[Home]  [Headlines]  [Latest Articles]  [Latest Comments]  [Post]  [Sign-in]  [Mail]  [Setup]  [Help] 

Status: Not Logged In; Sign In

Gunman Ambushes Border Patrol Agents In Texas Amid Anti-ICE Rhetoric From Democrats

Texas Flood

Why America Built A Forest From Canada To Texas

Tucker Carlson Interviews President of Iran Mosoud Pezeshkian

PROOF Netanyahu Wants US To Fight His Wars

RAPID CRUSTAL MOVEMENT DETECTED- Are the Unusual Earthquakes TRIGGER for MORE (in Japan and Italy) ?

Google Bets Big On Nuclear Fusion

Iran sets a world record by deporting 300,000 illegal refugees in 14 days

Brazilian Women Soccer Players (in Bikinis) Incredible Skills

Watch: Mexico City Protest Against American Ex-Pat 'Invasion' Turns Viole

Kazakhstan Just BETRAYED Russia - Takes gunpowder out of Putin’s Hands

Why CNN & Fareed Zakaria are Wrong About Iran and Trump

Something Is Going Deeply WRONG In Russia

329 Rivers in China Exceed Flood Warnings, With 75,000 Dams in Critical Condition

Command Of Russian Army 'Undermined' After 16 Of Putin's Generals Killed At War, UK Says

Rickards: Superintelligence Will Never Arrive

Which Countries Invest In The US The Most?

The History of Barbecue

‘Pathetic’: Joe Biden tells another ‘tall tale’ during rare public appearance

Lawsuit Reveals CDC Has ZERO Evidence Proving Vaccines Don't Cause Autism

Trumps DOJ Reportedly Quietly Looking Into Criminal Charges Against Election Officials

Volcanic Risk and Phreatic (Groundwater) eruptions at Campi Flegrei in Italy

Russia Upgrades AGS-17 Automatic Grenade Launcher!

They told us the chickenpox vaccine was no big deal—just a routine jab to “protect” kids from a mild childhood illness

Pentagon creates new military border zone in Arizona

For over 200 years neurological damage from vaccines has been noted and documented

The killing of cardiologist in Gaza must be Indonesia's wake-up call

Marandi: Israel Prepares Proxies for Next War with Iran?

"Hitler Survived WW2 And I Brought Proof" Norman Ohler STUNS Joe Rogan

CIA Finally Admits a Pyschological Warfare Agent from the Agency “Came into Contact” with Lee Harvey Oswald before JFK’s Assassination


Dead Constitution
See other Dead Constitution Articles

Title: What Ever Happened to Draining the Swamp?
Source: by author
URL Source: [None]
Published: Jun 1, 2017
Author: Stephen Lendman
Post Date: 2017-06-01 12:47:17 by Stephen Lendman
Keywords: None
Views: 149
Comments: 1

What Ever Happened to Draining the Swamp?

by Stephen Lendman

Trump filled it with hawkish generals, billionaires like himself and neocons - serving Wall Street, war-profiteers, and other corporate interests at the expense of vitally needed social change.

Ignoring his Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Appointees EO, he granted waivers to at least 16 administration staffers - including chief White House strategist Steve Bannon, White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway, and four former lobbyists among others.

With certain restrictions, presumably they’re no longer banned from lobbying any US government official for two years after returning to private life, and the administration they worked in for five years.

They’re free after government service to lobby on behalf of any foreign government or political parties.

It’s likely OK for them accept gifts from registered lobbyists or lobbying organizations while performing public service - all of the above prohibited by Trump’s January EO.

The order is supposed to be “enforceable…by any legally available means,” including “debarment proceedings within any affected executive agency or civil judicial proceedings for declaratory, injunctive, or monetary relief.”

Instead of the EO applying to all White House staffers as announced, it excludes ones Trump wants exempted from its provisions - making a mockery of swamp draining, along with a rogue’s gallery of officials he appointed to high administration posts.

In response to his latest broken promise, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington executive director Noah Bookbinder issued a statement saying:

His “administration is chock full of senior officials working on issues on which they lobbied, meeting with companies in which they have a financial interest, or working closely with former employers.”

“No one has believed for months that this president or his administration had any interest in ethics, but these waivers make clear the remarkable extent to which they are comfortable mixing their own personal interests with the country’s. It’s no wonder they waited for the cover of night to release them.”

Waivers were broad in scope, leaving lots of wiggle room for designated individuals to operate free from accountability for compromising the letter and spirit of Trump’s ethics EO.

An administration spokesman said “(t)he White House has voluntarily released the ethics waivers as part of the president’s commitment to the American people to be transparent.”

“The White House Counsel’s Office worked closely with all White House officials to avoid conflicts arising from their former places of employment or investment holdings.”

“To the furthest extent possible, counsel worked with each staffer to recuse from conflicting conduct rather than being granted waivers, which has led to the limited number of waivers being issued.”

According to Public Citizen’s president Robert Weissman, “for the Trump White House, even its own highly touted ethics rules are no more than an inconvenience to be waived aside if they interfere with corporate business as usual.”

His waivers show “both the corporate takeover of the government and the Trump administration’s utter disregard for ethical standards.”

Announcing them late Wednesday night is the latest example exposing swamp draining fantasy.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.   His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."   http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html   Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.   Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

Post Comment   Private Reply   Ignore Thread  


TopPage UpFull ThreadPage DownBottom/Latest

#1. To: Stephen Lendman (#0)

Tramp lied to you and the rest of the sheeple, wake the frell up, your lord and god has lied and has reversed himself dozens of time.

Darkwing  posted on  2017-06-02   15:00:23 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


TopPage UpFull ThreadPage DownBottom/Latest


[Home]  [Headlines]  [Latest Articles]  [Latest Comments]  [Post]  [Sign-in]  [Mail]  [Setup]  [Help]