🚨 Breaking overnight: Democrat Tom Suozzi won the special election to replace George Santos in U.S. House, flipping the seat. Republicans now effectively control the house by only two votes. Experts also say it may be a bellwether for this years election. More headlines below.
Good morning and happy Ash Wednesday (and Valentine’s Day) to those who celebrate. Here’s what’s in today’s newsletter:
This Valentine’s Day strike may disrupt your plans
Doctors weigh in on Biden’s forgetfulness—and what it means
Get your headlines here 📰
Some good news: After 238,000 games, baseball has a new first
⏱️ Estimated read time: 4.5 minutes.
Workers send cold message this Valentine’s Day: pay us more, or else
Today, thousands of Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash drivers will be the latest group of American workers to walk off the job, demanding better pay and working conditions in the face of corporate greed. The Justice For App Workers coalition says drivers in its union will not provide rides to and from airports between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. across 10 U.S. cities. The union represents about 130,000 drivers and delivery workers in an industry that employs millions.
The inequality is stunning: According to ZipRecruiter, the average yearly salary for an Uber driver in New York is $31k a year, or just $2,576 a month—before taxes. That’s far below a living wage: the average rent in New York City for a one bedroom apartment is $3,687/month, according to Apartments.com. On top of that, gig workers usually don’t have any benefits, vacation time, or retirement plans—not to mention access to bathrooms.
Meanwhile, the CEOs of these companies are making bank—off the backs of their underpaid workers:
Uber’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi took home a cool $24.3 million last year
Lyft’s CEO Logan Green, who also co-founded the company, made $13 million in 2022
Doordash’s CEO Tony Xu took home a truly staggering $413 million in 2020
But but but: Workers are fighting back. The striking drivers today are the latest in a growing trend of employees raging against the greed of our corporate enslavers. Just this week:
Thousands of flight attendants picketed outside major airports yesterday demanding better pay—including a “hero” flight attendant on the Alaska Airlines flight where the f*cking door came off…
While Disneyland characters and parades cast members in California have launched their own unionization effort.
Biden’s forgetfulness may not be evidence of decline, docs say
After a Trump-supporting special prosecutor slammed Biden’s mental acuity last week, doctors are now saying—wait just a second—it’s impossible to use isolated examples to diagnose a memory problem. That’s because memories can be impacted by more than aging, and memories don’t solely determine a person’s cognitive fitness, a new report from ABC News says.
ABC News spoke to several doctors in the field of medicine, neurology and psychiatry to understand how memory, aging and executive functioning relate, and they all agree: simply forgetting dates or timelines in the past does not imply anything specific about a person’s level of cognitive fitness, decision-making, judgment or executive functioning.
One board-certified psychiatrist told the outlet that memory lapses are different than memory problems, and even in cases where memory problems exist, they cannot be used alone to determine cognitive fitness. "Just because somebody has problems remembering things from the past, it doesn't mean they don't have the ability to make good decisions or it doesn't mean that their executive function is impaired with aging,” the doc said.
Yes, but: That doesn’t mean voters should stop demanding answers about the mental, cognitive ability of the two old (and oldest-ever) white men who are the corporate-sponsored candidates for president. In case you missed it, go watch Jon Stewart’s takedown of how Biden has handled this whole issue—and why it still matters—on his return to The Daily Show Monday night. Go ahead, we’ll wait right here.
We want to hear what you think: Do you think Joe Biden’s age is a big deal, or is the whole thing overblown? Vote in our poll below.
POLL: Is Joe Biden's age a big deal?
🗞️ Also making news…
Here are some stories making headlines right now, and some others the algorithm may be keeping out of your feed.
On politics…
Overnight, House Republicans voted to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over his handling of the border. It’s unlikely the Senate will remove him from office.
The Bernie-backed group OurRevolution is calling on Democrats in Michigan to vote Uncommitted in the state’s primary to send a message to Biden his his unwavering support of Israel’s genocide of Gaza.
Thanks to extremist rhetoric from Republicans and Donald Trump, threats against federal judges and prosectors saw a triple digit increase last year.
Only 2 Leftists in the Senate voted against the foreign aid handout bill. Here’s a list of how every senator voted.
On healthcare…
The CDC is planning to drop its five-day covid isolation guidelines, according to the Washington Post.
Meanwhile, new studies show that millions of people have long Covid, including children and pregnant people.
An Oregon pet owner has caught a rare case of the bubonic plague, possibly from their cat.
Also making headlines…
The Houston megachurch shooter had a history of mental illness but still was able to legally buy a gun, her mother-in-law says.
Paramount Global is laying off hundreds of employees, just one day after the company announced CBS had record Super Bowl ratings.
Satellite images show global warming is making Greenland greener—and no, that’s NOT a good thing.
Guess which state dominates the list of deadliest counties for bicyclists.
Good News: Baseball gets it’s first female play-by-play announcer
After 238,500 games, Major League Baseball is getting its first-ever female play-by-play announcer. On Tuesday, NBC Sports California announced that Jenny Cavnar will announce the majority of games for the Oakland A’s this upcoming season. In 2021, Lisa Byington became the first full-time play-by-play announcer for a major men’s professional sports team — the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks. The same year, Kate Scott became the second, covering the Philadelphia 76ers for NBC Sports Philadelphia. Congrats, Jenny!
Also: Yes, this is still planned to be the A’s last season in Oakland before moving to Las Vegas. See you at the coliseum.
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