Making Life Worse, Every Day In Every Way

What are the science- phobic Trump swamp people up to now?  No good, of course:

The Trump administration is limiting scientific input to the 2020 dietary guidelines, raising concerns among nutrition advocates and independent experts about industry influence over healthy eating recommendations for all Americans.

For the first time, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture, which oversee the committee giving recommendations for the guidelines, have predetermined the topics that will be addressed. They have narrowed the research that can be used only to studies vetted by agency officials, potentially leaving key studies out of the mix.

The 80 questions the committee has been asked to answer do not cover several pressing issues the panel explored five years ago. This includes the consumption of red and processed meat, as well as the dramatic proliferation of ultraprocessed foods, which account for a growing percentage of calories consumed by Americans. Nor will the committee explore appropriate sodium levels for different populations.  (our emphasis)

The interests being served?  Not the public's, of course:

A wide range of experts say these are among the most critical questions as the nation faces an epidemic of lifestyle diseases such as atherosclerosis, heart disease, stroke, obesity and Type 2 diabetes. They also represent the issues that large food companies find most objectionable because they would probably cast high-sodium, high-sugar, high-saturated fat and highly processed foods in a poor light.  [snip]

“The dietary guidelines are under assault from multiple directions,” David Katz, author and founding director of Yale University’s Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center, said in an email. “This time around, veiled organizations representing the interests of beef, dairy and Big Food are pretending to use science to argue against the actual science and to expunge key recommendations. Of course sustainability should be included. Of course we need to eat less meat.”  (our emphasis)

The Trump regime is barely 2/3 through it's first (and, hopefully, only term), and we defy anyone to point to a more damaging, corrupt, venal administration in all of American history.  Whether it's the despicable treatment of immigrants (including the latest outrage: deporting children getting treatment for life- threatening conditions), global climate change denialism, beggaring workers and farmers in a trade war, rolling back environmental regulations and propping up the fossil fuel industry, etc., etc., this is a regime whose sole purpose seems to be to drag us back to the dark ages, inflicting maximum pain to the maximum number of people along the way.

Today In Moscow Mitch

It's Putin and profits over patriotism every time for Moscow Mitch and his proteges:

Two former top staffers to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have lobbied Congress and the Treasury Department on the development of a new Kentucky aluminum mill backed by the Russian aluminum giant Rusal, according to a new lobbying disclosure.

The disclosure comes as Democrats are pushing the Trump administration to review Rusal’s $200 million investment in the Kentucky project — concerned that the mill will supply the Defense Department — and as McConnell weathers criticism for helping block a congressional effort to stop the investment. 

The Russian firm was only able to make the investment after it won sanctions relief from penalties the Treasury Department initially imposed in April 2018 on Rusal and other companies owned by Oleg Deripaska, a Russian oligarch and Kremlin ally accused of facilitating Moscow’s nefarious activities, such as seizing land in Ukraine, supplying arms for the Syrian regime and meddling in other countries’ elections. 

Attention over the sanctions relief deal has focused on McConnell, given his role in halting a bipartisan congressional effort to stop the penalties rollback. McConnell told reporters in May that his support for lifting the sanctions was “completely unrelated to anything that might happen in my home state.”  (our emphasis)

I think that can be read as quid, meet pro quo, Moscow Mitch!  ("My stars, how can anyone accuse me of being a dishonest, cynical POS?") 

Who else is in the picture but disgraced former Sen. David "Diaper Dave" Vitter!

Former Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), who’s now a lobbyist representing Rusal’s parent company, EN+ Group, gave McConnell “a heads up” on the Rusal deal prior to its announcement, according to a disclosure filing first spotted by The New York Times. 

Hey, it wouldn't be a (Republican) party without Diaper Dave!

BONUS:  Andy Borowitz's headline ftw --

"Putin Denies Mitch McConnell Is Russian Asset: "He Has Never Been An Asset To Any Country"

Republican Crime Blotter: Nepotism Has Its Privileges

They don't even bother to disguise it any more:

The Transportation Department under Secretary Elaine Chao designated a special liaison to help with grant applications and other priorities from her husband Mitch McConnell’s state of Kentucky, paving the way for grants totaling at least $78 million for favored projects as McConnell prepared to campaign for reelection.

Chao’s aide Todd Inman, who stated in an email to McConnell’s Senate office that Chao had personally asked him to serve as an intermediary, helped advise the senator and local Kentucky officials on grants with special significance for McConnell — including a highway-improvement project in a McConnell political stronghold that had been twice rejected for previous grant applications.

