Why does Scott Pruitt still have a job? (The Post)
Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt last year had a top aide help contact Republican donors who might offer his wife a job, eventually securing her a position at a conservative political group that has backed him for years, according to multiple individuals familiar with the matter.
The job hunt included Pruitt’s approaching wealthy party supporters and conservative figures with ties to the Trump administration. The individuals said he enlisted Samantha Dravis, then serving as associate administrator for the EPA’s Office of Policy, to line up work for his wife…
A spokesman for the Judicial Crisis Network confirmed Tuesday that it employed the onetime school nurse “temporarily as an independent contractor,” but it did not disclose via email how long she worked there or what she was paid. The spokesman said the position came about after the group received her résumé from Leonard Leo, executive vice president of the Federalist Society. The two organizations have financial ties.
Leo is a prominent Pruitt backer and longtime friend who was involved in arrangements for the administrator’s visit to Italy last year. Taxpayers spent more than $100,000 on the trip, which included private tours of the Vatican and meals at some of Rome’s finest restaurants.
Oh right — because Pruitt works for the most openly corrupt administration in the history of the United States, where simply everyone is in on the grift, from the president to his worthless spawn to his venal cabinet to his most inept hangers-on. And because Pruitt is succeeding in his mandate to reorient the agency he runs away from protecting the environment to protecting GOP-friendly corporations so they can pollute the ecosystem and endanger workers and citizens with impunity.
That’s why Pruitt still has a job.
In a way, we’re probably better off if Trump continues to stand by Pruitt. A replacement would likely be just as bad, and Pruitt is so openly dishonest, unscrupulous and grasping that he’ll make a great campaign talking point for Democrats at any level, nationwide.
LAO
Since you used the tag “Trump Crime Cartel” it seems appropriate to note this:
Betty Cracker
@LAO: Wow. Bricks are being shat at the White House if true, most likely!
LAO
@Betty Cracker: Agreed. I expect a torrent of unhinged tweets by nightfall.
MattF
One theory I’ve seen is that since Pruitt has been confirmed by the Senate, he’d be a possible stand-by replacement for Sessions. Apparently, once you’ve been confirmed by the Senate for any job, you’re a legal repacement for any other Senate-confirmed position. Seems a bit far-fetched, though. I’d guess that the dumb explanation (Trump sees Pruitt as a kindred spirit) is the correct one.
chopper
@LAO:
that’s just delicious. tho it means “my attorney’s got attorneys” no longer applies to the guy.
rikyrah
HAS.NO.LEGAL.REPRESENTATION.
BWA HA HA AH HA HA HA HA HA
germy
rikyrah
it shouldn’t be called grifting anymore.
Should be called Pruitting.
rikyrah
@MattF:
I’ve heard this bullshyt theory.
I wanna know..has any other President tried this?
Just shifting people around without going through the confirmation process?
germy
@Betty Cracker:
This is an attack on our country and our way of life!
Kay
The corruption is disgusting, but the nepotism is also gross.
How many are there? I imagine this whole group of otherwise unemployable adult “children” strutting around, acting like they’re working.
The Trumpsters are gonna regret splitting up families. We won’t keep them together when they all go to prison. We need a deterrent to white collar crime.
JGabriel
Betty Cracker @ Top:
Also, in case Traitor Trump decides he wants to install Pruitt as AG without without going through a Senate confirmation.
rikyrah
Breaking News: Robert Mueller requesting 75 blank subpoenas in the Paul Manafort case.https://t.co/adVbCqgZR7
— 3ChicsPolitico (@3ChicsPolitico) June 13, 2018
Frankensteinbeck
‘Drain the swamp’ was always a metaphor for ethnic cleansing. I have heard Republicans use it that way in a ‘get all colored people out of the US’ sense, but for most I believe they mean it on a governmental level. I grew up with this omnipresent, unquestioned myth that the US government is infested and bought off by ‘special interest groups’ that somehow were bribing legislators and the executive branch to give free stuff to minorities. Rich people corruption is way, way down the list of Trump voter concerns. He is removing the corruption he promised to remove, by making the executive branch an abuser of the weak instead of a protector.
