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Thursday, September 22, 2022
LLNL Director arrested gor DUI
It is not in the media, but Kim Budil, LLNL Director, sent a lab-wide email this week (19th) admitting to being cited (arrested actually) for drunk driving and speeding
NNSA, the board of governors etc. have all been informed.
Probably not. Lets be fair this has happened to many other people with clearances. You come clean with and deal with it. Hell half of DC could have the same record.
Hopefully not in the company car on company time. Will there be a lessons learned memo? Will a new web safety class be designed and become mandatory for all to view on a yearly basis?
If her license gets popped she can be chauffeured into the lab like Ed Teller did for years. Perhaps she can consult with Paul Pelosi on the ramifications of her deeds.
“Coming clean” is when you contact EAP prior to the DUI.
I too have seen the second tier Q holders shown the door when they get a DUI. There are a lot of reasons to drink, and not to drink. Some can do it without destroying their own and other people’s lives, and some cannot. It is a well-known problem, as are the solutions.
Maybe, those people are unhappy, but afraid to leave, so psychologically getting a DUI allows them a way to exit. That might be why there are so many of them, also people tend to drink when unhappy, for some people it is a process that feeds on itself. I would assume, in some cases, they are not destroying their lives, as they are better off after leaving the lab. After all, you should consider, that this entire blog is a critique of the labs, and to some extent there are people who focus more on negative aspects, perhaps even the people reading this. Alcohol may provide a means to suppress those ideas in the mind, and could even provide a positive means for some people, to see things in a more positive light. So yes, it is a complex issue I would agree, something that could be good or bad in different aspects.
At LLNL, male managers with clearances had extramarital affairs with subordinate females, and actively tried to conceal their conduct. These two men not only maintained their clearances, but were later promoted. At least the Director promptly and openly communicated her error in judgement. Not so much for the entitled cheaters.
Aren't you expressing a very prudish attitude -- these transgressions had nothing to do with security, and for that matter the alcohol may not have either. Going on these sort of witch hunts, discourages people from wanting to work at the labs, and thus does not contribute to fulfilling mission objectives. Good people have other options after all, and will look for stable employment with tenure, etc. as has been extensively discussed on this blog.
A so called "witch hunt" for the LLNS elite but for LLNS peons, loss of clearance and termination is par for the course for such an occurrence. LLNS hypocrisy deluxe as usual.
We thought LANL was the only place where managers had affairs with their staff, lied about it to ethics investigators and then got promoted. The patriarchy is alive and well.
As for Kim. She has been open and honest. Unless she has a drinking problem she will survive.
"As for Kim. She has been open and honest. Unless she has a drinking problem she will survive."
I agree with you. However, 10 years ago this month, a NIF Tech was given an "an intent to dismiss" memo for drinking on site with no consultations, therapy, etc. offered. The NIF Tech committed suicide days later. Which begs the question, would this NIF Tech still be alive today raising his children if given the expected DUI considerations our LLNL Director is likely receiving now?
"Your use of "begs the question" is rhetorically incorrect. It does not mean what you think it means"
And this is your take away from comments on Lab employee DUIs and suicide prevention? Thank goodness for red herrings when Lab management events are morally indefensible. Maybe 10/01/22 5:41 PM can search for language or grammar errors in the comments below as well.
from this blog in 2014:
"I had a coworker commit suicide and the division leader would do nothing for his family or even acknowledge what had happened. When the group leader of the employee who had died asked the the division leader why they were doing nothing for the family his response was "Let HR take care of that". These people have absolutely no empathy. They despise the workers and only listen to fellow managers or the so called distinguished members."
and
"It's worse than lack of empathy. They somehow contributed to the conditions leading up to the suicide, and they are worried that doing ANYTHING will be a partial admission of liability. These lab managers are much worse than just lacking empathy."
Only one of the "common meanings" is actually correct. The rest are used by uneducated people.
10/03/2022 5:34 PM
That is not how language works. Do you know a Linguistics professors? They can tell you that phrases take on different meanings and over time and after awhile these different meanings become accepted. This is how language evolves and "begs the question" is a prefect example of this. I will take a guess that the 5.17 AM poster is far more technically accomplished and has better educational credentials than you. How do I know, well in my experience people that commonly correct or boast about grammar rather than addressing the points raised are compensating for their lack of arguments or ability reasoning and is the only method they have to add anything. Remember this is a blog nothing more nothing less, it is not a platform for serious writing it is only for conversations. You have nothing to add to the conversation because that would require a level of cognitive ability that is far beyond you. You can correct some grammar but oddly you cannot actually write a paragraph or anything else of substance. Ironic is it not? I am going to take a guess that you are not exactly a particularly "educated" person. You are the student in the philosophy class that after reading "Beyond Good and Evil" by Nietzsche would only say "the sentences are too dense!" after being asked by the professor to give a summary of the book.
