Starring Elon Musk and his teener minions
Featuring the Oligarchs Chorus with a
Cameo appearance by their favorite puppet – Mr Maga himself!
Did you vote for Elon Musk – I know I didn’t!
The president’s
Executive Orders and Elon Musk’s actions this week have caused chaos and
confusion across the country as agencies were shuttered, employees were told to
quit their civil service jobs, and electronic funds for states were suddenly
frozen. Agency Inspector Generals, in positions created by Congress, were summarily
fired even though this was against the law.
Presidents can fire for cause but must defend that cause and give
Congress a thirty-day notice.
This past weekend, Musk, and his minions (with no security clearances or background
checks) bullied their way into the Treasury Department finance payment system.
The new Secretary of the Treasury, whom I thought was one of the saner choices,
did not stop them. Now, according to reports, they have access to financial
data on every person or company that received government dollars. This means your student loan, small business
funding, aid to dependant children, everyone’s social security check, tax
return, and all veterans benefits, plus much more. Heather Cox Richardson on
Substack reports that the young workers hired by Musk are rewriting code,
making restoration of the original data difficult, if not impossible. They are
also using Artificial Intelligence (AI) programs to scour the systems and help create new systems that only they will have access to. Targeting
particular words, for example, they could identify all DEI programs or food
stamp payments.
So, we have an
unelected person with access to all our data, and making changes without authorization,
what could go wrong? And a president, known to not have any computer or
cybersecurity savvy, (bought and paid for by Musk’s 288 million dollars) is in
no position to stop anything even if he wanted to.
Apparently,
Musk thinks he can reduce the federal workforce by replacing humans with AI
programs. Additionally, since he considers himself so intelligent, with his
arrogance, he is less likely to accept criticism or alternative suggestions. And,
after firing all the Inspector Generals, who would be able to even look and
find errors or corruption? These young people, some still in their teens, have
taken no oaths to support our constitution, their loyalty is to Musk. None of
the people involved in these efforts seem to care that much of what they are
doing is illegal, could be fraudulent, and is invading the privacy of millions.
Security experts worry that foreign enemies and hackers are just waiting to
break into these systems that have now had their guardrails removed. What
international brokers are salivating for a data breach??
Attorney and Professor
Joyce Vance called these actions a coup, not a violent one such as the attempt
on January 6th, but a coup without bloodshed. Does that make it less
dangerous? Certainly not!
Vance quotes historian
Ruth Ben-Ghiat “a new kind of coup,” writing
in Lucid about Elon Musk’s seeming power-sharing with Trump:
“And here is where the U.S. 2025 situation starts to look different. The point
of personalist rule is to reinforce the strongman. There is only room for one
authoritarian leader at the top of the power vertical. Here there are two.”
Push-back
is starting. Several
judges have placed some of these edicts on hold,.The Birthright Citizenship
do-over will probably not go through. But, while Unions, IGs, and FBI agents, among
others, are all turning to the Courts, Musk,and his minions are clicking away doing
who knows what without any oversight. Are you okay with that? There have been demonstrations in downtown DC this week outside
USAID and Treasury. Thousands of people showed up on Tuesday, so we’ll see what
happens next. Several Democratic officials tried to enter these buildings but
were turned away.
Many social
scientists report that this flurry of activity is designed to distract from the
real aim here, to neuter Congress, disdain the populace, ignore
the courts, (except when they would do their bidding,) and install a government
with few regulations that serves the concerns of the wealthiest among us.
The Separation of Powers, the Rule of Law, and the Constitutional
basis for our Democracy will be in tatters if they succeed,
Meanwhile, the Republican
Senators continue to process the worst nominees in a century for cabinet
positions. Threatened with primary opposition if they speak out, the Senators
meekly put their re-election chances above their duties to the American people.
Not one Republican stood up against this assault on our democratic process or any
of the actions described here. And Project 2025, which the president claimed to
know nothing about, showed us the blueprint for what is happening now. Russell
Vought, one of the authors and the nominee for the Office of Management and the
Budget is getting ready to complete his takedown of our government as we know
it. Do Google this and read the 700-plus pages of the 2025 Plan if you have not
yet done so, Apparently many Maga voters either never read this, think it is
fine, or believed the campaign when it said it knew nothing about it. Liars!
Our Diversity
is Our Strength
Let’s take a
look at the social costs of some of these changes:
Most of you
understand I spent most of my career in healthcare. I have worked with nurses,
physicians, and researchers from across the globe. With my diverse set of co-workers,
I have cared for people who came from every walk of life, ethnicities other
than mine, and in varied states of health and wealth. We tried to look at the illness
or condition regardless of how the patient came to us. The child in a red state
with a fracture received the same treatment as the one in a blue state. The
undocumented farm worker with an infection needed antibiotics as critically as an
office worker in a C suite.
