Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: robomatic
Date: 26 Mar 25 - 06:21 PM

The link provided by Helen shows the Press Secretary lying in the style of the current President, mis-stating facts and evading responsibility in the style of the current President, TRMP.

Local radio just aired Jeffrey Goldberg reporting on his experience, which he augmented this morning (Wednesday 26 March) by showing the lie that Pete Hegseth threw into the media space, whereby Pete Hegseth basically denied issuing the details of a military attack by forces of the United States on Houthi forces in Yemen, complete with description of the forces and timing of the attacks.

The blending of mistruths with obvious exposure of the facts just makes the involved parties look stupid as well as guilty.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 26 Mar 25 - 06:48 PM

The worse they bad-mouth Jeffrey Goldberg, the more of a good-guy you know he is.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 26 Mar 25 - 06:50 PM

Methinks abc.net.au doesn't like the taste of my ad blockers. All I get from links to it is:

Application error: a client-side exception has occurred (see the browser console for more information).

Ay well. Thanks for the summary, robomatic; I'd expect no more of (and no less from) the shower in question.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Mar 25 - 07:04 PM

Do you use VPN? That can help.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 26 Mar 25 - 07:14 PM

The obvious next step for the Shower reminds me of a line in Babylon 5:

Hey, why don't I call you an idiot, then you can arrest me for revealing state secrets.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 26 Mar 25 - 07:53 PM

The fascists continue to deny, deflect, and insult critics. 73% of the globe is under authoritarian control. The US is teetering.
YouTube is the number one source of news today. The FCC will make moves on certain broadcast and internet news portals eventually.
Right now, this Trump administration is more concerned with stealing money, but the push to erase history will eventually turn to erasing the now news and replacing it with a Stephen Miller propaganda machine.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 26 Mar 25 - 09:09 PM

Look at the photo at the top of this article. I think tRump would have preferred that photo-portrait to the wishy-washy, Mr Nice Guy painting at Colorado. :-D

Key takeaways from Team Trump's group chat transcript

"This week's stunning story about Washington's group chat mix-up has prompted a White House campaign against the looped-in magazine editor and a debate over what constitutes 'war plans'.

"'Nobody was texting war plans,' US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has repeatedly said since The Atlantic's revelations; comments echoed across the administration.

"The Atlantic has now published screenshots of the chat thread and invited readers to judge for themselves."


MaJoC, I'm not sure why the ABC (Oz) News site is not accessible to you. (Maybe it has an anti-Pom protection code. LOL) You might have to bite the cookie-bullet and accept the cookie(s) on the site. If not, a search for reputable news sites will show similar coverage. You could search for Jeffrey Goldberg's articles! :-)

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 26 Mar 25 - 09:20 PM

The government faith office

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 26 Mar 25 - 11:42 PM

Even more bad news - just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water:

DOGE staffer calling himself 'big balls' provided tech support to cybercrime ring, records show

"The best-known member of Elon Musks's DOGE Service Team of technologists once provided support to a cyber crime ring, according to digital records reviewed by Reuters.

"The records reveal that the cyber crime gang bragged about trafficking in stolen data and cyberstalking an FBI agent.

"As part of his role at the Department of Government Efficiency, Edward Coristine has been given access to official networks to radically downsize the US government.

"The 19-year-old, who's chosen the nickname 'Big Balls', used to run a company that provided services to a ring of cyber criminals operating under the name EGodly, according to digital records."

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Mar 25 - 01:20 AM

That's old news, Helen. We learned about that weeks ago. Try to keep up! ;-)

Today's news is that government faith office that Donuel posted to. And the astonishing fact that from her office that twit has run televised ads and is acting like a Pope, selling dispensations. Except for $1000 you can get a crystal cross and lots of godly benefits. (I heard this on Rachel Maddow, I'm not going to go read more about it, it's nauseating enough giving in the abbreviated version Rachel provided.)

