The Jobs Nobody Notices
There are some jobs where, if the job is done perfectly, the public is never even aware there is a person doing that job. The only time people notice them is when a screw-up happens. The job of projectionist at a movie theater is a good example. If he or she runs the projector perfectly and there are no problems, then no one in the audience gives them a second thought (or even a first thought). They are invisible -- but the movie wouldn't run without them. The sound mixer at a live concert is another good example. If the sound is mixed well and all the equipment functions perfectly, then nobody even notices them. But if something's wrong, then everyone turns around and starts yelling at them.
There are a lot of governmental jobs that fall into this category as well. Which has left me wondering what is going to happen when a whole bunch of them get fired (or quit in disgust) and then a screw-up happens?
This week, a plane flipped over while landing, but President Elon Musk decided it was still a good idea to go ahead with a mass firing of people who work for the Federal Aviation Administration. That's just the most prominent recent warning of how Musk's meat-axe approach to firing people could easily cause future problems. Big problems.
What happens when there is a crisis or emergency or accident and the nation looks to the government department equipped to handle such a crisis... and it doesn't exist anymore? Or it has been stripped to the bone and there just aren't enough qualified people left to do much of anything?
At the end of last week, what people are now calling the "Saint Valentine's Day Massacre" began, with tens of thousands of government employees getting emails which fired them. The wholesale job cuts have hit departments far and wide.
Musk is beginning with the easiest to fire -- people still on "probation." People in their first (and sometimes second) year of employment can be terminated for no particular reason -- they don't get solid job protections until they have finished their probationary period. So they're all being fired, because they are the easiest to let go.
This is short-sighted, because most of these are young people just entering public service, and if they're all gone then it's doubtful many other young people will be lining up to serve, at least for the foreseeable future. People will choose other (more stable) career paths, which will be a brain drain on government departments.
People have also started to quit, in disgust. Several federal prosecutors have done so, in protest of the weaponization of the Justice Department. This began when the announcement was made that bribery and corruption charges were being dropped against the mayor of New York City, in a blatant quid pro quo to get him to aid in beefed-up deportation efforts. Seven lawyers and prosecutors (some quite senior) put principle above their careers and quit. Other people in the department are also quitting for different reasons, mostly when they refuse to carry out a nakedly political order.
They're not the only ones. The guy responsible for food safety at the Food and Drug Administration quit yesterday. And again, he's not the only one -- others across the government who refuse to follow orders they see as illegal (or at the worst highly unethical) are just walking away from their jobs in protest.
All of this represents a different sort of brain drain on the federal workforce, because it consists of the people who have sterling principles and ethics, and a devotion to the rule of law and the Constitution. They'll all be replaced by people who may lack their dedication to these things.
Musk simply doesn't understand the agencies he is gutting. A whole bunch of people who work for the Department of Energy were given termination notices last week, and then someone figured out that these were the folks responsible for the nation's nuclear arsenal. Not exactly governmental "fraud, waste, and abuse," in other words. This necessitated a quick reversal, and the department scrambled to contact all these people and tell them that they weren't being fired and all was well. But no doubt some of them will be freshening up their résumés and looking for work elsewhere now (I wouldn't blame them a bit for doing so).
Musk is also killing off entire agencies wholesale. And the Federal Emergency Management Agency could be one of his targets for elimination. Which is kind of ironic, since it is the best example of what happens when you pick some buddy of the president's who is completely and utterly unqualified to run a federal agency.
Remember Hurricane Katrina? And George W. Bush and his FEMA director Michael "Heckuva Job Brownie" Brown?
So what's going to happen when another hurricane or natural disaster strikes, and FEMA doesn't exist anymore? State governments can be ill-equipped to handle such a crisis, so the response could badly break down once again. Who would the public blame? The governor? Or the fact that FEMA doesn't exist anymore?
That's just the easiest example to make. There are far too many others that are possible to even contemplate. Imagine who will be left at the nation's governmental health agencies (like the C.D.C., for instance) after Musk and R.F.K. Jr. purge all those employees they deem insufficiently loyal. Now imagine them trying to cope with another pandemic.
We don't know which direction the screw-up will come from, in other words. We probably won't see it coming -- it'll probably blindside everyone. We were just sitting there enjoying watching a movie when all of a sudden there was this big "Clunk!" noise from the back and the movie turned into an indecipherable blur on the screen. And we'll all turn around and start yelling "Focus! Focus!" in the hopes of someone fixing things.
But there may be nobody there to do so, because Elon and his minions fired them.
-- Chris Weigant
Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant
Of course advisor Elon Musk didn't actually fire anyone.
But why let actual facts and objective reality get in the way of a good hysterical factless rant.
:eyeroll:
Is a mob boss not a murderer just because they did not pull the trigger?
This is fundamental. You're absolutely right - "waste" may exist in the federal government, but one finds it with careful and objective audits, not a meat-axe blindly applied to an email list of probationary employees.
A lot of government work is both invisible and invaluable. It may seem like waste to those who don't think or ask beyond what they themselves think they know about the world in all its complexity. But few people know much about the world outside their own experiences. Here, Musk and Trump and the Republican Party in general are making a point of pride about their deliberate ignorance and lack of curiosity about what civil government, public service, and the incentives to work in the non-profit sector are all about.
It won't end well, as you say. But it remains to be seen, when the various disasters and horror shows happen this year, whether the public will draw the obvious conclusion that they were direct the result of this approach to government efficiency taken by this Republican administration.
And don't even ask about how hard it's going to be for a more rational and intelligent president and his/her administration to rebuild the Federal public service from the ground up, four years from now (God willing). As you say, anyone burnt once is twice shy, and younger people especially will have heard by then that the federal government is a sh** show to work for.
'Fire everyone and make them reapply for their jobs' is a dubious technique that's been around for a while now, and that's probably how all of this will be represented in the maga--or should we say muskrat*--media. It often backfires when the most experienced and the most valuable staff decide it's time to retire or move on. And yes, it's not just current staff, it's the high potential people who look elsewhere to begin with.
I fear things will have to get pretty bad before the red parts of the map realise what's been done to them because of very restricted media and information sources and the distortions and downright lies they are fed. And even then the causes will be distorted. It will take local people and local campaigns on media local people will come across to break through.
The information that I routinely see on my feeds and in my news sources, for example, isn't going to be showing up in the feeds and news sources of someone who lives in Magatown Redstate unless they seek it out.
*Unfair to muskrats, I know. Possibly unfair to rats as well.
Musk is beginning with the easiest to fire -- people still on "probation."
The low-hanging fruit won't last forever. I hear the Pentagon is next.
Genocide Guy
This is fundamental. You're absolutely right - "waste" may exist in the federal government, but one finds it with careful and objective audits, not a meat-axe blindly applied to an email list of probationary employees.
Yea??
Howz that been working so far??
:eyeroll:
You people are just whiney and bitchy because PRESIDENT Trump is actually doing something GOOD for America..
And you Trump/America haters HATE it when something GOOD gets done for America..
And you DOUBLY hate it when it's PRESIDENT Trump is doing the good..
:eyeroll:
Mezzo...
I fear things will have to get pretty bad before the red parts of the map realise what's been done to them because of very restricted media and information sources and the distortions and downright lies they are fed.
You mean like the distortions and downright lies that woke progressive Democrats have been feeding the American people for the last 4 years??
"Biden is as sharp as a tack.."
You mean distortions and downright lies like that??
:eyeroll:
Face reality, lady...
Ya'all lost and now yer just pissing a bitch because PRESIDENT Trump is actually fulfilling his campaign promises and ya'all just can't stand it...
:eyeroll:
CW,
This week, a plane flipped over while landing, but President Elon Musk decided it was still a good idea to go ahead with a mass firing of people who work for the Federal Aviation Administration. That's just the most prominent recent warning of how Musk's meat-axe approach to firing people could easily cause future problems. Big problems.
You DO realize that AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL duties for the TORONTO Area is handled by NAV CANADA, right??
So PRESIDENT Trump firing ATC and FAA personnel in the US has absolutely NOTHING to do with a plane crash that occurs in Canada..
You DO realize that, right?? :eyeroll:
I am ALSO constrained to point out that this particular plane crash was either pilot error or mechanical failure.
NEITHER of which had ANYTHING to do with Air Traffic Control..
Once again, your Trump/America hate and your PTDS gets in the way of your "reality based" commentary...
VERY rookie mistakes.. :eyeroll:
Just another sign of how 2025 CW is completely diametrically OPPOSITE of how 2010 CW would handle things..
I'm just saying..
SO, ya'all are upset because a bunch of lusers who totally frak'ed up and frak'ed over America have quit..
Personally, I think it's great..
Get rid of all the woke progressive Democrat morons before they can do even MORE harm to America and the American people...
Let's do some FACT-Checking...
REAL fact-checking... Not that BS crap "fact checking" that woke progressive Democrats always do...
FACT #1
Air Traffic Control for the Toronto area is handled by NAV CANADA and not the US FAA..
FACT #2
Elon Musk has not fired a SINGLE SOLITARY person
FACT #3
PRESIDENT Trump has not fired ANY FAA personnel
FACT #4
NOT A SINGLE SOLITARY Air Traffic Controller has been fired
Given these REAL and ACTUAL facts it would seem that your entire commentary is complete MOOSE POOP and has absolutely NOTHING to do with the objective reality of the here and now..
I'm just sayin'..
And it looks like PRESIDENT Trump has WON again!! :D
Senate advances nomination of Kash Patel, Trump's pick for FBI director
The Senate voted 48-45 to advance Kash Patel's nomination
The Senate voted Tuesday along party lines to advance the nomination of Kash Patel, President Donald Trump's pick for FBI director, clearing a procedural hurdle to set up a final vote on the controversial Trump ally to lead the federal law enforcement agency.
