Quote: “…House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said he had included Musk as well as President-elect Trump in the negotiation of the original bipartisan funding bill.”
Isn’t this historically unusual,
if not improper, for someone who is not yet inaugurated to insert himself into governmental business while the sitting president is still in offi…
Quote: “…House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said he had included Musk as well as President-elect Trump in the negotiation of the original bipartisan funding bill.”
Isn’t this historically unusual,
if not improper, for someone who is not yet inaugurated to insert himself into governmental business while the sitting president is still in office? And for someone like Musk who has no legal nor electoral standing to be so involved? Any historical precedent?
I would think it is highly unusual, if not downright unprecedented.
As far as Musk is concerned, if I am understanding it correctly, he still receives fed $$ to fund his whatever it is he does. Ostensibly when the Feds dish out funds whether via contracts or grants, for something that it can't provide directly it is for something that in some way benefits the country. If so, then Musk has a stake in budget negotiations, which strikes me as blatant conflict of interest. Even more absurd is putting him in charge of the DOGE clown show. The least he could do, then, in the name of efficiency, is to cut from the budget any funds that flow into his coffers. Then he should resign and go offer his services to Germany, as he clearly wants to do.
"As Representative Jim McGovern (D-MA) explained, Musk is building big factories in China and wants to build an AI data center there, even though it could endanger U.S. security. McGovern charged that Musk’s complaints about the spending in the bill were cover for his determination to tank the provision that would limit his ability to move technology and business to China. And, he noted, it worked. The outbound investment provision was stripped out of the bill before it passed."... This Kinda Shows Musk's Loyalties... The USA is his 3rd Country... He came here for the $$$.... He already has 'X', He has an Orange Puppet, He is working on 'Neuralink'... He is Chummy with Putin, and maybe with Xi... Elon was poised to cause much damage to this Country for the sake of his singular Ambition... What would those that have given 'Their Last Full Measure', and their Families, Think Of Making The Ultimate Sacrifice For Dark Sith Elon... In a Just World Elon would be Stripped Of HisUSA Citizenship, Deported Back To South Africa, and Have His Assets Stripped... Elon Musk Is Now, "Public Enemy #1'...
My wife's oft repeated quote is, "the opposite of justice is poverty."
Trump has wasted hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer dollars with all of his ridiculous lawsuits throughout his life. He has screwed over so many people that can't afford to fight back or delay justice when he is in your cross hairs.
He hasn't even paid his half a billion for the cases he lost against E. Jean Carroll and the State of NY. Why?
Billionaires at work. They own the major bully pulpits in the US as well as the entire Federal Government. And the sheeple totally buy into their Bull Shit.
Modern US government just bristles with blatant conflicts of interest above a certain rank. That part of the autocratic corruption our scheme of governance was devised to avoid. It is just weird the scale of crap we have come to tolerate. "Justice" Thomas is in the news again for somehow legalized illegal bribes, while Fanny Willis, who did use poor judgement but claimed no share of billionaire's booty, is "disqualified". Someone (I think it might have been on this forum), said that as a government employee, she cannot accept as much as a cup of coffee from a client; but of course that sort of restriction only applies to plebeian officials. Literally.
Electoral outcomes that are purchased or biased by some application of private money is corruption. Period. But we rarely use the proper word. To what degree are we creating a government of, by and for the people, and to what degree do we cede that right to plutocrats? People like Thomas Paine were asking the same question.
Do those above a certain rank in government bristle at conflict or are they shirking responsibility they owe to the American people? It is our job to hold our elected officials accountable.
I think It is essential that we as a society think a great deal more about the bottom line, which I am interpreting as what, in the end, most matters? What is most precious? What can we do without? What is mere distraction? And what do we need to forego to get there?
I think there is far too little of that in our hyper-commercial, mass media-driven culture. I think we need to ask more probing questions. There is a lot that is questionable.
Problem is not the money Musk gets from the government, that is relatively small. It's that he can choke off NASA, strand people at the Space Station and leave critical military communications via satellite stranded, like when he turned off an attack on Russian fleet at the last minute with no warning. The guy is a menace and military is scrambling to replace him. But Boeing can not keep its planes in the air much less rockets. The real monetary influence question is, how much financial benefits does Musk get from the Chinese government?
What was taken out of the spending bill is what is as important as what was taken out.
" As David Dayen explained in The Prospect, the original agreement had an “outbound investment” provision that restricted the ability of Americans to invest in technology factories in China. Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Bob Casey (D-PA) had collaborated on the measure, hoping to keep cutting-edge technologies including artificial intelligence and quantum computing, as well as the jobs they would create, in America rather than let companies move them to China.
