DOGE Discovers That the VA Was Paying $350,000-$380,000 Per <i>Month</i> For Minor Tweaks to Its Website

DOGE Discovers That the VA Was Paying $350,000-$380,000 Per Month For Minor Tweaks to Its Website

This was almost certainly a payoff. I don't know many website managers who charge $350,000-$380,000 per month to give the hamsters a kick.

The contract has now been cancelled.

DOGE finds Veterans Affairs paying $350K per month for website modifications
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), under the leadership of Elon Musk, revealed the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) had been spending an astounding $350,000--$380,000 per month on minor website updates before canceling the bloated contract.
Key Details:
The VA paid a contractor nearly $380,000/month for minor website modifications.
DOGE confirmed the contract was not renewed; the work is now done by one internal staffer in 10 hours/week.
The revelation follows DOGE's termination of 113 federal contracts worth $4.7 billion in total.
Diving Deeper:
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the agency created by executive order on President Donald Trump's first day in office, has uncovered yet another striking example of wasteful federal spending. This time, the target is the Department of Veterans Affairs, which until recently had been paying nearly $380,000 a month for relatively simple website modifications--work that a single staffer now handles internally with just 10 hours of effort each week.
DOGE broke the story via a post on X, formerly Twitter, praising the VA for not renewing the contract. "VA was previously paying ~$380,000/month for minor website modifications," the agency wrote. "That contract has not been renewed, and the same work is now being executed by 1 internal VA software engineer spending ~10 hours/week."

In sad news, Musk will be stepping back from his role as head of DOGE soon.

The left is celebrating that their literal domestic terrorism campaign against Musk has worked, but Musk and the Administration say he was always expected to step away from the job after 130 days, which is the term he was appointed to.

I don't know -- maybe he'd have sought an extension if not for the terrorism. I'm not sure if the terrorism worked or not.

The left sure is happy that their terrorism may have worked. Note that for your records.

Did you hear? A temporary government employee whose legally limited term of employment is 130 days is going to leave government employment after 140 days?!
Shocking, I know. Somebody in the government is going to obey the law, which explains why the news media is printing screaming headlines that Elon Musk is leaving government employment.
Donald Trump and Elon Musk loudly proclaimed when Elon Musk was hired that he would be in his position for 130 days. Given how things work in recent years, it is shocking that somebody in the government is obeying the law. That almost never happened under Obama and Joe Biden.
Yesterday, X was filled with celebration that Elon Musk had been pressured out of the government by all the attacks on Tesla. It was all started by a POLITICO "scoop" that the Trump administration had had enough. Trump liked him, but his cabinet did not.

...

Every single of word of that "scoop" was a total invention. It was a Narrative(TM), and everybody in the media picked it up, amplified it, and created a story that was essentially a hoax as invented as the "fine people" hoax.
POLITICO didn't make a mistake. The invented--or rather spread an invented hoax for somebody who cooked it up--because the left needs to create the sense that their coordinated opposition is working. Trump is losing momentum, his cabinet is revolting, and Musk has become a liability. It is part of their plan to cripple Trump by crippling Musk.

The left is doing what it always does when it's defending their zealous religious-cultist devotion to an unpopular position -- they're lying. They're claiming that they all really, really, rilly want to cut government spending too, they just don't like the exact way it's currently being done. But if it was done in the "right way," of course they'd support cutting hundreds of billions of dollars from the budget, Silly-Head!

And when you ask them for a list of cuts they support, they go silent. Though they might say "We need to stop giving away tax bonanzas to billionaires," which isn't a cut in spending but an increase in taxes. (Which they count as "a cut in spending," because they claim the government is writing checks to the rich.)

Of course their main lie has been "We support cutting the waste, fraud, and abuse, because of course we do, but we don't like that this billionaire Elon Musk is doing it, looking at IRS transactions so that this near-trillionaire, literally the richest man who has ever lived on earth for all of history, can jot down Granny's bank routing information so that he can nab her sweet $1,300/month Social Security payments.

And also, they don't like that "no one elected Musk," which is true of every single Administration official in every single Administration, except it's less true of Musk, who appeared at Trump campaign rallies with Trump promising that if we elected him he'd appoint Musk as head of DOGE.

My point is this: The left is going to have to quickly change its lies post-Musk to claim some other objection to the exact way government spending is being cut, and who it's being cut by.

But don't worry -- the truth-seeking media will call them out for changing their story about why they oppose these particular cuts. The media will not let the Democrat Party get away with its usual lies, don't you worry one second Buddy!

Posted by: Ace at 02:30 PM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 1

Posted by: Formerly Virginian at April 03, 2025 02:31 PM (N1tpc)

2 Who is the contractor and what is the scope/terms of the contract. Should be easy to find out.

Posted by: Mad Max in VA at April 03, 2025 02:32 PM (8iNlE)

3 Gee, I would have done it for $150K/year. Major cost savings!

Posted by: Hour of the Wolf at April 03, 2025 02:33 PM (VNX3d)

4 What politicians were donated to?

Posted by: Webco Services at April 03, 2025 02:33 PM (dzZCL)

5 No one will be charged with fraud or anything

Posted by: Iasonas at April 03, 2025 02:33 PM (gUzGB)

6 Noodled

Posted by: Hour of the Wolf at April 03, 2025 02:33 PM (VNX3d)

7 top 20

Posted by: Harry Paratestes at April 03, 2025 02:33 PM (uCjyK)

8 By law, a special government employee, which Musk was tagged as, can only work 130 days per year. It can be spread out or concentration. So Musk can keep the status and work another 130 days next year. Not really a "term".

Posted by: Lymond at April 03, 2025 02:34 PM (Jvjtu)

9 Pam Bondi and Kash Patel are too busy talking to do anything

Posted by: Iasonas at April 03, 2025 02:34 PM (gUzGB)

10 DOGE Discovers That the VA Was Paying $350,000-$380,000 Per Month For Minor Tweaks to Its Website

======

"This doesn't solve the entire fiscal crisis and someone may starve if we turn it off. DOGE is destroying America by doing this. Instead, he should cut Medicare payments to old people."
-NRO

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, back to the finish with Corman at April 03, 2025 02:34 PM (GBKbO)

11 I'm reminded of the Simpsons episode where Homer becomes Sanitation Manager and blows through the entire annual budget in a month.

"They let me sign checks with a stamp, Marge! A stamp!"

So the Simpsons already did this, only, instead of being punished for screwing up, the federal government just keeps rewarding people for being wasteful.

Posted by: Formerly Virginian at April 03, 2025 02:34 PM (N1tpc)

12 Musk is kind of busy, he set up a structure that should be sustainable. He does have a duty to his companies, so probably played a role as well. You know what else? The drama with Ashley Whatsherface. It’s just not necessary and again, proof you can be the richest guy and one of the smartest guys in the world but still make really bad women decisions.

Posted by: Piper at April 03, 2025 02:35 PM (QzINz)

13 I used the VA website when my dad was using benefits for his healthcare. It wasn't worth $3.80.

Posted by: huerfano at April 03, 2025 02:35 PM (n2swS)

14
That's great, but name the contractor. We have a right to know.

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at April 03, 2025 02:35 PM (lCaJd)

15 I hope Elon's DOGE crew continues with the enthusiasm they've had up to this date.

I think they are American heroes, and I mean that sincerely.

Posted by: Seems Legit at April 03, 2025 02:36 PM (PMtkd)

16 We can't cut funding to the VA! Veterans deserve our best!!

- the same Left who said, literally and in writing, 'we support the troops when they shoot their officers.'

Posted by: Washington Nearsider, still gloating at April 03, 2025 02:36 PM (OuB2L)

17 I wonder which Deep State nepo babies own the company that was making millions a year off the VA, while almost certainly exporting any actual work to India for hundreds of dollars a month?

Posted by: Harry Paratestes at April 03, 2025 02:36 PM (uCjyK)

18 Posted by: Formerly Virginian at April 03, 2025 02:34 PM (N1tpc)

Because the contactors are turning around and sending money back to D pols.

But nothing will happen.

Posted by: Iasonas at April 03, 2025 02:36 PM (gUzGB)

19 Why does no government agency pay me $350,000 per month to do something, or even nothing? Where did go wrong?

Posted by: Huck Follywood at April 03, 2025 02:36 PM (pLcBq)

20 And when you ask them for a list of cuts they support, they go silent.

You have to specify that Defense cuts are not included. This doesn't mean DoD can't be cut with good effect, but that's literally the ONLY cut they ever want.

Posted by: Archimedes at April 03, 2025 02:36 PM (xCA6C)

21 And also, they don't like that "no one elected Musk," which is true of every single Administration official in every single Administration,

No one elected these district judges, but here we are.

Posted by: rickb223 at April 03, 2025 02:36 PM (8HZkO)

22 So what happens when their boogeyman leaves and Trump still has his foot on their balls? Nothing is gonna change with Musk gone (assuming he is leaving). Who is the next boogeyman?

Posted by: Elric Blade at April 03, 2025 02:37 PM (iFTx/)

23 I wish the web site I used to look after paid me $350K per month for minor modifications.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (tT6L1) at April 03, 2025 02:37 PM (tT6L1)

24 the VA paid a contractor nearly $380,000/month for minor website modifications.

Sweet gig if you can get it!

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at April 03, 2025 02:37 PM (Np2WL)

25 20 And when you ask them for a list of cuts they support, they go silent.

You have to specify that Defense cuts are not included. This doesn't mean DoD can't be cut with good effect, but that's literally the ONLY cut they ever want.
Posted by: Archimedes at April 03, 2025 02:36 PM (xCA6C)

========

"Fine. DOD has 0 budget. We still have hundreds of billions in the deficit. What's next?"

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, back to the finish with Corman at April 03, 2025 02:37 PM (GBKbO)

26 That's great, but name the contractor. We have a right to know.

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at April 03, 2025 02:35 PM (lCaJd)

Someone somewhere in the bowels of USAID, probably.

Posted by: Washington Nearsider, still gloating at April 03, 2025 02:37 PM (OuB2L)

27 the federal government just keeps rewarding people for being wasteful.
Posted by: Formerly Virginian at April 03, 2025 02:34 PM (N1tpc)

They're not being wasteful.

Someone was being paid handsomely here. They're being stealful. And corruptful.

And frankly, they should be prisonfulled, but nothing will happen to anyone.

Posted by: Harry Paratestes at April 03, 2025 02:37 PM (uCjyK)

28 This is the Promises Made, Promises Fade administration.

Posted by: Iasonas at April 03, 2025 02:38 PM (gUzGB)

29 Who is the contractor and what is the scope/terms of the contract. Should be easy to find out.
Posted by: Mad Max in VA

I would love to know but not signing up and paying to read article at link - maybe it doesn't even name the contractor. VA maintains quite a few websites. Definitely grift to someone's relative or favored other.

Posted by: Cheri at April 03, 2025 02:38 PM (oiNtH)

30 We can't cut funding to the VA! Veterans deserve our best!!

- the same Left who said, literally and in writing, 'we support the troops when they shoot their officers.'
Posted by: Washington Nearsider, still gloating at April 03, 2025 02:36 PM (OuB2L)
-----------

And these are the very same people who've been strangely quiet about the Afghanistan bugout massacre.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (tT6L1) at April 03, 2025 02:38 PM (tT6L1)

31 19 Why does no government agency pay me $350,000 per month to do something, or even nothing? Where did go wrong?
Posted by: Huck Follywood at April 03, 2025 02:36 PM (pLcBq)

You were born to the wrong parents. If your parents were members of good standing of the Deep State, you too could get a no-work job right out of college that will support you for the rest of your life.

Posted by: Harry Paratestes at April 03, 2025 02:39 PM (uCjyK)

32 Democrats somehow convinced their voters over the last 15 years that a "tax cut" is money handed out to idiots in the form of a check. As in "where mah tax cutt. I want mah cuttttt".

I'm not even kidding. And when do I ever not kid.

Posted by: ... at April 03, 2025 02:39 PM (XZ9Wx)

33 Damn. Now what? Do I have to go back to painting again? Dad! Dad!

Posted by: Hunter Biden Web Modifications Inc. at April 03, 2025 02:39 PM (R/m4+)

34 As a vet I use that disaster of a site all the time and have since it's inception. It's about as basic a web layout as a 2nd grader would create, something out of mid-2000 At best. Practically all "services" out there for veterans, particularly disabled vets is little more than show including charities. Needs to be a reckoning.

Posted by: Gary R at April 03, 2025 02:40 PM (AN+ve)

35 Because the contactors are turning around and sending money back to D pols.

But nothing will happen.
Posted by: Iasonas at April 03, 2025 02:36 PM (gUzGB)

While most of it goes to the Ds, I'm certain some of the Rs are wetting their beaks, too.

