01/31/23
Good morning! It’s Tuesday, January 31st. Brandy Alexander Day!
Hey – I made one of these! I’ve actually been genuinely surprised by how great Brandy is. This one’s been around since 1930 and is made with an ounce and a half of brandy, an ounce of crème de cacao, and an ounce of cream. Shake it up, double strain it, top it with some nutmeg if you want, and there you have it!
And now, the news.
Pakistan Mosque Bombing
-via AP News
We’ve got a big day of news, so let’s jump right in. Spoiler alert… lots of rough stories here today.
Starting in Pakistan where a suicide bomber struck a crowded mosque, causing the roof to collapse and killing at least 59 and injuring more than 150 others.
Most of the casualties were police officers, as this happened on a police compound. A commander for the Pakistani Taliban, or PTT, claimed responsibility on Twitter. However, hours later, a PTT spokesperson said it was not their policy to target mosques but did not clear up why the commander had claimed they responsibility earlier.
This was one of the deadliest attacks on security forces in years.
Half Moon Bay Update
-via NPR
Police believe the Half Moon Bay shootings were brought on by the suspect’s anger that he was asked to pay a $100 repair bill on a forklift.
The suspect also says he was bullied at work and complaints about the bullying, as well as long work hours, went ignored by his supervisor. He then shot his co-worker and supervisor, before shooting six more people – a total of 8, with 7 deaths.
Absolutely horrific.
Tyre Nichols Update
There is also an update on the fallout from the murder of 29 year old Tyre Nichols in Memphis. As a reminder, the video came out last week that showed five police officers savagely beating Tyre so badly that he died in the hospital three days later.
Three members of the Memphis Fire Department have been fired after they failed to properly assess and treat Tyre. And by “failed to properly treat” I mean… two emergency workers were two feet away from him and watch, for seven minutes, without doing anything to help. They arrived on scene, helped him sit up against the police car, and then… did nothing. It wasn’t until 15 minutes after they arrived on scene that even touched their bags.
Finally, more than 25 minutes later, an ambulance arrived and he was taken to the hospital.
Remember that I said three members of the Fire Department were fired, but only two were with Tyre. That’s because a third stayed in the truck.
Just a lack of even a shred of humanity across the board here.
We also learned on Monday that it’s a total of seven officers that were relieved of duty in early January, not just the five that were fired and have been charged with second-degree murder. Those two officers are still under investigation. One of them is Preston Hemphill, who can be heard and seen on footage at the initial traffic stop. He’s heard hoping Tyre is “stomped” and referring to him as a “bastard.”
Although he is not on footage at the second scene, Hemphill was still there at the first location, still adding to a clear lack of human decency… and yet, it took until now for it to come out that this WHITE police officer is being investigated. He has not yet been fired. It’s unclear if he’s being paid right now.
The identity of the seventh officer is currently unknown.
Biden to End COVID-19 Emergencies
-via AP News
President Biden will end the national Covid-19 emergency on May 11th, a move that will formally restructure the federal coronavirus response to treat it as an endemic threat to that can be managed through agencies’ normal authorities.
To which Florida say, “Okay, we’ll bite… what’s happening?”
Trump Crime Update Time
-Manhattan DA Story via NY Times
-Woodward Story via CNBC
Last week was a rough week of news. Today was a rough week of news. Let’s end with something fun. Let’s end with some….
TRUMP CRIME UPDATE TIME
(We’ve got two different things! Edition)
First, the big one…. The Manhattan DA’s office announced on Monday that they will begin presenting evidence to a grand jury about Trump’s role in the hush money that was paid to Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential election.
On Monday, one of the witnesses – David Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer which helped broker the deal – was seen entering the building where the grand jury sits.
This. Is. Exciting!
I mean, it just happened so we’ll know more when we know more but still… lock him up! Lock him up!
Also on Monday, Trump sued famous Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward for $50 million, because even though he said Woodward could record him for his book “Rage,” he never expected that he would write another book, literally called The Trump Tapes, and use those recordings for that.
I don’t know… something tells me that Bob Woodward probably had Trump sign something that he could use the tapes in perpetuity, so even if, as Trump claims, he did run around telling everyone that these tapes could only be used for one book, I’d be willing to bet Bob’s got a contract that not even Trump’s super legal genius brain can work around.
Shooting in Florida
-via CNN
And literally as I was recording this, just when I thought we could go one day without… there is breaking news about a drive-by shooting in Lakeland, Florida where at least ten people were injured. Police believe this was a targeted attack.
This is breaking news so details are sparse. It sounds like three people were taken to the hospital by ambulance, with two in critical condition, while everyone else left with non-life-threatening injuries.
And that’s it. That’s the news.
I’m proud of… brandy alexanders. Because when news like that… how could I not be?
It’s also eat brussels sprouts day and funny enough, right after I edit this episode, that’s exactly what I’m going to do.
But more than that… more than putting your pan in the oven to warm up before you cook your brussels, so you can get a nice crisp bake to them… because you are also an A+ on a Tuesday… I’m proud of you.