WHAT'S GOIN' ON - BULLETIN #10 - Musk "Reshapes" Washington D.C.

President Trump and his sidekick from South Africa are undertaking an administrative and digital coup in Washington D.C., firing dozens of career government officials (not loyal to them,) pardoning convicted criminals, freezing funding programs crucial to human and economic health, illegally pawing for federal fund deposits. I will be running a series of bulletins, shared across multiple platforms, containing bite-sized accounts of what is happening. Call your congressperson and do not sit there as if it's not happening or that nothing can be done about it. Dare to share. It's your democracy.

Bulletin #10

Elon Musk's "reshaping" of the Federal Government is the topic of timid media coverage. Not much discussion of whether his being head of an ersatz Department of Government Efficiency gives him the authority to erase decades-lived federal agencies with ongoing, serious business throughout America and the world.

His people having entered USAID's offices and accessed classified materials without proper clearance is an established fact. That will usually disqualify an operation.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has declared himself "acting administrator" of USAID, throwing shade on Musk's claim that "we're getting rid of it."

USAID's not gone if someone is its acting administrator.

Musk is probably somewhat over his skis by stepping on a Rubio's prerogatives as the guy in charge the agency's $50 billion budget and Rubio won't be alone in feeling pushed around by the South African billionaire.

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) has suggested there is a question of Musk stepping on Congressional toes and Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii says he plans to put a "hold" on all of Trump's State Department nominees until the USAID is restored to its pre- "shock and awe" condition.

Senators can do that, because the Founding Whig-wearers knew guys like him roam the political world and needed an institutional brake to slow their designs.

The Trump/Musk executive order storm, while noisy, is as flimsy as their legislative majority, and most of these directives by fiat simply will not carry the force of establish, enacted law.

#et
 

WHAT'S GOIN' ON? Bulletin #9 - Musk Besieges USAID

 

President Trump and his sidekick from South Africa are undertaking an administrative and digital coup in Washington D.C., firing dozens of career government officials (not loyal to them,) pardoning convicted criminals, freezing funding programs crucial to human and economic health, illegally pawing for federal fund deposits. I will be running a series of bulletins, shared across multiple platforms, containing bite-sized accounts of what is happening. Call your congressperson and do not sit there as if it's not happening or that nothing can be done about it. Dare to share. It's your democracy.

Bulletin #9

As part of his weekend digital coup d'etat, Elon Musk used private computers to breach those belonging to USAID. Shortly thereafter, staff in the agency's legislative and public affairs bureau lost access to their emails, implying they’ve been put on administrative leave.

Queried, Musk responded on X: “USAID is a criminal organization. Time for it to die.”

Is that his white paper after hours of investigating an auditing the $50 billion dollar government concern? Me thinks not, as Musk added, "U.S. Aid was a viper's nest of radical left-Marxists who hate America."

The reasoning is Hitler's circa 1933; the language that of a middle schooler. I'm confused: Is Musk heading up the Department of Government Efficiency or the Department of Ideological Purity?

USAID was authorized by President John F. Kennedy with the idea of killing communism in the developing world with programs of American kindness...the latter expression not being part of Musk's vocabulary.

Maybe a Fascist saluting South African raised on the upside of the apartheid system, with known mental fragilities, isn't the best guy to decide what's best for the world's oldest, Republican democracy.

Arrest him. Expropriate his holdings. Then he'll know what Marxism really is.

WHAT'S GOIN' ON? Bulletin #8 Musk Besieges Office of Personnel Management

 WHAT'S GOIN' ON:

President Trump and his sidekick from South Africa are undertaking an administrative and digital coup in Washington D.C., firing dozens of career government officials (not loyal to them,) pardoning convicted criminals, freezing funding programs crucial to human and economic health, illegally pawing for federal fund deposits. I will be running a series of bulletins, shared across multiple platforms, containing bite-sized accounts of what is happening. Call your congressperson and do not sit there as if it's not happening or that nothing can be done about it. Dare to share. It's your democracy.

Bulletin #8

It must be pointed out, again, that Mr. Musk is neither an elected official nor anyone who has been confirmed after having his bona fides vetted congressionally. Trump, still clueless about how the government works, in effect "deputized" him to root out fraud and waste (as they understand it). The Department of Government Efficiency's (DOGE) legitimacy is currently being scrutinized in three separate lawsuits, in as much as it is Congress that establishes federal agencies, the boundaries of their mission, and the funding of said mandate.

