Summary
DOGE staffers Tyler Hassen and Bryton Shang tried pressuring the Bureau of Reclamation to open a California water pump to aid Los Angeles during January’s wildfires, though the system couldn’t reach the city.
When denied, they flew there to do it themselves but failed due to maintenance and access restrictions.
Critics called DOGE a “slapstick operation of 20-somethings they’re seeing as whiz kids but have zero knowledge.”
Trump later ordered dam releases, flooding farmland. Critics called DOGE’s actions reckless and uninformed.
this whole organization runs exactly like a Seth Rogen / Michael Cera / Jonah Hill movie, except no one is likeable.
Tyler Hassen and Bryton Shang are fascist toadies.
It’s fortunate that they’re so incompetent that they couldn’t do any damage.
The damage was ultimately done anyways: They ordered a shitload of water released and flooded farmland with it. Now the state no longer has that reserve for later, when it is actually needed.
They were never out to help anyone, this was sabotage all along. They knew it wouldn’t help and they didn’t care because that was never their goal.
That is a separate incident. Perhaps I should have said additional damage.
You know the penalty for sabotage in wartime?
A stern scolding from a judge?
Ohhhhh, this makes sense now. The wanted to decimate California out of spite. Now I get it.
Yes, the fire was already nearly contained and also the initial water problem wasn’t because of water shortage, but because the infrastructure wasn’t able to keep up the demand.
This video explains the problem https://youtu.be/Y1N2BwcAT-s
The water that trump released, won’t even get anywhere close to Los Angeles, it goes (went?) to the ocean 100 miles away from the city.
Those dams were build to prevent floods in the area in spring, and are used to provide water for farmers. So this move could cause a food shortage.
This water can’t be physically used by Los Angeles, because it isn’t even physically connected. Trump thinks that because the dam is on top of the map, it has to go down.
I’m not clear on why they doubled down on this, when it was apparently clear that the water was not going to go where they wanted it to go?
Because the water would go where they want it to go. You just don’t understand where they want it to go or why.
You think they want it to go to where the fires are. That’s wrong.
They want it to go into the central valley to refill the giant lake and swamp ecosystem that used to be there.
They don’t care about the short-term needs of people who need to drink or put out fires or grow crops. They are making decisions entirely from the perspective of longtermism. They see restoring the central valley’s swamp ecosystem as the overwhelming long-term good, regardless of any short-term consequences.
Right idea, reckless implementation. It’s also not clear that just dumping as much water as possible into the central valley is the best way to restore the swamp ecosystem. So much of the valley’s hydrology and ability to retain water have been damaged since the cotton farmers drained the lake after the civil war. This is a restoration that needs to be done slowly and deliberately, both to not kill people who currently rely on that water and to manage the environmental impacts on the basin of suddenly reintroducing water that it’s spent 150 years adapting to live without.
I’m confused. Wasn’t Trumps mission to drain the swap? Why is he now trying to fill it back up? Is he that old and senile he doesn’t know what the plan is anymore?
I have not seen any evidence of this plan, nor any long-term planning from the administration in general. Can you support this claim?
This is a restoration that needs to be done slowly and deliberately
That’s why 2 random 20-somethings with no water infrastructure education/experience went out there personally on a whim with no planning and were denied access, right? Because it’s all a master plan that was orchestrated slowly and carefully?
These guys don’t care about ecology, you’re fooling yourself. Stop trying to make fools of everyone else too.
You think their goal is to help?
Well, I was thinking that at the very least they did not want to broadcast their idiocy, but clearly I need to reevaluate.
I was thinking that at the very least they did not want to broadcast their idiocy
That would require a level of self-awareness greater than that of a paramecium.
I think that might be a little harsh towards paramecia.
They can be pretty sure that the idiots that support them won’t find out how moronic their efforts really are. Sure, NORMAL Americans know how stupid this is, but who cares about that?
Was it idiocy or malice?
Idiocy can explain a lot, but malice makes everything they’ve done and everything they’re trying to do make a lot more sense.
These acts are intentional and, even if these kids don’t understand, the people who are calling the shots do and these are not mistakes (even if they claim otherwise); They have been planning this for years and have the backing of multiple billionaires who are clearly more than happy to facilitate all this.
