The United States armed forces has an intransigent sexual assault problem, but thanks to the tireless work of activists and a select few lawmakers, real change is on the horizon.
 

• In December 2021, the House and Senate reached an agreement to strip military commanders of most of their authority to prosecute sexual assaults and other criminal cases within their ranks. Under the new statute, independent military prosecutors would replace commanders in determining whether service members accused of committing violent crimes would be prosecuted. Pentagon leaders lobbied against the legislation up until the last minute. 
   

• But one particular aspect of the 2021 agreement made some military sexual assault survivors and advocates feel that the bill was a setback: Commanders maintained their authority to conduct the trials, choose jury members, grant immunity, and approve witnesses. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) has made military-justice reform, and particularly curbing sexual assault in the military, her central legislative cause since 2013, and she insisted that “removing that authority from commanders” would be critical to seek true military justice.
   

• 2021 was also the year that the Department of Defense saw a 13 percent increase in the number of reported sexual assaults across the U.S. military branches. In 2022, the number only crept up by one percent, as a sharp decline in Army numbers offset significant increases in sexual assaults reported in the Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps. Resistance among top military brass to any changes in their judicial system persisted for decades, but hundreds of millions of dollars in budget infusions for sexual assault prevention and response has demonstrated notable progress. 

Democratic lawmakers in particular have maintained their commitment to justice for sexual assault survivors in our armed forces. 
 

• On Friday, President Biden moved that effort one step further when he signed an executive order that drastically overhauls the U.S. Uniform Code of Military Justice, stripping commanders of their authority over sexual assault and violent criminal cases, hopefully moving such prosecutions out of the chain of command once and for all. With this executive order, Biden will advance the most significant changes to the modern military legal system since its creation in 1950. 
   

• The 2021 law set up a two-year process for the DOD to create a fleet of special prosecutors to replace commanders in handling serious crimes. This division will be known as the Offices of Special Trial Counsel, which will be staffed by experienced military prosecutors who will—crucially—report to the civilian leaders of the armed forces. Friday’s executive order is the final step needed to change the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and President Biden signed it five months ahead of the deadline. 

The United States Military still has a long way to go in the fight for justice for sexual assault survivors, but policy and practices are finally headed in the right direction.

Guess which presidential candidate stopped by Pod Save America this week for a sit down with Lovett? Hint: Hint: He’s a passionate advocate for blocking bridges and tanning on closed state beaches. Yep, you guessed right! It’s Chris Christie - former governor of New Jersey and the first presidential candidate of the 2024 cycle to appear on the show. You’re definitely not gonna wanna miss this one. Check out the episode right now on the Pod Save America feed, wherever you get to your podcasts.

Nearly four-million Americans have been kicked off of Medicaid since the end of a pandemic-era policy. A staggering 79 percent of those people were removed for reasons related to paperwork. Greatest country in the world! Perfect system!

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito told the Wall Street Journal he does not believe Congress has any constitutional authority to regulate the Supreme Court, and the lead author of the piece is an attorney who has a major tax case in front of SCOTUS next term. Cool! 

As the world endures its hottest July ever recorded, conservative groups have already drafted a plan to gut any federal efforts to address climate change.

Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) has reportedly told multiple people that she intends to run for Governor of Virginia in 2025. 

A group of mostly-Republican members of Congress are asking House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to establish a select committee on UFOs. They remain unconcerned about the fact that the planet is on fire. 

Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI) reportedly cursed out a group of Senate pages (who are mostly teenagers) on Wednesday, saying “Wake the fuck up you little shits,” and repeatedly calling them “pieces of shit.” Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer made a statement on the Senate floor on Friday saying that he and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell among many other senators were horrified by Van Orden’s words and refusal to apologize, then publicly thanked all of the pages to a round of applause. 

Rep. Tim Scott (R-SC), the only Black GOP presidential candidate in the field, publicly criticized Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) for his support of Florida education standards requiring that students be instructed that slaves “developed skills” among other “benefits” of slavery. 

Meta is hemorrhaging users on its Twitter knockoff app Threads (because it launched prematurely and sort of doesn’t work), with more than half leaving the platform in the weeks after its launch. 

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy got into an expletive-filled shouting match on the House floor, during which Swalwell called McCarthy a “pussy” and McCarthy threatened to beat up Swalwell, before backing down. (Our money’s on Eric, naturally.)

This newsletter is sponsored by BetterHelp.

When you're at your best, you can do great things. But you can’t always be at the top of your game, and it’s normal to feel overwhelmed or like you aren’t showing up in the ways that you want to sometimes. Working with a therapist can help you get closer to the person you want to be. Because when you feel empowered, you can take on whatever life throws at you.

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Annual inflation in the United States rose at its slowest pace in more than two years in June. We’re one step closer to Jerome Powell leaving us alone!

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) introduced a bill that would finally allow striking union workers to receive food stamps during work stoppages. 

President Biden added climate and equity provisions to the National Environmental Policy Act designed to enable faster building of clean energy (good!) and fossil fuel (c’mon, man) infrastructure projects.