12/01/23
Good morning! It’s Friday, December 1st.
World AIDS Day.
First recognized in 1988, this is a day to spread AIDS awareness, as well as honor those who have died from HIV and AIDS.
And now, the news.
Henry Kissinger – Dead at 100
-via NY Times
Let’s start with the news that broke Wednesday night after I’d already done the news and just couldn’t find it in me to ruin a perfectly mediocre episode with breaking news…
Henry Kissinger, who advised twelve presidents (Kennedy on up to Biden) and served as national security advisor to Nixon, then kept that title even as he served as Secretary of State to both Nixon and Ford (I believe he’s the only person who held both titles at once), died on Wednesday. He was 100.
Legacies are complicated things, and Kissinger is certainly no exception. For example: he shared the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize for his work to negotiate peace accords that ended America’s involvement in the Vietnam War. However, the war wasn’t over, and critics have argued that he could have saved thousands of lives if he’d made that same deal years earlier.
Additionally, in an effort to root out pro-Communist Vietcong forces in Cambodia, he told the military to strike “anything that flies or anything that moves.” Which included, apparently, the 50,000 civilians that were killed.
I could go on and on.
But the point is… 100 years old. That’s really old.
Santos Gives It One Last Try
-via Axios
In what is expected to be his last act in Congress ahead of today’s vote to make Georgie go buh-bye, George Santos introduced a resolution to expel Jamal Bowman from the House for pulling a fire alarm.
This is uninteresting because it’s just another stunt, but because we bully the bullies: I gotta tell you that the resolution states Bowman "knowing and willingly gave a false fire alarm in the House Cannon Office Building.”
Gave a false fire alarm? To whom did he gift this false fire alarm?
We’ll see how today goes. Should he be ousted, as he expects (and, frankly, deserves), New York state law requires the governor to issue a special election within ten days, with the election then occurring between 70 and 80 days following the proclamation.
He will also make history as just the sixth House member to be expelled. Three were expelled in 1861 for their disloyalty to the Union. In 1980 a House rep from Pennsylvania was expelled for taking bribes, and in 2002, the most recent expulsion took place after a House rep from Ohio was convicted on ten corruption-related counts.
Quite a group Santos may find himself joining.
Senate Dems Authorize SCOTUS Ethics Probe
-via AP News
In “get caught trying” news… Senate Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee to authorize subpoenas for Harlan Crow and Leonard Leo to dig into the tiny issue of “Hey, does the Supreme Court have ethics?”.
But of course, because Joey Manchy is such a hero of democracy, there is still a filibuster in the Senate, which means this will require 60 votes to go going in the Senate. Because the Republicans are nothing if not… uh… feckless, they don’t want to have the Supreme Court looked into. So this likely won’t make it past a Senate vote.
But still… get caught trying.
Trump Crime Update Time
-via NPR
And finally…
Trump Crime Update Time
(Shh shh shh shh shh, edition)
The Trump gag order will they-won’t they romance is back on in Trump’s NY money crimes civil trial.
While Trump is, of course, arguing he has a First Amendment right to run his mouth and make comments about how the Judge and his clerk are biased against him, the Judge has once again put the gag order in place because, since the start of the trial, the clerk has received dozens of threatening calls to her cell phone, as well as social media messages and e-mails. Not to mention the threatening calls, letters, and packages being sent to his chambers.
The First Amendment is a tricky thing, and in some ways it’s really not. The best way I like to describe it is the right to say what you want, but not to right to do so without consequence. And when your speech threatens the safety of someone else, you don’t get to run your mouth.
And that’s it. That’s the news.
I’m sleepy. Is it me, or has this week been like… fine but also TGIF?
But more than that. More than a Friday, because nothing says a Sunday like you (let’s really try and get that saying going!)… I’m proud of you.