The land doesn't have value?
DOGE Catch-All
- Thread starter nycfan
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StrangePackage
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I'm sure it would be rather valuable, but I didn't feel the need to salt the wound.
superrific
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He is appealing, but Tesla also relocated to Texas. I honestly have never considered the jurisdiction of Delaware courts over companies that were Delaware companies but relocated. If this was a federal claim, the appeal would be rejected as moot (or some similar concept -- there are lots of different ways of saying the same thing on that issue).
You're right that the support is probably waning so maybe that's why they are appealing rather than just putting in a new pay package. I doubt there is anyone in a Texas court or legislature who would block that reinstatement.
tarheelbillie
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You’ve heard of real estate appreciation ? The little house my dad and friends built in early 50’s might have cost him $2000. Today’s market value is like $250,000. Anyway, the value of this building is neither the question nor the problem. It’s the fact these billionaires are trying to seize a half-billion$ property that they have no right to. That’s graft…”acquisition of gain or advantage by dishonest, unfair or sordid means, especially through the abuse of position or influence in politics…”
gtyellowjacket
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I'm not sure that's right. They're seizing it for the taxpayers. Musk doesn't get to keep it. Now realistically its on the national Mall and it's never going anywhere. They'll put something in there. I doubt they tear it down.
But looking back, it seems like an awfully big number for a lavish architectural project when other office space could have done the job.
superrific
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Yeah, who would ever want to spend $500M on peace?
Has it occurred to you that the HQ is part of the project? The point is to attract attention to the cause. What would it say about the US if the institute of peace were shoehorned into a tiny office building somewhere in BFFB (like E except FB is Foggy Bottom)?
This is part of soft power that you don't understand. Tourists from other countries come to the US. Do you know what makes them feel like America is a good country and on their side? A cathedral to peace. We don't house the DoD in a prominent place in DC -- in fact it's not in DC and it's nowhere near anything touristy -- in part because that's not the image we'd like to project. Everyone already knows about the American military, and that's in part the source of global resentment toward America.
It was a $150M project (partly financed privately, meaning that the theft is surely illegal and/or the money would have to be returned). The building has lasted 15 years so far, so even if it doesn't last another minute and it's sold or scrapped for nothing, it's a $10M/yr investment. Plus interest on the loans, which during the past decade was quite low; maybe another couple of mil a year.
Do you think we should nitpick the federal budget so finely that we can't even fund an institute for peace? I mean, come on. How about we make rich people pay the taxes they owe instead?
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You also thought having two air marshals on every domestic flight and four on every international flight was an extraordinary expense that needs to be eliminated, but it turned out you were wrong about that. Maybe there are things about this building you don't know. Certainly the $500 million price tag is not what it cost the taxpayers when it was established.
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tarheelbillie
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“They're seizing it for the taxpayers”. Time will tell. This is interesting: “The Trump administration is giving federal agencies until mid-April to propose relocations of bureaus and offices out of the D.C. region”. If that happens there is going to a lot of vacant real estate up for grabs… all paid for by taxpayers.
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White House says Elon Musk will stay until DOGE work complete following reports of leaving
White House says Elon Musk will stay until DOGE work complete following reports of leaving
The White House rebutted reports that Elon Musk would leave the administration before the end of his 130-day special government employee appointement.
www.usatoday.com
[Bury the bad news in the tariff crash?]
sringwal
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The Ministry of Truth—Minitrue, in Newspeak—was startlingly different from any other object in sight. It was an enormous pyramidal structure of glittering white concrete, soaring up, terrace after terrace, 300 metres into the air. From where Winston stood it was just possible to read, picked out on its white face in elegant lettering, the three slogans of the Party:
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
The Ministry of Truth contained, it was said, three thousand rooms above ground level, and corresponding ramifications below. Scattered about London there were just three other buildings of similar appearance and size. So completely did they dwarf the surrounding architecture that from the roof of Victory Mansions you could see all four of them simultaneously. They were the homes of the four Ministries between which the entire apparatus of government was divided. The Ministry of Truth, which concerned itself with news, entertainment, education, and the fine arts. The Ministry of Peace, which concerned itself with war. The Ministry of Love, which maintained law and order. And the Ministry of Plenty, which was responsible for economic affairs. Their names, in Newspeak: Minitrue, Minipax, Miniluv, and Miniplenty.
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
The Ministry of Truth contained, it was said, three thousand rooms above ground level, and corresponding ramifications below. Scattered about London there were just three other buildings of similar appearance and size. So completely did they dwarf the surrounding architecture that from the roof of Victory Mansions you could see all four of them simultaneously. They were the homes of the four Ministries between which the entire apparatus of government was divided. The Ministry of Truth, which concerned itself with news, entertainment, education, and the fine arts. The Ministry of Peace, which concerned itself with war. The Ministry of Love, which maintained law and order. And the Ministry of Plenty, which was responsible for economic affairs. Their names, in Newspeak: Minitrue, Minipax, Miniluv, and Miniplenty.
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Trump and DOGE Defund Program That Boosted American Manufacturing for Decades
President Donald Trump says taxing imports will strengthen domestic manufacturing. Hours before announcing new tariffs, his administration cut support for centers that help US firms do just that.
President Donald Trump says taxing imports will strengthen domestic manufacturing. Hours before announcing new tariffs, his administration cut support for centers that help US firms do just that.
At the height of the US trade war with Japan in the 1980s, Congress established a nationwide network of organizations to advise small American manufacturers on how to survive and grow in what was then a particularly difficult environment. Decades later, there is now at least one Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) center in all 50 states, and they continue to provide taxpayer-subsidized consulting to thousands of businesses, including makers of ovens, printers, tortillas, and dog food.
