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WSJ: Musk Moves With Lightning Speed to Exert Control Over the Government By Donna February 5, 2025 12:58 pm Category: News (5.0 from 1 vote) Rules of the Post Write A New Article How To Post Here

WSJ subtitle:

The billionaire’s representatives gained access to a Treasury Department payment system and sensitive documents at USAID

This is one of Rupert Murdock's publications announcing that.

In other words, it's a coup.

Make no mistake: WE ARE AT WAR. THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY SHOULD BE TREATING IT AS SUCH. STOP PLEADING WITH THE ENEMY!

Comments Start Below

by Ponderer on February 5, 2025 1:09 pm VOCABULARY WORD OF THE DAY: Putsch [pooch] noun 1. a plotted revolt or attempt to overthrow a government, especially one that depends upon suddenness and speed. by HatetheSwamp on February 5, 2025 1:16 pm po, Have you gotten to the point that you regret that the Dems tried foisting Kammy on America because... ... that's what got us Musk. by Ponderer on February 5, 2025 1:19 pm You know those internet scams where you click on some link and suddenly your hard drive is locked up and the only way to get it back is to pay some hacker some money for the password? Given the unprecedented access that Musk now has to our sensitive national data bases and operational procedures, the only thing now stopping him from pulling that very same scam on the entire country is the will to do it. He could be placing viruses into the very workings of the whole system to respond to however he wants them to. He could be setting up back doors to allow him or anyone else he wants to to get in and do whatever they want. He may of course never do any such thing. But the fact that he now actually has the power to do it, gained illegally and unconstitutionally, should raise a red flag or two for just about anyone. Good work, MAGA Hats. by HatetheSwamp on February 5, 2025 1:30 pm Your paranoia, po, is reaching the point that it seems like mental illness. Maybe you should get that checked out. by Indy! on February 5, 2025 1:34 pm USAID is a CIA front. Now everybody call me crazy and a conspiracy theorist. But that's the reality. It's how the CIA gets their foot in the door in new countries. That's why a lot of countries won't allow them in. There's a reason why they made the logo purposely misleading with the "US" in one color and the "AID" in another so it reads like "US Aid" when that is only a very small part of what they do. by Indy! on February 5, 2025 2:31 pm Kinda figured no one would touch that one. 😌 by tuk22 on February 5, 2025 5:47 pm I initially thought there might be full agreement with what DOGE is trying to accomplish here. If Elon is showing Americans the corruption, the fraud, waste, and abuse… kinda the first real attempt at draining the swamp. Musk tweeted that Medicare is next. Yall have to be a little excited about that, no? Audit defense spending? The IRS? How can anyone think this is a bad idea? Do you think he will be political biased? Should Trump appoint a Democrat to review findings? I’d really like to see DOGE become a successful department. We do need honesty and transparency. by Indy! on February 5, 2025 6:21 pm I don't think a bunch of billionaires are going to do anything to help the non-billionaires. That's the problem with your scenario. The swamp might be (partially) drained - but the oligarchy will remain. by Curt_Anderson on February 5, 2025 6:31 pm Tuk22, Put me down as suspicious of Elon Musk's DOGE project. I am not sure the richest man the world with a half dozen government contracts shares my priorities and values. Since Musk bought Twitter, now X, it has lost over 30 million users and become less profitable according to reports. I don't have a high degree of confidence that Musk will miraculously make government more efficient while maintaining its core function of providing infrastructure and other projects and beneficial services for Americans. by meagain on February 5, 2025 7:26 pm I don't understand why Musk has not been arrested over his illegal interference with the operations of federal departments. It almost amounts to treason. by Indy! on February 5, 2025 7:38 pm Musk killed twitter. First thing he did was ban all the people who were talking sense. A ton of others left on their own accord the day he took over. The original twitter was about being able to say what you want without any interference from moderators or others trying to prevent certain conversations. Musk went full dictator and totally fucked it up. He paid $44B - last I heard it was only worth $4B. Yes - great businessman. Like Trump without the steaks and vodka. 