New from me: Everything feels overwhelming. But here is a tangible thing you can do: write a comment to oppose Trump's plan to convert 50,000 career civil servants into political appointees. Deadline is May 23. Please share!
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/here-is-a-…— Don Moynihan (@donmoyn.bsky.social) May 9, 2025 at 8:33 AM
I.ve seen this linked a few places. From Don Moynihan, “Here is a specific thing you can do to fight Trump’s politicization of public services”;
Trump’s maximalist strategy of firing off one executive action after another seeks to overwhelm us. Finding some tangible way to respond sometimes feels impossible. So, here is something that you can do:
Take the time you would have spent complaining about politics online, and use it to write a comment opposing the proposed Office of Personnel Management rule to politicize public services. You can do it in 5 minutes. Deadline is May 23rd!
Why should you do this?
– The proposed rule seeks to reinstate Schedule F, Trump’s never implemented plan to institutionalize political control and loyalty tests for the career bureaucracy by turning 50,000 or more career civil servants into political appointees.
– Federal comments really do matter. By law, they must be read by the administration, and substantive comments require a response. Failure to do so can see the rule tossed out by courts.
– It’s easy: Enter a comment here. No log in. Just click on the “submit a public comment” button. You can enter text, or upload a document…
If there is someone you know who you think would be great to write a comment, take a moment to share this post with them.
On The Road – Albatrossity – Early spring in Flyover Country
Baud
What was the first suggestion?
Suzanne
This is a great suggestion, AL, thank you! I really appreciate these tips for emails, phone calls, etc. Things I can do on the lunch break get done!
Anyone else have tariff whiplash this morning? Mr. Suzanne joked, “He’s so good at solving these problems that he creates!”.
Baud
Baud
@Suzanne:
He cut taxes!
Baud
Here’s one for all you old people.
Loveofcoffee
Thank you. I sent it to my friend group as well.
Baud
I don’t follow hockey, but apparently if you’re a fan of the Florida Panthers, you should stop.
Suzanne
@Baud: LOL.
On the topic of landlines, one of my favorite little retro refreshes in the last few years was the mini resurgence of the Claudia Kishi phone.
Baud
eclare
Does anyone know of suggested dialogue for the comment opposing Schedule F? Just as a starting point?
eclare
@Baud:
On the right side back then, impressive!
Professor Bigfoot
@eclare: I’m starting to like this Great Khan.
satby
@Baud: 😂 Love that!
Michael Bersin
On Saturday, in Warrensburg, Missouri – Jess Piper (D), speaking with Johnson County Democrats:
“…We’ve got judges being arrested, we’ve got the Newark, New Jersey mayor being arrested. If they can do those things to people with that much power we have got to be in the streets. And that’s what people, I was hesitant for a long time, ’cause people would say, ‘What should we do?’
We should be in the streets. Every single weekend. we should show them that we do not approve of this, that we are not okay with this. And we do it with our signs and we do it with our bodies. And if it gets to a point I think a general strike is the only thing we’ve got left. We have to hit them in their pocketbooks ’cause they don’t care about anything else. They sure don’t give a ….damn about the rest of us…”
Jess Piper (D) – Warrensburg, Missouri – May 10, 2025
AM in NC
Thanks for the suggestion – just commented! It is super easy, once you see the green “Submit Comment” button at the top of the linked page.
I’ll also be calling my 2 GOP senate assholes today to hammer on the bald corruption of the Trump family (The 747 gift of hundreds of millions directly to Trump from the Qataris; the direct pay-to-play “buy enough of our Trumpcoin and win a date with POTUS” bribery scheme; The family doing multi-billion dollar real estate deals with various gulf states while POTUS is directing foreign policy).
If ANY Democrat did 1/1000th of this, you know Tillis and Budd would have initiated impeachment hearings yesterday – and for good reason. Why the different standard for Trump? I’ll be implicating the staffers working in the office (in a sweet voice and a more in sorrow than in anger tone) too. They should all be forced to acknowledge who and what they are supporting. THEY VOTED AND WORK FOR ALL OF THIS. And they should be made to know WE SEE THEM.
tobie
@Suzanne: I’ve been so caught up with my family’s health crises that I haven’t kept up with the news. Has anything of note happened on the tarrif front?
