What Did You Do Last Week?

Plus: German elections, how I almost got arrested this weekend, and more...

Elon Musk tells federal workers to justify their jobs: In an email with a subject line "What did you do last week?" Elon Musk, head of the Department of Government Efficiency, asked federal government employees to justify their jobs.

Sent Saturday afternoon, Musk (or a DOGE underling) instructed workers to "please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager." He reminded them to "not send any classified information, links, or attachments." Deadline for submission is end of day today. Failure to respond, the email warns, may be grounds for termination.

Union representatives have started talking about lawsuits, but Musk maintains that "the bar is very low here" (which: true) and that the email "should take less than 5 mins to write" (also true). Meanwhile, specific agencies objected to the unorthodox protocol.

"The FBI, through the Office of the Director, is in charge of all of our review processes, and will conduct reviews in accordance with FBI procedures," said new FBI director Kash Patel. "When and if further information is required, we will coordinate the responses. For now, please pause any responses."

"The State Department will respond on behalf of the Department. No employee is obligated to report their activities outside their Department chain of command," read an internal email to employees.

"It is cruel and disrespectful to hundreds of thousands of veterans who are wearing their second uniform in the civil service to be forced to justify their job duties to this out-of-touch, privileged, unelected billionaire who has never performed one single hour of honest public service in his life," said government employee union president Everett Kelley, betraying an insane notion of what "public service" is. I would offer that Starlink alone, not to mention expanded spaceflight, has been of great service to the public (or Tesla, or Musk's earlier company X.com, which merged with PayPal, or…the list goes on and on).

Federal workers seem to be chafing at the fact that Musk seems to be maximally enjoying the chaos. But the entrenched federal bureaucracy, for its part, also seems to be enjoying throwing sand in the gears to try to make the cuts painful for the general public.

"At California's Yosemite National Park, the Trump administration fired the only locksmith on staff on Friday. He was the sole employee with the keys and the institutional knowledge needed to rescue visitors from locked restrooms." And at other parks: pic.twitter.com/y3ngZyncW2

— Alec MacGillis (@AlecMacGillis) February 20, 2025

German election results: "The largest German turnout in decades gave the most votes to the Christian Democrats and their sister party, the Christian Social Union. That almost certainly means the next chancellor will be Friedrich Merz, a businessman who flies his own private plane and has long coveted the top job," reports The New York Times. Note that this isn't the far right—the Alternative for Germany party—emerging victorious; it's the center-right, in what can be read as a moderate repudiation of lefty policies on immigration and economic policy.

"The hard-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, doubled its vote share from four years ago, largely by appealing to voters upset by immigration. In the former East Germany, it finished first, ahead of Mr. Merz's party," adds the Times. AfD's fans include Musk, who spoke at one of the party's recent rallies. But the far-right party performed slightly worse than expectations in this election, and die Linke—a far-left party—performed slightly better.

---

Scenes from New York: Beginning to do my makeup before I take my son to the playground in case they make me get a mugshot.

To recap for those not on X (full post here): My friends and I went to the Pier 26 playground along the Hudson River after Mass to let my toddler run around (he is 2.5 and did an excellent job sitting still in church). The signs said the playground was closed due to icy conditions. There was a small amount of snow on the ground still, but it was quickly melting; it was 45 degrees outside, a rare reprieve from the New York winter.

Having encountered another padlocked playground a week and a half ago, I saw this padlock and thought hell no. Took my fancy shoes off and hopped the fence. My friend was right behind me, and we boosted my son over the fence. Then the most beautiful thing started happening: Other parents and kids saw how much fun we were having and we offered to help get their kids over the fence too. We liberated maybe two dozen kids. (The dads were especially down, with many hopping the fence themselves.)

Imagine my frustration at coming down the massive slide super fast (semi-immodestly, in a fancy dress!) and being greeted by the authorities demanding my ID and threatening to fine me. I resisted for a while and took down badge numbers, and then my husband mentioned that he did not want to pay my fines or bail today, that it would be prudent for me to not get arrested in front of our child, etc. (the usual).

NYC hates its child population. Encountered ANOTHER padlocked playground (it was 45 degrees out). Hopped the fence w my friend, liberated my son, and 25 other kids took little boosts from us to hop the fence. Joy.

Then the city said they'd fine me & they needed to see my ID. https://t.co/xeWclYMzeM pic.twitter.com/YemzCfpBFY

— Liz Wolfe (@LizWolfeReason) February 24, 2025

Something is sick and rotten in big-city parenting culture if our public officials believe it better for children to sit inside glued to Cocomelon than risk going outside and playing. Play risks injury. Outdoor play risks exposure to the elements. Social play risks rejection and conflict. We allow children to take these risks to teach them resilience. The joy of play is not trivial or insignificant—this is the stuff of a happy, balanced childhood, one New York City officials seem intent on destroying.

If you have any tips as to why this keeps happening, or which city officials to contact to make it stop, please reach out to me.

---

QUICK HITS

• Our Just Asking Questions episode with Randy Barnett has generated a lot of hate from the left-wing commentariat—Matt Stoller and Matt Yglesias, for starters—and plenty of folks have taken issue with the term "malicious compliance":

????@RandyEBarnett on JAQ: "This is a standard technique of the bureaucracy––it's called malicious compliance. They try to make the most painful cuts possible. It's like when there was a 2-day government shutdown & they ostentatiously closed the government parks surrounding DC &… https://t.co/XM2BObwNXJ

— Liz Wolfe (@LizWolfeReason) February 21, 2025

But this reply is still my favorite, because I love any and all mention of our zoomer overlord Big Balls:

Actually it's the fault of the park rangers that their budgets are being slashed by a 19 year old named Big Balls. I think Liz Wolfe must have learned to tie her shoes in her thirties https://t.co/HQCFyWIBbM

— noah kulwin (@nkulw) February 22, 2025

• "French President Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer will meet with President Donald Trump this week as they try to clinch a European role in the ongoing talks between Washington and Moscow on ending Russia's war in Ukraine," reports Bloomberg. "The French and British leaders spoke Sunday to coordinate their objectives, which include getting US security guarantees for Ukraine, slowing the pace of Washington's talks with Russia and demonstrating Europe's commitment to increase defense spending, according to people familiar with their plans, who spoke on the condition of anonymity." Trump has made noises about winding down U.S. spending on Ukraine, and European leaders appear to be panicking.
• "More than a year of conflict has crippled the already limited waste collection infrastructure in Gaza," reports Reuters. "With access to designated landfills blocked and no transport due to a fuel blockade imposed by Israel, hundreds of thousands of tons of solid waste has piled up in the streets."
• Interesting:

In the former DDR, pro-Russian parties (AfD, Die Linke, Wagenknecht/BSW) got a majority (57.4%). In the old West Germany, those parties got just 29.4%. https://t.co/ofd4bi6dcR

— Aaron Astor (@AstorAaron) February 24, 2025

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Elon Musk tells federal workers to justify their jobs...

The bar is catching a rocket with a robot arm.

[Social Justice is neither]

I will accept govt employees out on the landing pad trying to do it manually as well.

[Mother's Lament - Buttplug = Neocons (same motive)]

The bar is catching a rocket with a robot arm

The world's biggest rocket, actually the biggest thing that has ever flown.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

Largest Earth vessel to fly. A Zetan mothership is 30× as large.

[Randy Sax]

I still don't like that 3 made them cannon. Should have stayed wild wasteland only.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

Meh, cannon is over-rated. Mothership sucked on its merits, though.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (Trump Ascendant!! )]

And shaped like a DC-8.

[Bubba Jones]

I couldn't do my job because union rules prevent me from unlocking my office door.

[Moonrocks]

Is your office in a National Park bathroom, by chance?

[Stuck in California]

Get a load of outdoor Fonzie here.

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

Ah, you must work in Chicago.

I wish I was kidding. People at conventions in Chicago can’t even plug in their own electrical equipment. They need to wait for the union electrician to come over and put the plug into the outlet.

[Tony]

Is that what you call jacking off Elon Musk?

There is literally nothing more cringe than Elon worship. The fact that most of it is his own anonymous accounts doing it to himself is just, wow. Sad for you.

No no you’re super cool. For sure.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

"HURRR ELON MUSK POOPY DOOPY HEAD ELON WORSHIP ORANGE MAN BAD HERPITY DERPITY DOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"

If you had any self-respect left, you'd eat Kurt Cobain's breakfast.

[Mother's Lament - Buttplug = Neocons (same motive)]

"Is that what you call jacking off Elon Musk?"

Yes, we all know you're gay, Tony. You don't have to keep beating us over the head with it.

[Tony]

Beating you over the head with it is what I consider one of those fun dates.

[VULGAR MADMAN]

If you weren’t gay., well you’d be just as boring actually.

[DesigNate]

As gay retorts go, his wasn’t half bad.

[EISTAU Gree-Vance]

I’ll tell ya what I did last week, Elon: I familiarized myself with the institutional knowledge required to get people out of locked restrooms. All five of them. One for each gender.

Mic drop.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...Musk (or a DOGE underling) instructed workers to "please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager."

Technically Saturday is last week so two bullet points would be reading Musk's email and beginning a response to Musk's email. Boom. Forty percent done.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

My company does these self reviews a few times a year. My favorite response is ever got from an employee was "I did okay I guess" as his self evaluation. He didn't last long.

[Mother's Lament - Buttplug = Neocons (same motive)]

Heh, that's a Canadian response. You don't want to sound like you're boasting or putting on airs.

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

Not much point in over-tooting one’s own horn, eh?

[Mother's Lament - Buttplug = Neocons (same motive)]

When you do, everyone instantly suspects you're full of shit, whether you are or not.

Selling yourself is one of the few cultural differences between the two countries that can lead to some misunderstandings.

[Stuck in California]

Honestly, a lot of people think braggarts are full of shit here, too.

Difference is narcissism here has grown quite a bit, as have the social implications of it.

[Eeyore]

Too many lines means the employee thinks too highly of themselves or they are just making shit up.

[JFree]

The Constitution explicitly states:

The President...may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments [meaning Cabinet Secretaries], upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices

Legally Musk is a flunky of the Prez - working in the Executive Office of the President. So THAT is the scope of his authority to demand in writing

In the appointments clause - Prez nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint...other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.

It is Congress who has the authority to 'vest the appointment' of lesser officers. So no unilateral authority by the Prez to hire/fire. Congress can delegate that authority - and can also thus take it back. More significant - the Constitution also specifically talks about 'the Heads of Departments' as separate from 'the President alone'. IOW - only the morons of the SC can view unilateral executive authority as anything 'originalist'. What the constitution proposes is a DELEGATED executive. A line of command and control that extended one level down from the Prez (to Cabinet Secys) or perhaps to those levels where the incumbent is directly appointed by Prez. But not everyone in the exec branch.

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

JFucked.
Is.
Full.
Of.
Shit.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

Lol.

No.

MSNBC legal analysts are not the supreme law of the land.

[Jefferson Paul]

But they did get their law degrees from the same place as Windy City Attorney.

[Marshal]

Holiday Inn Express.

[Jefferson Paul]

I think if Windy City Attorney had stayed at a Holiday Inn Express he'd have shown better knowledge of the law than he does.

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

Windy City Attorney stayed under an overpass near a Holiday Inn Express last night.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

Fair.

[Marshal]

Legally Musk is a flunky of the Prez

Similar to his Chief of Staff for example. Left wingers seem unable to think for themselves.

[VULGAR MADMAN]

It’s where that accusing people of watching fox comes from, they just assume their enemies are NPCs too.

[Michael Ejercito]

He does not have the unilateral authority to hire, of course. if nothing else, the Senate has a veto on many offices.

To fire, on the other hand...

[JFree]

Fire just means rescind the appointment.

There are 4000 or so political appointees in the Federal Govt.
1100 - Prez appointee w Senate confirmation
350 - Prez appointees w/o Senate confirmation (mostly Exec Office of the Prez)
725 - Prez appointees w civil service protections
1600 - Appointees under Sch C - 'lesser officers'

The latter two categories were created by Congress and delegate to either Prez in person or 'Head of Dept' through Prez. IOW - constitutional. There is not a fifth category in the Constitution which involves everybody else in the Exec Branch - who can't be hired by the Prez but who can be fired by him. That sort of category would be akin to a personal loyalty oath to der fuhrer. Which is not constitutional but is not surprisingly viewed longingly by the Magamises crowd.

We could have had a lot more political appointees - postmasters would be the explicit ideal. Where 'departments' could be placed locally - in competition with both Cabinet departments and DC-based ExecOfficePrez. But R's don't really want anything that might be constitutional and legal. Your ilk really wants that personal loyalty oath.

[Incunabulum]

Fine, whatever. Don't fire them. Just remove any executive power from them. They can stay there and 'advise' the agency all day long.

[JFree]

The President does not have the unilateral arbitrary power or authority you seem to want him to have. A delegated executive is the legal constitutional authority envisioned and outlined.

In the civilian realm - where 'Heads of Department' is specifically mentioned and where the role of President is 'head of the Cabinet' not King.

In the military realm - where the role of CinC in wartime is constrained by the explicit authority of states to select militia officers so that even when called into service by the Prez he doesn't have his own chain of command.

[damikesc]

An executive with no control over the Executive branch is not the system invisioned.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (Trump Ascendant!! )]

He’s too stupid and demtarded to reason with. Better to just TASER him.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

Please site the article 1 clause that you think gives congress the power to micromanage the executive. I'll point to article 2 vestments clause.

