Musk wants Treasury info because he who owns the keys to the vault wins. So take this scenario: musk & Child proteges take over treasury, SCOTUS says nyet & The South Africa Thug says: too bad, so sad, We've changed the passwords, & we're cutting off your funding until you do what We say. This goes on unti it gets down to Social Security where recipients like me have to swear a loyalty oath to King Trump to continue receiving money!
Ok... cheesey scenario but could it happen? I think so!
Yes, it could happen. I too am concerned about my Social Security and my spouse’s Civil Service Retirement pension. We have written both of our Senators and or Representative. Although, we are lucky that all 3 are Democrats.
Cheesy scenario, no I think it's more a Cheese Burgery scenario!
(Trying to add a bit of levity in a dire situation. I know it's not funny but my doctor told me to laugh more for my health. So this is me paying "humor" (dark though it may be) forward!)
Really? How many of us have the "means" and ability to actually do that? I agree with the idea. But from the way things are going, we are going to possibly be hit harder than other age groups.
It’s a coup and it has young civil service employees without recourse trying to put in a brave face and continue working. The second pdf saying sign or resign has arrived. One of these doctorate educated is our daughter who has a mortgage and lives and works remotely. She’s grown up wanting to work at NIH her whole life. Scared, upset mentally, unsure what to do, as are we her parents. Telling her to hold out when the next steps are probably stripping her of her benefits and her ability to pay bills & mortgage. What is one civil service employee to do. Is anyone helping them? If you know, please let it be known. There are many who are feeling pretty helpless. And don’t even get me started on the countless USAId studies, medicines, vaccines in the dust now because of greed and $. Where is our humanitarian souls? Is he going to sell that too to Gaza where his son in law and daughter will build high end condos? I am sad America is not revolting. I’d join and come to DC. We know how to fight but we need legal help fast and judges to stop and protect these agents, these civilians and our poorest fellow humans around the world. How do we start?
Mary, the Congress Dems ae starting to fight back. AOC did a live thing via Instagram on Monday, telling people, "don't give up," and "don't obey in advance." She told civil servants to ignore the orders to quit. AND, she pointed out that a lot of the crap that came down was (probably deliberately) while the politicians were at home, with their people, but now they're back.
Dear Mary, as a pubic employee, federal civil service employee, your daughter has a property interest in in permanent position. I think the first step is for your daughter to contact her public employee union or association to find out how they are pushing back based on the collective bargaining agreement and statutory rights which her benefits and job are based on.
I've been trying to join a local Indivisible group, but all those near me have disabled their email/contact choices online, so I can't get in touch with them. Am I doing something wrong, or could it be that they're afraid of putting their information out there? I welcome any guidance. I feel like I have to do SOMETHING.
I would still be eager to use him to take down Musk, but Musk is apparently more powerful because as Heather Cox Richardson points out in her podcast, Trump is a doddering old fool.
Yesterday the Dems and several hundred people held a protest and the senators and reps spoke out. Some senators were denied access to the treasury department. Hopefully they will try again with police in tow. Protests are popping up, people are calling, voice mails are full. FBI agents have filed lawsuits. There is more going on than we know to stop this.
Everyone is scared. That kind of step (an attempt at ousting Musk and his minions) has to be taken by people who are fearless and not afraid of the consequences. Willing to go to jail if that is the result (and it very well could be). We have seen this in other countries like Russia. Hungary, China but i think no one here in the US ever seriously contemplated that it could actually happen here.
This is old history but if anyone remembers the famous 6-book political fiction series written by Allen Drury, that started with Advise and Consent, one of the two optional endings was a scenario that is not at all unlike what seems to be happening now. It's remarkable how prescient Drury was in looking at how our system could be so easily corrupted.
Jon, that is a big thing we have to find out; are the police going to side with Musk & Trump or will they side with the Constitution? Ultimately, we will have to find out the same with the military. Will they fire on fellow Americans like Trump will direct them to?
Trump uses fear. He threatens. We gave him power to threaten more. He is threatening leaders abroad. Many just cave out of fear. Few stand up to him. This has been his modus operandi for a long long time. it works. He knows this. He's sitting on top of the world now, fool he may be.
Any child who learns the lesson of L. Frank Baum's "The Wizard of OZ" should know this. And it's been proven: Trump backs down when countered forcefully.
Elon Musk gives Trump a layer of protection.. and he keeps distracting us because he is genuinely illegitimate and we are outraged. There must be a limit to how much power we have given Trump and how much he can give to Musk in turn...
But we play by the rules don't we. And might lose by them.
"There is only room for one authoritarian leader at the top of the power vertical. Here there are two."
I feel like I'm living in a violent video game where the two main villains, one the richest and the other the most powerful, are taking over the country for themselves. This while the forced and voluntary deportation of the undocumented will soon result in food scarcity. Who could've imagined this here in America?
I am wondering why Republicans don't care! They keep voting in lock-step for the horrible people Trump chose for government positions. Trump's Army with Muck as the General has 54 Senators on the front lines.
Oh they care! Watching them shivering in their boots is utterly pathetic. RFK's billionaire ex-running mate said in a video that she would personally fund the opponent of any republican in their primary who doesn't vote for him. No one is doing their job--they're all paralyzed while our country is being hijacked....
Because they have no legal right to be there. Treasury is a part of the Executive branch and that is run by the GOP now. Musk had their permission. The Dems do not. Simple as that. Any attempt by Dems to break in would be exactly that, an illegal break in. And trust me the GOP will be waiting for even a single move that is illegal by Democrats to pounce. They will jail Schumer, Jeffries, Schiff and anyone else they can if they have even the slightest justification.
Trying to just keep up. If they have oversight then there should be a way for them to get in, but right now, the Republicans are blocking the Dems from participating in Government and we truly have a one party state.
I couldn't find out a whole lot about the capitol rallies or the groups involved. I've been told that Indivisible, MoveOn & Working Families Party are not involved. I will be at one my senator's office in Phoenix for a rally & meeting with Indivisible.
He's definitely not stupid, like the criminal in chief. But evil is a pretty good description. Add in Roger stone (where has he been?j and Russell Vought and then there's Elon.
Enough parental abuse in these men's history (by fathers mostly it seems) you wonder what happened to bannon.
Gene, they have gathered an entire playground of toddler-men and a few toddler-women who are willing to be bullied by Toddler-Trump and bamboozled by Toddler-Musk. They are all evil little brats who care for no one but themselves and probably don't think much of themselves either since they are willing to bow and scrape to a toddler man and his sidekick who together know far less than any of them. Disgusting!
Yes, it's really a coup. A coup is when something that is not the legitimate government takes control of all or part of the legitimate government. If Martians showed up and took over the computer at the Treasury Department that would be a coup. No one has to die for control of the government to change hands.
I think that would be an invasion, (Martians)! In my opinion the coup started during his first term but wasn't successful due to their J6 set back. Maybe even sooner by not allowing Obama to appoint. I can't see how any of this ends, (without violence) unless fracturing within the GOP begins, and more of the population gets on board in opposition.
True, JD does not have DJT's "abilities" and I have often fantasized that he might be our hero in disguise but then the reality of his connections with Musk & Thiel vaporize that fantasy. The other issue with the 25th is that the POTUS cabinet has to sign on along with JD. Not sure they would all be in for that even if JD is.
Yes, but I imagine steve bannon is pleased at the wrecking ball musk has taken to our agencies. I've read that after the Dept of Education, the GSA is next.
If there is no military (people with guns), who is it that is doing the "storming?" Why aren't the doors to these buildings locked with access only given to the legitimate employees? And, what is the "or else?"
