8 ms·

They have interesting pedigrees: Meta, Palantir, Neuralink, xAI, SpaceX, Databricks, Energize AI. It seems clear where this is going. Data mining and algorithm

They have interesting pedigrees: Meta, Palantir, Neuralink, xAI, SpaceX, Databricks, Energize AI. It seems clear where this is going. Data mining and algorithmic (claimed!) efficiency improvements while working on an essential and critical production system. Since these people claim that "AI" does not need to respect privacy and copyright, perhaps they'll also train a model on this. Where are the Democrats on all this? There is hardly any opposition. Are they not interrupting their enemy while he is making mistakes? That would be the only explanation.

bilbo0s 2y ago
Democrats can oppose, but they don’t have any votes. All 3 branches of government are controlled by Republicans. So, yeah. I guess we got the government we voted for? And since it’s a democracy, I suppose that means we have exactly the government we deserve? Maybe it gets better later in the administration? That’s my hope anyway.
- arrosenberg 2y ago
  > I guess we got the government we voted for? And since it’s a democracy, I suppose that means we have exactly the government we deserve? Well, we voted based on the only two options that were shoved down our throats by various groups of the wealthiest people on the planet. I don't personally think we deserve this, why would we? That said, if we don't do something, it won't get better.
  - bilbo0s 2y ago
    we voted based on the only two options that were shoved down our throats by various groups of the wealthiest people on the planet Well, we should have made a system that didn’t allow the wealthiest people on the planet to do that. Not trying to be flip, I’m just trying to point out that it still all comes back to us in the end. We just have to hope for the best at this point. Buyer’s remorse is not gonna change the actions these people are likely to take. I do agree with you when you say, something needs to be done. If these pres-vice pres pairings are the best the current system could come up with, then obviously there is a need to add some new aspects to the system that might encourage more competence in the candidates it produces.
    - spencerflem 2y ago
      We didn't make the system, some slavers hundreds of years ago did. It seems like we won't have to worry about the current system much longer though
      - philjohn 2y ago
        No, but enough people voted for the party that put the supreme court justices in place who ruled on citizens united over the years. Voting isn't a one time thing, it has repercussions that can be felt decades later (see shortages of ATC because of the actions of Reagan in the 80's).
        spencerflem 2y ago
        I don't disagree, but I also don't see how that's a contradiction
    - gameman144 2y ago
      > Well, we should have made a system that didn’t allow the wealthiest people on the planet to do that. This feels correct-ish, but also pretty unrealistic. If you're born into a system where you have to choose between getting slapped and getting stabbed, then obviously the system shouldn't have been made that way -- that doesn't change the fact that it is that way, and you have to act within that system regardless of what ought to be the system instead.
    - arrosenberg 2y ago
      I agree to an extent. Most of us are either still young, or just getting our bearings and seeing the problems as adults in the last 10 or so years. I feel comfortable saying that, knowing the demographics of the site. Most of us had little-to-no ability to shape the current situation. Our window has just opened.
      - spencerflem 2y ago
        or closed forever
  - krapp 2y ago
    We had two options, and we chose the greater evil. We absolutely deserve what's coming.
    - mythrwy 2y ago
      Increased prosperity, intelligent leadership and lawful order? I'll take it!
      - arunabha 2y ago
        I guess time will tell if you're right. I hope you're right, because if not, we are in for very dark times.
      - tombert 2y ago