Posted by: Formerly Virginian at April 03, 2025 02:40 PM (N1tpc)

36 I haven't seen the name of the contractor. Wonder if they're keeping it quiet because of the contractor's political contributions.

Posted by: Smell the Glove at April 03, 2025 02:40 PM (MxsNV)

37 And these are the very same people who've been strangely quiet about the Afghanistan bugout massacre.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (tT6L1) at April 03, 2025 02:38 PM (tT6L1)

Aside from burning the one Marine officer who stood up and said 'this is wrong,' they've been absolutely silent.

Oh, and aside from droning an unrelated and innocent family...

Posted by: Washington Nearsider, still gloating at April 03, 2025 02:40 PM (OuB2L)

38 But the DOGE workers will remain, I assume.

Posted by: illiniwek at April 03, 2025 02:41 PM (Cus5s)

39 Good work if you can get it.

Posted by: fd at April 03, 2025 02:41 PM (vFG9F)

40 Harry P you are on a roll today! grate poasting old by!

Posted by: Black Orchid at April 03, 2025 02:42 PM (Pv3Rg)

41 I wonder which Deep State nepo babies own the company that was making millions a year off the VA, while almost certainly exporting any actual work to India for hundreds of dollars a month?
Posted by: Harry Paratestes at April 03, 2025 02:36 PM (uCjyK)
__

That's assuming the money ever left the VA. I think a lot of these contracts and budgets and costs and expenses are really just internal ways to paper over money being stolen internally.

That was actually a popular accounting scam in the late 1990s as a way to bilk companies. On the books, there would be $250k costs for contracts for vague services -- always services, never anything tangible that could be tracked or located -- but in reality, that money was just stolen by the scammers.

I think Hollywood operates the same way. Nobody will ever convince me they actually spent $270M on a film as cheap- and crappy-looking as Snow Wrong.

Posted by: Elric Blade at April 03, 2025 02:43 PM (iFTx/)

42
Oh, and aside from droning an unrelated and innocent family...
Posted by: Washington Nearsider, still gloating at April 03, 2025 02:40 PM (OuB2L)
-------------

The administration really got a pass on that blunder. But Trump was an evil monster for killing a religious scholar, I mean, terrorist.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (tT6L1) at April 03, 2025 02:43 PM (tT6L1)

43 You have to specify that Defense cuts are not included. This doesn't mean DoD can't be cut with good effect, but that's literally the ONLY cut they ever want.

Since Ukraine became a Democrat money laundering operation, they stopped supporting defense cuts, too. I haven’t heard a peep about “why aren’t they cutting defense?” from the anti-DOGE social mediats.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at April 03, 2025 02:43 PM (1jz6p)

44 As a vet I use that disaster of a site all the time and have since it's inception. It's about as basic a web layout as a 2nd grader would create, something out of mid-2000 At best.

Clearly you've never had to use USAJOBS.gov.

Posted by: Archimedes at April 03, 2025 02:43 PM (xCA6C)

45 Tweaking is good work if you can get it.

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at April 03, 2025 02:43 PM (H/2Ua)

46 Grok says the contractor could be Duty First Consulting or Booz Allen Hamilton Engineering Solutions. Looking into them now.

Posted by: Frasier Crane at April 03, 2025 02:43 PM (bNf8H)

47 40 Harry P you are on a roll today! grate poasting old by!
Posted by: Black Orchid at April 03, 2025 02:42 PM (Pv3Rg)

Thank you. Works slow right now, I got a shit ton done by noon and I'm extra fired up today!

Posted by: Harry Paratestes at April 03, 2025 02:44 PM (uCjyK)

48 Musk should announce he's leaving now.

Then a big press conference next week that he's back.

And a big press conference the next day that he's leaving.

Milk out the remaining days through the end of the year.

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at April 03, 2025 02:44 PM (lEdS5)

49 Pillaging tje Republic

Posted by: Skip at April 03, 2025 02:44 PM (ypFCm)

50 It's about as basic a web layout as a 2nd grader would create, something out of mid-2000 At best.

You're saying the VA has the oft-rumored Minx 1.0?

Posted by: Ian S. at April 03, 2025 02:44 PM (2ocoG)

51 UNIPARTY STRIKES BACK: GOP Senator Chuck Grassley and Leftist Democrat Introduce Legislation to Upend President Trump’s Tariff Authority

This aging fossil scumbag waited his entire imbecilic life to stab us in the back.
FY Chuckie.

Posted by: Maj. Healey at April 03, 2025 02:45 PM (/U5Yz)

52 I was discussing AI with others in the previous thread.

I was just thinking that media is the perfect area for AI to replace humans.

A) you do not care about accuracy if you read the media B) you can train the data using press releases made up by other AI helpers (introduces more fake and gay gibberish but since the original is fake anyway--who cares) C) you can eliminate all the fake and gay newsreaders with something like prettier Max Headroom or even sad clowns as avatars on TV D) you could even input the desired slant on the fake news delivered to you if you want. Want to believe Mitch is conservative, simply tweak a setting and get all the Mitch is conservative news you want. Ditto for Joey Scarborough.

And so it goes.

Posted by: whig at April 03, 2025 02:45 PM (ctrM5)

53 Since Ukraine became a Democrat money laundering operation, they stopped supporting defense cuts, too. I haven’t heard a peep about “why aren’t they cutting defense?” from the anti-DOGE social mediats.
Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at April 03, 2025 02:43 PM (1jz6p)

No one was ever going to actually cut the DoD.

That is the motherlode of corruption. Much bigger than anything in USAID.

I hope someday maybe we will crack the books on what goes on over there.

Posted by: Harry Paratestes at April 03, 2025 02:45 PM (uCjyK)

54 **
45 Tweaking is good work if you can get it.

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher

All tweakers will rip you off. Most will steal the copper our of your house's foundation while you're in the shower.

Posted by: Webco Services at April 03, 2025 02:45 PM (dzZCL)

55 Still waiting for mass trials and harsh sentences all around.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at April 03, 2025 02:45 PM (IMKWe)

56 awww zombie Grassley is a Chinese pawn

Posted by: Black Orchid at April 03, 2025 02:45 PM (Pv3Rg)

57 We need a meme with sad face MichelleO and her "#BringBackOurGirls" sign. But sign modified to say "Bring back our drug lords, rapists, murderers".

They really love their cartels ... back to Pelosi loving some MS-13.

Posted by: illiniwek at April 03, 2025 02:46 PM (Cus5s)

58 26 That's great, but name the contractor. We have a right to know.

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at April 03, 2025 02:35 PM (lCaJd)

Someone somewhere in the bowels of USAID, probably.
Posted by: Washington Nearsider, still gloating at April 03, 2025 02:37 PM (OuB2L)

More, there is no possible way this was a standard Gov Contract, which has to go out for bidding.

So someone created this contract, made it no bid, and signed said contract... which means there is a money trail to follow.

This is flat out fraud. Prosecute.

Posted by: Mexican Cartel... at April 03, 2025 02:47 PM (QAkQ3)

59
This is reckless as I'm just picking off likely candidates, but this is a possibility: J P Systems, women-owned business in Clifton, VA. Imma keep browsing.

https://tinyurl.com/55pb6tk7

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at April 03, 2025 02:47 PM (lCaJd)

60 Wow maybe I should ask boss for a raise lol

Posted by: kallisto at April 03, 2025 02:47 PM (5S0JC)

61 "The contract has now been cancelled."

"The hell it has! I order this contract to be renewed through 2055."

-- Hawaiian Judge Who's Daughter Owns The Website Company

Posted by: Elric Blade at April 03, 2025 02:47 PM (iFTx/)

62 **
I hope someday maybe we will crack the books on what goes on over there.

Posted by: Harry Paratestes at April 03, 2025 02:45 PM

Book crackers don't make tweaker money

Posted by: Hugh Tookapayoff at April 03, 2025 02:47 PM (dzZCL)

63 You do realize that with every example DOGE finds and shuts down, it impacts at least one senator or representative's personal income?

Posted by: Thomas Paine at April 03, 2025 02:48 PM (lTGtQ)

64 51 UNIPARTY STRIKES BACK: GOP Senator Chuck Grassley and Leftist Democrat Introduce Legislation to Upend President Trump’s Tariff Authority

This aging fossil scumbag waited his entire imbecilic life to stab us in the back.
FY Chuckie.
Posted by: Maj. Healey
=======
Screaming donors to do something pointless and stupid is my guess.

I do, however, see a lot of congressional staffers starting to sweat that their sweet influence peddling racket giving favors to donors will no longer pay off by becoming a K street bandit whore.

Hard to sustain a whore's salary and lifestyle if there is no government money around to pay off donors.

Posted by: whig at April 03, 2025 02:48 PM (ctrM5)

65 46 Grok says the contractor could be Duty First Consulting or Booz Allen Hamilton Engineering Solutions. Looking into them now.
Posted by: Frasier Crane

Booz Allen Hamilton runs recreation.gov. It's a scam and they are bilking the US citizen with fees. I sent an email to Doug Burgum a few weeks ago. Have heard nothing back.

Posted by: Maj. Healey at April 03, 2025 02:48 PM (/U5Yz)

66 61 "The contract has now been cancelled."

"The hell it has! I order this contract to be renewed through 2055."

-- Hawaiian Judge Who's Daughter Owns The Website Company and definitely doesn't have a conflict of interest, for sure
Posted by: Elric Blade at April 03, 2025 02:47 PM (iFTx/)

=======

FIFY

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, back to the finish with Corman at April 03, 2025 02:48 PM (GBKbO)

67 Once the DOGE Boys revealed that there are 12 Magic Money Machines spread throughout the Government going BRPPPPT, spitting out payments 24x7x365, without a care or thought in the world, I knew the problems that have been revealed so far are only scratching the surface.

Which is why Trump fired all of those IG's, it seems all the IG's were inspecting is that money went out on schedule and not what the money was going to.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at April 03, 2025 02:48 PM (XV/Pl)

68 That's assuming the money ever left the VA. I think a lot of these contracts and budgets and costs and expenses are really just internal ways to paper over money being stolen internally.

Posted by: Elric Blade at April 03, 2025 02:43 PM (iFTx/)

I think we're basically agreeing here. I think the money does actually leave the VA (on paper), but the money winds up back in the pockets of Deep State / permanent bureaucracy types, usually through a cut out (family member or whatever).

So someone at the VA puts a fake contract out to bid, but writes the RFP proposal in a way that heavily favors their intended bidder. That bidder wins the contract. Everyone involved knows that no / minimal work is to be done, and somehow that money flows through the sluices back to the Deep State people who put the RFP out in the first place.

Posted by: Harry Paratestes at April 03, 2025 02:49 PM (uCjyK)

69 I do quite a bit of website tweaking.
At VA rates, I could have my house paid off and buy a shore home too

Posted by: kallisto at April 03, 2025 02:49 PM (5S0JC)

70
This is reckless as I'm just picking off likely candidates, but this is a possibility: J P Systems, women-owned business in Clifton, VA. Imma keep browsing.

https://tinyurl.com/55pb6tk7

"OTHER SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL CONSULTING SERVICES"

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at April 03, 2025 02:49 PM (lCaJd)

71 63 You do realize that with every example DOGE finds and shuts down, it impacts at least one senator or representative's personal income?
Posted by: Thomas Paine
=======
Everytime a DOGE bell rings, a POS congress critter is losing their grift. Aw shucks. Waiting for the Sally Struthers ad about starving congress critters that need a buck from you to survive in expensive DC.

Posted by: whig at April 03, 2025 02:49 PM (ctrM5)

72 Posted by: whig at April 03, 2025 02:45 PM (ctrM5)

One problem with your theory. AI lies but you can't force it to lie. It will sometimes accidentally tell the truth.

Posted by: ... at April 03, 2025 02:50 PM (XZ9Wx)

73 Whoa, for that kind of scratch I would think the contractor was providing full hosting of the website with guarantees of redundant servers geographically separated to ensure 99.99% uptime. I don't know enough about the field to know if even that would be worth that much.

Yeah the VA was either getting ripped off or someone had been funneling money to the contractor to only get a bit of web content updates for that $$ per month.

Posted by: PaleRider at April 03, 2025 02:50 PM (CKOCg)

74 You do realize that with every example DOGE finds and shuts down, it impacts at least one senator or representative's personal income?

I mean, that's what I voted for.

Posted by: Ian S. at April 03, 2025 02:50 PM (2ocoG)

75 67 Once the DOGE Boys revealed that there are 12 Magic Money Machines spread throughout the Government going BRPPPPT, spitting out payments 24x7x365, without a care or thought in the world, I knew the problems that have been revealed so far are only scratching the surface.