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 27 Mar 25 - 02:28 AM

Well SRS, I read about the racist cyber-hacker, but I thought this was a different little piece of Musk-fawning $h1t. Information overload, I guess. :-)

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 27 Mar 25 - 07:31 AM

Trump is an expert. An expert in his own personal bankruptcies.
An expert in immediate; bankruptcy of fixed income folks on Social Security, tarriff inflation of groceries, cars foreign and domestic makes, unemployment, white collar crime, manipulating court cases, and assigning like minded allies to positions normally run by experts.

This is my opinion based on a variety of facts or as FOX news calls it 'Democrats running their mouth'.

Anti DEI is spreading like wildfire. Blowback is slowly increasing but rarely reported. DOGE has finally removed income from my family so cuts in many things and habits will change.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 27 Mar 25 - 08:45 AM

The new voter ID registration laws in the wings are going to reduce the number of voters among DEI folks. For example women who changed their names upon marriage will not qualify because their birth certificate name is different. The office that would handle this will be understaffed or absent. Citizens overseas will also have greater impediments, including service members. States already have the means to purge black people from the voter rolls.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 27 Mar 25 - 10:41 AM

DOGE has finally removed income from my family so cuts in many things and habits will change

Is there anything you can do about it Don or is there anything we can do to help?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Mar 25 - 11:40 AM

I imagine he'll have to hire an attorney to address illegal cuts, unless he's part of a group represented by someplace like the ACLU.

The Trump administration seems to want to play the part of Argentine or Chilean dictator, they're starting to disappear foreign students who are in good standing but who have voiced opposition to the current administration. Forget the first amendment. What next, mass graves?

A friend shared a link to a for-fee version of Spiegel.de, (I use a browser extension called "Just Read" that is a blue box with a white open book in the middle of it) to get past the paywall.

Pete Hegseth, Mike Waltz, Tulsi Gabbard: Private Data and Passwords of Senior U.S. Security Officials Found Online

Private contact details of the most important security advisers to U.S. President Donald Trump can be found on the internet. DER SPIEGEL reporters were able to find mobile phone numbers, email addresses and even some passwords belonging to the top officials.

To do so, the reporters used commercial people search engines along with hacked customer data that has been published on the web. Those affected by the leaks include National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

Most of these numbers and email addresses are apparently still in use, with some of them linked to profiles on social media platforms like Instagram and LinkedIn. They were used to create Dropbox accounts and profiles in apps that track running data. There are also WhatsApp profiles for the respective phone numbers and even Signal accounts in some cases.

A little further down it says

It was particularly easy for DER SPIEGEL reporters to discover Hegseth’s mobile number and email address. They turned to a commercial provider of contact information that is primarily used by companies for sales, marketing and recruitment.

They are such jerks; thinking by being put in these positions they're big stuff, since all of them probably know they're unqualified and don't deserve to be there.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 27 Mar 25 - 11:43 AM

As long as retirement is still effective or the courts are successful in reversing some of DOGE, the Ch-Ch-Changes a la David Bowie is expected, but thanks for asking. It's a kind saying one hears at funerals but those are far more final. Life and retirement goes on but not for everyone like those in assisted living or nursing homes. Their SS check could be the difference between homelessness or not. Worse yet are the young whose cures under research are withdrawn from their program due to DOGE. Many other scenarios are reduced to 'what ifs,' as in the cure for Alzheimer's, which isn't yet certain, or the cure for all flu variants. Goodbye, National Institutes of Health, we knew you well.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Mar 25 - 11:51 AM

Hmmm. Apologies owed - Helen may have caught the second round of an old story about "Big Balls" (Corsatine) - I'm seeing a report this morning that so far seems to have new facts in the older story. Alt NPS post on FB from the morning of March 27.

On February 15, 2023, EGodly publicly thanked Coristine’s company in a post on the messaging app Telegram:
“We extend our gratitude to our valued partners DiamondCDN for generously providing us with their amazing DDoS protection and caching systems, which allow us to securely host and safeguard our website.”
Until now, Coristine’s ties to EGodly have not been publicly reported. He has not responded to requests for comment. Musk’s DOGE team also did not reply to questions about Coristine’s role.

