I have been thinking of how the federal government should handle the response to the situation in Los Angeles. I believe that it goes without saying that the mostly peaceful protestors are spoiling for a fight, publicly proclaiming that the feds should stop ICE raids, etc. I realize the temptation for responding with force, but I think I would take the opposite approach, if I were the president. I would completely withdraw the feds. Hear me out.
Some background here. The federal government GS pay schedule pays a base annual rate nationwide, depending on the grade and step within that grade. For example, a GS-11, step 1 pays $63,163 annually (2025 GS pay scale) They will also add a locality pay adjustment on top of that for certain regions because of the cost of living. For example, in the Los Angeles-Long Beach duty area, that same GS-11, step 1 would be paid $86,199 annually (2025 LA-Long Beach pay scale). Admin leave is what the feds call it when someone is on paid leave for administrative purposes, but they are not generally permitted to work. This is the status that they are in during government shutdowns. The FDA employees who were riffed this spring are all on admin leave while things are winding their way through the courts. (My sister works for the FDA. When her center director was fired, it made national news.) I would simply state that because of the unrest and the situation in LA that all federal employees in the Los Angeles-Long Beach pay area are on admin leave. I would stress, quite emphatically and in the most public way possible that no on here is being riffed or will lose their job, etc. This is truly because of the unsafe situation in LA. I would inform them that the admin leave begins immediately, but if they want to complete their assigned shift, they are welcome to. If anyone should question the validity of a specific pay region of the federal government being given admin leave, a recent occurrence was during the Biden administration on January 20, 2025 for all federal employees in the Washington, DC pay area.
I would have the Marines/ National Guard guide all federal employees out, to ensure they are able to get out safely. I would then say that all federal employees are on admin leave until we can guarantee their safety as we deem fit. I would order the Marines/ National Guard to return whence they came. The rioters will almost assuredly do what rioters do when celebrating a great victory. It will absolutely look like the rioters, the mayor, the governor, etc. will have achieved a great victory. Here’s where it gets interesting.
Most people associate the feds in non-DC areas as just ICE and the FBI. However, I said before that all federal employees in the Los Angeles-Long Beach pay area would be on admin leave. The ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles are the 6th and 9th busiest ports for cargo tonnage in the country and far and away the busiest on the west coast (Wikipedia link). Every single container ship is coming from a foreign port (thanks, Jones Act!). They must be cleared by a customs agent, who would now be on admin leave. If someone decides to offload the cargo without getting cleared through customs, would that not be a conspiracy, assuming union and/or state involvement? I believe the RICO statutes cover that. If not, there will definitely be some bureaucratic hoops to jump through.
Let’s say that people want to travel via plane. Most, if not all, air traffic controllers and TSA agents at commercial airports are all federal employees and they would all be on admin leave. LAX would essentially be shut down. We hear a lot about migrant workers picking fruit, etc. Remember that the USDA and FDA inspectors would be on admin leave so there would be no inspections. But what if such foodstruffs were to stay all within California? Thanks to Wickard, every libertarians favorite decision, because it might affect interstate commerce, that’s a no go. If the unions involved say anything, RICO would cover it.
How long would it take the rioters, etc. to realize they had won a Pyrrhic victory? Surely the state and local authorities would tell these federal employees to go back to work. I would gently but firmly remind them that these are not their slaves, they have no right to tell them to do anything vis a vis their employment, job duties, etc. As their employer, because I am concerned about their safety, I will determine when they go back to work. We would need to see definitive measures to ensure our employees safety, etc. Since there are no guarantees in life, it would be very easy to hold them out longer than the local authorities would want. They wouldn’t just go back the day after the riots ended. We would need to see far more concrete actions before allowing them to return. Who would quibble over employee safety? The best part of it is that if the longshoremen and the teamsters at the port go without pay, or have to dip into their coffers, they’ll end the troubles quite effectively, as they are wont to do.
What say ye?
Who?
We’re so hard-up for content even Tulpae are accepted.
Someone coming out of the closet as a Children’s Home Society employee?
A coming out party at a children’s home.
That’ll be the next social media craze.
