Tag Archives: Department of Government Efficiency

Irish Star: Acting head of FEMA told staff he didn’t know the US had a hurricane season day after it began

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Acting head of FEMA David Richardson reportedly told employees that he didn’t know the US has a hurricane season a day after it officially began as experts sound alarm bells

Duh!!!!!!!!!!

The acting head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) left staff members alarmed on Monday when he reportedly told them that he was unaware that the US had a hurricane season.

David Richardson, who has been overseeing FEMA since May, made the comments during a briefing with staff members, a day after the 2025 hurricane season officially began, two people who heard the remarks told The New York Times. The staff members said it was unclear whether he was serious or not.

Richardson served in the Marines and worked in the Department of Homeland Security’s Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office before joining FEMA but has no formal disaster-management experience. His comments come after some of the agency’s workers had expressed concerns about his lack of experience in emergency management.

How dumb can they get?

Head of FEMA told staff he didn’t know the US had a hurricane season
Acting head of FEMA David Richardson reportedly told employees that he didn’t know the US has a hurricane season a day after it officially began as experts sound alarm bells

https://www.irishstar.com/news/us-news/fema-head-staff-hurricane-season-35326926

CNN: Trump returns to Supreme Court with emergency appeal over mass firings

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The Trump administration returned to the Supreme Court on Monday to ask the justices to reverse a lower court order that has blocked mass firings and major reorganizations at federal agencies, a case that could have enormous implications for the president’s power to reshape the federal government.

The latest emergency appeal involving President Donald Trump’s second term to reach the Supreme Court followed an order last week from the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals that kept on hold Trump’s plans for the sweeping layoffs – known as reductions in force, or RIFs.

Loser Trump has lost at the first two levels (district court & court of appeals); let’s make it 3 for 3!

Trump returns to Supreme Court with emergency appeal over mass firings | CNN Politics
The Trump administration returned to the Supreme Court on Monday to ask the justices to reverse a lower court order that has blocked mass firings and major reorganizations at federal agencies, a case that could have enormous implications for the president’s power to reshape the federal government.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/02/politics/trump-returns-to-supreme-court-with-emergency-appeal-over-mass-firings

Reuters: State Dept overhaul will cut thousands of jobs, push ‘Western values’

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  • More than 300 bureaus and offices to be reorganized or eliminated
  • Agency’s domestic workforce to be reduced by 3,448
  • Offices will pivot to promoting Western values and free markets

The Trump administration on Thursday formally notified Congress of its plans for a major overhaul of the State Department, which will cut thousands of jobs, refocus the agency’s human rights bureau on “Western values” and reorient the refugee bureau toward returning migrants to their countries of origin.

Eh? People become refugees because life in their countries of origin has become dangerous or unbearable. Returning them to their countries of origin only continues their misery. It’s also a violation of international treaties regarding refugees.

The shake-up comes as part of an unprecedented push by President Donald Trump to shrink the federal bureaucracy and align what remains with his “America First” priorities.

…

The role of a top official for civilian security, democracy, and human rights will be eliminated, along with the offices that monitored war crimes and conflicts around the world.

A new Senate-confirmed role of under secretary for foreign assistance and humanitarian affairs will oversee the new Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, which is to be reorganized to “ground the Department’s values-based diplomacy in traditional Western conceptions of core freedoms” and headed by a deputy assistant secretary for “Democracy and Western Values.”

…

Within the new bureau, an Office of Free Markets and Free Labor will promote free-market principles and an Office of Natural Rights will work on what the Trump administration sees as “free speech backsliding in Europe and other developed nations.”

Rubio on Wednesday said foreign officials who the Trump administration deems to be involved in censorship will be banned from visiting the U.S.

The Bureau for Population, Refugees and Migration will also be “substantially reorganized to shift focus towards supporting the Administration’s efforts to return illegal aliens to their country of origin or legal status,” the summary said.

As Reuters reported earlier this month, the refugee bureau will also take responsibility for the U.S. response to major disasters overseas.

