The spirit of ignorant fascism lives on

The Japanese suffered the consequences during WWII in American internment camps, which Trump promises to bring back.  But the House GOP would like to get a jump on it by deporting Palestinians. Then the camps won't have to be so big, I guess.

[A] GOP bill, introduced earlier this month by Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.) with 10 Republican co-sponsors, would ban or revoke visas, refugee status and asylum for Palestinian Authority passport holders dating back to Oct 1, shortly before the Hamas attack on Israel.

[...]

[A countering] two-page resolution [...] is being introduced by Reps. Greg Landsman (D-Ohio) and Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), both of whom are Jewish and steadfastly pro-Israel.

[...]

The resolution says the GOP bill “dangerously conflates Palestinians with Hamas” and “is un-American, bigoted, and is designed to inflame tensions which could result in violence.”

[...]

"Calls to expel Palestinians from the United States are racist, xenophobic and have no place in the government of the United States," Goldman said.

  Axios

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway, he did not say.

The evil that sits in Washington

Political appointees at the interior department have sought to play up climate pollution from California wildfires while downplaying emissions from fossil fuels as a way of promoting more logging in the nation’s forests, internal emails obtained by the Guardian reveal.

The messaging plan was crafted in support of Donald Trump’s pro-industry arguments for harvesting more timber in California, which he says would thin forests and prevent fires – a point experts refute.

The emails show officials seeking to estimate the carbon emissions from devastating 2018 fires in California so they could compare them to the carbon footprint of the state’s electricity sector and then publish statements encouraging cutting down trees.

[...]

James Reilly, a former petroleum geologist and astronaut who is the director of the US Geological Survey, in a series of emails in 2018 asked scientists to “gin up” emissions figures for him. He also said the numbers would make a “decent sound bite”, and acknowledged that wildfire emissions estimates could vary based on what kind of trees were burning but picked the ones that he said would make “a good story”.

[...]

Not long after the interior department came up with its carbon emission estimates from the 2018 California wildfires, Trump issued an executive order instructing federal land managers to significantly increase the amount of timber they harvest. This fall, he also proposed allowing logging in Alaska’s Tongass national forest, the largest intact temperate rainforest in North America.

[...]

The emails add to concerns that the Trump administration is doing industry’s bidding rather than pursuing the public interest.

  Guardian

You think?

The media are not the enemy of the people. They are all that prevents Back to the Future III.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

MAGA

At the urging of a controversial team of advisors, the Trump administration is mulling proposals to privatize national park campgrounds and further commercialize the parks with expanded Wi-Fi service, food trucks and even Amazon deliveries at tourist camp sites.

Leaders of the Interior Department’s “Made in America” Outdoor Recreation Advisory Committee say these changes could make America’s national parks more attractive to a digitally minded younger generation and improve the quality of National Park Service facilities amid a huge maintenance backlog. As part of its plan, the committee calls for blacking out senior discounts at park campgrounds during peak holiday seasons.

“Our recommendations would allow people to opt for additional costs if they want, for example, Amazon deliveries at a particular campsite,” said Derrick Crandall, vice chairman of the committee and a counselor with the nonprofit National Park Hospitality Assn. “We want to let Americans make their own decisions in the marketplace.”

But the group’s proposals face angry opposition from conservation organizations and senior citizen advocates, who call them a transfer of public assets to private industry, including businesses led by executives appointed to the Outdoor Advisory Committee.

[...]

“The cost of a senior pass already jumped in recent years from $10 to $80, and this proposal would further hurt older Americans who want to visit national parks. Enough is enough[,” said Bill Sweeney, senior vice president of government affairs at AARP.]

[...]

Crandall and the advisory committee were somewhat surprised by the backlash, especially from groups representing retirees and the elderly.

“If we’d known there’d be a big pushback to proposed blackouts on senior discounts, we might have dropped that off the list,” Crandall said. “All we’re saying is that it may not make sense on peak days like July 4 weekend to let seniors compete with a family with kids for a campsite.”

  LA Times

How old are these people? Twelve? They were surprised by AARP pushback!