"Only one of the "common meanings" is actually correct. The rest are used by uneducated people.
10/03/2022 5:34 PM"
Once again a midwit.
Midwits are truly cursed to be neither blissfully dumb nor reap the benefit of being of superior intelligence or a genius. They can grasp general concepts, but are less capable of digging deeper, understanding nuance, or adapting quickly to complex problems, leading to an entire middle class of perpetually unhappy, often vaguely angry people.
Educated people know how to use "begging the question." Your pathetic (incredibly, almost alarmingly verbose) attempt to justify why you don't is just silly.
Well it seems that some people can’t see the double standard at Livermore. If you are in the 500, 800 or 900 series and you got arrested with a DUI you might have been happy before that arrest but there are a number of managers that specialize in making your life in happy. Case in point the departed NIF technician, or in the case of harassment wasn’t there a maintenance mechanic that was caught with a administrative assistant a few year’s back and was walked off site for “time card fraud” or something like that.
Then there are the rules for HRP or a commercial driver.
I wonder what was being consumed when the decision was made to give out 1/2 of the employees retention bonuses and the other1/2 not. I wonder why people on site can no longer work together or train the new hires???
Educated people know how to use "begging the question." Your pathetic (incredibly, almost alarmingly verbose) attempt to justify why you don't is just silly.
Ah, the Puritan States of America. Why don’t you self-righteous twats move to Saudi Arabia and allow the US to be the land of the free?
Kim made a mistake, she was extremely transparent about this mistake. How about instead of throwing stones at others, you try a bit of empathy? Maybe a bit of honest support.
She has been an excellent director, clearly cares about the lab, its mission, and its people.
Yes, there are unfair situations at the lab and abuses, and quite a few managers who should be out the door. That doesn’t mean taking it out on the new director for past injustices…
Lol… Kim has been a pontificating woke loon. Her emails are long, blathering exercises in virtue signaling. Usual leftist “rules for thee” thinking and actions… she will walk and nothing will come of it… but lord help you if you misgender the mentally ill or say something on NewsLine that breaches narrative.
"Lol… Kim has been a pontificating woke loon. Her emails are long, blathering exercises in virtue signaling. "
To be fair to the Director I do no think she believes any of this woke stuff at all. She puts out the emails to cover the bases but LLNL has been spared actually any of the insanity you see in other places. She knows how to say "look we are taking action" and "see I sent and email" to fight whoever but none of the actual crazy stuff never gets implemented such as the policies you see in universities and certain bay area business. Mason also seems to care less about any of this stuff. Of the DOE labs only Sandia went for this junk but that backfired on them real fast.
Impressive display of LLNL staff intelligence displayed here by calling the director a “loon” and mocking people suffering mental illness. This sounds like just another type of signaling with intolerance to different opinions. Spend all day at work seething at NewsLine commentary? I wonder what project pays for that…
Impressive display of woke projection, 11:35. And the P/T is GET... to learn how to be intolerant and to lap up CRT nonsense.
How is this "woke projection"? I simply pointed out that LLNL has not been subjected to the really crazy woke CRT stuff that many other places have. A few words have been stated in emails but nothing more. If the Director was a woke loon you would know it, again I think she just sends out a an email and than does nothing more. She either does not care about the woke stuff or thinks it is nonsense. Perhaps I am wrong and you are correct. I know some people in academics, industry and the California school systems, many say it is not strop barrage of extreme woke agenda. We are not seeing that at LLNL. Heck maybe if Kim had her way that is what would happen but I doubt it.
37 comments:
Her security clearance is at risk?
Her security clearance is at risk?
9/22/2022 5:31 PM
Probably not. Lets be fair this has happened to many other people with clearances. You come clean with and deal with it. Hell half of DC could have the same record.
It should be, and her leadership ability should be strongly questioned.
Hopefully not in the company car on company time.
Will there be a lessons learned memo?
Will a new web safety class be designed and become mandatory for all to view on a yearly basis?
If her license gets popped she can be chauffeured into the lab like Ed Teller did for years.
Perhaps she can consult with Paul Pelosi on the ramifications of her deeds.
I guess we’ll see how liberty and justice for all plays out.
Her security clearance is at risk?
9/22/2022 5:31 PM
Not if she promptly reported it to the proper authorities.
I thought she'd been hitting the bottle a bit hard when she wrote the piece about the marvelous NIF success. This news sort of confirms the habit.
