I'm sorry, but didn't he say he would cut prices on day one?
Just checked, yup he did
UPDATE: Donald Trump Takes Office as the 47th US President
- Thread starter DC_Dude
- Start date
I'm sorry, but didn't he say he would cut prices on day one?
Just checked, yup he did
You know what, my bad, That was rude.Imagine being this bitter on Presidents day.
Go outside son.
I apologize to you brother.
I appreciate your sense of humor about it.
Its all love. This is my last day off until Memorial day. Im just chilling
'It's a lie': Federal workers incensed by performance language in termination letters
Zac AndersonTerry Collins
USA TODAY
0:00
1:16
Federal employees reeling from a wave of firings that began last week have focused on language in their termination letters targeting their “performance” as particularly upsetting.
USA TODAY reviewed 10 termination letters. All but one mentioned performance concerns.
Fired probationary employees interviewed by USA TODAY all said they were never told of any performance problems. One hadn’t been in the job long enough to have a performance review. Another was fired just a month into her job after relocating from more than 1,700 miles away to take it. And a third employee said his supervisor explicitly told him he wasn’t being terminated for performance reasons.
The performance language in the letters added insult to injury, the fired employees said, arguing it unfairly impugns their work records. Some worried the language could impact their ability to file for unemployment benefits and find a new job.
“It’s a lie. It’s simply not true,” said fired U.S. Forest Service worker Gavan Harmon.
More:‘Took away my hope.’ Federal workers say Trump mass firings upended their lives
President Donald Trump’s administration has launched an aggressive effort to cut federal agencies and completely shutter some. The push is being led by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which is headed by billionaire Elon Musk. The administration offered buyouts to nearly all federal workers and then began mass terminations targeting probationary employees who recently were hired.
Federal employees told USA TODAY they believe citing their job performance is an attempt by the government to provide legal justification for the firings. However, a labor attorney said the government has wide latitude to fire probationary employees and performance language in the termination letters may be “boilerplate."
Lawyer Greg Rinckey speculated that the government may be citing performance issues in an attempt to avoid having the terminations considered a "reduction in force" that would trigger other legal requirements and take longer. He said the employees' interpretation is understandable.
"While the language is boilerplate ... a fair interpretation on the part of a probationary employee receiving this is that their performance was inadequate," said Rinckey, who practices federal labor law.
Asked about the performance language in the termination letters, White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said “President Trump returned to Washington with a mandate from the American people to bring about unprecedented change in our federal government to uproot waste, fraud, and abuse.”
“This isn’t easy to do in a broken system entrenched in bureaucracy and bloat, but it’s a task long overdue,” Fields added in a statement that did not directly address the language in the letters.
Termination letters shared by a U.S. Department of Education employee, a U.S. Department of Agriculture employee, a Natural Resources Conservation Service worker and four workers for the U.S. Forest Service all state that probationary employees must demonstrate why it’s in “the public interest for the Government to finalize their appointment to the civil service.”
“The Agency finds, based on your performance, that you have not demonstrated that your further employment at the Agency would be in the public interest,” the letters continue. The workers interviewed by USA TODAY said they had good performance records.
Most of the fired workers viewed the termination letter as targeting their personal performance, although one said she thought it was a broader statement.
“This is not personal, this is a government takeover," said Edith Robinson, 32, a fired Forest Service worker who performed hiking trail maintenance in Montana.
“For me personally, I read it as a biased opinion of what is in the public interest," Robinson added.
An employee with the U.S. Department of Transportation also shared a termination letter with nearly identical language. A letter sent by the Small Business Administration to a fired probationary employee has different language but still mentions performance.
“You have failed to demonstrate fitness for continued federal employment,” the SBA letter reads. “The Agency finds that you are not fit for continued employment because your ability, knowledge and skills do not fit the Agency’s current needs, and your performance has not been adequate to justify further employment at the Agency.”
The Forest Service, USDA, Small Business Administration, Department of Education and Department of Transportation did not immediately respond to requests for comment Sunday. Federal labor union representatives also didn’t immediately respond Sunday to questions about the performance language.
'An illegal termination'
Fired U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs data scientist Elena Moseyko was incensed to see that her termination letter mentioned her performance. Moseyko said she has “an excellent performance record” and plans to challenge her dismissal.“This was an illegal termination,” Moseyko said, adding: “They terminated thousands of people, and thousands of people cannot possibly all have bad performance. It’s not possible. So basically this is illegal.”
