SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2025
We lack a way to discuss it: It's a famous formulation from a Woody Guthrie anthem.
The famous song is called Pretty Boy Floyd. The passage goes like this:
Pretty Boy Floyd
[...]
As through this world I've wandered
I've seen lots of funny men.
Some rob you with a six-gun,
Some with a fountain pen.
Set aside Guthrie's apparent beliefs about Charles Arthur Floyd, a bank robber. The highlighted lyrics capture the different ways in which human conquest—overthrow—has been accomplished down through the years.
The overthrow of sacred Troy was a conquest of the Bronze Age. The overthrow was accomplished with the weapons of that era.
As we've noted many times, Professor Knox described that conquest—that "night assault"—way back in 1990. We've posted the passage many times. Today, we post it again:
Professor Knox: Introduction to the Iliad, Robert Fagles translation
[...]
The images of that night assault—the blazing palaces, the blood running in the streets, old Priam butchered at the altar, Cassandra raped in the temple, Hector's baby son thrown from the battlements, his wife Andromache dragged off to slavery—all this, foreshadowed in the Iliad, will be stamped indelibly on the consciousness of the Greeks throughout their history, immortalized in lyric poetry, in tragedy, on temple pediments and painted vases, to reinforce the stern lesson of Homer's presentation of the war: that no civilization, no matter how rich, no matter how refined, can long survive once it loses the power to meet force with equal or superior force.
There were no guns, but there were swords and there were spears and there was also fire. There was sexual assault and sexual slavery. There were babies thrown to their deaths.
The night assault which occasioned the death of sacred Troy down was accomplished by means of those Late Bronze Age technologies. Today, an overthrow of the Information Age is underway.
It involves the manifest craziness of a manifest public nutcase. Something is baldly wrong with Elon Musk, but the American discourse largely lacks an established way to discuss or describe this problem.
Is something wrong with Elon Musk? Plainly, the answer is yes. Is it a moral problem, or could it be a matter of "mental disorder" (more colloquially, a matter of mental illness)?
Is he a liar or is he a nutcase? That's a difficult matter to cipher—but by tradition, our journalism lacks a way to discuss that important question.
In part for that reason, the current overthrow—this conquest of the Information Age—continues apace, driven by the endless array of crazy statements made by this crazy man.
He may be more Trump than Donald J. Trump! Over at the Washington Post, Oremus and Harwell struggle to keep up with all the crazy statements—but in truth, it can't be done:
Musk accused Reuters of ‘social deception.’ The deception was his.
The actor and director Ron Howard posted Wednesday on X an article by the news agency Reuters headlined, “Musk’s DOGE cuts based more on political ideology than real cost savings so far.”
An hour later, Elon Musk posted a reply: “I wonder how much money Reuters is getting from the government? Let’s find out.” Before the night’s end, the billionaire leading the Trump administration’s radical cost-cutting campaign was touting what he portrayed as a smoking gun: a screenshot of a U.S. government webpage showing a contract between the Defense Department and Thomson Reuters Special Services for “Active Social Engineering Defense” and “Large Scale Social Deception.”
“Reuters was paid millions of dollars by the US government for ‘large scale social deception,’” Musk proclaimed in an X post that has racked up more than 76,000 shares and 35 million views. “They’re a total scam. Just wow.”
Inevitably, this assessment by Musk turned out to be clownishly wrong.
"The contract was real, but the Orwellian phrase Musk seized on to suggest a shadowy conspiracy wasn’t what it seems." That's the way Oremus and Hartwell start their attempt to explain what Musk managed—once again—to get clownishly wrong.
That's the way the Post report begins. As they continue, the reporters attempt to correct a wide array of crazy claims which have been driving the current, ongoing conquest of our own sacred Troy.
That said, a problem exists:
By tradition, our journalism lacks a language for describing blinding stupidity. Also, it lacks a language with which to discuss possibilities of mental illness among political figures.
(By way of contrast, journalists are allowed to speak freely about "mental illness" in discussions of various types of "street crime.")
This lack of language means that our journalism lacks a way to discuss the relentless conduct of Elon Musk. Also, our "highly educated" mainstream journalists aren't always especially sharp as a group, nor do they always distinguish themselves with respect to their moral horizons.
We still owe you a look at what was said on the February 7 Gutfeld! program—more specifically, at what was said by the program's four panelists. The panelists spoke after the program's extremely peculiar host had made a set of remarkable claims about the work of USAID—allegations about the agency's work overseas but also here at home
By the rules of the game, every player was required to agree with every word the program's host had said. Or at least, they were required to find a way to avoid contradicting or questioning the stunning accusations he'd lodged, perhaps by mouthing preapproved talking points on some other preapproved theme.
The Gutfeld! program is a form of Information Age overthrow / conquest. On this prime time "cable news" program, a rotating set of corporate employees take turns undermining the conceptual foundations of the modern American nation.
They do so for better or worse. But they plainly do so.
Tomorrow, we're going to show you the transcript of the crazy things Dagen McDowell said that night, as the palace burned. We'll even direct you to the place where this extremely strange person struggled like a modern Strangelove to keep herself from emitting a furious F-word.
(McDowell never isn't amazingly strange when she appears on this program.)
We're offering this service for the ages—for people "ages and ages hence." If they want to know how our own Troy died, our efforts will be there to serve them.
By the time of that ancient "night assault," it was too late to save sacred Troy. The same may well be true of us today, as our own towering walls—walls of the Information Age—are being overrun by the clownishly ridiculous Musk and by others much like him.
Tradition limits the ways we can fight. Plus, those of us in Blue America have worked hard to earn our way out. In these relentless ways, we Blues have "lost the power to meet [Information Age] force with equal or superior force."
We're being robbed with a fountain pen—rather, by an assortment of crazy claims aimed directly at the heart of our own hapless behaviors.
Successful with 6 mammoth cool and exciting companies, richest man in the world, lots of children. Wish I were whatever kind of nuts gets you all that. Envy motivates all of the Musk hate.
