01/23/25
Good morning! It’s Thursday, January 23rd.
National Handwriting Day
Hey here’s something… my friends joke that I have serial killer handwriting.
Not sure what else I can say about that.
…I’m not a serial killer.
And now, the news.
Nashville School Shooting
-via ABC News
We start how we start here in America – with one student killed, two injured, and a fifteen-year-old shooter dead by suicide.
It happened Wednesday morning, when fifteen-year-old Solomon Henderson entered the school cafeteria and fired multiple shots. A motive is unknown.
Officials are looking at Henderson’s online history, which shows far-right political beliefs, admiration for other mass shooters, and pictures with neo-nazis.
Hours after the shooting, the best we got out of the White House was that they were monitoring the situation.
Immigration Under Trump
On Wednesday, the Trump administration continued their raid, I mean focus, on immigration through the southern border in a very shady way. Surprising, I know.
The Department of Justice has now ordered federal prosecutors to investigate state or local officials who they believe to be interfering with the Trump administration’s strike on immigration.
Jeepers Kim, that doesn’t sound great!
It’s not!
It’s also (and start gearing up for this to be a theme of Trump’s second term) unclear how this will work. To quote constitutional scholar and longtime Arizona-based immigration lawyer Robert J. McWhirter - “What would you charge these people with Nothing obligates local law enforcement to cooperate with federal law enforcement on any issue. Not even bank robbery.”
Though I wouldn’t expect that to stop Trump’s DOJ. As a reminder about just yesterday’s episode… the DOJ has already decided that schools, hospitals, and churches are no longer what’s called “sensitive locations,” a term, and guidance, that ICE as well as Customs and Border Protection have used for more than a decade.
This news pairs with the news that the House passed the Lakin Riley Bill, which was already passed by the Senate and now heads to the president’s desk for signature. The bill requires the detention of undocumented migrants charged with crimes such as theft or burglary.
The bill will require a boost in ICE funding, since they are currently only funded 41,500 beds, with more than 39,000 people currently in custody.
Understand what we’re talking about here – this bill requires the detention of people charged, not convicted.
It’s not great!
Pardoned Insurrectionists
Just two days, not even full days, honestly such a small amount of time that it can reasonably just called hours, Daniel Ball, who received a pardon from Trump for the time he did insurrection (charges include throwing an explosive device at at least 25 police officers) we rearrested on gun charges that are unrelated to January 6thand have been pending for almost two years.
And I just think… that’s great.
Because what do we love here? Consequences for actions!
Meanwhile, two people who pled guilty for their actions on January 6th think Trump’s January 6th pardons are a big thumbs down, calling them disturbing, with one of the people saying, “The ramifications of this is going to be horrible.”
Neat!
Trump’s New Term
-via NY Times and Washington Post
I wonder how the rest of the transition is going for Trump.
On Wednesday, his administration threatened federal employees who don’t snitch on collogues who continue the egregious actions of… continuing to include DEI into their departments.
Yeah! Get em! That’s a good use of your time!
(If you’re new here… that’s sarcasm. I was being sarcastic.)
RFK Jr, Trump’s pick for Health and Human Services Secretary, will keep the financial stake he has in litigation against Merck, the company who makes the vaccine Gardasil, even though he would hold regulatory authority over the company if he’s confirmed for the job.
Good choice! Good pick!
(Again, that is sarcasm)
And finally, Pete Hegseth, Trump’s Fox News pick to run the Department of Defense, hit another hurdle in his attempt to get confirmed (his hearing was last week but a vote has not yet taken place). In this latest bit of bad news for a guy who is, scientifically speaking, a creep… Hegseth’s ex-sister-in-law described, in a signed affidavit, Hegseth’s abuse and threat of abuse, including an instance that his second wife once hid in a closet from him before developing an escape plan. She also said she believed Hegseth to be an alcoholic and yelled racist slurs.
This part’s not sarcasm… this man is not fit lead anything, certainly not the Department of Defense. Honestly, it never should have gone further than him saying he doesn’t believe women should be in combat rules but nevertheless, here we are.
Bad dude. Very bad dude.
New Fire in Los Angeles
-via NBC News
As Los Angeles is still trying to even think about what recovery will look like after our entire country caught on fire… another fire has broken out. The Hughes Fire, which is in the Castaic area of the country (this is the north-east area of Los Angeles), has so far already forced 20,000 people to be evacuated as it’s already reached nearly 10,000 acres as of this recording.
As they have been – links to donate are in show notes.
Michigan’s Next Governor
-via jocelynbenson.com
And finally – part of what I want to do on this show is highlight ways we can push back against this regime and do a little democracy saving.
For this first one, I want to highlight Michigan’s Secretary of State, Jocelyn Benson.
Benson has been a fighter for democracy her entire adult life, but really came into national awareness when, as Secretary of State, she stood up to Trump and his fake electors, refusing to let them steal the presidential election in 2020. She’s an advocate for voting rights, revolutionizing the state of elections in Michigan to ensure that all Michiganders have their voices heard, and a fighter for the future of democracy.
And on Wednesday – she announced her candidacy for governor.
If Mister Rogers told us to look for the helpers, you don’t need to look much further than Jocelyn Benson.
There’s a link to her website in show notes. If you don’t know her yet, now’s the time.
And that’s it. That’s the news.
I’m proud of Jocelyn Benson. And Michigan. Especially when Michigan elects her.
Also handwriting. Even mine. It’s not pretty, but it gets the job done.
But more than that, more than how sometimes I’ll write something and then like five minutes later I’m not even sure what it says… because you’re crystal clear… I’m proud of you.