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20k federal workers take "buyout" so far, official says

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Re: 20k federal workers take "buyout" so far, official says

#211

Post by _qbxi »

iamEAP wrote: post #181
_qbxi wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Illegal acts should be called out, even if our government is failing to enforce the law. Otherwise it will become easy for the acts to get ignored entirely.

Unless you’re a member of congress or a civil servant in the executive branch, paying any attention to this is wasted energy. We already saw this play out in his last term. Directing how laws are enforced is a function of the executive branch. Nothing will be done. Your energy is better spent identifying and articulating the values you hold that these actions are an affront to and shouting that out.

At minimum, drawing people's attention to the ongoing issues can result in a different batch of congressional representatives in the future.

Politics doesn't always act on instant gratification.

Re: 20k federal workers take "buyout" so far, official says

#212

Post by scarface_74 »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #197
verall wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A fascist dictatorship? You still need a functioning government for that. Not really, just a functioning police force.

That functioning police force needs a functioning tax collection system to fund it, and a functioning civil society to pay for it. So you need enforcement of contracts, and a functioning financial system, and working roads, and all kinds of stuff. You can't just sit there and say "we've got the police, so none of the civilians can touch us" - not for long, anyway.

If you look how every dictatorship works, they always make sure that the military and police force do well. That and they look the other way when police steal from people.

Re: 20k federal workers take "buyout" so far, official says

#213

Post by stevage »

veggieroll wrote: post #76
Shank wrote: post #15

I think the main issue for anyone wanting to take the offer is simply: this was never authorized by congress, so the money to pay people to September is questionable if it exists at best. Meanwhile, there's a government funding deadline on March 14, 2025. So there's a very real chance at this deal offering something closer to ~1 month of pay before it suddenly gets dropped due to budget negotiations. It would be an i…

I think the adminstration's plan to execute on this is basically garden leave. They tell the "retiring" employees to stop working, but keep them on the payroll so they keep getting paid. This administration has been playing a lot of games with "budgeted" vs. "delayed" vs. "actively being worked on" (or not). So this isn't really that different than the abrupt cancellations or delays or re-org'ing of funded and legisl…

Would that cause employees to break laws if they accepted employment elsewhere during that time?

Re: 20k federal workers take "buyout" so far, official says

#214

Post by _qbxi »

jdross wrote: post #194
_qbxi wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Illegal acts should be called out, even if our government is failing to enforce the law. Otherwise it will become easy for the acts to get ignored entirely.

It would be nice if anyone would state a law being violated. A lot of people seem to be making a lot of assumptions too about what DOGE/Elon are doing vs what the president or directors of the agencies (for instance) are doing

I do agree that citing specific laws is best. However, if the building is on fire, I want the alarm bells on immediately even if it's low specificity.

What sort of assumptions have you been seeing?

Re: 20k federal workers take "buyout" so far, official says

#215

Post by ryandrake »

_qbxi wrote: post #211
iamEAP wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless you’re a member of congress or a civil servant in the executive branch, paying any attention to this is wasted energy. We already saw this play out in his last term. Directing how laws are enforced is a function of the executive branch. Nothing will be done. Your energy is better spent identifying and articulating the values you hold that these actions are an affront to and shouting that out.

At minimum, drawing people's attention to the ongoing issues can result in a different batch of congressional representatives in the future. Politics doesn't always act on instant gratification.

We are kind of locked into what we have. A single digit percentage of House races are ever contested. The vast majority of House districts are won by the party that already holds them[1].

1: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/10/30/decade-af...

Re: 20k federal workers take "buyout" so far, official says

#216

Post by intended »

_qbxi wrote: post #168
ryandrake wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Almost any reply to a political thread in the next four years is going to be "That sounds illegal" but it's only illegal if the law gets enforced. I encourage anyone responding with "That sounds illegal" or "They can't do that" to also include in their response, "...and it will be enforced by [xxxx]." and try to come up with a realistic xxxx. EDIT: I'm not making any judgment about whether this particular thing is le…

Illegal acts should be called out, even if our government is failing to enforce the law. Otherwise it will become easy for the acts to get ignored entirely.