ReplyDeleteYou can't get more jealous than Trump is of Jared Kushner's penis.
DeleteSounds more like envy motivates the Musk love.
DeleteRunning a bunch of companies doesn't mean someone is less of a crook when he does illegal things, as Musk has been doing.
DeleteMusk now has 12 children with women who are not his wife. He has in some cases paid women on his staff to have his kids. I'm sure he supports them financially but not as a father who cares about them would. Musk's own father called him a horrible parent whose kids don't want to spend any time around him. The child he brought to the White House was obviously poorly behaved and shouldn't have been there under the circumstances. Is this really what men envy, or is it the lack of responsibility for raising the kids that is envious to men? If the latter, they will miss out on the joys of being a parent, under the mistaken belief that they are getting away with something by emulating Musk.
DeleteMusk does this ghetto-style baby daddying because he thinks he owes the world to propagate his superior genes. Trump has the same genetics-based white superiority belief in his own "stable genius" coupled with no meaningful relationship beyond money with his kids and a wife who dislikes him and doesn't want to live with him. Real people tend to prefer their close family lives, even if they struggle financially, to the cold, eugenicist approach of Musk, who cannot teach his child how to show respect to an adult stranger who happens to be the President. Or is the kid mimicking Musk's own disrespect for Trump, who has lost it cognitively but still must be humored because he was the guy elected?
Why is it considered high status or a good thing for men to have a bunch of kids that they do nothing but support with money, while women do all the work? When did children become arm candy to guys?
DeleteWhen millions of kids don't have a father that is either present or provides, one who provides lavishly is leagues ahead in the father stakes. Kids don't need to interact with fathers when young. He needs a father's discipline in the home and advice as he grows up. He needs a mother's presence when young and it's a father's obligation to provide for it. If a father doesn't think he's missing out by working instead of attending little league, no harm done as long as he is working for the benefit of the family and he is a part of it.
DeleteAre those Sky Daddy's rules?
DeleteBtw, did you see Trump and Hegseth's brilliant negotiating skills in dealing with Putin?
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWI1ZaBqwRw
Me neither.
DeleteKids don't need to interact with fathers when young? That is contrary to research on such matters. Somerby has recently blamed the lack of a father for the nuttiness of both J.D. Vance and Tucker Carlson. So I guess he disagrees with you, @2:08.
DeleteMusk has enough money and enough semen to attempt a Guinness record. Funny how the Republican Party, you know, the traditional family preachers, is just fine with rich people spawning like salmon.
Delete2:08 what rubbish
DeleteThe limiting factor when it comes to children is not money or semen but time. Children require quality time that Musk doesn't have and apparently is unable or unwilling to spend with his kids. Musk's dad says Musk's kids dislike him and don't want to be around him.
DeleteWhite supremacists like Musk think that the white race is threatened because minorities worldwide breed at a higher rate than in the US. He is trying to make up for that. He doesn't value kids for the human beings they are, but for their skin color. That is pathetic and very sad for the kids involved.
If Musk had to make an arduous journey upstream in order to spawn, he would be celibate. He wouldn't make the effort. Without instinct, neither would the salmon.
ReplyDeleteFunny how all the most extraordinarily talented people are "crazy" in your sick Democrat mind, Mr. Somerby.
Albert Einstein was also crazy, right? Also, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Kurt Godel, yes?
Very interesting.
All crazy nutters. Not one believed in pregnant men.
Delete
DeleteRepeatedly, Wittgenstein was seen napping during mandatory D.E.I. training.
Bob didn’t say Einstein was crazy. He just didn’t understand the explanation of relativity.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteGodel, Einstein, Wittgenstein attempted to clarify reality. Musk deliberately deceives, wants to obscure reality.
DeleteAwwww, Weirdo Mao and our resident white supremacist/gender policeman (who thinks he communicates telepathically with Sky Daddy) are all butt-hurt over Bob's attacks on Dear Leader's right-hand man. Cope, Trump-Musk bots!
DeleteNotice they don't actually address Bob's argument. Instead, they cultishly come to the defense of a man who embodies many of the things they claim to hate: a billionaire who uses his wealth to manipulate elections, who constantly spreads lies and disinformation, an unelected bureaucrat who has more power than anyone else in our government (with the possible exception of Trump) while simultaneously having more conflicts of interest than anyone in U.S. history (again, with the possible exception of Trump), a corporatist who gets government handouts for his corporations, someone who is almost certainly violating our Constitution (something these Trump-Musk bots used to pay lip service to), who controls one of the largest "media" platforms and manipulates it to boost material he likes and minimize material he doesn't like. To top it all off, Musk isn't a native-born American and was an "illegal" immigrant. Imagine how these Trump-Musk bots would react if it were Soros doing what Musk is doing. You can't find bigger hypocrites than these cult members.
Calling someone a nut doesn't address the illegal things Musk has been doing via DOGE. Somerby should be calling out those things, most recently the publication of classified information on the DOGE website and his attempt to snag a $400 million contract for Tesla vehicles via an insider State Department connection. And that's just in the last day or so.
DeleteAlso, There is clearly a deliberate effort by Trump, musk, Vance, etc, to align themselves with anti-democratic forces, both here and abroad. I think declaring major operatives in that plan to be “nuts” ignores the coordinated strategy. And I doubt calling these men “nuts” is going to sway public opinion.
DeleteThe types of human warfare
ReplyDeleteAre multiple, of course.
Some conquer with a rifle
Some with a wooden horse.
If you mean that the govt is being destroyed from the inside via stooges brought in by Trump to do Putin's bidding, you may be right, but the metaphor breaks down when you consider that the same folks who hauled that wooden horse into our safe fortress are the ones who built it, which makes Trump/Musk traitors not Greeks seeking redress for stealing Helen.
DeleteTrump conquered when he won the election (with Russia's help) not when he brought Musk into the picture. Must is the instrument of destruction but Trump is right there alongside him issuing those destructive Executive Orders (at whose direction does Trump work?).
