Recap 22: Jan 04-11
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This Week’s Track:
Justin Hurwitz - When I Wake
Whiplash (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) - 2014
Due to the heavy nature of the first story covered, I felt like something relatively upbeat but not fast and energetic was the right move. I tried looking for jazz standards, and will try to find a backlog of them for future editions like this week (where I do my best to keep it light despite seriously awful things happening) so that I don’t have to come back to just background music from La La Land and Whiplash. That said, I probably will still use a bunch more from those movies because I love Justin Hurwitz and Damien Chazelle. Also, I hope that sound cue at the beginning was attention-grabbing enough. Next week, it’s going to be an explosion (unless I have to make it all serious or whatever).
IF YOU HAVE ANY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR A BACKGROUND TRACK, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!
Further Reading
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Story 1: Murder of Renee Nicole Good
On Wednesday, ICE agents in Minneapolis, Minnesota shot and killed a woman.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/01/07/us/minnesota-shooting-ice
https://apnews.com/article/ice-shooting-minneapolis-minnesota-9aa822670b705c89906f2c699f1d16c5https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz7yv4524gqo
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/5679332-video-ice-minneapolis-shooting-renee-nicole-good/
Everything about this story makes me sick. Part of me is angry that an innocent woman was shot in broad daylight, and the PRESIDENT has successfully convinced his base that it was justified. It’s lunacy, and yet, completely expected at the same time. I feel for her wife, who had to watch her lover get murdered, point blank, and disrespected by the President and all of MAGA. It’s evil. But another part of me is angry that after years of minorities facing ICE’s terror, it took the murder of a white woman for so many people to care (or at least take to the streets and show that they care). Our neighbors, family members, and fellow Americans have been deported to foreign countries, prisons, and internment camps, and yet conservatives call it ridiculous when comparisons are made between ICE and the Gestapo or SS Soldiers of the 1930s and 40s. I wish it were ridiculous. What an awful, cruel thing. What an awful, cruel world we now live in.
Story 2: Tim Walz Drops Re-election Bid
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz announced on Tuesday that he will not seek re-election for a third term.
https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/tim-walz-drop-out-of-gubernatorial-race-2026/
https://www.wsj.com/politics/elections/minnesota-tim-walz-scandal-harris-campaign-6bafc8cd
https://www.npr.org/2026/01/06/nx-s1-5667284/minnesota-gov-tim-walz-drops-out-of-gubernatorial-race
I was surprised to research Minnesota’s ongoing political climate when I heard Walz was dropping out of the re-election process, but there has been a ton of stuff going on over there. The murder of Melissa and Mark Hortman, the attempted murder of John and Yvette Hoffman, the Annunciation Catholic Church shooting, all while Walz deals with a welfare embezzlement scandal…he must be thoroughly exhausted with all he’s dealt with. If he had more hair, I think it would probably be near Lincoln or Obama levels of grey from stress. Even so, I think he’s done a pretty decent job, and I hope he enjoys his retirement with Kamala somewhere nice and far away from this dumpster fire of a political climate.
Story 3: Portland Shooting
Federal troops shot two individuals in Portland, Oregon on Thursday, with both individuals suspected to be a part of a Venezuelan drug gang.
https://www.koin.com/news/portland/2-people-shot-by-federal-agents-in-east-portland/
https://www.opb.org/article/2026/01/08/portland-shooting-federal-agents/
https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/09/us/portland-oregon-border-patrol-shooting-hnk
When this story broke I already had a full script written and kinda had to shove this one in the middle of the recap, as insane as that is. This probably would have flown under the radar, if not for the Minneapolis murder. The pair are both in stable condition and are recovering last I saw, so nobody died (this time), but the fact these two were shot at all is probably bullsh*t. Maybe the ICE agents felt like they had to use a deadly weapon, but I think they’d probably feel the same way if a chihuahua sneezed in their general direction, so I don’t really trust their judgement either way. Yes, officials claim the two are tied to Tren de Aragua, but have failed to specify how, so I sincerely apologize if I’m a bit skeptical after the year we’ve had. Also, yeah, I probably should have come up with something more clever than referencing the Venezuelan dictator the US just kidnapped last week (can you believe that was only a week or two ago) but the fact that these two stories were so big and so close together, and with my writing battery already low from the script I had already written, it was what I came up with.
