08/02/24

Good morning! It’s Friday, August 2nd.

International Beer Day.

Finally!

Root beer. Ginger beer. Beer beer.

And on a Friday too… what a time!

And now, the news.

Historic Prisoner Swap

-via NPR

Starting with the biggest story (makes sense)… On Thursday morning the Biden administration announced that they’d orchestrated the largest prisoner swap since the Cold War, as eight Russians in the US were traded for sixteen political prisoners, including three US citizens and one legal permanent resident.

The four coming home to the US are:

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been in jail since last March and was recently sentenced to 16 years in prison.

Kremlin critic and Washington Post contributor Vladimir Kara-Murza, who, last year, was sentenced to 25 years for spreading what Russia said was fake information.

Russian-American journalist for the federally funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Alsu Kurmasheva, was arrested last October, again for spreading what Russia said was misinformation. She was also charged with failing to register as a foreign agent and was sentenced to 6 1/2 years.

And former Marine Paul Whelan, who was arrested in 2018 on espionage charges while attending a fellow Marine’s wedding. In 2020 he was sentenced to 16 years.

I should note that all those charges are obviously highly disputed.

Of the eight Russians, three are from the US.

One was arrested for a “hack-to-trade” scheme, one was a suspected intelligence op, and the third was running an identity theft and credit card theft ring.

This is huge.

Again – not since the Cold War, has a prisoner exchange of this size happened.

So that’s great news.

In fun, and related, news… President Biden has entered a phase of his presidency that is really special to watch. Because of the one hand, he did something historic. Very cool.

Also cool? When a reporter asked him to respond to Trump saying he would have done the exchange without giving up anything, Biden said “why didn’t he do it when he was president?” And then walked off.

Also, when House Rep. Nancy Mace tweeted, “Biden is MIA. Why is no one talking about this?” The White House quote tweeted that, included a screenshot of the POTUS account announcing this exchange and just wrote “He’s been busy.”

The White House account getting sassy! Very here for it.

So big news! I’m so happy for these prisoners and their families.

I gotta tell ya – I’m in a Friday show mood. Let’s do other stories!

Republicans Block Child Tax Credit

-via AP News

A bill to restore the child tax credit, as well as a few business tax breaks, failed to pass in the Senate when, and you’ll be shocked to hear this, the pro-life party of the Republicans all voted it down.

Joining them was Joe Manchin, he of the houseboat Manchins, and Bernie Sanders – who last week said this at a townhall about Kamala Harris: “she is not going to win this election and she is going to have a very difficult time winning unless she begins to speak forcefully about the needs of the long-neglected working class of this country.”

Bernie, man, I do not get your vibe.

Putting aside the fact that Kamala Harris is going to win this election – this vote would have helped the long-neglected working class.

Republicans argued they’d get a better deal next year.

Ah yes, totally. Because no one says “I’m here for the working family” like Donald Trump. Real family man, that guy.

This vote falls under “get caught trying” news because Sen. Schumer literally said dared them to vote against it.

Because look, sometimes you need to get their votes on the record. There is a time to whip votes and there is a time to say: we are 95 days out from this election. Be clear with voters about where you stand.

JD Vance Goes Full Trump

-via CNN

In more, “Be clear with voters about where you stand,” news…

The day after Donald Trump’s increasingly racist questioning of Kamala’s Harris’ racial identity, the concept of being biracial simply too much for a brain so smooth and white nationalist… JD Vance, whose wife is Indian and whose three kids are, in fact, biracial… said, “I think it’s totally reasonable for the president to call that out, and that’s all he did.”

First of all, it’s not even remotely reasonable to do that.

Second of all, that’s not all he did. What he did instead was encourage the worst in people. As he often does.

Now we’ve got people demanding her birth certificate – she’s from Oakland!

She lived for a few years, as a teen, in Canada while her mom researched a cure for breast cancer.

Being a birther brought him into political relevance and he’s running that same game here, thinking it will help him win.

Here’s the good news. It’s not going to work. In 95 days, Kamala Harris is going to win this election because we are going to work incredible hard. And every time he opens his mouth, Donald Trump reminds of why we’re going to work hard.

So we never have to think about him again.

As for JD Vance, who is doubling down on the birtherism as well as the idea that anyone without kids is a monster… I don’t really know what to say about him. Therapy should be free.

Trump is going to lose this election, Vance’s political weakness will be a part of that, and then expect that, if he runs for reelection to the Senate in 2028 he will lose. And that will just be… so nice.

It’s all going to be so nice.

Trump Crime Update Time

-via The Hill

And because it’s Friday…

Trump Crime Update Time

(Just a little something, edition)

On Thursday a New York court of appeals rejected Team Trump’s plea to come on, just lemme say whatever I want!

In a three-page order, the panel rejected the request to overturn Judge Merchan’s gag order in the 2016 Election Interference Crimes Case (that’s the one where he moved money all around to hide payments for money that was paid to Stormy Daniels in order to keep information from you, the voter, about an affair he had. Classic Mr Family Values, amiright?)

Because the gag order remains in place, he is still not able to attack prosecutors who oversaw the case because the Manhattan DA’s staff are still receiving threats.

The gag order does not protect Alvin Bragg or Judge Merchan.

And that’s it. That’s the news.

Medal update!

Team USA still leads with 37 total medals. France has 27, China had 24. We lead in Silver and Bronze medals, and China leads in gold with 11, France has 8, and we’ve moved up to second place with 9. 9 gold medals!

I’m proud of Ashleigh Johnson – she’s the goalie for the US women’s water polo team and her wingspan is insane. The blocks she was making her unreal.

I’m also proud of beers, in all forms.

They don’t fix everything but… you know… they help!

But more than beer, if you can believe it, because you are also a comfort… I’m proud of you.