Emma Gonzalez, a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, had a simple question for National Rifle Association (NRA) national spokesperson Dana Loesch during CNN’s gun violence town hall: “Do you believe that it should be harder to obtain the semi-automatic … weapons and the modifications for these weapons to make them fully automatic, like bump stocks?” Instead of providing … Read More
Armed Teachers: A Pathological And Ineffective Idea
School teachers carrying firearms and readied for gun battles in grade school classrooms is a level of social pathology that signals the end of any viable, coherent society. Travel such a path, and the barbarism and fearmongering of the American abattoir can only accelerate. — David Simon (@AoDespair) February 21, 2018 UPDATE:… but it’s lucrative! JUST IN: President Trump suggests … Read More
Gun Debate Continues
Last night’s “town hall” on CNN was riveting. The students asked better questions than the adults, and I’m not the only one to note that they would not allow the responder to filibuster or waiver. For example, student Emma Gonzalez asked NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch, “Do you believe that it should be harder to obtain the semi-automatic and – – … Read More
Mueller Prosecutor List
I discovered this at emptywheel and I’m, well, I’m stealing it. With each development in the Mueller investigation, Marcy Wheeler* at emptywheel has been tracking which of Mueller’s 17 prosecutors show up on which dockets, as a way of understanding how little we know about the case. This information is accurate as of 2/17/2018 Manafort docket: Andrew Weismann (1) Greg … Read More
Attacks On High Schools Students Continue As Gun Debate Heats Up
The right seems to be out of talking points, so they attack the messenger. This time the “messenger” are the high school students of Parkland Florida, who have watched friends die in a horrific mass shooting. those who accuse the grieving fla students of being actors i hope are being ostracized in their community. shame, shame, shame — Tom Brokaw … Read More
Trump Attacks His Own AG In Russia Tweet This Morning
Say what? (In a now-deleted tweet, he misspelled “Sessions”, and wrote “Session”) It looks like Trump is reviving his offensive on Mr. Sessions, whom he once called “beleaguered,” and continued his days-long Twitter comments on the ongoing special counsel’s investigation into Russian meddling. The idea that Obama didn’t do something about meddling is, once again, ridiculous. While some former Obama administration officials have said they could … Read More
RIP Billy Graham
“America’s Preacher” has died at the age of 99. Graham served as a spiritual advisor to roughly a dozen U.S. presidents from Harry Truman to Barack Obama — and he made waves in the early 1950s by forcing churches to racially integrate for his services. He preached to an estimated 200 million people in 185 countries around the world during his life. … Read More
Sarah Sanders Press Conference – 2/20/2018
Her first press conference since the shooting — Sarah Sanders is reading her statement about the Parkland massacre like it’s a book report she really doesn’t want to deliver. — Matt Novak (@paleofuture) February 20, 2018 “It’s very clear that Russia meddled in the election. It’s also very clear it didn’t have an impact in the election,” Sarah Sanders says … Read More
Trump’s Behavior Continues To Offend And Baffle
In the days following the mass shooting at a high school in Parkland Florida, and with Mueller clearly breathing down Trump’s neck, his behavior has been frenzied and offensive. Here’s how Time described it: The weekend began with what many considered a victory of the smallest order. The typically chatty President bypassed the reporters to board his waiting helicopter without … Read More
Another Mueller Indictment
Special Counsel Robert Mueller has charged Dutch lawyer Alex Van Der Zwaan with making false statements to FBI investigators. Van Der Zwaan, who was officially charged on Feb. 16 in a federal court in Washington, has a plea hearing scheduled for Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. EST. According to the indictment, the false statements came when Mueller’s team probed Van Der … Read More
The Kids Are Alright
We have never seen victims in the wake of a horrible mass shooting strike back at inert politicians, including the president. We surely have never seen children call their elders to task and plan a massive march https://t.co/SRupjSXcj4 — Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) February 19, 2018 Wednesday, February 14, Valentines Day, 2018. Nikolaus Cruz, a troubled possible deranged right-wing gun nut, … Read More
Weekly List 66
For the first time in quite a while, this week Trump had no control over the narrative. What was supposed to be his Infrastructure Week, was quickly supplanted by the Rob Porter scandal, which carried over from Week 65 and escalated, highlighting the Trump White House dysfunction. Another mass shooting shook the country and left Trump and his regime flat-footed … Read More
Grand Jury In Mueller Probe Hands Down Indictment Against 13 Russian Nationals And Three Russian Entities
13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities are accused of violating U.S. criminal laws in order to interfere with U.S. elections and political processes. “The indictment charges all of the defendants with conspiracy to defraud the United States, three defendants with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, and five defendants with aggravated identity theft,” Mueller says. The indictment … Read More
Details Of Another Trump Affair Shows How Trump Attempts To Keep His Transgressions Secret
A report out from the New Yorker Friday morning about President Donald Trump’s alleged affair with model Karen McDougal more than a decade ago shows how Trump’s allies paid women who had affairs with him to stay silent. Trump and McDougal began an affair in 2006 after he met her at a party at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles, where he … Read More
Trump’s Inaugural Committee Money
A lingering question of the Trump Administration is the money that was raised for his inauguration. There was A LOT raised, and plenty left over. From NPR in April 2017: An inauguration is an expensive party to throw, and President Trump got plenty of help putting his on. Financial Election Commission disclosures released on Wednesday show that some uberwealthy donors … Read More