Tag: White House

The Walk Of Shame

This is not the morning after ‘walk of shame’…..

This particular shame was what Donny has done to the plaques of some of our presidents….more from the ‘great student of history’….

It’s not just the Oval Office getting the Trump treatment—now the White House’s Colonnade is talking, too. President Trump has added a new feature to the West Wing walkway he’s dubbed the “Presidential Walk of Fame”: bronze plaques beneath the portraits of his predecessors that read more like campaign broadsides than historical notes. Many were written by Trump himself, according to press secretary Karoline Leavitt, and echo his social media style, complete with random capital letters and exclamation points, ABC News reports.

The plaques for Joe Biden and Barack Obama are the sharpest. Biden’s, paired only with a picture of an autopen rather than a portrait of Biden himself, calls him “by far, the worst President in American History,” falsely claims he took office through “the most corrupt Election ever seen,” and blames him for everything from the Afghanistan withdrawal to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Hamas’ attack on Israel. It also asserts Biden is in “severe mental decline” and slams his use of the autopen. Obama’s plaque labels him “one of the most divisive political figures in American History” and falsely accuses him of spying on Trump’s 2016 campaign and orchestrating what Trump calls the “Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax.”

The text also repeatedly references Hillary Clinton, noting under both Obama’s and Bill Clinton’s portraits that she lost the presidency to Trump. Obama and Biden declined to comment, and the Clintons have not responded to requests for comment. It’s not just Democrats getting criticized on the plaques; the AP reports George W. Bush, who has distanced himself from Trump, is berated on his plaque for starting two wars. Leavitt praised the new displays as “eloquently written descriptions” of each president’s legacy and framed Trump as a “student of history.” There are also two plaques for Trump, one for each term, and both “effusively praise” him, the New York Times reports.

Ronald Reagan’s plaque is similarly effusive, declaring, “he was a fan of President Donald J. Trump before President Trump’s historic run for the White House. Likewise, President Trump was a fan of his!” And the odd notes continue further back in history, with Gerald Ford’s, for example, suggesting he lost his quest for re-election “probably because of his brave pardon of Richard Nixon.” The plaques are part of a broader physical makeover Trump has pushed at the White House. He has paved over the Rose Garden, heavily renovated the Palm Room and Oval Office with more gold trim and new statues, and, most dramatically, demolished the East Wing to build a large ballroom he says will be finished by the end of his term.

Everyday this person proves what a disgusting, vindictive, vile and pathetic human being he truly is….he and his actions should make us all sick to our stomachs.

After thought:  A busy day for ‘bots here on IST….over 900 hits before lunch….anyone else?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Make Room For The Ballroom

By now even the dullest of people amongst us knows that the East Wing of the White House being ripped apart to make room for His Royal doofus magic ballroom.

For those that still have no idea what I am talking about….

The good news is that it will be paid for by donations….or is it?

President Donald Trump has justified his project of tearing down part of the White House to build a massive new event space by promising no tax dollars would be spent, and that it would be entirely funded by private donors — until recently.

“They probably owe me a lot of money, but if I get money from our country, I’ll probably do something nice with it, like give it to charity or give it to the White House while we restore the White House,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday.

“As you know, the ballroom is under construction,” he continued. “They’ve been trying to get it for 150 years, and I think it’s going to be fantastic. But we’ll see what happens.”

Even though the DOJ is a part of the executive branch, Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution expressly gives Congress the power of the purse, meaning if the DOJ were to pay Trump hundreds of millions of dollars it would likely have to first be appropriated by Congress. There is currently no legislation that has been filed allowing for the DOJ to give $230 million to the president.

https://www.alternet.org/trump-taxpayers-ballroom/

So the taxpayer could be on the hook for this vanity project?

There is so much happening….the entire East wing is to go…..

