Looks like Rear Admiral Doctor Ronny Jackson may have erred in inviting the kind of scrutiny no mere physician to the powerful usually encounters:
Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee are raising concerns about allegations involving Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the department of Veterans Affairs and are reviewing them to determine if they are substantial enough to upend his nomination.
Committee members have been told about allegations related to improper conduct in various stages of his career, two sources said.
No further details are out yet, beyond the characterization that these are “some fairly raw allegations,” as Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) put it. Pure speculation here, but to my ears this has the ring of #MeToo about it.*
This is clearly not what R. Adm. Jackson anticipated when he too the fatal step of accepting anything from Donald Trump.
No sympathy for him: he did what he did, and he willing chose to pursue a post for which he was clearly ill-placed to fill. Any sane person would realize the move would bring his conduct under scrutiny. If bad things are about to rain down on him…well, welcome to the major leagues, son.
But it is also a reminder: Trump diminishes every single person who touches him.
Open Thread.
*Update: It appears it may be workplace issues other than sexual harassment. Memo-to-self: when you don’t know, you don’t know.
Image: Hans Holbein, Henry VIII and the Barber-Surgeons c. 1543 with later alterations.
Elizabelle
I never understood why he threw his hat in the ring.
Corner Stone
Was probably drunk or on other’s Rx meds when he mistakenly read 293lbs as 239lbs.
Garbo
Shitty Icarus. Every one of them. The closer they get to the sun, the worse their shit stinks.
Corner Stone
This guy had a great rep. Everybody in the Obama admin seemed to have a positive word for him. Then Trump touched him….
Mary G
I’ve seen some pretty nasty things about him on twitter, but not from anyone I’m willing to trust. They weren’t about harassment, though, more like the “shithole countries” type of remarks. I googled and no one has gone there, so who knows if any of it is true or not.
Elizabelle
@Corner Stone: Yeah. He is going to be retired, and soon, if allegations of drinking on job and workplace harrassment (?) are borne out. I guess just even having them out there; he is damaged goods.
Cthulhu
Anyone willing to go along with Trump’s facade certainly has poor judgement but invariably there’s also something seriously weird going on with them themselves.
Feebog
Maddow reporting allegations include hostile work environment, allowing drinking on the job and improper prescribing of medication.
Corner Stone
@Cthulhu: The Best People.
smintheus
This isn’t about Trump ruining Jackson. This is about the kind of person Jackson is and always has been. It’s about the kind of people who are willing to work for the kind of person that Trump is. Those people aren’t just dumb, they’re also unethical.
ETA: And they’re also OK with abuse of power.
Corner Stone
@Elizabelle: I am wondering what it’s going to take to pry Scott Pruitt the fuck out of EPA.
Ken
@Garbo: That kind of puts Trump in the role of the sun, which doesn’t quite work. OK, I’ll give you the bloated orange ball of hot gas – but most of the connotations are positive.
Maybe rework it to Jean Valjean trying to wade through the sewers of Paris, only to find that the crap is much deeper than they thought, they’re in way over their heads, and they’re not coming out of it.
scav
I don’t know that it’s quite that Trump diminishes every single person he comes in contact with. It’s almost more that he’s some kind of diminished person supermagnet, attracting already diminished people into his orbit and then somehow often accelerating their diminution, almost like a black hole of integrity. And, also like a magnet, he repulses other people. (it’s almost like an integrity test, seeing who is attracted to him or not.) I think I get what is meant by the diminished phrasing but it’s just somehow a little off for me.
Corner Stone
@smintheus: Jackson didn’t show up in the WH on Jan 20, 2017.
Ken
@Feebog:
To anyone we know?
Kay
He wasn’t qualified to run the VA anyway. I mean, seriously. What is wrong with these people? Why do they think they can do these jobs with zero relevant experience? My God, the egos are just incredible.
I like my doctor too. That doesn’t mean she should be running a huge health care service. “Like” doesn’t have anything to do with anything.
