I have not met with her, but it does seem to many of us that she's had a surprisingly enlightened few weeks in terms of her perspective on both the Epstein files and also Katy, we know one of the reasons why Republicans refuse to come back while they remain on vacation all across the country is because they don't want to swear in Representative-elect Adelita Grijalva, because she would represent the 218th signature for an up-or-down vote on releasing the Epstein files,
Did you hear it? That roar of jet engines over San Francisco. The Fleet Week Air Show continued over the city's waterfront Saturday. This year, no U.S. Military planes could take part due to the government shutdown, but spectators still enjoyed the show. "This is the biggest party in San Francisco the whole year," said Glenda McGovern from Healdsburg.
Saturday Night Live opened its latest episode with a cold open spoofing Pam Bondi's recent congressional hearing, in which the attorney general clashed with senators through evasive answers and sharp personal jabs. This week's host, Amy Poehler, played the role of Bondi, while her longtime friend and fellow SNL alum Tina Fey made a surprise cameo as Secretary of Department of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem - hair extensions, Botox, and AR-15 included.
Chuck Schumer took so much heat in March when they passed a clean CR. And he's so worried about AOC challenging him and losing control of his Senate Democratic conference that he's trying to show. I mean, he even updated his glasses to show that he is hip and, you know, feisty now. But it's absurd. The whole thing is performative, Lawler said.
That eminent figure is Muir, the Scottish-born naturalist who founded the Sierra Club and hosted President Theodore Roosevelt on a camping trip in Yosemite in 1903. Muir is called the "father of the national parks," in part because the writing he did in his Martinez study persuaded Americans to see their wilderness areas as treasures to preserve, not as resources to be exploited.
Padilla told me that from day one of this administration, I have tried to speak truth to power, and if getting tackled forced people to have no choice but to now start paying attention that could be helpful, because the general public knows it's wrong. U.S. Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi recycled the incident on Tuesday when Padilla attempted to question her during a congressional hearing, voicing concern about the weaponization of the Department of Justice.
Many major national parks remain open to the public during the government shutdown. Still, exactly what "open" means varies from park to park - and it doesn't mean they're running like usual. If a national park is open, it means the public can access it, but some offer more services than others. For instance, some parks are keeping visitor centers open while others aren't. Many aren't collecting entrance fees.
Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, has threatened the layoffs for weeks, citing the government shutdown. Vought wrote on social media Friday that his promised reduction in force had begun. A department spokesperson then confirmed in an email to Inside Higher Ed that "ED employees will be impacted by the RIF." The spokesperson did not clarify how many employees will be affected or in which offices.
The Blue Angels won't be flying here this year, and the parade of ships only consisted of one ship Friday morning. But even a scaled-down Fleet Week is expected to bring tens of thousands of people to the area and could be a big boom for businesses. A big, visual welcome came from one of San Francisco's fire boats for the HMCS Nanaimo, an impressive coastal defense vessel belonging to the Royal Canadian Navy.
"We will never compromise on safety. When staffing constraints arise, the FAA will slow down air traffic at impacted airports to ensure operations remain safe," FAA spokesperson Hannah Walden tells WIRED, adding that Transportation secretary Sean Duffy " said that air traffic controllers who report to work will be paid. Regarding reductions in force (RIFs), DOT has been clear for months: safety critical positions-including air traffic controllers-have and will continue to be exempt from any RIFs."
In a development born of the government shutdown, the SEC announced Thursday that companies can proceed with IPOs using an obscure automatic approval process, now with the added bonus of skipping pricing information entirely. What's happening is that with 90% of SEC staff furloughed, startups can file their paperwork and have it automatically become effective after 20 days. This option always existed; firms just rarely use it because they prefer having SEC reviewers actually look at their disclosures before going public.
One national park is staying open through the government shutdown - Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The park, located in the Appalachian Mountains between North Carolina and Tennessee, will be fully staffed through the period, NPR reported. The outlet reported that seven local governments in the area were paying the park's 275 full time employees to keep the park operating during the shutdown. Local governments have raised nearly $2 million to keep the park running, per NPR.
They're already paying $2,000 a month with $10,000 deductibles. I'm getting phone calls from people that are saying if the ACA tax credits expire, they aren't going to be able to have health insurance.
I'm telling you the truth, and you can go look at all the documents yourself. Don't look at Republican paperwork. Look at the Congressional Budget Office, who said that we had at least 1.4 million illegal aliens draining the resources from Medicaid, which is why you put their forms into law and got it signed July 4th. Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries' counter-proposal for the CR would reverse all that.
That's a great achievement. We applaud her. I look forward to administering the oath of office to her to make her an official member of the House as soon as we get back to regular session. Right now, Chuck Schumer holds the cards on when that can happen because he is the one that has shut down the government, and that is a problem, Johnson said.
