The Show Notes: Biden's New Team, Mortgage Demand Plummets, & Racist Democrats?
Welcome! Mortgage demand just hit a 22-year low.
Headline: Secret Service cannot recover texts; no new details for Jan. 6 committee
The New York Times is mad that a good guy with a gun stopped a bad guy with a gun. (paywall)
Ouch: European countries are cutting their natural gas usage by 15%.
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Clip of the day: “How do you declare a climate crisis in the middle of an actual weather crisis?”
Shock poll:
Biden Wants A New Communications Team
This is from NBC:
The White House is considering a major overhaul of its press and communications shop in the coming weeks, a staff shakeup that’s aimed at putting a new team in place to drive President Joe Biden’s message into November’s midterm elections and in the months after voters decide whether his party retains control of Congress, according to multiple people familiar with the effort.
The effort to revamp the White House press operation comes as Biden has expressed frustration that his message isn’t breaking through to Americans and his approval ratings continue to hit new lows, while his aides prepare for him to seek re-election.
Racist Democrats?
Democratic Texas Congressman Vicente Gonzalez paid a local blogger to attack his Republican rival and the attacks went a little too far. The blogger called Republican Rep. Mayra Flores “Miss Frijoles” and a "cotton-pickin' liar." The Gonzalez campaign denounced the attacks but the blogger refused to back down. Here’s what the blogger told NBC News:
“I am a liberal Democrat. And it’s war against the Republican ... I’m going to be merciless with her,” he told NBC News.
European Gas Problems
The European Commission is asking all European countries to cut natural gas consumption by 15% between Aug. 1, 2022, and March 31, 2023.
Why: The vast majority of natural gas consumed in Europe is imported through the Nord Stream pipeline from Russia. The pipeline has been down for maintenance and member countries are concerned Putin will use Russia’s natural gas as a bargaining chip to reduce European sanctions on Russia.
The problem: Natural gas is primarily used in Europe to heat homes during the winter. Despite this being summer and gas consumption being ostensibly low, natural gas prices in Europe have skyrocketed 700% year-to-date.
The bigger problem: Bloomberg’s Javier Blas ⬇️
The rest of the news:
US seizes stolen funds from suspected North Korean hackers - BBC
White House says Russia planning to annex large swaths of Ukraine - Axios
Germany To Rethink Nuclear Shutdown As Energy Crisis Deepens - Climate Change Dispatch
House passes bill to protect same-sex marriage in effort to counter Supreme Court - CNN
Delta flight from Atlanta blows tires at Los Angeles landing - ABC
CNN projects Trump-backed Dan Cox will win GOP gubernatorial primary in Maryland - CNN
GOP's grassroots money problem - Axios
Chinese spent $6.1B on US real estate last year - NY Post
Stacey Abrams doesn’t want to talk about Joe Biden. - CNN
Woman Sues a Guy for $10K Over a Bad Date and the Video of Her Arguing with the Judge is Insane - Barstool
Why More People Are Dating Without Drinking - WSJ