US judge orders DOGE, Musk to produce cost-cutting records
https://archive.is/lykiV#selection-1091.0-1091.58
"The states argued that #Musk violated the #Constitution by wielding power that only officials confirmed by the #US Senate can exercise under the #AppointmentsClause, & sought materials from him through a process known as discovery...
"Defendants argue that the 'inner workings of government' are immaterial to an Appointments Clause claim," [Chutkan] wrote. "The court is not convinced""
UPDATE: Musk attacks Musk Watch
https://www.muskwatch.com/p/update-musk-attacks-musk-watch
"the Musk Watch #DOGE Tracker... authoritatively demonstrated that #ElonMusk had been grossly overstating the cuts implemented by DOGE...
#Musk offered no actual critique of the Musk Watch DOGE Tracker's methodology...
Musk Watch is a four-person team, but we can rock the boat of the wealthiest and most powerful man in the world."
#Resist #Resistance #Protest #Journalism #Press #Media #News #USPol #USPolitics #Politics #USA #US
Elon Musk's social insecurity
The billionaire's reckless claims seem intended to manufacture outrage to justify an end to what he refers to as an “entitlement program.”
https://contrarian.substack.com/p/elon-musks-social-insecurity
"Ronald Reagan called #SocialSecurity “a secure & stable base so that older #Americans may live in dignity.”
#ElonMusk calls it a “Ponzi scheme.”
...
differences of opinion between #Musk & #Trump, the White House... pledging not to cut Social Security, #Medicare or #Medicaid benefits"
Trump Suffers Huge Loss as Judge Overturns “Unlawful” Mass Firings
At Donald Trump’s behest, #DOGE had sought to gut the federal workforce.
https://newrepublic.com/post/192719/donald-trump-doge-judge-overturns-mass-firings
"the mass firing of federal employees was an “unlawful” directive...
ordered several agencies to “immediately” reinstate... employees... the #VA... Depts of #Defense, Energy, Interior, Treasury, & #Agriculture... the IRS, which falls under the helm of the Treasury Dept"
#ElonMusk #Musk #Trump #GOP #USPol #Politics #Law #News #USA
Making DOGE Cuts Permanent Is Easier Said Than Done
Plus: #GOP town halls are scarce these days.
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/making-doge-cuts-permanent-congress-funding-shutdown
"The prospect of ending these far-reaching programs—like #PEPFAR and, on a much larger scale, the foreign aid administered by the #USAID—remains distant. Beyond that, #DOGE ’s haphazard cuts are difficult to codify because they have a weak legal foundation & are hard to explain, let alone justify (hence the repeat un-firings)."
TSA Says Its Credit Cards for Bomb-Sniffing Dogs Are Cut Off
https://www.404media.co/tsa-k9-bomb-sniffing-dogs-funding/
"The #TSA spokesperson didn’t clarify whether these were #Doge cuts... but Elon Musk’s dept has been busy making poorly-coded & insecure websites, dodging #FOIA, gutting national parks resources... demanding federal workers list their weeks out in bullet points, and generally sowing #chaos all over the federal #government with layoffs & budget cuts."
See How Elon Musk’s Team Inflated, Deleted and Rewrote Its Savings Claims
#GiftLink
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/13/upshot/musk-doge-changes-deletions.html?unlocked_article_code=1.304.pJHf.DTibHql8U3db&smid=url-share
Helpful animated graphics showing Doge's mistakes and lies.
"debuted a website last month... the list has undergone dizzying changes. New contracts have been added, others deleted. Values have been altered, and altered again...
more than 2,200 contracts listed — or 40% of the total — show a savings value of $0"
#ElonMusk #Musk #Doge #Coup #Corruption #Trump #GOP #USPol #News #USA
Who’s Running the DOGE Wrecking Machine: The World’s Richest Man or a Little-Known Bureaucrat?
...Amy Gleason is only in charge on paper, while Musk’s top lieutenants really run #DOGE. One person who has been in meetings with Gleason described her as having “little to no actual decision making” responsibilities.
https://www.propublica.org/article/doge-leadership-elon-musk-amy-gleason-trump-ethics-conflict-of-interest
" #Musk himself issues commands from inside the Sect of War Suite in the Eisenhower Executive Office Bldg, next to the #WhiteHouse"
Fiasco for Musk as He Craters in New Polls and DOGE Cuts Lose in Court
As a judge blocks the Trump-Musk effort to fire thousands of federal workers, a close chronicler of Musk’s follies explains why the public backlash against him & #Tesla matters so much—and what’s coming next.
https://newrepublic.com/article/192747/fiasco-musk-craters-new-polls-doge-cuts-lose-court
"two new polls show approval of #Musk cratering—and importantly, that large majorities are turning against Musk’s mission of gutting the #government"
Trump Claims Boycotting Tesla Is Illegal, Which It Very Much Is Not
https://www.techdirt.com/2025/03/14/trump-claims-boycotting-tesla-is-illegal-which-it-very-much-is-not/
"Meanwhile, the anger at #Musk & #DOGE is absolutely fueling the #protests, property damage, and public outcry at #Tesla owners & dealerships...
while #Trump can’t currently punish the free public for #protesting, it’s obvious he wants to. Which means he, at least, is no longer operating under the illusion that it’s a #democracy he wants. Nor a #republic."
