The nation is now hoping Demar Hamlin pulls through.
Monday Night Football.
President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Ohio's Gov. Mike DeWine, New York's Gov. Kathy Hochul, Kentucky's Gov. Andy Bashear, Pennsylvania's Gov. Josh Shapiro, NFL Commissioner Roger Goddell and Congress are aware of the condition of Demar Hamlin.
They will respond in due time.
Hamlin is currently at University of Cincinnati Health in critical condition after he suffered cardiac arrest during the Buffalo Bills game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
The NFL suspended the game.
During the first quarter, Tee Higgins was tackled by Hamlin. As soon as Hamlin got up, he took a few steps and fell back. Medical staff immediately approached him and it took over 10 minutes and led to an ambulance to carry him off.
Following the collapse, numerous NFL players and teams quickly offered their support and prayers on social media. Higgins offered his condolences to Hamlin's family, as did Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase and Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen urging people to "[p]lease pray for our brother". Fans began gathering outside the University of Cincinnati Academic Health Center following his collapse. The lights on Paycor Stadium, the location of the game, were lit blue in honor of Hamlin. The lights on the Fifth Third Bank's headquarters on Fountain Square were also lit blue in honor of Hamlin.
The fans of the Bills and Bengals went silent at Paycor Stadium. The game halted and it is likely not going to finish.
There is not much information about the condition of Demar. However, his charity organization managed to generate over $3 million after he pledged for $2,500.
The politics of vaccines.
There’s a lot of anti-vaccine misinformation being spread about Damar Hamlin right now. People are attributing his collapse to the COVID vaccine, despite no evidence of a connection. They will use any opportunity, even tragedy, to advance their agenda. pic.twitter.com/2hBAqK7L4l
Far right lawmakers and agitators have made claims that the coronavirus vaccines are causing heart attacks.
Some linked to fake Twitter accounts claiming to belong to the doctor who gave Hamlin his booster in December, while many linked to comments from cardiologist Peter McCullough, who has touted ivermectin as a cure for COVID-19 despite multiple studies showing no evidence that it works. After the Bills announced that Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest on the field, McCullough claimed in an interview Silicon Valley entrepreneur and COVID misinformation superspreader Steve Kirsch that the vaccine could have caused his collapse.
1. Rep-elect George Santos (R-NY) accused of lying about his past.
2. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and a handful of far-right lawmakers vow to oppose California lawmaker's bid to become Speaker of the House.
3. Moderate Republican Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) said he may work with Democrats if things don't work.
As we begin the 118th Congress, the U.S. House of Representatives will make their first vote. Who will be the House Speaker?
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has the support of most Republicans to be the House Speaker. It appears that only 14 members will likely oppose his bid which could cause chaos within the party. If there's no vote for Speaker of the House, the U.S. Congress can't govern. No member will be able to get a committee assignment and of course, it shows the country that Republicans can't govern.
Originally it was only five members of the party, but now it grew. The far-right members have said that McCarthy is a member of the "establishment."
Ironic, they have the nerve to call him an "establishment!" They're establishment as well.
During a Sunday night conference call with members of the GOP conference, McCarthy (R-Calif.) acceded to a key demand pressed by members of the right-wing Freedom Caucus, who had insisted on allowing the process to remove a speaker — known as a “motion to vacate” — to be initiated by just five Republican members instead of a majority.
A “motion to vacate” was filed in 2015 by then-Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) and triggered the resignation of then-House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). The rule was changed in 2019 by Democrats.
Nine hardline Republicans — Reps. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, Chip Roy of Texas, Paul Gosar of Arizona, Dan Bishop of North Carolina, Andy Harris of Maryland, Andrew Clyde of Georgia, and Rep.-elects Andy Ogles of Tennessee, Anna Paulina Luna of Florida and Eli Crane of Arizona — rejected McCarthy’s proposed rules changes as “insufficient.”
