Musk people have taken control of the Office of Personnel & management . They have installed sofa beds to work around the clock and senior management have been locked out of
" computer systems that contain the personal data of millions of federal employees, according to two agency officials."


https://www.reuters.com/world/us/musk-a ... 025-01-31/

In other concerning news the top-ranking Treasury official has been forced out because he objected to Musk surrogates getting access to Treasury payment systems.

"The report, citing three people with knowledge of the matter, said Lebryk and Musk's surrogates clashed over access to a sensitive system used to pay out more than $6 trillion a year in Social Security and Medicare benefits as well as federal salaries, government contract payments and tax refunds."

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/senior ... 025-01-31/

Why do they need to access to that system unless they are going to mess with it???

This is anecdotal and not authenticated so take it with a grain of salt...but you can feel the angst in what one Twitter user posted: "Seth, something is wrong at OPM. My monthly retirement annuity payment has suddenly dropped substantially from what it was last month, and the OPM meta-data that accompanies the direct deposit payment has changed as well. This is serious! "

What do Robber Barons tend to do exactly...

"We should not be giving Black people the same vaccine schedule that's given to Whites, because their immune system is better than ours." ---RFK Jr.

CNN:

"The Justice Dept. is demanding list of thousands of FBI agents and others who worked on Jan. 6 and Trump investigations for possible firing."

"Elon Musk’s minions—from trusted sidekicks to random college students and former Musk company interns—have taken over the General Services Administration, a critical government agency that manages federal offices and technology. Already, the team is attempting to use White House security credentials to gain unusual access to GSA tech, deploying a suite of new AI software, and recreating the office in X’s image, according to leaked documents obtained by WIRED."

https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-l ... istration/

"Hedge funds are making a multi-billion-dollar gamble against the US economy, betting Donald Trump's presidency will result in a massive market crash that could devastate 401(k)s, pensions, and household savings across America."

"Throughout January, investors placed 10 times more bets on American stocks falling than on their continued rise, a staggering shift that reflects growing unease over Wall Street's future under Trump's leadership."

"According to the Financial Times, Elliott executives believe Trump's policies are fueling speculative bubbles that could 'wreak havoc' if markets crash."

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailym ... alarm.html

CNN has a more concerning description on what happened with that Treasury official leaving...

"The top civil servant at the Treasury Department, David Lebryk, left unexpectedly on Friday after Trump-affiliated officials expressed interest in stopping certain payments made by the federal government, according to three people familiar with the situation."

In response to a tweet from Mike Flynn alleging some group was getting illegal payments , Musk is claiming that "the Doge team is rapid shutting down these illegal payments." He also claimed that with regard to fiscal year 2026 the Doge team was up to a 4 billion/day reduction in spending for fiscal year 2026 (that's 1.5 trillion/year); discretionary spending was only 1.7 trillion in 2023.

"Elon Musk has vowed to unilaterally cancel hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of government grants after apparently gaining access to review the US Treasury’s vast payments system, a move that prompted the sudden resignation of one of the department’s most senior officials."

"The world’s richest man, who bankrolled Donald Trump’s re-election campaign and was tasked by the president with running the cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency, boasted on his social media site X that he was “rapidly shutting down . . . illegal payments” after a list of grants to Lutheran organisations was posted online.

"A source with knowledge of the situation said that DOGE representatives did not have the authority to cut payments, only to read the data."

https://www.ft.com/content/27ba0a6a-0d9 ... 0b581c0481

For some inexplicable reason President Trump signs an order creating a Sovereign Wealth Fund (we don't run surpluses which is why these funds are usually created) almost immediately after Musk gains control of the Treasury where federal money is kept. I'm sure there is no connection between those two things...right?

CNN: "We have some breaking news for you. The acting head of the social security administration has resigned. Their departure comes after she refused to provide DOGE staffers access to sensitive information."

I always wonder why people in such situations usually resign. I would insist on being fired.

Yes. I just figure that perhaps that while it doesn't affect a federal pension if it has vested might affect some benefit or if not they think it would affect future employment prospects.

geojanes wrote:I always wonder why people in such situations usually resign. I would insist on being fired.

If you resign you are less likely to lose benefits, severance etc.

"A federal judge on Wednesday issued an order temporarily blocking the Trump administration from imposing a 15 percent cap on research funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH)NIH-funded researchers who spoke with The Hill said that if the 15 percent cap on indirect funds were allowed to stand, it would make crucial research “nonviable.” [The Hill] The cuts are expected to reduce NIH funding at Stanford by $160 million per year. [The Standford Daily] As many as 1,300 probationary employees at CDC and 1,500 at NIH weee fired. [NPR]

"It’s the Trump administration’s latest blow to NIH’s $5.2 billion intramural program (in-house research instead of grants to outside institutions)."He could soon be out of a job because the Trump administration has imposed a new restriction on employment that could push out thousands of NIH’s senior scientists: The agency cannot retain scientists in 1-year to 4-year positions that have long been routinely renewed. Although NIH investigators who have been granted tenure have a type of Title 42 appointment that doesn’t require renewal, those tenured researchers make up just 20% of NIH’s nearly 4000 senior scientists." [science.org]

"Additionally, the cuts could result in the loss of 81,000 jobs within the Veterans Health Administration, leading to longer wait times, fewer medical staff, and reduced care quality. On the research side, over 370 ongoing clinical trials focused on conditions such as ALS, multiple sclerosis, and PTSD could be halted, delaying progress in treating these health issues." [academyhealth.org]
'"As we have written about in previous editions, the combination of disrupted grant processes, budgetary freezes, and capped indirect costs has resulted in financial instability at academic institutions, leading to tuition increases, hiring freezes and decreased graduate admissions."
[academy health.org]

Making American Science...great again.

https://academyhealth.org/blog/2025-03/ ... ction-news

https://www.science.org/content/article ... e-research

https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-heal ... trump-doge

https://stanforddaily.com/2025/03/06/ni ... -in-limbo/



https://ww2.aip.org/fyi/nih-scientists- ... ch-freezes

https://www.google.com/amp/s/thehill.co ... -cuts/amp/

My kid is in graduate school getting a Ph'D in chemistry. He told me that all the grants involving cis and trans molecules in organic chemistry have been stopped. Not other grants, just the organic chemistry grants that use these organic chemistry terms.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cis%E2%80%93trans_isomerism#

Morons. Unbelievable morons.