#Buttiegieg

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Scott Horton  · Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

February 25, 2023

Heather Cox Richardson

Yesterday, the chair of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, James Comer (R-KY), the chair of the Subcommittee on Government Operations and the Federal Workforce, Pete Sessions (R-TX), the chair of the Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs, Glenn Grothman (R-WI), and the chair of the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation, Nancy Mace (R-SC), along with seventeen other extremist Republican members of Congress, sent a letter to Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg.

The letter complained that the federal government had not responded effectively to the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. It referred to a preliminary report by the “D[epartment] O[f] T[ransportation]’s National Transportation Safety Board” and demanded Buttigieg provide “[a]ll documents and communications regarding NTSB’s progress on the cause of the derailment.”

The NTSB is not part of the Department of Transportation.

The NTSB is part of the government, but it is an independent agency, charged with investigating civil transportation accidents. It is also in charge of investigating the release of hazardous materials during transportation. Congress deliberately set it apart from the Department of Transportation to guarantee unbiased investigations.

A 150-car Norfolk Southern train was traveling from Illinois to Pennsylvania on Friday, February 3, when 38 cars derailed at about 8:54 p.m. Those cars caught fire, and 12 cars that had not derailed also caught fire. The NTSB responded immediately and, the following afternoon, held a press conference explaining that it was collecting perishable evidence to determine what caused the accident and to make appropriate recommendations for safety upgrades if such recommendations were warranted.

Nine NTSB investigators and four engineers in labs have been involved in the accident review. They have reviewed footage of the derailment, interviewed train staff, and examined the train event recorder, a device similar to a black box on an airplane.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is the federal agency in charge of responding to the release of hazardous substances and leading cleanup efforts. Its personnel were at the site by 2:00 on Saturday morning, about five hours after the derailment. It has had six staff and 16 contractors on the ground since the crash.

The Department of Transportation has two agencies that are appropriate to deploy for this kind of an accident. The Federal Railroad Administration enforces safety regulations for railways, and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration enforces safety regulations for hazardous materials. Those agencies have deployed ten staff to help NTSB investigate. They will figure out if Norfolk Southern ignored any regulations.

This letter is not about the derailment itself, or the dangers, or the cleanup, or even the history of deregulation.

It is about the careful way generations of Americans have tried to create a government that could support progress while also guaranteeing oversight, and it is about the lawmakers who wrote the letter to Secretary Buttigieg.

Either 21 Republican lawmakers charged with oversight of our government don’t know how the government works and didn’t care to find out, or they are deliberately misleading their loyalists.

We are becoming accustomed to certain Republican lawmakers saying ridiculous things. Just two days ago, in a now-deleted tweet, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) claimed that “6 billion” people have illegally crossed the border since President Biden took office. (There are slightly fewer than 8 billion people on earth.)

But the letter these representatives wrote shows such a profound disinterest in how our government works that it suggests these representatives have no real interest in the job they were sent to Washington to do, and instead are weaponizing the government to mislead their followers into believing things that are not true.

Buttiegieg responded: “I am alarmed to learn that the Chair of the House Oversight Committee thinks that the NTSB is part of our Department. NTSB is independent (and with good reason). Still, of course, we will fully review this and respond appropriately.”

—

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[phaeton-flier]

I JUST HEARD IT I JUST HEARD THE MAIN THRUST OF THE REST OF THE ELECTION, LIVE ON ABC:

"Voters say they just don't know enough about Harris."

That's the story, that's the big "reasonable centrist concern" they're gonna run now that "Being old" has mysteriously stopped being a concern.

Also jeez Shapiro is not a good speaker, shut up and put Sanders or Buttiegieg on TV to speak for the Dems. I assume he's got some keen strategic mind in the back office, but he just waffled.

[bllsbailey]

Pete Buttigieg: 'Men Are More Free' When Abortion Is Legal (Democrats Destroying America.)

Show me one man in the above photo and I'll sell you Ocean Front Property in Arizona.

US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg (L) and his husband, Chasten Buttigieg (R), attend a White House Pride Month celebration on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington DC, June 26, 2024, to showcase the contributions of the LGBTQI+ community.

