The Loyal Opposition

[BigV]

Another worrisome item before I retire tonight. This is a first draft.

It's not only the wrong-headed actions of the Adminstration I oppose, it's the wrong-headed actions of the Congress as well. For example, the well publicized and proportionally poorly thought out actions of the Congress to attempt to eviscerate the Ethics Committee.

House Republicans, led by Representative Robert W. Goodlatte of Virginia, had sought on Monday to prevent the office from pursuing investigations that might result in criminal charges. Instead, they wanted to allow lawmakers on the more powerful House Ethics Committee to shut down inquiries. They even sought to block the small staff at the Office of Congressional Ethics, which would have been renamed and put under the oversight of House lawmakers, from speaking to the news media.

“It has damaged or destroyed a lot of political careers in this place, and it’s cost members of Congress millions of dollars to defend themselves against anonymous allegations,” Representative Steve King, Republican of Iowa, said Tuesday, still defending the move.

But such resolve crumbled Tuesday morning, as thousands of phone calls flooded lawmakers’ offices and both conservative and liberal ethics groups issued statements condemning the vote. Some Republicans joined in, saying the measure sent the wrong message to the public. (Internet searches for the words “Who is my representative” surged after news of the plan broke Monday night and peaked Tuesday morning, according to Google.)

What the fuck were they thinking?

[Mountain Mule]

Originally Posted by BigV

Another worrisome item before I retire tonight. This is a first draft.

It's not only the wrong-headed actions of the Adminstration I oppose, it's the wrong-headed actions of the Congress as well. For example, the well publicized and proportionally poorly thought out actions of the Congress to attempt to eviscerate the Ethics Committee.



What the fuck were they thinking?

They were thinking they'd better CYA and do it fast.

The corruption continues Wilbur Ross , just confirmed , was Vice chair of Bank of Cyprus. So what you may ask since atrocities keep pouring in so quickly it's difficult to keep track of them all. Well, here's what according to various reliable sources across the Internet. Here's a snip from the DC Report:

In the midst of the Trump Administration’s many other Russian entanglements, it turns out that Wilbur J. Ross, Jr., the billionaire American investor who is one of Donald Trump’s closest advisors on trade and economics, has direct financial ties to several leading oligarchs from Russia and the Former Soviet Union or FSU.
The U.S. Senate should thoroughly investigate these ties before it votes on Ross’ nomination to be Commerce Secretary when it returns from recess next week.

Central to this inquiry is the question of Ross’s role as Vice Chair and a leading investor in the Bank of Cyprus, the largest bank in Cyprus, one of the key offshore havens for illicit Russian finance. Ross has been Vice Chairman of this bank and a major investor in it since 2014. His fellow bank co-chair evidently was appointed by none other than Vladimir Putin.

The Bank of Cyprus is just one of more than 100 direct and indirect investments that Ross listed on his U.S. Office of Government Ethics financial disclosure form last month. He recently promised to resign as Vice Chairman of the Bank and disinvest from it within the next 90 days if his nomination is approved.

Mere divestiture will not suffice here, even if it was immediate. Exiting a brothel in a hurry doesn’t explain what you were doing there in the first place.

more...

The story in the DC Report appears to be well researched and gives many cites from reliable, nonpartisan sources. Too bad Congress didn't follow the advise of the journalist who wrote that story. But then why should they? The Pussy Grabber crowd are sitting in the cat bird's seat, ready to snack on as many canaries as possible. And as we all know, no one can ever eat just one.