Trump in Transition (v10)

Some additional appointments from The Apprentice to catch you up on from the past week.

There's former Texas Governor and occasional presidential candidate Rick Perry, who last week was tapped to be Secretary of that Department he wanted to eliminate, you know the one, right?

Um, oh boy, um, you know, the one that's all about peppiness, um, shoot. Not the Department of Memory, that's not the one. Heck I wish I had the energy to remember this stuff. Oh wait, is that it? Energy? Yeah, that's the one.

And there's the tapping of  Navy SEAL and one-term Montana Congressman Ryan Zinke to be Secretary of the Interior, even though it seems, according to this report in Salon, that Zinke may have lied about his travel while a member of the vaunted SEAL Team 6, saying he was traveling for business when it was to remodel his house or visit his mom.

Or the fact that Zinke, who has a geology degree and two Masters' degrees, has an abysmal 3% rating from the League of Conservation Voters for his supporting special interests over protecting the environment, making him yet another Trump appointee who seems to have opinions and principles in conflict with the agency he was tapped to run. But not to worry, according to the announcement from the Transition team:

America is the most beautiful country in the world and he is going to help keep it that way with smart management of our federal lands. At the same time, my administration's goal is to repeal bad regulations and use our natural resources to create jobs and wealth for the American people, and Ryan will explore every possibility for how we can safely and responsibly do that. 

At least we now know we don't need to #MakeAmericaBeautifulAgain - whew!

And then there was the announcement about a new White House National Trade Council (NTC),

The formation of the NTC further demonstrates the President-elect's determination to make American manufacturing great again and to provide every American the opportunity work in a decent job at a decent wage. 

And, we're told,

The mission of the NTC will be to advise the President on innovative strategies in trade negotiations, coordinate with other agencies to assess US manufacturing capabilities and the defense industrial base, and help match unemployed America workers with new opportunities in the skilled manufacturing sector.

Mind you, I think that "defense industrial base" would include Lockheed Martin and the F-35s which, back in 2011 we learned from this article in The Atlantic, cost more than Australia, or would they be excluded because #TweetingatDawnDonald just asked Boeing to give an estimate on a mess of F-18s which he thinks might be cheaper, since he already scapegoated Boeing into dropping the price on two Air Force One planes? Oh dear, my head hurts.

But is that what they mean by 'trade' council -- to 'trade' defense contractor A for defense contractor B? Um, no, that's not it.

The NTC will also lead the Buy American, Hire American program to ensure the President-elect's promise is fulfilled in government procurement and projects ranging from infrastructure to national defense. 

Unless, of course, see Lockheed Martin and Boeing.  But wait - that little-word, campaign slogan stuff, Buy American, Hire American (which, to my delight, is #BAHA) is not all there is to this.

The NTC will work collaboratively and syngeristically with the National Security Council, the National Economic Council, the Council on Councils, and the Domestic Policy Council to fulfill the President's vision of peace and prosperity through military and economic strength. 

Oops. I got carried away for a second, that Council on Councils doesn't belong there, sorry. Back to the real stuff.

For the first time, there will be a council within the White House that puts American manufacturing and American workers first, and that thinks strategically about the health of America's defense industrial base and the role of trade and manufacturing in national security.

So: a council to end all councils, except the councils it meets with supercalifragilistcally, to make sure our military/industrial complex is keeping us peaceful and prosperous, except for expensive military stuff? And to come up with cool new trade-deal stuff?

Two things come to mind. One, the POTUS-elect is the master of the Art of the Deal, so I'm surprised he would need a council to help him with deal-making.

And two, do these folks understand where our manufacturing jobs have gone, other than the ones in the military contracting field? Trump campaigned on this, but promises and facts are different things, according to an article in the Financial times.

The US did indeed lose about 5.6 million manufacturing jobs between 2000 and 2010. But according to a study by the Center for Business and Economic Research at Ball State University, 85% of these job losses are actually attributable to technological change - largely automation - rather than international trade. 

The think-tank found that although there has been a steep decline in factory jobs, the manufacturing sector has become more productive and industrial output has been growing.

 Don't buy the robots are taking our jobs part? Think there's something else behind it? OK.

Ask Trump why he makes his stuff in other countries, and why his daughter does. Is it because they want to make a bigger profit and that's easier to do that when the products you sell are made for hands full of pennies and sold for fists full of dollars?

Maybe it's education, or the lack thereof? We've seen reports for a while now about American factories not being able to fill jobs because kids getting out of high school, or even college, aren't capable and companies are unwilling to invest the money and effort in training them if they're just going to quit - or fail - anyway.

Or maybe, we just want to save money and would buy the cheap stuff at WalMart even if we were making enough money to buy the more expensive, American-made stuff?

Lots for the new NTC to think about, well beyond China and bad trade deals. Maybe the Council on Councils I made up earlier in this post can work on all that other stuff, so we really understand what we need to do to bounce back, other than ordering a few dozen more F-35s.

Grains of Salt (v18): Audits and Snowballs

Season's Greetings to one and all from Syracuse - the Salt City, the heart of Onondaga County -  where we know how to throw a snowball, a retirement incentive, and a great legislative meeting, I tell ya.

The snowball thing, that's obvious. I mean, we are the usual favorite to win the Golden Snowball trophy.

That retirement incentive, well, that's pretty obvious, too.

It doesn't seem possible it was all the way back in October that we first learned that the Onondaga County Legislature had somehow managed to include elected officials in the retirement incentive program designed to nudge a whole bunch of people into premature retirement to avoid as many as several hundred layoffs.

Our longest-serving county legislator, Kathy Rapp, announced she was retiring, with the incentive, a nice $10,000 of taxpayer money designed to save money, but that will actually cost us money, as we pay her the incentive and also pay her replacement, who will be appointed by OnJoanie Mahoney, our County Executive.

Rapp's last day was yesterday; she had a nice sendoff, got a plaque, and had the opportunity to give us some parting thoughts. She noted that "politics" is driving her out after 18 years. She liked the work, she said, but lamented that "trying to be right instead of doing what's best" seems to take precedence these days -- and the personalities, that too.

I wish her well in retirement, and hope she enjoys her two grandbabies. And I also just wish she hadn't taken the money. Because contrary to popular opinion, a politician is not obligated to take advantage of every opportunity that falls in their lap, any more than they're obligated to say, take LLC money if they think it's wrong that they're able to do so (our Sonofa Gov Andrew Cuomo) or to use campaign funds to buy steaks for people (DA-for-life Bill Fitzpatrick).

But she was right about the personalities, for sure, Which gets us to the throwing a legislative meeting I mentioned at the top of the post.

At a legislative meeting Friday, representatives from a pair of feuding county office showed just how hard it is to be in the same room with one another. What began as a presentation of financial data devolved into a shouting match during the meeting, belying long-simmer tensions between the county executive and the comptroller. 

Yes, the executive, the one who pretty much told us if we didn't like her ramming through her pay raise, we could vote her out.  And the comptroller, who filed a lawsuit over the raise. He won a procedural thing regarding the raise for the legislature, but lost the fight on Mahoney's own raise. It's been all down hill for a while now.

