I have a personal stake and story regarding Egger’s piece.
My daughter in law works at Los Alamos; specifically on the safe handling and proper maintenance of America’s nuclear arsenal.
And I mean specific: the actual nuclear bombs and the actual fissile material that makes them go “boom”.
“The skill set is so narrowly specific that there might be five guys (or gals, in my daughter in law’s case) in the entire U.S. who can do it,” said one employee. “And you might have just fired one, two or three are retired, and the other is based somewhere else in the U.S. and doesn’t want to move. So you’re hosed.”
(Again, he’s talking specifically about my daughter in law here. She was plucked from GE and oddly enough Musk’s Spacex company was after her too. She was able to make them offer my son a top job at Los Alamos too as part of the deal to get her; he’s only got a doctorate in Material Science, so they put him in charge of deploying the new small sized nuclear power plants that are being developed on the nuclear power generation side of Los Alamos).
My take:
Trump and Musk are putting our safety individually and as a country at grave risk here.
If nothing else, the firings at the National Nuclear Security Administration, showed how utterly incompetent both Trump and Musk are. I doubt that either had the slightest idea that civilians working in the Federal government were responsible for some of the most dangerous weapons components in the world or why uranium and plutonium, a man-made element, are so dangerous whether or not they ever reach critical mass either by accident or on purpose. There is a reason this specific National Nuclear Security Administration's office is located in a relatively remote area of New Mexico. You don't hire just anyone with an "engineering" background like Musk seems to have done. Somehow, I doubt that either Trump or Musk or any of the DOGE staff could pass the national security check that these people have passed.
The ignorance of the DOGEes and trumpet's total rolling over for Muskrats is even more astounding than we imagined right after the election. I like the Rachel Maddow suggestion that we refer to the Muskrats so-called "department" as DOG-E (pronounced "Doggy"), except for the fact that all the dogs of my acquaintance would do a far more effective job of governing than these imbeciles. (And apologies to all dogs for the insult.)
No, but it means some of his constituents are mad enough to attend one, which usually happens only when a lot of the people in a district are very upset. Anyone remember the beginnings of the Tea Party movement, not so many years ago. Congressmen were shocked at those town halls too.
The voters whose minds need to change are the Republicans who voted Trump into office. Not the Democrats who didn't. If the majority of angry constituents is not Republican, pointing out that some angry people attended a town hall means nothing.
Why minimizing Trump's crimes? The «deconstruction» of the government he is doing (at least he wishes to get credit for it) may be stupidly careless, but is intentional. He does not deserve the benefit of the doubt to any extent.
Unbelievable how caviler our Democratic leaders are taking this. Everyone on the planet should care about the firing of all these employees and nuclear experts. This is insane.
From Andrew Egger 1) "nearly all the affected employees were notified that they were welcome back at their jobs. But at the Los Alamos nuclear facility and across NNSA, shell-shocked employees remain unsure whether or how soon the axe might fall again."
2) " Now, morale agencywide is “through the floor,” another NNSA employee said. “Leadership is scared of speaking out about things—you know, the nail that sticks out is gonna get hammered down.”"
Things like this happen when bad managers are in charge--Trump never admitted to his mistakes in Afghanistan, bragged about his excessive bankruptcies, has set poor examples of marital morality.
To what extent are Trump's current mistakes on the Ukraine predicted by Trump's mistakes in Afghanistan? Know for sure: He sat down to negotiate with the Taliban and REFUSED to let the then-Afghan govt have a seat at the table? The Afghan govt , disgusted, drove out of the country, maybe their troops as well?.
Can't remember for sure, Was Trump's first era the one with a decision to "let go" all our private contractor soldiers (Halliburton people? hired because of....??) So, none were still there to help our too small military with the airlift out?
He "sold Afghan down the river" right before Biden took office , then blamed Biden for what Trump had pre-engineered?
Trump runs things like a con man. Because he is a con man? Looked up his 1990s bankruptcies. Found little said about his first three, but after he reached the SIXTH? He BRAGGED about his bankruptcies, said it proved HE was the smart one, for bilking the bankers, for bilking the little guy contractors who did the work on his poorly located and poorly managed casinos in Atlantic City. Apparently, he arranged things so that HE never had to personally declare bankruptcy. If his assets were never liquidated, then he never paid back the people he bilked
If he was a cheater then, in pocketing money, in not paying people he owed, if he was a cheater each time he ditched an old wife for a new one?
Does the prideful man even know who James Madison was and what he stood for?
How George Washington advocated merit, true merit, not Trumpian fake merit, as a reason for picking military leaders, not social class and connections?
To say the cut have been haphazard or shoddy would be a colossal mischaracterization. Trump will use his bully pulpit to claim Americans are safer today than they were prior to his inauguration; however, nothing could be further from the truth. America’s global adversaries celebrate Trump’s weakening of this once great country. We must stand together and hope the damage done in just over a month can be repaired. The midterms cannot get here soon enough.
Great report, Andrew. Thanks for switching focus in order to cover this.
I have a personal stake and story regarding Egger’s piece.
My daughter in law works at Los Alamos; specifically on the safe handling and proper maintenance of America’s nuclear arsenal.
And I mean specific: the actual nuclear bombs and the actual fissile material that makes them go “boom”.
“The skill set is so narrowly specific that there might be five guys (or gals, in my daughter in law’s case) in the entire U.S. who can do it,” said one employee. “And you might have just fired one, two or three are retired, and the other is based somewhere else in the U.S. and doesn’t want to move. So you’re hosed.”
