by Owen | 1830, 17 Feb 25 | Economy, Politics | 2 Comments
See, federal workers? It happens. It sucks, but it happens. It is not an existential crisis. I’m sure that many of those 15% being cut are also good people who did their jobs well. At. Will. Employment.
Southwest Airlines plans to cut 15 percent of its corporate workforce in a bid to cut costs.
The layoffs – a first in the airline’s 53-year history – will slash around about 1,750 jobs.
by Owen | 0821, 17 Feb 25 | Politics | 11 Comments
LOL. Biden was blaming Trump for stuff up until the final days of Biden’s presidency. Yes, it is perfectly appropriate and correct for a president to point out his predecessor’s failures only a month in.
Joe Biden left the White House nearly a month ago, but he’s never far from Donald Trump’s mind.
The former president has been a recurring punchline – and punching bag – in nearly every appearance Trump has made since returning to power. With Republicans in full control of Washington, Trump is forever in search of a foil and Biden tops the list.
“Much of this stuff is because of Biden,” Trump said last week in the Oval Office, referring to federal employees being allowed to telework. “It’s his fault.”
For Trump, the buck stops with Biden – not with him. It’s a new wrinkle to the sign that sat on Harry Truman’s desk, “The Buck Stops Here,” a phrase has been a guiding principle of most presidents ever since.
by Owen | 0802, 17 Feb 25 | Education, Politics | 0 Comments
This is the third time in ten months that the Mauston School District is asking the voters to pass an operational referendum. I posted below what I wrote about this after the referendum failed in November. It has a lot of details and stats. This referendum is exactly the same as the one that failed in November. What’s different? They are trying it on one of the historically lowest turnout elections of the year – the February non-partisan primary ballot.
For all of the reasons stated below, the voters should reject this referendum. The Mauston School Board and administration, which has so badly managed finances to date, is threatening to fold the district and merge into neighboring districts if the referendum fails. So? It seems that merging small districts across the state is a good path to financial viability. Bigger districts with less administration and better economies of scale are a good thing – not a bad thing.
It is also worth noting that nothing in the referendum rhetoric talks about making kids learn better. There is nothing in there about better educational outcomes or better opportunities for kids. It’s all about propping up an expensive and failing bureaucracy.
On a state level, this referendum attempt is another example of how we need statewide referendum reform. It is infuriating that this school district is allowed to ask again for an operational referendum within a year of the voters rejecting two other requests. The district asked for more money. The voters said “no.” The district asked again. The voters said “no” again. Here the district is again, asking again, less than three months after the last “no.” At what point do school officials listen to the voters and manage within the means that the voters approved? At what point does “no” mean “no?”
As our current referendum laws are set up, a school district can put the same rubbish on the ballot election after election. They only have to get approval once. In the example of Mauston, they are clearly targeting a low-turnout election in an effort to sneak one past when the voters are occupied with other things. If this referendum passes, does it indicate that the citizens actually approve when they rejected it in a high-turnout presidential election held three months ago? Of course not. The school district is shopping elections instead of trying to listen to the true intent of the voters.
State lawmakers must reform the referendum process to prevent predatory school boards. No, it can’t happen with Governor Tony Evers at the helm. Education is gotten worse and worse under his leadership, and he is not going to do anything to stop the slide. But referendum reform needs to be on the agenda of Wisconsin’s next Republican governor.
Here is my post about this from after the failed attempt in November.
This is going to be a long post, so buckle up. It is just one example of how Wisconsin government school districts cry poor and threaten kids’ education even when they are swimming in cash and how the data shows exactly where the money is going. Let’s go…
The Mauston School District is threatening to dissolve after an operational referendum was rejected by the voters this month. But wait, there’s more… the failed referendum in November was after they had another failed referendum just seven months ago in April. But wait, there’s more… despite the voters telling the school board to live within their means twice within a year, the school board is considering putting ANOTHER operational referendum on the ballot in February. But this time, they are threatening to dissolve the school district if they don’t get more cash. They just can’t possibly see a way forward without getting more money. They are blaming the usual suspects: declining aid with declining student population, rising expenses, and that dastardly equalization aid formula. You can read their agony in this story by WPR, but that’s the gist.
What’s really going on?