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg’s recent statement, where he said that “men are more free” in a nation where women can access abortion operations and abortion medication, completely “undermines the value of women,” according to a pro-life organization.

Even left-wing and feminist commentators chimed in on social media platforms to condemn the transportation secretary’s “sexist, male-focused” comments that “put women second.”

Buttigieg previously made history as the first openly gay Cabinet member to receive a Senate confirmation.

— CatholicVote (@CatholicVote) July 30, 2024

“I’m so glad she has made freedom the theme of her campaign, because I think in so many ways that’s at stake,” Buttiegieg said about Vice President Kamala Harris during a ‘White Dudes for Harris’ campaign event on Monday. “…But, of course, men are also more free in a country where we have a president who stands up for things like access to abortion care.” 

“Men are more free when the leader of the free world, the leader of this country, supports access to birth control and to IVF,” he added.

However, Buttigieg seems to have forgotten that his political party, and especially Democrat women, have been demanding for decades that men stop making the topic of abortion about them when they have no ability to give birth or become pregnant.

Meanwhile, Andrea Trudden, vice president of marketing and communications at Heartbeat International, a pro-life network of pregnancy resource centers, called his remarks “deeply troubling.”

“This perspective not only undermines the value of women and their inherent dignity but also perpetuates a culture that evades responsibility and fails to support women in their time of need,” Trudden told reporters. “This is a stark reminder of the cultural shift that needs to happen—one where men are called to embrace their roles as responsible adults who support women and children.”

Though he is not at the top of the list of suspected contenders, Buttigieg has been mentioned as a possible running partner for Harris’s campaign.

Chasten and I are beyond thankful for all the kind wishes since first sharing the news that we’re becoming parents. We are delighted to welcome Penelope Rose and Joseph August Buttigieg to our family. pic.twitter.com/kS89gb11Ax— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) September 4, 2021

Stay informed! Receive breaking news blasts directly to your inbox for free. Subscribe here. https://www.oann.com/alerts

[megaalexmark]

Gap Between VIX Put-Call Volume And CBOE Put-Call Ratio Is Widest Since 2006, Precursor To Major Volatility Spike (The Deregulation That Buttiegieg Blamed Trump For Would NOT Have Prevented The East Palestine Ohio Train Derailment)

https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/gap-between-vix-put-call-volume-and-cboe-put-call-ratio-is-widest-since-2006-precursor-to-major-volatility-spike-the-deregulation-that-buttiegieg-blamed-trump-for-would-not-have-prevented-the-east-p/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=tumblr

[modern-alebrije]

every time i see a picture of pete buttiegieg i automatically think "uh... lil' homie gay ass"

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from Mother Jones:

There are people out there who are apparently confused about the meaning of the word “infrastructure,” so let’s help them out, shall we?

According to dictionary.com, there are three definitions of “infrastructure,” which is a noun. There’s “the basic, underlying framework or features of a system or organization.” There’s “the fundamental facilities and systems serving a country, city, or area, as transportation and communication systems, power plants, and schools.” And there’s “the military installations of a country.”

To help explain the concept, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg made the rounds on the Sunday political shows. “There’s a lot more than roads and bridges that are part of infrastructure,” he told George Stephanopoulos, who had asked him about the widely repeated Republican talking point that “only about 5 percent” of President Joe Biden’s new infrastructure proposal “goes for traditional roads and bridges.”

“I heard the governor of South Dakota recently saying, ‘This isn’t infrastructure—it’s got money for pipes,'” Buttigieg said. “Well, we believe that pipes are infrastructure, because you need water to live, and too many families now live with the threat of lead poisoning.”

Clean water for Americans! What a concept! He went on to note that broadband internet also counts as infrastructure, particularly in rural areas—makes sense, in the age of school and work via Zoom—as do electric vehicle charging stations.

Buttigieg was referring to remarks made by South Dakota Republican Gov. Kristi Noem on Fox News’ Hannity Wednesday night. “I was on a call with the White House today with all of the governors talking about the specifics of this package, and I was shocked by how much doesn’t go into infrastructure,” she said. “It goes into research and development. It goes into housing and pipes and different initiatives, green energy.”

