Government Efficiency (2 Viewers)

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RobF

RobF

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I think this topic deserves its own thread, both to discuss generally the topic of government efficiency, and specifically the so-called 'Department of Government Efficiency' and the incoming Trump administration's aims to "dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures and restructure Federal Agencies".

The announcements have been covered in the The Trump Cabinet and key post thread, but to recap, Trump has announced that Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will work together on a not-actually-an-official-government-Department of Government Efficiency, which is intended to work with the White House and Office of Management & Budget to "drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to Government never seen before," with the 'Department' to conclude its work "no later than July 4, 2026."

Musk has previously said that the federal budget could be reduced by "at least $2 trillion", and Ramaswarmy, during his presidential campaign, said he would fire more than 75% of the federal work force and disband agencies including the Department of Education and the FBI.
 
Donald Trump’s interim Social Security chief suggested Thursday night he will effectively turn off the agency that manages the essential safety net program for seniors and the disabled, if Elon Musk and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) can’t access the non-anonymized sensitive personal information and data of hundreds of millions of Americans, based on a judge’s order.

“My anti-fraud team would be DOGE affiliates. My IT staff would be DOGE affiliates,” said Lee Dudek, acting Social Security Administration (SSA) commissioner, arguing the order was too broad, according to Bloomberg News. “As it stands, I will follow it exactly and terminate access by all SSA employees to our IT systems,” he said, adding: “Really, I want to turn it off and let the courts figure out how they want to run a federal agency.”
Click to expand...

That has to be illegal. Locking down the social security system to pressure judges into granting DOGE full, unlawful access—without proper training or adherence to existing laws—is blatant coercion. What’s their real agenda? If this were truly about their “official” duties, they could work with anonymized data. The fact that they insist on raw data raises serious red flags, and none of the possible reasons seem legal.


https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-admin-threatens-stop-social-041848651.html
 
This could have gone in the book banning thread too
====================================


Last Friday, the president signed an Executive Order that targeted the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The IMLS is the only federal agency that provides funds to libraries and it makes up less than .005% of the federal budget.

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) entered the IMLS this week on Thursday. Though little verifiable information has emerged about what happened upon DOGE’s arrival — several Reddit posts have shared some insights — what we do know is that as of writing, IMLS staff are still with jobs. This could change as soon as this weekend.

We also know that Deputy Secretary of Labor Keith E. Sonderling was sworn in as the Acting Director of the agency.

This new leadership came with another press release, posted to the IMLS website. It’s deeply concerning, and it points to what the future of the IMLS will look like under the direction of this administration.

IMLS will be an agency used to produce, promote, and proliferate propaganda.

From the press release:

It is an honor to be appointed by President Trump to lead this important organization in its mission to advance, support, and empower America’s museums and libraries, which stand as cornerstones of learning and culture in our society. I am committed to steering this organization in lockstep with this Administration to enhance efficiency and foster innovation. We will revitalize IMLS and restore focus on patriotism, ensuring we preserve our country’s core values, promote American exceptionalism and cultivate love of country in future generations,” said Acting Director Sonderling
Click to expand...

We know through our ability to read government press releases critically that there’s simultaneously a lot being said here and a whole lot of nothing being said.

First and foremost, “steering this organization in lockstep with this Administration” is the antithesis of what museums and libraries do. These public, democratic institutions offer a breadth and depth of information and resources to ensure that users are able to understand a wide range of ideas and perspectives on any given topic. This allows people to think for themselves and draw conclusions based on evidence, rather than on what someone tells them to be the truth.

But by being “in lockstep” with the Administration, it’s clear that the IMLS will not be supporting the range of projects and initiatives it has been since its inception. Instead, it will support projects, ideas, and institutions which align with pre-approved values and beliefs aligned with the oligarchical ruling class. Projects with any of this administration’s forbidden words or ideas will most likely not be permitted.

It also very likely that one of Trump’s earliest campaign promises to combat any education around the ideas of mis- and dis- information will be seen through to their end. A populace that understands how to navigate information is one less susceptible to propaganda.

