The US Hamster Wheel

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Undried Plum
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Ops normal in the swamp

#7541 Post by Undried Plum » Mon Jul 06, 2020 4:05 pm

WASHINGTON (AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Forty lobbyists with ties to President Donald Trump helped clients secure more than $10 billion in federal coronavirus aid, among them five former administration officials whose work potentially violates Trump’s own ethics policy, according to a report.

The lobbyists identified Monday by the watchdog group Public Citizen either worked in the Trump executive branch, served on his campaign, were part of the committee that raised money for inaugural festivities or were part of his presidential transition. Many are donors to Trump’s campaigns, and some are prolific fundraisers for his reelection.

They include Brian Ballard, who served on the transition, is the finance chair for the Republican National Committee and has bundled more than $1 million for Trump’s fundraising committees. He was hired in March by Laundrylux, a supplier of commercial laundry machines, after the Department of Homeland Security issued guidance that didn’t include laundromats as essential businesses that could stay open during the lockdown. A week later, the administration issued new guidance adding laundromats to the list.

Dave Urban, a Trump adviser and confidant, has collected more than $2.3 million in lobbying fees this year. The firm he leads, American Continental Group, represents 15 companies, including Walgreens and the parent company of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, on coronavirus issues.

Trump pledged to clamp down on Washington’s influence peddling with a “drain the swamp” campaign mantra. But during his administration, the lobbying industry has flourished, a trend that intensified once Congress passed more than $3.6 trillion in coronavirus stimulus.

While the money is intended as a lifeline to a nation whose economy has been upended by the pandemic, it also jump-started a familiar lobbying bonanza.

The swamp is alive and well in Washington, D.C.,” said Mike Tanglis, one of the report’s authors. “These (lobbying) booms that these people are having, you can really attribute them to their connection to Trump.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Shortly after Trump took office, he issued an executive order prohibiting former administration officials from lobbying the agency or office where they were formerly employed, for a period of five years. Another section of the order forbids lobbying the administration by former political appointees for the remainder of Trump’s time in office.

Yet five lobbyists who are former administration officials have potentially done just that during the coronavirus lobbying boom:

— Courtney Lawrence was a former deputy assistant secretary for legislation in the Department of Health and Human Services in 2017 and 2018. She became a lobbyist for Cigna in 2018 and is listed as part of a team that has lobbied HHS, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and at least two other agencies. Cigna did not respond to a request for comment.

— Shannon McGahn, the wife of former White House counsel Don McGahn, worked in 2017 and 2018 as a counselor to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. She then joined the National Association of Realtors as its top lobbyist and is listed on disclosures as part of a team that has lobbied both houses of Congress, plus six agencies, including the Treasury Department. The Realtors association did not respond to a request for comment.

— Jordan Stoick is the vice president of government relations at the National Association of Manufacturers. Stoick’s biography on NAM’s website indicates that he is “NAM’s lead lobbyist in Washington,” where he started working after serving as a senior adviser in the Treasury Department. Disclosures indicate that Stoick and his colleagues lobbied both houses of Congress plus at least five executive branch agencies, including Treasury.

“NAM carefully adheres to the legal and ethical rules regulating lobbying activity, including ensuring that its employees comply with all applicable prohibitions on contacting their former employers,” Linda Kelly, the organization’s general counsel, said in a statement.

The group also said that the disclosure was filled out in a way that lumped the work of multiple lobbyists together in one entry and that the filing “in no way means every lobbyist contacted every listed office.”

— Geoffrey Burr joined the firm Brownstein Hyatt after serving as chief of staff to Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao. The firm’s lobbying disclosure for the first quarter of 2020 includes Burr on a list of lobbyists who contacted the White House and Congress on coronavirus-related matters on behalf of McDonald’s.

— Emily Felder joined Brownstein Hyatt after leaving the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, where she worked in the legislative office. Felder is listed on a disclosure from the first quarter of 2020 that shows she was part of a team that lobbied Congress and the White House.

A spokeswoman for the firm said both Felder and Burr abide by the Trump administration’s ethics rules, which limit their lobbying to the House and the Senate.

“We are confident that our lobbyists are in compliance with all lobbying rules and applicable prohibitions and did not violate their Trump Administration pledge,” spokeswoman Lara Day said in a statement.

Public Citizen’s Craig Holman, who himself is a registered lobbyist, said the group intends to file ethics complaints with the White House. But he’s not optimistic that they will lead to anything. Last year, he filed more than 30 complaints, all of which were either ignored or rejected.

“There does not appear to be anyone who is enforcing the executive order,” Holman said.

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Re: The US Hamster Wheel

#7542 Post by PHXPhlyer » Mon Jul 06, 2020 5:19 pm

Trump’s own ethics policy :))
Is that an oxymoron or would you classify as something different? :-?
Certainly not "real" policy. [-X

PP

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Re: The US Hamster Wheel

#7543 Post by PHXPhlyer » Mon Jul 06, 2020 6:08 pm

I guess it is just "Fake News"! :ymdevil:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/06/media/fo ... index.html

Fox News says it 'mistakenly' cropped Trump out of photo featuring Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell #-o

By Oliver Darcy, CNN Business

Updated 1:06 PM ET, Mon July 6, 2020

New York (CNN)Fox News said on Monday that it "mistakenly" cropped President Trump out of a photograph that featured the accused sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and his alleged accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.

