Donald Admits To Protecting Putin 5.27.25 Ally Sammarco May 28 Happy Tuesday and welcome back to Common Sense, your source for news and analysis on the circus that is American politics and entertainment. We hope you had a restful long weekend. Trump apparently mad at Putin over repeated air raids on Ukraine but won’t take any action to stop him… Politico reports, “President Donald Trump on Tuesday signaled that his patience with Vladimir Putin is running thin, warning the Russian leader that he is ‘playing with fire’ by refusing to engage in serious peace talks about ending the war in Ukraine. But Trump, frustrated that Putin has shrugged at his offer to reset relations with the U.S. following a peace settlement, still hasn’t decided to shift gears.” Despite the “tough” talk, Trump has not joined Ukraine’s European allies in moving forward with a harsher set of sanctions against Moscow, as he had pledged to do. He also implies that he has protected Vladimir Putin from other “bad things” or consequences. Anti-vax RFK Jr. removes Covid vax recommendation for healthy kids and pregnant women… ABC News reports, “Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Tuesday announced the removal of the COVID-19 vaccine from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's immunization schedule for ‘healthy children and pregnant women’ — a move that could alter guidance for doctors as well as some insurance coverage. Kennedy, one of the nation's most publicly recognized vaccine skeptics, made the announcement in a video post on his X account, where he stood between Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary and National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya — both of whom are doctors.” RFK Jr. states, apparently without irony, "We're now one step closer to realizing President Trump's promise to Make America Healthy Again.” Common Sense with Ally Sammarco is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Trump asks Supreme Court to help him immediately deport immigrants to countries unknown to them… NBC News reports, “The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday to make it easier for officials to deport convicted criminals to "third countries" that are not their countries of origin. The administration is seeking to block an injunction in which Massachusetts-based U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy said the affected immigrants nationwide should be given a ‘meaningful opportunity’ to raise concerns that they may be at risk of torture, persecution or death. Murphy later clarified that they should have at least 10 days to bring their claims. Just last week, he said the administration had violated his previous order by flying eight migrants to South Sudan. The men are now being held in a U.S. facility in Djibouti.” NPR and three local stations sue Trump for executive order that illegally bars Congressionally appropriated funds… NPR reports, “NPR and three Colorado public radio stations filed suit Tuesday morning in federal court against the Trump White House over the president's executive order that purportedly bars the use of Congressionally appropriated funds for NPR and PBS.” The filing states, "It is not always obvious when the government has acted with a retaliatory purpose in violation of the First Amendment. 'But this wolf comes as a wolf.’ The Order targets NPR and PBS expressly because, in the President's view, their news and other content is not 'fair, accurate, or unbiased." Trump has tried and failed in many federal courts to assert the executive branch can usurp the Constitutional role of the legislative branch to appropriate funds. Today’s Furry Friend Meet this six-ounce pika who thinks he’s a florist… Today’s Buzz HBO’s Harry Potter series announces cast… The Hollywood Reporter writes, “HBO’s Harry Potter TV series has found its Harry, Ron and Hermione. The trio of Hogwarts freshmen are newcomers to Hollywood. This time, Dominic McLaughlin will play Harry Potter, Arabella Stanton is Hermione Granger and Alastair Stout is the new Ron Weasley. In the films, those roles were played by Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, respectively. There were eight Harry Potter films and a series of three Fantastic Beasts movies — a spinoff of the original IP. Author J.K. Rowling wrote seven Harry Potter books; the eighth book in the series was split into two movies.” Arabella Stanton, Dominic McLaughlin, and Alastair Stout will star in HBO’s Harry Potter series. Thank you for tuning back in with us – check back tomorrow evening for the next edition of Common Sense.

