patrick.net

https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/the-occupation-saturday-february

On January 20th, the day Trump took office, a DOGE team including current and former Musk employees assumed command of the critical Office of Personnel and Management (OPM). DOGE delivered pull-out sofa beds to the fifth floor of OPM headquarters. The fifth floor is OPM’s top-management floor.

The sofa beds were installed so the DOGE team could work around the clock.

Meanwhile, OPM’s staff managers, like its CMO Katie Malague, were quickly and neatly moved out of their offices down to new offices on lower floors. It was a physical and psychological demotion, even if not any change in title or salary.

"It feels like a hostile takeover," one of the leakers complained to Reuters.

Next, OPM employees were unceremoniously cut off from all administrative access to the systems. They can still log in and do their work, but they cannot access any management functions or data. All this change is making their jobs much more exciting than usual.

OPM staff were “surprised,” for example, by the “Fork in the Road” memo last week, since the first time they saw it was at the same time it was sent out to all federal employees.

Amusingly, the article was sourced from leakers, but failed to connect the obvious dot: the DOGE team cut the OPM staff out of the loop because they clearly think the career people will leak like rusty sieves.

I’d hoped DOGE would do some good stuff, but I had no idea it would be like this. ...

The Treasury Department issues all payments on behalf of the United States. In that sense, every social security payment, every grant, tax refund, stimulus payment, Obamacare reimbursement, foreign aid, Fauci’s security detail’s strip club reimbursement, the whole works— if paid by the US, the check comes from Treasury. It issues more than 1.3 billion individual checks totaling over $6 trillion yearly.

In other words, Musk’s database engineers have been dying to dig into that Treasury data, to determine exactly what the US has been buying and who we’ve been paying. For example, does his name end with “-ensky?”

This database is the mother lode leading to the deep state.

But for two hectic, fast-paced weeks, the Treasury Department has stubbornly refused to give DOGE any access to the payments database. The rift leading to the resignation referenced in the headline happened when newly confirmed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent ordered the highest-ranking career bureaucrat at Treasury to turn over the passwords.

Instead of doing, that he resigned. (It could be more accurate to say he was offered a chance to resign. We don’t know. After all, he can still take that 8-month deal.) The bottom line is, he refused to turn over the passwords.

Late in the article, the WaPo got around to admitting that DOGE’s request for access was completely legal. Trump ordered Treasury to do it back on January 20th when the President created DOGE. So if anyone is breaking the law, it’s career Treasury officials:

The executive order Trump signed creating DOGE also instructed all
agencies to ensure it has "full and prompt access to all unclassified
agency records, software systems, and IT systems," which would appear
to include the Treasury payment systems.

Treasury officials’ resistance looks more like bureaucratic defiance than lawful objection. Bureaucrats cannot just ignore a President’s lawful order. If officials disagreed on the legality, they should have sought a court injunction—rather than deploying rogue bureaucratic resistance.

Trump’s executive order mandated transparency and reform. DOGE’s charter is to expose entrenched waste, inefficiency, or even corruption within the government, including the Treasury payments system. There is no reasonable objection to allowing DOGE its access.

GREAT Idea!

Another one: Credit Check, esp. if there is some way to check for Gambling Debts. Major Security Risk. Degen Gamblers always desperate for money to cover debts or get a stake.

Patrick says

Fauci’s security detail’s strip club reimbursement

gotta love Jeff Childers

database is the mother lode

MOAB

USAID on the chopping block!
https://patrick.net/post/1383456/2025-02-02-usaid-website-down-try-to-deny-doge

NED has 20 red flags of corruption:
Lack of Bipartisanship: Despite being legally required to reflect the diversity of American society, NED is predominantly staffed and led by Democrats, which raises questions about its political neutrality.

Political Discrimination: Allegations suggest that NED discriminates against Republicans and conservatives in hiring practices, potentially skewing its operations towards one political ideology.

Duplication of Efforts: NED's activities often overlap with those of other U.S. government agencies, suggesting redundancy and potential inefficiency in the use of public funds.

Lack of Transparency: Since 2021, NED has not updated its online database of grants, reducing the transparency of its funding allocations.

Reduction in Reporting: NED ceased producing printable annual reports after 2017, opting for less detailed multimedia summaries, which might obscure detailed financial and operational transparency.

Board Composition: As of late 2023, the NED board had more members than the legally mandated maximum, potentially affecting governance.

Partisanship in Events and Activities: The organization's programs and events are often seen as favoring one political perspective over another, suggesting a lack of balance in promoting democratic ideals.

CIA-like Operations: NED has been described as a continuation of the CIA's covert activities under a different guise, raising concerns about its true purpose and methods.

Interference in Elections: NED has been accused of influencing election outcomes in countries like Bolivia by funding media and NGOs to highlight alleged election fraud by incumbent governments.

Funding Opposition Movements: NED's support for opposition groups in various countries, often in line with U.S. foreign policy, can be seen as interference in domestic politics.

Manipulation of Narratives: There are claims that NED manipulates public opinion by funding media outlets and NGOs that promote narratives favorable to U.S. interests.

Undesirable NGO Status: Russia labeled NED as an "undesirable" organization in 2015, highlighting concerns over foreign interference in domestic affairs.

Historical Ties to CIA: The origins of NED as a response to expose CIA activities suggest a continuity in strategic objectives despite changes in operation from covert to overt.

Funding of Anti-Government Protests: NED has been linked to funding protests and opposition movements, like those during the Euromaidan in Ukraine, which could destabilize countries.

