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A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

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

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

Hot air and ill-informed banter

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

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

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Nothing worth doing is easy.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

No one could have predicted…

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Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

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A consequence of cucumbers

You are here: Home / It’s my aeroplane

It’s my aeroplane

by | 73 Comments

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This would be a major scandal ending in resignation if Mnuchin was in a Democratic administration:

Secretary Steven Mnuchin requested use of a government jet to take him and his wife on their honeymoon in Scotland, France and Italy earlier this summer, sparking an “inquiry” by The Treasury Department’s Office of Inspector General, sources tell ABC News.

Officials familiar with the matter say the highly unusual ask for a U.S. Air Force jet, which according to an Air Force spokesman could cost roughly $25,000 per hour to operate, was put in writing by the secretary’s office but eventually deemed unnecessary after further consideration of by Treasury Department officials.

As always, IOIYAR.

Reader Interactions

73Comments

  1. 1.

    Hunter Gathers

    Just another upper-class cheapskate.
    Betcha he steals all the towels and soap when he checks out of the hotel.

  4. 4.

    J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford

    But why? Mnuchin is worth a gazillion dollars. He has to own his own jet, right? He’s a movie producer. What movie producer doesn’t have access to a private jet?

  5. 5.

    Seanly

    I don’t think it’d be all that impressive to whisk my new bride off to Paris & Milan in the cargo hold of a C-130. Especially not one as bitchy about money. “Here I am strapped down by the cargo ramp in my Hermes shoes & Oscar De La Renta lingerie”

  6. 6.

    Gretchen

    I thought so! That was one of the things that his awful, stupid wife said to that mom in Oregon: “Did you think the US government paid for our honeymoon or personal travel?” When I saw that, I thought “I bet they tried that! I wonder if they got away with it!” I’d never have thought that if she wasn’t stupid enough to bring it up herself, and it sounds like it struck some government auditor the same way.

  7. 7.

    efgoldman

    the highly unusual ask(*) for a U.S. Air Force jet, which according to an Air Force spokesman could cost roughly $25,000 per hour to operate,

    Folks with huge fortunes didn’t get it by spending it.

    (*) What ever happened to “request”? It’s a perfectly cromulent English noun.

  9. 9.

    Davebo

    Mnuchin could easily afford an easy jet charter but hey, that wife isn’t going to fuck him for free and she’s expensive!

  10. 10.

    Gravenstone

    Didn’t his Missus make some crack about people thinking they had the government pay for their honeymoon? Apparently not for lack of trying.

  20. 20.

    khead

    @Seanly:

    USPTO. I like my boss. That’s not really a problem.

    But I just went through an ethics training session where we discussed hypotheticals in which we couldn’t even have lunch with the boss – meanwhile this jackass wants a fucking plane while I have to sweat a $10 expenditure.

  22. 22.

    Ruckus

    @khead:
    I worked for a sub of a company that put out the memo that if you travel on the company dime your food budget for the entire day, was $12.00. Total. For 3 meals. I told the CEO of the company that I worked for that if I had to limit myself to $12/day for food, it would be my last day. He just laughed and said pay no attention to that bullshit. People that worked for the parent co could only get reimbursed for that $12.00. This was in this century.

  23. 23.

    Raoul

    This would be a major scandal ending in resignation if Mnuchin was in a Democratic administration.

    Fuck this. I’m sick to death of all the “if this were Dems/Obama/whatever, it’d be hell”. OK. WE have to bring the hell. That’s what the GOP figured out a long damn time ago. Fuck civility. Fuck being policy wonks. Fuck meritocracy, flip over some g-d dammed police cars if we have to!!

  26. 26.

    Corner Stone

    @Raoul: Along those lines, but less extreme, there should be a major outcry that Sarah Sanders be fired for promoting – from the WH podium – the idea that the DoJ investigate/prosecute Comey.

  37. 37.

    Steve in the ATL

    @efgoldman: is that allowed? Is there a shift differential? Do we have to recall surplused employees before hiring from the outside?

