“As you can imagine,” Ms. Newbold, a 39-year-old employee of the White House Personnel Security Office, wrote in an email during her commute on Monday, “I am extremely nervous for how people at work will treat me.”
But according to people close to her, she was not afraid to tell them about the things she had seen. Ms. Newbold’s decision to accuse her own office of rampant mismanagement of the security clearances of at least 25 employees came after months of what she characterized as personal discrimination and professional retaliation from Carl Kline, the office’s former director, after she spent roughly a year trying to raise issues internally.
In a White House where aggressive leak investigations are conducted in service of President Trump, who has aides sign nondisclosure agreements, Ms. Newbold’s account represents the rarest of developments: a damning on-the-record account from a current employee inside his ranks.
“She wasn’t looking for trouble,” Ms. Newbold’s lawyer, Edward Passman, said in an interview on Monday. “And she wasn’t looking to go public. But her back was to the wall and she did what she had to do.”
Described as both “no nonsense” and “intense” by people who have interacted with her during the clearance process, Ms. Newbold has served under four presidential administrations, beginning with the Clinton White House in 2000. Eventually she worked her way up to adjudications manager, a job that required her to help make determinations about the security clearances of administration employees. Her office is filled with holdovers from other administrations, and it is meant to be nonpartisan.
Ms. Newbold is a brave public servant and should be supported in her battles against West Wing bullshit.
SFB is in the middle of his “I’ve got a great health care plan – lower premiums, better care, yadda yadda – that I’m not going to tell you about until after you re-elect me” schtick. And it’s only April, 2019. Maybe it’s his April Fool joke.
more on ms. newbold from that nyt article linked above: Ms. Newbold, who has a rare form of dwarfism, also accused Mr. Kline, the former director of personnel security, of retaliating against her when she repeatedly pointed out to him that actions he was taking, including overriding recommendations to issue clearances to two senior officials, were violating protocol. Ms. Newbold said that Mr. Kline oversaw a workplace where files — including extensive and sensitive background check documents — were not secured properly, and stopped the performing of credit checks for potential employees. She told the House committee that she had “never seen our office so ill-staffed and with such lack of experience.” Last fall, Ms. Newbold filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, accusing Mr. Kline of moving office files to a shelf several feet above her, deliberately out of her reach, beginning in December 2017. That month, she hired Mr. Passman, her lawyer. “As little as I am, I’m willing to fight and stand up for what I know is right, and they’ve always respected that about me,” Ms. Newbold told the House committee last week. “It’s humiliating to not be able to independently work and do the job that you need.” In January, Ms. Newbold was suspended for two weeks without pay after NBC News reported that Mr. Kline had approved a security clearance for Mr. Kushner despite staff objections. The office’s new director, Crede Bailey, said at the time that Ms. Newbold had refused to “support new procedures your supervisor implemented.” Within the past two weeks, Mr. Passman said she was also removed from her supervisory role at work. On Monday, the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment about whether she could expect to continue in her job. In the evening, Ms. Newbold’s lawyer said she had gone back to work without incident. […] Mr. Passman said Mr. Bailey’s two-week suspension of Ms. Newbold was “unwarranted,” but added that “he’s not personally attacking her like Kline did.” It did not surprise Mr. Passman or other people close to Ms. Newbold… Read more »
looks like the twit is hellbent on destroying/obstructing gov’t work across the board.
ms. newbold’s office isn’t the only one “ill-staffed” in trump’s administration. border patrol is really suffering according to the heraldmailmedia:
When U.S. Border Patrol agents called on the patrol’s air unit to provide overhead coverage for operations, about four out of five requests were rejected over three recent years.
The reason? A lack of pilots.
And the staffing crisis at Border Patrol doesn’t end with pilots.
As President Donald Trump’s attention is focused on building a border wall to keep out unwanted migrants, the Border Patrol’s “human wall” is in a serious state of disrepair, according to a USA TODAY review of government documents, congressional testimony and interviews with agents.
The Border Patrol, a component of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, faces a crisis in hiring, training and retaining agents as well as keeping track of what exactly its 19,555 agents are doing at any given time, according to internalwatchdogreports.
As the Border Patrol struggles to maintain current workforce levels, its greatest challenge will be President Trump’s executive order from two years ago calling for the hiring of an additional 5,000 agents to seal off the southern border.
