12/07/23
Good morning! It’s Thursday, December 7th.
National Letter Writing Day.
You know what? We don’t write enough letters these days. Letters are nice! Like a real letter, with your real handwriting… that’s always lovely.
And now, the news.
Shootings at UNLV and in Texas
-via AP News (UNLV) and CNN (Texas)
We start how we start here in America, with three people dead, and a fourth critically wounded, after a shooter, who is also dead, opened fired on the University of Nevada Las Vegas campus.
It happened just before noon on Wednesday.
Details about the victims, suspect, or possible motives have not yet been released.
Meanwhile, in Austin on Tuesday, a man was arrested after carrying out four different shootings in the area, an Austin Independent School District officer, a man and a woman a few miles away, and a man on a bike a few hours later. The man and the woman he shot in between the officer and man on the bike died.
It all ended with a car chase after police responded to a burglary, at which point the suspect was shot as he and officers exchanged gunfire before the car chase. Finally, he was arrested. And now, following the arrest, his parent’s bodies have been discovered in their home – also shot dead.
So five different locations, with four dead and three injured (including an officer at the scene of the burglary).
This is America.
Norman Lear
-via CNN
Norman Lear, the producer and creator of some of the most influential sitcoms in TV history, including Sanford and Son, Mary Hartman Mary Hartman, Maude, All in the Family, Good Times, One Day at a Time, The Jeffersons, and I can’t not mention The Andy Williams Show, died on Wednesday.
He was 101 years old.
He’s got a lot of great quotes, but this one’s my favorite: “Life is made up of small pleasures. Happiness is made up of these tiny successes. And big ones come too infrequently. And if you don' t collect all those tiny successes, the big ones don't really mean anything.”
Dictator Trump
-via NY Times
And there’s really no great transition here, nor is there any fun jaunty music because something when we talk about Trump, even though he’s a buffoon clown of buffoonery who is easy to make fun us, he is actively working to eradicate democracy in this country, and sometimes I can’t make a joke about that. Something it just has to be: hey. Here’s a serious thing.
Because on Tuesday, after pressed twice by Sean Hannity about whether he’d abuse power as retribution against anybody, Trump said never… “except day one.”
On day one, he is campaigning on a promise that he will abuse his power as retribution. Not even creatively use the law… he will abuse his power. Hannity specifically asked about him abusing his power, and that’s what he said yes to.
“I want to close the border and I want to drill, drill, drill. We love this guy. He (he’s referring to Hannity there) says, ‘You’re not going to be a dictator, are you?’ And I said, ‘No, no, no, other than Day 1.’ Day 1, we’re closing the border and we’re drilling, drilling, drilling. After that, I’m not a dictator.”
“‘You’re not going to be a dictator, are you?’ And I said, ‘No, no, no, other than Day 1.’”
We’re nonpartisan and saving democracy is going to take all of us.
Bye Bye Bye (Bye Bye)
-via NY Times
And finally – the news that set off the cackle heard round the world (the cackle being mine and the world being… I bet my neighbor heard it)… Kevin McCarthy announced on Wednesday that he is leaving Congress at the end of the year.
Not the end of the term, as he assured us he would, but at the end of the year.
Kev… Kev Kev Kev… thanks for the comedy. Thanks for nothing, but also, thanks for the comedy.
You absolutely ineffectual feckless ding dong.
You silly silly all you wanted was the gavel and you got it and you fumbled it for the first time in history dinkus.
You’re a historical joke with, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – a heck of a jawline.
And! And thanks to this dude taking his sad feelings and going home (and my home I mean – probably to see Trump in Florida, and not where he should actually go… a therapist’s office), the state of California now has the opportunity to pay for ANOTHER special election at the hand of the Republican party (remember that we just had to pay for the Newsom recall election).
Once McCarthy sashays away, Newsom can either call for a special election, or leave the seat open until the 2024 election. If he leaves before tomorrow, the 8th, Newsom will be forced to call for a special election (which could be rolled into the March primary). If he sticks around past the 8th, the special election is TBD, just depends on whether Newsom wants to call for one.
The 8th is the date because that’s the last day for candidates to file for their campaign. That’s just… how it is here in California. And also how neat for the people in his district that he ran pretending to care about because he leaves them possibly representativeless.
Cool guy, no notes.
Just kidding – LOTSA NOTES!
And that’s it. That’s the news.
When I tell you that I’ve been excited to do this episode since the news broke in the morning about McCarthy…
I’m proud of bullying the bullies. Apparently it works!
Also letter writing. Let me tell you who writes a great letter – Canada’s own Stefanie Drummond. I just got a card from her the other day. She’s a gem.
But more than… um…. Handwriting! More than handwriting, because yours is probably nicer than mine… I’m proud of you.