In other words, there are these critically important agencies that I didn't even know existed, but they're basically the glue that holds together our democracy. Who runs these agencies is not important, what is important is that they continue to run as they have in the past and anyone looking to disrupt that should be thoroughly investigated.
Imagine someone who believes that things have not been run properly. Now imagine half the country feeling this way.
In the past you had events that reshaped and wiped away the buildup of bureaucracy. Kind of like a refactor. These events have been war or revolutions.
I think its worth thinking about things as a system that we can periodically refresh, ditch the old and start from scratch. It's not healthy to just keep adding layers without a good mechanism to remove them
Because the people's representatives will get in the way? The pesky checks and balances of democracy?
Of course it is. As it will be to go after them through the criminal justice system in years ahead. I believe OP’s point is they don’t realise the jeopardy they’re getting themselves into.
It's wild how badly Biden screwed the pooch on this one. Campaigned in 2020 on keeping Trump out of office. Not only failed at that (he's more dangerous than he would have been with a narrow margin in '20) but also blew the precedents he claimed made Trump dangerous.
Alternate history has Biden forcing the Congress and states' hands by issuing a blanket pardon for all federal inmates, effective some time in the future, unless a Constitutional amendment is ratified by X date.
Personally, I hope they get what's coming to them.
genuine question, not sarcastic: what specifically is blatantly illegal, violating what law?
There’s a long, long list of people who thought “Trump owes me” would be a guarantee and got a rude awakening.
they are doing what he is (in)directly ordering - they ain't going to jail following the orders of the POTUS :)
Some people are skeptical on the legitimacy of what some are calling “emergency” security clearances given by executive order[1] but there’s no evidence this is not within the bounds of the president’s power. An expedited clearance could have been granted in 48 hours but presumably the backlog has already lasted longer than that and would hamper plans for the first month in office.
[1] https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/memo...
That EO says:
The White House Counsel to provide the White House Security Office and Acting Chief Security Officer with a list of personnel
[1] https://x.com/katierosemiller/status/1886110659097637367
For sure. Fair point.
> they could very well have gone through the regular process
My understanding is that the "regular process" is pretty rigorous (background checks, calls to family members, etc). So, I would take a "former comms dir"'s tweet with a grain of salt.
I'm pretty sure that the article is widely linked on both sites, so to answer your question, "lots".
You can f'off with your condescending bs.
Considering that these six are almost certainly peak internet people, I can't say I entirely disagree with trying to make sure their families know what they're doing. And so those family members know who to blame if data is leaked, potentially like the bank account details stored in the treasury payments system.
Do you agree with everything your relatives do? Are you willing to be held to the same standard? If you brother/sister/son/father/uncle/nephew/whatever does something I don't like, can I publish your personal information and get an internet mob to call and threaten your employer?
I'm asking if it's what is actually being argued and if people believe that it is right.
By the same logic, it's not hard to get this place: If the sheriff won't hold a black man accountable for whistling at a white woman, then of course the white citizens must take justice into their own hands, right?
I take its protection very seriously, and if I had done even a fraction of what these folks have, I would expect at minimum to be fired
Somehow people feel justified in their condemnation because they don’t know what was happening in the department before and assume more was done than actually was by these DOGE employees. Note that the article has no idea of the extent of work done by each of them, the internal processes at DOGE, or the legality of these events.
At this point it’s just fear mongering with words like “coup” being thrown around and baseless accusations about the halting of payments to essential programs like Medicare, Medicaid, social security, etc. None of which have been verbally stated as a target for termination this term
How do you think would affairs develop if the policy you defend now continues? Suppose the families of those men are "made aware of their son's actions" (i.e. they are harassed, because that's what's really going to happen).
The administration will make sure that public the has the right to know the name and addresses of the loved ones of opposition politicians and their associates. And, it may come to a surprise to you, but most crazy people with a lot of firearms generally support the administration and ruling party. Those people can harrass families with unprecedented effectiveness. They can also do much worse.
How is what you are suggesting a good idea from a purely tactical standpoint?
But really, yeah, lets talk about questionable people creating questionable lists......
And for the important folks, we make a loud cry about even their birth certificates and birth parents, so why not this?
All sense of decorum has been burned down long ago, and hilariously, it's been burned down by the same people now pretending to complain here.
If we're gonna make it to the other side of all this, it's going to take another Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, or Roosevelt to restore any of our former dignity. And no, this one's gonna be lucky to have history consider it even a Nixon.
This doesn't seem to be a huge leap from the rationalization for "doxxing" in any other period.
We haven't yet found the leaders who will be the ones rebuilding. Maybe we have the ones who will be sitting on a charred throne claiming a burned-out husk of a throneroom in their hard-earned kingdom of ash, but not the ones who will rebuild.
So spare me the feigned morality right now, we all know no one's playing by those rules anymore.
To maintain a tolerant society, a tolerant society must be specifically intolerant of the intolerant.
Fuck the fascists.
They 100% are. This is a full blackhat attack on a nation. Did they take no ethics class? (software or otherwise)?
I worry that the law will not hold them accountable.
People say “oh, Trump will pardon them” but I wouldn’t be so sure, why does he care? Once this is done they’re not of any real use to him so it’s entirely possible he won’t waste the political capital pardoning them. Would be in character for a guy famous for not paying folks who have done work for him.
On one side you have a handful of arrogant young adults doing the bidding of a couple of wannabe despotic man-babies. On the other you have an entire nation made up of millions of people and with major influence over the rest of the world.
I’m having a hard time understanding why your concern lies with the former.
If only other babies could launch and land rockets. Call Musk what you want, but he is not a baby.
Dude, Musk founded Space X. It's because of these kinds of ridiculous comments that I find it hard to take the Left (at least the ones on the internet) seriously.
A man in the emotional state you described wouldn't be able to lead a company like SpaceX -- he would throw a tantrum when a rocket blows up instead of doubling down on perfecting it.
>So you’re fine with despots, but “man-baby” is where you draw the line?
I'm Russian and what's happening in the US government is your problem, we have our own problems. However, I have the respect for a man who has advanced the space industry so much even though it directly hurts my country -- in the end, we all are a part of humanity and the wars will end some day.
Clearly you haven’t been following his actions. This isn’t new. See for example when he called a rescuer a pedophile or when he told companies to not advertise on Twitter, or a myriad of other instances. You can literally search for “tantrum” with his name and find more examples than you’ll know what to do with.
> what's happening in the US government is your problem
Don’t assume everyone you talk to on the internet lives in or is a citizen of the USA.
> we have our own problems
Including a despot. Which is unfortunate. You shouldn’t wish it on anyone else.
> we all are a part of humanity and the wars will end some day.
Indeed they will. Probably because we’ll all die.
I'm not saying that there isn't skill involved with hiring smart people, but I don't think it's correct to act like he single-handedly invented self-landing rockets.
Elon's stuff might be due to some kind of "skill", but that's not implied by him "betting his entire fortune" and winning.
They will be fine.
The supremacy clause was what ultimately killed it, by being useful enough to delay cases to the point they're dead.
I'm sure Trump will preemptively pardon them at the end of his term anyway. My worry is that these people will never be held accountable for what they're doing.
Save your worry for things that actually matter.
While I understand why Biden did what he did there, I didn't agree with it. At the very least it sets bad precedent and allows people like you to pretend they have a "gotcha!" argument when they really have nothing.
Edit: by the way, this post isn’t off-topic. It is about the activities of the US Digital Service (now known as Doge), and the exploits of young hackers who came up through top tech companies. It has implications for information systems security, especially as it relates to Silicon Valley culture.