Despite President Trump’s public assurance, the entire East Wing of the White House is being demolished to make way for his $200 million ballroom—which he said Wednesday is now a $300 million ballroom—and will be gone by this weekend. A White House official said that all of the East Wing will be “modernized and rebuilt,” NBC News reports, reflecting a major expansion of the plans as Trump described them over the summer. “It won’t interfere with the current building,” the president said on July 31. “It’ll be near it, but not touching it, and pays total respect to the existing building, which I’m the biggest fan of.” Hillary Clinton, Trump’s former election opponent, and conservative commentator Byron York are part of the outcry about the exploding construction project. So are historians and architecture experts. The issues include:

  • Transparency: Trump “needs to tell the public now what he is doing with the East Wing of the White House. And then tell the public why he didn’t tell them before he started doing it,” York said, per the Washington Post. Trump said Wednesday he has been transparent about the project. The White House said Tuesday it will send plans to the National Capital Planning Commission, which is supposed to review any external construction projects there. Trump allies hold a majority on the commission.
  • Ownership: “It’s not his house. It’s your house. And he’s destroying it,” Clinton posted.
  • One explanation: An administration official told the New York Times that tearing down the East Wing would be cheaper and result in a more structurally sound ballroom than adding onto the building would be.
  • An exemption: Fielding complaints from around the country, the executive director of the DC Preservation League has to explain that there’s nothing the nonprofit can do to stop the construction. Rebecca Miller said the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 makes White House projects exempt from the reviews that other federal agencies must undergo when they want to alter government property, per the Post. Sara Bronin, who led the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation under Joe Biden, said the demolition still seems to be a violation. “The Trump administration’s shortsighted decision to start demolishing parts of the White House is exactly the kind of action the NHPA was passed to circumvent,” she said in a statement.
  • Building pressure: The nonprofit that Congress created to preserve historic buildings, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, called on the Trump administration “to pause demolition until plans for the proposed ballroom go through the legally required public review processes.” That would include two commissions that have reviewed previous construction. A YouGov poll taken Tuesday found that 53% oppose demolishing even part of the East Wing, while 23% supported it. Just 23% said the ballroom will have a positive effect on the White House.
  • Trump’s defense: The president said Wednesday, in revealing the project now is estimated to run $300 million, that demolishing the entire East Wing was the best option. “In order to do it properly, we had to take down the existing structure,” Trump told reporters, per the Post. He said a “glass bridge” will connect the ballroom to the main White House building. “We don’t touch the White House,” he said.

He is destroying the White House for some vanity project of royal proportions.

This is pathetic on so many levels….and no one seems to care, why?

In case you would like to do something to fight back against those that are sanctioning the destruction of the East Wing then here is a list….make your feelings known.

Read the list of White House ballroom donors:

  • Altria Group, Inc.
  • Amazon
  • Apple
  • Booz Allen Hamilton
  • Caterpillar, Inc.
  • Coinbase
  • Comcast Corporation
  • J. Pepe and Emilia Fanjul
  • Hard Rock International
  • Google
  • HP Inc.
  • Lockheed Martin
  • Meta Platforms
  • Micron Technology
  • Microsoft
  • NextEra Energy, Inc.
  • Palantir Technologies Inc.
  • Ripple
  • Reynolds American
  • T-Mobile
  • Tether America
  • Union Pacific Railroad
  • Adelson Family Foundation
  • Stefan E. Brodie
  • Betty Wold Johnson Foundation
  • Charles and Marissa Cascarilla
  • Edward and Shari Glazer
  • Harold Hamm
  • Benjamin Leon Jr.
  • The Lutnick Family
  • The Laura & Isaac Perlmutter Foundation
  • Stephen A. Schwarzman
  • Konstantin Sokolov
  • Kelly Loeffler and Jeff Sprecher
  • Paolo Tiramani
  • Cameron Winklevoss
  • Tyler Winklevoss

These people, foundations and corporations are despicable and we should make them pay for crimes against the country.

Do something even if it is wrong.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Now It’s Window-Gate

I am exhausted trying to keep up with the stupid and arrogant crap that comes out of the White House these days….7 months and the mind is on overload….

The newest thing is crap being thrown from the White House…..

