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US government struggles to rehire nuclear safety staff it laid off days ago

bbc.com

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Re: US government struggles to rehire nuclear safety staff it laid off days ago

#821

Post by insane_dreamer »

Here's another example of the type of thoughtlessness that is going into these firings.

600 people were fired at the BPA, which handles power transmission for the Pacific Northwest, and 20% total are expected to lose their jobs.[0]

Keeping a grid running 24/7 is no small feat, there is no way that you're telling me that some DOGE engineers did a deep dive investigation in the past 2 weeks and decided that you can cut 20% of the staff responsible for power transmission / power lines without degrading either the service or safety.

But here's the kicker: the firings __won't reduce Federal spending__. Why? Because it's paid for by PNW users (in their energy bills).

So if no money is saved, why the firings? Are BPA workers siphoning off power or money for their own uses (corruption, fraud)? Maybe they're a bunch of "unqualified DEI hires"? Or taken over by "Marxists" who are doing what--making sure the power that comes to my home has a "leftist" frequency?

Obviously none of the above. So why? stupidity? Maybe. But I don't think it's stupidity. It's a calculated move to make it look like Trump/Elon are "doing something", appealing to their "burn it down" MAGA base, and also their own egos "we cut K employees! Look how great we are!" Elon thinks he's some sort of Alexander the Great cutting the Gordion Knot -- except in this case, the knot is actually holding up important stuff.

[0] https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/mass-layoffs-at-bonneville... (more detailed info at oregonlive.com but paywalled)

Re: US government struggles to rehire nuclear safety staff it laid off days ago

#822

Post by fach »

refurb wrote: post #742
fach wrote: post #713

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This isn't true at all. > > The main way the President is stopped is through the courts, which is already underway, but Trump has actually prevailed in several decisions (e.g. right to cancel government contracts, right to fire probationary employees) while blocked other (e.g. birthright citizenship). It is absolutely true. The judiciary has no mechanism to _enforce_ laws. Enforcement belongs to the executive branc…

> It is absolutely true. The judiciary has no mechanism to _enforce_ laws. Enforcement belongs to the executive branch. A few issues with that statement. First, law enforcement can defy the President in order to follow the law or court orders (which they are required to do). Second, enforcement isn't always through law enforcement. If the courts decide that an agency can do X, then they can go ahead and do X. No FBI…

> First, law enforcement can defy the President in order to follow the law or court orders (which they are required to do).

Any law enforcement officer defying the president or attempting to enforce a court order against the executive branch can and will be removed by the president. You say "which they are required to do" but again, the executive branch is the enforcement mechanism when they don't which is at the discretion of the president.

> Second, enforcement isn't always through law enforcement. If the courts decide that an agency can do X, then they can go ahead and do X. No FBI involvement needed. Same if the issue ends up being something the state execute on.

I have no idea what this means. The courts can certainly decide whether or not the executive branch has broken the law. But again, there is no enforcement mechanism in the judiciary branch.

> That's because he was never charged. Why was he never charged? It's kind of hard to claim insurrection when nobody was armed and didn't actually have the ability to commit insurrection.

He was impeached, for a second time, in the House for "incitement of an insurrection" and acquitted in the Senate. Are you conveniently forgetting this?

Re: US government struggles to rehire nuclear safety staff it laid off days ago

#823

Post by kristianbrigman »

cloverich wrote: post #573
TheJoeMan wrote: post #404

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Scream test is very valuable for time efficiency, in general. In this application though, I think they’re realizing sometimes it’s difficult to reverse, such as firing the new blood who just moved to DC and have been there only a year… like I would feel so abused, why go back?

If they tell you it was a scream test, and it turns out your team was actually pretty important and also gives you a raise, you might. Especially if you have nothing else lined up.

I wish I had a dollar for every time I spent a dollar, because then, I'd have all my money back

Re: US government struggles to rehire nuclear safety staff it laid off days ago

#824

Post by Spooky23 »

bbor wrote: post #809
Spooky23 wrote: post #664

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many are very much in favor of cutting these services. As President Musk said, “that necessarily involves some temporary hardship, but it will ensure long-term prosperity”

I am so confident that that is untrue, I don't even feel the need to link studies; questioning whether the American voting public supports SS and Medicare is like questioning if they oppose slavery or endorse family values & apple pie. An extraordinary claim in need of extraordinary evidence, for sure. And, sadly, I won't take "Trump won the election and then put Elon in charge of cutting stuff, so clearly Americans…

Many, many people figure “fuck it, im not getting social security, so why should the others.” It’s enough to tip elections for particularly odious candidates.

