Another Twist in Spending Bill, DeSantis Hostage Video

The David Pakman Show - November 5, 2021

This installment of The David Pakman Show newsletter is free for everyone. I send these emails daily. If you would also like to receive it, join the newsletter today.
Note: This is totally separate from website Membership and does not affect your website Membership in any way.

Paid Family Leave BACK IN Spending Bill

Progressive provisions are starting to come back into the $1.75 trillion reconciliation bill currently being debated among Democrats in Congress. Earlier this week, we learned that prescription drug price controls would return to the bill in large part thanks to the efforts of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Now we are learning that paid family leave is also returning as part of the legislation. West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin had initially opposed the provision, despite it being widely popular among the American people and despite the US being one of only a small handful of countries to not offer paid time off for new parents. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday announced that paid leave would be part of the House Rules Committee’s discussion. If approved, the provision would provide four weeks of paid time off, far short of the twelve weeks initially proposed by President Biden. There’s still a long way to go before the Build Back Better Act gets signed into law and the bill has so far had its fair share of setbacks, but at least this week there have been signs that it is heading in a more positive direction.

Ron DeSantis Anti-Mask Kid Interview Looks Like Hostage Video

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis did a disturbing interview on Fox News with a kid who says that she doesn’t like to wear masks. The entire scene looked like a hostage video with DeSantis sitting there looking smug the entire time. The kid said, “I’m not wearing a mask because you touch it and you have germs on your hand and then you put it on your face and breathe in all your germs.” It’s a strange instinct by a governor and a large media outlet to turn to a second grader to weigh public policy matters, but that’s exactly what they decided to do. Another possibility would be to look at the studies and listen to public health experts on the efficacy of mask-wearing and other mitigation measures. Unfortunately, many on the right have things so backwards now that when faced with these two options, they choose to side with a second grader hand-picked by Ron DeSantis. Fox also could have chosen to interview the loved ones of people who died of COVID because the people around them didn’t get themselves vaccinated or wear masks, but that wouldn’t fit into their narrative about vaccines and mask-wearing being a “freedom” issue instead of a public health issue.

From yesterday’s show:

They Thought John F. Kennedy Jr. Would Reappear

Hundreds of QAnon believers gathered in Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas earlier this week anticipating the return of John F. Kennedy Jr. who they believed would be Donald Trump’s running mate for the next election cycle. Dealey Plaza is the location of John F. Kennedy Sr.’s 1963 assassination and his son JFK Jr. was killed in a plane crash in 1999. The QAnoners believed that Kennedy Jr. would make an appearance at the grassy knoll around 12:30 pm local time. People brought signs and flags with them, some reading Trump / Kennedy 2024 with the Q moto “where we go one, we go all” underneath it. One woman at the rally told a reporter that, “what we’re learning is that JFK, when he was shot here, he was the second coming of Jesus Christ, and he was resurrected four days later, and he’s been living in witness protection as well as his son and more than 900 others. And this is the route that he took, but now it’s going to be the route that he’ll finish.” Of course, many of these QAnon believers were let down when John F. Kennedy Jr, did not show up at Dealey Plaza and that’s, of course, because he’s been dead for over twenty years. It sounds like the Q conspiracy theories have managed to get even more deranged and at this point it’s hard to predict the direction in which they will go next.

From yesterday’s show:

Centrist AND Socialist Dems BOTH Lost

A common narrative in the wake of the 2021 elections is that Democrats lost because they ran candidates who were too far left. Others, are saying Democrats lost on Tuesday because they ran uninspiring centrist candidates. In fact, neither stance can be demonstrated to be paint the entire picture as both progressive and centrist Democrats lost races this week. India Walton, a socialist candidate running for Mayor of Buffalo, New York, was defeated by centrist incumbent Byron Brown who launched a successful write-in campaign. In contrast, milquetoast centrist Democrat Terry McAuliffe lost to his Republican challenger, Glenn Youngkin, in the Virginia gubernatorial race. The truth is that American politics is a lot more complicated than a lot of these black and white dichotomies. In some regions of the country, Democrats need to push truly progressive candidates who can inspire people and drive lots of voters to the polls. In other areas of the country that are more purple, a far left candidate may not have any shot at winning and so a more centrist-style candidate could be necessary to get wins on the board. There is a lot Democrats can learn from their losses this week, but it’s not as simple as the candidates overall went too far left or too far towards the center.

More on the show:

--Caller talks about Democrats having poor political strategy

--Caller asks why Jesse Lee Peterson's mind wasn't changed after debating David

--Caller wonders about adding security at school board meetings

--Caller thinks the American political system is a disaster

--Caller asks why Americans don't turn out to vote in higher numbers

--David responds to viewer emails

--On the Bonus Show: Biden denies having a plan to pay $450,000 to migrants separated from families, military weighs penalties for those who refuse COVID vaccine, and much more...

--Become a Supporter: http://www.davidpakman.com/membership