UNBIASED - November 17, 2025: Trump Calls on Republicans to Vote to Release Epstein Files, Amelia Earhart Documents Declassified, Certain Tariffs Rolled Back, Man Executed Via Firing Squad, and More.

Episode Date: November 17, 2025

SUBSCRIBE TO JORDAN'S FREE NEWSLETTER. Get the facts, without the spin. UNBIASED offers a clear, impartial recap of US news, including politics, elections, legal news, and more. Hosted by lawyer Jordan Berman, each episode provides a recap of current political events plus breakdowns of complex concepts—like constitutional rights, recent Supreme Court rulings, and new legislation—in an easy-to-understand way. No personal opinions, just the facts you need to stay informed on the daily news that matters. If you miss how journalism used to be, you're in the right place. In today's episode: Trump Rolls Back Tariffs on Certain Products (2:16) Amelia Earhart Records Declassified (7:56) Epstein Saga Updates: Trump Revokes Support of Marjorie Taylor Greene After Her Support of Epstein File Release; Trump Then Calls on Republicans to Support Epstein File Release. PLUS Can Trump Direct the DOJ to Release Epstein Files Himself? Find Out Here. (13:45) South Carolina Carries Out Third-Ever Execution By Firing Squad (29:05) Quick Hitters: FEMA Chief Resigns, Record Mega Millions Winner, FAA Lifts Flight Restrictions, Trump and Mamdani to Meet, Supreme Court to Decide Asylum Seeker Case (35:04) Critical Thinking Segment (38:36) SUBSCRIBE TO JORDAN'S FREE NEWSLETTER. Watch this episode on YouTube. Follow Jordan on Instagram and TikTok. All sources for this episode can be found here.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome back to Unbiased, your favorite source of unbiased news and legal analysis. Welcome back to Unbiased Politics. Today is Monday, November 17th. Let's talk about some news. Just as a heads up, today's episode is just a little bit shorter than usual, not by much, but a little bit. Just because the news cycle is pretty slow. It's almost like the government reopened and then somehow there's just not as much to talk about. but another thing that I wanted to take some time to talk to you about is introducing an advice segment to the show. I have quite a few people that write into me each week asking for advice on how to navigate relationships when it comes to political differences, whether it's your spouse, your partner, mom, dad, sibling, in-laws, co-workers, whatever it might be. And I know

that it can be really difficult to navigate these dynamics. So I figure let's try out this new segment and what better time to do it than leading up to the holidays when families are getting together. Next week is Thanksgiving and then we kind of just snowball right into all of the family gatherings ahead of the new year. And the state of, you know, U.S. politics right now is pretty polarizing. So over the next two days, I am going to work on coming up with a name for this segment, I will create a dedicated email address for you guys to submit your dilemmas or your advice requests. I'll also add a similar submission form on my website so you can submit there too. And then in Thursday's episode, I will let you know exactly how you can go about submitting

and just kind of give you the general parameters and guidelines for submissions. With Thanksgiving next week, I want to do the first segment a week from today. So I'll release all of the need to know information this Thursday. I'll do the first advice segment next Monday, which will be the episode before Thanksgiving. And then we'll continue the segment through the holidays. So make sure you stay tuned for Thursday's episode because that's where you'll get all of the information if you are looking to submit. And yeah, we'll just kind of go from there. If it turns out to be a hit, we can continue it in 2026. But I just feel like the holidays is a really good time to do this. So now, without further ado, let's talk about some news. On Friday, President Trump

rolled back tariffs on more than 200 agricultural products, including meat, kiwis, guavas, mangoes, avocados, pineapple, macadamia nuts, coffee, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, and even more. So as we know back in April, Trump imposed this two-tiered tariff structure, right? That first tier was this 10% baseline tariff on all goods coming into the United States from every country except for Canada and Mexico because of an existing trade agreement. But then that second tier involved country-specific tariffs, which were calculated based on our trade deficit with those countries. And the administration called these reciprocal tariffs. Keep in mind, as we've discussed before, a tariff is essentially a tax on imported goods. So if the United States imposes a 20% tariff on, let's just say Chinese apparel,

