02/13/25
Good morning! It’s Thursday, February 13th.
Galentine’s Day.
Galentine’s Day is a day to celebrate the magic and wonder of Parks and Rec in general, and Leslie Knope specifically. Honor it accordingly.
And now, the news.
Trump and Russia
Starting in international news – following Monday’s prisoner swap that we didn’t get enough details about… President Trump says that he and Russia’s Vladimir Putin has being negotiations for ending the war in Ukraine.
It is unclear how Ukraine will be involved.
But we can guess.
But like… they won’t be good guesses.
Because also on Wednesday, at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Pete Hegseth said that NATO membership was unrealistic for Ukraine. He also that a return to Ukraine pre-2014 border is “an unrealistic objective” as well as an “illusionary goal.”
This is so absurd.
Ukraine did not seek, nor did they provoke, the actions of Russia. Russia annexed Crimea. That is not Russia’s territory. Crimea belongs to Ukraine and to casually suggest that Russia should just be able to have any territory they want now is just… not right. It’s not right.
At the same NATO meeting, Hegseth did not necessarily question whether America should stay in NATO, as Trump has done (though I’m sure some of those countries gotta be questioning everything), but his commitment definitely came with an asterisk, as he said that the US: “remains committed to the NATO alliance and to the defense partnership with Europe, full stop, but the United States will no longer tolerate an imbalanced relationship which encourages dependency.”
He said that Europe needed in increase military spending for themselves as well as Ukraine.
This is all so bad and awful for Ukrainians, who has fought tirelessly, against all odds, to hold onto their country.
But you know what? They have, so far. Ukraine still stands.
Ukraine still stands.
Belarus Prisoners Freed
-via ABC News
On Wednesday three prisoners, including a Belarusian journalist and an American citizen, were released in Belarus.
The terms of their release have not yet been released.
Another IG Fired
-via CNN, NBC News, and Newsweek
On Tuesday, the day after his office released a report that dared to be critical of Trump’s efforts to dismantle USAID, the agency’s inspector general was fired.
No reason was given to his firing, but like… duh.
The administration is supposed to give Congress a 30 day notice before these firings, as well as provide case-specific reasons. It can’t just be, you know, my feelings were hurt because I’m trying to do Constitutional crisis and not everyone likes it.
Which is probably why, on Wednesday, it was announced that eight inspectors general, a group which does not include the USAID IG, are suing the Trump administration for unlawful and unjustified termination.
They are part of that first group of over a dozen inspector’s general who were fired in a two-sentence email four days after Trump’s term began.
These lawsuits work though, because there are still judges willing to follow law of the land. I know we all worry about the Supreme Court, as we absolutely should, but they are not the only judges in the world.
In fact, federal judges have blocked most of Trump’s immigration, federal spending, and other orders. (When, of course, a suit is filed. Which sure isn’t often enough. I mean, there have been more than 50 so far, but he’s done so much! It’s so hard to even know!)
And while the press secretary is running around saying: "Many outlets in this room have been fear-mongering the American people into believing there is a constitutional crisis taking place here at the White House...but in fact, the real constitutional crisis is taking place within our judicial branch."
She’s wrong.
Although, the press secretary using the word’s Constitutional crisis while she complains about the courts and saying the courts are overstepping at the same time that JD Vance is tweeting that courts don’t get to make decisions about the executive branch… well hang that’s some serious pretzel-twisting there.
Fork in the Road
-via Politico
One place Trump is finding success in court, unfortunately, is with his scheme to downsize the federal government into the size of a teeny tiny marble he can bat around like a little cat. On Wednesday a US District Judge ruled that the Fork in the Road email (as a reminder, federal employees received an email with the subject like “fork in the road” that told them they had about a week to decide if they were going to stay on in their positions (though the government could not guarantee there would be a job to keep) or quit and take eight months of severance.
The original deadline was February 6th, but that was temporarily blocked while Judge O’Toole heard the case.
Well, having heard the case, he has now ruled against the unions who brought the case to him. Which means the Trump administration can move forward in offering the resignation option.
A new deadline has not been announced yet.
Tulsi Gabbard Confirmed
-via NY Times, The Week, and Washington Post
Tulsi Gabbard, who once tried to pretend she was a democrat (remember that? When she was like I’m one of you and we were like, you’re quit literally a Russian spy), has been confirmed by the Senate as Trump’s director of National Intelligence.
