7/28/2022: Manchin Caves on Tax-and-Spend Climate Deal
7/28/2022: Manchin Caves on Tax-and-Spend Climate Deal
PLUS: Burnin’ Down the (Wrong) House, Beyonce Music Leaked, and New Rowing Record
Today is Thursday, July 28, 2022.
It is the 209th day of the year.
156 days remain.
TRENDING
People were fist pumping in honor of National New Jersey Day Wednesday.
#WakeMeUpIf landed in Twitter’s Top 10 Trends yesterday. Tweets included, “I’ve overstayed my welcome…,” “you bring food,” “people start pointing,” “you see a shark,” and “you brought me coffee.”
Twitter users sent birthday wishes to TV writer Norman Lear who turned 100 yesterday.
#Beyonce was trending ahead of the release of her seventh album. Head to Showbiz for more.
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HIT LIST
The Fed has hiked the interest rate to 2.25%, bringing it back to pre-pandemic levels.
Along with the announcement, Fed Chair JERMOE POWELL says too many good things are happening in the economy to call what’s happening a recession, though. Upon the announcement, the Dow ticked up a couple hundred points.
MEANWHILE: Home sales fell 20% in June year over year, and were down 8.6% from May. Mortgage rates are ticking up to over 6%.
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The World Health Organization has formally recommended that men who have sex with men should cut it out for a while in order to contain the spread of Monkeypox.
Their reporting indicates that 99% of cases worldwide are among men, and 95% engage in same-sex contact.
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Wild flamingos have returned to Rabida Island in the Galapagos for the first time in twenty years.
The animals started to migrate away as an invasive species of rats threatened their existence there. Now, researchers have identified two flamingo nests.
Formal counts of the species on the 34 lagoons found in the Galapagos island system are counted twice a year.
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A University of Surrey study shows that cocoa has a positive heart effect in reducing blood pressure levels, especially in those with higher levels, but didn’t bring the levels down for those with healthy blood pressure levels.
WORTH NOTING: This isn’t permission to snack on Hershey bars to bring down your BP, since candy bars are also loaded with sugar and fat. Participants in the study were given cocoa in capsule form.
SPEAKING OF STUDIES: A new report in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests unvaccinated covid patients are contagious for less time than those who received vaccinations and boosters. So there’s that.
MEANWHILE: A Washington Free Beacon investigation reveals that the CDC actively coordinated with Big Tech to shut down those who questioned the efficacy and wisdom of the government’s mass vaccination campaign.
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An unidentified North Carolina woman wanted to send a message to an ex-boyfriend, so she tried to burn down his house.
One witness says she set bundles of wood and a jug of oil on the house’s front porch and even sealed the hose spigot to make it harder to put out.
At this point the owner of the home confronted her with a rifle.
Turns out it was the wrong house.
The woman then tried to hightail it out of there, but was arrested and charged with a few felonies.
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BY THE NUMBERS
📈 The Dow added 436 points (1.37%) on Wednesday to close at 32,197. The S&P 500 added 102 points (2.62%) to close at 4,023 while the Nasdaq added 469 points (4.06%) to close at 12,032.
🛢 West Texas Intermediate was trading at $98 on Wednesday while Brent Crude is back over $100 a barrel, at $102.46.
⛽ The national average price of a gallon of gas was $4.30 on Wednesday.
₿ Bitcoin surged more than $1500 Wednesday, coinciding with Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s indication the U.S. isn’t in a recession.
🛩 There were 3,216 delay within, into, or out of the United States Wednesday, and 278 such cancellations.
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CHARTS
Drone footage shows a pod of Orcas chomping down on a great white shark in South Africa’s Mossel Bay.
Scientist Allison Towner, who has studied the ecology of great white sharks for 15 years, told The Daily Beast that it is “one of the most beautiful pieces of natural history ever filmed.”
The full attack debuts tonight on Discovery Channel’s “Shark House.”
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DEATHS
TONY DOW has died.
After a premature death announcement was made Tuesday, the “Leave It to Beaver” star did in fact pass away Wednesday morning. His death was confirmed by his son, Christopher.
Dow was 77.
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HOWARD KLEINBERG has died.
The “Top Chef” alum passed away over the weekend after suffering a heart attack.
He was 46.
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BABY NEWS
JACK OSBOURNE, 36, and his fiancee, interior designer AREE GEARHART, 31, welcomed their first child together.
Osbourne took to Instagram to announce the birth of their daughter, Maple, who arrived on July 9.Gearhart also shared the news on her social media, calling the infant her “soulmate.”
Osbourne is already dad to daughters Pearl, 10, Andy, 6, and Minnie, 4, with ex-wife LISA STELLY.
