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

This is extremely alarming: GOP Sen. Jim Risch says Trump is willing to start a "very, very brief" war with North Korea that will lead to "mass casualties the likes of which the planet has never seen. It will be of biblical proportions." https://t.co/zUYz1OLrFf pic.twitter.com/Y8i6G72yg1

— Jon Schwarz (@schwarz) February 21, 2018

It's of course still possible that Trump's bluffing and Risch's words about Trump starting a war that's “one of the worst catastrophic events in the history of our civilization” are part of the bluff. But that's still insanely dangerous. https://t.co/zUYz1OLrFf

— Jon Schwarz (@schwarz) February 21, 2018

“one of the worst catastrophic events in the history of our civilization....BUT”

jesus

is coming

It will be massive and catastrophic, but very brief, so kind of a wash, really.

^ solitary posts that singlehandedly describe the experience of being human

Radiation clouds would transverse the earth for months, so it would not be quite so brief as the advertisement promises.

a blast from the past

http://time.com/5003623/paul-manafort-mueller-indictment-ukraine-russia/

risch seemed to refer to his notes over and over during that (either that or he just really looks like to look at his stomach when addressing an audience). did he really need notes to say "the likes of which the planet has never seen. It will be of biblical proportions"? like those were the prepared words that he had to get exactly right?

xxxxp the dirac delta function of life

I didn't even recognize who the heck this guy was, now I see he's the other Idaho senator. Figures.

potayto, potahto

if the past is prologue maybe the north korea holocaust will kick off in september

The rollout of the strategy this week, they said, was planned long before President Bush's vacation in Texas last month. It was not hastily concocted, they insisted, after some prominent Republicans began to raise doubts about moving against Mr. Hussein and administration officials made contradictory statements about the need for weapons inspectors in Iraq.

The White House decided, they said, that even with the appearance of disarray it was still more advantageous to wait until after Labor Day to kick off their plan.

''From a marketing point of view,'' said Andrew H. Card Jr., the White House chief of staff who is coordinating the effort, ''you don't introduce new products in August.''

literal blast from the past

@SenToomey was asked about impeachment talk surrounding the PA Supreme Court on their gerrymandering decision. He calls it conversation that has to happen. pic.twitter.com/RAkRdQHVdX

— Sean Kitchen 🌹 (@RCPress_Sean) February 21, 2018

Enjoying the unfolding squashing of Manafort

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/mueller-asking-if-manafort-promised-banker-white-house-job-return-n849916

saw a few people point out on twitter that mortgage horsetrading is extra fishy because it not the behaviour of a man who doesn't need to draw a salary from the trump campaign (manafort supposedly worked for free).

Looks like the White House may have pre-screened the kids who got to talk to the President.

"We're going to do something about this horrible situation...We're going to get things done," Trump says to begin his meeting with Douglas students and others.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) February 21, 2018

He's sitting there getting yelled at, which is a nice sight.

Shot:

"It's school safety. It's not about gun laws right now. Let's fix the schools," says the grieving father, Andrew Pollack.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) February 21, 2018

Chaser:

pic.twitter.com/JM1olR8rF0

— RonaldRump (@Ronald__Rump) February 21, 2018

I believe the man's grief is as real as real as can be, but clearly he just wasn't pulled out of a hat. Emma Gonzales and David Hogg sure aren't in that room.

shot/chaser about a dead girl v good zing

It's not a shot/chaser about a dead girl, it's about this president once again stage managing everything to reflect his own greatness.

Trump's crib notes during the WH gun violence listening session: "5. I hear you" pic.twitter.com/XRI0X78b5U

— David Mack (@davidmackau) February 21, 2018

6. Breathe

At least Reagan could inject emotion into his 3X5 card scripts.

Does he have 45 on his cuffs?

cool cufflinks, helps him remember who he is in a way he can understand

also note that was clearly written on the first notepad they could find (THE WHITE HOUSE) when they realized he was going to fuck it up ten minutes before it started.

tbh i'm also struggling to hear any of those lines coming out of his mouth. maybe "what would you most want me to know about your experience?" but only because i'm imagining him delivering it with the tone of "what do you want me to do about it?!"

