I would not be trusting any of this.
Hell I am too leery to retire and apply for Social Security/Medicare during this tumultuous phase in my country.
This is why MAGA wants to essentially fire the federal workforce. They don’t think that public service is necessary, and they actually HATE most of what our government does.
Cutting Social Security checks? Don’t need that. These people should pull themselves up by the bootstraps and work until they’re 80.
Inspecting workplaces for safety? Hey, I gave my 10 construction guys a helmet, and told them to take a 10 minute break everyday at 2:00.
Delivering mail? Let the market handle that.
Adjudicating Medicare claims? Fuckin’ pencil-pusher!
Army soldiers? Better not be any women or gays in there!!!
When you hate the government, and everything about it, the ultimate goal ends up being to crush the federal worker.
The consistent theme is, there have been so many announcements and NO ONE has ANY idea of the details, whether there is any legal authority for them, or whether they will be rescinded tomorrow. Not my direct supervisor, the national head of our department, the unions, or - AFAIK - the head of our Agency. To stress, these are coming from OPM (or apparently channelled through OPM from some Musk stooge.) Much of what they say seems to be clearly contrary to established law, but it is not clear what - if any - recourse anyone will have.
While my current experience is limited to this narrow range of personnel announcements, I presume the same could be said about the firings of the IGs, apparent moves in the FBI, and countless other personnel moves. Not to mention immigration, etc.
I heard someone (here or elsewhere) question whether we were in a “post-law society.” It sounds crazy and alarmist, but from my perspective, it is not entirely inaccurate. The consistent, day after day approach seems to be, “We’ll do whatever we want, with ZERO concern of the impact on any individuals affected. Try to challenge us after the fact - if you can. By the way, we’re trying to eliminate any avenues of recourse.”
You say that - except when it comes to THEIR SS checks. I know mine is a minority view, but I never really understand the vehemance with which truly wealthy folk cling to their SS checks - while looking down at folk for whom SS benefits make up 75-100% of their income.
Per the most recent email, my Agency has excluded my component - and many others - from participating in this “early out.” So looks like we’l be fully staffed next Friday. And this “offer” will be available to only a fraction of the fed workforce. For the moment, at least.
This email states, that "as advised by OPM … the offer is valid, lawful, and will be honored by [my Agency]. Oh - that’s good. So long as someone in OPM - or whatever Musk stooge has co-opted OPM - says it is valid and lawful…
Another wrinkle I just realized - fed pensions are based on time of service. This extended departure would seem to grant employees an additional 8 months of service, thereby increasing their pensions.
Seriously, it would take almost a full time job to keep up with all of this flip flopping info.
The helicopter that crashed had a crew of three. The pilot’s name has already been released. The other two were a man and a woman. Hegseth, an alcoholic, is now the head of the defense forces. Next, Trump will order women out of all possible aviation jobs. They will be allowed to travel to different bases in planes. Maybe they will even be allowed to maintain aircraft. That helicopter took off from an army base on the outskirts of the capital. Davidson, Virginia.
‘Nobody notices what I do, until I don’t do it’
Someone sent Trump a check for $.02, if I recall. And yes it was cashed (Howard Stern?)
Pretty sure it was Spy Magazine, and I remember it being a little more than that. Maybe ten cents.
If we wipe out trade with those countries, that eliminates a lot of the utility of having USD as a reserve currency; they won’t exactly be desperate to come to heel.
EPA probationary employees (those who were hired less than a year ago) have officially been put on notice that they could be fired at any moment:
The catch is that there’s a requirement for the agency to make a case for the firing of each such employee:
The union official said EPA will have to make a finding as to every single probationary employee that is being let go – either that their performance is poor or that they had a disciplinary issue. Veterans and those with tenure have extra layers of protection. Attorneys who work at the EPA and AFGE, the union representing a large number of EPA employees, are counseling people who are probationary employees on how to respond to these emails and waiting to see what further action is taken.
I checked with a family member of mine that works for the Federal Government, and he got the same emails others on this board are talking about.
At this point, it’s extremely obvious that Elon Musk is in charge of Trump’s de-capitation of the “Deep State”, i.e., civil service.
Isn’t this illegal? Musk is not a Senate-confirmed cabinet position, and he wasn’t on the ballot in November. But he’s acting as co-President.
SS is paid via paycheck deductions, so they “paid for it”. But those poor people didn’t pay as much in deductions, so they’re “sucking off the government’s teat”.
