Last week, I spent a few days in southeast Georgia with my
family. I was “turned off” and “tuned
out” from my usual diet of cable news ten to twelve hours a day. Arriving back home and turning on the news, I
was overcome with angst. There was so
much craziness for me to catch up on, it was too much for my mind to
comprehend. It seemed the level of chaos
and turmoil had doubled in a short time. With Trump as President, it’s true, “if
you miss a day, you miss a lot.”
FIRST, THERE was
the story of the caravans of evil migrants headed to the Mexico/US border that
Trump learned about while watching Fox and Friends. It took us days to find out what was really
going on with the caravans. In the
meantime, Trump calls for sending armed troops to the border and accuses the migrants
of wanting to take advantage of DACA. (huh?)
If only Trump had read or listened to his Daily Security Briefing he
would not have had such a knee-jerk reaction.
However, that’s his preferred way to deal with everything and create
fear.
THE ENVIRONMENTAL
Protection Agency (EPA) Head, Scott Pruitt, had at least two scandals a day
last week. Pruitt rented a room from a
lobbyist who represented companies Pruitt was supposed to be regulating. That’s normally a no-no for a cabinet
official. He also got the room on the
cheap. George and I visited Washington,
D.C. twice a year for many years and our room sometimes cost as much as $200
per night. I did not know we could have
gotten a room in a luxurious condo for the going market rate of $50 as Pruitt
claims and Trump affirmed. It was such a good deal, after months of use, Pruitt
refused to vacate and the owner had to change the locks. That’s sleazy!
IT WAS revealed
that Pruitt has 18 full time security agents working 24/7, even when Pruitt is
not on duty. This is triple that of
other EPA administrators. Pruitt insists
on First Class air travel for he and his security staff because people say
things to him. I venture a bet that prior to these scandals being unearthed
recently, Scott Pruitt could have walked the streets of New York or Forsyth,
Georgia, and no one would have recognized him. Now we know he is paranoid. He built a $43,000 soundproof booth in his
office. That begs the question, what is
he afraid someone will hear? Security
agents guard his office door in addition to the security to get into the
building. His receptionist is surrounded
by bullet-proof glass.
PRUITT, MEMBERS of
his staff, and of course, his security detail, flew to Morocco to lobby the
government to buy liquid natural gas (LNG).
Clearly not his “yob, mon” except that his $50 room was compliments of
the LNG lobbyist. The meeting was only for one day. Pruitt and his staff had a night’s lay-over
in Paris and somehow missed their flight the next morning. Too bad.
They had to stay in Paris for another day and night at a $44,000 cost to
taxpayers.
WHEN THE White
House denied Pruitt’s request to give two staffers from Oklahoma gi-normous
salary increases, one $24k and the other $58k, Pruitt would not be deterred. He
gave them the raise with money allocated for scientists through the Clean Drinking
Water Act. When questioned about this,
he said he did not know about it before it became public. Documents were produced showing he signed off
on the raises. So, we now know he’s a
liar. It appears Pruitt cares less about
taxpayer resources than he does protecting the environment (if that’s possible.)
SO FAR, Trump
seems inclined not to fire him. After
all, he’s doing such a great job of destroying all the progress made to protect
our environment in the past. A lackey of that caliber would be hard to replace.
Just last week, he moved to lower auto fuel-economy standards that Obama set in
place to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
Trump needs to fire Scott Pruitt, if for no other reason than we cannot
afford him!
I WISH Fox News
would explain to Trump the meaning of “Drain the Swamp.” They are the only ones he listens to nowadays. The only draining of the swamp he is doing is
replacing one creature with another.
Every time he fires someone, he replaces them with someone worse. The
pond scum is getting so thick, you can’t stir it with a stick.
one sitting.
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