Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I really should read my own blog.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Bark louder, little dog.

The words do not have to be perfect.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

“But what about the lurkers?”

Their freedom requires your slavery.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

You are here: Home / Politics / Politicans / President Biden / Thursday Morning Open Thread: Rubbing It In

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Rubbing It In

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Well-earned victory laps!

Too, also:

America is BACK!

Speaking of global leadership, your morning moment…


Who doesn’t love an ice cream cone on a warm day?

Reader Interactions

181Comments

  2. 2.

    debbie

    Isn’t it obvious that Joe took a knee so he was at Opal Lee’s (sitting) eye level?

  3. 3.

    debbie

    @Baud:

    If the federal government can pivot this quickly to officially observe the holiday less than one day after signing the bill, surely it can get DeJoy the hell out of the post office.

  6. 6.

    Spanky

    Who doesn’t love an ice cream cone on a warm day?

    While on duty in the full sun while clad entirely in black.

  7. 7.

    debbie

    @Baud:

    The federal government is often labeled as a stagnant bureaucracy, so there is a connection. Things can get done quickly, if there is a will to do so.

  9. 9.

    Spanky

     

     

    @debbie: There’s a difference between will and legal process. I don’t know what steps remain to remove DeJoy, but iirc Biden now has his people on whatever board controls these things.

  10. 10.

    satby

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: They’ll just get overtime AND a comp day probably, probably because DeJoy was too pissy about the holiday about to be enacted to prep for it. As soon as the Senate passed it they could have planned, but DeJoy only does DeStruction.

  11. 11.

    John S.

    My son’s birthday just happens to be Juneteenth. He’s on the autism spectrum, so he may not quite fully appreciate why his birthday is a national holiday — but he will still think it’s pretty awesome.

    Happy Juneteenth, everyone! (And happy birthday, Jack.)

  12. 12.

    Shalimar

    The Executive Branch has no direct authority over the Postmaster General.  This was intentional,  to prevent political meddling with the post office.

    It is obvious DeJoy has support from most if not all of the Board, which is the real problem.  His bosses approve of his anti-American goals. My guess is he isn’t the only one who is corrupt, but that is easier said than proved in court.

  13. 13.

    debbie

    @John S.:

    When I was a kid, my half-birthday was on Memorial Day and my birthday usually fell during the Thanksgiving break at school. It’s definitely a special feeling.

  14. 14.

    Shalimar

    @Spanky: I think the majority of the board have been appointed by Obama and Biden now, but it isn’t clear that majority is anti-DeJoy.  Several of the Obama appointees have expressed support for DeJoy since the inauguration.

  15. 15.

    MomSense

    POTUS is such a good person – and wicked spry.  I can’t stand up that fast from one knee.  Damn.

  16. 16.

    John S.

    @Shalimar: That’s unfortunate, but not terribly surprising. Those appointees were probably ones who were found “acceptable” and sufficiently “balanced” in their views.

    Those types of people are often the most infuriating. They never take chances, they never take a hard position on anything, and they play it safe for their own sake regardless of the negative consequences.

  20. 20.

    Bluegirlfromwyo

    IMO, the best rubbing it in would be Barack Obama owning the name Obamacare. Not to mention it helping his political party and his place in history.

    Nothing to be said about DeJoy and his enablers that hasn’t been already.

    Happy Juneteenth!

  21. 21.

    Jeffro

    Gearing up for one last full day here in Dewey/Rehoboth…the waves have finally calmed down enough to allow for relatively easy ocean kayaking…Funland passes have been purchased for later…it’s gonna be a GOOD day!

    (*knock on wood, as always!)

    Have a great day peeps!

  22. 22.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I just realized Mr DAW hid a box of coffee pods because he feared I was going to throw them away. Which I was. They blow up in our machine. But the point is I’m living with a crazy man

  23. 23.

    Spanky

    @John S.: The Post Office Board seems like it would be the perfect sinecure for the kind of people who find decision-making distasteful, if not impossible.

  24. 24.

    MomSense

    @Bluegirlfromwyo:

    I was remembering that he had a conference call with OFA volunteers after it passed to thank us for working so hard.  His voice was hoarse and he sounded so tired.  He said something like “the right to healthcare is enshrined in law” went on to say that we would expand it and improve it over time. Talked about how people needed the security, etc.  He is a champion.