Since taking office, President Trump and his administration have sought to privatize an array of public services, including parts of the Veterans Administration and the U.S. Postal Service. At the same time, the White House has sought to reduce spending for many public services, such as its plan to cut the National Park Service’s budget by $481 million in 2020.

Critics say the administration is engaged in a self-fulfilling prophesy, arguing that private industry can deliver better than the public sector even as the White House starves public agencies of resources. But what really angers opponents is how corporate donors and businesses with a vested interest in park privatization have been invited by the Trump administration to offer proposals for further concession opportunities.

I don't know what you do about that last part, because industry "advising" government has been going on as long as I can remember.

According to a memo first published by the Washington Post, business services officials of the National Park Service in 2017 warned that four people nominated to serve on the panel had potential conflicts of interest.

Three of them were selected as members: Crandall, whose association includes some of the largest concessions management companies in the U.S.; Jeremy Jacobs Jr., co-chief executive of Delaware North Cos., Yosemite National Park’s former facilities operator, whose family has donated at least $167,700 to Trump’s campaigns and political committees; and Bruce Fears, president of Aramark, which holds a $2-billion contract to run hotels, eateries and campgrounds at Yosemite.

[...]

Other committee members include Jim Rogers, former president of Kampgrounds of America, the largest privately owned campground system in the world, and Brad Franklin, government relations manager at Yamaha Motor Corp. USA, a producer of electric-powered bicycles.

[...]

The committee’s proposals would make their concession contracts more profitable than ever. They call for “categorical permissions” to sidestep environmental impact reviews for campground expansion and development, and new policies to ensure that concessionaires be compensated for investments and assets when a competitor is awarded its contract.

[...]

Bernhardt says nearly $12 billion is needed to meet the National Park Service’s maintenance needs. But Gentile, in a 2017 analysis, determined that only $1.3 billion of the backlog is considered priority maintenance by the service, and about $389 million is earmarked for concession facilities within national parks.

“Bernhardt’s claim is disingenuous,” Gentile said. “The concessionaires, and not taxpayers, should be paying for upkeeping their for-profit gift stores, hotels and campgrounds.”

You mean they're NOT?! WTF?

Former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who resigned two years later amid investigations into his real estate dealings in his home state of Montana, organized the advisory committee in 2017. Up until then, federal land agencies and outdoors enthusiasts had reached something of an accord on privatization issues.

Zinke's stink is still on the system.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Corrupt official says goodbye

Good thing he typed it out in a tweet.  Not sure why he felt the need to post a picture of it.  Especially since no one can read that shit.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

The best people

Interior Department Secretary Ryan Zinke submitted his resignation to the White House on Saturday, facing intense pressure to step down because of multiple probes tied to his real estate dealings in his home state of Montana and his conduct in office.

[...]

Behind the scenes [...] the White House had been pushing Zinke for weeks to resign, administration officials said. Last month, these officials said, Zinke was told he had until the end of the year to leave or be fired.

Zinke — 57 and the first Montanan to serve in a presidential Cabinet — is the fourth Trump Cabinet member to resign under an ethics cloud in less than two years. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt also relinquished their posts amid scrutiny on subjects including how they spent taxpayer money on their travel.

[...]

Zinke blamed his departure in a private resignation letter, obtained by The Washington Post, on “vicious and politically motivated attacks.”

In a tweet Saturday afternoon, he said, “I love working for the President and am incredibly proud of all the good work we’ve accomplished together. However, after 30 years of public service, I cannot justify spending thousands of dollars defending myself and my family against false allegations.”

  WaPo

He got away with too much for too long to bow out with the typical claim of needing to spend more time with the family.

“Ryan Zinke will go down as the most anti-conservation Interior secretary in our nation’s history,” Jennifer Rokala, executive director of the Center for Western Priorities, said in a statement.

As bad as he is, I'd withhold that judgment until we see who follows him.

Administration officials concluded weeks ago that Zinke was the Cabinet member most vulnerable to congressional investigations once Democrats took control of the House in January. But multiple crises, including wildfires out West and uncertainty over whether John F. Kelly would stay on as White House chief of staff, had afforded Zinke a temporary reprieve.

