Post by Zhi Zhu 🕸️ - NeoDB

37d

Things are going even worse than I expected:
On our unelected President Elon Musk, and mourning the loss of foreclosed potential futures.
https://davekarpf.substack.com/p/things-are-going-even-worse-than

"Elon #Musk has, for all practical purposes, seized control of the #US Administrative State. If he follows the same course of action he favored during the #Twitter takeover, he is likely to simply stop having the #government pay for things he doesn’t think it should pay for...

This is all flatly illegal."

#ElonMusk #Coup #Crime #USA

Text from article:
Elon Musk has, for all practical purposes, seized control of the U.S. Administrative State. If he follows the same course of action he favored during the Twitter takeover, he is likely to simply stop having the government pay for things he doesn’t think it should pay for. (This is a man, mind you, whose established policy directive was “Elon doesn’t pay rent.”)

This is all flatly illegal. Doing illegal shit is part of the change management strategy. Don’t honor contracts or existing obligations. Make the other side renegotiate or sue to stop you. Reap the benefits in the meantime.

You shouldn’t be able to do that with a multi-billion dollar corporation. You really cannot be doing it with the full faith and credit of the United States.

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37d

Senior USAID security officials put on leave after refusing Musk’s DOGE access to agency systems
https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/02/politics/usaid-officials-leave-musk-doge/index.html

"Personnel from the Musk-created office physically tried to access the #USAID headquarters in #WashingtonDC, and were stopped.

The DOGE personnel demanded to be let in and threatened to call US Marshals to be allowed access

...wanted to gain access to security systems and personnel files... classified information."

#Musk #Coup #Fascism #Trump #Politics #US #News #Press

News headline:
Senior USAID security officials put on leave after refusing Musk’s DOGE access to agency systems

By Jennifer Hansler and Alex Marquardt, CNN
2 minute read
Published 11:48 AM EST, Sun February 2, 2025

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37d

Musk team given access to sensitive federal payment system - reports
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c77rkg5dm3vo

"The access to the payment system was granted on Friday, the same day when a longtime #Treasury official named David Lebryk was put on administrative leave and suddenly retired...

Lebryk had strongly resisted allowing Musk's lieutenants into the department's payment system...

#Musk... is not officially a government employee"

#ElonMusk #Coup #Trump #Politics #Government #News #US #USA

News headline:
Musk team given access to sensitive federal payment system - reports

2 hours ago
Kayla Epstein

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36d

The Young, Inexperienced Engineers Aiding Elon Musk’s Government Takeover:
Engineers between 19 and 24, most linked to Musk’s companies, are playing a key role as he seizes control of federal infrastructure.
https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-government-young-engineers/

"six young men—all apparently between the ages of 19 & 24... who have little to no #government experience and ...have taken control of the... #OPM and... #GSA, and have gained access to the #Treasury Department’s payment system"

#ElonMusk #Coup #Musk #Politics #US

News headline:
The Young, Inexperienced Engineers Aiding Elon Musk’s Government Takeover
Engineers between 19 and 24, most linked to Musk’s companies, are playing a key role as he seizes control of federal infrastructure.

by Vittoria Elliott
Politics
Feb 2, 2025 2:02 PM

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36d

A New Kind of Coup: Trump and Musk are Updating the Autocratic Playbook:
The assault on our democracy seen through the lens of authoritarian practice
https://lucid.substack.com/p/a-new-kind-of-coup-trump-and-musk

"We are living through a new kind of coup in which #ElonMusk, the richest man in the world, has taken over the payment and other administration systems that allow the American #government to function, and has locked out federal employees from computer systems."

#Musk #Coup #Trump #Fascism #Politics #USPol #USA #US

Headline:
A New Kind of Coup: Trump and Musk are Updating the Autocratic Playbook

The assault on our democracy seen through the lens of authoritarian practice

by Ruth Ben-Ghiat
Feb 02, 2025

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36d

Elon Musk says President Donald Trump has ‘agreed’ USAID should be shut down
https://apnews.com/article/doge-musk-trump-classified-information-usaid-security-35101dee28a766e0d9705e0d47958611

"the administration placed two top security chiefs at #USAID on leave after they refused to turn over classified material in restricted areas to Musk’s government-inspection teams...

Musk’s DOGE crew lacked high enough security clearance to access that information"

#ElonMusk #Coup #Musk #Trump #Politics #Government #US #USA #News #USNews

News headline:
Politics
Elon Musk says President Donald Trump has ‘agreed’ USAID should be shut down

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36d

Musk associates given unfettered access to private data of government employees:
The Musk-connected political hires include two recent high school graduates
https://www.muskwatch.com/p/musk-associates-given-unfettered

"OPM staffers received an email from the agency’s new leadership instructing them to give Musk’s team “access [to] the system as an admin user" and "code read and write permissions."