Today, the govt is realizing that by firing all probationary staff, they have eliminated the DOE employees who protect our nuclear arsenal. Putin is clapping his hands with joy!
No, wooden horse is not the right metaphor for what is happening to use, even if the warfare and destruction are similar. The means are not -- there is no stealth, no night-time attack (as Somerby keeps claiming), no innocent-seeming disguise for a lethal force. We on the left knew who and what Trump was and the right doesn't seem to care. That is far from what happened in Troy.
It is a huge error to view what is happening as mere craziness. Crazy it may be. But it is all with a purpose, and that purpose is, to alter a phrase, put the Constitution in the wood chipper. Somerby's becoming a Johnny-One-Note on this is totally unhelpful.
ReplyDeleteDear Bob,
ReplyDeleteHere’s a business idea. You should establish The Daily Howler Pro Version and charge $12K a year for it. USAID can buy 10000 TDH Pro subscriptions and distribute them to various parts of the Federal government and NGOs. What’s new in TDH Pro? You can use AI to select 4 most rabid leftist comments in response to your daily musings here and email them everyday to Pro subscribers. Your demographic for this will be pure gold - miserable single cat-ladies with Gender Science degrees and 6 figure incomes (aka model Democrats)
Why did the Democrat party turn everything over to miserable cat ladies?
Delete"and 6 figure incomes (aka model Democrats)"
DeleteWish I were whatever kind of cat lady gets you all that. Envy motivates all of the science degree holders.
The difference between TDH and Politico is that the latter had important information of use to govt executives whereas Somerby writes garbage. Confusing news services with partisan rags is perhaps inevitable on the right, given that they only have Fox (and similar sources) and thus cannot tell what is news and what is chaff. Our govt thought it would be better for its staff to deal in reality and truth than right wing propaganda and @12:14 doesn't seem to know the difference.
Delete@12:34 seems to think that high salaries are just given out and not earned by performance. The people holding such jobs have expertise, training, experience and thus are valuable to others, which is why they large salaries. You start becoming such a person by working hard in college. Only morons like Trump hand out jobs to unqualified nitwits like the Fox News hosts and sycophants he has appointed to his cabinet. They are now demonstrating their unfitness to serve, since they cannot even perform competently in a press conference without being a laughingstock.
DeleteHegseth went to Princeton and Harvard. You didn't know that did you @1:09?
DeleteI did know that, but he has no qualifications to be Defense Secretary. You start with college and then acquire expertise, training and experience. That's the part Hegseth bypassed.
DeleteIn contrast, the woman who was fired from her position as Director of the Coast Guard, spent years as the second in command, was a regional director before that, and worked her way up the ranks as a Coast Guard member. But she was fired because she wasn't considered sufficient qualified -- a DEI hire? Hegseth has no comparable qualifications for his job, but he has a penis, so he is perhaps qualified by birth? Explain that one.
"Linda Lee Fagan (born July 1, 1963) is a former commandant of the United States Coast Guard who served from June 2022 to January 2025. Previously, in 2021, she became the 32nd vice commandant of the Coast Guard and the Coast Guard's first female four-star admiral."
Was Hegseth perhaps a four-star general? Here are the qualifications of the last Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin:
"Mr. Austin was born in Mobile, Alabama, and raised in Thomasville, Georgia. He graduated from the United States Military Academy with a Bachelor of Science degree and a commission in the Infantry. He holds a Master of Arts degree in counselor education from Auburn University, and a Master of Business Management from Webster University. He is a graduate of the Infantry Officer Basic and Advanced courses, the Army Command and General Staff College, and the Army War College.
His 41-year career in the Army included command at the corps, division, battalion, and brigade levels. Mr. Austin was awarded the Silver Star for his leadership of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division during the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Seven years later, he would assume the duties of Commanding General of United States Forces – Iraq, overseeing all combat operations in the country. "
Or perhaps you consider him unqualified, a DEI hire, because he is black? Whereas Hegseth was hired to a position he is entirely unqualified to hold simply because he is ideologically MAGA-pure and said nice things about Trump while he was a spokes-model on Fox News.
Hegseth is a Right-wing coastal elite, who Republican voters support because he's a sexual predator, like the rest of the party.
Delete
DeleteNonsense, Soros-monkey @8:56 AM.
Sexual predators always are and always will be the loudest "champions of women's right", like Ted Kennedy. And they are all Democrats. Everyone knows that.
Just like all the racists are always the loudest "champions of anti-racism", and so on. Only idiots don't know this.
Cut-and-paste day at The Howler.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Bob, Musk isn’t just crazy; he’s baldly, manifestly, obviously, plainly crazy. Bob piles on the adjectives because his allegation is so weak.
ReplyDelete
DeleteNot an allegation, it's the usual Democrat impotent rage. Quite an ordinary spectacle these days.
No one cares whether Musk is crazy or not. We care whether he is damaging our country with his slash and burn reform efforts.
DeleteWho will benefit by the cutting of IRS agents right before tax season? Besides wealthy thieves who don't want to pay their fair share. This isn't the act of a crazy person, but of another grifting, con artist and thief who is stealing with impunity, secure in the knowledge that Trump encourages what he is doing.
DeleteAnd it's a nice spectacle too.
"piles on?"
DeleteHe only scratches the surface.
David, when Bob gets incensed, he goes Dowdish.
Delete
ReplyDeleteCut-and-paste is the most efficient procedure, for Bob's daily Two Minutes Hate ritual.
In the case of robbery with a six gun, it’s clear who is the robber and who is the robbee. Not so in the case of robbery with a pen. IMO government bureaus are robbing me with a pen and Musk is protecting me from the robbers.
ReplyDeleteMusk is demolishing things that were enacted by the American people via their elected officials. Is that robbery because you disagree with the majority about how to run our country? Sounds like you are a poor loser. What Musk is doing is illegal. That a convict is president is the only reason he is getting away with it.
DeleteIs the destruction of our rule of law worth the few dollars you will save by paying less tax? Isn't our Constitution and its protections worth more than whatever you pay in tax on your Social Security? Apparently not.
