Three *More* Things: Tarsmacked, Shuffled and Screwed?
I resent all to hell that we are forking over a metric crap ton of tax dollars every weekend for his Golden Golf Hackness to hang out at one of his courses. This weekend, though, I’d make an exception — and of course, he drags his feet getting out of town, making trouble on the way.
~ 3 ~
You’ve no doubt heard that White House chief of staff Reince Priebus resigned or quit, depending on which source you read and when. Scuttlebutt says Trump was pissed that Priebus didn’t push back at Scaramucci after the profanity-laced interview with Ryan Lizza. Other scuttlebutt says Scaramucci is actually Jared and Ivanka’s minion; he’s so vulgar and cold he fits in anywhere in Team Trump. So bloody hard to keep the players straight; where’s self-sucking Bannon in all this?
Anyhow, apparently His Imminently Golf Hackness tweeted his pink slip from the door of Air Force One.
And Priebusly-of-West-Wing was left on the tarmac without a ride.
Jesus Christ, how mother freaking cold and rude, the only guy who really kept Trump looking like a legitimate member of the GOP, tossed like an empty KFC bag.
Priebus, who is rumored to be the only staffer who didn’t sign one of Team Trump’s non-disclosure agreements, hasn’t figured out he doesn’t have to suck up any longer.
I hate that these sloppy mean girls occupying the White House make me feel sorry for that schmuck Priebus.
~ 2 ~
And His Imminently Golf Hackness nominated current DHS director John Kelly as the new White House chief of staff.
Kelly has peeved off some senators; I supposed taking on role of chief fly swatter will be nothing in comparison to his failure to disclose his relationship to military contractors.
Rumor: Kelly is being moved to CoS to make way for Sessions as DHS director, which in turn leaves the AG’s position open for a new nominee willing to fire Mueller.
Oh hell, no.
~ 1 ~
Latest buzz is that McCain’s vote YES on the Motion to Proceed earlier in week set up the actual failure of H.R. 1628 Health Care Freedom Act vote last night.
The analysis was posted at Reddit, of all places.
… The thing is, the Senate can only consider one budget reconciliation bill per topic per year. Of course, if the bill dies in committee and never comes to an official vote, it doesn’t count- which is why they’ve been able to keep hammering away at the issue.
This bill, though, was allowed to come to the Senate floor, because the Republicans thought they’d secured the votes. Collins, Murkowski and the Democrats would vote no, everyone else would vote yes, and Pence would break the tie. And then McCain completely fucked them. And it was almost certainly a calculated move; he voted to allow the bill to come to the floor. Had McCain allowed it to die in committee, McConnell could have come back with yet another repeal bill; but he let it come to a vote, and now they can’t consider another budget reconciliation bill for the rest of the fiscal year. The Senate needs 60 votes to pass any kind of healthcare reform now. …
Which opens up a whole mess of questions if this is really what happened…
Did John McCain plan to screw Trumpcare by himself, or was this staged to save the Senate GOP caucus face as I speculated earlier today?
If he had help staging this, who else was in on it? “Yertle” McConnell, who is acting pouty and butt-hurt? If McConnell was in on it, then he deserved a nomination for an acting award.
And was this a final Fuck You to Heel-Spurs-in-Chief, who disrespected McCain’s service and time as a POW?
I can’t help it; I hope it was payback. And I hope this buys more time to build real fixes for ACA until a Democratic majority can take back Congress.
UPDATE — 12:11 P.M. EDT —
Yep, too good to be true. @Celeste_P says nope. Maverick wasn’t super-maverick after all. It was fun to imagine while the illusion lasted.
~ 0 ~
It’s the weekend, finally. Hope somebody is lost longer than usual in the rough. Open bar, open thread. Behave and drive safely.
Trumpus being inherently chaotic, he has no apparatus in place to do any of the things he promised to do as president. As negligent as that is, it’s just an expression of his general incompetence, largely hidden by his bragging, his meanness, his money. Humiliating Priebus was routine; it’s no different than firing Comey by TV announcement. It makes Trump feel like Trump.
