Trump Education Cuts Are Worse Than Expected, USAID Staff Told to Burn Documents, MrBeast, Jay-Z
PDS Published 03/12/2025
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The Trump administration has now disemboweled the Education Department, and we’re just getting started.
With Education Secretary Linda McMahon [Mick-man] — yes, that Linda McMahon, the wife of Vince McMahon and WWE executive who’s been accused of enabling child sex abuse at the company — [Image]
Completely shuttering the department’s offices today while she lays off nearly half its workforce. [Headline]
Cutting it down from just over 4,200 people to just below 2,200.
With those who got laid off reportedly being put on administrative leave starting March 21.
And when Fox’s Laura Ingraham asked her whether this is the first step toward a total shutdown, McMahon replied: [Lead B roll into clip]
[Clip, 01:16 - 01:43] Caption: “Yes, actually it is, because that was the president’s mandate. His directive to me, clearly, is to shut down the Department of Education, which we know we’ll have to work with Congress, you know, to get that accomplished. But what we did today was to take the first step of eliminating what I think is bureaucratic bloat, and that’s not to say that a lot of the folks — you know, it’s a humanitarian thing to a lot of the folks that are there. … They’re out of a job.”
Though Trump this morning saying this about those workers:
“The Department of Education, maybe more so than any other place, has a lot of people that can be cut. They're number one, not showing up to work; number two, not doing a good job." (0:00-0:12)
"We have a dream.... We're gonna move education into the states... so that the states can run education." (0:37-:50)
Now as you heard McMahon mention, Trump cannot legally abolish the Education Department without an act of Congress, and Republicans would need 60 votes to bypass the filibuster.
But last Friday, McMahon told Fox & Friends that Trump was preparing an executive order seeking to eliminate the department. [Headline]
With a draft order reportedly directing McMahon to do everything she legally can to dismantle it, while acknowledging the need for Congress to totally abolish it. [Quote same link, find “draft”]
Now Trump’s claim since the beginning is that he’s simply handing control over education back to the states.
But critics like Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, say that misunderstands how the Education Department works. [Lead B roll into clip]
[Clip, 02:32 - 02:42; Clip, 03:15 - 03:22; Clip, 04:09 - 04:21, 04:33 - 04:39] Caption: “States and localities control education right now, from graduation standards to curriculum. … The department doesn’t run anything. What it does is fills opportunity gaps. … So we’re talking about kids in America, 90% of whom go to public schools. They want to take the funding. It’s like robbing Peter to pay for Elon’s tax cuts. … Don’t do this to our American children.”
So as for what the department actually does, it provides a bunch of unique federal services.
Including administering student loans and financial aid, dispersing funds for poor kids, homeless kids and disabled kids, managing college accreditation, enforcing civil rights laws, and measuring student achievement nationwide.
But a senior official told The Hill the cuts won’t impact student aid, students with disabilities, civil rights investigations and formula funding to states. [Quote, find “impact”]
Except we know that’s probably not true for at least one of those.
Because The New York Times reports that the already understaffed Office of Civil Rights suffered particularly steep cuts, with regional centers shuttered or reduced to a skeleton crew. [Quote, find “skeleton”]
Though we’ve heard discussion from the White House about moving certain functions to other departments rather than outright eliminating them.
Namely handing civil rights to the DoJ, student loans to the Treasury, and disability programs to Health and Human Services.
But these layoffs aren’t the only education-related cuts we’re seeing right now.
Because the Department of Agriculture reportedly slashed over a billion dollars in funding for school meals and food banks. [Headline]
With that including 660 million dollars for the Local Food for Schools program, and 420 million dollars for a program that provides food to food banks and organizations that reach underserved communities. [Quote same link, find “660” and “320”]
Also, the nonprofit School Nutrition Association warned that Congress is considering further cuts.
