also not as 'total of a collapse as was sometimes supposed). This is going to be, by our standards here, something of a brief overview, roughly the equivalent to the lecture I give to my students when we cover this period (with a bit more detail, because text is more compressed). A full 'deep dive' of all of the debates and open questions of this period would no doubt run quite a few posts and more importantly really ought to be written by specialists in the bronze age. This is also a very archaeologically driven topic, which makes it more sensitive than most to Newsletter | Businessweek Daily Bitcoin's Long Slide Explained k 'Number Go Down' A rising price requires ever-more buyers, and it's unclear where they'l next. by Zeke Faux for Bloomberg
February 8, 2026 at 2:13 AM
dael.bsky.social
Behind every (alleged) great crime lies a Delaware business entity registration form, a continuing series…

AdFin Solutions, Inc., an ad tech firm that Howard Lutnick and his friend & business associate Jeffrey Epstein invested in together, was a DE registered corp (file no. 4973434), reg agent CSC.
Div of DE Corp entity status database entry for Adfin Solutions, Inc.
February 7, 2026 at 2:35 PM
dael.bsky.social
The scammer got a supposed fortune in stocks and bonds locked away via a “contract of sequestration” due to a (fake) contested will; and then borrowed against it for 20 years.
February 6, 2026 at 3:43 AM
dael.bsky.social
Compare to the version of the site on the Wayback Machine, archived pre-UD deletion, on June 12, 2025.

web.archive.org/web/20250612...
February 5, 2026 at 7:13 PM
dael.bsky.social
If you go to the now-once-again publicly available URL for our research - sites.udel.edu/udari-legaci... - you will note that there are menu links to "Home," "Contributors," and "Recommended Reading"

But no links to the research – which the site used to have, prior to its deletion 07/2025
February 5, 2026 at 7:11 PM
dael.bsky.social
Further, the state supreme court – and Reuters reporters – are taking corporate defense lawyers' hired academic allies as representative of a consensus among scholars and practitioners that plaintiff attorney fees should bring capped.
(They are not representative, particularly).
February 4, 2026 at 4:07 PM
dael.bsky.social
This history professor informed his students of what books were being censored.

One of them (it seems to me) is almost certainly the award-winning Scraping By: Wage Labor, Slavery, and Survival in Early Baltimore (JHU, 2009), by @sethrockman.bsky.social
Listing course work as "censored" Matthew Pehl, a history professor, also filled out the submission form. His class was allowed to proceed after he signed a statement agreeing not to teach certain content unless approved by the board of' regents. Pehl disclosed two readings for review. One, assigned in a graduate history course, examines wage labor in 19th-century Baltimore. Pehl said he uses the book to teach historical methodology rather than ideology, showing students how scholars can work with limited primary evidence. He said the reading could violate restrictions because it compares enslaved and free workers, as well as men and women. The second reading, assigned in an upper-level undergraduate immigration history course, focuses on immigrant women working in California canneries in the early 20th century. Rather than quietly removing the material while awaiting the board of regents, Pehl labeled the readings as "censored" in the syllabi and emailed students explaining why the books could not be taught. "I wanted the paper showing that I've been censored," he said. "And I wanted students to understand this is happening."
February 4, 2026 at 1:37 PM
dael.bsky.social
Administrators hinting about dire policy - but never having the courage to put it in writing - sounds pretty familiar.
I can find very few examples of any faculty member — and I’m in touch with many of them — who have, like, in writing an administrator saying, ‘You cannot teach this,’” a humanities professor said. “But I’ve encountered many examples of administrators saying, ‘If I were you, I wouldn’t teach this, because that might cause a problem.’
February 4, 2026 at 1:33 PM
dael.bsky.social
The journalist, Kelly Powers, did a very thorough job reporting this out.

