06/23/25

Good morning! It’s Monday, June 23rd.

National Kissing Day.

Also National Onion Ring Day.

Two great things that don’t go great together, ya know?

And now, the news.

Special Episode: America Has Entered the Chat

-via AP News, CNN, BBC, NPR, The Guardian, NY Times, and The Hill

Big weekend for breaking news phone notifications!

And that’s… the best I can do here. Positivity-wise.

Here’s the deal. You probably know what I’m talking about. I’m probably not breaking the news here, but what I’m going to do is give you what we know so far with that patented Kim charm (aka oodles of it), Kim jokes (aka packed to the gills with your eye rolls), and Kim calm.

Because part of the thing that keeps these episodes short and this apartment small is the lack of ads. I don’t need to make this salacious to sell Casper mattresses or whatever.

Other people do.

And I’m not telling you that to try and make me sound better than anyone else. I’m telling you that because we’re all coming into this at a 12. We’re gonna come down. We’re gonna bring our little shouldies down. Because some of us have had four shoulder surgeries and can’t keep them up for that long.

We’re going to talk about a serious situation with facts and no fearmongering.

Deal?

I guess I have no idea if you said deal or not so here we go. Onward, forward.

Just after midnight east coast time on Saturday, seven B-2s left Missouri for Iran and thus, despite saying he needed two weeks to think things out, the Trump administration’s Operation Midnight Hammer (that’s… the name) was off the ground.

In the span of about 25 minutes, between 6:40 p.m. and 7:05 p.m. (eastern time), those B-2s, about 125 decoy military aircraft, a US submarine that launched Tomahawk cruise missiles, and it sounds like a 30,000-pound bomb known as a “bunker-buster,” were all used to strike Iran’s three nuclear sites.

This is the first known use of the Bunker Busters.

On Saturday night, Trump, flanked by his VP and Secretaries of State and Defense, addressed the nation to say the strikes were, “a spectacular military success. Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.”

At a press conference on Sunday, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth reiterated that Iran’s nuclear sites were “obliterated.”

Dude, just because you heard a word for the first time and now you keep repeating it, it doesn’t make it true my guys.

I’m not saying it’s not true, I’m saying we don’t yet know.

Yes, the three nuclear sites were struck. Confirmed by satellite images.

But these sites are underground. We don’t have confirmation right now. Same reason we don’t even know how far along they were on their nuclear program.

So all of that to say – full assessment of the damage to Iran nuclear program is still being done. We just don’t know yet.

As you may recall, we have three branches of government. The war powers, the power to go to war and pay for it, lie with Congress. They have to vote on it.

It’s in the Constitution. Tippy top, in fact. Article one.

Made complicated by Article II, which calls the President the Commander-in-Chief of the military.

So helpfully(?) in 1973, Congress passed the War Powers Resolution, saying that the president, “consult with Congress before introducing United States Armed Forces into hostilities or into situation where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicated by the circumstances.”

Trump did not do this.

He is not the first that has not done this.

US House Rep AOC has called for his impeachment. Yeah babe, me too. It’s gonna go about as far as me saying it, but that doesn’t mean she shouldn’t have done it.

Get caught trying.

You’ll be shocked, absolutely bowled over, to hear that this a senior Justice Department official says this was done in consultation with White House counsel and the Department of Justice. Pam Bondi testify before the House today where she will definitely say this was all legal.

I am also already picturing how annoying the press secretary is going to be tomorrow. She just... the way she answers questions leaves zero doubt in my mind that she would have bullied me in high school. But, on the other hand, I do a daily news podcast for fun so… I guess I get it.

Look, he shouldn’t have done this.

Why did he do this?

We were just sitting here!

I understand that we have funded the government of Israel for a very long time, but we also could have been like we’re gonna sit this one it. Here to support emotionally. Here to talk.

Ya know?

This was a bad decision. That he made. Among the dangers of a Trump presidency, this was always one of them: he is irrational and impatient. He doesn’t wait. He is incapable of seeing the big picture.

As of this recording, even some (I said some!) within the GOP is upset.

Don’t expect it to stick. I think they will all get in line with Dear Leader’s talking points in no time. Especially because after House Rep Thomas Massie rightfully called this move unconstitutional, Trump turned around and endorsed the only other Republican challenging Massie in the primary: an RN who graduated in 2021 and has not held public office. We love an RN! But… never held office?

He actually didn’t endorse her by name, he just said American Patriot – they’ll find someone. So everyone who hasn’t fallen in line (most did right away), will.

Here’s the pickle.

Talking about what’s happened since the strike is like trying to catch a bubble with a hockey mask – it pops right away and it doesn’t make any dang sense.

Every single time I’m like and now I can write this part of the episode there are 12 more updates.

Imagine what’s going to happen by the time you hear this!

Trump will be meeting with the his national security team today.

Oil prices are up. Stocks are a little down.

Homeland Security has issued a warning of possible cyber attacks and violence, making it very clear that there are currently no viable threats but that Iran has condemned these actions.

Which obviously they have. They warned us. Then they condemned us.

Homeland Security also warned of antisemitic hate crimes, to which the White House popped up and was like hey! That’s our job!

No no… they… don’t… do that. They just… don’t stop it. Well, they do! Hey, sometimes they do. Sometimes they hate antisemitism. Until, you know, it’s vaguely inconvenient.

The US State Department has also issued a worldwide caution, while here in America, as they often do, major cities did up their security.

Including Los Angeles.

Which like… how? The National Guard and Marines are already here! Please stop upping our security!

Putin’s mad at us. Now all of the sudden Trump says there should be a regime change and quite frankly who taught him that word?

And in the middle of all of this, the governments of Israel and Iran and still trading missiles back and forth. There are still people in those countries, paying a very real price.

Listen! Hang on. Shouldies. We came it at a 12, we came down, we’re not going back up.

I’m recording this like 27 hours after it happened.

Tensions are high and, and here’s the biggest thing, so are the unknowns.

There could never be a better need for remembering that when we know more, we’ll know more.

Look, if you want a play-by-play, if you want to know every single ounce of what’s happening right now, you are well within your rights.

I’m staying informed.

But we gotta stay healthy too. We gotta keep an eye on our shouldies.

When we know more, we will know more. But right now, there are just too many variables. Too many maybes.

I started this show for the same reason I do literally everything… for Zazz’s approval. Duh. (aw, friendship, adorable)

Sometimes it feels like, normal news. Sometimes it feels very silly. And sometimes it feels very important. Not like the show is very important (calm down, hang on, I’m not downplaying it!), I’m saying sometimes the news is very important and the way I report is very important.

And the best way that I can do that for you right now, the most responsible way, is to—

And that’s it. That’s the news.

Ya like that? I did a little thing there. I did a little trick on ya.

Go drink some water. Read a fun book or watch a show you love. We gotta find some balance. I’m not going to lie to, this is not amazing. Not good.

But it cannot be everything.

I’m proud of you.