The direction of society lately

[vertical_doug]

I am impressed with how strategic and aggressive the use of the EO has been. It's the first step on the road to Ermächtigungsgesetz 'Enabling Act' and rule by decree.

The conversation has fundamentally changed. Without question this is project 2025 with some secret chapters. The sheer number of early EOs the first week tells you there is a well thought out plan.

Sometime in year two, we need a manufactured crisis.

[Too Tall]

I read the memo that went out to Fed Employees offering a severance package. I'm familiar with the precise language which is used by vetted HR directives. This ain't that, it is almost as if the WH wants a fight they will lose.

Anywho, it is with no great honor I'm watching, so you do not have to, the JFK confirmation hearing. You can send your donations for my necessary recovery at a Swiss clinic anytime. No flowers.

[Scott G.]

[snip]
Anywho, it is with no great honor I'm watching, so you do not have to, the JFK confirmation hearing. You can send your donations for my necessary recovery at a Swiss clinic anytime. No flowers.

How about a water bottle ?

2025-01-29_13-21-43.jpg

[Too Tall]

Good movie reference ;)

[Saab2000]

This ain't that, it is almost as if the WH wants a fight they will lose.

I think a bunch of this stuff is knowing they will lose. They throw it all against the wall and see what will stick. I’m concerned about the ultra loyalist justices who will rubber stamp his actions. Like the EO on the 14th Amendment, which is crystal clear. But there were four justices who voted that he couldn’t be sentenced, so they clearly don’t give a shit about actual law and/or the US constitution. They have bent the knee and kissed the ring.

[72gmc]

I think a bunch of this stuff is knowing they will lose. They throw it all against the wall and see what will stick. I’m concerned about the ultra loyalist justices who will rubber stamp his actions. Like the EO on the 14th Amendment, which is crystal clear. But there were four justices who voted that he couldn’t be sentenced, so they clearly don’t give a shit about actual law and/or the US constitution. They have bent the knee and kissed the ring.

The playbook is in play. Undermine trust in gov’t by taking gov’t over and being intentionally untrustworthy. Ronnie Raygun would applaud.

[Saab2000]

The playbook is in play. Undermine trust in gov’t by taking gov’t over and being intentionally untrustworthy. Ronnie Raygun would applaud.

I just wonder when the people who voted for him will realize they’ve been had. I’m convinced that moment will come, but it’s hard to predict when.

[echappist]

I read the memo that went out to Fed Employees offering a severance package. I'm familiar with the precise language which is used by vetted HR directives. This ain't that, it is almost as if the WH wants a fight they will lose.

On the bases of 1) there's a cap to federal severance payments (which the promised severance surely will exceed), 2) there are existing channels for severance arrangements, and 3) this offer is quite comparable to similar offers made to employees at a company acquired by an individual in 2022, this really cannot be considered to be an offer made in good faith.

And that's before we get to the fact that employees at said company were all stiffed their promised severance payments.

But just because this "offer" is a red herring doesn't mean it lacks an actual intended purpose(s), and my opinion is that this is a fishing expedition to obtain the names of everyone who might want to leave, and those names get moved up the list when reduction-in-force occurs. My suspicion is that a good number of people will be fooled by the sleight of hand and volunteer their names. A secondary purpose is just for proclamation of something has been done, regardless of what it actually accomplishes.

[gregl]

I just wonder when the people who voted for him will realize they’ve been had. I’m convinced that moment will come, but it’s hard to predict when.

I wouldn't hold your breath. I have a friend who lives in the country of Georgia. There are still statues of Josef Stalin being lovingly displayed. Some folks never learn.

Greg

[rwsaunders]

Never too late to apply for a spot in the orange man’s administration…applicants that demonstrate honesty, integrity, sanity and exemplary moral character need not apply.

https://www.project2025.org/personnel/

[72gmc]

I wouldn't hold your breath. I have a friend who lives in the country of Georgia. There are still statues of Josef Stalin being lovingly displayed. Some folks never learn.

Greg

I haven’t been to a former Soviet state but I imagine worldviews between old and young could be even more divergent than they are here. I think there is nostalgia for the Cold War mindset in a lot of people, both east and west.

[sk_tle]

There is hope.

[vertical_doug]

On the bases of 1) there's a cap to federal severance payments (which the promised severance surely will exceed), 2) there are existing channels for severance arrangements, and 3) this offer is quite comparable to similar offers made to employees at a company acquired by an individual in 2022, this really cannot be considered to be an offer made in good faith.

