***OFFICIAL TRUMP CABINET THREAD***

[dbestpro]

[Dirk Oneanddoneski]

Republicans In Congress Are TERRIFIED Of Trump And His 'Horde Of Enforcers'



Donald Trump ran roughshod over his GOP opponents in the 2016 Republican primaries. It was a scorched Earth style campaign that left his foes, not just beaten, but humiliated.

He didn't merely challenge their policy positions or leadership skills, he used language meant to shame them. Fellow Republicans were viciously maligned as "Lyin' Ted' and "Little Marco." Eventually Trump succeeded in capturing the nomination, but not without leaving bodies on the battlefield.

Those same tactics are now being deployed against the Republicans in Congress. Many of them are saying privately that they are fearful of taking positions against Trump.

That poses a critical problem because their traditionally conservative views are often at odds with Trump's twisted brand of populism. Trumpulism favors cordial relations with Russia and its strongman Vladimir Putin. It proposes to spend a trillion dollars on infrastructure improvements, mainly benefiting wealthy contractors. It is critical of the U.S. alliance with NATO. It would impose stiff tariffs on American companies with foreign factories.

All of these positions are in direct opposition to decades of Republican doctrine.
The problem now is that Republicans are literally afraid to speak their minds.

They have been warned by Trump and his surrogates that any

diversion from total obedience to his agenda would be viewed as betrayal.

As reported by Politico:

"It’s little wonder that Capitol Hill Republicans have papered over their not-insignificant policy differences with Trump, shying away from any statement about the president-elect that might possibly be construed as critical.

They’re terrified of arousing the ire of their tempestuous new leader — or being labeled a turncoat by his army of followers."

[...]"Since the election, numerous congressional Republicans have refused to publicly weigh in on any Trump proposal at odds with Republican orthodoxy, from his border wall to his massive infrastructure package.

The most common reason, stated repeatedly but always privately:

They're afraid of being attacked by Breitbart or other big-name Trump supporters."

The threat from Breitbart is a real concern. Especially since its chairman, Stephen Bannon, is currently on leave to serve as Trump's strategic advisor in the White House. But it doesn't stop there.

As South Carolina GOP Rep. Mark Sanford said, "People are naturally reticent to be the first out of the block for fear of Sean Hannity, for fear of Breitbart, for fear of local folks."

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016...ng-their-minds

Thereby, Don The Con TrashBrain becomes autocratic dictator surrounded by goons, Schutzstaffel, brown shirts, Fox, Breitbart, and all the hate media.

America The Beautiful, ed and un able.

[boutons_deux]

KAC getting destroyed, what dumb

Kellyanne Conway Offers Ridiculous Defense Of Trump Sons’ Selling Access

Kellyanne Conway has not only drunk the Trump Kool-Aid, it’s running in her veins. Which is why she was just promoted to the highest position any woman holds in the Trump administration, counselor to the president.

“I think we should go back and look at what Don Jr. and Eric have done and wanted to continue to do, which is raise money for charities,” Conway said. “The Eric Trump Foundation is ten years old. It has done enormously great work.”

“It’s the same thing the Clinton people said when they were defending their allegations of pay-for-play,” Cuomo noted, and then turned back to the Trumps, who were, “selling off a million-dollar trip to hunt with the boys and hang out with the president. That sounds like paying for access.”

Conway tried to pivot back to the Clintons, spewing allegations that were often repeated during the campaign and proven untrue.

“So paying a million dollars to hang out with the president is okay?” Cuomo pressed.

“I didn’t say that,” Conway said after a moment of silence.

“I know, you’re not answering,” Cuomo observed. “You’re going after the Clintons. I’m saying, what’s your answer?

You mentioned the Clinton Foundation, you said it’s the same,” Conway shot back. “I’m saying it’s absolutely not the same.”
Cuomo wondered, if what the Trump sons were doing was so noble and charitable, why have they since rescinded the offer?