Here's the opening of the feature, which spotlights the amazing work a UD PhD student did in recovering the deep history of a neighborhood adjacent to campus, that once was an Af-Am community, but now is student housing:
Anisha Gupta struggled to focus on other work. Just a few more minutes. A few more pages of census records, of Newark land deeds, of university archives, might reveal details on African Americans living around her university in the mid 1800s. “My research was on free Black landownership around UD, and that was really difficult,” the doctoral student recalled. “I mean, we didn't even have the names of the people who did incredible things, like free themselves, and then buy land and homes for their families.” Finally, one hand-drawn map of Newark’s New London Road neighborhood unlocked the names of a burgeoning Black community. These families owned their land years before owning other people was outlawed in the U.S., or just down the street. Others even fought in the Civil War. This University of Delaware graduate student plugged away at her research with the help of UD archives, professors and local historians. By 2022, she published a paper that even surprised living decedents. “This was the first time I really felt like I was doing work alongside these community members,” said the student of preservation studies, who had just left a museum job that felt too detached. “And the impact – it didn't matter if my work was published in an academic journal, which would have been a previous goal – it really was sharing it with the community members who it mattered to the most.” It was published on a university-hosted website, among some five years' worth of other student and faculty work exploring the history of slavery, segregation and Black history around UD. Now, it’s gone. Over the past year, Delaware’s largest university has been quietly reacting to pressure under a second Trump administration, while fine-tuning a “long-term strategy” to review campus practices on diversity and inclusion. In one small part, that has included taking down a website dedicated to research. Gupta’s work was published in one area of the broader “UD Anti-Racism Initiative." This site now reroutes users to a letter announcing the “Campus Culture and Engagement” initiative. On this Newark campus, the past year has hummed along like any other for many. But for some faculty and diverse student leaders, they sense an ongoing air of confusion and uncertainty. “I think it's just another act of erasure for this history,” Gupta said. “And it absolutely demonstrates how easy it can be. It took us so much time to do this work, and it felt like such a drop in the bucket.”
February 3, 2026 at 2:16 PM
dael.bsky.social
Despite claiming joint production at the top of the page, at the bottom of the article it says "the editorial staff of Spotlight Delaware had no role in its production."

It's almost like this group – with the help of @spotlightdelaware.bsky.social – is paying to intentionally mislead readers!
February 2, 2026 at 3:59 PM
dael.bsky.social
These articles are framed as straight civics journalism "designed to help readers understand how state government works and how budget decisions affect everyday life in Delaware."

They're marked as sponsored, but the header says they are "produced jointly by Delaware LIVE and Spotlight Delaware"
February 2, 2026 at 3:56 PM
dael.bsky.social
A new shadowy advocacy group just jumped into the fight over Delaware's corporate franchise – and they're presenting themselves an apolitical "civics" organization, under the cover of @spotlightdelaware.bsky.social

Meet the "Alliance to Protect Delaware's Future"
February 2, 2026 at 3:51 PM
dael.bsky.social
"It's the Quality"
Jeff started away, then yawned, stretched out his arms, and rubbed his eyes, removing a the accumulated "sleep" from the corners. "Rheum," he recalled, clearing his throat and buckling his seat belt, that's the medical term for the gunk that stores up in your eyes while you doze. Why that flotsam factoid could stay stuck in his mind even while his reason for going on this way washed away without a trace, he couldn't say. Too early for philosophy, he thought, and too late. Twisting his wrist to turn the Lincoln's engine over, he shifted the land yacht into gear and swung it toward the donut drive-through across the parking lot (oddly anatomical, he thought, segmented like a worm). Maybe at The Don Hole he'd find teh caffeine, sugar, and will to live he was looking for, amid LA's 5am haze.
February 2, 2026 at 3:01 PM
dael.bsky.social
But lower down on the *same page* the Gov states that his recommended budget depends on the assumption that "the cap on Escheat funds deposited into the General Fund" can be raised from $554m to $614m, and thus yield $60m more for spendings in FY27. /2
February 1, 2026 at 5:30 PM
dael.bsky.social
I'm missing something crucial about the fiscal mechanisms of the State of Delaware.