DiC,
Delete'Robbery' implies fraud. If you go to the DOGE website, there's primarily just a list of contracts they're cancelling because they deem them too woke.
They're not uncovering fraud; they're doing an ideological audit.
DiC lives a pretty good life. He considers it robbery that poor people benefit from his tax dollars, but not when musk’s companies benefit from government grants, or the defense department sends weapons to Israel. Republicans like DiC always seem to feel that society doesn’t exist, just selfish individuals getting the most they can and letting the lessers starve.
Delete'Robbery' doesn't imply fraud, Soros-bot.
DeleteFraud is a type of robbery.
DeleteFraud definition: "wrongful or criminal deception intended to result in financial or personal gain"
DeleteRobbery definition: "the action of taking property unlawfully from a person or place by force or threat of force"
Theft is shared between the two, only the means (force vs deception) is different.
Fraud is not a type of robbery, Soros-bot.
DeleteBoth fraud and robbery are types of theft.
DeleteWhy are you splitting this hair?
Sure, whatever you say, Mr. Soros.
DeleteIs that your answer to everything, 1:56, when you’re out of ideas?
DeleteFreud would describe what the Right has, as "penis envy".
DeleteTrumptard,
DeleteI appreciate your desire to exchange ideas with the adults.
The use of 'robbery', in the context of a financial audit, implies fraud. In my post I skillfully distinguished between uncovering financial fraud and simply asking for a list of contracts and x'ing out the ones whose purpose you don't approve of.
The x'ing out part isn't hard. With a little coaching, even you could do it.
@1:35 I consider it robbery when money I send to the government intended to help poor people is instead wasted or misspent or stolen. How in the world can you oppose reducing waste and fraud?
DeleteTryin to remember how much waste and fraud Trump tried to eliminated in his 1st term.
DeleteOh yeah. None
@2:23 PM
DeleteThey spent billions corrupting all kinds of foreign and domestic media and foreign and domestic political and electoral processes.
Imperial planners running the deep state ordered that. Yet the money they were spending wasn't officially allocated for that purpose.
Is this fraud, Soros-bot? Robbery? Treason? All of the above? What is it?
DiC, you don’t wipe out an entire agency, deleting the good and the bad, just because you claim to find some questionable items. That’s what musk is doing. All the good work feeding children is gone. Why won’t you see that, and urge trump to evaluate the thing before causing more suffering in the world? No one is for waste and abuse, you just want it all shut down, which means you want more suffering. By the way, the gop has a new budget that is massively in the red. A huge chunk will be taken from Medicaid. More suffering. Which you’re ok with.
DeleteTrumptard,
DeleteGoodness, but your undies are all in a bunch.
And over what? Evidence-free accusations of the richest liar in the world.
Rather than pleading for help in categorizing Musk's lies, you'd do better to ask: is what Musk saying true? Was there spending not in accord with how funds were appropriated?
If you have evidence of such malfeasance, please share. Until then, breathe deeply and think good thoughts.
@2:34 I agree that Trump didn't eliminate any waste and fraud in his first term. At least he didn't add a bunch of waste and fraud, as Biden did.
Delete"I consider it robbery when money I send to the government intended to help poor people is instead wasted or misspent or stolen."
DeleteCope, Soros-bot.
You say Musk's accusation are "evidence-free". Maybe the evidence is there, but you haven't seen it. Have you looked for the evidence, e.g., by reading the DOGE web site and watching Musk's pressers?
DeleteMusk is a known liar, DiC.
DeleteWho awakens me?
DeleteAt least he didn't add a bunch of waste and fraud, as Biden did.
DeleteA classic Dickhead move. Why don't you list the waste and fraud Bid added. You're a fucking fraud yourseld, Dickhead.
Musk's pressers are where he tells his lies.
DeleteMy hunch is that it USAID will deemed to be under the Executive Branch and that Trump can reshape it.
Delete"Have you looked for the evidence, e.g., by reading the DOGE web site and watching Musk's pressers?"
DeleteI've been to the DOGE website three times now, and watched the entirety of the Oval Office DOGE press conference.
At the website are lists of contracts being cancelled because of their woke nature.
The presser was full of lies, culminating when Trump said there was close to a trillion dollars in some kind of fraud or waste (as usual he wasn't specific), and Musk asserting, like a lunatic, that the federal government was simply writing blank checks for billions of dollars without knowing why they were paying out the funds.
Rand Paul Lists Example After Example Of 'Wasteful' Spending By USAID
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1Ost6s14GA&ab_channel=ForbesBreakingNews
Policy disagreements like those listed by Ran Paul are not examples of waste. Waste is unnecessary extra spending that could have been avoided in accomplishing designated goals. It is not finding the cheapest bidder, for example (as when Musk is awarded a $400 million contract without competitive bidding for armoured Tesla trucks). It is what occurs when someone doesn't know how to get a job done and so over-spends because they don't know how to keep costs down.
DeleteWhen the Republicans get up and testify that the government is wasting money because they don't like a program that has been voted upon and funded via due process, that is trying to undo what the majority voted to do, by labeling it something the government should not be doing. Listen to Rand Paul -- that is what he is saying. He is not talking about government inefficiency at all.
Waste seems to be a synonym for DEI. But is it a waste of money when we make sure we consider all applicants for jobs, not just those with a foot in the door, whether by virtue of being besties with Trump or some Republican with power, or by virtue of being white and privileged. Fairness in hiring is a legitimate government objective because the government is required to implement our Constitution, which has established the rights of ALL Americans, not just white men.
DeleteDEI is not waste. Calling it that is deceptive. That deception is part of the fraud being perpetrated on the American people when Musk and Trump say the government is committing waste while they are destroying legitimate government programs.
DEI is worse than waste. Harvard Business Review says
DeleteResearch: The Most Common DEI Practices Actually Undermine Diversity
https://hbr.org/2024/06/research-the-most-common-dei-practices-actually-undermine-diversity
Did you read that paper, David? What are the "most common" practices the authors find ineffective?