McCarthy’s “statement comes almost impossibly late to address continued deficiencies ahead” of the new Congress, they wrote.
“It cannot be a surprise that expressions of vague hopes reflected in far too many of the crucial points still under debate are insufficient. This is especially true with respect to Mr. McCarthy’s candidacy for speaker because the times call for radical departure from the status quo — not a continuation of past, and ongoing, Republican failures,” the group of nine wrote in their response.
They added that “Mr. McCarthy bears squarely the burden to correct the dysfunction he now explicitly admits across that long tenure.”
The eleventh-hour concession is an indication of how far the California Republican has to go to shore up the 218 votes needed to attain the speaker’s gavel when the full House votes on Tuesday.
With 222 Republicans set to be sworn in and all Democrats expected to oppose McCarthy’s nomination, the Californian can only afford to lose four members.
McCarthy also faces a challenge for the gavel from Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona, a member of the five-person “Never Kevin Caucus” that includes Matt Gaetz of Florida, Bob Good of Virginia, Matt Rosendale of Montana and Ralph Norman of South Carolina.
Failure to reach the 218-vote threshold could lead to a protracted floor vote.
The Freedom Caucasians.
“Sometimes it’s taken days, sometimes it’s taken hours, sometimes it’s taken weeks. So hopefully that’s not going to happen,” Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.), an avowed McCarthy backer, told Fox News Monday.
Good, in an interview Monday on “Fox & Friends,” said McCarthy has done nothing to “earn my vote” and ripped the former House minority leader as “part of the swamp cartel.”
”There’s nothing about Kevin McCarthy that indicates that he will bring the change that’s needed to Washington or that’s needed to the Congress, or he’ll bring the fight against the Biden-Schumer agenda and represent the interests of the voters who sent us to Washington to bring real change,” he said.
Good went on to predict that “there’ll be, I suspect, 10 to 15 [GOP] members” who vote against McCarthy on the first ballot Tuesday.
“I think you’ll see, on the second ballot, an increasing number of members vote for a true candidate who can represent the conservative center of the conference [and] can motivate the base,” he added.
Good did not specify who the “true candidate” might be, only saying: “You’ll see that name tomorrow on the second ballot.”
McCarthy himself put on a brave face Monday, telling reporters: “I think we are going to have a good day tomorrow.” However, he declined to say if he had the votes to become speaker on the first ballot: “And take away all the excitement?”
When asked if he’d be willing to make more concessions, the Republican leader only said: “I hope you all have a very nice New Year’s.”
Since Sunday 1/1/2023, there were seven mass shootings in the U.S.
What happens when a Black person shoots a white person?
They obviously go to jail and are judged by the junk food media agitators for having some fault in their life. It is common that the far right wants Black America to condemn the actions of one Black extremist, one Black criminal or one Black politician.
According to the far right: White shooters are mentally ill. Black shooters are unrepentant criminals. Gay shooters are active groomers. Muslim shooters are terrorists. Hispanics and Asians shooters are illegal immigrants. Almost all mass shooters are registered Democrats because they have liked one thing common to the left.
It is amazing that Ohio continues to trend more Republican. The state has a 75% white population, slow growth in six of the state's largest cities. Columbus and Cincinnati are the only areas with population growth.
Columbus is the second largest Midwestern city after Chicago. It is the largest city with population over 1 million and is the capital of the state.
The Columbus Division of Police is controversial. The police had many high profile police shootings, abuse of power during the George Floyd protests and the plot to set up adult entertainer/activist Stormy Daniels were notable controversies.
Now the Franklin County Prosecutor is facing controversy. They dropped the charges on a white suspect who was accused of murdering Sin'Zae Reed in October 2022.
Prosecutors filed a motion to dismiss the case in Franklin County Municipal Court after the suspect's arrest. At the time, prosecutors said the shooter alleged that he had fired shots at Reed in self-defense.
