Mitch McConnell needs to go away

McConnell has filed a motion to have a procedural vote Tuesday on legislation sponsored by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Idaho). After that, McConnell hopes to move to legislation addressing sex trafficking, according to GOP sources.

Legislation addressing the Florida high school shooting, the subject of contentious conversations between President Trump and GOP lawmakers at a White House meeting televised live on cable news Wednesday, will wait.

A Senate GOP aide said a limited bill to strengthen background checks for firearms purchases could come to the floor at any moment as soon as Democrats agree to let it move forward.

McConnell on Tuesday blamed Democrats for preventing the proposal, sponsored by Senate Republican Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy (Conn.), from coming to the floor.

“We tried to get it cleared yesterday, but the Democratic leader objected,” McConnell said.

Democrats vigorously dispute that and say that conservatives led by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) objected to moving the Cornyn-Murphy bill.

  The Hill

How's that for not doing anything? Point at each other and say the other one doesn't want to do it.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

There are far fewer countries on this planet than I previously thought

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

From somewhere out of the blue

We have barriers to youth sports participation??

[T]he number of economically disadvantaged students playing on sports teams has decreased significantly. As Robert Putnam writes in “Our Kids,” more than half of all high schools have adopted pay-to-play policies, often requiring students to pay a fee to join a school team, in addition to paying for equipment. These costs often total $300 to $400 per student, money that many parents can simply not afford. Girls’ participation has fallen even more drastically. By the time girls reach 14, they are dropping out of athletics at two times the rate of boys.

[...]

We believe that every child deserves the chance to play and engage in sports and recreational activities, regardless of their zip code, athletic potential or financial status. We are working to remove barriers to entry so that students can improve their lives and their future outcomes, and so that we adequately prepare the next generation of leaders to lift up our communities and strengthen our nation.

  NBC

Great. What are you doing?

This administration is committed to reversing this trend. The president will sign an executive order to partner with groups in the public and private sectors to address declining youth sports participation. Promoting youth sports is an important pillar of our Working Families Agenda. The executive order asks the secretary of Health and Human Services to develop a national strategy to increase youth sports participation to give all children a fair chance at a more promising future. Improved participation in youth sports will also further our goal of building safe communities. When young people have more opportunities to participate in positive, supervised after-school sports programs, studies suggest they are less likely to be involved in, or be a victim of, crime.

Sadly, Ivanka, an executive order isn't going to put money into high school sports. Arming teachers with guns and taking away their tax credits for purchasing their own supplies isn't going to work, either.

Ten years from now, when Los Angeles hosts the 2028 Summer Olympics, it’s our dream and our goal that students from all different backgrounds and every corner of our country will come together to achieve their highest aspirations — and to proudly represent Team USA.

Aren't there some shooting events at the Olympics? We can probably take the gold in those.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Such an embarrassment

Our very own Boris Yeltsin, and he does it without the booze!





Hey, if we just don't trade with anybody, we can't get screwed.  Why didn't somebody think of that before?!

And he still doesn't get that his previous tweets don't disappear on their own after he posts an edited version.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:

Baldwin responds:



UPDATE 3/2:

Dear God.

Uh-oh

It'll raise the cost of guns, too..

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

That was then, this is now

He doesn't have to be consistent.  He's the president.

(He almost sounds like Dr. Seuss in that first tweet.  If he'd just switched a couple of words around: "Some are false and some are true.  Some are old and some are new.")

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Manchin needs a long vacation from politics

Ahead of a bipartisan meeting with President Donald Trump Wednesday to discuss school safety, Democratic Senator Joe Manchin refused to support a ban on AR-15s, stating that none of his friends who own the semi-automatic rifle have ever broken the law with it.

[...]

“I don’t own an AR-15, nor do I have a need to buy one’ Manchin initially responded on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. “I have a lot of friends that own them and they are not committing crimes, they bought them because they could.”

[...]

Manchin has long been regarded as the most conservative Democrat in the Senate. Holding office in the state of West Virginia, which went to Trump by more than 40 points in the 2016 presidential election, Manchin has complained about the Democratic Party’s move to the left and flirted with retirement until as recently as last month.

  Newsweek

I think retirement is just the ticket for Mr. Manchin.

“They’re sold now legally, I’m not going to weigh in on that at this point in time,” he said. “I don’t have a desire to buy one, I don’t own one. I have a lot of friends that have sports cars, 200 mph on the speedometer, do you think they’re going to go 200? But they think they can or it will if they wanted to. That is a difficult one, there is not enough votes to repeal that.”

No. No, it's not difficult. Your friends obviously have too much money. Why are they buying things they'll never use?

Asked once again how he would vote on a proposal to ban AR-15s, Manchin said: “I don’t have any friends that own the gun right now, I don’t know anyone who’s committed a crime with it so I wouldn’t take their gun away.”

Do your friends or don't they have AR-15s? First, lots of them own them, and now none of them do.

Secondly, I guess it's technically true you don't know anyone who's committed a crime with an AR-15 if you haven't yet been introduced to Nick Cruz, but do you know anyone who's gotten hopped up on meth and held someone up at knifepoint? How do you feel about legalizing meth usage? And, furthermore, and more importantly, why does the political and social direction of the United States rest on who you know and what your ridiculous friends are doing?

 Go ahead.  Retire.  You obviously need a rest.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Gates cancels his Boston trip

Former Trump campaign deputy Rick Gates told a federal court Thursday afternoon that he and his wife believe it's "not prudent" for them to take their four children on a trip to Boston, after feeling threatened by an online commenter who invoked the Russian mafia.

[...]

One Globe reader posted two comments referencing possible violence against Gates in response to an online Boston Globe story published February 26 and titled "Following guilty plea in Mueller probe, Rick Gates plans to visit Boston." The comments suggested Russians living in Boston could be angry with Gates, if Mueller targeted them in his probe.

  CNN

Hmmmmmm. I wonder why Russian mafiosos in Boston would think Mueller would target them after talking to Gates.

Doesn't speak well of our SEALs

(It's not the first thing.)




Also, they could just go around them.  I know that's not the idea, since the prototypes are only a few feet long, but it's the same idea.  There won't be a wall encircling the entire US perimeter.  Maybe terrorists are too lazy to go around.





...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 3/2:

Litterst said the NPS received a filming permit for the area, and he told The Washington Post the application was from a “student group at a local educational institution.”

A redacted permit application obtained by the Post showed the application was filed for a “student project” related to “filming for a talent show.”

Fox News contributor Katie Pavlich stated on "Outnumbered" Wednesday that "special forces operatives and members of our Navy SEAL community were asked to try and breach the wall and they could not do it."

  The Hill

Fake news!

The Army has yet to take exception to the Special Forces claim.

This swamp drains itself

A room full of crooks and swindlers.  Should have just put locks on and guards outside the doors right then and built a new White House.  Would have cost us less in treasure, progress and standing.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.