Guards do what they are ordered to do. Just like enlisted folks in the military. Most coups do not start at the bottom but at some point near the top. Guards and other "enlisted" folks are taught and instructed to follow orders. Otherwise they can end up in a military prison.
And they reinforce each other so that they feel stronger even when the orders they are given feel wrong or illegal.
It's one of the primary ways that a military or police force can order their forces to charge up a hill into a machine gun nest which is firing at them. If enough go forward, some will survive (most of the time anyway).
Henceforth, NOAA, FEMA and other agencies involving geography will be solely controlled by the mindless scribbling of the Orange Duce's Sharpies. Welcome to the kakistocracy, America.
For this reason, I stated repeatedly that the few good generals could have saved democracy ironically by invoking a military club to save America. I was thoroughly denounced .
As a contrarian, I blame the woke left fore the far right new backlash. Yes it’s our fault. When Green Party nominee Ralph Nader takes 90,000 votes in Florida from Al Gore, we did it. When Jill Stein weakened Hillary who was no friend of mine, we did it to ourselves. We did it all. Let’s put blame where it belongs to us. Surely when the great LBJ had to prosecute an unwinable war, we did it to ourselves.
Nope. The folks who didn't vote or voted for third party candidates hurt us. And the MAGAs and the short-sighted folks are to blame.
No, I am not taking the blame. And I don't want to hear any more self-flagellating remarks. There is no time for it and talk like that drains emotional energy from folks who want to stop the madness.
We have a fire in front of us. This isn't the time to see who dropped a cigarette butt. Put the fire out first.
The reason the voters for Nader and Stein were ABLE to inflict the damage on our country that they did was because of a deficiency in our balloting system: "first past the post" plurality voting. This creates the spoiler effect, the voter's dilemma, the permanent Duopoly, and the threat of "primarying" officeholders to coerce their votes. With Ranked Choice Voting (which Congress is Constitutionally able to effect for all federal elections), second, third, etc. choices would be recorded, and if none of the candidates received a majority, the candidate with the lowest vote count would be eliminated and all the choices on the ballots where he was first choice would move up one rank. The modified first choice votes would be distributed among the remaining candidates and another vote count immediately made. If there were still no clear majority winner, the process would reiterate until there was one. All four of the listed problems would be eliminated.
The NPVIC is within less than 100 Electoral Votes of being activated and rendering the Electoral College a harmless inactivated relic.
A clarification of my fourth point about primarying an officeholder: Primaries are state, not federal, elections, so the Constitution does not seem to give Congress authority to directly mandate Ranked Choice Elections in state primaries. But with RCV mandated in federal elections I don't think states would care for the complication of using two different modes of balloting, so I think they would apply RCV to primary elections as well.
Dear Bill, I share your frustration about the road our country has taken since the corruption of Supreme Court which helped elect Bush. Many times I also think how different President Gore would have dealt with climate change and other serious problems we are facing now. If you need to blame anyone however, for the ignorant trump cult and musk destruction, please recall it was Mitch McConnell who refused Obama’s nominee for Supreme Court a hearing ( which led down that corrupt road) and who failed to vote for trumps impeachment for Jan 6 insurrection. Please stop blaming Democratic leaders and voters when trying to fight for civil rights and decency no matter how ineffective it has been recently. As Joyce says we are in this together — our community sticking together is
Wonder how Republicans in Congress will feel when Musk stops their paychecks as being an unnecessary expense. Wonder if they will recognize that by allowing Musk free reign now, they have made themselves obsolete.
Don't just protest. We need to take over every Congressional office in every state and demand they release all of the information on all of the laptops in every office.
If they can't stop Elon, then they certainly can't stop thousands of citizens from accessing their correspondence and browsing history.
1st, If funds to be transmitted are not transmitted because of an illegal coding intervention, ¿then, where does sequestered money go? ¿To whom? 😱
2nd, ¿what could be the reason that these oligarchs want to grab even more power and money? They already have so much more than they can spend, so . . . ¿what gives? 🪞
Good questions. don-old wants to build luxury resorts on the Gaza Strip. But really IMO they are just greedy. The more they have, the more they want to it is important for us to get our IT figured out. This is a millions times worse than I thought it would be.
Reminds of something I read or heard about (I believe) J. Paul Getty. When asked how much money is enough money, Mr Getty apparently answered something like, "a little more."
Oh boy - says one very evil person about another evil person. The Trump MAGA world is filled to the brim with evil people. America has always had its share of evil people. One thing that made us (arguably) great over the decades is that evil has never had a chance to really take hold. The good in us has generally ruled. Well, thanks to the stupidity of the American people, evil has now taken hold. The genie is literally out of the bottle. Our challenge now is to figure out how to put it back in.
Bannon hates Musk, but that doesn’t mean anything. Bannon was (I think) a Lt in the Navy around 1980. He hates the US government and wants it destroyed. He tried last time, but they’re much better organized now.
I thought it was a coup in November. He stopped campaigning in July and said he had a little secret and he didn't need any more votes. He has the top technocrats in the world working for him. I don't have a "theory" on how or what they did to rig the count, even though there were still plenty of people who voted for him. But I just don't buy it. He always does what he accuses others of doing. "They stole the election!" was the tell. I know it's not a popular opinion, but I can't shake it. And now we're seeing all of this "soft" coup, with the little Musk rats rampaging through our private information. If anyone knew how to set this up, starting in July or earlier, it was Musk. (and the rest of them). Yes. It's a coup. Now what?
Yes, seeing how deftly the muskies access and block big things it seems like it would be within the realm of their capabilities to influence election outcomes.
Contact your Governor and State “House” and “Senate” Representatives.
Demand that they take action to call for a special election; the special election to be a referendum asking the State’s voters to decide if the State should move forward with an action to secede from the United States of America.
I don’t want to fail to point out to you that:
-The “Crown” considered the Boston Tea Party to be illegal.
-The “Crown” considered the America Revolution to be illegal.
We are facing unprecedent times.
A disgusting person, who is a liar, a fraud, a con, a sex-abuser, a racist, a convicted felon, an admirer of Hitler, and a puppet of Putin, and who is consciously breaking U.S. laws (with no fear, at all, of doing so because the corrupt SCOTUS has granted him blanket immunity whenever he breaks our laws) is dismantling democracy, bit by bit. It took Hitler less than three months to destroy Germany’s democracy. Why should we passively sit back and watch scumbag criminal fascist Trump do that to America’s democracy? We should not. We must take action. Now.
I want to live in a country where elected leaders obey the law. I want to live in a country where NO ONE is above the law. I want to live in a country where EVERYONE, no matter what race, sex, color, or religion (or no religion) has the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, a country where laws do not tell women what they can, or cannot, do with their bodies. A country where no one tells me that my religious beliefs are inferior to theirs and where no one has the right to force their religion on me.
I envision THAT country to be a union of states on the left coast, on the right coast and along the upper middle part of the country, together with large cities within red states; those states and cities to connect with Canada, a true democracy. Call it the United Provinces of CANAMERICA.
CANAMERICA will have the largest GDP in the world. CANAMERICA will have approximately 200 million people. CANAMERICA’s Constitution will bar convicted felons from ever being President and from ever being members of the House and Senate. CANAMERICA will put laws in place where Judges (including those on SCOTUS) will be subject to indictment, arrest, trial and imprisonment if they accept money, bribes or gifts. CANAMERICA will endow every citizen to have equal rights. A country where NO ONE will be above the law. A country where its Constitution will ban political contributions.