Which is why Trump fired all of those IG's, it seems all the IG's were inspecting is that money went out on schedule and not what the money was going to.
Posted by: Thomas Bender
========
Think the count is up to 14 and counting as they go through more agencies.

Posted by: whig at April 03, 2025 02:50 PM (ctrM5)

76 JEN --

I have a young acquaintance who is in hysterics over the “gutting” her words, of NIOSH. Anyone have the real story on that department’s status?
Posted by: Jen the original at April 03, 2025 02:41 PM (6on/T)

A new Administration for a Healthy America (AHA) will consolidate the OASH, HRSA, SAMHSA, ATSDR, and NIOSH, so as to more efficiently coordinate chronic care and disease prevention programs and harmonize health resources to low-income Americans. Divisions of AHA include Primary Care, Maternal and Child Health, Mental Health, Environmental Health, HIV/AIDS, and Workforce, with support of the U.S. Surgeon General and Policy team.

https://www.hhs.gov/press-room/
hhs-restructuring-doge-fact-sheet.html

Posted by: Oldcat at April 03, 2025 02:50 PM (n7h9X)

77 Turn that animated gif back on!!!

Posted by: ... at April 03, 2025 02:50 PM (XZ9Wx)

78 So the sad news that wasn't?

Posted by: Francis at April 03, 2025 02:51 PM (bbuBP)

79 The government treats our tax money like it's monopoly money. Like it's not real. They don't care. Tax money is just free money for them to spend.

Posted by: Case at April 03, 2025 02:51 PM (OrSPY)

80 Simple. The contractor was someone's friend.

Posted by: ... at April 03, 2025 02:51 PM (XZ9Wx)

81 One problem with your theory. AI lies but you can't force it to lie. It will sometimes accidentally tell the truth.
Posted by: ...
--------
Sometimes the current media does as well. Kinsley gaffe named after Michael Kinsley. "A truthful statement told accidentally"

Posted by: whig at April 03, 2025 02:52 PM (ctrM5)

82 The sad truth is that for many things violence does solve the issue - something the left knows and the right pretends it doesn't.

Posted by: 18-1 at April 03, 2025 02:52 PM (t0Rmr)

83 79 The government treats our tax money like it's monopoly money. Like it's not real. They don't care. Tax money is just free money for them to spend.
Posted by: Case at April 03, 2025 02:51 PM (OrSPY)

Again, this isn't waste. At least, not in the way we normally use the word. This isn't some idiot clerk buying 100 printer toners to then go buy a new printer six months later that is incompatible with those toners. That's waste.

This is just straight up theft from the treasury.

They're pocketing the money. They're not treating it like monopoly money, it's very real. They're stealing it.

Posted by: Harry Paratestes at April 03, 2025 02:52 PM (uCjyK)

84 WTF have all these inspector generals and Federal auditors been doing for decades?

Posted by: MAGA_Ken at April 03, 2025 02:53 PM (Vh9CX)

85 79 The government treats our tax money like it's monopoly money. Like it's not real. They don't care. Tax money is just free money for them to spend.
Posted by: Case
========
So do far too many people across the globe.

Posted by: whig at April 03, 2025 02:53 PM (ctrM5)

86 That's assuming the money ever left the VA. I think a lot of these contracts and budgets and costs and expenses are really just internal ways to paper over money being stolen internally.

Posted by: Elric Blade at April 03, 2025 02:43 PM (iFTx/)

I think we're basically agreeing here. I think the money does actually leave the VA (on paper), but the money winds up back in the pockets of Deep State / permanent bureaucracy types, usually through a cut out (family member or whatever).

So someone at the VA puts a fake contract out to bid, but writes the RFP proposal in a way that heavily favors their intended bidder. That bidder wins the contract. Everyone involved knows that no / minimal work is to be done, and somehow that money flows through the sluices back to the Deep State people who put the RFP out in the first place.
Posted by: Harry Paratestes at April 03, 2025 02:49 PM (uCjyK)
_______

Maybe, but that's extra work, complexity, and people in the know. The way I've seen it work is the scammers are internal employees who literally just steal money and paper it over with fake bookkeeping entries. It was no more sophisticated than that, and they stole millions of dollars.

Posted by: Elric Blade at April 03, 2025 02:53 PM (iFTx/)

87 And I think Obama himself was quoted as saying a billion here and billion there and soon you are talking about real money.

Posted by: PaleRider at April 03, 2025 02:53 PM (CKOCg)

88 84 WTF have all these inspector generals and Federal auditors been doing for decades?
Posted by: MAGA_Ken
---------
Collecting a salary and playing possum.

Posted by: whig at April 03, 2025 02:53 PM (ctrM5)

89 Have people from the terminated contracts come out to complain about their government slush fund drying up? Seems like the media could be looking into these folks to make up some sob stories of American businesses going under and Americans losing their jobs as their federal contracts get unconstitutionally eliminated.

The fact that they've been silent already tells me all I need to know.

Posted by: Nutsy at April 03, 2025 02:53 PM (Y0coe)

90 WTF have all these inspector generals and Federal auditors been doing for decades?
Posted by: MAGA_Ken

Grifting/Scamming/Stealing

Posted by: rickb223 at April 03, 2025 02:54 PM (8HZkO)

91 hat is the motherlode of corruption. Much bigger than anything in USAID.

I hope someday maybe we will crack the books on what goes on over there.
Posted by: Harry Paratestes at April 03, 2025 02:45 PM (uCjyK)

Think I heard DOGE was starting in on defense already. Which parts, who knows. Results are likely to be more secret.

Posted by: Oldcat at April 03, 2025 02:54 PM (n7h9X)

92 Booz Allen Hamilton runs recreation.gov. It's a scam and they are bilking the US citizen with fees. I sent an email to Doug Burgum a few weeks ago. Have heard nothing back.

Posted by: Maj. Healey at April 03, 2025 02:48 PM (/U5Yz)

The big Government Adjacent CPA firms really need to be looked at.... Booze Allen... KPMG (who did CPA work for Calif High Speed Rail)...

Gov contracts giving accounting services, when we pay for Gov Accountants in the first place... but then, the Fed Gov spends BILLIONS every year, for various Departments to Lobby other Fed Agencies.

Posted by: Romeo13 at April 03, 2025 02:54 PM (QAkQ3)

93 There's a reason federal contractors earned the moniker "Beltway Bandits."

Political appointment like Musk's appointment to DOGE are almost always conditional and temporary.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at April 03, 2025 02:54 PM (Q4IgG)

94 87 And I think Obama himself was quoted as saying a billion here and billion there and soon you are talking about real money.
Posted by: PaleRider
=======
Rephrasing the original which used millions and it comes from Everett Dirksen (R-IL) and long time minority leader for the GOP.

Posted by: whig at April 03, 2025 02:54 PM (ctrM5)

95 84 WTF have all these inspector generals and Federal auditors been doing for decades?
Posted by: MAGA_Ken at April 03, 2025 02:53 PM (Vh9CX)

They, like everyone else in DC with eyeballs, have looked the other way at the massive fraud and looting of the Treasury.

Why? Well, the most obvious explanation is that they are either in on it, or they are being threatened to not say anything.

I think the easiest explanation is that they are all in on it.

"I won't say anything about your VA webpage scam, if you don't say anything about my DoD AAA battery scam" or whatever. One person talks, everyone goes down. They all have dirt on each other. Mutually Assured Destruction, if you will.

Posted by: Harry Paratestes at April 03, 2025 02:55 PM (uCjyK)

96 The contract has now been cancelled.
_____

See?!?! I told you, Elon is a fascist!

Posted by: Chuck Martel at April 03, 2025 02:55 PM (Dv3i1)

97 Leftists use terrorism because terrorism works.

Posted by: Disinterested FDA Director at April 03, 2025 02:55 PM (l3YAf)

98 84 WTF have all these inspector generals and Federal auditors been doing for decades?
Posted by: MAGA_Ken

Jerking off to internet pRon?

Posted by: Maj. Healey at April 03, 2025 02:55 PM (/U5Yz)

99 90 WTF have all these inspector generals and Federal auditors been doing for decades?
Posted by: MAGA_Ken

Grifting/Scamming/Stealing
Posted by: rickb223 at April 03, 2025 02:54 PM (8HZkO)

Bill Barr took Sgt. Schultz lessons.

Posted by: Romeo13 at April 03, 2025 02:55 PM (QAkQ3)

100 How I long for the days of $2000 toilet seats.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory, red heifer owner at April 03, 2025 02:56 PM (63W/r)

101
As a vet I use that disaster of a site all the time and have since it's inception. It's about as basic a web layout as a 2nd grader would create, something out of mid-2000 At best.
Posted by: Gary R at April 03, 2025 02:40 PM (AN+ve)

Pixy Information Systems?

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at April 03, 2025 02:56 PM (y9nCu)

102 > what is the scope/terms of the contract

This is the question. What does the website do? What was the contractor hired to do? If it's just a static site with some glamor shots and some phone numbers, it's a ripoff. If it's a massive do everything website that handles appointments and claims and all that for millions of users, it might be normal.

Posted by: bonhomme at April 03, 2025 02:56 PM (lIio7)

103 Booz Allen Hamilton runs recreation.gov. It's a scam and they are bilking the US citizen with fees. I sent an email to Doug Burgum a few weeks ago. Have heard nothing back.

Posted by: Maj. Healey

*in best voice-over narrator voice, ala Welches grape juice*

With a name like Booz, it's got to be fucked up!

Posted by: haffhowershower at April 03, 2025 02:56 PM (NMT5x)

104 Have people from the terminated contracts come out to complain about their government slush fund drying up? Seems like the media could be looking into these folks to make up some sob stories of American businesses going under and Americans losing their jobs as their federal contracts get unconstitutionally eliminated.

The fact that they've been silent already tells me all I need to know.
Posted by: Nutsy at April 03, 2025 02:53 PM (Y0coe)

Some have, but since DOGE is playing up the egregious ones they have less ability to put up a fight and they individually aren't tied to a federal judge. But the NGO that is fighting the war to keep the terrorist criminals here and not flying to El Salvador is an NGO who has ties to the judge.

Posted by: Oldcat at April 03, 2025 02:56 PM (n7h9X)

105 Maybe, but that's extra work, complexity, and people in the know. The way I've seen it work is the scammers are internal employees who literally just steal money and paper it over with fake bookkeeping entries. It was no more sophisticated than that, and they stole millions of dollars.
Posted by: Elric Blade at April 03, 2025 02:53 PM (iFTx/)

Could be. Unfortunately, we are unlikely to ever know the exact mechanisms.

Judging by the Biden Crime Family, doesn't look like it's very important to even pretend to try to cover your steps. You can do sophisticated money laundering like writing "repayment for a loan" in the memo line of a $250,000 check to your brother.

Posted by: Harry Paratestes at April 03, 2025 02:57 PM (uCjyK)

106 Democrats somehow convinced their voters over the last 15 years that a "tax cut" is money handed out to idiots in the form of a check. As in "where mah tax cutt. I want mah cuttttt".

I'm not even kidding. And when do I ever not kid.
Posted by: ...

It makes more sense if you phrase it as "M cut of the taxes"

Posted by: FeatherBlade at April 03, 2025 02:57 PM (hB7mE)

107 89 Have people from the terminated contracts come out to complain about their government slush fund drying up? Seems like the media could be looking into these folks to make up some sob stories of American businesses going under and Americans losing their jobs as their federal contracts get unconstitutionally eliminated.

The fact that they've been silent already tells me all I need to know.
Posted by: Nutsy
========
Too busy making travel arrangements to non-extradition nations.

Movie title, the "Silence of the Scams".

Posted by: whig at April 03, 2025 02:57 PM (ctrM5)

108 You can't expect the insane/mentally ill not to be insane / mentally ill. It's useless to point out to them how they are lying or their lack of self awareness or their cognitive dissonance.

And those few who are not mentally ill justify their lying and violence on the Left's motto.

The Ends Justify the Means.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at April 03, 2025 02:57 PM (VofaG)

109 Dammit! Just got back from lunch. While at the eatery, I left two tickets to Snow White on the dash.

Someone broke the passenger window and left four more!

Posted by: rickb223 at April 03, 2025 02:57 PM (8HZkO)

110 what is the scope/terms of the contract

This is the question. What does the website do? What was the contractor hired to do? If it's just a static site with some glamor shots and some phone numbers, it's a ripoff. If it's a massive do everything website that handles appointments and claims and all that for millions of users, it might be normal.
Posted by: bonhomme at April 03, 2025 02:56 PM (lIio7)

At those rates its a ripoff. You do better to staff it with government workers. No website costs so much.

A site doing database calls on huge systems is not that complex. The database is, but the website is not.

Posted by: Oldcat at April 03, 2025 02:59 PM (n7h9X)

111 Here, let me sum up the VA website:

To submit a claim please click here to access and fill out the requisite forms.