  27. 27.

    LiminalOwl

    @John S.: Happy birthday to Jack! ?

    @debbie: My birthday was often the first day back at school, from spring vacation. Ugh.

  28. 28.

    MomSense

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Oh my goodness.  You could write a dystopian near future story about all the gizmos going berserk.  At my house we struggle because all the gizmos are impossible to operate with vision impairment.

  29. 29.

    Cameron

    @Jeffro: Rehoboth?  Did you have a chance to make it to Lewes and visit the Dogfish Inn?  Never did have a chance to get there, but am very curious since I’m a big fan of Dogfish Head beer (esp. the 90-minute IPA).

  31. 31.

    Mo MacArbie

    @debbie: Isn’t it obvious that …

    Here is where you went wrong. Abandon “obvious”. Abandon logic. What can be said will be said.

  32. 32.

    Spanky

    @MomSense: Not as a central plot point, but as part of the background. Write a story set in the future where all of the gizmos don’t quite work right. And transporters were invented, but largely abandoned after that one very unfortunate incident

    ETA: And here I’m inspired by the transporter malfunction in NatLamp’s send up of Star Trek.

  33. 33.

    satby

    @Spanky: You don’t have any idea who Biden nominated to fill the empty board slots, do you? The board is now +1 Dem appointee, the last one confirmed only (just over) two weeks ago. Let’s give all the newbies at least a month to get rolling.

  35. 35.

    MomSense

    @Spanky:

    I like it.

    kid:Hey mom why don’t we ever use the transporter (young kid starts to climb in).
    Get out of there!  Do you want to end up like your uncle Gary?!

  36. 36.

    Shalimar

    @Spanky: You’re describing most of Ron Goulart’s literary output

    edit: most well known, he was the actual writer for Shatner’s Tek Wars series, but his work under his own name is better.

  37. 37.

    Spanky

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    And it’s taken you how many years of marriage to figure this out?

    Actually, now that I’m this much older, and watching many friends’ and neighbors’ marriages evolve as they, um, pass their peak, it’s become a fascination of mine to see how each spouse develops coping strategies to counter their partner’s, uh, maturation.

  39. 39.

    Starfish

    I saw a lot of conflicted feelings over the recognition of Juneteenth as a national holiday.

    It is exciting for Ms. Opal Lee to get it done after so many years, but there is some fear that it will be co-opted to be a Juneteenth linen sale or something like that.

    The place I work gives us a day off to volunteer, so some people were going to take MLK Day off for that because it is a day of service, but someone at work was demanding MLK Day off as a holiday. That demand was very weird because this person was asking for a holiday and not for anything to have to do with the spirit of the day.

    I think that there is a fear of “What will national recognition change this to?”

    In Denver, Juneteenth has been a thing going all the way back to the 1950s when some Black business owners decided that they wanted to do this.

    I had never heard of Juneteenth until I moved to Colorado the second time.

  40. 40.

    Kay

    Dr. Ronny Jackson, the former White House physician, called on President Biden to immediately undergo a cognitive test so the commander-in-chief can prove to the American public sound mental capabilities.
    “We can’t sit on this any longer,” Jackson told “Hannity” Thursday night, citing Biden’s “embarrassing” performance overseas this week with world leaders.

    What is wrong with the hiring and promotion process that this person ever ended up as Presidential physician?
    He’s an ethical horror show. He trashed his former patient (Obama) for political gain and told blatant lies about Trump’s physical condition. Why wasn’t he weeded out on merit earlier? How do such low quality people get and keep such high profile jobs?
    I mean getting elected as a GOP House member is one thing – we all know that’s no guarantee of basic competency or decency – but he was hired and promoted over and over and over before he used his past positions to become a politician. No one noticed he was an incompetent, sleazy nut case until 2 years ago?

  41. 41.

    Spanky

    @Shalimar: Given my experience with all of these whizbang kitchen appliances that I now have to replace every five years, it’s an entirely logical progression.

    And keep me the hell away from one of those Japanese toilets.

  43. 43.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @LivinginExile:

    He commented in a thread last night, I think it was, or the night before. Said the doctor was pleased with results of the surgery.

  44. 44.

