Monoxide-free exhaust fumes! What will they think up next?!

[QUOTE=Dr Sardonicus;464605]The [url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/21/sean-spicer-resigns-press-secretary-trump-white-house-feud]link[/url] to the article about Sean Spicer's departure is OK, but it doesn't mention the New Yorker piece [url=http://www.newyorker.com/news/ryan-lizza/anthony-scaramucci-called-me-to-unload-about-white-house-leakers-reince-priebus-and-steve-bannon]Anthony Scaramucci Called Me to Unload About White House Leakers, Reince Priebus[/url].

If Sarah Huckabee Sanders doesn't work out as press secretary or Anthony Scaramucci as communications director...[/QUOTE]

Funny you should mention [url=http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2017/07/200pm-water-cooler-7312017.html#comment-2852116]the latter possibility[/url] - my favorite bit of ensuing reader snark - beside the obligatory references to Queen's [i]Bohemian Rhapsody[/i] - is Clive's "Well, that should keep CNN suitably agog and safety incapacitated for at least another week or so".

Inquiring minds want to know: Does the "Moochy, Moochy Man" get to keep his government pension and healthcare benefits accrued as a result of his invaluable service to the nation?

[QUOTE=ewmayer;464630]Inquiring minds want to know: Does the "Moochy, Moochy Man" get to keep his government pension and healthcare benefits accrued as a result of his invaluable service to the nation?[/QUOTE]
Which service do you mean? Before he was hired at the White House, he had [i]another[/i] government job -- at the export-import bank. Perhaps he'll go back there. Yes, I know, WH press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said he has "no role at this time in the Trump administration" but -- somehow -- I have trouble believing anything she says.

I reckoned either Scaramucci or General Kelly would be out in pretty short order. Kelly would obviously want to fire him (given that performance with Ryan Lizza at the New Yorker), and if he hadn't been allowed to, he would have quit immediately. (Unlike McMaster, who failed to resign as National Security Advisor when not allowed to fire Ezra Cohen-Watnick.)

BTW, during the Reagan Administration, communications director John O. Koehler had to leave in less than a week when it came to light that, at the age of ten years, he had joined the Jungvolk ("Hitler Youth").

[QUOTE=Dr Sardonicus;464668]Kelly would obviously want to fire him (given that performance with Ryan Lizza at the New Yorker), and if he hadn't been allowed to, he would have quit immediately. (Unlike McMaster, who failed to resign as National Security Advisor when not allowed to fire Ezra Cohen-Watnick.)[/quote]Hmm. Looks like, after four months, McMaster finally got his way. [url=http://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/02/mcmaster-national-security-council-241264]McMaster dismisses another Flynn hire from National Security Council[/url]

[QUOTE=kladner;464615]Monoxide-free exhaust fumes! What will they think up next?![/QUOTE]

Just to share... I have actually suffered from carbon monoxide poising (this might, actually, explain quite a bit).

My father and I thought it would be a really good idea to burn the under-brush on our land. But then the fire got away from us, and we spent a great deal of time putting it out. Much smoke (and, of course, CO) was inhaled.

What I found most interesting about the experience is upon realizing that I needed to go to the hospital, I spent about ten minutes simply putting on my shoes. But my brain was so constrained that I put on my shoes backwards -- left on right, right on left.

Interestingly (correlation is not causation) this was literally on a property on the shore of Williams Lake.

[QUOTE=ewmayer;464630]Inquiring minds want to know: Does the "Moochy, Moochy Man" get to keep his government pension and healthcare benefits accrued as a result of his invaluable service to the nation?[/QUOTE]

I think a more interesting question is can a President pardon himself?

I have often said that Law is simply code, written by humans for humans.

Buggy as hell, and often untested.

[QUOTE=chalsall;464787]I think a more interesting question is can a President pardon himself?[/QUOTE]
The Constitution of the United States, Article II, Section 2 ends, ... " and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in cases of Impeachment."

