Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

The willow is too close to the house.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

This fight is for everything.

We still have time to mess this up!

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

I really should read my own blog.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Not all heroes wear capes.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

You can’t love your country only when you win.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

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Archives for August 2017

Russiagate Open Thread: Oh, No, Not the Accountants!!!

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… According to sources familiar with his investigation into alleged Russian election interference, his probe has enlisted the help of agents from the IRS’ Criminal Investigations unit.

This unit—known as CI—is one of the federal government’s most tight-knit, specialized, and secretive investigative entities. Its 2,500 agents focus exclusively on financial crime, including tax evasion and money laundering. A former colleague of Mueller’s said he always liked working with IRS’ special agents, especially when he was a U.S. Attorney.

And it goes without saying that the IRS has access to Trump’s tax returns—documents that the president has long resisted releasing to the public.

Potential financial crimes are a central part of Mueller’s probe. One of his top deputies, Andy Weissmann, formerly helmed the Justice Department’s Enron probe and has extensive experience working with investigative agents from the IRS…

It’s been widely reported that the special counsel’s team is trying to “flip” Paul Manafort, the president’s former campaign CEO, in hopes he will provide evidence against his former colleagues. Former federal prosecutors tell The Daily Beast one of Manafort’s biggest legal liabilities could be to what’s called a “check the box” prosecution. Federal law requires that people who have money in foreign bank accounts check a box on their tax returns disclosing that. And there’s speculation that Manafort may have neglected to check that box, which would be a felony. This is exactly the kind of allegation the IRS would look into…

Speaking of overbearing accountants and their prying habits, Bloomberg has its own exclusive:

Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law and top adviser, wakes up each morning to a growing problem that will not go away. His family’s real estate business, Kushner Cos., owes hundreds of millions of dollars on a 41-story office building on Fifth Avenue. It has failed to secure foreign investors, despite an extensive search, and its resources are more limited than generally understood. As a result, the company faces significant challenges.

Over the past two years, executives and family members have sought substantial overseas investment from previously undisclosed places: South Korea’s sovereign-wealth fund, France’s richest man, Israeli banks and insurance companies, and exploratory talks with a Saudi developer, according to former and current executives. These were in addition to previously reported attempts to raise money in China and Qatar…

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Thursday Evening Open Thread: “Pledging”

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(Jack Ohman via GoComics.com)
.

Possibly related — note news platform!


***********

Apart from looking glaring askance, what’s on the agenda for the evening?

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Good news for people who love bad news

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Right now the forecasts range from the storm staying out to sea or just brushing the Atlantic coast, to being a bowling ball straight up Florida’s lane, or landfall in the western Gulf of Mexico. The cone of uncertainty is two time zones wide. However we have a bit of time. If you live within that cone of uncertainty, use that time to inventory emergency supplies and potential responses to a big, nasty hurricane coming your direction. Hopefully, the preparation is not needed but if it is needed, it is best to do as much reasonable prep work ahead of time.

Open thread.

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DACA, the GOP and White Supremacy

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Trump will almost certainly pull the plug on DACA, perhaps as soon as today or tomorrow. Back in February, he said, “We are gonna deal with DACA with heart.” But he’s a heartless liar, so that’s meaningless. Maybe he’ll wait until Hurricane Irma is menacing a coast before making the announcement — to maximize ratings.

The first order of business before Trump kills the program is to make your voice heard and support people in DACA status however you can. But if Trump kills the program, which enjoys broad support among Americans, it will also be important to tie the GOP to that decision.

John Stoehr published a piece in U.S. News yesterday demonstrating that anti-immigrant hysteria is now the mainstream GOP position and tying it to white supremacy more broadly. It’s worth a read.

Stoehr traces the modern flareup of anti-immigrant fever back to GWB’s attempt at bipartisan immigration reform and the subsequent freak-out over President Obama’s election. That made the GOP an easy acquisition target for a racist, xenophobic demagogue.

Stoehr also points out that GOP officials in red states are suing the government over DACA anyway, so it doesn’t much matter what Trump does. Here’s an excerpt:

Now comes the moment in which the Trump administration must choose: Does it give in to the demands of white supremacists whose social order is imperiled by immigrants, or does it make them fight for it in court? Practically speaking, it may not matter. Texas and other Republican states are almost certainly going to find another friendly judge, perhaps Hanen again, and the Trump administration is unlikely to put up a fight. But even if it did, the U.S. Supreme Court is now back to full strength. Justice Neil Gorsuch would almost certainly prevent another tie.

