Amanda Marcotte/Salon:
WaPo:
Josh Chafetz/NBC Think:
Will Bunch/WaPo:
EJ Dionne:
WaPo:
WaPo:
The evolution of Trump's Big Lie: Republicans retool their conspiracy theory for the mainstream
Republicans are redefining "rigged" to make Trump's Big Lie more media-friendly
Clearly, Republicans need a version of the Big Lie that isn't so ridiculous. They need something they can slip past the fact-checkers at the New York Times and CNN. Preferably a way to package the same idea — that people of color and urban voters are inherently illegitimate — without sounding like a maniac like the MyPillow Guy. They need a definition of "rigged" that doesn't sound like the ravings of 9/11 truthers or QAnon-addled morons.
Enter Trumpist writer Mollie Hemingway.
A frequent voice on Fox News, Hemingway clearly feels she's found a more sophisticated justification for the baseless accusations that the 2020 election was "rigged." She's got a new definition of "rigged" that sounds less nutty and can be used to browbeat reporters out of calling out the "voter fraud" lie. She's even tied the conspiracy theory to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, cleverly wielding his well-known status as a villain to push this nonsense about a "rigged" election.
Sinema's not agreeing to raise the rates, but she has agreed to raise nearly $2T in revenue, partly targeting corporations and rich people. Dems bullish they can get her on billionaires' asset tax, corporate international. https://t.co/tbiZIoKnuc@AnthonyAdragna @heatherscope
— Burgess Everett (@burgessev) October 21, 2021
WaPo:
House votes to hold Bannon in contempt for refusing to comply with Jan. 6 subpoena
Thursday’s 229-to-202 vote comes days after the bipartisan members of the select committee voted unanimously in favor of the resolution.
Bannon has previously argued through his attorney that he can’t respond to the subpoena because of executive privilege asserted by former president Donald Trump.
The matter now goes to the Justice Department, which will decide whether to pursue the contempt referral. Contempt of Congress is a misdemeanor criminal offense that can result in up to one year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000.
And here is the photo of Speaker Pelosi signing the criminal contempt referral of Steve Bannon that passed out of the House and is now in the hands of the U.S. Attorney's Office in DC. https://t.co/BUv64M9j6c
— Annie Grayer (@AnnieGrayerCNN) October 21, 2021
Josh Chafetz/NBC Think:
Steve Bannon's House subpoena defiance should end in prosecution
There should be consequences for those who attacked democracy on Jan. 6 — and consequences for those who attack democracy by thwarting congressional investigations.
Substantively, any privilege claims raised by the subpoenaed witnesses are nonsense. This is especially true of Bannon, who, as law professor Jonathan Adler pointed out, was “neither an attorney nor government official,” and therefore has no legal basis for refusing to testify. If Bannon continues to refuse to comply with the subpoena, he should not only be tried but also convicted.
That is as it should be, because Bannon’s spurning of the committee strikes at the heart of democratic governance in two distinct but related ways. The first has to do with the committee’s substantive remit: It is investigating an attempt by Trump’s supporters to overthrow the government by force. Naming insurgents and their instigators and facilitators is one way to try to prevent these individuals from holding positions of power in the future. The committee can also try to put forward proposals to make this sort of event less likely to occur, and less likely to succeed, in the future.
Wow. Twitter’s algorithms amplify tweets from the political right more than from the political left in six (US, UK, Canada, France, Spain, Japan) out of seven countries studied according to Twitter’s own research published today. The outlier: ??Germanyhttps://t.co/EYJPbV9Ksv pic.twitter.com/B2coUOl7IQ
— Michael Knigge (@kniggem) October 21, 2021
Will Bunch/WaPo:
From college to climate, Democrats are sealing their doom by selling out young voters
When the world last heard from Samuel Weinberg in the summer of 2020, he was a suburban Chicago teenager with a progressive political cause — defeating Donald Trump, and convincing his young peers that a vote for a septuagenarian lifelong moderate, Joe Biden, was the only way to do that — and a brilliant plan.