During his tenure, Zinke came under at least 15 investigations, including: inquiries into his connection to a real estate deal involving a company that Interior regulates; whether he bent government rules to allow his wife to ride in government vehicles; and allowing a security detail to travel with him on a vacation to Turkey at considerable taxpayer cost.

Zinke was cleared in several of those investigations, and he attacked his critics rather than adopt a more chastened tone. Late last month, he accused Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) — who had called on Zinke to step down and is poised to take over the committee that oversees Interior in January — of being a drunk.

“It’s hard for him to think straight from the bottom of the bottle,” Zinke wrote from his official Twitter account on Nov. 30.

[...]

The secretary’s final public appearance was Thursday night at his office Christmas party, which he told White House staffers he wanted to have before his dismissal. He invited lobbyists and conservative activists to his executive suite, where he posed for photos in front of a large stuffed polar bear wearing a Santa cap, according to an attendee.

Had to get in a party before he'd leave.

The secretary’s final public appearance was Thursday night at his office Christmas party, which he told White House staffers he wanted to have before his dismissal. He invited lobbyists and conservative activists to his executive suite, where he posed for photos in front of a large stuffed polar bear wearing a Santa cap, according to an attendee.

Chuck's getting pretty cocky. He sure seemed to be enjoying that Pelosi-Trump-Schumer Oval Office performance, and now this.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Zinke is preparing for his next gig

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke reached out to Fox News about potential employment opportunities after he leaves the Trump administration, Politico reports. Zinke reportedly contacted the news network to convey his interest in a “contributor” position, and he is also seeking roles on “energy company boards of directors or even with private equity firms.” One source said a contract with Fox News was unlikely for Zinke, unless President Trump asked Rupert Murdoch, who owns Fox News’ parent company.

[...]

Zinke reportedly made it known he plans to leave his role at the Interior Department by the end of this year. However, Politico reports he may have to leave earlier depending on what Trump thinks about the Zinke probe the Interior Department’s inspector general has referred to the Justice Department. The IG’s office reportedly only refers probes to the DOJ if “potential criminal violations” have occurred. The DOJ is reportedly investigating whether or not Zinke used his “office for personal gain.”

  Daily Beast

Trump recently said he wouldn't be firing Zinke. Why would he? Zinke hasn't disrespected him. But what I'm wondering is why it would be unlikely for him to get a spot at Fox News.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

The best people

No chaos.  Smooth running machine.

The Interior Department’s Office of Inspector General has referred one of its probes into the conduct of Secretary Ryan Zinke to the Justice Department for further investigation, according to two individuals familiar with the matter.

  WaPo

Of course, the DOJ is run by Jeff Sessions,* so...

Deputy Inspector General Mary L. Kendall, who is serving as acting inspector general, is conducting at least three probes that involve Zinke. These include his involvement in a Montana land deal and the decision not to grant two tribes approval to operate a casino in Connecticut. The individuals, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk publicly, did not specify which inquiry had been referred to the Justice Department.

At least Kendall has been on the job since before Trump.

Zinke is looking for a political nominee who could replace Kendall, a career official who has served in an acting capacity since 2009.

Of course.

Two weeks ago, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson sent an email to his staff announcing that one of his top aides, Suzanne Israel Tufts, would be taking over as Interior’s acting inspector general. But Zinke’s aides disavowed this idea several days later, describing Carson’s email as “100 percent false.”

[...]

A referral to the Justice Department means prosecutors will explore whether a criminal investigation is warranted. While an agency’s inspector general regularly issues reports on the findings of its inquiries, it refers cases to the Justice Department only when it has determined that there could be criminal violations.

Why not? Is somebody keeping count of how many people connected to Trump are either convicted of a crime or under investigation?

A senior White House official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the matter, said the White House understands that the investigation is looking into whether the secretary “used his office to help himself.”

Again, why not? His boss is.

Zinke is one of multiple Cabinet members who may leave after the midterm elections, according to administration officials.

[...]

One of the allegations under investigation regards the secretary’s role in a Montana land development deal backed by David J. Lesar, chairman of the oil services firm Halliburton, which Politico first reported in June. The business and retail park, known as 95 Karrow, is slated to include several businesses and would be near multiple parcels of land owned by Zinke and his wife. The deal involves land owned by a foundation now headed by Zinke’s wife, Lola, which the secretary used to run before joining the Trump administration.

