07/23/26
Title
Do Your Thing, Baby Boo
Good morning! It’s Thursday, July 23rd.
National Sprinkle Day
Man. How great are sprinkles? A Funfetti cake?! Yes please!
And now, the news.
Update: Iran
-via AP News, Washington Post, AP News, and NY Times
Starting overseas with a few pieces of news about our very own captain of peace – President Trump.
In Iran, Trump warned that the US will destroy one bridge or powerplant each time Iran shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz.
To which Iran said, yeah cool that’s fine. No worries. Do your thing baby boo.
Jkjk they said: “Any aggression against Iran, including our infrastructure, will compel a powerful and decisive response.”
Uh oh!
Hey you know something interesting about bridges and power plants? That’s targeting citizens more than anything else. Which is why international law mostly prohibits attacking infrastructure unless it’s being used for the military.
So right now we’ve got… that happening. But right now it’s all talk and while it’s not GREAT talk. It’s not UNSCARY talk… remember that Trump has the Taco nickname for a reason. Trump DOES chicken out. And that’s a good thing. He backs down.
So we’ll see. But that’s where things stand there.
Staying in the Middle East with Trump – the Trump administration has signed a deal with Saudi Arabia that officials say will help the kingdom, led by a man who killed an American journalist, enrich its own fuel for nuclear reactors.
As a reminder, Trump started this whole mess in Iran because he was so worried about Iran having nuclear weapons. But this new agreement means Saudi Arabia could eventually enrich uranium for a civilian nuclear program. (Though the difference is that it would be under a framework that includes U.S. involvement and legal nonproliferation safeguards.) But still.
So… not okay for Iran, but okay for Saudi Arabia?
This still needs to be approved by Congress.
Side note, and this is I’m sure not related at all – Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, is buddies with Saudi Arabia’s crown prince MBS and, in fact, his private equity firm received a $2 billion investment from the Saudi sovereign wealth fund after leaving the White House in 2021.
But again, I’m sure that’s just a coincidence and this potential deal, which will ultimately put money in select US company pockets, has something to do with Trump’s shady business dealings.
And finally, Trump’s added an EIGHTH country to his wish list – Mali, a country in West Africa, is on his list now apparently, as he weighs military action against an al-Qaeda affiliated group that operates in the country.
Remember when he said, "I’m not going to start a war. I’m going to stop wars."
That’s wild. This is like… this is the opposite. Someone should probably tell him that.
Officials in the administration have not decided either way.
House Advances Budget
On Wednesday, the House, which just this past June finally passed the War Powers Resolution Act, which would have limited Trump’s power in Iran, passed a bill that would have provided $95 billion for the war in Iran.
Great job.
Way to have a spine!
This budget bill, which also included aid to farmers and, of course, parts of the SAVE America Act, was adopted on a 216-214 vote.
So – it’s tight.
It now heads to the Senate, where its path to success is less clear because even though they’ve used the reconciliation way, meaning they don’t need democrats to do it (because they don’t want to actually do governing; they want to just do hijinks), not every Republican senator is a guaranteed yet. For example, Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski wrote an op-ed saying she’s opposed to it, noting “it would have serious negative effects in Alaska, and the current text doesn’t allow for the time and resources needed for proper implementation.”
North Carolina’s Thom Tillis and Maine’s Susan Collins are also against it. Suze is in for the fight of her political life this November and will need to appeal to as many middle-of-the-aisle voters as possible so she can’t vote for it.
Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell was also against it, may his memory be a warning.
Hey! Come on! Hey, dare you!
I had a 20-minute conversation with him the morning. He did 75 jumping jacks while holding a toddler on his pinkie.
So the path to success for this bill was already a tough one.
And it’s not like they’re taking it seriously!
Because do you know what else was in this $1.15 trillion defense policy bill? “We’ve got money for wars, but can't feed the poor.” (Got that right Tupac)
Money for wars, voter disenfranchisement, and also…
Money to officially change the Department of Defense to the Department of War. A project that is estimated to cost you and I $125 million. $125 million because Pete Hegseth doesn’t feel like the tough little boy he isn’t.
It also makes it easier for servicemembers to carry privately owned guns on military bases. Because nothing bad has ever come from that.
I wonder how the House would have voted, if they actually voted their conscience instead of trying to appease dear leader…
Your reminder that every single seat in the House, all 435 of them, are on the ballot this November. And we’re coming for every. Single. One of them.
Noah Wells
-via NBC News
An independent autopsy of Noah Wells, performed by a coroner that his parents’ legal team hired, has found that his cause of death is still “undetermined,” pending an investigation; however foul play could not be ruled out.
A red discoloration was found on the back of his head, however the complete autopsy couldn’t be completed because this was the 2nd one done. So, for example, because this was the 2nd autopsy, Noah’s lungs couldn’t be directly observed so that coroner couldn’t say whether there was water in his lungs when Noah died, which would be a vital piece of the story.
The state coroner says they’re still working on that autopsy. The toxicology is still not back either.
The family’s lawyer, Ben Crump, summed all of this up very well: “This is only another part of the puzzle, and even though it tells us significant information, we still have more questions than we have answers at this time.”
And that’s it. That’s the news.