Judge Royce Lamberth issued the order on Friday night, eliminating the Monday morning deadline he had set for the Trump admin to bring all affected employees back to work.
I see in this order Judge Lambeth's handing sufficient "rope" for the affiant to "hang himself." These are employees already familiar with the requirements of their jobs; what is this need to administratively on-board them?
Your last line - "it is likely that a number of employees have left the agency for other work" - raises something I think hasn't been considered enough.
The minions and jesters of the court of The Orange Overlord don't have to outright win to do significant damage to the ability of the federal government to do useful work, they just have to stall long enough for the employees booted out to be unable to wait for a resolution.
Suppose half of those employees have gone on to other jobs. The result would be a court-approved 30% cut in USAGM staff with no requirement (or reason to expect) that those open positions would be filled.
For a similar reason, I'm also concerned about another topic up for discussion which I will make bold to refer to here: The Orange Overlord's half-brag, half-threat to issue an EO federalizing the midterms. I keep hearing it said that in that event he'd be sued and he'd lose because the law, the Constitution, and history are so clear on the matter.
But my worry is that, just like with DOGE (which I always pronounce "dodgy," because it was/is), he doesn't have to win - he just has to cause enough confusion and delay to screw things up, disrupt the whole voting process, in enough places to give him a reason (not a good one, just a "reason") to declare a national emergency and start seizing ballot boxes and declaring the vote void.
This doesn't mean he'd succeed or even that he'd try; maybe he'll think the FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) raised by his constant ranting about "voter fraud" will be sufficiently useful to convince the faithful the election was "stolen" and enough others that elections are "insecure" and voting must be restricted.
But either way, it is a potential for social chaos that we ignore at our peril.
A small pause in MAGA’s relentless march toward mediocrity.
I see in this order Judge Lambeth's handing sufficient "rope" for the affiant to "hang himself." These are employees already familiar with the requirements of their jobs; what is this need to administratively on-board them?
Good explanation. The Department in Injustice. Your tax dollars at work.
Voice Of America *should* be completely dismantled, it's a disgusting propaganda machine
Your last line - "it is likely that a number of employees have left the agency for other work" - raises something I think hasn't been considered enough.
The minions and jesters of the court of The Orange Overlord don't have to outright win to do significant damage to the ability of the federal government to do useful work, they just have to stall long enough for the employees booted out to be unable to wait for a resolution.
Suppose half of those employees have gone on to other jobs. The result would be a court-approved 30% cut in USAGM staff with no requirement (or reason to expect) that those open positions would be filled.
For a similar reason, I'm also concerned about another topic up for discussion which I will make bold to refer to here: The Orange Overlord's half-brag, half-threat to issue an EO federalizing the midterms. I keep hearing it said that in that event he'd be sued and he'd lose because the law, the Constitution, and history are so clear on the matter.
But my worry is that, just like with DOGE (which I always pronounce "dodgy," because it was/is), he doesn't have to win - he just has to cause enough confusion and delay to screw things up, disrupt the whole voting process, in enough places to give him a reason (not a good one, just a "reason") to declare a national emergency and start seizing ballot boxes and declaring the vote void.
This doesn't mean he'd succeed or even that he'd try; maybe he'll think the FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) raised by his constant ranting about "voter fraud" will be sufficiently useful to convince the faithful the election was "stolen" and enough others that elections are "insecure" and voting must be restricted.
But either way, it is a potential for social chaos that we ignore at our peril.