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A federal judge in San Francisco has temporarily blocked the Trump administration's sweeping overhaul of the federal government. The ruling from U.S. District Judge Susan Illston, a Clinton appointee, came after a hearing Friday in a lawsuit filed by a coalition of labor unions, nonprofits and local governments. The plaintiffs argue in their complaint that President Trump's efforts to "radically restructure and dismantle the federal government" without any authorization from Congress violate the Constitution. Illston agreed with the plaintiffs, asserting in the hearing that Supreme Court precedent makes clear that while the president does have the authority to seek changes...

A federal judge on Friday issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) blocking the Trump Administration’s effort to overhaul and reorganize 20 agencies in the Executive Branch. In February, President Trump implemented an executive order to completely overhaul the Executive Branch through the work of DOGE. US District Judge Susan Illston, a Clinton appointee, said in order for President Trump to make such large-scale overhauls, he needs approval from Congress. “It is the prerogative of presidents to pursue new policy priorities and to imprint their stamp on the federal government. But to make large-scale overhauls of federal agencies, any president must...

Over 1,300 federal employees impacted by the Department of Education’s March 11 reduction in force received their official separation notices Thursday, according to copies reviewed by ABC News. “It is with great regret that I must inform you that your position is being abolished and you have been reached for reduction in force (RIF) action,” the notices read, in part. The RIF was one of the first major steps in massively reducing the Education Department after President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to close the agency on March 20. Both Trump and McMahon...

NASA has begun implementing its reduction in force (RIF) approach, closing three offices and laying off staff in compliance with executive orders by the new administration that target the federal workforce. NASA announced on Monday that it will be closing the Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy; the Office of the Chief Scientist; and the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Branch of the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Twenty-three employees will be affected by the cuts, according to SpacePolicyOnline.com. The recent workforce cuts are in response to an executive order to end “radical and wasteful government DEI programs...

Much of the federal workforce is on edge and bracing itself for the likelihood its ranks will be purged when President-elect Donald Trump takes office. Trump, who has derided civil servants as agents of the “deep state,” promised on the campaign trail to reinstate a 2020 executive order known as Schedule F, giving him the power to commence mass firings of nonpartisan federal employees who might spoil Trump’s partisan plans. “The objective is to create space to put loyalists in what were, what are still, career civil service positions,” former Trump appointee Ronald Sanders – who resigned over Trump’s politicization...

Quite the takedown. https://twitter.com/JesseKellyDC/status/1637931810519941121?s=20

307 jobs are under threat at online payment firm PayPal’s offices in Dublin and Dundalk in County Louth. The company is opening a consultation with impacted staff who have been notified about the situation. The roles that are being targeted for compulsory redundancy are across a range of functions. 135 of the positions are based in company’s Dublin office in Blanchardstown, while the remaining 172 roles are in the County Louth town. PayPal has stressed that the decision does not change its commitment to Ireland. “PayPal remains committed to Ireland and our Dublin and Dundalk sites will continue to be...

Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick slammed American Airlines on Thursday evening after the airline called out the state’s new security measures to protect elections, claiming that a representative from the company called him and told him that the head of the company didn’t even read the bill. “Earlier this morning, the Texas State Senate passed legislation with provisions that limit voting access,” American Airlines said in a statement that echoed remarks made by leftists who have attacked recent measures to secure elections across the country. “To make American’s stance clear: We are strongly opposed to this bill and others like...

In all Trump gave us — the good, the bad, the hilarious, and the unsettling — his administration brought much-needed clarity to the GOP and the country.At the end of his second term, amid the early retrospectives about his presidency, George W. Bush reportedly remarked, “the true history of my administration will be written 50 years from now.” It was a wise reminder that the passage of time generally yields a more honest, dispassionate analysis of events than is often allowed by the heated political present.While we are left to wonder how history will judge the last four years of...

CANADA: Gee…who could possibly hate dogs so much that they would scatter broken glass all over a dog park ? JULY 22, 2019 BY BARENAKEDISLAM Dog walkers say someone appears to be intentionally placing thousands of pieces of broken glass in the ground all around Dave Bartlett Park, an off-leash dog park in Manotick. CTV News via VladTepesBlog Dog walkers fear someone is deliberately trying to harm their dogs. “Nobody thinks this is an accident,” said Dana McPhail. “There was 50, 60 people here yesterday everybody was upset and everybody was saying somebody doesn’t want this dog park here; somebody...

