09/01/26

Title

Contained in the Whooshes

Good morning! It’s Tuesday, September 1st.

Cherry Popover Day

Oh is it now, Bri’ish? More like, why don’t you pop over here and bring me one, because they sound delicious. 

And now, the news.

SCOTUS’ Ballroom

-via CBS News

Starting with the Supreme Court which, on Monday, ruled 5-4 that the 90,000 sq ft White House ballroom, which was supposed to cost us $0 but will cost us hundreds of millions in taxpayer money, and was supposed to be approved by Congress but instead Trump just started knocking walls down… can continue to be built.

Great! Good stuff!

Chief Justice Roberts joined with the liberal justices, calling the construction “likely illegal” and adding, “Today's decision is no victory for the separation of powers."

I mean, yeah man, strong agree but you also sided with Trump in Trump v United States, a ruling that gave the president absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within their "conclusive and preclusive" core constitutional authority, and added a fun little entitlement of at least presumptive immunity for all other official acts falling within the "outer perimeter" of their official responsibility. 

So like… you can get big boi mad but you can’t actually because you said Trump gets to do anything he wants.

Now, it’s important to note here that the ruling was whether the National Trust for Historic Preservation had the right to sue Trump (which makes it even more wild that Roberts ruled the way he did), not whether the ballroom is illegal.

And while sometimes the Court will hear “hey, we have a question about Mississippi’s Gestational Age Act – in this specific law, is abortion legal or not” and they’ll answer by saying “what’s that? Are you asking whether we should overturn Roe? Great question yet”

Here, they heard, “is this organization allowed to sue” and they said "Today, we do not pass upon the legality of the government's East Wing project” and focused only on whether Trump could be sued. 

Super cool to pick and choose. 

Anyway, the ballroom continues but again – the court did not rule on the legality of the build so… who knows what happens next but if I had to guess – more courts!

Trump v Trans Service Members

-via ABC News

Now, I’m going to warn you that, for this story… you’re going to be able to audibly hear my blood pressure rise. And when you get to the next story you might think to yourself “I bet she was mad because she knew what the next story was and she was leading up to it”

Don’t worry – this anger here? She’s contained in the whooshes. This anger is only for this story.

Because while the Supremes were like “oh, we don’t want to worry about the legality of Trump’s ballroom so we’re going to chicken out,” their inbox had another question slide on in…

As Trump asked the Court – hey, can we immediately remove 29 active-duty service members, while we’re in the middle of a conflict that’s actually a war but because I never asked Congrress, therefore skirting the Constitution, a book I never read, just like every other book, except a book of Hitler’s speeches, which I kept on… wait no I hate that I’m doing an impression of Trump because now I’ve slept into a VERY uncomfortable first person thing…

The point is… Trump kept a copy of a book of Hitler speeches on his bedside table and also, on Monday, asked Congress to remove 29 active-duty service members simply because they’re trans.

And he called it a matter of "exceptional importance."

Okay well you’re named more times in the Epstein files than Harry Potter in the entire Harry Potter series (which JK Rowling probably loves because, you know… she a transphobe too) – and investigating that is of "exceptional importance” to me so… can we get that going?

Oops…. Already mad!

I’m cracking my neck (which you can’t hear if you’re listening to this episode with your ears but SURPRISE I’m back on YouTube so you can see it if you want to listen with your eyes) and now I’m ready to get into it.

Dude. 

You paid to get out of serving this country.

That is a proven fact -  the president paid to get out of serving in Vietnam. He calls soldiers who died fighting for this country “suckers” and “losers.”

He questions why anyone would even sign up for the military in the first place, asking, “What’s in it for them?”; he doesn’t want Wounded Warriors in the first few rows of his events because “This doesn’t look good for me.”

He once said about John McCain: "He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured."

Here’s what he said about the Medal of Freedom: “That's the highest award you can get as a civilian. It is the equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor. But the civilian version, it’s actually much better because everyone who gets the Congressional Medal of Honor, they’re soldiers. They’re either in very bad shape because they’ve been hit many times by bullets or they’re dead.”

Ohmygod I can literally, like actually factually literally, feel my blood boiling… Once, a man gave him (or at least he said this happened) a copy of his Purple Heart. The Purple Heart the man earned for being of service to this country. 

Trump, who didn’t say it was a copy but that it was the actual medal, recounted the story like this: "He said, 'that’s my real Purple Heart I have such confidence in you.' And I said, 'Man that’s like big stuff. I’ve always wanted to get the real Purple Heart.' This was much easier.”

This was much easier. 