One reason DOGE and Trump may not have immediately gutted the IMLS as was anticipated is that it is a fantastic tool for the regime as they prepare to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary. A January Executive Order lists the IMLS as one of the agencies which will help develop and promote activities to celebrate.

Besides the obvious ability to use the IMLS to push out propaganda about the administration and the celebration, this is an opportunity for Trump and his team to rework the narrative about libraries popular in his constituency.

Libraries celebrating him and his presidency? They’re good things, actually, great things. What will go unsaid is that libraries have found themselves unable to push back or state otherwise because of the long-prevailing lie that libraries must remain neutral and because of the reality that saying anything contrary could result in annihilation.

Something else worth considering with this rebranding of the IMLS? New strings which may be attached to current funding models.

One of the tactics that has played out in book banning over the last several years is local libraries demanding more local control over what books their patrons have access to and in order to control the flow of information to a given library’s patrons, interlibrary loan materials on certain topics have been curtailed to users. Many states rely on IMLS funds to run interlibrary loan programs.

It would be far from out of the question for there to be strings attached to what kinds of materials can be shared within and beyond state lines. Systems allowing patrons to share books featuring “trans issues” (see here) could be at risk of having funds revoked.

We may also see IMLS funds that help provide digital materials to libraries through tools like Libby requiring those tools to censor certain materials that do not align with the administration’s purported values. Again, we’ve seen this tactic before (see here and here).................

bookriot.com

The Institute for Museum and Library Services Is Now a Propaganda Machine: Book Censorship News, March 21, 2025

DOGE didn't dismantle the only federal agency supporting public libraries. It was instead turned into a propaganda machine. That, plus this week's book censorship news.
bookriot.com bookriot.com
 
Optimus Prime said:
A federal judge allowed Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to remain in control of the U.S. Institute of Peace, an independent nonprofit created by Congress, but expressed concern about their conduct.

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell said Wednesday she was offended by DOGE staff’s use of threats and law enforcement to gain access to the USIP headquarters and to remove the institute’s president, George Moose, from the building on Monday.

But she declined to immediately restore the former board members, who filed the lawsuit late on Tuesday, to their positions. Howell also declined to bar DOGE staff from USIP’s headquarters, which they gained access to on Monday in part with the help of the police.…..

apnews.com

Judge is 'offended' at DOGE's tactics but does not pause its takeover of the US Institute of Peace

A federal judge allowed Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to remain in control of the U.S.
apnews.com apnews.com
Click to expand...
What a crock of sheet ruling.
 
The anger is growing all over the USA….Deport Elon!
IMG_1402.jpeg


 
DaveXA said:
What a crock of sheet ruling.
Click to expand...
Judge Howell, Obama appointee, is a good judge.

contrarian.substack.com

Undaunted: Judge Beryl Howell holds the line

She not only reaches the indisputably right results but also educates other lawyers and the public at large about Trump’s authoritarian actions.
contrarian.substack.com contrarian.substack.com

Contrary to the belief of USIP. She recognizes, that an agency with a ruling board that is appointed by the president and confirmed by the senate, is in fact an executive agency subject to the president.
 
When President Trump recently proposed eliminating the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), librarians and educators voiced outrage, confusion and fear.

Soon afterward, the appointment of Keith E Sonderling as acting director of IMLS highlighted the administration’s intention to reshape the agency’s priorities toward “promoting American exceptionalism” and cultivating “patriotism”.

As someone deeply involved in the library world, I wasn’t surprised by Trump’s move.

Given escalating book bans, rising censorship and growing hostility toward educational and cultural institutions, this crisis has been building for years.

Yet the predictability doesn’t make it less troubling; it signals clearly that the stakes are higher than ever.

To understand why this matters so deeply, it’s crucial to recognize what IMLS actually does.

Established in 1996, it is the primary federal agency providing crucial financial support to libraries and museums nationwide. It invests hundreds of millions of dollars annually to help institutions develop literacy programs, workforce training, digital resources, cultural preservation and civic engagement initiatives. Cutting this funding is more than just budget trimming. It means dismantling essential community infrastructure.

