How on earth does corporate media report this ongoing farce and still seek to normalize it, to literally make it seem in any way normal? 'Doublethink' wasn't supposed to be a model to follow for Christ's sake. Yet here they all are, acting as though Trump and Musk aren't, at the very least, lying con artists, doing their blatant grift in plain sight.
The Democratic Party are doing their part in all of this Neo Nasty normalization too of course, while still pretending to be some sort of vague opposition. Not a surprise when they are owned by the same oligarch and corporate donors and worked so hard to ensure that Trump never faced any substantive consequences for his previous, in public criminality. This timeline is just not credible I'm afraid. I am complaining and I want my money back.
Pretty early in Trump1.0 we learned that electing billionaires (real or in their own heads) was a mistake. These 5 weeks of the Trump2.0/Elon show makes me think nobody needs more than $10 million, maybe with the exception of a very costly medical condition. Tax all these assholes at about 95% on their wealth over $10 million, and if they all want to move to Russia or Gaza2.0, good riddance.
Another bit that jumped out at me when I read it was how Musty went from "we BELIEVE non-existent people ... are being used to collect paychecks" to "there IS outright fraud," from "maybe" to "certainly," in a single sentence. We used to call that "proof by blatant assertion."
Circular logic meets a shell game. How long will this charade continue? Most everyone who worked in a legitimate office/company, large or small, be it financial, manufacturing, medical.... knows three is a hierarchy of officials & employees alongside process rules & regulation that look after waste, fraud & abuse. Call them auditors, compliance officers, Quality Assurance, Inspector Generals, Project management Offices, Rapporteurs...... What is going on is so illegitimate. Waiting to hear if gets ruled illegal. Then what, can it be undone?
Jonathan, you make stellar points here. I usually laugh out loud when I read TFN.
And you're still clever and hilarious.
But I want to cry after reading this.
How is this exchange not blasting all over the news? These uncontrollable vandals (who now, apparently are deputized and in some cases armed?) are running amok, or amusk as we ponder the excruciatingly slow judicial process.
It's probably too late to undo the damage they've inflicted and the data they've stolen and compromised. It's devastating.
The exchange between Judge Kollar-Kotelly and Humphries is Waiting for Godot, Theatre of the Absurd. The exchange should be produced, by somebody, within a slightly larger framework. Waiting for DOGE.
Get Kafka and Orwell to do a joint writing of the play and you could have a sure fire winner. Of course though, this could never happen in reality. That would be absurd. Almost as absurd as the notion of the sham, US two party political system putting in power a blatant fascist con artist and a bunch of oligarch sociopaths. Thankfully, that would not be even remotely a thing here in the real world.
Sara Toye made some cogent arguments a few hours ago. I can add:
Idle or under-used federal workers and contractors are a real issue if there are enough of them. I have seen this first hand, involving professionals at a big and important federal agency. It was a very small working group. It was hard for a newcomer to figure out what *anybody* was doing, other than making six-figure salaries. Ferreting out this waste is not a Trump/DOGE inspiration; legislators of both parties have been crowing about it for decades. Considering how gigantic the federal gubmit is maybe some wasted time and money is inevitable.
I worked in human resources in five different departments/agencies of the federal government during my career. That the geniuses in DOGE don’t know how to find out if there are employees doing nothing and employees who are fictional loses my mind. There are numerous checks and balances in place and even more that could be implemented if anyone thought they were really needed.
Theater of the absolute absurd.
Meanwhile they are destroying our system of government.
DOGE is not a constitutional agency. Musk is seeking to entertain himself, with the federal workforce, budget, lies and the American people's daily lives when unduly appointed to an agency unduly created. What clowns.
Vought stated in 23 he wants the federal workforce to be traumatized every day. To wake up and not want to come to work.
The problem with Mr. Vought's statement is that it isn't just the federal workforce who is being traumatized and will soon experience, if they haven't already, domestically and internationally, irreparable harm/injury.
Did Trump campaign on this "trauma" to the American people at his rallies or anywhere prior to a Musk post at the conclusion of Musk having bought the presidency for Trump on X?
Vought via a 23 speech, doesn't cut it, but this irreparable harm to the voters of the US is completely unacceptable.
Not one outlet is talking about this but if they don't want to end up in GITMO over a man-child's fragile ego, or a drug addled 1/2 trillionaire, you don't report on the absolute fuckery of this. Meaning complete ineptitude.
You don't report on the actions against our allies, in concert with a foreign adversary. You don't report on the national security imposed on the American People by putting inept people in positions to injure, harm, and kill, the people he took an oath to protect.
You don't report on the internal coup that wasn't given a mandate or even known to voters along with the indictments from Smith, including the Espionage Act indictment.
This fuckery is going to add up to one thing if people are paying attention. Pay attention.
So theres just a bunch of doge people no one in charge..noodling around in government agencies based on a vague EO 🧐 . Why is that not a hard ‘stop now’?!
How on earth does corporate media report this ongoing farce and still seek to normalize it, to literally make it seem in any way normal? 'Doublethink' wasn't supposed to be a model to follow for Christ's sake. Yet here they all are, acting as though Trump and Musk aren't, at the very least, lying con artists, doing their blatant grift in plain sight.
