UN
UNBIASED Politics
Jordan Berman
Critical Thinking and Closing Thoughts
From July 6, 2026: Red Card Reversal, America250 vs. Freedom 250, a 2026 Time Capsule, and More Fourth of July News. — Jul 6, 2026
July 6, 2026: Red Card Reversal, America250 vs. Freedom 250, a 2026 Time Capsule, and More Fourth of July News. — Jul 6, 2026 — starts at 0:00
The top three things you need in the summer in my opinion, sunscreen, a portable fan, and temperature regulating bed sheets. Now the portable fan, that might just be a me th, okay, I run hot. Not only do I run hot, but I live in Florida. so you can do the math there. Not enjoyable. The temperature regulating sheets though, are something I think everyone can benefit from. Mine are obviously from Czy Earth, that's the only place I get my bedding And they're just amazing. Now, if you've never had temperature regulating sheets, I want you to imagine laying on a pillowy soft bed with a silky, smooth and incredibly cozy material wrapped around you, but you're not hot. You're cool. The sheets, even though they're super soft and truly make it so difficult to want to be anywhere other than your bed, literally feel cool on your body despite you being wrapped in them I've been raving about Czy Earth betting for years. I probably will for the rest of my life, honestly, but if you haven't upgraded your sheets to Czy Earth, let summer be the time. Seriously, Czy Earth knows they make good products too. they stand behind everything they make. There's a ten year warranty, one hundred night sleep trial, and hassle free returns on betting. No company is going to offer a one hundred night sleep trial if they're not confident you are going to love their product Made from Viscos from bamboo, breathable, soft and built for summer, head to cozyearth. com and use my code unbiased for an exclusive twenty percent off Code unbiased for an exclusive twenty percent off. And if you see a post purchase survey, mention you heard about Codzy Earth right here Czyarth dot com code Unbiased for an exclusive twenty percent off. Welcome back to Unbiased, your favorite source of unbiased news and legal analysis Welcome back to Unbiased Politics. Today is Monday july sixth and I hope you all had an amazing fourth of July weekend, whether you were spending it with family or friends or just kind of hanging out at the house, being chill. I hope it was a great weekend. And in today's episode, we're actually talking a lot about the celebrations over the weekend We're also talking about the new approach that the House may take to pass the Save America Act. We're talking about Trump's call to get Balligan's red card penalty reviewed and much more. So first let's start with a little fourourth of July Q and A. As we know, fourourth of July celebrations happened all across the country this weekend, and some celebrations made headlines more than others. For instance, my fourth of July, okay, no national headlines were made I hung out of my sister's house with some of my family members, some of her boyfriend's family members, laid on a blanket with my husband and our baby. It was an amazing day, but not national newsworthy. In other places though, like DC, you had the Freedom two hundred fifty celebration. There was an apparent stage malfunction. There was a group of masked men carrying flags, including Confederate flags as they walked down the streets And you had questions about all of it. So let's get to those. The first question is the state fair. What was the deal with the turnout, the stage malfunction? all of that question mark Okay, so this is the great American state Fair we're talking about. It took place on the National Mall in DC, and it was part of the Trump backed Freedom two hundred fifty celebration. So just to make this even more confusing, Freedom two hundred fifty is different than America two hundred fifty. and we'll get into that distinction in a few minutes. But the state fair was basically A fair, o, where every state got represented. There were pavilions, performances, exhibits, flyovers, there was a ferris wheel. It was essentially a big birthday party for America on the national Mall. But the rollout of the event drew attention for a few reasons. And keep in mind too, while we're talking about this, this was a sixteen day event. So it didn't just take place on the fourth of July It's a sixteen day thing. So you know, over the course of the days leading up to the fourourth of July, there were a handful of issues. the issues were not specific to Saturday On the turnout front, there were two very different stories happening at the same time. So organizers of the event or the freedom two hundred fifty organizers were saying that more than two hundred thousand people had already attended the event as of this weekend. But on the ground, especially early on, a lot of the on the ground reporters and the pictures that were taken there showed a much less crowded scene Now, as with most attendance related stories, I don't have an official turnout number, right? We kind of did the same thing with the No Kings protest. It's hard to know where the actual number stands. But what I can tell you is that there was clearly a gap between the official message and what a lot of people were seeing in person which did look You know, it looked to be more limited attendance early on. okay. But then by the fourth of July, turnout did seem to pick up. So Reuters reported that crowds had quote unquote swelled in the days leading up to july fourth. entrance lines were stretching several blocks. AxiO similarly described quote unquote huge crowds on the National Mall on july fourth. So