Good Monday morning.
Here is what’s on 46 agenda today:
- 10am: The President and The Vice President receive the President’s Daily Brief
- 2pm: The President delivers remarks on how his Build Back Better Act will lower the costs of prescription drugs for millions of Americans
Two minutes of hate:
Over the weekend, one of the nation’s premier political tabloids, CNN, had a predictable and tired freak out because Rep. Thomas Massie revealed his annual Christmas card showing all the members of his beautiful family holding guns. (Can I get on your Christmas card list, sir?) To add insult to injury, Massie asked Santa to put some ammo under the family tree. (Santa, also Liz would like some ammo with a preference for Fiocchi 8 shot target loads. I’m Jewish and don’t have a tree but you can leave it with the security team that guards my compound at an undisclosed location. Thx.) The freak out was because We Just Had a School Shooting, How Can You Be So Insensitive?™
Of course there’s no connection or relationship between a deranged school shooter or violent criminal and law abiding hunters, sportsmen and Americans exercising their right to keep and bear arms, but the media has been brainwashing its low-information audience to associate responsibility for gun violence and crime with guns and not with the agent responsible for deliberate and deadly actions.
Merry Christmas! 🎄
ps. Santa, please bring ammo. 🎁 pic.twitter.com/NVawULhCNr— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) December 4, 2021
If someone in your family has been the victim of gun violence, you should direct your anger at the individual responsible for the violence. A firearm has no agency, it can’t fire itself. Just like we don’t blame Toyota for the choices and actions of a drunk driver who kills someone driving a Corolla, we don’t blame inanimate objects that are misused by malefactors. However, I should add, this equation is contingent upon both the agent and target of any given violent action. Kyle Rittenhouse, for example is responsible for the way he used his firearm while the politically inconvenient murderer Darrell Brooks Jr., who intentionally drove an SUV into a Christmas parade to kill people, is no longer mentioned or discussed in the news.
On Saturday, the Washington Post ran a hit piece on the Veep Kamala. The Post story is just one of many, recent hot take media packages to drag the vice president through the mud. Kamala has been in the headlines because two high profile staffers quit their jobs during the past few weeks. To add intrigue to injury, there is buzz about a kerfuffle between her and Secretary of Transportation Mayor Pete. Word on the swamp street is that Kamala will need to be replaced by a more viable heir to the democrats’ political throne. Kamala is very unpopular and it is obvious Let’s Go Brandon is not going to run for a second term. Who will take over? The Democrats clearly don’t have confidence in Kamala because the media is serving up crusty stories to prepare us for when she gets voted off Brandon Island. None of the articles you see in the media are organic, they are placed and pitched by different power brokers vying for the upper-hand in political narrative-framing. Essentially the corporate media just running one giant political commercial masquerading as hard news.
But the quartet of soon-to-be-empty desks reignited questions about why Harris churns through top-level Democratic staff, an issue that has colored her nearly 18 years in public service, including her historic but uneven first year as vice president. Now, those questions about her management extend to whether it will hamper her ability to seek and manage the presidency.
According to her former staffers, the issue isn’t just that she’s a mean girl boss, it’s that she’s a lazy mean girl boss.
Staffers who worked for Harris before she was vice president said one consistent problem was that Harris would refuse to wade into briefing materials prepared by staff members, then berate employees when she appeared unprepared.
“It’s clear that you’re not working with somebody who is willing to do the prep and the work,” one former staffer said. “With Kamala you have to put up with a constant amount of soul-destroying criticism and also her own lack of confidence. So you’re constantly sort of propping up a bully and it’s not really clear why.”
Far be it from me to defend Harris, but she wasn’t chosen for her competence, she was chosen because she’s a girl and she’s black. Biden explicitly said so before announcing his choice for vice president. Looks like Secretary Mayor Pete and his bang up job of handling the supply chain crisis, is next in line for an attempt at the Oval.
46:
Kamala Harris described as a ‘bully’ and ‘soul destroying’ boss
Biden heading to Kansas City to promote infrastructure package
House Democrats Won’t Schedule Vote on Bill to Sanction Chinese Slave Labor
US expected to announce diplomatic boycott of Beijing Olympics soon: report
Omar says she’s ‘confident’ Pelosi will take action in Islamophobia controversy
US military’s hacking unit publicly acknowledges taking offensive action to disrupt ransomware operations
November jobs report disappoints after recent gains
Civil unrest:
Black parents say movement to ban critical race theory is ruining their children’s education
Texas cop shot dead in ‘senseless act of violence’ outside grocery store
Michigan AG reaches out to high school with offer to probe school shooting
Michigan school shooting: Man identifies himself as person accused of helping alleged gunman’s parents
Michigan superintendent announces independent investigation of actions leading up to Oxford High shooting
Shooting outside Memphis’ Graceland kills two teen girls
Columbia graduate student stabbed to death in NYC: report
Virginia to begin removal process of Robert E. Lee statue pedestal in Richmond, governor says
Coronavirus news:
Fauci says early reports encouraging about omicron variant
Cruise ship with COVID-19 infections arrives in New Orleans
FDA in talks to streamline authorization of Omicron-specific vaccine
Vaccinated face ‘low’ risk at holiday gatherings despite Omicron: surgeon general
‘Vaccines don’t make you free’: Thousands protest COVID-19 measures in Brussels
Connecticut governor predicts omicron won’t lead to surge in hospitalizations in state
Gottlieb: Variant-specific vaccines ‘may not work’
NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins: ‘Certainly possible that this is not the last emerging variant’
Maryland man allegedly distributed over 600 fake vaccine cards, faces federal charges
Mix-and-match J&J Covid booster raised immune response after Pfizer vaccine, study finds
Other morsels:
RIP Bob Dole. A life in photos: Bob Dole (1923-2021)
Scientists made tiny xenobots out of frog cells. Now they say those robots can reproduce.
Trump brokers deal to remake the field in N.C. Senate race
‘That’s When I Realized He Was A F*cking Idiot’: Trump Slams General Milley For Past Military Advice
CBP seizes $30 million shipment of fake handbags and clothing ahead of holidays
And that’s all I’ve got, now go beat back the angry mob!