The Hill gets credit for the stupidest piece on tap this morning. Judy Kurtz reports that there is a new book coming out that will reveal that Vice-President Joe Biden likes to swim in the buff. Apparently, this proclivity on Biden’s part makes serving on his Secret Service detail an excruciating experience. Yes, the only thing worse than having to repeatedly view the VPOTUS’s junk is to have to serve on Hillary Clinton’s detail.
[Ronald] Kessler writes that because of Biden’s “lack of consideration as evidenced by” his alleged preference for baring it all in the pool, as well as constant schedule changes, “being assigned to his detail is considered the second worst assignment in the Secret Service.”
Kessler, a former reporter for the conservative magazine and website NewsMax, claims that the only assignment considered worse is protecting former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Maybe The Hill should reconsider its policy of repeating the hallucinations of “former reporters” for NewsMax.
True or not, this will be a huge boost to the Onion-Biden meme.
Second this:
Buzzfeed learned that the hard way last week. But then again, one of the top dogs at Buzzfeed is former Tiger Beat on the Potomac hack Ben Smith.
O/T but worth noting:
Kiev to DC – we have a problem. Antiwar Protests Spreading in Ukraine as Government Wages All-Out War in the Southeast and NATO Threatens Russia.
Roger Annis may be overstating the situation, but his facts are consistent with other reports, including the WSJ online May profile of Ihor Kolomoisky (can’t link but google gets you there with his name). US neo-liberals (including Nuland and Pyatt) and Ukrainian oligarchs are desperate for US money and weapons. Apparently people in western Ukraine aren’t so into being cannon fodder for the neo-liberals and oligarchs.
How soon until the dynamic duo of Nuland and Pyatt get fired for incompetence? If I were remaking Bullwinkle and Rocky today with US spies instead of Russian ones, I’d be tempted to call them Nuland and Pyatt.
Have Nuland speak Bostonian and Pyatt Charlestonian.
How soon? Never — unless Putin has all the necessary pieces on his chessboard and is just waiting for Nuland/Pyatt/Obama/Biden/Kerry/etc. to more graphically demonstrate that their playing tiddly-winks.
And how much of it is due to Ukraine raising prices on some goods to satisfy the IMF?
A likely component. Support for a government tends to drop when prices on basic goods rise and public services decline. Conscription and war adds insult to the financial injury. However, people will accept all that under conditions of national unity and purpose. Looks as if that unity and purpose in western Ukraine is more highly lacking that what the neo-liberals, neo-cons, and oligarchs need to complete their mission.
US gearing up to ameliorate one of the objections of western Ukrainian draftees that they aren’t properly trained:
California and Ukraine National Guard gear up for military collaboration in 2015
One consistent report from right, left, and center is that the Uke military generally sucks. But have to question if that’s due to lack of training:
Perhaps like others in Iraq, Afghanistan, etc., the training doesn’t work because the recruits/draftees aren’t on board with the US defined mission.
The off color jokes almost write themselves.
I bet Kessler is among or was mentored by the folks who created the Hillary BDSM theme during the 1990s. And no doubt is holding those stories in reserve for his follow-up on what the Secret Service is afraid of. Meme: what a ballbuster!
I’m sure he’s earned his keep with some rich fatcat funder.
Another minor footnote to some future Gibbon who cannot know much about his sources.
I’ve seen Biden walking the streets of Nantucket and his detail look cool. Not at all the g-man type. If they didn’t have the earpieces in, you’d never have guessed.
And they don’t seem unhappy. But Biden usually has his clothes on on Main Street.
Usually.
Ah come on all do you not get it. All that is happening is the former reporter of NewsMax is trying to get back some credibility. Think of it writing day after day about your GOP daydreams. This poor reporter should be pitied, he just fell back into GOP psycholand for a moment. You know trying to write real journalistic reporting is hard for GOPERS. We all know that just scan through what passes for news for the GOP.
Didn’t LBJ like to hang around the pool nude? I’ll bet he looked worse than Biden.
A likely component. Support for a government tends to drop when prices on basic goods rise and public services decline. Conscription and war adds insult to the financial injury.
Cooking Games