Trump's DERP State

toomuchbaloney · Jan 29

The Senate gets busy getting the crazy heroin addict and environmental lawyer confirmed to run health and human services.

toomuchbaloney · Jan 29

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/military-ice-migrants-denver-immigration/

The department of defense is very agreeable with Trump's plan.

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"ICE requirements for the facility include a temporary operations center, staging area, and a temporary holding location for the receiving, holding, and processing of illegal aliens," the spokesperson said.

The move is part of a larger effort by the Trump administration to vastly expand the role the military plays in border and immigration enforcement. Through an emergency declaration, President Trump has deployed an additional 1,500 Army soldiers and Marines to the southern border, with instructions to erect barriers and assist Customs and Border Protection officials.

Under federal law dating back to the Reconstruction Era, the military is generally barred from engaging in civilian law enforcement, which would include processing migrants.

Does anyone else think that Trump officials will bend every law that might contradict their intentions or agenda? The DUI hire at the helm of the DoD is a yes man.

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Jan 29

The American Project January 29, 2025

Elon Musk Offers Federal Workers an Unauthorized Buyout

The alleged eight-month "deferred resignation" contradicts federal rules....

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In a separate email sent on Tuesday entitled "Fork in the Road,” most federal workers were effectively offered an eight-month severance package to leave their jobs, simply by sending [email protected] a message with the word "Resign" in the subject line between now and February 6. Military personnel, postal workers, and national-security and immigration officials are not eligible....

...The executive branch has no authority from Congress to offer a mass buyout to federal workers. In fact, the OPM website clearly states that the limit for incentive packages for voluntary resignations is $25,000, far less than eight months' pay for the average federal worker. Some employees can't even be offered that.

The way OPM purports to get around this is by defining this as "deferred resignation.” The resignation of the federal worker would be set at September 30, and they will retain full pay and benefits until then and be exempt from return-to-office requirements that are part of one of the Trump executive orders. (This is also a way to not unlawfully reduce salary outlays in federal appropriations for the current fiscal year.) "I understand my employing agency will likely make adjustments in response to my resignation including moving, eliminating, consolidating, reassigning my position and tasks, reducing my official duties, and/or placing me on paid administrative leave until my resignation date,” reads the sample resignation letter. In this sense it is just a future setting of an end date of employment, though the strong implication is that those employees will have nothing to do for the next eight months....

This was an Elon Musk operation, through and through. In fact, the "Fork in the Road" email had the same title as one that Elon Musk sent to Twitter when he took over there, informing workers to be "extremely hardcore" or take the resignation offer. The Twitter emails even included the same ask of workers to reply with their decision....

Also like Elon's Twitter experience, OPM enticed workers to take the offer by explaining how miserable it would be to stay in a government job. The Trump administration is requiring a return to the office, and stripping thousands of employees in policymaking roles of civil service protections. Because of expected divestitures of physical office space, many workers would have to relocate into new offices or maybe even new cities. Because of promised reductions in force, many workers who choose to stay could be furloughed anyway: "At this time, we cannot give you full assurance regarding the certainty of your position or agency,” the email reads. Moreover, there are statements about higher performance standards and an emphasis on being "loyal" and "trustworthy.”

If that's what toiling in the bureaucracy is like, maybe you'd think about taking the big severance package, even if it sounds too good to be true. Which it is.

Musk's associates have apparently taken over OPM, according to a rundown from Wired and a Reddit post by someone claiming to be an anonymous OPM staffer. Chief of staff Amanda Scales worked for Musk's AI firm; a former Tesla and Boring Company engineer is a senior adviser. Memos written by OPM had metadata revealing the authors as Project 2025 authors and conservative think-tank veterans. The previous chief information officer was reassigned just a week into starting at the agency, apparently because he wouldn't set up this distribution list to all federal employees. (According to the Redditor, that's been set up on a separate server that looks like it's coming from OPM.)..

toomuchbaloney · Jan 29

NRSKarenRN said:

The American Project January 29, 2025

Elon Musk Offers Federal Workers an Unauthorized Buyout

The alleged eight-month "deferred resignation" contradicts federal rules....

People like Musk and Trump don't care about what is legal or not for them. They are essentially above the law at this point in time and they act like it.

Beerman, BSN · Jan 29

NRSKarenRN said:

The American Project January 29, 2025

Elon Musk Offers Federal Workers an Unauthorized Buyout

The alleged eight-month "deferred resignation" contradicts federal rules....

