Holy shit, y’all, stepping up my interactions with my all-Repub federal reps is driving me batshit. It’s not so much the full mailboxes or lack of response that gets to me. It’s the condescending pat on the head when I do get a human on the phone or otherwise receive a response to well-founded concerns about the federal government being illegally dismantled by an unelected apartheid South Africa-born gazillionaire.
Bless their hearts, the staffers at my local offices are almost always sweet-voiced Southern women, and I pretend to be polite and reasonable too for the duration of our conversation. So no one is outwardly rude.
But I’d almost respect them more if they made a raspberry noise or sneered, “Cry harder, libtard!” (Actually, I would probably throw a giant bag of dogshit at their window if they did that, which is why they don’t do that, but you know what I mean.)
As briefly mentioned in the morning thread, I received a constituent newsletter from my House rep, Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) on March 1 with the subject line: Prioritizing You! The subject line was indicative of the many acres of smarmy bullshit contained within, but I was heartened to see a nugget of truth that explained why he felt the need to send it at all:
Over the past few weeks, I’ve seen a high volume of calls in my office with people who have questions about what they are hearing about DOGE.
Yeah, I bet he has! From the newsletter:
DOGE’s job is to identify the waste, fraud, and abuse within our federal government and report the misuse of taxpayer dollars to the agency or department where the fraud is found- they are a fraud flashlight. DOGE has NO unilateral authority to decide cuts, firings etc.
It won’t be news to anyone here that this is a bald-faced lie. Trump said multiple times, on camera, that unelected gazillionaire Elon Musk runs DOGE, and a few weeks ago, Musk gleefully commented that he had personally spent a weekend “feeding USAID into the wood chipper.”
That was an agency established by Congress, where Bilirakis currently serves, and neither Trump nor Musk have the authority to dismantle it. But I guess Bilirakis is okay with ceding his own power to placate billionaire sociopaths who might otherwise fund a primary opponent for his seat.
I get that. But it’s enraging to hear him lying to us about illegal activities we can see with our own eyes.
As I told the poor woman who answered the phone this morning, the DOGE authority question played out in the media and in court around several points, including the insulting email Musk sent to federal employees demanding that they reply with five bullet points highlighting accomplishments for the past week. Musk’s email also said that not replying was tantamount to a resignation.
That shows who the boss is. Not the enfeebled orange shitbag drooling in front of a TV in the White House. Not Congress. And certainly not the Nashville-based rando who was told to pretend she’s in charge.
Pressing on, we also discussed another steaming load of horseshit from the newsletter: the claim that DOGE has delivered estimated savings of $55 billion. As many media outlets have reported, the “estimated savings” DOGE posts on its website are immediately vaporized upon closer examination. I shared just one example, which was published BEFORE Bilirakis misled his constituents with the $55 billion claim:
DOGE’s savings page launched with a topline claim of $55 billion saved, with “receipts” that accounted for about $16.5 billion in contract cancellations. But an NPR review found the documented savings were grossly overstated, including with an apparent $8 billion typo, the misleading inclusion of procurement methods that act as lines of credit and billions of dollars in contracts that were not actually terminated. By matching DOGE’s claims with federal contract data, that NPR analysis found estimated savings of only about $2 billion — a fraction of what the receipts claimed or the higher, unverifiable claim of $55 billion overall.
In his newsletter, Bilirakis indulged in some ass-covering after making that bogus claim:
The pace of DOGE has been quick, and as with any time we embark upon rapid change, there will be some confusion and possibly even some missteps. Congress retains its oversight responsibilities and will continue to monitor the progress and decisions that are being made.
Possibly? Good lord, man! He’s hearing from constituents because we’re seeing in real time the results of an unelected, unvetted gang’s shambolic assault on agencies Americans depend on, including the seniors and veterans my congressman frequently says he’s in DC to protect. The misleading crap in his newsletter tells me exactly who he’s really protecting, and it’s not us. One last snippet from the shitty newsletter:
After listening to hundreds of my constituents during in-person forums, it is clear that the vast majority of my constituents want us to keep rooting out the waste, fraud and abuse of their tax dollars. I will keep doing all I can to achieve this goal.
I asked the aide to pass on a request that the congressman stop limiting public interactions to prescreened onsite events at area corporations and hold a real town hall to which all constituents are invited.
I told her I thought he’d hear that we are indeed interested in making sure our tax dollars are spent wisely, but we are unimpressed with the Musk-run DOGE scam. I speculated that he’d hear that we are rightly concerned about the security risk when people like teenage Musk sycophant “Big Balls” gain access to our personal financial and medical data. He’d hear that we’re concerned about Musk’s corrupt self-dealing as his minions yank multibillion-dollar government contracts from one business and award them to companies controlled by Musk.
And yes, maybe I sounded a bit unhinged, even to myself. It’s hard to sound sane when you’re talking about an insane state of affairs. But at least I know I’m not alone.
My favorite news genre these days, Republicans Fleeing Town Halls, tells me that citizens are starting to see that rather than rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse, DOGE is itself wasteful, fraudulent and abusive.
Right now, Repubs seem more afraid of the implicit threat Trump and Musk pose to their political careers than they are of the possibility that the people who sent them to Washington will throw them out of office. We need to flip that calculation.
When Social Security checks stop being deposited, when service for veterans grind to a halt, when prices soar even higher, when FEMA doesn’t respond to the next natural disaster, it’s possible that even districts like the Florida 12th will wake up. We’ll see.
Open thread.
Steve LaBonne
Most of our income is our Ohio pensions plus a little bit of investment income. We would have to tighten our belts a little if our pittance of Social Security stopped coming, but we would be fine. So I’m ALMOST eager to see what would happen if the SS deposits did stop coming. Almost because I’m not evil enough to enjoy the prospect of people starving / losing their homes. But I wouldn’t want to be a Florida GrOPer congresscritter in that event, that’s for sure.
GB in the HC
Thank you Betty, deeply disturbing but critical information.
WaterGirl
Acres of smarmy bullshit. LOVE THAT.
FDRLincoln
My disabled son got his SSDI payment today plus some back money that Social Security owed him due to a bureaucratic fuckup, a fuckup we were able to fix due to the patient people at the local SSA service office. An office that DOGE will likely close.
NotMax
Fleet of pigs preparing to taxi to runway 1 for takeoff?
//
John S.
TPM keeps a list of all the town halls that have gone poorly for Republicans.
It’s a pretty long list.
Old Man Shadow
Bullshit.
If Congress doesn’t pass a budget in time, Trump could order the government to follow whatever Heritage Foundation budget document was put in front of him and Congress would praise him for his greater leadership.
If Congress impeached him, Trump would simply refuse to attend or recognize their authority and order them arrested.
Congress doesn’t have one set of balls between the 535 members.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
RWNJ mom told me this weekend that she’s excited that RFK is going to be looking at nutrition and the way that Europe seems to have higher life expectancies, but “not to talk about politics”.
I did point out that EU meat, fruit and vegetable products for sale to consumers are subject to rigid regulatory standards that American food purveyors would shriek like banshees about. I did not bother to bring up the pushback that Michelle Obama got for encouraging healthy meals in schools.
My current motto is “hey, hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today”.
Xavier
They are looking for fraud like OJ looked for the real murderer. They are trying to imply that people like you and me are going to the doctor and claiming to be sick in order to bilk Medicare out of $10,000. What’s really happening is that hospitals and insurance companies are claiming you are sick in order to bilk Medicare out of $10,000.
Geo Wilcox
@FDRLincoln: Yes they will. It is already happening. They are laying off people and plan to shutter 6 of the main offices located throughout the country. Good luck getting a real person to talk it, it will all be AI.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@Old Man Shadow:
Team D owns nearly half the chamber. He’s never faced a concerted hoot down by that kind of number, particularly since they can’t be removed.
frosty
I looked up the results. Your district (71% R) is even worse than mine (63% R). You have my sympathy – I thought my situation was bad.
Suzanne
I will note that SuzMom worked three jobs to put herself through college and raised me without any child support or alimony, and she now depends on Social Security and me. (Meanwhile, my POS bio”dad” apparently has over a million dollars in assets. Guess who he voted for!!!)
leeleeFL
Love that Elon wants Americans to have more kids to defray the cost of SSA across more workers,rather than richer people paying into SSA at a higher level of income. They say we don’t need SSA? Fine! Just donate yours to a charity if your choice, morther-f—ers! Nothing stopping you! Support your fellow Americans who don’t make gazillions. F–k these f–kers! Jeebus, I really hate them!
Lapassionara
@Xavier: Yeah. Ask Rick Scott about Medicare fraud. He knows how it’s done.
MagdaInBlack
Elno was on Rogan again this weekend, telling us how Social Security is a the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time.
https://gizmodo.com/elon-musk-calls-social-security-a-ponzi-scheme-as-he-destroys-the-u-s-government-2000570350
Ohio Mom
I called my two R Senators this morning, as well as my D Rep — sent my thanks to him and told his staff they were doing God’s work.
The R staff are robots and idiots, at least I got hatchmarks entered under Do Not Cut Medicaid, Social Security or Medicare. The Senators’ staff all assured me their boss will not cut Medicaid. I told them I hope I didn’t have to call them back and make them apologize to me.
The staff cuts at Social Security concern me. It’s no big deal getting retirement benefits started, that seems to be mostly automated. If you apply on March 1 and they don’t approve you until three months later, your first check is a lump sum for everything you would have recieved if your benefits started on March 1. Then it’s direct deposit unti you die.
But disabled people! There are always changes and a lot of times you do need staff help untangling things.
If you are on SSI, you’re allowed/encouraged to work. There’s a somewhat complicated formula where your SSI benefit is reduced in proportion to what you earned but there’s a time lag and benefits and earned income are never in sync. It’s up to you to report your earnings via an app but they do check your report against your tax records.
Then, when you parents retire, you are switched to SSDI, on their retirement account. SSDI is really for, as the example I like to use, the roofer who fell and broke his back and can’t work anymore. For various reasons I won’t bore you all with, it’s a kluge making it for someone with disability who is probably never going to manage independently.
There have been a few times we’ve really needed the staff’s help, and we are college-educated and Ohio Dad is a math whiz. I don’t know how an adult without family, say someone with schizophrenia, would navigate that all on their own with a friendly and impartial staff person. Who has sworn to uphold the Constitution.
Ohio Mom
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: Then there is the little matter that *everyone* in Europe has free (or very low cost), handle-free health care.
Scout211
PSA:
SSA has a new page on the site listing office closures. You can also set up an alert for them to email you for updates and future closures in your state.
Closures or delays affecting in-person service
Steve LaBonne
@Ohio Mom: We know that these mofos hate SSI and SSDI, so I think they view the staff cuts as a “quiet” way to shrink or even eliminate those programs simply by making it all but impossible to apply.
Steve LaBonne
@leeleeFL: Of course undocumented immigrants are already doing their bit by paying payroll taxes to support benefits they will never receive. In that way they help the system more than additional American babies would do! Don’t hold your breath waiting for any Republiscum to acknowledge that.
Ohio Mom
@FDRLincoln: You say “bureaucratic fuckup” I say “times we’ve really needed the staff’s help.”
Two ways of saying the same thing. When the local people finish hearing you describe the problem and make a face, you know it’s going to be a challenge to untangle.
Ohio Mom
@Steve LaBonne: That isn’t said often enough.
Redshift
@Xavier: I don’t think they’re even doing that. They’re doing “when you hear talk about cuts, it just about Those Undeserving People who are cheating. Don’t worry your pretty little head.”
They’ve been running that con for decades to get elected (and never finding fraud), they probably could have gotten SS cuts past the base without a peep until it was too late if they hadn’t started slashing services up front.
Kristine
@Scout211: Thanks for this. Signed up for IL notices.
I’m going to post the link in various spots.
Just Some Fuckhead
The 12th is kinda shaped like Donald Trump’s head with that overwater panhandle at the top.
Ohio Mom
@Ohio Mom: Hassle-free health care
spellcheck hates me
David_C
Most of my day so far has been spent writing justifications for contract activities and what I did last week. Feels wasteful.
French Onion Soup
@leeleeFL:
They do not believe in social security. They never will. For the rich there is the obvious issues of taxes, lack of grift, and it makes the peasants less desperate. For the social conservatives it prevents family and religious institutions from asserting totalitarian social control and messes up the patriarchy and non white people benefit.
It’s about control. We can’t mesh a system that provides with people without chains attached that bind their behaviors with what they want. At some point we are going to need to look at handling this at the state level. Blue states can set up their own system with buy in. It may come to this.
RaflW
Sadly, my senior Senator is a Democrat who leaves her voicemail on (at least it records, or pretends to, rather than just being full), but the outgoing message says to leave a callback number to hear from them (a staffer, of course) and they never do call.
I have yet to have a conversation, though. Just messages.
The senator: Bipartisan Amy. I’m pretty unhinged these days at how bad Klobuchar is at her job.
She bragged (with a photo!) the other morning about her “productive” meeting with Zelensky and Sen. Lindsey Graham. Graham then went on to be a sniveling, disgusting mouthpiece for Trump-Vance after the choreographed bullshit event at the WH.
Amy is like Debbie Downer, always always getting played for her bipartisan fetish. Whaa-whaa.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@Ohio Mom:
According to her, that sounds like a communism. She gets really resentful if she perceives that someone gets a scaled benefit that “they didn’t pay for”.
Redshift
Betty:
At a town hall, he might be asked to explain who is deciding those things, since all we ever hear is Elon bragging about doing it. And also why he’s collecting a paycheck if someone else is doing Congress’ job of deciding what the country spends money on.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@RaflW:
They can have bipartisanship back when they are willing to horsetrade again.
I’m convinced that the Teatards broke everything when they insisted on that period of killing the earmark system. It hyperfocused excessive partisanship.
catclub
@MagdaInBlack:
Most ponzi schemes don’t run for 90 years keeping up payments.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@Redshift:
What the DOGE kids don’t understand is that the statutes and regs that establish agencies and programs are still in effect, and that current refusal to enforce can be upended with a presidential election.
Some of these are going to involve jail time.
circular reasoning
@Scout211: No Michigan on that list. Huh? I wonder how an entire state got missed.
And when I did call my MI representative’s office to inform him that nearly 20% of the people in my county receive Medicaid, I got lies and gaslighting about how “the mainstream media” wasn’t reporting accurately and how raising the debt ceiling wouldn’t “necessarily” mean increasing the national debt, but simply “provide a little breathing room”. I was able to refrain from screaming only by hanging up.
TONYG
I called my Democratic New Jersey congressman and Senators three weeks ago to complain about Musk’s crimes. Crickets from two of them, and an anodyne boiler plate response from the third one. I guess George Carlin was right. It’s a big club, and we ain’t in it.
lowtechcyclist
@Ohio Mom:
Same here. I’ve got what I’d describe as a nearly ideal combination of skills* for being able to figure out this stuff on my own, but I still benefited substantially from the help I received from SSA staff, even though my situation was the basic “start taking Social Security upon turning 70,” or so I thought.
So like you, it makes me wonder** how everyone else is going to be able to manage when there are way fewer skilled SSA staff waiting to help them.
*Let’s see: I have a PhD in math and did my own taxes until just the past few years, so numbers aren’t a problem. I was a bookworm since I learned to read at age 4, so my reading comprehension is excellent. And I was a paralegal for a few years when I was young, so deciphering legalese is in my skill set. This shit should be right in my wheelhouse, and they still were able to help me in ways I didn’t expect.
**Actually no, I don’t wonder at all. Dammit.
TONYG
@Redshift: Yet DOGE has been doing that for a month anyway. Sounds to me like some arrests on felony charges are long overdue.
Other MJS
@Xavier:
Suggested for rotating tag line. Another suggestion:
“The algorithm made me do it!”
Ohio Mom
@catclub: IIRC, most ponzi schemes don’t last a year.
The difference between Social Security and Ponzi schemes is well-trod ground, lots just a google away.
French Onion Soup
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg:
If I was a DOGEr I’d look at our grand history of ignoring crimes of past administrations and figure the same will happen yet again. While it’s true we go after low level crooks at times it’s rare then as well. Trump is also willing to issue pardons and pardons in advance are now the new hotness.
The law won’t save us. It was always a bit of a farce that barely held up to scrutiny. It’s been show to be what it actually is over the past while.
TONYG
@lowtechcyclist: Right. The point is that SSA needs people with very specialized skills who understand a very specialized system. And those are the people who are being arbitrarily fired. That was a problem that I encountered again and again during my “career” in I.T. The smartest whiz-kid cannot understand a complex system in a timely manner unless he or she gets help from people who have worked with that system for years.
Steve LaBonne
@TONYG: I have bad news about who employs the people who would do the arresting.
Melancholy Jaques
@Steve LaBonne:
Do you think it would be enough for them to leave the cult? To consider whether voting white supremacy time after time might not be the best idea?
I’m not holding my breath. I know I am dismal at times, but I believe in Planck’s Principle applied to politics: Change does not occur because individuals change their mind, but rather because they are replaced by successive generations who have different views.
MagdaInBlack
@Ohio Mom: @catclub: Yup, and Gizmodo did do some rebutting of that.
( they were not too flattering toward elno either)
hitchhiker
Some years back there was an article about how people in rural communities who could not find work, could not afford to move, and were too young for SS were finding it necessary to wrangle their way into the SSDI system. There seemed to be a bit of a cottage industry in doctors making this possible, a little like doctors handing out Rxs for opioids.
Their disability was being trapped, or uneducated, or just without resources. The article’s tone was basically whaddayagonnado??
Most but not all of these people are likely to be thug voters, or just non-voters. I wonder what will happen to them?
Steve LaBonne
@Melancholy Jaques: We may find out regardless of what any of us think or want. And the thing to remember is that we don’t need even a majority of them, just a decent slice. And we don’t need all of that slice to vote for us, just stay home.
Geminid
@RaflW: That was Zelensky’s choice to meet with Democratic and Republican Senators. You don’t give Amy Klobucher any credit for meeting with Zelensky; just trash her for what was basically Zelensky’s decision. So what if Klobucher let the word “bipartisan” pass her lips without attaching a curse word to it?
I think this is a good example of how Democrats demoralize themselves and each over inconsequential matters.
JML
Social Security is one of the most effective government programs in history. It’s done exactly what is what designed to do (keep the elderly out of poverty and able to retire with dignity, rather than work until you’re dead or stand in bread lines to eat). It’s incredibly popular, and very well managed (it’s got low overhead and administrative costs and fraud rates are also low, particularly in comparison to the scope of the program. It’s waaaaay better at minimizing waste, fraud, and abuse than the vast majority of private companies of any size).
So of course, they want to wreck it.
It’s fundamentally in opposition to the GOP world-view that government can do anything well, so they need to have Social Security fail to “prove” themselves right. Since it won’t go down on it’s own, they’re finally taking a wrecking ball to it and lying about it.
What’s hilarious, is after 30+ years of their lies and Bee Ess, they’ve got most of their own followers fooled into thinking that Social Security isn’t even a government program (same with Medicare)…
Ohio Mom
@hitchhiker: It was probably SSI not SSDI.
For SSDI, you have to had paid into Social Security for at least 40 quarters (same as qualifying for retirement benefits). So if you are a roofer who falls and breaks your back and you have only paid in for 39 quarters, no SSDI for you.
SSI is for anyone who has a health condition that keeps them from “performing substantial gainful activity.” (Page 5 of https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-11000.pdf). There are some other qualifying categories, including Blind or 65 or older. I just looked it up and the monthly benefit is now $943, which isn’t much if that’s your only income.
I don’t doubt that there are people who weasel their way into SSI, it’s the closest thing we have to welfare.
I once saw a map of the U.S. with SSI enrollment by state and it looked like most of West Virginia was getting SSI. It made me wonder if the SSA isn’t a little more lenient on qualifying people there.
On the other hand, a family in my subdivision with a son a little younger than Ohio Son, just as autistic but a little more academically adept, had his SSI application turned down. I think in part because of their blind spot, they are always talking up their son, they should have emphasized what he’s not good at. They have procrastinated on appealing and now in the current circumstances, who knows?
ETA: you can’t have more than $2,000 in assets and qualify for SSI; no such asset limit on SSDI. As I said, SSI is basically welfare.
Ohio Mom
@JML: All true.
sentient ai from the future
when things start to crash, like they did at the beginning of covid, there are going to need to be steps taken to stabilize things and those will be quite expensive overall. i actually think those steps will be taken because a much larger proportion of the dems actually know shit about shit and can make informed recommendations.
we can burn the GOP to the ground, we just have to keep hammering them until they buckle.
Kosh III
@hitchhiker: “people in rural communities who could not find work, could not afford to move, and were too young for SS were finding it necessary to wrangle their way into the SSDI system…Their disability was being trapped, or uneducated, or just without resources… I wonder what will happen to them?”
Having known many folks like this who “worked the system”
Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.
CCL
As folks are contacting their representatives about Social Security, Medicare/ Medicaid, consider adding a plea about stopping the Rep Chip Roy introduced HR 22 SAV Act – earmarked for fast tracking. Here’s the list of the co-sponsors – all republicans. It’s another wolf bill in sheep’s clothing…
Here’s a link to the League of Women Voters’ call to action against the bill: Stop the SAV act
Some key paragraphs from their site:
Not included in most discussions but also important is HR 22’s proposed criminal penalties for any election worker who assists in such registrations – even unknowingly.
ETtheLibrarian
As a resident of the District of Columbia I wish I had a Senator (and a Representative who could vote on the House floor) to write to – not a single one really care about constituents that aren’t theirs. Please give them hell or heck for me. I don’t want the city to loose Home Rule.
Ohio Mom
@Kosh III: Theoretically, a person on SSI can work (your earnings will reduce your monthly benefit slightly but you will still come out ahead), and by doing so, can “pull themselves up” that way. The problem is, you can’t have more than $2,000 in assets and stay on SSI so you may have trouble saving enough to move. It would take a tons of self-discipline and ambition.
I keep thinking back to Dave Chappelle’s SNL monologue where he explains why there were so many job openings for the Haitians in Springfield to avail themselves of (Chapelle lives very close to Springfield, in Yellow Springs): the white people were busy doing other things, using heroin and sleeping on the sidewalk.
My feeling is, we are going to have poor people, that’s the underside of our economic system. They are our sacrificial lambs, let them have some subsistence. But it’s annoying they vote Republican.
lou
@hitchhiker:
This story in the Washington Post? That whole series was excellent.
Quick pop quiz: which county has the highest concentration of people on food stamps?
Answer, McDowell, W. Va.
mr perfect
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: We travel to Europe quite regularly, spending 3-4 weeks at a time at long stays around the Mediterranean during fall and winter months. We just returned from one of these trips from Spain where we were celebrating my wife’s birthday. What you say about European food inspection standards is true. Not only do you get a better Big Mac at a Spanish McDonald’s you can also order a beer to go with it (bonus). Overall you don’t see nearly as many obese people in Europe (with the exception of the UK) as in the USA. I see Orange Yeller squawking on his social disease site about not picking on his friend Putin because the USA might end up like Europe. As a Canadian whose daughter is married to an American, living in the USA and I now have an American granddaughter, I’ve travelled to the USA many times and I have to say I would gladly live in Europe any day over the USA. There’s also the very real possibility with the financial rape being forced onto the American people by the current administrative thugs a debt crisis looms large in America’s future. And Orange Yeller has said how he deals with debt; declare bankruptcy. Soon the Euro will become the gold standard currency over the USD.
