Knucklehead Of The Week: Pete Buttigieg Was Home Playing With Babies While Supply Chains Crumbled
Is it possible for a really smart guy to still be a knucklehead? Pete Buttigieg was, after all, a Rhodes Scholar. The answer is: yes, of course it’s possible. Remember, Bill Clinton was also a Rhodes Scholar and the most powerful man in the world, but he decided it was a good idea to persuade a 21-year-old intern to give him hummers in the Oval Office.
Winner: Pete Buttigieg had been on paid leave since August as supply chains across the country crumbled.
Pete Buttigieg had only two relevant qualifications for being selected as President Joe Biden’s Secretary of Transportation. First, and most importantly, Mayor Pete is gay, and as we all know, diversity is much more important than competence when choosing who to hire. And second, Buttigieg got out of Biden’s way when the two were running against each other in last year’s Democratic Presidential Primaries. Drop out of the race, Pete, and I’ll give you a Cabinet position. Democrats are, in fact, the masters of quid pro quo.
Pete Buttigieg’s aforementioned academic resume was irrelevant when it came to Biden’s decision. Pete simply checked one of the boxes within the woke’s intersectional coalition, and he was obedient in making way for Biden’s nomination. The reality is, and always was, Pete Buttigieg was a horrible choice for the job because Pete Buttigieg has absolutely no experience; unless of course we include his affection for choo-choo trains and his total botchery of South Bend’s bus system when he was mayor.
So, when we consider Buttigieg’s lack of transportation aptitude, and combine it with the inevitable transportation challenges we’ve seen on the heels of the pandemic, and then factor in Biden’s self-inflicted current economic disaster, the idea that Mayor Pete would choose to reportedly take over four weeks of paid time-off beginning in late-August was a recipe for disaster. And we’re seeing the product of that recipe right now, as scores of shipping vessels await outside of ports across the country for berths to become available for unloading.
Pete Buttigieg and his husband Chasten (I know, it still sounds weird to me too, saying “his husband”) became the parents of two newborn babies in August, and Buttigieg took some time off: fair enough. When my children were born, I took time off as well, and if I remember correctly, it was a week or less each time. I spoke with a few friends on this topic, and they had similar experiences; a week off for paternity leave, if not less.
There are, therefore, some notable differences between Buttigieg’s work absences and those of me and my friends:
- As mentioned, we each took one week off, whereas Pete took a whole month.
- We had wives at home who were dealing with the physical aftermath of childbirth, while Buttigieg presumably did not. And yes, I know that we’ve been told that men can be pregnant, so I’m just going to have to make an assumption on this one.
- None of us were the U.S. Secretary of Transportation at a time when a predictable, slow-moving, and catastrophic disintegration of the world’s supply chains was unfolding.
It’s also worth noting that Buttigieg’s spokesperson has explained that the secretary will, “continue to take some time over the coming weeks to support his husband and take care of his new children.”
There’s no doubt that many of the causes of the current crisis could not have been prevented by Buttigieg. The economic policies of Pete’s boss, Mr. Biden, have resulted in a dire labor shortage which is the main driver of the current supply chain problems. Decades of sweetheart deals between port authorities in Democrat-run cities and labor unions on both coasts have resulted in a serious lack of automation at our ports, which is just exacerbating the labor shortage. And supply chains are extremely fragile and interconnected; they’re highly susceptible to the domino effect. A late train here, and withheld ship there, means the guys waiting on the other side don’t have locomotives and containers to use, and pretty soon we have a snowball effect congesting transportation networks across the globe.
But there is plenty of impact our federal Transportation Department can have on situations like these. They can work with retailers and transportation companies on how to temporarily increase transportation capacity. They can modify or suspend crippling government regulations to help accelerate various modes and shipping lanes. And they can lend assistance in addressing staffing shortages if needed.
Yet Secretary Buttigieg has done none of those things. He’s been too busy changing diapers and warming up bottles, apparently. Work-Life balance is important, Mr. Secretary, and we can empathize with you aspiring to be a good father, but our nation’s economy is fairly important as well. And your inability to apply any common sense to your priorities makes it clear: you are a knucklehead.
Honorable Mention #1: Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) claimed her Twitter account was hacked, causing the congresswoman to proclaim, “I know who has done this.”
This story actually has two aspects to justify Waters’ spot here this week. First, we have this statement from Tuesday when she stated, “I have been hacked and my Twitter account has been erased. I know who has done this. I will take care of this.” Uh-oh, she sounds pretty serious. Let me guess congresswoman, don’t tell me. Was it, hmmm, let me see… was it Trump?
The following day, Twitter announced that, in fact, they had no evidence that Waters’ account was hacked at all, and it’s safe to say Twitter would know. Therefore, we must ask the question… if her account wasn’t hacked, but somehow her entire account was erased, who did it? If we had Sherlock Holmes on this case, there’s little doubt this would be the sleuth’s initial line of questioning, “Ms. Waters, by chance, do you know what this big button on your computer keyboard does? The one that says ‘delete?’”
Honorable Mention #2: First Base Umpire Gabe Morales makes terrible call to end the NLDS and San Francisco Giants season.
To be clear, I have the utmost respect for sports officials. It’s a thankless career. When you do a good job, you get very little recognition, but when you screw up, the blowback can be brutal. Also, to clarify, I’m a fan of neither the Los Angeles Dodgers nor the Giants. I didn’t have a horse in that race. But I’m sorry Mr. Morales, this was one of the worst calls I’ve seen in years, and to do it with two outs and two strikes in the bottom of the ninth of a win-or-go-home playoff game? It’s inexcusable.
If you haven’t seen the play, check it out here. Morales called a strike what was clearly a check swing, and it wasn’t even close. And the way in which Morales immediately started walking off the field – almost as his hand was making a fist to signal his decision – makes me wonder if he had a hot date. Or perhaps needed to use the restroom. Ultimately, we can all take some comfort in Morales’ major blunder knowing it was to the detriment of the team from San Francisco, many of whom undoubtedly vote for and help Nancy Pelosi win re-election every two years. To those fans, I say: Poetic Justice. To Republican Giants’ fans, my heart goes out to you, and you have every right to be pissed. Better luck next year.
Photo by DonkeyHotey at Flickr.
Content syndicated from TheBlueStateConservative.com with permission.
Shameful call. The umpire should be demoted down to T-Ball! Missing it that bad, he must of had to use the John or piss his pants. The only positive is it pissed off Pelosi most likely. But the Giants were a “beast” all year and to lose it by a horrendous call by the umpire will sting Giant fans for years to come! I will be pulling for the Braves after seeing that call. The Giants were successful because they were close as a team and played for each other. It would have been nice to see a close knit team beat a team of superstars but that isn’t good for ratings I guess!