Categories
Government Savannah

Savannah’s Social Security office is still safe but OSHA is out

Recently I did another run through of the doge.gov listing of office closures. The five Social Security offices in our region that were to be closed had been narrowed to one, in Columbus, a week ago. In today’s list of lease closings, however, none of the five are now showing up with closures.

The removal of the Social Security offices from the terminated lease list could be because of the new changes to Social Security, requiring a lot more physical visits to offices. There has been criticism of increasing office visits for Social Security at the same time DOGE/Trump are closing the offices and the agency is planning on reducing staff.

However, the offices may only be temporarily removed from the list. Because of the nature of ‘now you see it, now you don’t’ DOGE lists, I now download the JSON (data in a specific machine format) for the lease closures every time I check. This way I can verify that at one point an office was on the closure list but isn’t now…but could be on the list again, in the future.

What is on the list now, is the closure of the OSHA office in Savannah. As the header graphic notes, the Savannah OSHA offices covers all of the Savannah, coastal Georgia, and southern parts of the state—including the new Hyundai plant, where another worker recently died.

The Savannah office also covers both the Savannah and the Brunswick ports, as well as several chicken processing plants, which are considered to be highly dangerous environments for workers.

It’s unknown at this time whether the other two OSHA offices in Georgia will somehow have to pick up the slack. Considering the location of these offices (the Atlanta area), it will be difficult for OSHA to operate in the southern and coastal areas of our state without the Savannah office.

 

Categories
People Political

Dear Buddy Carter

Your constituents want to hear from you.

Out on Nextdoor, I counted two separate change.org petition campaigns demanding that you have a live town hall. Folks in Tybee are getting together a group request for the same. I imagine if I looked further out, I’d find similar efforts up and down the coast.

Your constituents really want to hear from you.

Your March ‘tele-town hall’ is leaving most folks cold, if comments to your Facebook post on this are any indication. The voters want a chance to talk to you, face-to-face. They want you to hear from them, not just us passively hearing from you with your little PR newsletters extolling the virtues of a Musk-dominated White House.

True, you won’t be getting a warm reception. Folks are unhappy. They’re unhappy about cuts to federal programs they need. They’re not happy about closing down NOAA operations, or local Social Security offices, or firing veterans. It wasn’t until the DOGE-inspired cuts that most people realized that 30% of federal workers are veterans.

Most of your constituents don’t like Elon Musk. They don’t like the fact that this unelected billionaire is calling Social Security a ponzi scheme and broadly hinting about large cuts to the program under the guise of ‘fraud’. They don’t like seeing critical and necessary jobs being eliminated, only to scramble to re-hire the folks because the people doing the cuts have no clue about how the government works.

Instead of fixing the economy and lowering the price of eggs, folks are now being warned that we might go into a recession, but that’s OK: it’s for the greater good. But the only greater good that we see happening is a lot of filthy rich people are getting even richer, while the rest of us wonder if we’re actually going to continue getting our Social Security checks.

If what Trump and Musk are doing are so great, why won’t you defend their actions in person? Why are you so afraid to meet the voters face-to-face?

You don’t have a lot of options, Buddy. A town hall now, or the voters in two years.

If you think the chaos that is surrounding the DOGE actions now is going to get better, it won’t. We’re only now starting to see the damage the uncontrolled DOGE cuts have on government services. In a year, we could be looking at an unprecedented level of government failure because there just aren’t enough people around to keep things running. The first or third or fifth hurricane, the latest wildfire, an explosive growth of both measles and bird flu, failures in our food safety systems…something is going to hit the fan, and it won’t be something pleasant.

People will literally be dying.

And then there’s the very real possibility of enough systems failing that Social Security checks won’t be mailed, or Medicare payments won’t be made to doctors, or soldiers paid, or hard-hit areas getting emergency funds, and at that point, it will be too late to try and get your talking points across to the people.

Your only hope is to have a live town hall now, while you still can. And actually listen to the people. Listen to why they’re angry. They won’t be Democratic operatives hired to harass you, they will be folks that have voted for you in the past. Voted for you, but not for Musk. They didn’t vote for DOGE and they don’t like what’s happening. It doesn’t take a genius to see Trump’s little Musk experiment is failing, and failing badly.

And it doesn’t take a genius to see that Congress is doing little to stop any of it.

You can choose to live in a DC bubble and pretend real folk aren’t being hurt, while you carefully stage a tele-town hall with canned questions by pre-selected ‘voters’.  Or you could meet your voters on our terms and just maybe salvage your political career.

The choice is yours.

Categories
Events of note Government Media Savannah

Savannah fiddles while the US burns

Next Monday the annual Savannah St. Patrick’s Day parade makes its way down our historic streets. The parade is now celebrating its 201st anniversary, an extraordinary achievement. And though it has had a reputation for being one of the biggest “kiss me I’m Irish” bashes in the country, the wild parties and uncontrolled drinking in the squares is now a thing of the past. Not to say there won’t be parties, and it is St. Patrick’s day, so yes, there will be drinking…but families need not fear bringing down the kiddies to celebrate.

