Officials in US health agencies fear ‘people will get sick’ as programmes are slashed and scientists are fired under the constant surveillance of DOGE
Zoom meetings are avoided out of fear they are being secretly recorded. Conversations about budgets and policies are held in soundproof offices, as if they were matters of national security. Many employees carry small notebooks with them, jotting down notes instead of logging them on a computer. The desks of several sacked colleagues are empty — save for the few who have left family photos and possessions behind in case a judge rules they can return.
“There is a constant sense that we’re being watched and monitored,” the source said. “DOGE leadership are located several floors above but they have this omnipotent presence … We’re counted when we swipe our badges into the building.”
Holy fuck, it’s literally every piece of news about what a disaster the trump admin is, someone has to butt in with a reminder “what about the democrats”. Democrats are irrelevant, have been since November. Even if all of them voted against, the gop would have approved this guy and all the other guys anyway. This is a gop nomination, approved by gop politicians, implementing a gop agenda, voted for by gop voters.
It’s not irrelevant. Voting to confirm some obviously incompetent moron into a cabinet position makes you complicit.
Edit: in this case, they didn’t actually vote for him. All Democrats voted against.
True, but his main point stands. It’s not just this. Every single time the Trump admin does something shitty, one of the first three comments is about how it’s the Democrats fault.
Lemmy is being manipulated.
I’m hoping the truth can prevail over the very loud noise. But if five people come after me to argue against Democrats, what will most people in here end up believing?
I’m fine with criticizing Democrats when it’s specific and targeted. This one kind of gets there. But, you know, isn’t there a bigger issue?
The point is that the Democrats aren’t doing anywhere near enough to resist the fascist takeover and that had been true pretty much since day one. They are so hell bent on preserving the status quo that they’ll rather hand the country to the fascists than support any meaningful change.
The point is that you want to discourage/split the vote for next election.
You’re doing the same the Fox News and talk radio did to Hillary Clinton over 20 years.
What Lemmy threads have you been in for the last two years? The constant refrain in every political thread was about how the Democratic Party, in control of the executive, should not march into genocide, fascism, and hand Trump a second term. Those people got heavy resistance in every thread likewise without fail. There were those who felt a stance on Gaza was hypocritical and that a genocide should not have any place in their politics.
This is the entirely preventable and predictable reality.
Yep. No one except leftists tried to hold Dems accountable, so the politicians got lazy and complicit.
Yes, the fight against capitalism and the fascists that back it is an existential issue for all peoples. So it is incredibly important to point out how the Democrats are controlled opposition and waiting for them to save us will just allow us to sink deeper into the shit.
I’ll agree with complicit, but the main responsibility lies with the gop and the public that put them in place. There are 77 million people responsible, and a few dems “complicit”.
…and a shocking number of democratic ones. It SHOULD have been a party lines vote. But Democratic politicians did what they always do: extend an olive branch while they’re in the process of actively getting fucked over, and then portray theatrical shock and dismay when entirely predictable consequences issue from the situation.
Genuinely, I have a very hard time believing the Democratic Party and its leadership isn’t just controlled opposition at this point. They’re so consistently feckless and ineffective - and have been for so long - that it’s got to be intentional at some level.
This is not true at all.
https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1191/vote_119_1_00052.htm
Look at this, not a single (D) amongst the Yeas
Which is bad optics, but irrelevant to the outcome.
He was confirmed 52-48, it’s absolutely not irrelevant.
Republicans have majority in the senate, they would have confirmed him anyways.
It’s still important because the Democrats are our opposition to the GOP, so we need to work on replacing establishment Dems with people with a soul and a spine or we’ll never get anywhere.
No, citizens are the opposition to the GOP. It’s up to us that see MAGA bullshit to get others to realize too.
The citizens’ work of putting pressure on the government would have been so much easier right now had “both sides” mentality not elected Donald.
Had Harris won, criticism of democrats would have been far more effective.
Remember when RFK jr was trying to hitch his wagon to either Biden’s camp or trumps?
Dems didn’t call out his pseudoscience then and distance themselves.
Dems voted to confirm wormbrain.
The DNC is complicit in this shit show and enable the GOP
Dems rejected his proposal and he went to trump. If the dems voted not to confirm him it wouldn’t have mattered. The republicans are in charge, full control of all branches of government. Complaining about the dems everytime a republican does something barbaric is just excusing their behavior.
Oh, well if it didn’t matter if they chose to confirm him or not, why did they do it?
And you’re excusing the Democrats for confirming an anti-science wormbrain to the highest medical office in the land.
I get not wanting to blame the Democrats when the Republicans are shitty, but that only really works WHEN THE DEMOCRATS AREN’T PART OF THE REASON IT HAPPENED IN THE FIRST PLACE.
Generally I’d be with you in trying to shift the unwarranted blame, but it’s not unwarranted in this situation at all.
I’m not excusing them. I’m saying why are we talking again about democrats in a piece of news about republicans doing republican things with a republican president, house, senate and Supreme Court. I do think it is unwarranted in this case.
If none of it mattered, why tf would Dems vote to confirm him? It’s spineless leadership that spits on voters who are sick of not having any representation. The establishment Dems are complacent and can’t bothered with showing any form of resistance. It is not excusing the GOP to say the DNC is complicit trash.
Why? No idea, maybe for optics, maybe because some deals, maybe because they are idiots. Idiots without power for the next year and a half at least.
I think it is excusing the gop if on every comment section about their fuckups the top 5 comment is “but the dems”.
Democrats still got almost half the votes in the entire country and they aren’t doing any efforts to represent their interests.
Almost half, exactly, so they have no power. They control no chamber. They sit in no office. They can go on interviews and complain how much everything sucks, and I assume they do that. Voters made sure to leave them no tools to stop the gop.
They can fight resist and delay. But they are doing literally nothing. They could have blocked the budget. But they said “nah, it would harm the people blocking it”. So yeah they’re doing nothing to stop them.
Why would it harm people blocking it? Is it because they would lose the next election? Like… People don’t want it to be blocked? That’s why they gave the majority in all chambers to the republicans?
Not if you’re Israeli, which is all that counts. You got your boom boom tonight!