Florida hit a new record high Friday, reporting more than 75,000 new coronavirus patients, as the administration of Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis continues to cover for his absence, the Associated Press reports.

The seven-day running average of new cases in Florida topped 42,000, twice as high as the last peak during the summer.  With Florida slow to report fatalities to cover DeSantis’ poor record of dealing with the pandemic.

DeSantis has been missing for about the last week as cases in Florida skyrocketed.  While his spokespersons explained his absence by saying DeSantis is taking time spend with his children and wife during the Christmas holiday, Christina Pushaw is now claiming he took time off to help his wife who is going through cancer treatments after being diagnosed in mid-October, more than 10 weeks ago, during which time she would’ve presumably been undergoing treatment.

TMZ reports Betty White, the last of the Golden Girls, has passed away at the age of 99, just days shy of her 100th birthday. Whoever made that joke here that “Betty White is next” because “they always happen in threes” after John Madden and Harry Reid died can go fuck themselves.

When they walk away, we step up.
When they stay silent, we speak up.
When they silence us, we speak louder and longer.

We are House Republicans. And we will never back down. pic.twitter.com/qpCPUa4tSN

— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) December 31, 2021

The Taliban has eliminated an election commission put in place by the previous Western-backed administration to supervise elections, claiming there is “no need” for any such body, reports Al Jazeera.

The move mirrors election changes made by Republicans in the state of Georgia in 2021, who passed a law allowing the Republican dominated state legislature to oust local elections officials and replace them with party loyalists.

The move is seen by some as mirroring how the Nazi regime based their laws limiting the rights of Jews in inter-war Germany on Jim Crow laws that were enacted across the American South.

South Korean fire officials have determined that cats caused at least 107 fires in the last three years, CNN reports. “Cat-related fires are continuing to occur recently. We advise households with pets to pay extra attention as fire could spread widely when no one is at home” said Chung Gyo-chul of the Seoul Metropolitan Fire and Disaster Department in a statement Thursday. Chung said the fires are mostly caused by the sociopaths’ jumping on electric stoves and inadvertently turning the knobs, advising owners to install locks and keep stoves clear of any flammable objects.

Following Thursday’s announcement from NASCAR driver Brandon Brown’s team that they signed a sponsorship deal with moronic cryptocurrency “LGB Coin” a NASCAR spokesperson told Motorsport.com that Brown’s team “jumped the gun” in announcing the partnership, which is subject to their approval. In November NASCAR president Steve Phelps denounced the meme, saying “I think unfortunately it speaks to the state of where we are as a country. We do not want to associate ourselves with politics, the left or the right,” so the racing organization’s approval for the LGB Coin sponsorship would seem like a dubious proposition at best.

As representatives of an international coalition continue to negotiate conditions for furthering talks about Iran’s nuclear development program, Iran has launched a rocket carrying three satellites into space, the Associated Press reports.

It is unclear when the launch took place; the state-sponsored television network aired footage of the launch, during which the rocket carried a satellite carrier with three “devices” aboard.  The report was not clear about what the devices were or if the devices reached orbit.

Iran’s provocation focuses the need to engage with the country to curb its nuclear program.  After the Obama Administration brought an international coalition together to pressure Iran into a deal, Donald Trump voided the agreement, allowing Iran to renew its technology programs.

“Issues like closing schools, which was not following the science, in my opinion, and I always said that on this program two years ago, is because causing other [indecipherable] published today an article from Brown showing that kids born during the pandemic are developmentally delayed,” political dilettante (and STILL not a legit Pennsylvania resident) Mehmet Oz states.  “Think about that. We’re hurting our children with some of these policies. Kids who can’t see the mouths of their teachers move don’t learn to speak.  Five percent of kids wear glasses.  They fog up.  They can’t read.  These are the penalties we pay and we weren’t any safer because of these destructive, authoritarian restrictions.  I believe we should empower the people of Pennsylvania.  That’s what I [indecipherable] my whole career.  I know what works.  People are smart.  They know what to do.  What they want medicine is transparency and they want to make sure they know who their doctor is.  We’re not doing either for them.”

Editor’s note:  Mehmet’s grammar and enunciation were so bad in this interview that many of his statements make no sense grammatically, not to mention from a policy perspective.  My personal favorite part:  the guy who shilled snake oil on a television show says people want “transparency” in their medicine.

High winds are driving two separate wildfires in the area around Boulder, Colorado, forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate and destroying hundreds of homes, CNN reports.  Some children celebrating things at an area Chuck E. Cheese “pizza” spot had to flee into the smoky outdoors without redeeming their tickets.

Democratic California Congressman Eric Swalwell posted screenshots of a chat he had via direct messages with a threatening poster who started off by saying he wanted the Congressman shot.  Swalwell found that Jeremy Marshall was radicalized by people like Tucker Carlson and Joe Rogan.

A man DM’d I should be shot. For my family’s safety, I asked Twitter for help ID’ing him. When Twitter fell short (thanks for trying!) I asked the guy his name (stringing him a bit) & why he threatened me. Meet Jeremy Marshall who told me he was radicalized by Tucker Carlson.  The other person he was radicalized by was Joe Rogan. A few notes: — I engaged with this guy solely to learn as much as I could about his identify [sic] to share it with law enforcement. — I do not have any family in Canada, I was trying to get information about his business.

 

Bottom-line: the lies from Tucker and others are radicalizing people across not just America but the world. And the lies are inspiring people to make threats of violence against lawmakers. Tucker & Co. know this. And that’s why they tell their lies. They want to incite the mob.  Finally, please do not threaten/harass Jeremy. Let the law/Instagram hold him accountable.

