1 00:00:04,879 --> 00:00:07,160 Speaker 1: What's going on? Thank you so much for listening to 2 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:09,640 this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon 3 00:00:09,679 --> 00:00:12,480 to three on WBT Radio in Charlotte. And if you 4 00:00:12,560 --> 00:00:16,719 want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream, 5 00:00:16,760 --> 00:00:19,239 my daily show prep with all the links, become a patron, 6 00:00:19,320 --> 00:00:22,600 go to dpeakclendarshow dot com. Make sure you hit the 7 00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:25,160 subscribe button. Get every episode for free right to your 8 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:27,719 smartphone or tablet. And again, thank you so much for 9 00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:32,000 your support. So maybe you have heard a little bit 10 00:00:32,039 --> 00:00:38,079 about how all of these Doge employees have quit. They 11 00:00:38,079 --> 00:00:42,840 are not working for Musk's farm no more. Right, Well, 12 00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:48,719 let me give you some of the background here. And 13 00:00:48,920 --> 00:00:52,719 to its credit, the Associated Press does mention what I 14 00:00:52,719 --> 00:00:56,159 think is the most important piece of information. But it 15 00:00:56,200 --> 00:01:00,399 is then kind of comical how the AP disregard that 16 00:01:00,719 --> 00:01:06,599 and contradicts itself in its own article. This is why, 17 00:01:06,680 --> 00:01:10,840 for example, groundnews dot com if you've never used ground News, 18 00:01:11,719 --> 00:01:18,599 they measure the bias of not stories, but of the 19 00:01:18,640 --> 00:01:24,040 publications or outlets, and AP falls on the left side, 20 00:01:24,519 --> 00:01:30,480 which is accurate. So Federal Technology this is the headline 21 00:01:30,799 --> 00:01:38,359 Federal Technology staffers resign rather than help Musk and Doge 22 00:01:38,920 --> 00:01:44,719 story by two individuals, Brian slut Satsco slid Disco Slow 23 00:01:44,760 --> 00:01:50,280 Disco and Byron Tao. Quote. More than twenty civil service 24 00:01:50,319 --> 00:01:54,760 employees resigned Tuesday. You notice they never call them bureaucrats. 25 00:01:55,200 --> 00:01:59,400 They never call them government workers here. It's always civil 26 00:01:59,519 --> 00:02:05,760 service or public servants. Nonpartisan what do they call them? 27 00:02:05,799 --> 00:02:09,800 At one point in this article they call them nonpartisan employees. 28 00:02:11,439 --> 00:02:17,960 They're always carrying the water for the Democrat narrative, you know, 29 00:02:18,080 --> 00:02:24,360 defending all of these government workers. More than twenty civil 30 00:02:24,400 --> 00:02:30,120 service employees resigned yesterday from billionaire Trump advisor. That's the 31 00:02:30,159 --> 00:02:32,639 way you always have to refer to Elon Musk. By 32 00:02:32,680 --> 00:02:38,280 the way, is billionaire Trump advisor or billionaire South African 33 00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:42,599 Trump advisor even though he's an American citizen has been 34 00:02:42,639 --> 00:02:48,319 for a while. But they have resigned from Musk's Department 35 00:02:48,360 --> 00:02:52,560 of Government Efficiency, saying they were refusing to use their 36 00:02:52,639 --> 00:03:00,240 technical expertise to quote dismantle critical public services. So that's 37 00:03:00,240 --> 00:03:04,400 how they saw their job under Musk and with the 38 00:03:04,439 --> 00:03:07,599 DOGE people that they have to that they're being called 39 00:03:07,680 --> 00:03:12,639 upon to dismantle critical public services. We swore to serve 40 00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:18,199 the American people, end uphold our oath to the Constitution, which, 41 00:03:18,240 --> 00:03:22,680 by the way, upholding your oath to the Constitution is 42 00:03:22,719 --> 00:03:27,599 not the same as dismantling critical public services, right, They're 43 00:03:27,639 --> 00:03:30,520 not the same thing. In fact, sometimes they could very 44 00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:34,159 well be at odds. And also your idea of what 45 00:03:34,319 --> 00:03:39,039 is quote critical may not be my idea of what 46 00:03:39,159 --> 00:03:43,120 is critical. But look, you feel strongly enough about protecting 47 00:03:43,199 --> 00:03:47,159 the you know, the Guatemalan sex changes, and so you 48 00:03:47,199 --> 00:03:50,719 don't want to help DOGE anymore. Fine, there's the door. 49 00:03:51,039 --> 00:03:53,199 Take it easy. You probably should have taken that severance 50 00:03:53,240 --> 00:03:55,319 deal when it was offered, could have been paid out 51 00:03:55,319 --> 00:04:00,120 through the rest of the year or whatever. But that's fine. Bye. Like, 52 00:04:00,159 --> 00:04:01,800 if you don't feel like you can help with the 53 00:04:01,840 --> 00:04:06,199 mission to save the country from bankruptcy, fine, I don't 54 00:04:06,240 --> 00:04:09,159 want you here either. And you know what, now the 55 00:04:09,240 --> 00:04:14,479 slot is open for somebody who is aligned for the mission. 