* Today Trump said that maybe we should have a rating system for movies. Do you think maybe someone should tell him…oh, never mind.
Here’s the video of Trump talking about video games and movie rating systems pic.twitter.com/OlsbLVO0yI
— Gideon Resnick (@GideonResnick) February 22, 2018
* During the president’s “listening session” yesterday when he was talking about arming teachers, Trump said, “I think it could very well solve your problem.” Notice that he referred to the shooting of innocent children as “your” problem. No wonder this guy’s staff have to script him for signs of empathy – he has none.
President Donald Trump holds notes during a White House listening session with students and parents affected by school shootings. (AP Photo by Carolyn Kaster) pic.twitter.com/Z0lZbSVaoF
— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) February 21, 2018
* Speaking of stupid things people said, here’s something Sen. Marco Rubio tweeted today:
Banning all semi-auto weapons may have been popular with the audience at #CNNTownHall, but it is a position well outside the mainstream https://t.co/18rMDwEfGs
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) February 22, 2018
I guess 67 percent of Americans are “outside the mainstream,” because that is how many of us support a nationwide ban on the sale of assault weapons, according to a Quinnipiac poll that was just released.
* No, CNN did not attempt to script participants at last night’s town hall forum.
CNN response to the claim of a “scripted question” for last night’s town hall: pic.twitter.com/Mz1hMqqfkw
— CNN Communications (@CNNPR) February 22, 2018
* Chris McDaniel has uncovered an important story that might get lost amidst all the other news.
Procuring execution drugs has become almost impossible, as major pharmaceutical companies stopped making them or refused to provide them for capital punishment. Missouri itself faced a crisis in early 2014, when the previous pharmacy it had been using was exposed in the press and stopped providing the state with drugs. Scrambling, Missouri found a new pharmacy and stockpiled the lethal injection drug pentobarbital, enabling it to set a record pace for executions, scheduling one a month for more than a year.
To hide the identity of the new pharmacy, the state has taken extraordinary steps. It uses a code name for the pharmacy in its official documents. Only a handful of state employees know the real name. The state fought at least six lawsuits to stop death row inmates and the press from knowing the pharmacy’s identity. Even the way Missouri buys and collects the drugs is cloak-and-dagger: The state sends a high-ranking corrections officer to a clandestine meeting with a company representative, exchanging an envelope full of cash for vials of pentobarbital. Since 2014, Missouri has spent more than $135,000 in such drug deals.
But now, BuzzFeed News can reveal the supplier: Foundation Care, a 14-year-old pharmacy based in the suburbs of St. Louis that has been repeatedly found to engage in hazardous pharmaceutical procedures and whose cofounder has been been accused of regularly ordering prescription medications for himself without a doctor’s prescription.
* Take 3 minutes to watch Justice David Souter’s prescient remarks back in 2012 about the dangers that emanate from civic ignorance. While you do so, keep in mind Donald Trump’s statement at the Republican Convention: ” I alone can fix it.”
* Yesterday I wrote about how the social media savvy Generation Zers are taking on the pro-Trumpers. Here is a perfect example:
CNN’s Blitzer to Student: “Cameron, what do you say to conspiracy theorists who say you’re paid actors?”
Cameron: “Had they seen me in our production of Fiddler on the Roof, they’d know no one would ever pay me to act.”
I. Love. These. Kids. #NeverAgain #ParklandStudents
— Kathleen Smith (@KikkiPlanet) February 21, 2018
* Finally, there is a whole lot of truth packed into this short speech.
Last night my #MuhammadAli book won the @PENamerican @espn Award for Literary Sportswriting. Wow! Here’s my acceptance speech. @HMHbooks pic.twitter.com/DzfU4nNyrt
— Jonathan Eig (@jonathaneig) February 21, 2018