President Trump said Tuesday that a video circulating online that showed items being tossed out of an upstairs window of the White House was created with artificial intelligence, despite his press team seeming to confirm the veracity of it hours earlier. Trump, who has boasted of being an expert in building design as he takes on remodeling projects at the White House, told reporters that the video has “got to be fake” because the windows, he said, are heavy and sealed shut, per the AP.

  • The video, which circulated Monday, appears to show a small black bag and a long white item being tossed out of a window on the building’s east side. Trump blamed the video on AI, saying the creation of fake videos was one of the downsides of the technology, but then said, “If something happens that’s really bad, maybe I’ll have to just blame AI.”
  • Hours earlier, the White House seemed to verify that the video was real when it told several news outlets that inquired about the video that it was “a contractor who was doing regular maintenance while the president was gone.” The White House didn’t respond to a message later Tuesday about the discrepancy.
  • Trump denied that the windows can be opened and said, “I know every window up there.” He went on to claim each window weighs about 600 pounds, and that “you have to be pretty strong to open them up.” After Trump viewed the video on the phone of Fox News reporter Peter Doocy, the president again said the windows are sealed and blamed AI.
  • Hany Farid, a digital forensics and misinformation expert at UC Berkeley who reviewed the video, said he didn’t detect any digital watermarks that are sometimes inserted into images at the point of AI generation. “The shadows in the scene, including the shadow cast by the tossed bag, are all physically consistent,” Farid says. “The motion of the waving flags have none of the telltale signs that you often see in AI-generated videos. The overall structure of the White House appears to be consistent.”
  • Former first lady Michelle Obama, in a 2015 appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, seemed to gripe about the White House window situation, noting, “The windows in our house don’t open.”

I see we have a new culprit to which he can attach blame…..AI…..was he tired of using ‘fake news’?

Just another crazy lazy day in DC.

Geez I love this useless stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Make Your Voice Be Heard

How many times have you been asked to “make your voice be heard” by contacting your rep or the White House?

Do you really think that any of those people give a damn about you or your concerns?

Guess what….they do not!

Have you called or written to your government?

Did you get the answer you wanted?

What prompted me to write this post is the the White House has taken down the site for petitions….

It appears that the ‘We the People’ petition system has been taken off the White House website. Here is an archive of what it looked like before Biden took office.

The system has been around for many years. At any given time, hundreds of petitions were active. If you get 100,000 signatures, the White House is supposed to give an answer. You may remember that there was an active “Free Assange” petition that the Obama Administration was obligated to answer (and gave a bad answer).

When Trump took office, he briefly discontinued it but put it back up after a media uproar.

Now it appears the Biden White House has removed it. The website used to be here:
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov

This URL, as well as URLs for all currently-active petitions, just forward to the White House front page. I explored the website and could not find any mention of it. The link used to appear in both the “Contact” and “Get Involved” links, but it is gone from both.

I have seen nothing about this in the media. When I Google “White House Petition System Down” and other similar searches, I only get 4-year-old articles about the time that Trump temporarily disabled it.

Wikipedia says that the system was taken down the day Biden took office: On January 20 2021, the day the Inauguration of Joe Biden took place, the website’s address started redirecting to the White House’s website home address.

This is a terrible event, and it must be publicized, and Biden must be made to reverse this decision.

(antiwar.com)

It was returned but does it really have any effect on policy?

Biden is not a transformative president.

He just wants a return to the “good old days”…..the days of yore…..the days of 2008….the days of nothing actually being done but the appearance of change.

Even when the active engagement of their base in ongoing political advocacy enhances their ability to succeed, it is foolhardy to believe that politicians secretly welcome pressure or that they will pay tribute to those who, on select occasions, are able to force their hands. Having invested their faith in their talent for insider maneuvering, these elected officials see themselves as indispensable servants of the public good. They want their constituents to be appreciative, and they are rankled at encountering people who are not. “Cut me some slack,” is how Obama put it. “Give me a break, man,” Biden has already exclaimed. These are just other ways of saying, “Don’t make me do it.”