Since that Jan. 25, 2017, order, what should have been a flood of hiring has been, at best, a trickle. In 2018, the agency added 118 Border Patrol agents, with only three stationed along the southern border.
That shortfall is part of the reason Trump has deployed thousands of National Guardsmen and active-duty military troops to the southern border and has left agency officials questioning whether the 5,000-agent goal will ever be realized.
new dhs motto – Unwissenheit ist Glückseligkeit daily beast: Homeland Security Disbands Domestic Terror Intelligence Unit While the body counts from domestic terror attacks mount, the analysts looking into those attacks have been moved. The Department of Homeland Security has disbanded a group of intelligence analysts who focused on domestic terrorism, The Daily Beast has learned. Numerous current and former DHS officials say they find the development concerning, as the threat of homegrown terrorism—including white supremacist terrorism—is growing. In the wake of this move, officials said the number of analytic reports produced by DHS about domestic terrorism, including the threat from white supremacists, has dropped significantly. People in and close to the department said this has generated significant concern at headquarters. “It’s especially problematic given the growth in right-wing extremism and domestic terrorism we are seeing in the U.S. and abroad,” one former intelligence official told The Daily Beast. The group in question was a branch of analysts in DHS’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A). They focused on the threat from homegrown violent extremists and domestic terrorists. The analysts there shared information with state and local law enforcement to help them protect their communities from these threats. Then the Trump administration’s new I&A chief, David Glawe, began reorganizing the office, which is the DHS component that has a place in the Intelligence Community. Over the course of the reorganization, the branch of I&A focused on domestic terrorism got eighty-sixed and its analysts were reassigned to new positions. The change happened last year, and has not been previously reported. “We’ve noticed I&A has significantly reduced their production on homegrown violent extremism and domestic terrorism while those remain among the most serious terrorism threats to the homeland,” said one DHS official. Former officials pointed to a spate of domestic terror attacks in recent years as evidence that DHS erred by shuttering this branch. From the massacre that left 11 people dead at a Pittsburgh synagogue to a shooting targeting Republican members of Congress in June 2018 to bomb threats that a deranged Trump fan directed at prominent Democrats and CNN, violent… Read more »
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Tuesday offered some gentle advice to her friend and ally Joe Biden, encouraging the former vice president to adopt a more hands-off approach to his interpersonal associations, particularly with women.
“I’m a member of the straight-arm club. … I just pretend that you have a cold and I have a cold,” Pelosi said during a public interview with Politico in Washington.
“I’ve known Joe Biden a long time. My grandchildren love Joe Biden. He’s an affectionate person — to children, to senior citizens, to everyone, that’s just the way he is,” she continued.
“But that’s just not the way — join the straight-arm club with me, if you will.”
Pelosi emphasized that she doesn’t think the allegations facing Biden make him unfit for a run at the White House.
“I don’t think it’s disqualifying,” she said, adding that any one of the Democratic contenders would be an improvement over President Trump.
But amid the “Me Too” movement — which has toppled a handful of Washington power brokers — she encouraged him to be more mindful of people’s space.
“He doesn’t understand — he has to understand — in the world that we’re in now that people’s space is important to them,” she said, “and what’s important is how they receive it, not necessarily how you intended it.”
[…]
“It’s important for the vice president and others to understand [that] it isn’t what you intended, it’s how it was received. … Even in your marriage, if your spouse doesn’t think you’re communicating, you ain’t communicating,” Pelosi said.
“So to say, ‘I’m sorry that you were offended,’ is not an apology. ‘I’m sorry I invaded your space’ [is an apology], but not, ‘I’m sorry you were offended.’ Because what is that? That’s not accepting the fact that people think differently about communication, whether it’s a handshake or a hug,” she added.
And then late yesterday this nonsensical omission occurred: “articulately make[s] sense.”
Trail Mixers here, trying to make sense of chaos, are simply over-worked.
Looks like the saudis hacked Bezos to feed the info to bro sanchez and pecker.
But for whom would they provide that valuable service ? As usual, the maniac orange godfadda in the Oval Office used double cut outs to hide his tiny hand in the matter. That orange godfadda has already advised us that we could get the truth by simply water-boarding him. Maybe we should take his advice.
We’ve got an ornamental cherry tree that’s just coming into bloom – it’s a gorgeous tree when it’s blooming. Aside from daffodils and the trashy shrubs that start out with yellow blooms (which is the only time they are actually pretty) nothing else here has broken free from its hibernation.
