Winkin’ a nod to Blinken

Anthony Blinken that is, our soon to be Secretary of State.

According to the Washington Post:

President-elect Joe Biden has selected Antony Blinken, one of his closest and longest-serving foreign policy advisers, as secretary of state as he prepares to unveil a slate of new nominees this week that will emphasize a deep well of experience in the foreign policy and national security establishment.

Blinken will be nominated to one of the highest-profile Cabinet positions at a time when Biden is planning to prioritize foreign policy as a major pillar in his administration, with vows to reassemble global alliances and insert the United States into a more prominent position on the world stage.

[…]

Blinken — who grew up in New York and Paris, and whose stepfather survived the Holocaust, which had an impact on Blinken — got his start in government during Bill Clinton’s administration. He eventually became President Bill Clinton’s chief foreign policy speechwriter.

He later served as the staff director for Biden while he was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and has also worked on his presidential campaigns.

He joined Biden’s staff when Biden was vice president, leading a broad portfolio that included overseeing Iraq and crafting a proposal for three autonomous regions in the country.

“We would not have gotten out of Iraq in a way that left the government with a fighting chance to make it without Tony Blinken’s hard work,” Biden told The Post in a 2013 profile on Blinken. “He was the go-to guy. He still is the go-to guy.”

In the Obama administration, Blinken was deputy national security adviser and deputy secretary of state.

He has been described as having a centrist view of the world, but has also supported interventionist positions. He once broke with Biden and supported military action in Libya, for example. During the Obama administration, he advocated for American action in Syria.

His reputation as a nonideological consensus-builder is also in the mold that Biden is attempting to craft in his administration.

[continues]

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Author: patd

“But I don’t want to go among mad people," Alice remarked. "Oh, you can’t help that," said the Cat: "we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad." "How do you know I’m mad?" said Alice. "You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn’t have come here.” ― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

51 thoughts on “Winkin’ a nod to Blinken”

  1. NYTimes says this about tony:

    Mr. Blinken also has a lighter side that may not be immediately evident when he is seen testifying or meeting foreign diplomats. He plays in a band. He has a tight group of close friends from his days as a student at Harvard and his rise through the Washington foreign policy firmament.

    And he is a new father: He and his wife have two very young children at home, and he will be the first secretary of state in modern times to be raising toddlers while serving in office.

    Mr. Blinken grew up in New York and in Paris, graduating from Harvard and Columbia Law School. The son of an ambassador to Hungary during the Clinton administration and the stepson of a Holocaust survivor, Mr. Blinken has often spoken of the moral example the United States sets for the rest of the world.

    “In times of crisis or calamity, it is the United States that the world turns to first and always,” Mr. Blinken said at a speech at the Center for a New American Security in 2015.

    “We are not the leader of first choice because we’re always right, or because we’re universally liked, or because we can dictate outcomes,” he said. “It’s because we strive to the best of our ability to align our actions with our principles, and because American leadership has a unique ability to mobilize others and to make a difference.”

     

    [eat your heart out, current but soon to be EX sos pompous]

  2. Sesame Street’s Grover and the U.S. State Department’s Deputy Secretary Tony Blinken meet up at the United Nations in New York City to talk about refugees.

  3. from wikiage on his wife evan:

    10 Facts on Evan Ryan:

    1. Evan Ryan was born in 1971 in the United States of America.
    2. Her age as of 2020 is exactly 49 years old however she hasn’t revealed her exact date of birth in public.
    3. According to the wiki, she has been in the political matter for more than 7 years starting back in 2013 where she was the assistant secretary for educational and cultural affairs.
    4. Evan Ryan is the wife of Antony Blinken and they have been married for almost 18 years as of 2020.
    5. Talking about her family Evan and Anthony doesn’t have a child yet and they haven’t even spoken regarding their personal life yet.
    6. Evan Ryan is a U.S. public servant and government official who is a member of the Democratic Political Party. 
    7. Her net worth as of 2020 is more than 1 million dollars however she hasn’t unfolded her exact earing yet.
    8. She is available on her Twitter account @EvanMRyan where she has more than 1.3k followers.
    9. She completed her BA at Boston College and later completed her MA from Johns Hopkins University.
    10. Even holds an American nationality and follows Christianity religion. 

