Saturday Morning Covfefe: 5 Things with Olivia

Truth with a shot of espresso.

The espresso’s strong. The gaslighting’s stronger.

Ghislaine Maxwell has just spent two days with the Trump DOJ, answering questions under conditional immunity. Now she wants a pardon. Trump says he “hasn’t thought about it,” then wished her well on his way to Scotland. Meanwhile, a plane circled the courthouse with a banner: “Trump and Bondi are protecting predators.”

So while the headlines spin and the truth gets airbrushed, here are five things you might’ve missed, one soul-check, and a summer jam with a splash of reality stronger than anything in your cup.

1. IRS to Non-English Speakers: Good Luck Filing

The IRS has announced that it will discontinue offering taxpayer services in languages other than English, including translated forms, multilingual helplines, and in-person assistance. Why? Trump’s executive order declaring English the nation’s “official language.”

This same agency once led the way in multilingual access. Under Trump's first IRS Commissioner, Charles Rettig, himself the son of a German immigrant, they launched Spanish-language tax forms. They translated key notices into Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and other languages. In 2021, the IRS logged 90 million visits to non-English pages.

Now? All gone. Not because it didn’t work. Because it doesn’t fit the culture war script. If you don’t speak English, you don’t count, even when you’re trying to follow the law and pay your taxes.

📎 WaPo Exclusive

2. The World Moves Forward. Trump Hits Reverse.

This week, the International Court of Justice issued a landmark legal opinion, stating that countries have a legal obligation to address climate change. Led by small island nations, the court called greenhouse gases an existential threat and affirmed climate action as a human rights obligation.

So what did Trump’s administration do? Skipped the proceedings and moved to gut the Environmental Protection Agency’s “endangerment finding,” the legal backbone of U.S. climate policy. Without it, the federal government loses its ability to regulate emissions. The repeal is already at the White House. One signature, and decades of climate protections could vanish.

📎 UN Court ruling via UN News📎 Reuters – EPA rollback

3. Birthright Citizenship on a Collision Course with SCOTUS

Trump's Day One order to end birthright citizenship, long threatened, is now real and is one step closer to a Supreme Court showdown. This week, a federal judge in Massachusetts refused to narrow the nationwide block on Trump’s birthright citizenship order, marking the third ruling to do so since the Supreme Court’s June decision discouraging broad injunctions. The judge warned that anything less would wreak havoc on federal programs that rely on a consistent definition of citizenship, such as Medicaid and Social Security. Despite SCOTUS’s guidance to limit nationwide injunctions, courts are repeatedly concluding that the scale of harm demands a full stop.

This was never just rhetoric. Ending birthright citizenship was always the plan.

📎 AP: Birthright Citizenship Latest Ruling

4. Travel Ban Benches Little Leaguers. World Cup Next?

A Venezuelan team that earned its shot at the Senior League World Series never made it. Sixteen-year-olds from Cacique Mara Little League were denied U.S. visas under Trump’s newly expanded travel ban, despite waiting two weeks in Bogotá. Exemptions exist, but Secretary of State Marco Rubio never signed off on them.

I worked on Venezuela policy during Trump’s first term. We failed those people then, despite Rubio posing as their champion. First, you deport Venezuelan families. Now you block the kids from playing the biggest game of their lives?

If Little Leaguers can’t clear immigration, what happens when the World Cup lands here in 2026, or the L.A. Olympics in 2028? What began with borders and bans is now benching children with ball gloves. FYI, the Cuban Women's Volleyball team was also denied visas to compete this month in Puerto Rico.

📎 Politico: Little League Travel Banned 

5. One Mother vs. the Internet’s Cruelest Corner

When a hacker leaked a topless photo of her daughter on his site, Charlotte Laws didn’t just get it taken down; she helped bring down the entire revenge porn industry. Hunter Moore, the site’s founder, reveled in humiliation and refused takedown requests. Laws, a former private investigator, launched a relentless campaign: contacting victims, chasing his advertisers, pressuring law enforcement, and building the FBI’s case to arrest him. Thanks to her relentless fight, and the growing movement she helped lead, revenge porn is now illegal in all 50 states. This year, Congress passed a federal law, too. She calls it justice, not revenge. But sometimes, the best revenge is changing the world.

📎 Full Story via Slate (My apologies, Slate doesn’t allow full articles to be gifted.)

🕯️ One Thing for Your Soul: "Those Kids Are My Kids Too."

When a fighter jet crashed into a school in Dhaka, Bangladesh, teacher Mahreen Chowdhury ran into the fire.

She had just finished her day when the crash hit. Realizing her students were still inside, she re-entered the burning building and pulled out over 20 children. She suffered burns to nearly 100% of her body. Her final words to her husband: “Those kids are my kids too.”

Mahreen died that night. At least 25 children were killed. Her courage is being mourned and remembered as a lesson in love, sacrifice, and heroism. For kids who weren’t her own, but whom she loved as if they were. May her memory be a blessing to the world as an example.

📎 Full Story via BBC

☀️🎶 Your Anthem as We Head Into August

Summer’s flying by, but here’s your mid-season reset:

Sheryl Crow’s latest hit, “The New Normal,” lands like a heatwave: bold, unfiltered, and exactly what this moment demands.

“Is it science fiction or prediction wrapped in George Orwell?
If the news is fake, and fear is hate, and nothing's immoral…
To the leader of the free world…then welcome to the new normal.”

It’s a protest anthem, a warning flare, and a mirror. She’s singing what many of us are thinking.

If this is the new normal, it’s time to turn up the resistance, and let the soundtrack be anything but silent. Crank it up. Windows down. Volume up. Let Sheryl wail, and let them know you’ve arrived.

Stay loud. See you soon…I’ve got a jam session with Sheryl!🎧

-Olivia