04/13/23

Good morning! It’s Thursday, April 13th. So many great holidays today! National Scrabble Day – I’m terrible at Scrabble but love it anyway. National Make Lunch Count Day. That’s a good one! Celebrate Teen Literature Day – we love when teens read! International Plant Appreciation Day. Oh AND International Special Librarians Day. Not all librarians though, just the special ones. What a day!

And now, the news.

Justin Pearson is Reinstated

-via NY Times

“They tried to kill democracy. They tried to expel the people’s choice and the people’s vote. And they awakened a sleeping giant.”

That is Justin Pearson, upon the news that, like Justin Jones earlier this week, he too will be headed back to the Tennessee statehouse. And, like Jones, the vote to reinstate Pearson was unanimous.

Also on Wednesday, five US Senators, including majority leader Schumer, asked the Department of Justice to investigate whether the civil rights of Jones, Pearson, or their constituents had been violated.

I mean, I’m not doctor but… yeah. I’m gonna say yeah, probably.

Hey, while you’re rooting around in the way Tennessee politics works… someone needs to check that Leader Sexton dude.

Put another way, as Justin Jones said before the vote… the Tennessee Republicans are in their find out season.

Republican Liz Harris Expelled

-via NPR

Speaking of expulsions… let’s talk about one that actually makes sense. Republican Arizona House Rep Liz Harris has been expelled. For what? Oh, I’m so glad you asked. Because she lied about the 2020 election being stolen!

I’m gonna tell the Republicans the same thing my neighbors have been telling me after hearing me sing Kelly Clarkson’s Happier Than Ever no less than 3x a day for the last few months – Dude. Find a new song.

Side note – How good is her cover of Happier Than Ever?!

So here’s what happened – Harris has been saying both the 2020 and 2022 elections were stolen, which are, you know… lies. Not only that, but she arranged to have a woman, Jacqueline Breger, testify at the Statehouse about elected officials, including Governor Katie Hobbs, who took bribes from the drug cartel, among other crimes.

The evidence? Oh, ya silly goose. No need for that! Because, um… she… didn’t have any. But she claimed she just… knew!

Now, she’s been voted out of her job on a bipartisan, two-thirds vote, because of those lies.

And that, Tennessee Republicans, is an actual REAL reason to expel someone.

Fox Sanctioned in Dominion Case

-via NBC News

A Delaware judge has sanctioned Fox News and Fox Corp for withholding evidence in the Dominion defamation suit. We’re days out from the beginning of the Dominion Suit, and on Wednesday lawyers for Dominion played recordings from a Fox News producer, recorded in 2020, that were never handed over during discovery.

That producer, Abby Grossberg, has actually sued Fox and says her deposition was coerced by Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and others.

So… the moral here is that Fox News and Fox Corp lied.

I’ll give you a few moments to recover from the shock.

NPR Quits Twitter

-via AP News

NPR has quit Twitter! Last week the bird app labeled NPR as “state-affiliated media” which… it is not. That is a label more closely related to identify outlets that are heavily influenced by authoritarian governments like Russia. Later, Twitter changed the label to “government-funded media.” Which NPR still argued about, since it only gets a small fraction of its funding from the government.

PBS also says it’s stopped tweeting from its main account, with no plans to continue.

As a reminder, Twitter also removed the verification from the main NY Times account.

So… seems like things are going great, and not at all bad and dangerous, over there at Twitter.

Amazing when you think about it. He bought it on accident (which I’m still convinced is the truth) and all he had to do was nothing, and he would have made money. Instead he’s just… breaking it. Is this what billionaires do? Break things? Are they… are billionaires toddlers?

Trump Sues Cohen

-via CNN

Apparently feeling like he wasn’t in enough courtrooms lately… Trump is suing Michael Cohen for $500 million in damages, for allegedly breaking his breach of attorney client privilege.

According to the suit, Cohen revealed confidential information during media interviews about the Manhattan DA’s grand jury investigation. It also claims he also violated an employee confidentiality agreement when he published his two books that discuss Trump.

And that’s it. That’s the news.

And let me tell you something. More than a literature loving teen playing scrabble with a special librarian while eating a great lunch in front of their favorite plant… I’m proud of you.