We all know how personally OnJoanie takes everything related to the Lakeview Amp, her pet project. Not a lot of people thought a seasonal concert venue, with several similarly sized competing venues up and down the Thruway, was a good idea for $50M in economic development funds  - but we were promised that it would work out. The first full year only making $150K seems a little low, but if the sales tax revenue and hotel room usage we heard about is true, we might do OK with it.

Is the comptroller wrong to question the finances of the Amp? Nope. Actually, he's right to ask where we might find the money owed to the county by the state for the 2015 Miranda Lambert concert, and where we might find the reports the county was supposed to have filed this year, per the legislature's request, or for a copy of the promoter's concert. Presumably he's asking for these in his official capacity as comptroller and guardian of county taxpayer dollars.

Could he find a better way to go about his mission to get, and audit, Amp financial activities? Sure thing. For one, there's that old adage about catching more flies with honey than with vinegar -- and Antonacci was practically spitting vinegar yesterday.

Maybe instead of doing that, he could challenge Mahoney to a snowball fight.

Trump in Transition (v9)

I've been neglecting the Trump in Transition (TiT) posts, sorry. Let's see if I can pick up where we left off.

I covered the once-a-racist Attorney General, and the public education dismantler, and I covered the guy who actually shared our secrets with foreigners, and I covered the climate change denier at EPA, and the public humiliation of Mitt Romney, who was paraded in and out of Trump Tower and a nice restaurant, only to be passed over for Secretary of State.

The man who was chosen? Rex Tillerson.

You mean, before the announcement last week, you had never heard of him? That's OK. Here's what you need to know:

Rex Tillerson's career is the embodiment of the American dream. Through hard work, dedication, and smart deal making, Rex rose through the ranks to become CEO of ExxonMobil, one of the world's largest and most respected companies. His tenacity, broad experience and deep understanding of geopolitics make him an excellent choice for Secretary of State. He will promote regional stability and focus on the core national security interests of the United States. Rex knows how to manage a global enterprise, which is crucial to running a successful State Department, and he relationships with leaders all over the world are second to none. I can think of no one more prepared, and no one more dedicate, to serve as Secretary of State at this critical time in our history.

Feel better now? Well, he was an Eagle Scout. And he's got YUGE times to Vlad Putin, so he's got to be good, right?

In those roles (production advisor, president of Exxon Yemen and Esso Exploration, etc.), he was responsible for Exxon's holdings in Russia and the Caspian Sea as well as the Sakhalin I consortium operations offshore Sakhalin Island, Russia.  

Miraculously, Tillerson was independently recommended by both Condi Rice (to Mike Pence) and Robert Gates (to Trump) a day later. The two are consultants to ExxonMobil, by the way - not that there's anything wrong with that. There's also nothing wrong with how Saturday Night Live handled the subject.

There may be something wrong with Tillerson's personal gain if we, say, lift sanctions against Russia, and stuff like that, which will have to be addressed in the extreme vetting process.

Then there was our new ambassador to Israel, NYC bankruptcy attorney David Friedman.  Per the GreatAgain website announcement of the appointment,

With Mr. Friedman's nomination, President-elect Trump expressed his commitment to further enhancing the US-Israel relationship and ensuring there will be extraordinary strategic, technological, military and intelligent cooperation between the two countries.

The announcement also noted that Friedman has "been a long-time friend and trusted advisor" to Trump. As in, he helped Trump with a casino bankruptcy or two.

According to an article in The New Yorker, he also writes for a pro-Israeli settlement website; is supported by the SILOTUS, Jared Kushner; believes the American embassy should be in Jerusalem; has said that President Obama is an anti-Semite, and has said that some liberal Jews, such as those who support a peaceful resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict, are worse than some during the Nazi era.

Finally, are J Street supporters really as bad as kapos? The answer, actually, is no. They are far worse than kapos - Jews who turned in their fellow Jews in the Nazi death camps. The kapos faced extraordinary cruelty and who knows what any of us would have done under those circumstances to save a loved one? But J Street? they are just smug advocates of Israel's destruction delivered from the comfort of their secure American sofas - it's hard to imagine anyone worse.  

Naturally, as with every Trump appointment, there is a great deal of passion from supporters and detractors. And sometimes, there's some interesting insight, like this from the same New Yorker article.  Speaking to David Remnick, who wrote the article, Israeli philosophy professor Avishai Margalit said this about the Trump team.

Everything is an outlier. No one can predict anything. It's not as if there is a deviation and you try to explain it. Everything is deviation.You cannot rationalize it. It's a family business, and they treat the White House as a family business, like Don Corleone. He (Trump) doesn't feel that he has to please anybody. You bully everyone and see what happens. 

And that, my friends, is a fascinating take on how this administration is taking shape.

My Middle-aged White Lady Perspective: Winning and Losing

On the eve of the Electoral College almost certainly finalizing the outcome of the 2016 presidential election - I mean, there's about a one-in-a-Trumpzillion chance that they'll overturn the outcome we learned a few weeks ago - I'm going to toss my middle-aged white lady perspective out there one last time this year.

Folks, Russian hackers did not steal the election from Hillary Clinton, or give the election to Donald Trump. The FBI did not take the election from her, and she did not steal the nomination from Bernie Sanders. Green and Libertarian voters did not yank victory from her hands, either.

Fake news had less to do with the outcome of the election than did Fox News, CNN, and the nightly newscasts of the major television networks.

And finally, corporations and SuperPACS and Citizens United did not collectively make this outcome happen. Heck, Jeb! Bush had what, around $100,000,000 lined up before a single primary vote was cast?  Ask him how much good that did.

Oh, sure, fingers can be pointed, and will be pointed, and probably should be pointed in a whole lot of directions: at the powers that be in the CIA and FBI, the DNC and the RNC, the shadowy halls of  PACville, and in the rooms where media poobahs poo and bah. Everyone is trying to figure out what happened, trying to attach blame, and pointing at everyone other than themselves.

The reality is, "what happened" is that voters voted.

This election had the lowest turnout of eligible voters in presidential elections since 1996 - only about 55% of those who could vote, did vote. But the ones who did could have had any number of reasons for voting, and for voting the way they did:

• out of a sense of duty or obligation, or because they were strong supporters of a candidate, or strong detractors of one, or
• because they were angry, the "mad as hell and not going to take it any more" kind of people, or
• because they felt their values or their jobs or their futures slipping through their fingers, or
• because they thought it was fun, finally, to have someone to vote for who really didn't give a damn about what he said, who he said it about, or why, or
• because they liked baseball caps that could hold an entire campaign vision on the front, or
• because they liked the guy who was nothing like them but acted like he was, more than they liked the woman who was nothing like them, and acted like she wasn't, or
• because they liked the one who seemed like someone they know from the corner bar more than the one who seemed like it would take her forever to order a drink, or
• because they didn't care about the lies one of them told, but they believed that everything the other one said was a lie, even when it wasn't, or
• because they thought that it would be fun to have a star in the White House, or
• because they didn't want another Bush or Clinton, and the Bush had already been vanquished, or
• because they really believed all of the conspiracy theories they heard about the other candidate but not the ones they heard about their own, or
• because they were protesting the status quo, or
• because they liked him, they really really liked him and they didn't like her, they really really didn't like her, or
• because we already had that token Black president, and they were in no mood to follow up with a woman just because she's a woman, or 
• because it won't matter because he won't be running the show, or
• because, because, because, because, because----because of the wonderful Wiz he was, the wonderful Wiz he was.