I tried to introduce myself in the dead thread, but it’s still awaiting moderation. i guess that makes me the newest tulpa here. or something like that. Long-time lurker, but hoping to do more than just lurk.
Ah, ok.
😛
Some fresh blood? Need to keep Pie at bay.
I still get surprised there’s people who lurk and read our little comments.
/waves at the lurkers
😨
People read what we write?
Unpossible!
You’d need to be god-emperor and not just president, since a friendly federal judge would quickly rule that those federal workers need to get back to work for $reasons.
True, but work to the rule isn’t just for labor. The key here is that they’re still getting paid (hence the admin leave). I admit, it’s a semi-facetious proposal, but the longer things go on, the less facetious it becomes.
Yeah, it’s one thing to order that people get paid. Federal judges ordering people to work, though, is very different. Will the judge order them to meet certain performance standards? Quotas? How exactly will the courts oversee the day to day work of the employees who are now working because they were ordered to?
I say that all that stuff that is not constitutionally required is not any business of the Feds. If the proper levels are handling the work, Congress can’t use them as political footballs.
As for the rioting, it is up to Congress to change immigration law. Until then, the Feds have every right to enforce it within the law.
I see unions going on strike as a conspiracy to cause harm to millions of innocent people that have no authority to meet the goals of the strikers.
I see this proposal as more of the same thing. The net effect is to cause harm to millions of innocent people that have no real authority resolve the crises that is happening in the streets.
Both scenarios are fundamentally evil.
My solution is to have FedGov prosecute local officials for dereliction of duty which results in millions of people being denied their civil rights.
When I hear of unions going on strike and their demands aren’t things like “The factory is a deathtrap, fix it”, my initial inclination is to root for scab labor.
I still kinda dig the idea of urban sniper teams with silenced .22LR rifles, assigned to identify and less-lethally suppress the riot coordinators. It’s not legal, and certainly not moral, but I think that it would be very effective.
The silenced .22LR bolt-action rifle has a lot of very interesting use cases, when you start thinking outside the box. I’m tempted to build another one for myself…
What riots?
zoot suit riots?
I remember when the Cherry Poppin Daddies used to play at the Top of the Cock.
It was horribly cruel for DeSantis and Abbott to send illegals to proudly self-proclaimed sanctuary cities. Now it’s horribly cruel to send them to their nations of origin.
Apparently the only humane place for illegal immigrants to live is in states run by Republicans.
Nonsense, the humane place for them is in their countries of origin.
I don’t understand why so many people want to move to such a fascist, racist country, and why they are willing to risk their lives to do so.
The people who oppress them at home don’t have guilty consciences like the white people that oppress them here?
From the ded thred- most of the cane sugar will be imported, probably from Brazil. The domestic can sugar supply (H’awa’ii”) collapsed 30+ years ago. Domestic white sugar is mostly from sugar beets. That too has changed. Used to be a big business in Oregon and California.
Hawaii and the Gulf states are still the primary regions where US cane is grown.
Hawaii had 14 acres of sugarcane in 2020. I forgot about the gulf production.
That’s sad – sugarcane was the only reason we annexed Hawaii in the first place.
Pineapples are basically a tourist thing too.
I’m sure that’s not enough cane sugar for all the Coca-Cola produced in the US, but half a million acres isn’t dead. For contrast, the domestic long grain rice market is around two million acres.
Sugar bears are still big biz in southern Idaho.
Hiccup
Rivian and other EV manufacturers are increasingly facing a more challenging market than they did in recent years amid changing regulations under the Trump administration, including the elimination of a $7,500 federal incentive for purchasing an EV.
Aside from regulatory issues, Rivian also faces slower-than-expected EV demand and a lack of new products until next year amid needs for cash and earnings losses. The company lost $1.1 billion during the second quarter.
Rivian’s vehicle sales increased 32% to 13,201 units year over year during the third quarter as buyers hurried to purchase an EV before the federal incentives expired at the end of September, but the company’s 2025 delivery forecast was narrowed from as many as 46,000 units to between 41,500 and 43,500 vehicles.