Harvard Says Not Today, Satan 5.23.24 Ally Sammarco May 24 Happy Friday! Welcome back to Common Sense, your source for news and analysis on the circus that is American politics and entertainment. Judge halts Trump attempt to unenroll Harvard students… NBC News reports, “U.S. District Judge Allison D. Burroughs granted the temporary restraining order after the Department of Homeland Security on Thursday terminated the university’s international student certification. The move barred the school from not only admitting international students, but also ordering current foreign-born students to transfer or lose their legal status. Under the order, international students can remain enrolled at the school. The next hearing for the case will take place next week. The White House and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Harvard University sued the Trump administration on Friday, a day after the federal government said it would block the nation's oldest university's ability to enroll foreign students.” In latest attack on due process, Trump moves to stop immigration court cases to expedite deportations… CBS News reports, The Trump administration has launched an operation to terminate the immigration court cases of certain migrants, in order to arrest them and place them in a fast-tracked deportation process instead, government officials and attorneys told CBS News. Lawyers and advocates this week reported arrests of migrants outside of immigration courthouses across the U.S., saying teams of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers had detained individuals whose cases in front of immigration judges had just been terminated at the request of the government. Two Department of Homeland Security officials told CBS News that ICE is conducting an operation to expedite the deportation of migrants with court hearings scheduled in the near future.” Common Sense with Ally Sammarco is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Trump fails to negotiate trade deals as promised… Politico reports “Trump promised he could cut more than 50 trade deals in just 90 days when he pressed pause on high tariff rates in early April. But as the administration closes in on the halfway point for talks, it has little to show for it. After reaching a preliminary trade agreement with the United Kingdom earlier this month to lower some tariffs on both sides, the White House continues to tout progress in its negotiations with more than a dozen other major trading partners. But according to conversations with ten foreign officials, U.S. business leaders and others familiar with the talks, disagreements are mounting in many of those talks and foreign governments are digging in, even those eager to cut deals, like some in Asia — a reminder of just how slow and complex traditional trade negotiations can be.” THE NUCLEAR INDUSTRY LOBBIED TO GET REGULATIONS AMENDED TO EXEMPT THEM FROM ANY LIABILITY! CAPITOL MARKETS WILL NOT LEND TO NUCLEAR, KNOWN FOR COST OVERRUNS...SO RATE PAYERS GET STUCK WITH THE COSTS!  THIS IS JUST ONE OF THE NUCLEAR INDUSTRY'S FIASCOS: South Carolina Spent $9 Billion to Dig a Hole in the Ground and Then Fill It Back In Cost is often raised as a critical objection to combating climate change. But South Carolina shows what's possible. THE INTERCEPT Trump signs executive order to expand nuclear power and cut regulations… NPR reports, “President Trump signed a series of executive orders aimed at boosting nuclear power and restructuring the independent Nuclear Regulatory Commission during an Oval Office event on Friday… One order calls for major reforms at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the independent agency that oversees America's nuclear reactors. The order calls for approvals of new nuclear reactor designs to be completed in no more than 18 months. It also asks the agency to reconsider strict radiation standards that are currently used to ensure safety for workers and the public. Finally, it would require restructuring of the NRC itself and a wide-ranging revision of regulations to be conducted in conjunction with the White House and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency.” Today’s Furry Friend Meet Dumbo, who initially distrusted people too much to leave a drain. After some love, he decided human friends are the best friends. Today’s Buzz Trump’s attacks on Springsteen draw parallels to Nixon’s attempt to have John Lennon deported… The Hollywood Reporter writes, “Before Donald Trump took to Truth Social to rage against Bruce Springsteen — calling him a ‘dried out ‘prune’ of a rocker’ and threatening ominously that ‘we’ll all see how it goes for him’ — another American president once tried to silence a politically outspoken rock star. But Richard Nixon didn’t just tweet insults at John Lennon. He tried to deport him. That 1970s-era culture war — now resurrected in a new doc, One to One: John & Yoko — echoes eerily in Trump’s latest feud with American music royalty. Lennon, a British citizen with a U.S. green card living in New York at the time, had aligned himself with the radical left and spoken out forcefully against the Vietnam War and Nixon’s re-election. The Nixon administration responded by weaponizing immigration law, trying to boot Lennon back to the UK over an old pot bust. It was a thin pretext, and everyone knew it.” Thank you for relying on us this week to bring you headlines. Have a restful weekend, and check back in Monday for the next edition of Common Sense.