Another idiotic Trump Administration pick. I don’t know who is worse- the President who makes such lousy hires or the raving egomaniacs who take the positions they aren’t qualified for. Just once I want one of them to say “I have no idea how to do this job so I won’t take it”.
He won’t resign. Pruitt is blatantly corrupt and he’s still stinking up the place. God knows how much he’s robbed in just the last month.
smintheus
@Corner Stone: Yeah but he accepted a nomination to serve in Trump’s Cabinet. Not coincidentally, it was a job for which he had almost no qualifications. No surprise to learn that such a person has a history of lacking integrity.
Garbo
@Ken: Actually I was thinking the sun was the glare of the spotlight, but Trump is an orange, gaseous, source of harmful rays.
trollhattan
He took “rear admiral” too literally?
Pupjoint
I got a commission as a Rear Admiral when I worked with Hospice.
My assignment was to fight Klingons with baby-wipes.
Mike in NC
As a retired 30 year Navy guy, I just can’t take seriously an admiral who goes by “Ronny”.
smintheus
@Kay: You put your finger on it. I wouldn’t dream of accepting a job leading a huge government agency in which I was totally unqualified to serve. The people who do accept those nominations (and we had quite a few of those in W.’s administration too) are never distinguished by honesty or integrity.
Quinerly
If you want a few laughs at Jackson’s expense, great Twitter feed: https://mobile.twitter.com/steve_dorsey/status/988588759997452288?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
ruemara
The bright sun will bring things to light. If only these folks with skeletons remembered that. But the money, power & prestige, like it or not, is in the spotlight.
Corner Stone
@Pupjoint:
No quarter, no mercy. You must wipe them all out.
Sm*t Cl*de
Has he been reclassified as “Obama legacy Jackson” yet?
p.a.
Those unknown unknowns will get ya every time.
SiubhanDuinne
@Corner Stone:
This has the ring of truth, but it may be the saddest thing I ever read.
RSA
@scav:
Back when Spy Magazine was a thing, they’d publish an annual list of 100 worst people, places, and things. Trump always figured highly in the list, given the New York focus. I seem to remember that one year, Trump was so egregious that he wasn’t given individual items on the list but was considered part of the landscape–people, places, and things were terrible based on their connection to Trump. (At least, that’s my vague memory.)
rikyrah
Things Black people can’t do without having the police called on them:
Add play golf too slow
https://twitter.com/APEastRegion/status/988524191631790080?s=19
Quinerly
@SiubhanDuinne: technically, he touched Trump. Brain bleach, please.
JaneSays
@smintheus: True… but that would also reflect poorly on our last real president, then. Jackson’s been on the White House medical staff since 2006, but Obama personally promoted him to the job of presidential physician because he had such high regard for him. And it probably wasn’t an unreasonable promotion – for that particular job. Running one of the largest agencies in the federal government is a whole other thing.
Putting aside whatever new baggage he brings to the table now, the man clearly didn’t have the minimum experience necessary to run the VA.
Culture of Truth
also known as “The Bernie Kerick Effect”
Quinerly
@rikyrah: had just read about this before the drunk Rear Admiral story hit. Drunk rear admiral story pulled me out of my funk. Crazy times.
Mary G
@Corner Stone: Pruitt on the cover of Time Magazine.
zhena gogolia
So was he drunk when he said Trump was 6’3″ 239 pounds?
Kay
@smintheus:
They’re responsible for their own behavior. He really doesn’t know he’s not qualified to do this job?
This is Betsy DeVos territory. No one had any obligation to pretend these people are qualified for these jobs. It isn’t about their feelings. It’s supposed to have some connection to merit. These are adults! We shouldn’t all be put in a position where we have to play this stupid game where we pretend any random person is as qualified as any other person. It isn’t true. If they’re delusional enough to believe it’s true that’s their problem, not ours.
Quinerly
@rikyrah: since we are keeping a list: https://www.theroot.com/white-judge-sentenced-to-probation-for-election-fraud-i-1825479980
dmsilev
@Kay:
Those people probably exist, but since they said ‘no’, they never made the news.
