Callers discuss racism and small-minded provincial ideologies; the benefits of travel for expanding perspectives; The 1619 Project and more. 

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Because the NFL is a soulless assembly of greedy plantation owning white boys.

Bucs receiver Antonio Brown obtained a fake COVID-19 vaccination card so he could avoid NFL protocols, according to his former live-in chef.

Brown wanted the Johnson & Johnson vaccine card, Ruiz alleged, because it’s the only one that consists of a single shot and would require less paperwork.The wide receiver and his personal chef fell out over an uncollected debt. Ruiz, who owns Taste ThatLA, says he is owed $10,000. He spoke publicly for the first time about Brown after trying unsuccessfully to extract a settlement from the Super Bowl champion Bucs and after talks with Brown’s lawyer went nowhere.

Ruiz said he was unable back in July to find a fake vaccination card for Brown, who had told those around him that he was worried about the vaccine’s potential negative effects on his body. A few weeks later, however, Ruiz said Brown showed him fake vaccination cards, which the wide receiver told Ruiz he had purchased for himself and Moreau. They were sitting on Brown’s dining room table, Ruiz said. It was just days before the start of Bucs training camp.

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With John Nichols, National correspondent for The Nation.

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With Olivier Knox, National political correspondent for the Washington Post.

In the months since the Jan. 6 riot that interrupted the formal certification of President Biden’s victory, the GOP has increasingly played down the unprecedented attack on the Republic or even, as former president Donald Trump has done, justified it as a natural response to the election. There have always been toxic elements in politics, but the climate feels especially poisonous right now. Threats against members of Congress have soared.. Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) got death threats for voting in favor of Biden’s infrastructure bill. The GOP seems to be mainstreaming threats of violence in public life, egged on by Trump’s increasingly belligerent statements.

And Republican whitewashing of Jan. 6 is redolent of the sentiment, prevalent among Democrats, that the GOP might consider an encore if 2022 or 2024 goes against them.

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Many folks around the globe were expressed relief Thursday, when Oklahoma’s Republican governor Kevin Stitt, perhaps heeding the findings of the state parole board, decided to spare Julius Jones the barbaric spectacle of the death penalty.

Though some might presume the governor, in the final hours before the scheduled execution, summoned a smidgen of humanity, it might be conceivable that he was influenced by considerable pressure from high-profile international figures in sports, politics and entertainment.

Among those expressing support for Jones and urging that he not be executed is Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who took temporary satisfaction in the decision to commute the sentence to life in prison.

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A new documentary is out today about Alanis Morissette, and it’s causing controversy. “Jagged” is about the making of her breakthrough album “Jagged Little Pill,” and while Morissette participated in the making of it, she now says it’s salacious and she won’t support it. Jason has seen it, and can tell you what all the fuss is about.

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Rep. Matt Gaetz said Wednesday that Kyle Rittenhouse, the teen on trial for killing two people at a Black Lives Matter protest last year in Wisconsin, might make a good congressional intern and said his office may reach out to see if he wanted to help the country “in additional ways.”

“He is not guilty. He deserves a not guilty verdict, and I sure hope he gets it because you know what, Kyle Rittenhouse would probably make a pretty good congressional intern,” Gaetz said on the right-wing network Newsmax. “We may reach out to him and see if he’d be interested in helping the country in additional ways.”

Rittenhouse, 18, is on trial for fatally shooting two people and injuring a third during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Aug. 25, 2020, after Jacob Blake, a Black man, was shot by a white Kenosha police officer.

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Elizabeth Schulze, ABC Correspondent - While the chamber already started debate on the Build Back Better plan  this morning, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has yet to release its final estimate on the cost of the total package. Pelosi told reporters in her press conference that the outstanding information will "hopefully" be released by 5:00PM ET clearing the way for a final passage vote later tonight. As a reminder: a vote in favor will send the package to the Senate, which is expected to amend the proposal in the coming weeks, so it's still a long way from President Biden's desk.

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The TSA is preparing for a busy Thanksgiving travel period -- with travel volumes expected to reach 2019 pre-pandemic levels. The agency said it expects the Sunday after Thanksgiving to be the busiest travel day of the year -- with an estimated 2.4M passengers on 11/28. It expects 2-2.1M passengers on the following days through the 29th. TSA said it's "confident" and it has the staffing needed to manage the holiday travel crush. United Airlines CEO, Scott Kirby for one says his airline is good to go, not having furloughed any of their employees over the past 18 months or so and he boasted that "100% of our customer facing employees now are fully vaccinated."  As for when you get to where you’re going, you might want to make sure a family member can pick you up at the airport: According to Kayak, the average cost per day of a rental car is up 75% compared to 2019, and up 66% compared to 2020. Searches for rental cars are up 230% compared to 2019, the site said. Orlando, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Phoenix are among some of the most popular destinations for car rentals according to Kayak, with cities in New York, Texas and South Carolina among the most expensive (some of the cheapest places to rent a car are Honolulu, San Francisco and Cincinnati).  Alex will have all the numbers for you.  

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Update on the Rittenhouse trial.

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