All of the data used in this post is found in various reports publicly available from the state DPI. I prefer longitudinal data and the data set takes us to the 2022-2023 school year. I’ll refer to school years going forward by the year when the school year ended. All good? Let’s dig into the Mauston School District and their alleged woes.
ENROLLMENT:
For the past 10 years, enrollment in the district has been relatively flat with an average enrollment of 1,448 students. In 2013, they had an enrollment of 1,462. In 2023, they had an enrollment of 1,410. Over a 10 year period, that’s an enrollment decline of 3.6% over a decade. This is actually better than most school districts that are facing steeper enrollment declines due to the overall demographic trends in the state.
So let’s lick apart the superintendent’s statement from the WPR story:
“It’s so enrollment driven, which is a challenge in rural areas,” Heesch said. “You’re seeing declining enrollments, your revenues are either flat or decreasing based on those enrollments, while your expenditures, especially through an inflationary period, have increased dramatically.”
Enrollment is down. A bit. A little bit. But a 3.6% decline over a decade is very, very manageable. It is not a precipitous collapse. So let’s look at revenue and costs.
REVENUE:
Over the same 10 year period, from 2013 to 2023, Total comparative revenue is up 28.7% from $20,795,476 to $26,757,154. In per-student terms over the same period, revenue increased 34.5% from $14,114 per student to $18,977 per student.
In inflation adjusted dollars, $18,977 in 2023 was worth about $14,814 in 2013 dollars according to the CPI calculator from the federal BLS.
So, the conclusion is that revenue on both a total and on a per-student basis has kept up with inflation and then some. District revenue has exceeded the inflation rate by about 5%. That’s not an excessive amount, but it does show that the taxpayers have provided increasingly more funding to the Mauston School District in excess of the rate of inflation.
COSTS:
Enrollment is flat to a slight decline. Revenue is increasing in excess of inflation. So why is the school districts claiming a financial crisis that may require them to dissolve without even more money?
It’s the costs. It’s always the costs. Let’s take a look:
In the report titled “Audited Annual Report Comparative Cost” for Mauston in the longitudinal reports (it downloads as an excel sheet), we can see the spending for every line item over time. The thing to look for is which line items are increasing in excess to inflation or are new expenditures. Here are some key cost drivers (note that I am going to use per-pupil numbers to normalize the spending to enrollment):
SUMMARY:
The story of the Mauston School District is similar to so many other school districts in Wisconsin. Student enrollment has been flat to declining, but their revenue has been increasing to match the rate of inflation and then some. The spending on direct student instruction – the money spent on actual teachers in the classrooms – has increased, but not as quickly as the rate of inflation. Meanwhile, spending on administration and facilities has far exceeded the rate of inflation – soaking up all of the additional revenue, and then some, and squeezing out spending on teachers.
The alleged financial struggles of the Mauston School District are entirely self-inflicted by wasteful spending on administration and facilities. Meanwhile, the students and the teachers are left wanting. The taxpayers are right to deny them more money through an operational referendum and the school board and administration are utterly incompetent and/or corrupt if they can’t manage the district’s finances any better than this.
by Owen | 1005, 15 Feb 25 | Foreign Affairs, Military, Politics | 0 Comments
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for the creation of an “army of Europe” to guard against Russia as he suggested the US may no longer come to the continent’s aid.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, he also said that Ukraine would “never accept deals made behind our backs without our involvement” after US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to start peace talks.
In a speech on Friday, in which he attacked European democracies, US Vice President JD Vance warned that Europe needed to “step up in a big way” on defence.
Zelensky said: “I really believe the time has come – the armed forces of Europe must be created.”
The U.S. taxpayers have defended Europe for the last 75 years as a hedge against another World War and to counterbalance a Superpower Russia. Well, Russia is no longer a Superpower (a nuclear power, yes, but otherwise militarily and economically mediocre) and Europe has developed a robust internal mechanism in the E.U. to ward off mass conflagration. The benefits for the U.S. taxpayer to continue to pour trillions of dollars into the defense of other countries no longer warrants the cost.
Europe should defend itself and the U.S. should reshape our relationship as that of an ally – not a benefactor.
by Owen | 0958, 15 Feb 25 | Economy, Politics | 0 Comments
Good.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Thursday intensified its sweeping efforts to shrink the size of the federal workforce, the nation’s largest employer, by ordering agencies to lay off nearly all probationary employees who had not yet gained civil service protection — potentially affecting hundreds of thousands of workers.
