Dirt doc, PhD

UTAH: 501 PRESS RELEASE June 14, 2025 Utah 50501 Statement Regarding Shooting at No Kings Protest The Utah50501 community is in mourning tonight after a protestor was shot and killed at the Salt Lake City No Kings protest and march. Our love and deepest sympathies go out to the victim's family following this senseless tragedy. He was an innocent, peaceful protestor who came out to make his voice heard as he stood up for our rights when our country needed him most. We are grateful to the SLC first responders and our safety team at the event for their quick response to the shooting, for apprehending the suspect before he could injure more people, and for helping get the protestors to safely clear the area. We condemn the shooter and all violence directed at our peaceful community members in the strongest possible terms. Thank you to everyone in our community who looked out for one another and made sure so many people got home safely tonight.

How is it that every single protester making a slight nuisance makes wall to wall media coverage for a week but not a peep about this?

Jonathan Joss was a native man killed for being gay, while mourning the loss of his home and dog, and his last act was to push his husband out of harms way. This should not be hidden behind vague headlines.

This statement from Jonathan Joss's husband is heart breaking.

No, headline writers, he wasn't "killed in an argument with a neighbor." He was *deliberately murdered* for being gay right after his dog was decapitated.

Bet the murderer calls himself a "Christian."

THIS is why Pride is important.

Longtime BLM photographer Bob Wick retires, amazing work lives on | Bureau of Land Management For over three decades, BLM photographer Bob Wick captured the beauty and diversity of America’s public lands through thousands of images, depicting remote places on BLM lands that few people are luck...

🦬 #DOI #Pride 🏳️‍🌈 | Legendary public lands photographer, Bob Wick, recognized how hard it was to be out during the beginning of his career with the BLM, 35 years ago. He retired in 2021, thankful that many LGBTQIA+ folks have since joined the agency and can be proud of who they are. 1/2

HUGE THANKS to @senjeffmerkley.bsky.social for calling out Interior Sec Burgum for his short-sighted view of public lands. 🙌🙌🙌

Burgum appeared in front of the Senate budget committee today to defend massive funding cuts for #publiclands like national parks.

Some NPS field crews started their season this week. Young scientists just moved to new towns and are attending trainings for work they are currently not allowed to do, for jobs they will most likely loose next week. How can we manage land without the data to tell us what is happening? Public lands.

DOGE initially promised to save taxpayers $2 trillion. 

Now it admits it's only delivered $160B in cuts.

And even those minimal savings are nearly wiped out by the cost of implementing DOGE's cuts: $135B.

We're losing vital government services for basically nothing in return.

@joeneguse.bsky.social the BIL ecological restoration funding, which directly funds the jobs of several people in Fort Collins, has never been unfrozen. At least one of those employees has now been reinstated but there is no money to pay her salary

This town hall was is Laramie, a very progressive college town which has passed its own anti-discrimination protections for LGBT+ folks and has tons of Pride flags hanging in business windows.

Posted 21 days ago, I should re-post; comment period ends March 27.

The Federal Register does rely on well-considered public comments.

There’s a guide to “effective”comments online:

www.regulations.gov/commenting-g...

@altfws.altgov.info did anyone ever step up to lead on this?

One block away from my house. Wish I could have been there.

*admittedly she got torn apart in Laramie, which did NOT vote for Trump. In the districts surrounding the LPCC encompassing the city of Laramie, it went 56-43 for Kamala

My access card that allows me to enter the building, access emails and teams, access my groups files, and log into our internal sites including to report my hours. So I have a computer that can use the internet and my coworkers are sharing files to me with flash drives and booking rooms for me

USGS sent out letters yesterday, with start dates determined by supervisors but I went back same day. Everyone I know has been brought back to active duty with back pay. Of course our PIV cards had been destroyed and technology from remote employees mailed in so doing the work remains challenging

I found a ‘dead’ person collecting Social Security in Seattle “Dead” Ned Johnson turns out to be very much alive. It took him weeks to convince the system he was breathing and to start clawing his benefits back.

The richest man in the world took over $5K out of this guy's bank account, claiming he was dead. The richest man in the world said he was saving money.

He was not dead.

Judge Alsup working hard on a Saturday to restore our positions and undo the wrongs. May his egg yolks never crack, may he never lock himself out of his house or car, and may his bookmarks never fall from the pages.

You know who took over my job duties?
No one. My supervisor has been trying to figure out if a university collaborator could hire me so I could do the grant obligated work I was hired to do. We have land managers and researchers waiting for our outputs but there is no one to take over.

🦬 I am personally doing three different peoples' jobs because of these cuts. Fuck you and your "reassigned duties."

#DOIResists

Since we have never received any real information from them, just hastily drawn up form letters, I don’t think that’s the biggest concern right now

🦬 In defiance of Judge Alsup's order, both the USDA and DOI are claiming that reinstating fired probationary employees will "impose substantial burdens on the Department, cause significant confusion, and potentially subject terminated individuals to conflicting...information."

Some pretty stunning answers here from DHS Deputy Secretary Troy Edgar in today's interview with NPR's Michel Martin, in which Edgar equates pro-Palestinian protests with terrorist activity and can't point to any crime committed by Mahmoud Khalil: npr.org/2025/03/13/n...

Wow.

Rep. Chuck Edwards is getting torn apart at a town hall in Asheville, NC.

“I’m a veteran & you don’t give a fuck about me. You don’t get to do this to us!”

Edwards orders veteran to be thrown out.

We’re approaching a tipping point now. Anger across the country is going to boil over soon.

Despite a deadline to do so yesterday, my friends with the Forest Service have not been reinstated yet and have gotten no information from their supervisors on any plans to bring them back.

My fired USDA friends have not been reinstated yet and haven’t hear a single word from leadership about if or when it will happen despite a deadline to do so yesterday

US judge orders Trump administration to reinstate thousands of fired workers A California federal judge on Thursday ordered six U.S. agencies to reinstate thousands of recently-hired employees who were fired as part of President Donald Trump's purge of the federal workforce.

Good news for many, myself included, but…
USDA was supposed to have reinstated everyone yesterday and my fired Forest Service friends have yet to hear a single word about it. Their supervisors haven’t heard. I’ll celebrate when I’m back at my desk

@bennet.senate.gov My fellow Feds and I did not leave this webinar with confidence that you’re fighting for us, we need to see you vote no to the CR and the cabinet picks. Show us you mean it.

@captmarkkelly.bsky.social your dc, Tucson and Phoenix voicemail are all apparently full but my cohort of current and fired Feds in Arizona want you to know that they support a shutdown. Budgets should be crafted in good faith, and the republicans using the pressure of a deadline to pass this sucks

One of the best and highest uses of a government is to provide goods that are uneconomical to be produced locally but have massive surplus if produced at all. Particularly notable examples include:
* disease and weather forecasting
* basic science, esp in energy/health
* natural disaster insurance

My coworkers have been warned that their personal social media is being monitored to ensure they are not posting from gov property or on gov time. Clearly no one with DOGE or the Trump administration has the same ethical guidelines as science staff

People talking about regular federal workers getting rich off their employment is hilarious. We are not even allowed to use office fund to buy coffee. Every holiday party we’ve had is potluck with no booze. We don’t get a uniform allowance and our boss once authorized us to purchase shirts with the…