Donald Trump’s speech at CPAC makes us wonder why the news cycle gods didn’t bless us with llamas and optical illusion dresses today. Barry Loudermilk allowed the country to mostly unite in its favorite pastime: pissing on other people’s parenting abilities. And the Washington Post is reconsidering its drug testing policy. We should remind our HuffPost colleagues that having your resume document titled "ResumeNew" is totally amateur. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Friday, February 27th, 2015:
DHS: HOUSE, SENATE PLAYING CHICKEN - Looks like they're going to have to bok bok bok around the clock tonight. Elise Foley, Ryan Grim & Sabrina Siddiqui: "A House Republican effort to punt on Department of Homeland Security funding failed on the floor Friday, leaving the GOP leadership in a bind on whether to throw in the towel and pass a budget bill without immigration measures. It's back to the drawing board with only hours to go until a DHS shutdown. The vote failed 203 to 224, an embarrassing loss after Republican leadership had predicted they had the votes to get the three-week continuing resolution through. Fifty-two Republicans voted against funding DHS for even a matter of weeks without riders to block President Barack Obama's deportation relief and work authorization for undocumented immigrants. House Democrats could have pushed the bill over the line, but most instead opposed it in hopes that its failure would force Republicans to fund the department for the full year, free of restrictive immigration measures….
"The plan was for the House to approve the three-week funding bill and then leave town for the weekend. Now, the fate of DHS funding is uncertain. Members will likely huddle later Friday to work up another plan." [HuffPost]
We wonder if Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) wishes he had been quietermilk about not vaccinating his children.
HuffPost Haircuts: Sasha Belenky, Jeff Young.
DAILY DELANEY DOWNER - Seven states have spent nearly a million dollars drug testing welfare applicants and have barely turned up any drug users, according to data compiled by ThinkProgress. Go fig.
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RAND PAUL GETS HUGE RECEPTION AT CPAC - Jen Bendery: "Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) was the guy that everyone wanted to hear speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference, and he didn't disappoint. In a speech Friday, Paul hit on all the issues that make a young libertarian salivate. He vowed to repeal 'every last bit' of the Affordable Care Act. He wondered aloud how we can trust the government to rebuild nations abroad if it can't deliver the mail here. He criticized President Barack Obama for driving up the debt, and said Hillary Clinton was 'forever' unfit to run for office because of her 'dereliction of duty' as secretary of state in the wake of the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya. Don't like the National Security Agency collecting your data? Neither does Paul. 'The phone records of law-abiding citizens are none of the government's damn business!' he said, drawing loud cheers. The 2016 presidential hopeful even had a little bit of news: He announced that in the coming weeks, he plans to unveil the 'largest tax cut in American history,' a plan that will, somehow, simultaneously cut spending and balance the budget in five years. 'I will keep the IRS out of your life and out of the way of every job creator in America,' Paul declared." [HuffPost]
Who? "Real estate developer and reality TV host Donald Trump told a group of conservatives Friday that he questions whether President Barack Obama's birth certificate is real, resurrecting an old conspiracy theory that many Americans viewed as the low point of the 2008 presidential election." [HuffPost's Christina Wilkie]
Several dozen people don't like Jeb Bush, video at 11: "A determined band of supporters of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) walked out on former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) on Friday as he spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference. A few dozen Paul backers -- many of whom donned red "Stand With Rand" T-shirts -- quietly made their way down the middle aisle and out the door during Bush's speech. Once outside the main ballroom at the Gaylord National Convention Center, where Bush was speaking, they rowdily gathered and denounced the man many see as the Republican Party's leading candidate for president in 2016." [HuffPost's Christina Wilkie and Jen Bendery]
@daveweigel: Ran into Carl Paladino, asked what he thought of Rudy's comments. "He wanted $50,000 to endorse me, so he can fuck himself."
PETE SESSIONS KIND OF AWFUL - And all of those murder victims probably love America, unlike the president. Elise Foley: "Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) accused President Barack Obama and Democrats Thursday evening of continually releasing undocumented immigrants who are murdering Americans. 'Every day, all along border states, maybe other places, there are murders by people who have been arrested coming into this country, who have been released by the Obama administration, I believe in violation of the law, who are murdering Americans all over our cities,' the Rules Committee chairman said at a meeting while discussing Obama's deportation relief policies. 'We hold the Democrat Party and the president personally accountable for this action.' The comment came during a discussion of a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security, which many Republicans believe needs to include measures to block Obama's executive actions on immigration. Congress must pass funding for DHS by the end of Friday to avoid a shutdown, and House Republicans are planning to vote on a three-week bill." [HuffPost]
RICK PERRY REALLY WANTS TO BE PRESIDENT - Jen Bendery: "In a speech that jumped between trashing President Barack Obama and allowing that some people may not believe in climate change, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) warned the crowd at this year's Conservative Political Action Conference not to trust the falling unemployment figures coming out of Washington. 'I'm going to say this quite plainly. The unemployment rate is a sham,' Perry said Friday. 'It leaves millions of American workers uncounted.' Perry has made the claim before, and it stems from conspiracy theories known as unemployment or BLS trutherism, in reference to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which is responsible for producing the unemployment rate. Theories began cropping up in 2012, when the release of some surprisingly good job numbers boosted Obama's re-election campaign. Skeptical conservatives suggested Obama was cooking the books to make the economic recovery look stronger than it was." [HuffPost]
WaPo RECONSIDERING DRUG TESTING POLICY - Though we always kind of assumed management was cool with drugs after reading their Guardian Angels piece. Dave Jamieson: "If you've ever been offered a job at The Washington Post, you know there's one undignified step in the hiring process that just about everyone goes through, no matter how many Pulitzer Prizes they've won: You have to pee in a cup. The newspaper's long-standing policy of screening job seekers for drug use has puzzled many a Postie. After all, how much could a little off-duty, recreational weed really impact your ability to report the news or sell ads? Well, Post management is now reconsidering that policy.No, a stoner hasn't taken the helm of human resources. Rather, as of midnight Thursday morn, recreational marijuana became legal in the District of Columbia, where the Post's headquarters are located. Asked if marijuana use could still preclude someone from working at the Post, a spokesperson for the paper said that the 'Washington Post is reviewing its policy in light of the changes to D.C. law,' without elaborating any further." [HuffPost]
HEY, DON'T FORGET ABOUT THE KKK - Julia Crayven: "When Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) returned home from a trip to the Middle East in October, he offered a reflection on the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, to the Bangor Daily News: 'My characterization of ISIS is that they have 14th century ethics and 21st century weapons,' he said. King and others who have reached into the Middle Ages for an apt Islamic State comparison may be going back further than they need to. The 19th and 20th centuries work just as well." [HuffPost]
BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Here is a snoring dormouse.
COMFORT FOOD
- Website compiling off-menu items at fast food chains.
- Don't throw bricks at cars.
- The ultimate dad joke showdown.
TWITTERAMA
@JohnDingell: I think I miss having a staff most when attempting to understand the subject lines of @HuffPostHill and @nationaljournal The Edge emails.
@anamariecox: What I like about Jeb: seems genuinely wonky and distasteful of scene-making. What I don't like about Bush: most of his record.
@pourmecoffee: Jeb Bush thrilling the CPAC crowd: "When I say "Status", you say "quo". STATUS!".
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