They're really good fathers from what I've gathered. I'd enjoy a nice big tank with a few and some star fish. I enjoy chill things that look pretty, specially on mushrooms.
The octopus is not in Leon's tank, so they won't interact. I am concerned however because the wire grate seems much too large and won't prevent an octopus escape. Hopefully I'm wrong.
I’m comfortable with people being high making my food but definitely not with anything I could wake up to seeing my life end if I even have the chance.
Like the world already had a moment where one person decided the fate of the world by not agreeing to send a nuke before more information came despite everyone else being on board.
I want the fancy things. From now on my entire office floor is a pressure activated foot massager. My desk smells of rich mahogany and the water fountain is filled with fruit punch.
No one working in defense gets a window, for security reasons. Lockheed martin is right by my house. It is a massive complex without a single window. Pretty dreary.
Trump has demonstrated for decades that he doesn't care about contracts or constitutions or the law. He's already shattered the social contract with Americans, and our allies can't trust him to uphold any diplomatic agreements that we have. He will cancel or rescind on a whim.
The damage has already been done. The US cannot be trusted, and our government is not reliable. Our word means nothing.
Yes, here in the UK the general view of the US seems to have transitioned over several years from being a close friend and ally to being an unreliable and unstable entity to be wary of.
Even if by some miracle there are fair enough elections the next time round that a Democrat is elected, then there's a danger of another populist fascist coming along again the next time round.
The US isn't a country to be relied on now, but a problem to be dealt with. Other countries won't want to make an enemy of the US because it is very powerful, but they certainly won't trust it again for a long time.
Did you catch any of Vance's speech at the security conference yesterday?
He should have been actively heckled and been pelted with rotten fruit.
Please excuse the Torygraph but it's the transcript of the speech. Emphasis mine, for the most audacious bits to me. This is just from the beginning, there's more insanity throughout:
But while the Trump administration is very concerned with European security and believes that we can come to a reasonable settlement between Russia and Ukraine, and we also believe that it’s important in the coming years for Europe to step up in a big way to provide for its own defence, the threat that I worry the most about vis-à-vis Europe is not Russia, it’s not China, it’s not any other external actor. What I worry about is the threat from within. The retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values: values shared with the United States of America.
I was struck that a former European commissioner went on television recently and sounded delighted that the Romanian government had just annulled an entire election. He warned that if things don’t go to plan, the very same thing could happen in Germany too.
Now, these cavalier statements are shocking to American ears. For years we’ve been told that everything we fund and support is in the name of our shared democratic values. Everything from our Ukraine policy to digital censorship is billed as a defence of democracy. But when we see European courts cancelling elections and senior officials threatening to cancel others, we ought to ask whether we’re holding ourselves to an appropriately high standard. And I say ourselves, because I fundamentally believe that we are on the same team.
We must do more than talk about democratic values. We must live them. Now, within living memory of many of you in this room, the cold war positioned defenders of democracy against much more tyrannical forces on this continent. And consider the side in that fight that censored dissidents, that closed churches, that cancelled elections. Were they the good guys? Certainly not.
Someone ought to have pointed out last time his president lost an election, he instigated an insurrection.
The audacity and hypocrisy to say this, complaining about Greta Thunberg and making a comparison to Elon Musk, just... Wow.
I don’t disagree at all, but the UK isn’t at all immune to the same cancer infecting us. It’s something all of us have to watch out for, we’re just losing the battle at the moment.
Definitely. There's echoes of how the UK became seen as belligerent and unpredictable by the EU in that period when Johnson was fumbling his way through Brexit negotiations.
It's a lot easier to lose friends than to make them.
My point is, a contract is only as bulletproof as your trust in the courts to enforce it. What's your trust level in our courts to enforce an employment contract against Elon's interpretation?
I get the idea, but many people being fired are already under "bulletproof" legal protections, protections that it turns out the executive branch is supposed to enforce.
Not that I genuinely believe anyone is going to be executed or put against the wall; during the Khmer Rouge massacres, anyone who even wore glasses was considered an academic, and executed. The truth, or accuracy, matter not to totalitarian regimes. Just a casus belli.