In other words, whites only and refugees need not apply. 🙁

State Dept overhaul will cut thousands of jobs, push ‘Western values’
The Trump administration on Thursday formally notified Congress of its plans for a major overhaul of the State Department, which will cut thousands of jobs, refocus the agency’s human rights bureau on “Western values” and reorient the refugee bureau toward returning migrants to their countries of origin.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/state-dept-broad-reorganization-plan-submitted-congress-2025-05-29

Newsweek: DOGE cuts to cause 2 million extra visits to Social Security offices: Study

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Staffing cuts and office closures at the Social Security Administration (SSA), driven by Elon Musk‘s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), are estimated to force seniors to make nearly 2 million additional annual trips for necessary in-person assistance, according to a new study.

It’s never good to remove options, but for some people this will work out better. Getting through to Social Security by phone can waste many hours of time. Depending on the wait time at your local office and the travel time, it can be more convenient.

In my family’s case the local office was hopeless — the line was out the door and down the block. But we found a suburban office where the waits were much shorter with sufficient indoor seating for everyone.

Nevertheless I expect there will be more losers than winners here.

DOGE cuts to cause 2 million extra visits to Social Security offices: Study
“There’s just going to be a lot of people who are not able to complete this process,” one of the study’s co-authors told Newsweek.

https://www.newsweek.com/doge-social-security-seniors-benefits-elon-2078102

The Hill: Musk drug use on campaign trail sparked concerns: Report

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Alleged drug use by tech billionaire and close President Trump ally Elon Musk on the campaign trail during the 2024 presidential election has sparked concerns, according to an explosive New York Times report published Friday morning. 

The article comes as Musk is exiting the Trump administration after a whirlwind several months in which he led efforts to cut down on the government’s size.

Musk told people he was using ketamine so often that it was impacting his bladder, along with utilizing psychedelic mushrooms and taking ecstasy, the Times reported.

Musk drug use on campaign trail sparked concerns: Report

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5325589-elon-musk-drug-use-reports

New York Times: Trump Taps Palantir to Compile Data on Americans

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The Trump administration has expanded Palantir’s work with the government, spreading the company’s technology — which could easily merge data on Americans — throughout agencies.

In March, President Trump signed an executive order calling for the federal government to share data across agencies, raising questions over whether he might compile a master list of personal information on Americans that could give him untold surveillance power.

Mr. Trump has not publicly talked about the effort since. But behind the scenes, officials have quietly put technological building blocks into place to enable his plan. In particular, they have turned to one company: Palantir, the data analysis and technology firm.

The Trump administration has expanded Palantir’s work across the federal government in recent months. The company has received more than $113 million in federal government spending since Mr. Trump took office, according to public records, including additional funds from existing contracts as well as new contracts with the Department of Homeland Security and the Pentagon. (This does not include a $795 million contract that the Department of Defense awarded the company last week, which has not been spent.)

Representatives of Palantir are also speaking to at least two other agencies — the Social Security Administration and the Internal Revenue Service — about buying its technology, according to six government officials and Palantir employees with knowledge of the discussions.

The push has put a key Palantir product called Foundry into at least four federal agencies, including D.H.S. and the Health and Human Services Department. Widely adopting Foundry, which organizes and analyzes data, paves the way for Mr. Trump to easily merge information from different agencies, the government officials said.

Be very afraid! If you value your privacy, an all-knowing, all-seeing government database is the last thing you want.

https://archive.is/4DyVk#selection-659.0-689.326

Independent: Judge spares Trump from massive DOGE lawsuit — leaving Elon Musk holding the bag for ‘unauthorized role’

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Donald Trump has been dropped from a lawsuit accusing his administration of illegally wielding power to slash government agencies and purge the federal workforce.

But a federal judge won’t let Elon Musk escape the case.

Musk — tapped by the president to lead the so-called Department of Government Efficiency — is facing a lawsuit from a group of 14 states arguing that the world’s wealthiest person lacks any legal authority to carry out mass firings, terminate grants and access sensitive government information and taxpayer data.

Attorneys for the Trump administration claimed Musk is only serving a temporary advisory role as a “special government employee” serving under the president.

But District Judge Tanya Chutkan shot down the White House’s attempt to “minimize” his role as “a mere advisor without any formal authority.”

Musk instead “occupies a continuing position” and “exercises significant authority,” all without “proper appointment” by Congress, Chutkan wrote.