In his recommended budget, Gov. Meyer notes that expected revenues from "unclaimed property" (escheat) were $404m in FY26, and are expected to b $424m in FY27.

So far, so good/ 1
Unclaimed Property - Any debt obligation that has gone unclaimed or undelivered, or security that has remained undelivered for three or more years after the date the owner should have received it, or was entitled to claim it, must be reported to the State as unclaimed property. DEFAC estimates (net of refunds) are $404.0 million for Fiscal Year 2026 and $424.0 million for Fiscal Year 2027.
February 1, 2026 at 5:27 PM
dael.bsky.social
It notes the museum is claiming an operating loss of $13m for the year (2025) – but they reported a net surplus of 27m last year, and similar-scale surpluses in recent years (except 2023). That’s on top of a significant endowment & good investment returns.

projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/o...
February 1, 2026 at 4:18 AM
dael.bsky.social
THE AWAKENING OF RHODE ISLAND

Sources: archive.org/details/sim_...
February 1, 2026 at 3:29 AM
dael.bsky.social
Sure, everyone wants to talk about how General Motors popularized consumer financing as an industrial growth strategy, but nobody wants to talk about the uh "topography" they put in the background of their sales pamphlets
A pamphlet with title "Buying a Chevrolet out of Income." Image is of a 1920s sedan driving down a dirt road in front of a small chalet in mountainous terrain with a solitary landscape designed apparently by H. R. Giger
February 1, 2026 at 3:16 AM
dael.bsky.social
Next time someone argues that better/more civics education in K-12 or higher education is critical to solving America's problems, I want them to look at this org chart created and published by the Office of the Governor of Delaware – and explain why remedial classes shouldn't start w/ electeds.
"State of Delaware Organizational Chart" produced by the Gov of Delaware's office, which doesn't have VOTERS at the top, but rather "Residents" and doesn't distinguish between the two. As the ICE Raids the gov has decried by not taken action to arrest illustrate, RESIDENTS have no rights, here. https://budget.delaware.gov/budget/fy2027/documents/operating/appendix.pdf
January 31, 2026 at 4:33 PM
dael.bsky.social
The family-owned company that builds integrated logistics and sales software platforms for real estate investors and traffics in concentration camp warehouses describes itself as “fun.”
PLATFORM VENTURES WE ARE... Fun We are passionate about what we do and our business partners. Having fun is central to Platform Ventures and what we believe is the key to a successful business.
January 31, 2026 at 4:34 AM
dael.bsky.social
Behind every (alleged) great crime lies a Delaware business entity registration form, a continuing series…

Platform Ventures, LLC, the KC “entrepreneurial investment firm” that recently sold a warehouse to ICE as a prison, is a DE company, file no. 4578699, reg. agent CSC. (Their funds are DE, too)
January 31, 2026 at 4:32 AM
dael.bsky.social
This is where it gets tricky. From 2017-2025, Delaware NEVER COLLECTED in *initial revenues* more than $554million in "unclaimed" property from corporation escheatment. (There is also banking escheatment, aka abandoned bank accts).

Data from data.delaware.gov/Government-a...
January 30, 2026 at 6:46 PM
dael.bsky.social
The DBT write-up says that the Gov plans to 'raise the cap' on how much is pulled from 'unclaimed property' contributions to the general fund, to bring it up to $614 million dollars.

(The overall budget proposed is 6.94 billion, so that would be just short of 9% of the overall budget)
The budget also proposes raising the cap on unclaimed property’s contribution to the general fund to $614 million. Since more than 60% of Fortune 500 companies and more than two million legal entities are incorporated in Delaware, the state can seize unclaimed property – like abandoned bank accounts, money order, life insurance plans and more.
January 30, 2026 at 6:43 PM