In addition, workers at some agencies were warned that large workplace cuts would be coming.
[…]
Everett Kelley, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees representing federal workers, said the administration “abused” the probation status of workers “to conduct a politically driven mass firing spree, targeting employees not because of performance, but because they were hired before Trump took office.”
The comment from the union hack is idiotic. Almost every federal employee was hired before Trump took office.
To the wider point, this is what shrinking government looks like. Perhaps I am a bit jaded because I work in the private sector and we see this all the time. Literally… All. The. Time. When a company needs to reduce costs for budgetary reason (the federal government runs a massive deficit), they cut people. A lot of people. Many of those people are doing their jobs well and are good, loyal, smart employees. It doesn’t matter. If a business is running well, it should have many people who can be cut for performance reasons. They are cut as a matter of running a good business. But when you need to do a wider layoff, it naturally means that good people doing good work are going to get cut too. I don’t cheer it, but I understand it.
In a macroeconomic sense, these purges are good and healthy – even though they suck for the people impacted. But these hundreds of thousands of presumably good workers are entering the private sector. It will help address the labor shortages in other industries and some of them will start new ventures, thus perpetuating the engine of economic creation. It sucks for those people getting fired. It really does. But those of us in the private sector who pay the bills have gone through this many times. They should not, and for the moment, are not, immune.
by Owen | 0946, 15 Feb 25 | Education, Politics | 0 Comments
Be careful what you wish for. This is exactly how people on both sides have pushed their agendas. They use the power of the purse to strongly encourage or discourage a policy or behavior. For most things, I don’t want my federal government using its power this way. Covid policy is handled perfectly fine at the local level. And I would rather that the Department of Education, with its minions and millions poisoning our school systems for no good, didn’t exist.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Schools, colleges and states that require students to be immunized against COVID-19 may be at risk of losing federal money under a White House order signed Friday by President Donald Trump.
The order is expected to have little national impact because COVID-19 vaccine mandates have mostly been dropped at schools and colleges across the United States, and many states have passed legislation forbidding such mandates.
The order directs the Education Department and Health and Human Services to create a plan to end vaccine mandates for COVID-19. The agencies are asked to identify any discretionary federal grants or contracts going to schools that violate the order, and remove funding “to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law.”
by Owen | 1725, 9 Feb 25 | Politics | 2 Comments
With respect, we have learned that the vast majority of the money that Americans have been spending on these programs was not reaching them. Most of it was being wasted or stolen.
Further, we’re broke. We have a $36 TRILLION debt and it’s continuing to rise. Even if these programs are worthy and good, American can’t afford to support all of them. The rest of the world has to step up. We’re tapped out and need to get our financial house in order before paying for other people’s stuff.
President Donald Trump’s freeze of U.S. foreign humanitarian aid and shuttering of the U.S. Agency for International Development is having devastating consequences globally, several humanitarian nongovernmental organization leaders told ABC News.
“The United States Government provides about 70% of all funding for HIV and AIDS globally, and so pausing any of that is a big shock to the system,” said Christine Stegling, a deputy executive director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and an assistant secretary-general of the United Nations.
[…]
“Community clinics are closed because communities are not sure what the guidance is, and they’re not sure what costs can be covered, and they’re afraid that they will be asked to repay services that they have charged to U.S. government contracts,” Stegling told ABC News.
by Owen | 1621, 9 Feb 25 | Politics | 2 Comments
If you are removing body parts in response to an election, you are not mentally stable. This woman should not be entrusted with making laws for others.
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan state lawmaker told a crowd protesting President Trump’s early actions this week that she underwent elective surgery to remove her reproductive organs.
State Rep. Laurie Pohutsky’s account was cheered by the left-leaning protestors and condemned by right-wing social media accounts.
The 36-year-old Democrat said the surgery was a personal decision she had been considering for a few years and was finalized by Trump’s election. She wanted to validate the fears other women might have about access to contraception by sharing it.
by Owen | 0940, 8 Feb 25 | Politics | 3 Comments
This is as expected as it is ridiculous. Presidents have been appointing special envoys or special project people to do things. DOGE’s power and authority comes from the President himself.
