Out d’Coup | Cohen’s Mob Movie; Kim Jong Owned; Jayapal’s Medicare for All; Red Chicago; Climate Crisis; PA Charter Appeals Board; Strike in Erie; Space X Crew Dragon; Lunar Gateway; Free Will News

It was the best Mob movie I’ve seen in a long time. Michael Cohen testified before Congress and it was large-popcorn-bucket-worthy. Like we’ve been saying for a couple of years now, the best way to understand the Trump administration is to read it as an organized crime story. Now it looks like we’re going to get Trump’s accountant, Allen Weisselberg, to testify after all. Cohen’s closing statement warned that if Trump loses the 2020 election, he will not allow for a peaceful transfer of power.

Trump got Kim Jong Un-ed in Vietnam.

Pramila Jayapal drops a major Medicare for All bill that - wait for it - is better than the plan advocated for by Bernie Sanders. The bill was drafted with nurses, doctors, disability rights advocates, advocates for the elderly, and organizations such as Public Citizen and the Center for Popular Democracy.

This past Tuesday was a great day for Chicago socialists as 4 of the 5 DSA endorsed candidates won their election to Chicago’s city council. At least two other progressives also ousted established Democratic Party Machine candidates.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee enters the presidential race with an unabashed commitment to address the climate crisis. CPAC is underway just outside DC. All the tensions with Trump are nowhere to be found as the right-wing political conference fully embraces MAGA. And if you wanted to know if progressive/left policies are moving the needle, look no further than right-wing ex-Senator Rick Santorum who went to CPAC calling for paid family leave.

Charter Appeals Board??? Say what?  Imagine a state-controlled government panel that is specifically designed to overturn local school boards and favor charter schools.

About 1,700 workers are on strike in Erie, PA as Wabtec, the new owners of the former GE locomotive plant, demanded up to 38% reduction in wages, mandatory overtime, expanded use of temps, and arbitrary scheduling. Bernie Sanders weighed in on the strike saying, "The American people are sick and tired of corporate America and their wealthy CEOs ripping off the working families of this country.” In These Times has called this the “biggest U.S. manufacturing strike in the Trump era.”

Senator Bob Casey says he will be backing a $15/hour federal minimum wage bill, marking his continued political evolution. PA House GOP Candidate Frank Scavo is a Pizzagate conspiracy theorist who is running for an open house seat in Lackawanna County.  It’s been a Democratic stronghold for decades but voted for Trump in 2016.

Big Pharma, Big Greed. A PA woman used to be able to get for free medication for a rare neuromuscular disease. But thanks to BioMarin Pharmaceutical who recently gained exclusive rights to see the drug, she is facing a $375,000/year bill. Her case is one of the thousands like it that has been the subject of hearings in DC. Elections have consequences.

State Senator Vincent Hughes wants to "take a data-driven approach to public policy to ensure that lawmakers are fully informed of the potential impacts of legislation on people living in poverty before they vote."

In today’s Last Call, Space X set to test its first-ever Crew Dragon Spacecraft tomorrow if the weather continues to cooperate. The Crew Dragon is designed to bring astronauts to the International Space Station. If all goes well, this will be the first “crew-capable orbital spacecraft” to launch from the U.S. since the Obama administration scrapped the space shuttle program in 2011 in favor of contracting out missions to the ISS. Boeing, the other company tapped by NASA to fly crewed missions to the ISS has its own test launch set for April.

Canada is the first country to join up to support NASA’s lunar gateway project. The Lunar Orbital Platform Gateway program will be a human-tended facility in orbit around the moon, kind of like a sister station to the ISS.

This Sunday, Free Will Brewing will be celebrating the “Spirit of Mardi Gras” with a barrel aged tap takeover at the main brewery in Perkasie. Plus, a double can release tomorrow:

• Fresh King Cake  - a No Boil White Ale brewed with 120 pounds of fresh ground pecans, orange, cinnamon, and vanilla. 7% ABV. Saturday can and draft release, March 2nd!
• 7 Course Red - just in time for St Patty's Day prep, it's Free Will's traditional Irish Red Ale, malt forward with notes of toffee, toasted bread, and dried fruit. Brewed with a touch of roasted barley and carared for additional color and a beautiful tan head.