        Ok, so you stalked my comment history so I stalked yours. What about the Trump administration is "intelligent"? Trump lies about everything. Pointing out other politicians lie isn't a good comeback. Trump lacks all understanding of how tariffs work, he said he was going to "repeal and replace" Obamacare on "day 1" in 2016, only to say he has "concepts of a plan" in 2024, whatever the fuck that means. He rarely has "ideas", he just bitches about stuff and handwaves away everything when pressed for any details. "Lawful order"? I don't know that that means. I would say that writing a lot of executive orders that go directly against the constitution is literally the opposite of "lawful order", but you're free to disagree.
        theonething 2y ago
        Deporting all these violent illegals has been outstanding in my opinion. He's actually enforcing existing immigration laws. By way of threats of tariffs, He's gotten Columbia, Mexico and Canada to enact policies in the interests of America. America gets constantly screwed by other nations because we've allowed great trade imbalances and weak borders. Other nations have been happy to step back and let the US fund the UN, NATO, etc. Historically, we have the lowest tariffs and accept the most illegal immigrants in the world. Trump's changing that and I'm here for it. Btw, I'm all for legal immigration. I'm one myself. My family escaped a communist country and has experienced life under a leader much more authoritarian that what the Left conjures up about the other side.
- rtkwe 2y ago
  The filibuster in the Senate is powerful but it basically only blocks new laws from going in you can't really touch all the things Trump is doing via EO through Congressional obstruction the main avenue for blocking that is through the courts which ultimately have limited enforcement power.
PhunkyPhil 2y ago
I guess Elon believes that long wait times for government services is because of an O(n^3) function somewhere... > Where are the Democrats on all this? There is hardly any opposition I think because this is so unprecedented the structures to oversee simply don't exist. The article mentions that congress has no mechanisms for oversight, and Elon is moving too quickly in this area for any checks to take place.
- lukev 2y ago
  The courts are just now beginning to order injuctions and restraining orders, for the stuff that happened last week. The process seems to lag by 2-3 business days. So hopefully we'll be seeing a lot more this week. How the administration responds to those is going to define how this constitutional crisis unfolds. And it is a constitutional crisis: congress unambiguously has the power of the purse, not the executive. If Trump gets away with this, it isn't clear that Congress has any power at all.
  - bagels 2y ago
    The executive is just going to ignore any court orders.
- SamBam 2y ago
  It's utterly wrong to give Elon any benefit of the doubt in terms of his motives right now. He's helping destroy the Federal government because doing so aligns with his interests as a billionaire.
  - nomdep 2y ago
    [flagged]
    - computerthings 2y ago
      You can't just prefix any random BS with "you seem to be". No, there is zero indication for that. You're just going "I know you are, but what is Elon?"
jacobjjacob 2y ago
Maybe the strategy is to let it play out until there is enough of a case that the other branches can’t look away? Let Elon show himself out by inevitably crossing Trump and going the way of so many other advisors?
xmprt 2y ago
Democrats have bigger fish to fry and DOGE isn't a real department so it doesn't have a whole lot of authority to do things on its own. It can only advise the government so in the end, until an executive order is signed or some other action is taken, there's nothing to be done.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- 9283409232 2y ago
  You have no real handle on the scale of damage being done and DOGE is a real department as it was merged into the US Digital Service through executive order.
  - kelnos 2y ago
    Who is running USDS, though? If it's now Musk, doesn't that require Senate confirmation?
    - 9283409232 2y ago
      You would think so but the legality of it all is very disputed.
    - SpicyLemonZest 2y ago
      No, USDS is an organization within the President's executive staff. The constitutional requirement is that "Officers of the United States" need Senate confirmation unless Congress has provided otherwise. The precise contours of this have never been super well defined, but it doesn't sound like Musk is exercising sovereign power under his own authority, at least not yet.
