The Darrell McClain show
Independent media that won't reinforce tribalism. We have one Planet; nobody's leaving so let’s reason together!! Darrell, McClain is a Military veteran with an abnormal interest in politics, economics, religion, philosophy, science, and literature. He was born and raised in Jacksonville FL, and went to Edward H white High School where he wrestled Under Coach Jermy Smith and The Late Brian Gilbert. He was a team wrestling captain, District champion, and an NHSCA All-American in freestyle Wrestling. He received a wrestling scholarship from Waldorf University in Forest City, Iowa. After a short period, he decided he no longer wanted to cut weight which effectively ended his college wrestling journey. Darrell Mcclain is an Ordained Pastor under The Universal Life Church and is still in good standing, he's a Believer in The Doctrines of Grace Also Known as Calvinism. He joined the United States Navy in 2008 and was A Master At Arms (military police officer) He was awarded several awards while on active duty including an expeditionary combat medal, a Global War on Terror medal, a National Defense Medal, a Korean defense medal, and multiple Navy achievement medals. While In the Navy he was also the assistant wrestling coach at Robert E Lee High School. He's a Brown Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under six six-degree black belt Gustavo Machado, Darrell Trains At Gustavo Machado Norfolk under the 3rd-degree black belt, and Former Marine Professor Mark Sausser. He went to school for psychology at American Military University and for criminal justice at ECPI University.
The Darrell McClain show
Judge Calls BS: "That is a Sham" Moment Forces Government Rehires
Federal judges have delivered a stunning rebuke to the current administration's attempt to terminate thousands of government workers, with one California judge calling the firings "a sham" designed to circumvent legal protections for federal employees.
The dramatic courtroom confrontation began when the administration refused to produce witnesses who could explain the mass terminations, instead sending lawyers with what the judge described as "press releases" and "sham documents." Visibly frustrated, the judge ruled from the bench that the Office of Personnel Management had "no authority whatsoever" to direct agencies to fire employees, ordering immediate reinstatement for thousands of workers across multiple departments including Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Interior, and Treasury.
The judge highlighted the case of Leandra Bailey, who received "fully successful in every category" performance reviews only to be terminated with a template letter falsely citing performance issues. "It is a sad day when our government would fire good employees and say it was based on performance, when they know good and well that that's a lie," the judge declared, noting this approach would deprive workers of unemployment benefits and damage future job prospects.
A second federal judge in Maryland quickly followed with a similar ruling covering additional agencies, creating overlapping orders that effectively dismantle the administration's personnel purge. Meanwhile, the administration faces additional embarrassment from reports of CDC employees being directed to work at closed Subway sandwich shops and storage facilities through a poorly implemented "Space Match" program, while an OPM spokesperson was busy posting fashion influencer videos from her government office.
The courthouse victories represent a significant check on executive authority and provide immediate relief to thousands of federal workers caught in the crossfire of administrative overreach. With 10,000 baby boomers retiring daily and relying on government services, these rulings underscore the critical importance of maintaining a functional, properly staffed federal workforce operating within the boundaries of established law.
This is a sham. There were some fireworks in the news on yesterday, so let me get to it. Most importantly, I think that thousands of people fired by the current administration are getting their jobs back, because the first round of proverbial fireworks that went off in the California federal courthouse proverbial fireworks that went off in the California federal courthouse, and I'm going to set the scene for you here. I have the transcripts of what happened and I've been thinking about it and I really want to share it with you. So here's the scene the Trump administration sent a lawyer to defend them in the case of the federal court in North Carolina I'm sorry, in Northern California but they were refusing to send any officials from the Trump administration to testify in the case, to explain what they had done and to be questioned about it. The basis of the case is what the Trump White House, the Office of Personal Management and the Trump White House told federal agencies last month extensively to fire tens of thousands of people who work for the government potentially hundreds and thousands of people and then, after the Trump White House, the Office of Personal Management told the agencies to fire all those people. Then all those people got fired and it really does not seem like it was legal. It has never seemed like it was legal that the White House would have the authority to make those kinds of mass firings. But again, they won't send anybody to testify about what exactly they did. So this is from the transcripts of the lawyer who is suing the Trump administration says this your honor, quote what we have before the court is record evidence that conclusively establishes that the OPM directed terminations at issue. We have a very unusual circumstance where the government has not mounted, has not attempted to say they can factually dispute that they have actually withdrawn the declaration by which they are attempting to dispute that and there's no record evidence on the other side by which they have disputed this fact. The judge says I tend to agree with you on that and the government, I believe, has tried to frustrate the judge's ability to get the truth of what happened here and then set forth a sham of declarations to withdrew it to substitute another. That's not the way it works in the US District Court. So that word was substituted. The judge says quote I'm going to talk to the government about that in a minute. I have expected to have an evidentiary hearing today in which these people would testify, and if they wanted to get your people on the stand, I was going to make that happen too. It would be fair, but instead we have been frustrated in that.
