03/19/25

Good morning! It’s Wednesday, March 19th.

National Poultry Day.

I don’t have time for this one. Too much news. Speaking of…

And now, the news.

Israel-Hamas War

-via AP News, The Independent, and NPR

Okay, I do want to cover a serious collection of stories about what the Trump administration is doing to immigrants in this country. However, there are also a few other big stories that need to be covered. So today we’re doing a classic double episode drop! This episode, here, is a classic episode. If you’ve subscribed to this show, you will also see a Special Episode in the feed. If you haven’t subscribed to the show… what are you waiting for?

Starting with an update to the news that broke on Monday night, and I covered in yesterday’s episode – Israel has officially called off the ceasefire in Gaza with a new offensive called “Operation Strength and Sword.”

The airstrikes on Tuesday, local time, signaled the end of the ceasefire. When I said, in yesterday’s episode, that I didn’t want to report numbers because they would be higher today, those numbers were in the 40s.

As of this recording, the number of dead stands at more than 400, with another at least 500 injured. Many of whom are women and children.

After taking credit for the ceasefire before he was even president, Trump has now backed Prime Minister Netanyahu’s decision to back out of it. In fact, according to an Israeli official’s conversation with the Wall Street Journal, Trump gave Israel the go-ahead for this slaughtering (I mean, let’s call it what it is) and Israel, in turn, gave him a heads up about the attack.

Israel now says they will act with “increasing military strength.”

It is currently unclear if Hamas will retaliate or attempt to continue pushing for a ceasefire. Prior to this, but earlier this month, Israel placed a block on food, fuel, and aid into Gaza, in hopes of pressuring Hamas to release the rest of the hostages. To be clear, the release of more hostages was not a part of this stage of the ceasefire.

So that’s where things stand now – with the ceasefire over and Trump supporting the killing of more than 400 Palestinians, many of whom are women and children.

You know, when Trump was running for president, there was a large number of people who wouldn’t vote for Kamala because they thought she wasn’t doing enough for Palestinians in Gaza. But Trump was always going to be the worst thing that happened to Gaza, as far as the United States goes.

I wonder what they’re thinking now.

Elon v The Constitution

-via NY Times, Washington Post, The Guardian, and MSNBC

Speaking of the worst thing to happen as far as the United States goes… Elon Musk. Not the worst thing, but like… tied. He’s tied.

On Tuesday a ruling by a federal judge in the US District Court of Maryland ruled that Elon Musk and his DOGE team likely violated the Constitution when they worked to shut down USAID. It actually sounds like they violated the Constitution in multiple ways, including taking away the power of Congress to oversee an agency it created.

In addition to this statement that appears to be the first time someone has, judicially speaking, tried to rein Musk in since he did a Nazi salute and started trying to bring our democracy to the ground, the judge also wrote that USAID operations need to be partially restored, including reinstate email access to all current employees, including employees on paid leave, and barring his team from any further work to shutter the agency that exists to do radical things like give peanut paste to starving children.

Many contracts have already been terminated, and many employees have already been outright fired, so it’s unclear how much at USAID will go back to what it was. However, we should be as clear as possible about how unconstitutional this all is.

Also, there’s something else to talk about when it comes to DOGE and Musk. This is one of those things where we need to know what’s going on but we don’t really know enough yet.

Rachel Maddow has been following this story, so all credit to her, but here’s what’s going on… Earlier this month, DOGE was doing their unconstitutional (and unethical) thing and closing departments. Including at the US African Development Foundation. They attempted to go into the building, but they were blocked by a small group. About an hour later, the acting deputy administrator of USAID, came back with DOGE employees as well as, what appeared to be, five US marshals. With guns.

A chaotic scene broke out that ultimately ended in court with a federal judge saying those employees couldn’t enter the building.

So that’s the first part of it. Sounds like they were US Marshalls, but that’s even a little like… were they? For sure? They definitely had guns, we know that for sure. Then last week, just this past Friday actually, DOGE staffers entered the offices of the US Institute of Peace (aka USIP). This time, with FBI agents. They left after USIP’s lawyer told them that they have “private and independent status.” On Monday, they returned – with cops. USIP’s private security, which they got because of Friday’s incident, had their contracts canceled.

These are two groups, created by Congress, who are now being overtaken by a group called DOGE, which is not an official department of the government despite having the word “department” in its name. And DOGE is being helped by armed federal law enforcement groups.

I know earlier I called what’s happening at USAID a Constitutional crisis. It is. It remains one.

But this, what’s happening right now, is also a Constitutional crisis. But just, you know, now with dangerous props.

Or, to put it in Maddow’s words: “You can't just use guns to force your way in, in the meantime, as a means of settling that dispute. What that is, is an armed assault on the U.S. government. If there's a legal dispute as to whether or not you are allowed in a U.S. government building and you cast that aside and say, ‘we've got guns,’ and that's the grounds on which we're coming in…that is an armed assault on a U.S. government office, that’s a break-in, that's ‘call the cops’ territory, that's 'barricade the doors' territory.”

So far, this hasn’t really been as big of news as it should be.

But keep an eye on this one. Because it won’t be the last we hear about it.

Putin and Trump

-via NPR

On Tuesday, Trump and Putin had a call about a potential ceasefire, with Putin and the Kremlin appearing supportive of a 30-day pause of strikes against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

Next, negotiations will begin in the Middle East where, according to the White House, they will negotiate things like a ceasefire in the Red Sea.

Last week, Ukraine agreed to the US’s 30-day ceasefire plan – probably because we basically held them hostage by stopping the sharing of all intelligence. As soon as they agreed, the US resumed intelligence sharing.

So, you know… let’s see next steps.

Judge Halts Trump’s Anti-Trans Policy

-via CNN

Also on Tuesday, a federal judge ruled against Trump’s cruel for the sake of being cruel ban on transgender military members.

The ban was set to take place this month but has been blocked because, according to the judge, it “is soaked in animus and dripping with pretext. Its language is unabashedly demeaning, its policy stigmatizes transgender persons as inherently unfit, and its conclusions bear no relation to fact.”

Expect this one to go all the way up to the Supremes.

Astronauts Land in Florida

-via NASA

Hey, those astronauts landed! Remember those astronauts who have been up in space for nine months on a ten-day mission? They’re back. Sounds like they’re physically healthy.

No word yet on how many romcoms will be written about this.

And that’s it. That’s the news.

For this episode.

As a reminder, there is a special episode about what’s happening with deportations right now (hint, it’s not good!). So make sure you listen to that as well.

I’m proud of… poultry, I guess. Not sure what I’m supposed to do with this one. Good job chickens.

But more than chickens, because you’re so brave… I’m proud of you.