Hello TODable TODbots on a Wednesday Afternoon.
Congrats Nancy for your Furst Au ⭐
Thanks NW for the new post.
Love seeing Amk. Please don’t disappear.
LL where Art Thou?
Sending {{{{ ❤ Dudettee ❤ }}}}
Hello {{{ ❤ Chips ❤ }}}, won't you please join Us today, POTUS' last Presser? Missed you greatly.
Map of the protests. Every time someone shows the red/blue states map they should lay this over it. Notice high volume in "red" rust belt. pic.twitter.com/G2LzAyq8dC
Proving the Point. If MSM were trashing Ds more than Rs, No wonder 40% of Rwing Media Control & 57% of Corp Media Control dwarfs 2%+ of Liberal & Indy Control.
Pres. Obama to press: "You're not supposed to be complimentary. You're supposed to cast a critical eye on folks who hold enormous power." pic.twitter.com/sTKl34FlrQ
Stepping away from the @PressSec podium for good this week—been a good ride. Looking forward to asking a few questions of my own around here pic.twitter.com/BSXEO4tDOT
yeah, right. says his wife doesn’t want to move to d.c., so of course he’s complying. seems to me that probably dt’s wife doesn’t want to move either. public service is harder than it looks.
literally the only reason to hold our pad like that is if you’re trying to hide the fact that there is nothing written not that paper https://t.co/7e7mJOeccA
The photos of PBO that show him writing out his speeches in long hand on a yellow pad were taken from the back and clearly showed his hand with a pen in it hovering over a page filled with his handwriting and his editing marks (I had it on my classroom wall). We have also seen photos of him writing and editing on a computer. The Deplorable One is a clown and a con on every level.
I think Mary Pat did not like Trump at all. I saw her eye rolling quite a bit. Don’t blame her for trying to protect her husband. He has enough troubles already.
His answer to that last question totally lifted me up and filled me with hope and resilience!
I can’t tell you how comforting it is to know that he and the family will be coming to stay here in Southern California for awhile after they leave Washington on Friday.
I know. Could they not even stand up and respect his departure. A little applause maybe? Even if it is not protocol the likes of Barack Obama won’t be seen again. His last message should be worth a moment of something.
The FBI, CIA, NSA, Director of National Intelligence, Justice Department, and the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Network are investigating how Putin funneled money into the United States to help Trump win the presidential election.
McClatchy reported:
The agencies involved in the inquiry are the FBI, the CIA, the National Security Agency, the Justice Department, the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and representatives of the director of national intelligence, the sources said.
Investigators are examining how money may have moved from the Kremlin to covertly help Trump win, the two sources said. One of the allegations involves whether a system for routinely paying thousands of Russian-American pensioners may have been used to pay some email hackers in the United States or to supply money to intermediaries who would then pay the hackers, the two sources said.
The money trail is one that has interested investigators since the intelligence community became convinced that Russia meddled in the election to help Trump. With so many connections between Russia and the Trump campaign, the money trail could provide the link between the Russian election interference and the Trump campaign.
With the Trump administration set to take office on Friday, it is expected that they will try to squash the investigation, but Trump has burned bridges with the intelligence community from day one. If there is a smoking gun, it will find its way into the press.
40 hours and counting. I pray the FBI and a troop of US Marshalls present onstage Friday at noon with warrants for the entire gang, haul them away in the face of worldwide humiliation. 🙏🏻
The Trump International Hotel in Washington is banning the media from its premises during inauguration week.
“Media is not allowed in this week in respect of the privacy of our guests,” Patricia Tang, the hotel’s director of sales and marketing wrote in an email.
A POLITICO reporter attempted to enter the hotel Wednesday morning for a previously scheduled breakfast meeting but was stopped at the door. He then identified himself as a journalist and was told “media” was not allowed.
President-elect Donald Trump and his three adult children own the project after winning a 2012 bid to redevelop D.C.’s Old Post Office. They have a 60-year lease with the federal General Services Administration, which owns the property.
As always, Nerdy, you sum up events like these wonderfully!
I loved this (cause I happen to be one of those “no one knows what to call them” folks 😼)
“…and a whole bunch of mixed up presidents who no one knows what to call them & that’s fine.”
Thank you Nerdy. I retweeted every last one. Re: Chelsea Manning. We need to understand PBO always plays the long game. If we think it through and play the tape all the way through we’ll realize he did what he gotta do to restore our democracy.
