Noooo! This was almost a brilliant piece! I was thoroughly enjoying myself. But then I came to this:
“It’s also normal to want to believe that you’re living in an historic moment.”
An historic moment? AN historic moment? What are you, an NPR host trying to signal their over-educated elite class membership through faux Britishisms? Are you going to do an audio piece about harassment where you pronounce it “HARRISment”? Or is this actually a mistake, a rare slip in which your secret Cockney heritage peeks through, like that time at Five Guys when you ordered “an hamburger”?
This is un-American and unacceptable. Elon is going to fire you from the EPA. Quit years ago? Doesn’t matter. He’ll find a way. He’s that smart.
Underrated point on the drugs. I actually think drugs and alcohol plays a larger role in a lot more historical events and movements than people generally believe it does.
Like, not to Godwin’s Law this immediately, but it’s a good example: everyone kinda knows about top Nazi leadership use and abuse of early methamphetamines but has it ever been interrogated how many anything-is-possible drug-fuelled nights were involved in developing their batshit ideology?
With Mr. Musk in particular, it feels like the drugs have been in the drivers seat for a few years now. I know he says he was “radicalized” after one of his kids underwent a gender transition, but his behaviour seems to be only partly explained by that. Seems like powerful stimulants are a big part of the mix too.
Thanks for being creative in your latest takedown of Elon. Reading the same rehashed stuff over and over again is such a waste of time, so I appreciate the effort!
Isn't the bigger problem that the Democratic Party leadership is doubling down on the same failed strategy and tactics that cost them the election? Where is the course correction?
What were the Democrats thinking when they marched on DC to protest in favor of foreign aid, while on the South Side of Chicago, 50% of minority neighborhoods are still living in poverty, with kids trudging to broken schools, and parents stuck in dead-end jobs, struggling to put decent food on the table?
Does the DNC really think that insulting the intelligence of Black and Hispanic voters is the path to winning the next election?
Can we at least hire some tutors for our kids who are falling behind?
"Congresswoman Lee Introduces Bipartisan PATHS to Tutor Act to Expand Tutoring Access for Underserved Students":
If your clever comment about DOGE not making any meaningful difference in the budget is true, then hiring a few tutors should be no problem, so can we at least get that much done?
Democrats screaming and shrieking expletives at the wall demanding the status quo be protected, and then Democrats are confused about how they keep losing to the uneducated, unwashed working class.
I find similar confusion in a family member sadly having to be committed to an asylum. He speaks six different languages too.
When you are elected to clean the swamp, you will obviously break some things, make some mistakes that need to be corrected, and have to replant the garden that replaces it. Those things are no excuse for opposing the needed cleaning of the swamp. That is, unless you are ignorant of the swamp or otherwise have self-interest in swampy benefits.
The Breton Woods model has worked quite well but it had to change from time to time. Looking forward to see how that all plays out - how will the boomers set us up to thrive like they did.
I believe the balance is too heavily weighted towards “shelter and community” and not enough weight is given to “food and water”.
If you give away the technology/methods/wisdom for how to make good food and water, then the single most influential driving factor for war is gone and community wins. The tiny houses movement starts to make sense when you build a community around it.
This...might the most insightful thing I've seen about DOGE actually. I remember well the heady days of college, staying up late solving the world's problems. I just never considered the 53 year old richest man in the world might still be so naive. It all makes a lot more sense now. I can't decide if that's better or worse than the alternate explanations of malice or grifting.
If you think about it, college students are always the most radical, even though — or perhaps, because — they have the least real-world experience. It is often a competition, as Mauer says happened in 1789, as to who is more-radical-than-thou.
The DOGE..... President Trump established DOGE via executive order on his first day in office.
The order didn't actually create a new office, but rather renamed the United States Digital Service, an agency within the Executive Office of the President that was implemented by Barack to drive some other dipshit ideas related to his ACA debacle, and Barack made it independent via sneaky declarations. Obama thought he was being smart. Surprise! Not so smart....
Although it's named as a "department," DOGE isn't an official cabinet-level government entity. Because it's already within the Executive Office, it is essentially untouchable.
That is true for earmarks, but most appropriations are discretionary so the agencies get a pot of money to spend as they see fit. Whimsical Money Hose should be subject to Whimsical Nullification.