I don’t care what sort of incentives they offer. What kind of idiot buys an incredibly complicated and computer dependent vehicle from a company which might not even exist in a year or two?
FIFY
Hey! What I do with my Saab is my business!
Although they have been out of business for 14 years now.
My friend with a Fisker Ocean has a sad.
I’ve actually seen a couple of Rivians on the road recently. FUGLY.
I think the Rivian is cute.
Especially a vehicle that is worse for the environment.
Fuck off, Tulpa! Thanks for the article and welcome.
In too local VA news:
Just heard an Obama ad for Abigail Spanberger, I wonder if that means she is in trouble?
I also notice at the beginning of her campaign she was very proud of being a former CIA case officer and now she is simply “prior law enforcement”.
That’s legit hilarious. CIA employees *hate* being described as ‘law enforcement’, mostly because they’re not.
I do have a sneaking suspicion that Abby’s internal polling isn’t where she wants it to be. We live in hope…
Have you seen the ad where a few old fat cops say how there ticked off at the attacks Abigail is getting?
So bad.
Calling CIA law enforcement is a Monkey D. Luffy level stretch
Law enforcement in terms of supplanting a foriegn police force with their own! Presto! Law Enforcement
The only CIA employees with arrest powers are the SPOs that are assigned to uniformed patrol. Basically the security guards.
Abby probably just cost herself 20k IC votes with that stupid remark. When I say that spies hate being confused with cops, I mean they *REALLY* hate it.
Abby probably just cost herself 20k IC votes with that stupid remark
I hope so, but I am skeptical that anything can get past their Blackwomanbad
Blackwomanbad
She is not of the body!
more political news from Virginia.
Because the Dem platform of higher taxes and boys in the girls’ room isn’t sufficiently appealing?
Do better, Virginia.
From the ded thread:
I went to the ER. I’m having a slight headache, so I was diagnosed with a mild concussion. I also got a tetanus shot because I got a burn on my hand from the air bag. So now it’s all been documented if/when I sue.
Jimbo: My friend Frank (the double amp) was already joking with me this morning about claiming I am now MORE disabled. He always thought that if he was in an accident, he’d fall out of his truck and yell MY LEGS! Yes we are sick.
Hope no other issues pop up.
Were you sore today?
Ron, TOK was in a car accident, not prison!
Yea, that came out wrong.
TWSS
I’m a little sore. Mostly “foggy” as the ER doc said.
he’d fall out of his truck and yell MY LEGS!
I was really hoping you did something like that.
I also got a tetanus shot because I got a burn on my hand from the air bag.
Interesting. I thought tetanus was primarily spread through rodent feces. Maybe they’re concerned about rat shit confetti being launched by the airbag?
Seriously though, I’m glad you’re apparently only mildly worse for the wear.
C. tetani is commonly found in soil, saliva, dust, and manure. You DO NOT want to get tetanus. Even with treatment, the fatality rate is up around 10% (untreated tetanus is almost 100% fatal) and the recovery time is measured in months or years.
Well at .01/100,000 persons in the US, its not really up on my list of worries
Henry David Thoreau’s father died from tetanus in a razor cut.
Nah, Boston Brahmins just talk like that, no lockjaw needed
TOK and Frank scamming
Best wishes.
He always thought that if he was in an accident, he’d fall out of his truck and yell MY LEGS! Yes we are sick.
I laughed. This is good.
TOK, I’d insist the doc prescribe massive amounts of testosterone. Then convince your wife that she needs to take them.
DHEA and phytoestrogen for the win.
I read an article 20ish years ago. Some female journalist was taking a men’s testosterone supplement for a short time. She was amazed at the impact.
And she mentioned, it was the first time in her life that she understood why men think the way they do.
I can’t read the article:
I sure hope they’re wrong.
I managed to Ctrl-A and Ctrl-C the preview of the article before it rejected me.
It tracks multiple middle-aged women that are taking large doses of testosterone. They experience vast increases in productivity as well as vast increases in libido.
They say they don’t care about the side effects cause it’s worth it.
I was wondering if it made you a cripple.