- affinepplan 2y ago
  I'm not sure what could possibly be a bigger fish right now. This is, quite literally, the dismantling of our entire government and its public services unfolding before our eyes.
bee_rider 2y ago
Like Democratic elected officials? They lost. They have no power. They don’t control any branch of government. They have as much ability to pass laws as you or I personally do. They have as much ability to hand down a Supreme Court or direct law enforcement as you or I personally do. None. Where are we? Complaining on social media I guess. I’m quite frustrated why my elected officials as well but it is kind of hard to blame them when we don’t give them any actual power to wield.
- maximilianburke 2y ago
  Sure, but there's other things they can do. They can all stop trying to achieve bipartisan support on things, as the republicans do when they're in the minority. Senators can withdraw their unanimous consent. They can vote against everything. They can drag a bunch of reporters over to Treasury and start loudly asking questions It sounds like some are finding a clue, like the ones who stomped down to USAID with reporters in tow today. They need to do more of this. Just because they can't pass legislation doesn't mean they are out of ideas. What you can do is write to or call them. Ask them to vote no on every senate confirmation. Ask them to not provide unanimous consent. Ask them to make a scene. Demand answers!
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - SamBam 2y ago
    > They can vote against everything. Have they voted on a single thing yet except the Laken Riley Act? (Which they probably shouldn't have done, but anyway.) This administration is not waiting on Congress to do anything. But that aside, I agree that they need to start getting back attention. Being absolutely silent except for individuals saying things that are only reported on Bluesky is not enough to be taking back control of attention.
    - maximilianburke 2y ago
      > Have they voted on a single thing yet except the Laken Riley Act? I mean on things like confirmations, but when bills start coming up reps need to go full on toddler mode and say no to everything. They need to read the Mitch McConnell book on gumming up the works of government and grind everything to a halt until the madness stops. > But that aside, I agree that they need to start getting back attention. Being absolutely silent except for individuals saying things that are only reported on Bluesky is not enough to be taking back control of attention. I completely agree. Social media doesn't help anything, unless they're live streaming themselves daring the people obstructing Treasury to arrest them. This isn't a "business as usual" moment, this is a five-alarm-fire moment.
daedrdev 2y ago
The democrats have effectively no power. They control neither the house, senate, or presidency, the courts have become more conservative, etc. They can only talk. The filibuster will prevent new laws, but that isn't much when the federal government acts according to the presidency, and the filibuster does not prevent government appointments
- cma 2y ago
  I doubt they will maintain the filibuster
- dml2135 2y ago
  And the filibuster is nothing more than a polite restriction that the majority of the senate places on themselves — they are free to remove it if they wish.
bobbylarrybobby 2y ago
The democrats were there on Election Day. They were shown the door.
freitasm 2y ago
> Where are the Democrats on all this? There is hardly any opposition. Are they not interrupting their enemy while he is making mistakes? That would be the only explanation. You mean the same Democrats who were not given a majority on neither legislative houses, nor the Presidency? Some people voted against their best interests. Consequences.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
gadders 2y ago
They should try coming up with some popular policies and winning elections.
- chihuahua 2y ago
  No, they must talk about nothing but identity politics for the next 4 years, surely that is the best way to gain majorities in the Senate and House.
  - mkoubaa 2y ago
    That's certainly one way to get a Trump third term
    - chihuahua 2y ago
      I have a feeling that's a part of how we got a 2nd Trump term.
- sunshowers 2y ago
