Secret voting! Kenneth Chesebro! Agents of Egypt! The news has really outdone itself this cycle with its general… now-ness. I recommend the application of ice cream.
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 gag order!–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!
Cleanup in Aisle 45:
We’re now back to 45 stories on the Election Rejection front, as the House nonsense gets its own section. Here’s what has happened since last time:
- Gag Real and Plea Deals. Within only a few days of Trump appealing a gag order placed on him in the D.C. election interference case, he was fined $5,000 for violating said gag order. (The judge declined to hold him in contempt this time, but made it clear that prison was on the table when he inevitably does this again.) Meanwhile, former Trump attorneys Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro both pled guilty this cycle on the GA election case. This brings us to three flipped henchmen on that case, as Scott Hall pled guilty last cycle.
We also have a handful of odds and ends on the Biden Rebuilding front, though things were pretty upstaged by everything else going on. Here’s what I have for you:
- Zero Tolerance, $105 Billion. Biden was in the news this week for reaching a settlement deal with the ACLU regarding the families separated during Trump’s illegal Zero Tolerance policy. However, he got considerably more attention for requesting $105 billion in aid to Ukraine and Israel for their respective wars, going so far as to give a rare Oval Office address on the topic. Of course, given the Congressional dysfunction on display at the moment, he can’t actually get the funding right now–but more on that below.
Your New Normal:
- The Headless House Mess. Since the last news cycle, when I covered the hot Speaker mess created from McCarthy’s ouster, the House GOP has hit rock bottom and started to dig. First, charming fascist Steve Scalise got the nomination, but he withdrew from the running because he lacked the votes. Then nightmare man Jim Jordan had his fifteen minutes, but after he managed to lose votes by alienating his own allies and making several death threats, the GOP held a secret vote and pulled the plug on his nomination. So now we have a bunch of insurrectionists in the running, and the acting Speaker is threatening to quit because people keep trying to make him hold votes he can’t legally hold. And while all of this is going on, the House hasn’t functioned for nearly three weeks.
The Bad:
- Social Media Sown Confusion. Social media has been flooded with gruesome and inaccurate posts about the Israel-Hamas war this cycle, exacerbating tensions and anxieties that were already sky-high. Particular attention is being paid to Elon Musk’s brave new twitter, which has been especially full of fetid falsehoods. This problem is exacerbated by Twitter’s formerly large role over the past fifteen or so years in spreading information from the ground–particularly in Iran and Egypt.
The Good:
- Recent Labor Wins. The news is weird and dire this week, but we did see a few labor wins. The workers at Kaiser Permanente reached a deal, ending the largest health sector strike in history with favorable terms. The WGA strike ended recently on favorable terms as well, although the SAG-AFTRA strike is still going after talks fell through badly this week.
So that’s what I have for you, and I’m sorry, there are no news refunds. For making it through, you deserve this reluctant heffalump and a more functional government. I’ll be back next time 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 pumpkin spice flavored things!
National News Roundup 