S*#t You Need To Know: More Trump Administration Fallout

It's a wake-up call in more ways than one.

Time for some s*** you need to know.

Yes, sir.

There is always stuff you need to know.

I wish I could say the word because some days you really want to say the word.

Democrats asked the Supreme Court to halt a Virginia ruling blocking the new congressional districts.

Yes, Democrats yesterday filed an emergency appeal with the U.S.

Supreme Court seeking a halt.

seeking to halt a Virginia ruling invalidating a ballot measure that would have given their party an additional four winnable U.S.

House seats.

The move came after the Virginia Supreme Court on Friday struck down a constitutional amendment that voters narrowly passed just last month.

That's an important part to repeat that voters, voters supported this and they passed it.

Now, narrowly is, narrowly is key too, but the voters, they voted on it.

The 4-3 state court decision found that the Democratic control legislature improperly began the process of placing the amendment on the ballot after early voting had begun in the Virginia's, in Virginia's general election election last fall.

Democrats argued unsuccessfully.

that the U.S.

Supreme Court has held that even if early voting is underway, an election does not happen until Election Day itself.

Now, the appeal is the latest twist in the nation's... Zomber, stop moving all over the thing.

Sorry, the appeal is the latest twist in the nation's mid-decade redistricting competition.

It was kicked off last year by a recent Supreme Court ruling that severely weakened the Voting Rights Act.

Yes, we're still

We will be suffering the consequences of that for a while.

Lawyers for Virginia Democrats said the state's Democratic Attorney General, Jay Jones, wrote, the court overrode the will of the people who ratified the amendment by ordering the Commonwealth to conduct its election with the congressional districts that the people rejected.

The irreparable harm resulting from the Supreme Court of Virginia's decision is profound and immediate.

And those are in case you're not familiar with the.

shadow docket will hopefully be talking about that soon.

But part of what gets the Supreme Court to take a case on this shadow docket, which bypasses the rest of the court system for a temporary decision is that something causes profound immediate and unrelated damage or damage that is long lasting.

So

That seems to fit.

That's what they're going for.

The filing is a sign of democratic desperation after the Virginia decision to bribe them of four winnable house seats in the mid-decade redistricting.

The filing is a sign that they need to get on there and we know that the house is holding things up because of Donald Trump saying that we need to kick off

this and we need to read district.

All right, some more stuff you need to know.

Supreme Court temporarily extends a woman's access to a widely used abortion pill.

We talked about this last week when it was first shut down in Georgia.

The Supreme Court is leaving women's access to a widely used abortion pill untouched until at least Thursday, while justices consider whether to allow restrictions on the drug, Mephaprestone, to take effect.

Samuel Leto's Order Monday allows women seeking abortions to continue obtaining the pill at pharmacies or through the mail without an in-person visit to a doctor.

It prevents restrictions on Mephaprestone imposed by a federal appeals court from taking effect.

for the time being now this is the second if you remember when the ruling came down from the appeals court it stopped it the supreme court issued the first extension or the first pause on that ruling now this is the second one the court is dealing with its latest abortion controversy four years after the conservative majority overturned roe versus wade and allowed more than a dozen states to effectively ban abortion outright case before the court

uh stems from a lawsuit in Louisiana.

I said Georgia I misspoke.

Louisiana filed to roll back the FDA rules on how meffeprestone can be prescribed.

The state claims the policy undermines the ban there and it questions the safety of the drug which was first approved in 2000 and has repeatedly been deemed safe by the effective safe and effective by FDA sciences and if you don't remember this allows women to be prescribed this drug through

telehealth appointments.

So you don't have to travel somewhere, you don't have to see a doctor, but you do still have to consult with a physician before you get the prescription.

Lower courts concluded that Louisiana is likely to prevail and a three-judge panel of the Fifth U.S.

Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that mail access and telehealth visits should be suspended while the case plays out.

So...

We will see what happens but this is a good news.

Good news for people who are trying to avail themselves of this particular drug and it's again a little step back in the right direction for women and your autonomy over your health decisions and your own body.

Now we will see if the

decision holds or if the Supreme Court does end up jumping in and making a final verdict this is just kicking the can down the road for another two days.

So come Friday we'll see what's happening.

All right, there's some more stuff you need to know this a little closer to home.

A Dane County judge ruled last week that lawmakers could not block administrative rules that had been through the rulemaking process and received approval from Governor Tony Evers.