[...]

Halliburton’s operations are directly affected by many of Interior’s policies, including rules on how oil and gas drilling must be conducted, and which public lands and federal waters are open to energy exploration and development.

[...]

While Zinke has stepped down as president of the Great Northern Veterans Peace Park Foundation, records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that he has met with Lesar, his son and the lead project developer, Casey Malmquist, since taking office. He also corresponded with Malmquist about the project’s design, the records reveal.

Why not? His boss has two sons who run a business for him and who report to him regularly AND campaign for him.

Most corrupt administration ever?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

*UPDATE 11/7:

Smoothly running machine

Interior Department officials said Thursday that they did not approve the hiring of a political appointee as the agency’s acting watchdog, calling the announcement of her move by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson “100 percent false information.”

[...]

In an email Friday with the subject line “A Fond Farewell,” Carson wrote staff, “It is with mixed emotions that I announce that Suzanne Israel Tufts, our Assistant Secretary for Administration, has decided to leave HUD to become Acting Inspector General at the Department of Interior.”

[...]

The backtracking on Suzanne Israel Tufts’s move two days after it drew widespread scrutiny deepened questions about how and why she was supposedly chosen to lead Interior’s inspector general’s office, which is currently conducting at least four investigations into Secretary Ryan Zinke.

[...]

Top White House officials said Thursday they had not been made aware of the plan to move Tufts, a lawyer from Queens who worked on President Trump’s campaign and has served as HUD’s assistant secretary for administration since December.

“Ms. Tufts is not employed by the Department and no decision was ever made to move her to Interior,” the agency’s press secretary, Heather Swift, said in a statement Thursday.

And in a striking public rebuke of another Cabinet agency led by a close friend of Zinke’s, Swift wrote that HUD “sent out an email that had 100 percent false information in it.” She affirmed that Deputy Inspector General Mary Kendall, who has led the office for nine years, is still in the job.

[...]

The about-face came after mounting criticism by lawmakers on Capitol Hill and watchdog groups of what appeared to be an un­or­tho­dox arrangement between the agencies to bring in a political appointee to oversee Kendall.

[...]

Swift said Tufts was referred to Interior officials by the White House “as a potential candidate” for a position in the inspector general’s office. Swift did not say what position. “At the end of the day, she was not offered a job at Interior.”

[...]

[Tufts] is a former consultant who has no experience as an investigator and would have been leading one of the government’s most active inspector general offices.

[...]

“It’s a real breach of protocol to put someone who’s only qualification is political allegiance to the Trump administration.”

[...]

White House officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss personnel matters, said the move came as a surprise to them.

[...]

HUD officials did not respond to a request for comment. Tufts could not be reached.

  WaPo

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 10/20:

Tufts has resigned.

What the hell went on here?

The best people

Since taking office in March 2017, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has emerged as one of the most ethically dubious members of President Trump’s Cabinet. While he has yet to beat Scott Pruitt’s record of 16 federal investigations into alleged misconduct, he has quickly collected ethics scandals.

CREW found that Zinke has racked up 14 federal investigations into his behavior since becoming Secretary. While a few of these investigations have cleared Zinke of wrongdoing, many remain ongoing, and — perhaps most concerning — several were closed or were inconclusive due to a lack of cooperation with the probe or the Interior Department’s failure to keep proper records.

  CREW

I'd like to see a listing of all Trump admin execs and their respective ethics violations.



...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Greg Sheehan, head of Fish & Wildlife "stepping down"

"I have been away from my family for quite some time now, and while they have been patient and understanding, it is time that I rejoin them," he wrote.

  The Hill

The old need for spending more time with the family excuse.

He's been on the job for less than two years. Surely when he took the job his family expected him to be at it for at least four.

Since starting at FWS last June, Sheehan has largely been regarded as a driving force behind some of the service's more controversial decisions. A member of the Safari Club, Sheehan was a key figure in the Trump administration's push last fall to overturn an Obama-era ban on elephant trophy imports from a number of African nations.