“Settle for Biden” was the name of the popular Instagram handle that Weinberg created, and its meme-laden strategy, which included pictures of the smiling Delaware politician, under the words, “He’ll do,” or the Democratic nominee kneeling in front of a blackboard with the Photoshopped words “Because a C+ is better than an F,” seems to have helped. On November 3, 2020, voters in the 18-29-year-old demographic turned out in higher numbers than past elections, voted strongly for Biden over Trump, and clearly tipped key Electoral College states like Georgia as the Democrats just barely earned control in Washington.
But just nine months into the 46th presidency, Biden is struggling to earn even that “C+” on his first report card from America’s young voters. The last week of headlines — that free community college is completely dropped from the Democrats’ economic plan and that a Democratic senator has ripped the guts out of its climate strategy, along with the Godot-like wait for major action on student debt — has shaken many teen and 20-something voters who hoped for more. Even Weinberg, now a 20-year-old college student in western Massachusetts, is growing disillusioned.
Apparently Rep. Greene started shouting at Reps. Raskin and Cheney on the House floor, per Raskin. "I can't remember exactly what she said, but they got into a back and forth about Jewish space lasers."
— Ben Siegel (@bensiegel) October 21, 2021
EJ Dionne:
Glenn Youngkin and the Trump Hypocrisy Two-Step
If Youngkin succeeds, it will tell the GOP’s politicians all over the nation that they can simultaneously embrace Donald Trump for the purpose of rallying the former president’s base and playact moderation just well enough to win over the suburban swing voters they need to prevail.
A Youngkin defeat, by contrast, will demonstrate that Trump is lethal with middle-of-the-road voters, precisely what fence-sitting Republicans need to hear.
Virginia’s voters — especially moderate Republicans who want to build a better party and independents who want less polarized politics — need to send a message: Betting the future on the extremism Trump peddles and the lies he tells is a dangerous, ultimately doomed wager.
Watching ACIP on Oct 21, & listening to Dr. Sanchez' clear-headed question at about 14:25 that kind of translates to: "Why on earth SHOULDN'T a J&J first-doser get an mRNA booster/2nd dose, instead of a J&J 2nd dose?" I can't resist retweeting this from recent VRBPAC meeting: https://t.co/5YL5xgBmIx
— Jody Lanard MD (@EIDGeek) October 21, 2021
WaPo:
FDA strongly considers authorizing vaccine boosters for people as young as 40
Agency action would not occur until next month, after pediatric vaccines are cleared, according to federal officials
Federal regulators are seriously considering authorizing coronavirus vaccine boosters for everyone 40 years old and older, a move that could sharply increase the number of people eligible for the shots, according to two federal officials familiar with the plans.
Action would not occur until next month, after the Food and Drug Administration deals with two big items on its agenda, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the issue.
38. So the way FDA-CDC are going to try to steer choice of boosters is coming into view. The EUAs the FDA issued made it look like we all get to choose whatever we want. But @CDCgov's clinical considerations suggest people should get boosted with the same brand. ie don't mix. pic.twitter.com/cCQDf21Ajo
— Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) October 21, 2021
WaPo:
CDC advisers recommend Moderna and Johnson & Johnson boosters; say shot can differ from original
Advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday unanimously recommended the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson boosters for tens of millions of Americans deemed vulnerable because of their age, health or occupation to bolster their protection against the coronavirus.
The panel also said that consumers should be allowed to choose from any of the three boosters now authorized in the United States, no matter which vaccine they first received. Members directed the CDC to provide further guidance about which groups might benefit from choosing one booster over another, noting the risks and benefits vary based on age and sex, among other factors.
The ability to mix and match vaccines “gives us the flexibility we need for an effective and efficient vaccine implementation,” said Sandra Fryhofer, an internist representing the American Medical Association.