BUCKNACKT'S SORDID TAWDRY BLOG
We should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive & well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate, bier or wein in hand, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WHOO-HOO, WHAT A RIDE!!!!!!"
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Showing posts with label US political corruption. Show all posts
Showing posts with label US political corruption. Show all posts
WHY? Because this is one of the most corrupt administrations in the history of our representative Republic. And because the American electorate has become so cowardly they will allow this to happen. Electing a Democratically controlled House is not enough. We, the people must e mail our representative and senators and demand this government shutdown be ended without the Mexican border wall funding drumpf / trump-pence are demanding and instead a budget be passed that meets the needs of the people of the nation and begins to restore the American Social Contract.... Why is the historic clock tower at Trump's D.C. hotel open and staffed during the shutdown?
The Trump-McConnell shutdown of the federal government has already shuttered most national offices, with hundreds of thousands of federal workers furloughed or forced to work without pay. In particular, it has wreaked havoc on our national parks, with reports of overflowing human waste, uncollected trash, damage to hiking trails, and even three deaths reported as of yesterday, all due to the lack of policing and supervision. Iconic landmarks and museums on the National Mall have been shuttered or have gone unstaffed, and the American public has been denied access to them.
Yet a single rather obscure historical site has somehow managed to remain open and fully staffed: the clock tower in the federal building that houses the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C.
Smithsonian museums are closed. There are no federal staffers to answer tourists’ questions at the Lincoln Memorial. And across the United States, national parks are cluttered with trash. Yet despite the federal government shutdown, a historic clock tower at the Trump International Hotel remained open Friday for its handful of visitors, staffed by green-clad National Park Service rangers.
The little-known post office clock tower, though included in the National Register of Historic Places, does not receive a great number of visitors, even as it provides guests of the Trump hotel with stellar views of the city. According to the AP, its ranger staff often outnumbers the tourists.
The Trump administration appears to have gone out of its way to keep the attraction in the federally owned building that houses the Trump hotel open and staffed with National Park Service rangers, even as other federal agencies shut all but the most essential services.
Asked to explain why this particular site was permitted to remain staffed and open while so many more were shut down, a spokeswoman for the General Services Administration contended that the law that put the GSA in charge of the site obligates it to remain open. The spokeswoman also said that the status of the clock tower was “unrelated” to the building’s tenant, even though “Old Post Office” is displayed in gold letters prominently under the Hotel’s logo, as seen in the photograph above. The tower is touted by the hotel as one of the highlights of the property.
This “explanation” rings hollow to at least one watchdog organization:
A watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the GSA, seeking documents explaining why the tower was open, how it continues to be funded, and any communications between the agency and the Trump Organization, the president’s company. Trump gave up day-to-day management of the firm in 2017 but continues to receive earnings from its operations.
And at least one Democratic congressman has weighed in on the fact that this site out of hundreds was permitted to be staffed:
The Trump admin is using your tax dollars to keep an @NPS site at his luxury hotel open while the rest of Americans are wading through garbage and locked gates. The corruption and disgrace of this govt are without bottom.
For those who might consider what appears to be yet another example of the Trump excepting himself and his family’s interests from the consequences of his actions a mere minor matter, Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo points out that in the conceivable, but unlikely, event that there is a legitimate reason this particular site remains open, just the appearance of such favoritism would be enough for any other administration to correct the error.
For this one, however, it appears to be simply another case of business as usual:
Assuming it is what it looks like, another example of the federal government being harnessed to the personal finances of the President, it will be just a more minor example of what we’ll learn far more about in the years to come. There is so little transparency in this administration, so much corruption that has become commonplace, that I don’t think we can really even imagine just how deep it all runs.
I have to differ with Josh Marshall on this point. We can most definitely imagine how deep it all runs.
THE drumpf/trump-pence administration is full of male and female political whores who are selling off the resources of the American people as fast as they can for as much money they can get for the drump/trump-pence and republican party political committee's. dana baiocco is one of the best known of these political whores and if approved by the US Senate as head of the Consumer Product Safety Commission / CPSC will be a serious threat to the health and safety of ALL Americans. Here is your chance to tell your Senators to reject ms baiocco, from EarthJustice, click the title. My letter to Sens Warner D VA and Kaine D VA is at the end of this post......