Renee, SFB will be an asshole when Biden gets in – or when he doesn’t – and all times in between.
Jennifer Rubin’s take on Joe. WHAT TO MAKE OF JOE BIDEN Let’s get back to some legal basics: Sexual harassment in the workplace is either unwelcome sexual conduct — or if from someone in a position of power, conditioning work benefits on sexual conduct. If your co-worker slugs you on the arm every day as some weird good-morning ritual, you’ve got reason for complaint but it doesn’t make it sexual conduct. What is “sexual” conduct? To paraphrase the Supreme Court on pornography (which if shown to an unwelcoming co-worker would be harassment!): We’ll know it when we see it. Better put, if reasonable people in that situation would consider the conduct to be sexual, it probably is. And yes, this brings us to former vice president Joe Biden. Any adult who’s paid attention to politics over the last few decades knows that Biden does not honor personal space, to put it mildly. He hugs, he pats, he rubs backs. He is a nondiscriminatory toucher — men, women, blacks, whites, children, seniors. This is understandable conduct with close friends and relatives, but Biden, for better or worse, treats everyone like a member of the family. This is not an excuse. His touching is often inappropriate and can be unnerving. He should cut it out and apologize to those who felt uncomfortable. However, this is not #MeToo sexual harassment or assault. In the crazed atmosphere of immediate takes and absolute judgments, it’s difficult for some to make distinctions, but that is what grown-ups are supposed to do. Biden’s habitual embraces can be inappropriate without being sexual harassment; his conduct can be a demerit without being disqualifying. No, you’re not a hypocrite if you think Roy Moore should have been long ago banished from public life and Biden shouldn’t; these two situations are not the same. That still leaves Democratic primary voters with a decision, should Biden decide to run for president. Is he is the best person to lead their party, the best positioned to beat President Trump and then best equipped to govern in the post-Trump era? [CONTINUES] Democrats… Read more »
Bink, no, I probably wouldn’t be “so pro-Joe” if he didn’t look to me to be best positioned to take down trump. If I thought Harris could win in 2020, I’d be behind her all the way (and not in some creepy sense). Same with Amy, Cory, … It’s not that I’m so pro-Joe. I like him fine, even knowing that in the past he’s taken positions that didn’t turn out so well. I however don’t care about the latest allegations against him other than dems are doing repugs’ dirty work with them. Bottom line for me is that I hate seeing democrats go after democrats because they have dirt on their feet.
Politics ain’t beanbag and the fact that everyone is trying to make Mr. Handy into Mr Rodgers is craptastic
Biden cannot win and if that is why people are supporting him you are in for a big disappointment
When he gets in the race he will drop like a stone.
I want tough. And both those ladies got tough baked into them…….I’ve seen them in committee stuff and so far they’ve got the goods. They got moxie…..I know Lou Grant hates moxie, but I don’t. Not to leave Sen Warren out of the mix. She’s good too.
May the best anti-Bernie win the primaries.
Fortunately for me that will not be the choice –although that’s what it looks like now.
Bernie and Biden come with built-in bases and the others are still trying to cobble together their own.
I think Iowa and maybe a little before will winnow the field a lot. I don’t think Biden will get into the race he will blame his family for this final decision. Iowa is a caucus state so I hope they renting buses and talking to community organizations that can deliver numbers. And a year out is not too soon.
My knees are shot and I don’t think I could make it But this would be a great year to enter the Ragbrai https://ragbrai.com/ragbrai-2019-route-were-doing-something-brand-new-on-this-years-southern-ride-through-these-8-towns/
Bink – you were fine blaming those who voted for SFB – well, from an EC total, they delivered – of course there were 3M less of them, but that’s our flawed system. The purists I suspect patd was referring to were the folks in 2016 who defined Bernie as a pure dem and anyone else as something less. Today I’d guess it’s the idol worshipers who malign mainstream dems as not sufficiently adhering to the ideals they think define democrats. But patd can explain what patd meant better than I. What I can say is that purists most assuredly did not mean racial purists – that’s really mostly on the repug side of the aisle.
The Dept of weird and mo weird
Mussolini’s granddaughter is defending Trump against Jim Carrey on Tweeter. Threatens to sue for defamation of character.
(But oh, that accent, eh?)
