04/30/25
Good morning! It’s Wednesday, April 30th.
International Jazz Day.
I don’t have a joke here. Jazz is nice.
And now, the news.
Judge Dugan
-via Reuters
Starting in Wisconsin, with an update on Judge Dugan, who was charged on Friday with obstructing a government proceeding and helping someone evade arrest.
She appeared briefly in court on Friday before she was released, but was due back in court on May 15th.
On Tuesday, however, ahead of that May 15th date, the Wisconsin state Supreme Court temporarily relieved her of her duties while the case continues.
She is now being represented in court by Paul Clement, who is a big deal in the Supreme Court world, signaling we could be headed for a bigger fight here.
As a reminder, Dugan was arrested for, allegedly, allowing a man to evade immigration by allowing him to exit through the jury door. It should be noted that the man was immediately arrested outside of the courthouse.
Amazon
-via AP News
Tuesday also saw a whirlwind of moves for Amazon.
Amazon recently launched something called Haul – their low-cost storefront that is supposed to be a competitor to Shein or Temu.
Tuesday morning, Punchbowl News reported that Amazon was going to list the tariff price next to the product cost on the website.
Not a bad idea.
And if Trump loves the tariffs so much, you’d think he’d be stoked to show how much tariff is on each product. Because that’s how he owns the libs. And makes America great again. And gives him the hug his dad didn’t.
Turns out… no no. Trump did not enjoy that idea.
The press secretary called it a “hostile and political act.” People really just act like words don’t mean anything sometimes!
She also accused the company of partnering “with a Chinese propaganda arm.”
The president then reportedly Jeff Bezos and you are just never going to believe it but by Tuesday afternoon, before leaving for a rally in Michigan (stay away from Michigan you long-tie-wearing bozo!), Trump said Bezos was a good guy who had fixed the problem.
Say what you will but one benefit to not having a spine is that you can bend over backwards with ease!
Climate Change Change
-via CNN
In an email sent on Monday, the Trump administration dismissed all scientists and authors working on the next National Climate Assessment.
The last one came out in 2023 and found that climate change is, you’ll be shocked to hear, already affecting every single part of the country, causing extreme weather among other harmful consequences. But Trump thinks climate change is just God hugging us closer and so 400 scientists and authors have now had their contracts canceled ahead of the new report, which is due in 2027.
In reaction to this news, Meade Krosby, a climate scientist at the University of Washington, told CNN, “What’s at risk with this dismissal is not only the report itself, but its credibility if it moves forward without the experts that ensure its scientific integrity.”
An added concern beyond this report is that now the entire operation and structure for the Global Change Research Program, which creates the report, among other things, is under review.
Legal(?) Firings
There’s also been a new, small round of firings to talk about. Starting in the Corporation of Public Broadcasting, a nonprofit that oversees funding for public radio and TV funding.
Three officials were fired there, which the public found out about after a suit was filed against the Trump administration, stating the administration actually didn’t have the right to fire them because the CPB is a private corporation and therefore the president of the United States is only able to nominate the Board of Directors, but fire anyone.
So that’s one thing going on. The suit is seeking to block him from the firings and set a precedent that he cannot go around firing whoever he wants just because he feels like it.
We also learned on Tuesday that Trump kicked Kamala Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, off the Holocaust Memorial Museum Board.
Did he… not know Doug was working there?
That feels like a day one thing.
That feels like a post-it got stuck under a piece of paper situation.
I’m not saying it’s right! This is not good! But Donald Trump’s whole deal is too-long of ties and political retribution to make up for all the things that are broken within him.
Not sure how this one slipped through the cracks but there we have it.
Harvard’s Report Card
-via NY Times
A report released by a Harvard task force has found that antisemitism has infiltrated almost every part of the University, including coursework, social life, hiring, and academic programs; while a second program, also released on Tuesday, found widespread discomfort and alienation among Muslim and Palestinian students as well as anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian bias on campus.
The report is hundreds of pages long.
The report was commissioned by the university and has nothing to do with the Trump administration’s demand that it capitulate to its demands in exchange for the unfreezing of grants and funds.
A demand that the University is suing Trump over.
Here’s the thing: two things can be true.
Trump has no right to make the demands that he is making of Harvard and other universities. They are using Jewish students as cover for their anti-constitutional moves.
In addition, antisemitism, anti-Muslim, and anti-Palestinian actions and rhetoric are wrong. Harvard was right to commission this report. Wrong to allow this to have happened. They need to take significant and swift action to correct these wrongs.
While, at the same time, they must continue to stand up to Trump.
President Pope
-via Politico
And finally, here… the story that has handed me the biggest laugh of the day. You have to understand – if you’re coming here from not knowing me in real life, this is my hobby. I work 12 hours a day in a whole other job and then I do this for fun.
I am TIRED.
I’m tired and I spend my free time reading about the news in this timeline. So I’m tired and I’m also, you know, a different kind of tired. So when I tell you this story made me laugh…
While on his way to that event in Michigan that I mentioned earlier (again, stay away from too-long-of-a-tie wearing bozo), someone asked Trump who should be the next Pope. Why they asked him, we’ll never know. Who on earth was like, oh I’m sure he’ll have a really thoughtful answer.?
So the question gets asked and this absolute putz, this dope beyond all comprehension answers: “I'd like to be Pope. That'd be my number one choice.”
He then went on to say he had no preference but, “I must say, we have a cardinal that happens to be out of a place called New York who’s very good.”
What do you know? Just answer a question normally! “A place called New York.”
Ugh.
“I’d like to be Pope.”
Well I’d like the WB to be a network again and air the kind of shows they used to air, nice comfort teen dramas, but sometimes we have unattainable dreams.
Also, my guy, you are literally not a good person. One of the worst, I’d say. So I’d cross that one off the list.
“I’d like to be Pope.”
Why? For what?
What is this all for?
And that’s it. That’s the news.
I think we’ll end on Trump wanting to be the Pope. Feels like a natural place to end the episode.
I’m proud of jazz. It’s nice. Big big fan.
But more than jazz. More than an entire musical genre. Because you are also the sound of a singular musical instrument but better when more of you are together… I’m proud of you.