Skip to content

9 thoughts on “Lunchtime Photo”

  1. VirginiaLady16

    Federal employment is far more complicated than Genius Elon seems to think but there is precedent that Trump 1.0 got away with, and which will work again. Consider the following: around one out of every three Feds will be eligible for regular retirement in the next five years. Whether they stay or go is complicated, and partially dependent on how they are treated. Replacing them with specialists with equal skills and ability at the salary offered, and the amount of abuse they are required to swallow will be impossible. Some jobs will be filled with inexperienced, inept lackeys, but the real talent will say AMF.

    Agencies can make it impossible to stay. I give you USDA’s Economic Service as an example in Trump 1.0. This was a small agency that did all kinds of projections and analyses, not just agricultural imports and exports but indepth studies of various commodities, as well as things like weather and crop calendars. The story was that moving the agency to Kansas City would save money. The real reason was that the Trump administration didn’t like some of the Agency’s analyses, appparently those on climate change. Almost all of the analytical staff had master’s degrees in their field of speciality; some had doctorates. All lived in the metro DC area. By extension, almost all had homes, families and working spouses. They were given one month to decide whether to move or quit. Have you ever tried to sell an house in just one month? Three out of every four chose to resign (a few were eligible to retire). The agency has never recovered. That was the point. And that is exactly how Elon plans to gut any agency that says anything he doesn’t like. It will work, too. Nothing as bold and dashing as his walking in with a kitchen sink and just firing people: he won’t be able to get away with that. He can however make it literally impossible for people to stay.

    1. jte21

      After that disaster with the falsified orange juice crop reports out of Florida in the 80's that bankrupted a noted Philadelphia commodities trading firm, its fate may have been sealed.

    2. emjayay

      I'm pretty sure that comment goes with the next post.

      Meanwhile, the Votivkirche in Vienna is a neogothic church completed in 1879, so it doesn't have the religious/historical resonance of the real thing. Not quite the neogothic Episcopal Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, started in 1927 and completed in 1964 - made of concrete with a steel framework - though.

  3. Justin

    Sometimes I regret the fact that Christianity is a myth. It inspired such amazing art, architecture, and music. There really is no way to preserve this long term without actual believers doing the work. Oh well. Enjoy it while you can!

Comments are closed.