A new threat surfaces as hurricane season gets under way. There's nobody in charge.

Courtesy of WTKR: 

Hurricane season began on June 1, and according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the season will be a busy one, with an above-average range of 5-9 hurricanes likely in the Atlantic. 

The United States could be especially vulnerable to hurricane landfalls this year, observers say, but not because of the enhanced activity that is expected. 

The two agencies that protect the country’s coast lines and its residents, NOAA and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) are still without leaders — positions that must be appointed by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the Senate. 

“That should scare the hell out of everybody,” retired US Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré told CNN. “These positions help save lives.”

For their part FEMA and NOAA say they are ready, however with nobody competent at the helm there is still concern that the lack of leadership will negatively impact reaction time.

Anybody remember Katrina?

Now for his part Trump of course is blaming the Democrats.

.@foxandfriends Dems are taking forever to approve my people, including Ambassadors. They are nothing but OBSTRUCTIONISTS! Want approvals.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 5, 2017

But in fact Trump has been exceedingly slow in appointing the necessary personnel in the first place.

 As you can see while the confirmation process IS slower than in previous administrations (For good cause if you ask me.) there are still far fewer appointees to even consider.

And why is that? Take a guess:

“In the vetting process there is a lot of scrutiny of social media accounts, Twitter . . . any hint of something negative about Trump as a candidate can be disqualifying, and a lot of people haven’t made it through that filter,” said Christine Wormuth, who served as the Pentagon’s top policy official from 2014 to 2016, under former President Barack Obama’s administration. 

The investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russian officials is also scaring off people who had been on the fence about joining the administration. Even the opportunity to work under Mattis, who many of the potential picks know and respect, may not be enough. 

“With, frankly, the chaos that is happening, people who might have been open to it are asking themselves ‘Do I want to join this administration? How much of an impact will I have? Will I have to get a lawyer?’” Wormuth said.

So what is Trump doing with his time not spent making appointments to his cabinet, besides tweeting of course?

Funny you should ask.

President Trump is now at his Virginia golf club for the 2nd day in a row. It's his 23rd golf course visit since taking office 19 weeks ago.

— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) June 4, 2017

Yeah, if Trump is looking for somebody to blame for the lack of leadership in key government agencies he need only look in the mirror.

Though I would advise him to only do so while fully dressed.

Because, ick!

The Obama Administration moved swiftly to preserve information about Russian hacking. It's a good thing they did too, since Trump's new AG seems to be compromised as well.

Courtesy of the New York Times:  

In the Obama administration’s last days, some White House officials scrambled to spread information about Russian efforts to undermine the presidential election — and about possible contacts between associates of President-elect Donald J. Trump and Russians — across the government. Former American officials say they had two aims: to ensure that such meddling isn’t duplicated in future American or European elections, and to leave a clear trail of intelligence for government investigators. 

American allies, including the British and the Dutch, had provided information describing meetings in European cities between Russian officials — and others close to Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin — and associates of President-elect Trump, according to three former American officials who requested anonymity in discussing classified intelligence. 

Separately, American intelligence agencies had intercepted communications of Russian officials, some of them within the Kremlin, discussing contacts with Trump associates.

Apparently the Obama administration also made sure to spread the information throughout the intelligence agencies and to politicians on both sides of the aisle "to ensure that as many people as possible inside government could see it, even if people without security clearances could not."

The concern of course was that members of the Trump Administration would be compromised by the Russians and that the investigation would be swept under the rug.

And it appears that they had reason for concern.

Courtesy of the Washington Post: 

Then-Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) spoke twice last year with Russia’s ambassador to the United States, Justice Department officials said, encounters he did not disclose when asked about possible contacts between members of President Trump’s campaign and representatives of Moscow during Sessions’s confirmation hearing to become attorney general. 

One of the meetings was a private conversation between Sessions and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak that took place in September in the senator’s office, at the height of what U.S. intelligence officials say was a Russian cyber campaign to upend the U.S. presidential race.

At this point you might be saying to yourself, "Well this sounds bad, but how bad is it?"

It's this bad.

Here’s the money shot of Sessions lying to Franken (if you believe the WaPo report). pic.twitter.com/0vK12oMed1

— Jamie O'Grady (@JamieOGrady) March 2, 2017

Now of course today Jeff Sessions is denying ever talking to anybody in Russia, knowing how to find Russia on a map, or ever having put Russian dressing on a salad, but he is now with the Trump Administration so what did you expect?

However despite denials, the noose is clearly getting tighter.

Courtesy of the AP: 

White House staffers have been told to preserve any materials related to Russian intervention in the 2016 presidential election, according to The Associated Press. 

The White House counsel’s office handed down the order on Tuesday in a memo to aides, the news wire reported. 

The move comes after Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee asked the White House and law enforcement agencies to keep materials related to Trump associates’ alleged ties to Russia. 

Separately, the Senate Intelligence Committee last month asked federal agencies to keep materials that tie into its investigation into Russian cyber hacking and other efforts to disrupt the election.

