#Hatch Act

[follow-up-news]

Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro broke the law by publicly endorsing the reelection of President Joe Biden and criticizing former President Donald Trump in several statements he made while on official duty overseas, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel said Thursday. In a report to the White House, the watchdog agency said Del Toro’s comments about the presidential election came in a BBC interview and when he was responding to questions after a speech in London. While he later reported the remarks, his unwillingness to take responsibility for them is troubling, the special counsel said. The agency said Del Toro’s comments, which were made before Biden dropped out of the presidential race, violate the Hatch Act, which prohibits U.S. officials from engaging in political activity while they are on duty and from “using their official authority or influence to interfere with or affect the result of an election.” “The United States and the world need the mature leadership of President Biden,” Del Toro said in response to a question after giving a speech at the Royal United Services Institute in late January. He added, “We cannot afford to have a president who aligns himself with autocratic dictators and rulers whose interpretation of democratic principles is suspicious (at) best.”

[nodynasty4us]

From the December 2, 2023 article:

The independent Office of the Special Counsel said the spokespeople failed to comply with the law, designed to limit the political activity of government employees, when they slammed “MAGA” Republicans for their budget proposal in June.

...

The OSC’s letter, dated Oct. 19 and first reported Friday by NBC News, said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and Andrew Bates, a deputy press secretary, acted against the law by using “MAGA” on June 14 — a week after the OSC warned Jean-Pierre not to use the acronym. The OSC also issued broad guidance establishing that the use of “MAGA” is considered political activity because it is the campaign slogan of a candidate for office.

Because neither Jean-Pierre nor Bates appears to have used the term since mid-June, however, OSC said in its letter that it was closing its probe.

[thisismyideaofhumor]

If you work a job where you aren’t allowed to be partisan and you go on tumblr on your break, be careful not to interact w any political posts. You probably already know that but it’s particularly hard to remember nowadays and I don’t want anyone getting fired because they liked a post while they were at lunch or whatever

[lsmolinari]

Could what you think about politics put your spouse in the clink?

[bobbyo-1967]

Promise Arrives But Disappointment Is Still Lingering

15 September 2024 Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger United States Office of Special Counsel 1730 M Street, N.W. Suite 218 Washington, DC  20036 Dear Special Counsel Dellinger, I appreciate your office announcing the recent Hatch Act decisions in the 5 September 2024 press release. Thank you for your steadfast and valiant efforts to always hold accountable federal employees who engage…

[svalleynow]

Grundy County School Board Member Facing Allegations About Election Laws

The Grundy County School District posted on Facebook a letter from Director of Schools Dr. Clint Durley and Chairman of the School Board Rick Rust concerning allegations of political pressure by a member of the Board of Education. The letter claims that a female board member attended an event in May at Swiss Memorial Elementary School. Allegedly she asked teachers to vote in a certain way in the…

[theweeklyshowwithjonstewart]

Democracy Under Threat

Despite what cable news may have you believe, Fuckface von Clownstick is not the sole threat to our democracy. This week, we’re peeling back the rhetoric and taking a look at where the vulnerabilities in our institutions lie. In conversation with Jane Mayer, chief Washington correspondent for The New Yorker magazine and Noah Bookbinder, President of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, Jon explores the roots of our democratic dysfunction. From ever-multiplying dark money to shark tanking ideas for tax transparency, this episode has it all. Plus, hear from producers of the pod and get a taste for what you can expect in episodes to come! Fact Check: Jane Mayer mentions that Jon said the FEC is about as useless as male nipples. It was, in fact, Jordan Klepper who said this.

Jon Stewart on Who Writes Legislation and Passing the PACT Act

Jon Stewart recalls an experience where a bipartisan group of congresspeople agreed on his proposal to support veterans suffering from toxic exposures but asked him to write the legislation! This leads Jon, Jane Mayer, and Noah Bookbinder to dive into the vulnerabilities in our democracy.

[yessoupy]

no, can't use the white house to campaign, first son.

[rocketbirdie]

here comes trouble (make it double!)

[muninnhuginn]

You know what's gonna kill me when we get the inevitable Lu Guang flashbacks?

The fact he's always described as "mature" as his post-dive self implies he must be different now than before. It's hard to imagine exactly what his personality was like before, and if it's written well, he shouldn't be completely unrecognisable. But we know he's been changed.

Imagine a first timeline where Lu Guang just follows along with Cheng Xiaoshi, no attempts to reign him in whatsover. Cheng Xiaoshi having the opportunity to come up with more of his complicated tricks but channelling it into lower stakes stuff like pranks and Lu Guang actually enabling him in that and having fun with it. Imagine tragedy striking when Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi are both allowing themselves to be genuinely happy, no facades.

