I think if everyone takes a deep breath, takes the pills your doctor gave you for TDS, then actually look at the timeline of warnings and when Trump tweeted instead of swallowing whole and uncritically any story or ed the Times blemishes it's pages with, you might find that there is nothing to get excited about. Alabama was, or had just been considered under threat right as Trump tweeted on Sept 1. Dorian was still off the coast of lower Florida and no one -- including the forecasters -- were certain where Dorian would go. Not until Sept 3rd when Dorian's eye had crossed the FL border and was skimming along Georgia and the Carolinas was the risk to FL and Bama lifted.
On aug 30 the bama national guard tweeted that bama was under threat and they were ready.
It would have been irresponsible for any weather entity to say that bama wasn't at risk. They could say what the current probabilities given the model projections were.
But anyone who has lived in hurricane country knows they don't always behave according to plan. A hurricane on the atlantic could hit anywhere depending on future events. And when your prediction involves estimates of future events, you've immediately got a problem.
Ditto gulf hurricanes.
And remember, hurricanes pass across fl into the gulf and vice versa.
This response by the left is silly.
5
• [Trump] displayed a map that appeared to have been doctored with a Sharpie
Why the enabling coddle? “APPEARED to have been doctorred”? Doctored no matter how you slice it – no matter by whom, how, where, why, under what circumstances – DOTORED with a Sharpie. Fact. Observable FACT.
• Putting politics ahead of sound science HAS PROVED to be standard operating procedure for this president.
So why the ‘pussyfooting’? Call a spade a spade!
"I believe that it is better to tell the truth than a lie. I believe it is better to be free than to be a slave. And I believe it is better to know than to be ignorant."
~ H.L. MENCKEN
U.S. JOURNALIST
2
From The Guardian two years ago:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/mar/23/wilbur-ross-russian-deal-bank-of-cyprus-donald-trump-commerce-secretary
1
some people are incapable of being honest. i choose not to believe ANYTHING that is reported by this administration. this is not to say everything is a lie. i simply have no confidence in the story tellers that they are telling the truth. they lie as often as they tell the truth.
who knows?????
5
"After a quiet couple of months, Wilbur Ross, the secretary of commerce, appears set on distinguishing himself again as the most compromised member of an administration that at times seems defined by ethical and moral flexibility."
Moral flexibility? How about doing your job and calling it what it is: A total lack of any moral compass what so ever.
Our government is in the hands of a mad king, a petty tyrant who, incredibly, is served with absolute loyalty by the biggest sty of toadies every assembled in one place since a Borgia was pope.
And what I understand least is why these jackals serve with such loyalty; he has never shown any loyalty to anyone, possible with the exception of his daughter. When it is Wilbur's turn he will be thrown under the bus, just like Bolton, Cohen, Epstein, etc., etc., etc.
What is really a heartbreaker though was the news from N.C. that, even after the republicans were shown to have illegally tried to steal the last election there and with t rump's nonsense about the storm regarding Alabama, the fools down there voted for another republican.
Boggles the Mind.
7
"Mr. Trump is waging a war on facts, and he expects his aides to fight fiercely on his behalf, even when this requires misleading the public."
Thanks, Republicans.
Looking at you, Moscow Mitch.
Whose side are you on?
7
If Ross's actions were in fact as they are reported Ross should be impeached. The House should investigate, nail down the facts for the public record, including any express or impled directives by the President, and impeach this scoundrel Ross to set an example that such abuse of executive power will not be tolerated by the people's representatives. Let the people decide the fate of the scoundrel who supervises Ross.
2
Lying, cheating, and stealing are trademarks of Wilbur Ross. His position on the Board of the Bank of Cyprus, the money laundering capitol of the dirty money world, epitomizes what he always stood for: greed and dishonesty.
5
I’m not buying this editorial as there is too much evidence to point to the President having been briefed, by the NOAA, that the storm would hit parts of Alabama. That, in conjunction with the Alabama National Guard’s tweet of August 30th, can easily lead one to conclude that Trump acted on the best information at the time.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/09/alabama-guard-prepared-for-hit-by-hurricane-dorian-trump-proven-right-again/
Additionally, it is not beyond possibility the Birmingham tweet was sent to purposely countermand the President. A complete investigation needs to be launched with regards to this tweet as well.
But then - who cares? Only the haters who have lost all sense of rationality regarding every breath Trump takes. This editorial makes Everest out of a pothole and it makes you look like fools.
Your rage and hate has so unbalanced you as to have caused you to write a series of articles attempting to paint the President as the anti-Christ simply because the storm turned North a little sooner than had previously been predicted.
It is a profoundly childish waste of time and resources and only induces more poison into our political discourse.
If you think Trump is the cause of all the hate in this nation, you need to take a hard look in the mirror.
2
“Those who can make you believe in absurdities can make you commit atrocities.”
Voltaire
8
Wilbur is keeping in line with all Cabinet heads. The President wears no clothes approach to longevity in office.
2
Any rational person worth as much money as Wilbur Ross would stop for a second and say "I really don't need this" and get out. But , NO, he just allows himself to be dragged through the mud. Over and over again. Reputation destroyed. And at his age, no way to rebuild it. That must feel awfully good.
4
There are punishments in store for Mr. Ross. Will he flinch when, from behind his back, he hears someone call him “stormy”? Or will friends sing about being back home in Alabama with a banjo on his knee. Or maybe a verse of “Stormy Weather”. Poor Mr. Ross, the president’s jester.
1
Trump and his cabinet members seem to have one thing in common: they lie.
Birds with the same feather stick together.
4
Even a country that elected Donald Trump as President deserves better than Wilbur Ross.
2
Hey....weren’t the weatherman a radical group in the 1960’s...... I think I see a plot. Trump is a mashup of American government and the electric cool aid acid test.
2
Is he the next flunky to go? Let's hope so.
So, why did Trump include Alabama at all? To jack up sales of batteries and bottled water?
1
Bubbles from the swamp.
Historical movies are told for a reason....to remember and not repeat. How is it that the gop party members who undoubtedly were exposed to the story of nazi Germany do not feel compelled to speak out when we are sleep walking amidst all the emerging signs of the most grotesque history of the last century. This Wilbur Ross episode just begs for what one would expect to be a memorable speech to leap out of the mouths of our so called leaders of the people. I say hold Wilbur Ross’ feet to the fire.
1
Ross Wilbur has demonstrated not only that he is a Trump boot-licker but he is also a rather stupid boot-licker. Rather than reduce Trump's embarassing blunder he added to it. Given that Trump is probably getting more furious by the minute with this controversy I would not be surprised if Wilbur is the next one to be shown the door.
3
Dear New York Times Editorial Board:
Would it really have been too hard to end this by making a simple statement?
"Wilbur Ross should either resign or be removed from office immediately."
The only reason I can see that the Board did not make this pronouncement is because the obvious follow up would be to ask why the Times has yet to make a similar call on Trump.
3
The weather bureau was forced to act to forestall panic and costly storm prep, closings and event cancellations that Trump’s factual mistakes and lies would cause! Perhaps Trump’s “Sharpie-gate” is just the type of governmental deconstruction and distrust that Steve Bannon and his Breitbarf News could love!
2
Wilbur Ross: the Grinch who stole the weather report.
2
When I see or hear anything about Wilber Ross he reminds me of Uriah Heep, the repulsive character in th Charles Dickens novel.
2
Wilbur Ross is lying again? That's not news. If he tells the truth, that will be news.
1
Ecc. X,16: Woe to Thérèse, o land, when they king is a child....
1
I would like to see a NY Times article about Fox News and the War on Truth. Talk about weapons of mass destruction.
2
Meanwhile, in Casablana--
Capt. Louis Renault: I'm shocked that there is gambling in this establishment.
Waiter: Sir, here are your winnings
This seems like business as usual in the Trump Administration. As long as Republicans keep turning a blind eye to this administration's blatant corruption, it will only grow worse. Our only option seems to be rooting the corruption out, starting with Trump at the top.
Republicans needs to stop ignoring the rot all around them.
4
Wilbur proves void of principle a trait he shares with the President. Let that sink in.
1
Have a chuckle....ever put a Ross photo and Jeff Dunham’s Walter side by side
1
One should be surprised that Ross interrupted his self-dealing and serial naps to respond at all.
1
The silver lining in this cloudy tempest that is Weathergate reveals two results. The Birmingham NWS Office gives comfort and conformation that once again Federal Employees, The Military, and Americans serve a higher cause as they quietly and competently do their work correctly regardless of political winds and mechanisms by pathetic and twisted "Ozian" men like Trump, Ross, and the Presidents Commode of cheats and fraudsters. That second result? Those who gain great wealth by manipulation, greed, and crossing the line of legality are very paranoid as they look calm and together, actually live in fear of being caught and see in every situation at any moment that their ride is over and it is time to face the music, or hear on Nov. 3rd 2020, "you're fired".
2
Resign? Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross lied to Congress concerning his involvement in the citizenship question on the Census. Michael Cohen is in prison for lying to Congress. Ross also deceived Congress regarding his finances, which remain questionable (he was on the Board of a Cyprus Bank, which I believe was implicated in money laundering for Russians (and remains to see if Trump also had some involvement in laundering money for Russians, as well as Trump’s questionable dealings with Deutsche Bank). Now he instructs NOAA officials to lie for political reasons, undermining confidence in the warnings that the National Weather Service may issue. What else is Ross lying about for political purpose? Ross should be prosecuted for lying to Congress.
4
@dmanuta. I think you miss the point. The point is not that Mr. Trump made a mistake; rather than he attempted to cover it up, then allowed or ordered his Commerce Sec'y to threaten the scientists who corrected his mistake. That is the real issue. And a rather frightening one.
3
Wilbur only got the gig because his little Bank in Cyprus laundered Russian mob money for years and is suspected as being ground zero for paying off the Russian troll farms in 2016. His days are numbered...
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/mar/23/wilbur-ross-russian-deal-bank-of-cyprus-donald-trump-commerce-secretary
42
TDS on parade.
America is threatened because the President indicated a particular state was endangered by a hurricane a few hours after some experts predicted it wasn’t.
The humanity...
1
The thread through all of this is that I never cease to be amazed that I never cease to be amazed.
2
We should celebrate: POTUS 45 has brought together the best minds of the 1600s into his cabinet.
With the same understanding of Science that rejected Galileo's empirical discovery that the Earth orbited around the Sun, we now a have a collection of minds that is reminiscent of their brethren from the Inquisition. They and their equally scientifically ignorant, illiterate and clueless Leader reject the scientifically derived models of the statistical probability of the path of a hurricane.
Dorian was NOT going to Alabama when POTUS 45 declared it was indeed going to hit that "great" state.
Perhaps we should be grateful for progress. The POTUS 45 and Wilbur Ross' reprobates were not threatened with a lifetime of imprisonment unless they recanted. They were only threatened with the loss of a job.
5
People like Ross know bullying. People like Ross get away with this seemingly always. But we have mechanisms for people like him: impeachment, and if necessary imprisonment. However, evidently, our system prefers to allow the Ross's of the world to get away with their sociopathic behavior. We do not have a governmental or justice system that can handle abusers like Ross and Trump. As a result, they act with impunity. In one century hence (or will it take five? or more?), will we then have the functioning mechanisms in place to deal appropriately (and therefore swiftly) with the likes of Ross and Trump? Their ilk will always exist. We need to evolve state mechanisms to deal with them. We need those mechanisms NOW. We can not wait one year, let alone one hundred.
2
It is terrible that there is no punishment for lying. The next president should put Ross in jail for at least 20 years. That also holds true for everyone in Trump's cabinet.
2
This article demonstrates the value of a Free Press exposing a government that lies to its citizens is not a democracy. Trump dislikes democracy and would prefer to rule like Putin with oligarchs under his thumb and the press in fera of their lives. This is Trump's wish list but it will not happen too many forces in our constitutional government will tolerate it. Trump was a dictator at the Trump Organization without even shareholders to answer to , the United States is not another property owned by Trump his job is temporary at best. Trump is out to destroy the spies we have in Russia as a favor to Putin to whom he is indebted and probably compromised by. Trump's desire to rule America as a KIM style leader will not happen as Kim would not tolerate a media that calls him 24/7 and rightly so. Trump lies all the time and he is fraud and cannot be trusted leaving the USA without allies and a multi trillion $ deficit giving tax cuts to himself and his family.
3
The president and his cronies are the worst examples of a politician I have ever seen. Everything; and person; who has become part of his administration with very few exceptions have been from the fringes. Trump is the worst fringe player ever. If we voters have learned anything in the last 30 months, it to stick to the main stream when selecting candidates.
2
Let’s not forget the connection between Wilbur’s offshore holdings and their connection to Putin.
Why hasn’t Wilbur been impeached yet? The Constitution does restrict impeachment to the president.
Wilbur’s list of ethics lapses is long and must be investigated .
5
Threaten their careers...that is what Trump uses on House reps, Senators, and now federal workers who challenge him. Anyone in his path knows that he is never wrong. He has been and always will be a spoiled and petulant 7 year old.
There is a or was a saying that when one grows older, one gains life experience and a broader view of life. Both Ross and Trump disprove that belief. They are narrow minded and low life forms.
In the fetid swap that is Trumps cabinet, Wilbur Ross has managed to swim to the top of that awful pile of stink.
What lesson can we learn from people's experience and age? I hope some wise philosopher weighs in, this is extremely dispiriting.
If the Democrats get their act together maybe Nov 2020 is end times for these sub-humans.
2
After reading this article, I remembered a statement made by Mark Twain during his travels abroad "....We white people are merely modified Thugs; Thugs fretting under the restraints of a not very thick skin of civilisation.” Wilbur Ross and the current potus along with many other cabinet appointees who have fled the nest seem to bolster Twain's observations.
1
There is not an Ethical person in the Trump Administration so why should we be surprised?
1
I guess we are all going to have to find a whole new meaning for 'E PLURIBUS UNUM'.
This is the kind of misinformation that drives professional scientists like me literally crazy.
There are two (2) issues here that The Times Editorial Board has (deliberately?) blurred.
The First One is that Dorian was an EXTREMELY DIFFICULT storm to forecast/predict. When the government agencies tasked with monitoring hurricanes issue projected paths, these are ONLY AS GOOD as the computer simulations themselves. [For those of us of a certain age, Garbage In, Garbage Out or GIGO.]
The further out in time we go, the more uncertainty there is. It is the cone of uncertainty that expands. While Alabama would not receive the storm surge and the winds associated with Dorian, it most certainly would have gotten some rain from Dorian. All of this depended on the track of Dorian.
The Second One is Trump Derangement Syndrome. Irrespective of what POTUS Trump does (or acts like), he will be ridiculed by the press (with The Times arguably being the biggest cheerleader).
Had Dorian tracked across Florida (as had been predicted early in its slow westward march), it would have strengthened in the Gulf of Mexico and (almost assuredly) have had much more severe impacts in places like Alabama. [In my considered opinion, the Bahamas took it on the chin for the US.]
Had Alabama been adversely impacted by Dorian, the predictable response from The Times Editorial Board would have been (once again, in my considered opinion), Trump gets lucky!
1
Trump doctored a forecast map with a SHARPIE. Seems like that isn’t an indicator that he’s lying to you???
1
How long will employees in this administration continue to support the childish antics of this lazy-minded autocrat at the expense of our citizens? When will they stop, declare the emperor has no clothes, and stand by truth and demand ethical behavior? What will it take for the veil to be lifted off these people's eyes?
1
Trump is the President and he obviously wants subordinates who will agree with him. If they are sycophantic liars, they are merely obeying orders and doing what Trump wants. Why should they be fired for doing the job they were hired to do?
There is something very wrong with the business world to allow a moral degenerate like Ross to rise to the top. Of course the same can be said for the political world.
2
Now I get it! Trump doesn’t want to drain the swamp.... he wants to reign the swamp.
40
" People of a feather flock together", they are cut from the same cloth, don't expect anything different.
3
If "The Simpsons" were made into a live-action movie, Wilbur Ross would be cast as Mr. Burns.
29
Anyone who has actually succeeded in a position of leadership knows the folly of ignoring those who point out flaws in the leader's position. The time to identify and fix mistakes is BEFORE an error is built into a policy BEFORE it is rolled out, but instead squelching it when the critics are proved right. How much better to have true debates so policies and actions are vetted for pure errors and tested for viability. Trump has had some bold ideas, which might have accomplished good for our nation. But they are buried under the wreckage of the flawed ones.
Wilbur Ross lied to Congress. Wilbur Ross threatened government employees for contradicting Trump's false tweet. He should be asked to resign or fired.
3
In the past when Democratic administrations have followed corrupt Republican ones, the new Democratic president has looked away from crimes committed by the previous administration - president and officials alike - saying something like "we need to look forward". I'm pretty sure that this is because no president wants to be prosecuted after he/she is out of office by an administration of the opposite party. But this has created a new normal in the US - anything goes! All corruption is fine! We need to stop just moving on - after all, when any crime is punished, it's a crime that occurred in the past.
2
Corruption is always easy to see in the government of other nations. This event illustrates what corruption looks like in our own government.
4
So when the Bureau of Economic Analysis (part of the Commerce Department) says the US is in recession, and the President says that this is "fake news", will Secretary Ross order the statisticians to take back their report and edit it so it agrees with the President's views? Worse still, will he order them to alter the national economic accounts so the US never "officially" has a recession? Don't laugh, part of the reason Greece's economic crisis has been so severe is because the government fudged the nation's statistics for years. Once the market realized they could not rely on Greek statistics to give an accurate picture of the economy, an already bad crisis became even worse.
5
Has disasters become big business? Governors declaring their states a disaster area before a storm even hits. This provides funding from the federal government. It appears FEMA would restore areas to better than what existed before the disaster. Contractors receive billion dollar ( probably no bid) contracts for disasters.
