Ongoing hobbling of Agencies and general regulation nonsense

[AdrianS]

Whiny little crybabies.
https://www.npr.org/2025/12/27/g-s1-103808/kennedy-center-lawsuit-chuck-redd-cancellation-trump

So incoherent.
"You're clearly a victim of bullying, so we're suing you for a million dollars!"
Let's not even mention the umbrage at an artist doing something "political." Dumb fucks think they're entitled to a performance from some kind of trained monkey without opinions or expression.

He was booked to play at the Kennedy Centre, not the Trump Centre.

 

[DarthSlack]

Attendance at the Kennedy Center is already down something like 40%-50%. And in their tiny little gold-plated pea brains it makes sense that suing performers is somehow going to bring in the kind of quality shows that might reverse that trend. Although maybe Mel Brooks should try offering Springtime for Hitler to see if he can slide one past these clowns.

While the Kennedy Center was head and shoulders the premier venue in the DC area, there's a lot of other theaters where you can get your live performance fix. And none of them are controlled by right-wing whackjobs.

 

[Shavano]

Kash Patel has announced that they're going to shut down the Hoover building and the FBI is going to move HQ to the Reagan building.

Overall, the Reagan building is a little bigger (3.1M vs 2.8M square feet), but that includes a convention center and Customs and it already houses Customs and Border Protection. Formerly it housed USAID and maybe still houses whatever skeleton is left of that agency.

So they're going to have to downsize, I guess. Maybe they won't need so much space if they're only tasked with enforcing the law against Democrats and rooting out wokeness.

 

[dzid]

Formerly it housed USAID and maybe still houses whatever skeleton is left of that agency.

My impression from talking to someone whose life's work used to be USAID is that they were very careful to leave no trace of it. That person is very likely leaving the country.

 

[GMBigKev]

There's no timeline and there's no money. It's a "promise"

 

[karolus]

It does leave open the question of what becomes with the parcel of land currently occupied by the J. Edgar Hoover Building. The former Trump Hotel—now a Waldorf Astoria, is close by. Perhaps we’re going to see a casino on Pennsylvania Avenue.

 

[Wheels Of Confusion]

Trump's regime taking "starve the beast" as far as to declare that "the beast is dead" in court.
https://www.npr.org/2025/12/30/nx-s1-5661581/cfpb-funding-order

The administration recently made a legal argument that because the agency gets its funding from the Federal Reserve, and since the Fed is technically operating at a loss, there are no valid funds for the CFPB.
Judge Amy Berman Jackson rejected the argument, writing that this "would be tantamount to closing what is left of the Bureau." This upholds an earlier injunction from Jackson to ensure the agency would continue to exist as congressionally mandated, and to stop efforts to shutter the CFPB, including through layoffs.
Separately, last week a coalition of 21 states and the District of Columbia joined together for a lawsuit to prevent the defunding of the agency. They argue that the administration is too narrowly interpreting which Fed funds can be used to support the agency — that they don't have to be profits.

You may remember that Trump has tried to close the agency by fiat before, and put the mastermind behind Project 2025 in charge of killing it:

President Donald Trump installed Russell Vought as the acting director of the agency, who has mirrored the president's desire to close the bureau. Vought ordered a stop to all work at the agency within the first few weeks of Trump's second inauguration.
In April, layoff notices were sent to about 1,400 of the bureau's workers. The National Treasury Employees Union sued to stop the staff reductions. Judge Jackson issued a preliminary injunction blocking the layoffs, but in August an appeals court panel vacated that ruling, saying that the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia lacked jurisdiction in the case. In December, that panel decision was itself vacated, meaning that the layoffs currently remain blocked.
In today's order, Jackson wrote that the administration was "actively and unabashedly trying to shut the agency down again, through different means."

 

[Bardon]

Trump's regime taking "starve the beast" as far as to declare that "the beast is dead" in court.
https://www.npr.org/2025/12/30/nx-s1-5661581/cfpb-funding-order

You may remember that Trump has tried to close the agency by fiat before, and put the mastermind behind Project 2025 in charge of killing it:

As a dirty furriner I had to look up what the CFPB is - I'm baffled as to why they'd want to shut down a watchdog that exists to protect consumers from predatory/illegal/underhanded businesses! <biggest /s in existence>

 

[Deleted member 28951]

As a dirty furriner I had to look up what the CFPB is - I'm baffled as to why they'd want to shut down a watchdog that exists to protect consumers from predatory/illegal/underhanded businesses! <biggest /s in existence>

That's not even the main reason.
The real reason is Trump is the king of petty revenge.
The CFPB was established under Obama, Trump's "most hated person on the planet" since Obama made fun of him in the 2011 White House Correspondents' Dinner when Trump was in the audience.
Trump has tried to eliminate every single Obama initiative (including those he vocally supported before he knew they were Obama's) ever since.

