Douche-nozzle alert.

https://twitter.com/frankthorp/status/888474387912851461

https://twitter.com/pdacosta/status/888467504514859013

Source: Axios

Top coal industry lobbyist Andrew Wheeler is likely to be tapped as the No. 2. official at the Environmental Protection Agency, according to two people familiar with the decision-making process.

The expected appointment for deputy EPA administrator is a turnaround from last month when the White House was poised to tap Jeff Holmstead, a former top EPA official under President George W. Bush. Holmstead is considered to be a more moderate conservative compared to Wheeler and other officials inside the Trump administration.



Read more: https://www.axios.com/top-coal-lobbyist-expected-to-be-no-2-at-epa-2463196099.html

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I give up.

Source: Washington Post

The White House has tapped David J. Apol, general counsel of the Office of Government Ethics, to serve as the agency's acting director and temporarily succeed Walter M. Shaub Jr., who in the last six months of his tenure emerged as an outspoken critic of Trump administration.

Apol, who has been OGE's general counsel since 2014, previously served as a counsel at the U.S. Trade Representative and in the Clinton White House. He will run the agency until President Trump nominates a permanent director, who will have to be confirmed by the Senate.

In selecting Apol, the White House elevated him over Shaub's chief of staff and designated successor, Shelley K. Finlayson, who had been serving in that role since Shaub stepped down Tuesday.

The move was viewed with concern by some government watchdog groups, who questioned why the administration did not leave Finlayson in place while it searched for a permanent director.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/07/21/white-house-taps-new-acting-ethics-chief-elevating-general-counsel-over-chief-of-staff/?utm_term=.330e587b0f51

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Where does this end??

Can someone clarify for me?

When Mueller was hired? Or last year with Comey and Mueller just took over?

An entertaining read.

https://cohen.house.gov/sites/cohen.house.gov/files/documents/Resolution%20of%20No%20Confidence%20in%20Donald%20J.%20Trump.pdf

Inside Trump Family's Turmoil Amid Russia Scandal: Don Jr. Is 'Miserable' and Wants 'These Four Years to Be Over'

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/inside-trump-familys-turmoil-amid-russia-scandal-don-jr-is-miserable-and-wants-these-four-years-to-be-over/ar-AAoq1xR?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartandhp

Really, does anyone actually feel sorry for him?

Source: Politico

STATE DEPARTMENT LOSES TOP CYBER OFFICIAL — The global cybersecurity community is still struggling to process the news that Christopher Painter, the Trump administration’s top cyber diplomat, will leave his State Department job at the end of the month, as Eric first reported on Monday. Painter, the coordinator for cyber issues at State, has been leading American delegations to international cyber meetings since 2011, negotiating joint agreements with other countries on issues like protecting critical infrastructure and developing cyber norms. “Chris has been a tireless defender of American interests in cyberspace,” Jason Healey, a senior cyber researcher at Columbia University, told MC, “flying hundreds of thousands of miles a year to push our views of freedom online, conduct countless bilateral meetings with allies and friends and [champion] international engagement in multilateral settings.”

“The U.S. government didn’t have many like Chris,” Healey said, “and his departure will be a major loss.” Painter previously served in top cyber roles at the National Security Council, the FBI and the Justice Department. He may return to DOJ, where he is technically an employee on detail to State. DOJ did not respond to a request for comment on his status. “Chris will be hard to replace,” said James Lewis, a cyber expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “This will be an easy one to mess up.” Michael Sulmeyer, a former senior Pentagon cyber policy official, told MC that Painter accumulated invaluable experience in his previous jobs. “You weren’t just ‘working with State,’” he said of interagency meetings with Painter. “He and his colleagues understood the broader concerns and priorities of everyone else in the room.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/tipsheets/morning-cybersecurity/2017/07/18/top-state-cyber-official-to-exit-leaving-myriad-questions-221386

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EVERYONE should be very alarmed by this, especially considering the current debacle with Russia.

The State Department’s top cyber official will leave his position at the end of this month. 

Chris Painter, appointed the department’s coordinator for cyber issues in 2011 during the Obama administration, will leave the State Department at the end of July.

http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/342380-state-department-cyber-official-to-leave-post

Ok, this was yesterday's news, but somehow I must of missed it on DU.

I saw that they were also leaving the war crimes division abandoned. But this?? Why this?? With everything going on right now, why this? Obvious, in your face, blatant, they can do whatever they want, the red flags are up...What the hell is going on??

I put together a list of meetings, in which have "came out," not sure if I'm missing any. But after ALL of these meetings, which all were previously not been reported. Are we supposed to believe that no more meetings happened? And if they didn't, what about through email, phone, skype, or pigeon carrier??

2013 – Carter Page met with Russian spies
January, 2016 – Erik Prince met with Russian officials in Seychelles
April, 2016 – Trump met with Sergey Kislyak
June 9, 2016 – Trump Jr, Manafort, and Kushner all met with Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya who was in contact with top Russian prosecutor as well as Rinat Akhmetshin, Russian lobbyist
July, 2016 – Sessions met with Ambassador Sergey Kislyak
July 2016 – J.D. Gordon, Carter Page, and Walid Phares met with Sergey Kislyak
August 2016 – Ivanka Trump vacationed with Putin’s girlfriend, Wendi Deng Murdoch
August 2016 – Manafort met with Konstanin Kilimnik, Ukrainian business man
September, 2016 – Sessions met with Ambassador Sergey Kislyak
December, 2016 – Kushner met with Ambassador Sergey Kislyak
December 2016 – Kushner and Flynn met with Sergey Gorkov, chairman of Russia’s state-ran bank.