Many argue that libraries have become obsolete relics in the age of Google and smartphones, but reality says otherwise. About 77 million Americansdepend annually on public libraries for reliable internet access, according to Pew Research.

In Dallas, Texas, for instance, nearly 3.9m digital resources were checked out from the public library last year alone, proving these institutions remain essential gateways to digital opportunity – especially for economically disadvantaged families.

Far from being fiscal drains, libraries drive economic growth. Programs like South Bend, Indiana’s “Bendable” initiative, a partnership with the Drucker Institute, deliver precise workforce training that directly meets local business needs.

According to the Ohio Library Council, initiatives like these yield nearly $4 in economic return for every taxpayer dollar spent.

Defunding libraries doesn’t eliminate these economic needs; it simply shifts costs elsewhere, ultimately burdening communities and taxpayers even more.

The consequences are especially severe in Indigenous communities. Take the Nisqually Tribal Library in Olympia, Washington, where IMLS grants supported a StoryCorps recording studio that helps preserve Indigenous languages, histories and cultural identities.

Without continued support, nearly 200 tribal libraries nationwide risk closing their doors, depriving communities of irreplaceable resources for preserving their heritage and deepening educational inequities…….

www.theguardian.com

Trump’s attack on libraries was predictable. Its consequences could be devastating | Leo S Lo

The president wants to eliminate the agency backing libraries and museums. But the institutions do far more than lend books
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com



 
Optimus Prime said:
“AIDS funding cuts kill”

GOP: AIDS infected, mostly minorities in mostly poverty stricken third world countries. What’s the problem?”
====================================



Fired USAid employees and advocates for people with HIV staged a protest in a Capitol office building on Wednesday, warning that Donald Trump’s drive to dismantle the agency tasked with implementing Washington’s foreign aid agenda imperils the fight against the virus.

Wearing white T-shirts that read “Aids funding cuts kill” and chanting “Congress has blood on its hands, unfreeze aid now”, around three dozen protesters lay down in the rotunda of the Cannon House office building, home to the offices of representatives from both parties. Capitol police said about 20 arrests were made of demonstrators who defied their orders to disperse.

“What we are demanding of Congress is that they stop behaving like doormats in the face of this attack on humanitarian assistance that truly is highly effective and life-saving,” Asia Russell, executive director of Health Gap, a global advocacy group fighting against HIV, said prior to the protest.

“It’s very hard to overstate what’s at stake regarding humanitarian assistance.”……..

www.theguardian.com

Fired USAid workers and HIV activists hold ‘die-in’ to protest Trump and Musk

Dozens of demonstrators lie down in government office building to warn against dismantling foreign aid agency
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
Click to expand...
www.theguardian.com

Aid cuts predicted to cause 2.9 million more HIV-related deaths by 2030 – study

Reductions to overseas budgets by US, UK and EU countries will have ‘devastating consequences’, say researchers in modelling published in the Lancet HIV
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
 
Emails sent by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency asking federal workers to respond with five accomplishments have reportedly run into a technical hitch.

The billionaire ordered federal workers to email the Office of Personnel Management listing five weekly achievements as part of a drive by the Trump administration to drastically reduce federal staff numbers.

When workers submitted their lists, many received bounceback emails informing them that the department’s inbox was full, Bloomberg reports.

“The recipient’s mailbox is full and can’t accept messages now. Please try resending your message later, or contact the recipient directly,” emails received by workers seen by the outlet reportedly said.

The fault comes as Musk has branded himself and his DOGE team as the White House’s “tech support” and threatened to terminate workers who did not respond to the emails.

Employees across the Social Security Administration, Department of Health and Human Services and the Internal Revenue Service received the bounceback, according to ABC News.

The issue was “resolved quickly earlier this week,” a spokesperson for the Office of Personnel Management told The Independent.

Enforcing Musk’s demand has “waned” at some agencies, sources told ABC News. “Some employees have simply stopped submitting their reports without consequence,” the outlet reports............

www.the-independent.com

Workers receive bounceback to Musk and DOGE’s ‘five things’ emails

The fault comes as Musk has branded himself and his DOGE team as White House ‘tech support’
www.the-independent.com www.the-independent.com
 

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