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Gov workers say their shutdown out-of-office replies were forcibly changed

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Re: Gov workers say their shutdown out-of-office replies were forcibly changed

#61

Post by lesuorac »

Alupis wrote: post #17
mikeyouse wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Unfortunately, Democrat Senators are blocking passage of HR 5371 in the Senate which has led to a lapse in appropriations.” Come on. The message is overtly political (blaming democrats for the shutdown when republicans control the presidency + the house + the senate) and 100% of the people pretending it’s not would be outraged if the same thing was posted under a different administration.

Which part of the statement is false or campaigning? Is it not true Democrats have blocked the passage of the bill? Of course it is.. and people should know that, shouldn't they?

Sure, the entire thing is false and campaigning.

It is not true that Democrats blocked H.R.5371. The bill was voted on unlike say when Republicans block a bill by sending the representatives home instead of voting on say an Epstein related issue. (Recent vote was 55-45 [1] which not every R voted yay).

The lapse in appropriations cannot singular be pointed at H.R.5371.

If Republicans had stuck to their campaign promises of a balanced budget then we wouldn't be in this situation as we wouldn't need additional borrowing.

Less politically, if 60+ people had input into the bill then it would've passed. Can't be upset that somebody didn't vote for something they didn't have input in.

Only 50 votes are needed in the Senate to pass any legislation (per constitution). The whole 60-votes is a requirement that any point can be changed by the Senate and has been recently for federal judges.

[1]: https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/5371...

Re: Gov workers say their shutdown out-of-office replies were forcibly changed

#62

Post by gizmo686 »

Simulacra wrote: post #3

That's ridiculous, and could be illegal, because in changing the response, they are taking on the speech of the named employee. If that's not a first amendment violation, I don't know what is. Federal employees are not allowed to be involved in politics while they are employed by the federal government, I know there's exceptions and everything, but at its core this action is repugnant.

Setting aside first amendment implications; this is a brazen violation of the Hatch act on the part of whoever set the partisan reply.

Re: Gov workers say their shutdown out-of-office replies were forcibly changed

#63

Post by mingus88 »

softwaredoug wrote: post #43
josefritzishere wrote: post #41

It's pretty clear the president has dementia.

I’m skeptical. I think he’s just always been pretty nonsensical.

We’ve seen him on narcissist rage, but I think we are only beginning to witness the sundowning aggression

Re: Gov workers say their shutdown out-of-office replies were forcibly changed

#64

Post by libraryatnight »

josefritzishere wrote: post #41

It's pretty clear the president has dementia.

I doubt it'd be different if he didn't - this is the sort of thing to which his entire administration is committed. Life's not going to get better if Vance takes his place. Not saying it should be ignored, just int he context of this discussion I don't see it mattering

Re: Gov workers say their shutdown out-of-office replies were forcibly changed

#66

Post by mingus88 »

Alupis wrote: post #49
hyperhello wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is also a well-known right wing tease to call them Democrat as opposed to Democratic, like calling someone Jew instead of Jewish.

"Democrat" is a slur now? Come on people...

Jew is not always a slur either. It’s all about how it’s used.

Re: Gov workers say their shutdown out-of-office replies were forcibly changed

#67

Post by lesuorac »

softwaredoug wrote: post #43
josefritzishere wrote: post #41

It's pretty clear the president has dementia.

I’m skeptical. I think he’s just always been pretty nonsensical.

He took a dementia test and couldn't remember the questions the next day and instead just made up words like Man, Woman, Person, Tv, Camera.

That's dementia. He's old, it happens.

Re: Gov workers say their shutdown out-of-office replies were forcibly changed

#68

Post by culi »

ck2 wrote: post #2

DOGE f-kery it's pretty obvious they can now search and replace across most if not all government websites now let's hope that backdoor is locked down and not available for foreign entities and this is of course a massive Hatch-Act violation but we're way past law breaking this far into the regime

This is it. The project of DOGE was always to centralize all the disparate parts of the government to make it easier to control all of its functions by a smaller team

This is a pretty silly manifestation of that power but it's a sign of things to come. The fact that they were able to change government websites, email signatures, and more within minutes after the shutdown should scare us

Re: Gov workers say their shutdown out-of-office replies were forcibly changed

#69

Post by lesuorac »

Alupis wrote: post #58
Jtsummers wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Republicans can end the shutdown today. They don't want to, they're letting it continue and that's their choice. They need 0 Democratic or independent votes to pass the funding bill if they change the rules, which requires a simple majority vote and they have that.

The longer the government is shut down, the better excuse/cover the executive branch has to permanentely layoff and shutdown departments. Democrats are going to lose this standoff either way...

I disagree. I think the fact that Democrats let Trump have a blank check-book for his first term was a massive mistake.

We went from having government shutdowns all the time due to the rampant spending to just covering up the fact that he's blowing through more money than presidents do in 8 years. It leads to a perception that he's actually fiscally responsible.

Re: Gov workers say their shutdown out-of-office replies were forcibly changed

#70

Post by Simulacra »

philipallstar wrote: post #6
Simulacra wrote: post #3

That's ridiculous, and could be illegal, because in changing the response, they are taking on the speech of the named employee. If that's not a first amendment violation, I don't know what is. Federal employees are not allowed to be involved in politics while they are employed by the federal government, I know there's exceptions and everything, but at its core this action is repugnant.

> in changing the response, they are taking on the speech of the named employee Would you say that a company adding a standard footer to your outgoing emails is taking on your speech?

No, because that's a private company. Your first amendment right to the freedom of speech is freedom from government center ship and interference in your speech. It does not apply to private companies. Now with that said, adding a footer, I don't think would be a problem, but if you set an away message and they changed that for a political reason, then it could be said that they impersonating you to broadcast a political message. Then it might be a civil matter.
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