After that please point to the statutory rule of congressional law stating who can or cannot be fired.

Why are all the liberaltarians all of a sudden of the belief the executive has no power?

The only power granted yo congress regarding executive employees is advice and consent of political appointees. Full stop.

[JFree]

I'll point to what was explicitly taken OUT of the Art 2 vest appointments by law clause. The original draft of that was explicitly Presidential appoint officers in all cases not otherwise provided for by this Constitution. That was taken out specifically because it implied that the President could both CREATE the department and appoint/fill the jobs. The opposite of both of those is ELIMINATE the department and fire the incumbent.

The Prez has explicit authorization, though limited, to appoint/hire/fire/rescind. The President does NOT have any power to create/eliminate and that is where the ONLY legitimate 'libertarian' argument can be made. It is where Congress is explicitly authorized in that vest clause as written now - all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.

Congress has the exclusive authority to create (and thus eliminate) the departments where those 'inferior officers' reside and do their work. It also explicitly has the authority to choose whether the hire/fire (and mgmt) authority of 'inferior officers' is placed in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments. That also means that Congress has the oversight (not micromanagement) responsibility necessary to legislate, fund, etc. The President IS in fact explicitly limited because his oath of office is 'faithfully execute'. That does not mean talking to God or complying with ones political base you asshole. It means complying with the rule of law.

There is 100+ years of Congress abdicating its responsibility of oversight - which is also what can lead to eliminating what no longer makes sense having been created. But that gets fixed by doing the hard work of fixing it. Not the showy work of grifters wielding chainsaws on stage.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

So your argument is that congress has a power not granted them under article 1 to modify the powers of article 2 without an amendment.

Yeap. You're a fucking moron.

[JFree]

You obviously can't READ the fucking Constitution. Congress is explicitly mentioned IN ARTICLE 2. It wasn't a typo. It is an explicit restriction on Presidential authority.

[DesigNate]

That doesn’t say Congress gets to decide if he fires someone. Never mind that not every one of the 2,992,000 other employees are “Officers”.

Congress being the lazy fucks that they are, almost assuredly vested the hire/fire power in the Heads of Departments, who, wait for it, work for the President.

[JFree]

Heads of Dept do not work for the President. That is very different from anyone who works in the Exec Office of Prez who works for the Prez. Heads of Dept report to the Prez. They are overseen by Congress re their funding and existence. No one in Exec Office Prez is overseen by Congress as that would be a violation of exec privilege. The whole point was to create a delegated executive not an autocratic executive

[markm23]

In 1868, Congress attempted and failed to impeach and remove President Andrew Johnson for firing the Secretary of the Navy? without permission of Congress. Since then, the Supreme Court addressed the issue several times.

Myers v. United States (1926) held that the President has the exclusive power to remove executive branch officials, and does not need the approval of the Senate or any other legislative body.

Humphrey's Executor v. United States (1935) held that the President could only remove executive officials of a quasi-legislative or quasi-judicial administrative body for reasons allowed by Congress, and that the FTC was such a quasi-legislative body.

Seila Law LLC v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (2020) held that the President had unlimited power to fire any Officer of the United States with two exceptions:

1) If the agency had the same characteristics the Supreme Court attributed to the FTC in Humphrey - but it seems to suggest that there are no such agencies, and never were because the Humphrey's court misconstrued the FTC.

2) Congress may constrain the president's removal power over "inferior officers with limited duties and no policymaking" role. In other words, the President may fire the head of any executive agency, and fire the other employees _unless_ Congress barred him from doing this. He can still appoint a replacement to head the agency, who once confirmed by the Senate may be able to fire his underlings - but that is constrained for non-political employees by the Civil Service Act.

Of course, there are two major issues here: That Trump wants to slash payroll and that so many of those "non-political employees" were in fact highly political. I'm guessing that probationer's jobs are not guaranteed by the Civil Service act, so they can be fired arbitrarily. IMHO, the long-time Civil Service employees cannot be fired arbitrarily, but if they made their decisions based on politics, they forfeited their civil service protections, so Trump's new agency heads can and should fire them.

And the third issue comes later: To what extent can Congress require that the executive replace fired employees and spend all that Congress allocated?

[damikesc]

JFree, any thoughts on Hamas celebratory parade about the killing of babies?

Also, Musk is acting under Trump's authority. Trump makes the final decision.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Functionally speaking, the email really wasn't asking for much. When I was active duty, I typically wasn't required, but it was encouraged by my NCOICs to do a Weekly Activity Report (WAR), or at least a running tally of work that I did or particular accomplishments every week.

I DID have to submit a WAR to my supervisor when I was stationed in Korea, but that was mainly because it was a one-year tour and they actually used those to put monthly award packages together, as well as your end-of-tour decoration and EPR. I got coined by the squadron commander one month specifically because my supervisor was submitting those packages on my behalf, due to my WARs.

With that said, it's telling that Kash, Mama Tulsi, and Hegseth in particular immediately pushed back on this, because these are organizations that rely on chain of command reporting, and they clearly don't want Musk going over their heads and mucking that up. They might require something later on, but this is their way of telling him, "Don't get too big for your britches here."

[DesigNate]

It’s almost like the administration isn’t just riding around half-cocked.

[Moonrocks]

Elon Musk tells federal workers to justify their jobs

So what would you say you do here?

[Yuno Hoo]

I had a boss who would randomly request written reports on "What have you done for me lately?". The horror!

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

It is common in non government jobs.

Ironically the Feds do yearly ratings of their employees and they average something like 80% as exceptional for their reviews. Their bonuses and raises are of course tied to their ratings.

[Jefferson Paul]

When everyone is exceptional, no one is.

Similar to when a group of females all rate themselves as a 10/10, that makes all of them 5s (average).

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (Trump Ascendant!! )]

And they’re mostly 3 ‘s anyway.

[Longtobefree]

My normal response was "By diligent and dedicated work as a loyal hard working employee, I managed to make all your lies to management come true.".
(My boss had a sense of humor, and this was long enough ago you could have a sense of humor at work)

[Mother's Lament - Buttplug = Neocons (same motive)]

If I did less than five things a week, I'd already be out looking for my next job.

[Yuno Hoo]

"Do one thing. Do it well!"

[Rex L'Amoureaux]

I do one thing at a time.
I do it right.
And then I move on.

- Major Charles Emerson Winchester III

[Ajsloss]

I deal with the goddamn customers so the engineers don't have to!

[Gaear Grimsrud]

You must be a people person!

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

I have people skills; I am good at dealing with people. Can't you understand that? What the hell is wrong with you people?

[Anomalous]

Sounds like somebody has a case of the Mondays!

[Ajsloss]

No. No, man. Shit, no, man! I believe you'd get your ass kicked sayin somethin like that, man.

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

I'll tell you what I'd do, man: two chicks at the same time, man.

[Wizzle Bizzle]

Hey, Peter. Watch out for your cornhole, bud.

[Randy Sax]

Can I hire you? Dealing with the clients is the most frustrating part of my job.

Client - "why is this foundation so big?"

I can either spend 20 minutes writing an email giving you a crash course in geotechnical and structural engineering that takes unnecessary time out of the budget, or just say "Because I'm the engineer and I fucking said so."

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Yeah, the irony of a lot of these operations is that they hire these project coordinators specifically because a lot of engineers don't have fucking clue how to talk to anyone that isn't as technically proficient as them and put it in dumbed-down language for the customer. So they get hired to facilitate all this shit, but they're also some of the first to be eliminated because these "efficiency experts" inevitably ask why the customer can't just ask the engineer themselves.

"I'm good at dealing with people" doesn't make sense to outside ears unless they see how an actual contract or sale is coordinated by one of these managers, and by an engineer specifically.

[Randy Sax]

I don't think it's necessarily that the engineers can't talk well to the clients, but it's not an efficient use of our time. If you have a sufficiently large enough client base, then managing them is a full time job. Pushing that responsibility to the engineers creates inefficiencies on its own.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Pretty much. You guys can waste several hours trying to work out what the customer wants, or you can have a project manager get it laid out, deliver you the order, and you put it together. It actually ends up being more efficient on the back end, even if it's less apparent on the front end.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (Trump Ascendant!! )]

“Because if we don’t do this like I said the building will fall down”

[DesigNate]

Ugh, that is the worst.

Or when they come and say “don’t you think the beams are oversized? My cousins friend is a contractor and he said that the framing is oversized.”

[The Margrave of Azilia]

I'm good with people! Why can't you people understand that? What's wrong with you people?

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

There's two more people we can easily lose, and then there's Tom Smykowski... He's useless.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Hey, don't jump to conclusions.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Union representatives have started talking about lawsuits...

The courts do seem to be ruling against the administration a lot. The Founders never intended for the bureaucracy to account for itself.

[Bubba Jones]

IIRC the courts have ruled the unions have no standing.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Well the unions have ruled that the courts will be standing... IN 20 FEET OF WATER WITH CEMENT SHOES.

[Stuck in California]

I sure hope the concrete finishers are in good standing and the mixer truck drivers are paid prevailing wage.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The FBI, through the Office of the Director, is in charge of all of our review processes, and will conduct reviews in accordance with FBI procedures...

The bureau is Kashing out of Musk's accountability push.

[Ajsloss]

Gotta love the FBI's "Don't Ask Patel" policy.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

Man the balls to, just following procedure, to Musk. Guessing they have a tape of him and Amber Heard.

[Bubba Jones]

I gotta say. It's surprising and amusing to see Trump's appointees tell Musk to fuck himself.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

I think I mentioned the other day that Musk is running the playbook he implemented when he took over Twitter, but the federal government is not Twitter. It's governed by a lot of administrative regs that private sector corpos don't have to deal with, and there's processes that have to be followed, one of which is the chain of command. Plus, these people all just took over their departments, so any reporting requirement should come directly from them anyway, not Musk. He needs to stick to what DOGE is doing now, which is the government-wide audit, and leave the job justification shit to the other members of Trump's team.

This was always the risk with bringing a guy like Elon in--he has the people who can dig into the government's books and find a lot of shady shit, but this is still a billionaire mogul, and these guys all have a god complex to a certain extent. It's not bad for him to be reminded that he might be Trump's consligiere, but that doesn't make him a formal part of the family.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (Trump Ascendant!! )]

She could still get big money for a porn contract. She should jump on that while she’s still hot enough to be marketable.

[EISTAU Gree-Vance]

Amber heard? Way too late.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (Trump Ascendant!! )]

She’s still got an awesome body. She’s just not as good as she was ten years ago.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The State Department will respond on behalf of the Department. No employee is obligated to report their activities outside their Department chain of command...

Musk is Marco Rubio-ing State the wrong way.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

I am shocked.

Of the at least $2.13 billion in contracts and grants for Haiti-related work, less than $50 million, or 2% went to Haitian organizations or firms. By comparison, $1.3 billion, or 56%, has gone to firms located in or near the US capitol. Little wonder USAID is so threatened by the sudden scrutiny.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/more-usaid-fraud-billions-us-tax-dollars-are-missing-haiti-relief-projects

Get to work Patel.

[Mother's Lament - Buttplug = Neocons (same motive)]

RICO the NGOs
Make them pay or it will happen again.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Do we have that much country club prison space?

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

Guantanamo Bay has a golf course and room to spare.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (Trump Ascendant!! )]

So do America’s many landfills.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (Trump Ascendant!! )]

RICO the democrat media.

[Mike Parsons]

Wonder what's going to happen to the DC real estate market lol. How many 2+million dollar brownstones are fully funded by jobs like this.

[Medulla Oblongata]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/dc-house-prices-plunge-amid-doge-turmoil/ar-AA1zvWPQ

[A Thinking Mind]

Maybe rent prices will go down and AOC will stop complaining that she can’t afford to live in DC.

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

Given the sudden increase in AOC’s net worth, she’s more likely to be housed at federal expense with a few of her fellow Congress critters.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (Trump Ascendant!! )]

I consider that a reasonable use of the taxpayer money. At least until executions can be scheduled.

[TrickyVic (old school)]

From Congress to NGO to who the NGOs help is the biggest trickle down grift ever.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

It's always been like this with most NGOs, especially left-wing ones. BLM has never been anything more than a slush fund for the DNC, and for Patrisse Cullors personal bank account.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (Trump Ascendant!! )]

I look forward to Sawllwell’s treason and espionage trial.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

DOGE NEWS- Department of Government Efficiency
@realdogeusa
BREAKING: Whistleblower reveals she was encouraged to approve long-term disability for illegals, essentially securing lifetime Social Security benefits for each approval:
Video

https://x.com/realdogeusa/status/1893473601870836105

Long story short. Government worker overseeing SDI told to give quick granting of SSDI to new refugees. Followed up with issuance of SS numbers and US passports.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

SSA employee helps DOGE understand how their systems work. Gets promptly fired by SSA. Word gets our, is promptly rehired and promoted.

https://legalinsurrection.com/2025/02/schadenfreude-ssa-fraud-expert-benched-for-helping-doge-but-then-appointed-acting-commissioner/

[Marshal]

I'm looking forward to seeing the details on this one. Disability has always been a point of abuse because there's no easy way to validate the decisions. But if they're giving disability to non-citizens it's going to be explosive.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Gosh, I wonder how much SS might have actually been in the black if it wasn't paying out charity bux for illegals.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

It would still be in the red. Less so but with our demographics as they are, a ponzi scheme like SS needs more new victims everyday to keep afloat.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

To be fair, a lot of that gap will close up once the Boomers finally shuffle off, and/or the income cap is raised to reflect inflation. All things considered, with the Boomers aging out and the disability fraud, it could be a hell of a lot worse than it is.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (Trump Ascendant!! )]

Euthanizing Hank would help a little.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

I still like the senior-set hunger games, where anyone collecting SS benefits is a legal target for the others, who get a 10% bounty--and the feds get to retire 90% of the liability.

