News chunks: Another illegal MAGA attack on climate science; Regarding the MAGA attack on government

SciAm writes about another illegal MAGA attack on climate science: “Trump Dismisses Scientists Writing Key Climate Report -- djt dismissed hundreds of scientists working on the congressionally mandated National Climate Assessment, raising concerns about whether the void will be filled with pseudoscience. The Trump administration on Monday dismissed all of the scientists working on the newest version of the National Climate Assessment, a sweeping report that outlines the growing dangers of rising temperatures for lawmakers, policy experts and the public. The sixth installment of the congressionally mandated report, which was due to come out by 2028, has typically been put together by about 400 researchers, many of whom are top scientists at universities who volunteer their time. The assessment is used to craft environmental rules, legislation and infrastructure project planning. It seen by experts as the definitive body of research about how global warming is transforming the country.”

The SciAm article goes on to point out that djt and MAGA elites will replace those real scientists with among the few actual climate scientists who downplay global warming. One can reasonably expect some crackpot MAGA thug, non-experts to be included in the new cadre. For context, a 2021 survey of 2,780 scientists found that among all earth scientists, 91% agreed that human activity is causing climate change, but the figure rose to 98.7% among climate scientists and reached 100% among those with the highest levels of expertise (20 or more published papers). These results indicate that the consensus is strongest among those most deeply engaged in climate research. 

Welp, ladies 'n germs, it could not be clearer. djt and MAGA hate climate science, honest climate scientists, and the idea of global warming. They are cynical, lying climate science deniers. They know that climate science is true and global warming is real. But djt and MAGA elites could not care less how much human or economic cost there will be or how many species go extinct. Why? Because there is just too damn much money to be made in privatizing and trickling up profits from pollution, human deaths, species extinctions and global warming while socializing all the human and environmental costs and carnage. 

I call that MAGA’s moral rot.

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Some people assert that the firings and alleged cost cutting by MAGA elites and DOGE are targeted and at least modestly thought out. I keep trying to convey the idea that it is mindless and cruel, with little to no thought given to cost-benefit or the public interest. This is all about gaining more wealth and power for elite special interests. Available data indicate that cost benefit is close to neutral to negative, with costs (which MAGA never mentions) outweighing alleged, often false claims of benefits. The American Prospect writes: 

For the second time in three months, acting Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Russ Vought has tried to fire most of the staff and cripple its functions. The union for CFPB employees has successfully beaten both attacks back, and a hearing today will determine whether the second effort will formally fail. (See the update; the hearing was canceled because the union was victorious, for now, in blocking the mass firing.)

The idea that a particularized assessment of every employee and statutory authority could be done in less than a week stretches credulity is impossible. The leadership team MAGA thugs got key facts wrong in representations to the court, like misnaming what division the Office of Community Affairs sits in, suggesting that the process was less than meticulous knowingly sloppy, cruel and malicious. And attorneys who worked on the RIF literally copy-pasted from Google the results of a search for “CFPB organic statute” when asked what CFPB was required to carry out.

The declarations, mostly written by senior leaders in different divisions and offices of the CFPB, further show how Vought and company chose arbitrary head count numbers and “retrofitted” the RIF to reflect that number. None of these senior officers were consulted about the RIF, and many were themselves fired.

Even if saved from destruction, there isn’t likely to be any consumer protection going on at the CFPB through 2028. Vought and company have made that perfectly clear. But the hatchet job looks even worse in the details than what we all expected from the outside, and that’s valuable to know for when people are inevitably scammed and robbed, and are looking for whom to blame. 

 (emphasis added) (edits added to enhance clarity)

It cannot be any clearer. djt and his cadre of elite MAGA thugs hate government and the public interest. They have zero interest in what fired employees do or what costs are associated with losing government functions that serve and protect the public interest. djt and MAGA elites are literally using a mindless chain saw to eliminate useful, cost-saving, anti-corruption, public interest-protecting functions. MAGA elites and djt are corrupt and cruel to their 100% morally rotted core.