My friend with a Fisker Ocean has a sad.
Maybe he can get that Westin Champlin guy to diesel swap it for him.
She.
And on topic, I have a friend who works for the Feds. She works from home, but they got an alert that people were spotted at their building in Chicago taking pictures of employees and license plates. Apparently the cartels have issued a bounty on any Federal employee. This is going to get out of hand really fast. I don’t have a problem with your proposal.
Apparently the cartels have issued a bounty on any Federal employee.
This will just hasten the upcoming police state. The result is even more FedGov personnel authorized to carry while the populace is disarmed (with Republican support).
Ding ding ding.
I’ve heard of the bounty on ICE agents, though I’m not sure I believe it. But why would they go after any old federal employee? It almost seems like a large percentage of them are the human smugglers’ best friends.
But why would they go after any old federal employee?
Called winning hearts and minds. Bump off enough IRS agents and a lot of people will grudgingly start to like the cartels.
In that case, is there a Go Fund Me?
“And you bring in my cocaine? I’ve misjudged you.”
If the cartels start popping gringos, that is a clear sign that something is now working re: enforcement efforts.
Greetings, Fellow Tulpa! I too, am a Tulpa.
Glad to see a post! Excellent work, may you post many times more.
Oh, and F*ck you Tulpa! I think I got that line about 60 times before it finally stopped.
Fuck you Tulpa!
It never stops
+1 more….
Fu k off Tulpa!
Ok. Sixty-two times now.
+1 more….
Fu k off Tulpa!
63 times
C’mon guys, you know where this needs to go.
Fu k off Tulpa!
64…
Giggity…
67 …
Everyone’s a Tulpa for 15 minutes.
I went to the ER. I’m having a slight headache, so I was diagnosed with a mild concussion. I also got a tetanus shot because I got a burn on my hand from the air bag. So now it’s all been documented if/when I sue.
That whole deal sucks. Glad you’re (mostly) okay, Is (was) your car heavily modified? I assume it had hand controls for brake and throttle.
Yes, it had hand controls. Those are usually north of $1000, can’t be moved to different vehicles, and I have to pay it out of pocket.
Articles are once again ramping up and poking ATC with a stick and saying “Come on! Call in sick! You’re our great hope to end this shutdown!”
Meanwhile, Repubs propsoal to pay currently working person failed.
Dems propsal to pay everyone, even the filks at home failed.
Into the weeked we go while I recalculate and recalibrate emergency savings
You all play nice with the new kid. He submitted this article months ago, and I had to pitch a hissy fit to get him onboarded as a writer. His patience with us is admirable.
Oooooooooh, spicy white hat Tonio in the house
*sigh*
puts away the handcuffs, knout, and Carolina-Reaper-flavored personal lube…
knout
On the one hand, my instinct is to look that up. On the other hand, it’s EvilSheldon…
His sjambok is at the cleaners.
https://www.bullwhipsquadron.org/knout/
Site is more or less SFW, believe it or knout…
Nice try, ES – I’ll just bet that site is full of Robert Mapplethorpe enthusiasts.
But Mooooom!
*Kicks at the ground
Hey Tulpa after you fuck off, do you want to go throw rocks at hippies or something?
Tonio it is out of our hands.
You can’t go easy when you are jumping in a new Glib. Gotta pay the piper like we all did.
Only those who write for the site have the proper credentials for the requisite harassment. The rest, without the credentials, have to wait in line.
I have a modest proposal that is relevant to this post:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzBIw3Y39kQ
CHS:
Any plan that works to prevent the Left from gaining and holding power will be ruled inherently unfair, racist, sexist, transphobic, islamophobic, …
You get the idea.
So we’re past the 80/20 break on the issue?
Fuck off Tulpa!
Poor CHS. He wrote a nice article about the LA riots and we tell him to fuck off multiple times.
Can’t we all just get along?
Fuck off Tulpa! All seriousness, appreciated the piece and welcome the lurker even if they are CIA/NSA
Now he knows when I share one of my cherished Firsts with you…people.