DeleteI spent two years in a job that I was offered after a mandatory DEI search at a large computer company. They had planned to hire someone else and a last step was to do the search to see if there were any applicant they hadn't considered. My resume popped up. They read it and decided I was perfect for the job and much better qualified than their other choice. I received an interview and was hired and enjoyed the work.
DeleteThis was mandated by the firm's DEI, but it resulted in a better qualified applicant, a person more suited to the job by prior qualifications and experience, not "waste" as David and Musk and Trump claim.
The idea that DEI is wasteful seems to rest on the incorrect assumption than anyone who is diverse must be substandard as an employee. Empirically, that is far from true. People are individuals who should be evaluated on their own merits. If you don't even get the chance because you are being dismissed as incompetent before they even look at you, then not only is there unfairness, but also wasted human potential and wasted money at the firm who hires the less qualified person simply because they are white males.
Jessica Tillipman is associate dean for government procurement law studies at The George Washington University Law School.
DeleteShe expressed concern that DOGE and those touting its findings are using words like "fraud" and "corruption" to describe contracts and payments that are ultimately different political priorities from prior administrations.
"You may disagree with spending on political fights, we can have a discussion whether that's a good use of government money or not, and frankly, it's well within any administration's authority to change their mind and say, 'Look, we don't want to do this anymore,'" she said.
"It doesn't make it corrupt, it doesn't make it fraudulent."
"Have you looked for the evidence, e.g., by reading the DOGE web site and watching Musk's pressers?"
DeleteYes. None provided. Just empty claims.
DeleteAh yes, Bob's elusive White Paper... It's right in front of you, and yet no Soros-bot can see it... It's a mystery.
DeleteYes indeed. Anyone can type examples of usaid corruption into a search engine, and read relevant articles in foxnews, washington times, etc. In any new source not funded by USAID.
Anyone, except for one named "Hector" and the one named "Quaker in a Basement". For these two, alas, it's Mission: Impossible.
We'll see the USAID corruption on the same day we see a Republican voter who isn't a bigot.
DeleteBTW, that day is the 10th of Never.
I hate Musk because I’m old, poor, bitter, don’t attract women. Impotent and powerless. He taxes me so.
ReplyDeleteI hate him because he's a liar.
DeleteI don't hate Musk, but I think he should do his damage within his own businesses and not be allowed to wreck the govt and the lives of govt workers and the recipients of govt services. He is rich enough to pay reparations, including to the farmers, park rangers and fire-fighters, and the rank and file staff who he has fired, many of whom voted for Trump. Teachers are next. Are these people really expendable? Did they know that when they voted for Trump, who has unleashed Musk on us all?
DeleteLater, we will finally find out that this was all Putin's revenge, manipulating a gullible Trump to let an ignorant asshole like Musk track mud through the house without cleaning up after himself. The prospect of undoing even this first damage by Musk is overwhelming, like cleaning up after a natural disaster.
By the way, did you know that Trump has denied Georgia FEMA aid after Hurricane Helene, because he is pissy about Kemp?
Fucking over the people that vote for him, is a better use of Trump's time than raping pre-schoolers.
DeleteBut the Right won't see it that way.
@1:42 there is some content in your comment worth responding to but whenever I see "Putin's puppet" paranoia I can't take anything said seriously. It's just so damned stupid. Hope you understand.
DeleteEvery religious fanatic needs an all-powerful Satan figure.
DeleteEvery time I hear the name "Putin", I think of the Republican Congressional Caucus, which I understand is chock full of stupid.
DeleteEvery time I hear the name Putin I know I’m hearing it from a neurotic leftist.
DeleteEvery time I hear the word Putin I know I'm talking to someone who believed the Russia collusion hoaxes and therefore isn't good at thinking.
DeleteEvery time I hear Trump say Putin’s name, it’s to praise him.
Delete2:56,
DeleteOnce the media made the collective decision to disappear the open bigotry of Republican voters as the reason Trump was elected President, stories like Russiagate were inevitable.
Every time I hear about Russian collusion, I'm reminded that the media tried to hide the open bigotry of Republican voters by calling them "economically anxious", first.
DeleteIs Bob sure that Trump didn’t rape Cassandra?
DeleteClaiming that it would take the coordinated actions of a foreign power to get Republican voters amped-up to vote for a bigot may be outlandish, but it's still way more reasonable than Republican voters knowing anything about economics.
DeleteWell, Trump also beat two women.
Delete@2:53 PM
DeleteYes, Mr. Soros. Sure. Whatever you say.
Don't soft-pedal Trump, Cecelia.
DeleteI'm sure Trump's beaten hundreds of women, if you count the ones who tried to keep him from raping them.
Anonymouse 3:31pm, you’re forgetting your mother.
DeleteHa ha ha ha the idea of Trump beating someone's mother is so funny. Rape is just a big fat joke, big and fat like your mother, Cecelia. What the fuck is wrong with you?
DeleteAnonymouse flying monkey 4:02pm, cheer up. Your hands are adorable.
DeleteEvery time I hear someone use "Russia hoax" I know I'm dealing with someone who has dumbly adopted Trump's framing and doesn't know what the word "hoax" means.
DeleteThere seems to be a fine line between a nut and an idiot. From Jeff Tiedrich today:
ReplyDelete"this week, Anna Paulina Luna, Congresswoman from America’s Dangly Bit (as long as we’re renaming things), announced that she would be investigating the death of John F. Kennedy — and she plans on having quite the panel of expert witnesses.
“based on what we’re actually looking to do with the JFK investigation, I’m looking to actually bring in some of the attending physicians, at the initial assassination, and also the people that had been on the various commissions — like the Warren Commission.”
who wants to tell her?
Anna — all those people are dead. everyone on the Warren Commission died decades ago. Gerald Ford was the last surviving member. he died in 2008.
what are you going to do, hold a fucking seance?"
So, is she a nut or an idiot?
If everyone who doesn't know that everyone on the Warren Commission died decades ago is an idiot, then everyone in world is an idiot. All 8 billion people.