Did the President have ulterior motives? Would there be areas or businesses to be restored? Would major contracts be granted to friends and businesses of the President. The disaster money may want you to revise a forecast or a map.
2
A House committee should immediately investigate and report on Ross's alleged, well reported threats to fire National Weather Service employees for immediately informing U.S. citizens and the State of Alabama that the science shows they were not at risk from the hurricane. If the threats prove to be well founded, Wilbur Ross should be impeached by the House.
Assuming the congressional investigations prove the threats occurred, there would be ample basis to impeach Ross. A primary reason would be that NOAA's scientific integrity policy and the public's trust in the ability of the government to respond quickly and effectively to potentially life-threatening conditions were compromised by political gamesmanship.
Why don't our elected leaders in the Senate and House act, immediately, on what they know is right? Folks with moral certitude and strength need to step up, take the torch from our timid leaders, and do what is right.
Leaders, for the sake of our country's health and well being: Do What Is Right.
9
Remember that, upon returning from the trip to Saudi Arabia, where Trump played with the saber and grabbed the glowing orb, Ross remarked that he was pleased to observe that there were no protesters anywhere to be seen. This went un-noticed. My reaction was that any protesters would likely have been rounded up and dispensed with.
12
The media has wasted years of our time with their partisan politics in raising issues that have little or no relevance to the political storm that is transforming governments around the globe. The world watches in astonishment that this media cloud of dust is allowed to continue to take up our air time with these petty distractions .
3
@Joe Gilkey. Is it petty when your government is actively lying and covering up the truth from the public?
NOAA's statement should have said, "We have been ordered by Secretary of the Interior Wilbur Ross, to state that President Trump was correct when he said that Alabama would be impacted by Hurricane Dorian", and attached a copy of the offending e-mail.
21
"Please change "defined by ethical and moral flexibility" to "defined by ethical and moral bankrupcy" - just like their boss, and now, a significant portion of what used to be a decent party that actually cared about fiscal responsibility and the public good. You know, that stuff in the Consitution of the United States of America.
15
If ever there was a call for all out political battle against Trump's toad army, this is it. We are beyond debate and discussion. There is no reasoning with such abusers, no point in admonishing them or appealing to their sense of what's right. They have none and deserve no quarter.
Trump is the greatest American failure since the war in Vietnam. He will continue unchecked for at least 16 months. Resolve he will be stopped at one term in office.
16
The reason NOAA falls under the Commerce Department is that NOAA provides commercial forecasts that are relied heavily on by US industries including transportation and construction. That forecast needs to based on science, provided by scientists and meteorologists, not over zealous bungling political appointees and corrupt cabinet officials.
23
Just when you think it can’t get any worse, it does. We depend upon accurate weather information to protect public safety as well as resources. A key for all of us will be to get out and vote in November of 2020 but something else needs to be done beforehand before this whirlwind of chaos destroys us all.
10
Again, I say Congress. We know this so called president is beyond incompetent, and that was known since way before he took office. But there is another branch of government that is duty-bound to provide a check on this type of abuse of power. Until the republicans, who were elected to support and defend the Constitution, decide to do just that, we will continue this steep descent into autocracy. What use is it to have the Constitution, if the slight majority of the Senate decide that their wallets and egos are more important?
24
It's time for Wilbur Ross to go. A lying Commerce Secretary is, well, par for the course all things considered. But he's certainly not worthy of the position he is filling at the expense of the American public.
24
Why isn’t this con man in jail for bilking his fomer partners and investors out of tens of millions of dollars? There is no DOJ guidance that says a sitting cabinet member can’t be indicted.
35
They came for the Census, and I said nothing....
They came for the Weather and I said nothing....
They came for President Obama., and did not allow him to even nominate a Supreme Court Justice, and I said nothing.....
They allowed President Trump to appoint a Supreme Court Justice as an incumbent, and I said nothing .....
28
When you lie to Forbes about your wealth (AKA Ross), no other lie is off limits.
What could be better credentials for a Cabinet job in the Trump kleptocracy?
Nothing? Doesn’t take an apprentice to figure that out.
21
Nobody foresaw this presidency quite like Lewis Carroll. Trump can retweet six impossible things before breakfast, a weather map means just what he chooses it to, and when people threaten his towering yet eggshell-fragile ego, off with their heads!
19
Fairly certain the Times won't publish my comment since it's critical of the paper, but here goes anyway: The saga of 'Alabama and Dorian' is just the latest episode of the never-ending battle between the press and Donald Trump. I've never been more incessantly reminded of the phrase 'It takes two to tango" than I am when following the latest "the sky is falling" outrage over something Trump said. While the NY Times and the rest of the mainstream media like to portray this particular episode as one that Trump has kept in the headlines, the media (as always) is an equal participant in this hand to hand combat. The Times reported the other day, and I quote: "In an attempt to head off panic, the Birmingham forecasters quickly sent out their own tweet, assuring residents that they were not, in fact, in harm’s way." Panic? Really? So while Floridians thoughtfully and diligently began taking precautions when they believed they would be hit by Dorian, Alabamans would have been 'panicking' instead, running through the streets screaming and pulling their hair out? How does the Times justify insinuating that Alabama would 'panic' if residents believed they could be hit by Dorian? For the record, on August 30th, the official Twitter account of the Alabama National Guard tweeted: "#HurricaneDorian is projected to reach southern Alabama by the early part of the week. We are watching closely and #ready to act. Are you?" I doubt the Alabama National Guard is guilty of inciting panic.
5
@David If you resided in Alabama during this episode would your opinion be the same?
16
@David
The reason the incident has gotten so much attention is because Trump demanded that scientists lie ( or lose their jobs) to cover up his blunder. This is straight out of "1984", where the "Ministry of Truth" had a job of censoring any news that would make Big Brother look bad.
31
@David Let's see. The President falsely claims that Dorian might hit Alabama, the NWS corrects that claim, nothing more. Then he spends the rest of the week trying to assert that he was right including producing a crudely and laughingly modified NWS map. And the NYT is at fault for reporting this bizarre behavior.
Further proof that the Trump supporters are out of touch.
1
"...an administration that at times seems defined by ethical and moral flexibility."
They are a bunch of self-serving crooks. NYT, why be convoluted about calling these crooked liars out for what they are? Please be clear and concise. When some high government official lies, call it a lie. When a 'high government official' lines his own personal pocket at the expense of the United States taxpayers, please call it out. Every time. And provide sufficient detail that even those brainwashed drones pouring Fox "News" propaganda through taped-open eyes cannot deny it. Enough is enough! Trump is not 'breaking presidential norms by keeping his business interests' -- he is irretrievably compromised and is engaged in egregious blatant self-dealing. There is no 'may be' about Trump's violations of the Emoluments Clause... it is a fact.
23
It has been widely published that Ross participated actively in Russian money laundering operations while he was a director at the Bank of Cyprus. Money was regularly transferred from Russia through Cyprus to Deutsche Bank. Trump received hundreds of millions of financing through this pathway. The Russians bailed Trump out of bankruptcy multiple times when no other banks would go near him.Wilbur Ross is just part of the Trump crime family. Nothing new here folks.
37
Ross, like Trump, is a businessman who doesn't have a resume; he has a very long rap sheet of unethical, devious, and dishonest behavior--really too numerous to mention but mind-boggling.
See: https://www.cnn.com/2013/05/30/us/wilbur-ross-fast-facts/index.html
I grew up in Washington, D.C., and many of my friends' parents proudly worked for the federal government--as scientists, secretaries, bookkeepers, accountants, lawyers, intelligence agencies. I was one of the few in my class whose father did not work for the government (he was a printer--now a quaint profession).
I just feel so sorry for the scientists, experts, and workers at NOAA--or the EPA, FDA, NIH, FCC, GAO. Lots of unknown people, trying to do an honest days' work, because so many people, businesses, and functions depend on your honesty, accuracy, and service for your country.
I have seen a lot, but never as much abuse and incompetence as the Trump administration heaps on our government, nation, people, and the planet.
Trump & Ross gave business a bad name, and now they are giving our government and country a bad name.
Is this what the Kochs are paying for?
28
How in the world can you make NOAA controversial? We're talking about a weather agency. "How's the sky today? Yup, still blue." What are these people talking about? Fire Wilbur Ross for making this a news story in the first place. He's wasting tax payer dollars.
22
Full-on “1984” territory.
12
And yet, almost 3 years into the Trump Administration’s almost unbelievable lying spree, the word “lie” itself appears in this op ed exactly 0 times.
Perhaps part of the problem IS the media. If you guys won’t even call this behavior what it is, what chance do the rest of us have?
29
Will Wilbur be next?
5
Blah blah..I’m sick of this country being so lame it can’t muster the outrage to save itself.
8
Mr./Dr. Jacobs, the administrator at NOAA buckled under pressure and traded in his credibility, the only in which a scientist trades. Sad to see it come to this.
10
In textbook fascism, the leader is inseparable from the nation, race, church. In that light, pointing out Trump's nutty hurricane error is like burning the flag, denigrating Christians, dissing real hardworking white 'mericans. On top of that, this Ross Trump inanity looks like the totalitarian Kim hitting multiple holes in one on his first golf outing, or like any one of the crazy schemes that the totalitarian Mao foisted onto China which killed tens of millions. In other words, it looks like the greasy slide from democracy into autocracy.
12
You have to ask at some point whether those in the GOP who hate the very concept of government did not put Trump forward as a Manchurian candidate in 2016 on the off chance that he would completely undermine the notion of governance, After all, the GOP has always preferred ruling to governing, and authoritarianism to democracy.
19
Sadly, the “unsigned statement scolding the Birmingham office and insisting that the president was right all along” might never had been issued if Mr. Jacobs had had the wherewithal to resist Mr. Ross. I acknowledge that this might be a harsh judgment (and easy for me to say), but we are in the middle of a constitutional mess that demands courage and conviction. Courage and conviction (the antithesis of “ethical and moral flexibility’) are not a byproduct of the Trump administration, and those who stand up to the tyranny of Trump and his minions will be remembered well by history.
20
@Huge Grizzly
I agree about the standing-up part, but to be realistic about the situation, if every one stood-up, then trump gets what he wants: hollowing out the halls of career Federal government employees - thereby giving trump the opportunity to handpick sycophant replacements.
After 30 years working for government and living through many administrations of both parties, I've learned that if you want a government to be there after trump, then employees need to be better at handling such events.
https://www.npr.org/2019/07/19/743599320/trump-administration-announces-plans-to-move-hundreds-of-federal-jobs-out-of-d-c
7
@Huge Grizzly Entirely different take in Fortune article. Trump had been advised by Homeland Security based upon National Weather Service forecast of tropical force winds (very dangerous and often lead to loss of human life if you look up what that means) on Sunday when he tweeted. This NWS forecast was in vogue even until Monday.
Different government "experts" often disagree. Mr. Jacobs apparently does not like diversity of opinion, as weather forecasts are just projections that often differ among "experts".
https://fortune.com/2019/09/06/trump-hurricane-alabama
2
Let me amend what I said slightly. According to the article in the Science section of NY Times on this story:
'Dr. Jacobs also echoed the president’s position that Dorian initially threatened Alabama. “At one point, Alabama was in the mix, as was the rest of the Southeast.”'
Dr. Jacobs does seem to understand the issue here of diversity of "expert" opinion.
Ross should join Bolton in skulking toward the exit. Being out of work, they could plan a trip together knowing full well that the weather forecast for where they were retreating was reliable, up to date, and factual, and if their plans were to go overseas (incognito would be the only way), they could rest assured that no NSC-contrived conflict would disrupt their travels. Safety first, both weather wise and security wise.
11
Fragile Egos - all very funny. And Ross and his dyed hair - what a joke he's made of himself after negotiating against Trump for the Rothschilds after Trump's bankruptcy in the early 90s.
8
Wilbur Ross shares a series of affinities with his boss: 1. He's in way over his head. 2. The truth doesn't matter in the quest for money and power. 3. His ego knows no bounds.
William Blake wrote, "The weak in courage is wrong in cunning."
These are 2 cowards who's cunning is slipping into a category of absurdity. Unfortunately, in this theater of the absurd we are a captive audience who suffer the consequences.
13
Bravo for the weathermen and women of the resistance. Wilbur Ross did not frighten them into submission. Frankly, I say let him stay, he famously naps during late (after lunch) meetings. His acting replacement would probably be worse.
Anyway, as the Bard said ”You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.”
We need a blowhard president even less.
15
Why is NOAA under Commerce at all?
Sure, weather affects business. But more so, especially in the era of increasingly destructive climate warming and exacerbation, forecasts clearly have far more import on every aspect of our personal lives.
I vote for putting it under Department of Homeland Security. That ought to put the point of emphasis on how dire all forecasting is becoming. Under a normal U.S. presidential administration, it would also be one of the least politically flexible. (Although, admittedly, no department is safe from El Infanta.)
3
@Peggy Rogers Homeland Security has become one of the most politicized agencies in our government.
3
Being a busy person, I never once connected just when the president made that weather remark to when the hurricane actually did threaten Alabama as others have devastated Louisiana, Texas, New York, New Jersey, and Mississippi.
But it is clear that this entire brouhaha is a political artifice created only to sell hatred for The Employment President.
What I don't get is how any progressives running news media outlets EVER thought that anyone they hadn't already convinced was going to be sold THIS time.
This is the real tragedy of WaPo & the NY Times. Yes, advertising went to the internet and the Google monster, but your solution was to LEAVE news behind and become a cheerleading squad for one political party's most gullible followers?
So that you'd make a little cash by confirming angry peoples' ingrained/manipulated prejudices?
And THIS is going to switch the White House to socialism?
4
I live on the Gulf Coast (far from fair Verona) and am employed in a role where hurricane response is a part of my job. Therefore, I followed the forecasts for Dorian from well before it was a named storm. Some earlier models did show Dorian crossing Florida and possibly re-emerging in the Gulf, but that was no longer the forecast when President Trump made his tweet.
Therefore, I disagree with your assessment of the situation wholeheartedly. In addition, it has been Trump who continues to bring this issue up repeatedly, so to say the whole scheme was concocted by his enemies defies logic.
He clearly cannot let even the smallest perceived slights pass unchallenged, which is not a healthy mental state for a national leader. You can bet the Chinese and Russian leadership are chuckling at this - they have him all figured out.
34
Hmm. It was democrats that handed trump the sharpie?
13
@L osservatore
I suppose you are well aware that everything you say here applies in spades to Trump and the Trumpies but not at all to anybody else. Sigh.
6
Ross proved himself untrustworthy during census-gate. Ross also lied to the confirmation committee when he told them he would sell his financial holdings to eliminate the conflict of interest. He hasn't done that yet and he runs a department that influences the economy. President Moscow Mitch doesn't care.
When Ross told us he did not call and threaten NOAA staff, tacitly, NO ONE BELIEVED Ross.
All NOAA had to say was:
"Thank You Mr. President for helping to spread the word." "Alabama, Dorian has taken a turn eastward and Alabama is no longer in Dorian's path." End of subject.
This was an error on the NOAA staff who issued the tweet. In spite of how much the president may be disliked, it's still staff's job to artfully correct mistakes - not rub it in the president's face - in a manner that saves face for everyone.
The correction was also not well handled but it had to be done otherwise, Ross would have fired people who had no part in the fiasco.
And we could have all been spared the two weeks of fighting between the press and president over something that doesn't matter when measured against over 70,000 people just having had their lives blown out of the water! Priorities!
4
@LivingWithInterest They are not his staff. They are independent scientists doing their job because trump decided o be a forecaster.
9
My career was, mostly, wonderful...speech pathology with children, early intervention for young children and their families, head of a statewide United Cerebral Palsy, etc. But once, for expedience sake, I took a job in corporate healthcare. It was truly gross, and I lasted for six months. I had to take a year’s worth of showers to feel clean again.
5
As the government inches towards totalitarianism, is the congress going to take any action to preserve democracy?
10
Mr. Ross, the Commerce Dept. almost works by itself. So, why do you feel it's necessary to mess with the machinery? Please try not to muck things up in your remaining days in the government. Just let those people do their jobs, okay?
6
Lysenkoism is alive and well at Commerce. Maybe Ross should route US air traffic via tweet.
2
Trump is free to make up whatever crazy lies he pleases, and his supporters are certainly free to believe even the craziest of these lies, but what the Trump may not do is to make up his own version of science nor can he bend the laws of physics, even a little. The laws of science are the same throughout the entire universe, even in the shrinking parts of it that still supports Trump.
12
What else do you expect from a bunch of people who lied, stole, and cheated to get where they are. Not one cabinet member in the Trump administration came by their credentials honestly, did you think they would deal straight with the American public? Not a chance.
16
Yes, Sharpiegate has important repercussions but, My God, people! What is more important than the smashed, splintered and stranded lives of thousands of Bahamians in an island nation just miles off South Florida shores, just a day-excursion away and a playground for many Americans?
We can snicker or sigh over our ignorant president pushing his considerable weight around once again while thumbing his nose at Science and Truth.
But can we also apply the other 99 percent of our attention span for and headlines on Hurricane Dorian on the need for-- and why their aren't -- massive daily air and sea flotilla ferrying water, food, medical supplies and temporary shelter over to the bereft and bringing back hundreds of refugees each haul?
Or should we wait around for the drowning Bahamian government to later catch up on the death count while it struggles first to fish all those desperate souls off the storm-desecrated islands so we can then wring our hands about what could have and should have been done?
8
I always wanted to know how Trump and Wilbur Ross had met because both have alleged ties to money laundering.
14
The most corrupt Presidential administration in America’s history. Flynn, Price, Pruitt, Porter; Manafort, Stone, Cohen and “Individual 1” — these guys make Nixon and his Watergate accomplices look like Girl Scouts selling Thin Mints door to door.
And they have the temerity to call this ‘draining the swamp’?
