Tag Archives: Elon Musk

The Hill: Musk drug use on campaign trail sparked concerns: Report

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Alleged drug use by tech billionaire and close President Trump ally Elon Musk on the campaign trail during the 2024 presidential election has sparked concerns, according to an explosive New York Times report published Friday morning. 

The article comes as Musk is exiting the Trump administration after a whirlwind several months in which he led efforts to cut down on the government’s size.

Musk told people he was using ketamine so often that it was impacting his bladder, along with utilizing psychedelic mushrooms and taking ecstasy, the Times reported.

Musk drug use on campaign trail sparked concerns: Report

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5325589-elon-musk-drug-use-reports

New York Times: Trump Taps Palantir to Compile Data on Americans

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The Trump administration has expanded Palantir’s work with the government, spreading the company’s technology — which could easily merge data on Americans — throughout agencies.

In March, President Trump signed an executive order calling for the federal government to share data across agencies, raising questions over whether he might compile a master list of personal information on Americans that could give him untold surveillance power.

Mr. Trump has not publicly talked about the effort since. But behind the scenes, officials have quietly put technological building blocks into place to enable his plan. In particular, they have turned to one company: Palantir, the data analysis and technology firm.

The Trump administration has expanded Palantir’s work across the federal government in recent months. The company has received more than $113 million in federal government spending since Mr. Trump took office, according to public records, including additional funds from existing contracts as well as new contracts with the Department of Homeland Security and the Pentagon. (This does not include a $795 million contract that the Department of Defense awarded the company last week, which has not been spent.)

Representatives of Palantir are also speaking to at least two other agencies — the Social Security Administration and the Internal Revenue Service — about buying its technology, according to six government officials and Palantir employees with knowledge of the discussions.

The push has put a key Palantir product called Foundry into at least four federal agencies, including D.H.S. and the Health and Human Services Department. Widely adopting Foundry, which organizes and analyzes data, paves the way for Mr. Trump to easily merge information from different agencies, the government officials said.

Be very afraid! If you value your privacy, an all-knowing, all-seeing government database is the last thing you want.

https://archive.is/4DyVk#selection-659.0-689.326

USA Today: A letter to sad Elon Musk, from America: ‘Hey pal, sorry everybody was mean.’ | Opinion

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Hey, we get it. It’s not nice when other people try to take the government you tried to ruin and find a different way to ruin it.

A heartfelt letter to Tesla CEO and chief-DOGE-chainsaw-wielder Elon Musk, from America.

Dear Elon:

Hey, buddy. We hear you’re going through a bit of a rough patch lately. Your electric-car brand and overall reputation are in the toilet, people are saying not-nice things about you, and the whole “King of the Department of Government Efficiency” thing didn’t work out the way you wanted. We hear you basically gave up, took your exploding rocket and went home after deciding to leave Trump’s administration. (Oh, we forgot to mention that your rockets keep exploding. When it rains, it pours, right?)

Listen, we get it. There are a lot of emotions involved when a person realizes that bad behavior can have consequences. Just imagine how your best bud, Donald Trump, is going to feel if that should ever happen to him? We’re kidding. That’s never going to happen. But it is happening for you, pal, and we’re sorry nobody likes you. But we ‒ the good people of America ‒ want to help you learn from this experience.

The other day, you told The Washington Post that just because you barnstormed into the federal government as head of DOGE and started firing random people and upending years of foreign diplomacy and scientific research while proudly waving around a chainsaw, you were criticized for doing those very dumb things.

“DOGE is just becoming the whipping boy for everything,”  ….

Clink the links below to read the rest:

A letter to sad Elon Musk, from America: ‘Hey pal, sorry everybody was mean.’ | Opinion
Dear Elon: Hey, buddy. We hear you’re going through a bit of a rough patch lately.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2025/05/29/elon-musk-tesla-doge-beautiful-bill-leaving-trump/83907213007

Deadline: Paramount Offers Millions To Trump To End $20B ’60 Minutes’ Suit & Let Skydance Merger Go Through

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Donald Trump and Paramount don’t have a deal yet to settle POTUS’ months old $20 billion 60 Minutes lawsuit, but the Shari Redstone ruled media company has put some serious millions on the table in the hopes to make this roadblock to a merger with Skydance disappear.

“It’s very early days,” a source close to talks between Trump’s lawyers and Paramount’s attorneys and execs tells Deadline. “An opening offer has been made, but more negotiations are underway,” the source confirmed, but would not go into specifics beyond saying “right now, it’s an eight-figure discussion.”

…

Earlier today, The Wall Street Journal reported that Paramount has offered $15 million, but Trump’s team wanted $25 million and an apology from CBS News. When asked by Deadline if the $15 million number that the WSJ reported today plus Trump’s team rejection and threat of a new suit was accurate, another individual with knowledge of the mediation replied, “sounds about right, as where things are at.”