Of course, this ignores the fact that they stop increasing the deduction at some arbitrary income level, so the really rich people stop contributing any more than the medium-rich people.
“He blatantly kept saying that the environment was important, contrary to the directives of Lord POTUS of the Golden Toilet.”
We just had a meeting of folk in my office - persons in my position and management. If our jobs and so much of of what we’ve always taken for granted in terms of government services didn’t depend on it, it would be laughable how little any of us know what is going on.
-People reported that they had reported these emails as phishing attempts.
-No one even could name the very top people at our Agency or within our component.
-No one was sure as to the specific basis for ANY aspect of our continuing employment - if our CBA and even recognition of our union can simply be ignored, with no recourse other than trying to sue/grieve later.
And these are not young inexperienced chicken littles. I’m talking about a group of folk with law degrees, all of whom I believe have at least 10 years with the government - some up to 40.
If anyone doubted the expressed intention to “take a blowtorch to the federal bureaucracy,” well, they might wish to reassess. I’m getting to the point where I perversely almost want to see how bad things get how quickly. Real people are going to get hurt. Regular working schmucks who just want to do their jobs will have to quit because they were hired to work remotely from an office in a different state. Folk will lose all manner of rights and benefits.
BUT these assholes are trying to distract and confuse us by flooding us with so many broad unspecified announcements. Folk experience fear and stress, only to find later that the announcements were withdrawn or only apply much more narrowly than announced. Truly reprehensible behavior on behalf of an administration.
I’ll be fine no matter what. And I don’t THINK I’ll lose my job anytime soon. But my job position only exists as a result of a specific statute. I’m confident that statute could be revised or rescinded pretty quickly should any number of these geniuses get the bright idea to do so.
Sure - whether you are expressing your views, the views of IMO greedy rich fucks, or both, IMO it was and continues to be a mistake to pretend that SS bens are personal investments rather than wealth redistribution. But I have ZERO expectation of convincing anyone who feels differently than I. And that is probably best addressed in a separate thread (as it has been before.)
Is this some sort of psy-ops attempt to get the federal workforce disillusioned and wanting to quit? I’m wondering if he’s commiting some sort of criminal fraud here. If this is an actual Musk-sanctioned phishing attempt, this would seem to be illegal.
If they’re mis-representing who they are, and making announcements in the email that are nonsense or meant to confuse you, it seems they are commiting some sort of crime here if it’s in an attempt to get people to resign.
Sure, and who would be in charge of filing charges for breaking such laws?
The DOJ. His DOJ.
Think that’s going to happen?
Some time around the start of the pandemic, as part of DEI initiatives we were encouraged (but not required) to add our favored pronouns to our email sig block as a show of allyship with transgendered folks. It seemed a small gesture, but I went ahead and did it.
Unfortunately with recent events, earlier today I felt compelled to remove my favored pronouns from my sig block to try to keep a slightly lower profile. Looks like I was only a little ahead of the order:
It’s even worse than that. Richard Nixon infamously expressed his notion of the presidential immunity doctrine: “it’s not illegal if the president does it”. And in the madness that is today’s political environment, the US Supreme Court has formally granted the Orange Felon exactly that immunity.
Free of any concerns about re-election (regardless of what happens in 2028, the Orange Peril won’t be running for re-election, though he might just decide to cancel elections altogether) he’s bouncing around like an orange wrecking ball, completely free of any constraints at all, and embittered by his many grievances.
Has there ever been an administration like this in US history? This is madness and tyranny. Maybe American gun nuts who always believed their guns would protect them from government tyranny will now face some harsh truths. One is that their guns don’t do them a damn bit of good, and the other is that the most fervent gun nuts and prolific owners thereof are largely Trumpists who think tyranny is terrific as long as it’s on their side.
It’s worse for sure, because he is actively gutting the entire federal system to protect himself from any sort of accountability. The only thing I would clarify is that the SCOTUS gave him presumed immunity, but not total immunity. They reserved to themselves the right to determine if his actions fall within his presumed immunity for doing “presidential acts”. In that sense, his protection isn’t absolute. But it’s pretty damned close.
The worst part is, he is gutting federal law enforcement so independent charges can never be brought against him or anyone he favors in his administration. Only the SCOTUS will have control – if they choose to exert it.
All the DEI stuff? It’s just a distraction to carry out his destruction of government.
We are in a period of tyranny and anarchy. Make no mistake.