Mind if we take our leave?
Like we used to do in the 1950s for Sky King and Mighty Mouse, the indentured servants here at Stately Blaska Manor lay belly down on the threadbare carpet to watch Tucker Carlson on the b&w Philco.
It’s a guilty pleasure. Doesn’t mean they always agree with the opinionator. But he is entertaining. Puckish Tucker cracked wise on America’s secretary of transportation.
Normally a nonentity, the transportation secretary is the celebrity Pete Buttigieg. We’re paying attention to his area of responsibility because our store shelves are as barren as socialist Venezuela. There’s nothing to buy because container ships are queued up all the way to China.
No wonder, because Buttigieg is not on the job. Taking paternity leave with his (ahem) husband. Turns out they adopted twins.
Tucker quipped that Pete and his husband, Chasten, were “trying to figure out how to breastfeed.”
“Needlessly ugly, anti-gay,” tuts our gay friend Greg Humphrey. Perhaps so. (Maybe if Dave Chapelle had delivered the line?)
Pete is a Woke folk hero
Buttigieg is a three-time hero to the political Left: 1) he’s gay, 2) married to another man, and 3) adopting kids. Wait, there’s a fourth trophy: he’s taking parental leave! The head groundskeeper at the Werkes has made his peace with numbers one through three but, dammit, we draw the line at parental leave for high-ranking partisan political appointees.
Progressives are like old J.P. Morgan. Asked what the old profiteer wanted, he replied, “More!” Progressives want it all, paid for by the man behind the tree. Make the USA more like Europe, they demand. France, for example, shuts down during the month of August. Progs now lobby for somethng like a three-day work week. Somewhere deep within Biden’s Build Back Better, we suspect, is paid, universal parental leave.
Pete’s’s been off the job since mid-August!
Paid! The white lab coats at the Werkes wonder if the secretary of defense could take off for two months. Could ace pitcher Corbin Burnes of the Milwaukee Brewers bow out during the baseball playoffs? What if Nancy Pelosi decides to adopt? Is that why nobody hears from Kamala Harris any more?
→ Makes you wonder what if Buttigieg had been elected President!
A president (or a governor) typically ask their cabinet officials if they can give him four years. Pete Buttigieg signed up for the gig. Involves some sacrifices, no? Why he makes the Big Bucks, yes? He wants to do a family, get civil service. We’re with National Review on this one:
Buttigieg is a man. He’s not a mother who gave birth and is breastfeeding a child. He’s not even assisting a mother who gave birth and is breastfeeding a child. This is not about Buttigieg being gay, but about his being a man whose physical burden simply is not the same as a woman’s when a child is brought into the world.
Blaska’s Bottom Line: “Buttigieg is a man” (and he can’t help but love you so). Now THERE’s fighting words as triggering as anything out of Tucker Carlson’s microphone.
Education
Blaska Policy Werkes 
Under FLMA, Booty-gig is certainly entitled to maternity leave.
He doesn’t deserve or earnit, but that’s not the point.
What’s important is that he’s NOT doing his TransSec job.
Ships can’t unload, planes aren’t flying, trains aren’t running and trucks aren’t rolling, … and this little choo-choo is in charge. He oughta write a book during his time off,
styled after Thomas the train, entitled, “The Little Plugger That Couldn’t”.
Know the difference between a pessimistic Conservative and an optimistic one?
A pessimistic Conservative says, “Well, things can’t get any worse.”
An optimistic Conservative will say, “Sure they can.”
VOOFDA!
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My questions are, “Why if you’re gay do you have to be so greedy as to adopt twins? Why not leave those babies for a woman and man who were unable to conceive?” He is greedy. “And what were the measures he took to adopt? Were they on a waiting list? How did they get to the top so quickly? Who did they pay off or did Biden help them? Or did they buy these babies from a woman not on the adoption list?” Love to hear it.