Click here to skip to the end where we tell you to go fuck yourself.

Posted by: Duke Lowell at April 03, 2025 02:59 PM (2UnvF)

112 TURN THOSE MACHINES BACK ON !!!

Posted by: Federal Judge on the take at April 03, 2025 02:59 PM (7Q0e+)

113 Bill Barr took Sgt. Schultz lessons.
Posted by: Romeo13

That fat lazy lying f*ck should be keelhauled.

Posted by: Maj. Healey at April 03, 2025 02:59 PM (/U5Yz)

114 The government treats our tax money like it's monopoly money. Like it's not real. They don't care. Tax money is just free money for them to spend.

SimCity with the cheat codes enabled. You just pull down the console and type in the code. See? Free money!

Posted by: brak at April 03, 2025 02:59 PM (jGJov)

115 All Federal IT contracts are bs.

The VA (like the entire gov’t) is rife with corruption. They spend billions on expired medicines each year. Pharma and medtech companies dump expired products on the VA for fat stacks of cash.

Posted by: Disinterested FDA Director at April 03, 2025 03:00 PM (l3YAf)

116
J P Systems, women-owned business in Clifton, VA. Imma keep browsing.

https://tinyurl.com/55pb6tk7

"OTHER SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL CONSULTING SERVICES"
Posted by: Blonde Morticia

=============

Well, one way to find out. I just asked them haha. Let's see if I get an answer.

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at April 03, 2025 03:00 PM (lCaJd)

117 Screaming donors to do something pointless and stupid is my guess.

I do, however, see a lot of congressional staffers starting to sweat that their sweet influence peddling racket giving favors to donors will no longer pay off by becoming a K street bandit whore.

Hard to sustain a whore's salary and lifestyle if there is no government money around to pay off donors.
Posted by: whig

You are over looking the budget and/or tax law loopholes

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at April 03, 2025 03:00 PM (Av2jG)

118 >>109 Dammit! Just got back from lunch. While at the eatery, I left two tickets to Snow White on the dash.

Someone broke the passenger window and left four more!
Posted by: rickb223

LOL

Posted by: Maj. Healey at April 03, 2025 03:00 PM (/U5Yz)

119 Bill Barr took Sgt. Schultz lessons.
Posted by: Romeo13 at April 03, 2025 02:55 PM (QAkQ3)

I think it's more like the episodes where LeBeau would bribe Sgt. Schultz with his famous french cooking using stolen ingredients then the episodes where Schultz would walk in and say "I see nothing!" and turn around and walk out.

Posted by: Harry Paratestes at April 03, 2025 03:00 PM (uCjyK)

120 DOGE needs to name names.

Posted by: mr tmz at April 03, 2025 03:00 PM (rJ48h)

121 I would have done that work for the VA for $200,000 a month and saved them tons of money.

Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS) at April 03, 2025 03:01 PM (e5NfL)

122 @113 not a good idea, Barr would be a sea anchor

Posted by: Smell the Glove at April 03, 2025 03:01 PM (MxsNV)

123 I admit I'm concerned about DOGE's ability to stay on mission with Mush gone, but I can't blame the guy for wanting a bit of a break.

Posted by: FeatherBlade at April 03, 2025 03:01 PM (hB7mE)

124 You can't expect the insane/mentally ill not to be insane / mentally ill. It's useless to point out to them how they are lying or their lack of self awareness or their cognitive dissonance.

And those few who are not mentally ill justify their lying and violence on the Left's motto.

The Ends Justify the Means.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at April 03, 2025 02:57 PM (VofaG)

SF writer H Beam Piper wrote a short story on this called "Day of the Moron". Its on Project Gutenberg, its pretty good.

Posted by: Oldcat at April 03, 2025 03:01 PM (n7h9X)

125 My coworker is headed to DC this Saturday to protest DOGE.
I am truly befuddled that she hasn’t already offed herself over 1. Trump not going to jail.
And 2. Him being POTUS. Again

Posted by: kallisto at April 03, 2025 03:01 PM (5S0JC)

126 I admit I'm concerned about DOGE's ability to stay on mission with Mush gone, but I can't blame the guy for wanting a bit of a break.

I'm not. Have you met autists?

Posted by: Ian S. at April 03, 2025 03:01 PM (2ocoG)

127 Almost all IT contracts have auto-renewals and price escalators in them, so you sign these one day for a need, that need gets addressed, but no one read the contract, and 10 years later you're paying 5x-10x as much and no one notices because it's the government.

Posted by: brak at April 03, 2025 03:02 PM (jGJov)

128 123 I admit I'm concerned about DOGE's ability to stay on mission with Mush gone, but I can't blame the guy for wanting a bit of a break.
Posted by: FeatherBlade
==========
Musk was always going to leave in the first place due to government regulations for special temporary employees. He has Mars to get to among other irons in the fire.

PDT is ultimately the one that cracks the whip over DOGE as our system is designed to do.

Posted by: whig at April 03, 2025 03:03 PM (ctrM5)

129 I admit I'm concerned about DOGE's ability to stay on mission with Mush gone, but I can't blame the guy for wanting a bit of a break.
Posted by: FeatherBlade at April 03, 2025 03:01 PM (hB7mE)

He'll probably be running a new gang with different missions - like fixing the various IT problems he bitches about. I don't think the courts can get to him much there and its just as important.

Posted by: Oldcat at April 03, 2025 03:03 PM (n7h9X)

130
What was the contractor hired to do? If it's just a static site with some glamor shots and some phone numbers, it's a ripoff. If it's a massive do everything website that handles appointments and claims and all that for millions of users, it might be normal.
Posted by: bonhomme

=============

But it says the same work is now being done by a staffer working ~10 hrs/week.

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at April 03, 2025 03:03 PM (lCaJd)

131 76. Oldcat, thank you so much for that info. There is so much crap being posted on Facebook right now and the 20 somethings are falling for all of it. She posted this on her own Facebook page in hysterics about how we were no longer going to have research scientists researching emergent disease diseases, potential antibiotics, so and so forth…

Posted by: Jen the original at April 03, 2025 03:03 PM (6on/T)

132 SF writer H Beam Piper wrote a short story on this called "Day of the Moron". Its on Project Gutenberg, its pretty good.
Posted by: Oldcat

Yes. Piper had a dry sense of humor and low tolerance for fools.

Naudsonce is a hilarious take on modern politics with the Terrans serving as observers.

Posted by: whig at April 03, 2025 03:04 PM (ctrM5)

133 I am hoping that Musk has assembled a team which has a certain attitude and manner of operation that will persist in his absence. Like a well-coached football team that remains well disciplined after the coach leaves.

I also look forward to the Democrats suddenly realizing that Musk was NOT the only thing they objected to in DOGE.

Posted by: ace at April 03, 2025 03:04 PM (KRtlO)

134 this is not surprising news....the same VA had a contract with a vendor to water eight plants for $55k per year.

Posted by: Monica at April 03, 2025 03:05 PM (kfQcw)

135 DOGE needs to name names.
Posted by: mr tmz

I think the reason they don't is to mitigate defamation lawfare lawsuits. No matter how frivolous, the fascist deepstaters are going to sue DOGE.

Posted by: weft cut-loop at April 03, 2025 03:05 PM (mlg/3)

136 133 I also look forward to the Democrats suddenly realizing that Musk was NOT the only thing they objected to in DOGE.
Posted by: ace at April 03, 2025 03:04 PM (KRtlO)

=======

It's easier to hate Emmanuel Goldstein than his posse.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, back to the finish with Corman at April 03, 2025 03:05 PM (GBKbO)

137
My coworker is headed to DC this Saturday to protest DOGE.

Posted by: kallisto

==============

Well that sounds insurrectiony!

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at April 03, 2025 03:05 PM (lCaJd)

138 113 Bill Barr took Sgt. Schultz lessons.
Posted by: Romeo13

That fat lazy lying f*ck should be keelhauled.
Posted by: Maj. Healey
=========
Put him in Epstein's cell with a killer roommate, no cameras, and sleeping correctional officers on duty.

Posted by: whig at April 03, 2025 03:06 PM (ctrM5)

139 Coulter also joking about Snow White flop.

"Judge James Boasberg issued an oral order from the bench insanely demanding that the planes carrying the gang members be turned around and rerouted to the U.S. -- no doubt, pursuant to the judge's authority as commander in chief. The killers were deprived of their "due process"! (To add insult to injury, the in-flight movie was Disney's new remake of "Snow White.")
Where was the public's "due process" when Biden was letting these gangsters into the country?"

Posted by: illiniwek at April 03, 2025 03:06 PM (Cus5s)

140 The corruption IS the system.

Posted by: DaveA at April 03, 2025 03:06 PM (PMJuY)

141 this is not surprising news....the same VA had a contract with a vendor to water eight plants for $55k per year.
Posted by: Monica at April 03, 2025 03:05 PM (kfQcw)

Factory plants or Rosebush plants.

Posted by: Oldcat at April 03, 2025 03:07 PM (n7h9X)

142
DOGE needs to name names.
Posted by: mr tmz

I think the reason they don't is to mitigate defamation lawfare lawsuits. No matter how frivolous, the fascist deepstaters are going to sue DOGE.
Posted by: weft cut-loop

=============

They're naming names at DOGE.gov. That's where I snagged J P Systems, which still might not be right admittedly since they're being coy in their tweets and not letting on which contract it corresponds to in their table.

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at April 03, 2025 03:07 PM (lCaJd)

143 24 the VA paid a contractor nearly $380,000/month for minor website modifications.

Sweet gig if you can get it!

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at April 03, 2025 02:37 PM (Np2WL)
----
Remember the eye watering cost of the original obummercare website?

Posted by: Ciampino - Looking for one more scam at April 03, 2025 03:07 PM (sPQoU)

144 I am hoping that Musk has assembled a team which has a certain attitude and manner of operation that will persist in his absence. Like a well-coached football team that remains well disciplined after the coach leaves.

I also look forward to the Democrats suddenly realizing that Musk was NOT the only thing they objected to in DOGE.
Posted by: ace at April 03, 2025 03:04 PM (KRtlO)

---------------

Did you see the Bret Beir interview? I was impressed with his team.

Posted by: Duke Lowell at April 03, 2025 03:07 PM (2UnvF)

145 "But if it was done in the "right way," of course they'd support cutting hundreds of billions of dollars from the budget, Silly-Head!"

When the left agrees to cut spending it is mostly the imaginary subsidies to big corporations (mostly oil) which are actually a few million dollars of things like appreciated capital deprecation and the like. Also any tax cut is spending so getting rid of those counts as cuts.

Posted by: Ripley at April 03, 2025 03:07 PM (GUOwU)

146 $380,000 per month is a perfectly reasonable cost for website maintenance.

Posted by: Nancy and Paul Pelosi's Mom-and-Pop Website Services Company at April 03, 2025 03:07 PM (KRtlO)

147 @133

>>I am hoping that Musk has assembled a team which has a certain attitude and manner of operation that will persist in his absence. Like a well-coached football team that remains well disciplined after the coach leaves.

I saw the interview with with the DODGE team that Brett Beir did, these are serious, sober, and dedicated engineers and businessmen who have come out of retirement to do this, they feel they are on a mission from G-d.

Space Daddy gave them their mission, they have the minerals to carry it out.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at April 03, 2025 03:08 PM (XV/Pl)

148 Where was the public's "due process" when Biden was letting these gangsters into the country?"
Posted by: illiniwek at April 03, 2025 03:06 PM (Cus5s)

If the public had hired his daughter and poured money into his family's pocket he might work on their behalf.

Posted by: Oldcat at April 03, 2025 03:08 PM (n7h9X)

149 awww zombie Grassley is a Chinese pawn
Posted by: Black Orchid

Glassly is Chinese prawn...

Posted by: Some guy in Hong Kong at April 03, 2025 03:08 PM (vcOmj)

150 >>this is not surprising news....the same VA had a contract with a vendor to water eight plants for $55k per year.

It's not as easy a job as you think.

Posted by: Harvey Weinstein at April 03, 2025 03:08 PM (AVXxY)

151 It's easier to hate Emmanuel Goldstein than his posse.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, back to the finish with Corman at April 03, 2025 03:05 PM (GBKbO)

Goldstein ? Probably a supporter of Israel. He must be destroyed!

Posted by: Lefty college Karen at April 03, 2025 03:08 PM (VofaG)

152 Iceman's Burners are lit, and he is through the Mach ..........

Posted by: Franklin Steinhofer at April 03, 2025 03:08 PM (2jIse)

153 More, there is no possible way this was a standard Gov Contract, which has to go out for bidding.

Posted by: Mexican Cartel... at April 03, 2025 02:47 PM (QAkQ3)

That isn't entirely true. There are a TON of sole-source contracts out there, which are - by definition - not bid. The bar for that is supposed to be pretty high. Perhaps there's only one company in the US who makes the widget you need, or whatever.