Evers and the Republican led legislature have been fighting over administrative rulemaking abilities for years.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court decided in its July 2025 evers versus Markline II ruling that statutes allowing a legislative committee to pause or suspend administrative rules indefinitely were unconstitutional.

So following this decision, Evers started taking steps to implement 12 administrative rules he had previously approved without getting signed off from legislative committees.

Republican lawmakers responded by instructing the Legislative Reference Bureau, the LRB, not to publish any rule that hadn't gone through a review by the legislature.

Evers sued last September to block the lawmakers action.

Judge Nia Trammell granted Evert's request for a declaration that the LRB publish all administrative rules that have gone through the rulemaking procedures and have been approved by the governor.

Now in the ruling Trammell said that a rule can go into effect because there isn't a statute prohibiting promulgation of a rule even if a standing committee has not completed a review and if one did exist it would be facially unconstitutional.

There's a lot of legal words there, but basically the governor wins Evers said in a statement that the decision is a win for Wisconsin and our efforts to continue restoring the balance of power in Wisconsin The governor has had some big wins.

We're gonna talk about the biggest one on the other side of this after swipe or stay We'll get into that big package, but right now again, it's funny that we still We cannot get the assembly and the governor on the same page

for certain things and then they come together for big things.

So we'll talk about that big thing in just a few minutes.

One more thing you need to know.

So this is going to sound good on the surface.

We'll see how it plays out.

The president is saying he said this yesterday he is going to move to suspend the federal tax on gasoline to help Americans shoulder surging fuel prices caused by the war.

which is odd because if you remember just the day before, which would have been Sunday over the weekend, he said that gas prices were going down.

He actually on camera said that gas prices are going down.

We're all making too much of this.

So I don't know why we would need help then if gas prices are going down.

But it's a nice way to try to curry favor with voters when your approval ratings are in the garbage.

The president, however,

cannot suspend the federal tax on his own.

Congress would have to approve the move.

We know that the president doesn't like trifling with Congress, but in this case, I have a feeling that this would be a bipartisan thing because lawmakers from both parties have pushed for gas tax suspension saying it would provide much needed relief for families and businesses that rely on their cars and trucks to get to work in school and run everyday errands.

The gas tax Currently is about 18 and a half cents per gallon 24 24 and a half cents on diesel fuel.

So all right yesterday I paid 489 you do the math it would take me down to like still about 460 maybe 470 49-20 is yeah, that's 469 so about 470 that's still a lot now

Symbolically does it help us?

I guess if you're buying if you're filling up your tank 20 cents a gallon less You're saving a couple of bucks But you're still paying way more than you did just two months ago so So gas as of Monday the national average was 450 to a gallon according to AAA 50% higher than the average price

Just before the war started the average price was just under three dollars.

So 18 and a half cents doesn't get us back there It's a nice talking point and I know in Illinois.

They've tried that a couple times where they got rid of the Illinois tax and Yes, you want to be able to say oh every penny helps but in the long run when everything else is so much expense so expensive

Does everything help?

As per reporters at the White House, how long the tax should be suspended, the president said, until it's appropriate.

It is only a small percentage of the gas price.

It's still money, Trump said.

They're coming from a guy who doesn't have to pay for anything and is making billions while being president.

So as gas prices spiked, the administration has released millions of barrels of oil from the U.S.

Strategic Petroleum Reserve and temporary lifted sanctions on some Russian and Iranian oil shipments.

But you know that doesn't help because we, yes, we produce a lot of oil.

We export a lot of oil, but we import more than we import more because that's what we use to make the gasoline.

So Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri said on social media yesterday that he will introduce legislation to suspend the gas tax.

Democrats have previously sponsored similar legislation.

Representative Ana Paulina Luna from Florida also said in a post on X that she will introduce a bill to suspend the federal gas tax in light of Trump's recent remarks.

How many bills do we just how about everybody just do one?

Let's just get let's just get behind one and get going now.

All right.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Monday he has not been a fan of gas tax suspension, but added, you know, I've got some colleagues out there who think it's a good idea, so we'll hear them out.

And he's from South Dakota.

He said he'd prefer to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to normalize gas prices without legislation.

Who wouldn't?

I think we would all, all like to do that.

All right.

Well, that is stuff you need to know.

It's a wake-up call in more ways than one.

Time for some shit you need to know.

So much that we need to know, so little time to share it, and yet here I am giving a big build-up instead of getting right to it.

Well, President Trump has made another nomination this time to lead FEMA.

Uh, boy, boy.

Didn't we have somebody leading FEMA?

Yeah, she didn't do too good.

