Friday, January 12, 2018

America's Ambassador to Panama Has Had His Fill of Presidente Shithole, Resigns.


56 year old John Feely, career diplomat and former Marine chopper pilot, serving as America's ambassador to Panama has resigned his post.


"As a junior foreign service officer, I signed an oath to serve faithfully the president and his administration in an apolitical fashion, even when I might not agree with certain policies," he wrote, in a letter obtained by Reuters.

"My instructors made clear that if I believed I could not do that, I would be honor bound to resign. That time has come."

Mr Feeley has worked at the state department for nearly 30 years.

He was nominated to the ambassadorship by President Barack Obama in July 2015 and was sworn in to the post on January 15, 2016.

Before becoming ambassador to Panama, Mr Feeley served as principal deputy assistant secretary for Western Hemisphere affairs from 2012 to 2015.

The ambassador is just one of many veteran diplomats and foreign service staffers who have voted with their feet, hollowing out the State Department, since Deplorable Donnie took power.  With them goes a lot of institutional memory - the people who knew how things worked, who knew the people to call in other countries' foreign service when a favour was needed or a deal had to be negotiated. These were people other countries had come to trust.

10 comments:

crf said...

I hope congress debates a motion of censure in regards to those comments. (It's very rare to censure a President: but a motion has been introduced: http://www.nola.com/national_politics/2018/01/cedric_richmond_and_other_demo.html)

The Mound of Sound said...


Chris, I just watched the opener of Letterman's new show on NetFlix. The first guest was Barack Obama and it was just the two of them for the 40 minutes/1 hr. duration of the programme.

There are those ready to criticize Obama for his failings yet he was amazing and it was inspirational to watch a presidential ex-president. It also cast Trump in an awful light for the deranged degenerate he truly is.

To compare Trump to his predecessor is stomach churning.

Anonymous said...

It's not fair to call Donald J Trump "president shithole." He inherited a shithole from Obama after decades of neoliberal and neoconservative corruption that trashed a once-stellar American economy.

Trump didn't run on making America an even worse shithole like HRC. He ran on MAGA!

Anonymous said...

He ran on MAGA!.............

I have to ask , yet again.
What exactly does make America great again mean?
When was it great ,what made it great?

If I understand any history.
America prospered when it had almost unfettered immigration!
America prospered when it did not interfere in other countries politics!
America prospered with immigrants of all races and religions!

Please enlighten us ,anon 9:43 , what is MAGA?

TB

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
the salamander said...

.. would think that anyone with a shred of ethics, integrity or sensibility would step away & upwind of the fetid Trump Administration's squalor. The performances of his lackeys are stunning & astonishing. I like that each and every one is revealing their appetite for eating shite.. Anon 9:43 seems a willing fan of shite eating too.. but that's OK.. people have different tastes as well as opinions. Perhaps that anon has a taste for racism too.. it happens. Some also have a taste for the sordid career of Alex Jones.. it happens.

Well, we'll see.. All may be revealed.. or like Nixon, someone will whisper in his ear.. 'its over'.. walk away now.. before you are stripped naked in full view of the public & hung out a window, upside down'.. Trump is just like Alex Jones.. they both think they can take it with them. You know.. the money, the fame, the trappings, the country clubs.. or its the Icarus Syndrome prior to the spectacular fall.. Worse, it could just be the stark very slow fade to black.. a ticket on The Oblivion Express to the farthest reaches of Infamy. Spoken of in the same hushed tones as Benedict Arnold, James Wilkes Booth, Nixon, Lee Harvey Oswald..

the salamander said...

.. whew ! I don't want to comment on the comments..
at least not in derogatory ways.. but what the hey..
the anonymous comment preceding mine
is a doozy .. !

Northern PoV said...

"Icarus Syndrome prior to the spectacular fall"

Not happening - Trump gets stronger by the day. If he does exit the scene Pence will ably complete the mission.

Barring a massive and (for America) unprecedented outbreak of democracy in the 2018/2020 elections the USA is burnt toast and Canada will smolder along with it.

Anonymous said...

USA is burnt toast and Canada will smolder along with it.

Not sure if I agree or not.
However, it will be interesting to see how Canada fares with a disintegrating USA to our south!

The original NAFTA was agreed upon without,as far as I know, a plan B.
This could well turn out to be a huge mistake.
Even if Trump is thrown out within the next few years his policies and the damage thereof, will remain for some time.

This should make us less less enthusiastic to quickly sign into other "free trade" areas no matter who the partners.

TB

Anonymous said...

As we eagerly await a discussion on the excited States of America and the doomsday machines!!


https://www.thedailybeast.com/pope-francis-world-is-at-the-brink-of-nuclear-war

TB