    Spanky

    @Kay: If some idiot reporter (but I repeat myself) happens to ask this at a WH presser, Joe should just stare at them for a beat, then say “Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV. There, happy?”

  51. 51.

    Kay

    Our hiring and promotion process is such that it was just a complete crap shoot whether Obama ended up with this absolutely horrible physician who seems to have no ethical pro professional standards at all, drinks too much, abuses subordinates, and blatantly lies about things like “weight” and “his former patients”.

    Obama’s odds were better flipping thru a physician directory and picking a name at random than relying on whatever hiring and vetting process got him Jackson. He got the bottom 10%.

  52. 52.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Kay:

    Dr. Ronny Jackson, the former White House physician, called on President Biden to immediately undergo a cognitive test so the commander-in-chief can prove to the American public sound mental capabilities.
    “We can’t sit on this any longer,” Jackson told “Hannity” Thursday night, citing Biden’s “embarrassing” performance overseas this week with world leaders.

    Wow. That’s pretty fucking rich, coming from him.

  56. 56.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Reading about this crap, low quality physician they gave him and the problems with the Secret Service you start to feel like the biggest threats to Obama’s health and safety were people who supposedly “worked for him”. Something is broken in how they hire and promote people. The bad ones aren’t getting weeded out.

  57. 57.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    My nurse practitioner! One thing about her, she can keep her mouth shut about her patients. She cleared that incredibly high bar so she’s well ahead of Doc Jackson here.

    Why would anyone trust this person on anything? He violates the central ethical rule of his profession daily. He can’t be trusted. On anything.

  58. 58.

    Soprano2

    @Kay:What is wrong with the hiring and promotion process that this person ever ended up as Presidential physician?

    I’ve heard the O-Boys talk about Ronny Jackson on their podcast, and they are bumfuzzled at the turn he took after Obama left office. According to them, they never saw any indication of these political leanings or this other craziness when he was WH physician. It’s possible that he changed – a lot of people have since Trump was elected. Look at the “Q” phenomenon, for example, and how it’s changed some people. Or maybe he was really good at hiding it because he knew he had to if he wanted to climb the ranks.

  61. 61.

    prostratedragon

    @Shalimar: Brazil gets a good start there too. When things blow up you’re never sure whether it’s terrorists, saboteurs (possibly false flag), or shit construction. No transporters, though.

  62. 62.

    Baud

    @Soprano2:

    It’s possible that he changed – a lot of people have since Trump was elected

     

    9/11, Obama’s election, and Trump’s election each really did a number on a lot of white people.

  64. 64.

    prostratedragon

    @Kay:  Perhaps some bureaucratic imperative was fulfilled by having Jackson in that position, but Obama and anyone else who would normally use the WH physician actually saw someone else. Still needs explaining why such a loser on several counts even made it to lieutenant.

  65. 65.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: Something is broken in how they hire and promote people. The bad ones aren’t getting weeded out.

    Welcome to pretty much every hiring process in every workplace I’ve ever worked in. We have a supervisor who everyone who works in my department pretty much agrees is a big problem (he and I don’t get along, we tolerate each other, and of course he’s a big Trump fan). In the last year they divided his job into two jobs because he was supervising more people than was practical (when they originally created that position I told my boss it should be two positions, but he said they would only budget for one person). When the interviews were held for the new (higher-paying higher status) supervisor position, this person scored third. Did they see this as an opportunity to get rid of him (because if he hadn’t gotten this job, he would have retired)? Nope, instead they passed over numbers 1 and 2 and hired him for it anyway, I guess because he had the experience!! *aaaarrrrggghhhhhhhhh* We were all so bummed, but I think they took the path of least resistance by hiring him into that job. And this is in city government, where there are policies and processes to prevent some of the worst stuff from happening. Also, they have decided all supervisors have to have engineering degrees, which is definitely as problematic as you might imagine. So far it hasn’t been terrible, but their luck can’t hold out forever.

  67. 67.

    Betty Cracker

    @MomSense: I noticed that too. I’m decades younger than Biden, but these days, I look around for something to grab onto before getting back on my feet. That’s what I get for being such a lazy turd.

  68. 68.

    SFAW

    @Cameron:

    Dogfish Head beer (esp. the 90-minute IPA).

    You must be a young ‘un, if you need 90 minutes to finish off a bottle/can of IPA.

