02/03/23

Good morning! It’s Friday, February 3rd. National bubble gum day!

Not gum, but specifically bubble gum. Which… I can’t say is my favorite. I mean, don’t get me wrong – I’ll blow a bubble. But I’d always much rather have a little mint gum. And I’ll tell you another thing – I don’t trust that sour patch flavored gum. Be gum, or be a sour patch kid. Ya can’t be both.

And now, the news.

Omar Removed from Foreign Affairs Committee

-via AP News

Let’s start in the House where, after debate on Thursday, Ilhan Omar was kicked out of the Foreign Affairs Committee which they say is in response to her anti-Israel comments in… 2019.

So, let’s talk about this. Because kicking someone off a committee is super super rare. It was hardly done at all before 2001. Then Democrats kicked a Democrat off a few committees for voting for a Republican for speaker, but also – that Democrat was about to be indicted on bribery, racketeering, and tax evasion.

It was done again in 2006 and 2007 because two different members were under two different investigations. Then not again until 2012, though that one was a political response by the GOP and it was done to GOP members who voted against leadership.

It happened again in 2018, when two Republicans were indicted for different money crimes (don’t worry, Trump pardoned them before he left office).

In 2019, Steve King was kicked off his committees for literally wondering, in a New York Times interview, when white nationalist and white supremacist language became offensive.

So I bring all that up to show contrast… being kicked off a committee is RARE. It’s also usually done in reaction to very real things, like crimes or casual white nationalism.

It’s also, usually done quickly. Not FOUR years later because you just got power. And it’s also, never been in retaliation for someone getting kicked out of committees.

Until now.

Because as you may remember, in 2021 both Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar were kicked out of their committees. Greene because she’s a Qanon followered who believes in Jewish space lasers but not the holocaust. And she spread those lies. Gosar for posting an anime video that depicted him attacking the president and KILLING fellow House member AOC.

And again, I’m not for or against what Omar said. But what I want right now, is to be as clear as possible… she was kicked off the committee in political retaliation.

And, let’s also be clear about this… this absolutely would not have happened if Ilhan Omar was a white man born in America and not a Muslim woman born in Somalia.

Full stop.

Finally, I just want to point out a concern I have about this. A concern that is way under the racism, sexism, and xenophobia shown in this vote, as well as political retaliation that the Republicans have made their only platform for the next two years.

But it’s this… when they do things that are rarely done… like remove someone from committees or talk about how they want to vote to impeach the President… it makes them not seem as rare or severe. It makes it all seem like nothing matters. And if nothing matters, maybe the whole structure of democracy doesn’t matter. And if democracy doesn’t matter, do we even need it?

But democracy does matter. And for that reason, we all need to talk about it every time they do things like this.

Chinese Surveillance Balloon Spotted over America

-via Washington Post & CNN

In, “okay but what does this mean??” news…

A Chinese surveillance balloon the size of three buses has been spotted over America for several days.

It is not being shot down, since no one knows what damage that could do to people below. They’re also not too worries about the risk the balloon carries as far as its ability to collect sensitive data, since low-flying Chinese satellites can likely grab the same info that this balloon can.

The disclosure of this balloon came a few hours ahead of Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s planned leave for Beijing, where is plans to have a series of meetings with senior Chinese officials.

I wonder what they’ll talk about.

This is a developing story so… hey! Maybe we’ll know more on Monday!

And that’s it. That’s the news. A nice slow news day! DON’T JINX IT.

I’m proud of… ugh, I can’t keep this façade up anymore. I can’t be proud of a gumball, it loses flavor in like 2 minutes.

It’s also carrot cake day. I’m proud of carrot cakes and the carrot’s glow up.

But more than that – more than a carrot glow up. Because you don’t need a glow up, you are perfect as is… I’m proud of you.