 

[Wheels Of Confusion]

As a dirty furriner I had to look up what the CFPB is - I'm baffled as to why they'd want to shut down a watchdog that exists to protect consumers from predatory/illegal/underhanded businesses! <biggest /s in existence>

Because "liberals" set it up in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis and it means wealthy financial institutions can't gamble with America's money nor swindle as many paychecks from people as much as they'd like. You know, "burdensome regulations."
They want fewer restraints on their depredations of the working sector's money and wealth, less accountability, and no government eyes prying into how they make Line Go UP.

 

[concernUrsus]

Because "liberals" set it up in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis and it means wealthy financial institutions can't gamble with America's money nor swindle as many paychecks from people as much as they'd like. You know, "burdensome regulations."
They want fewer restraints on their depredations of the working sector's money and wealth, less accountability, and no government eyes prying into how they make Line Go UP.

Obama could have done more during the 2008 crisis. Honestly, some of the "financial leaders" should have been prosecuted and at least blacklisted from the industry.

We are heading towards some very questionable regulation period now. I am not sure if it is worse than 2008 regulations or not. At least people are not buying houses with questionable mortgage? However, there are so many bad financial products now. We currently have gamification of "investment" (more like gambling) and "loan forever". I have been seeing so many gambling advertisements later and every online site have "buy now, pay later".

 

[karolus]

Obama could have done more during the 2008 crisis. Honestly, some of the "financial leaders" should have been prosecuted and at least blacklisted from the industry.

We are heading towards some very questionable regulation period now. I am not sure if it is worse than 2008 regulations or not. At least people are not buying houses with questionable mortgage? However, there are so many bad financial products now. We currently have gamification of "investment" (more like gambling) and "loan forever". I have been seeing so many gambling advertisements later and every online site have "buy now, pay later".

Republicans historically have loathed most any regulation—especially of the financial type. The Pavlovian response of the markets after Trump’s victory in 2024 was predicated on the expectation that he would loosen regulation, thus furthering the market gains. The downside to this is a high chance of economic bubbles forming, with a market crash after it pops. With further intentional fraying of the social safety net, the result could be worse than the GFC.

Per buy now-pay later programs—they could be seen as a lagging indicator of economic stress in American households. People no longer have sufficient funds to pay in full at purchase time, so are forced into these type of loans. Similarly, new vehicle financing often has a longer term duration now, in order to keep monthly prices affordable.

 

[Louis XVI]

Obama could have done more during the 2008 crisis. Honestly, some of the "financial leaders" should have been prosecuted and at least blacklisted from the industry.

Obama wasn’t President in 2008.

 

[Kilkenny]

The war on intelligence continues - NASA's largest library at the Goddard Space Flight Center closes permanently today:

NASA's Largest Library To Permanently Close On Jan 2, Books Will Be 'Tossed Away'

NASA's largest library at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, which has been a central research hub for the global space agency since 1959, will be permanently closing on Friday (Jan 2). The closure of the 100,000-volume library is part of the Donald Trump administration's reorganisation drive, under which 13 buildings and over 100 science and engineering laboratories will be shut down on the 1.270-acre campus by March 2026

According to a statement posted on the website of the Goddard Engineers, Scientists and Technicians Association, specialised equipment and electronics designed to test spacecraft have already been removed and thrown out.

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/nas...e-on-jan-2-books-will-be-tossed-away-10170584

 

[Shavano]

The war on intelligence continues - NASA's largest library at the Goddard Space Flight Center closes permanently today:



https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/nas...e-on-jan-2-books-will-be-tossed-away-10170584

But we're going to have American astronauts fly around the moon again this year. /s

 

[Matisaro]

The war on intelligence continues - NASA's largest library at the Goddard Space Flight Center closes permanently today:



https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/nas...e-on-jan-2-books-will-be-tossed-away-10170584

......thrown out?

I hate these people with the fire of a thousand suns.

 

[DarthSlack]

The war on intelligence continues - NASA's largest library at the Goddard Space Flight Center closes permanently today:



https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/nas...e-on-jan-2-books-will-be-tossed-away-10170584

Goddard is being pillaged. The library is bad enough but it's the tip of the iceberg. I expect it to be closed and the land handed over to one of Trump's development buddies.

 

[Shavano]

Goddard is being pillaged. The library is bad enough but it's the tip of the iceberg. I expect it to be closed and the land handed over to one of Trump's development buddies.