Michael Bersin
Also, at the same event – Yvonne Reeves-Chong, Vice Chair of the Missouri Democratic Party:
“…Right now things are about as perilous as they’ve ever been in our nation’s history. That is the simple truth. Things haven’t looked this dim since right before the Civil War. And, like Jess [Piper] mentioned, when we’re talking about suspending habeas corpus, that has not been done since the Civil War. When we have people being grabbed off the street the simple truth is this – this is a pivotal moment and I don’t know if the United States of America survives this moment. It’s not guaranteed. [voice: “We’re not united anymore.”] Liberty and justice, freedom, those things are not guaranteed to us. And if we fail this moment our country will cease to exist in the way we’ve known it…”
Yvonne Reeves-Chong (D) – Warrensburg, Missouri – May 10, 2025
Michael Bersin
Jess Piper (D) continued:
“…They want us to be scared of standing up. But I’m more scared of not standing up. Every single one of us in here who has privilege, I want you to listen to this. If you see someone who is kidnapping someone else from the street I want you to put your body in the way. I want you to stop them. [applause] Use your privilege to stop this. [applause] They are not deporting people, they are kidnapping them. They have no due process. And let me tell you this, friends, if they don’t have due process neither do you. All of us have to be standing up right now….”
satby
@eclare: His cousin Jennifer was born James in 1950. When Jennifer openly transitioned, quite a while ago (2013) , the family was supportive.*
Edited to add: Jennifer was probably one of the most conservative members of the family. They’ve mostly IDed as Democrats for decades.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone😊😊😊
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
Princess
Looks like Trump has completely caved on China trade. Good news for consumers; maybe bad news for Americans who think Trump will defeat himself by ruining the economy and Dems can simply pick up the pieces.
satby
@rikyrah: Good morning!
Need to finish my reading and coffee, I have 5 hours before I head off to Chicago for my plane to Ireland by way of Denmark this evening. And stuff still to do 😥
Baud
@satby:
Nice. Happy voyage.
satby
@Princess: He’s done enough damage that it will still show in many ways. But I think the better Democrats are finding more effective arguments than just “not Trump”.
satby
@Baud: 🤗 thanks.
Ohio Mom
@Professor Bigfoot: Are you feeling well enough to join us at Saturday’s All-Ohio Meet-up this Saturday? Crossing my fingers…
https://balloon-juice.com/2025/05/11/all-ohio-meetup-on-saturday-may-17-at-1-pm/
Baud
@Princess:
2028 is a long ways away. I have hope for another pandemic.
eclare
@satby:
As always, thanks for the info!
eclare
@satby:
Whee! Have fun and post when you can!
sentient ai from the future
@Suzanne: well, nothing is solved. 10% tariffs from China on us imports is still pretty ridiculously high, and our tariffs on Chinese goods have only been ratcheted down to the merely insane 30% level.
The stock market runs on happy talk, and this is a problem.
Betty Cracker
@Michael Bersin:
Excellent way to put it.
@Princess: I don’t know any Americans who think that. Except maybe James Carville? Also, I don’t understand economics, but I don’t believe it works that way.
Baud
@sentient ai from the future:
There’s always a chance Trump reimposes sky high tariffs after his buddies sell their stock at inflated prices.
teakay
AL, Thanks for this. Done and shared. My father was a medic and Silver Star recipient during WWII. After the war, he got a job at the USPS. It didn’t pay a lot, but it offered good benefits and stability. He was able to support a wife and five children. For a lot of Americans, it was, and still is an entry into the middle class.
jonas
No worries. He’s also just declared — using his magic executive powers again — that drug companies have to drop their prices 80%. I’m sure that will work out about as well, and twice as coherently.
HeleninEire
@satby: Have a great time. How long will you be in Ireland? I’ll be in Dublin a week from Saturday (the 24th) for a week.
Princess
@Betty Cracker: I feel like be seen a lot of people on here betting on a recession making Trump unpopular enough that Democrats win at least the House in the midterms.
