U.S. Politics

[Rick Plant]

Wisconsin  Republicans pump new life into scrutinizing the 2020 election
The aim of the investigations has shifted to trying to subvert election boards and long-standing voting protocols

CHIPPEWA FALLS, Wis. — The cash bar was open for business, the Lilydale Dance Hall decked out in holiday garland, but Michael Gableman wasn't here with good tidings.

The attorney stood in front of Republican activists to share horror stories he'd heard in his investigation of the 2020 election: ballot harvesting, dead people left on state voter rolls and private grants to operate COVID-era elections used to get out the vote for Joe Biden, some claims misleading, some unsubstantiated. Gableman admitted he doesn't think China or Russia hacked into voting machines, but they easily could have.

"I don't think there's anything too confusing about taking the dead people off of the voter rolls," Gabelman said under the holiday lights, a stark reminder that more than a year had passed since Donald Trump lost the presidency.

Scenes like this are playing out across Wisconsin in the most aggressive effort by Republicans in any battleground state to pump new life into scrutinizing the last election. While some of the players are the same, their aim is different than it was a year ago, when groups unsuccessfully tried to overturn results that elected Biden. Republicans' focus now is trying to subvert election boards and long-standing voting protocols in Wisconsin ahead of the critical midterm and 2024 presidential race.

"What you are seeing are people literally advocating for maybe having an election but allowing the state Legislature to override it regardless of who wins and install their own preferred candidate," said Ann Jacobs, the Democratic chair of the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission, which is under attack by Republicans. "For a while it was sort of done quietly, and now it is just out in the open, this advocacy for the elimination of democratically elected representatives."

Gableman's taxpayer-funded investigation into the election has stretched on for months, flooding the state's large cities with data requests. He's asked to jail the mayors of Madison and Green Bay if they don't comply with requests for private interviews. Some Republicans are calling for mass resignations from people who run Wisconsin elections. The Racine County Sheriff wants criminal charges brought against most members of the the Wisconsin Elections Commission.

"On the one hand, it's absolutely laughable because there's no legal basis here. They clearly don't know what they're doing," Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said. "On the other hand, it's terrifying because it illustrates the lengths they are willing to go to cast doubt on our elections."

Madison's election clerk has faced death threats, poll workers are frustrated and morale in the office is low, Rhodes-Conway said, as the latest push sows fresh doubts among voters about unsubstantiated claims of massive voter fraud. She said Gableman's current investigation is just "one piece of the picture."

"If you couple that with all of the lawsuits, all of the elections-related complaints, the legislation that has been introduced and in some cases passed to make it more difficult to vote, the dialogue and the conversations in the public sphere and the press, that's what worries me," she said. "All of that adds up to setting the stage for state legislatures around the country to overturn the will of the people in democratically conducted elections."

Wisconsin Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson has gone the furthest. He says a provision in the U.S. Constitution allowing state legislatures to set the time and place of federal elections means Republicans who control the statehouse could simply take over federal races without the approval of Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.

The Legislature has done the work of setting the time and place of federal elections by passing laws that were signed by a governor, said Kevin Kennedy, who ran elections in the state for more than three decades. To undo those, Kennedy says lawmakers would have to get approval from the governor again.

"It really is part of the total strategy for 2022 and 2024, which is to say you can't trust the election process unless we are in charge," he said. "It's ironic that they are going to take that position, because most of what they are doing is being very, very critical. They are not offering constructive alternatives."

Republicans controlled the governor's office and Legislature when they created the Wisconsin Elections Commission in 2016, after controversies prompted them to shut down a different accountability board, run by Kennedy.

But in the wake of Trump's roughly 21,000-vote loss in the state, Republicans have scrutinized decisions made by the evenly-split commission during the pandemic, including a ruling last March to not send special voting deputies into nursing homes to assist residents.

No one criticized the bipartisan vote at the time, which commissioners argued was necessary as nursing homes closed their doors to most visitors. But the Racine County Sheriff said in an October press conference that investigators in his office have now heard examples of staff taking advantage of residents in one care facility as they tried to vote.

He said the commission violated the law by not allowing deputies in, calling for felony charges against five of its six members. No prosecutors in the state have moved on his request.

"It's not up to me to decide what's legal or what's not," said Robert Spindell, a Republican appointee on the elections commission who has supported calls to dig into the 2020 election. "It's really irrelevant whether there was any fraud or not, the point here is that there are many people who do not have faith in the elections, or that it was handled fairly, and we need to have these questions answered."

