So-called “dark money” groups — which can accept unlimited donations, do not have to publicly disclose their donors and are allowed to spend infinite amounts of money influencing elections — now no longer even have to report their donors privately to the IRS.

The same day that decision was announced, a Russian woman was charged with being an unregistered foreign agent for her efforts to infiltrate the NRA, which itself is a dark money, or “social welfare,” 501(c)4.

Ben Cassidy, the NRA lobbyist who joined the Interior Department, continues to be a walking ethics violation. And the department’s inspector general has opened a probe into a fishy land deal between a foundation Zinke started and the chairman of Halliburton.

The Office of Government ethics formally reprimanded Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross for his stock situation. Ross said in response that he would sell all of his equity holdings and put the money in Treasury securities. Sen. John Thune (R-SD) asked the Commerce Department’s inspector general to investigate further.

Scott Pruitt’s former chief of staff admitted there was an EPA office set up to process “politically charged” Freedom of Information Act requests. To which Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) said, essentially, tell me more.

Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler could stay in that role for years, due to the Trump administration’s expanded use of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act. The former coal lobbyist signed his first major rule this week, making it a lot easier to dispose of coal ash… wherever.

A federal court, meanwhile, has paused the huge gift Pruitt gave to manufacturers of “super polluting” glider trucks — those with new bodies but old engines — on his last day as EPA administrator. Pruitt had said the manufacturers needn’t heed an Obama-era cap on glider truck sales.

New York’s attorney general and 16 others told the Department of Education to quit delaying a rule requiring colleges to present prospective students with crucial information like average debt load. A few days earlier, 20 attorneys general flagged another example of Devos’ stonewalling — this time her failing to provide student loan data to law enforcement agencies.

Judges are fed up with the government’s family separations of otherwise non-criminal immigrant and asylum-seeking families. Several members of the Homeland Security Advisory Committee have resigned over what they called the Trump administration’s “morally repugnant” immigration policy.

In an odd turn, the Sinclair-friendly FCC Chairman Ajit Pai paused Sinclair’s purchase of Tribune over “serious concerns” that the company wouldn’t properly divest enough stations to comply with laws meant to prevent media monopolies.

The Veterans Administration has engaged in a politically motivated purge. Vice President Mike Pence’s family’s gas stations left a holy mess behind. Tom Price really did spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on deluxe flights when he was Health and Human Services secretary. A Dow Chemical executive could be the USDA’s next chief scientist, if (/when) he’s confirmed. And the religious freedom ambassador privately threatened the British ambassador to lay off an Islamophobe (Steve Bannon supports the man as well).

Finally: Don’t worry about that missing plutonium!

Nobody’s Been Tougher on Russia