Yeah man! Because in order to be awarded a Purple Heart, you have to have an injury resulting directly from enemy action, like bullet fire, shrapnel, landmines, or enemy-released chemical agents. And then that must require treatment by a medical officer.

Trump’s dad paid to get him out of Vietnam. 

He didn’t serve. And he’s spent his political career being this person. 

Who is he to say who can and can’t serve this nation?

And because they’re trans? Because they have the courage to understand who they are and work to live authentically? Why doesn’t he live authentically? Out here saying he’s not racist, sexist, xenophobic, transphobic, everything-phobic… that’s a lie! Dude’s scared of everything and also… VERY racist, sexist, xenophobic, transphobic. 

These servicemembers haven’t done anything to warrant this. They are actively serving (Trump could never) meeting all military standards – and now Trump is going to waste OUR money, OUR tax dollars (thank goodness he has more to waste, since he’s doing all these tariffs now), to prevent people who WANT to serve this country from being able to do so.

And yes obviously there’s an argument to be made that people who spend their life as an elected official are also serving their country. But he complains about doing that, too! And he barely shows up to work! He’s always golfing and napping at surprising times and going to the doctor for things we’re not allowed to know about. 

So this doesn’t count!

Anyway, the point is… leave trans people alone, you absolute freaks.

Voting in America

-via CNN, PBS, CBS News, and NY Times

Okay now, you’ll see/hear that I’m much more calm. 

In fact, here I am, having a soothing sip of the blood orange gin and tonic that you can see me making on TikTok.net

That white-hot anger you heard in that last episode? Totally separate.

This? This anger? Oh bud… she’s her own thing.

Because according to a CNN exclusive, today (TED LASSO DAY) DHS is going to increase their efforts into investigating fraud by voters.

On the one hand? Have at it! While you’re doing it, let me investigate times Kelly Clarkson has been off-key, times Mandy Moore was undeserving of an EGOT, and moments that made me think Rebecca should end up with the boat guy.

Hey, fun fact… all of those ended up with a less-than-0 % finding.

In the case of fraud by voters, we’re talking about a rate of .0-0-0-0-0-0-7%.

That’s an actual fact. And actually the number is probably lower because that comes from The Heritage Foundation. 

But Homeland Security Investigations, which normally looks into things like human trafficking (hey! The president was a part of that!! They should look into him!), says they’re launching a “coordinated criminal voter fraud surge initiative to pursue investigative leads, conduct field interviews, and support timely prosecutorial review.”

Pop off king, but people have already investigated and found NOTHING.

Oh my god I hate that I can’t cuss in this show.

They found NOTHING. 

They are doing this to make you doubt elections. Because they believe that they will lose in the midterms.

And rightfully so. They deserve to lose. Because they’re not actually trying to help people. Make roads safer or schools better. They’re not paying teachers more, investing in child health, or making sure broadband reaches every inch of this country.

They are not working to make your life better. They deserve to lose.

And they know it. And instead of working for that, they are trying to cheat. Whether it’s by gerrymandering or this stuff… they want to make you question the elections.

But outside of the time that the best friend of a child sex predator-slash-trafficker incited an insurrection… our elections have always been safe. And they were safe then too; he was just being a whiny baby.

Our elections are safe.

And you still have a right to cast a ballot.

Yes, Trump’s Supremes did allow the Post Office to put into action Trump’s presidential fanfiction that would make voting by mail much harder. But when that happened, I (and others) said it was HIGHLY TBD on whether the changes little Donny wants could happen before the midterms.

And on Thursday, it got even more TBD because, once again, a federal judge pressed pause on the changes Trumpy wants.

And it wouldn’t be stays and on stays on stayzzzz if what Trump wanted to do was legal. But it’s not.

And that’s important but not at important as this fact: you can still cast a ballot.

But you need to double check your registration. In Texas, 1.2 million voters were put on the suspense list. But they have a whole month and change to change that. There’s still time. It’s not too late. 

If you’re not registered, register. If you’re registered, double check your voter registration.

Go to wearevoters.org and in the top right you’ll find a button to register or check your registration. 

This whole thing turns on turnout. And if the Republicans aren’t willing to do anything to win your vote, and instead are going to spend all of this time cheating… they don’t deserve you.

You deserve to have a voice in this, and every, election. So why not vote, maybe at least once, for a party that wants to make sure you have a chance. 

Vote.

If it didn’t matter, they wouldn’t be working so hard to talk you out of it.

And that’s it. That’s the news.

I’m cherry popovers. I’ve never had one but I just love desserts and honestly that sounds great!

But more than cherry popovers, because you’re sweet as pie and I wish you’d pop-over more… I’m proud of you!