[EISTAU Gree-Vance]

“It would still be in the red.”

Ok. You’ve seen the numbers?

With all we’ve learned in the last few weeks, there’s still way too much “oh, it’s not that bad” floating around out there.

There are still a lot of people who think that tens of millions of illegals ain’t all that expensive. Lol.

[Fist of Etiquette]

It is cruel and disrespectful to hundreds of thousands of veterans who are wearing their second uniform in the civil service to be forced to justify their job duties to this out-of-touch, privileged, unelected billionaire...

They weren't used to doing it to the elected millionaires before now.

[Moonrocks]

I thought military careers were defined by bullet points and Powerpoint slides.

[markm23]

Powerpoint is certainly overused in the military, but people have died from the bullet points.

[mad.casual]

"It is cruel and disrespectful to hundreds of thousands of veterans who are wearing their second uniform in the civil service to be forced to justify their job duties to this out-of-touch, privileged, unelected billionaire who has never performed one single hour of honest public service in his life," said government employee union president Everett Kelley, betraying an insane notion of what "public service" is.

The coal miners who die on the job, the truckers who die on the job, the nurses who contract diseases and die on the job, the roofers who die on the job, the bodega owners who die on the job, the farmers and landscapers who die on the job, fuck those guys... they aren't like the overwhelming majority of veterans who knowingly chose jobs in support and logistics that "could get them killed".

Fuck your guilt trip. It dishonors the actual people who truly did give the last full measure in defense of their country.

[Social Justice is neither]

If you cannot spend 5-10 minutes a week proudly telling us how you're serving the public then who exactly are you serving beyond yourself?

[Spiritus Mundi]

Your post made think of that Alabama song.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

Alb
@amandalouise416
Exposing Employers Who Undermine American Workers

Tired of employers exploiting visa programs to sideline American workers? The EEOC is cracking down on companies that discriminate against U.S. workers by prioritizing foreign labor. We track and expose hiring practices that prioritize foreign labor over qualified U.S. candidates. Employers who rig the system against
qualified Americans can not hide!

See the Data. Follow the Evidence. Demand Accountability.

https://x.com/amandalouise416/status/1892919813451735512

[Fist of Etiquette]

At California's Yosemite National Park, the Trump administration fired the only locksmith on staff on Friday. He was the sole employee with the keys and the institutional knowledge needed to rescue visitors from locked restrooms.

There are so many things wrong with this claim that there is absolutely no reason to look into it before reporting it as fact.

[Medulla Oblongata]

Why do we need a locksmith to open doors? Any moron can use a key, just get the keys. How many people are stupid enough to lock themselves in a restroom to the extent that a locksmith is needed? Why does that locksmith need special corporate knowledge?

A full send up along these lines:

https://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2025/02/23/possibly-the-dumbest-example-of-waste-doge-has-discovered-so-far-n2652644

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

"How many people are stupid enough to lock themselves in a restroom to the extent that a locksmith is needed?"

I see you have never met any tourists. Or government workers. Especially diversity hires.

[Wizzle Bizzle]

Damn it. You got here 7 minutes before I did to comment.

[Bubba Jones]

Union rules. Only electricians can plug in a microwave. Only locksmiths can unlock doors.

[BYODB]

Personally it's bizarre that they need to lock their outdoor bathrooms that amount to a hole in the ground. Some of them are better than that, obviously, but a lot of them aren't.

There could be good reasons for that I suppose, or at least I can think of one or two off the cuff, but I'd love to hear their actual explanation.

It makes even less sense as most of the parks I've been to lately have locking gates to keep you out.

[Eeyore]

Homeless will come sleep in the bathrooms at night in the winter.

[BYODB]

Probably, although notably those bathrooms are not air conditioned.

[Eeyore]

Better shelter than nothing. Gets you out of the wind and snow. I honestly don't know why they don't die. I would just die.

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

They have to escape the trunk bears somehow.

[Eeyore]

Some of the park bears don't even bother hibernating if they can get human food.

[EISTAU Gree-Vance]

THAT’S WHY THEY NEED TO BE KEPT IN THE TRUNK!!!!

[Bubba Jones]

I am 100% willing to believe that they think it's defensible that only one person had the tools and authority to OPEN THE FUCKING PARK.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

My experience with NPS staff is that they will do anything to keep the public out of "their" parks.

[mad.casual]

There are so many things wrong with this claim that there is absolutely no reason to look into it before reporting it as fact.

The media reporting the story this way makes me think, at best, we didn't shitcan the right people or just enough of them.

It also makes me think that if you somehow manage to get locked inside a facility in a public park such that you need rescued, we're all better served not rescuing you. Or at least letting you contemplate your life choices while you drink out of a toilet for a couple of days. Dumb as fuck that Aaron Ralston *had* to cut his hand off, but respect for having the ability to solve his own fucking problem.

[Minadin]

The Trump administration did not fire the only locksmith.

The National Park Service administration at Yosemite laid off one of their probationary janitorial staff.

[EISTAU Gree-Vance]

“Planes are crashing because of trump!!!!” did not get as much traction as they were hoping, so “stuck in a shithouse” is filling in while they come up with the next manufactured travesty to justify their phoney baloney jobs.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

Former Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm is joining the board of a major U.S. utility company that received millions of taxpayer dollars from Granholm’s agency on her watch.

Granholm will be a board member for Edison International, a major utility holding company, and she will also sit on the board for Southern California Edison (SCE), a subsidiary of the holding company, Edison International announced on Thursday. SCE was part of a group of California-based entities that received $600 million in taxpayer cash from Granholm’s Department of Energy (DOE) in August 2024.

https://dailycaller.com/2025/02/21/jennifer-granholm-utility-edison-board-seat-taxpayer-cash/

[damikesc]

That seems amazingly not suspect.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

It's absolutely incredible that this stupid woman gets so many cush appointments, especially in the energy sector, when she clearly doesn't have two brain cells to rub together.

I mean that quite literally--she's the dumbest politician I've ever seen. If she didn't have top cover from a lot of powerful men on the left, she wouldn't be doing anything other than managing a Michael's craft store.

[Jerry B.]

"If you have any tips as to why this keeps happening, or which city officials to contact to make it stop, please reach out to me."

It keeps happening because only the State has the smarts to raise your children, so of course you are allowed no agency in their education, or social interactions, which might not let them grow into a proper child of the State.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

How else can Democrats maintain themselves? Biological propagation is unfair oppression.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

Another Maddow cause defamation suit gets settled by NBC.

https://redstate.com/bonchie/2025/02/22/new-msnbc-settles-defamation-lawsuit-after-its-lunatic-hosts-make-up-deranged-conspiracy-theory-n2185887

[Gaear Grimsrud]

Amazing to me that Maddow is still employed at all. The ad revenue from her pathetic audience base cannot possibly be enough to pay her multi million dollar salary.

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

MSDNC canceled Joy(less) Reid’s show after the USAID money dried up so Maddow is probably on borrowed time.

[Anomalous]

They canned Joy Reid, so there's hope.

[Chupacabra]

It's OK, they make it up with USAID money...oops!

[Rockstevo]

Dont get me started on Nicole Wallace...she has one of those voices that is like finger nails on a chalk board. Like a female version of Droopy the Dog.

[Jefferson Paul]

The one I really despise is CNN's Caitlyn Collins. I saw a description of her as having "Resting Joker Face."

[Rockstevo]

I found something strange about her face...took me awhile to figure it out. Her face and mouth do not match, it is like one of those videos where they take a photo and patch in someone's mouth talking.

[Jefferson Paul]

The way the ends of her mouth are permanently upturned makes her look like Jack Nicholson's Joker.

I can't stand her takes. Her weird Joker face is down the list, but every time I see her something seems off.

[Moonrocks]

Like it or not, Maddow has a real audience. She's probably the only leftist TV commentator that does.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

What is the Venn diagram of Maddow fans, NPR listeners, and Harris voters who blame her loss on sexism and racism?

[Moonrocks]

A matryoshka doll.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

There's John Oliver, but to be fair, he mostly just poached Stewart's audience of Millennials and younger Gen-Xers.

[TrickyVic (old school)]

Mass hysterectomies for some, pizza and pedophiles for others.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

Why not both?

[Fist of Etiquette]

The largest German turnout in decades gave the most votes to the Christian Democrats and their sister party, the Christian Social Union.

You know who else won in Germany?

[A Thinking Mind]

Rokossovsky?

[Mother's Lament - Buttplug = Neocons (same motive)]

The AfD beat the CD/CSU union parties individually. Last time I looked it was 28% Union, 20% AfD.

[Rev Arthur L kuckland (5-30-24 banana republic day)]

Val Kilmer in top secret?

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

While skeet surfing?

[TrickyVic (old school)]

If everybody had a 12 gauge
With a sufboard too
You see em shootin and surfin'
From here to Malibu

[Dillinger]

Die sauerkraut ist in mein lederhosen.

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

I want a schnauzer with my weinerschnitzel.

[Ajsloss]

Jesse Owens?

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

Otto von Bismarck?

[Bertram Guilfoyle]

Col. Hogan?

[A Thinking Mind]

He was a full colonel.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

American basketball 72, fuck your do-over Soviets?

[Jefferson Paul]

There are three more days for the voting.

[Moonrocks]

Julius Caeser?

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

That was Gaul. The Germans took a legion and destroyed it.

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

Thinking of that, has there ever been a bigger downgrade in ferocity than the Germans? They went from destroying Roman legions to invading the dying Empire to raising cathedrals to fighting hard in multiple wars, including WWI and WWII, to conquering the world with cars to being a fucking doormat for everyone, especially the Muslims now invading Europe, and rolling over to play dead for them.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

Dan O'Donnell
@DanODonnellShow
EXCLUSIVE: Democrat Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers has introduced a bill that will change state law to replace the word "mother" with "inseminated person."

https://x.com/DanODonnellShow/status/1893067761552683211

[Mother's Lament - Buttplug = Neocons (same motive)]

Yes, that's right. Double down on it, Democrats, remind the plebs why they didn't vote for you.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

"Never interrupt your enemy when he/she/they/it is making a mistake."

[Yuno Hoo]

"IPF!!"

[Social Justice is neither]

So how does inseminated person's day work?

[A Thinking Mind]

Technically, don’t people who take semen orally qualify as having been inseminated?

[Jefferson Paul]

I was also going to point out that at least half of all gay couples would count as an inseminated person.

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

TMI, but I suspect the percentage is higher.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

It is a blast, but gets messy later.

[A Thinking Mind]

Wait, but who is doing the inseminating?

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

Illegal immigrants before saying sorry post insemination?

[Ajsloss]

In some cultures, you have to prove they absorbed it through the skin.

[Moonrocks]

The Inseminator.

[A Thinking Mind]

Did that one star Stormy Daniels?

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

"I'll be back door."

[Bertram Guilfoyle]

Ask the housekeeper.

[Mike Parsons]

Going to be very confusing when the overlap of "actual mothers" and "dudes that just left the bathhouse" are being considered for govt programs.

You think you can qualify for a WIC check after a night with the boys?

[Mother's Lament - Buttplug = Neocons (same motive)]

That was supposed to be for Biden's second term. Trump ruins everything.

[Medulla Oblongata]

"the hxxxxxd spouse of the mxxxxr
inseminated person at the time of the conception of the child shall be the natural fxxxxr parent of a child conceived"

Interesting that they choose to codify that turn of phrase at the same time. So it's a child at the time of conception?

[BYODB]

Whoops! That's a hilarious catch.

[Medulla Oblongata]

Since it's clear that they're a linguistically bending over backward to allow for cases like married lesbian couple with one partner getting artificial insemination, or the likely far rarer concern of a female-to-male transexual getting inseminated while married to a woman (I'm not clear if that makes them heterosexual or lesbians???).

But I digress...my question is 'does the (female) spouse occupying 'husband' role (the non-inseminated partner?) automatically get held up for 18 years of child support payments?'

[damikesc]

Women will still be his larging voting bloc.

Think about how pathetic that is.

[Jefferson Paul]

Trans women and trans men will still be his LARPing voting bloc.

[Mother's Lament - Buttplug = Neocons (same motive)]

"unelected billionaire who has never performed one single hour of honest public service in his life"

Aside from the fact that he is doing a very valuable public service right now for free, lets look at this rather demented "unelected" charge.

There is only one elected government worker (as opposed to legislators), and that is the president. No other government worker has ever been elected, ever. It's the president's job to hire people to fill the top positions.
And Trump, as CEO, selected Musk to run an audit.

To say Musk hasn't been elected and that's bad is just retarded. Who do they think that they're kidding? Well aside from Sarc.

[Mickey Rat]

It is especially ironic to use "unelected" at DOGE members as a defense against the theoretically non-politically appointed civil service bureaucrats.

You can make arguments against specific actions DOGE is taking, but that is an incredibly silly one.

[Spiritus Mundi]

No member of the Judicary was elected. The people dems are running to ask to SaVe OuR dEmOcRaCy.