The bottom line is, Trump's campaign managed to get the right votes in the right places to get enough Electoral College votes (barring us somehow entering an alternate universe for a few hours tomorrow) to win the election.  The Trump campaign managed to turn blue states red, and purple states red, and that is what it takes to win an election: have more states with at least 270 electoral college votes Red than Blue, or conversely.

I'm not discounting the fact that Trump lost the popular vote - I'm really not. We know the score, and so does he.

I'll be watching for the results tomorrow, to see if we end up with any faithless electors, Hamilton electors, whatever you want to call them -- and I fully expect we'll see Trump end up with more than 270 votes, and we'll see him inaugurated on January 20, 2017 as has been the expectation since November 8th.

For the duration of the Trump administration (also called here the Goldfoxbart administration or the Apprentice Administration), #NeverTrump people and #ImWithHer people and Blue people of all shades, shapes, stripes and sizes should maintain a relentless focus on four things.

First, we must hold the new administration, and particularly the President himself, to the normal standard to which all Presidents are held. There can be no 'lowering of the bar' and there can be no 'this is uncharted territory' or 'we've never seen anything like this' -- we saw that throughout the primaries, and we've seen that throughout this most unusual transition. We must do whatever we can to raise our voices when we see a lowering of the bar, whether it's writing and commenting intelligently on social media, or having heartfelt discussions with friends, or writing our local media, or reaching out to our representatives in Congress -- whatever it takes, we must do, fearlessly. Period.

Second, there must be a vision for our party - a true vision - that everyone can relate to, in some way, shape or form, whether they're urban, suburban, rural or somewhere in between. We did not have that this time, and the other side did. Period. We don't know for sure how that vision will come out legislatively, or whether we will see a Trump vision, a Ryan vision, a McConnell vision, or something else entirely, but whatever they had was relatable, whether we like it or not.

Third, we need to support intelligent, articulate, qualified candidates who excel at sharing the vision, and who are horrible at shooting down the other guy -- because we learned this go-round for sure that "I'm not the other guy" is not a successful, winning strategy, at any level. If our best message is how bad the other guy is, we are not going to win. Period.

And finally, we need to work to change the system. Not because if we change it we win - that's what the other side does. We need to change the system because it will be better for everyone. Because that's what we do - try and make things better for everyone.

Do not give up, do not lose hope, do not stop talking about what you see, how you feel, what you want, and what you want to do. If we do that, we're doomed. Continue the fight, knowing that it's not Hillary Clinton's fight anymore, it's our fight.

We can win if we're smart, and we can win if we're prepared.

Oh -- I'll talk about a key change we can make in an upcoming post. And it's not the electoral college.

Meanwhile Back in Albany (v9)

Nathaniel Brooks/NY Times

The beat goes on in Albany, it surely does.

The last few times we talked about doings in New York's capital, it was all about good people, and full time vs. part time, and pay raises for our lawmakers.

They may or may not be good people, you see, because from what we heard (and hear) all along when it comes to paying elected officials is that the salary is too low to get good people involved. Which means, I guess, instead of having the best legislature, we have the best legislature we can entice for a piddly wage that's more than $20K over the median for the state, plus travel, per diem and, in a whole lot of cases, cases a leadership lulu.

Anyway -- the tripartite Commission on Legislative, Executive and Judicial Compensation - a group of representatives of the State Senate, State Assembly, and Governor's Cuomo's office, made their decision on the judiciary, giving judges and district attorneys (who work full time, by the way) a nice raise. But when it came time to make a decision on the legislature, commissioners and executives, no deal was done: the Commission rules require agreement by all three parties, and our Sonofa Gov's representatives said no.

So, where are we today?  Well, see, the Governor -- who is the only one of the Three Amigos still standing, and who has ethically-challenged people very close to him, who sleeps well at night because he knows he's doing the right thing, and who started and abruptly ended a big darn deal Moreland Commission on ethics -- wants to do something about ethics reform in Albany.

The best way to do that, apparently, is to have the Legislature come back for a special session so they can chat, and wheel-and-deal, and pass a bill on ethics reform, and a bill to either authorize a pay raise, or authorize the Commission to come back to the table at some defined future point so that they can give the Leg a raise.

Now, of course, everyone involved says this is no quid pro quo, tit for tat, play for pay for play kind of deal. It's about "getting the people's work done," and of course, "it's not a deal if everyone agrees"  and stuff like that.

And while it appears the reason for the special session may move from Let's-do-ethics-reform-in-return-for-a-raise to Let's-help-the-homeless-in-return-for-a-raise, I admit to some curiosity here.

• Isn't urgently helping the homeless something that could be done for the $172 per diem and cents-per-mile, without having to dangle a carrot in front of these folks? 
• Maybe we really do need to get some better people in the Legislature, if they won't come back to do urgent homelessness legislation without getting something in return?
• Aren't these folks, who desperately need us to agree that they're full timers to justify their raise, shooting themselves in the foot by refusing to work on important stuff like this in the off-season?

I'm not normally a huge fan of time flying by, but in this case, I hope that it does -- we do NOT need a special session that results in giving legislators a raise. Period. I don't want them to come to agreement on any deal, because the cards were already dealt to give them a raise, and they got a losing hand.

If they're unhappy with the salary and benefits they receive, they know where their district are -- and it's in their districts they should stay for the last two weeks of December.

Trump in Transition (v8)

Remember back in July, when the GOP was rocking in Cleveland?

And General Michael Flynn was on stage echoing the chants of Lock Her Up! Lock Her Up! Lock Her Up! when he talked about Hillary Clinton thinking she was above the law?

Fun times, that was for the retired general. No one's above the law, certainly not Hillary Clinton and her recklessness with classified information, oh no sirree.

Lock Her Up! Lock Her Up!

Flynn famously said at the convention

Yeah that's right, lock her up... You know why we're saying that? We're saying that because if I, a guy who knows this business, if I did tenth - a tenth of what she did, I would be in jail today So Crooked Hillary Clinton, leave this race now.

Seems he might have done more than a tenth of what Clinton did. She admitted she inadvertently and carelessly passed classified information to others, aides and advisers, State Department employees.

Flynn, on the other hand, did something else entirely, according to a report in the Washington Post about a 2010  investigation. The WaPo provided a link to documents they obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request. Here's what the documents say.

While serving as the Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, CJ-2 International Security Assistance Force, Operation Enduring Freedom, Afghanistan Major General (MG) (Flynn) shared United States classified information with various foreign military officers and/or officials in Afghanistan without proper authorization. 

Whoa, Nelly!

The Commander, US CENTCOM, initiated an AR 15-6 investigation upon receipt of a complaint from a Navy Intelligence Specialist that MG (Flynn) inappropriately shared US classified information with various foreign military officers and/or officials in Afghanistan. The inquiry was conducted by a properly appointed official and was thorough. The AR 15-6 found that some inappropriate sharing of US classified information with various foreign military officers and/or officials occurred as a result of MG actions. The AR 15-6 investigation is classified SECRET.

So, he did it. He shared classified information with foreigners.

Department of Defense Inspector General completed an oversight review of the AR 15-6 investigation and concurred with the findings. 

Yep, it must be true. The DoDIG concurred. So, was he locked up? Hell no - he was promoted!

