Tag: Contractors

Now It’s Window-Gate

I am exhausted trying to keep up with the stupid and arrogant crap that comes out of the White House these days….7 months and the mind is on overload….

The newest thing is crap being thrown from the White House…..

President Trump said Tuesday that a video circulating online that showed items being tossed out of an upstairs window of the White House was created with artificial intelligence, despite his press team seeming to confirm the veracity of it hours earlier. Trump, who has boasted of being an expert in building design as he takes on remodeling projects at the White House, told reporters that the video has “got to be fake” because the windows, he said, are heavy and sealed shut, per the AP.

  • The video, which circulated Monday, appears to show a small black bag and a long white item being tossed out of a window on the building’s east side. Trump blamed the video on AI, saying the creation of fake videos was one of the downsides of the technology, but then said, “If something happens that’s really bad, maybe I’ll have to just blame AI.”
  • Hours earlier, the White House seemed to verify that the video was real when it told several news outlets that inquired about the video that it was “a contractor who was doing regular maintenance while the president was gone.” The White House didn’t respond to a message later Tuesday about the discrepancy.
  • Trump denied that the windows can be opened and said, “I know every window up there.” He went on to claim each window weighs about 600 pounds, and that “you have to be pretty strong to open them up.” After Trump viewed the video on the phone of Fox News reporter Peter Doocy, the president again said the windows are sealed and blamed AI.
  • Hany Farid, a digital forensics and misinformation expert at UC Berkeley who reviewed the video, said he didn’t detect any digital watermarks that are sometimes inserted into images at the point of AI generation. “The shadows in the scene, including the shadow cast by the tossed bag, are all physically consistent,” Farid says. “The motion of the waving flags have none of the telltale signs that you often see in AI-generated videos. The overall structure of the White House appears to be consistent.”
  • Former first lady Michelle Obama, in a 2015 appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, seemed to gripe about the White House window situation, noting, “The windows in our house don’t open.”

I see we have a new culprit to which he can attach blame…..AI…..was he tired of using ‘fake news’?

Just another crazy lazy day in DC.

Geez I love this useless stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–30Jun21

After the coup attempt on 06 January 2021 have you ever wondered where these groups and ‘groups’ I mean those mental midgets in our government, get their cash?

I may have an answer for you.

After a brief lull in political spending following the January 6 insurrection, military contractors are ramping up PAC donations to members of Congress on committees with influence over the distribution of Pentagon funds, including dozens of GOP lawmakers who voted to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.

In the wake of former President Donald Trump’s failed coup attempt, “nearly every major defense firm paused political contributions… and many expressed disgust at the sight of rioters storming the Capitol,” The Hill reported Thursday.

BAE Systems described the incident as “deeply disturbing,” and Boeing denounced the “violence, lawlessness, and destruction” that transpired.

…

Despite their professed aversion to the right-wing attack on the halls of Congress and vows to suspend donations to anti-democratic politicians, The Hill noted, BAE Systems, Boeing, General Dynamics, Leidos, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman “have quietly resumed” political giving to Republicans who—just hours after the deadly mayhem on Jan. 6—objected to the certification of President Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory.

In May, weapons manufacturers even increased their spending on the GOP lawmakers who abetted the insurrection, the news outlet reported. Raytheon is alone among top U.S. military contractors in maintaining its pause on PAC donations.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/06/24/military-contractors-quietly-boost-donations-gop-backers-trumps-coup-attempt

It is far more important to buy the loyalty of the spineless cowards in Congress than to protect the republic that gives them a virtual free ride.

Image

When will the American people wake up and smell the manure in Congress….and some of that manure is trying for a re-election….

Vote these lumps of fecal matter out of government.

Watch This Blog!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

More Americans Killing Americans

This could be another post about our daily dose of gun violence….but it is not…it is about American troops killing other Americans……

In the past it has been SEALs and Marines killing a Green Beret that was scandalous enough..l..but the Navy and the Marines have once again made the news….but this time they are accused of killing an American contractor….

Two Marine Raiders and a Navy corpsman have been charged with involuntary manslaughter, negligent homicide, and other offenses in connection with the death of a Lockheed Martin contractor, who died following a reported fist fight in Iraq, according to Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command.

Rick Anthony Rodriguez, a former Green Beret, died in Landstuhl, Germany, on Jan. 4 after being medically evacuated from Erbil, Iraq.

Todd South of Military Times first reported on Monday that two Marines and one sailor face general courts-martial for Rodriguez’s death: Gunnery Sgt. Daniel Draher, Gunnery Sgt. Joshua Negron, and Chief Petty Officer Eric Gilmet.

https://taskandpurpose.com/marines-sailor-charged-contractor-death

I do not know the particulars but this sounds more like macho bullshit that occurs when alcohol and egos are involved.

The old “who is tougher” scenario……

I have made my opinions known on this type of death before….to refresh everyone’s memory…..

I think it is pathetic that Americans feel that they must kill other Americans….it is PETTY and SMALL.

I Read, I Wrote, You Know

“Lego Ergo Scribo”

Privatization Sucks!

In 1980 with the election of Reagan and the defeat of Carter a new way of running the government came into being…..privatization…..and since it has become the “thing” the country has lost bunches of cash paying these contractors to do the jobs that use to be handled by civil service employees.

When I left the Army I became a civil servant ( not a private contractor) doing the same job that I was doing in the military.

Most jobs in the Defense Department are cheaper with civilian employees as compared to contractors, according to an internal Pentagon report, though the cost comparisons differ based on location, pay grade and job function.

Civil service workers are most likely to be less expensive than contractors performing the same work in the Washington, D.C. region and in the Southeastern United States, the report compiled by the Office of the Secretary of Defense found. More than 75 percent of comparisons in the Southeast the Pentagon ran between government and contract workers showed a higher cost for the private sector, and the capital region was not far behind. Government Executive obtained the never-before reported on document through a Freedom of Information Act request.

https://www.govexec.com/management/2018/12/civilians-are-cheaper-contractors-most-defense-jobs-internal-report-finds/153656/

There has always been waste and fraud in the process of issuing contracts…but it seems to have gotten much worse after privatization…..

I believe that a whole new way of dealing with contractor needs implementing…..ear plugs that are not safe…the Pentagon needs to fine them the total cost of the contract and not allow the company to bid again for 5 years.

But does privatization really work?

According to privatization’s supporters, this shift from public to private management is so profound that it will produce a panoply of significant improvements: boosting the efficiency and quality of remaining government activities, reducing taxes, and shrinking the size of government. In the functions that are privatized, they argue, the profit-seeking behavior of new, private sector managers will undoubtedly lead to cost cutting and greater attention to customer satisfaction.

https://hbr.org/1991/11/does-privatization-serve-the-public-interest

But make up your own mind……https://www.governing.com/topics/mgmt/pros-cons-privatizing-government-functions.html

As you may have guessed…I do not think the privatization has produced all the benefits that the Reagan bunch promised in the 1980s.

Just thinking out loud.