The conclusion is grim. Once Trump rescinds DACA, or Republican states force an injunction, immigration authorities can use DACA’s database to locate and deport nearly a million smart, educated and industrious men and women, those who would contribute the most to their respective communities. There will be a legal battle, but by the time that fight is over, hundreds or thousands will have been deported. It’s a national disgrace.

It is a national disgrace alright, but more specifically, it’s a Republican disgrace. It will be important to underscore that fact when ICE starts hunting down promising college students and hardworking taxpayers.

I know some young folks who are in DACA status, and they’ve been living in fear since the election. They are every bit as American as I am, and it’s horrifying to think of them being picked up by the ICE-stapo and dumped in a country they don’t know.

These are brilliant, hardworking kids. They are also 10 times more worthwhile as human beings than any Trump ever pooped out by a D-list model, foreign or domestic. I think that’s what scares the white supremacist shitheads the most.

ETA:

Spray-tanned clown-ass motherfucker.

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1332 Flexibility

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The Kasich-Hickenlooper ACA strengthening blueprint is out. It is a fairly straight forward document where the underlying message is that the ACA is not imploding nor is it excelling. It is muddling through. And that certain elements can be tweaked to improve things. I want to focus on the Section 1332 state innovation waiver section.

Many states view Section 1332 as an opportunity to strengthen health insurance markets while retaining the basic protections of the ACA. We recommend HHS streamline and coordinate the waiver submission and approval process, including an option for states to easily build on approved waivers in other states, and an option to fast-track waiver extensions. We also recommend HHS rescind its 2015 guidance on Section 1332 and clarify that states may combine waivers into a comprehensive plan and measure deficit neutrality across the life of the waiver and across federal programs.

The first section of increased administrative flexibility makes a lot of sense. Right now there are several states sending CMS 1332 waiver applications for reinsurance. Alaska has an approved reinsurance waiver. Minnesota and Oklahoma have submitted reinsurance waivers. Straight forward reinsurance waivers that are fundamentally behind the scene money shifting so that non-subsidized premiums are apparently lower are not particularly complicated. They should be approved quickly and analysis that other states used for isomorphic waivers should be allowed to be used as evidence.

The big chunk of heavy lifting is the last sentence regarding the 2015 guidance. This is a big ask. Right now, that guidance probably makes the Iowa waiver application without cost sharing assistance subsidies for people earning under 250% FPL an impermissible waiver.

However the guidance is very strict on how budget neutrality will be accounted for in the scoring of a waiver. Budget neutrality currently is scored only within the ACA and it must be achieved every year of the waiver so programs that save significant sums in Medicaid but have higher spending on the ACA would not qualify. Plans that require an initial first year investment but highly probable future year savings would not qualify.

It also does not include the impact of changes contingent on other Federal determinations, including approval of Federal waivers pursuant to statutory provisions other than Section 1332. Therefore, the assessment would not take into account changes to Medicaid or CHIP that require separate Federal approval, such as changes in coverage or Federal Medicaid or CHIP spending that would result from a proposed Section 1115 demonstration, regardless of whether the Section 1115 demonstration proposal is submitted as part of a coordinated waiver application with a State Innovation Waiver. Savings accrued under either proposed or current Section 1115 Medicaid or CHIP demonstrations are not factored into the assessment of whether a proposed State Innovation Waiver meets the deficit neutrality requirement. The assessment also does not take into account any changes to the Medicaid or CHIP state plan that are subject to Federal approval.

The K-H request is to allow far more comprehensive and integrated waivers that integrate ACA, Medicaid and CHIP programs into a coherent whole. This, to me, makes a lot of sense.

On first read, this is a reasonable set of suggestions on 1332 waiver flexibility where the final language on any revised guidance needs to be carefully read but overall, it is very promising.

