From The News - 8 Mar 2025

TSA will be merit-based, Good Stewardship of America's riches, leakers busted

Mar 08, 2025

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem Will Move TSA To Merit Based

The Department of Homeland Security announced Friday that it is ending the collective bargaining agreement for the Transportation Security Administration and its thousands of officers, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The agency said the change was to remove "bureaucratic hurdles that will strengthen workforce agility, enhance productivity and resiliency, while also jump-starting innovation." In a statement, the DHS said there are more TSA employees focused on union work than on screening passengers. No workers will be fired as a result of the change, according to DHS.

The Orders: What Burgum’s Actually Doing

Burgum kicked off his gig on February 3, 2025, with six secretarial orders, and the one stirring the pot is about reviewing federal lands—500 million acres of dirt, plus offshore waters—for oil, gas, minerals, and maybe timber. Order S.O. 3421 says “review and, as appropriate, revise all withdrawn lands,” meaning anything Biden locked up could be back on the table. Another, “Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential,” targets the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and offshore leases for drilling. The goal? Revenue for the feds, tied to Trump’s “energy dominance” pitch—think oil rigs, mines, and maybe logging cash to offset that $36 trillion debt hole.

Tree-Hugger Worries: Real or Just Noise?

The environmental folks—like the Wilderness Society and Center for Biological Diversity—are hollering that Burgum’s out to gut public lands. They’re sweating over national monuments like Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, which Trump shrank in 2017 before Biden beefed ‘em back up. Inside Climate News says Burgum’s order could “weaken protections” for birds, endangered critters, and big landscapes, opening them to drills and bulldozers. E&E News flags Hartinger from the Wilderness Society claiming Burgum’s “hiding” a monument review in his energy push, fearing a repeat of Trump’s first-term cuts.

Is there meat on those bones? Sort of. Burgum’s order doesn’t name monuments outright, but “all withdrawn lands” could mean anything off-limits—parks, refuges, forests. The Times ties this to Burgum’s oil-buddy past with Harold Hamm, hinting he might shrink protections for profit. X posts echo this, with folks like@RepEWeight on March 3, 2025, fretting over Utah’s monuments. Biden’s crew added 1.6 million acres to conservation in 2023 alone, per BLS data, and Burgum’s review could flip that. If he green-lights oil in Alaska or uranium near the Grand Canyon, that’s habitat gone—legit worry if you’re a tree-hugger. But it’s not a done deal; he’s just reviewing, not swinging the axe yet.

Good Management or Sellout?

Now, flip it—could this be smart management with a debt over $36 trillion? Federal lands are a fat asset—500 million acres onshore, 1.7 billion offshore, pumping out 25% of U.S. oil and gas already, per the Times. In 2023, oil and gas leases brought in $12 billion, per Interior’s own numbers, and timber from national forests added $200 million-ish. Burgum’s pitch: crank that up. Alaska’s got 100 billion barrels of oil potential, says the U.S. Geological Survey, and critical minerals like lithium could cut reliance on China. At $36 trillion in debt (CBO pegs it at $36.4T as of February 2025), every billion counts—$12B barely dents 0.03% of it, but scale it up, and you’re talking real money.

E&E News quotes industry guy Erik Milito loving the “energy leadership” vibe, and Burgum’s North Dakota record—oil output jumped 50% under him—shows he can deliver. If he taps timber (say, 1 billion board feet from BLM lands annually at $200 per thousand) or doubles oil leases, that’s revenue without hiking taxes. Debt’s growing $2 trillion a year, per CBO, so this ain’t charity—it’s survival math. Plus, the U.S. hit 13 million barrels a day in 2024, a record, so why not milk it?

The Holes: What’s Shaky

Here’s the rub—both sides have gaps. Greenies cry “disaster,” but Burgum’s orders don’t guarantee a free-for-all. He’s got to follow laws like the Antiquities Act—shrinking monuments ain’t a snap, and courts slapped Trump down for overreach last time (Biden’s reversals held). Inside Climate News admits lawsuits are queued up if he pushes too far. On the flip, revenue dreams might fizzle—oil companies snag leases cheap (think $2 an acre), and timber’s small potatoes next to fossil fuels. A 2021 GAO report said federal land revenue’s a trickle compared to debt; even $20 billion a year’s a drop against $36 trillion.

Verdict: Substantiation or Hot Air?

The tree-huggers have a point—Burgum’s review could slice into protected lands, and oil, timber, or mining there would dent ecosystems. Alaska’s caribou or Utah’s red rocks aren’t hype; they’re real stakes. But it’s not a lock—legal hurdles and public blowback (70% back monuments, per 2023 polls) could stall it. On the management side, yeah, it’s a play to squeeze cash from America’s dirt, and with $36 trillion owed, that’s not crazy. Oil’s proven it pays, and minerals could too. Problem is, it’s no debt savior—too small, too slow.

So, both are half-right. Greens aren’t wrong to clutch pearls if sacred spots get drilled, but it’s not a done deed. Burgum’s not wrong to eye resources, but it’s no magic fix. Debt’s a beast, and this is a shovel, not a bulldozer.

And, we all need to remember that these same tree-huggers burned down much of California in defense of the snail-darter (Google it, if you don’t know)

Kristi Noem Drops The Hammer On Two Leakers

Kristi Noem, DHS boss, dropped a hammer on Friday, March 7, 2025, saying her crew nabbed two insiders leaking ICE raid details. She’s shipping them to the Justice Department for felony charges—could mean 10 years in the clink. In a video on X, Noem said these two were spilling secrets about operations, putting agents’ lives on the line. She didn’t name them but made it clear: “We plan to prosecute and hold them accountable.” The Post ties this to Trump’s deportation push, with Noem and Border Czar Tom Homan griping about leaks—some they’ve hinted came from the FBI, though no proof’s solid yet. DHS stayed mum when asked for more, but the message is loud: leakers are toast.

Noem also made it clear that other leakers, whatever the subject, could count on being a long term guest of the BOP1

Covenant Nation

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