“DOGE chief Musk asks X users if staffer who quit over racist tweets should be rehired” (https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/07/elon-musk-doge-racist-treasu...)
Musk wants to normalize this kind of racism.
DOGE staffer resigns over racist posts
111–120 of 122 posts
Re: DOGE staffer resigns over racist posts
#112Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I know this for a fact If you can't see how the implementation of a Holocaust in the US might be impacted by the distribution and population density of Latinos I can't help you. Some of the estimates I've seen for 1930s Germany were that Jews were less than 1% of the population; by contrast, Latinos are far beyond that--something like 40% in Texas and California. A big part of the Holocaust was the targeted persecu…
"the exact same thing in the same way" is a goal post of your own making, and I reject it. People stripped of their rights and disappeared, not based on individual actions, but their being only considered as object-like members of their groups. That's more than enough to have on one's plate not to wonder about the "likely" desert.
I don't think we're going to get anywhere here. Good luck to you over the next four years.
Re: DOGE staffer resigns over racist posts
#113If you're having a team going into every bit of government data, you might want to vet them. Beyond eugenicists and racists, if they're getting anywhere close to SCIFs, make sure they fill out that SF-86 accurately. And maybe even if they're not, have them go through regular clearance procedures. Yes, it takes time. But right now, DOGE seems like a huge security risk for the USG what with it setting up backdoors ever…
"Vance tells Musk that DOGE staffer who resigned after posting racist tweets should be rehired" - https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/07/elon-musk-doge-racist-treasu...
Re: DOGE staffer resigns over racist posts
#114Earlier quoted context omitted.
> This isn't in the presidential powers. Yes it is! It is literally the first sentence of section 1 of Article II of the constitution! Saying, "I don't like this therefore it's not in his power" is logically identical to seeing Congress pass a law that you don't like and saying, "this isn't in Congress' power"
The power of the purse was deliberately placed with Congress in Article I, Section 9, Clause 7: "No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law." This isn't about liking or disliking powers, it's about maintaining the constitutional balance that protects everyone's rights. Article II Section 1 establishes the presidency and electoral process, but the Take Care Clause in Se…
> "No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law."
Yes that's true ...and totally irrelevant.
Trump is NOT drawing money from the treasury. He is performing the executive function - specifically in this case finding fraud.
Re: DOGE staffer resigns over racist posts
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
The power of the purse was deliberately placed with Congress in Article I, Section 9, Clause 7: "No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law." This isn't about liking or disliking powers, it's about maintaining the constitutional balance that protects everyone's rights. Article II Section 1 establishes the presidency and electoral process, but the Take Care Clause in Se…
> "No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law." Yes that's true ...and totally irrelevant. Trump is NOT drawing money from the treasury. He is performing the executive function - specifically in this case finding fraud.
This exact issue was settled after Nixon tried blocking environmental funds. The Supreme Court ruled in Train v. City of New York (1975) that the executive branch cannot refuse to spend appropriated money. Congress then passed the Impoundment Control Act to make it crystal clear. The president must execute spending as directed by law. Creating new positions to block these payments is just impoundment with extra steps.
Re: DOGE staffer resigns over racist posts
#116The other day, I read a comment on the Wired post stating: "Really, all this article says is that if you are an auditor for the commission appointed by the president, we will make sure that this comes up in an aggressively negative way when somebody who you want to work for googles you. It's pure intimidation, masquerading as journalism." Well, it seems these young men were chosen for qualities that should make them…
The comment has a point. You should expect it when playing this game, but it's very clear what said game is.
If "don't be racist" is a game you have to consciously play with yourself, you are expressly unfit to rule a nation of immigrants like America.
Re: DOGE staffer resigns over racist posts
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
This meme that government is just hugely more inefficient than business is not correct in my experience. I've worked for both. I have seen massive waste in business, millions spent for no gain, staff employed to build a manager's empire, not to do anything that was actually needed and other terrible outcomes. Obviously that also happens in government too, although the bigger problem there was a whole bunch of lazy st…
The big difference is that taxpayers are on the hook for government inefficiency and for most services there is no competition, the classic example being the DMV. Having one hour queues frequently is rare in private businesses. Whereas with businesses they could go out of business if they overspend on inefficient processes and there can be competition on both quality and price. One of the root causes is that it's ver…
When the public government services are privatized, it's not going to look like a bunch of scrappy companies engaging in free market dynamics to deliver services better than the government could; it's going to look like darling contracts granted to crony insiders who leech tax dollars into offshore accounts while delivering the worst possible service they can get away with.
Re: DOGE staffer resigns over racist posts
#118Earlier quoted context omitted.
The president has top secret clearance and doesn't have access to personal tax returns. I don't believe there is a blanket "all things included" security clearance.
This is correct. There is no "you get access to everything" kind of clearance. That includes the President. Congress has the power to get access to anything, but even then there is a tight process limited to a handful of congresspeople. A core part of this sort of security is compartmentalization. A person who has "top secret" level clearance has it for specific subject matter. Their clearance is worthless if they're…
That's not quite right:
"The President of the United States will be given access to any government or military information that they request, even if they would not otherwise be able to normally obtain a security clearance were they not the President."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_security_clearan...
Trump essentially granted Musk his presidential clearance. If Musk hits any resistance to classified information, Trump can just access it and hand it to Musk. If it's a crime to do so, Trump can declassify it, pardon Musk, or just instruct his DOJ not to charge him.
Re: DOGE staffer resigns over racist posts
#119Don’t worry Musk will rehire him
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c93q625y04wo
> He will be brought back," Musk posted on X, the social media platform he owns. "To err is human, to forgive divine."
Just ignore that’s not on him to forgive.
Will be interesting to see how people like to be Chile 2.0
Re: DOGE staffer resigns over racist posts
#120Earlier quoted context omitted.
This meme that government is just hugely more inefficient than business is not correct in my experience. I've worked for both. I have seen massive waste in business, millions spent for no gain, staff employed to build a manager's empire, not to do anything that was actually needed and other terrible outcomes. Obviously that also happens in government too, although the bigger problem there was a whole bunch of lazy st…
The big difference is that taxpayers are on the hook for government inefficiency and for most services there is no competition, the classic example being the DMV. Having one hour queues frequently is rare in private businesses. Whereas with businesses they could go out of business if they overspend on inefficient processes and there can be competition on both quality and price. One of the root causes is that it's ver…
The majority of people I worked with in government were actually very motivated. Sometimes it was public service, sometimes they were ambitious for their career, sometimes they just liked what they were working on.
I have not really seen more motivated people in business due to performance incentives. Even in the financial sector, other than maybe traders and quants, I can tell you most people don't work harder because of the annual bonus.
It was certainly a bit dispiriting working with the minority of people who appeared to do absolutely nothing and just hung around for years. We all knew we had to work harder because of them. Some of them would definitely have been fired in a business.