There have been many factors that contributed to HRC’s 2016 electoral defeat, both legitimate and not-so-much, but i’ll assert that her lazy campaign with no defined platform or agenda didn’t win swing-votes, especially in the Rust Belt.
Trump had a platform- sure it was vicious, divisive, and destructive, but it was well-defined.
Point being- maybe support a candidate with a defined platform that has the motivation and energy to do the necessary campaigning to win hearts and minds? Is a late-septuagenarian with questionable Liberal bona-fides the best person to do that? Meh.
The only platform i’ve heard Biden articulate is “give me one-term to fix this mess”. How, exactly, considering almost the entire legacy of the administration in which you served for two terms was erased in less than two years?
Yeah, benito was a peachy guy. Just ask the Ethiopians, French, Albanians, Greeks and Jews, in the order of his peachiest deeds. Fortunately for our team, he was on the other team.
I’ll gladly vote for Biden if he can win the nomination. In the meantime, I’ll support Klobuchar and Booker as long as they are in the running.
I’m also thinking of reverting to being a ripper, and getting my pals to become rippers, to support William Weld or any other ‘never trump’ old white protestant ivy league guy.
KC, have at. I’d love to see her (1) poll ahead of SFB and (2) win the nomination. I like her BTW. Harris is another favorite of mine. She beats SFB by 1 point more than Joe and I’m all in for her.
I, too, hope they consider the oranges of the Mueller investigation. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!! (Stoopid shit).
“The intention was only to intimidate and scare,” Sayoc, 57, wrote in the letter filed in Manhattan Federal Court Tuesday.
“What started out as hoax, decoys, devices were not ever meant to work or could have worked, hurt or harm anyone.”
The unstable Florida man’s teary guilty plea last month featured legal arguments about whether his 16 improvised explosive devices could have actually detonated. Sayoc confirmed during the hearing that he knew the bombs sent to former President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, CNN and others could inflict harm.
In his new letter he said he made that statement under “extreme emotional circumstances.”
The right-wing fanatic faces up to life in prison for the letter bombs that sparked a national manhunt in October. When Sayoc was arrested he was living in a van covered in stickers of Trump’s enemies — many of them prominent Democrats — with crosshairs over their faces.
Japanese Folk Song #9: Cherry Blossoms （さくらさくら/Sakura Sakura）
This song celebrates the beauty of cherry blossoms in full bloom.
Composer/Lyricist/Year: Unknown
craig, thread photo for a little visual reminder of home for you.
hope the Orlando homestead project is going well, your dad likes his new digs, and you haven’t gone native and succumbed to florida freakiness.
NY Times: White House Whistle-Blower Did the Unexpected: She Returned to Work
WASHINGTON — Tricia Newbold, the Trump administration’s latest whistle-blower, did something unexpected only hours after a House committee released her deposition that the White House had overruled career staff members who denied officials their security clearances: She went back to work.
“As you can imagine,” Ms. Newbold, a 39-year-old employee of the White House Personnel Security Office, wrote in an email during her commute on Monday, “I am extremely nervous for how people at work will treat me.”
But according to people close to her, she was not afraid to tell them about the things she had seen. Ms. Newbold’s decision to accuse her own office of rampant mismanagement of the security clearances of at least 25 employees came after months of what she characterized as personal discrimination and professional retaliation from Carl Kline, the office’s former director, after she spent roughly a year trying to raise issues internally.
In a White House where aggressive leak investigations are conducted in service of President Trump, who has aides sign nondisclosure agreements, Ms. Newbold’s account represents the rarest of developments: a damning on-the-record account from a current employee inside his ranks.
“She wasn’t looking for trouble,” Ms. Newbold’s lawyer, Edward Passman, said in an interview on Monday. “And she wasn’t looking to go public. But her back was to the wall and she did what she had to do.”
Described as both “no nonsense” and “intense” by people who have interacted with her during the clearance process, Ms. Newbold has served under four presidential administrations, beginning with the Clinton White House in 2000. Eventually she worked her way up to adjudications manager, a job that required her to help make determinations about the security clearances of administration employees. Her office is filled with holdovers from other administrations, and it is meant to be nonpartisan.
[continues]
Great photos of the cherry ? blossoms?.
Ms. Newbold is a brave public servant and should be supported in her battles against West Wing bullshit.
SFB is in the middle of his “I’ve got a great health care plan – lower premiums, better care, yadda yadda – that I’m not going to tell you about until after you re-elect me” schtick. And it’s only April, 2019. Maybe it’s his April Fool joke.
