Nikki Haley spends $52,701 tax money on curtains for her NYC apt.

[Cattledog]

U.N Ambassador Nikki Haley’s curtains for her swanky, taxpayer-funded New York City apartment cost more than the average household in her home state of South Carolina earns in an entire year. They also cost more than the total income reported by millions of American households.

According to the New York Times, the State Department “spent $52,701 last year buying customized and mechanized curtains for the picture windows” in Haley’s New York City apartment. “All she’s got is a part-time maid, and the ability to open and close the curtains quickly is important,” one official told the Times, echoing the concerns of teachers working two jobs to make ends meet.

https://shareblue.com/nikki-haley-curtains/

[CottonBear]

1. Fuck her to hell. Just when you think Trumpers can't be worse...

they go lower.

Go to hell, Niki.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

30. Hell would be to good for that POS.

[GemDigger]

2. How fiscally conservative the republican are now is frightening.

I don't imagine that those curtains open any faster than they would with her hands on them. Either she is lazy or she thinks why not, everyone else has.

[CottonBear]

3. Why can't the part-time maid open & close the fucking curtains?

[Recursion]

22. Because he or she is a GS-scheduled professional custodian?

And that's not part of their job?

[Recursion]

8. It's mostly so people can give PowerPoint presentations without the sun glaring on the screen

I get it; I've worked as a general contractor. I get that people have sticker shock. But renovations honestly are really expensive.

[GemDigger]

9. In her apartment? I can see (maybe) in her office but... in her apartment?

Curtains are curtains and there are all kinds of light reduction styles. Unless you are living on someone else's dime.

[Recursion]

10. It's an official residence. Same reason she gets a maid

She uses it for official functions to represent the country. So we want it to look nice

[Recursion]

20. I was wrong. It automatically opens and closes based on the sun and the temperature

It's a green initiative, supposed to reduce heating and cooling costs and energy use.

[jberryhill]

32. It's not "her apartment" anymore than the White House is "Trump's house"

It's an apartment maintained by the US for the US ambassador to the United Nations.

[joshcryer]

12. They have been open thieves for the better part of 50 years.

They have done so openly and with impunity.

And guess what?

They blame the Democrats for the "$5000 hammer."

They blame the Democrats for the "$20000 toilet."

Meanwhile Trump literally has a golden toilet he shits on. Literally.

Those fucking pieces of shit somehow get away with it because I don't know if Democrats are good at messaging or afraid to point out bullshit cost overrun shit because it might mean not hiring X amount of people or what, but we just fail at messaging. Hard.

[Recursion]

4. Eh. This is a red herring. It's an official residence used for meetings

$50K sounds like about what a remote control blinds system would cost.

Same non-issue as with Carson's dining set. This stuff is just expensive. Odd that it's only the non-white politicians that get called out on it...

[GemDigger]

11. "Odd that it's only the non-white politicians that get called out on it..."

I bitch about Trumps gold ones too.

[Dorian Gray]

13. Also

the items were purchased during Obama's Administration, not personally chosen by Haley herself. So the staging of this article is all off. And unfair to her.

(I still think that we can talk about expenses the government takes upon itself when it's laying supporting people in the state department off, but this is not necessarily HER personal fault.)

[demmiblue]

18. Apparently, they are reviewing the story:

Link to tweet

[Dorian Gray]

25. they've updated the story

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/13/us/politics/nikki-haley-curtains.html

[demmiblue]

27. Much better, imo. n/t

[Cattledog]

21. Not true. The purchase was planned in 2016 but never completed.

The purchase was made in 2017. "just as the department was undergoing deep budget cuts and had frozen hiring." So it is on her.

[Dorian Gray]

24. You can read their update here:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/13/us/politics/nikki-haley-curtains.html

[Cattledog]

34. Thanks!

[joshcryer]

16. Do they really need remote control blinds?

Even assuming it's unbecoming for an official to open them themselves, I mean, surely an underling can do it.

Oh, I just read it, it's a "part time maid." Wow.

She literally can't open and close blinds herself.

[Recursion]

19. I think the point is they track the Sun to reduce heating and cooling costs

The "part time maid" is a GS custodial employee. All Ambassadors get one, I think, because their residences are used to represent the country.

