08/03/26
Title
Good morning! It’s Monday, August 3rd.
National Friendship Day
Wait… Didn’t we just do this one? Last Thursday was International Day of Friendship
How many dang days of friendship do we need? Come on!!
And now, the news.
Idaho Shooting
-via NY Times and Gun Violence Archive
We start how we start here in America, with at least two people dead and at least five others injured after a gunman, who is also dead, opened fire inside an In-n-Out on Saturday afternoon.
It appears, at this time, that the shooting was random based on witness statements. It’s unclear how the shooter died but one witness said he saw the shooter exchanging gunfire with someone else, who appeared to be trying to stop him.
This was the 277th mass shooting of the year. Today is the 215th day of the year.
Update: Iran
Moving to Iran – after Trump literally said it was “our turn” to strike Iran because he… is him, he has called off the strikes because he now says talks are in progress again.
Iranian state media has given no indication that that’s the case on their end. Trump also said part of the talks included reopening the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has also not appeared to have changed their vibe on. (Their vibe of course, being… no. We will not be doing that.)
As the Strait remains closed, OPEC+, which is the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, has given the thumbs up to increasing oil production next month to an additional 188,000 barrels a day. This is their sixth agreement to increase production since Trump started a war in Iran to distract from the fact that he’s in the Epstein files. Or, I mean… whatever he says the reason is this week.
Israeli Strikes in Gaza
-via NBC News
In Gaza, despite Trump calling himself the captain of peace, the strip has seen two days in a row of airstrikes from Israel. On Sunday, Israeli airstrikes killed at least 13 Palestinians.
In total, since October’s ceasefire, at least 1,230 Palestinians have been killed. In that same time period, four Israeli soldiers have been killed. Now, to be clear, some of those 1,230 could be Hamas militants – Hamas doesn’t disclose those figures. But Netanyahu is doing a genocide in Gaza and we’re talking about 1,230 to 4.
Israel’s Energy Minister told Israel’s Army Radio that it would give Hamas the opportunity to disarm but he was skeptical it would happen. However, he also said there was no idea to stop the attacks on Gaza and that he saw the need for Israel to take full control of Gaza if Hamas didn’t disarm.
Hamas has said Israeli troops need to pull back and stop the attacks in Gaza before they hand their weapons over to a new Palestinian body to run Gaza.
A classic impasse. Don’t worry, luckily DONALD TRUMP is the only leading the charge here so… that’s… everyone should feel much better now.
Helicopter Crash in Greece
And as fires in France and Greece continue to burn across the countries, further tragedy struck on Sunday when two firefighting helicopters crashed on Sunday, killing a Danish pilot and a Greek fire service liaison officer, as the 2ndhelicopter was able to make an emergency landing.
They were flying into danger to save people they didn’t know and a country that one of them wasn’t even from. May their memories be a blessing and these fires be out quickly.
And here in America, at least 600 structures have been destroyed by three major wildfires in Washington state, with officials warning that the fires moved so quickly, “there is potential for loss of life.” A state of emergency has been declared.
This is the worst fire season for the Pacific Northwest in more than 30 years.
And here in Los Angeles… it’s really hot! Like… it’s SO hot. And we went to dinner this weekend around a hibachi table. What were we thinking? We were thinking about how much we love our friend Siera (she doesn’t listen to this podcast)… but also… just thinking about it right now I’m about to start sweating again!
House Drama
Family drama spilled out into the news over the weekend when Senator Bernie Moreno said posted that his former son-in-law, and current House Rep, Max Miller, who is currently in a very public divorce and custody battle with Moreno’s daughter, should “seek professional help” and “if there are any basic standards of character required to hold elected office, Max Miller fails them. He should not serve in the House of Representatives.”
He also said Miller “needs serious psychological help. He is a danger to my daughter, and I hold my breath every minute he has custody of my granddaughter.”
Miller denies the allegations of abuse, and says he has nothing to do with their, and be prepared, this is upsetting to hear, 2-year-old daughter’s broken collarbone that ultimately led Miller’s now-ex-wife to call authorities.
He says he’ll stay in the race – he has until Wednesday to drop out.
And while we all and very confident that Mitch McConnell is totally healthy and fine and I’m sure that’ll be the announcement we hear tomorrow or today, once the deadline for a special election in Kentucky passes, there’s actually another member of Congress that’s also been MIA since mid-June and he’s been able to kind of get away with it because we’ve been paying attention to Mitchy boi.