Yeah seinfeldian emphasis on the ME?

maybe "what would you most want me to know about your experience?"

i figure he'd just improvise on it, maybe "what would you most want to know about my experience? i went to wharton, great school, did very well..."

1) Not his handwriting; Hicks or Sanders
2) It's a cliche at this point, but tiny fingers - that sheet looks like it has roughly the dimensions of a bookmark
3) Tie dangling past his crotch, sitting in his usual defecatory posture

this is really great: https://www.gq.com/story/on-rudeness/amp?__twitter_impression=true

anything that aims to take David Brooks down a peg or three is worthy.

surprising no one, it seems the shithead president's hot take is to get rid of gun-free zones near schools and possibly arm teachers, if they are well-trained. That should do the trick.

that was a friend of a friend's take last week and I told him it was the dumbest idea I'd ever heard.

it'll go well when teachers, already weary from being underpaid and taxed with being forced to teach to tests, are now expected to be armed guards. so they'll leave the field and in 20 years, "teachers" will be ex-bouncers who are 6'6, 240 pounds, armed to the teeth, and only teach "street smarts"

i've got a sneaking feeling this does not end well

http://www.wcjb.com/content/news/Levy-County-School-District-addresses-planned-walk-outs-474646963.html

nice tone deaf message guys, hit a home run w/ that one

The District stated in a Facebook post, "while students have a First Amendment right of freedom of speech, it cannot be done so in a manner that is disruptive to the school environment."

ah yes, the famous "no school disruption" clause in the first amendment

It looks like Ivanka wrote her dad's notes on how to handle himself during the "student listening session" . The photo on the left is from @CKaster took. pic.twitter.com/ifiFHT1L5i

— Ray [REDACTED] (@RayRedacted) February 21, 2018

my friend's son doesn't go to the school but she already told him if he gets suspended for walking out from the one he does go to, she is fine w/ that.

xpost god I hate this country and the manbaby trying to run it

bless the teens

quite an amazing effort. some 71 odd meetings with legislators set up (those were the ones that were accepted, many more attempts were rejected).

Meanwhile...

Florida State Rep. Matt Caldwell is one of the 71 lawmakers who voted yesterday against debating a possible weapons ban. He has an A+ rating from the NRA.

"I think the worst scenario — the absolute worst scenario — is that we go out, and we ban guns and we tell everybody that we've solved this problem, and we haven't," he told CNN. "And then you're going to have another attack and people are going to ask, 'Why? I thought we solved this with this gun ban.' And that didn't do anything to change the circumstance."

Today, he's meeting with some of the school shooting survivors who traveled to Tallahassee to advocate for gun control and other reforms to end gun violence.

"You'll see, I'm wearing the ribbon for Parkland in remembrance," he told CNN.

go fuck yourself dude.

I would love to see some these kids perform a protracted, Occupy-style protest in front of their statehouses and city halls. I'd send them all the pizzas I could afford.

The District stated in a Facebook post, "while students have a First Amendment right of freedom of speech, it cannot be done so in a manner that is disruptive to the school environment."

ah yes, the famous "no school disruption" clause in the first amendment

― i remember the corned beef of my childhood (Karl Malone), Wednesday, February 21, 2018 7:06 PM

To be fair, though, the first amendment isn't absolute in schools (though it probably should be). Fraser and Tinker and Keysian and Hazelwood make it pretty clear that first amendment rights are limited by:

1) the extent of the disruption created by the speech
2) offensiveness of the speech w/r/t local standards
3) if the speech is contrary to the school's educational mission

I think it is incumbent on the SCHOOLS to clarify and support their policies in advance of the walk-out, and to work with student leaders/activists rather than staying mute and acting punitively during the protests.

This is good.

To speak the obvious has become nearly forbidden . . . not just on the subject of the POTUS's treason, matt, but the environment, universal healthcare, tax levels, gun laws, infrastructure, education funding, the "competence" of the opportunity-hoarding nepotistic ruling class . . . it's a long (and not unrelated) list!

They just about lost me with 'Trump isn't an idiot' but I'll give it a shot.