Picking Kelly as CoS is more militarization of the USG. The choice of someone already approved by the Senate is important for another reason. It isn’t directly relevant to his move to the White House. But it simplifies the game of musical chairs it starts. Someone approved by the Senate needn’t be approved again when moving to another post that also requires approval.
If Trumpus moves Sessions to DHS, it’s not a “firing”, but it is potentially effective in derailing Mueller’s investigation. It also makes it harder for Sessions’ backers to object, as they would to a standard humiliation/firing. Trumpus would then fill the AG slot with someone already approved by the Senate, avoiding an out-of-control consent hearing for a newbie as AG.
BTW, what is happening with Mueller’s and Congress’s investigation into Russian influence over Trumpus and the 2016 election? To the budget? To filling the legion of empty government posts? To running the parts of government not run by the Pentagon?
“To running the parts of government not run by the Pentagon?”
Yes, big problem.
As to Sessions, moving to DHS (puke) , Lindsey Graham, of all people, says not good idea.
Must agree. For numerous reasons.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/lindsey-graham-bad-idea-to-move-jeff-sessions-to-dhs/article/2630110
I agree totally. Sessions should be retired. Nor should we have a full general as chief of staff in a civilian White House.
If Sessions is moved out of DoJ, who could replace him who’s already been approved by the Senate?
I love “Trumpus”. In my head, I’ve been calling him the Orange Tweeterump for a while, so that just melded into the Orange Tweeterumpus, which led, inevitably to…where the wild things are:
“Let the wild rumpus start!”
― Maurice Sendak
Nice thought on Reddit, but McConnell pulled the bill after McCain’s no vote. He can bring it back. Odds seem poor that he will, but he can.
There’s some supposition that McCain just let a lot of Repubs vote yes on a bill they did not like to give them shelter from being primaried. There’s only 9 of them up next year, but it’s a Teabagger party and they remember what happened to Cantor. That would make it a twofer for him. One, a thumb in the eye to Trump, and two, cover for his buds. That means it was just a dramatic charade to fool the Teabaggers, but it got our attention.
It is seeming less likely that it’s a threefer, and that he really believed the amazing statesmanlike speech he gave the other day. Wonder who wrote that? Still less that it’s a fourfer and that he actually cares about other cancer patients who would lose their health care.
If the limit is one reconciliation bill per topic per fiscal year then McConnell can return it to the calendar and bring it up in exactly two months. Perhaps both sides are right about this – the Rs hit the limit of one and that limit resets in October – within the current session of Congress.
Any thoughts on Daniel Hoffman and what he says in this NYT op-ed?
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/28/opinion/the-russians-were-involved-but-it-wasnt-about-collusion.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-right-region®ion=opinion-c-col-right-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-right-region&_r=0
In his last paragraph we are told that the best way to defend against Russian influence in our elections is to become clear and honest about what their intentions are. I agree, and further assert, that the same goes for any CIA, and any other, influence, especially such self-serving narratives as presented.
Please clean URLs.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/28/opinion/the-russians-were-involved-but-it-wasnt-about-collusion.html
Delete from the “?” to the end of original URL.
All of this crap below should not be posted.
?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-right-region®ion=opinion-c-col-right-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-right-region&_r=0
Thank you.
Trump to police: rough ’em up a little for me, will ya?
Trump being Trump, he assumes all his comments are liability and risk free. Too bad, though, for any police who take Trump at his word. The world of Bull Connor has gone to the back of the bus. Police following Donald’s advice would often face investigations, reprimands, firings, criminal assault charges, civil claims, and loss of career, prospects and status in a world fast running short of second chances.
Will Congress not rid us of this meddlesome priest? It would do the country a world of good if it retired him to obscurity, and allowed Mr. Mueller’s investigation to proceed without obstruction.
34 criminal cases tossed after body cam footage shows cop planting drugs
“It is incumbent upon us as prosecutors to be the ministers of justice.”
[Has not been the normal M.O. for many years]
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/07/faked-body-cam-footage-gets-dozens-of-criminals-set-free-and-more-likely/
Afraid so. All well and good dismissing cases based on falsified evidence. That would be minimally fair. But what happens to the falsifiers? Surely, their conduct amounted to a felony.