Trump to World’s Best Students: GTFO 5.22.25 Ally Sammarco May 23 Happy Thursday evening and welcome back to Common Sense, your source for news and analysis on the circus that is American politics and entertainment. Supreme Court permits Trump firing of two labor board members appointed by Biden – but indicates he can’t fire fed reserve chair… Politico reports, “The Supreme Court is allowing President Donald Trump to fire two Biden-appointed members of U.S. labor boards even though federal law bars the president from dismissing the officials for political reasons. In a two-page unsigned order on Thursday, the high court declined to reinstate the fired members of the National Labor Relations Board and the Merit Systems Protection Board. All three of the court’s liberal justices dissented.” Politico also reports, “The Supreme Court on Thursday said the relationship between the president and the Federal Reserve is different from that of other independent agencies, signaling that Chair Jerome Powell is legally protected from being removed by President Donald Trump. The justices, in a ruling that blessed Trump’s decision to fire members of two independent U.S. labor boards, said they did not think the case had implications for whether the president was allowed to fire Fed board members or other officials on the central bank’s rate-setting committee. Court orders Trump Administration to stop revoking visas from international students… NBC News reports, “A federal judge in California has blocked the Trump administration from terminating the legal statuses of international students at universities across the U.S. In the injunction, District Judge Jeffrey S. White in Oakland also prohibited the administration from arresting or detaining any foreign-born students on the basis of their immigration status while a case challenging previous terminations moves through the courts. In his decision, White said that the Trump administration has ‘wreaked havoc’ on the lives of the plaintiffs as well as other international students.” Common Sense with Ally Sammarco is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. MEANWHILE, Trump Administration stops Harvard from enrolling international students… NBC News reports, “The Trump administration on Thursday halted Harvard’s ability to enroll international students amid an ongoing standoff between the government and the Ivy League school. Harvard has refused to adhere to a set of demands issued by the Trump administration’s Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism that included sweeping reforms to whom the university can hire and admit, and subjecting the ideology of faculty members to an audit approved by the government. In response, the government cut over $2 billion in federal research funding, leading to a lawsuit by Harvard to recoup the money. The abrupt termination of Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification is a major escalation in a dispute that could have severe financial consequences for Harvard, which enrolls nearly 6,800 international students out of a student body of 24,596. Current international students at Harvard will need to transfer or lose their legal status.” Suspect arraigned in murder of 2 Israeli embassy staff in Washington. CBS News reports, “The man accused of killing two Israeli Embassy staff members outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, murder of foreign officials and other counts. The suspect has been identified as 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez of Chicago. He is also charged with causing the death of a person through the use of a firearm and discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence. The shooting is being investigated as a hate crime and terrorism, and more charges could come, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said at a news conference Thursday afternoon. Authorities have said the attack was targeted. ‘This is a horrific crime, and these crimes are not going to be tolerated by me and my office,’ Pirro said. Pirro said Rodriguez appeared in court Thursday and was advised by the judge that, if convicted, he could face the death penalty or life in prison. A preliminary hearing is set for June 18 and Rodriguez will remain in detention.” Today’s Furry Friend Multiple feline friends are saved by this professional tree climber, who asks for nothing in return… Today’s Buzz Law & Order SVU’s Mariska Hargitay reveals identity of biological father in bombshell Vanity Fair interview… Vanity Fair reports, “Three-year-old Mariska Hargitay was asleep in the back seat of a car when it rammed into a truck. The toddler survived, her limp little body lodged underneath the passenger seat. But her mother, Hollywood star Jayne Mansfield, died instantly. “I don’t remember the accident. I don’t even remember being told that my mother had died,” Hargitay tells me nearly 58 years after the crash. She is sitting in her New York City apartment, staring into the black hole where her early memories should be. ‘I look at photos, and I don’t really remember anything until I was five.’” Thank you for allowing us to help make sense of the chaos. Check back in tomorrow evening for the next edition of Common Sense.