13
You forgot zinke.
6
Fake hurricane is now real. And they call it fake news!
The tragedy is no one is surprised by the level of incompetence, cover up and crookedness in this administration.
6
King Knute commanded the waves to stop.
King Trump directs hurricanes to blow where he wishes.
God of the Bible will not be pleased.
2
@Rudran
To be precise, Knute "commanded the waves to stop" as a valuable lesson to superstitious peasants: that he was NOT a god and that the ocean did not do his bidding. And after a thousand years, people still get the story wrong..
Wilbur Ross has proved himself to be a deceitful man. That leads me to believe that the billions he has amassed may also be ill-gotten.
8
@Thomas: You’re not the first guy to suspect that Wilbur Ross’ fortune consists of ‘ill-gotten gains’: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/wilbur-ross-alleged-to-have-siphoned-more-than-120-million-from-associates-forbes-report-2018-08-07
4
@Thomas and overstated according to Forbes.
2
Thank you
This man is a crook, plain and simple. Previously co-owner with a Putin oligarch of the bank of cyprus, a major laundering operation. Now he's Trump's liar and enforcer.
All said and done, Bin Laden did damage USA - look at the aftermath and what this country has become. We would have done OBL proud indeed!
7
Ross must resign. This is INTOLERABLE!
4
"Ethical and moral flexibility?" That assumes the capability of sometimes being ethical and moral, which this administration has never demonstrated. It would be more accurate that this is an administration that is unethical and immoral the vast majority of the time.
7
If those Trump politcal appointees had any guts at all they would've told that wretched Wilbur Ross to take that job and SHOVE IT!
1
Wow, another lying, corrupt, self-serving member of the Trump Administration? I'm concerned that I'm not floored by yet another announcement of a despicable person sucking in our tax dollars.
5
@JK
I suspect that Trump has deliberately packed his cabinet with servile flunkies because they are the ones who control his fate under the 25th amendment.
"Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead!"
1
As horrific a human being as Mitch McConnell is, multiple that by a million and you've got Wilbur Ross. I have seen the face of evil and it is Wilbur Ross. Hell has a special room set up and waiting just for you.
4
I dunno. That’s a tough call. I vote for Mitch as most evil.
7
Stupid is as stupid does.
1
Sounds like the Ministry of Truth is becoming a reality. Maybe George Orwell should have named his novel 2019 instead of 1984. I think virtually all Americans no that Trump was wrong but millions will line up in support of Ross because the goal is disruption to bring down the liberal state and NOAA backing up misinformation on the weather by Trump is one more disruption.
3
Ross needs a nap.
5
Ross should have stayed asleep.
2
In the Oval Office--
A meeting with Trump and his Nat'l Science Advisor...
DJT: Now, what's this about Pluto not being a planet?
NSA Guy: Yes, sir, it's been downgraded. It happened awhile back.
DJT: Well that can't be right. Kellyanne!
KC: Yes, sir.
DJT: Pluto's a planet, right?
KC: Yes, sir. Absolutely.
DJT: Well, that's settled. Thank you.
In the hallway...
KC: So do you have a letter of--
NSA Guy: Yup, ready to go, just gotta sign and date it. You?
KC: Are you kidding, I've been here since day one, me and the creepy bald guy.
NSA Guy: What's the secret?
KC: If you don't feel like you need a shower five times a day, you're not doing the job right.
NSA Guy: Can I borrow a pen?
4
@Mike thanks for the funny break you momentarily gave us from this horror show. I needed that.
1
He’s a crook, like all Republicans.
4
Wilbur Ross is a liar and a perjurer.
How many chances does a person get before he's kicked to the curb?
How odious that he draws a salary funded by us taxpayers.
9
What a miserable way to be rich, sniveling for a conman.
6
What a nasty man. Another pathological liar, just like his boss.
Can't wait to see what SNL does with Wilbur's Weather ...
5
So pathetic! How does this guy and others like him in this administration face the world without averting their eyes out of shame?
3
"Wilbur Ross, the secretary of commerce, appears set on distinguishing himself again as the most compromised member of an administration that at times seems defined by ethical and moral flexibility."
Now that is the understatement du jour. Wilbur Ross, the man who did not mention his large investment in a Russian company close to Putin in his Senate hearing, is the prototype of an administration that defines itself as the most unethical and amoral swamp of bottom feeders. They are sucking the oxygen out of everyone coming close to it and the country as a whole.
4
This is very mealy-mouthed. Shouldn't Wilbur Ross now be impeached!
2
Why is Ross still working at his age? Don't these sycophants ever die off?
8
@ultimateliberal You mean PSYCHOphants!
7
@Bernie H You are both right.
Now that Michael Cohen is sidelined, Wilbur aka Mr Peepers is now the enforcer.
4
Ross is a rotten corporate villain type who has no business being Secretary of Commerce. He should resign and go back to being an overrich corrupt on his own dime.
4
Disloyalty to the likes of Stalin, Hitler, and Mao was less a matter of losing your job than losing your life. At least our petty, tinpot wannabe dictator hasn't gotten past tweeting "You're fired!" to the underlings who dare to cross him.
2
Why doesn't he do us all a favor and just go back to sleep?
3
Come on NYT, it is high time you come out and call a spade a spade and a liar a liar.
4
Haiku
Trump's weather forecast--
"Sharpiest" guy in the room...
Lunatic alert.
The "sharpiest pen...
With "Rossian" influence;
So much whinnying.
5
This cannot be tolerated. This is an attack on Renaissance and Enlightenment values. Reputations do not override scientific conclusions based on evidence.
3
Ross isn't alone here. The Republicans and the whole Right-wing intellectual combine since the notorious Powell Memo of 1972 is there to attack empiricism, evidence, fact, and linear reasoning at the foundation, and to remove government as an authority or arbiter in questions of fact.
It's an attack on fairness and justice. The goal is to make fact a construct of power, not of discernible reality. They seek parity (if not supremacy) for their fantasy alternative to the "reality-based community", because fact-based reality belongs to everyone, and compels them to accept arguments, if irrefutable, even from people whom they detest. For them that kind of fact-based deductive thinking is onerous and coercive. They demand that belief be equal to empiricism, and to have their beliefs respected even when they are patently wrong, false, and harmful.
It's never been a coincidence that this thinking blooms when fact threatens their mindset. We are on the cusp of a revolution in speed, volume, and value of measurement, a new kind of data-driven literacy already taking hold in our economy and making war on flaccid assumptions and willful blindness. It's no coincidence now that the Trump White House and their dark money backers come from the era and the industries that used power against fact to make their money. They're losing. They'll keep losing.
3
@Next Conservatism Models are not facts and not data either despite your biblical belief in them if you hear of one that contradicts Trump.
Please read Fortune article that puts the time line right and points out that Homeland Security had projections that line up with what Trump said and were even true the day after he tweeted.
Sure. But when it was updated to exclude Alabama, why didn’t he just say he had a new forecast? Why the sharpie and all the lying.
2
Comrade Wilbur has a great deal of explaining with his Cyprus Bank transactions and friendship with Russian Intelligence GRU folks.
Comrade Trump likes men of this elastic background, because they are easily blackmailed to do anything.
4
Wilbur Ross is a proven crook, liar, and bully, of course his boss is pleased. if the US President could grant knighthoods Wilbur Ross would be right behind Ivanka, Junior, and what’s-his-name.
6
Why does anyone listen to- beleive trump?
This is the guy who claimed windmills cause cancer and Obama wired his microwave.
Yea every now and then he does let some truth slip out like when her burned an Israeli spy to impress the Russians with his knowledge so I guess the president is just knowledgeable enough to be dangerous but not useful.
5
Wilbur Ross..a charter member of the Trump Gang of thieves. Throw this grotesque group out! Vote 2020
5
Palpatine of Evil Galactic Empire
3
When you "drain the swamp" you expose all the rats and snakes" That unfortunately is what the current administration is made up of and the ball less Republicans are afraid to stand up to them. They are the skunks
3
What is Wilbur Ross afraid of ; afraid that if he doesn't back
Trump then ….whatever he, Wilbur has hidden...will surface.
I think that NYT journalists should pursue this story further.
6
It is so past time to be rid of Wilbur Ross.
4
This is an expected result of trying to fool with Mother Nature. The imbeciles of this admin are a recurring reinforcement of you can't fix stupid. Most would see this as an abuse of power. ross has a long history of supporting trump regardless of legality or ethics. His time is coming and when trump is out of office, then we'll see what damage has been done and how to repair same. It can't come soon enough.
5
The Boss must be Pleased? That's the problem...We The People are supposed to be the Bosses !! For too long now the Majority of Americans...Voters and Non Voters alike have been governed by the Minority of American Voters !! Why is it that the Fox's Nation,the GOP, Barr, and the NRA aren't bothered by all the chaos and dysfunction of the Worst President and Administration in American History ?? Trump support is simply...Un American !! Where are the True American Patriots ?? MAGA?? Bah Humbug....MAGA is a Hoax !!
3
This was one pathetic incident. Trump must be one of the most insecure people ever. It is shocking how far Republicans will go to feed the trump ego. What a pathetic display. Have they no self respect ?
6
he looks like a cartoon character representation of the evil that he is
4
When this corrupt and disgusting house of cards falls (and it will), I will celebrate the end of Ross louder than others. He is a grub.
3
At 81 years old, it is time that he is put out to pasture.
1
It seen Trump finely found his Roy Cohn.
1
This is how sociopaths behave. Realty is what their delusions tell them it is so they act on it.
2
Hey NY Times, keep giving Wilbur Ross as much press as you can fit in. That will surely get him fired. If there's one thing that Trump hates, it's someone getting more attention, for days, then him. Especially in his self proclaimed hometown newspaper
7
Ethical and moral flexibility? A typo I’ll bet! You really meant to write “vacuity.” Happy to have caught that for you. You’re welcome.
5
Wilbur Ross should be ignominiously fired.. & replaced by Kate McKinnon!
2
Wilbur Ross is the epitome of lying, corrupt sleaze. Drain the swamp? Puh-leeze. This mendacious crook needs to RESIGN.
4
More Times milquetoast. Call for his immediate resignation or get off the pot.
3
The Editorial Board and most of the commenters are absolutely correct. We need to drain the swamp, get rid of the graft, and fill administrative positions with people who are aware of what their agency does rather than just ignorant puppets.
But, the real problem is that 40% of Americans seem to be totally comfortable with an Administration that utterly ignores laws. They elected Trump who already had a track record of dishonesty. (I've been told, "Oh, politicians always lie " as if that made it OK for the President. Apparently a strong leader should follow their "gut" inclinations and ignore laws if they interfere. Our Trump voters are "law and order" voters as long as the laws don't apply to dishonest morons like Wilbur Ross or Donald Trump -- who lied and then threatened to fire NOAA employees who were doing their jobs
3
Wilbur! Wake up, you're fired.
3
"just following orders" We've heard that one before. OUT with all of them. We have the chance to get ahead of this fascist movement, so let's take it!
1
It is really bizarre that Ross is willing to bend over backwards to please Trump. Money or compromise is usually the explanation. Looking at Ross’s investments in US steel and the money he made in 2005 on tariffs set up by Bush, it may be a factor in his own recommendation for steel tariffs since he had not publicly shown he had divested all of his assets in the industry. He recommended the tariff for “national security” and Trump enacted it on an executive order. It wouldn’t surprise me that there is some deal going on with profits made. And then there’s always the Cyprus bank position that Ross had before he was Commerce Secretary. That’s the same bank that is famous for Russian money laundering. Who knows what compromising information each has on the other.
6
Why not filed criminal charges against Mr. Ross? Isn't there a law prohibiting the Weather Service from falsifying a forecast?
6
My neighbor Roy has officially taken off his Trump/Pence bumper stickers. Said they were corroding. I just nodded and read between the lines.
10
The NOAA nonsense isnt Wilbur Ross's first ethical rodeo. When you examine Wilbur Ross's checkered past you find numerous allegations of impropriety, such as ignoring the health and safety of coal miners working for his coal company (over 200 violations), failure to honor pensions in companies he acquired, insider trading, failure to supply accurate financial information to the U.S.Office of Government Ethics, conflicts of interest while Commerce Secretary, overcharging clients, and of course the infamous census question. Wilbur Ross is a perfect fit for the ethical prurience that permeates the Trump presidency.
8
The one constant we can all depend on with this administration is making it very easy for all of us. Whatever they say - you know the opposite is the truth. We have not had one statement, announcement, report from this group of liars that we can believe in. If there is one thing in this country we can rely on it is that this group from the head down cannot be trusted. So we will and do depend on the professional people to tell us what’s what. You don’t even have to spend your time, energy, imagination. Don’t bother. So as some say they wouldn’t know the truth if .....!
4
Isn't that Ross individual one of those bankruptcy vultures who feeds off fiscal carrion?
Worse than an ambulance chaser...
4
It feels like the Times wants to do the right thing. But saying that the Trump administration is "defined by ethical and moral flexibility" is an example of the Times's own ethical and moral squishiness. The editors just don't want to say "liars," they don't want to say "corruption," they don't want to say "authoritarian gang." They pull their punches.
At this point, it's simply impossible to see why they choose to do that.
4
Who really believes that Wilbur Ross woke up from his postprandial nap in Greece and decided to ride to Trump’s rescue? I suspect that he got a wake up call from the WH.
Wilbur Ross is not the problem.
Trump is.
1
"...of an administration that [at times seems] defined by ethical and moral flexibility."
Why does the NYT editorial board persist in using pretty-fied euphemisms instead of the truth? This entire administration is compromised ethically and morally. There is no "flexibility". They are consistent in flushing ethics, morality and truth down the toilet.
4
Truth died in 2017
3
EB White would not be happy. "abuse of authority" is a punch pulled version of "abuse of power." Why pull your punches?
2
Impeach Wilbur Ross now.
He is thoroughly corrupt and authoritarian.
He puts our democracy in peril.
5
Keep trying NYT...
You efforts to derail the reelection of our President are right on track..
But ultimately, will fail.
And you know it.
1
@DB Ummmm nope. Prison is his next office.
3
@DB
Let's be clear about this.
If anyone is doing anything to "derail" this president--it's Trump who's doing it all by himself.
The NYT is only reporting it.
2
@JJ
He will win.
Stop trying to believe any other outcome is real.
Interesting, considering the NYTimes is taking Trump's version of Bolton leaving over Bolton's version.
2
He even manages to LOOK nasty and sour.
6
"at times defined by ethical and moral flexibility"? Nice euphemism, why do editors and writers twist themselves in knots to not say what is plainly true. This is bad writing and fails to make the point that I believe the writer is trying to convey which is that Wilbur Ross is the worst of an administration that has been defined by corruption. If so, why not say it?
5
Isn’t Mr. Ross the cabinet secretary who when awakened from his nap during meetings,allegedly wipes his drool on his tie?
5
Wilbur Ross is a crook and a clown as a human like all Trumps so-called people, a gathering of humanities worst historically speaking, if our so-called history is even relevant to reality. I think not!
3
And the Order of Lenin goes to.....
Wilbur Ross, for his heroic defense against the traitors in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the running dogs of imperialism, the sworn enemies of our Supreme Leader, the Father of Nations, Our Genius, Our Best of the Best, Our Darling, Our Guiding Star!
Long live the NKVD! Long Live Comrade Trump!
4
When one works for a LIAR - it pays to also be a liar!
3
How on Earth does ANYONE support this nonsense?
3
Some people smoke to much marijuana while some others should start smoking it !!!
2
Remember back when Republicans bragged and preached about being the party of “character, family values, faith, integrity”?! The truth, which many of us knew even back then is out! Republicans are liars, cheats, crooks! Wilbur Ross is one of the worst! Forcing someone to lie because the Republican president’s ego is fragile, and threatening their job?!
Wilber Ross RESIGN!
4
This could be the smoking gun.
Rather than the impeachment hearing being of the panoply of illegal unethical actions, it should be of a single count, similar to that of President Clinton. His crime was trivial, lying about his affair with another adult, yet it may have made the difference in Republicans winning the next election.
My point is simple, that Trump's warning to the people of Alabama to prepare for a catastrophe was a high crime, as it diverted resources from actually saving the lives of those who were in the path of this hurricane. And now he has exacerbated this by attempting to punish those who disclosed his distortion.
This would be an act that did irrefutably occur, just as Clinton's. In a matter of weeks this writ of impeachment could be before the Senate for trial. The facts will be aired, and then the Republican senators will have to go on record for either ignoring this malfeasance, or acknowledging it.
This "synedoche," a literary device in which a part of something represents the whole, by its very simplicity, could
achieve what a voluminous set of articles would only obfuscate.
5
I believe the official title of Wilbur Ross should be changed from Secretary of Commerce to Secretary of Propaganda. It more accurately reflects the actions he carries out for President Trump, sorry, Dictator Trump. Mr. Ross has earned himself a permanent spot in the rogues gallery of individuals who have sold their souls at the feet of Donald Trump.
4
You have to like and understand the social mire that is Palm Beach to understand the relationship between Ross and Trump.
I'm surprised since he wears velvet slippers that he did not tread softly this time but stomped on the NOAA.
4
for those of us old enough not to be concerned about the countries drift towards the shoals of economic disaster and fascism this comedy of errors and fools is truly delightful.
1
@Oliver. All good observations, however permit me to expand and enhance them.
1. Donald Trump has no mind, at least in the usual sense of the word, therefore, he cannot possibly be capable of judgment, again, at least as we commonly understand the term.