The federal government’s partial shutdown is affording the opportunity for Americans to see some of the D.C.’s most self-serving politics, but also the reality that we have large swaths of the federal government that are non-essential. And some of it really, really is non-essential — as in unneeded — and should be simply eliminated to the benefit of taxpayers and all Americans who are not politically connected. But perhaps even more portions of the federal government could be radically altered to make the behemoth far more responsive to Americans, rather than holding them hostage to the deplorable and corruptive condition...

President Donald Trump’s administration will have the option to lay off all furloughed government workers after their furlough reaches 30 days. President Trump is now on Day 26 of the shutdown, and he has not signed any bill to guarantee back pay for furloughed workers. President Trump can save taxpayers more than $1 billion per week if he lays off the approximately 800,000 non-essential government workers who are not getting paid. That would save enough money to cover the cost of Trump’s wall in six weeks, or three pay periods. The trade site The Balance Careers previously published an explainer...

Federal workers and contractors not getting paid have had to resort to seeking handouts as the record-breaking shutdown continues for a fourth week. In Washington, DC, the line for free meals stretched down Pennsylvania Avenue between the White House and the Capitol because workers say any little bit helps when no money is coming in. “Accepting that I’m here is demoralizing,” said a teary Blen Woldearegay, a Department of Interior contractor who is worried about possible foreclosure on her new home. “It’s hard. It’s hurtful. I’m not the type of person that likes to do that [ask for help] just...

... A new statement from the Office of Management and Budget provides cold comfort for federal bureaucrats worried that furloughs during the partial shutdown could become permanent layoffs, as long as Democrats refuse to give in and fund the border barrier. There will be no immediate layoffs (what the federal government calls reductions-in-force – or RIFs) if and when the current partial shutdown passes the 30 day mark in 4 more days. As I explained yesterday in Trump's shutdown trap?, federal law requires RIFs when federal employees are furloughed more than 30 days... This emphatically does not rule out the...

Has President Trump suckered Democrats and the Deep State into a trap that will enable a radical downsizing of the federal bureaucracy? In only 5 more days of the already-“longest government shutdown in history” (25 days and counting, as of today), a heretofore obscure threshold will be reached, enabling permanent layoffs of bureaucrats furloughed 30 days or more.

Agencies won’t need to consider targeted layoffs, otherwise known as reductions-in-force (RIFs), if the current partial government shutdown continues for another few days. While federal statute typically instructs agencies to RIF targeted groups of employees who have been placed on furlough status for 30 days or more, the regulations don’t apply to emergency furlough situations, the Office of Management and Budget confirmed Tuesday. Some astute Federal News Network readers had questioned whether their agencies could RIF furloughed employees if the current government shutdown, now at 25 days and counting, hits the 30-day mark. There are two kinds of furloughs. “Administrative...

Has President Trump suckered Democrats and the Deep State into a trap that will enable a radical downsizing of the federal bureaucracy? In only five more days of the already-“longest government shutdown in history” (25 days and counting, as of today), a heretofore obscure threshold will be reached, enabling permanent layoffs of bureaucrats furloughed 30 days or more. Don’t believe me that federal bureaucrats can be laid off? Well, in bureaucratese, a layoff is called a RIF – a Reduction in Force, and of course, it comes with a slew of civil service protections. But, if the guidelines are followed,...

When James McHugh typed up a batch of letters the other day, his boss sent them back. ''They were red-penciled,'' said Mr. McHugh unhappily. ''I had to do them over again.'' As a secretary, McHugh, who once directed a staff of 10 people and administered $27 million in Federal grants, does not know his carbon paper from his Ko-Rec-Type. Yet the Federal Government is paying him $46,000 a year to type. ... In a bizarre twist, the Federal use of the "reduction in force," or RIF, has turned thousands of highly paid specialists like Mr. McHugh into secretaries, file clerks...

SIERRA VISTA — Fort Huachuca will see a reduction of about 114 soldiers from its active duty population over the course of the next three years as part of an Army-wide reduction of 40,000 soldiers and 17,000 civilian employee personnel announced by the Department of the Army on Thursday. The cut represents less than 5 percent of the active duty permanent party personnel on post, said Tanja Linton, media relations officer. “We do not yet have a specific breakdown by command to identify which positions will be reduced,” Linton said. Neither did the fort have any specifics on any reduction...

One of my readers is an underemployed 59-year-old man from among us here in the South Suburbs. Call him Harry. He works in information technology. Slowly and wearily, he says: "Once you get past 50, I swear, it gets tough, it gets really tough." For instance, Harry applied for a job with a city of Chicago department that operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. He got an offer for some contract work. There were no benefits, but it was a paying job. A woman from the city called him one Monday morning and wanted to know if...