Tag Archives: Department of Government Efficiency

CBS News: Federal workers spoke to reporters after DOGE fired them. Now they face investigation.

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At least half a dozen USAID employees who spoke to reporters after they thought they had been fired by the Trump administration have now received notices from the foreign aid agency’s internal human resources office that they are facing investigation for participating in interviews.

The workers, whose formal dismissal date was delayed after leaders encountered bureaucratic snags, received an email in recent days carrying the subject line, “Administrative inquiry.” The email accused them of having “engaged with the press/media without authorization” and threatened “disciplinary action” including “removal from the U.S. Agency for International Development.” 

…

“It’s total intimidation,” said Randy Chester, the vice president of the American Foreign Service Association, which is the union that represents USAID employees. He said employees started receiving notices on Monday. The union shared the email exclusively with CBS.

How can they be disciplined after they’ve been fired?

Federal workers spoke to reporters after DOGE fired them. Now they face investigation.

At least half a dozen USAID employees are facing threats of “disciplinary action” for speaking to reporters after they thought they had been fired.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/doge-usaid-federal-workers-spoke-to-reporters-investigation

CNN: Judge halts drastic cuts to agencies being done under Trump executive order

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A federal judge is halting the Trump administration from carrying out, under a February executive order, mass firings or major reorganizations of multiple agencies going forward.

Senior District Judge Susan Illston on Friday evening granted a temporary restraining order sought by federal employee unions, local governments and outside organizations that rely on federal services, who argued the administration was acting outside the bounds of the law. The judge’s order, which lasts two weeks, blocks the administration’s approval or implementation of plans –- known as Agency RIF and Reorganization Plans, or ARRPs – for conducting mass layoffs and for shrinking or eliminating entire components of an agency. She is also pausing any orders from the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, cutting programs or staff in accordance with Trump’s executive order and the related directives.

Illston, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton who sits in San Francisco, said at a hearing earlier in the day that presidents have authority to make changes to the government, but when it comes to large scale reorganizations, presidents “must do so with the cooperation of Congress.

Judge halts drastic cuts to agencies being done under Trump executive order

A federal judge is halting the Trump administration from carrying out, under a February executive order, mass firings or major reorganizations of multiple agencies going forward.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/judge-halts-drastic-cuts-to-agencies-being-done-under-trump-executive-order/ar-AA1Ev3KN

The Atlantic: Trump’s Inevitable Betrayal of His Supporters

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On Sunday, Donald Trump went on TV and told Americans that their children should make do with less. “They don’t need to have 30 dolls; they can have three,” the president said on Meet the Press. “They don’t need to have 250 pencils; they can have five.” Critics were quick to point out the irony of America’s avatar of excess telling others to tighten their belt. But the problem with Trump’s remark goes beyond the optics. It’s that his argument for austerity contradicts his campaign commitments—and exposes the limits of his transactional approach to politics.

Throughout his 2024 run, the president promised Americans a return to the prosperity of his pre-COVID first term. “Starting on day one, we will end inflation and make America affordable again, to bring down the prices of all goods,” he told a Montana rally in August. “They’ll come down, and they’ll come down fast,” he declared days later in North Carolina. But at the same time, Trump also promised to impose steep tariffs on consumer goods—dubbing tariff one of “the most beautiful words I’ve ever heard”—even though the levies would effectively serve as a tax on everyday Americans.

These two pledges could not be reconciled, and once elected, Trump was forced to choose between them. The results have disillusioned many of those who voted for him. Trump’s approval on the economy has plunged since he announced his “Liberation Day.” A former strength has become a weakness. “If you look at his economic net approval rating in his first term, it was consistently above water,” the CNN analyst Harry Enten noted last month. “It was one of his best issues, and now it’s one of his worst issues.”

Trump’s Inevitable Betrayal of His Supporters

Trump never meant to keep his promises. His voters are starting to notice.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/trump-s-inevitable-betrayal-of-his-supporters/ar-AA1EosZ3

Bloomberg: Trump Has Been Stopped By Courts More Than 200 Times

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President Donald Trump’s expansive use of executive power faced at least 328 lawsuits as of May 1 — with judges halting his policies far more often than they allowed them.