Prosecutors are loathe to pursue police misconduct. It pisses off their normal constituency and seems to be regarded as bad politics. That must mean bad politics among the contributing class; hoi poloi would be delighted with the novel idea of punishing wrongdoers regardless of the uniform they wear.
To SLF and Earl: I am but one guy, but this crap is my actual day job. “34 cases”, sadly, doesn’t even register more than a blip. You have no idea of the extent to which “certified peace officers” are trained, nee encouraged, at their academies, and by feedback on the job once they are certified, to make sure that arrests are “clean”.
Most cops I’ve encountered are actually decent people and reasonable public servants. But even the so called “good ones” are indoctrinated into how to view and report things that is not necessarily accurate. Then there are the others that are just bad.
It is a pretty complex and dynamic issue, and there is no “magic bullet” for it that I have ever found. Sorry about all the quote marks in this comment, I hope they made sense given the subject.
“Clean” as in leave no evidence of any police wrongdoing? Are you a fan of Michael Connelly?
Had to look him up! But am aware of the Bosch series kind of. Maybe need to go back and collect up some of that.
I suspect you’d like LA cop Bosch, his ideas about juice, justice and “high jingo” more than LA’s Mickey Haller, the Lincoln Lawyer.
Is it available on Netflix or Amazon Prime??
Lincoln Lawyer the film would be. But despite Matthew McConaughey, the film is a poor imitation of the novel. The Harry Bosch books are even better.
I recall the Trump offered to pay the legal bills for supporters that got into trouble for supporting him, and AFAIK not a nickel has been paid by DJT.
Anyone foolish enough to take that Trump promise seriously deserves what they get. He breaks promises as easily as he lies.
Trumpus has a reputation for underpaying his contractors with the abandon of a mafia don, then suing them for causing him trouble. If he appeared in a Mario Puzo novel, the book would be panned for being too much of a fantasy.
Well, it appears that most police believe that Trump is full of a metric ton of crap.
The police have enough problems to deal with.
They do not want to make things worse.
Maybe he will now encounter long delays near Mar-A-Lago?
If it’s the case I first saw detailed over at Attytood, this was due to a unrealized feature of the cam, it continuously records but only stores footage when turned on, and for 30 seconds before it is turned on. That’s why this evidence was there. The fact that in one of the recent police “events” all four officers involved had their cams turned off tells me this will become routine when the cops want to “teach someone some manners”. Memory cards are small enough (or cloud storage) to permit recording full shifts, and if the cop’s not doing anything wrong, why would they object?
There are still two questions:
1. The House bill still not voted on as far as I know, but if reconciliation allowances of 50 +1 is off the table its CBO score will doom it politically. The Senate would have to vote on it without amendments to bypass conference committee.
2. I would still like to know if / how Scaramucci could claim executive privilege for the conversations he said he’s had with POTUS. He’s officially a private citizen until he takes the oath of office.
Don’t cry for Reince, but realize that as an experienced politician he would know where the lines are (even more so than Pence does; remember Pence wasn’t running for re-election because he was despised as IN’s governor in a red state)
How deserving if Mooch were to be hoist on his own petard.
Executive privilege isn’t Scaramucci’s since he is not the executive. The White House, if it doesn’t disavow Scaramucci, could probably claim executive privilege with success; Scaramucci wouldn’t have to be an actual employee any more than the energy corporations’ representatives serving in 2001 as Energy Task Force members and consultants were White House employees. And we all know how that turned out.
In reply to Larry Kart says:
July 29, 2017 at 11:58 am
Any thoughts on Daniel Hoffman and what he says in this NYT op-ed?
Hoffman offers an explanation of the Trump Jr. Email/meeting that makes sense to me. And, I’ll throw out my own crazy speculation after reading it:
If Hoffman’s theory is accurate — that rather than collusion/cooperation with Trump, Russia’s goal is “throwing the American government into greater turmoil amid the frenzied media coverage, escalating F.B.I. and congressional investigations and intensified political conflict,” — is it possible that the Steele dossier is part of this same operation? It appears that the dossier was meant to be uncovered, too. In which case, Steele would have been an unwitting accomplice…?
