US Politics, February 2018: Our country was founded by geniuses, but it’s being run by idiots

If one has to go it's not LBI imo

ffs

nobody has to go just own up and move on

EXCEPT HOPE

NO HOPE FOR TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

No hope no cash no well you know

once we had hope and jobs etc xp loool

Hadrian -

so nm your White House Press Secretary is *not* a swimsuit model w/ no professional experience outside the fashion world?

Press secretary and communications director are different jobs btw. Sanders is press secretary. Hicks is/was communications director.

I get it, get that I'm not welcome here, annoying to here from a furrnurr.
...
― Le Bateau Ivre, Wednesday, February 28, 2018

^not otm

what were her titles working for Ivanka and then pre president Trump?

this is quite the molehill

Wow, shit going crazy over there. New York Times reporting that Kushner got a whole bunch of big loans after meeting with the loners at the White House. Washington Post reporting that Mueller is looking into obstructin' Donald Trump trying to fire Jeff Sessions last July, which might explain why Trump didn't pull the trigger then.

what's gonna be on Trump's secret tape

As I like to note, not a single thing has yet managed to move the needle the other direction. Each week, each day, everything just looks worse and worse for these clowns, never once the opposite. It's really quite incredible.

his approval ratings have been reverting to the mean again too. not all the way back in all polls yet but he hit 60% disapproval in one poll earlier this week.

fun fact related to trump telling Toomey and Manchin that they were afraid of the NRA earlier today. they were the co-sponsors of the 2013 background check bill that failed in the senate, 54-46. 4 democrats voted against that bill - heitcamp, baucus, begich, and pryor, all of whom were worried about their upcoming 2014 elections.

If one has to go it's not LBI imo
― (•̪●) (carne asada), Wednesday, February 28, 2018 7:42 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

carne, guys ffs I get it. I apologized. It would be nice to be rebuked w/o having my motives impugned.

The terrible irony in all this is that Hope Hicks participates in and tacitly endorses a group of people and an organization which makes its bones on objectifying women, I meant this to be implicit in what was evidently a ham-handed photographic critique. Jeez.

hidden messages in 2 hrs... you fuckers are like sharks after chum

Jesus H. what ISN'T happening today

Scoop: Mueller’s team is asking about comments made by Hope Hicks about Russian contacts to the NYT, a former Trump campaign official who has spoken to Special Counsel’s office tells CNN.

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) March 1, 2018

NEW: Two companies that had White House meetings with Jared Kushner later lent his businesses over 500 million dollars. An incredible story. https://t.co/q60W2O0oac

— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) March 1, 2018

As for the cronies:

Mnuchin asks UCLA not to post video of students booing him https://t.co/h0CR9vA6K1 pic.twitter.com/SDa8Duhrfn

— The Hill (@thehill) March 1, 2018

https://twitter.com/ThisWeekABC/status/9690277603194961

Sorry that second one should be

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/oversight-committee-asks-ben-carson-explain-purchase-31000/story?id=53428229&cid=social_twitter_tw

Maggie Haberman finds a new way to embody the term "useful idiot" every day.

The timing is clearly going to raise questions. But the fact that non-reporters believe their partisan analysis over actual reporting is a facet of the whole fake news problem in the first place https://t.co/fMN7AOrf36

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) February 28, 2018

in completely unrelated and very cool news

47 counties in WV have now shut down school tomorrow, and it’s rising quickly. this is a *huge* deal, looks like the teachers may stay #55strong pic.twitter.com/Z8GrobPCj9

— Alex Press (@alexnpress) March 1, 2018

I'm confused, I thought the gov caved and offered $5/hour raises, and that there was a mandatory cool-down day off. Guess not?

yes, I have the same question

Jesus Christ the news channels don't know whether "white lies" are lies.

I think the 6 people in the last 229 years of the executive branch who *acknowledged* the thing runs on lies have all had to resign.

thirded

since a lot of people are replying asking why the strike is back on, this thread has a couple good articles from today explaining https://t.co/bgcd0YwkpV

— Alex Press (@alexnpress) March 1, 2018

OK, looks like workers are pissed at the union leaders for settling:

After Tuesday’s post-6 p.m. proposal by Gov. Jim Justice and union leaders to end the strike Thursday went over like a lead balloon with many school employees, it was clear by Wednesday evening that workers were not unified in believing they should return to work.

