DOGE Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

 

So far DOGE has been snapping at the heels of us feds, coming for probationary employees and the more easily intimidated of the geezers who were on the verge of retirement anyway. (The dismantling of USAID was an exception to this rule.)

But the rumors today are that the Trump Administration is planning a second Reduction In Force pass aimed at tenured employees. That will largely depend on the reorganization plans that all departments are to file by the middle of next month. The TechyBoyz of DOGE will scrub those plans on high alert for signs of redundancy or duplicated efforts, even among those functions which have a statutory basis. 

But exactly how good are those Boyz? They've stepped on their dicks a few times already, you know. 

They sent that What Did You Do Last Week email to legislative and judicial employees, as well as the intended targets in the executive branch of government. Apparently they need to ask Grok to read the Constitution for them and explain that thing called "separation of powers."

They also made the rookie mistake of not considering out-of-office and automatic replies to that omnibus Reply to This if You Want to Retire Now email. What do you suppose that some people who do not want to retire now have been receiving a welcome to the deferred retirement program anyway based on their auto replies. Ooops.

And those are just minor mistakes compared to the absurdity of the premise that someone, somewhere, was going to read 2.4 million emails, or even scan them for key words. That's not going to happen.

Maybe the TechyBoyz have some super-tricky algorithm that will do that DOGE work for them? They better hope people will believe they do, otherwise they're just IT guys in tee shirts.  

I say, take heart, and don't give in to exaggerated fears. But also update that resume and, if the worst comes, remember that the world always needs substitute teachers.