Because the autopsy report had not been completed, there was no forensic evidence about the positioning of Reed's wounds to prove or disprove the shooter's claims. There is no statute of limitations for filing a murder charge, and charges could be refiled at a later date.
Family members and advocates of the 13-year-old who was fatally shot in October at a Columbus Hilltop apartment complex, held a press conference there Sunday to demand authorities charge the man who killed him.
The event at the Wedgewood apartments was held just feet from where police allege 36-year-old shooter, also a resident of the complex, fatally shot Reed.
The shooter was initially charged with Reed's homicide and ordered held on $1 million bond, but charges later were dropped pending further police investigation into the shooter's claim of self-defense in the shooting.
Shooter claims self defense.
Megan Reed, Sin'Zae's mother, said her son will now always be a 13-year-old teenage boy that she can longer hold or hear him speak.
"All I'm asking for is justice for my baby — is that too much to give?" Reed said. "I will never stop until Sin'Zae gets justice, I will forever be his voice."
Reed and others at the press conference called for the immediate re-arrest of the shooter.
Ramon Obey II, president of JUST 614 and event organizer, said he was calling on members of the community to pressure the Franklin County Prosecutor's office to take action.
"This family has had to wait going on 90 days," Obey said. "90 days for a senseless murder."
The Franklin County Prosecutor's office said earlier this week that it has no additional comment on the case at this time because the case is ongoing.
Should the shooter of Sin'zae Reed be criminally charged with murder?
Every community in the United States will eventually have a legacy. A legacy of tragedy. Gun violence, monkeypox and COVID-19 will affect your town, your family and your life. So I don't want to hear that bullshit about how gun reform is taking away your rights to own firearms.
I don't want to hear that protesting against police killing people of color is hate on cops in general. I don't want to hear talk about the coronavirus being a myth.
When you hear folks say "gun rights," what they really mean is that its white privilege. This good guy with a gun nonsense has to end. The cops didn't do nothing when children were shot inside a school. A security guard was shot dead trying to protect shoppers. A cop accidentally shot his own. The good guy who tried to stop a bad guy is outgunned and a part of the rule #3.
Remember #3 means: The "good guy with a gun" better be prepared to die if they want to stop a shooter.
I don't want to hear folks say masks and vaccine mandates impede their freedoms. It prevents a deadly outbreak from spreading. If you want to die from the coronavirus, that's on you. We lost over 1 million people from the coronavirus.
Sin'Zae Reed's mom demands Ohio prosecutors charged the shooter.
I don't want to hear the shit about guns saving lives. Cause a bullet does not have eyes and it's always likely gonna hit a target. These folks seem to not get it. These incidents are a tragic part of American history. Thoughts and prayers and your heart going out to the victims is not enough. It quite frankly is an insult. I am also tired of scapegoating Black on Black crime, Chicago, Baltimore and Democratic mayors for the nation's obsession to be numb to gun violence. You pretty much enable this nonsense by deflecting.
President Joe Biden is trying to curb gun violence. However, he has no support from Republicans. Most Democrats and America are for gun control measures. However the two Democrats in the Senate refuse to change the filibuster rules and its holding us back.
The National Rifle Association is always pushing against it. They will not relinquish from the narrative that guns are not saving lives. The Republicans aided by a fickle junk food media are openly encouraging anarchy and disruption in a desperate attempt for the Republicans to win back Congress and the White House. These agitators are calling for Biden to curb crime but will not help him. They want more guns on the street. It makes no sense.
Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (Lifeline) at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or 988, or text the Crisis Text Line (text HELLO to 741741). Both services are free and available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The deaf and hard of hearing can contact the Lifeline via TTY at 1-800-799-4889. All calls are confidential. Contact social media outlets directly if you are concerned about a friend’s social media updates or dial 911 in an emergency. Learn more on the Lifeline’s website or the Crisis Text Line’s website.
The call number to the U.S. Capitol is now going to be used. This is the official phone number, 202-224-3121. Let them know that "thoughts and prayers," "hearts going to" and "good guys with guns" are no longer acceptable and you want legislation to curb gun violence.