What Did EGodly Do?
The EGodly group was involved in several high-profile cybercrimes, including:
- Doxxing and harassment of an FBI agent – including posting their personal information, photos of their home, and a prank call recording.
- Swatting – making fake emergency calls to dispatch armed officers to people’s homes.
- Phone number hijacking – intercepting and taking control of phone numbers.
- Infiltrating law enforcement email accounts – including in Latin America and Eastern Europe.
- Cryptocurrency theft – stealing digital assets from individuals or platforms.
- Operating a leak site (dataleak.fun) – distributing stolen data and other sensitive information.

This situation could have been avoided entirely if DOGE staffers were required to undergo proper background checks and obtain security clearances—steps that would have prevented someone with known ties to a cybercrime group from gaining access to sensitive government systems and your data.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 27 Mar 25 - 01:00 PM

Thanks SRS. The only other DOGE dodgy-guy I have read about was the racist:

"Marko Elez, a 25-year-old software engineer, was working inside the Treasury Department to cut costs and root out fraud, as part of Musk's DOGE effort. Elez, who formerly worked at Musk companies X and SpaceX, was one of two temporary appointees at Treasury connected to DOGE who have been granted access to a highly sensitive Treasury system that processes trillions of dollars in payments every year."

The news article this week about "Big Balls" (Corsatine) was the first time I had read or heard anything about him.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 28 Mar 25 - 08:08 AM

Trump finds the Smithsonian museum un-American and divisive and has ordered a makeover. psst... it included American Indian artifacts and several women. BTW, the National Zoo is also un-American with non-American beasts like the Panda.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 28 Mar 25 - 11:00 AM

He's done it ---

Signalgate storm intensifies as journalist releases full secret Houthi airstrike

So F-18 launch times, weapons, drone support aren't classified now ... who knew?

The Atlantic's editor-in-chief who was inadvertently added to a Signal group in which the US Secretary of Defense, Vice President, and others discussed secret military plans has now publicly released the messages.

Journalist Jeffrey Goldberg decided to go full disclosure Wednesday – withholding one message that outed by name a CIA operative in the field – after the White House attempted to play down the significance of the group's discussions.

[ ... ]

"We are currently clean on OPSEC — that is, operational security."

[ ... ]

President Trump says he has full confidence in his cabinet.

Updated to add on March 27

Federal Judge James Boasberg has ordered all the Signal group chat members to preserve their copies of the conversation as they are being sued by nonprofit American Oversight on the grounds that their use of the app allegedly broke laws on retaining government records.

Read for full(er) juicy details.

What I find hilarious about this is that the Oikerati didn't trust the officially-provided secure comms software because they didn't know which member(s) of the deep state might be listening in. Instead, one of them added a member of the fourth estate.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Mar 25 - 11:52 AM

I suspect a lot of us who regularly watch Washington Week In Review will be glued to our chairs and have the popcorn ready tonight. Moderator Jeffrey has had quite a busy week!

Law firms targeted by Trump are starting to push back, though last week one large one caved. Perhaps if the others win that one will also retract the "arrangement" and go about it's business in federal courthouses and with security clearance.

It's all still such a hot mess, keeping up with a rabid mind. Anyone else remember the scene (in the book or the movie) in which Atticus Finch surprises his kids by taking out a rabid dog? So much symbolism right there. These attorneys will have to take him out with writs, not lead.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 28 Mar 25 - 03:42 PM

The reception for the scaled down US delegation in Greenland is a little chilly.

Greenland's new PM calls for unity as JD Vance arrives for controversial visit

"In short: JD Vance, his wife Usha and a US delegation have arrived at the US military's Pituffnik space base in Greenland, the self-governing Danish territory which Donald Trump believes should be part of America.

"It came as Greenland formed a new coalition government amid a fierce backlash to the US president's takeover plan.

"What's next? Greenlanders have said that the territory is 'not for sale'."

...