Paul Manafort, Carter Page, Mike Flynn, Roger Stone, Rex Tillerson, Jeff Sessions, is there anybody associated with the Trump Administration or campaign NOT compromised by the Russians?

And should we trust ANYBODY that Trump appoints to any cabinet position or opening in the  Supreme Court?

Oh I think you know my answer.

Trump's nominee for Labor Secretary clocks out.

Donald Trump with that hamburger dude.

Courtesy of HuffPo: 

Andy Puzder confirmed Wednesday afternoon that he will pull himself from consideration for labor secretary. He is the first of President Donald Trump’s nominees to not make it through the confirmation process. 

In a statement, Puzder praised the “highly qualified team” of Trump picks that he will no longer be joining. 

“I want to thank President Trump for his nomination,” Puzder said. “I also thank my family, and my many supporters ― employees, businesses, friends and people who have voiced their praise and hopeful optimism for the policies and new thinking I would have brought to America as Secretary of Labor.” 

The move came as support evaporated among Republicans for the former fast-food executive. At least seven Republican senators refused to publicly back the former chief executive of CKE Restaurants, which owns the burger chains Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, as criticism mounted over his hefty stack of labor violations and long-standing support for increased immigration.

This could likely be the response to Oprah Winfrey finding that old footage of Puzder's wife accusing him of being a wife beater.

However I would not be at all surprised to find more of Trump's nominees and cabinets picks suddenly discovering better things that they could do with their time and saying "Thanks, but no thanks."

After all the evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians is getting clearer all of the time, and if I were being considered for a job with his scandal riddled administration I would certainly be aggressively weighing the pros and cons.

And then recognizing that the cons far outweigh the pros.

Personally I am rapidly reaching the conclusion that there will not be a Donald Trump administration to join by the time all of the facts come to light.

So today Donald Trump got just that much closer to destroying public education in America.

This will teach liberals to stay home on election day.

Courtesy of the New York Times:

The Senate confirmed Betsy DeVos on Tuesday as education secretary, approving the embattled nominee only with the help of a historic tiebreaking vote from Vice President Mike Pence. 

The 51-to-50 vote elevates Ms. DeVos — a wealthy donor from Michigan who has devoted much of her life to expanding educational choice through charter schools and vouchers, but has limited experience with the public school system — to be steward of the nation’s schools. 

Two Republicans voted against Ms. DeVos’s confirmation, a sign that some members of President Trump’s party are willing to go against him, possibly foreshadowing difficulty on some of the president’s more contentious legislative priorities. 

It was the first time that a vice president has been summoned to the Capitol to break a tie on a cabinet nomination, according to the Senate historian. Taking the gavel as the vote deadlocked at 50-50, Mr. Pence, a former member of the House, declared his vote for Ms. DeVos before announcing that Mr. Trump’s nominee for education secretary had been confirmed.

This, by the way, was an appointment that DaVos and her family essentially paid for with donations.

Donations from Betsy DaVos and her family.

I think we are supposed to take some solace in the fact that the vote was this close, but in the end DeVos was confirmed and that is all that counts.

I am also hearing some voices suggesting that we should stay calm because the Federal Government can only have so much of an impact on public education, but those people must not have been paying attention to what Bush's NCLB did to our schools and to our teachers.

I lived through all of that and saw first hand the devastating effects that NCLB had on our ability to adequately prepare children for college, their future career path, and for life in general.

In fact we are still recovering.

So yes Betsy DeVos can have an incredibly negative impact on education in this country.

And I imagine that is exactly the kind of impact that she WILL have.

Hey remember when Mitch McConnell was a real stickler for cabinet appointees to have their paperwork finished before any hearings? Yeah neither does he apparently.

Courtesy of Think Progress:  

The Republican-controlled U.S. Senate plans to rush forward this week with confirmation hearings for many of Donald Trump’s nominees for cabinet and other key executive positions. Though many of the picks have not yet completed the customarily required ethics clearances and background checks, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has shown no willingness to delay.

But back in 2009, McConnell took the exact opposite view. A letter to then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), posted on Twitter by Citizens for Responsible Ethics in Washington co-founder and former Obama administration ethics adviser Norm Eisen on Sunday, shows he demanded that “financial disclosures must be complete” before any confirmation hearings be scheduled.

In his letter, McConnell wrote that his party’s duty to “conduct the appropriate review” of presidential nominations, “consistent with the long standing and best practices of committees, regardless of which party is in the majority,” was one it took seriously. “These best practices serve the Senate well,” he added, “and we will insist on their fair and consistent application.” The then-Senate Minority Leader called the financial disclosure process and other ethical steps essential “to fairly review a nominee’s record and to make an informed decision prior to a vote.”

Yep, that ole Mitch McConnell is a by the book kind of guy.

Right up until it inconveniences a president from his party that is.

Finally!

Courtesy of the New York Times:  

After one of the nation’s most protracted cabinet-level confirmation delays, the Senate Thursday approved Loretta E. Lynch to be attorney general. She is the first African-American woman to hold the position. 