The Week in Musk: The White House is now a Tesla dealership
https://www.muskwatch.com/p/the-week-in-musk-the-white-house
"predicted a certain amount of graft. But even the most skeptical observers may not have pictured #DonaldTrump selling Teslas on the #WhiteHouse lawn...
A makeshift South Portico showroom — featuring five #Tesla models — was organized for the explicit purpose of rallying the company’s #stock after it suffered its worst selloff in five years"
#ElonMusk #Musk #Corruption #USPol #StockMarket #News #US #USA
DOGE plans to double its staff, target safety net programs
https://www.muskwatch.com/i/159032671/doge-plans-to-double-its-staff-target-safety-net-programs
" #Musk also telegraphed DOGE’s designs on dramatically reducing social #safety net programs...
Earlier this month, he described #SocialSecurity as “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time.” So far, DOGE’s work has served as a form of austerity theater, which — while destructive — has done very little to reduce federal spending."
#ElonMusk #Doge #Trump #GOP #Coup #Corruption #USPol #News #US #USA
USPS Makes Alarming Deal With Elon Musk’s DOGE
US Postmaster General #LouisDeJoy is welcoming DOGE with open arms.
https://newrepublic.com/post/192777/usps-deal-elon-musk-doge-cuts
"DeJoy said... #DOGE was “an effort aligned” with... shrinking the USPS,
#Musk also believes that the #USPS should be privatized...
#Privatization... would raise prices, hurt postal workers, and negatively impact #rural communities, who are served by USPS thanks to the #Constitution and federal #law."
Two lawsuits could provide further insight into DOGE
https://www.muskwatch.com/i/159032671/two-lawsuits-could-provide-further-insight-into-doge
"US District Judge Tanya #Chutkan ordered #Musk and his #DOGE collaborators to provide records and testimony about its plans...seeks to establish the “parameters of DOGE’s and Musk’s authority.”
...US District Judge Christopher Cooper requiring DOGE to expeditiously process Freedom of Information Act requests"
#ElonMusk #Coup #Corruption #Trump #USPol #USPolitics #Lawsuit #Law #FOIA #News #US #USA
Trump and Musk Are Getting Their Butts Royally Spanked in the Courts
Some 25,000 federal employees will be back at work Monday. Look beyond Capitol Hill: The resistance, in fact, is strong.
https://newrepublic.com/post/192759/trump-musk-doge-court-rulings-butts-spanked
"Granted, these are temporary injunctions... But if the way the arguments unfolded Thursday is any indication... the administration has a long way to go in making arguments the #court will find credible."
#ElonMusk #Coup #Corruption #Trump #USPol #Lawsuits #Law #News #US #USA
The People Trump and DOGE Hurt
https://joycevance.substack.com/p/the-people-trump-and-doge-hurt
"when fair #housing groups lose... funding, a lot of people suffer as a result...
This isn’t about making #government more effective. It’s about #cruelty. That’s the point... leaving families without a #safety net and putting countless lives and futures at risk. The freeze would have devastating consequences for millions of #Americans, regardless of political affiliation."
Elon Musk's DOGE Cuts Hit Team Saving Kidnapped Ukrainian Children
https://www.newsweek.com/musk-doge-ukraine-children-2045330
"The #Ukrainian government has said that nearly 20,000 #children have been abducted by #Russia from the occupied territories of #Ukraine since the start of the war as part of a program to eradicate Ukrainian identity...
The decision to cut funding for the #US program could harm Ukraine's ability to reunite children with their #families."
#ElonMusk #Musk #Doge #Corruption #Trump #USPol #News #US #USA
Musk Said No One Has Died Since Aid Was Cut.
That Isn’t True.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/03/15/opinion/foreign-aid-cuts-impact.html?unlocked_article_code=1.4E4.H8Lx.GD39rucUfloD&smid=url-share
“No one has died as a result of a brief pause to do a sanity check on foreign aid funding,” #ElonMusk said. “No one.”
That is not true... the efforts by #Musk & #Trump are already leading children to die...
Peter Donde was a 10-year-old..
