07/31/25
Good morning! It’s Thursday, July 31st.
National Chili Dog Day
While the exact origins of the chili dog are unknown (please try not to be too disappointed), a fun fact is that it was developed by Macedonian and Greek immigrants because almost every good thing in this country was made by immigrants and I’m absolutely not saying that people who were born in America have never made anything good, that’s not the case at all, hello we have Kelly Clarkson and she was born in Burleson, TX, but as soon as people start talking a little bit too much about how they’re from America and and how they’ve been here for generations… that’s… creepy.
Anyway, chili dogs huh?
And now, the news.
Trump Tracking Health
-via AP News
Starting in some real creepy news – the Trump administration has announced that they are going to share your personal health and medical records across health systems and apps run by private tech companies.
The tech companies include Google, Amazon, and Apple and the health care companies include UnitedHealth Group and CVS Health.
I am so creeped out!
So now Dr. Oz, who I forgot is in charge of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, will be in charge in maintaining the database of information that includes your medical records as well as how many steps you took.
Or, more worrisome… the last time you had a period.
And if you missed a period.
Or if you missed two.
But are now suddenly having them.
But you live in Texas, where you can’t have had an abortion. But it says here, where your steps were tracked, that you took 7,000 steps in California. Did you… go to California and have an abortion? Because that’s a crime. Maybe we should… bring you in for questioning.
Not amazing!
More information to come, I guess. I’ll be very curious to see how companies inform us about this, because, legally, there does have to be an opt out feature.
TX Republicans Want to Further Gerrymander
-via NY Times
And in Texas…
That’s how you know it’s going to be not amazing. And in Texas… after literally being asked by the president of the United States, which is absolutely insane, Texas Republicans have unveiled a gerrymandered House map that will give them an advantage in five House seats next year.
The president asked for this! Isn’t that insane? No one is talking about that enough. I think probably because he’s doing so many crazy things because this is really bad.
He’s also now demanding the same thing in Missouri and Indiana, among other states.
I want to be so, so clear – this is not a guaranteed win for Republicans. No election is a guarantee. Period.
We are fighting for every single seat next year. Nothing is predetermined and we’re not giving them an inch.
Here’s what else we’re not doing…
Now the democrats say they want to do the same. No no – that’s not what we’re doing. Gerrymandering is a threat to democracy everywhere. No matter what, no matter which party you think you’re helping in the moment, it is a threat to democracy all around.
Cheating because they cheat is not the answer and acting like it is only hurts things further.
Reintroduce stronger voting laws. Reintroduce the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act which included a ban on partisan gerrymandering. Push for citizen-led redistricting commissions that are already in states like Michigan and Ohio. File a challenge in court.
Act like you’re in this for real. For the long term.
California’s Gavin Newson literally says he wants to draw partisan maps in California… my guy, our maps are drawn by an independent commission. Like – do you know that? We are already doing our maps the right way. I mean, it DOES make sense that you want to break the thing we’re doing right just to, I don’t know, make a statement but come on! There are other options!
The fight for fair voting never ends in Texas, but here’s what we need to remember: no election is predetermined until we decide it is.
Okay fine, you redrew a map and gave yourself an illegal advantage.
We are going to fight you for every single seat in the state.
Good luck! (not really though)
Trump Thinks a Little Religious Persuasion is Fine
-via The Hill
And when he’s not telling states to do gerrymandering, Trump also spent some time this week telling federal workers that it’s not only fine, it’s encouraged, to try and persuade coworkers that their religion is fine.
What? What are we doing?
And it’s not even – hey, you can defend you religion at work. Because that would make sense. No, the memo says that, in addition to displaying bibles and religious pieces of art and messaging, employees can engage in individual and communal religious expressions and, are you ready for this… religious conversations at work can include “attempting to persuade others of the correctness of their own religious views, provided that such efforts are not harassing in nature.”
Not sticking up for, but actively trying to persuade!
And the memo included guidance on how to do this “to the greatest extent possible unless such expression would impose an undue hardship on business operations,” as well as how to get co-workers to “re-think” their religious beliefs.