Including one proposal that would kick an estimated 24,000 schools serving 12 million students off of the Community Eligibility Provision, which allows high poverty schools to offer free meals to all students without an application, [Qkuote, find “24,000”]
A proposal that would strip a million students of automatic eligibility for free school meals. [Same quote, second bullet]
And another one requiring income verification with every free and reduced-price meal application. [Same quote, third bullet]
So you have the nonprofit’s president writing in a statement:
“These proposals would cause millions of children to lose access to free school meals at a time when working families are struggling with rising food costs. Meanwhile, short-staffed school nutrition teams, striving to improve menus and expand scratch-cooking, would be saddled with time-consuming and costly paperwork created by new government inefficiencies.” [Quote same link]
And the Trump administration doesn’t appear to have commented on all this except to say that the programs it just canceled “no longer effectuate the goals of the agency.” [Quote]
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A newly released audio recording shows Jay Z’s former accuser saying he did not assault her and that she was pressured into suing him.
That is the bombshell allegation from a recent ABC News report, because as you might remember, a lawsuit filed last year accused Jay Z of raping a teenage girl alongside Diddy at a party in 2000.
And while that lawsuit has since been withdrawn, it is still making headlines because Jay Z is suing that accuser, identified only as Jane Doe.
And now, Jay Z’s lawyer is discussing that lawsuit, doing an interview on Good Morning America where he shared tapes that allegedly depict her admitting the assault never happened and that her lawyer, Tony Buzbee, told her to make the claim.
“But Jay Z was there, you’re saying he was definitely there? But he had no part in it, or he was just?...he was there….He was just there, but he didn't have anything to do with any sexual acts towards you? It was strictly…yeah.” (0:42-0:55)
“He was the one that kind of pushed me towards going forward with him, with Jay-Z…With Jay Z? Buzbee did?...Yeah…Do you know why?...no.” (1:01-1:10)
For his part, Tony Buzbee denied pressuring Jane Doe into making the claim, giving a statement to ABC News saying:[]
“That is a blatant lie that is directly contrary to all the documentary evidence.”
With him providing his own recordings where Jane Doe said she never told investigators this.
“They say that they have you on tape denying that Jay Z assaulted you, is that true?...No, no. I don’t, I never said that.” (1:52-2:05)
With her also denying saying he forced her to levy the accusation.
And Buzbee also provided a statement to TMZ saying:
“The tape is a fraud. They tormented and harassed and tricked that poor woman and took what she said out of context and secretly recorded her.”[]
But, Jay Z’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, said the tape where she denied it should speak for itself.
Now, as for who she allegedly confessed this to, those two other people on the initial tape were private investigators who were associated with Jay Z. []
And when ABC News asked if Jane Doe had been coerced into a denial, Spiro said that was not the case, that she was not coerced or threatened and voluntarily spoke to them.
And in Jay Z’s defamation suit against Jane Doe, he argued that her lawyers:
“were soullessly motivated by greed, in abject disregard of the truth and the most fundamental precepts of human decency.”[]
Buzbee and his firm are also named as defendants in the suit.
But, it is also worth noting that in a court filing earlier this month, Jane Doe said:
“Although I ultimately chose not to pursue them, I stand by my claims in the New York Action and believe that I had a meritorious claim against Jay-Z.”
So in just the past week and half, there has been a ton of back and forth here.
Buzbee also previously said that quotes attributed to Jane Doe in the defamation suit against her were fabricated, or that investigators spoke to someone who was not in fact Jane Doe.[]
And you might think this case is kind of just a drop in the bucket considering there are dozens of other lawsuits Diddy is facing, as well as a federal indictment he is pleading not guilty to.
But the claims against Buzbee here are really notable because he is the lawyer behind a ton of the major lawsuits against Diddy.
Right, he is a main character in this case at large.
So we will have to see where this defamation case goes and if it impacts or influences any of the other cases here.
But in the meantime, I would love to know your thoughts on this situation here.
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Well, Bloomberg and The Verge just obtained pitch documents that were sent to potential investors that detail some of that, as well as where all his business endeavors are going in the future.
Right, because on top of his YouTube and media empire, he has his Feastables chocolate bars, Lunchly, and he owns the platform Viewstats.
