Biden BLM appointee

[Schaaf]

It doesn't hurt Joe to vote for her, and given his usual MO, I don't know that he's going to worry about voting to confirm cabinet members.

Did you guys really argue this much over such a lovely weekend?


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Lovely weekend? When I went to dinner last night at Glasgow’s finest cuisine the bank said it was 108* My crack hasn’t been dry since April.

 

[Ben Lamb]

Yes Ben but the plurality very likely is up or the Dems gain.

Appointee fights are red meat for the base, but the vast majority of the American people don't know, and don't care. My crystal ball is busted on elections, so I'm not good at calling the winner next year.

Wtf guys immunity from the feds isn't a joke. She obviously #@)(*%* up. Give me a break.

I agree. She messed up big time. As to the immunity question, she was guilty of participating in the mailing of the letter, which could be construed as part of the conspiracy to spike trees. She wasn't the one who spiked the trees, just retyped the letter, not on her own computer, which shows she knew the illegal action that was being taken, and that she tried to obscure her involvement. This was all during the timber wars, if folks remember those. There was a lot of hinky chit going on with both sides here (bomb threats, death threats, etc to enviros, etc). The conflict was escalating and good people were doing really stupid things.

That's not an excuse, btw, that's context.

So she copied & typed a letter in a manner that obscured her involvement, mailed a letter that connoted the existence of spikes in trees & later, when approached about that illegal activity, and having distance from the Blount character, which she and others had described as violent & temperamental (and that they feared for their safety from him), she rolls to avoid the co-conspirator charge. I think that is taking responsibility for those actions. Not taking responsibility would be to stonewall, obfuscate more & deny involvement. Was it tremendously stupid to send that letter & be involved in Earth First? Absolutely. Does it disqualify her for being the head of BLM? I don't think so.

Because that's not the defining mark in her career. If she had continued to be a part of Earth First, and went on to be a domestic terrorist, then sure, no nod. But, in her professional career, she has been the antithisis of the Earth First movement. She's been a collaborator with timber companies, miners, etc. People grow & abandon their old ways. That's natural and if you don't grow and become more wisened & mature, then you're not a stable individual, imo.

So she made some really stupid mistakes in college, worked to atone for those and her body of work in the last 30 years should be the defining trait on whether or not she should be confirmed.

That work has been all about bringing various stakeholders together to achieve lasting outcomes.

 

[Ben Lamb]

Lovely weekend? When I went to dinner last night at Glasgow’s finest cuisine the bank said it was 108* My crack hasn’t been dry since April.

Don't you live next to a gigantic lake and have a huge boat?

 

[406dn]

Lovely weekend? When I went to dinner last night at Glasgow’s finest cuisine the bank said it was 108* My crack hasn’t been dry since April.

You beat me to it. More than a little of the back and forth is from posters under the heat dome. I have withheld comment concerning the nominee but followed along. What else is there to do when it's crowding 100 by noon.

Today is forecast to be our hottest to date.

 

[Ben Lamb]

You beat me to it. More than a little of the back and forth is from posters under the heat dome. I have withheld comment concerning the nominee but followed along. What else is there to do when it's crowding 100 by noon.

Today is forecast to be our hottest to date.

 

[406dn]

There is that.

 

[noharleyyet]

It doesn't hurt Joe to vote for her, and given his usual MO, I don't know that he's going to worry about voting to confirm cabinet members.

Did you guys really argue this much over such a lovely weekend?


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Ralphie would be cancelled...

 

[Ben Lamb]

Ralphie would be cancelled...

Certainly the end scene with the singing waiters. And to be fair, we never were told what gender that leg lamp identified as, so it could be the saving grace of that film.

The 2020's are weird as hell.

 

[noharleyyet]

Appointee fights are red meat for the base, but the vast majority of the American people don't know, and don't care. My crystal ball is busted on elections, so I'm not good at calling the winner next year.

15 months of house money leverage interest gain...rooks and pawns

 

[Straight Arrow]

15 months of house money leverage interest gain...crooks and pawns

Fixed it for ya.

 

[RobG]

I personally think appointees should be judged by what they are now, not something 30 years ago. The irony is rich on both sides when we choose sides on this topic.

Too bad Tracey has this mark on her since she has proven to be a good person... when she worked for Tester she even called me on the phone to discuss one of his bills.