Chris Johnson, who was fired from his job in Arizona with the Natural Resources Conservation Service, believes that highlighting his performance in the letter gives him grounds to challenge his termination because he can point to successful performance reviews.
“To me, that gives me legal grounds to appeal," he said.
Aside from having their job performance questioned, terminated workers also were grappling with financial issues and the emotional impact of losing jobs they find meaningful.
'Dream job'
Longtime environmentalist Brian Gibbs said he lost his "dream job" as a park ranger with the National Park Service at Effigy Mounds National Monument in Harpers Ferry, Iowa. Gibbs, 41, got his termination letter Friday via email from his supervisor.Gibbs describes himself as "the smiling face that greets you at the front door" at the visitors center. He gave tours and delivered presentations at schools about the 2,500-year-old American Indian burial and ceremonial mounds at the site. He said he grew up coming to the area as a child, fascinated with all things nature.
It's also the site where Gibbs first told his now-wife Emily that he loved her a decade ago. Now, his job loss comes as the couple are expecting their second child this summer.
"I felt very blessed to have this job and thoroughly loved the big responsibilities that came with it," said Gibbs, still trying to grasp why. "I’m so heartbroken. It feels like my life has been upended."
'I just got here'
Hayley Robinson, 27, had barely started as a biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service when she learned during an online meeting with 400 probationary employees in her department Friday that they no longer had their jobs.Robinson said the devastating part is she and her partner relocated more than 1,700 miles from Champaign, Illinois, to Las Vegas for Robinson's new job. They still have unpacked boxes in their newly leased rental home.
"This was my first biologist position that I worked so hard for and it was ripped away from me," said Robinson tearfully. "I feel very vulnerable and scared about my future."
Robinson was still connecting with her counterparts at the Land Management and Reclamation bureaus on what projects she would consult them on how to mitigate the effects of their proposed projects from potentially harming federally protected threatened and endangered species."I hadn’t been assigned my first official consultation yet," Robinson said, tearfully. "I didn't even get the chance to get to know my co-workers; To decorate my desk. I just got here. It's terrible."
Robinson said what's sad is many Americans don't know who the dismissed federal workers are or what they do.
"It's like they're saying, 'Yeah, we need to cut all of this stuff and this excess,'" Robinson said. "But we’re real people. We’re not just statistics or lines on a budget sheet as they figure out how much money they can cut and save."
Fired probationary employees' chances
Rinckey said probationary employees are unlikely to win in court if they challenge their terminations.“The government can terminate anyone during their probationary period. Do I think they have any legal protections? Probably not,” Rinckey said, adding that they’d have to prove discrimination on the basis of race, age or another protected status.
'Termination not performance-based'
Harmon, 26, worked for the Forest Service in Emmett, Idaho, on a timber marking crew that helped prepare tracts of timber on federal land for harvesting by loggers.The job brings in money for the government and also helps with fire prevention because the crews make sure the harvesting is done in a way that makes the forest more fire-resilient.
Harmon said his supervisor told him he wasn't getting fired for doing a bad job.
“He was very explicit on the call, stating that my termination was not performance-based, it was not merit-based, it was nothing personal, and is not a decision that he would have made,” Harmon said. “It was all being really forced upon them from higher-ups.”
The performance language in the letter was upsetting.
“It absolutely feels like slander,” he said.
Harmon and his wife have a 1-month-old boy they named Theodore, after conservation-minded President Theodore Roosevelt. Now Harmon is unemployed and worried that the language in his termination letter could impact his ability to get another job.
“I still need to work,” he said. “I still need to go find a job now.”
Contributing: Joey Garrison
'It's a lie': Federal workers incensed by performance language in termination letters
Letters sent to federal workers say they are being terminated "based on your performance." But workers told USA TODAY they had no performance issues.
www.usatoday.com
The guidelines, signed by acting assistant secretary for civil rights Craig Trainor, said schools using “race in decisions pertaining to admissions, hiring, promotion, compensation, financial aid, scholarships, prizes, administrative support, discipline, housing, graduation ceremonies, and all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life” were in violation of anti-discrimination laws and legal precedent set in the high court’s affirmative action case.
Why are there at least three white people on the board of regents at an HBCU?
'It's a lie': Federal workers incensed by performance language in termination letters
Zac AndersonTerry Collins
USA TODAY
0:00
1:16
Federal employees reeling from a wave of firings that began last week have focused on language in their termination letters targeting their “performance” as particularly upsetting.