The Democratic Party are doing their part in all of this Neo Nasty normalization too of course, while still pretending to be some sort of vague opposition. Not a surprise when they are owned by the same oligarch and corporate donors and worked so hard to ensure that Trump never faced any substantive consequences for his previous, in public criminality. This timeline is just not credible I'm afraid. I am complaining and I want my money back.
Pretty early in Trump1.0 we learned that electing billionaires (real or in their own heads) was a mistake. These 5 weeks of the Trump2.0/Elon show makes me think nobody needs more than $10 million, maybe with the exception of a very costly medical condition. Tax all these assholes at about 95% on their wealth over $10 million, and if they all want to move to Russia or Gaza2.0, good riddance.
Another bit that jumped out at me when I read it was how Musty went from "we BELIEVE non-existent people ... are being used to collect paychecks" to "there IS outright fraud," from "maybe" to "certainly," in a single sentence. We used to call that "proof by blatant assertion."
Why is no one else talking about this? Glad that TFN is!!
Circular logic meets a shell game. How long will this charade continue? Most everyone who worked in a legitimate office/company, large or small, be it financial, manufacturing, medical.... knows three is a hierarchy of officials & employees alongside process rules & regulation that look after waste, fraud & abuse. Call them auditors, compliance officers, Quality Assurance, Inspector Generals, Project management Offices, Rapporteurs...... What is going on is so illegitimate. Waiting to hear if gets ruled illegal. Then what, can it be undone?
That was so fucking annoying but I read through it and omfg …
They have no authority to do jack shit and beating around the bush to not have Elon properly vetted. Booooooo!!
Jonathan, you make stellar points here. I usually laugh out loud when I read TFN.
And you're still clever and hilarious.
But I want to cry after reading this.
How is this exchange not blasting all over the news? These uncontrollable vandals (who now, apparently are deputized and in some cases armed?) are running amok, or amusk as we ponder the excruciatingly slow judicial process.
It's probably too late to undo the damage they've inflicted and the data they've stolen and compromised. It's devastating.
The exchange between Judge Kollar-Kotelly and Humphries is Waiting for Godot, Theatre of the Absurd. The exchange should be produced, by somebody, within a slightly larger framework. Waiting for DOGE.
Get Kafka and Orwell to do a joint writing of the play and you could have a sure fire winner. Of course though, this could never happen in reality. That would be absurd. Almost as absurd as the notion of the sham, US two party political system putting in power a blatant fascist con artist and a bunch of oligarch sociopaths. Thankfully, that would not be even remotely a thing here in the real world.
Sara Toye made some cogent arguments a few hours ago. I can add:
Idle or under-used federal workers and contractors are a real issue if there are enough of them. I have seen this first hand, involving professionals at a big and important federal agency. It was a very small working group. It was hard for a newcomer to figure out what *anybody* was doing, other than making six-figure salaries. Ferreting out this waste is not a Trump/DOGE inspiration; legislators of both parties have been crowing about it for decades. Considering how gigantic the federal gubmit is maybe some wasted time and money is inevitable.
Please try actually reading an article before commenting on it in future. It will at least save you embarrassing yourself as you did here.
Good grief.
I worked in human resources in five different departments/agencies of the federal government during my career. That the geniuses in DOGE don’t know how to find out if there are employees doing nothing and employees who are fictional loses my mind. There are numerous checks and balances in place and even more that could be implemented if anyone thought they were really needed.
Theater of the absolute absurd.
Meanwhile they are destroying our system of government.
She gets to it. Ultra vires.
Wow! If you cannot dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit!
This bat shittery is beyond the writers of the best dystopian movies. 🤦♀️
The Jan 19 question was good to get on record.
DOGE is not a constitutional agency. Musk is seeking to entertain himself, with the federal workforce, budget, lies and the American people's daily lives when unduly appointed to an agency unduly created. What clowns.
Vought stated in 23 he wants the federal workforce to be traumatized every day. To wake up and not want to come to work.
The problem with Mr. Vought's statement is that it isn't just the federal workforce who is being traumatized and will soon experience, if they haven't already, domestically and internationally, irreparable harm/injury.
Did Trump campaign on this "trauma" to the American people at his rallies or anywhere prior to a Musk post at the conclusion of Musk having bought the presidency for Trump on X?
Vought via a 23 speech, doesn't cut it, but this irreparable harm to the voters of the US is completely unacceptable.
Not one outlet is talking about this but if they don't want to end up in GITMO over a man-child's fragile ego, or a drug addled 1/2 trillionaire, you don't report on the absolute fuckery of this. Meaning complete ineptitude.
You don't report on the actions against our allies, in concert with a foreign adversary. You don't report on the national security imposed on the American People by putting inept people in positions to injure, harm, and kill, the people he took an oath to protect.
You don't report on the internal coup that wasn't given a mandate or even known to voters along with the indictments from Smith, including the Espionage Act indictment.
This fuckery is going to add up to one thing if people are paying attention. Pay attention.
So theres just a bunch of doge people no one in charge..noodling around in government agencies based on a vague EO 🧐 . Why is that not a hard ‘stop now’?!
I'm confused... is Musk half-fast or half-assed?