Since Congress would appropriate any funding for DOGE, and hasn't, it's a fair guess that Musk, who doesn't need the money, is paying private hirelings to harass federal employees such as these at the Office of Personnel Management. All Americans should be mortified at the idea of private lackeys paid by a South African with a penchant for Fascist salutes bullying their way into government offices, locking the supervisors of said offices out of the computer systems under their aegis, and nosing around to find out whatever it is they are looking for.

Musk needs to be fired, but it would be like firing Kramer from "Seinfeld" who was dismissed from a place that didn't really employ him. Musk isn't working for anybody but himself here.

WHAT'S GOIN' ON? Bulletin #7 Goodby Free Press

 WHAT'S GOIN' ON:

President Trump and his sidekick from South Africa are undertaking an administrative and digital coup in Washington D.C., firing dozens of career government officials (not loyal to them,) pardoning convicted criminals, freezing funding programs crucial to human and economic health, illegally pawing for federal fund deposits. I will be running a series of bulletins, shared across multiple platforms, containing bite-sized accounts of what is happening. Call your congressperson and do not sit there as if it's not happening or that nothing can be done about it. Dare to share. It's your democracy.

Bulletin #7

The first item covers the fact long-standing entities "of record" in the printed press and broadcast media, "New York Times," "National Broadcast Corporation," "National Public Radio," have been ousted from their Pentagon posts in favor of outfits controlled and/or sympathetic to, call it what it is now, American Fascism.

The second item covers the fact that the National Transportation Safety Board - the Federal agency that looks into air disasters - has ceased its primary function of informing the public of its investigatory findings. Reporters have to go to Elon Musk's "X" swamp to get that information.

Imagine that.

So, the way this is supposed to work is, Stephen Siciliano puts this stuff up and you, through the magic of social media "SHARE" or comment on said work. That way there is a critical mass of voices that can affect change and protect one another. You don't do that, you're leaving me hanging. The owner of this platform contributed to, and enjoyed the Inaugural festivities front row, and it's just a matter of time before what happened to NBC and "The Times," happens to me and to the intrepid reporters I am echoing. I know you are scared and confused and hope you can just carry on by looking the other way.

No, being quiet will not save you. Act.

WHAT'S GOIN' ON - Bulletin #6. The Remedy was Fired.

 WHAT'S GOIN' ON:

President Trump and his sidekick from South Africa are undertaking an administrative and digital coup in Washington D.C., firing dozens of career government officials (not loyal to them,) pardoning convicted criminals, freezing funding programs crucial to human and economic health, illegally pawing for federal fund deposits. I will be running a series of bulletins, shared across multiple platforms, containing bite-sized accounts of what is happening. Call your congressperson and do not sit there as if it's not happening or that nothing can be done about it. Dare to share. It's your democracy.

Bulletin #6

Musk, an unelected official, not confirmed by Congress, heading up an illegitimate entity not funded or established by Congress, is acting illegally, but the entity that should/would/could arrest him, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, has been decapitated at the command level, and will soon be led by Trump loyalists, while those who might prosecute him have all been fired (See Bulletin #2). This practice has been affected at a number of federal agencies so that enforcement - if you thought the system would save you - is impossible. Trump already broke the court system. Had he not, there'd be someone else occupying the White House right now. Instead, he will appeal the appeals of his appeals, until he shops a judge he's appointed (remember Judge Cannon?), or it lands up at the Supreme Court where partisan hacks like Justice Alito will deem his actions "immune."

WHAT'S GOIN' ON - Musk's takeover of the federal budget process

 WHAT'S GOIN' ON:

President Trump and his sidekick from South Africa are undertaking an administrative and digital coup in Washington D.C., firing dozens of career government officials (not loyal to them,) pardoning convicted criminals, freezing funding programs crucial to human and economic health, illegally pawing for federal fund deposits. I will be running a series of bulletins, shared across multiple platforms, containing bite-sized accounts of what is happening. Call your congressperson and do not sit there as if it's not happening or that nothing can be done about it. Dare to share. It's your democracy.

Bulletin #5

From Josh Marshall:
"...while the particulars are hard to pin down my impression is that the Musk takeover stuff is considerably worse than is being presented in the press...

...they already have [control] over key computer systems, payment systems, etc...