The Department of the Army strongly supports the nomination of MG (Flynn) as Assistant Director of National Intelligence for Partner Engagement The Commander CENTCOM reviewed the AR 15-6 investigation and noted the efforts to properly cleanse the foreign officer's read-books. He further stated that there was no evidence of senior officer misconduct, rather there was keen attention to mission accomplishment in a coalition, combat environment. In light of the mitigating and extenuating circumstances concerning the adverse information ascribed to MG Flynn and MG Flynn's exceptional qualifications and dedicated service, his nomination and appointment to lieutenant general is fully supported and is the best interest of the Department of Defense and the United States of America.

Flynn dodged a bullet, got promoted, and eventually left the military. He hung out in Russia, he advised several of the Republican candidates for President, while saying there was no role for him in the administration. He retweets nonsense, fake news (he's deleted those tweets now, it seems).

And now, he's going to be advising the president on national security. Unless, of course...

LOCK HIM UP! LOCK HIM UP! LOCK HIM UP!

Trump in Transition (v7)

Well, well, well.  Looky here. 

The boys will run the business... which means Ivanka and her husband are free to join the Administration...

Quick Takes (v14): Being Presidential

Quick Takes

I stumbled upon an article recently, one in which Josh Earnest, President Obama's current press secretary, spoke horribly about then candidate Trump, and was called on it by NPR's Mara Liasson.

First, Earnest, reading from prepared remarks.

The Trump campaign for months now has had a 'dustbin of history'-like quality to it. From the vacuous sloganeering to the outright lies to even the fake hair, the whole carnival-barker routine that we've seen for some time now. The quest now is about the rest of the Republican Party and whether or not they're going to be dragged into the dustbin of history with him. And right now, the trajectory is not very good. 

And here's Liasson.

This might be a little nit-picky but in your prepared remarks you said something that struck me as very Trumpian and not very Obama-like, when you talked about Trump's fake hair. That's a hallmark of Trump, to comment on somebody -- your opponent's appearance. It's not something that I would ever expect to come from the Obama White House. I'm just curious, This was in your prepared remarks. What was the thinking behind it?

Earnest struggled to defend the comments a year ago in the press briefing, and he was of course attacked by the guy who attacked Carly Fiorina's looks, and Heidi Klum's and all the rest, the very presidential Donald J Trump. Both on Twitter and in one of his famous call-ins to Fox & Friends, Trump said

Isn't that disgusting for a presidential representative to make that comment? I assume he was joking, but for a presidential person representing us in such tough times - we have terrorism and all of the problems - for him to make that comment I thought it was so ridiculous. 

And I laughed, and laughed, and laughed.

Of course it was a ridiculous comment for Earnest to make, speaking from behind the official podium. I mean, everyone saw that woman inspect Trump's hair down there in South Carolina, right? So we certainly don't want to push fake news on anyone.  And, to his credit, Earnest admitted his comments about Trump's hair were comments he wished he hadn't made.

But -- and that's a big, nowhere-near-a-10 kind of but, Bob-- for Trump to call anything anyone has said "ridiculous" and "disgusting" and to worry about an unpresidential appearance of someone's comments?

Stop it. Just stop it.

Trump, who doesn't believe our own intelligence reports about Russian hacking, who says it coulda been a 400 pound guy on his bed, or China, or anyone.

Trump, who is engaged in a Twitter war with Alec Baldwin because of an impersonation on SNL.

Trump, who is engaged in a Twitter war with a steelworkers union official who called out the POTUS-elect for his less than fully transparent comments about saving Carrier jobs in Indiana.

Trump, who by his random tweets has caused American businesses - AMERICAN BUSINESSES - to lose huge hunks of market value, billions of dollars, in mere minutes.

Trump, who pretends that no one was talking about his potential conflicts of interest before he got elected, as if everyone just fell off the turnip truck and realized that the T-word was blazoned on buildings and LLCs all over the world.

Trump, who has his daughter sit in on meetings with foreign heads of state.

Trump, who attacks American media companies employing thousands of Americans because they don't 'treat him right' whatever the hell that means.

Trump, who tweets that Americans maybe should lose their citizenship or go to jail for using their free speech rights.

Trump, who...

Stop it, you're killing me!

Sidebar: Trump in Transition (v6)

In my most recent Trump in Transition (TiT) post, I talked about the POTUS-elect tapping Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to dismantle, er, I mean, to head the EPA. At about the same time that news came out, there was another bit of news regarding the EPA and what we can expect during the Trump Administration.

As reported by the Washington Post and others, the Celebrity Transition Team is looking to do some data-mining over at EPA - sort of like their version of clean coal, or something:

Donald Trump's transition team has issued a list of 74 questions for the Energy Department, asking agency officials to identify which employees and contractors have worked on forging an international climate pact as well as domestic efforts to cut the nation's carbon output.

Brrrr.... that's a chilling howdy-do, don't you think?

Actually, it looks like there are only 65 questions (one page was included twice in the document) and some of them are logical questions an incoming administration, with limited 'in the weeds' knowledge would ask for, such as:

• a list of open positions
• a list of all Presidential employees requiring Senate confirmation
• a list of reports due to Congress or other external parties in 2017

Nothing too nefarious in that type of question, I don't think. Here are a couple of the ones that garnered attention:

• Can you provide a list of all Department of Energy employees or contractors who have attended any Interagency Working Group on the Social Cost of Carbon meetings? Can you provide a list of when those meetings were and any materials distributed at those meetings, emails associated with those meetings or material created by Department employees or contractors in anticipation or as a result of those meetings?
• Can you provide a list of Department employees or contractors who attended any of the Conference of Parties (under the UNFCCC) in the last five years? (Note: the UNFCCC is commonly referred to as the Paris Agreement, something Trump has said the US will withdraw from, not participate in.)
• Is there a readily available list of any products or technologies that have emerged from DOE  programs or the labs that are currently offered in the market without any subsidy?
• Which programs within DOE are essential to meeting the goals of President Obama's Climate Action Plan?
• Does the Department have any thoughts on how to reduce the bureaucratic burden for exporting US energy technology, including but not limited to commercial nuclear technology?

There are also questions that raise issues with the reliability and independence of reports coming from the Energy Information Agency (EIA), including these somewhat passive-aggressive ones:

• EIA is an independent agency within DOE. How has EIA ensured its independence in your data and analysis over the past eight years? In what instances do you think EIA's independence was most challenged?
• In the Annual Energy Outlook for 2016, EIA assumed the Clean Power Plan (CPP) should be in the reference case despite the fact that the reference case is based on existing laws and regulations. Why did EIA make that assumption, which seems to be atypical of past forecasts? (Note: implementation of the CPP was stayed by the Supreme Court in February 2016)
• EIA's assessments of levelized costs for renewable technologies do not contain back-up costs for the fossil fuel technologies that are brought on-line to replace the generation when those technologies are down. Is this a true representation of levelized costs?

There other questions seeking info on offshore wind generation, something we know Trump does not like (eagle-killing, ugly, China, monsters, etc.).

There are questions about Yucca Mountain, the nuclear waste repository outside Las Vegas; funding for that project was stopped by the Obama Administration. Now that Harry Reid is out of the Senate, there's opportunity for this issue to be pressed forward.

