New Year, New World, Sigh 🤡 🥂 ✡️🌻✡️🌻✡️ 🤡 🥂 

Catching Up:  Right before Christmas two Republicans, NY’s Andrew Garbarino and Ohio’s David Joyce, flipped their votes to join with all the Democrats on the House Ethics Committee and as a result, despite the opposition of Republican leadership, the report detailing Panhandle Putz Matt Gaetz’s crimes and transgressions was released. The report found substantial evidence that Gaetz had violated state and federal laws, as well as a bunch of House rules.  It provides details about his many encounters with and payments mostly via Venmo and other like apps to prostitutes, the sex he had at least twice with a teen when she was an underage high school junior (that’s rape by Florida law), his illicit drug use, and his use of House facilities to arrange for some of his illegal activities.  Little in the report was a surprise.  His behavior was gross but it’s also gross and outrageous that he was Trump’s first pick to serve as Attorney General. This should be the end of Gaetz, but it isn’t because he’s due to join One America News Network as an anchor in January, he still has political aspirations, and he’s from Florida, the home of broken MAGA toys. Speaking of MAGA Floridians, Trump started his Christmas holiday by issuing one of his increasingly demented holiday messages. In it he called all his opponents “Radical Left Lunatics,” he cast aspersions on Canada and Panama while also being rude to President Biden who had way too graciously welcomed him to the White House after his election victory. On the subject of Canada, Trump then suggested that former hockey player Wayne Gretzky become its Prime Minister, or as he put it run to become Governor of what he’s taken to calling the 51^st state, because in addition to wanting to grab back the Panama Canal and glom on to Greenland, he has eyes on Canada too.  Nothing normal, but very Trumpian. Keep an eye on the presidential transition, while no one expects Democrats to attack the capitol, House Republicans may throw a few wrenches into things if they follow through on threats to oust Mike Johnson from his Speaker post.  They don’t appear to have a suitable replacement lined up but that didn’t stop them last time.   

Live and Let Die:  Before the holiday, President Biden commuted the death sentences of 37 of the 40 Federal inmates on death row. The three exceptions were Robert Bowers, convicted for the mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue; Dylann Roof, convicted of the shooting at the Mother Emanuel AME Church; and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev who was convicted of the Boston Marathon bombing. None of the prisoners whose sentences were commuted were pardoned, they will all serve the rest of their lives in jail. Biden has long opposed imposing death sentences and during his presidency no federal prisoner have been executed so his action wasn’t surprising.  Trump however is all in on the death penalty, during his last administration 13 federal prisoners were executed.  He has promised to aggressively pursue its use once he’s back in office.  I am no fan of the death penalty for a variety of moral and practical reasons though I understand its appeal to those who have lost loved ones. Morality and emotions aside, imposing the death penalty is significantly more expensive than imposing a life sentence without parole, with estimates showing it costs between $700,000 and $1 million per case above and beyond the cost of life incarceration, due to the complex legal proceedings, lengthy appeals process, and specialized security requirements involved in capital cases. That money could be better spent elsewhere, maybe the DOGE guys should considering include that in their bucket of savings.

Flip Flopping:  There was a time when Trump was all in on banning Tik Tok.  In fact, four years ago he called the Chinese owned company a threat to US national security.  However, that was before Jeffrey Yass one of Tik Tok owner ByteDance’s major US investors contributed to his campaign and before some Tik Tok executives visited him at Mar a Lago, checkbook in hand, so now he’s asked the Supreme Court to overturn the ban passed by Congress which is intended to force Tik Tok’s Chinese owners to sell it to a US entity.  Absent a stay by the Supreme Court, the ban is due to go into effect in January. Trump’s current position is that Tik Tok is great because it’s a “unique medium for freedom of expression.”  On the subject of free speech, world’s richest man Elon Musk, that other advocate of free expression when that speech agrees with him, muzzled some MAGA voices on X this weekend.  Their transgression: they spoke out against his side kick Vivek Ramaswamy after he advocated for the expansion of the H1-B visa program.  H1-B Visas allow employers to hire skilled foreign workers in specialty occupations like technology, authorizing the “temporary” employment of qualified individuals who are not otherwise authorized to work in the U.S.  In addition to endorsing the H1-B program Vivek attacked the American system of education for rewarding prom kings over nerds, using a peculiar reference to the old Saved by the Bell TV program which he believed undervalued the “brilliance” of Screech as proof of his point. Vivek’s endorsement of the H1-B visas unleashed a torrent of protest from lots of MAGA types, especially those who’ve deluded themselves into believing that Trump who is currently married to his second immigrant wife is opposed to all immigrants rather than just opposed to the mostly brown ones crossing the border from Mexico or the Black ones from Haiti. In support of Vivek, Musk squelched posts from Trump fan Laura Loomer for her criticism of Vivek’s pro immigrant stance. Much to Loomer and also Steve Bannon’s dismay, Trump then weighed in on Musk and Vivek’s side claiming that H1-B visas are so awesome that he uses them to staff Mar a Lago. For the most part Mar a Lago is staffed by people with H2-B visas, the visas used for unskilled seasonal workers but then again, it’s not like Trump cares about truth or details.  However, he does still care about making benefactor Elon happy.  By the way, Elon isn’t much for truth either.  He took to X to claim that he came to the US on an H1-B visa.  However, the truth as admitted by his brother is that he first came here on a student visa which he almost immediately violated. Visas aren’t the only thing that Elon weighed in on this week.  He wrote an op ed that was published in Germany’s Welt am Sonntag newspaper where he doubled down on his support for the country’s far-right, as in Nazi sympathetic, AfD (Alternative for Germany) party, calling it the “last spark of hope” for the country. Musk who was born in South Africa, like other techie rich guy Peter Theil and venture capitalist David Sacks, have fond memories for the days when then South Africa was an apartheid nation ruled by a white minority.

Viral Musings:  To date most of the HSN1 bird flu cases in the US have affected animals, although 66 individuals have also been infected.  Fortunately, most of the human cases have been mild, however gene sequencing of the one severe case has shown signs that the virus is mutating in a manner that could make it more transmissible among humans.  A number of virus experts, the folks the MAGA community likes to demonize, are concerned that the HSN1 could spark another pandemic and are pushing for the development of a targeted vaccine but nothing to worry about because by the time the virus takes off, RFK Jr, you know the guy all in on eliminating raw milk restrictions who also opposes vaccinations and doesn’t want to fund vaccine research could be making health decisions.  Also, whooping cough, is on the upswing so if you aren’t up to date on your TDAP (tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis) shot now would be a good time to get one.

RIP Jimmy Carter.

#BringThemAllHomeNow