USA TODAY reviewed 10 termination letters. All but one mentioned performance concerns.
Fired probationary employees interviewed by USA TODAY all said they were never told of any performance problems. One hadn’t been in the job long enough to have a performance review. Another was fired just a month into her job after relocating from more than 1,700 miles away to take it. And a third employee said his supervisor explicitly told him he wasn’t being terminated for performance reasons.
The performance language in the letters added insult to injury, the fired employees said, arguing it unfairly impugns their work records. Some worried the language could impact their ability to file for unemployment benefits and find a new job.
“It’s a lie. It’s simply not true,” said fired U.S. Forest Service worker Gavan Harmon.
More:‘Took away my hope.’ Federal workers say Trump mass firings upended their lives
President Donald Trump’s administration has launched an aggressive effort to cut federal agencies and completely shutter some. The push is being led by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which is headed by billionaire Elon Musk. The administration offered buyouts to nearly all federal workers and then began mass terminations targeting probationary employees who recently were hired.
Federal employees told USA TODAY they believe citing their job performance is an attempt by the government to provide legal justification for the firings. However, a labor attorney said the government has wide latitude to fire probationary employees and performance language in the termination letters may be “boilerplate."
Lawyer Greg Rinckey speculated that the government may be citing performance issues in an attempt to avoid having the terminations considered a "reduction in force" that would trigger other legal requirements and take longer. He said the employees' interpretation is understandable.
"While the language is boilerplate ... a fair interpretation on the part of a probationary employee receiving this is that their performance was inadequate," said Rinckey, who practices federal labor law.
Asked about the performance language in the termination letters, White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said “President Trump returned to Washington with a mandate from the American people to bring about unprecedented change in our federal government to uproot waste, fraud, and abuse.”
“This isn’t easy to do in a broken system entrenched in bureaucracy and bloat, but it’s a task long overdue,” Fields added in a statement that did not directly address the language in the letters.
Termination letters shared by a U.S. Department of Education employee, a U.S. Department of Agriculture employee, a Natural Resources Conservation Service worker and four workers for the U.S. Forest Service all state that probationary employees must demonstrate why it’s in “the public interest for the Government to finalize their appointment to the civil service.”
“The Agency finds, based on your performance, that you have not demonstrated that your further employment at the Agency would be in the public interest,” the letters continue. The workers interviewed by USA TODAY said they had good performance records.
Most of the fired workers viewed the termination letter as targeting their personal performance, although one said she thought it was a broader statement.
“This is not personal, this is a government takeover," said Edith Robinson, 32, a fired Forest Service worker who performed hiking trail maintenance in Montana.
“For me personally, I read it as a biased opinion of what is in the public interest," Robinson added.
An employee with the U.S. Department of Transportation also shared a termination letter with nearly identical language. A letter sent by the Small Business Administration to a fired probationary employee has different language but still mentions performance.
“You have failed to demonstrate fitness for continued federal employment,” the SBA letter reads. “The Agency finds that you are not fit for continued employment because your ability, knowledge and skills do not fit the Agency’s current needs, and your performance has not been adequate to justify further employment at the Agency.”
The Forest Service, USDA, Small Business Administration, Department of Education and Department of Transportation did not immediately respond to requests for comment Sunday. Federal labor union representatives also didn’t immediately respond Sunday to questions about the performance language.
'An illegal termination'
Fired U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs data scientist Elena Moseyko was incensed to see that her termination letter mentioned her performance. Moseyko said she has “an excellent performance record” and plans to challenge her dismissal.
“This was an illegal termination,” Moseyko said, adding: “They terminated thousands of people, and thousands of people cannot possibly all have bad performance. It’s not possible. So basically this is illegal.”
Chris Johnson, who was fired from his job in Arizona with the Natural Resources Conservation Service, believes that highlighting his performance in the letter gives him grounds to challenge his termination because he can point to successful performance reviews.
“To me, that gives me legal grounds to appeal," he said.
Aside from having their job performance questioned, terminated workers also were grappling with financial issues and the emotional impact of losing jobs they find meaningful.
'Dream job'
Longtime environmentalist Brian Gibbs said he lost his "dream job" as a park ranger with the National Park Service at Effigy Mounds National Monument in Harpers Ferry, Iowa. Gibbs, 41, got his termination letter Friday via email from his supervisor.