MAGA attacks global warming; MAGA empowered to censor the internet

The NYT reports (not paywalled) that federal funding cuts are on the verge of putting a top environmental science journal out of business: “Environmental Health Perspectives, widely considered the premier environmental health journal, has announced that it would pause acceptance of new studies for publication, as federal cuts have left its future uncertain. For more than 50 years, the journal has received funding from the National Institutes of Health to review studies on the health effects of environmental toxins — from “forever chemicals” to air pollution — and publish the research free of charge. Scientific journals have long been a target of top health officials in the Trump administration. In a book published last year, Dr. Martin A. Makary, the new commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, accused journal editorial boards of “gate-keeping” and publishing only information that supports a ‘groupthink narrative.’”

The NYT quoted Dr. Brainworm (RFK Jr), secretary of health and human services, as directly threatening medical journals with federal prosecution: “I’m going to find a way to sue you unless you come up with a plan right now to show how you’re going to start publishing real science.” By ‘real science’ Brainworm means pseudoscience, crackpottery, lies, etc.

The only thinking that MAGA elites are capable of is MAGA's kleptocratic, authoritarian, propaganda, demagoguery, lies, crackpottery, etc. MAGA elites are definitely going to get lots of innocent people killed and species disappeared. But no worries about corpses for MAGA elites, they can and will blame Biden, Obama, Hillary, Benghazi, Hunter’s laptop, DEI, etc., etc. 

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The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports about an authoritarian law that passed congress. The law is sold to the public as cracking down on NCII (non-consensual intimate imagery) such as revenge porn and sex photos that people did not want posted online. All of that is just fine.

But the problem, as is usually the case, the law is intentionally sloppy. It hands djt a weapon to control, or try to control, a broad swath of content on the internet he dislikes. For example, satirical memes mocking Trump will probably be flagged as “intimate imagery” under the Act’s sloppy definitions. Even if that is blatantly false, it would cost a small fortune to prove that in court. Almost all House and Senate Democrats voted to support this monstrosity of slop. The EFF writes:

The House of Representatives passed the TAKE IT DOWN Act, giving the powerful a dangerous new route to manipulate platforms into removing lawful speech that they simply don't like. President Trump himself has said that he would use the law to censor his critics. The bill passed the Senate in February, and it now heads to the president's desk.

The takedown provision in TAKE IT DOWN applies to a much broader category of content—potentially any images involving intimate or sexual content—than the narrower NCII (non-consensual intimate imagery) definitions found elsewhere in the bill. The takedown provision also lacks critical safeguards against frivolous or bad-faith takedown requests. Services will rely on automated filters, which are infamously blunt tools. They frequently flag legal content, from fair-use commentary to news reporting. The law’s tight time frame requires that apps and websites remove speech within 48 hours, rarely enough time to verify whether the speech is actually illegal. As a result, online service providers, particularly smaller ones, will likely choose to avoid the onerous legal risk by simply depublishing the speech rather than even attempting to verify it.

The safeguard for criticism of djt, MAGA elites and MAGA authoritarianism is to not post any derogatory images of anything, especially djt or MAGA elites. If there is no image, the law does not reach it. In theory.

That theoretical constraint does not prevent people from making false, bad-faith claims. Claims under this law forces the platform owner of the accused content to take it down or go to court and spend thousands of dollars defending legal content that could be taken down for nothing. There are no penalties for people making false or frivolous claims under this law. There is no explicit language in the law that excludes text-only content from being flagged as illegal. 

In the case of this blog, Google would have to take down content someone flags under the take-down law or decide the flag was wrong. Google, sure as death and taxes, is not going to spend one penny checking to see if one of my blog posts is legal or not. Google will go to court to defend any of my blog posts. 

Worse yet, maybe our MAGA Republican USSC will say congress did intend to include text-only “intimate criticisms”, whatever that concept might mean. Regardless, this law looks like another weapon in MAGA’s campaign to equate legitimate dissent with illegality. Time will tell how this plays out. With some luck, maybe MAGA won’t abuse this too much. It will be very tempting for trolls.

Q: If any of my content gets flagged and Google takes it down, should people start flagging content on MAGA propaganda sites like Faux News, Breitbart, The Federalist, The Heritage Foundation, etc.?

News bits: Dictatorship poll; American police state rising; Another impeachment? Nah!; Misc.