    Image result for Evan Blinken

  4. Excellent choice. Shows that Biden is as serious about his choices for significant posts as D’ump was not. 

  5. Patd

    Darn it Pat, you beat me to it again.  As soon as I saw news of his appointment I started reciting “the wooden shoe that sailed the skies is a wee one’s trundled bed”.

    Biden’s other appointment of Linda Thomas-Greenfield as Ambassador to the UN is interesting as well.  First black woman to the job based solely on her long, impressive record.  Expertise in government … what a concept.  

  6. The Rudy follies, from Wapo. 

    The Facts

    During Giuliani’s news conference on Thursday, he made similar claims about overvotes, which he said signaled many people voted twice.

    “The overvote was so high, monstrously high in about two-thirds of the precincts in the city of Detroit, which means, magically, two and three times the number of registered voters turned out to vote,” he declared. “In fact, we have precincts in which two times the number of people who live there, including children, voted. That’s absurd.”

    But the next day, Power Line, a conservative website, pointed out something very odd about the affidavitthat made this claim. (It had been filed in a Georgia court case that has since been dismissed by a federal judge.) Under a blog post titled “Do Trump’s lawyers know what they are doing?” Power Line pointed out that the precincts that were listed in the affidavit were from Minnesota, not Michigan.

    Someone had apparently mixed up two states that started with “Mi.” The precincts were not in Wayne County but in some of the reddest parts of Minnesota — Trump country.

    That’s a pretty big error — one that the lawyer who filed the affidavit, L. Lin Wood, acknowledged in an email toPolitiFact. “We are imperfect,” he said.

    Our colleague Aaron Blake further dug into the data and found that even in those Minnesota precincts, the data in the affidavit was off. Minnesota has same-day registration and very high turnout rates. Blake determined that the number of voters matched the number of votes cast. He speculated that the affidavit might have been relying upon incomplete “estimated voters” data from the Minnesota secretary of state in the days after the election.

    Okay, that’s a second big error.

    Finally, the affidavit has a quote from a Princeton University professor raising concerns about a particular type of Dominion voting machine, suggesting this was what was used in Wayne County. But Blake confirmed that the counties in Minnesota in question did not use Dominion machines. And Andrew Appel, the Princeton professor, that Michigan also does not use the machine he warned about — and, in fact, uses paper ballots.
    (Continues)

    Hard to believe it continues.  But then the source makes it predictable.

  7. Trump’s not “sulking,” he’s waging war on democracy Don't normalize this

    Trump’s election sabotage campaign is running out of time, but the damage he’s inflicting will have long lasting consequences. Covering this unprecedented attack on American election integrity, the press is still not being honest about Trump’s ruinous final chapter.
    The Daily Beast last week reported on Trump’s “quixotic and potentially destructive effort” to steal a victory. “Quixotic” and “possibly destructive”? He’s the first president in 240 years who has not accepted the election results, after losing by six million votes. Worse, he’s been on a three-month crusade to denigrate free and fair elections in America, and he’s making it impossible for there to be a smooth transition of power.
    This is so far beyond “quixotic.” Of course it’s destructive to our democracy — does anyone think the Republican Party will soon return to the days of rationally accepting ballot results? The GOP has blown a permanent hole in our election process.
    A hallmark failure of the press for four years has been that it refuses to use the proper language, to describe the truly lawless nature of Trump and today’s GOP.

  8. This is especially good news for the State Department, a Secretary who has a long and close working relationship with the president. So often in history they haven’t and WH micromanages policy, cuts State out.

