Something “big” dropping this week ahead at Dept. State

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyday I wake up to more cuts and savings

Draft Trump executive order proposes sweeping changes to State Department

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/trump-draft-executive-order-sweeping-changes-state-department-rcna202047

yeh buddy!

cut baby cut!

are you one of the teen doge boys?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone other than Vladimir Putin think this is a good idea? How can Rubio facilitate this given his past oversight of the State Department?

'This is insane and will literally change the world order to favor China and Russia.

Democrats already put Xi and Putin on top of the world. Good work, guys!

Wrong. It’s conservatives who have tried to align with these states. It’s the Trump administration that is Pro-Russia. President Musk is Pro-China. Trump waivers on China, see TikTok. Basically, these dictators just need to flatter Trump and they’ll get what they want. Trump is embarrassingly simple and corrupt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone other than Vladimir Putin think this is a good idea? How can Rubio facilitate this given his past oversight of the State Department?

'This is insane and will literally change the world order to favor China and Russia.

There is a secret Russian plot afoot to control T-rump. The signs of it are all over. It is obvious, But why can’t everyone see it? T-rump will deny it. But every one should be able to see right through it; see the truth. Why can’t they see the truth? It could even involve mind-control, somehow.

CIA, for sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone other than Vladimir Putin think this is a good idea? How can Rubio facilitate this given his past oversight of the State Department?

'This is insane and will literally change the world order to favor China and Russia.

Democrats already put Xi and Putin on top of the world. Good work, guys!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyday I wake up to more cuts and savings

Draft Trump executive order proposes sweeping changes to State Department

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/trump-draft-executive-order-sweeping-changes-state-department-rcna202047

Savings?
Are you for real?

I suppose I would also save money if I quit buying toothpaste and floss and getting dental checkups.
I should also stop wasting money on soap and shampoo.
Or if I stopped doing laundry. Who needs to waste money on detergent, electricity, and water when I can just rewear everything? I should stop going to the doctor too. Waste of money.

I will also save money by dropping auto insurance. Heck, I should just sell my car and stop going to work because of all that money wasted on insurance, gas, and maintenance.

I will quit eating those expensive frozen vegetables because it is even cheaper to eat biscuits and pasta. That’s sure to make a big difference to my bottom line.

I’m also going to stop buying food and stuff for my kids. Why waste the money? My son is old enough to join a gang and they will take good care of him since he will make money for them. My daughter will be able to find a great sugar daddy.





Ok. So you might think my post is stupid, but it EXACTLY the same kind of stupid self-defeating idiocy that is going on with most of these government “cuts and savings”. I would not ultimately save money by quitting dental hygiene, because I would end up with nasty cavities and infections that would lead to a huge medical bills or even death.

Like it or not, we are not islands. Not as individuals, not as a city, state, or nation. We live on a planet with other individuals, cities, states and nations and we will not ultimately be helping ourselves by wholesale cutting what amounts to maintenance/hygiene of our relationships with others and other states.

What do you think will happen to the sub Saharan countries we are pulling out of? Will they just “grow up” and not need us any more and everything will be fine and hunky-dory? No, you dolt. The Chinese are now able to complete their swooping in. Perhaps that writing was already on the wall, but the fact that we are looking at just rolling over and letting China take everything, and that isn’t the great thing you think it is, must be lost to you.

No matter how efficient, dynamic, and Great we are able to be as a country, it won’t matter if we aren’t able to participate on the world stage. And we won’t be great anyway, because MAGA is literally destroying all institutions that ever made us so.

Signed,
A traditional conservative.

36,000,000,000,000 and growing

desperate measures are required.

It is going to grow much faster once WWIII has started.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Getting rid of the exam is wild. The best people.

There have long been complaints about the exam. A republican-tied career ambassador told me that he found it impossible to get his best people through it and they were limited to other functions. In general, the selection process does seem to favor bland personalities.

Why would an ambassador’s best people suddenly be taking the foreign service exam?

And maybe there’s a reason why the adjective “diplomatic” is not synonymous with flamboyant, charismatic, etc?