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I believe federal employment requires an employee to have worked for 12 months before being vested in the paternity program. If so, South Bend’s Mayor emeritus is just a grifter to whom employment regs do not apply.
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This is not about Buttegieg’s being gay. It’s about his incompetence. He couldn’t work remotely or delegate? Millions of Americans are depending on him and he let us down. We as Americans have every right to criticize him, gay or not.
The pundits are right: Buttigieg IS a man. Biologically (and I know this will set off the woke), he’s incapable of breastfeeding. That’s a FACT. If people don’t like this FACT, they can take it up with God or nature or whatever higher power they believe in.
Besides, millions of couples have babies. Typically, one parent stays home for two months while the other GOES BACK TO WORK after a few days. Why are the Buttigiegs so special?
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It’s not that they’re so special it’s that WOMEN are so special, at least in the child rearing department. Doesn’t surprise me at all that it takes 2 men to do what a single woman does.
That photo of him breastfeeding is like bobblehead Michael Dukakis in the tank way back when.
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What Bootigeig doesn’t realize is that women are born with different traits than men making it come natural to them to care for babies and thus easier. They aren’t gender neutral like the left wants them to be. We won’t be ignored!
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BOWT,
What you said is a biological FACT. I can’t believe I even have to say this in 2021, but there are very real physical and cognitive differences between males and females. Without these differences, there would be no life on this planet.
No amount of foot stomping from the left will change this. Try as they might, leftists cant control nature, and it’s arrogant of them to even think they can.
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Not only that but women who give birth need two weeks to heal from the birth itself and thus why they always had maternity leave. Men getting leave too was a somewhat new policy probably enacted under Obama. In fact Bootigeig reminds me of Obama. He’s a white Obama. Fluent speaker; all talk, no action. Activist background. Good looking, young.
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BOTW,
Yes, and with a difficult delivery, C-section, or post-partum depression, it’s even longer. These are things men can’t experience.
Now that I think of it, Buttigieg does favor Obama. He does have the surface stuff going for him but lacks substance. It takes more than smooth talking to run a country.
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Same with Humphrey. From the little I’ve seen, I don’t like him and it has absolutely nothing to do with his being gay.
From his blog:
“That surely made for guffaws around the nation for the low-brow who make a habit of watching such dribble on television. The anti-gay backslap was not lost on the ones who first read about it in news accounts.”
This is what he thinks of millions of conservatives if they watch Tucker? Fair enough. I don’t have that high an opinion of people who watch leftist news and late time leftist “comics” (Gutfield is wiping the floor with them ratings wise).
And it’s NOT about being anti-gay. People need to get over themselves.
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Absolutely ridiculous!
Pathetic and weak. Women who give birth themselves figure out a way to meet responsibilities.
He is just shirking, and from what I’ve heard he is so clueless that he’s using whatever excuse he can to run away from the acute transportation crisis that is contributing to supply chain problems in our country.
No one I know of would question this situation if he were managing a Starbucks but for pete’s sake he is a Cabinet Secretary!
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In the real working world when someone knows in advance they will need a leave of absence, the employer finds a temporary replacement to prevent a worker shortage. Doesn’t the government do this since each cabinet position is seen as important. No one to fill this job? Good thing this Buttigieg didn’t become President. Or maybe if he & partner were planning on adopting, he should not have accepted the position. The criticism leveled at him has nothing to do with his sexuality but with the fact he isn’t doing his job & made some bad choices. Time for him to be accountable or just resign so people can get the food & supplies they need!
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That’s what I was wondering too. They can’t find an interim person? Buttigieg can’t delegate or work remotely?
His decisions are directly affecting millions of Americans, not to mention the economy. We have every right to be critical.
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Ships backed up! Nothing to buy! Who is in charge? How about the gop stop blocking appointments to the jobs. How many names is Vos sitting on? Plenty. D.C. is in the same not moving boat. Throw up road blocks and then scream bloody murder; that political trick has been around forever.
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Are you for real?
