Rabbit Season! No, Duck Season! No, Protester Season! – To follow up his praise for police roughing up suspects and his pardon of fourth amendment denier ex-Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Trump repealed the ban on providing surplus military equipment to police departments. President Obama put the ban in place after many in the country saw the police in Ferguson dressed like extras from Judge Dredd.
Storm of Hypocrisy – Houston will be in desperate need of federal aid for years after Hurricane Harvey. Fortunately, it will likely be approved. Unfortunately, we’ll have to hold our nose as the Republicans will be piling up the b.s. deeper than the flood waters. When Superstorm Sandy hit the East Coast in 2012, 20 Texas Republican Congressional representatives, including both current Senators, voted against aid for the affected states. Current Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Mick Mulvaney, argued then as a South Carolina congressman, that any aid for Sandy should be offset by cuts for domestic programs. That was an argument that Vice President Mike Pence, then an Indiana congressman, made about Katrina aid. I have a sneaky suspicion that those once principled stands may be washed away.
When DJT Talks, Nobody Listens – When asked whether the President’s response to Charlottesville appropriately projects American values, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said, “The President speaks for himself.” That may not sound like much, but in the diplomatic world that’s basically equivalent to Ronnie from Jersey Shore’s “one shot kid” taunting after a knockout.
Sooner or Later – The EPA Inspector General is investigating EPA Chief Scott Pruitt for two cases of extremely poor judgment: 1) That he is charging his personal travel to taxpayers, and 2) That the destination of that travel is Oklahoma. Zing!
But His Tan Suit – Three years ago, President Obama also found himself in the midst of a color-based national controversy. It wasn’t a preference for white supremacists or an aversion to brown people though. Rather it was Obama’s deeply troubling, unpresidential decision to wear a tan suit. Hard to imagine how we made it through those difficult times.
When You’re President, They Let You Do It – The White House very quietly this week removed a 2014 report, “Rape and Sexual Assault: Renewed Call to Action”, from its website. I’m not saying that there was incriminating information on accused serial harasser Donald Trump in it, but I can’t check the report to confirm that it doesn’t.
Trump May Abolish Abolitionist – Treasury Secretary Scrooge McMnuchin said he will not commit to honoring his predecessor’s decision to put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill.
Listen All of Y’All It’s a Sabotage – Unable to sleep at night knowing that poor people have health insurance, Trump is now actively trying to break the Affordable Care Act exchanges. Health and Human Services has cut Obamacare advertising by 90% and slashed the open enrollment period. The federal government will now spend on marketing less than 10% of what California alone will spend. This will not save taxpayers money as advertising funds come from the insurance companies. Trump’s purpose is to lower the number of participants, thus raising the rates for everyone else, and therefore making the Affordable Care Act less appealing and effective.
A Travesty of A Mockery of a Sham – The Trump administration appointed a former dean of DeVry University to investigate student aid fraud. In related news, DeVry recently settled with the FTC for $100 million for defrauding students. I’m shocked Trump chose this person, not because as Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI), “this seems like a bad fit,” but rather because Trump hates it when someone outdoes him. Trump University only settled its fraud case for $25 million.
Words of the Suppressor Are Written on Breitbart’s Walls – The man who has spent his life trying to silence as many voters as possible, Kansas Secretary of State and Trump Election Commission Vice Chair Kris Kobach, confirmed this week he is also a paid columnist for Breitbart. He’s really rounding out his resume for an eternal placement in hell.
So Funny, I Forgot to Laugh – In July, a judge threw out the guilty verdict against Desiree Fairooz for laughing during Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III’s senate confirmation hearing when he said something ridiculous like “he would prevent hooligans from busting up chifforobes,” or, what he actually said, which was a complete lie, that he had a record of “treating all Americans equally under the law.” Rather than let this pathetic criminal case just go away, the Department of Justice announced it will retry Fairooz.
