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Jan 24 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump fired 17 independent watchdogs at multiple government agencies on Friday, a person with knowledge of the matter said, eliminating a critical oversight component and clearing the way to replace them with loyalists.

The inspectors general at agencies including the departments of state, defense and transportation were notified by emails from the White House personnel director that they had been terminated immediately, the source said on condition of anonymity.

The dismissals appeared to violate federal law, which requires the president to give both houses of Congress reasons for the dismissals 30 days in advance.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

An inspector general is an independent position that conducts audits and investigations into allegations of waste, fraud and abuse of power.

Agencies are pressing ahead with orders from Trump, who returned to the presidency on Monday, to reshape the federal bureaucracy by scrapping diversity programs, rescinding job offers and sidelining more than 150 national security and foreign policy officials.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-fires-least-12-independent-inspectors-general-washington-post-reports-2025-01-25/

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10 hours ago, 27-25 said:

Never mind the realities!  Even water from the southern Central Valley would still require pumps uphill to get to the LA area.  To the best of my knowledge, such pumping stations don't exist.  This idiot actually thinks valves and pumps controlling water heading downhill into the SF Bay area could just magically be diverted to LA, doesn't he?

Well, while he has oversimplified, Los Angeles has been pumping water from the Central Valley since the early 1900s.

Check out William Mulholland.

Central Valley farmers have been bitching about it for decades, which maybe indicates it's not so easy to get it from parts north.  Regardless, there's no unlimited water anywhere.

The most distressing thing about all of this is that Trump wants do disregard endangered species here and in many drilling situations.

Also, the federal government has or should have almost no control over California's water, or any other state's.  The hook here is preserving endangered species and their habitat.  One argument you could make there is that we're all endangered species considering what we're doing to our own habitat.  But that's not something they believe in.

Edited by TwiceHorn
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7 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

One argument you could make there is that we're all endangered species considering what we're doing to our own habitat.  But that's not something they believe in.

It's something they don't believe in until it's politically expedient to, then magically it'll be the Democrats fault that were in this mess

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Well, while he has oversimplified, Los Angeles has been pumping water from the Central Valley since the early 1900s.
Check out William Mulholland.
Central Valley farmers have been bitching about it for decades, which maybe indicates it's not so easy to get it from parts north.  Regardless, there's no unlimited water anywhere.
The most distressing thing about all of this is that Trump wants do disregard endangered species here and in many drilling situations.
Also, the federal government has or should have almost no control over California's water, or any other state's.  The hook here is preserving endangered species and their habitat.  One argument you could make there is that we're all endangered species considering what we're doing to our own habitat.  But that's not something they believe in.

But that’s not even the hook here. Yes, SOCAL has been drinking the Owens Valley water forever. But what HE is talking about is a totally separate basin in Northern California. They aren’t hydrologically connected….and California is a big fucking state. It’s as dumb as saying “why is San Angelo so dry? Texas has a bazillion gallons of water in lake Toledo Bend, just turn the valve!”
Different basins. Different elevations. Gravity. Cost.
Water has been a critical resource in the west for over a century. This complete and utter dumbfuck thinks he’s the first guy to even have the THOUGHT of “hey, get some water from abundant areas and send it to dry areas!” There’s a reason that we don’t have a pipeline from Toledo Bend to San Angelo, or from Oregon to LA.
But of course, “nobody knows more about water than me!” he says. And people like @mccroskey eat it up.
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54 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

The most distressing thing about all of this is that Trump wants do disregard endangered species here and in many drilling situations.

Also, the federal government has or should have almost no control over California's water, or any other state's.  The hook here is preserving endangered species and their habitat.  One argument you could make there is that we're all endangered species considering what we're doing to our own habitat.  But that's not something they believe in.

Speaking of endangered species, here is a link on the proposal to place the monarch butterfly on the list. The deadline for comments will be here all too soon (March 12, 2025): https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2024-12-12/pdf/2024-28855.pdf   be aware--this is not a short read, so you may wish to skip to how to submit comments with the info below...

