Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman files paperwork for 2022 Senate run
I am glad to hear this. He's gotten a great buoy of attention from this election and the Pennsylvania GOP's antics. He's been a voice of a normal joe for the Democrats, bringing a blue-collar sensibility and personality. I would love to see him in the Senate.
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$1.9 Trillion Covid Relief package passes Senate with VP Harris casting tie-breaking vote
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U.S. House strips Republican Greene of committee assignments
I hate the amount of crazy this loony is getting. She doesn't deserve it. It only helps her grow as a representative for the fringe conservatives, seeing her as attacked. "This is America, of course she can believe whatever she wants!" Just shove this shitstain under the rug and let's ignore her and not make her a star.
I also loved the note that someone on Reddit posted: the person to announce the total of the votes was Rep. Jahana Hayes who represents Newtown, CT. (where Sandy Hook took place.)
Lastly, the votes between removed Greene by GOP was 11 members, the votes to remove Liz Cheney from her committees was 61 members of the GOP. Just disgusting and absurd two-faced nature.
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Elizabeth Warren is being mischaracterized by people not reading what she's writing
Sen. Warren's (gods I wish I was saying President Warren's) sent a letter to the SEC around the Gamestop events of the week. I am definitely guilty of sharing or only reading the minimum required to think I understand something, but if the last few months have taught us anything it is critical we stop and actually read and understand. To be fair, her tweet on it didn't do her any favors, but she is so sharp and what she is asking is so pointed, I just admire her so much.
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George Takei with the stone cold take and reminder that the GOP lives "Rules for thee, not for me"
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Biden is staffing for a commission on Supreme Court reform
I am not a liberal who is gung-ho about changing the Supreme Court. But I am also not a constitutionalist, or the equivalent. I am all for a careful evaluation of our current government systems, in all branches, and an indepth study about what problems there are and what proposed fixes might be, then further investigation about repercussions of those changes, repeated out several levels of depth. It would be a slow and painful process to ensure that a change is really needed, and that any resolution or fix is carefully considered.
I regard changing something like the Supreme Court as akin to a change to a computer system's BIOS. It is something that can be done, but it cannot be done willy-nilly. It is a very serious piece of change.
So, for those reasons, I am glad to see Biden taking the first steps to make exactly that sort of in-depth investigation, knowing it is a long road ahead of us.
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Biden revives push to put Tubman on the $20
Let's get Jackson off the currency and hopefully we can start adding more contemporary American heroes to US currency. Scientists, inventors, civil rights, suffrage movement, etc. Plenty of people important to honor beyond the founding fathers and Presidents.
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Happy In-dog-uration
Today is the day that Champ and Major, the first dogs, arrive at the Whitehouse. The Bidens wanted to settle in before bringing the dogs from Delaware.
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John Fetterman had a moment this past campaign, I will be curious to see where his political career takes him
"Getting on Twitter every morning's like starting the day with a dog-turd-and-motor-oil smoothie," Fetterman told contributor Mark Whitaker. "It's horrible. You gotta form that phalanx and push back against that. And I do that in a way that mixes kind of humor and mockery with cold, hard facts."
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It seems unlikely Trump will build a presidential library
Some good insights into Presidential libraries. It definitely corrected and informed me as I assumed they were part of a natonal program, rather than something done individually before being donated to the government. It also highlights the obstacles building one is likely to face, things we know Trump is not good at dealing with. It's most likely that someone else builds one under Trump's branding as some sort of licensing endeavor.
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Janet Yellen Offers US Senate a More Nuanced Take on Crypto
First off, I had no idea there were articles on NASDAQ's website. Second, I agree with Yellen. Cryptocurrencies aren't going away, it is in the interest of the government to figure them out and figure out how to extend their reach into them.
"I think we need to look closely at how to encourage their use for legitimate activities while curtailing their use for malign and illegal activities," she wrote. "If confirmed, I intend to work closely with the Federal Reserve Board and the other federal banking and securities regulators on how to implement an effective regulatory framework for these and other fintech innovations."
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Austin confirmed as first Black defense secretary
93-2 vote in the Senate. I bet you can guess one of the nay votes. No, not Rand Paul. It was Josh Hawley of Missouri and Mike Lee of Utah.
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EFF Transition Memo to Incoming Biden Administration
The Electronic Frontier Foundation puts together a memo for each new President about the issues they perceive as needing to be addressed. The one for Biden is excellent and provides also a good primer for most people about digital issues to consider their stance on.
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Joe Biden names Jessica Rosenworcel acting FCC chair
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An interesting factoid from her Wikipedia page (so, verify it - don't just trust me) is that she's the sister to the drummer for the band Guster.
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White House communications director: 'Biden is not going to be breaking news at 1am on Twitter'
I said almost this exact thing to a friend a few nights ago. I no longer have to wake up and wonder what the most powerful man in the world said as he sat awake at 3am. It's a wonderful feeling.
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Senate Dems file ethics complaint against two jackasses
Cruz and Hawley are facing an ethics complaint from a group of Democrats over their behavior following the election challenge.
The letter, led by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), requests that the panel investigate several issues, including whether Cruz (R-Texas) and Hawley (R-Mo) encouraged the violent Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol; whether they coordinated with organizers of the pro-Trump rally immediately before the riot; whether they received donations from any organizations or donors that also funded the rally; and whether the senators "engaged in criminal conduct or unethical or improper behavior."
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Biden inheriting nonexistent coronavirus vaccine distribution plan and must start 'from scratch,' sources say
So, I get the Republicans wanting to push states over country, but there are events where it has to be nationally driven. If another country decided to invade the US, they wouldn't make states defend themselves. A national pandemic is the same thing. Over 400,000 people died because of their mismanagement, what could that number have been? 100,000? Lower?
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Joe Biden has ties to US Soccer, from the Philadelphia Union to helping pitch for the 2026 World Cup
"It's the most unusual sporting event I've ever attended, and I've attended thousands probably in my career," said Biden, who's been to three World Cups (two men's, one women's). "It's a feel, and you can feel it even before you get anywhere near the stadium. You can feel it before you even land. It's in the air. It's a palpable sense of energy that I've never quite experienced before. And it's consequential. It is the most consequential sporting event in the world, and it's amazing how not just interested, but how deeply, deeply, deeply passionate every country is about the World Cup."
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I have to admit, I knew the name Cesar Chavez but didn't actually know anything about him. I am assuming some of you are the same. He was born in Arizona in 1927 to Mexican parents. Grew up Catholic and fought for farm workers rights, founding (along with Dolores Huerta) National Farm Workers Association which has merged and morphed into the United Farm Workers Labor Union. He fought for the farm workers rights, organizing peaceful protests and strikes, inspired by Gandhi and using elements of his Roman Catholicism in their activities. Many considered him a communist subversive during his efforts. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously in 1994.
Further reading:
He also has an autobiography, which I will be adding my pile of unread books.
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