And no, it's not normal, except in a swamp:

“Where a Cabinet secretary is doing things that are going to help her husband get reelected, that starts to rise to the level of feeling more like corruption to the average American. … I do think there are people who will see that as sort of ‘swamp behavior,’” said John Hudak, a Brookings Institution scholar who has studied political influence in federal grant-making.

It's not the only example of the McConnell- Chao corruption nexus.  There was this bit of influence peddling that was nipped in the bud.  Then there's this from last May:

President Donald Trump has tapped the brother-in-law of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao to lead the federal agency tasked with making sure workers get the benefits they are owed from private pension funds.

Gordon Hartogensis is Trump's nominee to lead the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), the independent agency created by Congress in 1974 to essentially pay out pension benefits to workers if their private pension funds fail. Hartogensis is married to Grace Chao, the younger sister of Elaine Chao, the current U.S. Transportation Secretary. The elder Chao is married to McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky.

Hartogensis was confirmed by the rotted out Republican Senate and sworn in a year later, on May 15. Score another one for the swamp!

Monday Reading

As always, please go to the links for the full articles/ op eds.

The cabinet of loser Donald "Not Exonerated" Trump has been notable mostly for its incompetence and corruption, following the example of the Extremely Stable Genius (check out David Graham's refresher on the stinkers).  Now another name has been added to the hall of shame, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao -- not coincidentally the wife of vile turtle/ troll hybrid Sen. Mitch "Missy" McConnell (R-Swamp):

Ms. Chao’s office had made a series of unorthodox requests related to her first scheduled visit to China as a Trump cabinet member, according to people with knowledge of the email. Among them: asking federal officials to help coordinate travel arrangements for at least one family member and include relatives in meetings with government officials.

In China, the Chaos are no ordinary family. They run an American shipping company with deep ties to the economic and political elite in China, where most of the company’s business is centered. The trip was abruptly canceled by Ms. Chao after the ethics question was referred to officials in the State and Transportation Departments and, separately, after The New York Times and others made inquiries about her itinerary and companions.

“She had these relatives who were fairly wealthy and connected to the shipping industry,” said a State Department official who was involved in deliberations over the visit. “Their business interests were potentially affected by meetings.”

Although the trip in 2017 was cancelled due to those ethics concerns, Chao has long been active working to benefit her family's company in China and influence American policies toward China. The article goes on to detail the swampy nature of the Chao- McConnell- China connection.  The common denominator for them is the same as it is for all Republicans:  the point of government service is to fatten my wallet, suckers!

Speaking of incompetence and corruption, Trump has now arrived in London for a state visit prior to the commemoration of the D-Day landings 75 years ago.  Before landing, he lashed out at the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, on Twitter:

.@SadiqKhan, who by all accounts has done a terrible job as Mayor of London, has been foolishly “nasty” to the visiting President of the United States, by far the most important ally of the United Kingdom. He is a stone cold loser who should focus on crime in London, not me......

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 3, 2019

....Kahn reminds me very much of our very dumb and incompetent Mayor of NYC, de Blasio, who has also done a terrible job - only half his height. In any event, I look forward to being a great friend to the United Kingdom, and am looking very much forward to my visit. Landing now!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 3, 2019

The mayor's office had the proper response:

Khan’s spokesman responded by saying “childish insults” should be “beneath the president of the United States.”

They added: “Sadiq is representing the progressive values of London and our country, warning that Donald Trump is the most egregious example of a growing far-right threat around the globe, which is putting at risk the basic values that have defined our liberal democracies for more than 70 years.”

On Sunday, Khan stoked the ire of the president by describing him as “just one of the most egregious examples of a growing global threat” and compared the language he has used to that of the “fascists of the 20th century.”

Meanwhile, the stupid twit is complaining because he can't get his morning Fox & Friends fix.

America, devolving one decade at a time.

As Mayor Khan noted, the far- right threat of which "Trump is the most egregious example" is growing globally, perhaps most disturbingly in Germany given its shameful history:

The German government's anti-Semitism commissioner on Saturday warned the country's Jewish community to avoid donning yarmulkes, the traditional Jewish head coverings for males, in some public spaces due to a rise in anti-Semitic crimes.

"I cannot advise Jews to wear the kippah everywhere all the time in Germany," Felix Klein said in an interview carried by the Funke media group, using another word for yarmulke.

The official said he had "changed his mind (on the subject) compared to previously."