A federal judge has blocked Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) from accessing the personal financial data of millions of Americans in Treasury Department records, according to court documents.
US District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer issued a preliminary injunction on Saturday to prohibit access, ordering Musk and his team to immediately destroy any copies of records.
The move comes after 19 state attorneys general sued the Trump administration after Doge, a cost-cutting initiative led by Musk, was given access to the records.
They argued access for Musk, a “special government employee”, and Doge, which is not an official government department, violated federal law.
by Owen | 0903, 8 Feb 25 | Politics | 3 Comments
Their entitlement is insufferable.
Undergirding a fight formed in group texts and between cubicles is a conviction among nonpartisan civil servants that they provide a necessary check on Trump’s power. In interviews with The Washington Post, dozens of federal employees said their alarm was not rooted in political differences but in a desire to preserve democracy. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid professional retribution but saw talking to the press at all, which violates agency policies, as an act of defiance.
They are proving that they are the deep state that Trump says they are. In a representative government, the People elect people at the top to enact the will of the People. If the bureaucrats really want to “preserve democracy,” then they would adhere to the will of the People as reflected in the President they elected. This rebellion of the bureaucrats is a blow against democracy. Nobody elected them.
by Owen | 1742, 2 Feb 25 | Politics | 43 Comments
DOGE for the win. It appears that USAID was just a gigantic grift machine. How many agencies does our government need to dole out our cash?
Two top security officials at the US Agency for International Development were put on administrative leave Saturday night after attempting to refuse officials from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency access systems at the agency, even after DOGE personnel threatened to call law enforcement, multiple sources familiar told CNN.
According to sources, personnel from the Musk-created office physically tried to access the USAID headquarters in Washington, DC, and were stopped. The DOGE personnel demanded to be let in and threatened to call US Marshals to be allowed access, two of the sources said.
The DOGE personnel wanted to gain access to USAID security systems and personnel files, three sources said. Two of those sources also said the DOGE personnel wanted access to classified information, which only those with security clearances and a specific need to know are able to access.
[…]
The condemnation from the tech billionaire underscores mounting reports that President Donald Trump intends to abolish USAID, an independent federal agency, and fold it into the US State Department. Other top Trump officials, such as Stephen Miller, who serves as deputy chief of staff for policy at the White House, have also taken aim at USAID, accusing its workforce of being overwhelmingly Democrats.
On Saturday, USAID’s website went dark and a new page for the agency appeared on the State Department website. USAID’s X account also went offline Saturday.
Shortly after being sworn in last month, Trump issued a sweeping executive order pausing all foreign aid for 90 days, leading to widespread confusion, layoffs and program shutdowns.
USAID Director of Security John Voorhees and his deputy are among dozens of USAID officials who have been put on leave amid fears that the agency is being intentionally dismantled — a move that some aid officials argue would have massive negative implications.
by Owen | 1733, 2 Feb 25 | Economy, Foreign Affairs, Politics | 4 Comments
I wholeheartedly oppose tariffs. There is an academic and historic argument to be made in favor of tariffs, but experience in a global economy teaches us that they do more harm than good. That being said, Trump promised tariffs when he was running and he was elected. He’s keeping his promise about something he believes in. I just think he’s wrong and voted for him for other reasons. I hope that the consequences are tolerable.
Canadian Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc on Sunday unveiled the full list of items covered by tariffs on $30 billion worth of US goods, the first phase of Canada’s response to US tariffs.
The items include American produce, alcohol, apparel, household appliances, tools, firearms and more.
Canada’s tariffs come in retaliation after US President Donald Trump on Saturday announced sweeping levies on Canada, Mexico and China.
by Owen | 1905, 30 Jan 25 | Education, Politics | 0 Comments
The order involves multiple agencies in the effort to provide taxpayer funds to parents to pay for private schools.
