At least five board members who oversee the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame have resigned after Michael T. Flynn, the former national security adviser (for 24 days) under President Donald J. Trump, was selected by the votes of other board members as one of the 2024 inductees.
In resignation letters seen by reporters for the New York Times and in interviews, resigning board members said that Flynn, who has embraced conspiracy theories and is a prominent 2020 presidential election "contrarian," should not be awarded this distinction.
The Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame was founded in 1965 and recognizes people from Rhode Island “who have made significant contributions” or who came to prominence for work they did while they were residents of the state. Year 2023 inductees included Judge O. Rogeriee Thompson, the first Black person and the second woman confirmed to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, and J.L. “Lynn” Singleton, the president and chief executive of the Providence Performing Arts Center.
Mr. Flynn, who is from Rhode Island, was among those chosen in a December 13 tally of 19 voting board members.
A "cascade" of resignations has followed, according to reportage from the Providence Journal, Boston Globe and New York Times.
Originally posted by rinselberg:At least five board members who oversee the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame have resigned after Michael T. Flynn, the former national security adviser (for 24 days) under President Donald J. Trump, was selected by the votes of other board members as one of the 2024 inductees.
I see this as a win/win. Flynn gets into the hall of fame, and the five liberal members resign.
Originally posted by 82-T/A [At Work]: I see this as a win/win. Flynn gets into the hall of fame, and the five liberal members resign.
What makes you think the five board members that have resigned are liberals?
Maybe they are sane conservatives... sane and conservative, which would distance them from Mike Flynn on not just one, but two scores (so to speak.)
I hope I remember to check up on this. I have a feeling that Mike Flynn's selection for the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame could well become a deselection.
[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 12-28-2023).]
As 'democracy' is about compromise, what group of people are a 'threat to democracy'?
Not so sure "democracy is about compromise". From my understanding "democracy" is about settling things with a majority vote.
This would mean that the group that is the "threat to democracy" is the one who tried to overturn a legitimate election through fraud and acts of violence instead of by legal means.
Not so sure "democracy is about compromise". From my understanding "democracy" is about settling things with a majority vote.
This would mean that the group that is the "threat to democracy" is the one who tried to overturn a legitimate election through fraud and acts of violence instead of by legal means.
We actually have a Republic.
Why is that?
Our Republic, as configured in the Constitution, protects the rights of the minority.
Our Republic, as configured in the Constitution, protects the rights of the minority...
...which I guess is terrific for anyone who's fortunate enough to be a member of the privileged minority. It's certainly an effective way of keeping the hoi polloi where they belong.
Will the last board member to leave the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame building please turn off the lights?
EXCERPTS
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The fallout continues from the vote earlier this month by a board aligned with the state's "Historian Laureate" Patrick Conley to induct retired U.S. Army lieutenant general—and former President Donald Trump's National Security Adviser—Michael Flynn into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame.
There are now eight confirmed resignations from the Hall of Fame board in protest over the vote to induct Flynn, which Conley has cast as a chance to "vindicate" the Rhode Island native in his home state.
Flynn was pardoned by then-President Donald Trump after pleading guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia during the transition period before Trump's 2017 inauguration.
quote
Past inductees run the gamut from Samuel Slater, an industrialist known as the "Father of the American Industrial Revolution," to former House Speaker John Harwood, a current member of the Hall of Fame board, to the late Vincent A. "Buddy" Cianci, Providence's infamous rogue mayor, Journal columnist Mark Patinkin and even Conley's wife, Gail Cahalan-Conley.
quote
Defending the choice, Conley—who was last reappointed as the state's honorary and unpaid "historian laureate" in 2020 by then-Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea—told The Journal: "Flynn did not commit high treason, espionage, sedition, or any high crime."
"Flynn was illegally surveilled by the outgoing Obama administration... set-up without benefit of counsel by two agents from a weaponized FBI.... [then] tried and convicted by a biased media," Conley said.
They should put him [Conley] "to sleep," as the late radio and TV personality Don Imus used to say.
Perhaps the most important unanswered question: Will Mike Flynn show up wearing one of his QAnon tee shirts for his induction ceremony—if there are induction ceremonies for the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame? I guess he can be photographed that way, even if there is no actual ceremony. Or maybe he will be represented with a painted portrait? Who knows, about the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame...
This is the best in-depth coverage I've stumbled across. It's a "must read" if you want to be talking about this story at whatever New Year's Eve or New Year's Day gatherings await you.
"More board members resign from RI Heritage Hall of Fame after vote to induct Michael Flynn" Katherine Gregg for the Providence Journal; December 29, 2023. https://www.providencejourn...nn-vote/72042936007/
[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 12-29-2023).]
"Flynn was illegally surveilled by the outgoing Obama administration... set-up without benefit of counsel by two agents from a weaponized FBI.... [then] tried and convicted by a biased media," Conley said.
