DML Morning Briefing ~ Tues. Sept. 6

Today is September 6. Below are some of the stories grabbing headlines this morning. I hope you share this briefing as doing so will make you the smartest person in the room.

1 – Pelosi plotting next move if Dems lose the House
Fox Business reports: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is planning her next move after an expected Republican victory in November.

Sources tell FOX Business’ that Pelosi wants President Biden to nominate her to become the next U.S. ambassador to Italy if the GOP takes the House majority in the midterm elections.

Biden is holding the spot for the speaker, sources say, which is one reason he has yet to fill the position since taking office. Speculation earlier this year that a Pelosi ally and former Wall Street executive wanted the job has shifted with the increasing likelihood that the GOP takes the majority.

There was no clarity yet on how a new Senate will react to a Pelosi nomination, but there was a mixed reaction to her in the role from sources this week.

So far, 101 Biden ambassador nominees have been confirmed by the Senate, but Biden has been slow to name ambassadors to several countries, including Italy.

MY TAKE: Won’t this woman EVER just GO AWAY? I don’t want her representing US for anything.  Share your thoughts in the comments section at the end of this report!

2 – MSNBC’s Reid: Republicans Upset Because Their Fascism ‘Was Named’ by Biden
Breitbart reports: MSNBC host Joy Reid said Monday on her show “The ReidOut” that Republicans are upset because President Joe Biden “named” their fascism.

Reid said, “The former president was also in the Keystone state this holiday weekend, speaking at a rally for Pennsylvania’s MAGA Republican candidate for governor, Doug Mastriano, and Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz. Trump basically went full fascist, denouncing the FBI as vicious monsters despite recent actual attempts by his fans to attack federal law enforcement and calling President Biden an enemy of the state. In his Philadelphia speech, the most divisive speech ever delivered by an American president. Pretty rich coming from Donald Trump.”

She added, “You have had Adam Kinzinger denouncing direct attacks on the FBI, when a MAGA fan literally went into an FBI office, armed up. There’s already been threats. FBI agents are being threatened. So you have threats against law enforcement. You have an insurrection in which there was a violent attack on the Capitol, in which they beat up police officers and left five people dead, eventually. You have the demands that procreation be achieved at the behest of the state, essentially state-mandated birth. You have an anti-immigrant mania, and you have a cult of personality. If you look up fascism in the dictionary, you’re going to find all of those things. So, I’m really not sure what the republicans are all upset about, other than the fact that it was named.”

MY TAKE: Joy Reid is the one spewing racist hate, and she calls US ‘fascists’?  Good grief!

3 – Dem state pleading not to charge electric cars again after banning gas vehicles
Fox Business reports: California’s electric grid operator called for residents to make larger reductions in electricity usage this week, warning of worsening grid conditions amid a record heat wave.

The California Independent System Operator (CAISO) warned Sunday that it is “stepping up its call for consumers to lower electricity use” as a result of historic heat that will put severe pressure on the grid, according to a notice. CAISO requested that residents set their thermostats to a minimum of 78 degrees, turn of all “unnecessary lights” and avoid using large appliances or charging their electric vehicles (EVs) between 4-9 p.m. throughout the duration of the alert.

“Starting tomorrow, this multi-day event is going to get much more intense,” Elliot Mainzer, CAISO’s president and CEO, said in a statement Sunday. “We are facing a load forecast of 48,817 megawatts and energy deficits between 2,000 and 4,000 megawatts for Monday, resulting in the highest likelihood of rotating outages we have seen so far this summer.”

“We thank electricity consumers for their sustained effort to help us maintain reliability during these very difficult conditions,” he added.

The call for reduced EV charging comes during the Labor Day holiday, one of the busiest travel weekends of the year. The weekend is expected to be the busiest Labor Day for travel in three years, according to AAA.

MY TAKE: Democrats are self-destructing.

4 – Ivy League University To Study Alleged Racism Of Video Game Characters’ Hair
The Daily Caller reports: Yale University received $1 million in funding to study the alleged racism inherent in algorithms that create video game avatars, according to a press release from the school.

Professor Theodore Kim is tasked with leading a team to “develop new tools and algorithms to bring inclusivity to the digital scream,” according to a press release from Yale. The school argues that the algorithms in video games are “deeply biased” and use “predominantly European features” to create avatars.

Yale’s press release claims that the most biased aspect of the avatar algorithm is “the representation of human hair,” specifically “Type 4 hair,” which is described as a “characteristic that most commonly occurs in Black communities.” There is too little representation of Type 4 hair, according to the press release.

“Kim will lead a group that will investigate the algorithmic representation of Type 4 hair as a uniquely anti-racist problem,” the university said.

MY TAKE: Just can’t make this stuff up, folks.

5 – Instagram Shuts Down Pornhub’s Account
Variety reports: Instagram has suspended Pornhub’s widely followed account on the social platform.

Before the sex site’s account was removed from Instagram, Pornhub had 13.1 million followers and more than 6,200 posts. Reps for Meta, Instagram’s parent company, did not respond to a request for comment.

The move comes one month after Visa and Mastercard cut off payment privileges of TrafficJunky, the advertising arm of Pornhub parent company MindGeek. That followed a federal court ruling in July rejecting Visa’s request to be removed from a case in which MindGeek is being sued for allegedly distributing child pornography and that alleges Visa knowingly facilitated MindGeek’s ability to monetize the illegal content.

On its Instagram account, Pornhub shared nonpornographic videos and images. However, it had “directly promoted pornography” and featured videos like “Next Career Goal” encouraging people to become pornography performers, according to Dawn Hawkins, CEO of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation. The NCOSE had been among a group of advocates that has lobbied Instagram to remove Pornhub.

MY TAKE: Well finally, Instagram did something right.