The World Is in F*cking Chaos
And yet the show must go on
If you’re following the news (I honestly don’t blame you if you’re not), it’s damn near impossible to keep up with everything happening. Trying to do so feels like extreme whiplash and cognitive overload. But what is starting to feel even weirder is turning off the news and trying to assimilate back into daily life. Or scrolling on social media.
It’s fcking weird seeing Jeff Bezos spend $55 million dollars on a wedding that Venetian city residents protested, knowing how federal funding cuts are destroying federal, state entities and the non-profit sector; and then seeing an influencer peddling Amazon Prime Week.
It’s fcking weird seeing reports of 100 people dying from Texas floods and then seeing people express more outrage over a Love Island contestant than they do to the government for cutting NOAA funding and delaying FEMA assistance, possibly contributing to the disaster at the outset.
It’s fcking weird that by the time Mahmoud Khalil or Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia were released, we forgot about their stories entirely. Never mind the fact Abrego Garcia is still facing criminal charges and fighting the administration tooth and nail. Or that there are hundreds of thousands of people locked up, many of whom have zero criminal records. It’s fcking weird that we bombed Iran a little over two weeks ago, and it feels like it’s been no less than two months.
It’s fcking weird that, one week ago, Congress just passed a highly unpopular, socially and economically regressive bill in history, according to economists, and yet that’s last week’s news. We celebrated the long, holiday 4th of July weekend and forgot about it.
Elon Musk, the richest man in the freaking world, started a new political party SATURDAY, and it’s hardly a blip on the radar.
Instead, this week, people have new things to be outraged over… the Epstein files to start. Which surely will be out of sight out of mind by next week.
We’re all focused on whatever happens next in the news because our attention spans have been rattled for years, exponentially so in 2025. It’s not even a 24/7 news cycle, it’s like a weeks worth of news now happens within the span of a day, and then before we can even adjust/respond to that news, there’s a whole new barrage of information to manage.
It warps our concept of time, and makes us feel more defenseless than capable in times where our own personal or political feelings are triggered.
I don’t know what the solution is, but I do know that the current news cycle is unsustainable. It challenges human’s inherent capability of consuming information. I do think that the next several (seven) years will fundamentally reshape how we communicate with each other, how we receive news, and how we manage the onslaught.
In the meantime, here’s what’s happening right now. :)
NEWS NEWS NEWS
The Epstein Files Split MAGA
Under the cover of the busy July 4th weekend, on Sunday night, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) issued a nondescript memo concluding that Jeffrey Epstein actually did not have a “client list.” Indeed, turns out that Epstein and his then-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell were working alone.
The discovery has people of all sides up in arms, and has split MAGA.
People are more than a little confused because, five months ago, Attorney General Pam Bondi told the world that she had the client list on her desk. When confronted about this discrepancy, WH Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt jumped in and likened it to a misunderstanding: she was actually referring to the entirety of the paperwork related to Epstein.
In addition to the memo, the Trump administration also released a video from the night Epstein died to confirm his suicide. Reporters noted, however, that there’s a full minute missing from the released video. That too has yet to be accounted for.
Is this the thing that splits MAGA? Probably not, considering we collectively have the attention span of a goldfish. Regardless, we’ll keep an eye on how this unfolds.
Liberation Day Part 2
Trump’s tariffs deadline hit on July 9, and, this time, it’s personal. Trump announced a 50% tariff on Brazil (up from 10%), because of the country’s “Witch Hunt” against former President Jair Bolsonaro (who has been charged with trying to start a coup to stay in power after he lost the 2022 election). He also announced a 35% tariff on Canada, and 25% on both South Korea, and Japan — all three key U.S. trading partners.
Trump also published several open letters on Truth Social to countries threatening high tariffs on several African and Southeast Asian countries by August 1.
Full list of countries announced here.
As for the markets, they’re relatively unfazed by Trump’s second tranche of announcements. Must be that TACO effect. (Trump Always Chickens Out).
Project 2029????
Reportedly, key Democratic strategists who have been successfully losing elections for decades, are taking a page from the Republican playbook and planning to publish a Democratic policy agenda-book in the style of Project 2025. Players involved include several previous administration officials including Biden’s National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Obama/Biden admin alum Neera Tanden, etc. One group member, democratic speechwriter and state leader, Andrei Cherny, referred to the group as the “Avengers of public policy.” SIGH.
Here’s my honest take:
TLDR: I am highly skeptical but glad they’re not burying their heads in the sand.
I applaud the Democrats for trying to do something different. However, they actually need to do something different, rather than, in the words of Jon Stewart “rehash of all the consultant-driven, careful nonsense” that landed Democrats here in the first place. What they can’t do is have a thesis/premise that they then model everything around.
If I was advising them, I’d tell them to negate all of their expertise, and just start fckn talking to people everywhere. And then build the party’s tenets from there. Don’t come in with a preconceived notion that you then model everything around (e.g.. liberalism is the best and we must prove to voters how it works) because it’s not working for a lot of people. They need to be open minded and understand that many of the party’s ideas have been stagnant for several decades. And some of them may (do) need refreshing.
Elon Musk + Andrew Yang: The New Bromance?
Andrew Yang, the tech entrepreneur and failed 2020 presidential candidate & NYC mayoral candidate, is back. His own attempts to start a third party (“The Forward Party”) have not really taken off, but he may have found an ally in Elon Musk. Musk, who announced his own third party over the weekend, “The America Party,” is reportedly talking to Yang as the two try to brainstorm what a third party looks like.