Some more info

The proposal to list the monarch butterfly, and designate critical habitat, will publish in the Federal Register on December 12, 2024. A 90-day comment period will open on December 12, 2024, and will close on March 12, 2025. Information about how to submit comments can be found on regulations.gov by searching for docket number FWS-R3-ES-2024-0137. This docket also includes information about how to attend two virtual public information meetings, and associated public hearings, about this listing proposal. 

We are woefully behind when it comes to protection of species (lol, including our own). By the time things move to this stage, so much damage has been done. Pollinator numbers are crashing everywhere and yet we seem to think some of our food crops will just bloom and grow without them--when over 80% of flowering species need pollinators for reproduction.

Anecdotally, I've certainly witnessed the decline as I have butterfly weed all over the garden. Numbers of adult monarchs and caterpillars have been way down and what is worse is that due to a longer warm season, the ones that arrive to feast and lay eggs are coming quite late and then the offspring cannot emerge from the chrysalis in time to migrate. I used to cut the weed down in the fall to encourage migration, but now it's a matter of just keeping some alive in the hopes that a percentage make it to Mexico. The western monarch (overwinters in California) is at a 95% chance of extinction while the eastern monarch is at a 56-75% chance.

Not great to know that the monarch, while an iconic butterfly to most people and readily identified, is likely one of many many species that will disappear in our lifetime.

 

Edited by Mrs Whiggins
grammar
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17 hours ago, RomaVicta said:

I think the C-17 will be used for one or two photo ops because it makes everybody feel macho to see anything military. Vicarious manliness for Trump and his voters. Then they switch to trains or cheaper flight.

Who knows, maybe Trump Airline will re-arise to take the contract.

Cattle cars.

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2 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

Well, while he has oversimplified, Los Angeles has been pumping water from the Central Valley since the early 1900s.

Check out William Mulholland.

Central Valley farmers have been bitching about it for decades, which maybe indicates it's not so easy to get it from parts north.  Regardless, there's no unlimited water anywhere.

The most distressing thing about all of this is that Trump wants do disregard endangered species here and in many drilling situations.

Also, the federal government has or should have almost no control over California's water, or any other state's.  The hook here is preserving endangered species and their habitat.  One argument you could make there is that we're all endangered species considering what we're doing to our own habitat.  But that's not something they believe in.

I think someone else also brought this up, but LA gets some of its water from the Owens Valley.  Technically not the Central Valley since I think it lies just to the east of the crest of the High Sierras and generally slopes to the south.  There may be some other water projects of which I'm not aware, but Mullholland was best known for draining the Owens Valley dry.

But as we sit here and have a rational discussion about the particulars we might lose sight of the fact that TFG actually believes there's a twist valve somewhere that will magically divert limitless water from Canada to LA.  It's just evil politicians in CA that are preventing it for some unknown reason.  I wish everyone on the board the best of luck that we, and the country, survive this era.  God help us all.

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2 hours ago, Bullneck said:

Welp, no more airplanes for me for a while

 

Maga Republicans don't give a fuck.  Six months from now when planes start falling out of the sky, half the country will blame DEI and the other half won't even know or care it happened because they'll be too consumed with deportations or the upcoming war with Denmark, or whatever fresh hell maga comes up with next.

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Sorry if already posted. Here are the IG's removed. Furk.

But agencies and departments whose watchdogs were said to have been removed included the departments of agriculture, commerce, defense, education, housing and urban development, interior, labor, transportation and veterans affairs, along with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Small Business Administration.

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13 hours ago, hookem2010 said:

There is a tipping point, and our technology is nowhere near where it needs to be to save us from ecological catastrophe. In fact, those at the controls of cutting edge technology appear most concerned with hoarding wealth or consolidating power rather than helping their fellow man or planet in any way.

our president is going to sign an EO to activate a non-existent water infrastructure to save the southland

/thread

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holy shit

how did we miss this from 3 weeks ago? and back in september?

he's completely out of control and unbounded - is his entire support system unwilling to give him any advice - yo - dude - you look insane talking about valves from canada

and he goes and does it again yesterday - the limit does not exist

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-says-newsom-blame-apocalyptic-wildfires

Trump says Newsom is to 'blame' for 'apocalyptic' wildfires
'He wanted to protect an essentially worthless fish called a smelt,' President-elect Trump said on Truth Social
By Emma Colton Fox News
Published January 8, 2025 12:41pm EST

"You have millions of gallons of water pouring down from the north with the snow caps and Canada, and all pouring down and they have essentially a very large faucet," Trump said in September. 