The way he speaks, the deep consideration he gives every question, the agility of his mind. End of an era. Hard to process this all at once. pic.twitter.com/6Je3oqblc4
So I just checked Twitter. Discovered that my following PeteSouza had me automatically signed up as now following PeteSouza44. BUT PeteSouza will revert to his personal use and I had to follow that anew to stay with him. So obviously the accounts that we were following get transferred but have to renew for the personal. I always followed BarackObama and MichelleObama but if any of you did not I suggest you add them. She has had no tweets on that account since 2013 but I suspect it will be the one she reverts to.
I’m in tears. But his words also give me hope. If he can be so generous and hopeful after 8 years of the vitriol he and his family faced. So can I. #YesWeCan
Update at 12:43 p.m.: Pruitt said he was “very concerned” about the link between fracking in Oklahoma and earthquakes in the state. But he would not list any public statements he has made on the issue and said that another agency in the state was charged with addressing it. These comments came after he also declined to say that the U.S. should transform its energy system in order to reduce the impact of climate change and instead said that the EPA has an “important role” in reducing carbon emissions.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) was not satisfied with Pruitt’s responses and said, “If that’s the kind of EPA administrator you will be, you’re not going to get my vote.”
Update at 11:48 a.m.: Pruitt would not commit to recusing himself from lawsuits that he brought against the EPA as the attorney general of Oklahoma. Pruitt said that he will recuse himself from those cases for the first year, but that after that period, he will consult the EPA’s ethics office on a case-by-case basis.
“I think that’s a big mistake,” Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) told Pruitt, adding that Pruitt leading the EPA will be like the “fox destroying the henhouse.”
Marin Cogan has written a story I was hoping someone would cover about the dilemma faced by federal civil servants with the election of Donald Trump. Here is how Cogan introduces the subject:
I came to Washington four months before the election of Barack Obama in 2008, and over the last eight years I’ve had a front-row view of the generation of civil servants who were drawn to Washington to work under his administration. By and large, they are smart, young, and idealistic about the role that government can play in the greater good. They are gay, racially and ethnically diverse, and socially progressive — even some of the more conservative among them. They were, apparently, the “Establishment” that Trump was promising to drain from the Washington swamp. Now, they’re watching as Trump appoints plutocrats with little or no relevant work experience to lead their agencies. It’s hard not to feel like Washington is about to be taken over by hostile invaders.
It is important to keep in mind that there are two types of federal employees: political appointments and civil servants. Traditionally, the latter serve through changes that result from presidential elections.
All federal employees have to prepare themselves psychologically to serve under an administration they disagree with, says Michael, who works at the Department of Justice. But the assumption most of them have always had is that their next president would respect most of the basic democratic norms. “Basically, when you are in the civil service you know that at some point you might end up serving under an administration that you didn’t vote for and don’t agree with,” he says.
Cogan talked to civil servants about this transition and their concerns varied from the very personal to larger questions of morals and values. For example:
Will I retain the protections provided by the Obama administration on things like same-sex benefits?
If I leave, will I be replaced by someone who is worse?
Trump and Republicans have promised to reduce the federal workforce by 10%, mostly through a hiring freeze. If I leave, will I be replaced at all?
Considering Trump’s remarks and the widely held views of the Republican Party, I’m not sure if my work will be seen as valuable.
I wonder if the incoming political appointees will have a harmful agenda and if they will lack the necessary background and knowledge of what we do.
I can’t work in an administration that is contrary to my values and beliefs.
I worked in New Mexico State government at a time when our treasured multi-term Governor King was followed by Gary Johnson. All these sorts of questions came up, and I guess they do with every change of leadership, in government and in private companies. The issue for many is that campaign promises of budget cuts and tax relief is functionally made at their personal expense. That is, even if you still have a job, and you may not, you won’t be replaced, so you’ll be doing two jobs, then three, and so on, as attrition empties out your work team. That means longer hours, deferred breaks, health checks, vacations– just a host of quality of life issues. These are not insignificant, and yet what felt worse was that the new leadership didn’t believe in the mission of a people’s government. They just wanted to cut expenses, and services be damned. So we not only saw our dear friends being fired, driven out, and over-worked into desperation, but the public we served was being short-changed at every turn. We felt we could not do a decent job, and we also felt the heat of the public’s anger.
My prayer is that a national conversation about the legitimate role of government will be initiated and sustained in the coming months and years. PBO has absolutely opened the topic, at every turn, and I think it will be on people’s minds as DT and his crowd step in to rip up the systems we all rely on. I hope the connection between who’s in office and how the country operates will settle into people’s minds in a way that informs their future votes. Like PBO, I intend to remain hopeful, even as I fully experience the grief and anger that wells up. And I know everyone here will be on the same ride, sometimes throwing up our hands in exhilaration, sometimes shrieking in terror, always glad to be here, together.