And that's before we get to the fact that employees at said company were all stiffed their promised severance payments.

But just because this "offer" is a red herring doesn't mean it lacks an actual intended purpose(s), and my opinion is that this is a fishing expedition to obtain the names of everyone who might want to leave, and those names get moved up the list when reduction-in-force occurs. My suspicion is that a good number of people will be fooled by the sleight of hand and volunteer their names. A secondary purpose is just for proclamation of something has been done, regardless of what it actually accomplishes.

Musk Team’s Push to Gut Federal Workforce Bypassed Key Trump Officials
2025-01-30 00:16:08.165 GMT

Billionaire Elon Musk has worked behind the scenes on an initiative aimed at
depleting the civil service, prompting questions about its legality.

By Emily Davies, Jeff Stein and Faiz Siddiqui

(Washington Post) -- Billionaire Elon Musk's influence over a traditionally
nonpartisan agency that oversees the federal workforce culminated in the
government's stunning proposal Tuesday offering employees an inducement to
resign, according to four people familiar with the situation who spoke on the
condition of anonymity to describe internal talks.

The proposal, emailed late in the day to many of the nation's 2.3 million
federal workers, blindsided some advisers to President Donald Trump, including
officials in the budget office and agencies that typically would be consulted
in advance of such monumental changes to personnel and spending policies, the
people said.

Since Trump took office, Musk has moved quickly to exert control over the
Office of Personnel Management, the small independent agency that acts as a
kind of human resources department for the federal government, issuing policy
for agencies to implement. Musk personally visited the OPM's offices Friday,
and several of his longtime surrogates — including Anthony Armstrong, who
helped Musk buy Twitter; Brian Bjelde, who ran human resources for Musk's firm
SpaceX; and Amanda Scales, who worked at Musk's artificial intelligence firm,
xAI — have been installed in senior leadership roles at its offices in
downtown Washington, the people said.

Musk's team also was critical to building the system that sent an email from
"hr@opm.gov" to most federal employees across a dizzying array of agencies — a
capacity that had not existed before last week. Musk touted the offer on X
soon after it hit employees' inboxes, arguing it was a crucial first step in
reorganizing a federal bureaucracy he has long characterized as lazy and
disloyal. The email emphasized the importance of a "reliable, loyal,
trustworthy" workforce.

Musk's role in orchestrating what is intended to be the biggest reorganization
of federal workers in decades highlights the broad influence he now enjoys
across several federal agencies and the White House as his role transcends
that of presidential adviser to an executor of Trump's vision for the federal
government.

When Trump tapped Musk to lead the "Department of Government Efficiency"
alongside entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy after the election, it was pitched as a
panel outside the government that would give nonbinding recommendations to the
White House and Congress. Since then, however, Musk has burrowed inside the
federal government, a shift that already has brought a striking overhaul of
the workforce, and more measures apparently are underway.

In addition to the personnel office, Musk allies are now running the U.S.
Digital Service, a White House office that a Trump executive order renamed the
U.S. DOGE Service. Musk's lieutenants have been interviewing the existing
staff of that agency, asking detailed questions about their operations and
expertise, said two other people who also spoke on the condition of anonymity
to describe private conversations. One area of focus, according to another
person familiar with the talks: gauging workers' views on DOGE, questions that
have raised concerns of a loyalty test.

The new leaders also have brought a heavy focus on engineering, keeping some
workers long after their interviews to perform coding exercises, the person
said.

Meanwhile, at least one of Musk's private business associates has joined the
General Services Administration, which oversees federal buildings. The new
director of Technology Transformation Services — a part of the GSA responsible
for enabling access to government services — worked for eight years at Tesla,
Musk's electric car company. Workers in that division have been told they need
to share some of their recent work, the person said, which some interpreted to
mean their computer code. (Musk's team made similar requests of staff after
taking over Twitter, now called X.) The technology workers were expected to
sit this week for one-on-one discussions mirroring those at the U.S. DOGE
Service. (The New York Times also reported Wednesday on some of the personnel
involved and that the GSA has emerged as Musk's likely next target.)

The extent of Musk's imprint could deepen questions about the legality and
credibility of the resignation offer to the civil service. Musk and the OPM
have said workers who resign will be paid through Sept. 30, will not have to
return to in-person work and will mostly be permitted to take administrative
leave. But many federal employees fear their agencies won't honor those
promises.

