Froth Slosh B'Gosh

Oh my!

Well, its nowhere near as bad as wearing a tan suit.

Democrats Sue Treasury

They're seeking Trump's tax returns.

Rep. Richard E. Neal (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, filed the lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department after months of feuding with the Trump administration over the returns.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig, who have denied Democrats’ demands for the returns, are named as defendants.
“Defendants have mounted an extraordinary attack on the authority of Congress to obtain information needed to conduct oversight of Treasury, the IRS, and the tax laws on behalf of the American people who participate in the Nation’s voluntary tax system,” the 49-page lawsuit states.

This should be a no-brainer, but with the Republicans' efforts to to make the courts more partisan and favorable to their ideology, I no longer trust Federal judges to act constitutionally. 

I Know He Has No Concept of History and Doesn't Read...

But now he looks like Neville Chamberlain.

 

They Really Are This Stupid

Donald Trump Jr. made public on Twitter the e-mails that could very well pull down the administration and send him, Kushner, and Manafort to prison.

The email exchange showed clearly that Trump Jr. understood he was taking the meeting as a way of channeling information directly from the government of a nation hostile to the United States to his father’s campaign. It is the most concrete public evidence to date suggesting that top Trump campaign aides were eager for Russia’s assistance in the campaign.

No lawyer would advise a client to make such damning evidence available to the public.  This, coupled with everything else we've learned over the past year shows there is no smoke, the blazing flames from this tire fire of an administration are so hot its combusting with 100% efficiency.

Government By Clusterfuck

We're three days in, and Trump and his minions have lurched from one unforced error to another.  Shutting down the Department of the Interior's Twitter feed because it showed the small size of the inauguration crowd, having a plagiarized Styrofoam cake at the reception, blatantly lying in an appearance for the CIA's weekend crew, and doing it in front of the most sacred spot at Langley, to having your lickspittles lie repeatedly to the media and being called out on it by Chuck Todd, of all people.

In my job, I do a lot  of feather-smoothing, it just goes with the territory.  There are diplomatic ways of doing things, and ways of acknowledging disappointment without looking like a raving loon.  For example, this is what Trump, Spicer, and Company should have said: "Sure, we're disappointed with the turnout, but it was rainy day, and that had a depressing effect on turnout."  and MOVE ON.  Instead, they're getting into arguments with people who buy ink by the barrel.

I'm afraid that when they have to deal with a real crisis, this bunch will fail spectacularly and with tragic consequences.  I hope I'm wrong about that.

As Always, IOKIYAR

I'm old enough to remember when this was grounds for automatic rejection.

Treasury secretary nominee Steven T. Mnuchin defended his ties to offshore business entities and his management of a controversial California bank during a testy confirmation hearing on Thursday.

Speaking before the Senate Finance committee, Mnuchin said businesses in the Cayman Islands and Anguilla revealed in his financial disclosures were not used for his personal benefit but served nonprofits and pensions. A memo compiled by Democratic committee staffers obtained by The Washington Post showed Mnuchin initially omitted some of those entities -- as well as more than $100 million in personal assets -- from his nomination paperwork.

IIRC, presidential appointments were routinely rejected for things as mundane as employing an undocumented immigrant.  Forgetting to declare hundreds of millions of dollars in assets, ties to overseas tax havens, and shady banking practices?  Eh, what can you do?

 

The March To The Right Continues For Our "Liberal" Newspaper

Its been happening for awhile, and its obviously accelerated since the Scaife-Review gave up on print.  The tipping point was the Post-Gazette's cowardly non-endorsement in the Presidential race, and today, the paper takes another step towards Trumpism with its glowing praise for Hair Furor's horribly compromised pick for Secretary of State.

Mr. Trump, given his own background, is comfortable naming a successful businessman to the Cabinet position whose occupant plays the largest role after the president in determining foreign policy. Mr. Tillerson will also bring an understanding of economic and financial issues that a strictly political figure, such as Secretary of State John F. Kerry, might lack. Foreign affairs professionals generally agree that George P. Shultz, Ronald Reagan’s long-serving secretary of state, was one of America’s best in that slot, in part because of his business background as president of Bechtel.

One gets the impression that the only thing George Shultz did before becoming Secretary of State was work in the corporate world.  Of course, he was also Secretary of Labor and Secretary of the Treasury, along with heading up the OMB in the 1970's.  In other words, he had extensive government experience, along with academic experience at The University of Chicago and MIT.

Tillerson? He has no governmental experience at all.  He is,  however close to Putin, perhaps as close as his pocket?

I'm rethinking my subscription.

Your Asshole Of The Day

This woman.

 

They are who we thought they were.

Well Isn't This Special

Racist attacks Indian man he thought was a Muslim at local restaurant.

Burgess allegedly began making racial and ethnic epithets and told Mehta that “things are different now” and “I don’t want you sitting next to me. You people.”

Burgess then used an ethnic slur commonly used against those of Middle Eastern descent. But Mehta is not of Middle Eastern descent, he is Indian.

According to the criminal complaint, the racist asswipe called Mehta a "sandnigger."

Thanks Trump supporters!  You own this.