Poll data from a Feb.-March poll indicates that some Americans are starting to wake up to the threat of a djt dictatorship. The portion of Americans who say they agree that djt is a "dangerous dictator whose power should be limited before he destroys American democracy" is shown below:

At least most Dems and Indeps are awake, while the vast majority of Repubs are still asleep. Unfortunately, most White folk are still asleep too. Presumably more people will wake up as time passes. Will it be enough, soon enough? I don't know. Maybe it's already too late.

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A Rolling Stone article, Trump Issues Executive Order Ramping Up American Police State, increases protections for law enforcement officers accused of abuse and crimes. In essence, djt is prodding police forces to be aggressive by shielding them from accountability for alleged misconduct. djt's EO includes (1) free legal assistance to police officers accused of wrongdoing, to protect them from what MAGA deems "unfair" accusations and mistreatment by state or local authorities, (2) provides more "excess military and national security resources" and enhanced federal backing for officer training, higher salaries, and improved benefits, and (3) authorizes prosecution of state and local officials who "illegally prevent" law enforcement from doing their jobs, specifically targeting officials who promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs that MAGA falsely claims hinder police work or public safety.

I take this as evidence that in the three-way authoritarian MAGA wealth and power game, a corrupt djt dictatorship is starting to look like it will be dominant over the other two MAGA wealth and power contenders, corrupt billionaire plutocrats-corporations and corrupt Christian nationalist theocrats. The power struggles will be interesting to watch.

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An April 18-21 poll indicated that ~52% of likely voters somewhat or strongly support impeaching djt. The data was ~84% of Democrats, ~55% of Independents, and ~20% of Republicans. Chances of another pointless impeachment go-around? My estimate: in the House, ~0.3% and in the Senate ~0.1%. In my opinion, not at all likely.

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Dr. BrainWorm (RFK Jr) proposes getting rid of the federal Narcan distribution program that successfully reduced overdose deaths. Interestingly, BrainWorm used to be a heroin addict. Apparently, he thinks overdosed people should pull themselves up by their bootstraps, just like he used to do when he overdosed. In 2024, the government distributed 282,500 Narcan kits. CDC data shows ~24% drop in overdose deaths for the 12 months ending September 2024.

This sounds like a good way to get rid of those darned drug addicts. 👍

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The Independent summarizes djt's first 100 days. His accomplishments include triggering over 200 lawsuits, 142 executive orders, 24 days golfing, 5 bills signed into law, chaos in the stock market, and writing 1,614 fine screeds on his social media site Lies Antisocial, which amounts to about 16 per day. 

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In police-related news, NBC News reports that after killing an unarmed man, the Texas deputy told his fine colleague: 'I just smoked a dude'. It took almost two years, and a federal lawsuit, for smoked dude's mom, Wendy Tippitt to see the police video that showed the fatal shooting of her 29-year-old son. According to a dashcam video, the smoked dude was not armed or aggressive toward the unaccountable deputy.

I just can't wait of the police to be unleashed in all their splendor and unaccountable violent fury. Why doesn't djt issue as EO to unleash the police? . . . . . Oh, right, he did. 👍 Never mind.

djt threatens news media for shielding confidential news sources

CONTEXT

By now, it is quite clear that djt and MAGA elites intend to subvert and drain as much power** as possible, as fast as possible, from all public and private individuals, groups and institutions that stand in opposition to kleptocratic tyranny. No significant source of real or potential opposition is off limits. The threat now explicitly includes USSC justices who cross djt and his 100% weaponized MAGA DoJ. 

** Power consists mostly of (1) legal and constitutional protections, norms and policies, (2) access to courts for redress of grievances, and (3) free and fair elections. All three are now under ferocious authoritarian MAGA attack. 

In MAGAland politics, the threat of kleptocratic tyranny is primarily in the form of some combination of a corrupt djt dictatorship, corrupt plutocracy and corrupt Christian nationalist theocracy**. So far, a corrupt US military junta seems unlikely. However, if djt fires Pete drunk as a skunk Hegseth and replaces that idiot blunderbuss with a far more intelligent and ruthless MAGA defense secretary, then maybe a corrupt military junta could also be a significant part of the MAGAland tyranny mix. But we are not there yet. 👍

** As I have said many times now, the CN theocratic movement is not primarily a religious Christian movement. It is a wealth and power movement run by cynical, corrupt CN elites. They have bamboozled rank and file supporters and sympathizers into a false belief that the their goal is merely an innocent effort to defend traditional Christian values and fight off the victimization and horrific persecution of American Christians. The whole CN thing is a gigantic, cynical theocratic lie.