...They’re into the treasury payment system and claiming they’ve already found like $4B in “savings” a day. It’s important to know what this means. This is simple, his DOGE team is reviewing the US federal budget, law of the land and deciding which parts aren’t necessary. It sounds like they’re saying they will unilaterally cut these funds with control over the check writing at Treasury. "

More at: https://bsky.app/.../joshtpm.bsky.social/post/3lh6b55ps7k2u

 WHAT'S GOIN' ON:

President Trump and his sidekick from South Africa are undertaking an administrative and digital coup in Washington D.C., firing dozens of career government officials (not loyal to them,) pardoning convicted criminals, freezing funding programs crucial to human and economic health, illegally pawing for federal fund deposits. I will be running a series of bulletins, shared across multiple platforms, containing bite-sized accounts of what is happening. Call your congressperson and do not sit there as if it's not happening or that nothing can be done about it. Dare to share. It's your democracy.

Bulletin #2

"As of Friday evening, the Acting US Attorney for Washington, D.C., fired about 30 US Attorneys who prosecuted January 6 insurrectionists. See Politico, DOJ fires dozens of prosecutors who handled Jan. 6 cases. Think about that for a moment: The convicted felons who attacked the Capitol have been pardoned and the loyal servants of the Constitution who prosecuted them have been fired. That fact should outrage every American."

From RobertHubbell.substack.com

#et

What's Goin' On - The Coup Underway

 WHAT'S GOIN' ON:

President Trump and his sidekick from South Africa are undertaking an administrative and digital coup in Washington D.C., firing dozens of career government officials (not loyal to them,) pardoning convicted criminals, freezing funding programs crucial to human and economic health, illegally pawing for federal fund deposits. I will be running a series of bulletins, shared across multiple platforms, containing bite-sized accounts of what is happening. Call your congressperson and do not sit there as if it's not happening or that nothing can be done about it. Dare to share. It's your democracy.

This from RobbertHubbell.substack.com

Bulletin #1:

Elon Musk and a team of DOGE infiltrators have taken over the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) by connecting non-government computer servers to the US personnel mainframe computers. They have reportedly seized private information about millions of federal employees. They have locked the senior managers of the OPM out of their agency’s computers. They have moved “sofa beds” into the OPM offices and put the offices into a “lockdown mode.” See Reuters, Exclusive: Musk aides lock government workers out of computer systems at US agency, sources say.

The hostile takeover of OMP allowed Musk to send an unauthorized memo inviting millions of federal employees to resign in exchange for eight months of “non working paid employment.” [Two unions representing federal workers have filed a lawsuit challenging Trump's plan to reclassify and terminate hundreds of thousands of federal workers.]

Elon Musk and a team of DOGE infiltrators have attempted to seize control of the US Treasury payments system—the gateway through which ALL funds from the federal government flow. When a senior manager at the Treasury asked why Musk needed access to the highly sensitive system, the manager was immediately placed on leave. He chose to quit, instead. See The New Republic, Top Official to Quit as Musk Tries to Get Hands on Key Payment System.

New book by the highway scribe: Three Surfin Safari Summers

 Those of you who’ve been Facebook friends with me for a while will remember that, in the summer of 2019, I started taking Anna on Surfin’ Safaris and posting reports thereon. I knew my wife was slipping away and thought to put us in the most beautiful settings available, taking advantage of the coastal riches within our reach here in Southern California.

The posts were intended to keep family and friends informed about the progression of Anna’s disease and to assure them that I loved her and that she knew it, day in, day out. They, somewhat surprisingly, became popular with those beyond our immediate circle.

As a writer, I was just having fun, giving free reign to my thoughts as a mediocre, middle-aged surfer; it was a kind of helpful therapy. But the mix of whimsy and tragedy worked so well that I was urged to write up a second summer, during which Anna’s accelerating cognitive decline was chronicled. Gaining more readers, I decided upon a third summer of safaris.

It was suggested that I put it all into a book and, following Anna’s death, in fits and starts, I bent to and completed the task resulting in, “Three Surfing Safari Summers: Bringing Joy to a Wife’s Alzheimer’s Journey.”

After Anna left us, I no longer thought about the care her long decline required as my memories leapt back to the beautiful years of health and happiness we shared together. But when I had to edit the book's galleys, all the horror came rushing back. The Surfin’ Safaris were truly acts of desperation, efforts at bringing light to an increasingly hopeless situation. After all, we knew was she dying.

The resulting book traces Anna’s decline from cognizant, but a little daffy, to complete unawareness of what was going on with her. I have woven in moments from my lost darling’s effervescent career and bits of her inimitable artistry. I did not want Alzheimer’s to define her, as she did not.

If you loved Anna as a friend, as a fashion designer, or as someone you got to know through the drama of the “Surfin’ Safari” posts, (and you know you did), pick it up. I made it a little pricey. I can use the money. But it’s a keepsake of her, my way of reserving a spot on the bookshelves of those whom she touched, of keeping her with us in a concrete form that both captures and transcends memory.