LAO
@rikyrah: That’s not a lot of subpoenas/witnesses in a large, complex federal white collar prosecution.
Chyron HR
Meanwhile, in the Oval Office:
Stephen Miller: It’s just like I told you, Mr. Trump, “With Jews, you lose!”
Jared Kushner: He did tell you that, dad, he did!
Stephen Miller: Zip it, hymie, the master race is talking here.
germy
Kay
The Trump Administration is so corrupt I think there’s a real possibility that they CAN’T fire these people. They know too much.
That’s why we get that sniping at Sessions and no action. They’re blackmailing one another, trapped, bound together, that’s why they’re all so miserable and mean-spirited.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: The nepotism thing apparently cascades down to the cabinet and West Wing employee level too, with otherwise unemployable relatives being placed with wingnut think tanks, donor corporations, state-level GOP organizations, etc.
Omnes Omnibus
OT: I didn’t make a Ron Johnson staffer cry, but I did make him stammer and say he just worked for the office when I asked how he could work for someone who support separating kids from families at the border putting them in camps just like Nazis. Baby steps.
LAO
@Omnes Omnibus: Shoot higher — he should cry.
rikyrah
@Kay:
The KKKeebler Elf is up to his eyeballs in ALL OF IT.
He will NEVER quit.
And, can only be fired.
But, yes, he knows IT ALL.
schrodingers_cat
@Kay:Bingo. There was another one of those leaked stories about Kelly, how miserable and unhappy he is being in the WH. \
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@LAO: is it normal for lawyers to quit if a client flips? Or is that a sign they disagreed with their client? Or they’re all so goofy and corrupt who the fuck knows?
scav
@germy: We may soon be learning how the very founding fathers of this nation were part of the deep state, putting in long-term defenses for Obama and Hillary.
FlipYrWhig
@Frankensteinbeck: Yup. It’s a whole mythos. Conservatives think of THE GOVERNMENT as being run by corrupt and/or incompetent time-servers who get a coalition of the black, the brown, and the lazy to vote for enough like-minded politicians to keep the machine running without asking too many questions, and that this happens somewhere between The Big City and The State Capital. It’s sort of a permanent Kafkaesque dystopia combining (black/brown/lazy) road crews leaning on shovels, surly (black/brown/lazy) people at the window at the DMV, and occasionally something more diabolical like what they thought Shirley Sherrod was admitting to. And that’s “the swamp,” and that’s how it’s connected to race. And, relatedly, when they talk about running the government “like a business” they mean “firing everyone.”
eclare
@Kay: Interesting theory….sounds plausible to me!
Immanentize
@LAO: When lawyers leave that means usually one of two things — there was some big disagreement about strategy like something rather untoward occurred against attorneys advice OR the attorneys were not really working for the client, but for other interests. I saw the latter a lot in low-level cartel dealers who had big fancy attorneys, then they did not (and they got me). Of course, it is not really a binary thing, is it? What’s your take, LAO?
sdhays
@MattF: I looked this up when it was floated a few months ago. The Constitution is pretty clear on this that you have to be confirmed for the particular position you’re nominated for. Pompeo had to be reconfirmed as Secretary of State even though he’d been confirmed as CIA Director.
rikyrah
@Omnes Omnibus:
Good for you. Everyone who lives in a GOP Congressman/Senator’s district, should be calling them up.
I’ve said before…it’s the simplicity of this evil that just cuts through all the bullshyt.
Just call them up and ask for the Congressman/Senator’s stance on ripping children from their parents, housing them in cages, and now in camps.
Please explain to me the Congressman’s pro-life, pro-family stance with regards to this evil. And, yes, we need to call it EVIL.
schrodingers_cat
Can we have a thread about yesterday’s elections? Besides Sanford losing and Ds picking up a legislature seat in Wisconsin, what other important things happened.
LAO
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I’m sure this is about $$$$$. Not enough of it. Hiss lawyer told the Court the other day that they had 15 lawyers working round the clock:
FlipYrWhig
@Kay:
I think they came to town that way. May have been _born_ that way.
sdhays
@Immanentize: The lawyers were all being paid by the RNC, as I recall, so they definitely working for Michael Cohen.
