Trump Timeline ... Trumpocalypse

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

A reporter hadn’t even finished asking about President Trump and the sentencing of his former lawyer Michael Cohen when Republican Sen. James E. Risch indicated he would have none of it.

“Oh, I don’t do interviews on any of that stuff,” Risch said when questioned about Trump’s shifting explanations on efforts to buy the silence of women who claimed sexual dalliances with him.

Well, why not?

“I don’t do any interviews on anything to do with Trump and that sort of thing, okay?” Risch (Idaho) responded curtly before quickly slipping into the Senate chamber.

As Trump’s legal woes — rooted in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s probe and the Southern District of New York’s investigation into the hush payments — continued to spiral this past week with new revelations and fresh presidential denials, congressional Republicans found themselves in a familiar position: struggling to account for Trump’s behavior and not-so-consistent statements about his personal controversies.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

MOSCOW — Ukrainian officials have been raising alarms about what they say is a huge buildup of Russian troops, tanks and artillery pieces along their border that could signal preparations for an invasion.

While the Russian military presence along the border is undisputed, some analysts have questioned its characterization as a buildup that might telegraph an escalation in the war in eastern Ukraine. Russia has quartered thousands of troops in the area for nearly five years. The United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, while broadly voicing support for Ukraine, have not corroborated the claim of troops massing at the border.

The Ukrainians have pointed to commercially available satellite images showing rows of tanks and armored personnel carriers at two sites in southern Russia, and military transport planes parked at an air base in Crimea.

The Il-76 jets arrived at the same airfield, called Dzhankoi, where last month the Russian news media reported a new deployment of S-400 long-range antiaircraft missiles, among the most sophisticated weapons in Russia’s arsenal.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Senorman]

@Michael Scally MD Just remember, HE WILL GO FOR 2 TERMS!!! May as well start to Love and Enjoy him now, he isn’t going anywhere!!!

Really? You care to wager on this one?

 

[Michael Scally MD]

Ryan Zinke is resigning to spend more time with his criminal defense attorneys.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

[OA] Migala, Stephen, FVRA Cannot Be Used to Appoint An Acting Attorney General (November 15, 2018). Available at SSRN: FVRA Cannot Be Used to Appoint An Acting Attorney General by Stephen Migala :: SSRN

The President’s appointment of Mr. Whitaker to serve as Acting Attorney General is unprecedented and calls into question several distinct legal issues. Though most are based on questions of constitutionality under Article II, there is a strong and novel legal argument that the statute used by the President to make the appointment, FVRA, may not be used in such a way.

Instead, a separate statute, 28 U.S.C. § 508, compels the Deputy Attorney General to take charge of the department. As a result, this article alleges that the person leading the DOJ has no authority to do so. Contrary to some arguments, FVRA may not be used in lieu of or as an alterative to § 508. This article traces why that is so and sets forth new arguments and documents to conclude that, on the basis of statute alone, the appointment cannot stand.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

Ryan Zinke is resigning to spend more time with his criminal defense attorneys.

While the former Navy SEAL and Montana congressman worked aggressively to promote Trump’s agenda of expanding domestic energy production, administration officials concluded weeks ago that he ranked as the Cabinet member most vulnerable to congressional investigations once Democrats took control of Congress in January.

During his nearly two years in office 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 cost.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

This is a tough time to be a federal scientist—or any civil servant in the federal government. The Trump administration is clamping down on science, denying dangerous climate change and hollowing out the workforces of the agencies charged with protecting American health, safety and natural resources.

At the Department of the Interior (DOI), with its mission to conserve and manage America’s natural and cultural resources, the Trump administration’s political appointees are stumbling over one another to earn accolades for disabling agency operations. I should know; I was one of dozens of senior executives targeted by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke for reassignment in a staff purge just six months into the new administration.

From that day onward, Zinke and his political staff have consistently sidelined scientists and experts while handing the agency’s keys over to oil, gas and mining interests. The only saving grace is that Zinke and his colleagues are not very good at it, and in many cases the courts are stopping them in their tracks. The effects on science, scientists and the federal workforce, however, will be long-lasting.

In a new report, Science Under Siege at the Department of the Interior, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) has documented some of the most egregious and anti-science policies and practices at the DOI under Secretary Zinke. The report describes suppression of science, denial of climate change, the silencing and intimidation of agency staff, and attacks on science-based laws that help protect our nation’s world-class wildlife and habitats.

It is a damning report and required reading for anyone who values public lands, wildlife, cultural heritage, and health and safety.

It would be impossible to cover everything this clumsy political wrecking crew is up to, but the report provides details on the most prominent actions that deserve greater scrutiny, such as: the largest reduction in public lands protection in our nation’s history; a systematic failure to acknowledge or act on climate change; unprecedented constraints on the funding and communication of science; and a blatant disregard for public health and safety.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]