- cross-posted to:
- politics@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- politics@lemmy.world
Summary
Musk’s DOGE team is conducting opaque “one-way interviews” with civil servants, raising concerns over transparency and accountability significantly.
Federal workers report being interrogated about their roles and colleagues’ performance, while Musk’s aides refuse to reveal their full names.
Under the DOGE banner, Musk’s team now controls vital agencies including USAID and the Office of Personnel Management.
Civil servants are resorting to encrypted messaging to track Musk’s rapid and opaque government takeover.
As an Indigenous Canadian, I’ve always lived on the fringes of being able to lose everything I have all my life. I get funding for this during one election cycle, then lose it the next, then get it back the next only to be completely abandoned and left on my own in the next election. I have it to the point of my life that I just live relying on myself and my wife at this point. We don’t own much and what we do own we have not debt over. I own a modest house, used vehicles and have no debt on anything … because I know that any given year, I might end up with little or nothing.
So I always feel free to protest and protest as much as I safely can and join movements, groups and political parties that try to do stuff. I have nothing to lose because I was never ever really given anything to lose in the first place.
I’m aware the historical treatment of indigenous Canadians has been “not great”, to say the least, so take that awareness into context with what I say.
From what you describe, you have so much more to lose than so many Americans, who would be entirely ruined if something went “off” at a protest. You have a house, a car, a family and no debt. You’re in Canada so you get healthcare.
Going to a protest, a cop can hit you in the arm with a stick, break it, charge you with resisting arrest, incitement to violence, and terroristic threats. If you fight the charges you will almost certainly lose, spend a decade in prison and lose everything. You will instead plead guilty to resisting arrest and assault, do a few months in jail and a few years on probation, and only loose your job, and possibly your house and car.
Hopefully your injury set correctly, because you will not be able to afford to have it corrected or physical therapy. A disability claim can be rejected because there are jobs that you can do one handed.
Even just something as simple as your employer finding out you went can lead to termination.
All this is routine and tolerable to fight injustice if you know people have your back. If it’s bitterly cold, far away, and you don’t know that you’re not alone, it can be really hard to justify. Particularly if you have legitimate reason to believe that you might be met with particularly brutal suppression, both legal and physical, because they’ve made a point about how they should have been more brutal last time, removed the people who might say no, and encouraged their followers who have a history of violence against protestors.
My point, for all that, is that it’s a time of uncertainty and confusion. Would you be getting shot with rubber bullets for freedom and the continuation of the country, or for the continued timely disbursement of treasury funds as congressionally dictated? Is it nationwide and halting the country, or is it you and six other people in the median of a muddy road holding up poster board and being threatened by passerby? (That’s how it was when I went to the Mueller firing protests)
At least in my case, it’s not “it can’t be that bad”, but “how bad is it”, “can it be recovered”, and “can it be resisted”. I’ll be entirely honest: I’m quite the fan of this country, but I like my life and family more, and I’m honest enough to know the limits of my bravery and patriotism.