Don’t kill the messenger, folks!

Monday, November 8, 2021
BY BRIAN BEUTLER & CROOKED MEDIA


** -Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) on Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------

While you were enjoying your Friday evening, House Democrats did what for months they couldn’t and didn’t want to: passed one half of President Biden’s economic agenda without the other. We hope you enjoyed your long-overdue infrastructure weekend!

* Thirteen House Republicans joined all but six Democrats to pass Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure bill ([link removed]) , and send it to the White House for his signature. When it becomes law it will allocate hundreds of billions of dollars to building and repairing roads and bridges, public transit, and passenger rail, replacing lead water pipes, modernizing the electricity grid, and expanding broadband-internet access to rural communities. Among other things ([link removed]) .

* Why did Democrats change tacks? Particularly given months worth of evidence that centrist Democrats and corporate lobbyists wanted to decouple the BIF from the Build Back Better Act, to gain leverage over the latter? Well, it probably had something to do with the fact that months of gridlock eroded Biden’s approval ratings, and demoralized Democrats, setting them up to take a beating in Tuesday’s off-off year elections.

* It may also be the case that Democrats believe the Build Back Better Act is most of the way done and too big to fail. Most House Democrats, including progressive caucus chair Pramila Jayapal, supported the decision to delink the two bills; the agreement for their votes required the pass to also pass a measure setting up debate and a final passage vote on BBB, making it hard for House centrists to renege. The decision has spooked many progressives, who believe Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) are now free to double cross the party. But conservatives are just as certain ([link removed]) that Democrats wouldn’t have passed BIF without locking down both bills, and are furious at the 13 House Republicans who helped them seal the deal.

It’s also worth noting that the completion of the BIF is hugely and satisfyingly embarrassing for the GOP.

* After four years through which disgraced former president Donald Trump talked a big game but comprehensively failed to make any progress on infrastructure legislation, Biden logged hundreds of billions of dollars for needed, popular investments in less than a year. Biden took the opportunity to rub it in on Saturday ([link removed]) at a White House press event. “Well, finally: Infrastructure Week. I’m so happy to say that: Infrastructure Week.”

* It also creates an awkward situation ([link removed]) for the overwhelming majority of congressional Republicans who are left to explain why they voted against investments they claim to support and their constituents need. If it’s socialism, why did 19 GOP senators (including Mitch McConnell) and 13 House Republicans vote for it? If it’s good for the country, why did they oppose it? Presumably they’ll have answers at the ready when they start showing up at ribbon-cutting ceremonies.

The public may not have noticed yet, but Biden has managed in 10 months to secure a political holy grail: ending our longest war to focus on rebuilding America. And he did it in the face of relentless Republican opposition. First things first, Democrats need to pass the rest of Biden’s agenda. Then they need to spend every day reminding voters that if it were up to Republicans, none of it would’ve happened.

Check out the latest episode of Jon Favreau’s new weekly interview series Offline ([link removed]) with Jon Favreau. This week, host of Snapchat’s Good Luck America Peter Hamby talks to Jon about why Twitter has ruined political journalism, how the internet transformed the media business, and what a healthy, sustainable model of journalism might look like. New episodes of Offline ([link removed]) drop every Sunday in the Pod Save America feed.
[link removed]

The economic bounceback from the pandemic could leave Americans, particularly in colder climates and remote parts of the country, paying significantly more in energy bills than they did last winter ([link removed]) —something to keep in mind for when Republicans inevitably pretend to believe it’s all Joe Biden’s fault. Natural gas, which half of all households rely upon for winter heating, along with crude oil and propane, which help heat a smaller number of homes, have both about doubled in price since last winter. That reflects an increase in demand for energy as pandemic-related risks have fallen, but it also means people’s heating bills are likely to be higher this winter than in recent years—that is, unless the much larger problem of climate change delivers the country a milder-than-expected cold season. In anticipation of these costs, the Biden administration released most of the funds in the Low Income Home Energy
Assistance Program and is currently entertaining calls to provide other forms of relief, or even include heating assistance in the Build Back Better Act.
* The House January 6 committee has subpoenaed six more members of Trump’s inner circle ([link removed]) including John Eastman, Jason Miller, and Michael Flynn.

* The Atlanta district attorney is reportedly prepared to empanel a grand jury ([link removed]) to advance her criminal investigation of disgraced former president Trump’s efforts to overturn the election in Georgia.

* Three Republican-appointed judges, two nominated by Trump, blocked enforcement of Biden administration workplace vaccination rules ([link removed]) that aren’t even in effect yet.

