The whistleblower on Maddow talked about what was done with in National Labor Relations Board. He said that the same is happening in other agencies.
I believe that Elon Musk and the policies of DOGE must be stopped. The more we learn about what they are doing, the more clear it will become they have to be stopped. How to stop them is one question, what to do next is another. Major corporations, industry groups and economists KNOW DOGE is destabilizing government. But they are afraid to say it. So we do.
My premise is that while we can link deaths to kids in South Sudan to the USAID cuts in food aid in America, that’ not big enough to register. DOGE changes to the computer systems need to be big enough to lead to the deaths of THOUSANDS of Americans. Specifically, white, male Republican Americans.
DOGE and Musk are not just making simple “mistakes” but are doing damage that will destroy lives.
Who must be convinced of that damage? The public? Republicans in Congress? Judges?
If they are told to stop, but don’t, then what?
Who will undo & repair the damage they have done?
ProPublica is having an event on Thursday to talk about what they know based on their reporting. I registered and have a few questions for them.
So here are my questions for the ProPublica people
1) Within the Federal government, who can technically ORDER DOGE to stop all their actions with computer systems? Names & titles. Who has the authority?
2) Some courts have ordered stopping of DOGE actions. What happens if it is found that DOGE did not stop? What are the penalties? Contempt of court? Fines? Who pays? Can anyone be sent to prison?
3) If DOGE stopped, who will pick up their tasks? The previous fired staff? If not, who?
4) Experts have warned a disaster will happen with DOGE’s actions on payment systems, when a disaster happens, who can order the systems to be repaired? Who is hired to repair them? If the Trump Trump admin will not hire back the people who kept the systems running, who will they hire? Which outside contractors will be brought into privatize it?
What policies are in place that won’t allow the people who ran the system that DOGE fired, to come back?
So far DOGE’s actions have led to the crashing of the Social Security website. In the commercial world a contractor who screwed up that bad, costing MILLIONS of dollars an hour in revenue, would be fired. They would be sued for damages.
5) Is DOGE protected from financial liability for crashing the computer payment systems, since they are part of the government?
6) If there was information that Musk & DOGE intentionally took steps that were known to reckless with their coding actions, and it led to a financial disaster, which lead to DEATH for some people, is anyone CRIMINALLY liable?
I saw my friend Alex Lawson on Maddow Friday April 12, 2025. He said,
Alex Lawson, ED Social Security Works on The Rachel Maddow Show, Friday April 12, 2025
a missed check for some people is a death sentence, a missed check for some people is going to mean that they are out on the street. So we have to come together. And understand that when this catastrophic failure happens, and I believe it will, there’s no indication that they’re trying to fix things, just accelerate it. 73 Million people rely on Social Security. Imagine the chaos that will come when those checks don’t go out. Rachel, it is going to be a scenario that’s hard to imagine how catastrophic it will be.
Alex Lawson, ED Social Security Works on The Rachel Maddow Show, Friday April 12, 2025
I put the date of the warning in here, because it’s important. Here’s how America currently works:
I’m LOVING what I’m seeing on MSNBC about Town Halls! I want to see more! But what if there isn’t one around you?
Right now DOGE & Musk are shutting Social Security offices all across the country and cutting phone services that will force the elderly and disabled to go to their local Social Security office. Alex Lawson of Social Security Works talked to Nicole Sandler about how to set up a rally at your local Social Security Administration office. Sam Seder of The Majority Report talked about it today.
"Every single member of congress needs to be pressured because of what they are doing to Social Security." @samseder.bsky.social @majorityreport.bsky.social @socialsecurityworks.org is setting up people to rally at their local #SocialSecurity offices. Go to HandsOffSocialSecurity.org[image or embed]
— Spocko (@spocko.bsky.social) March 25, 2025 at 1:20 PM
The rallies at Social Security offices will bring the issue to the media, which is great, but we know how people live in media bubbles. Fox News won’t cover them. But they might make the local news. Lately I’ve been talking to some activists on how to reach the “normies” who only watch their local TV news, and prepare for the . . . → Read More: Who to call NOW, before your Social Security is disrupted? Alex Lawson @socialsecurityworks.org
Chelsea Milburn, a disabled Navy vet, was fired from her job because of sweeping cuts to federal agencies. But her story won’t be on Fox “News”
When I saw Elon Musk wielding a chainsaw at CPAC I knew it would be shared everywhere. MAGA people LOVE that image, “He’s owning the libs! AWESOME! An Alpha male cutting Federal Government waste!” But what they won’t see are the lives destroyed by the illegal and reckless cuts.
The pattern we are seeing is a massive sweeping cut, then outrage. If it is so egregious or outrageous like Nuclear Security it’s “an accident” and they try to rehire the people fired. Now you would THINK that if it hits a program or constituent base that Republican politicians care about, they would stand up for their own people. But that hasn’t happened. We see them go on TV and say, the cuts are a good thing.
She needs to be on Fox “News” so people can connect Musk’s cuts & the betrayal of vets to GOP senators who aren’t helping her, but praising Musk. But that is not going to happen because Fox is busy talking about how the cuts are justified. They . . . → Read More: Vets Lives Are Being Destroyed By Federal Cuts
I got into a conversation with some friend’s about the Dem’s failure to prepare for the nomination hearings. I KNEW that there were multiple weaknesses in them, but I also know that the Trump team had a strategy to push them through.
