Buttigieg goes AWOL
Transportation Secretary Peter Buttigieg and his husband adopted two infants. Good for them. I have often said that being a dad is the greatest job in the world – full of challenges, heartbreaks but great joy. One of the reasons I had my office in my home since 1975 was because I wanted to be able to work and still spend time with my kids. But I always had to work.
Apparently Buttigieg does not share my opinion that work is a priority even when you have kids. He took a couple of months off as his own personal “maternity” leave.
I suppose if he had some fungible job in a factory or office, time off would not be a big deal. But he is the Secretary of Transportation, for God’s sake. He is gone as the biggest transportation infrastructure bill is fighting its way through Congress.
As if that is not enough to keep him on the job, America is having a supply-chain crisis that is rooted in transportation issues. There are hundreds of full container ships with billions of dollars of merchandise anchoring outside America’s main ports. As if that were not enough, there is a shortage of container-hauling truck drivers as well as local delivery vans.
The supply-chain disruption is causing both a shortage of goods and, consequently, an inflationary rise in prices.
There were times I had worked emergencies and had to focus my attention away from the kids and toward the work – even at times when I was a single parent – Mr. Mom, as they say.
I find it incredible that Buttigieg could abandon his critical post at a time of such crisis. I also find it incredible that no one seemed to notice that he was not coming into the office. Had he been a Republican Secretary of Transportation methinks that the left-leaning media would have the person pilloried at the top of every newscast.
It is also disturbing to think that his absence was not a problem. If that is the case, his presence has no benefit. What is the guy’s job description?
In these days of multiple transportation crises, Buttigieg is arguably the most critical member of the Cabinet – taking over the top spot from Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who reigned supreme during the Afghanistan fiasco. What would we have thought if Austin had taken a couple months off as our military personnel were serving and dying in Kabul?
Buttigieg is now back on the job. Hmmmm. Nothing seems to be changing or improving in terms of the multi-level transportations crisis. No new plans or proposals for dealing with the crisis. Maybe Buttigieg sitting around the house was not as serious a problem as I assumed.
So, there ‘tis.
Faggots adopting kids. Disgusting.
Dan … having added three kids to my family, I am a strong proponent of adoption. There are a lot of kids out there who need a loving home. And I have several gay friends who are parents — great parents. My criticism was taking all that time off, not adopting a couple kids.
This from Danny Boy, who’s always talking about shit and butt-fucking, and has more names for anal intercourse than I’ve ever heard from anyone? Danny Boy, we think you protest too much.
You know more about what queers do than me
Let me guess; Dan’s God no like gay people?
Must be getting hard for you to navigate society. So sad.
So, Larry makes the assumption that during Buttigieg’s time off he’s not doing ANY work? There’s no internet or telephone in Pete’s house? (I don’t usually like to use politicians’ first names, but I have to stop and check the spelling every time, so I’ll continue with “Pete”). You’d better be careful about building Pete up by calling him the most important member of Biden’s cabinet… you may have to take that back when he’s running for President sometime in the next few years…
And exactly what do you think Pete should be doing? Biden got the port in Long Beach to work 24 hours a day – do you know if Pete had a hand in those negotiations? Do you have any idea if he presented other ideas to the President (all of which must ultimately go through Congress, which is 100% filibustered by Republicans).
Do you even remember who Trump’s Secretary of Transportation was? Let me remind you – Mitch McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao. You know, little Chinese lady with HUGE … conflicts of interest because her parents own a large shipping business. She tirelessly promoted her… father’s business… and the only thing I can remember her doing while Secretary was dedicating one member of her staff (who she inherited from McConnell’s campaign) for the sole purpose of sending $78M to Kentucky just before McConnells 2020 re-election. Oh, that and getting a $25M “gift” from her father (NO WAY that looks like bribery of governement officials…). After one inspector general reported that there were “numerous ethics violations” by Chao, Trump him and replaced him with ONE OF CHAO’S EMPLOYEES. Didn’t even take the guy off of Chao’s payroll, just said, “go investigate your boss”… we all know how that went…
Trump took almost a year’s worth of golfing days (at taxpayers’ expense, and with a share going into his own pocket), and not once have I heard you criticize him for it. That was certainly a case where being away from the job was better for the country, except that Trump was still tweeting at midnight from the crapper…
Yeah and your guy is under orders to not talk to the press. And America is going to hell in a hand basket on his watch. So keep your nose in his ass. He could use some help breathing. You commiecrats are morons being led by a moron. But keep your hopes alive. Peter Butthole might run next time and parade his “husband “ around the campaign trail or chocolate highway or whatever But know this. Cheating will be harder next time
If that were the case, Republicans would never win again.
