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Under threat of RIFs and a government shutdown, some federal employees ‘not buying it’

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On the eve of the deadline for a government shutdown, a crowd of current and former federal employees convened outside the Supreme Court in downtown Washington, D.C., to make their voices heard.

The Monday evening press conference, led by a grassroots group of federal employees who call themselves the Civil Servants Coalition, urged Senate Democrats to vote down the GOP’s stopgap funding measure — unless it includes stipulations to mitigate some impacts of the Trump administration this year.

Several current federal employees, speaking in their personal capacity, described the “terrible toll” the Trump administration has imposed on the federal workforce over the last several months.

“We have all had our lives turned upside down by this administration,” Charlotte Slaiman, an anti-trust lawyer at the Federal Trade Commission, told the crowd. “When I saw the [Office of Management and Budget] memo threatening to fire more federal workers if Congress didn’t agree to their budget, I was scared … [But] we realized Donald Trump and Russell Vought want us to be scared.”

“This is just a political stunt, and we’re not buying it,” Slaiman added, also telling Democrats, “Do not give up for us. Fight for us.”

Alexis Goldstein, a member of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s chapter of the National Treasury Employees Union, similarly urged Democrats to push back against the Trump administration.

“The way you stand up to a bully is not to cave to the bully. The way you stand up to the bully is to say no to the bully,” Goldstein said. “So if you say no, we will have your backs.”

Alexis Goldstein, a member of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s chapter of the National Treasury Employees Union, speaks at a press conference outside the Supreme Court on Monday. Goldstein, in her personal capacity, joined several federal colleagues in urging Democrats to “say no to the bully.” The event, organized by the Civil Servants Coalition, criticized the Trump administration’s federal workforce overhauls this year. (Photo by Drew Friedman, Federal News Network)

Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), as well as Reps. Glenn Ivey (D-Md.) and Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) all spoke at the employee-led event, to both blast the Trump administration’s actions and express support for federal civil servants.

“Thank all of you for what you do for the American people, and thank you for being here to express your views,” Van Hollen told employees gathered at Monday’s conference.

The Maryland senator also criticized and questioned the legality of the message last week from OMB telling agencies to conduct further reductions in force in the event of a government shutdown. Guidance from the Office of Personnel Management subsequently green-lit agencies to work on RIFs both leading up to and during a potential shutdown. OPM stated that all RIF-related work should be considered “excepted activities” for the purposes of a government shutdown.

“They certainly should not be excepted activities in a shutdown, but we are dealing with a lawless administration,” Van Hollen said.

Paul Osadebe, a now former Department of Housing and Urban Development employee, who said he was fired this week after filing a whistleblower complaint, saw OMB’s memo as more of the same from the Trump administration.

“We were already being shut down. We were already not being allowed to do our jobs. We were already being fired. We were already being retaliated against,” Osadebe told Federal News Network at the press conference.

Despite the largely negative impacts a funding lapse would have, Osadebe said he saw somewhat of a silver lining in the possibility of a government shutdown as well.

“It’s unfortunate that that would be the way to get there, if that’s the way that it happens,” Osadebe said. “But it is an opportunity for people to stop and see that what’s happening right now is not normal.”

“We don’t want to shut down — we want a budget that keeps the government working. But we also don’t want to lie down,” added Sarah Kobrin, an employee at the National Cancer Institute who spoke to Federal News Network in her personal capacity.

Within the Civil Servants Coalition, Kobrin described a broad range of comfort levels from federal employees, in how willing they are to speak out about what they have experienced this year.

“We’re on the inside. We can see what’s happening. We’re watching the destruction [that is] fully underway,” Kobrin said. “People keep asking me, ‘Are you scared?’ But I’ve been scared for nine months. This just isn’t any worse. In fact, it’s an opportunity for us to speak out more clearly.”

The post Under threat of RIFs and a government shutdown, some federal employees ‘not buying it’ first appeared on Federal News Network.

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President Trump Fires 6 More Immigration Judges For Blocking Deportations

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April 13, 2026

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President Trump fired six more immigration judges for blocking deportations.

On Friday, the president fired four immigration judges and continued his spree of firings on Saturday and fired two more.

According to The New York Times, Trump fired two of the immigration judges on Saturday for blocking the deportations of two pro-Palestinian activists.

In December, President Trump fired eight immigration judges in New York City.

A fired immigration judge described the firings as a “Monday afternoon massacre.”

“The court has been eviscerated,” Olivia Cassin, another immigration judge who was fired in November told The New York Times. “It feels like a Monday afternoon massacre.”

More than 100 immigration judges have been fired or resigned since President Trump took office this year.

In July, 20 immigration judges were fired.

A few of the federal immigration judges recently fired by the Trump Administration over e-mail lashed out at Trump in an interview with CBS Evening News.

Three of the fired judges – George Pappas, Jennifer Peyton and Carla Espinoza – spoke to CBS about their terminations. The disgruntled judges claimed they were politically pressured by the Trump Administration to grant motions to dismiss cases.

