I think Politico means this to be taken for serious analysis.
[O]n Wednesday, Buttigieg’s allies were complaining that he’s taking an unfair pounding over the disaster — all because of his perceived ambitions as a one-time and future presidential hopeful....
Why is it "unfair" to pay extra attention to politicians who have been identified as likely presidential candidates?
Three people in Buttigieg’s orbit admit to being exasperated by the furor, saying nobody asked him about the derailment in any of the 23 media interviews he conducted during the first 10 days after the accident. Then critics lambasted him for not speaking sooner....
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126 comments:
What did Mayor Pete do to begin with? Maybe he will get a clue if he thought about that.
I think Politico means this to be taken for serious analysis.
What color is the sky on the planet where they live?
Three people in Buttigieg’s orbit admit to being exasperated by the furor, saying nobody asked him about the derailment in any of the 23 media interviews he conducted during the first 10 days after the accident.
As expected from the compliant press.
Then critics
- Republicans, that is -
lambasted him for not speaking sooner....
Pounced, that is.
eagle scout patience, unsafe feeling, echo chamber
This is not about him.
"...taking an unfair pounding..."
Hm, should that kind of language be used to describe someone of his persuasion? I guess they're implying that he's not a Power Bottom.
“saying nobody asked him about the derailment in any of the 23 media interviews he conducted during the first 10 days after the accident.”
God forbid a cabinet secretary take proactive action instead of just being reactive. Presidential material? Ha!
Three people in Buttigieg’s orbit admit to being exasperated by the furor, saying nobody asked him about the derailment in any of the 23 media interviews he conducted during the first 10 days after the accident.
It's quite true that if one is a democratical politician surrounded by LLR Chuck-like sycophants who will do and say anything to show their allegiance to Team Dem, its almost a certainty that the democratical politician that is being sucked up to will miss societal signals that what they are doing is tone deaf and incompetent.
Government by innocent bystander.
Well, how was the Transportation Secretary supposed to know that a train derailment which spread toxic chemicals all over the Ohio River Valley was important when the media didn't think so. C'mon. You saying the Transportation Secretary of the US government should know what matters? No. Don't be mean and suddenly start saying he should be competent when he was chosen for identity, not competence and everyone knew it and only the fascists objected.
The right has taken to outrage over nothings, the theme being that the character of everybody in the administration is badly flawed.
The derailment town is well taken care of. They have legal recourse against the railroad to be made whole without any intervention from the administration needed.
Everything else is victim theater.
If the town needs anything immediately, either the railroad or the Red Cross can provide it. The railroad would be well advised to do it as I imagine they're self-insured.
The town meanwhile smells deep pockets everywhere and is going extra-victim. Everything that happens to you has to be paid for by somebody else, so it pays to be really hurt. Not a Christian attitude, and no idea where peace comes from.
LOL! Buttuvwxy complaining because the media people fellated him rather than asking him tough questions in interviews. That takes some chutzpah.
The people who knew Mayor Pete Buttuvwxyz best when he was mayor warned us that he was a completely incompetent manager of anything. All hat and no cattle.
I know what will fix our town. An early speech by Pete Buttigieg.
"Eagle Scout patience"?
"Eagle Scout patience"?
It is certainly true that Buttplug is not prone to unseemly haste. He has never been seen to act too swiftly. Has he ever been seen to act at all? What are his qualifications, anyway? Did he own a train set as a boy?
Besides, I thought he liked taking a pounding.
What… him worry?!?!
If he can't handle the heat.....and all of that. He doesn't seem like he likes to work very much.
Oh, Indiana!
It was not so long ago
You had this loser
He’s degree'd
But thinks so slow
As far as I can tell, Mayor Pete's entire political career is based on being a gay man who looks like a nerdy and traditional White guy. Among those who feel a chill when stereotypes are broken, this is enough for success. Witness Fetterman. Witness Biden. Pete is the next generation of cartoonish iconography, just like Greta Thunberg.
"Standing up in public as your authentic self is enough." No Mr. Secretary of Transportation Petey: people will die if a bus driver, train engineer, or airplane pilot is incompetent.
Causes have effects and effects have causes.
Three people in Buttigieg’s orbit admit to being exasperated by the furor, saying nobody asked him about the derailment in any of the 23 media interviews he conducted during the first 10 days after the accident. Then critics lambasted him for not speaking sooner...
The Right is never, ever right. If Fox News had lambasted Buttigieg the morning after the East Palestine disaster, those same Buttigieg satellites would be outraged that the far-right refused to give the Transportation Secretary sufficient time to access the situation.
The cold fact is that by visiting East Palestine while the President was busy provoking WWIII, chess master Trump executed a knight's fork on the Democrat's king (Biden) and queen (Buttigieg), so it's bye-bye Bootie.
What do the satellites consider an interview, and who were the interviewers in those 23 "interviews"?
Probably no one inclined to question Buttigieg's competence, I'd wager.
JournoListic antagonism is a many selective thing. The People are more equitable and inclusive. #WhyMeIndeed
"You had one job to do!"
Not a fan of Brandon, but this is precisely the Transportation Secretary's job--to get out there and take charge when transportation disasters happen, so the President doesn't take a hit.
He did a heckuva job with the "supply chain" disaster, as well.
And 23 media interviews while this was happening and nobody even brought it up? WTF? He's the SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION, not the Secretary of Gay Affairs. Jeebus!
he's not a Power Bottom.