2. That there is no distinction between Queeg's phantom strawberries and this President's weather reporting, while humorous, demonstrates that while Queeg was certainly a danger to the crew of the Caine, Trump is a clear and present danger to what remains of our Democracy, dignity, and standing in the world. Apples and oranges these are not. All the fruit of this Administration (and I use the term with fear and loathing dripping from each letter) is rotten, and while it is true that a fish rots from the head down, the stench of alpha toady Wilbur Ross is particularly pungent. Finally, strawberries never posed a threat to our country. Let's put Trump and Ross, along with however many of their unindicted co-conspirators (past and present), will fit (yes, I'm looking at you, Jared Kushner and Stephanie Grisham) into Queeg's rowboat. I'd rather Queeg finish what's left of Trump's term. At least he doesn't know how to use Twitter.
3
Mr Ed, the talking horse of the TV show, was a "stable genius" whose owner was Wilbur. Mr Trump, the "stable genius" of the current reality show that is our government is the owner of Wilbur.
4
The Editorial Board needs to be brought up to speed on models. Models are projections. When you blind modelers to one another, they are likely to reach entirely different projections.
Apparently, Trump received a different projection from Homeland Security according to the Fortune article with a link below on Sunday night that he tweeted; this projection that Alabama is threatened was even true on Monday from what the link below says. Homeland Security is not under the umbrella of Commerce last that I checked.
I am glad that this is opinion piece, as the facts do not line up at all with the time line and facts in the Fortune article below. The media have made a huge politcal frenzy out of this, but they are not telling the full story - please read the Fortune article.
https://fortune.com/2019/09/06/trump-hurricane-alabama
1
@Dan
I just read the Fortune article, and it doesn’t really support Trump or excuse the nonsense. First of all, in follow up, he complained that he just mentioned that the hurricane could “graze” Alabama. No, he had said that Alabama would be “hit much harder” than expected. Later in the Fortune piece Homeland Security is quoted about a briefing they gave the president. That spoke of tropical storm winds, again, not a hard-hitting hurricane. And if this alleged HS briefing was the basis of trump’s comments, why didn’t HS come forward earlier, with their own maps? Finally, NOAA and the weather service are the experts, aren’t they? Any way you shake this out, the president made an easy mistake and was too immature to admit it.
3
@Dan Well yes they are. When has any potus done weather speculation? How about never?
@NB Please read up on tropical force winds. Yes, they can inflict enormous damage incuding loss of human life.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_cyclone_scales
Only under Trump does something as innocuous as a weather report can become somewhat of a political crisis. The crassness of and agency being forced to lie in an unsigned document is a testament to the corruption of this administration. Donald Trump is the most thin skinned, ridiculous political leader in US history. Shame on the NOAA to even publish the document.
2
Just another one of Trump’s deplorables; my gosh, it’s almost as though Trump went out to find the absolute worst human beings he could find.
That’s the one thing our great leader has succeeded at.
3
Trump appointees all seem ready to lie, and cover trump lies. Considering that trump boasted he would only hire the best makes him the biggest liar of them all.
Why would the governments of other countries believe a word out of their mouths (or in print)? I certainly don’t believe anything this administration claims, and haven’t for a long time.
2
Another name added to the wall of shame.
3
Another trump apparatchik wastes everyone’s time with an inane and truly idiotic effort to obfuscate for trump at the expense of the American people. Wilbur Ross knows better but that doesn’t matter to him; shame-shame-shame on you Mr. Ross!
Historians will not forget the many disgusting and disgraceful attempts by the trump administration to bully and intimidate loyal federal career employees and dissemble in support of “trump—the incompetent”. Be advised, members of this current “administration”; trump people will always be professionally tainted as a result of their connection with that guy. Who will ever believe you and want to hire or work with you?
It will be just like having Lehman Brothers on your resume!
This awful bunch will be gone soon, thank goodness, while the vast majority of federal workers will continue to do their important work, as honestly and as best they can.
3
The need for acceptance, even by a group as corrupt as the current administration, is a sign of low personal esteem and is a characteristic of narcissism. The only way Wilbur got his job is because birds of a feather flock together.
It seems the whole bunch of them suffer from the lack of compassion and empathy and use each other to try & bolster their worth.......more sociopaths is not a good sign.
3
“…the most compromised member of an administration that at times seems defined by ethical and moral flexibility.”
Suggested revision: “…the most compromised member of an administration that is irrevocably defined by ethical and moral rot.”
There. Fixed it for you.
3
Pick any day from the last two+ years; had Obama done what Trump did on any of those days (I repeat: any of those days) the GOP would have had him impeached, tarred and feathered and run out of DC on a rail.
5
Deceiving Congress is LYING to Congress. Now he broke the law as listed in section 515 of the Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act. He knowingly and purposely threatened top federal officials so that they disseminate false information about data related to a public emergency. He placed the security of the US at risk in order to please the POTUS’s fragile ego. Both need to be impeached. This is ridiculous.
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2002-02-22/pdf/R2-59.pdf
5
"The White House has denied that Mr. Ross threatened to fire anyone at NOAA ..."
A denial that is utterly worthless.
3
Trump introduces the Political Commissar, or the political officer, from the USSR into American system, both civilian and military. Such officers weren't just used by the Soviets but also there was the NSFO in Germany. Providing only what he wanted to hear was also symptomatic of Hitler's leadership.
How many 'red flags' do we need before we there is a dangerous person on the lose who could harm us?
1
You say: "But members of the Trump administration seem to have forgotten that they work for — and their loyalty lies with — the American people. They are charged with serving the public interest, not the president’s ego."
Wrong. They never forgot they work for us because they never believed it. Not for a second. #45 uber alles. Fealty to the king at all costs, or it's off with your head. Just ask John Bolton, and many others. We don't even factor into their thinking.
#45's ego so fragile that he has to draw on a map in public in a way that would embarrass the average 4th grader in a classroom. Ross is just a foot soldier in fascism, pure and simple. And an especially loathsome one with perhaps less moral grounding than #45. We all do better when he sleeps in meetings.
2
Have we drained the swamp yet?
5
Just because the president is wrong most of the time doesn't make him a weatherman.....it's a joke!
His comment about Alabama is not far off from yelling fire (or, someone's got a gun) in a crowded movie theatre and I believe that is against the law. Not to mention the panic and diverted resources it might cause.
In the words of Ron White....There ain't no fixing stupid.
PS, if Bolton is out, Ross can't be far behind.
1
". . . the most compromised member of an administration that at times seems defined by ethical and moral flexibility."
At times? At which times does it not?
2
"Mr. Trump is waging a war on facts...."
Really. What else does one need to know about this man to realize how unfit he is for the office he holds?
Truth is Trump's nemesis, Facts are an existential threat to his pathetic facade. Let all among us not under the spell of this uber- conman continue to shout the truth.
2
He's got facial lines that make him look like a ventriloquist's dummy. Form and function, in one swell foop.
I hope these morally vacant sycophants come to rue the day they opted in with this madhouse of a Presidency.
1
Sweet home Alabama
Where the skies are so blu....
No. They're not. Get rid of the guy who said that!
1
Don't forget when Ross also was bewildered during the protracted shut down as to why people just couldn't get loans to cover their bills.
He has no clue about real life anymore, and he's just another sycophant to the Liar-in-Chief.
Please vote, vote and vote November 2020 to remove Donald J. Trump from the White House. The country you save may be our own.
1
American businesses are typically run like small (or big!) stalinist dictatorships, with centralized planning, personality cults and stuff. Trump, and his nearly empty cabinet, have lived their professional lives as little dictators. You want a government of businessmen, this is what you get.
1
He reminds me of some creepy character from Harry Potter.
2
Wilbur Ross is a business hack who got lucky in the oil and gas industry and, is number than a pounded thumb when it comes to government and public policy or even oil policy. He and Trump are two peas in a pod.
1
It's difficult to point the finger at who in Donald Trump's Rogues Gallery of a cabinet is truly the worst, but there is a strong case to be made for Wilbur Ross. This con-man made a fortune cheating his own business partners, then used the spoils to lawyer up and shield himself from prosecution. He may look like half-melted nutter butter and sound like a dementia patient lost at the grocery store, but he is a snake and rotten to the core.
1
Look at Wilber's picture, then tell me that we should feel confident in our government.
This clown belongs in Zombie movies.
1
No less than Forbes (that self-described "Capitalist Tool") called Wilbur Ross the biggest thief in America.
Meaning, he's stolen hundreds of millions from his business partners, and been sued numerous times, with no vindications.
And yet, you don't hear a word of it.
1
Wilbur Ross and Donald Trump are both birds of a feather who lie because they assume, no one will catch them and neither have any respect for those they lie to, most of all the American people.
Wilbur Ross needs to step down. He's been caught in too many lies and no one elected him. Trump will depart...after the Nov 2020 election.
Good riddance someday to both pathological liars.
1
Time and again I hear Trump’s supporters say the he talks like them - dumb and dumber. All the old whites! Those of us who are also old and white but have more than an ounce of common sense are called elites. Proud to be so and to stand apart from the mindless fanatics who praise the Emperors New Clothes.
2
Wilbur Ross is a Trump sycophant and will do anything to please our president.
The irony of all of this is that Trump could still fire him because Wilbur falls asleep during meetings.
Trump expects loyalty.
However, when will these Trump enablers learn that this president has no allegiance to anyone but himself?
This is the result of electing a narcissist and liar for president.
Our democracy is being threatened everyday. We are looking more like a banana republic.
Time to fire this president in2020.
1
It's funny. I never see or hear anyone questioning the Clown's minions at one of his ridiculous lie-a-thon rallies about these particular issues. You know, something like, "hey, how'd that hurricane turn out in Alabama? Remember how Trump said it would be hit harder than we thought? What do you think about that?" Or, "Hey, if trade wars are so good, why'd Trump have to give $12 billion to our farmers?"
But of course, we all know the answer, don't we? "It's fake news!" they'd say. "That's just the lamestream media!" they'd cackle.
That's because his supporters are as dumb as the Clown.
1
Neal Jacobs knows! Supposedly done by phone call - secure line and probably by now scrubbed from any record.
Overflow from this reported action will trickle down to further damage Federal Employee Morale. Think that morale level lower than a snakes belly. Thank you NWS.
Federal Employees - hang in there. The American Voter is coming to the rescue. Have a suspicion that Federal, State and Local public employees will not vote Red.
1
Well I guess being loyal to Trump has its rewards...oh wait...no it doesn't.
3
These people are the biggest bunch of crooks. If we are able to wrest our democracy back from these piggish oligarchs, it will be of first-order importance to eliminate the billionaire class. This is end-stage capitalism wreaking havoc on the 99 percent at a level we may not survive. Wilbur Ross is the tip of the stinking iceberg--and it is clear that he must tend his resignation immediately.
5
In a government with integrity, Wilbur Ross would not have been appointed to his post. If deception, accident, or mistake had resulted in his appointment, it would have been corrected within days of this recent stupidity. In any case, what's a scientific group doing under commerce?
3
Fire Wilbur Ross. To threaten scientists trying to inform and protect citizens deserves nothing less than dismissal and disgrace.
3
Why can't he be removed under the 25th Amendment?
Falsifying maps with a sharpie. Scaring an entire state that a hurricane threatens them when, in truth, he made that stuff up. His Cabinet orders scientists to lie or get fired. He is golfing, using his office to attack an actress on twitter, while a hurricane threatens our citizens. He won't stop his Alabama-related tweets. He's gaslighting everyone who knows where Alabama is.
I don't know about you, but faking a hurricane map with a sharpie because you refuse to have a sane pereson check your phone before you mistakenly tell the entire state of Alabama that they are at risk when they aren't--if I were writing a novel of a President off the rails, I couldn't make that up.
And the list goes on. The administration is a chaotic revolving door. The only way to have job security is to be born the daughter he wants to date. Again, couldn't make it up if I tried.
If this isn't an inability to discharge the office of the Presidency, I don't know what is.
2
Is this really happening? Could any writer of fiction novels have imagined such a grotesque level of folly?
3
This is akin having tea with the mad hatter and his entourage ; except this is serious and not a story . It's exhausting to watch Trump and his toadies bend reality ; to suit their lies and machinations . Wilbur Ross is possibly the worst of his coterie , it's hard to compare as one is as bad as the other , no goodkins here . Pruitt is gone and so is Zinke , Wilbur Ross has managed to stay out of the limelight since the census debacle ; still kissing the ring and telling the Emperor he is clothed in gold .
1
"The boss must be pleased."
No. The boss must be "fired" if the nation is to withstand this assault on reason, dignity, truth, and freedom.
There was never anything funny about his brand of abysmal. There is no upside to being inept, ignorant, petty, vicious and stupid, but this week is a game changer.
The man is now openly despotic. The "war" he's waging on those who "dare" to disagree with him is actually an assault on reason itself and is therefore an assault on all of us.
I hear some on the other thread saying good riddance to Bolton. Much as I despise that man's politics, what was done to him is indefensible. Two days ago it was threats against the weathermen for "daring" to out DJT's idiotic stunt with a sharpie. Yesterday it was threats against NOAA. This morning it was tantrums and threats about the press. Again. This very moment Bolton is in the hot seat.
It doesn't take a genius to know that no one is safe. Can people honestly not see the parallels to another time in history that prompted one reasonable man to point out that if you don't want them to come for you, you stand up for others when they're treated poorly, even if their politics aren't yours.
We don't "dare" stand up to one monumentally petty, ridiculous, insufferable thug. By not doing so we're giving him gargantuan powers.
We've created a monster, but that doesn't mean we can't harness the power to boot him from office. Now. It's time to take the Big Top down and vanquish this clown.
1
A long line of corruption, lies and damage to our country and democracy right to the feet of conman trump
1
Is there any doubt that Trump's is the most corrupt presidential administration since that of Warren G. Harding?
2
Keep in mind Wilbur Ross is one the Trump hand-picked "BEST people."
Did you ever, EVER, imagine in your wildest imaginations that we come to a time we're hashing and rehashing a true story about the POTUS requiring cover from the commerce secretary for mis-speaking (at first), then lying and doctoring a map to re-enforce the said mis-speak and lie?
And even if you did suspect this could happen, did you think it'd continue on for 5, 6 days!? This is unreal.
This is the Trump administration doing what it does; and his hand-picked "best people" doing what they were picked to do -- cover, contort, lie, threaten, do anything to support and make Trump look good (or at least mitigate the buffoon's actions, words, and lies).
And somehow, this is all A-Ok with the GOP... crazy times.
We have got to make some serious changes in 2020!
2
When the truth goes out the window, morality goes with it.
Trump, "Who are the Real Americans?"
Crowd, "We are!"
Trump, "And who are the Fake Americans?"
Crowd, "They are!"
The next step is obvious.
"And what should we do with the Fake Americans!"
"Get rid of them!", they'll all say.
It can't happen here? Watch one of Herr Trump's rallies and you'll soon realize that we are already 90% of the way there.
Mark my words: Trump will never leave office willingly.
NEVER.
Bravo for the weathermen and women of the resistance. Wilbur Ross did not frighten them into submission. Frankly, I say let him stay, he famously naps during late (after lunch) meetings. His acting replacement would probably be worse.
Anyway, as the Bard said ”You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.”
We need a blowhard president even less.
Ross' service is supposed to be to his country, not to a liar.
1
This opinion is spot-on and provides good examples of how in the Trump administration ying to the American people is a 24/7 operations, with no consequences for the people doing the lying.
I use to think that lying to a federal investigator will get you prosecuted, after all it put Martha Stewart in jail in 2004. However, that was a long time ago and all indications are that lying to a federal investigator is only a crime if AG Barr says it is a crime. And lying to the American people well, that is SOP for Trump, his administration, politicians of all flavors, corporate executives, etc.
In an opinion entitled — Lies? False Claims? When Trump’s Statements Aren’t True — dated June 25, 2018, NYT executive editor, Dean Baquet, provided and explanation why the NYT did not call proven, obvious lies by Trump lies. There was a long winded explanation for not calling lies, lies.
That said, my favorite explanation is "The word “lie” is very powerful. For one thing, it assumes that someone knew the statement was false." I am sure that line of thinking was music to the ears of lawyers and politicians everywhere as it re-enforces the white-collar get out of jail card "my heart was pure my word and actions were not made with intent.
I am confident that most Americans can deal with calling a lie a lie if doing so is backed back-up by facts. There are a number of good ways to call a lie a lie so use them and stop the media dance about calling lying politicians liars.
2
After Trump falls will justice be done?
It’s been said it will take decades to make corrections to get us back to a democracy resembling our country’s. Justice, it’s like asking someone whose loved one was brutally attacked. What would be a just punishment for someone who absolutely went out of way out of vindictiveness to destroy our country.
2
Trump, Ross. What's the difference? Ross knows when he is lying.
All aboard the gravy train!
2
Americans don't seem to take lying very seriously.
1
The one thing, above all else, missing from Trump, Barr and Ross and others in that circle, is shame. There is simply no way to shame them. They have no inner compass that says this is wrong if it benefits them. They are willing to lose reputations, respect and any other mark of decency for their own ambitions.
Trump is, of course , the master of it. He can create a problem, enjoy the furor then double down and watch it play out then back off, keeping it again top story. The shame simply does not register. Wilbur Ross, to keep a job way above his competence, emulates. A pathetic attempt perhaps and if he garners too much attention he could be fired but not if he continues his obsequious bend to the will of Trump.
Without shame there is no humility. Without humility there is no compassion. Without compassion, well, we're seeing that every day in our governing.
This is right on.
However, it leads to a conundrum: The logical reaction of decent Americans is that Wilbur Ross should rot alone on some uninhabited island.
But then, as this editorial shows, Wilbur Ross already is thoroughly rotten.
2
Ross is one of the more morally corrupt among the many many corrupt under the King of Corruption himself.
2
100% of those members of this admin have lied under oath.
There is not one criminal charge pending
Where are the bloody dems?
1
Just another liar. I find it discomfiting that Ross was once at the top of the heap, owning his own business and a Democrat until 2016 to boot, if you believe the bio on Wikipedia. It gets a little depressing that all these "swamp creatures" seem to think that appeasing Trump is the only way to keep their jobs. Oh, wait. John Bolton disagreed and now he's been fired. The perceived obsequiousness of Ross is now revealed as a truth.