I’m so frustrated. I’m trying again to post my thank you note to TOD and it just disappears! Maybe because I am thanking many of you by your TOD nicknames and they are not recognized as “words” WordPress is throwing out my comment? If anyone has a suggestion, let me know. I may try to post it in pieces, but I’d rather just post the whole thing. It’s not even that long. I’ve seen some folks here post whole articles and Lovely Plains posted all the new admin’s twitter handles and it worked. I don’t get what I’m doing wrong!
Ok, this is so weird. Now I’ve tried to post just a couple of paragraphs and it still won’t take my comment. I tried switching from Firefox to Safari too and no luck. Wish I knew what the problem was.
A 55 year-old man who is built like a model. Beautiful hands (the right size for his height etc,) and skin, clear eyes. The gray hair is distinguished. He is also a man at peace with himself and the work that he has done. A proud father who can speak expansively and eloquently about his daughters. A Leader who is not done even though one position ends. The haters threw everything at him but because he was a man of character, faith and vision when he first walked through those doors 1/20/2009, he was able to weather the storm. At the end of it he has the respect of millions, if not billions, here and abroad, daughters that fill him with pride, and a vibrant marriage to a woman who is even more beautiful than she was the day they arrived, his rock who has thrived in a position that she was reluctant to take. They leave with approvals in the 60’s to enter a world of boundless opportunities where they will be welcomed with love, gratitude, and excitement.
Beautifully stated. Our President and First Lady are beloved like no other President and First Lady, or public figure in my lifetime. I will not be surprised if both of them do not assume prominent positions of leadership on the world stage.
Ya have to wonder how long it will take his mind and body to come off that “hair trigger alert” that they’ve been on for 8 long years. They say it takes 3 weeks to develop new habits and 3 months to break old ones. My guess would be it will be at least 3 months before he starts to feel “normal” again. For his sake, I’m hoping DT doesn’t do anything catastrophically stupid during that time so that PBO can reclaim himself and develop his new life at a slower speed.
I listened to Josh Earnest’s final dpb and he was saying that he looks forward to waking up in the morning and not thinking obsessively about what he has to do to prepare for that day’s briefing. I imagine POTUS has some of that same feeling x10000000000000000000. The responsibility of that office has clearly not hit most people because PBO make it look effortless.
That is part of what is so amazing Meta, he DOES make it look effortless. But the stress is obvious. I suspect a mere whisper at night wakes him to high alert immediately. I’ve been surprised at times when they were on “vacation” how early he was to his workouts. But again, in this job I don’t think there was a stress free moment. That is what he needs to recover from now. BTW, I suspect it is less stressful for those who take it less seriously. But I have never doubted for a moment that the full weight of it bore down on PBO from the moment he walked out on to that platform on January 20, 2009 and has never let up, even though the recent years have not as been as bad as the first. But he always understood the responsibility that was on his shoulders. What a gift he gave us.
YES. I wonder if he’s had a full night of deep sleep in 8 years. He’s subliminally and biometrically on high alert at all times because he fully realizes the tremendous reasonability coming at him in all time zones. We trusted him.
He is a model of thought, care, humility and compassion. I always, always, always trusted him.
More insight on that magical day in Moneygall. Henry the VIII’s life has changed astronomically (another Obama stimulus). Off to Youtube to relive that day again. One of the best days at TOD were the days we traveled with PBO on his overseas visits. Moneygall and Australia are two of my favorites.
What a thing to do, as Mikaela Tiu said "Friendship isn't about whom you have known the longest.It's about who came, & never left your side" https://t.co/uhNUpgbie7
Friends, like many of you I will not be watching television or active on the internet in the next two days. Thank God my wife and I are baby sitting our grandchildren all day on Thurs. and Friday. Among my facebook friends the word is circulating to place a photo of the Obamas in place of our own on our personal page, as an act of resistance to Trump and an act of respect for the service of President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama.
I changed my profile pic on FB to a photo of PBO waving right after he finished his news conference, his last public remarks as president. That will remain my profile pic for one week, when I will revert to the weeping Lady Liberty that I inserted in place of my photo right after the election. That sad Lady will remain my profile pic as long as DT is president.
I posted this on my Facebook page along with substituting that gorgeous photo of the First Couple on my personal profile:
Dear Friends, In honor and respect to our beloved President and First Lady Obama, and in resistance to the insertion of an agent of a hostile foreign power in the White House, I am placing a photo of our First Couple to remind me of our debt of gratitude to them and as a remembrance of what honorable and devoted service to our country looks like. Thank God we are taking care of our grandchildren on Thurs. and Friday. Thus I will fast from any media or internet exposure of this the tragic event our country is experiencing. Many of my facebook friends are also taking this action on their facebook photo.
