TRUMP ADMINISTRATION SCOFFLAWS THWARTED AGAIN! – US JUDGE SHOOTS DOWN UNLAWFUL ATTACK ON UNIONS AND CIVIL SERVICE!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/in-victory-for-unions-judge-overturns-key-parts-of-trump-executive-orders/2018/08/25/5458e2bc-a880-11e8-97ce-cc9042272f07_story.html?utm_term=.d1c944e626ce

Lisa Rein reports for the Washington Post:

A federal judge late Friday dealt a victory to federal employees and the unions that represent them, invalidating overnight key provisions of a series of Trump administration executive orders aimed at making it easier to fire employees and weaken the unions.

The overnight ruling by U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson in Washington was a setback to the White House’s efforts to rein in the power of federal unions. Though federal employees’ pay is set by Congress, their unions have retained significant power even as private-sector unions have been in decline.

The three executive orders, issued just before Memorial Day, had sought to severely restrict the use of “official time” — on-duty time that union officials can spend representing their members in grievances and on other issues. The rules also limited issues that could be bargained over in union negotiations. And it rolled back the rights of workers deemed to be poor performers to appeal disciplinary action against them.

Jackson took issue with key elements of each order and enjoined the administration from enacting them.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday.

The American Federation of Government Employees, the largest of the dozen unions to sue the administration over the executive orders, applauded the ruling. It called it a victory for public-sector unions and the protections Congress gave federal employees in 1978 when it guaranteed civil servants the right to bargain collectively over working conditions in the government.

“President Trump’s illegal action was a direct assault on the legal rights and protections that Congress specifically guaranteed to the public-sector employees across this country who keep our federal government running every single day,” AFGE’s national president, J. David Cox Sr., said in a statement.

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Lawless actions directed at its perceived “enemies” under the guise of some bogus legal theory are a staple of the Trump/Sessions regime. As the ever disingenuous Sessions has proved recently, every time a Federal Judge quite properly calls him out for his lawless acts, he whines about interference with Executive authority and his authority as the chief legal official of the US. Here’s a guy that apparently got through law school and admitted to the bar without knowing or understanding what Chief Justice Marshall said and meant in probably the single most famous case in US history: Marbury v. Madison. No, Gonzo, you don’t get the final say on what the law is — that only appears to happen in the never-never land of the Immigration Courts!

The NAIJ, representing our nation’s Immigration Judges (I am a retired member), continues to fight not only for the civil service rights of the judges but for the fair and impartial judicial independence that benefits everyone in America. All of these have been under constant attack by Jeff Sessions and the Trump Administration.

PWS

08-27-18

FOLLOWING WEEK OF FOREIGN POLICY BLUNDERS, TRUMP AND GOP RIGHT TARGET A NEW “ENEMY” – AMERICA! – KAKISTOCRACY SEEKS TO DESTROY MERIT-BASED CIVIL SERVICE & RE-ESTABLISH SPOILS SYSTEM, POLITICAL CRONYISM, AND TOADYISM AS HALLMARKS OF “GOVERNMENT BY THE WORST” — Trump’s Latest Lies About “Improving Morale” Fail The “Straight Face” Test! — Grifters Rejoice At Demise Of Professional Civil Service That Once Allowed America To Become A World Leader!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-takes-aim-at-federal-bureaucracy-with-new-executive-orders-altering-civil-service-protections/2018/05/25/3ed8bf84-6055-11e8-9ee3-49d6d4814c4c_story.html?utm_term=.0416d74b09ff

Lisa Rein reports for the Washington Post:

May 25 at 4:40 PM

President Trump issued three executive orders Friday aimed at overhauling the federal bureaucracy by making it easier to fire poor performers, sharply curtailing the amount of time federal employees can be paid for union work and directing agencies to negotiate tougher union contracts.

The orders could result in the biggest changes in a generation to civil service protections long enjoyed by federal workers.