Russia has had to do nothing but sit back and watch the show. The show was created by the voters that either (pick one or more):
1 Failed to even vote
2. Could not vote for a female
3. Addicted to Faux Noise
“throwing the American government into greater turmoil amid the frenzied media coverage, escalating F.B.I. and congressional investigations and intensified political conflict,”
[About time some have awoken and maybe actually attempting to do their jobs? It is insane people that always have to find someone to blame, in this case Russia.
There are way too many that need to stop looking for a scapegoat. They just need to look in the fucking mirror. There is a bigger problem within US. It is not Russia]
You listed three points. They are all salient points. But, so too are the Russia effect, the Comey effect, dumb data targeting by the Clinton/DNC campaign, failure of Clinton/DNC to allocate ground resources and candidate time to the Rust Belt, and, arguably more.
“But for” any one, Clinton would likely be President and not Trump. But she is not. Hurt Dems are doing themselves a disservice by saying “the fault is the factor I identify, and others need to stop caring about “X”.”
Eh, they are all arguments that ought be paid attention to and learned from. As to the Russian portion, that is even larger as it goes not just to the last loss, but to election integrity. It really does need to be investigated and fleshed out.
Like an airline crash isn’t it? Most of them are a chain of smaller events that if interrupted anywhere along the line would have prevented the crash.
I am amazed that I find myself quoting Chuck Schumer (pinch me, am I dreaming?) last weekend, both for Dem re-embrace of working class America with “Better deal: Better jobs, better pay, better future”, and for his comment on the election “When you lose to someone with a 40% approval rating you don’t blame Comey and the Russians”.
Do we need to know what the Ruskies were up to? You betchya, but the evidence so far is pretty damned slim for all the hysteria it has generated. Chances are good, if we can trust Reality Winner, that their intervention, was exploratory and minor. Less intrusive than we are in their elections, and NSA was watching what they were up to to make sure they did not do any actual damage. We have also learned that Junior and Jared are morons, but nothing much really about Russia. We have also been shocked at a fistful of pretty unremarkable diplomatic overtures. It is almost all speculation and NSA’s “moderate confidence” in professional liar John Brennan and CIA.
From what we are seeing with Debbie Wasserman-Schultz the DNC breach was, exactly as Binney, Drake et al have been saying since last year, an inside job. Data was copied off the DNC network internally, not hacked from outside. DWS hired the Pakistani IT folks to work in Congress, and Dems paid them close to $5 million starting in 2004. They are the likely source for the DNC breach (at a minimum, there are lots of potential legs) and may even have used Debbie’s iPad to access the DNC network and copy the emails.
I thought Ken Starr sucked, and that Bill’s impeachment and trial were profoundly wrong. It will be equally as wrong if Mueller ends up hanging Trump for past real estate deals from an investigation that started from vapor and hysteria.
One would think that a USG in chaos, a USG trashing the alliances that restrain Russia, a USG losing its ability to so heavily influence foreign events, an America more dysfunctional and divided with itself than it has been in decades is just as good an outcome for Russia as having an easily blackmailed operative in the White House.
That would be one of two most favorable outcomes — a US incapable of responding directly to any threats Russia posed to either NATO or US’ specific interests could yield considerable benefits. Nearly as much as a Manchurian candidate who was in the bag for Russia, given the potential limits on an operative in the executive office due to checks and balances. What would Russia have to lose by aiming for the bigger goal and winning the smaller one, if both of these result in undermining the Magnitsky Act and/or reduction of sanctions?
Jeez, y’all, what if the Russians were really just rational and what they wanted was an America that got off the murderous Neocon/Liberal Interventionist, profiteering MIC, rampage of illegal wars of aggression we have been on since 9/11?
They may not have been any happier with the election than many of us were. The choice between a murderous neocon aggressor or a reality TV/real estate magnate nut job was a lose lose.
I’ve let you slide back into my threads — don’t think I’ve forgotten and haven’t noticed. Don’t push your luck by pushing any buttons.
