Donna
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derkinder.bsky.social
Donna
@derkinder.bsky.social
Bookworm, ΡθΚ, foster parent, special needs adoption, stuck on the Beltway. #StandWithUkraine
Pinned
Anyone notice that there are the same number of letters in Congress and GRIDLOCK?
Americans ask Trump, “What are you afraid of?” #SupportUkraine
December 3, 2025 at 7:45 PM
DoD employees under Federal Wage System to get long-delayed pay raise
DoD employees under Federal Wage System to get long-delayed pay raise
  More than 118,000 Defense Department employees under the Federal Wage System are finally getting their long-delayed 2024 pay raise. The Pentagon’s Wage Committee met last week for the first time this year and approved updates to roughly 1,600 wage schedules across 250 wage areas. The panel had been unable to meet since March, when Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth paused all advisory committees for a broader review. Wage grade employees haven’t received a pay increase since 2023. The approved pay raises will be retroactive, and may not show up in paychecks until January 2026.(DoD Wage Grade workers to finally received long-delayed pay raises - AFGE)Federal executives may soon see even more changes coming from the Trump administration. The Office of Personnel Management is now encouraging agencies to consider possible reassignments of Senior Executive Service members. In a new memo, OPM argued that the SES has not served as a “mobile corps” of managers, and members are instead being “entrenched” at agencies. The new memo comes after OPM also advised agencies to consider lowering their staffing allocations for senior-level positions.(Guidance on Senior Executive Service reassignments - Office of Personnel Management)The Pentagon said it’s ready to launch a new plan to spend about $1 billion on small, inexpensive drones over the next two years. A request for information the Defense Department issued to industry this week ask for input on the possibility of building 300,000 small drones for one-way attack missions. DoD wants to start testing potential systems by February as part of a series of “gauntlets.” Up to 12 vendors could get awards after the first gauntlet.(Pentagon launches plan to spend $1B on small drones - Department of Defense)A bill to overhaul the federal probationary period has cleared a hurdle in the House. The Oversight and Government Reform Committee advanced the so-called EQUALS Act along party lines on Tuesday. If enacted, the bill would double the length of the probationary period from one year to two years for most new federal hires. Committee Democrats criticized the legislation, saying it could open the door to more terminations of probationary workers. The EQUALS Act was one of about a dozen federal workforce bills the Oversight committee approved for further consideration in the House.(Committee Republicans advance House bill to overhaul the federal probationary period - Federal News Network)Thousands of post offices across the country have closed over the past few decades, according to a recent data analysis. The startup Use Postal estimates that 8,000 post offices have closed since the 1960s. It also estimates that out of the nearly 40,000 to have existed, about 67% of them are still operational to this day. Post office closures have disproportionately impacted states like Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia. (Post office closures: Where USPS post offices could disappear first - Use Postal)The State Department is telling employees targeted by mass layoffs this summer that their official separation date is imminent. The department’s human resources office told laid off Foreign Service employees that they will be officially separated from the agency this Friday. State Department attorneys determined that a recent stopgap spending bill passed by Congress does not require the agency to rescind any RIF notices that were sent before the government shutdown. These Foreign Service employees were originally on track to be separated from the agency on Nov. 10. But the department said it’s extending their administrative leave to address “administrative errors." (State Dept finalizes mass layoffs, says employees won’t be reinstated under shutdown-ending deal - Federal News Network)The General Services Administration made its 14th deal under its OneGov initiative. Through a new contract with SAP, agencies would receive up to an 80% discount off of Schedule prices for the company's database, integration, analytics and cloud software titles. GSA said this could save the government $165 million dollars over the agreement's 18-month duration, calculated against current government rates. GSA said this agreement is available to existing SAP customers for renewals, expansions or modernization projects. (GSA adds SAP to its OneGov program - General Services Administration)The federal offices are back open and hundreds of thousands of federal workers have returned to work after the longest shutdown in history. But nothing is back to normal. Federal workers say morale and trust in leadership are at an all-time low, tensions are high between furloughed staff and those who worked through the shutdown, schedules are slipping and projects are being pushed back. More people are accelerating their retirement plans or leaving federal service altogether. But the recent shutdown has exacerbated the existing problems, and added to what federal workers described as an already extremely trying year for the federal workforce. “As if morale wasn’t already non-existent, it sure is now,” one government worker said. (‘The mission is dead’: Federal workers say the shutdown made an ‘extremely trying year’ worse - Federal News Network)The post DoD employees under Federal Wage System to get long-delayed pay raise first appeared on Federal News Network.
federalnewsnetwork.com
December 3, 2025 at 7:28 PM
If he had any honor he would resign.
