They’ll call it ‘waste and fraud,’ but it will just be stuff they don’t like
Florida governor Ron DeSantis. Image by NARA. CC license.
Florida governor Ron DeFascist recently announced the creation of a DOGE-like panel that would look for waste and fraud in Florida government.
When you consider the Republicans have been in charge of Florida government the past 26 years, that must be an insurmountable mountain of waste and fraud.
But this isn’t really about waste and fraud. What they’ll do is go after things like Medicaid, food stamps, aid for single moms, counseling for gay youths … they’ll call it “waste and fraud” but in reality it’ll be stuff they don’t like.
Because that’s the way government works in the state of Florida. It’s all about deceit and self-interest.
And by the way, Gov. DeFascist is being term-limited out of the governor’s office, so what is he doing? He’s putting his wife up to run.
She’s just another Gestapo Barbie. She’s in charge of book burning here in Florida. Don’t vote for her.
If Floridians elect another Republican governor, they’ll deserve every shitty thing that’s going to happen to them.
About the author:
Del Stone Jr. is a professional fiction writer. He is known primarily for his work in the contemporary dark fiction field, but has also published science fiction and contemporary fantasy. Stone’s stories, poetry and scripts have appeared in publications such as Amazing Stories, Eldritch Tales, and Bantam-Spectra’s Full Spectrum. His short fiction has been published in The Year’s Best Horror Stories XXII; Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine; the Pocket Books anthology More Phobias; the Barnes & Noble anthologies 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories, Horrors! 365 Scary Stories, and 100 Astounding Little Alien Stories; the HWA anthology Psychos; and other short fiction venues, like Blood Muse, Live Without a Net, Zombiesque and Sex Macabre. Stone’s comic book debut was in the Clive Barker series of books, Hellraiser, published by Marvel/Epic and reprinted in The Best of Hellraiser anthology. He has also published stories in Penthouse Comix, and worked with artist Dave Dorman on many projects, including the illustrated novella “Roadkill,” a short story for the Andrew Vachss anthology Underground from Dark Horse, an ashcan titled “December” for Hero Illustrated, and several of Dorman’s Wasted Lands novellas and comics, such as Rail from Image and “The Uninvited.” Stone’s novel, Dead Heat, won the 1996 International Horror Guild’s award for best first novel and was a runner-up for the Bram Stoker Award. Stone has also been a finalist for the IHG award for short fiction, the British Fantasy Award for best novella, and a semifinalist for the Nebula and Writers of the Future awards. His stories have appeared in anthologies that have won the Bram Stoker Award and the World Fantasy Award. Two of his works were optioned for film, the novella “Black Tide” and short story “Crisis Line.”
Stone recently retired after a 41-year career in journalism. He won numerous awards for his work, and in 1986 was named Florida’s best columnist in his circulation division by the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors. In 2001 he received an honorable mention from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association for his essay “When Freedom of Speech Ends” and in 2003 he was voted Best of the Best in the category of columnists by Emerald Coast Magazine. He participated in book signings and awareness campaigns, and was a guest on local television and radio programs.
As an addendum, Stone is single, kills tomatoes and morning glories with ruthless efficiency, once tied the stem of a cocktail cherry in a knot with his tongue, and carries a permanent scar on his chest after having been shot with a paintball gun. He’s in his 60s as of this writing but doesn’t look a day over 94.
Contact Del at [email protected]. He is also on Facebook, twitter, Pinterest, tumblr, TikTok, and Instagram. Visit his website at delstonejr.com .
Image by NOAA.
May 15 marks the beginning of hurricane season in North America, and my concern is that this year will serve to illustrate the disservice provided to the residents of the Gulf of Mexico coastline and the Eastern Seaboard by the Trump regime.
Hurricane season typically runs from June 1 to November 30, but due to the unusual number of storms forming in May, the National Hurricane Center has begun to post its daily tropical weather updates starting on May 15.
This is a direct result of climate change, something Donald Trump has dismissed as a hoax.
Today, storms are forming in May. I expect the day will come when hurricanes form every month of the year.
Additionally, the number of storms forming is increasing. The ferocity of storms is increasing. Episodes of rapid intensification are increasing. Hurricanes are moving more slowly and producing more intense rainfall.
These changes are a result of climate change.
I know as sure as I’m sitting here that some people will, as Trump has, deny the reality of climate change. I encourage you not to listen to them. Climate change is real, it’s happening, and human beings are causing it.
This year is expected to be a more active hurricane season, a condition that has existed since 1995, when virtually every season became hyperactive. What isn’t known is the quality of forecasting this year.
The Trump regime, and Elon Musk, cut 1,300 jobs from the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, parent agency of the National Hurricane Center. We don’t know if those cuts will affect the accuracy of hurricane forecasts, but officials say the number of recon flights into storms will most likely be reduced, and that’s how we get the best data.
We also don’t know how the government will respond to a hurricane disaster. That’s because the Trump regime and Musk have cut hundreds of jobs from FEMA. Will the agency be able to handle a disaster like Hurricane Ivan? We don’t know.
Additionally, if you live in Florida and use the state-provided pool for windstorm insurance, you should be aware the state is one strong hurricane away from insolvency. There may not be any money for you to repair your house.
My advice to anybody living along the Gulf of Mexico coastline and the Eastern Seaboard is to be prepared. Have your evacuation plans in place, and your supplies on hand – water, food, medications and batteries sufficient to last you several days should you be without electricity or transportation.
Climate change is real, and the storms are coming.
About the author:
Del Stone Jr. is a professional fiction writer. He is known primarily for his work in the contemporary dark fiction field, but has also published science fiction and contemporary fantasy. Stone’s stories, poetry and scripts have appeared in publications such as Amazing Stories, Eldritch Tales, and Bantam-Spectra’s Full Spectrum. His short fiction has been published in The Year’s Best Horror Stories XXII; Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine; the Pocket Books anthology More Phobias; the Barnes & Noble anthologies 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories, Horrors! 365 Scary Stories, and 100 Astounding Little Alien Stories; the HWA anthology Psychos; and other short fiction venues, like Blood Muse, Live Without a Net, Zombiesque and Sex Macabre. Stone’s comic book debut was in the Clive Barker series of books, Hellraiser, published by Marvel/Epic and reprinted in The Best of Hellraiser anthology. He has also published stories in Penthouse Comix, and worked with artist Dave Dorman on many projects, including the illustrated novella “Roadkill,” a short story for the Andrew Vachss anthology Underground from Dark Horse, an ashcan titled “December” for Hero Illustrated, and several of Dorman’s Wasted Lands novellas and comics, such as Rail from Image and “The Uninvited.” Stone’s novel, Dead Heat, won the 1996 International Horror Guild’s award for best first novel and was a runner-up for the Bram Stoker Award. Stone has also been a finalist for the IHG award for short fiction, the British Fantasy Award for best novella, and a semifinalist for the Nebula and Writers of the Future awards. His stories have appeared in anthologies that have won the Bram Stoker Award and the World Fantasy Award. Two of his works were optioned for film, the novella “Black Tide” and short story “Crisis Line.”
Stone recently retired after a 41-year career in journalism. He won numerous awards for his work, and in 1986 was named Florida’s best columnist in his circulation division by the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors. In 2001 he received an honorable mention from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association for his essay “When Freedom of Speech Ends” and in 2003 he was voted Best of the Best in the category of columnists by Emerald Coast Magazine. He participated in book signings and awareness campaigns, and was a guest on local television and radio programs.
As an addendum, Stone is single, kills tomatoes and morning glories with ruthless efficiency, once tied the stem of a cocktail cherry in a knot with his tongue, and carries a permanent scar on his chest after having been shot with a paintball gun. He’s in his 60s as of this writing but doesn’t look a day over 94.
Contact Del at [email protected]. He is also on Facebook, twitter, Pinterest, tumblr, TikTok, and Instagram. Visit his website at delstonejr.com .
Elon Musk. Image by Gage Skidmore. CC license
I think the honeymoon between Diaper Donnie and his master, Elon Musk, will come to an end sometime this year.
Musk is sinking in the polls faster than a Model 3 driven off a short pier. His approval rating is so low you’d need a front-end loader to excavate it. At some point Diaper Donnie will realize Musk is like an anchor, dragging him down, and he’ll cut him loose. That’s what Diaper Donnie does.
