07/24/26

Title

Thanks Thommy.

Good morning! It’s Friday, July 24th.

National Tequila Day

Well. Well. Well.

Well well well well well.

What a day. What a world. What a life! 

And now, the news.

Update: Iran

-via NBC News and The Guardian

Starting in Iran, where, after the House voted on Wednesday to give $95 million more to the Iranian war, they turned around and, on Thursday and to pass the War Powers Resolution Act again which would limit Trump’s power in Iran.

Pick. A. Lane!

And it passed 214-208… it passed more than the budget bill did yesterday. These dorks!

It then went to the Senate, where, even though they passed it in June, those jambrones voted it down again. It was voted down 47-49. Susan Collins and John Fetterman did an aisle switcharoo. And then Katie Britt, Lisa Murkowski, and Rand Paul were super brave and didn’t vote and all. And of course, Mitch McConnell didn’t vote, but he’s down there, wishing he could.

These are the least serious people. Because the Senate didn’t vote to approve the War Powers Resolution Act BUT they do say the war shouldn’t go on for more than 60 days. Starting… now. Why? Well according to Thom Thills: “July 10, to my knowledge, is the first time I heard anyone in the administration refer to it as a war.” So now that people are calling it a war, “The clock is ticking. We got to get serious about that. I think politically, we can help the president with an unpopular war right now if we provide some legitimacy to it.”

First of all, on March 7th Trump said: "We're winning the war, by a lot."

So Thommy Thills is lying. 

But also… NOW you’re getting serious?? Great. Thanks Thommy. 

Meanwhile, Trump says he is: “considering a massive attack. Bigger than ever before. I am close to making a decision. We are all set for it.”

What’s it like in that brain? Bad, probably. 

More DOE Changes

-via AP News

Modeling the core of the Supreme Court ruling that took a huge chunk out of the Voting Rights Act, the Department of Education now says that school policies that disproportionately affect one group of students will no longer be considered discriminatory unless that discrimination is intentional.

This is the same basis of the ruling in Louisiana v. Callais (kuh-LAY) – look I know this district looks like it was racially drawn because it packs every Black voter in the state into one district that looks like a Rorschach test but it was about race so… we’re good.

So now teachers and schools and policies can discriminate as much as they want and just say, oh well no… I didn’t mean to.

Classic from this administration.

Jack Smith

-via CBS News

Late Wednesday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, who used to be a college wrestling coach and ignored his athletes when they told him they were being sexually abused by their team doctor which isn’t a part of this story but it should be tied to his name forever, formally referred Coach Beard, aka former special counsel Jack Smith, to the Justice Department for prosecution, claiming that when Coach Beard testified, he lied when he said he didn’t seek a search warrant to access text messages from members of Congress.

In his testimony, he said he only asked for something called "toll records," which are logs that contain things like the originating phone number; the number called; and the date, time and length of the call. Toll records do not contain the content of calls or text messages.

Republicans say Coach deceived them because he didn’t tell them that he got access to texts from 44 members of Congress, most of whom were Republicans. Prosecutors on Smith's team got those texts by asking the National Archives to turn over cellphone data for White House personnel as part of a separate documents request.

LAWYERED

Famously a non-lawyer.

Famously a Legally Blonde 2: Red, White, and Blonde expert.

Those are two separate things. 

Let give you a piece of super basic legal advice I learned on The West Wing that perfectly sums up why this is such an obvious non-starter here.

If you’re on the stand being cross-examined, and the lawyer asks if you know what time it is, and you do, you don’t tell them what time it is. You just say yes.

You don’t give more information than you’re being asked. 

When Coach Beard said he didn’t for the texts when he asked for the toll records, that wasn’t a lie. He didn’t need to volunteer more information. That’s not illegal. That’s not a lie. 

The problem is that they just… didn’t ask the right questions. That’s not Coach Beard’s fault. He’s not there to help the prosecution. 

So we’ll see how far this goes. These are not smart people.

New Tariffs

-via NPR

Happy Friday, everything’s getting tariffed!

Trump is putting tariffs of between 10% and 12.5% on imports from 60 countries, which make up 99% of U.S. imports, claiming those countries have inadequately enforced bans on goods produced by forced labor.

So… here’s the thing.

Two things can be true.

According to the U.N. agency focused on human and labor rights, about 27.6 million people were in forced labor worldwide on any given day in 2021. This is a very serious problem. 

And after announcing these upcoming taxes last month, India’s original 12.5% tariff dropped to 10% because the country made changes. 

However, Martina Vandenberg, founder and president of The Human Trafficking Legal Center, says that while import bans and tariffs can be helpful, these countries need to be given time so that they can implement real, sustainable change.

Additionally, I think it’s worth looking closely at these tariffs because Trump’s tariffs fail in court… except these. This specific type of tariff falls under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, and permits import taxes and other sanctions against countries found to engage in "unjustifiable," "unreasonable" or "discriminatory" trade practices. He used this method to impose big tariffs on China in his first term, and they survived court challenges.

Because ultimately these taxes punish US. You and me. 

These new taxes start today.

Congrats to everyone who held their nose and voted for Trump because they thought he’d be good for the economy.

NY Times Journalists

-via NY Times

On Thursday, the Department of Justice tossed the subpoenas for the New York Times journalists who reported on the security concerns re: Trump’s Qatari-built/gifted Air Force One.

Asking journalist to give up their sources is, obviously, a huge thing. 

The Times argued that not only did the Trump administration act in bad faith by issuing the subpoenas that sought phone records, but they also acted in bad faith by not giving the journalists a heads-up. 

Ultimately, the reason they were tossed is because of the incredibly sloppy work on the government’s side. For example, they sought the records of one of the reporter’s moms, who happens to be a mental health professional with confidential client relationships. They also tried to get the phone records from the spouse of a reporter, who is the general counsel of a law firm. So getting those records would have exposed a lot of sensitive information. 

How are they so bad at everything? I mean, don’t get me wrong. It’s good because we can’t go around subpoenaing journalists but still like… how are they do bad at everything???

Anyway, good news for these journalists and journalism in general.

And that’s it. That’s the news.

Hey real quick… no news on Monday. I gotta go see a Vegas about a Kelly Clarkson.

Speaking of Vegas-- 

I’m proud of… tequila. We love a decision maker. We love boldness. 

We love 3oz of tequila, 1 ½ oz lime juice, 8oz sparking water, and a sprinkle of salt of top.

But more than tequila, because you’re never a bad decision… I’m proud of you.