GUN VIOLENCE IS THE NUMBER ONE PROBLEM IN THE UNITED STATES.
Serious questions for NFL arise after Buffalo Bills player injury.
Buffalo Bills safety Demar Hamlin was rushed to University of Cincinnati Medical Center after having a serious medical emergency. This happened early in the Bills game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
The 24-year old's family was at Paycor Stadium watching him play.
After a tackle on Bengals player Tee Higgins, Hamlin briefly got up and then fell down. The Bills medical team rushed to him and it was not looking good. Hamlin was on the field for nine minutes and the medical staff literally took him off the field by ambulance.
The NFL Players Association also released a statement on the matter.
"The NFLPA and everyone in our community is praying for Damar Hamlin. We have been in touch with Bills and Bengals players, and with the NFL," the NFLPA said in a tweet. "The only thing that matters at this moment is Damar’s health and well being."
The game was initially suspended and once Hamlin was in the ambulance and off the field, officials were giving players about five minutes to warm up again to get ready to play. But Bills coach Sean McDermott was seen pulling his players off the field and into the back of the locker room.
No doubt the NFL is considering postponing the rest of this game - but how? This late in the season, a game of this magnitude is crucial to the regular-season outcome ... which suddenly seems so irrelevant.
I've seen so many horrific injuries suffered on football fields yet never have I seen a reaction like this. In every other situation I witnessed or covered, the game always went on fairly quickly. The attitude was, "Hey, that's football." For these players, this was DIFFERENT.
Kevin Jackson, Skip Bayless and others have weighed in the situation and offered some of the most asinine reasons to why Hamlin was hurt.
What makes me so angry, this is a Black player who gave back to Buffalo children and is a human being. But the folks with no damn sense only see the game more important than the his life.
One hour before the New Year's Eve ball drop, a man traveled from Maine to New York City and attacked three New York Police Department officers before another shot him.
The suspect may have been motivated by extremism. A white terrorist who was inspired by extremism. The suspect is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
What pisses me off is the fact the suspect is described by the far right as a jihadist.
The fact that term is being used is trying to equate one isolate incident to all Muslims.
The Republicans continue to exploit fears of Muslims and immigrants. With them in control of the House of Representatives, the very fact a terrorist attack on police will certainly generate blame at President Joe Biden, Democrats and New York City mayor Eric Adams.
Instead of trying to find ways to eliminate extremism, Republicans keep pushing it.
They seem to not care about the militia group that tried to kidnap Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer or the attack on U.S. Capitol. It flies under the Republican Party's radar.
Three officers assigned to New Year’s Eve celebrations in New York City's Times Square area were injured by a machete-wielding teenager who expressed militant support for Islam, law enforcement officials said.
The attack happened shortly after 10 p.m. at West 52nd Street and 8th Avenue, just outside checkpoints for the high-security zone set up for celebrants, officials said at a news conference early Sunday.
The suspect traveled from Maine to attack random people. He settled on New York cops.
The suspect approached an officer and tried to strike him over the head with the machete, Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said. He then struck two officers in the head with the blade before he was shot in the shoulder and apprehended by police, Sewell said.
Three law enforcement officials with direct knowledge of the investigation said late Sunday that authorities were looking into whether the suspect reached for one of the officers' service weapons during their takedown. The injured police were out of the hospital and expected to recover.
Authorities identified the suspect at the news conference only as a 19-year-old man. Four senior law enforcement officials said the man is from Wells, Maine.
The suspect was known to federal agents, who interviewed him in mid-December after a relative alerted them to his revolutionary support for Islam, four law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation said.
His name is in a federal law enforcement database, they said, and he was known to investigators for his social media postings. The terrorist does not have a criminal record, the four officials said.