Actually, now that I think of it, there’s one group of nay-sayers we have heard of, people who Trump want as his personal attorney.
Central Planning
@Pupjoint: I thought the assignment was “Circling Uranus looking for Klingons”
zhena gogolia
@dmsilev:
Didn’t Ben Carson initially say something to this effect, but then he backtracked and took the job?
Kay
@zhena gogolia:
I don’t care how many times they repeat that. That isn’t true either.
Once again the public has to pretend, in order to spare the tender feelings of the people who supposedly work for us.
We don’t have to play. That’s not in my job description as a citizen. They’re on their own with this bullshit. Not buying it.
smintheus
@JaneSays: Obama made several bad appointments putting obviously inappropriate people in positions of power, Comey being an obvious example. Don’t know enough about Jackson to judge whether he was another blatantly bad appointment.
My original point was that Trump is inevitably surrounded by people who lack integrity because those are the types he wishes to promote and those are also the types who are eager to be working for Trump. I think that stands up to scrutiny…and it also includes people who want to marry his spawn.
Amir Khalid
@Kay:
One could understand that it’s hard to refuse the trust of the president, especially for a military officer accustomed to obedience to that office. But even then, I agree that Jackson should have had the sense, and the balls, to decline a clearly ill-considered appointment.
Now about the allegations against him: how did the US Navy fail to see all this? Was it wilfully blind to a rising star’s faults?
sukabi
RawStory has him as excessively drinking on duty and prescribing medications inappropriately…
But if I were working for Drumpf I’d be drinking too
Corner Stone
@Mary G: Pruitt on the cover of Time Magazine with a golden crown tilted jauntily to one side while Pruitt has his pinky in his mouth like Dr. Evil and a caption of: “One Billlliiooon Dollars…more than Trump. Scott Pruitt: King of the DC Swamp”
SiubhanDuinne
@Mary G:
Well, that’s that. The kiss of death.
Amir Khalid
@smintheus:
Were there any red flags on Comey at the time? As far as I can recall, he had no public profile at all.
smintheus
@Amir Khalid: The Navy doesn’t see what it doesn’t want to see. That’s as basic to life in the US Navy as rust.
Corner Stone
@Amir Khalid:
Are you kidding?
smintheus
@Amir Khalid: Yes there were. He was known as a poseur with a heroic self-regard. I was appalled by his appointment.
Adam L Silverman
@sukabi: This raises two additional, but related, issues:
1) If this is accurate, how has RADM Jackson maintained his security clearance? Having these problems would make him a security risk.
2) If this is accurate, how was RADM Jackson able to make it through his most recent promotion board, which just led to his promotion to Rear Admiral (RADM) Upper Half (2 stars)?
Something isn’t adding up here. These are things that the investigators for his clearance and/or for his promotion board should have uncovered.
Sm*t Cl*de
“excessive drinking on the job”
What is the appropriate amount of drinking on the job? AFAF.
Ruckus
@scav:
Sort of like the Salem witch trials.
First, if they are willing to work in a political job for drumpf, they are suspect from the get go.
Second, as soon as they touch the yes button they start putting off pungent, arid, obviously toxic fumes.
Third, when the surface is scratched (far less scratching is required on some) their nasty ass past sneaks up on them. At about 200 mph.
Kay
Pruitt must be thrilled. A day off from the daily corruption reports.
rikyrah
@Quinerly:
In the same jurisdiction that the woman on parole got FIVE Years for voting.
Frankensteinbeck
@zhena gogolia:
No, he was reading a script given to him, which is why he was ‘rewarded’ with the VA job. Trump promotes based mostly on loyalty. Don’t expect him to remember your name when the chips are down, though.
Kay
@zhena gogolia:
I feel like the Presidential physical is discredited now. You looked at Bush or Obama you said “yeah, that’s about right”
No more. I figure next they start lying about their age.
