Rumor Has It and Critical Thinking

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Today is Thursday, june twenty fifth, and we're talking about the housing, affordability bill and why President Trump canceled the signing ceremony, the most recent war powers resolution vote in the Senate, recent Supreme Court rulings, and much more. Just as a heads up, this episode is going to be a bit supreme court heavy. It is going to be that way today and through next week because as we talked about in Monday's episode, this is when the court releases the more high profile cases of the term. So I do want to make sure we cover those, but let's's start today episode talking about what's going on with this housing affordability bill and then we'll get to the Supreme Court and quick hitters Zumor has it, all that stuff . Yesterday, President Trump said he would not be signing the b ipartisan affordability bill until lawmakers passed the Save America Act. So I want to back up and I want to talk about what this housing bill is. On Tuesday , the Senate passed a bill called the twenty first century Road to Housing Act with the overall goal of making homeownership more affordable by increasing housing supply, speeding up construction of new builds, expanding financing options, and then also limiting how many single family homes large corporate investors can buy. Now, the House had already passed, you know, its own version of this bill earlier this year. The Senate then made some changes and it passed its version. So the bill went back to the House on Wednesday night after it passed the Senate, the House approved the Senate's changes and then sent the bill to the president's desk. What I want to do is I want to break this up into two parts. So first I want to talk about what's actually in the housing bill , then we'll talk about why Trump canceled the signing and what the Save America Act has to do with all of this. So here are some of the bigger things the twenty first century Road to Housing Act would do. First, it would stop large corporate investors from buying up even more single family homes to rent out. Basically, if a company already controls at least three hundred and fifty single family homes, it would not be allowed to keep buying more. And the goal there is to make it harder corporate landlords to swoop in with these cash offers , outbid regular families, and then end up taking over parts of the housing market. But there's also another side to this. So these investors actually only make up about three percent of the single family rental market. And some experts are warning that a ban like this could actually limit the supply of available homes. And their argument is that investors sometimes buy homes that need work and then they fix them up. And by doing that, they keep these houses on the market. So if you limit those purchases, it could potentially reduce the number of homes available , especially in those areas where houses might otherwise sit empty. Another big part of the bill is about making it easier and faster to build housing. So it would streamline some of the rules that builders generally have to follow when they're trying to get federal financing. For example , in some cases a builder could skip a separate environmental review if the particular project is being built between two existing buildings that have already done the review. So that's an example of how it would kind of streamline things for new builds. The bill would also create grants for communities to come up with something called pattern books, which are basically collections of pre approved housing designs. And the idea is that if a builder uses one of those pre approved designs, they might not have to go through as many extra approvals which could then save save time and money . Then there's also a section of this bill focused on manufactured homes. So right now manufactured homes generally have to be built with a permanent chassis basically a steel frame that allows the home to be moved, but a lot of these homes are eventually placed on permanent foundations anyway. So this bill would get rid of that requirement. And housing policy experts say that that could actually cut construction costs by around five thousand to ten thousand dollars per home as well as make it easier to build designs with things like a second story or a basement. Now those provisions obviously only make up a fraction of this bill, but you get the gist. So Congress passes the bill, it goes to the president's desk and he was expected to sign it given how much bipartisan support that it has. But yesterday, he wrote on truth social quote, today's housing news conference and signing is hereby canceled until such time as we pass the desperately needed Save America Act, which I consider to be a national emergency . End quote. So that brings us to part two, the Save America Act. What is it? The Save America Act is that bill that deals with proof of citizenship requirements to vote in federal elections. The main idea is that someone would have to show documentary proof of US citizenship in order to register to vote in federal elections. That could include things like a valid U. S. passport, certain real ID documents that show citizenship, a government ID showing U. S. birthplace, a military ID , plus service record, a birth certificate paired with a photo ID , some other federal proof of citizenship . The bill, the Save America Act would also change the rules for mail and online voter registration. So if someone uses the National Mail Voter Registration form, they wouldn't be registered for federal elections until they provide proof of citizenship by the state deadline. And then in states with same day registration, they would have to provide that proof at the polling place by election day. The Save America Act would also require states to take ongoing affirmative steps to make sure only US citizens are registered to vote. Now, again, that's not the entire bill. Those are the main points of the bill. And that is the bill