56 00:04:16,120 --> 00:04:19,199 I look at this as a good thing. I'm happy 57 00:04:19,240 --> 00:04:22,399 that you are leaving. You can write whatever you want 58 00:04:22,439 --> 00:04:25,480 to write. I don't care. It doesn't matter. You're gone, 59 00:04:24,959 --> 00:04:29,720 You're you're out the door, so they say, twenty one 60 00:04:29,759 --> 00:04:33,879 staffers wrote in a joint resignation letter. Although I think 61 00:04:33,920 --> 00:04:36,600 they are anonymous at this point, and the AP is 62 00:04:36,639 --> 00:04:40,399 protecting their anonymity. They did get a copy of the letter. 63 00:04:40,879 --> 00:04:42,879 They say, it has become clear that we can no 64 00:04:42,959 --> 00:04:48,519 longer honor those commitments that they swore to upholl, so 65 00:04:48,680 --> 00:04:52,439 they're out, okay. The employees also warned that many of 66 00:04:52,480 --> 00:04:55,639 those enlisted by Musk to help him slash the size 67 00:04:55,680 --> 00:04:59,120 of the federal government under President Donald Trump's administration were 68 00:04:59,199 --> 00:05:03,839 political ideologues who did not have the necessary skills or 69 00:05:03,920 --> 00:05:07,800 experience for the task ahead of them. So that's why 70 00:05:07,839 --> 00:05:10,560 we're leaving them all alone to do whatever they want 71 00:05:12,439 --> 00:05:16,480 this okay. So you got a bunch of people that 72 00:05:16,519 --> 00:05:18,560 don't know what they're doing, and your response is to 73 00:05:18,600 --> 00:05:25,560 give them more control to protect the critical public services. 74 00:05:26,879 --> 00:05:30,600 Have you guys thought this through? Rather than be there 75 00:05:31,360 --> 00:05:33,959 to help explain to them, hey, you probably don't want 76 00:05:33,959 --> 00:05:36,680 to cut this. Cutting this or doing that is going 77 00:05:36,720 --> 00:05:40,160 to have this impact or that impact, and so you 78 00:05:40,199 --> 00:05:43,639 shouldn't do this or that. But rather than be there 79 00:05:44,160 --> 00:05:47,199 and help to guide the doge people that you say 80 00:05:47,439 --> 00:05:51,160 are ideologues and don't know what they're doing, your response 81 00:05:51,279 --> 00:05:56,680 is to walk away. I'm not so sure that's true. 82 00:05:56,839 --> 00:05:58,920 I don't have any doubt that some of the people 83 00:05:58,959 --> 00:06:02,040 that are doing work for DOGE or ideologues. Don't get 84 00:06:02,079 --> 00:06:06,199 me wrong, they have political beliefs. They are in there 85 00:06:06,240 --> 00:06:09,800 on a mission. Their mission you call it ideology, I 86 00:06:09,839 --> 00:06:13,680 would call it, you know, economic literacy. They're trying to 87 00:06:13,720 --> 00:06:17,639 find cuts. They're looking for waste, fraud and abuse. Things 88 00:06:17,639 --> 00:06:20,560 that they may think are waste or fraud may not be. 89 00:06:21,319 --> 00:06:24,480 That's why you being there might actually help inform them 90 00:06:24,519 --> 00:06:26,560 that no, no, no, that's it looks like this, but 91 00:06:26,639 --> 00:06:31,360 it's not whatever. But I suspect that the answers you 92 00:06:31,439 --> 00:06:34,240 are giving them are not adequate and they are not 93 00:06:34,519 --> 00:06:40,279 explaining sufficiently why the money is being spent. And that's 94 00:06:40,319 --> 00:06:43,519 where you're running into problems, is that you're just defending 95 00:06:43,959 --> 00:06:48,800 every single thing and you are against their efforts to 96 00:06:49,040 --> 00:06:53,160 find the waste, fraud and abuse. That's my suspicion. I 97 00:06:53,199 --> 00:06:54,879 don't know that to be true, and there are twenty 98 00:06:54,879 --> 00:06:56,519 one different people, so I don't know what all of 99 00:06:56,600 --> 00:07:01,279 their experiences and philosophies are, but I would say that's 100 00:07:01,680 --> 00:07:04,120 probably a part of it, at least for some of 101 00:07:04,160 --> 00:07:08,519 the twenty one The mass resignation of engineers, data scientists 102 00:07:08,680 --> 00:07:12,560 designers and product managers. Is a as the AP calls 103 00:07:12,560 --> 00:07:17,240 it here, a temporary setback for Musk and the Republican 104 00:07:17,279 --> 00:07:22,439 presidents tech driven purge of the federal workforce? Is it, though? 