U.S. consumers and businesses are going to pay a 20% tax to the U.S. Treasury to be able to import Chinese apparel. Let's say a United States embroidery business buys apparel in bulk from China. That embroidery business is going to pay the U.S. Treasury a 20% tax on that apparel to be able to bring it into the United States. Otherwise, the company would have to source its apparel from another country that doesn't face the same tariffs or faces less tariffs or even, you know, source apparel domestically. So that is how tariffs work. Now, over the last few months, the administration has has periodically adjusted the list of products that are subject to the country-specific tariffs and recalculated certain rates based on updated information and ongoing

negotiations. And the most recent adjustment was on Friday when Trump exempted certain agricultural products. According to the executive order, the administration made these adjustments in response to recommendations from officials, ongoing negotiations with trade partners, and the domestic supply and demand for certain products. The order states, quote, after considering the information and recommendations these officials have provided to me, the status of negotiations with various trading partners, current domestic demand for certain products, and current domestic capacity to produce certain products, among other things I have determined that it is necessary.

and appropriate to further modify the scope of products subject to the reciprocal tariff. End quote. So as I previously mentioned, these goods include coffee, beef, various seasonings and spices, tropical fruits, nuts. It also includes tapioca, cassava, cocoa beans, cocoa powder, cocoa butter, vanilla bean, corned beef in airtight containers, that is relatively specific, poppy seeds, green tea, black tea, coconuts, certain fertilizers, and more. Like I said, it is over 200 different items. This new exemption took effect on Thursday, meaning that goods that entered the country for consumption or were withdrawn from warehouses on that date on Thursday are eligible for the exemption. And this, of course, applies to those goods moving forward as well. Keep in mind that

this order exempts these products from the country-specific tariff rates, but not that 10% baseline tariff. The 10% baseline tariff still applies. So as an example, Brazil, which is the top supplier of coffee to the United States, has faced a 50% country-specific tariff since August. This meant that U.S. importers importing coffee from Brazil were paying a 50% tax to the U.S. Treasury because you have the you have a 40% country specific tariff and then the 10% baseline tariff. And this increased cost of coffee importation then actually caused consumers to pay about 20% more for coffee in the month of September compared to last year. And that's that's according to consumer price index data. But now after this most recent order, US importers will only pay that 10% baseline

tariff to import Brazilian coffee products and not the 50% total tariff they've been paying since August. Notably in May, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce did send a letter to the administration proposing tariff relief for certain products. Among other requests, the letter did ask the administration to automatically exclude from country-specific tariffs all products that cannot be produced in the United States or are not readily available from domestic sources. That letter says in part, quote, tariffs on coffee, bananas, cocoa, certain minerals, and other products not generally available in the United States

only raise prices for small businesses and consumers. The same applies to tariffs on many other bespoke industrial inputs, critical to American manufacturers. And quote, so this withdrawal of country-specific tariffs on certain agricultural products, specifically follows that May letter. In some other news, Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, announced the release of the first batch of declassified government records related to Amelia Earhart. Gabbard posted on X, quote, beginning today, at POTUS's discretion, records related to Amelia Earhart's final flight and disappearance 88 years ago will be declassified and shared

with the American people. These records include reports, maps, and other documents tracing Earhart's final journey, her last known communications and location, and the initial search following her disappearance. And quote, so as Gabbyn mentioned in that post, these documents were released in response to President Trump directing administration officials to declassify them. Back in September, Trump wrote on true social, quote, I have been asked by many people about the life and times of Amelia Earhart, such an interesting story. And would I consider declassifying and releasing everything about her, in particular her last

fatal flight? She was an aviation pioneer, the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, and achieved many other aviation first. She disappeared in the South Pacific while trying to become the first woman to fly around the world. Amelia made it almost three quarters around the world before she suddenly and without notice vanished, never to be seen again. Her disappearance almost 90 years ago has captivated millions. I am ordering my administration to declassify and release all government records related to Amelia Earhart, her final trip, and everything else about her. End quote. So just to give a little bit of context here and the president kind of did that in his post, but as he stated, she was a pioneer of American aviation back in the early 1900s.

She is best known as the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean and for her attempt to fly around the world, which unfortunately ended in her disappearance. She first made headlines in 1928 as the first female passenger to cross the Atlantic by plane. And then four years later in 1932, she did it alone. That earned her the distinguished flying cross. She was also an advocate for commercial air travel. She helped form a group called the 99s, which is an organization for female pilots that is still around today. In 1937, she set out to become the first woman to fly around the globe. She and her navigator, Fred Noonan, started their journey departing from Oakland, California on May 21st, 1937, in a Lockheed Electra.