Just went to Wikipedia. This is what is currently posted about Chrisette Michele:
“Chrisette Michele Payne (born December 8, 1982), known professionally as Chrisette Michele, is an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter and an Uncle Tom. She was signed to the Motown Records[1] but recently left in order to sign herself under her own label Rich Hipster. She won a Grammy Award for Best Urban/Alternative Performance in 2009 for her song “Be OK”.”
Oh well, I give up. I just tried to type the first part of my thank you to you guys by hand again : no copying from textedit, no weird links, nothing out of the ordinary. It will take other comments of mine, just nothing from what I really want to post. I have been planning on leaving this thank you from my heart to TOD for months now, and I am so disappointed that WordPress doesn’t seem to want me to do it. I am sad.
Does anyone know if Nerdy has access to the TOD email address? I’m not on Twitter or Facebook or anything, so I can’t DM her. Maybe if I sent it to her she could tell me why it’s being thrown out? I don’t even get a notice that it’s in moderation. The comment, or any parts of it just will not post and disappears into thin air, as if I never wrote it.
For some reason, once when I couldn’t get something to post in regular fashion, I dropped it into a response to someone’s comment to me (via notifications) and it worked. You might try putting your text into a response to this comment?
Reread your comment and tried to drop mine here, in response to you (wasn’t signed up for notifications) and it again, disappeared. This time I’m on my iPad. WP must have flagged some collection of words in it, is the only thing i can think of. Will try to rewrite it tomorrow and see if that helps. Thanks anyway, JBoomer!
Saw another tweet today where someone just getting in asked his taxi driver about how quiet it was. Driver said everyone has left town and it is dead. Goes along with DT’s favorability ratings.
Many people who live there leave town to avoid the crowds and some will be renting their homes for incoming visitors. 62 million people voted for him, the business people and the lobbyists will turn up in force as well as press from all over the world. I expect hundreds of thousands to be there. A lot of the people we see and work with everyday have been waiting for someone like him (or what they think he is) and they will be there to party and to show off.
What a transition failure on the part of the Trump team. These should have been read, discussed, etc. SoS Kerry noted the other day he has had NO contact with Tillerson, and very few inquiries from anyone on the new team. Stunningly inept.
My niece just took a job in San Diego doing GPS mapping at the base there. In the course of it, she is hiking 8-10 miles per day and loving every minute of it. In the past, she worked on the technical side for Apple at a desk but decided to try the on the ground aspect of it:-)
Another twitter change, Ben Rhodes will be @brhodes. It is my understanding he is staying with PBO and will continue to work for him. Read that somewhere recently;-)
Obama White House.gov
The Obama Diary 
Hello TOD family! Thank you Nerdy wonka! Standing by for our great POTUS
Nancie!!!! Congrats on First {{{hugs}}}
Thanks NW.
Good Afternoon, TOD Family. Thank you Nerdy!!!
Hello TODable TODbots on a Wednesday Afternoon.
Congrats Nancy for your Furst Au ⭐
Thanks NW for the new post.
Love seeing Amk. Please don’t disappear.
LL where Art Thou?
Sending {{{{ ❤ Dudettee ❤ }}}}
Hello {{{ ❤ Chips ❤ }}}, won't you please join Us today, POTUS' last Presser? Missed you greatly.
Dems need to maintain a 50 States Strategy.
Then a 24/7 Messaging Apparatus. Had I Known……..Buyers Remorse are not & Never will be a winning strategy.
I know I am going to cry during this press conference. I have already teared up thinking about it.
Proving the Point. If MSM were trashing Ds more than Rs, No wonder 40% of Rwing Media Control & 57% of Corp Media Control dwarfs 2%+ of Liberal & Indy Control.
The Honorable Barack H. Obama will always be my President.
Mine too, 🙂 oops! Canadian, but you feel me…
yes. there is no other.
.@CNN Don’t confuse asking tough questions with manufacturing a False Narrative and creating a question around that False Narrative. #MediaFail
Amennnnnnnnnn…or posing GOTCHA Questions….
Is that tweeted? Good one.
Yes it was tweeted.
Remove those fucking chairs from those preening assholes. If the President stands, so can they.
THIS!!!!!!!!!!!
Another fool!
Riiiiggghhhhtt.
yeah, right. says his wife doesn’t want to move to d.c., so of course he’s complying. seems to me that probably dt’s wife doesn’t want to move either. public service is harder than it looks.
Every speech, every press conference a learning experience for me. I always learn from him and I will miss this so very much.
Measured, calm, thoughtful, philosophical. I could listen to him all day.
oh me too. It’s been an 8 year education, taught with love humor and insight.
