SEE NO EVIL …
The S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce (SCDEW) is the latest government agency in South Carolina to block FITSNews.com from being accessed by its employees on their state-owned computers.
Multiple sources at the agency – which is part of S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley’s cabinet – tell us FITS was blocked as part of an internal “security review” commissioned in response to a recent hack of SCDEWs website.
“They (were looking) for an excuse to do it,” one source at the agency told our founding editor.
Obviously these tactics are nothing new. Earlier this year FITS was blocked by the S.C. Department of Insurance (SCDOI), and numerous other agencies have blocked us in the past. It’s just part of the game. In fact we view any effort to limit our reach as a badge of honor – a sign our efforts to hold these agencies accountable to the taxpayers is paying off in some small measure.
“We’ve never complained about getting banned … and we’re not about to start now,” we wrote earlier this year in response to one of these bans.
Why not? Because at the end of the day it’s the prerogative of individual agency heads to determine which websites their employees access when they’re on the clock … and let’s face it, we often post “objectionable” content that’s unsuitable for a workplace environment.
SCDEW is the agency responsible for administering unemployment benefits to out-of-work South Carolinians – a job it has proven utterly incompetent at performing. According to federal statistics, one out of every five dollars in unemployment benefits doled out by the agency is awarded erroneously – the eighth-highest percentage in the nation. Not only that, South Carolinians who use the agency’s reemployment services take an average of 26.5 weeks to get off of the public dole. Those who do not use SCDEW take only 22.3 weeks to find gainful employment.
This agency is also responsible for administering the state’s unemployment insurance tax – another job it is struggling to do effectively.
Just last month, the agency acknowledged an accounting error that will cost South Carolina businesses $9 million in additional taxes in 2013 – money on top of the millions they’re already paying to reduce the agency’s massive debt with the federal government. Three of the agencies top leaders – including its chief of staff – have stepped down in the past nine months as a result of various scandals.
FITS has been the only media outlet in the state aggressively holding SCDEW accountable – breaking multiple scandals related to its ongoing incompetence.
Based on the extent we’ve been up their crawl, we’re frankly amazed it took them this long to ban us …
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49 comments
Let me understand this. State owned computers are in place for state employees to surf the web while at work for Facebook, FITSNEWS, etc. Is that right? Further, since the state owns the computers, they have no right telling the employees how they can and can not be used. That also right?
You should probably read the 5th and 6th paragraph. For that matter probably the article, before you make yourself sound like a fool.
Have a Great Day!! :) There won’t be many left with the Demlicans and Republicrats in charge.
Frank Pytel
PS. Congrats Will. Keep up the Peep. Have a Great Day!! :)
Yeah CNSYD … reading comprehension is not your strong suit (again).
-FITS
and Sic Willie and Pytel, neither is reading comprehension the strong suit for either of you. OBVIOUSLY state employees at this agency whined to Sic Willie about FITSNEWS being banned at their workplace. It is THEY to whom I meant my comments. Now Sic Willie if you will just tell me who took Wingo’s SAT for him I am sure my comprehension will increase.
All this will do is increase the traffic load during lunch breaks and then again immediately after working hours. The employees will be going crazy to know what is being said about their agency.
Then again, they could call friends to find out what’s happening. The agency might have a phone overload during the day – HAW HAW!
I assume many of them have cell phones with browser/internet capability.
If only the general had access to the proper training manuals on running this agency and was able to institute the UCMJ for handling employee issues I’m sure he could get it all straightened out.
You’re not holding anyone ‘accountable’;delusions of grandeur…
In a related matter: The Jewish Defense League has banned the Nazi Times Web Edition from office computers…And the Marriage Fidelity orgaization has withdrawn its endorsement of Mark Sanford.
That said: The DNC has pledged to buy all of its robots a subscription, should FITS ever go Pay-View.
You gotta take the good w/ the bad.
Not to be prude but the language used by commenters as well as the stuff in “star stuff” is probably enough to ban Fits from the work place. For the record, I do not work for the state.
That’s right. Government has to protect adults in the state’s office workplaces from “bad language” and sexy pix. Major security threat. Let them read and see that stuff and next thing you know they’ll be running around nekkid and cussing up a storm.
That’s exactly what happened to BigT, and that’s why his grandma won’t let him out of the basement now.
It’s all Sic’s fault.
More to do with the female coworker that walks by and claims to be offended by what she just saw on her coworkers screen but I do catch your drift.
I knew ya would, just having a little fun with this.
In addition to banning fitsnews, DEW has implemented a new hot line to help out the unemployed. Only the best of the best of General Abraham’s DEW storm troopers will be selected to man these lines.