Speaker 1:The judge then says the lawyer for the plaintiffs quote I'd like to hear your views on what relief should issue today. And then the judge, in frustration, actually spelled T-O-D-A-Y today. The lawyer Thank you, your Honor, we're all aligned in waiting and wanting this to happen as well he spelled out today. And then so they have a conversation the judge, the lawyer, the plaintiff who is suing the Trump administration on behalf of the fired employees. They all walk and talk about what fired employees who are suing the Trump administration, what they're seeking from the judge today, the kind of relief they want. They say they want a list of everybody who's been fired that they haven't been able to get, or even enumeration from the government on how many people have been fired. They also want the people who were fired to be reinstated if they have been fired illegally. So they go through all these details.
Speaker 1:Then what happens is it's time for the Trump administration's lawyer to make his side of the case and he starts explaining to the judge that all these fire workers the only reason they were fired is because nobody wanted them. Nobody told anybody to fire anyone. There was no instruction to fire people. These are just unwanted workers. If anybody wanted them back, they surely would have been hired by now, right Now, at this point the judge interjects.
Speaker 1:The judge says, quote well, maybe that's why we need an injunction to tell them to rehire them. You will not bring the people in here to be cross-examined. You are afraid to do so because you know that cross-examining would reveal the truth. Trump administration lawyer then tries to interject respectfully. The judge continues this is the US District Court. Whenever you submit declarations, those people should be submitted to cross-examination, just like the plaintiff's side should be, and then we get the truth or whatever your story is actually true.
Speaker 1:I tend to doubt it now. I tend to doubt that you are telling me the truth whenever we hear all the evidence. Eventually, why can't you bring your people in to be cross-examined or deposed at a time of their convenience? I said two hours for Mr Ezell. Mr Ezell is the acting head of the OPM. I said two hours for Mr Ezell, a deposition at his convenience, and you withdrew his declaration rather than to do that. Come on, that is a sham. The judge says quote go ahead, I'm in, I'm in it and I'm. It upsets me. I want you to know that I have been practicing or serving in the court for over 50 years and I know how we get to the truth. And you're not helping me get to the truth, you're giving me press releases, sham documents, all right. He says quote I'm actually getting mad at you and I shouldn't. The judge didn't decide it in this hearing today that he wasn't going to wait to give a ruling. He decided you know what I've actually heard enough. He decided he's going to rule from the bench today. No-transcript their probationary or trial period.
Speaker 1:Then the lead termination of a lot of people. The judge says but one in particular. I will give you an example Leandra Bailey, who is a physical science information specialist in Alaric. In September of last year she received a performance review in which she was quote fully successful in every single category, not just some, but every single category. On February 13th she was terminated using the OPM template letter because, in addition to directing these terminations, opm gave a proposed letter and the letter said I am reading from it in memorandum from Leandra Bailey, february 13th, from the director of human services management at the U S four service. This is just one sentence.
Speaker 1:The agency finds, based on your performance, that you have not demonstrated that you uh, that your further employment at the agency would be in the public interest. Close quote. And then the judge says despite the fact that her most recent review was fully successful in every category. The judge goes on to say now, how could it be? You might ask that the agency could find that based on her. You might ask that the agency could find that based on her performance, when her performance had been stellar. The reason the OPM wanted to put this based on performance was, at least in part, in my judgment, as a gimmick, because the law always allows you to fire someone based on performance.
Speaker 1:The judge then goes on to say now, what I'm about to say is not the legal basis for what I'm going to order today, but I just want to say it. He goes on to say it is a sad day when our government would fire some good employees and say it was based on performance, when they know good and well that that's a lie. Excellent in all, fully what a phrase. I don't want to misstate it. Quote fully successful in every category. Yet they terminate her based on performance. That should not have been done in our country. It was a sham in order to avoid station statutory requirements. In order to avoid statutory requirements, it also happens to be whenever you fire somebody based on performance, then they can't get unemployment insurance, can they? So that makes it even worse, doesn't it? And then it makes it even worse because the next employer is going to say have you ever been terminated based on performance? And if they're honest, they're going to have to say yes to thousands of people. It is an illustration of manipulation that was going on by the OPM to try to orchestrate this government while termination of a probationary employee.
Speaker 1:The court finds that the OPM did direct all agencies to terminate the probationary employees. The court rejects the government's attempt to use these press releases and to read between the lines to say the agencies had made their own decisions with no direction from the OPM. The relief that's going to be granted is therefore as follows First, the temporary restraining order will be extended. The VA shall immediately offer reinstatement to any and all probationary employees terminated on or about February 13th or 14th. This order finds that all such terminations were directed by defendant, the OPM, and were unlawful because the OPM had no authority to do so. Further, the VA shall cease any and all use of the template termination notice provided by the OPM and shall immediately advise all probationary employees terminated February 13th and 14th that that notice and termination has been found to be unlawful by the District Court of Northern District of California. The VA shall cease any termination of probationary employees and the direction of the OPM. To repeat, the order holds that the OPM has no authority whatsoever to direct the order or require in any way that any agency fire any employee. Now, given the arguments and the facts in this case, namely, the defendants have attempted to recast these directions as mere guidance my order today further says further prohibit defendants from giving any guidance as to whether any employee anywhere should be terminated. Any termination of agency employees must be made by the agencies themselves and, made at all, that they must be made in the conformity with the Civil Service Reform Act and the Reduction Act and the Force Act and many other constitutional. Or.
Speaker 1:The judge goes on to say probationary employees terminated on or about February 13th and 14th, with an explanation as to each of what has done to comply with this order. Then the judge goes on to say now this order. So far I have only mentioned the VA, the Veterans Administration, but the same relief I have decided is to be extended and I'm not going to repeat it. But I am extending the same relief to the Department of Agriculture, to the Department of same relief to the Department of Agriculture, to the Department of Defense, to the Department of Energy, to the Department of the Interior, to the Department of the Treasury, and so is the VA, plus all of those other agencies. He says this is without prejudice to extending the relief later and further to other agencies. The judge then closes with this. I will try to get out a short and random opinion that elaborates on this order, but this order, as it counts, shall go into effect immediately. Please do not go back to your office and say, oh, we are waiting for a written order, this is an order from the bench.
Speaker 1:And then the judge closes with a admonition to the Trump administration, quote if you want to appeal to the court of appeals, god bless you. I want you to because I'm tired of seeing you. I'm tired of seeing you stonewall on trying to get at the truth. And with that, that is how thousands of people who work in the government, who the current administration and its top campaign donor tried to fire. That is how thousands of Americans got their jobs back yesterday at the VA, at USDA, at the Defense Department, at the Department of Energy and the Department of the Interior, which includes the National Park Services, and at the Treasury Department, which of course includes the IRS.
Speaker 1:Court rulings also mean that the Office of Personnel Management, which they have been using as like a central office for all this stuff that DOGE has been doing, the Office of at personal management at the white house can no longer tell anyone anything about anybody who should be fired for any reason from any part of the us government. This is the order you know if they're getting um reamed out by a judge like that and losing so resoundingly in court that they didn't just reverse the decision, it was thousands of people. Thousands of people got their job back. It was not only that. The judge told his agency don't you even try to do anything like that ever again. And, by the way you've been telling this court appears not to be true. The next time it's going to be big trouble because you'll be under oath before the court. Something like this happens.