If the Treasury Department computer crashes (it is old and delicate) and no Social Security checks and disability checks go out, even MAGA will notice that.
I heard they ended the EZ filing option at the IRS which means everyone will have to hire accountants to prep/file for them, no? If so That will be another budget hit for everyone that will for sure be noticed even by MAGA die hards. April 15 can’t come soon enough.
I read that it is still available. But then someone else put up an article saying refund checks would take longer, or not at all. When you read deeper they say that’s because IRS employees are being cut. The refund and collection systems are done by computers, not manually be employees anymore.
The thing that would mess them up is the Musk bois crashing the system. If you owe money should you pay it? Trump never has. Musk avoids it like the plague. Where’s the motivation for us to pay our debts?
Well…YEAH! Because their info’s on there also and boy, they’re gonna be so pissed! Perhaps, we will have a simple popcorn moment where they will actually join sane people.
I read this morning the migration to a new system was actually scheduled for this weekend… will the kids allow the migration, or have they altered the system to make that impossible without a rework, or is there a system left to work with?
It does to me too. I wonder how granular they can get to "punish" someone for doing or saying things trump, musk, or soon patel, doesn't like? They have all of our personal info.
Strength in numbers. We outnumber them, esp as people who voted for him realize they are losing money. Seems like The tariffs are incredibly unpopular (even on Wall Street)
Even if Musk’s actions are deemed illegal, who is there to arrest him and remove him from the treasury etc. Dedicated Trump “Yes men/women” are in charge of all law inforcement agencies. They will not cross Trump. Also, if he were to be arrested, Trump would simply pardon him and put him right back into doing the same illegal work he has been doing. So, who is there to stop Musk?
Not the state police, no. It may take many different state police to form an alliance, if they are not MAGA. Musk has to be held in contempt if an injunction is processed against him for his illegal actions. Perhaps he would be jailed and there is nothing Trump could do about that because he will risk being laughed at and horribly ridiculed. That is a vision I so wish to see.
I say: if his storm troopers converge and overwhelm a (probably) state or local police force (or even the Congressional Police) once, he exercises effective control. If he can do it at will because his storm troopers have dog-whistles for brains, then the question, like the storm troopers, becomes a no-brainer.
Finally: when he puts in his flunkies and wild-eyed nuts atop our military, police (like FBI and Secret Service and ICE and ATF and...) and intelligence and the Craven Red Congress gives them a pass (Thank You, Again, Susan Collins for your oh, so, callously heroic thought process), we really don't need to dicker over dictionary definitions.
LET'S NOT GET TOTALLY DEFEATIST HERE! These things may or may not happen if a court orders Musk to cease what he is doing. It's not futile pushing back and demanding we remain a constitutional democracy! HERE'S WHERE YOU IDENTIFY YOUR CONGRESSPEOPLE AND SEND THEM MESSAGES: https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member. Tell them they need to move against the coup!
I think officers of the court exist if he’s found in contempt of court. This could be our military’s time to shine and show their loyalty us to the constitution not a would be dictator (Elon) and his orange puppet.
The states are the way around pardons. If one or more states criminally charge him and his minions, he can be arrested by state authorities. He cannot be pardoned at the federal level because it is a state crime.
Trumpists surely don't want to call a coup a coup, just as they didn't want to call an insurrection an insurrection, or, for that matter, a lie a lie. Big Media is complicit by using sugarcoated euphemisms.
Big media is disgusting - their 'just another day' approach to the crisis unfolding is beyond belief. Thank goodness for substack - I wish I could support more of the journalists. I wish we could subscribe to a 'bundle' of journalists rather than one by one. I subscribe to HCR, Joyce Vance and a couple others but cannot afford more.
The similarities to 1933 Germany are unmistakable and undeniable. First, they came for the undocumented, then they came for the DEI people. Soon they will come for the Jewish people because they always do. Elon Musk’s boys are Himmler’s Brown Shirts in better clothes.
They don’t even need an actual reichshtag fire like in 1933 - they’re just pretending there is no need to go through the legislature at all. Time to fight back
Thank you, Joyce. Being following you for years, and you never fail to provide incisive, informative, insightful, and I dare say, inspiring, even if the message is hard to hear.
No, it's worse. The junta of billionaires is a number much larger than 2. They know what they are doing. Our inability to jail them, thanks to their friends at the Supine Court, makes them all the more confident and determined to succeed. But incarcerations must happen if we want to slow them down. I would start with Elon von Musk.
That’s right! According to Musk, HE came up with the plan and donnie okayed it. Now musk controls all the secrets AND Donnie’ tax returns and who knows what else. Meanwhile, donnie wants to level Gaza and build a resort. REALLY! He’s busy thinking about hotels and casinos and making money. He doesn’t care about his own MAGats.
A “talking” (delusionally) one too. Joe Biden could ramble on … but at least he’s coherent. Why has America - once first worldwide - come to accept damaged goods?
I found this very informative and helpful. But I’m very concerned about the theft of all of our financial and personal information. More like, scared, than concerned.
This is missing the point entirely. Your information has been everywhere for years. I’ve lost track of how many alerts I’ve gotten that my info is on the dark web or China or Russia is hacking us. It’s that Trump has allowed private U.S. citizens to walk in the front door and control where our tax dollars are going. To control our money for his benefit. The data is the least of it. But just maybe Dems will realize that not implementing GDPR or regulating tech companies was bad.
Yes, the main thing is Trump is facilitating a private unelected billionaire to dismantle our government. But Musk also wants to take personal information on everyone worth billions. The uses of that information are political as well as economic.
Wow! Thank you for this enlightening link. I live in a red state with Senators and a Rep that don't respond to calls or questions. I was starting to see and feel the things he had discussed (Elon wanting to specifically shut down USAID for some ulterior motive, etc). Senator Murphy really gave a really great tour of what's a real issue and what is intended as a distraction from their raiding the money in the federal government and our Social Security, etc. I'm going to share this with others.
Totally agree. We knew he'd probably do something absolutely stupendous in his second term, didn't we? When he leaves office, we get Jack Smith to prosecute.
Castrated. That’s the word I used to describe Congress after this past weekend when I called my three congressional reps today. They’re now irrelevant.
Me, too. Contacted each of my Senators and Representatives last Tuesday. Not one has acknowledged my message. Aren’t elected Republicans terrified of getting crucified at the mid-terms? Or since our 3 branches of government have been combined into just one, is voting irrelevant? On to Plan B.
Turn off the tap of tax money. If they’re going to cut funding to education, CDC, NIH, FDA (et all) we shouldn’t be paying for services we aren’t getting. Everyone quit their jobs and go to a barter system. Trade food for essential goods & services. Corporations can’t survive with no workers. General strikes have been effective in other countries. We’re not going to take this lying down!
I'm also in a red state (FL) and despite writing and calling, both my republican senators and Rep simply said, thank you for contacting us. I had asked my Senator, Rick Scott how he felt about an unelected individual rooting through Floridians' and Americans' personal information. I later found this quote in NOTUS.org:
Tech billionaire Elon Musk is working to shut down government agencies and cancel congressionally approved funding — and many Republican lawmakers are just fine with it.
“He’s doing exactly what he should be doing,” Florida Sen. Rick Scott said Monday night. “He’s going through every agency and looking at how to make sure the money’s spent right.”
Wait, isn’t that explicitly the role of Congress?
“It doesn’t look like Congress is doing their job,” Scott answered simply.
No wonder we don't get any answers to our contacting them. They have much more interesting things to do.