Because the media is soo unfair, was basically Conway’s response.

http://www.nationalmemo.com/conways-...elling-access/

[boutons_deux]

Rachel Maddow Destroys Kellyanne Conway On Trump’s Proposal To Expand Nuclear Weapons

By Sean Colarossi on Thu, Dec 22nd, 2016 at 9:47 pm
Conway alternated between playing dumb and pretending that Trump never proposed the nuclear expansion in the first place.


Kellyanne Conway, failed miserably to defend the president-elect’s new proposal that the United States expand its nuclear arsenal.Conway alternated between playing dumb about U.S. nuclear policy and pretending that Trump never proposed the nuclear expansion in the first place.

Conway repeatedly tried to pivot back to a general discussion about how Trump wants to keep America safe, but Maddow clearly wasn’t having it.

When the MSNBC host pushed her on the danger of a nuclear arms race, Conway folded like a cheap tent and called Maddow “unfair” for saying that Trump proposed to expand U.S. nukes.

But in a tweet earlier in the day, Trump did just that:

Donald J. Trump
✔@realDonaldTrump

The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes
10:50 AM - 22 Dec 2012

Maddow also slammed the door shut on Conway’s attempt to dismiss the president-elect’s comments as a meaningless tweet and not an actual policy proposal:

“The president making policy happens whenever the president speaks on a national security matter.”

There’s no question that Conway ???? is a gifted spin doctor, but she was clearly unable to put a positive spin on Trump’s latest outrageous comment.

http://www.politicususa.com/2016/12/...iticus+USA+%29

unfair? WTF? since when do Repugs play politics "fairly"?

[boutons_deux]

All you women who voted for pussy-grabber misogynist Trash

Trump's team singles out State Department programs for women for special review

Donald Trump’s transition team has asked the State Department for details on programs aimed at benefiting women around the world, including a list of positions that focused on reducing gender-based violence and promoting women in the workplace.

the president-elect’s transition team asked for an urgent response to its inquiries about “gender-related staffing, programming and funding.”

“People are freaked out,” said a senior State Department official who was not authorized to speak publicly.

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-n...22-story.html?
utm_source=Today%27s+Headlines&utm_campaign=c67926 84fc-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2016_12_12&utm_medium=email&utm_ter m=0_b04355194f-c6792684fc-80027601

Maybe Trash's team is just sadistically trolling State dept, or maybe they plan to make the programs more "efficient" (kill them), or maybe both.

We know the Repugs are gonna cut programs for women in USA, like defund PP, and, eg, TX cutting $350M from Medicaid. Result? Ms of diseased dead women, children, babies.

US money that won't go to women overseas will go into BigCorp/1% pockets as tax cuts. Trash, Repug FLEECING the planet to enrich the rich and powerful.

[CosmicCowboy]

ahhhh *hot coffee* * sip* *check*

log on for my morning laugh at Boos ongoing escalating meltdown *check*

[boutons_deux]

ahhhh *hot coffee* * sip* *check*

log on for my morning laugh at Boos ongoing escalating meltdown *check*

excellent, just excellent post, by little slapped .

[boutons_deux]

Trump campaign official wants Mic e Obama to be ‘let loose’ to live with African apes




Carl Paladino, who co-chaired Donald Trump’s New York campaign, is refusing to back down from derogatory and racist comments he made on his 2017 “wish list,” including the hope that President Barack Obama dies from mad cow disease, and Mic e Obama “returns to being a male” and lives with a gorilla in an African cave.

“Obama catches mad cow disease after being caught having relations with a Herford,” the Buffalo School Board member wrote of what he would “most like to happen in 2017.”

“[Obama] dies before his trial and is buried in a cow pasture next to Valerie Jarret, who died weeks prior, after being convicted of sedition and treason, when a Jihady cell mate mistook her for being a nice person and decapitated her,” he added.

As for what Paladino would “most like to see go in 2017,” the prominent developer responded, “Mic e Obama.”