Not everyone in the State Department is in the foreign service. There are even ambassadors, such as this one, that are part of the career service.

His beef was more with the oral portion than the written part. He said it favored milquetoast personalities who are mostly comfortable asking everyone else at the table to share their opinion. He's right that we do need to be at least a *little* assertive to get anything done. I'd be fired if I refused to take a position on anything.

The "assertiveness" is supposed to come from the politically appointed Ambassadors and the central State Department leadership. The FSO's carry out the agenda, which is usually related to trade mission and administrative functions that should be non-political.

You're dead wrong. We cannot have only one person per country effectuating America's goals. And you're also wrong that government workers make no policy decisions, in fact, its a huge aspect of their roles at State and everywhere else. Policy isnt considered partisan within the government.

Please explain again why the bar to become an FSO should be lowered.

Because smart competent people who want to walk the walk on public service strongly trend liberal. So, you need to go a couple tiers down to get a conservative cohort.

Right wingers do mission trips.

Mormans do mission trips. Sure there are other religious volunteer programs, but MAGAs generally do not do these things.

For the record, there are a lot of Mormons in the foreign service.

Anyone who has actually served overseas would know that political leanings at embassies runs the spectrum. Way more politically diverse than agencies like the EPA, etc. Maybe not a lot of true MAGAs but definitely conservatives.

That doesn’t sound right because the claim is state was doing a lot of LGBTQ+ work but Mormons absolutely hate LGBTQ.

DP. It is true. I've worked closely with State and can confirm it's true that there are a variety of viewpoints. In general, government workers need to be flexible about their views because policies change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Getting rid of the exam is wild. The best people.

There have long been complaints about the exam. A republican-tied career ambassador told me that he found it impossible to get his best people through it and they were limited to other functions. In general, the selection process does seem to favor bland personalities.

Why would an ambassador’s best people suddenly be taking the foreign service exam?

And maybe there’s a reason why the adjective “diplomatic” is not synonymous with flamboyant, charismatic, etc?

Not everyone in the State Department is in the foreign service. There are even ambassadors, such as this one, that are part of the career service.

His beef was more with the oral portion than the written part. He said it favored milquetoast personalities who are mostly comfortable asking everyone else at the table to share their opinion. He's right that we do need to be at least a *little* assertive to get anything done. I'd be fired if I refused to take a position on anything.

The "assertiveness" is supposed to come from the politically appointed Ambassadors and the central State Department leadership. The FSO's carry out the agenda, which is usually related to trade mission and administrative functions that should be non-political.

You're dead wrong. We cannot have only one person per country effectuating America's goals. And you're also wrong that government workers make no policy decisions, in fact, its a huge aspect of their roles at State and everywhere else. Policy isnt considered partisan within the government.

Please explain again why the bar to become an FSO should be lowered.

Because smart competent people who want to walk the walk on public service strongly trend liberal. So, you need to go a couple tiers down to get a conservative cohort.

Right wingers do mission trips.

Mormans do mission trips. Sure there are other religious volunteer programs, but MAGAs generally do not do these things.

For the record, there are a lot of Mormons in the foreign service.

Anyone who has actually served overseas would know that political leanings at embassies runs the spectrum. Way more politically diverse than agencies like the EPA, etc. Maybe not a lot of true MAGAs but definitely conservatives.

That doesn’t sound right because the claim is state was doing a lot of LGBTQ+ work but Mormons absolutely hate LGBTQ.

DP. It is true. I've worked closely with State and can confirm it's true that there are a variety of viewpoints. In general, government workers need to be flexible about their views because policies change.

Flexible? Mormons are anything but flexible. They absolutely hate the LGBTQ community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Getting rid of the exam is wild. The best people.

There have long been complaints about the exam. A republican-tied career ambassador told me that he found it impossible to get his best people through it and they were limited to other functions. In general, the selection process does seem to favor bland personalities.

