Another
Sen. Marshall went far into western Kansas looking for a rural town where there might be some support for DOGE and Russia. He still got smoked.
Here’s our full townhall list with three new entries from Kansas, Texas and Tennessee.
EDITORS’ BLOG
In-House Gov Tech Unit for State of the Art Web Portals Disbanded by Doge
This deserves more discussion. My brain is a little fried from a long week. But I wanted to let you know that 18F, an in-house government tech consultancy focused on making key public-facing government websites and services more effective and user friendly was finally disbanded last night. It’s housed within TTS (Technology Transformativon Services) which is part of GSA. Just as an example, they’re the team who built the new free IRS tax preparation portal and many other similar things across government.
18F actually didn’t cost the government any money because it was funded by projects with individual government agencies. So they do a job for IRS and IRS “pays” them, which just means they take part of their budget and it goes to 18F for doing the work. The email from TTS Director Thomas Shed (an Elon guy installed in the position) said that the unit was being disbanded under the directive to cut all “non-essential consulting functions” within government. He additionally added that the abolition was “with explicit direction from the top levels of leadership within both the administration and the GSA,” which I take to mean, ‘Trump and Elon wanted all you guys fired.’
Read MoreUpdate on the DOGE Game Plan
Here’s a small update on an on-going stream of reporting I’ve been at work on – the hows, whys, and miscellaneous mechanics of contract terminations across the federal government. I did that piece on the contracts killed at VA and how they seemed entirely or at least heavily focused on contract code NAICS-541611, which is for “Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services.” I said earlier this week that from data in just a couple departments I had the strong impression that DOGE had made incursions into various agencies, pulled up the contracts under this heading and ordered them canceled. Usually they gave some set of either contract officers or stakeholders very brief periods to argue for a reprieve, often just a matter of a few hours. (Just how that was done seemed to vary and played a big role in what was eventually cut.) In every case I’d seen these cuts had been made with no real effort to discover what kind of contracts were being listed under that code and no effort to find out what the contracts were for.
Read MoreAnother One
Another example of a Republican member of Congress trying to open up some room between himself and Elon Musk, but lo-fi and only back in the district. Here it’s Rep. Jeff Hurd (R-CO), generally making out like there’s not much he can do about it, just a bystander.
This is a quick summary of the interview …
Read MoreHurd doesn’t know how many of his constituents have lost or left their jobs during these cuts, but says there are some he wishes hadn’t.
“I know there are hardworking land managers on the ground in the 3rd Congressional District who have lost their jobs that should be in those jobs and who should be working,” said Hurd. “Fortunately, we haven’t had any firefighters – public lands right away is where I go to, but certainly this is broader as well – we haven’t had any firefighters cut. But we have had some of the support services for those firefighters cut.”
Motion for Sanctions filed for Govt Lawyers Who Lied to Court About ElonMail
I mentioned earlier this week the on-going litigation about the DOGE all-government-employee email system (GWES) that Musk micro-bros set up in their first days taking over the Office of Personnel Management. To deal with the various legal issues tied to setting up this new email system DOGE/OPM made an official Privacy Impact Statement about how the system would be used and how it wouldn’t. Mostly specifically all GWES emails would always be voluntary. You could respond or not respond. Your choice. But obviously that was a lie. (To understand all the ins and outs of the litigation definitely read the original post if you haven’t already.)
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Improper DOJ Investigation Fuel: Khaya Himmelman updates us on another conspiracy theory that EPA administrator Lee Zeldin is spreading as part of his push to get the DOJ to investigate and rescind federal climate contracts that were put in place by the Biden administration.
Delusion In Bidenworld: Kate Riga walks us through Bidenworld’s latest public autopsies and Monday morning quarterbacking.
Words Of Wisdom: Emine Yücel breaks down Fox News’ latest attempt to feign confusion over why vaccine confidence is at an all time low among Americans in the wake of a deadly measles outbreak in Texas.
Trump And Vance Ambush Zelensky In Prelude To Betrayal
JD Vance egged on the president, setting the stage for the US to abandon a key American ally in televised Oval Office meeting.
DOGE Cites ‘DEI,’ LinkedIn Profiles It Doesn’t Like In Killing Off HUD Contracts
DOGE cites contractors’ DEI programs, not performance, to cancel work
podcast
Josh and Kate are Hitting the Road
TPM is finally leaving the Acela Corridor (probably). After years of requests, we’re going to host an event somewhere other than New York City or Washington D.C. in early May. Our next live podcast will take place in one of the cities we’ve chosen below. And we’d like your input to help us decide where we should go.
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Ep. 362: The Pitchforks Are Out
Kate and Josh talk Congress, angry town halls and a chainsaw-wielding Musk.
listenIn case You Missed It
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DOJ Hires A State Judge Who Was Once Suspended To Advise The Deputy AG
Ex-Oregon Judge Vance Day was suspended by a state judicial ethics commission in 2018.
