#federal government policies

[cavenewstimes]

A Critical Examination of President Trump's Executive Orders on Gender and Diversity

On January 20, 2025, President Donald Trump signed executive orders that have sparked significant controversy and concern. These orders define gender strictly as “male and female,” based on reproductive capabilities, and aim to end Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs within the federal government. AP News Understanding the Executive Orders The executive orders issued by President…

[onlytiktoks]

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5146618-epa-fires-employees-500-probationary/

[gendernewtral]

in case anyone is concerned that ‘the military’ ‘entered’ california to…‘turn on the water….’

that did not happen. some federal water pumps were offline for maintenance and then came back on.

‘there’s no water issues. trump is a fucking moron’

- everyone in ‘the great state of california’

[ivygorgon]

An open letter to the U.S. Congress

Stop Elon Musk from stealing our personal information!

6,399 so far! Help us get to 10,000 signers!

I am writing to urge you to stop Elon Musk from stealing our personal information.

It appears Musk has hacked into millions of Americans’ personal information and now has access to their taxes, Social Security, student debt and financial aid filings. Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency was not created by Congress—it is operating with zero transparency and in clear violation of federal law.

This violation of our privacy is causing American families across the country to fear for our privacy, safety and dignity. If this goes unchecked, Musk could steal our private data to help in making cuts to vital government programs that our families depend on—and to make it easier to cut taxes for himself and other billionaires.

We must have guardrails to stop this unlawful invasion of privacy.

Congress and the Trump administration must stop Elon Musk from stealing Americans' tax and other private data.

▶ Created on February 10 by Jess Craven · 6,398 signers in the past 7 days

📱 Text SIGN PUTWGR to 50409

🤯 Text FOLLOW JESSCRAVEN101 to 50409

[sybbi]

"If enough of us vote third party for president, we could actually GET somewhere with our policy goals!"

Baby girl you can't even get a majority of third party/independents in a single state legislature. In the past 30 years there have been seven independent/third party state governors, and of those, only three were genuinely independent. The rest either got elected as a R/D and switched mid-term when they alienated themselves from their state party, got elected as I and then switched to R/D during their terms (with some of them having served the R/D parties before), or served as proxy candidates with heavy backing and support from one of the major two parties. Even VERMONT, a relative stronghold for independent/third party candidates -- the place that brought you Bernie Sanders -- doesn't have a majority of third party candidates. And when I call them a stronghold, I mean they are the only state (I know of) that consistently elects (less than a handful of) Independent candidates to the state legislature; the place is still dominated by Ds and Rs.

"The highest power in the land can't actually be voted on so there's no reason to vote for the democrats"

Hey princess here are some high school civics question for you: How are Supreme Court judges nominated? :) By what process are they appointed? Who starts that process? :) Why is the Supreme Court considered reflective of who has won the presidency? :)

[aworldofyou]

Performative activism. Loathe it so much. Because people always claim valuing and respecting and wanting to hear indigenous voices until we actually speak and want to discuss them then there’s not a single rats ass given.

[ovisiphorus]

If you can’t be arsed to vote, stay home. Do not come. Do not come.

If you want to vote, PLEASE be responsible and 1) learn how our government works!!!! So many leftists online do not know!!! and 2) work with what we are have. Most importantly 3) chuds alone should not be the only ones with total freedom to exercise their power at the ballot box and believing otherwise is stupid in my opinion and counter-productive.

[asgardian--angels]

keeping honeybee hives as a way to ‘save the bees’ is the equivalent of claiming factory farmed chickens are somehow stopping greater prairie chickens from going extinct lmao

[onlytiktoks]

[t-jfh]

Australia gains reprieve on threat to Great Barrier Reef World Heritage status.

By Mike Foley

The Age - August 1, 2023

Great Barrier Reef escapes 'in danger' recommendation ahead of UNESCO World Heritage decision

By the Specialist Reporting Team's Leonie Thorne, Penny Timms, Emilia Terzon and Evan Young

ABC News - 1 August 2023

Great Barrier Reef's first mass bleaching during La Niña season halts coral recovery.

AAP Australian Associated Press

ABC News - 9 August 2023

YouTube video >> Recovery has paused on the Great Barrier Reef - Marine Scientist Dr. Mike Emslie: AIMS (Australian Institute of Marine Science) annual summary update for 2023 [9 August 2023 / 3mins.+44secs.]:

Dr Mike Emslie says the Great Barrier Reef's recovery has paused.

Climate Change is the greatest threat to the Reef

In-water monitoring hard coral cover across the Great Barrier Reef remains at similar levels to that recorded in 2022, with small decreases in the Northern, Central and Southern regions.