Did Trump promise a job to “The Mooch” ?
Some kind of quid pro quo?
http://pagesix.com/2017/07/28/anthony-scaramuccis-wife-files-for-divorce/
The source said that the Wall Street financier, 52, had been “hell-bent” on claiming his position at the White House after he was originally pegged for a senior role and sold SkyBridge Capital in preparation in January.
[google(trump skybridge capital) for more dirt]
Example problem with Classification, and authority to downgrade. Once something is given a classification marking, it should not be ‘downgradeable’. This would make people in IC actually *think* about what ‘stuff’ they are giving classification markings to, and make them ask if said ‘stuff’ is even worthy of being classified in the first place. We know that IC folk classify mundane public knowledge ‘stuff’.
Most likely to make it look like they are doing something and keep their job.
What good does it do to have clearance to ‘possess’ source code but not ‘use’ source code?
Funny how CIA says all ok, IG does not agree.
Note this is a real old issue (2009).
https://www.buzzfeed.com/jasonleopold/the-cias-secret-2009-data-breach-revealed-for-the-first-time
The inspector general was tipped off on June 19, 2009, the report says. After launching an investigation, which involved interviews with four people and a review of CIA cables and contract information, the inspector general discovered that a second CIA employee was also involved, although the unredacted portions of the report do not explain how.
The source code was contained on disks marked “classified.” The first of the two CIA employees crossed out the classified markings, wrote “UNCLASSIFIED,” and handed over the disks to a contractor.
The name of that CIA employee was withheld on privacy grounds, but the report says that she was the “original classification authority” of the source code. That means she had the power to classify and declassify certain material. Still, the inspector general said the contractor who received it was not “cleared” to do so.
Although the CIA employee was “authorized to be in possession of the source code from [redacted] she was not authorized to use the source code,” the inspector general’s report said.
What the source code is and what the CIA used it for remains a mystery because that information is still classified.
Since March, the CIA has been reeling from the ongoing Wikileaks release of sensitive source code, a dump that US intelligence officials have characterized as the largest leak of CIA documents in history.
While the two cases are obviously different — one was never made public and the other is available to the whole world — they have something in common: “No matter how detailed and rigorous the security procedures might be, the human factor can be counted on to mess them up,” said Steven Aftergood, director of the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists. “It is safe to assume that somebody, somewhere is going to defeat security protocols through negligence, stupidity, or malice.”
Security officials worked to “contain and eradicate” the damage from the “unsanctioned disclosure,” the report says, and CIA staffers said the disks had been returned. But the inspector general’s report noted that wasn’t the case: the disks “remain missing.”
It’s time to rehabilitate Henry A. Wallace, FDR’s vice president in 1941-1944.
Wallace’s Depression era-formed views were becoming anathema to an increasingly right-leaning Democratic Party and its then crucial, vote-getting big city bosses. One of these was Tom Pendergast of Missouri, whose stable of politicians included ex-haberdasher and then current Senator, Harry S. Truman.
An unwell FDR, seeking an unprecedented fourth term during the Second World War, replaced Wallace with Truman, who became president on FDR’s death in office in 1945.
In a now familiar trend, the Democrats went centrist in order to hold on to power. As part of this effort, the party demonized Wallace, his inconvenient views, and those who shared them.
Truman seemed committed to becoming more Republican than the Republicans. He appointed South Carolinian James Byrnes as Secretary of State; Dillon Read alumnus James Forrestal as the first SecDef; and made Republican eminence grise and future Eisenhower Secretary of State John Foster Dulles his special foreign policy adviser. His brother, Allen Dulles, ran the CIA when Foster ran State. The two became the iron fist in the iron glove, to paraphrase le Carre. They cooperated in multiple coups, replacing left wing governments with reliable dictators, and rehabilitated hundreds of “former” Nazis in the US (Operation Paperclip), in Germany (Gehlen), and Latin America.
But it was Truman and the Democratic Party that gave us the security clearance industry, governmental and (indirectly) private sector loyalty oaths, and the Second Red Scare (colloquially, the McCarthy era).
