Tales of the Shutdown

[yung.carl.jung]

heat lamps are a game changer. under that circumstance yeah, I can agree.

 

[Lexicus]

I've been riding my bike to work this week and I noticed that traffic is just a bit thinner than usual. Much more so in the morning than in the afternoon, because I get out of work before most federal workers do anyway.

 

[caketastydelish]

To OP: What country is your GF from if you don't mind me asking?

 

[Lexicus]

Zimbabwe

 

[hobbsyoyo]

A whole bunch of people I work with at JPL in Pasadena are about to get furloughed. The rest of NASA shut down but JPL was pre-funded through next week or so. I wonder if unemployment statistics will show those 6,000 people? I feel people furloughed and/or forced to work without pay should be counted along with the rest of the unemployed.

Trump's administration has also moved to reclassify government workers across the board as essential personnel to force them to return to work (unpaid of course) to lessen the effects of the shutdown to prop up his popularity. He's actively making the country worse in measurable, immediate ways to protect himself and getting away with it.

 

[Azem.Ocram]

The middle has money, but more importantly when the money is taken away they will grovel too.

When the majority of the population is getting screwed over by the elites, including the military, American (and French) history should repeat itself.

 

[uppi]

A whole bunch of people I work with at JPL in Pasadena are about to get furloughed. The rest of NASA shut down but JPL was pre-funded through next week or so. I wonder if unemployment statistics will show those 6,000 people? I feel people furloughed and/or forced to work without pay should be counted along with the rest of the unemployed.

That depends on whether they will classify themselves as unemployed and actively looking for a job. Probably not, so they won't show up in the unemployment numbers.

 

[Phrossack]

A whole bunch of people I work with at JPL in Pasadena are about to get furloughed. The rest of NASA shut down but JPL was pre-funded through next week or so. I wonder if unemployment statistics will show those 6,000 people? I feel people furloughed and/or forced to work without pay should be counted along with the rest of the unemployed.

Trump's administration has also moved to reclassify government workers across the board as essential personnel to force them to return to work (unpaid of course) to lessen the effects of the shutdown to prop up his popularity. He's actively making the country worse in measurable, immediate ways to protect himself and getting away with it.

Yes, well, we're not allowed to do anything about it until Ben Ghazi and his buttery males are brought to justice for their death panels

 

[Kaitzilla]

Now that the US government is using shutdown as a deliberate tactic rather than as a consequence of it seems less likely that good people will want to work fro the government.

Eh, it was bound to happen once most federal government workers started overwelmingly voting democrat.

Check out the President's tweet fom December 27th.

"Do the Dems not realise that most of the people not getting paid are Democrats?"

--President Trump

I've heard to keep things from collapsing, a few dozen thousand workers will be called back to work without pay at the IRS and elsewhere.

Forcing federal workers to work without pay is one way to collapse DCs economy and drain the swamp.

Either way, Trump will fulfill a campaign promise.
A wall with Mexico or a smoking crater where the USA's wealthiest metropolitan area used to be.

 

[metalhead]

Pardon me for thinking the President should not actively hurt people just because of their political affiliations. I'll just be over here in the corner, eating every copy of the First Amendment I can get my hands on.

 

[Lexicus]

Pardon me for thinking the President should not actively hurt people just because of their political affiliations. I'll just be over here in the corner, eating every copy of the First Amendment I can get my hands on.

otoh I would love to see a President use some War On Terror powers to target the domestic far-right. Drone strikes might be good for something if we can write "this machine kills fascists" on them.

 

[Broken_Erika]

otoh I would love to see a President use some War On Terror powers to target the domestic far-right. Drone strikes might be good for something if we can write "this machine kills fascists" on them.

They'd probably be more likely being used against the domestic left with "Well, This machine kills commies!" written on the drones.

 

[Lexicus]

Well obviously but a man can dram and write those drams in his dram bok

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Today's game is "who is more tone deaf?" Your choices:

A) Woman who married into billionaire family who says "furloughed workers should be honored to have the chance to 'make a little sacrifice' for the long term greater good."

B) Billionaire cabinet member who says he "doesn't understand why furloughed workers don't just get a loan."

C) Trump staffer who says a furlough is "just like a vacation."

I find it very hard to choose, but I'm absolutely fascinated by the ineptitude that lets comments like these find their way out of the White House.

 

[Thorgalaeg]

"I could shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters"

And the worst part is he was damn right.

 

[brennan]

That depends on whether they will classify themselves as unemployed and actively looking for a job. Probably not, so they won't show up in the unemployment numbers.

If people are working then they do not count as unemployed, even if they are not paid - under the ILO definitions (which pretty much every government uses).

 

[Phrossack]

Today's game is "who is more tone deaf?" Your choices:

A) Woman who married into billionaire family who says "furloughed workers should be honored to have the chance to 'make a little sacrifice' for the long term greater good."

B) Billionaire cabinet member who says he "doesn't understand why furloughed workers don't just get a loan."

C) Trump staffer who says a furlough is "just like a vacation."

I find it very hard to choose, but I'm absolutely fascinated by the ineptitude that lets comments like these find their way out of the White House.

These are the people who get voted in or appointed when right-wingers complain about "ivory tower elitists."

Infinitely worse elitists.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

These are the people who get voted in or appointed when right-wingers complain about "ivory tower elitists."

Infinitely worse elitists.

I think "plantation manor elitists" is perhaps a more accurate description.

 

[Phrossack]

I think "plantation manor elitists" is perhaps a more accurate description.

That too. More than a few wannabe and possibly actual slave owners in their ranks.

They still voted in a New York billionaire--or perhaps millionaire--who's never worked a day in his life and who thinks you need an ID to buy groceries. Because he's the "answer" to "elitists" and can properly represent working people, apparently.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

I'd love to see a lawsuit filed on behalf of Coast Guard members on thirteenth amendment grounds.