LAO
@Immanentize: I agree with you that who actually hires the attorney is a key question and strategy issues do arise but I think this is a money thing. The privilege check is eating a lot of time and money, I don’t think Cohen has the resources to defend this case.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@LAO: interesting– one of details that’s kind of been lost in the flood is that this man doing multi-million dollar cash deals had to borrow $130K to pay off stormy, and apparently that was a heavy debt load for him according to the gossip from trump world
ETA: was it Cohen who literally bought his way into trump-world by making a showy multi-unit purchase in the tower? or am I thinking of one of the other skeevy hangers-on who have become household names, at least in the blogosphere
Immanentize
@LAO: Lawyers used to come to Court and tell judges that they had to withdraw because the critical witness “Mr. Green” failed to appear….
The Dangerman
@Kay:
How corrupt are they?
/Match Game
LAO
@sdhays: Only a portion of the fee — I expect this will not continue.
Immanentize
@sdhays: Is Cohen still a fundraising officer at the RNC? I have wondered if that was just a way of keeping some of his dealings hidden.
trollhattan
@MattF: @rikyrah:
See Chait for more.
Technically possible. Probable? With this outfit there’s no telling.
LAO
@Immanentize: When I was a very young associate, I was sent to federal court to handle a status conference. The Judge (The Honorable David G. Trager, now deceased) asked me if I was in court that day, rather than the partner, because “there was a problem with Mr. Green.” I had no clue what the Judge was talking about and quite frankly had no idea how to respond. My former boss still laughs about it occasionally.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
LAO
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I’m honestly not sure because so many of the skeezy bastards did that.
Betty Cracker
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I always thought that was weird too — that he had to take out a home equity loan to raise $130K. You’d think a shady-ass character like Cohen would have money stashed offshore. But then again, he doesn’t seem very bright.
Cheryl Rofer
MJS
@Omnes Omnibus: “I just work for the office” is apparently the new “I was just following orders.”
sdhays
@Immanentize: Good question. I remember being surprised that he hadn’t left that position after the raids came down, but I expect he won’t be there much longer if he hasn’t quietly resigned/been booted already.
Omnes Omnibus
@MJS: Yep.
Jeffro
@The Dangerman: See? I knew if I actually read through the thread, someone else was gonna say it before me! =)
– they can’t even get LAWYERS to work for them
– pond scum just moved three steps up the food chain
– they have shell corporations set up for their kids’ free and reduced lunch accounts at school
– they made a hero out of a porn star AND her lawyer(!)
– we actually WANT Trumpov to golf as much as possible
–
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Betty Cracker: I don’t know anything about this lifestyle, but a lot of people smarter than him have managed to leverage themselves into bankruptcy in spite of a massive cashflow they think will never end
rikyrah
Guess we can get ready for another Birth of a Nation campaign down in Virginia against Tim Kaine.
UH HUH
UH HUH
catclub
@rikyrah:
makes no sense, is a Judge who was confirmed for the lowest level by the Senate suddenly eligible to be appointed to the Supreme Court?
rikyrah
it’s up to 150!!
BREAKING: Robert Mueller files request for 150 blank subpoenas in Paul Manafort case. This doesn’t end well for Trump or any of his associates. With Cohen flipping, if Manafort flips, it’s ballgame. Trump would absolutely have to resign. Tick to the tock. https://t.co/ZusAJgE6ui
— Scott Dworkin (@funder) June 13, 2018
randy khan
@sdhays:
There’s a statutory provision that allows anyone who’s been confirmed by the Senate to serve as the acting whatever in another confirmable position for a limited period of time.
debbie
@Kay:
After the way he was treated by his father as a kid, I’m surprised Andrew would even be in the same state as Rudi, let alone sharing any political associations.
randy khan
@rikyrah:
I see these stories, and kind of agree, but all three of the Republican candidates for Senate had, uh, issues, so I’m not sure Stewart is any more of a gift to Kaine than the others would have been.
gvg
@sdhays: RNC does not equal Cohen and if he is going to flip, i think that would put him at odds with the RNC so the lawyers would have to leave…i think. although I also think it’s problematic for the RNC to be paying for Trumps personal lawyer. I wonder if it’s a problem if his best bet is to flip but it’s against the RNC’s interest, would the lawyer still give him that info?
sdhays
@Betty Cracker: I just assumed that he didn’t want to use his illegal stash, which is most of his money. And now, with the US Dept. of Justice watching his every move, he doesn’t dare try to access it. But he could be like Paul Manafort and spend way beyond his means even with all that cash sloshing through his laundry.
debbie
@Chyron HR:
No response from Jared, pointing out that Miller is also a Jew?
scav
Still works when rephrased into the non-physical blade setting.