TONYG
@Suzanne: My obvious understanding of the reasons for Trump’s “deals” changing tariff “policy” on short notice: 1) Stock market manipulation allowing him and his cronies to make money with insider trading. 2) Almost certainly bribes from the countries with whom Trump makes his “deals”. It’s a cesspool.
Geminid
Bloomberg reports that former Michigan House Speaker Joe Tate is entering the Democratic primary race to replace U.S. Senator Gary Peters, who will retire. At age 44, Tate will be the old man in the race. Competitors include U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens (41), former Detroit Health Commissioner Abdul Al-Sayed (40), and State Senator Mallory McMorrow who is 38 years-old.
Yet Another Haldane
Happy Monday! I just left a comment and yep, it’s super easy. In his Substack post, Don Moynihan writes:
> The volume of opposing comments matters, so writing something short and sweet is great. You don’t need to read the rule in depth or be an expert.
I took that to heart and wrote a three-sentence paragraph that boils down to “we don’t need to turn the Federal Government into a new Tammany Hall.” Because Ambiguity Is Bad, it started with “OPPOSED” on a line by itself.
Currently there’s about 6700 comments, with 11 days left to go.
lowtechcyclist
I’ll be submitting a comment this morning. Hell, I’ve been going on for months now about why it’s stupid to replace civil service appointees with political appointees. Instead of a continuous buildup of expertise and institutional knowledge, you get a bunch of people who are starting from zero on January 21 of a new President’s term, and have to spend half the term just figuring out what the law requires them to do, let alone how to do it. And that’s assuming benevolent motivation on their part, ha ha.
YY_Sima Qian
@sentient ai from the future: The 20% meme tariff because of “fentanyl” probably will not last. The PRC will throw Trump a bone there for him to declare victory.
eclare
@Yet Another Haldane:
Thanks! I’ll make my short and sweet comment today.
Another Scott
@Baud: Too many humans haven’t yet figured out that screaming at someone online isn’t the same as muttering under one’s breath.
Oh well. I guess he’ll learn, or maybe not. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
We should all be happy he let us know.
Best wishes,
Scott.
zhena gogolia
I submitted a comment, but I’m hoping I’m anonymous! I couldn’t really figure it out.
RevRick
@eclare: I commented by essentially making two points. First, I asked how necessary was this change of classification. A few difficulties getting rid of bad apples doesn’t justify a wholesale revision. Second, the leaders in the Trump administration have blatantly advertised their intention. They want to make the top level 50,000 civil service employees afraid. They want them looking over their shoulders. This proposal is not about making government more effective; it’s about partisan politics and control.
Another Scott
@eclare: Here’s NFFE’s letter opposing Schedule F.
HTH!
Thanks to everyone writing!
Best wishes,
Scott.
sentient ai from the future
@Baud: 30% IS sky-high already
eclare
@Yet Another Haldane:
Just made my comment. I ended with the sentence that I didn’t want NOAA run by political cronies whose only experience with predicting the weather is to look out the window.
Geminid
@YY_Sima Qian:
Tired: “Running Dogs”
Wired: “Barking Dogs”
drdavechemist
@lowtechcyclist:
Pretty much what I said in the comment I just submitted.
eclare
@Another Scott:
Thanks! Made my comment.
YY_Sima Qian
@Geminid: Haha!
different-church-lady
@Baud: The first suggestion is: you don’t talk about the first suggestion.
different-church-lady
@Baud: ”We plan to return it to the Trump White House immediately.”
different-church-lady
@Baud: If you’re a fan of the Florida Panthers you never should have started.
Michael Bersin
@Betty Cracker:
When Yvonne Reeves-Chong (Vice Chair, Missouri Democratic Party) started speaking the crowd was hushed. People know her, she pulls no punches, and she has a well-earned reputation for telling it like it is. When she tells everyone that this is the moment people know that it is.
Jess Piper (D), contrary to right wingnut mythology, is no bomb-thrower. She’s an organizer. When she tells us it’s time to take it to the streets and to actively resist you sit up and listen with focus. It was like getting hit in the face with a bucket of cold seawater.