...which means they can make updates to anything that they want"

#Tech #ElonMusk #Coup #Musk #Trump #Politics #Government #US #News

Headline:
Musk associates given unfettered access to private data of government employees

The Musk-connected political hires include two recent high school graduates

by Caleb Ecarma and Judd Legum
Feb 03, 2025

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36d

Federal Workers Block Doors of Admin Building Over Elon Musk Data Breach
https://dcmediagroup.us/2025/02/02/federal-workers-block-doors-of-admin-building-over-elon-musk-data-breach/

"There is no way to determine what they [ #Musk & minions] are doing w/the systems or its vast trove of databases...

A massive intrusion of this scale taken against a system of secure #government computer networks is unprecedented"

#Tech #Coup #ElonMusk #Trump #Crime #Politics #USPol #US #USA #News #USNews

News headline:
Federal Workers Block Doors of Admin Building Over Elon Musk Data Breach

by John Zangas | Published February 2, 2025

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36d

The War at Home:
Elon Musk and The Security State's Uvalde Moment:
“We have a Constitutional crisis, period," says NSA whistleblower Tom Drake, who can't help but notice how the three-letter agencies that went after him aren't stopping this
https://www.forever-wars.com/elon-musk-and-the-security-states-uvalde-moment/

"The danger to the #Constitution is running amok inside govt buildings. But the #Security State stands outside, deterred, & will present any number of rationalizations about how this isn't their job."

#ElonMusk #Musk #Coup #News #US

News headline: The War at Home
Elon Musk and The Security State's Uvalde Moment

“We have a Constitutional crisis, period," says NSA whistleblower Tom Drake, who can't help but notice how the three-letter agencies that went after him aren't stopping this.

by Spencer Ackerman
03 Feb 2025 • 6 min read

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36d

Why Write About the Illegality of What Trump and Musk are Doing?
https://buttondown.com/sbagen/archive/why-write-about-the-illegality-of-what-trump-and/

"I know the #law won’t “save us” from #Trump. We’re going to have to save ourselves. But the law is one among many tools that will prove important in that struggle. And I think it’s important that those of us who work in the law continue to explain Trump’s violations of the law."

#ElonMusk #Coup #Musk #DonaldTrump #Crime #GOP #Politics #US #USA

Headline:
Why Write About the Illegality of What Trump and Musk are Doing?

By Samuel Bagenstos, February 2, 2025

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36d

The Media Is Missing the Story: Elon Musk Is Staging a Coup:
As the world's richest man seizes control of government agencies, mainstream outlets are treating it like standard political news
https://www.readtpa.com/p/the-media-is-missing-the-story-elon

" #ElonMusk — a man no one elected to any office — has gained unprecedented access to... payment systems, fired federal workers, shuttered entire agencies, & installed his loyalists throughout the govt. If this were happening in any other country, we'd call it what it is: a #coup"

News headline:
The Media Is Missing the Story: Elon Musk Is Staging a Coup

As the world's richest man seizes control of government agencies, mainstream outlets are treating it like standard political news

by Parker Molloy
Feb 03, 2025

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35d

"Hitler actually had some good ideas": Musk's covert coup is guided by internet trolls:
Musk's illegal government takeover is scary on its own — but the people he's bringing along make it even worse
https://www.salon.com/2025/02/04/hitler-actually-had-some-good-ideas-musks-covert-coup-is-guided-by-internet/

"Musk seems to believe he can ignore the legal authority of #Congress to control federal spending, & instead control all decisions on how to spend taxpayer money... functionally make #Musk a #dictator using the elected official, #Trump, as his figurehead."

#Coup #News #USA

News headline:
"Hitler actually had some good ideas": Musk's covert coup is guided by internet trolls

Musk's illegal government takeover is scary on its own — but the people he's bringing along make it even worse

By Amanda Marcotte
Senior Writer
Published February 4, 2025 6:00AM (EST)

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35d

What the Musk is Happening?
It’s a catastrophe, but what kind of catastrophe?
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/what-the-musk-is-happening

"What if the #Musk people — Muskovites? — try to muck with systems they don’t understand, believing that they’re super smart & can master everything with the help of a little #AI? It’s not hard to imagine the whole federal payments system — including, by the way, servicing of #federal debt — crashing.

So much damage — to #US credibility, to the #Constitution and... #government"

Text from article:
As Nathan Tankus, the go-to expert on these matters, says,

"I 100% believe that the primary barrier to Elon Musk gaining control of the Treasury payments system is COBOL."

For readers mystified by the reference, COBOL is a very old programming language that was once pervasive in the business world but in which hardly anyone under 60 knows how to program — yet is still widely used in government. (During Covid, the state of New Jersey put out a frantic call for people who knew COBOL to implement expanded unemployment benefits.)