“I’d like her to return to being a male and let loose in the outback of Zimbabwe where she lives comfortably in a cave with Maxie, the gorilla,” he wrote.

Paladino told The Buffalo News he “of course” made the comments

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/12/trum...-african-apes/

[boutons_deux]

The Venerable New England Journal Of Medicine Rips Into Tom Price, Trump's Pick For HHS

In a new editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine, (NEJM) based on his history in politics, Tom Price looks to go in a different direction.

Ostensibly, he emphasizes the importance of making our health care system “more responsive and affordable to meet the needs of America’s patients and those who care for them.” But as compared with his predecessors’ actions, Price’s record demonstrates less concern for the sick, the poor, and the health of the public and much greater concern for the economic well-being of their physician caregivers.

he calls his ACA replacement plan “Empowering Patients First Act” while it does just the opposite.

His proposal for replacing the ACA is H.R. 2300, the Empowering Patients First Act,5 which would eliminate the ACA’s Medicaid expansion and replace its subsidies with flat tax credits based on age, not income ($1,200 per year for someone 18 to 35 years of age; $3,000 for someone 50 or older, with an additional one-time credit of $1,000 toward a health savings account). Price’s plan is regressive: it offers much greater subsidies relative to income for purchasers with high incomes and much more meager subsidies for those with low incomes.

Insurance companies will see a windfall under his plan but they aren’t the only beneficiaries of his plan.

Whereas Price’s actions to date have not reflected the tradition of the physician as advocate for the poor and vulnerable, they do harken back to an earlier tradition in American medicine: the physician advocate as protector of the guild.

Trump looks to dismantle HHS and Tom Price is his guy to do it.

The HHS Department oversees a broad set of health programs that touch about half of all Americans. Over five decades and the administrations of nine presidents, both Democratic and Republican secretaries have used these programs to protect the most vulnerable Americans. The proposed nomination of Tom Price to HHS highlights a sharp contrast between this tradition of compassionate leadership and the priorities of the incoming administration.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/1...ublican-states

[boutons_deux]

The very bad reason RACIST Jeff Sessions is ‘very unhappy’

There might somewhere be a second prominent American who endorses today’s civil forfeiture practices, but one such person is “very unhappy” with criticisms of it.

At a 2015 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on forfeiture abuses,

one senator said “taking and seizing and forfeiting, through a government judicial process, illegal gains from criminal enterprises is not wrong,” and

neither is law enforcement enriching itself from this.

In the manner of the man for whom he soon will work, this senator asserted an unverifiable number: “95 percent” of forfeitures involve people who have “done nothing in their lives but sell dope.”

This senator said it should not be more difficult for “government to take money from a drug dealer than it is for a businessperson to defend themselves in a lawsuit.”

In seizing property suspected of involvement in a crime, government “should not have a burden of proof higher than in a normal civil case.”

IJ’s Robert Everett Johnson notes that this senator missed a few salient points:

In civil forfeiture there usually is no proper “judicial process.”

There is no way of knowing how many forfeitures involve criminals because the government takes property without even charging anyone with a crime.

The government’s vast prosecutorial resources are one reason it properly bears the burden of proving criminal culpability “beyond a reasonable doubt.”

A sued businessperson does not have assets taken until he or she has lost in a trial, whereas civil forfeiture takes property without a trial and the property owner must wage a protracted, complex and expensive fight to get it returned.

The Senate Judiciary Committee might want to discuss all this when considering the nominee to be the next attorney general, Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions.https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...t-draw7&wpmm=1

[boutons_deux]

The Certainty Factor: Trump’s pick for labor secretary wrote a deregulatory manifesto

Andrew Puzder’s co-author told us: “He’ll put in place everything we laid out in the book"

The single best window into Puzder’s thinking may be an obscure book he wrote six years ago. It’s a blistering attack on business regulations, unions and the Obama administration’s stimulus and health care policies.

“I think first and foremost, he’ll put in place everything we laid out in the book,” Puzder’s co-author, David Newton, told ProPublica in an interview.