105 00:07:23,600 --> 00:07:28,079 Is it a temporary setback if they're trying to get 106 00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:32,079 rid of personnel A bunch of personnel getting rid of 107 00:07:32,120 --> 00:07:35,480 themselves doesn't seem like a setback at all. It sounds 108 00:07:35,519 --> 00:07:40,399 like it's actually in line with what they're trying to do. Also, 109 00:07:40,560 --> 00:07:45,160 as I mentioned, it frees up the slot for somebody 110 00:07:45,160 --> 00:07:48,120 that is willing to come in and help them right 111 00:07:48,199 --> 00:07:53,319 the ship, help them do the mission. The AP continues, 112 00:07:53,360 --> 00:07:55,519 it comes amid a flurry of court challenges that have 113 00:07:55,600 --> 00:07:58,920 sought to stall, stop, or unwind their efforts to fire 114 00:07:59,040 --> 00:08:02,600 or coerce thousand of government workers out of jobs. Huh 115 00:08:02,800 --> 00:08:05,279 So is it possible that this might be in one 116 00:08:05,319 --> 00:08:07,920 of the motivations They feel like, well, if we all 117 00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:12,439 quit it once, it'll bog down Doge and they won't 118 00:08:12,439 --> 00:08:14,680 be able to keep doing what they're doing. Right, So, 119 00:08:14,759 --> 00:08:18,480 there's a there's a political strategy here too, right by 120 00:08:18,480 --> 00:08:23,360 the nonpartisan employees that there is a Yeah, there's a 121 00:08:23,360 --> 00:08:28,199 political tactic being employed Musk posted on his social media 122 00:08:28,399 --> 00:08:31,680 website Twitter formerly known as X that the story was 123 00:08:31,800 --> 00:08:36,000 quote fake news, and suggested that the staffers were quote 124 00:08:36,320 --> 00:08:43,600 dem political holdovers and they should have been fired had 125 00:08:43,639 --> 00:08:48,639 they not or would have been fired had they not resigned. Right, 126 00:08:49,440 --> 00:08:54,519 How could he say this? How is this possible? It's Doge? 127 00:08:54,720 --> 00:08:58,279 Where did all these staffers for DOGE come from? Aren't 128 00:08:58,279 --> 00:09:01,840 these musketeers? Aren't they the people Elon brought in himself? 129 00:09:02,080 --> 00:09:05,320 Why would he call them demn political holdovers? Well, it 130 00:09:05,399 --> 00:09:07,960 could be that these were people that were brought in 131 00:09:08,240 --> 00:09:14,039 to fix the Obamacare website, and they say they were 132 00:09:14,759 --> 00:09:19,519 motivated to do so as a public service. I have 133 00:09:19,600 --> 00:09:24,240 an idea about what their political philosophy might be. Here's 134 00:09:24,240 --> 00:09:26,840 a great idea. How about making an escape to a 135 00:09:26,879 --> 00:09:30,399 really special and secluded getaway in western North Carolina. Just 136 00:09:30,440 --> 00:09:32,960 a quick drive up the mountain and Cabins of Asheville 137 00:09:33,080 --> 00:09:36,879 is your connection. 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All Right, 156 00:10:38,720 --> 00:10:42,759 So here's the key about the twenty one staffers that 157 00:10:42,879 --> 00:10:49,840 quit DOGE. That Doge wasn't Doge until about a minute ago. 158 00:10:51,559 --> 00:10:56,919 It was called the United States Digital Service. Now, if 159 00:10:56,960 --> 00:11:00,399 you listen to this program. You know that because I 160 00:11:00,519 --> 00:11:05,080 have pointed this out from the inception when people are like, 161 00:11:05,200 --> 00:11:08,600 it's not even a government agency, or he needs to 162 00:11:08,600 --> 00:11:13,240 be appointed and confirmed by the Senate, right like Elon Musk. Right, 163 00:11:13,799 --> 00:11:16,679 We've heard all of these. Whatever argument they can make 164 00:11:16,720 --> 00:11:20,000 to try to slow this thing down, that's all they're 165 00:11:20,039 --> 00:11:24,919 trying to do. See, I'm old enough to remember, and 166 00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:28,559 this is going back a while. When a president won, 167 00:11:30,480 --> 00:11:34,440 it was understood that he had a mandate from the 168 00:11:34,480 --> 00:11:39,279 population to do things that he had campaigned on. Seriously, 169 00:11:40,320 --> 00:11:49,519 lawmakers recognized, bureaucrats recognized that the expression of the people's 170 00:11:49,600 --> 00:11:53,600 will through the elect through the election of a president, 171 00:11:54,679 --> 00:11:57,519 meant that that president had a mandate from the people, 172 00:11:58,039 --> 00:12:02,320 and that you govern based on the mandate of the people. 173 00:12:02,639 --> 00:12:07,879 Because if you cross the people, then you are destabilizing 174 00:12:07,919 --> 00:12:11,919 the society, the society that is built on having an 175 00:12:11,919 --> 00:12:16,679 elected representative government. And so when you have somebody that 176 00:12:16,759 --> 00:12:21,000 says I'm going to drain the swamp, I'm going to 177 00:12:21,039 --> 00:12:25,120 shrink the federal government, and that person wins and they 178 00:12:25,120 --> 00:12:28,039 get into office then and they start doing what they 179 00:12:28,080 --> 00:12:31,960 promise to do. I'm not saying you roll over and 180 00:12:32,120 --> 00:12:34,360 you know, just allow him to do whatever he wants. 