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According to a report from NBC News, a substantial number of Donald Trump political appointees attempted to secure permanent hard-to-fire jobs in the government following the former president's loss to now-President Joe Biden.
The report notes that it not unusual for such requests to be made when administration's change, but the number of requests by Trump appointees "outpaced" requests under previous presidents.
<p>According to the report, "Fifty-eight Trump administration appointees sought conversion from Jan. 1, 2020, to Jan 20, 2021, according to the Office of Personnel Management documents. Of those, 31 conversions were approved, six were denied, 15 were returned or withdrawn, and six remained pending," before adding, "All but one of the 13 Trump administration political appointees who sought <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/trump-railed-against-deep-state-he-also-built-his-own-n1258385" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">permanent civil service jobs</a> in the weeks between President Joe Biden's election and inauguration were not approved, according to the OPM reports obtained by NBC News for the last quarter of 2020 and the first 20 days of January."</p><p>According to Max Stier, CEO of the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service, "You can see in the number of non-approvals by OPM that there are a bunch of political appointees [who sought career jobs] that are clearly problematic. Why are these people only coming into these jobs only after the candidate who wanted them there has lost?"</p><p>The answer to that, the NBC report suggests ,is what is called "burrowing."</p><p>"The latest disclosures reveal the extent to which Trump's political appointees sought, in the former president's final months, weeks and even days in office, to stay on in career government positions — a process some government watchdog groups called <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/trump-railed-against-deep-state-he-also-built-his-own-n1258385" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">"burrowing."</a> Successful conversions would give Trump a legacy of influence in parts of the federal government that would endure far past his time in the White House," NBC reports. "Experts interviewed by NBC News expressed concerns over the numbers and timing of political appointees seeking conversion to permanent jobs after the election in particular, as well as about the number of appointees who had previously applied for and were granted conversions after the election."</p><p>"It's a red flag when there are multiple people being converted to jobs at a single entity. It really raises an even larger concern," Stier explained. "The process is supposed to be that a political appointee in no way has a leg up on the competition for a career job, but when you see multiple go to the same agency, you really have to wonder how it can be possible that the best qualified individuals are not once, but multiple times, people who are political appointees."</p><p>You can<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/high-number-trump-political-appointees-sought-permanent-jobs-final-year-n1262234" target="_blank"> read more here</a>.</p>
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Ten years after its launch and two years after it ended, "Game of Thrones" fans have plenty more to look forward to, from TV spinoffs to the long-awaited final books.
- Waiting for Martin -
<p>It's the question that has driven fans of the Iron Throne to despair: when will author George R.R. Martin finally finish the fantasy saga "A Song of Ice and Fire" on which "Game of Thrones" was based.</p><p>The first volume appeared in 1996 and the fifth in 2011, just after the TV show was launched. Two more volumes are due, but the global success of the series appears to have derailed Martin's work schedule.</p><p>Impatience has been building, and with every new project that Martin takes on, there are fears the final volumes may never emerge, especially since Martin is now 72 years old.</p><p>In 2020, he assured fans he was working every day on volume six, which is titled "The Winds of Winter" and even hoped to finish it this year.</p><p>- TV spin-offs -</p><p>Martin has plenty more on his plate, however, not least the first TV spinoff, "House of the Dragon", which is set 300 years before the original series and focuses on House Targaryen.</p><p>Shooting in England is due to start this month, with a release date on HBO set for 2022. At least two other prequel shows are in development, according to Deadline magazine, but have yet to be given the green light.</p><p>Another prequel project starring Naomi Watts and set thousands of years earlier, went as far as producing a pilot episode before it was axed by the network in late 2019.</p><p>Martin last month signed a five-year deal with HBO parent company WarnerMedia to develop new content, which is said to include more "Thrones" spin-offs: the saga of warrior queen Nymeria provisionally entitled "10,000 Ships", a seafaring drama "9 Voyages" with the creators of historical drama "Rome", and a gritty underworld tale set in Westeros capital King's Landing called "Flea Bottom".</p><p>A "Dunk and Egg" TV series based on Martin's novellas about a knight and his squire has long been rumoured, while an animated drama spanning thousands of years has also been mooted.</p><p>He is also linked to several non-"Thrones" projects, including "Who Fears Death" and "Roadmarks", both based on fantasy novels from other authors, and an adaptation for Netflix of his early short story "Sandkings".</p><p>If that wasn't enough, there's also a Broadway version of "Game of Thrones" due in 2023.</p><p>- European inspirations to revisit -</p><p>"Game of Thrones" has also proved a boon for tourism in the locations that featured in the show.</p><p>Dubrovnik on the Croatian coast (the stand-in for King's Landing), the Palace of the Alcazar in Seville (Dorne), and Doune Castle in Scotland (Winterfell) all saw a boost in arrivals prior to the pandemic.</p><p>Martin is himself a lover of castles and medieval architecture, and has even tried to get a fort built in his garden in Santa Fe -- though he has yet to get permission.</p><p>Fans in desperate need of an immediate "Thrones" fix might also try "The Accursed Kings", a book series by French writer Maurice Druon. Martin has said the historical saga, which follows the Capetian dynasty in the 14th century, was a major inspiration.</p><p>© 2021 AFP</p>
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The United States offered "very serious" ideas to Iran on how to revive a nuclear deal during talks in Vienna but is waiting for Iran to show the same "seriousness," a US official said Friday.
"The United States team put forward a very serious idea and demonstrated a seriousness of purpose on coming back into compliance if Iran comes back into compliance," the official told reporters as talks broke for the weekend.
<p>But the official said the United States was waiting for its efforts to be "reciprocated" by Iran.</p><p>"We saw some signs of it but certainly not enough. There's still question marks about whether Iran has the willingness to... take the pragmatic approach that the United States has taken to come back into compliance with its obligations under the deal," he said.</p><p>President Joe Biden supports a return to the 2015 agreement trashed by his predecessor Donald Trump under which Iran drastically scaled back nuclear work in return for promises of sanctions relief.</p><p>Iran has demanded that the United States first lift all sanctions imposed by Trump before it rolls back moves out of nuclear compliance that it had taken in protest.</p><p>© 2021 AFP</p>
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