Frustrated/Angry DJT taps Uncle Sam $$ for Mar-a-Lago trips

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—

because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) was a prominent Protestant pastor who emerged as an outspoken public foe of Adolf Hitler and spent the last seven years of Nazi rule in concentration camps.

GSE Cats and Dogs; Yay Jeff, Boo Jeff

I cannot get excited over a right wing radio jock Alex Jones’ “proof” –the research/writing of Dr. Jerome Corsi--the Obama Administration used GSE dividends to pay for the Obama Healthcare initiative. Big whoop!!!

Jerome Corsi: Obama Robbed Private Investors To Fund Obamacare - Youtube

Where the GSE money went—since once it goes to the Treasury it becomes fungible along with billions of dollars in other revenue and can be used for any federal expenditure—is less important than unwinding the dubious government justification which allowed the GSE earnings to be Treasury-swept.

The world still awaits the first federal judge to rule against the government for that expropriation of shareholders’ money.

Do you think this GOP Congress would be concerned if the “drop in the bucket” GSE quarterly dividends paid for DJT’s Mexican Wall, more combat SEALS, bigger Navy ships, corporate tax cuts, or massive infrastructure works??

Mnuchin’s Treasury and OMB—which will be looking for money all over town—and the Republican-controlled Congress (just as the Democrats did before them) won’t give a major fig who's money goes to cover what will be major deficit spending.

Anyone who thinks, because Alex Jones is a super conservative, his GSE words will have serious weight with the congressional Republicans lives in a naïve political realm and doesn’t grasp federal budgeting.

If the Hill believed in the GSE model, of course they would use Corsi-Jones support evidence, but since they don’t, they won’t.

DC just doesn’t work that way.

Now, if someone wants to spend a few million dollars and pummel the local airwaves with TV and radio advertising, supplemented by newspaper op-eds and full page ads, drawing a direct line between the “sweep” and Dr. Corsi’s charge regarding Obama’s use of the GSEs’ money, a GOP eye or two might arch upwards, but until that happens…..nada, especially when it sinks in for most of the R Congress that it will need unorthodox revenue methods to pay for Trump’s proposed budget.

Oh the Corsi work will come up--and has in other venues--but it won’t amount to a hill of beans. Think Judge Douglas Ginsburg or Judge Patricia Millett and decide whether either could be flipped by the Corsi/Jones revelation?

As I remind my hopeful friends, “There are no GSE silver bullets.”

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“Can Carney, now at Breitbart, Do Damage?”

Here was my answer to that question asked of me last week.

“I am sure Carney will have some anti-GSE influence with some in the Trump Admin, but--ironically--if the Trump Admin/Treasury moves on a GSE resolution, my first thought is that it will be some version of making Mnuchin's "release them appropriately capitalized," meaning it will be a systemic mortgage market decision not ideological based on Mnuchin's experience.”

The opposition still will be there and doing whatever they can do to frustrate it, but that hasn't changed (with Carney’s move). 

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Five Stars--Professor Richard Epstein (ICYMT)

Speaking of Judge Ginsburg (and Judge Millett) Richard Epstein flays their Appeals Court decision in this superb and well-argued article. As I have found with all of Epstein’s columns, it is a wonderful read and hopefully graces the ears of some legal panel (only two judicial apple bites left, unfortunately) and gets through to their cranial decision making apparatus.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardepstein/2017/03/03/d-c-circuit-

refuses-to-see-limits-to-government-power-and-inexcusably-upholds-the-net-worth-sweep/#4b4a169a4167 

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My Quick GSE summation; again, I’m not a lawyer and--as always--I could be as wrong as Hell, but...!!

Things to watch and question.

We lost the appeals ruling to some degree of Ginsburg perfidy or just the same-o, same-o height and depth of the GSE Shit Wall.

There remains a handful of other GSE cases and in all preceding ones, Judges have pretty much ruled like Lamberth; but as long as those other cases remain, there is some hope that plaintiffs can find a Judge who will read the law and consider, deeply, what their lawyers (read Epstein, again) have been saying.

The next big play is Mnuchin’s vow to get the GSEs out of government control, properly capitalized, and privately owned. Right now, the Treasury Secretary seems caught up in a half dozen other government matters elbowing Fannie and Freddie out of the way. 

While we still will be serenaded by Capitol Hill’s “atomize the GSEs” and its echo-responding media Amen chorus, I don’t think that noise will interfere with whatever Mnuchin/Trump want to do, although the congressional, trade, and business bad guys will bleat and issue threatening press releases.

One worrisome possibility to watch for is the next time—in the remaining GSE cases--a DoJ lawyer proposes some delay or throws  sand in the legal gears. Then, we have to loudly ask why/how DJT/Sessions/Mnuchin are letting those things occur?