It doesnt sound for certain that it does. I suppose if anyone fights it that the courts will decide.

toomuchbaloney · Jan 29

Beerman said:

It doesnt sound for certain that it does. I suppose if anyone fights it that the courts will decide.

Maybe. That takes a certain amount of courage for attorneys to take these things to court knowing that anyone who gets in Trump's way becomes the target of some pretty unnerving threats. Considering that Trump started this presidency by pardoning criminals who committed violence on his behalf, it's appropriate to worry that some might feel like they have permission and protection to threaten or harm others on Trump's behalf.

toomuchbaloney · Jan 30

https://www.npr.org/2025/01/29/nx-s1-5279386/hegseth-milley-security-detail

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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the Pentagon's inspector general to investigate the "conduct" of retired Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley — who at times clashed with President Trump during his first term — and determine whether it's appropriate he should be reduced in rank from his current four stars.

Hegseth also revoked Milley's security detail and suspended his security clearance.

Even though Milley is retired, he had an ongoing security detail through the Army as a result of Iranian threats in the wake of the 2020 U.S. drone strike that killed Iranian General Qusem Soleimani. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and then national security adviser John Bolton recently lost their security details on orders from Trump, who clashed with them as well.

Trump is cool with Milley getting death threats for the assassination that Trump brags about and Hegseth thinks that maybe Milley should be punished for his freedom of speech. This is definitely the type of priority that Trump wants in the DoD.

toomuchbaloney · Jan 30

https://www.newsweek.com/sean-duffy-reacts-dc-plane-crash-I've-been-secretary-little-over-day-2023539

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Newly inaugurated Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said he was "praying" for those impacted by a collision between a plane and an Army helicopter, as he reminded people only been in office "for a little over a day."

Oh boy. "It is not standard to have aircraft collide".

Did Trump's hiring freeze include TSA? No one seems sure as the orders are characteristically sloppy and vague.

https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2025/01/broad-exemptions-trumps-federal-hiring-freeze-begin-take-shape/402421/

toomuchbaloney · Jan 31

My friend sent me this.

He works for the federal government at the VA as a retired AF veteran. He has been offered a severance and wonders if his job as patient advocate will be eliminated.

Chaos, uncertainty and dysfunction of the federal government appears to be the objective of this crazy administration.

toomuchbaloney · Jan 31

https://thehill.com/newsletters/energy-environment/5109512-chemical-oil-industry-vets-nab-roles-at-epa/

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A significant number of political appointees who have joined the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under President Trump used to work for or have lobbied on behalf of the chemical and fossil fuel industries.

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A significant number of political appointees who have joined the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under President Trump used to work for or have lobbied on behalf of the chemical and fossil fuel industries.

The appointments come as the administration has made apparently competing promises about aggressively cutting regulations while also "Making America Healthy Again.”

Trump is a liar.

Tweety, BSN, RN · Jan 31

toomuchbaloney said:

My friend sent me this.

He works for the federal government at the VA as a retired AF veteran. He has been offered a severance and wonders if his job as patient advocate will be eliminated.

Chaos, uncertainty and dysfunction of the federal government appears to be the objective of this crazy administration.

I'm trying to keep an open mind about them going to agencies and reviewing staffing, crippling regulations, unproductive positions, and generalized waste, etc. But sending out letters to two million workers seems a bit off. Maybe enough people will take the offer to make layoff less of an issue I would be worried though if I were your friend as positions are going to be eliminated.

Was your friend given preferential hiring because he was a Veteran kind of like a DEI hire? Did other qualified people get passed over because he was a Veteran and was able to get moved ahead of the line?

Beerman, BSN · Jan 31

Tweety said:

I'm trying to keep an open mind about them going to agencies and reviewing staffing, crippling regulations, unproductive positions, and generalized waste, etc. But sending out letters to two million workers seems a bit off. Maybe enough people will take the offer to make layoff less of an issue I would be worried though if I were your friend as positions are going to be eliminated.

Was your friend given preferential hiring because he was a Veteran kind of like a DEI hire? Did other qualified people get passed over because he was a Veteran and was able to get moved ahead of the line?

His friend already on retirement benefits being provided by the federal government and now being offered a severance package to leave a nonessential job. He doesn't have a reason to be "worried".