Thanks for this reporting! Many of the “voluntary” retirements were coerced. Not allowing telework from home reduces access to care in more remote areas, reduces availability of evening clinics, limits access to specialty care and consultation, and makes coverage of absent clinicians less reliable.

As an ousted federal employee, I noticed that among my colleagues, minoritized individuals tended to be the most fearful and most likely to “obey in advance”. They felt more vulnerable. Doesn’t excuse the behavior but makes it more understandable.

Part of the reason is that the threats, coercion, and other indirect methods worked on so many people that fewer need to be directly fired.

Highly relevant - thanks! Until today I was Medical Director of Reproductive Mental Health for VA - a position that no longer exists. Among many other things, I taught VA clinicians nationwide about COVID, pregnancy and mental health, and patient-centered vaccine discussions. Lifesaving!

wgntv.com/western-subu...

SO appreciative that you’re fighting back!

So sorry that people need to feel retraumatized by these malicious attacks after such tough losses.

As a reproductive mental health psychiatrist, I can’t emphasize enough how important PRAMS data have been in shaping evidence-based clinical practice and policy for perinatal women.

YouTube video by Late Night with Seth Meyers Amber Ruffin Defends Both Sides After Her Cancelled White House Correspondents' Gig

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUlT...

Even more dangerous for them is that Amber Ruffin is very funny and very honest.

Is American democracy doomed? How to understand the concept of "competitive authoritarianism" and why it's crucial to push back now to avoid it.

www.forkingpaths.co/p/is-america...

I found a ‘dead’ person on 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.

www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...

Wikipedia image of Major General (Ret.) Charles C. Rogers

Defense.gov google return: Medal of Honor Monday: Army Maj. Gen. Charles Calvin Rogers

Defense.gov 404 - Page Not Found

https://www.defense.gov/News/Feature-Stories/Story/Article/2824721/deimedal-of-honor-monday-army-maj-gen-charles-calvin-rogers/

This is blood-boiling. Charles Rogers was awarded the Medal of Honor in Vietnam after being wounded three times leading the defense of a position.

Google his name and the entry below comes up. When you click, you'll see the page has been deleted and the URL changed to include "DEI medal."

Often remote work in federal government was not due to the pandemic, but for serving people efficiently in remote areas and for recruiting the best and brightest employees from around the country. It’s not “return” to office.

News is so siloed that many Trump voters don’t know what’s really happening unless others tell them. My Trump-voting relatives have been aghast when I give them actual facts and eye-witness accounts of consequences. Please communicate with them any chance you get!

UPDATE: From the original poster of the letter on FB:

It’s borderline criminal.

ICYMI: Trump has dropped investigations and enforcement actions against 89 lawbreaking corporations, including:

-42 cases at the CFPB
-15 cases at the DOJ
-6 cases at the EEOC
-7 crypto cases at the SEC

It's a new golden age for corporate criminals.

Is this why she publicized killing her dog and her goat - to imply what happens to those she deems “untrainable”?

Awesome! When we made the switch, the line for new memberships at Costco was satisfyingly long. Also useful to use the Goods Unite Us app to see different companies’ political donations.

Battered by Cuts and Firings, VA Employees Describe Serving Veterans Under ‘Invisible Cloud of Dread’ Cuts to resources and staff at Veterans Affairs will harm provider moral and veteran care, employees say.

thewarhorse.org/va-employees...

Similar word searches have curtailed trainings for health professionals about social determinants of health, one of the leading contributors to suicide risk per a recent meta-analysis.

Study Highlights Social Determinants Most Highly Associated With Suicide Individuals involved with the criminal justice system or recently released from incarceration are among those at greatest risk of suicide m...

Social determinants of health are key drivers of suicide risk. Teaching about them is being compromised by bans stemming from the DEI executive order. alert.psychnews.org/2025/01/stud...

How many more children will die of measles this year? The blame sits squarely on governors and state legislatures who’ve opened up the floodgates to exemptions. It rests on RFK Jr and every senator who voted for him. It rests on Donald Trump, JD, Vance, Elon Musk and Russell Vought.

Breaking: Military issues policy banning trans military service, implementing Trump EO The policy was filed Wednesday evening in a challenge to the executive order and will be subject to legal challenges.

Breaking: Military issues policy banning trans military service, implementing Trump EO
open.substack.com/pub/chrisgei...

Let’s start referring to that entity by a more accurate name, DODGI (Department of Destruction, Gaffes, and Inefficiency).

Remarkable resignation letter from the Justice Department's chief information officer in the immigration review division — a disabled veteran.

Obtained by @propublica.org's Brett Murphy:

Many federal workers are vets. They're terrified. Veterans in 2021 made up roughly one-third of the federal workforce, which the Trump administration is targeting with sweeping layoffs.

www.businessinsider.com/trump-doge-c...

This FEMA civil servant and disabled military veteran voted for Trump. Now he’s out of a job - WTOP News A couple is hashing out next steps after the husband, a disabled military veteran and IT technician with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, was fired amid DOGE cuts.

As the Trump-Musk administration continues its assault on the civil service, remember this: 30% of the federal workforce are veterans. They fought for our country, and they don't deserve to be treated this way. wtop.com/virginia/202...