Thanks for all your tweets. When I can’t get home to TOD you and Nerdy and MT keep me going.
I’m honored, vetviera.. thank you so much.
Desperate act!
ohhhhh myyyy…how tragic is this
In 1973, LBJ died just a day or two after the Nixon 2nd Term Inauguration.
2 of 2
1 of 2
the “winter whitehouse” sickening. How dare he. We have ONE, it’s the People’s House it’s in DC.
Is this supposed to be his presidential look? He looks constipated.
The photos of PBO that show him writing out his speeches in long hand on a yellow pad were taken from the back and clearly showed his hand with a pen in it hovering over a page filled with his handwriting and his editing marks (I had it on my classroom wall). We have also seen photos of him writing and editing on a computer. The Deplorable One is a clown and a con on every level.
a born con. who proved p t barnum’s proverb about murkkka right.
This is obviously a staged photograph I agree. Reminiscent of 2012 campaign when Ryan mimicked washing the dishes !!!
Did ya hear him, Ms Devos? Title 9.
Love him so much for his enthusiasm for America’s diversity.
I loved that suit
I am so with you, LOLGOP!
LOL.
Bully blames his wife.
I think Mary Pat did not like Trump at all. I saw her eye rolling quite a bit. Don’t blame her for trying to protect her husband. He has enough troubles already.
“The New “O” Book Club: 12 Fiction Picks from President Obama”
http://offtheshelf.com/2017/01/the-new-o-book-club-12-fiction-picks-from-president-obama/
thanks for this link– hadn’t seen it
Is this truly the last time we’ll hear from him this week?
Most probably unless something Huge comes up……
I agree!
Even on the last day they yell at the President on his way out…smh
I thought the same thing!
His answer to that last question totally lifted me up and filled me with hope and resilience!
I can’t tell you how comforting it is to know that he and the family will be coming to stay here in Southern California for awhile after they leave Washington on Friday.
I know. Could they not even stand up and respect his departure. A little applause maybe? Even if it is not protocol the likes of Barack Obama won’t be seen again. His last message should be worth a moment of something.
DAMN straight!
I pray for this every minute of every day. A horrible, embarrassing, jail inhabiting kind of fail
http://www.politicususa.com/2017/01/18/6-agencies-investigating-russian-money-trail-bring-trump.html
The FBI, CIA, NSA, Director of National Intelligence, Justice Department, and the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Network are investigating how Putin funneled money into the United States to help Trump win the presidential election.
McClatchy reported:
The agencies involved in the inquiry are the FBI, the CIA, the National Security Agency, the Justice Department, the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and representatives of the director of national intelligence, the sources said.
Investigators are examining how money may have moved from the Kremlin to covertly help Trump win, the two sources said. One of the allegations involves whether a system for routinely paying thousands of Russian-American pensioners may have been used to pay some email hackers in the United States or to supply money to intermediaries who would then pay the hackers, the two sources said.
The money trail is one that has interested investigators since the intelligence community became convinced that Russia meddled in the election to help Trump. With so many connections between Russia and the Trump campaign, the money trail could provide the link between the Russian election interference and the Trump campaign.
With the Trump administration set to take office on Friday, it is expected that they will try to squash the investigation, but Trump has burned bridges with the intelligence community from day one. If there is a smoking gun, it will find its way into the press.
40 hours and counting. I pray the FBI and a troop of US Marshalls present onstage Friday at noon with warrants for the entire gang, haul them away in the face of worldwide humiliation. 🙏🏻
You can download these posters for WOMEN’S MARCH:)
http://www.politicususa.com/2017/01/18/protest-posters-donald-trumps-inaugural.html
I can’t wait for his books (sigh) I’ll have to wait a while BUT will not spend a damn red cent on the pretenders who “think” they knew him drivel.
The Trump International Hotel in Washington is banning the media from its premises during inauguration week.
“Media is not allowed in this week in respect of the privacy of our guests,” Patricia Tang, the hotel’s director of sales and marketing wrote in an email.
A POLITICO reporter attempted to enter the hotel Wednesday morning for a previously scheduled breakfast meeting but was stopped at the door. He then identified himself as a journalist and was told “media” was not allowed.
President-elect Donald Trump and his three adult children own the project after winning a 2012 bid to redevelop D.C.’s Old Post Office. They have a 60-year lease with the federal General Services Administration, which owns the property.
https://mediamatters.org/blog/2017/01/18/donald-trumps-hotel-bans-press-inauguration-raising-first-amendment-concerns/215049
And so it begins….
Thank you, NW. You’re the best!
As always, Nerdy, you sum up events like these wonderfully!
