06/16/26

Good morning! It’s Tuesday, June 16th.

National Fudge Day

You know who used to make great fudge? My grandma. She made great fudge, liked talking about politics, and would have been blown away by the internet. Like, she had seen just a little bit of it, but the way it is right now? She would have totally had a podcast. 

…dang. It probably would have been better than mine, maybe. 

Wait, no that’s not true. This is literally the greatest news podcast in the world.

It would have been good, though.

And now, the news.

B-52 Bomber Crash

-via ABC News

Starting at Edwards Air Force Base, where eight people are dead after a B-52 bomber crashed shortly after takeoff during a "routine test mission" on Monday morning.

The cause of the crash is being investigated.

Gov. Newsom Being Investigated

-via AP News

And staying in California – California’s Governor Newsom announced on Monday that federal agents have knocked on the doors of his friends and former employees and have asked for records (though he didn’t say which records they were looking for), saying that Newsom and his wife are under a politically motivated investigation.

He says this is because, after years of saying he would never do it, it wasn’t on his mind, and what on earth are you thinking for asking – turns out (and you’ll be shocked to hear this breaking news), “He’s coming after me because I’m considering running for president, because he hates that I’ve consistently called him out over and over again for his lies and deceit.”

Wait. He’s thinking about running for president?? Gavin Newsom?

Shocking. Truly shocking. 

Interestingly, a person familiar with the matter said there’s no investigation into Gavs specifically, but there are investigations happening regarding people around him, including one looking at his wife’s taxes (which began last year and, according to this person, was started by federal law enforcement officials in California).

Another is related to his former chief of staff, who pleaded guilty in May to her involvement in a scheme to steal campaign money from Xavier Becerra. That investigation was started by Biden’s DOJ.

So this one is a tricky one because if there’s one thing Trump’s going to do, it’s… well, if there’s one thing he’s going to do, it’s either a constitutional crisis, sexual assault, insurrection, racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, all the -isms and -obias. But another thing is that he loves doing political investigations. 

On the other hand, it’s a little different from what Trump has done in the past. This isn’t a direct investigation, like in the case of James Comey or Letisha James.

Newsom is saying this is coming directly from Trump. “One by one, anyone who has challenged Donald Trump has ended up on his hit list, and today I proudly join that list.” But the investigation into his wife's taxes reportedly began last year through federal officials in California and the one into his former chief of staff was investigated by Biden's Justice Department.

And to be so crystal clear: if true, any investigations for political retribution's sake is bad. 

But it’s also possible that there are investigations happening and both Trump and Newsom after getting some sweet PR out of it. 

To be continued, I guess.

Update: Iran

-via NPR

As we head to Friday and a maybe, hopefully, we’ll see, peace deal between us and Iran, Trump is in France for a G7 meeting. In a meeting with France’s President Macron, Trump said "the deal's all signed."

Wait… a deal’s signed??

The main signing is still set to take place on Friday, and it sounds like we still won’t know the deets of the deal until then. But the plan is for the signing to happen on Friday and then that will start the clock on 60 days of ceasefire and buttoning up the final negotiations re: Iran’s nuclear stockpile.

However, we do know that one condition is an end to the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, who have continued to fight on a daily basis, even today.

We also know that Iran's Revolutionary Guard said that, per the agreement, they will receive half of the $24 billion (or so) in frozen funds before those final negotiations begin. However, a U.S. official said earlier that Iran won’t get any of that money until it demonstrates compliance with the deal's terms.

So that’s $12 billion in the air, where both sides aren’t sure about the timing.

So, we’ll see what the rest of the week, and then Friday, brings.

And that’s it. That’s the news.

A pretty slow news day.

I’m proud of fudge. When done well, it’s great. 

But more than fudge, because sometimes you might be a little nutty, but you’re never less than perfect… I’m proud of you.