ProPublica – “The Department of Government Efficiency is funded and acts like a federal agency. But the White House has shielded DOGE from the rules that govern such agencies, ProPublica found as it examines the group and expands a list of DOGE workers. While Elon Musk and his underlings demand budget cuts and layoffs across… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Government Documents
Climate and DEI Deleted From Government Websites, Federal Workers Fired
Via LLRX – Climate and DEI Deleted From Government Websites, Federal Workers Fired – Since January 20, 2025 America has been catapulted into an unimaginable inflection point. Sabrina I. Pacifici chronicles seismic events in recent weeks which have upended America’s democracy, jeopardized our economy, financial system, national security, science and medical communities, and fractured our… Continue Reading
Trump Orders US to Cancels Critical News Subscriptions for Diplomats Worldwide
RegTech Times via MSN: “The U.S. State Department has issued a directive to cancel all news subscriptions deemed “non-mission critical” across embassies and consulates worldwide. The move is part of a broader cost-cutting initiative, aligning with efforts to reduce government spending on media contracts. Sweeping Cancellation of News Subscriptions – Internal emails revealed that diplomatic… Continue Reading
Where Trump, Musk and DOGE Have Cut Federal Workers So Far
The New York Times – unlocked: “President Trump has moved swiftly to wage his war on the federal bureaucracy, defying norms and legal limits. On Feb. 13, his administration escalated those efforts by starting to terminate most of an estimated 200,000 probationary employees, who were recently hired or promoted to a new position and have… Continue Reading
Trump signs executive orders limiting power of agencies
Washington Times: “President Trump on Tuesday [February 18, 2025] signed an executive order [Ensuring Accountability For All Agencies] declaring that only the attorney general or the president, instead of federal regulators or bureaucrats, can speak for the U.S. when interpreting the meaning of laws carried out by the executive branch. The order was among three… Continue Reading
As measles outbreak rages in Texas, RFK Jr. pushes anti-vaccine message
Popular Information: “The largest measles outbreak Texas has seen in over 30 years is sweeping through the western part of the state. According to information released yesterday by the Texas Department of State Health Services, 58 cases have been confirmed throughout five counties. The total number of cases is likely much higher, however, with “health… Continue Reading
The war on DEI is a smoke screen
The Verge – [unpaywalled] “Violent metaphors abound for what’s happening in Washington: Elon Musk and his allies have taken a “slash-and-burn” approach to the government and a “sledgehammer” to government institutions, doing away with supposed waste and excess while leaving the fundamental structure intact. All of this is being done with the stated goal of… Continue Reading
The SAVE Act Would Disenfranchise Millions of Citizens
CAP: “The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act has been reintroduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. This legislation would require all Americans to prove their citizenship status by presenting documentation—in person—when registering to vote or updating their voter registration information. Specifically, the legislation would require the vast majority of Americans to rely on a… Continue Reading
The Venn Diagram of Trump’s Authoritarian Actions
Kottke.org: Professor Christina Pagel of University College London has mapped the actions of the Trump administration’s first few weeks into a Venn diagram (above) with “five broad domains that correspond to features of proto-authoritarian states”: Undermining Democratic Institutions & Rule of Law; Dismantling federal government Dismantling Social Protections & Rights; Enrichment & Corruption Suppressing Dissent… Continue Reading
Condé Nast, other news orgs say AI firm stole articles, spit out “hallucinations”
Ars Technica: “Condé Nast and several other media companies sued the AI startup Cohere today, alleging that it engaged in “systematic copyright and trademark infringement” by using news articles to train its large language model. “Without permission or compensation, Cohere uses scraped copies of our articles, through training, real-time use, and in outputs, to power… Continue Reading
USAspending Data Sources and SAM.gov
“USAspending.gov links data from many government systems, including agency financial systems and governmentwide award systems. Scroll below to learn more about these systems, as well as the context for this historic initiative to provide federal spending transparency.” Try searching for contracts by vendor name such as AWS, Inc., Space Exploration Technologies Corp., Tesla Laboratories, Inc.… Continue Reading
Implementing President’s “Department of Government Efficiency” Workforce Optimization Initiative
Josh Marshall: “This new EO signed today appears to create DOGE as a shadow government across the entire federal government. Each agency/dept will be assigned a DOGE minder who will work with the Secry or Director and essentially be in charge of all new hiring and/or firing. People have been saying the Elon is President.… Continue Reading
