It’s back to normal!
We actually LIKE it a little slower!
Regular stories can breathe again!
These are the refrains from the media as we rapidly approach the end of our first Trump-deficient month. He’s off social media and laid low for the vast majority of it. Sure, there’s been some gossip of how bored he is and Brian Williams got a few chuckles at Mike McCarthy kissing the ring in Mar-A-Lago. But in general, we’re a lot closer to the pre-Trump political news cycle than I thought possible.
The question is… for how long.
Take this Joe Manchin story, a vintage political tempest in a teapot. The Dems need every member of their party to vote along party lines if they want to push a $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill via reconciliation. Two of the Dems that have been less enthusiastic are Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona. Last week, Veep Kamala Harris was dispatched by the Biden team to do interviews on Arizona and West Virginia local television touting the Democratic plan of action.
Manchin is pissed about it. Sees it as undue pressure for him to get on the team instead of being a bridge for a bi-partisan solution.
Kamala even screwed up! She called some areas of West Virginia “land mines” instead of “mine lands.”
This used to be what we subsided on in the world of political analysis. Which sucked, because it is useless. So what if Kamala stuck her foot in her mouth on West Virginian television? Maybe that mistake will also be memory-holed by the Washington Post. Who cares if Joe Manchin is pissed? Wake me up when he hints at not voting for Schumer’s COVID relief plan.
Then again, maybe this is the kind of incremental journalism we should settle back into. Good ol’ light beer. Specifically since our access to weapons-grade cocaine, in the form of an erratic president whose staff constantly leaked, has dried up.
Unless that president’s entire legal team quits on him with less than a week until legal briefs are due in his second impeachment case? And the reason is reportedly that Trump wants to again relitigate his 2020 election voter fraud?
Can the media focus on the minutia?
Or does it give in to the Trump addiction?
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THE REST OF THE NEWS…
21 men accuse Lincoln Project co-founder of sexually inappropriate harassment
NEW YORK TIMES
Youngest was 14 when ex-McCain 2000 and 2008 staffer John Weaver began asking him about his body “stats.” A more recent case saw Weaver offer him a position at Lincoln Project if he posted a “thirst trap” photo online.
Steve Mnuchin’s wife to star in self-written movie as sex-addicted hedge fund manager
BLOOMBERG
January 6th attempted pipe bomber arrested in California
KPIX
Suspect allegedly debated bombing Twitter, Facebook and the Democratic Party in California before planting one pipe bomb at DNC headquarters and another at RNC headquarters in DC.
10 Senate GOP propose compromise COVID relief bill
AXIOS
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From what I can tell the NYT is an equal opportunity offender. In my opinion, if an editorial board isn't regularly pissing off those in power they're not doing their jobs right. - GARY
Edit boards gonna edit board. The only question is how seriously people take it or the predictable reaction to them.
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Wait... Did Biden have an uncle with the nickname Boo-Boo? His uncle was “‘Boo-boo’ Finnegan”? I think everyone in the Politco team has let us all down by not letting us know sooner...
Boo-boo! - WAYNE
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Regarding Jim Jordan not running for senate in Ohio.
- BIG JIM
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Personally, from all of the Wall Street/Robinhood/GME bs going on I just have to say if your simping for the Capitalists on this one, well I'm just sorry for you. They don't deserve a lick of bailout and they in fact deserve every little bit that comes their way and I DO absolutely hope they go broke and homeless on the street (They won't because they are protected and will if anything have Golden Parachutes to land them on their precious little booties). The big issue here isn't that a Hedge fund did something incredibly stupid like putting a "bet" on a short sale at 140%, it's the FACT that they get to do this with little to no regulation. Now that their "game" has been found out and we can find out what is getting short sold easier (thank you Internet and Devs for the Tools to do this) they want to cry to Mommy and Daddy that their sibling hit them. Fuck em. Tar em', Feather em', Run em' outta Town! - LENNY
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