[...]

He acknowledged that he will not be serving his full term, as he originally promised Interior Secretary Zinke.

In the letter he cited a number of achievements he accomplished while at the agency, including "opening more than 380,000 acres of our Refuge System to new hunting, fishing, and other recreational uses."

Sheehan additionally mentioned his close relationship with Zinke saying that [Zinke] was "constantly under the gun in the media."

Yeah, and who wants to make a bet that Sheehan has some corrupt dealings he's trying to avoid becoming public? Or maybe he's just another rat abandoning ship before it sinks.

This whole administration stinks of rot.

A member of the Safari Club, Sheehan was a key figure in the Trump administration's push last fall to overturn an Obama-era ban on elephant trophy imports from a number of African nations.

[...]

In July, he helped the agency rollout a number of new proposals that could ultimately weaken the Endangered Species Act's species protections.

On a call with stakeholders, Sheehan — the former head of Utah’s wildlife agency — said the changes would help the agency meet the legislation's main goal of “species recovery,” so that animals and plants could more easily be removed from endangered and threatened species lists.

Mission accomplished.

But wait. That's not all.

As acting administrator of FWS, Sheehan never went through the official confirmation process, an issue raised by a number of environmental groups.

[...]

"Sheehan’s departure is welcome news for America’s wildlife. In just one year in office, he inflicted incredible harm on imperiled animals by consistently putting special interests ahead of science and the environment," Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement.

"His actions derailed the recovery of countless endangered species, gutted protections for billions of migratory birds and wreaked havoc on our natural heritage,” Hartl said.

The best people.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:

Destroy the Planet Again

The Trump administration has rescinded an Obama-era ban on the use of pesticides linked to declining bee populations and the cultivation of genetically modified crops in dozens of national wildlife refuges where farming is permitted.

[...]

The rollback, spelled out in a US Fish and Wildlife Service memo, ends a policy that had prohibited farmers on refuges from planting biotech crops – such as soybeans and corn – engineered to resist insect pests and weed-controlling herbicides.

That policy also had barred the use on wildlife refuges of neonicotinoid pesticides, or neonics, in conjunction with GMO crops. Neonics are a class of insecticides tied by research to declining populations of wild bees and other pollinating insects around the world.

[...]

It marked the latest in a series of Obama-era environmental restrictions to be reversed under Trump, who campaigned on a pledge to roll back government regulations.

In a 2014 Obama administration memo announcing plans to phase in the ban, Jim Kurth, head of the refuge system, wrote that seeds treated with neonics give rise to plants whose tissues contained compounds that could harm “non-target” species. He also said, “refuges throughout the country successfully meet wildlife management objectives without” GMOs or neonics.

[...]

Rather than continuing to impose a blanket ban on GMO crops and neonics on refuges, Fish and Wildlife Service deputy director Greg Sheehan said decisions about their use would be made on a case-by-case basis.

Sheehan said the move was needed to ensure adequate forage for migratory birds, including ducks and geese favored and hunted by sportsmen on many of the nation’s refuges. US interior secretary Ryan Zinke, whose department oversees the Fish and Wildlife Service, has made expansion of hunting on public lands a priority for his agency.

  Guardian

Jesus wept.

National monuments "sham" review

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke just got caught red-handed. Now there’s proof that his review of national monuments was a sham.

New records show Zinke and the Trump administration concealed documents from the public that emphasized the value of protecting Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears national monuments. Trump then slashed more than 2 million acres from them.

[...]

And we only know this because Interior officials, responding to public records requests, accidentally released thousands of pages of unredacted emails and other documents.

[...]

They show Zinke’s team dismissed data from his own Bureau of Land Management staff showing that monument protections had safeguarded archeological treasures and boosted tourism. Zinke ignored science, economics and millions of public comments on his way to implementing the largest rollback of public lands protections in the nation’s history.

The internal documents confirm that the true motivation behind Trump and Zinke’s unrelenting attacks on public lands is to reward mining, logging, fossil-fuel and livestock interests.

We knew from previous internal emails that oil and gas exploration was behind their decision to shrink Bears Ears. Others documents show uranium mining interests were involved, too.