Among its directives, the Department of Education – which Trump has vowed to shut down – is ordered to issue guidance on using federal funding to support scholarship programs for grade school students. The Department of Defense is ordered to submit a plan to Trump directly on how military families can use DOD funds to send children to their preferred school. The secretary of interior is ordered to submit a plan to Trump on how families with students attending Bureau of Indian Education schools can use federal money to attend the school of their choice. And the Health and Human Services Department must issue guidance on how states can use HHS funds to attend private or faith-based schools.
by Owen | 0640, 29 Jan 25 | Economy, Politics | 0 Comments
This is brilliant… sort of. This is a technique that private companies have used for some time. When a company knows that it will need to downsize, offering a generous buyout for employees is a good way to ease the decision for the employer and the employee. The next step, of course, is letting people go to get the organization down to the right size. I don’t think, however, that this sort of widescale technique has been used in government. And frankly, with all of the employment turmoil our economy has seen through the pandemic – much of that turmoil caused by government employees who sat securely in their jobs – my “give a darn” about their complaints is pretty much gone.
President Donald Trump’s administration is offering federal workers the chance to take a “deferred resignation,” which would mean they agree now to resign but get paid through September.
A senior administration official told NBC News that they expect 5%-10% of the federal workforce to quit, which, they estimate, could lead to around $100 billion in savings.
All full-time federal employees are eligible, except for members of the military, employees of the U.S. Postal Service, positions related to immigration enforcement and national security and other jobs excluded by agencies.
[…]
The offer went out to the federal workforce through a new system the Trump administration set up that gives officials the ability to email all federal employees at once.
The email included a draft resignation letter for them to review. If a person wishes to resign, they will be able to reply with the word “resign.”
The resignation period will begin Tuesday and go through Feb. 6.
“If you choose to remain in your current position, we thank you for your renewed focus on serving the American people to the best of your abilities and look forward to working together as part of an improved federal workforce,” the email that will be sent to federal workers reads. “At this time, we cannot give you full assurance regarding the certainty of your position or agency but should your position be eliminated you will be treated with dignity and will be afforded the protections in place for such positions.”
by Owen | 0712, 28 Jan 25 | Politics | 0 Comments
A pause is great. Hopefully this is the first step to ending many of these. There are entire organizations created for the purpose of receiving federal grants that do almost nothing. End the gravy train and let those people find something more productive to do.
President Donald Trump has temporarily paused all federal grant, loan and other financial assistance programs, a leaked memo has revealed.
The White House budget office has ordered federal agencies to ‘temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance’.
The temporary pause will not affect Social Security or Medicare benefits, the memo specifies. It also does not include ‘assistance provided directly to individuals’.
The suspension goes into effect today at 5pm EST, according to the memo. Agencies have until February 10 to submit detailed information on any programs, projects or activities subject to the pause.
The suspension will provide the administration with time to review agency programs and determine the best uses of funding for those programs consistent with the law and Trump’s priorities.
by Owen | 2116, 27 Jan 25 | Crime, Law, Politics | 0 Comments
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California woman was sentenced Monday to more than 3 years in prison in a long-running case over a business that helped pregnant Chinese women travel to the United States to deliver babies who automatically became American citizens.
U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner gave Phoebe Dong a 41-month sentence and ordered her immediately taken into custody from his federal court in Los Angeles. Dong and her husband were convicted in September of conspiracy and money laundering through their company, USA Happy Baby.
The sentencing came as birthright citizenship has been thrust into the spotlight in the United States with the return of President Donald Trump to the White House. Since taking office, Trump issued an executive order to narrow the definition of birthright citizenship, a move quickly blocked by a federal judge who called it “blatantly unconstitutional.”
Dong and her husband, Michael Liu, were among more than a dozen people charged in an Obama-era crackdown on so-called “birth tourism” schemes that helped Chinese women hide their pregnancies while traveling to the United States to give birth. Such businesses have long operated in various states catering to people from China, Russia, Nigeria and elsewhere.
[…]
Federal prosecutors sought a more than five year sentence for Dong and argued that she and Liu helped more than 100 pregnant Chinese women travel to the United States. They said the pair worked with others to coach women on how to trick customs officials by flying into airports believed to be more lax while wearing loose-fitting clothing to hide their pregnancies.
by Owen | 1912, 27 Jan 25 | Foreign Affairs, Politics | 0 Comments
Just a reminder that the Arab nations don’t want the refugees in their countries either.
Earlier on Sunday, US President Donald Trump said he wanted Egypt and Jordan to take in Palestinians from Gaza, which he described as a “demolition site”.