I've been drinking too, a lot of people have, the way the news is going. It calms the nerves, and it is legal, prohibition ended many years ago.
I have seen a few de minimis, low priority employees walked out the door when they lost their Q due to getting a DUI...just saying.
“Coming clean” is when you contact EAP prior to the DUI.
I too have seen the second tier Q holders shown the door when they get a DUI. There are a lot of reasons to drink, and not to drink. Some can do it without destroying their own and other people’s lives, and some cannot. It is a well-known problem, as are the solutions.
Maybe, those people are unhappy, but afraid to leave, so psychologically getting a DUI allows them a way to exit. That might be why there are so many of them, also people tend to drink when unhappy, for some people it is a process that feeds on itself. I would assume, in some cases, they are not destroying their lives, as they are better off after leaving the lab. After all, you should consider, that this entire blog is a critique of the labs, and to some extent there are people who focus more on negative aspects, perhaps even the people reading this. Alcohol may provide a means to suppress those ideas in the mind, and could even provide a positive means for some people, to see things in a more positive light. So yes, it is a complex issue I would agree, something that could be good or bad in different aspects.
At LLNL, male managers with clearances had extramarital affairs with subordinate females, and actively tried to conceal their conduct. These two men not only maintained their clearances, but were later promoted. At least the Director promptly and openly communicated her error in judgement. Not so much for the entitled cheaters.
Aren't you expressing a very prudish attitude -- these transgressions had nothing to do with security, and for that matter the alcohol may not have either. Going on these sort of witch hunts, discourages people from wanting to work at the labs, and thus does not contribute to fulfilling mission objectives. Good people have other options after all, and will look for stable employment with tenure, etc. as has been extensively discussed on this blog.
A so called "witch hunt" for the LLNS elite but for LLNS peons, loss of clearance and termination is par for the course for such an occurrence. LLNS hypocrisy deluxe as usual.
We thought LANL was the only place where managers had affairs with their staff, lied about it to ethics investigators and then got promoted. The patriarchy is alive and well.
As for Kim. She has been open and honest. Unless she has a drinking problem she will survive.
Scooby, Did someone reach out to you from LLNS or the NNSA about this topic? Why have you stopped additional comments here? Thanks.
" ... people tend to drink when unhappy, ..."
pontificated Msr. 9/25/2022 5:13 AM, who obviously has never wandered into a sports bar on game night when the home team is winning.
"Good people have other options after all, and will look for stable employment with tenure, "
9/27/2022 11:20 AM
As the saying goes in academia, "Don't worry too much about getting tenure, you can always get a job at a National Lab."
Hello 10/01/2022 11:25 AM What comments? The fact that your comment is showing proves comments are allowed. Please clarify.
"As for Kim. She has been open and honest. Unless she has a drinking problem she will survive."
I agree with you. However, 10 years ago this month, a NIF Tech was given an "an intent to dismiss" memo for drinking on site with no consultations, therapy, etc. offered. The NIF Tech committed suicide days later. Which begs the question, would this NIF Tech still be alive today raising his children if given the expected DUI considerations our LLNL Director is likely receiving now?
10/01/2022 5:03 PM
Your use of "begs the question" is rhetorically incorrect. It does not mean what you think it means.
"Your use of "begs the question" is rhetorically incorrect. It does not mean what you think it means"
And this is your take away from comments on Lab employee DUIs and suicide prevention? Thank goodness for red herrings when Lab management events are morally indefensible. Maybe 10/01/22 5:41 PM can search for language or grammar errors in the comments below as well.
from this blog in 2014:
"I had a coworker commit suicide and the division leader would do nothing for his family or even acknowledge what had happened. When the group leader of the employee who had died asked the the division leader why they were doing nothing for the family his response was "Let HR take care of that". These people have absolutely no empathy. They despise the workers and only listen to fellow managers or the so called distinguished members."
and
"It's worse than lack of empathy. They somehow contributed to the conditions leading up to the suicide, and they are worried that doing ANYTHING will be a partial admission of liability. These lab managers are much worse than just lacking empathy."
5:41 the phrase, “begs the question” has several common meanings, including the one implied by 5:03.
5:41 the phrase, “begs the question” has several common meanings, including the one implied by 5:03.
10/03/2022 5:17 AM
Only one of the "common meanings" is actually correct. The rest are used by uneducated people.
Only one of the "common meanings" is actually correct. The rest are used by uneducated people.