And they eventually landed in Ley, New Guinea. but when they took off from Lay on July 2nd, the second to last leg of their trip, that is when their plane disappeared. They were supposed to have taken a 2,500 mile flight to Howland Island, which is one of the most remote spots in the Pacific. They never got there and just kind of disappeared. This led most people to believe that they either ran out of fuel and went down in the ocean or ran into some other issue and went down in the ocean or that they landed near a remote island and did briefly survive, but not for long. I mean, there's, there's tons of theories too, which, which we'll touch on more in a couple of minutes. Despite a very large search

effort for the time, no trace of them or the plane was ever found. And since then, there have been questions about her disappearance. And as one might expect, various theories about what really happened, right? So Friday's release includes about 4,600 pages of documents containing logbooks of U.S. military vessels involved in the search, maps of potential search areas, radio and naval communications, weather and flight condition data, last known transmitted messages, newspaper clippings, as well as other documents that detailed her final flight and the early days of the search following her disappearance. According to the document, the document. in the release, the last communication from her plane came at around 8.43 a.m. on July 2nd.

One of the newspaper clippings that was also included in this release, it's dated July 16th, 1960, which is about 23 years after their disappearance. It cites a former U.S. Navy sergeant who served in Saipan, which is in the northern Mariana Islands. And the sergeant says that he was shown the unmarked island grave of two white people who, quote, came from the sky. And quote, he claims to have been shown the grave while he was serving there in 1944, and he does believe it is the graves of Amelia Earhart and Fred Noon, her navigator. Another newspaper clipping that was included in the release is dated November 18th, 1970. That one cites a researcher who claimed that a former Pan Amher,

employee had records indicating that Earhart survived the crash and sent a distress call that was received by Pan Am. Now, importantly, nothing new came to light that would provide any definitive answers about how she disappeared. And many of the documents have actually been released previously by the National Archives or at least made available to researchers. But Gabbard's press release did state that these records would be released on a rolling basis. So perhaps more comes to light as more documents are released. Let's take our first break here. When we come back, we'll talk about some Epstein updates. You've probably seen a million ads for hair growth products and just aren't really sure what or who to believe because I was

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promo code unbiased. Find out why Nutraful is the best-selling hair growth supplement brand at Nutraful.com spelled N-U-T-R-A-F-O-L dot com promo code unbiased. That's Nutraful.com promo code unbiased. Welcome back. On Thursday, we covered a lot related to the most recent release of the Epstein emails and documents. And if you haven't yet listened to that episode, I highly suggest that you do because I am not going to go over the emails again in this episode. This episode is solely to provide some updates. So if you do want to hear about those emails, whether they're real, that was a question I got. You know, a lot of people wanted to know if these were fake emails or real emails and what the emails included. If you want to know more

about all of that, listen to Thursday's episode. Since Thursday, though, there have been a few updates. For one, Trump withdrew his endorsement for Republican lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Green after she called for the release of all Epstein documents. And then most recently, Trump himself reversed course on the upcoming Epstein vote saying that Republicans need to support the upcoming vote on the release of the Epstein documents. So we'll take this in chronological order. Looming in the background of all of this is that there is this upcoming vote in the House, which we did briefly touch on in Thursday's episode, but basically sometime this week, possibly tomorrow, the House will vote on what is called a discharge petition. A discharge petition is a procedural tool in the House that allows House members to force a bill out of a committee and bring it to the full House floor for a committee. vote, even if House leadership or the committee chair does not want to move it forward.

Typically, after a bill is introduced, it is referred to a House committee. If the committee chair never schedules that bill for debate or a vote, the bill just sits there. It's effectively dead. But a discharge petition is a way for ordinary lawmakers, not in the committee, to bypass that bottleneck. So if a majority of House members sign the petition, the bill is discharged. That's where it gets its name.

The bill is discharged from the committee and automatically placed on the House calendar for consideration. In order for these petitions to work, they usually have to have broad bipartisan support, right? Because you need 218 signatures on a petition. And in this case, the Epstein Discharge petition does have broad bipartisan. support. So basically what this particular discharge petition would do is it would call up a bill directing the attorney general to release all unclassified records and documents that are in the DOJ's possession related to EPSC and his activities. Now, importantly, the petition would allow certain records to be withheld. These are records that either contain personally identifiable

