Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) asked the state’s director of Health and Human Services to resign last month, but her office insists it definitely wasn’t because of his obsession with ’90s rapper Tupac.
Just thought I’d mention that the emails I read in Tim Mak’s twitter feed and in his NPR article didn’t contain any vulgar language. Definitely G-rated inspirational lyric quotes, in line with the content of the emails they were part of.
I’m disappointed that TPM bought into the AP-delivered GOP spin on this one yesterday.
That kind of makes sense. His obsession with Tupac is a bit over-the-top and kind of weird, but not a reason to get someone fired. On the other hand, someone with a weird, over-the-top obsession that he wishes to constantly share with coworkers (who probably weren’t interested) might vary well have a lot of other personality quirks that could lead to him getting fired.
Really eccentric, self-absorbed and obsessive people don’t always work well with others.
“As the governor has said, a lot of factors contributed to the resignation of Jerry Foxhoven,” Reynolds’ spokesman told the Des Moines Register on Thursday. “Of course, Tupac was not one of them.”
Well, I believe it.
Of course “Tupac” was not one of the factors.
But, Foxhoven’s obsession with Tupac? Now that’s another story.
Strange story that has probably reached the end of it’s news cycle. You will be missed Foxhoven.
Maybe. Still no word on why he was actually fired, and with one exception, he seemed to be very well liked as head of Health and Human Services. Of course, that may have been the issue.
“Gov. Reynolds is looking forward to taking DHS in a new direction,”
Definitely going w East Coast hip hop.
We need more Tupac-loving GOP members, not less. Another sad development for god’s own party.
I say this with absolutely no sarcasm. The world needs more Jerrys. We should all be our own personal Jerry. Jerry is living his truth.
Jerry didn’t choose the thug life. The thug life chose him.
Nah, she’s a modern day Republican, so I’m gonna say “grunge”…
She just told is why she fired him. “New direction” means, someone who will do what we tell him to do. My question is, who did he say f-u to? Can’t be the governor, and no one is really more senior than a secretary of DHS, it will all come out…
From Mr. Foxhoven’s press release, upon accepting the job aka the “old direction”:
“I have spent my life defending and protecting the rights of others,” Foxhoven said. “To do so in this elevated position is a challenge I humbly accept. I look forward to building trust and relationships in all 99 counties, working on behalf of all Iowans as we work together to solve the challenges many Iowa families are facing each day.”
Fantasy football, poker hands, multilevel marketing, Game of Thrones…
I gotta tell you. I write to the author of this piece whose name you show here regularly for bringing us incendiary reporting which serves no purpose other than to inflame and excite us. And get clicks. A good example is her tendency to recycle Fox new bots saying stupid things or PP feuding with someone or other such as Ahnold the other day or his feuds on Twitter.
I’m beginning to think her salary is dependent on the number of clicks because her skills as a writer are lame.
TPM has always had issues with occasionally totally missing the boat when a couple of keywords in a story turn out to be totally misleading. Josh himself is not immune to this, either. My standard procedure for ages has been to go read the source story. Sometimes, it’s just plain weird what bits of information they include or leave out. But, most of the time, and I mean 98% of the time, they get it right.
Looking at twitter yesterday, there was an all-around, self-reinforcing festival of snark around the misleading headline and assumed facts associated with this piece. It doesn’t help that there is an awful lot of condescension and stereotyping that folk in flyover country tend to get automatically from people who really ought to know better.
I’m grateful that I found Tim Mak’s twitter early on, as he decided to go to original sources, talk to numerous coworkers etc., even get an interview with the guy who was at the center.
The reporters and news writers here work fast - and once in a while they get it wrong. Plus, don’t even get me started on proofreading! But on the other hand, over the years I’ve seen so many on staff here grow as journalists. Some of my favorite journalists now were ones I had frustrations with when they were new-ish here. I don’t feel bad at all knowing when they’ve gotten something wrong or have ambiguous or confusing writing, in part because I know that the vast majority of Josh’s hires really do take feedback seriously.
I guess I don’t care so much if some stories seem trivial or pointless. Part of what I’ve always loved about TPM, even when it was a one-man show, is getting to indulge in that kind of thing - as long as it’s reported accurately, of course.
Here here! Completely agree. However, I have been discouraged of late with the onslaught of attention at TPM and the global news outlets in general focusing on the Twittering and triggering trump nonsense, which we’ve all known for the last 3 years or more is just a bunch of distraction to cover the real stories of the day. So don’t be triggered by it and stop focusing on it.
We have indeed arrived at the “outrage exhaustion” portion of the program in this horrid B-rated reality show that will be another shameful thread in the tapestry of our American history. Embarrassing to say the least .We really are at the point of no return if we do not salvage ourselves from ourselves as a nation.
The most worrisome thing in this story of, ‘trump always ruling the narrative’ is that we, the opposition, have weakened with our reactions to it. Liberals, progressives, democrats of all ages, ethnic groups and what have you, have always been the true north of our country. Why is it so damn hard to stand up and grab the microphone away from this orange dipshit from hell, and take back the narrative?
“No More Fucking Soup for You MFer!”
We are the party of the bright, the funny, the creative, the intelligent, the compassionate, the wise, the young and the old actually agreeing on things; every color, creed, sex, religion, orientations of all kinds, the soul of the American Dream, the very future of the this Earth we call home.
We all really have to buck up, shake it off and then piss on trump’s and call out McConnell’s daily distractions and hypocrisy. (Or wait, do we piss on and then shake off? I defer to he gentlemen in the room for that clarification.) Point being I guess is, I’m over being afraid. I’m mad.
Our side rocks with resources galore in the people that make up our party. I’m over being the victim in this stupid show. We’re better than they are. Let’s do this.
And yes Khyber…it’s time.
Tim Dog !!
“Gov. Reynolds is looking forward to taking DHS in a new direction,”
She’s got the fizzle in the shnizzle, but she can polka like a MF, Dawg.
Your generosity towards up and coming writers and praise for what they do turn out and more praise when do grow into the job is admirable. I wish I could the same.