• Are there any statutory restrictions to restarting the Yucca Mountain project?
• Does DOE have a plan to resume the Yucca Mountain license proceedings?

There's more - some of the questions only a Department or Congressional insider, or an energy lobbyist, would understand. But it seems like the transition team is honing in on things that the current administration liked,  that are global in nature, or that are not fossil fuel and nuke friendly. 

Brrr, I say again. 

Trump in Transition (v6)

In this picture, Trump looks like he's ready to unleash the mother of all f-bombs -- and in a way, that's what he did this week.

Yeah, he and FDOTUS Ivanka met with Al Gore, the guy who invented the Internet, er, I mean, the guy who has been championing environmental issues for years, which resulted in Gore calling it a "lengthy and very productive session" and saying, according to the press pool report

It was a sincere search for areas of common ground. I found it an extremely interesting conversation, and to be continued, and I'm just going to leave it at that

Apparently that search for common ground was fruitless, because it wasn't all that much later that the POTUS-elect named his choice to run the Environmental Protection Agency: Scott Pruitt, Oklahoma's Attorney General.

Pruitt has a long history of not being a fan of regulations related to energy and climate issues, having frequently joined or supported from the sidelines cases against the Obama administration's efforts.

The OK Attorney General's media page is full of references to clean energy, clean water, fossil fuels, and the like; pretty generally, if the current Administration is for something, looks like Pruitt and his office are against it.

He co-authored, along with Alabama's AG Luther Strange, an article published in the National Review a few months back, in which it was noted

Healthy debate is the lifeblood of American democracy, and global warming has inspired one of the major policy debates of our time. That debate is far from settled. Scientists continue to disagree about the degree and extent of global warming and its connection to the actions of mankind. That debate should be encouraged — in classrooms, public forums, and the halls of Congress. It should not be silenced with threats of prosecution. Dissent is not a crime.

According to an investigation by the NY Times back in 2014, Pruitt in his official capacity as AG, sent a letter to the EPA that was written by energy lobbyists, and they've helped with drafts of other letters to multiple federal agencies; he and other AGs are collaborating with corporations to craft legal strategy against the Administration; and industries regulated by his office have joined lawsuits filed by his office.

There's really no surprise in the choice. Here are just a few of the bullet points in his energy plan:

• Make America energy independent, create millions of new jobs, and protest clean air and clean water. We will conserve our natural habitats, reserves and resources. We will unleash an energy revolution that will bring vast new wealth to our country.
• Unleash America's $50 trillion in untapped shale, oil, and natural gas reserves, plus hundreds of years in clean coal reserves.
• Open onshore and offshore leasing on federal lands, elimination moratorium on coal leasing, and open shale energy deposits.
• Encourage the use of natural gas and other American energy resources that will both reduce emissions but also reduce the price of energy and increase our economic output.
• Rescind all job-destroying Obama executive actions. Mr. Trump will reduce and eliminate all barriers to responsible energy production, creating at least half a million jobs a year, $30B in higher wages and cheaper energy.

Promises of millions of high paying energy jobs in Trump's plan seem to assume that prices of domestically produced energy will go high and stay high indefinitely as we pump drill and dig and frack our brains out - which seems unlikely to be the case, doesn't it?  And if it is in fact unlikely, those jobs and all that economic input will disappear, just as they have over the past year or so, in Texas, and in North Dakota, when the price dropped and there was nothing in it for the energy companies to keep working. (Hey - when the price goes down, production goes down, employment goes down, economic input goes down. Is that what trickle-down economics is all about?)

Trump is no fan of the EPA, and I think this choice only adds clarity to what we can expect going forward.

Wondering on Wednesday (v72)

So, what am I wondering about tonight? Well, let's see.

Are you getting tired of hearing people talk about 'fake news' and how 'fake news' may have influenced the outcome of our recent presidential election, and how 'fake news' is becoming the new normal and how hard it is to differentiate between 'fake news' and real news?

I wonder, do you now (or did you ever) really believe that Hillary Clinton was ever (or is now) involved in a lesbian pedophile sex trafficking orgy of epic proportions, operating out of a pizza shop in Washington, DC?

This guy did. He drove from North Carolina to our nation's capital to 'self-investigate' what's become known as 'Pizzagate' and he went into the shop, fired off a round, and was promptly arrested.  The pizza place has been the target of harassment for weeks; other businesses have been been harassed for their proximity to the presumed den of iniquity, and more.

The best part? General Michael Flynn, our soon-to-be National Security Advisor, tweeted a story on this fake news as a 'must read.'

Which, of course, makes me wonder how the hell he's going to keep you and me safe when he can't even make a reasonable judgment on a story as ridiculous as this.

There are lots of people out there who can't tell satire sites from real news outlets, and who don't understand the little 'Show Facts" and "Hide Facts" buttons at the top of articles that tell us what's real and what comes from the author's imagination.

To some extent, this drives from the fact that the real news is sometimes so absurd, we have to clarify that what we post is real; for example, I've been compelled to use a "NOT The Onion" disclaimer more times than I ever thought would be necessary.

But I wonder, how did we get so far removed from that little voice in our heads asking us if we're SURE about something... you know, like when your older brother asks you to taste something, and you hear that little voice asking if you're SURE you want to do what he asked you to? Yeah, that's the voice I'm talking about.  How did we lose that, and start trusting everything we read without the slightest hesitation?

Is it because people treat the news as a hook-up, a bit of instant gratification with no strings attached, I wonder? Or maybe it's because of all the 'reality' TV shows (which, as we know, is about as 'real' as the ubiquitous boob jobs that star in that medium)? Is it because we're in a 'sampled' world, filled with autotune mics, and we're willing to pay boatloads of money to watch people lip sync their way through concerts?

A lot of what passes for 'news' can be debunked in seconds - not days hours minutes but mere seconds.  Don't we have that much time to educate ourselves? Or is it that we simply don't care to?

Here's another test for you: is this passage real or fake?

You wouldn't believe the nonsense WideAwakePatriot and ArmedLibertyNews are pushing about how the world elites meet in Davos, Switzerland to rig the global economy, when if you actually paid attention to the facts the mainstream media doesn't want you to know about, you'd realize that the actual power players of the Jew World Order meet every day in Los Angeles to design their doomsday compounds and determine new methods to control us. (Click here to find out if this is real or fake.)

Or this one, about the POTUS-elect and a certain Baldwin brother?

And you know, I get that that's show business and it's supposed to be funny and entertaining and all that, but this just goes overboard every single time I see it, it's just plain offensive. And here's the thing right, I'm a guy who knows about show business. I've been part of it my whole life and I've made millions off of it. I know what people like and what people want to hear and see - that's part of why I am today the President of the United States and not a company owner struggling with debt who's about to go bankrupt. I know what I'm doing and I'm the first one to take a joke, but what they're doing on that show is plain rude and offensive. I won't stand for it. (Click here to see if this is real or fake.)

I wonder if General Flynn would have gotten the right answers. I think he would have said they were both real, what do you think?

Sidebar: Trump in Transition (v5)

In my most recent Trump in Transition post, I noted that the wait was still on for an announcement on whether Dr Ben Carson had actually been named the Cabinet Apprentice finalist for HUD.

