Federal officials, other than the president and vice-president, are prohibited from engaging in political activities. The Office of the Special Counsel is investigating Betsy DeVos, writes Politico, because she attacked Democratic candidate Joe Biden during a FOX News interview.
DeVos would become one of the most high-profile Trump officials known to have been investigated for violating the Hatch Act. Depending on what OSC finds, she would be the second member of the Trump Cabinet to be found to have violated the law. At least 12 Trump senior officials have violated the Hatch Act, according to the OSC, the independent agency that probes possible violations. In most cases, the office decided that the violation was minor enough to merit only a warning letter. Only one case, that of former senior counselor Kellyanne Conway, was sent to President Donald Trump for action, and he didn’t act on it.
Why do I imagine that Trump will overlook this breach of the law? The law is what he says it is, right?
When President Betsy does it, it is not illegal.
That is President Batsy, not Betsy
Dr. Rex. Come on now. Betsy is rich, so of course for her it is not illegal.
Remember what Bill Barr has had carved above the entrance to the Department of Legal Counsel for Trump, formerly the DOJ:
“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”
Guys: The name is Ditzy DeVoid.
She is indeed Betsy, but she also thinks she is President.
“Guys: The name is Ditzy DeVoid.”
I really like David’s name for her–Batsy.
Diane Yes, the only way Trump can BE “the law and order president” and be consistent is if he IS THE LAW.
This, of course, makes the law, instead of being rooted in The Constitution and in our history of honoring it and all that flows from it, rooted in the arbitrary whim of Donald Trump.
Otherwise, the inconsistency between (a) the law-and-order claim and (b) his ignoring the Constitution and regularly breaking the law screams of the Trump hypocrisy. . . . but apparently, for many of his followers, even THAT doesn’t matter, at least not yet. CBK
The only way Trump can BE “the law and order president” and be consistent is if he IS THE LAW.
I guess you missed the Roundtable Discussion on Law and Order at the Repugnican National Trump LoveFest 2020 featuring the indicted and imprisoned former Trump maladministration staffers, CBK. Quite the event. The sheer number of them was QUITE impressive! And the big Zoom screen from prison cells around the country–that was something to see!
He’s the “law and order of fries” President
DeVos and the US Department of Education she leads, have spent the entire pandemic running a political campaign attacking public schools and public school students and promoting private schools.
It explains why they haven’t gotten anything done for public school students.
We pay thousands of ed reformers in government and they return no value at all to the 90% of students and families who attend public schools. If public school students are mentioned at all they’re mentioned only to be compared unfavorably to private school students.
The standard excuse for the lack of interest in and effort expended on public school students is that schools are “local” but of course private schools are local too, and somehow the ed reform echo chamber manage to spend all their working hours promoting vouchers, so it’s another nonsense excuse to cover their ideological preference. Our schools and students are simply not fashionable in policy circles and it doesn’t matter that they comprise the vast majority of schools and students. No one feels the need to perform any work at all on their behalf, and this is not only accepted in ed reform, it’s celebrated.
just a fantasy perhaps, but imagine this last part turned completely around so that the huge focus becomes a need to perform for public schools
If the 90% of students and families in public schools get any attention or effort at all in this pandemic it will only be because ed reformers succeed in conditioning aid to public schools on the addition of a huge national voucher program.
Our schools and students are only useful or valuable to this “movement” as a mechanism to reach their goals on charters and vouchers. No one affirmatively works on behalf of our students- they’re the students ed reform will grudgingly provide some assistance for in return for funding the schools they prefer.
All ed reform efforts are designed and measured by how they affect charters and vouchers. Public schools and public school students are the disfavored “default” they must reluctantly deal with in order to reach their privatization goals.
Trump appoints the BEST people!! Right? I’m sure Fox approved of DeVos attacking Biden.
I don’t recall Obama having so many of his appointees being investigated and so many ending up in prison.
The “Blessed and the Blightest”
Betsy is a perfect example.
The Bets and the Blightest
Trump and his deplorables thumb their noses at the law while he preaches “law and order” to his cult. His administration has been a revolving door of indictments for his minions. Laws like taxes are for “the little people.”
exactly
This just in: Walter A. Smurf, entry-level clerk in the Department of Housing and Urban Development, was fired Tuesday for being the only employee of the Trump maladministration not to violate the Hatch Act. In an exclusive interview with Shepherding the News (STN), Mr. Smurf recounts his experience:
SMURF: Well, my supervisor called me in for my review. She said, “It’s come to our attention that you have been with us for two years now and have not yet violated the Hatch Act. You should know that disloyalty is not tolerated in this administration.”
“But violating the Hatch Act is illegal,” I said to her. “You are asking me to do something illegal.”