I believe I heard a reference to his husband, and they use the same last name. Buttijig. No hyphens.
Which kind-of surprised me.
“[Pet ButteredEgg] has taken a lot of bullets for the president on this....”
"The White House said Wednesday night that it’s standing behind Buttigieg...."
Having trouble with the imagery. Seems ta me the "bullet" here is the actual train wreck and despoilation of "a small Ohio village." Biden and ButteredEgg both ducked (declined to become involved in) the issue.
Either one could reasonably have taken some direct and helpful action (discounting “could have spoken sooner about how strongly I felt about this incident" as being neither notably active nor helpful). Neither one did.
Sadly, entirely in character. Biden has shown attention to his public duties only to the extent there is potential for graft. ButteredEgg, not even that.
Three people in Buttigieg’s orbit admit to being exasperated by the furor, saying nobody asked him about the derailment in any of the 23 media interviews he conducted during the first 10 days after the accident. Then critics lambasted him for not speaking sooner....
He only speaks when spoken to?
I thought he got all antagonistic with the "Daily Caller" reporter because she asked him questions he's already answered multiple(!!!) times. At least that's what people on reddit told me.
Meanwhile on "The View" Joy Behar is telling people of East Palestine that this (a toxic derailment) is what they voted for.
Remember the beating that Ted Cruz took because he was in Cancun while there was a deep freeze in Texas?
Ted was apparently supposed to DO SOMETHING about the problem (I'm not sure what).
This is precisely the sort of thing that the Secretary of Transportation is supposed to take the lead on. And this guy was supposed to be a serious Presidential candidate?
Chasten is definitely one of the three orbiters.
Chasten is definitely one of the three orbiters.
*I* am an Eagle Scout, and have been since 1964. We never stop being one, sort of like Marines, but never "former".
Mr. Butt-gig is a travesty, and a disgrace to the rank. The very first thing a raw 11 yo Tenderfoot learns is Be PREPARED and Scouts are continually trained, or WERE, in ever-advancing age-appropriate skills to enable exactly that. Butt-gig prepared?? "Patience" is a BS cover-story to hide his utterly feckless incompetence.
And a few other things are essential to Scouting, and inculcated steadily from the very beginning. Notably "keep myself physically strong [can't say about him], mentally awake [abject failure]. and morally straight [no comment, beyond that it includes much more than bedroom preferences]. And the reason we are to be PREPARED is to help other people at all times.
Horrible failure as a Scout. Not so shit hot as the mayor of some small town. Catastrophe as a cabinet secretary. An honorable Scout would have resigned.
Butt Boy was counting on Richie Aprile being at the site, hoping that Richie’s promise was still good,
“I’ll build a ramp up to your ass, drive a Lionel up in there.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orGvT5iKb9Q
Never about the tragedy - the people.
Always about how the hack press must protect and ass-kiss the inept democrat pol.
as pointed out earlier, norfolk southern was all in on the dei railroad, shaw and buttigeg might as well be fraternity brothers,
Blogger rhhardin said...
"Everything else is victim theater."
While a bit unseemly, political theater is part of the job, which he obviously has no instinct for considering he wants to run for president.
"...saying nobody asked him about the derailment in any of the 23 media interviews he conducted..."
The media didn't ASK about the derailment because they're not SUPPOSED to ask about the derailment.
I love that bit about "because of his perceived ambitions"... Well, if you're ambitious, you maybe ought to have some sort of SKILL or abilities. Here Trump comes in, makes everyone feel better with some Big Macs and bottled water, then you can see that it doesn't take much. But you do have to get out there and do something.
The guy is every MBA that I was warned about in MBA classes. McKinssey pedegree, Harvard education. But they guy can't go out, empathize with real people and hand out a few Big Macs.
Seems like Mayor Pete is not enforcing safety rules and, as a result, is not performing his duties properly. Mayor Pete and his people don't monitor compliance of existing laws and do not seek to gain enforcement when compliance is insufficient.
Maybe this is what "defund the police" looks like from a corporate perspective? Or maybe Mayor Pete only cares about racial and social justice and to hell with railroad safety! But whatever the case is, Mayor Pete is seriously worthless.
what I was pointing out
https://dossier.substack.com/p/did-norfolk-southern-neglect-safety?r=ho0yg&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
I had a hard time translating this Democrat piece of MSM "damage control" and Buggergigs execuses into a plain English but I think I got it now.
When this spill happened, the Biden Adminstration didn't give a rats ass. First, because the RR company gives the Democrat party big bucks and secondly it happened in "Flyover Trump Country" and so, who cares?
And so Buggergig did nothing. FEMA did nothing. THe EPA did nothing.
Then, a week ago somoneone finally figured out the East Palastine Toxic spill was an ecological and human disaster. And now, it looks very bad that Trump is showing up to support the town, and Biden isn't. Also looking bad: Buggergig making speeches about "too many white construction workers" and not even commenting on massive transportation disaster.
So, Pete still doesn't give a damn about the people in East Palastine. Or his job. He's just upset he's LOOKING BAD. And he's taking all the flak. Why isn't "The Big Guy" getting his 10 percent of the Flak. Poor Buggergig. Its enough to make a girl quit her job and go back to having babies.
