Well, we're fucked.

 We've made it through Day 1 of Trump Presidency Part 2: Electric Boogaloo, but to say we're unscathed would be a lie. I've been doing nothing but doomscrolling, and getting more and more upset as I do. I'm somewhere between livid, disgusted, despondent, and smug (because fuck you, motherfucker, we said this shit would happen). I don't often wish to be wrong. In this case, I do.

Because it's hard to get an unbiased look at, well, anything these days, I'm going to attempt to provide an unbiased look at the Day 1 fuckery executive orders. In no particular order:

• Restoring Names that Honor American Greatness
• Renames Mount McKinley - during the Obama administration (2015, specifically), Mount McKinley was renamed "Denali" at the request of the Koyukon people of Alaskan Athabaskans (also known as Dena). However, the national park in which this particular peak can be found is retaining the name "Denali National Park and Preserve".
  This is one of those things where it's a dick move, but it's not really going to impact all that much. The Koyukon people have been calling it Denali all along, and the park is maintaining its native name. It's a dick move because it is Native American erasure, but it ultimately won't change all that much. It seems to me like a fluff order intended to take the focus off of the more egregious orders. 
• Changes the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
  Another fluff move. Technically, it's a more appropriate name, as the gulf touches both North America and Central America. That said, it's obviously intended to mean the Gulf of the USA, but one can make an argument that it isn't, and that it's just updating the name to be more accurate. In the long run, it doesn't change much, and will likely be undone the next time someone from the left enters office.
• Designating Cartels as foreign terrorist organizations 
• This states that "International cartels constitute a national-security threat beyond that posed by traditional organized crime..." In short, it says that Cartels are terrorist organizations and should be treated as such.
  I don't have a problem with this one, and neither should you. It's not inaccurate at all to say that Cartels are a threat to the US and its citizens. Hell, that's why so many people flee Cartel-led countries; they're unsafe. This order allows us to more harshly punish Cartel members that enter the country.
• Ending illegal discriminations and restoring merit-based opportunity
  -and-
  Reforming the Federal hiring process and restoring merit to government service
  -and-
  Ending radical and wasteful government DEI programs and preferencing
• DEI stands for diversity, equity, and inclusion. The program is very similar to Affirmative Action, but paints with broader strokes, and where AA "can include preferential treatment for historically disadvantaged groups," DEI "focuses on creating a culture of belonging and equity for everyone." These three orders are extremely similar, with each one focusing on a certain aspect of the hiring and awards process. The first pertains to promotions and awards within the government, where the second specifically pertains to new hires, and the third outright ends DEI within the government. To quote the first order: "They [current Federal hiring practices] no longer focus on merit, practical skill, and dedication to our Constitution. Federal hiring should not be based on impermissible factors, such as one's commitment to illegal racial discrimination under the guise of "equity," or one's commitment to the invented concept of "gender identity" over sex. Inserting such factors into the hiring process subverts the will of the People, puts critical government functions at risk, and risks losing the best-qualified candidates."
  Hoo boy, these are humdingers. Ignoring, for the moment, this utter bullshit about gender identity being an "invented concept," (I'll get to that on a later order) these orders are extremely complicated. On one hand, yes, the best fit for the job should always be the person hired if you want your company or organization to work best. I think the biggest issue with DEI is that its purpose is misunderstood. It isn't intended to give POCs, women, people with disabilities, etc. preferential treatment, inserting them into positions for which they're not qualified. The purpose is to ensure that if two people are equally matched in skill/talent/experience, the job won't always go to the older middle class white dude. If used properly, DEI ensures that everyone who is qualified gets an equal shot at a position, rather than it just automatically going to one person based on things they cannot change, like race, disability, etc., Unfortunately, it is often misconstrued and misrepresented. The majority of people believe that this program gives "bonus points" or "go to the head of the class" tokens to people who fit into certain subsets, giving them an unfair advantage. But that's not how it's supposed to go. It's supposed to be that if Carl Jones and Ana Perez are equally qualified for the position, the hiring manager should look at their current staff, and if women and/or Hispanic people are underrepresented, offer the position to Ana first. If, however, men and/or Caucasian people are underrepresented (which is pretty damn rare), then Carl should be offered the position first. If we could trust hiring managers to hire in this fashion, losing DEI wouldn't be an issue. Unfortunately, there are a lot of "Good Ol' Boys" in high places within the Fed, and I guarantee that without DEI, we will see a LOT more middle-aged (or older), middle class white guys in government positions.
