White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre began today’s briefing in celebration of National Coming Out day and by sharing her own coming out story:

“My family was traditional and conservative. Being gay in my family wasn't something that you mentioned out loud or celebrated. But my family, like many, many other families, grew to accept who I was. They saw that who I loved didn't change who I was as a person.”

KJP’s story made me feel like I knew her a little better, and it was touching to see her be vulnerable at the podium. I never knew that coming out had its own day, but I sincerely offer her, and everyone else who celebrates this day, best wishes. She continued:

“The beauty of America is its freedoms and the promise that you can achieve your dreams no matter your race, sex, country of origin, sexual orientation, or gender identity. This is something we continue to strive toward, and fight for, particularly as we continue to see a wave of anti-LGBTQ legislation across the country.”

Of course, she had to ruin it. She didn’t specify which legislation, but the ACLU tracks “anti-LGBTQ legislation” and, spoiler, the majority of these bills are focused on trans youth – in athletics, in healthcare decision-making, in regards to parental rights. 

Hey KJP, let’s be very clear: 

Being against the sexualization of children is not anti anything,
other than anti evil monster. 

You should be grateful to your conservative, traditional family. Had you grown up being conditioned and groomed like modern kids, I wonder if you would have ended up as our barrier-breaking White House Press Secretary? Food for thought as you demonize those trying to offer their children equitable opportunities. 

And we were having such a nice moment. You had to go and ruin National Coming Out day for all of us, Karine. This is why we can’t have nice things.

It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Covid

Grab your masks, break out the plexiglass, and stock up on toilet paper! The second most important thing you need to know is that #WinterIsComing. That means Covid is back, baby, and the first material topic was an update about the Biden Administration’s updated vaccine plans.

Covid-19 Response Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha took the podium with a topline message for everyone: If you want to enjoy the holidays, get vaccinated. 

“I know families around the country are starting to make plans for Thanksgiving. Mine is…we’re all looking forward to a really good holiday season. The challenge with holiday seasons every year is, it’s also a time where contagious respiratory viruses — like influenza, RSV, and, again this year, COVID — spread much more quickly.”

The message is very simple and very clear: Covid is just like the Flu.  Will Twitter ban the Dr. Jha for misinformation? 

Apparently, Australia is having a rough winter so they imagine we are going to have a horrible time with Covid. But don’t fret, “The good news is we are not helpless against these challenges, right?”

If it’s reading like an infomercial, rest assured, that’s exactly what it was. That was, in fact, the entire purpose. Jha continues:

“So let me talk about what tools we have, what we can do to make sure we have a safe and healthy fall/winter holiday season. We have updated bivalent vaccines…designed to target both the original version of COVID from 2020, as well as Omicron, the BA.5 version that’s circulating right now.” 

Can I interest you in a little myocarditis or menstrual mayhem? Let’s fast forward to Q&A as, unlike Dr. Jha, I respect medical freedom and don’t want to be charged under Nuremberg for reprinting his coercion. I have summarized for brevity:

Q: In terms of the winter surge, can you be specific? Range, number of cases? 

A: “We don’t have a specific estimate of how many infections…You know, look, there are lots of different models out there.”

Q: What’s the time window for people to get vaccinated? When does that window close?

A: “I’ve been very clear about this: I think people should go get vaccinated before Halloween…there is no time period where the window is out and you’re no longer going to benefit; you will always benefit.”

Will you always benefit? Really? Because according to the CDC, the leading cause of death in Americans is heart disease by more than double that of Covid. In fact, Covid is closer in number of deaths to “accidents” than it is to either heart disease (number one) and cancer (number two). 

Know what contributes to heart disease? mRNA vaccines, again according to the CDC. Myocarditis is also known as viral heart disease. Same symptoms, distinguished from boring old “heart disease” simply by its viral cause. See the semantic games? 

According to their own numbers and experts, heart disease kills more than double those Covid does, the vaccine causes viral heart disease, and they are pushing the vaccines anyway. Sociopaths.

Q When is Biden going to get his bivalent booster? 

A: “It’s somewhere around late October…We’re following the science here.”

Q You had asked for $22 billion…did not come through. Are you in a bad place?

A: Well, so, no doubt about it that our response has been hampered by that lack of funding…Congress bears a lot of responsibility for the complexities of the moment we find ourselves in…congressional inaction has put the health and wellbeing of American people at risk.”

