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Yes, Buttigieg Deserves Family Leave. No, That's Not the Point
Townhall.com ^ | October 18, 2021 | Rebecca Downs

Posted on 10/18/2021 4:53:11 AM PDT by Kaslin

While the nation faces yet another crisis, this time to do with transportation, it happens to be coming at a time when Sec. Pete Buttigieg is on paternity leave.

The issue is not so much that he took paid family leave to bond with his newborn adopted children--at least it shouldn't be. The issue is we're just now hearing about it, and during a crisis. "Oh, So That’s What Pete Buttigieg Has Been Doing," Katie's article was aptly titled, citing insight from POLITICO Playbook.

Writing "Can Pete Buttigieg Have It All?," for the Thursday "West Wing Playbook," Alex Thompson and Tina Sfondeles acknowledgde that the secretary "has been MIA."

Further down they wrote:

They didn’t previously announce it, but Buttigieg’s office told West Wing Playbook that the secretary has actually been on paid leave since mid-August to spend time with his husband, Chasten, and their two newborn babies.

Not only did the office not "previously announce" something that happened two months ago, but the office also isn't forthcoming about it, period:

In the past, Cabinet secretaries felt compelled to come back sooner. Former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development JULIÁN CASTRO took about a “week or so” of leave after his child was born, his spokesperson told us.

In part, that’s because Cabinet secretaries are not eligible for the same paid family leave benefits that federal workers are. “Individuals in the executive branch who are appointed by the President to positions in the Executive Schedule are not covered by the leave system,” a spokesperson for the Office of Personnel Management said. “They do not earn leave and serve at the pleasure of the President. The President can choose to allow him to take time off.”

Asked if Biden approved the leave, a White House official didn’t directly answer but said in a statement that “Pete’s been a key member of the team since Day One, and has been critical as we shepherd the President’s agenda across the finish line. We’re overjoyed for him and Chasten, and believe every American should have access to paid family leave.”

Now, there will be people making this about criticizing paid family leave. Fox News host Tucker Carlson made headlines for bringing up "chestfeeding." On Sunday's edition of CNN's "State of the Union," Buttigieg was asked by host Jake Tapper about it:

BUTTIGIEG: As you might imagine, we're bottle-feeding, and doing it at all hours of the day and night. And I'm not going to apologize to Tucker Carlson or anyone else for taking care of my premature newborn infant twins.

The work that we are doing is joyful, fulfilling, wonderful work. It's important work. And it's work that every American ought to be able to do when they welcome a new child into their family.

I campaigned on that. So did the president. The Build Back Better agenda includes provisions for paid family leave. And, by the way, we're pretty much the only country left that doesn't have some kind of national policy for paid leave.

I think it's down to us and Papua New Guinea. It is long past time to make it possible for every American mother and father to take care of their children when a new child arrives in the family.

It need not be a talking point from the Left that the United States needs to get on board with the rest of the world here when it comes to having a national policy in favor of paid family leave. It's smart and it's compassionate. It's also pro-life. So why are pro-abortion leftists pushing it, then? It should be a conservative talking point, especially for the sake of encouraging families.

In 2016 I wrote for Live Action about paid family leave from a pro-life perspective. For so many women who have abortions, finances tend to play a factor. Specifically, a Guttmacher Institute Study from 2005 found that 21 percent said they "can't leave job to take care of a baby."

In an opinion piece last month for The Washington Examiner, Madeline Fry Schultz asked "Why don’t conservative organizations offer more paid family leave?"

Even if he makes good points about family leave, we shouldn't let Buttigieg off the hook for job failures. When Tapper tried to ask the secretary why he didn't announce it, he demurred, naturally:

TAPPER: We're thrilled for your family. And we're happy that parental leave is a reality for so many in the U.S.

Looking back, as a Cabinet secretary, why didn't you or the Department of Transportation make an official announcement when you went on parental leave? And why did you not appoint an acting secretary while you were away?

BUTTIGIEG: Well, so, the way this works is, there is a deputy secretary, Polly Trottenberg, who's doing phenomenal work and who, as deputy secretaries do, can fill in when a secretary is not available.

Now, look, even though I have been on maternity leave, and I'm proud of it, obviously, given the nature of my job, when you take a job like mine, you understand and accept that you're going to have to be available 24/7, depending on what's going on, and you're going to have to engage.

And I did, even if that meant taking a phone call or making a decision from a hospital room. But I am so thankful for the phenomenal work that my colleagues at the Department of Transportation have done and are doing. And I'm thankful to be part of an administration that is walking the walk on our family values.

