TRUMP LANGUAGE LESSON: "While aboard AF1 with Trump and Rick Scott, Matt Gaetz said Scott was 'fumbling through his asks' of POTUS after opening a large notebook titled 'Issues to Discuss with the President on Air Force One.' 1/ Per Gaetz, the book was filled with maps and engineering drawings of Lake Okeechobee and materials concerning other water-related issues important to Florida. 2/

Like toxic chemicals in your drinking water? David Dunlap was hired by @EPA in OCT 2018. Has avoided a Senate confirmation hearing in which his prior Koch work experience might come up because Trump hasn't officially nominated anyone to fill the post.
vanityfair.com/news/2019/02/t… Dunlap reportedly involved in high-level meetings that preceded @EPA's decision NOT to set drinking water limits for chemicals known as perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, which “have been linked with kidney and testicular cancer, as well as other ailments.”

HAPPENING TONIGHT -- Per Florida Playbook's @MarcACaputo and Matt Dixon: "To celebrate Rick Scott officially becoming Florida's junior U.S. Senator, his New Republican PAC is throwing a 'black tie optional' Sunshine Ball in D.C. tonight... 1/ ... at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium on Constitution Avenue. A few Scott critics (including a Republican) flagged the event to us as an example of the gov-turned-senator entering his new job on a tone-deaf note in the capital amid a federal government shutdown. 2/

Mr. Bloomberg's gift is incredibly generous, but we must also address the systemic problems that afflict poor students during their college years and beyond. nyti.ms/2DyaPEK The following thread is taken from the NYT comments of John from Santa Cruz about Michael Bloomberg's gift.

ICYMT: Private investments made by the Scotts have raised alarms before about a possible conflict between the governor's duties and his personal life. tampabay.com/florida-politi… Other investments that have posed questions involve health care, a high-speed rail system, a natural gas pipeline, prescription drugs, mosquito control and an oil services company.

Ted Turner reveals he has Lewy body dementia cnnmon.ie/2NOBSlB via @CNNMoney This is sad news. My late mom had Alzheimer's so I know the way his life will take now. And what a life he's had! I lived in Atlanta for 35+ years, so I've followed Captain Outrageous's adventures, achievements (the Braves won their only World Series under his ownership)... 1/

STUDY: Mail ballots cast by youngest voters, blacks and Hispanics were much more likely to be rejected than mail ballots cast by white voters, and that those voters are less likely to cure problems with their ballots when notified by election supervisors. tampabay.com/florida-politi… "The main reasons why mail ballots are rejected are that a voter didn't sign the ballot envelope or that the voter's signature on the envelope did not match the voter's signature on file with the county elections office." 1/

Dr. José Baselga, chief medical officer at Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. didn't follow financial disclosure rules set by the American Association for Cancer Research when he was its president. nyti.ms/2MUXlcl When you’re asked to donate to cancer research at a leading hospital, you’re basically giving money to wealthy doctors on the pharmaceutical industry payroll. Given all the potential + actual self-dealing, how do these places keep their nonprofit + charity status? ~ Gwen, Queens

Vice = In place of
Roy = King

Erik Prince (also @BetseyDeVos's brother) is aptly named. How much longer will the US Congress tolerate King Trump's Mob enterprise? @SenateMajLdr @SpeakerRyan @SenBillNelson @marcorubio @RepGusBilirakis

https://twitter.com/RBReich/status/1030522337861365760

Why Afghanistan? It's not so much about the military cost of the war. There are two other reasons. One: The country is one of the world's largest sources of opium syrup for heroin, a very lucrative trade. brookings.edu/blog/order-fro…

That poor-me-it's-the-feds dog don't hunt, @FLGovScott #FLCorruption

https://twitter.com/FLGovScott/status/1028050707646226433

You waged a long fight with the feds to delay upping clean water standards. In 2012 you killed a statewide septic tank inspection program; you ended a springs restoration initiative. You forced the state's 5 regional water mgmt districts to reduce their budgets by $700M 1/

Wow. That was the most disgusting and and disgraceful performance by a U.S. President during a press conference with a world leader that I have ever heard -- and I'm in my 70s. The @GOP had better stand up against Trump ASAP or they'll pay for it big time at the polls. "... and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." IMO @realDonaldTrump breached his oath of office with his presser remarks denigrating the US government and show of obvious approval of and collusion with Vladimir Putin.

Something to think about as we continue to ask #WhereAreTheChildren:

The United States signed the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (#UNCRC) in 1995, but is the only United Nations member state that is not a party to it. A short explanatory history follows. 1/ On 16 February 1995, Madeleine Albright, at the time the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, signed the Convention. Ratification requires that the President send it to the Senate for a 2/3 majority vote to pass; if it does, the President can then ratify it. 2/

If Brett Kavanaugh's swift, steady climb up the American legal ladder clears one more rung, the Supreme Court of the United States will have a majority of justices, five of them, who as young adults previously worked there in intensely coveted positions as clerks. 1/ It will have seven justices who before joining the Court worked in pivotal chapters of their careers as favored subordinates to powerful figures in Washington, D.C. It will have eight people who served tenures on federal appellate courts. 2/

Time to re-up this JAN 2018 story about how being denied abortions negatively affects women in the workplace. It's not just bad for them, but for America's economy. on.mktw.net/2K68HoT Study: Findings indicated that women denied a wanted abortion had four times greater odds of having a household income below the federal poverty level and three times greater odds of being unemployed after six months. 1/

@AP “Immigrants have been serving in the Army since 1775. We wouldn’t have won the revolution without immigrants. And we’re not going to win the global war on terrorism today without immigrants.” ~ Margaret Stock, immigration lawyer and Lt. Col. USA Reserve (ret.) 1/ @AP President George W. Bush ordered “expedited naturalization” for immigrant soldiers in 2002; Obama expanded the recruiting program to include DACA recipients with more security but angering conservatives. Under Trump even more hurdles added. 2/