Below are some of the questions that the General himself came up with to weed out the losers:
1. Why wasn’t Jesus born in Columbia, South Carolina?
2. What is a Gamecock’s idea of foreplay?
3. What is a Tiger’s idea of foreplay?
4. What is the difference between the G-Spot and a Golf ball?
5. What does a Scotsman wear under his kilt on a lucky day?
So far no one has passed the test.
Since no one at DEW can read fitsnews I will post the answers(1)couldn’t find three wise men and a virgin(2)you awake(3)you awake mom(4)a man will actually search for a golf ball(5)lipstick
Queen Jean banned Fitsnews in the judicial buildings years ago. We just look at it on our phones. No biggie. She’s mad as hell about something, Will. Figure it out for us, will you?
I’ve never seen a woman look more like a butchy dyke than the (supposed) heterosexual Jean Toal.
Hell, she makes softball coaches look like Victoria Secret models.
Did you see her lady in waiting, Liz Crum?
State employees shouldn’t be goofing off on your site anyway. I’m not paying for that shit.
I’d like to see a lot more whistle-blowing and scuttlebutt posting from public employees.
Perhaps some at DHEC will be inclined to kiss and tell after Jan 4. Word is that the grand re-org plans will be revealed then to an invitation-only audience in Peeples Auditorium at the Sims-Aycock building.
The rumor is it involves the health part of the agency and mainly the medical portion of that. Maybe the envirnmental side is next under the dissecting scope. God knows it needs a closer look. The water portion especially seems a bit polluted, if you’ll excuse the term. It is certainly not an outright fetid sewage lagoon, but it is far from a clear clean healthy free flowing stream and it has a distict off aroma. Nearly everyone seems to know this and has for a while. An emperor might get away with having no clothes, but mere local squires and petty lords might not be able to swagger unclothed without comment forever.
We will see what happens. Everyone is curious. There is a bit of shadenfreudistic snickering as well, some of which may be akin to gallows humor.
A number of staff are becoming optimistic, however, and see the need for changes. What the changes are of course will make the final difference.
State employees need to be doing their job. not cruising the internet for news.
Is that Obama in the photo or just one of his cousins?
I’d heard that generations of inbreeding can cause people not to be able to discern the number of figures in a photograph. Thanks for proving it.
I thought it might be a Lexington city or county council meeting. But on second glance the individuals seem too trim and fit.
WHY HASN’T ANYONE CHECKED THE PEOPLE RIFFED BY THE GENERAL IN ORDER TO HIRE HIS FRIENDS AT ALOT HIGHER PAY THAT DONT HAVE A CLUE FINDING THE CITZENS OF SOUTH CAROLINA A JOB? CAN IT BE HE THINKS HE IS THE SAVIOR OF ALL BLACK PEOPLE? NO DOUBT IN MY MIND.. THE WAY THEY HAVE TREATED THE EMPLOYEES SOMEONE SHOULD BE IN JAIL. AND THEY WOULD BE IN ANY STATE OTHER THAN SOUTH CAROLINA LETS PRAY SOUTH CAROLINA WAKES UP.WHAT THE GOVERNOR HAS DONE TO THIS AGENCY AND ITS EMPLOYEES IS A CRIME,
IN THE HISTORY OF THE SOUTH CAROLINA EMPLOYMENT SECURITY COMMISSION THERE HAS NEVER BEEN AN EMPLOYEE WEARING A GUN OTHER THAN THE COMPLEX SECURITY POLICE OFFICE NOW THEY HAVE YOUNG WHIPPER SNAPPERS WEARING GUNS AND HAND CUFFS . GO FIGURE WHY NOW?
That is interesting – can you give us more details?
The General sounds more like Marlon Brando’s character in the “Apocalypse Now” film.
AND THESE IDIOTS DONT ANSWER TO THE AGENCY POLICE ..
BUT GUESS WE CAN ALL SING A SONG TO THE AGENCY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ‘HOW GREAT THOU ARE’ SINCE HE HAS A DEGREE IN MUSIC AND HEADING UP OUR EMPLOYMENT AGENCY WHAT A DAMN JOKE. BUT ONLY IN SOUTH CAROLINA..
to boz: you made me go back and count them
…. although, uncle may have been referring to the monkey with his eyes covered
WHY DOES THE 6 FLOOR (EXECUTIVE FLOOR) OF THE ROBERT E. DAVID BUILDING NEED AS MANY FLAT SCREEN TV’S AS WILD WINGS BAR AND GRILL? THEY EVEN HAVE ONE IN THE LOBBY IN CASE THEY HAVE TO WAIT FOR THE RAIN TO STOP BEFORE GOING TO THEIR CARS AT LUNCH AND AT THE END OF THE DAY. CANT IMAGINE THE COST OF THE CABLE BILL. JUST LIKE SAND THRU THE HOUR GLASS THESE ARE THE DAYS OF OUR LIVES.