Achol Deng, an 8-year-old girl...
Inyaa, a 35-year-old single mom, and her 5-year-old son, Evan Anzoo...
[and more]"
" #USAID was established to advance our national interests as well as our values, & its demolition means that the #UnitedStates loses soft power & #China gains...
#America spends just 0.24% of gross national income on humanitarian aid. We properly honor a firefighter who saves a single child, but three cheers for us as taxpayers for rescuing millions of #children around the world from AIDS, starvation & disease.
That is, until January."
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/03/15/opinion/foreign-aid-cuts-impact.html?unlocked_article_code=1.4E4.H8Lx.GD39rucUfloD&smid=url-share
"I find it odious when the world’s richest man cackles about #America shoving programs for needy children “into the wood chipper.”
When you meet those dying #children and look into their eyes and hold their hands and feel faint heartbeats flutter, you can’t bear the gleeful laughter. You see children just like your own and hang your head in shame."
#GiftArticle #GiftLink
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/03/15/opinion/foreign-aid-cuts-impact.html?unlocked_article_code=1.4E4.H8Lx.GD39rucUfloD&smid=url-share
#ElonMusk #Musk #Corruption #Coup #Cruelty #Trump #GOP #Politics #USPol #USAID #News #US #USA
Team finding kidnapped Ukrainian children scrapped by Doge
Humanitarian Research Lab based at #Yale University is latest organisation to fall victim to federal budget cuts
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2025/03/14/team-finding-kidnapped-ukrainian-children-cut-by-doge/
"more than 20,000 #Ukrainian children have been kidnapped by the Russians since the 2022 invasion...
The Yale team located hundreds of #children who were unlawfully brought to #Russia...
In all, around 1,240 have been repatriated."
#ElonMusk #Doge #Russia #Musk #Corruption #Politics #News #US #USA
Who DOGE Hurts: Gutting NOAA
https://joycevance.substack.com/p/who-doge-hurts-gutting-noaa
"the #NOAA was preparing to lay off more than 1,000 workers...
People who live in #hurricane & #tornado country keep their “NOAA #weather radios” handy...
In theory, it sounds like one more bad thing to worry about. In practice, it’s much worse. We’ve just had a demonstration of precisely how effective NOAA is & what we stand to lose without it."
#Musk #Doge #Coup #Corruption #Trump #GOP #USPol #Politics #Disasters #Climate #News #US #USA
"Mother Nature doesn’t care who you voted for. If there’s a #tornado headed your direction, you need access to early #warning systems. Gutting #NOAA means you won’t have that...
"NOAA is [already] down about 2,000 employees since January “as a result of the first round of the #Trump administration's cuts”..."This is not about efficiency & it's certainly not about waste, fraud & abuse. This is taking programs that people depend on to save lives & emasculating them"
"Necessary": Musk calls for judge who blocked Trump deportations to be impeached
The billionaire shared a post from a #Republican congressman seeking to impeach the Obama appointee
https://www.salon.com/2025/03/16/necessary-musk-calls-for-blocked-deportations-to-be-impeached/
" #Musk shared Gill's post... announcing the planned #impeachment move, calling the action "necessary."
Musk's response comes shortly after a judge ordered the #Trump administration to reinstate scores of probationary workers fired using #DOGE 's blunt methods."
Elon Musk Shared, Then Removed a Post Absolving Dictators for Genocide
The post falsely claimed that Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler and Mao Zedong were not responsible for the murders of millions of people, but rather public sector workers were.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/14/technology/elon-musk-x-post-hitler-stalin-mao.html?unlocked_article_code=1.4E4.RW-P.VV-Qk7n8s5HK&smid=bs-share
"Musk shared the post without any other comment. He removed it soon after users on X criticized the post, saying it was #antisemitic and dismissive of #genocide."
#ElonMusk #Musk #Corruption #Trump #GOP #USPol #News #US #USA
DOGE Is Making It Harder to Track Extreme Weather. What Could Go Wrong?
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/17/opinion/weather-service-doge-cuts.html
"These cuts threaten your budget, too. #Insurance companies rely heavily on #data gathered by #NOAA and the #US Geological Survey to assess wildfire, flood, wind and other risks. Some firms are warning that any interruption in data availability could drive insurance premiums for customers even higher."
#ElonMusk #Musk #Doge #Trump #GOP #USPol #Weather #Climate #News #US #USA
Top broadband official exits Commerce Dept with sharp #Musk warning
“Stranding all or part of rural #America with worse internet so that we can make the world’s richest man even richer is yet another in a long line of betrayals by Washington,” Evan Feinman warned.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/16/official-exits-commerce-department-musk-warning-00232278
" #Trump administration is poised to unduly enrich #ElonMusk ’s satellite #internet company w/money for #rural broadband.
