[View this email in your browser]( Your daily update from [Salon](. What Lauren Boebert didn't tell us Rep. Lauren Boebert's personal brand seems to be almost entirely about stirring stuff up â perhaps with another noun substituted for "stuff." Boebert is regarded with wonder by many political reporters who work Capitol Hill, since unlike nearly all other members of Congress, she doesn't duck phone calls from reporters, and is often happy to dish out insults. This week, however, the pro-gun Colorado Republican did not respond to [Salon's Zachary Petrizzo]( (or to the Daily Beast or the Washington Post or the AP) after a series of reports suggesting she filed false or misleading financial disclosure forms, which failed to disclose that her husband, Jayson Boebert, has earned nearly $1 million as a natural-gas drilling contractor while his wife sat on the House Natural Resources Committee. That's a blatant conflict of interest even by Washington (and Republican) standards. Furthermore, part of the Boebert legend is that her family runs a successful gun-themed restaurant, Shooters Grill, in her hometown of Rifle, Colorado. (Are you sensing a theme here?) That doesn't appear to be true at all, since Boebert's disclosure forms make clear that Shooters was losing money rapidly even before the pandemic, and operated at a $200,000-plus loss in 2020. Campaign finance experts say the misleading disclosure reports could be criminal acts â if they were intended to conceal the Boebert family's income, something no prosecutor will be eager to take on. So this becomes just another puzzling chapter in the Boebert saga â not quite as splashy as the still-unexplained [midnight tour of the Capitol]( she apparently led, just after a "Stop the Steal" rally in Washington and weeks before she was sworn in as a member of Congress. Photo: David Jennings/Digital First Media/Boulder Daily Camera via Getty Images OK, vaccine skeptics: Time to find a different excuse One of the major right-wing and/or anti-vax talking points of the last few months has been that the various vaccines for COVID-19 now available were "not FDA-approved," uttered in tones suggesting they had fallen off the back of a truck or were being sold by quacks on the internet. But no, in fact â it's hydroxychloroquine and the [suddenly-ubiquitous anti-parasitic drug ivermectin]( that fit that description. Well, that talking point is gone after the FDA approved Pfizer's vaccine on Monday, and Salon's Nicole Karlis has a [detailed explanation]( of why that didn't much matter â the FDA's previous "emergency use authorization" was already highly rigorous, but a lot faster â and why this distinction exists in the first place. Oh, and no â FDA officials say they didn't rush the process and they weren't arm-twisted into doing this by the socialist ravings of â um, Joe Biden, we suppose. Then again, Donald Trump actually got booed by his own fans the other day for telling them to get the jab, so we're not under the impression that anti-vax hysteria is likely to calm down anytime soon. Full approval for the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines (still for now available under the existing very thorough and systematic EUA!) should follow in coming weeks. - Scientists say they just took a [big step closer to nuclear fusion]( the Holy Grail of cheap, (relatively) clean and (almost) renewable energy.
- "Sweet Girl," despite the title, is a revenge thriller (now on Netflix) with an [utterly bonkers twist](.
- The endless Arizona election "audit" is now delayed because some of the "Cyber Ninjas" have fallen [severely ill with COVID](. No, you can't make this stuff up.
- Maybe you thought the ["Jeopardy" hosting drama]( was all over with the departure of What's His Name who nobody liked. Ha ha no. Celebs have thoughts.
- Did Andrew Cuomo really [dump Captain, his lovable hound]( during his final departure from the governor's mansion? Our investigation finds more bark than ... we'll stop there. Not a subscriber yet? [Sign up]( to receive Crash Course. Is Tucker actually a dumbass, or does he just play one on TV? If you've ever intentionally watched Tucker Carlson's show on Fox News â well, first of all don't do that. It's not healthy. But even glimpsed at a white-people barbershop or an especially unhappy bar, Carlson's show is likely to provoke the response, "Nobody really thinks that way, do they?" Salon's [Amanda Marcotte knows the feeling]( Carlson's dumbness is purposeful, she argues, and "strategically weaponized" as part of a larger right-wing effort to make rational discourse impossible. She cites Carlson's recent claim that the housing crisis in America is caused by the country becoming "a lot more crowded than it ever was," thanks to "the biggest influx of refugees in American history." Absolutely no part of that comes anywhere near the truth, but Amanda suggests that's pretty much the point. Carlson knows (since he covered the news) that U.S. population growth is now slower than at almost any time in the last century. And he's definitely eager for white women to have more babies â the country's not too crowded for that! The real issue here, Amanda argues, is not just that "Carlson regularly makes claims so preposterous that it's unlikely even the most QAnon-addled conspiracy theorist can take him seriously," while wearing his "gosh darn it, this is so confusing" expression seen in a zillion internet memes. It's why he does it: as an elaborate troll meant exasperate opponents and offer his followers permission to abandon any last, lingering pretense of good faith or rationality. Photo: Getty Images - Trump's beloved (but mostly forgotten) [border wall isn't doing so great](. The Guardian
- Greatest work of American art: [Could it be ... Disneyland?]( BBC News
- Going back to the future all over again with [Samsung's new foldable phones](. Android Police
- [New panorama of Mars photos]( from Curiosity rover. TechSpot What happens in Buffalo ... definitely doesn't stay there Long home to some of the most corrupt medium-size-city politics in America â although no doubt Cleveland and New Orleans would like a word â Buffalo seems to be outdoing itself at the moment. This year's Democratic mayoral primary was won by a young Black socialist woman, India Walton, who defeated Mayor Byron Brown, a four-term incumbent, in one of the most massive political upsets of recent years. It seemed like a real moment of hope for a city that's been struggling with poverty, inequality and diminishing services (not to mention godawful weather) for decades. That was then; this is now. At least when incumbent New York congressman Joe Crowley lost to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in 2018, he had the decency to go away. Not only has Brown, the Buffalo incumbent, refused to accept defeat, he's now running a write-in campaign heavily funded by Republican developers. And in case that doesn't work, the Buffalo Common Council (it's a New York State thing; you don't have to understand) is considering doing away with the mayor's office altogether. Yeesh. As [Salon's Igor Derysh reports]( this suggests that the battle between establishment Democrats and progressive insurgents visible across the country is heating up. One could also conclude that politicians are a bunch of corrupt creeps who just want to protect their own power. But that would be cynical. Photo: Alana Adetola Arts Photography Have a tip for Salon? Feedback on this newsletter? [Let us know](mailto:brett.bachman@salon.com). [Share]( [Share]( [Tweet]( [Tweet]( [Forward]( [Forward]( Copyright © 2021 Salon.com, LLC, All rights reserved.
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