Octopus Overlords

Kraken wrote: ↑Thu Jun 14, 2018 2:02 pm I don't think it signifies anything significant. Turnover in this administration is running at 51%. Trump reportedly fosters chaos and deliberately pits people against one another, leaving everyone thinking that they might be fired at any moment for any reason or no reason. It must be a miserable place to work.

One pundit speculated that the turnover rate will gradually drop as the current crop of second-string personnel are replaced by third-stringers who can't get jobs anywhere else.

I think Sanders is significant, both for her relationship to her father in Conservative/Religious circles and her frustration with being told to give out misinformation which is later contradicted, which boiled over with the press as she had to try to sell herself as an honest person trying to be accurate.

Pyperkub wrote: ↑Thu Jun 14, 2018 3:53 pmher frustration with being told to lie which came out in a public interview recently.

I missed that. Link?

Remus West wrote: ↑Thu Jun 14, 2018 6:05 pm

Pyperkub wrote: ↑Thu Jun 14, 2018 3:53 pmher frustration with being told to lie which came out in a public interview recently.

I missed that. Link?

OK, reading a bit between the lines (lies?) here, but this was the response:

"I think you all know I'm an honest person, who works extremely hard to provide you with accurate information," Press Sec. Sanders says when pressed on conflicting comments between her and Pres. Trump's lawyers over whether the president dictated Trump Tower statement.

Making slight edit.

In Betsy DeVos Dept of Education, apparently 36 out of 93 is a passing grade...

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos disregarded a scathing review by her own staff this spring when she reinstated the watchdog body that had accredited two scandal-scarred for-profit universities whose bankruptcies left tens of thousands of students with worthless degrees and mountains of debt, a new report has revealed.

A 244-page internal document, written by career staff and delivered to the secretary in early March but made public late Friday, found that the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools, or Acics, had failed to meet 57 of 93 federal quality and management compliance standards as it vied to continue operating as a gatekeeper for billions in federal financial aid dollars.

Pyperkub wrote: ↑Thu Jun 14, 2018 8:57 pm In Betsy DeVos Dept of Education, apparently 36 out of 93 is a passing grade...

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos disregarded a scathing review by her own staff this spring when she reinstated the watchdog body that had accredited two scandal-scarred for-profit universities whose bankruptcies left tens of thousands of students with worthless degrees and mountains of debt, a new report has revealed.

A 244-page internal document, written by career staff and delivered to the secretary in early March but made public late Friday, found that the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools, or Acics, had failed to meet 57 of 93 federal quality and management compliance standards as it vied to continue operating as a gatekeeper for billions in federal financial aid dollars.

How much will this corrupt billionaires club be able steal directly underTrump? Is this some sort of self fulfilling prophecy that all tax is theft? Thank goodness the swamp has been drained, leaving all this room for raw sewage.

You learn something new everyday; so apparently in the 1850's when the Abolitionists were making headway in the North part of their message was slavery is morally wrong. In opposition white christian slavers, that phrase just rolls off the tongue, began propagandizing the bible as grounds for continuing slavery based on rule of law. A heavily quoted passage during this time was Romans 13(I won't quote the passage).

Jump ahead to 2016; Attorney General of the United States and former AG of Alabama, Jeff Sessions, on Thursday used this exact same quote to defend his position on separating families as part of US immigration policy.

I keep thinking of the MASH episode where Harry Morgan first appeared as a Major General who we learn at the end is completely nuts and a raging racist, as he sings Mississippi Mud, dancing across the compound. In typical MASH, "it's a topsy turvy world" fashion the character winds up with a promotion and a cushy job state-side.

The same set of verses was used by conservative and pro-Nazi clergy in Germany against anti-Nazi clergy before the latter were rounded up and imprisoned.

What's remarkable is the degree of ecumenical religious opposition to Trump's immigration policy we're seeing. It started with the Muslim ban, but something about the suffering of children in the current crisis has galvanized Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and other faith leaders to speak out with one voice here.

At least I hope it's visible far and wide. I see it on social media, and I work at a Jesuit university, but I wonder if many in the Bible Belt are even aware.

Oh, hey: Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is corrupt as fuck and in bed with oligarchs, but we're not noticing because it's only a third- or fourth-tier crime story in this administration.

The best and brightest, ladies and gentlemen!



Er...I mean utterly and completely pig-ignorant.

Not ignorant. Just being extremely careful what and how he says things, mixed with some obfuscation and lying. He's obviously aware of discrimination, but he probably hasn't seen it, as long as he defines that as witnessing it happen directly to him or in front of him, and there's probably no opportunity for that to happen. He says he's not familiar with Charlottesville, which is hopefully a lie, because if he's actually unfamiliar, he's unfit to serve. Then he justifies by saying he doesn't read the newspaper. That could be totally true if he defines it as a physical newspaper, which many people don't read.

