The Gov Hub Newsletter: May 12, 2025

"Can we pretend that Qatar-gifted airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars?" - anonymous

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Gov Hub
May 12, 2025

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Welcome to The Gov Hub Newsletter by Girl and the Gov® – a Dem tent weekly that shares action items you can do from your phone, good political news, civic engagement tools and topics, and a little dose of political goss too, right to your inbox.  

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GOOD NEWS BEARS

Positive political wins [yes, those do exist]

MA AG CAMPBELL UNVEILS CONSUMER GUIDE ON HOME APPRAISAL DISCRIMINATION: Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell has made available a Know You Rights Guide for consumers focused on home appraisal discrimination. The guide is designed to help Massachusetts residents not only understand what home appraisal discrimination is, but how to identify it and report it. The overall goal is ensure a fair and equitable home buying and selling experience at every stage including during the appraisal process, and providing homeowners and homeowners-to-be with the tools that can help along the way. Should you need to file a home appraisal discrimination complaint, you can do that here.

MD GOV. WES MOORE SIGNS ‘CONFLICTS OF INTEREST’ BILL: Maryland Governor Wes Moore signed a bill akin to the bills that have been yapped about at the federal level that would ban congressional members from trading stocks while in office. The difference here is that the Maryland state legislature and the Governor actually got it done. The bill, now law, will require that a sitting governor will have to put all of their interests into a blind trust. Interests can be exempt if determined not to be a conflict of interest by the State Ethics Commission. The State Ethics Commission can also require a sitting Maryland governor to divest in areas it determines to be conflicts. And for the cherry on top, the law also creates a fine for a governor that fails to comply.

IL GOV. PRITZKER SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDER SAFEGUARDING RIGHTS OF AUTISTIC RESIDENTS: Following rumors that RFK Jr and his besties were considering building out a federal registry of autistic people, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker issued an executive order to protect the rights of autistic Illinoisans, making it the first state to put guardrails on the mass collection of personal autism-related data. Specifically, the EO, with exceptions for medical and legal necessity, orders state agencies to not collect, store, or share personally identifiable autism-related personal data without authorization. Contractors, vendors, and grant recipients that work hand-in-hand with state agencies, are also included in this EO. 

CATACLYSMIC CORRUPTION

Mostly stories that involve Elon and his besties

  • If you’re doing the math above, you may also want to factor another into-the-weekend firing – that of the 2016 appointed Librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden under the guise of “DEI.” The Librarian of Congress oversees the U.S. Copyright Office. And to sprinkle in a final point of interest here, the #2 at the DOJ, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has taken on the role of ‘acting Librarian of Congress,’ which means just like Marco Rubio, he now has multiple jobs.

CHRONICALLY ONLINE

Politics meets social media

  • Congress passed a bill to rename the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of America, to which Congressman Suhas Subramanyam  [D-VA] said if that’s Republican’s priority, then all hands on deck… putting sticky notes on anything/everything he could find that could have its name changed to America - including Rep. French Hill, whose name plate was transformed to ‘Rep. America Hill.’ It’s giving ‘freedom fries’ and if you don’t get that reference, congrats on still being a baby during the Bush years.

  • FBI Director Kash Patel told Senator Patty Murray [D-WA] that despite being required by LAW to submit the FBI’s budget request, he didn’t have it, hasn’t seen it, and doesn’t have a timeline for getting it to Congress to review. It’s  a response that’s made Dems further wonder what he’s been doing then, aside from utilizing the FBI’s private jet fleet to visit his girlfriend in Nashville.

  • Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury [D-NM] made a fool of MTG at a hearing, where MTG tried to use a doctored image to misrepresent a witness she’d subpoenaed. The correct image photobombed its way into frame.

  • Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett introduced a game of ‘Trump or Trans’ asking a witness brought before the Oversight’s DOGE subcommittee to respond with who was responsible for the actions she named, Trump or a trans person. 100/100 answers were Trump.

EXTREMISM

…that’s the tweet [or the x]

FULL SEND…TO A FRIEND

Stories that are guaranteed to make it to the group chat

  • A bipartisan group of attorneys general, led by North Carolina AG Jeff Jackson, has banded together to go after a Chinese-owned messaging and payment platform known as WeChat. Specifically, they’re target WeChat for its alleged involvement in both fentanyl trafficking and money laundering states side.

  • A panel of three federal judges [including two appointed by Trump] found that the Alabama’s 2023 Congressional map violated both the Voting Rights Act AND the 14th Amendment. The judges also unanimously agreed that the state’s intent was to dilute the voting power of Black Alabama residents. What comes next and as a result, is TBD.

  • AI comes with a number of costs, including the cost of draining one of our most precious resources: water. The facilities required to cool the servers that AI uses, requires a mind-numbing amount of water to function. And worst-yet, the places where these servers are located and the water is being taken, are in areas already facing water stress.