    Yes, I’m kidding. I’ve had both their 90 minute and 60 minute IPAs.

  69. 69.

    SFAW

    @Baud:

    I’d imagine if I had a casual conversation with Dr. Ben Carson in the before times, he would have appeared sane.

    Well, compared to you, of course he would. Well, until you found out he was a commenter here, that is.

  71. 71.

    Soprano2

    I had never heard of Juneteenth until several years ago when I started reading about it on liberal blogs. It occurred to me that it’s strange that we don’t have a holiday celebrating the end of the Civil War, but I suppose that’s because it would have hurt the delicate feelings of people in the South. I think many decisions made in the aftermath of trauma are done to facilitate healing, but they actually make things worse in the long run. That describes a lot of what happened after the Civil War – allowing Confederates to come back as citizens without any penalty, not really helping former slaves at all after the war was over, allowing men who had been Confederate army officers to serve in Congress! That was a recipe for normalizing their viewpoint as OK, and for making sure that formerly enslaved people would have an extremely difficult time making a go of it.

  74. 74.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: I’ve wondered about that too. After Jackson told so many preposterous lies about Trump, stuff started coming out in the media about disqualifying behavior from years ago. We didn’t find out until then, but people definitely knew! Why wasn’t he fired?

    Remember when the O Bro podcast dudes initially defended Jackson? They aren’t stupid guys — I guess he kept his kooky views on the down-low back then and must be good at cultivating personal relationships. That seems to help a lot of scuzzy people get ahead, but you’re right; we need a better system!

  75. 75.

    SFAW

    @Ben Cisco:

    Might be a toss-up on Doctor Doom

    ETA: I mean, he’s clearly smart enough to do the job, but the whole “I wanna rule the world” thing would cast a pall over his hiring.

  76. 76.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    Ugh. What I learned is not to take a physician recommendation from David Axelrod.

    “That ok, David! I’ll just stick in a pin in this map and take my chances!”

  78. 78.

    SFAW

    @Kay:

    “That ok, David! I’ll just stick in a pin in this map and take my chances!”

    Or maybe use a Ouija board?

  79. 79.

    MomSense

    @Soprano2:

    My hunch is that he started popping pills.  Addiction explains some of the behavior.  Then add to that the calculation that his only financial opportunities are with the trump/wingnut world.

  80. 80.

    hueyplong

    Other Drs better than Ronny

    Pepper

    Hackenbush

    Death (a/k/a Oscar Edwards, for the old school UCLAns on this board)

  81. 81.

    Kay

    I’m thrilled we have another summer holiday and I cannot imagine a better thing to remember and celebrate than freeing enslaved people.

  83. 83.

    Kay

    @hueyplong:

    Luckily I think Obama is legitimately very healthy and fit, because that doctor wasn’t turning up or diagnosing shit. Maybe he’s the ceremonial doctor and they all quietly use a real one to check his work.

  84. 84.

    RandomMonster

    My corporate masters decided Juneteenth is important enough to give all of our US employees a holiday. So I have the day off!

  87. 87.

    Amir Khalid

    A happy Juneteenth to all.
    TFG was the opposite of Biden. He showed up to the international summits on his watch — which of course are serious business meetings for world leaders — willfully unprepared and unmotivated to do the work. He was impossible to negotiate with — recall the photo of Chancellor Merkel confronting him like a mother with a stubborn toddler. His behaviour was boorish and petulant and an embarrassment to America. And Admiral Dr. Rep. Jackson thinks it’s Biden who needs his cognitive function tested?

    Aside: I want to tell you guys about my latest online purchase. It arrived today in a huge — 30cm x 30cm (12″ x12″) — flat black polythene envelope. What was in it? My purchase, i.e. two pairs of shoelaces. I has a puzzled.

  89. 89.

    SFAW

    @rikyrah:

    Excellent ad. And holy shit! re: all he’s done (so far) in his not-very-long life.

    ETA: Sounds like “holy shit!” also applies to his wife.

  90. 90.

    Betty Cracker

    This is kind of niche, but if you’re a fan of poetry in general and/or specifically of the poet Elizabeth Bishop, the NYT has a great interactive piece on “One Art” here.

  91. 91.

    Benw

    Happy Juneteenth!

