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Federal workers say they increasingly distrust platforms like Facebook

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Re: Federal workers say they increasingly distrust platforms like Facebook

#51

Post by pjc50 »

TheAceOfHearts wrote: post #23

My Facebook feed is full of unhinged content from random pages I never followed or interacted with. I'd be fine with some edgy content, but there's limits to what I'd consider acceptable. Most recently I see these "memes" where it's literally just an image of Elon with a hand pointing a gun at him, and a caption saying suggesting he should be murdered. The most worrying part is that I don't know if this sentiment is…

The norm of discouraging political violence has been eroded for quite some time. It's been common for US pro-gun politicians to use faces of their enemies as targets, and occasionally face-in-gunsight as political advertising. Then there's incidents like Kyle Rittenhouse and Luigi Mangione (naming individuals from both sides), and US states making it explicitly legal to hit protestors with cars. As well as the longstanding second amendment and mass shooting controversy.

Eventually an American will independently reinvent the car bomb, or someone on the left will decide to take a gun to a building containing political representatives.

Re: Federal workers say they increasingly distrust platforms like Facebook

#52

Post by rgbrenner »

_fat_santa wrote: post #24

I find the reaction to DOGE quite fascinating and it's really exposed just how different some work cultures are. In tech we face layoffs constantly, so much so that's not a huge shock when a FAANG lays off hundreds or even thousands. We might get a couple of stories if the layoff is particularly large but the general consensus is "this is the way of the world, go find another job". Contrast that with the stories we a…

Except Congress decides what the government will spend money on. Impoundment of appropriated funds -- what DOGE is doing -- requires the consent of congress[0].

If the Impoundment Control Act is thrown out, no institution will be safe, including the military, social security and medicare. Every program will be at the whim of whatever administration is in power at the time. $50B effective military budget will finally be possible under the next democratic administration--no matter if congress disagrees.

And that's a very radical take on government. Even if that sounds good to you, the vast majority of americans do support at least some government programs. Social Security has significant support, for example.

0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impoundment_of_appropriated_fu...

Re: Federal workers say they increasingly distrust platforms like Facebook

#53

Post by pjc50 »

ceejayoz wrote: post #18
taurknaut wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I like many people have been doing this for years, it's not clear what this will actually solve. What will strategically benefit us is banding together in public, not talking in hushed tones in private.

Organizing publicly tends to require safe, advanced preparation in private.

Do not plan crimes over the internet. Your opsec is not good enough, and is only as good as the leakiest person in the group chat. Who may be an FBI agent.

As Sam Bankman-Fried learned, only certain people have political cover to commit crimes.

Re: Federal workers say they increasingly distrust platforms like Facebook

#54

Post by ceejayoz »

pjc50 wrote: post #53
ceejayoz wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Organizing publicly tends to require safe, advanced preparation in private.

Do not plan crimes over the internet. Your opsec is not good enough, and is only as good as the leakiest person in the group chat. Who may be an FBI agent. As Sam Bankman-Fried learned, only certain people have political cover to commit crimes.

Who said anything about crimes?

Protests are legal; they still require organizing, and keeping bad-faith folks out of that planning process.

Re: Federal workers say they increasingly distrust platforms like Facebook

#55

Post by scott_w »

rob74 wrote: post #35
Bhilai wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There will always be dumb shit in every kind of spending. Heck, my family and kids spend on dumb shit. I bet half of the Amazon orders going to people's places is dumb shit. Can there be cuts in spending and expenses of the government, the answer will always be yes but treating the federal government like a startup is the next level of dumb shit. Its specially being done by people who have no knowledge of government…

Or rather, fuck around and others will find out. I'm not denying some of USAID spending may have been "dumb shit", but some of it was also very important. But you don't have to take my word for it, how about the words of a former UK prime minister: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/07/donald... And, while the billions of dollars the US has spent per year on foreign aid until now sound impressive, if…

It’s not even good for the USA, long term. In today's The Rest is Politics, Rory Stewart highlighted that when the UK removed DFID and dropped its commitment to spending 0.7% of GDP on aid down to 0.5%, we went from being able to put in £100m to development projects to being able to commit £5m. He was, at an independent charity, able to put up £25m in comparison.

What kind of soft power can a nation wield when you’re being outspent 5-to-1 by a charity now?