The man, who made pro-jihadist statements from his hospital bed overnight, is believed to have traveled from Wells to lower Manhattan on Thursday mainly via Amtrak, those sources said.
Investigators were probing whether he stayed at a homeless shelter downtown, the four officials said.
A diary found by investigators may have indicated the suspect believed he was on a suicide mission: He left notes about who would inherit belongings and where he wanted to be buried, the sources said.
The suspect said in the diary he regrets disappointing his mother; he also wrote that he wanted his brothers to join him in his fight for Islam, they said.
He had expressed some desire to travel to Afghanistan in the past, the officials said.
Terrorist-related propaganda and personal writings were found in his backpack, they said.
FBI agents with court authorization searched the man's home in Maine on Sunday, an agency spokesperson said.
Neighbors told NBC affiliate WCSH of Portland, Maine, that the suspect is the child of divorced parents and has two siblings. He recently worked at an area country club as a groundskeeper, they said.
A New York Police Department sniper shot the terrorist in the arm.
The terrorist was a 2022 graduate of Wells High School, where he wrestled and played football, according to the station.
Multiple law enforcement officials said they were looking into whether the attacker traveled to New York specifically to target police on New Year’s Eve.
The New York Police Department has seen other lone wolf terrorist-type attacks on officers. In Jamaica Queens in 2014, a radicalized man named Zale Thompson attacked three officers without warning with a hatchet, nearly killing one of the officers. In June 2020 in Brooklyn, Dzenan Camovic stabbed an officer in the neck, stole his gun and used it to fire at responding officers in another jihadist-inspired lone wolf attack.
In Saturday's attack, the officers were initially hospitalized, one with a fractured skull and another with a bad cut, Sewell said. On a later call, officials said all three officers had been released from Bellevue Hospital overnight.
Mayor Adams said at the news conference that he had spoken to one of the wounded officers. “He understood that his role saved lives of New Yorkers today,” Adams said.
The investigation was still in its early stages.
Neither the FBI nor New York police were on the lookout for any other suspects, officials said.
The police department mounts a massive security operation every year during New Year’s Eve celebrations, deploying thousands of officers in the area around Times Square.
Officials expected as many as 1 million people to crowd the area. Police did not have a more exact number Sunday.
Crowds are not allowed access to the blocks to see performances and the midnight ball drop without being screened at checkpoints where officers use metal-detecting wands to screen for weapons.
Large bags and coolers are banned from the area, while barriers are set up to prevent vehicle attacks in the secure area.
Gangsta Boo passed away after performing a concert.
The Queen of Memphis, Gangsta Boo passed away at the age of 43. A member of the rap group Three Six Mafia, Gangsta Boo was the female voice who rapped along with Juicy J, DJ Paul, Koopsta Knicca, Lord Infamous and Crunchy Black.
Lord Infamous and Koopsta Knicca have since passed away.
Boo just performed at a New Year's Eve party with Juicy J and others. She died on Sunday.
Three independent sources as well as DJ Paul confirmed her passing. She may have passed away from an accidental overdose.
Born Lola Mitchell, Gangsta Boo was born in Memphis on August 7, 1979 and started rapping around the age of 14. She released her first solo album, Enquiring Minds, in 1998 at the age of 19. The debut project, which spawned the hit single Where Dem Dollas At!?, reached number 15 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and number 46 on the Billboard 200. Her second album, Both Worlds *69, released in 2001, did even better, reaching number eight on the R&B/Hip-Hop chart and number 29 on the Billboard 200.
On New Year’s Eve, less than 24 hours before she died, Boo had posted a performance video on Instagram, writing: “Some of the things that I did in 2022! So fun and productive, climbed out my shell alot!! 2023 go be 23'n! #JORDAN #BOOPRINT #recap Happy New 2023 everyone!” In an interview with Billboard that ran just last month, Boo revealed that she was working on a new project, The BooPrint, which she hoped to release in early 2023.
Bone Thugs 'N Harmony and Three Six Mafia show solidarity after years of rivalry.