See: https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v81n4/v81n4p1.html

They’ve been fed a lie that the system is failed and believe it.

This isn’t my opinion. I’m a widow and survivors benefits for my children has significantly eased the burden of taking care of them. I’m strongly in favor of expanding these programs and soaking the rich to pay for them. Instead they’re getting their money, and someday find themselves on the wall.

Re: US government struggles to rehire nuclear safety staff it laid off days ago

#825

Post by shkkmo »

bee_rider wrote: post #415
shkkmo wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So the crypto currency people who support Trump aren't progressive or does it only count as the progress is in a direction you like? If this is an unprecedented constitutional crisis as so many keep claiming, how is that 'conservative'? The 'left' isn't a rigorously defined term, so it is pretty hard to make a tautological argument like you are implying.

Because these things aren’t rigorously defined it is helpful to follow the convention rather than to go to the dictionary definition of a similar word. I mean surely you wouldn’t say something along the lines of “I often see socialists who aren’t invited to many parties, so are they really social?”

While "Socialist" has a relatively specific meaning, "progressive" has a much wider variety of similar meanings, which definitely include the usage I indicated, without any need for recourse to the related word "progress".

Attempting to now restrict the word "progressive" to just one of its meanings in a politically biased way reeks of newspeak style attempts to control what people can express.

Re: US government struggles to rehire nuclear safety staff it laid off days ago

#826

Post by skinnymuch »

aussiegreenie wrote: post #814
drawkward wrote: post #385

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is Russia driven. Its right out of Aleksandr Dugin's playbook for Russian political dominance: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundations_of_Geopolitics

Russia can not dominate * ANYTHING* . Its economy is about the size of Australia's despite having nearly four times the population. Its much-vaunted military could not defeat a minnow like Ukraine. Yes, Russia has nuclear weapons but no one would commit suicide by using them. Russia is dying, so are Italy, Japan and China etc.

How is China dying??

Re: US government struggles to rehire nuclear safety staff it laid off days ago

#827

Post by skinnymuch »

futuraperdita wrote: post #812
drawkward wrote: post #385

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is Russia driven. Its right out of Aleksandr Dugin's playbook for Russian political dominance: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundations_of_Geopolitics

I believed this at the beginning of the Ukraine war and went to read Dugin's philosophy to get a sense of where this was all headed. I believe that the Dugin-centric view of Russian _realpolitik_ is an intellectual meme moreso than an accurate view of reality. Dugin's thought is being used as a rosetta stone in Kremlinology, but I believe that _Foundations of Geopolitics_ has been coöpted as an intellectual veil for…

Marx isn’t being co-opted by Leninism. It builds on Marxism. Have you read The State and Revolution or Imperialism or What is to be Done? Unless you mean dominating the bourgeoisie which is what Marxism is about too.

Re: US government struggles to rehire nuclear safety staff it laid off days ago

#828

Post by sirdvd »

skinnymuch wrote: post #826
aussiegreenie wrote: post #814

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Russia can not dominate * ANYTHING* . Its economy is about the size of Australia's despite having nearly four times the population. Its much-vaunted military could not defeat a minnow like Ukraine. Yes, Russia has nuclear weapons but no one would commit suicide by using them. Russia is dying, so are Italy, Japan and China etc.

How is China dying??

I assume is referring to the mean ageing demographic of those country.

Re: US government struggles to rehire nuclear safety staff it laid off days ago

#830

Post by infthi »

Vilian wrote: post #782
infthi wrote: post #500

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Data centers will pretty much absorb any person with military nuclear power experience Could you elaborate why is that? They seem to be unrelated areas.

Search about Microsoft/google/amazon projects for nuclear powered data centers or for AI training

Those still seem to be projects years away from completion (and they also have projects for fusion powered data centers - which are 30 years away, I guess?), yet I've interpreted the chain of comments as "Nuclear workers which were laid off _now_ can easily be absorbed by data centers almost immediately".
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