DOGE Catch-All | DOGE ledger “riddled with errors”

[nycfan]

Elon Musk targets Lutheran Social Services of Illinois​

Elon Musk targets Lutheran Social Services of Illinois

On February 1, Elon Musk said his Department of Government Efficiency was going to rapidly shut down what he called “illegal payments” to Lutheran Social Services, including the Lutheran Social Services of Illinois. Peter Medlin reports…

www.northernpublicradio.org

“… Musk didn’t show any evidence of why these payments would be illegal. But LSSI President and CEO Mark Stutrud said in a statement that they’re likely being targeted because some Lutheran Social Service groups receive funding for refugee resettlement or Head Start. It doesn’t provide those services in Illinois, which Stutrud says are vital.

The social media criticism of Lutheran Social Services was originally started by former Trump advisor and conspiracy theorist Michael Flynn. The president's former National Security Advisor posted a list of federal grants awarded to Lutheran organizations.

That list included a nearly $3 million grant from the Department of Health & Human Services to Lutheran Social Services of Illinois. Jajko says that grant is to support a move to a new model of support with their community behavioral health clinic. She says the clinic is meant to be a "one stop shop" that integrates their substance use and mental health services. …”

 

[finesse]

Would any of you define what border security actually is? I personally think it's a chimera than no one can really define and that no one really agrees with. If you don't think we need the labor and human potential , you're misguided and if you think that what's happening is any kind of invasion, criminal or not, you're misled. Look at the real numbers of immigrants, look at our labor needs, look at the fact that they traditionally have a lower crime rate than native citizens and quit being complete idiots and equating immigration and drug trafficking and then give me an answer.

 

[ZenMode]

Right, that’s my point, I definitely believe there are a lot of Republican voters and some Republican politicians who want a more secure border. I’m not a Republican voter nor am I a Republican politician and I want a more secure border. But I’m saying that actual bonafide beefed up border security is not a legislative priority of the Republican Party, because if it was, they would have done something about it when they had all levers of power in 2017-2019, and they would do something about it when they have all levers of power right now (maybe now that they’ve won the election we can dust off Jim Lankford’s bill!).

But it’s not going to happen, because as soon as the border is secure, the Republican Party loses perhaps its single most effective electoral wedge issue.

I really think you'll see border legislation passed within the next month or so. It's not going to stop illegal border crossing and it's not going to stop asylum seekers coming to ports of entry, but Republicans, if they want to continue to win, have to take action the border. To not take action would be political suicide.....

But we shall see.

 

[ChileG]

My fear is that all this spending that at least ostensibly is to help people is cut and then just redirected to the pockets of people like Musk and Trump. That doesn’t help anyone. It doesn’t even really help the uber wealthy who stand to get the tax cuts.
We will have to wait and see, but if all these cuts don’t lead the budget surpluses because of tax cuts to the most wealthy among us, are the Trump voters on this site going to be happy about that?

 

[CFordUNC]

Would any of you define what border security actually is? I personally think it's a chimera than no one can really define and that no one really agrees with. If you don't think we need the labor and human potential , you're misguided and if you think that what's happening is any kind of invasion, criminal or not, you're misled. Look at the real numbers of immigrants, look at our labor needs, look at the fact that they traditionally have a lower crime rate than native citizens and quit being complete idiots and equating immigration and drug trafficking and then give me an answer.

I'm with you 100% on the importance of immigrants in our country for 100% of the reasons you stated.

To answer your initial question, I'll answer how I personally would define border security. To me, border security is investing in more personnel and more technology (AI, biometrics/facial recognition, transportable surveillance towers, cameras, radar/sensors, etc.) at the southern border. But just as important, ans perhaps more so, it's investing in more immigration system personnel (processing personnel, judges, etc.) to make our system of legal immigration quicker, more efficient, and more humane.

Anyone who thinks we can "close" the southern border or who thinks that 100% of illegal border crossings can be stopped, is delusional. But I do think that there are technological means to beef up border security in a way that isn't performative political theater.

 

[CFordUNC]

I was thinking about it last night, about what irritates me so much about DOGE. I was thinking to myself, "why am I so particularly opposed to this? Is it simple partisan haterade? Am I missing or misunderstanding something? Isn't attempting to make government spending more efficient a good thing? Shouldn't anyone, regardless of political partisanship, think that reducing or eliminating wasteful spending is good?"

