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DOGE employees ordered to stop using Slack

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Re: DOGE employees ordered to stop using Slack

#111

Post by paganel »

intended wrote: post #101
paganel wrote: post #90

> used by journalists and lawyers to hold government accountable. The journalists from Politico have just been ousted by DOGE has having had received $8 million in annual funding from USAID (another Government-run institution that has been ousted by the same DOGE), so I can understand how come Musk would want to keep DOGE's dealing away from journalists that might see this agency as very antithetic to their (the jour…

If you assume that USAID was evil from the oustset, its easy to conclude that everything its tendrils touched was also tainted. Kinda like evil. But, the sad part is, that this also means its an idea which is impossible to challenge, because you cant trust anyone who counters it.

> If you assume that USAID was evil from the oustset,

I'm not "assuming", I know that for a fact.

> because you cant trust anyone who counters it.

Do you happen to live in a part of the Globe that has been under direct USAID (and NED) influence? Something tells me you don't, I do (I live in Eastern Europe), so allow me not to receive lessons from people who know nothing, absolutely nothing, about this type of organisations.

Re: DOGE employees ordered to stop using Slack

#112

Post by proggy »

slashdev wrote: post #84
code_runner wrote: post #41

DOGE is obviously a completely illegal operation, and I really do hope it will be get reined in before they can cause an issue so big that _even trump's croniest cronies_ have to admit what is going on. For someone who claims to love freedom of speech, Elon is pretty quick to determine who can say what, and how much access to _his_ data people have.

[flagged]

Zero power? Explain that to USAID, Treasury, OPM, and GSA. Actors working on behalf of digital services (i.e. DOGE) are commandeering IT systems and sending out ultimatums to the workforce about complying with their orders at risk of being punished with administrative leave for insubordination. It is a highly unlawful operation that goes far beyond the consult and advise mission you’re alluding to.

Re: DOGE employees ordered to stop using Slack

#113

Post by unsupp0rted »

code_runner wrote: post #41

DOGE is obviously a completely illegal operation, and I really do hope it will be get reined in before they can cause an issue so big that _even trump's croniest cronies_ have to admit what is going on. For someone who claims to love freedom of speech, Elon is pretty quick to determine who can say what, and how much access to _his_ data people have.

> DOGE is obviously a completely illegal operation

What laws does it break?

I like to watch those "Auditors" on Youtube who film in public places. Every cop assures them that filming a police officer / police station / inside a public library is illegal. About 25% of the time they detain them, and about 10% of the time they arrest them.

When they ask what law they've broken, they never get a straight answer.

Re: DOGE employees ordered to stop using Slack

#114

Post by kemayo »

paganel wrote: post #90

> used by journalists and lawyers to hold government accountable. The journalists from Politico have just been ousted by DOGE has having had received $8 million in annual funding from USAID (another Government-run institution that has been ousted by the same DOGE), so I can understand how come Musk would want to keep DOGE's dealing away from journalists that might see this agency as very antithetic to their (the jour…

USAID gave Politico $24k, not $8M.

The entire US govt did pay Politico about $8.2M, presumably in the form of buying their subscription products. Politico really does do deep-dive analysis behind a paywall, and I can see why government people might want access. (I have no idea how justified this is, honestly, but I wouldn't immediately dismiss it.)

This seems like a fair enough summary: https://www.axios.com/2025/02/05/politico-trump-musk-governm...

Or dig through https://www.usaspending.gov/recipient/fa0cefae-7cfb-881d-29c... yourself if you want, I guess. That site is super-overloaded at the moment, unfortunately.

Re: DOGE employees ordered to stop using Slack

#115

Post by olalonde »

code_runner wrote: post #41

DOGE is obviously a completely illegal operation, and I really do hope it will be get reined in before they can cause an issue so big that _even trump's croniest cronies_ have to admit what is going on. For someone who claims to love freedom of speech, Elon is pretty quick to determine who can say what, and how much access to _his_ data people have.

Stupid question but don't the Republicans control all branches of government? Couldn't they just declare whatever DOGE is doing legal (if it's indeed illegal)?