WONT BE LONG I GUESS BEFORE THE EMPLOYEES WITH HAVE TO SING ” HAIL TO THE CHIEF” BEFORE THE GENERAL ENTERS HIS “TOWN MEETINGS” AS HE CALLS THEM. AT SOME POINT YOU WOULD THINK SOMEONE AT THE STATE WOULD START CHECKING ALL THIS OUT, THERE ARE DOZENS OF FEATHERS THAT CAN BE PLACED IN SOMEONES HAT.
TOMORROW LETS TALK ABOUT THE FINANCE DIRECTOR CALLING LADIES THAT WORKS FOR HIM AT 1 AND 2 IN THE MORNING WANTING TO KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING.
And I thought I worked for oddballs.
This discussion needs to go back on the website front page. #THEONEWHOKNOWS THETRUTH should elaberate regarding non-agency security personnel carring firearms and handcuffs. Readers need to understand that the agency can pretty much do as it pleases when spending funds as long U.S. Dept. of Labor approves or looks the other way. SCDEW funding is entirely federal, not state.
….. I agree – WE WANT MORE DETAILS!
The “non-agency security personnel carring firearms and handcuffs” COULD possibly be state constables, accountable to SLED. Or they could be federalLEs of some type. As to why they are needed, well, there’s a lot of money there, and a lot of people pissed off at them. Not to mention personnel reading FITS who might run nekkid and I don’t know what-all at any moment.
BigT works there. That’s why he’s so mean. You read it here first.
SHOULD I BE BIG T? I DONT WORK THERE THANK GOD. DIDNT SAY IT WAS A NON-AGENCY SECURITY PERSONNEL CARRING FIREARMS. JUST MADE THE STATEMENT THAT AFTER ALL THESE YEARS THEY NOW HAVE SOMEONE THAT ISNT IN THE AGENCY POLICE DEPT WEARING FIREARMS. THERE ISNT ALOT OF MONIES THERE 99% IS RECEIVED BY CHECK. THE POLICE DEPT IS SLED APRROVED AND TRAINED. STAND BY DAN HUMVEES WILL PROBABLY BE STANDARD VEHICLE FOR AGENCY MOTOR POOL.DAN DO YOU WORK THERE? HOW ABOUT YOU SOCKO YOU WORK THERE ALSO.
YOU HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD THE AGENCY DOES PRETTY MUCH AS IT WANTS. THEY GET THE FEDERAL MONIES AND THE GOV WANTS TO GET WHAT MIGHT BE LEFT OVER..
SOCKO THESE ARE STATE CONSTABLES DONT BUTTER IT UP.. THE AGENCY IS A TOTAL JOKE JUST SIT BACK AND WATCH I WILL STAY SILENT FOR A FEW WEEKS BUT THERE IS MORE TO COME PLENTY.
THEONEWHOKNOWS THETRUTH,
“Socko d’Puppeto” is a “sock puppet” ID for FITS comments that I created on a whim, obviously.
Not trying to “butter it up” at all, just looking at what is likely to be true regarding those armed security personnel. Perhaps we are both speaking of the same thing in a different way. Meaning that the “apparent” reason for these armed state constables under SLED authority is as I stated: because there’s a lot of money there and a lot of people are pissed off at the agency. “Apparent” meaning not just what is obvious but “that which appears to be” in this case. The REAL and perhaps overriding reason, less apparent, may well be more as you state it.
Friendly advice: Ditch the all-caps postings when you come back. Makes you look crazier than some people THINK I am.
For anyone interested, rumor has it that DHEC has banned all employees from the internet unless work related.
Even think, some districts have told their employees, if they are caught using internet, they will be fired, no questions asked.
SCDHEC employee policy states it does allow for some personal use of the internet as long as the usage is not excessive.
Of course, DHEC said regardless of policy, NO PERSONAL USAGE WOULD BE ALLOWED PERIOD!!!!
not in caps William . We need to talk so much is being covered up its unreal just for the record only in caps because of bad eye sight. starting monday for reason that i cant tell the real truth will surface. but i have to be some what careful there are things that will be involved in court. scdew has over played its hand in hiring ,spending and riffing employees. take care
OOPS
LAWSUITS ARE BEING FILED THIS WEEK. SEVERAL HAVE FINALLY BANDED TO GETHER
What happened with the lawsuits
As a former employee of the agency, theonewhoknowsthetruth has been hitting it pretty square on. New hires that are friends with the General making tens of thousands of dollars more then others in the past… And they have NO experience in the job. Yes, this agency has made mistakes, but majority of the staff in the centers are hard working people that deserve credit. They are making next to nothing and management wants more and more from them to cover up mistakes that they’ve made at the state level. Shame on DEW management in Columbia. Theonewhoknowsthetruth, I’m sure there are lots more that want to join in a lawsuit but are too frightened that they’d lose their jobs. It’s all just a shame!
Theonewhoknows, whatever happened with the lawsuit?