This administration is full of gaslighting experts. Has Trottenberg actually been doing "phenomenal work," though? If Buttigieg really has been "available 24/7," why are we facing yet another crisis?

To allow the White House and paid family leave advocates to frame it this way and only this way amounts to deceiving the American people.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: paidfamilyleave; petebuttigieg; prolife
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To: Kaslin

Why are we caving on gay adoption?


21 posted on 10/18/2021 5:35:50 AM PDT by cmj328 (We live here.)
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To: Kaslin

so.. a baby popped out of pete’s butt? if not, then no maternity leave!


22 posted on 10/18/2021 5:35:57 AM PDT by TexasFreeper2009
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To: Kaslin

Yeah, real rough for the fags. Too bad they don’t also have to be present in the OR during delivery (or C-sections), deal with the post-partum issues or the Nazi nurses coercing the breast-feeding when she’s still recovering from being sliced open. Wish I could have had 6 weeks paid leave each after dealing with those multiple times.


23 posted on 10/18/2021 5:36:26 AM PDT by mikey_hates_everything
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To: Kaslin

Heh. Bootyjig said maternity leave.

“Now, look, even though I have been on maternity leave, and I’m proud of it...”


24 posted on 10/18/2021 5:37:23 AM PDT by JerseyDvl (During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.)
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To: Kaslin
I run my own business. If the government forces me to implement a "paid family leave" policy, I'll simply refrain from hiring young parents and prospective parents.

I don't give a damn if the U.S. is the only "advanced" country in the world that doesn't have paid family leave. This idea that an employer is somehow obligated to pay wages when work isn't getting done is one of the most ludicrous, unsustainable aspects of a modern economy.

25 posted on 10/18/2021 5:38:42 AM PDT by Alberta's Child ("All lies and jest, ‘til a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.")
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To: MtnClimber

I am stealing that. LMAO.


26 posted on 10/18/2021 5:39:03 AM PDT by Alberta's Child ("All lies and jest, ‘til a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.")
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To: Kaslin

No he DOESN’T deserve paternity leave. Especially not during a time when some leadership on transportation issues is needed. (I know others have said it, but I want to add my voice to the chorus.)

And what is with these so-called conservatives trying to “mainstream” this touchy-feely garbage?


27 posted on 10/18/2021 5:44:19 AM PDT by FreedomVsControl
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To: Kaslin

The good Lord meant is to have two parents in the home. This allows one of them to deal with emergencies. Like global supply chain issues.


28 posted on 10/18/2021 5:46:16 AM PDT by Vermont Lt
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To: Kaslin

How convenient.

What an excuse to get paid and not do your job and let the country go to hell.

I wonder what his next excuse will be?


29 posted on 10/18/2021 5:47:05 AM PDT by metmom (...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith….)
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To: KarlInOhio

“The fact that Buttigieg took a couple months off before anyone noticed shows just how vital he is.”

Not only that, but I would double the pay of all the people that work for the Department if they took the next four years off on leave.


30 posted on 10/18/2021 5:48:58 AM PDT by Geoffrey
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To: KarlInOhio

My dad was working his ass off when I was born. He took exactly ONE day off from work to visit my mom and his first born.

After that it was back to grind.

My mother, rest her soul, would have a few words about two queers taking off for months to “care” for their newborn. What a crock.


31 posted on 10/18/2021 5:52:00 AM PDT by unixfox (Abolish Slavery, Repeal the 16th Amendment)
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To: Kaslin

Nobody noticed he was missing because the Secretary of Transportation doesn’t actually do or affect much. Besides, the only reason Peter Butt got the job is because it includes the word “Trans”.


32 posted on 10/18/2021 5:53:11 AM PDT by Bernard (The very best scientific articles always contain this phrase: “My personal intuition has been…”)
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To: kempster
 

A BIBLICAL Message about homosexuality



 
Genesis 13:13
Now the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the LORD.

Genesis 18:20-21
20. Then the LORD said, "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and
their sin so grievous
21. that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know."

Genesis 19:4-7
4. Before they had gone to bed, all the men
from every part of the city of Sodom--both young and old--surrounded the house.
5. They called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them
."
6. Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him
7. and said, "No, my friends. Don't do this wicked thing.


Leviticus niv

18:22 Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable.

20:13 If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.

 
 


Psalms 12:8 The wicked freely strut about when what is vile is honored among men.