I loved this (cause I happen to be one of those “no one knows what to call them” folks 😼)
“…and a whole bunch of mixed up presidents who no one knows what to call them & that’s fine.”
Thank you so much, NW, for the highlights! I recorded the presser, and will watch it soon. Yay!
Thank you Nerdy. I retweeted every last one. Re: Chelsea Manning. We need to understand PBO always plays the long game. If we think it through and play the tape all the way through we’ll realize he did what he gotta do to restore our democracy.
Thanks, TOD.
BBL.
So I just checked Twitter. Discovered that my following PeteSouza had me automatically signed up as now following PeteSouza44. BUT PeteSouza will revert to his personal use and I had to follow that anew to stay with him. So obviously the accounts that we were following get transferred but have to renew for the personal. I always followed BarackObama and MichelleObama but if any of you did not I suggest you add them. She has had no tweets on that account since 2013 but I suspect it will be the one she reverts to.
Whoa, OK. Thanks, FF
I’m in tears. But his words also give me hope. If he can be so generous and hopeful after 8 years of the vitriol he and his family faced. So can I. #YesWeCan
Wonderful image on this medal. Thank you for posting Nerdy.
This man is a nightmare.
Update at 12:43 p.m.: Pruitt said he was “very concerned” about the link between fracking in Oklahoma and earthquakes in the state. But he would not list any public statements he has made on the issue and said that another agency in the state was charged with addressing it. These comments came after he also declined to say that the U.S. should transform its energy system in order to reduce the impact of climate change and instead said that the EPA has an “important role” in reducing carbon emissions.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) was not satisfied with Pruitt’s responses and said, “If that’s the kind of EPA administrator you will be, you’re not going to get my vote.”
Update at 11:48 a.m.: Pruitt would not commit to recusing himself from lawsuits that he brought against the EPA as the attorney general of Oklahoma. Pruitt said that he will recuse himself from those cases for the first year, but that after that period, he will consult the EPA’s ethics office on a case-by-case basis.
“I think that’s a big mistake,” Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) told Pruitt, adding that Pruitt leading the EPA will be like the “fox destroying the henhouse.”
For Federal Civil Servants: A Hostile Invasion
by Nancy LeTourneau
December 9, 2016 11:18 AM
Marin Cogan has written a story I was hoping someone would cover about the dilemma faced by federal civil servants with the election of Donald Trump. Here is how Cogan introduces the subject:
It is important to keep in mind that there are two types of federal employees: political appointments and civil servants. Traditionally, the latter serve through changes that result from presidential elections.
Cogan talked to civil servants about this transition and their concerns varied from the very personal to larger questions of morals and values. For example:
I worked in New Mexico State government at a time when our treasured multi-term Governor King was followed by Gary Johnson. All these sorts of questions came up, and I guess they do with every change of leadership, in government and in private companies. The issue for many is that campaign promises of budget cuts and tax relief is functionally made at their personal expense. That is, even if you still have a job, and you may not, you won’t be replaced, so you’ll be doing two jobs, then three, and so on, as attrition empties out your work team. That means longer hours, deferred breaks, health checks, vacations– just a host of quality of life issues. These are not insignificant, and yet what felt worse was that the new leadership didn’t believe in the mission of a people’s government. They just wanted to cut expenses, and services be damned. So we not only saw our dear friends being fired, driven out, and over-worked into desperation, but the public we served was being short-changed at every turn. We felt we could not do a decent job, and we also felt the heat of the public’s anger.
My prayer is that a national conversation about the legitimate role of government will be initiated and sustained in the coming months and years. PBO has absolutely opened the topic, at every turn, and I think it will be on people’s minds as DT and his crowd step in to rip up the systems we all rely on. I hope the connection between who’s in office and how the country operates will settle into people’s minds in a way that informs their future votes. Like PBO, I intend to remain hopeful, even as I fully experience the grief and anger that wells up. And I know everyone here will be on the same ride, sometimes throwing up our hands in exhilaration, sometimes shrieking in terror, always glad to be here, together.
Love and aloha TOD ohana ❤
I thought I heard someone speaking out of turn in the background.
Russian Reporter Interrupts Obama’s Last Presser: ‘A Question For Russia!’
“Mr. President, a question from Russia. You attacked the country.” -tall man who bogarted my position under false pretenses at this briefing
— Versha Sharma (@versharma) January 18, 2017
Turns out the guy trying to ask about Obama attacking Russia is the bureau chief for TASS.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/russia-question-obama-press-briefing
I thought I heard someone talking in the background…..it was this.