"Polls have shown that nearly all Greenlanders oppose becoming part of the United States. Anti-American protesters, some wearing 'Make America Go Away' caps and holding 'Yankees Go Home' banners, have staged some of the largest demonstrations ever seen in Greenland."


Yep. Clever! "Make America Go Away" caps!

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 28 Mar 25 - 04:08 PM

I'm not one for conspiracy theories at all and take the vote rigging talk on the last election with a bucketful of salt but these things do trigger a thought process.

What is being done to ensure that future elections are not rigged? The trumuski team seem to be dismantling the bodies that ensure fair play but surely there is something rigidly in place to ensure fair elections. Isn't there?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Mar 25 - 04:44 PM

I think there will be examinations of the voting machines in those swing states, but after the fact (it won't be able to change the election because those states were all red to begin with and will resist recounts or machine diagnostics.)

The courts are working hard these days.

Heard an interesting radio interview on Here and Now with historic context on the position of Canada vs the US (from when the US was first fighting for independence). They were rude about it even back then, so no wonder Canada has no interest in joining forces. I didn't hear the entire segment (I see Ben Franklin was part of it - that should be interesting) Why Canada historically favors independence over joining the U.S.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 28 Mar 25 - 05:05 PM

Sorry, forgot to make the link:

Greenland's new PM calls for unity as JD Vance arrives for controversial visit

(Damn this pre-dawn tea-deprivation syndrome! LOL)

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 28 Mar 25 - 05:06 PM

just heard the US vice president on the radio saying he doesn't think the US will have to use force to take the country - the people will agree to being taken over!

I felt sick in the stomach to hear him speak.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 28 Mar 25 - 05:10 PM

On second thoughts, maybe I should name it PSTD (pre-sunrise tea-deprivation syndrome) - but, "as you were", that would be very disrespectful to PTSD sufferers, so forget I said that.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 28 Mar 25 - 06:07 PM

Sandra, after reading that article I think tRump has succeeded in gaining the unity and absolute support of all the people of Greenland and Denmark to unequivocally oppose his attempted coup. What an achievement!

No wonder he looks more and more grumpy every time I see him on TV or in news articles.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 29 Mar 25 - 06:11 AM

Grumpy be belayed, Helen: that's a full-on tantrum on the point of boiling over. *Now* we have an unequivocable demonstration of what Sir Pterry meant by someone having "a face like a smacked bottom".

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 29 Mar 25 - 06:51 AM

.... and I'm probably late to this party too:

Dems dub Trump cuts to chip export controls a 'gift' to Xi and Putin

Concerns over whether Bureau of Industry and Security, which maintains entity list, would be able to do its job

Keeping critical tech out of the hands of US adversaries is about to get harder for the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) with the Trump administration seemingly poised to slash its already meager budget by $20 million.

[ ... ]

"Cutting off these resources will devastate ongoing national security initiatives that advance our interests across the globe, and I trust Presidents Xi and Putin thank Trump for this latest gift he has delivered them," said Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), vice chair of the Appropriations Committee.

The BIS is responsible for maintaining the US entity list, an ever-growing index of foreign companies that American corporations are banned from doing business with unless granted an exception. Just this week, the BIS added some 80 entities to the list, many linked to China, that have attempted to get their hands on cutting-edge AI and supercomputing components.

[ ... ]

Remind me, please: who was it started sticking Chinese companies on the Entities List like there was no tomorrow?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 29 Mar 25 - 07:39 AM

Revealed: Trump’s plan to force Ukraine to restore Putin’s gas empire America holds gun to Zelensky’s head with unprecedented reparation demands
Donald Trump is holding a gun to the head of Volodymyr Zelensky, demanding huge reparations payments and laying claim to half of Ukraine’s oil, gas, and hydrocarbon resources as well as almost all its metals and much of its infrastructure.

The latest version of his “minerals deal”, obtained by The Telegraph, is unprecedented in the history of modern diplomacy and state relations.

“It is an expropriation document,” said Alan Riley, an expert on energy law at the Atlantic Council. “There are no guarantees, no defence clauses, the US puts up nothing.