As of last night, when I wrote the post, we were still biding our time, waiting for an announcement, and remembering the refreshing burst of honesty from Carson's team. You remember, right?

Dr. Carson doesn't feel that's the best way for him to serve the president-elect. Dr. Carson feels he has no government experience, he's never run a federal agency. The last thing he would want to do was take a position that would cripple the presidency.

Carson also noted earlier in November

I've said that if it came to a point where he absolutely needs me, I'd reconsider. But I don't think that's the situation with these positions. My view is that if some people and the media are going to hate him, then he's going to need allies on the outside to be there to be there to move the country forward. I don't care about a position.  

Having me as a federal bureaucrat would be like a fish out of water, quite frankly. 

All that said, and the visuals notwithstanding, here are a couple of excerpts from the announcement.

I am thrilled to nominate Dr. Ben Carson as our next Secretary of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. Ben Carson has a brilliant mind and is passionate about strengthening communities and families within those communities...Ben shares my optimism about the future of our country and is part of ensuring that this is a Presidency representing all Americans. He is a tough competitor and never gives up.

And from Carson's statement:

I am honored to accept the opportunity to serve our country in the Trump administration. I feel that I can make a significant contribution particularly by strengthening communities that are most in need. 

All that fish out of water stuff?  Yeah, that must have been just water over the dam, or under the bridge, or drained from the swamp.

Trump in Transition (v5)

Reuters photo

Ah, a quiet Sunday night, after a long day of getting ready for the holidays, and a chance to sit down and reflect on the past few days of the POTUS-elect and his transition.

The clock is ticking - we're under 47 days now till the Inauguration and the start of his administration.

Let's start with the easy one: I did another check to see if there had been an official announcement on the alleged appointment of Dr. Ben "Hey, I've lived in a city before" Carson and found that even the National Mortgage Professionals Magazine is wondering if Carson's going to head HUD. Glad I'm not the only one wondering what's happening on that front. Maybe no news is good news - or maybe no news is the news, who knows.

We did have an announcement since we last talked - a few, actually.

We added another billionaire, Wilbur Ross, as Secretary of Commerce, and another former Goldman Sachs-er, Steve Mnuchin, as Treasury Secretary, and businessman Todd Ricketts as Deputy Commerce Secretary. The first two more of what we would expect in the swamp that Trump promised to drain. Mnuchin, who was Trump's chief fundraiser, made a bundle while foreclosing on some 36,000 mortgages back in the day, which might make things ugly during his confirmation, and with all those blue-collar Trump voters who lost their homes back in the day.

The Ricketts announcement is much more fun and interesting -- and may not have happened at all, if not for one really impressive baseball season. You see, Ricketts is one of the owners of the Chicago Cubs, and we all know what happened with them. Here's part of the POTUS-elect's statement:

Todd Ricketts is an immensely successful businessman with unparalleled knowledge of the finance industry. As Deputy Commerce Secretary he will help us cut waste and streamline government so that it works for the people of America. The incredible job he and the Ricketts family did in the purchase and turnaround of the Chicago Cubs - one perfect step after another, leading to the World Championship, is what I want representing our people. I am very proud to have him on our team.

Had the Cubbies lost that dramatic Game Seven of the World Series, I doubt we would be looking at Ricketts for any Cabinet Apprentice position. After all, earlier in the year, Trump was much less fond of the Ricketts family. Here's what Trump tweeted about them back in February:

I hear the Ricket(t)s family, who own the Chicago Cubs, are secretly spending $s against me. They better be careful, they have a lot to hide!

According to the article linked above, Trump denied knowing "Those Ricketts." (who were supporting Scott Walker) and added

I actually said they ought to focus on the Chicago Cubs and, you know, stop playing around. They spent millions of dollars fighting me in Florida. I'll start spending on them. I'll start taking ads telling them all what a rotten job they're doing with the Chicago Cubs. I mean, they are spending on me. I mean, so am I allowed to say that?

Those Ricketts, darn them. We could have been looking at Paul Dolan in the administration, if only the Indians had won.

Wondering on Wednesday (v71)

So, Trump is Transitioning, and the Dems are so very much not. That's pretty much where the wondering begins, this Wednesday.

Andrew Harnik/AP

For reasons known only to them, 134 of the Dems in the House chose 76-year-old Nancy Pelosi to continue in the role of House Minority leader, while only 63 of them thought someone else would be better.  The other two top party leaders, 77-year-old Steny Hoyer (Minority Whip) and 76-year old assistant to the leader James Clyburn, were unopposed.

Dear lord, did the Dems learn NOTHING this past year?

If the leaders of your party are all on the verge of 70, or much older, do you think you've got your finger on the pulse? Is the best person to understand what 18 - 34 year olds want really their grandmother? I mean, it used to be Father Knows Best - but the Dems apparently think Grandfather Knows Best?

Yeah, I'm wondering about that.

Pelosi announced, when the leadership vote was delayed a week or two, that she had "at least two thirds" of the members in her corner. This preemptive strike, meant to make possible contenders stand down, didn't keep Ohio's Tim Ryan from running against her and picking up those 63 votes I mentioned earlier.  I would have voted for him, don't need to wonder much about that. Here's his thinking:

...my level of frustration came from the idea that we're going to have, for two more years, the same conversation as we've been having since 2010 (when the Dems lost 63 seats and the House Majority in the mid-term election).

And I think the level of frustration in our caucus is as great as I've ever seen it And it's time to do something about it, not just talk about it. Because now we're not even the national party. We're a coastal party. And we've got to move forward. If we're not going to get voters in Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, go back down south. When I first got in Congress, we had members from Tennessee. We've got to go back there and campaign and get those folks back in the fold.

He added the comments below, after addressing issues of how the Dems slice all of the demographics and don't unify them, but talk about them and treat them as individual groups.

But the reality of it is our message has been wrong. But we can't keep saying, "Oh, we got the message wrong, and so please forgive us."  We've been getting the message wrong since 2010. We've got to get the message right. We've got to have the right messenger. And we've got to have someone who can not just go on MSNBC, but go on Fox and Fox Business and CNBC, and go into union halls and fish frys and churches all over the country and start a brush fire about what a new Democratic Party looks like.

I wonder, why didn't that message resonate with House members? Are they too afraid of losing Pelosi's support and money? Is she that helpful to them in their campaigns?

That's not the case here. I'm in New York's 24th district, which is very competitive - or was, anyway.

We actually had someone hold the seat, for the first time in several years. But during the race the last few cycles, there was one name that was mentioned in campaign ads more often even than the candidate: Nancy Pelosi.

As in, So-and-so will vote with Pelosi, with Nancy Pelosi. Pelosi, Pelosi, Pelosi, PelosiPelosiPelosi until I practically forget who's actually running.

It's that bad out here, and she's a perfect target for the Republicans, as indicated by this 'congratulatory' tweet from the RNCC Communications Director.

Continuing to have her in a leadership position means the opposition doesn't even have to talk about issues or anything -- just mention Pelosi and let the the rest just happen organically. I wonder if they know that? Or how they couldn't know that? Or does it only happen here?

As much as I'm disappointed in the outcome of the election, I think I'm even more disappointed in the Dems, the party apparatus, their refusal to get with the program, and with today's vote their refusal to do anything more than talk about moving forward.

Talk is cheap. Actions speak louder than words. Nancy Pelosi got re-elected House Minority Leader.

