this post was submitted on 09 Mar 2025
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Summary

DOGE staffers Tyler Hassen and Bryton Shang tried pressuring the Bureau of Reclamation to open a California water pump to aid Los Angeles during January’s wildfires, though the system couldn’t reach the city.

When denied, they flew there to do it themselves but failed due to maintenance and access restrictions.

Critics called DOGE a “slapstick operation of 20-somethings they’re seeing as whiz kids but have zero knowledge.”

Trump later ordered dam releases, flooding farmland. Critics called DOGE’s actions reckless and uninformed.

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[–] OkBananas@lemmy.world 156 points 11 months ago (1 children)

There needs to be more articles like this that calls them out by name. It’s easy to name Trump and Musk, but call out the cronies too!

[–] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 77 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Too much credit is given to Trump, which means that if Trump leaves office people will think everything is fixed despite all the other people who steer Trump towards his worst impulses will still be around wreaking havoc.

Trump is 90% a figurehead for the shitty conservatives who wrote Project 2025. He didn't come up with most of this stuff, he is just going along with it. The 10% of the time things are his idea are fucking terrible too, but he definitely doesn't deserve most of the credit.

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[–] caffinatedone@lemmy.world 125 points 11 months ago (5 children)
[–] randompasta@lemmy.today 125 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world 56 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)
[–] KingGordon@lemmy.world 43 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] dzso@lemmy.world 36 points 11 months ago (2 children)
[–] lazynooblet@lazysoci.al 30 points 11 months ago

Fuckity fuck-fuck

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[–] tburkhol@lemmy.world 62 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Most of us, raised by Hollywood, imagine critical infrastructure has guards and ID checks. Keys. Guys with machine guns. The last 10 years, it's pretty clear the major controls are just that no one tries. "I'm from DOGE" is going to be the penetration tester's go-to social engineering hack for the next four years. Just walk in, press the Big Red Button, and leave.

[–] catloaf@lemm.ee 45 points 11 months ago (4 children)

This instance shows that it is, in fact, how that works, at least in part:

Shang wasn’t an official federal employee yet, meaning he couldn’t access the pump.

No credentials, no access. Most infrastructure like this has physical security like fencing, padlocks, steel doors, and so on. I don't know if there's a break-in alarm, but even if not, they'd still have to figure out how to access the pumps and turn them on. They're probably computer-controlled, so you'd have to get access to the computer system. I'm sure you could override it on the PLC, or just plain hotwire it, but that takes a whole new set of skills.

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 16 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I would not be the least surprised if the sum total of the "l33t h4x0r skills" of these teenagers boils down to knowing the least bit about whatever the latest Javascript frontend framework is, combined with some LLM to help them with it....this is what happens when a whole lot of idiots think that being young == being tech-savvy.

People hand the tech decisions over to complete morons with no understanding and so much Dunning-Kruger that they not only don't know shit about something like PLCs, and may not have even heard of them, they'll be too fucking arrogant to ask people that DO know, because, gosh, they might be OLD (i.e., > 30 years old) or something.

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[–] noxypaws@pawb.social 22 points 11 months ago

Uncensor your fucking shit for the love of fuck

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[–] CileTheSane@lemmy.ca 101 points 11 months ago

These idiots actually thought the only reason the fires were still burning is because someone hasn't opened up a faucet yet, and that no one else but them have thought of it.

[–] catloaf@lemm.ee 59 points 11 months ago (1 children)

It's fortunate that they're so incompetent that they couldn't do any damage.

[–] FartsWithAnAccent@fedia.io 114 points 11 months ago (4 children)

The damage was ultimately done anyways: They ordered a shitload of water released with no benefit, now the state no longer has that reserve for later, when it is actually needed.

They were never out to help anyone, this was sabotage all along. They knew it wouldn't help and they didn't care because that was never their goal.

[–] Reverendender@sh.itjust.works 52 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Ohhhhh, this makes sense now. The wanted to decimate California out of spite. Now I get it.

[–] takeda@lemm.ee 22 points 11 months ago

Yes, the fire was already nearly contained and also the initial water problem wasn't because of water shortage, but because the infrastructure wasn't able to keep up the demand.

This video explains the problem https://youtu.be/Y1N2BwcAT-s

The water that trump released, won't even get anywhere close to Los Angeles, it goes (went?) to the ocean 100 miles away from the city.

