01/15/25
Good morning! It’s Wednesday, January 15th.
National Bagel Day
You know what I love? Like a really really good everything bagel. The key is that you gotta have some poppy seeds, but not too many. I feel like people are putting too many poppy seeds in their everything mixes and I just won’t stand for it. Not anymore.
I am… so brave.
And now, the news.
Los Angeles Fires
-via AP News
The top story is, again, the fires in Los Angeles as yet another day of wind kept the city in suspended terror. Which sounds so dramatic but… it is.
As of this recording, 88,000 people are under evacuation. A number that could double, if winds cause the fires to spread. Meanwhile, several utilities have declared their water unsafe, pending further testing. And of course, you know… the air is poison.
Currently the Palisades fire is ____ acres and ___ contained, while the Eaton fire is ____ acres and ____ contained.
Links to donate and aid in the recovery are in show notes.
Roland Greene
-via AP News
On Tuesday, Federal prosecutors announced that they will not be bringing charges against the officers who arrested, and killed, Ronald Greene, a Black man who was pulled over by white troopers in Louisiana. Those troopers then proceeded to stun, punch, and ultimately kill Greene before they attempted to cover up the crime.
And now… no federal charges will be brought.
This announcement follows a lengthy investigation that started back in 2022, after the Associated Press found that Greene’s arrest was one of at least a dozen cases in which troopers and their bosses “ignored or concealed evidence of beatings, deflected blame and impeded efforts to root out misconduct in the agency” This includes the time a white trooper hit a Black man with a flashlight 18 times, breaking his jaw and ribs, as well as leaving him with a headwound.
In the case of Greene, body camera footage, which was withheld for two years, shows Greene with his hands up, begging for mercy, as he was repeatedly stun gunned before he could even get out of the car. Once he was out of the car, they continued to beat and harass him, before then turning around and blaming his death on a crash following a high-speed chase.
The problem there is that photos show him with a beaten face and stun gun prongs in his back.
There is video of this happening.
Video of him being beaten, ultimately to his death, by officers.
And no federal charges will be brought.
A wrongful death suit is still pending.
South African Miners
-via ABC News
Hey, here’s a story out of South Africa that I had no idea was happening…
In South Africa, a common (though illegal) practice is that gold mining companies will close a mine after it’s no longer profitable and then afterwards, unaffiliated miners will enter those mines illegally to grab what’s left.
And since November, hundreds of illegal gold miners have been stuck in a mine in South Africa. Well as of last Friday, a rescue effort to bring out those miners, as well as the bodies of what some believe to be more than 100 miners who died of starvation or dehydration, is underway.
So far, it is believed that 24 bodies and 34 survivors have been brought out, with another 500-PLUS still believed to be underground.
There is a bit of tension at the rescue site between groups representing the miners and working to rescue them, and police who say the miners are able to come out but are simply refusing. Because of this, police have cut off food and water supplies from the surface, in hopes of drawing the miners out. However, groups representing the miners say the shaft is too steep and the ropes and pulley system that was used to enter the mine has been removed.
So that’s what’s happening in South Africa.
Trump Cabinet Nominees
-via NY Times, Axios, and The New Yorker
As a bummer of a reminder, we are days away from Trump retaking office and, with the 119th Congress sat, confirmation hearings for his cabinet picks have started.
On Tuesday, Congress heard from Fox News host Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick to run the Department of Defense.
A few things about Pete…
He doesn’t believe women should serve in combat roles
Has a tattoo that is popular with group’s like the Proud Boys who are, as a reminder, white supremacists.
He’s supportive of some war criminals because he believes some of our rules of engagement are too restrictive.
He once drunkenly chanted “Kill all Muslims” at a bar in Ohio.
Speaking of drinking, during his time as president of Concerned Veterans for America, a whistle-blower report describes him as being repeatedly drunk while acting in his official capacity. At one point, he needed to be carried out of multiple events held by the organization.
There are also questions about his financial mismanagement during his time there.
Oh… and he has been accused of sexual assault by a woman who says that, in 2017, Hegseth took her phone and blocked the door of a hotel room, before he sexually assaulted her. The woman later saw a nurse and asked for a sexual assault exam, adding that she believed something was slipped into her drink.
Hegseth denies the allegations, but did make a payment to her because he was worried she would file a lawsuit.
So that’s… Pete. That’s who Trump has handpicked to lead our military.
Over the course of his four-hour hearing, Democrats questioned Hegseth about, well, all of the above. While Republicans immediately started talking about how the military was weakened under Biden.
Gonna be a really neat four years.
A formal Senate vote will take place on Monday.
Trump vs the Law
And here are a couple quick notes about the guy that will retake the office of the president in five days…
First, he has finally been sentenced in his 2016 election interference case where, as a reminder, he was found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records as a way to hide the fact that he had an affair from you, the voter, and therefore taking away your ability to make a fully formed decision about who Donald Trump is before casting your ballot.
That’s why I call it an election interference case. Though to be clear, the 34 felony charges were for falsifying business records.
Anyway, because we are just days away from his inauguration, Judge Merchan gave Trump a sentence of unconditional discharge, believing that it was the only legal option ahead of the inauguration.
So… no jail time. But to be clear, he is still a felon. This does not take away the fact that he is a felon with 34 charges.
Just like being able to take office again doesn’t take away from the fact that he was impeached twice and then did insurrection.
I saw this because, as time goes on, people are going to make you feel like you’re misremembering. You’re not.
He is a felon.
And an insurrectionist.
And here’s the rub (weird saying but I’m leaning in)… on Tuesday, Jack Smith’s report came out, outlining the ways in which Trump did, in fact, work to overturn the 2020 election through election interreference and insurrection and noted that, had he not been reelected… he would have been convicted at trial.
Let that really sink in.
If he wasn’t elected again, he would have been found guilty of the insurrection we saw him do.
And it’s not lost on me that, had he lost the election, he would have done insurrection again.
So when I saw that Donald Trump is a threat to democracy, I’m not doing it for the haha’s. I mean it.
So let us stay vigilant now, because starting at 12:01 PM (eastern standard time) on January 20th… we are going to work as hard as we can to hold onto the promise of democracy and our belief that there are better days beyond these next four years.
And that’s it. That’s the news.
Good to end on a real positive note… like the future of our democracy.
I’m proud of bagels.
They’re always there for you…
And because you’re also always there for you… I’m proud of you.