BY PRIYANKA ARIBINDI, BRIAN BEUTLER 

& CROOKED MEDIA

Tuesday, February 12, 2019

—Rep. Max Rose (D-NY), who first called out Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) comments, pointing out Republican hypocrisy

ALL IN ALL IT'S ANOTHER DICK AND HIS WALL

Every Republican in Washington is on knife’s edge hoping that Donald Trump doesn’t cave to President Ann Coulter (again) and shut down the government (again). They are counting on “cooler heads” in the White House to prevail on Trump to fund the government, then steal disaster-relief dollars to build a wall on the southern border without authorization. Pretty dark when the “cooler heads” are good with stealing from communities ravaged by fires, floods, and hurricanes for a wall we don’t need!

Mere minutes after we sent Monday night’s newsletter with an update on Trump’s latest shutdown threats, congressional negotiators announced an agreement in principle to fund the government past Friday. (We are always timely and your subscription is worth it.)

The deal swaps about $1.3 billion in funding for new border fencing—no wall allowed—for a slight reduction in federal law enforcement’s capacity to keep immigrants in detention.

Naturally, this is not racist enough for Coulter and Trump’s other bosses, and they want Trump to reject the proposal. “Any Republican that supports this garbage compromise, you will have to explain,” Sean Hannity warned just as the news broke.

Trump stressed on Tuesday that he is unhappy with the agreement, but that he is unlikely to shut down the government again. Instead, the White House is reportedly “firming up plans” to issue an executive order “to shift money from two Army Corps of Engineers’ flood control projects in Northern California, as well as from disaster relief funds intended for California and Puerto Rico [and] Department of Defense funds for military construction, like family housing or infrastructure for military bases.”

We’re going to build a wall—and fire, flood, and hurricane victims, along with military families, are going to pay for it!

Trump has been threatening to take money away from California disaster victims for months and months. It’s always been a malicious breach of his oath of office, but it’s especially stupid now that the speaker of the House is from California. Courts are likely to step in if Trump tries to plunder these funds, but Nancy Pelosi can stop him before he starts by placing specific prohibitions on his plans in the bill. At this point, he’s almost daring her to do just that.

Utah’s Republican governor has signed legislation to shrink the state’s voter-approved Medicaid expansion to cover 60,000 fewer people, while costing the state millions more. Because a partial expansion like this has never been done, it will need to be approved by the Trump administration. If the federal government rejects the plan, the legislation falls back on the original expansion with the addition of work requirements and other limits. Republicans really don’t like it when other people go see the doctor.

Leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee are at odds over what their investigators have discovered, as they near the conclusion of their Russia investigation. Chairman Richard Burr says the committee discovered no “direct” evidence of a conspiracy between Russia and the Trump campaign. Vice Chairman Mark Warner disputes this and notes that the committee has yet to interview several key witnesses. From Brian: One of those witnesses is Trump Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort, who gave detailed, internal polling data to a Russian spy with direct ties to the intelligence unit that sabotaged the election. So, yes, collusion.

A federal jury in New York has convicted drug kingpin “El Chapo” on 10 conspiracy and drug charges. He faces life in prison.

The Senate will vote on the Green New Deal resolution, because Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is a troll. Note: last time Senate Republicans tried to divide Democrats by forcing a vote on a progressive bill, most Democrats voted “present” and the stunt was instantly forgotten.

21 Savage was released on bond today after being detained by ICE earlier this month.

Mark Kelly, retired astronaut and husband of former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-AZ), is running for Senate as a Democrat against Martha McSally in Arizona.

A major winter storm in Hawaii has brought snow to a state park in Maui—it may be the first snowfall there ever. The state is also facing heavy winds and flooding.

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) has abandoned plans for a high-speed rail line between Los Angeles and San Francisco, citing the $77 billion price tag and years of anticipated delays. Green New Deal supporters will have to contend with the fact that every modern infrastructure project in America is extremely costly and doesn’t work.  

Apparently Jeff Bezos’s mistress’s brother was the one who leaked those sexts to the National Enquirer. From Brian: So, uh, how did he get his sister’s sexts, because one way or another that’s really gross!

Esquire commissioned a deep dive on the most pressing* issue of our time: The misunderstood white male experience.

(*least pressing)

After President Trump attacked the media during his El Paso rally Monday night, one of his supporters entered the press pit and physically attacked reporters while shouting “fuck the media.” The attacker reportedly targeted a BBC cameraman, knocked over equipment, and shoved people, before a reporter restrained him. Just 10 minutes later, Trump resumed attacking the media from the podium.

This is the first time a Trump supporter has physically assaulted members of the media during one of his events, but far from the first time his supporters have shouted obscenities at reporters and threatened them with violence. The White House waited almost a day to condemn the violence.

Flatiron School is an intensive tech school designed to teach you skills like software engineering, data science, and UX/UI Design to help you revamp your career. Not sold yet? Now they’re offering the Change Makers Scholarship starting at $1500 to students who apply by February 28, meaning you can change your life, get the gigs you’ve always wanted, and save money while you’re doing it! What are you waiting for?  →

Donald Trump, the same man who used anti-semitic imagery to campaign against Hillary Clinton, called Mexicans rapists, cracked jokes about Native Americans, and spouts almost as many racist comments as he does lies while never once apologizing, called on Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) to resign from Congress or be banned from serving on committees over comments many believed played on anti-semetic tropes (which she has apologized for).

Eighty-one percent of adults nationally believe that Special Counsel Mueller’s report should be released publicly, including 79 percent of Republicans, and a majority of people trust Mueller’s version of the facts more than Trump’s.

However, Trump’s attorney general nominee William Barr has declined to commit to releasing Mueller’s findings publicly. Last month, Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) introduced the Special Counsel Transparency Act, to “guarantee that every Special Counsel does a report complete with findings and evidence—and that it be directly disclosed to Congress and the American people.”

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