Whose Congress Is It, Anyway?
Whose Congress Is It, Anyway?
The GOP told us to stock up on super tampons for the "red wave" that wasn't
Welcome to the inaugural edition of Is Anyone Listening? I may be screaming into the void, but if you’re reading this it means you’re here too, so thanks!
We did it, Joe! Barely, but we did.
Democrats keep control of the Senate! On Saturday night Nevada was called for Incumbent Senator Catherine Cortez Masto. That’s right, the balance of power remains intact, but much like Chuck Schumer’s low-rise spectacles, it’s still teetering toward disaster.
What does this mean? The Georgia Senate race that will go to a runoff next month doesn’t technically matter for the balance of power. But it does matter for Georgians who don’t want to be represented by a guy who questioned evolution by saying “if [it’s] true, why are there still apes? Think about it.” We are, Herschel. We are.
Click here to donate or get involved with the Warnock campaign.
What’s going on in the House? TBD. Quite a few races haven’t been called and votes are still being counted. 218 seats are required to control the House, and while Republicans are ahead, it’s not a given that they will be the majority. This is bad news for Kevin McCarthy, who appears to have already had his gavel engraved when he really should’ve kept the tag on.
It looks like Arizona might just get a Democrat for a governor, too! Republican candidate and election denier Kari Lake is behind Katie Hobbs by 26,000-ish votes, and she’s busy sowing doubt in her potential loss. But even if she hadn’t already shown her cards by everything she said on the campaign trail, we simply can’t trust the word of a woman who uses this many filters on her face. She makes Larry Kudlow look borderline human.
Fox Business News For Angelenos like myself, some welcome news — Karen Bass has pulled ahead of Goop-endorsed billionaire Rick Caruso in the LA mayoral race. Between Elon Musk, who spent $44B buying Twitter, and Caruso, who spent $100M on his campaign, the lesson is clear: the only person who should be a billionaire is Oprah.
Did ya hear?
Tiffany Trump – or as her dad lovingly calls her, Number Four – got married at Mar-a-Lago over the weekend in a ceremony that even Hurricane Nicole didn’t want to attend. Not to be outdone, her former Penn classmate Naomi Biden is getting married at the White House this weekend. It’s like sorority rush 2013 all over again.
Ballot measures were also decided in last week’s midterms. Colorado legalized medicinal psychedelics, while slavery as punishment was abolished in four states including Tennessee, where nearly 80% of voters officially said no to involuntary servitude in the year 2022. Yes, that does mean 20% voted to keep slavery as a punishment. Feel free to use either of those facts to rile up your uncle at the Thanksgiving table.
The world has a new Taylor Lautner. That’s right, Taylor Lautner married someone named Taylor who will take his last name and all we can hope is they don’t name their child Renesmee.
Feeling seasonally affected? Same.
Every year my dad and I think of December 21 as a national holiday. What happens on that holy day, aside from celebrating the birth of the one and only Jane Fonda? It’s the winter solstice — the shortest day of the year, aka when the sun starts staying out longer again. I know we all want to envision our autumnal selves like Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally. Or Meg Ryan in You’ve Got Mail. Or Meg Ryan in Sleepless in Seattle.
But if you’re like me (and a whopping 5% of American adults) and seasonal affective disorder totally throws you for a loop, you’re really more of a Harry Burns. My advice to us? Take these five weeks to find a fun new hobby or interest. Also therapy and/or medication.
Potential interests to explore:
Painting. That’s what I’ve been doing, and it is meditating without meditating. Which is good for people like me who are bad at meditating.
A good documentary series. Get Back was incredible and five weeks is an appropriate amount of time to really dive into some Beatles history and listen to all the albums backwards for clues.
Cooking! You bought all those cookbooks because they were aesthetically pleasing for your kitchen. Now use ‘em!
I also recommend listening to Emma Chamberlain’s podcast episode on Seasonal Affective Disorder. Not only is she cooler than I was at 21, she’s also wiser. And more fashionable with a giant house.
Tuning In:
This week’s episode of Andor was thrilling. I was worried it was the finale because it was episode 10, but luckily there are two more to come. If you want to try some Star Wars without having to know all the lore from the movies, it’s a great intro with some of the best dialogue and acting on TV right now. And Diego Luna.
My future father-in-law Mandy Patinkin graced our screens on Jeopardy! last week (shout out to my mom for informing me) with an entire category devoted to and read by the man, the myth, the legend himself. You can watch it here. (Side note: Can anyone introduce me to Mandy Patinkin’s son?)
And something I didn’t watch, but want to acknowledge: Let’s stop championing a certain anti-trans comedian, who used his SNL monologue to talk about antisemitism in the most antisemitic way possible. Will not be linking! Gross.
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Thanks for reading! I’m very excited to be communicating via newsletter again. Please do share with friends and tell me what you want to see more of. Love, Alex.
Congraturitos Alex!