Yikes.
Why yikes?
She opposes LGBTQ+ rights.
Has ties to the leader of the Science of Identity Foundation, which vehemently opposes same-sex relationships and abortion.
She has shared Russian propaganda, which even Fox News debunked.
She supports Edward Snowden’s leak of classified documents.
And, most chillingly, in 2017, she had a secret meeting with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and came back to American with “an assessment that undoubtedly pleases the Assad regime.” At that same time, she also met with a Syrian cleric who had previously threatened to unlock the suicide bombers he had waiting in America if we were to intervene in Syria.
When asked at her confirmation hearing about that meeting, Gabbard said she didn’t know about that until the day of the hearing.
But wait a minute Tuls, because you were made aware in January of 2017, after the meeting.
Anyway, so that’s who the Senate has confirmed at the new director of the national intelligence.
In the end, only Mitch McConnell voted against her. I gotta say though, I doubt Mr. Picture of Bravery would have voted against her if he knew his vote would have made a difference.
As we look for moments of hope and joy over the next few years, I would like you to keep this in mind: it does seem like Mitch McConnell is speaking out here and there against Trump. Which must mean he’s really miserable in his job. And since he’s the one who could have prevented all of this and didn’t… him having bad work days brings me joy.
Trump’s Budget Problems
Despite saying that they would slash the budget deficit and because Donald Trump is the most best business person… House Republicans have put forth a budget that will add about $3 trillion to the deficit over a decade.
And because they must always be on brand, this new budget will also have deep cuts for health care and food programs used by low-income Americans.
It is very, very TBD on whether this will pass. Republicans either need every single Republican to join together in a vote (wildly impossible, given how divided the party is and how terrible at his job Mike Johnson is) or they need Democrats and who knows if they’ll get them. I personally don’t think the Democrats should give a single inch until Republicans prove they’re going to get serious about governing and stop letting Trump do Constitutional crisis. So we’ll see.
In the meantime, consumer prices are up 3% more than last year, with prices rising .5% between December and January.
Jeepers! I wonder what happened then!
Egg prices are up more than 15% - if you can even find them.
Rough news for the I’m okay with the racism because he says eggs will be cheaper crowd.
AP Reporters Barred from White House
-via Washington Post
On Wednesday, the Associated Press said that two of their reporters have been barred from attending any White House events because they made the grave decision to… follow their company’s style guide.
After Trump signed his Gulf of America executive order, the AP style guide said they would continue to refer to it as its proper name: Gulf of Mexico but they would also acknowledge the new name Trump has chosen.
In a statement, AP’s executive editor, Julie Pace, said they were “informed by the White House that if AP did not align its editorial standards with President Donald Trump’s executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, AP would be barred from accessing an event in the Oval Office.”
Pace later sent a letter to the White House Chief of Staff, asking the White House to reverse its decision which she called, and also the Constitution called, a clear violation of the First Amendment.
Trump Elects Himself
-via Deadline
I talked about this last week, but it’s official now… on Wednesday Trump announced that, after getting rid of half of the Kennedy Center’s board and placing people like his own chief of staff, personal aid, and the second lady… Trump was thrilled and just to announced that he was unanimously elected chair of the Kennedy Center.
There is not one singly election that man will not steal.
Anyway, big bummer for art. That’s for sure.
Record Cocaine Find
-via CBS News
And finally… guys, we got got. We got found out.
On Wednesday it was announced that Luxembourg authorities found almost a ton of cocaine hidden in a stone crusher “of Columbian origin.”
Which is why I told you not to leave it there!
This is not on me, that’s for sure.
It’s a record bust for Luxembourg and we’re all real proud of them for finding it. But we do, in fact, have dibs so…
And that’s it. That’s the news.
See how I made this episode a little shorter for you? That’s called friendship. An on galentine’s day too!
Hey, you know who I’m proud of, like literally always, Leslie Knope. And Amy Poehler. Both. Both absolute dreamboats.
But more than… nope! Not gonna trick me! Never gonna say more than Poehler! More than Jerry, Larry, Gerry… because you’ve never accidentally buckled yourself into your desk chair with your own belt… I’m proud of you.