information about victims or that contain child sexual abuse materials. But previously, this petition only had 217 signatures. Like I said, it needed 218. So last week, Democratic Representative Adelaide Grahava was sworn in, and she became the 218 signature on the petition. And Speaker Johnson now says that this petition will be voted on this week. Like I said, it may even be tomorrow on Tuesday. So just keep this petition in the back of your mind as we take the following updates in chronological order. last week republican lawmaker marjorie taylor green was one of four republicans to join all democrats

in signing that discharge petition then in a friday interview with cbs mornings green was asked why she decided to vote to release the epstein files and she responded quote it's for the victims these women have been waiting some of them for decades i talked to several victims who were raped by Jeffrey Epstein back in the 90s, and so this is information that has needed to come out for a very long time, and the American people have demanded it, and the American people deserve to see transparency from their government. Rich, powerful people should not be protected, and it's a message to victims everywhere, victims of rape, human trafficking, and children who are trapped in terrible situations, that the government will not protect the

predators, that we will work hard to protect the victims. And quote, the host of CBS warnings then asked Green why GOP leadership and the president are opposed to letting these files be released. And Green replied, quote, well, you know, I've talked to many of the women and the women themselves have said that Donald Trump did nothing wrong. And even their attorneys said that Donald Trump was the only one that helped them. So I'll just be very honest with you. It's something that I don't understand. I think it's a huge miscalculation. And I truly just stand with the women and I think they deserve to be the ones that were fighting for. And quote, Green was then asked about Epstein's email, specifically the email that said Trump is the dog that hasn't barked and what she makes

of that email. And she said in part, quote, I don't know, not understanding the context of their conversation. And of course, Jeffrey Epstein is dead. So we can't ask him what that means. There's many conversations in these emails. There's tens of thousands of pages. So it would be good to have further information there. End quote. She was then asked if she thinks Trump himself has something to hide, to which she replied, quote, I don't because I believe the women and the women have said over and over again that Donald Trump did nothing wrong. Even Virginia Jewfrey said under oath and she wrote it in her book. So if we listen to the women, they say Donald Trump has done nothing wrong. End quote. So that was Friday's interview. Then later that day on Friday,

Trump announced he was ending his support of Green, which keep in mind, Green has been one of Trump's biggest supporters going back to his first term. Trump wrote on truth social, quote, I am withdrawing my support and endorsement of quote unquote Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green of the great state of Georgia. Over the past few weeks, despite my creating record achievements for our country, including a total and complete victory on the shutdown, closed borders, low taxes, no men and women's sports or transgender for everyone, ending DEI, stopping Biden's record setting inflation, biggest regulation cuts in history, stopping eight wars, rebuilding our military, being respected

by every country in the world, having trillions of dollars invested in the United States, and having created the quote unquote hottest country anywhere in the world from being a dead country just 12 months ago and so much more. All I see is wacky Marjorie. All I see wacky Marjorie do is complain, complain, complain. It seemed to all begin when I sent her a poll stating that she should not run for senator or governor, she was at 12% and didn't have a chance, unless, of course, she had my endorsement, which she wasn't about to get. She has told many people that she is upset that I don't return her phone calls anymore, but with 219 congressmen and women, 53 U.S. senators, 24 cabinet members in almost 200

countries, and an otherwise normal life to lead, I can't take a ranting lunatics call every day. I understand that wonderful conservative people are thinking about primarying margery in her district of Georgia that they too are fed up with her and her antics. And if the right person runs, they will have my complete and unyielding support. She has gone far left, even doing the view with their low IQ Republican hating anchors. And quote. So Marjorie Taylor Green then responds with an ex post. And she writes, quote, President Trump just attacked me and lied about me. I haven't called him at all, but I did send these text messages today. Apparently, this is what sent him over the edge, the Epstein files. And of course, he's coming after me hard to make an example to scare all

the other Republicans before next week's vote to release the Epstein files. It's astonishing really how hard he's fighting to stop the Epstein files from coming out that he actually goes to this level. But really, most Americans wish he would fight this hard to help the forgotten men and women of America who are fed up with foreign wars and foreign causes, are going broke, trying to feed their families, and are losing hope of ever achieving the American dream. That's what I voted for. I've supported President Trump with too much of my precious time, too much of my own money, and fought harder for him, even when almost all other Republicans turned their back and denounced him. But I don't worship or serve Donald Trump. I worship God.