The 160-page book — “Job Creation: How It Really Works and Why Government Doesn’t Understand It” — centers on a concept Puzder and Newton dub the “Certainty Factor,” which they argue is key to business expansion and job creation.

“Less federal programs, reduced deficit spending, lower taxes and cutting back on regulations improve the Certainty Factor,” they write.

If confirmed, Puzder will have power to shape a wide range of regulations that govern unions and employers, many of which are designed to protect workers.

“My job as a business person is to maximize profits for my company, employees and shareholders. My job as the Secretary of Labor, if confirmed, is to serve U.S. citizen workers — that is my moral and cons utional duty.” morals?

worried Puzder could roll back a new regulation, currently held up in court, that would expand eligibility for overtime pay. ( that's a CERTAINTY)

http://www.salon.com/2016/12/23/the-...festo_partner/

Labor Secy who hates labor

Education Secy who destroys public education

Energy Secy who wants to kill the dept.

Defense Secy who's a maddog.

HHS Secy who wants to kill ACA, Medicare, Medicaid

Treasury Secy who ran a criminal, fraudulent foreclosure mill.

Atty Genl who is life-long racist from ing AL.

etc, etc, etc.

[boutons_deux]

on DeVos

“When you wage war on the public schools, you’re attacking the mortar that holds the community together. You’re not a conservative, you’re a vandal.”

― Garrison Keillor, Homegrown Democrat: A Few Plain Thoughts from the Heart of America

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/12/26/stuart-egan-what-frank-capra-could-teach-betsy-devos-about-public-schools

[boutons_deux]

Business Community Is Shocked and Alarmed That Trump Conned Them

Washington business interests are “shocked and alarmed” that Trump’s transition team is “defending new tariffs" Trump pledged to impose.



http://www.politicususa.com/2016/12/...iticus+USA+%29

[boutons_deux]

Investigation reveals Trump’s Treasury pick excelled at kicking elderly people out of their homes



In recent years, OneWest has foreclosed on at least 50,000 people, often in cir stances that consumer advocates say run counter to federal rules and, as in Yang’s case, common sense.

President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of Steven Mnuchin as Treasury Secretary has prompted new scrutiny of OneWest’s foreclosure practices. Mnuchin was the lead investor and chairman of the company during the years it ramped up its foreclosure efforts. Representatives from the company and the Trump transition team did not respond to requests for comment.

Records show the attempt to push Mr. Yang out of his home was not an unusual one for OneWest’s Financial Freedom unit, which focused on controversial home loans known as reverse mortgages. Regulators and consumer advocates have long worried that these loans, popular during the height of the housing bubble, exploit elderly homeowners.

But the fees are often high and the interest charges mount up quickly because the homeowner isn’t paying down any of the principal on the loan. Homeowners remain on the hook for property taxes and insurance and can lose their homes if they miss those payments.

A 2012 report to Congress by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said that “vigorous enforcement is necessary to ensure that older homeowners are not defrauded of a lifetime of home equity.”

ProPublica found numerous examples where Financial Freedom had foreclosed for legally questionable reasons. The company served several other homeowners at their homes to let them know they were being sued for not occupying their homes. In Florida, a shortfall of only $0.27 led to a foreclosure attempt.

In Atlanta, the company sought to foreclose on a widow after her husband’s death, but backed down when a legal aid attorney sued, citing federal law that allowed the surviving spouse to remain in the home.

“It appears their business approach is scorched earth, in a way that doesn’t serve communities, homeowners or the taxpayer,” said Alys Cohen, a staff attorney for the National Consumer Law Center in Washington D.C.

