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Doge 'doesn't exist' with eight months left on its charter
- kennywinker 11mo agoDid they revoke credentials on their way out the door, or is there now just a squadron of elon’s minions who have keys to federal gov systems?
- evan_ 11mo agoWhether they revoked the credentials or not there are certainly unauthorized copies on usb drives and cloud servers.
- goku12 11mo agoYou give them too much credit if you even suspect them of doing the right thing. You can't expect them to just give up an avenue to such an unfair advantage, no matter how illegal it is. Their wealth and power is incompatible with ethics and legality. I mean, what else do you expect from a guy who so insensitivity mocked and laughed on TV at the misery and suffering that he inflicted on the ordinary people? Besides, who is gatekeping their access to the federal systems now? They fired everybody who tried to resist. Let me get into a conspiratorial territory now. I have a feeling that the access to those systems are not limited to just this wannabe-Nazi and his minions. I suspect that some very hostile and clandestine elements like Palantir might have integrated into it. I don't have serious evidences to back up any of these. But a lot of people are discussing this now. These aren't even secret plots. These tech bro billionaires have been publicly expressing their contempt and disdain for ordinary people and democracy for nearly two decades now. They had been publicly endorsing and promiting tech authoritarianism. Much like the Project 2025, they had been outlining their plans too (though less publicized), that they're following to the dot now. Crimes come with a user manual these days, it seems! They salivate over a tech dystopia like in the Dredd comics. What lends credibility to this is their publicly conspicuous cooperation, that's less likely under normal circumstances. All these are why I always say that 'I have nothing to hide' is a terrible argument against personal privacy. Anyways, just assume that your past and future confidential information is entirely compromised by some very nefarious elements that are openly hostile at you.
- TheAceOfHearts 11mo agoI knew some people that were initially very optimistic, and I tried to keep an open mind when DOGE got started despite the outlandish claims that they would be able to cut $2 trillion dollars from the budget, but it's apparent at this point that the project has been an extreme failure. It'll probably take a few years to really sort out their damage and overall impact though. It's also imperative to mention in every DOGE-related discussion and conversation that the funding freeze to USAID is directly responsible for killing thousands of people [0]. Most of the damage done by DOGE can probably be reversed, but the thousands of death as a direct result of actions taken by the richest man in the world should not be forgotten. (Although I'm told there is a bit of uncertainty with any specific figures because the funding disruption also impacted the mechanisms for tracking and reporting deaths.) [0] https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-documentary/the-shutdown-of-usaid-has-already-killed-hundreds-of-thousands https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-documentary...
- denkmoon 11mo agoIt is not remotely a failure. As a vessel for achieving project 2025 goals, the clear purpose of DOGE, it was successful. It's just that the successes it achieved are reprehensible.
- gmd63 11mo agoThat was not the clear purpose of DOGE. The Trump campaign deliberately distanced itself from Project 2025. If they had been honest about their intent to enact Project 2025 to voters, they would have lost.
- FireBeyond 11mo agoIt was the clear purpose. It just wasn't the openly described purpose.
- gmd63 11mo agoNo, it wasn't clear. I know several Trump voters who either didn't know Project 2025 existed or believed the lies that it was a liberal hoax. To anyone paying an ounce of attention, yeah it might have been clear.
- enraged_camel 11mo agoA friend who works for a three letter agency said that they received orders from DOGE literally today so I’m not sure I believe this Reuters story.
- seattle_spring 11mo agoWas the order just a poop emoji by chance?
- goku12 11mo agoIt's likely that DOGE was just a facade for a clandestine infiltration plan. They let that facade crumble when they finally had the deep data compromise that they craved. But they still invoke that name whenever they want to do something while hiding their identity.
- Waterluvian 11mo agoThe more distressing part of this obvious policy mistake is that if any remaining journalist attempts to take the administration to task on this failure, they’ll just be called a disgusting piggy and scolded for having the gall to bring it up.
