(1/2) I stand with immense respect for our Constitution, the Rule of Law, and the Americans I represent who know that this entity is illegitimate, and not duly constituted under the rules of the US House of Representatives.

— Rep. Scott Perry (@RepScottPerry) December 21, 2021

Thread continued: “I decline this entity’s request and will continue to fight the failures of the radical Left who desperately seek distraction from their abject failures of crushing inflation, a humiliating surrender in Afghanistan, and the horrendous crisis they created at our border.”

The FDA is set to approve COVID treatment pills from Pfizer and Merck this week, Bloomberg’s Josh Wingrove reports. While in theory both these treatments should appeal to the MAGA jackasses who swear by ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, zinc, and all the other bullshit they think works in lieu of getting vaxxed, who knows at this point if they’ll trust anything from mainstream pharmaceutical companies, especially when one of them also manufactures a top COVID-19 vaccine.

“Why isn’t the Unselect Committee of highly partisan political hacks investigating the CAUSE of the January 6th protest, which was the rigged Presidential Election of 2020? Does anybody notice that they want to stay as far away from that topic as possible, the numbers don’t work for them, or even come close. The only thing they can do is not talk about it. Look at what is going on now in Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, Wisconsin, and, to a lesser extent, Michigan where the numbers are horrendously corrupt in Detroit, but the weak Republican RINOs in the Michigan House and Senate don’t want to touch the subject. In many ways a RINO is worse than a Radical Left Democrat, because you don’t know where they are coming from and you have no idea how bad they really are for our Country. The good news is there are fewer and fewer RINOs left as we elect strong Patriots who love America. I will be having a news conference on January 6th at Mar-a-Lago to discuss all of these points, and more. Until then, remember, the insurrection took place on November 3rd, it was the completely unarmed protest of the rigged election that took place on January 6th” says the Orange God Emperor in a statement, guaranteeing a shitshow of a press conference.

Japanese death row inmates Yasutaka Fujishiro, Tomoaki Takanezawa, and Mitsunori Onogawa had been waiting for nearly two decades to find out when they would be executed for their crimes -Takanezawa and Onogawa, accomplices in the murders of two pinball arcade employees in 2004, and Fujishiro for massacring seven neighbors, including his own aunt in 2003, CNN reports.

On Tuesday they finally got their answer: On Tuesday. The Japanese Justice Ministry told all three they’d be hanged just hours before they were marched to the gallows. The three men’s families were notified after it happened. Precisely why this psychological torture is inflicted on death row inmates in Japan is unknown, but it seems kind of excessive, even for murderers.

Doug Wead, a longtime Florida Conservative media personality facing trial on charges he conspired “to solicit a political contribution from a Russian foreign national” has died at the age of 75, his attorney Jay Sekulow told DC Circuit Judge Trevor McFadden on Friday, the Florida Bulldog reports. Wead, who in September pleaded not guilty to the charges alongside co-defendant Jesse R. Benton of Louisville, KY, was accused of engaging in a complicated scheme to launder the cash for the pro-Trump Great America super PAC from an unnamed Russian national. Sekulow, a convert from Judiasm to Evangelical Christianity and a fucking scam artist himself who ripped off old people, was on Trump’s defense team during his first impeachment trial in early 2020.

There’s a sustained astroturfing campaign of blatantly scripted anti-Kamala Harris calls across Spanish-language media in South Florida, and Dems are trying to get to the bottom of it, Politico reports. Florida Dem strategist Fernand Amandi says the attacks are “weird because [Harris] is not really a topic of conversation down here. The focus is always on the Democrats as a party, on Biden, local officials.” Morning radio host Roberto Rodríguez Tejera also noticed the calls seemingly coming out of the blue. “It’s not like you get 10 calls every day. It’s not like that. You get a couple of calls here, a couple of calls there. “That’s how the phone banks begin that [have] worked. But it’s a trend that you see that is growing by the day” Rodríguez said.

Former President Donald Trump flew on Jeffrey Epstein’s “Lolita Express” private jet at least six more time than previously publicly known, the Miami Herald reports, citing flight logs published as evidence in the Ghislaine Maxwell trial this week. Trump flew on the jet four times in 1993, and one time each in 1994 and 1995. Previously known was a flight he took in 1997. Trump took his son Eric on the flight in 1995 and his daughter Tiffany and her mom, Marla Maples, on the 1994 flight, per the logs. Former President Bill Clinton flew on Epstein’s jet at least nine times in the 2000s.

White Nationalist Anti-Semite Republican Nick Fuentes has been banned from right wing social network GETTR, reports the Daily Beast’s Zachary Petrizzo.

A middle aged unvaccinated man in Harris County who died Monday is the first documented fatality in the United States attributed to the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, Reuters reports.  The man was between 50 to 60 years old and had underlying health issues including, that is, being unvaccinated.

A former doctor from Nevada, who had had his license pulled by a review board, has been arrested for making a threat to shoot up a Salt Lake City Mormon church office, the Associated Press reports.  In the voicemail left at church’s offices in Salt Lake City one week ago, Isaac Hearne, 55, of Las Vegas, stated that he was going to shoot up the church’s offices and kill everyone inside.

Helpfully, Hearne left his name on the message.  A former eye doctor in Reno and reportedly a former member of the Church of Latter Day Saints, Hearne had apparently left a number of messages at the office seeking a refund of donations he had made.

Court records showed that Hearne appeared in court last Thursday on a felony terrorism charge.  The judge permitted his pre-trial release from jail on high-level electronic monitoring and ordered him to stay away from Mormon churches.

