04/18/24
Good morning! It’s Thursday, April 18th.
Celebrate Teen Literature Day.
Love this. Every teen should have a favorite book. For me, it was Waiting for Godot, because I was a loser. Other books, cooler books, would be better, I think. But whatever – as long as they’re reading.
And now, the news.
Senate Rejects Mayorkas Impeachment
-via AP News
Let’s start with the news that along a party-line vote, the Senate rejected the House’s attempt to oust Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the House Republicans failed to meet “the high standard of high crimes and misdemeanors” in their charges and noted that this impeachment could set a dangerous precedent.
To which House Republicans said… yeah, no, that’s… right. That’s what we’re trying to do here. Did you not know what? We definitely haven’t been keeping it a secret.
It’s not a great moment for House Speaker Mike Johnson, who invented this impeachment, likely because they know they can’t impeach Biden, nor do they want to actually do anything about the border. So they just did this instead, without actually proving that real crimes actually happened. And so for it to be so quickly tossed out in the Senate is an embarrassment for Johnson. And I just think that’s great. He should be embarrassed more often. I think it would be helpful to him. I mean, I’m embarrassed all the time – it’s character-building.
House Republicans Unveil Aid Package
-via CBS News
And speaking of a weak Speaker… House Republican leaders unveiled their latest and greatest aid package, which includes more than $60 billion in aid for Ukraine (as well as money for Israel and Taiwan).
The bill could come to a vote as early as Saturday, which means we could see that aid package come to a vote, followed by a possible vote to say bye-bye to his Speakership. When that would happen, it’s unclear – both chambers are expected to be on vacay next week.
We’ll see, I guess.
Update: Middle East
At least 18 people were injured on Wednesday after a Hezbollah drone hit a village in northern Israel, with two of the injured in critical condition. Meanwhile, Israel’s Netanyahu has declared that the country will “do everything necessary to defend itself” while warning allies that they “will make our own decisions.”
So we remain… stressed.
DOJ Looks to Pay Nassar Survivors
-via NBC News
The Department of Justice is in settlement talks with survivors of former sports doctor, and current horror, Larry Nassar, to the tune of just about $100 million.
Not enough, by any means. No amount is enough for what he did.
The deal’s not done yet, so we’ll see what it comes out to, but I just think that, whenever possible, we should make sure we talk about what an absolutely horrific fraction of a human Larry Nassar is. That’s all.
And that’s it. That’s the news.
Slow news day – we’ll take it!
I’m proud of… teenage readers! Find a favorite book – it’s good for ya.
But more than books, because hey – you’re quite the story yourself… I’m proud of you.