2
The swamp of Trump has no depth and the foul stench of the fog over the swamp that never lifts is overwhelming.
But as long as the supporters of the swamp master allow him and his toadies to lie, to manipulate, to corrupt our government we will be stuck with the swamp master and his fellow swamp dwellers for years.
We place a lot of trust in the actions of the NOAA-our forecasts for where we live, the aviation community that desires the most accurate information for their and their passengers safety, the shipping companies, the highway workers and our first responders in times extreme weather need those apolitical forecasts.
Yet, we now have a swamp dweller, a pandering toady, who finds a need to insure the lies told by Trump are the most accurate lies that can be concocted. And in the process alienates those professionals who we depend on and possibly has instilled fear into their daily work routines and may be hesitant to issue a warning or watch for fear it may offend Ross and his loony boss, Trump.
So, I say to Ross, and Old Sharpie, good job. I hope those actions to insure a lie became truth do not bite we the public in the rear end.
But, I digress. Trump, in his latest Nuremberg rally says we liberals don't believe in religion.
I disagree, many of us pray to a higher being that he is shown the door in 2020.
2
This account of the Dorian matter defies all common sense. When the NOAA learned of Trump’s mistake proper protocol required them to contact the White House and call for a correction. Issuing an emergency notification contradicting Trump was an obvious effort to discredit him and was properly viewed as insubordination. There was no emergency at the time. A quick correction from the White House would have done the trick. The President and Mr. Ross have every right to oppose those in the government, even scientists, who purposely seek to make the President look bad.
1
Shirley you jest!?
3
Except that the White House wouldn’t have corrected it. The current occupant will never admit a mistake
3
After all of this debacle and spectacle, my question is why is the Commerce Department in charge of NOAA?
4
The mass of U.S. citizens at large seem to be in a stupor, or numb, whatever, to the outright , baldfaced lies our Interloper-in Chief and his latest know nothing sycophant of the week, Wilbur Ross have perpetrated in order to make more chaos out of chaos. We seem to be well past a nascent , Orwellian 1984 -type of reality that, if it is not curtailed, could be a real life model for what that prophetic novel depicted in chilling detail.
4
Ah, the BEST people!
I believe it was Bill Maher who said recently that if Trump was the leader of another country, we'd bomb it.
7
How does this creature keep his job? He was proven to have lied about the census citizenship question with email proof during the congressional investigation. The entire cabinet is filled with stooges.
4
Because only one person can fire him...
1
"an administration that at times seems defined by ethical and moral flexibility."
Let's parse these innocuous descriptions here and put them into the more realistic and harsher light where they belong. This is an administration"hellbent" on deceiving the public and propping up a pathetic individual who is undoubtedly one of the lowest I.Q. humans ever to entertain taking on a political career and is so wholly unfit to be serving as President as to be a running joke, as we witness this degradation of the office daily and note the damage that will need to be undone once this Administration is removed and yet, we are agonizingly cognizant that this is no laughing matter at all. We are being suspended in a constant sea of affronts to the nature of reality itself and are being fed Orwellian disinformation which will have untold serious future consequences which will bear down on the country as a result of this mistakenly elected official pretending to be our President. This bumbling clown of lies and small schemes, Ross, should have resigned immediately after his censorship question was debunked and overruled by the Supreme Court. It would be normally have been laughable what happened with the sharpie, if it wasn't so deadly pernicious at the same time. At the heart of this entire weather tweet episode is another coverup and whitewashing of the truth. Truth, a concept our morally corrupt President probably has never understood since the moment he exited the womb.
4
The trump administration makes Teapot Dome seem like a quaint Nursery Rhyme by comparison.
2
It looks, to me, like there is a quid pro quo between Ross and Trump regarding Deutsch Bank dealings. Probably something like I'll cover your back if you cover mine. It would not surprise me if , one day soon, Wilbur Ross will needing a pardon.
4
I don’t throw around the term “evil” or “villainous” often but they absolutely apply to Wilbur Ross. Stan Lee could not make up such a repulsive character as Ross. God help the United States of America. The GOP and trump certainly won’t.
4
I am waiting patiently to read about any members of the Trump administration who are not liars, cheaters, grifters or scam artists. It seems there are no honorable folks in Trump-land, and those few folks who were honorable prior to serving have all been permanently tarnished with the stench of Trump. Historians will be writing about the chaos, racism, willful ignorance, deceit, self-serving financial scams, and dysfunction in this administration for many years to come.
5
Wow, just when one thought it could not get more ridiculous. The depth of corruption in this government is resembling that in failed autocratic states.
6
A Trump kind of guy. God help us all.
4
Yet another Trump puppet emerges on the "should-be-fired" roster.
3
This is a prime example of why we must never again elect a "businessman" president. Big businesses are by default authoritarian in their structure: I am sure Wilbur thought he had the power to make his underlings simply fall in line. Neither he nor Trump have a single clue about democracy and how it works. Shameful.
3
The ludicrous Sharpie bubble drawn by Trump is a sign of utterly cluelesness of the meaning of the probability cone in hurricane forecasts. Whether he actually drew it or a hapless assistant is immaterial, as showing the altered map and its implications was his conscious decision. The sharpie-gate extension of the cone beyond the then 5-day forecast is not only a bumbling amateurish act, but an assault on the meaning of the probability cone beyond the actual NOAA forecast. At such later date the cone would expand to indicate an increasing uncertainty of the future location of the storm. But instead the Sharpie bubble was substantially smaller, an impossible outcome.
2
Sometimes, you get the face you’ve earned.
Just saying.
6
I want to thank the NY Times for pointing out this is not Wilbur's first offence. "exhibited a willingness to deceive".
Man, I'd love to see this guy appear on Judge Judy.
3
Ross should be asked to resign. He is not doing his job.
1
The mafia don's lieutenants all owe him allegiance in return for which they receive a piece of the turf...Ross is no different than the rest of this gang. we need to get rid of them before they take us down. VOTE.
2
This president is a snake oil salesman who care not a wit for the truth. He just wants to sell more snake oil. It’s frightening to me how many people want to buy it.
1
Well, at least if the press and the public turn up the heat too much on Wilbur Ross after his role in “NOAA-gate” he knows he always has a home away from home in Saudi Arabia. No protests there - Eh, Mr. Ross!
3
I wish, instead of using euphemisms like "misleading" or "deceiving," the press would simply use the word LIE. Ross lied to the public...period!
2
To the author. Please don’t use the words “sound science.” It is catchy and sounds, on the surface, okay. However, it was coined by the cigarette companies and any science they didn’t like was unsound. The words are wide open to personal interpretations. Widely used in anti global warming propaganda too.
1
Would one expect a sleazy insider of a business man to do anything less? He's a sleaze, always was, always will be.
2
"Wilbur Ross, the secretary of commerce, appears set on distinguishing himself again as the most compromised member of an administration that at times seems defined by ethical and moral flexibility." Really, Wilbur Ross needs to get in line. Don't forget Ryan Zinke, Tom Price, Michael Flynn, Brock Long, Scott Pruitt etc. I could add his family, the Air Force, Trump's campaign, Mitch McConnell, etc. Really, this isn't Wilbur's first rodeo. I have a feeling these bad apples gravitate and have morphed to the big grifter at the top. Praising and covering Trump gets you big bucks. It should be the big house, but with the GOP ....calling out "'It's just like any other hotel' McCarthy.....it's a get out of you know what card.
2
Please, just write it: Secretary Ross lies.
President Trump lies regularly, and he requires it of his subordinates.
Simple words about these simple men.
2
“...the paradoxes [of our time] are becoming so great that leaders of people must be less and less intelligent to stand their own leadership”. John Steinbeck, The Log from the Sea of Cortez
2
You have it wrong NYT. In Trump world, everyone serves Trump's whim, fancy and desire regardless of whether or not such breaks the law.
3
Ross just won the prize for sycophant of the month. The old saying "he even lies about the weather" has been verified by our president. He lies even about the weather and exacerbates it by forcing his commerce secretary to insist upon a retraction of a factual tweet. Is there no subordinate in the WH who has McGahn's courage to say to the president: No Mr. President, I will not do that? They are aiding and abetting a spoiled, self-absorbed brat. All the good people are gone (Mattis, McMaster, Kelly, etc.) and all who remain look like Mouseketeers. No wonder Trump has ordered the end of press conferences. He's perfectly happy to lie on his own instead of having a subordinate do it. Unfortunately the helicopter noise behind him is not loud enough to drown him out.
2
Also:
18 U.S. Code 2074 False weather reports
"Whoever knowingly issues or publishes any counterfeit weather forecast or warning of weather conditions falsely representing such forecast or warning to have been issued or published by the Weather Bureau, United States Signal Service, or other branch of the Government service, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ninety days, or both."
(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 795; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330016(1)(G), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2147.)
3
how can a"new low" be reached when the president and cabinet were already on bottom? The Pledge of Allegiance needs to be changed -- "'... one nation under science ..." Trump's Hand Maidens are a medieval regression. Wilbur should go.
3
This behavior is reminiscent of the way party hacks used to enforce the line on government scientists - that is to say, the Communist Party line under the Soviet Union.
The Republican Party is bankrupt and needs to be forced out of business.
2
The National Weather Service personnel and NOAA scientists do important life-saving work. It is reassuring that they have not folded under political pressure and are defending science, the truth, and the need for independence during national disasters.
Mr. Ross, like many in the Trump administration, has disgraced himself. It is corrupt and abusive to bully others to curry favor with the boss. It is dangerous when the subject is science and disasters that kills thousands.
6
This is the same Ross who was a partner in a bank in Cyprus with a Russian partner. When Trump could not get a loan in America from any reputable bank, Ross and the Russ sent cash. No wonder he wound up in the Administration. He also lied about his wealth (he was a billionaire, but added a couple of fake billions so as to seem more important). Lying about the weather is easy to this set of rainmakers for Trump.
7
It’s very simple
Resign
Lying to Congress
Threatening federal employees, appointed positions or otherwise
Corruption in his pre-administration life- i.e. bank in Cyprus? Hmmmm
Unfit to serve
A new definition for “the best people.”
6
The title of this opinion is exactly correct.
This is not a typical Trump lie, It is an attack on government workers who told the truth.
It reminds me of the old Monty Python sketch, "The Argument Clinic"...The Trump bunch just automatically takes a stance above and apart from reason,
The hurricane is perhaps going to Alabama. No it is not. Yes it was always a possibility. No?
The Trump bunch is purely Monty Python in effect. Very funny but not.
3
Exactly!!!!
1
Ross soon to be on the wrong side of history. The nation is signaling that it wants leadership based on something much more than the mood our dictator is in at any given moment.
6
The saga of 'Alabama and Dorian' is just the latest episode of the never-ending battle between the press and Donald Trump. I've never been more incessantly reminded of the phrase 'It takes two to tango" than I am when following the latest "the sky is falling" outrage over something Trump said. While the NY Times and the rest of the mainstream media like to portray this particular episode as one that Trump has kept in the headlines, the media (as always) is an equal participant in this hand to hand combat. The Times reported the other day, and I quote: "In an attempt to head off panic, the Birmingham forecasters quickly sent out their own tweet, assuring residents that they were not, in fact, in harm’s way." Panic? Really? So while Floridians thoughtfully and diligently began taking precautions when they believed they would be hit by Dorian, Alabamans would have been 'panicking' instead, running through the streets screaming and pulling their hair out? How does the Times justify insinuating that Alabama would 'panic' if residents believed they could be hit by Dorian? For the record, on August 30th, the official Twitter account of the Alabama National Guard tweeted: "#HurricaneDorian is projected to reach southern Alabama by the early part of the week. We are watching closely and #ready to act. Are you?" When the Times greatly exaggerates the issue at hand, (by saying Trump's words would have caused 'panic,' it's just another example of pandering to its base.
1
@David If you were residing in Alabama would your opinion be different given the circumstances at the time?
1
@David
You obviously didn't follow the story carefully. The NWS publicly contradicted Trump BECAUSE Alabamians exhibited panic, as they had days before ceased to fear that they would be affected, since soon after 8/30, the predictions changed to exclude any likelihood of it getting to Alabama. And then came Trump's tweet.
Got that? Cause everyone else has.
There was no exaggeration, & if you really think this is not a big deal, both for Trump's obsessive insistence on being right about -- of all things! -- the weather,
(as tho he's Forecaster In Chief!), & for Ross's forcing via THREATS the official public confirmation of a transparent LIE by the POTUS, then I can only guess that you're actually a Trump supporter yourself.
Far from the media making an unwarranted fuss, it's absolutely vital that they expose every instance of this kind of outrageous behavior by Trump & his minions -- & that they make quite clear just how outrageous it is.
« Work travels in Greece ». Yeah, right.
The people that work for Trump are not in it for public service. Even Trump is not in it for public service.
3
A correction. “Mr. Trump is waging a war on facts”. No, he’s not. Trump doesn’t care about facts one way or the other. He only cares about facts if they make him look bad. Trump has been waging a war against anything that portrays him in a bad light. Often, that’s reality. Or his own previous statements. Or actions.
3
When will this end? Every day we watch a president undermine his oath and office, buttressed by staff, cabinet members and lawmakers who lie and say and do the most absurd things so he doesn't get angry. How hard is it to say no to a 3 year old?
5
Now we know how he made his money. Zero ethics. Easy to make money when you break the law and play by different rules. Glad he was willing to ruin whatever reputation he has as a businessman for Trump. One wrong move Wilbur and you are still our. Trump has short term memory. And loyalty only goes one way with him.
5
I was hiring a guy to work for me to do some clearing on my property. He gave me a set price on Friday and said he’d be back Monday. When he arrived I asked him again what his price was. He had increased it 50%. I noticed a maga hat on his dash and informed him I’d changed my mind and didn’t need his services. I guess things do trickledown even to yard work
4
“Loyalty is a valuable trait in an employee. But members of the Trump administration seem to have forgotten that they work for — and their loyalty lies with — the American people.”
“My instincts told me the dinner was, at least in part, an effort to have me ask for my job and create some sort of patronage relationship,” Comey wrote. And indeed moments later, Trump said, “I need loyalty, I expect loyalty.” Comey froze. “I didn’t move, speak or change my facial expression in any way during the awkward silence that followed,” Comey said. “We simply looked at each other in silence.”
4
Although a presumed landfall of a Cat IV hurricane is nothing to shirk even given the dubious source, what could/will happen if an imminent danger of a larger proportion is thrown our way, say, an accidental nuclear strike?
"The Boy Who Cried Wolf" comes to mind. . .
Of all the disgusting qualities and actions displayed by this administration, incompetence coupled with vanity and the overwhelming capacity to lie may be the most dangerous brew.
3
Is it not possible to get him under oath before the House to explain his lies? I am baffled why that has not happened yet.
4
This is to obscure Mr Trump's confusion between "Alabama" and the "Bahamas." Better to let the controversy be about an apparent overstepping of authority than Mr.Trump's deteriorating mental state.
6
In addition to this solid editorial indictment of Wilber the Waffler, many are awaiting the results of the final investigation of that shadowy Cyprus bank Ross helped run, particularly allegations that it served as a lucrative Middle East conduit for the illegal laundering a lot of Russian oligarch money and whether Trump, himself, might have been a beneficiary of these schemes. May all of these areas of potential criminality see the light of day before this Fake President leaves office.
4
The first qualification Trump needs is a willingness to lie on cue, easily and without remorse. Ross is as dishonest has any in the cabal. But once in awhile someone rediscovers a spine and that is when they get fired. Bolton is today's sacrificial lamb. Who is next?
2
On the basis of a slight personal involvement, involving only a modest amount of money to Ross, a number of years ago, I am quite confident that even the most cursory background check would show that he is a person who has repeatedly in his long business career treated ethical principles and truthfulness as applying only to others who are sufficiently foolish to trust him - and certainly not as relevant to himself. Which of course made him a good choice as lackey for the incumbent of the White House.
5
We’ve had to take enough pain, vote for sane!
5
"Sane vs Pain". I like it.
I’ll give this episode two Sharpies. That’s on my new TrumpScale of 1-5 Sharpies.
Sad.
4
Another hurricane season like this one in 2020 will provide the last nail in the coffin for this Know-Nothing brand of Republican 'leadership'.
2
So Wilbur Ross woke up from one of his naps long enough to threaten public employees (who are scientists) because they didn't hail the King Trump. So kind of him. I guess when you use your Cabinet position to conduct insider trading (where is that investigation?) and the King lets you do that, you have to rise to the occasion.
How odd that the American people would expect the POTUS to have the latest updated hurricane map for use in a press conference. And the resulting meltdown of the POTUS just illustrates how the Oval Office is just a prop for Donald Trump. The Visuals are key, the accuracy or truth do not matter if the stage is set.
Wilbur Ross is getting even wealthier in his position as Commerce Secretary. Lying for the boss/king is just part of his scam. Feisty for his age but greed knows no bounds. Ross should 'retire'.
3
Wilbur Ross attempted to blatantly deceive the Congress and the American people, and was caught red-handed. And not for the first time, as this editorial states. Why is he not fired and/or impeached? The American people have every right to insist that proven liars such as Mr. Ross be removed from public office. I suggest emailing the White House to register disapproval with Mr. Ross. While it's unlikely Trump will remove him, I think it's important to meet lies with truth.
2
Wilbur Ross is just another corrupt and incompetent Trump cabinet appointee so no surprise. Reportedly, Ross did not even know that NOAA was part of the Commerce Department when nominated.
Hannah Arendt author of “The Origins of Totalitarianism” said: “Before Mass leaders seize power to fit reality to their lies, their propaganda is marked by its extreme contempt for facts as such, for in their opinion fact depends entirely on the power of the man who can fabricate it.”