* President Obama delivered a rousing call in Glasgow for countries to accelerate emissions reductions ([link removed]) and excoriated Republicans for “active hostility to climate science,” and Trump specifically for pulling out of the Paris accords unilaterally.

* The Justice Department seized $6 million in payments ([link removed]) from a Ukrainian hacker and accomplice who deployed REvil ransomware against an American company this summer.

* A California-based cybersecurity company says foreign hackers have infiltrated major organizations around the world ([link removed]) as part of an operation to steal data from U.S. defense contractors among others.

* NRSC chairman Rick Scott refused to say ([link removed]) whether Trump-backed Pennsylvania Senate candidate Sean Parnell, whose wife accused him under oath of strangling her and abusing their children, is the right man for the job.

* Multi-level-marketing schemers have showered Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) with donations, ([link removed]) based on their keen sense that she’ll protect them from congressional action if they give her enough money.

* Eight people died and scores suffered injuries on Friday when a crowd rushed the stage at rapper Travis Scott’s Astroworld music festival ([link removed]) in Houston, TX.

* Here’s Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) playing footsie with the notion of seceding from the union ([link removed]) and stealing military installations, the space program, and oil reserves from the United States.

* If you want to pay the Intellectual Dark Web to enroll in a fake university that doesn’t offer any degrees, ([link removed]) that may be something you can soon do to own the libs.

* Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) said the world’s richest man Elon Musk ought to pay more than $0 in taxes, so Musk said Wyden’s Twitter avatar makes it look like he just ejaculated ([link removed]) . Don’t kill the messenger, folks!

* Penis worms may have been hermitc before crabs ([link removed]) . Don’t kill the messenger, folks!

* Republicans are extremely mad at Big Bird ([link removed]) for trying to protect children from the deadly novel coronavirus.

Some of the nation’s most prominent coup-supporters conducted a pre-election exercise to game out what would happen if they tried to do a coup, ([link removed]) and you’ll never guess what happened next! But it turns out the aims and intentions of the pro-insurrection “intellectual” class are far more insidious and bloody than the events of January 6. In a fantastical report called “79 Days to Inauguration” Trump loyalists convened by the right-wing Claremont Institute and Texas Public Policy Foundation contemplated what their political allies might and should do in the event of a contested election, and it went way beyond storming the Capitol. In their imaginations, right-wing paramilitaries, operating with the cooperation of federal and local law-enforcement officers, would have had carte blanche to arrest anti-Trump protesters demanding, kill their leaders, and declare Trump
the winner.
[link removed]

Ready for a change of scenery?

Now is the perfect time to update your space with a fresh coat of paint from BACKDROP ([link removed]) , the new way to paint.

BACKDROP ([link removed]) makes the process of painting super easy and fun - from a curated color palette saving you four trips to the hardware store (and from the pain of spending hours in front of an infinite color wall) to 12x12” adhesive color swatches that stick and re-stick making the sampling process simple and mess free.

Their premium, low odor, low-VOC paint ships quickly, right to you in 1-2 business days, and they even have all the supplies you need to get your job done! They also have color consultations and a network of painters if you need an extra hand.

Backdrop is the first Climate Neutral Certified paint brand and a portion of each sale goes towards supporting displaced refugee families through their partnership with the International Rescue Committee.

Find your new backdrop now! What a Day readers get 20% off paint and supplies with code WHATADAY. ([link removed])


McDonalds employees in Bradford, PA, walked out in protest of meager wages and poor working conditions, ([link removed]) and most quickly landed in higher-paying jobs, in an example of the kind of small-scale collective labor action that has been playing out across the country since the pandemic began.

The Biden administration plans to undo a last-minute Trump order ([link removed]) exempting federal contractors who cite religious belief from rules prohibiting gender-idnetity and sexual-orientation discrimination.

A particular COVID-19 antibody appears to confer protection not just to the original SARS-CoV-2 virus, ([link removed]) but to variants and other coronaviruses as well.

Heinz was able to produce tomato-based ketchup in conditions engineered to mimic the climate on Mars ([link removed]) .
[link removed]

============================================================
. . . . . .
** ([link removed])

© Crooked Media 2021. All Rights Reserved.
If you want to manage which emails you receive from Crooked Media, ** update your preferences here ([link removed])
. If you prefer to opt out of all Crooked Media communications, you may ** unsubscribe ([link removed])
.
** Share this newsletter ([link removed])
7162 Beverly Blvd #212, Los Angeles, CA, 90036
** Powered by Mailchimp ([link removed])
** Twitter ([link removed])
** Facebook ([link removed])
** Link ([link removed])