BUBBLEGUM DAY UPDATES
To Go With The Good Old Boys Drinking Whiskey and Rye
-House Republicans checked off the last of their list of retaliatory committee appointment strikes against Democrats by voting yesterday to oust Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Squad, MN) from the Foreign Affairs Committee, ostensibly for statements they claim were anti-Semitic (but were actually anti-Israeli policy against Palestine, which Omar has long ago apologized for). Democrats noted over and over multiple anti-Semitic statements made by numerous Republicans that voted for the measure, including Rep. Kevin McCarthy (SINO-R, CA) and Party Leader Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Z-Q-R, GA), who is believed to be the primary driver of the move. Even this vote, however, needed a week for McCarthy to put together, needing to whip the vote in order to ensure its passage. Democrats also noted Omar’s race, gender, and country of origin in their impassioned defense, and Omar herself promised not to be silenced by the move.
-In more GOP legislative news, wannabe 2024 GOP Presidential favorite Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL, man), fresh off appearing to cow the national College Board to neuter its African-American advanced placement curriculum and orders that K-12 schools in that state remove any number of books that advance African-American history and LGBTQI tolerance, is now making a move that might even be a bit too draconian for Margaret Atwood. The FL High School Athletic Association has proposed a measure that would require any girl in the state who wanted to compete in varsity sports to submit information about their menstrual cycles to school officials. The reasons are medically unnecessary and sociologically disturbing, but allows DeSantis to "guarantee" that girls who play in girls sports are actually girls - par for the course for a man whose argument for the White House will be that he apparently can be more authoritarian towards more non-cisgendered-whites than even his hero, Ex-President Trump.
-DeSantis also continued to build his Biggest Owner Of DA LIBZ platform by proposing tax credits for anyone who purchased gas stoves, hopping on to one of the louder anger-generating non-issues in right-wing media in recent months, hopping on to a report that there may be toxic emissions from natural gas stoves that might some day lead to an end to the appliances in most American homes. The White House has reiterated they are NOT looking to ban gas stoves even though the Infrastructure Act does give healthy tax credits to anyone that buys more energy-efficient appliances – or, in Right-Wing Speak, forcing the March To Socialism by carrying hot pans without oven mittens, just like Hunter Biden wants you to be.
-You probably need some good news about now, so here are a couple of quick notes …
-Good News 1: A federal judge in WI ruled that a wrongful death lawsuit can be filed against right-wing hero Kyle Rittenhouse, the IL resident who was driven to a Black Lives Matter rally in WI and proceeded to kill two marchers with little provocation – and whose staged tears nonetheless convinced a jury that he was the victim. Rittenhouse has used his notoriety to build a ‘portfolio’ in right-wing circles that include everything from speaking engagements in conferences to a shoot-‘em-up video game endorsement, along with whining about not being able to get into college or eat meals because people unfairly think of him as a murderer.
-Good News 2: Newly-sworn-in Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R-AR) has been selected to deliver the official GOP response to next week’s State of the Union address. This is good news because such addresses are generally thankless and are at best forgotten – and at worst, venues where national political ambitions amusingly crash and burn, as has happened in the past with the overly-chipper Bobby Jindal and the overly-parched Marco Rubio.
-And there is yet another massively positive jobs report today, with over 500,000 new jobs on the market in the first month of 2023 – a number nearly triple what analysts were expecting, and a number that seems to be countering a wave of layoffs by a number of Big Tech giants including Amazon and Meta. On top of that, wages are now rising at a rate of 4.4%, and the Federal Bank started to slow its interest rate hikes amid tempering price hikes (oil is up slightly, but eggs are starting to get less expensive after the last of the avian flu epidemic which is the reason for those hikes ebbs) – and yes, Fox and Friends were laboring to find a way to discuss all of this while pivoting into anti-Biden stories. All Hail Dark Brandon!
-On this date in 1870, the 15th Amendment giving the right to vote to everyone regardless of race was ratified. On this date in 1913,the 16th Amendment creating a federal income tax was ratified. And on this date in 1959, the music died as Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Richie Valens were killed in a plane crash in Mason City, IA.
-Happy Birthday to Ferdinand Magellan, Felix Mendelssohn, Horace Greeley, Gertrude Stein, Larry MacPhail, Norman Rockwell, George Adamson, James Michener, Simone Weill, Joey Bishop, Henry Heimlich, Victor Buono, Michael Cimino, Fran Tarkenton, Blyth Danner, Bob Griese, Dave Davies, Melanie, Morgan Fairchild, Fred Lynn, Nathan Lane, Kerry Von Erich, Maura Tierney, Vlade Divac, Beau Biden, Rep, Ayanna Pressley (D-Squad, MA), Daddy Yankee, and Sean Kingston.
-Rest in Peace/Rest in Power to Johannes Gutenberg, Woodrow Wilson, Anna Mae Wong, Frank Oppenheimer, John Cassavetes, Nancy Kulp, Audrey Meadows, Al Lewis, Maria Schneider, Ben Gazzara, Joan Mondale, Jean-Pierre Bastiat, and Tony Trabert.
-Feed the Worms: former FBI Most Wanted bad guy Pretty Boy Floyd and high-tech fraudster Elizabeth Holmes entered Earth on this date.
-The #1 song in the United States on this date … in 2023, “Flowers” by Miley Cyrus … in 2013, “Thrift Shop” by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Wans … in 2003, “Bump Bump Bump” by B2K featuring P. Diddy … in 1993, “I Will Always Love You” by Whitney Houston … in 1983, “Africa” by Toto … and in 1973, “Crocodile Rock” by Elton John.