DOGE Catch-All

[ZenMode]

1. The SS database is not in fact "reporting" any such thing. In fact, databases don't "report" anything. They store data. In your word processing program, there's a database of all valid English words, which is what it uses to spell check. The database is just the list of words. The spell checker uses that data, according to its own programming, to do its job.

That's why not using a database column is immaterial. If there's a database column full of junk, don't use it. There's no law that says it has to be used. And that's the right approach -- or at least the approach used virtually all of the time in industry -- because correcting the data is incredibly time consuming for no benefit.

Reporting, like the type provided by Elon, very, very, very likely isn't compiled manually on in an Excel spreadsheet. It would take an army of people weeks to manually count people in each age group. It IS based on a query that generates a report. That query is run against a database.

2. So this is a great example of what I'm talking about. You're saying that what I wrote changes nothing about the reality . . . but you say that only because you don't understand the actual reality. You think the database does things that it does not do. If there are benefits being paid to dead people (there aren't), you don't fix that in the database. You fix it in the program you wrote that pulls data and makes decisions.

That is untrue. I have created and managed Access and mySQL databases. I have created the queries that generate the reports that look just like the table that Elon posted. Again, there is no chance that someone is manually counting each person in a specific age range and hand-typing it into a spreadsheet.

I'm obviously way more knowledgeable about this topic than you are, and I'm not a silly person. So if I write a long post explaining the situation, maybe you could ask yourself the following question: "if what super wrote is irrelevant, why would he write it? " And the answer should be, "hmm, maybe I'm not understanding what is and isn't relevant. Maybe I should ask some questions." When you say "what you wrote doesn't matter" you're insulting me. You're telling me that I can't even figure out the relevant principles, which is infuriating when the problem is that you don't know enough to understand the basics.

Maybe indeed.

3. The issue that people have with you has nothing to do with your political alignment. Well, that's not my issue with you at least. My issue is that you form and then express opinions that have no basis in reality, because you don't understand how that reality works. That's not true of you 100% of the time, but it's true an alarmingly high percentage.

So you start taking positions -- right, left, center, contrary, whatever -- that are fundamentally incorrect, and you don't even know enough to see why or how they are incorrect. Too You don't advance conversations. You're not a knowledge source; you're a knowledge sink, except you don't even absorb the knowledge being imparted to you.

I would like you to point out the next position I take that is "fundamentally incorrect" and tell me what is objectively incorrect.

Imagine you're watching a football game with someone who really doesn't know much about the sport at all. S/he says, "why are the coaches so stupid? They should put all the linemen out to the side, snap the ball, throw it out to a WR and let the line block for the receiver on the outside." You say, it doesn't work like that. And your friend insists that it would be a great idea because it makes sense to them. Then you explain legal and illegal formations, and it makes no difference. You explain that the QB would be under immediate pressure, and the pass to the WR can be easily intercepted by a DB at the line of scrimmage sprinting into the backfield. And yet the person continues to insist that there's a good idea in there.

Wouldn't you find that incredibly frustrating?

Or imagine watching a game with someone who, while you are disputing ball positioning for a first down, is talking about the type of seed used for the grass that the ball is placed on and believing it should change your view on the first down.

 

[finesse]

Or imagine watching a game with someone who, while you are disputing ball positioning for a first down, is talking about the type of seed used for the grass that the ball is placed on and believing it should change your view on the first down.

It's a damned shame that this isn't introspection.

 

[Callatoroy]

Reporting, like the type provided by Elon, very, very, very likely isn't compiled manually on in an Excel spreadsheet. It would take an army of people weeks to manually count people in each age group. It IS based on a query that generates a report. That query is run against a database.

That is untrue. I have created and managed Access and mySQL databases. I have created the queries that generate the reports that look just like the table that Elon posted. Again, there is no chance that someone is manually counting each person in a specific age range and hand-typing it into a spreadsheet.

Maybe indeed.