I. just. don’t. know.
Hegseth pulls a fast one…again
Apparently Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth made a unilateral choice to pause military aid to Ukraine. When confronted about the pause, Trump seemed confused. Fair because Hegseth apparently didn’t inform the White House about said choice, pissing off Trump. Trump then not only resumed sending military aid to Ukraine, but has also turned up the heat against Putin. He said that the Russian president is very nice, but it turns out to be meaningless. And that “we [U.S.] get a lot of sh*t thrown at us by Putin.”
The same week that, per a leaked audio from a 2024 donor event, Trump threatened to bomb the sh*t out of Moscow.
Putin seemed to pay no mind, this week Russia launched its largest attack against Ukraine — over 700 drones.
Not much else to say other than what I’ve said before.
Lots of Court activity lately…even though the SC is out for summer
Def working on the weekends. Anyways, here are the quick points:
Court ruled against Florida saying that the state cannot criminalize undocumented immigrants from entering and re-entering the state: An unsigned opinion, and no dissenters. Interesting.
Also, on June 27, the Supreme Court ruled that, in response to Trump’s birthright citizenship ban, federal judges cannot issue nationwide injunctions, they have to be specific to the plaintiffs. Unlesssss it’s a class action lawsuit.
Which is relevant becauseeeeee:
This week, a federal judge certified a class action lawsuit regarding the birthright citizenship ban, therefore blocking the ban on behalf of all U.S- born and future-born children. This leaves open the possibility that the Court will take up the merits of the ban itself, which they declined to address on June 27.
Something to keep an eye on!
Last court update— click-to-cancel rule is OUT: U.S. Court of Appeals struck down a pending rule that would have required companies to make cancelling subscriptions EASIER. It was set to go into effect on July 14— ughhh we were so close. Anyways, the court ruled that it would have more than the annual impact of the rule on the U.S. economy would be more than $100 million (which is utterly fckn ridiculous to be honest), so therefore the way the rule was promulgated resulted in a procedural error. And the new Federal Trade Commission Chairman (FTC) voted against the rule when he was an FTC commissioner. So, it aint happening for a while :/
You may start hearing political speeches from the pulpit
This week, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) filed a document with the court saying that the Johnson Amendment (named after LBJ) should not apply to churches. The amendment stipulates that 501(c)(3)s (nonprofits) can lose their tax-exempt status if they endorse a political candidate. Now, the IRS is saying that they think churches should be allowed to, and that they wouldn’t pursue charges against a church who did.
We’ll see how this plays out, but keep Smartt Takes posted if you start hearing political endorsements at church.
Texas
Measles cases are the highest they’ve been in 33 years according to data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Outbreaks are happening all over the country, particularly in Texas.
Speaking of Texas, this week Governor Greg Abbott announced that Texas Republicans will redraw the state’s congressional districts (gerrymandering) ahead of the 2026 midterms. Trump has been reportedly pushing Texas to redraw districts to favor Republicans and create more seats. Abbott said that he would be redrawing because of an issue raised by the Department of Justice, namely that there had been “unconstitutional racially-based gerrymandering.”
There is a risk though, that redrawing the lines could actually end up favoring the Democrats, but it seems that it’s a risk Republicans are willing to take.
Also on the special election docket, Abbott is pushing legislators to approve legislation that “improves early warning systems, [emergency communications], and other preparedness [and response] infrastructure in flood-prone areas” as well as disaster relief for flooding throughout the state.
My heart goes out big time to everyone in Texas, everyone at Camp Mystic, and everyone impacted by these floods. We can do better and I hope that we will do better.
Trump is apparently planning to cut NASA
Like, cutting over 2,000 employees, and chopping the budget by 47%. Trump also appointed Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, as Interim NASA director. Going from MTV’s The Real World to NASA is a wild trajectory.
Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu nominates Trump for Nobel Peace Prize
Read the letter here.
Trump has been ranting about how he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize.
Enough said.
Grok is going off the fckn rails
Elon Musk’s/X’s Grok is having an insane week after a recent “update.” The chatbot is now apparently calling itself “MechaHitler.”
Real creepy sh*t…here’s a gifted article where you can read all about it
We’re almost done, but let’s chit chat astrology real quick.
We’ve had some big time shifts. Uranus (sudden insights, shocks. innovations, inspiration, moved into Gemini (communications, transportations, technology, restlessness, adaptability/variety).
If you’ve been reading my astrology stuff, I’ve been talking about this for a bit. On the darker side, I’ve been talking about how every single time Uranus has been in Gemini, the United States has been involved in either an internal conflict or an all out war (here, here, and here). More on that to come.
But, Uranus in Gemini also indicates some big ole tech changes. Honestly, as a quantum person, for a while I have been looking at this time as rapid acceleration in quantum technology, self-driving cars as a given, among other things. I also do think the way we communicate and social media will change fundamentally. Because of all of this, I’ve been keeping track of tech changes that have happened since/around/after July 7, which I’m including here because it’s interesting and then I have somewhere to keep track.
Uranus in Gemini Tech changes (since/around/after July 7)
TikTok announces they’re developing a separate app for U.S. users
X’s CEO steps down after 2 years
OpenAI announces new browser to compete with Google Chrome
I know there’s more, but this will be a running list I’ll keep tabs on.
Personally, Uranus in Gemini has been a huuuuuge energy boost I didn’t expect. I’ve had so much energy (something I’ve struggled with since 2019), and things have been overall flowing a lot more for me daily. I hope you’ve felt the same, now that Uranus has moved out of Taurus (which is a bit more lethargic, slow, etc.)
Alright, this ended up being long assss ffff. So, my apologies. I had to take a bit of time after the bill passed last week and gather myself/figure out how to write about everything while acknowledging the moment.
So, I’ll be back next week, definitely with more frequency. I will be out for a couple of weeks at the end of the month, but you can expect at least a Smartt Takes or two here and there.
Thanks for being here and looking forward to figuring out this journey with you!
Have a good weekend!
-Lesley