Trump's Appointments

[Shadowy Man]

If we don’t test there will be fewer cases.

 

[unapologetic]

Fire the messenger.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Murphy then asked him if he would support bringing back “laws in this country to only allow white people to vote.”

I was not aware that was being considered. That would be a very stupid thing to do. If you want to start a 2nd civil war, that would do it.

Why would they regard that as a stupid thing to do?

A war that allowed them to commit genocide would be seen as a good thing by many of them.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Trump has appointed Brent Bozell (subject to Senate approval) to be Ambassador to South Africa. Some of his testimony to Congress is unsettling:

“Senator, my personal views are irrelevant,” Bozell insisted. “I am serving here to do what the president is asking me to do in South Africa.”

Source?

I read it at https://www.alternet.org/trump-black-americans/ which I read without subscription by using the Disable-Javascript trick.

No reaction to my post but Angry when I provide a source? Whatevs.

Alternet doesn't vet its "reporters", credibility is quite variable.

 

[Swammerdami]

Trump has appointed Brent Bozell (subject to Senate approval) to be Ambassador to South Africa. Some of his testimony to Congress is unsettling:

“Senator, my personal views are irrelevant,” Bozell insisted. “I am serving here to do what the president is asking me to do in South Africa.”

I read it at https://www.alternet.org/trump-black-americans/ which I read without subscription by using the Disable-Javascript trick.

Alternet doesn't vet its "reporters", credibility is quite variable.

This constant and irrelevant gibberish about Alternet gets annoying. Where did anyone say they believe Alternet opinions without question?

Alternet links to LOTS of stories that are otherwise at least somewhat hard-to-find. Its stories are mostly links to other sources. Instead of links, you can use names in the story to do Google searches. For example, one might Google "Bozell testimony." I treat Alternet as just an index of stories, pursuing SOME of which may be informative.

I'll write the following in a larger font, hoping that you, @Loren Pechtel , will take the time to READ the sentence and see how it renders your reddened sentence fatuous. Thanks in advance.

Google can take you to videos where you watch Bozell and the Senator move their lips and utter the sentences reported.

Do you think that "Alternet" paid for some Generative AI to create a fictitious dialog?

 

[Loren Pechtel]

If we don’t test there will be fewer cases.

I've seen a Substack that claims that's exactly what's already going on. Seems like a whistleblower rather than a nutter but with no sources there's no way to know for sure. Some of his claims about what's happening at the CDC have been proven true.

 

[ZiprHead]

DHS head reportedly authorized purchase of 10 engineless Spirit Airlines planes that airline didn’t own

Wall Street Journal reports Kristi Noem arranged purchase to expand deportation flights and for personal travel

www.theguardian.com

The secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Kristi Noem, reportedly authorized the purchase of Spirit Airlines jets before discovering the airline didn’t actually own the planes – and that the aircraft lacked engines.

The bizarre anecdote was contained in a Wall Street Journal report released on Friday, which recounted how Noem and Corey Lewandowski – who managed Donald Trump’s first winning presidential campaign – had recently arranged to buy 10 Boeing 737 aircraft from Spirit Airlines. People familiar with the situation told the paper that the two intended to use the jets to expand deportation flights – and for personal travel.

Those sources also claimed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials had cautioned them that buying planes would be far more expensive than simply expanding existing flight contracts.

Complicating matters further, Spirit, which filed for bankruptcy protection for the second time, in August, did not own the jets and their engines would have had to be bought separately. The plan has since been paused, according to the Journal.

Meanwhile, Democrats on the House appropriations committee said in October that during this fall’s record-long government shutdown, the DHS had already acquired two Gulfstream jets for $200m.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

JFC! They were buying planes with no engines?! Keystone White House.

 

[bilby]

JFC! They were buying planes with no engines?! Keystone White House.

Airframes and engines are generally sold and managed separately. Aircraft builders don't know engines, and engine builders don't know airframes - at least, not well enough to build commercially competitive instances of the other's speciality.

