NATIONAL MASON JAR DAY UPDATES
They Hold Pickles! They Hold Flowers! They Hold Beer! MASON JARS ARE AWESOME!!
-Is today the last day in Congress for "Rep." "George Santos" ("R", "NY")? "Santos" seems to think so, as he has a press conference scheduled today in which he is expected to call his colleagues bullies for daring to allow someone indicted for stealing donors' credit cards to use for an Only Fans account (among many other indictments) to be held to account over them. (Dumb colleagues!) At the same time, “Santos” is reportedly readying a motion to try to throw out NY Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D), who pulled a fire alarm during a budget vote earlier this term. Congressional observers believe 90 Republicans are ready to vote him out - plenty enough with all 212 Democrats.
-But one person who will not vote to oust him is Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Jay-EE-zuz!, LA), who may be worried that the seat has a very good chance of going Democratic (the district voted for Biden). Another reason for Johnson to try to keep "Santos" in his seat: it would be another vote for the sham Biden impeachment proceeding, which Johnson now appears to be favoring after initially expressing skepticism. It is not hard to think that Johnson changed his mind after a pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago to see Ex-President Trump XCI - and Johnson now claiming Trump's two impeachments were pure political acts while Biden has committed ... something something something HUNTER!
-It will probably now shock everyone not one bit that, according to a new book by Lynn Cheney (R-Still a Cheney, WY), Johnson had a reputation for being very easy to butter up by Trump. Also, Johnson (according to Cheney) was a central figure in the Congressional attempt to try to prevent Biden from getting the Electoral College votes in 2021 that Biden won by defeating Trump in 2020. The book is taking off and is number 1, much to the undoubted consternation of UltraMAGA Party Leader Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's (Z-Q-R, GA) new book, which remains ensconced around number 10,000 in Amazon tallies.
-As for Trump, in between renewed attacks on the Affordable Care Act and bragging about a 'medical report' claiming he is fit as a fiddle and rocking those cognitive tests, he took to the social medias to attack MSNBC - or "MSDNC" in that Trump wit we have all come to know whether we want to or not - and their use of "FREE government approved airwaves" to create "ELECTION INTERFERENCE" (apparently by reporting on things Trump posts on social media, for example) and vowing in his best supervillain voice that a new Trump Presidency will "make them pay for their illegal political activity." MSNBC is a cable news outlet who pays cable and streaming services to carry the channel and therefore literally does NOT use government approved airwaves.
-But in other news, Joe Biden is aged from a perspective of the number of birthdays he has had, so ... BOTHSIDES!
-Speaking of social media, after seeing a mass exodus from his social media site because of supporting anti-semitic posts that have become legion on the site, Elon Musk appeared at a New York Times-sponsored conference to answer for the turn to the ugly that Twitter/X has taken. His charming answer, repeated several times as quoted here, was to tell all the advertisers and long-time account holders who are leaving to ... let me get this exactly right ... "Go fuck yourselves. ... Go fuck yourselves! ... Go. Fuck. Your. Selves. ... GFY." He also told host Andrew Ross Sorkin that the only reason he agreed to appear at the forum was because ... and this is another direct quote ... "The only reason I am here, Jonathan, is because you are a friend." Womp womp …
-Henry Kissinger is dead - or, as Rolling Stone put it in their headline, "Henry Kissinger, War Criminal Beloved by America's Ruling Class, Finally Dies." That the two warmest encomiums for the man who recommended the secret bombing of Cambodia and supported Augusto Pinochet's regime of butchery in Chile have come from Trump right hand Stephen Miller and Vladimir Putin tells you all you need to know ...
-THIS JUST IN: MSNBC and Peacock host Mehdi Hasan - an outspoken critic of the Israel/HAMAS War - has had his nightly and weekend shows cancelled, though he will remain with the service as a fill-in host and commentator. His Sunday evening show will be replaced by an "ensemble" show as 2024 election coverage builds steam.
-If you are a dog owner - and therefore a superior human - you likely have heard that there is a worrying and mysterious respiratory illness spreading throughout the country (14 states to date, including CA and IL). Symptoms are like a human flu - cough, runny nose, loss of appetite, lethargy - and so far whatever the malady is seems resistant to normal antibiotics. Its cause is unknown, and owners are being told to be careful about boarding dogs in communal kennels and playing in dog parks and keep up their vaccinations, including for canine influenza and parainfluenza.
-In closing, we have the year-end awards and lists rolling out, so the first of interest is the Merriam-Webster Word of the Year. For 2023, that word is ... "AUTHENTIC." "Authentic" came out on top over runners-up "deepfake," "rizz," "EGOT," "X," and "elemental." Authentically-writing ... congratulations!
-On this date in 1782, the final set of documents formally ending the American Revolution were signed. On this date in 1886, the Follies Bergere opened in Paris. On this date in 1993, the Brady Bill was signed into law - one of the last gun control laws in the United States. On this date in 1999, Exxon and Mobil merged. And on this date in 2004, Ken Jennings' 74-game-winning JEOPARDY! streak came to an end.
-Notable releases on this date: the first German Beer Purity Law (1487), UNSAFE AT ANY SPEED (1965), PINK FLOYD THE WALL (1979), THRILLER and GANDHI (1982).
-Happy Birthday to Jonathan Swift, Mark Twain, Winston Churchill, Gordon Parks, Efren Zimbalist, Jr., Virginia Mayo, Allan Sherman, Shirley Chisholm, Richard Crenna, Robert Guillaume, Joe B. Hall, Dick Clark, Bill Walsh, Abbie Hoffman, Ridley Scott, Terrence Malick, Luther Ingram, Paul Westphal, Mandy Patinkin, Shuggie Otis, June Pointer, Billy Idol, Kevin Conroy, Colin Mochrie, Bo Jackson, Ben Stiller, DuShon Monique Brown, Ivan Rodriguez, Ray Durham, Clay Aiken, Gael Garcia Bernal, Elisha Cuthbert, Chrissy Teigen, and Kaley Cuoco.
-Rest in Peace/Rest in Power to Oscar Wilde, Mary Harris "Mother" Jones, Ernst Lubitsch, Terrence Rattigan, Zeppo Marx, Norman Cousins, Lionel Stander, Tiny Tim, Gertrude Ederle, Evel Knievel, Paul Walker, Jim Nabors, Christine McVie, John Hadl, and today, Shane MacGowan.
-Feed the Worms: Watergate punk G. Gordon Liddy, vastly overrated sexist dramatist David Mamet, and SD Gov. Kristi Noem entered Earth on this date.
-George H.W. Bush passed away on this date. You decide if he Rests in Peace/Power or if he Feeds the Worms.