Yeah, I prefer Europe.
Noskilz
I’ve been calling my senators and congressman regularly – almost daily with the ongoing dumpster fire of this administration – but I’ve yet to get any kind of substantial response from any of them on any subject. Just the assurance my comments will be passed along, or an automated generic email that they appreciate comments from constituents if the voicemail was full and I had to use the web contact form.
Considering my Senators are Blackburn and Haggerty that’s not surprising. Cong. Rose is worthless, but in years past, his office would eventually return calls with some kind of useless response, however that hasn’t happened since the Trump took office again.
On the odd occasion I get a person rather than voicemail, the staffers sound like they really wished they were working somewhere else, so the help is probably having a having a bad time of it.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
Knock-on effects of killing social security:
No Nym
I keep wondering why, if there was all this waste, fraud, and abuse in government, Congress has never done anything about it. Don’t they oversight and responsibility for managing federal money? Why have we been paying them? Seems like a real waste to me.
cain
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg:
I don’t know … if they were trump voters who voted for this and also put their grandchildren’s health at risk – there is going to be a conflict.
UncleEbeneezer
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: Did you point out that gun violence is one of the leading causes of death in America but not in Europe for some strange reason…
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@UncleEbeneezer:
She’s never been much of a gun nut – but we’ve had so many convos about Europe being better that went bad that she generally keeps her mouth quiet.
And I was always the family gun acquirer.
jonas
I was having a conversation with someone the other day about how much pain a MAGA voter is going to have to feel before they start questioning their priorities and how they got here. My response was that half the country is basically North Korea at this point, trapped in an impenetrable bubble of propaganda and fear. Dear Leader can never fail, only be failed. Doubt is decadent. Questions are counterrevolutionary. Any sense that their personal financial situation is getting worse is purely illusory.
They are lost.
That leaves us with a small sliver of slightly more sentient independents and non-voters who can perhaps be snapped out of their slumbers and shown what’s really going on.
jonas
@No Nym: There is an inspector general, the DOJ, and multiple layers of bureaucratic red tape designed to minimize wastefraudandabuse but most of the time 1. proving it is really hard and 2. it tends to focus attention on very powerful government contractors whose Congressional allies and lobbyists can make such scrutiny go away. It’s why DOGE is just weedwhacking through the federal workforce rather than scrutinizing the massive contracting system with the private sector where most of the shenanigans are happening.
Gloria DryGarden
OT this just came up on a news feed
Oscar nominated movie; Iranian actress house arrest
Now I want to watch her film..
leeleeFL
@Ohio Mom: No, it is not!
Geminid
@jonas: Gallup published an in-depth study of American electorate in 2023. They found that 27% of voters self-described as Republican, 27% as Democrat. But 43% identified as Independents. That’s a lot.
Of course, political scientists find that most Indies are reliable Republican or Democratic voters. But some acually are swing voters. I think that’s how Jackie Rosen, Ruben Gallego, Tammy Baldwin and Elissa Slotkin won Senate seats in states Trump carried; also, how Josh Sten and Jeff Jackson won statewide races while Trump carried North Carolina.
I suspect when all the data is analysed, we’ll find that much of the supposed Democratic undervote in last year’s Presidential election can be attributed to Independents who voted for Biden in 2020 and then Trump last year.
So I think some Indies are both gettable and lose-able, which why I did not mind my Congreesman, Eugene Vindman talk up bipartisanship in his election campaign. Vindman wasn’t demonstrating naivety, he was demonstrating pragmatism. Indies like to hear that stuff and they likely make up 40 per cent of the VA07 electorate. Like them or not, Independents are here to stay; and you can say what you want about them, but you can’t say they don’t vote.
Betty
@Steve LaBonne: Please don’t be even almost wish that on me and so many of your fellow citizens.
ErikaF
@CCL: Interestingly enough, Texas is one of the states that require a passport or birth certificate for a driver’s license (something that I absolutely loathe).
At this point, I cheer for Thanos’ snap!
Kayla Rudbek
@TONYG: from your mouth to God’s ears