what it seems like is early on, crowds were small, but then on the actual fourth of July, there was a really big turnout Now in addition to the turnout, there were some logistical issues. So the fair did have to temporarily shut down on Friday because of the extreme heat. There were also reports of things like power issues, problems with some of the attractions, some of the performers were either pulling out or canceling. And then there was this stage incident, which you mentioned when you asked the question, some of you might have seen the video circulating online But basically during one of the rehearsals, a big piece of the set came falling down onto the stage. and it was while a group of dancers were rehearsing and performing. Now, thankfully, no one was injured But those running the events so that it happened while work was being done on the back of the stage. And after that, they added more safety measures and, you know, technical oversight to prevent something like that from happening again. So that's the deal with the fair. Now the next question that you had was was America two hundred fifty really gutted to form Freedom two hundred fifty Before we answer this question, we have to distinguish between America two hundred fifty and Freedom two hundred fifty. So both are connected to the two hundred and fiftieth celebration, but they're not the same thing. So America two hundred fifty is a nonpartisan commission that Congress actually created back in twenty sixteen. It was meant to help plan for America's two hundred fiftieth anniversary Freedom two hundred fifty is different. Freedom two hundred fifty is the Trump administration backed effort tied to the White House task Force on celebrating America's two hundred and fiftieth birthday. It was created via executive order last year. It describes itself as the national nonpartisan organization leading the celebration of our nation's two hundred fiftieth birthday The Trump administration basically created its own public private celebration effort to carry out its own vision for the anniversary. And that's why you saw different events under different names. So the Great American State Fair was led by Freedom two hundred fifty, same with The UFC fight on the White House laawn, the Salute to America two hundred fifty celebration, the fireworks at Mount Rushmore, the Freedom trucks, those were all part of Freedom two hundred fifty. America two hundred fifty put on events like America's Bock Party, the Times Square ball drops, and then other state level events But then came this rumor that America two hundred fifty was gutted to fund Freedom two hundred fifty. And this came from a fifty five page report written by Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee. It was published on Thursday and it was titled From Vanity to Insanity, How the White House cheated the American peopleeople out of their two hundred fiftieth birthday Representative Jared Huffman of California, he's the ranking Democrat on the committee He said the report was months in the making and that it was based on interviews with unnamed whistleblowers, sworn congressional testimony, internal Freedom two hundred fifty documents, and other written responses Part of this report that really fueled this rumor says the following, quote Freedom two hundred fifty did not supplant America two hundred fifty because it was better at organizing festivities for the nation's semi quincentennial. It did so through a series of diversgions and misrepresentations that drained the chartered commission of the resources it needed to function. redirecting the appropriations Congress intended for America two fifty peeling away its private donors and trading on its nonpartisan reputation to recruit performers who believed they were joining a non political celebration The cumulative effect and the apparent purpose was to render America two hundred fifty unable to succeed and install Freedom two hundred fifty in its place. endnd quote The report lists multiple findings that you know, it determined through its investigation. and it elaborates on each of those findings. So one of the things that this report alleges is that America two hundred fifty originally planned to request one hundred million dollars in federal funding for its you know, two hundred fiftieth programming but later increased that request to one hundred fifty million dollars at the recommendation of Trump campaign strategist, Chris Lasvita The understanding, according to the report, was that one hundred million dollars of that request would go to America two hundred fifty, and then fifty million dollars would go to White House programming, Freedom two hundred fifty But the report says that didn't happen. The report says that after the bill passed that included this funding America two hundred fifty. you know, it expected to receive one hundred million dollars, but it was later told it would only receive fifty million dollars. And by the time the report was published, it had actually received only twenty five million dollars from this bill, plus another fifteen millionars from separate congressional funding. And so the report alleges that You know, the rest of that money went to Freedom two hundred fifty. The report also alleges that because lawmakers believed America two hundred fifty was already getting one hundred million dollars, they reduced other funding for America two hundred fifty. And Democrats say that that created a shortfall that then forced America two hundred fifty to scale back its programming and seek more private funding, while Freedom two hundred fifty took money and projects that