The Dems are in trouble - no wondering about that.

Trump in Transition (v4)

Reuters photo

My plan was to do a weekly update on progress with the orderly transition of power to POTUS 45, but with a mere 51 days (as I write this) to go before the inauguration, the pace is picking up, and there is Joe Biden literally no time to waste.

Let's get up to speed:  We are still waiting for an official announcement that Dr Ben Carson will be taking an actual role with the incoming administration, or even if he's officially been offered one. Rumor has it that he's been offered the HUD job, and he may have even accepted it, it's really very hard to tell.

What's not hard to tell, though, is that Carson himself thinks he is unqualified, according to one of his aides. Armstrong Williams, a Carson advisor, told  us

Dr. Carson doesn't feel like that's the best way for him to serve the president-elect. Dr Carson feels he has no government experience, he's never run a federal agency. The last thing he would want to do was take a position that would cripple the presidency.

And if I were the POTUS elect (and there's like, less than a Trumpzillion chance of that ever happening), I would accept at face value when a person I want to reward for their loyalty tells me he's not worthy. But then, that's not how things work on the Cabinet Apprentice, not at all.

Because a week or so after Carson's stunning admission, Trump decided that he needs someone of Carson's caliber at HUD -- and he's well qualified to boot!

And Carson opted to defend himself; here's one example:

Well, I know that I grew up in the inner city and have spent a lot of time there and have dealt with a lot of patients from that area, and recognize that we cannot have a strong nation if we have weak inner cities, and we have to get beyond the promises and start really doing something. And also, the amount of corruption and graft and things that have - shell games that are played, we need to get rid of all that stuff and start operating things in an efficient and effective way.

That's right - this sounds just like some of his answers in the debates!

I can't wait for this one to play out. So far, no news is good news on this front, I think.  But we do have news on another front.

Trump has named Elaine Chao as his choice for Secretary of Transportation. Chao served in the Reagan, HW, and Dubya administrations, with the Peace Corps, at the United Way of America, and in the banking industry. And she's been at the Heritage Foundation and a contributor to Fox News, which is a key Cabinet Apprentice skill set.

She's also the wife of Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, who happens to be the Senate Majority Leader, and one upon whom attention must be showered if he's to be of use to the President. And there's probably no better way to curry favor with  McConnell than to appoint his wife to a Cabinet position. On which he will be required to provide his personal advice and consent. Unless he recuses himself, because voting on his wife's appointment while serving as Majority Leader could pose a possible conflict of interest.

Speaking at a Senate news conference, he noted

I've heard rumors that it should be an outstanding appointment (ed note: for Transportation Secretary). Someone actually asked Don Stewart if I was going to recuse myself. Let me be quite clear: I will not be recusing myself.

Yeah, right. Silly me. Can a person who has no ethics have a conflict of interest? I may have to check the rules on that.

McConnell, you recall, is the guy who said his highest priority was making sure President Obama was a one-term president.  Not, mind you, representing Kentucky and her citizens, not taking care of the things that ail America - just making sure Obama didn't get re-elected. A priority at which he failed, in case anyone needs reminding.  So is there any surprise that he's not going to recuse himself?

And finally, on the whole matter of the Transition vs. Mitt Romney, the jury's still out. There's still the public flogging being directed by Kellyanne Conway, who is taking advantage of every opportunity to tweet or talk about Romney and how he was the worst of the worst of the non-supporters, more Never Trump than the #NeverTrump movement itself.

But for some unfathomable reason, Romney sat down to dinner with Trump and Chief of Staff Reince Priebus;supposedly there were frog's legs and garlic soup served up, along with some equally healthy, three-Michelin-Stars conversation. Not sure if the Circling Blonde Shark was in attendance, or lurking in a puddle just outside the door.

And, to hedge his bets, Trump also met with Retired (disgraced?) General David Petraeus, another star in the Cabinet Apprentice.  Petraeus, also known as General Betrayus, shared secrets with his mistress for her to use in a book. Which is nothing like what Hillary Clinton did, of course.

Ah yes, a mere 51 days to go.

OrangeVerse III: Talking to the Times

The next POTUS sat down with the the NY Times and left a wide-ranging puddle of verse.

The Meeting

OK. Well

 I just appreciate the meeting

and I have great respect

for The New York Times.

Tremendous respect. 

It's very special. 

Always has been

very special.

I think 

I've been treated 

very rough.

Not Often, Dean

It's well out there

that I've been treated

extremely unfairly

in a sense, in a true sense.

I wouldn't only complain

about the Times. 

I would say The Times

was about 

the roughest 

of all. 

You could make the case 

The Washington Post

was bad, 

but every once in a while 

I'd actually get

a good article.

Not often, Dean 

but every once in a while.

Giving It Up

Look

I have great 

respect for the Times

and I'd like

to 

turn 

it 

around. 

I think

it would make the 

job I'm doing much

easier. 

We're working very hard.

We have 

great 

people 

coming 

in.

I think you'll be 

very impressed 

with the names.

We'll be announcing some

very shortly.

Everybody 

wanted to do this.

People are giving up

tremendous careers

 in order to be

subject to 

you folks and 

subject to a lot of 

other folks.

But they're 

giving 

up

a 

lot.

Sidebar: Trump in Transition (v3)

In my earlier post on Donald Trump's playing of the woman card not once (Nikki Haley), not twice (Betsy DeVos) but three times (KT McFarland), I left out one of the more interesting pieces of news associated with the announcement of DeVos for Secretary of Education: she was not Trump's first choice, if we are to believe what we see.

That's right: the billionairess charter school supporter was no better than number two no the list, at least according to Jerry Falwell, Jr.  In fact, he tells us, he was number one on the list, but turned the job down.

I gotta tell you, I love someone who humble brags about turning down a Cabinet Apprentice position. How awesome it is to be able to tell everyone, after the public announcement of the winning finalist (Trump's word, not mine)  that you were offered the position but said no to your POTUS-elect and to your country!  How glorious it must be to say "no, I'm needed more someplace else!"

Here's Falwell's story, to which he appears to be sticking:

Falwell tells the Associated Press that Trump offered him the job last week during a meeting in New York. He says Trump wanted a four- to six-year commitment, but that he couldn't leave Liberty for more than two years. Falwell says he couldn't afford to work at a Cabinet level job for longer than that and didn't want to move his family, especially his 16-year old daughter.

Jerry Falwell Jr photo

Falwell earlier told the AP he had met with Trump, that they discussed the Department of Education, and that he would "definitely play a role" in the administration.  Now that he's turned Trump down - and told us he did, I'm not sure whether there will be a role for him or not.

If not, he got his money shot with Trump back in June, so he might be all set. I mean, who wouldn't want to hang this picture on their office wall?  You, your spouse, and the then presumptive Republican nominee - what a great picture!

Except for the Playboy magazine over your wife's shoulder, when you're the head of the world's largest Christian university.

Except that you're standing with a man who has been married three times, and who bragged about groping women against their will.

And, speaking of narcissism, what's up with hanging all of the magazine articles so close to the floor? I thought you were supposed to hang them at eye level?

Or, are they?

Trump in Transition (v3)

Reuters photo

 It's been a busy week since my last Trump in Transition (TiT) post was issued.