[...]

The fix was in. The results of Zinke’s monument “review” were decided before it began.

  The Hill

What a surprise.

In April, President Trump signed an executive order instructing Zinke to review 27 national monuments established over 21 years, arguing that his predecessors had overstepped their authority in placing these large sites off limits to development.

[...]

On July 3, 2017, Nikki Moore, an official at the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), wrote to colleagues about five draft economic reports on sites under scrutiny, noting that each contains a paragraph about “our ability to estimate the value of energy and/or minerals forgone as a result of the designations.” That reference to each site’s energy potential was redacted on grounds that it could “reveal strategy about the [national monument] review process.”

[...]

Aaron Weiss, a spokesman for the advocacy group Center for Western Priorities, said in an email that the “botched document dump reveals what we’ve suspected all along: Secretary Zinke ignored clear warnings from his own staff that shrinking national monuments would put sacred archaeological and cultural sites at risk.”

[...]

The inadvertently released documents show that department officials dismissed some evidence that contradicted the administration’s push to revise national monument designations, which are made under the 1906 American Antiquities Act. Estimates of increased tourism revenue, analyses showing that existing restrictions had not hurt fishing operators and agency reports finding that less vandalism occurred as a result of monument designations were all set aside.

  WaPo

Make America Great Again - back to 1905.

Department officials also redacted the BLM’s assessment that “it is unlikely” that the Obama administration’s establishment of the 1.3 million-acre Bears Ears National Monument “has impacted timber production,” because those activities were allowed to continue.

[...]

On Sept. 11, 2017, Randal Bowman, the lead staff member for the review, suggested deleting language that said most fishing vessels near the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument “generated 5% or less of their annual landings from within the monument” because it “undercuts the case for the ban being harmful.”

[...]

“Trying to hide those warnings from the public months later is disgraceful and possibly illegal,” Weiss added.

Everything about this administration is disgraceful and possibly illegal.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Only the best people

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 11/16:  Trump has announced his nomination of  Wheeler as EPA administrator.

So much shit, we can't keep up

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

The best people

The top-ranking official at the National Park Service (NPS) apologized to the agency’s employees Friday for behaving “in an inappropriate manner in a public hallway” earlier this year.

P. Daniel Smith, who Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke named to the post in January, apologized both to employees who witnessed the behavior and the rest of the staff in an email obtained by The Hill.

[...]

An employee anonymously complained to Zinke that he or she witnessed Smith grabbing his own genitalia in a hallway at the Interior headquarters in January, the Washington Post reported in March.

The complaint said Smith “grabbed his crotch and his penis and acted out as though he was urinating on the wall.” The Post said It wasn’t clear to the employee whether or not he intended the gesture to be sexual.

  The Hill

Who thinks peeing on a wall is sexy?

“I was overheard recounting an experience in Alaska while having a hallway conversation in the [NPS headquarters] offices,” he told employees.

I don't think it was the hearing part that was the problem.

The incident came as the Park Service is on a years-long mission to crack down on rampant sexual harassment and assault among its ranks, particularly in remote areas like Grand Canyon National Park.

[...]

A previous OIG report found that Smith, while working as an aide to then-NPS chief Fran Mainella under the George W. Bush administration in 2004, improperly pressured NPS employees to approve a request by Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder to cut down trees that blocked his Maryland mansion’s view of the Potomac River.

They say a fish rots from the head. I don't know about that. But I do know a government does.

All the best people

Dear god, these people.

As Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt faces a seemingly endless stream of scandal, his team is scrambling to divert the spotlight to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.

  The Atlantic

Perfect.

In the last week, a member of Pruitt’s press team, Michael Abboud, has been shopping negative stories about Zinke to multiple outlets, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the efforts, as well as correspondence reviewed by The Atlantic.

“This did not happen, and it’s categorically false,” said EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox.

The stories were shopped with the intention of “taking the heat off of Pruitt,” the sources said, in the aftermath of the EPA chief’s punishing congressional hearing last week. They both added, however, that most reporters felt the story was not solid enough to run. On Thursday, Patrick Howley of Big League Politics published a piece on the allegations.

Jesus Christ. Let's have a look, shall we?