Trump says has to pass Congress before he signs the housing affordability bill . As far as the likelihood of that happening, the likelihood of Congress passing the Save America Act , the Save America Act appears to have enough Republican support to pass the House, but the Senate is much harder, and that's because most bills need sixty votes to get past a filibuster in the Senate . Republicans would likely need Democratic support in the Senate. And right now that support does not appear to be there. So what Trump is trying to do here is he's trying to use leverage because he wants Congress to pass the Save America Act, he's trying to make it harder for lawmakers to to ignore it by tying it to other bills that Congress either wants to pass or feels pressure to pass. In this case, he's tying it to the bipartisan housing affordability bill because he knows Congress wants to pass it. And this isn't the first time that he's used this strategy, by the way, he's also delayed the confirmation process for his nominee for the director of National Intelligence, Jay Clayton. He's also said he opposed renewing FISA, the major foreign surveillance authority unless, you know, the Save America Act was attached. So he is, this isn't a new strategy, but there are limits to this strategy . Even if Trump ties tries to tie Save America Act to another bill . That doesn't automatically mean it can pass , because if it goes through the normal Senate process, it would still probably need sixty votes. And like I said, right now, it does not look like Republicans have those votes . That's why they might try another route called reconciliation, which allows certain bills to pass the Senate with a simple majority instead of that sixty vote threshold. But reconciliation is mostly meant for budget related issues, things like taxes and spending, not necessarily voter ID requirements. So whether a bill would even qualify for or whether a bill like this, like the Save of America Act would even qualify for reconciliation is a whole other issue. Perhaps parts of it could. It's just not clear the whole thing could. But at the end of the day, that's why Trump canceled the signing ceremony. He wants to use the housing bill, a bill Congress already passed and a bill both parties largely support as leverage to pressure Congress into passing the Save America Act . I do also want to mention that under the Constitution, once a bill passes both chambers of Congress, which obviously this housing bill has done that , the president has ten days, not counting Sundays to either sign or veto the bill. If the president doesn't do either of those things and the bill just sits on his desk, the bill automatically becomes law as long as long as Congress remains in session and is able to receive a veto message. And the Senate did or is starting a two week break as of today, I believe. However , technically, you know, when we get technical with it, lawmakers can still remain in session through what are called pro forma sessions. So that shouldn't be an issue. So depending on the exact date that the bill was formally presented to the president, the housing affordability bill could automatically become law if Trump doesn't touch it, it doesn't sign it or veto it by the end of that ten day window. Now , after canceling the signing ceremony, Trump went to Capitol Hill for a closed door lunch with Senate Republicans. This was a planned meeting. It was already planned before the cancellation, but the cancellation added a lot more attention to it because it turned the lunch into essentially a pressure campaign over the Save America Act. Senate Majority Leader John Thun said it was it was pretty much a one sided conversation, meaning Trump was doing most of the talking at this lunch . He was asked if senators were able to express to Trump that some of his priorities don't have the support in the Senate among GOP senators . And Thun said, quote, it was kind of a one sided conversation . So I just don't think it was the I don't think it was the place to do that. End quote. Thun added, quote, I talked to him after the event. I think it kind of went like maybe most people expected. He was pretty fired up about a couple of issues and so people heard him out. But I think in the end, we all realize to be successful and effective, we've got to pull the team together end quote. It was also reported that at this at this meeting, Trump Ens and Republican Senator Bill Cassidy got into a bit of a yelling match over the Iran war . Cassidy told reporters this exchange came after Trump asked the senators why they would vote for a resolution limiting his authority to continue military action involving Iran because as we know, on Tuesday, the Senate approved that war powers resolution . And Cassidy said, quote,ident The P was wresondering why people would vote for the War Powers Act. I asked him if that would be a rhetorical question, a real question. He said real. And so as we begin to speak, the president didn't want to hear my question. It interrupted me. I didn't care to be interrupted. I felt like I was trying to get answers for the American people, and I'm not going to be bullied when I'm trying to get answers for the American people. And so it escalated from there. At some point, it de escalated . End to quote. When reporters asked him if Trump called him a lunatic as CNN had reported, Cassidy said, quote, can I imagine that the president called me things that would be said on a school, on a playground? Yeah, I can imagine that. End quote. Cassidy also said that they both, meaning himself, as well as President Trump lost their tempers. Now the reason we're talking about this exchange is because of what happened after that. So later in the day after that meeting, Cassidy ended up getting brief ed by Vice President Vance and Special Envoy Witchcoff. And he posted on X afterwards, I want to thank Vice President Vance and Special Envoy Witchcoff for this thorough briefing this afternoon on Iran. I appreciate the quick invitation to the