Yarrow
@LAO: Tick tock, motherfuckers!
I’m back. Not that anyone noticed I was gone.
@Kay:
Yes we do.
sdhays
@randy khan: Interesting. I hadn’t seen that.
debbie
@LAO:
Nah, he should quit!
FlipYrWhig
@The Dangerman: “The Trump Administration is SO corrupt they’ve started stashing bribes in their BLANK.”
catclub
@Immanentize:
Weren’t Broidy and Cohen co-chairs of finance committee? Have either one been dropped?
ETA: I looked it up, deputy finance chairs. No evidence they have been dropped from committee. The chair was Steve Wynn, he has been dropped.
rikyrah
@Cheryl Rofer:
Mr. Big never winds up paying the defense bills. Plan accordingly.
NO LIE TOLD
rikyrah
“Healthcare is a right. Healthcare is a right. HEALTHCARE. IS. A. RIGHT. You cannot access the American dream without access to healthcare. When people are denied healthcare, people die. And mental and physical health are the same. Thing.” @SenBooker at #WeThePeople18 pic.twitter.com/8ZxGuH0nyc
— Indivisible Guide (@IndivisibleTeam) June 13, 2018
randy khan
@Cheryl Rofer:
Running out of money is a definite possibility for a decision to cooperate and changing lawyers. (And you need fewer lawyers if you’re cooperating, since you won’t need to have people look at every document to contest whether they should be given to the government.)
Another possibility beyond the ones mentioned above, although that seems unlikely in this case, is that you hired lawyers who are skilled at burn-things-to-the-ground defense, but not to the kinds of negotiations needed to plead.
Yarrow
@Kay:
Yes. I’ve been saying this for the last year or more. Sessions knows most everything and Trump can’t fire him. It’s kind of hilarious to watch, except for the whole country burning thing.
SiubhanDuinne
@Immanentize:
@LAO:
IANAL and I don’t understand the “Mr Green” reference. Having to explain humor is tedious, I know, but I’d enjoy being able to get the joke.
chopper
@Cheryl Rofer:
i’m sure right now trump is trying desperately to figure out how to pay for a new team of attorneys for cohen out of campaign funds. “i know a guy who can get that done! get cohen on the phone!”
The Dangerman
@FlipYrWhig:
Richard Dawson would kill with that one then kiss the contestant.
ETA: Oops, wrong show. Though Family Feud may be appropriate if Cohen has dirt on Jarvanka.
FlipYrWhig
@SiubhanDuinne: As in the color of money?
Betty Cracker
@Jim, Foolish Literalist & @sdhays: Good points.
chopper
@SiubhanDuinne:
a reference to money, i assume.
Immanentize
In the Medellin Cartel cases, Mr. At Least Bigger would often pay defense costs. It was surprising to us as public defenders, for sure. And we certainly got our share of the street level folks in State court. But when Pablo Escobar was finally raided after he left his private prison, they found most of the transcripts of the hearings of everyone in the cartel down to some of the smallest players. Those transcripts included the testimony — and identity — of most of the undercover agents and police officers in the Metro Dade area, state and fed, and beyond. Escobar was wicked smaht.
schrodingers_cat
@Yarrow:Sessions was one of T’s early backers. Most of the anti-immigrant policies of this government come from his former aide Steve Miller.
Litlebritdifrnt
@Immanentize: The code in our part of the world was “your honor the client has not complied with rule number one” (Rule Number One: Pay your Lawyer).
LAO
@SiubhanDuinne: Mr Green — Money. (A reference to Mr. Green meant lawyer wasn’t getting paid). Sorry.