The Wisconsin Legislature ordered an investigation from the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau, which found no new evidence of voter fraud, but recommended dozens of changes to the elections commission.

Republicans in the assembly and Gableman are also zeroing in on a shared $6.3 million election administration grant from the Mark Zuckerberg-funded Center for Tech and Civic Life, which was split among the state's five largest cities last year. The grants were given to help administer COVID-safe elections, but Republicans allege the money gave too much information to outside groups over how elections were run.

Election leaders and city officials have said they're proud of the actions they took in extraordinary circumstances to make sure people were able to safely exercise their democratic right to vote during the pandemic. Everything was done out in the open, including in more than 40 hearings held by the elections commission last year, Jacobs said.

"It's really a rejection of government as something that can be trusted and function appropriately," she said. "And the misguided believe that what we feel is more important than what is real."

Part of the issue for Republicans is that they're stuck, said Rep. Mark Spreitzer, the Democratic lead on the assembly's election committee. Recounts and the courts in Wisconsin upheld the results of the 2020 election, and the governor vetoed Republican-backed election law changes.

Assembly Republicans have held sporadic hearings on the election over the last year and Speaker Robin Vos brought in Gableman, a retired Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice, to conduct his investigation. Vos's office did not return a request for comment.

"In almost all cases, it is clear at least to me that there's not going to be any finding of actual illegality and wrongdoing under current laws," Spreitzer said.

Gableman's inquiry has faced criticism from the start as a partisan effort. The investigation is staffed by several people with connections to Trump and past efforts to overturn the election results. Gableman's office did not respond to a request for comment.

Republican state Sen. Kathleen Bernier, a former elections clerk who leads the chamber's elections committee, wants the investigation to wrap up its work.

She criticized Gableman's meetings as "jazzing up" the base, but she's worried it will have the opposite effect, depressing turnout from Republicans who don't trust the systems her colleagues have been attacking.

"This is a charade, what's going on with this constant drumbeat of all the massive voter fraud," she said at a press conference this month. "This country was based on states' rights and individual liberty, and we are being played from the top down."

https://www.startribune.com/wisconsin-republicans-pump-new-life-into-scrutinizing-the-2020-election/600130326/

[Rick Plant]

Thanks Biden!

U.S. holiday spending rose at fastest pace in 17 years, despite Delta and Omicron

U.S. holiday sales rose 8.5 percent over 2020, the biggest gain in 17 years, Mastercard SpendingPulse reported Sunday. Consumers also spent 10.7 percent more in the holiday season compared with the same Nov. 1-Dec. 24 period in 2019, before the pandemic. Mastercard, whose survey tracks spending on all kinds of goods and services (though not automobiles), had forecast an 8.8 percent jump for holiday buying back in September, before the Delta coronavirus wave peaked and the Omicron variant roared in.

Online purchases continued their upward trajectory, rising 11 percent over 2020 and 61 percent versus 2019, Mastercard said, but sales at bricks-and-mortar stores also rose 8.1 percent versus 2020. "The consumer is extremely healthy and has held up really well," said Stephen Sadove, a senior adviser to Mastercard and the former CEO of Saks. "No longer are people just staying at home in sweatpants," he added. "They are going back to the malls."

Consumer spending rose significantly on clothing (47 percent rise over 2020), jewelry (32 percent jump), and electronics (16 percent rise), Mastercard's report found. Concerns about supply chain disruptions and delivery delays prompted many Americans to start their Christmas shopping in October, The Wall Street Journal reports, muting the effects of COVID-19's latest resurgence.

https://theweek.com/spending/1008419/us-holiday-spending-rose-at-fastest-pace-in-17-years-despite-delta-and-omicron

[Rick Plant]

REVEALED: Gov. Greg Abbott intervened to put a positive spin on Texas' power grid



The two most powerful people overseeing Texas’ electric grid sat next to each other in a quickly arranged Austin news conference in early December to try to assure Texans that the state’s electricity supply was prepared for winter.

“The lights are going to stay on this winter,” said Peter Lake, chair of the Public Utility Commission of Texas, echoing recent public remarks by Gov. Greg Abbott.

Two weeks earlier, Abbott had told Austin’s Fox 7 News that he “can guarantee the lights will stay on.” The press conference that followed from Lake and the chief of the state’s independent grid operator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, came at the governor’s request, according to two state officials and one other person familiar with the planning, who were not authorized to discuss the matter and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

“It was 150% Abbott’s idea,” said one of the people familiar with the communication from Abbott’s team. “The governor wanted a press conference to give people confidence in the grid.”

