More, Faster, Donald!

The Trump administration can for now continue its mass firings of federal employees, a federal judge ruled on Thursday, rejecting a bid by a group of labor unions to halt Donald Trump’s dramatic downsizing of the roughly 2.3 million-strong federal workforce. The ruling by the US district judge Christopher Cooper in Washington DC federal court is temporary while the litigation plays out.

But it is a win for the Trump administration as it seeks to purge the federal workforce and slash what it deems wasteful and fraudulent government spending.

Oh, how we so desperately need a UK version of DOGE...

In a statement released last Wednesday, NTEU president Doreen Greenwald said: “We will not stand idly by while this administration takes illegal actions that will harm citizens, federal employees and the economy.”

She went on to add: “All of these orders are further evidence that this administration is motivated not by efficiency, but by cruelty and a total disregard for the government services that will be lost.”

If they can be 'lost' so easily, they weren't worth having in the first place. That's rather the point. 

No Doubt This Will Be Used As 'One Of The Perils Of WFH'..?

A crooked tax officer who embezzled thousands of pounds from HMRC to pay off her mortgage has been jailed for two years. Joanne Connell took advantage of her position in the bankruptcy team to swipe £193,000 between April and September 2022.

How was someone like this ever in a position where she could manage this? 

Connell had worked for HMRC for approximately 15 years in various roles. At the time of the offence, she was an administrative officer in the bankruptcy team. The court heard that Connell created fraudulent credits while working from home using her HMRC laptop.

And it'll be seized on as a reason to stop all WFH, despite the fact that she could have done the same from behind a desk in the office, if their security is that lax that a low grade such as this can bypass any checks on her work, both managerial and system-based.  

Connell was off work with ill health in June 2022 after having been admitted to hospital. She subsequently indicated to her managers that she had difficulty understanding and following instructions.

Isn't that a requirement in her job description? 

However, an HMRC investigation revealed Connell continued to embezzle money throughout her sick leave. She will now be subject to confiscation action under Proceeds of Crime legislation to recover monies illegally obtained.

I'm only surprised they didn't commend her on her work ethic! 

Not 'Misguided' - Call Them What They Were: 'Incompetent'....

...and sack them. We'll all be safer without them.

Security minister Dan Jarvis said ‘there was sufficient risk for the perpetrator to have been managed through Prevent’, adding: ‘There are serious questions about how various agencies failed to identify and collectively act on the warning signs.’ Southport MP Patrick Hurley said: ‘Some of the details in this report, in this review, beggar belief.’ Yesterday the damning insight of the case revealed how Rudakubana, now 18, had admitted carrying a knife at school more than ten times, talked about ‘getting teachers murdered’ and wanted to knife a boy he had attacked with a hockey stick to ‘finish him off’.

Which should, in a sane world, suffice to finish off the careers of the idiots in Prevent who handled his case. But won't, of course. They won't even be named.  

Yet in a rush to close his case ‘prematurely’, experts may have failed to consider all the evidence because his name was misspelt in files, the report said. Prevent also did not complete lines of inquiries and concerns that he posed a risk to staff and students were brushed off as a ‘knee-jerk reaction’.

Misguided officers placed ‘too much focus’... ‘on the absence of a distinct ideology’, and missed signs of his escalating risk, the report concluded.

In short, they were incompetent at the very basics of their job. As is so often the case with those tasked with protecting us. Perhaps understandably so, as those who do a good job and do it well are often punished for it years later.  

Yesterday Mr Jarvis announced that Rudakubana will be considered as a ‘registered terrorist offender’ after he was jailed last month for 52 years for the murders and for producing the poison ricin using a terrorist manual.

Finally, common sense breaks out! 

Head of Counter-Terrorism Policing Matt Jukes said the Prevent system was ‘not equipped’ at the time to deal with ‘emerging risks that were very different to those it had been built to address’.

Or with good spelling and grammar, which would seem to be a good place to start. Who knows how many other threats are lurking in the database with different spellings preventing them from being collated? 

Another Case Of 'Working As Intended'..?

Terror suspects like Shamima Begum could be treated like victims if they exploit modern slavery laws, the terrorism watchdog warned last night.

Would anyone be surprised at this? 

It sparked calls for an inquiry into claims the Met and the government knew the alleged people smuggler was responsible for helping Begum and her two fellow schoolgirls join ISIS while also working as a double agent.

Would anyone be surp ... oh, I'm just repeating myself now! 

He's not right on everything, mind you:

Mr Hall voiced particular concerns with the idea that a child recruited to a terrorist organisation was automatically a victim, 'if they did so entirely of their own free will'.

'It is at odds with the fact that children are not generally seen as victims when they commit other crimes, just because someone suggests they should do so,' he added.

Well, I guess he's spent so long on terrorism that he's failed to see the direction the wider justice system has been heading in. 

They Did Their Jobs For Once...

...and naturally, they are being penalised for it by one of those long marchers through our institutions:

The court heard Mr Dawood was working illegally at the car wash after being refused asylum when he arrived in Britain from Sudan.

He had fled Sudan because he belonged to a tribe being persecuted by the authorities, the inquest was told.

And presumably persecuted in all the other countries in Africa too, or why flee here..? 

Mr Dawood fled after immigration officers carried out an enforcement visit at the car wash at around 10.08am. He was pursued by officers to a neighbouring warehouse, where he then climbed on shelving and ran through a metal door before climbing onto its roof.

The inquest into his death was told officers did not pursue when Mr Dawood started to climb, but remained close and did not withdraw.

Well, yes. What else were they supposed to do? 

Ms Saunders' report, published on Wednesday, said immigration officers should have 'practical training in pursuit situations' following his death.

Sounds a lot more like she wants them to be trained to immediately give up, doesn't it? 

Mr Dawood's mother Hameda Hamed Shogar Ahmed, who travelled to the UK for her son's inquest from the Sudanese city of Al Fashir, told the court her son had wanted to earn money to send back to Sudan to support his family.

Strange sort of 'persecution' when the mother - presumably from the same tribe - is allowed to travel... 

'[My son] felt a strong passion for human rights and felt that everyone should be protected and free to live their lives free from persecution and fear.'

Pity he didn't feel that everyone should obey the laws of the country they are (illegally) living in, or he wouldn't be dead...