Re: Federal workers say they increasingly distrust platforms like Facebook

#56

Post by ben_w »

username332211 wrote: post #34
spiderfarmer wrote: post #12

It's never a good thing when the people who take on jobs in the public sector have to fear their own government. Especially when that government wilfully installs under-qualified and downright untrustworthy leadership.

Is it? Qin did conquer the 7 states. After the French revolution, France resisted the combined might of the rest of Europe by being unafraid to murder it's generals when they underperformed. The Soviet union is said to have reached it's apogee under Stalin. If anything, history shows that ruling government officials by means of fear is very good sign for the nation, but tends to be harmful to the rulers.

You can't reach that conclusion by limiting to only examples where fear worked, as I can also point to Pol Pot, Mugabe, and the Kim dynasty of North Korea ruling by fear, and it being bad for those countries.

Re: Federal workers say they increasingly distrust platforms like Facebook

#57

Post by walljm »

jhedwards wrote: post #50
_fat_santa wrote: post #24

I find the reaction to DOGE quite fascinating and it's really exposed just how different some work cultures are. In tech we face layoffs constantly, so much so that's not a huge shock when a FAANG lays off hundreds or even thousands. We might get a couple of stories if the layoff is particularly large but the general consensus is "this is the way of the world, go find another job". Contrast that with the stories we a…

> But on the other hand, something like 40-50% of my paycheck goes out in taxes and I would prefer if my government actually spent it on things to improve my life versus dumb shit domestically or abroad. I agree here, but one thing that has come to light recently is that the federal work force is only ~6% of the federal budget. That means that most of those taxes are not going to pay the salaries of government worker…

6% seems suspect. I would expect it to be higher... at least in the 20% to 30% range. Do you have a source?

Re: Federal workers say they increasingly distrust platforms like Facebook

#58

Post by salawat »

rgbrenner wrote: post #52
_fat_santa wrote: post #24

I find the reaction to DOGE quite fascinating and it's really exposed just how different some work cultures are. In tech we face layoffs constantly, so much so that's not a huge shock when a FAANG lays off hundreds or even thousands. We might get a couple of stories if the layoff is particularly large but the general consensus is "this is the way of the world, go find another job". Contrast that with the stories we a…

Except Congress decides what the government will spend money on. Impoundment of appropriated funds -- what DOGE is doing -- requires the consent of congress[0]. If the Impoundment Control Act is thrown out, no institution will be safe, including the military, social security and medicare. Every program will be at the whim of whatever administration is in power at the time. $50B effective military budget will finally…

An ideal operated as a verifiable, legally sanctioned Ponzi snd Congressional slush fund.

Great idea, sadly co-opted by other interests.

Re: Federal workers say they increasingly distrust platforms like Facebook

#59

Post by beej71 »

_fat_santa wrote: post #24

I find the reaction to DOGE quite fascinating and it's really exposed just how different some work cultures are. In tech we face layoffs constantly, so much so that's not a huge shock when a FAANG lays off hundreds or even thousands. We might get a couple of stories if the layoff is particularly large but the general consensus is "this is the way of the world, go find another job". Contrast that with the stories we a…

> In tech we face layoffs constantly, so much so that's not a huge shock when a FAANG lays off hundreds or even thousands.

One other difference is that in tech we watch companies get mismanaged into the dirt and shrug it off. There'll be another one to replace it soon enough.

But I want to take a little more care with the government. Yes, there's inefficiency, but that doesn't mean the best approach to optimization is to just start shotgunning holes in the machine.

Maybe that approach works (?) for Twitter, but that kind of upheaval in the government will have serious repercussions that I don't think I want to be on the receiving end of.

I work for a state government, but I'm on a contract. They choose every year whether or not to renew it. So I get to enjoy the lower pay and the lack of job security. I don't know how many government employees are contract, but it's something to consider.

Re: Federal workers say they increasingly distrust platforms like Facebook

#60

Post by toyg »

walljm wrote: post #57
jhedwards wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But on the other hand, something like 40-50% of my paycheck goes out in taxes and I would prefer if my government actually spent it on things to improve my life versus dumb shit domestically or abroad. I agree here, but one thing that has come to light recently is that the federal work force is only ~6% of the federal budget. That means that most of those taxes are not going to pay the salaries of government worker…

6% seems suspect. I would expect it to be higher... at least in the 20% to 30% range. Do you have a source?

That actually looks par for the course in "western" governments. The only items going over 20% are typically related to pensions, social security, and health services. Everything else (in isolation) is basically a pittance.
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