The #technology offered by #Starlink, Musk’s company, is inferior"
Some Federal Office Leases Restored After Pushback to Musk Team’s Cuts
The chaotic effort to reduce the govt’s real estate portfolio is another example of the setbacks the admn has faced as officials try to carry out Trump’s agenda.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/17/us/politics/musk-doge-lease-terminations.html
"turnabout comes after [ #Doge]... released a list of... 440 fed properties that could be sold off, incl several HQs for cabinet-level depts, before removing the entire inventory the next day w/little explanation."
DOGE Cuts Reach Key Nuclear Scientists, Bomb Engineers & Safety Experts
Firings & buyouts hit the top-secret National Nuclear Safety Admn amid a major effort to upgrade America’s #nuclear arsenal. Critics say it shows the consequences of heedlessly cutting the federal work force.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/17/us/politics/federal-job-cuts-nuclear-bomb-engineers-scientists.html
"Officials had initially expected that the nuclear agency’s #NationalSecurity mission would protect it from layoffs."
#ElonMusk #Musk #Doge #Trump #GOP #USPol #Politics #Security #News #USA
@ZhiZhu The rushed nature of this affair, reeks of incompetence, not efficiency. Thugs #MuskRat and #ConDon are either hell bent on destruction, seizing total control of the FedGov, breaking its ability to function for the people, or the two culprits reek of incompetence and mismanagement.
FedGov has been reduced in size before under Clinton and Obama, but in an intelligent and non-disruptive manner, by Presidents who actually care about the country and they’re sworn duties.
Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for March 16, 2025
https://www.gocomics.com/doonesbury/2025/03/16
#ElonMusk, #Doge & the #Trump administration are skewered in #Doonesbury #Comic strip.
"In just seven years, we shrunk the federal workforce by 426,000, consolidated 800 agencies and eliminated 640,000 pages of rules...
And you didn't notice because the process was carefully planned and responsibly executed.
It never disrupted essential public services. Compare that to now."
![Sub-heading and text(edited for length):
Two lawsuits could provide further insight into DOGE
On Wednesday, US District Judge Tanya Chutkan ordered Musk and his DOGE collaborators to provide records and testimony about its plans to slash federal agencies. The order seeks to establish the “parameters of DOGE’s and Musk’s authority.” From Politico:
"[Chutkan’s order] is a win for a group of 14 Democratic state attorneys general who are suing President Donald Trump, Musk and DOGE, arguing that Musk has unconstitutionally wielded immense power in ways that are damaging their states. Any information the states glean as a result of Chutkan’s decision will help her determine whether to block Musk and DOGE’s government activities altogether. It’s the first time a judge has ordered Musk to produce documents in a court challenge to his aggressive campaign to slash and reshape the federal bureaucracy."
Musk and DOGE have three weeks to fulfill the discovery requests.
...a Monday night ruling from U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper requiring DOGE to expeditiously process Freedom of Information Act requests...
Remarking on the initiative’s “unusual secrecy,” Cooper wrote in a 37-page opinion that DOGE has exercised “unprecedented” authority without congressional input. “The rapid pace of [DOGE’s] actions, in turn, requires the quick release of information about its structure and activities,” the judge wrote. “That is especially so given the secrecy with which DOGE has operated.”](/proxy/post_attachment/1602459/b336f46f9b.png "Sub-heading and text(edited for length):
Two lawsuits could provide further insight into DOGE
On Wednesday, US District Judge Tanya Chutkan ordered Musk and his DOGE collaborators to provide records and testimony about its plans to slash federal agencies. The order seeks to establish the “parameters of DOGE’s and Musk’s authority.” From Politico:
\"[Chutkan’s order] is a win for a group of 14 Democratic state attorneys general who are suing President Donald Trump, Musk and DOGE, arguing that Musk has unconstitutionally wielded immense power in ways that are damaging their states. Any information the states glean as a result of Chutkan’s decision will help her determine whether to block Musk and DOGE’s government activities altogether. It’s the first time a judge has ordered Musk to produce documents in a court challenge to his aggressive campaign to slash and reshape the federal bureaucracy.\"
Musk and DOGE have three weeks to fulfill the discovery requests.
...a Monday night ruling from U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper requiring DOGE to expeditiously process Freedom of Information Act requests...
Remarking on the initiative’s “unusual secrecy,” Cooper wrote in a 37-page opinion that DOGE has exercised “unprecedented” authority without congressional input. “The rapid pace of [DOGE’s] actions, in turn, requires the quick release of information about its structure and activities,” the judge wrote. “That is especially so given the secrecy with which DOGE has operated.”")