George Orwell (1903 –1950) “Totalitarianism demands a disbelief in the very existence of objective truth.”
3
Wilbur Ross' whole life has been as a grifter.
Ross made a career as a financial vulture, known as the "King of Bankruptcy".
For many years, Ross laundered Russian money for Putin and his oligarchs, as a Director of the Bank of Cyprus.
Ross was founder and owner of the International Coal Group. This company was responsible for the Sago Mine disaster in 200, an explosion in a coal mine that killed 12 miners. The US Dept. of Labor data issued 208 citations for safety violations against his coal company, including 21 for build-up of toxic gases. Miners accused Ross of repeatedly ignoring safety violations.
Wilbur Ross is a scourge to the American working man. He is a parasite living on America's goodwill. But Wilbur is the ultimate Trump toady and henchman, out to feast on whateverAmerican bones he can find.
3
"...an administration that...seems defined by ethical and moral flexibility?" "Flexibility" has positive connotations; malleability, fungibility--now these are terms that more precisely define the (lack of) ethical and moral character of this administration.
4
"Dr. Jacobs objected to the demand and was told that the political staff at NOAA would be fired if the situation was not fixed ... " Why does NOAA even have a political staff? In any case, better late than never, time to fire them. Right after they help Mr. Ross box his stuff up help him out the door.
"Mr. Ross has previously exhibited a willingness to deceive the American people and Congress to advance the president’s political aims." Indeed. This is the guy who has twelve subsections in the "Controversies" section of his Wikipedia page, some with more subsections. Now, make that thirteen.
5
My current mind-set is that any information about the country being issued directly by the Trump Administration -- economic outlook, domestic policy, unemployment numbers, foreign policy, military strategy, climate change, peace plans, ANYTHING -- is 100% manipulated and fake. Now we can't even believe the National Weather Service. The president of the United States took a Sharpie to a NOAA hurricane map so he wouldn't have to admit he'd made a mistake. Truly, where does it stop?
9
He also demonstrably lied during his confirmation hearings about the nature of his investments and whether he would divest from certain ones.
14
I wonder how much money he’s made while overseeing Commerce. His broker must be quite busy with all the privileged information sent his way. Could the SEC look into his trades? Make it a human interest story!
22
@Welcome Canada
I agree with you and also look at some of the others, including t-Rumps as the market "adjusts" to his tweets.
5
"But members of the Trump administration seem to have forgotten that they work for — and their loyalty lies with — the American people. They are charged with serving the public interest, not the president’s ego." Really? I didn't think they were under that impression at all.
10
All Trump had to say was, "My Bad", end of story. Not a big deal until he made it one. Anybody following Trump on Twitter to make life and death decisions would likely drive through flood waters anyway.
15
When one has to alter a map to make the boss look good, we are about as close to rock bottom as we can get.
The only question a lot of us had was whether Mar-a-Lago was going to get hit.
19
@Mike S., I hate to admit it, but I was hoping it would be plucked off the shore by Dorian.
Too bad Dorian didn't ruin Trump's golf vacation where he was busy monitoring the storm ...
4
@Mike S.
Didn't you hear? He assigned 1000 marines to build a wall around 'Mar' - He's so good at walls. Also a few dozen bombers to continually detonate explosives around the perimeter of the hurricane to deter it. Similar to his 'idea' to detonate nuclear arms in space.
No, the actually plan is more modest and realistic. We will house all those folks from the Bahamas in Mar El Lago at $500 a room, happily paid by the taxpayers. And they will assist in a major renovation, for free of course.
Scary thing: for a moment you believed this didn't you?
2
I just love this story. It really does show how the demons and insecurities in Donald Trumps mind are plaguing his judgement. This is classic Donald Trump. On one level it really is quite funny and laughable, but one must remember he is the President of these United States and not Captain Queeg who says "Ahh, but the strawberries that's... that's where I had them. They laughed at me and made jokes but I proved beyond the shadow of a doubt and with... geometric logic. "
11
And NONE of this egregious decimation of our government and democratic values would be happening without the COMPLETE agreement/encouragement of MITCH MCCONNELL and REPUBLICAN party.
56
@kkane AND the people that voted for and still support them!
3
This article should include the 2 occasions that Ross lied ethics investigators about his financial holdings. He twice lied on financial disclosures that he had divested himself of two companies as required by the ethics committee, when on both occasions he continued to own shares in the companies, netting himself a tidy multimillion dollar profit in industries where he had insider information and policy influence.
19
The President declared war against truth when he was inaugurated. He insisted that more people attended his ceremony than for any other other President and asked that a government agency come up with numbers which would confirm his belief. His recent insistence that Hurricane Dorian threatened Alabama was another example of this type of behavior. Attempts to create a kind of Trump Truth have become a basic tool of his presidency. He has been called a liar, but this is not strong enough. Under this President, truth is no longer based on factual evidence. It is based on what Trump says and what he believes. Everything else is "fake news." A democratic society cannot tolerate a leader who is allowed to habitually ignore facts and create his own truth.
30
Trump and Ross did not just double down on bad information - they did not just mislead the public - they lied, for personal gain, and endangered people's lives and livelihoods. That should be some kind of felony.
28
@common sense advocate, it's a federal crime to alter/falsify a weather map.
4
@Mountain Lover - thanks!!
2
All well and good! But, The Times needs to address an editorial to Trump’s supporters! Essentially, stating, that they can’t handle the truth! Although, with a vast majority of Trumps supporters, the truth is just a necessary diversion! I don’t think we are in Kansas anymore, but an alternative universe!
10
@Counter Measures
Unfortunately, Trump supports don't read the NY Times.
1
This is just not unconscionable. It is unreasonable. It is inane. It is as low as it goes to taking us into the pit of disinformation that "1984" warned us about. 2+2=5. We must fight back. VOTE in 2020.
15
So ALL Commerce Dept data points must be distrusted as they may be lies...
Hearing this Wall Street? Trump hasn’t just destroyed our democracy, but he’s taking Wall Street down with him...
11
I have to believe that while Mr. Ross commerces with the truth Mr. Barr, who sells out justice, is more compromised. It may be a fool's errand, however, to nominate any one of the many compromised members of the Trump team as the superlative of corruption. Obviously the boss takes the cake.
8
Wilbur Ross seems to think that he works for Trump rather than for the people of the United States. He should reflect upon what supporting and defending the Constitution really means. Trump is not the sovereign, he represents the sovereign, the people. His oath of office is to the Constitution, not to himself. Ross acts as if he is a minister to a king.
8
I understand that Wilber Ross was in Greece during the
close call of hurricane Dorian. Was he on official government business? If so I am sure that the federal government will pick up all his expenses.
I know from following this investor that he held a very large stake in a Greece bank. I wonder if he was there on non government business. In that case he would not be charging the government for his expenses.
Does any know what he was doing in Greece?
27
I seem to remember from the story of the Galveston Hurricane (Issac's Storm), that the tragedy of many lives lost was partly due to a weather forecaster who wasn't honest about the threat.
This is real life, folks.
21
Ross's Behavior makes one think he's lied many times through his life.
Who else has Ross burned in business and life?
8
In response to the Sharpie controversy, the NOAA released a statement that said: “From Wednesday, August 28, through Monday, September 2, the information provided by NOAA and the National Hurricane Center to President Trump and the wider public demonstrated that tropical-storm-force winds from Hurricane Dorian could impact Alabama. This is clearly demonstrated in Hurricane Advisories #15 through #41, which can be viewed at the following link.
The Birmingham National Weather Service’s Sunday morning tweet spoke in absolute terms that were inconsistent with probabilities from the best forecast products available at the time.”
Only true conspiracy nuts would believe the New York Time's assertion that the NOAA and National Hurricane Center fabricated a false response and and fake animated weather map.
Someone—perhaps Trump himself—used a Sharpie to make a printout of an animated whether map show the same thing as the animated map on the National Hurricane Center website. The animated map shows Dorian crossing the Florida Panhandle and brushing Alabama before turning northeast. That the author would refer to the Sharpie innocent as cause for impeachment indicates how weak the case for impeachment really is.
You can view the animated map, which displays dates at the top, at https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2019/DORIAN_graphics.php?product=wind_probs_34_F120
4
@William Case
No one asserted any such thing. When Trump made his claim about Alabama his information was out of date by days. Given the fact that Trump claimed to be receiving updates every two hours while he played golf he should have known that Alabama was no longer in danger as he claimed. Now, this may have been an honest error on Trump's part. What was not honest is Trump's efforts after the fact. I have to wonder, are you aware that your argument defending Trump is wrong? This is a sincere question.
22
@William Case
This initial information was quickly updated but Trump who doesn't pay attention to reports ran with the very first graphs and refused to just clarify his error.
11
@Max Deitenbeck
No it wasn't. He tweeted the forecast on Sept. 1. NOAA said the it was forecasting Alabama might be impacted from Aug. 28 through Sept 2.
Dear Wilbur,
There is no higher authority than truth.
13
Mr. Ross is fluent in Trumpspeak, the linguistic successor to Newspeak . . .
6
also lied to Scotus..What is he doing in Greece? is his family sporting on Mykonos at government expense? Or perhaps there is a Trump hotel on Greece, so he can line Trumps pockets while Trump lines his..
Come on Nancy Pelosi it is way past time, and I hope you haven't run out of time - IMPEACH!
9
Neil Jacobs should speak truth to power, then resign. Wilber is a sick joke.
8
@Diane Political Appointees should not be part of any scientific organizations. Nothing to see here, folks!
2
What a pitiful little man. I mean, a shell of a man.
Pompeo is equally hollow, has no integrity, and has allowed his religious beliefs to corrupt his Constitutional duties of office.
9
Whether (or is it weather) the boss must be pleased or not, Wilbur Ross is a mean-spirited liar who will be remembered in history as such. He can't run away from his past.
7
@Nate Grey Ross, or Trump for that matter, could care less. They are getting theirs.
1
@Walter Ingram
Agree. But other people care and the truth will prevail, either now or later.
2
Ross is just another toady in the swamp. Time for him to spend much more time with his family is coming up soon. I doubt if they are proud of him or want him at home, but WE certainly do not need to be stuck any longer with such a Trump sycophant. He is just nauseating.
November 2021 is always accelerating towards us.
7
Back in the U.S.S.R.
13
Loyalty might be a valuable trait in an employee, but being a lying, manipulative, bully toad is not.
8
What a weasel is Wilbur Ross, competing with Trump to see who is more consistent in the lying, and deceiving the people's trust. Disgraceful and dangerous, Trumpian to the core.
15
After this incident, it is not clear that we can rely on any information issued by Ross's Department of Commerce. Maybe the discrepancies between the monthly jobs reports in 2018 and the actual number of jobs created was not innocent after all. Maybe Ross pressured the Bureau of Labor Statistics to inflate the monthly numbers.
16
I have seen many storms in my life. Most storms have caught me by surprise, so I had to learn very quickly to look further and understand that I am not capable of controlling the weather, to exercise the art of patience and to respect the fury of nature.
Paulo Coelho
3
This guy gives a black eye to businessmen and women everywhere. He is as bad as the worst politicians. Is he an anomaly (excepting Trump, ofcourse), or is this considered standard behavior in the C-suites across the country?
234
@Charles Pape: You live in the US, where corporate malfeasance has caused massive suffering for tens of millions of ordinary Americans, in the form of
- downsizing and outsourcing
- wage stagnation
- massive corporate welfare
- a lousy tax code that's skewed to substantially favor the rich
- opposition to universal healthcare
- the destruction of unions and all the worker protections they provide
- the exploitation of any loophole to circumvent environmental protections
- the spread, and massive funding of, climate-change-denialism
- the electing of pols who are pro-biz and anti-worker / anti-environment
- the electing of pols who have shifted the SCOTUS rightward such that corps are now "people," with regard to campaign donations
- the rise of dark money in politics
yet you're asking whether Ross is an anomaly?
74
@Charles Pape
I suspect it's quite common though not universal.
8
More common than you might think in the c-suite! Ten lies before breakfast, puffery, cover-ups on top of cover-ups, loyalty over competence, the sycophants, the undiagnosed personality disorders... these are but a few of many reasons why I’m happy to be out of the corporate world!
30
It is hard to imagine continuing to support an administration that actively suppresses truth, in service to the vanity of a president, who has shown himself to be increasingly unfit for office.
It is time for whoever might wish to pass for "principled" members of the GOP to dissociate themselves from these people, and realize impeachment is necessary to protect the political norms that allow our democracy to function...assuming they are unwilling to invoke the 25th Amendment.
8
When the NOAA website was down for a few minutes yesterday morning, the first thing I thought about was Donald Trump and Wilbur Ross because there was no way to underestimate their capacity to punish anyone (or anything) that has the temerity to contradict them.
These are the times we're living in, People.
VOTE!
9
Mother Nature doesn't lie.
243
It's shocking to me that none of this matters to anybody. He can break laws, he can out and out lie. There are no charges filed, no prosecutions (or even threats of prosecution) and nobody of any worth (the world over, apparently) gives any credence to what the members of this administration say.
27
Dear NOAA,
Thank you for the clear willingness to stand up to alternative facts. All of you. The National Weather Service is underfunded and under appreciated, and more and more necessary every day. Y'all are my heroes.
32
When something like the weather becomes politicized and a matter of opinion, is it any wonder science and global warming are irrelevant under the Trump administration ? Can we still agree that the sky is blue ?
And let’s not just point to Trump - he has millions of enablers who voted him in and keep supporting him, throwing reality and facts to the wind
24
Instead of fantasizing about impeaching President Trump (which at best would energize his supporters and enable Trump, yet again, to play the victim; and at worst saddle us with President Pence until 2029), I don't see why the Democrats don't impeach Wilbur Ross. Surely the Republicans, who twenty years ago were so insistent that lying under oath warranted removal from office, and couldn't possibly have been motivated by partisanship, would concur.
417
@Fred
We can still impeach to gain access to records. We know going in that he will never be removed from office. If we don't impeach, then he will keep pushing the envelope.
58
@Fred The base is already energized and engaged. So much so that the ongoing actions of its patron saint and his conspiring minions will only repel undecided voters. Impeachment proceedings are the very least we can do to at least let history know that there was an acknowledgment of such abominable behavior by the President of the United States.
63
@Fred Trump plays victim every day and his supporters are already energized and fervent, giving him unprecedented (80-90%) approval ratings.
18
I never thought I'd think this about the United States, let alone say it. This nation is totally out of control.
But I state the obvious.
What do people do when things become totally politically unstable? Hunker down. What do small businesses do? Hunker down. Corporations? Hunker down.
This is going to end very, very badly. And like the Perdue family I'm hoping we take all the money they've stolen back.
22
The more a person lies, especially for trump, the more trump favours and praises them. Honest people do not last long in the trump administration.
11
These outrageous, depressing, frightening news stories that become public knowledge each day disturb me almost as much as my thoughts about the more outrageous, depressing, and frightening happenings we don't yet know about.
16
Drain the swamp?- isn't this feed and cultivate the swamp?
My how Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater must be turning over in their respective graves here. What would they think- they certainty would not recognize this or align with today's Republican party.
7
@Bernard - Reagan had no problem lying.
1
Tolstoy said, 'Behind every fortune is a crime."
I think about that every day with trump and ross and all in their circle.
The only good thing about their time in government is that major media with courage and journalistic integrity will continue to shine a bright, clear light on their crimes, lies and greed.
It's times like these I go back to Dickens, too...yes, many suffer deeply and for a long time but good eventually wins over corruption and evil...we can always hope.
6
@Michele Farley - Wasn't it Balzac who said that?
When politics takes precedence over science the outcomes will be predictably poor.
9
"Members of the Trump administration seem to have forgotten that they work for — and their loyalty lies with — the American people. They are charged with serving the public interest, not the president’s ego."
So quaint that the NY Times' Editorial Board suggests that the Administration has simply "forgotten" for whom they work and with whom their loyalty lies. To suggest that anyone that remains in this Administration cares one bit about this notion of service to the American public is, at best, willfully naive, or, at worst, just as deceitful as Sharpie-gate and its fallout.
Each and every one of those pathetic cronies is there to serve only to enrich themselves and their buddies. That much has been obvious since the earliest days of this administration. Ross just may be the worst of them. But all are shameless and unapologetic and should find themselves in federal penitentiary for the harm they've done to a once great nation.
17
"Loyalty is a valuable trait in an employee. But members of the Trump administration seem to have forgotten that they work for — and their loyalty lies with — the American people. They are charged with serving the public interest, not the president’s ego." - Well said. Unfortunately, none of them (including and especially Wilbur Ross) appear to have gotten the memo.
"His administration has time and again suppressed and censored data that it finds inconvenient, prompting government scientists to lodge complaints or resign in protest. Studies have been derailed, scientists reassigned and advisory panels disbanded." - I am an American citizen and have lived in this country for 61 years of my life. This is the first time I have ever seen an American president, and indeed an entire political party, declare all out war on the truth. Back in 2016, which now seems like a lifetime ago, facts mattered. We could debate the facts and what was true, but in the end, if something was proven true it was accepted as fact by both sides. To this president, however, the truth is like Play-do, a malleable blob which he can mold into any shape he likes. If you don't like the weather you no longer have to wait five minutes, you can just reach for a sharpie. Beyond sad. Pathetic. And it will be our undoing if we allow it to continue.
6
Hand it to Trump and his crew. The mass shootings of two weeks ago have been relegated to an afterthought by the media. Already we have seen out attention deflected to weather maps and the latest firings. He gives us a new episode of his world every day.
How sad and despicable.
17
Straightoutta Michael Lewis's book The Fifth Risk. Read it!
6
Here is what really scares me come November 2020: Trump loses the close election and then claims voter fraud!! Then in step the Supremes. It may all be lies but he will manipulate to make himself appear the winner!