Jesus is my savior. And I serve my district and the American people. I remain the same today as I've always been. And I will continue to pray this administration will be successful because the American people desperately deserve what they voted for. For me, I remain America first and America only. and quote. Green then included one text that she sent to Trump in her post, which according to that post was sent sometime after, it seems, he withdrew his endorsement. But she said, quote, check the flight logs of Epstein's plane. Bill Clinton is on there like 26 times. Hillary two.

For many of us, releasing the Epstein files has always been for the women who were victims of Jeffrey Epstein, but also because we believed that Democrat bad guys like the Clinton, were entangled and involved with him. Epstein was the spider that wove the web of the deep state lean into it. And quote. Since then, Green has posted on X that she has received death threats and people have called threatening to blow up her family's construction sites with pipe bombs. Trump was asked about Marjorie Taylor Green talking about these threats on social media. Trump's response was that he didn't think many people cared about Marjorie Taylor Green. So that's all kind of been going on in the background of all of this. On Sunday, 27 Epstein victims wrote a letter to

Green. They basically thanked her for standing up against the, quote, intimidation, silencing and abuse that Epstein survivors have endured for decades and that they fully support her. So that is the drama between Green and Trump related to this upcoming Epstein vote. But then last night, Trump seemed to kind of flip on the Epstein situation. So in a truth social post, he wrote in part, quote, as I said on Friday night, aboard Air Force One to the fake news media, House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files because we have nothing to hide. And it's time to move on from this Democrat hoax perpetrated by radical left lunatics

in order to deflect from the great success of the Republican Party, including our recent victory on the Democrat shut down. And quote, he also wrote, quote, the House Oversight Committee can have whatever they are legally entitled to. I don't care. All I do care about is that Republicans get back on point. Let's start talking about the Republican Party's record-setting achievements and not fall into the Epstein trap, which is actually a curse on the Democrats, not us. end quote. Now, he referenced remarks that he made on Air Force One Friday night saying that he, he told reporters Friday night that House Republicans should vote to release the files because they have nothing to hide. But Friday night, the closest that he came to saying something like this was when he was asked by a reporter if Marjorie Taylor Green has a point in wanting to release all of the files. And his response was, quote, they can have whatever they want. They already do. I think they have 50,000 pages already. This is a hoax put out by the Democrats, and a couple of few Republicans have gone along with it because they're weak and ineffective. End quote.

He was then asked why he was encouraging Republican lawmakers to not pursue the release of files. And his response on Friday was, quote, because we think it's bad to talk about it because it gets away from the subject of how well the Republicans are doing. End quote. So those were some of his comments on Friday, but he did not say that House Republicans should vote to release the files until last. night. That was that was that was that was a change in tone for him. As of yesterday, Republican Representative Thomas Massey said that he thinks 100 or more Republicans in the House could join the effort to force a vote on this bill that would require the Attorney General to release all files in the DOJ's possession. If that's the case, the House can easily force a vote

and and and likely pass the bill again requiring the DOJ to release all the files in its possession. But keep in mind that this bill, once it passes the House, it would have to be passed by the Senate and it would have to be signed into law by the president for it to actually become law and for the DOJ to have to legally release all of the files in its possession. If the president is not willing to sign the bill, both the House and Senate would need to override the president's veto with a two-thirds vote. As for what the Senate is going to do, because we already know the House is teeing up a vote on this discharge petition, but as for the Senate, Senate Majority Leader John Thune has not yet decided whether he will schedule the bill for a vote

if it passes the House. His position on the matter is obviously critical because the bill has to pass the Senate before it can go to the president's desk and potentially become law. The discharge petition in the House does not force the Senate to hold a vote. It only forces the House to hold a vote. And discharge petitions are. are not a thing in the Senate. There is no rule that forces the Senate to take up a bill just because the House passed it, even if it had broad bipartisan support in the House. The majority leader controls the Senate floor schedule. So unless he brings it up, Senator Thune, or there's unanimous consent in the Senate, or there's a successful motion to proceed, the bill will just sit there.

If the Senate never votes, the bill will just expire at the end of the congressional session. So There's still a lot that needs to happen once the House holds their vote on this, on this Epstein situation, which like I have said many times out can happen as early as tomorrow. Now, the last thing that I will say here is that Trump could just order the DOJ to release the files. He does not need Congress to vote on it. A lot of you were asking about this and asking if it was possible for Trump to order the DOJ to release the files. The answer is yes. It's no different than the Amelia Earhart story we talked about earlier, right? Trump ordered the administration officials to release the documents, and they did.