And finally, Mika, you’re right, it’s ridiculous.
more on ms. newbold from that nyt article linked above: Ms. Newbold, who has a rare form of dwarfism, also accused Mr. Kline, the former director of personnel security, of retaliating against her when she repeatedly pointed out to him that actions he was taking, including overriding recommendations to issue clearances to two senior officials, were violating protocol. Ms. Newbold said that Mr. Kline oversaw a workplace where files — including extensive and sensitive background check documents — were not secured properly, and stopped the performing of credit checks for potential employees. She told the House committee that she had “never seen our office so ill-staffed and with such lack of experience.” Last fall, Ms. Newbold filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, accusing Mr. Kline of moving office files to a shelf several feet above her, deliberately out of her reach, beginning in December 2017. That month, she hired Mr. Passman, her lawyer. “As little as I am, I’m willing to fight and stand up for what I know is right, and they’ve always respected that about me,” Ms. Newbold told the House committee last week. “It’s humiliating to not be able to independently work and do the job that you need.” In January, Ms. Newbold was suspended for two weeks without pay after NBC News reported that Mr. Kline had approved a security clearance for Mr. Kushner despite staff objections. The office’s new director, Crede Bailey, said at the time that Ms. Newbold had refused to “support new procedures your supervisor implemented.” Within the past two weeks, Mr. Passman said she was also removed from her supervisory role at work. On Monday, the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment about whether she could expect to continue in her job. In the evening, Ms. Newbold’s lawyer said she had gone back to work without incident. […] Mr. Passman said Mr. Bailey’s two-week suspension of Ms. Newbold was “unwarranted,” but added that “he’s not personally attacking her like Kline did.” It did not surprise Mr. Passman or other people close to Ms. Newbold… Read more »
looks like the twit is hellbent on destroying/obstructing gov’t work across the board.
ms. newbold’s office isn’t the only one “ill-staffed” in trump’s administration. border patrol is really suffering according to the heraldmailmedia:
When U.S. Border Patrol agents called on the patrol’s air unit to provide overhead coverage for operations, about four out of five requests were rejected over three recent years.
The reason? A lack of pilots.
And the staffing crisis at Border Patrol doesn’t end with pilots.
As President Donald Trump’s attention is focused on building a border wall to keep out unwanted migrants, the Border Patrol’s “human wall” is in a serious state of disrepair, according to a USA TODAY review of government documents, congressional testimony and interviews with agents.
The Border Patrol, a component of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, faces a crisis in hiring, training and retaining agents as well as keeping track of what exactly its 19,555 agents are doing at any given time, according to internal watchdog reports.
As the Border Patrol struggles to maintain current workforce levels, its greatest challenge will be President Trump’s executive order from two years ago calling for the hiring of an additional 5,000 agents to seal off the southern border.
Since that Jan. 25, 2017, order, what should have been a flood of hiring has been, at best, a trickle. In 2018, the agency added 118 Border Patrol agents, with only three stationed along the southern border.
That shortfall is part of the reason Trump has deployed thousands of National Guardsmen and active-duty military troops to the southern border and has left agency officials questioning whether the 5,000-agent goal will ever be realized.
[continues]
patd
Thank you for the song. Heard it first many decades ago and my little Sakura (saki for short) was named for both the cherry blossoms and the drink.
Off to doctor this am. Fingers crossed.
Howard Dean should have stayed in the race.
Incredible why he dropped out .
Jamie, good luck with the doc. your saki is the cat’s meow. beautiful eyes.
Break a leg, Jamie…….oh wait, that’s show biz
So, big time buenas suerte.
Break a leg…….haha, that line doesn’t go over well in horse race circles, either.