AIMS' Annual Summary Report on Coral Reef Condition for 2022/23 (published 9th August 2023) found that while some reefs continued to recover, their increased hard coral cover was offset by coral loss on other reefs.

Most reefs underwent little change in coral cover.

The pauses in recovery in the Northern and Central regions were due in part to the 2022 mass coral bleaching event. Low numbers of coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish and a cyclone in January 2022 also contributed to coral loss in the Northern region.

Continued crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks and coral disease kept coral cover similar to last year's levels in the Southern region, with bleaching playing less of a role.

Read the report: https://www.aims.gov.au/monitoring-great-barrier-reef/gbr-condition-summary-2022-23

More about the AIMS Long-Term Monitoring Program: https://www.aims.gov.au/research-topics/monitoring-and-discovery/monitoring-great-barrier-reef/long-term-monitoring-program

YouTube video >> Monitoring the Great Barrier Reef - AIMS Coral Reef Ecologist Kate Osborne [25 July 2022 / 3mins.+52secs.]:

Monitoring the Great Barrier Reef

Not only is the Great Barrier Reef big, it is also diverse and dynamic.

For more than 35 years, the Australian Institute of Marine Science's Long-Term Monitoring Program (LTMP) has been dedicated to measuring its coral reef habitats to understand how surveyed reefs are responding to disturbances, such as severe cyclones, outbreaks of coral eating starfish and coral bleaching.

The LTMP provides an invaluable record of change on coral communities across the Great Barrier Reef.

To learn more, visit: https://www.aims.gov.au/research-topics/monitoring-and-discovery/monitoring-great-barrier-reef

[littlemissmanga]

IT IS MARGINAL!! We have a marginal tax system.

I am so sick of seeing this taken out of context.

In a system like ours, even if you go up to the next tax bracket, That Higher Rate Does Not Apply To All Your Income.

It ONLY applies to the portion that falls into that highest bracket.

The rest is taxed at its correct bracket accordingly. (Don't believe me? Here's taxes for dummies.)

Say you make $1 million and one dollar in income this year. You're winning capitalism. Congrats. But here comes the Democratic party raising taxes. You'd have to give half of your fortune in taxes, right?

Wrong!!

ONLY THE SINGLE DOLLAR OVER $1 MIL WOULD BE TAXED AT 45%. The rest would fall into the lower bracket until the previous cut off. And then lower than that would be taxed at the previous, and so on.

So next time someone wants to fearmonger you about the evils of raising taxes and they don't mention anything about the marginal system, just know ...

Either they don't know how a marginal system works, in which case, why are you listening to them? They don't understand the basic facts.

Or they want you to worry about a problem that literally only impacts the top 3% MAX who have an army of accountants helping them navigate tax season so you'd vote against your own interests.

And let me be clear - it is in your interest to vote to raise the highest tax bracket. Again, this only affects income over $1 million. That redistribution of wealth is NECESSARY for our economy (main street, that is).

It isn't robbing from Paul to feed Peter.

This is an essential process that forces capital that otherwise would be horded by the few BACK into the economy in real ways that impact millions of Americans. It's literally asking people like Elon Musk or Nancy Pelosi or Billy Joel to not buy another house and instead give SOME of that money to Uncle Sam so we can fund social programs or Biden's infrastructure projects (which are expected to connect us better and create a ton of jobs).

Remember, the Roman Empire failed when emperors stopped taxing the wealthy (re: the Senate) to keep them happy. But less money meant the Empire couldn't pay the legionnaires (army) or for free bread, which was a right to every Roman citizen to receive. Eventually, lack of funds and greed from the wealthy meant the crumbling of the Empire's very foundations. Weakened from within, Rome couldn't hold off attacks from without.

Now think about how many social programs currently at risk because they're too expensive and wonder how we got here.

(Hint: When the US middle class was at its healthiest/most robust, under BOTH Democratic and Republican presidents between 1944-1964, the top tax rate was over 74%.)

[socialistexan]

To reiterate:

Trump's transphobic Executive Orders regarding healthcare and Federal documents are currently unenforceable and are not current actionable policy of the Federal government.

Do not despair.

Do not panic.

And most importantly: do not comply in advance.

Staying alive is a radical act as a trans person in Trump's America.

[ivygorgon]

An open letter to the U.S. Senate

Vote NO on Project 2025 author Russell Vought for OMB!

9,081 so far! Help us get to 10,000 signers!

I’m a constituent writing to say that I’m outraged that Trump is working with Elon Musk to shut down the functions of our federal government. I’m also furious about the attempts to “freeze” federal spending. And I know that all of this goes straight back to Trump’s nominee for OMB Director, Russell Vought. If confirmed, moreover, I know that Vought will further enable Trump’s and Musk’s unconstitutional power grab.