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THE SWAMP
In perhaps the starkest example of liberal gaslighting yet, Democrat Senator JOE MANCHIN has agreed on a tax-hiking climate-spending bill he and Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER are calling the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.
Manchin said the legislation would include a corporate minimum tax of 15% to the country’s largest companies. He also suggested the legislation would eliminate the State And Local Tax deduction, a key feature of the Trump tax cuts that has annoyed state and city leaders where taxes are the highest. These tax hikes would be used to pay down the national debt and tighten the budget deficit.
WORTH REMEMBERING: Federal tax revenues have reached record levels in recent quarters as a result of the Trump-era tax cuts. Increasing these taxes does not necessarily mean more overall federal revenue, especially in the long term.
Manchin did promise the spending would include investments in hydrogen and nuclear energy alongside more impotent green energy spending.
Manchin also kept careful distance from President JOE BIDEN, writing, “this Administration’s current solution is to push forward more costly regulations resulting in less U.S. production while inexplicably asking other nations to pump more oil and relying on Chinese President Xi for the critical minerals our economy needs.” He added that he would not vote for any policies that make the U.S. more dependent on foreign energy, and that the legislation would simplify the drilling permitting process that has left domestic energy companies with limited options to produce and refine oil.
WORTH ASKING: Manchin calls this a compromise, but in what universe is a strictly party-line vote that is dependent on one swing voter a compromise?
WORTH NOTING: Inflation has been a result of excessive government spending. More spending now, even if they call it “investments” in green energy, will not have an effect on cooling down inflation; it may in fact prolong higher rates of inflation.
Even the country’s biggest companies are already looking to lay off their staff to hedge against a deep recession. They like to keep their profits. A blanket, 15 percent minimum tax means they’ll look elsewhere to preserve that 15 percent of profits, which will result in even higher prices to consumers and deeper layoffs.
One glimmer of hope in this agenda would be if white collar workers out of a job fill in blue collar service industry slots that small businesses in particular have struggled to fill for many months.
ALSO WORTH NOTING: The inflation rate coming down doesn’t mean prices are coming down. It means the rate at which prices are increasing is slowing.
FINALLY WORTH NOTING: Manchin’s change of heart from earlier this month appears to be part of a larger political theater. He announced that he would support this bill just hours after the Senate approved legislation to spend heavily on technology manufacturing, a bill that had been held up by Republicans as leverage to stop even a pared-down Build Back Better package. Capitol insiders are saying Republican leadership is furious.
Like Ann Coulter says, there are lots of bad Republicans. There are no good Democrats.
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President JOE BIDEN has left covid isolation after testing negative.
WORTH REMEMBERING: Biden suddenly (!!) “got covid” merely hours after telling the world he has cancer, in what was either a gaffe or a moment of truth that the White House hasn’t taken much effort to clarify.
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Q: What does a six-year-old do when he loses at Monopoly?
Ans: He cries about it being unfair and might even toss the board off the table.
LIKEWISE: House Democrats have introduced a bill that would limit Supreme Court justices to serving 18-year terms, and include a phase-out, seniority component for those currently on the Bench.
In the future, presidents would appoint justices in the first and third years of their term.
WORTH NOTING: This would deeply politicize a Constitutional body that is designed to exist well-above the mudslinging political fray. It’s not likely to go anywhere and has virtually no chance of getting through the Senate, anyway.
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The State Department has offered to trade a convicted Russian arms trafficker named Viktor Bout to secure the release of BRITTNEY GRINER and PAUL WHELAN from prison there, according to CNN.
Bout is serving a 25-year prison sentence in the U.S.
Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN said Wednesday he had made a “substantial offer,” but didn’t bring up trading Bout to do so. Blinken is expected to have serious talks about the swap today.
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Here’s an absolutely remarkable exchange between White House reporter PETER DOOCY and Media Commissar KARINE JEAN-PIERRE:
Doocy asked why the White House has changed the definition of a recession. Jean-Pierre said they’re not – then proceeded to give a definition of recession that no one accepted until just days ago.
WORTH ASKING: Why does the White House messaging team seek to redefine everything all the time? Why can’t it admit that, yes, the economy has been hot and the market is slowing down to correct for a lot of spending that many argue was necessary to get the nation through the covid pandemic – but we remain optimistic because despite the technical definition, there are many areas that remain strong?
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LOTTERY
No winner for Tuesday night’s Mega Millions drawing. Friday night’s drawing will be for a $1.02 BILLION jackpot or a $602.5 million cash payout.
WORTH NOTING: This is only the third time Mega Millions has crossed the $1 billion mark.
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SHOWBIZ NEWS
BEYONCE’s new album, “Renaissance,” leaked less than two days before its scheduled release.