President elect Elon Musk is taking full advantage of Trump being of diminished mental capacity. Trump is totally screwed and he doesn't even realize it.
It is probably trite to say, that Trump sold his soul to the devil for a get out of jail free card.
I didn’t see the Congressional pay raise listed in any of my reading. Did that stay in? Will they get 2% more than the military?
Also, no one is mentioning the change to social security that went through easily. Yes, it benefits teachers and other workers but from what I can see it will also benefit members of congress. Many of them paid into social security but after serving only 6 years in Congress they get retirement benefits for life. Now they will also be able to collect both for life? Or maybe I’m not understanding the change.
I don't need the supernatural to explain evil, which looks to me like predatory narcissism, but the concept of selling one's soul for personal gain at other's expense seems reflect a basis in fact, and Trump and his cronies seem about as soul-less a person can become, and it's just weird how (not just in this country) many who claim to be Christian are in thrall of it.
100Panthers, you are absolutely right. Musk has a god complex (among other psychological issues) and a history of tinkering with people's lives/money. His capricious control over Teslas AFTER market was a huge red flag and he should have been curtailed before the 2020s. Bailing him out, granting government contracts, allowing him to keep control of military hardware is a perilous outcome of crony capitalism.
Guy is worth $400B. Government contracts a few billion and SpaceX saves government much money compared to inflated bills from Boeing for hardware that is dysfunctional. It's not the costs he charges, it's the control he exercises.
It's a mystery to me, too. Actually, Musk probably doesn't see or even know about such documents. Some underling probably handles those pesky details.
Someone should look into it
When I was a Fed I had to sign something similar saying that I wouldn't engage in any partisan political activities while acting in my official capacity. Of course on my own time I could plot to overthrow the government, as long as I didn't disclose my status as a deep state operative. 🤫
That was never a problem, as I never saw the use in biting the hand that signed my paychecks.
I was "super hatched" so even on my own time I had to report/get permission for what I was doing. I was audited and threatened for stuff like selling my own book or paintings, attending outside professional conferences, etc.
When I was a lawyer for Columbia, I was told I could not sit on a Board of a group working to prohibit fracking in NY b/c of a possible conflict with the Columbia School of Mines and the optics it could cause. And we could NEVER accept a gift or even a lunch from outside counsel or a vendor to the University of any kind. Seems like everyone but the Supremes, Musk and Trump have to adhere to some ethics / conflicts standards.
Robert, I hazard that even if he and TFFFG know about such “rules” they don’t CARE at all….and it appears no one is holding either accountable (tho’ via the impeachments many did try).
Federal government contractors are prohibited from making contributions or expenditures, or promising to make any such contribution or expenditure, to any political party, committee, or candidate for federal office, or to any person for any political purpose or use. So why has musk been able to give $277 million to Trump! The election commission who has this rule hasn’t done a thing to enforce it. It’s time for the government to hold Musk accountable for the things he’s done, including the 1,500 car crashes from his Tesla cars
For a man with worth of over 300 BILLION dollars. 300 million is a pittance. Just .1%. As a comparison, if you have $100,000 in the back .1% is $100. Pretty close to pocket change.
The whole thing is a game of risk Elon and Trump and the other billionaires are playing with monopoly money as you point out.
Elon tried to buy the congressional seat where I live. The candidate he backed was a single 30 year old Maile, former 3rd rate Nascar driver with a high school diploma. His only job has been with Nascar and he claimed he was pro-choice.
Fortunately, Golden (D-ME2) prevailed, but it was closer than it should have been.
The Republicans learned from George Santos, that no one is too crazy to get elected if they lie enough to the voters and the press no longer is interested in vetting candidates.
The quarter billion he spent helping elect the insipid orange turd was like lint in his pocket, his stock went up by 20 billion the next day, that’s 20,000 millions. 🤬
George, I suggest that people look at the memos that are released by the Conservative Action Project. It is a program funded by the Council for National Policy (CNP) with its 501c3 monies. These people who refer to themselves as the conservative leadership met with #45 and/or his administration weekly to set goals. None of these nonprofit leaders have electoral standing. I believe they have formed the shadow government that Paul Weyrich (Father of the New Right) desired. They also continue to work behind the scenes to make sure everyone's vote does not count (another objective desired by Weyrich). The Conservative Action Project memos are signed by conservative leaders who do not want anyone to place them under scrutiny or comment on their activities.