    It’s nice to have a *Friday* off for an unabashedly good reason AND it gives we the warm fuzzies to imagine the assholes I know from work stewing over an extra day off! Haha

  92. 92.

    Ken

    @Bluegirlfromwyo: IMO, the best rubbing it in would be Barack Obama owning the name Obamacare.

    That was one of the more spectacular own goals in recent political history. The Republicans, attempting to destroy the program, instead make sure everyone associates it with President Obama, then see it become immensely popular.

  95. 95.

    Betty Cracker

    @rikyrah: In a just world, a lying legacy fail like Huckabee Sanders would get crushed by a candidate of Jones’s caliber.

  98. 98.

    Ken

    @Starfish: I think that there is a fear of “What will national recognition change this to?”

    They worried the same thing about February’s National Mattress Sale Day, and May’s National Beer and Brats Cookout Day, but those turned out OK.

  99. 99.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @rikyrah:

    That’s a terrific ad! I hadn’t heard of this candidate. Thank you, rikyrah, for introducing me to Chris Jones.

  100. 100.

    Ken

    @Spanky: I always thought Doom had an honorary doctorate.

    The Latverian University at Doomstadt is not in the habit of awarding honorary doctorates.  Which isn’t to say that they wouldn’t, if circumstances warranted….

  102. 102.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Ken:

    Adding that to the list of “unfortunate brand names”. 

    Fishy Doghead would’ve been better.

  107. 107.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Kay:

    I suspect Jackson has a long history of being very good at covering up his problems and doing the job other people see in an exemplary fashion.  Trump gives people permission to be their worst self.  It’s a huge part of his electoral appeal.  Once the self-control slips, it’s gone, and people go “I don’t even recognize him anymore.”

  109. 109.

    MontyTheClipArtMongoose

    @Ken: if only tiger woods were able to play the us open this year.

    a black golfer winning on the first official juneteenth weekend would be something. instead, insider trader phil magason will prolly win.

  115. 115.

    SFAW

    @Betty Cracker:

    In a just world, a lying legacy fail like Huckabee Sanders would get crushed by a candidate of Jones’s caliber.

    In a Just World, with a Just God, elected Republicans would be turned into grease spots, en masse. And Baud! would be President.

    OK, maybe not that last part.

  116. 116.

    hueyplong

    @SFAW: If willing to relocate, he could have the congressional seat vacated by now-grease spot Devin Nunes.

  121. 121.

    MontyTheClipArtMongoose

    @SFAW: sarah huckabuck slanders is only slightly more qualified to the governorship than caitlyn jenner.

    at least shs has had a job in government.

  122. 122.

    Kay

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    It does make you wonder about the capacity to judge character. Because that’s what it is. Over and over and over they lack character. I think we miss it because we look to other things, credentials, academic achievement, and we use those as a kind of proxy for character and they’re really not.
    I have a problem with an employee right now and it isn’t her technical proficiency at her work- it’s that she’s thoughtless. She doesn’t consider other people who work here. This is a small operation- that’s probably fatal. I don’t think we can fix that. I can’t make her care enough about her coworker to tell the coworker when she can’t cover hours she has agreed to cover, so I have to put in a process- “you will notice her by email 5 days prior”. I don’t want to put in a process and oversee it. I want her to be decent to her coworkers. I can hire for that quality. I can seek it out.

  127. 127.

    TomatoQueen

    Happy Juneteenth to all. Yesterday was the day before the last day of the pay period, which usually means reminder notices from the branch chief and unit supervisor about time sheets and putting in requests for leave and overtime hours. Instead, we had all of that PLUS the proclamation memo, the Commissioner’s proclamation memo, the guidance memo (you have the day off,  close your timesheet today, Friday you have off so put 8 hours holiday), and Happy Juneteenth, all by 3:30 pm (close of first shift), giving families time to switch childcare/familycare as needed. This is how SSA rolls.  And OPM, when permitted.

    This is a bit bewildering because our management structure is similar to USPS, and we have a commissioner abhorred as much as DeJoy if not more. The one difference between them as administrators of independent agencies is that while DeJoy has supported TFG’s agenda and worse, made it clear in public, my commissioner has done the same yet not made it public, nor himself public, and any blaming has been directed at the Deputy Commissioner, equally an evil asshole. Result so far is that hideous anti-beneficiary stuff nearly happened, almost happened, and/or was completely stopped; a few good technical things happened that otherwise wouldn’t have, and proposed good things..well, the fight goes on. How does this happen?  I think my commissioner is just slightly smarter than DeJoy.

