Unfortunately, I recently found out that a friend of mine lost his job to DOGE. DOGE substantially slashed his agency's funding, particularly those related to research and study of pollution and its environmental impact. Unlike other "luckier" employees, this friend wasn't given a "buy out offer" or anything. His entire department was simply gutted financially, and was left to fend for itself with what remains of their funding.
So, when this friend of mine made an unintentional error, instead of the usual paper discipline, they instead fired him on the spot. Sadly, it made sense, as the agency no longer has the money to keep the entire staff on the payroll, and is trying to find any excuse to let people go.
For some, including myself, most political headlines like DOGE may be just another piece of faraway news you might read somewhere. Not this time though. This friend of mine is an intelligent, hard working, and highly capable individual who has faithfully worked for the agency for at least 15 productive years. He has a name, a face, a family, and has done everything he can to live his life in a humble and responsible manner. And this is how he is paid in return? After more than a decade's worth of hard work and faithful service? Now, with the BBB (Big Beautiful Bill as Trump puts it) just barely passed the senate, the Rich are going to get even bigger tax breaks, while the little people who make the country a better place to live in gets uncermoniously booted out of a job? Unbelievable.
To end this entry on a more positive note, this friend has also been working two jobs for a while, and was thinking of slimming down to just one job anyway. That's what he told me, trying to put a more positive spin to all this, and is grateful that he is at least still fully employed elsewhere. Still, I know him. He would not have left had they not fired him in the first place. And sure, programs like DOGE may come and go, but for this friend, this firing has a life-altering effect that will negatively impact him for the rest of his life. Sometimes, a headline isn't just headline.
July 2nd, 2025 at 03:50 am 1751428259
- Immigrants who came here seeking sanctuary from what they believed was a generous country where they could make a good life for their families.
- The disabled and the poor - which often go hand in hand - who we consider not worthy of housing, food support or health care.
- Government workers who we categorize as lazy cheats and fire without even wondering how what they do benefits others.
- LGBTQ who we hate simply because of how they identify and who they love
- Anyone not of our race, or religion, or national origin, or even state we live in
The betrayal of what I always believed were our collective values is overwhelmingly painful.
July 2nd, 2025 at 04:15 pm 1751472903
All employers are all that. No loyalty. They just fire when they need more money. So why should people be loyal? And they wonder why?
July 3rd, 2025 at 06:48 am 1751525333
I also read (although not verified) that governor of nebraska has called trump because they are crashing in tax revenue because of the immigrants being deported and china not ordering the 2 billion of soybeans that they usually do and they need help...can only see that it is getting worse each day...so something drastic has to happen or you will be living like north koreans or russians
July 4th, 2025 at 12:44 pm 1751633054
Tabs, it is scary when you see how these policies are effecting people in your life. Loyalty means nothing to most employers anymore and granted, there is government waste, a DOGE cutting without looking at what jobs are doing what and how it effects people in their everyday lives shows how little the current administration really understands the common man.
July 4th, 2025 at 08:02 pm 1751659366
The late great Paul Wellstone from my state said something that's a mantra for many of us: We all do better when we all do better.
July 8th, 2025 at 09:13 pm 1752009182
Here's something to strike fear in your heart: I read somewhere that there has been talk of creating a trump "dynasty" with his kids following after him. Shudder the thought.
July 8th, 2025 at 10:20 pm 1752013244
LAL, Rob: Yeah, it’s hard to garner a sense of loyalty when even the government is willing to ditch you so quickly. Before this though, a government job is typically seen as job security, including my friend’s. That’s what my friend thought too, but in return, he actually worked hard and was good at his job. So yeah, way to go DOGE for eliminating yet another employee who was actually loyal and hard-working.
Mum2: A peaceful nation-wide protest wouldn’t hurt my feelings right about now, but sadly there are enough Americans that feel otherwise to vote Trump into power in the first place. Elsewhere on the internet, you can even see a lot of people who are now defending Trump and his policies of all things. That’s going to be the biggest challenge going forward: Trump won’t be president forever (though I’m sure he’ll try), but the people who see him do no wrong will not mind voting for the next candidate that is similar if not worse than him. Trying to change those minds is… well that’s the impossible problem.
PatientSaver: Yeah, I heard something similar as well. By now, it should be a surprise to no one that Trump would be interested in forming some kind of dynasty. Simply add that to a laundry list of other Un-American things he would do or have already done.
Also, I chuckle every time I see “rumpty dumpty”.