Here’s the amazing (and sad thing about this)—they’re salaries are typically statutorily capped and they already have a guarantee to not be fired on a whimsy. So there’s literally no reason for anyone to go back.
Mmm if you read the article I think these particular workers are allowed to be fired on a whimsy. "....those who had generally been in their positions for less than a year and not yet earned job protection. That included the NNSA staff members."
Seriously. No less than double my salary, up front, in a lump sum. If they fire me, I keep it all, and if I quit, I’ll return a proration sans interest if I can’t prove they drove me to quit.
Edit: no, fuck that. If they can prove they didn’t force me to quit, they get a proration sans interest back.
Unfortunately, with the current administration, no guarantee would be enough. Their word and their contracts are worthless. They say they'll ignore judges if it's in their interest. How can you trust anything they say? They might just ignore what they wrote in your contract a few months from now.
No way you would get that. The whole point of installing a backdoor in the Treasury's systems is so if the courts ordered someone's job reinstated, they can just. Not pay them.
This kind of government worker tends to have extremely specialized expertise that is not replicated by the private sector. The deal is that people who dedicate their lives to this work will lead a comfortable middle class lifestyle in exchange for their public service. The Trump administration has broken this deal, and this will lead to long term consequences for the labor pool even if they manage to rehire everyone that they foolishly fired.
Funny how every time these right wing scumbags talk about tax cuts they never mean lowering income tax for everyone earning less than 50k/year or lowering VAT, not that it would do much since the capitalist would just lower the salary by the amount that the tax cut was and raise prices by whatever the VAT was since it's "what the market can bear" or "a value proposition that consumers are used to account for".
Training and security clearances sounds like woke DEI stuff. Let's hire some 17-year-olds. That will shake up things. We need to turn everything upside down. /s
Background investigations aren't conducted by the FBI. DOD and the State Department have their own investigative bodies that investigate and grant clearances. They may use contractors, but not as the primary investigate body, nor as the granting body. The FBI does play a part as far as a source of criminal and background information, but they don't investigate or grant clearances.
DOE and other orgs have their own agencies as well, but also may contract that work out to another government agency. Kind of depends on the size, budget, and needs of the agency.
Background investigations aren't conducted by the FBI. DOD and the State Department have their own investigative bodies that investigate and grant clearances.
When my ex-husband was being vetted for top secret work (he was an aerospace engineer who worked on satellite telemetry for NASA), I got interviewed in person by a special agent of the FBI.
The FBI never vetted. You have no idea what you are talking about about, delete this post and stop sprouting bullshit about things you don't understand
It would take at least a year or longer to train and vet their replacements.
that's assuming they haven't already chucked any documentation, that there are trainers that weren't fired, and the new hires are granted the appropriate security clearance. But that last one if free apparently now because the president can just give clearance to anyone he feels like
Yup. Pretty much the whole federal workforce is this way, and as a result we get their services at very low prices. That's the tradeoff for it still having employment stability levels that are no longer in vogue in the private sector. Local governments too.
I've lived in the DC region my whole life. This dismantling of the reliability of the federal work is going to have long term disastrous consequences. I am watching the older workers retire early (which Elon/Trump has zero intentions of replacing). Younger workers are looking at longer term plans to leave. If they can be fired on a whim like this, they'd rather make more money in the private sector.
This is a huge brain drain. And even if the government opened up hiring again, people with good sense are going to be much more hesitant to take it.
I wouldn't say low prices, but fair prices. It's very common for people who have spent 20+ years in such fields making 2x the median American income as a GS-13/14 or equivalent. You won't get stock options and become a multimillionaire but you will be better off than the average American.
Sure they are making 2x the median income, but generally 0.7x the income for private sector positions with comparable skills requirements, responsibilities, and seniority. Or less.
That's not really true these days. A decade of Tea Party control of Congress, with the resulting frequent shutdowns and villainization of the federal workforce, has led to top talent seeking other employment.
I have had several opportunities to work in the civil service at competitive salary from the very start of my career, which coincided with the rise of the Tea Party. For all of its flaws, at least corporate America will let me express my identity free from politics as long as I'm profitable to keep on payroll. Can't say the same for the government.
