Politics

[John Wasmuth]

Well...perhaps a minor point.....but as hunters we know salt is a preservative which would dry him up like a prune.....could be rehydrated later like a salted hide.......better use acid.

Pour salt on a slug and watch what happens…. Or a snail if you can’t find a slug……

 

[mdwest]

The government definitely needs to be trimmed down. My beef is the way they’re going about it. Treating fed employees as criminals just because they have a government job, mass firings without an exit interview or evaluation report. Most of all gloating about it. I’ve had to fire dozens of people and with the exception of one it broke my heart to do it.

As I’ve told before my daughter was one of the fired, in her termination email it sighted “poor performance” which was a TOTAL LIE, in her 18 months she never got a negative performance evaluation and her latest was perfect. She sent a copy of her evaluation report and a copy of the email but doesn’t expect to hear anything from the kids in charge.

I was listening to my ex Congressman the other day and when he was cleaning out his office he had the emblems of each branch of the military in his office. Whoever was in charge of the labor sent 8 people up to his office to get the emblems. They were made of styrofoam! At most 2 people could have done the job. That’s the crap that needs to be eliminated.

I agree on some of the methodology being applied to the terminations.. spending 2-3 weeks digging in, really learning who is and who is not effective at their job, who is valuable, and who is not, etc.. would have been a much better way to go about things IMO.. there still would have been some wrong decisions made.. some supervisors would have found ways to protect favorites while allowing others that were more deserving to be released, etc.. but it would have mitigated other risks much more effectively, like letting high performer "new" employees go, while long serving dead weight is still on the books needing to be culled..

Ive had the misfortune of having to term for cause and term for convenience a lot of people over the years.. it sorta comes with the territory once you enter management, and only gets worse and harder the higher up the ladder you climb.. while several of the people Ive had to let go 100% earned their release, its honestly never something easy for me to do... When someone gets termed, it almost always impacts a whole lot of other people... spouses, kids, work friends, etc... lots of others suffer the consequences in addition to the person being let go.. it truly sucks.. its not a duty/responsibility I take lightly at all.. of all the things I have to periodically do in my current position, letting people go, or authorizing the release of people, its the single worst thing in my job jar..

 

[Lone Star Bluegrass]

The goal, until Trump waded in, wasn't a "settlement." The goal was to evict Russia from the ground it had seized and allow Ukraine to chart its own independent national goals which include EU and eventual NATO membership. Form both a broader European and US perspective, the further goal was to prevent the resurrection of a Soviet like threatening our key European interests while trying to deal with China. Simply orchestrating a "settlement," particularly one in Russia's favor, achieves none of those goals unless one is a Russian or Russian sympathizer. Which begs a question or two of my current president.

I disagree in that I don’t believe there ever was a goal under the last administration, which was largely staffed by Obama retreads; effectively extending the foreign policy of that team into a third [albeit non consecutive] term.
We can talk in “should be” phrases (yes, it’d be great to restore 2013 borders, etc etc) but there clearly isn’t a universally accepted plan for how to achieve and perhaps most importantly, enforce such a goal.
As the title implies, there is no feasible perfect solution. Or as VDH is too polite to say, “how do we pick up a turd from the clean end?”

 

[Wishfulthinker580]

Is it just me or has the goal post been moved concerning Russia/Ukraine?

 

[LivingTheDream]

The goal, until Trump waded in, wasn't a "settlement." The goal was to evict Russia from the ground it had seized and allow Ukraine to chart its own independent national goals which include EU and eventual NATO membership.

This was never the goal, the way the Biden administration handcuffed aid to Ukraine and played games with funding and draw down authority.

This was purely a way to wear down Russia and play politics. No one in the Biden administration care 1 iota about Ukraine independence other than talking points.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

I sincerely hope thousands take the advice of those D politicians..

It will make it that much easier to figure out who to cull from the herd…

If you don’t have 5 minutes available to advise what you actually did last week, and demonstrate that you and your position provide value to the US, we clearly don’t need you or your position..

FWIW, several US govt agencies already have this automated… the VA for example asks that its employees track and log their weekly activities..

It’s as simple as providing a report that’s already been created…

“Disobedience”, civil or otherwise, has no place in the workforce… if an order isn’t illegal, immoral, or unethical, you do what is required of you… if you don’t, you dont work here anymore…

Only a politician would think it permissible to tell your boss to “go fuck yourself”…

Trying to claim Elon doesn’t have the authority is nothing more than semantics.. more gamesmanship out of the D’s..

He has the authority provided to him by the President of the United States of America…

Furthermore… he has the approval and authority provided to him by the appointed secretary over each branch of the government..

Telling Elon to fuck himself is the same thing as telling Rubio to fuck himself if you work at State… or Patel to fuck hi self if you work at FBI…

As I’ve said before.. D’s have become their own worst enemies at this point… doubling down on old practices is what got them here in the first place..