Infrastructure: the basic, underlying framework or features of a system or organization.

[c-bassmeow]

The College/Debt Plans of the Main Democratic Candidates

Klobuchar: No for free college. Fuck you poors! Community college and that’s it! You can refinance your debt, I guess. 

Beto: No for free college. Let’s just increase the loan forgiveness problem but you will still have tons of debt and college will be really costly. But I’m hot check out my abs. 

Joe Biden: Two years of FREE community college. There are a few other progressive ideas in my plan, but like Hillary Clinton if I get elected (but most likely lose to Trump) I won’t actually fight for these things. Do the poors love me yet? Ugh fuck Bernie. 

Pete Buttiegieg: no to free college. More pell grants. We should look into student loan refinancing. I’m super smart. I know Norwegian... which I learned in college... Harvard. 

Marianne Williamson: I will consult the leading astrologers when mercury is in retrograde and they along with my sentient crystals and my one extraterrestrial friend I made during my vacation at Roswell we will decide the best way to deal with this issues. Plans are for suckers. Plans don’t solve anything love does. Virgos, Capricorns, Aries, and Taurus’s get reduced college off the bat since the charts I consulted this morning said this is the best plan of action. I will also open up my chakras and radiate light from my kundalini and this will help us actuate peace on earth. ** starts singing** Ooh, my body's sayin' let's go Ooh, but my heart is sayin' no. If you wanna be with me Baby there's a price to pay I'm a genie in a bottle You gotta rub me the right way! **turns into a cloud of loving mist** 

Kamala Harris: Welcome young ones. You shall get a 23% reduction in debt if you play a little game. I have fifteen golden tickets distributed around the country, and if you find them you can sell them for $500 right off the bat or if you wish to go further in this journey you must then enter my Police Academy Narcotics Unit training program where the remaining contestants who didn’t sell their tickets will compete to become the next best cop! The winner gets a 34% reduction in student debt. OR if you are from a marginalized community and qualify for pell grants if you run a successful small business for three years we may look into reducing your debt. 

Elizabeth Warren: We can do free public college. We should fund HBCU’s more. We have to eliminate a lot of student debt but not all. 

Bernie Sanders: We will have all public colleges be tuition free. We should fund HBCU’s as well, and we will eliminate ALL student debt! 

[thephdgirl]

Democratic candidates as Parks and Rec Characters: Pete Buttiegieg 

[hategympartner]

In the past few weeks, Pete Buttigieg, a Democratic candidate competing for the Presidential nomination gathered momentum after winning the Iowa Caucus and finishing a close second in the New Hampshire primary. 

An article published by evangelical Christian magazine Charisma News claimed that Democratic candidate Pete Buttigieg is “deserving of death” because he is openly gay. In the article, writer Bert Farias denounces the supporters of Buttigieg and states homophobic and critical comments directed at Buttigieg. The article shows a video of an Iowan voter asking to change their vote after learning Buttigieg is gay. Farias’ statements are based on bible scripture and personal bias, saying, “God created male and female with sexual union between the two being first for procreation,” and claiming Buttigieg “worshipped Satan.” Despite this, Farias’ comments were rebuked by supporters of the democratic candidate. On social media, self-identified Christians argued that Farias misquoted the Bible in defense of Buttigieg. Some claim that the article is hypocritical for attacking a “church-attending Christian and military veteran” while endorsing a “thrice-married, failed casino owner, who appear to have little experience of attending church, or much expertise with the Bible.”

In class, we watched a video of the 2012 presidential election focusing on how each candidate appealed to Christian voters. In the United States, 71% of American’s identify as Christian in any way. The video demonstrated the importance of having a President who believes in God and adheres to Christian values independent of their political stances. In a hypothetical Presidential election matchup between Pete Buttigieg and Donald Trump the person who receives the majority of the Christian vote could likely be the winner. In 2016, Donald Trump won nearly 80 percent of the evangelical vote. If it were to eventually come to a battle between him and Mayor Pete Buttigieg, one could assume that Trump would attack Buttigieg’s sexual orientation for being sacrilegious. Furthermore, as the first openly gay candidate running for President for a major party, it is interesting to observe how Buttigieg will compete against other candidates within that demographic.