Ms. Lynch, the United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York, was confirmed 56 to 43, with 10 Republicans voting for her. 

Her confirmation took longer than that for all but two other nominees for the office: Edwin Meese III, who was nominated by President Ronald Reagan, and A. Mitchell Palmer, who was picked by President Woodrow Wilson, according to the Congressional Research Service. 

Republicans have found themselves in a quandary for months. They longed to replace Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., and they agreed that Ms. Lynch was qualified for the job. But they opposed her because Ms. Lynch defended President Obama’s executive actions on immigration. 

What’s more, Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and majority leader, had held up the nomination until the Senate voted on a human trafficking bill, a process that dragged on for weeks. The measure passed on Wednesday by a vote of 99 to 0.

I think the Republicans really showed their ass on this one.

The idea that they opposed her simply because she agreed with Obama's use of executive orders on immigration does not pass the smell test.

And the fact that she is the first African American woman nominated to the post, and they drug their heels this long, isn't going to do them any favors either.

Update: I forgot to mention that the Senate vote to confirm Lynch was 56 to 43, with only one Senator missing the vote.

That Senator? Ted Cruz.

And that was after he gave this impassioned speech accusing Former Attorney General Eric Holder of "lawlessness" and suggesting that Loretta Lynch represents more of the same.

Yep he was so worried about the "lawlessness" that he missed the vote and flew off to attend a fundraiser instead.

It seems that the Republicans are holding up the confirmation of new Attorney General Loretta Lynch simply out of spite.

Courtesy of the New York Times:  

The Senate will not consider the nomination of Loretta E. Lynch to be attorney general until it moves forward on a stalled human trafficking bill, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, said Sunday. 

“I had hoped to turn to her next week, but if we can’t finish the trafficking bill, she will be put off again,” he said on the CNN program “State of the Union.” 

Mr. McConnell said on Tuesday that he would hold a vote this week on Ms. Lynch’s nomination, which is the next item on the Senate’s agenda and is otherwise unrelated to the human trafficking bill. 

The Senate reached an unexpected stalemate last week on bipartisan legislation that would combat human trafficking when Democrats said they had become aware of an anti-abortion provision in the bill. 

That provision would bar criminal fines collected in a victims’ fund from being used to pay for abortions. Democrats said they would block the bill until Republicans removed the restriction, which Republicans said was in accordance with existing law.

So the Republicans tried to sneak another anti-abortion measure in with a human trafficking bill, and the Democrats caught them. So now as punishment they are refusing to move forward with Lynch's confirmation.

I swear I have seen preschoolers with more effective negotiating skills than demonstrated by this Senate. Well half of this Senate.

So now the confirmation of Loretta Lynch has been delayed for four months now.

Which is really bizarre if you think about it because supposedly the conservatives despise Eric Holder the current Attorney General.

It is almost like they are cutting off their noses to spite their assholes. I'm sorry I meant faces.

When it comes to the Republicans I always get those two mixed up.

And people wonder why this President has now started to circumvent the Congress and to use Executive Orders. It's the only way to get anything done these days.

Breaking news! It looks like Larry Summers is out as possible Fed Chair.

Summers: “I have reluctantly concluded that any possible confirmation process for me would be acrimonious” http://t.co/Z7x9qDPGXv via @WSJ
— Mother Jones (@MotherJones) September 15, 2013

This opens up the slot for the Democrat's favorite choice Janet Yellen, who most agree is far more qualified.

Here is the one sentence explanation for why Yellen is the best choice for the job:

Not that Yellen can predict the twists and turns of the economy with perfect clarity — nobody can — but rather she has consistently shown a deep early understanding of the underlying pressures building in the economy and the scale of their potential consequences. 

I don't really have a dog in this fight but I have paid pretty close attention to what those in the know have to say, and it seems that Janet Yellen has a set of qualities which might serve her very well in the job.

For a list of those click this Washington Post article, which also goes on to explain why some in the Obama administration might be wary of choosing her.

Senior adminstration official confirms that John Kerry WILL be nominated for Secretary of State.

Courtesy of CNN:

President Barack Obama on Friday will nominate Sen. John Kerry, the former presidential candidate who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to be the next secretary of state, a senior administration official told CNN. 

The senior senator from Massachusetts is noted for the experience, gravitas and relationship-building skills that could help him succeed Hillary Clinton, the outgoing top U.S. diplomat. 

Kerry has traveled the globe on behalf of the Obama administration to mend frayed relationships. Most notably, he traveled to Pakistan after a series of incidents, including the raid that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, that had set relations back. 

He has support from Republicans as well as Democrats. The nomination will be sent to the Senate for confirmation. 

You know I hate to second guess the President, because he is so often many moves ahead of all of us, but I have to say that I just really HATE even the perception that the President lost his fight to nominate Susan Rice for this position.

In my current mood I would have relished a knock down drag out fight for that confirmation ,and i have little doubt the President would have won and come out looking stronger for it.

Yes I think John Kerry will do a fine job, but just the fact that John McCain and Lindsey Graham want him in this position bothers me to no end.