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House Speaker Mike Johnson sent members home a day early to avoid a vote on impeaching Pete Hegseth. Donald Trump reportedly screamed at a congresswoman for nearly ten minutes during a Kennedy Center board meeting after a judge rejected his bid to name the building after himself. A new government report found that DOGE’s mass firings cost taxpayers $9.5 billion in paid leave. And the family of a Texas woman who died after being denied an abortion has filed a lawsuit against Attorney General Ken Paxton.
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Johnson Sends House Home Early to Dodge Hegseth Impeachment Vote
The only thing harder than impeaching a Defense Secretary is getting Congress to work a full week.
Speaker Mike Johnson announced Wednesday that the House will leave a day early for its seven-week recess ahead of the midterm elections. The move stops a vote on articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
On Tuesday, Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky filed the resolution as privileged. That would have meant the House would have had to vote by Thursday, the last scheduled day of the session.
The eight articles of impeachment charge Hegseth with waging war against Iran without congressional authorization, a power the Constitution reserves to Congress. They also accuse him of ordering the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a bid to seize control over Venezuela’s oil reserves.
Johnson dismissed the move as a publicity stunt. He told reporters the resolution would be tabled when the House returns, which is not expected until after November 3.
Massie, who lost his primary earlier this year, said on social media that Johnson canceled the session simply to save Republican members an uncomfortable vote. He may be on his way out of Congress, but at least he won’t be leaving alone.
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Trump Throws a Tantrum at Kennedy Center Board Meeting
The loudest performance at the Kennedy Center this week was not on any stage.
Rep. Joyce Beatty of Ohio, who serves on the Kennedy Center board, said Trump spent nearly 10 minutes berating her Tuesday night. The “tantrum” came after a federal judge thwarted his latest attempt to slap his name on the building.
Beatty said the president called her an obstructionist, dumb, incompetent, and told her she had never done anything except file a lawsuit against him. She then told Trump that he had more bankruptcies than anyone else in the room, and that he’s killing people through war and high grocery costs.
The outburst came after U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper rejected the board’s effort to plaster the building with the words “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump.” Cooper wrote that Congress made clear that the building could be named only for President Kennedy.
Trump responded by declaring that the Kennedy Center would close at once and that he would not begin the renovation he had promised until the courts approved the name change. The board then voted to shut the venue down for repairs because if Trump can’t have his name on something, no one gets to have it at all.
The Government Paid Employees $9.5 Billion to Do Nothing
The most expensive thing the federal government did last year was try to save money.
A new estimate from the Government Accountability Office puts the federal government’s 2025 administrative leave payments to employees at $9.5 billion, a direct result of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. That’s a 435 percent increase over the previous year.
Most of the money, $6.7 billion, went to DOGE’s deferred resignation program, which about 139,963 federal employees accepted. Many were among the most experienced people in their fields, and only around 20,000 have been replaced.
The Trump administration says the program has saved more than $200 billion, but that figure has never been substantiated. In reality, the federal deficit has continued to climb thanks to Republican tax cuts and the war in Iran.
Democratic Senator Patty Murray said in a statement Tuesday that DOGE’s cuts were “the most expensive way imaginable to make government worse.”
Family of Texas Woman Who Died After Being Denied an Abortion Sues AG
The family of Tierra Walker, a 37-year-old woman from San Antonio who died in December 2024 while 20 weeks pregnant, filed a lawsuit against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Tuesday. They assert that Walker was denied an abortion that could have saved her life.
Walker died after being diagnosed with pre-eclampsia, a condition that caused seizures and blood clots. She and her relatives pleaded with her doctors to terminate the pregnancy as her condition deteriorated, but the doctors refused.
In Texas, abortion is prohibited at every stage of pregnancy, except when the mother’s life is in danger. Doctors who carry out the procedure could be charged with a first-degree felony and face up to 99 years in prison. Walker’s family alleges that her doctors refused to act because they feared prosecution, even as she was dying in front of them.
Walker is not the first woman whose death was caused by the ban. In 2021, a 28-year-old Houston woman named Josseli Barnica died after doctors delayed her care for more than 40 hours.
At least 20 other women have sued the state after being denied treatment during dangerous pregnancies. In every case, the doctors knew what the patient needed and were too afraid to provide it.
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POSITIVE STORIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED:
Judge Blocks DHS From Threatening Man Who Sent Mean Email to ICE. A federal judge Tuesday ruled that the Department of Homeland Security can’t take further action against David Streever of Rochester, New York for a scathing email he sent to the former acting director of ICE earlier this year. Streever sent the email after federal immigration agents fatally shot two observers in Minneapolis in January, likening the official to a Nazi and calling him a “monstrous human being.” Five months later, Homeland Security agents visited his home and then followed him to an airport, warning that he might be breaking federal law. Judge Contreras found the government probably violated Streever’s First Amendment rights and ordered DHS and ICE to stop threatening him over protected speech.
Seattle Passes Anti-Discrimination Protections for Polyamorous Partners. The Seattle City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to recognize non-monogamous and polyamorous relationships, and multigenerational households, as protected classes. The protections include employment, housing, public accommodations, business licensure, and policing. Seattle’s Office for Civil Rights will accept complaints from residents who are discriminated against. The ordinance also updates the municipal code to recognize non-binary genders, and to add pansexuality and asexuality as protected sexual orientations. Seattle is now the tenth and biggest city in the country to pass protections for polyamorous relationships, after Somerville, Massachusetts, did so in 2020.
Louisiana Conservationist Spends a Decade Restoring 67 Acres of Damaged Wetland. In Iberia Parish, Louisiana, conservationist Matt Conn bought 67 acres of damaged land near the town of Lydia that had been stripped of its native trees and overtaken by tens of thousands of invasive Chinese tallow trees. In ten years, Conn cleared the invasive species with bush hog, machete, and helicopter spray, killing 95 percent of the tallow trees on the property. The land has since been restored with a variety of native plant species and features several types of wetland ecosystems including goldenrod, cypress and tupelo. It now serves as a restored habitat for local wildlife.
All Opening Acts Withdraw From Ed Sheeran’s Tour After Macklemore Is Dropped. Macklemore was booted from Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour after shouting “Free Palestine” and performing his protest song “Hind’s Hall” at MetLife Stadium. The rapper said New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft personally called Sheeran and enlisted other stadium owners to demand his removal from the lineup. Finneas, the singer-songwriter and brother of Billie Eilish, announced on Tuesday that he was withdrawing from his upcoming dates on the tour in solidarity. Irish singer Aaron Rowe, Sheeran’s house band Beoga and Danish pop group Lukas Graham all followed within hours, leaving Sheeran without any of his supporting acts.
It's a wonder that Johnsons knees aren't worn out!
Go clot go! Pop goes the vessel!