White House to address many of my concern s, end quote. Then, later that night, so last night, the Senate held another vote on a war powers resolution. And this part's a little confusing because it wasn't the exact same vote from the day before. So on Tuesday afternoon, the Senate approved a House passed concurrent resolution directing the President to remove U. S. forces from hostilities with Iran. That resolution had already passed the House and then it passed the Senate forty to fifty eight. But because it was a concurrent resolution, that's what it's called, it did not go to the president for his signature and it didn't carry the full force of law. That's that's just what a concurrent resolution is. It doesn't go to the president. It doesn't carry the force of law. It's really just a symbolic measure . On Wednesday night, though, Senate Republicans brought up a separate but nearly identical resolution, but this was a joint resolution . Unlike a concurrent resolution, a joint resolution does go to the president for signature if both chambers pass it. It's treated as a bill, then it has the potential to become a law. This time, the vote was on whether to move forward that joint resolution. It was a procedural vote, not a final vote, but it failed, forty seven to fifty to one. And the difference came largely from Cassidy and Senator Rand Paul voting differently than they had the day before. Cassidy voted against moving forward with the measure and Paul voted present, which means a senator is there and participating in the vote, but not voting yes or no. So all this to say after that meeting with President Trump and despite that tense moment between Cassidy and Trump, Cassidy ended up changing his position on the War Powers resolution. Senator Paul did the same, didn't exactly vote against it, but voted present. And because of those two flips , the joint resolution that the Senate attempted to pass Wednesday night did not pass . So that is the latest on where things stand in the Senate . Now we have to move on to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court handed down five decisions on Tuesday and four more today. Now most of Tuesday's decisions were pretty technical, but they still touch on some of the bigger issues like immigration, religious freedom, property rights, etc . I am just kind of kind of going to skim past the lesser known cases, but I'll elaborate a bit more on some of the more notable ones. So let's start with the immigration case from Tuesday. The court ruled that immigration officials do not need to have clear and convincing evidence before treating a lawful permanent resident as an applicant for admission when that person is coming back into the United States and is accused of committing a crime involved in what's called moral turpitude. So this case involved a green card holder who left the country then tried to come back while facing certain criminal charges. And the question was how much proof does the government need before it can treat that person more like someone applying to enter the country instead of someone who already has legal permanent resident status. And the court said federal law does not require higher clear and convincing evidence standard. Instead, immigration officials can make that decision under the lower standard that generally applies at this stage of the process. The court also ruled in a religious freedom case. This case involved a Rostifarian prisoner whose dreadlocks were cut by prison officials. For context, Rastifarians often wear dreadlocks as part of their religious practice . So the prisoner argued that when the prison officials cut his hair, they violated his religious rights. But the question before the Supreme Court was narrower than that. The question was , can this prisoner personally sue the individual prison employees for money damages the federal religious freedom law he relied on. And the court said no. Basically the law he sued under allows prisoners to challenge government actions that burden their religious exercise and in some cases it can be used to stop the government from continuing that conduct, but the court said this law does not allow someone to sue individual government employees for money out of their own pockets . In another case, the court dealt with a Michigan family whose home was sold after a property tax dispute. And this case gets into the Fifth Amendment. So the fifth amendment, and this will bring you back to unbiased university, but the fifthendment A smays that the government cannot take private property for public use without paying just compensation. It cannot take your land to build a park or whatever without paying you just compensation. If the government takes your property, it has to pay you fairly for it. That's just how it works. So here's what happened. The family owed owed a little over two thousand dollars in unpaid property taxes. The county ended up foreclosing on the home and sold it at a public auction for about seventy six thousand dollars, even though the home had been assessed at about two hundred thousand dollars . The person who bought the home at the tax auction turned around and resold the home for significantly more. So the question for the court was when the government takes and sells your property in this way, how much does it owe you? Is it enough to give you the leftover money from the tax auction sale or does the government have to compensate you based on what the home was actually worth on the open market . The family argued they should be paid based on the home's fair market value. The court disagreed. The court said the proper amount was the auction price from the tax sale, not what the home might have been worth on the open market. Let's take our first break here. 