  Policies don't really determine elections in this age -- the only thing that determines them is people's brains being cooked.
  - SpicyLemonZest 2y ago
    Policies do a great deal to determine elections - American political parties are more polarized by policy now than they've ever been. It only seems otherwise because there's a lot of people who don't consider opposition to their policy objectives legitimate, and thus diagnose it as cooked-brain syndrome rather than attempting to understand and compromise.
    - sunshowers 2y ago
      People's policy preferences are downstream of how cooked their brains are. So it's not really policies that are determining it, it's the fact that their brains are cooked through constant exposure to bad things. If their brains are uncooked through constant exposure to good things, then their policy preferences will also change.
FactolSarin 2y ago
> Where are the Democrats on all this? There is hardly any opposition. Are they not interrupting their enemy while he is making mistakes? That would be the only explanation. This is the kind of thing that someone who's on TikTok a lot says. The line being fed to people by the Chinese government to make the Democrats look bad as well. But the truth is the Democrats have no power. None. They can't do anything to stop this. Elizabeth Warren and AOC have just as much power as I do to stop Elon Musk and Donald Trump.
hashishen 2y ago
I would look to c-span for some accurate real time reactions from dems https://www.c-span.org/program/news-conference/congressional-democrats-on-trump-admin-closing-usaid-hq/655285 https://www.c-span.org/program/news-conference/congressional...
bb88 2y ago
> Where are the Democrats in all of this? I think there's a fear they'll end up on the Kash Patel FBI enemies list: https://newrepublic.com/article/188946/kash-patel-fbi-enemies-list https://newrepublic.com/article/188946/kash-patel-fbi-enemie...
energy123 2y ago
> * Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) “Elon Musk, you may have illegally seized power over the financial payments systems of the Treasury, but you don't control the money of the American people. The US Congress does that under Article 1 of the Constitution ... we don't have a fourth branch of government called 'Elon Musk” > * Rep. Chris Murphy (D-CT) “This is a constitutional crisis that we are in today. Let’s call it what it is.” -And- "Let's not pull any punches about why this is happening. Elon Musk makes billions off of his business with China. And China is cheering at this action today. There is no question that the billionaire class trying to take over our govt right now is doing it based on self-interest." > * Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) "It is a matter for Congress to deal with, not an unelected billionaire oligarchy named Elon Musk. And Elon, if you want to run USAID, get nominated by Trump and go to the Senate and good luck in getting confirmed." > * Rep. Van Hollen (D-MD) “We asked to enter the Aid building, really on behalf of the American people, but to talk to Aid employees, because … there’s been a gag order imposed on Aid employees. So we wanted to learn first-hand what’s happening. We were denied entry based on the order that they received from Elon Musk and Doge, which just goes to show that this was an illegal power grab by someone who contributed $267bn to the Trump effort in these elections.” Estimated crowd of 100 protesters (reported). Other attendees and speeches made by Congressmen Beyer, Raskin, Connolly, Omar, Olzewski, Senator Van Hollen (seems like more maybe there not much coverage to confirm)
rsoto2 2y ago
The democrats are busy trying to squeeze more AIPAC money for when they get massively primaried for backing a genocide. No, i'm not joking the house minority leader gave a speech on israel's success in gaza this week
wesselbindt 2y ago
> Where are the Democrats on all this? It's a big club...
Slava_Propanei 2y ago
[dead]
fennecbutt 2y ago
Where it's going is largely irrelevant I suppose. The only reason the "doge" thing is going on is because Elon needed a way to insert himself into the government, and everybody else involved is too technically inept to realise (or care). But the effects don't really matter because this is what the American public voted for. As an outsider who's read Daemon and Freedom when are you yanks gonna start the darknet already?