So he nominated Cameron Hamilton Monday to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency a notable comeback for the former Navy SEAL who was fired from his role as FEMA's Temporary Leader last year after he defended its existence.

That makes sense.

That part makes sense.

The part that he's being nominated again makes no sense.

The part where if you

go against the administration and you defend something against their wishes they fire you but to bring them back well his nomination comes as the trump administration has increasingly signaled it is backing away from promises to dismantle fema

an agency that is faced withering criticism by the president.

The nomination of Hamilton, who argued abolishing FEMA was not in the country's best interests, is the latest indication of the change.

Yeah, that was another one of those doge things where we're going to get rid of FEMA and let the states handle it.

Well, as you know, if you are in the middle of a natural disaster, whether it's flooding like we've had here in Wisconsin last year and this year, or whether it's a hurricane or tornadoes or wildfires,

The states are not equipped financially to fully battle that on their own.

We need federal help and that's what FEMA is known for.

Now, have they always run smoothly?

Absolutely not.

I'm looking at you, Hurricane Katrina and others, but it is a necessary, necessary agency.

So if confirmed, Hamilton will be the principal advisor to the president and Homeland Security Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen on emergency management and FEMA's first permanent administrator in Trump's second term.

The agency has gone through three temporary leaders, including Hamilton's brief tenure from January to May of last year.

He would take over an agency that is still reeling from Kristi Noem's turbulent leadership of the Department of Homeland Security, of which FEMA is a part.

FEMA's workforce has been worn down by mass staff departures, policies that hamstrung operations, and a 75 day long DHS shutdown that ended at the end of April.

Hamilton will need to ensure the agency is prepared for summer disaster season just weeks away from hurricane season starting while answering to Trump, who is likely to expect major reforms after a council he appointed recommended sweeping changes last Friday.

And if we know the president, we know he will be nothing.

if not patient waiting for those changes to be implemented.

Now Hamilton had never been a state or local emergency management director before.

He had publicly criticized FEMA in the past, was a controversial choice the first time he was named in January of 2025.

His friction with DHS officials began as he defended a federal role in supporting disaster impacted states

tribes and territories, DHS officials even subjected him to a polygraph test, accusing him and other officials of leaking details of a private meeting.

He passed those polygraphs, but said he knew his dismissal was inevitable.

And at a May 7th appearance before the House Appropriations Committee, Representative Rosa de Loro and a Connecticut Democrat asked Hamilton if he believed FEMA should be abolished.

This is the statement that got him in trouble.

He said, I do not believe it is in the best interest of the American people to eliminate the federal emergency management agency.

The next day he was fired.

But now he's back.

Maybe he's being nominated again.

It just it's one more thing where this administration cannot make up their mind acts in a rash manner.

then either has to backpedal or trying another way to cover up a decision that they made by telling us they didn't make it and it was something else.

And I'm sure we'll hear something about Hamilton having learned his lesson.

I'm sure that will come from the president in some way.

It's just a prediction.

Take it for what it's worth.

If you're on a poly market, maybe put a couple bucks on it.

But I would say he learned his lesson is going to be part of this new nomination process.

Coming a little closer to home on, you need to know, Racine County and two juvenile detention center staff members in Caledonia have been sued for allegedly using excessive force on a teen.

In a statement, the county says it has made changes since the last, since this alleged incident.

The teen's mother, Keanna Reed, brought the lawsuit against the county and Robert and Jordan Knight described in the suit as former and current security coordinators.

The facility.

The Jonathan Delgrave Youth Development and Care Center opened less than a month before the incident is alleged to have happened.

The lawsuit alleges that on May 27th last year, 18, who suffers from emotional and psych... Yeah, last year.

Emotional and psychological disabilities became emotionally dysregulated and the Knights egged him on and physically attacked him with excessive force that violated his Eighth Amendment rights.

Now in December,

The state public defender's office released video footage of part of the incident, which appeared to show four staff members directing the then 15-year-old to move from a spot by the wall in the hallway, possibly to a nearby room, and the teen not moving, as according to the Wisconsin Examiner.

After a staff member took a swing at the teen, the situation devolved into a struggle.

The teen was struck repeatedly by staff before and after he was on the ground.

The lawsuit then says that his placement in the facility stemmed from being found guilty of a misdemeanor count of retail theft and a misdemeanor count of obstructing an officer.

The lawsuit also alleges that the teen did not punch, kick, or otherwise try to injure the knights during the incident.