We know that Cheng Xiaoshi used to put on a brave face in light of his parents' disappearances and what that meant for how he was treated and what he was missing out on. But we also know that Qiao Ling and Lu Guang together have been able to lift that into something more genuine. Imagine a world where Cheng Xiaoshi was able to do the same for Lu Guang. Where they both mutually brought that light into the other's life.

It's still true to some extent in the current worldline, but it's complicated by Lu Guang's own actions. Lu Guang can never be fully honest with Cheng Xiaoshi without (in his mind) losing him forever. But he has to stick by his side in order to have any chance in his hopeless quest. And so, he must distance himself in other ways, protect Cheng Xiaoshi, enforce the rules. Swallow the guilt. It leads to a more lopsided relationship, one where one side is always hiding something from the other and refuses to open up themselves. A relationship that in the original timeline must have been more equal, as partners.

There's something that's been lost here, and it's not just the original Cheng Xiaoshi.

[falconfate]

Inspired both by the recent solar eclipse and this post by @otiksimr, an art piece I’ve never been prouder of, my WoF oc Sunkiller!

Born under a total solar eclipse (ask me about my temperature-based nightwing hatching headcanons. and also my headcanons about how sunlight affects nightwings.) and blessed with the ability of perfect knowledge of the past, or at least the past where dragons exist. This of course makes her an invaluable resource to historians everywhere, which she is absolutely sick of, and so has gotten very adept at the hermit lifestyle. For pity’s sake, you solve ONE cold case murder as a hatchling, and suddenly EVERYBODY wants your attention…

(if tui has declared anything canon about nightwings and solar eclipses, like she has for blood moons, which are lunar eclipses, i haven’t seen it)

[wat3rm370n]

Neera Tanden and the demoralization of disability justice.

Neera Tanden has been accused of violating the Hatch Act while working at the White House. This embarrassment is not unexpected sadly. I associate Neera Tanden with CAP and online debacles from almost a decade ago. The big money & industry funding, and the seeming connection to a lot of demoralization of the left with regard to the non-profit industrial complex.  

We’re meant to believe it’s just a big coincidence that the broad left can’t agree that, for example, people, especially people at high risk for covid, deserve to exist in society and have access to healthcare spaces where healthcare providers don’t infect their patients with preventable disease. But it’s industry money interests that are really driving this supposed disagreement, and the contrarians that push it. And we know their woke-washing claims that mitigation causes “disruption” are a big pile of bullshit because they have no problem with disruption if it’s for a regime change in the interest of elites.

Neera Tanden’s missteps and the disability justice information space.

A reputation that was never that great.

Neera Tanden has been accused of Hatch Act violations while working at the White House. This embarrassment is not unexpected sadly.

Government Executive — Senior White House official violated the Hatch Act, OSC says A filing with the Merit Systems Protection Board alleges that Biden’s domestic policy advisor shared fundraising messages for Democratic political candidates on social media. November 7, 2024 SEAN MICHAEL NEWHOUSE The Office of Special Counsel in a complaint filed on Wednesday alleged that senior White House official Neera Tanden used social media to help raise money for political candidates, which would be a straightforward violation of the Hatch Act.

Democracy Now — Neera Tanden Named White House Staff Secretary Despite Progressives’ Protests — Oct 25, 2021 Neera Tanden has been appointed as White House staff secretary, where she will oversee which documents make it to President Biden’s desk. Tanden was forced to withdraw her nomination to head the Office of Management and Budget in March over lack of congressional support after coming under fire from both the right and progressives.

I mostly associate Neera Tanden with Center for American Progress and for years, starting about a decade ago, of watching various disability justice advocates and disabled journalists seeming to get co-opted by CAP and orgs like it, though it is the biggest in the disability space, and it seemed like all the big names at least interacted with CAP, even if they didn’t work there.