Who gets to determine if the money is spent right? Thats the role of Congress, not an unelected, drug addled, power crazed billionaire who has taken credit for things other people built. Send him to Mars already. Make sure to load his rocket with all the people he requires to do the work he’s taking credit for.
Congressional Republicans castrated themselves by prostrating themselves at the feet of Tump rather than working for the American people. It's working for them now, but the reality is that Trump's real playbook (Project 20025) and the playbook he conned MAGA with are at cross purposes. His real playbook - increasing the wealth and power of the elite class - will screw over and wreak havoc on his MAGA supplicants as well as everyone else. When this happens, it will be time for rising up, for a revolution. It is important to begin planning for that day now.
Now the CIA! Co-presidents Musk-Trump- Xi- Putin. It has been obvious for a long time that the aim is the destruction, not the governance, of the US... it is in full throttle.
I see videos everyday with pro China messages. How beautiful everything is in China how they see a problem & they fix it because their citizens have no say-so.
The bridges, buildings, trains & freeways that move their people. Then the closer: America should give up, our government is too unweildy to be effective. Too many voices are heard.
When I first started seeing these videos I thought oh nice, they're encouraging travel! Well the Cat's out of the bag. Musk owes China billions. It'll all be paid off if he delivers America to China. Are you ready to speak Mandarin?
People (@Adam_Kinzinger, for one, and Democrats themselves) keep asking “Where are the Democrats?” But it seems to me the more important question is “Where are the Republicans?” Only a few with courage and a true patriotism are needed to stop a lot of the destruction. Constituents of Republican Representatives and Senators need to make their voices heard, loud, many, and soon! This damage will not be reversible. Time is of the essence!
We don't really see any republicans who ever stand up for their understandable horror at the cabinet choices trump drags into the senate for their expected (demanded) approval. They always fold and vote for horrible, horrible people. I think the choices trump is proposing and then demanding to be confirmed ought to be seen as treason. These people have demonstrated bad judgment, no loyalty to our country, and...oh yeah, have absolutely no experience that would keep us safe if they're in that agency. Intentionally dangerous.
Unfortunately, it is probably going to take the “right” person to be harmed by all this nonsense before the nonsense turns into sense for all to stop it. IMO, someone needs to call a “5150”
I can’t believe I’m saying this. I have to agree with Steve Bannon when he said Elon Musk is an ‘Evil Person’.
And yes, it is a COUP!
There's strong evidence that Bannon, too, is an evil person. A case of "It takes one to know one."
Exactly. Then there is don-old, jd, and the list goes on and on…
Musk wants Treasury info because he who owns the keys to the vault wins. So take this scenario: musk & Child proteges take over treasury, SCOTUS says nyet & The South Africa Thug says: too bad, so sad, We've changed the passwords, & we're cutting off your funding until you do what We say. This goes on unti it gets down to Social Security where recipients like me have to swear a loyalty oath to King Trump to continue receiving money!
Ok... cheesey scenario but could it happen? I think so!
"DOGE" is HAL (from 2001 Space Odyssey)
I still say the correct pronunciation and spelling is: Douche! Fits too.
At least you could unplug HAL.
no HAL fixed it so you could not......
Nope.
Tim,
Yes, it could happen. I too am concerned about my Social Security and my spouse’s Civil Service Retirement pension. We have written both of our Senators and or Representative. Although, we are lucky that all 3 are Democrats.
Cheesy scenario, no I think it's more a Cheese Burgery scenario!
(Trying to add a bit of levity in a dire situation. I know it's not funny but my doctor told me to laugh more for my health. So this is me paying "humor" (dark though it may be) forward!)
Appreciate your reply, but I don't think your doc will be laughing when they don't allow vaccines for serious illnesses!
They're not taking over the purse-strings for nothing!
If they mess with Social Security and Medicare, the oldsters will revolt and do their own coup.
Really? How many of us have the "means" and ability to actually do that? I agree with the idea. But from the way things are going, we are going to possibly be hit harder than other age groups.
From the way things are going, yes, it could happen. So then what the f*** do we do??
Hate to say it, but NOT cheesy. It has a very real possibility of happening.
Maybe, up to the swearing a loyalty oath to any of them. Not happening!
Not cheesy at all. In fact very liable.
It’s a coup and it has young civil service employees without recourse trying to put in a brave face and continue working. The second pdf saying sign or resign has arrived. One of these doctorate educated is our daughter who has a mortgage and lives and works remotely. She’s grown up wanting to work at NIH her whole life. Scared, upset mentally, unsure what to do, as are we her parents. Telling her to hold out when the next steps are probably stripping her of her benefits and her ability to pay bills & mortgage. What is one civil service employee to do. Is anyone helping them? If you know, please let it be known. There are many who are feeling pretty helpless. And don’t even get me started on the countless USAId studies, medicines, vaccines in the dust now because of greed and $. Where is our humanitarian souls? Is he going to sell that too to Gaza where his son in law and daughter will build high end condos? I am sad America is not revolting. I’d join and come to DC. We know how to fight but we need legal help fast and judges to stop and protect these agents, these civilians and our poorest fellow humans around the world. How do we start?
Mary, the Congress Dems ae starting to fight back. AOC did a live thing via Instagram on Monday, telling people, "don't give up," and "don't obey in advance." She told civil servants to ignore the orders to quit. AND, she pointed out that a lot of the crap that came down was (probably deliberately) while the politicians were at home, with their people, but now they're back.
I sure hope so. And they better act quickly.
Make sure to call and/or email your Senators, Congressional Rep and your state Attorney General.
Dione and Done.
Dear Mary, as a pubic employee, federal civil service employee, your daughter has a property interest in in permanent position. I think the first step is for your daughter to contact her public employee union or association to find out how they are pushing back based on the collective bargaining agreement and statutory rights which her benefits and job are based on.
I've been trying to join a local Indivisible group, but all those near me have disabled their email/contact choices online, so I can't get in touch with them. Am I doing something wrong, or could it be that they're afraid of putting their information out there? I welcome any guidance. I feel like I have to do SOMETHING.
Get in touch with the national organization (they email me regularly) and inquire about the local situation.
"Where is our humanitarian souls?" Thank you for that, Mary, It really sums it a up, doesn't it
Evildoers attract other evildoers. Without them, there could be no MAGA or Trump 2.0.
I would still be eager to use him to take down Musk, but Musk is apparently more powerful because as Heather Cox Richardson points out in her podcast, Trump is a doddering old fool.
https://youtu.be/6IkzlB8gLzY?si=j7cn9Nb_10NAqTTM
And I am guessing Bannon does not have the means to buy a piece of the presidency like Musk clearly has.
Exactly.
I am wondering why the Democrats cannot go into the Treasury with the help of the capitol police.
Yesterday the Dems and several hundred people held a protest and the senators and reps spoke out. Some senators were denied access to the treasury department. Hopefully they will try again with police in tow. Protests are popping up, people are calling, voice mails are full. FBI agents have filed lawsuits. There is more going on than we know to stop this.
Everyone is scared. That kind of step (an attempt at ousting Musk and his minions) has to be taken by people who are fearless and not afraid of the consequences. Willing to go to jail if that is the result (and it very well could be). We have seen this in other countries like Russia. Hungary, China but i think no one here in the US ever seriously contemplated that it could actually happen here.
This is old history but if anyone remembers the famous 6-book political fiction series written by Allen Drury, that started with Advise and Consent, one of the two optional endings was a scenario that is not at all unlike what seems to be happening now. It's remarkable how prescient Drury was in looking at how our system could be so easily corrupted.
Un-fucking-believable.