FlipYrWhig
@The Dangerman: Charles Nelson Reilly could have some fun with it.
debbie
@schrodingers_cat:
That could prove to be a very depressing thread. I heard a report on NPR about Maine’s reaction following the ranked-choice voting system:
Great. American Idol runs the country.
—
Driving home from the dentist just now, I listened to Glenn Beck for a bit (I like to know what the enemy is up to). He was comparing Trump’s NK efforts to Reagan’s USSR efforts, and he thinks Trump is operating as if he were playing Obama’s 11-dimensional chess. Click.
Gin & Tonic
@germy:
Um, wow, I guess. But isn’t he actually admitted to the NY Bar? Is it still pro se if you are actually a licensed attorney?
chopper
@rikyrah:
it’s likely still 75 individual subpoenas. they file two copies of each one from what i remember.
LAO
@Litlebritdifrnt: I love that and wish to adopt it here.
@Immanentize: I agree. Was involved in a number of cases where the head of an organization paid the legal fees (at least according to their complaints on later wiretaps.).
Betty Cracker
@Yarrow: I’ve seen Session’s non-firing linked to Grassley’s threat not to confirm a replacement, but your theory makes a lot more sense. Trump hasn’t been constrained by the GOP congress’s opinion on anything, and Grassley would cave like a hollow gourd anyway.
LAO
@chopper: You are correct — 75 witnesses. Not a huge number in white collar case.
Chyron HR
@debbie:
Mr. Jared, he not a bright boy.
SiubhanDuinne
@FlipYrWhig:
Ah, thanks. Slow this morning.
schrodingers_cat
@debbie: Not all news out of yesterday was bad. In my opinion, anything better than speculation based on one’s worst fears.
Immanentize
@SiubhanDuinne: The color of cash. It was a code private attorneys used to explain they were not being paid…. In San Antonio, we had an informal club of defense attorneys that would have a lunch or dinner once a year. Mostly an excuse to tell tales and drink. There were various awards they had made up and I made up the Easy Rider “We ate their food, Man” award for the best tale of getting stiffed by a client. One year’s winner went like this: the attorney was representing a twenty-something working class guy on a DUI and gun possession charge (they often went together). The guy worked construction and the lawyer kinda felt sorry for him, so he kept asking for pay and the client always had a sad sack tale about how his ship was just about to come in. Besides the retainer, the lawyer had,’t received anything. Pre-trial motions, the gun is suppressed — nothing. Trial, nothing. So the attorney wins the DUI case at trial! Not guilty! So, the client says, look, let me buy you a drink, I have your money and they went off to the bar near the courthouse and both got a beer. The client is so happy and he toasts the attorney and he gets up and says I’m going to the truck to get the check for the payment. He leaves and drives off. Also leaving the lawyer with the bar tab.
SiubhanDuinne
@LAO:
Got it. Thanks!
MJS
Since I am ever the pessimist, could this just be a delaying tactic on Cohen’s part, since Friday is the deadline for his attorneys’ review of documents for privilege?
schrodingers_cat
@Betty Cracker: After Sessions, Grassley has been the most consistent anti-immigrant senator since the days of W if not before. Sessions is carrying out the agenda dear to Grassley’s heart. Grassley’s aide Cissna currently heads the USCIS. That’s another reason why G doesn’t want S fired.
Yarrow
@schrodingers_cat: @Betty Cracker: Sessions is in bed with Russia. Publicly we know he lied and lied again in his confirmation hearing about his contacts with Russia. Mueller knows it all and owns Sessions. Trump would be obviously obstructing justice if he fires Sessions and then Sessions could publicly flip on Trump to save himself as much as he can. Trump is truly fucked but it just hasn’t all come out yet. Funny to watch but terrible for the country as Sessions destroys things and hurts and kills people while we wait.
SiubhanDuinne
@Immanentize:
LOL, great story! Thanks for the info and the anecdote.
chopper
@MJS:
cohen’s attorneys aren’t gone yet, and i doubt the judge will push off the deadline for document review just because he says ‘i’ll cooperate’.
D58826
And so blatantly obvious about his corruption and incompetence. A replacement might be batter at hiding what he is doing
debbie
@schrodingers_cat:
I would like to hear about Dem results. Here, all the talk is of the GOP and their new predicament, ie, the Trumpsters’ wins over the “moderates.” This is very good news. The nuttier, the quicker the GOP’s demise.
