Okay, so there’s this guy named Sebastian Gorka. He’s a member of a White House team known as the Strategic Initiatives Group, which was set up by Steve Bannon and Jared Kushner and is a Deputy Assistant to the President.

Gorka and wife

I thought it was a little weird that he wore some kind of damn military-looking outfit to the inaugural balls, but after the way KellyAnn Conway was dressed that day, most everything else looked pretty sane.

Well, looking weird and prancing around with Nazi medals are two different things.  I mean, KellyAnn stopped with the helmet hat and awful shoes, but Sebastian took the whole thing to the edge of Holy Cow!

Members of a Hungarian ultranationalist group with ties to the World War II-era Nazis have said they are proud that a top Trump administration adviser wore the group’s medal at the inauguration of US President Donald Trump.

Look, I am certain that he wasn’t the only Nazi there that day, but if you’re an American citizen, the only military uniform you ought to be wearing is one of ours.

And then there’s this.

The US State Department lists Vitézi Rend as a Nazi-linked group, which could render members ineligible for visas. Gorka became a US citizen in 2012.

But, not to worry —

Gorka called NBC investigation “fake news” and added that he had “completely distanced” himself from white supremacist and Nazi ideology groups.

Uh, then what’s the deal with the medal?  And the uniform?  Isn’t that kinda like saying, “I love the Nazis, except of course that killing Jews part.”

Thanks to Chloe Bear for the heads up.

This might be promising.

An alleged Russian hacker has been arrested in Spain at the request of American authorities.

His arrest set cybersecurity circles abuzz after Russian broadcaster RT raised the possibility it was linked to the US presidential election.

Pyotr Levashov was arrested in Barcelona at the end of last week on a US computer crimes warrant, a spokeswoman for Spain’s National Court, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with court rules, told the Associated Press.

I dunno about the accuracy of all this.  One story says he was arrested at his apartment with the police bashing in his door and another says he was arrested at the airport.

But it’s still more reliable than a Trump tweet.

Bannon, y’all.

The Washington Post did a big, long, documented, well researched story explaining how Bannon used loopholes and felonies to make himself one rich sumbitch.  Take the time to read it but be aware that your jaw will drop and hit your keyboard so be careful.  Bannon set up non-profits to funnel money to himself and friends.

Among the fun parts of the article is this:

Bannon, Schweizer and Robinson were linked through nonprofit organizations and filmmaking work. Bannon and Schweizer had made the film about President Ronald Reagan together in 2004; more recently, they were colleagues at Breitbart News. Schweizer sat on the board of Robinson’s Young America’s Foundation, which had paid Bannon $404,904 to produce films in 2010 and 2011, documents show, and would pay him almost $173,000 in 2012.

In the document seeking tax-exempt status for the GAI [Government Accountability Institute, a non-profit famed by Bannon], Bannon signed a document under penalty of perjury repeatedly attesting that each of them “has no family or business relationships with any other persons involved with GAI.”

A GAI spokeswoman told The Post that the relationships were later disclosed in the group’s annual filing with the IRS — submitted in November 2013, nine months after the GAI’s tax-exempt status was approved.

Charities are required to disclose business relationships among their directors on their initial applications for tax exemption so that the IRS can examine whether the organization is being formed for a proper public purpose.

So, there you have it.  Perjury. And ironically, no accountability.

Thanks to Alfredo over at the Dairy Queen for the heads up.

A note from Alfredo before the lunchtime rush: That’s why Republicns spent the last eight years cutting the budget of the IRS and trying to impeach the IRS Commissioner – so there would never be an investigation of the far right’s extensive use of 501(c)(3)s to elect Republican presidents and ensure a permanent conservative majority on the Supreme Court.

So now it’s Betsy DeVos.

Federal marshals are protecting Education Secretary Betsy DeVos at a cost to her agency of nearly $8 million over nearly eight months, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.

The Education Department has agreed to reimburse the marshals $7.78 million for their services from mid-February to the end of September, said a marshals spokeswoman — an average of about $1 million per month.

Now, this contract is just through September.  No word on how much it’s going to cost after September.

Let me see if I have this right.  Our billionaire Secretary of Education, who hates public education, is taking one million dollars a month out of the hands of public schoolchildren?  She must be thrilled!

Thanks to Steff for the heads up.

Remember how Donald Trump was going to bring back all those coal mining jobs?

Well, maybe not so much.

The Kentucky Coal Mining Museum in Benham is owned by Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College. Communications Director Brandon Robinson told WYMT, they’re hoping to save money by the switch.

“We believe that this project will help save at least eight to ten thousand dollars, off the energy costs on this building alone, so it’s a very worthy effort and it’s going to save the college money in the long run,” said Robinson.

The museum says they fully understand the irony of this but they had budget cutbacks and this will save them a ton of money.

Featured in the next solar power teevee ad:  The Kentucky Coal Mining Museum.

Thanks to Bernie for the heads up.

Explain this to Wayne LaPierre.

At 3:40 pm at the headquarters of the National Rifle Association in Fairfax, Virginia, a 46 year old was teaching a gun safety class right there smack dab in the middle of the headquarters.

He, of course, shot himself.

According to police, the man, an employee, was participating in firearms training at the shooting range located in the museum when he attempted to holster his pistol. As he did so, the weapon accidentally fired, injuring the man’s lower body. The man’s name was not disclosed and no charges are expected to be filed.

They haven’t released his name but I sure hope it’s Helpless Dick.

Thanks to everybody for the heads up.