December 3, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Reposted by Donna
Here's Pete Hegseth in 2016 saying the U.S. military “won’t follow unlawful orders" from a President.

What changed, Pete?

Our Secretary of Defense is an unqualified and unserious person.
December 3, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Reposted by Donna
It was a pain worse than childbirth, said a TikTok mom as she described bouts of uncontrollable vomiting after marijuana use.
‘Scromiting,’ or uncontrollable vomiting due to marijuana use, is on the rise | CNN
Uncontrolled, explosive vomiting after marijuana use, called “scromiting,” is on the rise in the US, including among teenagers. Here’s what you need to know.
cnn.it
December 2, 2025 at 11:02 PM
Shame on At&T!
cnn.com CNN @cnn.com · 1d
US wireless carrier AT&T said in a letter to the US telecoms regulator that it had committed to ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs, a move that comes as it seeks approval from the Trump administration to buy wireless spectrum assets. https://cnn.it/3Y3C7eh
December 3, 2025 at 2:26 AM
cnn.com CNN @cnn.com · 1d
Certain glucose monitors from Abbott Diabetes Care are providing users with incorrect glucose readings, an error that has been linked with the deaths of at least seven people and more than 700 serious injuries worldwide, according to an alert from the FDA. https://cnn.it/4rzflsg
December 2, 2025 at 10:39 PM
Reposted by Donna
Health insurance is the No. 1 deciding factor in people’s next career step, yet most with employer health insurance say it doesn’t meet their needs very well.
Improved health benefits could empower major career shifts, study finds
Health insurance is the No. 1 deciding factor in people’s next career step, yet most with employer health insurance say it doesn’t meet their needs very well.
www.scrippsnews.com
December 2, 2025 at 10:35 PM
Politics trump morality.
Breaking news: Former Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández, sentenced last year to 45 years in prison for his role in helping drug traffickers move cocaine to the U.S., was released from prison following a pardon from President Trump.
Former president of Honduras freed from U.S. prison after Trump pardon
Juan Orlando Hernández was serving a 45-year sentence over drug trafficking. Following a pardon from President Donald Trump, he has been released.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 2, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Reposted by Donna
After nearly two months of questions, the White House now says that Trump got a "preventive" MRI to screen the 79-year-old's heart health.

Some physicians told me that it's not a standard procedure and the White House should say more about why Trump's doctor thought the scan was necessary.
White House says Trump got MRI for ‘preventive’ cardiovascular check-up
The 79-year-old president also underwent imaging for abdominal health, and he “remains in excellent overall health,” Trump’s physician said.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 1, 2025 at 8:45 PM
VOTE!!!!!
December 1, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Attacking the fourth estate is classic authoritarianism.
The White House launched a page on its website, titled the “Hall of Shame,” devoted to naming and shaming media outlets and reporters that publish stories President Trump disagrees with.

“Misleading. Biased. Exposed,” the site reads.
Trump ramps up reporter attacks with White House media bias tracker
A new White House webpage presents a “Hall of Shame” for news reports that the president disagrees with, coming after Trump voiced personal attacks on female reporters at ABC, CBS, the New York Times ...
www.washingtonpost.com
November 29, 2025 at 4:09 PM
And then there's this terrible syndrome that ER doctors are treating. my.clevelandclinic.org/health/disea...
November 29, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Reposted by Donna
Breaking News: The suspect in the shooting of two National Guard members had worked with CIA-backed units during the war in Afghanistan, officials said. Follow live.