If they were playing an intelligent game, they’d figure out how to become part of the process so that they could at least mitigate or slow the pace of some of what’s going on…

Crying, and protesting, and telling other D’s to do stupid shit, is only making things significantly worse for themselves..

@mdwest I normally agree with you, but not on this one. I think every agency or department head should stand up to Elon, like Patel did, and simply say, "I will handle my staff in my department." I watched the news last night and there was a story of Elon's 20-ish year old computer geeks going into the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Maybe CFPB needs to be downsized or even eliminated, but if some unknowns came into my office, I would have security escort them out. If they wouldn't leave, I'd have them arrested.

I worked in corporate America for nearly 40 years, and the chain of command was respected and used. A high level manager or executive from one Division would not and could not make demands to the rank and file of another division.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

Is it just me or has the goal post been moved concerning Russia/Ukraine?

Or have the goal posts been removed?

 

[CJW]

@Red Leg Did this goal of removing Russia from land it has seized include Crimea?

 

[Wishfulthinker580]

Or have the goal posts been removed?

I don’t think so.

 

[Wheels]

I sincerely hope thousands take the advice of those D politicians..

It will make it that much easier to figure out who to cull from the herd…

If you don’t have 5 minutes available to advise what you actually did last week, and demonstrate that you and your position provide value to the US, we clearly don’t need you or your position..

FWIW, several US govt agencies already have this automated… the VA for example asks that its employees track and log their weekly activities..

It’s as simple as providing a report that’s already been created…

“Disobedience”, civil or otherwise, has no place in the workforce… if an order isn’t illegal, immoral, or unethical, you do what is required of you… if you don’t, you dont work here anymore…

Only a politician would think it permissible to tell your boss to “go fuck yourself”…

Trying to claim Elon doesn’t have the authority is nothing more than semantics.. more gamesmanship out of the D’s..

He has the authority provided to him by the President of the United States of America…

Furthermore… he has the approval and authority provided to him by the appointed secretary over each branch of the government..

Telling Elon to fuck himself is the same thing as telling Rubio to fuck himself if you work at State… or Patel to fuck hi self if you work at FBI…

As I’ve said before.. D’s have become their own worst enemies at this point… doubling down on old practices is what got them here in the first place..

If they were playing an intelligent game, they’d figure out how to become part of the process so that they could at least mitigate or slow the pace of some of what’s going on…

Crying, and protesting, and telling other D’s to do stupid shit, is only making things significantly worse for themselves..

Agree. A question I have asked myself, are there federal workers that do not exist yet a paycheck is going somewhere. If so, this exercise starts exposing a fraud. At a minimum it exposes federal workers that don't work enough to check their email on a regular basis.

 

[Red Leg]

@Red Leg Did this goal of removing Russia from land it has seized include Crimea?

In my mind no. This war was going to end in a negotiated settlement if for no other reason than neither side was able to dictate peace on the steps of the other's capitol. However, a return to pre 2022 borders and an iron clad security guarantee for Ukraine was absolutely a possible negotiated solution. It still would be if Theodore Roosevelt (he received a Peace Prize as well) were orchestrating this rather than Trump. If Russia keeps all of what it currently occupies, it will have won. It will have been a staggeringly costly victory, but a victory nevertheless.

I make no excuses for the Biden administration's feckless management of this war. I assure you Ukraine's goal was to roll back the Russian invasion - which it in large measure did. However, Trump has it in his power now, using the enormous leverage he has on Putin, to salvage something from Biden's mismanagement. When he can't even describe Russia as the aggressor, I have zero expectation that he will.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

 

[mdwest]

@mdwest I normally agree with you, but not on this one. I think every agency or department head should stand up to Elon, like Patel did, and simply say, "I will handle my staff in my department." I watched the news last night and there was a story of Elon's 20-ish year old computer geeks going into the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Maybe CFPB needs to be downsized or even eliminated, but if some unknowns came into my office, I would have security escort them out. If they wouldn't leave, I'd have them arrested.

I worked in corporate America for nearly 40 years, and the chain of command was respected and used. A high level manager or executive from one Division would not and could not make demands to the rank and file of another division.

We arent in disagreement...

My issue is with some leftist politician telling federal employees that their response should be civil disobedience..

that has no place in the workforce.. whether private or public sector..

If your boss tells you to do something, and its not illegal, immoral, or unethical.. you do it.. the details can be worked out later..

in the case of the FBI, if the director says "I don't support that order".. then FBI employees clearly need to follow the guidance given to them by their boss.. Patel and Musk can work out their differences, or escalate the matter to Trump and let him decide..

But the random GS10 that just decides "Fuck you" as the politicians advised them, should be terminated on the spot IMO..

Try that in any organization Ive ever worked for.. whether it was the federal govt, county govt, municipal govt, or private sector (Ive worked in all of those).. and I wouldn't have been employed the next day.. .