I would like you to point out the next position I take that is "fundamentally incorrect" and tell me what is objectively incorrect.

Or imagine watching a game with someone who, while you are disputing ball positioning for a first down, is talking about the type of seed used for the grass that the ball is placed on and believing it should change your view on the first down.

Super is diagramming football plays to illustrate a point and he doesn't even understand the strategy in using time outs in basketball. Crazy world.

 

[heelinhell]

Speaking of the IRS, it's tax filing season so why not layoff 3,500 agents ?

Tax season surprise: layoffs at the IRS

The Trump administration is reportedly laying off thousands of IRS employees right in the middle of the tax filing season.

finance.yahoo.com

 

[nycfan]

 

[nycfan]

 

[altmin]

DOGE Staffer Known as 'Big Balls' Reportedly the Grandkid of a KGB Spy

Sure, why not?

gizmodo.com

 

[SmilingJack]

Oh Amurica we hardly knew you!

 

[nycfan]

 

[heelinhell]

Over the next year or two the hoi polloi are going to have an epiphany...

that Reagan was wrong. Government is not the problem ; GQPers running the government is the problem

 

[farce©]

Over the next year or two the hoi polloi are going to have an epiphany...

that Reagan was wrong. Government is not the problem ; GQPers running the government is the problem

I suspect they won’t. That would require a degree of analysis I don’t believe will happen. The “epiphany” will require a charismatic communicator to convince them to change course. They need to be told, they won’t just figure it out. Their media bubble will de-platform conflicting messages so reaching that audience is difficult. The best bet is getting a popular influencer, a Joe Rogan type, to carry the message. It’s unlikely to get traction in a hierarchical organization like right wing news networks.

 

[altmin]

I suspect they won’t. That would require a degree of analysis I don’t believe will happen. The “epiphany” will require a charismatic communicator to convince them to change course. They need to be told, they won’t just figure it out. Their media bubble will de-platform conflicting messages so reaching that audience is difficult. The best bet is getting a popular influencer, a Joe Rogan type, to carry the message. It’s unlikely to get traction in a hierarchical organization like right wing news networks.

Agreed. They will be told it was the fault of immigrants or something and the angry mob will gladly follow the arrow.

 

[nycfan]

 

[wmheel1287]

Again, what Trump or Elon said is beside the point. There is something wrong with their system regardless of whether or not every person is correctly being paid.

If my employer had a flaw in their backend system, that showed an extra zero at the end of each payroll payment ($4000 showed as $40000), but each person got paid the correct ($4000) amount, that would not negate the clear issue with the system/data/reporting.

When your system shows you paying money to tens of millions of dead people, that is, in itself, an issue.

If "the system" is generating the correct payments to the correct recipients, then there is absolutley nothing wrong with "the system".

The purpose of the Social Security Administration is not to maintain a pristine database that cannot be forced to generate useless reporting of remnant data. The purpose of "the system" is to get payments to the appropriate parties and not pay those who should not be.

If you want people to recognize a flaw in that system then you need to demonstrate that it is not accomplishing those goals.

 

[wmheel1287]

I can imagine that one's political affiliation and campaign giving will be the primary determining factor in whether they need fear the IRS. Make no mistake that a BIG reason to have all this data from all these agencies is to start correlating it.

 

[nycfan]

New Social Security chief was being investigated when Musk team tapped him​

Leland Dudek, a data analyst working in a small anti-fraud office, was suspected of sharing unauthorized access to information with representatives of Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service. Now he’s the acting Social Security commissioner.

“Leaders of the Social Security Administration had just opened an investigation into a career employee they believed was improperly sharing information with Elon Musk’s cost-cutting team when President Donald Trump elevated the employee this week to acting commissioner, according to three current or former government officials with knowledge of the events.

The agency’s leadership team became aware in recent weeks that Leland Dudek, a data analyst working in a small anti-fraud office who had been unknown to many of them, was sharing unauthorized access to information with representatives of Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service, according to the three, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe an internal matter.

