Octopus Overlords

Pyperkub wrote: ↑Fri Mar 08, 2019 6:37 pm Bill Shine out, after:

While in government— Shine receives $$ from Fox
Gives Hannity a high 5 at Trump event
Strips Fox competitor of WH credential
Ends regular press conferences, thereby giving Fox an advantage as to its access to POTUS + WH
Can't get financial disclosure approved
Quits abruptly

Only the best propaganda spewers!

U.S. Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson, who was considered a top candidate to become the next secretary of defense, said on Friday she has decided to resign and return to academia, leaving another vacant post at the top level of the Pentagon.

Wilson confirmed the news, first reported by Reuters, in a tweet here, saying she had informed President Donald Trump of her plans to become president of the University of Texas at El Paso. She plans to step down on May 31.

After leaving government in 1991, Wilson founded Keystone International, Inc. in Albuquerque, New Mexico to promote business development in the United States and Russia.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Tuesday defended deep cuts to programs meant to help students and others, including eliminating $18 million to support Special Olympics, while urging Congress to spend millions more on charter schools.

"We are not doing our children any favors when we borrow from their future in order to invest in systems and policies that are not yielding better results," DeVos said in prepared testimony before a House subcommittee considering the Department of Education's budget request for the next fiscal year.

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Wed Mar 27, 2019 8:15 am DeVos: "OK team, I need something would make me appear petty and vindictive, hurt a vulnerable population, and make me look like the biggest asshole in the world. Got any suggestions?"

Staff: "Well, I suppose you could cut federal funding for the Special Olympics, but that seems awfully harsh."

DeVos: "Done!"

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Tuesday defended deep cuts to programs meant to help students and others, including eliminating $18 million to support Special Olympics, while urging Congress to spend millions more on charter schools.

"We are not doing our children any favors when we borrow from their future in order to invest in systems and policies that are not yielding better results," DeVos said in prepared testimony before a House subcommittee considering the Department of Education's budget request for the next fiscal year.

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Wed Mar 27, 2019 2:27 pm DeVos' statement about the budget cuts



That whole statement is hilarious.

"How DARE the corrupt, liberal media report that we are cutting all federal funding for the Special Olympics. That is unacceptable, shameful, and completely irresponsible of them.

Also, we are cutting all federal funding for the Special Olympics."

LawBeefaroni wrote: ↑Wed Mar 27, 2019 4:15 pm She's worth over $5B. She has at least one yacht worth $40,000,000. Her brother runs a private army. She operates in a different orbit. Special Oly-what? We need to make this tax cut work.

Now get back to your little lives and let the adults pillage the country.

The news has been met with a heady combination of derision, bafflement, and general hullaballoo, with Moore variously described as “a loyalist, not an expert”; a “famous idiot”; and the “living embodiment of the sucking intellectual void at the core of conservative economics.” At best, it’s a rogue choice for Trump; at worst, utterly feckless.

Moore has, in the past, supported a return to the gold standard, as well as encouraged Trump to fire Fed chair Jerome Powell on the basis that “he’s wrecking our economy.”

“Here’s my challenge to any informed voter of any partisan leaning,” tweeted University of Michigan economist Justin Wolfers of the news that the president thinks Heritage Foundation economist Stephen Moore should play a role shaping monetary policy. “Call your favorite economist. Whether they’re left, right, libertarian or socialist, none of them will endorse Stephen Moore for the Fed. He’s manifestly unqualified.” “By the way,” Wolfers added, “and I’m totally serious about this—I think Ivanka would be a better pick for the Fed than Stephen Moore.” The notion of Moore—who is so consistently wrong about everything that one newspaper said it would never publish him again—sitting on the Fed board was also condemned by University of Chicago professor Steven Durlauf, who called the appointment “truly appalling,” adding: “An ideologue, charlatan, and hack. Frankly so bad the putatively serious economists in Trump administration should resign as matter of honor.”

Alefroth wrote: ↑Mon Apr 01, 2019 1:50 am So in other words, he'll be confirmed by the Republican senate.

The Senate voted largely along party lines to change its debate rules — a move that will speed up the confirmation process for some lower-level judicial and agency nominees.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell used a complex procedural maneuver, known as the nuclear option, to cut debate for lower-level nominees from 30 hours to 2 hours. The change does not apply to cabinet-level nominees, federal appeals judges, members of some boards and commissions or the Supreme Court. It also does not change the 60 vote requirement to advance legislation.

All Senate Democrats opposed the move, and they were joined by 2 Republicans — Susan Collins of Maine and Mike Lee of Utah.

McConnell said the change is necessary to prevent obstruction from Democrats who have demanded lengthy debate on a number of nominees. He blamed Democrats for dragging their feet on a variety of non-controversial candidates simply because they were nominated by President Donald Trump.

Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson left Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) frustrated on Wednesday after the two went back and forth over whether Carson should replace an LGBT nondiscrimination guidance that was taken down after he took over the department.

Quigley questioned Carson about his agency's removal of guidelines outlining nondiscrimination protections for LGBT people during a House Appropriations Committee hearing, saying removing the guidelines hurts the LGBT community.

“So if it says you can’t have a discriminatory atmosphere, why don’t you have guidance that posts that and instructs them not to discriminate?” Quigley asked Carson.

“The rules already say that,” Carson responded.

Quigley pressed Carson on where the guidance is that forbids that specific discrimination. Carson responded, "If you have a rule that tells you what to do, you don’t need more guidance on that."