Here are some of Wallace’s views, which condemned him in the eyes of his party, excerpted from a wartime response Wallace gave to the NYT’s about the continuing dangers of fascism in America. It could have been written with Trump, Scaramucci and Goldman Sachs alumni in mind:
Here, echoes of Nixon’s never outdated Southern Strategy:
And Trump-like figures who lie as easily as breathe:
And finally:
A good read that discusses Wallace and his outdated views.
Brain implosions sighted on east coast.
No actual causalities reported from outside the WhiteHouse. Carnage continues inside. Hazmat teams want vacation.
https://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/339647/priebus-claims-arthur-schwartz-did-not-apologize-mistress-tweets/
On Sunday morning, a friend of White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci took to Twitter to insult Reince Priebus and threatened to drop “oppo” about the former chief of staff’s personal life. Arthur Schwartz, who was described in several articles about The Mooch as the comms director’s representative or spokesperson, accused Priebus of leaking info about Scaramucci to the press, and threatened to do the same if Priebus didn’t stop. The threat, which has since been deleted, also included the allegation the Priebus was having an affair.
[Why attack someone no longer at WhiteHouse? WTF?]
Why attack someone no longer at the White House? Because Priebus didn’t sign a non-disclosure agreement and he may not have been bought or stayed bought, that’s why. That was a not-so-veiled threat against talking out of school, especially after a post-exit article says Priebus was pissed off about Scaramucci’s conflict of interest with regard to Skybridge.
A lame attempt by “The Mooch” proxy (Arthur Schwartz).
He dug himself a hole. To delete the tweets (that others caught) and to lie about the non-apology is not very smart. The US government is not a huge fascist company (yet). Non disclosure is meaningless if the other two branches of government do their job.
Arthur Schwartz, spot the bus.
mmmmmmmm.. this whole thread was like desert after eating my favorite meal. My compliments to the chefs.
Thanks for introducing me to Celeste P.! I’ll be keeping track of what she has to say. Her “Remember to vet information that goes viral quickly.” is really good advice. It would be interesting to know how this story got its start.
Also,speaking of NDA’s:
Kyle Griffin:Trump Org. has a new NDA: Employees must agree to keep secret any info they learn about anyone in the Trump family.
And, wrt Kelly, this thread from Brandon FriedmanVerified account @BFriedmanDC
[quote] 1. Now that John Kelly is WH Chief of Staff we’re seeing Twitter assessments and profiles that leave out the kind of DHS Secretary he’s been/2. At DHS, Kelly oversaw draconian enforcement of immigration laws/3. And that draconian enforcement went from bad to worse quickly. Kelly defended it vigorously./ 4. Then Kelly started talking to the press about the dangers of marijuana in the U.S./ 5. Kelly called Kushner’s move to deal covertly with Russia a “good thing” and said those who leaked were traitors/6. Kelly is a Trump guy through and through. That’s why he was picked. Be aware of that as you read stories and assessments of his work./ 7. To further the point, Kelly also suggested that President Trump use a sword on the media/ [endquote]
Kelly will crack down on a lot of things like leaks, and I have no faith he would be willing to stand up to Napoleorange either (did he sign the loyalty oath, and I’d like to know how he squares that kowtowing with the Semper Fidelis Marine oath). IF he is doing this to provide some control (perhaps with his pals in DOD) over the Orange Julius, I might be open to revising my opinion, but I think the evidence will be apparent pretty quickly (building on harpie’s notes) whether he’s a brake or a toadie.
I give him a year, tops. Perhaps it will be something to protect the Corps, perhaps the brickbats from the DOD about selling out to the modern Soviet Union (Item 5, above) will sting just enough, or perhaps another legislative failure will do the trick. Remember Kelly has no network with Congress, as does none of the rest of the WH staff. The ex-Congressthings like JeffBo and Price aren’t in the inner sanctum any longer.
One thing Celeste P. said this weekend:
“the State Dept tweet is a complete lie.”
…something I never thought I’d read!
One last link to an article which makes sense on a motivational level for Napoleorange, essentially he can’t handle sharing credit for the good stuff with anyone else.
