Out d’Coup | Biden Year One; No Voting Rights Bill; New Low for Biden’s Approval Rating; War in Ukraine; SEIU Endorses Kenyatta; Josh Shapiro Back to 1990s; Banned Books; We Telescope; Meat Loaf

Yesterday marked the one-year anniversary of Biden’s inauguration. So, how things going, dog?

As expected, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, sided with Republicans and voted against changing Senate filibuster rules to pass voting rights legislation, despite claiming to support the legislation. That means, of course, that voting rights legislation was blocked by a minority of Senators. The vote shined a bright light on the fact that any major legislation favored by Democrats or progressives is dead in the water if the composition of the Senate remains the same. 

Biden and Democratic Party leaders now say they will try to break up and scale down Biden’s signature Build Back Better bill in an attempt to get some of it passed. However, it is unclear how that would happen. Even if some of it did, this means that the U.S. government will not pass critical legislation necessary to address multiple crises heading straight for us.  Don’t Look Up, folks. 

Biden’s approval ratings hit a new low with a majority of Americans disapproving over his handling of his job as president, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Perhaps even more troubling for Biden, only 28% of respondents said they wanted Biden to run for reelection in 2024 - that includes only 48% of Democrats. 

Maybe time for a war? Well, that looks like a distinct possibility as Russia threatens to invade Ukraine. Biden didn’t help matters this week when he seemed to indicate that the U.S. and NATO allies might not respond if Russia made a  “minor incursion” into Ukraine. That, as you can imagine, didn’t go over well with Ukraine leaders. U.S. Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken has hardened the U.S. stance, now telling Ukraine leaders the U.S. is committed to a "united, swift and severe response" if Moscow commits further aggression against Ukraine.

The aftermath of the volcanic explosion near Tonga, the devastation is only now becoming clear. 

Malcolm Kenyatta and Conor Lamb scored important endorsements for the US Senate race.  Kenyatta picked up the endorsements of SEIU Healthcare PA, 32 BJ, 668 and the state council while Conor Lamb picked up Mayor Jim Kenney, a couple of city council members and the building trades.  Rumor has it that Lamb is also seeking the endorsement of the Philadelphia Park Authority.  

Josh Shapiro seems to have missed the past couple of years in Democratic politics, leaning into the “ReFund” the police and “more cops” messaging from the 1990s. 

Philadelphia council member Bobby Henon, resigned from City Council after a federal jury convicted Henon along with Johnny “Doc” Dougherty on corruption charges. Henon was convicted of selling his seat out to serve Johnny Doc’s personal and political interests. Henon said he would not step down, but just a month ahead of his sentencing hearing, he seems to have changed his mind. 

A middle school student in Kutztown formed the “Team Banned Book Club” after local and national extremism leading to banning books and raucous school board meetings screaming about critical race theory. Joslyn Diffenbaugh, an 8th grade student in Kutztown, formed the group because she “wanted to make sure teens have access to books that they can personally relate to or have interest in and not let groups in our community dictate what we can and cannot read.” 

And as the Pennridge School District continues to ban and remove books that mention gender identity or engage racism, a group calling itself the Pennridge Improvement Project is working to make those books accessible by stocking “Little Libraries” around the district with school board banned books. And a Pennridge student group, Pennridge Rise Up, is petitioning against the book banning and favor of DEI initiatives. 

Doylestown Health calls on Central Bucks School District to change their COVID plan because the hospital is overwhelmed with cases. You’ll recall that last week the Central Bucks school board passed a health and safety plan that they knew did not follow CDC guidelines, despite stating that they were. 

The James Webb telescope successfully deployed all of its 18 hexagonal mirrors ahead of schedule and is on its way to its permanent orbit around L2 - the Earth-Sun Lagrange Point - about a million miles from Earth. It should enter that orbit on Sunday, January 23. We should start getting images from Webb in about three months!

Meatloaf died after becoming seriously ill with COVID. His period of “waiting for the end of time” has arrived. It was unclear if he was vaccinated. 

Tom Cruise space movie producers sign a deal with Axiom to build studio in orbit attached to the International Space Station.