(Again, he’s talking specifically about my daughter in law here. She was plucked from GE and oddly enough Musk’s Spacex company was after her too. She was able to make them offer my son a top job at Los Alamos too as part of the deal to get her; he’s only got a doctorate in Material Science, so they put him in charge of deploying the new small sized nuclear power plants that are being developed on the nuclear power generation side of Los Alamos).
My take:
Trump and Musk are putting our safety individually and as a country at grave risk here.
"primarily administrative roles"
Everyone in the White House is an administrator. Every Cabinet Secretary is an administrator. DOGEs work is administrative work.
There, I found some more people that can be safely fired.
If nothing else, the firings at the National Nuclear Security Administration, showed how utterly incompetent both Trump and Musk are. I doubt that either had the slightest idea that civilians working in the Federal government were responsible for some of the most dangerous weapons components in the world or why uranium and plutonium, a man-made element, are so dangerous whether or not they ever reach critical mass either by accident or on purpose. There is a reason this specific National Nuclear Security Administration's office is located in a relatively remote area of New Mexico. You don't hire just anyone with an "engineering" background like Musk seems to have done. Somehow, I doubt that either Trump or Musk or any of the DOGE staff could pass the national security check that these people have passed.
The ignorance of the DOGEes and trumpet's total rolling over for Muskrats is even more astounding than we imagined right after the election. I like the Rachel Maddow suggestion that we refer to the Muskrats so-called "department" as DOG-E (pronounced "Doggy"), except for the fact that all the dogs of my acquaintance would do a far more effective job of governing than these imbeciles. (And apologies to all dogs for the insult.)
The unqualified, incompetent, clueless, creepy musk and his 'blow it up' tech kids make Dr. Stangelove look notmal by comparison.
The fact that 65% voted for McCormick doesn't mean the town hall was attended by 65% Republican voters.
No, but it means some of his constituents are mad enough to attend one, which usually happens only when a lot of the people in a district are very upset. Anyone remember the beginnings of the Tea Party movement, not so many years ago. Congressmen were shocked at those town halls too.
The voters whose minds need to change are the Republicans who voted Trump into office. Not the Democrats who didn't. If the majority of angry constituents is not Republican, pointing out that some angry people attended a town hall means nothing.
Why minimizing Trump's crimes? The «deconstruction» of the government he is doing (at least he wishes to get credit for it) may be stupidly careless, but is intentional. He does not deserve the benefit of the doubt to any extent.
Doge's dumbest cut yet is like saying a new low for Trump and MAGA...both will shortly be surpassed.
Unbelievable how caviler our Democratic leaders are taking this. Everyone on the planet should care about the firing of all these employees and nuclear experts. This is insane.
From Andrew Egger 1) "nearly all the affected employees were notified that they were welcome back at their jobs. But at the Los Alamos nuclear facility and across NNSA, shell-shocked employees remain unsure whether or how soon the axe might fall again."
2) " Now, morale agencywide is “through the floor,” another NNSA employee said. “Leadership is scared of speaking out about things—you know, the nail that sticks out is gonna get hammered down.”"
Things like this happen when bad managers are in charge--Trump never admitted to his mistakes in Afghanistan, bragged about his excessive bankruptcies, has set poor examples of marital morality.
To what extent are Trump's current mistakes on the Ukraine predicted by Trump's mistakes in Afghanistan? Know for sure: He sat down to negotiate with the Taliban and REFUSED to let the then-Afghan govt have a seat at the table? The Afghan govt , disgusted, drove out of the country, maybe their troops as well?.
Can't remember for sure, Was Trump's first era the one with a decision to "let go" all our private contractor soldiers (Halliburton people? hired because of....??) So, none were still there to help our too small military with the airlift out?
He "sold Afghan down the river" right before Biden took office , then blamed Biden for what Trump had pre-engineered?
I see they’re trying to bolster Musk’s popularity by posting stuff like this on fb
https://www.facebook.com/100070037079364/posts/pfbid02XyoY4q9KQSDgu9FiattWRMYoWofFVM1SV5RzsREib8kE1HPGeLqzPy6BScq934utl/
Trump runs things like a con man. Because he is a con man? Looked up his 1990s bankruptcies. Found little said about his first three, but after he reached the SIXTH? He BRAGGED about his bankruptcies, said it proved HE was the smart one, for bilking the bankers, for bilking the little guy contractors who did the work on his poorly located and poorly managed casinos in Atlantic City. Apparently, he arranged things so that HE never had to personally declare bankruptcy. If his assets were never liquidated, then he never paid back the people he bilked
If he was a cheater then, in pocketing money, in not paying people he owed, if he was a cheater each time he ditched an old wife for a new one?
Does the prideful man even know who James Madison was and what he stood for?
How George Washington advocated merit, true merit, not Trumpian fake merit, as a reason for picking military leaders, not social class and connections?
To say the cut have been haphazard or shoddy would be a colossal mischaracterization. Trump will use his bully pulpit to claim Americans are safer today than they were prior to his inauguration; however, nothing could be further from the truth. America’s global adversaries celebrate Trump’s weakening of this once great country. We must stand together and hope the damage done in just over a month can be repaired. The midterms cannot get here soon enough.
Thanks for the NNSA story. It and some of the comments below provide a lot more detail than I had read before.