Weekend administration terribleness

[ESF]

Good morning. Trump has a tweet thread up right now about Elijah Cummings and Baltimore that is so racist and vile that I don’t even want to link it here.

[miniroller]

I saw that disgusting-ness. Also: yesterday from his desk in the Oval, he called for an investigation on the Obama book deal. (WTF?!) Somebody is feeling awfully intimidated by well-spoken, intelligent, successful black men.
thehill.com/homenews/administration/454953-trump-calls-for-probe-of-obama-book-deal?amp

[ESF]

THIS IS NOT NORMAL

[mssaint]

I tweeted Governor Larry Hogan to see if he’ll stand up for his constituents against his fellow Republican.

[penguingrrl]

That was so vile. And I made the mistake of reading the twitter comments on the NYT article and people have such a warped view of reality. I’m scared for humanity with the twisting of this, much of which centered around retorting that Cummings is the racist and corrupt one.

[anodyne]

Wonderful and painfull commentary by victor Blackwell

[Bernadine]

Jul 27, 2019 10:03:18 GMT -5 mssaint said:

I tweeted Governor Larry Hogan to see if he’ll stand up for his constituents against his fellow Republican.

I’m hearing that people expect Hogan to run for the Senate and I’m really scared he could win.

[Jalapeñomel]

He did not deserve the honorable response Cummings gave him.

[sparrowsong]

I’m encouraged by how much Joe Walsh hates Trump. My BIL used to repost stuff from that guy all the time during Obama years. It’s a little disorienting to agree with his posts now, but I hope he has a big tide of followers who are following him still.

[seeyalater52]

Trump administration at war with itself over Medicaid....

Someone(s) at CMS leaked to the press yesterday that it is the white house’s fault (Mulvaney) that they won’t/can’t give Utah 90% FMAP for partial Medicaid expansion (to 100% FPL.) This is actually good news because it would have been a gateway to all sorts of fuckery, but awkward because Seema Verma has been swanning around promising this to all sorts of states and now she is being undermined. It is also good because the Utah legislation that enabled this waiver specified that if it were rejected it would revert back to the voter-passed Medicaid expansion initiative, which doesn’t have any nasty work requirements or a per capita cap like the current program does and proposed waiver would have. The state is eager to get out of the current mess that has them paying 30% of the costs when they could pay 10% so back into the ring we go.

Their stated rationale of not approving any ACA waivers until the lawsuit is resolved is highly disturbing though.

More here: www.washingtonpost.com/health/trump-administration-to-reject-full-medicaid-expansion-funding-for-utah/2019/07/26/964d5f3c-afd6-11e9-bc5c-e73b603e7f38_story.html?utm_term=.57bfe7cec0d9

[mbcdefg]

William Barr’s donations to Senate Republicans spiked just before they confirmed him as attorney general

qz.com/1667918/barrs-donations-to-senate-republicans-spiked-before-confirmation/

In between stints as US attorney general for George HW Bush in the early 90s and now for Donald Trump, while making millions as an executive at Verizon and a lawyer at Kirkland & Ellis, William Barr sent hundreds of thousands of dollars to various Republicans and their causes.

Most of those donations made between 1993 and 2019 were occasional at best. But in the lead up to his Senate confirmation hearings for attorney general earlier this year, his giving habits suddenly changed. Barr’s donations became far more frequent, notable for their size, recipients, and possible utility to him. In total, Barr gave $51,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC)—a group that raises money to help elect Republicans to the Senate—in the months leading up to the Senate’s confirmation of his nomination.

[georgeglass]

Baltimore Sun responds:

www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/editorial/bs-ed-0728-trump-baltimore-20190727-k6ac4yvnpvcczlaexdfglifada-story.html

Do not, under any circumstances, miss the last paragraph.

[Velar Fricative]

Jul 28, 2019 7:17:28 GMT -5 georgeglass said:

Baltimore Sun responds:

www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/editorial/bs-ed-0728-trump-baltimore-20190727-k6ac4yvnpvcczlaexdfglifada-story.html

Do not, under any circumstances, miss the last paragraph.

[This is so epic. I shared the link on FB but didn’t want anyone to miss the last paragraph so I copied that into the status.

[aurora]

Jul 28, 2019 6:51:53 GMT -5 mbcdefg said:

William Barr’s donations to Senate Republicans spiked just before they confirmed him as attorney general

qz.com/1667918/barrs-donations-to-senate-republicans-spiked-before-confirmation/

Pay to play, indeed.

[mrsukyankee]

Jul 28, 2019 7:17:28 GMT -5 georgeglass said:

Baltimore Sun responds:

www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/editorial/bs-ed-0728-trump-baltimore-20190727-k6ac4yvnpvcczlaexdfglifada-story.html

Do not, under any circumstances, miss the last paragraph.