Of course, I ALSO said that remote work fraud would be hard to pull off because it would require the knowledgeable involvement of multiple levels of the chain of command, and we all know how wrong I was about that, so...

Maybe just don't listen to me.

Posted by: Washington Nearsider, still gloating at April 03, 2025 03:09 PM (OuB2L)

154 Well that sounds insurrectiony!
Posted by: Blonde Morticia at April 03, 2025 03:05 PM (lCaJd)[]

She is one of MessNBC diehard viewers, age well above the demo. I think she believes her protest wii result in meaningful change.

Posted by: kallisto at April 03, 2025 03:09 PM (5S0JC)

155 Trump's illegal tariffs have doubled the price of Mogan David Wine and now I need to find another cheap alternative !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by: Kamal Harris at April 03, 2025 03:10 PM (AH9PT)

156 go to the FDPS.gov website

search "Veterans Administation website" in the search bar, it actually works!

You'll see a bunch of contracts.

Posted by: MAGA_Ken at April 03, 2025 03:10 PM (Vh9CX)

157 We all know the left will never leave Musk alone ever again.

Posted by: steevy at April 03, 2025 03:10 PM (KQk9m)

158 The 55k was not the issue...the plants were fake.

Posted by: Francis at April 03, 2025 03:11 PM (bbuBP)

159 My coworker is headed to DC this Saturday to protest DOGE.
I am truly befuddled that she hasn’t already offed herself over 1. Trump not going to jail.
And 2. Him being POTUS. Again
Posted by: kallisto at April 03, 2025 03:01 PM (5S0JC)

Never give up hope!

Posted by: ... at April 03, 2025 03:11 PM (XZ9Wx)

160 >>I saw the interview with with the DODGE team that Brett Beir did, these are serious, sober, and dedicated engineers and businessmen who have come out of retirement to do this, they feel they are on a mission from G-d.

yes. But one thing Musk has that even a run-of-the-mill multimillionaire doesn't have is an Austistic Near-Trillionaire's imperviousness to economic blackmail (and threat to one's life and limb).

Posted by: ace at April 03, 2025 03:11 PM (KRtlO)

161 Musk is not about Musk. Musk is a lesson to future Musks.

Posted by: ... at April 03, 2025 03:11 PM (XZ9Wx)

162 The corruption IS the system.
Posted by: DaveA

This is an interesting truism that I have heard....

The System is what it does.

Think about it.

Posted by: A face in the crowd.... at April 03, 2025 03:12 PM (vcOmj)

163 The corruption IS the system.
Posted by: DaveA

the action is the juice

Posted by: brak at April 03, 2025 03:13 PM (jGJov)

164 >>The corruption IS the system.
Posted by: DaveA

>>the action is the juice

The Crux of the biscuit is the apostrophe.

Posted by: Zombie Zappa at April 03, 2025 03:13 PM (AVXxY)

165 43% Tariff on China.....

Now little teenage Chinese girls will double or triple in price because Trump is a Racist.....

Posted by: Bill Clinton at April 03, 2025 03:13 PM (7f0nK)

166 SF writer H Beam Piper wrote a short story on this called "Day of the Moron". Its on Project Gutenberg, its pretty good.
Posted by: Oldcat

Yes. Piper had a dry sense of humor and low tolerance for fools.

Naudsonce is a hilarious take on modern politics with the Terrans serving as observers.
Posted by: whig at April 03, 2025 03:04 PM (ctrM5)

"Oomphel in the Sky" is another good one - having the leftist "University of Adelaide" crowd totally fail to prepare for an upcoming disaster because they are nutty leftists on a frontier where things need to be done.

Posted by: Oldcat at April 03, 2025 03:14 PM (n7h9X)

167 Trump's illegal tariffs have doubled the price of Mogan David Wine and now I need to find another cheap alternative !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by: Kamal Harris at April 03, 2025 03:10 PM (AH9PT)
-

Um... made in USA.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at April 03, 2025 03:14 PM (IMKWe)

168 Musk is a honey badger. He risked his entire fortune at the time to fund the start of Space X. His mindset is I'm going to do what I want . Money is not the motivation. It's just a consequence of his pursuits.

Posted by: Lefty college Karen at April 03, 2025 03:14 PM (VofaG)

169 43% Tariff on China.....

Now little teenage Chinese girls will double or triple in price because Trump is a Racist.....
Posted by: Bill Clinton at April 03, 2025 03:13 PM (7f0nK)

China for some reason just put a 100 percent tariff on Canada.

Posted by: Oldcat at April 03, 2025 03:14 PM (n7h9X)

170 Now little teenage Chinese girls will double or triple in price because Trump is a Racist.....
Posted by: Bill Clinton

No yellow!

Posted by: Hunter at April 03, 2025 03:14 PM (cPGH3)

171 My coworker is headed to DC this Saturday to protest DOGE.
I am truly befuddled that she hasn’t already offed herself over 1. Trump not going to jail.
And 2. Him being POTUS. Again

Posted by: kallisto at April 03, 2025 03:01 PM (5S0JC)

Does she need a place to stay? I promise not to goad, push, and needle her into an early tomb.

Posted by: Washington Nearsider, still gloating at April 03, 2025 03:15 PM (OuB2L)

172 The corruption IS the system.
Posted by: DaveA

the action is the juice
Posted by: brak at April 03, 2025 03:13 PM (jGJov)

Who put the ram in the rama lama ding dong

Posted by: ... at April 03, 2025 03:15 PM (XZ9Wx)

173 The corruption IS the system.
Posted by: DaveA

Exactly. Which is why the founders wanted to not only severely curcumscribe what the government could do, but also how large it could grow through taxation. More power was allocated the closer to the actual constituents, so that the constituents could more easily hold the office holders accountable.

Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at April 03, 2025 03:16 PM (hCfYJ)

174 It looks like A-Team Solutions LLC, but the contract award (issued Jan 14, 2025) is only $504,487.20

PSC Code:

IT and Telecom - Business Application/Application Development Support Services (Labor)

Posted by: MAGA_Ken at April 03, 2025 03:16 PM (Vh9CX)

175 Musk is not about Musk. Musk is a lesson to future Musks.
Posted by: ... at April 03, 2025 03:11 PM (XZ9Wx)

Exactly. If the communists can engage in a public, targeted campaign of violence and terrorism against the richest man on Earth—who is backed by the President of the United States—and win, then what chance do normal people have?

Posted by: Disinterested FDA Director at April 03, 2025 03:16 PM (l3YAf)

176 Off annoying sock

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at April 03, 2025 03:17 PM (VofaG)

177 Musk has drawn attention away from the 100 or so Musketeers while they busily root out corruption.
Musk does good HR, they will continue.

Posted by: Braenard - some Best Friends are more important than others at April 03, 2025 03:17 PM (cTA10)

178 MD 20/20?

Thunderbird?

Wild Irish Rose?

Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at April 03, 2025 03:17 PM (hCfYJ)

179 Maneschwietz?

Wait, I spelled that right?! Can't be...

Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at April 03, 2025 03:18 PM (hCfYJ)

180 >>Which is why the founders wanted to not only severely curcumscribe what the government could do, but also how large it could grow through taxation. More power was allocated the closer to the actual constituents, so that the constituents could more easily hold the office holders accountable.

This is why we should not allow Representation without Taxation.

Taxes should be prioritized to originate in your locale and your Vote should be apportioned to the level of taxation you pay.
County, then State, then Fed. With increased Taxation you get increased Representation.

Everyone should be paying Taxes in their origin County.

Posted by: Zombie Zappa at April 03, 2025 03:18 PM (AVXxY)

181 FrankSockOFF

Posted by: garrett at April 03, 2025 03:19 PM (AVXxY)

182 Musk is undefeated against the Left. But they still want to play one more game. We'll get 'em this time.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at April 03, 2025 03:19 PM (VofaG)

183 Does she need a place to stay? I promise not to goad, push, and needle her into an early tomb.
Posted by: Washington Nearsider, still gloating at April 03, 2025 03:15 PM (OuB2L)

Find out first if she's hawt.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 03, 2025 03:19 PM (8zz6B)

184 Circumscrive not curcumscribe. Wtf autocucumber? You did not catch that one?

Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at April 03, 2025 03:19 PM (hCfYJ)

185 Ok, phone is stupid. Circumscribe.

Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at April 03, 2025 03:20 PM (hCfYJ)

186 WTF have all these inspector generals and Federal auditors been doing for decades?

Cashing checks.

Posted by: t-bird at April 03, 2025 03:20 PM (+9G3c)

187 Find out first if she's hawt.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 03, 2025 03:19 PM (8zz6B)

------------------

If she's going to DC to protest, I'm guessing not.

Posted by: Duke Lowell at April 03, 2025 03:20 PM (2UnvF)

188 >>Circumscrive not curcumscribe. Wtf autocucumber? You did not catch that one?

Fat finger a misspelling once and it goes into your AC forever.

Posted by: garrett at April 03, 2025 03:20 PM (AVXxY)

189 Circumscrive not curcumscribe. Wtf autocucumber? You did not catch that one?
Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at April 03, 2025 03:19 PM (hCfYJ)

Circumstrive: to attempt to work around something

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 03, 2025 03:21 PM (8zz6B)

190 Posted by: Zombie Zappa at April 03, 2025 03:18 PM (AVXxY)

Astute, Mr Zombie Zappa.

Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at April 03, 2025 03:21 PM (hCfYJ)

191 "Oomphel in the Sky" is another good one - having the leftist "University of Adelaide" crowd totally fail to prepare for an upcoming disaster because they are nutty leftists on a frontier where things need to be done.
Posted by: Oldcat
==========
Yes it is. I am a big fan of H. Beam Piper and read pretty much everything he wrote.

Oomphel is a priceless example of how the AID and State Dept do gooders ignore existing culture to impose their own Globo Homo stamp on it while bemoaning their own culture.

Peter Grant has an excellent book about his fictionalized adventures in The Missionaries if you can find it. Out of print due to legal issues between author and publisher I think.

Posted by: whig at April 03, 2025 03:21 PM (ctrM5)

192 >> Wild Irish Rose?

Great song.

Posted by: Disinterested FDA Director at April 03, 2025 03:22 PM (l3YAf)

193 Circumnavigate.

None of these are in the phone dictionary. Am I the stupid one?

Wait, am I the one wrong here?

Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at April 03, 2025 03:23 PM (hCfYJ)

194 Exactly. Which is why the founders wanted to not only severely curcumscribe what the government could do, but also how large it could grow through taxation. More power was allocated the closer to the actual constituents, so that the constituents could more easily hold the office holders accountable.
Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at April 03, 2025 03:16 PM (hCfYJ)

Yeah, they had some pretty good foresight in how the system could go wrong.

And, well, it has gone wrong in the ways they thought it would. It was pretty predictable really.

But then again, the Roman Republic didn't last forever either. And they knew that.

Posted by: Harry Paratestes at April 03, 2025 03:23 PM (uCjyK)

195 I thought circumscribe was a Mohel's secretary.

Posted by: Duke Lowell at April 03, 2025 03:23 PM (2UnvF)

196 This is why we should not allow Representation without Taxation.

Taxes should be prioritized to originate in your locale and your Vote should be apportioned to the level of taxation you pay.
County, then State, then Fed. With increased Taxation you get increased Representation.

Everyone should be paying Taxes in their origin County.
Posted by: Zombie Zappa
======
The apportioned taxes could possibly work without a constitutional amendment but not the voting part due to poll tax prohibition in the Constitution.

Posted by: whig at April 03, 2025 03:23 PM (ctrM5)

197 Eric Adam’s has left the Dem party.

Posted by: Piper at April 03, 2025 03:23 PM (QzINz)

198 Circumscrive not curcumscribe. Wtf autocucumber? You did not catch that one?
Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at April 03, 2025 03:19 PM (hCfYJ)

What's annoying is many times autocorrect doesn't correct an obvious misspelling and just leaves it alone . But it won't let you type ill without correcting it to I'll and vice versa. Crazy.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at April 03, 2025 03:24 PM (VofaG)

199 Does she need a place to stay? I promise not to goad, push, and needle her into an early tomb.
Posted by: Washington Nearsider, still gloating at April 03, 2025 03:15 PM (OuB2L)

Find out first if she's hawt.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon

Rule one! don't mess with crazy(restated)

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at April 03, 2025 03:24 PM (eZcq8)

200 Circumscrive not curcumscribe. Wtf autocucumber? You did not catch that one?
Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at April 03, 2025 03:19 PM (hCfYJ)

185 Ok, phone is stupid. Circumscribe.
Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at April 03, 2025 03:20 PM (hCfYJ)

*sighs*

Posted by: Disappointed Mohel at April 03, 2025 03:24 PM (l3YAf)

201 "The VA paid a contractor nearly $380,000/month for minor website modifications."