One thing is for certain... MANY more layoffs are coming... so far 75,000 took the "fork in the road" invitation and resigned/retired.. another 20K have been "laid off" or "fired".. we're nearing 100K (will likely be well over 100K by the weekend).. and just 2 weeks ago the unions and the D's were screaming it couldn't happen, they wouldn't allow it to happen, no one will take the buy out, etc..etc..

Daily they are proven wrong..

Sure, there will be law suits, court challenges, etc.. but that's not going to change that by the time this is all over with 200K or more people will no longer be working for the federal govt (out of the 2.25M civilian employees it currently has)..


Like I said in an earlier post.. D's are going to have to figure out how to get involved rather than just screaming, bitching, complaining, protesting, crying, and making sound bites for MSNBC and CNN.... clearly no one that's actually in charge cares about their position..

otherwise we're going to continue to see more of the same, conducted in the same manner, by the same people..

Whether or not all of this actually works long term remains to be seen... Im not convinced the right method was to employ Elons giant battle axe.. but at the same time I don't think any plan the D's would have come forward with a month ago would have been acceptable (they'd want to do micro surgery with a pen knife and call it a victory)... maybe just a rapier or a broadsword would have been a better approach..

but for now no one can deny that Trump is delivering on what he promised regarding the shrink of the Fed Govt.. Its happening.. and its happening rapidly..

 

[Wishfulthinker580]

CNN

 

[Wishfulthinker580]

In my mind no. This war was going to end in a negotiated settlement if for no other reason than neither side was able to dictate peace on the steps of the other's capitol. However, a return to pre 2022 borders and an iron clad security guarantee for Ukraine was absolutely a possible negotiated solution. It still would be if Theodore Roosevelt (he received a Peace Prize as well) were orchestrating this rather than Trump. If Russia keeps all of what it currently occupies, it will have won. It will have been a staggeringly costly victory, but a victory nevertheless.

I make no excuses for the Biden administration's feckless management of this war. I assure you Ukraine's goal was to roll back the Russian invasion - which it in large measure did. However, Trump has it in his power now, using the enormous leverage he has on Putin, to salvage something from Biden's mismanagement. When he can't even describe Russia as the aggressor, I have zero expectation that he will.

Key word “If”.

 

[Lone Star Bluegrass]

In my mind no. This war was going to end in a negotiated settlement if for no other reason than neither side was able to dictate peace on the steps of the other's capitol. However, a return to pre 2022 borders and an iron clad security guarantee for Ukraine was absolutely a possible negotiated solution. It still would be if Theodore Roosevelt (he received a Peace Prize as well) were orchestrating this rather than Trump. If Russia keeps all of what it currently occupies, it will have won. It will have been a staggeringly costly victory, but a victory nevertheless.

I make no excuses for the Biden administration's feckless management of this war. I assure you Ukraine's goal was to roll back the Russian invasion - which it in large measure did. However, Trump has it in his power now, using the enormous leverage he has on Putin, to salvage something from Biden's mismanagement. When he can't even describe Russia as the aggressor, I have zero expectation that he will.

I generally agree but for context the Russo-Japanese War ended with the Japanese having decisively defeated the Russian Navy at the Siege of Port Arthur; only then was TR able to get both sides to the table.
Nobody is assessing the current situation as a decisive victory for either side—something that should be considered if we’re to avoid a “Korea” style end to the shooting. I think Putin initiated hostilities with the expectation of conquering the whole country. He has obviously failed to achieve that. Conversely, Ukraine has failed to regain most of the territory Russia occupied in their advance.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

CNN

You have to watch it sometime to get the other half of the story. The US is split, somewhere close to 50-50 on nearly everything. Sometimes you need to listen to different opinions. Sometimes the different opinions are really not so different.

 

[sgt_zim]

Chris Rufo doing what he does. This is pretty gross, read on an empty stomach.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1894064757142937904

 

[gbflyer]

The government organization that employs a very good number of the people in my town always has a big purse of money they spend frivolously at the end of the fiscal year. I might suggest, if I had someone’s influential ear, that we might seek out ways to better manage the “use it or lose it” process. Because I tell ya, the new stuff, that they really don’t need, that shows up after Sept 30 is something to behold. This is but a very small sample of one National Park in Alaska. I cannot imagine what it must look like system - wide.

 

[CJW]

In my mind no. This war was going to end in a negotiated settlement if for no other reason than neither side was able to dictate peace on the steps of the other's capitol. However, a return to pre 2022 borders and an iron clad security guarantee for Ukraine was absolutely a possible negotiated solution. It still would be if Theodore Roosevelt (he received a Peace Prize as well) were orchestrating this rather than Trump. If Russia keeps all of what it currently occupies, it will have won. It will have been a staggeringly costly victory, but a victory nevertheless.

I make no excuses for the Biden administration's feckless management of this war. I assure you Ukraine's goal was to roll back the Russian invasion - which it in large measure did. However, Trump has it in his power now, using the enormous leverage he has on Putin, to salvage something from Biden's mismanagement. When he can't even describe Russia as the aggressor, I have zero expectation that he will.

Negotiated or fought for return to pre 2022 borders?