America two hundred fifty had expected to use The report gives one example involving the Freedom Trucks program, saying ten million dollars in federal museum funds were transferred from America two hundred fifty to the National Park Foundation to finance Freedom two hundred fifty's Freedom trrucks The report also claims Freedom two hundred fifty went after America two hundred fifty's donors. So according to Democratic investigators, some of the donors who were planning to support America two hundred fifty were pressured to redirect their money to Freedom two hundred fifty instead. And apparently, this caused a lot of confusion because some of the corporate sponsors didn't realize America two hundred fifty and Freedom two hundred fifty were too different thingsings The report also says that some of the prospective donors were told by the Trump administration that they didn't have a quote unquote green light to donate to America two hundred fifty. And as a result, some of the donors either pulled back from their existing commitments or asked not to be publicly announced because they were worried about retaliation from the administration But the most serious allegation is that some of the donors who intended to give money to America two hundred fifty were allegedly given Freedom two hundred fifty's wire instructions instead, which obviously means that If true, their money would have gone to Freedom two hundred fifty without them realizing it Now again, according to Representative Huffman, the report is based on interviews with unnamed whistleblowers, sworn congressional testimony, internal Freedom two hundred and fifty documents, and other written responses No names are mentioned in the report, and the report specifically says that these findings are interim The report also says that most of the basic facts remain concealed behind the White House, behind Freedom two hundred fifty, and behind the National Park Foundation. The report says, quote, the complete donorless and financial ledgers of Freedom two hundred fifty, the identities of those foreign and domestic who have paid into it and the ultimate disposition of every dollar it has raised remain unknown The committee's investigation will continue to explore these and other records. It will pursue every appropriate avenue of accountability, including legislation to close the structural gaps that allowed a congressionally chartered foundation to be captured in the first place. E quote By the way, I probably should have mentioned this earlier, but part of the reason the donor information isn't public is because of Freedom two hundred fifty's structure. So Freedom two hundred fifty operates as an LLC connected to the National Park Foundation, which is a five hundred one C three nonprofit. And under federal nonprofit disclosure rules, five hundred one C three organizations generally don't have to publicly disclose a complete donor list that would otherwise show who gave money and how much they gave. So that's why this newly published report alleges these things, but the Democratic lawmakers don't have access to the actual donor lists to give any sort of concrete numbers Now as far as Freedom two fifty's response, spokesperson Danielle Alvarez denied the report's claims. She said they were quotequote, categorically false. She called it a quote unquote partisan smear. She said in a written statement that, quote, Congressional members should be ashamed they are spending countless hours fabricating a report instead of joining Americans and creating an absolutely beautiful celebration end a quote So that is what we know there. Now the final question related to the fourourth of July celebrations is the following, what can you tell us about the white supremacist group waving Confederate flags in DC So this was a group called Patriot Front. and we'll start with a little explanation of what Patriot Front is, and then we'll talk about what exactly they did on the fourth of July. So Patriot Front presents itself as a patriotic nationalist group. So lots of American flags, slogans about reclaiming America, things like that Mainstream news outlets and groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Anti Deamation League, George Washington University's prorogram on Extremism, they've all described Patriot Front as a white nationalist or white supremacist organization. Now I'll read you the five pillars from the Patriot Front's own manifesto Number one Democracy has failed America and it is necessary to organize outside of conventional electoral politics twowo, America has a unique national identity founded in European discovery and settlement Three, we will organize patriots with an active and life encompassing loyalty to the nation four. Present state has lost the mantle of legitimacy derived from the founding and must face alteration or abolition And five, our goal is to effect the formation of a republic, which reflects a ref forged spirit among our people A couple of other things worth noting from the manifesto, the Mifesto cites a nineteen twenty one article written by Calvin Coolidge titled Whose Country Is this, in which Coolidge wrote, quote, there are racial considerations too grave to be brushed aside for any sentimental reasons. Biological laws tell us that certain divergent people will not mix or blend And in that writing, Coolidge was arguing that immigration policy shouldn't just be based on economics or compassion, but also race. He was basically saying that certain racial or ethnic groups were biologically incompatible and shouldn't be expected to blend into one nation. And this was actually a mainstream argument