Selective Democracy Support: NED tends to support "democracy activists" in countries where U.S. geopolitical interests are at stake, questioning the purity of its democratic motives.

Infiltration and Subversion: Accusations of NED engaging in subversive activities, including ideological infiltration in regions like Europe and Latin America.

Support for "Color Revolutions": NED's involvement in various "color revolutions" worldwide indicates a strategic use of democracy promotion for geopolitical gain.

Lack of Accountability: There's a call for oversight and investigation into NED's operations, particularly its role in censoring U.S. citizens and its hiring practices.

Funding of Controversial NGOs: NED has funded organizations with controversial agendas or methods, raising ethical questions about the nature of the "democracy" it promotes.

Strategic Autonomy Suppression: In Europe, NED has been accused of suppressing voices for strategic autonomy in favor of transatlanticism, manipulating EU policy.

These red flags suggest areas where NED's activities might not align with its mission to promote democracy or could be indicative of broader geopolitical strategies rather than pure democratic support.

What is DOGE?

DOGE is Trump's reband of Obama's "Digital Service". All participants are go through a read-in to access all secrets and covered by a host of protections initiated by Obama and by inaction of RINO Congress

Basically, the Democrats will have to argue in Court that Obama had no power to do what he did, and a Judge will say "Why did Congress allow funding then?,,Does that mean everything Obama did with it is illegal?"

And it will be one long ass Court slog.

Whoever advised Trump to go this route is a real smart sonofabitch





TL;DR: Obama created a National-Security cleared Digital Service to look at anything and everything. RINOs funded it and never stopped him. Now it's Trumps.

DOGE is also a sneaky reference to the absolute ruler of Venice (Babylonian Banksters of yore) before 1800.

Patrick says

Wife makes about $80K, but works 12 hours a day between teaching, correcting homework, and preparing lessons. Around here, that's not enough for a middle-class lifestyle.

On the other hand, it's her choice because we don't really need the money. She could quit and we'd still be fine.

The pension is supposed to be good, but I don't know how good. She's been a teacher for only three years.

usually a vesting period, and then it builds up. takes about 28 years to retire with your final salary if you can last that long. first 10 years pension is nothing but a few hundred a month.

https://denvergazette.com/news/nation-world/authorities-investigating-threats-against-musk-and-doge-employees/article_c4700d30-832c-519b-87a9-bc0f2a077338.html

Musk quoted a slew of threats directed against himself and other DOGE employees on X made under the subreddit "r/whitepeopletwitter," many of them violent in nature. The original post appears to have been taken down on Reddit, but X user "Reddit Lies" posted a screenshot of over a dozen threatening comments.

"I'll say it. This nazi stooge needs to be shot," one user said.

"It's time to do more than dragging names, let's drag their necks up by a large coil of rope," another said.

Several threats demanded other users find and post the addresses of DOGE employees so others could "deal with them." ...

Martin also pledged to look into other figures, including former Minnesota Democratic House candidate Will Stancil, who is known for his X presence. In one quoted post on the social media outlet Bluesky, Stancil said Musk "should get the wall."

Stancil protested the attention, denying he had done anything illegal and deriding Martin as "Musk's pet US attorney."

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/02/breaking-acting-dc-us-attorney-ed-martin-announces/

Acting DC US Attorney Ed Martin Announces Incoming Charges Against Individuals Who Threatened Elon Musk’s DOGE Workers ...

“Our initial review of the evidence presented to us indicates that certain individuals and/or groups have committed acts that appear to violate the law in targeting DOGE employees,” Ed Martin said.

“We are in contact with the FBI and other law-enforcement partners to proceed rapidly. We also have our prosecutors preparing,” Ed Martin added.

Oh great, the FBI. As if they were somehow trustworthy.

It was USAID all along.

And, all those Congressmen and their family members as board members getting paid to their NGOs via USAID - and kickbacks/post-retirement consulting fees after selecting the contractors, too. It wasn't all stock tips.

https://youtu.be/4WwJ6OVSwkM?si=0UJBELS9NsrFA5Ca

Top comment is priceless

AmericanKulak says

Don’t believe hard core jihadi commie Ro Khanna who mostly works on fakestan side. He never responded to a request to look at the Balaji murder related to OpenAI from his mother.

Keep an eye on his daughter's face.

Blue says

Don’t believe hard core jihadi commie Ro Khanna who mostly works on fakestan side. He never responded to a request to look at the Balaji murder related to OpenAI from his mother.

Natch.

Congress authorizes and appropriates money to the agencies. So the agencies can spend up to a certain limit based on this, and specifically based on this.

This deals with color of money, such as NOAA has to spend money set aside to build new research ships on only new research ships, unless Congress authorizes elsewise.

So Trump could just send the federal civil servants home on paid admin leave and they can't spend money they are authorized by Congress to spend.

As long as the federal civil servants are not fired from their jobs and they are getting paid, then there is no violating of federal civil service regulations and/or laws.

Any money that the agency does not spend gets returned right after the end of the fiscal year to the US Treasury.

The Treasury can pay down US federal debt with that money.

This is what Trump should do his first year in office to show he reversed the the trend of increasing deficits (Biden's 2023 deficit was $1.65 trillion and 2024 deficit was $1.9 trillion).

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These morons trying to deflect there are left wing NGOs who directly received the federal grants from USAID, etc and then funnel it to the Clinton Foundation. It may change hands a couple of times before it makes to the like of the Clinton Foundation.

https://www.newsweek.com/fact-check-chelsea-clinton-foundation-usaid-2027947

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hopefully Social Security savings by eliminating this type of fraud is next on their priority list

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