Why are we discussing Sydney Sweeney's boobs?

President Donald Trump signed an executive order last week to change Lake Ontario’s name to Lake America. He did this after Canada retaliated against the tariffs Trump imposed on Canadian goods. Google Maps and Apple Maps both changed the lake’s name following the executive order. But the Canadian government has rejected the name change, citing the Indigenous roots of the name Lake Ontario.

And the Trump administration’s attempted reshaping of the natural world doesn’t end there. Officials are also trying to sell off part of Yosemite National Park to private developers. NOTUS talked to four people involved and reviewed documents from the National Park Service. Yosemite’s former superintendent told reporters why this concerns her: “Our basic purpose in the national parks is to preserve these places unimpaired for future generations, not letting go of that for the purpose of private profit.”

What else has Trump been up to? Well, his anti-immigrant campaign led to 50,000 ICE arrests in July, according to government data. That’s the highest monthly total of Trump’s second term, meaning ICE is arresting more people now than it did during controversial operations in cities like Minneapolis and Chicago, where I live. More than half of those arrested have no criminal record. This contradicts the administration’s claims that they’re targeting immigrants who have committed violent crimes. There’s also a large, longstanding body of evidence showing that immigrants commit less crime than people born in the U.S.

And speaking of ICE, the camera network that local police use to help them track down immigrants is becoming increasingly unpopular. A YouGov poll shared with The Washington Post found that Americans are wary of license-plate cameras being installed near their homes. The Post previously reported that at least 69 police officials have been accused of misusing this technology, including to stalk women.

Last week, The New York Times reported that California-based creator Josh Greene got money from at least seven politicians or groups supporting them. They included former California gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer, who Greene had criticized months before receiving $21,500 from his campaign. After that, he called Steyer “the most progressive viable candidate in the race” without disclosing the payment.

This goes beyond Greene. The Times also found a creator posting from multiple different accounts, claiming to be in different states, promoting different candidates. Steyer’s campaign also paid another influencer who endorsed him, and the influencer didn’t disclose the payment. In Texas, a company recruited influencers to defend the state’s attorney general as he faced impeachment. Some states (like California and Texas) now have regulations around political disclosures, as do TikTok’s terms of service. But at the federal level, those regulations don’t exist.

So, how do you know whether an endorsement is genuine or the result of an undisclosed payment? That’s this week’s media literacy tip from our friends at MediaWise! Do the political influencers have a public transparency policy or past posts contradicting what they say now?

This week marked the 20th anniversary of the film “Idiocracy,” a movie about a far future where everyone is really stupid. In an interview with Dave a few months back, former President Barack Obama called the movie “pretty accurate.”

The president of the United States in “Idiocracy” hosts fights, which Variety previously pointed out resembles the White House’s UFC Freedom 250 event, a real-life thing that left the White House lawn also looking the way it does in “Idiocracy.” Police in “Idiocracy” do things like fire relentlessly into vehicles. And while critiques of law enforcement far precede the Trump administration, high profile shootings by ICE officers have amplified those critiques.

In “Idiocracy,” a cabinet member introduces himself as “the Secretary of State, brought to you by Carl’s Jr.” This year, a cabinet secretary starred in a reality show funded by companies that he oversees. Removals of roses from the Rose Garden and trees from the Kennedy Center (the latter of which Trump was reportedly not involved in, to be fair) evoke a widespread crisis facing plants in the movie.

There’s another major, highly relevant theme in the movie: automation. “The computer did that auto-layoff thing to everybody,” one character panics. A Reuters poll from June found that more than half of Americans fear AI will take their jobs. And a recent study showed that using AI for just 10 to 15 minutes can lead to “significant impairments in independent performance and persistence.”

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy spoke at length about Sydney Sweeney’s breasts on his and his wife’s podcast in 2024. Why are those comments back in the news now? A couple of weeks ago, a new episode of Duffy’s reality show dropped — which, I repeat, is sponsored by companies he oversees. In the episode, he worries that if his daughter goes to Harvard, she will become “perverted and contorted.” In the ensuing social media backlash, a DNC-run account reshared those comments.

What did he say, exactly? Buckle up! He starts by referencing the “Saturday Night Live” episode Sydney Sweeney had recently hosted. Then, he said that “men appreciate women,” and “God made us a certain way to appreciate and want to mate with a woman.” And if you’re asking, but Sean, what about queer people? On this, he is consistent: He does not like us! He’s opposed marriage equality and voted to ban trans people from the military. In the podcast, Duffy then shares his hypothesis that “there’s probably a lot of fluid boys — or thought they were fluid — out there that saw Sydney Sweeney and go like, ‘actually, no, I’m not fluid.'“ While I must admit she was pretty good in “Madame Web,” Duffy’s theory does not hold up for me.

Then Duffy says, “Sydney Sweeney’s boobs are a direct affront, a challenge, to climate change.” If you, like me, took this to mean Sean Duffy at least wants to combat the climate crisis, but with some unorthodox methods, this is not the case! He immediately clarifies that “she is going to destroy the climate change movement.” His thesis: the left wants to combat the climate crisis by limiting procreation. (Anti-natalism is a thing, and it is controversial, but it is not the same thing as wanting to stop climate change.) Duffy thinks the right should defy them by conceiving babies after, and this is the technical term, getting horned up by Sydney Sweeney’s 2024 SNL appearance.

So, why is this news? First of all, Duffy is a really powerful guy, and I think it’s worth taking note when really powerful people say really weird things, because they may be bringing that weirdness to decisions that affect all our lives. It’s easy to draw a direct line between his argument about Sweeney’s boobs making men want to procreate with women and his homophobic, transphobic voting record. His argument about Sydney Sweeney’s boobs crumbling the pro-climate movement reveals a lot about how he may be approaching transportation emissions, one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gases in the U.S. And his ramblings about Sweeney also included critiques of porn and sex work, which other Republicans have attacked on a policy level.

Only one cherry tree was cut down.

Other trees were removed at the East Potomac Golf Links golf course.

At least 60 trees were removed as part of routine maintenance because they were dying, according to The Interior Department.

The Biden administration did the same thing, removing 300 trees, 140 of which were cherry trees.