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You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Beat on the Brat, beat on the Brat, beat on the Brat with a baseball bat

Beat on the Brat, beat on the Brat, beat on the Brat with a baseball bat

by | 51 Comments

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Fuck this:

The Postal Service said on Thursday that it “deeply regrets our mistake in inappropriately releasing” the official personnel file of Abigail Spanberger, a former C.I.A. operative now running as a Democratic candidate for Congress, and requested that a Republican-aligned super PAC return the documents.

[….]

America Rising, the Republican-aligned research group, had requested Ms. Spanberger’s file under the Freedom of Information Act. After the Postal Service released the file, the group provided it to the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with Speaker Paul D. Ryan, which then used some of the information about Ms. Spanberger’s employment history for political purposes.

Dave Brat is the piece of shit Republican incumbent benefitting from this Soviet-style corruption. Let’s send his sorry ass home in November. Give to Abigail Spanberger here.

Goal Thermometer

Reader Interactions

51Comments

  1. 1.

    Mary G

    Oddly enough, her campaign filed the same FOIA request in Dec. 2017 and has received no response. How come Paul Ryan’s PAC gets to go to the front of the line? Something smells rottten here, and I am not at all ready to accept this bogus excuse and move along.

    i’d donate, Doug, but I already did when this came up.

  3. 3.

    Mary G

    I like this comment on the article Doug linked, which is the FTFNYT, and you should say that so I don’t have to use one a workaround the paywall:

    CarolSon
    Richmond VA2h ago
    Can we go one day – ONE DAY – without reading about something the GOP does that they wouldn’t tolerate for a nanosecond in a Democrat? I am at a loss for words at this point. Wealthy Republicans who held (and continue to hold) their nose while voting, is it worth it? Your stock portfolio might not be worth much in a country without democracy.

  4. 4.

    A Ghost To Most

    Dougj! has become Jurassic Pork for Blue causes. He’s here, he’s gone.

    Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I’m saving my donations for Gillum.

  5. 5.

    eemom

    IIRC Brat replaced Eric Cantor cuz Cantor wasn’t piece of shit enough for that fuckville, nowhere district down the road from here.

  7. 7.

    Fair Economist

    @Mary G:

    Wealthy Republicans who held (and continue to hold) their nose while voting, is it worth it? Your stock portfolio might not be worth much in a country without democracy.

    Observing life outcomes for Russian oligarchs does indeed indicate being wealthy in a country where Putin can give orders (as he can to Trump) isn’t so good. An awful lot of them end up going out of highrise building windows or taking extended non-vacation trips to Siberia or mysteriously hanging in their closet or …

  8. 8.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    On the theory that all BJ threads are pet threads and open threads, a question for you behavior experts: if the kitten’s new favorite game is to poke paws into the Milk Bones box, extract a milk bone and toss it onto the floor, over and over, then

    A) Does she know she’s feeding the dog and that is the fun of the game or

    B) Is the satisfaction in the pulling out and dropping in and of itself?

    As you can tell, our new adoptees are getting along great. We’re so fortunate to have a kitten with so much personality, to deal with the hyperactive pup.

  10. 10.

    Jay

    @Mary G:

    Yup, stinks to high heaven. And WTF! The PAC foia’d her Personnel Records from the USPS and somebody there thought her “records” were incomplete with out her Security Clearance Form and requested them from the Depository?

    And the 3 first pages of her form outlining all this was illegal and improper, nobody bothered to read?

  16. 16.

    Kay

    Democrat Andrew Gillum leads Republican Rep. Ron DeSantis (Fla.) by 5 points in the race for the Florida governor’s mansion, according to the first publicly released poll since the state’s primary elections on Tuesday.

    That’s a cheerer-upper for you. It’s a D poll but still- it’s great they got it out there to rankle the Trumpists.

    Everything is horrible BUT there are bright spots in these races! There’s a bunch of young and hopeful candidates- new faces- on the D side. It really might end up to be a very interesting midterm.

    Only on our side though. Their side is all hate and spite :)

  18. 18.

    Booger

    @A Ghost To Most: Cantor’s district was redrawn, Brat got the rump end from Culpeper down to below Richmond; Tom Garrett (R-Nowspendingmoretimewithhimfamily) got the gerrymander from Fauquier county to the NC line. VA-5 is the largest district in the state and is bigger than six states. Gonna go blue for Leslie Cockburn.

  26. 26.

    Steeplejack

    @Steeplejack:

    Dale back on Trump.

    Trump brings back his old lie that he can see TV networks turn off their cameras when he bashes the "fake news." This has never once happened.
    — Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 31, 2018

  28. 28.

    tobie

    @Kay: Is our side finally learning how to play tough and dictate the news? I really like that the Gillum campaign or a Democratic aligned organization released this flash poll. De Santis had a horrible Wednesday of his own making and this puts him even more on the defensive. The good news is not just the news but the strategy for making news.

    As for what happened with Spanberger: every Democrat should be screaming that Paul Ryan’s PAC violated a sacred trust.

  30. 30.

    tobie

    @Steeplejack: Your comment reminds me — is Twitler going to get his largely symbolic, empty of all substance memorandum of understanding with Canada and Mexico tomorrow. I sure as hell hope not. Let him get an indictment instead!

  34. 34.

    Steeplejack

    This is the part of the rally where I comment on how on-script Trump is so far so that I have something to link to in like 15 minutes when he starts talking about his mom's turkey or whatever.

    — Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 31, 2018

  35. 35.

    Steeplejack

    And right away:

    SIR ALERT! Trump says there were nine people he talked to backstage, "seriously tough cookies," coal miners, and "of the nine, eight of them were crying…crying out of happiness." He says he asked the ninth why he wasn't crying and the man said, "I don't cry, sir."

    — Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 31, 2018

  36. 36.

    Jay

    @msdc:

    For some USPS positions, you need a Security Clearance. While she was waiting to hear back from the CIA she took a USPS job.

    That form was the one released apparently, not her CIA one.

    The PAC FOIA’d her USPS personnel records,

    Somebody at the USPS thought her personnel records were “incomplete” with out a copy of her security clearance form, so applied to the Depository, ( a completely different branch of the USG) for a copy.

    Then, despite the first three pages of the form clearly stating how sensitive this form is and how to handle it, somebody at the USPS sent it and her personnel records to the PAC,

    And this whole thing was expedited in only three weeks, not the months it normally takes.

  37. 37.

    Another Scott

    Donated++. Thanks for putting this up, Doug!

    Getting rid of Brat would be a great, great thing.

    67 days to go!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  38. 38.

    James E Powell

    @Jay:

    And this whole thing was expedited in only three weeks, not the months it normally takes.

    The whole thing is rotten, but that last part, the expedited response, is evidence that there are Republican rat-fuckers involved. Of course no one is going to investigate this. If it were a Democrat doing it, there’d be at least two committees and a special prosecutor, but since it’s Republicans no one, not even the press/media, gives a damn.

  40. 40.

    Another Scott

    In other Virginia news…:

    Jesse Lehrich Verified account @JesseLehrich

    state of the @VA_GOP:

    Rep. Taylor is pushing #VA02 voters to recant claims he forged their signatures.

    in #VA07, Rs are using wrongly released gov’t forms to smear an ex-CIA officer.

    Rep. Garrett #VA05 resigned & was replaced by a Bigfoot fan.

    and in #VAsen… Corey Stewart.

    12:11 PM – 29 Aug 2018

    We’ve got to vote to remove and keep these monsters out of office. The GOP will destroy the country and the planet if we don’t keep them out of government…

    Grrr….

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  41. 41.

    Elizabelle

    @James E Powell:

    since it’s Republicans no one, not even the press/media, gives a damn.

    I disagree. Would you stop with the helplessness and cynicism there? This story has legs, and it’s a danger to a LOT of federal employees. The WaPost and NYTimes, the Richmond Times Dispatch (reprinted in the Charlottesville Daily Progress) have done big stories on this. Rachel Maddow just did an extended interview with Abigail, maybe 20 minutes ago.

    Republicans may well try to ignore it. Others will not. And the timing — less than a month for the GOP PAC, while Spanberger’s reps have been waiting since LAST YEAR for a response? Highly, highly unusual, wouldn’t you say?

    I don’t believe that this was just an accident.

  43. 43.

    J R in WV

    @Jay:

    Someone needs to be indicted and convicted and sent up for 10 years longer than that girl working for the NSA as a contractor who whislteblew to the Intercept… Reality Winner, that’s it.

    Whoever did the releasing of the CIA forms violated many more laws than MS Winner did, and need to be in the cell next to Manafort. For the rest of their life.

    I donated to her campaign yesterday. Monthly. Act Blue.

  46. 46.

    BruceJ

    @Jay: Bet the request came from Ryan’s congressional office. Or deeply made to look like it dod. After al what can happen to him? He’s retiring to spend time with his Ryan for Preznit 2020 family…

  47. 47.

    feebog

    So, first, I worked for the USPS for 40 years. I was a FOIA responder for several years. It sounds like she was a Postal Inspector with the USPS (she says federal agent) but PIs are required to have security clearances. I don’t know who fucked this up within the USPS, but it obviously never should have happened. I suspect she would have been required to go through an additional clearance when she moved to the CIA.

  48. 48.

    jonas

    @Jay:

    Then, despite the first three pages of the form clearly stating how sensitive this form is and how to handle it, somebody at the USPS sent it and her personnel records to the PAC,

    And this whole thing was expedited in only three weeks, not the months it normally takes

    Way to handle classified material, amirite?

    Buttery Males!

  49. 49.

    James E Powell

    @Elizabelle:

    You don’t like my cynicism? Fine, but please note that this country, the NYT, the cable networks, and the people who vote, have produced results that overshot my cynicism by a blue mile.

    How about we wait until we know the names and personal histories of every person who was part of producing that file and when they have to testify about what they did under oath. Then maybe I will believe I may be too cynical.

  51. 51.

    California Stars

    @Elizabelle:

    I don’t believe that this was just an accident.

    Neither do the folks at Lawfare.

    How did this happen? There appear to be only two possibilities: Either the U.S. Postal Service released Spanberger’s SF-86 form to a political organization in a colossal screw-up or someone there did so as an intentional abuse.

    It is hard to fathom how anyone thought an individual’s SF-86 was proper to release under FOIA. Such material is protected by the Privacy Act. Certainly the CIA wouldn’t have released the background submission of a former employee
    ….
    We submitted requests to both the Postal Service and to the National Archives and Records Administration. Each seeks:

    “Any FOIA request submitted to, forwarded to, or otherwise currently in your agency’s possession seeking information or records relating to Abigail Spanberger.”
    “Any documents provided to the requestor in response to the FOIA request(s) identified in paragraph 1, including but limited to any correspondence, cover letters, and responsive documents.”
    “Any documents describing or generated during the processing of the FOIA request(s) . . . including but not limited to certifications, correspondence, clearance sheets, custodian records, search terms, and tracking sheets.”
    “Any correspondence or other communications—including but not limited to communications among personnel in your office and communication between personnel in your office and any third parties, such as other federal agencies—relating to the FOIA request(s). . . .” and
    “Any correspondence or other communications—including but not limited to communications among personnel in your office and communications between personnel in your office and any third parties, such as other federal agencies—relating to Abigail Spanberger, her personnel record, or her SF-86 form.”
    We plan on publishing whatever we receive in response.

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