If Big Tobacco, crooked chemical corporations and President Trump get their way, another industry shill will sit on a commission charged with protecting consumers against unscrupulous corporations and their harmful products.
With her record, it’s unlikely that Trump’s nominee, Dana Baiocco, would protect anything but corporate interests. Baiocco is dangerous and unfit to serve on the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) but her nomination could see a Senate floor vote as early as next week.
Tell your Senator that Baiocco should not be confirmed for this crucial public safety role.
The CPSC sets federal regulations, develops uniform safety standards and conducts research into product-related illnesses and injury. The jobs of the CPSC commissioners exist so that you don’t have to worry about whether that new sofa or cell phone you’re buying will harm you or your family.
Baiocco has devoted her career as a lawyer to defending defective and dangerous products.
She represented clients such as Yamaha, which manufactured ATVs linked to multiple deadly roll-over accidents; Volkswagen, which cheated on emission standards; Mattel, which manufactured toys containing high levels of lead paint; and RJ Reynolds, a tobacco company that hid the known hazards of smoking for decades, and waged a deceitful campaign to encourage people to feel “safe” smoking at home by promoting the extensive use of toxic flame retardant chemicals in mattresses and furniture.
Your senators will be voting on this dangerous nominee soon, and they need to hear from you. Urge them to block Dana Baiocco and demand a commissioner who will protect everyone living in the United States.
MY LETTER TO SENS WARNER AND KAINE
I am writing to express my concern about the nomination of Dana Baiocco to serve as a commissioner on the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).
As a consumer I rely on the CPSC to protect the health and safety of my family. You must ensure that CPSC's decision-making process will not be tainted by conflicts of interest.
No one is above the law, and CPSC commissioners must comply with the same fundamental rules of ethics that are required of all government employees. This means that CPSC commissioners should recuse themselves from matters in which a reasonable person would question their impartiality. There is little doubt that reasonable people would question Ms. Baiocco's impartiality when it comes to deciding the safety of products manufactured by companies she has vigorously defended in legal proceedings in order to deny compensation to their victims.
Ms Baiocco sells her services to the highest bidder, and Baiocco's history shows she provides the services paid for by corporate America. There isn't anything she won't do for the right amount of money. This is meant to sound disgusting because it is, it is the way the men and women of the trump-pence administration operate.
As your constituent, I urge you to demand that Ms. Baiocco commits to recusing herself from matters in which her impartiality can reasonably be questioned.
The public deserves a CPSC commissioner who will put consumer protection first.
As your constituent, I urge you to:
*Demand that Ms. Baiocco commits to recusing herself from matters in which her impartiality can reasonably be questioned including work involving flame retardant chemicals in consumer products, given her history representing Big Tobacco, and
Allegations of sexual harassment and assault dominated again and took new turns. As female members of Congress introduced “Me Too” legislation aimed at overhauling the system for filing and settling harassment claims for congressional employees, now-Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., was accused of unwanted kissing and groping in 2006. Franken had been hotly critical of movie mogul Harvey Weinstein for accusations against him. President Trump branded Franken “Al Frankenstien.”
Meanwhile, Alabama Republican Gov. Kay Ivey said she had “no reason to disbelieve” any of the women accusing GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore of sexual assault, many of whom were teenagers at the time, but she’s voting for Moore anyway. Republicans, she said, needed the leverage in Congress, citing Supreme Court justice appointments. That was similar to the logic conservatives used to rally around Trump whenmore than a dozen women during the 2016 campaign accused him of sexual misconduct, allegations the president has denied.
Speaking of votes, Republicans moved one step closer to getting their tax bill through. It passed the House and a key committee in the Senate, but Republicans still have a long way to go — first, to get it through the Senate with a repeal of Obamacare's individual mandate added to it and then to merge it with the House. And do it all by Christmas.
— Domenico Montanaro, NPR's lead political editor
ICYMI: Top Stories
Taxes galore: The House has narrowly approved a $1.4 trillion tax overhaul, clearing the first major hurdle in the Republican effort to cut taxes and rewrite the tax code. The measure would sharply reduce corporate tax rates and double the standard deduction many individuals take, reports NPR’s Brian Naylor. Meanwhile, despite the Senate tax overhaul undergoing some big changes, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., says he still can’t support it. Neither the Senate nor the House proposal does much for the lowest-income Americans, and some higher-income people could gain a lot, reports NPR’s Danielle Kurtzleben.