in parts of American politics at the time obbviously that has since changed, but that is one of the beliefs that the Patriot front holds The manifesto also cites President Roosevelt, who once wrote in part, quote, The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities end quote Now it's worth mentioning that the manifesto does not include the part of Roosevelt's speech where he said, quote, there is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism. When I refer to hyphenated Americans, I do not refer to naturalized Americans. Some of the very best Americans I have ever known were naturalized Americans, Americans born abroad end quote. And in this speech, Roosevelt was arguing that it's fine if you were born somewherese, or you know, if your family came from Germany or Italy or Ireland or wherever. But once you're an American citizen, your primary loyalty should be to the United States, not to your family's country of origin. However, the Patriot frront focuses only on that one specific sentence in that speech, which without full contacts could sound like Roosevelt was saying that Ethnic groups cant co exist in America, but that's of course not exactly what Roosevelt was saying. So those are some snippets of the manifesto to kind of let you in on the ideology. As far as where Patriot Front came from, the group was actually created after that twenty seventeen Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville Patriot Front's founder, Thomas Rousseau was previously involved with a group called Vanguard America. Vanguard America was one of the groups at that Charlottesville rally. and it was one of the Vanguard America members who drove his car into the group of protesterors and killed a woman. I'm sure all of you remember that, But after Charlottesville, Vanguard America split because there was this rift between Rousseau and Vanguard America's leader And Rousseau ended up going and forming Patriot Font And a lot of the previous Vanguard America members joined Patriot Front. Patriot front moved away from some of the more the neo Nazi imagery that was associated with Vanguard America and instead leaned into more of American symbolism. So a lot of red, white and blue, a lot of American flags, a lot of slogans about reclaiming America, things like that. And Rousseau at the time wrote about the rebrand. He wrote, quote, Our focus will remain much the same, as will our overall goals. The change comes alongside many new visuals and a new overall look The new name was carefully chosen as it serves several purposes. It can help inspire sympathy among those more inclined to fence sitting and can be easily justified to our ideology and worldview. The original American patriots were nothing short of revolutionaries. The word patriot itself comes from the same root as paternal and patriarch It means loyalty to something intrinsically based in blood end quote So that's a little bit about Patriot Front. Now on the fourth of July, hundreds of members of Patriot Front wore masks and marched through DC with various flags. They wore matching outfits, they all had khaki pants, blue shirts, white face coverings, and sunglasses, and like I said, various flags, so some carried Confederate flags Some carried modified American flags, some carried the Patriot front flag. And at times they would chant slogans like reclaim America They were seen around Union Station, they were seen near the Capitol. They were on the metro at one point, and police were there monitoring the march. There have not been any reports of any arrests or incidents Legally speaking, okay, the First Amendment is what controls here. And I know some of you were wondering why they were allowed to do this and the answer is that they have the right to. So even groups that you know people find to be offensive or hateful generally have the right to march peacefully in public The exceptions are if the group is breaking the law in some way, if the group is making true threats, or if the group is engaging in violence. If they are doing any one of those things, then the legal analysis changes. But generally speaking, they're allowed to march peacefully So that's the deal with that. I hope that answers some of the most frequently asked questions. Let's take a quick break here to hear from some of the sponsors that help keep the lights on around here. When we come back, we'll talk about the America two hundred fifty time capsule, and then we'll move on to some other non july fourth related news. Before we get back to today's news, I want to show you why media framing matters so much. Two outlets can cover the same exact story using the same basic facts and leave you with a totally different impression For example, in reporting on the recent Supreme Court ruling dealing with Trump's power to fire independent agency officials, one headline from the left said, quote King Trump is stronger than ever after U. S. Supreme Court bolsters his agenda Qot. Another headline from the right said, quote, Supreme Court ruling gives Trump a chance to finally slay the deep state monster. Qot Same story, obviously very different framing, but that's exactly why I use and love ground newews. Ground newews lets you compare how different outlets across the political spectrum are covering the same story. And right now my listeners can get forty percent off the unlimited access vantage plan only by using my link groundneews dot com slash UP as an unbiased politics. Now what I love about Ground News is that instead of only seeing one headline or one version of the story, you can see the coverage side by side and better understand what's