Day 13: Republicans Rewrite the Rules

The administration continues to reveal that it has no idea how international relations work, and Republicans demonstrate that they are willing to rewrite the rules when it suits them.

• A bizarre statement on Iran from the administration (original text). Iran is "officially on notice", which is completely meaningless. Apparently this is in response to an Iranian missile test. Here is the BBC's analysis, and CNN's analysis.
• Trump threatens to invade Mexico in phonecall. This includes a reference to "bad hombres" by Trump. I am disgusted with the administration's approach to diplomacy.
• Congressional committee rules require a quorum for votes. Democrats were denying that quorum for cabinet appointments, so Republicans decided to suspend the rules to ram through a vote. Democrats requested further questioning and investigation, but were being denied. Republicans have the gall to call this "unprecedented obstructionism", like they didn't obstruct any Obama appointments for longer than two days (*cough* Garland *cough*). Note that the inconsistencies in the appointee's confirmation hearings would typically be enough to scuttle an appointment. As a colleague of mine said - "If the Democrats had suspended senate rules to push through committee votes, the Republicans would have cried dictatorship".
• The White House is refusing to have interviews with CNN. This is incredibly petty. Particularly when you are happily granting interviews to fringe outlets.
• CBP continues to defy court orders; US Marshals not responding when requested. This appears to be from an on-the-ground journalist; I have not seen any corroboration yet.
• Standing Rock protest camps against the Dakota Access Pipeline were raided today. It's hard to get good news from Standing Rock, as mainstream media are swamped with the rest of GOPresidential fuckery. I read eyewitness reports that construction in the area has started. Everything is sounding terrible, and media coverage seems sparse. If you have a good link, please let me know in the comments.
• Tillerson was confirmed for Secretary of State today. The final vote count was 56-43, the lowest ever vote for Secretary of State. An oil executive is now in charge of our diplomatic relations. How can this possibly go bad?
• Trump gave an speech on Black History Month (to an audience of his friends). The speech was widely panned as "rewriting history", "rambling", "off-topic" and "disgraceful". Trump talked up a black activist, seemingly thinking him alive (he died in 1895). Afterwards, the press secretary doubled down on the statement with possibly the most inept response I've ever seen.
• The raid yesterday? 8 year old American girl killed. Navy SEAL killed. Can you imagine getting a phone call from Trump saying "I'm sorry, your son is dead, but he's a huge hero, the greatest hero"? The guy doesn't have an empathetic bone in his body.
• The President of Liberty University is going to head up a federal task force on education policy. For those who don't know, Liberty University is the largest Christian university in the US, and is "explicitly anti-feminist and anti-gay, and has a Civil War 'mourning room' that contains among its decorations a cross made from the hair of dead Confederate soldiers". The president of Liberty University promotes carrying concealed weapons on campus, to "end those Muslims before they walk in".
• The confirmation hearing for Betsy DeVos is in peril, after two Republicans have stated they will not support her. I implore you to call your representatives to urge they vote against DeVos (that goes for both Republicans and Democrats).

If you want something a little more uplifting, an excellent case for why we shouldn't "wait and see" what happens with Trump.