I’m kinda okay with it not being fast, either.
I can’t even tell about stuff like this. Our diplomats do need to be well-housed. They entertain officials from other nations in these places so they should be well-appointed. It reflects on us. They also need to be modern, wired well, made secure from snooping, etc. Renovations are never going to be cheap.
I think the rest of the story is of the form no one else at State believed the renovations were necessary.
Did you read the article?
I like how they just dropped over $100K in 2015 for new stuff for the catering kitchen (which was needed, as it’s used all the time for hosting events apparently) and now he wants to drop another $200K into it, along with more money to build a “family kitchen” because he didn’t like that he had to use the professional catering one to make his own meals. The party of fiscal responsibility in government indeed!
Now I don’t have a problem with ambassadors and other senior U.S. officials using their own money to improve their official residences. The article says Sondland tried to do that for at least part of the renovations, and was not allowed to. We’re asking these people to spend years living in a foreign country, representing the United States at the highest level at all times, and often being away from friends and family for long stretches of time, so if they want to spend some of their own money on things that make them comfortable/happy, I see no issue with it.
Skipper
2952
…
* slowly marks Brussels off the bucket list of places to see *
Ephraim
2953
IJust saw a Washington Post headline alert that Trump is planning on hosting the G7 summit at his hotel in Miami. Not just planning, really. Apparently it’s announced. Seems he’s in no fucks given mode. It’s time to let the corruption flag fly!
It’s rather amazing how they can work overtime to drum up something about Hunter Biden and then just have stuff like this out in the open, to say nothing of Trump negotiating a deal wtih Moscow during the campaign.
abrandt
2956
This Axios interview with Lindsey Graham is a fascinating view into the mental pretzel he has twisted himself into. It sure seems like if he felt his constituency start to turn on Trump that he’d jump to that side in a heartbeat.
He was far more forthcoming on a lot of those questions than I’d have thought.
McCarthy is corrupt, lame, and boring beyond belief. And of course a relentless liar.
Menzo
2959
That’s awesome. I love this part.
Update, 7:24 p.m.: Shortly after this post went up, Pierre Delecto made the account private, then public for a few minutes, then private once more. We’ve replaced the the embedded tweets with screenshots accordingly.
I can just imagine the scene.
Romney (to his advisor): SHIT SHIT SHIT. How could they possibly have tracked this down?
Advisor: Pretty easily, actually, based on the information you gave them.
Romney: Well, I set the account to private now, so problem solved.
Advisor: WHAT? No, no no, that just proves they’re right!
Romney: Uh…OK…I’ll just set it back to public then…
Advisor: NO! God, no. It’s too late already. You can’t set it to private then undo it. Just make it private again. And STOP FUCKING WITH TWITTER!
“Pierre Delecto” is even better than “Ron Mexico.”
Menzo
2961
But not nearly as cool as Carlos Danger.
I have considerably more respect for Romney after reading that article.
Okay, explain your work, then.
Also, if a Democratic candidate wins, please move to Russia so you can enjoy life under your glorious Putin.