STN: What did she say then?
SMURF: She just laughed. Well, it was more of a protracted Wicked Witch of the West cackle. Then she explained that when an employee of the Executive Branch violates the Hatch Act, there may or may not be an investigation and, if a violation has occurred, this is referred up the ranks for managerial response, and that at the top of those ranks squats Jabba the Trump himself.
STN: So Trump is policing Trump?
SMURF: Yes. But that’s OK. I hear that InstaCart and Uber and Amazon are hiring. And I had to get out of there. Did you know that these Trump appointees eat their young?
Once again I’m grateful to teachers unions. They are the only entity who lobby on behalf of public schools. If ed reformers succeed in abolishing them, we’ll see even less effort and support expended on public schools at the state and federal level.
What we have now are an ed reform “movement” who utterly dominate education policy and advocate exclusively for vouchers and charters and then teachers unions who advocate for public schools. Without unions 50 million public school students and families wouldn’t even be at the table. Are they “self interested”? Yes, to a certain extent, obviously. But so are the people who work for charters and private schools. I have no idea why one group of lobbyists are assigned selfish and malicious motives and the other two are not, unless it’s ideological.
Trying their level best as always to turn us into Russia 2.0
Did anyone watch FRONTLINE on PBS last night? I thought it was an excellent presentation . . . I learned about the influence of, besides his father and Coen, Norman Vincent Peale and his “Power of Positive Thinking.” That influence suggests at least some of the WHY of what one speaker referred to as Trump’s “toxic optimism.”
I hope they’ll run the program again, as they often do with other Frontline programs. CBK
Catherine King: Hope this comes through.
FRONTLINE
The Choice 2020: Trump vs. Biden
Season 2020 Episode 20
Nope both links didn’t come through. Anyone who wants to see this program probably can Google or DuckDuckGo it.
Carolmalaysia Thank you . . . it is intense. CBK
The Washington Post
News Alert
Sept. 23, 3:42 p.m. EDT
Judge orders Trump’s son Eric to meet with N.Y. attorney general’s office investigators by Oct. 7
Investigators from the New York attorney general’s office have been seeking to interview Eric Trump as part of an investigation into allegations that the Trump Organization improperly manipulated the value of its properties to obtain loans and tax benefits. The president’s son had sought to delay the interview until after Election Day, but the judge’s ruling says he must meet with investigators no later than Oct. 7.
If DeVos is found guilty and sentenced to serve some time in a country club prison built for the wealthy (that means private rooms and bathrooms, tennis courts, golf courses, and no fences), Trump will commute her sentence and/or pardon her for her crimes. Barr may even intervene and force the federal prosectures to drop the case so Trump will not havet have to use his presidential powers to let another fascist low-life go free.
Once that is done, will anyone notice how much she donates to Trump’s re-election campaign or how much she dumpes into a super PAC focused on getting Trump re-elected?
More than 100 teachers in Kenosha, Wis., have called in sick this week to protest their district’s decision to hold in-person classes, forcing some schools to switch to virtual learning.
Chicago Tribune
SEPTEMBER 23, 2020
BREAKING NEWS
President Trump predicts election ‘will end up in the Supreme Court,’ says he wants 9th justice confirmed ahead of Election Day
President Donald Trump says he wants a replacement for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg confirmed to the Supreme Court ahead of Election Day so that a full court can weigh in on any campaign-related litigation.
So there is no punishment for breaking this law,and hence can be broken any time under this administration.
Máté Wierdl: It seems to be a current ‘law’ that this administration can break any law at any time and reporting it is ‘fake news’. Nothing gets checked and the Orange Vile Monster continues to create chaos, lies and spread hatred. It’s all part of having America reach its greatness. /s
Máté Wierdl:: How about this? Guidelines by the FDA have to now be approved by the WH? Remember when medical doctors were astounded by Trump’s innate medical knowledge?
…………………………
FDA ATTEMPT TO TOUGHEN VACCINE STANDARDS SOUNDS POLITICAL, SAYS TRUMP
Trump said he may reject new Food and Drug Administration guidelines that toughen the rules around the emergency approval of a coronavirus vaccine, undercutting the nation’s top scientists who have sought to allay any fears about a rushed approval. “That has to be approved by the White House,” Trump said at a briefing on the potential new guidelines. “We may or may not approve it.” The comments came just hours after four of the country’s top doctors defended the agency’s work and said it was relying on science, not political pressure from the White House. [HuffPost]
This just means that if the analyses do not meet Trump’s political aims, then they must be politically inspired . . . a hoax put on by anti-Trump doctors. It’s the same for every government institution, corporation, whatever, and the persons in them. CBK