US Politics, March 2018: Why do people leave the White House for good?

shut up and watch the goddamn Oscars

if that scotus case goes the way everyone is saying it will I wouldn't be entirely surprised if we had some wildcat May 68 shit sometime this year

what if Warren 'n' Faye flub again

Get Out

I just went to a park in Mexico and at the end they had this big 2 hour show covering an abridged history of the country. For the grand finale they had a bunch of people marching around with the flags of every major country in the world, plus most of our neighbors. Notably absent was the American flag. Felt pretty significant given that half the visitors appeared to be from the USA. I think I’m just gonna tell people I’m from Canada for the rest of the trip.

oscars news dump???

JUST IN: Mueller subpoenas documents from Trump, numerous campaign associates https://t.co/YgVVIOpVT2

— NBC Politics (@NBCPolitics) March 5, 2018

Kicking off the new week well!

I would really love it if in lieu of sentencing, Mueller just clocked Lewandowski on national television

wow. that's a LOT of documents.

Donald it's ok go ahead and resign we'll spare you the embarassment, you can go back to firing people weekly on faux television

Subpoena, Subpoena, Sub-POE-na

yes, that's right, sound it out

Perdido

The Academy should give Mueller an honorary award.

Though as Renato astutely points out: "This tweet doesn’t match the content of the story it cites. The subpoena doesn’t seek documents from Trump, it seeks documents *about* Trump from an unnamed witness."

...However, the "average teacher salary" is far more than the majority of teachers in a system teachers make; it sure as heck ain't a median teacher salary. When you figure in longevity increases and incentives for additional degrees, it means that professionals at 15-20 years in their career are making (in total compensation) 1.5 x 2 as much as new employees on the top line of their pay check, and losing a much-smaller overall proportion to health, pension, insurance, etc.

― rb (soda), Sunday, March 4, 2018

Hate to be that guy but iirc isn't this exactly what teachers' unions have bargained for?

Wish the whole damn country would strike.

If there were a consistent set of demands attached, this would be beyond awesome! The General Strike is one of the most potent weapons in the arsenal of labor. Too bad the USA has no labor movement worthy of that grand tradition.

there have been murmurs of teacher's strikes in other states as well but I can't recall which atm. KY maybe?

The Academy should give Mueller an honorary award.

plz, the Russian doping doc won, more than enough from the MSNBC crowd

Hate to be that guy but iirc isn't this exactly what teachers' unions have bargained for?

Not at all. Teacher pay has been stagnant or declining due to relative purchasing power of salary for last decade or so. employee health care costs are eating up big chunks of the total compensation package... and they are paid at a flat rate by all employees. For employees who make 100k/year this is not a problem. For those who make 40k it is. Unions are trying to level out pay, but that can take decades. Union, also, have asked for increases in total compensation to offset some of these costs, but working conditions and not money is (surprisingly to those outside the unions, I guess) not the first issue in most negotiations.

https://www.epi.org/publication/the-teacher-pay-gap-is-wider-than-ever-teachers-pay-continues-to-fall-further-behind-pay-of-comparable-workers/

www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/answer-sheet/wp/2016/08/16/think-teachers-arent-paid-enough-its-worse-than-you-think/


http://www.nea.org/home/12661.htm

Yam meeting at the WH with Netanyahu today.

Time for Brits to pull another 1814

(i was all "wait wasn't that 1812" and looked it up, to learn that the 1814 white-house setting-fire-to happened during the IMO confusingly named "war of 1812", which ended in 1815)

and its last battle was fought several weeks after it ended

excellent work there

and then Francis Scott Key slapped words on an English drinking song and now heathens won't stand while it plays

and then Andrew Jackson

class dismissed, tomorrow we do dinosaurs

Meanwhile, a glimpse into the subtle mind of Scott Pruitt:

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt dismissed evolution as an unproven theory, lamented that “minority religions” were pushing Christianity out of “the public square” and advocated amending the Constitution to ban abortion, prohibit same-sex marriage and protect the Pledge of Allegiance and the Ten Commandments, according to a newly unearthed series of Oklahoma talk radio shows from 2005.