"We are all now more stupid than we were when we came in the room today sir, thank you," Quigley quipped, later tweeting the exchange:

WASHINGTON — A 2017 invoice indicates that David Bernhardt, President Trump’s choice to lead the Interior Department, continued to lobby for a major client several months after he filed official papers saying that he had ended his lobbying activities.

The bill for Mr. Bernhardt’s services, dated March 2017 and labeled “Federal Lobbying,” shows, along with other documents, Mr. Bernhardt working closely with the Westlands Water District as late as April 2017, the month Mr. Trump nominated him to his current job, deputy interior secretary. In November 2016, Mr. Bernhardt had filed legal notice with the federal government formally ending his status as lobbyist.

Committee veterans told me, however, that the number of whistle-blowers who’ve come forward since Trump became president is far higher than the number who cooperated with the panel during previous administrations. “The biggest difference wasn’t necessarily us switching to the majority; the biggest difference was Donald Trump being elected president,” said the Democratic aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the committee’s investigative work. Democrats began hearing from whistle-blowers almost immediately after Trump was sworn in, the aide said, beginning with a report that then–National Security Adviser Michael Flynn had been exchanging text messages with his business partner during the inauguration.

Of the dozens of whistle-blowers Democrats said they are working with, they have publicly confirmed that a handful work in the White House. All but Newbold, however, have come forward on the condition that they remain anonymous. Newbold spoke to the committee as part of its investigation of White House security clearances, and she’s not the only whistle-blower involved in that matter, the panel confirmed in a memo describing her testimony. “Committee staff have spoken with other whistle-blowers who corroborated Ms. Newbold’s account, but they were too afraid about the risk to their careers to come forward publicly,” the memo reads. The White House did not respond to a request for comment on this story.

Breaking News: Kirstjen Nielsen is out as the homeland security secretary. President Trump blamed her for the rise in migrants entering the U.S. illegally.

Kraken wrote: ↑Sun Apr 07, 2019 8:52 pm Better for her, in the long run. A lot of the people who collaborated with Trump are going to wind up in prison.

GreenGoo wrote: ↑Sun Apr 07, 2019 10:09 pm

Kraken wrote: ↑Sun Apr 07, 2019 8:52 pm Better for her, in the long run. A lot of the people who collaborated with Trump are going to wind up in prison.

How do you figure?

Holman wrote: ↑Sun Apr 07, 2019 7:49 pm

Breaking News: Kirstjen Nielsen is out as the homeland security secretary. President Trump blamed her for the rise in migrants entering the U.S. illegally.

It must really suck to sell your soul and then watch Trump wipe his ass with it.

malchior wrote: ↑Mon Apr 08, 2019 6:56 am She was a train wreck of inconsistency in the face of an insane President. We will almost certainly get a hardliner who will lose court cases but do damage in the short-term. Hooray for the worst Presidency in American history.

malchior wrote: ↑Mon Apr 08, 2019 6:56 am We will almost certainly get a hardliner who will lose court cases but do damage in the short-term.

Max Peck wrote: ↑Mon Apr 08, 2019 9:21 am

malchior wrote: ↑Mon Apr 08, 2019 6:56 am She was a train wreck of inconsistency in the face of an insane President. We will almost certainly get a hardliner who will lose court cases but do damage in the short-term. Hooray for the worst Presidency in American history.

If all those judges that Trump is appointing just do their jobs, the administration will stop losing so many court cases.

El Guapo wrote:The replacement front runners have to be Arpaio and Clarke, right? Or possibly Stephen Miller? Though I think Miller is probably smart enough to realize that he doesn't want to be the one on the news every night and talking to Congress about this stuff.

$iljanus wrote: ↑Mon Apr 08, 2019 10:38 am

El Guapo wrote:The replacement front runners have to be Arpaio and Clarke, right? Or possibly Stephen Miller? Though I think Miller is probably smart enough to realize that he doesn't want to be the one on the news every night and talking to Congress about this stuff.

I think anyone who's willing to authorize the use of rubber bullets on migrants will be the front runner.

pr0ner wrote: ↑Mon Apr 08, 2019 12:51 pm I've heard multiple times the apparent front runner is former Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli.

geezer wrote: ↑Mon Apr 08, 2019 1:24 pm

pr0ner wrote: ↑Mon Apr 08, 2019 12:51 pm I've heard multiple times the apparent front runner is former Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli.

As I recall from my occasional efforts to keep up with local politics in the area from whence I came, he's a huge pile of garbage.

So I'm not surprised.

pr0ner wrote: ↑Mon Apr 08, 2019 1:53 pm

geezer wrote: ↑Mon Apr 08, 2019 1:24 pm

pr0ner wrote: ↑Mon Apr 08, 2019 12:51 pm I've heard multiple times the apparent front runner is former Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli.

As I recall from my occasional efforts to keep up with local politics in the area from whence I came, he's a huge pile of garbage.

So I'm not surprised.

He probably will have a much easier time getting through the Senate than an even more polarizing figure like Arpaio, Clarke, or Miller would.

LawBeefaroni wrote: ↑Mon Apr 08, 2019 2:29 pm Secret service director is out, according to all the TVs at the gym.

U.S. Secret Service Director Randolph Alles is out of his job, NBC News reported Monday.

The staffing development, first reported Monday afternoon by CNN, leaves the Department of Homeland Security without a Senate-confirmed official in yet another top role.