***Official Political Discussion Thread***

Draining da swamp 
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https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/22/...E28FA56E6FC8F6D5998&gwt=pay#commentsContainer
 
The Trump administration, in a significant escalation of its clash with the government’s top ethics watchdog, has moved to block an effort to disclose any ethics waivers granted to former lobbyists who now work in the White House or federal agencies.

The latest conflict came in recent days when the White House, in a highly unusual move, sent a letter to Walter M. Shaub Jr., the head of the Office of Government Ethics, asking him to withdraw a request he had sent to every federal agency for copies of the waivers. In the letter, the administration challenged his legal authority to demand the information.

Dozens of former lobbyists and industry lawyers are working in the Trump administration, which has hired them at a much higher rate than the previous administration. Keeping the waivers confidential would make it impossible to know whether any such officials are violating federal ethics rules or have been given a pass to ignore them.

Mr. Shaub, who is in the final year of a five-year term after being appointed by President Barack Obama, said he had no intention of backing down. “It is an extraordinary thing,” Mr. Shaub said of the White House request. “I have never seen anything like it.”

Marilyn L. Glynn, who served as general counsel and acting director of the agency during the George W. Bush administration, called the move by the Trump White House “unprecedented and extremely troubling.”

“It challenges the very authority of the director of the agency and his ability to carry out the functions of the office,” she said.

In a statement issued Sunday evening, the Office of Management and Budget rejected the criticism and instead blamed Mr. Shaub, saying his call for the information, issued in late April, was motivated by politics. The office said it remained committed to upholding ethical standards in the federal government.

“This request, in both its expansive scope and breathless timetable, demanded that we seek further legal guidance,” the statement said. “The very fact that this internal discussion was leaked implies that the data being sought is not being collected to satisfy our mutual high standard of ethics.”

President Trump signed an executive order in late January  — echoing language first endorsed by Mr. Obama  — that prohibited lobbyists and lawyers hired as political appointees from working for two years on “particular” government matters that involved their former clients. In the case of former lobbyists, they could not work on the same regulatory issues they had been involved in.

Both Mr. Trump and Mr. Obama reserved the right to issue waivers to this ban. Mr. Obama, unlike Mr. Trump, automatically made any such waivers public, offering detailed explanations. The exceptions were typically granted for people with special skills, or when the overlap between the new federal work and a prior job was minor.

Ms. Glynn, who worked in the office of government ethics for nearly two decades, said she had never heard of a move by any previous White House to block a request like Mr. Shaub’s. She recalled how the Bush White House had intervened with a federal agency during her tenure to get information that she needed.

Ethics watchdogs, as well as Democrats in Congress, have expressed concern at the number of former lobbyists taking high-ranking political jobs in the Trump administration. In many cases, they appear to be working on the exact topics  they had previously handled on behalf of private-sector clients — including oil and gas companies and Wall Street banks — as recently as January.

Mr. Shaub, in an effort to find out just how widespread such waivers have become, asked every federal agency and the White House to give him a copy by June 1 of every waiver it had issued. He intends to make the documents public.

Federal law gives the Office of Government Ethics, which was created in the aftermath  of the Watergate scandal, clear legal authority  to issue such a “data request” to the ethics officers at federal agencies. This is the main power the office has to oversee compliance with federal ethics standards.

It is less clear whether it has the power to demand such information from the White House. Historically, there has been some debate over whether the White House is a “federal agency” or, as it calls itself, the “executive office of the president.” Such an office might not be subject to oversight.

The White House, however, tried on Wednesday to stop the process across the entire federal government, even before most agencies had responded to Mr. Shaub’s April 28 request.

“This data call appears to raise legal questions regarding the scope of O.G.E.’s authorities,” said the letter, which was sent to Mr. Shaub by Mick Mulvaney, the head of the Office of Management and Budget. It continued, “I therefore request that you stay the data call until these questions are resolved.”

The letter, which was obtained by The New York Times after a Freedom of Information request, created confusion among federal agency heads about whether they should honor the request from the ethics office.