DeleteMany of us knew that about the commission members because we know when JFK was shot and who was on the commission (middle aged to old men, because investigating the shooting of a president was a serious matter, not something for kids to do). Kennedy was shot 60 years ago. Someone who was 50 when Kennedy was shot would be 110 today. This is basic math. Are all 8 billion people on earth unable to do math? Most people in the USA know when Kennedy was shot. You learn it in school.
Delete1:45: she’s a congress person. Ya think she could find out the esoteric info that these people are all dead BEFORE she announces the desire to call them in?
DeleteYes, all the formal members of the Warren Commission are dead, but it's quite possible that some assistants might still be alive. It's also possible that some assistants were more involved in the actual work of the Warren Commission than the formal members. I don't think Earl Warren personally wrote the Warren Commission Report.
DeleteAlso, some nurse or medical assistant who was involved in JFK's care might still be alive.
Corby and one Jeff Tiedrich (whoever that is) certainly sound like two tedious idiots.
Delete"Also, some nurse or medical assistant who was involved in JFK's care might still be alive."
DeleteMaybe, but even the youngest such person would be well into their eighties, far beyond the age of possible competence. Or so I've been told.
Why don't you go check for us, Dickhead in Cal. Let us know what you find. You fascist fuck.
DeleteJFK received no "nursing" after being shot. He received emergency care from a physician and was dead 30 minutes after being shot.
DeleteAlso, some nurse or medical assistant who was involved in JFK's care might still be alive.
DeleteAnd without a doubt that person holds the key piece of information that will unravel the whole conspiracy. I admire people who are not ashamed to flaunt their idiocy.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteDavid in Cal,
DeleteThis is the problem with being a Right-winger. You have to go stupider and stupider to support the kind of bigotry you crave. At some point, even you start believing the nonsense you spread, because the alternative (a waning of bigotry against black people) is too scary a reality for you.
He who saves his country does not violate any Law.
ReplyDeleteMicah X. Johnson died for our sins.
DeleteI saw this!
DeleteSome people think Trump is calling out his MAGA extremists (the armed ones) to engage in political violence on his behalf, not referring to himself.
DeleteI miss Cecelia.
ReplyDeleteShe's breaking my heart.
DeleteThat was Cecilia.
DeleteNo, I’m Corby.
DeleteCorby can spell and use the English language. You aren't Corby.
DeleteNot only is this detailed legal analysis interesting, but it's noteworthy that the NY Times published it.
ReplyDeleteTrump Might Have a Case on Birthright Citizenship
The central question raised by Mr. Trump’s order is what it means to be “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States....Federal judges in four states have enjoined the order, with one claiming that it “conflicts with the plain language of the 14th Amendment.” Not necessarily.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/15/opinion/trump-birthright-citizenship.html?unlocked_article_code=1.xE4.4GlF.ViuU9tpdQXvm&smid=url-share
I regret that this is behind a paywall. I can't do justice to the legal analysis by quoting a few bits.
There you go representing an opinion piece (op-ed) as factual reporting again.
DeleteBirthright citizenship is settled law. No one ever said there were never any arguments against it, especially by nativists (i.e., bigots). The right wants to revisit this, but that doesn't allow Trump to eliminate citizenship guaranteed by our Constitution using an Executive Order. Repetition of arguments that were defeated previously is not "legal analysis."
Birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants or visitors is settled practice, but not settled law. No Court decision has ever found that the Constitution requires birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants or temporary visitors.
DeleteWrong again, Davey.
Deletehttps://www.scotusblog.com/2025/02/a-history-of-birthright-citizenship-at-the-supreme-court/
DiC just says erroneous fact free shit and repeats stuff he hears from his right wing sources. He could inform himself, but he prefers disseminating misinformation, like a good little Trumper.
DeleteNo Court decision has ever found that the Constitution requires birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants or temporary visitors.
DeleteGood lord. The laziness! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Wong_Kim_Ark
Ilya - that decision applies to people who “have a permanent domicile and residence in the United States.”
DeleteDavid, illegal immigrants are subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.
DeleteQuaker - your link makes the same mistake Ilya did. The Wong King Ark case applied to permanent residents of the US
DeleteThe 14th amendment forgot to mention that.
DeleteDavid, go read the case before you comment on it.
Delete@8:03 please look at Ilya’s link Wikipedia. You will see that the Wong Kim Ark family were permanent residents.
DeleteDavid: Wong Kim Ark case does not have anything to do with his parents. In fact, his parents were to the Chinese exclusion act, so they had no legal standing in the US. It was in the overall background that his parents were domiciled in the US, sans any status. The decision clearly outlines that anyone born in the US, minus three exceptions are a citizen of the US.
DeleteThe question of "subject to the jurisdiction of the US" is what the case had focused on. The dissenting justices claimed that Wong Kim Ark was the subject of the emperor of China, because somehow it transferred with the blood of his father. In fact, the claim was that his parents were the subject of the emperor of China.
Enough with this nonsense. Furthermore, there's a federal statutes who reinforces this decision.
PS: There was no such thing as 'permanent residence', as it exists today. Again, Wong Kim Ark's parents were subject to the Chinese exclusion act.
DeleteDavid in Cal will believe any pack of lies, as long as it excuses the bigotry he craves.
DeleteMusk may not be the nuttiest deplorable out there:
ReplyDelete"Cults can range from bizarre and eccentric to flat-out dangerous. And according to reporting in SFGate, a "death cult" in the San Francisco Bay Area known as the Zizians appears to fall into the dangerous category — as its members are being linked to a "sprawling web of violence across America, which has left at least six dead."
SFGate reporters Andrew Chamings and Katie Dowd, in an article published on February 13, explain, "Investigators across the country are piecing together connections between the double homicide of a wealthy married couple in Pennsylvania, a deadly shootout in Vermont and two brutal knife attacks on a landlord in Vallejo, (California). Four people who are allegedly Zizian cult members are in custody facing homicide charges, despite multiple escape attempts. Three members of the fringe group are missing and wanted, including the leader, Jack 'Ziz' LaSota, who faked their death in the San Francisco Bay."
