05/07/25
Good morning! It’s Wednesday, May 7th.
Make a Book Day.
Yeah, you know. Just make one. It’s that easy!
And now, the news.
Pakistan and India
Starting with a developing story –
In an assault that India has dubbed Operation Sindoor, the Indian military has struck seven sites in Pakistan and two Pakistan-occupied territories where they say terrorist attacks against India have been planned and directed.
A statement from the Indian Embassy in DC calls the action, “focused and precise,” saying only known terror camps were targeted.
The Pakistani military PR says that eight Pakistanis were killed, including a 26-year-old girl, and another 35 were injured. Two people are missing.
As you may recall, on April 22nd, at least 26 tourists were killed in Kashmir. India has accused Pakistan of being involved in that attack, and says this is in response to that.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister has called it a “blatant act of war” and says they will respond forcefully. Thus far, although India has not confirmed this claim, the Pakistan military says they have shot down five Indian military aircraft in Indian airspace.
And so that’s… where things currently stand. This was a nighttime attack on Pakistan, so we will see when that develops, you know… develops.
Ever the wordsmith, Trump had this to say: “It’s a shame, we just heard about it just as we were walking in the doors of the Oval. They’ve been fighting for a long time,” he said. “I just hope it ends very quickly.”
Point to it on a map, my guy.
Trump and Carney
-via AP News
Fresh off his win as the new Prime Minister of Canada, Mark Carney met with Trump in the White House and… it went exactly how you would imagine it would.
Trump repeated his line that the border between Canada and America is just an imaginary line and said he’s still interested in annexing the country.
Carney, who won his election because the country was so angry by those exact comments from Trump, responded by saying, “Some places are never for sale.” Adding that Canada “won’t be for sale, ever.”
To which, Trump said, “Never say never.” With that shrug and eyebrow thing he does.
This is heading towards a very dangerous territory. Because he just isn’t smart enough to understand that we are not ever going to join our country with Canada. But he’s also not smart enough to back down.
So where does that leave us?
SCOTUS and Trans Military Members
-via Washington Post
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court granted Trump’s request to stop the military from allowing transgender folks to join the military while a lower court proceeding, well, proceeds.
As a reminder, Trump himself never served in the military because his dad called in a favor and said he had bone spurs and now he’s working to prevent people who want to spend their life being in service of this country, by choice, simply because he… I don’t know… because he sucks.
This was an emergency request, so as is the case in those cases, the court did not explain its reasoning but the three liberal justices did say they would keep the hold in place to allow trans folks to enter the military in the meantime.
What a truly horrible human being.
And he’s in charge!
Of the military.
And the country.
Terrible reminder for a Wednesday. Sorry.
Flights to Libya
-via NY Times
With yet another escalation in his mass deportation plan, on Tuesday the Trump administration announced that they are planning to transport a group of immigrants to Libya on a US military plane.
It is unclear if the immigrants are from Libya. Not that he cares.
Or, quite frankly, even knows the difference.
The flight could leave as soon as today.
It was one thing (illegal thing) to send Venezuelans to the prison in El Salvador. It’s a torture prison that Marco Rubio made a deal on, so I’m not saying it’s good. It’s zero percent good. All I’m saying is – that’s what they wanted. To send people to that specific prison.
Human rights groups have called the conditions in the migrant detention centers in Libya “horrific” and “deplorable.”
These are just… wildly horrific decisions.
And they are decisions. Understand that if I know what’s going on over there, they know what’s going on over there. They know more.
They are crystal clear about the conditions in Libya – that’s why they’re sending these folks there.
The state department warns against traveling to Libya, “due to crime, terrorism, unexploded land mines, civil unrest, kidnapping and armed conflict.”
But that is where they are choosing to send folks that they are going to claim are criminals. But we don’t know if those Venezuelans, and Kilmar Abrego Garcia who is from El Salvador, are criminals. They have not been charged. They have not been afforded due process. Remember that Abrego Garcia is a legal permanent resident of the United States. You can be certain that many of the others that were sent to that torture chamber in El Salvador have some sort of legal status here in the states.
But the government doesn’t care about any of that.
And just as aware as they are of the conditions in Libya, you better believe they are that clear on the Constitution, and how anti-constitutional this move is. Expect this one to head to court case after court case after court case. And that’s vital for the Constitution, but I wonder what comfort that is for people that are being shipped off to a country they probably aren’t even from, sent away from a country they may even have legal status in, being run by an administration that has no stated intention of ever even trying to bring home people that they are knowingly, wrongly, imprisoning.
He will do a lot of horrific things in his presidency. He has done a lot of horrific things in his life.
But this will be one of the things that history will judge him for forever.
Nothing will ever be able to justify what he’s doing. What those around him, who support him, are doing.
There is no legal, or moral, justification for this.
And that’s it. That’s the news.
Because otherwise I’m going to go on an hour rant about The Good Place, and once I start talking about Kristen Bell, it’s all downhill from there! Uphill? Whatever one is the good one. Because she’s good. Better than good.
The actual best.
See? You put a Kristen Bell in front of me, I’m gonna get distracted.
I’m proud of… Kristen Bell, obviously.
Some woman named Ana. Unrelated. Not even sure why I said that.
Also books.
But more than books… because a picture’s worth a thousand words and all of your words are the best words (is that anything? Is that a compliment?)… I’m proud of you.