Year 7, Week 20 (May 28–June 3)

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I drafted this week’s news watching Brennan Lee Mulligan rant as a fake CEO for several sad companies, which turns out to be an improbably good backdrop to this week’s news in general. (This is to say, the news this week isn’t unusually bad, but it does make you want to stare dead-eyed into the camera and yell things.)

Standard standing reminders still apply: I may be well into my seventh year of journalism, but I summarize news within my areas of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not a student loan!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. And, of course, for the things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers.  Onward to the news!     

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Cleanup in Aisle 45:

We’re also back to original flavor Election Rejection this week with yet more 45 train wreck. Here’s what has happened:

• 45 Reasons to Indict. This was quite a week for news about Trump.  First, in “this is lazy even for the 45 writing room” news, we learned federal prosecutors have a tape of Trump  a) talking about his b) definitely classified documents that he c) still had after he left office in 2021.  Then Trump’s lawyers said they couldn’t find the document, and just today they met with the special investigator to… plead with them not to charge him, I guess?  Meanwhile, the Trump probe in Georgia has been broadened to include other states. Finally, almost as an afterthought, the DOJ confirmed that they will not be charging Mike Pence over the comparatively minor classified documentation they found on him earlier this year. (I guess it’s all relative.)

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The main news story on the Biden Rebuilding front this week is the debt ceiling dealing.  Here’s what I have for you:

• Debt Ceiling Dealing (cont). As foretold by prophecy, the debt ceiling bill did get passed by both the House and the Senate this week, and Biden signed it into law over the weekend. As one might expect, the final version was just as bad as the first version. Nonetheless, we do have a functional government again, so at least there’s that.

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Your New Normal:

• Repro Health Roundup. We had a weirdly positive week, on the whole, for repro health news. ABC ran a story that teenage pregnancy reached a historic low last year, although I’m honestly not sure how that happened with everything else going on. Both Oklahoma and Nevada had positive movement as well; the Oklahoma Supreme Court apparently struck down two abortion bans (though plenty of restrictions still exist in the state). Meanwhile, Nevada became the next state with a Republican governor to approve abortion shield laws.
  

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The Bad:

• Symbolic Student Loan Screw You. The Senate, in its infinite wisdom, also passed a bill from the House this week that overturns Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan by 52-46 vote. Unsurprisingly, Biden has signaled that he will veto this bill, and enough Democrats still vote like it that his veto will likely stand. Nonetheless, it’s a kick in the teeth when it happens the same week that Congress voted to turn federal loans back on. The final say on the matter will likely be the Supreme Court case that is also pending, and expected to come out in the next few weeks.
  

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The Good:

• Recent LGBT Resilience. At the top of Pride month, it feels good to share that the absurd Tennessee drag law issued a few months ago was shot down by a federal court this week as unconstitutional. (If you were wondering whether it violates freedom of speech, yes yes it does.) I’m sure this won’t be the last we hear of this, but it’s good to have the decision for now.

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So that’s what I have for you this week, and I’m sorry, there are no news refunds. For making it through, you deserve this bear bed hair and a more functional government.  I’ll be back next week with more restructured and improved news, and I hope you will be back as well–but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments.  Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me pictures of sloths because who doesn’t like those?