Marla, I have been bristling at TFFFG running an in-your-face “shadow” presidency for the past 4 years…nearly boasting about it! IMHO the Logan Act (enacted in 1799) should have been applied to hold him accountable, except no one has ever been convicted of doing so (only two prosecutions—in the wayback— have been brought in our history, but no convictions).
Actually I see the approach as insightful. The Dems should have inserted themselves more at the end of Trumps era. Trump constantly inserts himself in budget decisions. Where are our Dems doing the same. Where is Harris? She needs to start running now?
Running for what? President again? I doubt that. She wasn't a great candidate this election, I doubt she will be that much better next time. And the country has repeatedly said (for the time being) "please no female President". For this country that is still far out in our future sadly.
Unless you meant she needs to start running AWAY because unless Biden issues an appropriate pardon, I expect her to be a serious target of Trump's ire in the next term.
Quote: “…House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said he had included Musk as well as President-elect Trump in the negotiation of the original bipartisan funding bill.”
Isn’t this historically unusual,
if not improper, for someone who is not yet inaugurated to insert himself into governmental business while the sitting president is still in office? And for someone like Musk who has no legal nor electoral standing to be so involved? Any historical precedent?
I would think it is highly unusual, if not downright unprecedented.
As far as Musk is concerned, if I am understanding it correctly, he still receives fed $$ to fund his whatever it is he does. Ostensibly when the Feds dish out funds whether via contracts or grants, for something that it can't provide directly it is for something that in some way benefits the country. If so, then Musk has a stake in budget negotiations, which strikes me as blatant conflict of interest. Even more absurd is putting him in charge of the DOGE clown show. The least he could do, then, in the name of efficiency, is to cut from the budget any funds that flow into his coffers. Then he should resign and go offer his services to Germany, as he clearly wants to do.
"As Representative Jim McGovern (D-MA) explained, Musk is building big factories in China and wants to build an AI data center there, even though it could endanger U.S. security. McGovern charged that Musk’s complaints about the spending in the bill were cover for his determination to tank the provision that would limit his ability to move technology and business to China. And, he noted, it worked. The outbound investment provision was stripped out of the bill before it passed."... This Kinda Shows Musk's Loyalties... The USA is his 3rd Country... He came here for the $$$.... He already has 'X', He has an Orange Puppet, He is working on 'Neuralink'... He is Chummy with Putin, and maybe with Xi... Elon was poised to cause much damage to this Country for the sake of his singular Ambition... What would those that have given 'Their Last Full Measure', and their Families, Think Of Making The Ultimate Sacrifice For Dark Sith Elon... In a Just World Elon would be Stripped Of HisUSA Citizenship, Deported Back To South Africa, and Have His Assets Stripped... Elon Musk Is Now, "Public Enemy #1'...
Totally agree with you Apache.
My wife's oft repeated quote is, "the opposite of justice is poverty."
Trump has wasted hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer dollars with all of his ridiculous lawsuits throughout his life. He has screwed over so many people that can't afford to fight back or delay justice when he is in your cross hairs.
He hasn't even paid his half a billion for the cases he lost against E. Jean Carroll and the State of NY. Why?
And he supports Nigel Farage in the UK and the Neo-Nazi party in Germany. What a peach.
Maybe he should be “cobblered”🍑🥧
Maybe Elon's Katamine, LSD, Adderall, are Catching-Up with Elon... Huberistic Delusions of Grandeur... The Pride Before The Fall...
Support Jim McGovern now! Post on social. Take his message to the bank. Drown out Musk and Trump
Bullies at work. Rules, laws, precedent, manners, and decency trampled.
The more I see it at the federal level, the more I see it locally.
Billionaires at work. They own the major bully pulpits in the US as well as the entire Federal Government. And the sheeple totally buy into their Bull Shit.
Modern US government just bristles with blatant conflicts of interest above a certain rank. That part of the autocratic corruption our scheme of governance was devised to avoid. It is just weird the scale of crap we have come to tolerate. "Justice" Thomas is in the news again for somehow legalized illegal bribes, while Fanny Willis, who did use poor judgement but claimed no share of billionaire's booty, is "disqualified". Someone (I think it might have been on this forum), said that as a government employee, she cannot accept as much as a cup of coffee from a client; but of course that sort of restriction only applies to plebeian officials. Literally.
Electoral outcomes that are purchased or biased by some application of private money is corruption. Period. But we rarely use the proper word. To what degree are we creating a government of, by and for the people, and to what degree do we cede that right to plutocrats? People like Thomas Paine were asking the same question.
