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86 sats \ 49 replies \ @siggy47 7 Oct \ on: Bipartisan Blowback After White House Threat to Furloughed Workers’ Back Pay Politics_And_Law
We have different perspectives. This is the best news I've heard since the election.
Indeed it is. It won't happen though.
For all the "work" done by Elon to me the most valuable thing about it all was watching the reactions. I have never seen anything close to the responses to DOGE when private companies reduce their size or make massive cuts to parts of their businesses.
@siggy47 you and I are both old enough to remember people losing their minds at proposed reductions in the size of growth in the past. I stand on my early prediction that DOGE would not make lasting changes to the size and growth of government. And if someone like Trump and Elon can't do it... who can?
The permanent state (deep state) has far more skin in the game than politicians or their appointees. Watch "Yes! Minister". Its funny, entertaining, and educational.
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Don't underestimate the impact of reducing the federal workforce by something like 10%.
That's a lot of people who can't implement a regime's goals anymore.
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I hope you're right. Also, are we sure that is accurate? Haven't people been brought back? I haven't followed it very closely.
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Some have been brought back, but I think that's very limited compared to the hundreds of thousands who have separated.
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I know some were asked to comeback temporarily to alleviate shortages in air traffic control and the national weather service
Obama created the air traffic control shortage by rejecting qualified applicants who are white. There is a class action lawsuit pending
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IRS too, I think
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JUST IN: IRS to furlough nearly 50% of its staff as part of ongoing government shutdown.
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I bet these are seasonal contractors
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Air Traffic Control and National Weather Service are all exempt and required to work. The shortage issue stems from the spike of them calling in sick because of the funding issue.
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I have not been following this because the government has been shut down so many times in my lifetime that I do not care at all...
My wife said she had heard that the concern was that Air Traffic Control would be compromised because they are worried about how they are going to pay their bills...
Maybe its time the government got out of this business? Seems like the right solution to me. The government can't even do the basic business of making a freaking budget. Paying its employees. Agreeing on how many they need. Its an absolute joke. The government sucks so bad its hard to believe people still think there are things that are just too important to be left up to... a market where competition is the force, not politics.
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Eventually, people start calling in sick as a matter of protest and others start looking for work elsewhere because they've go bills to pay.
If you think about a normal biweekly pay schedule, though, this takes a long time.
When the shutdown begins, there's a paycheck already processing and then another one coming for the pay period that got interrupted.
That's between two and four weeks of normal pay during the shutdown.
Then, add to that whatever accommodations banks and others are willing to make for a customer with guaranteed backpay on the way.
Your wife should look up the lawsuit, known as Brigida v. Buttigieg, was initiated by Andrew Brigida, a CTI graduate who scored 100% on his training exam but was rejected after the FAA introduced a new biographical assessment in 2013.
Class action lawsuit has been certified
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Remember Biden first nominee for FAA Director or administrator?
Thoroughly unqualified and he withdrew his name after his embarrassing senate hearing
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This is all a reflection of the population. Look around... we aren't great. Most people seem to be pretty gullible when it comes to politics. I've found most people that don't pay attention barely look on the surface.
This is why someone like Biden can come to power. On the surface what is wrong with hiring more women and minorities? You oppose that? Are you pro-slavery? Are you a racist?
This is the level of most people. Goes the same on the Trump side. What?!? Do you want criminals on the street? Do you want drugs on the street? We may need to crack some heads to clean this stuff up.
This is why I do not like democracy. Most people can't even lead themselves. They are not qualified to select the "leader of the free world".
A class-action lawsuit has been filed against the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) alleging that the agency implemented discriminatory hiring practices that rejected over 1,000 qualified air traffic controller applicants based on race, particularly targeting graduates of the Collegiate Training Initiative (CTI) program who were predominantly white.
The lawsuit, known as Brigida v. Buttigieg, was initiated by Andrew Brigida, a CTI graduate who scored 100% on his training exam but was rejected after the FAA introduced a new biographical assessment in 2013.
