Out d'Coup | Israel and Palestine; New Right-Wing Donor Network; F150 Lightning; PA Progressive Victories; PA State Senator Spurs; PASSHE; Space News; Beer News

We are back and we survived the gas shortage of 2021!

Israel and Hamas have agreed to a ceasefire after more than a week of intense violence that led to at least 243 Palestinian deaths - more than 60 were childrent - and 12 Israeli deaths, as reported by the BBC. Looks like that ceasefire may not last the day. 

Republican Senators will not get on board legislation calling for a bi-partisan commission looking into the January 6 insurrection. Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio gives Republicans a lashing. 

New reporting in ProPublica shows that the Trump era helped launch a new breed of donor who now have significant influence over the Republican Party. 

According to a newly compiled report by the EPA, climate change is already having a significant impact on the U.S. - not to mention the rest of the world. EPA administrator Michael Regan said, “There is no small town, big city or rural community that is unaffected by the climate crisis...Americans are seeing and feeling the impacts up close, with increasing regularity.” As reported in the New York Times, those impacts include bigger wildfires that start earlier in the year; warmer seas; more frequent heat waves; persistent flooding; and, even ragweed pollen season is starting earlier.

Ford launches what may be a game changer in the electric vehicle market. On Wednesday, Ford unveiled the all-electric F150 Lightning, which performs better than combustion engine models in many metrics. However, its $39,974 pricetag that is likely to mark a turning point. At just under $40,000 the F150 Lightning is competitive with Tesla’s base model Model 3, currently the most popular electric vehicle in the country. 

The big F150 lightning reveal follows Biden’s visit to the Ford plant in Dearborn, MI the day before, to pitch his EV plan. The EV plan, which is folded into Biden’s infrastructure bill, calls for $174 billion in consumer tax credits, support of US battery production, and funds to retool car plants to assemble EV’s.  

This may sound like a broken record player, but progressives across Pennsylvania once again celebrated huge primary victories.

• Larry Krasner won in a landslide against FOP endorsed candidate Carlos Vega.  The FOP and other pro-police PACs spent $250,000 to unseat Krasner only to lose by a 2-1 margin
• On top of Krasner’s victory, Krasner gained a lot of allies in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas.  Seven of the eight open seats went to nominees endorsed by Reclaim Philadelphia, the Working Families Party and other criminal justice reform organizations. 
• Out west, House Representative Ed Gainey defeated Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto.  Gainey gained traction as a movement candidate following the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter demonstrations and was backed by SEIU Healthcare PA and groups like One Pennsylvania.  He will become the first black mayor in Pittsburgh’s history.
• Tyler Titus (they/them) won their primary for Erie County Executive in the far northwest as an out transgender person.  They will faceoff against the Republican nominee in November and have the opportunity to become the first transgender person to hold an elected exectuvie position in the country.   
• Ezra Nanes crushed his primary election to become the next mayor of State College.  He will become the first Jewish mayor in the city’s history and his victory only highlights how progressive movement is turning Centre County into a solid blue county.

In not so progressive news, but shocking to say the least, Wanda Williams defeated Harrisburg’s mayor Eric Papenfuse.  Williams raised $30k and was vastly outspent by Eric Papenfuse, Dave Schankweiler and Otto Banks.  Wanda won by linking Papenfuse to his Republican donors and to Schankweiler and Banks, who were Republicans running as Democrats. 

House Representative Marty Flynn wins his special election to replace former Senator John Blake.  The district has been trending red for some time, but Flynn was able to hold onto the seat.  Blake left the Pennsylvania Senate to work for Congressman Matt Cartwright earlier this year 

In other news, go grab your spurs cowboy! Doug Mastriano is preparing his run for Governor and is already taking shots at Lou Barletta’s extremely white teeth.  Mastriano held a fundraiser with Rudy Giuliani last week and was spotted posing for photographs with an insurrectionist wanted for spraying bear spray at the capitol police during the January 6th attack on the capitol. 

PA Senate Democratic Caucus continue hearings on PASSHE consolidation plan. This week’s hearings included testimony by faculty, staff, students, university leaders, and community members. 

Cyril Mychalejko’s new piece just dropped, saying “Only a political uprising can save PA’s higher education system.”  Mychalejko echos what we’ve been saying for years on this program: only organizing and direct action gets the goods. 

In his first hearings after taking over as NASA’s Chief administrator, Bill Nelson pledges to move forward with the Artemis moon program and Mars ambitions while stoking fears that China is on course to dominate the future of space exploration. 

China becomes the second country to successfully “soft-land” a rover on Mars. The Zhurong rover successfully landed last Friday, May 14. On Wednesday, the rover sent back some selfies and images of Mars. The Zhurong rover is part of China’s Tianwen-1 mission that arrived in Martian orbit back in February.

A little further in the weeds, SpaceX grabs the contract for Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lunar lander in 2023. According to Firefly, “Blue Ghost will be carrying 10 payloads for NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) task order 19D mission, in addition to separately contracted commercial payloads.” Yes, the next round of Moon exploration is really a thing, folks. 

In some ‘not so good’ beer news, Tired Hands’ owner Jean Broillet IV was pushed out of day-to-day operations by employees for allegations of racism, sexism and unsafe working conditions throughout the pandemic.  When confronted, he stepped down immediately.  The staff posted on the company's Instagram account that they will keep the brewery running as they look for new leadership.  This story comes as a reckoning is happening throughout the craft beer industry.

It’s Sour Sunday this Sunday at Free Will Brewing and they have a new release to celebrate: Catch Lightning; DDH Love Letter from the 90s; Kragle Light. And, Free Will just opened a new tap room in Souderton, PA at the Broad Street Theater!