are we there yet?

[zsn]

drink American coffee. problem solved.

Who’s going to direct Mich to the stats on coffee consumption vs grown in “America”? Coffee grow any State besides Hawaii?

[TDub]

also, just spitballing....but even if we did have areas of climate suited to be able to grow coffee......we seem to be heading for a lack of agricultural labor....so...prices and problem still not solved.

[JKLivin]

Do you manage more than 50 people?

Nope. I could never hope to reach your heights of success.

Yeah, pretty clear that you don’t have the skills.

That’s fine. You could never do my job, either.

[RainbowsandUnicorns]

My experience as a manager (contrary to Overlander's assumptions, I have a decent amount) is that some job descriptions work well remotely, while others do not. Likewise, some individuals handle their responsibilities remotely very well, while others do not.

I allow two of my best supervisees to work from home all but three or four days per month because they have small children and it is not necessary for them to be on-site to do most of their work. I have another who started with those arrangements and proved that they could not handle the responsibility without more supervision, so they currently have to be in-office three days a week with the understanding that we will review the arrangement at the end of the semester. I am hopeful that the incentive of returning to the prior arrangement will motivate her to do better.

I'm not sure how this principle would apply to management of large Federal departments, but I'm open to the idea.

Do you manage more than 50 people?

Nope. I could never hope to reach your heights of success. I also wouldn’t want the headache. I have three admin staff, ten full-time faculty, and about 30 adjuncts. That’s plenty for me.

I'd argue you do manage 50 people if you are professor and teach 50 or more people.
Some of the best "managers" I ever witnessed were teachers.

[JKLivin]

Do you manage more than 50 people?

Nope. I could never hope to reach your heights of success. I also wouldn’t want the headache. I have three admin staff, ten full-time faculty, and about 30 adjuncts. That’s plenty for me.

I'd argue you do manage 50 people if you are professor and teach 50 or more people.
Some of the best "managers" I ever witnessed were teachers.

Thanks, Gutter. I'm still learning every day.

[jfish26]

coffee prices gonna jump

There is a reason that these things will just keep on happening, and that is that it was (for core MAGA) never, not for one minute, about inflation.

Inflation was merely a very effective way for core MAGA to chill support for the Democrats.

[TDub]

no matter what happens it will be twisted into statements like that.

The country is broken. The fissures finally found a big enough wedge. It will take a lifetime to bring it back together.

[KUTradition]

coffee prices gonna jump

There is a reason that these things will just keep on happening, and that is that it was (for core MAGA) never, not for one minute, about inflation.

Inflation was merely a very effective way for core MAGA to chill support for the Democrats.

gun control says what?

(never mind that Colombia is part of America)

[jfish26]

no matter what happens it will be twisted into statements like that.

The country is broken. The fissures finally found a big enough wedge. It will take a lifetime to bring it back together.

Yep.

And you can see - in the microwaved breathlessness of the perpetual panic - the toxic and corrosive effect of cable news. Cliffhangers, teamsportsification, the constant BREAKING NEWS!!! neck-wrenching.

There are millions of legal voters who have never known a world in which political news was supposed to be boring!

[TDub]

no matter what happens it will be twisted into statements like that.

The country is broken. The fissures finally found a big enough wedge. It will take a lifetime to bring it back together.

Yep.

And you can see - in the microwaved breathlessness of the perpetual panic - the toxic and corrosive effect of cable news. Cliffhangers, teamsportsification, the constant BREAKING NEWS!!! neck-wrenching.

There are millions of legal voters who have never known a world in which political news was supposed to be boring!

nor were politics ever meant to be strictly a team sport. Or gang affiliation if you prefer.

[japhy]

Seems like quite the dilemma, what are going to be the priorities of the ruling party?

Republicans who control the U.S. House of Representatives are trying to overcome internal differences on how to pay for President Donald Trump's sweeping tax cuts, with hardline conservatives determined to reduce an annual federal deficit approaching $2 trillion.

With a narrow 218-215 House majority, they need near-total unity as they prepare to vote within weeks on a fiscal 2025 budget resolution that will be a critical step toward passing Trump's sprawling agenda of tax cuts, border and immigration reform, energy deregulation and increased military spending.

