Amidst all of the scandals and blatant corruption going on, there is the fact that the EFF sued DOGE over privacy concerns.
The blatant and seemingly unprecedented levels of corruption from the Trump administration has been staggering. Every day, it seems like there is a new scandal or ridiculously obvious crime being committed. Even though we are mere weeks into this presidency, it already feels like we have gone through at least one life time worth of Trump flooding the swamp with his corruption crap. Thanks to Trump being officially above the law so long as it’s an official act, the wasting of taxpayers money isn’t even something he bothers hiding. In fact, he is putting his blatant hypocrisy on full display for the cameras by doing a motorcade at the Daytona 500 even as he is conducting mass firings of government employees, supposedly in an effort to curb government waste.
Really, we are at the point where you could say, “Have you seen that scandal involving the Trump administration?” and that question could literally mean anything at this point. For instance, how about one involving lawyers and city politicians? Yeah, you have that where some observers are calling that scandal “worse than Watergate“:
How about one involving Europe? Well, you got European officials holding emergency meetings to discuss the situation with Ukraine now that Trump is basically poised to stab the whole continent in the back. Some reports have gone so far as to say that there is even discussion of putting troops on the ground in Ukraine to fend of Russian aggression. From CNN:
Faced with the prospect of a diminished US footprint in Europe, the European leaders’ meeting focused on the potential deployment of European troops to Ukraine and the willingness of European allies to step up defense spending.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who called the Paris meeting a “one in a generation” moment for the continent’s national security, said afterwards that he is “prepared to consider committing British forces on the ground, alongside others, if there is a lasting peace agreement.”
Other European leaders also suggested stepping up in various ways.
NATO Secretary Mark Rutte told CNN that the Paris talks were a chance for European leaders to strategize on the best possible way to support a peace process, including discussions about many “wanting to put troops in Ukraine post a peace deal.” Rutte added that it’s “very important that the US is willing to provide a backup – so no troops on the ground, but a backup — enabling such efforts.”
Then there is the fact that conservative organizations themselves are increasingly agreeing with the fact that the US is also facing a constitutional crisis sparked, in part, to the breakdown of institutions that help keep America running, the ignoring of court orders on the Trump administrations part, and a whole raft of other reasons.
This insanity keeps going on and on and on thanks to all the messes Trump is creating.
Then there is DOGE which is currently completely ransacking the government. Even as Elon Musk, America’s shadow president, is massively firing anyone and everyone, he is also seemingly happily helping himself to government contracts while mysteriously cancelling other government contracts. What’s more, the organization is also leaking classified information for good measure, ensuring that everyone knows that they are a national security risk on multiple fronts.
Another scandal that has embroiled DOGE is the fact that they are also demanding an insane amount of access to highly sensitive personal information on workers and the American public. This seemingly without obtaining proper government clearances in the process. No big deal, though, because if you can’t trust some random 19 year old who named himself “Big Balls” (no, that is not an exaggeration), well, who can you trust in this day and age?
Well, it seems that some people might have a problem with at least some of what is happening. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has filed a lawsuit to defend the privacy of those affected by the DOGE raiding of government. From the EFF:
EFF and a coalition of privacy defenders have filed a lawsuit today asking a federal court to block Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing the private information of millions of Americans that is stored by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), and to delete any data that has been collected or removed from databases thus far. The lawsuit also names OPM, and asks the court to block OPM from sharing further data with DOGE.
The Plaintiffs who have stepped forward to bring this lawsuit include individual federal employees as well as multiple employee unions, including the American Federation of Government Employees and the Association of Administrative Law Judges.
This brazen ransacking of Americans’ sensitive data is unheard of in scale. With our co-counsel Lex Lumina, State Democracy Defenders Fund, and the Chandra Law Firm, we represent current and former federal employees whose privacy has been violated. We are asking the court for a temporary restraining order to immediately cease this dangerous and illegal intrusion. This massive trove of information includes private demographic data and work histories of essentially all current and former federal employees and contractors as well as federal job applicants. Access is restricted by the federal Privacy Act of 1974. Last week, a federal judge temporarily blocked DOGE from accessing a critical Treasury payment system under a similar lawsuit.
I’d offer some insightful perspective in all of this, but honestly, let’s just say that America is one fucked up nation right now.