🙄 by HatetheSwamp on February 6, 2025 3:11 am Welcome back, tuk. I hope you stay around. The deranged TrumpHate taking place here is boundless, and increasing exponentially by the day. Your voice will add a lot. "Since Musk bought Twitter, now X, it has lost over 30 million users and become less profitable according to reports. I don't have a high degree of confidence that Musk will miraculously make government more efficient while maintaining its core function of providing infrastructure and other projects and beneficial services for Americans." Exactly, Curt. Musk is a horrible businessman. As for me, I just don't get DOGE. Everyone knows. There's not a cent of waste in DC spending... and no pork, either. Why anyone would hope to increase government efficiency is entirely beyond HatetheSwamp! Bahahahahahahahahahaha haha baha ha! by Donna on February 6, 2025 7:19 am "If Elon is showing Americans the corruption, the fraud, waste, and abuse… kinda the first real attempt at draining the swamp. Musk tweeted that Medicare is next. Yall have to be a little excited about that, no? Audit defense spending? The IRS? How can anyone think this is a bad idea?" - tuk22 You must have slept through civics class. Trump and Musk have to go through Congress. That's the US system. Everything they're doing is illegal because they're bypassing Congress, which btw is right out of Project 2025. Everything that Trump has done or tried to do since 1/20 is part of Project 2025's openly undemocratic agenda. by Ponderer on February 6, 2025 7:26 am For people like Trump and Musk, "Inefficiency" means anything that gets in the way of them getting or taking something that they want. And right now, they want the United States Treasury as their own billionaires' piggy bank and nothing in their way stopping them from it. by HatetheSwamp on February 6, 2025 7:55 am If that's true, po, Article 3 of the Constitution still functions. by Ponderer on February 6, 2025 10:26 am It may still function, but Trump is still wiping his ass with it. He has no constitutional authority whatsoever to just make up a department and order some private citizen Joe Blow to force access to classified government data. Please show me anywhere in Article 3 of... Show me anywhere in the Constitution or anything where it allows Trump and his Renfield to waltz into the treasury and suck up whatever they want, or any of the other flagrantly illegal and unconstitutional atrocities he's perpetrating on the Constitution in these first couple weeks. Take your time. I'll wait. by HatetheSwamp on February 6, 2025 11:07 am "It may still function, but Trump is still wiping his ass with it. He has no constitutional authority whatsoever to just make up a department and order some private citizen Joe Blow to force access to classified government data." See, now, that's why I wish I could be a constitutional law prof in the Ivy League! When "that feckless dementia-ridden piece of crap" created the position of Border Czar, I don't recall you suggesting that he didn't have the authority. But, then, I'm not Ivy League material. by tuk22 on February 6, 2025 8:37 pm I’m up for suggestions on how to DOGE lawfully. I think we all know it’s a necessary action We have discussed the FWA in our health system I don’t have the latest info but back in 2014 it was 800 billion annually. Our unpaid liabilities to the American people far exceed our current budgets and national assets by trillions of dollars and interest on our debt keeps growing by the day. No more bullshit we need DOGE. I’d suggest coming up with ideas to improve the process. This needs bipartisan support “team” but we must insist on full transparency and accountability At this point if you’re against DOGE on principle I think you’re part of the corruption. If you have process concerns I think there’s definitely room for compromise by Indy! on February 6, 2025 8:45 pm It's a futile exercise until Fox and the wingnuts drop the idea that the gov't budget can be righted by cutting the budget of nickel and dime items. There are only 3 things to cut that will make a the kind of difference we need. Here they are with the solutions to cutting them drastically or making them pay for themselves... 