Day 168: Ethics Calls It Quits

Nothing good in the news today. I'm sorry folks. Most of this is pretty disturbing. Can you believe that last year, it would be typical to get one of these headlines a month, rather than a dozen every fucking day?

• The US Ethics Chief has called it quits, apparently fed up with the administration's unwillingness to cooperate. "The president and his staff are the ones who determine what is and isn't ethical. They're setting their own rules, and they are the only ones holding themselves accountable." Despite us all knowing that this is happening, it is simultaneously seriously disturbing. Can you imagine who the administration is going to nominate for this post? Oh my.
• Trump gave a speech in far-right nationalistic Poland, to an adoring crowd who the government bussed in to listen. From Shakesville: "It was a disturbing speech, juxtaposing a history lesson about the Nazis and Soviets invading Poland with thinly-veiled white supremacist and Christian supremacist rhetoric." Remember Stephen Miller? Apparently he's still around, as he wrote the speech. Trump also broke international decorum by attacking political leaders at home, as well as his national intelligence apparatus. The fact that other countries are approaching Trump by pandering to him is simply disgusting.
• Trump, asked directly about electoral interference, equivocated on who was responsible. As James Clapper (former director of National Intelligence) has pointed out, this is both grossly irresponsible and a complete denial of the US intelligence apparatus, who believe that there is only evidence that Russia was involved. Our idiot-in-chief is a dangerous fool, trying to look good in front of Russia at the G-20 summit.
• A follow-up article from last week, warning that the Department of Justice letter asking states for information on how they purge their voter rolls may be even worse than the electoral commission's request for private data.
• While the Health Care Bill gets all the news, something I've only just read about is how the CHIP program (Children's health insurance program) is due to expire on September 30th, unless Congress refunds it (and they've made no attempt to do so). Republicans, playing more games with people's lives.
• As DeVos attempts to undo Obama-era student protections, she's being sued by 18 states for not living up to her responsibilities. "... Under DeVos, the Education Department has not approved a single fraud request..." Yup, dismantling the department.
• Rick Perry just leaked the secret to the administration's policy on coal: supply and demand. "If you put supply out there, demand will grow!"
• Kushner is in hot water again for failing to disclose his ownership share in a real estate investment company. This whole fucking family is terrible, and they are treating conflicts of interest like they don't matter in the slightest.
• The administration is coming for your nursing home, too, making it easier for abusive nursing homes to secure federal funding by undoing an Obama regulation. There seems to be no point to any of this, other than making rich guys richer.