Both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority condemned the idea, while Jordan and Egypt have also rejected the proposal.
by Owen | 1839, 26 Jan 25 | Politics | 1 Comment
As Trump orders all federal workers back to the office, we should think about what federal work should look like in the years to come.
Let us recognize that federal workers have completely abused work from home (WFH) policies. When the pandemic hit, they all went home and never came back – even long after all private sector workers had returned to work. The result is a largely absent federal workforce and empty buildings. By ordering them all back into the office, Trump is returning the office status quo to March of 2020.
From there, we need to have a common sense WFH standard for federal employees. I do have an informed perspective here. I was a hybrid worker from about 2004 to 2013 and have been full WFH since. It’s not for everybody. You have to have self-discipline, a quality workspace, and a family that understands that when you’re at work… you’re at work. Also, not all jobs lend themselves to WFH. Many obviously require someone to be at an office or job site. And for some companies and departments, they just work better if the people doing the work are in the same physical space. It works for me and my job, but I’ve seen people in the same line of work do poorly working from home. And I’ve seen people who are exceptionally effective working from home and get distracted in an office environment. It takes the right job and the right person.
That being said, as I said, we need a common sense WFH standard for federal employees. First, we need to identify the jobs that can be done by people working from home or in an office. These are generally jobs in which output can be readily measured and physical proximity is not needed. Clerical jobs, research, data processing, IT, administration, some management, call center, etc. all lend themselves to WFH. Healthcare, military, public-facing, secure, and other jobs, do not work for WFH.
Once we have defined the jobs that are workable for WFH, we have to define the parameters by which those jobs will be done. How will equipment be handled? How will data be secured? Appropriate workplace standards? Employee measurement criteria? Video and monitoring protocols? Etc. The private sector has been thoughtfully working through all of this for 20 years and has a lot of it figured out.
Then we have to allow some latitude for individual departments and teams to decide if they want WFH or not. There has to be some discretion if a particular department (State, for example) wants everyone in the office to foster the culture they want. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer here.
Finally, for those departments and jobs that we think are OK for people to do from home and we have established the appropriate measurements and protocols, not every employee is going to cut it. Some of them lack the self-discipline or home environment to be successful working from home. If the job is ONLY available WFH because we close the office, then they must be replaced.
There are some benefits for WFH for our country. It will allow us to divest from a fair amount of real estate. More importantly, it will allow people all over the country to work for the federal government – not just those who live near a federal office. This opens up the labor pool and diversifies the imprint and impact of a giant glob of federal employees clustered around federal offices.
We can have a thoughtful policy for WFH that works for employees and taxpayers. My own impression is that most federal jobs still need to happen in an office, but I also think that most federal jobs (outside of the military) are not necessary.
by Owen | 0742, 24 Jan 25 | Politics | 1 Comment
Previous presidents whose own party controlled the Senate got their confirmations done in days. We’re at the end of the first week and just getting to the second cabinet confirmation? Come on, Republicans. Get it together. Confirm the cabinet and let’s get to work.
Pete Hegseth, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Pentagon, cleared a key procedural hurdle in the Senate on Thursday to advance his nomination.
The vote on ending debate came down to the wire, though Hegseth ultimately secured 51 Republican votes to move forward.
A final confirmation vote on Hegseth could now occur as soon as Friday or early Saturday.
by Owen | 0733, 24 Jan 25 | Crime, Culture, Politics | 1 Comment
Enough time has passed that whatever is in there is part of our history that we deserve to know. I suspect, however, that even after they are released, we will still have more questions than answers. Not every fact is always written down. And not everything written down is a fact. But to have a complete historical record to evaluate when trying to get to the truth is vital.
For the record, I think that Oswald killed JFK just like we’ve been told for years. But I also think that his hostile communist radicalism was nurtured by the Soviet Union and ignored (intentionally?) by the CIA for years.
US President Donald Trump has ordered officials to make plans to declassify documents related to three of the most consequential assassinations in US history – the killings of John F Kennedy, Robert F Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr.
“A lot of people are waiting for this for long, for years, for decades,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday. “And everything will be revealed.”
The order directs top administration officials to present a plan to declassify the documents within 15 days. That does not make it certain it will happen, however.