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2021/02/13/its-myth-presidents-welcome-movement-pressure-and-biden-no-different

Will we change the thinking in DC with our so-called participation?

NO!

Hope!  We will plug along and things will remain the same….no matter how much you attempt to participate and bring the message to those in the Ivory Tower.

Direct action is the only way to make change….and then it will be incremental because you have scared the economic titans….and they will sign on to some small advances.

Think I am mistaken?

Look at our history….that will tell you all you need to know.

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

A “Heroes Garden”?

Awhile back the president ordered the ripping up of the White House’s Rose Garden….a feature that has been a stable in DC a place for announcements, pressers and just a great source of inspiration for most of those roses were planted by numerous presidents….

Melania Trump’s redesign of the White House Rose Garden is making headlines—and not all for the better, Vox reports. The First Lady has torn out crabapple trees and vibrant tulips dating back to the Kennedy era for a more sedate color palette of white and pastel roses. She also introduced paved walkways along with under-the-radar fixes like better drainage, disability access, and media-friendly technical improvements, per the AP. But the less colorful design and vanquished trees inspired a wave of outrage on Twitter, where the Independent reports that users accused Trump of “removing Jackie O’s rose garden” and constructing “a cemetery.”

It is now gone and on Trump’s last full day as president he announced that it would now be the “Heroes Garden”…..

President Trump issued one of his final executive orders that calls for the establishment of a “National Garden of American Heroes,” what Business Insider describes as a collection of “statues of an eclectic range of candidates” that Trump first mentioned last summer. (By “eclectic,” think Christopher Columbus set in a landscape alongside Whitney Houston, Kobe Bryant, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.) But as people have started to analyze the list of nearly 250 luminaries on Trump’s list—which includes athletes, authors, TV and film stars, and historical figures, among others—the garden that’s meant to “reflect the awesome splendor of our country’s timeless exceptionalism” is receiving some criticism for its makeup. Specifically, Axios ran the stats and found that male candidates outnumber the women at a nearly 4-to-1 rate.

Most notably missing: female athletes, Mike Freeman notes for USA Today. Not a single one, though Muhammad Ali, Jackie Robinson, and Babe Ruth all get a nod, as well as 10 other male athletes and coaches. “An argument could be made that Serena Williams is the greatest athlete this country’s ever produced,” Freeman writes, also scratching his head over why Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova, Simone Biles, Megan Rapinoe, and others weren’t possibilities. Historian Michael Beschloss thinks the entire garden is a terrible idea, telling Axios: “No president of the United States or federal government has any business dictating [to] us citizens who our historical heroes should be.” Where the statue garden would be located hasn’t yet been mentioned, but NPR notes it may all be a moot point anyway, as it doesn’t see the garden ever coming to fruition. Read the full list of candidates here.

I still do not know why the roses had to go.

Time to replant and continue a tradition…..a tribute to real ‘heroes’ is a good idea but not at the cost of presidential roses.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–18Dec 20

I want to close out the week with some humor.

I know we all (most of us) will be pleased to see the back of Trump and the Gang That Could Not Shoot Straight…..and someone once said that maybe because of their lack of concern and the infection of so many with the virus maybe the White House should be disinfected……or maybe its all those Trump “cooties” that needs killing…..

Is that truly needed?

“Nuking” the White House “with chemicals is not needed” to protect the incoming Biden administration from COVID-19, J. David Krause, an environmental and occupational health consultant, told Stat News, yet that appears to be the plan to disinfect the building before the transition.

Multiple outlets have reported that a Virginia-based contractor has been tapped to spray a disinfectant throughout the East and West Wings before President-elect Joe Biden moves in next month, but Krause — the past chair of the American Industrial Hygiene Association — and many other experts have said that strategy is not only ineffective, but also could be dangerous, both for people and for works of art.

“It’s a huge waste of time and effort,” Krause said. “It probably isn’t as effective as people say it is. And it runs the risk of somebody actually breathing this stuff in where it may be extremely hazardous. You really only need to be treating the surfaces that people have been exposed to or can be exposed to.”