So many news articles questioning how these acts could be expected to help and hwo foolish they are when the answer is much, much simpler - the damage is in purpose. The harm is on purpose. The rest of the US can no longer assume “good intentions” from their caretakers. It’s all malice from here on out.
¿Porque no los dos?
This is why “Hanlon’s Razor” is kind of bullshit. People should stop using it because, at the very least, it does not apply anymore.
It’s a general rule, not an absolute law, generally I think it should be the default assumption but past a certain point, it has to be intentional.
I’m pretty sure Hanlon specifically mentions that it must be “adequately” explained, and these events are not adequately explained by stupidity alone.
Then I guess my frustrations are more with the people who misuse it.
No, longtermism is just a way for idiot rich monsters to clear their conscience
Because they are idiots. They assume that because they might be good at one thing that they’re good at everything.
It’s like:
Everyone sane: “This kills the patient. Flat out.”
Them: “We’re willing to take that risk! Do it!”
Flooded farmland, provided 0 help to the wildfires, and now there’s less water reserve for the actual agricultural season…
Genius.
Genius.
Deliberate, treasonous sabotage.
Just one more thing Trump did to bring up food prices. Why did people vote for him again?
Because a sizeable chunk of our population are morons.
As revenge for having to deal with the indignity of having a Blah president, and later, his VP having one term.
Seriously, I think Obama being President broke so very many brains.
There needs to be more articles like this that calls them out by name. It’s easy to name Trump and Musk, but call out the cronies too!
Too much credit is given to Trump, which means that if Trump leaves office people will think everything is fixed despite all the other people who steer Trump towards his worst impulses will still be around wreaking havoc.
Trump is 90% a figurehead for the shitty conservatives who wrote Project 2025. He didn’t come up with most of this stuff, he is just going along with it. The 10% of the time things are his idea are fucking terrible too, but he definitely doesn’t deserve most of the credit.
Yeah but it’s MAGA’s weird adoration of Trump that makes this all possible. Also Trump did say he wasn’t going to do Project 2025 during the campaign. People either believed this (despite him being convicted of 34 counts of fraud) or actually wanted Project 2025.
There will always be ghouls that will want to do these kinds of things. But what needs to happen is for voters to learn that bad things happen when you vote for someone like Trump who enables this kind of thing.
Also Trump did say he wasn’t going to do Project 2025 during the campaign.
Nobody has any intention of building a wall.
- said Walter Ulbricht, head of state of the GDR in 1961, two months before he ordered to build the Berlin Wall.
Also Trump did say he wasn’t going to do Project 2025 during the campaign. P
Add it to the over 30,000 lies he’s already documented to have told.
A full department staffed by people who haven’t heard of unknown unknowns.
They don’t care. They’re just out to wreck things.
The problem is the effects of their actions are absolutely known, and quite predictable, as long as you can think more than 1 layer deep.
Too much fire? Easy, release all the water now!.. Except we were clearly holding that water for a reason, otherwise the fucking dam wouldn’t be there in the first place…
Summer is coming… Too much fire? Thanks DODGE, Elon, Trump, Republicans… Just murdering Americans away to make way for beautiful resorts and perfect republican white people.
When you’re young a lot of the world is unknown unknowns. It’s just a consequence of not having experience in the world.
That and being taught that over-confidence helps overcoming the shortcomings of lacking knowledge. That’s how they got into their positions in the first place.
Well, that and connections.
Assuming the justice system can function again, in theory, how much jail time could they get for tampering with infrastructure and public endangerment?
A people’s justice system can be put together quickly, and can render summary judgements faster than the existing one. If the courts can’t or won’t clean up their act, we’ll have to do it for them.
Idk, but guillotines are pretty fast and efficient.
Cadillac Desert should be required reading for anyone involved with California water.
They should have been arrested.
They should have
been arrestedhad the absolute shit beat out of them.Our boys in blue are fully capable of doing both.
The Sheriff has had to issue a memo in my county because the deputies are openly fantasizing about murdering Musk and his fuck boys. So yeah… Something to look forward to.
The fucking idiots were not just wasting water, they were depleting the reservoirs. That water will be sorely missed in the dry season.
This was all by design. It’s meant to fuck over this year’s harvest and drive food prices up.
You get it.
I would reiterate a point I have made several times that Trump has taken actions a number of times that seem to me to not be a great idea for agriculture. That’s a little surprising, since agriculture is normally a Republican stronghold.