Another Scott
@Sm*t Cl*de: A little bird told me that sometimes the CO on a military base will look the other way and allow beer for things like going away parties, or other special lunch events,
during working hours. One could imagine people drinking too much on occasions like that….
Just a for-instance. I have no special knowledge in Adm. Ronny’s case.
Cheers,
Scott.
Matt McIrvin
@Ken: Le Roi Soleil! L’Etat, c’est moi…
?BillinGlendaleCA
Shit Midas strikes again!
Ruckus
@smintheus:
Perfectly stated.
I toured a current DDG during Navy days in Long Beach 2 yrs ago. I saw more rust everywhere than I ever remember seeing on any navy ship 45 yrs ago, including a relic WWII destroyer in our flotilla that was kept in service so they could have a 600 ship navy. I don’t know what’s going on in the navy these days but if that ship (or the three others involved in major accidents no long ago) is any indication, a lot of crap is falling by the wayside. An admiral that drinks? Not sure that rates in the top 100 things that would scare us if we knew. BTW I knew a chief when I was in that his first duty out of boot camp was to be an admirals driver in London. This of course was not long after WWII so he liked the duty. He was assigned a car and all the gas he needed, civilians didn’t have that, he picked up the admiral at 9 took him to the office, noon to the officers club for lunch and refreshments, (he got to eat in the kitchen) back to the office at 1, home at 4. The rest of the time and the car was his.
Notice lunch and refreshments at noon. Nothing new here.
Mike J
@Sm*t Cl*de:
In the Trump White House? I’d need enough to drown a horse.
sukabi
@Adam L Silverman: don’t know answers to those questions… There are an awful lot of highly functioning alcoholics, so he may have slid under the radar. If he started smelling like a distillery on duty that would get folks paying attention.
Also, the drinking may be a new thing, or he had a drink at some working lunch and it pissed someone off who wanted he gone.
Tilda Swintons Bald Cap
It’s kind of interesting watching the country come apart at the seams in real time.
cthulhu
@smintheus:
Though, Comey had earned some cred among Dems (and maybe by Obama) for his “principled stand” against “some” of the Cheney/Bush regime. People tended to ignore the grandstanding components at the time.
Mike in NC
@Adam L Silverman: It is never what you know, it’s who you know. As true in the military as anywhere else.
Adam L Silverman
@sukabi: I wasn’t directing them at you and should have stated that – sorry. Those are the questions I have as a result of reading the article you linked to. I just find it hard to believe that if these problems existed they wouldn’t have been previously flagged and stalled him out. Either clearance wise or promotion wise. As far as I know his current assignment doesn’t require any specific rank. It isn’t a rank coded billet. So it’s not like he had to get a second star to be kept as the president’s personal physician.
So I honestly have no idea what is going on. Given this White House and how it operates these could be legitimate issues and they did crappy vetting. Or, given this White House, this is all bullshit and someone else in the administration is trying to ratfuck a rival.
Adam L Silverman
@Mike in NC: True. And even who you know doesn’t do you any good sometimes.
smintheus
@cthulhu: Comey’s principled stand, people forget, was that Ashcroft had delegated power to him during his operation and he wasn’t going to let them go around him that day. What’s more, Comey was ok with warrantless surveillance per se. He just wanted a few minor tweaks from Bush before it was reauthorized. Then the government went right back to work harvesting en masse Americans’ electronic messages. I can’t imagine how people bought Comey’s self-serving portrait as a man of high principle. Anyone should have seen that warrantless mass surveillance is an abomination.
Yarrow
@Adam L Silverman: As we’ve seen in the Trump administration, some people get lots of tries to fill out their security clearance paperwork and some people get passes for things that would trip up lesser beings. I don’t know if he’s in that category, but it certainly seems the rules don’t apply to everyone equally.
Mnemosyne
@rikyrah:
To paraphrase one of the Twitter commenters, I hope those ladies enjoy their new golf course after they win it in their lawsuit. ?