• Temporary Withdrawal of All Areas on the Outer Continental Shelf from Offshore Wind Leasing and Review of the Federal Government's Leasing and Permitting Practices for Wind Projects 
• This one is rather specific, and a lot to take in, but the general gist is that all wind energy projects that take place on land that falls into the Outer Continental Shelf are to be temporarily halted, and no new projects are to begin in that area. With respect to currently leased land, this order requires "comprehensive review of the ecological, economic, and environmental necessity of terminating or amending any existing wind energy leases, identifying any legal bases for such removal, and submit a report with recommendations to the President...".
  This one is a little confusing. I tried to do a little research into this whole situation, and there's some conflicting information. It seems that the wind farm projects that have already begun in the OCS were not terribly well evaluated before they began, nor after they were in place. There is some concern about the wind turbines causing a detriment to the local ecology (specifically birds and marine mammals), and apparently there's some "legal deficiencies underlying the Federal Government's leasing and permitting of onshore and offshore wind projects..." I couldn't really find anything that discussed the evaluations deemed insufficient. On the one hand, all of those impacts really should be reviewed. On the other hand, this feels like a way to prevent clean energy and continue to rely on older, less clean methods. Reminder: no matter what any non-scientist says, there is no such thing as "clean coal".
• Holding former government officials accountable for election interference and improper disclosure of sensitive governmental information.
• "In the closing weeks of the 2020 Presidential campaign, at least 51 former intelligence officials coordinated with the Biden campaign to issue a letter discrediting the reporting that President Joseph R. Biden's son had abandoned his laptop at a computer repair business. Signatories of the letter falsely suggested that the news story was part of a Russian disinformation campaign." This order lists 50 individuals (and indicates that there are two signatories who have since died) who should be stripped of their security clearances because they signed a letter that suggested that the Hunter Biden laptop ordeal was disinformation from Russia. This letter, which went through the CIA Prepublication Classification Review Board, was said to "weaponize[d] the gravitas of the Intelligence Community to manipulate the political process and undermine our democratic institutions."
  There's quite a bit more to this order, but it all boils down to one thing: some people claimed that Hunter Biden didn't abandon his laptop, and implied that the story may have come from a Russian disinformation campaign. Now, if someone with a security clearance willfully contributed to or allowed the dissemination of classified material to the general public, that needs to be addressed, and that person absolutely should lose their clearance. Depending on the severity of the breach, jail time may even be appropriate. I'll be honest in that I did not look any further into this. It stinks of the whole "stolen election" shtick, and I don't fuck with that. Because I didn't look into it further, I don't know if there actually was a security breach, nor do I know how likely it is that the whole laptop issue was Russian disinformation. Given the amount of interference we've seen from Russia (and China, and other countries that are less blatantly discussed), I'm not willing to write off the possibility that the story was, in fact, propaganda. But I'm also not willing to say that nobody did anything wrong. At this point, the information is out there, so it needs to be thoroughly investigated. If it turns out that there was classified information disseminated to uncleared persons, then yes, the people involved should be reprimanded in an appropriate fashion. That said, if someone just signed it expecting that it would remain with people that had the appropriate clearance, they should absolutely receive less of a reprimand than someone who knew damn well it was going to the public and signed/sent it out anyway.
  Also, I'm pretty damn sure the Cheeto in Chief openly admitted to having Elon Musk tamper with the voting in PA...
• Granting pardons and commutation of sentences for certain offenses relating to the events at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021 
• It does exactly what it says; it releases and commutes the sentences of 14 individuals who were convicted of crimes relating to the Jan 6 riots, as well as "grant a full, complete and unconditional pardon to all other individuals convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021."
  This is expected, but disheartening all the same. These are people who were involved with disrupting a joint session of the US Congress, causing $1.5M - $2.7M worth of damage to the building, the injury of 174 police officers and an unknown number of rioters, mental/emotional trauma to various members of Congress, and who the fuck knows what else. These people, who were spurred on by the Tangerine Terror's words, were convicted of the appropriate crimes (or more likely, lesser crimes than those they actually committed), and are now being released. Meanwhile, there are people in jail for non-violent offenses, like carrying too much weed. This order confirms that there is no real regard for the law in this administration, unless that law benefits the people within the administration and their friends/associates.
• Withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement...again
  -and-
  Putting America first in international environment agreements
• This order does exactly what it says on the tin. We will no longer be participating in a pact aimed at limiting long-term global warming to 2.7°F above pre-industrial levels, or 3.6°F above if the first attempt fails. This aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions from burning coal/oil/natural gas.
  So states that have almost never seen snow are getting record snowfall amounts, half of California is on FIRE with no reasonable way to put it out (because fuck you, slave labor from forcing prison inmates to fight the fires is not reasonable), and record high temperatures are being recorded left and right (yes, even in winter), but we don't need to be involved with a group of countries trying to prevent more damage from happening. Right. Sure. But seriously, this is such a fool thing to do. It doesn't create any laws or make any real demands; it's just asking countries to do what they can to avoid the heat death of the planet. It's a bunch of people standing around, saying they should work on not destroying the world, spitting into their hands, and shaking on it. Just...what? Why? Are we really this desperate to continue the use of fossil fuels? I fucking can't with this.
• Defending women from gender ideology extremism and restoring biological truth to the federal government
• This order demands that the US recognize only "two sexes, male and female. These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality." Ultimately, this order implies that there are no trans people or non-binary people, and that "biological sex" is determined at birth based on physical attributes, namely the existence of either a penis or a vagina, and removes "gender identity" from the equation entirely.
  I will freely admit that I cannot view this with impartiality. My gender on my driver's license is "X". My entire life, I've said things like, "I'm so not a girl!" and meant it. Do a quick google and you'll find a host of information saying that: there are nearly infinite gender identities; sex and gender do not always match; there are no less than 6 distinct sexes within humans; and that the brain of a trans person more matches the brain of their "chosen" gender rather than their assigned gender. (I HATE using the word "chosen" there, but I can't think of anything more appropriate at the moment.) To everyone claiming that there's only XX and XY, which means there's only male and female, you're absolutely fucking wrong. There's XX, XY, X, XXY, XYY, XXXY...and several others. Those configurations are just the start. There can be people with a faulty SRY gene that causes disparity between physical sex and gender. And because I love making y'all read the receipts, this has been studied.
  This website has some information on those studies. A snippet: "We know from advances in neuroscience the past few decades that the differences between male and female brains are not insignificant – it influences everything from color perception to taste, scent, emotional reaction, empathy levels, rationality levels, pain tolerance, vocal inflection, and a host of many other factors.  This is easy to see on an MRI – male and female brains respond differently to different stimuli.  The largest study documenting the extent of the differences between male and female brains was done by Dr. Daniel Amen, who analyzed 26,000 people and found that the male brain has heightened activity in regions “associated with visual perception, tracking objects through space, and form recognition” and are 8% to 10% larger in mass size, while the female brain shows more overall activity, as well as increased blood flow in 112 out of 128 brain regions." 
  This order flies in the face of well-documented science. It invalidates hundreds of thousands of people's identities. And it's FACTUALLY FUCKING INCORRECT. Check in on your trans and NB friends, folks. We are not ok.
• Establishing and implementing the President's "Department of Government Efficiency" 
• This order changes the name of the United States Digital Service to United States DOGE Service (USDS) with DOGE standing for Department of Government Efficiency" and establishes a temporary organization, set to terminate on 4 July 2026, with the aim of modernizing "to improve the quality and efficiency of government-wide software, network infrastructure, and information technology (IT) systems."
  I'm not mad at this one at all. Or at least I wouldn't be, if they were actually doing what they're designed to do. It's intended to be a program designed to get the Fed's tech up to snuff. Considering that a certain organization still relies heavily on a certain program that hasn't been supported since 2012, and a certain organization uses a version of Excel so out of date that it can't handle certain formulas...Yeah, this is necessary. If the needed updates are actually implemented, it will mean better security for all information, classified or otherwise, and lead to improved efficiency and better final products. However, at this point it seems to be scaring the crap out of the workforce and testing the waters to see who will "fall in line". I will address the "OPM" memos in a later post.
