Pedestrians were not permitted to walk on the grass, and a Park Service helicopter circled overhead.
…This month, a federal judge prohibited the National Park Service from taking action against the organization #AccountabilityNOW USA, which displayed an “#8647” flag as part of an ongoing permitted demonstration in Washington. The Secret Service started an investigation into a volunteer with the organization after the flag was displayed.
The numerals were not discernible to people on the #NationalMall, who could only see a few brownish patches of grass near the WWII Memorial. The numerals seemed visible only from a tall vantage point, such as the top of the Washington Monument.
Multiple emergency vehicles could be seen encircling the grass around 1PM. A team of officers stood over brown patches in the grass, wearing gloves, & appeared to be testing the grass with materials from a yellow case.
The numerals 8, 6 & 7 were visible, but the 4 wasn’t clearly etched into the grass. It remains unclear how the markings were made. The term “#86” is restaurant industry slang that generally refers to the unavailability of an item or a customer’s removal. #Trump & his allies have argued it means to kill someone [never been used that way before they started claiming it as far as I know]. Trump is the 47th POTUS, so the digits have been used to show opposition to Trump.
So dumb
US #ParkPolice, the DC fire department [#DCFD] & members of the #NationalGuard were seen responding Thursday to what appeared to be large-scale etchings of the numerals “#8647” on the grounds of the #NationalMall.
#idiocracy #Trump #GovernmentWaste
https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/2026/06/11/apparent-etchings-86-47-seen-trump-threat-spotted-national-mall/
Good news for #anticorruption & #GovernmentWaste
#Senate #Republicans have formally removed #funding for #Trump’s #ballroom security as part of their sprawling #immigration funding package [cuz seriously wtf?], acc/to revised #legislative text released Wednesday.
The decision to drop the ballroom funding, which had sparked significant debate among lawmakers, is not a complete surprise, though it is likely to frustrate #Trump [call the waaaahhhmbulance].
#law #vanity
https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/03/politics/trump-ballroom-funding-senate-republicans
The #Trump admin is diverting at least $90 million from entry fees to #NationalParks such as #Yellowstone & #Yosemite to DC to fund a $1.6 million #fireworks display—more than five times as much as what is usually spent on the Fourth of July pyrotechnics display—& $76 million to repair fountains including the #LincolnMemorial #ReflectingPool, acc/to internal agency documents….
#NationalParkService #GovernmentWaste #law #land #conservation
US #NationalParks passes will pay for #Trump July 4 plans
Entry fees are going toward a $1.6 million #fireworks display & DC “beautification”, while “donations” will fund a $5 million #helipad at the #WhiteHouse.
That money is being spent at the expense of the rest of the #US’ #park system which has a $24 billion backlog of badly needed #infrastructure repairs & improvements, known as “deferred maintenance.”
[tell us again to rake the forests]
#GovernmentWaste #law
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2026/06/03/trump-officials-divert-national-park-service-fees-fund-july-4-celebration/?utm_medium=referral_home&utm_source=webview&utm_campaign=rct:0:1:0:20260526;tt_2510:control&no_nav=true
DoD Faces Mounting Pressure To Pass A First Ever Clean Audit
“MILITARY TIMES” By Ellen Ioanes
“House lawmakers and government watchdogs express skepticism about the Defense Department’s ability to produce a clean financial audit by a Dec. 31, 2028, statutory deadline.“
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
“The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing on the DoD years-long struggle to produce a clean financial audit despite claiming around half of the government’s discretionary spending.
Congress passed a measure as part of the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act that requires the DoD to produce a clean audit by Dec. 31, 2028. “Clean” means a clear enough accounting of the military’s assets, what was budgeted and spent, along with evidence and documentation, so that the Government Accountability Office can make an accurate assessment of the entire federal government’s finances.
The Marine Corps has been the only service to pass an audit since 2018, when it was first mandated to conduct a full audit. To date, the DoD has never passed a full, clean audit, according to the GAO.
Over the course of Wednesday’s hearing, both the members of the subcommittee on government operations and some of the witnesses had some concern about the department’s ability to pull it off.
“That’s a standard that every other large [government] agency is able to meet, and meet regularly,” Rep. Kweisi Mfume, D-Md., said in his opening remarks.
Knowing that the Pentagon has failed to deliver on that, Mfume said he could not vote for the proposed massive increase to DoD’s budget — from around $901 billion for fiscal 2026 to $1.5 trillion for fiscal 2027.
In 2024, the committee instituted a new system for the DoD’s auditing process, which follows a rubric or scorecard. Since that strategy was implemented, committee chairman Pete Sessions, R-Texas, said, “Progress was made but not enough to ensure full financial transparency and accountability. Financial transparency and accountability are core principles of good government.”
The underlying problems, as both Sessions and Asif Khan, director of the GAO, pointed out, are the internal accounting, budget and expenditure mechanisms across the DoD.
This is not a new issue; in fact, it has been going on for 30 years, according to Khan’s pre-hearing witness testimony.
“In 1995, GAO designated DoD financial management as a high-risk area because of pervasive weaknesses in its financial management systems, business processes, internal controls, corrective action plans, acquisition management and financial monitoring and reporting,” the testimony reads. “In 2025, we expanded DoD’s financial management high-risk area to include fraud risk management.”
That potential for fraud rises with a budget increase like the one proposed, one witness said.
“Any time there is an influx of cash or funds into any organization, the likelihood of increased risk of fraud, waste, and abuse coincides with that,” Brett Mansfield, deputy inspector general for audit in DoD’s Office of the Inspector General.
“I’m not sure if it’s a one-for-one [but] there is definitely a positive relationship between an influx of funds and the increased risks,” he added.”
DoD faces mounting pressure to pass clean audit for the first time
#GovernmentInefficiency #GovernmentWaste #LabelsBigGovernment #PentagonAuditFailure
Hart said his group had supported Trump’s campaign-trail calls for more efficient government. But now, he said, the #Trump admin was moving in the opposite direction, & wrongly invoking the upcoming celebrations as an “emergency”, to justify bypassing legally required competition [+ oversight & review].
“We’ve known that this is going to be America’s 250th anniversary for 250 years,” Hart said. “It’s not like we didn’t have time to plan.”
John Hart, chief executive of the conservative watchdog group Open the Books, said that the government seemed to be flying blind, embarking on an expensive project without knowing for sure what it would cost or how well it would work.
“The first thing any rational homeowner, family or business does is they solicit competitive bids,” Hart said. “Because when you rely on sole source contracting, it opens the door to extraordinary waste.”
Nonilex
ROSE COVERED GLASSES