Florida State Seminoles

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Good question..

[hedge]

What could go wrong?

Senior U.S. official to exit after rift with Musk allies over payment system​

A top Treasury career staffer is expected to depart. Surrogates of Musk’s DOGE effort had sought access to sensitive payment systems.

The highest-ranking career official at the Treasury Department is departing after a clash with allies of billionaire Elon Musk over access to sensitive payment systems, according to three people with knowledge of the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private talks.

David A. Lebryk, who served in nonpolitical roles at Treasury for several decades, is expected to leave the agency soon, the people said. President Donald Trump named Lebryk as acting secretary upon taking office last week. Lebryk had a dispute with Musk’s surrogates over access to the payment system the U.S. government uses to disburse trillions of dollars every year, the people said. The exact nature of the disagreement was not immediately clear, they said.

Officials affiliated with Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” have been asking since after the election for access to the system, the people said — requests that were reiterated more recently, including after Trump’s inauguration.

Still, the possibility that government officials might try to use the federal payments system — which essentially functions as the nation’s “checking book” — to enact a political agenda is unprecedented, said Mark Mazur, who served in senior treasury roles during the Obama and Biden administrations.

“This is a mechanical job — they pay Social Security benefits, they pay vendors, whatever. It’s not one where there’s a role for nonmechanical things, at least from the career standpoint. Your whole job is to pay the bills as they’re due,” Mazur said. “It’s never been used in a way to execute a partisan agenda. … You have to really put bad intentions in place for that to be the case.”

In the 2023 fiscal year, the payment systems processed nearly 1.3 billion payments, accounting for about $5.4 trillion, nearly 97 percent made electronically, according to the Treasury Department. Every payment was made on time.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business ... t-systems/

[eCat]

[eCat]

What could go wrong?

Senior U.S. official to exit after rift with Musk allies over payment system​

A top Treasury career staffer is expected to depart. Surrogates of Musk’s DOGE effort had sought access to sensitive payment systems.

The highest-ranking career official at the Treasury Department is departing after a clash with allies of billionaire Elon Musk over access to sensitive payment systems, according to three people with knowledge of the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private talks.

David A. Lebryk, who served in nonpolitical roles at Treasury for several decades, is expected to leave the agency soon, the people said. President Donald Trump named Lebryk as acting secretary upon taking office last week. Lebryk had a dispute with Musk’s surrogates over access to the payment system the U.S. government uses to disburse trillions of dollars every year, the people said. The exact nature of the disagreement was not immediately clear, they said.

Officials affiliated with Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” have been asking since after the election for access to the system, the people said — requests that were reiterated more recently, including after Trump’s inauguration.

Still, the possibility that government officials might try to use the federal payments system — which essentially functions as the nation’s “checking book” — to enact a political agenda is unprecedented, said Mark Mazur, who served in senior treasury roles during the Obama and Biden administrations.

“This is a mechanical job — they pay Social Security benefits, they pay vendors, whatever. It’s not one where there’s a role for nonmechanical things, at least from the career standpoint. Your whole job is to pay the bills as they’re due,” Mazur said. “It’s never been used in a way to execute a partisan agenda. … You have to really put bad intentions in place for that to be the case.”

In the 2023 fiscal year, the payment systems processed nearly 1.3 billion payments, accounting for about $5.4 trillion, nearly 97 percent made electronically, according to the Treasury Department. Every payment was made on time.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business ... t-systems/

so a group dedicated to cutting government waste and spending wants to look at ::::checking notes:::: America's checkbook, and its a bad thing

[eCat]

Utah sells food products to Hong Kong

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Glad to see them tackling the big issues right out of the gate...

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"so a group dedicated to cutting government waste and spending wants to look at ::::checking notes:::: America's checkbook, and its a bad thing"

They don't need access to the mechanical means by which the government satisfies its statutory obligations, which has literally zero to do with government waste and spending. Those are legislative issues..

[hedge]

"Utah sells food products to Hong Kong"

Cryptic. I never thought of Utah as an agricultural state. What kind of food are they producing and in such quantities that Hong Kong is their largest foreign importer across all goods and services? And why does little ol' Hong Kong have such a (ahem) yen for these food products while the rest of the world eschews them?

