10/06/23
Good morning! It’s Friday, October 6th.
National Noodle Day.
Hey, do ya like carbs? Do ya like strings? May I recommend noodles?
And now, the news.
Wisconsin Would-Be Shooter
-via AP News
Let’s start with a story that I’ll call – WOW. That could have been really, really, bad.
Everything’s fine but, on Thursday a man brought a gun to the Wisconsin capital building and demanded to see Governor Evers to discuss “domestic abuse towards men.” The governor was not in the building at the time.
The man was arrested but, three hours after posting bail, he returned.
He was taken into protective custody and taken to the hospital.
Interestingly… in Wisconsin, it’s not that you can’t bring a gun into the Capital, it’s that the weapon has to be concealed. There’s a lot about gun laws that I don’t understand, but the concealed part will always confuse me because I personally would always rather know whether someone has a gun or not. And the idea that, in a capital building, the only way guns are allowed are if they’re concealed, is scary. I get bodyguards or personal security, but still…
Scary.
Sen. Feinstein’s Funeral Closed to Public
-via CNN
And in vaguely related news… Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s San Francisco funeral was closed to the public on Friday, with officials citing “increased security.”
I just… listen, let’s not make mountains out of molehills, but we’ve got a woman who, while she certainly wasn’t perfect, dedicated her life to be of service first to her city, then her state and country. And after decades of that service, her funeral can’t even be open to the public because of increased security.
The reasoning behind the change were not made public, but the funeral was previously relocated to the steps of City Hall in order to allow the public to be there.
Biden Authorizes More Border Wall Construction
In a fairly surprising bit of news – the Biden administration announced on Wednesday that they are waiving 26 federal laws in South Texas to allow for the continued construction of the southern border wall.
This is the administration’s first foray into using executive power for border barriers.
No maps of the new wall were made available, but a previous map showed that this portion of the wall will likely be about 20 miles.
I was trying to figure out to button this story, but I think Texas House Rep Henry Cuellar said it best - “A border wall is a 14th century solution to a 21st century problem.”
If Cuellar’s name sounds a little familiar this week, it’s because he was in the news after being carjacked on Monday night in DC.
He’s fine. Everything the carjackers took, including his phone and car, were recovered within two hours, and it doesn’t sound like they knew who they were dealing with (I’m sure it was a significant bummer to realize just how badly they’d screwed up). But in case you’re looking for a vibe check on this Congressmember, let me read you this quote about the carjacking: "They recovered the car. They recovered everything. What really got me upset was they took my sushi."
Seems like a cool guy, to be honest.
Drew Barrymore’s Writers Exit
-via Hollywood Reporter
In Consequences for Actions news… As Drew Barrymore’s show prepares to return, the writers have exited.
Turns out that, when you don’t support workers, workers don’t want to support you.
I’m sure she’ll have no problem finding new writers, but if not, or in the meantime, she seemed pretty confident that she could do the whole show alone before so I say… give it a shot. Try it just for a couple days and see how that goes for ya.
And that’s it. That’s the news.
Little bit of a lighter news day, which is a nice break from a week of lots of news, many of which was annoying.
Hey, here’s something. This may change as we head into the weekend but, as of this recording, everyone’s trying to have an opinion on who they think the next Speaker will be. Right now, there are a few names being thrown around but no clear path to 218, which is how many votes they’d need to clear to get the gavel. So if someone at a bar, or on TV, is suddenly sure that they know what’s about to happen… stay suspicious.
I’m proud of noodles – dress em up or dress em down, they’re perfect for all occasions.
But more than that, because you are also perfect for all occasions… I’m proud of you.