Timeline of Fucked Up News: February 2018

In 2018 I began keeping a log of fucked up news stories in an effort to avoid becoming accustomed to how fucked up everything is. This is the log for February.

You may also be interested in the log for January or the log for March.

American flag at half-staff. Photo by Jacob Stone on Unsplash.

February 1

• The Trump administration wants to cut funding for clean energy research by 72% in order to focus on exploiting fossil fuel resources.
• Two students are shot and three are injured at Salvador Castro Middle School in Los Angeles.
• The Trump administration strips the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s enforcement powers and drops lawsuits against predatory payday lenders.
• Trump tweets that his State of the Union address was the most watched in history. It wasn’t even close.
• Donald Trump Jr. tweets that Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe was fired, contradicting the administration’s line that he stepped down for his own reasons.

February 2

• The Trump administration calls for the development of new types of lower yield nuclear weapons that could be used to respond to non-nuclear attacks.
• The White House releases the “Nunes memo” against the objections of the FBI and the DOJ. It makes no sense.
• The acting director of ICE says politicians who run sanctuary cities should be charged with crimes.
• Trump tweets that the top leadership at the FBI and DOJ are politicizing investigations against Republicans. In fact the top leadership at the FBI and DOJ are Republicans, many of whom Trump appointed.
• After persistently refusing to allow DACA legislation unless Democrats agree to fund a border wall, Trump tweets that Democrats are blocking a DACA fix “for political purposes”.
• The flu hospitalization rate in the US is the highest on record. Meanwhile, the CDC is cutting back on disease prevention efforts due to lack of funding.
• The White House waived the ethics pledge requirement for a corn syrup lobbyist so she could join the USDA and help set dietary guidelines.

February 3

• Carter Page bragged that he was an advisor to the Kremlin in a 2013 letter.
• The US government will borrow nearly $1 trillion this year, an 84% increase and the largest non-recession increase since Reagan.

February 5

• In a tweet, Trump accuses Rep. Adam Smith (D-CA) of leaking confidential information and calls former FBI Director James Comey, Senator Mark Warner (D-VA), former CIA director John Brennan, and former director of national intelligence James Clapper liars.
• A Republican Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice who ruled in a gerrymandering case failed to report donations from Republican members of Congress who stood to benefit from the ruling.

February 6

• Republicans carried out a years-long gerrymandering scheme that has allowed them to gain and keep control of Congress despite receiving fewer total votes than Democrats.
• FEMA awarded a one-woman company with no disaster relief experience a $156 million contract to provide 30 million meals for Puerto Ricans. She provided only 50,000 improperly packaged meals before the contract was canceled.
• Trump told top military officials he wants a grand military parade in Washington, D.C. “like the one in France”. He wants the parade to pass by the Trump International Hotel.
• Trump says he would “love to see a [government] shutdown” if Congress doesn’t pass the immigration measures Republicans want.
• A Tennessee sheriff ordered officers to shoot a man rather than using their vehicles to bring his to a stop, saying, “I love this shit”. The man, who had been driving with a suspended license, died of a gunshot wound to the head.

February 7

• White House staff secretary Rob Porter resigns after being accused by two ex-wives of years of abuse and assault. Senior White House staff, including Chief of Staff John Kelly, had known about the abuse allegations for months. Police and the FBI also knew.
• The Department of the Interior opens millions of acres of National Conservation Lands to mining.
• Republicans threaten to cut off funding for the WHO’s cancer research program because a WHO study showed that an ingredient used in Roundup is carcinogenic.

February 8

• EPA head Scott Pruitt suggests that global warming might be a good thing.
• Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee plan to construct a physical wall separating Republican and Democratic staff members.
• White House Chief of Staff John Kelly knew weeks ago that the FBI recommended denying security clearance to Rob Porter, but allowed him to continue working (and briefing the President) under an interim clearance.

February 9

• After cutting taxes drastically in December, Congress authorizes the largest increase in federal spending since the stimulus package during the Great Recession in 2009. Most of the money goes to the military.
• White House Chief of Staff John Kelly told senior staff to lie about when he learned of the abuse allegations against Rob Porter and how he responded to them.
• White House speechwriter David Sorensen resigns after learning the Washington Post planned to report that his ex-wife had accused him of physical and emotional abuse when interviewed by the FBI during a background check last fall.
• The former Kentucky campaign chair for the Trump campaign pleads guilty to sex trafficking of minors. Tim Nolan threatened some of his 19 victims with arrest or eviction if they didn’t perform sex acts, and gave others heroin and painkillers.
• Vice President Mike Pence and Second Lady Karen Pence refuse to stand for the combined Korean Olympic team, after having staged a walk-out of an NFL game a few months prior in protest of players who refused to stand for the national anthem.