  128. 128.

    Kay

    New York Times Pitchbot
    @DougJBalloon
    ·14h
    The progressive case against a Juneteenth holiday
    by Glenn Greenwald and Michael Tracey

    DougJ is a treasure :)

  129. 129.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: Since you run a business, it’s wonderful that you see the truth of the situation with such clarity. I think many people can’t, including people who run private businesses and massive public organizations.

    Early in my career, because I was good at the specific jobs I’d been hired to do, a couple of my bosses promoted me to management positions. I quickly learned that I was really bad at that role. Maybe I could have learned the skills I needed, but I didn’t enjoy it and went back to a contributor role.

    I’ve been out of the corporate world for a long time now and working solo at a remove from the organizations I work with, so I don’t know if it’s changed. But I suspect that’s still a mistake business leaders make: assuming that people who are good at creating X can manage teams that create X. Totally different skill sets!

  131. 131.

    frosty

    @Betty Cracker: Very smart of you to avoid the Peter Principle trap. I did that myself, but since I never got an offer to be a manager, perhaps my bosses saw that as well as I did!

  133. 133.

    Ken

    @Betty Cracker: That’s the Peter Principle in a nutshell, sometimes stated as “the cream rises until it sours”.  I have dodged that twice in my career, by coming right out and saying “I am not good at people management, I do not wish to become a manager.”

  135. 135.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    It’s horrible because the employee she is inconveniencing is honestly much more valuable to us – she would be really difficult to replace. I want to tell the inconsiderate one- “this is less about you and more about keeping the other” :)

    Things must remain unsaid.

  137. 137.

    Spanky

    @Betty Cracker: I got my first ulcer after I took a management role. I was 28.

    The advantage of growing a long resume is that you can leave stuff off – like a year or 2 in management – and no one notices.

    I’m retired now, never went back to managing, and never got that second ulcer.

  138. 138.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: Perfect timing — I was just thinking I need to stop rereading the poets I loved in college and check out newer stuff. :)

  139. 139.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Kay: I suspect that what you said earlier about Comey is true here.  In this case, he stuck to his job under previous administrations.  The same is probably true of Flynn and Kelly.  While they were in the military and subject to military discipline they were able to resist the pull of their character flaws and conform, at least on the surface, to the models of behavior that the military asks of high ranking officers.  Once Trump was in office and they were out of the military, they let their freak flags fly.

  140. 140.

    Ken

    @Another Scott: I rather liked this one:

    United States “libertarian party” is onanistic club riven by faction and doctrinal disputes over footnotes written by justifiably obscure authors, according to leading communist historians.

    — DPRK News Service (@DPRK_News) June 18, 2021

  141. 141.

    Spanky

    @Spanky: The flip side to that is that I retired early(ish) because the Fed I was contracted to I swear is somewhere on the spectrum. Probably Asperger’s. Technically brilliant, but socially toxic. People were leaving there in droves.

  142. 142.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Omnes Omnibus: According Adam, Flynn’s problems was Flynn couldn’t confirm and he was retired under Obama because of it and Trump brought him back because Trump is an idiot.

  143. 143.

    Another Scott

    @Ken: :-)

    Half the fun of DPRK_News (and Popehat) is trying to figure out what bit of Twitter/news it’s referring to.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  144. 144.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: But Flynn was good enough to make it to a three star position.  He had to have some ability, both military and political, to do that.​
     
    ETA: There was a competent person who could work inside the rules in there somewhere.

  145. 145.

    PST

    @Spanky:

    And keep me the hell away from one of those Japanese toilets.

    Really? I’ve been thinking that one of those might be just the thing to get with a tax refund. Practice makes perfect, so after 65 years of wiping my own ass I’m pretty good at it, but terribly bored as well by the endless repetition. I wouldn’t ask another human being to take on such an unpleasant and menial task, but why not make that one more job we can entrust to robots.

  146. 146.

    Soprano2

    @Frankensteinbeck:  Trump gives people permission to be their worst self.