I’m semi convinced this is a setup to justify a Canadian invasion to acquire water in the summer
Can’t fucking wait for real life Water Wars
it’s not about the water, it’s about OBEYING them. If Trump, his oligarchs or their puppets tell you to jump you jump or ask ‘how high’ but don’t question them and surely don’t disobey them
It is extremely important for people to stand up to Trump. Everyone from European nations to US federal workers to media outlets to members of congress should be opposing Trump’s bullying to the maximum extent.
And that’s the problem. If everyone replied “fuck you, no” when ordered to jump, MAGA would be powerless. It’s obedience that empowers them. Resist at every step, force them to expend all their effort on small victories. There are more of us than them and we can grind them down. They’re soft.
Removed by mod
Lead them to the PA system, it has the most buttons so clearly it’s the most important.
or open athletic engagement
Why did my dumb ass immediately think “what, like challenge them to a triathlon or something?” when I read that
No need to grind when they have soft, very-white underbellies.
agree completely. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about why this simple defiance is so difficult for some people. I figure it’s because they fear social consequences (what will people think of me as a rule breaker?!) or they fear economic consequences (I could lose my job and ability to support my family!).
what’s interesting is that the solution to both reasons/excuses is having a strong social support network and solidarity with others who would help you when you stumble. modern individualism and desperation has made people so isolated and fearful of being mis-perceived and has made us less powerful to stand up for what we (collectively) know is the right thing to do.
if someone in my circle gets fired or shamed because they said “No” to a fascist, theyre going to get a lot of help if they need it. and i make sure to tell them that.
desperation has made people so isolated and fearful of being mis-perceived and has made us less powerful to stand up for what we (collectively) know is the right thing to do
Just never forget that this part is by design.
F*cking idiots.
Most of us, raised by Hollywood, imagine critical infrastructure has guards and ID checks. Keys. Guys with machine guns. The last 10 years, it’s pretty clear the major controls are just that no one tries. “I’m from DOGE” is going to be the penetration tester’s go-to social engineering hack for the next four years. Just walk in, press the Big Red Button, and leave.
This instance shows that it is, in fact, how that works, at least in part:
Shang wasn’t an official federal employee yet, meaning he couldn’t access the pump.
No credentials, no access. Most infrastructure like this has physical security like fencing, padlocks, steel doors, and so on. I don’t know if there’s a break-in alarm, but even if not, they’d still have to figure out how to access the pumps and turn them on. They’re probably computer-controlled, so you’d have to get access to the computer system. I’m sure you could override it on the PLC, or just plain hotwire it, but that takes a whole new set of skills.
I would not be the least surprised if the sum total of the “l33t h4x0r skills” of these teenagers boils down to knowing the least bit about whatever the latest Javascript frontend framework is, combined with some LLM to help them with it…this is what happens when a whole lot of idiots think that being young == being tech-savvy.
People hand the tech decisions over to complete morons with no understanding and so much Dunning-Kruger that they not only don’t know shit about something like PLCs, and may not have even heard of them, they’ll be too fucking arrogant to ask people that DO know, because, gosh, they might be OLD (i.e., > 30 years old) or something.
“Move Fast and Break Things” for government translates to…
Move fast to give billionaires gigantic tax cuts and break Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
I’ve got some bad news for you…
If it is locked, the key is usually nearby, and it’s usually the cheapest, least secure, possible lock to buy.
While probably true, morons like these two would be unlikely to get past even those measures.
“oh no. I’m a princeton grad. I’m rich. I work for Elon and Trump. I have authority over everyone here” kind of mentality.
So to protect critical infrastructure, when someone says “I’m from DOGE,” the correct reply is “Off you fuck.”
“And I’m from SchruteBuckCoin, we are currently outperforming you in multiple metrics.”
Fucking idiots.
Fucking dumbasses.
Fucking dipshits.
Fucking fucks.
Dicking dicks.
Fuckity fuck-fuck
Fucking idiots
Fixed it for you
Uncensor your fucking shit for the love of fuck
I’m telling mom
These idiots actually thought the only reason the fires were still burning is because someone hasn’t opened up a faucet yet, and that no one else but them have thought of it.
I wish I had the confidence of a DOGE tech bro even for a week.