bilbo0s 2y ago

Democrats can oppose, but they don’t have any votes. All 3 branches of government are controlled by Republicans. So, yeah. I guess we got the government we voted for? And since it’s a democracy, I suppose that means we have exactly the government we deserve? Maybe it gets better later in the administration? That’s my hope anyway.

arrosenberg 2y ago
> I guess we got the government we voted for? And since it’s a democracy, I suppose that means we have exactly the government we deserve? Well, we voted based on the only two options that were shoved down our throats by various groups of the wealthiest people on the planet. I don't personally think we deserve this, why would we? That said, if we don't do something, it won't get better.
- bilbo0s 2y ago
  we voted based on the only two options that were shoved down our throats by various groups of the wealthiest people on the planet Well, we should have made a system that didn’t allow the wealthiest people on the planet to do that. Not trying to be flip, I’m just trying to point out that it still all comes back to us in the end. We just have to hope for the best at this point. Buyer’s remorse is not gonna change the actions these people are likely to take. I do agree with you when you say, something needs to be done. If these pres-vice pres pairings are the best the current system could come up with, then obviously there is a need to add some new aspects to the system that might encourage more competence in the candidates it produces.
  - spencerflem 2y ago
    We didn't make the system, some slavers hundreds of years ago did. It seems like we won't have to worry about the current system much longer though
    - philjohn 2y ago
      No, but enough people voted for the party that put the supreme court justices in place who ruled on citizens united over the years. Voting isn't a one time thing, it has repercussions that can be felt decades later (see shortages of ATC because of the actions of Reagan in the 80's).
      - spencerflem 2y ago
        I don't disagree, but I also don't see how that's a contradiction
  - gameman144 2y ago
    > Well, we should have made a system that didn’t allow the wealthiest people on the planet to do that. This feels correct-ish, but also pretty unrealistic. If you're born into a system where you have to choose between getting slapped and getting stabbed, then obviously the system shouldn't have been made that way -- that doesn't change the fact that it is that way, and you have to act within that system regardless of what ought to be the system instead.
  - arrosenberg 2y ago
    I agree to an extent. Most of us are either still young, or just getting our bearings and seeing the problems as adults in the last 10 or so years. I feel comfortable saying that, knowing the demographics of the site. Most of us had little-to-no ability to shape the current situation. Our window has just opened.
    - spencerflem 2y ago
      or closed forever
- krapp 2y ago
  We had two options, and we chose the greater evil. We absolutely deserve what's coming.
  - mythrwy 2y ago
    Increased prosperity, intelligent leadership and lawful order? I'll take it!
    - arunabha 2y ago
      I guess time will tell if you're right. I hope you're right, because if not, we are in for very dark times.
    - tombert 2y ago
      Ok, so you stalked my comment history so I stalked yours. What about the Trump administration is "intelligent"? Trump lies about everything. Pointing out other politicians lie isn't a good comeback. Trump lacks all understanding of how tariffs work, he said he was going to "repeal and replace" Obamacare on "day 1" in 2016, only to say he has "concepts of a plan" in 2024, whatever the fuck that means. He rarely has "ideas", he just bitches about stuff and handwaves away everything when pressed for any details. "Lawful order"? I don't know that that means. I would say that writing a lot of executive orders that go directly against the constitution is literally the opposite of "lawful order", but you're free to disagree.
      - theonething 2y ago
        Deporting all these violent illegals has been outstanding in my opinion. He's actually enforcing existing immigration laws. By way of threats of tariffs, He's gotten Columbia, Mexico and Canada to enact policies in the interests of America. America gets constantly screwed by other nations because we've allowed great trade imbalances and weak borders. Other nations have been happy to step back and let the US fund the UN, NATO, etc. Historically, we have the lowest tariffs and accept the most illegal immigrants in the world. Trump's changing that and I'm here for it. Btw, I'm all for legal immigration. I'm one myself. My family escaped a communist country and has experienced life under a leader much more authoritarian that what the Left conjures up about the other side.
rtkwe 2y ago
The filibuster in the Senate is powerful but it basically only blocks new laws from going in you can't really touch all the things Trump is doing via EO through Congressional obstruction the main avenue for blocking that is through the courts which ultimately have limited enforcement power.

PhunkyPhil 2y ago

I guess Elon believes that long wait times for government services is because of an O(n^3) function somewhere... > Where are the Democrats on all this? There is hardly any opposition I think because this is so unprecedented the structures to oversee simply don't exist. The article mentions that congress has no mechanisms for oversight, and Elon is moving too quickly in this area for any checks to take place.

lukev 2y ago
The courts are just now beginning to order injuctions and restraining orders, for the stuff that happened last week. The process seems to lag by 2-3 business days. So hopefully we'll be seeing a lot more this week. How the administration responds to those is going to define how this constitutional crisis unfolds. And it is a constitutional crisis: congress unambiguously has the power of the purse, not the executive. If Trump gets away with this, it isn't clear that Congress has any power at all.
- bagels 2y ago
  The executive is just going to ignore any court orders.
SamBam 2y ago
It's utterly wrong to give Elon any benefit of the doubt in terms of his motives right now. He's helping destroy the Federal government because doing so aligns with his interests as a billionaire.
- nomdep 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - computerthings 2y ago
    You can't just prefix any random BS with "you seem to be". No, there is zero indication for that. You're just going "I know you are, but what is Elon?"

jacobjjacob 2y ago

Maybe the strategy is to let it play out until there is enough of a case that the other branches can’t look away? Let Elon show himself out by inevitably crossing Trump and going the way of so many other advisors?

xmprt 2y ago

Democrats have bigger fish to fry and DOGE isn't a real department so it doesn't have a whole lot of authority to do things on its own. It can only advise the government so in the end, until an executive order is signed or some other action is taken, there's nothing to be done.