Judge spares Trump from DOGE lawsuit — but leaves Elon Musk on the hook
The world’s wealthiest man is accused of illegally wielding power to fire government workers and slash spending

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/elon-musk-doge-trump-lawsuit-b2759428.html

MiBolsilloColombia: Only 0.3% of SSA frauds were considered incorrect, what about DOGE?

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A recent initiative by the Social Security Administration (SSA) to detect fraud, partly driven by the now-defunct Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by Elon Musk, has sparked significant controversy. 

The Social Security Administration’s (SSA) recent anti-fraud initiative, influenced by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has stirred a storm of debate. The DOGE, once under the leadership of Elon Musk, made audacious claims about rampant fraud within the SSA. However, the SSA’s new detection system revealed a starkly different reality, identifying only a minuscule amount of potential fraud while inadvertently delaying the processing of numerous claims.

The primary justification for the SSA’s anti-fraud policy stemmed from statements by DOGE members. Aram Moghaddassi, a DOGE engineer, claimed on Fox News that 40% of calls to the SSA for direct deposit changes were from scammers. This assertion was echoed by Elon Musk and Vice President JD Vance. Musk even suggested that his engineers had uncovered “$100 billion a week” in fraudulent payments, a figure that raised eyebrows across the board.

But:

Of over 110,000 claims reviewed, less than 1% were flagged for potential fraud, and only two were deemed to have a “high probability” of being fraudulent.

Only 0.3% of SSA frauds were considered incorrect, what about DOGE?
A recent initiative by the Social Security Administration (SSA) to detect fraud, partly driven by the now-defunct Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by Elon Musk, has sparked significant controversy.

https://www.mibolsillo.co/news/Only-0.3-of-SSA-frauds-were-considered-incorrect-what-about-DOGE-20250526-0031.html

Raw Story: DOGE team using AI to scour personal data to root out Trump disloyalty: report

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Elon Musk’s team is using a custom version of his artificial intelligence chatbot Grok to scour the sensitive government data scooped up by the Department of Government Efficiency, raising serious concerns about privacy, conflicts of interest and national security.

The DOGE team is expanding use of the AI chatbot, three sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, but it’s not clear which specific data had been fed into the generative tool or how the custom system was set up, and five experts told the news organization that the arrangement may violate security and privacy laws.

“Given the scale of data that DOGE has amassed and given the numerous concerns of porting that data into software like Grok, this to me is about as serious a privacy threat as you get,” said Albert Fox Cahn, executive director of the nonprofit Surveillance Technology Oversight Project.

…

“This gives the appearance that DOGE is pressuring agencies to use software to enrich Musk and xAI, and not to the benefit of the American people,” said Richard Painter, who served as ethics counsel to former president George W. Bush and a current University of Minnesota professor.

Two sources said DOGE staffers directed Department of Homeland Security officials to use Grok, although it hadn’t been approved for use in that agency, and the sources said the federal government would have to pay Musk’s organizations to use that AI tool, which Painter said could violate criminal conflict-of-interest statute.

“They were pushing it to be used across the department,” said one of the sources.

DOGE team using AI to scour personal data to root out Trump disloyalty: report

https://www.rawstory.com/doge-team-sensitive-private-data-2672192671

Daily Beast: John Roberts Personally Delivers DOGE Win for Trump

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Chief Justice John Roberts has personally shielded the Department of Government Efficiency from having to hand over reams of internal data.

Acting as an individual, Roberts temporarily blocked two orders from a lower court that instructed DOGE to turn over thousands of pages of documents and have its administrator, Amy Gleason, sit for a deposition.

The emergency stay only required Robert’s approval, not the entire Supreme Court’s, as he is the justice who handles these requests when they arise out of the Washington, D.C., courts.

The stay is temporary, likely only to last a few days. It allows the court time to decide whether it wants to consider the case on its merits and make a ruling.

The question at stake in the case is whether DOGE has to fulfill public information requests under the Freedom of Information Act. The case hinges on whether the group, which has been led by Elon Musk, is a government agency.

The Trump administration has argued that DOGE is merely an advisory group to President Donald Trump and therefore does not have to hand over its data.

So for now, at least, there will be no sunshine.

John Roberts Personally Delivers DOGE Win for Trump
The chief justice intervened on the agency’s behalf.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/chief-justice-roberts-personally-delivers-doge-data-win-for-trump