Vought has made it clear in his confirmation hearings that his allegiance is to Trump and not to our Constitution. If he is put in charge of OMB, he will greenlight Trump and Musk’s coup which would cause devastating harm to millions of people in our communities.

Please stand up against Trump’s assault on our democracy. I expect the Senator to call for Vought’s nomination to be withdrawn and to vote NO if his confirmation moves forward. Remember that you work for us. Thanks.

▶ Created on February 4 by Jess Craven · 9,080 signers in the past 7 days

📱 Text SIGN PYEICM to 50409 to sign!

🤯 Text FOLLOW JESSCRAVEN101 to 50409

[banniballector]

I urge you all to please contact your congress reps through their email, or contact page. Be personal to your experience and urge them regardless of their party. The only way forward now is to convince the soft-boiled republicans and the barely centrist democrats to acknowledge how this will hurt their precious military. "I am writing to address concerns I have with the executive order, “Establishing and Implementing the President’s ‘Department Of Government Efficiency’ (DOGE)” (Jan. 20). DOGE has been granted 'full access' to federal payment system and is threatening the employment of numerous federal workers across the country, in and outside the Department of Defense. I am afraid for my employment currently due to the numerous emails received from United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) which dictated a "fork in the road"." ... and so on

“WIRED has identified six young men—all apparently between the ages of 19 and 24, according to public databases, their online presences, and other records—who have little to no government experience and are now playing critical roles in Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) project, tasked by executive order with “modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.” The engineers all hold nebulous job titles within DOGE, and at least one appears to be working as a volunteer. The engineers are Akash Bobba, Edward Coristine, Luke Farritor, Gautier Cole Killian, Gavin Kliger, and Ethan Shaotran. None have responded to requests for comment from WIRED. Representatives from OPM, GSA, and DOGE did not respond to requests for comment.”

—

The Young, Inexperienced Engineers Aiding Elon Musk’s Government Takeover

This is insane. These children can’t even rent a car.

Why aren’t Democrats at Defcon 1? Honestly. I don’t understand why this is happening and there isn’t a loud and forceful response from the opposition. Schumer is droning on about the price of tomatoes, while these unvetted kids are installing root kits, for fuck’s sake.

(via wilwheaton)

[xtruss]

Apple Refuses To Ditch Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Policies

US President Donald J. Trash Trumpet Has Outlawed Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Programs For Government Contractors

— 26 February 2025 | RT

© Christoph Dernbach/Picture Alliance Via Getty Images

Apple shareholders rejected a proposal to revoke the company’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies during an investor meeting on Tuesday, the AP has reported. The move comes despite Washington’s recent steps towards dismantling DEI programs at corporate and government levels.

The vote taken at the company’s annual meeting came in response to a proposal submitted by the National Center for Public Policy Research, a conservative US think tank, which urged the tech giant to terminate its DEI programs, citing potential legal, reputational, and financial risks.

While DEI policies adopted by companies reportedly seek to diversify the workforce by promoting the fair treatment and full participation of all people, the program has been criticized for preferential treatment of some groups over others and for not being based on merit.

“Meta, Alphabet, Amazon, McDonald’s, Ford, Walmart and Goldman Sachs, To Abandon or Roll Back Their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Programs.”

Commenting on the results of the vote, Apple CEO Tim Cook acknowledged that the company may have to alter some of its diversity practices due to the changing legal landscape in the country.

“We’ll Continue to Work Together to Create a Culture of Belonging Where Everyone Can Do Their Best Work,” the top executive told shareholders, as cited by the news agency. Cook added that the company would remain “Committed To The Values That Have Always Made Us Who We Are.”

Last month, shareholders of major US discount retailer Costco also rejected the same think tank’s proposal to evaluate risks posed by pursuing DEI practices.

Shortly after assuming office on January 20, US President Donald Trump fulfilled his election campaign pledge to outlaw DEI initiatives in federal workplaces and educational institutions. The president signed two executive orders reversing protections for transgender rights and DEI programs, established by his predecessor, Joe Biden.

Trump’s orders have met some legal roadblocks. Last week, a federal judge in Maryland temporarily blocked the government from implementing bans on DEI programs at federal agencies and businesses that contract with the federal government. Earlier this month, the National Urban League, National Fair Housing Alliance, and the AIDS Foundation of Chicago filed a lawsuit against Trump and 26 other defendants, saying that the orders had jeopardized their federal funding.

However, the major shift in Federal Policies has led US Corporate Majors, including Meta, Alphabet, Amazon, McDonald’s, Ford, Walmart and Goldman Sachs, To Abandon or Roll Back Their DEI Programs.