Earlier this month, self-described “straight, white, Christian, married, suburban mom” Mallory McMorrow, a Democratic Michigan state senator representing suburban District 13, learned she had been targeted as a pedophile “groomer” by a Republican legislator in a fundraising email. She responded from the Michigan State Senate floor (above).
More:
“State Sen. McMorrow on reclaiming faith from being used as ‘a weapon to hate people,'” Jack Jenkins, RNS, viaNational Catholic Reporter
“Michigan state senator blasts colleague who accused her of grooming in fundraising email,” Kelsey Carolan, The Hill
“Smeared as a Groomer, a Michigan Democrat Goes on Offense,” Blake Hounshell, New York Times
Meeting in Salt Lake City on Friday, the Republican National Committee (RNC) passed a resolution declaring that the actions of the Insurrection of January 6, 2021, including the violent attempt to overthrow the elected government of the United States and the defilement of the Capitol building, were “legitimate political discourse.” The resolution (co-authored by Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel) was passed by voice vote, without debate, so individual Republican leaders could avoid personal (and legal) responsibility for this outrage against two centuries of American democratic values. They’re not just fascists, they’re weasels.
More:
“Republican party calls January 6 attack ‘legitimate political discourse,’” Martin Pengelly, The Guardian
“GOP leaders approve resolution that says Jan. 6 was ‘legitimate political discourse,’” Bryan Schott, Salt Lake City Tribune
“G.O.P. Declares Jan. 6 Attack ‘Legitimate Political Discourse,’” Jonathan Weisman and Reid J. Epstein, New York Times
Updates:
“Murkowski criticizes RNC calling Jan. 6 attack ‘legitimate political discourse,'” Caroline Vakil,The Hill
“‘Legitimate Political Discourse’ Is Now an Official Republican Party Description of the Jan. 6 Attack on the Capitol,” Ryan Bort, Rolling Stone
“RFK Jr. apologizes after condemnation for Anne Frank comment,” Michelle R. Smith, Associated Press
More:
“Thousands march on Washington, D.C., in rally against vaccine mandates,” Daniel Uria, UPI
“Anti-vaccine activists march in D.C. — a city that mandates coronavirus vaccination — to protest mandates,” Katie Mettler, Lizzie Johnson, Justin Wm. Moyer, et al., Washington Post
“Anti-Vaccine Mandate Rally Draws Misinformation, RFK Jr., and Comparisons to Nazi Germany,” Eli Weiner, Washington City Paper
“‘Defeat The Mandates’ Rally Against Covid-19 Precautions Held During Omicron Surge,” Bruce Y. Lee, Forbes
Related:
“5 Republican Politicians Freaking Out About DC’s Vaccine Mandates,” Jessica Sidman, Washingtonian
“Omicron Cases Appear to Peak in U.S., but Deaths Continue to Rise,” Mitch Smith, Julie Bosman and Tracey Tully, New York Times
“The Anti-vaccine Right Brought Human Sacrifice to America,” Kurt Andersen, The Atlantic
The annual Right to Meddle in Women’s Lives demonstration was held in Washington DC last Friday, sponsored by the Zygote Liberation Front and the Committee to Restrict Women’s Health Care, or something like that. Theme of this year’s pep rally was “Equality Begins in the Womb,” a bid to promote fetal personhood and negate the human rights of the, um, womb-owners. This biology-denying sect is said to have infiltrated the federal judicial branch recently.
More:
“Anti-Abortion Marchers Gather With an Eye on the Supreme Court,” Kate Zernike and Madeleine Ngo, New York Times
“As March for Life returns to D.C., antiabortion activists wonder: Is this the last march under Roe?” Casey Parks, Washington Post
Related:
“Catholic pro-choice activists project messages onto DC basilica in protest,” by Jack Jenkins, RNS, via National Catholic Reporter
“White nationalists are flocking to the US anti-abortion movement,” Moira Donegan, The Guardian
“‘You never forget it’: These are the stories of life before Roe v. Wade transformed America,” Shefali Luthra, The 19th
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, British/American stand-up comedian, cricketer, and former London Lord Mayor, the Monty Python character currently serving as UK Prime Minister, is well in it for a spingtime garden party at his current abode, No. 10 Downing Street. It was a “bring your own bottle” party for staff. Very plesant-sounding. So why is everyone giving him stick?