[Medulla Oblongata]

Exactly. No one ever elected a Sec. State, or Sec. Def, or Sec. HHS let alone Director of [any agency division...]. No Dept. Of Education employee from top to bottom has ever been elected to their position.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Be fair. In the cosplay socialism Democrats live in, "The People" have spoken and thus elected all government workers.

[Mickey Rat]

With the Aaron Astor tweet, the German political parties described as "pro-Russian" include pnes that are described above as "hard right" (AfD) and "far left" (die Linke) in the top of Liz Wolfe's post. This suggests we have barely a surface understanding of what the East German electorate is voting for and why.

[JFree]

I'd say 'we' (meaning mostly Americans) have barely a surface understanding of what the AfD stands for. They are hostile to the US and everything about the US. Skeptical of the EU. Very pro-Russia (some of their MP's were born in Russia) and increasingly so. Totally ok with social welfare spending. They support conscription but oppose other military spending - so basically a jobs for yoots program. They want all US bases closed down. Little difference between them and die Linke on all those issues - and both parties have a strong authoritarian streak. The only difference is that AfD hates immigrants. Which is precisely why it appeals in former East Germany where there are very few immigrants.

And the reality is that AfD is mostly an East German political party. A big reason why it will never 'win'. It is basically regional and distrusts liberal democracy. The only West German district where it has significant support is Kaiserslautern. IOW - the district where most US NATO presence is. IOWIOW - in former West Germany - AfD is an anti-US vote - not an anti-immigrant vote and is second to the Socialists (also anti-US military) in that district.

[Mataratones]

The AfD finished second in most of former West Germany, so it is definitely not just an East German political party. https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/bundestagswahl/wahlergebnisse-bundestagswahl-2025-in-daten-karten-wahlkreise-und-moegliche-koalitionen-110306165.html

[JFree]

That link itself proves that AfD finished third (by votes not by seats) in most parts of former West Germany. It finished fifth by seats in West Germany. So no - the AfD is not stripping votes from the right or center-right in West Germany. Even in Bavaria where it did finish second in places, it finished a very distant second to the CSU. Except as I mentioned in Kaiserslautern where the issue is anti-US military presence. Where AfD is stripping votes from the center-right.

Germany is a combo of single-seat (first past the post) seats and party list (PR) seats. AfD won ALL its FPTP seats in East Germany - and is a FPTP monopoly there now outside Berlin - 41 out of 44 FPTP seats in East Germany. 31 of which it took from SPD and CDU which are both now gone in East Germany. But there are 276 total FPTP seats and where does the AfD expand to?

AfD won more party list seats than any other party but party list seats are backbencher type MP's. They don't have an electoral base - just an internal party base. Which means they end up like the Greens or the FDP. Will never lead the government and can disappear from the legislature (see FDP) almost overnight.

[Mataratones]

"That link itself proves that AfD finished third (by votes not by seats) in most parts of former West Germany. "

I don't know where you're getting that. The map "Zweitstarkste Partei" shows that AfD was second in a majority of Baden-Wurttemberg, Hesse, Saarland, Upper Rhine, and about half of Lower Rhine, as well as almost all of Bavaria.

[JFree]

The map shows the second strongest party by the second part of the vote - Zweitstärkste Partei nach Zweitstimmenanteil . In German elections it is the first vote that elects members to the Bundestag to represent the voters in that district. The second vote elects a 'party list'. Minor party voters will split ticket between first and second vote. In particular the FDP which almost always ticket splits. In a similar way that 'libertarians' prattle on about technical voting strategy/methods - but vote R. Likewise the AfD in former West Germany voted for CDU on first vote (as has the FDP).

In the case of AfD, their 'second' vote increase in former West Germany came almost entirely at the expense of FDP. The FDP are now gone - and they never won any first vote seats since forever - so where is any additional vote going to come from? The AfD first vote and second vote increase in former East Germany came at the expense of SPD (who are now gone - so where is any additional vote going to come from?).

[JFree]

As an aside though - this FDP connection to AfD voters is a bit of a light bulb. I've always wondered what is this connection between alt-right bigots here in the US who always claim that they started as 'libertarians' of the Rothbard ilk. FDP was, for a long time, the most 'libertarian' party in Germany. Now they are gone - likely forever. Replaced by a more purely fascist anti-immigrant party. They are not going to 'win' anything in Germany - but they are the connection between an anti-American Putinist kleptocrat authoritarian party that will win in East Germany and some bigots in the West. But whatever WAS 'libertarian' is gone.

[Mataratones]

"In German elections it is the first vote that elects members to the Bundestag to represent the voters in that district." Only partly true. The first vote elects some representatives, but the second vote elects the rest. The second vote is very important.
"where is any additional vote going to come from?" Apparently you don' t think there are plenty of fed-up voters in Germany in the CDU or other parties that are willing to change. Did you see that the new Chancellor basically just lied about stopping immigration during the campaign? If this is his policy for the next 5 years, I suspect the AfD will find plenty of extra votes.

[damikesc]

I'll remind you that you support Hamas.

You might want to sit out such conversations.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

Our Just Asking Questions episode with Randy Barnett has generated a lot of hate from the left-wing commentariat—Matt Stoller and Matt Yglesias, for starters—and plenty of folks have taken issue with the term "malicious compliance":

It upset quite a few of the not a libertarians who didn't listen to it here as well.

[Mickey Rat]

My high school economics teacher described how that type of tactic by government agenicies (in particular school districts cutting buses first when their budgets were not getting approved) worked decades ago, though I do not recall him using that phrase.

[BYODB]

It's the very soul of malicious compliance.

[Minadin]

I like how some double-digit IQ twitter guy is blaming our good Liz for someone else's quote.

[VinniUSMC]

Is "malicious compliance" anything like "weaponized incompetence"?

[Rev Arthur L kuckland (5-30-24 banana republic day)]

Note that this isn't the far right

Liz the afg is not far right. Please stop repeating the lies the msm tell

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

Anyone who doesn't want their country taken over by refugees is far right.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Anyone who questions the progressive WEF blob agenda is far right.

[TJJ2000]

That was an easy one to see.

NYC padlocks playgrounds...
Then cries, "Locked parks is all Trumps Fault!" /s

And that's how Leftard Self-Projection goes.

[Fist of Etiquette]

magine my frustration at coming down the massive slide super fast (semi-immodestly, in a fancy dress!) and being greeted by the authorities demanding my ID and threatening to fine me.

Hopefully you had your vax card handy.

[mad.casual]

Then the city said they'd fine me & they needed to see my ID.

Parks closed, icy conditions cause an undue liability concern. If you don't have an undue concern for liability, we'll give you one.

[Rex L'Amoureaux]

Sorry folks, park's closed. Moose out front shoulda told ya.

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

The moose says you’re closed, I say you’re open.

[Incunabulum]

Park's closed due to AIDS.

[EISTAU Gree-Vance]

“(semi immodestly, in a fancy dress!) and being greeted by the authorities….”

If this isn’t racial profiling I don’t know what is.

[Marshal]

it's the center-right, in what can be read as a moderate repudiation of lefty policies on immigration and economic policy.

This is similar to how establishment Republicans won with supporters expecting them to stop mass migrations. In our case those establishment Republicans refused to do so, believing their role was to convince voters they should accept them, so we moved on to Trump.

The same thing will happen in Germany. If the moderate right fails the voters will move on to the next group right to see if they will follow through. The smart thing to do is make the changes so they don't have to elect Afd next time.

[Mickey Rat]

It is in large part why the Tories in the UK got routed in the last election. They lost all support from the anti-mass immigration movement when they actually managed to make the immigration situation worse under Johnson and Sunak.

[Marshal]

Yep. It's bizarre the UK went through Brexit to regain control of immigration but after having done that they still can't seem to turn it off.

[Medulla Oblongata]

https://www.spiked-online.com/2025/02/12/judges-have-taken-control-of-britains-borders/

In perhaps the most brazen judicial power-grab of all, Norton-Taylor insisted that because there was ‘no evidence’ of a ‘deliberate decision’ by the UK government or parliament not to include Gazans in its resettlement scheme for Ukraine, it was therefore in his gift to effectively create such a scheme, via judicial fiat. He even took into account a 2024 letter from the Home Office that said explicitly: ‘The Home Office has not considered establishing a separate resettlement route for Palestinians to come to the UK.’ Norton-Taylor haughtily decreed this crystal-clear statement of government policy to be ‘ambiguous’.

Immigration tribunals seem to revel in rejecting common sense. This week, we learned of an Albanian criminal whose deportation was blocked on the grounds that his son doesn’t like ‘foreign’ chicken nuggets. A Jamaican drug dealer who beat his ex-partner in front of his children must also stay in Britain, a court recently ruled, because his daughter is questioning her gender. A Congolese man who sexually abused his own stepdaughter and her cousins, and is still considered a risk, has been allowed to stay in the UK thanks to his all-important ‘right to a family life’.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

Did the judge ask congress?

[Medulla Oblongata]

Well, it's the UK, so I doubt it.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

Probably still against their constitution in the enumerated penumbras just like here.

[Marshal]

Immigration tribunals seem to revel in rejecting common sense.

Whatever level of sense is required to land on the left answer is exactly the level of sense legally mandated. What luck.

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

The UK seems to be a lost cause at this point.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Ha! As if citizens have the right to over-rule WEF one-world plans.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Actually it's the fault of the park rangers that their budgets are being slashed by a 19 year old named Big Balls.

The unelected 25-year-olds who ran the White House the past four years would never have dared.

[Spiritus Mundi]

At least those 25 year olds have an ivy league studies degree.

[Ajsloss]

And Biden still ran circles around their sorry asses.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Old shriveled balls >>> No balls

[Mike Parsons]

Ya, I cant even suffer the hypocrites a little bit on this.

Trump: "I want Elon doing this, I am aware of it, and I encourage it, get to work boys"

Biden: *walks on stage, signs EO he's never heard of, walks into the garden randomly, stuttering and stammering the whole way*

I wont hear a fucking word about 'constitutional crisis' from the group that just celebrated us having no commander in chief for 4 years

[Fist of Etiquette]

French President Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer will meet with President Donald Trump this week as they try to clinch a European role in the ongoing talks between Washington and Moscow...

Lol. Fuck off.

[Spiritus Mundi]

^This. Those fuckers had 3 years to do something.

[mamabug]

I like that the greatest threat they perceive is that they won't be seen to be included.

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

That’s their problem for being royal douchebags.

[Fist of Etiquette]

More than a year of conflict has crippled the already limited waste collection infrastructure in Gaza...

Word is there are tunnels that need fill.

[TJJ2000]

Wonder if Department heads issuing their Departmental executive orders contrary to the Chief Executive Office was approved by congress first.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

No. Those are unelected bureaucrats upholding thr constitution. Honorable people. Ask sarc.

[Bertram Guilfoyle]

Sarc said the same for old joe.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

DOGE will have to sue the FBI after some preliminary judge shopping.

[Bertram Guilfoyle]

"If you have any tips as to why this keeps happening"

Check your location Liz.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

It's right on her phone. And by the way, she should probably use a burner now that the cops are on her trail.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

If you have any tips as to why this keeps happening

Lawyers.

[A Thinking Mind]

Short answer. City is terrified of being sued by opportunistic families, and a “Parents assume all risks” sign apparently isn’t sufficient deterrent to lawsuit. Also, in the event of a lawsuit, the city loves to blow money on making the problem go away because it’s not their money.

[sarcasmic]

Just to be sure here, it's the consensus amongst Trump defenders that Article 2 says the president is not bound by Congress, that his oath means dick, that he's free to determine the constitutionality of the law, doesn't have to execute the law, can otherwise do whatever he wants, and it's totally ok because anyone who questions Trump didn't complain when Democrats did it.

Is that the gist of it?

[Bertram Guilfoyle]

No.

[A Thinking Mind]

Correct.

[Marshal]

Isn't it revealing sarc repeats the same asinine talking points as the other left wingers?

[Mother's Lament - Buttplug = Neocons (same motive)]

He's CNN's viewer.

[Marshal]

We always knew he was incapable of generating an independent thought, so it was just a question of where it came from.

[sarcasmic]

There's one yes.

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

One what? There’s more than one asinine Democrat talking point you reiterate here.

[Mother's Lament - Buttplug = Neocons (same motive)]

Nope.

Your bitter trolling is getting shittier and more blatant, BTW.

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

He doesn’t even hide being a Democrat anymore.

[sarcasmic]

The Canadian goes on the attack. Another yes.

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

I’ll bet you’ve had more than two drinks this morning.

[Mother's Lament - Buttplug = Neocons (same motive)]

You went on the attack against us, you fucking retarded hypocrite.

Typical Sarc, he comes here to start shit and then pisses and moans when people start pushing back.

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

I see you’re already full of strawmen this morning, busy supporting unelected bureaucrats.

[Jerry B.]

Who the heck are ELECTED bureaucrats?

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

Sqrsly used this dishonest strawman too.

Ironically I have your post saying the president is subservient to congress and has essentially no powers.

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

Well, not surprising as some suspect Sarc is Sqrlsy.

[sarcasmic]

There we go. Three makes a consensus.

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

There’s more than three burning your strawmen here, chicken.

[Medulla Oblongata]

Do you have this post? Wherein Sarc attempted to metaphorically equate getting fired from a job to being raped?