The people working for this admin at high levels no longer get the benefit of the doubt. If the choice is between them being ignorant and actually malicious, I assume malicious until proven otherwise.

"I don't know what's going on, so I can't possibly comment" is a pretty sad fucking excuse for public servants to hide behind.

(See: Paul Ryan, who apparently has never seen a tweet or speech by Donald Trump.)

When I was a public official, my boss and mentor taught me that I should be reading and watching the news - especially the local news - daily. It's a habit I got into and have been doing just about daily for 20+ years. Why? His philosophy was that as a public servant, we had an obligation to be current on what was happening. And to do so, we needed to read and see the same media our taxpaying public was experiencing so when they called us with questions on things they were seeing or reading, we weren't caught by surprise or unable to assist. In his mind, having a resident call us to ask about a disease or chemical contamination that was being reported in the papers and for us to answer, "I have no idea" was a failure.

My point here is that I was a local official. Small potatoes. The idea that someone at this level is magically ignorant of all that was asked in that (awesome) video either says he's a complete idiot or he's intentionally crafting his answers to keep himself out of trouble. Either one is problematic.

These aren't professionals. They are grifters and money launderers and pyramid schemers. These are the same dudes denigrating public service professionals. For people who take their jobs seriously in the public service, they are unbelievably galling.

GAO closes probe into whether Zinke threatened a Senator from Alaska after a vote due to non-cooperation from Interior. #draintheswamp

Pyperkub wrote: ↑Mon Jul 02, 2018 10:56 pm If true, Pruitt could be facing federal charges

His time has come. Stick a fork in him.

Alefroth wrote: ↑Mon Jul 02, 2018 11:17 pm

Pyperkub wrote: ↑Mon Jul 02, 2018 10:56 pm If true, Pruitt could be facing federal charges

His time has come. Stick a fork in him.

Here is a bold prediction - nothing will happen.

What's amazing is just how complicit an entire party is throughout this. As much as I never liked most of their policies, it never dawned on me that they were this morally and ethically hollow.

malchior wrote: ↑Tue Jul 03, 2018 12:21 am

Alefroth wrote: ↑Mon Jul 02, 2018 11:17 pm

Pyperkub wrote: ↑Mon Jul 02, 2018 10:56 pm If true, Pruitt could be facing federal charges

His time has come. Stick a fork in him.

Here is a bold prediction - nothing will happen.

Just change it to the Environmental Plunder Agency. Fixed!

malchior wrote: ↑Tue Jul 03, 2018 12:21 am

Alefroth wrote: ↑Mon Jul 02, 2018 11:17 pm

Pyperkub wrote: ↑Mon Jul 02, 2018 10:56 pm If true, Pruitt could be facing federal charges

His time has come. Stick a fork in him.

Here is a bold prediction - nothing will happen.

I thought he had the touch too, but I think this one will do him in, despite Trump's predictable denigrating of Chmielewski.

Pyperkub wrote: ↑Mon Jul 02, 2018 10:56 pm If true, Pruitt could be facing federal charges

I’ll probably get jumped on for this, but I’m curious so I’ll jump head first into the shallow end, how is this different from what Hillary Clinton did with her private server and only turning over the contents after they had been cleared by her own people?

Note I’m not talking about the sum total of Pruitt’s crimes, which are myriad and he should have been removed long ago, but specifically the calendar thing.

Hillary’s server contained both personal and official emails. There is no requirement to preserve emails without a government connection.

There are only 13 active investigations into the man's conduct - the latest news being that he asked for aides to find a $200K/yr job for his wife. WITCH HUNT!

Fitzy wrote:

Pyperkub wrote: ↑Mon Jul 02, 2018 10:56 pm If true, Pruitt could be facing federal charges

I’ll probably get jumped on for this, but I’m curious so I’ll jump head first into the shallow end, how is this different from what Hillary Clinton did with her private server and only turning over the contents after they had been cleared by her own people?

Note I’m not talking about the sum total of Pruitt’s crimes, which are myriad and he should have been removed long ago, but specifically the calendar thing.

This is, in my mind, intentional avoidance to skirt transparency laws. Clinton was doing so because it was convenient and was able, for the most part, to comply with government records laws.

Also, they were deleting meetings intentionally to avoid scrutiny.

Plus, it's 10 years later. State only had 1-2 computers on desks when Clinton came to office.

This is active concealment, with an intent to avoid disclosures that would be damaging. It's worse than Hillary's personal email server.

So if I’m reading the responses correctly, you are saying that:

1. Clinton and her team turned over all government related emails
2. That Clinton’s only reason for the private server was convenience
3. Clinton did not use the private server to avoid the public records requirements (see 2)

Thanks for responding. I was curious how people saw them as different. And while I don’t agree, I do appreciate the honest answers without rancor, plus it’s a minor enough issue in regard to Clinton at this point not to matter much.