Fox Communications, the parent company of the Fox News network, has updated its employee vaccine mandate for people in its New York City offices, requiring all on-site employees to have at least one vaccine dose by December 27th, the New York Times reports.

Fox is also eliminating the option to have weekly coronavirus tests for people who refuse the vaccines.  The change echoes the new vaccine mandate being implemented by New York City.  A spokesperson for Fox Corp. told the Times that more than 90% of their employees are vaccinated.  They did not mention how many of their on-air talent are not vaccinated.

🪨Mineral Monday🪨 Today’s topic is wind turbines. As the country transitions to more clean energy, new energy technologies differ profoundly from traditional hydrocarbon resources. One example are wind turbines, which require 9 x’s more mineral resources than a gas-fired plant. pic.twitter.com/I2RGB2EbhO

— Rep. Paul Gosar, DDS (@RepGosar) December 21, 2021

California Democratic Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard, the first Mexican-American woman elected to Congress, announced Monday that she will not seek re-election in the midterms, the Associated Press reports.

Roybal-Allard, 80, was first elected to Congress in 1992 in the newly-created 33rd Congressional District.  Her district is being phased out, being absorbed into surrounding districts that are being redrawn to account for California’s loss of a seat.

After 30 years in the House “the time has come for me to spend more time with my family,” she said in a statement.

QAnon Congresswoman from Colorado (and embittered co-chair of the Pep Club at the 15th class reunion, because life is short, Courtney!) Lauren Boebert goes on a part evangelical, part motivational speaker, part Andrew Dice Clay tribute act during the Turning Point USA, um, “meeting(?)”.

While the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th domestic terrorist attack on Congress does not have the authority to bring criminal charges itself, investigators and committee members are reportedly considering making criminal referrals to the Justice Department for Donald Trump and other Republican officials, the New York Times reports.

The investigators are contemplating criminal referrals for Donald Trump and others in his cabal based on a charge recently support by the courts:  obstruction of Congress.  The group is also considering if it has sufficient evidence to charge RNC and other fundraisers for wire fraud because they knew the election fraud claims were false, but they used it as a cornerstone of their fundraising efforts.

After interviewing more than 300 witnesses, committee members and investigators reportedly believe they have enough evidence to support criminal prosecutions for those charges.  It’s unknown what specific items of evidence are known to the committee or what may have prompted these discussions among the team.

Hospitals in Cleveland and Minnesota are so stretched that they have taken out ads in newspapers begging people to get vaccinated and comply with public health guidelines such as mask wearing in an effort to reduce the number of coronavirus patients that need care, the Washington Post reports.

In Minnesota, nine health systems banded together to take out full page ads in newspapers across the state.  “We’re heartbroken. We’re overwhelmed,” the headline reads.  “At any time, you or your loved one might need our support,” it continues. “Heart attacks. Car accidents. Cancer. Stroke. Appendicitis. Now, an ominous question looms: Will you be able to get care at your local community hospital without delay? Today, that’s uncertain.”

Six hospital centers in Ohio–Cleveland Clinic, MetroHealth, University Hospitals, Summa Health, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and St. Vincent Charity Medical Center–took out a full-page ad in the Cleveland Plain-Dealer Sunday, the largest newspaper in a state where just 55% of eligible people are vaccinated, and only 36% have received boosters.  “Help,” the headline reads simply.  ““We now have more COVID-19 patients in our hospitals than ever before.  And the overwhelming majority are unvaccinated. This is preventable.”

The ad ended with a plea:  “We need you to care as much as we do.”

“Starting on January 15, 2022, to address rising COVID-19 cases and encourage vaccination, individuals will be required to show proof of vaccination against COVID-19 in order to enter certain indoor spaces in Boston. People working in those locations will also be required to have received their vaccines,” the city of Boston announced on their Mayor’s office website.

A downloadable list of covered venues includes bars, restaurants, museums, indoor stadiums and commercial and trade show events. “Employees working in those spaces will also be required to be vaccinated. Covered businesses are responsible for checking proof of vaccination and posting a notice about the COVID-19 vaccine requirement,” the web-page announces.

The House Select Committee investigating the domestic terrorist attack on Congress on January 6th has requested information from Republican Pennsylvania Congressman Scott Perry relating to his efforts to install Department of Justice attorney Jeffrey Clark to be attorney general in an effort to undermine the election outcome.

“We have received evidence from multiple witnesses that you had an important role in the efforts to install Mr. Clark as acting Attorney General.  Acting Attorney General Rosen and acting Deputy Attorney General Donoghue have provided evidence regarding these issues, and we have received evidence that others who worked with Mr. Clark were aware of these plans,” Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson wrote to Clark.  “We are also aware that you had multiple text and other communications with President Trump’s former Chief of Staff regarding Mr. Clark—and we also have evidence indicating that in that time frame you sent communications to the former Chief of Staff using the encrypted Signal app.  Mr. Clark has informed us that he plans to invoke his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination in anticipation of a deposition to be conducted by the Committee.  When Mr. Clark decided to invoke his 5th Amendment rights, he understood that we planned to pose questions addressing his interactions with you, among a host of other topics.

The Omicron variant has swept across the United States, accounting for 73% of the new cases reported in the last week, a 600% increase over the previous week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, USA Today reports.

By comparison, the Delta variant was first reported in the United States in February 2020.  It took over as the main variant four months later, and by November, more than 99% of cases reported were the Delta variant.  The first case of Omicron was reported in the US December 1st.

“All of us have a date with omicron,” said Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. “If you’re going to interact with society, if you’re going to have any type of life, omicron will be something you encounter, and the best way you can encounter this is to be fully vaccinated.”