• What we learned this week:  While President of the United States, Donald Trump attempted to order civilian law enforcement, the military and the nation’s national security apparatus to overturn a valid Constitutional election.  Trump wanted to be a third-world dictator.
• Record job growth in the first year, an ISIS leader killed, and key people in Trump’s cabal questioned in various investigations around the country.  Or as Chuck Todd would say, perhaps the most troubling week for the Biden Administration.
• It’s not racism to say you want a Black woman on the Supreme Court because you’re not excluding anyone already there.  It is racism to object to that pledge, because you’re claiming there are no qualified Black women to fill the nomination, which is obviously not true.  
• Anti-vaxxers are the child at your dinner table who won’t eat his carrots even though your mother says no one will leave the table until you’ve cleaned your plate.  They are holding everyone else hostage from safely opening America up.
• The GOP has stated that Biden’s Supreme Court nominee will not get any Republican support in the Senate because Biden has declared he’s going to nominate a Black woman to the open seat.  No nominee has been named, but the GOP is in lockstep to block it, showing that qualifications don’t matter when you’re racist and misogynist.  
• In his twelve months in office, the Biden Administration saw 6.6 million new jobs created, more than the entire terms of JFK (3.6M), DDE (3.5M), GHW Bush (2.6M), Ford (2.1M), GW Bush (1.3M) and Trump (-3.0M).  
• Jeff Zucker resigning from CNN for an affair is a good thing.  But the gloating by conservative propagandists trying to equate it to what happened to Roger Ailes is misplaced:  Zucker had a consensual affair; Ailes exploited multiple women trying to break into journalism and made servicing him a requirement of getting/keeping a job.
• Trump pre-announcing pardons for J6 domestic terrorists (in the unlikely event he gets back in office) undermines the legitimacy of our judicial system, and he once again flouts the Constitution.  He’s asserting that no matter what, his followers could never get a fair trial, and he therefore must pardon them.
• Republicans want to ban books as a preemptive step to prevent their disastrous leadership from impacting their election chances in the future.  A stupid caucus is a happy, angry caucus.  
• Mrs. Jack and I are at the start of awards screening season, so we’ll be open to any suggestions or questions about this year’s nominees.  Dopesick is an early personal favorite.
• The NY Times Spelling Bee is superior to Wordle, which is just a version of the old Lingo game show.  The Spelling Bee is challenging the crossword for the supreme daily puzzle.
• The MSNBC lineup continues a significant shift.  While still reliable–on facts and entertainment value– the hosts will need time to adjust to their new roles.  I remember I wasn’t thrilled with the first few months of Maddow’s show, and now it’s a polished act.
• eHarmony claims that one person on their dating app finds love every 14 minutes.  That’s just about 100 per day, or 36,000 per year.  For a site that claims to have millions of users, that seems like a crappy “success” rate. 
• Favorite herbs and spices to cook with:  Garlic is king, and props to the traditional salt and pepper.  I’m a fan of mustard (ground and condiment), particularly paired with rosemary.  But the hidden star of the pantry is the humble bay leaf, which doesn’t ruin any dinner it’s added to.
• Aaron Rupar gets the final position this week for a tweet I *really* wanted to include somewhere.   

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1489647301689757701