In the past, the simple fact that Pete Buttigieg is gay has not deterred him from finding political success. In 2015, Buttigieg secured 80 percent of the vote in his run for reelection in South Bend, and according to polls commissioned by Politico, half of American voters are ready for an LGBTQ president. Knowing this, the future campaign for Buttigieg faces bigotry and homophobia as it moves forward into more states across the United States. Is America ready for a gay or lesbian President, well Pete Buttigieg is ready to find out. 

Furthermore, this opens the discussion of what role religion should play in national politics and political conversation. In this instance, we notice someone who publically attacks irrelevant dynamics of a person’s personality in order to lower his ethos. Personally, I find it reprehensible to see a candidate be automatically dismissed for his sexual orientation. As a candidate, Pete Buttigieg offers a perspective that American’s can get behind, and it has shown the last two primary elections, and the attempt to discredit Buttigieg is shameful and distasteful. 

Ultimately, as we inch nearer to the 2020 Presidential election, it’s interesting to notice the influence that the evangelical Christian vote has. In the next couple of months, we will see how the country feels about Pete Buttigieg.

[bathroom-sand]

Brien from bb10 looks like Buttigieg

He looks like if Buttigieg and Rob Lowe has a baby, like I can somewhat see Buttigieg (more so in the bb10 intro) but his head shot reminded me of Rob Lowe

[justsomeantifas]

I feel like Americans would’ve gotten Bernie on the ballot but democrats in power made sure it was conservative Biden, do you know anything abt that

Well after Biden won the South Carolina primary, Pete Buttiegieg, Amy Klobuchar and Tom Steyer dropped out and endorsed Biden. This was right before Super Tuesday, and Buttiegieg, unprecedentedly, dropped out despite being in second place. Obama personally made this request of them. Everyone else in the race consolidated around Biden and there was a narrative built that Biden winning South Carolina was a big deal (despite that it went for Trump and was def going to go to Trump lol). and generally i do think the more corporate-backed dems tried everything to stop bernie. 

but i’m not gonna say definitely that bernie would’ve won (or even made it through the primaries if the elections played out without the consolidation move) though I think having some real messaging during this pandemic election and legit on-the-ground work would have benefitted, particular with low-income voters. and i think the red baiting would’ve been kicked up to some hella wild levels but again, I think having legit popular policies would’ve helped to drown out some of that messaging

[theculturedmarxist]

The Weakness of Affectation

If Trump is the “reality tv” president, then Buttigieg represents the “movie politician” candidate. I’m watching this video and every expression, every movement, every inflection makes me feel like I’ve seen this scene before. If you get that feeling, it’s because you HAVE seen this all somewhere before. 

This “town hall” masquerades only superficially as an interview. The empty suit standing next to the windbag tees Buttigieg up and then lets him gas on and on—he’s literally monologuing. He smiles on cue, emotes on cue. He mentions his prop husband and the camera cuts directly to him almost as if they knew beforehand that it would happen. Every face he makes has been honed to convey the appropriate emotion to match whatever he’s trying to affect in the audience. All it’s missing is a stirring score to give it that Hollywood razzle dazzle.

Watching Buttigieg up on stage is like seeing Tom Cruise in any of his roles where he can be bothered to act. All his movements and expressions and the tone of his voice is tuned to convey a sort of impression. In a way it’s kind of the modern equivalent to the masks the ancient Greeks used in their stage plays. It’s obvious, but effective. The magic of the stage lets the viewer get caught up in what the person is doing even though the audience knows very well that they’re watching someone play pretend.

When you notice and take yourself out of it, watching not with the eye of an audience member but someone viewing the spectacle from outside of it, you can see the affectation. It’s only slightly less hammy and rubbery than any given Metal Gear cutscene.