This is what the professionals call "value billing"

Posted by: Oglebay at April 03, 2025 03:24 PM (MMp6W)

202 I read Little Fuzzy. I'll have to look into Piper's other stuff.

Posted by: Smell the Glove at April 03, 2025 03:24 PM (MxsNV)

203 Circumstrive: to attempt to work around something
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at
—-

,es lookin for a walrus tusk.

Posted by: Braenard - some Best Friends are more important than others at April 03, 2025 03:24 PM (cTA10)

204 Now why doesn't a $350,000 a month job fall into my lap? Granted, I am not computer savvy but I would figure something out. Probably pay some techie $100,000 a month.

Posted by: washrivergal at April 03, 2025 03:24 PM (C53IZ)

205 DOGE finds Veterans Affairs paying $350K per month for website modifications

That's BEFORE Trump's 26% tariff on top-notch, best of the best Indian coding talent. We need more money!

Posted by: The VA at April 03, 2025 03:24 PM (+9G3c)

206 But then again, the Roman Republic didn't last forever either. And they knew that.
Posted by: Harry Paratestes at April 03, 2025 03:23 PM (uCjyK)

Rome was strange. It always was strange.

It is like every iteration of democracy/republic tries to work out the bugs from the last go round.

Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at April 03, 2025 03:25 PM (hCfYJ)

207 I haven't been able to get into my MyhealthyVet account since an upgrade, where I have to sign into ID.Gov. My telephone number is not recognized, the one the VA sends me text and voicemail on. Giving up, I went old school and can check appointments, pharmacy and renew scrips on the phone. And talk to a nurse and even a doctor on the phone that is not recognized.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at April 03, 2025 03:25 PM (gm9Sb)

208 Yeah, they had some pretty good foresight in how the system could go wrong.

And, well, it has gone wrong in the ways they thought it would. It was pretty predictable really.

But then again, the Roman Republic didn't last forever either. And they knew that.
Posted by: Harry Paratestes
=========
In some ways, I think the impending fiscal collapse after Obama moved a bunch of people without any scruples to grab whatever they could while they could. Cloud people figured that they could always scram to some place like New Zealand when the US collapsed.

Posted by: whig at April 03, 2025 03:26 PM (ctrM5)

209 I thought circumscribe was a Mohel's secretary.
Posted by: Duke Lowell at April 03, 2025 03:23 PM (2UnvF)

Clitoridectomy: circumsnizzion

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 03, 2025 03:26 PM (8zz6B)

210 Was Emma Emhoff the VA IT gal?

Posted by: Pudinhead at April 03, 2025 03:26 PM (Hpgos)

211 Yo, Kami Baby do not fret .....

Mixing Rubbing Alcohol with Grape Juice is the same as Mogan David and probably cheaper.....

Posted by: Buster Hymandd at April 03, 2025 03:26 PM (A2iSa)

212 197 Eric Adam’s has left the Dem party.
Posted by: Piper at April 03, 2025 03:23 PM (QzINz)

Yay?

Posted by: J. Frank Parnell at April 03, 2025 03:26 PM (eb5mD)

213 What exactly does the common Leftist have to bow down to tje Deep State?

Posted by: Skip at April 03, 2025 03:26 PM (ypFCm)

214 Eric Adam’s has left the Dem party.

The coworker who is going to DC this weekend…actually has the PDF of the judicial process that dismissed his charges. On her phone.

Posted by: kallisto at April 03, 2025 03:28 PM (5S0JC)

215 I read Little Fuzzy. I'll have to look into Piper's other stuff.
Posted by: Smell the Glove at April 03, 2025 03:24 PM (MxsNV)

Cosmic Computer and Space Viking are good ones. Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen and the Paratime series are good...well they are all good.

Posted by: Oldcat at April 03, 2025 03:28 PM (n7h9X)

216 Eric Adam’s has left the Dem party.
Posted by: Piper at April 03, 2025 03:23 PM (QzINz)

Yay?
Posted by: J. Frank Parnell at April 03, 2025 03:26 PM (eb5mD)

A big YAY !

Anything that raises the point that the Democrats are not a friend of African-Americans is good. The Dems use them as tools .

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at April 03, 2025 03:28 PM (VofaG)

217 103
*in best voice-over narrator voice, ala Welches grape juice*

With a name like Booz, it's got to be fucked up!

Posted by: haffhowershower at April 03, 2025 02:56 PM (NMT5x)
----
They can't even spell, it's Booze!

Posted by: Ciampino - I prefer Licker at April 03, 2025 03:29 PM (sPQoU)

218 197 Eric Adam’s has left the Dem party.
-------------
This is gonna be fun.

Posted by: Pudinhead at April 03, 2025 03:29 PM (Hpgos)

219 Mixing Rubbing Alcohol with Grape Juice is the same as Mogan David and probably cheaper.....

Are you not even going to consider Sterno?

Posted by: Archimedes at April 03, 2025 03:29 PM (xCA6C)

220 In some ways, I think the impending fiscal collapse after Obama moved a bunch of people without any scruples to grab whatever they could while they could. Cloud people figured that they could always scram to some place like New Zealand when the US collapsed.
Posted by: whig at April 03, 2025 03:26 PM (ctrM5)

Yeah, I think the "important people" think we're nearing the end of the road as the sole superpower.

Which is why they're grabbing everything that isn't nailed down on their way out of the door and, as you said, building bunkers in New Zealand.

And I think it explains the hail mary shots of a huge war in Europe and of opening the floodgates to immigrants.

Is it fixable? I don't know. Maybe. Probably not.

What does that mean for all of us for the rest of our lives? Lower standard of living, higher taxes, less control over our daily lives, etc. etc.

Posted by: Harry Paratestes at April 03, 2025 03:29 PM (uCjyK)

221 I don't know many website managers who charge $350,000-$380,000 per month to give the hamsters a kick.

---

pixie sweating bullets right now

Posted by: joe, living dangerously at April 03, 2025 03:29 PM (B9Prs)

222 Rome was strange. It always was strange.

It is like every iteration of democracy/republic tries to work out the bugs from the last go round.
Posted by: Aetius451AD
==========
Rome had the opposite problem of Greece. Greece liked to talk about governments and its forms, the Romans, being the pragmatist engineering types, simply built their government as they went--sort of like the Winchester Mystery House and it collapsed when the internal contradictions could not longer support management of an Empire and its demands.

Ideally, a federal country is about the only way to manage large scale empires but that depends on the national government relying on states to do almost everything regarding domestic issues while keeping states from screwing each other. The temptation is always there for losers at one level of government to try to refight the battle at the national level and that continues until the federales rule all of which they are fundamentally incapable of doing.

Posted by: whig at April 03, 2025 03:30 PM (ctrM5)

223 My AWFL coworker is a legit NPC.
Top to bottom, side to side, inside out.
She is NPC down to the subatomic level. It is fascinating yet horrifying to observe.
re:
Eric Adam’s has left the Dem party.

Posted by: kallisto at April 03, 2025 03:30 PM (5S0JC)

224 WTF have all these inspector generals and Federal auditors been doing for decades?

Cashing checks.
Posted by: t-bird

Partially true.

As an auditor, you're checking to see the I's and T's and if it's signed. You can't go DOGE if the president isn't going to back you up.

Yes. There are $600 hammer and toilet sear situations. Those are obvious to anyone. But you're not typically looking at a 500K contract in detail for web services. As is being shown: raise your hand to that and you'll be unemployed because you don't have the president's backing because it will never get that far.

Posted by: Steve_in_SoCal at April 03, 2025 03:30 PM (JkCto)

225 They can't even spell, it's Booze!

Posted by: Ciampino - I prefer Licker at April 03, 2025 03:29 PM (sPQoU)

Didn't the term "booze" for liquor actually derive from some person with the name "Booz"?

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 03, 2025 03:30 PM (8zz6B)

226 Anything that raises the point that the Democrats are not a friend of African-Americans is good. The Dems use them as tools .
Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at April 03, 2025 03:28 PM (VofaG)

He's going independent.

NY politics are weird and incredibly tribal / racial.

Adams lost the support of the black political machine. And Cuomo's Italian political machine are still hanging on by a cunthair, so he has more power at the moment. I'm sure some deal was worked out where Cuomo will be tapped by the powers that be, and Adams was told to drop out of the race.

Adams said "fuck it, I'd rather lose running as a third party candidate than be forced out" I guess.

Posted by: Harry Paratestes at April 03, 2025 03:31 PM (uCjyK)

227 How about the VFW shut it's yap about Trump cutting federal workforce which impacts veterans and start squealing about the VA squandering scarce VA funds.

Asshats.

Posted by: Comrade Flounder, Disinformation Demon at April 03, 2025 03:31 PM (i24o9)

228 219 Is Mogen David the one with the Joos on the label sitting around a table playing poker, or is that Manischewitz?

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at April 03, 2025 03:31 PM (gm9Sb)

229 The apportioned taxes could possibly work without a constitutional amendment but not the voting part due to poll tax prohibition in the Constitution.
Posted by: whig at April 03, 2025 03:23 PM (ctrM5)

It could work with state and local elections. As for Federal.. we can work around the President/VP elections by having the state legislature directly appoint electors. As for Senate and House, that requires more creativity, but can probably be done.

Posted by: Disappointed Mohel at April 03, 2025 03:32 PM (l3YAf)

230 228 219 Is Mogen David the one with the Joos on the label sitting around a table playing poker, or is that Manischewitz?
Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at April 03, 2025 03:31 PM (gm9Sb)

Oh, come on. Only the best wines have dogs playing poker!

Posted by: Hour of the Wolf at April 03, 2025 03:33 PM (VNX3d)

231 don't wanna look so I don't get pissed off more... but...

I'd wager this is NOT a Veteran Owned Company.

Posted by: Romeo13 at April 03, 2025 03:33 PM (QAkQ3)

232 ome was strange. It always was strange.

It is like every iteration of democracy/republic tries to work out the bugs from the last go round.
Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at April 03, 2025 03:25 PM (hCfYJ)

Rome never got rid of the old way of doing things, they just added new stuff on top. The Pope even kept a Roman title that apparently was in the distant past associated with cutting a deal with river gods when making a bridge.

Posted by: Oldcat at April 03, 2025 03:33 PM (n7h9X)

233 "The left is doing what it always does when it's defending their zealous religious-cultist devotion to an unpopular position -- they're lying. They're claiming that they all really, really, rilly want to cut government spending too, they just don't like the exact way it's currently being done. But if it was done in the "right way," of course they'd support cutting hundreds of billions of dollars from the budget, Silly-Head!"

The Democrats' Right Way to make FedGov budget cuts, will be a three-hour House committee meeting and a corresponding two-hour Senate committee meeting, to review the need for every single Civil Service job and every single line item of the budget of every Department, Agency, Administration. That process is the fair way, they'll say.

The result of doing things 'fairly' will be a review of only a tiny, miniscule fraction of FedGov jobs and budget items each year. Then any recommendations by committees for cuts (never happen) will of course be forgotten, when the next pork-packed billion-trillion dollar budget resolution has to be rammed through both houses in 3 days before the Christmas recess.

It's a game only employees of the Devil could concoct.

Posted by: Gref at April 03, 2025 03:33 PM (aBgBM)

234 Posted by: whig at April 03, 2025 03:30 PM (ctrM5)

Which is an interesting take. One of the things that struck me: Trojan wanted to devolve as much power and authority as possible to the provincial governors. He wrote that they knew their provinces best and therefore they would do the best job of taking care of issues.

His direct successor, Hadrian, was the exact opposite. He wanted complete control of everything. Complete micromanager.

I can tell you which I think is the better Man.

Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at April 03, 2025 03:33 PM (hCfYJ)

235 It's a write off, Jerry.
They just write it off.

Posted by: Kramer at April 03, 2025 03:34 PM (dg+HA)

236 I thought he was supposed to be there for 2 years.

Posted by: Its Go Time Donald at April 03, 2025 03:34 PM (A+/01)

237
Posted by: whig at April 03, 2025 03:30 PM (ctrM5)

Not only that, it also relies on a suspicious, stubborn, smart, and educated population to keep the people in power "honest."

But the thing is -- when the people in power run education, academia, the media, the "culture" as it were ... well? Then what?

It's the same problem all forms of government have, don't get me long -- look at North Korea for a (somewhat silly and more extreme) communist version of the same problem.

Our leaders have decided that the old American view of government needed to go, so they've been re-programming existing Americans and importing more complaint Americans from more compliant cultures.