Pothole Pete Buttigieg's appointment is the equivilent to appointing a Mayor of Topeka Kansas to Sec. of Transportation. Apologies to the Topeka Mayor, she actually gets potholes fixed.
For two weeks Pete has been blamimg Trump for nixing a reg having to do with electric brakes. The train derailment had nothing yo do with brakes. It was worn wheel bearings on a car.
I do wonder if senile guy or whoever is in charge is finishing off potential Dem rivals, one at a time. Kamala sort of self-destructed, but Biden did nothing to help her. Now Buttigieg. O'Rourke finished himself off with his Texas races. Tulsi Gabbard is no longer a Dem. Marianne Williamson wants to run as a Dem so as not to be marginalized as an independent. Andrew Yang? Has left the Dems to found the Forward Party with Christine Todd Whitman. Bernie again? Only if Biden doesn't run? Warren to the left, Bloomberg to the right?
Or: Gavin Newsom?
Mayor Pete wants to be President of the United States - otherwise, then why did he make a failed run in 2020 or are allegedly planning for 2024 in case Biden doesn’t run. Repeatedly as US DOT secretary when major crises have arisen, Mayor Pete is nowhere to be found. Offloading container ships on the West Coast in 2021 having ground to very slow crawl due to a perfect storm of issues? Sorry - he was off on paternity leave for several months and couldn’t be bothered. Airlines melting down when flights getting cancelled due to a software glitch? On vacation in Portugal and couldn’t be bothered and to top it off, implied in a social media posting that he was at a US airport when he was at a Portuguese airport having taken a US Air Force passenger jet (misuse of taxpayer equipment for private use???). The other day, a reporter caught up with him to ask him about East Palestine and he blew her off saying he was on personal time.
Mayor Pete - YOU ARE A US CABINET SECRETARY! You are one step below the President. You are a major figure in the administration. THUS, YOU ARE, LIKE THE PRESIDENT, ON DUTY 24/7/365, EVEN WHEN YOU ARE ON PATERNITY LEAVE, VACATION, OR PERSONAL TIME!!! If you value your off-time, then I suggest that you resign and get a cushy lobbyist job…
Fail............unqualified from the start
If criticism (fair or unfair) bugs him he really belongs in another line of work.
"Buttigieg world frustrated"
He has his own world? So the headline writer thinks he's out-of-touch? Or delusional?
“saying nobody asked him about the derailment in any of the 23 media interviews he conducted during the first 10 days after the accident.”
So 23 interviews in 10 days, averaging 2.3 per day - how much time was spent on this? How much time in transportation, makeup, conferring with staff/the real powers that be about what was to be said, actual interview time? Seems like giving interviews was close to a full time job for him, no wonder he had no time for a response or visit.
"Three people in Buttigieg’s orbit admit to being exasperated by the furor, saying nobody asked him about the derailment in any of the 23 media interviews he conducted during the first 10 days after the accident. Then critics lambasted him for not speaking sooner...."
So I guess, had those critics not lambasted him, he'd still not have spoken on the subject, then? Clearly, the media wasn't interested in bringing the subject up.
The derailment town is well taken care of. They have legal recourse against the railroad to be made whole without any intervention from the administration needed.
I don't think you are right. The railroad may do something, or may be told by their lawyers that doing something will serve as an admission of guilt. The EPA/FEMA has basically told the town to go screw, at least until Trump shamed them into some half-assed action. Legal recourse is a years-long event that does not provide clean water or air now, when it is needed. Very short-sited comment.
What are his qualifications, anyway?
Where he puts his dick. And where he has dicks put on his person.That's what got him the job.
23 media interviews and not one question about it? Our media. Covering the story so nobody sees it.
ButtGag is clueless.
Buttigieg has had a terrible run as secretary of transportation. Does anyone have a comprehensive list of the problems he's faced? At minimum, there has been the container ships problem with spillover for domestic logistics, the rail union strike/negotiations, the cascading flight cancellations, the FAA NOTAM database failure, and then this derailment. I don't know how much of this is really DOT vs other departments (e.g. the derailment may be DOT but the chemical labelling and contamination is probably more an EPA issue), but he's highly visible, thanks largely to his failed presidential campaign, and he hasn't mastered the basic political skill of pretending to be engaged. This seems like it ought to be fatal to any ambition he may have had for higher office.
The Secretary’s patience is the last thing we should be worried about. His job is to be concerned with our patience and well-being. Jeez, does no one in media get this?
He did 23 interviews in 10 days? C'mon, that doesn't pass the smell test.
He's just not a leader or a good politician. Leaders get in front of problems instead of waiting for someone to ask about them. Good politicians quickly figure out what issues matter to the electorate.
A carefully cultivated Democrat political celebrity is much more valuable in the eyes of the media than a dozen Ohio shithole towns.
I never like hyperbolic, nonsensical language like "Pete Buttigieg has taken a lot of bullets for the president on this." Like using the word "attack" as a synonym for "criticism."
Buttigieg hasn't taken any bullets. He's an incompetent, weak, silly little twit who can't stand even the mildest disapprobation. We're governed by teenagers, and Pete fits in perfectly.
Mayor Pete called me a racist in Carroll, Iowa on July 4, 2020. I’m loving the fact that he’s being exposed as the failure that he is.
The media didn’t ask? It’s his job to be pro-active! He should be preventing train derailments! Why didn’t he figure out, in advance, that Southwest’s computers were inadequate? And he worked for McKinsey!
