This week, we're covering allegations of Elon Musk’s drug use and his public break up with Donald Trump, what happened to the crew of the Madleen, and what’s going on (at least at time of recording) in LA. What a week!

Read along with us:

All about Elon Musk: 1. On the Campaign Trail, Elon Musk Juggled Drugs and Family Drama // (Kirsten Grind, and Megan Twohey , New York Times), 2. How Bitter Trump-Musk feud escalated– and what happens next (Anthony Zurcher, BBC), 3. Trump: Reconciliation with Musk a possibility, not a priority (Alex Gangitano, The Hill)

The Madleen Activist ship and following reception: 1. Israeli forces seize Gaza aid boat carrying Greta Thunberg ( Crispian Balmer and Rami Amichay, Reuters), 2. Gaza: Aid trucks still waiting for Israeli green light inside enclave (Daniel Johnson, UN News), 3. Four Deported, Eight Detained – Israel Holds ‘Madleen’ Group Illegally (FFC Media Team, Freedom Flotilla Coalition)

The escalating situation in Los Angeles: 1. TRUMP authorizes sending another 2000 National Guard soldiers to L.A. (Dan Mangan, CNBC), 2. Gavin Newsom on the L.A. Protests, Trump's Response and Why It's a Defining Moment for Democracy (Michael Barbaro, Gavin Newsom for the NYT podcast "The Daily")

We got more than a bit fired up in this episode about US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Trump getting served over his executive order cutting funding for NPR and PBS, and the ongoing battle for abortion rights in the United States.

Pete Hegseth's comments on China: 1. There is an “imminent” threat to Taiwan, America warns (The Economist), 2. Pentagon chief warns of imminent China threat, asks Asian allies to spend more on defence (Idrees Ali and Jun Yuan Yong, Reuters)

Trump vs. NPR and PBS: 1. NPR and Colorado public radio stations sue Trump White House (David Folkenflik, NPR) 2. Trump says he's ending federal funding for NPR and PBS. They say he can't (David Folkenflik, NPR)

Abortion: 1. Fetus of brain-dead Georgia woman kept alive due to abortion ban is growing, says family (Carter Sherman, The Guardian) 2. Missouri lawmakers approve referendum to repeal abortion-rights amendment (David A. Lieb, AP) 3. Digging into the math of a study attacking the safety of the abortion pill (Glenn Kessler, WaPo)

Talking about the developments on the Ukraine War, and also how AI doesn't yet have free speech, but IS probably willing to doxx you.

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The gals talk about birthright citizenship in the United States, Trump’s attempt to invoke the Alien Enemies Act to expedite the deportation of immigrant detainees, and the latest in a long string of instances involving Chinese nationals sailing over to Taiwan on rubber dinghies. All under the broad heading of borders - what it means to be born within them, to cross them, and to get kicked out over them.

On birthright citizenship: 1. Three paths the Supreme Court could take on birthright citizenship (The Economist) 2. Three paths the Supreme Court could take on birthright citizenship (Podcast "Strict Scrutiny" with hosts Leah Litman, Kate Shaw, and Melissa Murray)

On the Alien Enemies Act: 1. Supreme Court rules against Trump administration in Alien Enemies Act case (Kevin Breuninger for CNBC) 2. Pennsylvania judge is first to rule Trump's use of Alien Enemies Act is justified. Here's what that means. (Joe Walsh for CBS News)

On Chinese citizens landing little boats and rafts on Taiwan's shores: 1. Chinese father and son arrested after sailing to Taiwan illegally, 2 Chinese men on makeshift rafts off Taiwan's Erdan Island detained, CGA probes videos suggesting illegal landing by Chinese man (Focus Taiwan), Chinese small boats landings on Taiwan are a new source of concern (ABC News)

It feels like the whole world caught fire, or threatened to, while we were on our special topic last week. So this week we're covering some of the most important news stories from our feeds. Listen and commiserate with us as we grapple with how difficult it can be to stay (accurately) informed!