Courts entered more than 200 orders stopping the administration’s actions in 128 cases, with judges sometimes ruling at multiple stages of the legal fights. Judges had allowed contested policies to go ahead in 43 cases, and hadn’t ruled yet in more than 140 others. Most cases are in the early stages, and new ones are being filed daily.

https://archive.is/zZ9zU#selection-1251.0-1258.0

Raw Story: ‘Trump humiliates Musk’: President mocks richest man in meandering graduation speech

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President Donald Trump took a shot at his billionaire benefactor Elon Musk during a commencement address at the University of Alabama.

The president spoke Thursday night to graduating students, where he aired grievances about the 2020 election, offered advice – “think of yourself as a winner,” “be an original” and “never, ever give up” – and jabbed “internet people” like Musk and other tech moguls, reported The Daily Beast, which framed it as “Trump humiliates Musk.”

“They all hated me in my first term,” the president told students and their families, “and now they’re kissing my a–.”

“It’s true,” he added. “It’s amazing. It’s nicer this way now.”

‘Trump humiliates Musk’: President mocks richest man in meandering graduation speech

President Donald Trump took a shot at his billionaire benefactor Elon Musk during a commencement address at the University of Alabama. The president spoke Thursday night to graduating students, where he aired grievances about the 2020 election, offered advice – “think of yourself as a winner,” “be an original” and “never, ever give up” – and jabbed…

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-humiliates-musk-president-mocks-richest-man-in-meandering-graduation-speech/ar-AA1E2I3Z

Original Daily Beast story here:

Trump Humiliates Musk in Speech After White House Exit

The president said the billionaire was “terrific”—before taking a jab.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-takes-a-surprise-dig-at-elon-musk-after-tesla-ceos-white-house-exit

NBC News: Trump administration asks Supreme Court to grant DOGE access to Social Security data

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The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to pause a lower court’s order restricting affiliates of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing sensitive Social Security Administration data, arguing in a Friday filing that the judicial order limits President Donald Trump’s executive authority.

“This emergency application presents a now-familiar theme,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote. “A district court has issued sweeping injunctive relief without legal authority to do so, in ways that inflict ongoing, irreparable harm on urgent federal priorities and stymie the Executive Branch’s functions.”

Sauer urged the court to lift an injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander blocking DOGE from accessing the data, which includes Social Security numbers, medical records and tax and banking information.

Dear God, no! Please keep F’Elon Musk out of our medical and banking records.

Trump administration asks Supreme Court to grant DOGE access to Social Security data

The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to pause a lower court’s order restricting affiliates of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing sensitive Social Security Administration data, arguing in a Friday filing that the judicial order limits President Donald Trump’s executive authority.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-administration-asks-supreme-court-to-grant-doge-access-to-social-security-data/ar-AA1E4OgC

Guardian: Mass resignations at labor department threaten workers in US and overseas, warn staff – as more cuts loom

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Last month Jihun Han, chief of staff to the US secretary of labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, sent a staff-wide email warning they could face criminal charges for speaking to journalists about agency business.

“All of the core aspects of working life can no longer be assumed, because the Department of Labor was chronically underfunded for a long time, and eliminating half the staff, or whatever their goals are, will cause it to be absolutely dysfunctional,” the BLS employee said. “I think it’s catastrophic.”

Paranoid, anyone?

Ever heard of the First Amendment?

Mass resignations at labor department threaten workers in US and overseas, warn staff – as more cuts loom

A “catastrophic” exodus of thousands of employees from the US Department of Labor threatens “all of the core aspects of working life”, insiders have warned, amid fears that the Trump administration will further slash the agency’s operations. The federal agency has already lost about 20% of its workforce, according to employees, as nearly 2,700 staff took retirement, early retirement, deferred resignation buyouts or “fork in the road” departures…

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/mass-resignations-at-labor-department-threaten-workers-in-us-and-overseas-warn-staff-as-more-cuts-loom/ar-AA1E6aS3

Daily Beast: Elon Musk’s SpaceX Hits Jackpot Under New Trump Budget Plan

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President Donald Trump‘s new budget proposal would give SpaceX, Elon Musk‘s rocket company, a huge payday—despite making steep cuts to many areas of government spending.

