Trump / Musk (other than DOGE)

[StrangePackage]

Concur. Using a child as a human shield is a mild logical leap stemming from the abundance of musk's well documented anti-social behavior. God only knows what's going down behind the scenes, given what's paraded out in public.

Not to mention his relationships, or more specifically his lack thereof, with his other children.

Anyone who throws up Nazi salutes loses any right to the benefit of any doubt. Forever and ever amen.

 

[CFordUNC]

Hate to break it to Musk but anyone who decides they want to try to assassinate him isn’t likely going to be deterred by his having a 10-year-old in tow.

 

[nycfan]

 

[nycfan]

N/m

 

[nycfan]

“A quarter-century ago, as a young foreign correspondent for the Washington Post based in Moscow, I reported on Putin’s takeover of Russia, a process of crushing the country’s nascent, flawed democracy. Targets included any possible rival power centers that did not owe their authority to Putin, from independent media and wealthy oligarchs to elected governors.

Within a few years, the Kremlin had dismantled or defanged them all. At the same time, Putin empowered former K.G.B. colleagues from the security services, who created a modern-day dictatorship for him from their stronghold in what Russians call the “power ministries.”

This playbook is the same one being followed now by Trump. It’s important to be clear-eyed about this. I don’t know where it will end, or how far Trump will take it. America, thank goodness, is still a vastly different country from Russia, with a long tradition of democratic freedoms, decentralized power in the states, and constitutional governance. But tally up the damage from one month, and it is considerable. And no, I’m not just talking about ominous theatrics like Trump openly musing about staying in office for an unconstitutional third term or, just one day ago, proclaiming himself a “king” on social media and having his White House circulate a fake image of him wearing a crown on the cover of a Time-like magazine.

Washington today echoes with so many uncomfortable reminders of that transitional moment in Moscow—the sudden, fearful silence of critics who had previously spoken out, the business tycoons rushing to kiss the President’s ring, the lying and reality distortions to fit the official narrative. Trump’s consolidation of power this time has been fast and consequential.

In a slew of executive orders, he has asserted the right to unilaterally revoke the Constitution’s guarantee of birthright citizenship, cancel billions of dollars in federal funding, and assume executive control over independent federal agencies. He has empowered the world’s richest man to fire tens of thousands of government employees and eliminate long-established, statutorily authorized programs, ranging from America’s famed Epidemic Intelligence Service to its entire foreign-aid program.

Although some of the cuts are being fought in the courts, the G.O.P.-controlled Congress has allowed this unprecedented usurpation of its prerogatives with hardly more than a few isolated bleats of concern. In the Senate, Republicans have rolled over on even his most controversial, unfit nominees, including, most ominously, voting on Thursday to confirm Kash Patel as director of the F.B.I., despite (or perhaps because of) the prospect that Patel will use the agency to go after Trump’s enemies—a list of whom Patel helpfully itemized in a book published last year.

In some ways, Trump seems to believe he’s already a dictator with unchecked power. That certainly was the message of his social-media post over the weekend, channelling his inner Napoleon with a quote often attributed to the nineteenth-century French emperor: “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.”

Just this week alone, Trump has ordered New York to stop charging cars extra for driving into Manhattan, has mused out loud about bringing the District of Columbia under federal rule, and has confirmed that he banned the Associated Press from the White House press pool for refusing to go along with his personal whim—codified in yet another executive order—to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.

In a federal courtroom on Wednesday, Trump’s Deputy Attorney General, Emil Bove, personally argued to drop the corruption prosecution of New York’s mayor, Eric Adams, so that he could help advance Trump’s anti-immigration policy agenda—a quid pro quo so obviously crooked that it led to multiple prosecutors quitting in protest.

Coming soon, according to multiple news reports on Thursday, is a loyalty purge of top generals at the Pentagon, including possibly the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. This time, Trump wants to insure that the power ministries are fully in his control. …”

 

[nycfan]

“A quarter-century ago, as a young foreign correspondent for the Washington Post based in Moscow, I reported on Putin’s takeover of Russia, a process of crushing the country’s nascent, flawed democracy. Targets included any possible rival power centers that did not owe their authority to Putin, from independent media and wealthy oligarchs to elected governors.

Within a few years, the Kremlin had dismantled or defanged them all. At the same time, Putin empowered former K.G.B. colleagues from the security services, who created a modern-day dictatorship for him from their stronghold in what Russians call the “power ministries.”

This playbook is the same one being followed now by Trump. It’s important to be clear-eyed about this. I don’t know where it will end, or how far Trump will take it. America, thank goodness, is still a vastly different country from Russia, with a long tradition of democratic freedoms, decentralized power in the states, and constitutional governance. But tally up the damage from one month, and it is considerable. And no, I’m not just talking about ominous theatrics like Trump openly musing about staying in office for an unconstitutional third term or, just one day ago, proclaiming himself a “king” on social media and having his White House circulate a fake image of him wearing a crown on the cover of a Time-like magazine.

