Donald Trump is doing victory laps over Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension this week, using it as yet another excuse to threaten TV broadcasters who dare “hit Trump.” From Air Force One, he basically said: nice FCC license you got there, shame if anything happened to it. Which, yes, is completely illegal, but legality has never exactly been this guy’s love language. Jon Stewart, back at The Daily Show, roasted the whole thing, mock-saluting “our great father” Trump and lampooning the new state-approved media vibe we’re apparently living in now. Between Stewart’s monologue and the protests outside Disney studios, you can feel the country realizing we’re one FCC vote away from turning late-night TV into Live From the Ministry of Truth. Stephen Colbert, writers’ unions, the ACLU, and even Barack Obama are waving the giant red flag, calling the suspension what it is: unconstitutional government pressure.

Dems Asked to Canonize Charlie Kirk or Get Dragged: House Democrats are staring down a GOP resolution that both condemns political violence and canonizes Charlie Kirk, which is basically like being asked to light a candle for the guy who spent his career setting fires. Some Dems, like Rep. Jasmine Crockett, are flat-out refusing to play along, saying there’s nothing “honorable” about Kirk’s crusades against civil rights and queer people, while others are arguing that passing it might turn down the national rage machine a notch. Leadership is letting everyone vote their conscience, which means half the caucus is about to get smeared as pro-violence, and the other half will look like they just co-signed a Turning Point USA recruitment poster.

11 Dems Arrested for the Crime of Asking ICE What the Hell They’re Doing: Federal officers arrested 11 Democratic officials (city comptroller, public advocate, the whole crew) for trying to see what's happening inside ICE’s holding cells in Manhattan. And when ICE told them to beat it, they did the most New York thing possible: sat on the floor, started chanting, and busted out a giant banner until DHS showed up and zip-tied them like it was WrestlePalooza. And the kicker is, a judge already said those cells are probably violating the Constitution.

RFK Jr.’s CDC Turns One Vax for Kids Into Multiple, Because Chaos: A CDC vaccine panel voted to split the MMRV shot into two separate jabs, one for measles, mumps, rubella and another for chickenpox, because apparently we needed to make it even harder for parents to keep up with their kids’ vaccine schedules. The panel also voted to push back the age that these shots are approved for: from 12 months old to four years old. These moves come as RFK Jr., who continues to run HHS like his own wellness podcast, fired the old panel and stacked it with advisers who either have no vaccine background or openly hate vaccines. Public health experts say this will tank compliance and actually make kids less protected, but sure, let’s pretend this is about “safety” instead of politics. The kicker? The change doesn’t even apply to the free Vaccines for Children program, leaving everyone, including some panel members, wondering what the hell just happened.

Trump’s Approval Rating Tanks Again: Trump’s approval rating just belly-flopped to 39 percent, the lowest of his second term, and 57 percent of Americans are officially giving him the presidential middle finger, according to the latest YouGov/Economist poll. His net approval sits at a grim -18, the second-worst of his presidency, though pollsters politely remind us it could “bounce back,” like that sad inflatable clown you punched as a kid. Sure, the MAGA die-hards are still chanting his name, but nearly two-thirds of independents and moderates are looking at his job performance and saying, “Hard pass.”

Senate Turns Into Trump’s Fast-Track Rubber Stamp: The Republican controlled Senate gave Trump a giant rubber stamp, ramming through 48 of his nominees in one vote under new rules that make it easier to stack the government with loyalists. After months of Democrats slowing things down, Republicans cut the brakes entirely, turning what was once a deliberative process into a conveyor belt for Trumpworld appointments. Democrats warn this is one more step toward a Senate that exists purely to greenlight the president’s agenda, no questions asked, and Republicans are already licking their chops for the next batch.

Lisa Cook vs. Trump’s Hostile Takeover of the Fed: Trump has asked the Supreme Court for permission to fire Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook, a Biden appointee, a respected economist, and the first Black woman to ever sit on the Fed board, in what looks a lot like a hostile takeover of the central bank. The White House is leaning on thin, unproven mortgage fraud claims to oust Cook while quietly stacking the Fed with loyalists like Stephen Miran, who immediately voted for even deeper rate cuts. It’s a direct shot at the Fed’s independence and a warning flare for anyone who thought Trump’s second term wouldn’t involve turning every neutral institution into an arm of Trump Inc.

Turning Point’s Memorial Tour Kicks Off in MAGA-chella: Erika Kirk, Charlie Kirk’s widow, is stepping in as CEO and board chair of Turning Point USA after his killing last week, keeping the far-right pipeline running without skipping a beat. TPUSA cast the move as a divine mandate to finish Charlie’s culture-war vision, vowing to make his project “more powerful and enduring than ever.” A public memorial-slash-political rally is planned for September 21 in Arizona, with Trump and other MAGA all-stars expected to show up.

Here Comes the Sun (Day): If you’re seeking some direct action, more than 450 Sun Day actions are set to pop off this Sunday, with climate legend Bill McKibben leading the charge and basically saying, “Enough of Trump’s fossil fuel fan club.” From solar panels on Habitat homes to electric school bus rollouts, these events are a nationwide clapback to an administration hellbent on torching climate protections and hand-feeding Big Oil. For folks near Seattle, the closest action will be at the Bainbridge Island Public Library.

And now to local news, where, believe it or not, things are mostly good, which in 2025 feels like spotting a unicorn on the light rail.

Decker Manhunt May Be Over: Authorities say they’ve likely found the body of Travis Decker,  the former Army Ranger accused of murdering his three daughters, in the backcountry south of Leavenworth after a summer-long manhunt. The case, which horrified Washington state, started when Decker didn’t return the girls after a scheduled visit and ended with their bodies discovered near a campground in June. DNA testing will confirm the remains, but for now officials believe the manhunt is finally over.

Washington AG Tells Bikini Barista Mogul to Cut the Creepery: Washington Attorney General Nick Brown dropped a legal hammer on Jonathan Tagle, the guy behind the Paradise Espresso bikini barista chain, accusing him of running a decade-long nightmare factory of harassment, retaliation, and straight-up wage theft. The lawsuit says Tagle coerced women into sexual acts to get or keep their jobs, groped them, withheld wages and tips, and created a workplace so toxic it pushed employees out. The state wants him banned from ever doing this again, forced to pay back every stolen dollar, and held accountable for turning a coffee stand into a trauma machine.

One Tiny Heart, One Big Middle Finger to a Broken System: Nine-year-old Katja de Groot, who lives in Maltby, WA, is finally home after a summer so intense it makes most prestige TV look boring:  heart failure, a pricey cross-country medevac, and a partial heart transplant so rare she’s basically a medical journal cover girl now. She survived thanks to what her mom calls a “domino effect” of donors, doctors, and random kind humans stepping in where America’s busted healthcare system clearly wasn’t going to. The family is begging folks to become organ donors, because in a country where getting lifesaving care can feel like buying a scratch ticket, community might be the only thing that keeps the whole row of dominoes from crashing down.

Even with suppression and censorship doing their worst, the sun still showed up today, and hope? That’s a team sport. So let’s kick it off with this: