I am a fed so the initial article had me clutching my pearls, but upon further review it looks like it was a misleading headline and we're more or less getting the same level of pay increases we got under Obama, although not what we would have gotten had Hillary been elected. https://federalnewsradio.com/your-money/2017/08/trump-sets-2018-pay-raise-for-federal-employees/ Reducing benefits is another issue entirely, but unfortunately it was a big and very popular part of the platform that gets republicans and Trumpers in particular elected.
Good reporting by NYT there... but also NYT: "BUT HE'S ACTING PRESIDENTIAL SO WE'RE ALL GOOD NOW ALSO LET'S USE PRIVATE MERCENARIES TO FIGHT OUR COLONIAL WARS."
Hmm they hacked the DNC, got voters states information, then hacked the states and said that those democratic voters were ineligible.
1.4% is not abnormal/bad in isolation, but it's dumb to look at it in isolation when there are far more substantial pay changes being put into effect. And it's everyone who gets screwed - folks in the retirement zone lose hundreds to thousands a year that they were counting on by immediately moving from high 3 to high 5, and the rest of us are stuck paying a far more substantial sum for defined benefit retirement for the rest of our careers. And it's not a separate issue; they're both part of the Repblican platform to balance the budget on the back of the middle class, particularly when they can demonize a subset thereof as fat Feds living large off of your taxpayer dollars.
Increasing evidence of Russia interfering and corrupting the election, and the federal govt response is to do nothing, other than to put a known vote suppressor and now Brietbart writer in charge of a scam voter integrity commission That people aren't marching in the streets over this is a sign on how apathetic we are about democracy and the potential to lose it. Not enough people care.
I agree with almost everything you posted. Trump and republicans are actively working to make federal jobs suck. In my experience, federal jobs are well paying and good jobs in the field. A GS 12 or 13 in a field office is a very comfortable living if you can get it. Even a 9 or 11 is pretty solid especially compared to salaries for similar jobs outside govt. Maybe I would feel differently if I had a professional degree, but with a masters its not bad at all. I thought about leaving the federal govt for some good private opportunities for a global reinsurance company a few years ago, but even with a generous bonus structure I was way better off salary wise for similar work staying in govt. In DC, they're a much worse deal. I have been looking at moving from a 13 in NC to a 13 or 14 in DC because my gf needs to live in DC to work in her field. Its an effective paycut for me, even if I am able to get a 14, of around $30k per year. And as they cut positions, offices, etc they make working for the govt more and more stressful, and they also make completing the mission harder. So all that hard work results in less output and limited impact to our stakeholders. I could vent about it for hours. I just think the headline from the Hill is misleading. A 1.9 percent raise is pretty normal for the past few years.
For instance. (After the fact) it was clear the economy was in recession a few quarters before the credit crisis was really here and the stock market was still humming during that period (up until the big banks started to go under pressure) It's idiots like you that were still buying near the top of that beast. Get the fuck off my lawn with anything regarding markets, the economy etc. rules.
When I was doing materials research for the federal government, sequestration happened. I had vented to my parents, staunch republicans, about the shit that puts me in, and they scoffed, saying stuff like "Oh, come on. They're not going to get rid of the smart people. They're going to cut the toll booth workers and the DMV people." Putting aside the inhumanity of that sentiment to begin with, the research project had to be completely dismantled - it wasn't even an expensive one, like at all, because of how we set it up. The interruption of funding was a death knell because everything had to be completely reallocated from the top down, even though the money stopped for all of like, what, a week? I confronted my parents with it, and they were just kinda silent. They would end up snarking out the same sentiments without a moment's reflection of how it hurt they're own son's career later on. So they're demonizing is incredibly effective, yes. Shit, it even hurt my mom's job, but my parent's can't be bothered to consider that.
