Live data from Hacker News

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

wired.com

71–80 of 133 posts

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

#71
post #45
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This post from Reddit’s Redding, California community is definitely weaponized. https://old.reddit.com/r/Redding/comments/1nvgu8b/guess_i_wo...

Nothing to do with Redding. It's all over the USDA website: https://www.fs.usda.gov/ > The Radical Left Democrats shut down the government. This government website will be updated periodically during the funding lapse for mission critical functions. President Trump has made it clear he wants to keep the government open and support those who feed, fuel, and clothe the American people.

SBA message is somehow worse... https://sba.gov

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

#72
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The laws are different when you work for the government. A private employee can fire you for something you said a lot easier than the government. https://www.welcometothejungle.com/en/articles/free-speech-a...

>The laws are different when you work for the government. Which laws? Because every government job I've come across has pretty strict rules on what you can and cannot say in public, or at least they way in which you have to frame it apart from your job.

I think there's two parts of that question. The first is that the law is the hatch act, federal employees may not engage in political activities. But the second thing is, the government is assuming your identity to change your speech and broadcast that speech as if you said it. I'm not a lawyer, but I think that would squarely follow government action to abridge your speech.

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

#73
post #65
post #8

[flagged]

Why not phrase it as "The Republican-controlled Congress is blocking things by not presented a bill amenable to a supermajority of the Senate"? Both are obviously factual, as you say.

60 votes are needed to pass so we can agree both parties are at fault when it comes to any individual bill. But the last time Democrats negotiated a bill Trump decided to simply not appropriate the funds Congress passed. Something no passed president has ever done. Republicans are responsible for creating the environment where legislation passed can be selectively implemented

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

#74
post #4

This weaponization of public resources for partisan purposes is hardly surprising, but given the government is shut down, I would imagine black or even grey hats might feel like it's open season on .gov, so I would be surprised to see much durability in their attempts.

It’s barely anything to get a stroke upon: The article didn’t quote the text directly and paraphrased it. It means it is not persuasive per se, or it would have been used as proof.

Since the raw text couldn’t serve as proof, an entire article had to be mounted to create the feeling of being appalling. It’s an opinion piece.

And that’s all it always it: People getting hung up over principles and theories. The proof those principles aren’t universal is that they don’t uphold them themselves when they’re in power.

I wish we were able to talk to each other. There are many ways, many paths together. But no, condescension, condemnation, hate, refusal to work on your bad sides, ideas of revolution, of uprising, of disrespect of people’s vote, refusal to communicate or work together, refusal to let working people keep the fruits of their work, and in the end, we have to take over the government, or you will.

There is no sharing when it’s your side in power. So we elect a hermetically sealed government. I wish we didn’t do that.

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

#75
post #71
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing to do with Redding. It's all over the USDA website: https://www.fs.usda.gov/ > The Radical Left Democrats shut down the government. This government website will be updated periodically during the funding lapse for mission critical functions. President Trump has made it clear he wants to keep the government open and support those who feed, fuel, and clothe the American people.

SBA message is somehow worse... https://sba.gov

> Senate Democrats voted to block a clean federal funding bill (H.R. 5371), leading to a government shutdown that is preventing the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) from serving America’s 36 million small businesses.

> Every day that Senate Democrats continue to oppose a clean funding bill, they are stopping an estimated 320 small businesses from accessing $170 million in SBA-guaranteed funding.

> As a result of the shutdown, we wanted to notify you that many of our services supporting small businesses are currently unavailable. The agency is executing its Lapse Plan and as soon as the shutdown is over, we are prepared to immediately return to the record-breaking services we were providing under the leadership of the Trump Administration.

> If you need disaster assistance, please visit sba.gov/disaster.

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

#76
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No.

Can you elaborate on which part you believe isn't true? The bill already passed the House. The Democrats have a minorotiy in the Senate. 60 votes are required to pass the bill - and Democrats are holding it up, deliberately for political reasons. It's entirely factual.

Voting ‘no’ on a bill isn’t blocking it!

An equally true statement is that republicans didn’t pass a spending bill that could attract 60 votes in the Senate. But in either case, Republicans are the majority in both houses, they write the bills and have the responsibility to write bills that can be passed and signed.

And it’s a small thing, but this is very obviously a hatch act violation and silly me, I feel like the President should be beholden to our laws.

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

#77
post #49

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...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democrat_Party_(epithet)

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

#78
post #71
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing to do with Redding. It's all over the USDA website: https://www.fs.usda.gov/ > The Radical Left Democrats shut down the government. This government website will be updated periodically during the funding lapse for mission critical functions. President Trump has made it clear he wants to keep the government open and support those who feed, fuel, and clothe the American people.

SBA message is somehow worse... https://sba.gov

HUD is pretty bad too: https://www.hud.gov/

> The Radical Left in Congress shut down the government. HUD will use available resources to help Americans in need.

Just disgusting.

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

#79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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?

It depends on what the footer says. This isn't a company though, it's the government, and it's generally considered unprofessional if not illegal for federal employees to make partisan statements on the job. There's also the fact that, in my experience, out-of-office autoreplies are generally drafted by the employee while footers are often standardized by the employer. Additionally, there are strict rules on what fed…

It's illegal, as it's a violation of the Hatch Act.
Post reply on HN