Elon's Over It 5.20.25 Ally Sammarco May 21 Happy Tuesday and welcome back to Common Sense, your source for news and analysis on the circus that is American politics and entertainment. Trump seeks expensive Golden Dome (missile defense) to go with his golden toilet… NPR reports, “President Trump on Tuesday unveiled an ambitious plan to shield America from missile attack by building what he describes as a ‘Golden Dome.’ ‘Once fully constructed the Golden Dome will be capable of intercepting missiles even if they are launched from other sides of the world and even if they are launched from space,’ Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. Trump's budget and timeline for the project are ambitious. He told reporters he hoped to have it done ‘before the end of my term.’ The system would cost around $175 billion, the president said, with $25 billion to start construction in next year's budget.” Common Sense with Ally Sammarco is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. After bribing WI voters with $1M checks and fundraising for Nazi-lite AfD in Germany, Elon says he’s kinda done with it… Politico reports, “Elon Musk said he plans to cut back on political spending, saying he has ‘done enough,’ a move that coincides with the billionaire entrepreneur taking a step back from President Donald Trump’s Washington. Speaking at the Qatar Economic Forum on Tuesday, the Tesla CEO said he would ‘do a lot less’ political spending ‘in the future,’ adding: ‘I think I’ve done enough.’ Musk brushed aside a question about whether his move was a response to pushback he has received for his prominent role in reshaping the federal government, marked by his leadership of the agency-slashing Department of Government Efficiency… Musk, who poured over $290 million of his own money into the 2024 election to support Trump and Republicans, had established himself as a major political force, both domestically and abroad.” Elon, we think you’ve done enough, too… in politics, in business, and more… What’s in Trump’s “big, beautiful bill”? A whole lot of ugly… ABC News offers a top-line list of what’s in Trump’s bill, including: “More than an estimated 8 million recipients could lose Medicaid coverage, according to a CBO analysis requested by House Democrats. Republicans say they're targeting able-bodied adults and undocumented immigrants, but other beneficiaries could also be impacted… Cuts SNAP food assistance by roughly $230 billion over 10 years, narrowing participation in the program servicing roughly one-in-eight Americans each month… Extends the 2017 Trump tax cuts… Fulfils Trump's campaign promises of no taxes on tips and no taxes on overtime work… Provides $50 billion wall to renew construction of Trump's border wall… Commits roughly $150 billion in defense spending for shipbuilding and 'Golden Dome' missile defense system” GLYPHOSATE = ROUNDUP RFK Jr. to issue report on pesticides’ contribution to childhood diseases but assures Senators he won’t take any action on it… CBS News reports, “Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sought Tuesday to reassure farmers and one Republican senator about his upcoming report on how pesticides are driving up rates of childhood chronic diseases, acknowledging that chemicals like glyphosate that he has long criticized are widely used for growing crops in the U.S. ‘I have said repeatedly throughout this process, that we cannot take any step that will put a single farmer in this country out of business,’ Kennedy said at a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee. ‘There's a million farmers who rely on glyphosate. 100% of corn in this country relies on glyphosate. We are not going to do anything to jeopardize that business model.” Today’s Furry Friend Meet Sapphie – a Husky who is often first in the room to comfort his crying human brother, using his mom’s voice! Today’s Buzz A crossover between Taylor Swift and The Handmaid’s Tale?? Yes, please… The Alt Media’s Adam Parkhomenko reports, “An intense sequence in the penultimate episode of the acclaimed Hulu series The Handmaid’s Tale enamored fans and sent the entertainment industry abuzz. The sequence made instant rounds across the digital sphere – not on account of its brilliant cinematography but because it incorporates a legendary pop star’s no-fucks-given hit song. Spot-on use of this particular song marks one of the most triumphant moments of the series’ six-season run. Singer-songwriter icon Taylor Swift’s ‘Look What You Made Me Do’ was initially released in 2017 in the rollout of the artist’s Reputations album. Today, the song stole the show for more than two minutes, overlaying Mayday resistors’ badass walk on a dark road. It was not your ordinary, subtle background score.” Thank you again for being a reader! Check back in tomorrow evening for the next edition of Common Sense. Common Sense with Ally Sammarco is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.