10/03/2022 5:34 PM
That is not how language works. Do you know a Linguistics professors? They can tell you that phrases take on different meanings and over time and after awhile these different meanings become accepted. This is how language evolves and "begs the question" is a prefect example of this. I will take a guess that the 5.17 AM poster is far more technically accomplished and has better educational credentials than you. How do I know, well in my experience people that commonly correct or boast about grammar rather than addressing the points raised are compensating for their lack of arguments or ability reasoning and is the only method they have to add anything. Remember this is a blog nothing more nothing less, it is not a platform for serious writing it is only for conversations. You have nothing to add to the conversation because that would require a level of cognitive ability that is far beyond you. You can correct some grammar but oddly you cannot actually write a paragraph or anything else of substance. Ironic is it not? I am going to take a guess that you are not exactly a particularly "educated" person. You are the student in the philosophy class that after reading "Beyond Good and Evil" by Nietzsche would only say "the sentences are too dense!" after being asked by the professor to give a summary of the book.
"Only one of the "common meanings" is actually correct. The rest are used by uneducated people.
10/03/2022 5:34 PM"
Once again a midwit.
Midwits are truly cursed to be neither blissfully dumb nor reap the benefit of being of superior intelligence or a genius. They can grasp general concepts, but are less capable of digging deeper, understanding nuance, or adapting quickly to complex problems, leading to an entire middle class of perpetually unhappy, often vaguely angry people.
Educated people know how to use "begging the question." Your pathetic (incredibly, almost alarmingly verbose) attempt to justify why you don't is just silly.
Well it seems that some people can’t see the double standard at Livermore. If you are in the 500, 800 or 900 series and you got arrested with a DUI you might have been happy before that arrest but there are a number of managers that specialize in making your life in happy. Case in point the departed NIF technician, or in the case of harassment wasn’t there a maintenance mechanic that was caught with a administrative assistant a few year’s back and was walked off site for “time card fraud” or something like that.
Then there are the rules for HRP or a commercial driver.
I wonder what was being consumed when the decision was made to give out 1/2 of the employees retention bonuses and the other1/2 not. I wonder why people on site can no longer work together or train the new hires???
Educated people know how to use "begging the question." Your pathetic (incredibly, almost alarmingly verbose) attempt to justify why you don't is just silly.
10/04/2022 5:09 PM
And how would you know?
And how would you know?
10/04/2022 10:08 PM
How would I know what?
Ah, the Puritan States of America. Why don’t you self-righteous twats move to Saudi Arabia and allow the US to be the land of the free?
Kim made a mistake, she was extremely transparent about this mistake. How about instead of throwing stones at others, you try a bit of empathy? Maybe a bit of honest support.
She has been an excellent director, clearly cares about the lab, its mission, and its people.
Yes, there are unfair situations at the lab and abuses, and quite a few managers who should be out the door. That doesn’t mean taking it out on the new director for past injustices…
Lol… Kim has been a pontificating woke loon. Her emails are long, blathering exercises in virtue signaling.
Usual leftist “rules for thee” thinking and actions… she will walk and nothing will come of it… but lord help you if you misgender the mentally ill or say something on NewsLine that breaches narrative.
"Lol… Kim has been a pontificating woke loon. Her emails are long, blathering exercises in virtue signaling. "
To be fair to the Director I do no think she believes any of this woke stuff at all. She puts out the emails to cover the bases but LLNL has been spared actually any of the insanity you see in other places. She knows how to say "look we are taking action" and "see I sent and email" to fight whoever but none of the actual crazy stuff never gets implemented such as the policies you see in universities and certain bay area business. Mason also seems to care less about any of this stuff. Of the DOE labs only Sandia went for this junk but that backfired on them real fast.
Impressive display of LLNL staff intelligence displayed here by calling the director a “loon” and mocking people suffering mental illness. This sounds like just another type of signaling with intolerance to different opinions. Spend all day at work seething at NewsLine commentary? I wonder what project pays for that…
I wonder what project pays for that…
10/08/2022 2:34 PM
They all do, which is why taxpayers wonder "why LLNL?"
Impressive display of woke projection, 11:35. And the P/T is GET... to learn how to be intolerant and to lap up CRT nonsense.
Correction noted... "Drunk loon"
Impressive display of woke projection, 11:35. And the P/T is GET... to learn how to be intolerant and to lap up CRT nonsense.
How is this "woke projection"? I simply pointed out that LLNL has not been subjected to the really crazy woke CRT stuff that many other places have. A few words have been stated in emails but nothing more. If the Director was a woke loon you would know it, again I think she just sends out a an email and than does nothing more. She either does not care about the woke stuff or thinks it is nonsense. Perhaps I am wrong and you are correct. I know some people in academics, industry and the California school systems, many say it is not strop barrage of extreme woke agenda. We are not seeing that at LLNL. Heck maybe if Kim had her way that is what would happen but I doubt it.
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