• America First policy directive to the Secretary of State 
• All future foreign policies will put America and its citizens first, and all existing foreign policies will be updated to do the same.
  I kind of thought we already did that, but go off I guess. I can't argue with this particular order, because like, yeah, obviously we need to do what's best for us first. We need to keep our allies in mind, but if doing something that would benefit Italy would be somehow detrimental to us, we need to weigh the benefit against the cost and determine the correct course of action. But ultimately, the course of action has to be good for us; we don't want to cut our nose off to spite our face.
• Protecting the United States from foreign terrorists and other national security and public safety threats 
• This order effectively tightens the control on visas, increases the vetting and screening of any "alien" looking to move to the US on a longer-than-a-vacation basis. It also requires the "...identification of countries throughout the world for which vetting and screening information is so deficient as to warrant a partial or full suspension of the admission of nationals from those countries...", identifying the number of people from those countries that have entered the US on or after 20 Jan 2021, and "...ensure that sufficient safeguards are in place to prevent any refugee or stateless individual from being admitted into the United States without undergoing stringent identification beyond that required of any other alien seeking admission or entry into the United States." It goes on to say that current programs need to be evaluated and updated, but in a verbose, fairly legalese sort of way.
  On the surface, this is a good order. It increases national security and helps prevent terrorist attacks, at least from external sources. But that's not how it's going to be used. This is absolutely going to be used to vilify brown people and prevent people from coming to the US to work or live. People that have great skills and would be an asset to any organization, turned away because they don't have enough information to get into the country, despite a desperate need to do so.
• Withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO)...again.
• The title says it all. We are to withdraw from an organization that researches infectious diseases and looks for ways to eradicate them.
  Remember that time the whole fucking world shut down for a couple of months because somebody licked the wrong thing and ended up causing millions of deaths worldwide? The pandemic that left an unknown number of people with increased risk of heart attack, breathing issues, immunodeficiencies, etc.? Yeah, the WHO does research on diseases like that one, AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis... An estimated 1.2 million people died from COVID in the United States alone, and that's just the reported cases. Who was the last person you know of that had polio? If you're having trouble thinking of anyone, know that it's because of the WHO that we all but eradicated polio and saved countless lives across the world. We're the only first-world country that doesn't have universal healthcare (or even affordable healthcare), and we're looking to back out of an organization that has, historically, been amazing for healthcare.
• Application of Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act to TikTok
• This allows the China-based parent company of TikTok (and other apps) to find a US buyer (to purchase one half of TikTok) before it gets officially banned.
  Another fluff order. In case anyone has forgotten, Trump was the one who got the ball rolling on banning TikTok. And now he's saying he has a soft spot for it and wants the US to own half of it, citing security concerns. Sir, there are so very many things in this country that come from China, and you're worried about an app that brought us things like the cinnamon challenge, a newfound love for sea shanties, a welcoming community for people who love smut, and provided an (actually quite substantial) income stream for people who post regularly and engage their audience. And as a reminder, when TikTok was gone for a whole 12 hours, thousands of people downloaded a Chinese app that was even less secure than TT. 
• Freeze Biden's action on Cuba 
• Last week, Biden formally notified Congress that he intended to lift the designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism. This was done as part of a deal facilitated by the Catholic Church that was intended to free prisoners in Cuba. Cuba began releasing prisoners the next day. 
  Not the worst move. Cuba has never really been a friend of the US, and it seems like every other week, there's a story about some American citizen getting wrongfully imprisoned there. But how many times do we have to say it? SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE, MOTHERFUCKERS! The Church should not be making deals with foreign countries on our behalf, and with all the shit that goes on with Cuba, we should not be lifting its designation as a sponsor of terrorism.
• Initial rescissions of harmful Executive Orders and Actions
• As is the norm, the incoming President has issued an order freezing many new or pending federal regulations, throwing a monkey wrench into the former administration's plans to issue some last-minute protections. The exact freezes are non-specific.
  I'm pretty sure this last-minute-orders-get-humped-by-new-orders thing is just a giant dick waving contest. The outgoing guy slaps down a bunch of orders, likely intended to distract the incoming guy, then the incoming guy responds by knocking those orders off the table like an angry cat. This kind of thing reportedly happens every time there's a new administration. Excuse me while I roll my eyes and go play in my own corner of the sandbox,
• Return to in-person work 
• This order is intended to "...end the work-from-home culture that became common during the COVID-19 pandemic," and effectively cancels all ability to telework.