being emphasized, what's being downplayed, and how the framing changes depending on the outlet And obviously, that mission is very aligned with unbiased politics. I'm not here to tell you what to think. Ground News isn't either. Instead Ground News just gives you the tools to look at the coverage yourself and make up your own mind. One of those tools is the factactuality feature, which shows you the objectivity and subjectivity of a source's reporting. It's really, really helpful. I'm telling you, I've been using Ground News for years and I really think you'll love it as much as I do You can get forty percent off the unlimited access Bantage plan only by using My link. GroundNewsot com slash up. That's groundneews dot com slash youP for forty percent off the unlimited access Banantage plan. Thank you to Ground News for sponsoring the show. There's something about summer that gets you out of your routine in a good way. More travel, more time outside, more spontaneous plans. and the last thing I want is to spend that time stressing about my hair ha is such a big part of my sense of self, so I have loved having neutrrophal as part of my daily routine. It's an easy habit that really just helps me feel more confident day to day. Neutrophal is the number one dermatologist recommended hair growth supplement brand and it's the number one hair growth supplement brand personally used by dermatologists. Neutrrophal's hair growth supplements are peer reviewed, NSF certified for sport test Now, Nutrophol offers multiple formulas for men and women, and they're tailored to different life stages like postpartum or menopause and lifestyle factors, such as a plant based diet, so you get support that's actually right for you. I've used the womomen's Daily formula and the postpartum formula, so I really appreciate that neutrophol offers different options depending on where you're at in life Let your hair become one less thing taking up space in your head and see thicker, stronger, faster growing hair with less shedding in just three to six months with neutrophol For a limited time, Nutrfful is offering my listeners ten dollars ten off your first month' subscription and free shipping when you visit neutrfful. com and enter promo code unbiased. That's neutrful. com spelled NUT R a F o l. com promo code unbiased Hi, it's Siara Miller. I can't wait for you to check out my new collection of shoes and accessories at Designer Shoe Warehouse. If you look shoes as much as I do, then trust me, I got you From cute sneak areinas to the perfect flip flops to stunning heels. These shoes are all style, no drama It's a girls Girl summer and DSW has just the shoes Shop the Cierra Miller collollection right now at your dsW store or dsw. com If you've never heard of Article furniture, or maybe you've heard of it, but you just don't know much about it, allow me to tell you. because I'm so excited Article is a sponsor of this show. I have been shopping on Article for years. So Article offers mid century modern, coastal, and scandy inspired pieces. And you can tell that it really takes such good care in curating its collection because all of the pieces that I've gotten are such high quality And look so good in the house. We have the laundry eighty four and a half inch sofa bed for my guest room slash nursery. It's so nice. I get so many compliments on it. The shape, the color, the material, it's so good and it's comfy too. My mom actually just slept on it a few weeks ago. She said she slept great and she can't wait to come back. I'll take it. It's hard to find a comfortable sofa bed, so that says a lot in and of itself And what's cool about Article is they make it really easy to decorate your house in a way that looks like you hired a professional because all of their pieces pair really well together. They also offer pre designed bundles. So if you're not necessarily a pro when it comes to design and you just want some help making things match, the preesigned bundles are great. Article also offers a thirty day satisfaction guarantee. So if you order something, it turns out you're not completely in love with it You can easily return it. Article has such great customer service. Article is offering my listeners fifty dollars off your first purchase of one hundred dollars or more. To claim, visit article dot com slash unbiased and the discount will be automatically applied at checkout article. com slash unbiased for fifty dollars off your first purchase of one hundred dollars or more Welcome back In some more Fourth of July newews, America two hundred fifty buried a time capsule this weekend called America's Time Csule. It was buried at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia on Saturday. It'll be reopened if all goes to plan in twenty two seventy six. America two hundred fifty says the capsule includes, quote, contributions from all three branches of the US federal government All fifty states, Washington, DC, and five US territories, America two hundred fifty tent pole programs, as well as select national partners and institutions whose contributions reflect the people, places, ideas, and innovations shaping the United States at two hundred fifty years E quote. Now this capsule is pretty big. It's about three feet tall. It weighs nine hundred pounds. And the reason that it weighs so much is because it was built specifically to withstand two hundred fifty years in the ground So let's talk about some of the contributions. I'll focus on some of the more interesting ones Arkansas gave a diamond California gave a clawed AI answer to the question, wrrite me a prediction of what California will be like