Senate expulsion: There is no precedent for expelling a duly elected Senate member for actions committed before he or she took office. In fact, there is little precedent for expelling senators at all. No one has been expelled from the Senate since the Civil War, NPR's Ron Elving reports.
2020 talk: The next presidential election may seem far away, but there’s already plenty of speculation about who might be on the Democratic ticket. Joe Biden says he has "no plans" for that challenger to be him. The former vice president and Senate veteran is out with a book that recounts his son Beau’s diagnosis and death from brain cancer, as NPR’s Domenico Montanaro writes.
Nuclear concerns: Critics of President Trump in the Senate are questioning whether anything could stop him from launching a nuclear attack unilaterally, reports NPR’s David Welna. Republican allies of the president argue these kinds of concerns undercut America’s position in the world.
Dysfunction in D.C.: On the campaign trail, Trump promised to clean things up in Washington. But the swamp is still pretty swampy, NPR's Peter Overby writes. One veteran lobbyist calls the ethical climate in the capital worse than anything he’s seen in his career.
— Barbara Sprunt, NPR politics producer
The Russia Imbroglio: Mueller At The Door
White House officials are expecting some unusual guests in the short work week before Thanksgiving: investigators from the FBI.
The team headed by Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller is set to interview a number of current administration officials, a top White House attorney tells NPR, although the official details are scarce about who specifically is involved.
There have been suggestions, however, that Mueller's team may want to talk with communications director Hope Hicks, senior adviser Jared Kushner and White House counsel Don McGahn and people on his staff.
There have been reports that Mueller's investigators may already have spoken with policy adviser Stephen Miller.
One thing Cobb did say is that he expects the sessions to wrap up by Thanksgiving. And the DOJ Russia probe may wrap up not long after that, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has said.
Or not — the only person who knows the answer is Mueller.
After receiving permission from Roger Waters, co-founder, bassist, and lead songwriter of Pink Floyd, New World Design will reproduce the same pig used for the iconic Pink Floyd photo shoot over Battersea Park Power Station, London, for the Animals album cover. This time the pigs will be gold. The helium-filled balloons will then be floated, single file, from a construction barge in the Chicago River at just such a height to obscure the 20-foot-by-141-foot Trump sign. The single day installation is expected to be launched in late August or early September.
The Trump sign (and eventually the Flying Pigs) is positioned on one of the city’s most visible axes. (Courtesy New World Design Ltd)
The pigs hold multiple meanings and make a number of pop culture references, most clearly to the 1977 Pink Floyd album cover and George Orwell’s Animal Farm. Other references include Trump’s alleged “Miss Piggy” comment directed at a former Miss Universe and the gold so often used in Trump’s interior design.
“The design follows meticulous rationale in imparting layers of meaning but ultimately allows for interpretation by individual viewers,” said Jeffrey Roberts, partner at New World Design.
The Trump Tower has become a lightning rod for protest since the election. The base of the tower has been the site of multiple peaceful demonstrations, and the Honorary Trump Plaza sign, which marked Wabash Avenue in front of the tower, was removed some months ago. On any given day, tourists can be seen across the river taking selfies of themselves giving the building the middle finger.
The Flying Pigs will be tethered to a construction barge in the Chicago River. This early rendering shows their obstruction placement. (Courtesy New World Design Ltd)
As reported by the Chicago Tribune, another consequence of Trump’s lack of popularity in Chicago has been slowed condo sales. Currently, over 50 condos in the Tower are on the market. That is nearly three times that of any similar tower in the city.
“We are a small group of designers creating visual commentary on the inflammatory nature of our current political environment. We are not radicals. We see design as our path to building and reinforcing a community of more rational, optimistic and inclusive minds,” said Roberts.
The pigs and the protests are all happening in a public way, peacefully. So it would seem that the targeting of the tower by scornful Chicagoans is not going to stop anytime soon. Not even when pigs fly.
