01/24/25
Good morning! It’s Friday, January 24th.
Beer Can Appreciation Day
Not beers… beer cans.
Appreciate them!
And now, the news.
Extreme Weather
-via ABC News
Starting with weather on the tens and twos.
At least ten people are dead after what’s being called a “once-in-a-lifetime” winter storm that struck Texas all the way to Florida.
Snow.
In Florida.
Yeah no I think it was good that Trump pulled us out of the Paris Climate Accord. Who in earth could have a problem with this?
In Louisiana, it’s the coldest it’s been in 100 years.
Texas had its first ever blizzard warning.
What a time!
Trump vs Birthright
Trump’s assault on the Constitution continued this week, as a federal judge put a temporary block on his plan to end birthright citizenship, a right enshrined in the constitution.
And the judge didn’t just say, Hey, I don’t think so.
The judge said this: “This is a blatantly unconstitutional order. Frankly, I have difficulty understanding how a member of the bar would state unequivocally that this is a constitutional order. It just boggles my mind.”
Seems pretty confident there!
I mean, Trump does view the Constitution as his little play piece of paper, so expect him to keep fighting this.
And to make it even more absurd… his Department of Justice quoted the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which predates the 14th Amendment by two years, to note that a section there says “all persons born in the United States and not subject to any foreign power, excluding Indians not taxed, are hereby declared to be citizens of the United States.”
And lest you think they’re not trying to do exactly what they’re trying to do… later they also cite Elk v. Wilkins, which ruled “because members of Indian tribes owe ‘immediate allegiance’ to their tribes, they are not ‘subject to the jurisdiction’ of the United States and are not constitutionally entitled to Citizenship.”
And let’s just wrap our little noggins around that.
He’s trying to deny citizenship to Native Americans. The people who were here first. Whose land we violently stole.
The cruelty is the point.
CDC Without Leadership
-via CBS News
Something kind of neat, I mean nerve-wrecking… the CDC, as well as the FDA and National Institutes of Health, are currently running without acting heads.
So I guess just… wash your hands?
Because we’ve got bird flu, a seasonal surge of respiratory viruses like the flu and RSV, and a record-breaking norovirus breakout.
So who needs something silly like a national response?
Under His Eye
-via NBC News
In Get Caught Trying news…
Democratic Mississippi State Senator Bradford Blackmom introduced a new bill to the state legislature. It’s called the “Conception Begins at Erection Act” and makes it illegal for "a person to discharge genetic material without the intent to fertilize an embryo" and imposes fines of $1,000 for a first offense, $5,000 for a second offense and $10,000 for any subsequent offenses.
Will it pass? No!
Should it pass?
Honestly… why not? Because as Blackmom noted: "All across the country, especially here in Mississippi, the vast majority of bills relating to contraception and/or abortion focus on the woman’s role when men are fifty percent of the equation. This bill highlights that fact and brings the man’s role into the conversation. People can get up in arms and call it absurd but I can’t say that bothers me."
Get. Caught. Trying.
Trump Declassifies Assassination Files
-via NBC News
On Thursday, Trump declassified the remaining files related to the assassinations of JFK, RFK, and MLK Jr.
He promised to declassify the JFK files in his first term but never did.
Not sure why, but even though he said in an interview during his campaign that he would consider it, he has yet to release the Epstein files.
Weird.
World Economic Forum
-via Washington Post
And when he wasn’t busy signing executive orders, Trump appeared remotely at the World Economic Forum where he…
Demanded lower interest rates (that’s not how that works)
Accused Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase CEOs of not doing business with conservatives (that’s not true)
Said that the US would start “demanding respect from other nations” (this isn’t helping)
Said Canada could become a state to eliminate the trade deficit (that’s not going to happen)
Accused the EU of treating American poorly (…do they? I feel like they don’t)
Said NATO nations need to increase defense spending (okie doke)
And of course – called DEI absolute nonsense and referred to people coming in through our southern border “an invasion.”
Oh! He also called Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman “a fantastic guy.” As a reminder, that “fantastic guy” had journalist Jamal Khashoggi brutally killed.
So overall… bummer. Bummer of a guy.
Cheer Up Sunfish
-via CNN
And I can’t send you off into the weekend with an episode like this. So let’s end on something else…
Staff at a Japanese aquarium noticed that one of their sunfish was sick, but couldn’t figure out what the problem was. However, they noticed it happened after the aquarium shut down for repairs.
Turns out, little guy was just lonely.
So they attached aquarium uniforms to cutouts of people and put them on the side of the tank and guess what? It worked!
The sunfish got better!
And you gotta see the pictures of this fish – he’s so happy to be around those little cutouts!
Little cutie.
And that’s it. That’s the news.
I’m proud of that sunfish. And the employees at the aquarium for finding a creative solution.
Also beer cans… some of them are very cleaver.
But more than that, because you are also cleaver and don’t need mountains to tell me when it’s cold… I’m proud of you.