As is his and elmo custom, they will screw over all fed employees who accept elmos "offer". Budget will be the "excuse". Why in hell would they make such a "great" offer when the intent is to literally kill funding everywhere. And since the cash isn't going into rump or Leon's pocket directly, this too will be SHIT OFF.
Hi TFN, here in London I read your post avidly, for two reasons: one, cos it's well hilarious and scabrous; two, cos it reeks of truth, which is unusual in the current American context. So, I un-Scrooged my PayPal account and sent you a small donation, just to say thanks, and please keep the ole flag flyin'....
"But other Republicans have come forward to insist that they, too, have experienced encounters that cannot be explained away except by the existence of judges"
This made me laugh out loud.
Of course judges exist! However, only virgin females may approach them. If one happens to let you approach, you should try to gently stroke its mane to build up a rapport before it will indicate whether it is prepared to be your mount.
I'm fairly sure that if you receive any edition of TFN by email, you can simply reply to one of those emails and the author (Jonathan) will receive that via his substack account.
Thank you for calling out the nonsense about Social Security payments to beneficiaries who have died and the payments to a 150 year-old. What this demonstrates is that the Elon and his band of merry pranksters have no idea how administrative data systems actually work in the real world.
Social Security generally receives death notices from funeral homes. But that information may not be submitted timely. The 150 year old was probably a disabled beneficiary who was born in 1975 but the birth date entered into the system that Elon was querying was probably something like 2/12/1875—making the person appear to be 150 years old. This is the trouble with administrative data: errors once entered have a way of persisting and being propagated.
So it's likely that the error is not a payment to the worlds oldest man or woman but — horror of horrors — an error in the data record. Ever tried to get a wrong charge on your credit card statement fixed? Not understanding the limitations of administrative data is a common problem with even competent newbie programmers. And this is why you have to orient and train and supervise new programmers and analysts before you turn them loose and let them run wild through a federal data trove. And why they need what Elon's MAGAtts clearly don't have: common sense, an education that has developed their critical thinking skills, and experience in the real world not just in gaming-land and the virtual irreality that is social media.
As Heraclitus said: "The untrained mind quivers with excitement at everything it hears."
I've been one of the unelected bureaucrats. Only a person who has never worked for the federal government could say the "bureaucracy has ... more power than any elected representatives". My experience started way back in 1973 or so doing an internship at the EPA which, you may recalled, was created under Richard Nixon and whose first Administrator was William Ruckelshaus. I had the treat of watching Jamie Whitten, the Democratic Chairman of the Appropriations Ag Subcommittee tell the EPA "bureaucrat" that it needed to revoke the recently adopted ban on the use of DDT in agriculture ... adding that it was so safe you could put it on your breakfast cereal. Sorry for that historical digression.
The bureaucracy never, even for a moment, forgets who has the real power: and they don't have it. The power is almost all in Congress and in the Courts. They are simply doing their best to do what Congress has told them to do — and to comply with the requirements for public (including industry) participation in rulemaking established by the APA and the Courts. And don't forget the oversight work of the Government Accounting Office mis-re-named The Government Accountability Office by the House Republicans then under the "leadership" of Denny Hastert—because when you don't have any substantive policies to offer just focus on rebranding!
So, no, Elon and your MAGAtt followers, you don't know what you're talking about. And, by the way, if you are going to say the bureaucracy is out of control you have to provide evidence. The same way a bureaucratic agency has to provide evidence, provide opportunity for public comment, and respond to those comments before it promulgates regulations.
Here endeth this tutorial on how the bureaucracy works.
Good information, and prophetic. I'm expecting every banned carcinogen and endocrine disruptor to be unbanned within a year, and we WILL be having it on our breakfast cereal.
I felt actual pain when reading the linked USAID IG report from Monday, having co-written a few reports that were similar during times of criticism and accusations. To hear that the IG was fired the next day just made it that much more hurtful.
I feel like I don't need to read the rest of the news because so much that is of real interested is in your columns. Do you need donations for your caffeine consumption?
Thank you, Leigh. One of my goals is to make people feel confident that, if it matters, we'll get to it. Is it weird that I don't drink coffee? (Which doesn't mean I'm not super grateful to all of TFN's donor Newsfuckers, who pay for the other things my family and I drink!)