But believe it we must...
Jon, that is a big thing we have to find out; are the police going to side with Musk & Trump or will they side with the Constitution? Ultimately, we will have to find out the same with the military. Will they fire on fellow Americans like Trump will direct them to?
Trump uses fear. He threatens. We gave him power to threaten more. He is threatening leaders abroad. Many just cave out of fear. Few stand up to him. This has been his modus operandi for a long long time. it works. He knows this. He's sitting on top of the world now, fool he may be.
Any child who learns the lesson of L. Frank Baum's "The Wizard of OZ" should know this. And it's been proven: Trump backs down when countered forcefully.
Elon Musk gives Trump a layer of protection.. and he keeps distracting us because he is genuinely illegitimate and we are outraged. There must be a limit to how much power we have given Trump and how much he can give to Musk in turn...
But we play by the rules don't we. And might lose by them.
"There is only room for one authoritarian leader at the top of the power vertical. Here there are two."
I feel like I'm living in a violent video game where the two main villains, one the richest and the other the most powerful, are taking over the country for themselves. This while the forced and voluntary deportation of the undocumented will soon result in food scarcity. Who could've imagined this here in America?
I am wondering why Republicans don't care! They keep voting in lock-step for the horrible people Trump chose for government positions. Trump's Army with Muck as the General has 54 Senators on the front lines.
There is reporting that R Senators are afraid - imagine that - AFRAID of the monster they have fed for 8 years and the mob he released from prison.
Oh they care! Watching them shivering in their boots is utterly pathetic. RFK's billionaire ex-running mate said in a video that she would personally fund the opponent of any republican in their primary who doesn't vote for him. No one is doing their job--they're all paralyzed while our country is being hijacked....
My thoughts exactly, Linda
Because they have no legal right to be there. Treasury is a part of the Executive branch and that is run by the GOP now. Musk had their permission. The Dems do not. Simple as that. Any attempt by Dems to break in would be exactly that, an illegal break in. And trust me the GOP will be waiting for even a single move that is illegal by Democrats to pounce. They will jail Schumer, Jeffries, Schiff and anyone else they can if they have even the slightest justification.
Jon, I have subscribed to Olga Lautman's Trump Tyranny Tracker. Here is Day 17. It covers Trump and Musk and people that work for Trump. I think it is well laid out. https://open.substack.com/pub/trumptyrannytracker/p/trump-tyranny-tracker-day-17?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
Trying to just keep up. If they have oversight then there should be a way for them to get in, but right now, the Republicans are blocking the Dems from participating in Government and we truly have a one party state.
Bannon is to Trump that Prigozhin was to Putin. Watch.
There are rallies in every state capital today. Timing can be found in search but safe to say 12 noon anywhere.
I couldn't find out a whole lot about the capitol rallies or the groups involved. I've been told that Indivisible, MoveOn & Working Families Party are not involved. I will be at one my senator's office in Phoenix for a rally & meeting with Indivisible.
You can find some information here:
https://bsky.app/profile/50501movement.bsky.social
https://www.newsweek.com/50-states-anti-trump-protest-nationwide-february-5-details-2025300
How do we find out about this?
Maybe just show up at 12 noon at your city Court House if you can't go to your State Capitol
He's definitely not stupid, like the criminal in chief. But evil is a pretty good description. Add in Roger stone (where has he been?j and Russell Vought and then there's Elon.
Enough parental abuse in these men's history (by fathers mostly it seems) you wonder what happened to bannon.
Gene, they have gathered an entire playground of toddler-men and a few toddler-women who are willing to be bullied by Toddler-Trump and bamboozled by Toddler-Musk. They are all evil little brats who care for no one but themselves and probably don't think much of themselves either since they are willing to bow and scrape to a toddler man and his sidekick who together know far less than any of them. Disgusting!
Absolutely.
Yes, it's really a coup. A coup is when something that is not the legitimate government takes control of all or part of the legitimate government. If Martians showed up and took over the computer at the Treasury Department that would be a coup. No one has to die for control of the government to change hands.
2 Class Actions were filed in DC Federal court today by our friend, NORM EISEN & other attorneys.
Analysis of BOTH cases is on The Contrarian's post tonight.
Both seek immediate, temporary and permanent injunctions as well as intentional fraud and other claims and remedies.
Support these cases!
Note, FBI Agent's Association (FBIAA) case No. 1:25-cv-00 327 -- 23 well drafted pages !
oh thank goodness -- I was wondering if this could happen.
Stop the coup.
Hakeem Jeffries can identify about 20 House Republicans who possibly could flip. Three are Cuban Americans from Miami. Here's a letter from a MAGAT, my rep, who represents a majority Dem district. https://files.constantcontact.com/1849eea4801/cd2e90be-43c8-4171-b3c6-a357621f7db9.pdf?_gl=1*uo1jgf*_ga*MDMwMjhjMzctZTFlNy00YzExLWE3NTEtZGUxMmY1OGY0YjEw*_ga_14T5LGLSQ3*MTczNzc0NTk1My4zLjEuMTczNzc0Njg2Ny44LjAuMA..
Please identify all these reps and interview them. Pressure them.
UPDATE: 2/5/25 Afternoon ALERT: To: lauriemcf & Everyone:
AP, just posted a 2/5 Headline:
"FBI agents who '... simply followed Orders on January 6 probe will NOT be fired a Justice Official [faux 'Acting Deputy AG Emil Bove] says".
Note for certain actor Bove is NOT the DIRECTORr of the FBI.
Coup operative Bove lashed out at the real FBI Director, Brian Driscoll
for "insubordination" which means the real Director is protecting our Country.
Recommendation: Add Bove as a named Defendant in the pending FBI Class Actions that made the Coup operatives back down -- a bit.
Push Back Even Harder!
How do we do that?
I think that would be an invasion, (Martians)! In my opinion the coup started during his first term but wasn't successful due to their J6 set back. Maybe even sooner by not allowing Obama to appoint. I can't see how any of this ends, (without violence) unless fracturing within the GOP begins, and more of the population gets on board in opposition.
hopefully this ends with the 25th amendment combined with the 26 midterms
25th will not save us. JD will then be prez which could be worse.
jd doesn't have whatever it is that trump does, besides remember he was against trump in the past....
True, JD does not have DJT's "abilities" and I have often fantasized that he might be our hero in disguise but then the reality of his connections with Musk & Thiel vaporize that fantasy. The other issue with the 25th is that the POTUS cabinet has to sign on along with JD. Not sure they would all be in for that even if JD is.
I agree, the worst thing that could happen is JD in the White House. He is evil and much smarter than the Rump
Yes, but I'm also worried that this attitude could reflect wishful thinking. I think we need to act now!
a point, but the 25th and the midterms are concrete measures. If dems take the house and senate in 2026 all this ends.
THAT is a big IF!!!
you don't suppose musks "helpers" are Martians, he does do all that spacey stuff.....
Yes, but I imagine steve bannon is pleased at the wrecking ball musk has taken to our agencies. I've read that after the Dept of Education, the GSA is next.
They also stormed NOAA late today, pretty much literally blowing past security, demanding access to IT or else.
If there is no military (people with guns), who is it that is doing the "storming?" Why aren't the doors to these buildings locked with access only given to the legitimate employees? And, what is the "or else?"
This is what baffles me, Lynell! Are these guards complicit then?
Guards do what they are ordered to do. Just like enlisted folks in the military. Most coups do not start at the bottom but at some point near the top. Guards and other "enlisted" folks are taught and instructed to follow orders. Otherwise they can end up in a military prison.