Steeplejack (phone)
@Amir Khalid:
Comey was a corporate Republican wheeler-dealer and fixer in the private sector from about 2005 to 2013. I have posted the Business Insider story link here several times, to no comment at all by anyone. As recently as a week or so ago.
Also, he was an assistant special counsel to the Whitewater committee back in the day. Make of that what you will.
JaneSays
@smintheus: I don’t think 99% of Americans had any idea who James Comey was when he was appointed FBI Director in mid-2013. At least superficially, he doesn’t appear to be tied to anything overly controversial prior to that appointment, and to his credit, he was one of the people who blocked Alberto Gonzalez from getting the signature of a hospitalized John Ashcroft for a Bush-era surveillance program. His reputation behind the scenes may have been a different story, but I don’t think that was common public knowledge at the time.
GregB
Bannon has put a political hit on Dr. Ronny so that Bannon’s preferred pick gets in.
The reanimated corpse of Josef Mengele.
Omnes Omnibus
@smintheus: An appointment as Presidential physician equals an appointment as head of the VA how? One could be qualified for one but not the other. Is your mind that devoid of nuance?
Adam L Silverman
@Yarrow: Unless someone reports when his last periodic review (PR) was conducted and adjudicated, there’s no way to know whether this is just the lax manner that the current administration has approached clearance issues or something else is going on.
JaneSays
@Another Scott: RA Jackson hasn’t been working on a base for the last decade. He’s been working at the White House since 2006.
efgoldman
@sukabi:
When I was a kid (50s and early 60s) there were always known drunks among the officers at every post. They were usually older, Captains or occasional majors, no hope of promotion, hoping to hold on to retirement. They were assigned as club officers, PX officers, commissary officers, or mess, laundry, etc. Never an actual command.
Nowadays my assumption os they’d be cut under up or out.
smintheus
@Omnes Omnibus: Did you even bother to read what I said?
Yarrow
@Adam L Silverman: I didn’t mean that any issues with his most recent review were necessarily due to the Trump administration, but more than the current administration has made it very obvious that rules don’t apply equally. Jackson could have had his review done in the manner of those done for Trump administration members.
efgoldman
@Yarrow:
e.g. Weasel Face looked at the name and said “him”
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
If you were working in this WH wouldn’t you be drinking?
SFAW
@Sm*t Cl*de:
Tell your friend that, if you can lie on the floor without holding on, you’re not too drunk.
Cacti
For those who were thinking Jackson might have struck some corrupt bargain with Trump for that fantastic nonsense he said about his health…
You were right.
mad citizen
@smintheus: “The people who do accept those nominations (and we had quite a few of those in W.’s administration too) are never distinguished by honesty or integrity.”
Made me think of: “Brownie, you’re doing a heckuva job”
As others have noted in various ways, I LOVE how the bright light shines on these various scumbags and idiots…
Ruckus
@efgoldman:
There were known drunks at every post and on every ship. Some of them managed to hide it, some better than others. We had an E6 on board that was considered a good guy by most. Until once we’d been out to sea long enough that he sobered up and dried out. He was a flaming fucking asshole after that. People were looking for bottles to give him.
Let’s look at this admiral doc. Assigned to the WH in 2006 and he never left. Most assignments, at least when I was in were for 3 yrs, command for usually less. Sounds to me like he wasn’t going anywhere and it seems to me there must have been some reason.
kdaug
@Yarrow: Exactly what I was thinking. And that, in truth, makes it both better and worse.
To sign on to this crew you must be blindingly nieve, or believe you can walk on a lake of shit and – hosanna! – none of the stink clings to you.
Either way, when this ship goes down, we get rid of a lot of fencepost-dumb driftwood and some tin-plated primadonnas with delusions of god-hood.
Cacti
“Nurse! Get me 20 cc’s of Johnnie Walker, stat!”
-Dr. Ronny
danielx
@Elizabelle:
Truth. On the other hand, when has that ever kept Lord Shortfingers from offering someone a job?