  This is fucking stupid. Do some people need to be in the office every day? Oh yeah, absolutely, there are people who need to be there. Does everyone? Hell no. Not every role requires active, constant interaction with other employees. On top of that, at least in my organization, it was proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that the majority of employees are more efficient when working from home. They are also happier, less stressed, and more comfortable. (Pants are for squares.) Additionally, many organizations made changes to their facilities. My organization, for example, gave the office a complete overhaul, which was much needed. However, because of the use of telework, we do not have enough seats for everyone to be in the office at once. Plain and simple, there are not enough desks for people to work at if the entire organization is required to be in the office every day. So I suppose we'll just have to throw more taxpayer money at the problem to fix it?
• Federal hiring freeze
• Exactly what it sounds like. With the exception of a handful of positions involving national security and public safety, the federal government has to stop all hiring actions, regardless of where in the process they are. The intention is to come up with a plan to reduce the government size.
  You know, part of the reason the Colonies broke off from England and became the US was that the English government was too damn big. We seem to have forgotten that. However, I see it all over the place: federal employees are grossly overworked and grossly underpaid. There aren't enough people on board to get all the work done in the time frames required. A hiring freeze isn't going to make the government smaller. It will cause people to jump ship for jobs in the private sector, but that isn't going to diminish the size of the workforce needed to efficiently run the show. (It also means that anyone who was looking to move positions is hosed now.)
• Rescind Title IX order 
• Title IX protects against discrimination in the Education Department based on gender identity or sexual orientation. While it won't actually have much effect on grade schools or colleges (much of the order was overturned when Republicans challenged it in federal court), it does pave the way for more DoE actions.
• Y'know, most of the smartest people I know are some flavor of queer. I get the feeling this was a fluff order meant to make it harder for everyone to, y'know, get educated. But primarily the queers. Joke's on you, asshole, we learn shit on our own because most of us are neurospicy, too, and are drawn to getting new information to create a dopamine feed.
• Restoration of 2017 deportation criteria 
• This order ends federal grants to "sanctuary" jurisdictions (state or local governments that limit cooperation with immigration authorities), claiming that sanctuaries like this break a law that forbids interfering with federal law enforcement. It also allows for the deportation of any person found to be in the country illegally, regardless of whether they have criminal records, are national security/public safety threats (read: terrorists), and recent border hoppers.
  Here's my stance on immigration: We make legal immigration next-to-impossible. We really do. Seriously, do a quick google check for people who have been denied asylum, long term visas, etc. There's a ton of them. And most of them are for incredibly dumb reasons. It's no wonder, then, that so many people enter the country illegally, or enter legally and overstay their visa. These people typically pay more in taxes, healthcare, etc. (no SSN = no tax refund) and receive nothing. Non-citizens cannot be granted WIC, TANF, Medicaid, or any other public service intended to help the needy. They are often paid under the table, and their wages are pathetic. You wonder why you see houses jam packed with people? They're being used and abused by a system that doesn't care. Now, that's not to say that there aren't bad people among these immigrants. And those people, people who commit violent crimes in particular, should be deported rather than jailed. Jailing costs taxpayer money. Deportation does, too, but less in the long run, and if done correctly, it sends a message that we won't tolerate bad behavior. But before you go running off to narc on your neighbor, ask yourself who harvests the tomatoes you eat? Mows your lawn? Repairs your roof? Cleans your office? Statistically, immigrants are most likely to have menial or physically laborious jobs. Jobs that citizens won't take because they're too much work, or have poor conditions, or don't pay enough to survive on. "Our" jobs are not being stolen, but these people are being exploited for their desperation.

Ok, so this wasn't the most unbiased description of these orders. I really, really tried. But some of the things the Tangerine Tyrant is trying to do? Ugh. Beyond disgusting. And this is just from Day 1! I dread finding out what the next 1459 days will be like.

I'm going to do my best to make a post like this every time something like this goes down. Partially because we need to know what's going on, partially because it actually helps me not feel like I've totally lost it. It forces me to actually look into what's happening, and doing the research helps me understand what the potential ramifications are.