Musk's Illegal Activities

HipKat said:
This week in Trumplandia
  • Signed an Executive order that only he and his AG can determine what the law is
  • Claimed that Free Speech was never part of the US Constitution.
  • His House GOP passed a bill to cut 1 TRILLION dollars from Medicaid and Food Stamps (SNAP)
  • Fired 300 Nuclear Regulators who oversee the nation's Nuclear Power
  • Claimed that Ukraine started the war with Russia
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1. That EO is absolutely horrible

2. Okay, technically it wasn't part of the original document, which is why James Madison -in a moment of sheer brilliance and forward thinking - included it in the Bill of Rights, literate Trumptards can read it in the first amendment.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/first_amendment

3. He really does want us to return to the Gilded Age doesn't he? Oh well, that's long been the GOP plan. I may not be a big fan of the DNC because the Oligarchs were buying them off too, but I don't remember CNN going Glenn Beck on the Progressive Era and blaming them for everything. Its no accident that the teabaggers who became the MAGAsses targeted the progressives. Was the progressive movement right on everything? No. Did it do bad things in terms of racism, eugenics, sterilization of the feeble minded? Yes. However, it also reigned in the power of the oligarchs, it gave the average American the right to directly his senator, her's too. Yeah, no progressive movement and there is no 19th amendment. It introduced food safety laws (thank you oh thank you Upton Sinclair, I couldn't eat meat for a month after reading The Jungle). It introduced the first labor laws. As far as racism? Well. . . . its empowerment of working men and women did pave the way for the modern civil rights movement of the 1940s to the present. So yeah, they really do want to return us to the gilded age and crush all vehicles to oppose them

4. Perfect, just perfect. I want to deregulate and lose oversight of our nuclear power plants. Look, nuclear power -other than the storage for spent fuel issues - is very clean and extremely safe. However, that is if everything is in good repair and the reactors are built to specification and well maintained. Otherwise you could get get Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, or Fukashima

5. I know this will cause controversy, and I do not want to discuss it again and again because we will have to disagree with most on here, but in terms of who started the Ukraine war, I actually hold the Ukrainians the least responsible. Frankly, my model is that the United States and NATO did everything they could to goad, trigger, and bait Russia into that war. They spent 30 years extending east. They overthrew the Ukrainian government twice. They used the Minsk Agreement to arm Ukraine to the teeth. Then in late 2021 and early 2022 when diplomacy and dialogue could have yet prevented the war, they laughed off Russia's security concerns. Then as they were doing that, they withdrew troops from Ukraine. Look, Putin is many things, some good some bad, but he's not an idiot and nor is he suicidal. If the American and various NATO troops that were in country to train Ukrainian forces were still there (and there were several thousand of them), Putin would have at least delayed the war to not trigger Article V. So I blame the United States and NATO, then Russia for this war. I don't blame Ukraine because like all proxy wars, this was a game of titans and their country was just the chessboard. If anything I feel terrible for most of them.
 
well fuck .. I don't even know what to say anymore other than ... I just don't know.

I have even reached out to my local Republican State Representative to ask him what he is going to do to hold Trump accountable, and he said he isn't a DC congressman, he only serves the state of CT ..
 
Blondie said:
well fuck .. I don't even know what to say anymore other than ... I just don't know.

I have even reached out to my local Republican State Representative to ask him what he is going to do to hold Trump accountable, and he said he isn't a DC congressman, he only serves the state of CT ..
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What's it like living in a blue state? I miss when Missouri was one, before 2000. As far as your local state rep, he can only serve the interests of Connecticut but you can stay on top of him to make sure that he stops Trump's policies when enacted on the state level. Wish my state reps cared that much. I mean I live in Kansas City so they will, but in much of the state they will enforce Trtump's directives. There is talk that the GOP legislature is going to fight unemployment insurance for the federal workers who were terminated for no other crime than trying to get jobs during the Trump regime. I have contacted Hawley and Schmidt and they essentially told me to fuck off. Its absolutely terrible here and I haaaaaate living here.

Chickie, Trumplandia is weird. I mean I know you and Coasty had similar observations on Florida but here, the Southern Baptists and Assembly of God are in control of a lot of state and local politics. You remember the disgraced pastor I talked about on the other site? Well, he and his whole church leadership sat on a local suburban school board, one of the pastors he grew up in is that suburb's police chaplain. In fairness, abortion aside, the local Catholic bishops are speaking out against the immigrant crackdown but Trumpism is even invading the Churches there and the faithful who said nothing when assholes were using the priesthood to do horrible things to Children are now speaking out because the Bishops are saying very much what Jesus would have said about the immigrants. Its so fucking sickening here. So when ICR and you want to crack down on assholes, I get it. I really do.
 
