The Next President is...

[disgruntledemployee]

On 2/21/2025 at 2:36 PM, brabus said:

The only thing this type of statement says is you’re against improving financial transparency, cutting FWA, improving financial systems operation, increasing accountability, reducing bloated federal spending, and reducing the deficit. Or if you tell me you’re not against those things, then you’re simply being a partisan hack throwing a tantrum because your team isn’t the one doing the work. The good news is you can choose to stop being a partisan hack and acknowledge when something good is done, regardless of who did it. A good example of this is me throwing Clinton props where props are due, even though I don’t align with him on many other things. Now you try…

No.  This isn't a my team thing.  If I have a say, I'd hire Warren Buffet.

[17D_guy]

Guess if you're on vacation you're not coming back. DoD civ's for this as well.

[disgruntledemployee]

9 minutes ago, 17D_guy said:

Guess if you're on vacation you're not coming back. DoD civ's for this as well.

I would love to see stuff like all FAA ATCers ignore the email.  Or simply reply, "My job.  Now fuck off."  Maybe add a link to LiveATC for their channel.

[17D_guy]

The email:

Guess if you were on leave last week you're fucked to.

[nsplayr]

The FBI is being told not to comply, by their fresh new Director.

Clowns and a circus.

None of this is making us more lethal, more focused, or more efficient. The last month has been nothing but chaos and distraction from the ability to do our jobs.

Edited 17 hours ago by nsplayr

[frog]

What a shit show. 

[tac airlifter]

Yup, a shit show for sure. But 100 times better than Harris; I remain pleased with my Trump vote.

[Clayton Bigsby]

9 hours ago, disgruntledemployee said:

I would love to see stuff like all FAA ATCers ignore the email.  Or simply reply, "My job.  Now fuck off."  Maybe add a link to LiveATC for their channel.

We are awaiting guidance on what to do from Agency leadership, so far nothing.  I’m sure it’ll come Monday afternoon sometime giving little time to respond, oh btw I’m on leave and have no access to gov webmail, so I would have to drive an hour to the nearest facility to gain access, and I was on my scheduled bid leave all this past week so what would one say?  I’m really really hoping everyone blows this off. 

7 hours ago, tac airlifter said:

Yup, a shit show for sure. But 100 times better than Harris; I remain pleased with my Trump vote.

Look man peeling you guys apart as a job sucks enough as it is, I may well lose my retirement after 16 years of doing this so I’m glad this is all working out for you.  This is after serving in Mx and as Aircrew in the AF, I’ve done my time.

Apologies, everyone is entitled to their opinions and votes, but we are straight up not having a good time right now.  The dripping condescension from the DOGEbois is a bit much. 

[brabus]

The baseline data request itself is a good thing. The method (blast from OPM with seemingly zero coord) and supposed timeline/threat is bullshit. 

[Clayton Bigsby]

It’s the Bobs. 

[icohftb]

So who's gonna read all the responses?

[BuddhaSixFour]

The Bobs at least took some time to understand Initech. 

Just now, icohftb said:

So who's gonna read all the responses?

Grok. No one. Big Balls does a key word search for things he doesn’t like, perhaps. 

[brabus]

AI? Interestingly I just saw an X post that they suspect some cases of dead/non-existent people (or at least non-existent at work ever, literally) on the fed payroll. In those cases there won’t be an answered email, or that’s the thought at least. I’m guessing cooler heads prevail and nobody on leave is getting fired, and in the end this is well-intentioned, but poorly executed with low SA on salient points like people on leave, traveling with limited email connectivity, people who actually are doing shit that matters instead of mouth breathing on email, etc.

Edited 6 hours ago by brabus

[tac airlifter]

28 minutes ago, Clayton Bigsby said:

Look man peeling you guys apart as a job sucks enough as it is, I may well lose my retirement after 16 years of doing this so I’m glad this is all working out for you……Apologies, everyone is entitled to their opinions and votes, but we are straight up not having a good time right now.  The dripping condescension from the DOGEbois is a bit much. 

I’m sorry for the turmoil you’re experiencing.  It sucks.   My comment was meant to compare the state of our nation under this admin vs what would have been under another, not kick you while you’re going through something.  My apologies if it came off personally unkind, although I do believe what I said.

FWIW, I think your job & retirement is fine.  The Trump admin MO is big talk, scare people, then negotiate.  There’s so much indefensible fat to cut that I think they’ll remain locked on politically palatable targets (NGOs, charity fraud schemes, USAID type BS) instead of government contractors.

4 minutes ago, icohftb said:

So who's gonna read all the responses?

AI or a lonely teenager pounding Mountain Dew.

[17D_guy]

2 hours ago, lloyd christmas said:

My unit, my section and myself have not been distracted in any way.  Not at all.  As always, we are crushing it.  

And that is because we focus on what’s in front of us and not what we read on social media, BO.net or the news.  

It is actually not hard to lead, accomplish the mission or stay focused when you aren’t emotionally and mentally distracted by things on the internet.   

Cool story bro.

Wife has to recall all her sections today so she can tell them to read the email. Which they can't do from home anymore...so what's the fucking point? 

Also, she and they are not allowed to charge that time...so fucking up a weekend and working for free.

She's a prior aircrew (EWO) vet, and all her people are worried. They aren't active duty and this shit is basically harassment to get folks to quit.

This is the exact shit people complain about on the "what's wrong with the Air Force" thread, but because it's someone else being impacted and "your team" you don't give a shit.