him getting defensive about that and holding a presser would almost be better than him getting impeached/resigning
oh boy gif @ Washington Times Does the Deep State really want war with Russia? Spoiler On Thursday, the State Department ordered the closure of the Russian Consulate in San Francisco and the reduction of services at other diplomatic sites in an escalating tit-for-tat between the two powers. (Associated Press/File) more > L. Todd Wood - - Thursday, August 31, 2017 ANALYSIS/OPINION: For a long time now, dating back to the early days of the Obama administration, things have just seemed not quite right. Actions were taken. Explanations were given. But somehow, things still just didn’t add up. I’ve had this lingering feeling for years that things were not as they seemed behind the green curtain in Washington. The IRS attacks on conservatives; the Obama administration’s use of the administrative state to attack the political opposition; the purposeful instigation of racial tensions; the corruption of federal agencies like the Secret Service, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Border Patrol; the transformation of the U.S. military from a war-fighting machine into a mutant social justice organization that can’t even keep its own ships safe — all fed the suspicion in the back of my mind that something was really wrong, even if we couldn’t see it. Perhaps the most startling example has been the obvious corruption of the FBI under James Comey, his sweaty explanations on national TV to the contrary. This was not my father’s FBI. It was some mutation that seethed with corruption. Mr. Comey lied about Hillary Clinton. Loretta Lynch lied. President Obama lied. Mrs. Clinton sold U.S. secrets and lied, over and over and over. Then along came Donald J. Trump, displaying a bright shining love for America and her people. Here was a man who spoke plainly, not in a polished way but truthfully. Here was a man who threatened the sickening corruption that bubbled under the surface in Washington and those coastal elites selling out the flyover people while padding their offshore accounts. The vituperation he faced was hard to explain. Since when did “nationalist” become a dirty word? And yes, here was a man who thought that having a better relationship with the largest country in the world, one that had the biggest nuclear weapons arsenal on the planet, was a good idea. When it became clear Mr. Trump might win the presidency, that was when the “Russia thing” started. For two years, we have heard about this supposed scandal with nothing to show for it. Now special counsel Robert Mueller, Jim Comey’s buddy, seems to be going after peripheral minnows since the big fish can’t be found. It gets worse. The animosity and the aggression against Russia is just palpable. Yes, the Kremlin probably has used cyberwarfare against us in a variety of ways. But we have done the same against them. Mrs. Clinton tried to destabilize Vladimir Putin’s government. (She won’t admit that, of course.) China has stolen everything we have. Their weapons look just like ours. The Clintons sold them everything. Cuba is attacking our diplomats with sound waves, causing severe physical damage to our diplomats. North Korea is threatening to destroy us. ISIS is sending terror cells over the borders. Russia is not our mortal enemy. The Russians are not an existential threat. They are an adversary. They have to be dealt with firmly. However, the “Deep State” effort inside our own government and foreign policy establishment to start a war with Moscow is out of control. On Thursday, the State Department ordered the closure of the Russian Consulate in San Francisco and the reduction of services at other diplomatic sites. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis was in Ukraine hinting we will provide weapons to fight pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, embroiling us in another civil war. Congress continues to push for tougher sanctions against Russia. Is this Deep State agenda another tactic by the Obama holdovers to weaken the U.S. by getting us into another expensive conflict? Is it an effort to so muddy relations between the two countries that we can never have a new detente? Mr. Obama always was disrespectful toward Mr. Putin, talking about his schoolboy slouch and how Russia was a third-rate power that didn’t make anything. Someone really wants a war with the Kremlin. I’d love to know who it is and why. • L. Todd Wood is a former special operations helicopter pilot and Wall Street debt trader, and has contributed to Fox Business, The Moscow Times, National Review, the New York Post and many other publications. He can be reached through his website, LToddWood.com.
Let me just spell out the question for you then. Did the continued climb of the markets a few quarters before the crisis hit reflect the conditions in the real economy? The answer is hell no. You had a state of exuberance in the market place while the real economy was falling into a recession. Thus, the market place and the economy were not in lockstep with one another. Does a healthy economy drive markets? Absolutely. But economic data and stock market performance aren't always correlated one for one.
pretty sure the white house counsel blocked him from sending it only because it was written in crayon
What the fuck did you say about my toupee you little cunt? I'll have you know my daddy gave me millions of dollars to start my empire, and I've been involved in numerous shows on American television, and I have a nice head of hair. I know how to get the masses moving and I am the best at American Enterprise. You are nothing to me than a minimum wage peasant. I will buy out that piece of shit condo you call a home with money the likes of which you will never earn in your lifetime, mark my fucking words. You think you can get away with talking shit about my hair over the internet? Think again, fucker. As we speak I am buying off the best network of hackers and computer security experts across the USA and your IP is being traced right now so you better prepare for the storm, maggot. The storm that wipes out the pathetic little thing you call a home and your life. You're fucking dead, kid. I can hire ears and eyes anywhere, anytime, and I can hire them to kill you in over seven hundred ways, and that's just with my money. Not only am I extensively trained in American Enterprise, but I have access to a very large Mexican PMC army and I will use it to its full extent to wipe your miserable ass off the face of the continent, you little shit. If only you could have known what unholy retribution your "snide remark" about my hair was about to bring down upon you, maybe you would have held your fucking tongue. But you couldn't, you didn't, and now you're paying the price, you goddam peasant. I will shit cash all over you and you will drown in it. You're fucking dead, kiddo.
I would love to see Trump attempt to schmooze a guy like Comey or Mueller. It would be so hilarious and tacky.
"I really did collude with Russia, but I am going to fire you so you can't do anything about it. Yours in winning, President"
Have to agree. I don't know how you can have a free country when the voting systems are this suspect even if they weren't hacked. The system in place in Georgia literally cannot retrace votes if they suspected the counts were altered.
Seeing as that the article was co-written by Maggie, I'm sure the letter reads "You're fired, and Jared, who is a very noble and fine public servant, had nothing to do with it."
That's a good point, it's more or less a reflection on Trump's inability to surround himself with competent support staff. No one competent wants to be around him, but if he had anyone worth a fuck to cover up his stupidity, a lot of the current problems around the administration wouldn't be so bad.
There is no corralling his stupidity. The guy thought the WWE was real at age 60...and he had participated in the WWE
I think it's really strange that Trump has never been challenged about knowingly asserting that the election would be rigged if he did not win. Almost like he knew that it was being tampered with.
That NYT story is a whole lot of nothing. Might as well say "Mueller has obtained a document with writing on it that's associated with Donald Trump." Thanks Here's the crux of the story...
Literally every accusation that he makes against an opponent is him projecting the sneaky bullshit that he or his campaign have done or were doing