Octogenarians In Politics, Credit Card Competition Act, Impeaching Biden, Alabama Defies the Law, and Why You Should Care About Shohei Ohtani
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Octogenarians In Politics, Credit Card Competition Act, Impeaching Biden, Alabama Defies the Law, and Why You Should Care About Shohei Ohtani
Mitch McConnell is fine, but Biden is of course senile...
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We need some age limits in politics.
This latest incident involving Mitch McConnell should be a reminder that the time is now.
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I love how Republicans criticize Biden for being old. Many claim he’s senile. Personally, I think he’s highly prone to gaffs.
From his telling Obama that Obamacare was a “big f-ing deal” on a hot mic to saying “God save the Queen” recently when the Queen was nowhere in sight, Biden has shown a propensity to act a fool.
Is it indicative of old age, dementia, or something worse? Maybe. I wouldn’t rule it out. He’s 80! That’s quite an age for anyone, let alone the President of the United States.
But when Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has a “medical incident” on live television, where he appears to zone out completely, Republicans dismissed it.
Some blamed fatigue. Others said he was having a tough, long day.
I say we need to cap the age for elected office in America at 75 years old. It’s otherwise almost impossible to tear some of these older incumbents (looking at you, Dianne Feinstein) out of office. They are so politically insulated and powerful, and their jobs become too intrinsically tied to their identities. They become creatures of the swamp.
Time to put on a cap on it.
Your credit card points are safe… for now
Last week we discussed the Credit Card Competition Act and how it would likely destroy credit card rewards programs as we know them. We even made a video discussing the issues.
Senators Durbin and Marshall (the bill's co-sponsors) failed this past week to sneak the bill into the larger National Defense Authorization Act. The Senate reassured them, however, that they would vote on the bill before year-end.
Why try to sneak it into a budget bill? Because they aren’t confident it can pass on its own. And no wonder. Any consumer who hears about the actual details of the bill should be shocked and aghast that Senators would deliver such a windfall to big retailers like Walmart while hurting consumers in the process.
Keep an eye out for this one if you care about your credit card points and travel rewards.
Impeaching Biden
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy is opening an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. It’s important to note - once he opens Pandora’s box, he can’t walk it back. And so far, the only evidence I’ve seen or heard from McCarthy himself is speculative hearsay.
Not the strongest case.
Looming in the background is the biggest elephant in any GOP room, Donald Trump. I have to think Trump - as he did with Ukrainian President Zelensky (Impeachment #2!) - put McCarthy and other Republicans up to this.
Trump needs anything to take down Biden, the man who has always been his toughest political opponent because ol’ Joe can actually be the moderate everyday working man. And that plays to Trump’s base.
Unfortunately for Trump and McCarthy, not even all Republicans know what Biden should be impeached on. That’s in stark contrast to the Trump impeachments, where it was apparent to all Democrats what they were charging him with.
But as we explained last week, Trump is willing to do anything to regain power and then exercise it in unprecedented ways.
“Alabama shows our country hasn’t changed”
Great article this past week in the Democracy Docket, a website that is quickly becoming one of my favorites for political commentary. Give this a read.
It talks about Chief Justice John Roberts and how he was adamant in the Shelby County decision that America had moved forward from its racist past. How Roberts proceeded to gut the Voting Rights Act so Alabama no longer needed federal approval to change its election laws.
In its VERY FIRST redistricting since that 2013 decision, what did Alabama do? Discriminate against its significant black population by grouping the majority of them into one district when their representation should be more broadly dispersed.
And when courts told Alabama to redraw its electoral maps, what did Alabama do? Ignored the rulings.
For one of the first times since the 1960s America has a state acting in defiance of court orders in an attempt to defy civil rights.
Send in the national guard. Protest (civilly) in the streets. This will - and should not - end well for Alabama.
Why you should care about Shohei Ohtani
I wrote this piece about the best player in baseball. Probably already the best player of all time. He’s a unicorn. And the tragedy is that almost nobody seems to care.
So take a moment sometime to recognize Shohei Ohtani. He’s like the Leonardo Da Vinci of the modern era — a baseball renaissance man who can literally do it all.
In case you missed it
Cobalt Red: The Bloody Truth Behind Congolese Cobalt Mining. Do you own a smartphone? An electric car? If you buy anything with a lithium-ion battery, for which cobalt is an essential element, you’re complicit in the human and environmental destruction caused by cobalt mining in the Congo. Read more here.
I Watched My Dad Die. Have you ever seen someone die in person? Before June 25th, I never had. Witnessing it changed everything for me. Emotionally. Philosophically. Spiritually. Read more here.
And of course, my favorite reads of the week
An epilogue to my time working at Twitter by Esther Crawford
Good Storytellers Do Five Things ChatGPT Isn’t Even Capable Of by Linda Caroll
Trump is charged with a coverup - WSJ Editorial Board
Fighting for Anthony: The struggle to save Portland - The Seattle Times