Random Politics Thread

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Remote work crackdown: How Trump’s DOGE could push federal workers to quit

President-elect Donald Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, a nongovernmental entity helmed by billionaire Elon Musk and biotech entrepreneur and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, is expected to make a push for an end to remote work across federal agencies as...

www.yahoo.com

It's hard to tell which appointment to be the most concerned about, really.

 

[The Cat]

It's hard to tell which appointment to be the most concerned about, really.

 

[Totenkindly]

So after all of Musk and Vivek's blathering about "teleworking" being non-work and bad practice as a way to justify their advice, of course this morning I see Tesla has opportunities for remote workers ranging up to $275K in salary, presumably to find the best qualified staff available.

Gee. Maybe it's not about the evils of telework at all, but simply about incentivizing fedgov workers to quit or retire due to not wanting to deal with all the crap that comes with getting to and being on site for all five days a week. After all, we've had hybrid work since probably 5-6 years (in my agency) before COVID and more years than that at other federal agencies.

 

[The Cat]

Morning Joe bent the knee and kissed the ring.
Washington Post/LA Times bent the knee and kissed the ring.
It will start with "temporary" "emergency" procedures.​

 

[The Cat]

 

[Virtual ghost]

Elon Musk to British MPs: I’ll summon you, actually


This clearly shows that the next 4 years will be "diplomatically intense".

 

[Lark]

I gave someone a Van Gogh action figure once. You could remove his regular ear and replace it with a bandaged one. (Even now, I think that's hysterical.) I'll try to get pictures.

That is awesome, I always thought it would have been cool to have Bakunin, Engels, Marx and Co, in a sort of International Working Mans Association / league of extraordinary gentleman style playset

 

[Totenkindly]

Welp, Gaetz is gone.

But there's enough crazy to last.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Welp, Gaetz is gone.

But there's enough crazy to last.

RFK Jr. is my personal "favorite."

 

[The Cat]

Riddle me this: How do you make a Depression Great again?


The avalanche has already started. It is too late for the pebbles to vote.

You've seen this movie before...
There'll be a hot time, in the old town, toniiight.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

ICE is Training Civilians to Conduct Violent Raids on Immigrants

“We ran Border Patrol Citizen Academies back when I was an agent as well,” Jenn Budd, former Senior Border Patrol Agent, whistleblower, and author of Against the Wall told Unicorn Riot. “The entire goal is to indoctrinate locals into why it’s okay for us to violate people’s rights.”

]The training materials that show where to strike people with batons to subdue them are but the tip of the iceberg in terms of violence. While the ICE presentation on using force contains the “Monadnock Baton Chart” (presumably named after baton manufacturer Monadnock) showing the degrees of damage inflicted on a suspect based on where they’re struck with a baton, the majority of this part of Citizens Academy training covers when to use deadly force.

Controlling narratives — through social media metering certain accounts and posts or dictating what the news reports by leaving out key facts and contexts — is what most governments aspire to do. These expanded efforts control what the public sees and frame narratives that gloss over growing federal law enforcement powers over U.S. citizens. Only providing access to journalists who will be favorable to them underscores the manipulative nature of these programs.

Watch this carefully, because it won't stop here.

 

[Lark]

ICE is Training Civilians to Conduct Violent Raids on Immigrants





Watch this carefully, because it won't stop here.

If there's that kind of organization taking place and it as government money and validation, is there any counter-organization taking place and were would it get its resources from?

That's just in terms of the violation of rights thing, I actually think immigration and displacement is an issue, just way, way close to the bottom of any real agenda, but it would take a lot of global and national structural adjustments to addess that type of thing, which isnt going to happen, too much dark money.

 

[The Cat]

 

[Coriolis]

We are going to be seeing much more of this sort of thing. I'm sure response by authorities will vary, depending on the political climate of each state. Note that the first incident report comes from a UK source. I could find no mention in the mainstream US media, though to be fair, I didn't look very hard.

Crowd cheered as two transgender women were attacked at Minneapolis rail station

A neo-Nazi turf war may have just flared in Columbus, Ohio

 

[The Cat]

 

[Virtual ghost]

You guys should just stop with the whole "voter fraud" thing regardless of the party. Especially since your election system is fragile as it is.
What means that if rocking of the boat doesn't stop you are truly risking major "social disturbance". I know it is comfortable and trendy but pushing this over the line can cause so much harm that average Joe can't even comprehend it.

 

[Coriolis]

You guys should just stop with the whole "voter fraud" thing regardless of the party. Especially since your election system is fragile as it is.
What means that if rocking of the boat doesn't stop you are truly risking major "social disturbance". I know it is comfortable and trendy but pushing this over the line can cause so much harm that average Joe can't even comprehend it.

Only one of our parties has been very vocal about fraud, which is indeed a blatant attempt to destabilize since it is a non-issue. This is the same party that has been engaged in a sustained effort to disenfranchize voters in the areas and demographics who don't vote for them. All of it needs to stop.

It's a little bit like so-called "identity politics": created by the same party that then complains about it.

 

[Virtual ghost]

Only one of our parties has been very vocal about fraud, which is indeed a blatant attempt to destabilize since it is a non-issue. This is the same party that has been engaged in a sustained effort to disenfranchize voters in the areas and demographics who don't vote for them. All of it needs to stop.

It's a little bit like so-called "identity politics": created by the same party that then complains about it.

What Trump did in 2020 was evidently wrong. However what democrats did in 2016 with the story about hacking elections and various frauds was also wrong.


All I am saying that this shouldn't become a tradition, because if it does the country is finished. I am sorry but I am simply under impression that you are all playing very dangerous game.

 

[Coriolis]

What Trump did in 2020 was evidently wrong. However what democrats did in 2016 with the story about hacking elections and various frauds was also wrong.


All I am saying that this shouldn't become a tradition, because if it does the country is finished. I am sorry but I am simply under impression that you are all playing very dangerous game.

The election hacking issue related primarily to entities outside the US, and this remains a serious concern. Even in the election just held, foreign entities were found trying to hack into the campaign offices, and to spread disinformation to create unrest and possibly promote a desired result. The government needed both more transparency and more aggressive response, the first to reassure voters that the system is secure by saying more about the measures taken to keep it so; the second to counter and where possible prosecute the hackers/intruders. Perhaps the response was sufficiently robust, just conducted understandably out of the public eye, but saying more about it would reinforce that reassurance to voters, that election results would not be compromised. If a candidate for office were complicit in such attempts, that should be investigated and made public.

 

[The Cat]

You guys should just stop with the whole "voter fraud" thing regardless of the party. Especially since your election system is fragile as it is.
What means that if rocking of the boat doesn't stop you are truly risking major "social disturbance". I know it is comfortable and trendy but pushing this over the line can cause so much harm that average Joe can't even comprehend it.

The video goes into detail about it with the same perspective it went into it in 2020 with the other side. The video is mostly providing the information to dispute the claims.

But I hear you man. It's one of those ledges that you can't climb back up, once your down, you're down in the ravine till you find another way out.