Hello, hello. Welcome all, new readers and…well new readers.
This is the first edition of - the longest running - slop themed newsletter in the world (to my knowledge - no lawsuits!).
I suppose I can give a bit of a background of my esteemed background experience, that qualifies me to be your vessel for knowledge.
I’ve done stints working at CNN, NBC, and WNYC. Producing interviews and surveying the news arena, looking for stories that ought to be covered.
Mostly, I’ve been consuming the same sad state of our politics and news media for the better part of ten years, to try and zero in on what matters most and what it means moving forward.
Which brings us to the slop.
What is the slop? It represents the slow motion degradation of our institutions. Whether that relates to hijacking of our government by the billionaire class, AI algorithms being used for wars abroad and its invasion of our entertainment industries, or legalized gambling pervading all of our sports.
The slop is everything that we know, need, and love, getting worse, and worse, with growing speed.
I offer to you - gracious reader - the opportunity to evade much of what I described, and have that slop curated and streamlined straight to you.
I will sift through the slop, to help make sense of *waves hands* all of this.
If that sounds good to you, welcome aboard and I’m glad to travel these slop infested waters with you!
US News
In what is being described by civil rights organizations as an attack on the first amendment and the legal status of US residents, the Trump administration on Tuesday detained a Columbia University student, Mahmoud Khalil, for participating in last spring’s college campus protests aimed at Israel’s actions in Gaza. ICE agents - who detained him and did not inform his family of his whereabouts for hours - initially claimed they were there acting on State Department orders to revoke his student visa. When told he was a permanent resident with a green card, the agent informed them they were revoking that as well.
Why this matters:
Regardless of what one thinks about last spring’s protests, that is a matter left to personal opinion. What is clear however, is that ICE agents were changing their story as they went, in order to follow Trump’s order to revoke the student’s visa at his whim. When told he was actually a permanent resident, they pivoted - not being aware of this fact - to then also make up new claims to detain him. Creating new facts on the ground. All this is to say, someone’s legal status is ultimately done by a judge, depending on the argument put forth. The Trump administration is claiming that Khalil is “aligned” with a terrorist group - which is a bizarre turn of phrase. Instead, the United States government is providing no case behind their claims and taking unilateral action against someone whose opinion they don’t like. What should concern all people who care for the first amendment is if Trump administration is now targeting opinions it doesn’t agree with and in doing so, removing the legal status of people with no due process, the question becomes who else is next?
What’s fast becoming an item to both monitor and ask why are they doing this, the US economy is seemingly heading for a significant contraction, a self-induced one at that. Just two weeks, the first quarter projection for 2025 were set to be at a growth of 2.3%. Last Friday, this swung significantly in the other direction, towards a contraction of 1.8%. Now, the Atlanta Federal Reserve is projecting a contraction of 2.8%. This is coming off the heels of mass firings led by Trump and Musk of the federal workforce, dismantling of federal agencies, on-and-off again tariffs threats, and the US stocks continue to tumble. The threat of a recession is very real and once again, this is also being done by choice.
Democratic Party Politics
It’s never too late to start thinking about 2028 - even for the “there won’t be an election” skeptic. And a good place to start is with the “pay no mind” list of aspiring candidates for 2028. Skyrocketing to the top is California Gavin Newsom. The Patrick Bateman lookalike has opted to start his own podcast, to grow interest in whatever brand he’s trying to gestate. For a first guest, he opted to have conservative activist, Charlie Kirk on to denigrate trans people, Black Lives Matter, and generally signal a turn against his supposedly held views.
Why this matters:
Despite an media inclination to read this as savvy, this turn illustrates the actual issue of the Democratic Party; a party whose brand filled with empty platitudes, flimsy convictions, and no appetite to mount large scale political fights. Whatever 2024 election postmortems one believes, this is a move of weakness and will be perceived as such.
Turning to the more bewildering choice of Newsom having his first ever guest on his show be someone like Kirk - whose electoral success is shaky at best - maybe we should more urgently question someone’s aptitude in picking someone who said MLK, Jr. was not a good person and want to undo the Civil Rights Act. For good measure, Newsom stated during the interview that his 13-year old son is big fan of Kirk’s. If you’re looking at sampling the podcast, one of the next guests the podcast is set to be Steve Bannon.
Rallies and town halls are typically seen during campaign seasons, but political leaders are hosting them to place pressure on congressional Republicans, to reel back the extreme excesses of the Trump administration. Bernie Sanders drew over 10,000 people in a rally in Michigan, while Elizabeth Warren had more than 3,500 attend a Texas event she took part in. If you’re angry, concerned, and ready to act, the good news is so are millions of Americans. But the reason to highlight this is because there is a vacuum of leadership within the Democratic Party right now. Technically, the leadership is represented by Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, respectively leading the Senate and House for Democrats.
The good news is that they both seem to be on the same page. The bad news, is the page they’re both stuck on is to do nothing. This is not an exaggeration; they think that Trump will “mess up” at some point, as if all of this *waves hands* is not messing up. By waiting, and waiting, and waiting, they are leaving open a coherent, oppositional message, that signals to people there is a different way that doesn’t just return us to the status quo. In doing so, this maintains Trump’s message as the only existing one in a media ecosystem and as such, it will continue to dominate. Friction needs to be created and encouraged. Waiting until Trump, Musk, and the Republicans hollow out our federal government is waiting to return to power with nothing left to administer over.
What can you do about this if there’s isn’t a protest, rally, or town hall near you? Call your representatives. Complain about leadership. Demand a vote of no confidence and to see new leadership who are prepared to fight.
World Politics
In Syria, over 1,000 people are dead in what is being described as “clashes” between current Syrian security forces and pro-Assad loyalists. What has been described as atrocities, some of which include execution style killing against the minority Alawite people. It is unclear which side was behind these mass killings. The backdrop of this occurs as Western governments - embracing anti-immigrant sentiment - are sending Syrian refugees back to their native country, despite the uncertain future that remains there.
Recent developments between Israel and Hamas on ceasefire negotiations has seen Israel send representatives to Qatar this past Monday. This comes at a time when Israel has blocked all humanitarian aid entering Gaza since March 2. This also comes of the heels of the United States holding direct negotiations with Hamas, a step that had previously not been taken by prior administrations.
On Tuesday, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that a 30-day ceasefire proposed by the US had been accepted on their part, stating afterwards that the US must convince Russia to join on. This potential deal happens 5 days after a televised meeting in the White House between Zelensky and Trump devolved into jeering towards Zelensky by Trump and his Vice President. The US also restored their aid packages to Ukraine, as well as intel sharing, which had been suspended following the disastrous meeting last Friday.
Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was arrested and flown to the Netherlands to face charges of crimes against humanity by The International Criminal Court (ICC). The charges stem from mass killings that were carried out under Duterte’s term as first mayor of a southern Philippine city and later as president, when was justified under anti-drug crackdowns.
Notable Other News
If you want to watch something that’s both entertaining and somewhat disturbing, watch host of the Majority Report, Sam Seder, take part in an event that (for some reason) has become pretty popular. Seder, a progressive podcast host, is challenged by 20 college aged conservatives on their support of the Republican agenda.
In exciting women sports news, WNBA stars Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier have started a new, player-owned women’s basketball league. The league is called Unrivaled and it opens the door to more financial opportunities in the United States, at a time when the WNBA is surging in popularity and is seeking better pay and benefits in future contracts.