new dhs motto – Unwissenheit ist Glückseligkeit daily beast: Homeland Security Disbands Domestic Terror Intelligence Unit While the body counts from domestic terror attacks mount, the analysts looking into those attacks have been moved. The Department of Homeland Security has disbanded a group of intelligence analysts who focused on domestic terrorism, The Daily Beast has learned. Numerous current and former DHS officials say they find the development concerning, as the threat of homegrown terrorism—including white supremacist terrorism—is growing. In the wake of this move, officials said the number of analytic reports produced by DHS about domestic terrorism, including the threat from white supremacists, has dropped significantly. People in and close to the department said this has generated significant concern at headquarters. “It’s especially problematic given the growth in right-wing extremism and domestic terrorism we are seeing in the U.S. and abroad,” one former intelligence official told The Daily Beast. The group in question was a branch of analysts in DHS’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A). They focused on the threat from homegrown violent extremists and domestic terrorists. The analysts there shared information with state and local law enforcement to help them protect their communities from these threats. Then the Trump administration’s new I&A chief, David Glawe, began reorganizing the office, which is the DHS component that has a place in the Intelligence Community. Over the course of the reorganization, the branch of I&A focused on domestic terrorism got eighty-sixed and its analysts were reassigned to new positions. The change happened last year, and has not been previously reported. “We’ve noticed I&A has significantly reduced their production on homegrown violent extremism and domestic terrorism while those remain among the most serious terrorism threats to the homeland,” said one DHS official. Former officials pointed to a spate of domestic terror attacks in recent years as evidence that DHS erred by shuttering this branch. From the massacre that left 11 people dead at a Pittsburgh synagogue to a shooting targeting Republican members of Congress in June 2018 to bomb threats that a deranged Trump fan directed at prominent Democrats and CNN, violent… Read more »
the hill:
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Tuesday offered some gentle advice to her friend and ally Joe Biden, encouraging the former vice president to adopt a more hands-off approach to his interpersonal associations, particularly with women.
“I’m a member of the straight-arm club. … I just pretend that you have a cold and I have a cold,” Pelosi said during a public interview with Politico in Washington.
“I’ve known Joe Biden a long time. My grandchildren love Joe Biden. He’s an affectionate person — to children, to senior citizens, to everyone, that’s just the way he is,” she continued.
“But that’s just not the way — join the straight-arm club with me, if you will.”
Pelosi emphasized that she doesn’t think the allegations facing Biden make him unfit for a run at the White House.
“I don’t think it’s disqualifying,” she said, adding that any one of the Democratic contenders would be an improvement over President Trump.
But amid the “Me Too” movement — which has toppled a handful of Washington power brokers — she encouraged him to be more mindful of people’s space.
“He doesn’t understand — he has to understand — in the world that we’re in now that people’s space is important to them,” she said, “and what’s important is how they receive it, not necessarily how you intended it.”
[…]
“It’s important for the vice president and others to understand [that] it isn’t what you intended, it’s how it was received. … Even in your marriage, if your spouse doesn’t think you’re communicating, you ain’t communicating,” Pelosi said.
“So to say, ‘I’m sorry that you were offended,’ is not an apology. ‘I’m sorry I invaded your space’ [is an apology], but not, ‘I’m sorry you were offended.’ Because what is that? That’s not accepting the fact that people think differently about communication, whether it’s a handshake or a hug,” she added.
And then late yesterday this nonsensical omission occurred: “articulately make[s] sense.”
Trail Mixers here, trying to make sense of chaos, are simply over-worked.
” . . . looks like the twit is hellbent on destroying/obstructing gov’t work across the board.” – Ms Pat
Yup. That’s what russian saboteurs do.
Flatus, I tell ya, I needs me an editor.
Looks like the saudis hacked Bezos to feed the info to bro sanchez and pecker.
But for whom would they provide that valuable service ? As usual, the maniac orange godfadda in the Oval Office used double cut outs to hide his tiny hand in the matter. That orange godfadda has already advised us that we could get the truth by simply water-boarding him. Maybe we should take his advice.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/mar/31/saudis-hacked-amazons-jeff-bezos-phone-claims-security-chief-jamal-khashoggi-mohammed-bin-salman
ooooh…. went to D.C. once upon a time to see those cherry blossoms…. fantastic sight!
Joe ain’t a candidate… and if he finally jumps into the race… that’s when I’ll care to not care.
In the meantime… trump is still an asshole.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3_xiUYMnXA
The flowering cherry tree in our front yard is simply glorious. It is flanked by a couple of Korean red miniature maples and a flowering dogwood.
We’ve got an ornamental cherry tree that’s just coming into bloom – it’s a gorgeous tree when it’s blooming. Aside from daffodils and the trashy shrubs that start out with yellow blooms (which is the only time they are actually pretty) nothing else here has broken free from its hibernation.
Renee, SFB will be an asshole when Biden gets in – or when he doesn’t – and all times in between.