Not sure which is worse, Jeff's It's okay, they only jacked off on her.." or this?

sarcasmic 4 days ago
Flag CommentMute User
Rape victims will be fine in time as well. Doesn't make it ok.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

https://reason.com/2025/02/20/the-new-republican-budget-plan-is-unserious/?comments=true#comment-10926053

Yeah. His fired fed workers take is similar to rape victims is wild. Amazingly someone on MSNBC made the same comparison. I think Jonah Goldberg did too.

[Spiritus Mundi]

Poor sarc

[VinniUSMC]

I really thought sarcjeff would have died of alcohol poisoning by now. Color me surprised.

Sarc, no one cares what you have to say. Don't wait around until you have CPS called again, just disappear into a hole and everyone will be better off.

[lwt1960]

NYC- just shows we're moving in the same direction as the UK and the rest of Europe in focusing limited public safety resources on the most benign activities, while a favored group creates chaos with impunity. As with most destructive progressive ideas, they're a few years ahead of us, but we're on the same path.

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

Only in some areas. Others don’t even close the playground for a blizzard.

[Mike Parsons]

Prog cities and countries need to serve as a cautionary tale.

The contrast of red states and reasonable cities are the best advertisement for anti-progressive policies.

I have 3 parks around me to choose from, they are all safe and clean. The homeless dont go there because the cops drive by enough to deter them.

Schools around me actually teach literacy/numeracy. They are also safe. They dont teach gender/sexuality shit to my kids.

Stores actually have shit on shelves not under lock and key.

Move to a red state, or vote R. There really isnt an alternative in the current political landscape

[Incunabulum]

Where I live it gets to over 115F in the summer - we still don't close parks 'because of hot condition'.

And that's in an environment were, I was told by some the Global Worming crowd here a couple years ago, meant that we were all, literally, dead because it was too hot to survive.

[Incunabulum]

"Failure to respond, the email warns, may be grounds for termination."

That's not what it says Wolfe.

It says not responding will be taken as a resignation.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

Pretty sure if they reply in ALL CAPS the DOGE boys will back off.

[Spiritus Mundi]

The actual email doesn't say that. Elon said that in a tweet.

[Small w woodchippertarian]

Park entry wait times: A year and a half ago I took a motorcycle trip through Colorado. One day I planned to take Route 34, which goes through Rocky Mountain National Park. I haven't been to many NPs in a while, so I didn't realize that I needed to reserve a timed-entry pass to get into the park. (and this was after labor day, off-season.) Just to ride through. On the only main road through that entire area. Even with a fully staffed park, I couldn't get from point A to point B.

However, I'm sad to see one of our New Mexicans return from her post as Secretary of the Interior, because now she's going to run for Governor.

[NealAppeal]

Only way around it is to plan to get through the gates before 9am or after 3 or 4pm...I can't remember. Otherwise, the only way to get your "free" timed entry pass is to login to their reservation system and schedule your entry time...which has a price tag of $0 but you still have to pay a $2 fee for processing.

[Incunabulum]

>"It is cruel and disrespectful to hundreds of thousands of veterans who are wearing their second uniform in the civil service to be forced to justify their job duties

As a veteran - no its not.

In fact, I would love to see DOGE respond to this from the military itself. You can see the guys putting in the bullet points about how they spent the day sweeping rain off the deck - while it was still raining.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

The reality is that a lot of bullets really are finding ways to make actual mundane shit like what you describe sound like mission-impacting work. "Processed 100 award and decoration packages" or "completed 10 engine parts replacements" doesn't really sound all that sexy or productive.

[Jefferson Paul]

"Sweeping rain off the deck - while it's still raining."

My experience (Army) was having to spend half a day shoveling snow from the motor pool (including the tops of the vehicles) as it's snowing hard, with a Bobcat equipped with a plow just sitting there, just to use the bobcat to plow after we were finished shoveling.

[Medulla Oblongata]

Democrats in California are mad because Trump admin proposing to sell the Nancy Pelosi Federal Building in San Francisco and relocate the office workers there into right-sized leased space.

[Incunabulum]

We can't sell that building - its a hazardous waste site, storing all of Pelosi's empty wine bottles.

[Medulla Oblongata]

From ‘Daily Caller’:

A review of past Border Patrol encounters, which are encounters made between ports of entry, shows he’s correct — and the numbers haven’t been this low since the 1960s…

“In the last 24 hours the US Border Patrol has encountered a total of 229 aliens across the entire southwest border. That is down from a high of over 11,000 a day under Biden. I started as a Border Patrol Agent in 1984 and I don’t remember the numbers ever being that low.”

[Mike Parsons]

would you look at that.

Doing *something* compared to doing nothing at best, or opening the border at worst, actually fucking works

[Jefferson Paul]

But how is this possible? I was told by many a leftist that Trump getting the Republicans in Congress to vote against the BoRdEr Bill meant that "there's nothing the federal government can do to lower the number of migrants crossing the southern border."

[Use the Schwartz]

"I saw this padlock and thought hell no. Took my fancy shoes off and hopped the fence."

YES! I am so proud of you Liz!

[Small w woodchippertarian]

I'm sure the city will be able to find enough money to encircle the park with razor wire next.

Look what you made them do, Liz!

[Jefferson Paul]

chemjeff: If people would just comply with government diktats, the government wouldn't have to force you to comply.

[Medulla Oblongata]

Just hours after being sworn in on Friday following his narrow 51-49 confirmation vote, Patel swiftly ordered the plan to transfer 1,500 FBI personnel from headquarters to field offices across the country.

“This will include streamlining our operations at headquarters while bolstering the presence of field agents across the nation,” Patel said of the change.

Patel is fulfilling his commitment to the American public by deploying FBI agents to troubled communities, focusing on tackling violent crime, including pursuing rapists, murderers, and drug traffickers.

“Director Patel has made clear his promise to the American public that FBI agents will be in communities focused on combatting violent crime. He has directed FBI leadership to implement a plan to put this promise into action,” the FBI said in a statement.

Patel promised to begin doing “rigorous” constitutional oversight starting this weekend, adding that there would be “accountability in the FBI and outside of the FBI.”

This shift involves a diminished presence in Washington, D.C., a decision that aligns with Patel's earlier statement advocating for the closure of the long-standing FBI headquarters and proposing its re-purposement as a "museum of the deep state.”

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/saraharnold/2025/02/22/kash-patel-wasted-no-time-dismantling-the-fbi-n2652638

[Rockstevo]

Next he should order that FBI SWAT will only be deployed under his direct orders unless live are at stake. Sending a team to shoot down a 75 year old half blind man for angry emails needs to stop. Not to mention pre-dawn raids against political pundits.

[Michael Ejercito]

Their culture needs to be cleaned up.

They had a culture where committing crimes to politically underm ine the President of the United States was even thinkable.

https://ethicsalarms.com/2021/12/16/from-the-i-dont-understand-this-at-all-files-2/

[Medulla Oblongata]

MSNBC fires Joy Reid and others. Not for reasons you might think, but "The news network MSNBC is reportedly making some big changes to its lineup as its leadership aims to elevate more progressive voices."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/news/msnbc-axes-joy-reid-and-other-prominent-anchors-in-major-shake-up/ar-AA1zD44C

The biggest shake-up is the cancellation of long-time anchor Joy Reid's 7 PM show The ReidOut, which, as reported by The New York Times, will be replaced by a new show co-hosted by anchors Symone Sanders-Townsend, Alicia Menendez, and Michael Steele.

Reid is considered by many to be the network's most outspoken critic of Trump and one of few Black anchors. News of the cancellation comes right after her show won an NAACP Image Award over the weekend.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

'"It is cruel and disrespectful to hundreds of thousands of veterans who are wearing their second uniform in the civil service to be forced to justify their job duties to this out-of-touch, privileged, unelected billionaire who has never performed one single hour of honest public service in his life," said government employee union president Everett Kelley, betraying an insane notion of what "public service" is.'

Be fair. To a socialist leach like Kelley, the only "honest" work is sucking on the public teat, paid for with taxes extorted from people, and way beyond any public control. "Justifying" what government workers do is practically Nazi oppression.

[Medulla Oblongata]

Recall the Indiana schools shooting thwarted before it happened back on Valentine's Day?

Yep...I wonder if 'Jamie' wants to be placed into the Male Prison?

https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/14/us/indiana-school-shooting-plot-parkland/index.html

Trinity Shockley, 18, has been charged with conspiracy to commit murder and two terrorism-related charges, according to Morgan County court records.

Shockley is charged under the name Trinity but is transgender and goes by the name Jamie, according to an affidavit obtained by CNN affiliate WISH. It’s unclear which pronouns Shockley uses.

[I esp. liked this bit...]

During a hearing Friday, Shockley asked the judge, “What if no one can pay my bond? How long will I be in jail?” According to CNN affilliate WTHR, whose reporter attended the hearing, the judge explained that if a bond was set, Shockley would remain in jail until someone paid it or until the case is decided.

[Jerry B.]

Going for not guilty due to diminished capacity (or whatever the legalese is).

[Dillinger]

"if I don't know boy from girl how can I possibly be expected to know right from wrong?"

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

"...Meanwhile, specific agencies objected to the unorthodox protocol..."

Tough.
Shit.

[Medulla Oblongata]

https://pjnewsletter.com/trump-makes-big-black-history/

Trump Makes Big Black History Move, Appoints First “Pardon Czar” to Save Americans

President Donald Trump on Thursday appointed Alice Marie Johnson, a woman he pardoned during his first term, as “pardon czar.”

The announcement came during a Black History Month event at the White House.

The “pardon czar” will be responsible for making recommendations about who should be granted clemency…

“Alice was in prison for doing something that today probably wouldn’t even be prosecuted,” Trump said at an event celebrating Black History Month at the White House. “She spent 22 years in prison — 22 years. She had another 22 years left. Can you believe it? And I pardoned her, and it was one of the best pardons.”

Her appointment demonstrates Trump’s commitment to both criminal justice reform and putting experienced Americans in positions where they can make the most impact.

[BYODB]

"And I pardoned her, and it was one of the best pardons.”

He really can't help himself. It's a sad commentary when the most outspoken asshole in the room is still better than the rest.

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

Sadder yet that TDS-addled shit-piles continue to make public asses of themselves.
Fuck off and die, asshole.

[BYODB]

Look, one can acknowledge Trump is better than the alternatives while still noting he can be a massive asshole. That isn't TDS, it's having a functioning brain.

This isn't commentary on the pardon, but rather his self aggrandizement over the pardon.

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

I think he’s more of a dick though.

“See, there are three kinds of people: dicks, pussies, and assholes. Pussies think everyone can get along, and dicks just want to fuck all the time without thinking it through. But then you got your assholes. And all the assholes want is to shit all over everything. So pussies may get mad at dicks once in a while, because pussies get fucked by dicks. But dicks also fuck assholes! And if they didn't fuck the assholes, you know what you'd get? You'd get your dick and your pussy all covered in shit!”

[BYODB]

America, FUCK YEAH.

Been a long time since I've thought of that movie, appreciate the quote since it was one of Parker and Stones better satires even if it was just absolutely filthy.

[Idaho-Bob]

And the MSM bitching about it.

https://www.msnbc.com/the-reidout/reidout-blog/trump-pardon-czar-alice-johnson-compassion-rcna193226

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

"In the former DDR, pro-Russian parties (AfD, Die Linke, Wagenknecht/BSW) got a majority (57.4%). In the old West Germany, those parties got just 29.4%"

Seems living under communism makes you stupid.

[Rick James]

. "With access to designated landfills blocked and no transport due to a fuel blockade imposed by Israel, hundreds of thousands of tons of solid waste has piled up in the streets."

So they're L.A... what's the controversy here?

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

And starting a war may have consequences you don't like.

[Medulla Oblongata]

Let me inject my Sherman quotes here...

"You are rushing into war with one of the most powerful, ingeniously mechanical, and determined people on Earth — right at your doors. You are bound to fail. Only in your spirit and determination are you prepared for war. In all else you are totally unprepared, with a bad cause to start with.

-----

"If they want eternal war, well and good; we accept the issue, and will dispossess them and put our friends in their place. ...

Three years ago by a little reflection and patience they could have had a hundred years of peace and prosperity, but they preferred war; very well...

[Gaear Grimsrud]

Well I'm told that NYC just discovered dumpsters a few months ago and the natives are still baffled.

[Chinny Chin Chin]

Anyone join the Patriot Front rally in Boston on Saturday? There were some very fine people there, spreading the word of traditional American values.

It's important for right-wing populists to recognize allies doing good work in helping save the country... even if we might not agree on every little thing. Like Rothbard said, "Why isn't it OK to have been a Klansman?"

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

Why would anyone here other than trolls like you join a bunch of soon to be former feds on a psyop march?

[Rick James]

That was the FBI trying to justify their jobs. They had to report something on Monday.

[Super Scary]

There was a PF rally on the weekend? FBI must be trying to use up the last of it's funds before it gets cleaned up.

[Torguud]

For people who actually get things done, this is a wonderful question that they will jump at to answer.

[Yuno Hoo]

"Glad you asked!"

[BYODB]

"It is cruel and disrespectful to hundreds of thousands of veterans who are wearing their second uniform in the civil service to be forced to justify their job duties to this out-of-touch, privileged, unelected billionaire who has never performed one single hour of honest public service in his life,"

Ok, I couldn't let this one pass by since it's so ironic it hurts.

The thing this guy is bitching about is literally Musk engaging in public service.

It's astoundingly tone deaf and shows just what these career officials consider 'public service'. It's not actually providing service to the public, it's just having a job in the public sector. Plus, was he 'elected by the people' himself? The irony, it hurts.