Because I suspect they know things are not going to be trending in a direction that Joe Sixpack will like very much.

Posted by: Harry Paratestes at April 03, 2025 03:35 PM (uCjyK)

238 Yea the unelected part is super retarded.

Uhm who elected Hawaiian judges? Nobody. So fuck right off.

Posted by: Its Go Time Donald at April 03, 2025 03:35 PM (A+/01)

239 231 don't wanna look so I don't get pissed off more... but...

I'd wager this is NOT a Veteran Owned Company.
Posted by: Romeo13

Prolly a company owned by some congresscritter.

Posted by: nurse ratched at April 03, 2025 03:36 PM (W2Pud)

240 Yes, the terrorism has worked, to some degree. It always does. Thanks a lot, Bondi. And for that matter, Patel. Could there be a more important job than going after domestic terror being heavily financed and waged to thwart the most momentous reform movement in modern history? I don't mean snaring some scruffy Leftist loser on the streets. It's not like we don't who is financing it. Musk knows. The goddam list has been published.

So tired of people and their bullshit.

As for the media being on its last legs, think again. They still wield enormous influence.

Posted by: Ordinary American at April 03, 2025 03:36 PM (vsTPo)

241 19 Why does no government agency pay me $350,000 per month to do something, or even nothing? Where did go wrong?
Posted by: Huck Follywood at April 03, 2025 02:36 PM (pLcBq)

You probably believed all that "go to school, work hard, keep your head down, and you'll not only succeed but prosper" bullshit.

Posted by: Meritocracy is horseshit at April 03, 2025 03:37 PM (TbWk/)

242 Is it fixable? I don't know. Maybe. Probably not.

What does that mean for all of us for the rest of our lives? Lower standard of living, higher taxes, less control over our daily lives, etc. etc.
Posted by: Harry Paratestes
========
I think it is fixable but pain is going to come to the financial class, consumers via disruption temporarily of supply chains onshoring, etc., and giving up/restricting bennies after all else is cut.

It also means cutting back on being a global trading empire by scuttling NATO and other foreign treaty obligations dating from the Cold War.

Lotsa pain in the short run for most, but rejiggering now instead of during a collapse.

Posted by: whig at April 03, 2025 03:37 PM (ctrM5)

243 123 I admit I'm concerned about DOGE's ability to stay on mission with Mush gone, but I can't blame the guy for wanting a bit of a break.

Posted by: FeatherBlade at April 03, 2025 03:01 PM (hB7mE)
----
If he was hired as Extra Help then he can only work so many days. Then he needs something like 3 or 6 months off before he can be rehired. I did that about 30 years ago, while looking for a permanent job.

Posted by: Ciampino - It paid the rent at April 03, 2025 03:37 PM (sPQoU)

244 As for the media being on its last legs, think again. They still wield enormous influence.
Posted by: Ordinary American at April 03, 2025 03:36 PM (vsTPo)

Yeah. People on the right are celebrating the death of the msm way too prematurely. They’ve definitely been weakened over the past few years. But still more people watch the alphabet nightly news than a Rogan podcast, for example.

Posted by: Its Go Time Donald at April 03, 2025 03:38 PM (A+/01)

245 And I think it explains the hail mary shots of a huge war in Europe and of opening the floodgates to immigrants.

Is it fixable? I don't know. Maybe. Probably not.

Huge war in Europe? With what, the elitists have no troops, no tanks. And one thing Ukraine shows is that moving troops on roads and rail leads to huge losses that their lack of industry can never replace.

Posted by: Oldcat at April 03, 2025 03:38 PM (n7h9X)

246 Which is an interesting take. One of the things that struck me: Trojan wanted to devolve as much power and authority as possible to the provincial governors. He wrote that they knew their provinces best and therefore they would do the best job of taking care of issues.

His direct successor, Hadrian, was the exact opposite. He wanted complete control of everything. Complete micromanager.

I can tell you which I think is the better Man.
Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at April 03, 2025 03:33 PM (hCfYJ)

Trojan was rubber, Hadrian was glue

Posted by: Lots of bouncing and sticking at April 03, 2025 03:38 PM (TbWk/)

247 We've been saying media is dead for... what 30 years?

Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at April 03, 2025 03:39 PM (hCfYJ)

248 Prolly a company owned by some congresscritter.
Posted by: nurse ratched at April 03, 2025 03:36 PM (W2Pud)

Or a family member or concubine thereof.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 03, 2025 03:39 PM (8zz6B)

249 I'm sorry, but I have never known what NPC stands for, and yes, I could look it up, but I'd prefer that someone tells me- please.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at April 03, 2025 03:39 PM (42Vb+)

250 Who was the contractor?

Posted by: Joe at April 03, 2025 03:39 PM (Uy/WF)

251 Heh. Trajan.

Dammit, phone.

Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at April 03, 2025 03:39 PM (hCfYJ)

252 249 I'm sorry, but I have never known what NPC stands for, and yes, I could look it up, but I'd prefer that someone tells me- please.
-----------------
Non Performing Character.

Posted by: Pudinhead at April 03, 2025 03:40 PM (Hpgos)

253 The government is rife with such contracts. When the interim head of the OMB got in he looked at the books and found that in FY24 the federal government outlays totaled $9.8 trillion. Nearly $3 trillion were in grants and 'loans' on top of the $6.8 trillion in the CR that keeps on being called a budget but isn't really.

Posted by: AZ Hi Desert (Gringo fuertemente armado-Tempus belli) at April 03, 2025 03:40 PM (+FJ5c)

254

Lotsa pain in the short run for most, but rejiggering now instead of during a collapse.
Posted by: whig at April 03, 2025 03:37 PM (ctrM5)

I'm not asking if it's fixable if one of us was named God Emperor for life -- then the answer would of course be most likely, I'm asking if it's fixable within the confines of the system we have now.

There are just too many entrenched interests, too many people getting rich, too many powerful factions both in the US and abroad who rely on the status quo...

Not to mention, somewhere around 20% of the people living in the US today were not born here. Plus their kids who were born here... People with no affinity for America, no connection here, and who (for the most part) came here to make money and not because of some grand love of the US and it's people.

I just don't really see it getting fixed. Personally. But you never know.

Posted by: Harry Paratestes at April 03, 2025 03:40 PM (uCjyK)

255 Posted by: FenelonSpoke at April 03, 2025 03:39 PM (42Vb+)

Non Playing Character

Posted by: kallisto at April 03, 2025 03:40 PM (5S0JC)

256 The benefits of a being a leftorrist

@libsoftiktok 6m
UPDATE: Bloomington, MN police chief is now calling the Tesla vandal a “victim” because people were saying mean things about her online. They will also not be prosecuting her. UNREAL.

Posted by: weft cut-loop at April 03, 2025 03:40 PM (mlg/3)

257
Eric Adam’s has left the Dem party.
Posted by: Piper

============

Next stop Big Media?

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at April 03, 2025 03:40 PM (lCaJd)

258 Posted by: FenelonSpoke at April 03, 2025 03:39 PM (42Vb+)

NPC- Non Player Character.

It is a term for the computer controlled characters in a video Gane. The implication is that the NPC does not think for itself, it can only parrot the lines written for it.

Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at April 03, 2025 03:41 PM (hCfYJ)

259 Yeah. People on the right are celebrating the death of the msm way too prematurely. They’ve definitely been weakened over the past few years. But still more people watch the alphabet nightly news than a Rogan podcast, for example.
Posted by: Its Go Time Donald at April 03, 2025 03:38 PM (A+/01)

The MSM is dead. I'm old and I was not in the generation that bought into the Walter Cronkite bullshit. Even ace hardly mentions the NYT anymore even to rip them a new asshole.

Posted by: Oldcat at April 03, 2025 03:41 PM (n7h9X)

260 252 249 I'm sorry, but I have never known what NPC stands for, and yes, I could look it up, but I'd prefer that someone tells me- please.
-----------------
Non Performing Character.
Posted by: Pudinhead at April 03, 2025 03:40 PM (Hpgos)

Non player character.

It's someone in a video game that is a computer. In older video games, it would be the shop keeper who gave you your sidequest or whatever.

You could shoot them in the foot, t-bag them, anything a teenaged boy would find funny, and they still repeat whatever their programmed script is every time you approach them.

Posted by: Harry Paratestes at April 03, 2025 03:41 PM (uCjyK)

261 Posted by: kallisto at April 03, 2025 03:40 PM (5S0JC)

Thanks. This has some connection to gaming? I still don't understand. Sorry.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at April 03, 2025 03:41 PM (42Vb+)

262 It's the same problem all forms of government have, don't get me long -- look at North Korea for a (somewhat silly and more extreme) communist version of the same problem.

Our leaders have decided that the old American view of government needed to go, so they've been re-programming existing Americans and importing more complaint Americans from more compliant cultures.

Because I suspect they know things are not going to be trending in a direction that Joe Sixpack will like very much.
Posted by: Harry Paratestes

I dunno. The mass model of institutions are failing everywhere, even NORKland due to widespread greater comms now. We have simply sailed off the map and are due for an international singularity event to the extent projecting what exists on the other side of the singularity is probably beyond our ken. Voltaire, in Candide, has the weary and bloodied main character return to home much wiser. He resolved to tend to his own garden and let the world go by.

Voltaire knew something was coming but not what to do about it. I know something is coming worldwide due to crumbling institutions but not what to do about it. So we should, as a nation, tend to our own garden.

Posted by: whig at April 03, 2025 03:42 PM (ctrM5)

263 Eric Adam’s has left the Dem party.
Posted by: Piper

============

Next stop Big Media?
Posted by: Blonde Morticia at April 03, 2025 03:40 PM (lCaJd)

His term of office isn't over, he has plenty of time to fight with the state over turf.

Posted by: Oldcat at April 03, 2025 03:42 PM (n7h9X)

264 Huge war in Europe? With what, the elitists have no troops, no tanks. And one thing Ukraine shows is that moving troops on roads and rail leads to huge losses that their lack of industry can never replace.
Posted by: Oldcat at April 03, 2025 03:38 PM (n7h9X)

Huge in the sense of moving hundreds of billions of dollars around.

Posted by: Harry Paratestes at April 03, 2025 03:42 PM (uCjyK)

265 The implication is that the NPC does not think for itself, it can only parrot the lines written for it.
Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at April 03, 2025 03:41 PM (hCfYJ)

Thanks. Now I understand.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at April 03, 2025 03:42 PM (42Vb+)

266 Yes, the terrorism has worked, to some degree. It always does. Thanks a lot, Bondi. And for that matter, Patel. Could there be a more important job than going after domestic terror being heavily financed and waged to thwart the most momentous reform movement in modern history? I don't mean snaring some scruffy Leftist loser on the streets. It's not like we don't who is financing it. Musk knows. The goddam list has been published.

So tired of people and their bullshit.

As for the media being on its last legs, think again. They still wield enormous influence.
Posted by: Ordinary American

Leave two bodies with bullet holes in them on the pavement where they fell in front of every Tesla dealership and pretty soon, Soros won't be able to find domestic terrorists.

Plronlem is, nothing happens to these darling angels so there's no incentive to NOT do shit.

Posted by: rickb223 at April 03, 2025 03:42 PM (8HZkO)

267 Nood violent professor.

Posted by: Washington Nearsider, still gloating at April 03, 2025 03:42 PM (OuB2L)

268 Falling asleep

Posted by: Skip at April 03, 2025 03:42 PM (ypFCm)

269 'Don't get me long'?

Confirmed. Whig =/= The Paolo.

Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at April 03, 2025 03:43 PM (hCfYJ)

270 EXCLUSIVE: 'Dying' Piano Man Billy Joel, 75, 'Being Comforted By Ex Christie Brinkley as His 'Life Ebbs Away' Following Stage Fall and Emergency Surgery

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Soldier of the Persistence at April 03, 2025 03:43 PM (L/fGl)

271 I'm sorry, but I have never known what NPC stands for, and yes, I could look it up, but I'd prefer that someone tells me- please.
-----------------
Non Performing Character.
Posted by: Pudinhead at April 03, 2025 03:40 PM (Hpgos)

It isn't the prefix for Starfleet registries?

Posted by: Kindltot at April 03, 2025 03:43 PM (D7oie)

272 251 Heh. Trajan.

Dammit, phone.
Posted by: Aetius451AD

I recall on a trip to Rome seeing a statue dedicated to him at the ancient port of Ostia. It was a beautiful May Day, wild roses climbed the brick around the sculpture. Just brilliant, and charming.

Wild how one guy continues to elicit response centuries after his death…
Other than religious figure.