The last known appearance was when she and the Mafia were participating in the latest VERZUZ battle with former rivals Bone Thugs 'N Harmony. She literally won the battle when she told the audience to boo Bizzy Bone.
Bizzy Bone went on a tirade against DJ Paul and Juicy J.
When Juicy J said "Suck my dick!", Bizzy threw a water bottle and microphone at them triggering a fight on stage. Wish Bone and Flesh-N-Bone had to restrain Bizzy and calm him down.
Gangsta Boo came up with the best reaction to the whole event.
Everybody, boo Bizzy! He ruined the show for everyone!
Bizzy later apologized to Three Six Mafia and Bone Thugs 'N Harmony.
The Pointer Sisters were a big R&B and pop group of the 1980s. Their official page reported that leading vocalist Anita Pointer pased away.
Anita Pointer of the Grammy-winning Pointer Sisters, who rose to fame with hits in the 1970's and 80's including "I'm So Excited," died of cancer on Saturday, her publicist announced. She was 74.
Anita was surrounded by her family at the time of death, her publicist said in a statement.
Anita was the second oldest of the four sisters, who began singing in their father's church in Oakland, Calif., more than 50 years ago. She is survived by her sister Ruth, brothers Aaron and Fritz and granddaughter Roxie.
Anita's only daughter, Jada, died in 2003. Her death also comes after her sister Bonnie, who was also one of the group’s founding members but left in the mid-1970s for a solo career, died in 2020 at the age of 69. The youngest sister, June, died in 2006.
“While we are deeply saddened by the loss of Anita, we are comforted in knowing she is now with her daughter, Jada and her sisters June & Bonnie and at peace," the family said in a statement.
"She was the one that kept all of us close and together for so long. Her love of our family will live on in each of us. Please respect our privacy during this period of grief and loss. Heaven is a more loving beautiful place with Anita there,” they added.
The Pointer Sisters started as a trio in 1969 when Anita quit her secretary job to join her sisters Bonnie and June, according to the statement.
Bill Graham signed them to a management contract and they went on tour with Elvin Bishop. The oldest sister, Ruth, joined the group in 1972 to form the quartet.
The Pointer Sisters released their debut album in 1973, with their single “Yes We Can Can” becoming an instant hit, ranking #11 on the Billboard charts.
They won the Grammy a year later in 1974, with their crossover hit “Fairytale,” from “That’s a Plenty” album, which Anita wrote with Bonita and Elvis Presley also recorded later.
The group would go on to win two more Grammy awards in 1984 for "Automatic," part of their bestselling album "Breakout," later receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1994. They also performed at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics closing ceremony.
Among their greatest hits was the R&B sensation "Fire," which reached #2 on the charts, and “Jump (For My Love).”
Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) may want to tone down the noise.
The progressive lawmaker faces a scandal involving her treatment of her staffers.
Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) is being called out for her abusive treatment of current and former staffers. One staffer shared a series of text messages where she recalled Porter demoting her after she allegedly tested for the coronavirus.
As expected Fox and some of the far right media seized upon it. Since the scandal involving Rep-elect George Santos (R-NY), Republicans and Fox have looked for a scandal involving a Democrat.
Only two weeks ago, Porter was misquoted by the far right.
This is not misquoted, this is "evidence" of an apparent environment where a lawmaker's demands have made staffers hate their jobs. Anyway, it is a series of screenshots detailing the interaction. Well this staffer may find it more difficult getting a job now that she leaked this.
Clearly, rules are there and why is she talking to far right operatives?
Smells like a set up.
Also it may force Porter to lay low and treat her staffers like workers and not friends.
Link to the Facebook page of the same event, pic shows Katie Porter speaking on the mic (Jul 8 ~ 10?) without a mask or social distancing- seemingly after 'remoting' Sasha for not testing (starting Jul 8 - 8:26 AM) and later blamed her for C19+ on Jul 11..https://t.co/iekiaTYPN3pic.twitter.com/m9AKDOuD2l
People are quick to give their opinion on me without even doing proper research or apparently even read the articles. At least be educated about me before you say something to me.
