Curse of Chucky
Not that it matters to him or other Democrats, but Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer only four years ago spoke forcefully on how important it was for a president to have his Cabinet nominees confirmed.
"Just about everyone in America, Democrat, Republican, liberal, conservative," he said in 2013 when the president was Barack Obama, "believes that once you elect a president he deserves his choices to run the executive branch. But a new tactic has been introduced to try to paralyze the executive branch the way they paralyze the legislative branches because they really don't want the government to function."
He was referring to the GOP's slow-walking of one nominee, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, but today he is full-throated in his effort that any and all of President Trump's nominees should be stopped.
Despite nominees Republicans might consider as unworthy or lacking in stature, seven of Obama's nominees were confirmed on the first day of his presidency, and 12 of 15 had been confirmed by this time. Only eight of Trump's nominees have been confirmed.
It makes a difference who wins the election, eh Senator?
If her mouth is moving
Former EPA Administrator McCarthy became the second former Obama Cabinet member to advise California last week, and her first public statement told you all you needed to know.
While denying the administration, other politicians and environmentalists waged a "war on coal" during Obama's presidency, she was sitting in front of a "coal sucks" poster in the office of California's top state senator.
"I'm concerned about this administration and their commitment," she said. And, as if to answer those who believe environmentalism is its own religion, she added that skeptics of global warming followed a "politically induced religion."
McCarthy was advising Democratic lawmakers on how the state could move forward on policies involving global warming while fending off Trump administration policies that will curtail Obama's moves on the issue.
The EPA administrator during Obama's second term, she presided over plans to implement the president's "Climate Action Plan," which involved sweeping regulations on power plants and natural gas wells.
In addition to McCarthy, the state has retained former Obama Attorney General Eric Holder to assist the state in legal battles against the Trump administration.
Times, they are a'changin'
Left-wing protesters rolled out their best George Wallace impression last week and blocked Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos from District of Columbia's Jefferson Middle School.
How the times have changed. In 1963, the Alabama governor blocked the doors of the University of Alabama to keep black students from entering, but in 2016 a Black Lives Matter protester, among union members and a few parents, blocked the door of a woman who wants to make education better for blacks and all students.
"Keep giving money to senators and buying your way to the position," one protester said, according to a video from ABC reporter Sam Sweeney. "I hope you're proud of yourself."
"Go back," the protester yelled as she returned to her car. "Shame! Shame! Shame!"
Eventually, DeVos did get to enter the school, but the ugly incident likely will do little to convince members of the Trump administration that they are wrong by wanting to change things for the better in public schools.
We're protesting what?
Like many who have protested President Trump's recent temporary travel ban on visitors from seven majority-Muslim countries, high school students in New York City last week railing against the temporary ban had no idea about the specifics of the issue.
The original order, which was suspended late last week by the 9th U.S. Circuit of Appeals, established a 90-day freeze on travelers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Sudan and Yemen and a 120-day moratorium on the refugee settlement program.
But the students, who skipped classes to protest in Manhattan's Foley Square, were relatively clueless, according to a Fox News report.
One female, asked if she thought it was important for potential visa applicants or refugees to be "extremely vetted," wondered why the government would want them screened in the first place.
Asked which nations were on the travel list, one student answered, "Well, as of right now, I'm not completely sure of the actual countries. Another mentioned Lebanon and Afghanistan, neither of which is on the list.
Another student said none of the countries on the list are "terrorist countries." Uh, Iran? Syria?
Yet another got himself tied in a truth knot when the interviewer asked him if he believed in borders. "If you're cool and all, you're coming in to help me, I'm cool with that," the student said. "But you're not coming here to mess things up." "So," the interviewer said, "don't you want to check to see if someone's 'cool' before you let them in?" "Well, of course," the student said, "you always want to check. That's why we have our airports." "And that's why we want extreme vetting," the interviewer said. "Of course, of course," the student acknowledged. "So, the interviewer said, "you do agree with the Trump ban." The student, naturally, was speechless.