Department of the Interior deputy press secretary Alex Hinson is identified as the person responsible for the leaks in the media for negative stories about Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, Big League Politics has exclusively learned. These leaks include news that Zinke deleted the term “climate change” from the agency’s five-year plan, a Politico hit piece on the cost of Zinke’s office doors, and an email in which his colleague Heather Swift trashed reporters.

Hinson is collaborating with Kevin Chmielewski, the leaker who is now accusing EPA chief Scott Pruitt of various misdeeds. Hinson and Chmielewski believe they can knock out both Pruitt and Zinke, and they are working with Senate Democrats to pull it off.

Hinson, a 2014 University of Arkansas graduate, is caught up in an elaborate series of events. Hinson lost his government-issued cell phone and now his personal phone, which he uses for government business, is subject to federal government review. That phone contains records of a drug deal, according to an inside source. Hinson has referred to Zinke as an “idiot” at Washington events.

  Big League Politics

Jesus wept.

So...back to the original story:

According to the two sources, Interior staffers who fielded the reporters’ calls were able to ascertain that Abboud, who is a former Trump campaign official, was behind the stories.

  The Atlantic

The campaign toilet still dribbling out sewage.

On Wednesday, a PPO official called top aides at the EPA, “enraged” about Abboud’s efforts, according to a senior EPA official.

[...]

[T]he message from PPO, according to the senior official, was: “Basically, y’all are in trouble.” A White House official with knowledge of the events added: “Absolutely nothing Scott Pruitt did would surprise me.”

Or anyone in this administration.

 ...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

He's not done firing

Of coures, he'll never be done firing, but this round with McMaster was supposedly to have more names.

President Trump’s announcement Thursday afternoon that he was replacing national security adviser H.R. McMaster with former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton reportedly ruined White House aides' plans to announce multiple administration departures at once.

Politico reported that White House chief of staff John Kelly and other senior aides were waiting for potentially bruising inspector general reports on Veteran Affairs Secretary David Shulkin and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson.

The White House planned to then announce the departure of McMaster and other top aides at once, Politico reported.

  The Hill

That would explain why it was reported that Bolton ruined the surprise by entering through the wrong gate where reporters could see him, and his subsequent statement that he didn't think the change was going to be announced that day.

As for Shulkin and Carson, they've been getting too much bad publicity, and that should put Zinke in the hot seat, as well. And Mnuchin. Perhaps Shulkin and Carson didn't kiss His Lordship's ass enough.

John Kelly has been repeatedly reported to be on the chopping block, and I won't be surprised to see that happen before too long.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:

Pot, meet Kettle

Four Cabinet-level officials were reportedly scolded in private meetings at the White House last month for news stories detailing questionable ethical behavior.

  The Hill

That's pretty nervy. The head snake knew they were snakes when he brought them in.

CNN reported Friday that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin and Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt were among those called to the White House.

[...]

The agencies were also reportedly given guidelines, titled "creating a culture of compliance." The advice outlined in that document highlighted the importance of "optics," saying that officials should refrain from behavior that could appear outside their agency's mission.

[...]

The meetings were held at the request of White House chief of staff John Kelly, and stressed the importance of avoiding even so much as the appearance of unethical behavior, according to CNN.

And they went out smirking, knowing they'd be there long after Kelly gets ditched.

And, speaking of Shulkin, WTF?

Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin has reportedly cut off contact with top agency officials and now operates out of an office with an armed guard at the door amid ongoing tensions with top staff.

Shulkin, a VA holdover from the Obama administration promoted to the head job by President Trump, has canceled morning meetings with top Trump appointees in the department and hasn't spoken to his public affairs chief in weeks. He fears that his aides in the nation's second-largest bureaucracy, behind only the Pentagon, are actively lobbying the White House for his ouster, The Washington Post reports.

  The Hill

Somehow his choice of approaches to the problem doesn't seem likely to make it better.

“Things have come to a grinding halt,” one senior manager told the Post. “It’s killing the agency. Nobody trusts each other.”

