01/30/25
Good morning! It’s Thursday, January 30th.
National Croissant Day
Sounds a little flaky to me.
Also, how is it still January??
And now, the news.
Federal Funding Freeze Frozen
After the absolute chaos of Tuesday, which I outlined in Wednesday’s episode, over the federal funds freeze, that freeze… is now frozen.
Icy burn.
Is that anything? I was trying to find a joke about how it’s a frozen freeze but quite frankly… didn’t want to spend any more than five seconds thinking about it.
Anyway, the point is – on Wednesday, the Office of Management and Budget (aka OMB) rescinded their memo freezing federal grant spending. However, in a notice to agencies, they did confirm that they will continue targeting federal spending in areas like DEI and climate change.
All of this was made a little spicy in the middle of day when Karoline Leavitt tweeted: “This is not a rescission of the federal funding freeze. It is simply a rescission of the OMB memo. Why? TO end any confusion created by the court’s injunction. The president’s EO’s on federal funding remain in full force and effect, and will be rigorously implemented.”
What??
The court cases, and confusion, continues.
So… kind of a win for now? I mean, millions of people count on things like Medicaid and Head Start, so continuing to fund those things is vital.
However, let us not easily brush over the chaos Trump plunged us into, the Republicans who accepted it easily, and the Democrats who were so worried, they thought about having a meeting the following day.
RFK Jr. Confirmation Hearing
The other day (yesterday maybe? Who knows, at this point) I said that we’re on the dumbest, and most dangerous, timeline.
And Wednesday’s confirmation hearing for RFK Jr really solidified that, as the biggest moment of the hearing came from Senator Bernie Sanders showing two onesies on the screen and asking: “do you support these onesies?”
The onesies in question said “unvaxxed and unafraid” on one and “no vax, no problem” on the other, and they’re sold by the non-profit Jr. co-founded back in 2016.
I mean, the point was that suddenly he’s saying he’s pro-vaccine when he very clearly is not. And, in fact, his lack of support for vaccines got 83 children killed in a measles outbreak in 2019. There’s a link in show notes that talks all about what happened when he went to Samoa six years ago that, if you haven’t read it, I highly recommend.
Anyway, so that was the point of the question. You’re here, under oath, saying you support vaccines. But you make money from these onesies.
Most of the hearing was about the way he flipped hard and fast on things like vaccines and abortion (in 2023 he said, “the worst solution is if the government is involved in decisions that should be belonging to a woman.” Okay, except last year he went back and forth, between saying there should be federal abortion restrictions in the first trimester before saying there shouldn’t be any limits, and finally, on Wednesday, saying he needed to study the safety of mifepristone and that he’ll follow whatever Trump wants to do.
Uh oh!
To quote Senator Hassan: “When was it that you decided to sell out the values you’ve had your whole life in order to be given power by President Trump?”
Got em!
He also apparently mixed up Medicare and Medicaid multiple times. Which is so wild. Did you not want to study at all?
Of course he didn’t! This is someone who applied to Harvard by literally just writing his name at the top of the application, left the rest blank, and then sent it in.
And joke’s on all of us… because he got in anyway.
Today he will face the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. Maybe crack a book there, Bobby.
To my understanding, no one asked him if he still believes wifi caused leaky brain (that is a real thing he said and a real term he used).
All of this is concerning, he’s a concerning guy. We’re talking about someone who chopped the head off a dead whale – by choice! We all have free will and that’s how he used his.
Gitmo Is Back, I Guess?
-via NBC News
On Wednesday Donald Trump said he will direct the Department of Defense, as well as Homeland Security, to prepare Guantanamo Bay to take in 30,000 migrants.
Guantanamo Bay!
Gitmo!
If you don’t recall, this was a military prison off that the United States built off the coast of Cuba in 2002, to house the people suspected of doing 9/11.
That place… Trump was like… what if we did that again?
So um… that’s that.
Harvey Weinstein is Miserable
-via ABC News
Listen, this week in news has been seven weeks in one and it’s only Thursday! So let’s give ourselves a break with one last story…
Good news! The worst person we know is miserable.
Harvey Weinstein asked, ne begged, a judge to let him go on trial earlier because he’s miserable at Rikers.
Let’s play the hits!
"Every day I'm at Rikers Island it's a mystery to me how I'm still walking."
"I'm asking and begging you, your honor, I can't hold on anymore. I'm holding on because I want justice for myself and I want this to be over with."
"I beg you to switch your case and do so out of clemency. I don't know how much longer I can hold on."
Listen, obviously we need to make some serious changes to our justice system. And prisons should not be torture asylums.
But for Harvs, I say… hold on Harvs. Hold on forever. May things never improve and may he live long in his misery.
And that’s it. That’s the news.
I’m proud of… croissants, I guess?
But more than that… because you’re… not flaky (sorry, there are only so many croissant puns to make!), I’m proud of you.