Because the GOP hates competency and intelligence. The FSO exam separates the wheat from the chaff in terms of weighing knowledge and temperment to ensure the career diplomats truly represent the best of our country and not partisan loyalty.

The exam is biased towards liberal world view.

Only a MAGA woiuld make that claim.

If you mean, in order to pass the Foreign Service exam, you have to have an understanding of history, diplomacy, negotiating tactics and foreign language expertise - in other words, you have to be educated, then sure, that is liberal[b], with a small "l." But the test does not slant towards "democrats" or "liberals" in the political sense.

- wait: the “education” part you mentioned tends to come overwhelmingly from a small number of specific institutions: Columbia, Georgetown University, and American University.

Answer this please:

Do Columbia, Georgetown, and American trend more progressive in their world view? Or more conservative? Be honest.

Wrong. Those three schools are not on the list for the top 25 Colleges who produce Peace Corps volunteers. Top 25 Peace Corps Producing Colleges and Universities. Many on DCUM would consider some of them indeed more conservative, others progressive.
https://www.peacecorps.gov/about-the-agency/media-center/news/peace-corps-announces-list-of-historically-top-volunteer-producing-colleges-and-universities/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My guess is the Civil Service domestic side is going to take a major hit. Wonder how this will affect CA, OBO, and DS? What happens to the FS Specialists?

Yeah if they start closing embassies, where will intelligence officials sit? Do we not care about preventing terrorism anymore either?

This is bad. Any hope that Rubio would not just roll over and play dead is gone.

Seems like they are setting us up to be attacked.

[Anonymous]

So I can get on board with some things but closing embassies and consulates is just not productive in any way.

[Anonymous]

If true, we are being isolated from friends and enemies. They’ve already gotten away with so much, I guess they will keep pushing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So I can get on board with some things but closing embassies and consulates is just not productive in any way.

Exactly. And if they sell the properties, at some point, the US will need to buy/build new ones and it will be exponentially more expensive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My guess is the Civil Service domestic side is going to take a major hit. Wonder how this will affect CA, OBO, and DS? What happens to the FS Specialists?

Yeah if they start closing embassies, where will intelligence officials sit? Do we not care about preventing terrorism anymore either?

This is bad. Any hope that Rubio would not just roll over and play dead is gone.

Seems like they are setting us up to be attacked.

Then they can declare martial law and REALLY take over. They had hoped there would be violent protests but no go. So they'll a terror attack instead. It was the plan all along. If it doesn't happen, they'll false flag one, which is how Putin took over.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have heard from at least a dozen folks that something “big” is going to be happening at the State Department in the week ahead. Sure, when one or two people mention something - well it’s just a blurb. When a dozen people mention it in an unsettling manner - I suppose that’s when I turn to an anonymous discussion board.

I have heard that RIFs will occur, or the fork will be reopened. Perhaps the announcement of which posts will be closed? Maybe the layoff of half the LE workforce?

Anyone hear anything? Other than the USID stuff, DoS has been remarkably quiet.

Whatever it is will be overshadowed by the death of Pope Francis. Rubio is Catholic and maybe he knew in advance that the Pope would die and Rubio is resigning to take over as Pope.

OTOH, is it too much to hope for that Trump would rather be Pope than President. Afterall, Pope is a job for life and it comes with his very own palace and untold wealth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My guess is the Civil Service domestic side is going to take a major hit. Wonder how this will affect CA, OBO, and DS? What happens to the FS Specialists?

Yeah if they start closing embassies, where will intelligence officials sit? Do we not care about preventing terrorism anymore either?

This is bad. Any hope that Rubio would not just roll over and play dead is gone.

Seems like they are setting us up to be attacked.

Then they can declare martial law and REALLY take over. They had hoped there would be violent protests but no go. So they'll a terror attack instead. It was the plan all along. If it doesn't happen, they'll false flag one, which is how Putin took over.

I just hope the martial law takeover happens soon. There have been too many protests going on, and that plus market turmoil makes Republicans in DC skittish. Trump has got to nip this in the bud before all we hear about are Signal chats with Hegseth’s wife