It is clear from the information you provide that fraud and abuse are not the DOGE target. It is clearly retribution against enemies and dismantling oversight capability to make on-ramps for oligarch exploitations. Trump anticipates kickbacks from Elon on Federal contracts. I believe Mysk has tainted every bid he is pursuing. That impacts every single Federal BID that Musk currently has in progress, and also every potential future bid. At issue is non-public insider information. You cannot bid if you hold insider information, or if the appearance is the same.
Every bidder competing against Musk has recourse outside of the bid-letting agency. Jeff Bezos is being handed this smoking gun. When a bidder suspects there will be an unfair bias in the agency, they can bypass GAO and file in federal court to disqualify Musk, a Musk company, or a Musk team (subcontract or joint venture).
Here is the kicker. Federal court judges will decide on the insider information issue, not the Executive Branch employees. Thus undue influence and strong arming from the Trump administration will be useless.
What I foresee is no more Federal contracts for Musk. He has screwed the pooch. I don’t even see how he can be awarded a sole source extension to an existing contract. I see $ for lawyers. Jeff Bezos has a strong protest play here.
If anyone out there does not realize the dangers we face due to the incompetence of the Trump administration, think again. The dangers are real and they are present:
"Trump administration officials fired more than 300 staffers Thursday night at the National Nuclear Security Administration — the agency tasked with managing the nation’s nuclear stockpile — as part of broader Energy Department layoffs. Sources told CNN the officials did not seem to know this agency oversees America’s nuclear weapons. The agency began rescinding the terminations Friday morning." https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/14/climate/nuclear-nnsa-firings-trump/index.html
What will the next act of abject incompetence be? I think it is already in progress. I am recovering after almost two weeks of suffering from influenza A; bronchitis continues to plague and weaken me. I think Trump is sweeping the extent of this epidemic under the rug for the same reason he downplayed Covid; he thinks it makes him look bad, which ironically makes him look bad.
The overlap/ common ground between musk and trump are power/ money.
Trump has all the power at this point and musk has all the money, hey, can we work together?
I’m not sure how many friday night/saturday morning massacres we can endure, but the idea isnt to endure as many as we can, it is to put a spotlight on the muskist takeover of the trumpian new american order that is the inheritance of the corrupt congressional industrial complex
[Updated Sat. 2-15-25] Nixon's "Saturday Night Massacre"--where two lawyers resigned in protest--became famous as part of Tricky Dicl's own forced departure. Trump now has his own enhanced, explosive "Thursday Night Massacre" where not two but seven DOJ lawyers resigned in their protest against dropping the quid pro quo criminal action against NY Mayor Adams. This week's heroes ("Lighthouses in the Storm" h/t Armand Beede@Blue Note) are: Danielle Sasson, John Keller, Kevin Driscoll, Rob Heberie, Jenn Clarke, Marco Palmieri, and Hagen Scotten. They resigned after Acting deputy Attorney Emil Bove issued a directive to drop the Adam's case.. These heros in pursuit of justice and the rule of law are now included in the lionhearted below fighting against authoritarianism, Trump cruelty, and for pre Trump/Musk. democracy.
Numerous undaunted truth-to-power fighters have been added per viewer's inputs and recent Trump and DOJ actions. Besides upstanding lawyers and law-abiding honorable (present and former) judges, here's a growing list of Profiles in Courage men, women, and advocacy groups who refuse to be cowed or kneel to the force of the Trump/Musk intimidation.]
These heros in pursuit of justice and the rule of law are now included in the lionhearted below fighting against authoritarianism, Trump cruelty, and for democracy--pre Trump/Musk.
I'll begin, again, with Missouri's own undaunted Jess[ica] (à la John Lewis's "get in good trouble") Piper. Then, in no particular order, Heather Cox Richardson, Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, Karen Pence, Pope Francis (re cruel migration treatment) , Ruth Ben-Ghait, Dan Rather, Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O'Donnell, Chris Hayes, Robert Reich, Jim Acosta, Jen Rubin and the Contrarians, Steve Brodner, Brian Tyler Cohen, Jonathan Bernstein, Simon Rosenberg, Rachel Coyle, Jessica Craven, Sharon McMahon, Ron Filipkowski!, Anne Applebaum, David Frum, Susan H. Glassser, Jane Mayer, Lucian Truscott IV, AOC, Jasmine Crockett, Chris Murphy, Elizabeth Warren, Tim Snyder, HHarry Litman, Jay Kuo, Robert B. Hubbell, Ben Meisellas, Steve Schmidt, David Pepper, Judd Legum, Kristin Du Mez, Jeff Tiedrich, Josh Marshall, Paul Krugman, Andy Borowitz, Rich Wilson, Jeff Danziger, Ann Telnaes,͏ ͏Juan Cole, Will Bunch, Bennie Thompson, Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, Rebecca Gordon/TomDispatch, The Dean's List/Dean Obeidallah; American Bar Association, Blue Missouri, Indivisible, Sunrise Movement, Third Act, Democracy Forward, Public Citizen, Democracy Index, Democracy Docket, Democracy Now, ACLU, America, America/Steven Beschloss, David Pepper/ Saving DemocracyThe Action Network, The Freedom Academy et al. (Suggestions welcome.)
And, as Joyce Vance says, "We're in this together"--or via Jess Piper, from rural Missouri: "Solidarity." FIGHT BACK! WE ARE NOT ALONE
( Google any name above for more info if you are unfamiliar.)