It’s not clear what data Dudek shared, but his actions raised enough alarm that he may have violated privacy and tax laws that senior officials placed him on paid leave as they launched their investigation.

The officials, including attorneys in the general counsel’s office, also were notified late last week that Dudek had sent harassing emails to employees in the agency’s personnel and security divisions to rush them to let several engineers hired by DOGE start work and gain access to agency computer systems. The officials pushed back, saying that they had not completed background investigations into the new hires.

… The White House skipped over scores of career senior executives in the agency’s line of succession in appointing Dudek, an IT expert with a zeal for eliminating fraud who was a high-ranking employee on the federal salary scale but not a manager.

… “They want to fire me for cooperating with DOGE,” Dudek wrote in a now-deleted LinkedIn post that was captured by several Social Security employees and is making the rounds of the staff.

“I confess,” he wrote. “I helped DOGE understand SSA. I mailed myself publicly accessible documents and explained them to DOGE. I confess. I moved contractor money around to add data science resources to my anti-fraud team. I confess. I asked where the fat was and is in our contracts so we can make the right tough choices.” …”

 

[nycfan]

New Social Security chief was being investigated when Musk team tapped him​

Leland Dudek, a data analyst working in a small anti-fraud office, was suspected of sharing unauthorized access to information with representatives of Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service. Now he’s the acting Social Security commissioner.

“Leaders of the Social Security Administration had just opened an investigation into a career employee they believed was improperly sharing information with Elon Musk’s cost-cutting team when President Donald Trump elevated the employee this week to acting commissioner, according to three current or former government officials with knowledge of the events.

The agency’s leadership team became aware in recent weeks that Leland Dudek, a data analyst working in a small anti-fraud office who had been unknown to many of them, was sharing unauthorized access to information with representatives of Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service, according to the three, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe an internal matter.

It’s not clear what data Dudek shared, but his actions raised enough alarm that he may have violated privacy and tax laws that senior officials placed him on paid leave as they launched their investigation.

The officials, including attorneys in the general counsel’s office, also were notified late last week that Dudek had sent harassing emails to employees in the agency’s personnel and security divisions to rush them to let several engineers hired by DOGE start work and gain access to agency computer systems. The officials pushed back, saying that they had not completed background investigations into the new hires.

… The White House skipped over scores of career senior executives in the agency’s line of succession in appointing Dudek, an IT expert with a zeal for eliminating fraud who was a high-ranking employee on the federal salary scale but not a manager.

… “They want to fire me for cooperating with DOGE,” Dudek wrote in a now-deleted LinkedIn post that was captured by several Social Security employees and is making the rounds of the staff.

“I confess,” he wrote. “I helped DOGE understand SSA. I mailed myself publicly accessible documents and explained them to DOGE. I confess. I moved contractor money around to add data science resources to my anti-fraud team. I confess. I asked where the fat was and is in our contracts so we can make the right tough choices.” …”

“… Dozens of probationary employees were notified Thursday that they would be fired unless they transferred to lower-paying front-line roles. Officials have struggled since the coronavirus pandemic to provide timely customer service, particularly to those seeking disability benefits, with long waits for phone service and growing processing times for disability claims.

Meanwhile, legislation passed in December giving full retirement benefits to public sector employees has thrown the agency a new and complex task of implementing the changes, which affect the benefits for more than 3 million people.

… Dudek proposed some big changes for agency operations, including digitizing Social Security cards, reorganizing IT functions and outsourcing “lower risk transactions” now staffed by employees, raising concerns among some attendees that personally identifiable information would land in the hands of outside companies.

Dudek told at least one manager that their staff was too large, attendees said. On Friday, a press release said that almost all agreements with outside researchers, who study ideas to keep retirement benefits solvent, monitor disability benefit trends and analyze program data, would be canceled. The release said $15 million would be saved.