And they reinforce each other so that they feel stronger even when the orders they are given feel wrong or illegal.
It's one of the primary ways that a military or police force can order their forces to charge up a hill into a machine gun nest which is firing at them. If enough go forward, some will survive (most of the time anyway).
Good point, there, Jon. Thank you. This article adds to your explanation; it explains the insidious nature of the storming that is occurring. https://snyder.substack.com/p/of-course-its-a-coup
Right?
Henceforth, NOAA, FEMA and other agencies involving geography will be solely controlled by the mindless scribbling of the Orange Duce's Sharpies. Welcome to the kakistocracy, America.
that sounds like a cat coughing up hairballs...
I don't understand why they are not arrested when they do this? Or even shot. They do not have any authority to do this.
For this reason, I stated repeatedly that the few good generals could have saved democracy ironically by invoking a military club to save America. I was thoroughly denounced .
As a contrarian, I blame the woke left fore the far right new backlash. Yes it’s our fault. When Green Party nominee Ralph Nader takes 90,000 votes in Florida from Al Gore, we did it. When Jill Stein weakened Hillary who was no friend of mine, we did it to ourselves. We did it all. Let’s put blame where it belongs to us. Surely when the great LBJ had to prosecute an unwinable war, we did it to ourselves.
Nope. The folks who didn't vote or voted for third party candidates hurt us. And the MAGAs and the short-sighted folks are to blame.
No, I am not taking the blame. And I don't want to hear any more self-flagellating remarks. There is no time for it and talk like that drains emotional energy from folks who want to stop the madness.
We have a fire in front of us. This isn't the time to see who dropped a cigarette butt. Put the fire out first.
Correct and never was Musk on any ticket!
I ain't the "woke left" by a long stretch, and there's enough misery and B.S. going around without you adding your delusions to the pollution.
Bill,
The reason the voters for Nader and Stein were ABLE to inflict the damage on our country that they did was because of a deficiency in our balloting system: "first past the post" plurality voting. This creates the spoiler effect, the voter's dilemma, the permanent Duopoly, and the threat of "primarying" officeholders to coerce their votes. With Ranked Choice Voting (which Congress is Constitutionally able to effect for all federal elections), second, third, etc. choices would be recorded, and if none of the candidates received a majority, the candidate with the lowest vote count would be eliminated and all the choices on the ballots where he was first choice would move up one rank. The modified first choice votes would be distributed among the remaining candidates and another vote count immediately made. If there were still no clear majority winner, the process would reiterate until there was one. All four of the listed problems would be eliminated.
Don, After the removal of the electoral college
Patricia,
The NPVIC is within less than 100 Electoral Votes of being activated and rendering the Electoral College a harmless inactivated relic.
A clarification of my fourth point about primarying an officeholder: Primaries are state, not federal, elections, so the Constitution does not seem to give Congress authority to directly mandate Ranked Choice Elections in state primaries. But with RCV mandated in federal elections I don't think states would care for the complication of using two different modes of balloting, so I think they would apply RCV to primary elections as well.
Dear Bill, I share your frustration about the road our country has taken since the corruption of Supreme Court which helped elect Bush. Many times I also think how different President Gore would have dealt with climate change and other serious problems we are facing now. If you need to blame anyone however, for the ignorant trump cult and musk destruction, please recall it was Mitch McConnell who refused Obama’s nominee for Supreme Court a hearing ( which led down that corrupt road) and who failed to vote for trumps impeachment for Jan 6 insurrection. Please stop blaming Democratic leaders and voters when trying to fight for civil rights and decency no matter how ineffective it has been recently. As Joyce says we are in this together — our community sticking together is
essential against these unlawful bullies.
I understand.
It is a horror show without a Master of Ceremonies. A stampede of wild horses.
I agree with you there.
Revolutions are often taken away from the instigator of the revolution. Musk and company have simply agreed to pay the Felon more...
I’m sure initially it might have been a money thing because we are talking about don-old.
The current best contender is King Musk, no one wants a fool for a king.
Totally agree, Lynn. Things didn’t go so well for Trotsky.
It’s a Musk/Trump hostile takeover.
Wonder how Republicans in Congress will feel when Musk stops their paychecks as being an unnecessary expense. Wonder if they will recognize that by allowing Musk free reign now, they have made themselves obsolete.
HERE'S WHERE YOU IDENTIFY YOUR CONGRESSPEOPLE AND SEND THEM MESSAGES: https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member. Tell them they need to move against the coup!
thank you. I will spend much of today calling and sending messages. Again.
Don't just protest. We need to take over every Congressional office in every state and demand they release all of the information on all of the laptops in every office.
If they can't stop Elon, then they certainly can't stop thousands of citizens from accessing their correspondence and browsing history.
Two questions, among many, come to mind. 🤔
1st, If funds to be transmitted are not transmitted because of an illegal coding intervention, ¿then, where does sequestered money go? ¿To whom? 😱
2nd, ¿what could be the reason that these oligarchs want to grab even more power and money? They already have so much more than they can spend, so . . . ¿what gives? 🪞
Good questions. don-old wants to build luxury resorts on the Gaza Strip. But really IMO they are just greedy. The more they have, the more they want to it is important for us to get our IT figured out. This is a millions times worse than I thought it would be.
I guess I do not think like a billionnaire. It is SOOOoooo much worse, Monica; you got that right.
Dr. Evil: "Tell them we demand one MILLION dollars deposited as a ransom. "
Number Two: "Dr. Evil, a million dollars isn't all that much anymore. "
Dr. Evil: "Huh? Oh, yes, okay, tell them we demand one BILLION dollars deposited as a ransom!"
WOWerful parable there, Jon. Thank you. That image which you have conjured is a 'sticker' in my mind: easy to see, hard to overlook.
Money goes right into Musk’s accounts, most likely offshore.
It's never enough for them. Total control/power is what they seek now.
Reminds of something I read or heard about (I believe) J. Paul Getty. When asked how much money is enough money, Mr Getty apparently answered something like, "a little more."
Oh boy - says one very evil person about another evil person. The Trump MAGA world is filled to the brim with evil people. America has always had its share of evil people. One thing that made us (arguably) great over the decades is that evil has never had a chance to really take hold. The good in us has generally ruled. Well, thanks to the stupidity of the American people, evil has now taken hold. The genie is literally out of the bottle. Our challenge now is to figure out how to put it back in.
yep. bannon should know.. Takes one to know one. that's why they love the antichrist trump.
Monica, a Coup d'evil.
Bannon hates Musk, but that doesn’t mean anything. Bannon was (I think) a Lt in the Navy around 1980. He hates the US government and wants it destroyed. He tried last time, but they’re much better organized now.
I thought it was a coup in November. He stopped campaigning in July and said he had a little secret and he didn't need any more votes. He has the top technocrats in the world working for him. I don't have a "theory" on how or what they did to rig the count, even though there were still plenty of people who voted for him. But I just don't buy it. He always does what he accuses others of doing. "They stole the election!" was the tell. I know it's not a popular opinion, but I can't shake it. And now we're seeing all of this "soft" coup, with the little Musk rats rampaging through our private information. If anyone knew how to set this up, starting in July or earlier, it was Musk. (and the rest of them). Yes. It's a coup. Now what?
Yes, I sure remember that “little secret” comment.
And the recent thank you to Musk for Pennsylvania?
And what's with John Fetterman's support of them?🫣
I suspect he is going to jump ship. He sickens me.
Please explain what is going on with John Fetterman!
He is a stroke patient with a long history of depression. Strokes can change a patient's personality and affect judgement. He is unwell.