Among the parade participants will be marchers from the armed services, including 200 soldiers from nearby Fort Stewart. Unlike past year’s, the military and the city are working hard to prevent the ambush of red-lipsticked attacks by women—a ‘tradition’ that really is dated and frankly, not fun, cute, or acceptable. My personal preference would be to create a law that any attempted smoocher breaking parade boundaries has to stay behind after the parade and help with clean up.

I won’t be attending the parade. I’m still recovering from a serious case of the flu, and I’m no longer that comfortable in large crowds. I may be half Irish, but I’d rather have a cup o tea and a shamrock cookie at home.

And frankly, even without the flu, I am in no mood to celebrate.  Not after watching what’s happening at the federal level the last few months. I’m also not sure I could look into the faces of the soldiers as they march past and not feel shame at what this country is doing to them.

Women and soldiers of color have had their service degenerated by their new Secretary of Defence boss. They’ve had healthcare removed because of political ideology. They’ve watched excellent commanders stripped of their commands solely because of their sex or the color of their skin.

Comrades-in-arms who have served with distinction beside them are being summarily dismissed from their careers because of anti-trans bigotry—a bigotry that is expanding to all members of the LGBTQ+ community.

And what can they look forward to, once they leave the military? If they need therapy, they’ll have to crowd into a cubicle with their therapist and hope a white noise machine keeps their discussion private. If our soldiers need other veteran care, including health, they’ll be waiting months because of a planned decimation of the Veterans Administration. In addition, veterans have long enjoyed greater access to good jobs in our federal government. Now these same veterans are losing their jobs by the tens of thousands.

And those still serving? They don’t know if they’ll be doing publicity work at the border, or instructed to give some of our nation’s most important secrets to frat boys and foreign operatives. They’re being told our closest allies are really our enemies and that ‘woke’ is a greater risk than Russian cyber hackers.

How can we face the soldiers on St. Patrick’s day, and pretend all of this is not happening? To ignore that these soldiers lives are being brutally unraveled but have no fear, the city will keep them safe from lipstick?

I understand the need for balance. One can’t live in a state of anger all the time, and that the St. Patrick’s parade is an important economic event for our area. But living in Savannah the last two months is like living in the fabled village of Brigadoon—cut off from the rest of the country by a determination not to acknowledge what’s happening to the country and its impact here.

People are being laid off here. Funds are being frozen here. Federal offices are being shut down here. Because of NOAA closures, we’re at greater risk from hurricanes. Our fishing industries will be impacted. Are Fort Stewart support personnel among those being fired? Can we even depend on FEMA the next Debby or Helene?

What impact will the obsessive focus on deporting longtime and law-abiding migrants have on our local economies?

How about our healthcare? Drastic cuts are threatened for Medicaid, we already know the Veterans Administrations health services are being cut, but we’re in the middle of a measles epidemic and told to slug down some carrots and all will be well. I paid the price this last week for forgetting my flu shot this last fall, but will I even have an option for a flu shot next fall?

Can we have clubs for women or Black people in our schools? Can we even mention the word ‘Black’? We can’t mention the word ‘inclusive’.

And don’t even get me started on the bird flu and the latest brainstorm from RFK Jr. I now predict the next time the bird flu hits one of our major egg producers in Georgia, instead of culling the herd to stop the threat, we’ll be spraying the birds with cod liver oil. Perhaps we’ll start a birdy meditation circle.

Feed them carrots.

The latest hit to our sanity is tariffs. Or I should say, will we won’t we tariff yes tariff no that has tanked the stock market.

Our media is filled with local news, and appropriately so. But what’s happening nationally is a local story. Aside from a too-rare piece that squeaks past the news desk now and again, no attempts seem to be made to connect what’s happening in the halls in DC to what we need to know, in the Savannah/Chatham county region or the greater coastal area.

Our leaders are focused on green fountains, too much traffic, and new ship-clearing bridges, which is understandable, and these are important…but communicating with the people about federal actions and their impacts on us here, locally, is also part of their job. Pretending nothing is happening amounts to a dereliction of duty.

(The only person speaking out seems to be Buddy Carter, and he’s reduced to absurdities in his desperate attempts to appeal to Trump’s ego.)

Worse, the silence from our local leaders signals there is no interest in challenging what’s happening at the federal level; that we will be the good little boys and girls and not rock the boat and hope that some crumbs of federal funds make their ways past the DOGE cuts.

Please, sirs, may we have some more?

While a part of me understands about not provoking either Trump or Musk—both known for their egos and their capacity for petty revenge—please, sirs, may we have some more sticks in my throat and leaves a bitter taste.

But … this didn’t start out to be a story about Trump and Musk and the destruction of our government. This is about St. Patrick’s Day and the famous Savannah St. Patrick’s Day parade. It’s about green beer (we can still say ‘green’) and the running of the squares and kissing the Irish and wonderful food and music.