    Boy, I agree with this. People I know who support Trump seem to have gotten nastier in places like FB since his election. He makes them feel like it’s OK to be offensive, even to people they know and like.

  147. 147.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @PST: ​
     

    but why not make that one more job we can entrust to robots.

    Sure, it seems innocent enough, but this is how it starts. Next step, Skynet.

  150. 150.

    The Moar You Know

    : I think the majority of the board have been appointed by Obama and Biden now, but it isn’t clear that majority is anti-DeJoy.  Several of the Obama appointees have expressed support for DeJoy since the inauguration.

    @Shalimar: not one person on the postal service board of directors was appointed by Obama.  You can thank Senator Sanders for that.  As a result, when Trump took office, he got to appoint all of them.  Oddly, Senator Sanders didn’t have an issue with that.

    As a result, the board is, every one, Trump appointees and cannot be fired or overruled.  DeJoy is going to be fucking up the USPS for years.

    Now you know who to thank.

  151. 151.

    Mike in NC

    From my own personal experience, the medical doctors in the US military are generally the dregs of the profession. For one thing, they’re exempt from being sued for malpractice.

  154. 154.

    geg6

    @hueyplong:

    Biden just got three confirmed, making it a Dem majority on the board.  But the problem is that one of the Dems was appointed by Trump and may not actually be a Dem at this point.

  155. 155.

    dnfree

    @PST: I read an article about these mechanisms, and apparently they need to be thoroughly cleaned once a month or so.  I would far rather do hand-wiping the old-fashioned way than clean out such a mechanism monthly.

  159. 159.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: It does make you wonder about the capacity to judge character. Because that’s what it is. Over and over and over they lack character. I think we miss it because we look to other things, credentials, academic achievement, and we use those as a kind of proxy for character and they’re really not.

    I think we depend too much on looks and first impressions, which are sometimes wrong. People who “look” the part for jobs get a pass that others won’t.  Jackson looks the part, so I think it was easier for him to rise through the ranks in spite of any problems he might have had. Plus, there’s that always-present benefit of the doubt that white men get. My manager at the pub says she looks for attitude and personality, because she can’t teach that. She can teach the skills needed to be a server/bartender, but she can’t teach the right attitude or the right personality for the job. We just had to let a server go because of that problem. We only hired her because we were desperate for an employee to fill shifts, but she was a problem from the beginning. She would wear T-shirts with sarcastic sayings on them even after our manager asked her not to. That’s a terrible look for a place like ours – we’re cultivating the “neighborhood Cheers” feeling, not “snarky sarcasm”. She didn’t want to help the other employees out when they needed help. She claimed she worked at Shorty Smalls for 10 years in Branson before COVID, but I have a hard time believing she was successful unless she had managers who reined her in hard. You have to be friendly in a job like that, and she wasn’t that friendly. That’s why I’ve never tried to do a job like that – I know my strengths and weaknesses!

  161. 161.

    Soprano2

    @Betty Cracker: But I suspect that’s still a mistake business leaders make: assuming that people who are good at creating X can manage teams that create X. Totally different skill sets!

    The worst one I’ve seen is assuming that your best sales person will be a great sales manager. You’re right, totally different skill sets! I figured out a long time ago that I wouldn’t be a good boss (I’m too anal and prone to micromanagement, although that’s gotten better as I’ve gotten older), so I’ve never tried for those type of positions. I’ve seen too many people get promoted into a position where they need to display more leadership just because it’s higher pay. They seem to think they’re going to get higher pay for the same thing they did before. We’ve got crew leaders here who act like worker bee drone workers. It’s a problem.

  163. 163.

    Soprano2

    @The Moar You Know: not one person on the postal service board of directors was appointed by Obama.  You can thank Senator Sanders for that.  As a result, when Trump took office, he got to appoint all of them.  Oddly, Senator Sanders didn’t have an issue with that.

    I think it’s funny how Sanders seems to get a pass over how against Obama he was.

  165. 165.

    Kay

    @Soprano2:

    The thing to learn that saves a lot of heartache and aggravation is really bad hires don’t get better- they only get worse. “Mediocre” can get better and may, but “bad” never will. And you know “bad” in 2 weeks, tops, so just don’t drag it out.
    That’s what I thought all thru the long, long “Trump is growing into the job!” period ‘o delusion.
    No. He’s not. He’s getting worse. He just didn’t have “better” in him.
    January 6th was like the culmination of “the bad”. We were always going to end up there.