10
Ethical and moral flexibility? Unethical and amoral. And Trump's cult does not care.
10
The real problem is that when Trump requires Ross's help, he doesn't give him enough time to fully waken from his coma, hence the embarrassing gaffes. Let him move around a bit Mr. President before sending him on an errand.
6
At what point will we declare unequivocally what has been patently obvious about this Administration? We have on view the least ethical group of sycophants in history whose collective obsequiousness break laws and heap scorn on established protocols. Too tiresome is it to continue our hand-wringing disbelief with each transgression committed by Trump and his yes-men and yes-women. Even the Department of Justice no longer has the luster of integrity. The clear and present danger is imminent loss of our democracy if a full stop is not soon declared.
6
A little frightening to have our professional weather people treated this way . We’ve all read about how the intellectuals were treated in history by authorities that had the power to do so.
Or just another distraction? What’s really going on ?
8
First there was the fake news. Now we have the fake weather. Maybe when we get to fake sports the Jets will finally win another Super Bowl.
14
@walt amses Or the Saints will be the recipients of accurate calls by the refereeing staff-oh wait, they might be politicized also! Remember, Trump wanted to be a football team owner!
1
Well, with climate-change Republicans in full effect, is it really such a leap for them to go from "The weather isn't changing over time!" to "The weather *right now* is not as you see it!".
Abuse of power comes as no surprise with these people.
240
@michael
I accidentally lost the word "-denying" after climate change. But you get the idea!
6
History repeats itself - as tragedy and then as farce.
Back in Comrade Stalin's day, you'd get written out of history for displeasing Stalin. They USSR put some effort into modifying pictures and movies to cut you out. This was comprehensive and tragic.
When I saw that chart, and the black marker "modifying" the cone of uncertainty, I've gotta say ... I couldn't stop laughing for the next forty-five minutes.
7
While there isn’t a surefire way to measure corruption in the nation, there are data and individuals like Wilbur Ross that can be used to rank how corrupt the country has become.
8
He is not putting politics in front of science.
Instead, he is putting his own self interests in front of science.
His guiding light is not the city on the hill - it’s the red light on the camera.
12
@Jane III And YET he defeated your candidate in his first serious run for public office.
He defeated her overwhelming surplus of cash plus the whole-hearted support of 90% of the news media repoters and editors.
Whatever Hillary's guiding light was, it never filled the seats in small gyms like Trump filled the largest arenas available.
3
He also continues to defeat what I consider to be fair, reasonable, just, logical, healthy, productive, sensible, balanced, rational, and practical, too.
As by design, to be sure.
4
Actually, her rallies were full, too.
Maybe she should have threatened more people at them and gotten her audience mob to then beat them up. Maybe that would have gotten her the sliver of 90,000 voters in MN, WI and MI needed to win? We’ll never know. Maybe the red light knows.
Oh, and she got 3 million more votes, too.
That, my friend, is called a squeaker, not a mandate.
2
Wilbur Ross's association with a major Cypress bank known for money laundering makes me question his integrity, especially since the Trump organization is associated with the sale of large numbers of condominiums to shell organizations, many of which represent Russian and underworld money. And then there is Deutsche Bank (Trump's bank), and the Estonian branch that passes money 25X the GDP of Estonia.
26
@bullone
Visas are also for sale... along with the real estate. The real estate peope generally have super tax preferred status meaning there are ways to pay none... as has been outlined.
So far as lying about the weather-- whoops senility creeping in on the part of Trump -- on the part of the persons in the National Weather Bureau -- were threats made? from above -- as in someone's head's gonna roll?? It's all diversion from the real task which is to bleed the public at large dry. (I have suspected various Mafia tactics in place for a long, long, long time.
1
"The White House has denied..."
That disclaimer alone should be enough to confirm what actually happened... as if it isn't already clear enough to any American who has their eyes and ears open and working.
18
The unhappy truth is that “We, the People,” elected Donald Trump as president of the United States. It does not matter that his defeated opponent, Hillary Clinton, defeated him by almost 3-million votes head-to-head. The Electoral College, flawed as it always was, confirmed Trump’s victory.
Wilbur Ross and the awfully sorry train of Cabinet secretaries were specifically chosen by the president for their appointments because of their groveling obsequiousness and their uncritical willingness to place their president’s pleasure above and beyond the public good, which was once the essence of government service. No more.
No president has ever escaped the bitterness of a very public and very personal defeat for policy decisions (Barack Obama in his first mid-terms in 2010) or for reasons of an embarrassing personal nature (Bill Clinton). But presidents can overcome setbacks and become better stewards of a unique and precious public trust and shoulder on.
In the case of the current president, one cannot imagine that Donald Trump can rise above the self-created calamities for which his tenure has been richly dotted. His unsparing pettiness has extended to every governmental department. He would become the autocratic tyrant if he and Republicans in the Senate had the final say.
And make no mistake; the day will soon arrive when the transparently compromised Supreme Court will be publicly rebuked for a decision that angers the president.
On that day, the end will be in sight.
21
I continue to be astonished that there is a subset of the population who believes that it's OK to lie as long as you're sticking it to the scientific elites.
Or is that they don't understand that they are getting lied to?
I'm not sure which is worse ...
41
This is a very important story. And it is important for the media and the public to keep scrutinizing it. But now Trump has distracted us with another shiny object, the firing of Bolton.
It is becoming impossible to keep scrutinizing the unprecedented number of illegal/unethical/incompetent actions taken by this administration. Just last week, we have the Dorian/Alabama debacle, the Taliban at Camp David, the Air Force refueling at a non-base and staying at Trump's resort, etc.
I am exhausted.
61
@SYJ
You are correct that this is an important story and should be investigated by a congressional committee.
16
Certainly this story but even more important is the Turnberry Resort & the Air Force story!
3
"The threat was an abuse of authority aimed at misleading the public to provide cover for the president."
The reason Trump is so concerned is because he can't pull an Insurance scam if the misinformation he intended to use to justify the false claims I suspect he plans on making is proven to be misinformation.
It is also one more step in grooming the population to accept this sort of unacceptable behavior by people we are paying a lot of money to do much better work.
5
He did not deceive Congress, He lied to Congress.
953
@magicisnotreal
Exactly said! Congress did not believe the lie and so was not deceived
34
@magicisnotreal
...and everyone else. It's a shame that he is unable to remember what he did five minutes ago. Why do we have a senile, malevolent, greedy, narcissistic, arrogant, incompetent Commerce Secretary?
Perhaps because no legitimate candidates would apply and he auditioned for the job; and PAYBACK!
26
@magicisnotreal Yes @NYTimes, please use lie when it is the correct word.
48
Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.
Sir Walter Scott 1808
Seems like the Trump administration has had a lot of practice with the deceive part... now if only the web would tighten.
6
"They are charged with serving the public interest, not the president’s ego."
And on what planet would Trump ever put anyone but himself first.
Valuing loyalty above all else is a recipe for failure, but Trump cannot see the forrest through the trees.
7
Did I miss the articles were the Democrats are jumping all over Ross? Pelosi are you still on vacation?
Ross along with any other associate of Trump (which is the entire GOP) should be unemployed, not to mean they ever did do an honest days work while employed.
11
@Hal Yeah where is Nancy and her crew right now? Oh wait they want to slooowly investigate if in fact Wilber did order NOAA people to lie for Donald or that Trump was even wrong in the first place. And my guess is that the NOAA employees will be charged rather than Ross or Trump if it ever gets that far. Nancy will never do anything because she is so tough and savey. Bets on she will support the same kind of candidate who lost to Trump last time. Lest we forget both parties have much the same donors and the corrupt Dems still get paid off for losing. It is no loss to them as long a the big checks clear, you see they have modeled themselves like corporations, the bottom line is enriching themselves, not the rest of us.
Vote for the candidates who will not take bribes, only two exist as far as I can see. But oh the fun of watching the rest sweat and deflect and try to look like they will serve the people while jerking on the strings from their owners. A puppet dance.
1
To say nothing about lying about his wealth again and again on CNBC. To say nothing about denying that a recession was possible just before the big one. What’s next? His age?
6
You state:
"Mr. Trump is hostile to any research that does not comport with his political interests".
This overestimates the President. He has no sense of political interests, other than his own personal interests - his ego and his wealth (sadly, interchangeable). Any "political" concerns are secondary, in service of these other priorities.
18
One of these days, it will be indisputable that Trump has rarely stated the truth. When that happens, all of his supporters will be exposed as the willing, nay, eager, accomplices that they are.
7
@Jeff The sad thing is most of them know he is lying and are proud of him for doing as long as he is stabbing the rest of us. They love his hate, it is their hate and they do not care if the US goes down in flames because they feel so hopeless and have for 40 years since losing the Dems to corruption. At last they feel empowered
2
@Jeff His supporters are already aware they are willing and eager to look the other way. They're proud of it. Whether racist, greedy or just enjoying the show they know and we know deception is the rule not the exception.
3
When it comes to "Sharpie-gate," we've learned two very important truths. First, we have a President whose narcissism disorder (yes, it's a real diagnosis, formerly megalomania, according the the American Psychiatric Association) always needs and demands adulation and praise. That means he's always right and never wrong since that would result in criticism and condemnation. Hence second, Donald Trump insists on surrounding himself with those who will not only always agree with him, but go one step further in eliminating or silencing anyone who dares to contradict him. So, enter willing Wilbur Ross just as unwilling John Bolton gets the Trump signature tweet-in-the-back, "You're fired!" Ross, of course acquiesced, as others notably Jim Comey and Don McGahn wouldn't, in threatening to fire the NOAA truth-tellers. The lesson of "Sharpie-gate" should be that this mental illness accounts for Donald Trump's bizarre and obviously, unstable and dangerous behavior. And, that he will always find willing henchmen to carry out his orders to rid of those who stand up for "the rule of law" and their dedication to the American people rather than the ruthless "rule of Trump."
18
In a sane world, Trump would have tweeted that he had been wrong about Alabama or, at the least, just moved on, but that seems to be a bridge too far for him. Triggering Ross to put pressure on NOAA is just Trump despatching a stooge. Yes, Sharpie-Gate is an absurd product of mixing ignorance with arrogance and could be dismissed as just another example of "Trump being Trump." But Trump is not some guy at the end of the bar nursing his drink and his grudges. He is America's president who makes life and death decisions about war, the economy and America's reputation. There is no reason to expect Trump is any different in making decisions in these matters as he has shown himself to be here. November 2020 can't come soon enough.
8
Mr. Ross lied to Congress twice. Once regarding his multiple contact with Russians during the campaign and once regarding the census question.
How much perjury is too much?
22
Answer: no amount of perjury is too much when it comes to Republican sycophants of the Clown.
3
In any "normal" government or public/private sector company - Wilbur Ross would be TERMINATED for cause and escorted out the door immediately.
As nothing is "normal" with Crazy Trump and his minions.... I expect Wilbur to be promoted to National Security Advisor next week.. or possibly the next lying Press Secretary.
Frankly , what good is it to make government officials take the oath of office to uphold and protect the US Constitution and rule of law -- but NEVER hold them accountable for when they break their oath or the law? Congress must investigate and Justice Dept must support this investigation.
9
Morals were never Wilbur's strength since he cheated his partners too. This was essentially par for the course for him
15
Those who work for Trump are as morally lacking as he is.
8
Maybe the National Weather Service can predict the U.S. population?
4
Can the bar go any lower than forcing NOAA to lie about the weather? This is not normal. This is bordering on insanity. The man who currently holds the title of President should be in prison on a so called 5150. . . . "a danger to oneself to and to others."
22
I am curious about Ross' role as head of that bank in Cyprus.
Russian money laundering?
Manofort or Kushner or Trump connections?
In his tenure as head of Commerce, lying and bullying, misinformation and personal corruption are the norm.
Drain the swamp on November 3rd with a blue wave.
9
Polls of presidential historians in 2018 showed Trump ranked either at the bottom, or two spots away:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_rankings_of_presidents_of_the_United_States
I believe I finally see a long term strategy: to permanently lock in his standing as Worst President Ever. Looks like a slam dunk to me.
I just hope there are enough adults left, like the National Weather Service staff described here, who can keep Trump away from the nuclear codes until Jan. 2021.
9
Ross and Barr both need to go. It is quite clear that their loyalty is to Trump, not to the taxpaying citizens of the United States. Both are a disgrace to our government.
10
Start with nailing him for lying to Congress and finish by showing him the exit. I'll be happy to pay his, as well as Trump's, one-way banana-class fare to Guantanamo.
Oh yes, and be sure to track ALL of his investments during this fake administration. I would bet dollars to donuts that he played the Markets and anything else he could get his hands on after knowing what Trump was going to say to influence it with his disgusting Tweets.
7
The pathology of all this lying may be a fatal disease for our country that only impeachment or the next election can cure. Trump has a seemingly unlimited supply of people like Wilbur Ross constantly infecting our democracy.
12
Mr. Ross should not have been disinterred to fill his role, and it continues to be no surprise that he offends every sensibility in being propped-up all over creation.
Please, place this shuffling, groaning moral abomination back into his just repose, and well out of public sight.
6
Perhaps dear leader Donald Trump and his toady apologist Wilbur Ross have been learning from fellow dear leaders Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin about how to supplant scientific truths with political interests all while keeping a straight face. I cannot recall witnessing anything quite this absurd and embarrassing.
That the United States of America seems to be running much like a third-world, tin-pot dictatorship these days leaves me more depressed than I can possibly say. It's bad enough that Trump's fellow republicans are so mindlessly joining Trump's clown show but, until Pelosi and her democrats can wake up enough to expunge and punish this corrupt president, they too seem to be dangerously close to setting up shop on the midway of this circus. Unbelievable.
Trump is a malignant cancer on your country and constitution and will continue to metastasize until some resolute oncologist takes up her or his scalpel and starts a radical surgery.
I wish I were being hyperbolic but, sadly, I am not. The patient is on life-support now. Every day without action deepens the danger.
8
Mr. Ross is just a pitiful serf of Mr. Trump who is a compulsive and vain liar and who believes that doubling down on a lie will make it true in the eyes of his blind followers. Sure, Mr. Ross has abused his power and should not be in charge of NOAA. But let's not fool ourselves: as long as Trump is President, truth has no meaning inside his administration, and Trump's word can never be trusted - not by the American people and not by the rest of the world, be it friend or foe. Unfortunately, Republicans in congress are not worried as long as they can continue stacking the courts with their surrogates and bend the rules to their partisan advantage in a way that has no historical precedent in the U.S.
American voters should take heed and act decisively in the next election by throwing all consenting culprits out of office. If that does not happen, truth, justice for all, and freedom will become meaningless concepts in America.
7
I think the problem with all the business CEOs in government, is the pattern of behavior rewarded placating the boss.
Corporations are little dictatorships, especially when the CEO is the Chairman of the Board surrounded by hand picked associates and outside Board members instructed to not rock the boat.
I think this little experiment in business leaders in government has shown its true disposition and poor suitability for democratic life.
17
My oncologist told me I had cancer, so I fired him. The first responders told me my house was on fire, so I fired them. My teacher gave me an 'F' on a paper I didn't study for, so I fired her. My psychiatrist said I'm depressed, so I fired her. My mechanic said I needed a tune-up, so I fired him. Although these responses mirror the actions of the secretary, I still can't figure out who is helped by these self inflicted wounds. Certainly not those who choose to live in the real world and certainly not those who want an unbiased report about tomorrow's heat index.
513
@Rick Gage
I have a screenshot in my photo album of your JULY 18 comment about your mom " Don't lie , don't brag Rickey.. ". Impressive window on the real world. Congratulations on a life well researched. I am a cuban american that lived in south Florida - of course -until 1993 ( thank you hurricane andrew ). Having lived in Havana until age 15 ( Peter Pan exodus ), I know a bit about gaslighting. Presently, this is a horror movie where the evil thing wakes up when left for dead.
20
@Ed, Oh good,you can be my Boswell since I haven't saved a single comment. I don't know how, technically and I don't know who might be interested. You'll be expected to speak at my funeral, of course.
14
@Rick Gage
Well, like the Cheney/bush administration, and this one, it's best if you make up your very own 'reality,' and force the rest of the Planet to catch up.
After all, isn't 'life' just another teevee show?
(Still looking for my remote.
Has anyone seen it?!)
2
Ross is just one more "swamp menace" awaiting to be drained. In a typical administration, it would not be unusual in to find some high-level appointee to be unethical, even criminal. Nixon hit a high mark when his closest advisors and cabinet members were found guilty. Mitchell, Haldeman, Ehrlichman, and Dean, among others served time. As yet Trump's body count has not met Nixon's levels in terms of sentenced criminals, but it only awaits a new president and DOJ before charges are filed against many of the fired cabinet members, and those still in office like Ross, Chao, and Barr. Trump's presidency will set new records for criminality. At least two factors are at play here. One is Trump himself. He appoints based on loyalty without vetting for ethics and competence. The second factor is the Senate. Appointments are "subject to consent of Senate," as wisely written in the Constitution. The Senate has lost its way. It rubber stamps Trump's appointee's, except for the most outlandish. And it allows Trump to make long lived "acting" appointments in total disregard of the Constitution. As for Ross, let's see how he fares when the house calls in the NOAA officials to find out how Ross pressured NOAA. There may be one less reptile in the swamp.
37
Next up: Fox Weather Channel.
37
@NFC, with an Armageddon Countdown Clock and Carnage on the Ones and the meteorologists will all have to wear short skirts.
1
Maybe he and John Bolton could become roomies....
8
Well, to be fair, Ross actually threatened to fire the political appointees at NOAA, not the staff/professional weather guys. The political guys are all Trump appointees anyway.
Of course, they were actually doing the Right Thing and protecting their staff. So Full marks to them.
As for Ross- what else do expect?