Posted by: kallisto at April 03, 2025 03:44 PM (5S0JC)

273 Voltaire knew something was coming but not what to do about it. I know something is coming worldwide due to crumbling institutions but not what to do about it. So we should, as a nation, tend to our own garden.
Posted by: whig at April 03, 2025 03:42 PM (ctrM5)

Very well put and well written.

Posted by: Harry Paratestes at April 03, 2025 03:44 PM (uCjyK)

274 256 Vandals of Teslas being left off the hook because they are victims. Things like that never happen when Eustace and the boys catch somebody messing up the pickup. Matter of fact, nobody really hears about it.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at April 03, 2025 03:44 PM (gm9Sb)

275 The temptation is always there for losers at one level of government to try to refight the battle at the national level and that continues until the federales rule all of which they are fundamentally incapable of doing.
Posted by: whig at April 03, 2025 03:30 PM (ctrM5)

Funny, just this morning you were telling me the EPA can regulate cow farts.

Posted by: Disinterested FDA Director at April 03, 2025 03:45 PM (l3YAf)

276 I just don't really see it getting fixed. Personally. But you never know.
Posted by: Harry Paratestes
I can understand that but the lesson of history is that people endure even when the system around them collapses and rule by our current aristos is far weaker simply because they cannot do what needs to be done themselves. They rely on hired guns so like the Spartans at Thermopylae, despite their apparent mass and riches, they are brittle because they are not willing to fight, die, or even risk property loss for their beliefs.

They are phonies.

Posted by: whig at April 03, 2025 03:45 PM (ctrM5)

277 Our leaders have decided that the old American view of government needed to go, so they've been re-programming existing Americans and importing more complaint Americans from more compliant cultures.

Because I suspect they know things are not going to be trending in a direction that Joe Sixpack will like very much.
Posted by: Harry Paratestes

If you want some consolation, look at how our betters handled foreign events. One honest speech from Vance collapsed decades of concealed creep of totalitarianism into an open fight. All their schemes blow up in their face because they have no practical grounding on how grand ideas get reduced to real world equivalents that might work.

Posted by: Oldcat at April 03, 2025 03:45 PM (n7h9X)

278 I don't think Musk is going very far.

>>Elon Musk to remain ‘friend and adviser’ to Trump admin after DOGE stint is finished, JD Vance says

>>Blasting the reports as “fake news,” Vance vowed the work of DOGE would continue even after Musk left.

https://tinyurl.com/eb38xsn5

Posted by: JackStraw at April 03, 2025 03:45 PM (LkLld)

279 I'm sorry, but I have never known what NPC stands for, and yes, I could look it up, but I'd prefer that someone tells me- please.
-----------------
Non Performing Character.
Posted by: Pudinhead

Or non player character in a game.

Yeah, you can shoot the mead delivery wench, but you don't get points, can't take her stuff, etc.

Posted by: rickb223 at April 03, 2025 03:47 PM (8HZkO)

280 I did some subcontract work for a consulting company on a fedgov contract. As bad and inefficient as you think it is, it’s worse. A 6 month contract turns into a 20 year contract tract. No project ever ends. It gets extended for eternity.

Posted by: Its Go Time Donald at April 03, 2025 03:47 PM (A+/01)

281 Funny, just this morning you were telling me the EPA can regulate cow farts.
Posted by: Disinterested FDA Director

They can. Doesn't mean it is wise. I separate the normative from the empirical and empirically, the Federales or even a state unless the Federales stop them, can do just that.

Has to do with negative rights nature of the original Constitution. Once you undertake an action, then government can regulate that action with another. No action, no regulation and the commerce clause, even under Dred Justice Roberts cannot cause you do something. They can fine you retroactively if you don't under the taxing clause (which I think is idiocy legally speaking) but not under the commerce clause.

Posted by: whig at April 03, 2025 03:48 PM (ctrM5)

282 But… when the people in power run education, academia… well? Then what?

Yeah, the idea that the federal government should in any way be involved in education has always been a bad one; even states getting involved is iffy.

A long time ago, I read a book by a man who had been part of the Hitler Youth and even been in the bunker at the end. He was completely reformed in spirit… but not so much in practice. He recognized that part of the problem had been the Nazi takeover of education. He suggested that to keep this from happening again, we needed a national effort to change, “We have to start with the minds of our children and be willing to give up some of our freedoms whose effects can be too destructive and therefore endanger others.”

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at April 03, 2025 03:49 PM (1jz6p)

283 I have never known what NPC stands for…

Never Poke Cocainebear.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at April 03, 2025 03:50 PM (1jz6p)

284 If you want some consolation, look at how our betters handled foreign events. One honest speech from Vance collapsed decades of concealed creep of totalitarianism into an open fight. All their schemes blow up in their face because they have no practical grounding on how grand ideas get reduced to real world equivalents that might work.
Posted by: Oldcat
=======
Good point.

Posted by: whig at April 03, 2025 03:50 PM (ctrM5)

285 He recognized that part of the problem had been the Nazi takeover of education. He suggested that to keep this from happening again, we needed a national effort to change, “We have to start with the minds of our children and be willing to give up some of our freedoms whose effects can be too destructive and therefore endanger others.”
Posted by: Stephen Price Blair

He never read the God of the Copybook Headings about a dog returning to its vomit.

"As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire; "

Posted by: whig at April 03, 2025 03:53 PM (ctrM5)

286 >> They can. Doesn't mean it is wise. I separate the normative from the empirical and empirically, the Federales or even a state unless the Federales stop them, can do just that.

Yeah, go tell the Framers there’s a Federal Office of Cow Farts and that this is in keeping with their vision of a federal government. I’m sure they’ll agree.

Posted by: Disinterested FDA Director at April 03, 2025 03:53 PM (l3YAf)

287 He never read the God of the Copybook Headings about a dog returning to its vomit.

Yeah, I’m guessing that was not part of the Nazi-era curriculum.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at April 03, 2025 03:54 PM (1jz6p)

288 OK, Musk steps out after 130, an SGE requirement. However, how was US Digital Service created and what are/were its limitations regarding federal employment?

"The United States Digital Service (USDS) is a technology unit[2][3] housed within the Executive Office of the President of the United States and established in 2014 by congressional appropriations.[4]

In January 2025, according to Executive Order 14158, it was publicly renamed and reorganized as the United States DOGE Service,[1] which includes the self-styled Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). However, the USDS still exists."

"In 2021, Congress funded the United States Digital Service until at least September 2024.[4] Appropriations for 2024 were extended into 2025 by continuing resolution."

Wikipedia, and others.

How are US Digital Service/DOGE records archived?

The U.S. Digital Service (USDS) archives its records, including those from official accounts and interactions, under the Federal Records Act and the Presidential Records Act, with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) as the final repository.

Oh, really? Presidential Records

Posted by: L - No nic, another fine day at April 03, 2025 03:55 PM (NFX2v)

289 I'm sorry, but I have never known what NPC stands for, and yes, I could look it up, but I'd prefer that someone tells me- please.
-----------------
Non Performing Character.
Posted by: Pudinhead at April 03, 2025 03:40 PM (Hpgos)

It isn't the prefix for Starfleet registries?
Posted by: Kindltot at April 03, 2025 03:43 PM (D7oie)

NCC

Posted by: Oldcat at April 03, 2025 03:55 PM (n7h9X)

290 >Government Executive, 'Judge orders DOGE to comply with FOIA requests' Trump officials have argued that records from the government efficiency initiative fall under the Presidential Records Act, which can temporarily shield information from public scrutiny. March 11, 2025

In part, "The Trump administration has argued that USDS records fall under the Presidential Records Act, which can restrict access to such information for up to 12 years after a president leaves office. FOIA, on the other hand, requires agencies to disclose requested information with limited exceptions."

>American Oversight, News, April 1, 2025
Our Lawsuit Prompted a New Policy from DOGE — But Major Concerns Remain About the Administration’s Preservation of Government Records
Facing pressure from American Oversight and others demanding accountability from DOGE — and amid widespread outrage about Signalgate — the agency last week unveiled a newly created records retention policy.
------
^Horsesh*t!

>Let Musk go, rehire each & every person with DOGE into US Digital Service/DOGE.

And let's see Congress no longer fund USDS.

>FOIA fed agencies to get time & attendance records for all SGEs, ensuring limits.

Posted by: L - No nic, another fine day at April 03, 2025 03:55 PM (NFX2v)

291 Or non player character in a game.

Yeah, you can shoot the mead delivery wench, but you don't get points, can't take her stuff, etc.

Posted by: rickb223 at April 03, 2025 03:47 PM (8HZkO)

I played an MMO where you could slip money into a mob (moblie object...a monster) to give bonus loot. High level characters sometimes would make a noobs day by loading them up with treasure.

You could also kill the NPCs, but the town guards all came after you for it and they packed a wallop and remembered it forever.

Posted by: Oldcat at April 03, 2025 04:00 PM (n7h9X)

292 Wild how one guy continues to elicit response centuries after his death…
Other than religious figure.
Posted by: kallisto at April 03, 2025 03:44 PM (5S0JC)

to be technical Trajan was deified after his death.

Posted by: Oldcat at April 03, 2025 04:02 PM (n7h9X)

293 I gather it was a no-bid contract.

Posted by: Art Deco at April 03, 2025 04:15 PM (2TXH9)

294 The question is what will the Reds do when Musk is no longer in the DOGE role? Who will they demonize then? Hegseth?

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at April 03, 2025 04:25 PM (YqDXo)

295 46 Grok says the contractor could be Duty First Consulting or Booz Allen Hamilton Engineering Solutions. Looking into them now.
Posted by: Frasier Crane at April 03, 2025 02:43 PM (bNf8H)

Seems like Snowden worked for booze before he went renegade

Posted by: BonnieBlue at April 03, 2025 04:37 PM (XgEQi)

296 The VA needs to get back to caring for the Vets not appeasing the Demo-Rats

Posted by: Tamaa the Drongo Bird at April 03, 2025 04:45 PM (wGqjj)

297 I wish Musk would have waited, at least a month or 2

Posted by: Gonzotx at April 03, 2025 04:51 PM (nGraA)

298 38 But the DOGE workers will remain, I assume.

They are all CEO’s not exactly “workers”

Posted by: Gonzotx at April 03, 2025 04:53 PM (nGraA)

299 Ace, I went past Nood call at 267, w/posts 288 & 290. I apologize.

It's ridiculous to enforce "rules" on this administration which have never been enforced before on US Digital Service, created in 2014, for one. 🤬

Obama is/was a creation of Edward “Ted” Kaufman*, Michael Leavitt & others. 🤷‍♀️ Kaufman had been w/Biden since 1976 & was part of his Presidential transition team in 2020. O (they) amended the PRA 2014; DOJ threatened Trump with it, but couldn't legally use it against him. O (they) modified GSA presidential transition rules & used those to pound Trump beginning at the close of his 1st administration.

O's speciality was 'amending' Bush regulations, stealing 'comprehensive med. care' from the Clintons & bringing political appointees onto various boards, committees, etc. to do bidding, i.e, The White House, Office of the Press Secretary, For Immediate Release March 10, 2015, President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts. For one: Eric D. Schwerin.

>NY Post, 'Who is Eric Schwerin? What to know about Hunter Biden’s business partner,' April 30, 2022.)

Sen Grassley: Nov 11, 14, 'President Obama’s Abuse of Executive Action and Mass Amnesty'

Posted by: L - No nic, another fine day at April 03, 2025 05:20 PM (NFX2v)

300 It isn't just government that has tons of insane spending. I was hired by an online retailer as a 2-week temp 20+ years ago, for a job that took about 5-6 hours. While I was there, they threw a party because their second round of investor funding had come through. There were probably 30 people there.

As I was leaving, I saw a poster they had put up announcing their current revenue goals. My wife and I had our own (then) small web store that we ran part-time out of our house. Our revenue at that time was already more than their goal.

Pretty sure they were out of business within a year, which is the key difference between government waste and business waste.

Posted by: JT at April 03, 2025 06:03 PM (wHT0+)

301 The VA website has always sucked, but it has lately been sucking more and more at almost logarithmic rates, and now we know why. There really isn’t one site. There are multiple Departments and each has its own log on so you have to suffer through an ID check and password threshold for each even when you are already signed into one. It just LOOKS like there’s one site. You can tell they’re aimlessly “tweaking” things, as it gets more and more absurd each successive day you try to sign on. They think it’s job security. I hope Elon fixes that quick.

Posted by: epador at April 03, 2025 06:20 PM (TRnzq)

302 It would be amusing if, after Elon steps down, along comes Vivek to take his place.

I'd have Elon's leave done live, headed off stage, and literally tagging Vivek in, wrestling-style. And then Ramaswamy goes up to the podium to declare his plans for the first day. Even play the bad cop to Elon's nice guy/good cop.

Posted by: Another Anon at April 03, 2025 06:25 PM (4h45B)

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