Among those allegedly seeking Shulkin's ouster are public affairs chief John Ullyot, legislative affairs head Brooks Tucker and top aide Jake Leinenkugel, who all clashed with Shulkin over policies seen to be out of step with the Trump administration, as well as hires for the agency.

The friction led to the three regularly meeting to plot Shulkin's firing, the Post reports, while also overruling the Cabinet secretary on policy decisions.

[...]

Shulkin is the only Trump Cabinet secretary who also worked under the Obama White House, and he has battled scandal during his time under Trump. Last week it was revealed that Shulkin was the target of an inspector general investigation into the use of his personal security detail to perform errands.

In February, a separate inspector general investigation found that Shulkin improperly accepted tickets to the Wimbledon tennis tournament and used taxpayer dollars to take a trip to Europe that cost $122,000 in total. The report alleged that government emails were doctored so that taxpayer funding covered travel expenses racked up by Shulkin's wife.

Perhaps he thought he should perform his duties in the image of his boss and so many of his fellow cabinet members.

Trump must not be paying any attention to the VA, even though reforming it for the benefit of vetrans was one of his major campaign hooks. But why did he put an Obama appointee at the helm in the first place? Curious.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Zinke again

What a scumbag this asshole is. But why not, the rest of the administration is. Not to be outdone by Ben Carson's $30,000 dining table...

The Interior Department is spending nearly $139,000 to upgrade three sets of double doors in the office of Secretary Ryan Zinke (ZIN’-kee).

Spokeswoman Heather Swift says Zinke was not aware of the contract for the work prior to a request for information from The Associated Press. Swift said the work was requested by career staffers as part of the decade-long modernization of the historic building.

She said Zinke agrees the price for the work sounds high, and that preservation requirements and procurement rules raised the cost. The work also includes new locks to improve security.

Zinke is among several Trump Cabinet officials under scrutiny for questionable spending. He spent $53,000 on three helicopter trips last year, including one to go on a horseback ride with Vice-President Mike Pence.

  AP News

Zinke has been screwing everything in sight since he got the cushy job: he won't meet with staff; publicly dissed the company Patagonia for objecting to knocking back Bears Ears National Monument; pretends to be a sportsman; awarded a huge no-bid contract to a couple of guys from his home town; said removing Confederate statues from federal land would deprive people of learning about history; threatened Alaska's senators with retaliation of they didn't support repealing Obamacare; makes staff fly a special secretarial flag when he's in the office; and submitted inappropriate travel charges to the Navy when he was a career officer in the SEALs. That should have been a hint at his future helicopter rides.

What a guy.

No doubt I've missed some other hijinx.  It's hard to notice what else is going on when Old Boiled Meatball Face is sucking up all the news.

 ...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

I wonder why the Pequot tribe can't get a new casino approved

Federal law gives Interior just 45 days to issue a yes-or-no verdict after a tribe submits proposed changes to its gaming compact with a state, as the Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot tribes note in a suit they filed against Zinke and the department. But the department declined to make any decision in this case, an inaction that raises questions about whether an intensive lobbying campaign by one of the gambling industry’s biggest players muscled aside the interests of both the tribes and the state of Connecticut.

“I think the Department of Interior has been derelict in failing to give approval” to the tribes’ request, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) told POLITICO. “We asked for a meeting, but they were unresponsive. They never even responded.”

Meanwhile, MGM and its allies had direct access to Interior. Zinke had multiple conversations last year with Sen. Dean Heller and Rep. Mark Amodei — two Nevada Republicans whose state is a major center of employment for MGM, and who have each tried to impede the tribes’ casino plans. The company also doubled its lobbying spending and assembled a team that includes Bush-era Interior Secretary Gale Norton and Florida-based Trump fundraiser Brian Ballard.

[...]

An Interior spokeswoman did not respond to requests for comment, but the department is due to respond by next week to the suit the tribes filed in November. MGM has sought to join the suit on Interior’s side.

[...]

The proposed Connecticut casino would sit on non-tribal land just across the border from a billion-dollar casino that MGM is planning in Springfield, Mass. The Pequot tribe’s Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut has previously provoked the ire of former New Jersey casino owner Donald Trump, who complained during a 1993 congressional hearing that “they don’t look like Indians to me.”

  Politico

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.