And he clearly wants to grow, as last week we learned he was planning an investment round that could value his company at $5 billion.
But as for where things are now, Bloomberg reported that Feastables is currently the money maker, generating sales of around $250 million with a profit of over $20 million last year.[]
Meanwhile, he actually lost money on his media ventures, which include his YouTube channel and Amazon series.
Right, its sales were comparable to Feastables, but it ended up losing $80 million.
But Bloomberg also noted that it is not too surprising that content like MrBeast’s might lose money, right, his videos cost on average between three to four million dollars.
And making heaps and heaps of money on YouTube is not easy, which is why getting Amazon to pick up Beast Games likely helped him to grow that business without having to foot a massive bill entirely on his own.
Though, the show did go over budget and the first season lost him money, which is something he previously spoke about, but he hopes the next seasons will be different.
“I lost a ton of money filming that show, that came out of my pocket…we spent way too much money on it. I lost tens of millions on that show. I’m an idiot. (1:28:42-1:28:51)
“It was about making season one as good as possible.” (1:30:38-1:30:40)
So it is not surprising that there is a big focus on other brands, right, Feastables alone reportedly has over 100 employees now.
With The Verge adding that MrBeast’s Commerce division saw a net sales increase of 160% from 2023, and it is projected to see a 100% increase this year. []
And a spokesperson told the outlet that Beast Industries is raising money and using:
“the unique reach of the MrBeast platform to build big, sustainable, revenue generating businesses.”
And that comment was kind of echoed by Bloomberg’s report, which said that:
“it’s clear that the entertainment wing of the company is increasingly a means of selling other products.”[]
Noting that Beast Industries is looking to expand into video games, drinks, and wellness.
The outlet also talking to Jeffrey Housenbold, who was hired last year to lead the company and said:
“We have an unprecedented platform in terms of reach and fandom. We have the opportunity to launch multiple business[es] on the backs of that center of reach and distribution.”
With him also revealing that he plans to cut $100 million in costs this year to turn the company into a profitable business, and estimating they will get to $300 million in profits by 2026.
But these reports were not the only reason MrBeast was making business headlines today.
Because he and other major creators are leading an Upfronts event focused just on creators.
Which, if you don’t know, the upfronts are when all the major TV networks and streaming services give massive, often star-studded, presentations on their upcoming content schedule to advertisers to woo them and secure ad deals.[]
YouTube has been doing its own presentation at the Upfronts in recent years, but now creators are reportedly hosting one of their own.
With The Hollywood Reporter saying that MrBeast, Dude Perfect, Ryan Trahan and more will all have an event to “lure marketing dollars from traditional TV to creator-driven content.”
The firm Spotter is behind the event, which will be held at the end of the month in front of the marketing leaders of over 150 major brands.
With the president of Spotter saying:
“For decades, advertisers were about owning hit shows, moments, and attention across broadcast and cable. Today, that landscape has fundamentally shifted. To capture cultural moments and audience engagement, brands must align with Creators — who now command the largest and most engaged audiences across digital platforms.”
And even though this event is separate from YouTube’s own upfront, you had Deadline saying this is not a “direct competitor” to that presentation, as they both ultimately want increased advertising on YouTube. []
But the outlet did add that the creator-led demo is “a sign of change in the media landscape.”
And so I would love to know your thoughts on any of this here, on any of MrBeast’s business ventures.
Be it his own brand, the way that is growing and shaping, or him using his brand to change the creator landscape at large.
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The U.S. Agency for International Development ordered its staff to shred and burn classified documents. [Headline]
This according to NBC, which obtained an internal email sent by the agency’s acting executive secretary Erica Carr to an unknown number of employees.
With her reportedly thanking workers for their “assistance in clearing our classified safes and personnel documents.” [Quote same link]
Then adding, “Shred as many documents first, and reserve the burn bags for when the shredder becomes unavailable or needs a break.” [Quote same link]
With all this reportedly set to take place yesterday.