Musk deserves to be cut loose because he’s doing a terrible job. It’s almost comical. Were it not for Musk’s ego he could have looked to the recent past to see how a government efficiency campaign can be done correctly.
In the early 1990s, when Bill Clinton was elected, he appointed his vice president, Al Gore, to head up an effort to make the government more efficient and cost-effective. Gore formed a commission of experts to study the problem and get back to the president and Congress with a plan of action.
After months of examination, Gore and his National Performance Review staff presented a list of almost 400 recommendations for trimming agencies, combining services and cutting the federal workforce. The NPR report was made available to Congress and the president. It enjoyed bi-partisan support and received Clinton’s endorsement.
In the end, agencies were combined, others were eliminated, and almost 400,000 FTEs were trimmed from the federal workforce. The government saved so much money that Clinton and Congress were able to balance the budget – for years – and there were actually surpluses to pay down the debt.
Contrast that with Musk’s approach.
He didn’t hire a committee of experts. He threw together a bunch of college dropouts, teenage boys and former Twitter employees who went through the government workforce with a virtual chainsaw, firing workers en masse without even understanding their jobs or how they did them. In some cases the severances had to be reversed – at cost to the government – when Musk’s bottom boys discovered they had fired workers with critical responsibilities and irreplaceable knowledge resources essential to the operation of particular agencies.
DOGE has conducted its efforts without congressional oversight and Musk refuses to tell overseers what he’s doing or how he’s doing it. Communication of DOGE methods and intentions has been non-existent beyond a notorious press conference with a confused Diaper Donnie, where Musk spoke in vague platitudes and seemed to use his young son as stagecraft. The victims of DOGE’s bureaucratic clear-cutting have been treated like criminals – shown the door or offered buyouts under threat. Musk has made claims of waste, fraud and abuse that were later debunked, and he’s tossed out numbers that turned out to be erroneous. He has eliminated entities that exert regulatory control over his business interests, an outrageous conflict of interest that has gone unpunished by the current regime.
The result has been what you would expect – chaos, suspicion, acrimony and no small degree of fear on the part of federal employees facing the DOGE Sword of Damocles, and the American people, who wonder if their benefits will be eliminated and their private information auctioned off by this unelected foreign national currently hollowing out the federal government. By some accounts Musk’s circus has cost the American taxpayers over $500 billion – talk about waste, fraud and abuse!
All this is being “overseen” and encouraged by Il Duce, Diaper Donnie, who is hands down the worst president the lowing, bleating, blundering “electorate” of this country has ever allowed to enter the White House. In fact, there are no words to characterize the disaster that man represents. Our country will never be the same and that’s not a legacy to be proud of. If there was ever an argument for requiring a license to vote, Diaper Donnie is it.
But he could fix at least some of it. He’s fond of saying, “You’re fired.” Well, that’s exactly what he should say to Elon Musk and his troupe of Differin-addicted clown boys. Musk, and DOGE, have been an unmitigated disaster.
It’s past time to pull the plug.
About the author:
Del Stone Jr. is a professional fiction writer. He is known primarily for his work in the contemporary dark fiction field, but has also published science fiction and contemporary fantasy. Stone’s stories, poetry and scripts have appeared in publications such as Amazing Stories, Eldritch Tales, and Bantam-Spectra’s Full Spectrum. His short fiction has been published in The Year’s Best Horror Stories XXII; Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine; the Pocket Books anthology More Phobias; the Barnes & Noble anthologies 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories, Horrors! 365 Scary Stories, and 100 Astounding Little Alien Stories; the HWA anthology Psychos; and other short fiction venues, like Blood Muse, Live Without a Net, Zombiesque and Sex Macabre. Stone’s comic book debut was in the Clive Barker series of books, Hellraiser, published by Marvel/Epic and reprinted in The Best of Hellraiser anthology. He has also published stories in Penthouse Comix, and worked with artist Dave Dorman on many projects, including the illustrated novella “Roadkill,” a short story for the Andrew Vachss anthology Underground from Dark Horse, an ashcan titled “December” for Hero Illustrated, and several of Dorman’s Wasted Lands novellas and comics, such as Rail from Image and “The Uninvited.” Stone’s novel, Dead Heat, won the 1996 International Horror Guild’s award for best first novel and was a runner-up for the Bram Stoker Award. Stone has also been a finalist for the IHG award for short fiction, the British Fantasy Award for best novella, and a semifinalist for the Nebula and Writers of the Future awards. His stories have appeared in anthologies that have won the Bram Stoker Award and the World Fantasy Award. Two of his works were optioned for film, the novella “Black Tide” and short story “Crisis Line.”
Stone recently retired after a 41-year career in journalism. He won numerous awards for his work, and in 1986 was named Florida’s best columnist in his circulation division by the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors. In 2001 he received an honorable mention from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association for his essay “When Freedom of Speech Ends” and in 2003 he was voted Best of the Best in the category of columnists by Emerald Coast Magazine. He participated in book signings and awareness campaigns, and was a guest on local television and radio programs.
As an addendum, Stone is single, kills tomatoes and morning glories with ruthless efficiency, once tied the stem of a cocktail cherry in a knot with his tongue, and carries a permanent scar on his chest after having been shot with a paintball gun. He’s in his 60s as of this writing but doesn’t look a day over 94.
Contact Del at [email protected]. He is also on Facebook, twitter, Pinterest, tumblr, TikTok, and Instagram. Visit his website at delstonejr.com .
I’m curious: Why aren’t Elon Musk’s competitors screaming bloody murder about his access to the United States government and the strings he’s able to pull?
Guys like Zuckerberg, Bezos and a host of others must be looking on with envy at the way Musk can access the private information of millions of Americans and pretty much do what he wants with it, no questions asked.
The business advantage this gives Musk is substantial, and it’s already working: The State Department wants to buy $400 million worth of armored Cybertrucks, and the FAA is thinking about replacing Verizon’s services with those provided by StarLink, at a cost of $2.4 billion.
These are very clear conflicts of interest, yet none of those billionaire good ol’ boys are uttering a peep.
Kinda makes me think something else is going on we should know about.
About the author:
Del Stone Jr. is a professional fiction writer. He is known primarily for his work in the contemporary dark fiction field, but has also published science fiction and contemporary fantasy. Stone’s stories, poetry and scripts have appeared in publications such as Amazing Stories, Eldritch Tales, and Bantam-Spectra’s Full Spectrum. His short fiction has been published in The Year’s Best Horror Stories XXII; Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine; the Pocket Books anthology More Phobias; the Barnes & Noble anthologies 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories, Horrors! 365 Scary Stories, and 100 Astounding Little Alien Stories; the HWA anthology Psychos; and other short fiction venues, like Blood Muse, Live Without a Net, Zombiesque and Sex Macabre. Stone’s comic book debut was in the Clive Barker series of books, Hellraiser, published by Marvel/Epic and reprinted in The Best of Hellraiser anthology. He has also published stories in Penthouse Comix, and worked with artist Dave Dorman on many projects, including the illustrated novella “Roadkill,” a short story for the Andrew Vachss anthology Underground from Dark Horse, an ashcan titled “December” for Hero Illustrated, and several of Dorman’s Wasted Lands novellas and comics, such as Rail from Image and “The Uninvited.” Stone’s novel, Dead Heat, won the 1996 International Horror Guild’s award for best first novel and was a runner-up for the Bram Stoker Award. Stone has also been a finalist for the IHG award for short fiction, the British Fantasy Award for best novella, and a semifinalist for the Nebula and Writers of the Future awards. His stories have appeared in anthologies that have won the Bram Stoker Award and the World Fantasy Award. Two of his works were optioned for film, the novella “Black Tide” and short story “Crisis Line.”
Stone recently retired after a 41-year career in journalism. He won numerous awards for his work, and in 1986 was named Florida’s best columnist in his circulation division by the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors. In 2001 he received an honorable mention from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association for his essay “When Freedom of Speech Ends” and in 2003 he was voted Best of the Best in the category of columnists by Emerald Coast Magazine. He participated in book signings and awareness campaigns, and was a guest on local television and radio programs.