Instead, a deep clean followed by another round of frequently-touched surfaces like elevator buttons and light switches should do the trick, Jason Marshall, the laboratory director of the Toxics Use Reduction Institute at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, told Stat. And both Marshall and Krause agree leaving the White House empty for a week between administrations could be the easiest solution, since studies have found the coronavirus only lasts for a few days on surfaces. Read more at Stat News. Tim O’Donnell.

(the week.com)

I gotta hear some thoughts here.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–17Dec20

For almost 4 years we have heard/read the most horrific news daily……and at times you would think you had heard/read it all from these worthless leaders….and then more becomes clear.

In the closing days of the Trump circus years…..we have heard it all about his technique for handling the pandemic as it ravages the country and world…..we find one of his silly gutless minions that is a worse person then the ex-president…..the former adviser to the Health and Human Services Department….

A top Trump appointee argued this summer that “infants” and “kids” should be infected with COVID-19, CNBC reports. In a July 4 email brought to light by a House subcommittee, former Health and Human services advisor Paul Alexander wrote to senior officials that Washington should let “non-high risk groups expose themselves to the virus. Infants, kids, teens, young people, young adults, middle aged with no conditions etc. have zero to little risk … so we use them to develop herd.” He added that “we want them infected … and recovered … with antibodies.” A few weeks later, Alexander suggested that “it may be best” to “open up and flood the zone and let the kids and young folk get infected” while protecting “the elderly and at risk folks” in order to attain “natural immunity.”

Alexander was forced out after Trump ally Michael Caputo, who headed HHS public affairs, left his post in September. Now their alleged meddling at HHS has raised eyebrows at the House coronavirus subcommittee. The emails “show a pernicious pattern of political interference by Administration officials,” said Rep. Jim Clyburn, who chairs the watchdog committee, per Politico. “As the virus spread through the country, these officials callously wrote, ‘who cares’ and ‘we want them infected.'” Trump officials have long denied considering herd immunity, but Kyle McGowan, ex-CDC chief of staff, said Alexander often delayed the agency’s weekly reports or cut back on its advice. “He absolutely put pressure on the CDC on different guidance documents,” McGowan said.

Sounds about right for this current White House….using stupidity to fight a killer virus.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Biden’s Female Team Members

Biden is trying hard to look like a progressive and a president that has women’s best interests at heart…..he has made history by making his communications team all female….

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris plan to announce their senior communications team this week—and the big news is it’s all-female, CNN reports. “I am proud to announce today the first senior White House communications team comprised entirely of women,” Biden said in a statement. “These qualified, experienced communicators bring diverse perspectives to their work and a shared commitment to building this country back better.” Biden also plans to name three people of color to his economic team. One name making headlines is Jennifer Psaki, who is expected to be White House press secretary:

  • Psaki held several top roles in the Obama administration, including White House communications director and State Dept. spokesperson, CNBC reports. She’s been on Biden’s transition team and “repeatedly sounded the alarm about the Trump administration’s refusal to allow access to materials relating to national security and the coronavirus pandemic,” the Hill reported earlier this month.
  • Kate Bedingfield will likely lead the press shop as White House communications director, the Washington Times reports. Fortune notes that as communications director and deputy campaign manager for Biden’s campaign, she managed “a team of at least 100” and did it “all from home, with two young children at her side.”
  • Press team: Biden is expected to round out the team with Karine Jean-Pierre, a former official at the group MoveOn, as principal deputy press secretary. Pili Tobar, an immigration-reform advocate who worked for Sen. Charles Schumer, will be deputy White House communications director, per the Washington Post.
  • Harris’ team: Ashley Etienne, an ex-Biden campaign adviser and communications director to Nancy Pelosi, is expected to become Harris’ communications director. Symone Sanders, who also advised on the campaign, will be Harris’ chief spokeswoman.
  • Neera Tanden, an Indian American, will be nominated to lead the influential Office of Management and Budget. The New York Times reports that her confirmation might run into trouble with progressive Democrats who believe she worked in the shadows to scuttle Bernie Sanders’ 2016 run against Hillary Clinton. And Republicans might bristle at Tanden’s outspoken criticisms of President Trump.
  • Cecilia Rouse, a Black economist at Princeton University, will get the nod to lead the Council of Economic Advisers. Nigerian-born Adewale “Wally” Adeyemo, who advised on international economics for the Obama administration, is expected to be deputy Treasury secretary under Janet Yellen, Biden’s choice for Treasury secretary.
  • Criticism: Biden named three people of color after criticism arose that only one earlier pick—Linda Thomas-Greenfield, as US ambassador to the UN—was Black. “From all I hear, Black people have been given fair consideration,” Rep. James Clyburn told the Hill earlier this week. “But there is only one Black woman so far.”