Now to be clear, destroying classified documents isn’t necessarily bad or illegal.
Right, it’s done under some circumstances, particularly emergencies, such as when an embassy is under attack.
But obviously, the only people attacking USAID right now are Elon Musk and his bureaucrats.
So you had several people familiar with normal procedure telling NBC this is not that.
With the plaintiffs in the suit against Trump’s effort to dismantle USAId filing an emergency motion yesterday afternoon seeking to stop the document destruction.
Explaining that depending on which documents get destroyed, it could make it “extraordinarily difficult, if not impossible,” to rebuild programs if their lawsuit succeeds. [Quote same link]
But then later yesterday, both parties released a joint status report saying the government “will not destroy additional documents stored in the USAID offices in the Ronald Reagan Building without affording notice to Plaintiffs and an opportunity to raise the issue with the Court.” [Quote same link]
So we’ll find out exactly which documents were destroyed, but for the moment, at least, the shredder’s been turned off.
Though one administration official claimed that the material was mostly old “courtesy content” given to USAID by other agencies, that it was irrelevant to the lawsuit, and that original copies are still on computer systems.
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This alternative medical facility is being accused of putting money over their patients’ safety after a little boy died on their watch.
Right, this is Thomas Cooper - he’s a 5 year old boy from Michigan with ADHD and sleep apnea. []
To treat these conditions, his parents were taking him to the Oxford Center, an alternative medicine facility in a suburb of Detroit with a hyperbaric chamber.
If you don’t know what a hyperbaric chamber is, it’s a pressurized, tube-like chamber that delivers 100% oxygen to the patient inside. []
And that is roughly 5 times the amount of oxygen that is found in plain old air - which makes the chamber highly combustible.
The FDA has approved hyperbaric therapy for conditions like carbon monoxide and decompression sickness in scuba divers and even for some wounds and burns. []
But in recent years, spas and wellness centers have started promoting hyperbaric oxygen therapy as a treatment for a bunch of other health issues. []
In Oxford Center’s case, they were reportedly advertising it as a treatment for more than 100 conditions, including autism, Alzheimer’s, dyslexia, and cancer.
Despite the FDA not recognizing hyperbaric therapy for any of those conditions.
Now, Thomas was in this chamber on January 31st when a single spark reportedly caused the whole chamber to go up in flames - killing Thomas within seconds. []
His mother reportedly tried rushing into the fire to rescue Thomas - with the family’s attorney saying,
“She has significant burns on her arm, and that was done during a rescue attempt to try to get her child out of the burning flames. She was trying and trying to get him out, and was unsuccessful.” []
Going on to say that the family is planning on suing, quote, “to make sure that this doesn’t happen again and that somebody else doesn’t get hurt.” []
Following the explosion and Thomas’s death, this location of the Oxford Center was shut down and authorities began investigating exactly how this happened.
Which led to 4 arrests this week - including the Oxford Center founder and CEO Tamela Peterson.
Arrested along with Peterson was her primary management assistant, Gary Marken and the company’s safety manager, Jeffrey Mosteller. []
All three of these delightful individuals were slapped with a second degree murder charge.
And the 4th person was charged with involuntary manslaughter and intentionally placing false information in medical records. []
They were arraigned yesterday and we saw the Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel give a scathing news conference.
In which, she revealed that Thomas’s death was preventable - saying the investigation reached, quote, “some horrifying and simple conclusions.” []
According to Nessel, the Oxford Center failed to perform daily maintenance checks or yearly inspections of the equipment, they didn’t have a doctor or safety supervisor on site, and they didn’t have a licensed tech performing Thomas’s treatment. []
And on top of all of that, Nessel says the investigation found that they didn’t even use a grounding strap for Thomas’s treatment.