Explain how Republicans are responsible for this mess. By the way, Vos is a STATE rep. The supply shortage is a FEDERAL issue.
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My point is that things are screwed up at all levels of gov’t because of blocking appointments. Ex. Palm. Cruz just did it again by blocking the State Dept. appointment to the Middle East. Vos didn’t bat an eye about giving that grifter Gableman a ton of money but loves to throw a wrench into everything else.
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Your comments have absolutely zero to do with the conversation at hand.
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Hey , did someone hear a dog bark again?
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Put your hearing aids in; then you won’t have to ask.
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Indeed, not about his gayness but more about the selfish little runts sense of entitlement.
On the subject of being a sodomite; why is it wrong or inappropriate to make fun of homos?
Are they a protected category?
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And if you dare question that entitlement, you get labeled as a homophobe or a racist.
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“John Catsimatidis, owner of a New York City supermarket chain predicted the food prices will increase sharply in the coming months, with some increasing 10 percent in the next two months.
Compared with one year ago, consumers are paying significantly more for goods and services, according to recent data released by the Department of Labor.
For example, Americans are paying about 42 percent more on average for a gallon of gas than a year before, the data shows. They’re also paying 10.5 percent more for eggs, meat, poultry, and fish; 4 percent more for coffee; 19 percent more for bacon; 6 percent more for peanut butter; 27 percent more for propane, kerosene, and firewood; 5.2 percent more for electricity; 24.4 percent more for used vehicles; and 7.1 percent more for appliances.”
Thanks in part to the clueless breast-feeding homo.
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Finances are not a leftist strong suit. They have no idea how money is generated and how hard most of us work to EARN it. They piss it away without a care in the world, confident in the knowledge that the government will take care of them, either through employment or some social program.
We’re in a pending national crisis, and the idiots in charge don’t seem to have a clue. What did they think would happen by incentivizing sitting on your can at home? What do they think will happen when all these workers (including first responders and military) will either quit or be fired because the government is forcing them to inject something into their body that they don’t want?
(I’m not anti-vax. I think they save lives. I’m anti-vax MANDATE. It’s another difference leftists don’t seem to comprehend.)
God help us.
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Spot-On comments here.
Me? I blame the campaign, and the resultant administration, for trying to please everyone, even when the “everyone” is only a seriously low-demographic buncha squeaky wheels. This is nonsensical dereliction of duty. Laughable if it didn’t harm s-o-o many citizens. Jeez-Oh-Hay, whatta useless appointee.
Gawd help us us if either Penny or Joe… get colic.
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Agreed. It would be easy to laugh off the left except that their policies and actions are hurting real Americans. I didn’t realize a group of people were capable of screwing up the country this baldy in such a short span of time.
If you thought the mismanagement of Afghanistan, the southern border, public safety, the economy, and so on were the height of incompetence, look at this:
“Chinese nuclear-capable hypersonic missile test surprises US intelligence: Report
The weapon is far more advanced than what US officials had anticipated”
The most advanced nation in the world is “surprised” by what another emerging superpower is doing militarily?
https://www.foxnews.com/world/chinese-hypersonic-missile-test-surprises-intelligence
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You all really think he’s not at all engaged in his job right now? I highly doubt he’s not doing anything while on “leave”. Regardless, he probably does about as much as any high ranking executive in any organization, which is pretty close to nothing useful. You think Amazon would collapse if Bezos stayed in space?
And putting the supply chain issues on him is interesting. You know we just had almost a million.people die recently that we didn’t expect, right? Lots of them did have jobs – you think we wouldn’t have any effects? Add to that the golden opportunity for commodities brokers – horde to raise prices then sell, make bank (won’t see that in the media). Remember that rich people have way more power than a transportation secretary….
Believe me, the rich wound never tank our economy on purpose by taking advantage of a crisis in order to thwart any discussion about raising taxes. Isn’t it interesting that stocks still stay high? That would be a conspiracy theory. Only the government does things like that, not rich private citizens – those that control capital have no impact whatsoever on our economy (only elected officials do) and they never collude to make themselves richer, they compete with each other to make each other poorer.