    Gonna need to review the collective bargaining agreement before we proceed.

  42. 42.

    No Drought No More

    Not to excuse Mnunchin, but Air Force planes need to fly in order to stay properly maintained. They can fly in circlers, or to any point on the planet, but they need to be flown on a regular basis in any event.

    Besides, it’s not like secretary Mnunchin accepted a vicuna coat for his wife from a lobbyist, is it?

  43. 43.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @efgoldman:

    The verbing of nouns (and nouning of verbs) is a fingernails on the blackboard pet peeve.

    You should author a book on that subject. I’ll send out the invites to the launch party and suggest that invitees gift you with hand-made items they architected themselves.

  47. 47.

    Jeffro

    Funny, DougJ, I was just listening to a RHCP mix today – it didn’t have that song in it, but there were some other good ones I hadn’t listened to in a while. Ah, the Chilis…

  51. 51.

    chopper

    @khead:

    yeah, we had a lot of questions in that training. “so if my SPE has a kid, what exactly can I get him again?” reminds me of when my director took me out to lunch and I was afraid of what to order.

  52. 52.

    Steeplejack

    @efgoldman:

    I was thinking the same thing, but I didn’t comment because I’m trying to reduce my pedant backlash.

    Ditto for get, as in “It was a surprising get for the second-tier talk show.”

  54. 54.

    mainmata

    Looks like the IG Office has disappeared in this Administration. Oh, they haven’t appointed anybody. Such bullshit this administration.

  56. 56.

    Steve in the ATL

    @debbie:

    And why suddenly does everything have to be curated?

    It’s not everything–primarily just bespoke and artisanal things.

  58. 58.

    Vhh

    Something tells me that Mnuchin and the GOP can kiss their tax cut, er “reform” plan good bye. Only question is whether this happens before he resigns to spend more time with latest trophy wife or after, and what his next divorce settlement looks like.

  65. 65.

    Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA

    @efgoldman: @SiubhanDuinne: I swear, I get emails at work that I literally cannot understand. I get substituting “ask” for “request,” “learnings” for “lessons,” etc. — they’re just swapping the noun and the corresponding verb in order to make themselves sound smarter than they are. Fine. I hate it, but at least there’s a sort of logic to it. But more and more lately it appears that they’re just stringing random words together.

    Also, true story: at my job, the woman in Operations who manages the sales support staff changed the title of an org chart. When asked why, she didn’t say “The title was inaccurate.” She said, and I quote: “The title was not inclusive in its verbiage of the entire organization.”

    Christ.

  66. 66.

    Mohagan

    @Steve in the ATL: I was invited to a “Treasures Sale” held by my yoga studio last year as a fundraiser (basically a nice garage sale held inside) and yes, the items available had been “curated”. I guess that means someone threw out the absolute junk.

  68. 68.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @efgoldman: I have also taken courses in biology. Dad was in a closet changing into scrubs when the blessed event happened – I try not to inconvenience people too much, so I popped out quickly. The nuns thought I was cute – it was the green eyes and curls.

  69. 69.

    fuckwit

    Shit like this makes me just give up.

    Our fucking media is so useless. So is our law enforcement.

    Poor black man? Life imprisonment for smoking weed.
    Democrat of any race, color, age, or religion? You’d better be a cross between an angel an altar boy or we’re coming for your ass.
    Rich white Rethug man? Steal to your heart’s content, nobody cares.

    Corrupt to its core. The whole system is crashing down.

  71. 71.

    Tehanu

    @debbie:

    omg, “curated,” my absolute bete noire after “iconic.” (And in our house, no one is allowed to use the s-word [share] or the j-word [journey. I haven’t watched Family Guy for a long time, but I’ll never forget Brian backstage after his friend’s play, saying, “It was great. What a journey.” in the deadest voice you’ve ever heard].)

  73. 73.

    tinare

    Well, it’s not like Mnuchin had an expensive haircut that paid for out of his own funds or anything. That would be a scandal.

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