As an addendum, Stone is single, kills tomatoes and morning glories with ruthless efficiency, once tied the stem of a cocktail cherry in a knot with his tongue, and carries a permanent scar on his chest after having been shot with a paintball gun. He’s in his 60s as of this writing but doesn’t look a day over 94.
Contact Del at [email protected]. He is also on Facebook, twitter, Pinterest, tumblr, TikTok, and Instagram. Visit his website at delstonejr.com .
I submit DOGE itself is a significant source of waste and fraud.
It is at least a duplication of services, as another government agency already exists that is tasked with finding wasteful spending: the GAO.
The GAO, or Government Accountabity Office, has existed for decades and has a verifiable record of saving taxpayer dollars. For instance, last year the GAO saved American taxpayers almost $70 billion in wasteful spending. Since 1999 GAO has targeted over $1 trillion in waste.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump and Elon Musk have not revealed one penny of legitimate fraud or waste. When they are asked to prove their bombastic claims, they produce lists of agencies and individuals who they don’t like. Hate to say it but just because you don’t like an agency or individual doesn’t mean they’re guilty of fraud or waste.
These are enemies lists and nothing more. In fact, some of the names on these lists are agencies or individuals who exercise regulatory authority over Elon Musk and the conduct of his business interests, which suggests they are being eliminated so that Musk’s businesses can operate without oversight or accountability.
Folks, I can’t overemphasize the danger this country faces at the moment. We have a president who may or may not be cognitively impaired and has handed the keys to the government to a foreign national who is changing the nation’s digital infrastructure in ways nobody knows or understands.
If this isn’t a recipe for catastrophe, I don’t know what it.
About the author:
Del Stone Jr. is a professional fiction writer. He is known primarily for his work in the contemporary dark fiction field, but has also published science fiction and contemporary fantasy. Stone’s stories, poetry and scripts have appeared in publications such as Amazing Stories, Eldritch Tales, and Bantam-Spectra’s Full Spectrum. His short fiction has been published in The Year’s Best Horror Stories XXII; Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine; the Pocket Books anthology More Phobias; the Barnes & Noble anthologies 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories, Horrors! 365 Scary Stories, and 100 Astounding Little Alien Stories; the HWA anthology Psychos; and other short fiction venues, like Blood Muse, Live Without a Net, Zombiesque and Sex Macabre. Stone’s comic book debut was in the Clive Barker series of books, Hellraiser, published by Marvel/Epic and reprinted in The Best of Hellraiser anthology. He has also published stories in Penthouse Comix, and worked with artist Dave Dorman on many projects, including the illustrated novella “Roadkill,” a short story for the Andrew Vachss anthology Underground from Dark Horse, an ashcan titled “December” for Hero Illustrated, and several of Dorman’s Wasted Lands novellas and comics, such as Rail from Image and “The Uninvited.” Stone’s novel, Dead Heat, won the 1996 International Horror Guild’s award for best first novel and was a runner-up for the Bram Stoker Award. Stone has also been a finalist for the IHG award for short fiction, the British Fantasy Award for best novella, and a semifinalist for the Nebula and Writers of the Future awards. His stories have appeared in anthologies that have won the Bram Stoker Award and the World Fantasy Award. Two of his works were optioned for film, the novella “Black Tide” and short story “Crisis Line.”
Stone recently retired after a 41-year career in journalism. He won numerous awards for his work, and in 1986 was named Florida’s best columnist in his circulation division by the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors. In 2001 he received an honorable mention from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association for his essay “When Freedom of Speech Ends” and in 2003 he was voted Best of the Best in the category of columnists by Emerald Coast Magazine. He participated in book signings and awareness campaigns, and was a guest on local television and radio programs.
As an addendum, Stone is single, kills tomatoes and morning glories with ruthless efficiency, once tied the stem of a cocktail cherry in a knot with his tongue, and carries a permanent scar on his chest after having been shot with a paintball gun. He’s in his 60s as of this writing but doesn’t look a day over 94.
Contact Del at [email protected]. He is also on Facebook, twitter, Pinterest, tumblr, TikTok, and Instagram. Visit his website at delstonejr.com .