Variety reported that insiders were shocked by the leak as the singer’s “operation is famously among the most secure in the business.”
Bey shared the tracklist for the new album on Instagram last week.
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During his recent appearance on “The Tonight Show,” actor JOSEPH QUINN shared how he was detained by US immigration officials while traveling for the show.
“I was taken into, I guess you could call it more of a dungeon. And someone asked me, ‘What are you doing in the United States, sir?’ I said ‘I’m actually here to meet Jimmy Fallon on ‘The Tonight Show.’ And he didn’t believe me,” Quinn recalled.
It wasn’t until another immigration officer recognized him as Hellfire Club leader Eddie Munson from “Stranger Things” that his story was believed.
Quinn added that as he was leaving, the immigration officers wanted some insider info on the future of the show.
“[The man asked], ‘Do you come back next season?’ I was like, ‘I don’t know,’ and he said ‘You better,’ and gave me my passport.”
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CHRIS ROCK finally addressed WILL SMITH slapping him at the Oscars.
The comedian had two big shows over the weekend, during which he told audience members that the slap hurt, but he “shook that [s—] off and went to work the next day.”
“I don’t go to the hospital for a paper cut,” he added.
As many remember, the slap occurred after Rock joked about the short-hairstyle Smith’s wife, JADA PINKETT-SMITH had at the Oscars.
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SHAWN MENDES canceled the remainder of his tour Wednesday to continue his mental health break.
He told fans that he is “heartbroken” over the decision and hopes to resume his tour dates after some “much needed time off.”
The cancellation comes just weeks after Mendes announced he would be pausing his tour to focus on his mental health.
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Over the weekend, JOJO SIWA took part in a TikTok challenge, in which she called CANDACE CAMERON BURE the “rudest celebrity” she’s ever met.
In response, Bure posted a cryptic Bible verse on her Instagram story.
Then on Tuesday, Siwa detailed the “rough experience” she had with the actress, telling Page Six that when she was 11 she wanted to take a picture with Bure, but it “wasn’t a good time for her.”
She followed that up by saying that just because she had a bad experience doesn’t mean that Bure is “an awful human.”
Later in the day, Bure apologized to Siwa while also expressing how much “damage” even a 10-second TikTok video can cause because “words are powerful.”
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HARRY STYLES sent LIZZO a bouquet of flowers after her song “About Damn Time” bumped his hit, “As It Was,” from the top of the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart.
The track is Lizzo’s second No. 1 ever, after “Truth Hurts,” which topped the charts in September 2019.
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CASTING CALL
An ABC special focusing on the life and career of NORMAL LEAR is set to premiere this fall.
The two-hour tribute will feature celebrity interviews, musical performances and tributes to his iconic TV shows, such as “All in the Family,” “The Jeffersons,” “Good Times,” and more.
“Norman Lear: 100 Years of Music and Laughter” will air on September 22.
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Netflix’s drama series about the real-life rescue of 12 boys and an adult from a cave in Thailand will premiere in September.
“Thai Cave Rescue” shows how an afternoon of exploring led a soccer team and their coach to become trapped by heavy rains inside a cave. The massive international recovery mission gripped the world.
WORTH NOTING: “Thirteen Lives,” a film from RON HOWARD and MGM based on the rescue, hits theaters on Friday.
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Directing duo ANTHONY and JOSEPH RUSSO think British actor REGE-JEAN PAGE should be the next James Bond.
“He’s fantastic. I mean, he has more charisma in his pinky than most people do in their entire body,” Joe told RadioTimes.com.
Page first gained notoriety as the hunky Simon Basset in Netflix’s “Bridgerton.”
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CHRIS CUOMO is set to join Nexstar’s NewsNation.
The announcement came during the former CNN anchor’s interview with DAN ABRAMS on his NewsNation’s show “Dan Abrams Live.”
“I really believe this outlet has a chance to reach who I call free agents -- not right, not left, reasonable,” Cuomo told Abrams.
Cuomo also launched a new podcast series last week, called “The Chris Cuomo Project.”
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THE DAILY KARDASHOPUS
The KarJenners have joined the campaign to stop Instagram from becoming more like TikTok.
Several members of the famous family reposted a message from photographer TATI BRUENING that said “Make Instagram Instagram again,” along with the words “Stop trying to be TikTok. I just want to see cute photos of my friends.”
The post had over 2 million likes within 24 hours, plus the millions of likes KYLIE JENNER and KIM KARDASHIAN -- two of the most followed on Instagram -- racked up.
IN RESPONSE: Instagram head ADAM MOSSERI posted a video to Twitter Wednesday addressing the concerns. He explained that while the platform will still be heavily photos, “more and more of Instagram is going to become video over time.”