There are a handful of builders of large airframes, and in the developed world, it's basically just Boeing and Airbus; Those airframes usually have engines from GE, Pratt and Whitney, or Rolls Royce - and it is up to the buyer which engine they choose. Engines are (fairly) interchangeable across airframe types, so it's not uncommon for them to be owned separately.

Of course, anyone who is in charge of procuring an aircraft (or fleet of aircraft) would be expected to know this, and to ensure that they obtain both airframe and engines, and that they have appropriate contracts to maintain and service both.

Unless they are MAGA simpletons who think buying a 737 is like buying a second hand car.

 

[Swammerdami]

One saving grace about Trump's appointments is how infantile and petty they are. Hitler had a grandiose vision of world domination. Trump just wants to decorate the spaces where he snoozes and eats junk food with his name, painted in gold.

Hitler's top military aides admired his plans to kill millions of enemy soldiers and millions of non-Aryan civilians. Trump's aides are a motley collection of crooks and morons, chosen mainly as money donors.

Trump's military chief, Secretary of War Pete "Gimme another double Scotch" Hegseth, calls an emergency meeting with almost 1000 generals flying in from all around the world to announce that he wants his soldiers to shave every day.

Admittedly this bizarre anti-beard fetish isn't quite as arbitrary as it seems. Blacks generally MUST shave infrequently because frequent shaving of coarse curly hair often leads to pseudofolliculitis barbae, a painful and unsightly condition. So Hegseth "killed two birds with one stone" -- he let blacks know he hates their guts AND helped his personal doctors understand he has a stick stuck up his ass.

I'm somewhat surprised neither Hegseth nor Trump discussed females shaving at their special emergency meeting. Women needn't shave their faces of course, but many rapists prefer women who shave elsewhere. Certainly they've made their hatred of women clear. Lisa Franchetti was Chief of Naval Operations and the first and only woman to ever serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Trump-47 waited just 3 weeks before ordering Hegseth to fire Admiral Franchetti (for no reason), but Trump fired the other top female 4-star and Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Linda L. Fagan less than 24 hours after taking the oath of office.

I'm posting this in anger after reading that an (unnamed but highly respected and decorated) Naval Captain poised for the major role in Naval Special Warfare -- invitations to her installation ceremony had already been sent out -- was told that her services were no longer required. The Foxette bimbo who speaks for Hegseth when he's too drunk to get out of bed announced that henceforth women in combat roles would need to pass the same physical tests that males pass. When asked for an example, bimbo had nothing to offer, Not surprising: Females in combat or combat leadership roles ALREADY must pass the same physical tests that males pass. Upteen push-ups, a long run, pull-ups with 25lb weights, etc.

If I were a Senator (and fit enough to do push-ups myself ) I'd ask Hegseth if he's fit for leadership and laugh at him when he refused to get his hands dirty demonstrating push-ups while CSPAN cameras rolled!

 

[unapologetic]

massive corruption in Kristi Noem's Department

 

[crazyfingers]

For those who prefer to read.

Firm Tied to Kristi Noem Secretly Got Money From $220 Million DHS Ad Contracts

The company is run by the husband of Noem’s chief DHS spokesperson and has personal and business ties to Noem and her aides. DHS invoked the “emergency” at the border to skirt competitive bidding rules for the taxpayer-funded campaign.

www.propublica.org

 

[Swammerdami]

I came here to post the amazing criminal corruption of Kristi Noem which has just come to light, but see that unapologetic and crazyfingers beat me to it!

A few days ago I complained that Trump's cabinet was filled with morons and petty criminals. Let me retract that partially. Kristi Noem is a major narcissist and large-scale grifter. Despite not having a super-rich daddy, she is out-Trumping Trump, and AFAIK was never caught f**king young girls with Epstein. What's not for the MAGAT morons to love?