 

[The Hedgehog]

So Biden's appointee is a good person that used to collaborate with tree-spikers - but only as much to be a snitch? Sounds about right.

 

[one ate E grain]

New information has come out today in an op-ed with information from the former prosecutor in the WSJ. I guess some of her testimony was less truthful. Sounds like a bit more than a youthful indiscretion. As much as I can piece together the time frame from planning to less than cooperation with investigators, Ms Manning was an activist with Earth First for 3 or 4 years maybe?

Public documents have cast suspicion on this version of events, but now the former lead investigator of the 1989 crime has come forward with evidence suggesting Ms. Stone-Manning’s testimony is false. Michael Merkley, a retired special agent for the Forest Service, in a four-page letter to the committee says Ms. Stone-Manning was “not an innocent bystander.” After an investigation led his team to search the Missoula residence where Ms. Stone-Manning and other Earth First! members had lived, he says, a grand jury served subpoenas “on persons suspected of having knowledge of the incident, including Ms. Tracy Stone-Manning.”

Mr. Merkley reports that Ms. Stone-Manning through his investigation was “vulgar, antagonistic, and extremely anti-government” and refused to provide the hair, handwriting and fingerprint samples ordered by the grand jury until threatened with arrest. She refused to answer questions, leaving investigators in the dark for years about the suspects.

Mr. Merkley says that in 1992 he made contact with another woman in the group, who exposed the spikers and Ms. Stone-Manning’s involvement. But this woman also “recounted a conversation she had overheard wherein Ms. Stone-Manning along with other co-conspirators planned the tree spiking and discussed whether to use metal or ceramic spikes in the trees.” This testimony, he says, inspired the grand jury to send Ms. Stone-Manning “a ‘target letter’ which meant she was going to be indicted on criminal charges.” She negotiated a deal “to gain immunity in exchange for her testimony.”

I haven't followed the thing closely, mostly these appointments don't make much difference. I guess I'd really like to know what Ms Manning says about conservation issues while drunk and talking to her lifelong besties. I mean what does she really think. BLM policy makes a difference to people in small towns across the west. Does Ms Manning dislike those folks? Would she support lethal culls of feral horses? What of all that Southern Utah stuff? I wouldn't imagine Joe Biden spends much time considering BLM land, he probably think "west" means western PA.

Opinion | The Stone-Manning Files

A Biden nominee’s testimony about her past is directly contradicted.

www.wsj.com

Edited to correct that the op ed isn't by the former prosecutor but rather with information from the former prosecutor.

 

[Deleted member 20812]

With more than 10,000 employees, BLM manages roughly an eighth of the nation’s land, including nearly 65 million acres of forest. That land holds about 30% of our nation’s minerals and is used for a variety of functions, including energy development, livestock grazing, mining, recreation and timber harvesting.
The lands managed by BLM make up the majority of territory in many Western states, including my home state of Wyoming. Whoever leads this agency must have the faith and trust of the American people. Ms. Stone-Manning’s nomination violates that trust.

I don’t disagree at all with the general premise of Senator Barrasso’s statement. Too bad it doesn’t come with a side dish of intellectual honesty.

 

[widnert]

I believe I'll trust the Forest Service Investigator as opposed to an admitted criminal. She should be given the boot and Tester should apologize to all of us for his poor background checks when employing her.

 

[Flatbrimmer]

I DO have to question the integrity of an individual who will sell their friends(?) "down the river" to protect themselves.

My man!

 

[Schaaf]

Manchin backs Stone-Manning to lead Bureau of Land Management

Manchin plans to support the nomination of Tracy Stone-Manning to lead the Bureau of Land Management, a spokesperson confirmed Monday.

www.politico.com

 

[BigHornRam]

Senate panel deadlocks over Biden’s nominee to lead the Bureau of Land Management. (Published 2021)

Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic majority leader, is expected to advance Tracy Stone-Manning’s nomination. Democrats say they have the votes to confirm her.

www.nytimes.com

 

[noharleyyet]

Let's be honest, if she burned Portland down, and Chuck had the votes, she'd be advanced.

 

[mtmiller]

Let's be honest, if she he burned Portland down proposed to transfer all Federal lands to the states, and Chuck Mitch had the votes, she'd he'd be advanced.

FIFY