In charge of making the goopers the ehalth care party
Rick Scott (r-HealthCare Fraudster)
One has to ask — what is wrong with the voters of Florida
kgc, pardon the correction, but that’s spelled floriDUH
Pogo would you be so pro-Joe if he weren’t atop the “hypothetical match-up” polls? Just curious.
Rewatch his speech at the 2016 DNCC if you really think he has the juice.
Jennifer Rubin’s take on Joe. WHAT TO MAKE OF JOE BIDEN Let’s get back to some legal basics: Sexual harassment in the workplace is either unwelcome sexual conduct — or if from someone in a position of power, conditioning work benefits on sexual conduct. If your co-worker slugs you on the arm every day as some weird good-morning ritual, you’ve got reason for complaint but it doesn’t make it sexual conduct. What is “sexual” conduct? To paraphrase the Supreme Court on pornography (which if shown to an unwelcoming co-worker would be harassment!): We’ll know it when we see it. Better put, if reasonable people in that situation would consider the conduct to be sexual, it probably is. And yes, this brings us to former vice president Joe Biden. Any adult who’s paid attention to politics over the last few decades knows that Biden does not honor personal space, to put it mildly. He hugs, he pats, he rubs backs. He is a nondiscriminatory toucher — men, women, blacks, whites, children, seniors. This is understandable conduct with close friends and relatives, but Biden, for better or worse, treats everyone like a member of the family. This is not an excuse. His touching is often inappropriate and can be unnerving. He should cut it out and apologize to those who felt uncomfortable. However, this is not #MeToo sexual harassment or assault. In the crazed atmosphere of immediate takes and absolute judgments, it’s difficult for some to make distinctions, but that is what grown-ups are supposed to do. Biden’s habitual embraces can be inappropriate without being sexual harassment; his conduct can be a demerit without being disqualifying. No, you’re not a hypocrite if you think Roy Moore should have been long ago banished from public life and Biden shouldn’t; these two situations are not the same. That still leaves Democratic primary voters with a decision, should Biden decide to run for president. Is he is the best person to lead their party, the best positioned to beat President Trump and then best equipped to govern in the post-Trump era? [CONTINUES] Democrats… Read more »
Bink, no, I probably wouldn’t be “so pro-Joe” if he didn’t look to me to be best positioned to take down trump. If I thought Harris could win in 2020, I’d be behind her all the way (and not in some creepy sense). Same with Amy, Cory, … It’s not that I’m so pro-Joe. I like him fine, even knowing that in the past he’s taken positions that didn’t turn out so well. I however don’t care about the latest allegations against him other than dems are doing repugs’ dirty work with them. Bottom line for me is that I hate seeing democrats go after democrats because they have dirt on their feet.
So far yes: . Harris and Klobuchar ( or Klobuchar and Harris ) . ( They can flip a coin.)
dems are doing repugs’ dirty work with them. …. democrats go after democrats because they have dirt on their feet.
isn’t that how we got into this mess? thank you, purists, for helping to elect trump.
Politics ain’t beanbag and the fact that everyone is trying to make Mr. Handy into Mr Rodgers is craptastic
Biden cannot win and if that is why people are supporting him you are in for a big disappointment
When he gets in the race he will drop like a stone.
“thank you, purists, for helping to elect trump.“ -patd
Who are “the purists [that helped elect Trump]”?
I was fine with blaming the racists, the crooks, the Russians, the disinformation artists, and the vote-suppressors.
kgc, if it came to a toss up between Bernie and biden, sounds like you would prefer the bern.
I want tough. And both those ladies got tough baked into them…….I’ve seen them in committee stuff and so far they’ve got the goods. They got moxie…..I know Lou Grant hates moxie, but I don’t. Not to leave Sen Warren out of the mix. She’s good too.
May the best anti-Bernie win the primaries.
Beanbag? Dangerous sport. I saw the championships in Paris, many people were killed .
Fortunately for me that will not be the choice –although that’s what it looks like now.
Bernie and Biden come with built-in bases and the others are still trying to cobble together their own.
I think Iowa and maybe a little before will winnow the field a lot. I don’t think Biden will get into the race he will blame his family for this final decision. Iowa is a caucus state so I hope they renting buses and talking to community organizations that can deliver numbers. And a year out is not too soon.
My knees are shot and I don’t think I could make it But this would be a great year to enter the Ragbrai
https://ragbrai.com/ragbrai-2019-route-were-doing-something-brand-new-on-this-years-southern-ride-through-these-8-towns/
Ah-Ha… “racial purists”!