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Moving right along with Supreme Court rulings, we have two more to cover from Tuesday . So the court decided a case involving property seized by the Cuban government after the Cuban revolution. We'll keep this one short, but basically ExxonMobil says Cuba took property that belonged to its predecessor company decades ago and that Cuban government controlled companies are now using or benefiting from that property. And by the way, this case turns on a law called the Helmsburton Act. The Helmsburton Act allows certain lawsuits over property confiscated by the Cuban government. But the Cuban companies argue that even if that law applies, they should still be protected by foreign sovereign immunity , which is the rule that or the general rule that foreign governments and sometimes government controlled entities usually can't be sued in U. S. courts. The Supreme Court, though, said ExxonMobil can move forward under the Helms Burton Act and that these Cuban government controlled companies don't get to rely on that foreign sovereign immunity defense. And then the last decision from Tuesday involved Cisco and members of F alun Gong, a religious movement that's been persecuted in China. So the plaintiffs accuse Cisco of helping the Chinese government build surveillance tools that were then allegedly used to identify, track, and target members of this religious group. They wanted to sue Cisco in U. S. court for money damages, but the legal question was whether this specific federal law called the alien tort statute allows this kind of lawsuit. That law, the alien torts statute, lets certain non US citizens bring certain international law claims in U. S. courts. However, the Supreme Court said courts cannot use this alien tor t statute to create a new kind of lawsuit against a company for allegedly helping or aiding and abetting human rights violations abroad. In other words, if companies are going to be sued in U. S. courts for this kind of conduct overseas , Congress has to explicitly say so. So those were Tuesday's decisions. Today, the court released four more. One of those cases from today involved it was more of a litigation focused case. Two of them were related to immigration and then one dealt with the second amendment. The first case was Durnell. This was seventy two written by Justice Kavanaugh. This is what happened. John Durnell sued Monsanto, saying that he used the weed killer roundup for about twenty years and he later developed non Hodgkin's lymphoma. He argued that Monsanto should have warned users on the label that roundup could cause cancer because Missouri law allowed him to bring a failure to warn claim if the product was sold without an adequate warning of its dangers. And initially a Missouri jury agreed with them and awarded him one point two five million dollars. But Monsanto appealed and argued that federal law block Sternell's claim because the EPA had approved roundups label without a cancer warning . And under federal pesticide law, Monsanto has to use the EPA approved label unless the EPA approves or requires a change. So the question here was, can a state law lawsuit require a cancer warning when the EPA approved federal label doesn't include one. And the court said no. It ruled that the federal pesticide law preemps Durnell's failure to warn claim. In other words, Missouri can't use state law to require a label warning that's different from or in addition to the label required under federal law. Now the dissent argued that federal law already says pesticide labels need to include warnings that are necessary and adequate, and Missouri law was basically just trying to enforce that same idea . So in the descent's view, this wasn't Missouri creating some extra labeling rule. It was just Missouri saying, you know, Monsanto should be liable if roundups label was in adequate. Justice Jackson in dissenting argued that EPA approval of the label shouldn't automatically shut down that kind of lawsuit because under federal law an EPA approved label can still turn out to be misbranded or legally inadequate. We also got Woldford v. Lopez today. This is a second amendment case. It was six to three along ideological lines written by Justice Alito. After the Supreme Court's twenty twenty two decision in Bruin, which said the Second Amendment protects the right to carry handguns outside the home for self defense. Hawaii changed its gun laws. And one of those new laws said that even people with concealed carry permits could not bring a firearm onto private property that is open to the public, so stores, restaurants, gas stations, coffee shops, et cetera, unless the property owner gives the concealed carryholder express permission to do so. So the default rule in Hawaii was basically you can't carry a firearm onto private property open to the public unless the owner affirmatively says that you can . Well, several Hawaii residents who had concealed carry permits sued and they argued that this violated their Second Amendment rights. So the question for the Supreme Court was, can Hawaii ban licensed concealed carry permit holders from carrying firearms on property private open to the public unless the property owner expressly allows it. And the court said no. The court ruled that Hawaii's law violated the second and fourteenth Amendments. The majority said this law places a major burden on the right to carry a handgun for self defense in everyday life and said Hawaii hadn't shown a strong enough historical tradition to support that kind of broad default rule. Now, the dissent argued that Hawaii isn't banning people from carrying guns everywhere. It's saying that before you bring a gun onto someone else's private property, the owner should have to clearly say yes. And even under Bruin's history focused test, the dissent said there were enough historical examples of states requiring permission before someone carried a gun onto another person's property, and therefore Hawaii's law should have been upheld. Then we got a decision in Mullen VL TR Loto, another six to three decision along ideological lines written by Justice Alito. This one dealt with asylum seekers at the U. S. Mexico border. So back in twenty sixteen, CBP was dealing with a surge of people seeking admission