INCONVENIENCE YOURSELF DAY UPDATES

It Just HAPPENS to ALSO Be Ash Wednesday - I Just Write, People!

-Legal experts have pushed back on what turned into a media tour by the lead juror of the Fulton County Grand Jury investigating Ex-President Trump’s efforts to flip the GA 2020 Presidential results won by President Biden. While there was no prohibition for the woman to speak out, a judge only released selected portions of their full report – which was strictly advisory in nature. With a second Grand Jury trying to decide who and what to indict on, fears that the woman’s interviews could be used by defense attorneys to argue a tainted jury or hindering a defense (not to mention potential threats to her by those angry at what she may be implying), the hope is that she will end her interviews with no further (and likely little) damage done.

-GOP House leader Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Z-Q-R, GA) happily accepted an offer to be interviewed by Sean Hannity yesterday to expand on her social media posts advocating “a national divorce” of red states from blue states to keep red state values “pure.” To that end, she opined that should such a “divorce” occur, she would be in favor of a law that would prevent anyone from a blue state – let’s call that “The United States” – from voting in this new red state nation – let’s call that “MAGAStan” – for five years, in order to allow “(MAGAStan) Red state values” to not be tainted by U.S. refugees. Hannity also showed a bullet point list of ‘advantages’ a “MAGAStan” would have, including control of educational curriculum and increased power of police (but not how “MAGAStan” would be funded, an issue given that blue state economies contribute far more to the American economy than red states, while red states tend to use more federal funds for social and infrastructure programs than they pay in).

-In 2024 campaign news, it’s declaration season for politicians interested in holding or moving up seats, with a lot of action in the Senate, where it is believed Democrats have a much tougher map to hold its slimmest-it-could-be one-vote majority. But they have gotten good news with announcements that two Democratic Senators currently holding seats in Republican states – John Tester in Montana and Sherrod Brown in Ohio – have announced they will run for re-election in those states. In addition, the CA Senate race to replace the retiring Dianne Feinstein continued to get loaded, as a third star CA House Progressive Representative – Barbara Lee – announced she will run for that seat, joining Katie Porter and Adam Schiff in that race.

-Meanwhile, new Presidential polling has some Democrats concerned. Five polls reveal that, in the mythical if-the-election-were-held-today world, President Biden would get soundly defeated (the average is 12.5%) by FL Gov. Ron DeSantis. That said, the election is NOT tomorrow, and there is still doubt that, despite many in the GOP hoping and praying DeSantis gets the 2024 nomination (he has not formally declared yet), many of those same polls reveal that, in what is likely to still be a multi-candidate field, DeSantis currently trails GOP Party Leader Ex-President Trump (who on President’s Day called for the National Guard to occupy cities with African-American Attorneys General (New York and Chicago prominent among them) as well as a federal takeover of school discipline. (I don’t know either …)

-The EPA has declared the town of East Palestine, OH, a disaster zone, allowing federal funding and cleanup to begin in the wake of a train accident that led to the burning off of highly toxic chemicals. The accident has become a flash point of Republicans, with OH Gov. Mike DeWine insisting he has followed the rules to this point and right-wing media trying to use the accident as an attack against the White House and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigeg. Ex-President Trump is reported to be readying a visit to the area today, and tomorrow environmental activist Erin Brockovich will be arriving in the area. Meanwhile, downwind of the accident, PA Gov. Josh Shapiro has announced he will sue Norfolk Southern, the train line that was transporting the chemicals and whose CEO has blown off at least one meeting with locals to discuss how the company will clean up their mess and try to prevent others.

-We close with progressive media news, and the announcement that the long-awaited debut of former Biden Press Secretary Jen Psaki’s MSNBC show will be March 19 at noon, with the somewhat utilitarian title INSIDE WITH JEN PSAKI. Jen became a progressive darling with regular “Psaki bombs” leveled against would-be gotcha questions lobbed at her by reporters, most regularly Fox News’ Peter “Yeah My Dad’s Been Hosting This Network’s Morning News Show For Decades – Ever Hear of Luke Russert?!” Doocy. Getcha brunch ready!

-On this date in 1959, Lee Petty won the first Daytona 500. On this date in 1980, the United States hockey team beat the Soviet Union 4-3 in the “Miracle on Ice” at that year’s Lake Placid Winter Olympics. On this date in 1997, the first mammal was cloned – a sheep in Britain named Dolly. And on this date in 2017, Jay-Z became the first rapper to be inducted into the Songwriting Hall of Fame.

-Happy Birthday to George Washington, Robert Baden-Powell, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Luis Bunuel, Robert Young, Sheldon Leonard, walkie-talkie inventor Al Gross, Charlie Finley, Don Pardo, Edward Gorey, Bud Yorkin, Sen. Ted Kennedy, Sparky Anderson, Ishmael Reed, Chet Walker, Jonathan Demme, Oliver, Niki Lauda, Ellen Green, Julius Erving, Kyle MacLachlan, Steve Irwin, Pebbles Flintstone, Vijay Singh, Rachel Dratch, Jeri Ryan, Clinton Kelly, Lee Salonga, Michael Chang, James Blunt, Drew Barrymore, and Rajon Rondo.

-Rest in Peace/Rest in Power to Amerigo Vespucci, Baron Munchausen, Florence Ballard, Andy Warhol, David Susskind, Ed Flanders, Chuck Jones, Daniel Pearl, Reggie Roby, Nanette Fabray, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and Mark Lanegan.