A "justify your existence" email from Trump's Office of Personnel Management went out on Saturday, following an Elon Musk tweet. "How is this real life?!?" one CDC employee responded.
I think it is time for CDC leadership to organize some strategic resistance in consultation with legal counsel & union leaders. They need to ID & prioritize the most important aspects of their work that protect public safety. Quiet compliance is simply not effective unless it is an illusion purposefully created to mask underground efforts. I keep looking at effective ways used in Europe during Nazi occupation to inform & protect the people. As Anne Applebaum says, this is basically the same as an occupying regime. I submit it is time to respond to this reality. And I am willing to help!
I'd love to see the snarky responses--as a counterpoint to the ceaseless demeaning of these crucial employees. I agree with Elaine, I'd like to see some employee protection/lawsuits.
I am SO proud of any American standing up to these absurd, traitorous bullies. I stand with our incredible government employees who keep us safe & healthy and am looking for ways to actively help. Will heed Elaine Herda's above below!
This looks like another chapter in Elon's attempt to copy and paste his Twitter restructuring strategy on to the federal workforce-- just like the "fork in the road" email.
So his defenders will probably point to the fact that, contrary to some predictions at the time, Twitter kept running without any catastrophic outages after Musk cut something like 80% of their employees.
What they don't get is that this worked because all the big tech companies of the time had deliberately overstaffed in order to hoard talent -- an unusual and unsustainable situation industry wide which ended with the 2023 layoffs. Literally anyone who knew anything about the federal government could have told Elon that, while it has many very real systemic inefficiency problems, that kind of overstaffing isn't one of them. But when all you have is a hammer...
How did we get this point and how do get out of it? While Federal employees are fighting to keep their jobs and important agencies are being gutted, the NYT is reporting President Trump is furious about delays in delivering two new Air Force One jets (they're on track for a 2028 or 2029 delivery). And has empowered Elon Musk to explore drastic options to prod Boeing to move faster, including relaxing security clearance standards for some who work on the presidential planes. The cost for the job looks like at least $4.3 billion. Apparently, Trump "is infuriated that he begins his second term flying around in the same aging planes that once transported President George H.W. Bush." The current AF One's do require maintenance due to age, but my husband who flew 747's for the airlines says that plane, that age, is still in service safely flying all over the world. We sacrifice our federal workforce for Trump's image and ego. Infuriating.
I didn't have to justify my existence when I was in Honduras executing American foreign policy against the Sandinista National Liberation Front. I didn't have to justify my existence when I was in the Former Republic of Yugoslavia helping secure war criminals indicated by the International War Crime Tribunal. I didn't have to justify my existence when I was deployed during the COVID19. I'm not going to justify my existence for the past week, even though Monday was President's Day.
Worth some effort to detail them further. Aside from the obvious time wasting, it is an arrogant as well as ignorant command. It is breathtaking in its stupidity. Totally unsympathetic to what should be the treasured point of view of the staff, unbothered by wasting their efforts and then criticizing their inadequate compliance. An outrage.
I think it is time for CDC leadership to organize some strategic resistance in consultation with legal counsel & union leaders. They need to ID & prioritize the most important aspects of their work that protect public safety. Quiet compliance is simply not effective unless it is an illusion purposefully created to mask underground efforts. I keep looking at effective ways used in Europe during Nazi occupation to inform & protect the people. As Anne Applebaum says, this is basically the same as an occupying regime. I submit it is time to respond to this reality. And I am willing to help!
What my scientist spouse will say if he says anything at all:
Not written by me but I saw this on Reddit: This week I accomplished:
100% of the tasks and duties required of me by my position description
100% of the work product that my manager and I have agreed to
100% of the duties and performance elements that are used to evaluate my performance
100% of the deliverables requested of me by my direct supervisor.
I exceeded expectations in the delivery of the above
Details available upon a formal request from my direct supervisor.
🤣🙌🫶
I'd love to see the snarky responses--as a counterpoint to the ceaseless demeaning of these crucial employees. I agree with Elaine, I'd like to see some employee protection/lawsuits.
Alt NPS (on all the socials) has some pretty funny ones.
Just saw Chris Christie on ABC “THIS WEEK …”
Apparently Kash Patel just told FBI staff NOT to respond to this email.
CDC Director & leadership should do the same! If it comes from department leadership, there is some protection for staff.
I am SO proud of any American standing up to these absurd, traitorous bullies. I stand with our incredible government employees who keep us safe & healthy and am looking for ways to actively help. Will heed Elaine Herda's above below!
This looks like another chapter in Elon's attempt to copy and paste his Twitter restructuring strategy on to the federal workforce-- just like the "fork in the road" email.
So his defenders will probably point to the fact that, contrary to some predictions at the time, Twitter kept running without any catastrophic outages after Musk cut something like 80% of their employees.
What they don't get is that this worked because all the big tech companies of the time had deliberately overstaffed in order to hoard talent -- an unusual and unsustainable situation industry wide which ended with the 2023 layoffs. Literally anyone who knew anything about the federal government could have told Elon that, while it has many very real systemic inefficiency problems, that kind of overstaffing isn't one of them. But when all you have is a hammer...
How did we get this point and how do get out of it? While Federal employees are fighting to keep their jobs and important agencies are being gutted, the NYT is reporting President Trump is furious about delays in delivering two new Air Force One jets (they're on track for a 2028 or 2029 delivery). And has empowered Elon Musk to explore drastic options to prod Boeing to move faster, including relaxing security clearance standards for some who work on the presidential planes. The cost for the job looks like at least $4.3 billion. Apparently, Trump "is infuriated that he begins his second term flying around in the same aging planes that once transported President George H.W. Bush." The current AF One's do require maintenance due to age, but my husband who flew 747's for the airlines says that plane, that age, is still in service safely flying all over the world. We sacrifice our federal workforce for Trump's image and ego. Infuriating.
I didn't have to justify my existence when I was in Honduras executing American foreign policy against the Sandinista National Liberation Front. I didn't have to justify my existence when I was in the Former Republic of Yugoslavia helping secure war criminals indicated by the International War Crime Tribunal. I didn't have to justify my existence when I was deployed during the COVID19. I'm not going to justify my existence for the past week, even though Monday was President's Day.
This request/command has so many objectively bad attributes it might be
Worth some effort to detail them further. Aside from the obvious time wasting, it is an arrogant as well as ignorant command. It is breathtaking in its stupidity. Totally unsympathetic to what should be the treasured point of view of the staff, unbothered by wasting their efforts and then criticizing their inadequate compliance. An outrage.