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CNN Made FOIA Request About DOGE—Only to Learn FOIA Staff Was Fired.
(www.commondreams.org)
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this post was submitted on 18 Feb 2025
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Not entirely true.
All these firings are likely going to result in classaction lawsuits, and the judiciary (so far) has been very responsive to Trump's power grabs. You'll recall they shut him down on DOGE's Treasury incursion, birthright citizenship, and the funding freeze. (Among others)
It may seem like everything's fucked up, but that's only because your social media feed and executive orders create chaos faster than the judiciary can check it.
Not necessarily. Clinton, Dubya, Obama, and Trump all went into office with Congress and lost it at the mid-terms, and as we saw with the Muslim ban, Trump's a bit of a bitch when the judiciary stands up to him. It's just a matter of time until these attempts start to slow down.
The downside is that Dems rule as conservatives too, so it's likely whatever the judiciary doesn't reverse will be permanent.
But, as we saw with similar activities in the McCarthyist era, the damage is reversible. (But I know that's not much consolation, but it's consolation to me to know that this isn't the first time someone has tried to brute force fascism in government and been stopped.)
I don't think you realize just how long it takes to hire federal employees, or reconstitute entire agencies (like CFPB).
tens of thousands of people forced out, thousands of research grants and projects canceled, hundreds of programs stifled...
this is the end of the federal government as we know it, and it will take a generation (20+ yrs) of back to back Democrat administrations to rebuild it. that's not going to happen.
the oligarchs won dude. kids growing up today will never know how much has been lost. the corporate media will make sure all they know is 'we've always been at war with eastasia''
Possibly, but I know it's already happened at least once in our history. We can speculate about the future all we want, but the past is a helpful guide.
I'm hoping that too. either way, I'm not advocating hopelessness or doomerism. I'll be working harder than ever this year to decouple my life from corporations and govt reliance. community building, strengthening friendships, helping others when I can. it's going to be a long road ahead and we won't survive as isolated individuals.
That's a good goal. I live solo and never had children and don't want a relationship, so for me, things are fairly simple. It's nice to not have responsibilities when the wealthy class is trying to seize more power.
I'm just doing what I can for my neighbors in my own little corner of the world. No matter how bad things get, you can always do good with your own two hands.
If by "corporate media" you mean Hollywood, they're in the process of collapsing, too.
Lost what at the mid-terms? Congress? You think he needs Congress to do all of this shit? Have you been paying attention?
There is no rule-of-law. No structure to these systems. It's just pure defiance at whatever "social norms" are holding this house of cards together.
Nobody is putting up a reasonable fight with these EOs, so they just happen. Elon just wanders into government buildings and systems without criminal charges. No police action. No hard punishments.
And whatever fighting back is occurring in the courts, where we will never see a settlement before the courts themselves get dismantled before our eyes.
We're fucked. Stop using past history as a guide.
Nope. But losing Congress will make it harder. We saw this with his first term.
That's factually incorrect. I provided several examples above.
Again, wrong.
Totally, man. That's why the funding freeze was reversed in less than 24 hours after a lawsuit was filed. You need to turn off the TV, stop doomscrolling, breathe, and maybe watch some alternative media.
You may need to start.
You think no damage has taken place? We're in a thread where FOIA admitted that most of its staff has been laid off. They are trying to get rid of as many departments as they can.
Throughout all of this, I want you to understand one thing: It is easier to destroy than it is to create!
Things can be destroyed instantly. It takes no time to fire an entire department and wipe away centuries of institutional knowledge. It doesn't matter if a lawsuit for a few of these managed to piece through the smoldering ruins and rescue what they could.
Trump himself even had a hard time trying to "unfire" a bunch of nuclear weapons workers.
Stop assuming what I do and don't do. You aren't me, you don't know who I am, what my political trappings are, and what my habits are.
Open your eyes. All of this behavior is unprecedented. You can't just reference previous years and expect to be a guide.
Congress is too busy shitting its pants, while filling out the paperwork to do so, to matter. I think this opinion piece put it best:
You're never getting back to where you were two months ago. The United States' elevated position on the geopolitical stage was due to being the last major power left standing after the second world war, and it's maintained that position mainly through inertia. Once it's gone, it's gone.
Yeah, good luck with that in 2-4 years, when those lawsuits pan out. And then they get appealed to the Supreme Court, where the GOP-majority lapdogs say "yessir" and rule in favor of chaos.
We couldn't even get Trump convicted of criminal charges in time. What makes you think the judiciary is going to save us?
Historically speaking, on some issues yes, and on some issues no.
They weren't a rubber stamp in his first term, most notably on health care, but we'll see. The culture's different now and no one can really say how the lawsuits will go, but SCOTUS can't take every case that's going to come through.
You may want a more recent news update before you claim the judiciary has been responsive. Judge Tanya Chutkan, the same one who ruled against insurrection charges "because we don't prosecute sitting presidents", just blocked the multi-state lawsuit requesting DOGE be restrained.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/18/politics/doge-temporary-restraining-order-chutkan/index.html
Yep, I know.
Doesn't change facts. The judiciary is, by and large, clocking these unconstitutional power grabs. It just takes time, and you all are doomscrolling and pretending checks and balances no longer apply despite the abundant display to the contrary.
The judiciary has entered temporary restraining orders. No one has declared his power grab straight out illegal yet.
And when they do he’ll just ignore it. The courts are dogs with no teeth.