The Days’ Reading, 2/23–24/17
Not actually ready for this week to be over.
So Brave
Joy Resmovits, Los Angeles Times, DeVos reportedly disputed Trump plans to roll back transgender student protections — so brave that she leaked the story rather than going public herself or resigning rather than participating in the politics of hate. (And to be clear, that’s exactly what this is; it’s not a mere policy difference where you weigh the pros and cons and say, “I don’t agree but I’d rather stay in this position and be able to affect the next thing that comes down the road.” Of course you don’t resign over every little difference with your boss. But when faced with a clear moral obligation like this, if you’re not resisting, you’re collaborating.)
Sarah D. Wire, Los Angeles Times, Rep. Duncan Hunter’s office says he will no longer meet with protest groups
T.S. Strickland, The Washington Post, At town hall, conservative lawmaker calls on Trump to release tax returns — he wants to shut down the EPA, repeal the ACA, and fuckin’ loves the 10th Amendment, but hey, at least he’s committed to one of the basic propositions of the last 50 years of presidential politics
Josh Israel, ThinkProgress, Trump calls for end to unnamed sources shortly after his staff gives unnamed briefing
Health care
Anna Gorman, Kaiser Health News, Single-Payer Health Care Bill Introduced In California Senate — oh no! Disruption! The Silicon Valley notion of “disruption” as the highest moral value is weird and stupid and annoying but when it comes to a complaint that “this change would be disruptive to the health-care system!” I’ve got relatively little sympathy. It’s a broken system that the ACA was hopefully part of a first step toward fixing. With that off the table, we need other fixes. I don’t mean to be callous because disruption in the health care system isn’t like disruption in the taxi system; it’s lives and health we’re talking about. But it’s lives and health we’re talking about either way, whether we leave the broken system or try to fix it. It is not morally sound to leave something the way it is because different people will be hurt by a change; all the people count the same. (Look at this, I’ve talked my way into The Trolley Problem, the easiest philosophical riddle in history.)
Darius Tahir, Politico, Boehner: Republicans won’t repeal and replace Obamacare — instead they’ll just let it wither on the vine by undermining the exchanges and making it impossible to function
Diversity
Sarah Larimer, The Washington Post, An Iowa Republican wants universities to ask prospective professors: How would you vote? — the number of different ways this is a stupid idea are staggering. Using party affiliation to get at diversity of political thought is one. The idea that a strict quota on party affiliation is equivalent to attempts to build diversity on other vectors is another.
Politicos
Philip Rucker, The Washington Post, Trump adviser Bryan Lanza joins private strategy firm — when we start punishing people for helping bring about the end of civilization, I hope we don’t forget these brave souls who got Trump elected but then couldn’t be bothered to stick around for the actual governance.
Pruitt
Brady Dennis & Steven Mufson, The Washington Post, Thousands of emails detail EPA head’s close ties to fossil fuel industry — day late, dollar short
Town Halls
Aaron Blake, The Washington Post, Sean Spicer blames chaotic town halls on ‘professional protesters.’ So did Obama’s team. — in this case both sides really did do it, I guess
Prosecutors
Frank Shyong, Joel Rubin, Los Angeles Times, State Bar of California seeks to discipline ex-L.A. city attorney Carmen Trutanich
Colmes
Stephen Battaglio, Los Angeles Times, Alan Colmes, liberal voice on Fox News, dies at 66
Movies
Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times, Melanie Lynskey raises hell in the bloody dark comedy ‘I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore’
Noel Murray, Los Angeles Times, Long-delayed action film ‘Collide’ is one dopey ride
Katie Walsh, Los Angeles Times, Beaten and battered bride-to-be persists in indie drama ‘Erasing Eden’
Sheri Linden, Los Angeles Times, Tragic story of the Holodomor is reduced to cliché in historical drama ‘Bitter Harvest’
Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times, Jordan Peele’s clever horror-satire ‘Get Out’ is an overdue Hollywood response to our racial anxiety
Arrow
Pablo Balán, The Washington Post, Kenneth Arrow has died. He changed our view of politics.
Hate
Carimah Townes, ThinkProgress, One day after denouncing ‘hate-motivated violence,’ Spicer refuses to denounce Islamophobia
Rich Juzwiak, Jezebel, Anti-Trans Activist Stumped When Asked if Laverne Cox Should Use the Men’s Room
Tactics
Graham Vyse, The New Republic, One Teachers Union Is Talking to Betsy DeVos. The Other One Isn’t. Which Is Right?
“Opposition”
Scott Lemieux, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Only Blind Partisanship Could Prevent Liberals From Seeing Rand Paul as a Principled Critic of Executive Overreach
Nazis
Matt Pearce, Los Angeles Times, White nationalist leader Richard Spencer booted from Conservative Political Action Conference — the conniptions the conservatives are putting themselves through about whether or not to welcome literal Nazis into their movement is really telling
David Weigel & John Wagner, The Washington Post, Alt-right leader expelled from CPAC after organizer denounces ‘fascist group’
Ellie Shechet, The Slot, Does Richard Spencer Dress Like Shit? A Bespoke Tailor Evaluates
California Senate
John Myers and Melanie Mason, Los Angeles Times, A state senator is removed from the chamber for her comments about Tom Hayden and Vietnam — not a good look, dudes
TV
Alison Herman, The Ringer, ‘The Good Place’ Twists the Sitcom Season Finale
Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times, Folk-singing and espionage: Amazon’s ‘Patriot’ is an unusually sleepy thriller
No on S
Emily Alpert Reyes, Los Angeles Times, Gov. Jerry Brown on Measure S: It ‘goes too far’
What the Fuck
Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, Man shouts ‘get out of my country’ before killing one man and injuring two at Kansas bar, witnesses say
DNC
Clio Chang, The New Republic, The Case for Tom Perez Makes No Sense
Theater
Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, This ‘Fun Home’ weaves tragedy and comedy into a wholly original American musical — next weekend!!!
Cosby
Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, Only 1 of 13 additional Bill Cosby accusers can testify at sexual assault trial, judge says — the idea being that tons of dudes rape women on the “casting couch” so it’s too generalized a bad act to be admissible???
Workers
Danielle Douglas-Gabriel, The Washington Post, Yale graduate students vote to form a union
Jesse Einhorn & Nathaniel Friedman, Jacobin, LeBron and the Union