Top political officials at the White House budget office were not consulted
about the offer, several people familiar with the matter said. Neither were
the agency's career staff. The career staff at the OPM also were not involved
in drafting the proposal, the people said.

Spokespeople for the OPM, the budget office and DOGE declined to comment. Musk
did not respond to a request for comment.

The email sent by the OPM — titled "Fork in the Road," echoing one sent by
Musk to Twitter employees in late 2022 — instructed workers to reply "resign"
if they wanted to accept the offer, which expires Feb. 6. Most civil servants
are eligible, but military personnel, members of the U.S. Postal Service, and
those in positions related to immigration enforcement and national security
will be exempt, the OPM said in a memo. The personnel office also gave agency
directors discretion to exclude specific positions — but later told them to
set a high bar for exceptions, focused on national security.

The Trump administration called the offer "deferred resignation," deliberately
rejecting the term "buyout" to avoid suggesting that workers would get lump
sum payments instead of or on top of their regular salaries, an OPM
spokesperson said. Musk shared a post on X saying that the administration
believes up to 10 percent of the federal workforce could take the plan.

Legal experts inside and outside the government strongly criticized the
approach, arguing it almost certainly violates federal law and offers few
protections for workers.

The email, for instance, says workers who accept the offer will be paid
through Sept. 30, the end of the federal fiscal year. But the OPM's authority
to make that offer is unclear, the experts said: Federal employees' salaries
are funded by federal agencies, not by the OPM. The administration has some
limited tools to offer early retirements, but they are minimal and involve
only small sums of money.

In addition, the agencies are funded only through March 14, when the
government will shut down unless Congress acts to approve new spending.
Promising workers payment through September is a "flat-out violation" of a
19th-century law that prevents the administration from agreeing to spend money
it does not have, said David Super, an administrative law professor at
Georgetown University.

These questions have fueled a sense of unease among federal employees weighing
the offer. On one hand, many are exhausted by the chaos of Trump's first week
back in office and the criticism directed their way. But, in interviews with
The Washington Post, more than a dozen federal workers who received the email
also expressed skepticism about the terms, fearing that the Trump
administration could not be trusted to pay any wages or benefits promised to
those who agree to depart. They spoke on the condition of anonymity out of
fear of retribution at a time when Trump has moved to make it easier to fire
federal employees.

Hours after the email blast, unions and Democratic lawmakers started to warn
federal workers not to accept the offer, with Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Virginia)
declaring on the Senate floor that Trump could "stiff you." Even before the
offer went out, federal employees sued the OPM when the agency began sending
mass test emails from the "hr@opm.gov" address that later sent the resignation
offer. The complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
alleges that the email system poses security risks for the workers' personal
information.

"What guarantee does an employee who might take this offer have of actually
receiving payment? When there is government immunity, no budget, and Congress
can declare this illegal?" said Sheria Smith, head of the union that
represents Education Department employees.

Those fears may have merit: Musk's companies have reneged on commitments to
workers in the past. During the covid-19 pandemic in 2020, Tesla gave
employees permission to remain at home if they did not feel comfortable
reporting to its factory but later sent termination notices to some of them
alleging "failure to return to work."

In 2022, Musk denied that he aimed to lay off 75 percent of the Twitter staff
— plans first reported by The Post — but later proceeded to gut the company's
workforce by 80 percent. After he took over the company, Twitter also was sued
over its alleged failure to pay millions in rent.

[Too Tall]

Thanks Doug. The article give some clarity.

[htwoopup]

A friend of mine's son, who works in the Patent Office and is located in Ohio, got one of those letters. My friend's response was typical parent of "OMG my son was fired and how is he going to find a job in Ohio when 2 million other people were fired. And good luck to anyone needing a patent or trying to protect their IP."

When I saw her at the dog run this morning I gave her this which relieved her.

Just on the chance that anyone here is related...and to add on to Doug's post...this was a former Secretary of Labor's post today:

"Friends,

I’m addressing this post to America’s 2.3 million federal employees.

My message: Don’t accept Elon’s offer.

Yesterday, Musk — via people he’s planted in the Office of Personnel Management — sent an email to all 2.3 million of you, offering to pay you for eight months of work, through September 30, if you’ll resign from the government before February 6. Otherwise, you risk being furloughed (that is, not paid) or fired.

You know what this is about. Not slimming the federal workforce, but substituting Trump loyalists for people like you, who are working for the American public.

Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy, said it out loud Tuesday on CNN: "The 2 million employees in the federal government are overwhelmingly left of center.” And now that Trump is elected, "it is essential for him to get control of government.”

But the fact is, neither Musk nor even Trump has legal authority to offer you eight months of pay if you’ll resign by February 6.

Your salaries are funded by the federal agencies and departments you work for, not by the Office of Personnel Management, not by Musk, and not by Trump.

None of them is authorized by Congress to move money from one agency or department to another without Congress’s approval. I know. I used to be a cabinet secretary.

Besides, the funding for your agency or department is guaranteed only through March 14, when the government is expected to shut down unless the debt ceiling is lifted. If not, any commitment for additional pay is worthless.

In fact, Musk (and Trump) are violating the law by agreeing to spend money that the administration doesn’t have. Congress could declare the entire offer illegal — which it is. Then where would you be?

May I also add that you shouldn’t trust Trump or Musk.

Trump has a long history of stiffing workers and contractors.

So, for that matter, does Musk. During the pandemic, Musk gave Tesla employees permission to remain at home if they didn’t feel comfortable reporting to the factory. Then he sent them termination notices alleging “failure to return to work.”

When he bought Twitter in 2022, Musk denied he wanted to lay off 75 percent of its staff (“No way I’m laying off 75 percent of them”) but then fired 80 percent of them (maybe that’s what he meant when he pledged not to fire 75 percent?)

In short, it’s a bum offer. Reject it.

By the way, thank you for your service.

Yours sincerely,

Robert Reich, former secretary of labor"

[Too Tall]

VS demands Elon et. al. drop and give me 20.

Thanks for the article, I'm forwarding to a few people.

[72gmc]

I sincerely hope Elon is on the cusp of demonstrating once again the old saying about being big and falling hard.

[htwoopup]

I don't mean to bombard this thread (or y'all) and maybe this should go in the fear of flying thread (but I know Jim also is reading this one)....Just posted by a writer Ken Klippenstein. I can't vouch for anything but he usually has his facts right....(any comments @Saab2000?)...

[Saab2000]

There are thousands of uncontrolled airports in the United States. I know little of the world of general aviation but I do know the procedures of an airport when no controller is on duty. That by itself isn’t necessarily a problem but could result in a bit more chaos. I am based in Chicago and our arrival routes in to Midway airport are pretty low and pass over a bunch of uncontrolled fields. We get advisories from Chicago Approach control about traffic in the area. Virtually everyone is required now to have transponders for the purpose of collision avoidance. Anyway, having control towers doesn’t prevent chaotic situations. I occasionally fly into Burbank, CA. The approach goes right near and over Van Nuys. Despite there being a control tower at Van Nuys it is common to get traffic alerts via the collision avoidance system.

The argument regarding the soundness of private ATC is separate from whether or not controllers are needed at all airports, because they’re not. Like I said, there are thousands of uncontrolled airfields in the US and elsewhere. Chicago airspace is very busy like the Bay Area is and there are uncontrolled fields in and around Chicago. It seems to work well. Private ATC may have a place in the world. I know too little about it to have an intelligent conversation. I only know how it works in my work environment.

[suspectdevice]

Sometimes i stop and think about how i didn’t vote for Robert Reich for Ma governor in 2004 and marvel at how powerful and all-encompassing the free-market cult is.

At the time I was brazing and patina-ing sconces and dining room tables for Rudy Giulaini and his cousin/wife, Bill Gates’s Vegas pad and Dodi Fayed’s Aspen house, progressively being exposed to more and more volatile organic compounds as the boss refused to pay for our PPE or change the filters in the spray booth.

I was 8 years into the cult of Ayn Rand- one of like 12 ludicrous “Objectivists” in Western Ma… constantly spilling bile against everyone and everything and preaching about Rational Self Interest like it meant something. A highschool essay contest had turned me into a foolish monster, egged on by adults with agendas. The most progressive college on earth did very little to change my world view… a smart fascist can twist logic to their advantage to at least continue living in such cognitive dissonance. But a boss… a bad boss. I’m not sure anyone can survive that.

For me, the moment came one morning when the VOC’s overcame my respirator with expired filters and the home-made spray cabinet. Before 11am, i found myself sprinting full-speed down the rail-trail toward the hospital in what is still the most unbearable panic attack I have ever experienced.
As i sat in the er waiting room for a few hours, waiting to be seen, the world looked markedly different, unmasked.