The best and the brightest? Try loser.
Buttigieg is a near-perfect exemplar of a post turtle. He is where he is because someone put him there; he didn't get to his position via any sort of effort or merit on his part.
If he was a straight white guy, he'd be riding a desk somewhere commensurate with his actual skills and performance.
Which is why the whole preference system is so insidious... Time was, if you were white and male, you had to be competent to get places. Now that you can claim that you're gay...? Everybody can be equally incompetent, all the time.
If anyone thinks the people of this town are going to come out ahead of this train wreck, then I've got some real estate in Ferguson I'd like to sell them. Maybe their kids will develop mutant superpowers....I wish he had named one of those hard hitting interviewers who had failed to ask him about this. Who was it who replaced Tim Russert at NBC? I forget whether it was Jen Psaki or Joy Behar. You'd have thought Tucker Carlson would have brought it up during their interview.
rhhardin said: The derailment town is well taken care of. They have legal recourse against the railroad to be made whole without any intervention from the administration needed. Everything else is victim theater.
No one else has addressed this comment in precisely the manner it deserves, so apparently it's left to me: You're a fucking idiot. Ignorant, too.
Bum Bum Bum
Satellite of Love
Bum Bum Bum
Satellite of Love
You shoulda planted your size 12 Florsheim in that incompetent’s ass, Begley!
Why does someone need to ask the question about the derailment? Shouldn't the Sec of Transportation take the initiative and be proactive in outlining the federal response?
What Drago said at 5:10
Democrats are always flummoxed now when they face actual non-sycophant questioning, because its so damn rare.
NOW, he can see East Palestine from his cabinet post. h/t SNL
transport (v.)
late 14c., "convey from one place to another," from Old French transporter "carry or convey across; overwhelm (emotionally)" (14c.) or directly from Latin transportare "carry over, take across, convey, remove," from trans "beyond, across" (see trans-) + portare "to carry" (from PIE root *per- (2) "to lead, pass over"). Sense of "carry away with strong feelings" is first recorded c. 1500. Meaning "to carry away into banishment" is recorded from 1660s.
trans-: a state or process of divergence from normal.
While daddy war-debt is away covering up his trail of lust and abortion with "benefits", his posterity-adjacent recruits will come and out and play in gay parade... lions, lionesses, and their [unPlanned] cubs inequitably excluded.
He was crossing the country in a battery-powered plane. He never made it.
He was crossing the country in a battery-powered car. The stops were diverse, and he was furious.
He was crossing the country in that Green ol' fashioned way. The ass was stubborn, and the watering holes were disparately distributed.
Doug said...
What are his qualifications, anyway?
Where he puts his dick. And where he has dicks put on his person.That's what got him the job.
*************
THIS!!!
And what's more , Pete and his fellow buggerers are PROUD about where they puts their dicks!!!
If YOU put your dick where they put their dicks, wouldn't you be PROUD too???
Our current DC mega bureaucracy has mandatory stupid and ignorant combined with an actor’s skill at appearing highly concerned and confidently powerful. Pete’s problem is he is too honest. He refuses to put on an act of concern and power. It’s all he can do to pretend that he is the woman and. Mother in a Gay Marriage. That is a lot of hard work.
Sometimes the job just requires you to 'be there'. I knew of a squadron commander who was fired for being out of town when a plane crash happened on Fri afternoon. There was nothing he could have done bout it if he was there, but he started his weekend too soon. He was expected to be on-scene.
You gotta just love little Petey butthole boy.
He is so very very special.
And he knows it.
"The derailment town is well taken care of. They have legal recourse against the railroad to be made whole without any intervention from the administration needed."
Made whole? So you obviously know the current damages to the penny. To the skin rash. To the burning lungs. To destroyed property values. To the lost pets. To the parents fearing for the future of their children.
And, apparently you know the long term damages, say cancers and leeching groundwater poisoning the future water supply.
In fact, you know not a damn thing.
Oh, I forgot you probably do know about racist bridges.
Iman:
Size 11, Allen Edmunds (made in America).
I would say, enough of the gay crap in the comments, but truth is it's his only qualification. This entire admin is so lame.
In fairnesss to Pete, He's had to take a lot of time off to take care of his episiotomy and C-section sutures from the twins. Not to mention chest-feeding the newborns.
"Taking bullets for the President . . . ."
OMG, it's one thing to not understand one's responsibility but I can't fathom how his press office could make it so public.
The Transportation Buck is supposed to stop at the Secretary of Transportation's desk. Biden should be faulted, initially, for appointing Mayor Pete and, subsequently, for not firing him for other screw ups. So if I hear him right about bullets, he's saying it's not my fault that the President appointed me to a job for which I'm not qualified - they're shooting bullets at me but it's the President that messed up [by appointing me].
You can think it, Pete, but don't say it!
Remember the Southwest Airlines "meltdown" just two months ago? I remember some headline announcing that the President was ordering Southwest [to cleanup their act in some fashion]. At the time I was struck by Biden, not Buttigieg, being depicted as the prime mover and I thought, "where's the Secretary?"
Chasten (pronounced "chasen") means to discipline or correct through punishment. What were his parents thinking? I didn't believe that he took Pete's last name, but it looks like he did. Of course, "Chasten Glezen Buttigieg" might be like "David Lloyd George," with an implied hyphen between the two last names.
