Turning On The Giant Faucet Of Bullshit - US Politics February 2025

the purpose of any government, when you strip it all the way down to the essentials, is to protect the people from harm and provide a system of "justice".

just thought i'd throw that out there. sometimes i completely forget because it seems like their purpose is the exact opposite

so...anyone have any good resources on how to protect my own and my baby's health with an empowered rfk?

I'm getting every vaccination available to me over the next 1-2 months (Pneumococcal, Shingles, TDAP, and MMR). Also stocking up on the usual COVID supplies... quality KN95 masks, latex gloves, hand sanitizer. If bird flu hits, I don't want to be scrambling for that stuff.

The assistant commissioner of a division of the General Services Administration told staff early this week that layoffs across the federal government are “likely” after the deferred resignation offer expires Thursday, according to an email obtained by The Washington Post — the sharpest move yet toward forcibly removing many of the 2.3 million civilian federal employees.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/02/04/federal-government-layoffs-likely-memo/

Vodoo get a good pediatrician if you don’t have one already

Best year EVER

The "LOL nothing matters" bravado and preening obliviousness it takes to have a White House Correspondents' Dinner in 2025 is leaving me literally breathless. But hey, Amber Ruffin's gonna tell jokes! She's funny.

Is Trump going to be there though? He didn’t go to any during his first term.

Vodoo get a good pediatrician if you don’t have one already

― Heez, Tuesday, February 4, 2025 1:05 PM (twenty-five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah i have a good one. i wonder if they will have any resources

Is Trump going to be there though? He didn’t go to any during his first term.

Whether he shows up or not (he won't, but I bet Musk will), the fact that these bootlicking pieces of shit think a banquet to celebrate the fantastic work they do is the right move as the entire US government is being privatized and demolished by the people they follow around like Entertainment Tonight reporters is...well...it says quite a lot.

Xp get ready for vaccine tourism!

brb going to niagara falls every 6 months

Great time for my dad to need his VA benefits to come through, a thing he's been working toward for like a year but there are 100 steps you have to take including time to research your entire life history of medical records. I'm sure it will be fine. :/

I know everyone here hates Gavin Newsom but this is okay in my book

‘We don’t trust Trump’: California earmarks $50m to fight administration

Plan sets aside $25m for legal battles against US government and $25m for legal groups to defend immigrants

California’s Democratic-dominated assembly endorsed up to $50m in funding on Monday to defend the state’s progressive policies against challenges by the Trump administration.

The legislation sets aside $25m for the state department of justice to fight legal battles against the federal government, and another $25m for legal groups to defend immigrants facing possible deportation...

Schumer and Jeffries can’t think of anything better than proposing a new law that uses the MAGA slogan “Stop the Steal “ as the name for a new law that combines existing laws to block Musk from what he’s doing.

https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3lhetayjwjt2j

Each morning, a peaceful protest outside of the Office of Personnel Management headquarters at 1900 E St NW from 7:30 am to 8:30 am, with coffee and donuts.

Some dc group is doing the above . AFGE that has been filling lawsuits also just announced a noon Tuesday rally near the Capital . They said they are doing it lunchtime so people working nearby can attend at lunchtime and then go back to work

Noted labor writer and metal scribe K1m K3lly is noting on Bluesky that she's heard Department Labor is next in DOGE's sights, her source says they've been told to give DOGE access to whatever they ask or risk termination.

"Please tell the boys with the broccoli haircuts whatever they want to know."

"When Big Balls asks for your password, share it immediately."

The Trump administration is still freezing many climate and infrastructure grants despite two federal court orders barring it from doing so.

Nonprofits and state agencies still lacked access Monday to EPA grant awards funded through the Inflation Reduction Act. Two district court judges have issued orders to reverse such spending freezes — with U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan reinforcing her order from Politico

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/04/epa-spending-freeze-court-orders-00202253

Like I said above, there are no laws anymore, just "Fuck you, stop me" or "Fuck you, make me", depending on the circumstance. But I'm pretty sure Elon Musk doesn't have Secret Service protection (yet). That window may close soon.

He just carries his son on his head everywhere instead for protection.

My uncle works for the dept of labor and is terrified he’ll lose his job. He’s close enough to retirement age, but after supporting two kids and still paying off his own mortgage and loans, there’s not a lot of wiggle for him.

Ugh, I'm sorry table. Hope he makes it through this madness okay.

so do we file taxes this year or is Elon in IRS too?

i'm pretty sure paying taxes is just something suggested to do now. like giving to charity. its not the law or anything.

The "Freedom Isn't Free" sect are always the loudest with the bitching about paying taxes.

Trump, Hosting Israel’s Leader, Says Palestinians Should Leave Gaza

“They have no alternative right now” but to leave, President Trump said shortly before he welcomed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.

will democrats say anything? will this be their first time trying to do anything to stop the genocide, now that biden is out of office?

i could be wrong but it almost seems like most elected democrats are fine with it, and they'd probably agree with trump if it would make the problem they made worse go away

thankfully we knew before the election that Biden's Israel policies were so bad that Trump could not possibly be worse.

its not like Jared didnt float razing Gaza and building high-end beach-front property or anything

Looks like a pretty sizable protest outside the Treasury right now, glad to see something.

Democrats are starting to say things. (Whether that’s enough, or whether they’ll go further, remains to be seen.)

Saying things outside of federal buildings, even.

Federal buildings that they can't get into despite being actual public officials.

the clips of the protest that I'm seeing are fairly lively, Dems are getting punchy little by little

Tables, my sympathy for what your uncle is going through. (He and I and Heez and a few other posters and/or their relatives share something in common, if you follow me.)

it's hard to imagine that we aren't going to have a country full of extremely pissed off people in short order if things continue to collapse like this

Trump just said the U.S. is going to take over the Gaza Strip, once those 2-plus million people are gone.

Whooee.

Personally I can't see this stuff dispassionately because of my gov-adjacent bubble, but I can clearly see a lot of messaging on the web of "good!" And "It's about time" wrt the fear and pain of my townspeople.

I know he's just a babbling wheezebag but jeez fucking christ already

Trump once again says Gaza is a “demolition site” that is “very dangerous and very precarious”.

He says the Palestinians in Gaza should be moved to a “beautiful area with homes and safety …. so that they can live out their lives in peace and harmony”.

“The US will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will go a job with it too,” Trump says.

"We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site, level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings."

And it will be renamed "Trump Strip" after the dazzling casinos and condo units my crypto coin will help finance

Just total horrible nonsense. None of that is going to happen.

Four years sure feels long right now.

"Just go live somewhere else," a novel way to solve unrest in the Middle East; why didn't anyone think of that before

I have several teary conversations with friends and neighbors. One with the IG and another with USAID. These are people I know because we started families around the same time and our kids are close. We all talk about not passing this stress on to our kids but it’s fucking tough. I’ve also been solo parenting for the last two weeks while my wife travels for her international development job. It’s hitting me now that when she does this again in April I’ll be back in the office 5 days a week.

Very few Feds sign up to work for the government out of patriotism. I sure as fuck didn’t I wanted to be a rock star. But at some point something clicks and you get it. My job serves a better good for this country. You start actively trying to make it better, which is often super frustrating in such a large bureaucracy. We’ve been doing really great stuff the last 5 years and now I’m just waiting for it to fall apart makes focusing on work difficult. I don’t think most of the country understands how much damage this is doing

Word up

Sympathies, Heez.

Powerful post, Heez

I hope Bondi deports Fetterman's wife

(who knows, maybe that's why he voted for her)