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- Quinta Brunson on Jimmy Kimmel
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The Trump document-theft scandal is the gift that keeps on giving incremental updates through court filings. A day after both camps submitted their picks for a special master, we may be one step closer to different court-based incremental updates.
- Against all odds/common sense the Justice Department has agreed to accept one of disgraced former president Donald Trump’s picks for special master: Raymond J. Dearie, a semi-retired federal district court judge who's older than all of the Supreme Court justices and one year younger than President Biden. Judge Aileen "I <3 TRUMP" Cannon must now decide whether to appoint him, and settle disputes over his jurisdiction. DOJ has narrowed its position to excluding only classified documents from the special-master review, which has riled Trump’s lawyers, who have been “backed into a legal corner.”
- But what fraction of the missing documents will the special master actually review? The National Archives says it isn't sure whether Trump has actually surrendered all of the documents he (allegedly) definitely stole from the White House. The House Oversight and Reform Committee has requested “an urgent review of presidential records from the Trump administration to identify any presidential records…that may still be outside of the agency’s custody and control.” They are also requesting a “personal certification from Donald Trump” that he has returned all of the relevant documents because a written lie is way more believable than the ones he just says.
- This is not the only legal issue currently hanging over Trump's head. One that's flown under the radar: He faces legal scrutiny over the handling of more than $115 million in donations across several political-action committees. His biggest fundraising vehicle, Save America PAC, ended July with more than $99 million in cash on hand, making it larger than both the Republican and Democratic national committees combined. The only problem is that much of the money was donated to a special “election defense fund” which never existed. Instead, Trump has funneled the money to pay for staff, dozens of rallies, travel, and possibly babysitting for Eric.
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The big question for the future of the country is how all of Trump’s legal woes will affect his ability to drum up support for his favorite candidates, as the primary season comes to a close, and then in the general election.
- In New Hampshire, the GOP frontrunner in Tuesday’s Senate primary has been described as “too Trumpy,” a term that has only recently been considered a bad thing. Don Bolduc, who Trump has described as a “strong guy, tough guy,” leads the Republican field by a large margin. The GOP's fear is that he and many of their Trumpiest candidates will lose badly in November. Trump's latest endorsement may be his craziest yet. On Monday he seemingly went full QAnon by sharing a picture of himself wearing a “Q” pin with the QAnon slogan “The Storm is Coming,” which I think is also a “Game of Thrones” reference. It's hard to keep up.
- Basically, Trump is still the most powerful voice in the GOP even if some of the bloom is off the rose. The vast majority of Trump's picks won their primaries, although three-quarters of his picks were incumbents already favored to win, with some running unopposed. In all, 91 percent of Trump’s picks managed to win their primaries, which is a lot no matter how you try to spin it. But even though Trump still holds sway with his staunchly Republican base, his candidates might not fare so well among moderates come election day. Or if their patron is, you know, goin' to prison.
Unfortunately, we have to wait for November to see if his candidates can actually win their elections…unless Merrick Garland can HURRY UP ALREADY.
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Could Twitter jail’s next occupant be…Twitter? Turns out Twitter isn’t just a hot mess of toxic takes, it’s also sloppy! On Thursday, the Senate heard from whistleblower and incredible nick-name haver Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, Twitter’s former head of cybersecurity, who alleged that the popular shit-talking platform has beaucoup vulnerabilities that can be exploited from both inside and outside the company. Zatko asserted that Twitter exposes its users to identity thieves and government spies. Our lives should be so interesting! Stated Zatko, Twitter “lost information on 200 million users for email addresses, phone numbers…With your phone number and email address, I can hijack your phone number. I can then change your Gmail, your Coinbase, your Ameritrade…I can then assume your identity.” If I’m Elon Musk, I’m definitely getting a receipt. What’s more, Twitter may also have negative psychological effects on its users. According to a study by the University of Toronto, “Twitter use is related to decreased well-being, increased polarization, and an increased sense of belonging.” RT if you think Twitter should stop ruing our lives!
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- Lindsey Graham has proposed a new national abortion-ban bill, confusing many fellow Republican lawmakers, who were content to continue lying about it. Graham’s new bill would ban abortions after the first 15 weeks—less than the 20-week limit in previous bills he has proposed, which were much more popular among his colleagues. Now we wait and see whether Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer brings it up for a vote.
- Inflation rose just 0.1 percent in the month of August. But that's because the prices of gas and used cars, which have previously been a big driver of inflation numbers fell, while the cost of other goods and services rose rapidly rapidly, offsetting those declines. We're still not in a recession, though, thanks to strong job growth and increased consumer spending. Pop that champagne!
- Alabama is readying an untried method of execution to carry out its death sentences: nitrogen hypoxia. This method uses gasses that are not typically poisonous, such as nitrogen, methane, or helium, then reduces oxygen concentration to fatally low amounts.
- GOP governors want President Biden to withdraw his student-loan-forgiveness plan, citing concern about its negative impact on low-income families. Yes, concern for poor people, a GOP staple.
- The Emmy Awards were Monday night and, yes, HBO still rules. HBO and HBO Max won 38 statues, followed by 26 wins for Netflix and 10 for Hulu. There, now you don’t have to watch.
- Los Angeles County has confirmed its first monkeypox death. L.A. is currently a hotbed for the virus, since the United States has recorded the most cases globally and California has recorded the most cases nationally.
- Australian man killed by a kangaroo in first fatal attack since 1936. But if you think it can happen to anybody, remember that the man was 77 and may have been keeping the wild animal as a pet. Don’t do that and you should be cool!
- Starbucks defines the term “too little, too late” by offering benefits to non-unionized workers. Workers in stores that are not unionized will now be offered help with student-loan payments and a new savings-account program. This is on the heels of a wage increase—also only for non-unionized workers. I stand with the unionizers until the taste of their coffee improves.
- A “Baby Shark torture victim” who filed a lawsuit last year alleging abuses at an Oklahoma detention facility has died “mysteriously.” He and others in the lawsuit alleged to have been forced into stress positions and made to listen to the song “Baby Shark” on repeat for hours on end on multiple occasions. Very fishy!
- Biden will NOT be taking a bus to the Queen’s funeral. World leaders were not permitted to use their own vehicles to travel to the funeral, but an exception has been made for Biden and the leaders of Japan, France, and Israel. Everyone else will be riding the bus. I don’t know why this feels like a win but it does.
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While we are slowly transitioning to renewable energy here in the U.S., many municipalities around the globe are embracing solar technology. Tokyo aims to enforce a new system starting in April of 2025 that would require builders to install solar panels in all new buildings and houses. To boost the adoption of this new policy, the government will work to improve a subsidy program and companies will not have to install solar panels on all new builds as long as they hit a certain target. Rooftop solar power is also spreading in Spain, as installations have increased tenfold in 2022 alone. However, one major obstacle for solar energy has been the inconvenient fact that the sun only shines on any given patch of Earth for half a day. Union rules, I guess. Trying to fix that is Ben Novak, a 26-year-old veteran of Space X and current CEO of a company called Tons of Mirrors. The company plans to install large mirrors and a collimator device on the International Space Station. For its part, China has announced plans to launch three artificial moons—well, satellites, equipped with mirrors that reflect enough sunlight during the night that China would no longer need street lights. Some drawbacks to the plan include the fact that unregulated light could negatively impact many plant and animal species, and the cost of the project would be…astronomical.
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