Robert and Jordan Knight hit him over 20 times with closed fists, knee strikes, and elbow strikes.

On Friday, the Wisconsin Examiner asked the District Attorney's office for a statement on why the office declined to pursue prosecution.

District Attorney Trisha Hansen said in an email that the lawsuit does not change her decision.

She said the burden of proof in a criminal case is significantly, significantly higher than in a civil case in December.

The public defender's office called for a full-scale investigation into conditions at the facility and the qualifications of staff members.

In its statement last Friday, the county said it will respond to the allegations through the legal process and will not further discuss the pending lawsuit.

All right, well we'll discuss it and then we'll follow it and see what happens.

Continuing on, good news today possibly for some businesses because the first wave of tariff refunds

are going to reach some American businesses today according to U.S.

Customs and Border Protection.

The government launched an online portal last month where companies could file to get money back for tariffs that they paid that were ruled illegal by the Supreme Court, which said the administration exceeded its authority.

Now, more than 330,000 importers paid the tariffs collected under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

That totaled $166 billion.

As of April 26, at least 75,000 businesses have applied for refunds, that according to a court filing.

Trump has rallied, railed, railed against the Supreme Court 6-3 ruling, including two of the justices he appointed being targets of his venom, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett.

In April, he said he would remember companies that didn't seek a refund.

I don't know what that means.

I think I know what that means.

You probably think you know what that means.

And if we all think we know what that means, there's a really good chance with this administration that that's what that means.

That he would remember, I remember you did me a good turn.

So, whatever.

As CPB spokesperson told ABC News, about 15% of the claims that have been submitted were rejected, typically just due to incorrect information or ineligible shipments being included on a claim.

In recent weeks, major companies like General Motors have said they expect hundreds of millions of dollars in refunds

An analysis by Citi last month found that Walmart is due $10 billion.

Target is owed $2 billion.

Nike's do about $1 billion.

And Macy's is owned $320 million.

And you're thinking, oh, that's great, Brian.

The businesses are going to get money back.

And so we'll get a kickback because we overpaid because they were charging more because of the tariffs.

Right, right, wrong.

Sorry.

No money for you.

No soup for you.

No tariff money for you.

Consumers should not expect to see direct refunds.

Many companies have said they'll use the refunds from the government to pay down debt, rehire employees, restock inventory, or perhaps lower prices.

Yeah, notice how that comes last.

We're going to get the money back.

And yeah, we raise prices for the tariffs.

And sure, we're getting our money back.

But we might.

Lower prices, maybe not.

We'll see.

It's less likely they will contact shoppers who paid higher prices over the past year and give money back for those purchases.

Yeah, you think?

All right, so good news for businesses same old news for you and me Now our final thing today is and I I understand if you're tired of hearing stories about this administration.

I I get it

but they monopolize the news.

This is a big one just because it affects

A beautiful piece of American history that we've all seen in iconic photos.

It's been the site of marches.

It's been the site of protests.

It's been the site of concerts.

Just a beautiful thing.

And I'm talking about the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

A nonprofit organization is attempting to stop the Trump administration's repainting of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, alleging the plan, quote, willfully disregards legal limits established by Congress.

I don't know if you've started to

see this, they're using American flag blue to make it look like the inside of a pool.

Now, if you don't know, the reflecting pool is made of granite and the dark granite reflects the images around it.

Hence the reflecting pool name.

The blue does not.

So it's just going to look like a lap pool instead of reflecting not only the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, the trees that line it, just being a beautiful piece of America's backyard.

But no.

So the Cultural Landscape Foundation filed a lawsuit yesterday in D.C.

federal court asking a judge to halt the renovations until the Trump administration gets approval from Congress.

The lawsuit alleges about the project, which is part of the president's beautification efforts.

that include renovations to the White House East Wing, a planned triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery.

They said every day that the resurfacing continues, the historic character of the reflecting pool is being further and fundamentally authored.

Beautification efforts that include renovations

are not beautification efforts at all because the reflecting pool and surrounding landscape are on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the National Mall Historic District.

The lawsuit alleged that the Trump administration should have gotten approval for the changes under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act.

We know that.

does not happen.

He does whatever he wants.

The latest desecration of the reflecting pool is part of a pattern epitomized most notably by the rush to destroy the east wing of the White House in which the administration willfully disregards legal limits established by Congress, the lawsuit alleges.

So Spokesperson for the Department of the Interior defended this to ABC News saying

Repainting the pool American flag blue and installing a new filtration system are wonderful additions.

Thanks, but no thanks.