Lawmakers in the Upper Chamber voted 48-45 to advance Patel's nomination, as Democrats hold concerns that he would operate as a loyalist for the president and target the administration's political enemies.
This sets up a final confirmation vote later in the week. Some of Trump's other more controversial picks — including new Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — have received enough support from Republican lawmakers seeking to fall in line to push the president's agenda.
Woke progressive Democrats are simply impotent when trying to stop or even SLOW DOWN PRESIDENT Trump's MAGA agenda!! :D
I am always advocating that Democrats should get behind PRESIDENT Trump and HELP him in making America great again..
I guess it's not necessary anymore because woke progressive Democrats are not even a speed bump in slowing down the PRO America PRO AMERICAN agenda that PRESIDENT Trump is pushing...
In other words, I don't mind so woke progressive Democrats don't matter.. :D
You woke progressive Democrats just GOTS ta know that when ya'all lose Jon Stewart, ya'all have lost. PERIOD.. END TRANS...
Jon Stewart says the media cried wolf with its 'fascist' attacks on Trump
The liberal comedian swiped the media's anti-Trump panic while taking a question from an audience member
""I'm very big on- and I know it's annoying, but specificity and nuance. And I think if you cry 'fascism' at every administrative overreach, even the ones that are constitutionally OK, you will find yourself out of fascism bullets when the time really comes.
I think what the media has done over the past ten years is cry wolf, to the point where they numbed everybody.
It was an anesthetic, and it got to where- what was the thing they litigated throughout this campaign? 'He's a fascist, he's a terrible person, democracy is on the ballot.'
Guess what?? We lost at the ballot box. If you told us democracy was on the ballot, democracy got its ass kicked by a majority vote.
So I am very cautious about when to know, like, yeah- hopefully I won't do it the night after Kristallnacht… but it's like when you put your dog down. It's one of those things, like, you're not quite sure, but I do understand how annoying that is."
-Jon Stewart
You woke progressive Democrats are a dying breed, eh? :D
Eggs are up, gas is up, inflation is up. And tariffs have not kicked in yet. Trumpflation is here to stay. What happened to Day One? Guess Trump was too busy playing golf...
No air traffic controllers have been fired so far but important workers there have been let go:
Other FAA employees who were fired were working on an urgent and classified early warning radar system the Air Force had announced in 2023 for Hawaii to detect incoming cruise missiles, through a program that was in part funded by the Defense Department. It’s one of several programs that the FAA’s National Airspace System Defense Program manages that involve radars providing longer-range detection around the country’s borders.
National security is evidently far from a top priority with Melakon and his puppet Trump...
Not only is Ukraine not invited to peace talks, Trump is lying out his ass about the whole thing. I had no idea that having one's tongue deeply up a dictators ass was "patriotic" nor bending at Putin's slightest whim "strong"...
Worst. President. Ever.
And now he is ceding influence in Latin America to China.
Why does Trump need to delete America's long built up soft power? A weak nation to match a weak man...
Dude, everything Trump is doing to harm America makes perfect sense when one considers the unthinkable: Trump is working for Putin, period. Full stop.
Please, talk me out of this conclusion!
FPC
Liz
109
…I’m unwilling to plow through all that to refresh your memory. So let’s discuss something I don’t have to hunt for,
Liz
47
Of course, Biden remains completely wedded to the silly notion that it is in Ukraine's best interests to apply for NATO membership, so there's that. :(
1- What exactly is “silly” about it? Funny how ALL the former Warsaw Pact countries who rushed to join NATO didn’t and still don’t find NATO membership to be silly.
2- what would YOU have done that would have prevented Putin’s escalation of his 2014 invasion of Ukraine.
3- in 2007 Putin lamented the fall of the Soviet empire in 1991 and made it clear he wanted to correct this. So he invaded Georgia, Kazakhstan, Chechnya twice and others. He told you what he wanted to do and then did so over and over. So what should Biden have done that would have stopped him in 2022?
4- how would taking NATO membership off the table have been anything other than, Ukraine? Sure, we don’t care so help yourself!
The previous name calling was not cool, and I’ll endeavor to knock it the fuck off. Please understand that it came purely out of frustration that you duck answering questions like these.
I have endeavoured to engage with you, Caddy and you meet that engagement with insults, name-calling and false accusations at every turn.
I have answered your questions on the subject of Russia's current invasion of Ukraine since it began three years ago. You have intentionally misconstrued my answers to the point where said answers are unrecognizable by me.
Most people would have put you on ignore a LONG time ago. But I continue to engage, as I will now. But, not on this column. I will return to the last FTP column where I will be happy to disucss all of this but NOT if you persist in the same behavior, such as just now when you accuse me of ducking your questions.
Also, I am busy at the moment with work-related projects so I may not have time until much later tonight.
Be good! :)
Elizabeth
So humor me. Kindly answer the above to clarify and thus refresh my memory. Engage right here, right now. Please.
Oh, okay. I’m on my way…