Ahead of a three-day policy retreat that kicks off in Miami on Monday, some worried openly that House Speaker Mike Johnson's leadership team might balk at the spending cuts needed to offset the cost of Trump's $6 trillion tax-cut agenda while also addressing the nation's more than $36 trillion in debt.

Republicans have vowed to extend Trump's tax cuts from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, or TCJA, which are set to expire at the end of this year. The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates that doing so would cost more than $4 trillion over ten years, while Trump campaign pledges to eliminate taxes on tips, overtime and Social Security benefits could cost another $1.8 trillion.

Failure to reach agreement could trip up Republican lawmakers' plan to pass Trump's agenda by the end of May, using a maneuver to bypass Senate Democrats that will require almost all of the fractious majority to agree.

"Most of us support the TCJA. I don't think that's the issue. We all want to support what President Trump is doing. But we also recognize the need to get our fiscal house in order," said Representative Michael Cloud, a member of the hardline House Freedom Caucus.

"We've got to have a course correction, and it's got to be dramatic," he told Reuters.

Johnson said he hopes to finalize components of a single sprawling legislative package to fund Trump priorities. Republicans must also decide whether to include an increase in the federal government's debt ceiling -- which Congress must do later this year to avoid a devastating default -- and disaster relief for Los Angeles communities devastated by wildfires.

"There are a number of ideas on the table," Johnson told reporters before lawmakers left Washington last week, saying his caucus aimed to reach agreement in Miami.

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries blasted Republican plans as "a contract against America." He warned: "It will hurt working families, hurt the middle class, hurt our children, hurt our seniors and hurt our veterans."

Jeffries also said the Republican agenda would undermine the Medicaid healthcare program for the poor, as well as government-subsidized healthcare for uninsured workers under the Affordable Care Act.

Republicans say they face a major challenge finding enough spending cuts to cover the cost of the Trump agenda and worry privately that hardliners' insistence on significant deficit reduction could harm their constituents by reducing Medicaid funding for hospitals and outlays for other community services.

"This thing cannot be deficit neutral," said Republican Representative Ralph Norman, adding that the package would need to reduce the deficit "to the tune of a big number."

Another potential roadblock: The rising U.S. deficit is weighing on the bond market, pushing the nation's borrowing costs higher. A significant deepening of the deficit could add to those worries.

The debate will test which is more powerful -- Trump's demands or hardliners' will to hold to a traditional Republican goal of cutting the deficit.

"The president said very clearly what he wants. Now the question is, what do we want? This is an equal body ... We're supposed to have different opinions. If we don’t, we're in trouble, because we're no longer a constitutional republic, said Representative Richard McCormick.

The House Budget Committee has circulated a 50-page menu of proposals that includes trillions of dollars ranging from ideas widely supported in the party, such as repealing green energy tax credits, to the controversial, including the federal home mortgage interest deduction.

A proposal to raise $1.9 trillion from a 10% tariff on imported goods, which Trump has proposed, also faces opposition from House and Senate conservatives.

"I'm not in favor of raising taxes. Tariffs are simply a tax," said Republican Senator Rand Paul, a leading fiscal hawk.

Even as Republicans try to edge toward agreement, Representative Tim Burchett said he worries that up to $200 billion in proposed additional funding for the Pentagon could absorb savings that he would rather use to address the deficit. But he stopped short of saying that such an outcome would lead him to oppose the package.

"If I see us trending in the right direction, that might be enough," Burchett said. "But again, we're lying to ourselves, and we're lying to the public. We go home and say, we're going to do these things. And then we come up here and wink and nod and sell the people down the river. And we go home and get reelected. It's a crazy system."

At the end of the day I have a strong feeling that my tax cuts will survive this fight. But a lot of other government subsidies are going to lose. Cuz if we are being intellectually honest, my tax cuts are a government subsidy of my lifestyle at the expense of the less fortunate. Raising my taxes would not change or hurt my quality of life. Getting rid of the ACA will increase personal bankruptcy due to high cost of medical bills and leading to the closing of small town hospitals.

I would like to thank everyone who subsidizes my tax cuts through debt servicing; whether they do it by choice, or because they didn't understand how it works, or by force of a slim majority vote. Regardless of the reason, I appreciate your financial support. And I should note that if you vote against my best interests, and in your best interests in the future; you can still have free beer and music at Solstice for as long as I live.

are we there yet?

