10/21/24
Good morning! It’s Monday, October 21st.
National Apple Day
For… some reason.
And now, the news.
Shooting in Georgia
-via ABC News
We start how we start here in America, with one person dead and at least six others injured after a shooting Saturday night at Georgia’s Albany State University.
It happened during Homecoming Weekend.
No one has been arrested.
This is the 295th day of the year, and that was the 425th mass shooting of the year.
It’s the guns.
Georgia Dock
-via AP News
Also in Georgia – over the weekend, seven people died after a dock gangway collapsed in what’s being called a “catastrophic failure” on an island off the Atlantic coast.
Three people are still in critical condition.
Over the weekend, nearly 700 people were on the island to celebrate the annual Cultural Day, which spotlights Hogg Hammock, which was founded after the Civil War by formerly enslaved Black Americans.
The island, Gullah-Geechee, has no bridge that connects it to the mainland. In 2022, county officials agreed to build a helipad. That has not happened yet. The ferry dock was rebuilt in 2021 after Georgia officials settled after island residents complained that state-operated ferry boats and docks failed to meet federal accessibility standards. Just four months ago, a senior mate on one of those ferries complained that the gangway didn’t seem sturdy enough.
That, also, was never fixed.
Intelligence Leak
Over the weekend, CNN and Axios reported that top-secret documents assessing Israel’s plans to attack Iran were posted to a Telegram channel called Middle East Spectator.
Obviously an investigation is ongoing.
I debated reporting on what the documents actually said and have decided against it, for a couple of reasons. First of all, I haven’t seen the actual documents.
Obviously.
That would be crazy if I had the documents.
The show would probably be a lot more popular if so (and I for one, would hate that! This show is for you and me only).
The other reason is because the documents are top secret – I don’t know how helpful it is to spread information that I kind of heard about.
We love hot goss! We don’t necessarily love hot top secret goss.
The document, as far as I’m aware, does not note what day this attack is going to take place.
Maybe… they’ll change their mind?
In the meantime, the Israeli military carried out a series of airstrikes in Lebanon on Sunday, targeting a financial institution that is associated with Hezbollah.
At the same time, Israeli forces have continued their assault on Gaza. The Gazan Health Ministry said that at least 87 people were killed, with more than 40 other wounded, and still more missing, after an airstrike overnight.
So… yeah I would say skipping more attacks would be a good idea. Very easy to just not do something.
Election 2024
And hey, with 15 days left before the election (yeah! …yeah) let’s check in on the candidates.
Kamala Harris spent her weekends out and about, speaking with crowds all over the country. Reminding them about the power of their voice and how vital their vote is.
And Trump…
At a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, Trump called Harris a “sh** vice president,” adding, "The worst. You're the worst vice president. Kamala, you're fired! Get the hell out of here!" before going off on a rant about Arnold Palmer’s um… action area. Apparently he was very well-endowed. Not sure why that was a part of the speech but it sure was.
And while he was doing that, Elon Musk was getting into a twitter fight with an elected official (more on that in a second) and also doing crimes.
Crimes you say? From Elon Musk? That’s shocking! (To be clear, he hasn’t been convicted of anything but he also said he’s going straight to jail if Trump loses so…)
So this specific crime is that he’s offering to give away $1 million a day, at random, to voters who sign his PAC’s petition to support the Constitution.
I mean, not the whole thing. Just the 1st and 2nd Amendments. And not even all of the 1st Amendment. Just enough of the 1st so that he gets to say whatever he wants but never has to have his feelings hurt because oh boy – are they fragile.
Anyway, that’s likely a crime and people really should get on top of that.
(Don’t worry, people are looking into it. But it sure feels like the vibe shouldn’t be: hey yeah this is probably a crime but let’s just see who wins the election before we do anything about it).
However, speaking of people that aren’t letting Elon get away with anything… Jocelyn Benson.
Over the weekend, Elon reposted a very clear lie about how Michigan has more registered voters than eligible citizens. That would be insane… if it were true.
Which it’s not.
So Michigan Secretary of State, and all-around absolute boss, Jocelyn Benson called a lie a lie – an astonishingly rare thing, apparently. In a response on Twitter, she said, “There aren’t more voters than citizens in Michigan. There are 7.2 million active registered voters and 7.9 citizens of voting age in our state. Musk is pushing a misleading number that includes 1.2 million inactive records slated for removal in accordance with the law.”
When faced with the truth, he researched her middle name but apparently zero facts about Michigan, here are a few:
Michigan does have a high voter registration rate. Not because they’re cheating. Because they increased access to the polls.
As a rule, inactive voters are erased after the election. Which is why they haven’t been removed yet.
If he’s so worried about it, maybe he should look at Texas – a state he moved to, supposedly because of another time he got his feelings hurt on Twitter by another boss – Lorena Gonzalez. (Imagine having to go through life as sensitive as this guy us!) Texas has 2 million voters on its inactive roster.
Huh, I wonder why he’s upset about Michigan but not about Texas.
Look here’s the deal.
15 days.
That’s it.
15 days.
We’re not going to be fooled by the lies of incredibly small-egoed men who are trying to cheat their way into winning an election to stay out of trouble.
We’re going to call out lies when we hear them.
We’re going to talk to our friends, family, and community, and we’re going to turn out voters and get these guys as far away from our government, our lives, our rights, as possible.
It’s a fight for democracy – and it deserves no less that everything we’ve got.
And, and I realize this is low on the list but… we’re never going to call Twitter X! It’s weird!
And that’s it. That’s the news.
I’m proud of Jocelyn Benson and Lorena Gonzalez.
Elon Musk is a threat to workers and a threat to democracy.
And you know what? I don’t like those new self-driving taxis. They look bad and I was at Warner Bros when he had his announcement and it was super annoying.
But more than self-driving taxis, because you actually work… I’m proud of you.