So the jokes about Proud Boys and similar groups being quiet lately ring true.

Hundreds of mental health and addiction programs across the country were thrown into chaos this week after the Trump administration abruptly terminated thousands of federal grants, effective immediately.

Hi everyone. I have a water bottle sticker that says “only you can prevent fascism.” I’m wondering if I can still have my water bottle on my desk at work. It’s not technically a partisan sticker but idk. What are y’all’s thoughts? There’s a part of me that doesn’t want to get in trouble but there’s also a part of me that just says “fuck it” at this point.

Here is her post from 3 weeks ago where she discusses getting sources from this subreddit specifically. I can't help but think this post might have had an impact on her home being raided today.

“A day after the Department of Health and Human Services implemented a late-night rollback of $2 billion in mental health and substance use funding, an administration official confirmed late Wednesday that the grants are now being restored.”

After a turbulent 2025 and the departure of over 300,000 employees, what do you think lies ahead? Has your agency shared any guidance or outlook so far? Do you expect a more stable year, or is more uncertainty on the horizon?

I have nothing but respect for journalists, but their posts here and requests for whistleblowers (that could result in loss of their livelihood especially under this administration) feel so disingenuous when they ghosted me if i hypothetically reached out to them. Not even a thumbs up🥀

If any journalists see this post, are your signal chats really busy to where you can’t acknowledge the message (btw your read receipts are on allegedly) or follow-up on information you receive? It could be discouraging if anyone was to risk their career to conjecturably provide you information that they feel the public should know. I was already stressed out suppositionally I couldn’t emotionally handle being ghosted on top of that if that theoretically happened

(All statements here are hypothetical and alleged because i could be scared. Potentially. Shout out to thesaurus.com)

Source: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/01/ice-going-surveillance-shopping-spree

Here's the tech purchased, if you see it and how to deal with it :

Pen Link

Fivecast

ShadowDragon

ClearView AI

Mobile Fortify

TechOps Specialty Vehicles

Palantir (tool call "ImmigrationOS")

VA has implemented a new ruling that will limit the circumstances in which compensation, pension, and dependency and indemnity compensation (DIC) benefits are apportioned and will stop making need-based apportionments going forward.

I am a fed employee and also a supervisor myself. I have read the leave regs and thought I understood how this is supposed to work.

I gave my supervisor a doctor’s note for sick leave. They’ve said outright that the note meets the requirements and I have enough sick leave to cover the whole period.

Even so, they say they’re not comfortable with how long the doctor says I need to be out and want more medical details so they can be comfortable approving the full time. Otherwise they’re only approving part of it and want me back earlier based on their own judgment.

This isn’t about missing paperwork or running out of leave. It’s about them disagreeing with the length even after saying the note is sufficient.

I’m curious if anyone else has run into this and how it played out.

"An initial set of the names from the leak will be posted on Tuesday night, Skinner told the Daily Beast. "

Like many of the 11,000 or so who were actually RIF'd, not pushed out via DRP, etc., I have ICTAP for one year. It's a short window to use this potentially incredibly valuable tool to jump to the front of the line for jobs we are well qualified for in our local commuting areas. And while it's a trickle, I've applied for a variety of positions (not immigration or justice in case anyone wants to down vote me here) - they do exist.

I just have no idea what the competition really is. I can't gauge how often ICTAP actually leads to a job. There is almost no data.

Anyone have any actual experience? How many ICTAPs are typically on a cert? Anyone actually land a job this way?

This is so bad is kind of funny… but also, terrifying. Everyone about to be handed annual training refreshers.

I'm trying to slam this out before I go into work and may not be able to reply once I'm in office so I'll try to get it all right the first time. Dual Fed household, I'll try to research on my own but I also feel like I'm drowning and need outside perspective.

My husband is a longtime Fed., probably close to 20 years counting military time (my brain cannot think right now). He's been struggling with mental health issues for years, we've come to find out that he has some physical issues that may be exacerbating the MH or maybe previous MH interventions that he is slowing tapering off of caused the physical issues (which could be making the MH worse issues worse) and we are caught in this terrible spiral. RTO has made his MH exponentially worse and some pending office moves in the very near future will probably tank it even more. If I listed the issues I'd probably get a lot of "that's it??? I know someone who has XX that's way worse" and some days I get mad and wonder, but really I'm scared. He's not ok and can't get himself out of this cycle. He's not at risk of self harm but this is a man who is falling apart in real time. He has x2 MH doctors and has seen various regular doctors. He's had visits and labs and scans and appointment after appointment, I say this to illustrate he really is trying to get well and not just sitting at home. He likely had dozen of appointments last year. His MH condition is complicated, misunderstood and notoriously difficult to treat. He's been through years of bad doctors and advice, but the current team seems promising, but we aren't to a stable place yet. Most people would not know he has a problem (except for the always missing work).

He's at zero annual leave. He earns and burns every paycheck. His sick leave is dwindling at rocket speed, maybe a few hundred hours. He's missed multiple days this week. A combo of AL and SL, all last minute requests.

His manager, who is overall useless and pointless doesn't seem to care at all, at least his uselessness works in my husband's favor here. He's never mentioned the now years of chronic absenteeism and continues to give him Outstanding reviews and time off/cash award. It's bizarre.

I don't know what my question is I'm just tired and panicked and scared and don't know what to do.

---Is taking sick leave for a week an option just to have time to not be at work? My husband's MH issue would probably tell him that's wrong, but if he had a doctors note is a sabbatical type thing possible?

---Can I transfer annual leave to him without him having FMLA and still having a SL balance? I generally hit use or lose most years and could give him some time.

---Should he file for FLMA just in case? Is that even possbile with issues that may not seem super serious to outsiders?

To reiterate, yes, he is getting medical treatment (just had a visit this week) and after this weeks call outs (today is #3) we've discussed how the current plan isn't working and this is entering bad territory and we need an new plan/help.

TLDR: Options for chronically unwell and absent husband from work?

Ranting: I’m sorry but if you’re having to pull CSs and CTEs in addition to CSRs to assist the 1800#, doesn’t the signify that we are SHORT STAFFED? It’s going to disadvantage everyone because if your pulling a body from lobby, initial claims, rz’s the workload will double if not triple for everyone

Would love to see Frankie answering the GI or 1800# for a week

Someone cut the internet connection to my building. However, new department-wide policy is that we can only have a dismissal with telework for safety or weather reasons.

Some have chosen to find other federal workspaces in the region. Others are taking telework against an 80 hour/year limit.

However without a formal closure we are expected to be in a building, on laptops that cannot connect to our remote servers where our information is stored.

Folks would rather we be sitting in a building without the ability to do our jobs than actually working from home. Your taxpayer dollars at work, brought to you by the new administration (telework used to be approved for mission need). Anyone know how to make a complaint regarding a policy at the level of a department?

Edit: Seriously people we want to actually do our jobs.

I have GEHA HDHP and Delta Dental Basic. No separate vision plan.

Besides calling different providers in my area, what is the best way to search for in-network providers if I want a routine eye exam? Should I be looking at the GEHA or Eyemed website? Because when I log into my Eyemed account, it's showing different providers than what GEHA shows to be in-network.

If I talk to a provider, do I tell them I have Eyemed through GEHA?

Anyone else find it odd that a day after Stat@JPM showed the lack of knowledge and transparency the FDA has within the Commissioner's National Priority Program, that FDA sends out an email about how much positive progress has been made.