Very Important People are Expensive

I've been test-driving used cars for the last week, because the 2014 VW Beetle I've had for less than two years is starting to give up the ghost. At some 65,000 miles, she's starting to show signs of wear. The tires have a nice shine to them, and not in a good way -- in some spots you can barely see the tread on them. The driver's side window sticks. The right side blinker is gone for some reason, and there's a ding on the rear fender right under my "I 💕Cavaliers" magnet. What can I say? She's been a fine car to me, reliable and dependable, but the love is gone and I want a divorce. I'm fickle that way, and I'm sure she'll make someone else very happy. 

It's been quite a search, having now driven a number of small, fuel-efficient vehicles with a relatively small carbon footprint that won't break the bank. There are any number of options when it comes to transportation, even for schmucks like me who hover at the brink of poverty. 

Which brings me to today's news:

Here's a guy who probably can't understand why he's being sacked for simply chartering the Space Shuttle to a luncheon that was being held all the way over in Adams Morgan. He's a very important man, and he was in a hurry. Damn the Price, as they say. The cost is not an issue.

It would be one thing if he was the only one, but he isn't. From John Nichols, over at The Nation: 

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt has for some time now been the subject of inquiries into his transportation abuses. Even as Price was going down, The Washington Post was reporting that “EPA’s Pruitt took charter, military flights that cost taxpayers more than $58,000

Yes, yes, I know Scott Pruitt is also a Very Important Person. But it would be nice if the cost of his air travel somehow translated into some discernible benefit to the environment his agency is charged with protecting. Oh, wait...

Hurricane Harvey flooded more than a dozen Superfund toxic waste sites when it devastated the Texas coast in late August. An EPA report predicted the possibility of climate-related problems at toxic waste sites like those in Texas, but the page detailing the report on the agency's website was made inactive months before the storm.

The Environmental Protection Agency's 2014 Climate Change Adaptation Implementation Plan warned that those in charge of cleaning up Superfund sites should explicitly plan for more rain, bigger floods and "increased intensity of hurricanes." Based on earlier EPA climate change research, the report authors recommended that the agency change how it protects people from toxic chemical releases as sea levels rise and storms get more severe.

The report was removed from the EPA website when President Trump took office in January — it last appeared on the site the day before his inauguration.


But wait, there's more! Just when you thought this was one or two isolated incidents, a couple of bad apples in Trump's otherwise sterling cabinet, Nichols reminds us of these doozies:

Then there’s Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, the billionaire Trump appointee who in August flew his new bride to Kentucky on a government plane so they could watch solar eclipse from a prime spot at Fort Knox. Reports about that flight led to a review by the Treasury Department’s inspector general.

 In September, it was revealed that Mnuchin had asked the White House whether he could use a government jet for his summer honeymoon in Europe. Mnuchin, who eventually withdrew the request, claimed that he simply wanted access to secure lines of communication while celebrating his third marriage.

All of this under the auspices of a president who in his short tenure has already racked up a bundle. Remember this from back in February? 

You'll forgive me if this all seems a little heady to a working stiff who's just trying to scrape up enough dough for a little 4-door hatchback. And bear in mind, these are the same assholes who are trying their best to sabotage healthcare for millions of working Americans. 

Christ on a cracker, but these bastards should be in jail.