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2017/07/donald-trump-is-steadily-firing-everyone-who-helped-him-win/
The Mooch’s Paterno reference was not entirely accidental (and Paterno wasn’t the only one who said “act like you’ve been there before”), since he’s producing a Paterno movie I think for HBO that appears to be something of an apologia. I’m also skeptical about the timing of the announced divorce from his wife of three years. Divorces aren’t something that I would wish on anyone, since even uncontested ones have baggage, but I find it hard to believe there wasn’t trouble long before Mooch went full Trumpie. He strikes me as only slightly less loathsome than PharmBro Shkreli.
A GOP STAFFER CROWDSOURCED AN ANTI-CLINTON RESOLUTION FROM REDDIT; Wired; Ashley Feinberg; 07.28.17; 04:14 PM
“[…] Thursday night, three Twitter users discovered that a staffer for one of the resolution’s sponsors attempted to crowdsource a number of the resolution’s salient points from r/The_Donald, a subreddit notorious for playing host to unfounded conspiracy theories and anti-Islam tendencies. In other words, not a conventional source of legislative inspiration. […] Representative Gaetz [a sponsor of the resolution] has confirmed that that Devinm666 is in fact legislative aide Devin Murphy. […]”
Couldn’t wait… The Mooch screws the pooch…
Yerrouttathere!
http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/31/politics/anthony-scaramucci/index.html
“A White House official said Kelly wanted Scaramucci removed from his new role as the communications director because he did not think he was disciplined and had burned his credibility.”
Mooch’s manic operation is precisely the kind of thing that would irritate the USMC general in Kelly, however it does appear to me that without the shiny-object distraction Trump will have a harder time keeping Russia out of the news.
I’m sure Napoleorange let Mooch go because of his prior lack of faith. What happens when Kelly goes after Bannon or Jared? Even though they tend to shun the limelight, they do create messaging problems for the WH. Also, whither JeffBo and who replaces him as AG that will make it through the Senate? Lindsey?
A.G. Arpaio?
Nuh uh…
“Arpaio, 85, who lost his bid for re-election as Maricopa County sheriff last November after 24 years in office, faces a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a fine when he is sentenced on the misdemeanor offense on Oct. 5.”
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/07/joe-arpaio-found-guilty-of-criminal-contempt-of-court/
Lindsey Graham might be an interesting choice since he will toe the line like Sessions have even though he’s bitch about it (remember that a bitching sailor is a happy sailor). He’s also a JAG reservist and so would have some legal knowledge. He can make it through confirmation, which I do not think any other possible name acceptable to Napoleorange can do. The problem in this age of close GOP special elections is that it is another Senate seat at risk and Yertle cannot lose any more Senators.
Arpaio is going home to spend time with his family, I think the pet scorpions and rattlesnakes were pining for him.
Robert CostaVerified account @costareports: sources also say POTUS & fam did not appreciate how A.S. comments linked them to vulgarity. Like to play rough but not be laughed at/embrsd
**
Make the bad man fly!!-Robin Arryn; The Aerie, Westeros
The poseur Scaramucci finally met a guy in the White House he couldn’t bamboozle, who knows his business and means business. I anticipate there will be lots about Kelly I’d rather not have in the White House, but his control of staff – with the likely exception of Trump – should be a good thing.
The Flight of the Mooch also elegantly highlights how much of an empty suit is Donald J. Trump. Either Trump should have fired Mooch right off the bat – or never hired him – or he should have told Kelly to stuff it. He did none of the above, which is also the answer he gives on every other presidential question.
It also makes clearer than ever that loyalty for Donald is a one-way street. I don’t think the Goopers on the Hill needed to be reminded of something so obvious, but it can’t hurt.
By poseur, I mean Washington player. I understand that Mooch is HLS and made a lot of money on Wall Street. But inside the Beltway is a different jungle altogether.
He’s dead to HLS…
“Scaramucci is a 1989 graduate of the Cambridge, Massachusetts, school. A directory mailed to alumni this week included an asterisk by his name indicating he had died.”
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/harvard-accidentally-lists-scaramucci-as-dead-in-alumni-directory/