Or maybe Admin stalwarts, Ackman, Berkowitz, Paulson, Cohn, Icahn, and others can ask, “Who the *&^%$#@ is making GSE policy, why and where, and what’s their objective?”

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AG Jeff Sessions’ Recusal Isn't Enough;

The Nation Needs a Special Prosecutor;

And The President Should “Flynn” Jeff

Former Alabama Republican Senator and now Attorney General Jeff Sessions, probably lied to his old Senate colleagues/friends during his nomination hearing, when he said that he had no contact with Russian official during the Trump campaign (to which he was both a political advisor and early supporter).

The Department of Justice confirmed at least two meetings after several media outlets reported it.

Both meetings were with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak, one in the Senator’s office and a second at a Heritage Foundation event. Kislyak reportedly is the senior most US-based Russian spy or one of its top agents.

(It’s laughable to me that a hack schlemiel like Sessions—made AG in a political payoff--thinks he can out con a Russian con man, extraordinaire. “Hey Serg, wanna bet that Rusky cotton ain’t as good as our’n in Alabammy?”)

Sessions lying doesn’t shock or surprise me, no matter how the White House tries to defend and spin it. Remember, it was GOP doubt and anger which drove the AG’s recusal.

The situation demands a Special Prosecutor and, hopefully, a Sessions removal.

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DJT Now Should do a “Flynn” on Sessions

Sessions likely will stay in his job—unless things get much hotter/tighter for him--since Trump will find it embarrassing to dump the first US Senator who supported him; but DJT could/should “Flynn” Sessions.

Trump’s first National Security Director Michael Flynn lied to VP Pence—about the same type of Russian meeting hijinks--and it cost Flynn his new job; Sessions lied to the Senate about his Russian meetings and it should cost him his.

It’s not as if Sessions is a top end legal mind. His intellect, character, and racial history fall short of what are desirable qualities in the nation’s top legal official. (Read Coretta Scott King’s 1986 Session’s letter in this W. Post article.)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/01/10/read-the-letter-coretta-scott-king-wrote-opposing-sessionss-1986-federal-nomination/?utm_term=.b53712396a70

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Sour Note re Sessions?

Additionally—as many people in DC and elsewhere know or have heard—after DJT’s election, there were very disturbing rumors* swirling about Sessions’ personal behavior in Alabama in the 1970’s and 1980’s, which—if true—should have disqualified him from any appointed office, let alone being named Attorney General.

(*I’ll call it rumor unless it gets substantiated. Until then, it’s just an ugly story that hopefully is not accurate.)

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For several reasons, Sessions is shaky and looks like a political problem-magnet.

If President Trump—and his advisers—were smart, they would use his “lies to the Senate” as an excuse to drop Sessions and replace him with someone more up to the Attorney General’s job, possibly one of the other judges DJT had his short list for the SCOTUS, when he nominated Judge Gorsuch.

Using Mike Flynn’s clumsy Russian treatment as the rationale to bring in H.R. McMaster, somebody arguably a better fit, the President could do the same thing with Jeff Sessions.

Dropping Sessions like a hot rock because, embarrassingly he lied to the Senate, allows Trump to bring in someone better (laying the blame understandably on Sessions), plus facilitate getting Sessions a cushy well-paying job somewhere in the GOP business world, making everyone happy.

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Russia Needs More/Better US Scrutiny

One last point on Congress, Russia and President Trump.

Again, my Putin views are well known but I can’t believe many on Capitol Hill, in either political party, see the Russians as anything but obdurate obstructionists, anti-US wannabes, not friendly to US global friends or interests, all around butt holes, and a government sitting near the top of its US enemies list.

Yet our President, his family, some of his cabinet Secretaries and closest advisers have had multiple contacts with Russia and, as a presidential candidate, rump couldn’t’ say enough good things about Vlad Putin.

Trump Inc., managed by sons Eric and Donny Jr, is hot to do business over there and, if you believe Eric, already has made lots of money from Russia.

And the GOP Congress yawns in their DJT stupor.

Is it because DJT’s a Republican and/or the R Congress doesn’t believe Russia/Putin are threats any longer? Or is it because they ignore history and fool themselves and think Russians are just like minded White Europeans, who share US domestic aspirations?

What if Trump Inc. had extensive business contacts with Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Pakistan, Saudi Arabia? (Can anyone on Capitol Hill claim Trump Inc. doesn’t have them since nobody in Trump world will discuss in detail its comprehensive international business connections?)

Would Congress be any more vexed, if the Trump family was doing business with “them Muslim Arab guys?” Probably not.

As I noted earlier, the entire smarmy Russian mess screams for a “Special Prosecutor.

The SC is needed not to put people in jail but to reach and get at facts and records with no political interference.

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Connect the dots.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/03/04/why-charles-schumer-meeting-vladimir-putin-doesnt-prove-president-trump-innocent/?utm_term=.bc7b5f7681cd

Maloni, 3-6-2017