A Labor Department official has resigned after Bloomberg raised questions about a three-year-old, seemingly sarcastic Facebook post that appeared to mock the alt-right for its embrace of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. Now the Bloomberg journalist is facing backlash for publishing the story on Tuesday.
I’m left asking why Olson resigned. It certainly seems his post was an inoffensive tongue-in-cheek remark, unless you’re part of the Alt-right. Is there a deeper issue with Olson that the Administration would rather not see brought to light or are they just upset he mocked Trump’s base?
Jesus. I remember decades ago when Clinton said he didn’t inhale and didn’t enjoy it, there was this huge spate of reporters running to every politician they knew to breathlessly ask if they ever got high and of course they all had to admit having “experimented” in their youth, because if you deny it it could come out and there you’d be. I heard a crusty old editor asked about this phenomenon who said it was due to a “lot of young nitwits entering this profession.” And that’s what this is. This guy gets out of J-school and starts sifting through everyone’s posts, and labels one anti-Semitic when it obviously, obviously isn’t. Way to go, you stupid punk.
One issue to consider is that a post like that mostly makes sense to people who are steeped in a alt-right tropes. Maybe the consider themselves above the rubes, but they’re paying close attention.
My guess for the resignation is that this was intended as a shot across the bow from whoever funded the oppo research to find this post.
“It was sarcastic criticism of the alt-right’s conspiracy theories and anti-Semitic positions,”
Which is why he’s gone and not getting his job back. They didn’t can him because he was being anti-Semitic (because he wasn’t). They found out he was “Deep State”, so he got the boot.
I take it Bloomberg doesn’t have editors. This is an unfair hit. The person who should lose his job is Penn. He should be followed out the door by the person holding the news editor job.
This reeks of a Trumpian hit job on a Deepstater. I doubt he resigned so much as was strongly encouraged by Acosta (or whatever Trumpster Fire is “currently acting secretary”).
My analysis would be similar, except that since he is described as “recently appointed” he isn’t “Deep State”. He doubtless got his appointment on the basis of his anti-Semitic bonafides, and now that they have been exposed as mere sarcasm, he has been “resigned” (fired by being forced to resign). Nobody makes fun of the alt-right (neo-Nazis) in this administration.
Mr. Penn - it has been widely reported that you once smeared doodie on the walls of your playroom and screamed loudly when your mother cleaned it up.
Care to comment, sir?
“Olson also was known in Houston-area legal circles for his appellate work challenging the rights of same-sex couples after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled gay marriage is legal; intervening to block defrauded consumers from receiving $10 million that Target Corp. had agreed to pay in a class settlement; and urging the high court to invalidate the Obama administration’s policy giving certain illegal immigrants a pathway to citizenship.”
Couldn’t happen to a sweller guy.
The Potter Stewart pornography maxim “I know it when I see it” applies here.
Its as if the folks at Bloomberg lost the ability to look at contex and nuance. This is more sophomoric, snarky Mad Magazine, South Park type humor directed at the Nehlen Alt right as opposed the the vitriolic hate filled screed you would find in the Dead Breitbart comments section.
Absolutely. We’ve already heard that Trumpworld is attempting to collect dirt on journalists.
One way to use that dirt is to obliterate those journalists whose pasts can be weaponized.
But it’s almost certainly more useful to tacitly blackmail all journalists (or is that stochastic blackmail?) in exchange for better coverage. After all, that’s all Trumpworld needs: a few more credible talking heads who tolerate the absurd nonsense that comes out of the GOP. Celebrity news-talkers who accept the fig leaf, who declare that they love the emperor’s clothing. Trump can’t earn that, he hasn’t been able to get it by intimidating them in speeches and tweets, and the oligarchs who back him & his party apparently won’t (or can’t?) buy it for him. So, it’s time to try Putin’s playbook.
A blackmail plan like that requires a demonstration. Ideally, you want to select someone who’s essentially innocent and who hasn’t attacked you previously. You want to strike from out of the blue, and you want it to be maximally damaging to their own wellbeing. A forced resignation is perfect.
The message is plain: anyone can be gotten to, and you are vulnerable even if you think you’ve been well-behaved.
Now, what were you saying about Bill Barr’s legal rationale for permitting Trump to pardon himself? Did you care to finish that thought about emoluments? How sure are you that Trump’s refusal to green-light a new FBI headquarters is driven by his desire to shut down competition with his own DC hotel? Oh, and here are the official attendance numbers for next week’s rally.
Yes. Exactly. Given the outrageous actions and statements these clowns have defended since 2016, this fits into “easily ignored” or “laughed off” bins. Even better the category of “libtards don’t have a sense of humor.”
What else is behind this resignation?
Ok, total side-track, I admit, but… why the fuck can they not replace that sign with one that fits the width of what they’re putting on it?
In the comments under the original post, another user wrote, apparently tongue-in-cheek, saying Ryan is Jewish, “everyone knows that.” The lawmaker is a devout Catholic.
Well to be picky Ryan is a devout Catholic who also has about 3% Ashkenazi ancestory, along with 1% Middle Eastern.
I especially loved the disingenuous umbrage and victim-claiming from Penn. With skills like that, dude is well on his way to a New York Times job.
It’s especially egregious since Penn apparently did not share the entire thread with Labor, so they didn’t see where Olsen pointed out the sarcasm (that’s pretty clear even if you read it without context). Maybe it’s personal, maybe it’s meant to send a message to someone, maybe someone fed Penn bad information and he was stupid enough to run with it instead of checking the source. Who knows, but things shouldn’t go down like this.
Has anyone considered that Olson was forced to resign because he was making fun of the alt right?
Yeah, it bugs me too.
Finding 3% of anything in DNA is tremendously uninteresting. He’s probably 2% Neanderthal. These trace amounts are typical of all Europeans. Because racial purity really isn’t something that has happened historically.
I’d be more impressed if somebody found a Jewish ancestor in recent history.