February 11

• The Trump administration plans to privatize the International Space Station and turn it into a commercial real estate venture. NASA had previously considered privatizing the station.
• The Trump-appointed acting head of the Federal Railroad Administration resigns after Politico discovers he never actually quit his old job as a PR consultant in Mississippi.
• In the midst of the worst flu epidemic in over a decade, a lobbying group backed by the Koch brothers is fighting against laws requiring paid sick leave.

February 12

• The White House proposes a $4.4 trillion budget that cuts funding for the EPA, domestic programs, and entitlements (including Medicare, food stamps, and housing subsidies); increases military spending; and makes no attempt to balance the budget. It projects a deficit of at least $7.1 trillion over the next decade.
• The Trump administration has a 34% staff turnover rate — the highest in decades — and many positions have yet to be filled.

February 13

• Trump lawyer Michael Cohen claims that he used his own funds “to facilitate a payment of $130,000” to porn star Stormy Daniels, and that neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign “reimbursed [him] for the payment”. The wording of his statement leaves much room for interpretation.
• Immediately after the formation of the LLC that was used to pay $130,000 to Stormy Daniels, a series of unusually large disbursements totaling over $130,000 were made from the Trump campaign to various Trump-owned properties.
• Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner have taken on millions of dollars in personal debt since they began working at the White House. It’s unclear why.

February 14

• A shooter kills 17 people and injures 14 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida using a legally purchased AR-15 style assault rifle. Students tweet about the shooting in real time while hiding under their desks. Republicans offer thoughts and prayers.
• Raphael Sanchez, chief counsel for the ICE office in Seattle, allegedly stole the identities of immigrants and used them to defraud major financial institutions. He later pleaded guilty to the charge.
• Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin’s chief of staff doctored an email and made false statements to justify using government funds to cover expenses for Shulkin’s wife on a 10-day trip to Europe. Shulkin himself improperly accepted Wimbledon tickets. Shulkin is one of five Trump appointees whose travel expenses are being investigated.

February 15

• Former White House strategist Steve Bannon refuses to answer most questions posed to him by the House Intelligence Committee under subpoena, claiming the White House had not authorized him to answer those questions. The committee is considering charging him with contempt.
• Trump’s inaugural committee paid $26 million to an event planning company that was formed a month before the inauguration by an adviser to Melania Trump.
• The White House’s FY 2019 budget request, released two days before the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, proposed cutting funds for school violence prevention programs and mental health aid.

February 16

• 13 Russian individuals and three Russian companies are indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller for allegedly interfering in the 2016 Presidential election in a conspiracy that began in 2014.
• Former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal had a nine-month affair with Donald Trump during his marriage to Melania. The National Enquirer paid her to keep quiet.
• Jared Kushner filed another addendum to his personal financial disclosures in January, adding even more previously undisclosed business interests.
• More than 40% of Trump’s first Cabinet-level picks have faced ethical or other controversies just over a year into his presidency.

February 18

• US officials are telling world leaders to ignore the President’s tweets, which have frequently contradicted or undermined official positions of the US government, leading to confusion.
• Trump tweets that he “never said Russia did not meddle in the election”. In fact he did, many times.
• Trump mocks Oprah Winfrey.

February 19

• Donald Trump is the worst president according to a New York Times survey of politics experts.

February 20

• A Maryland student brought a loaded Glock 9mm handgun to school. After a school resource officer found it in his bag, police searched his home and found an AR-15 style assault rifle, more handguns, tactical vests, and a possible detonator device.
• VA Secretary David Shulkin announces he will “purge” the VA of people who have led a “subversion” against him, less than a week after an inspector general report (see February 14) revealed he had accepted an improper gift and that his chief of staff had lied and doctored an email to justify improper use of government funds for travel expenses incurred by Shulkin’s wife.

February 21

• Paul Manafort may have promised a White House job to a Chicago banker in return for $16 million in home loans.
• Mississippi awards a $6 million tax break to the developers of a Trump-branded hotel.
• A Texas school district threatens to suspend any student who protests gun violence during school hours.
• Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) claims that many mass shooters “end up being Democrats”.

