This week's show is sponsored in part by
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MIRS News
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Clay Bennett:Chattanooga Times Free Press
On our radar this week...
Wars in Ukraine and Gaza;
Ground beef more than $6 a pound;
A military invasion of Washington D.C.;
Trump tries to strong-arm the Federal Reserve;
Still no release of any new Epstein files;
More DOJ investigations into Trump’s political opponents;
Trump extorts a 10% ownership of Intel;
Questions about Trump’s health continue to grow, not just over his cankles, but over increasingly common mental lapses … like a shoutout to Michigan Governor "Christi uh Christine Whitman uh Whitmer";
Trump lords over a 3-hour 15-minute Cabinet meeting with one agenda item: the Team of Incompetents heaping praise on the Fearless Leader. Yes, the entire Trump cabinet spent an entire afternoon kissing Trump’s ass;
In another insult to the nation’s military, Trump now has National Guard troops picking up trash in Washington D.C. - something that’s actually the job of the National Park Service. But 180 out of 200 NPS employees in D.C. were laid off in the DOGE rampage;
Democrats get a big win in an Iowa special election, flipping a state Senate district by 10 points … a district Trump carried by 11 points. In the process, they ended a GOP legislative super-majority;
And there’s more good news: A D.C. grand jury refused to return an indictment against a former Justice Department employee who was seen on camera throwing a hoagie at the chest of one of the federal officers President Donald Trump has deployed in the nation’s capital, according to two people familiar with the matter. It’s a major blow to former Fox News screamer Jeanine Pirro;
In Michigan, the budget war continues with state House Republicans passing a 79-billion-dollar budget with no committee hearings and no debate. Among other things, the GOP spending plan defunds the police with major cuts in support of the State Police and Department of Corrections!
And most importantly, Taylor and Travis get engaged …
Despite all that, the big MAGA issue of the week is a restaurant chain’s logo.
But they got their Cracker Barrel back!
That pretty much sums up the quality of our politics as we head into the fall.
For an update on Lansing's $79-billion budget mess, we're joined on the podcast by House Appropriations Committee member Jason Morgan. Representative Morgan is serving his second term representing Washtenaw County’s 23rd House District. The son of a commercial fisherman and union laborer, Representative. Morgan was raised in Pinconning. Morgan worked his way through college as a first-generation college student, earning his Bachelor’s of Political Science from Northern Michigan University and then a Master’s of Public Administration from the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan.
Representative Morgan served six years as a Washtenaw County Commissioner and was elected as the county’s first-ever LGBTQ chair of the Board of Commissioners. Over the last 15 years, he has worked in various leadership positions in Michigan and Washington, D.C. including senior staff positions to Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and five members of Congress. Much of his career has also focused on higher education, working as the director of government and community relations and later teaching government at Washtenaw Community College.
Ann Telnaes:anntelnaes.substack.com
This episode is sponsored in part by
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