Since the financial crisis, OneWest, through Financial Freedom, has conducted a disproportionate number of the nation’s reverse mortgage foreclosures. It was

responsible for 16,200 foreclosures on government-backed reverse mortgages, or 39 percent of all foreclosures nationwide, from 2009 through late 2014, even though it only serviced about 17 percent of the loans,

according to government data analyzed by the California Reinvestment Coalition, an advocacy group for low-income consumers. While some foreclosures were justified, legal aid attorneys say Financial Freedom has refused to work with borrowers in foreclosure to establish payment plans, in contrast with other servicers of reverse mortgages.

OneWest’s rough treatment of homeowners extended to its behavior toward borrowers with standard mortgages in the aftermath of the housing crash. In 2009, the Obama administration launched a program to encourage mortgage servicers to work out affordable mortgage modifications with borrowers. OneWest, weighed down by several hundred thousand souring mortgages, signed up.

It didn’t go well.

About three-quarters of homeowners who sought a modification from OneWest through the program were denied,

according to the latest figures from the Treasury Department.

OneWest was among the worst performing large servicers in the program by that measure.

In 2011, activists protested OneWest’s indifference at Mnuchin’s Bel Air mansion in Los Angeles.

Despite the controversy, Mnuchin and the other investors in OneWest made a killing on their purchase.

In 2009, Mnuchin’s investment group bought the failed mortgage bank IndyMac, which had been taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation after the financial crisis, changing the name to OneWest. They paid about $1.5 billion, with the FDIC sharing the ongoing mortgage losses. George Soros, a Clinton backer at whose hedge fund Mnuchin had worked, and John Paulson, a hedge fund manager who also supported Trump, invested alongside Mnuchin in IndyMac.

In 2015, CIT, a lender to small and medium-sized businesses, bought OneWest for $3.4 billion, more than doubling the Mnuchin group’s initial investment.

Mnuchin personally made about $380 million on the sale,

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/12/inve...e+Raw+Story%29

[boutons_deux]

Senators ask Trump EPA chief pick to disclose energy industry ties

Democrats on the U.S. Senate’s environment panel on Wednesday asked President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to head the Environmental Protection Agency to disclose his ties to the energy industry ahead of his confirmation hearing early next year.

The six senators sent a letter to Scott Pruitt, who

as Oklahoma Attorney General led several lawsuits against the Obama administration’s EPA to block its environmental rules,

to ask him to list his connections to energy companies to weigh whether these ties will influence his ability to run the agency.

“What that conduct says about your ability to lead EPA in a manner that is not beholden to special or secret interests is a subject that we expect will receive a full airing during your confirmation hearing,”

the senators wrote in the letter.

The senators raised concerns about a 2014 New York Times report, which found that Pruitt’s close ties to Devon Energy Corp were reflected in his policy positions as Oklahoma’s top attorney.

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/12/sena...e+Raw+Story%29

[boutons_deux]

What cronyism looks like: Trump invents new government post for his company's top lawyer


President-elect Donald Trump has appointed his longtime corporate lawyer Jason Greenblatt to a new position as special representative for international negotiations in the Trump administration.Greenblatt is currently the chief legal officer of the Trump Organization, Trump’s sprawling real estate and licensing company, where he represents Trump’s business interests in domestic and international negotiations.

In his announcement, Trump seemed to leave the door open for Greenblatt to be involved in a wide range of issues. “His talents lend themselves perfectly to the role I have asked him to play, assisting on international negotiations of all types, and trade deals around the world,” Trump said in a statement.

It was also unclear whether Greenblatt’s position would be based in the White House, or within another federal agency.

By naming Greenblatt to his administration, Trump is tapping someone who has limited experience in foreign affairs or trade policy, yet has expert knowledge of the multinational Trump Organization, and of what would be in the best interests of the company.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/1...28Daily+Kos%29

KKK will not be pleased. Trash giving them another big fat Jewish middle finger.

[boutons_deux]

Fox telegraphing very probably part of Ryan's sociopathic spending? Ms of Trash's voters on on SNAP.

No, (BLACK) food stamp fraud is not ‘at an all-time high’

Fox News is lying, the sky is blue, and today is a day ending in Y.


