05/08/26
Good morning! It’s Friday, May 8th
My mom’s birthday! And the Friday before Mother’s Day! And it’s nurse’s week!
A day for a Debi!
And now, the news.
Update: Iran
-via AP News and The Guardian
Starting in Iran, where the United States says Iranian attacks on three Navy ships in the Strait of Hormuz have been intercepted, with the US then targeting Iranian military facilities that were responsible for the attacks.
Despite these attacks, the ceasefire continues. Mayhaps because no US assets were hit. Mayhaps because Trump is just bored of this so the ceasefire can continue because he doesn’t care anymore.
Either way, a little strike exchange between friends on a Thursday I guess.
A classic misunderstanding.
Meade Found Guilty
-via CNN
In Ohio, Jason Meade, the white former sheriff’s deputy was found guilty of reckless homicide in the for shooting and killing Casey Goodson Jr, a 23-year-old Black man who was bringing sandwiches to his grandmother. Meade said he saw Goodson holding a gun, so he shot him six times. But no one else saw him holding a gun and the threat couldn’t have been that severe because he was shot once in the side and the other five shots… were in his BACK.
In the end, he had keys and a bag of Subway sandwiches in his hands.
His gun was in a holster and found there, under his body.
Sentencing is scheduled for July 16th. Meade faces up to 5 years in prison.
Tariffs Lose Again
-via Washington Post and Politico
On Thursday, Trump’s tariffs lost in court yet again when a panel of federal judges ruled that the 10% tax that we would pay on most US imports was a violation of the law.
The decision would, theoretically, put new limits on Trump’s trading powers, but although the court ruled them illegal, they also only specifically blocked them from being used against small businesses and well as the states that have already sued, questioning their legitimacy.
Trump is headed to China next week and tariffs were expected to be a major point of conversation between Trump and Xi Jinping, so this undercuts Trump’s position in this conversation.
Although honestly, Trump does that to himself because when it comes to tariffs, he’s always like “and I tariff you 50 million percent” and then, day of, he’s like “what if I just gave you a high five instead? My hands only have a little bit of makeup on them today. Don’t worry about the fact that my suit is ill-fitting around my wrist.”
For example, on Thursday he threatened the EU with a two-month deadline to implement a trade deal with the US or he would increase tariffs to “much higher levels.”
Actually, what he said specifically was: “I agreed to give her until our Country’s 250th Birthday or, unfortunately, their Tariffs would immediately jump to much higher levels.”
He’s obsessed with the 4th of July.
He is the biggest dork.
I like the 4th, don’t get me wrong! But he’s being so weird about it. He really for real thinks this is for him. America will continue on without him. I know it’s hard to remember that sometimes but I promise – there is an America without Trump.
Anyway, he gave the EU this deadline but who knows if he’ll actually follow through.
Hegseth Poised to Lose
-via The Hill
On Thursday, the three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit questioned the Pentagon over its assertion that Senator Mark Kelly should be militarily punished for exercising his free speech when he reminded active duty service members that they took an oath not to break the law or disobey the Constitution (and immediately Trump was like “that means they’ll be disobeying a command from me!” So like… will you be telling them to break the law and/or disobey the Constitush??)
From the bench, one of the judges said: “You’re saying that, if he wants to speak freely, he should discharge himself, which means giving up his retirement pay, giving up his rank, giving up all of those things. That that is the price that our military retirees and veterans should pay if they want to speak freely?”
The Department of Justice argues that free speech is different for active and retired military.
The judges have not ruled as of this recording but, based on their questioning, it doesn’t sound like it’ll go in the DOJ’s favor.
ICE Violated Court Order
-via NY Times
In other court order news… last December, Judge Howell wrote that DHS and ICE officials have been making arrests without warrants and beyond their scope of business.
The following month, Todd Lyons, the acting director of ICE, sent out a memo saying all ICE personnel could arrest anyone they thought might “escape” and they could do so without a warrant.
Which is not what the judge’s order said.
In February, groups returned to the judge to note that ICE is still making these unlawful arrested and on Thursday Judge Howell released a 45-page order saying that the Trump administration violated that original court order.
No punishment against the government was imposed in the order (some would say we’re living the punishment ourselves. Right now. In real time.), with the Judge (for now) just reminding the administration, and ICE, that they do, in fact, need to follow the law. Wild as it may seem.
Trump’s Pardons Under Investigation
-via CBS News
And speaking of the laws the administration is breaking… Senate and House Democrats have launched an investigation into whether pardons and commutations that Trump has issued thus far were pay-to-play, noting that Trump's acts of clemency end up "depriving victims of compensation and justice." Literally, when he commutes these sentences for people like a cryptocurrency billionaire, he’s also eliminated hundreds of millions of dollars in money owed to crime victims, as well as fines.
In the example of that cryptocurrency billionaire, he founded a crypto exchange Binance, which then went on to partner with World Liberty Financial, a crypto company founded by the Trump and Witkoff families. According to Thursday’s filing: "Public reporting also indicates that you and Binance played an important role in brokering a massive investment in the Trump family's crypto business, surging the Trump Stablecoin to a $2.1 billion valuation."
In another example, a man was pardoned for Medicare fraud and therefore didn’t need to payback the $680 he owed shareholders. That happened after he donated at least $3 million to Trump.
And I’ll be honest, it looks bad for Trump. But I just have a hard time believing he’d do money crimes. Especially while serving at the president…
No no… I’m kidding… he’s totally guilty. He’s done so many crimes!
John Roberts – Never Not the Worst
And finally, as Tennessee Republicans passed their new carved up and gerrymandered map that splits one county into three and removes the only democratic district in the state, Chief Justice John Roberts, whose legacy will be the desecration of the Voting Rights Act because at every single turn, any time voting rights are before the court, Roberts is always voting against them, would like us all to know… he’s cool with that.
At a conference on Thursday he defended the ruling saying people, “view us as truly political actors which I don’t think is an accurate understanding of what we do.”
True, you don’t set policy. You rule on it.
But when you make decisions like this, when you deliberately rule outside of the lines of the case you were specifically asked to rule on, so that you case break apart the Voting Rights Act, which you’ve done twice now, and in a different case, so that you can take away abortion rights… you are also a policy actor.
So don’t bring me your games, your putz. You know what you did. You’ll have to live with it forever. You suck. And frankly, you cut your hair too short for your face.
And that’s it. That’s the news.
I’m proud of my mom! Can you imagine having to put up with me for however many years old you think I am? (Careful… I’m very young!) You listen to this podcast, you get it.
But more than… ohmygod can you imagine? She’s not even in the same country as me right now and I think I’d still be grounded.
More than coconut cream pie (it’s National Coconut Cream Pie Day today too)… because I’m coconuts about you… I’m proud of you.