February 22

• Special Counsel Robert Mueller files additional fraud charges against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and former Trump campaign deputy Rick Gates. Among other charges, Manafort is accused of laundering $30 million. Gates is accused of laundering $3 million.
• Missouri governor Eric Greitens, a “family values” Republican, is indicted on a felony invasion of privacy charge for “photographing a nude or partially nude person without the person’s knowledge or consent”.
• Two weeks after Trump nominated him to be ambassador to Barbados, Leandro Rizzuto Jr. pledged upwards of $15,000 to fund a gala at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club.
• Trump suggests arming teachers and giving them combat training, with a financial bonus for teachers who agree to participate.
• During a meeting with parents, students, and teachers from Stoneman Douglas High School, Trump refers to a note containing handwritten instructions for demonstrating empathy.

February 23

• Former Trump deputy campaign manager Rick Gates pleads guilty to conspiracy against the United States and lying to the FBI. He is also charged with bank fraud, money laundering, and failing to register as a foreign agent. Gates joined the Trump campaign in June 2016 and remained through the election and inauguration.
• Jared Kushner’s security clearance still hasn’t been finalized, possibly because he keeps amending his disclosure forms to add previously undisclosed foreign contacts and financial information.
• Measles cases in Europe have quadrupled in the past year, killing at least 35 children. Anti-vaccine movements have resulted in lower vaccination rates, allowing the disease to spread more easily.
• Trump has officially directed the Department of Defense to organize a military parade to take place on Veterans Day in Washington D.C.

February 24

• Bernie Sanders has been spreading a false story about his campaign sharing information with the Clinton campaign about suspected Russian trolls.
• Trump Organization executives are physically resisting efforts by a Panama hotel owners’ association to evict them from a hotel after canceling their management contract. In addition to blocking the hotel owners’ team from entering parts of the building, the Trump team has been observed shredding documents.

February 25

• China’s Communist Party announces plans to abolish presidential term limits, which will allow Xi Jinping to stay in power indefinitely.

February 26

• Despite Trump’s promises that the Republican tax cut would encourage US companies to invest in factories, workers, and wages, companies are instead buying back their own stock shares at record levels, enriching investors but doing little for average Americans.
• The Trump Organization has begun paying the U.S. Treasury to compensate for hotel profits from foreign officials, but won’t disclose the amounts of the payments, the transactions being compensated for, or the foreign governments involved.

February 27

• The U.S. Supreme Court rules that immigrants — even those with permanent legal status — don’t have the right to periodic bond hearings and can therefore be detained indefinitely without trial.
• Anti-Semitic incidents in the U.S. increased 57 percent in 2017 according to the Anti-Defamation League.
• Jared Kushner’s security clearance is downgraded amid reports that officials in at least four countries (China, United Arab Emirates, Israel, and Mexico) discussed ways to manipulate him by taking advantage of his financial difficulties and lack of foreign policy experience.
• White House communications director Hope Hicks tells the House Intelligence Committee that her work for President Trump has occasionally required her to tell “white lies”. She repeatedly refuses to answer questions about the presidential transition or her time in the White House despite having no legal grounds for refusal.
• Russian operatives gained access to the state election websites or voter registration systems of seven states prior to the 2016 election, according to U.S. intelligence sources.
• The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s press staff warned House candidates not to “politicize” the Las Vegas shooting in an email sent the morning after the shooting. They were told instead to offer “thoughts/prayers for victims and their families”.
• FedEx made secret agreements with the NRA and gun manufacturers to provide less expensive shipping options for firearms in an attempt to win their business from UPS. The secret agreements were revealed after FedEx refused to end their public NRA discount program, arguing that to do so would be “discriminatory”.

February 28

• A teacher at Dalton High School in Georgia barricades himself in a classroom and fires a handgun.
• After rejecting a ban on assault-style weapons, Florida Republicans approve $67 million in spending for a program that would train teachers to carry guns in schools.
• White House communications director Hope Hicks resigns.
• Jared Kushner’s family business received a total of $509 million in loans from two companies after Kushner met with their representatives at the White House. One of the men in question was under consideration for a White House job.
• An Oklahoma school district is installing bulletproof shelters in classrooms. The school superintendent calls them “relaxing” and “comfortable”.
• The U.S. solar company SunPower will lay off hundreds of workers due to new costs associated with Trump’s solar tariffs. The company previously announced they would halt plans for a $20 million factory expansion due to the tariffs.