10/14/26
Title
The Election Is In 20 Days
Good morning! It’s Wednesday, October 14th.
Emergency Nurses Day
Oh that’s lovely. Yeah, give em a whole day. They already get to swear scrubs to work what more do they need? (mom I’m kidding)
And now, the news.
Hey so before the news, news…
Last week I had that whole note about how I wasn’t able to do the news because of work but that I’d have an episode out on Monday. But Monday was the holiday and then honestly, I worked all weekend. That’s not really like… that’s neither here not there but I mention it because I’m back now and committed to being, you know, committed. So the news is here today. The news will be here tomorrow. Especially with the election coming up so quickly, you gotta get those sweet sweet dulcet Moffat tones.
And now that that’s done. Here’s the news.
Shooting in Erie
-via AP News
We start how we start here in America. With eight people dead after the shooter, also dead, shot eight people, including children and a pregnant woman, in his home.
The 45-year-old shooter was related to seven of the people in the home. The eighth victim was a friend of the pregnant woman.
It happened on Friday night.
Two of the women shot weren’t initially home, but were somehow alerted to the shooting and showed up. They were shot outside of the home.
Police are still investigating what prompted this tragedy.
Shooting in Philly
-via NY Times and Gun Violence.org
Pennsylvania saw more than one shooting over the weekend.
In Philadelphia on Saturday, police were called to a house in West Philly where a 35-year-old man was on the porch with a gun. When the officers stepped onto the porch, they were hit with what’s being described as “significant fire.”
The officers were taken to the hospital, where one died, and the other is in stable condition.
After the officers were taken to the hospital, SWAT was dispatched. The man continued to shoot at officers from a tree. He was eventually captured while in the tree, and police found a shotgun and two handguns on him. One of the handguns belonged to one of the officers who was shot.
Because only (I mean “only”) two people were shot, this doesn’t count as a mass shooting. Even though the man continued to shoot at the officers. It just doesn’t count because he missed.
Absurd.
Baltimore, Maryland; Douglas, Georgia; and Detroit, Michigan all also saw mass shootings over the weekend.
In all, there have been 367 mass shootings so far this year. Today is the 288th day of the year.
ICE Shooting
-via PBS
And of course, we continue on in very American stories (different story, but still very American):
On Thursday, as he drove with a five-year-old in his car, a 28-year-old was shot in the neck by an ICE officer.
He survived and is being treated at the hospital.
DHS didn’t say what prompted the shooting (I’m sure they’re just asking Jeeves for a different way to say he was about to weaponize his vehicle), only saying, "during the incident, an ICE officer discharged his weapon."
However the NYC Police Commissioner said the man was attempting to park his car when an ICE officer, in plainclothes so literally just… a guy with no official uniform or anything, walked up to his car, followed by another plainclothes ICE officer.
Seeing two men, not dressed as officers, approaching his car, he started to drive off. And that was when one of the officers fired off at least seven rounds.
Protests broke out, with many calling for ICE to leave New York. And, what seems like a completely obvious thing… for ICE officers to be clearly identified. Because honestly, what would you do if masked men approached you?
Update: Middle East
And moving overseas… At least 20 people were killed after Houthi attacks on the main airport in Saudi Arabia.
The airport will stay closed until at least the 17th.
As a reminder, Houthis are funded by Iran.
After the attacks, which were also on an oil facility in Saudi Arabia, Trump said he was considering joining the battle against the Houthis.
Because I guess he thinks we have time to spare? One endless war isn’t enough?
For their part, a Houthi official said that the response to the US joining strikes against the Houthis would be “swift and painful.”
This, as things between Iran and America remain at kind of a stalemate.
The stalemate includes the Strait of Hormuz continuing to stay closed so, in an attempt to win the midterms but not actually help anything, Trump made a deal with the devil.
Hey! Calm down! That’s just a saying!
He made a deal with – oh, no wait. I was right.
He made a deal with Russia’s Vladimir Putin to ease sanctions and allow the US to import Russian diesel.
The goal, of course, being to bring gas prices down. Experts say it will have very little effect on prices.
Crazy. I was told he was a great businessman. That’s why so many people were like, “No, it’s cool, actually, that he’s a racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic white supremacist who’s been accused of sexual assault. Because of the prices of eggs.”
Unless… wait do you think those people actually like all the bad stuff he does and just lied about thinking he was good at business?
Cause there’s no evidence of him being good at business, but there is evidence about the other stuff.
Something to noodle on, that’s for sure.
Cornell Bans Frat Parties
-via NY Times
As the university continues to wrestle with the allegation that one of their own students was gang-raped by several other students (not including the fact that there was a group text advertising this rape and no one stopped it), Cornell has banned frat parties and social events from the university for the rest of the year.
During this time, a thorough investigation of the university’s Greek life will take place.
Which is important; don’t get me wrong.
But maybe they can also talk to students about why they thought this was okay, why none of the guys on the chat thought to stop it, why the police so easily wrote all of this off, and why the men who did the raping were allowed back to school while the woman, Jane Doe, dropped out.
And then maybe they can call SNL and ask why they allowed Shane Gillis to open his monologue by calling women who are dressed for the gym… whores.
You can like his comedy or not. Comedy is subjective. But a joke like that requires a second turn: I’m going to say something bad, make you uncomfortable, but then turn around and make you understand that I didn’t mean it and it’s okay to laugh. Not at the whores part, but the actual punchline.
But that didn’t happen. Instead, at a time when this horrific story is still in the news… Shane Gillis just made a joke calling women whores for dressing like they’re going to work out when they’re working out. And that was it. That was the whole thing.
What a time to be a woman!
Selma Blair
-CNN
Late Sunday night the New York Port Authority, as well as the FBI, were called out to a Delta flight after reports of a physically abusive passenger.
The passenger was actress Selma Blair, who has multiple sclerosis and Parkinsonism, and was accused of a similar event in 2016, when, according to Blair, she combined alcohol with her medication, and it caused her to black out and become unruly. She says she’s been sober since around that time.
Here, she is accused of biting a flight attendant and kicking another, as well as kicking a Port Authority officer and a nurse at the hospital.
Her lawyer says she boarded the flight after a stretch of long hours on set, fell and hit her head on the plane (which was noted in the report), and missed several doses of her medication.
Blair faces assault charges and is out on bail.
And that’s it. That’s the news.
I’m back baybee!
Hey, guess what? In television news, the television show The Land, which chronicles the lives and business goings-on of the Cleveland Browns (which, I’m told, is a football team), finally had its first promo air yesterday, and you can go watch it right now and be like, “dang! I bet those call sheets went out on time and only ONCE went out before wrap!”
The trailer is so good! The show is so good!
You’re gonna love it.
Also guess what? The election is in 20 days. Just 20.
How exciting and scary and every emotion ever.
When’s the last time you double-checked your voter registration?
I’m proud of nurses. See! Mom! It was just a joke!
But more than… whoa! Whoa whoa whoa… what are you trying to do? Get me grounded? More than the San Diego Padres, who are going to win it all next season, because you’re always a winner in my eyes….
I’m proud of you.