11
You are too circumspect- this administration is defined by ethical and moral lapses-not even lapses-they are chasms! Each appointee seems to outdo the other in bad judgement and willingness to lie and cheat for the”boss” .The nearly 82 year old Ross can be counted on to instigate trouble and then to stick with his story.He doesn’t do much else but he is blindly loyal.He does what he is told even though it reflects badly on him and In the case of NOAA actually endangers a vital source of information.Trump,and Assocs.are working only for him and for his re-election,they put country last.
55
To boost our exports, I suggest that we export Secretary Ross to the Bahamas to help with the rebuilding effort there.
30
What do you suppose Wilbur was doing in Greece? Keeping a hand in on his former leadership position at the notorious money laundering operation at the Bank of Cyprus ya suppose. Won't someone rid us of this damned spot on America?
111
These people don't care about truth, ethics and morality. They live in a rarefied world of wealth and privilege. They don't have to roll around in the muck of the common man. They believe they are above all of us poor schmucks, and for us to apply our notions of honesty and morality is comical to them. They sold their souls a long time ago - and got a lot of money in return!
72
@amhath Lying about the WEATHER forecast is the most pitiful breach of honesty yet. Look out the window.
1
Quite simply, Ross is breaking his oath to office. In a functional government he would be impeached. But, since our government is infected top to bottom, business as usual continues.
I think we have all had enough of this corruption. It's time for the adults in the room, if there are any -- and lately I am even questioning Democrats convictions and courage -- but if there are any real people of character and courage left, they need to stand up with relentless conviction -- stand up for our democracy, our Constitution and the rule of law and impeach these interlopers.
135
It's hard to keep track.
Against whom is President Trump waging his several wars? The truth without doubt, but also women, immigrants, the poor, the environment, any organization including major corporations that volunteer to help protect the environment, meteorologists, science in general, China, Mexico, Canada, the EU, California, Puerto Rico, the Mayor of London, Colin Kaepernick, the House of Representatives especially the darker-skinned women representatives, fake news and yes, even John Bolton, Joe Walsh and Paul Ryan.
But it's not all war all the time. President Trump reserves his warm fuzzies for Vladimir Putin , Rodrigo Duterte, Viktor Orban, Benjamin Netanyahu, Wayne LaPierre, guns, coal and other fossil fuels.
As for Mike Pence, well, he's a likable enough door-stopper.
118
@John LeBaron Apt characterizations of the trump misadministrations priorities aside from the Pence analogy; morally devoid boot scraper hews closer to the measure of the man.
13
@John LeBaron Pence, likeable? Hardly. Just another foot soldier in the war on truth.
15
@John LeBaron...there has been a big change in how women view trump.Better late than never and they are "nasty" when angry.
5
Why doesn’t Nancy Pelosi have articles of impeachment for Ross drafted today? He perjured himself. He threatened civil servants for doing their job to protect the public. I understand Pelosi’s reluctance to impeach Trump, but Ross? This guy is low hanging political fruit. Has there ever been a less appealing figure in Washington? Why do the Democrats continue to set records for political malpractice?
140
@Victor James
Same reason she doesn't draft articles of impeachment against Trump: there are not enough vote in the Senate to convict. When impeachment fails, the Republican will ride it to victory: "First they tried Mueller. Now this. The Democrats will stop at nothing to persecute me."
The only way to get rid of these people is to vote Trump out of office. Every person has to vote.
16
@Victor James...why stop there??how about big, bad,Barr and dirty Devin Nunez just for kicks.
4
Ross is consistent in his willingness to deceive. Remember when he was outed two years ago for inflating his personal assets by $2 billion when reporting to Forbes in order to look wealthier on their lists.
From Forbes in 2017, "So began the mystery of Wilbur Ross' missing $2 billion. And after one month of digging, Forbes is confident it has found the answer: That money never existed. It seems clear that Ross lied to us, the latest in an apparent sequence of fibs, exaggerations, omissions, fabrications and whoppers that have been going on with Forbes since 2004."
Perfect fit for this president.
846
@Joe Sweeney link to Forbes article quoted above: https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2017/11/07/the-case-of-wilbur-ross-phantom-2-billion/#69ea439d7515
26
@Joe Sweeney GOP; you should be so proud of your Trump White House.Lie; cheat; steal; spread hate. But "Winning"; "Promises Made; Promises Kept". "Lock Her Up". "Send Them Back".
37
@Joe Sweeney
Of course he is a perfect fit for trump because, as many remember, trump also lied to get on the Forbes 400 richest Americans list.
45
"Among registered voters, 40 percent say they approve of Trump, while 55 percent disapprove."
-Washington Post/NBC Poll Sep, 2019
That's what is wrong with this Administration with individuals like Trump and Ross, and a host of others. 40% of the voters, 60+ million approve Trump.
If that doesn't change, and it shows no signs to do so, this Administration will do just as they please. And as the election gets closer next year, hard to imagine, but it will get a whole lot worse.
76
You REAP, what you sow!
It was all started by Nixon and Agnew’s attack on media,
“In the United States today, we have more than our share of the nattering nabobs of negativism. They have formed their own 4-H Club — the ‘hopeless, hysterical hypochondriacs of history.’” — Vice President Spiro Agnew, September 11, 1970.”
Both turned out to be crooks!
Then saint Reagan took over pontificating “government is the problem,” while he and his associates were busy with ‘Iran-Contra scandal.’
Even though Senior Bush described Reagan’s Economic policy as ‘Voodoo Economics,” he agreed to be on Reagan’s ticket as VP.
Lust for power was insurmountable! Reagan’s forays into Afghanistan by arming Jihadi Taliban, Al Queda and Pakistan to get rid of Soviets, ultimately led to 9/11 in Bush-2 dynastic rule, helped by SCOTUS to take over WH.
Lord Chaney, thru Baby Bush, gave us never ending Afghanistan and fake WMD asserted Iraq wars and melt down of World’s Financial system. Ultimately, all these gave us The Donald, World’s best and greatest in every dimension!
In the interim periods, Democratic admin were given charge to clean up the mess produced by their predecessors.
Our average electorate has no long term memory and lacks analytic capability, so marketers can sell them any thing.
So what do you expect the outcome to be! It might take a few generations before we become whole again.
4
How can this man still be the Secretary of Commerce? He is accused of swindling former business partners for about $120 million. He was an official in the Bank of Cyprus, thought to be one of the conduits for shady financial operations by various nefarious, criminal parties. He has lied to Congress on at least one occasion, when he said the request to add the citizenship question to the census form was at the request of the DOJ. He is notorious for falling asleep in meetings, such that one article reports he has a small window of a few hours in mid-morning or so when he may, with herculean effort, be able to remain awake. And there is much more. He is just awful. Nowhere else but in the Trump regime would someone like this not already be in prison.
323
@Hugh
this is the kind of man trump wants...a fellow con man & criminal. they can protect each other's posteriors.
19
@Hugh He can still be secretary of commerce because Donald Trump, a two bit Queens gangster wannabe is still the President of the United States. It's really that simple.
5
Well, Trump is on a reality show called "This American President" and it just won't do when the film crew shouts out corrections to lines the lead actor delivered.
19
It would appear that Mr. Ross must belatedly sign that fallacious note from NOAA, a government agency that until now, was held in high esteem in this country.
Mr. Ross was completely aware that doctoring weather reports, especially when it comes to severe weather like hurricanes, is illegal. He was told so by the media, who told trump he shouldn’t be using a sharpie for his own nefarious purposes.
Rather than heed this warning, Wilbur Ross decided to tell NOAA that heads would roll if they didn’t write a statement to tell our citizens that trump’s lie was the truth. This is a criminal act.
Mr. Ross should be arrested, tried, and imprisoned, until we can do the same for trump.
People shouldn’t have to sacrifice their lives because such lies supposedly support trump’s phony, political talking points.
218
The best people. Even pulled this guy from the Simpsons...
23
I have no experience in weather forecasting, nor education policy, housing, immigration, and a lot of other stuff. Seems like I’d be perfect for a position in the Trump administration. Although, I don’t lick my boss’s boots, so maybe I don’t belong.
24
A dangerous precedent has been set, and you have to wonder if the next time a weather event threatens, if NOAA will be afraid to act without first clearing it through the White House, and issue whatever statement Trump decides he wants issued. The price of salving one man's ego has become alarming and a clear and present danger to all of us.
Ross should either resign or be fired. Threatening people for doing their jobs (despite the denial by the White House) is unconscionable. This Administration is becoming totalitarian. As this article stated, loyalty is owed the American people, not some narcissistic man-baby of a President. Ross is a public servant. Someone needs to explain that to him.
75
Even if they did clear it through the White House, within three days #45 would have no problem going through this entire process, complete with threats of firing people for doing their jobs.
8
And don’t forget that Wilbur Ross once worked for Deutsche Bank and was fired in a money laundering scandal about Russian funds. After that he took a post with the bank of Cyprus, known as a hub of money laundering operations for Russian oligarchs. Then he was promoted to commerce secretary working for a “president“ who in civilian life sold millions upon millions of dollars worth of real estate to the same Russian oligarchs so that they could wash their cash in America's Real estate market… Remember… Always remember.
289
@Mike The MOST salient point!
7
Unlike the Wilbur Post from "Mr. Ed" fame, who enjoyed working with a complete horse, Wilbur, the commerce secretary, has to work with someone who is more like part of a horse - and not the good part either.
32
"But members of the Trump administration seem to have forgotten that they work for — and their loyalty lies with-the American people." No, they haven't. They work for themselves, through Trump.
29
Well said. Ross should go, Miller should go, and finally (Speaker Pellosi, are you listening?) Trump should go. Mendacity out, facts in.
90
@Some Dude Ross should go, Miller should go, DeVos should go, Mulvaney should go, Pompeo should go, Andrew Wheeler should go. I cannot think of an honest, qualified character in the bunch.
5
Ross lies about his motives for including the citizenship question on the census, then threatens to fire NOAA executives for failing to support Trump's wrong characterization of hurricane predictions. Trump fires Bolton this morning and just now, as Netanyahu announces that Trump backs Israel's plans to annex the West Bank, Palestine fires rockets into Israeli cities. This administration is creating chaos everywhere and no one can trust Trump's word on anything. How much more incompetency can we risk by keeping Trump in the White House for another year? It's time for America to demand Trump's resignation while we still have a country.
46
When it comes to doing their job, those tasked with accurately depicting the forecast tracks of hurricanes do not owe any loyalty to the President or the American people. They owe loyalty to the facts - nothing more, nothing less.
54
Someday, there will be a Pelosi sighting and maybe a reporter will ask her why she is not holding cabinet secretaries more accountable for their actions.
Like, maybe, impeaching some of them.
16
God help us if Trump makes an arithmetic mistake. Just think of all the textbooks that will have to be changed to explain why 2 + 2 = 22 and not 4.
23
Yes, there absolutely is a war on truth, and it started when Trump took office. But what is far worse than Trump's lies themselves is that NOAA, a governmental agency, backed down from telling the truth after receiving threats from Trump's Commerce Chief. Thus, NOAA caved in and perpetrated Trump's lies. Once we begin to fear speaking the truth, democracy is in the rear view mirror. And this is exactly where we're at.
Trump may have been elected as "president" but three years on, there is no doubt that he is now a dictator. He now knows he is limited only by his imagination and the laws of physics.
And as Trump instills fear, many more people will dare not cross him by doing something as benign as telling the truth. People's livelihoods are at stake. The safety of people's families is at stake. We have been very naive as a people for some time, to think that our leaders would not stoop to threaten people's well-being, or the safety of their families. Those days are long over. The fact is, anyone who speaks out against Trump may be his next victim.
We now have a "leader" who rules solely by fear. He knows, three years on, that we won't challenge him. He proudly tells us he won't leave office, either after 4 or 8 years. He's counting on our silence - our fear of him. And if the past three years are any measure, he is right to do so. Think 2020 will save us? At this point, all we can do is hope that we will even have an election.
40
Allow me to make two minor changes in just one sentence:
"Mr. Trump is hostile to any research that does not comport with his political [or business] interests---[which are the only realities in which he has any interest]."
25
And Congress does nothing. Way to go, elected officials! Glad to see you've got the American people's best interests at heart - NOT.
How many days until election day?
22
@Larry IMPEACH! NOW!
2
"Loyalty is a valuable trait in an employee. But members of the Trump administration seem to have forgotten that they work for — and their loyalty lies with — the American people. They are charged with serving the public interest, not the president’s ego."
The Trump administration, staff and Republicans in Congress don't care one bit about the American people. Moscow Mitch thinks providing health care to the American people is socialism. However, he is more than happy to slurp at the trough while taxpayers pay for his stellar health insurance plan.
83
@Jacquie According to Forbes, Donald Trump won’t say it, but Republicans in the Senate will: Social Security and Medicare would be on the chopping block in a second Trump term. Pointing to rising deficits, Republican senators have all but promised to gut entitlements if Trump gets four more years.
Joni Ernst is talking about it at Iowa town halls.
18
At the outset, you describe the administration as being defined by ethical and moral "flexibility." You should not use this phraseology, even tongue in cheek.
Instead, you should be clear and unequivocal. From Day One, this administration has been contaminated throughout with rank corruption. It has been deceitful - shockingly, terrifyingly so. It has been antagonistic to our most dearly-held principles: democratic and fair elections, freedom of the press, freedom from (and of) religion, commitment to science, reason, and facts. It has used propaganda and disinformation. It has invited interference from foreign governments. It breaches practically every tenet of governmental ethics.
I appreciate the dictates of nuanced writing. This is no time, however, for nuance. Ross, and every other member of Trump's administration, now and in the past, and all of their supporters in Congress, must be remembered, scorned, and their reputations tarred, for their calumny.
595
@AM precision in language - honesty - not sugar-coated tongue in cheek works best.
especially now with emojis taking over ;-)
30
@AM Couldn't agree more. As I read that opening paragraph I thought to myself (a writer) that someone admired his style more than getting the truth out there.
46
One of the better—and clear as crystal—assessments of this administration I’ve read in this paper.
I only wish it had been “for the record” as an Op-Ed in the printed edition and not buried in the online letters section.
56
I would love to see a NYT investigative report into the impact of the steel tariffs, another brilliant idea hatched by Ross, formerly as steel magnate. I have always suspected that somehow he was able to profit on the spike in steel prices as foreign competition was curtailed.
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@Asher Fried
Ross was a "steel magnate" the same way that a vulture is an apex predator.
12
I began to wonder about his steel profits again when Trump announced that “the wall” was going to be made of steel. BTW, Ross did invest heavily in steel back in 2005 right before Bush placed a tariff on it and he made his fortune thereafter so he’s done it before, he knows how it works.
1
There is no "truth" as far as this administration is concerned. There are only "likes" and "dislikes." The issue is rarely whether a particular statement or action is right or wrong, factually or morally or ethically, but who "likes" it and who doesn't. Our entire federal government has been reduced to a single principle: "Is it good for Trump?"
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It is not enough to roll our eyes at liars in high places.
A democracy cannot function amid lies and bullying from its senior representatives.
Ross, Trump, and an epidemic of other administration officials must answer for their lies and criminal behavior to the American people, or we must get real and agree to be something other than the democratic nation we claim to be.
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@C. Whiting-Indeed. Wilbur Ross - Profile of a Grifter
https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2018/08/06/new-details-about-wilbur-rosss-businesses-point-to-pattern-of-grifting/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2018/08/06/new-details-about-wilbur-rosss-businesses-point-to-pattern-of-grifting/#7c3b8d7f1c33
https://www.npr.org/2019/02/27/696824206/not-in-compliance-wilbur-ross-the-trump-official-who-keeps-watchdogs-up-at-night
What about the deals Ross made involving the Russians through the Bank of Cyprus?
How come that investigation never went anywhere?
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@Wordsworth from Wadsworth
That's what happens when Democrats don't focus on a few, key issues and instead have 7 different committees scatter shot investigating too many issues.
19
@Wordsworth from Wadsworth Bill Barr shuts down the inconvenient truth from his bully pulpit at the DOJ. Same way he has squelched the investigation into the NY field office of the FBI that was leaking information damaging to Clinton to Giuliani before the election.
51
@Wordsworth from Wadsworth
20 years ago, doing business in Irkutsk, Siberia, I had to arrange a funds transfer from the USA to Russia. The fluent-English speaking woman I was dealing with, gave me her Cyprus banking info. I had never heard of this. She was amused. "Cyprus is OUR bank" she said. And this was 20 years ago. Whatever can it be like now?
25
Word is the real reason why former national security adviser John Bolton was fired/resigned is because he too insisted on telling the truth about Hurricane Dorian.
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@Jay Orchard
What "word on the streets"? I have not seen this anywhere
2
@FerCry'nTears
You saw it here first because it's a joke.
3
@FerCry'nTears
On Joke Street.
2
Somewhere, Putin is playing a fiddle.
83
Ross must go. Now.
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Flotsam abounds in the swamp.
53
A government of grifters, thanks republicans!
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Yet another individual who, regardless of anything he said or did before, will go down in history as a sycophant and nothing more.
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As we used to say when I was growing up in the Bronx: "T'row da Bums out!"
97
Ross must go. He has no business serving this nation in any capacity.
666
@TaminoPR
He must go? Who is going to fire him? He is doing just what Trump wants.
24
@TaminoPR Yes, Ross should be fired. And so should the cowards (reportedly acting NOAA administrator Neil Jacobs and NOAA communications director Julie Kay Roberts) who drafted and released the unsigned statement supporting Trump's view and criticizing the accurate report from the Birmingham office of the weather service.
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@TaminoPR
He has no aptitude nor inclination to serve this nation.
13
Small wonder that Mr. Trump finds Mr. Ross helpful in his determined march away from truth. As with Mr. Trump, there has been plenty of reporting about Mr. Ross that highlights his distance from integrity in his business dealings. As they say, "Google it."
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