I wah’d for decades and was as wired as being in the office. Given the fed gravy is wah’d right now, don’t think he could meet many at the office. And I’m betting, he hasn’t missed many meetings.
My teams were global. Since I made it a point that the East Coast was not the center of the universe, I would meet on the majorities time meaning they could start at 3am. Not going to do that shit in the office. About 10% of the time, I was in the air. Still the work flowed at worst case, massive email download on landing. Heck Larry, we rented conference rooms at Ohare and convened there from across the country or globe. Used to laugh that Ohare was my office with bagels to go!.
You may have had an office at home Larry, but you sound pretty old school. The office has been virtual for over three decades for many. It’s pretty easy to manage and family at the same time, at least a party one schedule for both.
How much time did Trump take off to go to Mara Loser or Bedminster? Lots more than most Presidents. More time than he spent with his wife and youngest child no doubt since they moved away. What did we hear from Larry on that one?
Crickets.
Then again, his office was in his home and not sure how much work he did there. “Hey, just get me something I can sign….” Well, he did spend a lot of time watching tv, rallying, making up names, tweeting, and heckling…. And one time he did some manual labor by walking across the street, holding a bible upside down in his salute to the Devil. Don’t worry Larry, you can just hold your nose.
Frank … I thought of you as a more balanced and intellectual debater, but lately you seem to have taken up the traits of Mr. Bruder — for whom i have little respect. You seem to focus your attacks on a Larry Horist of your own making — using assumption instead of knowledge. The Larry Horist you see as technologically “old school” — an assumption. Actually, i was working from my home since 1975. I had one of the earliest in-office home computers. I was an early user of cell phone technology both the big ones I carried around an a mounted one in my phone. You insult based on a baseless assumption is one example.
You use Trump’s golf time as a whataboutism. Trump’s golf is a legitimate debating point, but has no relevancy as to whether Buttigieg was AWOL
You assume that Buttigieg was busy at home without any knowledge. You accuse me of making assumptions. According to the reports, he was noticeably absent from DOT activities during that time — according to DOT staff. Where is the support for you assumption?
You also misrepresent my opinions — whether by lack of information or lies. You imply that I held my nose re Trump’s visit to St. Johns during the DC riots. Au contraire. I wrote an commentary calling it a bonehead idea.
And finally, you have taken up the petty insult game of hateful accusations and name-changing insults. That is not clever. It is infantile. Like brother Bruder, I fear you have chosen to have your discourse with the Larry Horist of your imagination and assumption. You will have to have that monologue without my participation in the future. I have a lot of interaction with those who might disagree with my opinions, and what I enjoy is their civility, maturity and ability to deal with the subject-at-hand. You and Bruder can engage in debate on which of you imaginary Larry Horists you hate the most.
Larry, you have not ONCE replied to me without insults. You reap what you sow. We all see that you can dish it out but can’t take it. And you have no sense of humor whatsoever. Typical conservative. Dan gets raunchy and insulting, but he at least has a sense of humor behind his stupidity…
And I found an earlier reply to one of my posts that I hadn’t seen before (and promptly lost it… there’s no search function on this stupid site, and google can’t find 1 out of 10 of your articles). You haughtily declared that it’s “carry THE hod” instead of “carrying hod”, tried to insult me because I don’t speak Hebrew, and wondered why I was using that particular phrase…
Well, a while back, some guy named Mike called you Horowitz, and you got all indignant (a couple of times) about him trying to insult you by calling you Jewish… Well I was curious, and although I’m not well versed in Hebrew, I know quite a bit of German and wondered if it might be a German name… Lo and behold, yes, it is German (spelled Hörist), and one source said it meant “hod carrier”… And one of the geneology sites also says that a number of Horists landed the upper Midwest (i.e. close to Chicago). And then I found another (not too flattering) article that stated your grandfather (or somebody back your line) was a bricklayer… So I don’t doubt that you’ve carried hod a bit yourself, besides doing the Republican Party’s dirty work for them. And “carrying THE hod” is probably a German immigrant’s phrasing. I had some bricklayers in my extended family too, and they never said it that way. I even did a little bit of it myself. It took you a while to take the bait, and I’m still not sure you understood it…
And apparently you know a little German, or maybe Yiddish, since you’re now calling me “brother Bruder”, which also took you forever to figure out…
Scanning around looking for the article I misplaced this morning, I also found an interview that called you the “editor” of PBP… Before they elevate you to editor, you should try to fix the punctuation in your bio (and maybe tone down some of the self promotion).
Last thing I’ll say (tonight) is a quote I found today (amazing what you find when you’re looking for something else!):
Besides leaving my nom de plume off of the post, the website also deleted the quote I had attached – a pretty accurate description of Conservatism (and especially Larry’s style):
“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.”