- wonderwonder 11mo agoIsn't it the ultimate task for any good efficiency routine to delete itself?
- seattle_spring 11mo agoWouldn't it need to actually accomplish something first?
- __loam 11mo agoLet's not get cute when we're describing an organization that violated the impoundment act and data privacy laws to such an extreme degree, in addition to causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands if not millions of people due to the impoundment of USAID resources. While Elon was waving a chainsaw around, children were starving while the food meant for them rotted in a pallet.
- deleted 11mo ago[deleted]
- jeremyjh 11mo agoConsidering what it accomplished, it would have been even more efficient if it had never happened.
- FireBeyond 11mo agoAnd yet the USG has spent $400B more since DOGE, not $2T less. How's that "efficient"?
- phantasmish 11mo agoIt’ll be very surprising if DOGE per se didn’t cost money, rather than save it, by the time lawsuits and extra costs incurred by their interrupting things that shouldn’t have been interrupted are accounted for.
- BLKNSLVR 11mo agoIt's just a shame it wasn't the first line of code.
- __loam 11mo agoThis was all incredibly illegal and anyone involved in this should see the inside of a cell for a very long time. E: if you disagree with me, you need to familiarize yourself with congressional budget allocation, the impoundment act, and federal data privacy laws. DOGE did not have the unilateral authority to do basically anything it tried to do and we have yet to hold anyone accountable for trying to subvert the will of the people.
- macintux 11mo agoThat’s effectively the entire executive branch in this administration: take illegal actions until the courts stop us, and then do it some more.
- phantasmish 11mo agoIt’s a reverse FDR with waaaaaay less public support.
- estearum 11mo agoFDR threatened to do this, but in fact Congress gave him everything he wanted. Not even “gave” as in “didn’t stop him” (like the current one). They wrote and passed the policy he requested.
- phantasmish 11mo agoYeah, the “crazy-high popularity” thing enables that. Failing to even win a majority of voters… less so. But yeah, FDR did a hell of a lot less actual law-breaking.
- __loam 11mo agoThe correct way.
- astrange 11mo agoOne of the random 19-year-olds they hired (whose nickname is "BigBalls") previously worked selling VPN services to a cybercriminal group ("the Com") whose activities involved extorting children for CSAM and then blackmailing them into committing suicide on livestream. So, there's more to go after if anyone cares to.
- yamillove 11mo ago[dead]
- apical_dendrite 11mo agoDOGE represents all the worst aspects of startup culture. These guys saw all the existing expertise in the federal government as lazy, stupid, old-fashioned, and wasteful, and they thought that they were basically supermen - smarter, harder working, infused with AI superpowers. So they ripped up institutions that have been built at great public cost over generations. These institutions deal with incredibly complex real-world problems. But the DOGE people thought that with AI they could make better decisions in a few seconds than people with decades of experience. The results were pretty much what you would expect. Much of what they trashed was valuable, even lifesaving. (USAID is the prime example). Destroying it saved the US government a relative pittance (the US government spent more money in 2025 than 2024) but the human cost was enormous. Imagine being a young political leader in a developing country. You've grown up thinking favorably about the US because of the positive engagement we've made with your country - not just humanitarian aid, but also elites in your country have gone to school in the US and felt welcomed here. Now, you've just seen that the US will abandon all its promises to you in a heartbeat and leave your country with a humanitarian catastrophe. Why would you ever see the US favorably? Or imagine that you're a small business owner who provided some valuable product or service to the US government. You've made business plans based on the understanding that the US government is a reliable customer. Then an AI told a 23 year old with no experience in your field that your contract was wasteful. The DOGE guys will move on to other cushy startup jobs. They'll make a ton of money in their careers. The rest of us will be left to deal with the fallout.
- chris_wot 11mo agoWhich is why we need to get a list of names of all the DOGE guys. There wasn't many of them.