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
9283409232 2y ago
You have no real handle on the scale of damage being done and DOGE is a real department as it was merged into the US Digital Service through executive order.
- kelnos 2y ago
  Who is running USDS, though? If it's now Musk, doesn't that require Senate confirmation?
  - 9283409232 2y ago
    You would think so but the legality of it all is very disputed.
  - SpicyLemonZest 2y ago
    No, USDS is an organization within the President's executive staff. The constitutional requirement is that "Officers of the United States" need Senate confirmation unless Congress has provided otherwise. The precise contours of this have never been super well defined, but it doesn't sound like Musk is exercising sovereign power under his own authority, at least not yet.
affinepplan 2y ago
I'm not sure what could possibly be a bigger fish right now. This is, quite literally, the dismantling of our entire government and its public services unfolding before our eyes.

bee_rider 2y ago

Like Democratic elected officials? They lost. They have no power. They don’t control any branch of government. They have as much ability to pass laws as you or I personally do. They have as much ability to hand down a Supreme Court or direct law enforcement as you or I personally do. None. Where are we? Complaining on social media I guess. I’m quite frustrated why my elected officials as well but it is kind of hard to blame them when we don’t give them any actual power to wield.

maximilianburke 2y ago
Sure, but there's other things they can do. They can all stop trying to achieve bipartisan support on things, as the republicans do when they're in the minority. Senators can withdraw their unanimous consent. They can vote against everything. They can drag a bunch of reporters over to Treasury and start loudly asking questions It sounds like some are finding a clue, like the ones who stomped down to USAID with reporters in tow today. They need to do more of this. Just because they can't pass legislation doesn't mean they are out of ideas. What you can do is write to or call them. Ask them to vote no on every senate confirmation. Ask them to not provide unanimous consent. Ask them to make a scene. Demand answers!
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- SamBam 2y ago
  > They can vote against everything. Have they voted on a single thing yet except the Laken Riley Act? (Which they probably shouldn't have done, but anyway.) This administration is not waiting on Congress to do anything. But that aside, I agree that they need to start getting back attention. Being absolutely silent except for individuals saying things that are only reported on Bluesky is not enough to be taking back control of attention.
  - maximilianburke 2y ago
    > Have they voted on a single thing yet except the Laken Riley Act? I mean on things like confirmations, but when bills start coming up reps need to go full on toddler mode and say no to everything. They need to read the Mitch McConnell book on gumming up the works of government and grind everything to a halt until the madness stops. > But that aside, I agree that they need to start getting back attention. Being absolutely silent except for individuals saying things that are only reported on Bluesky is not enough to be taking back control of attention. I completely agree. Social media doesn't help anything, unless they're live streaming themselves daring the people obstructing Treasury to arrest them. This isn't a "business as usual" moment, this is a five-alarm-fire moment.

daedrdev 2y ago

The democrats have effectively no power. They control neither the house, senate, or presidency, the courts have become more conservative, etc. They can only talk. The filibuster will prevent new laws, but that isn't much when the federal government acts according to the presidency, and the filibuster does not prevent government appointments

cma 2y ago
I doubt they will maintain the filibuster
dml2135 2y ago
And the filibuster is nothing more than a polite restriction that the majority of the senate places on themselves — they are free to remove it if they wish.

bobbylarrybobby 2y ago

The democrats were there on Election Day. They were shown the door.

freitasm 2y ago

> Where are the Democrats on all this? There is hardly any opposition. Are they not interrupting their enemy while he is making mistakes? That would be the only explanation. You mean the same Democrats who were not given a majority on neither legislative houses, nor the Presidency? Some people voted against their best interests. Consequences.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

gadders 2y ago

They should try coming up with some popular policies and winning elections.