Later during the briefing we hear about the never ending money faucet for Ukraine. Not that I want the Regime spending money on MRNA vaccines, but you can see their fiscal priorities.

You’re Not Having the Period You Think You Are

When asked about the impact of Covid vaccines on menstrual cycles, Dr. Jha gaslit and mansplained to the millions of women who have been impacted – including those unvaccinated women impacted by the shedding of others – in a peak moment of male privilege (by the doctor that looks like a poor man’s Toobin):

“Yep. So, on that study, it affected, for the first cycle — affected the menstrual cycle by one day. And then — and then women’s menstrual cycle — menstrual cycles returned back to normal. So there was a lot of — and that was — has been the most definitive study suggesting there are no significant long-term impacts on the health of women or their reproductive health.”

So that’s a lie. The new study confirms the old studies, not to mention the Pfizer declass, which affirms what women have been saying since the spring of 2021: The vaccine is profoundly affecting female menstruation. 

Even trans males, or biological females on male gender affirming hormones (which means they don’t bleed) had break through bleeding after vaccination. Even post-menopausal women – who obviously no longer bleed – started bleeding again after vaccination. But Dr. Jha waves away the experiences and evidence of these women with a lie that is not supported by the evidence. 

Don’t trust your bodies, girls, trust the science and the poor man’s Toobin telling you that you’re misunderstanding how your period presents this month. Am I the only feminist in the room?

Jha later confirmed that they will be targeting the elderly as well as minorities with their pressure campaign before reinforcing for everyone that the expectation going forward is annual Covid vaccines every year. 

Then he whined about needing more money from Congress again before bouncing and leaving KJP with her gaggle. I am going to skip over KJP’s monologue as it just repeats the statements available on their site. The Q&A is much more interesting. 

Tensions Between the Regime and the Kingdom

News out of the Kingdom Saudi Arabia has been increasingly hostile towards the US in recent days as a result of US criticism that last week’s OPEC+ deal amounted to Saudi Arabia “colluding with Russia.” 

Two Democrat legislators went so far as to publish an op ed in Politico calling for a recalibration of US-Saudi arms deals, suggesting, “Simply put, America shouldn’t be providing such unlimited control of strategic defense systems to an apparent ally of our greatest enemy — nuclear bomb extortionist Vladmir Putin.”

Now, I am all for recalibrating (all) our foreign policy, especially since the Regime is intent on getting us into every foreign conflict they can find or create. 

But with Ukraine and the Saudis teaming up against Russia and Iran, I have to ask, why the hell are we involved in this? Oh, right. Money laundering. The Saudi line of questioning took the bulk of the Q&A during the briefing:

Q: There’s been talk about reassessing your relationship with Saudi Arabia. What is the administration prepared do at this point, as far as reassessing? Would it involve weapon sales, diplomatic relations? Can you talk about some of the options here?

KJP: So, from the beginning of the administration, since taking office, the President has been very clear that United States needs to — needs a different sort of relationship with Saudi Arabia…We are reviewing where we are currently right now. And we’ll be watching closely over the coming weeks and months as well, consulting with our allies and also with our — with members of Congress. And decisions will be made once that — once that — once that policy review is underway.

She did not provide a timeline for this review. In an animated back and forth, one reporter – who appeared fed up with being told that the opaque administration has been very clear – pressed for more details on Saudi relations.

Q: Just to follow up…you said the President is taking it very seriously, but you also said there’s no person leading it or a timeline for it to be completed. Is this more of a rhetorical strategy, or is there actually a review with some sort of substantive plan and action? Because today there’s been no details about that.

KJP: Look, he’s already directed, you know, the Department of Energy to deliver another 10 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and he will continue to direct additional releases as appropriate. So, he’s taken actions. He took ac- —

Q: But that has nothing to do with the Saudi relationship.

KJP: No, I’m just — I — no, I get you. But I want you to know that he is taking this seriously by taking action on day one…I’m not going to get ahead of this. You will hear from us when we lay out what actions we are going to take.”

That sounds a lot like there is no strategy. Or, at least, Jake Sullivan hasn’t explained it to Karine yet. The two continued:

Q: And does the President have any regrets about his trip to Saudi Arabia and his meeting with MBS and other Saudi leaders?

KJP: No, I just laid out an agreement — a historic agreement that was made by Israel and Lebanon. And, no, he does not. He does not regret it.