In fiscal year 2016, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, also known as food stamps) is expected to cost about $70.8 billion.

If Fox News’ claim of $70 million in waste is correct, that would still mean that less than one-tenth of one percent of SNAP dollars are spent fraudulently.

SNAP overall comprises about 0.1 percent of the federal budget. Compared to the $125 billion of waste that the Department of Defense recently tried to cover up, that figure appears even more microscopic.

SNAP usage overall is actually down to its lowest levels since 2011, and current program costs are slightly higher than they were in 2010. In spite of the prevailing conservative narrative, SNAP is not a wasteful program

As ThinkProgress reported in 2013, the program doesn’t even reach millions of people who qualify for it, because they get caught up in red tape.

If there is waste in relation to SNAP and other government assistance programs, it comes not in the form of the recipients abusing the system, but in the form of state governments subjecting citizens to unnecessary drug tests and other bureaucratic measures that yield few results.

https://thinkprogress.org/no-food-st...6f8#.tzh8gyqrh

[boutons_deux]

HOWEVER! White religious freaks ...

Polygamous sect leader takes plea deal in food stamp fraud case




high-ranking leader of a polygamous sect has been released from jail after pleading guilty in a multimillion-dollar food stamp fraud case.

Seth Jeffs agreed to a deal Wednesday that spares him more jail time or a fine. The 43-year-old became the second of 11 defendants to plead guilty, and more deals are reportedly in the works.

Jeffs pleaded guilty to fraud for misusing food stamps, a felony punishable by up to 20 years behind bars. In return, conspiracy and money laundering charges were dropped.

U.S. prosecutors said they were satisfied with the six months that Jeffs has served in jail since he was arrested in February following a multiyear federal investigation.

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/12/poly...e+Raw+Story%29

... if he and his accomplices had been black.

[boutons_deux]

"Now I will tell you the answer to my question. It is this. The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from the oligarchies of the past in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites. The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just around the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We are not like that. We know what no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now you begin to understand me." George Orwell 1984

Don The Con Trash, his transition accomplices, his Cabinet hit men and women, and the Repugs, VRWC in general since late '80s are described above.

[boutons_deux]

Henry A. Giroux on Trump's Cabinet, the Church of Neoliberal Evangelicals

Trump has appointed to high government positions a number of

religious fundamentalists,

conspiracy-theory advocates,

billionaires,

misogynists,

climate-change deniers and

retrograde anti-communists,

this should come as no surprise given the anti-democratic conditions that produced Trump in the first place.

Not only do these individuals uniformly lack the experience to take on the jobs for which they were nominated,

they are unapologetic about destroying the government agencies in which they have been put in charge.

forthcoming policy decisions that will increase the attack on democratic ins utions and public goods,

as well as the degree to which power will be further consolidated in the hands of the financial elite.

While there is little doubt that Trump's gaggle of appointees represents a deep embrace of ignorance and crony capitalism and a disdain for the ins utions that give legitimacy to the social contract and the welfare state,

these administrative heads also represent the front guard of the dark times that are to come,

times that will be marked by a combination of state repression and

unchecked collusion among big corporations, banks and the ultra-rich.

he has also filled cabinet and high-level positions with generals, ensuring that the militarization of American society will not simply be continued, but accelerated.

a war on education,

support for austerity policies and

an attack on social provisions,

the poor,

workers,

unions and the

most vulnerable.

the next few years will be governed by ruthless financial elite

who will give new meaning to an updated version of authoritarianism that

will accelerate the misery, suffering and exploitation of a wider sector of American society. -

http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/38945-henry-a-giroux-on-trump-s-cabinet-the-church-of-neoliberal-evangelicals

[boutons_deux]

The path to Repug corruption under Trash and his predatory, destructive cabinet has been cleared, by the Repugs themselves

House Republicans vote to rein in independent ethics office

Defying the wishes of their top leaders, House Republicans voted behind closed doors Monday night to rein in the independent ethics office created eight years ago in the wake of a series of embarrassing congressional scandals.

