10/22/24
Good morning! It’s Tuesday, October 22nd.
National Nuts Day.
It’s that… interesting?
And now, the news.
Student Loans
-via CBS News
Let’s start with the news that I’m very rich now and yes the money will absolutely change me.
On Monday the Biden-Harris administration announced that about eight million borrowers will get an additional six months of not having to pay on their student loans, and instead will be put in an interest-free general forbearance.
Expect Republicans to put up a fight but in the meantime… the money has already changed me. Good luck to us all.
Arkansas Ballots
-via AP News
And how about a little electoral confusion for all my Arkansas listeners?
Shout out to Arkansas – your state is literally Ar-Kansas and you just went “no, we say it differently. Spelled the same, very confusing… ours is different.”
On Monday the state Supreme Court ruled that, although early voting started the same day, a measure on the ballot that would have broadened the definition of medical professionals who can certify patients for medical weed, expanded qualifying conditions, and made medical marijuana cards valid for three years, did not fully inform voters that, among a few things, the law would legalize up to an ounce of marijuana possession for any purpose, should marijuana become legal under federal law.
And thus – it will no longer be able to be counted on the ballot.
So like I said, early voting has begun, which means these ballots can’t be reprinted. They’ll just not be counted. It’s like a cow’s opinion, it doesn’t matter.
Sorry Ar-kansas.
Florida!!!
-via ABC News
While his state is only just recovering from a series of devastating storms, Ron DeSantis is refocusing his efforts, and state funds, to… fight an abortion rights amendment.
This… guy.
He literally is holding campaign-like rallies, but using state funds, to try and convince Floridians that they do not have a right to bodily autonomy and should vote against that right.
“When you're dealing with constitutional amendments your default should always be no. You can always alter normal policies and legislation. Once it's in the constitution, that's forever. You really have zero chance of ever changing. it.”
This… guy!
Other things that are in the Constitution: the right to vote! The right to worship, or not, however you’d like.
The right to start, arguably too many, podcasts including one that has been doing daily episodes of the news for three years and change, minus the times I decide to take off, and use that platform to tell everyone that you, Ron DeSantis, are an absolute buffoon who will never be president. You eat pudding weird, your boots look hideous, and you’re not smart enough to build a theme park that rivals Disney World, even though you said you would which was weird because you literally got married there. You are a doofus, a dunce, and a dinkus and if I were trapped in a room with you and Ted Cruz, I’d quite literally spend the rest of my life digging a tunnel than ever have to be in conversation with either of you.
And… now I see why he doesn’t like Amendments because I really love that 1st one.
Anyway, he’s using state funds to do this and I hope he gets sued.
Election 2024
-via NBC News (Exonerated Five), ABC News (FEMA), Washington Post (North Carolina), CNN (McDonalds), and NPR (overseas voting)
And let’s check in with the Trump campaign.
On Monday the Exonerated Five, formally known as the Central Park Five, announced that they are suing Trump over his comments at the one and only presidential debate because he’s too chicken to do any more.
At that debate, he said: "They admitted — they said, they pled guilty. And I said, well, if they pled guilty they badly hurt a person, killed a person ultimately. And if they pled guilty — then they pled we’re not guilty."
At trial, and while wrongfully incarcerated, they pled innocent. And the person that was attacked, but not by them!, wasn’t killed.
They were, however, coerced to make false confessions at the time of their arrest. But following that, at trial, they pled, and maintained, their innocence.
Meanwhile, Trump took out a full-page ad to say they should be killed.
So being sued by the Exonerated Five.
And in North Carolina, where 26 people are still missing after Hurricane Helene, the Governor had to publicly ask Trump to please stop spreading lies about FEMA because it really hurts the people who need access to that assistance. And of course, in North Carolina… Trump again lied! He repeated the lie that FEMA spent its budget helping people who crossed the border illegally and so it couldn’t help the people that it was currently helping.
He said it in front of House Rep Chuck Edwards, who just last week, debunked Trump’s lies.
What did he do on Monday? He presented him with what he called a “French fry certification pin.”
Why?
Well over the weekend, I guess because he loves McDonalds and also wants to prove that Kamala lied about working at McDonalds when she was in school (which, by the way, he didn’t do. No one has been able to disprove that she worked there… probably because she worked here).
Anyway, so over the weekend Trump made this whole big show about working at McDonalds. He worked the fry station and covered some meals for folks.
Except… McDonalds was closed that day. The “customers” were all practiced plants. It was all completely staged. And like, poorly staged. There were literally signs saying it was closed for a Trump event.
How is this the real world? How are we 14 days out from the election and I couldn’t include the story about Trump lying about working at McDonalds for a few hours because I didn’t have time in the episode since I already had to talk about Trump’s comments about Arnold Palmers genitalia?
We live in the dumbest, worst, timeline!
That’s it. That’s the news.
For my sanity.
14 days.
That’s it.
Two weeks from Election Day.
What can you do today, right now, to get ready?
Head to Democracyeveryday.org to get today’s assignment.
I’m proud of nuts. I feel nuts right now, I’ll tell you that much.
But more than that… because you are not unpleasant in a brownie… I’m proud of you!