Gibbs describes himself as "the smiling face that greets you at the front door" at the visitors center. He gave tours and delivered presentations at schools about the 2,500-year-old American Indian burial and ceremonial mounds at the site. He said he grew up coming to the area as a child, fascinated with all things nature.
It's also the site where Gibbs first told his now-wife Emily that he loved her a decade ago. Now, his job loss comes as the couple are expecting their second child this summer.
"I felt very blessed to have this job and thoroughly loved the big responsibilities that came with it," said Gibbs, still trying to grasp why. "I’m so heartbroken. It feels like my life has been upended."
'I just got here'
Hayley Robinson, 27, had barely started as a biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service when she learned during an online meeting with 400 probationary employees in her department Friday that they no longer had their jobs.
Robinson said the devastating part is she and her partner relocated more than 1,700 miles from Champaign, Illinois, to Las Vegas for Robinson's new job. They still have unpacked boxes in their newly leased rental home.
"This was my first biologist position that I worked so hard for and it was ripped away from me," said Robinson tearfully. "I feel very vulnerable and scared about my future."
Robinson was still connecting with her counterparts at the Land Management and Reclamation bureaus on what projects she would consult them on how to mitigate the effects of their proposed projects from potentially harming federally protected threatened and endangered species."I hadn’t been assigned my first official consultation yet," Robinson said, tearfully. "I didn't even get the chance to get to know my co-workers; To decorate my desk. I just got here. It's terrible."
Robinson said what's sad is many Americans don't know who the dismissed federal workers are or what they do.
"It's like they're saying, 'Yeah, we need to cut all of this stuff and this excess,'" Robinson said. "But we’re real people. We’re not just statistics or lines on a budget sheet as they figure out how much money they can cut and save."
Fired probationary employees' chances
Rinckey said probationary employees are unlikely to win in court if they challenge their terminations.
“The government can terminate anyone during their probationary period. Do I think they have any legal protections? Probably not,” Rinckey said, adding that they’d have to prove discrimination on the basis of race, age or another protected status.
'Termination not performance-based'
Harmon, 26, worked for the Forest Service in Emmett, Idaho, on a timber marking crew that helped prepare tracts of timber on federal land for harvesting by loggers.
The job brings in money for the government and also helps with fire prevention because the crews make sure the harvesting is done in a way that makes the forest more fire-resilient.
Harmon said his supervisor told him he wasn't getting fired for doing a bad job.
“He was very explicit on the call, stating that my termination was not performance-based, it was not merit-based, it was nothing personal, and is not a decision that he would have made,” Harmon said. “It was all being really forced upon them from higher-ups.”
The performance language in the letter was upsetting.
“It absolutely feels like slander,” he said.
Harmon and his wife have a 1-month-old boy they named Theodore, after conservation-minded President Theodore Roosevelt. Now Harmon is unemployed and worried that the language in his termination letter could impact his ability to get another job.
“I still need to work,” he said. “I still need to go find a job now.”
Contributing: Joey Garrison
'It's a lie': Federal workers incensed by performance language in termination letters
Letters sent to federal workers say they are being terminated "based on your performance." But workers told USA TODAY they had no performance issues.www.usatoday.com
I will be honest with yalll, I know someone that use to work for the Park Service and you really have to love what you doing because park rangers make no money.
Like zero. In the DC area, you probably would be making the same as someone that is working at the Costco in NE DC.....
I didn't vote for Trump. Please don't tag me. Fuck him and you. Thanks.
Why not tag one of the white bitches yall jack off to? Trump got the bulk of their votes.
Sooo you're good with it???
It's a yes or no question
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That poster is twisting his self up into a pretzel right now.
He has a plan for everything him and Trump fuck up
Most federal workers are, at best, comfortably paid. A lot of them, especially the ones that aren't, are just really happy with doing their jobs, and usually pretty good at doing them, too.
Arbitrarily showing a chunk of them the door, whatever the logic, is a fundamentally bad idea.
100%. I have family members and friends that work all across the federal government and yes I know they get paid decent. One of main reasons why PG County and Charles Co. has some of the highest black family incomes in this entire country.
What they are doing is crazy....
My response was specficially related to the Park Services though since I knew someone that worked there for several years. You really have to love working there, just like alot of agencies, but Park Services is just different compared to some agencies....
He promised me.... such a delusional freeloader. 
According to this, her net worth is $15k, she's one of the least wealthy members of congress.
Dude is a whole ass clown.
Man this year makes me want to go back to 2024. And we are not even in storm season yet.