  166. 166.

    Kay

    @Soprano2:

    The hard calls are the people who stay just this side of “not worth firing and finding someone else”. That’s a real skill all by itself. Just right on that cusp.

  169. 169.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: The hard calls are the people who stay just this side of “not worth firing and finding someone else”. That’s a real skill all by itself. Just right on that cusp.

    Yep, that’s tougher – I’ve worked with people like that. We had a server who was great until she met a guy who started paying all of her bills. Suddenly, she started calling in more, but not too much. Eventually she found a clerical day job. I hope she is more dependable for them, because if she’s not I suspect she’ll be looking for another job soon!

  170. 170.

    James E Powell

    @Soprano2: 

    More seriously, I think the pass given to Sanders is actually a pass given to Biden, Schumer, and Pelosi. We don’t need to be arguing about the past.

  171. 171.

    JAFD

    @Spanky: Today, at any rate, is the 206th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo. (now, go have some French pastry to commemorate…)

  173. 173.

    Another Scott

    Meanwhile, in NYC… ProPublica:

    Leading Manhattan DA Candidate Has Repeatedly Paid Virtually No Federal Income Taxes

    Tali Farhadian Weinstein, who donated $8 million to her own campaign, and her hedge fund manager husband paid nothing (or almost nothing) to the IRS four times in six years.

    The MotU are still taking “We don’t pay taxes; only the little people pay taxes” (- Leona Helmsley) as an instruction manual.

    She is vying to lead one of the most prestigious prosecutorial offices in the country. If Farhadian Weinstein wins the Democratic primary, she is virtually guaranteed to win the general election later in the year since Democrats dominate the borough. She would take over the office at a pivotal time: Violent crime in New York City is rising, and the office is widely reported to be in the advanced stages of an investigation into the taxes and finances surrounding Trump and his company.

    Farhadian Weinstein has made fairness a central principle of her campaign. As she has put it on her campaign website, “Tali believes in a DA’s office that is ethical, fair, and advances equity for all New Yorkers.” She has presented herself as a centrist in a progressive Democratic field. A former federal prosecutor and general counsel for the Brooklyn DA’s office, she has picked up a string of high-profile endorsements, including from former Attorney General Eric Holder, former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, the New York Daily News and the New York Post.

    Farhadian Weinstein has received hundreds of thousands in donations from wealthy financiers, including contributions from Citadel’s Ken Griffin, PointState Capital’s Zach Schreiber and Pershing Square founder William Ackman. That has prompted criticism that she will be soft on white-collar crime as the DA in the nation’s financial capital. She has said those donations will not influence her.

    Farhadian Weinstein has raised $12.8 million in all (including the $8.2 million she contributed herself), towering over the next closest competitors, Alvin Bragg at $2.3 million and Lucy Lang at $1.6 million.

    Grr…

    To be clear, there’s no indication that they did anything illegal. But it shows how tilted the tax code is toward the wealthy.

    I hope NYC voters are making the sensible choice…

    Much more at the link. Click over and read the whole thing.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  177. 177.

    Kathleen

    1. @Soprano2: My mentor in the corporate world said the most important attribute for being a good manager is self awareness. She said you can teach someone any other leadership/management skill but not self awareness.
  179. 179.

    Chris Johnson

    @rikyrah:

     He may be greasing it for Joe Manchin: he apparently is well aware of the politicking involved in making it seem like Manchin is getting a win, rather than just conceding. Let’s see if Manchin’s idea carries the day, and more notably whether Bernie is actually prepared to fuck up his chairmanship of the Budget Committee or is actually just making noises for politics reasons.

    Nobody would doubt that he was the raging hippie prepared to fuck everything up by moving the goalposts, so it’s plausible. The question is whether it’s a real position or not.

  180. 180.

    J R in WV

    @Kay:

    It’s horrible because the employee she is inconveniencing is honestly much more valuable to us – she would be really difficult to replace….

    Perhaps inconsiderate employee should be told to report to her new boss, valuable employee? Just a thought…

    I was a better data and systems analyst than I was a manager.  But the pay raise drew me into management like a bee to nectar. All over now, retired for many years, YAY!

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