As of 8:30 p.m., announcements had come that public schools would continue to be closed Thursday in at least 34 counties. More were expected.

https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/education/teachers-continue-protests-at-capitol-blast-proposal-to-end-strike/article_d824f764-2c6f-51ac-bf00-68f1873ca2a6.html

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/west-virginia-teacher-strike-might-not-be-over-yet_us_5a970a85e4b0e6a5230453f0

The arrangement Justice rolled out would give teachers and other school personnel a five percent raise, and workers employed by the state a three percent raise. Although it marked progress from the meager wage increases earlier proposed by Justice, the deal did not placate strikers’ bigger concerns over the state employee health care program.

Justice said the state would temporarily freeze employee costs under the program, known as the Public Employee Insurance Agency (PEIA), while a task force was set up to develop a long-term fix to rising premiums and co-pays. But many striking employees apparently don’t trust the issue will be resolved, and fear increased health costs could wipe away their raises.

well I'm temp-banned from Twitter now for telling a Trumpxtian they should have been aborted. bleh.

Is this story being covered anywhere, cable news, papers? Not a peep on the front page of the Times or WaPo.

Well the Twitter ban hardly seems to rise to the level of national important. Check the metro section tomorrow?

the VA strike merited only like 2 mins on MSNBC, apparently.

lol caek

other notable non-Russiagate news I'm not seeing much about

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/28/yemen-saudi-arabia-war-us-support-senator-push-to-end

I doubt Florida educators could even pull this off again because the current economic and political environment is very different but remembering this event in my state's history: http://www.tampabay.com/news/education/teachers/50-years-ago-Florida-teachers-walked-off-their-jobs-Today-s-union-leaders-are-inspired_165549681

my elementary/middle/high school teaching friends in FL are currently at their wit's end with the state of education in FL and the shooting has many of them rethinking their career.

while you’re here, this is an informative thread on what’s happening internally https://t.co/LzPOw7910g

— Alex Press (@alexnpress) March 1, 2018

(btw if you're not already following alex press for yr US labour organizing developments, you should be)

I watched the footage of the press conference on the Yemen resolution. I don't know what chance it has but I'm glad this is at least being brought to the Senate floor, and in a multi-party way.

all 55 counties closed, apparently

and jefferson's closed, per facebook. #55strong - these teachers deserve all your support and solidarity! media folks, cover this tyvm

— Alex Press (@alexnpress) March 1, 2018

wow that’s quite the media blackout.

i’m also surprised that as a member of the AFT i haven’t heard about it from them

it’s ~sO wEirD~ what the librul lamestream media determines is newsworthy

*is and is not

i do recall now seeing a cnn article about it but the headline (“these teachers packed a lunch for their students” or something like that) didn’t actually clue me in to what was going on

here’s the same story w much better headline

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/02/26/us/iyw-striking-teachers-feed-students-trnd/index.html

Trump is hopping mad tonight. In a bad place. I think when we do the tick tocks we’ll find this was a moment where he said “F it.” (Though I think this one is still very TBD, and I assume at *some point* tonight John Kelly will locate the steering wheel again.) https://t.co/FxiHlvh4t6

— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) March 1, 2018

I'll be in my bunk-er

Even better!

Steel and aluminum tariffs could be announced by Trump on Thursday, but White House and industry sources still say there's a lot of back and forth on this. w/ @AndrewRestuccia https://t.co/htUoukO1qG

— Adam Behsudi (@ABehsudi) March 1, 2018

Lots of back and forth (mainly because senior White House officials were learning about it for the first time by reading the Washington Post.) https://t.co/NM0Hjk5Z8l

— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) March 1, 2018

I don't know why, but I'm not shocked by the Hicks resignation.

Would I be shocked to find out that Hicks is and always has been a mole inside the Trump organization/campaign/administration? I'm not sure I'd be shocked by that either.