Can you post the last paragraph for those of us in the EU? (we can't read anything in the B-Sun due to EU regs)

[underwaterrhymes]

Jul 28, 2019 8:53:31 GMT -5 mrsukyankee said:

Jul 28, 2019 7:17:28 GMT -5 georgeglass said:

Baltimore Sun responds:

www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/editorial/bs-ed-0728-trump-baltimore-20190727-k6ac4yvnpvcczlaexdfglifada-story.html

Do not, under any circumstances, miss the last paragraph.

Can you post the last paragraph for those of us in the EU? (we can't read anything in the B-Sun due to EU regs)

“Finally, while we would not sink to name-calling in the Trumpian manner — or ruefully point out that he failed to spell the congressman’s name correctly (it’s Cummings, not Cumming) — we would tell the most dishonest man to ever occupy the Oval Office, the mocker of war heroes, the gleeful grabber of women’s private parts, the serial bankrupter of businesses, the useful idiot of Vladimir Putin and the guy who insisted there are “good people” among murderous neo-Nazis that he’s still not fooling most Americans into believing he’s even slightly competent in his current post. Or that he possesses a scintilla of integrity. Better to have some vermin living in your neighborhood than to be one.”

[aliciabella]

Boom bitches, this says it all. I love Baltimore and stand with you B!

[WOT?*]

We all seeing this? WaPo story on Kushner being a slumlord in Baltimore. Not that this is news. But yay for getting the word out (again). www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/jared-kushner-owns-lots-of-apartments-in-the-baltimore-area-some-infested-with-mice/2019/07/28/0d3cb754-b13b-11e9-8f6c-7828e68cb15f_story.html?fbclid=IwAR0f2qG9RRmypm5nCBbZFNCEPMvnAgCr-AYDwsPyXfqkCj4Huxv765GNa4E&utm_term=.14a823a274a3

But again, he/it is distracting from the news that Cummings has requested copies of all e-mails of Jared and Ivanka from their private accounts. I've made mention of that when sharing/discussing the story (as well as the Baltimore Sun one.) My thanks to you all for keeping me in the loop.

[miniroller]

[tacokick]

Jul 27, 2019 10:03:18 GMT -5 mssaint said:

I tweeted Governor Larry Hogan to see if he’ll stand up for his constituents against his fellow Republican.

Hogan is trash.

[mbcdefg]

[mbcdefg]

NYT White House correspondent:

[WOT?*]

Another POS move by the Trump administration. Trump's Ag secretary wants to move half the USDA scientists to Kansas City, citing it as "cheaper." On short notice. Many are quitting instead. An absolute brain drain within the USDA.

www.afge.org/article/usda-firing-half-of-scientists-at-2-research-agencies/?fbclid=IwAR2to3iwNdoS4oHOVT1Y_AdF6DAO7GdWC2PF-rd2qOdv8iJSOsrLF3KrDCo#.XTsfmg3CWVV.facebook

My mother-in-law worked her entire career at the USDA, starting as a secretary at the Beltsville Farm right out of high school. My father-in-law worked there for a number of years (retired from there) as the facilities manager. My husband worked his way through college and law school working summers at the farm. (yay for nepotism!) The NIFA program is their grant-writing arm, which is where my MIL retired. She used to travel all over the country to the land grant universities to help with their grant programs. These schools are in every state (and are generally the major state university), the A&Ms, the HBCUs... A significant portion of these grant writers and others have been or will be putting in their notice, affecting grants (in the tens of millions of dollars or more).

Even more concerning to me (as if I wasn't concerned enough) is the Beltsville Farm property just outside of DC. Beltsville is a research facility with several hundred acres of research facilities, acreage, crops, some farm animals and is used also for education with the universities in the area for biology and other research/education purposes. This doesn't look to be aimed toward that but developers have been wanting to buy the property for decades. If it becomes a Trump (or Kushner) property I will either die or kill because my head will explode with rage.

[ECB]

Jul 27, 2019 12:41:05 GMT -5 sparrowsong said:

I’m encouraged by how much Joe Walsh hates Trump. My BIL used to repost stuff from that guy all the time during Obama years. It’s a little disorienting to agree with his posts now, but I hope he has a big tide of followers who are following him still.

This is what politics used to be!  You can disagree with policies/views - maybe more vehemently when it's the "other" party - but just because your party is in power, that doesn't mean you blindly follow them.  It's refreshing to see someone not blindly following.  And as you said - maybe some of his followers will follow suit.  

[Pom]

Jul 28, 2019 20:25:46 GMT -5 mbcdefg said:

Gonna need a bigger trap for that orange hot mess in the Oval Office.

[seeyalater52]

Trump administration loses in federal court on Medicaid work requirements... again. This time in New Hampshire. 3 for 3 on work requirements getting struck down. Or as my strategic policy director just pointed out “they keep losing because it’s fucking illegal!” 😉

ETA: real link now that it isn’t just breaking
thehill.com/policy/healthcare/455202-federal-judge-strikes-new-hampshires-medicaid-work-requirements