Story 4: Sec. Hegseth Censures Senator Kelly
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced on Monday a formal censure for Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, after Kelly and other veteran Democratic senators encouraged military soldiers to refuse illegal orders in a video released in November.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/06/pete-hegseth-censure-mark-kelly-republicans
https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/2026/01/mark-kelly-greenland-hegseth-trump/685543/
Poor Mark Kelly. He’s also bald. Personally, I like Mark Kelly and the work he’s done, except for the nearly $500,000 of AIPAC money he’s accepted (per trackaipac.com). But a censure from Party Pirate Pete (because he has a drinking problem and has blown up a bunch of boats recently) is insane. Their claim hinges on Kelly (who, according to his interview on the Daily Show, is being targeted because he is a retired veteran with 20+ years of service to the Navy) encouraging military personnel to “disobey lawful orders” which Kelly straight up did not do. The video doesn’t tell them to do anything illegal. It actually tells them to do the opposite, and to NOT do stuff they think is illegal. Do you think Clarence Thomas would know the distinction? I have my doubts. Do they even make reading lamps for RVs? In any case, I hope Kelly can challenge these baseless attacks. If he has even a fraction of the fight his badass wife has, he will be just fine.
Outfit
Wanted to wear a shirt but it sagged with the lav mic, so I brought out my faded, hand-me-down Terraria hoodie for a third time. Truly grateful you gave it to me, Griffin. Miss you every day <3
Errors
This bodes well for my goal of pursuing English in college: Pete Hegseth did not “propose” a censure against Mark Kelly, he just did censure Mark Kelly. In my defense, I wrote that part of the script at 2 a.m., but in my attack, I definitely should have looked up what the definition of “censure” was before I wrote, shot, edited, produced, and posted this episode, so that is on me.
If you find any errors from this episode or a previous one, let me know! I’ll add it to next week’s newsletter.
Behind The Scenes
This is the longest standard recap I have ever made, and it’s indicative of the type of recaps I want to make in the future. Covering a broad range of topics, from more serious to less serious, all while still keeping a quick pace and snappy editing. Last week was fine, but I was out of it for most of the creative process. This week, I was fully with it, and I’m super proud of how I went about making it (I filmed on Saturday to give myself more room to breathe, and it worked out super well) and how the final product turned out. It’s only going to get better from here.
Hopefully, if I keep filming a day in advance, I can continue to make episodes I am proud to post.
Hello to all my new subscribers! Thank you for reading, if you made it this far (if you scrolled to the bottom, shame on you. Just kidding. I don’t really care). And, for some of you, thank you for teaching me math. Sorry if I say anything outrageous on here…please don’t watch Recap 15.
I’ve changed the layout of my newsletter this week as I continue to experiment with Buttondown’s tools. I anticipate one person potentially noticing. If you noticed before you read this part, send me a text, Dad.
It looks like Youtube’s algorithm really liked this one, and I’ve gotten a ton of engagement…including hate comments! I’m super stoked when I get hate comments, because it means the algorithm isn’t putting my video into an echo chamber.
That said, I’m a garbage person, apparently. I’m really sorry, @adams3012. I’ll try my best to do better, like the upstanding ICE agent you apparently idolize. I’ll try to be more like him and, kill more innocent people, I guess? In the meantime, you should do a better job at keeping your sister/niece (I assume, just because I doubt anyone would ever have kids with you) off of your Youtube. She’s turned your whole page into a “playing with Barbies” channel. That said, still better than the videos of you talking about how evil Obama is or whatever, you vapid, insipid, inbred f*ckwit.
Uh. Anyway, even though they’re probably bots, I still love hate comments.
That’s all for now. See you next week,
Sean ✧