Same thing with the JFK and MLK Jr. Assassination documents. He could do this same thing with the DOJ. That is a possibility. Okay. Next time we talk, the House will have voted on the discharge petition, and the Senate should have a clear path as to what they're going to do with it, specifically majority leader John Thune.

So hopefully in Thursday's episode, we'll have a bit. more clarity on what's going to happen with that. But let's just stay tuned, of course, because anything could happen. Let's take our second break here. When we come back, we'll talk about an execution in South Carolina. And then we'll do some quick hitters and we'll finish with critical thinking. Boarding for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. What? Sounds like Ojo time. Play Ojo. Great idea. Feel the fun with all the latest slots in live casino games and with no wagering requirements. What you win is yours to keep. Hey, I won!

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Get the new iPhone 17 Pro at tellus.com slash iPhone 17 Pro on select plans. Conditions and exclusions apply. That's annoying. What? You're a muffler. You don't hear it? Oh, I don't even notice it. I usually drown it out with the radio. How's this? Oh yeah? Way better. Save on insurance by switching to Bell Air Direct and use the money to fix your car. Bell Air Direct, insurance simplified. Conditions apply. Welcome back. Okay, when I first started this podcast, I used to talk about executions all the time.

Those that have been here for a few years, you guys know. And that's just because I took this class in law school called death penalty and the law. And it was so fascinating to me. There is a lot that people don't know about the death penalty, not just the history of it, but also, I mean, the history is a huge part of it and how we've kind of evolved to where we are today, where the United States has the death penalty, but a lot of countries don't. And the drugs associated with it and just like everything that has. has to do with the death penalty. But one thing that a lot of people don't know is that it actually costs more to hold people on death row and execute them than it does to keep them in life, keep them in prison for life. A lot of people think it's the reverse, that it's that it's cheaper

to put people on death row, but it's actually more expensive. Anyway, because I was so fascinated with this law school class, I used to cover the death penalty in episodes where it was relevant. And I haven't done that in a while because the show became purely political and the stories just didn't fit in as much. But I figured since the news cycle is a bit slower, we could talk about this recent execution in South Carolina that just happened on Friday. And the reason that this execution is notable is because it was only the third ever execution in the state that was done by firing squad. And that's another thing that a lot of people don't know is that the firing squad is still very much a method of execution in certain states. So this man that was executed, his name was Stephen Bryant, and he was sentenced to death for killing three people within five days in South Carolina back in 2004.

They were unrelated. The first killing happened when Bryant gave a man a ride. The man got out of the car to pee on the side of the road, and Bryant shot him in the back. The second killing, the next day, happened when Bryant stopped at a secluded home in rural South Carolina saying that he was having car trouble. The man who answered the door and let him inside was shot several times by Bryant. And Bryant then proceeded to burn the man's eyes out with cigarettes and wrote, catch me if you can on the wall in the man's blood. Then the third and final killing happened in the same manner as the first. Bryant gave him in a ride. The man got out to pee and Brian

shot him in the back. Bryant ended up spending about 20 years on death row before Friday's execution. Bryant's lawyers did file a last minute appeal arguing that the sentencing judge didn't adequately consider the severe brain damage that Bryant suffered due to his mom's drug and alcohol abuse during her pregnancy, but that appeal was rejected. Obviously, he was executed. Now, he did elect to be executed via the firing squad. South Carolina also offers the lethal injection or the electric chair, but an inmate can choose which method they prefer. When it came time for the execution, Bryant chose not to make a final statement, because they do have that opportunity. He chose not to. He did, though, order a pretty sizable final meal.

And this is also something that's interesting about final meals is that different states have different rules surrounding final meals. So I believe in Florida, for instance, there's like a $40, you know, it can't, the meal can't cost more than $40. Texas doesn't allow inmates to have a final meal at all or like a requested final meal. So different states have different rules. Brian's meal consisted of a seafood stir fry, fried fish over rice, egg rolls, stuffed shrimp, two candy bars, and German chocolate cake. So for those that are curious as to what the firing squad method looks like, this is how it works. The inmate is strapped to a chair, and there is a bull's-eye target that is placed over the heart by a doctor. Their lawyer can read a final statement if they have one, if they don't have one.

