02/12/24

Good morning! It’s Monday, February 12th.

President Lincoln’s birthday! Hey, fun fact – President Lincoln was the first president to have not been born in one of the original 13 colonies. Also, even though Illinois gets all the sweet sweet credit for his very tall upbringing, dude was actually born in Kentucky.

And now, the news.

Shooting in Houston Church

-via AP News, Huffington Post, and CDC

We start how we start here in America, with two people injured and the shooter dead after a woman entered Joel Osteen’s megachurch and opened fire.

The woman entered the church with a five-year-old boy, who was shot and is in critical condition. It’s not yet clear if he was shot by the woman or two off-duty officers who confronted her. But at some point, in that exchange between the woman and the officers, the five-year-old was shot. He is in critical condition.

A 57-year-old man was also shot and wounded.

There are a lot of questions around this still, including how the woman was related to the boy and what her motivation was.

Governor Abbott released a statement calling places of worship sacred before adding that he would work with state and local officials to “help bring swift justice to the criminal who committed this heinous act.”

The shooter is dead, and while there may be more people connected to this horror (I’m not saying there are. I’m just saying we don’t know), in Michigan they just prosecuted the mom of a shooter for, among other reasons, ease of gun access and not paying attention to the warning signs.

If Abbott’s looking to bring swift justice, perhaps the call is coming from inside the house? Because, in Texas, you don’t need a license, registration, or even a permit to get a gun. And according to the CDC, in 2021, Texas had the most deaths from guns in the country.

Defense Secretary Hospitalized

-via CBS News

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was taken to Walter Reed on Sunday, following an emergency bladder issue.

On January first, Austin was in the hospital for two weeks for complications related to prostate cancer, but the Pentagon wasn’t notified until the 2nd and the White House wasn’t told until the 4th. And then after that, which is already not great, congress received few details through the 7th, and it wasn’t until the 9th that the president was even told about the cancer.

Following that, the Pentagon chief inspector has launched an investigation about his failure to tell the White House and top officials about his medical complications.

But that was last month. This time, everyone has been made aware of what happened and, while he will retain his duties as defense secretary, he has transferred the functions of the office to his deputy.

Trump Aligns with Russia, Against NATO

-via NBC News

Hey, here’s something… at a South Carolina rally, Donald Trump said that he would encourage NATO to “do whatever the hell they want” if they attacked a NATO country that didn’t pay enough for defense.

So… if Russia attacks a NATO country, we actually have to help that country if NATO invokes article 5. Article 5 says that if a NATO ally is the victim of an armed attack, every other member of the Alliance will consider this an attack against all members and will take the actions it deems necessary to assist the Ally attacked.

We are a part of that.

And just, I guess to suck up to Putin, Trump is now saying that, if he’s president again, he will allow Russia to do anything it wants to an ally, if Trump, in his inside-out brain, doesn’t think that ally has paid enough for defense.

These are nations that have been there for us when we needed it. We are a part of this organization.

Trump is not president, so this is just like… a sentence. But if he can’t see how reckless and dangerous even just suggesting something like that is…

Trump poses a clear and present danger at home and abroad. Full stop.

Ukraine-Israel Aid Bill Clears Senate

-via NY Times

Meanwhile, while Trump is making nice with Putin, a bill to send $95 billion in aid to Ukraine and Israel passed the Senate with a bipartisan vote of support that saw 18 Republicans join the Democrats.

It now heads to the House, where no Republicans seem interested in doing anything other than help Trump’s campaign so tbd on whether this will make it out of the House. But it’s left the Senate, so we know that at least.

Super Bowl ™

-via CBS News

And of course – the Super Bowl!

Listen, I think we all know that if you want that super indepth sports commentary… actually you know what, sometimes you can find that here. Football, not so much. But just in case you haven’t heard,

And that’s it. That’s the news.

I’m proud of… you know what? All the players. I just hope they had fun out there. I hope they’re all best friends. I hope the NFL stops pretending to be a nonprofit.

I’m also proud of Lincoln. You hear that Abe? I’ll say it any dang day.

But more than… more than the NFL. Because you’re not problematic… I’m proud of you.