I came to the conclusion that, for myself personally, it's not the "what" that annoys me, it's the "who" and the "how." The "what"- working to identify and correct wasteful or inefficient government spending- is generally a good thing regardless of political persuasion. But the "who"- Elon Musk, as an unqualified, unelected individual with clear conflicts of interest as one of the biggest government contractors- is problematic. And the "how"- essentially taking a chainsaw to the federal government with a "shut shit down and figure it out later" mentality- is potentially very harmful.

There have been no attempts to understand what positions and what agencies are needed and which are not. It's been "slash and burn first, ask questions later." His attempts to shutter statutory federal agencies is blatantly unconstitutional. The mass resignation offer that he tendered to the entire federal workforce is likely illegal. Slashing the size of the federal workforce so quickly and seemingly randomly, instead of methodically doing so over time after observation and analysis, is going to lead to, among other things, dramatic reduction in capability for critical agencies like the VA and others which are already sorely understaffed.

The conceptual idea of DOGE isn't bad at all, IMO. It's the person leading it, and the methods of execution, that are bad. If it was so important to streamline government inefficiency and reduce or eliminate wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars- and let me be clear that I think it is always very important to do both- then this should have been a 2-year project and analysis of where the most inefficiency and waste is coming from, and working to systematically reduce or eliminate programs that are deemed unnecessary. Instead, Musk has taken a giant chainsaw haphazardly to the entire federal government in 3 weeks, and the fallout is going to prove to be very detrimental to all Americans in the coming3, 6, 9, 12+ months.

 

[WaynetheDrain]

I really think you'll see border legislation passed within the next month or so. It's not going to stop illegal border crossing and it's not going to stop asylum seekers coming to ports of entry, but Republicans, if they want to continue to win, have to take action the border. To not take action would be political suicide.....

But we shall see.

You are so naive.

There is one, and only one, endgame for the Trump administration (and Republican Congress under Trump) regarding the border:

To put a stop to immigration. Period.

Notice I didn't say illegal immigration. I said immigration. They don't want illegals. They don't want legal asylum seekers. Bottom line: They don't want brown people coming across our border.

They will gladly accept white South Africans, though. Go figure.

 

[finesse]

You are so naive.

There is one, and only one, endgame for the Trump administration (and Republican Congress under Trump) regarding the border:

To put a stop to immigration. Period.

Notice I didn't say illegal immigration. I said immigration. They don't want illegals. They don't want legal asylum seekers. Bottom line: They don't want brown people coming across our border.

They will gladly accept white South Africans, though. Go figure.

They are white and well to do. Only one percent of them are below the poverty level in South Africa. They are a disadvantaged class, indeed.

 

[ZenMode]

There is one, and only one, endgame for the Trump administration (and Republican Congress under Trump) regarding the border:

To put a stop to immigration. Period.

Notice I didn't say illegal immigration. I said immigration. They don't want illegals. They don't want legal asylum seekers. Bottom line: They don't want brown people coming across our border.

They will gladly accept white South Africans, though. Go figure.

Based on what?

Trump has said he plans to implement his "Wait in Mexico" program. That doesn't imply stopping legal immigration. That implies handling asylum seekers in a different way.

He's also never said, as far as I know, anything implying completely stopping legal immigration.

 

[finesse]

He's also never told the truth about virtually anything concerning immigration so watching what he does is the only approach worth anything.

 

[nycfan]

Ro Khana is a longtime Musk ally who has drawn criticism from other Democrats for supporting (or refusing to join criticism) of DOGE.

 

[ChapelHillSooner]

People have also claimed that Musk uncovered 6.5 million people aged 112 or older who are receiving social security.

I don’t know if this came from Musk or some other right wing media.

The truth is that this is from a 2015 study that showed that there are 6.5 million open SSN’s of people that age, most likely caused by a transition from paper to digital records. Furthermore, the study found that only 13 of those were receiving benefits.

So to summarize:

1. Musk had nothing to do with it but either took credit for it or someone else gave him credit.
2. The potential fraud was for 13 individuals not 6.5 million.

And the rubes on Facebook are like, “Once we fix that we can all get a livable wage from social security.”

Good luck with that.

 

[wmheel1287]

Based on what?