This does not [i]exclude[/i] the possibility of a Presidential self-pardon "for offences against the United States" (i.e. federal crimes), but the President can [i]not[/i] pardon himself (or anyone else in the Executive or Judicial branches) out of being impeached and removed from office. There may be other legal reasons that a self-pardon would not be considered valid, but I am not aware of them. If a self-pardon [i]were[/i] held valid, it would in effect place any President above the law. The only remedy would be to amend the Constitution so as to exclude self-pardons. It would almost certainly [i]not[/i] apply to a self-pardon already made. My guess is, he would do it on the last day of his term of office. That could either be at the end of his term as prescribed by the Constitution; or, if he was being tried by the Senate on articles of impeachment, and conviction seemed likely, the night before the vote.

The issue of self-pardon was discussed when Nixon was approaching the end of his term in office. Of course, he was pardoned by his successor after he had resigned.

Curiously, Nixon did grant a "reprieve" to Jimmy Hoffa, commuting his prison sentence. But Nixon attached a condition; IIRC it said Hoffa could no longer engage in union activities. IIRC, this condition was contested in court, and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the President could attach any (lawful) condition he saw fit to a reprieve or pardon. Nixon also granted clemency to Lieutenant William Calley (and IIRC Captain Ernest Medina) for the My Lai Massacre.

I note that the President's pardon power does [i]not[/i] apply to crimes against individual States, or to civil actions (lawsuits).

I have not researched the issue at the state level. Governors are usually given pardon power for crimes against their States. I don't recall seeing or hearing of any exclusion of self-pardons in any state constitution. Nor do I recall hearing of any state's governor doing, or trying to do, a self-pardon.

The Senate GOP has scheduled 9 sessions of the Senate, each to last about a minute, one every 3 days over the next month, so that their own president can’t make a recess appointment. They don’t want him to fire Attorney General Sessions, and then make a recess appointment of someone new who could then fire special counsel Mueller.

Convoluted, contrived, world-class, Olympic-level loop-hole jumping. Unbelievable that this is all coming from grown adults running the country.

So frustrating...wish they'd put all that loop-hole effort into finding a quick and easy way to impeach the president, rather than just thwarting individual actions he might take.

Impulsive or premature impeachment risks failure to remove the pResident. It needs to be as sure a thing as can be arranged.

[QUOTE=Spherical Cow;464831]The Senate GOP has scheduled 9 sessions of the Senate, each to last about a minute, one every 3 days over the next month, so that their own president can’t make a recess appointment. They don’t want him to fire Attorney General Sessions, and then make a recess appointment of someone new who could then fire special counsel Mueller.

Convoluted, contrived, world-class, Olympic-level loop-hole jumping. Unbelievable that this is all coming from grown adults running the country.[/quote]
This isn't new. The Senate did the same thing to Obama. See [url=http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1209524/12-1281-bodg.pdf]unanimous Supreme Court ruling in NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD v. NOEL CANNING ET AL.[/url]
[quote]So frustrating...wish they'd put all that loop-hole effort into finding a quick and easy way to impeach the president, rather than just thwarting individual actions he might take.[/QUOTE]OTOH, that would make [i]Mike Pence[/i] President...

Besides, the Republicans are too craven. The House would have to vote articles of impeachment, and the Senate would have to hold a trial. Can you imagine either Paul Ryan or Mitch McConnell allowing that under present circumstances?

I've seen a lot of simpering, hand-wringing incredulity about the utter failure of the Legislative branch to exercise their power to keep [i]Il Duce[/i] in check. Oh, how can this [i]possibly[/i] be explained?

As far as I'm concerned, there's a one-word explanation: [i][b]corruption![/i][/b]

[QUOTE=Dr Sardonicus;464802]The Constitution of the United States, Article II, Section 2 ends, ... " and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in cases of Impeachment."[/QUOTE]

I think it is worth noting that President Obama couldn't pardon Snowden because he hadn't yet been convicted of a crime. He's been accused, (and is generally considered to be guilty) but not convicted.

It is also worth noting that President Obama, before becoming President, was a [URL="http://www.factcheck.org/2008/03/obama-a-constitutional-law-professor/"]Law Professor[/URL].

May we live in interesting times.