04/29/25
Good morning! It’s Tuesday, April 29th.
World Wish Day.
Ugh. I got a wish for the world, but I don’t think I’m allowed to say it on the air
And now, the news.
Illinois Car Crash
-via CNN
Starting with tragedy just outside of Springfield, Illinois, where four people are dead, the majority of whom are young children, and many others are injured, after a car crashed into an after-school camp.
The oldest victim is eighteen years old.
The driver was the sole occupant and uninjured, but taken to the hospital for evaluation.
As I record this, there is no more information.
Just absolutely heartbreaking.
Canadian Elections
-via The Independent and ABC News
Moving to Canada, where the country headed to the polls to pick its next Prime Minister. Would it be Mark Carney, current Prime Minister and head of the liberal party, or Pierre Peilievre, leader of the Conservatives?
Now, interestingly, if you’d asked anyone three months ago, Pierre kind of had it in the bag as he worked to make the election a referendum on Justin Trudeau. But as Trump went around slapping tariffs on Canada and obnoxiously referring to the country as America’s 51st state (again, Canada, I am so sorry. Not a fan. I do not agree), the polls flipped. A Sunday poll showed Liberals with a 2-point lead over the Conservatives.
Last year, the Conservatives had a, ready for this? TWENTY-point lead.
Twenty.
Donald Trump – bad for America.
Good for Canada – just as long as he never steps foot in the country.
Unable to help himself, though if only wishing made it so, Trump posted that Canadians should vote for him on Monday.
Big loser energy.
But all of that is irrelevant, as one day Donald Trump himself would be, and in fact he actually could be right now if only we’d given him a bigger role in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York and let him be the thing he really wanted to be, a just okay actor, because while voters are still being counted, it is now mathematically impossible for the Consevative party to win. Mark Carney will continue on as Prime Minister, a roll he stepped into on March 14th of this year, when Justin Trudeau stepped down.
Blackout
-via NY Times
In Spain and Portugal, a power outage shut down trains, flights, and subways, disrupting the lives of tens of millions of people.
Several officials have denied foul play, but as of this recording, there is still no answer as to how this power outage occurred.
For the most part, power has been restored.
Russia/Ukraine Ceasefire
-via CNN
On Monday, Russia’s Vladimir Putin announced that, starting from midnight on May 8th to midnight on May 11th, “all military actions” in Ukraine would be stopped.
So Mom – happy birthday.
He said it was for humanitarian reasons. Ah, yes, famous humanitarian Vladimir Putin.
The dates coincide with Russia’s World War II V-Day and the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany.
Because, you see, 80 years ago, we defeated the Nazis. And for a while, people learned their lesson. But not enough people learned it well enough and schools didn’t teach it well enough and there’s a male loneliness epidemic and instead of getting therapy they join far-right groups and now we have to fight nazis again and even as I talk about all of this, and know we have to care about the male loneliness epidemic, I’m not downplaying that at all, it’s just that one of the things that happens is that sometimes they kill us. Or assault us. Or run for office and then pass laws to strip all of my rights away so the energy that I would normally have to care about the male loneliness epidemic, which is real and does need to be cared about, actually has to go to caring about making sure that I have rights and can also stay alive.
And the point is… 80 years ago we defeated the nazis and not enough people learned the lesson well enough. Especially not Vladimir Putin! But he’s using the date anyway as one of the reasons for having those dates as the dates for the ceasefire, which was met with skepticism from Ukrainian officials who asked Putin to accept the United States’ longer truce proposal.
We’ll see what the week brings.
Because there are still plenty of days between now and May 8th.
Plenty of days.
American Deportations
-via The Guardian
On Monday, Trump signed two new executive orders. The first, according to the White House press secretary, was meant to “strengthen and unleash America’s law enforcement to pursue criminals and protect innocent citizens.”
Unleash?!
They’ve been leashed?!
That’s… not amazing.
Opposite, even.
Scary.
The other will direct the attorney general and the secretary of homeland security to publish a list of sanctuary cities. Which is… pretty pointless, but it’s part of a broader effort to shrink their power to limit the power of the cities, like my own city, to not work closely with federal immigration authorities. It’s not that these cities impede the work, but we’re not just here to be incredibly helpful.
And speaking as someone who lives in a sanctuary city, that’s exactly what I’m looking for. At all times, I’m looking to be as unhelpful as possible. No one is illegal on illegal ground, ya know? And I’m sorry, but I’m just not super interested in helping you deport a neighbor or one of the people who sell street meats on the corner because I’ve watched that grow from a simple 10x10 pop-up tent to a thriving party every night, and the community is better for it.
And my drive home is better for it because even though I don’t eat meat, when I tell you, it smells so good…
That’s it. That’s the news.
I’m proud of Canada, for doing what we couldn’t.
And I’m proud of everyone for getting through these 100 days. We have made it through something we didn’t think we’d have to do. Which means we can make it through these next four years. And I know that sounds wild, 100 days to 4 years. But all that is, is a bunch of days put together. All we have to do is a day next to a day. Keep doing that, and we’re going to get through it.
We have no choice.