Washington today echoes with so many uncomfortable reminders of that transitional moment in Moscow—the sudden, fearful silence of critics who had previously spoken out, the business tycoons rushing to kiss the President’s ring, the lying and reality distortions to fit the official narrative. Trump’s consolidation of power this time has been fast and consequential.

In a slew of executive orders, he has asserted the right to unilaterally revoke the Constitution’s guarantee of birthright citizenship, cancel billions of dollars in federal funding, and assume executive control over independent federal agencies. He has empowered the world’s richest man to fire tens of thousands of government employees and eliminate long-established, statutorily authorized programs, ranging from America’s famed Epidemic Intelligence Service to its entire foreign-aid program.

Although some of the cuts are being fought in the courts, the G.O.P.-controlled Congress has allowed this unprecedented usurpation of its prerogatives with hardly more than a few isolated bleats of concern. In the Senate, Republicans have rolled over on even his most controversial, unfit nominees, including, most ominously, voting on Thursday to confirm Kash Patel as director of the F.B.I., despite (or perhaps because of) the prospect that Patel will use the agency to go after Trump’s enemies—a list of whom Patel helpfully itemized in a book published last year.

In some ways, Trump seems to believe he’s already a dictator with unchecked power. That certainly was the message of his social-media post over the weekend, channelling his inner Napoleon with a quote often attributed to the nineteenth-century French emperor: “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.”

Just this week alone, Trump has ordered New York to stop charging cars extra for driving into Manhattan, has mused out loud about bringing the District of Columbia under federal rule, and has confirmed that he banned the Associated Press from the White House press pool for refusing to go along with his personal whim—codified in yet another executive order—to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.

In a federal courtroom on Wednesday, Trump’s Deputy Attorney General, Emil Bove, personally argued to drop the corruption prosecution of New York’s mayor, Eric Adams, so that he could help advance Trump’s anti-immigration policy agenda—a quid pro quo so obviously crooked that it led to multiple prosecutors quitting in protest.

Coming soon, according to multiple news reports on Thursday, is a loyalty purge of top generals at the Pentagon, including possibly the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. This time, Trump wants to insure that the power ministries are fully in his control. …”

“… Back in 2019, Putin crowed in an interview with the Financial Times about the end of the “obsolete” liberal world order that had long since “outlived its purpose.” The President of the European Council at the time, Poland’s Donald Tusk, pushed back on him, insisting that what was “really obsolete” was Putin’s own heavy-handed brand of governance, with its “authoritarianism, personality cults, and the rule of oligarchs.”

Just a few years later, reading that sentence evokes only sadness: it’s no longer just Putin’s Russia that threatens the foundations of Western liberal democracy but Trump’s Washington. “

 

[nycfan]

 

[Mulberry Heel]

Our entire political system and government has degenerated into a reality television show. And the people running the government have about the same level of intelligence, morals, and ethics of most reality tv show stars, so it fits. And far too many people are lapping it up because all they watch are reality tv shows, "pro" wrestling, and the like. And it will remain that way until the shit really hits the fan - say, an economic collapse or serious foreign policy crisis - in which case we're all screwed because the loons we have running the government won't have a clue as to what they should do to fix it. Imagine Trump 2.0 trying to manage something like the Cuban Missile Crisis or the 2008 near-economic implosion and you'll get the idea.

 

[nycfan]

 

[nycfan]

 

[nycfan]

 

[nycfan]

“…
That’s why a team from Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency headed straight for O.P.M., dragging in sofa beds to sleep on so they could be there round the clock. O.P.M. is root access to the entire United States government.

With that kind of access, even a small team can search the entire government for employees whose job titles contain suggestions of wrongthink, or who might resist takeovers or wield bureaucratic tools to slow the pace of change.

In effect, this small DOGE crew has become sysadmins for the entire government. Soon after O.P.M., they descended on the Treasury Department, where every payment the government has made is stored: root access to the economy (including many companies that are direct competitors to those of Musk). Their efforts expanded recently to the I.R.S. and Social Security Administration, both of which hold extremely personal, sensitive information: root access to practically the entire American population.

The Atlantic reports that a former Tesla engineer appointed as the director of the Technology Transformation Services — a little-known entity that runs digital services for many parts of the government — has requested “privileged access” to 19 different I.T. systems reportedly without even completing a background check, making him less vetted than the person delivering pizza to that mine.

…All this has merged with and amplified another kind of insider threat brewing for decades on the political side: the expansion of unchecked executive power.

“With money we will get men, said Caesar, and with men we will get money,” Thomas Jefferson once wrote, to warn against the ways that what he called elective despotism can become a self-feeding cycle.

He had feared that an elected authoritarian would not just pulverize the institutions meant to limit his power, but take them over to wield as weapons, thus further entrenching himself. …”

 

[superrific]

Well, guess I won't be using the mail.

