What You Missed This Week

Happy Sunday! Let’s catch up on what you might have missed this week:

The Cost of a Pardon

Todd and Julie Chrisley became household names thanks to their USA Network reality show, Chrisley Knows Best. But in 2022, the couple was convicted of fraud and tax evasion and ordered to pay more than $17 million. Todd was sentenced to 12 years in prison, and Julie seven. But less than three years later, with a pardon from Donald Trump, the couple’s prison time and the millions they owed were all wiped away. It’s a dramatic example of how presidential pardons can upend the normal process of accountability — not just by freeing people from prison, but also by erasing their financial penalties entirely and leaving victims uncompensated.

Trump's Los Angeles Gambit

When President Donald Trump ordered 2,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to Los Angeles this week, he wasn't just responding to violent protests over immigration raids. He was threatening the use of military force against American citizens in alarming and rarely tested ways. And it could just be the beginning.

The Man Picking Up Elon Musk's Chain Saw

Russell Vought, one of the principal architects of Project 2025, is the current Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). In that role, he drafts executive orders, supervises government employees, oversees the development and implementation of the federal budget, and has a hand in almost every policy that comes out of the executive branch. And he’s also the person who will be carrying on the work Elon Musk started now that the billionaire has stepped away from his position at DOGE. So which parts of Project 2025 is he likely to focus on? And how much has already been accomplished? The results are shocking.

The Biggest Cases We’re Still Waiting on at the Supreme Court

June is arguably the busiest month for the Supreme Court. We’ve seen a slew of decisions come out of the Court over the last couple of weeks, and we’ll be getting several more before the month ends. I talked to Amy Howe, the founder of SCOTUSBlog, one of the best sources of information there is on the Supreme Court, about some of the high-profile cases. Amy has argued cases in front of the Court and taught at Stanford and Harvard law schools. She’s plugged in to everything that’s happening, and our conversation covered a lot of ground.

One Story for the Public, Another for the Courts

When selling its immigration crackdown to the public, the Trump administration often makes fiery claims. It says that those being deported are "gang members," “terrorists,” and "cold-blooded criminals." It blames “activist judges” for standing in the way. It admits no error. But in court, government lawyers have contradicted the administration’s media messaging. The contrast doesn’t just risk confusing the public. It raises concerns about government honesty and accountability.

What I am reading…

Portland Said It Was Investing in Homeless People’s Safety. Deaths Have Quadrupled.

By K. Rambo for Street Roots and ProPublica

The city responded to an increase in homeless deaths by intensifying encampment sweeps and adding emergency shelter at the expense of permanent housing. Experts say this has perpetuated the problem.

Teachers Are Not OK

By Jason Koebler for 404 Media

Last month, 404 Media asked teachers to share how AI and ChatGPT has changed how they teach. From responses, one thing became clear: teachers are not OK. They described trying to grade “hybrid essays half written by students and half written by robots,” trying to teach Spanish to kids who don’t know the meaning of the words they’re trying to teach them in English, and students who use AI in the middle of conversation.

This Exiled Romanov Princess Fled the Bloodshed of the Russian Revolution and Reinvented Herself as a Fashion Icon

By Meilan Solly for Smithsonian Magazine

Natalia Pavlovna Paley was the granddaughter of a czar when she was forced to flee. She built a new life for herself in France and the U.S., appearing in films and on the pages of glossy magazines.

What I am listening to…

Why tacos are as 'American' as apple pie

Code Switch

About 1 in 10 restaurants in the United States serve Mexican cuisine. That hunger for chalupas, tacos and more in the U.S. has been longstanding — from the conquistadors' love affair with chocolate, to the classic San Francisco burrito. Code Switch explores the history of Mexican food in the United States, and asks what it takes for a cuisine to become quintessentially "American."

Growing Up In Public with Devorah Heitner

Here’s Where It Gets Interesting

These days, it feels like every fleeting thought, mistake, or awkward phase can be captured and shared online. So how are kids supposed to grow up in a world like that? I sat down with Dr. Devorah Heitner, author of Growing Up in Public, to talk about how parents, teachers, and mentors can support kids as they navigate the digital world, with plenty of empathy along the way.

Escaping the modern world and your noisy mind

TED Radio Hour

How do you find the courage to leave the world you know and make your way to a completely different reality? In this episode, TED speakers share ideas about escape and renewal.

What I am watching…

Conversation with Secretary Buttigieg

Letters from an American

Heather Cox Richardson and former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg talk about what it takes to bring in a new kind of future.

How America is failing its rural hospitals

Vox Media

Nationwide, an estimated 20% of the US population lives in rural areas. Other estimates found that 80% of counties across the US lack adequate access to health care. Unlike their urban counterparts, small-town hospitals are often the entire health care system for the community, meaning they provide a wide range of services from lab tests and screening to basic primary care. When one shuts down, it means the surrounding community could lose access to all health care. So why are so many rural hospitals shutting down? It’s a multifaceted issue that comes back again and again to income. At its core, a hospital is a business and, often, not a very lucrative one.

Conversations I had…

Taking a Jim Crow-Era Literacy Test

Mr. Beat, an educator, video producer, podcast host, and musician who specializes in making history and geography more engaging, and I struggled through a Jim Crow-Era literacy test that determined whether or not African Americans had the right to vote.

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As always, thanks for spending part of your Sunday with me, and thanks for being a Governerd.

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