Everything happens on cue, exactly as choreographed. There are no surprises. Bush and Obama managed to give their scripted monologues the appearance of folksy/charming spontaneity. Buttigieg’s words and actions come off as tightly scripted, honed to perfection to achieve the desired dramatic effect, and carefully performed. It’s hardly any wonder that he’s being pushed so hard by the Democrats and their friendly media. Bernie was a surprise for them. Trump was a surprise for them. The public having the temerity to not know their place, attempt to have a hand in how parties and politics are run in this country, was a surprise for them. They, and their political financiers whose economic interests they serve, are tired of surprises. With the prospect of war and economic disaster looming on the horizon, it’s obvious that they’re tired of “surprises.” The oligarchs and the corporate citizens with such interest want exactly what they bought in 2008: an obedient mouthpiece that will have the sense to do what he’s told. Everything according to script, everything according to plan, on cue, no uncomfortable surprises.

Part of what secured the victory for Trump in 2016 was his inability or unwillingness to stick to a script. He’s a shyster that is used to saying whatever he thinks he needs to say in order to secure the deal, because in his experience everything that comes after isn’t his problem. It’s a matter for the other people he pays to think and deal with those problems for him. Compared to the stiffly executed personas employed by politicians like Hillary or Buttigieg, it’s easy to mistake for something like genuine behavior. Maybe he does actually believe what he’s saying, at least for as long as he’s saying it.

The Democrats want Buttiegieg or someone like him, someone with the stage skills necessary to both never stray from the carefully written scripts they prepare for him but the ability to portray it convincingly and with at least an air of authenticity.

You can see similar “stage skills” in Sanders, but I think this is in part because that’s the way one has to format their airtime now, and I’d like to believe that what he says in regards to advancing working class interests is a genuine sentiment.

As terrible as Trump is, my impression of him is that he’s an opportunist. There’s nothing innovative about his administration or its policies all the way back to Clinton at least. Despite the novelty of him successfully bypassing the cursus honorum of the American political system, he’s very much “business as usual” as far as American presidents go. His guiding ideology is pretty typical—whether or not it puts black ink in his ledger or red.

I don’t feel so concerned about Buttigieg and those like him, or even Trump. I think both of these sorts of politicians are engaged in seeing the status quo maintained. What frightens me is the prospect of an individual emerging that isn’t motivated by profit, but has a political program, for whom “Make America Great Again” isn’t an empty slogan, but a moral imperative. If Sanders’s campaign represents the effectiveness of genuine belief on a populace starved by artificiality, it isn’t going to be long before the bourgeoisie go looking for an individual with a zeal more palatable to their values, but whose ideals will be even more ruinous to the working class than what we’re currently suffering under even now. This one will be all the more believable and all the more seductive because they won’t be on stage as an actor, but as a believer themselves, but the nature of those beliefs won’t be revealed until it’s too late to actually stop them.

[mrtelevoid]

PETE BUTTIEGIEG IS OBVIOUSLY FULL OF SHIT, YOU GUYS.

The latest episode of SOME MORE NEWS is a wonderful takedown of every boomer’s idea of good millennial, Pete Buttiegieg. It’s a solid deep dive into teenage history as a Bernie Bro to his time with the shady Cohen Group, and ultimately explains him away as an ambitious creep who’ll say anything to win the election. He sees politics as a game, not civil service. He cares about status, not about fixing America. He’s the kind of candidate particularly appealing to white liberals because he’s selling a progressive future with a not-so-subtle promise not to rock their privileged boat too much. Highly recommend everyone still on the fence about him check it out.

What kills me is the number of friends, family and otherwise respectable folks who I’ve heard raving about what a charming public speaker the guy is. So many half-baked comparisons to Obama. It doesn’t make any sense to me. It makes me wonder if your bullshit detector is broken that you can’t tell when someone is telling you what you want to hear.  If Pete Buttiegieg were a salesman, he’d be kind whose words seem to be constantly counting his bonus check and ultimately makes avoid the store in the future.  Don’t vote for Pete. We can do better.