1) Medicare - switch to medicare for all and eliminate the middle men. 2) Social Security - eliminate the pay-in cap and it will be solvent forever 3) The military, intelligence and police agencies - cut their budgets in half every year for 5 years. The other thing is to raise the income tax on the wealthy and make them pay their fair share. The rest of the budget stuff won't even slow the debt/deficit down. Fox is lying to you - you can cut all of it and not balance the budget. by tuk22 on February 6, 2025 8:56 pm Nothing has changed here 😩 In no sense is 800 billion chump change. In no sense is a million dollars. One million saved on bullshit can pay for one million on something meaningful. DOGE is necessary by tuk22 on February 6, 2025 9:09 pm And why stop at the federal level apply DOGE to state and local government. by HatetheSwamp on February 7, 2025 3:13 am tuk22, Absolutely DOGE is necessary. It's a small part of the answer but it's an important step forward. What amuses me is the bizarre and intense emotional response from the Big Brother lovers across the nation. Kneeslappingly hilarious! Insane! by HatetheSwamp on February 7, 2025 4:41 am GUTFELD!: DOGE the media. Great monolog. He's right. The media did everything possible to rig the election for the Dingbat. Turns out. She was just a horrible candidate. View Video by oldedude on February 7, 2025 5:28 am I find it interesting also the speed in which the left moved in to protect all of those they used to hate with a passion. Those creating wars and toppling governments that used to be hated. Especially the deep state that created Viet Nam that seemingly took the torch from the French and created the all new update of our military. Not that it wasn't needed, but the billions of dollars that got funneled back into the pockets of industry and individuals. It's also the complete lack of understanding that everyone is testing their weapons systems in Ukraine. We're finding out what works and catching up to the "new war" while lining political pockets. There's also the NGO's in Palestine that UN and US politicians are getting kickbacks from. And we're finding out the europeans have some pretty slick aircraft and tanks (and the Russians' are pretty much 20 years behind). Also playing both sides of the drug war, where politicians are getting money from cartels to vote one way or the other. They don't like the fence. Guess where that money comes from. Turkey needs intel to spread to terrorist organizations. Thank you Mr Menendez. Terrorism appreciates your "volunteer" work in the name of your bank account and the gold in your pockets. by Ponderer on February 7, 2025 6:03 am Welcome back, tuk! "If Elon is showing Americans the corruption, the fraud, waste, and abuse…" -tuk22 He is not. He is a wanton vandal taking a sledgehammer to the treasury. How would you like it if suddenly someone without any legal authority whatsoever forced their way into your bank account and credit and simply stopped any payments you were making to your various utilities, credit card payments and health accounts from going out? How would you feel if they just cancelled many of your payments for those things from leaving your account? And they told you, "Don't worry! I'm saving you all kinds of money!". Tell me, tuk. Do you think that being forced by someone, who doesn't know the first thing about you or your needs, from paying your bills on desperately needed utilities and necessities of life is an efficient way to go about saving money? Especially when it is obvious that the crook in your bank account only wants that money that he's "saving you" for himself and his other criminal friends? This is absolutely and quite literally exactly what he intends to do and has started doing. He knows and cares nothing about the widespread chaos and destruction and actual lives he is destroying in his wake. Oh... wow. I'm pretty sure that your house has termites. Well, these noice police officers will escort you outside and this flame thrower will do the trick at getting rid of them for you! -Elon Musk They are not doing this do root out fraud and abuse. This is being done to eliminate and do away with entire departments of the government that Trump and his Project 2025 Team want eliminated and done away with. PLEASE tell me you can at least see that is what is happening... by Ponderer on February 7, 2025 6:27 am And asshole MAGA Hats like Hate will cheer all the destruction on as it's happening, saying we're all overreacting. I can already hear it now..... "Well, we really didn't need an FDA or a Department of Education..." -Hate by HatetheSwamp on February 7, 2025 6:31 am "How would you like it if suddenly someone without any legal authority whatsoever..." tuk22, Don't you love it how po, who worshipped Big Brother during all of the COVID restrictions and mandates, and demanded total subservience of one and all, suddenly is the world's most fierce libertarian, demanding freedom for one and all! Hilarious. WhadafrreakinfrigginEFFINhypocrite! This is being done to eliminate and do away with entire departments of the government that Trump and his Project 2025 Team... Bahahahahahahahahahaha haha hoohoo heehee haha hoohoo heehee haha ha ha ha, ahhhhhhhhhhh! These are going to be four fun years! by Ponderer on February 7, 2025 6:38 am Oh and tuk, don't mind Hate. In your absence he has developed full-on dementia and has lost