Pruitt, who at the time was a state senator, also described the Second Amendment as divinely granted and condemned federal judges as a “judicial monarchy” that is “the most grievous threat that we have today." And he did not object when the program’s host described Islam as “not so much a religion as it is a terrorist organization in many instances.”

On the roffly side

WSJ says Cohen complained to friends that he had yet to be reimbursed for the payment to Stormy Daniels. He had been trying to reach Trump before the election about the payment, per WSJ https://t.co/eSIRq75Il9

— Jeremy Diamond (@JDiamond1) March 5, 2018

it's weird bcz trump is well-known for promptly paying all his employees and contractors

President Donald Trump on Monday afternoon again suggested that if he’s pleased with the renegotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement, then he may reconsider his decision to impose tariffs on imported steel and aluminum.

If not, “we’re not backing down,” he told reporters during a pool spray with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Monday.

“No, we’re not backing down,” Trump said in response to questions about the proposed new tariffs. “We’ve had a very bad deal with Mexico, a very bad deal with Canada. … We are renegotiating NAFTA as I said I would, and if we don’t make a deal, I’ll terminate NAFTA. But if I do make a deal which is fair to the workers and to the American people, that would be, I would imagine, one of the points that we’ll negotiate, will be tariffs on steel for Canada and for Mexico. We’ll see what happens, but right now 100 percent, but it could be a part of NAFTA.”

ok. paul ryan also expressed his opposition to the tariffs today.

If not, “we’re not backing down,” he told reporters during a pool spray with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Monday.

During a ... come again?

^ American Thing

tariffs on steel from canada and people from mexico

Pool (of reporters) spray (of questions). Like an avail, but with a scrum. Got it?

More on that news from last night:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/former-trump-aide-sam-nunberg-called-before-grand-jury-says-he-will-refuse-to-go/2018/03/05/24c8b86a-20a9-11e8-badd-7c9f29a55815_story.html?utm_term=.4455ed2f22f2

Nunberg subpoena that was floating around on background has now got his name attached. He tells me he is unlikely to go, that he "saved Trump's ass" during the McCain fight in August 2015, and that it's all an effort to get Roger Stone.

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) March 5, 2018

WSJ says Cohen complained to friends that he had yet to be reimbursed for the payment to Stormy Daniels. He had been trying to reach Trump before the election about the payment

why would Trump reimburse him, the payment had nothing to do with Trump. Sorry, Michael!

also if trump does pay him it becomes a violation of campaign spending laws, doesn't it?

(and therefore yet another majorish legal and norm infraction that will not have the slightest political effect)

"I think it would be funny if they arrested me," Sam Nunberg says on MSNBC

— Jennifer Epstein (@jeneps) March 5, 2018

oh wow, i think so too

so few things we can agree on as a country anymore

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtcbVUNO1NY

senatorial Oscar stuff you may have missed

I’m rooting for 3 Billboards and coming to the party as Sheriff Willoughby. ##Oscars2018 pic.twitter.com/EGUZxNuDCq

— Claire McCaskill (@clairecmc) March 4, 2018

...okay did Nunberg completely immolate on TWO separate news interviews just now?

If there's something actually in those Nunberg emails, he practically painted a treasure map. "Hey, Mueller, definitely DON'T ask about THOSE emails. The ones between BANNON and STONE. Nothing THERE, obviously. Just MOVE ON."

— Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) March 5, 2018

https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-lawyers-payment-to-porn-star-was-reported-as-suspicious-by-bank-1520273701

The bank used by President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer to wire $130,000 to a former adult-film actress flagged the transaction as suspicious and reported it to the Treasury Department, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The lawyer, Michael Cohen, wired the money to a lawyer for former actress Stephanie Clifford, known professionally as Stormy Daniels, from an account at First Republic Bank . The money was received on Oct. 27, 2016, 12 days before the presidential election, another person familiar with the matter said. It isn’t clear when First Republic reported it to the government as suspicious.

Mr. Cohen said he missed two deadlines earlier that month to make the $130,000 payment to Ms. Clifford because he couldn’t reach Mr. Trump in the hectic final days of the presidential campaign, the person said.

better than McConnell's Amphibian Man costume

Have y'all started that Jane Mayer profile of Christopher Steele? Holy shit