But on Tuesday, shortly before the president announced sweeping tariffs on global imports, Trump administration officials informed members of Congress that it was withholding funding for some MEP centers because their work no longer aligns with government priorities.
The Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which administers the program to help manufacturers, emailed lawmakers to say that it would not be paying out nearly $12.9 million that had been due overall this week to MEP centers in 10 states, according to Democratic staff of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology who spoke on on the condition of anonymity.
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Inside Elon Musk’s Shock-and-Awe Months in the White House
Trump directed his chief of staff to better manage Musk after complaints arose from his cabinet and aides
GIFT LINK GIFT
—> https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy...04?st=W8UaWH&reflink=mobilewebshare_permalink“… After an early March cabinet meeting, where several cabinet secretaries aired grievances about Musk, the president pulled aside chief of staff Susie Wiles and told her to improve relations between the agencies and the man he empowered to cut them.
Wiles needed to manage Musk, Trump said, making it clear that he backed Musk’s government-cutting zeal but sympathized with complaints from his cabinet. Wiles now has two long meetings a week with Musk, people briefed on the meetings said.
Trump was also unhappy when he learned in mid-March that Musk was scheduled to get a briefing on China and secret U.S. war plans at the Pentagon. Publicly, Trump dismissed the report as “fake news.” Privately, he called the potential briefing a conflict of interest given Tesla’s extensive operations in China and was frustrated he didn’t know about it in advance.
… They nevertheless have forged a symbiotic bond. The two men speak daily, often many times, and Musk flits in and out of meetings in the West Wing and Oval Office, where he has walk-in privileges.
… Musk’s influence with Trump is partially powered by his close relationship with Stephen Miller, Trump’s domestic-policy adviser and the architect of the executive orders, and Miller’s wife, Katie, a special government employee who is viewed as one of Musk’s top aides. Katie Miller has been known to invoke Musk’s name and give orders liberally at the White House, to the consternation of other staffers skeptical of her status—like Musk’s—as an unpaid, temporary employee rather than a salaried one.
Musk has an office on the second floor of the White House, but the door is rarely opened, and the lights are never on, with Musk working across the street instead with lieutenants, White House officials said.
… Republicans around the country have learned that Musk is sometimes the easiest way to get ideas in front of Trump. … Lobbyists say it is impossible to get on Musk’s calendar so they create campaigns hoping to reach him on X, in the hopes he might then share the material with Trump. …”
1moretimeagain
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NATO countries need to pay their fair share so the US doesn’t have to spend so much. Also, we’re increasing our military spending by 30%.
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The chaos and uncertainties that have come with Trump’s executive actions reach all corners of the country and, as with the case of cutting funding to USAID, around the world. But Gardiner, perhaps like no other place, can be seen as an epicenter of loss following Trump’s decisions. Shutting down federal funding through the Park Service could cripple the town.
Gardiner was established shortly after the park opened in 1872 to foster a symbiotic relationship that continues today. Yellowstone and Gardiner are inextricable. The western part of the town’s public high school is technically inside the park, with local businesses, the Gardiner community library, and the chamber of commerce building all abutting the park boundary.
“Gardiner is a company town and Yellowstone is the mill,” said Richard Parks, who serves as the chair of the Gardiner Resort Area District. “If somebody starts screwing with the mill, we have no choice but to be concerned.”
In 2023, Yellowstone hosted 4.5 million visitors, contributing an estimated $828 million and 8,560 jobs to surrounding townships like Gardiner. Industries like rafting, horseback riding, guiding, and hospitality services are all booming subeconomies that depend on tourism to the park. Yellowstone’s foot traffic also provides bedrock funding to town infrastructure and community development through its resort tax—a 3% charge on reservations during peak season, which has helped raise public dollars for things like updated water and sewer systems, bear-proof trash cans, and new fire engines.
The full extent to which federal firings, hiring freezes, and funding cuts will ripple throughout communities like Gardiner is still unclear, Parks said. “We can’t gauge the magnitude yet.”
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These places are fucked. Or, at least a noticeable portion of the pop is fucked. The foreign visitor spigot isn’t simply turned back on the moment don reaches some nonsense, ineffectual, PR designed “trade deal”. Don is hated and feared, thus, the US is hated and feared. An economically reverberating percentage of Canadians aren’t coming back, period. An economically reverberating percentage of Canadians Will, but only after years of grounded, good faith American governance- that timeline is many years out, possibly decades. Not to mention, if you’re Mexican or Japanese or Chinese or Korean, not only do you see the economic destruction by the US, but the very overt racism and danger that it’s already causing.
Lots of tourist towns are about to downsize.
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“… An email sent to NIH staff Thursday instructed employees to ignore the Department of Government Efficiency’s efforts to measure worker productivity and limit travel and purchases on company cards, Politico reported.
… The move marks one of the most visible departures from DOGE’s directives by an agency yet, and comes amid reports that Trump has told his billionaire cheerleader and senior adviser to take a backseat following backlash over his role in DOGE’s draconian job and program cuts.
“Please disregard any future reminders or instructions on this directive from [Office of Personnel Management] or the Department of Health and Human Services,” one NIH email reportedly read, referring to the White House’s personnel office.
“NIH manages its own performance review processes and will notify employees directly if any information related to work duties or performance is needed.”
Another message from the agency—led by newly confirmed director Jay Bhattacharya—announced that purchasing cards would “be restored to full capacity and use,” and that travel for business would be allowed again, without the approval of the Department of Health and Human Services or the NIH director’s office. …”
Good for them.
Still waiting for them to unfreeze the funds that courts have told them to do.