The crowd was mostly older (shall we say, “people with privilege”). Over 100 people showing up in a park shelter during commencement in a university town (small) is something. There were a few folks from other rural counties – some who have been actively organizing marches in their locales. If you think marching in a large group in a big city takes courage and a leap of faith, try doing so on the town square in Clinton, Missouri. The two persistent younger women who are continuing to independently organize are freakin’ heroes. They were present at this event and spoke about their planning for a march in Clinton on June 14th.
More than the usual suspects are waking up in alarm. I just hope it’s enough.
I’m planning for the worst.
different-church-lady
@Michael Bersin:
We have meet the enemy, and he is us.
different-church-lady
@TONYG: Dumbfuck Hitler’s little psychological magic tricks are going to run into the hard reality of empty store shelves soon. “You don’t need seven air conditioners, you can have none” will be dribbling out of his sick piehole come July.
jonas
@Princess: I don’t think it will take a full-blown recession — just enough political chaos and (esp) prices staying high to piss people off. Even if he backs off all the tariff nonsense, people are going to notice that it was all basically for nothing and Trump has no goddamn clue what he’s doing.
different-church-lady
@jonas:
Some of them. Maybe just enough of them, I hope. Others will just keep sucking down that Flavor-Aid.
Another Scott
My comment:
==
OPPOSED.
The Civil Service system was created to address abuses by administrations who wanted to reward supporters and demand fealty to the new leadership above all else. Cronyism is dangerous. A professional, non-political, and stable federal workforce that has enduring expertise is essential for fair and efficient operations of the federal government. Needed experts will not join the federal government if they see that their work is undercut or over-ruled by purely political calculations. We must remember the mistakes of the past and not repeat them.
I am opposed to Schedule F and any similar proposed rules or legislation.
==
Best wishes,
Scott.
eclare
@Another Scott:
Very good.
suzanne
@TONYG:
Truer words, never spoken, etc.
Every once in a while, I think of how I had to take professional ethics in school. And how I was tested on that to get my license, and how any run-ins with the law or ethical breaches can result in loss of that license. And yet, at the highest levels of government, it’s nothing but ethical breaches all the way down. And how probably upward of 60% of Americans can’t be chuffed to give a shit.
Another Scott
Speaking of Watergirl’s periodic reminders to substitute a glyph that looks like an apostrophe for an apostrophe in usernames here… CURL’s maintainer:
Yikes!
The monsters never give up. It’s a never-ending battle.
Be careful out there…
Best wishes,
Scott.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@satby: That sounds like a wonderful trip!
Almost Retired
I was tempted to just write “remember President Garfield,” but that could cause me problems. So I expounded on the benefits of competence and continuity.
J.
@Baud: LMOAO
Baud
@Another Scott:
Check the kerning!
Hoodie
@Princess: It’s also “temporary.” Gives big US companies manufacturing stuff in China time to reroute supply chains to exploit loopholes in the tariffs. They can absorb 30% for a short time until they’ve realigned production. No manufacturing will come back to the US, it will just end up transshipped via India or some other place. Small businesses will still be screwed by a 30% tariff because they can’t ride it out and/or make similar adjustments. Meanwhile, Trump will claim victory without achieving anything and be vindicated by the markets, which ultimately act to the benefit of the big corporate class. This will provide a narrative that superficial media will predictably fall for.
Dillinger robbed banks because that’s where the money is. Trump and the GOP are robbing the working class, particularly the working middle and upper middle classes who mistakenly think they’re in the club, because that’s the easiest money to steal. The Chinese will play along because it really won’t hurt them and it further hollows out the US for the relatively low cost of propping up a petty criminal asshole. The Qataris are offering him a plane for similar reasons. Outside parties understand that the way to fuck the US is to flatter Trump by giving him things like airplanes or hollow deals that achieve nothing for the vast majority of Americans but allow him to claim success.
Trapped Lurker
Just commented. Thank you for pointing out something this old white lady could do to oppose the current stupidity happening to our country.
frosty
@RevRick: @lowtechcyclist: @Yet Another Haldane: @Another Scott: Thanks everyone for the suggestions on comments to the “Politicization of the Civil Service” rule. I’ll post a comment today.
schrodingers_cat
@Princess: We get it, no matter what the Ds are doing or not doing, they are doing it wrong.