Conley forgot to mention that Trump was also in on the railroading of Flynn. He was the one who sacked Flynn after less than one month as National Security Advisor.
Was Mike Flynn "illegaly surveilled" by the Obama administration?
Here's how I remember it:
During the transition period, President-elect Trump announced that Mike Flynn would become National Security Advisor on Day One of the Trump administration.
During the transition period, Mike Flynn got on the telephone with the Russian ambassador to the United States.
This telephone conversation was overheard by Obama administration security officials because the Obama administration was eavesdropping on the Russian ambassador's telephone conversations.
The Obama administration picked up that whoever was on the other end of the telephone call was signaling to the Russian ambassador that the incoming Trump administration was receptive to the idea of rolling back some of the sanctions that the Obama administration had imposed on Russia in response to Russia's elections interference, which had become known before Trump would take office.
Technically, this could have been viewed as a violation of the Hatch Act. Susan Rice, who was Obama's national security advisor, used her authority to have this telephone conversation "unmasked," which confirmed that it was Mike Flynn who was discussing the sanctions with the Russian ambassador.
There was no effort by the DOJ to try to prosecute Mike Flynn for a Hatch Act violation, which has hardly ever been prosecuted since the Hatch Act was enacted.
In the first few days of the Trump administration, the FBI interviewed Mike Flynn as part of the ongoing Crossfire Hurricane investigation into Russia's elections interference.
Mike Flynn misled the FBI about this telephone conversation that he had had with the Russian ambassador during the transition period, when Trump was President-elect but Obama was still President.
Was that "illegal surveillance" of Mike Flynn?
[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 12-31-2023).]
'Sacking' refers to firing someone without notice, and in many cases, for no reason.
General Flynn was asked to give his resignation.
Evidently, you've never had the responsibility for hiring or firing people at the administrative level.
It was BingB that used the word "sacking" to describe the end of Mike Flynn's conspicuously brief tenure as President Trump's first National Security Advisor.
But what about the surveillance issue? Was Mike Flynn a victim of illegal surveillance that was ordered and carried out during the Obama administration and before Trump's first day in office?
That is the question that is raised here and again here, within this thread
These are Reply #7 and #11 in the sequence of this thread. They are both from me.
I say that there was nothing illegal or even just improper or unethical about this Obama-administration ordered surveillance and telephone conversation eavesdropping, in so far as how Mike Flynn fits into that picture.
Sacking is a term from long ago, when workers carried their tools in sacks to their place of employment. They were not given the respect of resigning their positions, they were just sacked.
Trump had respect for Flynn due to his long and exemplary service to the United States, but was in a position where he had to let him go due to the circumstances.
Sacking is a term loaded with disrespect, something that General Flynn did not, and does not deserve.
Mike Flynn's induction into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame has been put on hold.
"After mass resignation, Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame 'defers' Flynn's induction. What we know." Katherine Gregg for the Providence Journal; December 29, 2023. https://www.providencejourn...nn-vote/72042936007/
The Providence Journals' Katherine Gregg has outdone herself once again with more of her Pulitzer Prize-worthy in-depth coverage.
[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 01-02-2024).]
Sacking is a term from long ago, when workers carried their tools in sacks to their place of employment. They were not given the respect of resigning their positions, they were just sacked.
Trump had respect for Flynn due to his long and exemplary service to the United States, but was in a position where he had to let him go due to the circumstances.
Sacking is a term loaded with disrespect, something that General Flynn did not, and does not deserve.
I am sorry for letting this thread get so far off track. This happens a lot in political "message board debates", and this time I am partially to blame.
My original point was that Flynn was not "convicted by a biased liberal media" as you tried to claim. Instead he admitted to lying and Trump fired him because Flynn was a liar that Trump could not longer trust. Flynn lied to the FBI the same way he lied to Pence and Trump. There was no "set up". If Flynn was stupid enough to get "set up" by a couple of FBI agents then he never deserved to be National Security Advisor and he does not deserve to be honored by Rhode Island.
The difference between "sacking" and "firing" is meaningless to this discussion.
[This message has been edited by BingB (edited 01-02-2024).]
Originally posted by BingB: Conley forgot to mention that Trump was also in on the railroading of Flynn. He was the one who sacked Flynn after less than one month as National Security Advisor.
WRONG !
Trump had no need to railroad Flynn. Everyone in his administration serves at his pleasure.
Originally posted by olejoedad: Sacking is a term from long ago, when workers carried their tools in sacks to their place of employment. They were not given the respect of resigning their positions, they were just sacked.
, ah memories.
Early in my roughnecking career, I / we used to use sacks for our work clothes after they were laundered. Many were told to "sack up".
I voluntarily "sacked up" a few times. I also remember many times where an employee told the "crew boss" that x & x just sacked up. Many times for not getting respect.
[This message has been edited by cliffw (edited 01-04-2024).]
, ah memories.