at ports of entry along the U. S. Mexico border. Oftentimes it would be more than what the port could adequately process. So the DHS adopted a policy called metering. Basically, CBP limited the number of people it would inspect each day and allow to apply for asylum. To enforce that policy, officials would stand on the U. S. side of the border and stop additional people from entering once the court had reached the number it could process. The government actually ended up rescinding the metering policy in november twenty twenty one under the Biden administration, but the case continued anyway because the lower court ruling at the time still restricted the government from metering in the ninth circuit, and the government said it wanted the option to resume metering when border conditions warrant it. So anyway, in twenty seventeen, shortly after this metering policy was adopted, a group of asylum seekers and an immigration advocacy organization called El Eltrolato sued and they argued that CBP was unlawfully denying inspection and as ylum processing to people who showed up at the border and were trying to enter the United States. And this case really came down to the phrase arrives in the United States because under the law, once someone arrives in the United States , they are treated as an applicant for admission. They have to be inspected by immigration officials and they can apply for asylum. So the question was , does someone arrive in the United States when they're still standing on the Mexico side of the border but are about to cross over or do they only arrive in the United States once they actually cross into the United States. Now, a district court sided with El Eltra Lado and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed saying that a person arrives in the United States when they are standing on the Mexico side of the border and encounter a U. S. official . But the government appealed and took this question to the Supreme Court. And the Supreme Court said no, a person only arrives in the United States once they cross the border. The majority said that someone standing in Mexico doesn't arrive in the United States just by trying and failing to enter . So what this really means is that immigration law does not require the government to inspect someone or allow them to apply for asylum while they are still on the Mexico side of the border. They only have a legal right to apply for asylum once they actually cross . The dissent argued that the majority made this way too technical. They said, if someone walks up to a lawful port of entry and asks for asylum , the government shouldn't be able to avoid the asylum and inspection process just by stopping them inches before they cross onto U. S so.il. Justice Sotomayor said the immigration laws should be read to cover people who are arriving at the border and seeking admission, not just people who physically make it across. And then the last decision of the day was Mullin V. Doe, another immigration related case decided six to three along ideological lines written by Justice Alito. The case involved temporary protected status or TPS. So Congress created TPS to provide short term humanitarian relief for people who cannot safely return to their home countries because of things like armed conflict, natural disaster, some other extraordinary and temporary condition. Okay ? So Syria received TPS in twenty twelve because of conditions tied to the Assad regime in the Civil War. Haiti received TPS in twenty ten after a really bad earthquake. And over time, both TPS designations were extended. Well, fast forward to twenty twenty five, DHS announces that TPS for Syria and Haiti would end. Syrian nationals with TPS sued to stop Syria's termination, Haiti nationals with TPS sued to stop Haiti's termination . Lower courts granted what is called interim relief, meaning they temporarily postponed those TPS terminations while the lawsuits continued. So in this case, the question for the Supreme Court was actually are the challengers entitled to these court orders postponing the end of TPS while the litigation plays out? And the court said no. The court said the lower court should not have paused the terminations because TPS law largely blocks courts from reviewing these kinds of TPS decisions. And then when it came Haiti, Haiti had this specific equal protection claim, they claimed that the termination of their TPS status was race based . And so on that specific equal protection claim, the court said the claim was not likely enough to succeed to justify this kind of temporary relief. So just to be clear, the court did not decide the ultimate legality of ending TPS for Syria and Haiti. What it said was that the lower courts should not have used temporary court orders to keep TPS in place while the case is continued. The dissent argued that the court is letting these TPS terminations take effect too fast. The dissenting justices said that the challenges are not just asking courts to decide the legality of the DHS's decision , they're saying DHS didn't follow the proper process Congress required before ending TPS. And then for Haiti, they're also saying that the decision might have been tainted by racial bi as. And because those claims are likely enough to succeed and because the harm to TPS holders is so serious , the lower courts were right to temporarily keep TPS in place while the lawsuits continued. Nonetheless, the practical effect of this ruling is that the cases can continue to the extent that any claims remain available. But in the meantime, the government can move forward with ending TPS Syria and Haiti . There are eight cases left to decide this term. The court has one opinion day scheduled for next week. That's on Monday , and then that means we will we will have a second opinion day sometime next week. We don't know for sure what day that's going to be yet. That'll likely close things out for this term. And that also means that we'll be getting the decisions in some of the more controversial cases next