Under the proposed new rules, the office could not employ a spokesperson, investigate anonymous tips or refer criminal wrongdoing to prosecutors without the express consent of the Ethics Committee, which would gain the power to summarily end any OCE probe.

The move to place the OCE under the Ethics Committee’s aegis stands to please many lawmakers who have been wary of having their dirty laundry aired by the independent en y,

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) opposed the amendment to the House rules package, pro forma bull

“The OCE has a serious and important role in the House, and this amendment does nothing to impede their work,” Goodlatte said.

Orwellian!

Goodlatte’s amendment to the House rules “provides protections against any disclosures to the public or other government en ies,”

The measure also prohibits limits the OCE’s jurisdiction to the previous three Congresses, aligning its statute of limitations to the Ethics Committee’s.

there is no public tally of how members voted on the proposal.

“Threatening its independence is a disservice to the American people who need a nonpartisan body to investigate the ethical failures of their representatives,”

“The fact that they do not want an Office with ‘Congressional Ethics’ in the name is a pretty good metaphor for how ethics scandals will be dealt with if this rule passes.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/01/02/house-republicans-vote-to-rein-in-independent-ethics-office/?utm_campaign=pubexchange&utm_medium=referral&utm_ source=huffingtonpost.com&utm_term=.a6a76ca9af34
As one of their first actions in the new Congress, House Republicans are planning to significantly change the Office of Congressional Ethics, removing the en y’s independence, barring it from investigating anonymous complaints and even changing the group’s name.

[boutons_deux]

10 members of Congress took trip secretly funded by foreign government



https://www.washingtonpost.com/inves...=.477f1e3fccfd

.... the kind of corruption, ethic violations that will now continue without fear of discovery.

The Trash Corruption will be "unpresidented"

[boutons_deux]

Treasury Nominee Steve Mnuchin’s Bank Accused of “Widespread Misconduct” in Leaked Memo

ONEWEST BANK, which Donald Trump’s treasury secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin ran from 2009 to 2015, repeatedly broke California’s foreclosure laws during that period, according to a previously undisclosed 2013 memo from top prosecutors in the state attorney general’s office.

The memo obtained by The Intercept alleges that

OneWest rushed delinquent homeowners out of their homes by violating notice and waiting period statutes,

illegally backdated key do ents, and

effectively gamed foreclosure auctions.

In the memo, the leaders of the state attorney general’s Consumer Law Section said they had

“uncovered evidence suggestive of widespread misconduct” in a yearlong investigation.

In a detailed 22-page request, they identified over a thousand legal violations in the small subsection of OneWest loans they were able to examine, and they recommended that Attorney General Kamala Harris file a civil enforcement action against the Pasadena-based bank.

They even wrote up a sample legal complaint, seeking injunctive relief and millions of dollars in penalties.

But Harris’s office, without any explanation, declined to prosecute the case.

Mnuchin, the former CEO of OneWest, was already facing challenges in his upcoming Senate confirmation hearings on account of his bank’s ruthless foreclosure practices, ranging from locking out one homeowner during a Minneapolis blizzard to foreclosing on another over a 27-cent payment shortfall.

https://theintercept.com/2017/01/03/...n-leaked-memo/

just another bag in bag's cabinet

[boutons_deux]

NAACP head leads sit-in of Jeff Sessions’ office in protest of his nomination as Attorney General

https://twitter.com/CornellWBrooks/s...rc=twsrc%5Etfw

“This is not some kind of civic game,” Brooks insisted on the same day more than 1,100 law school professors in 48 states sent a letter urging the Senate to reject Sessions’ nomination.

http://www.salon.com/2017/01/03/naacp-head-leads-sit-in-of-jeff-sessions-office-in-protest-of-his-nomination-as-attorney-general/

[boutons_deux]

Tillerson to Get $180 Million Exxon Payout

http://www.ozy.com/presidential-dail...arachute-74932