NOT MY president drumpf/trump exposes what an idiot he is, again, while sucker punching the U.S. intelligence community on a world stage. I will admit I am not a big fan of the cia, fbi, dia, homeland security and the 13 other known agencies that make up the U.S. intelligence community, after all they allowed 9/11 to happen, allowed the nation to be lead into an illegal and immoral war in Iraq, have violated the Geneva Convention by kidnapping, illegal imprisonment and torturing prisoners and have no problem being in bed with saudia arabia, one of the most brutal and repressive regimes as well as one of the most prolific exporters of terrorism and extreme radical Islam. As an American I have the right to express my views about our intelligence community. I believe the drumpf/trump-pence campaign and administration was involved to some degree with putin and the ruling oligarchs of the Russian government interference in the 2016 Presidential election. The president has the responsibility to make sure our intelligence community is well managed, following the law and meeting their responsibilities. The drumpf/trump-pence administration is way out of line to express doubts about and challenge opinions of our intelligence community on the world stage, and their actions demoralize our intelligence community and puts our nation at risk. From Mother Jones and +NPR.....
With one more day to go before his first face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Donald Trump on Thursday once again cast doubt on US intelligence agencies’ assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 US presidential election.
“Well, I think it was Russia, and I think it could have been other people in other countries,” Trump said at a press conference in Warsaw with Polish President Andrzej Duda. “It could have been a lot of people interfered.” (Trump has previously suggested China or “some 400 pound guy” could also be responsible for hacking into email accounts of Democratic officials.)
Trump then seemed to backtrack, suggesting that the intelligence was uncertain: “I think it could very well have been Russia, but I think it could well have been other countries, and I won’t be specific, but I think a lot of people interfere.” Trump added that President Barack Obama “found out about this—in terms of, if it were Russia—found out about it in August.” Trump proceeded to blame Obama for not responding effectively to the interference.
After a reporter pointed out that US intelligence agencies have been “far more definitive” than Trump in declaring that Russia interfered in the election, Trump sought to cast doubt on that intelligence. He emphasized that the intelligence assessment was produced by just “three or four” of the country’s 17 intelligence agencies.
“I agree,” Trump added. “I think it was Russia, but I think it was probably other people and/or countries, and I see nothing wrong with that statement. Nobody really knows. Nobody really knows for sure.”
Trump then invoked past US intelligence failures, saying that “everybody was 100 percent sure that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Guess what: That led to one big mess. They were wrong.”
“So it was Russia, and I think it was probably others also, and that’s been going on for a long period of time,” added Trump.
Despite the evidence pointing to Russian hacking, as well as bipartisan acknowledgement that the Kremlin actively worked to undermine Hillary Clinton, White House officials have indicated Trump is unlikely to broach the subject during his meeting with Putin Friday.
A majority of Americans believe President Trump has done something either illegal or unethical when it comes to Russia, according to a new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll.
The 54 percent of people who believe something untoward has gone on include a quarter who believe the president has done something illegal in regards to his dealings with Russia, and 29 percent of Americans who think he has done something unethical, but not illegal. Thirty-six percent of Americans believe Trump has done nothing wrong. Those numbers reflect an increase in the number of Americans believing something either illegal or unethical went on compared to a February 2017 Marist survey when 49 percent of Americans thought the president had done something either illegal or unethical in regards to Russia.
There's a deep partisan divide in the country when it comes to investigations into Trump's relationship with Russia and whether he or his campaign associates did anything wrong. Republicans have overwhelmingly put their trust in Trump in his approach to Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, whom Trump is scheduled to meet with on Friday. But Democrats and, to a lesser degree, independents are increasingly convinced there was some type of wrongdoing or ethical breach.
Seventy-three percent of Republicans say Trump himself has done nothing wrong, with 15 percent saying he has done something unethical but not illegal, and just 4 percent say he has done something illegal.
Democrats and independents, however, hold very different opinions. Forty-one percent of Democrats believe Trump himself has done something illegal, and 39 percent say he has done something unethical but not illegal. Just 13 percent think he has done nothing wrong.
Independents' views are more split. Thirty-two percent of independents say Trump has done nothing wrong, while 31 percent say he has done something unethical but not illegal and 27 percent believe he has done something illegal.
"When it comes to Russia, the lenses of Democrats and Republicans have a very different tint," said Lee Miringoff, director of The Marist Institute for Public Opinion.