According to Chamings and Dowd, the group has a connection to the Silicon Valley and the tech industry. Some members worked for Google or NASA "before the arrests began," the SFGate reporters note." [Rawstory]
That’s been on X. It’s supposedly some pissed off transsexuals. It sounds like pizzagate to me.
DeleteYou see how lies are told on X compared to reports based on official police statements.
DeleteAnonymouse 6:55pm, no. I have no idea if any of it is accurate.
DeleteThey self-describe as transgender but they are also members of the Peter Thiel, Sam Bankman-Fried group of weirdo computer scientists with bizarre ideas (like Musk and JD Vance, also Thiel proteges). The Guardian says:
Delete"Around a dozen individuals appear to have in-person links to Ziz, some of whom worked at NASA and Google before the arrests began. Many of them advocate for veganism and identify as transgender. Some met through the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, a Berkeley nonprofit buoyed by Peter Thiel and Sam Bankman-Fried and associated with the rationalist movement; MIRI warns about the dangers of AI and studies the “mathematical underpinnings of intelligent behavior.”"
The extreme violence and drug taking (LSD) more closely resemble the Manson family. The point is that there are other crazies in Silicon Valley and that the combination of craziness with money shouldn't prevent us from recognizing that these people are just not right in the head.
This is not left wing except that their pseudo-intellectualism seems to have borrowed from the effective altruism movement (emerging from Peter Singer and animal rights fanatics) but their embrace of violence is something else, perhaps an expression that being altruistic, they are above the law when it comes to use of violence to achieve their goals. The killings they've committed are very bizarre.
Musk, dancing around with Trump, taking Ketamine and recruiting a gang of 20-somethings to treat him like a guru, smacks of these Zizians, not someone with his feet on the ground and his head screwed on straight.
These people don't belong anywhere near our government and they should not wield power over other people's lives. Trump might recognize that if he weren't suffering dementia and immersed in his own revenge fantasies and delusions.
Effective altruism comes from Libertarianism not the left.
DeleteAnonymouse 7:39pm, ah, got ya. The reason these people were referenced here was in order to suggest that they’re Muskies. They’re not really trans or leftwing. Their SF Bay Area techies who happen to have affiliations with companies run by… wait for it…tech industry big shots…
DeleteMusk is one of them, not vice versa. And they are batshit.
DeleteSomerby is censoring comments again.
ReplyDeleteDemocrats, like Joe Biden and the people that handle him, are responsible for Trump. They were too much of a hot mess full of lies for people to take seriously.
DeleteRepublicans, on the other hand, can wash their hands of any responsibility for Trump, having blamed the Dems. Nice play.
DeleteAnonymouse 7:05pm, how so? Trump was a known quantity from 2016 to 2024. That’s the same period of time that they were wearing maga hats. Still are.
DeleteThe Trump who today declared himself the King, quoting Napoleon, is not the "known quantity" you speciously refer to.
DeleteSomewhere along the line, Democrats in charge decided we’ll just go on TV and lie and say he isn’t too old and that he didn’t walk off and it wasn’t even a photo op and Ukraine is winning and the millions passing hands through the shell companies is on the up and up. Because who the hell else are they gonna vote for, Trump? It doesn’t seem that silly really but in the end, it backfired hard.
DeleteAnonymouse 8:02pm, no, you were/are accusing Trump of wanting to be Xi for the last eight years. YOU are very much a known quantity too.
DeleteYou deserve whatever Musk does to you, if you believe this.
Deletehmmmm…. I thought that the anonymouse crew were operating under one or two USAID grants, but I may have underestimated.
DeleteTo state the obvious, Republicans and a flood of mis- and disinformation were primarily responsible for giving us Trump. Secondarily responsible were the so-called liberals who trashed the Democrats at every turn, drew false equivalencies between Democrats and Republicans, and then either stayed home on election day or voted for Stein.
DeletePeople saw that the Democrats were being dishonest with them which cast Trump in a much more favorable light.
DeleteSome Democrats thought he had a cold and was mentally fit and Ukraine could win and the laptop was about his Arnold Palmer and not payments from China and jobs, so many jobs. They wrote about it. They said these things a lot. All the time.
DeleteWill we ever know who did run the country for four years, and how long will some Democrats stay in the Philippine jungles over Biden’s fitness?
DeleteWhoever ran the country (I believe it was Biden) didn’t tear it to shreds as Trump is doing.
DeleteAnonymouse 10:04pm, Trump was out of office for four years.
DeleteThe Biden administration was one hot mess.
DeleteRight you are, 12:22! They couldn't even get their act together enough for any of them to be indicted.
DeleteThey left us with Trump and a party in shambles after trying to pretend he wasn't too old and had a cold.
DeleteThis reminds me of the time Republican voters tried to overthrow the United States of America, because black people's votes were counted in the 2020 Presidential election.
DeleteSay what you will about Republican voters, but you can't say they aren't stone cold racists.
There are plenty of articles that point out how insane, inept, and just plain wrong Musk is. Whether the cultists, such as DiC who posts here, heed those explanations is not in evidence. To anyone who pays a modicum of attention, it is clear that there has been no evidence of fraud or corruption. None has been presented. It makes no difference to the people who claim otherwise. I am not sure how one would deal with this wholesale rejection of reality.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it is possible anymore to have good faith rational discourse with the cultists anymore. X has been turned into a hellscape. I never thought this could happen in this country, but I see disinformation and propaganda really works.
DeleteMusk gets more push back on X than he does on television and a good portion of it is by media members, Dem pols, and people claiming some type of association with USAID.
DeleteX is a propaganda outlet. It makes no effort to verify any of the lies people tell on X. People like you and David choose what to believe, so the "pushback" has little effectiveness. You had the nerve to quote it as a source (simply saying X, without specifying which of the diverse opinions you were citing). You obviously weren't talking about any Dem pols when you said X.