“Mr. President, a question from Russia. You attacked the country.” -tall man who bogarted my position under false pretenses at this briefing
— Versha Sharma (@versharma) January 18, 2017
Turns out the guy trying to ask about Obama attacking Russia is the bureau chief for TASS.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/russia-question-obama-press-briefing
oops.. sorry for the dupe… I thought it didn’t post the first time
I’m so frustrated. I’m trying again to post my thank you note to TOD and it just disappears! Maybe because I am thanking many of you by your TOD nicknames and they are not recognized as “words” WordPress is throwing out my comment? If anyone has a suggestion, let me know. I may try to post it in pieces, but I’d rather just post the whole thing. It’s not even that long. I’ve seen some folks here post whole articles and Lovely Plains posted all the new admin’s twitter handles and it worked. I don’t get what I’m doing wrong!
Ok, this is so weird. Now I’ve tried to post just a couple of paragraphs and it still won’t take my comment. I tried switching from Firefox to Safari too and no luck. Wish I knew what the problem was.
Magnificent photo. Even more magnificent, the person.
❤
A 55 year-old man who is built like a model. Beautiful hands (the right size for his height etc,) and skin, clear eyes. The gray hair is distinguished. He is also a man at peace with himself and the work that he has done. A proud father who can speak expansively and eloquently about his daughters. A Leader who is not done even though one position ends. The haters threw everything at him but because he was a man of character, faith and vision when he first walked through those doors 1/20/2009, he was able to weather the storm. At the end of it he has the respect of millions, if not billions, here and abroad, daughters that fill him with pride, and a vibrant marriage to a woman who is even more beautiful than she was the day they arrived, his rock who has thrived in a position that she was reluctant to take. They leave with approvals in the 60’s to enter a world of boundless opportunities where they will be welcomed with love, gratitude, and excitement.
Beautifully stated. Our President and First Lady are beloved like no other President and First Lady, or public figure in my lifetime. I will not be surprised if both of them do not assume prominent positions of leadership on the world stage.
JER, thanks for sharing that wonderful pic of President Obama at his (sniffle, sniffle, sniffle) last Press Conference. I will not miss those jackals.
Ya have to wonder how long it will take his mind and body to come off that “hair trigger alert” that they’ve been on for 8 long years. They say it takes 3 weeks to develop new habits and 3 months to break old ones. My guess would be it will be at least 3 months before he starts to feel “normal” again. For his sake, I’m hoping DT doesn’t do anything catastrophically stupid during that time so that PBO can reclaim himself and develop his new life at a slower speed.
I listened to Josh Earnest’s final dpb and he was saying that he looks forward to waking up in the morning and not thinking obsessively about what he has to do to prepare for that day’s briefing. I imagine POTUS has some of that same feeling x10000000000000000000. The responsibility of that office has clearly not hit most people because PBO make it look effortless.
That is part of what is so amazing Meta, he DOES make it look effortless. But the stress is obvious. I suspect a mere whisper at night wakes him to high alert immediately. I’ve been surprised at times when they were on “vacation” how early he was to his workouts. But again, in this job I don’t think there was a stress free moment. That is what he needs to recover from now. BTW, I suspect it is less stressful for those who take it less seriously. But I have never doubted for a moment that the full weight of it bore down on PBO from the moment he walked out on to that platform on January 20, 2009 and has never let up, even though the recent years have not as been as bad as the first. But he always understood the responsibility that was on his shoulders. What a gift he gave us.
YES. I wonder if he’s had a full night of deep sleep in 8 years. He’s subliminally and biometrically on high alert at all times because he fully realizes the tremendous reasonability coming at him in all time zones. We trusted him.
He is a model of thought, care, humility and compassion. I always, always, always trusted him.
So long Henry VIII
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More insight on that magical day in Moneygall. Henry the VIII’s life has changed astronomically (another Obama stimulus). Off to Youtube to relive that day again. One of the best days at TOD were the days we traveled with PBO on his overseas visits. Moneygall and Australia are two of my favorites.
Friends, like many of you I will not be watching television or active on the internet in the next two days. Thank God my wife and I are baby sitting our grandchildren all day on Thurs. and Friday. Among my facebook friends the word is circulating to place a photo of the Obamas in place of our own on our personal page, as an act of resistance to Trump and an act of respect for the service of President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama.
I changed my profile pic on FB to a photo of PBO waving right after he finished his news conference, his last public remarks as president. That will remain my profile pic for one week, when I will revert to the weeping Lady Liberty that I inserted in place of my photo right after the election. That sad Lady will remain my profile pic as long as DT is president.
Done already Bill R. I will only be watching programs that I have recorded and I have saved all President Obama’s and Michelle’s goodbye stuff.
Thinking of Chips right now – LOVE YOU, Captain Chips.
Beautiful – on all counts (love you, Chips!).
