12/17/25
Good morning! It’s Wednesday, December 17th.
National Device Appreciation Day.
Capitalism? Is that you?
Device Appreciation Day. It makes me a little nervous to type and then speak this into devices, and I realize my whole world revolves around devices working well, but this feels like too much even for me.
And now, the news.
Update: Brown University
-via NY Times
Starting with an update on things at Brown University, though it is a meager one.
Rhode Island police have released a grainy video of the suspect, as well as a pretty vague description. So if you’re in the area, be on the lookout for a 5’8” person of stocky build.
Great.
A $50,000 reward was announced when this “enhanced” photo was released.
If you’re just listening to this and haven’t seen the photo, the work enhanced is doing some heavy lifting there.
Once again, hopefully by the time you hear this, this story will be outdated.
Trump Expands Travel Ban
-via AP News
On Tuesday, Trump announced that, following last month’s shooting of two National Guard troops, he is expanding his travel ban to include five more countries.
Those five countries are: Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan, and Syria.
Citizens of those countries are banned from entering the United States, while 15 more countries will face partial restrictions.
He really will do anything he can to fulfill Stephen Miller’s creepy 100 Million Americans dream, won’t he?
Speaker Johnson Blocks Healthcare Vote
-via The Hill
Hey, you know how one of the basic ideas, the basic tenets if you will, of government is being of service, and you can be as jaded as you want, but in theory, the reason that most people got into all of this, at least in the beginning, was to help their community?
Well, I still believe that’s true. But I also believe… Speaker Johnson is here to buck the system.
He is… so brave.
No no… he’s never had a brave in his life!
On Tuesday, Speaker Johnson held a press conference to say that, because about a dozen Republicans are in competitive districts are trying to win elections, oops I mean, “fighting hard to make sure that they reduce costs for all of their constituents,” the House will not hold a vote on the ACA tax subsidies this week.
All but assuring those tax subsidies will expire at the end of the year.
But don’t be mad at Mikey! Don’t be mad at those Republicans!
“Many of them did want to vote on this ObamaCare COVID-era subsidy the Democrats created. We looked for a way to try to allow for that pressure release valve, and it just was not to be.”
It just was not to be!
Word salad! Jumble.
Fear not, if you’re mad, and I’m mad, and Democrats are mad… well the Republicans are mad too. Moderate Republicans, who are actually trying to win an election and not in a way that’s tied to a lame duck president and a floundering (peep those polls) conspiracy-theory fueled MAGA party, are very mad at Speaker Johnson.
Again.
We’ll see what today brings. Johnson says he believes all House Republicans will unite around the underlying health care bill, but, and please understand I don’t mean this politically but literally, logistically, the man is so deeply terrible at his job, it’s hard to know if he actually knows what the Republicans that he is supposed to be in charge of will actually do.
Because they don’t like him.
They might vote with Democrats just to embarrass him.
Who knows!
Fentanyl and More Boat Attacks
-via BBC, Politico, and Politico
On Monday, the US military announced it carried out strikes on three boats that it decided, based on vibes, were trafficking drugs, killing eight people.
This brings the total killed to over 90.
As a reminder, no has ever offered any evidence, still, that these boats actually have drugs on them. Or drug traffickers.
We’re all just supposed to be very chill about the fact that murders are happening without evidence. And that it’s being done in our name.
And, as a reminder, Pete Hegseth, who’s really, really tough and this isn’t about proving anything, how dare you!, is already in trouble for a September 2nd strike, which saw a second strike on the survivors of a shipwrecked vessel. A war crime, if we were, in fact, at war. A crime-crime if not.
And actually, that footage was supposed to be released, so that the American public could see how fine this murder was. (I think? I don’t really know what the purpose of the video was. The law is very clear.) However, on Tuesday Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the video will not be made public.
It will be released to the appropriate committees, but not the general public.
Well, eventually I guess because he spent Tuesday briefing the House and Senate on what’s happening in Latin America, and specifically talking about these strikes, but apparently showed up empty-handed. So…
Meanwhile, Trump declared fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction on Monday.
Don’t look now, but I think 2001 wants its vocab back my guy.
Not for nothing, but fentanyl mostly comes into America through Mexico, where it’s made using chemicals imported from China. Production is also increasing in Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand.
None of those, by the way, are like just a mispronunciation of Venezuela.
But not unlike the last time we heard WMDs – this is just a sneaky little way into a country where we’re not likely to find any.
In fact, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, in an interview published yesterday, said herself that Trump: “wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle. And people way smarter than me on that say that he will.”
Political Hot Goss
-via Vanity Fair
Trump “has an alcoholic’s personality.”
Veep Vance “a conspiracy theorist for a decade.”
On whether former president Bill Clinton visited Epstein’s Island: “There is no evidence.” On whether there is anything incriminating about Clinton in the Epstein files, which Trump said there was: “The president was wrong about that.”
As far as Trump in those files? "We know he’s in the file. And he’s not in the file doing anything awful.” Trump “was on [Epstein’s] plane ... he’s on the manifest."
Elon Musk is “an avowed ketamine” user.
AG Bondi “completely whiffed” the Epstein files.
Co-author of Project 2025 and head of the Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought, is “a right-wing absolute zealot.”
These are just a few details from part one, of two parts, of Chief of Staff, first female chief of staff in fact, Susie Wiles’ interview with Vanity Fair. The interview dropped Tuesday and the White House is doing mondo damage control. Including Wiles calling it a hit piece. Somehow?
By the by – everyone looks great, in these Vanity Fair portraits they willing sat for, in this hit piece.
But while Wiles is the star of the show, everyone gave quotes.
“’I don’t think there’s anybody in the world right now that could do the job that she’s doing,’ Rubio said of Wiles. He called her bond with Trump ‘an earned trust.’”
Probably not anymore.
I think what this sounds like is that Susie Wiles is trusted with a lot of secrets, as anyone in her position is. She got close with a journalist, forgot the journalist was a journalist (apparently this is common in the Trump administration, see National Security Advisor Mike Waltz’s Signal contact list, which includes the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic), and she let some stuff slide.
Mortifying. Not as mortifying as willingly signing up to work for this White House but not far off.
And that’s it. That’s the news.
I’m proud of Chris Whipple, who wrote the Vanity Fair article. Because you just know Chris was like, “this is gold.”
Also Maple Syrup. I’m not doing National Device Appreciation Day. One of the scariest books I’ve ever read was called The Circle, and it’s about devices, and a fictitious company, but it's basically Apple, taking over your life.
But more than maple syrup – because call me Buddy the Elf, but you’re the sweetest dang thing I’ve seen all day (sorry, I wasn’t trying to make it weird, I just was trying to say you’re nice), and because you’re so nice… I’m proud of you.