A Purge of ‘Disloyal’ Gov’t Employees Is Quite Possible; a Ground Beef Recall–Coachella Valley Independent’s Indy Digest: Nov. 21, 2024

Indy Digest: Nov. 21, 2024

Late January and February of next year could be among the most chaotic months in our nation’s history—especially as far as the federal government is concerned.

In a story published Nov. 16, CNN reported:

In mid-September, as tech billionaire Elon Musk intensified his efforts to elect Donald Trump as president, a wave of letters arrived at the Department of Transportation, asking the agency to turn over any emails and text messages that federal workers sent about the world’s wealthiest man and his sprawling technology empire.

The requests were like thousands of others sent in the past two years by Trump-allied groups seeking to identify perceived partisans within the federal government. Some have focused on diversity, equity and inclusion programs, others on employees who shared “off the record” information with reporters and on emails referencing “climate change.”

It’s a massive fishing expedition that has already sent a chill through federal agencies bracing for Trump’s second term.

With Trump set to return to the White House with a promise to shrink the federal government and eliminate civil servants seen as obstacles to his agenda, the groundwork laid by these groups could serve as a road map for a mass purging of personnel.

The next sentence makes no sense to me at all; the only thing I can guess is that either the reporter or editor was straining too hard to be “balanced.” Here it is: “Unclear is whether the incoming Trump administration intends to utilize the work of these groups as the president-elect pursues a long-standing goal of eliminating disloyal career bureaucrats.”

One of the groups responsible for a lot of these FOIA requests, CNN notes, is the Heritage Foundation Oversight Project. The Heritage Foundation is the organization responsible for Project 2025, which Trump tried to distance himself from before the election. Since then? As a Political headline from today put it: “Trump once shunned Project 2025 as ‘ridiculous.’ Now he’s staffing up with them.”

It seems pretty danged clear that the Trump administration is going to utilize this work.

That one weird sentence aside, I highly recommend reading this piece. It seems downright un-American to purge the government of employees based not on their performance, but their views on certain topics as expressed in emails or on social media … but that’s where we are.

—Jimmy Boegle

More News

• Our partners at Calmatters published a story on a tangentially related issue, headlined “Conservative professors and students are suing California’s community colleges, and winning.” The story says: “CalMatters identified at least seven cases filed since 2020 in which professors or students have sued their community college districts for issues related to free speech. Most of the cases are still ongoing and are located in California’s Central Valley, in counties where Republicans often outnumber Democrats. Although separate, many of these lawsuits include similar allegations: that programs promoting diversity, equity and inclusion are restricting the right to free speech under the First Amendment. The University of California system is facing a similar case in Santa Cruz. In a state with 73 community college districts and 116 community colleges, such lawsuits are rare.”

• A business professor, writing for The Conversation, poses an interesting query: Is it ethical to invest in cryptocurrency? Here’s one of his concerns: “The first harm is excessive energy use, most notably by Bitcoin, the first decentralized cryptocurrency. Bitcoins are created, or ‘mined,’ by tens of thousands of computers in massive data centers, contributing significantly to carbon emissions and environmental degradation. Bitcoin mining, which represents the lion’s share of crypto energy consumption, uses as much as 0.9% of global demand for electricity—similar to the annual energy needs of Australia.”

• Well, this is scary. The Washington Post reports: “The Chinese government espionage campaign that has deeply penetrated more than a dozen U.S. telecommunications companies is the ‘worst telecom hack in our nation’s history—by far,’ a senior U.S. senator told The Washington Post in an interview this week. The hackers, part of a group dubbed Salt Typhoon, have been able to listen in on audio calls in real time and have in some cases moved from one telecom network to another, exploiting relationships of ‘trust,’ said Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Virginia), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a former telecom venture capitalist. Warner added that intruders are still in the networks. Though fewer than 150 victims have been identified and notified by the FBI—most of them in the D.C. region, the records of people those individuals have called or sent text messages to run into the ‘millions,’ he said, ‘and that number could go up dramatically.’”

• Today’s recall news involves … ground beef! This recall doesn’t involve what’s in your fridge or freezer—but it could involve what’s at your favorite restaurant. NBC News says: “About 167,000 pounds of both fresh and frozen ground beef products have been recalled over possible E. coli contamination, according to the Agriculture Department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service. After the Minnesota departments of Agriculture and Health noticed a link between a group of reported illnesses and ground beef from Wolverine Packing Co., a meat distributor based in Detroit, the Food Safety and Inspection Service said it worked with the Minnesota departments to investigate. Fifteen people had been reported sick as of Wednesday, with symptoms beginning Nov. 2 to Nov. 10.”

• Sort of related and definitely disgusting is this story that’s not about a recall … yet. CBS News reports: “Tom’s of Maine toothpaste was manufactured with water containing bacteria, while a ‘black mold-like substance’ was found in a factory where the product was made, according to a warning letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The November 5 letter stated that Tom’s Simply White Clean Mint toothpaste contained Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a germ that can cause infections in the blood and lungs, the FDA letter said. The FDA letter also flagged another bacteria, Ralstonia insidiosa, which was found in water sources at the factory and has been linked to infections acquired in hospital settings. Another Tom’s of Maine product, Wicked Cool! Anticavity Toothpaste, was found to include another type of bacteria, Paracoccus yeei, the letter stated. The latter has been linked to infections such as peritonitis and conjunctivitis. … In a statement emailed to CBS News, Tom’s of Maine said that the company is working with the FDA to remedy the issues found during the agency’s May inspection of its Sanford, Maine-based manufacturing plant.” MAY INSPECTION and we’re just hearing about this now?

• And finally … if you some how missed the news, you should know the Coachella 2025 lineup has been announced—much earlier than usual! Pitchfork says: “The 2025 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival’s full lineup has been revealed, almost two months earlier than its usual January drop. Lady Gaga, Green Day, Post Malone, and Travis Scott will headline the event, which returns to the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, across two weekends this spring: April 11-13 and April 18-20. Other artists on the bill include Charli XCX, FKA twigs Missy Elliott, Megan Thee Stallion, Kraftwerk, Mustard, Tyla, Japanese Breakfast, Arca, Gel, and many more.”

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