all connection to reality. We humor him let him go on as he is wont to do. His blithering idiocy can't hurt anyone, as long as we keep him occupied in here at least. by Indy! on February 7, 2025 8:52 am What does your "$800 Billion" number apply to Tuk? Is that the random number the GOP is throwing out these days as "waste" without any explanation? Details matter. If you have some - let's hear it. The budget is readily available - we can check to see if Fox finally got one right. Otherwise that's just a meaningless number. by tuk22 on February 7, 2025 10:41 am Indy, It’s 800 billion FWA in our entire healthcare system. Everything including unnecessary middleman and less of a focus on wellness prevention nutrition. by Indy! on February 7, 2025 10:55 am I covered that - the first item I listed. Medicare for all would cut our healthcare expenses by approx. 75% (give or take depending on who's doing the numbers). It would be the largest middle class tax cut in the history of the world. You could go to any doctor you like, any hospital you like and never have to worry about being bankrupted by medical bills. by Curt_Anderson on February 7, 2025 11:41 am Tuk, Federal government spending for health care was $1.6 trillion in 2023. I seriously doubt that $800 billion, which is half, can be fairly classified as fraud, waste and abuse. Preventive healthcare may be important from the individual's point of view, but it's inherently inefficient from a societal spending point of view. For example, consider screening for prostate cancer. Only 2.27% of men die of prostate cancer. From the perspective of the FWA-complaining crowd, that screening a 97.73% waste. It is a similar story with breast cancer: only 2.3% of women will die of breast cancer. Therefore recommended mammograms annually or biennially are a colossal waste nearly 100% of the time. cms.gov cancer.org cdc.gov by Indy! on February 7, 2025 12:00 pm Depends on how you classify "waste, fraud and abuse", Curt. The largest increases in healthcare cost go to administration - not actual healthcare (look it up - plenty of charts avaialble). And while maybe we can't say without a doubt $800B is "WFA" - we can say without any question that we pay about twice as much for healthcare that is half as good as the civilized parts of the world that have strong universal healthcare systems. So saving about half would actually be quite easy if we were willing to do what the smart countries are doing. by Curt_Anderson on February 7, 2025 12:57 pm Indy, In the UK their healthcare system recommends NO prostate cancer screening, for example. As I said, prostate cancer screening about 97% of the time is a "waste". Personally, I would be fine with that, but that's not the system we have. I also have a less than charitable attitude toward people who smoke, are overweight, eat poorly, drink excessively, etc. who then rely on the healthcare system to save them at expense of everybody else. A variety of studies over the last 2 decades have found that administrative expenses account for approximately 15% to 25% of total national health care expenditures. --JAMA There are a lot of regulations, including "coding', designed to keep costs down that must be adhered to. There are also ethical and legal obligations to patients who cannot afford life-saving medical costs. In other businesses, (manufacturing, technology, etc.) administrative expense as a percent of revenues as measured in The Rosenberg Survey comes in for most firms at around 20-25% of revenue. You must have a sense for what percent of time you devote to administration costs in your business. Whatever time you spend billing, doing your books, etc. is not "value added time" from your clients' perspective. jamanetwork.com rosenbergassoc.com by Indy! on February 7, 2025 1:58 pm You love that prostrate number. My doctor for 30 years always said "don't bother" and I didn't. When he retired due to covid, my new doctor wanted me to get one. It was "free" so I did - nothing. Clear as a bell. But you're talking small picture. While I agree there are plenty of tests and other imaginary hoops that are not worth the time or effort - eliminating a test or two is not going to save us much. I'm talking big picture. If we really want to reduce costs - we need to remake the entire system and do away with most administration, insurance providers, advertising, pharma gouging, etc... Here's a chart showing how far and fast administration costs increase compared to physicians who actually provide the care. You can find many others covering other parts of healthcare if you're interested simply by googling... by meagain on February 7, 2025 3:26 pm It is far more complicated than that, Curt. Administrative costs amount to about 30in total, fo=r example plus