The pair traveled to California after reportedly trying to pressure a top government official to open the water pump

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/26559092

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.

  • Mayor Poopington@lemmy.worldEnglish
    16·
    4 hours ago

    I’m picturing some 20 yo shithead flying a private jet to the bay area, turning on a garden spigot and announcing “We saved LA!”

  • jubilationtcornpone@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    48·
    7 hours ago

    • Attempting to “open” a water system that is not at all sort of remotely connected to the LA municipal water system.

    • Flooding the California central valley in winter which will undoubtedly leave reservoirs depleted during spring and summer, when water is actually needed.

    America the Kakistocracy

    Edit: The US Army Corps of Engineers operates over 90,000 dams, and the reservoirs they contain, throughout the country. All of which are currently at the discretion of the stupidest person to ever be commander in chief. He can flood your home, cut off your electricity, dry up your farmland, or cause all kinds of havoc on a whim.

    • skuzz@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
      19·
      7 hours ago

      Worse, they were working with half information. The San Joaquin valley water does eventually connect to LA. California has, over the last century, interconnected a majority of their water, and water from other states, to LA. LA shouldn’t exist in its current form. It’s arid desert, yet way too many people and crops exist there. The El Diablo Canyon nuclear facility exists solely to pump water over mountains for LA. (Was hilarious when Newsom wanted to shut it down until he was educated.)

      All that said, wasting reservoirs thinking the water will instantly teleport to LA is so destructively stupid. There is so much interplay in their water infrastructure.

      Those boneheaded idiot kids shouldn’t have been given the time of day by anyone. Farmers should hunt them down and make those two work the fields by hand until they recoup their losses. Including filtering out the salt brine they likely contaminated some fields with.

      • jubilationtcornpone@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        10·
        7 hours ago

        Including filtering out the salt brine they likely contaminated some fields with.

        And here I was thinking it could not possibly get any stupider.

  • evasive_chimpanzee@lemmy.worldEnglish
    17·
    8 hours ago

    The article isn’t clear enough about this. This pump is nowhere close to the fires, and the water coming out of the pump doesn’t get anywhere close to the fires, either.

    The purpose of the pumps is to take water from rivers and send it to wealthy farmers. The farmers didn’t even need the water, anyway, this time of year.