two hundred and fifty years from july fourth, twenty twenty six Louisiana gave a necklace Maine gave a bone from the North Atlantic right whale, which is one of the world's most critically endangered large whale species. Michigan gave a Potoski stone, and I just had to mention this one because these are my favorite stones to find when I go to Michigan in the summer and looking for them brings me right back to childhood is seriously one of my favorite things to do Potosk stone for those of you that don't know, it's Michigan state stone, but it's said that they formed about three hundred fifty million years ago when glaciers ground fossilized coral from bedrock They're really, really cool looking. Look it up if you find the time. They're called Potoski stones Anyway, Nevada gave a set of gambling trips New Mexico gave quite a lot, actually, but two of the things it gave, one was a bolo tie, and then it also gave a recipe card for the state's official cookie Ohio gave some fabric from the Wright Bothers flight Puerto Rico gave that Wright Bothers flight one, that one confuses me a little bit because I feel like it's supposed to resemble Current day, like what America is like in twenty twenty six and The Wright Brothers' flight was obviously a long time ago. I don't know. Maybe I'm not thinking about it the right way, but that one kind of threw me off Puerto Rico gave a roosary. Utah gave two granite discs Now in addition to those things, most states also gave some sort of like commemorative coin. Some states, actually quite a few states gave poetry And then a lot of states also gave a letter from the governor Some other contributors included the International Olympic Committee. They contributed a gold medal, an Olympic gold medal, The Today Sh, the MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, the PGA Tour, the Smithsonian, and the Supreme Court. Now I did see some reports that there were some really interesting items like an orange iPhone bottle, a crystal from the Times Square New Jersey Ball. I saw reporting that these were all included in the capsule. I didn't see them listed on America's official or America two fift's official contents list. so I'm not quite sure about that, but I figured I would mention it anyway. Cool story. Okay, let's move on to some non fourourth of July related matters. Speaker Johnson says Republicans will try again to pass the Save America Act, but this time he says they might try to do it through budget reconciliation So over the weekend, Johnson said the House plans to move quickly when lawmakers get back to Washington to advance the Save America Act. And again, this is the bill that would require photo ID to vote in federal elections and proof of US citizenship to register to vote. Now last week, a group of House Republicans blocked a procedural vote on the annual defense policy bill because they wanted the Save America Act attached to it. When that procedural vote failed, the House leaders ended up just sending all the lawmakers home early for the fourth of July recess. So Johnson's basically saying now, once lawmakers are back, we're going to move fast on this bill so it no longer holds us up on anything else But here's the thing, The issue with the bill is not in the House. It's already passed the House multiple times. The problem is in the Senate because in the Senate, most legislation needs sixty votes to move forward. That's because of the filibuster. Senate Republicans do not have those sixty votes for the Save of America Act. So Johnson is now talking about trying to pass the bill through budget reconciliation We've talked about budget reconciliation many times, but just as a refresher, budget reconciliation is this special process that Congress can use for certain bills specifically related to federal spending, taxes or the debt limit And the reason that it's special is because reconciliation bills cannot be filibustered the same way that regular bills can. So instead of needing the sixty votes, a reconciliation bill can usually pass with just a simple majority And that's why both parties use reconciliation when they have control of Congress, they have the White House, but they don't necessarily have sixty votes in the Senate. It's kind of a way to get around the lack of support in the Senate. And it's how some of the big tax, healthca, spending and debt limit changes sometimes get through Congress So Johnson saying, all right, the House has passed this bill multiple times each time it's stalled in the Senate because the Senate doesn't have the sixty votes it needs to get passed the filibuster. So we're going to try to use budget reconciliation this time, so it'll only require a simple majority in both the House and Senate catches of course, that reconciliation is supposed to be about the budget. It is supposed to be used for bills related to federal spending, taxes, or the debt limit. It's not supposed to be a workaround for any policy that a party wants to pass, right? And in the Senate, there's a rule for this. It's called the Birr rule Basically, the bird rule says that if something in the bill doesn't really affect the federal budget. or if the budget impact is just sort of like a small side effect, it probably can't be included in the reconciliation bill. So in this case, If Republicans try to include voter ID rules in a reconciliation package Democrats could argue, well, you know, this is really about changing voting laws. It's not about the federal budget. Any budget impact is just a small side effect. And at that point, the Senate parliamentarian, basically, the Senate's rules referee, would weigh in. And if