Swamp Watch News

The Off-Topic forum for anything non-LDS related, such as sports or politics. Rated PG through PG-13.
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_EAllusion
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Re: Swamp Watch News

Post by _EAllusion »

https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigrat ... story.html

That this Trump corruption story isn't getting more run is a testament to how broken the media environment is. We're to the point where worse than Teapot Dome level scandals are backpage stuff.
_subgenius
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Re: Swamp Watch News

Post by _subgenius »

EAllusion wrote:https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/north-dakota-company-that-trump-touted-gets-400-million-border-wall-contract/2019/12/02/9c661132-1568-11ea-bf81-ebe89f477d1e_story.html

That this Trump corruption story isn't getting more run is a testament to how broken the media environment is. We're to the point where worse than Teapot Dome level scandals are backpage stuff.

A big so what?...A President pushing for or against a private entity is nothing new...and especially under the circumstances here where there is not significant or even tangible link to the President. So while I understand the persistence of your #TDS, it should be noted that the bigger story here is North Dakota and how businesses are allowed to exist in that State, a unique legislative environment indeed.
Seek freedom and become captive of your desires...seek discipline and find your liberty
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_EAllusion
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Re: Swamp Watch News

Post by _EAllusion »

subgenius wrote:A big so what?...A President pushing for or against a private entity is nothing new...


Oh yeah, it's routine for the President of the US to personally commandeer Pentagon contracting against its wishes for the purpose of funneling hundreds of millions of dollars to personal donors. It's so routine that you'll be listing multiple examples of this happening any minute now.
_subgenius
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Re: Swamp Watch News

Post by _subgenius »

EAllusion wrote:
subgenius wrote:A big so what?...A President pushing for or against a private entity is nothing new...


Oh yeah, it's routine for the President of the US to personally commandeer Pentagon contracting against its wishes for the purpose of funneling hundreds of millions of dollars to personal donors. It's so routine that you'll be listing multiple examples of this happening any minute now.

CFR the "personal commandeering" in this context.
Lest your hyperbolic hair fire go by the way of the last 36 months of baseless accusations founded upon the great butt-hurt of 2016.
Seek freedom and become captive of your desires...seek discipline and find your liberty
I can tell if a person is judgmental just by looking at them
what is chaos to the fly is normal to the spider - morticia addams
If you're not upsetting idiots, you might be an idiot. - Ted Nugent
_Icarus
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Re: Swamp Watch News

Post by _Icarus »

Trump Has Now Shifted $1.7 Million From Campaign Donors To His Private Business

https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexand ... d2466f77f7

Move along. Nothing to see here.
"One of the hardest things for me to accept is the fact that Kevin Graham has blonde hair, blue eyes and an English last name. This ugly truth blows any arguments one might have for actual white supremacism out of the water. He's truly a disgrace." - Ajax
_canpakes
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Re: Swamp Watch News

Post by _canpakes »

President Trump’s “repeated public and behind-the-scenes attacks” against Amazon led the Pentagon to choose a lesser bid from Microsoft for a massive cloud computing contract that officials have labeled a crucial national security priority, Amazon alleged in a complaint made public Monday.

The e-commerce giant’s protest of the $10 billion, 10-year contract alleges that Trump’s stated efforts to “screw Amazon” led the agency to opt for a proposal from Microsoft with “clear failures.” Amazon pointed to a series of alleged errors and an 11th-hour policy change as evidence that the Defense Department failed to follow the rules. And it said Trump’s alleged meddling with defense spending for personal gain threatens the integrity of the government procurement system itself.

“Basic justice requires reevaluation of proposals and a new award decision,” Amazon wrote. “The stakes are high. The question is whether the President of the United States should be allowed to use the budget of DoD to pursue his own personal and political ends.”

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos also owns The Washington Post.

The Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI, contract was awarded to Microsoft on Oct. 25 after more than a year of speculation that Amazon was the only capable bidder.

The filing cites direct intervention from Trump in early August. At the time, Amazon alleged that Trump directed new defense secretary Mark T. Esper “to conduct an ‘independent’ examination” of the cloud contract award, citing several news articles.

“President Trump’s improper direct intervention, its upending of the procurement, and the President’s personal goal of preventing AWS [Amazon Web Services] from receiving the JEDI Contract were widely reported at the time,” Amazon’s filing alleges.