Fifty-eight percent of Americans think that Trump's campaign associates were somehow complicit in something improper regarding Russia. That includes a 33 percent plurality that believe Trump campaign associates did something illegal, while 1 in 4 think the campaign's associates did something unethical but not illegal. Twenty-nine percent think the campaign's associates did nothing wrong.
Among Republicans, 62 percent think the Trump campaign's associates did nothing wrong, while 17 percent think they did something unethical but not illegal and 7 percent think something illegal happened.
Fifty-nine percent of Democrats believe associates of the Trump campaign did something illegal, while 26 percent say they did something unethical but not illegal and just 8 percent say nothing wrong happened. Among independents, though, a 36 percent plurality think the Trump campaign's associates did something illegal in relation to Russia, while 30 percent believe something unethical but not illegal occurred. Twenty-four percent say the Trump campaign's associates did nothing wrong.
Across the board, Americans of all political stripes have been paying attention to the ongoing Russia investigations, which include a Department of Justice special counsel and inquiries from both the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. Twenty-six percent say they've been following the news a great deal, and 33 percent say they've been following the news about it a good amount. Twenty-eight percent say they haven't followed the news about the Russia investigations very much, while just 12 percent say they aren't following it at all.
There's also a high level of skepticism and flat-out disbelief when it comes to whether or not Russia even sought to meddle in U.S. elections last year. (The U.S. intelligence community has concluded that Russia meddled in the 2016 election.) A quarter of Republicans say Russia wasn't involved in the hacking at all, while another 27 percent say the country poses no threat to future U.S. elections.
That view is at odds with Americans overall. A 47 percent plurality say they think Russia is a major threat to future U.S. elections, while 20 percent say Russia poses a minor threat to future U.S. elections. Just 13 percent say the country poses no threat at all, while 12 percent think Russia wasn't involved at all.
Democrats and independents are overwhelmingly concerned about the security of future U.S. elections, however. Seventy-three percent of Democrats say Russia poses a major threat to future U.S. elections, while 16 percent say the country is a minor threat. Just over half of independents say Russia is a major threat to future U.S. elections, while 19 percent say the country is a minor threat.
"If you're looking at 2018, there's no big push on the part of GOP voters to get involved in this notion of addressing what went on with the last elections," said Miringoff. "Republicans are comfortable with what Donald Trump says, and they are comfortable with him as president."
As Trump plans to meet with Putin on Friday, a 46 percent plurality of Americans overall think Trump's goal of improving relations with Russia is mostly a good thing for the U.S. while, 41 percent say it's mostly a bad thing. Those numbers also have a distinctly partisan split — 70 percent of Democrats say improving relations with Russia is mostly a bad thing for the country, while three-quarters of Republicans say it's mostly a good thing. Independents are nearly evenly split on the question.
When simply asked if it's better for the U.S. to build relationships with Russia or to treat the country as a threat — without Trump in the equation — a 59 percent majority of Americans believe it's better to build relationships with Russia while 31 percent say Russia should be treated as a threat. Sixty-seven percent of Republicans think it's better to build relationships with Russia, and 60 percent of independents likewise hold that view. Democrats are split on that question, with 46 percent of them saying the U.S. should build better relationships with Russia, while 44 percent believe Russia should be treated as a threat.
Forty-two percent of Americans think Trump is a more effective leader than Putin, whom Trump has often praised. Thirty-six percent say Putin is the more effective leader. Those numbers also have a deep partisan bent, with three quarters of Republicans saying Trump is the more effective leader, while half of Democrats say Putin is the more effective leader. Independents are nearly evenly split on the question.
If the U.S. reduces its role on the world stage, a 45 percent plurality of Americans think China would most likely benefit. Nearly a quarter think Russia would be the beneficiary of a less engaged United States, while 5 percent say Saudi Arabia would benefit most, 4 percent think it would be Germany and 5 percent say another country. Sixteen percent are unsure which country would be most likely to benefit.
The NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist pollsurveyed 1,205 adults from June 21-25 contacted by live interviewers using a mix of landline and mobile numbers. There is a 2.8-percentage-point margin of error. A subsample of 995 registered voters was also surveyed, with a 3.1-percentage-point margin of error.
