Scott Lang @ScottLang@democracy.town

I'm surprised to hear Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson say (in response to Dana Bash's question) that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy should condemn Lauren Boebert and Paul Gosar for their violent rhetoric. That's how low the bar is for Republicans. Saying that violence is wrong is a surprise.

@MariaHill

There are fewer true journalists today than there have been.

MSM is all about personalities and popularity. We’re in danger of losing our democracy yet divisive nonsense about the VP goes on.

Journalists need to join Eric Boehlert in calling it out because the coverage of Harris is not only "increasingly condescending" -- it's also increasingly embarrassing to legitimately professional reporters, hosts, and anchors.

They are doing this so come the next election, she'll have lost her power. We need to get ahead of this and we must do it now.

The media's glaring new double standard for first woman VP:
https://pressrun.media/p/the-medias-glaring-new-double-standard

@TonyStark
If she wears a tan suit or likes fancy mustard then she’s done for. Distractionary BS gets clicks. Our media is failing.

@777 @TonyStark @chiasm Block me, too, then.
#TransWomenAreWomen

@The_Quantum_Alpha@leafposter.club
Transphobia isn't permitted on my instance, along with many, many others.

As you've already been suspended from others, I assume you're aware.

@777 @chiasm

We give away our public treasures to big oil for pennies, while they have lied to us about climate change for years.

It is long past time to change that.

-Infrastructure.

-COVID aid.

-Vaccine distribution.

-Undoing coal ash in our waterways and poisons-on-crops that TFG ordered to be allowed.

-Lowest unemployment claims since 1965.

-Reestablishing good relations with our allies.

-And now charging oil companies higher rates. Would prefer we just stop subsidizing that industry but Republicans keep blocking full progress.

-lower income tax rates coming for middle income folks - FINALLY!

All this in 10 months. Thank you, Joe.

#ElectDemocrats

Biden administration seeks to raise the price to drill for oil and gas on public lands:
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/biden-administration-seeks-raise-price-drill-oil-gas-public-lands-n1284729

The Omicron variant was already introduced into Europe (Belgium) by an unvaccinated traveler who returned from a trip to northern Africa and Turkey, so just blocking travel from Africa clearly won't block the variant. 

While it's impossible to say how many people were infected before the person was tested, the odds of that answer being "none" are almost zero, so the Omicron variant is now almost certainly spreading around Europe. It's not hard to imagine it's reached the U.S.

Unvaccinated international travelers are playing essentially the same role as rats during the black plague, constantly bringing the infection to new locations where it can spread. The main difference is that the plague rats had no choice whereas pretty much any adult in Europe or the USA who is unvaccinated is a willing spreader of the pandemic allowing variants to keep being created.

Omicron: Europe's first reported case of new COVID variant has been discovered in Belgium: https://www.euronews.com/2021/11/26/europe-s-first-reported-case-of-new-covid-variant-has-been-discovered-in-belgium

"South Africa’s slowing vaccination program also is largely due to a reluctance by its population to get the jab, driven by apathy and the feeling that “things aren’t so bad,” said Gray." "Earlier this month, the South African government said it would delay the delivery of Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines because fewer people were being vaccinated."

Even if logistical problems magically disappear and everyone in the whole world is offered the vaccine today, there will still be plenty of people refusing it and spinning off variants. Even here in the good old US of A. So while we need to continue to try to vaccinate everyone who wants it, it’s highly that sending vaccines alone is going to stop covid. We need not only to send them, but engage in a worldwide, cooperative education program, too.

Omicron is seen as another warning sign of how global pandemic controls are only as strong as weakest links:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/vaccine-omicron-varient-rich-poor/2021/11/27/b2da8fa4-4fa6-11ec-a7b8-9ed28bf23929_story.html

I applaud those that could care less about shortages of materialistic junk to buy this holiday season.

Thoughtful giving and time with the people I care about mean more to me at this point in life. This doesn't mean you can't enjoy the holidays, but if we're all more thoughtful, we help people less well off, workers, and people who still need necessities.

Something to read and consider.

Stop Shopping:

America needs you to buy less junk.

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2021/10/stop-shopping-global-supply-chain-shipping-delays/620465/

Those who refuse to be vaccinated because they value their freedom are in fact imposing their dysfunctional will on others. 

The “freedom” to spread COVID is a tyrannical imposition on those that don’t want to be infected. This is an easy call -- like many other things our society and all other societies have developed and come to accept. If you don't want to get a driver's license, it's your choice. But then you can't get behind a steering wheel and drive on a public road. If you don't want to stop smoking, go ahead and light up. But then you can't do it in a restaurant or in a plane or in a train.

Similarly, if you don't want to get the vaccine, it's fine. But then you can't be in a place where other people may breathe your exhaled air. Period.

A flood of covid patients causes ‘almost unmanageable’ strain in Michigan as cases rise nationwide; a flood of mostly unvaccinated covid-19 patients was arriving at emergency departments already packed with people:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/11/25/covid-cases-increase-michigan-minnesota/

@JamesRhodes @TonyStark We are definitely tired of it.

@TonyStark I'm so tired of anti-vaxxers straining health care workers. Thr self-centered attitude is almost hard to believe. Almost.

This column itemizes the reasons why the media doom-and-gloom about Democrats and this administration is so much nonsense. Face it. We can all be thankful that we're all better off than we were one year ago. As this Jennifer Rubin column shows us, that message needs to be reported and, indeed, emphasized today and every day. I am very thankful, indeed.

A President who is a human being and trying to do the right thing for the country is no longer to be taken for granted.

Opinion | Giving thanks for democracy;
There is plenty to appreciate this year.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/11/24/giving-thanks-democracy/

@TonyStark
Thanks for this. Perhaps the press could talk up the good new more. During the trump years, it was always parroting trump’s “the economy is great” prefacing the litany of embarrassing and aberrant behavior. But the economy was not great.

@SteveRogers @TonyStark
At 6:30 AM, President Biden is reading his President's Daily Brief (PDB), drinking coffee, and eating toast.

The Former Guy woke up much later, then tweeted, then watched Fox and Friends and called into that show while his valet painted him orange. The Former Guy did not read his PDB and could not even absorb a simplified verbal version.

@TonyStark I'm thankful for Jennifer Rubin's columns. Hard to believe that her column was called "Right Turn" when she was hired in 2009! I'm glad she saw the light.

That's a good list of things we can be thankful for. Reading the column is worth your time, but for those who can't access it, a brief synopsis:

Biden and his Cabinet

Attorney General Merrick and the DOJ actually doing its job

The House of Representatives passing useful bills and censuring out-of-control Republican representatives

The 1/6 Committee and Reps. Cheney and Kinzinger standing up for democracy

A single Senate Republican, Sen. Murkowski, who voted for voting rights

The Minneapolis jury that voted for justice for George Floyd's killer

New Yorkers for ousting an abusive governor and Californians for beating back a recall effort

Democratic governors and the few not-insane Republican ones

Groups protecting democracy and our military which also does so

Let's review: the various jobs reports are all very encouraging, GDP is growing and is anticipated to be roaring by 2022, and wages are up. Interest rates for loans/mortgages are still at historically low levels. Inflation is up, but it’s a global phenomenon. The infrastructure bill was passed and the dollars/projects should kick off in this fiscal year.

Democrats should be able to trumpet real progress for Americans - and tell the voters that the Republicans have nothing to present but fear and lies.

Now we need to pass the Build Back Better bill.

US jobless claims hit 52-year low after seasonal adjustments - https://abcn.ws/3nPv9Is