Mike in DC
We’re nearing the turning point. It will probably hinge on the election. A Dem Congress plus solid charges against Trump = removal/resignation. If the Senate GOP balks, let them know it will be a political death march for most of them.
trollhattan
Just heard Trump wants to change HHS to another name. My guess: Welfare, Moochers and Illegals. (comma optional)
trollhattan
@Immanentize:
Which senator is this today?
Classic story. I’ve known that guy. We’ve all known that guy. Last remodel project one of the dudes stole a crapton of sporting goods gear from me, something I didn’t figure out until they were gone and the chaos settled.
LAO
I think the WSJ has a better take on Cohen:
It makes more sense to me that Cohen has not decided whether or not to cooperate yet.
schrodingers_cat
@debbie: Same here. Everywhere you see all the news is about Rs and T and his supporters. Its as if those who oppose him don’t exist. We complain about it but most lefty blogs and the comments therein are a reflection of the same premise.
Ruviana
@SiubhanDuinne: They use a different code now but in hospitals when they paged “Dr. Firestone to Room whatever” meant there was a fire there that needed putting out. This way it didn’t panic people who heard it. I suspect the “color” of that “witness’s” name in this case is the tell.
ETA: As others have said, but I like my little story so I’m leaving it.
Patricia Kayden
@LAO: Such good news that I could burst!! For his attorneys to desert him like that, they must believe him to be guilty as hell. Couldn’t happen to a nicer jerk.
Jeffro
@debbie:
The Post has a couple of good takes up about the ‘rise of white-supremacist candidate Corey Stewart in VA’ (vs Tim Kaine)
Stewart is no Lyin’ Ed Gillespie, while Kaine is about as equally loved in quite-blue VA as Ralph Northam is…Northam, y’all will remember, beat Gillespie by 9 points.
Keep talkin’ that crazy talk, Corey Stewart! It’s your party now, yours and Trumpovs! Meanwhile, here’s what one #NeverStewart Republican had to say:
Good times!
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
I’ve dealt with Cleta Mitchell years ago – she’s dumb as a fucking stump. No wonder Pruitt hired her. ???
Immanentize
One way to read Cohen’s attorneys is that they really just came on board for the document challenges. And Cohen (or whomsoever) was charged through that phase. June 15 is the deadline set by the judge for final document privilege review. That is, Friday.
Yarrow
@schrodingers_cat: In David Anderson’s morning thread there was this comment from Nora:
I agree. I’ve said a few times that I’d like to have a daily, or at least several times a week, action item thread. Something to help people do one thing every day–call their reps about an issue. Many of us know we’re supposed to be contacting our reps on a regular basis but are busy and aren’t sure what the best issues are at the moment. A reminder to “call your reps about this issue today” could help with focus and also to spur people on to act.
Another bonus of that sort of thread is that it can alleviate your sense of helplessness when you take action. It’s easy to get down when the news is so horrible. But we can DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. We can get involved. Calling our reps is a small thing that makes our voices heard. It matters. And when you do it you can feel good that you’ve done something more than just complain.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Betty Cracker:
Speaking of shitting bricks, did you know that wombats shit blocks?
debbie
@Immanentize:
Would you put it past him to be his own attorney?
Litlebritdifrnt
@MJS: That crossed my mind too, a lot of times clients who are just trying to delay their obvious eventual conviction will just keep firing their lawyers and hiring a new one which gives the new one the opportunity to go into court and beg the judge for yet another continuance because the new lawyer has to “get up to speed” and has “only just received the discovery in this matter from previous counsel” and they have to have time to go through it. It works for a while but eventually the State and the Judges get wise to what the defendant is up to and refuse to continue the case. If that happens the latest attorney withdraws and the client now pro se begs the court for a continuance to obtain new counsel. I have seen this lots of times.
Immanentize
@debbie: yes I would. And I think he knows it.
schrodingers_cat
Nazi Times is calling DACA recipients, migrant youths.
LAO
@Patricia Kayden:
As awful as I’m going to sound — we, criminal defense attorneys, don’t care.