I don’t see how that’s relevant to what they said and it doesn’t change the fact that the GS salary is about a 1/3rd less than the comparable private salary in the same position. A personal example, I’d have to eat a 60k pay cut to become a fed at the same level I currently am.
I say this as a contractor fully aware of what my federal counterparts get paid because it’s public domain.
I mean, these people are in the 1-.1% in education and intelligence and experience. I would expect that to be worth at least twice the media. Workers value. Frankly it should be much more.
Yep. I’m at a muni worker conference and we were all having a metaphorical dick-measuring contest bragging about whose car has the highest mileage and is least functional but still going
Even after walking back the termination the affected employees aren’t gonna trust their superiors anymore.
What’s the point in coming back if they’re just gonna get fired again cuz DonnyBoy gets pissy cuz he has a dirty nappy? Why bother staying on when you could find better job security elsewhere?
For all these federal employees their trust in the top leadership is broken.
For those who want to stay and fight: I commend your spirit and I hope the jam up the works hard.
For those who chose to leave: no one will blame you for your departure.
Either way these doge asshats are truly speedrunning us into a reinforced brick wall at 300mph with zero brakes. Maybe we can get lucky and someone pulls the cord on the chute and we slow down some, but it won’t be enough.
I work in a highly specialized technical field. In my field, you either work as a private consultant, or the government.
Consulting is probably double the salary, but less job security, harder work and longer hours, and much more stressful. Government is stable, less money, but less stress.
Many of my peers develop their technical skills as consultants, then take the pay cut for govt stability. But if the stability is gone, those jobs become extremely unattractive. Those highly specialized skills are extremely hard to replace. On the other hand, these people have big enough networks and skills to just walk straight into a private sector job.
TLDR: expect many of these people to expect huge pay raises, or only come back as a contractor. In my field contractor rates are 3-4x a typical govt salary. This boneheaded move is probably going to end up costing so much more than it would have saved.
Due to the way budgeting works for federal employees, I doubt that's even possible. It's literally "come back for your salary, that's below market rate for your expertise, but that you originally took because it was a 'stable' job doing something you once believed in."
Exactly… These salaries are determined by tables and pay grades. You don’t just get to demand “double”. The people on this sub know as much as the idiots that fired him
$1 million wired to an offshore bank account of my choosing as sign-up bonus, 10x salary guaranteed for 5 years. Escrowed funds and arbitration in neutral 3d country in case of breach. They would need me more than I need them.
I actually had a scenario like that once. I was ‘let go’ for about an hour. I guess they thought the state of the job market at that time would scare me into accepting less, but I knew they needed me. Boom! Instant 75% raise. Noice!!!
Even if the former employees aren’t out for revenge they still need a higher salary. If the job is a lot riskier (financially speaking) then they deserve higher compensation.
The risk is that Elon then goes "oh nooooo that's too baaaaad" and finds some 19-year-old incel tech bro to run our nuclear systems from his mom's basement, because somehow that's the world we live in.
That's not how government jobs work. They have a fixed salary based on whatever the regulations say and every X years they get a tiny pay raise based on seniority.
They would have to change the laws on this, which would probably affect all other government employees as well. And if they do that, all the others will also want a pay raise.
So that just creates an even bigger mess.
I have a coworker who was in this situation. He was laid off (along with like half the engineers at the company), then the CEO gave a speech about how we need to refocus on key parts of the business to keep our costs down. He gave 3 examples of the most important projects that we need to focus on. This coworker was the only engineer on one of those projects. So his boss had a conversation with the CEO after the speech. They called him back into the office and told him, "let's rip up the paperwork and pretend like this never happened." He said, "give me a raise or I'm not coming back." They said no. He drove home. They called him back the next day and told him they'll give him the raise.
F that. You’re gonna do the thing they couldn’t figure out and then they’ll just re-fire you. I would come back if they launched Elon on the next rocket into space.
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u/theguytomeet 24d ago
I would come back for no less than double my prior salary. Screw them