Blondie said:
Wait I remember .. so Elon bought Twitter so that he could have influence over ALL the subscribers .. a "digital army" .. that is what YOU need, is a digital army for building the Democrats into a more powerful party again .. my thought process last night was somewhere along those lines
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Not ALL subs. Anyone that disagreed with or called out Musk got banned. So much for his free speech bullshit
 
Blondie said:
well fuck .. I don't even know what to say anymore other than ... I just don't know.

I have even reached out to my local Republican State Representative to ask him what he is going to do to hold Trump accountable, and he said he isn't a DC congressman, he only serves the state of CT ..
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He can still be a voice in his state
 
cookin_peacocks said:
Not illegal, but Twitter suspended the Dropkick Murphys account because they spoke out at a concert against trump and musk
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I dunno, in our day social media is the public square. So yeah, when a platform like z silences someone because they speak out against a politician, elected or not, then its illegal in that its unconstitutional
 
Judge rules DOGE's USAID dismantling likely violates the Constitution
jg-tc.com

Judge rules DOGE's USAID dismantling likely violates the Constitution

The lawsuit singled out billionaire Elon Musk as a defendant covered by the preliminary injunction.
jg-tc.com jg-tc.com

The dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development likely violated the Constitution, a federal judge ruled Tuesday as he indefinitely blocked billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency further cuts to the agency.

U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang in Maryland ordered the Trump administration to restore email and computer access to all employees of USAID, including those who were placed on administrative leave.

The evidence suggests Musk made decisions to shut down USAID’s headquarters and website despite the administration’s claim that he was merely President Donald Trump's adviser, Chuang found. Musk’s public statements and social media posts demonstrate that he has “firm control over DOGE,” the judge concluded.

The judge acknowledged it’s likely USAID is no longer capable of performing some of its statutorily required functions.
“Taken together, these facts support the conclusion that USAID has been effectively eliminated,” Chuang wrote in the preliminary injunction.

1742332327074.png
FILE - Flowers and a sign are placed outside the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development, or
USAID, Feb. 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, file) Jose Luis Magana

The lawsuit filed by attorneys for USAID employees and contractors singled out Musk as a defendant, arguing that he was wielding power the Constitution reserves only for those who win elections or are confirmed by the Senate.

The administration said DOGE is searching for and rooting out waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government, consistent with the campaign message that helped Trump win the 2024 election.

In February, the Trump administration placed all but a fraction of USAID’s worldwide staff on leave and notified at least 1,600 of its U.S.-based staffers they were being fired. The effort to gut the 6-decade-old aid agency was part of a broader push to eradicate the foreign aid agency and most of its humanitarian and development programs abroad.

The White House and DOGE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The lawsuit was filed by the State Democracy Defenders Fund. Norm Eisen, the nonprofit's executive chair, called the ruling a milestone in pushback to DOGE.

“They are performing surgery with a chainsaw instead of a scalpel, harming not just the people USAID serves but the majority of Americans who count on the stability of our government," he said in a statement.

1742332359489.png
Lane Pollack, center, of Rockville, Md., a senior learning advisor at USAID for 14 years, is consoled by a co-worker after having
15 minutes to clear out her belongings from the USAID headquarters, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) Jacquelyn Martin

Trump on Inauguration Day issued an executive order directing a freeze of foreign assistance funding and a review of all U.S. aid and development work abroad. He claimed much of foreign assistance was wasteful and advanced a liberal agenda.

Earlier this month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the administration finished a six-week purge of USAID programs, cutting 83% of them. He said he would move the remaining aid programs under the State Department.

Rubio thanked DOGE and “our hardworking staff who worked very long hours to achieve this overdue and historic reform” in foreign aid.

About 5,200 of USAID's 6,200 programs were eliminated. Those programs “spent tens of billions of dollars in ways that did not serve, (and in some cases even harmed), the core national interests of the United States,” Rubio wrote in his announcement on social media. About 1,000 remaining contracts would now be administered by the State Department, he said.

1742332390392.png
People rally on 14th St NW in support of fired USAID workers during a protest, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025,
by the USAID headquarters in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) Jacquelyn Martin

Democratic lawmakers and others call the shutdown of congressionally funded programs illegal, saying such a move requires Congress' approval.

Republicans broadly made clear they want foreign assistance that would promote a far narrower interpretation of U.S. national interests going forward.