Which, as NBC News reports, is essential to protect patients and equipment from static electricity - which can cause ignition while in the chamber. []
With Nessel saying,
“The Oxford Center routinely operated sensitive and lethally dangerous hyperbaric chambers beyond their expected service lifetime and in complete disregard of vital safety measures and practices considered essential by medical and technical professionals.” []
And she went on to accuse the Oxford Center of prioritizing their own wallets over patient care and safety - saying,
“This was an unscrupulous business operating powerful machines, beyond their manufacturers’ intended term of use, on children’s bodies over and over again to provide unaccredited and debunked so-called treatments, chiefly because it brought cash into the door.” []
Now, 3 of the 4 defendants entered a mute plea yesterday - meaning they remained silent on the charges.
Which registers in the court as a not guilty plea. []
Then number 4 was Jeffrey Mosteller - whose attorney claims that he works at a different Oxford Center location, not the one where Thomas died.
So he’s pleading not guilty for real.
Though it is worth noting that the other location for the Oxford Center is also under investigation. []
For their part, the Oxford Center itself hasn’t responded to any of these allegations.
But their attorney did release a statement before Nessel’s press conference, saying,
“The timing of these charges is surprising, as the typical protocol after a fire-related accident has not yet been completed. There are still outstanding questions about how this occurred. Yet, the Attorney General’s office proceeded to pursue charges without those answers.” []
For now, we’re just going to have to keep our eyes on this situation as it plays out in the legal system.
But I would love to know your thoughts about this in those comments down below.
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We should talk about the situation in Serbia.
Right, months-long mass protests across the country have seemingly only gained momentum.
But the government they’re protesting against? It’s one with close ties to the Trump administration.
And in fact, it has cited the American president’s own actions as justification for a growing crackdown on civil society.
But with that, starting with these protests, they got going back in November after 14 people were killed by the collapse of a concrete canopy at a railway station – with another woman dying weeks later from her injuries.
Protests quickly sprung up as people blamed the tragedy on shoddy work by contractors tied to corrupt officials.
And since then, they’ve been taking place almost every day, becoming the biggest challenge yet to President Aleksandar Vučić's (Alec-sander Voo-chitch - LISTEN). decade-long grip on power.
Last week, for example, even opposition MPs participated by setting off flares and smoke bombs in Parliament (BROLL: 0:39-0:44).
And this week, several hundred student protesters have blocked Serbia’s public television station building in the capital –
Blaming the broadcaster for biased reporting and siding with the government during the demonstrations.
And this all ahead of a major rally scheduled for March 15.
But notably, in the past month, we’’ve also seen the government stepping up its efforts to quash dissent – going from blaming foreign-funded NGOs for the country’s problems to actually investigating and raiding them.
And specifically, Serbian authorities have sent dozens of police officers, many of them armed, to raid the offices of at least organizations.
Notably, conducting the raids without warrants.
And perhaps more notably, justifying the action by referring to the Trump administration’s dismantling of U.S.A.I.D–
As well as its denouncement by Elon Musk as a “criminal organization.”
With the prosecutor who ordered the raids claiming there was concern that recipients of American grants were involved in money laundering since they had used funds tainted by what Musk said was criminal activity. []
And Voo-chitch himself of course has globbed onto this narrative as well.
For example, when a Serbian journalist recently tried to ask him about reports linking his son to organized crime groups, the president responded by accusing the reporter of working for “criminal organizations” – asking her:
“How much money have you received from U.S.A.I.D?” []
And with that, again, the targets of raids so far have only been those groups the government has accused of orchestrating the student-led protests – not just any that received American money.
One of them, for example, by the name of Civic Initiatives, reportedly provided legal aid to detained student protesters.
It reportedly previously received around 10 percent of its funding from U.S.A.I.D. []
And it surrendered 1,300 pages of documents as well as thumb drives containing confidential personal information about its staff and finances. []
With the executive director telling The New York Times:
And then, an analyst at the Centre for Research, Transparency and Accountability – another one of the raided organizations – said:
“There used to be red lines beyond which Voo-chitch would not go.”
“But when the U.S. government started demonizing U.S.A.I.D., Voo-chitch decided he can do whatever he wants.” []
Now, with all that, what’s almost laughable about all this? The biggest beneficiaries of American aid money in Serbia? The Serbian government.
