Categories
Government

President Mump’s Script Kiddies Government

Comment at Substack

Several of us watched in horror and anger as President Musk/Trump turned loose script kiddies with nicknames like “BigBalls” onto the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the General Services Administration (GSA), and USAID.

We sat appalled when reading how these same script kiddies locked out government employees, accessed top-secret information, and then were given the keys to the Treasury’s payment system—the government’s checkbook.

Musk bragged about his efforts, talking about shredding USAID and cutting off payments—a man who doesn’t work for the government, doesn’t know how governments actually work, doesn’t care if they work, and is stupid enough to think the deficit would be magically erased if we just used a blockchain.

And Congressional Republicans? Though it’s difficult for them to stand in front of a camera without a spine, several did manage to prop themselves up against a wall long enough to swear loyalty to The Mump.

Good, respected long-time civil servants have been forced to resign solely because they tried to protect our systems from the naughty children and their demented leader. Other employees have been confused and threatened by Musk messages sent from OPM demanding they basically resign—no matter who they are or how important their work. After all, a working government isn’t important to Musk: only tax breaks and unlimited funds from NASA.

The other Presidential half took a break from destroying our economy with ill-considered and thoughtless tariffs against this country’s closest friends…and two days of golf…to celebrate the damage his better half has done. Without Ivanka, Trump doesn’t know what to do and he needs someone to ghost act the Presidency for him.

What’s needed now is for Democrats to stand up, and by this I don’t mean writing pained letters expressing their concern to someone like waterboy Rubio, who was off threatening other countries.

Get out of the Congressional building, and go to the USAID building, the OPM buildings, the Treasury, press cameras in tow and tell the American people that our country is under attack, and it’s not happening at the border.

(I understand this might be difficult for Congressional Democrats, after recently pledging themselves to be The Grownups in The Room, but I know there are members who are just as mad as the rest of us.)

Another hope is the flood of lawsuits I hope will be hitting the courts starting today, because of the script kiddie violations of several privacy and security laws—not to mention lawsuits by organizations tasked with work by the USAID and now being cut adrift.

Oh, and taking down the USAID government website, and delisting it from name servers? Even a 14 year old would sneer at the childishness of this action.

You can’t erase the government because you’re rich think you and can do anything you want.

Sources

Turmoil inside USAID: DOGE reps take over offices, senior officials placed on leave

Elon Musk says President Donald Trump has ‘agreed’ USAID should be shut down

There are several reasons Musk wants to control Treasury payments. None of them are good.

Elon Musk’s task force has gained access to sensitive Treasury payment systems, sources say

Exclusive: Musk aides lock workers out of OPM computer systems

Musk associates given unfettered access to private data of government employees

Breaking Down OPM’s ‘Fork in the Road’ Email to Federal Workers

Elon’s Twitter Destruction Playbook Hits The US Government, And It’s Even More Dangerous

The Young, Inexperienced Engineers Aiding Elon Musk’s Government Takeover

Trump says USAID run by “lunatics” as Dems demand answers on DOGE visit

Header image by DonkeyHokey CC BY-SA 2.0

Categories
Doctors Government Health Insurance Just Shelley Medical Medicare Political

Well now, 2024 didn’t go quite as we planned

I was, and I was not, surprised by Trump’s re-election.

I knew there were too many men who would normally vote Democrat who balk at electing a women to be Commander-in-Chief; particularly a Black/Asian woman. I knew that thanks to the rebound from COVID that prices are high—aided and abetted by corporations using COVID as an excuse to squeeze even more profits from the masses. I also knew that the media had done a poor job of holding Trump accountable, while at the same time blowing up any and all perceived Democratic weakness.

Still, I was not emotionally or mentally prepared for Trump to win again. Worse, to actually get the popular vote, though he ended up with less than 50% of the vote.

So, OK. It is what it is. So what am I planning on doing about it?

Speak truth. Or, more comprehensively, tap into any and all changes reflected in Trump’s administration and be prepared to write about as many as possible. And to continue monitoring court cases, especially in courts tainted by Trump-appointed judges.

However, on the way to this writing goal, real life intruded. Suddenly, a month ago, I started getting a visual distortion in the center of my ‘good’ eye (the one that doesn’t have the cataract that needed removing).

I first saw my optometrist, since I had a previously scheduled appointment. She noted I needed cataract surgery but couldn’t tell, or hesitated to tell me, what was happening to my central vision. She referred me to an eye clinic.

When the clinic didn’t call by week’s end, I called up and said, this is something that can’t wait and I needed to come in. They got me in that afternoon.

