House Republicans are struggling to find a new Speaker with no end in sight. Is this what the GOP gets for bending the knee to the ultra-conservative faction of their party?
What the Health
Brothas, breast cancer is a thing for y’all too and Black men are more than 50% more likely to be diagnosed than their white counterparts. Here are the symptoms men should look out for.
Can we consider COVID a regular winter bug yet? Evidence suggests that it’s on the way in the UK, which typically indicates the US will follow suit.
Multiple COVID-19 diagnoses for Black folks, combined with an increased likelihood of comorbidities and lack of access to quality medical care, can be bad for our health.
Keeping Up with Biden & Harris
Joe Biden claims he is a Zionist at heart.” Where does his (and America’s) unflinching advocacy for Israel leave Palestinians whose land has been taken and whose human rights have been violated?
Joe & team aren’t giving up on student debt cancellation just yet. They have new ambitions that are smaller in scale, but (allegedly) more in line with what the law and the SCOTUS say is permissible. Details of the plan are expected to be finalized by EOY.
$6B given to Iran for the recent prisoner swap has been frozen due to uncertainties of Iran’s involvement in the attack on Israel. Are we the only ones who feel things are going to get messier real soon?
Congress, What’s Good?
We’re pretty sure last week drained the House GOP as they failed to install a new Speaker of the House after Kevin McCarthy’s ouster. By our count, a total of 3 aspiring Speakers threw their hat into the ring, but none of them appeared poised to have the 217 votes needed to claim the title. The latest nominee is Jim Jordan, a Trump lovin’ January 6 participant, who hoped to garner the support of his colleagues after some internal campaigning over the weekend. A vote on him is expected as early as Tuesday.
Some Republicans are warming up to the idea of needing bipartisan support to find a Speaker, but none of them are checking for Dem nominee Hakeem Jeffries and a segment of the GOP still feels salty that Democrats played a big part in bumping McCarthy from the top spot to begin with. Welp. The saga continues.
Oh and don’t think it’s all cute in the Senate either. Democrats are dealing with the fact that one of their own has been charged with being a foreign agent for Egypt.
A few topics coming up in this week’s committee meetings:
Name, image, and likeness deals’ impact on the future of college sports
Transitioning military service members back to successful civilian lives
Looking to 2024
Joe Manchin is toying with the idea of running as an Independent in 2024. Shocker.
Louisiana had extremely low voter turnout last week amongst Democrats and in minority communities. Now they have a new Republican governor and a wave of far right candidates coming into office in January. How can we ensure this doesn’t happen across the board next November?
Biden’s 2024 campaign raised $71M in Q3. He outraised Donnie by nearly $25M.
Social Justice Round Up
A trial surrounding the 2019 death of Elijah McClain acquitted one Aurora, CO police officer and left another facing up to 3 years in prison.
Starting on January 1, Ebony Alerts will go live in California. The law will require state and local agencies to dedicate the proper amount of resources to find missing Black women and children.
The Texas student punished for wearing his hair in locs (after the passage of the state’s CROWN Act) has been sent to disciplinary school. His family says the move is retaliation for their refusal to remove their lawsuit from federal court.
One of two suspects who opened fire at Morgan State has been apprehended. He’s one of us, y’all.
Around the Diaspora
Zimbabwe just introduced the ZiG, their new gold-backed digital currency that they hope will strengthen their struggling economy and help prevent them from relying on the US dollar again.
The PM of St. Kitts & Nevis is asking residents to cut back on their electricity usage in order to better manage increased fuel costs.