“There ARE good people in the government who want to eliminate fraud & waste,” Musk posted Thursday on X about Dudek’s elevation to acting commissioner. “Amazingly, Leland was fired by Social Security upper management for helping @DOGE find taxpayer savings. Can you believe that?? Thanks to President Trump, Leland was brought back right away and now HE is upper management.”

Musk’s and Trump’s claims on social media and in press briefings that people who are 100, 200 and even 300 years old are improperly receiving retirement benefits were wildly overstated and misrepresent Social Security data, The Post found.

Dudek, in a statement to employees this week, acknowledged that the claims involve people who do not have a date of death listed on their record. “These individuals are not necessarily receiving benefits,” he wrote. …”

 

[nycfan]

“… Dozens of probationary employees were notified Thursday that they would be fired unless they transferred to lower-paying front-line roles. Officials have struggled since the coronavirus pandemic to provide timely customer service, particularly to those seeking disability benefits, with long waits for phone service and growing processing times for disability claims.

Meanwhile, legislation passed in December giving full retirement benefits to public sector employees has thrown the agency a new and complex task of implementing the changes, which affect the benefits for more than 3 million people.

… Dudek proposed some big changes for agency operations, including digitizing Social Security cards, reorganizing IT functions and outsourcing “lower risk transactions” now staffed by employees, raising concerns among some attendees that personally identifiable information would land in the hands of outside companies.

Dudek told at least one manager that their staff was too large, attendees said. On Friday, a press release said that almost all agreements with outside researchers, who study ideas to keep retirement benefits solvent, monitor disability benefit trends and analyze program data, would be canceled. The release said $15 million would be saved.

“There ARE good people in the government who want to eliminate fraud & waste,” Musk posted Thursday on X about Dudek’s elevation to acting commissioner. “Amazingly, Leland was fired by Social Security upper management for helping @DOGE find taxpayer savings. Can you believe that?? Thanks to President Trump, Leland was brought back right away and now HE is upper management.”

Musk’s and Trump’s claims on social media and in press briefings that people who are 100, 200 and even 300 years old are improperly receiving retirement benefits were wildly overstated and misrepresent Social Security data, The Post found.

Dudek, in a statement to employees this week, acknowledged that the claims involve people who do not have a date of death listed on their record. “These individuals are not necessarily receiving benefits,” he wrote. …”

“… Dudek said that DOGE officials have access to some Social Security data, identified by people familiar with it as the Enterprise Data Warehouse, but that the access is on a read-only basis.

The database contains records for all Americans who have been issued Social Security numbers and interacted with the agency to apply for benefits. Also included are wage, tax and bank account information as well as addresses.

Employee access to Social Security’s sensitive data is severely restricted to those who are authorized to see it to complete their job duties. The systems are continuously monitored to identify suspicious behaviors.

During Trump’s first term, the White House sought access to a particularly sensitive database known as the No Match File that compares Social Security numbers with employers’ earning statements. The White House was interested in finding undocumented immigrants who may have been using stolen identities.

Officials denied access at the time, but career officials are concerned that with its more aggressive second-term approach to deporting undocumented immigrants and asserting control over government operations, the White House could gain access to the data. …”

 

[superrific]

Reporting, like the type provided by Elon, very, very, very likely isn't compiled manually on in an Excel spreadsheet. It would take an army of people weeks to manually count people in each age group. It IS based on a query that generates a report. That query is run against a database.

Here's a query

update tbl_Bad_Faith_Posters set bullshit_level = 'MAX' where posterID = 'ZenMode';

 

[ZenMode]

Here's a query

update tbl_Bad_Faith_Posters set bullshit_level = 'MAX' where posterID = 'ZenMode';

..... Because we can't simply disagree or see things differently, it has to be bad faith on one of our parts, right?

I used to believe that about some of the leftist positions, particularly as it's relates to race. I used to think that no rational person could actually believe some of the things that Ibram X Kendi claims to believe. I came to realize that people actually do believe a lot of very odd things. But, before that realization, it was easier just to write them off as being dishonest or operating in bad faith.