MTG Booted From Freedom Caucus - The Friday AM Quickie 7/7/23
I suppose many of you are on Threads now. I'll link my account there as well once I create one that's not linked to the joke Instagram account I made in college. For now you can still follow me on Twitter where I will remain sh*tposting until the site goes down, like a cello player on the Titanic. - Robert
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THE BIG NEWS
Freedom Caucus Boots Marjorie Taylor Greene For Calling Boebert a B*tch, Cozying Up to Leadership
Allow me to indulge you with some feelings of schadenfreude: The House Freedom Caucus, the farthest-right voting bloc in Congress, opted to oust former QAnon promoter Marjorie Taylor Greene in a closed-door vote last Friday, whose results were divulged to Politico yesterday.
According to Politico's conversation with Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), a member of the Freedom Caucus' board, indicated that one of the reasons for the ouster was Marj calling Lauren Boebert a "little b*tch" on the House Floor as she was cussing her out for allegedly copying her articles of impeachment for Biden. With enemies like this, Joe, who needs friends?
But the name calling was just the "final straw," according to Harris, as Greene has become too cozy with Speaker McCarthy for the caucus' liking. Greene was an early supporter of McCarthy during the speakership vote while other members like Boebert and Chip Roy (R-Tx.) made a spectacle of dragging their feet. Greene also sided with McCarthy over the debt ceiling deal, which Roy had described as a "turd sandwich" and tried to kill it in committee.
This is the first time any member has been expelled from the House Freedom Caucus, though former Rep. Justin Amash, the libertarian who voted to impeach Trump, resigned.
MORE STORIES TO WATCH
FDA Fully Approves New Alzheimer's Drug, First Drug to Moderately Slow Cognitive Decline in Alzheimer's Patients
Leqembi, intravenously administered every other week, reduces the build up of amyloid plaques in the brain, the protein clusters associated with the progression of Alzheimer's pathology, according to the Washington Post. Clincial trials showed that the drug slowed cognitive and functional decline by 27 percent over a year and a half in the early stages of the disease, but cannot ultimately stop its progression. The drug comes with dangerous and common potential side effects of brain bleeding and swelling, which were associated with three deaths during its extended clincal trial. Eisai, a Japanese pharmecuetical company, and Cambridge's Biogen are charging $26,500 for the drug. Medicare is set to cover 80 percent of the tab, potentially leaving thousands for the patient to cover through co-pays.
My father passed away from Alzheimer's disease in 2018. I want so badly for this drug to be a first step in even greater breakthroughs instead of profiteering off of false hope, but time will tell.
NYC Mayor Eric Adams Lies About Keeping Picture of Fallen Comrade in Wallet, Attempts Cover Up by Faking Picture
Mayor Adams of New York City is a strange man. After lying to the press that he carried a picture of his fallen comrade, Robert Veneable, his staff scrambled to fabricate the picture for photo shoots, per the New York Times:
...[The photo] had been created by employees in the mayor’s office in the days after Mr. Adams claimed to have been carrying it in his wallet.
The employees were instructed to create a photo of Officer Venable, according to a person familiar with the request. A picture of the officer was found on Google; it was printed in black-and-white and made to look worn as if the mayor had been carrying it for some time, including by splashing some coffee on it, said the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.
The Times corroborated the story with two other former employees. Check out the whole story for a laundry list of weird fibs Adams has told, including the time he lied about began vegan.
QUICKEST QUICKIES
- FBI Hired Surveillance Firm that Labeled BLM Protesters "Threat Actors" The agency is contracting a surveillance firm that labeled two Black Lives Matters protest leaders "high severity" physical threats in 2015. via the Intercept.
- Threads Attracts 30M Users in First Day Despite Privacy Concerns, Twitter Threatens Lawsuit Over Trade Secrets Concerns about the amount of data the app collects caused parent company Meta to delay its rollout in Europe, and Twitter is alleging former employees gave Meta trade secrets. via ArsTechnica and the Financial Times.
- State Department Cancelled Meeting with Facebook After Federal Injunction The Biden administration plans to appeal the ruling which blocks the federal government from collaborating with social media companies in efforts to stem the spread of disinformation. via ArsTechnica.
- Israel Increases Drone Sales to Morocco The Moroccan military has deployed drones to surveil and attack the Polisario Front, an armed group fighting for an independent Western Sahara, a territory Morocco has colonized since 1975. via the Intercept.
- Prigozhin Not in Belarus, Says Lukashenko The Putin ally and Belarusian President said Prigozhin remains a "free man" in Russia. The man of mystery could be anywhere with his amazing disguises. via The New York Times.
- Deforestation in Brazil Drops 34 Percent Under Lula Michael Brooks was right about this guy. via the Guardian.
- Gray Whales Learned to Approach Humans for Grooming The giant sea mammals are approaching whale watching boats to get whale lice picked off of them by accomodating tourists, who can now pretend they've bonded with Talkun. via the Guardian.
SOME NUMBER
2425
The year Governor Tony Evers extended annual budget increases for Wisconsin public schools by deleting "2o" and the dash from "2024-25" in a line item veto, a commendable use of a ridiculously stupid governing power. via Vox.
ON THE SHOW TODAY
7/7: It's Casual Friday! And Sam's BACK from vacation! Him and Emma talk to David Dayen, executive editor at the American Prospect to round up the week in news.
DON'T MISS MR CLIPS
Incel Phenomenon Feeds Off Right-Wing Narratives
A fascinating discussion of the politics of sex.
DESPERATE Trump Declares War On Commies
Ah, brings me back to when an old crank called me a commie when I was 13 at an anti-war protest.
PARTING WORDS
“This is life and death for people: If your insurance won’t cover the care you need, you could die. It’s all knowable. It’s known to the insurers, but it is not known to us.”
-- Karen Pollitz, a senior fellow at KFF (formerly known as the Kaiser Family Foundation), on how the rate of insurance denial of patient claims is withheld from the public. via ProPublica.
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