The man’s name is Neal Dunn, he’s a Republican who represents Panama City, Florida. Between June 11th and June 30th, he missed 11 consecutive roll call votes. Last year he already said he wouldn’t be seeking reelection and then at a White House gathering, Trump told people that Dunn had “terminal” heart issues and had undergone emergency surgery at Walter Reed, adding that without proper care “he would be dead by June.”
Now, Dunn is a human being so that’s not funny. But what is funny is that Trump said it and Speaker Johnson said, “Okay, that wasn’t public.”
Like… can someone confirm if they gave him fake nuclear code? No way he has the real ones, right?
Anyway, he’s not a real public guy anyway but when he was in the House he would ride around in a scooter but no one’s seen him and taken a picture of him since mid-June and there’s no word on when he’ll be back.
People are going to start asking questions about him soon and I’ll be very curious how many House leaders will have had a 20-minute conversation with him as well.
Capital One Closes Trump Accounts
-via NPR
Here’s something… On Friday, Capital One bank asked a federal judge to dismiss a suit from the Trump Organization over the bank closing hundreds of their accounts back in 2021. The Trumps said it was retaliation for the time Trump did insurrection (because remember the time he instigated an insurrection because he lost an election and people died and they ran a confederate flag through our US Capitol for the first time in history all because he lost an election fair and square?).
Well it turns out Capital One has new papers showing the closing of the accounts was because of a monthslong anti-money-laundering review.
They were laundering money. And Capital One was like – heeeeeeeey. We don’t want to be a part of this. We’re gonna close the accounts.
One top of that, first of all, Capital One is allowed to close an account for any reason so actually they could have closed it for the insurrection and not wanting to be associated with an insurrectionist who, also, has been found liable for sexual assault and who a child sex predator called his best friend, and they would have been well within their rights, per their contract. However, they didn’t. They did it because of the money laundering. The money laundering the president and his family and organization were doing.
Beyond that, though, the bank didn’t publicize why they closed the account which, kind of, seems like a nice thing to do for Trump. Plus they gave them a ton of extensions to find a new bank or mattress to put their money in.
But last month, the Trump Organization added a new claim… the bank defrauded them by staying silent about the money laundering thing. But the problem there is the federal banking-secrecy law, which keeps certain information secret.
So they’re still gonna duke this one out in court, but the point is… the accounts were closed because the Trump Organization, to the shock of no one, was laundering money.
Neat president. Great choice, everyone.
Reflecting Pool
-via The Hill
And finally… please let this be the last story about the Reflecting Pool I ever do but…
On Friday the Department of Justice moved to drop the charges against the Olympian they said damaged the Reflecting Pool and instead said it was a “rushed and botched installation” job.
And Trump is so mad about it! Which is so funny!
This is what he wrote on Temu Twitter about Jeanine Pirro, who, somehow, is the US Attorney - “I don’t know what she was thinking? To me, it was a pure case of VANDALISM. … There may have been some contractor difficulty, but the major damage was caused by VANDALS!”
Well, I mean… you drove on it before it was even cured so… you know… you could be the vandal. You do a lot of crimes. You probably just forgot about this one.
And then on Sunday Senator Kennedy made it all even better by saying he doesn’t know if Trump actually believes vandals damaged the Reflecting Pool or not, or if it’s just his political messaging. But: “He exists loudly, and he grows anxious when he has an unexpressed thought. I’m not saying he doesn’t really believe it, I just don’t know.”
Great. Great choice of a president, I think.
And that’s it. That’s the news.
Hey, I was kidding before. I think all the days should be friendship days. Be obsessed with your friends, otherwise what’s the point of any of this?
Oh also, if you’re listening to this with your ears… you can listen with your eyes again. Against my better instincts, and at the request of no one… the show is back on YouTube. Why not.
Wine not.
The channel is Kimmoffatishere, like TikTok because, not unlike on TikTok… I think I have @Kimmoffat but I just don’t know how to log in.
You can go to kimmoffat.com/thenews and get the link there.
I’m proud of friendship. Obviously. Duh. And not more than, but because of… because this podcast wouldn’t exist without it, without the friendship of Ashley Dylan Zazzarino and us have zero emotional boundaries… I’m proud of you.