What a maroon.

[Tony]

What are Elon Musk’s credentials to judge the “productivity” of employees doing every function of government?

What are his expertises in literally anything? Can you name one thing he actually knows about?

[sarcasmic]

Government employees wear black hats and Elon wears a white hat. What else do you need to know?

[Tony]

Elon wears a black hat and no tie in the Oval Office and these “conservatives” are just fine with that.

The destruction of the country by an amphetamine-fueled idiot is one thing, but I’m still not over that.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

It is amazing you think a sign of a good job is dressing well.

[Spiritus Mundi]

Just judge by the shoes.

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

And Tony’s are covered in bullshit.

[Tony]

I think a gentleman wears a tie and no hat in the Oval Office.

You morons freaked out because Obama wore a perfectly appropriate summer suit.

[Mother's Lament - Buttplug = Neocons (same motive)]

Did you say that about the drag queens and trannies Biden brought in?

[Tony]

The rules of sartorial etiquette are rather clear.

[damikesc]

Love watching imbeciles criticizing others as "idiots".

[Mother's Lament - Buttplug = Neocons (same motive)]

Not just others. The world's richest man who ran seven unique and completely new businesses that are more innovative than anything else on the planet.

Seriously, no rocket company is capable of doing what the Falcon 9 does (Blue Origin is close), nobody has a more advanced brain computer chip interface, nobody can bore tunnels faster than the Boring Company, nobody has a more successful electric car and nobody has built the first full network of superchargers nationwide, nobody has ever created anything close to Starlink.

All that and Sarckles and Tony Baloney still insist "Musk is dummy".

That's what too much booze and doing too much Molly do to people I guess.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Also TDS. And MDS.

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

What is your expertise to assume anyone sees you as a sentient human being. TDS-addled slimy pile of shit?

[Tony]

I’ve read books. Have you read any books other than “Everyone Poops”?

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Please, you never read a book that didn't require crayons to finish, you silly faggot.

[Tony]

As far as I can tell the only book there is any evidence, which admittedly is circumstantial at best, that Trump has read is Mein Kampf.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Yes, to marxists, anyone who resists their retarded political theology is a fascist.

[Tony]

No I said he literally admires Hitler.

What’s it take to be a fascist, jeez.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

I know you said that. It's commies always say.

[sarcasmic]

No I said he literally admires Hitler.

He didn't say that.

Ok, he said it but he didn't mean it.

He meant it but not the way you think.

Democrats did it first, that makes it ok!

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

Three strawmen in one post there, Sarc. Wanna try to see if you can cram more in the next one?

[damikesc]

"No I said he literally admires Hitler."

But you have an IQ that matches Alaska in the deepest of winter.

[sarcasmic]

The last thing Trump read was the menu at McDonalds. I doubt he's ever read a book.

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

The only thing you read are the labels on your bottles of Colt 45.

[damikesc]

Hey, how many billions are you worth, sarc?

How many elections have you won?

What, PRECISELY, have you accomplished in your pathetic life?

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

300 straight days of first in line when the bar opens.

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

I'm sure that "see Jane run" was a revelation to a brain-dead piece of shit like you.

[Rick James]

Live by the executive branch, die by the executive branch.

[Tony]

I choose live. What do I win?

[Rick James]

DOGE

[TrickyVic (old school)]

aaaannnnnnnnnd Tony's fired.

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

We hope a barb-wire-wrapped broomstick up your ass, shitstain.

[BYODB]

Managing a multibillion dollar industry leader is the obvious answer.

What credentials do the career swamp creatures have to judge productivity?

[Tony]

By all accounts he just peacocks around being a cringe asshole and takes credit for real engineers’ work. He had to be kicked out of PayPal meetings for being a dumbfuck.

The lesson of Elon and his peers like Zuckerberg is the exact opposite of what you think it is. It’s that making billions of dollars doesn’t mean you’re a genius or a useful person in society. It’s that capitalism has this certain unfortunate quality of rewarding people for the wrong things.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

The lesson of Elon and his peers like Zuckerberg is the exact opposite of what you think it is. It’s that making billions of dollars doesn’t mean you’re a genius or a useful person in society.

Yeah, they became billionaires specifically because the government allowed them to become so, as their product was seen as useful for advancing government programs and initiatives. Don't whine like a bitch just because Made Men like this aren't working for your team like they were four years ago.

[BYODB]

You are an idiot. The idea that Musk should be in the trenches designing hardware is absurd on it's face and you should be ashamed to have made such an obviously facile response.

I note you didn't bother telling us what unique credentials the career official has, you just attack Musk again. It's almost like you know there is no defense so you deflect.

[Tony]

I’m just using my observation skills as an adult human with an education and observing that he’s an idiot. I observed it the first time I ever saw him give a Ted talk. Stupid is as stupid does.

There must be some sort of skill involved in becoming extremely wealthy, but as we can clearly see, it’s not the skill required to be useful to humanity. If an economic system lets you, you can simply be the most willing to steal other people’s ideas and be the biggest asshole. He’s a walking critique of runaway capitalism.

[TrickyVic (old school)]

""I’m just using my observation skills""

I doubt it. When did you work with Musk?

Seeing things in the media is hardly observation skills.

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

So you confirmed what BYODB said, you are an idiot, Tony.

[BYODB]

So your utter and complete failure to note how the career bureaucrat is in any way more competent is just that: a claim with no evidence because you don't like Musk in particular despite his notable achievements in creating several successful businesses.

All you have is deflection on this one, you maroon.

[Marshal]

Compare Tony's belief in his own ability to judge Musk and everyone on the right to the requirements for others to judge his team. I suppose it's a coincidence the standards are different.

In the last Trump Administration government employees had their chance to prove they could work impartially. They failed, and called their obstruction a success. Everything left wingers are whining about Trump did last time. So now they're finding out people who obstruct rather than execute their boss' policies get let go. It shouldn't have been a surprise.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

Being a Paragon of two industries (space and banking) and working on his third (automotive). He revolutionized banking with Paypal and space with SpaceX; those two industries have been completely changed for the better by him. Tesla hasn't because it hasn't replaced the IC engine, yet if ever. Still a very successful business.

[damikesc]

He runs multiple large companies.

What is your expertise to criticize?

I know, expecting work out of government employees is just cruelty, but we ARE paying them...

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Gee, are you worried that Musk will judge you as unproductive?

[Dillinger]

>>What Did You Do Last Week?

my assistant who could not spell quit out of nowhere Wednesday morning I experienced a mental cleansing like no other last week.

[EISTAU Gree-Vance]

spelling is important punctuation and capitalization less so

[Tony]

It’s so quintessentially libertarian to have a program of mass culling of government positions based on some undefined standard of usefulness… implemented by an unelected business choad dictator.

You’ve never been able to sell your horseshit on its own terms, so what you need, for the cause of individual freedom, is dictatorship. Can’t do freedom any other way!

[Dillinger]

flipside entirely more objectionable.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

LOL, yeah, if it's one thing common in dictatorships, it's a reduction of the bureaucracy. Just at those anarcho-capitalist hellholes in the USSR, China, Venezuela, North Korea, and Cuba, as well as the Current Year EU!

[Tony]

As I said, the path to freedom is consolidating power in the hands of one illiterate orange drag queen and his lesbian friend.

But at least we know there aren’t pesky bureaucrats watching over the nuclear arsenal.

[BYODB]

Yes, because China and North Korea have such small state apparatus of control.

It's hilarious that you basically put down in writing that you have no idea how any of this actually works. No dictator in history has shrunk the mechanisms of the state. In fact they all did exactly what Congress has done, and grew them unabashedly.

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

The pile of shit is repeating the same lies as CNN puts out with the same lack of evidence and the same lack of self-awareness.
IOWs, a typical proggie ignoramus.

[Tony]

And this one isn’t either. The entire notion of shrinking the size of a state is incoherent and has been from the start despite libertarian horseshit rhetoric.

The state is by definition the controller of the legitimate levers of power in a society.

All they could possibly accomplish is removing programs (without Congress, mind you). They’re not giving up any power by doing that. They’re just turning the country into what these same tech choads have turned the internet into. An enshittified mess.

They’re seizing power, not relinquishing it, in case you haven’t read the news lately.

[BYODB]

It's a simple fact that fascism and the other authoritarian types don't shrink the size and scope of their central state apparatus, they always expand them.

If they are 'seizing power' it remains to be seen who would be able to implement those power grabs when the agency responsible for enforcing the power grab is defunded.

Hilariously, this is the very reason why dictators expand the mechanisms of the state. They have to in order for their power grabs to actually happen.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Tony's mad because he lost his USAID funding, and he knows the "long march through the institutions" is a lot more difficult if there's not an institution to infect in the first place to establish that biological foundation for socialism.

[sarcasmic]

We have a government of laws. Trump is not shrinking the government because the laws are all still in place. What he's doing is firing people and replacing them with loyalists who will follow orders. His goal is not to make the government smaller. His goal is to make it into his personal weapon.

You will cheer him the entire time because "hurr durr Democrats did it first" and because you hate the people he is going to use it against.

And you despise anyone with principles because you judge everything by who, not what.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

What he's doing is firing people and replacing them with loyalists who will follow orders.

Yeah, like every other President has done for most of the nation's history.

[sarcasmic]

Some positions are political and change with the president.

But that's not what he is doing and you know it.

You're one of the few honest people in here. Don't make me lump you in with Jesse and the other ilk.

[Bertram Guilfoyle]

RRWP dangerously close to making the list.

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

And how does removing unconstitutional regulations, eliminating positions, and getting rid of departments factor into this, Sarc? If you want a dictatorship, you try to increase the number of departments so as to have more loyalists on the take..er..payroll.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

It ought to be obvious after 13 years of commenting on this site that I'm not particularly concerned about who I get lumped in with. It's a comment board on the internet, nobody cares. Hell, I'm disappointed someone took down Hihn's enemies list from the internet after he croaked, because I was listed on there four times for being such a pain in the ass to him. It's my proudest internet achievement, and they deleted the fucking thing.

[Marshal]

You will cheer him the entire time because "hurr durr Democrats did it first" and because you hate the people he is going to use it against.

Note the underlying principles. If getting rid of employees weaponized against Trump is inherently weaponizing them against Dems then weaponization is mandatory. There isn't even a possibility of non-weaponized government. So sarc admits he's arguing for weaponization of government against Reps/cons while acting as if weaponizing it against Dems/leftists is some massive outrage. It's the worst mishmash of propaganda I've seen anywhere.

[Tony]

They’re sending extralegal goons around to dictate a transformation of government without any democratic accountability, and you are calling it freedom.

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

Dumbass, how many branches of government are there? To whom do all of the executive branch employees ultimately report to?

[BYODB]

Which is different in what way from unelected bureaucrats who currently exist?

If you were honest you'd say you don't really care if the people in control are unelected as long as they happen to skew heavily in your favor. Your total lack of questioning who has been issuing EO out of Biden's office is telling considering Biden himself didn't know what EO's he signed.

That amounts to a coup-d'etat when people in the shadows use the current President as a puppet, and you seem to be in favor of that which tells us most of what we need to know about your politics.

Your issue with the entrenched state is that you are afraid the monster you've supported may come for you, which we've warned you about for literal years now.

Well, thankfully Trump seems more ethical than the people you've supported which is also totally pathetic since Trump isn't any kind of ethical paragon himself. I can't imagine a lower bar.

[Tony]

Yeah it’s surely the bestest idea to have the most radical transformation of government in modern history happen via the brain farts of a dementia-addled psychopath and his drug-addicted autistic friend.

You’ll love all the bureaucratic cutting until it affects you in even the smallest way.

I just think that it should be part and parcel of libertarianism to oppose dictatorial fiat. That’s all.

[Jefferson Paul]

Yeah it’s surely the bestest idea to have the most radical transformation of government in modern history happen via the brain farts of a dementia-addled psychopath and his drug-addicted autistic friend.

I won't argue that Biden was dementia-addled or that he brought in a drug-addicted person to help him run things, but that was his son Hunter, who wasn't autistic.

[EISTAU Gree-Vance]

“…..to dictate a transformation of government….”

Lol. You lefty drama queens do take yourselves seriously, don’t you?

Calm down. We’re talking about parasites here. Idiot.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Yeah, I know, you don't like the solution to the paradox of tolerance being run in your direction.

[Tony]

What’s the “paradox of tolerance?”

Do you not suppose that you could simply let people do what the fuck they want and not send the government to commit violence against them for things that don’t hurt anybody?

Am I the only libertarian here?

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Yeah, you also like to play dumb when your dialectic is called out, too.

Do you not suppose that you could simply let people do what the fuck they want

Thanks for admitting you want to rape kids.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Do you actually think that was clever and convincing?

[Rick James]

based on some undefined standard of usefulness…

q: What do you do?

A: I take the specifications from the customers... and give them to the engineers.

[Dillinger]

I'm. a. people. person!

[sarcasmic]

Government workers are overwhelmingly Democrat. That makes them bad people by definition. Because they're Democrats that means they won't unquestioningly obey every order from Trump.

The purpose of DOGE is to purge the federal workforce of Democrats and replace them with Trump loyalists. It's happening already. Just google "Trump loyalty test" and see what comes up.

Can you imagine the outrage if Obama or Biden required applicants to take a loyalty test, and refuse to hire them if they failed? It would be UGE!

[Idaho-Bob]

Joy Reid was fired for saying bullshit like this. Yet you say nothing about J6ers swearing fealty to Biden.

