08/21/25
Good morning! It’s Thursday, August 21st.
International Day of Remembrance and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism.
This is a day which was established in 2017 to, as the name suggests, remember victims of terrorism and, ideally, push for less terrorism.
Should you be so inclined.
And now, the news.
Israel in Gaza
Lots of stuff today, let’s get to it. Starting in Gaza, where Israel began its first stages of its takeover of Gaza City, which will eventually be a complete takeover of all of Gaza.
The plan includes calling up “60,000 reservists as they intensify the strikes on Hamas in Gaza City, the political and military stronghold of the terror organization.”
That quote came from an Israeli spokesperson who also said that they are warning citizens to evacuate to “minimize harm to civilians.”
Evacuate to where? Where are they supposed to go?
Actually, where they’re meant to go is in the southern area of Gaza, which is already suffering through a massive hunger crisis. Adding more people will, you’ll be shocked to learn, only make things worse. This move comes as Hamas has agreed to the latest ceasefire draft, which would see the remaining hostages in Gaza be freed.
It’s unclear if this will affect this deal.
As a complete side note – in an interview on Tuesday, Trump called Israel’s Netanyahu a war hero because “we work together. He’s a war hero.” And then he added. “I guess I am too. Nobody cares, but I am too. I mean, I sent those planes.” He was referring to the Iranian nuclear sites that were bombed with TBD success earlier this summer.
A war hero.
Again… this man paid to have a doctor say he had shin splints so that he could get out of serving in Vietnam. He called our military suckers and losers. He continually disrespects serving members of the military. Actively wonders someone would serve. Said he didn’t want wounded military members visible at speeches.
And now he’s calling himself a war hero.
I realize he’s deeply delusional. I realize from the ankles to the brain, nothing works. But it doesn’t mean we can’t just let this slide without comment.
Nobody cares. Correct. Absolutely correct.
Protest Works
-via CNN
Big news for Target – after 11 years on the job, Target’s CEO Brian Cornell is stepping down as the retailer continues to face down sales in direct response to the fact that they ended their DEI program as soon as Trump was elected, without even being asked.
They made this choice.
And then shoppers decided not to shop at Target.
Remember that, for many people, Target isn’t a store you go into for one or two things. It’s a store that you go into intending to buy one or two things and leave with like, an entirely new bedroom design aesthetic.
But protest works. Protest of all kinds.
And Target is seeing the results of choosing to not have morals or a backbone.
Literally all they had to do was not comply in advance. Instead they chose to lose millions.
Wild. Update: DC
-via ABC News, ABC News, Democracy Now, and The Hill
Speaking of situations that feel more serious every time we hear another detail… Washington DC.
The biggest headline of the day is the fact that a National Guard vehicle collided with a civilian’s car on Wednesday morning. Both people are okay, but the civilian was trapped and needed to be extracted by first responders.
The other big headline was that Veep Vance as well as Pete Hegseth and Stephen Miller went for a photoshoot at Union Station to bring Shake Shack to the troops – gotta get that photoshoot!
While they were like thanks for helping us do fascism, here’s a milkshake, they encountered a group of protestors both at their arrival and even inside the Shake Shake. The chants of “Free DC” were so loud that they drowned out the majority of what the trio were saying to the reporters.
Good job boys! In return, they called the protestors “crazy” and “communists.”
Communists!
And then Mr. 100 Million Americans called them “stupid white hippies” – why are you mad? You love white people only. Actually, listen to his whole quote:
“We are not going to let the communists destroy a great American city, let alone the nation’s capital. And let’s just also address another thing. All these demonstrators you’ve seen out here in recent days, all these elderly white hippies, they’re not part of the city and never have been. And by the way, most of the citizens who live in Washington, D.C., are Black. So we’re going to ignore these stupid white hippies that all need to go home and take a nap because they’re all over 90 years old.”
…
Not only is that not true but it’s a supremely weird thing to say... for anyone else. On brand for him though. Because it kind of gives the whole thing away. That’s why they’re there in the first place.
These morons…
Bad people. And also morons.
You can be both!
Epstein Files
On Wednesday, yet another Federal judge rejected the Trump administration’s request to overturn the grand jury testimony transcripts from the Epstein trial. So far, every judge has done so because of the long history of jury secrecy and noted that the government has not met the extraordinary exceptions necessary to unseal the transcripts.
As a reminder, the House Oversight Committee is due to release some of the Department of Justice’s files soon, after receiving them tomorrow (and then reviewing and redacting anything needed).
Texas House Dems tried to use the Epstein files to buy themselves a little time with what was at that time the upcoming gerrymandered map vote, by adding it as an amendment to the bill which said if the map passed the Epstein documents would be made public.
It was killed on a procedural vote.
When reached for a comment, the Democrats said drats. Eh, we tried. Come on, they knew it wouldn’t pass.
Texas
-via The Hill and Texas Tribune
Speaking of Texas, after being trapped in the capitol for two days because she wouldn’t sign a permission slip, state House Democrat Nicole Collier was on a call with the DNC on Wednesday when she had to quickly leave the call after being told she was committing a felony.
In the call she was heard speaking to someone off camera, telling them “You told me I was only allowed to be here in the bathroom,” before returning to the call to say, “They said it’s a felony for me to do this. Apparently I can’t be on the floor or in a bathroom.”
It’s unclear at this time what felony she was committing, by being in the bathroom. As I record this, that has not yet been clarified.
Obviously she’s being targeted for taking a stand but are we now saying that democrats are not allowed to do their job at all? Are there places in the capitol that this sitting House rep is not allowed to be? Are they not going to let her vote?
When we know more, we’ll know more but this small situation feels a little more serious every time we hear another detail.
Meanwhile, in very unsurprising news, Texas’ gerrymandered map passed through the House on a party line vote on Wednesday.
It now heads to Governor Abbott’s desk for signature.
Listen… we knew. We knew this map would pass.
The democrats did the right thing. They fought. They refused to stand idly by and just do sign off. It was always going to pass, but sometimes you gotta get messy even when you know you’re gonna loss a battle in the middle of a war.
This is a temporary loss.
These seats are not guaranteed.
It has never been more important to remember this one fact: nothing is decided until we decide it is. No election is decided until Election Day.
Have your little celebration. Gather around Abbott’s desk and watch him sign his little signature.
Nothing is decided until we decide it is.
No election is decided until Election Day.
This whole thing turns on turnout.
And that’s it. That’s the news.
I’m proud of Texas democrats. They tried! What are they supposed to do? Nothing? Sit around and allow fascism without a fight?
Absolutely not.
I’m also proud of… I don’t know. I’m also proud of spumoni. It’s national spumoni day and I don’t know what it is but it looks a little like neopalitan ice cream and now that’s what I want. But more than neopalitan ice cream, because you don’t confuse me… I’m proud of you.