the Senate parliamentarian says that that part of the If part of the bill violates the Bird rule, senators would need sixty votes to keep it in. And if they don't have sixty votes, that provision could be stripped out. So that's why reconciliation might be a path for Republicans, but it's certainly not a guarantee. Now one last note here, Johnson's specific plan appears to be to put the Save America Act or at least parts of it into a bigger budget bill and then pass that bigger budget bill through reconciliation That's still not as simple as the House passing it and calling it a day, right? Because for any bill to become law, the House and Senate have to pass the exact same version. So if the House passes a reconciliation bill, this budget package, the Senate still has to review it under the Senate's reconciliation rules. And because the Senate's rules are stricter Parts of the bill, such as the voter ID provisions, could be changed or even removed altogether. And if the Senate changes the bill at all, it then goes back to the House for another vote. So long story short, even if the House uses reconciliation, that doesn't mean the Senate automatically accepts everything in the House version and has to pass the bill exactly as it's passed in the House And again, the House has already passed this bill three times. So if you see headlines in the next few days about the House passing a budget bill via reconciliation and the bill includes provisions regarding voter ID and proof of citizenship, just keep all of this in the back of your mind Okay, moving on When politics meets sports, you get this next story Later tonight, the U.S men's soccer team will face Belgium in the World Cup depending on when you're listening mightight have already happened, but until Sunday, the United States was going to play without its top goal scorer But then in an unexpected turn of events, it was reported that Flow Ballan, the top goal score would in fact be allowed to play. And I know some of you are listening to this, wondering how in the world this has anything to do with politics. And we'll get there. I promise. But first let's talk about what happened lastast week when the United States played Bosnia and Herzegovina Balligan was given a red card after he stepped on the ankle of one of Bosnia's players. And just to explain this for anyone who doesn't watch a lot of soccer, a red card basically means that a player is kicked out of the game. okay? The player has to leave the game immediately. The team has to finish the match with one fewer player. But under FIFA's rules, a red card also automatically leads to a suspension for the team's next match. So in this case, the expectation was that Balligan wouldn't only miss the rest of last week's game, but also not be allowed to play tonight against Belgium. And a lot of the US fans were up in arms over this because not only has Balligan been one of our most important players in this World Cup But whether Balligan should have even gotten the red card in the first place was highly disputed So then on Sunday, FIFA announced that Balligan's one match suspension would be suspended for a probationary period of one year And this of course meant that he can play against Belgium tonight. The only exception is that if he commits another similar offense during that probationary period, the suspension could be enforced and he can receive new additional punishment But this is where the story gets political After the Rd card, Trump called FIFA's president and asked for a review Now initially on Sunday, all of the outlets were just saying, a source told blahah, blah, a source said this, a source said this, A person familiar with the matter said this And the source was saying that Trump spoke with FIFA's president after the red card and asked him to review the call. It wasn't officially confirmed until today. Trump was talking to reporters at the White House earlier today. One of the reporters asked him about it, and he said he did in fact call FIFAs president and ask for a review. He said, in part, quote, All I did was ask for a review because I didn't think it was a foul. I thought it was two great athletes who crashed into each other and got entangled. I didn't tell them what to do I can't tell him what to do, and I don't believe he made the decision. I believe it was a committee that made it and they made the right decision. end quote So Trump confirmed today that he did call FIFA's president and ask for the review Now, as far as the mechanism that was used to actually make this decision, FIFA cited Article twenty seven of its disciplinary code. Basically, Article twenty seven lets FIFA's judicial body either pause or suspend the enforcement of a disciplinary punishment and put the player on probation instead And the rule says that FIFA can partially or fully suspend a disciplinary measure, but the person then gets a probationary period of one to four years. And if they commit a similar offense during that probationary period, the suspended punishment can be enforced plus any new punishment So for Balligan, FIFA didn't completely just like get rid of the red card. It suspended the automatic one match ban that usually comes with a red card, and it instead put him on a one year probationary period
This excerpt was generated by Smart Features
Listen to UNBIASED Politics in Podtastic
For listeners, not advertisers
All podcast names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Podcasts listed on Podtastic are publicly available shows distributed via RSS. Podtastic does not endorse nor is endorsed by any podcast or podcast creator listed in this directory.