Steeplejack (phone)
@Steeplejack (phone):
One more time: “FBI’s Comey has a history as a political and corporate fixer.” Market Watch, November 2016.
(Oops, not Business Insider, as I said above.)
Sm*t Cl*de
@SFAW:
“Why does your office floor have a seatbelt?”
Adam L Silverman
@efgoldman: It’s a zero defect military. Some of these guys slide through, but fewer and fewer. I know of several O6s (colonels or captains) that didn’t get undone until they were caught beating their kid in public (Wal-Mart parking lot) or child porn was found on their computer or something equally disturbing and illegal.
Adam L Silverman
@Ruckus: Medical Command is a strange beast. And he went from being one of the physicians on the staff to being the chief physician on the staff. So that’s not exactly standing still. If a president decides he wants to elevate one of the staff physicians when the chief physician comes open, I’m not sure that either Navy Medical Command or the CNO and SecNav are going to say no.
Chet Murthy
Every time this (another dignity wraith) happens, it warns off everybody competent who thinks to themselves “do I really want to put myself thru this hell? for -what-?” If it weren’t for the danger of radioactive annihilation, I guess I’d be cheering it on.
danielx
@Kay:
People “liked” George Bush, supposedly a guy you’d like to have a beer with or some such. Leaving aside that he was a dry drunk and spectacularly unqualified for the job he held, as born out by his record. One of various catastrophes from one end to the other…but hey, people liked him! Fucking all hat, no cattle wannabe…
Anyway – of course Trump picks corrupt lightweights; he doesn’t want anybody of obvious character and capability around him lest they shine more brightly than him by comparison. Not setting a very high bar, I realize, but it does limit the pool of candidates. Others have noted that he is having some difficulty in securing personal legal representation, for the excellent reasons that 1) he is almost a caricature of a bad client and 2) he doesn’t pay his bills. As others have also noted, anybody who assumes a position working for Donald Trump ends up damaged in varying ways and degrees. Who would want to work for him, aside those as corrupt as he is and/or looking to make a quick buck?
Ruckus
@Adam L Silverman:
I get that medical is different than other sections. But I’ve known career people, I’m related to an AF officer that you may have even met. He did 30 yrs and I think most of it was going to schools and being in war planning or whatever it’s called. Every billet that I know about was not directly flying related. Every billet was 3 yrs, then he and his family moved.
efgoldman
@Adam L Silverman:
I was remembering 50-60 years ago. A very different army a decade or two after the war.
Adam L Silverman
@Ruckus: No argument that 3 is standard. Though for some general officer/flag officer billets that can be extended to 4, 5, and/or 6 years. These are generally in the generating and non-operational parts of the force. For instance, each of the Service Chiefs and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff do a 3 year appointment with an option for a second 3 year appointment in the same billet. But if the president says he wants you to stay on the White House staff as his chief physician, it is very likely going to happen.
Ruckus
@Adam L Silverman:
It’s always claimed to be a zero defect military. At least in my experiences that is a laughable concept. It was decades ago anyway and given ships I’ve seen and those three accidents in the Pacific it isn’t any better than it was when I served. And it spite of that we managed to keep things running and fulfill our missions. Just as an aside, nothing is zero defect. Nothing. And nothing that touches seawater or can fall out of the sky or is made by man is zero defects. And none of the people that float on, fly or shoot those things is either.
Mary G
The Navy seems to have more than its share of scandals in the past couple of years. There were all the people accepting hookers, booze and kickbacks from Fat Leonard. Then destroyers crashing into container ships, killing sailors. Possibly the whole culture is toxic.
Adam L Silverman
@Mary G:
In this case 7th Fleet is simply overworked and understaffed. US Navy Pacific Command is the most active area of responsibility for the Navy. They run far too many floats, far too often, with far too little down time. And as a result you get what we’ve seen over the past couple of years in terms of collisions/accidents.