“It was arbitrary, unfair,” George Pappas told CBS News of his abrupt firing. “And it’s an attack on the rule of law. It’s an attack on judges.”

“My email was three sentences,” Jennifer Peyton whined. “I had no cause. I had no explanation.”

“We as judges, were in fear, we were concerned,” Carla Espinoza said. “That makes it very difficult to be impartial. We were not succumbing to that pressure but it does feel like pressure.”

Payton whined that once the illegal alien left the courtroom, ICE would handcuff them and whisk them away.

WATCH:

The post President Trump Fires 6 More Immigration Judges For Blocking Deportations appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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JUST IN: Failing British PM Starmer Refuses To Help Enforce US Navy’s Strait of Hormuz Blockade

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April 13, 2026

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British PM and Labour Leader Keir Starmer

As Trump has said, Starmer ‘is no Winston Churchill’.

With the breakdown in peace negotiations between the US and Iran, President Donald J. Trump has determined that the US Navy will implement a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

And, to no one’s surprise, this announcement was followed by a reaction from failing British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who refused to join the blockade.

Apart from being another instance in which the Labour party leader fails to live up to his duty to his main ally, the US, it is also a black eye on the British Royal Navy and its much-degraded capabilities.

Trump ordered tankers to be stopped from entering or leaving the key oil and gas shipping lane.

The Telegraph reported:

“However, The Telegraph understands that Britain will not play a role in enforcing the blockade.

[…] Downing Street said the UK was ‘urgently working with France and other partners to put together a wide coalition to protect freedom of navigation’.

Britain has mine-hunting systems in the region that could be used to help clear the strait of naval mines laid by Iran, Sir Keir said.”

Meanwhile, Trump continued his attacks on Starmer, comparing him to the infamous British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, who chose appeasement of the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler in the 1930’s.

“Very disappointing – I mean, look at the United Kingdom. PM Starmer said ‘we’ll send the equipment after the war is over’. I said ‘you don’t need equipment when the war is over. You need the equipment before the war starts, or during the war’… He made a public statement that ‘we will send equipment after the war is over’, that’s a Neville Chamberlain statement.”

Read more:

‘U-Turn’ Starmer Pauses Plans To Hand Over Chagos Islands and the Diego Garcia Airbase Back to Mauritius After Trump Called It ‘An Act of Great Stupidity’

The post JUST IN: Failing British PM Starmer Refuses To Help Enforce US Navy’s Strait of Hormuz Blockade appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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Massive Protests Over Fuel Prices Are Ongoing in Ireland Among Police and Army Crackdown on Roadblocks (VIDEOS)

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April 13, 2026

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Traffic congestion with trucks on a highway alongside a crowd of protesters holding flags at a public rally in Dublin.Traffic congestion with trucks on a highway alongside a crowd of protesters holding flags at a public rally in Dublin.Between road blockages and popular demonstrations, the protests keep growing

Ireland has awakened.

The massive fuel price protests began on April 7, 2026, and are now today (12) in their sixth day.

While it’s fair to say that the fuel spike we are witnessing is caused by the military conflict in Iran and the closure of the vital waterways of the Strait of Hormuz, that is not the entire story.

What we are seeing is the action of ordinary Irish truckers, farmers, transporters, taxi and bus drivers that are pushing back against suicidal ‘green’ policies implemented by the Irish government.

These policies, as they are, align with international climate commitments, including the EU’s net-zero agenda and carbon pricing mechanisms.

Protesters explicitly demand the suspension or removal of the carbon tax on fuels — especially agricultural diesel.

Protesters are also calling for resuming domestic oil exploration off Ireland’s west coast, whereas current policies restrict fossil fuel development in favor of ‘rapid decarbonization’.

The protests involve drivers blocking major roadways, fuel depots, ports, and even Ireland’s only oil refinery in Whitegate, Cork.

Today (12), Ireland’ Garda used pepper spray and made arrests to clear protesters blockading the refinery.

Deutsche Welle reported:

“Authorities moved in to disperse the protesters to restore supplies after five days of nationwide demonstrations over soaring fuel prices.

Law enforcers, supported by armed forces personnel, moved in to reopen the Whitegate refinery in County Cork and escort fuel trucks on Saturday.

After Ireland’s Defense Forces joined the police in clearing the protests, Irish police chief Justin Kelly said on Saturday that the fuel protesters’ actions were ‘endangering the state’.”

But despite the police action, Seven Irish motorways remain BLOCKED.

The Sun reported:

IRISH commuters are being warned to expect significant delays today – as the fuel protests continue for the sixth day. Public transport is also facing delays on its major services amid the fuel protests, including blockades and limited fuel supplies.

Dublin’s M50, the biggest motorway in the country, was cleared in the early hours of this morning as part of Garda operations to remove blockage and restore access to the public.”

Read more:

The Irish Are Done with Globalists and the World Is Behind Them

The post Massive Protests Over Fuel Prices Are Ongoing in Ireland Among Police and Army Crackdown on Roadblocks (VIDEOS) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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