So good to see Henry. If only we could see Chips………….
I’d like to see Chips in my personal life (Ha – like walking down my street wearing a sign that says “I’m Chips!”), so I could give her a big ol’ hug.
Hahahahhaaaaaa!!
Get in line, sister!!!!
ohhhhhhh…i know how Lady Liberty feels
Testing…Where are my comments going?
I posted this on my Facebook page along with substituting that gorgeous photo of the First Couple on my personal profile:
Dear Friends, In honor and respect to our beloved President and First Lady Obama, and in resistance to the insertion of an agent of a hostile foreign power in the White House, I am placing a photo of our First Couple to remind me of our debt of gratitude to them and as a remembrance of what honorable and devoted service to our country looks like. Thank God we are taking care of our grandchildren on Thurs. and Friday. Thus I will fast from any media or internet exposure of this the tragic event our country is experiencing. Many of my facebook friends are also taking this action on their facebook photo.
Kind of humorous. If it didn’t have The Don’s name in it.
Just went to Wikipedia. This is what is currently posted about Chrisette Michele:
“Chrisette Michele Payne (born December 8, 1982), known professionally as Chrisette Michele, is an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter and an Uncle Tom. She was signed to the Motown Records[1] but recently left in order to sign herself under her own label Rich Hipster. She won a Grammy Award for Best Urban/Alternative Performance in 2009 for her song “Be OK”.”
omg
Never heard of her.
WHOA
What a creative and funny way to protest.
Oh well, I give up. I just tried to type the first part of my thank you to you guys by hand again : no copying from textedit, no weird links, nothing out of the ordinary. It will take other comments of mine, just nothing from what I really want to post. I have been planning on leaving this thank you from my heart to TOD for months now, and I am so disappointed that WordPress doesn’t seem to want me to do it. I am sad.
Does anyone know if Nerdy has access to the TOD email address? I’m not on Twitter or Facebook or anything, so I can’t DM her. Maybe if I sent it to her she could tell me why it’s being thrown out? I don’t even get a notice that it’s in moderation. The comment, or any parts of it just will not post and disappears into thin air, as if I never wrote it.
For some reason, once when I couldn’t get something to post in regular fashion, I dropped it into a response to someone’s comment to me (via notifications) and it worked. You might try putting your text into a response to this comment?
Seeing this late Joboomer, but thank you! I’ll try that on another thread.
Reread your comment and tried to drop mine here, in response to you (wasn’t signed up for notifications) and it again, disappeared. This time I’m on my iPad. WP must have flagged some collection of words in it, is the only thing i can think of. Will try to rewrite it tomorrow and see if that helps. Thanks anyway, JBoomer!
Sorry, sugar!
WP occasionally does that to me and then it eventually rectifies itself;
double check the name and email address you use here and see if you added an extra character by mistake.
otherwise, try automatically deleting your cookies in your operating system and then sign in again … sometimes this helps
Saw another tweet today where someone just getting in asked his taxi driver about how quiet it was. Driver said everyone has left town and it is dead. Goes along with DT’s favorability ratings.
Many people who live there leave town to avoid the crowds and some will be renting their homes for incoming visitors. 62 million people voted for him, the business people and the lobbyists will turn up in force as well as press from all over the world. I expect hundreds of thousands to be there. A lot of the people we see and work with everyday have been waiting for someone like him (or what they think he is) and they will be there to party and to show off.
I love FLOTUS’ blouse here.
From the bottom of my heart, you two have made me proud.
This is my new screen saver.
What a transition failure on the part of the Trump team. These should have been read, discussed, etc. SoS Kerry noted the other day he has had NO contact with Tillerson, and very few inquiries from anyone on the new team. Stunningly inept.
Can’t wait until this gets posted!
typo corrected ….
Personally I don’t, but some of you might (wish this was your office).
My niece just took a job in San Diego doing GPS mapping at the base there. In the course of it, she is hiking 8-10 miles per day and loving every minute of it. In the past, she worked on the technical side for Apple at a desk but decided to try the on the ground aspect of it:-)
😉 FfTX, I just knew someone here (or a relative) would be loving this! Maybe someone else will explore a job with @Interior.
Another twitter change, Ben Rhodes will be @brhodes. It is my understanding he is staying with PBO and will continue to work for him. Read that somewhere recently;-)
Thank you, FF!
I’m guessing he may have meant empty-headed Trump, not just the piece of paper.
Indeed.
Ironic that the best president’s terms, yes two terms, baby, is book-ended by the two worst presidents.
Wow, didn’t know this happened!
Love them
New post.
https://theobamadiary.com/2017/01/18/thank-you-flotus/