A source close to Lake said the idea for the press conference was Lake's, and the governor supported it when Lake brought up the idea during a meeting.

Abbott has for months been heavily involved in the public messaging surrounding the power grid’s winter readiness. In addition to the press conference, he has asked a major electric industry trade group to put out a “positive” public statement about the grid and has taken control of public messaging from ERCOT, according to interviews with current and former power grid officials, energy industry trade group representatives and energy company directors and executives.

But the messaging has projected a level of confidence about the grid that isn’t reflected in data released by ERCOT or echoed by some power company executives and energy experts who say they’re worried that another massive winter storm could trigger widespread grid failures like those that left millions of Texans without power in February, when hundreds of people died.

Abbott has also met one-on-one with energy industry CEOs to ask about their winter readiness — but those meetings happened weeks after Abbott made his public guarantee about the grid.

“You’d think he would have asked to meet with us before saying that,” one person involved in the energy company meetings, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said of Abbott’s guarantee.

Ten months after the power grid failures caused hundreds of deaths and became national news, an election year is approaching and Abbott’s two top primary challengers and his top Democratic challenger have already been harshly criticizing the governor over his handling of the power grid.

“It might be a good political move, but it’s just a political move,” Peter Cramton, an energy markets expert and former ERCOT board member who resigned after the storm, said of Abbott’s promise. “It’s not surprising. His fate is on the line. So this is a sensitive political issue now.”

For many Texas energy officials and experts, the line has blurred between Abbott’s executive leadership on the power grid and his 2022 reelection campaign. By promising the lights will stay on, Abbott has wagered that Texas doesn’t experience widespread extreme weather this winter — and that the grid will work the next time freezing weather hits the state.

“The Governor is deeply engaged with the new commissioners at the PUC and the new leadership at ERCOT as they work to improve the Texas electric grid,” Renae Eze, Abbott’s spokesperson, said in a statement. “The House and Senate passed substantial reforms this year, and Governor Abbott is working to ensure those reforms are properly implemented so that the grid provides stable and reliable power for the state.”

Lake, who was appointed by Abbott and whose agency oversees ERCOT, said he has met frequently with Abbott since the summer.

“He’s super focused on it and wants to know what’s going on,” Lake said in an interview.

A majority of power companies have spent money since February preparing their equipment for extreme winter weather, but some say the grid won’t be ready if another storm as powerful as February’s strikes this winter because lawmakers didn’t require gas companies — which supply fuel to more than half of the state’s power plants — to be weatherized immediately.

“What I'm uncertain about is the gas supply,” Cramton said. “That’s the big question.”

2022 opponents use grid failures to attack Abbott

While a warming earth has brought milder winters, Abbott’s bet could be complicated by emerging science that suggests extreme cold spells in Texas could also result from climate change messing with complex weather processes.

But even though Abbott’s promise in late November was a gamble on the weather this winter, his guarantee was more likely an effort to boost his reelection campaign in 2022, Texas political communication experts said.

“I don’t think it's a coincidence he's responding with a guarantee about the power grid almost immediately in the aftermath of Beto O'Rourke's entry into the race because that's been O'Rourke's frontline attack,” said Stephanie Martin, a scholar of political communication at Southern Methodist University.

Abbott has faced criticism over the power grid from O’Rourke and both of his best-known Republicans primary opponents, Allen West and Don Huffines.

“Greg Abbott said we did everything we needed to do to fix ERCOT,” Huffines, a former state senator, said in November. “Obviously that is not the case. Texans deserve a governor who can keep the lights on.”

“This ‘promise’ is dangerous, potentially deadly,” O’Rourke said. “Experts continue to warn that Texas could face another grid failure the next time we experience an extreme weather event. Abbott and his appointees shouldn’t be betting our lives on the weather.”

The issue has animated voters, too. In a University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll of 1,200 registered voters in October, respondents expressed major disapproval for the state’s handling of the reliability of the grid after February’s catastrophe. Only 18% of voters approved of how state leaders handled the issue, while 60% of voters disapproved. Even state lawmakers have shown frustration that the new laws they passed earlier this year to prepare the grid for extreme weather haven’t led to enough preparations ahead of this winter.

When Abbott has been asked in recent months about criticism of the state’s handling of the winter storm crisis, he has responded that he “signed almost a dozen laws that make the power grid more effective” and he’s praised regulators for working to implement new rules following guidance from lawmakers and from Abbott.

