02/26/25
Good morning! It’s Wednesday, February 26th.
For Pete’s Sake Day
Which then of course made me look into where that phrase came from. And the story isn’t really that interesting – the name is just a stand in so that religious folks don’t take the Lord’s name in vain. No one really knows why they used Pete.
I suppose they could have just used Kim, but alas.
And now, the news.
Supreme Court + Death Penalty
-via CBS News
On Tuesday the Supreme Court ordered a new trial for Richard Glossip, an Oklahoma man who has been on death row for a 1997 murder-for-hire plot. He paid $10,000 to Justin Sneed, who robbed and killed a man. Sneed received life in prison, but Glossip has been on death row.
However, on Tuesday five Supreme Court justices agreed that the trial violated Glossip’s constitutional rights because prosecutors failed to turn over evidence, and allow testimony, that would have pointed to Glossip’s innocence.
It went to the Supreme Court after all this time because the prosecution believes Glossip may be innocent and that there was a constitutional error.
The prosecution!
So now Glossip will receive a new trial.
Thomas and Alito dissented (shocking, I know), while Gorsuch sat it out (likely because he was an appeals court judge at an earlier stage of this case, and Coney Barret would have allowed a state appeals court to make their own decision.
Federal Government
As the chaos continues from Trump and Musk’s attempts to do fascism, a federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from freezing federal grants and loans, describing the federal freeze as “The breadth of that command is almost unfathomable” and adding that the move was “irrational, imprudent, and precipitated a nationwide crisis.”
A second federal judge also put a stop to Trump’s order that would suspend refugee and admissions and funding, saying: “The president’s actions amount to an effective nullification of congressional will in establishing the nation’s refugee admissions program. While the president has substantial discretion to suspend refugee admissions, that authority is not limitless.”
Meanwhile, twenty-one DOGE staffers quit the fake department on Tuesday after Elon Musk gave federal workers “another chance” to respond to his ultimatum to send an email with five things they did at work or risk being fired (a truly wild thing to do. Also, I guess then they’re going to put those items into an AI generator and that will be how it gets decided who gets to keep their job or not? Dumbest, most dangerous, timeline folks).
The twenty-one employees sent a letter saying, in part, "We will not use our skills as technologists to compromise core government systems, jeopardize Americans' sensitive data, or dismantle critical public services.”
Before Elon existed as Trump’s most special government employee and now we all have to know about him, those employees were a part of the United State Digital Service, which was folded into the Department of Government Efficiency, which is not a real department. It just has the word department in there to confuse people.
But not us! We’re no dummies!
Elon is joining Trump at today’s cabinet meeting, which is his first official one of his presidency.
Man, I wish I loved anything the way Elon and Trump love each other.
Also, the Social Security Administration has announced that they’re closing the Office of Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity. I’m truly shocked this didn’t happen sooner, but it now leaves a question as to where employees will be able to file discrimination complaints.
Who Needs a First Amendment Anyway?
Hey, remember the press?
LOL
On Tuesday the White House press secretary announced that the Trump administration will begin handpicking which outlets will be able to participate in a small, rotating group of reporters that are responsible for telling the world what the president is up to. They’re referred to as pool reporters and those reporters then disseminate their reports to a wider group of reporters.
So they are the ones who decide what information will be given to other reporters and therefore the world.
And now the Trump administration will be in charge of who gets to do that.
Doesn’t seem dangerous at all!
Previously, poor reporters were selected through the White House Correspondents Association.
In response, the association president said this: “This move tears at the independence of a free press in the United States. It suggests the government will choose the journalists who cover the president. In a free country, leaders must not be able to choose their own press corps. The W.H.C.A. will never stop advocating for comprehensive access, full transparency and the right of the American public to read, listen to and watch reports from the White House, delivered without fear or favor.”
Though it’s not connected, this comes just a couple days after a woman in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho was detained by plain clothes security guards for heckling speakers at a townhall.
There were more than 450 people at the townhall, many of whom would often interrupt or boo (sometimes cheer I guess, but certainly it was less often). However, for some reason, this is who was picked out to be pretty aggressively grabbed and pulled away.
Budgets!
-via AP News, NBC News, NY Times, The Hill, and Washington Post
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before… the government is about to run out of money and a budget deal is not looking like it’ll pass.
Classic.
I’ll tell you something about this Mike Johnson character… that dude is not good at his job.
On Tuesday, Speaker Johnson tried to get his budget blueprint passed. A so-called “big, beautiful bill” that will include $4.5 trillion in tax breaks and $2 trillion in spending cuts. Expect the Democrats to all vote against it, with some Republicans joining in as well.
The cuts include cuts to programs Republicans are classically against, like health care and food stamps. And with many constituents in Republicans states relying on those programs, you can expect some Republicans to veto the bill. In fact, on Tuesday morning, five Republicans had already said they would vote against it.
In the end, the vote was _____
So, that’s quite the hill for Republicans to climb. What’s sounding more likely is yet another continuing resolution, which will keep the government open until September.
The deadline before a shutdown is March 14th.
Obviously Republicans want to blame any issues on the democrats and if you’ll allow me a teeny tiny little soapbox (of course you will – what is a podcast if not a soapbox?) – Republicans have the majority in the House and Senate. Every single time there’s a budget issue, Democrats help the Republicans out and vote to get it passed. Mike Johnson is so terrible at his job that he can’t pull his party together and get it done on his own.
Democrats have been the ones keeping this government open.
And then the Republicans go around and blame the Democrats.
And the Democrats do nothing! They just take it!
Well now the budget in question is to appease a tyrannical leader who is race-tracking us into fascism literally faster than we can keep up with.
Not one single Democrat should vote for this budget.
If the Republicans want this, they need to get it on their own.
Think about what that story before this was. Donald Trump is picking which outlets get to be responsible for disseminating the news to the rest of the world. At rallies, people are being detained by private security.
On Tuesday, Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski said: “100-percent supporter of President Trump and still stand up for the institution of the Senate, for the legislative branch, with our authorities that are prescribed to us specifically by the Constitution.”
But that’s just not true. I appreciate that she’s trying to do some pushback but it’s just not possible to be a 100% supporter of Trump while, at the same time, being a supporter of the Constitution.
It is here. The Constitutional crisis is here. The fascism is here.
Give no quarter.
I’ve been thinking about that phrase a lot – it means take no prisoners. Give no mercy. It’s… you know, it’s aggressive. And to be clear, I don’t mean it in a physical way here.
The quote is thought to be from Othello, which has another, more apt quote: “Let heaven and men and devils, let them all, All, all, cry shame against me, yet I'll speak.”
You do not get any leeway when it’s between us and fascism.
Let them all cry shame… yet I’ll speak.
Give. No. Quarter.
And that’s it. That’s the news.
For a little over a week! That’s right, I’m taking a break! Gotta see a man about a mouse (is that a phrase? Should it be?). Anyway, I’m going to Disney World before Florida decides Californians can’t enter the state.
Tragically, I’m bringing my microphone because you never know in this new and terrible world, but I’m desperately hoping you won’t get an episode until March 10th.
In the meantime… check that Substack out! Link in show notes.
I’m proud of our reporters. People that are risking everything to make sure we know exactly what this administration is doing.
I’m proud of activists and democrats who aren’t letting this administration take us down without a fight.
But more than that, because you are also in this and not giving quarters (even monetarily, which could go to me and that would be rad). Because you understand that staying informed is a part of the resistance. But so is rest. And also because I bet you’re having a really great hair day today… I’m proud of you.