[innocentbystander]

"Utah sells food products to Hong Kong"

Cryptic. I never thought of Utah as an agricultural state. What kind of food are they producing and in such quantities that Hong Kong is their largest foreign importer across all goods and services? And why does little ol' Hong Kong have such a (ahem) yen for these food products while the rest of the world eschews them?

Fruit. Northern Utah has a shit load of fruit

Peaches cherries watermelon fruit that if you don’t break the skin can last a long time on a ship.

Problem is harvesting. They depend on lots of labor and kids would rather play Xbox than make money in September. So they rely on migrants. And now they all need to be legal because ICE is coming. If there are commodity prices on fruit on Wall Street you better buy. Price is going up and fruit will rot on the trees

[innocentbystander]

"so a group dedicated to cutting government waste and spending wants to look at ::::checking notes:::: America's checkbook, and its a bad thing"

They don't need access to the mechanical means by which the government satisfies its statutory obligations, which has literally zero to do with government waste and spending. Those are legislative issues..

They are legislative issues but our legislators are too old and too simpleminded to get into the weeds to hold any of these agencies accountable. That is why DOGE is necessary. DOGE blesses out the graft the patronage and the useless DEI people who draw checks.

[Dave23]

What is Utah sending to Hong Kong?

Missionaries?

[eCat]

This is a mechanical job — they pay Social Security benefits, they pay vendors, whatever. It’s not one where there’s a role for nonmechanical things, at least from the career standpoint. Your whole job is to pay the bills as they’re due,” Mazur said. “It’s never been used in a way to execute a partisan agenda. … You have to really put bad intentions in place for that to be the case.”

[aTm]

It is really weird to see the progressives in the Senate seething trying to destroy progressives and liberals appointed by a Republican. Politicians dont believe in their bullshit policies they’re just on a team.

[innocentbystander]

It is really weird to see the progressives in the Senate seething trying to destroy progressives and liberals appointed by a Republican. Politicians dont believe in their bullshit policies they’re just on a team.

That is correct. That is because the progressives do not know what policy positions they are supposed to believe in! They have to wait for their TEAM to tell them what to believe.

In someways, this submit the rationale side of my mind to believe what the team says happens even here with some progressive posters at the Goat Pen.

[innocentbystander]

This is a mechanical job — they pay Social Security benefits, they pay vendors, whatever. It’s not one where there’s a role for nonmechanical things, at least from the career standpoint. Your whole job is to pay the bills as they’re due,” Mazur said. “It’s never been used in a way to execute a partisan agenda. … You have to really put bad intentions in place for that to be the case.”

I think you can replace the word mechanical with the word robotic and that would be a truer statement. Basically they are not required to think. And for the first time ever that reality is being blessed out.

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"Fruit. Northern Utah has a shit load of fruit"

You're a fruit...

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[hedge]

eCat approves. Drain the swamp!!

“… Elon Musk, a private citizen with no official government role, has been handed sweeping, unchecked power over key functions of the U.S. government.

After days of pushing career civil servants out of their jobs, Musk seized control of the U.S. Treasury’s payment systems—systems that handle more than $6 trillion annually in payments to households, businesses, and government agencies.

Millions of Americans rely on these systems, and now they’re under the influence of a billionaire with no government position.

This comes on the heels of Musk effectively taking over the Office of Personnel Management, locking out federal employees from their own systems.

The consequences of that power grab are still unfolding, but this latest move makes one thing clear: Musk isn’t just advising the president—he’s running parts of the government himself.

And here’s the most disturbing part: Musk is not a government official. He was not elected. He was not nominated. He was not confirmed.

His so-called “Department of Government Efficiency”—a name literally put in quotes in the executive order creating it—is not a real government agency.

It’s a smokescreen for consolidating power in the hands of a single private citizen.”

https://politicalwire.com/

[Jungle Rat]

So. Are we allowed to celebrate Black History Month this year? Did Trump cancel that too?

[sardis]

Don’t worry, you can still wear the black face in celebration.