National Guard Shooting Live Updates: Suspect Worked With CIA-Backed Units in Afghanistan, Officials Say
The C.I.A. said that the suspect, whom officials identified as a 29-year-old Afghan, came to the United States in 2021 after the American military withdrawal. Two National Guard members were in critical condition after the shooting on Wednesday.
nyti.ms
November 27, 2025 at 1:15 PM
November 27, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Happy Thanksgiving!
November 27, 2025 at 1:25 AM
Reposted by Donna
These two things are true:
1) Shooting National Guard members is horrific and criminal.
2) So is putting National Guard members in harm’s way to score political points.
November 26, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Unbelievable!
The State Department has warned employees not to use government funds to mark Dec. 1 as World AIDS Day and to “refrain from publicly promoting World AIDS Day through any communication channels.” nyti.ms/3KhPDrA
Trump Administration Will No Longer Commemorate World AIDS Day
The State Department warned employees not to use government funds for the occasion and to “refrain from publicly promoting World AIDS Day through any communication channels.”
nyti.ms
November 26, 2025 at 11:27 PM
Reposted by Donna
Bruna Caroline Ferreira, a Brazil native and the mother of Leavitt's nephew, was arrested near Boston on November 12, her attorney, Todd Pomerleau, told CNN. https://cnn.it/49FElI3
November 26, 2025 at 10:01 AM
Reposted by Donna
NEW: A major fire tears through multiple high-rise towers at a housing estate in Hong Kong, killing at least four people, officials say.
Fire engulfs high-rise housing estate, killing at least 4 in Hong Kong
Three others were injured, two of them critically, in the fire at Wang Fuk Court in the northern district of Tai Po, the Fire Services Department said.
nbcnews.to
November 26, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Reposted by Donna
NEW: A Harvard study found that the children of women who contracted COVID-19 while pregnant may be at an increased risk for autism and other neurodevelopmental diagnoses, raising new concerns about the CDC’s decision to stop recommending the vaccine to pregnant women.
Amid Confusing CDC Guidance About Vaccines, Study Highlights New Risk of COVID-19 During Pregnancy
A Harvard study found that the children of women who contracted COVID-19 while pregnant may be at an increased risk for autism and other diagnoses, raising new concerns about the CDC’s decision to stop recommending the vaccine to pregnant women.
www.propublica.org
November 26, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Reposted by Donna
317,000 feds have left the government this year, surpassing OPM’s goal
317,000 feds have left the government this year, surpassing OPM’s goal
Approximately 317,000 federal employees left the government this year, while 68,000 joined, according to a Friday blog post from Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor.  The amount of separations is beyond Kupor’s previously shared workforce reduction targets. In August, Kupor told WTOP News that he expected the government to shed 300,000 employees by the end of 2025 — down to a total of 2.1 million employees. Kupor’s post didn’t include specific targets for reduction or hiring in 2026. Along with sharing the workforce levels, Kupor’s blog post provided further implementation details of President Donald Trump’s executive order from Oct. 15, which outlined new federal hiring expectations.  The goals he outlined  reflect the current Trump administration’s emphasis on “maximum efficiency” and adherence to administration priorities within the federal workforce. “We want to make sure the government has the right talent focused on the key priorities of the administration and that we are eliminating wasteful taxpayer expenses in areas that are inefficient, no longer required, or in direct contradiction of administration priorities,” Kupor wrote.  Trump’s executive order last month instructed agencies to create an annual staffing plan for fiscal year 2026 and submit it to OPM and the Office of Management and Budget by Dec. 14.  “In addition to all the things we care about in terms of where are [agencies] investing their resources, there are administration priorities that we’ve asked them to focus on and make sure that they talk to us about, one of which certainly is the merit hiring plan and how they’ll incorporate that in their hiring,” Kupor said Friday in an interview with Federal News Network.  The headcount plans align with the Trump administration’s target that for each person hired into the federal government, four people leave, Kupor wrote. He said the government exceeded that ratio this year with the amounts of new hires and departures.  An OPM spokesperson declined to comment on whether the Trump administration would seek to further reduce headcount in 2026 after already surpassing its goal of 300,000 departures. Kupor emphasized that OPM will not prescribe headcounts to agencies under the new hiring guidelines. He said the headcount plans will instead give OPM a “pan-government view” of hiring needs, allowing OPM to centralize recruitment efforts and shared certification plans.  