DeleteAnonymouse 8:01pm, actually, you’ll be relieved to know that I rarely believe anything that Democrats and verified media members say on X. I didn’t believe the stuff on X about these murdering techies, thought it was rightist conspiracy stuff, but you set me straight on that by trying to connect it to Musk! Youre a clown. That’s literally your job description.
DeleteThey are connected to Thiel.
DeleteAnonymouse 8:50pm, now we both know that Bob is going to entertain that vicious finger-pointing with you. He will broaden it out as a cultural matter, but even if he accused Thiel straight-up you will still excoriate him. You will be no less vicious to him. It will be the same dance, different day.
DeleteSame dance until this stops and Trump goes away.
DeleteAnonymouse 10:58pm, then you’ll go after each other.
DeleteWhat are you talking about?
DeleteCecelia: Do you believe what Musk posts on twitter? I am curious what would it take for the devoted Trumpists to see the light.
DeleteIIya, Musk made an issue of a program being called “social deception”. The fact that it was actually named social deception should have given him pause before saying “aha!”… but no… He’s going to have to get a baptism by fire and hopefully get used to all the criticism and just do his job.
DeleteNo, I’ll never see the light as to how you mean it.
Ilya,
DeleteNothing to worry about. The 2nd Amendment fetishists will fight government tyranny as soon as they stop slaughtering roomfuls of First Graders.
Somerby thought it was fun to attack Biden based on his age, ignoring his performance as President. Somerby is the reason we are stuck with Musk and Trump in this destructive revenge-spiral. To the extent that they are targeting minorities (using the euphemism DEI), this resembles the early days of Hitler's reich. This is Somerby's fault, so no surprise that he is saying nothing about what is actually happening to those being targeted and fired.
ReplyDeleteAnonymouse 7:15pm, can you find Somerby on this list?
Deletehttps://abcnews.go.com/amp/Politics/democrats-who-have-called-on-joe-biden-step-down/story?id=111854551
Somerby has almost no influence.
DeleteSomerby can't be on a list of Democrats because he isn't a Democrat.
DeleteOh, no, Pelosi calls him daily.
DeleteYou are trying to blame Biden for what red voters did to our nation, but you should be focused on what Trump and Musk are doing. I am 100% certain that neither Biden nor Harris voted for Trump. That makes them innocent, but YOU (assuming you are a citizen of the US) and your MAGA associates have blood on your hands. People have died because of Musk's stunt with USAID. More will die because you voted for that orange-faced goon.
DeleteAnonymouse 7:59pm, no, you are trying to blame Somerby for Trump being elected. You’re doing that even though you know he warned you that Biden could be too old. You excoriated him up and down at the time. You’re still here doing the same sort of thing, pointing the finger at everyone but yourself. You’re in the skyward position of having to disagree with Bob no matter what he says, and that position can’t help but make anyone look like a clown. In your case, that clown would be Pennywise.
DeleteDon't blame me - I voted for Jill Stein.
DeleteAnonymouse 8:23pm, so we can blame you for Biden not being elected.
DeleteThere is no 8:23 pm
DeleteIf Somerby wasn’t for Biden/Harris (and he wasn’t), then he helped elect Trump. Even now he is not criticising Trump/Musk but just calling them nuts. Somerby owns this.
DeleteThat's like blaming Kid Rock for Stein not being elected.
DeleteCecelia 8:20 PM — skyward position.
DeleteAnonymouse 8:48pm, just calling them psychos and sociopaths, huh? Bob says he voted on Comma La. He blogged about doing it on the day he did it, but it’s your job to say that he lied.. You’re a clown.
DeleteHe never supported her via his blog except to say that she had a nice smile. Everything else he said about her was negative. Who cares who he voted for? I don't believe he told the truth when he said he voted for her, but no one can know what he did. His lack of support for her or Biden was obvious to everyone and that matters more than whatever vote he cast.
DeleteAnonymouse 9:10pm, so aside from being right about Biden’s age factors, you’re saying that Bob had the added evilness of having been right as to what would happen with Comma La. She had 86% positive news coverage and Trump had almost the same percentage in negative reporting. She had over a billion dollars to spend. But her loss is due to the obscure-blogger’s fault. What did Bob do to Digby?
DeleteWhhat does Digby have to do with anything. Somerby did his bit to help Trump. Now look at the shitstorm Trump has created.
DeleteHere are some things Trump has said that we should all be taking seriously:
ReplyDelete1. He wants to run for another term.
2. He wants Canada to be the 51st state.
3. He wants to buy Greenland.
4. He wants to own Gaza and make it the Riviera of the Middle East.
5. He wants to dismantle a whole bunch of agencies and cabinet posts: DOE, Dept of Education, Labor Dept, FEMA, Dept of the Interior, maybe CIA/FBI.
6. He wants his own police force with uniforms to act at his direction.
7. Protestors should be shot. Migrants should be shot in the legs.
8. He wants his face on Mt. Rushmore.
9. He wants to jail and punish a whole long list of people.
10. He wants to develop (exploit) public lands, including monuments and parks.
Trump’s appointment of these blatantly unqualified people to high positions is a big FU to all of us. It comes to us from Putin via Trump.
ReplyDeleteWhy has Trump sold the USA down the river to Putin?
ReplyDeleteThe loudest fart in the world was recorded at 118.1 decibels in Flint Michigan. It happened May 11th, 1972 by a man named Paul Hunn. The fart nearly set a world LENGTH record too, at 2 minutes, and 42 seconds long.
ReplyDeleteRead More: World's Loudest Fart, and 7 Other Records Held In Michigan | https://wrkr.com/michigan-loudest-fart/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral
In 1995 at a major indoor track event in Switzerland, a fanny-burp occurred so loud that spectators thought a trackside loudspeaker had blown. The fanny-burp has been estimated at over 100 decibels – about the volume of a chainsaw. The woman responsible was never identified.
Deletehttps://www.restonyc.com/whats-the-loudest-fart-ever-recorded/