Up in arms

Quick Points

Who woulda thunk it?

• Big-time Florida Republican donor Al Hoffman Jr. says point-blank he will not write another check unless his party passes a ban on assault weapons. A tide turning?
• Was it President Donald Trump or former Russia ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak: “I am not sure I can trust American law enforcement to be the most truthful source against Russians.” Yeah, you’re right, it’s way too coherent to be Trump.
• Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s job-approval rating has fallen among Republican voters. That’s not fake news. It’s just not exactly news.
• The first positive test for a banned substance has been recorded from the Winter Olympics, and it was from a mixed-doubles bronze medalist in curling from, you guessed it, Russia. Which leads to the obvious question: curling?
• With lawmakers unlikely to pass controversial legislation that would establish rules and penalties for spreading fake news in a deeply polarized society before the fall elections, a law enforcement and intelligence personnel task force is working on strategies to prevent fake news from influencing the vote . . . in Brazil. You were hoping, weren’t you?
• You know it was a rough holiday weekend when the over-under on a presidential Russia tweetstorm was 17 and you took the under — and lost.
• The coach of a Missouri youth baseball team proceeding with a raffle of an AR-15 rifle despite last week’s high school massacre with an AR-15 explained that the fundraiser had been scheduled before the shootings in Parkland, Florida. But coach, it was scheduled after other mass shootings with that style of weapon — like Newtown, Connecticut, Orlando, Las Vegas and Sutherland Springs, Texas.
• In a poll of 170 historians and presidential politics experts on best American presidents, Donald Trump finished last. But that was before all the votes by immigrants here illegally were voided.
• The United States has won 12 Winter Olympics medals. Norway has won 29. Or to put it a different way, the United States has won one medal for every 27 million people. Norway has won one for every 180,448. That’s 149 times better, not that we’re counting.
• Most KFC outlets in the United Kingdom and Ireland closed at some point over the weekend because they had no chicken. Its new delivery company, DHL, blamed “operational issues,” putting to rest rumors that DHL just doesn’t like the Colonel’s recipe.

Michael Dobie

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Daily Point

A teaching moment

Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, was angry and emotional while spending this past weekend in Florida, after another school shooting. The Parkland attack left 14 students and three teachers dead.

In an interview with The Point, Weingarten said she is arranging for teachers from Newtown, Connecticut, the site of the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre, to go to Broward County to share their experiences with teachers, provide support, and unite their voices as they call for gun reform and increased school safety measures that would add protection “without a school becoming a fortress.”

But Weingarten, whose organization has 1.7 million members, said that while she and the teachers are prepared to speak out, it’s the students’ voices that must be heard.

“I’m hopeful that there’s something about this moment that’s different,” she said. “I have seen shock go to anger within 24 hours. And that’s different than before . . . The kids are fabulous. They see through the hypocrisy.”

Weingarten, in a Saturday telephone call, told The Point that the AFT plans a “school day of action” for April 20, the anniversary of the 1999 Columbine High School shooting. Teachers and students from every school across the country, she said, will do something to raise the issue and push for change. In some cases, that may mean walkouts; in others, it could mean letter-writing and other activities.

Weingarten’s plans come as other groups also consider walkouts and marches, but she said that it’s important for there to be a day when every school across the country does something.

“It has to feel different a month from now, too,” Weingarten said.

Randi F. Marshall

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Pencil Point

Voters-in-training

More cartoons of the day

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Talking Point

Name-dropper Trump

On Sunday morning, President Donald Trump’s Twitter account featured both a mistake and a name familiar to Long Island political observers.

“Great Pollster John McLaughlin now has the GOP up in the Generic Congressional Ballot,” Trump tweeted.

McLaughlin’s Feb. 5-9 survey of likely general election voters actually found the Democrats ahead 45-42 in the generic ballot for Congress, the same numbers as January.

But it appears that Trump was watching “Fox & Friends.” Its Sunday morning segment cited a Politico poll that matches Trump’s tweet. McLaughlin himself then appeared on the program to discuss midterm numbers, which seems to be the source of POTUS’ confusion.

McLaughlin and his company’s large body of work on Long Island includes the current campaigns for Reps. Peter King and Lee Zeldin, two decades as pollster for the Nassau County Republican Party, and two $24,900 (just under the $25,000 limit that would have needed legislative approval) no-bid contracts for media plans for the Nassau County parks department.

McLaughlin started working with Trump during the 2016 primary, but tells The Point he knew Trump for years — partially because he wrote a campaign plan for Trump in 2011 when the magnate was considering a run for president. It was on spec, so McLaughlin didn’t get paid.

McLaughlin says that although the president might have misattributed the poll, some numbers, such as support for some Trump issues, indicate Trump was right to be hopeful in his tweet about Republican chances.

Apart from confrontations and controversies, “people like the substance of his presidency,” McLaughlin says. That could make for “competitive” midterms. But, “by no means are we out of the woods.”

Mark Chiusano