Ok, y'all. Wednesday is my least favorite day of the week. Let's all agree. It's the worst. You wake up on Wednesday morning happy that you made it through the first part of the week but realize that you still have three more days to go until Friday happy hour. Best thing about a two month stay-at-home order? Who is going to know if I have a "beverage" at lunch? Thank you, Yeti for getting me through hump day.
On Monday I wrote about all the podcasts I have been listening to but this morning I had a chance to listen to the most recent episode on Congressman Dan Crenshaw's podcast "Hold These Truths". I highly recommend listening to this episode where he discusses his recent WSJ op-ed on the polarizing topic on where Democrats and Republicans stand on re-opening the country. Take a listen and let me know what you think. Shameless plug: listen to the Congressman's interview with HHS Deputy Secretary Eric Hargan from April 27th.
Moving on...over the weekend Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska delivered a virtual graduation address to the high school seniors of Freemont, NE. The address, which has now gone viral, was chock full of jokey, Dad-like stand-up humor has received tremendous criticism from Nebraska state senators and online critics. Frankly, I liked the speech. I thought it was brutally honest (and funny, too). Tiana Lowe, writing her own assessment of the speech for the Washington Examiner says, "our culture can't fathom that education as a virtue unto itself and its utilitarian value are the only two stratified rewards of the process, not some performative walk that most students dread and most parents tolerate. Sasse inherently understands this, and that the backlash to his speech was so great goes to show that few others do." You decide.
From the White House...yesterday the President signed an executive order to slash red tape in order to revitalize the economy and get Americans back to work. The President is directing agencies to use all emergency authorities to identify regulations that can be withdrawn or waived to promote job creation and economic growth. So far, the Administration have taken over 600 regulatory actions to combat the coronavirus, including suspensions, waivers, and enforcement discretions. This is a step in the right direction to give businesses the confidence they need to invest and grow as we recover as a nation.
New on the blog — Bourbon and Politics Playlist Vol. 1
Great tunes from John Lee Hooker, Chris Stapleton, Old Crow Medicine Show, Jason Isbell, Robert Earl Keen, Willie Nelson and more. Enjoy listening while sipping a whiskey lemonade and looking forward to the end of the week.
Have a great rest of the week, B&P friends!