06/17/26

Good morning! It’s Wednesday, June 17th

National Eat Your Vegetables Day

Ugh. More like national lecture me day, amiright?

And now, the news.

Delaware Hospital Shooting

-via ABC News

We start how we start here in America, with one person dead, another injured, and a manhunt underway after a shooting at a Wilmington, Delaware hospital. Police have not released the status of the two victims, but they do believe this was strictly a workplace shooting, done by a temporary employee.

Senate War Powers Fail to Advance

-via AP News

In a move that can only be referred to as “classic” – after passing through the House in a move that circumvented Speaker Johnson because he was going to prevent it from ever going to the floor for a vote but apparently they felt so confident it would pass so they played the power card, the Senate gave a big ol thumbs down to telling Trump no to doing war on a 47-48 vote, with four Republicans joining most (but not all!) Democrats to limit Trump’s war powers. 

This is the NINTH time the Senate has tried to pass the war powers resolution. 

Crossing party lines to vote yes were Republicans Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, the perpetually concerned Susan Collins of Maine, Rand Paul of Kentucky, and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana.

Crossing party lines to vote no was, you guessed it, Democrat John Fetterman of Pennsylvania. 

Listen dude – just call yourself an Independent at this point. 

Democrat Tim Kaine of Virginia has vowed to keep pushing forward on a weekly basis until this gets passed.

Five Senators missed the vote, including Mitch McConnell who may or may not still be in the hospital – it sounds like he is. But no one is saying why he went to the hospital, when he’ll be back in the Senate, or anything else. 

Super cool and normal vibes from the Republicans, as always. Because look, I don’t need a HIPPA violation. But we definitely deserve to know if one of the top Republican Senators, who is 84 years old and who we have literally watched buffer live on television multiple times, is healthy enough to be one of just 100 people making some pretty major decisions about the future of our country. 

Ballroom Will Cost Tax Dollars

-via Washington Post

After demolishing the East Wing because no one in the entire world has ever been safe, and never will be, frankly, until a ballroom that looks like it was designed by a 5-year-old in The Sims with a bunker underneath it is built in its place, Trump assured everyone that even though all of that was likely illegal because he never asked Congress and overbudget – at least he said it wouldn’t cost us anything. And if there’s one thing we can trust with Trump, it’s…

Nothing. We can trust nothing.

Because even though he said, just as recently as March 31st: “This is taxpayer-free. We have no taxpayer putting up 10 cents.”

The truth is, based on a Washington Post report that looked at a project summary prepared for the White House, half of the $600 million price tag will be covered by taxpayers.

That price tag is also $200 million more than he originally said it would cost. 

So congratulations everyone – we own a ballroom now I guess!

Group Arrested in Terror Plot

-via BBC

Five people across four states were arrested last week on charges of conspiracy to commit murder after the FBI thwarted their plans targeting Sunday’s UFC fight thing in DC, an attack that would have included striking buildings near the event with explosive-laden drones, as well as firing on “high-value targets.”

The group wanted to “jumpstart” a revolution and had previously discussed "grievances about government corruption, the handling of the Epstein files, data centers taking up all the water in communities, and other government actions” and wanted "to protect the United States, which they believed was headed in the wrong direction.”

A preliminary hearing for the group is scheduled for June 29th – each suspect faces a maximum penalty of life in prison and a $250,000 fine.

This news broke Tuesday morning – a shock to everyone, including the secret service, who was shocked that FBI director Kash Patel had released the information early via Twitter.

Just one small problem – as Patel was busy thanking the DOJ and law enforcement, not all suspects had been arrested and the case was still sealed in court. 

Five people have been arrested.

BUT THERE WERE 23 OTHERS IN THE NETWORK that were being looked at! Gee, I wonder if they’ll just hang out at home and wait for a knock on their doors. 

Appearing to comment on Patel’s fumble on Tuesday, Secret Service deputy director said, “I’ll tell you a phrase I learned early in my career in the New York field office and that’s ‘Don’t choke on your own smoke.’”

Patel learned a different phrase: Even when you do something right, you still gotta mess it up somehow.

Reflecting Pool Lives Up to Its Name

-via The Guardian

After spending about $13 million to fix the Reflecting Pool, and paint it “American flag blue” (be lamer, seriously man), the Reflecting Pool is… green.

It’s green again! 

Come on, I’m sorry but that’s funny! It’s due to an algae bloom. So now the park service is trying to clean it up.

This was already a whole thing because Trump did a no-bid contract so honestly, this pool guy could just be a buddy – well, no he doesn’t really have those. But who knows how much experience this pool guy has. Well, we know they have some - previously, the company has repaired pools at Trump’s Virginia golf club.

I don’t have anything else to say here but it’s so funny to me that all this money was wasted (well that part’s not funny) to turn this pool American flag blue – all for it to be green just like that. 

Trump Breaks up Dept of Education

-via NY Times

After planning UFC fights and turning the Reflecting Pool green, Trump moved on to… breaking up the Department of Education.

On Tuesday he announced that a plan to move programs for disabled students into the Health and Human Services Department and the enforcement of civil rights laws in schools to the Justice Department.

So don’t worry, everyone – those are the exact departments you want for those programs!

Eliminating the DOE would require an act of Congress (I don’t know why he’s pretending like Congress wouldn’t just roll over for Dear Leader). 

But the union that represents about 2,000 current and former DOE workers argues this move is an attempt to “unlawfully dismantle the Education Department.” Adding, “This isn’t efficiency; it’s chaos.”

Meanwhile, the president of the National Parents Union has a different, though just as salient, point. Saying: “Moving special education to Health and Human Services risks treating disabilities as medical conditions rather than protecting students’ legal right to a free and appropriate public education. Shifting civil rights enforcement to the Justice Department turns parents seeking support into potential litigants. Families didn’t ask for lawsuits. They asked for their children to be educated.”

What a great thing to be doing to kids who didn’t choose any of this and just want an education.

And that’s it. That’s the news.

I’m proud of vegetables. Some of them. Broccoli. 

Green beans.

Cauliflower when it’s being cauliflower. Oh or when it’s being buffalo cauliflower. Not when it’s trying to be like… pizza or ice cream or whatever.

But more than that. More than cauliflower pizza crust. Because you’re confident and know exactly who you are… I’m proud of you.