Aren’t we glad Trump put in those tariffs so we’re no longer dependent on Chinese imports? We’re so less vulnerable now with such a solution.
In seriousness, we could use some major supply chain disruptions. Let’s actually stop importing and rely on what WE make. I’ll take less cheap crap if you will. Take a real stand against corporate consumerism – don’t ask them to make it all better. Freedom isn’t free.
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Buttigieg was able to take off two months of PAID leave after being in this job for just seven months. Most of us plebes don’t have that type of privilege. Most employees who get paid during an extended maternity leave do so because they’ve saved up leave time. This usually happens if you’ve been employed at a company for at least a couple years.
Buttigieg didn’t cause the entire supply problem, but he shoulders some of the blame. Where has he been for the two months as this crisis has been unfolding? Seems he resurfaced only to claim that the backlog is a result of Biden’s “improved” economy.
Certainly, consumer demand rose after COVID, but we’ve had supply and demand issues in the past, yet I don’t recall dozens of huge cargo shops stuck on docks and truck shipment being delayed. Toilet paper shortages occurred during the pandemic but that was due to hoarding.
These issues are happening because of labor shortages, which are happening in part because the government offers social programs that make it more tempting for people to stay at home than to work. The people who ARE working are getting burned out, many of them quitting from stress.
Your separation of government and business is dated. Government and business are very much linked together and have been for quite awhile. It’s called corporatism.
Supply disruptions will not cause companies to start manufacturing goods in the US. People have been demanding that for decades but it’s not profitable for corporations.
It’s not as easy to buy US goods (as much as most of us would like to) as you imply. Our clothes, electronics, and most other consumer goods are made somewhere else. We depend on these goods. What would you suggest we do?
I would love to buy solely American made goods, but changing this trajectory isn’t as easy as waving a wand.
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I would suggest we elect people who will change things and that means no more Rs or Ds. No ships waiting in the sea if we stop importing from human or environmental abusers. Live our supposed values. Make stuff ourselves or do without. Trump was right that imports are terrible, too bad he didn’t do anything about it and was all talk. And nobody even notices. Could have United the left and right by pointing to the human rights, economic, and democracy angles to stop importing from China but corporate always gets their way.
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Trump didn’t do anything? Let’s see.
Manufacturing jobs increased under Trump during his first two years in office, tens of thousands worth of jobs.
He signed an order to increase production of pharmaceuticals manufactured in the US.
Created an unprecedented deal to protect the intellectual properties trade secrets, etc. of American manufacturers. The deal also introduced tools to deal with counterfeited goods (AKA cheap Chinese knockoffs).
As for human rights abuses, he created a task force to combat human trafficking and doubled the DOJ’s budget to fight it.
You may not know all these things because most media DID NOT COVER IT.
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How could Trump have united the country when the media constantly reported things out of context or didn’t report on the good he did? It’s not to their benefit to have a united country.
The divisions in this country pre-date Trump. In fact many would argue that they started with Obama.
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Elect people who will change things?
You do realize that the Establishment won’t allow that, right? What do you think Trump was trying to do?
Don’t like Trump? Fine. Look at what the media does to accomplished REPUBLICAN politicians like DeSantis, Hawley, and Cotton.
You’re living in a fantasy world.
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Rollie,
The swamp, Washington party, corporatocracy, have the power. How do you suggest that be changed? Please offer more than electing “no more Rs or Ds.” Third party candidates have not gone anywhere and all you do is bitch about Trump who was an outsider in many ways and accomplished a great deal despite 24/7 ruthless and immoral attacks from everywhere. How is the systemic corruption neutralized and ultimately eliminated?
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All our aspirations are fantasies. If we liked the status quo we wouldn’t talk about issues. Yes, the establishment doesn’t want that but that’s precisely why people need to unite and organize against. Like you said, power wants us divided. Let’s not help them with that.