 

[Wheels Of Confusion]

This week testimony in court submitted by the government admitted that DOGE staffers had threatened the privacy of American citizens by taking it on themselves to share Social Security Administration data with some "fraudit" groups. This was reported a few days ago, but wait! There's more!
https://www.npr.org/2026/01/23/nx-s1-5684185/doge-data-social-security-privacy

The unnamed employees secretly conferred with a political advocacy group about a request to match Social Security data with state voter rolls to "find evidence of voter fraud and to overturn election results in certain States," the filing said. It remains unclear whether any data actually went to this group.

"Based on its review of records obtained during or after October 2025, SSA identified communications, use of data, and other actions by the then-SSA DOGE Team that were potentially outside of SSA policy and/or noncompliant with the District Court's March 20, 2025, temporary restraining order," DOJ attorneys wrote.

DOGE team members also circumvented IT rules to improperly share data on outside servers, sent a password-protected file of private records to DOGE affiliates outside the agency and had the ability to see data even after a judge temporarily halted access.

In acknowledging the breaches, the Social Security Administration also repeatedly indicated it still has little knowledge of what data was shared and offers little insight into how those incidents occurred.

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the Social Security Administration have asked the two courts currently considering the case to incorporate the "brazen misconduct" documented in the corrected testimony."The unauthorized release of Americans' personal data represents a profound violation of public trust," said Richard Fiesta, executive director of the Alliance for Retired Americans, which is a plaintiff in the case along with unions. "Retirees, workers, and families depend on the Social Security Administration to protect their most confidential information. We have a right to know what happened to our information, who had access to it, and what it was used for."

The revelation bolsters the claims of whistleblower Chuck Borges, who alleged that DOGE staffers repeatedly violated internal SSA policies and federal laws, including a decision to copy a dataset of more than 300 million Americans' sensitive information into a virtual database without following required security protocols.

"It's disappointing to be proven right," Borges, who was the chief data officer for SSA until his resignation in August, told NPR in response to the fling. (He has also filed a separate complaint alleging that he was retaliated against for raising concerns and was forced to resign to uphold his ethical and legal obligations.) "Yes, it's validating, but it's also disappointing because it puts American public data at risk."

The whole article is worth a read. It goes over the timelines, including what was publicly known and what's only come to light later, about this whole thing.

It's a limited instance but so far seems to confirm that things really are as bad as we assumed they'd be.

 

[DarthSlack]

Meanwhile over at the DOJ.......


<crickets>

 

[Zod]

As a dirty furriner I had to look up what the CFPB is - I'm baffled as to why they'd want to shut down a watchdog that exists to protect consumers from predatory/illegal/underhanded businesses! <biggest /s in existence>

Er, to help predatory financial firms to make more money out of normal people.

 

[Wheels Of Confusion]

FAFO, Nuclear Power Edition?The changes are to departmental orders, which dictate requirements for almost every aspect of the reactors' operations — including safety systems, environmental protections, site security and accident investigations.
https://www.npr.org/2026/01/28/nx-s1-5677187/nuclear-safety-rules-rewritten-trump

NPR obtained copies of over a dozen of the new orders, none of which is publicly available. The orders slash hundreds of pages of requirements for security at the reactors. They also loosen protections for groundwater and the environment and eliminate at least one key safety role. The new orders cut back on requirements for keeping records, and they raise the amount of radiation a worker can be exposed to before an official accident investigation is triggered.

Over 750 pages were cut from the earlier versions of the same orders, according to NPR's analysis, leaving only about one-third of the number of pages in the original documents.
[...]

Outside experts who helped review the rules for NPR criticized the decision to revise them without any public knowledge.

"I would argue that the Department of Energy relaxing its nuclear safety and security standards in secret is not the best way to engender the kind of public trust that's going to be needed for nuclear to succeed more broadly," said Christopher Hanson, who chaired the Nuclear Regulatory Commission from 2021 to 2025, when he was fired by President Trump.

"They're taking a wrecking ball to the system of nuclear safety and security regulation oversight that has kept the U.S. from having another Three Mile Island accident," said Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists. "I am absolutely worried about the safety of these reactors."

Seems to be the result of rushing to build new experimental reactors (many of them lobbied for by Big Tech for their datacenters) and compliance with one of Trump's executive orders from last year, which demands approval 3 experimental reactors by this summer.

 

[DarthSlack]

and they raise the amount of radiation a worker can be exposed to before an official accident investigation is triggered.

I'm sure that particular change will get glowing reviews from workers.

