Tag Archives: ethics

Or So He Says

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Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian claims his company’s decision to cut ties with the National Rifle Association to the extent it will no longer offer discounts for NRA members was apolitical.

While Delta’s intent was to remain neutral, some elected officials in Georgia tied our decision to a pending jet fuel tax exemption, threatening to eliminate it unless we reversed course. Our decision was not made for economic gain and our values are not for sale[.]

Of course.

Bastian maintains that in cutting its affiliation with the pro-gun rights group, Delta tried to remove itself from the gun control debate.

Never mind that Delta was never in the gun control debate until it chose to enter it with this move.

Bastian also claims that the company is “reevaluating the group discounts” it offers to members of other organizations that are “politically divisive.”

Sure.  Two things about that, though.  Delta actually has stopped the discounts for NRA members; it’s only “evaluating” that move for other groups.  And: Bastian has chosen, so far at least, to decline to offer his criteria that define “politically divisive.”

I won’t be flying Delta anytime soon.  Or United Airlines, which is perpetrating a similar boycott.  I will be using FedEx, which says that while it disagrees with the NRA on some questions, it won’t discriminate against any of its customers over political beliefs.

The Progressive-Democrats’ Memo

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Recall that the House Permanent Subcommittee on Intelligence majority party, the Republicans, released a four-page memo, unclassified (the DoJ and the FBI didn’t want the thing released, but White House security personnel vetted it), that outlined the Republicans’ view of the handling by the FBI, DoJ, and the FISA court of the Steele Dossier and the FISA warrant obtained for spying by the American government on an American.  Recall further the hoo-raw the Progressive-Democrats raised over the release and their demand to release their own.

The Progressive-Democrats’ memo, ten pages long, was approved for release by the House as soon as the Progressive-Democrats got around to producing it, and it was sent over to the White House for vetting and release.  The memo was rejected and the minority party advised to run it by the FBI for vetting before the White House could consider it for release.  That was done, the doc vetted—and heavily redacted—and the White House released the thing over the weekend.

The opening paragraph is as instructive as it is illustrative.

The HPSCI Majority’s move to release to the House of Representatives its allegations against the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) is a transparent effort to undermine those agencies, the Special Counsel, and Congress’ investigations.  It also risks public exposure of sensitive sources and methods for no legitimate purpose.

This on a document originally marked TOP SECRET/NOFORN, yet expected to be released forthwith.

My irony meter is pegged.  My hypocrisy warning horn is sounding.

Quid Pro Quo?

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Recall that the Veterans Administration’s Inspector General had written a damning report of its investigation into the fraudulent behavior of the VA Secretary and of the Secretary’s Chief of Staff.  The IG even had referred the matter to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution.  DoJ then declined to prosecute.

Now that chief of staff, Vivieca Wright Simpson, has announced her retirement, and the VA has opened its own investigation into her actions, an investigation that might lead to civil action, but it’s not a criminal investigation.  I have to ask, then: was this a quid pro quo?  Did DoJ agree not to prosecute if Simpson agreed to leave?

 

Veteranos Administratio delende est.

The Veterans Administration Is Not Getting Better

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VA Secretary David Shulkin, according to an IG report, has been misappropriating VA funds for his and his family’s personal benefit, and he’s been abusing his authority to require a subordinate to act as his “personal travel concierge.”  He

improperly accepted a gift of Wimbledon tennis tickets….

And his Chief of Staff, Vivieca Wright Simpson, apparently tampered with evidence:

made false claims to a VA ethics official by altering an email to get official approval for Dr Shulkin’s wife to take part in the trip as an “invitational traveler,” a status that meant the VA would cover her expenses. Her airfare cost taxpayers $4,312.

Shulkin and his fellow travelers (not only his wife) spent an exhausting 3 and a half days in business-related meetings out of their 10-day trip.  That’s some jet lag.

Of course, Shulkin and his staff denied all of this and complained that the week the IG gave him to respond was, somehow, not enough time.  Must have been still jet lagged.

He’s paid the money back?  He should have known better in the first place.  If the leadership cannot be counted on to perform, how can anyone else be?  Reallocate the VA budget—every single dollar of it—to vouchers for our veterans.

 

Veteranos Administratio delende est.

A Sandbag Attempt

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House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Adam Schiff (D, CA), in response to the Committee’s Republican members’ four-page memo—the Nunes Memo—regarding the FBI’s abuse of FISA court-approved surveillance of Americans, produced a ten-page Progressive-Democrat member response, which the committee voted unanimously to release to the House with an eye to getting the memo released to the public via the White House’s security vetting.  The House approved the release and sent it to President Donald Trump, who had five days to disapprove the document, or it would be released.

Concerns that the Progressive-Democrat members had larded their memo with information that, if released, would jeopardize intelligence and FBI methods and sources in order to make political hay over their redactions have been justified.

The White House on Friday told Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee to redraft their rebuttal to a controversial GOP memo alleging government surveillance abuse during the 2016 campaign, saying sensitive details need to be stripped out before the document can be made public.

It isn’t simply a refusal to release the memo with its cynically included classified information, though, nor is the White House playing guessing games with the Progressive-Democrats about what would be releasable.  In a letter advising the committee that the Progressive-Democrat memo could not be released in its current form, White House Counsel Don McGahn wrote,

However, given the public interest in transparency in these unprecedented circumstances, the President has directed that Justice Department personnel be available to give technical assistance to the Committee, should the Committee wish to revise the February 5th Memorandum [the Schiff Memo] to mitigate the risks identified by the Department.  The President encourages the Committee to undertake these efforts.

Notice that.  It’s not a refusal to release at all, as the committee’s Progressive-Democrat members had voted to do with the Nunes memo.  It’s a refusal to release with the deliberately included classified material and a willingness to release with those data removed by the Progressive-Democrats in coordination with DoJ.

And the Progressive-Democrats are busy growing their political hay.