John Kenneth Galbraith
It appears that PBP has edited my previous post. After mentioning your insult about my not speaking Hebrew , I noted that there are some 7000 languages that you do not speak. That part is gone.
Recently, there has been up to a day of delay before my posts are published, and occasionally they never show up. But this is the first time I’ve seen that one of my posts was edited.
Larry, has PBP decided to edit readers’ posts, or did you take that on yourself? Or is this an oddly specific technical error that deletes full sentences and paragraphs? That’s something that I did NOT expect from PBP.
Larry, do you still have your AOL membership and your dial-up modem too?
As a post scritp, I should mention that I am very honored by the amount of time you and Bruder devote to attacking me — even if it is only in the form of your own mental Larry Horist surrogate. I shows me that I do impact and threaten your prejudices and biases. At least, thank you for that much.
I reply to the Larry Horist that you present in your articles. Are you lying to us about who you are? Or just really bad at coming across as the hero you think you are?
Nope, think you are being a tad thin-skinned. You may not be thin skinned, but you sound it.
And I think you started us down the rabbit hole.
You’re complaint about volume seems to be a bit pot calling kettle black, but it’s OK not to discuss. I can understand. I will attempt to throttle back; you should attempt to help me. Stick to til the truth.
For example, you hold your nose for Trump saying you don’t like his “style,” but you like his policies. In for a peck, in for a pound, Larry. Trumps style and his policies are intermeshed.
I will endeavor to do better.
Larry, not ONCE have you answered one of my posts without an insult. You reap what you sow. And apparently you’re a lot better at dishing it out than taking it. And you have no sense of humor – Dan is insulting and crude, but at least he can take a joke and has a sense of humor.
Somehow this morning I tripped over an older column that had a reply from you about me using the term “carrying hod” for the Republican Party. And you tried to insult me for not knowing Hebrew (like I could insult you for not knowing, say, Nigerian, right? Just one of seven thousand languages that anyone could be randomly connected to). Anyway, you wondered why I was using that particlue phrase, and haughtily declared that it’s “carry THE hod” instead of “carrying hod”. I promptly lost the article, and spent a while looking for it (there’s no search function on this stupid website, and Google only finds about one out of ten of your recent articles)
Well, this ties back to you attacking another reader named Mike for calling you Horowitz (that article I found, and it was more than once), claiming that he was trying to insult you by calling you Jewish. I wondered about that, and (being somewhat fluent in German) started looking around – sure enough, Horist is a German name, spelled with an umlaut, Hörist, and the name means “hod carrier”. On top of that, some geneology sites said that Horists mostly landed in the upper Midwest (i.e. Chicago), and were bricklayers and masons (and presumably, also hod carriers). And on top of that, I found a rather unflattering article about your time in Chicago that mentioned your grandfather (or someone in the family) being a bricklayer… That’s when I started calling you the hod carrier for the Republican Party (instead of carrying their water for them). And as to “THE hod” instead just “hod”, that was probably German immigrant phrasing. I have some bricklayers in my family too, second/third generation instead of first gen European) and even carried hod myself for them a couple of times, but they never said it that way. And by the way, it took you FOREVER to figure that one out (and I’m not sure you ever connected the dots).
And obviously, you know a little yiddish or German, since you’re now calling me “Brother Bruder”… took you a while on that one too.
While hunting around for the article I lost, I found an interview with Larry Horist, “editor” of PBP… Before you promote yourself to editor, you ought to at least clean up the punctuation in your bio (and maybe tone down the self promotion too – c’mon, quoting a reader who calls you the “next Krauthamer”? Are you that hard up for written praise to quote? )
Also, while hunting, I found this quote from John Kenneth Galbraith. It’s amazing what you find when you’re looking for something else, and I felt this one fits this whole website to a “T”:
“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.”
I suppose the moral of the story is, if you want respect, you have to earn it. If you want to keep readers, encourage positive dialog and not insults. Ben and Frank and I challenge you because you make outlandish statements of “fact”. And other than Dan, you don’t seem to have many regular readers in your cheering (or crazed illiterate insult) section. Your typical article is a straw man (or scare crow, given your readership) that starts out with “Democrats think blah blah blah… Now, I’ve never been for (or against) blah blah blah, but Biden is really screwing up blah blah blah. Trump did a much better job at blah blah blah, especially after Obama did blah blah blah.” That is the complete rundown of at least half your articles.You did about 10 of them about Afghanistan alone. Please don’t insult our intelligence.
I’m happy to engage you about issues, but if you give insults out, you’ll get 10 times as many back.