{"id":29910,"date":"2017-10-18T12:54:27","date_gmt":"2017-10-18T19:54:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=29910"},"modified":"2017-10-18T13:13:47","modified_gmt":"2017-10-18T20:13:47","slug":"another-heck-of-a-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2017\/10\/18\/another-heck-of-a-job\/","title":{"rendered":"Another Heck of a Job"},"content":{"rendered":"

Who remembers Brownie, the completely unqualified political appointee, whom Nincompoop Nero, aka Crawford Caligula, praised with “heck of a job” as New Orleans drowned?\u00a0 It is possible, however unlikely, that Brownie might have done a better job, had he not been deprived of needed\u00a0 information about conditions there.\u00a0 With that in mind, thanks to the only Resident worse than GW ChickenHawk in US history, another heck of a job may be just around the corner.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"1018kirstjen-nielsen-Trump\"<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump officially announced Thursday the nomination of Kirstjen Nielsen, John Kelly’s former principal deputy chief of staff, to be the new nominee for secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.<\/p>\n

At a formal White House event to announce the nomination, Trump spoke highly of Nielsen and her “sterling reputation as a dedicated leader whose number one priority was the security of our citizens, not politics or ideology.”<\/p>\n

Trump added: “That sets her apart.”<\/p>\n

After Trump’s remarks, Nielsen said it was a privilege to have worked at the White House and DHS, and she implied that she shares the administration’s priorities when it comes to national security.<\/p>\n

“I share the President’s commitment to the security of the county and the safety of the American people,” she said. “Truly, there is nothing more valuable than to feel safe in your own country.”…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Inserted from <CNN<\/a>><\/span><\/p>\n

That may see, innocuous enough on the surface, but there’s a lot more to this story.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"1018NOLA\"On Aug 27, 2005, two days before Hurricane Katrina made landfall, officials at the American Red Cross wrote to a top homeland security adviser at the White House, warning that the storm was likely to slam New Orleans as a major hurricane.<\/p>\n

The message was sent to Kirstjen Nielsen, whose title was special assistant to the president for prevention, preparedness and response. She was 33 years old.<\/p>\n

It was the first of many alarming emails Nielsen would receive over the following days as water poured into New Orleans and the city was deluged. And in the storm of blame that followed the costliest natural disaster in American history, Nielsen\u2019s team was widely criticized for its passive and <\/strong>clumsy response<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Twelve years later, President Trump has nominated Nielsen to the top job at the Department of Homeland Security. As DHS secretary, she would be in charge of a 240,000-employee agency with a $40 billion budget whose many responsibilities include managing disasters such as Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico… [emphasis added<\/em>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Inserted from <Washington Post<\/a>><\/span><\/p>\n

Rachel Maddow<\/a> explains in detail how Nielsen sat on the information, neither responding to it, nor passing it on to someone who could.<\/span><\/p>\n