The Baba Yaga Strikes Back
On Friday's show we did a deep dive into Ukraine's massive drone attack on Russian air bases across the region and what that attack might signal for the conflict and the future of warfare. We also bid farewell and happy trails to Elon Musk and his future K Hole adventures. His "warm" send off in the oval office from Trump however proved short-lived. Sometimes you don't have to write the jokes, they just appear before your eyes on X. Speaking of jokes, be sure to stay tuned through the end of the episode for the depressingly continuing exploits of our VP. Spotify link to the full episode at the bottom & on YouTube here.
Here are some updates and other stories we're keeping our eye on:
Ukraine Shows Their Cards; Russia Raises the Ante
After the impressive Ukraine drone assault of last week Russia continues to raise the number of drones and missiles they're sending over the border. Peace talks do not seem to be progressing in any meaningful way despite the exchange of a few prisoners. The US has been increasingly sidelined within the conflict and Trump's bluster and attempt to isolate Ukraine may prove to have the opposite effect, as Ukraine turns to new alliances in Europe and Russia maintains its BFF-status with China. Watch our episode carveout on this here.
Trump and Musk Escalate Their Spat
What started as an unsurprisingly passive-aggressive display in the White House, with one adult man bestowing a "special but not too special" golden key on another adult man, became a full scale public freakout as the tenuous Musk/Trump relationship devolved into a truly bonkers social media back-and-forth. While it would be great to kick back with some popcorn and watch these two go at it, some of us need to be adults. Right?
Abrego Garcia Back in the US
After nearly three months, the Trump administration has finally returned Abrego Garcia to the US after mistakenly renditioning him to a notoriously brutal detention center in El Salvador. AG Pam Bondi welcomed him home with criminal charges, calling him "a smuggler of humans and children and women." WHAT A WONDERFUL USA WELCOME. Lawyers for Abrego Garcia maintain his innocence and are continuing to press a judge to pursue contempt proceedings against the administration.
Travel Ban 2.0
Trump's new travel ban took effect today as protests erupted over the weekend and continue today. He also mobilized the National Guard in what Gov. Gavin Newsome is calling "an unmistakeable step toward authoritarianism." We'll be diving into this more in our show.