Andrew Brigida, a white graduate of Arizona State University's CTI program, passed the AT-SAT exam with a perfect score of 100% in April 2013 but failed the newly implemented biographical questionnaire in 2014 Brigida v. Buttigieg (Brigida v. Buttigieg, 538 F.Supp.3d 12 (D. D.C. 2021)) - vLex United States - vLex. Matthew Douglas-Cook, a Native American who also scored perfectly on the AT-SAT, similarly failed the biographical questionnaire
The questionnaire included unusual questions for would-be air traffic controllers, such as how many sports they played in high school, how long they'd been unemployed recently, and whether their lowest grade in high school was in science
In February 2022, the court certified the class action on behalf of all non-African American CTI graduates who graduated between 2009-2013, passed the AT-SAT, applied through the 2014 vacancy announcement, but failed the biographical questionnaire
As late as 2024, the FAA was recruiting those with targeted disabilities, including "hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism"
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One of the highlights of the Reagan years was firing air traffic controllers who went on strike illegally
Reagan gutted that union
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I remember thinking back in the day that if anyone tried to do what Ron Paul said he would do (shut down most of the federal departments) they would be killed before they could. It happened with Trump. We still don't know much about that topic with Trump but even if it is a lone gunman in both cases the case could be made that Trump is such a threat to the system that these events are organic reactions. Reactions triggered by how afraid the system is of being reformed.
Trump is ridiculously moderate in my opinion. He's a turd in the punch bowl. His changes are not insane at all. If I had the power I'd do MUCH more. I think we underestimate how much the system fights back. People mistakenly think the deep state is some top down thing. I don't buy that. Yeah there are powerful people that do have massive control but organic reactions to change are often underestimated.
We are seeing this in the FDA/CDE and anything with decades of its own politics. RFK isn't politicizing these agencies. He's CHANGING the politics of them. That dude needs to have some amazing security if you ask me.
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Left right and center
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Interestingly enough DOGE is still very much active but since Elon isnt around people dont really pay attention. My understanding is a ton of various spending/cancellations from the Admin come in part due to DOGE it just isnt presented that way anymore.
Big example is the AI stuff and the digitizing efforts are being spearheaded (at least I have been told this) by DOGE.
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I agree it’s a PR move
The Tesla arsonists succeeded in removing Elon as the front man for doge
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one thousand percent correct
Furloughed federal employees can apply for unemployment
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While it sounds good it runs directly counter to the legislation. Plus the optics for Republicans is super super bad and the Dems have now jumped on this creating an unnecessary distraction.
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I'm not so sure it's clear cut from a PR standpoint. You are "inside the beltway", like many of my friends. Often the mood of the country isn't easily read from there.
The idea of the rank and file drones of the bloated bureaucracy finally suffering a real layoff like the rest of us is powerful optics.
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All they're saying is that the backpay is not guaranteed automatically.
I'd say there's no chance of backpay actually being withheld because almost everyone in congress has a bunch of stuff they want the bureaucrats to do for them, which is why they always granted backpay before that law passed.
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The draft OMB memo reportedly argues that the 2019 law is not "self-executing" and that the payment would need to be specifically provided by Congress as part of the legislation to fund the government. The argument hinges on a technical reading, suggesting the law created an authorization to pay but not the actual appropriation.
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I saw somewhere that OMB hasn't even changed their FAQ, though, and it still says that all furloughed employees will receive backpay.
I think this was just a very feeble bluff.
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I think siggy has a point here. I often hear things like, "Trump's actions have a real impact on people's livelihoods!" as a justification to anger. But they are just going through a common experience that most other people have to go through. Why do they feel like government work means you're entitled to absolute job stability? The Federal government supposedly exists to serve the people. It is not a jobs program for federal workers.
I understand why federal workers might be upset and they have every right to be. But if agency heads view their primary mission as protecting their subordinates' jobs, then the agencies will quickly devolve into bloated inefficient messes. (Which I think has already happened.)
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They need to identify as transgender contractors
Problem solved
Edit:
If back pay is approved, make it a paper check so people have to come into the office
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Bleach and HCQ
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This is the best news I've heard since October 7... never mind, wrong thread
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I’ve been letting you comment away because at the end of it you are the one burning sats and not getting any engagement.
However this is vile and I don’t even want your petty attempt at interaction. I’ve said it to others and all say it to you. You can take that sort of shit off my posts. This is the third comment on this post and no one has engaged with you… not even a putty engagement.
Don’t farm my posts for sats I don’t need this type of low brow and plain stupid engagement. It’s sad to see you or anyone clout chasing on a post that has engagement just to try and get something, anything from it. So I am gifting you that. Here it is but now take your gadfly self and buzz off.
Three comments with no engagement… it’s just sad you keep coming back hoping someone will throw you a bone and does encapsulate being a gadfly. Don’t come clout chasing for sats on my posts because you aren’t able to generate on your own without spamming (your posts for months have limited engagement so maybe take a hint). Desperation looks really really bad on you.
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AIPAC approves your comment
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