Missouri Governor Mike Parsons says he’s still hoping the St Louis Post-Dispatch reporter who “hacked” a state website using a browser inspector finding plain text data for state employees – including social security numbers – in October will be brought to justice for his/her “crimes”. “If somebody picks your lock on your house – for whatever reason, it’s not a good lock, it’s a cheap lock or whatever problem you might have – they do not have the right to go into your house and take anything that belongs to you” Parsons said at press conference Wednesday.

Had some great bagels from Bagelicious Deli & Bakery in Ocala.

Stop by if you’re in the area! pic.twitter.com/UaiN9g7MEh

— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) December 30, 2021

Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is missing, and people are beginning to notice.  The scrutiny has gotten so loud that DeSantis has taken to trying to deceive people by posting a photo of his visit to a bagel shop two weeks ago.

DeSantis’ absence in Florida comes as the state has been experiencing an upshot in the number of coronavirus cases identified in the state, even though DeSantis’ administration has attempted to obscure the actual data reflecting the devastation in the state, with more than 50,000 cases reported in each of the last two days.

“President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. spoke today with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. President Biden urged Russia to de-escalate tensions with Ukraine. He made clear that the United States and its allies and partners will respond decisively if Russia further invades Ukraine. President Biden also expressed support for diplomacy, starting early next year with the bilateral Strategic Stability Dialogue, at NATO through the NATO-Russia Council, and at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. President Biden reiterated that substantive progress in these dialogues can occur only in an environment of de- escalation rather than escalation” – White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on President Biden’s Thursday call with Putin.

“Far from ‘fishing,’ or looking to the former President and his advisors as a ‘case study,’ the Committee is investigating events involving [Trump] and other White House officials that have an identifiable factual foundation and relate to a specific, unprecedented attack on the Capitol. That investigation unquestionably serves legitimate legislative purposes. And contrary to [Trump]’s contentions, those legislative purposes are sufficient to support the Committee’s request even if some Members [of Congress] also believe that the investigation may ‘disclose crime or wrongdoing” write the Justice Department lawyers in Trump v Thompson et al.

Tesla is recalling nearly half a million vehicles for safety issues relating to its rear-facing camera and hood issues as the National Traffic Safety Board investigates the cars’ designs for issues relating to its driver assistance system, Reuters reports.

The number of cars being recalled, 475,000 of its Model 3 and Model S manufactured between 2014 and 2021, equals about half of the cars Tesla produced in the last year.  The Model 3s are being recalled for rearview camera issues, and the Model Ss for issue relating to the cars’ hoods which could cause them to unlatch and rise while the car is moving.  Neither Tesla nor the NTSB have reported any accidents due to the issues.

Tesla cars have come under scrutiny lately after reports that the driver can engage a gaming system while driving, something the safety system of the vehicle is supposed to prevent.

We’re not going to recommend or even link this “blockbuster” story in the Gateway Pundit, but it’s also too insane to leave alone. The shortest version possible is this: In 2003 an American intel mercenary named Don Berlin was hired by the Prince of Monaco to investigate a New Zealand-born billionaire named Christopher Chandler, after which Berlin produced a dossier alleging that Chandler was actively laundering money for Russian criminals and politicians (redundant, we know). In 2017, Berlin’s dossier resurfaced as part of a Sunday Times investigation into Russian intel links to a hardcore pro-Brexit UK think tank called the Legatum Institute, backed by Chandler. Chandler sued Berlin for defamation in 2018 and the case is still in the DC Circuit Court of Appeals.

It goes much deeper than that, but the Gateway Pundit’s gist is because there’s doubt over this Berlin guy’s work investigating a UK Conservative donor’s links to Russia, you can’t trust anything else he says. Even if a year ago he made another dossier about Dominion and Smartmatic and presented it to Mark Meadows, who turned it over to the House January 6th Select Committee (alongside a similarly batshit PowerPoint presentation). That means (according to the warped logic of the Gateway Pundit) the committee knew what to look for in Meadows’ submission, because they planted it – even if it’s 90% the same garbage Gateway spent every single day of the last year reporting on. The conspiracy here is about as wide as an ocean but deep as a puddle, but we felt it necessary to give you all a heads up if/when you start seeing the fanboys throwing “Berlin Dossier” around when talking about the newest entry into the canon of their fictional universe.

“In the first year of Trump’s presidency, the S&P 500 hit new records 62 times and finished up 17%. In the first year of Biden’s presidency, the S&P 500 hit new records 70 times and finished up 29%.”  —Peter Baker of the New York Times

A three-year-old girl in North Carolina died Tuesday after accidentally shooting herself in the head on Christmas Day when she found a loaded handgun a guest at her family’s holiday celebration had in his unlocked truck, USA Today reports.

Aylee Gordon was outside playing with her new bicycle on Christmas afternoon when family members heard a gunshot and found the girl lying in the yard.  She apparently found a loaded 9 mm handgun, which discharged and shot her in the head.  It is unclear if Aylee removed the gun from the pickup herself, or if someone else did.  She was airlifted to a local hospital for treatment, but died three days later.

The N.C. State Bureau of Investigation and the Henderson County District are investigating the incident, but have not yet filed charges.  In other recent cases, the owners of guns used by children in shootings have been charged with crimes:  the parents of a 13-year-old Pennsylvania boy are being charged after he shot and killed his five-year-old brother, and in Minnesota, and the parents of the Oxford, Michigan school shooter are charged after their mentally-disturbed son killed four and wounded seven.

A major explosion rocked the Curtis Bay neighborhood of Baltimore Thursday morning after a five-story elevator at a CSX coal yard exploded, a blast that could be heard miles away, the Baltimore Sun reports.  Baltimore Firefighters IAFF Local 734 posted doorcam footage showing the fireball rising into the sky from a home about a mile away.  Authorities are requesting local residents stay away from the area.