“The Americans can walk away, the Ukrainians can’t. I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

The text leaves little doubt that Mr Trump’s chief objective is to incorporate Ukraine as a province of America’s oil, gas and resource industries. (read on)

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 29 Mar 25 - 10:41 AM

Reduction in force is now a verb for those who get rifed. Reddit is the current rumor mill for when the 10,000 rif in HSS is to occur.
It was supposed to be Friday, but first, there is a reduction in the appeals board's members, so they do not have a quorum to hear appeals.
So far so good since the rumor is not fully actualized. The vulnerable workforce is behaving like folks after 9-11, with extra hugs, cookies, and such.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon UgS 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: robomatic
Date: 29 Mar 25 - 01:13 PM

Putin's lapdog has a lapdog. Squeaks a bit.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 29 Mar 25 - 03:24 PM

”Reduction in force is now a verb for those who get rifed.”

‘Rifed’?? WTF does ‘rifed’ mean? Please, Don, will you at least try to communicate in standard English instead of the gibberish of Donuelese!

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 29 Mar 25 - 03:36 PM

Reduction in force = RIF? - past tense "rifed"?

So another Federal agency is on the agenda for a reduction in the number of employees and this time it is HSS, i.e. the Dept of Health and Human Services.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Lighter
Date: 29 Mar 25 - 03:49 PM

In U.S. government lingo, to "riff" somebody (and to "get riffed") has been around for 75 years or more.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 29 Mar 25 - 05:34 PM

He didn’t say ‘riffed’ Lighter, he said ‘rifed’. Two different words, apparently meaning different things. I’ve long been aware of ‘riffed’, but ‘rifed’? Never heard of it.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 29 Mar 25 - 05:51 PM

I worked out the clue from Donuel's first sentence in that post. I've never heard that expression before, over here in Oz. I suspect it is becoming a well-used phrase in the Trump era.

"Riff" for me refers to a musical interpretation, but then again if "RIF" is pronounced "riff" then the past tense could be "riffed" and not "rifed".

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 30 Mar 25 - 07:29 AM

is there an attempt to defect criticism of the turnip the last 10 posts seem to be just a pendantic argument between posters (I suppose this makes no 11).

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 30 Mar 25 - 10:00 AM

We can criticise the Mango Mussolini all we like, SPB, but on a little, barely-known site like this one it won’t have the slightest influence. So sometimes, a little light relief can be a good thing…

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 30 Mar 25 - 10:04 AM

> the last 10 posts seem to be just a pendantic
> argument between posters

This may or may not make that twelve. It's the weekend, SPB: the Orange Excrescence is busy doing something more constructive, eg working on his golf handicap*, and the Assembled here are vamping till ready.

Meanwhile, back at the point, said lack of news-visible action reminds me of the briefest summation of Machiavelli's The Prince I've ever heard, which it's entirely possible I've mentioned hereabouts before:

The ruler who wants to be obeyed can aim to be loved or to be feared. Fear has it every time, says he --- you get your weekends free.

* Complete joke to (dis)taste.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 30 Mar 25 - 01:35 PM

Trump Doesn't Rule Out Military Force to Take Greenland

Cab he do this without the backing of both houses? Would both houses back it anyway?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 30 Mar 25 - 02:23 PM

Perhaps all that is needed to dissuade this act is he be informed that invading Greenland would make him ineligible for the Nobel Peace Prize on his bucket list. A senator from my state gushed yesterday that Trump should win it (do these senators force their interns to write and post this crap?)

We can all see how ridiculously vain and narcissistic the man is, and it really is a game of the Emperor's New Clothes this time around.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: robomatic
Date: 30 Mar 25 - 02:48 PM

The most recent news articles, whether they come from our administration bumpkins, our professional press, or our frozen in abject fear polity of the right or left, indicate there are many actively incompetent individuals who will not get anything useful done.

It's a waking nightmare of paralysis at best, three steps backwards as a real possibility.

