Today is Thursday, February 6, 2025. In a rapid response to the illegality employed by the current president toward dismantling the humanitarian agency United States Agency for International Development (USAID), labor groups have now banded together to sue to halt Dump’s destruction of the agency. The workforce is expected to be slashed to under 300 after Dump’s directive takes effect. In an online CNN Digital article by Jennifer Handler and Devan Cole entitled “Labor groups sue to halt Trump’s admin’s dismantling of USAID as workforce is expected to be slashed to under 300,” the pushback against the autocratic head of state is outlined herein.

The unprecedented lawsuit takes aim at the administration’s freeze on almost all foreign assistance – a move that has brought critical humanitarian work around the world to a screeching halt and has led to thousands of contractors being furloughed or laid off.

This marks the first lawsuit filed against the rapid succession of moves taken against USAID.

The suit was filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., by Democracy Forward and Public Citizen Litigation Group on behalf of the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) and the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE).

All of the groups being represented here claim that Dump’s recent actions amount to an unlawful grab of congressional authority. It is only Congress that can mandate the closure of such an agency, and by golly, the convicted felon went over Congress’s jurisdiction, along with his billionaire Muskrat to dismantle the agency for no reason other than spite.

In a statement issued today, AFSA President Tom Yazdgerdi said, “The dismantling of USAID including its Foreign Service members has thrown dedicated public servants – and their families – into chaos and uncertainty.” He added, “These professionals have spent their careers advancing America’s interests abroad, only to find their livelihoods upended overnight.”

Skye Perryman, the president and CEO of Democracy Forward, argued that “the Trump administration’s USAID is part of a coordinated campaign to undermine the will of Congress and isolate America in the world.”

The jerk who is president claimed on Monday that he doesn’t need Congress at all to scrap the agency altogether (he does!), puzzling legal experts who say the president lacks the legal authority to unilaterally dismantle independent federal agencies like USAID.

Using a most irrational excuse to scrap the agency, Chump brazenly claimed the agency was rife with fraud without elaboration. But this is what this “president” does or has done to justify his most outrageous acts.

This is the type of work that Dump is halting: (you can decide if this type of work is rife with fraud then), halting USAID work has shut down efforts to prevent children from dying of malaria, the work in performing pharmaceutical clinical trials has stopped, and education about HIV will be halted by Dump’s arbitrary decision to slash the program. Does this seem fraudulent to you? Attorneys for the groups raised their collective voices in protest over this callous action by the jerk in the White House, saying, “These actions have generated a global humanitarian crisis by abruptly halting the crucial work of USAID employees, grantees, and contractors. They have cost thousands of American jobs. And they have imperiled U.S. national security interests.”

I can say with confidence that the majority of misguided voters who voted for the asshole in November did not expect this kind of executive action. And the price of eggs still hasn’t come down; in fact, they’ve gone up since Dump was inaugurated. Anyone with a brain could have predicted this.

Today I took personal action and called the U.S. Capitol to voice my anger with Muskrat’s access to sensitive data in the Treasury Department. If you feel the same way as I do, here is the number: (202) 224-3121. When I got patched through, I asked for Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s office and left my concerned citizen’s message. This is not much, but I felt somewhat satisfied after leaving my message. I hope the Capitol is saturated with these messages from angry Americans over this breach of enormous proportions. Can you believe the effrontery of this one fucking man? To be allowed into a federal agency that contains such sensitive information as Americans’ Social Security data, bank account information, tax information, etc. I would think every one would agree this is outrageous and should be stopped in its tracks.

Anyway, there you have it. A lot to absorb in this crazy and confusing time in our nation’s history. Unless you don’t watch the news at all.

Tomorrow I will probably not post here since I’m going to the Museum of Modern Art with my friend “Seth.” We will attempt to see the popular exhibit The Clock by Christian Marclay. This is the exhibit that encapsulates 100 years of moving-image history which is a 24-hour montage composed of thousands of film and television clips showing clocks and other references to time. Each clip is synchronized to the local time: so if you walk in at 3:30, say, and sit down to watch this exhibit, the time you will see on the screen will match the time inside the auditorium. Some viewers have claimed to have sat as long as 24 hours to see this exhibit. I don’t think my friend and I will sit that long, since we’re first going in the afternoon. We will then have dinner near Lincoln Center at Cafe Fiorello. It features traditional Italian cuisine.

Have a good Friday and good luck calling the Capitol if you decide to do so.

And so it went!