09/27/24

Good morning! It’s Friday, September 27th.

Morning Show Hosts Day

Finally, a day for a Kim!

And now, the news.

Hurricane Helene

-via CBS News and The Atlantic

Starting with traffic and weather on the tens and twos…

As I record this, Hurricane Helene is on track to make landfall in Florida as a Cat 3, nearly a Cat 4, storm, with “catastrophic and deadly” storm surges of up to 20 feet.

After making landfall in Florida, it is expected to move to Georgia, bringing heavy winds and rain.

I don’t really have a lot of news here, because it hasn’t made landfall yet. So just… be safe.

But this is a great time to remind you that Trump’s Project 2025 wants to get rid of free weather alerts, as well as just a classic weather forecast.

Can’t get an alert that could save your life for free – even though it’s been free this entire time.

Newsmax Settles Smartmatic Lawsuit

-via ABC News

Newsmax, the far-right-leaning cable “news” network that was super into spreading the big lie that the 2020 election wasn’t stolen and actually Trump did win the election which is, as I noted, a lie. Trump did not win the election.

He lost.

Very on brand.

Anyway, they have settled their lawsuit with voting machine company Smartmatic. Just in time for the 2024 election.

They did it to spare themselves from having to go to trial, where all of their lies and deception would come to light.

So this makes yet another suit that had to be settled because companies and individuals lied about the election and got in trouble for it. Note that not one single suit, not one has produced any evidence that the election was, in fact, stolen. Only that people lied, and people like Donald Trump attempted to steal the election after the votes were cast.

Your vote is safe.

Our democracy is safe.

Only if we keep Trump out of office.

Eric Adams

-via AP News

And that’s it. That’s the—

No no! Just kidding – there’s a huge story actually that broke Wednesday night, but I didn’t want to do the whoosh because there wasn’t enough time and this one… this one’s a big one.

Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City, has made history as the first sitting New York City mayor to face criminal charges.

Eric! You did it!

The indictment follows an investigation that started in 2021 and focused on whether Adams conspired with the Turkish government to receive foreign campaign contributions in exchange doing mayoral favors. So that’s illegal.

Gifts included free and discounted Turkish Airlines tickets, as well as free meals and hotel rooms. In all, the gifts were worth more than $100k. Adams tried to hide the gifts or make it seem like he paid for them.

Of all the gifts he got, here’s my favorite – in 2022, before taking office (but after beginning the bribes), he went to Ghana on a spiritual journey that at first was said to have been paid for by Adams. Turns out – the spiritual journey was paid for by his Turkish contacts.

His spiritual journey… was a scam!

In exchange for his gifts and spiritual journey, he did things like pressuring NYFD officials to permit a new Turkish consulate in Manhattan, despite safety problems. An NYFD official overseeing was told he would be fired if he didn’t follow the order.

Despite calls for him to do so, Adams says he will not be leaving office.

But he may have to…

New York’s Governor Hochul has the ability to remove him from office, should she be so inclined. (Be inclined! Be inclined!)

She says she will review the case before making a decision.

If convicted on all five charges, he faces up to 45 years in prison.

The judge overseeing the case asked him to appear in court today, but he’s asked to appear next week instead. We’ll see…..

Hoda Kotb

-via CNN

And finally, Hoda Kotb, the co-host of NBC’s Today show is leaving her post next year.

So… should I… like do these episodes count as an audition? Do I apply on indeed.com? What are we doing here?

And that’s it. That’s the news.

I’m proud of… Morning Show hosts.

Hey! I didn’t even think about that when I was talking about Hoda. But that does feel like fate…

But more than that… more than how I guess I’ll just start packing now so I can get to New York by the time she’s ready for me to fill in slowly so the audience gets used to be before I take over in January… because you’re based in reality… I’m proud of you.