That context is where this post is coming from. The institution under attack here is the professional news media, but not MAGA news sources like Faux News.

☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️ 

This 4-page DoJ document is from MAGA thug Pam Bondi (US attorney general) dated April 25, 2025. Here, she declares war on news reporters by revoking previous DoJ protections for reporters who protect their confidential news sources from prosecution. The first paragraph and footnote 1 read as follows:

Safeguarding classified, privileged, and other sensitive information is essential to effective governance and law enforcement. Federal government employees intentionally leaking sensitive information to the media undermines the ability of the Department of Justice to uphold the rule of law, protect civil rights, and keep America safe. This conduct is illegal and wrong, and it must stop. Therefore, I have concluded that it is necessary to rescind Merrick Garland’s policies precluding the Department of Justice from seeking records and compelling testimony from members of the news media in order to identify and punish the source of improper leaks.¹ I am also directing the Office of Legal Policy to publish new regulatory language in 28 C.F.R. § 50.10 to reflect the rescission of those policies.

¹ All policies inconsistent with this memorandum and the accompanying regulation are hereby rescinded, effective immediately. See, e.g., 28 C.F.R. § 50.10 (2022); Merrick Garland, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Memorandum, Use of Compulsory Process to Obtain Information from, or Records of, Members of the News Media (July 19, 2021), https://www.justice.gov/ag/page/file/1413001/download.

Key points:

• Federal prosecutors can now use subpoenas, court orders, and search warrants to compel the production of information and testimony by and pertaining to members of the news media. When reporters refuse to comply, they will be prosecuted and jailed for obstruction.

• Bondi's memo says that the “Justice Department will not tolerate unauthorized disclosures that undermine President Trump’s policies, victimize government agencies, and cause harm to the American people.” The scope of that goes beyond classified information to include disclosures that challenge administration policies or show illegality, corruption or incompetence in djt’s administration. 

• The alleged rationale is to safeguard “classified, privileged and other sensitive information.” That is a much broader set of government secrets than existing federal criminal law protects. Existing federal law focuses primarily on making it illegal to share classified information, not on covering the ass of a corrupt, incompetent and/or anti-democracy president or government.

• The vague phrasing in Bondi’s memo implicitly calls for much more than just restoring past reporter protections under Biden. Bondi says that federal prosecutors “will continue to employ procedural protections to limit the use of compulsory legal process to obtain information from or records of members of the news media.” However, the memo doesn’t describe the protections. Given the routine cynical mendacity of MAGA elites, one can reasonably presume “procedural protections” for reporters will usually be somewhere between trivial and non-existent. Probably mostly non-existent.

Believe it or not, we are in an all-out war of corrupt, brutal MAGA authoritarianism against our democracy, rule of law, civil liberties and all people, groups and institutions that stand in defense of those ideals. MAGA and djt in particular hate anonymous sources of inconvenient information. They  constantly attack anonymous sources of inconvenient information as politically motivated, liars and frauds. News from anonymous source is dismissed as things like fake news or books, defamatory fiction or bullshit. MAGA is almost always just fine with anonymous sources that reveal information that is convenient or good for MAGA or djt. Treatment of anonymous sources by djt and MAGA

elites is a cynical, calculated duality of public denunciation of and attacks on unnamed informants in critical reporting, while enthusiastically amplifying favorable anonymous leaks (example 1, example 2, example 3, example 4).  

We really are in a real war. This is not a fever dream of some deranged crackpot.

Q: Are we really in a real war, or is this just a fever dream of some deranged crackpot, e.g., me?

Democracy pulse check -- we’re in very deep trouble, right now

NPR reports:

Hundreds of scholars say U.S. is swiftly heading toward authoritarianism

A survey of more than 500 political scientists finds that the vast majority (78%) think the United States is moving swiftly from liberal democracy toward some form of authoritarianism.

In the benchmark survey, known as Bright Line Watch, U.S.-based professors rate the performance of American democracy on a scale from zero (complete dictatorship) to 100 (perfect democracy). After President Trump’s election in November, scholars gave American democracy a rating of 67. Several weeks into Trump's second term, that figure plummeted to 55.