Doonesbury Cartoon for Feb/08/2013

Isaiah 3:9 The look on their faces testifies against them;

they parade their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it.

Woe to them! They have brought disaster upon themselves.

================================================

2 Peter 2:13b Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight.

They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you.


Ezekiel 16:49-50
49. "`Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.
50. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.


Romans 1     New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)
 
 18 The wrath of God is indeed being revealed from heaven against every impiety and wickedness of those who suppress the truth by their wickedness. 19 For what can be known about God is evident to them, because God made it evident to them. 20 Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what he has made. As a result, they have no excuse; 21 for although they knew God they did not accord him glory as God or give him thanks. Instead, they became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless minds were darkened. 22 While claiming to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for the likeness of an image of mortal man or of birds or of four-legged animals or of snakes.
 

24 Therefore, God handed them over to impurity through the lusts of their hearts for the mutual degradation of their bodies. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and revered and worshiped the creature rather than the creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. 26 Therefore, God handed them over to degrading passions. Their females exchanged natural relations for unnatural, 27 and the males likewise gave up natural relations with females and burned with lust for one another. Males did shameful things with males and thus received in their own persons the due penalty for their perversity. 28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God handed them over to their undiscerning mind to do what is improper. 29 They are filled with every form of wickedness, evil, greed, and malice; full of envy, murder, rivalry, treachery, and spite. 


2 Peter 2

1. But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them--bringing swift destruction on themselves.
2. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.
3. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.
4. For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment;
5. if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others;
6. if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly;
7. and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men
8. (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)--
9. if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment.
10. This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority. Bold and arrogant, these men are not afraid to slander celestial beings;
11. yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not bring slanderous accusations against such beings in the presence of the Lord.
12. But these men blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like beasts they too will perish.
13. They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done.
Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you.



But there IS hope!!!

1 Corinthians 6:9-11

9. Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived:
Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders
10. nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
11. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.


If you could NOT change, you would be in most pitiful shape...

 
 
 
 
 
 
 


The Health Risks of gay sex.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
We are living in a Genesis 19:9 world...
 

"Get out of our way,” they replied.
“This fellow came here as a foreigner, and now he wants to play the judge!
We’ll treat you worse than them.”
They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door.
 
 
 

33 posted on 10/18/2021 5:53:30 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Kaslin

Pete is a transgender and a nutburger..


34 posted on 10/18/2021 6:09:30 AM PDT by chopperk
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To: The Free Engineer

He was marginally qualified to be a mayor or perhaps a Lt Gov of some lesser state.

In this case....the minute he said he was going to be gone two to three months...some alternate cabinet secretary should have been sworn in. I can’t imagine any major industry having a position like this, and some joker doing something like this.


35 posted on 10/18/2021 6:20:45 AM PDT by pepsionice
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To: Kaslin

You know how long I had off when my first kid was born?

2 days. And a weekend.

Second kid was 11 days, but she was in the NICU.


36 posted on 10/18/2021 6:29:06 AM PDT by redgolum (If this is civilization, I will be the barbarian. )
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To: Kaslin

He does have a phone and laptop. Is this boob so incompetent as is his deputy secretary that they can’t confab over the phone?


37 posted on 10/18/2021 6:30:01 AM PDT by DownInFlames (G)
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To: Kaslin

Be honest.
Buttgig is probably doing less damage where he is.


38 posted on 10/18/2021 6:34:46 AM PDT by Little Ray (Civilization runs on a narrow margin. What sustains it is not magic, but hard work. )
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To: Alberta's Child
In Germany a woman who works gets six weeks paid maternety leave, before birth of the baby and six weeks after birth. However she gets 12 weeks if she breast feeds the baby. It's the law. How ever if a female is hired and (as they are always asked if they are pregnant or not but are denying they are and know it they can be fired and there is nothing they can do about it.

I was working 30 km from my home town in Germany but quit my job before my husband who had come to Germany with his company from Fort Knox, KY during the Berlin crisis. Our son was born in the American Hospital in Nuremberg. The bill for him was $5.00 which at the time was 19 German Marks. I told them what it was and they paid me 70 German marks, which was around $19.00, not bad, huh?

39 posted on 10/18/2021 6:38:27 AM PDT by Kaslin (Joe Biden, aka president Milk Carton)
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To: Kaslin

Considering what his “job” is, he won’t be missed if he never returns .


40 posted on 10/18/2021 6:38:54 AM PDT by windsorknot
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