week. So I do want to put some of the bigger cases on your radar now just so you kind of know what to look out for. I would say the most significant case still to be decided is the birthright citizenship case. I would imagine the court saves that decision for its last day and releases it right before holiday. Birthright citizenship is, of course, the idea that with limited exceptions, if you are born on US soil, you are automatically a U. S. citizen. However, President Trump issued an executive order last year that says only certain children born in the U. S. would be entitled to birthright citizenship. So you would need at least one parent to be a U. S. citizen or a lawful permanent resident to be entitled to birthright citizenship. Now based on, oral arguments, it is not likely this ruling goes in Trump's favor, but we will see. There are also two cases about Trump's power to fire officials from independent agencies. One involves Lisa Cook, a member of the Federal Reserve 's Board of Governors. So under federal law, Fed governors can only be removed for cause, meaning there has to be a legally sufficient reason. Trump tried to remove Cook, accusing her of mortgage fraud before she joined the Fed, which she has denied . So the question is whether those allegations, the mortgage fraud allegations are enough to satisfy this for cause requirement, especially because they involve conduct or alleged conduct from before she became a Fed governor. And then also there's a question as to whether Cook was entitled to more due process before being removed. The other firing case involves Rebecca Slaughter, a former member of the FTC . So FTC commissioners also have legal protections that are supposed to limit when the president can fire them. They can only be removed in cases of inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance of office , but Trump didn't cite any of those reasons when he removed slaughter. Instead, he said keeping her in office was inconsistent with his administration's priorities. So the question in that case is, does the president have to follow those legal limits when firing FTC commissioners or does the Constitution give him broader power to remove them? The court is also expected to rule in a pretty major election case involving mail in ballots . So Mississippi allows mail in ballots to be counted if they're postmarked by election day so long as they're received within five days of election day. We know there are a handful of states that do this, but the question for the court is whether federal law requires all ballots to actually be received by election day. And a decision here could affect how many states handle mail and voting deadlines. There's also a campaign finance case to be decided involving how much political parties can spend in coordination with candidates. So right now, federal law limits certain coordinated spending between parties and campaigns. The challengers here are arguing that those limits violate the First Amendment . So depending on how the court rules, this could change how much money political parties can spend directly helping their candidates. And then finally, the court's also looking at two cases involving transgender athletes. One case involves Idaho's law. The other involves West Virginia's law. Both laws are similar. They require girls and women's sports teams at public schools to be limited to students who meet the state's definition of female for purposes of school athlet ics. West Virginia's law applies to public schools and colleges. Idaho's law applies to public schools, colleges and universities. So the question for the court here is whether states can require school sports teams to be based on biological sex or whether those bans unlawfully discriminate against transgender girls and women. Based on oral arguments, the court does appear likely to uphold those laws, but again, we are still waiting for that decision. We will get it next week. All right, let's take our second and final break here. When we come back, we will finish with QuickTruers, rumor has it, and critical thinking. 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Or Sam who never goes anywhere without her roommate knowing exactly where she is. Some journeys are meant to be shared. Share your ride in real time with ShareMight Trip on Uber. One more way Uber is putting safety at every turn. Learn more on the Uber app. Tomorrow morning is knocking. Stock your fridge now. How about a creamy moca frappuccino drink? Or a sweet vanilla? Smooth caramel maybe , or white chocolate mocha. Whichever you choose, delicious coffee awaits. Find Starbucks Fappuccino drinks wherever you buy your groceries. Welcome back. Let's do some quick hitters. A former chief of staff to ex or New Yityk Cor E Mrayic Ad ams, Frank Coron was charged with accepting more than one hundred thousand dollars in bribes tied to a migrant shelter contract for a Queen's hotel. Prosecutors alleged he used his position to help steer the contract to the hotel, which later received six point eight million dollars from city shelter contracts. Coron, his brother, the hotel owner, and a hotel employee, were charged with crimes including bribery, wire fraud, and money laundering. Coron's lawy er has denied the allegations. The Trump administration announced a four hundred fifty million dollars settlement with QMORs over PFAS pollution from company facilities in West Virginia , North Carolina and New Jersey. PFAS, by the way, are a group of what are called forever chemicals because they don't break down easily and exposure to them has been linked to many health risks, including immune, developmental, liver , and certain cancer related issues. So the settlement agreement includes a twenty two point five million dollars civil penalty, funding to reduce PFAS discharges, pollution controls, and clean drinking water support for nearby communities. Federal officials said it is the first comprehensive federal settlement involving pollution from a PFAS manufacturer . Notably, Kimors