Speaker 1:The person that is the spokesman for the agency that has just been slicing dice in court would put out some response, but that was not the case for the spokesperson at the OPM yesterday the OPM, I should say, and that is because she was actually somewhat busy, because on yesterday, cnn reported that inside of her office at the OPM, the OPM spokesperson was very busy posting dozens of fashion influencer videos inside of her government office in which she blows kisses and twirls and shows off all her different looks, and then she posts links to where you can buy the amazing fashion that she's been wearing to her job in the office where she works as a spokesperson for the OPM. Now, this is the spokesperson at an agency that has been firing thousands of park rangers and scientists and nuclear security experts, because obviously those people don't deserve their jobs, unlike hashtag her and the Trump folks at the OPM right who definitely know what they're doing and who definitely deserve their jobs because they're doing such a good job at them, and who definitely deserve their jobs because they're doing such a good job at them. The story about the OPM spokesperson that broke yesterday apparently she still has her job because, well, why wouldn't she? Meanwhile, the administration is doing its management of the federal government. Just in today's news and this is coming out of the Washington Post quote last week, amid the scramble inside federal agencies to meet Trump's return to office mandate, one CDC employee received links to a new government-wide initiative promising to connect those who need workspaces with those who have extra seats.
Speaker 1:When the CDC employee entered her home address to find nearby office spaces, she was surprised to receive a suggestion from a closed Subway sandwich shop and a self-storage facility. Another member of her CDC team was directed to a post office. So they work at the CDC. They were told to report to work. The Trump administration told them to report for work at a post office or a closed subway sandwich shop or in a mini storage. Now these are CDC employees. So you work for a federal scientific agency and you're asked by the administration to fill out a similar space request form as part of the new administration's rollout of such services, including one they're calling Space Match, aimed at connecting federal employees with offices where they could work. But then, when you enter, the federal scientific agency worker entered the information.
Speaker 1:The two closest offices to which was recommended did not seem to be a place for federal offices at all. Quote one appeared to be a building in an industrial zone that appeared to her support groups for people dealing with alcohol and debt problems. The other appeared to be a private home in a four-unit building. So this is a person who has a job for the Federal Scientific Agency. They have been told by the current administration that they have a new high-tech tool, a fancy new website that is assigned to a person a new place to work. And the new place to work that this person has is a choice they can either be a rehab or the house of someone who this person doesn't know. Space match I bet it has an x on it somewhere as well. Space Space Match just because they wanted to, I guess, be so efficient.
Speaker 1:Now, of course, people were going to inevitably say that this was just you know, one court, one court that is trying to overrule the mandate of the executive branch. And, of course, when you look at the press release, it didn't come out from the OPM, it came out from the press secretary, who, of course, just said well, you know, one judge is trying to undo the power of the executive. But then it got a little more interesting, because the federal judge in California that issued the blistering ruling from the bench in which he ordered the Trump administration to rehire the thousands of people they had fired from the federal government and the USDA, the Defense Department, the Energy Department, the Department of Interior, the Treasury Department and the VA got an interesting update, because that case the California federal case the plaintiffs are the union-representing government workers. The plaintiffs ended up going back to the same judge in California and essentially said thank you for the ruling. Your honor, can you please make this so it applies to even more agencies? So now they have formally asked the judge to expand that order today and also to reinstate federal employees at the Commerce Department, the Education Department, health and Human Services, homeland Security, housing and Urban Development, the Justice Department, the Department of Transportation, the Environmental Protections Agency, nasa and the National Science Foundation and the Small Business Administration.
Speaker 1:And what happened after that? After those plaintiffs asked California's federal judge to expand his ruling and order even more agencies to rehire even more people, a second federal judge across the country, in Maryland, issued a ruling in an entirely separate case ordering the federal government to also rehire thousands of fired federal employees. Rehire thousands of fired federal employees. The federal judge in Maryland said that they ordered the thousands of fired probationary employees must now be restated at the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Defense, the Department of Education, the Department of Energy, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Homeland Security, housing and Urban Development, the Department of the Interior, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Homeland Security, housing and Urban Development, the Department of the Interior, the Department of Labor, the Department of Transportation, the Treasury Department, the VA, the USAID, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the EPA, the FDIC, the General Service Administration, the Office of Personnel Management, the Small Business Administration and the National Archives and Records Administration. The Small Business Administration and the National Archives and Records Administration all of them reinstate all of your fired employees who are in probationary periods.