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WE’LL NEVER BE ROYALS
A new excerpt from TOM BOWER’s biography, “Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the war between the Windsors,” details how PRINCE HARRY blew up after being told he and MEGHAN MARKLE would not be allowed to join the Royal Family’s procession through Westminster Abbey.
Bower wrote that while Harry and Meg were initially listed as walking behind QUEEN ELIZABETH, “Palace officials revised their decision” as they were “suspicious of the Sussexes.”
To appease all, PRINCE WILLIAM and KATE MIDDLETON agreed to sit in the congregation along with Harry and Meg -- though not next to -- as the Royal Family filed into the Abbey.
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SPORTS
An all-female rowing team journeyed from San Francisco to Hawaii in 34 days, 14 hours and 11 minutes -- a new world record.
LIBBY COSTELO, SOPHIA DENISON-JOHNSTON, BROOKE DOWNES and ADRIENNE SMITH rowed in two-hour shifts, averaging just 90 minutes of sleep each day, as they traveled the more than 2,400 nautical miles across the ocean.
The group used their record-breaking row to raise money for the Anxiety and Depression Association of America.
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DAY OF THE YEAR
National Milk Chocolate Day
Buffalo Soldiers Day
World Hepatitis Day
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ON THIS DATE
1794 – French revolutionary terrorist Maximilien Robespierre is executed. He had masterminded the policies that had political opponents executed, and was the figurehead behind the overthrow of the monarchy.
Members of the National Assembly wanted to marginalize Robespierre to ebb his influence and control of the government — in the context of the revolution, execution was the swiftest means to that end.
During debate on the floor of the legislature, the majority called for Robespierre’s arrest while he was speaking. In the ensuing kerfuffle, Robespierre escaped, but only briefly. The situation devolved quickly: Opposing military factions began fighting, where Robespierre was shot in the face, but didn’t die. He was guillotined the next day.
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1854 – The USS Constellation is commissioned. It was the last completely sail-powered Navy ship.
During the Civil War, it was the flagship of the African Squadron, which intercepted slave ships and freed its prisoners.
It was later used as a training vessel while in harbor at Newport, Rhode Island.
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1868 – As part of Reconstruction after the Civil War, the Fourteenth Amendment is certified by Secretary of State William Seward.
Congress had required southern states to ratify the amendment as a condition of being granted representation in Congress.
The law provides for equal protection in its first section, which has turned into one of the most contested parts of the Constitution.
It also prohibits anyone who actively defended the Confederacy and fomenting rebellion against the Union from serving in the federal government.
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1914 – World War I formally commences when Austria-Hungary declares war against Serbia.
The nations had been disputing territory for several years. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by Gavrilo Princip was intended to impel Austria-Hungary to relinquish its claims to Serbian land.
That plan backfired.
Austria-Hungary issues 10 unrealistic ultimatums to Serbia, which would acquiesce to 8 of them, but that wasn’t enough. Fighting broke out later that day, and continued for more than 4 years, involving nations from around the world.
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1951 - Disney’s animated musical film “Alice In Wonderland” is released.
I would be nominated for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture at the Oscars the following year.
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2005 – The Irish Republican Army announces it would end its violent campaign to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and join with the rest of Ireland.
The militant group, organized in the ‘60s, remains committed to their independence, but through democratic and diplomatic channels.
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2019 - Meghan Markle is a guest editor for UK Vogue’s September issue.
She is the first guest editor for the magazine in 103 years.
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BIRTHDAYS
Victoria Baldesarra - actress, “The Next Step” - 24
Brad Simpson - pop singer - 27
Cher Lloyd - pop singer - 29
Harry Kane - soccer player - 29
Soulja Boy - rapper - 32
Nicholas Matthews - metal singer, Get Scared - 34
Nolan Gerard Funk - actor, “Glee” & “Awkward” - 36
Bill Aaron Brown - actor, “8 Simple Rules” & “NCIS” - 41
Huma Abedin - Hillary Clinton political staffer - 46
Elizabeth Berkley - actress, “Saved By the Bell” & “Showgirl” - 50
Dana White - entrepreneur, UFC President - 53
Liz Cheney - politician - 56
Lori Loughlin - actress, “Full House” & “Summerland” - 58
Jim Davis - cartoonist, “Garfield” - 77
Born On This Date
Terry Fox - runner & health activist - 1958 (d. 1981)
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis - former First Lady - 1929 (d. 1994)
Lucy Burns - suffragist & women’s rights advocate - 1879 (d. 1966)
Beatrix Potter - children’s author & illustrator, “The Tale of Peter Rabbit” - 1866 (d. 1943)
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