When Hurricane Maria touched down in Puerto Rico, Whitefish Energy Holding had two full time employees.  Today, they have been rewarded a contract for $300 million to restore power to the island.

Now how the hell did that happen?  Oh, the usual way – big campaign donations.

Slick Joe

The private equity firm that finances Whitefish is controlled by Joe Colonnetta.  Joe and his wife are major, major, big time donors to Donald Trump – donating the limit to both his primary campaign and his general election fund. They tossed more money into PACs for Trump and the RNC.

And that’s not all.  The CEO of two-year-old Whitefish is Andy Techmanski.

The Washington Post and the Daily Beast on Tuesday offered more details on the company’s backers. The Post noted that the firm is based in Zinke’s hometown and that its CEO, Andy Techmanski, is friendly with the Interior secretary.

So, a friendship with Zinke and some cash did the trick, and a trick it certaintly is!  This is a $300 million dollar government contract going to a two-year-old firm with two employees.  That right there isn’t a easy feat to pull off.

But practice does make perfect.

Joe Colonnetta’s relationship with the GOP is not limited to his contributions; he’s a prominent figure in Texas Republican politics. According to HBC’s website, in 2013 then-Texas Gov. Rick Perry appointed Colonnetta as a trustee for the Retirement System of Texas; in 2015, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott appointed Colonnetta to serve as chairman of the investment committee also at the Retirement System of Texas; and the same year, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick appointed Colonnetta to his policy advisory committee.

Hey, Slick Joe learned from the best.

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

The Wall Street Journal has a weird little story this morning about Trump, the Chinese, and Steve Wynn, of Vegas gambling Wynn.

The WSJ’s headline says:

China’s Pursuit of Fugitive Businessman Guo Wengui Kicks Off Manhattan Caper Worthy of Spy Thriller

The Chinese want Guo Wengui, who is currently hiding in a hotel in New York City.  Guo has wagered a Twitter War with senior Chinese officials and business tycoons.

Outside of being big in the gambling industry from Vegas to Mississippi, Wynn is also the finance chair of the Republican National Committee.

And here’s where Donald Trump gets involved.

No, Trump was not talking about a Chinese National with law enforcement problems.

Nope, the man Trump wanted to give a death sentence to was to be part of a trade for Wynn to get a gambling license in Macau.

Thanks to Deb T for the heads up.

Hey guys, if you send me a question or comment with an address that kicks back any response I send, that makes me sad.  Especially if I want to thank you.  (Earthlink is especially bad about this.)  So, Meredith and Magdalene, I can’t send you an answer.

This is happening more and more.  Although I don’t have time to answer all my email, every so often I do.  If it disappears into where the Russians are keeping my emails and all the lost socks from my dryer, I get sad.  Just know I’m thinking about you.

Okay, something ain’t right with Scott Pruitt over at the EPA.  The latest ain’t right thing is that he has gone crazy over getting more security for himself.

During his first quarter as EPA administrator he has nearly double what the two previous administrators spent on security.  Christy Todd Whitman walked herself to work.

Pruitt wants twelve new security agents on top of the 24 hour protection he now has.  That means $2 million a year in salaries alone.  On top of that is the soundproof booth he wants inside his private office, where the door is always locked even when he’s there.  That’s creepy.

Why does he need all this?

“We have at least four times — four to five times the number of threats against Mr. Pruitt than we had against Ms. McCarthy,” said assistant inspector general Patrick Sullivan, referring to Gina McCarthy, who held the post under President Barack Obama.

Look, it’s not like the Sierra Club has declared actual war on this guy and Lord knows that polluters love the hell outta him.  Who exactly is out to get him?  That right there – that’s what worries me.

So what’s the deal?

My theory is that all the cabinet members are playing a game with each other to see who can spend the most damn money on themselves.

Thanks to everybody for the heads up.

Here we go again —

And also without hesitation, pride, honesty, or dignity, John Kelly will follow this with a press conference saying that unbeknownst to the rest of the world, Trump had LaDavid’s name tattooed on his chest and that the congresswoman lied about the score on her spelling test in the fourth grade.

Does anyone else remember when the mother of a contract worker in Benghazi was given the podium at the Republican National Convention to say that Hillary Clinton personally killed her son and everybody yelled, “Lock her up!”  And not a word was said by the Clinton campaign because to attack a grieving mother would be a horrible thing to do.

What have we become?  I mean, outside of screwed.

Vet friends and family are telling me that there’s a new Twitter trend of #BlueFalcon being used by Vets across the country.

In military parlance it stand for Buddy F@@@er. It’s a supposed comrade whose actions harm his friends, often for his own benefit.

The vets on Twitter are referring too John Kelly as a Blue Falcon.  If you’re on Twitter you can search #BlueFalcon or #BlueFalconKelly.

And under the category of I Can’t Prove It’s True But It Has To Be True … I’m starting to think that the reason Kelly, Tillerson, and McMaster have a suicide pack and continue to stay is that they are going to get their damn war.

We left a service member behind.  I can tell you for sure that La David Johnson did not sign up to be sent into an ambush with no protection, depending on a contractor to recuse him, and then left behind for 48 hours.

Has anybody heard anything from Trey Gowdy?  Crickets?

Thanks to SGray for the heads up.