Q: But that’s not with Saudi Arabia, that agreement; it’s Israel and Lebanon. I’m just talking about the Saudi portion of that Middle East trip.

While the maritime boundary deal is potentially stabilizing for the region, you’ll notice there was no joint signing ceremony or photo opportunity. That’s because Lebanon is a vassal state of Iran run by Hezbollah, and they don’t recognize Israel’s existence. Arab News – which is state-sponsored “news” for the Saudi’s – quotes the Lebanese Premier Najib Mikati as saying of the deal, “We will submit the agreement to the UN. This agreement is not between Lebanon and a country that we do not recognize, but rather with the US.” 

KJP: Well, I’m — what I’m saying is that trip was so important for — for our national interest and also for the American people. There are a couple of things that came out of this — of that trip. That was one of them…And if you think about Yemen, that is very much a part of — of Saudi Arabia — was — it was very much a part of that Yemen truce that we have seen…The President has set forth an affirmative agenda for more integrated and stable region, including Israel’s integration over time into the Arab world.”

On Yemen, CNN is reporting this week in, “A failed truce renewal in Yemen could further complicate US-Saudi relations,” that the truce is not holding:

“With one side backed by Iran and the other by Saudi Arabia, it remains to be seen whether the US will support its Middle Eastern ally after last week’s whopping oil cut – seen as a snub from the oil-rich kingdom to the Biden administration ahead of the US midterm elections.”

So that’s going well. Again, why are we involved in this?

UN Resolution Against Russia

The UN will vote on a resolution to condemn Russia’s annexation of parts of Ukraine tomorrow, which the US expects their pro-Ukraine coalition to remain intact: “Our coalition is strong. We have held the major democracies together. Putin has been counting on a split, as I just said, and he hasn’t had it. It has not happened.”

Touting a “stronger Europe,” KJP stopped short of claiming victory on the vote. “I’m not going to — I’m not going to get ahead of what the vote is going to look like at the U.N. But we’ve been very clear — we have been very clear as — as to saying to — to all countries: Now is not the time. Now is not the time to support Russia’s war.” 

Also, she reaffirmed Biden’s statement that we have nothing but unlimited money and adoring support for Zelenskyy, and the US will be by his side for as long as it takes. Awesome.

Railroad Union Deal in Jeopardy

Back on the domestic front, Biden’s Railroad Union deal is reportedly in jeopardy after one of the 12 unions decided against the contract, which must be unanimous to pass: 

“These negotiations have gone on for years — this is nothing new; we’ve seen this before — and have often been — have often been acrimonious,” KJP responded, “So, it’s not surprising that universal members approve of the new contract and would have — would have challenges. Again, we stand ready to assist at any time.”

Racism is ALWAYS Republicans’ Fault

Finally, the Los Angeles City Council is in the midst of a racism scandal with an expected twist: The racists are all Latina and all Democrats. According to Axios:

“In a nearly year-old recording, then-Los Angeles City Council President Martinez made racist comments about a white councilmember's Black son. In the recording, she complained that another official was ‘with the Blacks’ in a redistricting fight, and made racist remarks about Indigenous people from the Mexican state of Oaxaca. Council members Gil Cedillo, Kevin de León and Los Angeles County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera were on the call and did not challenge Martinez.”

Herrera resigned Monday, and Martinez resigned as president and is taking a leave of absence, but she remains on the council. Cedillo and de León have apologized but not resigned. This is the nation’s second largest city and, again, all of these people are Democrats. 

When asked if Biden was following the story, KJP did a bizarre deflection to Republicans – which is weird because no one in this story is Republican. 

“Look, the President is glad to see that one of the participants in that conversation has resigned, but they all should. He believes that they all should resign. 

And here’s the difference between Democrats and MAGA Republicans: When a Democrat says something racist or antisemitic, we would — we hold them — we hold Democrats accountable. When a MAGA Republican says something racist or antisemitic, they are embraced by cheering crowds and become celebrated and sought-after endorsements. Senator Tuberville — let’s not forget this just happened — saying Black people commit crimes. Doug Mastriano attacking his opponent in Pennsylvania governor’s race for sending his children to a Jewish day school.

I’ll quote the President right now — quote, ‘Hate never goes away. It only hides. But lately, it’s just one in the — one in the open at these extreme MAGA rallies. It’s just out — pardon me — it’s just out in the open at these extreme MAGA rallies.’ End quote.”

Remember, no politics at the podium. Until tomorrow.