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Posted
3 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

Holy crap, almost triple?  I'm in the wrong business.

And their drivers are getting paid less per order than they were a few years ago

Posted
Quote

(A quick side note: Donald Trump reportedly told transportation secretary and Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Battle of the Seasons champion Sean Duffy that he should hire Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduates to work as air traffic controllers. The average starting salary for an MIT undergraduate is $126,438. The starting salary out of ATC school is $43,727. Business savvy!)

Donald Trump GIF by Late Night with Seth Meyers

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Posted

Where our Christ-followers thread posters at?

Effects of USDA cuts by DOGE hitting the food banks, especially in rural areas.

Key passage:
The halt to the funds, which was first reported by Politico, comes in addition to other recent cuts to federal food assistance. Earlier this month, the Agriculture Department halted two other programs that distributed food to banks and schools. Lawmakers are also mulling cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as food stamps, which were used by about 42 million people in the 2023 fiscal year.

Food bank directors fear that an across-the-board contraction to federal food assistance could drive more people to food banks just as they are losing access to critical supplementary funds.

“This is perhaps the first moment in the history of food banking that we have seen record low unemployment and record high demand at food banks,” Mr. Hall said. “Any circumstance that would cause even a modest increase in demand at food distributions will result in a food crisis.”

Representatives of the Agriculture Department did not respond to requests for comment.

 

image.thumb.png.cc1e36f57dd8ca4f7bfff78d0491cb29.png
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/20/us/politics/food-banks-usda.html

Quote

 

Food banks across the country are scrambling to make up a $500 million budget shortfall after the Trump administration froze funds for hundreds of shipments of produce, poultry and other items that states had planned to distribute to needy residents.

The Biden administration had slated the aid for distribution to food banks during the 2025 fiscal year through the Emergency Food Assistance Program, which is run by the Agriculture Department and backed by a federal fund known as the Commodity Credit Corporation. But in recent weeks, many food banks learned that the shipments they had expected to receive this spring had been suspended.

Vince Hall, chief of government relations for Feeding America, a nationwide network of over 60,000 food pantries and other distributors, said that when he asked U.S.D.A. officials about the suspended shipments, he was told that the department was reviewing the food aid programs funded through the Commodity Credit Corporation.

It was unclear whether the review was related to the activities of Elon Musk’s DOGE team, which has sought to curtail spending across the government.

The halt to the funds, which was first reported by Politico, comes in addition to other recent cuts to federal food assistance. Earlier this month, the Agriculture Department halted two other programs that distributed food to banks and schools. Lawmakers are also mulling cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as food stamps, which were used by about 42 million people in the 2023 fiscal year.

Food bank directors fear that an across-the-board contraction to federal food assistance could drive more people to food banks just as they are losing access to critical supplementary funds.

“This is perhaps the first moment in the history of food banking that we have seen record low unemployment and record high demand at food banks,” Mr. Hall said. “Any circumstance that would cause even a modest increase in demand at food distributions will result in a food crisis.”

Representatives of the Agriculture Department did not respond to requests for comment.

Mr. Hall said that Feeding America had struggled to get clear guidance from U.S.D.A. about how long the review will take, and whether the funds would ever be restored. Food banks have been left with little time to identify new funds and supplies, and with no assurance that the aid would ever be restored.

In the meantime, Mr. Hall added, rural communities would most likely feel the deepest immediate impact. Emergency food assistance programs, including those funded through the Commodity Credit Corporation, are “the food lifeline for rural America,” he explained, because they come with funding to improve food storage and distribution, which can be more challenging in rural areas.

The direct impact to communities across the country is likely to vary by state.

“It’s really hard to make up that volume that C.C.C. had been providing, especially at a time when the need is so great,” said Danny Faccinetti, vice president of Oregon Food Bank, which is expecting to lose access to 30 truckloads of food under the freeze.

Oregon’s food banks reported a 31 percent increase in use of their services in the 2024 fiscal year, which ended in June, compared with the year before. In late 2024, the funds in question made up 18 percent of all food aid they had distributed.

“It’s going to be a really, really big hit for certain areas,” Mr. Faccinetti continued, adding: “We’re already maximizing some of the donations that were available to us, so it would be difficult to make that up.”

In Maryland, food bank officials were notified that the U.S.D.A.’s freeze would deprive them of 12 truckloads of items like chicken, eggs, collard greens and blueberries. They are expecting to have four additional shipments frozen as well, for a total of almost $1.3 million in lost goods. But they seem relatively certain they will be able to weather the immediate impact of that cut without having to shortchange the approximately one million people who rely on their distribution centers.