In a memo to agencies on Nov. 5, Kupor and OMB Director Russell Vought said the staffing plans should also cover agencies’ current workforce and staffing needs, gaps in skills areas and strategies for recruitment, as well as consider opportunities for reorganization or reductions.  Kupor also acknowledged the lack of early-career employees hired into the federal government. “We do have a challenging demographic problem in government where we’re not replenishing the pipeline of new hires of people starting their career at the same rate as we have people who will be retiring over the next five to 10 years,” Kupor told Federal News Network. The federal government has faced an imbalance of early-career employees for several years, and prioritized early-career recruitment and development programs to address it. But earlier this year, the Trump administration cut several of those programs, like the Presidential Management Fellows program and U.S. Digital Corps, and fired tens of thousands of probationary employees, many of whom were young staff members. After submitting initial hiring plans, agencies must submit updates to OPM and OMB on the progress of their plans each quarter, beginning with the second quarter of fiscal 2026. Agencies can also coordinate with OPM and OMB to update their staffing plans. Kupor called on agencies in his post to change “default” patterns in hiring plans by basing them off of historical levels or budget allowances.  In creating the annual headcount plans without these “default” behaviors, Kupor wrote that agency leaders should ask themselves, “[W]hat are the functions my agency performs that are in line with presidential priorities or statutory obligations, how many people do I need to provide that service level, and how does that staffing level compare to our current headcount?” Kupor and Vought directed agency heads to promptly notify OPM of approved new hires.  Other key elements of the new hiring expectations include the creation of strategic hiring committees, adaptation of the merit hiring plan, and reduction of reliance on contractors. Trump’s executive order directed agencies to form strategic hiring committees — made up of senior agency leadership — by Nov. 17.  The committees must approve the creation and filling of vacancies within agencies, and overall ensure that agency hiring aligns with the merit hiring plan, agencies’ annual headcount plans, and “national interest, agency needs, and administration priorities.”  Kupor wrote that the hiring committees must ask the “right” questions of candidates to “[make] sure that highly skilled people are being hired into the agency and [ensure] that they are thinking about a broad set of solutions with efficiency in mind.” The ultimate focus in agency hiring, he wrote, should be on delivering to the American people at the lowest cost — not simply reducing headcount levels. The post 317,000 feds have left the government this year, surpassing OPM’s goal first appeared on Federal News Network.
federalnewsnetwork.com
November 25, 2025 at 11:47 PM
Reposted by Donna
While discussing his crime-fighting efforts in Washington, D.C., President Trump claimed that it’s been months since the city has seen a murder. But that's not true. There have been 62 homicides in Washington since May, including one last week.
FACT FOCUS: Trump gets it wrong claiming no murders in DC for the last six months
In addition to pardoning two North Carolina turkeys at the annual White House ceremony, President Donald Trump discussed his crime-fighting efforts in Washington, D.C., claiming that it’s been six months since the city has seen a murder.
bit.ly
November 26, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Reposted by Donna
The six Democrats in Congress who recorded a video informing troops that they could refuse illegal orders said they were being investigated by the FBI. The inquiry is part of a campaign by the Trump administration to seek retribution against the president’s perceived political enemies.
Democrats Say F.B.I. Is Investigating Them Over Illegal Orders Video
The move came one day after the Pentagon said it was investigating Senator Mark Kelly for his participation in the video.
nyti.ms
November 25, 2025 at 9:10 PM
Reposted by Donna
#embroidery
Needlework isn’t a grandma hobby, it’s a balm for the soul and a creative outlet! Support your local crafters and craft stores this holiday season!
Hobbies offer numerous benefits, but crafting comes with special ones. “Detailed hobbies create small zones of predictability, which regulate the nervous system and restore a felt sense of agency.”
Needlework comes with physiological benefits.
www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/20...
Column | Cross-stitch comes with extraordinary benefits and a history of protest
Needlework can soothe the brain, heal the psyche and keep you from texting your ex.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 19, 2025 at 5:44 PM