Posted on 10/15/2026 4:26:10 AM PDT by yesthatjallen
SNIP
Blockers is a loose sequel to the The Fifth Risk, in which [author Michael] Lewis focused on the transition from the Obama to the Trump administration and the disruption caused by the new team’s almost complete lack of interest in their jobs. It focused heavily on what different departments and agencies do and why they matter. This time around the problem is not indifference but malicious intent to destroy. The “blockers” are the dedicated officials who try to stop the wanton and often illegal destruction of their life’s work by Elon Musk’s Doge or other agents of chaos. They range from a researcher working on preventing wildfires to a security guard trying to block Musk’s goons from entering his building, and a lawyer attempting to keep personal tax data from being used to deport undocumented migrants.
In truth, they don’t do much blocking – since they all either end up resigning when they’re asked to do something illegal, or are fired. The title refers more to the assumption by Musk and his fellow travellers that these are the people who are stopping progress and need removing. Much of the book is taken up with descriptions of the valuable work they did before being turfed out.
It would have been good to have a bit more on the villains, whose motivations for participating in Doge are varied. They range from the addled young coders with limited social skills deployed by Musk, to turncoat bureaucrats looking for any easy life, and some very strange characters such as health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, with his bizarre obsession with dead animal parts.
SNIP
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
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I see a future miniseries on Amazon.
I worked with his wife’s sister. Very sad as she died from anorexia complications.
You hit the nail on the head. Why some believe that government workers are “special” and losing their jobs was such a tragedy when regular everyday Americans have been experiencing this forever has long been a mystery to me.
“The “blockers” are the dedicated officials who try to stop the wanton and often illegal destruction of their life’s work by Elon Musk’s Doge or other agents of chaos”
Trump destroyed Nicolas Maduros’ life’s work in a similar way. He destroyed the life’s work of Somalian fraudsters and cartel drug mules.
I can’t wait to not read it!
I can’t wait to see it on the shelves at Dollar Tree and Ollies.............
YUPPERS
I spent 40 years in a large public company under constant scrutiny. Once or twice a year an employee was marched out the door trying some sort of financial scheme, from kickbacks from contractors and down to putting a “few” personal items on comp credit card.
DOGE uncovered massive abuse in most departments. DOGE didn’t even get down audit line details that would have required immediate resignations and likely prosecutions.
“We gotta save our phony baloney jobs, gentlemen!!!”
— Mel Brooks,
Blazing Saddles
If this paragraph was the product of some respectable broadsheet it would be alarming, but it's The Guardian, which is just a cheap pamphlet out of some marxist's basement, so the soviet stye sloganeering is actually quite funny.
“Heroes” who tried to stop efficiency.
DOGE should be recurring. Every year there should be a three-month DOGE round.
“Resist we much” - Al Sharpton
What a pile of EU crap! Lying POSs!
“government have a right to control the lives and the finances of others.”
Many honestly intend to make the lives of others better.... and a little arrogant force is necessary...part of the job.
These “well intentioned” then become useful idiots for the cynical intentional fraudsters.
Besides the above groups and the DOGE group, there are the well intentioned whistleblowers who have been saying for many years what DOGE is now suddenly saying. They (we) wonder why nobody is listening to the whistleblowers.
DOGE should be recurring
It is. It is called IG Inspector General.
Most IG have lost their zeal and have given up on fighting the swamp.
Some IG and some whistleblowers are still out there ... hoping somebody will pay attention.
"All the Residents' Men"
Anyone who thinks that way should absolutely never have a role in government. "A little arrogant force is necessary" is absolutely never true, and is antithetical to the self-determinism and freedom that make America the land of the free. It is also totally inconsistent with the concept of a 'public servant'. Every dictator in history has at some point rationalized their totalitarianism with that same delusional and patently stupid argument.
Never forget this.
Oh really? Ever hear of a RIF?
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