It is clear from the information you provide that fraud and abuse are not the DOGE target. It is clearly retribution against enemies and dismantling oversight capability to make on-ramps for oligarch exploitations. Trump anticipates kickbacks from Elon on Federal contracts. I believe Mysk has tainted every bid he is pursuing. That impacts every single Federal BID that Musk currently has in progress, and also every potential future bid. At issue is non-public insider information. You cannot bid if you hold insider information, or if the appearance is the same.
Every bidder competing against Musk has recourse outside of the bid-letting agency. Jeff Bezos is being handed this smoking gun. When a bidder suspects there will be an unfair bias in the agency, they can bypass GAO and file in federal court to disqualify Musk, a Musk company, or a Musk team (subcontract or joint venture).
Here is the kicker. Federal court judges will decide on the insider information issue, not the Executive Branch employees. Thus undue influence and strong arming from the Trump administration will be useless.
What I foresee is no more Federal contracts for Musk. He has screwed the pooch. I don’t even see how he can be awarded a sole source extension to an existing contract. I see $ for lawyers. Jeff Bezos has a strong protest play here.
https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/musk-stains-future-federal-contract
Thanks for sharing that very informative and thought provoking article.
Written for you, Kathleen. Thanks for reading and sharing.
If anyone out there does not realize the dangers we face due to the incompetence of the Trump administration, think again. The dangers are real and they are present:
"Trump administration officials fired more than 300 staffers Thursday night at the National Nuclear Security Administration — the agency tasked with managing the nation’s nuclear stockpile — as part of broader Energy Department layoffs. Sources told CNN the officials did not seem to know this agency oversees America’s nuclear weapons. The agency began rescinding the terminations Friday morning." https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/14/climate/nuclear-nnsa-firings-trump/index.html
What will the next act of abject incompetence be? I think it is already in progress. I am recovering after almost two weeks of suffering from influenza A; bronchitis continues to plague and weaken me. I think Trump is sweeping the extent of this epidemic under the rug for the same reason he downplayed Covid; he thinks it makes him look bad, which ironically makes him look bad.
The overlap/ common ground between musk and trump are power/ money.
Trump has all the power at this point and musk has all the money, hey, can we work together?
I’m not sure how many friday night/saturday morning massacres we can endure, but the idea isnt to endure as many as we can, it is to put a spotlight on the muskist takeover of the trumpian new american order that is the inheritance of the corrupt congressional industrial complex
[Updated Sat. 2-15-25] Nixon's "Saturday Night Massacre"--where two lawyers resigned in protest--became famous as part of Tricky Dicl's own forced departure. Trump now has his own enhanced, explosive "Thursday Night Massacre" where not two but seven DOJ lawyers resigned in their protest against dropping the quid pro quo criminal action against NY Mayor Adams. This week's heroes ("Lighthouses in the Storm" h/t Armand Beede@Blue Note) are: Danielle Sasson, John Keller, Kevin Driscoll, Rob Heberie, Jenn Clarke, Marco Palmieri, and Hagen Scotten. They resigned after Acting deputy Attorney Emil Bove issued a directive to drop the Adam's case.. These heros in pursuit of justice and the rule of law are now included in the lionhearted below fighting against authoritarianism, Trump cruelty, and for pre Trump/Musk. democracy.
Numerous undaunted truth-to-power fighters have been added per viewer's inputs and recent Trump and DOJ actions. Besides upstanding lawyers and law-abiding honorable (present and former) judges, here's a growing list of Profiles in Courage men, women, and advocacy groups who refuse to be cowed or kneel to the force of the Trump/Musk intimidation.]
These heros in pursuit of justice and the rule of law are now included in the lionhearted below fighting against authoritarianism, Trump cruelty, and for democracy--pre Trump/Musk.
I'll begin, again, with Missouri's own undaunted Jess[ica] (à la John Lewis's "get in good trouble") Piper. Then, in no particular order, Heather Cox Richardson, Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, Karen Pence, Pope Francis (re cruel migration treatment) , Ruth Ben-Ghait, Dan Rather, Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O'Donnell, Chris Hayes, Robert Reich, Jim Acosta, Jen Rubin and the Contrarians, Steve Brodner, Brian Tyler Cohen, Jonathan Bernstein, Simon Rosenberg, Rachel Coyle, Jessica Craven, Sharon McMahon, Ron Filipkowski!, Anne Applebaum, David Frum, Susan H. Glassser, Jane Mayer, Lucian Truscott IV, AOC, Jasmine Crockett, Chris Murphy, Elizabeth Warren, Tim Snyder, HHarry Litman, Jay Kuo, Robert B. Hubbell, Ben Meisellas, Steve Schmidt, David Pepper, Judd Legum, Kristin Du Mez, Jeff Tiedrich, Josh Marshall, Paul Krugman, Andy Borowitz, Rich Wilson, Jeff Danziger, Ann Telnaes,͏ ͏Juan Cole, Will Bunch, Bennie Thompson, Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, Rebecca Gordon/TomDispatch, The Dean's List/Dean Obeidallah; American Bar Association, Blue Missouri, Indivisible, Sunrise Movement, Third Act, Democracy Forward, Public Citizen, Democracy Index, Democracy Docket, Democracy Now, ACLU, America, America/Steven Beschloss, David Pepper/ Saving DemocracyThe Action Network, The Freedom Academy et al. (Suggestions welcome.)
And, as Joyce Vance says, "We're in this together"--or via Jess Piper, from rural Missouri: "Solidarity." FIGHT BACK! WE ARE NOT ALONE
( Google any name above for more info if you are unfamiliar.)