  9. It’s really great to see Biden picking people I’ve never heard of because they are hard working individuals who show up everyday and don’t care about the limelight.  Thank the Universe!

  10. That winslow ad is great. Glad they added tag line “you can vote in both races”. GOP ops are doing black media telling them it’s illegal to vote for both

  11. NYTimes is running a fascinating interview with jane goodall titled

    Jane Goodall on Chimps, Presidents and Other Alpha Males

    here’s some of it from the transcript:

    Kara Swisher

    When passion moves to anger, because you’re seeing that with a lot of groups, that they’ve had enough. They want the system to change completely and not cooperatively.

    Jane Goodall

    Well, I don’t blame them if they have had enough. But I will never, ever believe that the way for change is confrontation and aggression, because people change when you reach the heart. And so, you know, when people ask me, what do you do when you meet somebody who’s behaving in a way that you really dislike or something? Try and find a connection. Maybe they have a dog or a cat or a horse or a child or something. Just for one minute, if you have a short time to talk to them. And then, stories. Tell stories. So when I went into the labs that I accused of treating the chimps badly, which they were, I showed pictures of Gombe and how the chimps are and how they’re lying around and grooming each other and playing. It got to the people’s hearts. And I got this lesson early on, don’t make high up people lose face, because it doesn’t work.

    Kara Swisher

    Mhm. When you look at the protests, though, especially environment, do you think that helps, too, or not at all?

    Jane Goodall

    Oh, I think it helps. It raises awareness, no question about it. I mean, Greta’s raised awareness in many, many people, without any question about it.

    Kara Swisher

    So let me put that to you. If you were standing in front of President Trump, how would you tell him a story? He is one of the more partisan figures, creates a lot of thumping, like chest thumping. What would you say? You have five minutes, or two minutes, or one minute.

    Jane Goodall

    Yeah, apparently, the attention span is less than that. But anyway, I would actually refuse this opportunity, because I don’t think he’d listen. I truly don’t. And it’s a waste of time when people won’t listen. But one of the very few people I would talk to President Xi. I definitely would. It probably wouldn’t do any good. But I would be fascinated to talk to him. I mean —

    Kara Swisher

    What would you say?

    Jane Goodall

    What would I say? Well, I would congratulate him on all the amazing improvements he’s made for people’s livelihood. I would not talk about his treatment of the Muslim community, because you want people to be on your side and change. And I would talk about the amazing things like banning ivory trade, and now putting pangolins up at top level protection, and all the things he’s done for the environment. And you know, hopefully, if you approach people like that, then they want to do more. That’s the case. That maybe stupid. It may be naive. But with many, many people in high positions, it’s worked.

    Kara Swisher

    It works for them. But Trump is a chimpanzee too far, I guess. [LAUGHS] How do you look at it?

    Jane Goodall

    Well, don’t compare Trump with a chimpanzee, because it’s terribly rude to the chimpanzee.

    Kara Swisher

    So you’re not put off by this partisan time we’re in? You feel like it’s overcomeable?

    Jane Goodall

    You know, the Trump administration has repealed so many environmental protections, and this is my main passion. I am shocked, horrified. Opening up the oil reservoirs in Alaska, shocking. Drilling in various parts of the ocean. It’s shocking. And if this goes on, I don’t know what’s going to happen. I mean, it’s not just America that’s going to suffer. The whole flipping world — 

  12. Three monkeys sat in a coconut tree,
    Discussing things as they are said to be
    Said one to the others, “Now listen, you two,
    There’s a certain rumor that can’t be true,
    That man descended from our noble race,
    The very idea is a great disgrace!

    “No monkey has ever deserted his wife,
    Starved her babies, and ruined her life.
    And you’ve never known a mother monk,
    To leave her babies with others to bunk,
    Or pass them on from one to the other ,
    Till they scarcely know who is their mother.

