André Hereford 🏳️‍🌈

Writer, critic, lover, voter @WAFCA, @DorianAwards | Editor-at-Large Metro Weekly | Tomatometer-Approved

[The Political HQ @ThePoliticalHQ]

Republicans have been locked out of the Los Angeles, California Mayoral Election.

It’ll be Incumbent Democrat Karen Bass taking on Progressive Democrat Nithya Raman.

[André Hereford 🏳️‍🌈 @here4andre]

@iknoweric @Olly_Tennis_ Rennae Stubbs, I think.

[André Hereford 🏳️‍🌈 @here4andre]

@HelpLondonTower @EricFlackTV @NationalGuard The cherry on top of your ignorance. Bravo.

[André Hereford 🏳️‍🌈 @here4andre]

@HelpLondonTower @EricFlackTV @NationalGuard This is my daily and does not elicit any sense of safety or gratitude from me. We will not agree.

[André Hereford 🏳️‍🌈 @here4andre]

@HelpLondonTower @EricFlackTV @NationalGuard They’re not standing around SE. And neither are you, Mr DMV.

[André Hereford 🏳️‍🌈 @here4andre]

@HelpLondonTower @EricFlackTV @NationalGuard Because you were concerned about your safety on the mean streets of Woodley Park and Adams Morgan?

[David Rattigan @davidmrattigan]

buying this and then dying immediately and forcing my descendants to finish building it over the next 100 years

[Rob Milton @therobmilton]

- SAY IT AGAIN.

[Miles Taylor @MilesTaylorUSA]

Yesterday Donald Trump tripled the size of his personal political army inside the government. Illegally. And almost no one noticed.

Here's what happened:

He signed an order converting ~8,000 of the most senior career officials in government into employees he can fire for any reason, or no reason at all.

These aren't rando's. They're the directors, chiefs of staff, and the people who write the rules or decide who gets federal money, i.e. the lieutenants right below his political appointees.

Until yesterday, they answered to the law. Now they answer to him.

A president normally gets ~4,000 political appointees. People he can bring into government and fire at will. I was one of them at DHS. You serve at his pleasure, full stop -- so if you're gonna speak truth to power, you're prepared to quit (or get fired if he doesn't like it).

The rest of the federal government is PROTECTED from firing if they tell the truth.

But Trump just stripped those protections. Adding 8,000 more people to his personal army. Overnight. Without asking Congress.

With the stroke of a pen, those people now serve at the pleasure of the president. They're "his" people, whether they like it or not.

And the chilling effect is real. An official who can be fired this afternoon for "subversion of presidential directives" (the order's own words) doesn't need to be hand-picked to know what's expected of him or her.

The threat does all the work.

By the way, this order is illegal. The law only lets Trump reclassify jobs when "necessary" in exceptional circumstances. And this blows an 8,000-person hole in the merit hiring / firing system created by Congress.

Without permission, Trump has created a whole new category of stormtroopers inside the Executive Branch.

If this doesn't get challenged in court, you're going to see the U.S. government become a very different place.

Here's the full story: https://t.co/mJzrvzhxGR

[The Washington Post @washingtonpost]

The Kennedy Center ordered employees to remove President Trump’s name from the performing arts venue, strip all references from signs, brochures, the website and other materials — and to update email signatures and letterhead immediately. https://t.co/1J2FEPH33q

[Covie @covie_93]

In a world of jake tappers be a Scott Pelley.

[Ben Mullin @BenMullin]

Scott Pelley just issued a statement on Bari's remarks this morning:

[Jim Lokay @Lokay]

Demonstrably insane that on the same day Scott Pelley gets canned for standing up for his colleagues, this brand of hard-hitting journalism goes on display at the White House.

[Adam Parkhomenko @AdamParkhomenko]

Jake Tapper is going after Jill Biden because Jake Tapper is a pussy who will happily attack a woman while being too afraid to criticize Trump.

Jake is a bitch.

[Jay Jurden @JayJurden]

I wasn’t calling you a heffa
I was calling you a girl boss in Spanish

[Andy Kim @AndyKimNJ]

When you see the videos of chaos at Delaney Hall, remember that in a few days Congressional Republicans will try to pass a budget bill that would give tens of billions $ more to ICE with zero accountability/reforms. Let’s make our voices heard to stop this bill.

[Scott MacFarlane @MacFarlaneNews]

OOF

Young MC has busted a move

[Eric Columbus @EricColumbus]

Here’s a photo of National Guard folks in my DC neighborhood huddling under an awning on Saturday to protect themselves from mist. They wander the streets in bored foursomes. Please let them go home to their families and communities.

[Leo Herrera @herreraimages]

The most important rule to remember when cruising a park…

[André Hereford 🏳️‍🌈 @here4andre]

@biondcd This movie’s so ridiculous in the best way.