181 00:12:34,399 --> 00:12:37,799 I'm not saying that. I am saying you don't gum 182 00:12:37,879 --> 00:12:41,039 up the works and try to slow all of the 183 00:12:41,080 --> 00:12:45,279 progress down so that person then cannot enact the will 184 00:12:45,279 --> 00:12:49,360 of the people, because what you're doing is you're thwarting 185 00:12:49,399 --> 00:12:52,799 the will of the people. That's not dare I call 186 00:12:52,879 --> 00:12:58,200 it democracy? Right? You guys have been saying it dies 187 00:12:58,240 --> 00:13:02,240 in darkness and all that, So this is it in light. 188 00:13:03,320 --> 00:13:09,440 We are all seeing what people voted for. So the 189 00:13:09,480 --> 00:13:15,320 staffers who resigned from what is now called DOGE, we're 190 00:13:15,440 --> 00:13:21,480 actually employees of the USDs, the United States Digital Service, 191 00:13:24,039 --> 00:13:30,559 but their duties were being integrated into DOGE because they 192 00:13:30,600 --> 00:13:35,159 had been that department that the USDs had been created 193 00:13:35,159 --> 00:13:39,120 a decade ago. And so when DOGE gets in there, 194 00:13:39,159 --> 00:13:45,639 they're like, okay, well, why don't we just rename the USDs. 195 00:13:46,480 --> 00:13:51,000 We'll come into that, integrate them into us and we 196 00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:54,080 don't need to create a new government department. Because remember 197 00:13:54,120 --> 00:13:56,799 that was the criticism too. They're like, oh, you're shrinking 198 00:13:56,840 --> 00:14:01,039 government by creating a new department of Government efficiency. Hahaha. Well, 199 00:14:01,080 --> 00:14:03,759 actually they didn't create a new department. They took over 200 00:14:03,840 --> 00:14:08,720 one and renamed it, and the people that were there 201 00:14:09,840 --> 00:14:13,759 got into that agency. They went to work for the 202 00:14:13,879 --> 00:14:20,159 USDs because of a political motivation to do so. It 203 00:14:20,279 --> 00:14:25,399 was established under President Barack Obama after the botched rollout 204 00:14:25,840 --> 00:14:31,080 of Healthcare dot Gov. I remember this because I was 205 00:14:31,159 --> 00:14:36,919 touting that I had a website that actually worked. They 206 00:14:36,919 --> 00:14:39,799 did not. Their website was so terrible, and they had 207 00:14:39,840 --> 00:14:43,279 so much time to create a website to roll out 208 00:14:43,279 --> 00:14:47,039 healthcare dot gov. It was so bad. They created. Obama 209 00:14:47,080 --> 00:14:53,000 created this whole entity in order to fix the problem. 210 00:14:53,080 --> 00:14:55,919 Healthcare dot gov, the web portal that millions of Americans 211 00:14:55,960 --> 00:14:59,120 now use but couldn't at first to sign up for 212 00:14:59,200 --> 00:15:05,799 insurance plan through the Democrats signature healthcare law. So these 213 00:15:05,799 --> 00:15:08,120 were people who took the job over there at the 214 00:15:08,200 --> 00:15:13,960 USDs to help implement Obamacare. Do you think that they 215 00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:19,799 have a particular political leaning. I do. I think it's 216 00:15:19,799 --> 00:15:23,240 pretty clear. You know, stories are powerful. They help us 217 00:15:23,279 --> 00:15:27,039 make sense of things, to understand experiences. Stories connect us 218 00:15:27,039 --> 00:15:29,960 to the people of our past while transcending generations. They 219 00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:32,879 help us process the meaning of life, and our stories 220 00:15:32,919 --> 00:15:36,679 are told through images and videos. Preserve your stories with 221 00:15:36,799 --> 00:15:40,639 creative video started in nineteen ninety seven and Minhill, North Carolina. 222 00:15:40,840 --> 00:15:43,399 It was the first company to provide this valuable service, 223 00:15:43,480 --> 00:15:48,200 converting images, photos and videos into high quality produced slide shows, 224 00:15:48,320 --> 00:15:51,960 videos and albums. The trusted, talented and dedicated team at 225 00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:54,399 Creative Video will go over all of the details with 226 00:15:54,480 --> 00:15:58,320 you to create a perfect project. Satisfaction guaranteed. 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Matt Blackwell, 236 00:16:34,200 --> 00:16:39,759 Associate professor at Harvard, political scientist researching statistical methodology and 237 00:16:39,919 --> 00:16:44,919 US politics. He his that's in his Twitter profile people. 