I'm still filling out my Bingo card. I'll take Noem to replace Vance as V.P. by 2027, and to occupy the Oval Office through 2032. Make America Great Again!

 

[TV and credit cards]

I came here to post the amazing criminal corruption of Kristi Noem which has just come to light, but see that unapologetic and crazyfingers beat me to it!

A few days ago I complained that Trump's cabinet was filled with morons and petty criminals. Let me retract that partially. Kristi Noem is a major narcissist and large-scale grifter. Despite not having a super-rich daddy, she is out-Trumping Trump, and AFAIK was never caught f**king young girls with Epstein. What's not for the MAGAT morons to love?

I'm still filling out my Bingo card. I'll take Noem to replace Vance as V.P. by 2027, and to occupy the Oval Office through 2032. Make America Great Again!

"Amazing"? Other than Propublica, it doesn't look like anyone outside of South Dakota is covering it.


Since when does a department head "invoke a national emergency", a power reserved for the president?
How much of that $220M? Did I miss it? What type of contract?

With that said, expedited contracting should get overhauled. I had seen some egregious shit go on during The War on Weapons of Mass Destruction.
The Democrats didn't fix much after Trump TOS, did they. Why not? I was kind of hoping they would go after everything this side of the Constitution.

 

[Politesse]

The Democrats didn't fix much after Trump TOS, did they. Why not? I was kind of hoping they would go after everything this side of the Constitution.

Their inattentiveness whenever the power is handed back to them is no accident. At the end of the day senators and representatives are all pulled from the same social classes and are loyal to their class and family interests first. As such, Democrats benefit from lawlessness, deregulation, and centralization of power just as much as any Republican. They just build their aesthetic on performative opposition to right-wing projects, the fluffier and more inconsequential the better.

Those of us with actual leftist inclinations are obliged to vote for them lest their opponents win and actively dismantle our lives rather than just ignoring them, but no politician should ever be trusted. Citizen action is the sole basis for positive change in a democratic system. This Epstein case is a stellar example of how the same system of checks and diversions which exists to screen, protect, and obscure the everyday financial activities of the wealthy can also be used to hide and even perpetrate serious crimes. Jeffrey Epstein wasn't a professional pimp, he was a financier. A financier who procured coerced underage women as readily as he might produce a Porsche or a resort in the Maldives, if the right client or family friend of a client asked him to do so.

 

[Swammerdami]

I came here to post the amazing criminal corruption of Kristi Noem which has just come to light, but see that unapologetic and crazyfingers beat me to it!

Since when does a department head "invoke a national emergency", a power reserved for the president?
How much of that $220M? Did I miss it? What type of contract?

The large sum was to run TV ads for HHS, mostly showing Kristi riding around on a horse, or sporting various hats. This was twice the ENTIRE HHS advertising budget in 2024 IIRC. The contract was given to an LLC which did NOT even exist until it was awarded the contract. The LLC hired the husband of a top Kristi aide.

The story mentioned that part of the cost was to aim the ad at Mar-a-Lago!

 

[TV and credit cards]

I came here to post the amazing criminal corruption of Kristi Noem which has just come to light, but see that unapologetic and crazyfingers beat me to it!

Since when does a department head "invoke a national emergency", a power reserved for the president?
How much of that $220M? Did I miss it? What type of contract?

The large sum was to run TV ads for HHS, mostly showing Kristi riding around on a horse, or sporting various hats. This was twice the ENTIRE HHS advertising budget in 2024 IIRC. The contract was given to an LLC which did NOT even exist until it was awarded the contract. The LLC hired the husband of a top Kristi aide.

The story mentioned that part of the cost was to aim the ad at Mar-a-Lago!

I was wonder what sum? It says "from $220 million" but how much of it? And I don't buy a department head declaring a national emergency. She can't. And and GSA would not be able to approve these contracts being outside the normal process. If all happened as the article would indicate, many people across federal departments are acting illegally with impunity.