Obviously, nothing is read. And then a prison employee will place a hood over the inmate's head. Once the hood is on and the prison employee walks out of the way, the employee pulls open a black shade. And behind that black shade, the firing squad, is already positioned. So the blackshade is opened. The firing squad then has a view of the inmate. There are in South Carolina at least because this varies by state also. There are three shooters that then fire one round from roughly 15 feet away and a doctor will come out after that within a minute or two and examine the person and declare them dead. Now, the shooters are prison

who have requisite training and they volunteer to be on the firing squad. But South Carolina also has what's called a shield law. It was passed in 2023 and it prohibits South Carolina from releasing specific information regarding the people that are involved in carrying out the execution. And by the way, in addition to South Carolina, Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Utah, all allow for the use of the firing squad. However, only a handful of executions, I think it's six or something, have been carried out by firing squad since 1977 when the death penalty was reinstated. So it's definitely a not nearly as common method of execution. The most common method is lethal

injection and then electric chair and then firing squad. And then there's also a newer method that was just that just kind of came out. I want to say in the last two years called nitrogen hypoxia, but only a few states offered that. We'll revisit the story when we get to critical thinking. But for now, let's do a few quick hitters. The acting chief of FEMA says he will step down following months of public controversy. David Richardson is his name. He submitted his resignation letter earlier today to the DHS, giving two weeks notice. But notably, there were plans in place already by the administration to remove him from the role. Since the start of the year, he faced criticism for having two jobs at once,

being quote unquote hard to reach following the Texas floods. And at one point, he said that he was unaware that the United States had a hurricane season, though the DHS later said that comment was meant to be a joke, but it still sparked concern amongst some people. So the administration will now have to select a new acting chief of FEMA to take his position. One lucky mega million jackpot winner in Georgia is now a whole lot richer. Friday's drawing set a new record for the most drawings in a single jackpot run in the game's history. The total prize is $983 million, with the winner able to choose between a lump sum payout of $550, no, sorry, $453.6 million or annual payments. As of this morning, though, no one has publicly come forward to claim the prize. Nationwide, there were also

21 second-tier winners who each won at least $2 million. And there were also 347 third-tier prizes ranging from $20,000 to $100,000. The FAA has officially lifted all commercial flight restrictions that were put in place during the shutdown. So as of this morning at 6 a.m. Eastern time, all airline schedules have returned to normal. President Trump said this weekend he plans to meet with Zoranam Dani, telling reporters, quote, the mayor of New York, I will say, would like to meet with us. We'll work something out. We want to see everything work out well for New York. End quote. The press secretary affirmed shortly thereafter that Trump was in fact referring to Mom

Donnie, but that no date has been set for the meeting. Mom Donnie added a little more clarity today, saying that his team had reached out to the White House and that he is ready to meet the president to specifically discuss the city's affordability crisis and SNAP benefits. though it's not clear exactly what will be discussed in regard to stat benefits, considering the benefits are now back on the table after the government reopened last week. And the Supreme Court said today it will decide whether federal law allows immigration officials to turn away asylum seekers at the border. Both the Trump administration and Biden administration have sought to preserve this tactic, which is known as metering. it was introduced in 2016.

It allows customs and border patrol officials to turn away asylum seekers before they enter the United States. So here's the thing. Under federal law, a person who is physically present in the United States or who arrives in the United States can apply for asylum. But the question before the court here will basically be whether asylum seekers who are turned away from ports of entry on the Mexican side of the U.S. Mexico border have arrived in, quote unquote, arrived in the United States for purposes of being able to apply for asylum under federal law. And that case will be heard sometime next year. Okay, for today's critical thinking segment, let's go back to the execution story. For those of you who support the death penalty, do you find that methods like the firing squad

make executions more humane or less humane than the lethal injection, which is the typical method of execution here in the United States, and why or why not? And then, how do you justify the higher financial cost of the death penalty compared to life imprisonment? Now, for those of you who oppose the death penalty, if someone commits multiple murders, whether random or not, Bryant's were random, some are not. Is there any circumstance where you believe the death penalty could be justified? Or maybe it's another crime. Is there another crime where you believe the death penalty could be justified? And then if an inmate chooses their own method of execution like Bryant did in this situation, does that make the process more ethical or is it

just as problematic in your opinion? And then here's a question for. for everyone. Should states continue offering execution methods like the firing squad, like the electric chair, like the lethal injection, because it varies by state, or should there be a single nationwide standard? And why? That is what I have for you today. Thank you so much for being here. I hope you have a fantastic next couple of days. And I will be back with you on Thursday and I will fill you in on everything you need to know for this new advice segment that will be coming to your favorite podcast.