Healthcare
inequities exist and will continue until we view health as a human right. When I
began my career as a nurse there was no Medicare or Medicaid coverage: once a
person retired and lost their employer-based coverage, there were few
affordable options. Some pensions and unions had benefits, but not most people.
This is not the subject here. However,
part of the problem being overlooked is that without a strong workforce, our
tax dollars can no longer support Medicare and Medicaid. Putting millions out
of government jobs will not immediately transfer them into similar careers in
the private sector. Are you ready for your grandparents to live in the “poor house”
What I want
everyone to understand is that we already have a diverse country and that some,
who grew up in a mostly white America, do not want that to change. (That was
why the Maga campaign looked back to the 50s as the ideal period in America.) We’re
not going back there. Look around, and see the people of color, brown, black,
Asian, and Indian. They are here and their numbers are increasing, so let’s celebrate
and learn from each other. Whether we accept this change or not, statisticians
predict we will be a majority-minority country within decades.
The President
described Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts as damaging to the
country and ordered the firing of all government officials working to implement
such policies. This is so anti-American. Equity means that applicants have a
fair chance to get a job. Inclusion means that people with disabilities, such
as veterans who have lost a limb, can still be employed by civil service. A
neighbor, who had limited vision and used a white cane, took local transit to
his downtown federal job. Would you deny him this opportunity to be
self-sufficient? Civil Rights protections in place for decades were rolled back
without reason. Will we head back to the era of ‘’last hired first fired’ for
the Black members of our society now?
The president
tried to marginalize the trans community with new Executive Orders. Many pundits
on the right act as if this is a huge problem when in actuality, trans people
are a very small minority, according to the US Census this is 1.14 % of our
population or about 3 million residents in a country of 330+ million. The
president declared that there can only be two genders – male and female as born.
Executive Orders prohibited any surgical interventions for those under 19 and banned
trans females from participating in female sports teams. Incarcerated trans
people, who identified as female, were ordered to be housed in male-only units
which is cruel as it would leave them vulnerable to threats and assaults.
Estimates tally
the trans population in the military forces as approximately 15,000. The new defense
secretary ordered all trans members to leave the military, but did not set a
timetable. How does that affect our military readiness? Trans people were
willing to put on a uniform, serve, and possibly die for their country. (That
is certainly more than our new president, with his multiple draft deferments,
was willing to do.) And, as a matter of pique, most likely at the request of
the president, Hegspeth removed the portraits of General Milley from the walls
of the Pentagon and disbanded his security protection.
(General Milley
served for more than 40 years and had four stars along with multiple
commendations. He retired from his position as Defense Secretary but, after
leaving the service, was critical of the president. Some in Congress have
threatened to remove one of his stars–which would decrease his retirement pay-and
prosecute him for treason; the president wanted him hanged. President Biden protectively
pardoned him from any prosecutions.)
Women have made
gigantic gains since the 1960s, but still have difficulty being employed and
accepted in several fields, even when their education and experience made them highly
qualified. Although the years of service by women in the military were
denigrated in his books by the defense secretary; he says his opinions have
changed. We shall see. The issue of sexual assault against women in the
military persists, although structural changes have been put in place. The
president inferred that diversity or gender might have been responsible for the
crash in DC last week of a Black Hawk Army helicopter and an American Airlines
plane. His remarks were insensitive and wrong. Sadly, 67 people lost their
lives. The captain and first officer on the plane were white men; The military pilot
and co-pilot on the helicopter were both white; one was a woman.
Several million
people work for the Federal government. More than half are in civilian jobs that
support military missions. So, threatening these jobs could also reduce military
readiness. But, as of now, it seems, most federal employees have been sent
home from their offices, lost access to their emails or other communication,
and are locked out of their computers. They were told to quit or risk being fired.
Niceties such as Civil Service protections were discounted. Those who did quit
were told they could receive 6 months' pay, even though there is no budgeted
item to support this outlay.
There appears to be no concern that these moves are messing with people’s lives and endangering their personal information. Federal employees can be Republicans, Democrats, or Independents. But all want to educate their children, have a decent living standard, or perhaps travel or plan for retirement. These recent moves put these expectations in jeopardy for millions .
So what are you going to do to stop this? Do you remember that movie where the TV guy said “I’m mad as H…and I’m not going to take this anymore?” Well, folks, it’s time! Call the Congress, Senators, and Reps. Let them know how you feel. If the number won’t go thru, call the District office. Call the White House. Go to meetings, go to their offices. Tell them enough is enough! It has only been two weeks! The raiding of our kinda disorderly, somewhat overweight, government must stop. There are better ways to fix it.
Til
next time, peace!