The corruption and shakedown from the Oval Office continues unabated.

Paramount Offers Millions To Trump To End $20B ‘60 Minutes’ Suit & Let Skydance Merger Go Through
They don’t have a deal yet, but Donald Trump is weighing the millions Shari Redstone & Paramount are willing to give him to make his 60 Minutes suit go away

https://deadline.com/2025/05/trump-paramount-settlement-offer-1236412894

Independent: Judge spares Trump from massive DOGE lawsuit — leaving Elon Musk holding the bag for ‘unauthorized role’

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Donald Trump has been dropped from a lawsuit accusing his administration of illegally wielding power to slash government agencies and purge the federal workforce.

But a federal judge won’t let Elon Musk escape the case.

Musk — tapped by the president to lead the so-called Department of Government Efficiency — is facing a lawsuit from a group of 14 states arguing that the world’s wealthiest person lacks any legal authority to carry out mass firings, terminate grants and access sensitive government information and taxpayer data.

Attorneys for the Trump administration claimed Musk is only serving a temporary advisory role as a “special government employee” serving under the president.

But District Judge Tanya Chutkan shot down the White House’s attempt to “minimize” his role as “a mere advisor without any formal authority.”

Musk instead “occupies a continuing position” and “exercises significant authority,” all without “proper appointment” by Congress, Chutkan wrote.

Judge spares Trump from DOGE lawsuit — but leaves Elon Musk on the hook
The world’s wealthiest man is accused of illegally wielding power to fire government workers and slash spending

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/elon-musk-doge-trump-lawsuit-b2759428.html

MiBolsilloColombia: Only 0.3% of SSA frauds were considered incorrect, what about DOGE?

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A recent initiative by the Social Security Administration (SSA) to detect fraud, partly driven by the now-defunct Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by Elon Musk, has sparked significant controversy. 

The Social Security Administration’s (SSA) recent anti-fraud initiative, influenced by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has stirred a storm of debate. The DOGE, once under the leadership of Elon Musk, made audacious claims about rampant fraud within the SSA. However, the SSA’s new detection system revealed a starkly different reality, identifying only a minuscule amount of potential fraud while inadvertently delaying the processing of numerous claims.

The primary justification for the SSA’s anti-fraud policy stemmed from statements by DOGE members. Aram Moghaddassi, a DOGE engineer, claimed on Fox News that 40% of calls to the SSA for direct deposit changes were from scammers. This assertion was echoed by Elon Musk and Vice President JD Vance. Musk even suggested that his engineers had uncovered “$100 billion a week” in fraudulent payments, a figure that raised eyebrows across the board.

But:

Of over 110,000 claims reviewed, less than 1% were flagged for potential fraud, and only two were deemed to have a “high probability” of being fraudulent.

Only 0.3% of SSA frauds were considered incorrect, what about DOGE?
A recent initiative by the Social Security Administration (SSA) to detect fraud, partly driven by the now-defunct Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by Elon Musk, has sparked significant controversy.

https://www.mibolsillo.co/news/Only-0.3-of-SSA-frauds-were-considered-incorrect-what-about-DOGE-20250526-0031.html

The Nation: The Supreme Court Gifts Trump Even More Power

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The court seems ready to give the president extraordinary power over what had been independent worker- and consumer-protection agencies.

The court seems ready to give the president extraordinary power over what had been independent worker- and consumer-protection agencies.

Here’s a troubling news alert for everyone who cares about workers and consumers being protected from illegal, exploitative, and dangerous business practices: The Supreme Court appears ready to give President Donald Trump extraordinary power over what for nearly a century have been independent expert federal worker and consumer protection agencies insulated from White House interference.

The court showed its hand in Wilcox v. Trump—the case involving Trump’s unprecedented effort to fire Gwynne Wilcox—a Senate-confirmed member of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the first Black woman to ever serve as a member of the NLRB.

Members of independent agencies like the NLRB, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), are nominated by the president and confirmed by the US Senate for defined terms. They are protected by law against being removed from office except where there has been wrongdoing and only after notice and a hearing. The Supreme Court has recognized and respected these “for cause” removal protections for 90 years.

That is, until now. Upon taking office for his second term, Trump decided that he has the power to unilaterally remove members of independent boards and commissions whenever and for whatever reason he wants. The list of casualties is long—in addition to Wilcox, he has fired members of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the FTC, the CPSC, the Merit Systems Protection Board, the Federal Labor Relations Authority, and more. And by firing these officials, Trump has left these consumer- and worker-protection agencies without a quorum to act and hold corporations accountable.