I need to procure a 1997 red minivan and hire some orphans so I can hang out at gas stations telling a sob story about how I ran out of gas trying to get to my grandmother in the hospital.
Hire? I think you mean acquire.
#ows611 🔎 4/5 (01:03)
⭐⭐⭐⭐
🔥 streak: 3
onewordsearch.com
#stack226 5/5
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
⏱️ 2m 2s
🔥 streak: 3
puzzlist.com/stackdown
Actually related to the article:
I would also say that if Federal employees are evacuated from a city due to safety issues, the city should foot that massive bill. This would also be a deterrent for these stupid riots.
A couple of questions on side issues:
So, the GS-11 pay if you’re in LA is around 30%(!) higher. If you transfer to, say, Idaho, do you get a 30% pay cut?
And for the life of me I can’t figure how we get from “there is no money to pay people because none has been appropriated” to “people get paid leave”.
There are always vast piles of ill-gotten gains lying around.
Who was the asshole politician that said “You can’t run a government like a business?” It was when Ross Perot was making his run. I think it was one of the execrable Bushes.
If you transfer to, say, Idaho, do you get a 30% pay cut?
Surely that’s a “yes” – my company also has a COLA salary adjustment – I’m in a Tier 1 city (HCOL) if I moved to a less expensive area they’d adjust my salary downwards.
I’d expect the private sector to be rational.
I was asking about the government.
Fair point.
To the first question, yes. If you move to a new duty location, you get the pay rate in the new place. My sister moved from MD to SC and she now gets the locality pay for where she is in SC. She moved down during COVID and bought her house based off of the SC pay not the inflated MD/DC pay rate. You can find the GS schedules and the locality adjustments online.
I gotta admit, I’m mildly surprised.
But the trick is getting a mostly WFH job assigned to a higher tier while living in a lower tier. There were a lot of feds living in the Richmond area that only rode the train a couple days a week. The pay boost was worth the long commute.
The pay is based off the job is located per whatever OPM rules. When COVID hit and everyone was work from home, her job was still officially located in MD so she got that pay, even after she moved to SC in 2021. She did update her address with the benefits office, but because the job was officialy based in MD, she was still getting that pay rate. It was only after moving everybody back to the office earier this year that her pay rate was changed. She changed her address with OPM after she moved down, but she was still getting the old pay rate. She now works at a building about 30 minutes away from her with other people from her agency, all doing a variety of work.
Some positions have ‘save-pay’ but those are rare.
I technically took a pay cut moving to NKY
Sorry for not being around earlier. I appreciate the warm welcome. I know you meant it from the bottom of your coal black libertarian hearts 🙂
“I like my coffee black and bitter like my heart” — R.J.
Welcome Tulpa! We got a foreign B movie on tonight (pimps self).
I don’t like foreign things.
subtitled … in a foreign language?
“I like my coffee black and bitter like my heart” — R.J.
Welcome Tulpa! We got a foreign B movie on tonight (pimps self).
You got the RJ double special!
He’s padding the post count for the new guy.
Heck yeah I am. Go new guy! Did anyone tell you that STEVE SMITH shows up at your house if you don’t make 50 comments?
R.J.:
Why do you think I gave STEVE SMITH Art Modell’s address?
Well done, Tulp, and welcome from behind the shadows!
I’m not sure what’s to be done with the riots and targeting Feds. Their goal is clearly to spark a LEO+ response that they can frame as their new George Floyd. I’m sure thousands are volunteering to be the martyr. (Losers anyway, likely. *shrug*)
Going after the money is the clearest, cleanest way to accomplish much of ICE+’s goals at the momo. It also takes time and appeals and lacks satisfaction.
I overheard folk at work asking each other about their immigration concerns. Wish I coulda overheard more. I was taking indoor pics of our loading area in the back for fun and for a piece, and my boss got wind of it somehow. He came out and found me on the floor, I’m sure several hours later, asking me what I’d been up to. Apparently the whispers of immigrant labor travel fast and with some authority, worried I’d been snooping.
I work directly with many Hispanics, but in the back they’re all Ethiopian, apparently, or so I was told when I asked one of ’em. Many oddities about.