Trump has said he plans to implement his "Wait in Mexico" program. That doesn't imply stopping legal immigration. That implies handling asylum seekers in a different way.

He's also never said, as far as I know, anything implying completely stopping legal immigration.

LOL, well he says that everyone must follow the legal process while simultaneously shutting down any legal avenues. What does that amount to?

Also, when are we supposed to believe what he says and when are we supposed to read more into it or less into it? I lose track.

 

[WaynetheDrain]

Based on what?

Trump has said he plans to implement his "Wait in Mexico" program. That doesn't imply stopping legal immigration. That implies handling asylum seekers in a different way.

He's also never said, as far as I know, anything implying completely stopping legal immigration.

Aside from everything he and Stephen Miller have ever done or said, nothing.

 

[nycfan]

 

[HintonJamesHeel]

I’ll give the orange man this….the America public is going to eat up DOGE and love it. They will take an example here and there where a mistake was made (condoms, hotel overpayment, etc) and talk about them constantly. Those will be things that the administration will constantly put out there and the public, which has a very negative belief in Washington, will assume that what they have always believed is now confirmed. The system is rigged, waste is everywhere and folks get rich off of taxpayers

 

[Carolina Fever]

Probably because you're lying about what they have found.

 

[Carolina Fever]

I’ll give the orange man this….the America public is going to eat up DOGE and love it. They will take an example here and there where a mistake was made (condoms, hotel overpayment, etc) and talk about them constantly. Those will be things that the administration will constantly put out there and the public, which has a very negative belief in Washington, will assume that what they have always believed is now confirmed. The system is rigged, waste is everywhere and folks get rich off of taxpayers

And too stupid that all of this is for Trump and Musk to line their pockets. These people have also never heard the phrases throw the baby out with the bath water, and cut off your nose to spite your face.

 

[nycfan]

Not Hyperbole Anymore: Musk Is In Charge of the US Government​

“… I had not had a chance to look at the new DOGE executive order the President signed this afternoon with Elon Musk standing beside him. I don’t think it’s too much to say that it puts Musk functionally in control of the U.S. government. I know that sounds pretty wild. And that may not apply to high-profile policy — two budget bills or one on Capitol Hill, plans for Gaza.

But let me explain what it does.

A DOGE operative, called a “DOGE Team Lead,” will be assigned to every agency, department, etc., of the federal government.

That team lead, who will presumably report to Elon Musk since Musk is the head of DOGE, will be in charge of all hiring and firing decisions at their particular department.

The EO lays out a government downsizing plan in which only one new government employee can be hired for every four who leave service. It adds various new reasons for termination.

And it puts the overall plan for the downsizing in the hands of DOGE, which is to say, Musk.

And note here the relationship between the “DOGE Team Leads” and the heads of the various departments …

(b) Hiring Approval. Each Agency Head shall develop a data-driven plan, in consultation with its DOGE Team Lead, to ensure new career appointment hires are in highest-need areas.
(i) This hiring plan shall include that new career appointment hiring decisions shall be made in consultation with the agency’s DOGE Team Lead, consistent with applicable law.
(ii) The agency shall not fill any vacancies for career appointments that the DOGE Team Lead assesses should not be filled, unless the Agency Head determines the positions should be filled.
(iii) Each DOGE Team Lead shall provide the United States DOGE Service (USDS) Administrator with a monthly hiring report for the agency.

I tell ya, I’m tryin’, dear friends. I’m struggling here not to engage in hyperbole.

But I don’t know what else to call these people besides political commissars. And again, they report to Elon Musk.

He’s already very clearly operating here as an independent actor whose actions the President blesses after he’s found out what’s happened. This is a parallel overlaying of authority over the entire structure of the U.S. government. …”

Not Hyperbole Anymore: Musk Is In Charge of the US Government

These are wild times at TPM because they’re wild times in the...

talkingpointsmemo.com

 

[HintonJamesHeel]

And too stupid that all of this is for Trump and Musk to line their pockets. These people have also never heard the phrases throw the baby out with the bath water, and cut off your nose to spite your face.

Politics are rough but this DOGE stuff is going to play. I’m convinced that Harris was unelectable when she said the thing about taxpayer funding prisoners trans surgeries. How often would that even happen? Doesn’t matter. Play the ad enough and that’s all folks hear.

$50m of my money for condoms? Folks will be outraged.