Busy Day in America

So a lot of things happened today, friends.

O.J. Simpson got parole. Really, the fascination with Simpson’s trial kinda ended before my generation, or me at least, but I still recognize that this is big news. The subject has been more or less quiet for several years now, but now the spotlight is back on him. Fraught with so much antipathy, how can he really go back to a normal life? And even if he can, should he? I won’t lie and tell you that I really have an opinion or concern on the matter, but this he will surely be in the news cycle for some time. For more specific details on his release, check out this article by Jennifer Medina with the New York Times. 

And the country’s comic relief has resigned from the White House. Yeah, that’s right. The man who publicly claimed Hitler did not use chemical weapons along with several other factual errors is leaving the White House. Sean Spicer will be continuing his service through August, however, and plans to sit down for an interview with Fox News later tonight. Pretty much every media outlet is in agreement as we take a sigh of relief. Spicer has been, in a word, terrible. To take on the job of defending people and ideas that are barely defensible in the first place is a reasonably difficult task, I’ll give him that. But to do so in a remarkably turbulent way has absolutely ruined his image. For the most part, he won’t be missed. For more on his resignation, check out this article by Sabrina Siddiqui and Ben Jacobs reporting out of Washington D.C. for the Guardian.

Last and certainly not least, Trump’s legal team is exploring the president’s ability to pardon himself. Yep. This Russian investigation stuff is far from over. While “The Constitution grants the president an absolute, unilateral pardon power for federal offenses,” no one, especially not a government official, should have the right to hand judgment down on themselves. Just no. Whether or not it’s actually legal is still to be determined, but seriously, that’s an extreme misuse of power. For more on that, check out this article by Ari Melber and Brandon Katz with NBC News or this analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large.