I do wonder whether Pruitt will be forced out at any point, and if so when. Obviously Trump doesn't care about his cabinet members being corrupt (if anything, he probably prefers it). Is there a point at which Pruitt will become too much of a liability for Trump, though? If so, at what point? Corruption scandal # 15,772?

Clinton absolutely should not have had her own email server and should not have been using her personal email account.

That said, it had become somewhat the norm for multiple reasons, including poor and poorly maintained government IT infrastructure (I questioned this and learned that it is appallingly true). Powell is on record saying he recommended it to Clinton when she became Secretary of State because that is what he had done. He is also on record saying he did not recommend it. Take that for what you will.

You asked what the differences are between Pruitt and Clinton. People have told you. While it might sound like people are giving Clinton a free pass, they are not. She did wrong, period. The differences are as noted. That makes Clinton's wrong more acceptable than Pruitt's wrong, but it doesn't make it right.

More importantly, it doesn't make it equal.

Fitzy wrote: ↑Tue Jul 03, 2018 2:38 pm So if I’m reading the responses correctly, you are saying that:

1. Clinton and her team turned over all government related emails
2. That Clinton’s only reason for the private server was convenience
3. Clinton did not use the private server to avoid the public records requirements (see 2)

Thanks for responding. I was curious how people saw them as different. And while I don’t agree, I do appreciate the honest answers without rancor, plus it’s a minor enough issue in regard to Clinton at this point not to matter much.

Not entirely.

re: 1. There were a number of lost emails (~30k, I think?) in what appeared to be a technical issue (or a conspiracy if you choose to see it that way). The emails appear to have been recovered and turned over to the FBI as part of the investigation.
2. Clinton is basically your grandmother - she knows jack and shit about email servers. She asked Colin Powell, and he said it's what he did. She used what worked and was NOT illegal as long as retention was followed (and with practically zero computers at State, it is understandable to me, YMMV).
3. As far as avoiding Records retention, I haven't seen anything or heard any testimony to the contrary (outside of the conspiracy theorists, mostly disproved in my mind by the recovery and handing over of data, years after she had anything to do with State).

She also forwarded emails to her assistant to print them for her (more evidence of grandmother syndrome to me). I recall that some of these emails were classified ( I think the number was either 4 or 12, but memory is fuzzy 2 years later), but only after the fact, and were not marked as classified at the time they were forwarded, which apparently happens a LOT.

The last is what reopened the case just before the election, according to Comey. Other information is that the FBI knew about and had the (assitant's) laptop and the emails a month earlier in September and didn't investigate until the end of October.

Finally.


Trump has accepted Pruitt's resignation.

Trump wrote:I have accepted the resignation of Scott Pruitt as the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Within the Agency Scott has done an outstanding job, and I will always be thankful to him for this. The Senate confirmed Deputy at EPA, Andrew Wheeler, will...

No one worry. The next tweet goes on to reassure us that the new guy will carry on with the administration's great EPA agenda.

It's about time. I would be worried that Trump might appoint someone worse to head the EPA, but I don't actually think you can get worse than Pruitt, both due to his scandals and his contempt for actually, you know, protecting the environment. But Trump has proven me wrong in the past...

Pruitt's resignation letter is a masterpiece. Who knew it was possible to whine and suck up simultaneously?


link

Finally, get that piece of shit out of there.

Of course, Donny will probably just appoint some other corrupt or fascist turd to the position. But at least we get a bit of breathing room, so to speak.

Ralph-Wiggum wrote: ↑Thu Jul 05, 2018 4:00 pm It's about time. I would be worried that Trump might appoint someone worse to head the EPA, but I don't actually think you can get worse than Pruitt, both due to his scandals and his contempt for actually, you know, protecting the environment. But Trump has proven me wrong in the past...

He was also a corrupt SOB in Oklahoma.

Holman wrote: ↑Thu Jul 05, 2018 4:00 pm Pruitt's resignation letter is a masterpiece. Who knew it was possible to whine and suck up simultaneously?

This was exactly how he lasted so long. He knew how to push all of Trump's "sympathy" buttons to be a "good guy".

While I'm thrilled he's no longer at the EPA, I'm crossing my fingers this doesn't set the rumored "Fire Sessions-->appoint Pruitt-->Fire Mueller (because he doesn't have to recuse himself)" plan into motion.

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Thu Jul 05, 2018 4:25 pm While I'm thrilled he's no longer at the EPA, I'm crossing my fingers this doesn't set the rumored "Fire Sessions-->appoint Pruitt-->Fire Mueller (because he doesn't have to recuse himself)" plan into motion.

Pruitt is done.* It would be hard for his Senate AG confirmation to be anything but a parade of exposed personal corruption.

And anyway, it's not like Pruitt is somehow the only toady who would do Trump's bidding as AG.

*("Done" with government service, that is. His lucrative career as a post-administration lobbyist has only just begun.)

Finally. Good riddance!

The worst thing about Pruitt's corruption and greed is how much it distracted us from how bad Trump's EPA has been at environmental protection.