Mayor Pete's fate got me curious about Politics, Philosophy and Economics, the Oxford program that he, Bill Clinton, and scores of other politicians around the world went through. Critics say the point of the program is to teach students to produce clever, glib essays without actually learning anything, and that seems to fit Bill and Pete.
PPE turns out generalists, rather than specialists, but it also is something of a pre-professional program that gives its graduates the confidence to go directly into politics. That may be Pete's problem. He thinks he knows a lot more than he actually does. He can talk the talk, but he has very little experience of actually getting anything done, and no setback ever shakes his confidence as a Harvard/Oxford man.
Seeing "Buttigieg World" in print is actually a positive sign. You hear journalists spouting off all the time about "Trump World" as though it were a different planet. None of them stopped to consider that there is actually a "Biden World," a "Clinton World," a "Times World" and a "Post World," all even further from reality.
"Legal recourse is a years-long event that does not provide clean water or air now, when it is needed. Very short-sited comment."
Yep.. rh missed this one by a country mile.
rhhardin is right as usual. Take a deep breath everyone. And the please shut the fuck up.
Well at least Mayor Pete has gotten down pat the go to tactic to blame the Trump administration for anything that goes wrong. The dummies who voted for Biden are fine with it and it's the way things go in Washington. Accountability is only for republicans.
Ha ! "Mayor Pete" is a perfect example of the peter principle. In addition to being a spineless eunuch. In a different time, he and his ilk would be swinging in the breeze, by the neck until dead. Tar and feathers aren't nearly enough for these asshats.
This administration is full of incompetent officials who look like refugees from a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta. We have modern major generals and rulers of the Queen's navy, but very few if any functioning adults in Washington.
The problem is with the activism. As long as you’re an activist, and keep failing upwards at the moment:
identity category=gay
trumps
identity category=white
and
and identity category=male.
Buttigieg’s father came over from Malta and was primarily known for translating Antonio Gramsci (about as Marxist as it gets). His husband says activist shit. He looks like a politician.
For the activists who’ve taken over much academia, media and government, this is their guy. Selected for his political,views and his credentials and his victimhood status. It doesn’t matter if he has no experience for this role, or fails/succeeds.
I want most of the onus to be on Democrats, liberals, and secular humanists, and the institutions they seek to unilaterally control, about how bad !Marxism is for all of us, why it’s central ideas fail horrifically in practice (not the greatest theory), and why true believers have frozen all of us out of our own institutions. Then we can talk about our Constitution, our politics and politics in general, and some of the shitheads in the Republican party or the charlatans in many a Church.
Until then, it’s a kind of war against these ideas and these strident, dangerously wrong about most things Marxists and true believers.
The bill’s come due for all the liberation theology and the many generations living off the inheritance. Less talk about Hoppie ideals and more talk about practice.
We’ve got enough problems without the Marxists inheritors fucking things up,worse.
rhhardin is likely right about the following: we’ve got problems deeper than can be blamed on political enemies and convenient scapegoats.
Probably wrong about: Allowing these kinds of ideas in positions of authority by not course-correcting locally, regionally and nationally. The endless activism and Hitler Year Zero as evil thinking will just bring us more European problems long term, and likely bring worse political dysfunction.
Meh with the Derrida.
Open to be proven wrong.
No mention herein that TFG rolled back railroad safety regulations at the urging of the railroad companies during 45's reign, particularly with regard to new railcar brakes. Old chemical tank cars being towed through New Palestine derailed and these railcars would have stopped more effectively if the Trumpkins had left the new regulations requiring brake changes in place.
“A lot of the folks who seem to find political opportunity there are among those who sided with the industry time and time again,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said on a conference call with reporters Monday night when asked about Trump’s visit. “They have fought safety regulations on trains and hazmat tooth and nail.”
In my judgment, Mayor Pete came out ahead of Crazy Don in this incident.
There’s simply no way get around the fact that the president didn’t go to East Palestine because the people there overwhelmingly supported Trump. Joy Behar’s that the people there got what they deserved - guys, she’s parroting the official position of the president. Biden found the time to go Ukraine to check on his laundry and didn’t go to OH. At some point, though, the president had to sacrifice a pawn. Pete, you’re the pawn. He must see Pete as a bigger threat in 2024 otherwise he would have sent Kamala.
From WSJ, more on the actual derailment ...
Before the train carrying several cars of hazardous chemicals derailed Feb. 3, the crew received a warning in the train cab telling them to immediately slow and stop the train to conduct an inspection, according to a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board. It was during the deceleration that the railcar wheel bearing failed, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said during a press briefing.
By the time the roughly 150-car train stopped in East Palestine, the crew saw fire and smoke and notified authorities of a possible derailment, the NTSB report said. Before the derailment, the train was traveling eastbound at 47 miles an hour, below the maximum authorized speed of 50 mph, toward Conway, Pa.
https://on.wsj.com/3xMh4Qv
Not the story that was breathlessly reported in the days immediately following the event.
@Lurker21 - British politics is stuffed with PPE graduates; they go from University to becoming Special Advisers (what you would call a Congressional Aide, I think) and then worm their way up. The fundamental problem is however that the pay of an MP is poor for a prestige occupation, and the invasion of your life by the press means only chancers (who are looking to cash in with Directorships later), weirdos or egomaniacs go into politics nowadays. The PPE background is ultimately a manifestation of the problem rather than the problem itself.
gadfly said...