Do those above a certain rank in government bristle at conflict or are they shirking responsibility they owe to the American people? It is our job to hold our elected officials accountable.
! ! !
To be sure, the British system of class and rank, and the injustices and corruption attending to it were uppermost in Mr. Paine's mind.
I know it is confusing. Sometimes I just want to get to the bottom line.
I think It is essential that we as a society think a great deal more about the bottom line, which I am interpreting as what, in the end, most matters? What is most precious? What can we do without? What is mere distraction? And what do we need to forego to get there?
I think there is far too little of that in our hyper-commercial, mass media-driven culture. I think we need to ask more probing questions. There is a lot that is questionable.
Problem is not the money Musk gets from the government, that is relatively small. It's that he can choke off NASA, strand people at the Space Station and leave critical military communications via satellite stranded, like when he turned off an attack on Russian fleet at the last minute with no warning. The guy is a menace and military is scrambling to replace him. But Boeing can not keep its planes in the air much less rockets. The real monetary influence question is, how much financial benefits does Musk get from the Chinese government?
What was taken out of the spending bill is what is as important as what was taken out.
" As David Dayen explained in The Prospect, the original agreement had an “outbound investment” provision that restricted the ability of Americans to invest in technology factories in China. Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Bob Casey (D-PA) had collaborated on the measure, hoping to keep cutting-edge technologies including artificial intelligence and quantum computing, as well as the jobs they would create, in America rather than let companies move them to China.
President elect Elon Musk is taking full advantage of Trump being of diminished mental capacity. Trump is totally screwed and he doesn't even realize it.
It is probably trite to say, that Trump sold his soul to the devil for a get out of jail free card.
I didn’t see the Congressional pay raise listed in any of my reading. Did that stay in? Will they get 2% more than the military?
Also, no one is mentioning the change to social security that went through easily. Yes, it benefits teachers and other workers but from what I can see it will also benefit members of congress. Many of them paid into social security but after serving only 6 years in Congress they get retirement benefits for life. Now they will also be able to collect both for life? Or maybe I’m not understanding the change.
Things only pass that benefit them personally.
I don't need the supernatural to explain evil, which looks to me like predatory narcissism, but the concept of selling one's soul for personal gain at other's expense seems reflect a basis in fact, and Trump and his cronies seem about as soul-less a person can become, and it's just weird how (not just in this country) many who claim to be Christian are in thrall of it.
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/11/20/business/elon-musk-wealth-government-help/index.html
Check this out. Tens of Billions may be relatively small to some, likely not to the US taxpayer.
Thank you for the link. The article also hints at the fragility of Musk’s endeavors.
Metastatic corruption.
100Panthers, you are absolutely right. Musk has a god complex (among other psychological issues) and a history of tinkering with people's lives/money. His capricious control over Teslas AFTER market was a huge red flag and he should have been curtailed before the 2020s. Bailing him out, granting government contracts, allowing him to keep control of military hardware is a perilous outcome of crony capitalism.
https://www.theverge.com/2018/6/2/17413732/tesla-over-the-air-software-updates-brakes
Musk has gotten millions of US dollars for SpaceX - not a "small amount".
Change the ‘m’ to a ‘b’! The musk-rat sneers at millions!
Guy is worth $400B. Government contracts a few billion and SpaceX saves government much money compared to inflated bills from Boeing for hardware that is dysfunctional. It's not the costs he charges, it's the control he exercises.
The money he gets from the gov is relativity small. How much is relatively small?
Since 2008 SpaceX has received $20B. Peanuts in that 1-he delivered more effective and much cheaper services to military and NASA compared to Boeing and 2-the guy is personally worth $400B. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/where-elon-musk-companies-get-money-from-the-federal-government/ar-AA1tQd8D
It's a mystery to me, too. Actually, Musk probably doesn't see or even know about such documents. Some underling probably handles those pesky details.
Someone should look into it
When I was a Fed I had to sign something similar saying that I wouldn't engage in any partisan political activities while acting in my official capacity. Of course on my own time I could plot to overthrow the government, as long as I didn't disclose my status as a deep state operative. 🤫
That was never a problem, as I never saw the use in biting the hand that signed my paychecks.
$COTUS judges are guests of honor at right wing functions. At least the ones the right wing bought and paid for are.
I was "super hatched" so even on my own time I had to report/get permission for what I was doing. I was audited and threatened for stuff like selling my own book or paintings, attending outside professional conferences, etc.