Norman Eisen, the top White House ethics lawyer in the first years of the Obama administration, said he believed that the Trump administration was trying to intimidate federal ethics officers, who are career appointees, without actually ordering them to ignore the directive from the ethics chief.

“It is yet another demonstration of disrespect for the rule of law and for ethics and transparency coming from the White House,” Mr. Eisen said.

Mr. Shaub, in a conference call with federal government ethics officers on Thursday, told them that he had the clear authority to make such a request and that they were still obligated under federal law to provide the requested information, according to a federal official who participated in the call.

The Office of Government Ethics, however, does not have the power to take enforcement action directly against the agencies if they do not respond. Traditionally, if it has trouble getting the information it needs, it turns to the White House to get compliance, Ms. Glynn said.

“The agency is more or less dependent on the good graces of the party that is in power,” she said.

Tensions between Mr. Trump and Mr. Shaub first started to grow in late November, when the Office of Government Ethics sent out an unusual series of Twitter messages urging Mr. Trump to limit potential conflicts of interest by selling off his real estate assets. Mr. Shaub then gave a speech in January, after Mr. Trump announced that he would not take such a step, which was highly critical of the incoming president, provoking speculation that Mr. Shaub might be fired before his term ended.

“One of the things that make America truly great is its system for preventing public corruption,” Mr. Shaub said during that speech. “Our executive branch ethics program is considered the gold standard internationally and has served as a model for the world. But that program starts with the office of the president. The president-elect must show those in government — and those coming into government after his inauguration — that ethics matters.”
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Lmfaoo we all predicted this when poor Donnie didn't have his bed with him
 
Mark Antony said:
I feel like that 37% will never disapprove of anything at this point.
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On the bright side, the trend line of Independents approving Trump have only been sub 40 for the most part. Need that to be sub 30 though at least.
 
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Trump is the archetype of the player hater though. You know you're doing right when he criticizes you. Everybody needs a friend like him.
 
Da Don is about to eat a Senzu Bean prepared WELL DONE with Ketchup and he'll be back at 200% B.
 
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/...rupts-united-shanghai-20170522-htmlstory.html

Man in red Trump hat disrupts Shanghai flight to U.S., triggers chants of 'Lock him up'

A passenger wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat got kicked off a United Airlines flight from Shanghai on Sunday after he became disruptive, officials said.

The unidentified passenger was boarding flight 87 at Shanghai Pudong International Airport when he refused to comply with the crew’s instructions, according to United spokesman Jonathan Guerin. When the passenger was asked to exit the Newark, N.J.-bound flight, he “became increasingly disruptive,” according to the spokesman.

“For safety and security reasons, local law enforcement was called to assist and the customer eventually left the aircraft on his own accord,” Guerin said.

Because of the disruption the passengers had to get off the plane – which eventually had to make an unscheduled stop in San Francisco to get a new crew.

In a Facebook post, passenger Clark Gredoña described the events as they unfolded. He said the man claimed that because “he couldn't get an upgrade, he's entitled to all three seats next to him even though they're assigned to somebody else.”

Cellphone videos taken abroad the aircraft showed the man shouting, “I am entitled to that seat,” then screaming at fellow passengers.

In one exchange the man says, “This stupid man over here that does not know how to speak English and it doesn’t make sense, moron.”

After walking off the aircraft, the man was met with jeers from a gaggle of travelers inside the airport.

Some travelers screamed, “Charge him.” Cellphone video obtained by NBC showed others yelling, “Lock him up.”

“We’re grateful for the patience shown by our customers who endured the disruptive behavior of this passenger, as well as the exceptional poise and professionalism of our flight crew,” Guerin said.
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Trump supporter goes crazy in a airplane, proceeds to get kicked out :lol
Sweet justice :Nthat
 
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Cellphone videos taken abroad the aircraft showed the man shouting, “I am entitled to that seat,” then screaming at fellow passengers.
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:lol

when white privilege goes wrong.
 
Entitled eh? Nah, I see through that trick, that was a millennial in disguise
 
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