MAGA playbook in motion, create chaos and confusion, muddy the waters and steal as much money as possible while people are distracted by muddied waters…
Democrats need to Step Up and grab the microphone to keep MAGA momentum minimized, get attention and keep attention on MAGA mismanagement and the suffering it causes.
Should be easy, stop playing by obsolete rules and just GET AND KEEP ATTENTION DEMS!
Get and keep attention? First of all: how? Second of all: really? Isn't the need for an actual spinal column, meaning advocacy of policies that might matter? Such as, say, Medicare for All?
Yeah, and that would be okay by me if he confined himself to, say, making models of WWII battleships or writing infinite numbers like Pi on his bedroom wall instead of fucking with the innards of our government and republic. BTW, he is not only 'on the spectrum,' he is an easily diagnosed severe narcissist as well as possibly suffering from grandiose delusions such as it's up to him and him alone to colonize Mars for us poor endangered humans who will all perish if we don't climb aboard his starship.
It looks as though Trump** brought on Musk so there was someone who made such confoundedly stupid and vapid speeches that it made Trump**’s garbledness seem coherent. But Trump** already had the legacy media to do that.
As is his and elmo custom, they will screw over all fed employees who accept elmos "offer". Budget will be the "excuse". Why in hell would they make such a "great" offer when the intent is to literally kill funding everywhere. And since the cash isn't going into rump or Leon's pocket directly, this too will be SHIT OFF.
Did anyone listen to the discussion? Listen carefully. Elon’s son says to Donald, “You’re not the president. You need to go!” He also told him to STFU. https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1D4ngeAoEu/?mibextid=wwXIfr
Hi TFN, here in London I read your post avidly, for two reasons: one, cos it's well hilarious and scabrous; two, cos it reeks of truth, which is unusual in the current American context. So, I un-Scrooged my PayPal account and sent you a small donation, just to say thanks, and please keep the ole flag flyin'....
"But other Republicans have come forward to insist that they, too, have experienced encounters that cannot be explained away except by the existence of judges"
This made me laugh out loud.
Of course judges exist! However, only virgin females may approach them. If one happens to let you approach, you should try to gently stroke its mane to build up a rapport before it will indicate whether it is prepared to be your mount.
Is there a way to send you a non-public link? Nothing profound, but it would be nice to get it to you before the muskrats see it.
I'm fairly sure that if you receive any edition of TFN by email, you can simply reply to one of those emails and the author (Jonathan) will receive that via his substack account.
I believe that’s right.
Done! Tnx
You can also do a direct chat
Thank you for calling out the nonsense about Social Security payments to beneficiaries who have died and the payments to a 150 year-old. What this demonstrates is that the Elon and his band of merry pranksters have no idea how administrative data systems actually work in the real world.
Social Security generally receives death notices from funeral homes. But that information may not be submitted timely. The 150 year old was probably a disabled beneficiary who was born in 1975 but the birth date entered into the system that Elon was querying was probably something like 2/12/1875—making the person appear to be 150 years old. This is the trouble with administrative data: errors once entered have a way of persisting and being propagated.
So it's likely that the error is not a payment to the worlds oldest man or woman but — horror of horrors — an error in the data record. Ever tried to get a wrong charge on your credit card statement fixed? Not understanding the limitations of administrative data is a common problem with even competent newbie programmers. And this is why you have to orient and train and supervise new programmers and analysts before you turn them loose and let them run wild through a federal data trove. And why they need what Elon's MAGAtts clearly don't have: common sense, an education that has developed their critical thinking skills, and experience in the real world not just in gaming-land and the virtual irreality that is social media.
As Heraclitus said: "The untrained mind quivers with excitement at everything it hears."
I've been one of the unelected bureaucrats. Only a person who has never worked for the federal government could say the "bureaucracy has ... more power than any elected representatives". My experience started way back in 1973 or so doing an internship at the EPA which, you may recalled, was created under Richard Nixon and whose first Administrator was William Ruckelshaus. I had the treat of watching Jamie Whitten, the Democratic Chairman of the Appropriations Ag Subcommittee tell the EPA "bureaucrat" that it needed to revoke the recently adopted ban on the use of DDT in agriculture ... adding that it was so safe you could put it on your breakfast cereal. Sorry for that historical digression.