A White House spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
_canpakes
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Re: Swamp Watch News

Post by _canpakes »

Trump’s management of his version of swamp leaves a bit to be desired:

The U.S. government deficit spiked 12 percent to $342 billion during the first two months of fiscal year 2020, according to data from the Congressional Budget Office.

The CBO says the U.S. budget deficit will average $1.2 trillion a year from 2020 to 2029, amounting to 4.4 percent to 4.8 percent of gross domestic product.

During October and November, revenue rose 3 percent from a year ago to $471 billion. Receipts from individual and payroll taxes climbed 4 percent, or $17 billion, while receipts from corporate income taxes were up 14 percent, or $1 billion. Receipts from other sources, such as excise taxes and customs duties, fell 11 percent, or $5 billion.

Meanwhile, expenditures rose 6 percent to $813 billion during the first two months of the fiscal year, which runs from October through September. Spending on mandatory programs, such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, was up $22 billion, or 7 percent. Outlays for military programs of the Department of Defense climbed 7 percent, or $8 billion, while Department of Education spending climbed $3 billion, or 25 percent.

The federal deficit was $587 billion when President Trump took office in January 2017, and had ballooned to $984 billion in 2019.

The national debt is now more than $23.1 trillion, according to usdebtclock.org.

Jonathan Garber - FOX Business
_canpakes
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Re: Swamp Watch News

Post by _canpakes »

Wait ... how much jewelry is Trump’s director for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services wearing to ‘work functions’ that she was requesting taxpayers needed to reimburse her for? : D

A top Trump health appointee sought to have taxpayers reimburse her for the costs of jewelry, clothing and other possessions, including a $5,900 Ivanka Trump-brand pendant, that were stolen while in her luggage during a work-related trip, according to documents obtained by POLITICO.

Seema Verma, who runs the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, filed a $47,000 claim for lost property on Aug. 20, 2018, after her bags were stolen while she was giving a speech in San Francisco the prior month. The property was not insured, Verma wrote in her filing to the Health and Human Services department.

The federal health department ultimately reimbursed Verma $2,852.40 for her claim, a CMS spokesperson said.

Verma’s claim included $43,065 for about two dozen pieces of jewelry, based off an appraisal she'd received from a jeweler about three weeks after the theft. Among Verma's stolen jewelry was an Ivanka Trump-brand pendant, made of gold, prasiolite and diamonds, that Verma’s jeweler valued at $5,900.

Verma’s claim also included about $2,000 to cover the cost of her stolen clothes and another $2,000 to cover the cost of other stolen goods, including a $325 claim for moisturizer and a $349 claim for noise-cancelling headphones.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, which includes CMS, said the department has a longstanding policy of paying for certain goods when they are lost during a work trip, so long as they “are not inherently for other uses,” which is why Verma was partially reimbursed.

"When paying for such goods, the department pays a discounted rate based on age for the items that were lost," the spokesperson said. "It’s perfectly appropriate that the administrator filed a personal property loss claim for goods stolen while on work travel and this is not an unusual practice for federal employees."

But the department is expressly prohibited from reimbursing staff for lost items like jewelry, the spokesperson said.

The news of the large request for stolen luxury items comes at a time of unusual scrutiny for Verma, who formerly served as a consultant to then-Indiana Gov. Mike Pence in Indiana and has led CMS since March 2017. The $1 trillion health agency administers Medicare, the nation’s health insurance program for seniors; Medicaid, the program for low-income Americans; and Obamacare, among other programs.

Verma has been engaged in an acrimonious feud with HHS Secretary Alex Azar that has spilled over into policy matters and prompted separate closed-door meetings for each official with Vice President Pence. Her spending of taxpayer money has also been under scrutiny by the HHS inspector general, after POLITICO reported in March about her extensive use of outside public relations consultants, some of whom worked to burnish Verma’s personal brand.
_canpakes
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Re: Swamp Watch News

Post by _canpakes »

Not unexpected ...

Federal prosecutors charged yesterday evening that Lev Parnas, an associate of President Trump who represented him in Ukraine, was wired $1 million from a Russian bank account weeks before his arrest. Which is to say, Trump’s Ukraine plot appears to have been financed by Russia.


Read more at -

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/12/ ... money.html
_EAllusion
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Re: Swamp Watch News

Post by _EAllusion »

Letting murderers out of prison in exchange for money seems bad, but what do I know?
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