will still be allowed to make PFAS for certain commercial and military uses , but this settlement requires additional steps aimed at limiting future contamination. A federal judge temporarily blocked the DOJ from obtaining medical records related to transgender patients who received gender transitioning care as minors at New York hospitals. The records had been sought through grand jury subpoenas as part of a federal investigation, but the judge found the plaintiffs were likely to succeed in arguing that the request violated privacy protections . A hearing on whether to extend that temporary block is scheduled for July . A federal appeals court rejected the Trump administration's request for confidential voter registration data from Michigan, ruling the DOJ does not have the authority to compel states to turn over their full voter roles the federal law it cited. The decision is another setback for the administration's broader effort to obtain detailed voter data from states, which officials say is needed to help maintain accurate voter rolls. New inflation data from the Commerce Department showed that higher gas prices helped push annual inflation to four point one percent in May, which is the highest level in three years. And I don't think this is really a surprise to anyone . However, the new report shows that when you exclude food and energy prices, which tend to fluctuate the most, core inflation was at three point four percent , up slightly from three point three percent from the month before . And those numbers are based on the personal consumption expenditures price index or PCE, which is the Fed Reserve's preferred measure of inflation. A two day disclosure forum on unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAP's is scheduled to begin today in DC, bringing together lawmakers, former government officials, and UFO researchers to discuss calls for greater government trans parency. Organizers say they plan to urge Congress and the Trump administration to release additional records and strengthen protections for whistleblowers, while the Pentagon has said it has found no evidence of secret programs involving extraterrestrial technology. Former LA Fire Department chief Kristin Crowley has sued LA Mayor Karen Bass for defamation, alleging Bass made false statements about her handling of the palisades fire. Crowley claims those statements damaged her reputation and were made to shift blame after the fire. According to the lawsuit, Crowley alleges Bass made false statements while campaigning for reelection. Including allegations, Crowley was responsible for inoperable fire engines and failed to properly deploy firefighters ahead of the fire. The lawsuit alleges Bass quote sought to avoid accountability by shifting blame and lying , including by falsely claiming she was not aware of the nationally anticipated weather event. End quote. Crowley is seeking unspecified economic, compensatory, and punitive damages , she's also asking the court to award compensation for emotional distress, anxiety, humiliation, and harm to her reputation, along with attorneys fees and legal costs. Bass's office described the filing as quote, another, meritless lawsuit from a disgruntled individual who was removed from her position . End quote. And the U. S. Postal Service has proposed a new rule that would require states to provide USPS with a list of voters who are expected to receive mail and ballots along with ballot tracking information before those ballots are mailed. Under the proposal, USPS would not deliver mail and ballots to states that do not provide this information. Postmaster General David Steiner said the goal is to help ensure ballots are delivered to correct voters and to improve ballot security. This proposal stems from President Trump's executive order on election integrity and is currently open for public comment before a final rule is issued . Now it's time for Rumor has it, my weekly segment where I address rumors and claims submitted by all of you and either confirm them, dispel them, or add context , and simply tell you what we know. We do have quite a few today. We're going to keep each one relatively short , but to the point. First one, is President Trump really on an unreleased highly potent weight loss drug? This is unconfirmed. This rumor stems from a stat news story, which is an outlet that focuses on health, medicine, life sciences, and biotech , and it reported earlier this week that quote, millions of Americans with obesity are eagerly awaiting a powerful new drug from Eli Lily Reta Trutide, which has demonstrated bariatric surgery levels of weight loss. Some aren't even waiting for approval from the Food and Drug Administration instead racing to acquire it through sketchy means , but Stat has learned that Eli Lily and the FDA have allowed one person to gain access to the drug through the FDA's compassionate use program, a pathway that gives patients with serious and immediately life threatening medical issues access to experimental treatments. This person was a seventy nine year old man at the time the request was made in April , according to the resources familiar with the matter. Those sources who requested anonymity due to due to fear of reprisals said it drew the interest of top health officials suggesting the person receiving this drug was well connected. End quote. The article said that the request was so unusual it could point to Trump who was seventy nine in April and who received a monoclonal antibody cocktail to treat COVID through this same compassionate use FDA program. Now, the fact checking platform Snopes reached out to the Stat News reporter who wrote this story , and she outlined several factors that led her to wonder if Trump was the man who received the drugs, but she did underscore that she did not know for sure . The reporter, who goes by Lizzie Law on X, posted, quote, sources told Stat that application drew interest from top health officials. Given the demographics and the peculiar nature of the application, I