 

[Matisaro]

FAFO, Nuclear Power Edition?The changes are to departmental orders, which dictate requirements for almost every aspect of the reactors' operations — including safety systems, environmental protections, site security and accident investigations.
https://www.npr.org/2026/01/28/nx-s1-5677187/nuclear-safety-rules-rewritten-trump

Seems to be the result of rushing to build new experimental reactors (many of them lobbied for by Big Tech for their datacenters) and compliance with one of Trump's executive orders from last year, which demands approval 3 experimental reactors by this summer.

And this is why I am anti nuclear as a power source and am all in on solar+battery storage. You never know what fuckery will occur with the vaunted safest industry and it's function in the years to follow.

 

[CPX]

I'm sure that particular change will get glowing reviews from workers.

36 out of 1000 mSv. Not great, not terrible.

Im seriousness, I'm with @Matisaro on "basket of renewables" for so many reasons...ease of safety being top among them.

 

[Wheels Of Confusion]

Even if they weren't, they're still cheaper in total cost and faster to deploy, and exist today.

 

[CPX]

Even if they weren't, they're still cheaper in total cost and faster to deploy, and exist today.

That falls under "so many other reasons". We could add GW of renewables almost anywhere we need it for pennies on the dollar compared to nuclear. That we didn't just choose not to but rather are being actively forced away through federal power is... disappointing to say the least.

 

[Wheels Of Confusion]

https://www.npr.org/2026/02/26/nx-s1-5727510/secret-rules-experimental-nuclear-reactors-now-public

Last month, NPR reported on the existence of the rules, which were quietly rewritten to accelerate development of a new generation of nuclear reactor designs.
The rule changes came about after President Trump signed an executive order calling for three or more of the experimental reactors to come online by July 4 of this year — an incredibly tight deadline in the world of nuclear power. The order led to the creation of a new Reactor Pilot Program at the Department of Energy.
[...]
To help facilitate Trump's deadline, Energy Department officials rewrote the internal rules. It shared the rules with ten companies who were part of the pilot program, but the rewritten rules, and even their existence, was not known to the public until NPR obtained copies of them.
The rules are now public on a website at Idaho National Laboratory, which is running the Reactor Pilot Program for the department. The website also contains standards and policy documents that were revised for the program.

The administration is trying to skunk earlier reporting:

In a statement responding to NPR's story in January, the Department of Energy said that early copies of the rules were shared with the companies as part of an "iterative effort" to develop a framework to "expedite our review process while maintaining safety and security standards."
(The orders seen by NPR in January were not marked as drafts and had the word "Approved" clearly displayed on their cover pages.)

 

[thunderous_funker]

Cursory sanity check confirms the snippets in the earlier NPR reporting (their reprinted sections with the 'modified' language) do appear in the docs now posted on the INL site. So I don't think this is a 'early draft' kind of thing. The framework appears weaker in the areas they highlighted in their reporting.

It might be 'normal' to iterate with the industries you want to adopt these programs for commercial projects, but less strict framework is less strict so that looks seriously troubling.

 

[Kilkenny]

Oh hey - the criminals in charge who filed a bullshit lawsuit against the IRS have now "settled" the suit with a deal that prevents the IRS from investigating their crimes.

Donald Trump and sons granted ‘forever’ immunity from existing tax audits

US tax authorities will be barred from pursuing claims against Donald Trump, his eldest sons and the Trump Organization under an agreement to halt the president’s $10bn lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service.

The pledge by the Department of Justice on Tuesday came a day after Trump agreed to settle his lawsuit against the IRS in exchange for the US government launching a $1.8bn fund for victims of alleged “lawfare”.

“The United States RELEASES, WAIVES, ACQUITS, and FOREVER DISCHARGES each of the Plaintiffs from, and is hereby FOREVER BARRED and PRECLUDED from prosecuting or pursuing, any and all claims,” wrote acting attorney-general Todd Blanche in a one-page document released on Tuesday, in relation to the case brought in January by Trump, his sons Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump, and the Trump Organization.

It is for existing/ongoing audits, but as long as they're in charge, you know they won't be audited again.

https://www.ft.com/content/57334fae-a475-4ab0-a202-8df3766927e4?syn-25a6b1a6=1

 

[Dev Null]

If Trump can wipe his ass with the Constitution, then there should be no qualms about a future Democratic president doing the same with this 'agreement'.

 

[Welcome to Darwin]

If Trump can wipe his ass with the Constitution, then there should be no qualms about a future Democratic president doing the same with this 'agreement'.

As far as I can tell this document has no more legal weight than the memos that bar criminal charges against a sitting President.

And those have no legal weight. They're just one of the very few norms Trump hasn't shattered because it happens to suit his purposes.