In nearby Virginia, however, Eddie Oliver, the executive director of the Federation of Virginia Food Banks, said one food bank lost a scheduled shipment of seven loads of food, accounting for about a third of what the food bank was expecting this year through the Emergency Food Assistance Program.

“It’s going to be hard for us to replace that,” he said, noting the current economic climate. “Collectively, Virginia food banks are spending five times more money on food than we did in 2019, both because of higher food prices and greater demand at our pantries.”

Cynthia D. Kirkhart, the chief executive of Facing Hunger food bank, which manages about 250 pantries in West Virginia, put the losses her state is facing in more quantifiable terms.

“One thousand fifty cases of cheese; boned chicken by the can, 600 cases; fresh milk, 1,200 cases — all that stuff’s not coming,” she said.

In New Mexico, food bank officials are also doing some fast calculations in order to weather the unexpected suspension of federal assistance.

Food bank administrators there are bracing for missing 24 truckloads of food, including milk, cheese, cranberries and meats, that they had expected to receive between April and June. Officials are contemplating canceling contracts for future food purchases in order to free up funds needed immediately, according to Sonya Warwick, the communications director for Roadrunner Food Bank, part of the Feeding America network.

New Mexico’s network of food pantries includes several rural areas that are experiencing significant food insecurity, Ms. Warwick said, citing places like McKinley County, which includes tribal land and has a large Native American population, and where more than 30 percent of children are at risk of hunger.

While the state has allocated some extra funds for food aid, it is not enough to meet the growing need amid dwindling resources, Ms. Warwick added.

“None of us have crystal balls, but what we can do is encourage the community to get involved and get engaged,” she said.

If they cannot find resources through private donors, some food banks worry that they may need to cut back on the assistance they can offer the needy.

“Essentially, we had anticipated receiving many truckloads of U.S.D.A. food over the next few months,” said Cathy Kanefsky, the president and chief executive officer of the Food Bank of Delaware.

“Now it’s uncertain whether we will receive this food, meaning less meals we can provide to our neighbors,” she said, adding: “The effect on our neighbors could be devastating.”

 

 

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Posted
34 minutes ago, bolverk said:

The average starting salary for an MIT undergraduate is $126,438. The starting salary out of ATC school is $43,727. Business savvy!

$43,000? That's minimum wage for most people in WA. That'll encourage the best and brightest. But yeah, sucking on the gubmint teat and all that. Get rid of 'em. What could go wrong? 

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Posted
2 hours ago, 956 Worldwide said:

Follow-up: they announced that they were going forward with the Next Generation Air Dominance 6th Gen fighter.  Boeing won the account and it will be called the “F-47”.  At one point Hegseth listed all the other numbered “F” fighters in the inventory (this will be more Fs).  It’s also named after Trump (“47”) but he said the generals picked the name. 
 

Trump said it will “go higher than 2, which you rarely see” (he means Mach 2) and also said that it will be a “Level 6, not Level 5.” 

Actually this is a slap at Elon who has loudly demanded an end to manned fighters. 

Ok, hear me out.

First the B-21, now F-47????

The Tri-Service sequential aircraft numbering system is like the only thing McNamara did right.  This getting out of sequential order on aircraft numbering is getting out of hand.  

Yet another thing being enshittened.

/rant.

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Posted (edited)
8 minutes ago, TexasHooch said:

I'll take "what is the perfect thing to say if you want to guarantee that NOBODY will buy your new weapons platform?" for $500.

And, that has the twin bonus effects of 1) making our per-jet cost skyrocket (because the fixed development and ramp-up costs will be applied to fewer units) and 2) making Boeing execs - who REALLY needed a financial win -- tear their fucking hair out.  "Hey, congrats Boeing -- you just won the right to build something that you won't be able to sell to anyone else, thus torpedoing a major avenue for revenue and profit."

Edited by Brisketexan
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Posted

Went down to Gruene this morning, and thought about the bill seeking to rename I-35 turnip highway when I saw a sign that showed 35 is also designated the Purple Heart Trail. But, of course. Republicans shit on all things sacred.

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Posted
46 minutes ago, Chad Fuck said:

Ok, hear me out.

First the B-21, now F-47????

The Tri-Service sequential aircraft numbering system is like the only thing McNamara did right.  This getting out of sequential order on aircraft numbering is getting out of hand.  

Yet another thing being enshittened.