I don't mean to be insensitive, but he ain't right in the head, that's for sure.
correct, sadly PA dems should find him unfit and remove him. He is good for repubes, this is no time to play around. He has to be replaced
Yes, seeing how deftly the muskies access and block big things it seems like it would be within the realm of their capabilities to influence election outcomes.
https://smartelections.us/
2024 election fraud is still being investigated by this group.
I have felt the same way. I agree with you.
It is time to take action.
Contact your Governor and State “House” and “Senate” Representatives.
Demand that they take action to call for a special election; the special election to be a referendum asking the State’s voters to decide if the State should move forward with an action to secede from the United States of America.
I don’t want to fail to point out to you that:
-The “Crown” considered the Boston Tea Party to be illegal.
-The “Crown” considered the America Revolution to be illegal.
We are facing unprecedent times.
A disgusting person, who is a liar, a fraud, a con, a sex-abuser, a racist, a convicted felon, an admirer of Hitler, and a puppet of Putin, and who is consciously breaking U.S. laws (with no fear, at all, of doing so because the corrupt SCOTUS has granted him blanket immunity whenever he breaks our laws) is dismantling democracy, bit by bit. It took Hitler less than three months to destroy Germany’s democracy. Why should we passively sit back and watch scumbag criminal fascist Trump do that to America’s democracy? We should not. We must take action. Now.
I want to live in a country where elected leaders obey the law. I want to live in a country where NO ONE is above the law. I want to live in a country where EVERYONE, no matter what race, sex, color, or religion (or no religion) has the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, a country where laws do not tell women what they can, or cannot, do with their bodies. A country where no one tells me that my religious beliefs are inferior to theirs and where no one has the right to force their religion on me.
I envision THAT country to be a union of states on the left coast, on the right coast and along the upper middle part of the country, together with large cities within red states; those states and cities to connect with Canada, a true democracy. Call it the United Provinces of CANAMERICA.
CANAMERICA will have the largest GDP in the world. CANAMERICA will have approximately 200 million people. CANAMERICA’s Constitution will bar convicted felons from ever being President and from ever being members of the House and Senate. CANAMERICA will put laws in place where Judges (including those on SCOTUS) will be subject to indictment, arrest, trial and imprisonment if they accept money, bribes or gifts. CANAMERICA will endow every citizen to have equal rights. A country where NO ONE will be above the law. A country where its Constitution will ban political contributions.
LET’S PUT THIS IN MOTION!
Remember, at least one voting machine was compromized...
And perhaps it doesn’t feel real to the middle class, or above … but threatening social security, SNAP, Meals on Wheels is VERY REAL to me
If the Treasury Department computer crashes (it is old and delicate) and no Social Security checks and disability checks go out, even MAGA will notice that.
I heard they ended the EZ filing option at the IRS which means everyone will have to hire accountants to prep/file for them, no? If so That will be another budget hit for everyone that will for sure be noticed even by MAGA die hards. April 15 can’t come soon enough.
Some of this stuff is so bewildering -- they are doing it just because they can. It sickens me.
Maybe we should not pay our taxes to support this rogue enemy government.
Can I change my withholding from my employer to take out as little as possible?
So true. Their overreaching is our hope.
I read that it is still available. But then someone else put up an article saying refund checks would take longer, or not at all. When you read deeper they say that’s because IRS employees are being cut. The refund and collection systems are done by computers, not manually be employees anymore.
The thing that would mess them up is the Musk bois crashing the system. If you owe money should you pay it? Trump never has. Musk avoids it like the plague. Where’s the motivation for us to pay our debts?
Well…YEAH! Because their info’s on there also and boy, they’re gonna be so pissed! Perhaps, we will have a simple popcorn moment where they will actually join sane people.
I read this morning the migration to a new system was actually scheduled for this weekend… will the kids allow the migration, or have they altered the system to make that impossible without a rework, or is there a system left to work with?
Belatedly. Again, this is just an awful sit-com America has elected to watch. With or without popcorn.
It does to me too. I wonder how granular they can get to "punish" someone for doing or saying things trump, musk, or soon patel, doesn't like? They have all of our personal info.
Strength in numbers. We outnumber them, esp as people who voted for him realize they are losing money. Seems like The tariffs are incredibly unpopular (even on Wall Street)
President Trump kindly requires you to leave all windows unlatched, third story and above.
Even if Musk’s actions are deemed illegal, who is there to arrest him and remove him from the treasury etc. Dedicated Trump “Yes men/women” are in charge of all law inforcement agencies. They will not cross Trump. Also, if he were to be arrested, Trump would simply pardon him and put him right back into doing the same illegal work he has been doing. So, who is there to stop Musk?
Us.
Does Trump control the D.C. police? The Maryland state police? I don’t know.
Not the state police, no. It may take many different state police to form an alliance, if they are not MAGA. Musk has to be held in contempt if an injunction is processed against him for his illegal actions. Perhaps he would be jailed and there is nothing Trump could do about that because he will risk being laughed at and horribly ridiculed. That is a vision I so wish to see.
I say: if his storm troopers converge and overwhelm a (probably) state or local police force (or even the Congressional Police) once, he exercises effective control. If he can do it at will because his storm troopers have dog-whistles for brains, then the question, like the storm troopers, becomes a no-brainer.
Finally: when he puts in his flunkies and wild-eyed nuts atop our military, police (like FBI and Secret Service and ICE and ATF and...) and intelligence and the Craven Red Congress gives them a pass (Thank You, Again, Susan Collins for your oh, so, callously heroic thought process), we really don't need to dicker over dictionary definitions.
Quod Erat Demonstratum
Hmm, very good point, Carol C
Apparently Homeland Security is blocking entry to government buildings. Even keeping members of Congress out. This is frightening.
No one controls the Maryland State Police......
LET'S NOT GET TOTALLY DEFEATIST HERE! These things may or may not happen if a court orders Musk to cease what he is doing. It's not futile pushing back and demanding we remain a constitutional democracy! HERE'S WHERE YOU IDENTIFY YOUR CONGRESSPEOPLE AND SEND THEM MESSAGES: https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member. Tell them they need to move against the coup!
Who will enforce court orders? How will this play out if Musk, e.g., ignores a court order and simply proceeds? I really don't know...
With Bondi as the AG, will she indict Musk snd his minions?!
No
I think officers of the court exist if he’s found in contempt of court. This could be our military’s time to shine and show their loyalty us to the constitution not a would be dictator (Elon) and his orange puppet.
The states are the way around pardons. If one or more states criminally charge him and his minions, he can be arrested by state authorities. He cannot be pardoned at the federal level because it is a state crime.
Trumpists surely don't want to call a coup a coup, just as they didn't want to call an insurrection an insurrection, or, for that matter, a lie a lie. Big Media is complicit by using sugarcoated euphemisms.
Big media is disgusting - their 'just another day' approach to the crisis unfolding is beyond belief. Thank goodness for substack - I wish I could support more of the journalists. I wish we could subscribe to a 'bundle' of journalists rather than one by one. I subscribe to HCR, Joyce Vance and a couple others but cannot afford more.
We can’t afford to get into blame mode. We must each take what positive actions we can.
The similarities to 1933 Germany are unmistakable and undeniable. First, they came for the undocumented, then they came for the DEI people. Soon they will come for the Jewish people because they always do. Elon Musk’s boys are Himmler’s Brown Shirts in better clothes.
They don’t even need an actual reichshtag fire like in 1933 - they’re just pretending there is no need to go through the legislature at all. Time to fight back
And they have loads of tattoos. Think Hegseth…the leader of a large pack. Glad my parents aren’t alive.