The bureaucracy never, even for a moment, forgets who has the real power: and they don't have it. The power is almost all in Congress and in the Courts. They are simply doing their best to do what Congress has told them to do — and to comply with the requirements for public (including industry) participation in rulemaking established by the APA and the Courts. And don't forget the oversight work of the Government Accounting Office mis-re-named The Government Accountability Office by the House Republicans then under the "leadership" of Denny Hastert—because when you don't have any substantive policies to offer just focus on rebranding!
So, no, Elon and your MAGAtt followers, you don't know what you're talking about. And, by the way, if you are going to say the bureaucracy is out of control you have to provide evidence. The same way a bureaucratic agency has to provide evidence, provide opportunity for public comment, and respond to those comments before it promulgates regulations.
Here endeth this tutorial on how the bureaucracy works.
Good information, and prophetic. I'm expecting every banned carcinogen and endocrine disruptor to be unbanned within a year, and we WILL be having it on our breakfast cereal.
Thanks, Henry!
Can you imagine if Biden had done anything of the kind — we would then hear only OLD OLD OLD from the press day and night.
Just read to day that Tulsi Gabbard is confirmed as Intel chief.
Remember all folks who were worried about our secrets : they no longer have to worry anymore bc as of today, we no longer have any to protect.
The snark is helpful today!
I felt actual pain when reading the linked USAID IG report from Monday, having co-written a few reports that were similar during times of criticism and accusations. To hear that the IG was fired the next day just made it that much more hurtful.
Put the kid in charge. Seriously, WTF.
If one must be subjected to the fucking news, the consolation is that there are a few laughs along the way 💙
I feel like I don't need to read the rest of the news because so much that is of real interested is in your columns. Do you need donations for your caffeine consumption?
Thank you, Leigh. One of my goals is to make people feel confident that, if it matters, we'll get to it. Is it weird that I don't drink coffee? (Which doesn't mean I'm not super grateful to all of TFN's donor Newsfuckers, who pay for the other things my family and I drink!)
MAGA playbook in motion, create chaos and confusion, muddy the waters and steal as much money as possible while people are distracted by muddied waters…
Democrats need to Step Up and grab the microphone to keep MAGA momentum minimized, get attention and keep attention on MAGA mismanagement and the suffering it causes.
Should be easy, stop playing by obsolete rules and just GET AND KEEP ATTENTION DEMS!
Democrats need to answer the question: “Do we want to be “right” or do we want to be effective?”
They have been “right” for years now, time to be effective…
How? You use the same tools and methods MAGA uses, for the “right” reasons… not rocket science folks 🤔
Agree
Get and keep attention? First of all: how? Second of all: really? Isn't the need for an actual spinal column, meaning advocacy of policies that might matter? Such as, say, Medicare for All?
Sure, but the first step is GETTING ATTENTION away from MAGA and into the arena of control by not-MAGA operatives…
Until you are controlling the narrative the facts are meaningless, as we have all seen recently 🫡
P.S. The facts are never meaningless.
I repeat: how?
Lay off Elon. He's on the spectrum.
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1D4ngeAoEu/?mibextid=wwXIfr
Yeah, and that would be okay by me if he confined himself to, say, making models of WWII battleships or writing infinite numbers like Pi on his bedroom wall instead of fucking with the innards of our government and republic. BTW, he is not only 'on the spectrum,' he is an easily diagnosed severe narcissist as well as possibly suffering from grandiose delusions such as it's up to him and him alone to colonize Mars for us poor endangered humans who will all perish if we don't climb aboard his starship.
Is that a new street name for ketamin?
It looks as though Trump** brought on Musk so there was someone who made such confoundedly stupid and vapid speeches that it made Trump**’s garbledness seem coherent. But Trump** already had the legacy media to do that.
Are you suggesting Trump somehow knows WTF he's doing?
Even a blind pig finds an acorn sometimes.
Musk ain't no acorn though.
Right? He didn't need the world's villain