India and Pakistan conflict: 1. Why are India and Pakistan fighting? (ABC/wires) 2. A timeline of tensions between India and Pakistan (Lars Dolder, Mujib Mashal, Salman Masood and John Yoon, for the NYT); 3. Will the ceasefire in the Kashmir conflict hold? (Thomas Latschan, DW)

Pope Leo XIV: "An American Pope" (Michael Barbaro, Jason Horowitz for the NYT podcast "The Daily")

This week, we're tackling just one subject-- but it's one that seems to plague our feeds every other week: Birth rates! In a world where birth rates globally are on the downturn, we wanted to know what effect that really has on us on the daily and what factors make it so difficult to tackle?

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"So you want to increase your country’s birth rate? Experts say it’s tough" (Vivian Hoang, Hannah Grabenstein, PBS), "The Hidden Roots of America’s Baby Bust" (Erin Ryan and Max Fisher, Crooked Media's "The Daily: How We Got Here" podcast)

This week, we go over the latest news out of Canada, particularly the results of their elections and how squabbles with their neighbor swayed those results, in addition to the 145% tariff that very neighbor has slapped on China.

On the Canadian elections: 1. Carney revives Liberal fortunes as party secures historic fourth consecutive election victory (Neil Moss, Irem Koca, and Eleanor Wang from the Hill Times) 2. Triumph for Carney: what happened in Canada’s election, and what will it mean? (Archie Bland and Leyland Cecco for The Guardian)

On the 145% Trump tax on China: 1. ‘No way’ US can recoup lost China container imports: Analyst (Stuart Chirls for FreightWaves), 2. ‘Did I Miss Something?’: Online Shoppers Shocked as Trump Tariffs Jack Up Prices 145% (Matt Novak for Gizmodo), 3. Amazon says displaying tariff cost ‘not going to happen’ after White House blowback (Annie Palmer for CNBC)

This week, we tackle a wide range of topics, starting with the consequences of the WhiteHouse welcoming the self-proclaimed "world's coolest dictator", then the effects of several antitrust suits looking to breakup META and Google, while also taking aim at other tech giants. We wrap up with a short discussion on the passing of Pope Francis, as well as our thoughts on the lists of possible successors. You can read along with us, by looking at the articles we cited for this discussion:

On the White House and Nayib Bukele: "The 'world's coolest dictator' heads to the White House" (Alfie Pannell, NPR), "White House and Bukele make clear Abrego Garcia won’t be returned to US" (Kaitlan Collins and Kevin Liptak, CNN), "US senator says 'traumatised' man deported to El Salvador moved to new prison" (Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu, BBC)

On Tech antitrust suits: "Google faces off against U.S. government attempt to break up company in search monopoly case" ( Michael Liedtke, PBS), "Tech C.E.O.s Spent Millions Courting Trump. It Has Yet to Pay Off." (Cecilia Kang, New York Times), "The Trial Mark Zuckerberg Couldn't Prevent" (Rachel Abrams, Cecilia Kang, for NYT Podcast "The Daily")

On Pope Francis' passing, and possible successors: "Who will be the next pope? Some potential candidates to succeed Francis" (Harriet Sherwood, The Guardian)

This week on the first-ever episode of the Doomscroll News Report,  we’re tackling how the cuts to the United States Agency for Global Media (USGAM) stand to impact the state of journalism now and in the near future, and close with a pulse-check on where things stand now. You can read along with us, by looking at the articles we cited for this discussion:

On the dissolution of the USGAM: 1. 'Bloody Saturday' at Voice of America and other U.S.-funded networks (David Folkenflik, at NPR), and 2. ‘Massive gift to America’s enemies’: Activists decry cuts to government-funded networks (Brian Stelter, CNN)

On the Chinese State media's response to USGAM cuts: 1. Chinese state media celebrates Trump’s cuts to Voice of America and Radio Free Asia (Kate Lamb, The Guardian) and 2. USAGM, Senior Advisor Kari Lake cancels obscenely expensive 15-year-lease that burdened the taxpayers and enforces Trump’s Executive Order to drastically downsize agency (USGAM statement)