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Rollie,
You speak in broad terms and are vague about how to get to your “promised land.”
Who do you suggest we try to united and reason with? The anarchists & rioters? The people who think white people are born as racists? Those who want to destroy livelihoods if you dare to disagree? Or those who think men can get pregnant?
Having ideals is a great thing, but unless you temper those ideals with realism, they’re just fantasies. I don’t think most of us on here have an issue with disagreement. It’s the gibberish and sanctimony we can’t stand.
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Economic illiterate Lefties need a reminder of economic reality.
FYEE, … here’s the remedial economic short course:
1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity, by legislating the
wealthy out of prosperity.
2. What one person receives without working for, another person must
work for without receiving.
3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the
government does not first take from somebody else.
4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.
5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because
the other half is going to take care of them; and when the other half gets the
idea that it does no good to work, because somebody else is going to get what
they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation. (i.e., ‘going Galt’).
Too bad commie-lite Lefties never call their own government, “too greedy” instead of their richer fellow individual American citizens.
“It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.” — Adam Smith
“The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries. Socialism is a Philosophy of Failure, the Creed of Ignorance, and the Gospel of Envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.” —Prime Minister Winston Churchill
Too bad proggy paleo-libs haven’t a clue to the meaning of any of this.
Atlas Shrugs and Lady Liberty weeps.
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I love this one:
2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.
Yes, shareholders should not profit from the labor of working people. I wholeheartedly agree that everyone should work. Who’s a bigger drag on working people’s productive output: welfare recipients or shareholders? I’d gladly give up welfare for the poor AND welfare for the rich.
Atlas Shrugged was entertaining. Isn’t that the one where the rich people all go away to their own community? As if most rich people are capable of actual labor 🙂 Did you hear about the John Deere office staff trying to operate the plant during the strike? Turns out making things is way harder than arranging financing for other people to make things. I’d love to see Warren Buffett try to farm or that ULine guy try to fix a forklift, I’m sure that would go great. Please rich people, follow the path laid out by Ayn Rand under the illusion that you are as productive as your bank account says you are.
Wouldn’t it be great if people that had tangible skill could make as much as people who arrange financing? Somehow the magical free market has determined that an hour of work in finance is worth many times what an hour of work making a tractor is – dare not question the logic of our god, The Market. Only the anointed Financiers know that which The Market wishes. Take what The Financiers offer you for your labor and dare not question or refuse.
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Rollie: I read “Atlas Shrugged” years ago. Brilliant makers vs. takers novel. Ayn Rand left Stalinist Russia on a visa headed for America in 1925 and never returned to Uncle Joe’s neighborhood. She hated poverty; hated the welfare state more and admired capitalism and wealthy people who worked for their own happiness and achieved great things for humanity. Keyword: Objectivism, her philosophy and brainchild.
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You seem to have an issue with rich people. They’re not all greedy pigs like you seem to imply.
We need wealth creators, just like we need people to run those forklifts. Each adds value. I love electricians, and steel workers, and sewer workers. We couldn’t live a decent life without them. But the truth is that many wouldn’t have jobs if not for the wealth creators.
I’m not saying I approve of hedgefund management firms destroying companies and good jobs, or CEOs getting paid $200 million a year plus stock options as they pay their employees peanuts or send their jobs overseas. That’s obscene.
The truth is that the person running the company assumes more risk than a laborer. This is not to demean anyone’s occupation, it’s just how it is.
You also somehow think the corporate world and government are separate entities. They are very much connected. Please study the term Corporatism.
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Simple question…why are they photographed in a hospital bed?
I thought we had a shortage of beds available due to covid?
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GREAT observation!
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Yeah what is THAT all about??
What MALE needs to be put in a hospital bed with a baby for anyway??
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It’s all for show.
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And his husband is wearing an actual hospital wristband….?
Unless………
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