05/08/25
Good morning! It’s Thursday, May 8th.
Ironically, it is both Child Care Provider Day and… my mom’s birthday.
Because, and not a lot of people know this, but there was a time where I once was a child.
And now, the news.
India/Pakistan
-via AP News
Starting back with India and Pakistan, where Pakistan has vowed to avenge those killed by India’s strikes, which killed a current total of 31 people.
The Pakistani Prime Minister has not given any further details.
I don’t… have anything else there. But it’s still important to keep an eye on this.
So that’s what we’re keeping an eye on.
New Surgeon General
-via CBS News
We have a new surgeon general nominee!
Her name is Dr. Casey Means. A lady? Doctor? That can’t be right.
Ugh. Hate that joke.
Wow, Trump really does so much for women.
Hate that joke too!
Dr. Casey Means, what do we know about her?
She’s an ally of RFK Jr, so that’s not amazing. That’s an immediate red flag because he lied and is now pushing his anti-vax conspiracy theories from inside the White House.
Apparently she was instrumental in getting RFK Jr to endorse Trump. (Thanks for that, doc)
After graduating from Stanford (go Trees), she left what she called “traditional medicine” to tackle “the root cause of why Americans are sick.”
Well this news is giving me a headache so that might be a hint.
Look – we do have to find a balance. We can’t just prescribe a pill for everything. Food is medicine also.
But we need to be wary of someone who writes off either of those things.
Next up she’ll go before the Senate, but it doesn’t seem like there are any, currently known, red flags that’ll make this a hard one to get through.
Good news for Trump, whose last nominee got yoinked at the last minute – probably because she is Mike Walz’ sister-in-law. Man… imagine what their next family dinner is going to be like.
GOP Infighting
-via CNN
At the beginning of the week I mentioned that Trump’s big, which obviously he’s calling a “big beautiful bill,” was headed for the House for a vote.
But don’t forget that Mike Johnson is Speaker of the House. (Hard to forget – as hard as we might try.) And I’m not saying this to be mean, even though it is… he’s not good at his job. A large part of his job is to keep his party together. To make sure everyone’s together on the vote when they need to be. That is rare.
Think about Nancy Pelosi. Policy aside, that’s someone who, as speaker, was very good. She always knew exactly where the vote would fall. Hakeem Jeffries, same thing. They are not going to call a vote without knowing what’s going to happen.
Mike Johnson hasn’t figured that out yet.
He wants a vote before Memorial Day, and Republicans in swing districts are saying they can’t vote for a bill that cuts Social Security. But deeply safe Republicans just want to keep Dear Leader happy, so they’re going to do whatever Trump says.
And while Republicans might hold the majority in the House, they don’t have that much of a majority. So all of this to say… the Republicans are fighting! Isn’t that fun!
Let them!
Let them.
Give them something to do. Distract them before they’re suddenly decide that, like, cats have too many rights or something.
We’ll see how the vote goes. Right now this is all political hot goss.
Which we love.
PopeWatch 2025
-via NPR
PopeWatch 2025 continues, as black smoke piped out of the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday, signaling that there is no pope, yet.
So I’m not out of the running yet!
And that’s it. That’s the news.
Short news day!
What do you want from me? Do you want me to dig up news? Do you want me to call the White House and tell them it was a slow news day?
In this timeline, do you want more news?
I gotta be honest… I stretched it out as much as I could already!
I’m proud of… I was listening to a lot of Kelly Clarkson today and I know I say it sometimes as a joke but I really am just so proud of her. She’s really come so far.
Also my mom.
Both.
Equally.
But more than… almost! I’m brave about some jokes, but not all of them… more than my comedy, because you’re no joke… I’m proud of you.