[joshcryer]

23. If it's that kind of system then I am OK with it.

They should just come out and say that then.

All they have to do is say "environmentally friendly active shades."

Done.

Instead it's coming off as very weaselly.

That way people can be outraged and then the truth comes out and people go "oh, so it's environmentally friendly, efficient, that's what the Democrats want, and they're complaining!"

[lagomorph777]

37. WTF? Are you serious? You think anybody anywhere in the US would think this is OK?

Maybe in certain other countries, people get away with shit like this, but not around here!

[Recursion]

38. Shit like what? We have an acquisitions process

This was bid out like any other renovation job.

[Me.]

5. Gee...Only A Free Part Time Maid

[Achilleaze]

6. On the bright side: she hasn't squandered $300 million on golf

like her boss, the republican Draft-Dodger-in-Chief.

Always look on the bright side.

[zeusdogmom]

7. She should have shopped at Blinds.com

and used the discount offered to Glenn Beck listeners.

[Vinca]

14. How can you even do that?????? How many windows are in the damn place?

These people treat their government jobs like lottery wins.

[brooklynite]

15. Could this be "curtains" for her?

[Hortensis]

17. Remember, planetary wealth quadrupled in the past

30 years, and a very large share of it is found in select circles in NY and DC. Those who aspire to associate with centimillionaires and billionaires, or at least with those who do, need to put on a proper show. Peons in fly-over country have $10,000 curtains.

[dixiegrrrrl]

39. Some of us smarter peons make curtains out of sheets.

If you can't sew, there is always fabric glue.

Drapes, OTOH,cost a wee bit more.

(I was reading your sig line and realized it sounds exactly like a WW2 slogan/posters.
I dunno why we are not calling this situation a war.)

[Hortensis]

40. I copied the "Don't be..." part from another DUer,

who was happy to share. Struck me as a very useful reminder since we really are at war.





Btw, I LOVE fabric glue since I used it to pop out some curtains for an old mobile home in Florida. Turned out it's not the stuff I tried once 30 years before. I also love curtains, light and airy, flirting in the breezes, in any colors and patterns that take your fancy. Younger generations don't know what they're missing these rigid "window treatment" days.

[Agschmid]

26. This is not a major issue and should not be pushed.

[Freethinker65]

28. ***Nope. Not true. Consider deleting or updating please.

[matt819]

29. Not necessarily outrageous

She's an ambassador. She has representational duties - dinners, meetings, events, drinks, etc. - at her apartment. Ambassadors' residences generally are pretty substantial affairs worldwide, which is as it should be - to a point, of course.

So, whether it's drapes or carpets or whatever, these can be pricey. Now whether they need to be mechanized or have all the whistles and bells that might come with curtains, that can be subject to discussion. But it's not necessarily all that outrageous.

Also, it's highly unlikely that she was involved in their selection. These things are handled by the admin people at the US Mission to the UN. So I don't think heaping blame on Haley herself makes much sense.

[jberryhill]

31. I don't understand this article

"her swanky, taxpayer-funded New York City apartment"

First off, the US certainly pays for a residence for its ambassador to the United Nations, and that residence is used for official functions.

How they are getting off calling it "her" apartment is a mystery to me. The article seems to be written in a manner to make it seem as if this is her personal apartment, instead of a diplomatic facility operated by the US government.

[Fla Dem]

36. Thanks for being rational.

I am as outraged as the next person by the excesses of Trump's administration. However, if we go off half cocked at every little thing, then no one will listen to us when the BIG excess occurs.

If she does in fact use those living quarters as a diplomatic residence, to entertain and receive foreign dignitaries, then I have no gripe over the curtains. Yes, they are expensive, but maybe not for Manhattan.

[Dorian Gray]

41. The article is a BAD article

and it will absolutely add fuel to the *FakeNews fire.

The correction will help, but the damage was done.

[TwistOneUp]

33. I try like mad

To find a GOPer that works for the gov't and is *not* a thief. And I keep failing...

[Generic Other]

35. Welcome to Parasite Paradise

Nikki's curtains, Scott Pruitt's cone of silence, Ben Carson's dining set, Mnuchin's Ft Knox/eclipse watching vacation, Trump boys' security details while on private business, the cost of golf cart rentals to Secret Service. Mar-A-Lago golf.