Those dams were build to prevent floods in the area in spring, and are used to provide water for farmers. So this move could cause a food shortage.

This water can't be physically used by Los Angeles, because it isn't even physically connected. Trump thinks that because the dam is on top of the map, it has to go down.

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[–] HawlSera@lemm.ee 55 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Ya know when you're a teenager and you have these delusions of grandure, and think the world would work just fine if you were allowed to run it, because these "Stupid Adults don't know ANYTHING!"

That's DOGE

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[–] ehxor@lemmy.ca 48 points 11 months ago (4 children)

Reminder: pronounce DOGE as “doggy” to deny them legitimacy

[–] Nastybutler@lemmy.world 16 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I've been pronouncing it "doogie" because it makes it seem as silly as it is

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[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 46 points 11 months ago (1 children)

They should have been arrested.

[–] MegaUltraChicken@lemmy.world 14 points 11 months ago (3 children)

They should have ~~been arrested~~ had the absolute shit beat out of them.

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[–] StopTouchingYourPhone@lemmy.world 46 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Imagine Bryton and Tyler showing up at your workplace in the middle of a crisis to take selfies and tweet about how they fixed your problems.

[–] zalgotext@sh.itjust.works 19 points 11 months ago

It feels like the plot of an episode of Parks and Rec, but like, stupider, and not funny at all

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[–] Kalysta@lemm.ee 39 points 11 months ago (1 children)
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[–] Reverendender@sh.itjust.works 35 points 11 months ago (8 children)

I'm not clear on why they doubled down on this, when it was apparently clear that the water was not going to go where they wanted it to go?

[–] FartsWithAnAccent@fedia.io 62 points 11 months ago (2 children)

You think their goal is to help?

[–] Reverendender@sh.itjust.works 16 points 11 months ago (4 children)

Well, I was thinking that at the very least they did not want to broadcast their idiocy, but clearly I need to reevaluate.

[–] FartsWithAnAccent@fedia.io 33 points 11 months ago (8 children)

Was it idiocy or malice?

Idiocy can explain a lot, but malice makes everything they've done and everything they're trying to do make a lot more sense.

These acts are intentional and, even if these kids don't understand, the people who are calling the shots do and these are not mistakes (even if they claim otherwise); They have been planning this for years and have the backing of multiple billionaires who are clearly more than happy to facilitate all this.

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[–] randompasta@lemmy.today 17 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Because they are idiots. They assume that because they might be good at one thing that they're good at everything.

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[–] teft@lemmy.world 30 points 11 months ago (2 children)

A full department staffed by people who haven’t heard of unknown unknowns.

[–] Bytemeister@lemmy.world 24 points 11 months ago (4 children)

The problem is the effects of their actions are absolutely known, and quite predictable, as long as you can think more than 1 layer deep.

Too much fire? Easy, release all the water now!... Except we were clearly holding that water for a reason, otherwise the fucking dam wouldn't be there in the first place...

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[–] xye@lemm.ee 28 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Yelling at various department managers and threatening to call Musk might work for the agencies they’ve gutted, but yeah fucking with any fire department during an active wildfire…I don’t care who you are, you’re gonna have a bad time. Possibly shovel related.

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[–] redlemace@lemmy.world 27 points 11 months ago (2 children)

it's not about the water, it's about OBEYING them. If Trump, his oligarchs or their puppets tell you to jump you jump or ask 'how high' but don't question them and surely don't disobey them

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[–] Darkassassin07@lemmy.ca 25 points 11 months ago (4 children)

Flooded farmland, provided 0 help to the wildfires, and now there's less water reserve for the actual agricultural season...

Genius.

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[–] meowmeowbeanz@sopuli.xyz 23 points 11 months ago

Flying across states for a photo op? Taxpayer money well spent—if you're making satire.

🐱

[–] lepinkainen@lemmy.world 23 points 11 months ago

I wish I had the confidence of a DOGE tech bro even for a week.

[–] WhatSay@slrpnk.net 19 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Assuming the justice system can function again, in theory, how much jail time could they get for tampering with infrastructure and public endangerment?

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[–] ehfkjrehfjer@lemmy.world 19 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I wish someone would put me in a room with these losers

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