"No mention herein that TFG rolled back railroad safety regulations..."
Specifically which regulations? The one having to do with failed wheel bearings? It does not appear that train brake regulations (withdrawn as a consequence of a law passed during the Obama administration) had anything to do with the accident.
But you have hit on the golden key: as long as the Secretary of Transportation can find some way to blame somebody else, he is in the clear. He has done his job, which is to avoid ever taking the slightest responsibility for anything. And because he is a Democrat, his denial has absolute force and will be repeated endlessly by those whose life's work to protect, defend and promote The Party.
gadfly is still dutifully lying for Joe Biden and this administration. The truth is...."NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy answered, “The NTSB has looked at electronically controlled pneumatic braking for a number of years and we did some testing as well. Certainly, it would improve safety. But for this investigation and for this derailment, ECP brakes would not have prevented the derailment. The wheel bearing failed on car number 23, so even with ECP brakes, the derailment would have occurred, the fire would have ensued, and the five vinyl chloride tank cars would still have to be vented and burned. What it could have done was maybe reduced damage where a couple of cars could have remained on the tracks, but we’re going to do some modeling along with the Federal Railroad Administration to determine just that.”"
But gadfly is too busy repeating the CNN talking points that the administration passed out to their loyal liars.
No, of course not. Haven't you heard. this is Trump's fault.
"The train passed two other hot bearing detectors starting 30 miles before East Palestine. "
So, of course, that is Trump's fault.
And Trump also held Buttigieg down for 19 days, not allowing him to visit the crash site🤦♂️🤡
Gadfly--Joe Biden has been President for 3 years. Has the new brake regulation in question been implemented or proposed by the Biden Administration? Did it have anything at all to do with this derailment? Did the train have a problem stopping? Or have you been sucked in by yet another distraction here?
nobody asked him
All passive and no aggressive.
gadfly said...
"No mention herein that TFG rolled back railroad safety regulations at the urging of the railroad companies during 45's reign,"
For discussion purposes I won't dispute that. However, since Bidden and Major Pete have been in office for 2 years, I assume they can point out the actions they have taken to reinstate the relevant railroad safety regulations? If not, why not?
In my judgment, Mayor Pete came out ahead of Crazy Don in this incident.
Your judgement is poor, then, because by all reports Mayor Pete bombed yesterday at his presser in East Palestine. Donald Trump showed up with needed good, clean water, and cleaning supplies. Buttigieg showed up with bullshit, so poorly prepped he didn’t even pronounce the name of the town correctly (the last syllable is pronounced “steen”).
Either gadfly is unaware of what the regulations cancelled by the Trump administration entailed, or he slept through his high school physics class and missed out on the concept of momentum. The train was a mixed consist, with 20 cars containing hazardous or flammable chemicals out of a total consist of 150 cars. Having electronically-activated brakes on cars containing hazardous materials braking immediately while 6 times as many cars braking more slowly would likrlybhave increased the number of derailed cars, not lessened it.
Like Malvolio in “Twelfth Night” you are an easily fooled dolt. But Malvolio is fiction. You are, sadly, a member of h, sapiens, giving the lie to our species name.
He has three people in his orbit? Seems high.
Gadlfy 5:11 - - got proof Trump rolled back brake safely on trains?
Also - If this is true - Your party has been in power for almost 3 years now. Why didn't they (Buttigeg et al) correct the problem?
Waiting for Joy Behar to explain why lord and savior super-star Buttigeg didn't fix Trump's evil plot to ruin all the Railroad brakes and safety standards.
Some where on the internet there is a video of the train and a bearing glowing red hot. "Hot box" refers to the time before roller bearings when train wheels ran on bronze bearings and were lubricated with grease packed in an iron box attached to the wheel. Timkin roller bearings are greased up from a fitting right on the bearing. Someone in the yard missed a bearing. Not a safety issue per se. It was a maintenance issue.
That's a sad derivative comment on the state of the Boy Scouts these days.
Just about 100 comments now.
Good God, Althouse; what a load of sophomoric, vile homophobes you have attracted as commenters.
What have you done, personally, to attract homophobic personal insults here? Nothing, certainly. However they did come in with force, with Trumpism, which you have attracted and never disciplined.
All of which makes our old discussion point (it was never a "debate", since I agreed with you) about your observation that "Trump is pro-gay and being cagey about it."
That led to my observing that that was a discrete point where I'd like to drive a wedge between you and your pro-Trump readers. Which then led to false misconception that my entire goal here was to drive a general wedge between you and your readers.
I think you're right. I've always thought that. Trump is being cagey about it. Like he is cagey about a lot of things, that his "poorly educated", white working class culture-war-obsessed grievance demo desperately fear.
I just thought that this "Pete Buttigieg" blog post was an excellent time to recall that.
Old & slow said rhharden is right and we should shut up. Rhharden's comments take Joy Behar's to another level. He/she/it is not right. and sorry old & slow, you can't make us shut up.
even worse than Pete's performance was that of his press secretary, who refused to comment unless cameras were turned off. She is the PRESS SECRETARY! speaking for the record is the description of her job!
Pete is not a happy gay these days; quite surly to be honest.
He thought he could take a cabinet-level do-nothing job and wait for his time to run again.
Burnish the old CV a la Hillary.