When I was a lawyer for Columbia, I was told I could not sit on a Board of a group working to prohibit fracking in NY b/c of a possible conflict with the Columbia School of Mines and the optics it could cause. And we could NEVER accept a gift or even a lunch from outside counsel or a vendor to the University of any kind. Seems like everyone but the Supremes, Musk and Trump have to adhere to some ethics / conflicts standards.
Hang in there . I/we very much value your insight here.
Robert, I hazard that even if he and TFFFG know about such “rules” they don’t CARE at all….and it appears no one is holding either accountable (tho’ via the impeachments many did try).
But your net worth does not compare to the musk-rats! He exists in his own time and space!
Federal government contractors are prohibited from making contributions or expenditures, or promising to make any such contribution or expenditure, to any political party, committee, or candidate for federal office, or to any person for any political purpose or use. So why has musk been able to give $277 million to Trump! The election commission who has this rule hasn’t done a thing to enforce it. It’s time for the government to hold Musk accountable for the things he’s done, including the 1,500 car crashes from his Tesla cars
Not to mention the persistent violations of environmental regulations with Space X operations.
George, Musk might not have any legal or electoral standing but have ownership of a governmental position he bought with almost 300 million dollars.
Country for sale anyone?
For a man with worth of over 300 BILLION dollars. 300 million is a pittance. Just .1%. As a comparison, if you have $100,000 in the back .1% is $100. Pretty close to pocket change.
The whole thing is a game of risk Elon and Trump and the other billionaires are playing with monopoly money as you point out.
Elon tried to buy the congressional seat where I live. The candidate he backed was a single 30 year old Maile, former 3rd rate Nascar driver with a high school diploma. His only job has been with Nascar and he claimed he was pro-choice.
Fortunately, Golden (D-ME2) prevailed, but it was closer than it should have been.
The Republicans learned from George Santos, that no one is too crazy to get elected if they lie enough to the voters and the press no longer is interested in vetting candidates.
Gary, the "press" was working hard vetting Joe Biden for four years.
Just imagine how much damage he can make with that money!!!
In any case ,the 300 millions he invested in his position of power, will pay off just by being able to have unrestricted access to the Chinese market.
just imagine how much good he could do if he were a different sort of person - childhood cancer research for starters.
Exactly. He is the worst sort of billionaire. No heart, no empathy.
Just what I was thinking Laurie….damn shame.
Patricia,now he needs MAGA to keep enabling this .
The quarter billion he spent helping elect the insipid orange turd was like lint in his pocket, his stock went up by 20 billion the next day, that’s 20,000 millions. 🤬
George, I suggest that people look at the memos that are released by the Conservative Action Project. It is a program funded by the Council for National Policy (CNP) with its 501c3 monies. These people who refer to themselves as the conservative leadership met with #45 and/or his administration weekly to set goals. None of these nonprofit leaders have electoral standing. I believe they have formed the shadow government that Paul Weyrich (Father of the New Right) desired. They also continue to work behind the scenes to make sure everyone's vote does not count (another objective desired by Weyrich). The Conservative Action Project memos are signed by conservative leaders who do not want anyone to place them under scrutiny or comment on their activities.
https://conservativeactionproject.com/
We really only have one President at a time, not 3. Even faux Presidents.
Ahem.
Marla, I have been bristling at TFFFG running an in-your-face “shadow” presidency for the past 4 years…nearly boasting about it! IMHO the Logan Act (enacted in 1799) should have been applied to hold him accountable, except no one has ever been convicted of doing so (only two prosecutions—in the wayback— have been brought in our history, but no convictions).
Barbara, he should be convicted for violating the Logan Act and for many, many, many worst things than that. Shame on our timid leaders.
It will be revealed at some point just how over-the-top were Musks rewards for his machinations. Sun light is the best disinfectant.
Actually I see the approach as insightful. The Dems should have inserted themselves more at the end of Trumps era. Trump constantly inserts himself in budget decisions. Where are our Dems doing the same. Where is Harris? She needs to start running now?
Running for what? President again? I doubt that. She wasn't a great candidate this election, I doubt she will be that much better next time. And the country has repeatedly said (for the time being) "please no female President". For this country that is still far out in our future sadly.
Unless you meant she needs to start running AWAY because unless Biden issues an appropriate pardon, I expect her to be a serious target of Trump's ire in the next term.
George Ferrick,
Why are these infractions of law within our government being allowed????
Each time we give way, we are destroying ourselves!!!!
What is going on???
I did not vote for this!!!!
I do not want my children and grandchildren forced to live under a Godless dictatorship!!!!