asked the White House if this patient was President Trump, who turned eighty a week ago, I did not get a direct answer. End quote. A White House spokesperson then replied to Lizzie Law's post on acts writing, quote, because this has to be spelled out to Lizzie Law, who has proven herself to be an unserious gossip columnist, this application was not for the president . End quote. As of today, it hasn't been confirm ed that the patient was or was not Trump . Next one, are South African refugees getting iPads from the federal government? This is reportedly true except for the fact that they are supposedly receiving Android tablets, not iPads. According to the New York Times, South African refugees entering the United States will be receiving welcome bags featuring a variety of materials. The New York Times says that the materials include an Android tablet , an American flag, copies of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, a report commissioned by Trump during his first term, a welcome letter from the HHS, and Prager Uducation Materials, which the New York Times referred to as quote right wing education materials, end quote. The proposal for the bags is reportedly still being finalized, so this is not a set in stone thing. Now there's a parallel story here because a few of you ask whether the administration is only admitting white people into the United States. This is this is a claim that's circulating right now and the reason people are saying this is because the Trump administration has largely shut down the normal refugee admissions program while also at the same time creating and expanding this special refugee pathway for white South Africans, mainly African ers. Now the United States operates an expedited ref ugee admissions program for South Africans primarily focused on resettling white Africaners. And the annual admissions cap for the program was recently expanded to seventeen thousand five hundred slots because the administration says and this is also per a executive order by President Trump from last year that white Africaners face discrimination and persecution by the South African government. This is a claim the South African government has disputed. And I covered this story in much more detail last year in my may twelfth, twenty twenty five episode . Now , at the same time, while the South African refugee program has been expanded on Trump's first day back in office, he ordered refugee admissions paused with limited case by case exceptions if officials decide the admission is in the national interest. So according to the Migration Policy Institute, during Trump's first partial fiscal year back in office, the administration resettled five hundred and six refugees, and nearly seventy percent of those were white South Africans. In fiscal year twenty twenty six, Reuters reported that by the end of April, the administration had admitted about six thousand white South Africans and only three non South African refugees. Now it's unclear if those three non South African refugees were a part of this same program , but those are the numbers that Reuters reported. The numbers obviously vary depending on the time period being measured, but the overall pattern here is the same. There has certainly been a priority placed on resettling white Africaners specifically . However, at the same time, to say that the U. S. is only admitting white people is too broad of a statement because because admission includes every type of immigration, and we're specifically talking about the refugee program here. Next one, is the U. S. running out of oil? The short answer here is no. Now, there is a difference between having oil in the ground and having oil available right now in the form that people actually need it, right? The United States has a ton of oil reserves. There's plenty of oil underground , and that could be drilled . The U. S. is also one of the biggest oil producers in the world. So this isn't a situation where the United States is about to run out of oil . At the same time , oil isn't immediately available to customers or consumers, right? It has to be drilled, it has to be transported, it has to be refined and then it has to be moved to wherever people need it. So when people talk about oil shortages as they are right now, they're usually talking about a short term supply issue, not the country running out of oil altogether. And this is where the Strategic Petroleum Reserve comes in. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is basically the government's emergency oil stockpile . And since the start of the war in Iran, the government has been t apping into this stockpile to add oil to the market and try to ease some pressure on prices . In fact, in March, the Trump administration released one hundred seventy two million barrels from the reserve for this reason . And these short term issues can happen for a bunch of reasons, but obviously right now we know that global supply is highly disrupted because of what's going on in the Middle East and that's what's causing the short term short term supply pletion at this moment. So no, the United States is not running out of oil, but the government has been tapping into its emergency reserves to try to ease pressure on the market. Next one, did the Department of Defense remove a bunch of religions from its officially recognized list? Yes, but I do want to add some context here. What the Pentagon did was remove a lot of these specific religious affiliation options from the list used in military records. So before, service members could choose for more than two hundred specific religious options. Now that list has been cut down to about thirty one . This doesn't mean that those religions are banned or that service members can't practice those religions. It just means there are far fewer specific options to choose from when service members list their religious affiliation in military records. The Pentagon says the decision is not meant to be a judgment on whether any particular faith is legitimate