Betty Cracker
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Nuh-uh! Seriously? (Off to Google “do wombats shit blocks”…)
ETA: OMFG, it’s true!
JPL
@LAO: Cohen might have put the story out, in order to put Trump on notice.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Immanentize:
The time-honored reason given from thousands of withdrawals.
rikyrah
@Yarrow:
Though, complaining, and calling out GOPers- calling their offices – is a good complaint.
Yarrow
@rikyrah: Complaining TO your GOP reps is good. Just complaining online, on blogs, Facebook, whatever will do nothing. We need to be letting our reps hear our anger too.
frosty
@Kay:
Perfect!
PS Welcome back from me, too.
Tokyokie
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: I know Cleta from back in college at the University of Oklahoma, when she was still going by her maiden name, Cleta Deatheridge. I went to her house once for a campaign chat with Fred R. Harris she hosted when he ran for president in 1976. (The coffee klatch was probably fall of 1975.) But then she figured out that the R’s have a lot more money than the D’s.
SiubhanDuinne
@Ruviana:
I like that story! Thanks.
EriktheRed
As long they make the effort to actually USE IT.
J R in WV
@LAO:
Ladyraxterinok
@Tokyokie: Yea!! for Fred Harris. My mom got to meet him through her work in Tulsa League of Women Voters.
I voted for him in the IA caucus in 76.
ruemara
@Betty Cracker: Yep! & strangely cute.
sherparick
Meanwhile, Federalist PitchBot has captured this perfect moment for the Trump era:
https://twitter.com/FederalistPitch/status/1006890450660323328
2024 Dennis Hof for President, as endorsed by the Ralp Reed, Jerry Fallwell Jr., and the rest of the priesthood.
Regarding the Trump Administration Immigration Policy, Racism, and Corruption, when Centrist MSM say liberals are saying to harsh things, I think Mr. William Lloyd Garrison speaks for us all in the first edition of “the Liberator”:
“I AM aware that many object to the severity of my language; but is there not cause for severity? I will be as harsh as Truth, and as uncompromising as Justice. On this subject I do not wish to think, or speak, or write, with moderation. No! No! Tell a man whose house is on fire to give a moderate alarm; tell him to moderately rescue his wife from the hands of the ravisher; tell the mother to gradually extricate her babe from the fire into which it has fallen—but urge me not to use moderation in a cause like the present. I am in earnest—I will not equivocate—I will not excuse—I will not retreat a single inch—and I will be heard. The apathy of the people is enough to make every statue leap from its pedestal and hasten the resurrection of the dead.”
EBT
@MattF: @rikyrah: Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998 is real and Pruitt would have enough time to sink Mueller.
TenguPhule
@Kay:
Pikes and Tumbrels have been traditionally very effective.
notoriousJRT
I am sure this has been observed before above: In addition to his being part of a brazenly corrupt administration, he is doing Trump’s bidding at EPA. Scott Pruitt wants to run for POTUS some day. HIs ambitions needs to be strangled in the cradle.
TenguPhule
@Omnes Omnibus:
Better luck next time!
? Martin
I hope nobody is under the illusion that ‘drain the swamp’ meant eliminating corruption? It always meant purging minorities and liberals from the administration.
Aleta
deleted
Aleta
I see that the raccoon made it to the top. Canned cat food lured him into a cage. Yesterday he didn’t look well. Maybe just dehydrated or else parasites winning. The concrete must have been rough on his paws.
I know, I know they’re destructive to our environments, but they’re cool creatures in theirs. We had some in our house one summer when we were gone. We had students from a distant country living with us that year, and we’d shown them be aver prints at the river. Taken them canoeing to see the houses and attempted water engineering. When we came home we learned that “the be a vers” had been coming through the cat door and up onto the kitchen table where the women were studying, to help themselves from their candy bowl. By that time they were going through a bowl of candy every night, not to mention the entire supply of cat food.
Aleta
btw, be a ver is a banned word
chopper
@Aleta:
if you put an open and closed italic or bold or whatever bracket set in the middle of the word you can get around the filter. like bea[i][/i]ver or some such (using real brackets, not the square ones).
TenguPhule
@Mike in DC:
Why stop there?