“During a break, an employee may engage another in polite discussion of why his faith is correct and why the non-adherent should re-think his religious beliefs. However, if the nonadherent requests such attempts to stop, the employee should honor the request.”
During a break?
This poor employee is just trying to eat a ham and cheese sandwich and now they’ve gotta hear the most annoying co-worker try and get them to join their religion? No! That is not what breaks are for! Breaks are for zoning out and pretending none of your co-workers exist (unless you’re one of my co-workers, which would be a wild thing because I specifically told you not to listen to this podcast and also… we don’t get breaks in the production office so this doesn’t apply to us).
Obviously, even though the memo says you can do persuasion for all religions, this follows Trump’s anti-Christian bias executive order so… good luck trying to say you’re protected when you try and get someone to join any other religion. Although at the rate we’re going, I’m sure they’ll be outlawed soon enough anyway.
Epstein Updates
On Tuesday, Ghislaine Maxwell, who literally did sex crimes with Jeffrey Epstein and has already asked the Supreme Court for a get out of jail free card, has now offered to testify before Congress, but only if she can get immunity.
And she referred to that immunity as “a fair and safe path forward.”
Fair and safe path?
That’s not what that is and if it were… you don’t deserve that. You do not deserve a safe and fair path because you sex trafficked children.
She always wants the questions ahead of time like it’s a 7th grade open book math test.
You’re in jail for sex crimes! You don’t get to set the terms here dude.
And then at the end of this letter to Congress – she asked Trump for clemency.
“Of course, in the alternative, if Ms. Maxwell were to receive clemency, she would be willing—and eager—to testify openly and honestly, in public, before Congress in Washington, D.C. She welcomes the opportunity to share the truth and to dispel the many misconceptions and misstatements that have plagued this case from the beginning.”
Absolutely incredible.
What a horrible human being. I hope every day is the worst day ever and it’s always worse than the day before so that every day is bad and additionally when she closes her eyes her last thought before she falls asleep is the fearful knowledge that the following day will be worst.
And speaking of people who I hope every day is worse than the previous one with factually no relief – after receiving no bond because he is quite literally a danger to society and should be in prison for life but who on earth would believe a woman anyway, so now he’s just in prison while awaiting sentencing for lesser charges, his lawyers have asked for him to be released on a $50 million bail.
$50 million.
Here’s an idea.
Stop doing sex crimes!
Stop being the worst kind of people and then you don’t need to beg Congress or offer up a $50 million bail.
But no, instead you’re just a bunch of terrible losers.
Anyway, we’ll see what the judge says but hopefully it’s a thumbs down because of public safety.
RFK Jr. Is at It Again
-via The Daily Beast
And finally – for reasons that boggle the mind, Health and Human Services Secretary RFK Jr (cursed sentence) met with workers at a salmon hatchery in Idaho and for some reason, somehow he got his grubhands on a parasitic fish that looks like an eel but has sharp teeth and a sucker-mouth.
And then, once he got his hands on it… this absolute moron… let it clamp onto his arm and give him a hickey. He used the word hickey! I’m not saying hickey, that’s his word! He gave it that smooches undertone.
He let the fish do this one both arms and then have a go at his wrist.
This is a parasitic fish!
The man already has a brain worm! He offered to eat five more brain worms just to get on the debate stage.
He cut the head off of a dead whale and, and I can’t stress this enough, we still don’t know what he did with the head.
He’s letting parasitic fish give him multiple hickeys.
AND HE IS IN CHARGE OF HEALTH.
And not to mention that these fish hold deep cultural, spiritual, and subsistence importance for many Indigenous tribes across the Pacific Northwest, including exactly where he was standing. This doofus was holding this fish that holds incredible significance and just thought – let it give me a hickey. Little smooches.
Moron!
When’s that brain worm writing a memoir? What’s it like in that brain? Just a bunch of echos?
And that’s it. That’s the news.
Hey, no news tomorrow. I’ll be back tomorrow.
I’m not proud of RFK Jr. What an absolute dunce.
I don’t know what to say about chili dogs. But more than chili dogs, because I always know what to say about you and it’s always great… I’m proud of you.56