"You turn the faucet and it takes one day to turn it, and it’s massive, it’s as big as the wall of that building right there behind you. You turn that, and all of that water aimlessly goes into the Pacific (Ocean), and if they turned it back, all of that water would come right down here and right into Los Angeles," he said.

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34 minutes ago, InkaUtexas said:

Sorry if already posted. Here are the IG's removed. Furk.

But agencies and departments whose watchdogs were said to have been removed included the departments of agriculture, commerce, defense, education, housing and urban development, interior, labor, transportation and veterans affairs, along with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Small Business Administration.

Here’s an AP article on the overnight firings: https://apnews.com/article/trump-inspectors-general-fired-congress-unlawful-4e8bc57e132c3f9a7f1c2a3754359993

And here’s a CRS piece that discusses the 2022 amendments to the Inspector General Act that increased removal protections for IGs:

https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IN/IN12363/2

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2 minutes ago, Foggy Notion said:

Here’s an AP article on the overnight firings: https://apnews.com/article/trump-inspectors-general-fired-congress-unlawful-4e8bc57e132c3f9a7f1c2a3754359993

And here’s a CRS piece that discusses the 2022 amendments to the Inspector General Act that increased removal protections for IGs:

https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IN/IN12363/2

Interesting. Thank you. But then Trump said fuck dem rules.

Since the enactment of the 2022 amendments, a notification to Congress must include a “substantive
rationale, including detailed and case-specific reasons” for the removal action. Under the prior language
of the Inspector General Act, which was less directive, at least one federal court had ruled that the
President met the notice requirement by informing Congress only that he had lost confidence in the IG
being removed.

 

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2 hours ago, retread said:

Canada is above CA on the map, and water flows from higher points to lower point. That's his understanding of the problem.

This made me LOL, and it reminds me of a half-hour conversation I had with a non-core family member about why airplanes going between Europe and the U.S. fly over Greenland. “But the shortest way between two points is a straight line!”

We honestly overestimate the cognitive ability of the average American. 

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10 hours ago, Biff Tannen said:

And his moron cult will believe it. This is just a straight up made up fantasy. But he will claim to have done something and that’s all that matters to the right. 

You mean there isn’t a 72 inch water spigot from Peugeot Sound - the largest fresh water reserve in the PNW - directly flowing to Los Angeles just waiting to be used for this? 

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4 minutes ago, troph said:

You mean there isn’t a 72 inch water spigot from Peugeot Sound - the largest fresh water reserve in the PNW - directly flowing to Los Angeles just waiting to be used for this? 

Have you ever heard what a Peugeot sounds like when you mash the horn three times fast?

Spoiler

HON!-HON!-HON!
Berets, Onions, and Stereotypes - Margo Lestz - The Curious Rambler

 

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If there’s not a spigot, faucet, or valve then explain this LIBS!
image.thumb.png.3f2b1b8d126241930b39920f0cd0f475.png

The sad thing is, that makes perfect sense in MAGA idiot land. Just like a picture of a full Toledo Bend would be used to show “there’s no drought in Midland! Look at this huge lake in Texas that isn’t even being used!”
The dumbest people on earth. Truly, I don’t know how they maintain breathing.
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It's amazing how no one liked Project 2025, yet all Trump had to do was say "oh no we're not doing Project 2025. I dont even know what that is!" and the entire American news media and public bought that bullshit.

Did they?

Or did we all just know it was true and a substantial portion of the population decided either “I can dig it” or “but meine eggs?”
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2 hours ago, Constant said:

Imagine trying to explain to him that some rivers flow north. 

If he hears this, he's going to write an EO repealing the law of gravity. "It's a hoax, water flows up and down. Lots of people don't know that. Liberal science elitists are trying to hide that from you. Just like they hide windmill cancer."

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