238 00:16:45,399 --> 00:16:49,080 He says, I completely missed that Republicans introduced a bill 239 00:16:49,440 --> 00:16:53,840 to increase the endowment tax from one point four percent 240 00:16:54,279 --> 00:17:00,440 to twenty one percent if past Harvard would go from 241 00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:04,599 paying about thirty five million dollars in federal taxes per 242 00:17:04,680 --> 00:17:10,200 year to five hundred twenty five million dollars, which he 243 00:17:10,240 --> 00:17:13,279 says is eight point two percent of its current operating expense. 244 00:17:14,960 --> 00:17:19,880 And Will Upton, who is the political editor at The 245 00:17:19,960 --> 00:17:24,559 National Pulse, former US Treasury Public Affairs official and former 246 00:17:24,599 --> 00:17:29,559 Trump administration alumni, he says, Oh, look, we finally found 247 00:17:29,720 --> 00:17:33,160 a billion dollar hedge fund that the Libs do not 248 00:17:33,319 --> 00:17:41,799 want taxed. Look at that, Yeah, tax the endowments. I 249 00:17:41,839 --> 00:17:45,519 got a message here from tim Oteo who says, I 250 00:17:45,599 --> 00:17:49,319 recall interviews with North Vietnamese after the Vietnam War. The 251 00:17:49,400 --> 00:17:53,039 overwhelming strength of the US should have so demoralized the 252 00:17:53,079 --> 00:17:56,160 North Vietnamese that they should have given up, But they didn't. 253 00:17:56,799 --> 00:18:01,160 The Vietnamese said that each time they saw Americans protesting 254 00:18:01,200 --> 00:18:05,200 the war, that bolstered their resolve, and they knew they 255 00:18:05,359 --> 00:18:09,440 just needed to hold out a little longer. Today's Democrats, 256 00:18:09,480 --> 00:18:12,799 by constantly attacking every aspect of the Trump administration, are 257 00:18:12,839 --> 00:18:16,279 working against the US by showing our nation's enemies that 258 00:18:16,319 --> 00:18:19,519 they just need to hold out a little longer. Right, Well, 259 00:18:19,559 --> 00:18:25,799 we saw a good example of this is the Hamas Hollies, 260 00:18:26,319 --> 00:18:33,079 right they you know, they just keep churning out the propaganda, 261 00:18:33,440 --> 00:18:37,039 at least they did under the Biden administration, right knowing 262 00:18:37,160 --> 00:18:40,839 that as long as they had a receptive audience on 263 00:18:40,880 --> 00:18:45,279 the left in Western societies, that the left would pressure 264 00:18:45,720 --> 00:18:51,079 Israel to a ceasefire, and so they would not negotiate 265 00:18:52,039 --> 00:18:54,640 on anything. And then along comes Trump after his win, 266 00:18:54,839 --> 00:18:56,839 and all of a sudden, it's like, okay, well let's yeah, 267 00:18:56,880 --> 00:19:03,960 well we'll we'll start doing some stuff. I remember seeing 268 00:19:03,960 --> 00:19:06,759 this stuff about Vietnam also the tet Offensive, if I 269 00:19:06,799 --> 00:19:12,079 recall correctly, it's like the viet Cong general or something 270 00:19:12,160 --> 00:19:14,640 that was in charge of that, and it was considered 271 00:19:14,720 --> 00:19:18,680 to be a colossal disaster for the viet Cong and 272 00:19:18,759 --> 00:19:21,920 he was ready to resign his post and all of 273 00:19:21,920 --> 00:19:26,440 this in disgrace. And then they saw the coverage and 274 00:19:26,519 --> 00:19:29,119 the way it was being reported, how it was an 275 00:19:29,119 --> 00:19:33,480 American disaster, and so he stayed on, and they're like, 276 00:19:33,519 --> 00:19:35,839 we can hold out a little bit longer. That's what 277 00:19:35,920 --> 00:19:37,680 I remember reading. It's been a while. I wasn't planning 278 00:19:37,720 --> 00:19:40,119 on talking about it. I would have pulled the I 279 00:19:40,119 --> 00:19:42,440 would have pulled the actual info, but that's what I 280 00:19:42,519 --> 00:19:48,039 remember of that story too. So you've got twenty one 281 00:19:48,079 --> 00:19:53,839 people that were employed at the United States Digital Service, Okay, 282 00:19:54,599 --> 00:19:59,960 the USDs, which was created to fix the Obamacare website 283 00:20:00,079 --> 00:20:06,119 ten years ago. All of the people that quit the USDs, 284 00:20:06,480 --> 00:20:11,000 which was then renamed DOGE. Right, that's why they didn't 285 00:20:11,039 --> 00:20:15,519 create a brand new department. They just took over the USDs, 286 00:20:16,079 --> 00:20:21,440 renamed it, rebranded it, and changed its focus. And now 287 00:20:21,519 --> 00:20:27,079 twenty one people quit yesterday anonymously wrote a letter together 288 00:20:27,319 --> 00:20:30,880 and handed it off to the Associated Press, who reports it. 289 00:20:31,559 --> 00:20:35,119 And this is supposed to be a setback for Elon Musk, 290 00:20:35,559 --> 00:20:38,559 who is trying to get people to leave the federal workforce. 