Trump said in the proposal, sent to Congress Friday, that he wants to make “a down-payment on the development and deployment of a Golden Dome for America, a next-generation missile defense shield” that SpaceX will help build, The New York Times reported.

That project alone could generate billions in federal contracts for the company, the Times observed.

The spending plan also makes Musk’s ambitions to reach Mars a top priority for the government, arguing that “U.S. space dominance” will “strengthen U.S. national security and strategic advantage.”

The corruption continues unabated.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX Hits Jackpot Under New Trump Budget Plan

President Donald Trump‘s new budget proposal would give SpaceX, Elon Musk‘s rocket company, a huge payday—despite making steep cuts to many areas of government spending. Trump said in the proposal, sent to Congress Friday, that he wants to make “a down-payment on the development and deployment of a Golden Dome for America, a next-generation missile defense shield” that SpaceX will help build, The New York Times reported. That project alone could…

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/elon-musk-s-spacex-hits-jackpot-under-new-trump-budget-plan/ar-AA1E4jKP

Daily Beast: ‘Frustrated’ MTG Unleashes Laundry List of Complaints Against Trump Admin

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Outspoken Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has sounded off against the Trump administration in a lengthy tirade on the social media site X.

“I represent the base and when I’m frustrated and upset over the direction of things, you better be clear, the base is not happy,” wrote Greene.

The post fired shots at the recent minerals deal with Ukraine, the handling of the war in Iraq, COVID-19 vaccines, and election integrity, saying the Trump administration has so far failed to address concerns that frustrate “the base.”

The only constituency Marjorie Taylor Greene represents is her own big mouth. But it’s always good to see the carnivores chewing on one another. Remember, “It’s a dog eat dog world.”

‘Frustrated’ MTG Unleashes Laundry List of Complaints Against Trump Admin

Outspoken Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has sounded off against the Trump administration in a lengthy tirade on the social media site X. “I represent the base and when I’m frustrated and upset over the direction of things, you better be clear, the base is not happy,” wrote Greene. The post fired shots at the recent minerals deal with Ukraine, the handling of the war in Iraq, COVID-19 vaccines, and election integrity, saying the…

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/frustrated-mtg-unleashes-laundry-list-of-complaints-against-trump-admin/ar-AA1E54Ss

Fox News: Harvard professor reveals university was ‘not ready’ after Oct 7 as Trump revokes tax-exempt status

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An adjunct professor at Harvard spoke out Thursday after the Ivy League university’s president, Alan Garber, apologized as scathing internal reports exposed that antisemitism and Islamophobia were prevalent on campus. 

Eugene Litvak, who teaches at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview that one of the nation’s top universities “was not ready” for the anti-Semitic and anti-Islamic behavior that has plagued Harvard since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

“Obviously, I was really, really upset,” Litvak told Fox. “What happened at Harvard after October 7th, and [at] the university, in my opinion, again, that’s my personal opinion, the university was not ready to face these kinds of challenges. None of the universities were ready.”

“I’m commending, actually, the letter from the president of the university,” the Harvard professor added. “What I really like, in science, we say that you cannot solve any problem unless you formulate it. So he formulated the problem in his letter. He acknowledged that there is a problem. Otherwise, nothing would happen.”

Harvard president Alan Garber apologized in a letter Tuesday after internal reports unveiled antisemitism and Islamophobia’s presence at the Ivy League school. Garber described the findings as “disturbing.”

“I think that’s a step in the absolutely right direction,” Litvak told Fox News Digital. “I would like to see the fruits of it. But again, I was very, very pleased because of the acknowledgment that there is such a problem.”

But:

Despite Garber’s apology and admission, President Donald Trump posted to Truth Social Friday stating that the administration will be “taking away Harvard’s Tax Exempt Status,” noting “It’s what they deserve!” 

Harvard professor reveals university was ‘not ready’ after Oct 7 as Trump revokes tax-exempt status

A Harvard school of Public Health professor spoke out after scathing internal reports unveiled antisemitism and islamophobia at one of America’s top universities.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/harvard-professor-reveals-university-was-not-ready-after-oct-7-as-trump-revokes-tax-exempt-status/ar-AA1E6efu