A Key Detail from the Gaetz Timeline

In recent days, most new details in the Matt Gaetz saga have been yet more nuggets of information from anonymous sources all of which add up to the same basic story: Gaetz appears to be in a lot of trouble, though whether sex with a minor will be part of an eventual indictment is not entirely clear. But there was one detail in a story published late...

2h

Where Things Stand: GOP Acknowledges Asian Hate Crime Bill Might Not Be Right Time To Force First Filibuster

Many Senate Republicans nonetheless argued the bill wasn't necessary in the first place.

6h

More on the Pause

It's a tough call. But I'm inclined to agree with the decision to call a pause on the J&J Janssen vaccine. Yes, based on what we know the risk is much less than many other things we do as a matter of course. Certainly it's far lower than the risks of getting COVID. But these matters are not purely ones of statistics. They're more centered on building...

6h

Who’s Repping Matt Gaetz?

I've heard so much on the PR front from Matt Gaetz that I was curious whether he even has a lawyer, and if so who that person or persons might be. On the PR front Gaetz hired Trump surrogate Harlan Hill, a one time Democrat who went full Trump in 2016 and has been one of Trump's most devoted supporters ever since. He runs a firm called Logan Circle...

12h

Numbers and Perception

From TPM Reader MM ... When J&J-vaccine-related blood clots first were suspected/observed in Europe, I wrote to you about the statistical insignificance of the number of observed cases, about how and why scientists tended not to make good politicians, and about the obvious need to monitor the evolving situation closely. Not long after, I wrote...

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Where Things Stand: An Old Man With A Grudge Still Runs The Show

And Senate Republicans know it.  All hope of retaking the majority in the Senate lies with the former president's ability to put aside his personal grievances for the sake of the Party. 

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Did the FDA/CDC Make the Right Call?

There is a huge amount of criticism of the CDC and FDA bubbling up on social media about the decision to pause administration of the J&J Janssen vaccine. As I noted earlier, based on these preliminary and unconfirmed rates of risk it is virtually certain that discontinuing use of this vaccine would lead to many more deaths from COVID than any saved...

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Feds Order Pause on Johnson & Johnson Vaccine

The big news this morning is that the FDA is recommending an immediate pause on the use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine because of the same extremely rare but potentially fatal side effect which has led to limits on the AstraZeneca vaccine in Europe. Just in recent days the same J&J vaccine has also come under scrutiny in Europe because...

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Where Things Stand: That Raised Fist Pays Off

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) is learning that, in 2021, sowing distrust in basic functions of democracy can be good electoral politics.

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What Is Matt Gaetz Thinking

What strikes me most about the on-going Gaetz clown show isn't the audacity but the irrelevance. Gaetz has moved full bore into Deep State grievance/conspiracy theory mode. It's not about statutory rape or sex trafficking, he claims. The Deep State and the Elites are coming after him because he stands for the common man. As he wrote in his Examiner...

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