[Sua Sponte]

21 minutes ago, icohftb said:

So who's gonna read all the responses?

His Grok 3.0 AI that he's scraping data LLMs for to train it. Big reason why he wants access to all government IT systems.

[Sua Sponte]

16 minutes ago, brabus said:

AI? Interestingly I just saw an X post that they suspect some cases of dead/non-existent people (or at least non-existent at work ever, literally) on the fed payroll. In those cases there won’t be an answered email, or that’s the thought at least. I’m guessing cooler heads prevail and nobody on leave is getting fired, and in the end this is well-intentioned, but poorly executed with low SA on salient points like people on leave, traveling with limited email connectivity, people who actually are doing shit that matters instead of mouth breathing on email, etc.

Federal employees have to do bi-weekly timecards. If they're a day late, the civilian finance folks bitch at supervisors to have them turned in (I know, I'm a supervisor). We also get bitched at when employees are in use or lose leave (CONUS federal employees can only carry up to 240 hours of leave, it's higher overseas). Federal employees also get annual performance appraisals, which the employee also has to fill out and review. Just because Elon claims some bullshit on X, that doesn't make it true. He should probably focus on the 26-year-old he creampied taking pictures of their private Signal chat with expiring messages.

[BuddhaSixFour]

Let us channel our inner Elons and marvel at how we’re at page 420 in the thread. 

[Biff_T]

[Lord Ratner]

1 hour ago, Clayton Bigsby said:

We are awaiting guidance on what to do from Agency leadership, so far nothing.  I’m sure it’ll come Monday afternoon sometime giving little time to respond, oh btw I’m on leave and have no access to gov webmail, so I would have to drive an hour to the nearest facility to gain access, and I was on my scheduled bid leave all this past week so what would one say?  I’m really really hoping everyone blows this off. 

Look man peeling you guys apart as a job sucks enough as it is, I may well lose my retirement after 16 years of doing this so I’m glad this is all working out for you.  This is after serving in Mx and as Aircrew in the AF, I’ve done my time.

Apologies, everyone is entitled to their opinions and votes, but we are straight up not having a good time right now.  The dripping condescension from the DOGEbois is a bit much. 

That really sucks for you. And I mean that, a lot of really good people who've done a lot of really good work are going to go through this shitty process.

 

Unfortunately there's no alternative. We have spent decades pretending like we are going to get things cleaned up, and in those decades the only thing that has happened is that things have gotten worse. We have gotten to the "shit or get off the pot" phase, and as much as I hate to see people like you in jeopardy, I am more concerned about my kids and their kids and their kids. We are on the unsustainable path that becomes more catastrophic the longer we are on it.

 

Donald Trump is the most emblematic of this phenomenon. I truly wish we had someone better to lead us through this process, but he is the president specifically because everyone 'better' failed us. So now we're here.

[nsplayr]

When folks write stuff like the above comments, please just auto-translate it to:

”The ends justify the means.”

[Lord Ratner]

55 minutes ago, 17D_guy said:

Cool story bro.

Wife has to recall all her sections today so she can tell them to read the email. Which they can't do from home anymore...so what's the fucking point? 

Also, she and they are not allowed to charge that time...so fucking up a weekend and working for free.

She's a prior aircrew (EWO) vet, and all her people are worried. They aren't active duty and this shit is basically harassment to get folks to quit.

This is the exact shit people complain about on the "what's wrong with the Air Force" thread, but because it's someone else being impacted and "your team" you don't give a shit.

I know this may seem strange to someone who's been in the government for a long time, but everything you're describing is just "life in the private sector."

 

That's not to say this email or some of the other things they're doing are master classes in administrative procedure, but it's hard to disagree with the underlying goal when people complain about having to work on a weekend to read an email. 

 

Our government is bloated and inefficient. That means to fix it, there will be fewer people with .gov jobs. I hope that's not your wife, but it's going to be someone's wife. 

 

If you have friends in corporate America you should ask them about "unpaid" weekends and surprise layoffs. This has been very tame in comparison.

[Lord Ratner]

18 minutes ago, nsplayr said:

When folks write stuff like the above comments, please just auto-translate it to:

”The ends justify the means.”

Yeah Bud, considering the "means" don't involve rape and murder, asset forfeiture, internment camps, or racial segregation, these ends are justified by these means. 

 

Save the pearl clutching for a real violation of rights. 

Edited 5 hours ago by Lord Ratner

[nsplayr]

3 minutes ago, Lord Ratner said:

Yeah Bud, considering the "means" don't involve rape and murder, asset forfeiture, internment camps, or racial segregation, these ends and justified by these means.

Like I said…

[frog]

3 hours ago, lloyd christmas said:

My unit, my section and myself have not been distracted in any way.  Not at all.  As always, we are crushing it.  

And that is because we focus on what’s in front of us and not what we read on social media, BO.net or the news.  

It is actually not hard to lead, accomplish the mission or stay focused when you aren’t emotionally and mentally distracted by things on the internet.   

Enjoy it while it lasts. Your team is going to get all the crap the civilians do as additional duties. It’s all fun and games until you are appointed as the wing piss tester.

Shrinking the workforce is a great thing. Doing it by cutting the youngest, most ambitious people without eliminating the dumb requirements is asinine. We are going to keep 60 year old Bob that has worked  in XP for the last 40 years and fire a 20 year old that keeps your electricity on.