How did that work out for her?
He's an absolutely unqualified, highly-credentialed moron.
He got the job because he checks a diversity box and likes trains.
We are not a serious nation...
Gadfly is what you get when you cross-breed a dumbass with a moron.
A pretender to leadership is dragged from his safe zone.
That said, show up (i.e. conception), sympathize (i.e. emotional parity), present a plan of action (i.e. gestation), act (i.e. birth)...
Chuck -
"Homophobes" ?
What a lightweight thinker you are now. No wonder you're a progressive democrat, Chuck.
We are not afraid of gay people. I have many gay friends.
Are homosexuals a protected class? No criticism allowed?
rhhardin said...
I know what will fix our town. An early speech by Pete Buttigieg.
Usually your comments are sensible. FEMA ignored the disaster until Trump said he would go there. Buttplug (Sorry Chuck)could have done what DOT secretaries do and told FEMA to go and offer help. He didn't. gadfly and Chuck posted predictable comments. I was surprised at yours.
Michael K said...
...
...FEMA ignored the disaster until Trump said he would go there.
You nasty old lying fuckhead.
You're just repeating Fox News bullshit talking points without even trying.
I've done this before but you're too ignorant to have noted it. You asshole.
Video, of Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, recounting that President Biden offered to Ohio "Anything you need." And DeWine responded by saying that they had everything they needed at the time.
Then, video of Governor DeWine recounting how his administration was communicating with FEMA. USEPA (and other federal funded operations) was of course involved all along. (FEMA, as you may know is indeed now invlovled.)
And here is that fantastic interview between Fox News' Martha MacAllum and Governor Dewine, where DeWine explains what has been done. It's hilarious how MacAllum squirms while DeWine patiently and carefully blows up the Fox narrative to blame Biden and Buttigieg.
Let me know if your ears bleed while you listen to the videos.
Yancey,
"All hat, and no cattle"
I beg to differ -- he doesn't even have a hat.
What exactly has Mayor Pete accomplished? Getting elected Mayor, NOT a marker of accomplishment.
Rhodes Scholar? Another popularity contest.
What is the mans skill set? He has never done anything that can be studied to find a skill set.
My last boss, was not that sharp. His customer skills lacking, Managing people, not his forte.
But when it came to logistics, he could not me matched.
Most people have a skill set, but they need jobs for the those to be developed and tested.
Mayor Pete has never submitted to that process.
Yeah, can we all just calm down and let "THe freemarket work"?
Afterall, the people of E Palastine and the RR made an unwritten contract. The RR was given the right to spill toxic waste, poison the air and water, cause lasting health problems, and make $$ - by skimping on safety.
And the people of East Palastine were given the right to get sick and then sue, assuming they can find a lawyer and a fair hearing, and get a few $$$ and bottles of water.
See, the magic of the free market! Too bad those sick poisoned crybabies in East Palastine want to bring in BIG GOVERNMENT! And break their unwritten contract.
All these Pols need to get out of the way and let the RR CEO (a hell of guy) and the Corporate lawyers handle things. We can always trust Corporations and free market. Just ask Sam Bankman Fried.
"Dave Begley said...
Mayor Pete called me a racist in Carroll, Iowa on July 4, 2020.
--
I'll bite. Do tell.
LLR Chuck: "Good God, Althouse; what a load of sophomoric, vile homophobes you have attracted as commenters."
LOL
LLR Chuck, one of the most virulently racist posters at Althouse blog over the last 7 years, takes time out of his busy day to falsely accuse others of homophobia because those posters simply noticed the transparent and irrefutable incompetence of LLR Chuck's beloved Petey Boot-a-judge-judge.
But it gets better dear readers. Oh so much better.
LLR Chuck, leftist that he is, continues his non-stop effort to rewrite history (isn't that what leftists like LLR Chuck do best?) and pretend everything he loudly and proudly proclaimed previously, for years, was all just a big, big misunderstanding.
You know, like Andrea Mitchell's complete and utter horses*** lies about Gov DeSantis which she then described as an unfortunate bit of "imprecision"!!
Sorry Chuckles. You are on the record, plain as day, happily and racist-ly posting and being explicit about what you were doing at Althouse blog for years and years and then backing it up demonstrably with everything you've posted for that entire time.
I suppose if you were to go back and delete every single one of your lie and smear-filled posts for the last 7 years you might, for a short while, be able to fool newcomers to Althouse blog before they caught wind of your adolescently malicious purposes, but it wouldn't take that long because, lets face it, you aren't very bright.
In fact its amusing watching Previously Banned Chuck alternate between the explicit and blatant LLR Chuck that truly always intended to drive a wedge between Althouse and her readers (despite LLR Chuck's attempted rewriting of history which fools no one) and his Eddie-Haskell-like Chuck whose over the top sickly and transparently fake obsequiousness towards Althouse absolutely creeps everyone out.
LLR Chuck is so exposed that the usual suspect lefties now know better than to pretend LLR Chuck is the "principled conservative" who is simply calling republicans out from the right, and I don't blame them. If you attach yourself to LLR Chuck, then you become the next Inga or Dumb Lefty Mark, and who wants that?