History made and women move forward…..

Will women make a difference from the past?

I think not.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing thought–12Nov20

Lots of news about the antics of a defeated president and the promises of a president-elect has got the news cycle in a tither……so I want of add a story with a more positive slant.

Most everybody that knows me knows that I am a dog person…always have been….and the news that Biden’s White House will have rescue dogs residing there made me smile……

Joe Biden’s presidential win—assuming it overcomes all court battles—will also be a victory for those who like seeing pets in the White House, NBC News reports. The Biden family’s adopted German shepherd, Major, will be the first rescue dog to live at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Major will also have the Bidens’ other German shepherd, Champ, for company. “I’m not big into politics, especially American politics,” tweeted Fabulous Finn, one of several dog experts celebrating the news, per People. “But I am over the moon to see two beautiful German Shepherd dogs in the White House.”

The Bidens fostered Major before adopting him two years ago via the Delaware Humane Association, NPR reports. Major was “from the litter of German shepherd pups that were surrendered and not doing well at all,” the association wrote on Facebook. “Once we posted about them for your help, Joe Biden caught wind of them and reached out immediately. The rest is history.” There’s a long tradition of presidential pets, but President Trump said it would be “phony” for him to get one: “I wouldn’t mind having one, honestly, but I don’t have any time,” he told the Washington Postin 2019. “How would I look walking a dog on the White House lawn?”

So far this is the best news I have had about Biden….that he is a dog person.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Biden’s Chief-Of-Staff

I have stated that I think that the Biden White House will be staffed with Right wing actors and the president-elect has started to make my prediction accurate.

The president-elect is in the process of putting together his White House staff….one of the most important positions is that of gate keeper, the Presidential Chief Of Staff and Biden has chosen Ron Klain…..

And the second-hardest job in Washington goes to … Ron Klain. The Washington Post reports that Joe Biden has tapped Klain, a longtime confidant with an impressive resume, to be his White House chief of staff. “Ron has been invaluable to me over the many years that we have worked together, including as we rescued the American economy from one of the worst downturns in our history in 2009 and later overcame a daunting public health emergency in 2014,” said Biden. “His deep, varied experience and capacity to work with people all across the political spectrum is precisely what I need.” Klain, 59, was a senior aide to Biden when he led the Senate Judiciary Committee in the late 1980s and ran Biden’s office when he became vice president.

Klain has also been a top adviser to Democrats including presidents, vice presidents, and candidates. The New York Times reports that Klain is known for his “steady nerves” and “fierce wit,” especially in criticizing President Trump on Twitter. As former “Ebola czar” under President Obama, Klain took Trump to task for his pandemic policies, and made waves by lecturing Trump about the virus in a popular video. Many considered Klain the obvious chief-of-staff pick, even though he’d fallen out with the Biden camp by supporting Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid in 2016. “I am definitely dead to them—but I’m glad to be on Team HRC,” he wrote at the time, per Politico. But Klain worked his way back into Biden’s inner circle and became a key, unpaid adviser on Biden’s 2020 campaign.

Biden is trying to rebuild the Obama White House….he began with the Ron Klain…..is an lobbyist and has been in tight with the Walton family…..Biden is going straight to the wealthy and the influential to begin his White House staff.

More personnel to come….

Watch This Blog!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”