291 00:20:38,559 --> 00:20:40,359 So I'm not really sure why that's a setback. But 292 00:20:41,319 --> 00:20:45,440 the AP then says, all previously, all of these people, 293 00:20:45,480 --> 00:20:50,720 the twenty one all previously held senior roles at such 294 00:20:50,839 --> 00:20:55,839 tech companies as Google and Amazon, and they wrote in 295 00:20:55,920 --> 00:20:59,799 their resignation letter here it is that they joined the 296 00:20:59,799 --> 00:21:04,039 government out of a sense of duty to public service, 297 00:21:05,519 --> 00:21:10,559 which is precisely what the current DOGE employees are doing now. 298 00:21:10,880 --> 00:21:14,200 By the way, the AP doesn't point that out, but 299 00:21:14,319 --> 00:21:17,680 that's what these guys are doing too. You accuse them 300 00:21:17,720 --> 00:21:20,319 of being ideologues, but they're going in there to do 301 00:21:20,359 --> 00:21:22,680 a thing because they think this is the right thing 302 00:21:22,759 --> 00:21:26,960 to do. You may disagree, but they're motivated by the 303 00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:30,160 exact same thing you were motivated by. But they're bad. 304 00:21:30,640 --> 00:21:35,680 Their motives are to be assumed the worst, but yours 305 00:21:35,799 --> 00:21:40,720 are pure. Trump's empowerment of Musk upended all of that. 306 00:21:41,240 --> 00:21:44,279 The day after Trump's inauguration, the staffers wrote, they were 307 00:21:44,279 --> 00:21:48,319 called into a series of interviews that foreshadowed the secretive 308 00:21:48,319 --> 00:21:53,039 and disruptive work of Musk's doge. According to the staffers, 309 00:21:53,480 --> 00:21:57,480 people wearing White House Visitors badges, some of whom would 310 00:21:57,480 --> 00:22:02,119 not give their names, grilled the nonpartisan employees about their 311 00:22:02,200 --> 00:22:10,079 qualifications and their politics. Wait a minute, their non partisan employees. 312 00:22:10,440 --> 00:22:13,440 So every single one of the twenty one people came 313 00:22:13,480 --> 00:22:17,079 from Tech Right, went to work to help fix the 314 00:22:17,119 --> 00:22:21,680 Obamacare website a decade ago, and then just stayed. And 315 00:22:22,319 --> 00:22:26,400 you're calling them all nonpartisan. The thing that motivated them 316 00:22:26,440 --> 00:22:32,839 to show up and help was partisan. Obamacare was forced 317 00:22:33,079 --> 00:22:38,599 through in a partisan way. It was a partisan fight. 318 00:22:39,240 --> 00:22:45,440 Republicans opposed it, Democrats forced it through via reconciliation. Remember 319 00:22:45,440 --> 00:22:51,160 that they bribed a bunch of US senators Democrats in 320 00:22:51,720 --> 00:22:56,400 red states basically or purple states. Remember the Cornhusker kickback, 321 00:22:56,759 --> 00:23:02,359 the Louisiana purchase. Right, there were all these enticements inducements 322 00:23:02,599 --> 00:23:05,200 to get Democrats to sign on to it so they 323 00:23:05,200 --> 00:23:09,799 could ram it through. And then after like a year 324 00:23:10,119 --> 00:23:12,759 that you had to build a website, you didn't build one. 325 00:23:12,839 --> 00:23:15,920 You didn't build one that function correctly. The whole thing collapsed. 326 00:23:16,359 --> 00:23:18,920 And then you guys are like, I'm going to join 327 00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:21,920 public service to help in this noble endeavor. And I'm 328 00:23:21,960 --> 00:23:27,000 supposed to believe that your nonpartisan. That's crap. That is 329 00:23:27,039 --> 00:23:33,119 absolute crap. So kudos to you for quitting happy trails. 330 00:23:33,279 --> 00:23:36,559 I'm sure you will end up in some Silicon Valley position. 331 00:23:37,400 --> 00:23:40,880 You guys lined up all of your exit strategies. Fine, good, 332 00:23:41,400 --> 00:23:46,680 get out, Happy to see you go. And no, I 333 00:23:46,720 --> 00:23:52,480 don't believe you were nonpartisan. And yes, I do understand 334 00:23:52,519 --> 00:23:55,039 why the DOGE employees coming in would ask you about 335 00:23:55,079 --> 00:23:57,920 your politics, because I have a pretty good idea what 336 00:23:57,960 --> 00:24:00,200 your politics are, and I have a pretty good idea 337 00:24:00,279 --> 00:24:03,480 that you would try to stymy their efforts to save 338 00:24:03,799 --> 00:24:08,079 taxpayer funds, which is actually a pretty embarrassing and shameful 339 00:24:08,079 --> 00:24:11,559 thing for you guys, not dog all right, if you're 340 00:24:11,559 --> 00:24:13,359 listening to this show, you know I try to keep 341 00:24:13,440 --> 00:24:15,119 up with all sorts of current events, and I know 342 00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:17,599 you do too. And you've probably heard me say get 343 00:24:17,640 --> 00:24:21,599 your news from multiple sources. Why well, because it's how 344 00:24:21,640 --> 00:24:24,240 you detect media bias, which is why I've been so 345 00:24:24,279 --> 00:24:28,559 impressed with ground News. It's an app, and it's a website, 346 00:24:28,599 --> 00:24:31,000 and it combines news from around the world in one 347 00:24:31,039 --> 00:24:34,519 place so you can compare coverage and verify information. You 348 00:24:34,519 --> 00:24:38,079 can check it out at check dot ground, dot news, 349 00:24:38,559 --> 00:24:41,720 slash pete. I put the link in the podcast description too. 350 00:24:42,039 --> 00:24:44,400 I started using ground News a few months ago and 351 00:24:44,559 --> 00:24:47,119 more recently chose to work with them as an affiliate 352 00:24:47,160 --> 00:24:50,480 because it lets me see clearly how stories get covered 353 00:24:50,559 --> 00:24:53,440 and by whom. The blind spot feature shows you which 354 00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:56,359 stories get ignored by the left and the right. See 355 00:24:56,359 --> 00:25:01,440 for yourself. Check dot ground, dot news, slash pete. Subscribe 356 00:25:01,440 --> 00:25:04,359 through that link and you'll get fifteen percent off any subscription. 357 00:25:04,680 --> 00:25:07,400 I use the Vantage plan to get unlimited access to 358 00:25:07,519 --> 00:25:10,920 every feature. Your subscription then not only helps my podcast, 359 00:25:10,960 --> 00:25:13,319 but it also supports ground News as they make the 360 00:25:13,359 --> 00:25:17,680 media landscape more transparent. The Associated Press article that I'm 361 00:25:17,680 --> 00:25:22,279 reading from, by the way, headlined federal technology staffers resign 362 00:25:22,559 --> 00:25:27,839 rather than help Musk and DOGE, and that is accurate, 363 00:25:28,359 --> 00:25:30,720 and that right there tells you the reason why they 364 00:25:30,720 --> 00:25:34,839 are doing it. They do not want to help Elon 365 00:25:34,920 --> 00:25:38,880 Musk or the Department of Government Efficiency with the mission. 366 00:25:39,279 --> 00:25:43,440 They do not want to help DOGE find waste, fraud 367 00:25:43,720 --> 00:25:49,440 and abuse. And that to me is indicative of a 368 00:25:49,599 --> 00:25:54,799 political ideology. So while the AP will quote the twenty 369 00:25:54,839 --> 00:25:57,960 one anonymous people from their letter of resignation saying, oh, 370 00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:02,319 they're just ideologues, those DOGE do but they too are 371 00:26:02,359 --> 00:26:08,359 ideologues because only left wing ideologues will be opposed to 372 00:26:08,480 --> 00:26:12,279 finding waste, fraud and abuse. That's what has been the 373 00:26:12,319 --> 00:26:14,880 most baffling thing in all of this is that Democrats 374 00:26:15,359 --> 00:26:18,279 who claim to want to fund all of the programs 375 00:26:18,279 --> 00:26:20,599 and services to help all of the people that need 376 00:26:20,640 --> 00:26:23,920 all of the help, they don't want to find any 377 00:26:23,960 --> 00:26:28,200 of the waste, fraud and abuse that diverts the money 378 00:26:28,240 --> 00:26:30,319 away from helping all of the people with all of 379 00:26:30,359 --> 00:26:34,319 the services. Every dollar that is lost to waste is 380 00:26:34,359 --> 00:26:36,799 a dollar that did not go to the people that 381 00:26:36,839 --> 00:26:40,640 you claim to want to help. So when you try 382 00:26:40,640 --> 00:26:47,000 to stemy these efforts, be it through legislation, lawfare, or 383 00:26:47,039 --> 00:26:52,160 a mass resignation out of the US Digital Service or 384 00:26:52,279 --> 00:26:56,119 DOGE now under the rebrand, right, then it tells me 385 00:26:56,200 --> 00:26:59,440 what your ideology is and that you are not actually 386 00:26:59,480 --> 00:27:02,000 trying to help the people that you claim you're trying 387 00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:07,319 to help. You're trying to help somebody else. According to 388 00:27:07,359 --> 00:27:12,279 the AP quote, these highly skilled civil servants, we're working 389 00:27:12,279 --> 00:27:18,519 to modernize social security, veteran services, tax filing, healthcare, disaster relief, 390 00:27:18,839 --> 00:27:23,480 student aid, and other critical services. That's according to the 391 00:27:23,519 --> 00:27:28,279 resignation letter, they removal endangers millions of Americans who rely 392 00:27:28,400 --> 00:27:31,079 on these services every day. The sudden loss of their 393 00:27:31,119 --> 00:27:37,200 technology expertise makes critical systems and Americans data less safe. So, 394 00:27:37,359 --> 00:27:42,799 in other words, they have jeopardized Americans data, They have 395 00:27:42,880 --> 00:27:48,119 jeopardized the critical systems right by all walking out at 396 00:27:48,160 --> 00:27:56,359 the same time, they are putting in jeopardy these things, right, Yeah, 397 00:27:56,640 --> 00:27:59,880 we will not use our skills as technologists to compro 398 00:28:00,480 --> 00:28:05,599 core government systems, jeopardize American sensitive data, or dismantle critical 399 00:28:05,599 --> 00:28:09,119 public services. They wrote, we will not lend our expertise 400 00:28:09,519 --> 00:28:15,000 to carry out or legitimize Doge's actions. So rather than 401 00:28:15,039 --> 