Ok, makes sense, now.
Bink – you were fine blaming those who voted for SFB – well, from an EC total, they delivered – of course there were 3M less of them, but that’s our flawed system. The purists I suspect patd was referring to were the folks in 2016 who defined Bernie as a pure dem and anyone else as something less. Today I’d guess it’s the idol worshipers who malign mainstream dems as not sufficiently adhering to the ideals they think define democrats. But patd can explain what patd meant better than I. What I can say is that purists most assuredly did not mean racial purists – that’s really mostly on the repug side of the aisle.
The Dept of weird and mo weird
Mussolini’s granddaughter is defending Trump against Jim Carrey on Tweeter. Threatens to sue for defamation of character.
(But oh, that accent, eh?)
She’s catching bloody ‘ell.
It may behoove one not to over-analyze my musings, pogo. I’m not sure patd knew what patd meant- i’m just having fun.
There have been many factors that contributed to HRC’s 2016 electoral defeat, both legitimate and not-so-much, but i’ll assert that her lazy campaign with no defined platform or agenda didn’t win swing-votes, especially in the Rust Belt.
Trump had a platform- sure it was vicious, divisive, and destructive, but it was well-defined.
Point being- maybe support a candidate with a defined platform that has the motivation and energy to do the necessary campaigning to win hearts and minds? Is a late-septuagenarian with questionable Liberal bona-fides the best person to do that? Meh.
The only platform i’ve heard Biden articulate is “give me one-term to fix this mess”. How, exactly, considering almost the entire legacy of the administration in which you served for two terms was erased in less than two years?
Yeah, benito was a peachy guy. Just ask the Ethiopians, French, Albanians, Greeks and Jews, in the order of his peachiest deeds. Fortunately for our team, he was on the other team.
Looking at this picture, I have a bit of concern of posting this on any Caturday. I do think Chunky is smiling though.
I’ll gladly vote for Biden if he can win the nomination. In the meantime, I’ll support Klobuchar and Booker as long as they are in the running.
I’m also thinking of reverting to being a ripper, and getting my pals to become rippers, to support William Weld or any other ‘never trump’ old white protestant ivy league guy.
If Joe Biden is the nominee I’ll vote for him but he’s not even a candidate
https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/news/tonights-last-word-trump-takes-credit-for-program-he-tried-to-cut/vi-BBVqjou?ocid=spartanntp
I think the candidate should be someone who Trumpettes won’t turn out to vote against
KC, that’s a quantum leap for you. FWIW I’ll vote for anyone, even Bernie!, who’s the Dem nominee.
I’m still with Amy
the orange said today that his father was born in Germany. Naturally, his mother’s husband was born in NYC.
Quite naturally.
The oranges of the Mueller Report
Btw, Madge L. mcconnell insinuated today that the orange orange is crazy.
And, we all knew that w/o the voice of the turtle.
KC, have at. I’d love to see her (1) poll ahead of SFB and (2) win the nomination. I like her BTW. Harris is another favorite of mine. She beats SFB by 1 point more than Joe and I’m all in for her.
I, too, hope they consider the oranges of the Mueller investigation. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!! (Stoopid shit).
“MAGA bomber” Cesar Sayoc has penned a hand-written letter to a judge insisting that he never intended for the letter bombs he mailed to President Trump’s enemies to actually blow up.
“The intention was only to intimidate and scare,” Sayoc, 57, wrote in the letter filed in Manhattan Federal Court Tuesday.
“What started out as hoax, decoys, devices were not ever meant to work or could have worked, hurt or harm anyone.”
The unstable Florida man’s teary guilty plea last month featured legal arguments about whether his 16 improvised explosive devices could have actually detonated. Sayoc confirmed during the hearing that he knew the bombs sent to former President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, CNN and others could inflict harm.
In his new letter he said he made that statement under “extreme emotional circumstances.”
The right-wing fanatic faces up to life in prison for the letter bombs that sparked a national manhunt in October. When Sayoc was arrested he was living in a van covered in stickers of Trump’s enemies — many of them prominent Democrats — with crosshairs over their faces.
Oh god. If ifs and buts were a punch in the nuts it would be better than his (SFB’s) health care plan. Colbert is the fucking best.
I’ll take any Democrat except Bernie (who isn’t one and is a total fraud), but Amy is my favorite of the pack so far.
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