Another Scott
Meanwhile, video of a fault moving in the Myanmar quake on March 28 (0:26).
Freaky.
(via CultureofTruth)
Best wishes,
Scott.
Jeffro
That’s the message I’m running with today. MAGAts can try to claim it’s China backing down, or point to a stock market bump, but this kind of insanity is causing businesses and consumers alike to pull back.
It’s gonna be a long, slow ratchet downward until Congress reasserts its authority over tariffs.
Betty Cracker
@Michael Bersin: Thanks. I wasn’t familiar with Reeves-Chong before, but I follow Piper on Bluesky. Will see if Reeves-Chong is also there.
YY_Sima Qian
Great read from the FT on the rapid electrification of the PRC economy, & its implications across a range of spheres, a truly seismic development for the world. I have highlighted this development a few times in the comments in the past few years, but good to see MSM noticing (gift link below):
In the meantime, Trump is determined to turn the US into a petro-state.
Wilson Heath
Cookie-cutter and low-content comments can be batched and dealt with easily. Lengthier comments making several points, even if none of these are the most original insights, take more time to deal with as the comments are sorted for response. Legal problems identified with the proposed regulation, particularly when constitutionally invalid, in conflict with statute, or contrary to precedential court cases, will suck the most time into response. But throw policy arguments at it, too. And history. Everything.
Slowing the works can be a victory. Particularly if finalization can be put back far enough that the Congressional Review Act can be used to kill it if Congress flips for the next session.
Trivia Man
@Loveofcoffee: I was about comment #6,500. Those are rookie numbers! Let’s get a million!
YY_Sima Qian
@Princess: IMHO a short recession, at least, is almost baked in, because of the supply chain chaos caused by the past 6 weeks, including the snapback effect due to the rush to place new orders & restock empty inventories further clogging the transoceanic logistics. This is 2020 all over again.
Bessent & Trump might have caved just soon enough to avoid catastrophic shortages in the US, though, since we are just starting to see days where no container ships left the PRC for US ports. However, now shipping rates will go through the roof, especially as ocean shippers had already diverted many of the ships from PRC-US routes to other ones. The logistics do not just snap right back.
lowtechcyclist
@lowtechcyclist:
Done! Later I will email other current and former Federal workers I’m in touch with, to suggest that they comment as well.
But right now, I’m going on a bike ride, because this morning is too good to waste. (Regular bike, not the e-bike – the latter is for errands. The real bike is for fun!)
Belafon
@YY_Sima Qian: Which will be interesting because a lot of the solar and wind companies here are run by Republicans as well.
H.E.Wolf
Paraphrase of my written comment:
First sentence: I oppose the Schedule F proposal.
Second sentence: Sincere praise of USA civil servants.
Third sentence: Loyalty tests? Do Not Want.
I think it took 5 minutes, including proofreading, tweaking the punctuation, and fiddling around with the choice between Individual and Anonymous comment.
YY_Sima Qian
Even w/ Trump calling a mulligan on the trade war, the past 6 weeks has still been extremely damaging:
frosty
Done. Here’s my version of what the other jackals sent:
OPPOSED This is a stupid and dangerous proposal to replace civil service appointees with political appointees. The reason we have a civil service is because of abuses by administrations who wanted to reward supporters and demand loyalty to the new leadership above all else. We need a federal workforce with expertise and institutional knowledge, not people starting from scratch on January 21st.
This proposal won’t make government more effective, it’s about partisan politics and control. It failed in the 1800s and it will fail now. Let’s not repeat the mistakes of the past.
I am opposed to Schedule F and any similar proposed rules or legislation.
Wilson Heath
(Loudermill is the Supreme Court case on federal employment being a property right that an employee can’t be stripped of without due process. Hitting the proposal as an unconstitutional taking seems like a fun comment to submit.)
YY_Sima Qian
@Belafon: These are developers, right?
I think they want to maximize profit by gaining unfettered access to cheap Chinese made solar panels & wind turbines. These guys are not interested in paying for building manufacturing capacity in the US, unless the federal & state governments are footing much of the bill.