- avgDev 11mo agoThese guys need to face the music imo. If people don't face prosecution it will be damaging. Elon must needs to be investigated. All previous investigation need to be reviewed and if DOGE stopped or slowed any of them they need to be turned up to 10000000.
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- xrd 11mo agoThe shitty lesson here is that this crime will never be remembered as a crime, but as a missed opportunity. This will mean it will happen again. The people that perpetrated this will learn they can attempt more of this without consequence, and then slither back to silicon valley and be high-fived by the meritocracy bros. Oh, the irony.
- phantasmish 11mo agoI reckon liberal democracy on the US was toast when a losing presidential candidate attempted three routes to a coup and wasn’t in jail awaiting trial for any of them a year after it happened. You can’t give authoritarians do-overs. If they don’t do it, the next one, emboldened by the total lack of consequences, will.
- sys_64738 11mo agoThese people stole all the DBs and stored them on insecure systems and in the cloud. I am expecting all these individuals or connected individuals to immediately be seized and jailed by an Executive Order from the next Democrat President. A lot of people need to serve long prison sentences and these guys are prime candidates.
- dpark 11mo ago> I am expecting all these individuals or connected individuals to immediately be seized and jailed by an Executive Order from the next Democrat President. Democrats broadly lack the spine necessary for this. But regardless, this is also illegal. Despite the actions of the current administration, an EO to snatch people off the street and jail them would violate the 4th amendment.
- beefnugs 11mo agoNothing is illegal if the prez can just tell you to execute someone. Then pardon you.
- idle_zealot 11mo agoEh, the EO would just have to direct the justice department to look into pursuing criminal charges against the people.
- dpark 11mo ago“Investigate criminal activity” is a very different EO than “immediately seize and jail”.
- JumpCrisscross 11mo agoJailing while completing an investigation is perfectly precedented for all sorts of crimes. To suggest these guys, in particular, aren’t a flight and destruction of evidence risk would take work.
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- FridayoLeary 11mo agoThey were taking up way too much attention and drama. Trump doesn't like that. Also politics got in the way of making any real savings. It's main legacy will be of dismantling much of the progressive infrastructure of the federal government. It's a pity because the deficit is very high. The current rationalisation is that tarriffs and a 2% yearly growth will cut the deficit to zero by the 2030s. That prediction is.... very optimistic.
- coro_1 11mo agoTSLA stock looking good again today. That's all I'll say about last June.
- throws-up 11mo agoPeople bring up the foreign aid cuts due to DOGE but don’t understand that America is still the greatest contributor worldwide to foreign aid contributions. Meanwhile BRICS countries are no where contributing nearly as much but can afford to. Taking care of such places should be a shared responsibility.
- kennywinker 11mo agoSure, that seems like a reasonable observation. But the answer to that is to ask the other nations to step up - not to step back and let people die hoping someone else will catch them
- koonsolo 11mo agoEurope spends way more than US.
- red-iron-pine 11mo agothe largest PII breach in history, essentially.
- insane_dreamer 11mo agoElon's legacy: Destroyed a bunch of services to the American people in an extremely haphazard way with little thought to the consequences. Destroyed morale in the Federal workforce through mass firings which caused hardship to thousands, with little thought to the consequences. Literally killed thousands in Africa/Asia by removing aid with little thought to the consequences. (Even if USAID was a soft-power/CIA tool, the actual aid was real.) Accomplished little to nothing. I never again want to hear how "smart" Elon is.
- wozer 11mo agoWhat if those were exactly his goals?
- insane_dreamer 11mo agoPossibly it was, though I don't think Elon Musk is an ideologue in the Project2025 sense. Rather, he saw an opportunity to "solve government" and bought an election to do so, and then it didn't turn out the way things he wanted (turns out "solving government" is not a technical problem to be fixed by bringing in a bunch of Monster-fueled trigger-happy coders). If it was his goal, it doesn't make much sense as to why -- it doesn't advance Elon's other stated goals in any way.