[james-madison]

pete buttiegiege should have been presxident because he would have banned anime

you know what, good thing that didn’t happen cause anime is quite great if you’d actually take some time out of your day to watch it😳😳 also historically incorrect cause i think pete buttiegiege would actually be quite a weeb himself

[c-bassmeow]

Pete Buttiegieg needs to drop out. He can’t even handle running a fucking college town yet this asshole thinks he can run for president. He is rude in person and indifferent on the policy level to his black constituents, and he promotes a weird blend of nerdy wonkishness YET at the same time he offers vacuous platitudes. The fact that he is doing so well is because the media is literally jerking him off and offering him soft ball questions, and because unfortunately democrats fall for weaponized versions of identity politics where the equation is “gay + veteran + young= good!”..... he has nothing to offer, he courts rich donors and is loved by Silicon Valley, and he has the charisma of a corpse.  BYE!  

[atheistaltarserver]

IT Chapter 2 is not homophobic and I wish y’all would stop saying that it is.

IT Chapter 2 just came out recently and a lot of people, mostly on Tumblr, but other places, have been saying that it’s homophobic because a gay character (Adrian Mellon) dies in the first few minutes. Here’s why that’s super wrong.

The whole scene is disturbing. I won’t describe it too much, but Adrian Mellon is walking along a bridge with his boyfriend, and a group of kids beats them up savagely and tosses Adrian off the bridge, where he is then eaten by Pennywise. At first, you may think, Atheist Altar Server, this is clearly homophobic! How can you say that IT Chapter 2 isn’t homophobic when this happens so early? Well, it is but it isn’t. The movie, the director, the actors, Stephen King, all of these people are not homophobic. The fictional characters who beat up Adrian Mellon are. Calling this movie (and therefore the book, because this scene is very accurate to the book) homophobic drastically takes the message it is trying to send down. The whole scene was written by King who took inspiration from a similar incident in Bangor, his hometown, where a gay man was thrown off a bridge and killed, and no one talked about it or tried to punish those responsible. It was almost like the people of Bangor were in a trance similar to the one that affects the people in Derry. By taking this incident and reframing it by putting it in the book, King shines a much needed light on this largely covered up spot in Bangor’s history. So is a straight author shining a light on a hate crime by putting a similar one in a horror book, and make the villain a perpetrator sound at all homophobic to you? NO. It sounds like a really good move for a book published in the 70′s and 80′s. 

I’m gonna briefly address some other weird issue that people had with this movie. Emphasis on briefly. The issue is that people thought that Pennywise was a LGBTQ+ icon, and that this was off character. 

*clears voice*

HE IS A MURDEROUS CLOWN. HE IS NOT A GAY ICON. DO YOU KNOW WHO IS A GAY ICON? FREDDY MERCURY. JON LOVETT. PETE BUTTIEGIEG. ROMAINE PATTERSON. RU PAUL. LADY GAGA. ELLEN. LAVERNE COX. PENNYWISE IS NOT A GAY ICON. PEROID. IT’S SO FRUSTRATING TO SEE PEOPLE TRY TO PAINT A MURDEROUS CLOWN AS A GAY ICON. IF YOU NEED A FICTIONAL VILLAIN, CHOOSE ANY DISNEY VILLAIN REALLY. JUST WHY PENNYWISE.

*settles back in chair*

Okay, that should do it. Pennywise isn’t a gay icon, and I don’t know what gave people the impression that he is. 

The last point I have about this movie is that Richie’s storyline directly makes any point about this sequel homophobic invalid. Richie comes to grips with his overwhelming love for his best friend, and when Eddie dies, he can’t move on. It shows a similarity to the way that historians and reporters will frequently disregard male or female lovers found in places like pompeii, or ancient tombs, and refer to them as roommates, or soldiers, or anything but lovers, This addresses that problem head on, and by the end, Richie carves his and Eddie’s initials into the place where many straight lovers had before. 

Go see the movie and see all of these things for yourself, or read the cocaine-induced craziness that is the original 1000+ page novel that this all came from. It’s worth it, and really helps frame the arguments better. In general, be positive in life, and when it can be applied, try to assume good intent. Just because a hate crime was in a movie doesn’t mean that that movie was taking delight in the scene. The Adrian Mellon beating is supposed to feel uncomfortable and upsetting because people are beating and killing someone for who they are! It isn’t a good thing, and the fact that the evil horror movie villain participates means that the crime is evil, and should not be performed by non-evil people, and is something that the heroes of the story should fight against.

-Thanks for listening to my eloquent rant

Atheist Altar Server