I just saw that people have cut down some of the Joshua trees during this shutdown and I want to cry
w H A T
The what trees? Someone explain? I want to be appropriately sad. I mean, I’m sad either way because trees are better than people. But why are these trees more special than usual?
They’re a rare species, and one that is very stunning, and also one that is very vulnerable to habitat loss and climate change.
And if I ever get my hands on one of the people who did this, I will be hard pressed to not kill them.
Did you see WHY they cut them down? They cut them down so they could go off roading in closed off areas of pristine desert.
Some fucking people should not be let out of their cages.
Incidentally, my sister is having a mild panic attack because she is a non-essential gov’ment employee. (Biologist with US fish and wildlife) and she isn’t getting paid right now, while living in California.
But, in very typical fashion for her, she’s MORE concerned about how the national parks are being damaged and how she has important studies that are going to miss deadline now. Because that’s how she’s always been; animals first, her second.
She’s lucky enough to live with her boyfriend, who has a good job, but things are gonna be tight for them for the foreseeable future, and also enjoy a brand new hex, Trump, and also go fuck yourself.
I’ve noticed that tends to be the how many environmentalists organize their world. I work at a university and we’re always like “WHAT ABOUT THE STUDENTS” when it comes to the budget, and THEN worry about ourselves.
Now if… if only politicians could see it that way… :/
That’s EXACTLY how she is.
“I have two studies with deadlines coming up! They’re very important! And the parks! There could be irreparable damage done to delicate ecosystems! I was supposed to do three public outreach events this month! Oh. Also, rent and student loans. Right. I need money for those. And I suppose, like, food and stuff.”
THIS
Of all of the catastrophic consequences for those impacted by the shut down, my heart particularly goes out to the scientists. I know from my personal experience (MS in ecology, currently private sector R&D work) that most non-science folks have NO idea what the job looks like. Time points are sacrosanct, and if you miss one, game over, man. In ecology (or any discipline with long running studies), that can mean YEARS of work out the window. None of us go into science for the paycheck (especially these days), so the financial cushion of savings so often assumed by the higher earners isn’t an option for most working scientists, but if we’re allowed to do the science, and buy food and someplace to sleep and clean out lab coats (or field clothes), we will take the job with the lower paycheck, and get to the science! The way this shut down is executed and how it’s impacting research is just another thick layer of horrible on top of the awful clusterfuck that is this whole era.
Could McConnell be added to the hex? He’s refusing to bring the bills from the house that would reopen the government to the floor, in addition to the rest of the cartoonishly evil stuff he’s done over the years (coughs *Merrick Garland* coughs).
I just snorted reading this, because she describes their apartment as “field clothes storage.”
“With around 400,000 federal employees currently
furloughed, more than 80 TLS certificates used by .gov websites have so
far expired without being renewed.”
Federal workers went without their paychecks Friday, as Trump’s
shutdown of the U.S. government continues for 21 days and counting. With
no end in sight, concerns are rising that dozens of U.S. government
websites have become insecure or completely unreachable, as their
transport layer security (TLS) certificates expire.
Sites like NASA, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the Court of Appeals are affected.
Funding to renew the certificates is on hold while the shutdown continues.
Any of the government websites with an expired cert becomes newly
vulnerable to any number of internet-based assaults, including man-in
the-middle (MITM) attacks that enable third-party bad guys to intercept
what passes between an internet user and a web application on the
affected site. Bad guys can eavesdrop on traffic, assume the identity
of the government website, and siphon off data input by the user.
What kind of data? Maybe your name, your social security or tax ID
number, a whole lot of people are going to be poking around on IRS dot
gov this month. This could get bad.
In four days, federal employees will suffer their first missed paycheck
since Trump’s border wall shutdown; it’s hard to say who will be worst
hit: the employees who are furloughed will never see that money (but who
may have been able to pick up some other work while they were off the
job to cover their bills); or the “essential” federal employees who’ve
had to show up for work every day without pay, but who will, someday,
get a paycheck to cover their forced labor.
In the latter group are 51,739 TSA “officers” (TSA screeners aren’t
cops, but they’ve adopted the “officer” honorific in a bid to secure
flyers’ obedience while they confiscate their apple-pie filling). Since
the shut-down began, TSA officials have insisted that screeners were not
staging “sick outs” (for example, to avoid daycare expenses by staying
home with their kids) and that the extra waiting time that passengers
were suffering through (53 minutes in Laguardia!) was the result of
heavier than usual travel.
But after Friday, TSA screeners will have to decide whether they want to
stay on the job without pay, and it’s a sure bet that lots of them will
stay home, and there’s not much the TSA can do about it. A TSA walkout
would cripple the nation’s businesses and strike directly at
higher-income Americans (that is, the people who supported Trump as he
used racist wall promises to secure the votes needed for a
two-trillion-dollar tax giveaway to the wealthy).
What happens next is anyone’s guess. Trump’s probably right that giving
in on the wall will lose him any chance of re-election as discouraged
racists stay home from the polls (as they had done historically, until
Trump gave them something to vote for), and deliver victory to Democrats
who have a small but meaningful chance of taxing the shit out of
looters and oligarchs. But the patience of looters and oligarchs – with
the exception of a few long-term thinkers like Charles Koch – is in
notoriously short supply. If Trump loses the racists, he won’t be able
to help the billionaires. But if he loses the billionaires, he won’t be
able to afford to court the racists.
Trump’s government shutdown, now on day 17 and counting, has led to the closure of Joshua Tree National Park.
The park announced today,
Tuesday January 8, that it will temporarily close “effective 8 am on
Thursday, January 10, to allow park staff to address sanitation, safety,
and resource protection issues in the park that have arisen during the
lapse in appropriations.”
Officials at the popular California park say some of the iconic
desert trees (Yucca brevifolia) and other ancient elements of the
landscape have been damaged by people and their cars since the shutdown
began, severely limiting park staffing.
“While the vast majority of those who visit Joshua Tree National Park
do so in a responsible manner, there have been incidents of new roads
being created by motorists and the destruction of Joshua trees in recent
days that have precipitated the closure. Law enforcement rangers will
continue to patrol the park and enforce the closure until park staff
complete the necessary cleanup and park protection measures,” park
officials said in the release.
In related news, Rep. Jackie Speier is dumping some of the national park trash right on Trump’s doorstep.
The Trump administration is advising people who work for the federal
government, who are not getting paid due to Trump’s stupid government
shutdown tantrum, to literally *barter with their landlords* and offer
to paint or do labor in exchange for partial rent.
Yes, really.
OPM is the federal agency that oversees federal workers.
Their advice for the 800,000 furloughed workers who are on day 7 with no pay: Try bartering for your rent.
The link in the tweet above provides sample letters in *.doc form
(super insecure!) that furloughed workers are advised to mail to their
landlords, if they can’t make their rent payments.
One of these sample letter templates suggests barting handyman services in exchange for rent money.
“I would like to discuss with you the possibility of trading my
services to perform maintenance (e.g. painting, carpentry work) in
exchange for partial rent payments,” the letter states.
No word on whether trading sex or other illicit services is off the table, because honestly, we all gotta sleep somewhere right?
The letter also asks landlords if they would consider reducing rent because of the government shutdown.
OPM also tells furloughed workers to “consult with your personal
attorney” if they need legal advice when dealing with creditors.