The boozy party was on May 20, 2020, during a COVID lockdown strickly limiting outdoor gatherings and imposing fines up to £10,000 ($13,715) on violators. On that same day, there were 328 COVID-related deaths in the UK.
Mr. Johnson apologized before Parliament, but “Partygate” might be the scandal that finally gets BoJo made redundant and booted from office.
More:
“‘The party’s over, Boris’: what the papers say about Johnson’s No 10 crisis,” Graham Russell, The Guardian
“What next for Boris Johnson after his party apology?” Laura Kuenssberg, BBC News
Updates:
“Boris Johnson’s staff accused of more rule-breaking parties inside No 10,” BBC News
“On eve of Prince Philip’s funeral, Downing Street held lockdown parties,” Karla Adam, Washington Post
“Met police accused over failure to investigate No 10 lockdown parties,” Vikram Dodd, The Guardian
“Nobody warned me drinks event was against rules – Boris Johnson,” BBC News
“‘In the Name of God, Go’: Boris Johnson Told to Resign Over Boozy Lockdown Parties,” Jamie Ross, Daily Beast
Updated Updates:
“Boris Johnson ‘birthday bash’ added to list of alleged lockdown parties,” William Booth, Washington Post
“London police to investigate Downing Street parties during lockdown, raising stakes for Boris Johnson,” William Booth, Washington Post
Many Republican leaders — including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI 8 ) — were horrified by the Capitol attack of last January 6th, and rightly blamed Donald Trump for instigating it. Somehow, they forgot.
America’a red-hatted MAGAheads will be celebrating January 6th, but not as the Feast of the Epiphany (which features swarthy, undocumented Magi immigrants) or as a national day of prayer and mourning for the near-death of American democracy last year. The right-wing paranoid and election-denying alt-right, GOP coup plotters, Proud Boys, QAnon, Boogaloo Bois, Oath Keepers, Trump loyalists, white nationalists and Infowars fanatics and their ilk will commemorate their deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol last year, when they attempted to overturn the presidential election, as directed by the election’s clear loser.
“A Roundup of January 6 Anniversary Commemorations in DC,” Damare Baker, Washingtonian
“Right-wing and liberal vigils planned in D.C. on anniversary of Capitol riot,” Ellie Silverman, Washington Post
“At time of Capitol prayer service Jan. 6, Trump will deliver remarks doubling down on the ‘Big Lie,’” David Siders, Politico
“Bannon, Trump to counterprogram Dems for Jan. 6 anniversary,” Jonathan Swan, Axios
Updates:
“Ingraham, Graham talked Trump out of Jan. 6 press conference,” Axios
“Trump cancels Jan. 6 news conference at Mar-a-Lago, blames news media and House committee investigating attack on Capitol,” Felicia Sonmez and Josh Dawsey, Washington Post
“NPR looked at deaths per 100,000 people in roughly 3,000 counties across the U.S. from May 2021, the point at which vaccinations widely became available. People living in counties that went 60% or higher for Trump in November 2020 had 2.7 times the death rates of those that went for Biden. Counties with an even higher share of the vote for Trump saw higher COVID-19 mortality rates.
In October, the reddest tenth of the country saw death rates that were six times higher than the bluest tenth, according to Charles Gaba, an independent health care analyst who’s been tracking partisanship trends during the pandemic and helped to review NPR’s methodology. Those numbers have dropped slightly in recent weeks, Gaba says: ‘It’s back down to around 5.5 times higher.'”
— “Pro-Trump counties now have far higher COVID death rates. Misinformation is to blame,” Daniel Wood and Geoff Brumfiel, NPR
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