White House officials said the goal of the executive orders is to make the workforce of two million federal employees more efficient and responsive to the public and to improve morale.

In a briefing with reporters, Andrew Bremberg, the White House’s director of the domestic policy, said that a survey of federal employees has found that many do not believe their agencies adequately address poor performers.

“These executive orders make it easier for agencies to remove poor performing employees and ensure that taxpayer dollars are more efficiently used,” he said.

One of the executive orders, which allows employees accused of misconduct to be fired more easily, expands on legislation that Congress passed last year to bring more accountability at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

“President Trump is attempting to silence the voice of veterans, law enforcement officers, and other frontline federal workers through a series of executive orders intended to strip federal employees of their decades-old right to representation at the worksite,” the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal employee union, said in a statement.

Joe Davidson contributed to this report.

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An honest, apolitical, expert career Civil Service has been the main difference between America and many of the dictatorships, one-party states, and failed states from which we once distinguished ourselves. Once destroyed, it won’t easily be rebuilt. That could well spell the end of America as an economic superpower and world leader.

Can the “Trump Kakistocracy” and his co-opted “Party of GOP Grifters” be stopped before it’s too late? Only time will tell.  But, the clock is ticking!

PWS

05-26-18

EXPOSED: DHS INSPECTOR GENERAL SHOWS TOTAL INSANITY OF TRUMP’S PROPOSALS TO ADD 15,000 UNNECESSARY IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT AGENTS! — Would Require “Vetting” Of 1.25 Million Applicants! –“Neither [U.S. Customs and Border Protection] nor [ICE] could provide complete data to support the operational need or deployment strategies for the additional 15,000 agents and officers!”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-plan-to-hire-15000-border-and-immigration-personnel-isnt-justified-federal-watchdog-says/2017/08/02/c9345136-77a1-11e7-8839-ec48ec4cae25_story.html?utm_term=.af47cea49a62

Lisa Rein reports for the Washington Post:

“President Trump’s plan for an aggressive hiring surge of 15,000 Border Patrol and immigration personnel to help keep out undocumented immigrants is unrealistic — and the Department of Homeland Security has not made a case for it, the agency’s watchdog says.

A report released this week by the DHS inspector general concludes that based on its rigorous screening requirement for law enforcement jobs and the relatively high rate of attrition among Border Patrol agents, Homeland Security would have to vet 750,000 applicants to find 5,000 qualified personnel.

In addition, to hire the 10,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents the president called for in executive orders he issued in his first days in office, a pool of 500,000 candidates would need to apply, auditors found.

The report calls into question whether DHS officials even need 15,000 new hires to target undocumented immigrants. Agency leaders have done such poor planning for what their workforce should look like, with an understaffed, poorly trained human resources operation, that they cannot justify thousands of new employees, the report says.

“Neither [U.S. Customs and Border Protection] nor [ICE] could provide complete data to support the operational need or deployment strategies for the additional 15,000 agents and officers,” the report by the office of Inspector General John Roth said.

DHS officials told auditors that they are still three to four years from getting a system in place that will be able to tell them how many new personnel they need and where to deploy them.

“Without comprehensive staffing models, operational needs analyses, and deployment strategies, CBP and ICE will not be able to identify clearly the correct number and type of employees required, what positions must be filled, or where to deploy those employees,” the report said.

Trump promised on the campaign trail to vastly beef up enforcement against undocumented immigrants with a new border wall, a surge in agents to help seal off the Southwest border with Mexico and a “deportation force” to arrest people in the country illegally. The 15,000 new front-line employees would come with almost 9,600 more technical and support staff, the report said.”

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Read Rein’s complete article and get a link to the IG’s report at the above link.

More fraud, waste, and abuse from the “Fraudster In Chief.” For a fraction of the money Trump & Co propose to squander, we could build a first-class U.S. Immigration Court system that would be a model of due process and fairness and would contribute much more to fair, efficient, and effective enforcement of the immigration laws.

PWS

08-03-17