“In politics, when you’re explaining, you're losing, and to try to talk about what happened last February in a way that doesn't just accept the abysmal failure of the Abbott administration means he has to try to explain something that's almost impossible to explain,” Martin said. “The only way out of that is to not acknowledge it — by promising it will never happen again.”

Dictating the message

When Brad Jones took over as ERCOT’s interim CEO in the spring — after the previous CEO and many board members resigned after the grid catastrophe — he began by promising that ERCOT would be more transparent with the public and state leaders.

“My guarantee to you is that we intend to communicate more clearly than we’ve done in the past,” Jones said during his first public hearing with lawmakers. “To remove industry jargon, to speak to you in ways that all of us can understand.”

In recent months, however, ERCOT has been nearly silent on social media and its leaders have barely spoken publicly. People familiar with ERCOT’s operations say the organization has needed to receive approval from the governor’s office for most of its public communications, a stark contrast to how the grid operator did business in the past.

Every spring and fall, ERCOT releases its report assessing potential scenarios for the grid during more extreme weather. And the organization’s technical experts typically brief reporters on the assessment to help translate complex electricity jargon into plain language that the general public can understand.

This fall, that briefing never happened. Instead, ERCOT simply posted its assessment for this winter to its website on a Friday afternoon in November. The report concluded that the Texas grid is still vulnerable to blackouts during severe winter weather, even with new preparations.

“We just made a mistake on that,” Jones said about not holding the briefing, adding that rather than big press conference calls, he’s been focusing on touring the state, listening to Texans and doing interviews with local media.

“First piece of it is, I need to listen,” Jones said. “I need to hear them tell me what they went through. That’s an important part of the healing process.”

Another biannual report, called the Capacity, Demand and Reserves report, contains a multiyear forecast of peak electricity demand and the expected generation resources available. The assessment is released every May and in early December. The report has not yet been released this month because the governor’s office is still reviewing it, according to people familiar with the delay. A recent ERCOT email said the report is now scheduled to be released on Dec. 29.

It’s not uncommon for elected officials to become much more hands-on in the aftermath of disasters, said Amy Myers Jaffe, an energy expert and advisor who worked in Texas for more than two decades: “There’s an element of ‘the buck stops here.’”

But Myers Jaffe said decision-making at ERCOT, an organization that Abbott immediately blasted after the storm in February, should be left alone by politicians who don’t have electricity expertise.

“An independent, nonprofit technical organization should be making its decisions based on fulfilling its mission, and its communications should be about the actions it’s taking to fulfill that,” said Myers Jaffe, who now runs Tufts University’s Climate Policy Lab. “It shouldn't be politicized.”

But much of the public messaging this year from the grid operator has had to be approved by a governor who’s running for reelection, according to people familiar with the matter.

“I think the challenge is now that it would be very hard for the ERCOT communications office to do something that isn't viewed as political,” Cramton said.

As November turned to December, Abbott’s team asked the Association of Electric Companies of Texas to put out a “positive” statement about the power grid’s readiness for winter, according to four people in the energy industry familiar with the request. AECT, a major industry trade group, was its public face in the aftermath of the storm, testifying before lawmakers and lobbying on behalf of major power companies.

On Dec. 8, the same day as Lake and Jones’ news conference, AECT released its statement. The message stopped short of making definitive claims about the lights staying on this winter but did go into detail about preparations power plants and transmission and distribution facilities have made. It also thanked “Texas leaders and the Legislature for their efforts during the past session to strengthen the resilience of the grid, as well as AECT’s member companies for their efforts to prepare for this winter for the benefit of Texas consumers.”

After public promise, Abbott met with energy CEOs

Nearly three weeks after promising the lights wouldn’t go out this winter — and after Lake echoed him in the December press conference — Abbott’s team arranged for several energy companies to meet with the governor in Austin. Energy companies and executives meeting with the Texas governor is not uncommon, but the timing was curious to some companies involved, as well as to power grid officials and political scientists.

The mid-December meetings included large energy companies Calpine, Kinder Morgan, NRG, Vistra and Energy Transfer Partners — whose CEO, Kelcy Warren, gave $1.1 million to Abbott immediately after this year’s regular legislative session.

The executives and others involved in the meetings told the Tribune that the opportunity to sit down with the governor was important as the energy industry and state leaders try to assure Texans wary of winter that the power will stay on this year.

Abbott asked the energy CEOs detailed questions about their expectations for the coming months, their companies’ readiness for winter and whether the CEOs feel ready for another severe winter storm, according to people in the meetings.