People who would then water down their support for progressive values and embrace crap centrist or even rather conservative policy positions. Some would even take to scolding lefties on social media. And it was incredibly hard to criticize back, because of course these are disabled people, and critics would quickly find themselves under a DARVO attack being told that disabled people would otherwise live in poverty and they need jobs, or other types of woke-washing cover for the big money sloshing around to co-opt disability justice issues. Of course most of those disabled people involved in these upsets, who get plum positions in the non-profit industrial complex, are not usually people in poverty their whole life — they’re people who are definitely disabled, but maybe come from money, or at least enough means in some cases to get fancy degrees at ivy league universities. But because of the intense amount of vitriol which would ensue, likely with botnets and troll farms supporting it, even a progressive working class disabled person living on SSI and Medicaid would get driven off twitter for criticizing the centrist position of some ivy league disabled influencer with 100k followers, and told they were privileged and ableist and then further demoralized with shockingly nasty harassment. Most onlookers learned quickly not to poke that beehive, and stay silent. And many ordinary disabled people hoping for those plum jobs, even though it was not likely to happen, would of course fall in line. On the other side of it, I saw just random progressives and leftists who became so disgusted and disillusioned by the entire scene that they were easily recruited into also dubious circles of people in the online left. The entire information space became so toxic, and people became entrenched over sometimes even petty debacles over extremely niche issues.

Current Affairs — Why Is The Center For American Progress Betraying The Left? As the left tries to fight against inequality and exploitation, the main “progressive” think tank joins forces with right-wing free market capitalists… Nathan J. Robinson filed 13 December 2018 “CAP has strong ties with both Obama and the Clintons — it was founded by close Clinton confidante John Podesta and its president, Neera Tanden, previously worked for both Bill and Hillary Clinton. The New Republic has described it as “stuffed to the gills with staffers who have either worked in previous Democratic administrations or will go on to work in future ones.” The phrase “progressive” is often associated with the left wing of the Democratic Party, by contrast with its “moderate” wing, and progressives are typically skeptical of corporate influence in politics. The Center for American Progress, however, is cozy with some of America’s largest and most controversial companies. Though it is quick to emphasize that corporate donations constitute only a small part of its funding, in 2013 alone CAP received support from Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Coca-Cola, Citigroup, the American Beverage Association, Comcast, BlueCross BlueShield, weapons manufacturer Northrop Grumman, and Walmart. The government of the United Arab Emirates (which regularly carries out forced disappearances and torture) has given over $500,000. Investigative journalist Ken Silverstein, in an important 2013 investigation of CAP’s funding, was told by multiple former staffers that when CAP was seeking support from Saudis it muted its criticism of the Saudi kingdom. (CAP continues to conceal the identities of many of its largest donors.) CAP president Neera Tanden has described herself as “a loyal soldier” for Hillary Clinton and despite heading a “nonpartisan” think tank, worked behind the scenes during the 2016 primary to try to erode Bernie Sanders’ support. Leaked internal emails reveal Tanden’s own political instincts to depart from what is typically considered “progressive.” She advised the Clinton campaign against a $15 minimum wage…”

I will reiterate what AOC said about organizing on November 6, 2024: “there’s a history in this country of powerful people bankrolling disruptors in people’s movements.” It’s not a maybe, it’s historically documented, and documented in the contemporary. It’s quite obvious there have been numerous narrative warfare divisive blowups that have served to pit disability justice voices against climate activists and labor. It’s hard not to suspect disruption, sabotage, and bad actors.

And there’s obviously plenty of industry tycoon and billionaire money sloshing around for these purposes, especially in the world of The Internet of Fakes.

Or maybe it’s all just a big coincidence, right?

[slyandthefamilybook]

damn the USPS is gonna be fucked

[fromtheseventhhell]

why does this fandom act like dany never suffered again after she gains her dragons? i saw an improperly tagged post on my for you page here and in the tags people are genuinely saying that after dany births her dragons, she never experiences sexual violence or oppression again unlike sansa who has to use her "ladies charms" to survive. i couldn't believe my eyes as i read tag after tag explaining why dany is a girlboss who never experiences anything bad after agot. what is wrong with tha fandom?

It's cause! A subsection of Stansas have adopted the show's (misogynistic) logic that suffering = deserves a good ending, so they want to play the suffering Olympics so Sansa ends up looking the most deserving of a happy ending. They're constantly downplaying other female characters and their trauma to fit their logic. Dany has dragons -> which offers her protection -> which means she hasn't suffered as much as Sansa. Arya has a sword -> which means she can fight back -> which means she hasn't suffered the same way Sansa has. Cersei has power -> which means she has control over her circumstances -> which means she hasn't been victimized the same way Sansa has. And so on and so forth. It's nothing but thinly veiled misogyny based on fundamentally misinterpreting the books cause the story being told doesn't make their favorite look special enough for them. Even a cursory glance at the books would prove these takes incorrect but something tells me they haven't taken the time to actually read them.

[arcane-vagabond]

I'm thinking of scrapping We Abide as a fic in order to write it as an actual story. Comments, questions, concerns?

[b-rainlet]

Something about guard dogs being finally led off their leash, causing way more destruction than their handler anticipated and absolutely refusing to be leashed again