The recent 'scandal' whereby a group of Republicans invited a noted Atlantic Magazine editor to overhear their war activities, then lied their cowardly heads off about it, while our feeble Viie President travels to a neighboring territory to bray his ignorance about world events is damn near a seal of idiocy on our current, BARELY BEGUN, civil administration.

Half hoping for a Canadian takeover at this point, but it's marginally safer to believe in nothing.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 30 Mar 25 - 03:13 PM

Sorry for the length of the C&P but it is from Facebook and I know some will not go on there.

It’s entirely possible that Elon Musk just committed a felony under Wisconsin law and if convicted, not even Donald Trump could save him.

In his typical showman style, Musk took to social media and announced he would personally hand $1 million checks to two voters in Wisconsin who had already cast their ballots in the upcoming state Supreme Court election. The move was immediately flagged by legal experts and state officials as a clear violation of Wisconsin’s election bribery statute, which explicitly prohibits offering anything of value in connection with voting. Attorney General Josh Kaul filed an emergency injunction to block the payments, arguing the offer could influence the election and erode public trust in the process. The judge declined to intervene on procedural grounds, but the legal fight is far from over.

Here’s where things get even more serious: Elon Musk is not just a private citizen anymore. He currently holds a position in the federal government as a Special Government Employee (SGE), heading up the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under the Trump administration. As an SGE, Musk is bound by a set of federal rules designed to prevent conflicts of interest and protect the integrity of government service. Chief among them is the requirement to refrain from political activity while acting in an official capacity.

Musk’s attempt to interfere in a state election, using his massive public platform while serving in a federal role, raises significant ethical and legal questions. Even if he didn’t explicitly use federal resources, his status as a government official means his words carry the weight of authority. That alone should be disqualifying. But it could also be illegal.

The Hatch Act, along with federal ethics codes, places limits on political involvement for federal employees. While enforcement has historically been inconsistent, Musk’s high profile makes this far harder to ignore. At minimum, his actions may warrant investigation and removal from his federal post. But the more pressing matter may be what happens at the state level.

If Wisconsin prosecutors pursue charges under their own election laws and Musk is convicted, Trump cannot pardon him. Presidential pardons only apply to federal crimes. That’s the beauty of state-level accountability. In this case, only the governor of Wisconsin would have the power to pardon Musk, and given the state’s current leadership, that’s not happening.

The irony is thick: Elon Musk, the self-styled “free speech absolutist” and crusader against so-called government corruption, may have just violated state election law while holding public office and done so in a way that leaves him vulnerable to prosecution, prison, and no presidential protection.

For someone who’s built a fortune bluffing regulators, misleading investors, and spinning every scandal into a PR win, this might finally be the misstep that sticks. Because this time, he’s not just playing with stock prices or Twitter polls, he’s toying with democracy itself.

We can dream, right!

#schadenfreude #elonmusk #doge

Fingers crossed :-D

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 30 Mar 25 - 04:00 PM

> do these senators force their interns to write and
> post this crap?

Just as likely they've outsourced the labour to ChatMAGA, where Agent X is busily pissing into the well of trust to produce the Greater Truth.* Oh, they'll have a few sacrifical interns around to throw to the inevitable investigative committees, of course, but y'know how these things go.

* "Reverse-correct infospeak," I believe it's been called. Twenty bonus points for nailing the reference.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 30 Mar 25 - 04:31 PM

1984?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 30 Mar 25 - 04:50 PM

Elon Musk Accused of 'Blatant Felony' in Wisconsin With Voter Sweepstakes. From Newsweek.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 30 Mar 25 - 11:24 PM

In his continuing offensive offensive, when Trump put himself in charge of the Kennedy Center he offended a whole bunch of people. Intentionally.

From the Daily Beast Musician Who Quit Kennedy Center Issues a Chilling Warning About Trump

A musician who quit the Kennedy Center after Donald Trump took over as chair earlier this year issued a chilling warning about the president’s “authoritarian instinct.”

Ben Folds, the former artistic advisor to the National Symphony Orchestra, told CBS News Sunday that he’s never seen political interference in the arts at this scale.