Evidently, I have a hole in my macula (macular hole). This is a rare occurrence, impacting on 7.8 people per 100,000. It happens when the vitreous pulls aware from the retina—very common with older folk—but instead of pulling away cleanly, it rips a hole in the macula.

We caught it small and the usual procedure is to wait a few months to see if it closes back up naturally (unfortunately, unlikely to happen). In addition, I have to have cataracts in both eyes removed: the one because it’s pretty bad, the other because the retinal surgeon needs a clear view of my eye for retinal surgery (don’t ask for details on this one).

For now, I have my monitor set to 300% resolution, and I can read and write, but it’s not always easy. It should improve with the first cataract removal, but vision may be a challenge after surgery to fix the macula for a few months at least. We’ll have to see.

I still plan on watchdogging the Trump administration and the courts as much as possible, but I’m also adding in some coverage of our medical industry, particularly in Georgia. Knowledge is power, and it’s too easy to feel powerless when you’re hit with a serious medical condition.

Besides, there’s nothing more wonky than exploring the depths of Medicare, medicine, doctors, and health insurance. And I enjoy the wonky.

Categories
Government Weather

Georgia Emergency Management sends Debby disaster request to President

Some good news for Georgians impacted by Debby.

The Georgia Emergency Management Agency has sent a package containing statewide damage assessments to the President, asking him to make a disaster declaration for Georgia. The value given was $20.7 million, barely passing the required minimum of $20 million for the state. But it does pass, and a disaster declaration should be forthcoming once FEMA has done due diligence.

As I noted in an earlier piece, if the folks of Project 2025 had their way, we would not have met the minimum and Georgia would not be getting any FEMA disaster declaration funds. Thankfully, it’s 2024.

TS Debby disaster declaration request sent to President Biden, says CEMA director

Debby does Project 2025

Categories
Government Savannah Weather

Project 2025 and Tropical Cyclone Debby

(source links following)

Just when I started going through the Department of Homeland Security section of Project 2025, tropical cyclone Debby hit Georgia. And it hit Georgia hard.

Areas along the coast and even inland that have never flooded before, flooded. Storm water systems failed to handle the amount of rain that fell, storm water lagoons overflowed, and sewer lift stations were overrun resulting in raw sewage spills in several areas. Roadways were flooded, or complete destroyed when earthen dams failed. Entire neighborhoods in Chatham, Bryan, Liberty, Effingham, Bulloch, and other counties watched the water creep up; sometimes it stopped, sometimes it didn’t.

Currently, FEMA is working with GEMA (Georgia Emergency Management Agency), assessing the damage and determining whether a Major Disaster declaration is warranted for the state and impacted counties. Some folk thinks this means calling our Congressional reps or the governor or other persons of power and telling them to declare a disaster so we can get on with our lives.

It doesn’t work that way.

Categories
Government Legal, Laws, and Regs The Democratic Difference

It is none of our damn business

My Dad, who was a Republican, would have liked Tim Walz. He would have liked Walz’s plain speaking. He would have admired his bluntness, especially when Walz says that a woman’s right to choose is none of our damn business. He would have liked it because that’s exactly what my Dad used to say.

When Dad and I talked about things like abortion, his philosophy was, “It’s none of my business what happens between a woman and a doctor. This is no one’s business but the woman and her doctor.”

He felt the same thing about same-sex marriage: it was none of his business. I know he would feel the same thing about trans treatment: it was none of his business.

He took that same belief to what he expected from his elected representatives: interfering in a woman’s right to healthcare isn’t the government’s business. Whether a woman has an abortion or not isn’t the business of the state legislature. Or Congress. They have work to do that is their business, and abortion, same-sex marriage,  pronoun use, trans healthcare, what books people read … none of these are their damn business.

My Dad was born in 1910. He didn’t always understand why a woman would want an abortion, but her having one, was none of his business. He didn’t fully understand the LGBTQ+ community, but he never expressed disapproval of any member of the community because it wasn’t his business to approve or disapprove. He felt he didn’t have the right to make judgements on how other people lived as long as how they lived didn’t hurt anyone else.

It was none of his damn business. And he fought in World War II as part of the 82nd Airborne to ensure that others didn’t interfere where they had no right to be.

Now, please take some time to watch Lawrence O’Donnell rip apart today’s media in one of his most eloquent and important video appearances, ever. Because he’s telling the media what is their business, and that they are failing.

PS I’ll tell you something else about my Dad: he never would have voted for Donald Trump.