chihuahua 2y ago
No, they must talk about nothing but identity politics for the next 4 years, surely that is the best way to gain majorities in the Senate and House.
- mkoubaa 2y ago
  That's certainly one way to get a Trump third term
  - chihuahua 2y ago
    I have a feeling that's a part of how we got a 2nd Trump term.
sunshowers 2y ago
Policies don't really determine elections in this age -- the only thing that determines them is people's brains being cooked.
- SpicyLemonZest 2y ago
  Policies do a great deal to determine elections - American political parties are more polarized by policy now than they've ever been. It only seems otherwise because there's a lot of people who don't consider opposition to their policy objectives legitimate, and thus diagnose it as cooked-brain syndrome rather than attempting to understand and compromise.
  - sunshowers 2y ago
    People's policy preferences are downstream of how cooked their brains are. So it's not really policies that are determining it, it's the fact that their brains are cooked through constant exposure to bad things. If their brains are uncooked through constant exposure to good things, then their policy preferences will also change.

FactolSarin 2y ago

> Where are the Democrats on all this? There is hardly any opposition. Are they not interrupting their enemy while he is making mistakes? That would be the only explanation. This is the kind of thing that someone who's on TikTok a lot says. The line being fed to people by the Chinese government to make the Democrats look bad as well. But the truth is the Democrats have no power. None. They can't do anything to stop this. Elizabeth Warren and AOC have just as much power as I do to stop Elon Musk and Donald Trump.

hashishen 2y ago

I would look to c-span for some accurate real time reactions from dems https://www.c-span.org/program/news-conference/congressional-democrats-on-trump-admin-closing-usaid-hq/655285 https://www.c-span.org/program/news-conference/congressional...

bb88 2y ago

> Where are the Democrats in all of this? I think there's a fear they'll end up on the Kash Patel FBI enemies list: https://newrepublic.com/article/188946/kash-patel-fbi-enemies-list https://newrepublic.com/article/188946/kash-patel-fbi-enemie...

energy123 2y ago

> * Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) “Elon Musk, you may have illegally seized power over the financial payments systems of the Treasury, but you don't control the money of the American people. The US Congress does that under Article 1 of the Constitution ... we don't have a fourth branch of government called 'Elon Musk” > * Rep. Chris Murphy (D-CT) “This is a constitutional crisis that we are in today. Let’s call it what it is.” -And- "Let's not pull any punches about why this is happening. Elon Musk makes billions off of his business with China. And China is cheering at this action today. There is no question that the billionaire class trying to take over our govt right now is doing it based on self-interest." > * Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) "It is a matter for Congress to deal with, not an unelected billionaire oligarchy named Elon Musk. And Elon, if you want to run USAID, get nominated by Trump and go to the Senate and good luck in getting confirmed." > * Rep. Van Hollen (D-MD) “We asked to enter the Aid building, really on behalf of the American people, but to talk to Aid employees, because … there’s been a gag order imposed on Aid employees. So we wanted to learn first-hand what’s happening. We were denied entry based on the order that they received from Elon Musk and Doge, which just goes to show that this was an illegal power grab by someone who contributed $267bn to the Trump effort in these elections.” Estimated crowd of 100 protesters (reported). Other attendees and speeches made by Congressmen Beyer, Raskin, Connolly, Omar, Olzewski, Senator Van Hollen (seems like more maybe there not much coverage to confirm)

rsoto2 2y ago

The democrats are busy trying to squeeze more AIPAC money for when they get massively primaried for backing a genocide. No, i'm not joking the house minority leader gave a speech on israel's success in gaza this week

wesselbindt 2y ago

> Where are the Democrats on all this? It's a big club...

Slava_Propanei 2y ago

[dead]

fennecbutt 2y ago

Where it's going is largely irrelevant I suppose. The only reason the "doge" thing is going on is because Elon needed a way to insert himself into the government, and everybody else involved is too technically inept to realise (or care). But the effects don't really matter because this is what the American public voted for. As an outsider who's read Daemon and Freedom when are you yanks gonna start the darknet already?