Monthly Archives: January 2021

Texas State GOP Rep Files Bill For Secession From US

The Daily Beast reports: In Austin, Republican Kyle Biedermann of the Texas House of Representatives, previously best known for dressing up as “gay Hitler,” became the first American legislator in nearly a century and only the second since the Civil War to file a formal bill calling for state-level secession from the United States. Dubbed the “Texas Independence Referendum Act,” …

Read More »

Johnson Scurries To Stop Scottish Independence Move

Reuters reports: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited Scotland on Thursday to try to stem growing support for a new independence referendum by arguing that the COVID-19 pandemic had shown the benefits of staying together. The bonds that tie England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland together in a $3 trillion economy have been severely strained by both Brexit and Johnson’s …

Read More »

Kinzinger: My Vote To Impeach Could End My Career

CNN reports: “I did it knowing full well it could very well be terminal to my career,” Kinzinger said of his vote. “But I also knew that I couldn’t live with myself having, you know, try to just protect it and just felt like the one time I was called to do a really tough duty, I didn’t do it. …

Read More »

Republicans Demand Audit Of Vote For AZ GOP Chair

The Arizona Republic reports: After months of sounding the alarm on what she claimed was a stolen presidential election, Kelli Ward is facing questions about her own reelection Saturday as Arizona Republican Party chair. Sergio Arellano, the southern Arizona businessman who narrowly lost to Ward in a runoff, has asked state party officials for an audit of the election results, …

Read More »

Lucky Motorists Stranded With Vaccine Team Get Shots

From Oregon’s Josephine County: When Josephine County Public Health staff and volunteers concluded their mass vaccination event at the Illinois Valley High School this afternoon, they never guessed they might be setting up an impromptu clinic on the way back to Grants Pass. But that’s exactly what happened when a snowstorm stranded about 20 personnel on Highway 199 near Hayes …

Read More »

STUDY: Pfizer Vaccine Effective Against New Variants

The Hill reports: A Pfizer study released Wednesday determined that the mutations in the COVID-19 variants originally found in the United Kingdom and South Africa have “small effects” on the effectiveness of the company’s vaccine developed with BioNTech. The preliminary research, conducted by Pfizer and University of Texas Medical Branch scientists, concluded that the results showed no need for an …

Read More »

Carlson Compares Rioters To Moderate Republicans

“Rather than answer our questions or improve our lives, you’re bringing in people with guns to remind us that you are in charge, and dissent is illegal. “That’s a big change. You may have thought you were a decent American in good standing. “Ten years ago, nobody in this country would have called your views extreme. They weren’t extreme then. …

Read More »

Tanzanian President: COVID Vaccines “Don’t Work”

The New York Times reports: President John Magufuli of Tanzania, speaking to a large, unmasked crowd in the country’s northwest on Wednesday, questioned the efficacy of vaccines and discouraged the Ministry of Health from pursuing doses, saying the shots were not “beneficial” to the East African nation. “Vaccines don’t work,” Mr. Magufuli, 61, said in his speech. “If the white …

Read More »

Trump Won’t Appear At Senate Impeachment Trial

NBC News reports: Former President Donald Trump may submit a written letter in his defense for the Senate impeachment trial, contemplating the move as he expands his legal team less than two weeks before the proceedings are set to begin, according to two people familiar with the matter. And while he is considering such a statement, Trump is not planning …

Read More »

Giuliani’s Defamation Suit Defense: “I’m A Reporter”

Media Matters has the transcript: RUDY GIULIANI:  I’m going to fight it on legal grounds but I’ll also show — you know, I used to do defamation law for ten years, for the Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, the New York Daily News, kind of one of my specialties, so I get two defenses, right? Part of it — part of …

Read More »

Dem Rep Will Seek To Expel QAnon Rep From House

Politico reports: Rep. Jimmy Gomez wants Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene booted from Congress. The California Democrat announced on Wednesday that he planned to introduce a resolution to oust the conspiracy-theory-peddling Republican from Georgia after recent news reports revealed that Greene had previously called for violence against Democrats on social media. A two-thirds majority is required to expel a member from …

Read More »

Feds: Militias Began Plotting DC Assault In November

The Washington Post reports: Three self-styled militia members charged in the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol began soliciting recruits for potential violence within days of the 2020 presidential election, later training in Ohio and North Carolina and organizing travel to Washington with a busload of comrades and a truck of weapons, U.S. authorities alleged Wednesday. A four-count indictment …

Read More »

Fox Host: YouTube Is Better Than School Teachers

“Look, you know what? I think we’re over playing the importance of education. I mean, I actually have learned more in the pandemic from YouTube than from 12 years of school from eighth grade to high school. I mean, from first grade. “I’ve learned so much on my butt watching YouTube and I think we — I came to the …

Read More »

Facebook To Stop Pushing Political Content To Users

CNN Business reports: CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook is considering steps it can take to reduce the amount of political content in the News Feed. “One of the top pieces of feedback that we’re hearing from our community right now is that people don’t want politics and fighting to take over their experience on our services,” Zuckerberg said. Ahead of …

Read More »

Tuberville Lied About Pre-Riot Meeting At Trump Hotel

The Alabama Political Reporter reports: Alabama Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville through a spokeswoman Tuesday denied meeting with the then-director of the Republican Attorneys General Association and others inside Trump’s private residence at the Trump International Hotel on Jan. 5 — on the eve of the deadly U.S. Capitol attack. But a photo posted to social media appears to show Tuberville …

Read More »

QAnon/GOP Rep Complains That Media Doesn’t Report On Her “Thousands Of Really Nice Facebook Posts”

Newsweek reports: Police escorted a reporter from a town hall event in Dalton, Georgia after she attempted to ask Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) a question on Wednesday night. Meredith Aldis, a reporter for Tennessee NBC affiliate WRCB, was removed from the event immediately after questioning the congresswoman, according to the outlet. During Wednesday’s town hall, Greene portrayed herself as …

Read More »

West Palm Beach Condo Towers Dump Trump Name

Business Insider reports: The board of the Trump Plaza condominium complex in West Palm Beach has voted unanimously to remove Trump from its name. The vote comes after a violent insurrection by Trump supporters left five dead in early January. Trump later became the first president to get impeached twice. Residents of the complex will have to vote on a …

Read More »

CHATTER AWAY: Overnight Open Thread

CNBC reports: Apple delivered its largest quarter by revenue of all time on Wednesday at $111.4 billion in its first-quarter earnings report for fiscal 2021. It’s the first time Apple crossed the symbolic $100 billion mark in a single quarter, and sales were up 21% year-over-year. Apple’s results for the quarter ending in December weren’t just driven by 5G iPhone …

Read More »

McCarthy Begs GOP House Reps To Stop Infighting

CNN reports: House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy privately made a blunt appeal to his colleagues in the aftermath of the divisive fight to impeach former President Donald Trump: Stop attacking each other and instead focus on Democrats. “Cut that crap out,” McCarthy told his members. McCarthy said he’s had personal discussions with individual members and warned that a continued GOP …

Read More »

Florida’s Exclusive Vax Deal With Grocer Questioned

The Orlando Sentinel reports: As Floridians get increasingly antsy for COVID vaccines, there are growing questions about why Gov. Ron DeSantis granted Publix exclusive rights to provide vaccines in some places. Why only Publix, whose vaccine-appointment portal filled up 90 minutes after opening Wednesday? It’s only natural to wonder — especially after reading stories like: “Publix Vaccine Rollout Follows Grocer’s …

Read More »