In fact, the prosecutor investigating the raided NGOs for money laundering?
U.S.A.I.D. paid for a trip she took to Italy last year to study the Italian justice system. []
And beyond that, more than 90 percent of US aid money to Serbia has gone to government and state-affiliated institutions – including, for example, the national Parliament. []
The website of which previously displayed the U.S.A.I.D. logo and acknowledged that its development was made possible by the support of the American People through the agency. []
Of course, since not long after Trump came into office, that’s been gone. []
But in fact, despite that, you have many saying the Serbian government is only growing closer to the US.
Right, his son-in-law Jared Kushner is building a Trump-branded luxury hotel in the Serbian capital.
Richard Grenell, a U.S. special envoy under Trump, he’s been said to have “close — almost friendly — relations” with Voo-chitch. []
And Donald Trump Jr. actually met with Voo-chitch this week for the second time in the past year.
With Voo-chitch saying in an Instagram post that the talks showed a commitment to “strengthening bilateral relations and working together to solve global challenges.”
But really, with all that aside, all of this goes just to show how many ways a Trump presidency is having an impact not just in the US – but around the world.
Right, besides Serbia, the governments of Hungary and Slovakia, whose leaders (1, 2) are both enthusiastic supporters of Trump, have also taken advantage of the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. to go after opposition –
Even though the agency ended most of its funding in both countries after they joined the EU in 2004. []
But in any case, you still had Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban last week, for example, accusing foreign-funded groups of trying to “topple” his government and vowed to get rid of them.
Cheering what he said was Trump’s effort to “drive a stake through the heart” of “the monster” financed by U.S.A.I.D. to serve “the liberal-globalist empire.” []
But with all that, I gotta pass the question off to you.
What are your thoughts on the whole Serbia situation? Or just this bigger question about sort of the less obvious global effects of Trump’s policies?
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Y’all what the — why is NASA so awful at naming things?
Like for real, if you want people to pay attention to what you’re doing, you can’t call your new mission “Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer” [Pronounce 01:43]. [Put words on screen]
Or as I’m gonna be calling it, SPHEREx [Sphere-X], for short.
But don’t be fooled by the clunky nomenclature; this thing is fucking awesome, and I’m gonna tell you about it.
Right, NASA’s been working on this bad boy for about a decade, pouring nearly half a billion dollars into it, and it’s finally set to launch this weekend. [B roll, 00:02 - 00:08, 00:28 - 00:34]
So what is it? Well, NASA itself has dubbed it the “cone of fame” and the “gorgeous jewel,” but to be clear it’s a space telescope. [Same B roll]
Though not just any space telescope; it’s different than the ones we have in orbit right now. [Same B roll]
Right, because the two big ones, Hubble and Webb? They’re great at zooming in really close on particular corners of the universe and taking high-resolution photos.
But as NASA explains, some questions — like how much light do all the galaxies in the universe collectively emit? — can only be answered by looking at the big picture.