"On Sunday, July 5, a report on Ghislaine Maxwell during Fox News Channel's 'America's News HQ' mistakenly eliminated President Donald Trump from a photo alongside then Melania Knauss, Jeffrey Epstein and Maxwell," a spokesperson for the network said.
The Fox News spokesperson added, "We regret the error."
Maxwell was charged by federal prosecutors in New York on Thursday for her alleged role in recruiting and sexually abusing underage girls as part of a years-long criminal enterprise.
Trump's allies have played up ties between former Democratic President Bill Clinton and Epstein sometimes by sharing old photos in which both of them appear, while downplaying photos that show Trump and Epstein together. A Clinton spokesperson said in 2019 the former President knew "nothing about the terrible crimes" the convicted pedophile committed.
Fox News' egregious cropping of Trump from the photo drew criticism and prompted unflattering media coverage for the conservative cable network. The photograph aired during a segment about Maxwell being charged by federal prosecutors.
Fox News edits Trump out of photo with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell at Mar-a-Lago https://t.co/Fx87397x1y pic.twitter.com/SEst77byQY

— Gizmodo (@Gizmodo) July 6, 2020
It's not the first time in recent weeks that Fox News has acknowledged a significant error related to photos accompanying news stories. In mid-June, Fox News expressed regret after it published digitally altered and misleading images of the "CHOP" demonstration in Seattle.

PP

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Re: The US Hamster Wheel

#7544 Post by Bob » Sun Jul 12, 2020 6:36 pm

I really like this picture of the stable genius

....Theres something about it that really gets to the inner trump.. but i cant quite put my finger on it :D

TT.JPG
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All U.S. Citizens or persons arriving from the U.S.A. will be denied access

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Re: The US Hamster Wheel

#7545 Post by boing » Sun Jul 12, 2020 7:17 pm

Sorry Bob,

Photoshop job of the Oval Office Desk. The gold curtains are correct but somebody moved the flags in and put a light where the window should be.
You can tell the light and the flags don't line up correctly.

oval office.jpg
oval office.jpg (39.39 KiB) Viewed 367 times
the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible.

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Re: The US Hamster Wheel

#7546 Post by AtomKraft » Mon Jul 13, 2020 7:20 am

Looks like a scene from 'Damien: Omen II'.

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Re: The US Hamster Wheel

#7547 Post by Boac » Mon Jul 13, 2020 12:37 pm

From the Grauniad

"A 30-year-old patient died after attending a “Covid party”, believing the virus to be a hoax, a Texas medical official has said.

“Just before the patient died, they looked at their nurse and said ‘I think I made a mistake, I thought this was a hoax, but it’s not,’”



There you go - listening to the Clever Horse again. Will they never learn in the USA?

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Re: The US Hamster Wheel

#7548 Post by Boac » Mon Jul 13, 2020 2:38 pm

Looks like the Clever Horse has bred some equally dim foals.

Trump Junior misplaces apostrophe on his book's title. (or should that be books'...)

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Re: The US Hamster Wheel

#7549 Post by Boac » Wed Jul 15, 2020 12:26 pm

The Clever Horse's mane has turned grey from all the worry. :))

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Re: The US Hamster Wheel

#7550 Post by Boac » Wed Jul 15, 2020 3:11 pm

From the 'Press Conference':

"And, frankly, if we didn’t test, you wouldn’t have all the headlines because we’re showing cases. And we have just about the lowest mortality rate. But if we did — think of this: If we didn’t do testing — instead of testing over 40 million people, if we did half the testing, we would have half the cases. If we did another — you cut that in half, we would have, yet again, half of that."

Sheer genius - why didn't anyone else think of that? China?

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Re: The US Hamster Wheel

#7551 Post by Seenenough » Wed Jul 15, 2020 3:24 pm

Hello,Hello......anyone out there ? Bo needs somebody to respond to him.

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Re: The US Hamster Wheel

#7552 Post by Boac » Wed Jul 15, 2020 3:39 pm

Thanks, Seen - you did =)) =)) =))

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Re: The US Hamster Wheel

#7553 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Wed Jul 15, 2020 4:02 pm

Boac wrote:
Wed Jul 15, 2020 3:39 pm
Thanks, Seen - you did =)) =)) =))
Let's be honest here. Trump is a cretin.
Though you remain
Convinced
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Re: The US Hamster Wheel

#7554 Post by Boac » Wed Jul 15, 2020 5:06 pm

...and, I think, a lot of his followers.

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Re: The US Hamster Wheel

#7555 Post by Undried Plum » Wed Jul 15, 2020 6:13 pm

Shrub had similar followers. Many, perhaps, the same people. L-)

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Re: The US Hamster Wheel

#7556 Post by Boac » Wed Jul 22, 2020 10:32 am

Big jump in deaths from the Trump Virus yesterday. 1119 compared to 4-500 for the previous two days.

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Re: The US Hamster Wheel

#7557 Post by Seenenough » Wed Jul 22, 2020 12:07 pm

Boac wrote:
Wed Jul 22, 2020 10:32 am
Big jump in deaths from the Trump Virus yesterday. 1119 compared to 4-500 for the previous two days.
Bo,what do they call the virus in the UK and Europe where the death rates per million population are substantially higher than here in the US?

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Re: The US Hamster Wheel

#7558 Post by Boac » Wed Jul 22, 2020 12:17 pm

Corona. Google would have told you.

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Re: The US Hamster Wheel

#7559 Post by Seenenough » Wed Jul 22, 2020 12:20 pm

Boac wrote:
Wed Jul 22, 2020 12:17 pm
Corona. Google would have told you.
Bo,what is the Trump Virus that you refer to?

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Re: The US Hamster Wheel

#7560 Post by Boac » Wed Jul 22, 2020 12:22 pm

How thick can a Republican Trump supporter be? Answers on Barking Mad's used postage stamp, please.

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