"It was literally, like: ‘If we have another (Winter Storm) Uri, are y’all going to be ready?’” said a person involved in one of the meetings, who was not authorized to speak publicly. “We said, ‘Yes.’ He said: ‘Tell me why, what is different?’”

The person added: “He was really in fact-finding mode. He didn't say: ‘You guys better be ready.’ It was: ‘I want to know if your company is ready and, if so, I want to know why.’”

Companies that spoke to the Tribune said they laid out to the governor how they had been preparing their facilities for winter.

Calpine CEO Thad Hill said in a written statement that the governor “was doing his direct due diligence ensuring the grid would be reliable this winter.” NRG CEO Mauricio Gutierrez welcomed the opportunity “to highlight our companywide winter-readiness efforts to meet the energy needs of our growing state,” NRG said in a statement.

Vistra CEO Curt Morgan, who has criticized the state’s natural gas producers for not adequately preparing for extreme winter weather, told Abbott that Vistra “has invested more than $50 million to further harden its power generation fleet in Texas, focused on learnings from Winter Storm Uri,” Vistra said in a statement.

Still, some wondered why Abbott didn’t gather information from the energy CEOs before promising the lights would stay on during the next winter storm.

“If it were truly about executive leadership and government transparency, then you wouldn't get what almost amounts to a slogan: ‘I guarantee,’” Martin said. “You’d get a meaningful articulation of what's behind the guarantee.”

https://www.rawstory.com/texas-power-grid/

[Rick Plant]

Swing voters are angry with GOP critics of the Jan. 6 riot committee



New data from two online focus groups spearheaded by the Swing Voter Project revealed that Republicans who disrespected the January 6 committee were not winning over swing voters. The two online focus groups on Dec. 14 consisted of four Republicans, three Independents and six Democrats, according to The Bulwark.

Key takeaways from the group of 13 Trump-to-Biden voters in key swing states included the need for accountability and an understanding of how and why the U.S. Capitol riots commenced - and how to stop it from happening again.

Data showed that Democrats, meanwhile, remained on firm political ground with “persuadables” when they endorsed the committee’s investigation.

Only one respondent thought said the Jan. 6 committee was a waste of time and money. Other responses were exploratory.

“People need to be held accountable. That was a terrible day in our history,” said Sherrie, 64, from Pewaukee, Wisconsin.

RELATED: The public part of the Jan. 6 committee is about to begin

“[Trump] wants to run again for president, so I think it’s important for us to know the facts,” added Kathleen, 48, from Casselberry, Florida.

“I think that it’s important to know why this really happened in order to keep it from happening again,” said Alisa, 41, from Phoenix.

“If nothing happens to them, people are just going to keep on doing it," said Alicia, 36, from Burnsville, Minnesota. "They need to be responsible for their actions."

Anna, 35, from Onalaska, Wisconsin, agreed: “I think with their positions, there needs to be transparency and accountability.”

“If somebody refuses to testify, that means they must have something to hide, and it must be pretty important," said Tabatha, 51, from Monroe, Georgia.

The Bulwark reported that during the online focus groups, official, unlabeled headshots of Reps. Paul Gosar, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Madison Cawthorn, Lauren Boebert, and Matt Gaetz were presented to respondents. They photos were numbered one through five and respondents were unable to name three or more based on images alone. Only two members who were recognizable at all were Greene and Gaetz and just five could recognize either or both of them.

“She’s the first openly QAnon-supporting person in Congress,” Michael, 29, from Doral, Florida said of Greene.

“She’s from Florida, and she’s the one who was going after that kid in college, harassing him over gun rights,” added Linda, 62, from Levittown, Pennsylvania.

Anna said, “She’s a whack job.”

https://www.thebulwark.com/swing-voters-dont-like-the-january-6-committee-critics/

[Rick Plant]

Texas AG Ken Paxton dealt another 'election fraud' blow as judge dismisses 'politically motivated' case



For the second time this month, Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton has suffered a major setback in a criminal case in which he alleged "election fraud."

Paxton, who's been endorsed for re-election by former president Donald Trump despite facing felony charges, earlier this year accused Medina County Justice of the Peace Tomas “Tommy” Ramirez of running a vote-harvesting operation out of assisted living centers during the 2018 Republican primary.

Ramirez says the allegations led to threats and harassment against him, and he accused Paxton of pushing for an indictment just to get headlines and rile up his base, according to the San Antonio Express-News.

On Tuesday, a judge dismissed all charges against Ramirez.