They are 100% going to use this to fuck with the election. Mail in ballots, etc. Democratic fundraising fliers, etc.

 

[nycfan]

“…
That’s why a team from Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency headed straight for O.P.M., dragging in sofa beds to sleep on so they could be there round the clock. O.P.M. is root access to the entire United States government.

With that kind of access, even a small team can search the entire government for employees whose job titles contain suggestions of wrongthink, or who might resist takeovers or wield bureaucratic tools to slow the pace of change.

In effect, this small DOGE crew has become sysadmins for the entire government. Soon after O.P.M., they descended on the Treasury Department, where every payment the government has made is stored: root access to the economy (including many companies that are direct competitors to those of Musk). Their efforts expanded recently to the I.R.S. and Social Security Administration, both of which hold extremely personal, sensitive information: root access to practically the entire American population.

The Atlantic reports that a former Tesla engineer appointed as the director of the Technology Transformation Services — a little-known entity that runs digital services for many parts of the government — has requested “privileged access” to 19 different I.T. systems reportedly without even completing a background check, making him less vetted than the person delivering pizza to that mine.

…All this has merged with and amplified another kind of insider threat brewing for decades on the political side: the expansion of unchecked executive power.

“With money we will get men, said Caesar, and with men we will get money,” Thomas Jefferson once wrote, to warn against the ways that what he called elective despotism can become a self-feeding cycle.

He had feared that an elected authoritarian would not just pulverize the institutions meant to limit his power, but take them over to wield as weapons, thus further entrenching himself. …”

“…
It’s not a choice between efficiency and manila folders in underground mines. There have been plenty of promising efforts to develop digital technologies that preserve our privacy while delivering its conveniences. They have names like zero-knowledge proofs, federated learning, differential privacy, secure enclaves, homomorphic encryption, but chances are you’ve never heard of any of them. In the rush to create newer, faster, more monetizable technologies — and to enable the kind of corporate empires whose chief executives stood beside Donald Trump at his inauguration — privacy and safety regulations seemed like a bore.

Now we are stuck with a system that offers equal efficiency to those who wish to exercise the legitimate functions of government and those who wish to dismantle it, or to weaponize it for their own ends. There doesn’t even seem to be a mechanism to learn who has gained access to what database with what privileges. Judges are asking and not always getting clear answers.

The only ones who know are the sysadmins, and they’re not saying.”

 

[superrific]

DOGE Finds $2 Billion in Taxpayer Funds Earmarked for Stacey Abrams-Linked Group

DOGE found $2 billion in taxpayer funds set aside for a fledgling nonprofit linked to perennial Georgia Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams. The Environmental Protection Agency under the Biden administration awarded Power Forward Communities the grant in April 2024 as part of the agency's...

freebeacon.com

Hahahahahahah. $100 in revenue and receive a grant for $2 billion. Should be a 50 page thread on here talking about the possible shenanigans going on here between the jill administration and abrams. Can't wait to read all the concern that was voiced in the elon threads because there aren't any hypocrites on the zzl.

He who does not understand timeouts will not understand early stage financing.

 

[BlooVooDoo]

It's pretty impossible to make a mean spirited accusation against Elon Musk. He's likely actively engaged in things far wrose than any accusation that could be levied.

It wouldn’t surprise me if Musk is using the kid as a shield, but I think there’s a reasonable chance he likes taking the kid around because he’s poorly behaved. Telling adults to shush their mouths and wiping boogers on museum worthy furniture is the kind of thing that most parents would profusely apologize for. Musk seems to use it as a passive aggressive FU to those he meets with.

 

[superrific]

Let's look at her father, a man who worked in the aerospace industry for many years (despite being a foreign born immigrant), which normally wouldn't be such an issue, except when it turns out the very company her father worked for many years, Collins Aerospace, turned out to have been in several controversies regarding the theft of American aerospace tech which then got handed over to the Chinese (see below).

Shocking that a poster calling himself AlbionAmerican would make such a big deal that a "foreign born immigrant" is working for a huge aerospace company (Collins has 50K employees and like 100 offices around the country; my son was looking at them for an internship).

The problem is not Usha. There's not a shred of evidence that the Vice-President's wife is calling any shots. The problem is Trump and Elon and his sycophants.

You idiots object when we point out your animus toward brown people, but then post shit like this.

 

[nycfan]

People are starting to complain.

 

[CeruleanBlueHeel]

Military needs to act soon and take this administration out or it will be too late. Don't wait for NATO pullout. Just do it. Set up a coalition bipartisan government to run things until the next election cycle.

 

[Geisterfahrer]

Military needs to act soon and take this administration out or it will be too late. Don't wait for NATO pullout. Just do it. Set up a coalition bipartisan government to run things until the next election cycle.

No. Just no.