In the weeks after Trump's order, one of his appointees and transition team members, Pete Marocco, and Musk pulled USAID staff around the world off the job through forced leaves and firings, shut down USAID payments overnight and terminated aid and development contracts by the thousands.

The dismantling of USAID upended decades of policy that humanitarian and development aid abroad advanced U.S. national security by stabilizing regions and economies, strengthening alliances and building goodwill.
 

Nearly 6,000 USDA workers fired by Trump ordered back to work for now​

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www.npr.org

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A U.S. Department of Agriculture headquarters building is seen in Washington, D.C. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

An independent federal board has ordered the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to temporarily reinstate close to 6,000 employees fired since Feb. 13, finding reasonable grounds to believe the agency acted illegally in terminating them.

The Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) issued a stay, ordering the USDA to return the fired workers to their jobs for 45 days while an investigation continues. The MSPB acts as an internal court to consider federal employees' complaints against the government.

The order, from board member Cathy Harris, covers probationary employees who received identical termination letters informing them that, based on their performance, they had not demonstrated that their further employment "would be in the public interest."

The USDA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A call to all agencies to rescind terminations​

Since the middle of February, the Trump administration has fired tens of thousands of probationary employees across the federal government, typically those in their first or second year on the job.

The order comes in response to a request from the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC), which is investigating the firings of probationary employees. It follows a similar decision issued last week that temporarily reinstated six probationary workers fired from six different agencies. Those employees are now back on the job at least through April 10, according to their lawyer, Michelle Bercovici.

In a statement Wednesday, Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger urged all federal agencies to reinstate probationary employees, even without a direct order.

"Agencies are best positioned to determine the employees impacted by these mass terminations," Dellinger wrote. "That's why I am calling on all federal agencies to voluntarily and immediately rescind any unlawful terminations of probationary employees."

Later on Wednesday, Dellinger, who himself had been reinstated by a U.S. District Court after President Trump tried to fire him in early February, was once again removed from his position after an appeals court in the District of Columbia sided with the Trump administration, lifting the lower court's stay while it weighs the legal arguments of his case.

(The OSC, which investigates allegations of wrongdoing by the government against federal employees and job applicants, is separate from the special counsels appointed by the Justice Department.)

Investigation of USDA led to request for a broad stay​

Dellinger requested the broad stay for USDA employees last week after gaining a clear picture of how the firings of close to 6,000 people occurred.

"Documents that OSC obtained and interviews that OSC conducted with USDA officials confirmed that USDA relied heavily on OPM guidance in terminating its probationary employees," he wrote, referring to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, the agency that handles many human resource functions for the government.

He concluded that the USDA did not look at individual employee performance or conduct when deciding whom to fire, a requirement for terminating federal employees during the probationary period.

Instead, he found that the USDA was trying to achieve a reorganization — a massive reduction in force, in line with OPM's directive to eliminate all positions not deemed "mission-critical." Agencies conducting mass layoffs for reorganization purposes must go through certain procedures, including providing employees with 60 days' notice. The USDA failed to do this, Dellinger found.

USDA workers remain wary​

Michelle Kirchner poses for a photograph in Logan, Utah on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. “Niki Chan Wylie for NPR”.

Michelle Kirchner, an entomologist with the USDA's Agricultural Research Service, fears probationary workers
may be fired again as part of the Trump administration's massive downsizing of the federal government. Niki Chan Wylie/for NPR

By Wednesday afternoon, official word of the reinstatement had still not reached fired employees, who remain wary of what's ahead.

"I'm glad that something is coming out that what happened wasn't correct and was potentially illegal," says Michelle Kirchner, an entomologist with the USDA who was helping alfalfa growers manage pests when she was fired on Feb. 14.

Still, Kirchner says it's impossible to have confidence in what's ahead, given the Trump administration has already begun laying the groundwork for even deeper cuts to agencies across the government.

"It's possible that we could all be brought back just to be lost in the reduction in force," she says.

The exact number of USDA probationary employees covered by Harris' order is unclear. In February, the department told OSC it had fired 5,950 probationary employees. On Monday, the USDA provided a list of only 5,692 names, according to the MSPB's order.

"OSC states that the agency cautioned that this number was still in flux due to corrections, rehirings, and changes to mission-critical designations," the order noted.

A separate challenge to the Trump administration's firing of probationary employees is advancing in federal court. Last week, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled that the mass firings likely violated multiple statutes. On Tuesday, OPM revised a January memo to federal agencies, noting that it was not directing them to take any personnel actions and that decision-making authority was in their hands.
 
Why is the Pentagon briefing Musk about China and a potential war with them? Why is musk threatening Pentagon officials over "leaking" that info?
 
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