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It is now July, time once again to celebrate the start of this webpage in 2010 with my annual July fund-raising campaign.

 

This year I celebrate the fifteenth anniversary since I began Behind the Black. During that time I have done more than 33,000 posts, mostly covering the global space industry and the related planetary and astronomical science that comes from it. Along the way I have also felt compelled as a free American citizen to regularly post my thoughts on the politics and culture of the time, partly because I think it is important for free Americans to do so, and partly because those politics and that culture have a direct impact on the future of our civilization and its on-going efforts to explore and eventually colonize the solar system.

 

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EPA employees who publicly signed letter opposing Trump’s agenda have now been put on leave

Trump defiant after being shot
Trump in charge

They apparently forgot who the American people elected and who is thus the boss! The 170 EPA employees who publicly signed a letter this week announcing their opposition to Trump’s policies at EPA have now all been put on leave, with the expectation that they will eventually lose their jobs as well.

Staffers at the Environmental Protection Agency who signed a letter of dissent against President Donald Trump have been placed on leave, reports The Hill. “The Environmental Protection Agency has a zero-tolerance policy for career bureaucrats unlawfully undermining, sabotaging, and undercutting the administration’s agenda as voted for by the great people of this country last November,” EPA spokeswoman Brigit Hirsch said in a written statement.

The letter, posted on June 30, 2025, made it very clear in its opening paragraph that these employees were willing to defy orders and sabotage the Trump administration.

EPA employees join in solidarity with employees across the federal government in opposing this administration’s policies, including those that undermine the EPA mission of protecting human health and the environment. Since the Agency’s founding in 1970, EPA has accomplished this mission by leveraging science, funding, and expert staff in service to the American people. Today, we stand together in dissent against the current administration’s focus on harmful deregulation, mischaracterization of previous EPA actions, and disregard for scientific expertise.

They certainly have the right to disagree with Trump’s policies. They do not however have the right to remain employees of the federal government under Trump and act to defy him. He is the elected president, not them, and it is his decision what the EPA does.

The best part of this story is two fold. First, these individuals have done a good job of self-identified themselves as fifth columnists inside the Trump administration, making it easier to get rid of them. Second, the swift response by the Trump administration to remove them illustrates the difference between Trump 45 and Trump 47. In his first term Trump was more willing to tolerate this foolish and undemocratic behavior, and thus that first term was largely ineffective. In his second term Trump ain’t fooling around. From day one he has moved hard to clean house, and this story illustrates this difference most starkly.

And to this I heartily say, thank god!

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 

The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

15 comments

  • Richard V Reese

    FAFO
    It’s the law.

  • Jeff Wright

    Nixon’s worst idea–I want EPA killed.

  • Phill O

    After the initial work of cleaning the environment (the air in LA etc), the EPA has had to manufacture their work. The greatest scam is that of CO2.

    Good to get rid of these liars! (IMHO)

  • LTC SDS

    I’m retired now. But when I was working I always gave my boss my professional opinion. Sometimes I had to argue my case. But once he made the decision, which was his to make, I was 100% on board, because that’s what you do. If I didn’t like it my other choices were to keep my mouth shut or to leave. Sabatoging the work is not an option and if you do that you should be fired.

  • Dick Eagleson

    They should all be fired for cause (insubordination) and their pension benefits should also be forfeited. That routinely happens to police officers who are fired for cause. I see no reason why all government employees fired for cause should not also be so treated.

  • Chris

    LTD SCS – i had the same experience and when I later led teams I had an “XO” who I instructed to challenge me and keep me on the “right track” but to do it privately. I truly appreciated their council. They too were behind my decisions 100%.

    Dick Eagleson You point to an issue I see with how government employees are compensated – the pension. When you have a large number of years in and the specter of being fired and loosing that pension comes into play too much coercion can be applied. I believe that this is one of the ways that good cops are made to do bad things for their boss who may be out of line.

  • John

    It’s funny, their first concern is “undermining public trust”. Who’s going to tell them?

    There’s no point, they’re deranged delusional climate cultists.

  • Chuck

    Couldn’t of happened to a finer bunch of communists.

    I’m sure there will be an increase in the hiring at Soros-funded greenie outfits. Burn their cash.

    Can’t wait to see all the Subaru’s up for sale.

  • Ronaldus Magnus

    President Trump’s “”disregard for scientific expertise””

    In honor and recognition of the latest Florida developments, all I have to say about the so-called “scientific expertise” is:

    What a crock!

  • 8675310

    Staffers in the federal agencies do not work for the American people. They work for the President. He was the one we elected, not them. It’s time to end this misconception.

  • ET

    8675310: Disagree. All government employees DO work for us, the American People who pay for their salaries. It is the President’s responsibility to make certain that these employees follow the will of the American people.

  • As for the pension issue – if someone is fired for cause, they should retain pension rights if they have not been charged with a crime.
    If they have been charged with a crime committed on the job, they should forfeit any pension money that was not put in by them as a deduction from their paycheck, or other outright personal contribution, such as rolling over money from other pensions.
    If acquitted, their pension rights would be restored. However, that would NOT entitle them to be employed by the government ever again.
    Yes, many people do acquiesce to pressure from the bosses to go along with illegal or improper acts. It’s hard to walk away from a hefty pension.
    How hefty? I receive an Ohio Teachers pension. In only eight years I have received over $100,000 dollars from that pension. That’s why, although salaries are often not that high, the bargain is worth it.
    Until the rules for WEP (Windfall Elimination Profit), my earned Social Security was reduced by 40% each month. Until 2025.
    Just for 2024 (the government was only going to go back that far), I picked up back Social Security of almost $8,000. My SS payments will be increased this year by $450/month.
    So, you can understand the pressure on employees to go along.

  • Chas C-Q

    The Civil Service system encourages them to believe that the permanent bureaucracy owns the government, and that elected leaders and their appointees are meddling interlopers. The way to squelch the attitude and attendant behavior permanently is to return the Spoils System and outlaw government employees’ unions.

  • Isophorone

    Not all the signers are current EPA employees. Some are retired and/or former (democrat) political appointees.

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