00:28:19,599 trying to work with the Doge dudes, they're opting to 402 00:28:19,680 --> 00:28:22,640 try to gum up the works or to slow it down. 403 00:28:23,279 --> 00:28:25,000 Of the forty people, Now, by the way, there were 404 00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:27,640 forty other people that were let go earlier this month, 405 00:28:28,319 --> 00:28:32,960 but only one of them was an engineer. That engineer's 406 00:28:33,039 --> 00:28:41,519 name was Jonathan Kmen's or Kemmen's kam ns commends, and 407 00:28:41,599 --> 00:28:47,400 he is described by the AP fussly an outspoken and 408 00:28:47,559 --> 00:28:54,279 politically active staffer. Hang on, say, I thought you said 409 00:28:54,279 --> 00:29:00,960 these were all nonpartisan employees, right, These were noble angels 410 00:29:01,279 --> 00:29:05,960 providing civil service. They had joined to try to give 411 00:29:06,160 --> 00:29:12,279 back to serve the public. Right, Yet the engineer guy 412 00:29:12,680 --> 00:29:17,920 was outspoken and politically active. A staffer who said in 413 00:29:17,960 --> 00:29:21,519 an interview with AP that he believes he was fired 414 00:29:21,680 --> 00:29:26,200 for publicly endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris on his personal blog. 415 00:29:26,319 --> 00:29:29,480 Oh and also being critical of Elon Musk. And he 416 00:29:29,519 --> 00:29:34,039 did that in chats with colleagues, so probably on government service. Like, yeah, dude, 417 00:29:34,279 --> 00:29:40,559 you're not behaving in a nonpartisan way. People have lost 418 00:29:41,240 --> 00:29:49,039 all sense of appropriateness. This is across the board everywhere. Right, 419 00:29:49,480 --> 00:29:56,480 people behaving in inappropriate ways at work. I'm just breaking 420 00:29:56,480 --> 00:29:58,519 the rules. Oh, I don't really care about this. And 421 00:29:59,039 --> 00:30:01,720 they have been in power in large part by not 422 00:30:01,799 --> 00:30:06,119 just a permission, a permission structure that allows people to 423 00:30:06,160 --> 00:30:08,160 do this stuff with a wink and a nod, but 424 00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:11,720 also with outright protections. Right. I went over the story 425 00:30:11,799 --> 00:30:17,440 yesterday about the NSA sex chat group where people in 426 00:30:17,480 --> 00:30:23,400 the intelligence community are talking in graphic detail about their 427 00:30:23,519 --> 00:30:30,119 kinks and fetishes on the intranet inside the intelligence agencies. 428 00:30:31,200 --> 00:30:34,599 What are you doing? Who does that? Well, apparently it 429 00:30:34,720 --> 00:30:39,400 was permitted because it was all LGBTQ plus two I 430 00:30:39,599 --> 00:30:42,839 A s L Right, it was part of it was 431 00:30:42,880 --> 00:30:45,519 part of the DEI efforts, And so you have to 432 00:30:45,519 --> 00:30:50,000 protect this kind of conversation because you know, privilege or something. 433 00:30:52,079 --> 00:30:54,599 So they got special benefits because I mean, like people, 434 00:30:55,720 --> 00:30:58,440 it would be frowned upon if you were talking this 435 00:30:58,599 --> 00:31:02,920 way about any other type of you know, personal sexual 436 00:31:02,960 --> 00:31:06,200 relationships you were having. But these people are allowed to 437 00:31:06,200 --> 00:31:10,680 talk about it on the internal intranet and they feel 438 00:31:10,680 --> 00:31:13,240 like they're entitled to do so. It's really amazing. And 439 00:31:13,279 --> 00:31:17,839 the same thing here, like you're in group chats with 440 00:31:17,920 --> 00:31:22,319 colleagues and you're ranting about politics. You shouldn't be doing that. 441 00:31:23,079 --> 00:31:25,440 You shouldn't be doing that, particularly when you work in 442 00:31:25,480 --> 00:31:28,759 a government agency that you're supposed to not be doing 443 00:31:28,839 --> 00:31:35,559 that particular thing at all at all. So yeah, I'm 444 00:31:35,559 --> 00:31:38,559 glad they're gone, and maybe we can fill those positions 445 00:31:38,759 --> 00:31:42,559 with some people that are actually on the same mission 446 00:31:42,599 --> 00:31:46,000 as the doge dudes. All right, that'll do it for 447 00:31:46,039 --> 00:31:48,680 this episode. Thank you so much for listening. I could 448 00:31:48,720 --> 00:31:51,000 not do the show without your support and the support 449 00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:53,880 of the businesses that advertise on the podcast, so if 450 00:31:53,920 --> 00:31:55,920 you'd like, please support them too and tell them you 451 00:31:55,960 --> 00:31:58,039 heard it here. You can also become a patron at 452 00:31:58,039 --> 00:32:02,119 my Patreon page or go to the petecleanershow dot com. Again, 453 00:32:02,359 --> 00:32:04,599 thank you so much for listening, and uh, don't break 454 00:32:04,640 --> 00:32:09,519 anything while I'm gone.