Allegedly moving GOHSEP under the National Guard is just a way to save money, as to why it happened on the same day this executive order was signed? No idea because nobody has even brought it up. I only realized it by accident, and only realized that he granted the director of GOHSEP authority because I downloaded the recent executive order and compared it to the old one (which I had to go to archive.org just to find).
But if Moskowitz's bill passes:
- It puts Louisiana at the mercy of the National Guard and yes seems to greatly increase the chance of the Governor declaring martial law for the state.
With hurricane season there is always the threat of a disaster. It is not unusual for the guard to be called in as a precaution and stick around after a hurricane to enforce curfew.
Even though I personally have not had a bad run in with any guardsman, I think it's understandable to feel uneasy seeing tanks on the street and guys with guns standing guard when you go to buy groceries. I know I always do, and I don't even have the negative experiences that many people do to justify it. It would be naive to pretend that there's not always the possibility things could go wrong.
Usually if a disaster is bad enough for the guard to stick around for a while, that means members of FEMA are also present. While FEMA is by no means an ideal agency in terms of how it should be run, the fact that they have their own dedicated civil rights office within the agency, is very important. Without it, you have armed soldiers being asked to handle crowd control and resources for a huge group of people, often during a time of extraordinary stress for everyone involved. If nobody exists to enforce civil rights, you're relying on people to maintain them out of the kindness of their hearts. While I like to believe people for the most part will try to do the right thing, I'm not naive enough to believe that's the case when people are scared and desperate.
- It potentially puts the entire country in the position that Louisiana is now in. If a President decides that he wanted that cabinet position to be placed under the military in a cost savings effort, hopefully it's a little more difficult to achieve than a governor doing it at a state level, but again, feels a little naive to just assume that.
Most people didn't even notice that this happened, and I'm not even sure how the governor can do this, but a week ago today it was like he just decided to hold a press conference, say this is what I'm doing, and now that's the way it is. That's kind of the problem with unchecked executive authority and letting people see how far they can push things.
Well, I'm here and while there's plenty of things I don't like, there's also things people and places that I love. It makes me angry they're trying to hide what they're doing in the shadows in order to destroy something I love even if it wasn't perfect to begin with. Why should I leave? It's my world as much as it is theirs.
Actually feel that way about the whole country at this point. Even if I'm powerless to stop you I'm not going to just pretend I don't see something happening. If there's any chance for my state or my country that's what we're all going to have to do. That's exactly what "speak out while you still can" means.
This shit is going on all over the place. Louisiana was one of the first, but DOGE has taskforces in 16 states at this point. I've actually been considering creating a community to have people start collecting stuff like this across all their states, so that we don't let this shit keep happening in the dark.
Here it is if anyone wants to join feel free: https://lemm.ee/c/stateleveldoge