[TDub]

all federal grants and loan disbursements suspended, effective immediately. what?


don't think that's legal Isn't this why we have checks and balances and separation of power across the branches of government.


That......would be devastating to the country, if allowed to proceed.

[jfish26]

all federal grants and loan disbursements suspended, effective immediately. what?


don't think that's legal Isn't this why we have checks and balances and separation of power across the branches of government.


That......would be devastating to the country, if allowed to proceed.

This would be a very good time for even just a small handful of Republican congressmen to locate trace evidence of their spines.

[jfish26]

[japhy]

This seems like a great opportunity for Lil Bobby Brainworm to take charge.

(Bloomberg) -- US officials are investigating the appearance of a strain of bird flu identified in the US for the first time, a worrying sign that the virus is evolving in ways that could make it harder to contain.

Detected on a duck farm in Merced County, California, it’s the first confirmed case of H5N9 in poultry in the US, according to the website for the World Organization for Animal Health, a Paris-based group focused on animal diseases.

The California case wasn’t announced by US health officials, as the Trump administration has paused government communications on health topics pending a political review. Scientists worry that could delay the release of essential information to the public, including about disease outbreaks.

“It is extremely unusual, and I believe it reflects the policy decision for everyone to go dark,” said Michael Kinch, a vaccine specialist who’s chief innovation officer at Stony Brook University. “It’s troubling because any sort of non-typical influenza is particularly problematic when it gains the ability to jump between species.”

New strains of bird flu are concerning as the disease has caused hundreds of deaths in people over the years, mainly via exposure to infected animals, and the US Department of Agriculture and state officials are investigating the case. A more common bird flu strain, H5N1, has recently been spreading in US farm animals, although severe cases in people have been rare.

H5N9 is a subtype of bird flu, and a version that appeared in China more than a decade ago was “highly pathogenic,” according to a 2015 academic paper by researchers in the country. The H5N9 version is thought to come from a genetic combination of other bird flu viruses, including H5N1.

US officials are required to report diseases in animals to the World Organization for Animal Health, according to the USDA website. The US agency didn’t respond to requests for comment on why it didn’t report the case publicly.

Concerns about H5N1, which has been known and studied for more than a decade, have been rising since a death was linked to the virus in Louisiana earlier this month. H5N9 is a less researched viral strain. If it becomes widespread in humans, scientists would likely have to start from the beginning with developing vaccines and researching the virus, Kinch said.

“This the wrong time of year and the wrong virus to be messing around with,” Kinch said.

US health officials have been monitoring the H5N1 virus for genetic mutations that could make it more dangerous. For now, they say there’s no evidence of human-to-human spread and the risk to the general public remains low.

Still, the new case shows that H5N1 is starting to mix genetic material with other influenza viruses, “which is concerning,” said Peter Hotez, a vaccine expert and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine.

Richard Webby, a specialist in influenza at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, said the new H5N9 case doesn’t itself appear to raise the risk to humans or animals. Still, he said, researchers need to look closely at the genetic sequence to see if any important changes have occurred.

As long as we all keep our "not listening ears on" we will be just fine.

[japhy]

I think I mentioned the other day asking my enquiry to DOD employee about the email coming from OPM that was sent simultaneously to all 3,000,000 plus on staff. I asked this morning if there is a "reply all" function on their system. They said "yes" and not too long ago when an email went out to 2,400 people in their group, a large number of people responded using that function. It brought their whole email crashing down. 3,000,000 is 1250X as many responses.

A lawsuit brought by two federal employees alleges that the Trump administration has set up an email distribution system for the entire federal workforce that raises security concerns for workers’ private data.

The lawsuit accuses the US Office of Personnel Management – which handles many personnel operations for the federal government – of failing to do an assessment required by federal law to understand and mitigate any privacy risks in how the alleged new email system is collecting data of federal employees.

The new legal challenge comes as the Trump administration has launched a multi-front effort to overhaul how the federal workforce operates, including initiatives to weaken federal workforce protections and to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs, among other actions.

According to the new lawsuit, federal employees in recent days received emails from the email address HR@opm.gov that purported to be running tests for a new “distribution and response list.”

“The goal of these tests is to confirm that an email can be sent and replied to by all government employees,” one of the emails said, according to the lawsuit, while asking the employees to respond to the emails to confirm receipt.

CNN has reached out to OPM for comment on the lawsuit.