Looks to me like they're more interested in detaining Palestinians.
Thank you, Joyce. Being following you for years, and you never fail to provide incisive, informative, insightful, and I dare say, inspiring, even if the message is hard to hear.
But is it really TWO strongmen? After all, were Charlie McCarthy and Edgar Bergen two people?
No, it's worse. The junta of billionaires is a number much larger than 2. They know what they are doing. Our inability to jail them, thanks to their friends at the Supine Court, makes them all the more confident and determined to succeed. But incarcerations must happen if we want to slow them down. I would start with Elon von Musk.
Don't forget the Musk Minions
Right. The Musk Munchkins.
That’s right, James, because it is the entire Project 2025 Billionaires plus those attached to Leonard Leo who are the Koch’s and the Mercer Family.
You’re right! “And a cast of thousands!”
That’s right! According to Musk, HE came up with the plan and donnie okayed it. Now musk controls all the secrets AND Donnie’ tax returns and who knows what else. Meanwhile, donnie wants to level Gaza and build a resort. REALLY! He’s busy thinking about hotels and casinos and making money. He doesn’t care about his own MAGats.
Trump has never cared about MAGA … not its people. Just grift and power and grift. As he and Jared plans to build more resorts for the rich.
Correct, Dementia Don is a puppet!
A “talking” (delusionally) one too. Joe Biden could ramble on … but at least he’s coherent. Why has America - once first worldwide - come to accept damaged goods?
I found this very informative and helpful. But I’m very concerned about the theft of all of our financial and personal information. More like, scared, than concerned.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DFrJ74QMtg4/?igsh=MTRudTRxeXl2aW4yYQ==
Chris Murphy is terrific; THE BEST OF THE BEST! Keep up the good work, Chris!
I agree, Ira!!
This is missing the point entirely. Your information has been everywhere for years. I’ve lost track of how many alerts I’ve gotten that my info is on the dark web or China or Russia is hacking us. It’s that Trump has allowed private U.S. citizens to walk in the front door and control where our tax dollars are going. To control our money for his benefit. The data is the least of it. But just maybe Dems will realize that not implementing GDPR or regulating tech companies was bad.
Yes, the main thing is Trump is facilitating a private unelected billionaire to dismantle our government. But Musk also wants to take personal information on everyone worth billions. The uses of that information are political as well as economic.
Right, it’s the checkbook… which spends $6 trillion a year I heard.
Ps are you Mitchell Zimmerman of Palo Alto?
GDPR ???
Christy,
Wow! Thank you for this enlightening link. I live in a red state with Senators and a Rep that don't respond to calls or questions. I was starting to see and feel the things he had discussed (Elon wanting to specifically shut down USAID for some ulterior motive, etc). Senator Murphy really gave a really great tour of what's a real issue and what is intended as a distraction from their raiding the money in the federal government and our Social Security, etc. I'm going to share this with others.
Thank you, Joyce, I agree this is a coup. But it is also treason. So I'll compromise and call it a treasonous coup.
Totally agree. We knew he'd probably do something absolutely stupendous in his second term, didn't we? When he leaves office, we get Jack Smith to prosecute.
Yes it is Fay, in the highest degree!
Castrated. That’s the word I used to describe Congress after this past weekend when I called my three congressional reps today. They’re now irrelevant.
Me, too. Contacted each of my Senators and Representatives last Tuesday. Not one has acknowledged my message. Aren’t elected Republicans terrified of getting crucified at the mid-terms? Or since our 3 branches of government have been combined into just one, is voting irrelevant? On to Plan B.
Turn off the tap of tax money. If they’re going to cut funding to education, CDC, NIH, FDA (et all) we shouldn’t be paying for services we aren’t getting. Everyone quit their jobs and go to a barter system. Trade food for essential goods & services. Corporations can’t survive with no workers. General strikes have been effective in other countries. We’re not going to take this lying down!
Yes! A general strike! I’ve been saying this - it HAS helped turn the tide back from authoritarianism.
Cig,
I'm also in a red state (FL) and despite writing and calling, both my republican senators and Rep simply said, thank you for contacting us. I had asked my Senator, Rick Scott how he felt about an unelected individual rooting through Floridians' and Americans' personal information. I later found this quote in NOTUS.org:
Tech billionaire Elon Musk is working to shut down government agencies and cancel congressionally approved funding — and many Republican lawmakers are just fine with it.
“He’s doing exactly what he should be doing,” Florida Sen. Rick Scott said Monday night. “He’s going through every agency and looking at how to make sure the money’s spent right.”
Wait, isn’t that explicitly the role of Congress?
“It doesn’t look like Congress is doing their job,” Scott answered simply.
No wonder we don't get any answers to our contacting them. They have much more interesting things to do.
Who gets to determine if the money is spent right? Thats the role of Congress, not an unelected, drug addled, power crazed billionaire who has taken credit for things other people built. Send him to Mars already. Make sure to load his rocket with all the people he requires to do the work he’s taking credit for.
Congressional Republicans castrated themselves by prostrating themselves at the feet of Tump rather than working for the American people. It's working for them now, but the reality is that Trump's real playbook (Project 20025) and the playbook he conned MAGA with are at cross purposes. His real playbook - increasing the wealth and power of the elite class - will screw over and wreak havoc on his MAGA supplicants as well as everyone else. When this happens, it will be time for rising up, for a revolution. It is important to begin planning for that day now.
Only if they stay silent - we need more protests with members of Congress dowsing out (at least the Dems).
And where is Mitch McConnell? Or Lisa Murkiwsky?
Now the CIA! Co-presidents Musk-Trump- Xi- Putin. It has been obvious for a long time that the aim is the destruction, not the governance, of the US... it is in full throttle.
In Trump’s previous unfortunate reign, many CIA agents were murdered and that’s because The Criminal got $$ for our secrets.
I see videos everyday with pro China messages. How beautiful everything is in China how they see a problem & they fix it because their citizens have no say-so.
The bridges, buildings, trains & freeways that move their people. Then the closer: America should give up, our government is too unweildy to be effective. Too many voices are heard.
When I first started seeing these videos I thought oh nice, they're encouraging travel! Well the Cat's out of the bag. Musk owes China billions. It'll all be paid off if he delivers America to China. Are you ready to speak Mandarin?
Musk must be locked up!
People (@Adam_Kinzinger, for one, and Democrats themselves) keep asking “Where are the Democrats?” But it seems to me the more important question is “Where are the Republicans?” Only a few with courage and a true patriotism are needed to stop a lot of the destruction. Constituents of Republican Representatives and Senators need to make their voices heard, loud, many, and soon! This damage will not be reversible. Time is of the essence!
We don't really see any republicans who ever stand up for their understandable horror at the cabinet choices trump drags into the senate for their expected (demanded) approval. They always fold and vote for horrible, horrible people. I think the choices trump is proposing and then demanding to be confirmed ought to be seen as treason. These people have demonstrated bad judgment, no loyalty to our country, and...oh yeah, have absolutely no experience that would keep us safe if they're in that agency. Intentionally dangerous.
Unfortunately, it is probably going to take the “right” person to be harmed by all this nonsense before the nonsense turns into sense for all to stop it. IMO, someone needs to call a “5150”
Transparency is the hallmark of good democratic government. When the time comes, I want all of von Musk's personal data -- ALL of it -- made public.
What a good idea.
How long will this two- person situation endure? I am interested to see who will be top dog.
Trump has been eclipsed by Musk. How long before he wakes up?