 

[Kevin Lantz]

Oh hey - the criminals in charge who filed a bullshit lawsuit against the IRS have now "settled" the suit with a deal that prevents the IRS from investigating their crimes.

Donald Trump and sons granted ‘forever’ immunity from existing tax audits



It is for existing/ongoing audits, but as long as they're in charge, you know they won't be audited again.

https://www.ft.com/content/57334fae-a475-4ab0-a202-8df3766927e4?syn-25a6b1a6=1

The assaults on the IRS are particularly galling imo, they are part of our life "life death and taxes am I right?" and the people most impacted by it, have little qualms with it because they find paying taxes part of life... Meanwhile the IRS can help us reduce our deficits by forcing higher earners, rich wealthy tax cheats from cheating our system and unfairly avoiding taxes that most Americans pay without qualm.

 

[Stern]

Of course they directly benefit from it, but it also serves your current government's goal of destroying the federal state.

 

[xcmt]

This morning Trump announced Bill Pulte as the new acting Director of National Intelligence, replacing the outgoing Tulsi Gabbard whose allegiances reside partially outside the bulbous shadow of the President. Pulte is currently the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and self-appointed chairman of Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae, so he's got a day job, but he's a loyal Trump minion so he gets multiple hats like Marco Rubio. During his time at FHFA Pulte was responsible for digging up the mortgage applications of Trump's political opponents trawling for indictments (you may recall bullshit charges against Lisa Cook, Letitia James, Eric Swalwell, Adam Schiff, etc.) and was also deeply involved in the budgeting malfeasance accusations against Jerome Powell's Fed building renovation.

So now this monster is in charge of the national intelligence apparatus. He has no intelligence background, and his only qualifications for the job are a willingness to debase the law and dignity of his office(s) in pursuit of punishment against his master's enemies. Bad human, good boy. Installing him as the acting DNI also circumvents congressional approval for now, so he'll have the liberty to violate any number of regulations and laws rooting around for some piece of paperwork to misinterpret and present to a grand jury. Break open the Barolo, Jeanine, you're about to be busy.

 

[Scotttheking]

No scruples and access to all of the intelligence community data. What could go wrong?

 

[DarthSlack]

This morning Trump announced Bill Pulte as the new acting Director of National Intelligence, replacing the outgoing Tulsi Gabbard whose allegiances reside partially outside the bulbous shadow of the President. Pulte is currently the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and self-appointed chairman of Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae, so he's got a day job, but he's a loyal Trump minion so he gets multiple hats like Marco Rubio. During his time at FHFA Pulte was responsible for digging up the mortgage applications of Trump's political opponents trawling for indictments (you may recall bullshit charges against Lisa Cook, Letitia James, Eric Swalwell, Adam Schiff, etc.) and was also deeply involved in the budgeting malfeasance accusations against Jerome Powell's Fed building renovation.

So now this monster is in charge of the national intelligence apparatus. He has no intelligence background, and his only qualifications for the job are a willingness to debase the law and dignity of his office(s) in pursuit of punishment against his master's enemies. Bad human, good boy. Installing him as the acting DNI also circumvents congressional approval for now, so he'll have the liberty to violate any number of regulations and laws rooting around for some piece of paperwork to misinterpret and present to a grand jury. Break open the Barolo, Jeanine, you're about to be busy.

Given the number of Republican Senators that Trump has personally shitcanned this election cycle, it will be interesting to see if Pulte can be confirmed before the November elections. There's a whole new crop of Republican lame duck Senators and they owe Trump, and Republicans, absolutely nothing.

 

[Anacher]

Given the number of Republican Senators that Trump has personally shitcanned this election cycle, it will be interesting to see if Pulte can be confirmed before the November elections. There's a whole new crop of Republican lame duck Senators and they owe Trump, and Republicans, absolutely nothing.

I doubt Pulte would get approved by the Senate for DNI even before that. Now? Not a chance. However, Trump will just keep shuffling his half a Cabinet around with different titles as long as he can.

 

[DarthSlack]

Mea culpa, Pulte is apparently going to be acting head, which I think means he doesn't have to go in front of the Senate.

 

[timby]

Given the number of Republican Senators that Trump has personally shitcanned this election cycle, it will be interesting to see if Pulte can be confirmed before the November elections. There's a whole new crop of Republican lame duck Senators and they owe Trump, and Republicans, absolutely nothing.

They don't need him confirmed before the midterms. 180 days from today would be November 29.

That's plenty of time for him to look at what Gabbard was doing with trying to fuck with state elections down in Atlanta, then scale it up and fuck with elections in every major blue city and county in the country. And then he can just fuck off and go back to FHFA after his 180-day interim tenure is up.