You may have the worst possible case of TDS in history. I mean you are truly broken.

[sarcasmic]

"You didn't say anything when Biden did it, that makes what Trump is doing ok!"

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

So fucking broken.

[sarcasmic]

By the way, I'm talking about passing a literal loyalty test as a condition of being hired. As in put Trump before the law and the Constitution. Did Biden do that? If so I'm not aware.

Other than "Democrats did it first" (which is false) why do you defend a president requiring that potential employees of the federal government swear fealty to the president, not the Constitution?

Just curious.

[Marshal]

You may be talking about that, but since it isn't happening you're just showing how insane you are.

[sarcasmic]

https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/trump-loyalty-test-administration-applications-ba3674b1

https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2025-01-25/loyalty-tests-and-maga-checks-inside-the-trump-white-houses-intense-screening-of-job-seekers

[Marshal]

Donald Trump and his advisers have taken steps to quell dissent and disloyalty across his administration by weeding out potential hires who have previously criticized the president, worked for his critics, or held dissenting views on Ukraine, NATO and tariffs.

Yes, left wingers like yourself object to his not hiring people who will weaponize government against him as they did his last administration. To everyone else though this is standard and appropriate.

[sarcasmic]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/02/08/trump-administration-job-candidates-loyalty-screening/

https://apnews.com/article/trump-loyalty-white-house-maga-vetting-jobs-768fa5cbcf175652655c86203222f47c

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

WaPo and the Asinine Propaganda. What wonderful choices for unbiased shit.

[Mother's Lament - Buttplug = Neocons (same motive)]

Wait... Trump is screening candidates for... loyalty?

As opposed to disloyal people a manager actually should hire? This is why you were stuck as a fry cook, Sarckles.

Talk about a retarded thing to criticize.

[sarcasmic]

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-intelligence-candidates-face-trump-loyalty-tests-washington-post-says-2025-02-09/

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

So your sources are al Reuters and the WaPo, both not well known for being honest about any conservative or libertarian, and both suffering TDS as bad as you do.

[damikesc]

Such unimpeachable sources. You're a totes serious fella.

[Chupacabra]

The J6ers are overwhelmingly Republican. That makes them bad people by definition. Because they're Republicans that means they won't unquestioningly obey every order from Biden, and therefore deserve prison for non-criminal acts.

[Marshal]

The purpose of DOGE is to purge the federal workforce of Democrats

The purpose of DOGE is to eliminate expenses we don't need. There is a separate program to eliminate federal workers committed to weaponizing government on behalf of Democrats and the left generally. These two do interact since we do not need expenses for a corrupt political machine hidden within the bureaucracy.

People on the far left including sarc characterize ending weaponizing government for their own benefit as loyalty to Trump. But Trump deserves their loyalty as the current head of the executive branch, as will any future Dem President. The idea that the appropriate form of government is one weaponized for Dems even when Reps are elected is ridiculous. Trying to portray this as the expectation just shows what we always knew: sarc is a left winger pretending to be a libertarian because not having to defend the left makes attacking the right easier.

[sarcasmic]

Wow. Talk about confession by projection. At least you admit that you want the federal government to be used as a weapon against political rivals. That level of honesty is rare for a Trump defender.

[TrickyVic (old school)]

Wanting to rid the federal government of those weaponizing is not the same as wanting people to weaponize. You are wanting to get rid of them.

[sarcasmic]

Except that's not what is happening. Many of those who are being fired are being quietly replaced with people whose only necessary qualification is swearing loyalty to Trump.

[Bertram Guilfoyle]

So your "shipyard friends" who got fired last week are being replace by orange-hitler loyalists?

[Marshal]

No one has sworn loyalty to Trump, this is how idiotic left wing propaganda. In reality Trump is weeding out people likely to obstruct him as is appropriate given the bureaucracy's prior obstruction and weaponization.

[sarcasmic]

Upholding the law and the Constitution equals obstruction. Got it.

[Marshal]

Feeding lies to media and legislative allies is obstruction, yes. Refusing to follow legal directives is obstruction, yes. Working against your boss' initiatives is obstruction, yes.

But you don't see any of that as a problem because you support weaponized government on behalf of the left.

[Michael Ejercito]

How the fuck did Kevin Clinesmith uphod the law?

[Mother's Lament - Buttplug = Neocons (same motive)]

MSNBC didn't explain that part.

[Jefferson Paul]

Are you really claiming to be ignorant of the whole "resistance" movement among govt employees during the first Trump Presidency? I've attached a link to the Wiki page on it:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Resistance_(American_political_movement)

[Marshal]

At least you admit that you want the federal government to be used as a weapon against political rivals.

As usual sarcs only real comment is an admission he lies about everything. But it's not that surprising someone who claims ending weaponization for Dems is inherently weaponizing it for Reps - without acknowledging even the theoretical possibility of a non-weaponized government - would make this assertion. The strange thing though is that in this environment why would weaponizing it for Reps be wrong? After all sarc supports government weaponized for Des.

But as usual those of us who want the government to not be weaponized at all will have to put up with the left wingers lying about us. Their propaganda will never end until their institutions are killed off.

[sarcasmic]

You don't want the federal government to be weaponized at all?

*snort*

You're so full of hate that you'd murder Democrats on the street if you could get away with it, and you're saying you don't want the government to be used as a weapon against Trump's rivals?

Yeah fucking right.

[Marshal]

You're so full of hate that you'd murder Democrats on the street if you could get away with it, and you're saying you don't want the government to be used as a weapon against Trump's rivals?

I'm so old I remember when sarc pretended to oppose putting words in others' mouths. But as we know sarc has never advanced a principle to criticize others that he would apply to himself or the left.

Opposing waste and economic stupidity is supposed to somehow prove I would murder them? What a fool.

[damikesc]

Sarc REALLY takes it hard when his Dem boos get inconvenienced.

[Mother's Lament - Buttplug = Neocons (same motive)]

"You're so full of hate that you'd murder Democrats on the street if you could get away with it, and you're saying you don't want the government to be used as a weapon against Trump's rivals?"

Pretty big balls thinking you could get away with typing that. Especially because, so far the only people getting shot, stabbed, run over and generally made dead have been MAGA.

And they've been all murdered by team Sarc. You vile vermin are everything you accuse Trump and MAGA of being.

[damikesc]

It's OK. Democrats did it first.

Suck it up.

[Dillinger]

>>NYC hates its child population

the Left hates children.

[Dillinger]

>>If you have any tips ... to make it stop, please reach out to me.

million places to live exist with available surf.

[Dillinger]

>>this isn't the far right—the Alternative for Germany party—emerging victorious; it's the center-right, in what can be read as a moderate repudiation of lefty policies on immigration and economic policy.

add them together.

[Dillinger]

>>"More than a year of conflict has crippled the already limited waste collection infrastructure in Gaza,"

terrorists never think long-game

[mad.casual]

no transport due to a fuel blockade imposed by Israel

Only 7 more days until the generators powering the hospitals nearly run out of fuel again.

[Dillinger]

is Gazannukah still funny?

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

Yes.

[Dillinger]

>>the entrenched federal bureaucracy ... throwing sand in the gears to try to make the cuts painful for the general public.

nothing is more painful than the entrenched federal bureaucracy. nobody fucking cares about the parks right now.

[Tony]

Except people who enjoy parks.

Eventually they’re going to destroy some federal program that you people like, and then you’re going to show up at town halls looking confused and agitated about why the god king hurt you instead of just the other people you thought he’d hurt.

Leopards eating faces is such a cliche but seriously.

[BYODB]

Eventually they’re going to destroy some federal program that you people like...

Such as? I don't think you grok Libertarianism writ large.

[Tony]

I should say I “grok” it pretty hard by now.

It’s unquestioned loyalty to the stupidest motherfucking totalitarian dementia patient in the history of mankind, naturally.

For freedom and an appreciation of talent.

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

"...It’s unquestioned loyalty to the stupidest motherfucking totalitarian dementia patient in the history of mankind, naturally..."

Nope. They didn't let him run again.

[Bertram Guilfoyle]

Which made tony very, very sad.

[BYODB]

Yeah but you say stupid shit every day so why should we believe you that you understand anything? Especially when the things you say make it abundantly clear that you don't in fact understand?

Also, kudos for calling Trump a dementia patient when Biden was literally that exact thing. I wonder who you think was actually sending out EO's under his administration. Were they 'elected'?

[Tony]

They can both be addled by dementia. Unlike you human skidmarks, I don’t worship the president of either party. I’m usually fairly skeptical of them all.

Admittedly I do reserve special ire for outright fascists, but this is a libertarian website, so I appreciate if that offends you.

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

"They can both be addled by dementia."

Could be, but one isn't, regardless of your idiotic claims.
Fuck off and die, asshole.

[Super Scary]

"They can both be addled by dementia. "

Which one was ruled too "dementia addled" to stand trial?

[BYODB]

Or too addled to, you know, run for President again. Which Trump did. And won. Because Joe wasn't home, maaaan.

[Tony]

Fair enough. Which one was convicted on dozens of felonies?

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Cope harder. Or not.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Eventually they’re going to destroy some federal program that you people like

Oh? Like what?

[Tony]

Let’s do a survey of the libertarians here who aren’t getting disability checks.

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

Pretty sure that's real close to 100%, ass-wipe.

[Zipcreature]

Yep

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Let's do a survey of libertarians here who are fine seeing them reduced or eliminated.

[Tony]

*Takes notes*

So you think it’s a freer world where disabled people get dumped into streets and left to starve?

I can barely contain my orgasms for all the freedom you people offer!

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

LOL--"welp, that deflection didn't work, let's try this hyperbolic emotional appeal!"

[Tony]

I have no emotions about disabled people being asked to starve to death for no reason. Other than perhaps contempt for your stupidity.

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

Not an answer to his comment, ass-wipe.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Doubling down on that emotional appeal isn't bolstering your assertion, dipshit. As for "contempt for stupidity," you're certainly an expert on it since you see it in the mirror all the time.

[Bertram Guilfoyle]

So you think it’s a freer world where disabled people get dumped into streets and left to starve?

If you need to calibrate your strawman detector, check here.

[damikesc]

Your claim of rationality certainly did not last long.

You're like a less rational Dalmia discussing immigration.

[Dillinger]

>>Except people who enjoy parks.

an entire fucking planet exists outside without federal intervention.

[Dillinger]

also city parks exist.

[Ajsloss]

But they took the good parts.

[Dillinger]

I'd tell you to head to Steamboat Springs, but don't. there's no housing available.

[Ajsloss]

It seems like you're trying to keep me out of Steamboat Springs.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

Nope. And I will be hurt by this, but that's fine and necessary. Construction in Mid-Atlantic will suffer with less DC jobs. So it goes.

123% debt to GDP is unsustainable. So what would you do to fix our sinking ship?

[Super Scary]

"Leopards eating faces is such a cliche but seriously."

I never took Tony for a redditor, but I guess it makes sense.

[Truthfulness]

Just for the record, Cocomelon has an episode about a boy ballerina with two dads:
https://nypost.com/2023/12/22/media/parents-outraged-at-netflix-show-for-toddlers-cocomelon-lane-after-show-has-boy-dance-in-tutu-for-gay-dads/

You really can't make this shit up. This is what pundits at the likes of The New Yorker support.

[Tony]

We know. We must destroy the United States because there are people who behave differently from how you were told they behave when you were a young child. Libertarianism!

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

"Not letting the left do what it wants with impunity" = "Destroying the United States"

Get ready to have your own "liberating tolerance" given back to you.

[Tony]

So you want the government to punish boys who dress in wrongthink clothes, their gay dads, or what?

For freedom, of course.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Kind of sucks when the other team adopts your team's double standard, doesn't it?

[Tony]

Yes it does suck when you’re a malignant hypocrite. Try not being that?

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

"Yes it does suck when you’re a malignant hypocrite."

You know this fist-hand; we understand.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

You set the rules, maybe take your own advice.

[Tony]

I set what rules?

You do realize that you doing something you consider bad is still bad even if someone else does that thing, yes?

Do I get paid for being the special ed kindergarten tutor around here or what?

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

Given your imbecility, I'd be surprised if you get paid for anything.

[sarcasmic]

You do realize that you doing something you consider bad is still bad even if someone else does that thing, yes?

It's ok for Trump and Republicans to do bad things if Democrats did it first.

Duh.

Where have you been?

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

Fuck off and die, TDS-addled lying pile of lefty shit.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

LOL, more deflection.

Yeah, you did set the rules:

Liberating tolerance, then, would mean intolerance against movements from the Right and toleration of movements from the Left. As to the scope of this tolerance and intolerance: ... it would extend to the stage of action as well as of discussion and propaganda, of deed as well as of word...
The whole post-fascist period is one of clear and present danger. Consequently, true pacification requires the withdrawal of tolerance before the deed, at the stage of communication in word, print, and picture. Such extreme suspension of the right of free speech and free assembly is indeed justified only if the whole of society is in extreme danger. I maintain that our society is in such an emergency situation, and that it has become the normal state of affairs.

You're just pissed that you can't jawbone the right at the moment into not exercising the same double standard you think is acceptable for your side. That's what happens when the right adopts your solution to the paradox of tolerance.

[Tony]

I’m perfectly well aware that it’s a fundamental aspect of fascism to be hypocritical. You’ll flap your jaws till kingdom come about some offense of the left and then the next week justify your own much worse actions along similar lines by way of pointing to them. It’s not an adult or coherent ethical system, but it’s one that wins idiots over.