Another problem is that Elon Musk isn't actually a paid employee of the government. In a recent court case, they tried to skirt a bunch of laws by saying that he is a "senior advisor to the president" and not actually the head of DOGE, and yet he has unprecedented access to government agency records, software systems, and IT systems.
Sure, unprecedented I get. But unprecedented =/= illegal.
Again I ask: what laws? Why does Musk have to be a *paid* employee of the government? Who can grant authorizations to access those systems? Does it require a law or act of Congress?
I'm not a lawyer, so I can't evaluate the legal argument in the court case that I'm referring to. For more information, it is the case by 14 state attorneys general in the U.S. district court presided over by Judge Tanya Chutkan. At issue is something called the "appointments clause."
Nice. OTOH, Elon and his Tiny Tots will never produce anything as inspiring as that other bit from August 1789, The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.
"Political nerds often forget that politics is mind, ass, and soul-numbingly boring." Politics is how power is lost and gained. That is exciting as hell. Procedure and policy are what one does with power once obtained. That's either tradeoff-free insane fantasy (Elon right now) or mind, ass, and soul-numbingly boring.
Such a weird assertion, as what is ACTUALLY happening right now is an obviously planned meme burble of anti-MAGA sorts saying they should French Revolution Musk and Trump.
Ah yes, the timeless cycle: stage a revolution, declare victory, then realize you have no idea how anything actually works.
I never thought the revolutionaries would cut off *my* head.
🤣🤣🤣
"In a revolution, as in a novel, the most difficult part to invent is the end."
Toqueville
Noooo! This was almost a brilliant piece! I was thoroughly enjoying myself. But then I came to this:
“It’s also normal to want to believe that you’re living in an historic moment.”
An historic moment? AN historic moment? What are you, an NPR host trying to signal their over-educated elite class membership through faux Britishisms? Are you going to do an audio piece about harassment where you pronounce it “HARRISment”? Or is this actually a mistake, a rare slip in which your secret Cockney heritage peeks through, like that time at Five Guys when you ordered “an hamburger”?
This is un-American and unacceptable. Elon is going to fire you from the EPA. Quit years ago? Doesn’t matter. He’ll find a way. He’s that smart.
I'm not even bullshitting here: That was a typo. Because I'm with you on this one. Earlier in the piece, I wrote "a historic".
And it's fixed!
An 'istoric event, guvnah
Whew! God, what a relief. Okay… just breathe. It was only a typo… just a typo…
Underrated point on the drugs. I actually think drugs and alcohol plays a larger role in a lot more historical events and movements than people generally believe it does.
Like, not to Godwin’s Law this immediately, but it’s a good example: everyone kinda knows about top Nazi leadership use and abuse of early methamphetamines but has it ever been interrogated how many anything-is-possible drug-fuelled nights were involved in developing their batshit ideology?
With Mr. Musk in particular, it feels like the drugs have been in the drivers seat for a few years now. I know he says he was “radicalized” after one of his kids underwent a gender transition, but his behaviour seems to be only partly explained by that. Seems like powerful stimulants are a big part of the mix too.
Do I have to eat the pumpkin in a sitting or can I piece it out over a day or so?
You can put it in a blender, but only one that spins counterclockwise. Spinning it clockwise will cause a disaster in your pancreas.
All at once. You aren't even allowed to chew.
Thanks for being creative in your latest takedown of Elon. Reading the same rehashed stuff over and over again is such a waste of time, so I appreciate the effort!
Isn't the bigger problem that the Democratic Party leadership is doubling down on the same failed strategy and tactics that cost them the election? Where is the course correction?
What were the Democrats thinking when they marched on DC to protest in favor of foreign aid, while on the South Side of Chicago, 50% of minority neighborhoods are still living in poverty, with kids trudging to broken schools, and parents stuck in dead-end jobs, struggling to put decent food on the table?
Does the DNC really think that insulting the intelligence of Black and Hispanic voters is the path to winning the next election?
Can we at least hire some tutors for our kids who are falling behind?