But this observation raises another concern. What if the Musk people — Muskovites? — try to muck with systems they don’t understand, believing that they’re super smart and can master everything with the help of a little AI? It’s not hard to imagine the whole federal payments system — including, by the way, servicing of federal debt — crashing.

So much damage — to U.S. credibility, to the Constitution and the rule of law, and possibly even to the very functioning of the government. And Trump only took power 2 weeks ago.

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35d

"unelected billionaire #ElonMusk, whose investment of $290 million in #Trump & other #Republican candidates in the 2024 election... bought him freedom to run the #government...

The replacement of our constitutional system of government with the whims of an unelected private citizen is a #coup. The US president has no authority to cut programs created & funded by #Congress, & a private citizen... has even less standing to try anything so radical."
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/february-3-2025

#Musk #Trump #Politics

Text from article:
I’m going to start tonight by stating the obvious: the Republicans control both chambers of Congress: the House of Representatives and the Senate. They also control the White House and the Supreme Court. If they wanted to get rid of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), for example, they could introduce a bill, debate it, pass it, and send it on to President Trump for his signature. And there would be very little the Democrats could do to stop that change.

But they are not doing that.

Instead, they are permitting unelected billionaire Elon Musk, whose investment of $290 million in Trump and other Republican candidates in the 2024 election apparently has bought him freedom to run the government, to override Congress and enact whatever his own policies are by rooting around in government agencies and cancelling those programs that he, personally, dislikes.

The replacement of our constitutional system of government with the whims of an unelected private citizen is a coup. The U.S. president has no authority to cut programs created and funded by Congress, and a private citizen tapped by a president has even less standing to try anything so radical.

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35d

A 25-Year-Old With Elon Musk Ties Has Direct Access to the Federal Payment System
The Bureau of the Fiscal Service is a sleepy part of the Treasury Department. It’s also where, sources say, a 25-year-old engineer tied to Elon Musk has admin privileges over the code that controls Social Security payments, tax returns, & more.
https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-associate-bfs-federal-payment-system/

"Elez’s privileges include the ability not just to read but to write code on two of the most sensitive systems in the #US #government"

News headline:
A 25-Year-Old With Elon Musk Ties Has Direct Access to the Federal Payment System

The Bureau of the Fiscal Service is a sleepy part of the Treasury Department. It’s also where, sources say, a 25-year-old engineer tied to Elon Musk has admin privileges over the code that controls Social Security payments, tax returns, and more.

by Vittoria Elliott, Dhruv Mehrotra, Leah Feiger, Tim Marchman
Politics
Feb 4, 2025 1:02 AM

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35d

Elon Musk Suggests Getting Rid Of All Regulations In Midnight Call:
"If it's not possible now, it'll never be possible," Musk said of his proposal to simply ignore all federal regulation as a baseline.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/elon-musk-regulations-default-gone_n_67a12742e4b09a02376043c7

“Regulations, basically, should be default gone,” Musk said. “Not default there, default gone. And if it turns out that we missed the mark on a regulation, we can always add it back in.”

#ElonMusk #Coup #Musk #Trump #GOP #Government #Politics #US #USA #News #USNews

News headline:
Elon Musk Suggests Getting Rid Of All Regulations In Midnight Call

"If it's not possible now, it'll never be possible," Musk said of his proposal to simply ignore all federal regulation as a baseline.

By Matt Shuham
Feb 3, 2025, 04:25 PM EST

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35d

Musk’s Takeover Of The Government’s Computer Systems Needs To Be Understood As A Cyberattack, Or Worse
https://www.techdirt.com/2025/02/03/musks-takeover-of-the-governments-computer-systems-needs-to-be-understood-as-a-cyberattack-or-worse/

"These systems #Musk and his “team” have accessed are among the most sensitive and critical to the running of the #USA...

Yet here is Musk, a man who regularly chats with Vladimir #Putin, with access to it all, if not also outright control."

#ElonMusk #Coup #Tech #Technology #CyberSecurity #Security #NationalSecurity #Treasury #OPM #Russia #China #Trump #News #US

News headline and text from article.

Headline: Musk’s Takeover Of The Government’s Computer Systems Needs To Be Understood As A Cyberattack, Or Worse

Privacy
from the we've-been-pwned dept
Mon, Feb 3rd 2025 10:47am - Cathy Gellis

Text: People sometimes think that cybersecurity is just about defending computer systems from remote adversaries. But it’s broader than that; cybersecurity has always been about protecting computer systems more generally from any sort of misuse, no matter how the adversary might access them.

So that Elon Musk and his minions have managed to walk right into government offices to take over computer systems where they had no legitimate authorization or entitlement needs to be understood as a cyberattack by a rogue actor.

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