I will say this though: there is no better gauge for what the general mood and thoughts are in the farthest of the far left fever swamps than LLR Chuck. Of course, if you want to know what LLR Chuck will be discussing each day, just traipse on over to Media Matters or Democratic Underground or DailyKos and you'll know Chuck's "thoughts" before he ever commits them to pixels at Althouse blog.
rcocean: "Yeah, can we all just calm down and let "THe freemarket work"?"
Careful. Some of the Daily Caller/Reason wonks will be around shortly to collect your name.
iowan2: "What exactly has Mayor Pete accomplished?"
Are you blind?!
As any self-respecting (heh) LLR can tell you, Mayor Petey accomplished being a democratical and a member of a democratical protected group.
I mean, this is 2023. There are NO other possible "accomplishments" that are even relevant.
What I find funny in this article is the “Eagle Scout patience” referenced as if it was a good thing. The Left hates white males in general and Boy Scout types in particular UNLESS they are gay. Then they try to push the idea that gay men are just like all those dependable, honorable white men you grew up with.
No mention herein that TFG rolled back railroad safety regulations at the urging of the railroad companies during 45's reign, particularly with regard to new railcar brakes. Old chemical tank cars being towed through New Palestine derailed and these railcars would have stopped more effectively if the Trumpkins had left the new regulations requiring brake changes in place.
Again, if the regs were so, damn important, why didn't the Biden Administration reinstate them? They had two years to do so. Why didn't they?
What won't any of you leftist fucks blaming Trump answer this question?
Good God, Althouse; what a load of sophomoric, vile homophobes you have attracted as commenters.
Well, anyone who isn’t capable of doing their job will screw up. But you can only point out the screw-ups if the person screwing up is a straight, white or Asian male. If the incompetent nitwit is female and you point it out, you’re sexist. If black or Hispanic, you’re a racist. If a Muslim, you’re Islamophobia. If gay or lesbian, you’re homophobic (also sexist, when the incompetent nitwit is a lesbian — a twofer!). Complain about Sam (“lightfingers”) Brinton and you’re transphobic. Did I leave anything out?
Bottom line, we know the game. We choose not to play.
Hard to believe the party of never let a crisis go to waste wouldn't immediately shower E. Palestine with a bevy of boisterous camera seeking Feds to bemoan deregulation and big biz. Ole Joementia could be doing his fist shaking get off my lawn routine. Something seems way off.
Where is Kasich?
(His Dad worked for USPS!)
thanks for larning me somethn
WHAT DOES TFG STAND FOR?
TFG is an abbreviation that stands for “The Former Guy.” TFG is specifically used to refer to former US President Donald Trump as a way to avoid mentioning him by name in online posts.
TFG is typically used by people who oppose Trump to indicate disrespect for him, prevent additional attention, and avoid responses from his supporters.
I beg to differ -- he doesn't even have a hat.
=======
I beg to differ >> literally mayor pete is hat on some other dickhead
The questions surrounding the derailment are still out there, unanswered.
How many hot box detectors did the train pass before the crew was directed to stop the train, and why weren’t they directed to stop sooner, before the journal failed, causing the derailment?
How was it legal, according to FRA regulations, for the train consist to include 20 cars containing hazardous and/or flammable cargo and still be classified as a “non-hazardous materials” train? Note that, had the train been properly classified, it would have been traveling slower, and probably via a safer routing.
And new ones are added
The ground around the point where the train cars containing hazardous chemicals burned is now contaminated. How is that contaminated dirt going to be disposed of?
If you don’t know what killed 3500 fish and so much wildlife, livestock, and pets, how can you be certain that the water and air really are safe? Several days ago Senator J. D. Vance went to one of those streams and stirred up its muddy bottom with a long stick, causing an iridescent sheen of chemical pollutants to come to the surface. Do those pollutants predate the dersilment? I’d not, how will the stream beds be remediated?
Three people in Buttigieg’s orbit admit to being exasperated by the furor, saying nobody asked him about the derailment in any of the 23 media interviews he conducted during the first 10 days after the accident. Then critics lambasted him for not speaking sooner....
If he had been on the job, instead of screwing around, he would have brought it up in those interviews:
This is what we're doing, this is what we know, etc.
the fact was they weren't doing anything, and knew nothing.
And that was his responsibility
Begley wrote in a previous thread. "Mayor Pete famously labelled me as a racist." Famously!!!
Then in this one we get "Mayor Pete called me a racist in Carroll, Iowa on July 4, 2020."
Historians, mark the date!
Anyways, Buttegieg is awful and so is Biden and so are the GOP. None of these people are invested in the public good. It's neoliberalism all the way down, like turtles.
rhhardin at least has some consistency, here, jerk though he be. The rest of y'all acting like you're suddenly defenders of the public good, when really you're just "my tribe good, your tribe bad."
Lots of humor in the Althouse posts and comments lately tho!
CuckGPT: "Good God, Althouse; what a load of sophomoric, vile homophobes you have attracted as commenters."
He had no qualifications, Mr Hall Monitor.
He's a diversity hire, Mr Conservative.
Do you EVER stop whining about a blog you could never write in a million years.
You just know those 23 "interviews" were about how amazing it must feel to be a gay cabinet secretary. And how brave he is for raising children with his husband in these homophobic times.
The interviewers don't give a shit about the residents of Palestine any more than he or his boss did. They were just a bunch of white deplorables.
"It's neoliberalism all the way down, like turtles."
This is profiling...or something.
They also resent comparisons to McConnell.
Unfair pounding. ;}
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