Speaker 1:And this seems like there's an overlap there. That's because it was the list in those two cases were as overlapped on purpose and that is because into the news, when you have the overlapping federal rulings ordering the immediate reinstatement of thousands of employees and multifederal agencies and in maryland the judge wrote it like this the new order that's just out, quote the law is clear that when dismissing an employee due to unsatisfactory performances, the employer must honestly be dissatisfied with the probationer's conduct or performance, after giving him or her a fair trial under federal law on the job. So again, two federal judges with the same equal sweeping rulings, both in the same direction, both telling the Trump administration when you fired these people, you had no right to do so. Give them back their jobs immediately. I said this fight was going to come between the courts and the executive, that this was the big fight, and it seems like we're about 56 days in. The fight is already here.
Speaker 2:Doctor he's flatlining.
Speaker 1:We need to get him into surgery.
Speaker 2:Sorry, you can't do that. What are you talking about? Who are you? I'm your Republican congressman. Now that we're in charge, we defunded Medicare and we're not paying for this surgery. This man is dying Now get out of the hospital. I won the last election. I'm not going anywhere, but don't worry. We made sure Medicare still covers Viagra and I need a refill.
Speaker 1:Now Congressman John Lawson from Connecticut is not pleased with what's been going on, not pleased with Elon Musk, not pleased with Doge, and he gave a barn burner of a speech and it was a clip that kind of went viral, where he's talking about Social Security and resort to saying you will do whatever Elon Musk and Donald Trump tell you to do.
Speaker 2:Where's the independence of the committee? He's talking to the chairman. Where's the legislature? We're an equal branch of government and you start off with a blather and yet look at the empty seats here. Where's Elon Musk? I'm sure he's a genius and is a very credible person because of the wealth he's accumulated, but that does not put him above the law or the responsibility to come before this committee, in this Congress. If he's so great, if these plans and all the fraud and abuse that he found are so eminent, why isn't he here explaining it? You know why? Because he's out to privatize Social Security. He's been on television the last couple of days talking exactly about Social Security, medicare and Medicaid and what he intends to do Privatize it.
Speaker 2:The American people some of them may have been born at night, but not last night People are aware of this, every single one of your districts, all the money that comes in monthly and you have not done you as a Congress have not done anything in more than 54 years, and now you have someone coming in to privatize a system, something you have longed to do, going back to 1982, because Elon Musk thinks that this is the best thing to do. President Trump has called Social Security a scam. Elon Musk has determined, as Mr Neal said, called it a Ponzi scheme. Ask that of the people in your district. Ask that, mr Smith, of the more than 198,000 people in your district who rely on Social Security. And you won't even let the person who's planning to privatize it, who's telling the big lie in front of everyone, as bold as he possibly can, saying this is what we're going to do.
Speaker 2:The Congress is in our back pocket. We don't even have to come before them and testify, because we control the House, we control the Senate and we control the presidency. And it's the tyranny of the executive. It's why these revolutions were first adopted back in 1789, because the founding fathers knew that the executive branch does not have total authority over the legislature. Unless you have a willing party that says no, we're going to do exactly what you tell us to do, mr musk and mr president. It doesn't matter to our constituents, it doesn't matter how much money they are not going to receive, we're not even going to tell them the truth about what's going to happen to them shut down and their personnel, as Mr Neal said Dan, after you cut and eliminate, the people say the agency isn't responding accordingly. No other agency operates for under less than 1%. With that they administer to over 70 million people in the nation's number one anti-poverty program for the elderly and children. Shame.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 10,000. That's the number I need you guys to look up 10,000 baby boomers so far. Retire a day, 10,000 a day, and go on to Social Security. It's not a damn pausing scheme. These people have worked their entire lives, they have paid into it, the money has been taken out of their checks and they earn the money. It's theirs.
Speaker 2:See you on the next episode.