Re: DOGE employees ordered to stop using Slack

#116

Post by aeternum »

jondwillis wrote: post #106
aeternum wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you think about the legality of each federal department having millions in kickbacks to Politico in the form of hidden premium subscriptions? What about USAID being used to pay celebrities but only those that support one of the political parties?

Since we are doing whataboutism, let's also bring up the ~$1 trillion PPP program, ripe with fraud, enabled and designed by Donald Trump, which helped kick off the current wave of inflation. >The cost per job saved for one year was $169,000 to $258,000, which was much higher than the average amount—$58,200—paid in wages and benefits to small-business employees in 2020. [1] [1] https://www.stlouisfed.org/publications/…

Agreed, ripe with fraud and overall an unfair use of taxpayer money. Poorly thought out even for an emergency measure and we should not do it again.

Re: DOGE employees ordered to stop using Slack

#117

Post by zosima »

dodobirdlord wrote: post #99
zosima wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

DOGE gets its authority through the president. The president definitely has the authority to audit and/or stop illegal, fraudulent or just wasteful transactions. The exact shape or form of USAID is also up to the president. It was created through an executive order, and can of course also be transformed through one.

It was consolidated into the Department of State as part of the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998 as an agency with an administrator and responsibility for administrating the distribution of aid under certain preexisting laws. So it is straightforwardly outside of the authority of the president to disband the agency, as Congress has provided that it shall exist. And it is likewise outside of the au…

I didn't say the president could disband it. I said the president could transform it.

Re: DOGE employees ordered to stop using Slack

#118

Post by paulvnickerson »

kemayo wrote: post #83
impulser_ wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They aren't. They are informing the President and the President does it either by EO or asking congress.

President doesn't have authority to shut them down by EO either. Congress does, yes. (It's one of those "power of the purse" things. If Congress has created an organization and funded it, the executive is required to spend that money on it.)

> President doesn't have authority to shut them down by EO either

I'm not sure they are being shut down. USAID is being restructured for instance and folded into the State Department.

Re: DOGE employees ordered to stop using Slack

#119

Post by floatrock »

aeternum wrote: post #86
code_runner wrote: post #41

DOGE is obviously a completely illegal operation, and I really do hope it will be get reined in before they can cause an issue so big that _even trump's croniest cronies_ have to admit what is going on. For someone who claims to love freedom of speech, Elon is pretty quick to determine who can say what, and how much access to _his_ data people have.

What do you think about the legality of each federal department having millions in kickbacks to Politico in the form of hidden premium subscriptions? What about USAID being used to pay celebrities but only those that support one of the political parties?

Are we complaining about the millions the feds pay SpaceX for their starlink terminals? Are we concerned about the government subscriptions to Bloomberg feeds?

I'll get rage-y about this one when someone explains what a Politico premium subscription provides and why it was a corrupt purchase. Maybe it's a valid information data service that provides key information to whatever agency purchased it, purchased using an appropriate bidding contract. Or maybe it wasn't.

But the point is show me why that was an inappropriate purchase while Starlink and Bloomberg feeds aren't.

Unfortunately doing that takes investigation and due-process, and it doesn't score the same propaganda points as just yelling "See?! My political opponent had the government as a customer!!"

Re: DOGE employees ordered to stop using Slack

#120

Post by jfengel »

jklinger410 wrote: post #69
darth_avocado wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

DOGE is not illegal. However the legality of some of the things they do is under question. The current government, including DOGE is being operated like “Just do as many things as possible, so that the lawsuits can’t keep up”. While lawyers are busy trying to stop big things, many small but important items will slip through the cracks and will take decades to undo. Edit: BTW this strategy has always been available, i…

> While lawyers are busy trying to stop big things, many small but important items will slip through the cracks and will take decades to undo. So the government is designed in such a way that someone can do illegal things without those currently running the systems simply saying "no?" They have the power to do the things, and then we have to wait for it to be litigated. Watching the cases against Trump drop like flie…

Yes. Precisely.

It's not reliable. It worked because Presidents had always been decent about it. The alternative would be to tie the system even further into knots, just to avoid a problem that would require cartoonish villainy.

Until now.

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