And this is about watching the soldiers marching past, and keeping them lipstick free. Yes, that’s what this is about.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day.

 

Categories
Government Medicare Money

Georgia Social Security offices on DOGE chopping list

Recent updates to the DOGE.gov ‘savings’ page now list Social Security Administration (SSA) office closures in the following Georgia cities:

  • Columbus
  • Gainesville
  • Vidalia
  • Brunswick
  • Thomasville

There is no rhyme or reason for these closures, other than it’s a simple checkbox on a computer screen and a complete lack of concern about the consequences.

SSA offices provide opportunities for people to get help about Social Security, disability, survivor benefits, Supplemental Security Income, and Medicare. Not everyone has a computer or the skills to do everything online. In particular, if you’re a victim of identity theft, it’s likely you’ll have to visit your nearest SSA office at some point.

Most offices have so many customers, SSA initiated a pilot program for advance reservations in Florida and Georgia. Closing down this many offices is going to have a significant impact on Georgia residents. If the office closures are paired with a 50% reduction in SSA workers, the agency will not be able to meet the needs of our nation’s most vulnerable people.

And the savings? When you’re talking about 4 trillion in tax cuts, primarily for corporations and the wealthy that Trump and the Republicans want to pass, the office closure savings don’t even rate a blip on the same chart.

  • Columbus – $51,023
  • Gainesville – $506,527
  • Vidalia – $228,757
  • Brunswick – $215,383
  • Thomasville – $289,139

Today, Speaker Mike Johnson went on Meet the Press and stated that he and Musk don’t want to cut Social Security and Medicare, but want to eliminate “waste, fraud, and abuse.” Yet SSA’s Inspector General found that only about 1% of Social Security payments were improper. And even then, SSA was able to recover 60% of that amount.

Also today, Elon Musk on Jeff Rogan’s podcast claimed that Social Security is nothing more than a Ponzi scheme, and the real problem is not enough babies and we’re just living too long. What wasn’t said was an acknowledgement of the positive contributions immigrants make to Social Security.

So for there’s no indication that Savannah’s Social Security office is among those to be marked for closure. Yet. I will keep checking for DOGE cuts impacting on the Savannah area.

Categories
Events of note Government Places

What’s worse than Trump/Vance on Ukraine? Congressional Republicans

I watched a partial video of a town hall by Roger Marshall, junior senator from Kansas. The topic was the Russian/Ukrainian war, and the Trump/Vance/Zelenskyy debacle on Friday.

Here’s how Republicans are spinning what happened with Trump and Vance when they ambushed Zelenskyy.

  1. The war did not have a beginning, it just magically happened.
  2. If it continues, it will be World War III, and let’s throw in nuclear to scare people.
  3. Europe should have stepped up. This is Europe’s fight, not ours.
  4. A million people have died.
  5. This is all Biden’s fault
  6. Trump just wants to have peace

This is the stuff you scrape off your boot after walking through a barnyard.

  1. The war did have a beginning. Putin was the aggressor. And when he promised not to be aggressive, he lied and became even more aggressive. What Putin wants is a Ukraine loyal to him, and he will accept nothing else.
  2. Putin is the one tossing out the threat of nuclear weapons, which to me, makes Russia a threat regardless of what’s happening in Ukraine.
  3. In close to three years, Europe has spent $138.7 billion on Ukraine, while the US has spent $119.7 billion. Europe stepped up.
  4. It’s difficult to count the numbers of dead and wounded. Russia isn’t honest with its counts, and Ukraine doesn’t have counts from occupied territories. But the likely number, though tragic and high, is not a million.
  5. This is Putin’s fault. According to Marshall, Republicans wanted funds for Ukraine but Biden said no. In actuality, it is primarily Congressional Democrats who fought for funds for Ukraine, while the GOP bickered among themselves. The only time the GOP pushed Biden to support Ukraine is shortly after he took office when they were the minority party. Once they took over the House, their interest in helping Ukraine drastically declined. It was up to the Democrats to put real money on the table.
  6. Trump wants tax cuts for the rich. Anything that takes money away from this one single goal is trash to him. Our government, our allies, our healthcare, people’s lives…if it takes money away from tax cuts for the rich, it’s trash to Trump. And Trump likes Putin, because Putin makes him feel special.

We supported Ukraine because it was a country with a true democracy invaded by a totalitarian aggressor intent on domination. And we have long known that Putin is a danger to more than Ukraine. I just never thought I would live to see a US President openly embrace Putin.

Sources

Marshall Town Hall video

Putin uses NATO as an excuse for his war against Ukrainian statehood

Bluff and bluster: Why Putin revised Russia’s nuclear doctrine

How much has the US given to Ukraine?

Fact check: Trump makes numerous false claims at Cabinet meeting

Republicans try to out-hawk Biden on Ukraine aid

Can Biden keep U.S. aid flowing to Ukraine amid GOP chaos in House?

Why are some Republicans opposing more aid for Ukraine?

What is the death toll of Russia’s war in Ukraine?