October 22nd, 2021: Bannon in Contempt of Congress, Child Vaccinations, and Remembering Colin Powell

The attack on your Capitol — sparks fly between those who want to investigate and those who want to move on.

Warnings of energy and food shortages this winter

Covid vaccinations for kids — could be days away

And the death of one of our greatest citizens

I’m Paul Brandus — you’re listening to West Wing Reports— it’s Friday, October 22nd

And there you have it — Mississippi Congressman Bennie Thompson announcing the unanimous vote to hold Steve Bannon in content of Congress for refusing to cooperate with the Committee that’s investigating the January attack on YOUR Capitol. What’s behind the nine-to-nothing vote?

One Republican ON the committee — Wyoming’s Liz Cheney — explains.

What does this have to do with Bannon? On his talk show the day before the attack, Bannon said this:

All hell is going to break loose—well, that’s exactly what happened. A vicious attack — on YOUR Capitol — and on OUR democracy. And it sounds like Bannon — a one-time top aide in the Trump White House — knew all about AHEAD of time.

Thus the subpoena. But he says he’ll ignore it — and on Thursday, _____ Republicans voted to support him.

Consider the irony here — the great sadness - and danger - for our faltering democracy is that House Republicans seem not to care that someone could be SO contemptuous of the VERY body in which they sit and claim to revere.

28 million American kids COULD be getting Covid vaccinations within days. The White House rolling out a plan to offer shots for kids aged five to 11 — at pediatricians’ offices, primary-care sites, children’s hospitals, pharmacies, and schools.

So far in the U.S., about 190-million people have been fully vaccinated, including 12-and-a-HALF under the age of 18.

Meanwhile — you’ve heard about supply chain problems because of the pandemic — worker shortages — production down, goods not getting to market and so forth. Economists and energy analysts say there could be shortages this winter — you may have noticed that prices are rising.

There could ALSO be food shortages as well. That means higher prices at the grocery store — that’s if stuff is even available. Bloomberg reports that people — maybe YOU — are stockpiling everything from canned goods to boxed items — the toilet paper shortages from the early days of the pandemic are back as well.

Worker shortages are so severe that layoffs are vanishing — the number of Americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits has now fallen to its lowest levels since the pandemic began.

President Biden’s two big bills — infrastructure and what he calls “human infrastructure” — remain stalled in Congress. But his legislative efforts — now expected to be about $2 trillion and $1 trillion each — would still be an unprecedented attempt to expand social services for millions and tackle the rising threat of climate change as well as update roads and bridges.

In just a moment, we’re going to talk about the death this week of one of our greatest citizens — Colin Powell. First, let’s take a look at ANOTHER Evergreen podcast — that I know you’ll enjoy.

Now let’s open up the West Wing Reports archives — and take a look at what made history this week in the past:

The dots and dashes of Morse code — Abraham Lincoln this week in 1861 received the first transcontinental telegram. It was sent to him from San Francisco by California’s chief justice. You know like radio in the 1920s, television in the 1950s or the internet today, the telegraph ushered in big dramatic changes in the way Americans communicated with each other. Just two days after Lincoln received the telegraph from California, the federal government halted its use of the famous Pony Express and turned to what Western Union called "lightening lines" to spread communications nationwide. The telegraph would have vital military applications as well; the president spent long hours in the telegraph room (next door to White House) during the Civil War.

1929 — The Great Depression began with “Black Thursday”—a massive Wall Street crash. Followed five days later with yet another plunge (called “Black Tuesday”), it began a decade-long collapse that affected much of the western world. At first, President Herbert Hoover downplayed the crash — millions of Americans would lose their jobs — including Hoover’s in the election of 1932.

1962: Going public with his knowledge of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba, John F. Kennedy demanded their removal and threatened war. After a tense standoff—and a U.S. attack on Cuba looming—the Soviets eventually gave in. Easily the most dangerous chapter of the Cold War, the Cuban Missile Crisis nearly led to nuclear war between the United States and Soviet Union. Analysts estimate a nuclear exchange between the two nations would have killed 100 million Americans and 100 million Soviets.

I like to end each week with a quote — something you might find thoughtful: This week: is’t from James Madison. Madison — our fourth president. Madison, by the way, is regarded as the father of the Constitution because he wrote so many of the Federalist Papers. Anyway, here’s his quote — which certainly resonates today:

Quote - “The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.” Unquote. Madison, in my view, would NOT think much of platforms like Facebook and Twitter — where it’s so easy to spread disinformation and lies — which these days are difficult to separate from facts and knowledge.

Again: “The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.” Unquote.

Think about it.

That’s all for this week. Here’s my email — [email protected].

That’s p-b-r-a-n-d-u-s. pbrandus@evergreen[podcasts.com

I try my best to answer all emails — all I ask is keep it civil — disagree all you want — but keep it civil. Please include your full name and town — and thank you.

West Wing Reports is a production of Evergreen Podcasts.

Special thanks to CSPAN for the audio clips.

Our producer and sound designer and engineer: Noah Foutz

Executive producers: Michael D’Aleoia and Gerardo Orlando.