/rant.

 

 

IMG_3507.jpeg

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Posted
1 hour ago, crash_davis said:

The hero we need...

fmnxpw7kjxpe1.jpeg

Seems like an invitation not a threat.  Plus with President setting a precedence of exaggeration and hyperbole, the idea of it being to the death is about as meaningful of a threat as Elon is a member/not a member of DOGE which also like a certain cat, may or may not exist.

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Posted
2 minutes ago, Nivek said:

Seems like an invitation not a threat.  Plus with President setting a precedence of exaggeration and hyperbole, the idea of it being to the death is about as meaningful of a threat as Elon is a member/not a member of DOGE which also like a certain cat, may or may not exist.

Sickening is an accurate descriptor though. 

Posted
36 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

I'll take "what is the perfect thing to say if you want to guarantee that NOBODY will buy your new weapons platform?" for $500.

And, that has the twin bonus effects of 1) making our per-jet cost skyrocket (because the fixed development and ramp-up costs will be applied to fewer units) and 2) making Boeing execs - who REALLY needed a financial win -- tear their fucking hair out.  "Hey, congrats Boeing -- you just won the right to build something that you won't be able to sell to anyone else, thus torpedoing a major avenue for revenue and profit."

businessman. 

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Posted

So, what did the drug fiend learn at the Pentagon?
 

Elon Musk holds unprecedented Pentagon talks, wants leakers prosecuted: 

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/elon-musk-calls-prosecutions-pentagon-staff-who-leaked-new-york-times-2025-03-21/

 

  • Musk holds high-level meeting with Pentagon
  • Tesla CEO urges prosecution for Pentagon leakers
  • Trump and Musk deny press report on China war plans briefing
WASHINGTON, March 21 (Reuters) - Billionaire Elon Musk took his campaign to cut the U.S. federal government into uncharted waters on Friday, holding an unprecedented top-level meeting at the Pentagon and calling for the prosecution of any Defense Department officials leaking "maliciously false information" about his visit.
Musk, whose businesses have a number of Defense Department contracts, met U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for 80 minutes in his first such talks at the Pentagon, which is responsible for a large chunk of federal government spending. It was unclear whether U.S. generals joined that meeting virtually.
Posted
2 minutes ago, David Dennison said:

I honestly do not understand the politics of pissing off middle class Social Security recipients.

It doesn't matter if they'll never be held accountable...which they will not. 

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Posted
2 minutes ago, David Dennison said:

I honestly do not understand the politics of pissing off middle class Social Security recipients.

Maybe it’s a flex, you’ll still love me even if I rape you 

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Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, Satchel said:

 

fuck you, you stupid lazy motherfuckers

 

16 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

 

 

article is paywalled...wtf is he talking about and is he serious? as someone married to an elderly SS recipient, gotdamn.

Edited by mchookem
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Posted
3 hours ago, 956 Worldwide said:

I misquoted him on the top speed. He said it’s “over 2, which you don’t often hear about.”

Well, we heard about it in 1959, when the F4 exceeded Mach 2.5.  And again in 1967 on the bomber front with the F111.  And then again in 1969 with the F14. Still again in 1974 with the F16.  And yet again in 1985 with the F-15.

So, yeah, not that often.  If you are a military aviation ignoramus.

 

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Posted
4 minutes ago, DigglerontheHoof said:

It doesn't matter if they'll never be held accountable...which they will not. 

IMG_9657.gif.bad549dab378c66360746d60369d14d9.gif

 

This is the American electorate to pubs my entire life.

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Posted (edited)
5 minutes ago, mchookem said:

fuck you, you stupid lazy motherfucker

 

article is paywalled...wtf is he talking about and is he serious? as someone married to an elderly SS recipient, gotdamn.

Acting head threatens to shut down Social Security after court ruling - The Washington Post

 

Try that link. His ridiculous claim is that every employee is somehow a DOGE employee. 

Quote

As for the rest of the agency’s more than 50,000 claims processors, call center employees, disability hearings staff and other staff, “How are they not DOGE-affiliated?” Dudek asked.

 

Edited by pacman
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Posted (edited)
33 minutes ago, Red Five said:

Lutnick is fucking insane.

He is proving to be a complete, Peter Navarro-level, dipshit.

We pay a shit ton for MIL's assisted living and her SS check defrays some of it.  I am going to be one pissed off motherfucker if they skip a check and I bet everyone else at the assisted living will be too, or their family.  

Edited by TwiceHorn
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