Biden's 'unity' fades away. Plus: Does 'My Pillow Guy' lose any sleep? And the NBA's fan relations.
Biden’s ‘unity’ pledge was apparently all talk
While Joe Biden pays lip service to considering the concerns of Republican senators about the size and scope of his $1.9 trillion covid relief package, Democrats in the Senate are fast tracking the massive bill and setting the state for a party-line vote.
The New York Times quotes Democratic majority leader Chuck Schumer as saying, “We are not going to dilute, dither or delay” after Democrats employed a budgetary maneuver “that could eventually allow the measure to become law without Republican support.”
After he met with Republicans on Monday, Biden on Tuesday made a call to the Democratic senate caucus where, according to Schumer, the president “spoke about the need for Congress to respond boldly and quickly. He was very strong in emphasizing the need for a big bold package. He said he told Senate Republicans that the $600 billion that they propose was way too small.”
According to the Times, West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin (D) – who had expressed problems with the size of the plan -- has now pledged his support for the Democratic package.
With economic indicators showing the covid-induced recession of 2020 is already over, the need for any additional spending is highly questionable. As I noted recently in the Washington Post, many local governments across the country are trying to figure out how to spend what they’ve already received. Democrats and Republicans have both been guilty over the past year of implementing a socialist-style spending solution with money that doesn’t exist – and now, that philosophy is on steroids courtesy of the party that welcomes Bernie Sanders-style socialism as a legitimate philosophy.
Does controversy keep ‘My Pillow Guy’ awake at night?
No matter how you feel about him politically, there’s just something funny about someone who is known mainly as the “My Pillow Guy” being such a political player who is the focus of stories in our major media outlets.
Mike Lindell was one of former President Donald Trump’s most high-profile supporters, and a leading proponent of election fraud claims. According to USA Today, Lindell “was shut down again Tuesday for propagating that conspiracy theory, but this time by a surprising source: Newsmax, the Trump-friendly, right-wing upstart cable network. After repeatedly trying to cut Lindell off as he perpetuated election falsehoods, Newsmax anchor Bob Sellers eventually gave up and, in a bizarre scene, got up and walked away from his anchor chair.”
Hopefully, Lindell’s not losing any sleep over it.
Double standards are alive and well in the NBA
Finally, while I don’t watch the NBA anymore since players began kneeling during the National Anthem – which is sad, because I was the league’s biggest fan for decades -- this story caught my eye about LeBron James getting into a verbal altercation with a couple of the 1,000 or so fans allowed to attend a recent Hawks-Lakers game.
James allegedly called a female fan a “dumb b---h.” That’s apparently okay. And later, on Twitter, he referred to her as a “Courtside Karen.” In case you don’t know, “Karen” is the new derogatory word for a white woman who is said to feel entitled, like someone complaining in a grocery store checkout line, or calling the police over a disturbance in her neighborhood. It’s another example of the double standard that would bring the wrath of the PC Police if a degrading, stereotyping nickname was similarly deployed against others based on their gender and race.
The fans were apparently escorted out. According to the story, James later said he didn’t think they should have been removed from the building — maybe because he recognized it was unfair that he got to stay.
Welcome back, fans.