    “And another thing you’ll never see,
    A monk build a fence ’round a coconut tree,
    And let the coconuts go to waste,
    Forbidding all other monks to taste.
    Why, if I put a fence around this tree,
    Starvation would force you to steal from me.

    “Here’s another thing a monkey won’t do –
    Go out at night and get in a stew,
    Or use a gun or club or knife
    To take some other monkey’s life.
    Yes, man descended, the ornery cuss,
    But brother, he didn’t descend from us!”

     

  13. Every major religion, plus, Scientology.  Are there still Moonies? Is Sun Yung Moon still alive? IDK. 
    It is so nice to see Biden is starting to pick his cabinet.  Man, Democrats sure are a more likable bunch.  Smarter, too. 

  14. Wow just saw a study reported on CNN showing one infected person on a plane infects at least 4 seat mates even if they’re all wearing masks. India and Singapore require masks, face shields, Hazmat suits and gloves on flights, which does prevent spread 

  15. Good choice for Cuban vote going forward? 

    JUST IN: President-elect Joe Biden picks Alejandro Mayorkas to lead the Homeland Security Department.

    Mayorkas, an Obama administration alumnus who immigrated to the U.S. from Cuba as a baby, developed and shepherded DACA. https://t.co/OLi5BYZmDx

  16. Raffensperger, from his Wapo opinion piece today:

    The truth is that the people of Georgia — and across the country — should not have any remaining doubts about who was elected governor two years ago or who won the presidential election earlier this month. The presidential outcome was remarkably close, but the new paper-ballot system, the strong election security and integrity mechanisms in place, and the audit and hand recount should combine to put to rest any doubts about the final outcome.

    That’s one small comment for man, one big FU to Trump, Loeffler and Perdue.

  17. You know something…….the next 4 years are going to be just as nasty and stupid as the last 4 unless sanity prevails in Georgia. Talk about a slender thread.

  18. all joe’s picks will know their way around on day one and will be able to easily jump start their respective agencies even without a transition prior to 1/20/21.

    refreshing.

     d’umpsters had a hard time finding the bathrooms even with an early and orderly transition

  19. craig, any restrictions on where $$ can be spent with slush funds of that kind?   can d’ump keep every cent for personal use?   what about use restrictions on donations for his new 2024 campaign run? 

    if there’s anything left in the till from 2020 campaign, how much can he abscond with?

  20. Rick Wilson suggested on The New Abnormal podcast that Mitch will try to finally convince/bribe  Sen Joe Manchin (D-WVA) to become a republican to provide an insurance vote.

  21. Deadender bullshit from Dumbass.

    In Georgia, 762,000 absentee ballots had been requested as of Monday morning, said Gabriel Sterling, voting-systems manager at the secretary of state’s office, ahead of two January runoffs that will determine which party controls the Senate.

    Democrat Jon Ossoff is challenging Sen. David Perdue (R), and the Rev. Raphael Warnock (D) is running against Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R).

    There are 43 days until Jan. 5, when the elections will take place. By comparison, about 1.2 million people had requested mail ballots 43 days before the Nov. 3 general election.

    This comes as Trump, who repeatedly questioned the legitimacy of voting by mail ahead of the general election, and his allies cast doubt on the results of the presidential election.

    The Trump campaign Saturday requested a formal recount of the hand-counted results in Georgia after Biden’s victory was certified, following a painstaking audit. The Trump campaign alleged, without evidence, that “illegal ballots” were counted.
    ***

    Fugging MOrons.

  22. Sen Portman profile of a namby pamby and a man who doesn’t give a shit about his son

  23. Trump tweet just now: “I want to thank Emily Murphy at GSA for her steadfast dedication and loyalty to our Country. She has been harassed, threatened, and abused – and I do not want to see this happen to her, her family, or employees of GSA. Our case STRONGLY continues, we will keep up the good fight, and I believe we will prevail! Nevertheless, in the best interest of our Country, I am recommending that Emily and her team do what needs to be done with regard to initial protocols, and have told my team to do the same.

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