NASA Is Better Than This
There is one openly self-identified @NASA employee – @Kirablackwell – who seems to be just fine with the whole #sedition and #insurrection thing in DC today – and has been tweeting about it all throughout the work day https://t.co/8gg64mJDPS #HatchAct pic.twitter.com/LirOHMKcml
— NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) January 7, 2021
Keith’s note: FYI earlier today I sent an email asking for comment on Blackwell’s political tweeting to the NASA NASA Office of General Counsel, the Inspector General, NASA HQ Public Affairs – and Blackwell – citing the most recent NASA memo on the Hatch Act. No one responded. Moments after I posted this tweet this evening regarding these tweets Blackwell suddenly scrubbed her Twitter account and then made it private. There must be a reason why the account was suddenly edited and hidden.
Luckily the NASA family is better than these tweets – and the horrible events today that they served to endorse.
Keith’s update: I got this response from NASA PAO just before midnight last night: “Thank you for forwarding this matter to NASA. As this is a personnel matter we will not be able to comment further.”
She has an account on Parler. That says enough.
I am guessing she figured she could ignore the OIG or the IG, but you going public after what happened in DC could get her in real trouble with her NASA bosses.
There should be consequences for breaking the rules.
That said, there are those inside the White House that seem to violate the Hatch Act on a regular basis with no consequences. That’s not right either.
I’m not surprised. And there are a bunch more. The snide comments on race that I’ve put up with over the years were a tell-tale sign.
The swill of QAnon conspiracy theories has dragged a lot of otherwise sane people into a very dark place. We’re all now paying the price for failing to address it earlier. Millions of people have lost contact with factual reality and live in this bizarre fantasy land.
Including members of my own extended family and friends. It’s sickening.
The rioters were gross, but how is this a violation of the Hatch Act? Her twitter feed says that statements are her own, and not NASA’s. Federal employees are allowed to campaign as long as it is on their own time, and not using NASA resources.
Did you read the NASA memo on this topic? It is linked. It is rather explicit.
The key here is she was “tweeting about it all throughout the work day”. That’s a big no-no.
She just put the “statements were her own” recently. This is a recent change because previously, that was not there. Regardless of that disclaimer, what she did was a clear violation of the Hatch Act. It doesn’t matter that it is a private twitter now, this screenshot should be sent to her bosses, or whoever can make any significant change, and she should be terminated.
NASAWatch did a story on her suspicious “organization” last year: http://nasawatch.com/archiv…
It is not quite clear what she actually even does – she has only been at NASA for 5/6 yrs with very limited prior experience with a non-tech background, yet she has an SES position in a technical area.
Normally, none of this usually matters, but with the acts she did yesterday, she needs to be looked into.
Rank and file one thing. SES quite another. You are and should be held to a different standard. I also hate to wax political but Dems are guilty of this as well and for some reason I don’t see near as much outrage. I am independent but I get just as miffed with both sides. It just happens to be that of late the right wing is WAY right.I could rattle off five plus social media Dems at NASA HQ right now though that I smh often. They were basically surviving the last four years but they will be fast movers with the return of Dem admin. Of course I am not at NASA anymore but I am generally surprised nobody nips that stuff in the bud. I lectured my people on both sides, facebook, twitter, etc. They would say it is my right and I would point them to the memos and training. In extreme cases I would point them to the “prosecuted” cases.
Part of the problem the way I see it. Some people are “REWARDED” for being political and punished when they are on the other side. I never catered to that and the leaders and peers I respected most at NASA, usually ended up as AAs because they did their job and were not partisan.
Of course, if there were not repercussions for your opinions (even when not in govt), I would not be anonymous.
And yet you are afraid to use your real name as you make these accusations? Coward.
This is a particularly bad example but I have seen MANY Hatch Act Violations from both sides of the fence, and at HQ, it was particularly bad in 2016. I didn’t post anything either way for decades for that reason. Lot of people just don’t get it.
This I believe, is what is known as cancelling someone for wrong think. Goodbye Ms. Blackwell.
So … it is not wrong to violate government policies and post commentary supportive of sedition? OK. Have fun with that.
If this lady had tweeted throughout the day in support of Joe Biden or any Democrat politician or policy proposal, would you have complained to NASA? Hatch Act violation or not? Joe Biden was officially still a candidate until the Joint Session of Congress certified the Electoral Votes from all the States after NASA work hours on January 6th.
Yes. You have not been reading NASA Watch for very long apparently.
I am glad to see your ‘yes’ reply. I have been reading NASAWatch since it was RIFWatch. I am glad to hear that you do you complain to NASA when you spot employees mis-using work time by using private e-comm accounts during work hours. Including such communications with you, or to post comments on NASAWatch.
The Obama folks were furious at me 3 days a week. Sometimes 4. I am an equal opportunity annoyer.