I think if you think something is bad to do you should probably not do it.

Is it snack time yet?

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

LOL--"Our hypocrisy isn't actually hypocrisy".

Once again, you simply confirm that you don't like your side's practice of political double standards being directed back at you.

[Truthfulness]

OK, groomer

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Not letting Tony brainwash kids from other families is fascism.

[Jefferson Paul]

Do I get paid for being the special ed kindergarten tutor around here or what?

I didn't realize there were tutors for kindergarten. But why would they hire you, someone special ed, to be that tutor?

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

Nope. Just hoping to keep imbecilic lying piles of lefty shit like you and slobbering Joe far away from the levers of power.

[BYODB]

Notably I don't think anyone that's libertarian wants that, but again you seem to confuse libertarians for social conservative Republicans for some reason. It's almost like you don't understand the differences, which is one reason why I say you...don't understand.

Of course, if you do understand it means you're just lying. So which is it?

[Tony]

Gee, why would I possibly be confusing the two?

I have barely spoken to a genuine libertarian on this libertarian website in like 20 years.

[Truthfulness]

That's because you have zero clue as to what libertarianism is. You are not one.

It's common sense to call out any sexualization of children for what it is. The fact that you reject this makes you very suspect.

[Tony]

The libertarians I remember were the least likely to be puritanical hysterics, but I do agree that you shouldn’t have sex with children.

Of course it’s only in the most conservative cultures where children are offered up for marriage before puberty, but that has nothing to do with me.

[Truthfulness]

Nothing is remotely true about what you said about libertarians or conservatives.

1) Before the 20th century people tended to marry earlier because of shorter lifespans, as they wanted to avoid greater risk for a lack of a successor to the owner's property. And even then, it was not "before puberty" as you claim, but after. This was seen in just about every culture in the world and there's nothing "conservative" about it. Once health conditions improved people could then afford to marry later; this change was not done for moral reasons.
2) The ones who are currently advocating policies that allow them to groom pre-puberty children are not the conservatives, they're the liberals/progressives. It doesn't take "puritanical hysterics" to understand that grooming children into certain sexual topics is a violation of the NAP.

You are so out of touch with reality.

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

Naah. Just keep imbecilic lying piles of lefty shit like you and slobbering Joe far away from the levers of power.

[mad.casual]

Does anyone else get the impression that the Venn Diagram of "'Parents' getting their messaging reflected back to them and 'their kids' from Cocomelon." and "People who accidentally get locked in a bathroom in a park and need rescued." is a circle?

FFS - And Kulwin's punching Liz "Gatecrasher" Wolfe in the back of the head.

[Medulla Oblongata]

Local news this morning did a bit on how the poor Forest Service people got fired. Amid pictures of FS employees in fire-fighting gear and rescuing people, that sort of thing, they interviewed one person who was laid off. She cried about how here termination notice was "for cause" and that here performance reviews were always excellent, so how could it be for cause. At the end, we find out she was a "Public Affairs Officer" and NOT a firefighter or search-and-rescue or any of the critical jobs shown.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

She was completely bullshitting.

It was the provisional employees who were let go, which means they hadn't even done a year in service yet. This means they wouldn't have a performance review to begin with.

What was the bitch's name that they listed? I bet it's not hard to find on LinkedIn and verify her term of employment.

[Medulla Oblongata]

Found her.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/human-resources/understaffed-to-begin-with-forest-service-employee-fired-during-federal-layoffs-voices-concerns/ar-AA1zu120

Acting District Ranger - Grandfather Ranger District
Sep 2024 - Present · 6 mos
Nebo, North Carolina, United States
120 Temporary Detail

She had worked in the USDA Forest Service in a different capacity for 1 year and 8 months before that, though.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

So she had one, maybe two performance reviews, max.

Of course, it's immaterial because provisional employees can be let go for pretty much any reason.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

I have seen the same thing in my local blue rag, written by a blue state-wide "news" agency.

[AaronBonn]

Regarding Just Asking Questions:
For what it's worth, I appreciated every time you pushed back on Mr. Barnett, agreed with every one of the push-back points you made, and was fairly disappointed with how dismissively non-responsive Mr. Barnett was to each and every one of them.

[Uncle Jay]

"In an email with a subject line "What did you do last week?" Elon Musk, head of the Department of Government Efficiency, asked federal government employees to justify their jobs."

I've worked for private companies that demanded the same information on an annual basis to trim the fat.
If a private company can do it, I see no reason why any government agency should be exempted from asking the same questions.

[Tony]

Because efficiency isn’t the point of the government. It shouldn’t necessarily be the point of a business either, but we decided to put a bunch of illiterate OCD MBAs in charge of everything.

[BYODB]

Because efficiency isn’t the point of the government.

Yeah, it's not like they're spending my tax dollars after all. Why should I expect them to spend my money wisely or efficiently.

$10,000 dollar toilets for everyone!

You are a clown.

[Marshal]

They don't care about your tax dollars. They believe the entire economy is theirs to decide what to do with, which is why simply wanting to give it to someone else is enough justification for them. Ultimately they don't care whether the spending is effective because the real goal is hiring left wingers. Any further benefit of government spending is purely happenstance.

[Tony]

So do you believe that when the fat stupid lesbian cuts a government program, you get a tax rebate?

Do you actually think they’re spending your money? Is that how you think it works?

No wonder we’re going to the shitter.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Do you actually think they’re spending your money? Is that how you think it works?

LOL, way to admit we need to repeal the 16th Amendment.

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

Imbecilic assertions from a proggy ignoramus.

[Marshal]

Because efficiency isn’t the point of the government.

The key difference between left and right is that the left doesn't care if they waste our money.

[BYODB]

Well, most Republicans don't really care if they waste money either but at least they want to waste less money which is about as good as it gets...until Trump anyway. I don't have a lot of faith DOGE is going to actually fix anything, but it's notably the most serious attempt to actually do something in at least the past 40 years so that isn't nothing.

[Tony]

They’re not spending your money. They print money. Your taxes do not rise when a new outlay is created, and they’re not cut when a program is cut.

I hate to get into deep economic philosophy, but you do see what happens with your taxes every single year, presumably.

[Marshal]

Your taxes do not rise when a new outlay is created, and they’re not cut when a program is cut.

What a stupid argument. They will eventually increase as their ability to borrow is curtailed. You should stop reading whichever website you pulled this from.

I hate to get into deep economic philosophy,

I love when economic illiterates pretend they have some knowledge.

[Tony]

Why? Outlays are in one bill, and tax rates are in another bill. They are only correlated rhetorically by ignorant or duplicitous politicians who make stupid rednecks think that cutting school lunches for poor children will be some kind of bounty for taxpayers when it’s really just being shitheads.

[Marshal]

If they over-borrow interest rates increase and if they over-print inflation goes up. Each is a catastrophe as Biden found out so instead they will have to increase taxes. You can pretend the two are unrelated but that just proves you're an idiot.

[Tony]

They have to increase taxes? They can choose not to, what with being Congress. Republicans have created deficits and debts that could encircle the universe in dollars, and no tax increases are in sight.

Biden managed pandemic-era inflation with the aplomb of a clockmaker. You couldn’t have asked for a softer landing. And other metaphors.

I’ll look forward to the excuse you’ll make when Trump and his cadre of drooling idiots fuck it all up.

[Marshal]

Biden managed pandemic-era inflation with the aplomb of a clockmaker. You couldn’t have asked for a softer landing.

Another example of debate reality. Since left wingers are never held accountable for their words they say whatever wins them the debate no matter how ridiculous. Hence Paul Krugman claiming minimum wage increases don't cost jobs. They have trouble recognizing the real world doesn't work like a debate, real cause and effect exists.

But you keep embarrassing yourself.

[Tony]

Minimum wage hikes may have a cost in shitty jobs that pay less than the minimum wage. Evidence is mixed. But economic policy is all about trade-offs. I support a subminimum wage option for, like, teens. But the important point is that the entire function of government policy is to push back against a private sectors that forever tilts toward slavery.

I dunno, maybe if capitalists could stop being such psychopathic assholes, we wouldn’t need democratic regulation of them. I’ll not hold my breath.

[Spiritus Mundi]

Poor Tony.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

OMFG. So government, and private enterprise, has no need to be efficient? What other retarded metrics would you like to use, besides prizes for the most spending?

[Minadin]

What did I do last week? Filled out my time sheet, same as every other week the past 15+ years.

That's a little document that allows your bosses / project managers, accountants and others, tract whether your time was well spent. It's a fairly common practice in the private sector, at least in my industry.

[mad.casual]

noah kulwin @nkulw
Actually it’s the fault of the park rangers that their budgets are being slashed by a 19 year old named Big Balls. I think Liz Wolfe must have learned to tie her shoes in her thirties

I'd say "blue on blue" but the dude would probably reply "Yeah, dems eating their own."

[Small w woodchippertarian]

I stumbled upon this thanks to a Babylon Bee article, and, well... What the hell is even this?

https://decodingterrencehoward.com/the-complete-guide-to-terrence-howards-scientific-theories/

[Rick James]

Here you go. Interesting talk between Howard and Eric Weinstein.

My takeaway: Howard is a very bright, self-taught guy who, like anyone who learned the way he has-- retains significant holes in his knowledge which he glosses over or tries to mitigate using wacky theories.

[Small w woodchippertarian]

I'll check that out, thanks. A good friend of mine is like that: He comes up with interesting alternate ideas but misses that sometimes there really are reasons for things being built the way they are. Example: He thought of using big tubes to direct wind downward so wind turbine blades could be horizontal and closer to the ground, not realizing the airflow losses that would result. (I think this was only for smaller/home windchargers, but I'm not sure that big tubes would look any better than the wind turbine regardless.)

[Eeyore]

They interfere with each other as well - if you have more than one.

[Rick James]

Telling you what I did with your trillion dollars is racist.

[Dillinger]

Jasmine Crockett.

[Dillinger]

aw ... long live Roberta Flack

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Actually it’s the fault of the park rangers that their budgets are being slashed by a 19 year old named Big Balls. I think Liz Wolfe must have learned to tie her shoes in her thirties

Hey Noah, shave your fucking body hair before trying to make that stupid-ass point, you useless chimpanzee. There's plenty of feds and former feds on Facebook and r/FedNews explicitly claiming that "malicious compliance" needed to be practiced to throw sand in the gears. Liz isn't pointing out anything they were already promoting, you just don't want to draw attention to it.

[Longtobefree]

"If you have any tips as to why this keeps happening, or which city officials to contact to make it stop, please reach out to me."

For the first part, are you familiar with the term 'democrat'?
For the second part, it doesn't matter which official you reach out to, they are a democrat and will not respond.

[Longtobefree]

Or if they do have a staff member respond, it will be a variation of "You are a racist, sexist, transphobic, Christian nationalist bigot who does not know how to make that type of decision for your self. We are doing this for the children and to reduce global warming".

[Eeyore]

DOGE - reducing government carbon. It's for the children.

[Longtobefree]

To be fair to the useless federal employees, five is too many. Federal jobs are structured to do only one thing, in order to increase the number of employees.
So at best, they can respond "I successfully processed all of the form number ### that came to my desk. That is my only function, so numbers two through five do not apply.".

[See.More]

Social play risks rejection and conflict.

Even worse, social play risks inclusion, embracing differences, and getting-along. Things which the victicrats of the identity politics crowd cannot permit!

[Eeyore]

There is always that one kid role playing his future role in life as the next Hitler.

[DesigNate]

Fucking Cartman.

[AT]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIcGuFnl7ZU

[But SkyNet is a Private Company]

The same email needs to go out to Reason staff.
"What 5 things did you write about this week"

Emma Camp (Student Loans), ENB (Sex Work), Sullum (TRUMP!), and Boehm (Tariffs!) then would all be fired after their 1 word answers.

[Think It Through]

1. Read pertinent Reason articles
2. Read Reason article comments
3. Commented on Reason articles
4. Checked the hidden posts only to find out they were idiots; re-hide them
5. Wrote social media posts, sometimes prompted by Reason articles

[DesigNate]

“"It is cruel and disrespectful to hundreds of thousands of veterans who are wearing their second uniform in the civil service to be forced to justify their job duties to this out-of-touch, privileged, unelected billionaire who has never performed one single hour of honest public service in his life," said government employee union president Everett Kelley“

Let’s ignore for a moment that this piece of shit shouldn’t even have a position because pubsec unions are an affront to the citizenry, and just bask in the pure delusion that the bureaucratic state shouldn’t have to justify themselves to the very public they purport to serve.

[Zipcreature]

30/531 Grey box-breakdown

Sarcasmic
SpiritusMundi
TJJ2000
AT

Holy-ratio Batman! Nearly all were sarcasmic in one particular chain.

[MWAocdoc]

"If you have any tips as to why this keeps happening, or which city officials to contact to make it stop, please reach out to me."

Duh! The City does NOT want to be sued when Karen's precious child gets a bruise while playing in the City Park. Since they can't actually close all the parks all the time and have the City Parks Maintenance Union go on strike, they use any reasonable or far-fetched excuse to close the parks whenever they can avoid causing a riot - like the insurrection you started, Liz - or a "Jan 6." Perhaps we should call yours "Feb 23." Sometimes the magic works, and sometimes it doesn't.

[Widhalm19]

Clearly, Elon Musk is trolling useless Federal bureaucrats via the famous scene from The Office .... "What would you say you do here?"