JD Vance's team had water level of Ohio river raised for family's boating trip | Hacker News Reader

JD Vance's team had water level of Ohio river raised for family's boating trip

theguardian.com

60 pointsLopRabbit19 comments

The Secret Service did it to ensure the security of the second family. Via NYT:

"Anthony Guglielmi, a Secret Service spokesman, said that for security reasons, the agency asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to temporarily increase water flow from Caesar Creek Lake, which is connected to the river.

The boats used by the Secret Service for security or an emergency evacuation are usually motorized and need deeper waters to operate, he said. Smaller boats like the ones the Vances were using, such as kayaks and canoes, can operate in shallower waters.

Mr. Guglielmi also said that the Service and local public safety officials conducted a scouting mission ahead of the excursion. During that time, one of the local public safety boats ran aground, an indication that the water level was too low for that vessel.” [0]

0: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/07/us/politics/secret-servic...

Instead of changing the flow of water, what if they had just gotten the second family to vacation elsewhere

Does it matter? Something else would be offset just the same.

Oh this changes everything!

Thankfully we all have your superior reasoning skills to help us navigate these frought waters.

"for security reasons" is a wonderful excuse that can be used for everything, and mostly just shuts down any criticisms. It's up there with 'for the children'.

I wouldn't be surprised if this happened without JD Vance's knowledge. This sounds like a thing that Secret Service would make happen to make sure they can secure him at all times.

Yeah agreed.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was explicitly requested to make for a more fun kayaking trip either. This sounds like a thing that someone who rejects climate change while receiving big oil donations would do.

That's why an article with low journalist standards was written, for somebody like you who wants their bias confirmed.

How many vacations does this guy take??

If he is on vacation, he can do less damage

When you think about what they do for a "job" can one really say if they are on vacation or not?

I feel like you can say this about many politicians. A lot of the work of politics isn’t done in the Capitol building, it’s done on vacation with your favorite senator’s family.

Plus the Vice Presidency is a ceremonial job.

  * family ski trip to Vermont in March
  * family trip to Disneyland in July
  * family kayak trip in Ohio last week (on his 41st birthday)
  * currently on a 10 day visit with family to the UK

The total is about 18 days of vacation in 201 days in office. That's more vacation that I get. Is it high for politicians?

Seems pretty normal amount from many western countries / EU perspective though. A quite standard 30 days paid time off could go like:

- Christmas to New year off (~3-5 days PTO + public holidays paid)

- Winter holiday in Feb/March (5 days PTO)

- Maybe a week off around Easter or Ascension day (4 days PTO + public holiday paid)

- 3 weeks off in the summer (15 days PTO)

- A long weekend in the autumn (1 day PTO) or a week if you didn't take a week off in the spring

-> 30 days PTO total

Conservatives famously advocate for similar policies here in the US.

Probably about the same amount that you do, it’s just you don’t have media following you around everywhere reporting your every step.

What a narcissistic diva. Sad.

Beavers like to do that to rivers too. I don't know if they have a Secret Service equivalent. I think some do it for economical reasons but the majority do it out of boredom.

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