The complaint goes on to cite concerns allegedly raised by an anonymous OPM employee that were posted on the online forum Reddit Monday about how the email distribution system was set up.

CNN previously reported the Trump administration is working on an effort to be able to mass email federal employees. A White House official told CNN last week that President Donald Trump may use the new system to communicate directly with government workers, however, its broader use is still being discussed.

A federal employee who received the test email told CNN last week that employees have not been given any additional Information about the intent behind this new system. A couple of employees told CNN they chose not to respond “yes” as the email instructs to confirm receipt as an act of resistance, one of them said. “Small acts such as one person not responding to that email seem minuscule; however, they add up when it is done collectively,” a career federal employee said.

The federal employees bringing the lawsuit filed the case under pseudonyms. They are seeking to file the case as a class action lawsuit.

They’re being represented by Kel McClanahan, the executive director of National Security Counselors, a law firm that represents federal employees and that also brought a legal challenge last week to the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency.

In a statement to CNN, McClanahan noted that OPM has already been hacked in recent years, including a hack that targeted a security clearance system that would have “presumably” been “very well protected.”

“Plugging in a new email server for the sole purpose of sending messages directly to every federal employee is an invitation to be hacked, and every employee out there needs to know how much of their data is at risk,” McClanahan said, adding that the system should be shut down “until OPM treats this data with the security it warrants.”

It just seemed like a good idea at the time.

Imagine if a bad actor (besides our native abusive dad president) got control of that email string.

I am sure the Hegseth is all over this, when he is sober and not harassing the female staff.

It may seem at times like abusive dad president is reckless, but it is for your own good. Those with enough money can opt out of course.

[twocoach]

They can't even email people properly and these are the fucking morons in charge of whether cancer research and Meals on Wheels programs for at risk seniors are fiscally responsible enough to be continued.

Good job, Republicans. Fucking morons.

[japhy]

Well, that didn't take very long,

Turns out that putting underqualified kids in charge of the federal government's HR agency wasn't the smartest move. Last night, an exploit in the Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) new home-cooked email server seems to have made it possible for anyone with an email address to blast messages to vast numbers of federal employees.

As a result, over 13,000 employees with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found their inboxes bombarded with spam and messages from vulgar trolls. Some users signed the NOAA up for newsletters from entities like the Church of Scientology, or the Perfect Jean — "Welcome to Jean Perfection," a screenshot reads. One particularly vulgar email offered pointers on Trump's alleged performance at a sexual act. An "Important Weather Alert" warned that the next four years have a 99 percent chance of fecal showers. "Aren't you tired of working for a complete c***?" asked one sender. A missive from a sender identified as "Craig" simply reads "yo."

Ken Klippenstein, the national security reporter who revealed the breach, once again took the opportunity to plug his infamous newsletter with the subject line: "urgent, time sensitive."

If you feel this paints a pretty grim picture of the state of our government agencies, you're not alone. "Goes to show you how fast this [new comms system] was cobbled together," one NOAA employee told Ken Klippenstein. "No security or screening on this address."

The whole thing apparently stems from an overhaul at the OPM led by oligarch-in-chief Elon Musk. On Tuesday, Wired reported that Musk had been given free reign to replace the agency's high-level staff with lackeys from his previous ventures.

Those included a 21-year-old who had previously worked for Peter Thiel, and a summer intern from Neuralink who just graduated high school. It also included Amanda Scales — a former xAI HR staffer who is reportedly in place as the OPM's new chief of staff.

Scales is allegedly implementing what some have called a hostile takeover of the OPM, axing the Chief Information Officer Melvin Brown II for refusing to implement the new regime's in-house email server. Brown evidently made the right call, as the new system — on top of all the aforementioned drama — was immediately hit with a class-action lawsuit for failing to pass Bush-era cyber security checks.

All this server drama is important, as it's reportedly key in DOGE's goal of gathering information on every government employee. Tuesday's much-reported "fork in the road" email memos came from this unsecured server, which unintentionally revealed the involvement of two non-government individuals, both heavily involved in Project 2025.

As Trump's acolytes look to gut the federal government and install their own yes men, the drama swirling around this email server will have a lot to reveal about the new administration's unprecedented strategy.

we are almost there, I can smell it

[jhawks99]

But her emails

[defixione]

At least Palestine is warm and cozy now.