"Congresswoman Lee Introduces Bipartisan PATHS to Tutor Act to Expand Tutoring Access for Underserved Students":
https://susielee.house.gov/media/press-releases/congresswoman-lee-introduces-bipartisan-paths-tutor-act-expand-tutoring-access
If your clever comment about DOGE not making any meaningful difference in the budget is true, then hiring a few tutors should be no problem, so can we at least get that much done?
Democrats screaming and shrieking expletives at the wall demanding the status quo be protected, and then Democrats are confused about how they keep losing to the uneducated, unwashed working class.
I find similar confusion in a family member sadly having to be committed to an asylum. He speaks six different languages too.
When you are elected to clean the swamp, you will obviously break some things, make some mistakes that need to be corrected, and have to replant the garden that replaces it. Those things are no excuse for opposing the needed cleaning of the swamp. That is, unless you are ignorant of the swamp or otherwise have self-interest in swampy benefits.
The Breton Woods model has worked quite well but it had to change from time to time. Looking forward to see how that all plays out - how will the boomers set us up to thrive like they did.
I believe the balance is too heavily weighted towards “shelter and community” and not enough weight is given to “food and water”.
If you give away the technology/methods/wisdom for how to make good food and water, then the single most influential driving factor for war is gone and community wins. The tiny houses movement starts to make sense when you build a community around it.
"....how will the boomers set us up to thrive like they did."
I hope you're not waiting for boomers to set anyone up.
This...might the most insightful thing I've seen about DOGE actually. I remember well the heady days of college, staying up late solving the world's problems. I just never considered the 53 year old richest man in the world might still be so naive. It all makes a lot more sense now. I can't decide if that's better or worse than the alternate explanations of malice or grifting.
If you think about it, college students are always the most radical, even though — or perhaps, because — they have the least real-world experience. It is often a competition, as Mauer says happened in 1789, as to who is more-radical-than-thou.
People keep saying that what Elon is doing is illegal, in total disregard for the law, etc.
What law, exactly, is being broken here?
The DOGE..... President Trump established DOGE via executive order on his first day in office.
The order didn't actually create a new office, but rather renamed the United States Digital Service, an agency within the Executive Office of the President that was implemented by Barack to drive some other dipshit ideas related to his ACA debacle, and Barack made it independent via sneaky declarations. Obama thought he was being smart. Surprise! Not so smart....
Although it's named as a "department," DOGE isn't an official cabinet-level government entity. Because it's already within the Executive Office, it is essentially untouchable.
Pretty slick, eh?
Every one of them that said spend This Many Dollars to accomplish That Task. It’s the Executive Branch, not the Whimsical Nullification Branch.
That is true for earmarks, but most appropriations are discretionary so the agencies get a pot of money to spend as they see fit. Whimsical Money Hose should be subject to Whimsical Nullification.
Another problem is that Elon Musk isn't actually a paid employee of the government. In a recent court case, they tried to skirt a bunch of laws by saying that he is a "senior advisor to the president" and not actually the head of DOGE, and yet he has unprecedented access to government agency records, software systems, and IT systems.
Sure, unprecedented I get. But unprecedented =/= illegal.
Again I ask: what laws? Why does Musk have to be a *paid* employee of the government? Who can grant authorizations to access those systems? Does it require a law or act of Congress?
I'm not a lawyer, so I can't evaluate the legal argument in the court case that I'm referring to. For more information, it is the case by 14 state attorneys general in the U.S. district court presided over by Judge Tanya Chutkan. At issue is something called the "appointments clause."
Nice. OTOH, Elon and his Tiny Tots will never produce anything as inspiring as that other bit from August 1789, The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.
https://www.elysee.fr/en/french-presidency/the-declaration-of-the-rights-of-man-and-of-the-citizen
Yes, in fact, you are wrong. So wrong.
"Political nerds often forget that politics is mind, ass, and soul-numbingly boring." Politics is how power is lost and gained. That is exciting as hell. Procedure and policy are what one does with power once obtained. That's either tradeoff-free insane fantasy (Elon right now) or mind, ass, and soul-numbingly boring.
Such a weird assertion, as what is ACTUALLY happening right now is an obviously planned meme burble of anti-MAGA sorts saying they should French Revolution Musk and Trump.
It is true one has to break eggs to make an omelet...but where's the omelet?....Supposedly said by Orwell or some other person like Orwell.
Well said