“This case was politically motivated and was totally unjustified,” Ramirez said. “My family and I have received anonymous hate mail and ugly social media attacks. My law office was vandalized and I was even asked by the State Bar of Texas if I wanted to voluntarily surrender my law license.”

Ramirez alleged that Paxton conducted a year-long investigation and continued to press for charges even after one of the AG's investigators found there was no probable cause to pursue the case.

The dismissal of the charges against Ramirez "followed a ruling by a separate court that struck down a law allowing the state attorney general to unilaterally prosecute election law cases," the Express-News reports.

"In an 8-1 ruling, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals said a provision of the law violates the separation of powers clause in the Texas Constitution," according to the newspaper. "The state attorney general can only get involved in a case when asked to by a district or county attorney, the court determined. That ruling was a blow for Texas Republicans who have promoted former president Donald Trump’s discredited claims of election fraud in the 2020 presidential election."

https://www.rawstory.com/donald-trump-2656178238/

[Rick Plant]

'Dr. Oz is dangerous': Former colleagues offer scathing takedown of a 'guy is willing to do whatever it takes for money'



Dr. Mehmet Oz is running for Senate in Pennsylvania, where Republicans are wary of him, and his former colleagues don't have many good things to say about him.

The cardiac surgeon became a household celebrity as a guest on Oprah Winfrey's daytime talk show and then hosted his own before deciding to seek the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate, but the media mogul had little to say about his candidacy, according to a lengthy profile by New York Magazine's Olivia Nuzzi.

“Ms. Winfrey is not doing interviews at this time,” her spokeswoman Nicole Nichols tersely replied 14 days after a request for comment, but followed up a few days after that. “I have one statement for you from Ms. Winfrey. No other comments: ‘One of the great things about our democracy is that every citizen can decide to run for public office. Mehmet Oz has made that decision. And now it’s up to the residents of Pennsylvania to decide who will represent them.’ —Oprah Winfrey.”

Another reporter who profiled Oz said he remains "haunted" by the way his subject could perform a heart transplant one day and then turn around and discuss with TV producers whether cotton or Silly Putty would be a better material for prop testicles to hand out to audience members during a show taping.

"I mean, how do you go from A to B?" said New York Times columnist Frank Bruni, who profiled Oz. "Why does he seem more excited about the fake testi*les than the open-heart surgery? The answer is because the latter was the route to fame and riches — and that’s the Faustian bargain.”

“I’ve met and profiled very few if any people who so embody the wages of ambition," Bruni added.

Some of his former producers feel the same way, including one who was horrified when Oz decided to do regular segments on true crime for the talk show.

“I was like, ‘What?! How the f*ck are we going to do true crime on The Dr. Oz Show?’ ” the former producer said. “And then it was twice a week, sometimes three times a week during ratings week. It was a stretch. The only way that you could tie it to something medically was to talk about some DNA evidence. It was a sign to me that this guy is willing to do whatever it takes for money. So it wasn’t a shock or a surprise for me when I saw that he was running for office, because he just wants to f*cking win.”

A veteran daytime producer agreed, saying that Oz became obsessed with money and his own self regard.

“Somewhere, I’m not sure how, he started to sell out — it happens to a lot of people when they get money and success; they want more money and more success. He went from doctor to entertainer to scam artist,” the veteran daytime producer said. “Dr. Oz is dangerous because he believes he’s got some divine power.”

https://www.rawstory.com/mehmet-oz-celebrity/

[Rick Plant]

Thanks to President Biden for the Biden Boom

Dow rises over 350 points, S&P 500 logs 69th record of 2021 as holiday spending buttresses stock market Monday
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/stock-futures-point-higher-but-travel-stocks-pressured-after-weekend-of-covid-holiday-disruptions-11640601276

S&P 500 Hits Record as Strong Holiday Sales Offset Covid Fears
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-27/s-p-500-hits-record-as-strong-holiday-sales-offset-covid-fears

S&P 500 scores record high on retail sales cheer
https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/sp-500-scores-record-high-retail-sales-cheer-2021-12-27/

With 68 record highs, 2021 was a wild year on the S&P 500
https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2021-12-26/2021-sp-500-performance

Holiday sales soared, with e-commerce notching huge gains, a report says
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/26/business/holiday-sales-data.html

US holiday retail sales rise 8.5% as online shopping booms, Mastercard says
https://www.ksl.com/article/50318192/us-holiday-retail-sales-rise-85-as-online-shopping-booms-mastercard-says