The number of attacks against Jews in Germany increased from 1,504 in 2017 to 1,646 in 2018 — a rise of 10%. The number of reported violent cases against Jews rose from 37 to 62 over the same period, according to official figures.

Justice Minister Katarina Barley told the Handelsblatt newspaper the increase was "shameful for our country" but added that the police were "vigilant."

This stomach- churning news should not received by smug Americans as validation of their moral superiority.  The Anti- Defamation League reports that in 2018 there were 1,879 recorded attacks against Jews and Jewish institutions in the US, the third highest year on record since the 1970s, including the murderous assaults on the Chabad synagogue in California and the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh.

The link for the report on the German warning came from Infidel 753's link round- up, which we consider an essential read every week.

Who Was Naughty And Who Was Nice?

You see a pattern here?



(h/t darwinfish2)

Republican Crime Blotter -- Trump Endorser Edition

It's in Republican DNA.

U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter and his wife, Margaret E. Hunter, were hit Tuesday with federal charges that they "converted and stole" more than a quarter million dollars in campaign funds, according to a 47-page grand jury indictment. 

The San Diego County couple used the cash to take trips to Italy, Hawaii, London and elsewhere, and even used the funds to cover school tuition, dental work and theater tickets, the federal grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California said in an indictment unsealed Tuesday. 

Hunter, a Republican and the son of a retired congressman who also represented a section of San Diego County, was an early and staunch supporter of President Donald Trump. [snip] 

The only other elected member of Congress who endorsed Trump earlier than Hunter during the 2016 campaign was Rep. Chris Collins of New York — who now faces federal charges of his own.  (our emphasis)

Being amoral grifters themselves, both Hunter and Collins saw a kindred spirit in Rump.

With a long, rich history of sex scandals, the overwhelming corruption of the current regime and its minions, and its complicity in selling out our country to the interests of a hostile foreign government, the Republican Party is the living embodiment of hypocrisy and evil.  November can't come too soon.

(Photo:  Duncan Hunter with his mentor, un- indicted co- conspirator Rump - AP photos)

Is It "It's The Culture Of Corruption, Stupid"?

Perhaps the arrest of Republican Rep. Chris Collins was an inflection point, because today (more than ever it seems) a Republican "culture of corruption" theme is finally being discussed -- if not pushed -- as a potent weapon for Democrats.  Helpfully, Steve Benen summarizes the "culture of corruption" imbuing Republican politics, from the Trump crime family on down, that has to become part of the Democrats' strategy going into the mid- terms:

Republicans are certainly making it easier for their opponents to frame the debate this way. This morning, for example, Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.) surrendered to the FBI after being indicted on insider-trading charges. His colleague, Rep. Scott Taylor (R-Va.), learned yesterday that a Virginal special prosecutor is examining an electoral scheme launched by his campaign. 

This comes the day after Forbes published a rather brutal piece that raised the allegation that Donald Trump’s Commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, “could rank among the biggest grifters in American history.” 

Meanwhile, the man who led Donald Trump’s political operation in 2016, Paul Manaforrt, is currently on trial for a wide variety of alleged felonies. The star witness is Rick Gates – the deputy chairman of Trump’s campaign – who’s testified about all the crimes he and Manafort committed together. 

And that’s just this week. Worse, it’s only Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Trump’s EPA chief, Scott Pruitt, was forced to resign in the face of corruption allegations. Trump’s Interior secretary, Ryan Zinke, has faced related allegations. Trump’s former HHS secretary, Tom Price, was also forced to resign after misusing public funds. Trump’s budget director, Mick Mulvaney, recently acknowledged that when he was in Congress, he would only meet with lobbyists who made campaign contributions. 

He was, at the time, telling a group of bankers how they could use their money to influence the administration’s agenda. 

Of course, then there’s Trump himself – one of only three sitting presidents in American history to become the subject of a criminal investigation. And really, that’s just the start of the corruption questions surrounding his presidency.

Needless to say, none of the above sits well with the voters who have been turning out to support Democrats in historic numbers, like college- educated voters of all political persuasions, men and (most of all) women.

With the proviso that all elections are local and local issues must be served, combined with a positive agenda of protecting health care and women's reproductive choice, better jobs and wages, common sense gun control, re-uniting immigrant families, shoring up our alliances, etc. (in other words, serving as a check to Trump/ Republican sociopathy), Democrats must also brand themselves as the REFORM party that's going to stanch Trump/ Republican self- dealing, stealing and corruption. Democrats need to be aggressive on all fronts;  they have great candidates, now they need to close the deal.