Ruckus
@Adam L Silverman:
Of course if the CIC says jump you have to jump. Isn’t that sort of the concept in the first place?
A question I was thinking about, this doc, did he have any other duties than being the presidents doctor? His pay should be around $10K/month, not bad for having one patient.
Omnes Omnibus
@smintheus: Yes, I did. And Arne Duncan was a terrible appointment. Do go on with an explanation. I am interested.
Adam L Silverman
@Ruckus: My understanding is that he oversees the staff of physicians and nurses assigned to the White House. Prior to being the chief White House physicians he was one of the doctors on this staff.
eclare
@Steeplejack (phone): Thanks! Will read tomorrow. I knew about the Whitewater involvement but not much else.
sempronia
@Sm*t Cl*de:
If a doctor is seeing patients, how much drinking is acceptable? The answer is zero. And yes, IAAdr.
(just doing administration? then no one cares.)
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman:
@Ruckus:
Come on… There are glass balls and and there are things that are not.
Adam, some of us served and have seen how it works. Positive and negative.
Another Scott
@JaneSays: Yes, and?
He didn’t become Physician to the President until July 25, 2013 according to Wikipedia (roughly 7 years after he got to the White House). He began active duty service in 1995 – so he’s been in the Navy for roughly 23 years.
The reporting I’ve seen doesn’t say when these events he’s accused of happened.
We’re all speculating. The main thing we know right now is that they’re investigating these accusations now after apparently being blindsided by them. That shows that they weren’t adequately investigated in the past. And that’s not a good thing for the system. And if they’re true, no matter when it happened, it’s not a good thing for him to be accused of (especially with his high rank) nor for the Navy.
I assume we’ll hear more in the next few days, if his nomination isn’t withdrawn shortly.
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
@Adam L Silverman: It looks like FDR’s physician had the job for 12 years. It does look like a non-traditional billet, to be the President’s Physician.
Cheers,
Scott.
Mary G
Don’t know how to embed tweets on the tablet, but apparently the French readout of Twitler and Macron’s dinner said they discussed the president’s poll numbers, among other things. Lordy.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: I know the reality.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: Okay. It is a zero defect military. Not my experience, but I presume that everything got fixed.
Calouste
@Sm*t Cl*de: We’re talking about the navy, right? Two drams of rum is considered sober.
Omnes Omnibus
@Calouste: In the US Navy?
Another Scott
@Mary G: Only front-pagers can embed tweets here. We mere mortals can only cut-and-paste the text. :-)
Cheers,
Scott.
Brachiator
@Kay:
Unfortunately, it is exactly our problem, because these Trump appointments are charged with running the country.
His cabinet choices have been corrupt or patently unqualified, or determined to cripple or dismantle the agency that they head. Some who are capable, seem to be in tune with Trump’s bigotry, and will run their agencies solely for the benefit for white people in general, and for wealthy white people in particular.
I’m sure that there are some people who believe in public service, or believe in conservative principles. However, Trump does not value either service or principles, only loyalty, and this has to influence the type of person who chooses to work for this administration.
Ruckus
@Omnes Omnibus:
I think that even in the British navy that’s no longer true. Every other navy we ran across allowed some alcohol to be served on board. The British navy had a ration of 2 beers per day. I’m pretty sure you couldn’t be on duty though. The fellow in the Danish navy that I traded hats with said they had a bar on board. Of course there are military clubs on bases that serve and at least decades ago they did a booming business.
Omnes Omnibus
@Ruckus: I know this. But whatever.
Vor
Remember Trump allegedly wants to make his personal pilot head of the FAA.
trnc
@Corner Stone:
He wants to be the last person walking out the door so he can lock it for good. DT is totally on board with that.
J R in WV
@Another Scott:
When I was in the Navy there were vending machines full of beer at the EM-club base pool. IIRC, $0.35 a can. Your choice, Miller, Bud, hmmm, Strohs? damn stuff nearly 50 years ago isn’t a sharp as it used to be.
That was in Key West… maybe more relaxed than some bases>?