I saw lots of complaints about Dem Senator questions at the hearings. It is hard, especially when Team Trump uses these tactics
1) Withholding evidence
2) No background checks by FBI AND the FBI doesn’t share the info with all committee members
3) Coach candidates to give non-answers and to give technically correct, but misleading answers
“It wasn’t an NDA, It was a”non- disparagement clause in the divorce proceedings”
4) Threaten people who have legit questions about their qualifications, or have issues about their character. See what they did to Sen. Joni Ernst.
I started looking into Tulsi Gabbard. Howie Klein wrote about her at Down With Tyranny. Will Senate Republicans Draw The Line At Tulsi Gabbard? Very Very Unlikely Subhead: Does Trump’s Crazy Hare Krishna Belong To Putin?
I learned a lot. There are multiple weakness that could be exploited if someone was in charge of a PR campaign to derail her . . . → Read More: Hey Dems! You can derail Tulsi’s nomination
I’m a HUGE fan of A Closer Look on the Seth Meyer show. It’s written by Sal Gentile and the supervising producer is Emily Erotas.They have a limited series podcast called A. Closer Look Back, talking about what they learned during Trump first term & what they can do to prepare for Trump 2.0. It’s insightful & funny and I highly recommend it.
Listening to this podcast and Rachel Maddow’s recent show on preparing for Trump’s next term got me thinking.
Who has a media and social media strategy to mess with Trump this time around? And, because nothing seems to hurt Trump, who is focusing on busting his nominees & minions? I ask because I don’t see the Dems doing it.
I wondered what I can do. Who can I help that I think is doing good work to counter the RW narrative? I looked at what was breaking thru the RW narrative IN MULTIPLE SPACES. One was comedy. So I wrote the best comedy writers & producers I knew about & asked them this question:
Today Cliff Schecter and Hal Sparks talked about Kash Patel & how he could be the first possible leather daddy to head the FBI.
The Steve Bannon plan is to overwhelm the media with Trump’s horrible nominees. What gets to the MSM, that makes them disqualified, isn’t the same as what makes it to late night comedy shows, or to Fox News, or RW social media.
Part of what we can do with our audiences is to show how weird these people are. There are serious reasons these people are horrible, that would disqualify them to normal people like us. But we need to also point out stuff that the MAGAs have a hard time with, but we can’t reach their channels. If we tried they’d say, “I thought you were COOL WITH DEI, gays, and leather daddies!” So we put stuff out saying, “We’re cool them being gay or leather daddies, but we are not cool with their policies to destroy our national security, are you?”
Frankly I don’t know which weird, corrupt, sick, incompetent or illegal activity of Trump’s nominees will knock them out of the process. But we need to find them and . . . → Read More: Trump’s Leather Daddy To Head FBI
I just saw a great video from my old friend Cliff Schechter on his new YouTube channel, Cliff’s Edge.
Is It Time to Start FIGHTING Dirty Against Donald Trump?
After I watched it, I liked, subscribed and joined the channel as a paying member. I’d like folks to do the same. Then I called Cliff to talk about it.
I’ve known Cliff for years and we talked about “fighting” on camera on RW media, and the opportunity for a lefty billionaire to buy a media outlet like CNBC and MSNBC. I hope it happens. If it DOES happen, we need to understand the fear of funders on the left to fighting back and what to do about it.
One thing that I’ve seen is that people who consider themselves journalists in the mainstream media don’t see “fighting back” as their job. That’s the job of activists. That’s the job of Democrats. Many see their role as reporting the facts. (Or “documenting the atrocities” as Atrios would say.)
I’ve written about what happens to journalists when they do report the facts, do the “both sides” bit, and talk to experts. They get threatened. Accepting death threats IS . . . → Read More: What’s Behind The Fear of Fighting Back?
What do we do when we fight & lose? Never Give Up! Never surrender!
People admire that about a leader and a cause. We don’t just fight the fights we can win. You fight the fights that need fighting!” Martin Sheen, The American President (1995)
We expect THEM to follow the norms of losing. Like we do. Accept the loss. Don’t flip the board over.
And when we WIN? We are supposed to accept the win. Stop fighting. Reach out to the losing side & shake hands. Follow the norms of winners. Say, “Good luck! It’s great to have a strong opponent!”
Don’t be a sore winner! Don’t spike the football. Don’t mock them for losing. Don’t brag about the win everywhere. “Don’t get cocky kid!”
I’m getting into too many sports and movie metaphors here, so I want to talk about a specific win and why when we fight & win against RWers we must keep fighting, because the norms of winning aren’t enough against today’s RW.
Ruby Freeman & Shaye Moss won a $148 million judgement against Giuliani after he defamed them
NEW YORK— A time-traveling man from the 22nd century revealed Monday that, while many timelines are terrible, the current version, as of Nov 17, 2024 is one of the worst ones. Wolcott, a self-described physicist and adventurer who traveled back in time from 2147 New York City, expressed sorry for the pain people in America will be suffering.
“Look, time travel isn’t like in the movies. When we go back and change something, a whole new timeline is created. Sometimes the people in that timeline are happy, but in some leftover timelines, it’s TERRIBLE! For example, in the timeline where Al Gore is President everyone wears brown. Sure they stopped global climate change & Americans have universal health care, but not everything is perfect! The Wire doesn’t exist! Breaking Bad was never made!
Another timeline has the first female President, but it’s not great either. Sure women’s reproductive freedom is assured. But that timeline doesn’t have an MRA vaccine for COVID-19, because there was no botched response by the other President who ignored the pandemic playbook. The show trials for her impeachment are still continuing. Also, there are NO FUN press conferences! Late night comedy is horrible!