Which is what SPHEREX is designed to do. [Image]
With the agency planning to photograph out the entire celestial sky four times over two years in 102 infrared colors, more than any other mission before it. [B roll, 00:08 - 00:15]
And hopefully capturing more than 450 million galaxies in one humongous three-dimensional map. [B roll, 01:06 - 01:13]
So then, if it pinpoints something of scientific interest, it can direct the more targeted telescopes to that spot. [Same B roll then Image]
And together, they’ll seek to answer questions about the history of our universe, particularly what happened in the first billionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second after the Big Bang. [B roll, 00:00 - 00:14]
Which scientists believe is when the universe exploded outward by a trillion-trillionfold in a process known as cosmic inflation. [Same B roll]
So why or how it expanded outward, assuming that’s what happened, is a riddle that’s bedeviled these smartasses for some 40 or 50 years. [B roll]
And mapping out the distribution of galaxies throughout the observable universe could help them trace that history, and therefore, the physics responsible for it. [B roll, 00:35]
Also, if you’re into the nerdier segments on this show, you’ll be happy to learn this mission could help resolve the Hubble Tension. [B roll, 01:47 - 02:10]
Which, in a nutshell, is the debate about exactly how fast the universe is expanding, and getting more precise measurements of stars’ and galaxies’ distances from Earth could help nail that down. [Same B roll]
And lastly, SPHEREX will study the origin of water and other organic materials in the Milky Way Galaxy, which could help scientists figure out how life evolved on Earth. [B roll, 01:25]
Or as the acting director of the astrophysics division at NASA put it: [B roll, 01:06]
“It’s going to answer a fundamental question: How did we get here?” [Same B roll and Quote]
And if we can figure that out, then maybe we can find clues about where to look for life elsewhere in our galaxy. [B roll, 01:45]
With NASA saying SPHEREX will search for the basic building blocks of life, such as water and carbon dioxide, in the interstellar clouds of gas and dust where stars and planets form. [Image and Quote, find “frozen”]
So after several postponements, the telescope finally launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California last night. [B roll, 01:56 - 02:07]
[Clip, 00:01 - 00:07]
With another NASA mission also hitching a ride, this one known as PUNCH. [Continue B roll]
Which is short for another God awful name: “Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere.” [Same B roll and show words on screen]
And its sending up four satellites that are designed to get overlapping views of the Sun, creating a three-dimensional picture of its corona as it transforms into solar wind and blows throughout the solar system. [Image]
Which is kind of cool, but the big thing here is that sexy ass telescope.
Because with this growing fleet of insanely powerful space telescopes, including Hubble, Webb and now SPHEREX, showing us more of our universe than we’ve ever seen before, we’re bound to witness mind-blowing discoveries during our lifetimes.
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And after all that, let me pull you from the depths of despair with your good news story for the day.
Right, this is Katherine Kiefer - she’s 82 years old and her family house was burned to ash in the LA wildfires earlier this year.
The day the fire hit her neighborhood, she was at a doctor’s appointment, so her kids went to her house to gather what they could and rescue her Maine coon Aggie.
You see, Aggie was a gift to Katherine from a friend during the pandemic and they’d gotten incredibly close.
But Aggie was prone to hiding so when Katherine’s kids showed up at the house, they couldn’t find her. []
With Katherine’s daughter Caroline telling the AP,
“The one thing my mom asked was: ‘Did you get Aggie?” []
In the 2 months since the fire, they thought Aggie was gone.
But then, just this weekend, Katherine got a call from the West Los Angeles Animal Shelter.
Turns out that Aggie had been found by an animal control officer close to what was her home.
She was matted, burned, weak, and malnourished but she was alive.
So Katherine goes down there and is reunited with her cat - with Carolyn recording the whole thing and putting it on TikTok.
[Katherine: “Hello, Aggie!
Vet Tech: “She is such a sweetheart.
Katherine: “Hi, sweetest girl. Hi, Aggie. *unintelligible*”
Vet Tech: “She is a sweetheart. I’ve been sitting with her all day.”
Katherine: “Oh, you have?”
Vet Tech: “I have. She’s the sweetest. Do you want to hold her?”
Katherine: “Hi, sweet girl. I’m so happy to see you. Hi, baby.”] 0:03-0:33
It ended up getting millions of views and the family’s GoFundMe has raised over $26,000 for Aggie’s vet bills. [B Roll 0:00-0:17]
As for Katherine, she says that she feels incredibly lucky to have found Aggie again - telling Fox News,
"I didn’t think I’d ever see her again. There’s just such a connection, it’s sort of like you have with your children. She really means, I don’t want to say ‘everything,’ but that’s the only word that comes to mind." []
"I just didn’t think I’d ever really get past losing her. That cat really has nine lives… Just don’t give up hope. Don’t underestimate cats." []
And that is your good news story for the day.
I don’t know if we’ve given the title of BAMF to a cat before but Aggie absolutely deserves it for surviving a fire that took her home and then another two months in the rubble before finding her way back to Katherine.
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