  • Also on the matter of AI, is a GOP-led effort in Congress to ban states from being able to regulate AI for the next ten years. Translation: if passed as part of the Trump tax bill or otherwise, this would hinder a state’s ability to react to an issue impacting its residents as related to AI, as well as its ability to be proactive in dealing with the problems that AI has and can pose.

HEALTH & WELLNESS

In the club, we’re all sick

  • What’s in the latest rendition of the Trump tax bill? Major cuts to Medicaid, which if they happen, will result in millions of people losing their life-saving healthcare.

  • MAHA-ish girlypop with an inactive medical license, Casey Means has been nominated to be Surgeon General. Interestingly, she’s caused a stir amongst MAHAs and MAGAs, being dubbed by some like Laura Loomer as a “total crack pot” and “Marxist tree hugger,” while others don’t find her to be “enough of a vaccine truther,” and then lastly RFK Jr’s former running mate has made accusations that RFK Jr is being controlled [btw based on an antisemitic conspiracy theory that Jews control the world].

  • An OB-GYN and adjunct professor at GWU conducted a survey of women and their experiences with doctors as it relates to seeking help for pelvic disorders and pain. In no shock to any woman in this scenario, the study found that women felt they were often gas lit by doctors, with 40% of participants told “they just need to relax more.”

  • The U.S. has halted live cattle imports from Mexico after an emerging threat involving the flesh-eating New World Screwworm was detected at remote farms in Mexico. The NWS’s had previously been eradicated in the U.S. after causing an insane amount of damage to the cattle industry in the 60’s.

  • On the Trump Admin chopping block is federal funding for traumatic brain injury research and education. The cuts would stop research progress in its tracks and hit pause on concussion prevention programs. 

  • The Trump Admin has taken a hacksaw to NIOSH [National Institute for Occupation Safety and Health] which studies work hazards, provides methods for hazard prevention, and more. The result of its slashing is not just people out of work, but for the coal miners its regulations and recs have protects, it means that coalminers will lose their free black lung screenings that keep them alive. Coalminers are now taking the Trump Admin to court over the cuts.

BACK ON OUR BILLSH*T

Bills, bills, bills

FEDERAL, CRYPTO: The currency that’s been translating into corruption, is the main feature of a new Senate bill introduced by Senator Merkley [D-OR]. The bill – the End Crypto Corruption Act – would ban presidents, VPs, Sr Exec Branch officials, as well as members of Congress and their fams, from making money off of “issuing, endorsing, or sponsoring” crypto assets [ex: Trump’s meme coin]. 

FEDERAL, PHARMA: This bipartisan bill – the No Handouts for Drug Advertisements Act – introduced by Congresswoman Hillary Scholten [D-MI] would prohibit for-profit drug companies from receiving tax breaks for advertising their products. Per the Congresswoman’s office, by removing the current tax dedication these companies are able to claim, as estimated $1.5-$1.7 billion of federal spending would get nixed, reigning in what some might call government waste. 

CRASHING OUT 101…

…like the economy

  • After putting the economy, small businesses, farmers, and everyone else into a tailspin, the Trump Admin decided to address the problem they created - a trade war with China. After coming to the table with China in Switzerland this wknd, the U.S. and China announced a 90-day pause on the most recent tariffs levied against one another, although these things didn’t make the cut. Will it last? TBD, like anything in Trump’s orbit, what is predictable is unpredictable and vice versa. 

  • In what feels like groundhog day from the first Trump Admin, the proposed Trump tax bill is reported to make low-income Americans poorer, losing income and benefits that keep them afloat. In contrast, wealthy Americans would benefit.

Had Enough Of One-Sided News?

Us too … and that’s why we like Tangle.

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Recent examples include: A breakdown of Joe Biden pardoning his son, an explanation of what just happened in Syria, and the arguments for and against Trump's push to end birthright citizenship.

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THE ACTION ITEMS

Get ‘em done from your phone

ACTION 1 - LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS

The Ask: Tell Congress to reinstate the Librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden who was fired by the Trump Admin.

The Background: The DOJ #2 that’s replaced Carla already has a job - does he really need two? Don’t think so. Tell Congress to bring back the qualified and long-serving Librarian of Congress to finish out her term.

ACTION 2 - VOTING

The Ask: Register to vote, remind a friend, and make sure if you are registered, it’s up to date.

The Background: 2025 has elections and so does 2026. Don’t be caught off guard or behind – your vote matters.

KEY READS

Important stories from around the USA

  • The Hill: Trump administration ends protection from deportation for Afghans

  • USA Today: Trump uses Supreme Court birthright citizenship case in bit to limit judges’ power

  • AP: Trump administration welcomes 59 white South Africans as refugees

  • Washington Examiner: Pete Buttigieg strays from classic Democratic messaging and lays 2028 groundwork

BEFORE YOU GO…

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