Sure. Remember this when people say that the dems constantly complain about the repubs, and that people are tired of hearing people say things are illegal.

My guess is that at this point, talk is cheap, and actions speak louder than words.

So saying the same thing, just a different language.

And no: I have zero clue what the actions would look like. Maybe suing the govt?

Re: 20k federal workers take "buyout" so far, official says

#217

Post by panzagl »

ggreer wrote: post #146
JackYoustra wrote: post #108

Who knows how evenly spread it is? It may be that each service gets better, it may be all services stay the same except for, say, NRO, and we miss a nuclear center being built.

I'm guessing you meant the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, not the National Reconnaissance Office. Considering that since the NRC was created in 1975, no nuclear plant license initially submitted to them has begun commercial operations, I think it would be difficult to further impede progress.[1] I have no clue whether these buyouts will be beneficial or not. It really depends on how government responsibilities are st…

He means NRO- the US would miss a nuclear center being built in Iran or where ever because all the NRO left to be SpaceX minions.

Re: 20k federal workers take "buyout" so far, official says

#218

Post by scarface_74 »

tombert wrote: post #170
scarface_74 wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only thing that saved the ACA was McCain who saved it as the last great act at the end of his life. All of the sensible, principled Republicans have died or retired. The modern Republican Party seem willing to go off the cliff with him. The tech sector is firmly in his pocket and all of the news media are owned by corporate giants who are literally bribing him to get what they want by “settling lawsuits”. I alway…

Yeah, I'll admit it's kind of wishful thinking on my end. My wife is a Mexican immigrant. She does have a green card, and our attorney has filed the paperwork for her citizenship about four months ago. She's probably fine, but it's scary. I have to keep an ear to the ground for the news, and figure out if we need to evacuate. Who the hell knows what is going to happen? If Trump signs some sort of order revoking all g…

You’re screwed.

He’s already made thousands of Venezuelans illegal immigrants that were here legally under temporary protection status and threaten deportation and tried to revoke birthright citizenship.

He’s definitely going to do his best to keep people out from “shit hole countries that only send rapists and murderers” (if it isn’t clear, I don’t hold that opinion)

Re: 20k federal workers take "buyout" so far, official says

#219

Post by weinzierl »

reaperducer wrote: post #192
Larrikin wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aren't Twitter workers still trying to get their severances and they took the offer when Twitter actually had the money to pay.

Aren't Twitter workers still trying to get their severances and they took the offer when Twitter actually had the money to pay. Considering that SpaceX is so far behind on its bills that dozens and dozens of companies in Texas have had to place liens against the company, my guess is that neither the Twitter people, nor the SpaceX people, nor the federal buyout people will ever see a dime. For some reason, links to st…

I am complete outsider and know nothing about this so I am sorry to ask but in my view this is a shocking proposition. Can anyone corroborate this?

EDIT: Specifically the claim that "SpaceX is so far behind on its bills that dozens and dozens of companies in Texas have had to place liens against the company"

Re: 20k federal workers take "buyout" so far, official says

#220

Post by bmitc »

reaperducer wrote: post #192
Larrikin wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aren't Twitter workers still trying to get their severances and they took the offer when Twitter actually had the money to pay.

Aren't Twitter workers still trying to get their severances and they took the offer when Twitter actually had the money to pay. Considering that SpaceX is so far behind on its bills that dozens and dozens of companies in Texas have had to place liens against the company, my guess is that neither the Twitter people, nor the SpaceX people, nor the federal buyout people will ever see a dime. For some reason, links to st…

They're hard to come by because people think rockets magically solve all of our problems and so any problems they introduce are ignored for the "greater good".
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