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Federal workers ordered to return to offices without desks, Wi-Fi and lights

cnn.com

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Re: Federal workers ordered to return to offices without desks, Wi-Fi and lights

#181

Post by _heimdall »

deadbabe wrote: post #174
sjsdaiuasgdia wrote: post #2

The disruption is (part of) the point. Degrading the ability of government employees to do their jobs leads to greater inefficiency and more failure, which can then be pointed at to validate assertions that government isn't efficient and produces bad outcomes.

I have to ask with all this disruption, what if we were hit with a massive 9/11 scale attack right now?

Unfortunately war does tend to have a way of rallying both sides together. Tribalism tends to just need an "other" group to demonize.

A 9/11 scale attack would make it pretty easy for supporters of both parties to turn their sights on whoever they think attacked us.

Re: Federal workers ordered to return to offices without desks, Wi-Fi and lights

#182

Post by mordae »

stronglikedan wrote: post #94
sjsdaiuasgdia wrote: post #2

The disruption is (part of) the point. Degrading the ability of government employees to do their jobs leads to greater inefficiency and more failure, which can then be pointed at to validate assertions that government isn't efficient and produces bad outcomes.

[flagged]

JFYI federal government headcount of 2M people has stayed constant over last 100 years with ever increasing population and things to take care of. I wouldn't call that bloat, honestly.

What has been growing a lot are mostly municipalities, which I guess boils down to more people helping disadvantaged kids in schools, which I guess is nice and more policing, which many are calling to shrink and replace with something less violent.

US government is not bloated. It's corrupt by the revolving door policy, which definitely won't be fixed by letting people go. But even with revolving doors some things have worked for you. Such as predicting weather, fighting diseases, disrupting or bribing competing nations, opening new markets and protecting your fucking imaginary property everybody in the world fucking hates.

Re: Federal workers ordered to return to offices without desks, Wi-Fi and lights

#183

Post by inetknght »

myvoiceismypass wrote: post #140
the_gipsy wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It’s only a matter of time until they realize It will be far too late. That's why they're going so fast. The damage comes with a huge latency. Perhaps America can be saved and this is nothing but a bump in the ride, I'm no Nostradamus, but this could very well be the end of the Free West.

The checks and balances part no longer exists, so definitely feels like it’s over.

> checks and balances part no longer exists

It honestly hasn't existed for decades.

Re: Federal workers ordered to return to offices without desks, Wi-Fi and lights

#184

Post by lokar »

lettergram wrote: post #148
philistine wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The is exactly a move the people in power in those troubled countries will use to maintain control over government. It used to be that the US government had pride in its own professionalism. The US is now acting like the countries it loves to destabilize.

[flagged]

Putin was elected Orban was elected

Re: Federal workers ordered to return to offices without desks, Wi-Fi and lights

#185

Post by ben_w »

anonzzzies wrote: post #135
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Trump & Musk will walk out trillionaires Or in jail. We’re not at the coup stakes of life and death, but we’re also like two months into this Presidency. (For what it’s worth, Trump isn’t currently being coup-ish. That’s been left to the pretender.)

Which is why they are pushing so hard/fast; they need to destroy the right things to make sure they cannot be stopped.

"Stopping" can mean many things.

Reaching the altitude of space is much, much, easier than reaching orbital velocity.

This meant that during the Global War on Terror, people had legitimate questions about if Al Qaida could damage the ISS. The answer then was "no", but amateurs reached the Kármán line in 2004, students in 2019, and the current altitude record holder is 143 km.

I suspect that it is well within the capacity of random drug cartels in the US, Mexico, Cuba, Dominican Republic, the Bahamas, Haiti and Jamaica to destroy a Starship during launch, if they so desired.

A functioning US government is a reason not to do that. Nobody in any of those countries will want to risk Musk asking Trump for a favour in the form of a USSOCOM operation.

Destroy the US federal government, and there may well not be an USSOCOM left afterwards. And so far, DOGE has shown zero regard for the value of who they cut, e.g. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/03/02/doge-nucl...

Re: Federal workers ordered to return to offices without desks, Wi-Fi and lights

#186

Post by xyst »

mexicocitinluez wrote: post #145
mystifyingpoi wrote: post #133

> (...) returned to ethernet cords in piles around the floor, random wires sticking out of walls, and motion-sensor lights that weren’t working correctly I don't understand that part, maybe I'm missing something - what happened there? Why would the abandoned workplace not look exactly the same as they left it? Where did the ethernet cords appear from? Someone stole TVs from the walls?

So, this thing called Covid hit. It was a pandemic, and because it was infectious, a large push to work remotely was made (both in private and public businesses). When employers realized that work was being done despite not being in the office, they started to shutter their offices (ya know, to save money). I can't believe I have to explain to another adult why offices after Covid don't look the same.

Some people just live under a rock; or they have never been impacted by god awful management decisions.

Sometimes I wonder what that life looks like? Maybe just sipping champagne at beach side (or on the couch) all day in ignorance. Watch whatever reality trash is on streaming services. All while the world burns around them.

Re: Federal workers ordered to return to offices without desks, Wi-Fi and lights

#188

Post by lokar »

pyrale wrote: post #108
selykg wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely insane that this is what we've come to. It is mind blowing to me that this is what people want. We are regressing this country so rapidly that we are likely to become one of those shithole countries the president so loudly proclaimed Haiti, El Salvador and others were.

> It is mind blowing to me that this is what people want. I very much doubt this is what people want. But people aren't asked their opinion, and there's a difference between disagreeing and starting an insurrection to prevent a coup.

A lot of Americans have been getting screwed for 30 years and have little invested in the stability of the system.

Re: Federal workers ordered to return to offices without desks, Wi-Fi and lights

#189

Post by close04 »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #121
Cthulhu_ wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They can, but they won't because nobody dares to stick their neck out for fear of losing their job. And that's been going on for decades, the slow dismantling (if there ever was any) of job and income security, to the point where the majority of Americans, including federal workers, are only one or two paychecks away from financial ruin. Nobody wants to lose their job. Of course, if they get fired and there's nothing…

> Nobody wants to lose their job There is almost zero causality in the U.S. government’s hiring and firing right now. Particularly relating to current conduct. To the extent anyone has received job protection, it’s by getting politically fired and then seeking court protection. So no, this is base cowardice and a lack of patriotism. Not rational action.

As a matter of personal character, the people who would be more likely to stand up and shout or protest vigorously in today’s situation are the people which society generally considers obnoxious and disruptive.

So in each workplace most were already marginalized or learned to hide these traits for their benefit. There are way more people in the ‘flight’ than the ‘fight’ camp.

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