Trump has  moved his cavalcade of stars, his Cabinet Apprentice, from Trump Tower in NYC to Trump National Golf Course in Bedminster, NJ, and then packed up his family and a few aides, I'm sure, and headed off to Trump Mar-a-Lago in Florida (where, yes, there is a Donald J Trump ballroom) for the Thanksgiving holiday, putting the traveling Trump press corps and the Trump security detail through their paces.

Coming up on the third-week anniversary of the Trump victory, things are moving along on with the orderly transition of power - in fact, it's going great, the POTUS-elect told us. Going great, just like The Apprentice and Celebrity Apprentice, it is. Here it is, straight from the Donald himself:

Ah, the finalists...He announced four finalists last week, and he did it with a bang: he played the woman's card three times.

South Carolina Governor and early Trump basher Nikki Haley was selected to be our next UN Ambassador. Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants, has been a rising star in the Republican party, and is only 44, the youngest of Trump's appointees.  She's traveled a bit, looking to other countries to find investors in the Palmetto State's economy - which puts her a bit at odds with Trump's anti-globalist positions. She's more aligned with Trump on climate (anti-emission limits) and is pro-life, both of which could have significance given the UN's focus on tackling climate change and on reproductive health and reproductive rights.

There's also the whole question of what a Trump administration would mean for the UN, given the Republicans' general distaste for the UN as an unnecessarily limiting factor and gross interference in all things American. I think it remains to be seen how this will play out, once the full team is in place and starts trying to navigate our country's role vis a vis the Trump worldview.

The other woman is more in the Trump model: billionaire Republican donor Betsy DeVos was selected to dismantle, er I mean head the federal Department of Education. DeVos, in case you don't know, is married to the heir of the Amway fortune, and her family donated close to a million bucks just in 2015, and a couple hundred million to conservative causes over the years. Her husband unsuccessfully ran for governor of Michigan a decade ago, and she now runs the family's political action committee.

She's not shy about the point of her donations, either - here's what she said about that back in 1997:

Soft money (is) just hard-earned American dollars that Big Brother has yet to find a way to control. That's all it is, nothing more. I know a little something about soft money, as my family is the largest single contributor of soft money to the national Republican Party. I have decided, however, to stop taking offense at the suggestion that we are buying influence. Now I simply concede the point. They are right. We do expect some things in return...(ed. note: and went on to describe those expectations to include traditional American virtues, limited government - and Republicans winning elections).

So, what does DeVos get with this opportunity? A chance to reshape the future of public education in the United States. Trump's plan calls for a $20B federal investment, along with $110B from the states to fund $12K for "every student in poverty" to go to a charter school, private school, or parochial school. That would be taxpayer money, not private money, which would be used to support private businesses and religious institutions. And this is right up her alley - her family led a failed effort to allow taxpayer dollars to fund private education for kids in Michigan back in 2000.

I wonder what happens to her family's PAC, assuming she's confirmed? Would there be an assumption of some kind of reverse-Clintonian quid pro quo if a group was offered DeVos money? I mean, it's money from her family so it must mean she's fully supportive of  how it's being spent, and she's a Cabinet-level official so there must be full government support, right? Is that a conflict of interest, or just one of those things that Republican billionaires do, about which I don't need to worry my pretty little non-10 head?

Finally, he appointed KT McFarland as his deputy National Security Advisor. McFarland, a former Fox News contributor and long-time DC operative, will join Michael Flynn in the NSA office.

For the sake of Haley, DeVos, and McFarland, I hope if they ever find themselves in a position of even mildly disagreeing with Trump (which of course would be considered nasty and not nice and failing and over-rated of them), he doesn't play his anti-woman card.

The other appointment? Our White House counsel (yes, that's correct: the person serves in the best interest of the office, not the office-holder). It was some guy named Don, who has some experience with election law and stuff. But who cares?

Nothing diverse about him.

The Waiting, on Thanksgiving

I'm sitting in my comfy recliner with a sleeping kitty on my lap, looking at the first of I'm not sure how many Christmas trees will be up before the end of the month, a steaming mug of half and half (coffee and dark chocolate almond milk) on the table, thinking about Thanksgiving.

Last year, we spent Thanksgiving with my family at the old farmhouse in Vermont where my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew live.  Everything was delicious: dinner; the conversation; wandering around outside with the dogs; my nephew's apple-launching gun; the fresh eggs we used to make French toast on Friday morning; the wide plank floors in the oldest part of the house, where our room was, at the top of one of those steep old staircases. We all took a walk up to the top of the hill before dinner, and I was reminded of another Thanksgiving hike, some 45-odd years ago.

My Dad and I had decided to take a walk one Thanksgiving; the turkey was in the oven and it was the start of The Waiting, that period of time that only happens once a year, at our house. It starts when the pale, cold turkey goes into the oven, then builds as the house fills with the aroma of the bird cooking, and ends hours later when it comes out, richly browned, juicy (never dry), bursting with flavor, and joins all of the fixings on the table.

We started out with a plan of sorts: we'd head around the corner and aim for the woods off Liberty Street, a short walk from the house. There were trails leading from the dirt road into the woods, carved by years of kids walking and running through the vines that hung thickly from the trees, crisscrossing the hillside in every direction. We wandered, following the trails until we came out of the woods, on the crest of a hill, farther away from home than we had anticipated, but not so far as to turn back.

If we go this way, Dad said, pointing generally south, we should come out near Yawney's farm on Brutus Road, and we can walk home from there. Sounds good, I think I said - because why not? It was Thanksgiving, and it was during The Waiting. So we walked and talked, although I don't remember what we really talked about. Knowing him, and knowing me, it was probably current events or sports or whatever show we were watching on television that year, or something in the paper. Maybe about school. Just conversation, father and daughter, teacher and student, walking through fields.

We crossed over an old barbed wire fence and low stone wall or two, meandering more west than south it seemed, longer than we thought we would. We were damp - it was November, after all, and we were walking through fields and brush and tall grass. I can feel my nose running, and Dad's handkerchief, and burdocks, and laughter. And I remember a point at which we decided we needed to 'get somewhere', because it felt like soon, The Waiting would be over, and Mom would not be happy if we were not back; we had things to do, Dad and I, when the turkey came out of the oven, and even before.

Onward we pressed, looking for some sign of civilization, and finally came out from a small grove of trees to see a house that we recognized. We had not gone south towards Yawney's - not so much. We had gone almost due west, and had come out on Pump Road, several houses away from where Mom and Dad's friends Ron and Doje Marks lived. It was our Aha moment - we are saved! - as we jumped across the ditch, onto dry pavement, and headed off up the middle of the road, making much better time now, to get to Marks' house, call Mom, and get a ride home. Surprise all around, I remember.

We were a mess - wet, covered with all kinds of debris (derbis, Dad always said) - but we were happy, and Mom wasn't too terribly mad (at least, not in front of me), and Thanksgiving was delicious - the dinner, the conversation, the wide plank floors in our old house, and my room at the top of the stairs at the end of a long, crazy, happy day.

We weren't able to make the trip to Vermont this year, so even though it's only going to be the two of us, I'm still cooking a full dinner. I'll get up and get my turkey ready in the morning, and then, I think I'll drag my husband out for a walk around the neighborhood, during The Waiting.

Happy Thanksgiving.