…

The court’s order is going to embolden a president who has already shown himself willing to push or violate the boundaries of his power. Now that the Supreme Court has nodded at his power to fire members of independent boards and commissions, he will undoubtably continue to do so, even before the Supreme Court definitively rules on the merits of the question in its next term.

The Supreme Court Gifts Trump Even More Power
The court seems ready to give the president extraordinary power over what had been independent worker- and consumer-protection agencies.

https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/wilcox-trump-federal-agencies

MSNBC: Leaked audio suggests Trump’s new Social Security chief had to Google his own job

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The apparent fact that the new Social Security commissioner, up until recently, had no idea what his job entailed does not inspire confidence.

First Frank Bisignano  tries to pass himself off as:

“fundamentally a DOGE person,”

which sets off alarms for those who don’t want Social Security cut, so Bisignano 

took steps to distance himself from DOGE-imposed changes at the Social Security Administration

but

Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon produced a statement from a purported whistleblower, who claimed that Bisignano had personally intervened to get key DOGE officials involved at the agency

Now that he is on the job, he admits that

he wasn’t familiar with the position and had to look it up online.

Bisignano said: “So, I get a phone call and it’s about Social Security. And I’m really, I’m really not, I swear I’m not looking for a job. And I’m like, ‘Well, what am I going to do?’ So, I’m Googling Social Security. You know, one of my great skills, I’m one of the great Googlers on the East Coast.”

Does he also know how to Google on the West Coast, or is he just a one-coast Googler?

This guy is running Social Security?

Does he remember his name?

Does he know where he is?

Does ….

Leaked audio suggests Trump’s new Social Security chief had to Google his own job

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/leaked-audio-suggests-trumps-new-social-security-chief-google-job-rcna208797

MSNBC: Trump admin regulators launch investigation into Media Matters, adding to pattern

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If it seems as if there have been a lot of new federal investigations into Democrats and their allies lately, it’s not your imagination.

But it’s important to remember that many of the White House’s political antagonists are, in fact, facing the kind of investigations that Trump has in mind. The New York Times reported:

The Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday opened an investigation into Media Matters, a liberal advocacy organization that has published research on hateful and antisemitic content on X, according to two people familiar with the inquiry. The regulator said in a letter sent to the organization that it was investigating the group, which is aligned with Democrats, over whether it illegally colluded with advertisers, according to the people.

…

The public has learned in recent weeks that the administration — led by a president whose second-term “revenge tour” has been unsubtle — is also investigating and/or prosecuting a variety of Democratic officials and candidates, including Rep. LaMonica McIver of New Jersey, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New York Attorney General Letitia James and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy.

This dovetails with the president directing the Justice Department to go after Christopher Krebs, who led the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency; which came on the heels of Trump pressing the Department of Homeland Security to investigate Miles Taylor, a former high-ranking DHS official. The president did this not because there’s evidence of Krebs or Taylor having done anything wrong, but because they defied him several years ago. They went on his enemies list, and now he’s exacting revenge.

Around the same time, Trump also directed the Justice Department to investigate ActBlue, the Democratic Party’s most important fundraising platform.

And did I mention the investigation into former FBI director James Comey? Because that’s underway, too.

Trump and his team are also going after law firms, universities and news organizations they consider political foes of the White House.

What’s more, given Ed Martin’s new responsibilities at the Justice Department, this overtly and abusive partisan pattern is likely to intensify.

So Trump hates everybody?

Axios recently noted, “In the final days of the 2024 campaign, Axios identified a list of perceived adversaries who fit what Trump ominously described as ‘the enemies from within.’ As president, he has taken steps to retaliate against virtually all of them.” That was two months ago. The problem is vastly worse now, and there’s no reason to believe conditions will improve anytime soon.

Trump admin regulators launch investigation into Media Matters, adding to pattern
If it seems as if there have been a lot of new federal investigations into Democrats and their allies lately, it’s not your imagination.

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-admin-regulators-launch-investigation-media-matters-adding-patte-rcna208780

Snopes: Clarifying claim that DOGE, RFK Jr. found 8M people fraudulently on Medicaid

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The numbers appeared tied to estimates on the number of people who may be cut from Medicaid under U.S. President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.”

Snopes has a lengthy discussion of claims by F’Elon Musk (DOGE) and Robert “Brainworm” Kennedy Jr. that they found 8M people fraudently on Medicaid. Their conclusion:

These numbers don’t add up to 8 million … 

Like almost everything else involving DOGE, the math doesn’t work out.

You can click the link below to read the article:

Clarifying claim that DOGE, RFK Jr. found 8M people fraudulently on Medicaid
The numbers appeared tied to estimates on the number of people who may be cut from Medicaid under U.S. President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.”

https://www.snopes.com/news/2025/05/24/medicaid-doge-rfk-jr