Screenshots of text messages between Porter and her former Wounded Warrior program fellow, Sasha Georgiades, were published by the Dear White Staffers Twitter account on Thursday.
The post said the text messages were shared "with permission" from the staffer who shared them and detail a conversation between Porter and Georgiades over the office's COVID-19 protocols.
Georgiades was Porter's staffer for two years and departed the office in August 2022.
"I was a wounded warrior fellow so the program would have to have had fire [me]," Georgiades said. "Essentially I was demoted to remote and banned from the office."
"I do believe if there hadn’t been that protection of the wounded warrior program she would have," the Navy veteran added.
Georgiades said that her experience "isn’t uncommon" in Porter's office.
"She has made multiple staffers cry and people are generally so anxious to even staff her because if ANYTHING goes wrong she flips out on whatever staff.
"At one point we had an office hike and she left her kids with the staffers in the back while she walked off with the chief of staff," she continued. "There is no regard to us or feelings or even what we are going through. It is only about her and what she wants. I tried to pass on legislation for veterans and active duty members several times and was told no because she didn’t like who had written it."
The former Porter staffer said the congresswoman's office will "overburden the staffer with work so it either comes to a point that they can’t juggle it all or they are fired for not keeping up" and noted this "happened shortly after I got there with another staffer."
"He was so upset and hurt," Georgiades said, adding the staffer was a staff assistant in the office — the entry-level paid role for congressional offices.
Georgiades told the libertarian publication Reason the "office protocol on testing" was not immediately taking a COVID test after feeling unwell.
"At the time I felt okay, just sore as if had worked out too hard," she said in the interview. "It was hard to differentiate until the next morning and as soon as I felt sick I took a test, told the district director I had it, and stayed home."
Georgiades also told Reason that, after her departure, the congresswoman went incommunicado.
"[Porter] never spoke a word to me after this," she said.
According to the published texts, Porter asked Georgiades on July 8 why she did "not follow office protocol on testing" for COVID-19, calling it "really disappointing."
"I'm terribly sorry. You're right, I should have done better," Georgiades responded the same day. "Just because I felt okay in the moment doesn't mean that I was."
"Sasha— I cannot allow you back in the office, given your failure to follow office policies," Porter wrote the next day on July 9. "Cody will be in touch about having your personal effects shipped or delivered to your home, and will lay out your remote work schedule and responsibilities for your last few weeks."
Porter is closely associated with Elizabeth Warren on issues.
"I understand. Thank you for the last two years and all that I have learned," Georgiades responded. "I hate to have disappointed you in the manner, as I know it isn't an excuse I had found out my friend from the Navy had been murdered and my head was not in the best place."
"Not an excuse but the reasoning for the lack of forethought," she continued. "I appreciate everything this office has done for me."
Porter responded to Georgiades, writing, "Well, you gave me Covid. In 25 months, it took you not following the rules to get me sick."
The California congresswoman then said her "children have nobody to care for them." Georgiades told Reason the congresswoman was slated to be in Washington at that time.
Porter has a history of controversial text messages that have surfaced, such as her beratement of Irvine, California, Mayor Farrah Khan after the congresswoman trashed the Irvine police department following her violent town hall last year.
In the texts, Porter criticized Khan, saying she would not call the mayor after the arrest of Julian Willis after he allegedly punched a pro-Trump protester, giving the protester a bloody nose.
"You can lecture me on professionalism. And see what happens," Porter wrote in the texts, despite famously wearing a Batgirl Halloween costume to the House of Representatives on the same day Democrats voted for a resolution on ground rules for the impeachment inquiry surrounding then-President Donald Trump. The National Republican Congressional Committee and other Republicans mocked the costume on Twitter.
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