Idiocracy

The Dayton Daily News reports: As other states are facing outbreaks of childhood diseases such as measles and mumps, Ohio lawmakers are considering legislation that would require school districts to tell parents how easy it is to opt out of immunizations. When schools notify parents of immunization requirements, they would be required to spell out available exemptions, according to a …

ABC News reports: Summer Zervos, a former contestant on The Apprentice, can proceed with her defamation lawsuit against President Trump, a New York appellate court ruled Thursday, rejecting the president’s assertion he cannot be sued in state court. The decision means the president may have to sit for a sworn deposition, which is currently scheduled for June. The New York …

Mediaite reports: President Donald Trump offered his first reaction to Beto O’Rourke‘s 2020 presidential campaign by invoking O’Rourke’s hand gestures and, apparently, questioning his mental condition. “He has a lot of hand movement. Is he crazy or is that just the way he acts?” Trump asked. “I’ve never seen so much hand movement. I watched him a little while this …

Daniel Dale reports at the Toronto Star: U.S. President Donald Trump has issued what seems to be a warning of armed pushback against his political opponents, telling a right-wing website on Monday that “it would be very bad, very bad” if his supporters in the military, police and a motorcycle group were provoked into getting “tough.” Trump uttered the remark …

The San Francisco Chronicle reports: A recently released app, billed by Fox News as “Yelp for conservatives,” has been removed from app stores after security flaws that left users’ personal information vulnerable were made public. “63red Safe” is meant to be a review site of businesses and restaurants from the perspective of conservatives, “helping insure [sic] you’re safe when you …

Politico reports: President Trump ramped up his criticism of late-night talk show hosts early Thursday, lauding the late NBC “Tonight Show” host Johnny Carson and declaring Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon will be unemployed after he finishes a second term. Trump often lashes out at the late-night programs. At a campaign rally last June, he mocked each late-night …

The Week reports: George Conway, attorney and husband of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, was in disbelief on Wednesday when President Trump falsely claimed that Judge Amy Berman Jackson exonerated him of collusion. On Wednesday evening, Conway tweeted video of Trump’s statement, adding, “Have we ever seen this degree of brazen, pathological mendacity in American public life?” #SummaCumLiar https://t.co/nwK4Tl7YId — …

The Hill reports: The GOP-controlled Senate is poised to pass a Democratic resolution Thursday blocking President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency to build a wall on the Mexican border. Talks within the GOP conference to avoid an embarrassing rebuke for Trump collapsed Wednesday, and Sen. Mike Lee (Utah) joined four fellow Republican senators who have already said they will …

Will Sommer reports at The Daily Beast: Right-wing personality Jacob Wohl appears to have faked death threats against himself. One of those threats came via direct message from a Twitter account called @Drakehomes612, who described himself as a Minneapolis “diversity coordinator.” “I hope you fuckin know that if [I] bump into you in Dinkytown or anywhere else in my city …

The Birmingham Herald reports: The White House is adamantly denying an internet conspiracy theory that a body double replaced first lady Melania Trump on her recent visit to Alabama. Stephanie Grisham, spokesperson for the first lady, responded to the theory in a tweet, singling out the talk show “The View” for discussing the supposed body double. The View’s Ana Navarro …

ZDNet reports: A new mobile app described as the “Yelp for conservatives” is leaking user records and business reviews, according to a French security researcher. According to Baptiste Robert, a French security researcher who goes online under the pseudonym of Elliot Anderson (the name of the main character from the Mr. Robot TV show about hackers), the 63red Safe app …

Yahoo News reports: President Trump said Wednesday that he appreciates Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) recent comments that set a high bar for launching impeachment proceedings against him, but added that he “did nothing wrong.” Pelosi, who has tried for months to tamp down talk of impeachment, gave her strongest indication to date that she is unlikely to support such proceedings …

USA Today reports: After blaming Ambien, herself (briefly) and anti-Semitism for her 2018 firing after a racist tweet about former Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett, Roseanne Barr is now pointing the finger at former first lady Michelle Obama and former ABC programming chief Channing Dungey. “(Obama) said, ‘This tweet is unforgivable.’ That’s what I was told and I tend to believe …

CNBC reports: The British aviation regulator on Tuesday grounded Boeing 737 MAX planes, joining a growing list of countries and airlines from China to Mexico suspending the planes’s operations after the second deadly crash of the popular aircraft in less than five months. After the UK issued its statement about the planes, President Donald Trump on Tuesday tweeted: “Airplanes are …

Golf.com reports: Any visitor to the ornate men’s locker room at his club here, Trump International Golf Club, can see small rectangular brass plaques on his locker, recognizing him as the 1999, 2001 and 2009 club champion, and the 2012 and 2013 senior champion. And now there’s a new plaque on his locker, screwed into its stained wood with two …

Mediaite reports: President Donald Trump reportedly denied he called Apple CEO Tim Cook, “Tim Apple.” Yet, here’s the rub. It is all on tape. Trump told a group of Republican donors at Mar-a-Lago on Friday night he actually got Cook’s name right and it was the “fake news” who made it sound like he screwed up. Trump told the donors …

Axios reports: To prevent leaks from Trump’s Friday night Mar-a-Lago speech to RNC donors, security guards made attendees put their cellphones in magnetized pouches that they carried around like purses until they left the club. Trump said if he could run to be prime minister of Israel, he’d be at 98% in the polls, according to three sources who were …

The Hill reports: President Trump on Sunday blasted the media as the “most hostile and corrupt” in “the history of American politics.” The also president touted a number of his accomplishments in a tweet, saying that he has accomplished more than any other administration despite negative media coverage. His latest tweets come two days after the Labor Department reported that …

The Raleigh News & Observer reports: There’s a new push to allow North Carolina teachers to carry guns in school that some state lawmakers think has a chance of being approved this year. The School Security Act of 2019 would boost the salaries of teachers who underwent specialized police training to carry firearms on campus. The same bill was filed …

The Hill reports: President Trump on Friday signed bibles for people affected by a string of deadly storms that ripped through Alabama. The president made the gesture while visiting a Baptist church in Opelika, Ala., that is serving as a disaster-relief center. Local volunteer Ada Ingram told reporters that Trump signed several hats and bibles, including one for a 12-year-old …