Fake Irishman
Federal employee here:
This is a good thing to do. Follow the instructions that the author Anne Laurie cites in the post suggests. It is very easy to file a comment, and each one does help. If you are at all involved in research, you can make a more detailed comment about how grants should be administered by non-partisan civil servants that follow the law.
Large volumes of comments help, even simple ones. Detailed ones help a lot too. Every one is fodder for a lawsuit.
As an example that Dave Anderson will no doubt note here soon, the first Trump administration tried to rubber stamp state proposals for Medicaid work requirements. Multiple federal judges—including some very conservative ones— slapped injunctions in the programs because CMS didn’t do an adequate job responding to the comments. The comments also played major roles in the programs being struck down as illegal.
So please comment.
YY_Sima Qian
BTW, the PRC’s export restrictions on rare earth elements & rare earth magnets remain in place as leverage, because the stated justification was “national security”:
Fake Irishman
@Wilson Heath:
yes. All three points are true. Comments also provide fodder for lawsuits that can really slow things down.
twbrandt
My comment:
Jackie
@Baud:
suzanne
@frosty: @twbrandt: Y’all’s comments are better than mine. Phone typing from the airport makes me concise. LOL.
Chief Oshkosh
Submitted my comment this morning. Thanks for posting this heads-up.
Randal Sexton
I submitted a comment, and didn’t even use any swear words.
UncleEbeneezer
John Aziz on Twitter:
And don’t forget that Al Jazeera, and its prominent voices like Progressive fave, Mehdi Hasan, are bought and paid for propagandists for Qatar. The same financiers who fund Hamas, sign Mehdi’s checks. And he has a long history of deflecting any criticism (or even mention) of Hamas during conversations about the war, 10/7 or Israel/Palestine in general. He’s a professional propagandist for the terrorist groups whose goal is to perpetuate the war/conflict forever in order to try to finish the job of the Nazis and eliminate all Jews from their ancestral land*.
* During WW2 the Nazis ran an extensive propaganda campaign in the Middle East to garner Arab support. They found that the most effective messaging was not the framings used in Europe, but instead to emphasize Zionism as a deadly threat to the world and the presence of Jews in Palestine as a supporting example that “International Jewry” was the real cause of WW2, and the power behind the Allied Forces. Disturbingly similar to the Anti-Zionist framing currently spread on Al Jazeera, by Free Palestine activists and US Academics. The effort was very successful. The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem worked closely with the Nazis as did Muslim Brotherhood leaders in Egypt. Intercepted intelligence messages show the Nazis offered Arab leaders assurances that if Rommel won in North Africa the Nazis would expand the Final Solution to Palestine.
There’s also the big question of: Why does Qatar invest Billions in US Universities? (podcast episode on the topic)
How/what are they trying to influence to serve their own self-interests?
Chief Oshkosh
@Another Scott: I watched it several times. There’s all sorts of things going on in that 26 seconds!
Michael Bersin
@Betty Cracker:
@yreeveschong.bsky.social
French Onion Soup
@Jackie:
Reddit has been turning distinctly right wing for a while now. The pace of that change has been increasing recently.
Trivia Man
@frosty: I mentioned that we got rid of the Spoils System over 100 years ago and i dont want it back
ChrisSherbak
@Baud: YES! A couple of years ago he (or more likely his staff) posted a retrospective of ALL his outfits at Pride. NOT a fashion plate OR wild presentations, but he was there looking like a wacky suburban dad. He recognizes that being an aloof bazillionaire does NOT play well in Chicago or IL and taking yourself not too seriously makes him instantly relatable. After seeing the pics and finding out He Was There, I became a #JBfanForLife.
Bard the Grim
@Another Scott: Awesome video. Thanks so much for the pointer.
And thanks to AL and everyone who advised on how to comment re Schedule F.
Bard the Grim
@Another Scott: Thanks so much for that link–amazing!
And thanks to AL and everyone who advised on how to comment re Schedule F.
LAC
Thank you, AL – the most valuable post of the day (no surprise). The federal union I am still a member of sent this to us a week ago as a reminder. I hope that folks are doing their part.
Manyakitty
@satby: how exciting! Bon voyage and can’t wait to hear about it!
Old Man Yelling at Clouds
I went to the website and added my comment. Thanks for letting me know about this.