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The Entire Southeastern Portion of Texas Reimagined as a Superfund Site

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This will end well:

The remnants of Hurricane Harvey carried its wrath up the Mississippi Delta on Thursday, but not before hammering the Gulf Coast with more punishing cloudbursts and growing threats that included blasts and “black smoke” at a crippled chemical plant and the collapse of the drinking water system in a Texas city.

While local officials described the blasts early Thursday at the plant in Crosby as “chemical reactions” and not “massive explosions,” federal authorities used dire language to describe the impact of the fumes from the plant.

The chemical plume in Crosby is “incredibly dangerous,” William “Brock” Long, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said at a briefing Thursday morning. But the Harris County sheriff, Ed Gonzalez, claimed whatever fumes were released were “not anything toxic” — raising baffling questions about the level of danger even as authorities sealed off surrounding areas and imposed a no-fly zone over the plant.

We may actually be looking at a situation where a large portion of the flooded areas is simply uninhabitable for decades to come. And it’s not like this was unknown, as this ProPublica piece from 2016 demonstrates:

Thousands of cylindrical storage tanks line the sides of the narrow Houston Ship Channel. Some are as small as residential propane tanks, others as big as the average 2-story house.

Inside them sits one of the world’s largest concentrations of oil, gases and chemicals — all key to fueling the American economy, but also, scientists fear, a disaster waiting to happen.

Hundreds of thousands of people live in industrial towns clustered around the Ship Channel, in the path of Houston’s perfect storm. And if flooding causes enough of what’s inside the storage containers to leak at even one industrial facility nearby, scientists say, the damage could be far-reaching.

A chemical release could fuel an explosion or fire, potentially imperiling industrial facilities and nearby homes and businesses. Nearly 300,000 people live in residential areas identified by one scientist as particularly at risk to a chemical or oil spill.

And if hazardous material spills into the Ship Channel and ends up in Galveston Bay, it could harm one of the region’s most productive estuaries and a national ecological treasure.

“It will be an environmental disaster right up there with the BP oil spill,” said Phil Bedient, who co-directs the Severe Storm Prediction, Education, and Evacuation from Disasters (SSPEED) Center at Rice University.

What companies keep in many of the storage facilities on the Ship Channel and what measures they take to protect them is difficult to pin down, both for national security reasons and to maintain trade secrets. That leaves scientists and advocates unsure of the true risk. But virtually all would agree the government standards and regulations in place would not protect against major oil and chemical spills if a monster storm were to hit.

Industry groups said they take hurricanes seriously and don’t deny they are at risk. They said that’s why the region needs a coastal barrier system.

“Hurricanes are devastating meteorological events, and when they hit … they will cause massive impact all over the Gulf Coast,” said Craig Beskid, executive director of the East Harris County Manufacturers Association, which represents ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell and other major companies that operate 130 facilities in the area.

And the government knew. The federal government has been working since 1993 to craft a plan, but nothing has happened because JOBS and FREE MARKET and EVIL REGULATIONS:

A draft executive order (pdf) obtained by E&E would toughen a 1977 directive by President Carter that was seen then as a landmark step establishing a federal leadership role in floodplain management.

But since devastating Midwest floods in 1993, disaster-management experts have been calling for a revision of federal floodplain policies, saying agencies have failed to consistently comply with rules written in the wake of Carter’s order.

“You still go out and find post offices being built in floodplains,” said Larry Larson, executive director of the Association of State Floodplain Managers. “Where’s the cheapest land? It’s in the high-hazard area.”

President Obama’s draft order would direct agencies to use non-structural approaches — typically, building codes, planning laws and eduction campaigns — to manage floodplains and protect public safety, wetlands and other natural resources, rather than build levees and dams.

The order would also bar federal agencies from supporting “critical” facilities — such as hospitals, police stations, power plants or evacuation centers — in 500-year floodplains, unless no alternative exists.

And we did nothing. Because freedumb.

Also, I have spare bedrooms if you know anyone from Houston who needs a place to stay. It’s not ideal, because it is in WV, but maybe some young folks who just don’t want to rebuild and want to relocate could set up base camp here before starting a new life in the midwest or northeast.

BTW- just kidding about Texas becoming a Superfund site. The Trump administration’s budget proposal guts funding for them and the EPA is led by a guy who thinks crude oil is one of the five basic food groups. So maybe not a Superfund site, but the scene of Fallout 5.

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