other factors. The fact is, that the US spend almost double the average for countries with universal, single payer coverage while still not covering tens of millions =s who cannot afford Insurance. Here is an excerpt from a study. "Key Findings and Conclusion: More than half of excess U.S. health spending was associated with factors likely reflected in higher prices, including more spending on: administrative costs of insurance (~15% of the excess), administrative costs borne by providers (~15%), prescription drugs (~10%), wages for physicians (~10%) and registered nurses (~5%), and medical machinery and equipment (less than 5%). Reductions in administrative burdens and drug costs could substantially reduce the difference between U.S. and peer nation health spending." by tuk22 on February 7, 2025 3:48 pm Don’t forget chronic illnesses, heart disease and diabetes, that a change in lifestyle can reduce costs significantly. We really need a renewed focus on wellness and prevention and creating healthier outcomes so we are not wasting money on ER and inpatient hospital costs by Curt_Anderson on February 7, 2025 4:05 pm Tuk, I am all for a healthy lifestyle. At age 72 I run 12 to 15 miles a week, and walk another 10 with my wife. I workout at the YMCA regularly (my insurer covers my membership fee}. I can run a 10k in just over an hour. I am a vegetarian and all my vitals are good. I think everybody should follow my example but I am not in favor of mandating it or spending the time of doctors cajoling their patients to eat and exercise like me. Meagain, Sure, I would like to have a healthcare system like Canada and many European countries have, but I doubt that Musk and Trump will conclude that's what America needs. by Ponderer on February 7, 2025 5:21 pm "Meagain, Sure, I would like to have a healthcare system like Canada and many European countries have, but I doubt that Musk and Trump will conclude that's what America needs." -Curt Spot on, Curt. The most efficient form of a health care system certainly would never consist of a large portion of a hospital or doctor's staff doing nothing but dealing with insurance companies, along with all the logistical cost and hoo-ha that they generate. But then without insurance companies and the whole parasitic industry with its tendrils into all of healthcare, how are such irrelevant and useless third-party corporations and industries supposed to get between a doctor and their patient to extract Profit out of the situation by any other means? I mean, you can't expect the elite of this Capitalist nation to simply leave all that potential corporate Profit just sitting there on the table and walk away from it! Are Capitalists of this country supposed to just peacefully stand by and watch hospitals and doctors operate without something like insurance departments, so that they and their patients can keep more of their own money... all that gorgeous potential corporate Profit... that should rightfully go to some for-Profit corporation? President Trump/Musk would certainly never stand for such a situation. by Indy! on February 7, 2025 6:22 pm The wealthy portion of America is almost entirely composed of people who can't hold down a real job. So they create bullshit jobs like insurance to give those idiots a paycheck. by tuk22 on February 8, 2025 5:58 am DOGE found $100 billion in waste from Medicare. I have no other details on it. Maybe improper payments but that could mean a thousand different things One of the scams we are seeing is up coding for higher reimbursements, but I’d imagine you would need an investigation on fraud like that. Too many headlines not enough information by HatetheSwamp on February 8, 2025 6:13 am tuk22, I think finding waste and dysfunction and corruption in DC is a sin to members of the progressive Swampcult. by Curt_Anderson on February 8, 2025 8:29 am HtS, Falling for claims and clickbait headlines is MAGA doctrine. Tuk22, “DOGE found $100 billion in waste from Medicare. I have no other details on it”. I cannot find any reports on that. Please share a headline and a link. by Indy! on February 8, 2025 9:18 am Let's do a little math just based on the sketchy numbers we have in this thread... $800B for medicare (the original number). DOGE found $100B in waste We pay twice as much for healthcare as countries with universal healthcare So we should be paying $400B - not $800B $400B + $100B = $500B $800B - $500B = $300B in more waste (that DOGE did not find). So which is the better answer... DOGE findign their measly $100B in approved "waste"? "Waste" that when removed won't affect their bottom lines? Or switching to universal healthcare and saving that $100B + 3x more for $400B total in savings? Go To Top

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