“We've slid into some form of authoritarianism,” says Steven Levitsky, a professor of government at Harvard, and co-author of How Democracies Die. “It is relatively mild compared to some others. It is certainly reversible, but we are no longer living in a liberal democracy.”

Kim Lane Scheppele, a Princeton sociologist who has spent years tracking Hungary, is also deeply concerned: “We are on a very fast slide into what’s called competitive authoritarianism.” 

In a competitive authoritarian system, a leader comes to power democratically and then erodes the system of checks and balances. Typically, the executive fills the civil service and key appointments — including the prosecutor's office and judiciary — with loyalists. He or she then attacks the media, universities and nongovernmental organizations to blunt public criticism and tilt the electoral playing field in the ruling party’s favor. (Does that sound quite familiar? It does to me)

Two points:

• How the hell can Harvard Poobah Levitsky, whom I actually respect (my review of his book is here), know if the MAGA authoritarianism we have slid into is “certainly reversible”? He can’t. No one can know with certainty how bad our political situation really is. Levitsky got this point wrong. The depth of MAGA’s grip on the minds of the true believers continues to strengthen according to polls. Those people are not going to stop supporting djt no matter what. MAGA is not “certainly” reversible. It is maybe reversible, maybe probably, but not certainly.

• The NPR article is based on an analysis by Bright Line Watch (BLW), where a score of 0 means complete dictatorship, and a score of 100 means ideal democracy. The BLW score of 55, puts the US political system well into anocracy (score range 50-69), hybrid dictatorship-democracy but closer to dictatorship than democracy. A different political system scoring system, Polity Watch, rates scores like this: Autocracy (dictatorship) scores at -10 to -6, anocracy is -5 to +5, while  democracy scores are from +6 to +10). After the July 2024 USSC decision that granted a president immunity from crimes committed in office, the Polity score dropped to 0, meaning the United States now falls squarely within the anocracy range (-5 to +5). The 2025 Polity score of 0 puts the US close to countries like Afghanistan (-1) and Uganda (-1). In other words, by both the BLW and Polity watch analyses, analysis the US is an anocracy, not a democracy.  The basis of BLW analysis is compared to the Polity Watch system:

Tracking America's descent into 

kleptocratic djt/MAGA dictatorship

Q: Since these two assessments were generated by experts[1] and their assessments constitute evidence that America is in a period of accelerating moral and political degeneration of its elites, should this kind of analysis be rejected as lies, false or socialist propaganda simply because they are experts conveying facts, truths and reasoning that are extremely inconvenient to djt, MAGA elites and their corrupt authoritarian wealth and power agenda?

Footnote:

1. Since about 2016, an important goal of MAGA’s pro-authoritarian, pro-corruption dark free speech, e.g., demagoguery, lies and slanders, has been to discredit experts, especially those who assert facts, truths and reasoning that are inconvenient to MAGA elites, essentially all of whom support corruption and authoritarianism. That is fact, not opinion. In his 2017 book, The Death of Expertise, expert Tom Nichols said distrust in experts and inconvenient knowledge has led America into a death spiral that “presents an immediate danger of decay either into rule by the mob or toward elitist technocracy . . . . and both threaten the United States today. . . . . the most disturbing aspect of the American march toward ignorance is not lack of knowledge per se but arrogance about that lack of knowledge.”

 

MAGA’s continuing anti-consumer attack

A federal appeals court has lifted its ban on djt almost completely gutting the CFPB (Consumer Finance Protection Agency. In Project 2025, the CFPB was a very high priority target for obliteration. Banks and financial institutions hated it because it protected consumers from predatory financial practices such as imposing high fees, which were often hidden. All of that is going to come back. As usual, the people most damaged will be low income households. The NYT reports (not paywalled) about how djt and MAGA elites were going to blow past the feeble, i.e., non-existent, protection the court initially said must apply. Once again, the court stopped the final obliteration of the CFPB: 

Two weeks ago, a three-judge panel from the federal appeals court in Washington lifted a freeze on firing employees at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, with some conditions. The judges, ruling on a Friday night, said that workers could be fired if agency leaders determined, after a careful assessment, that they were not needed to carry out the bureau’s legally required responsibilities. 

Within hours, Trump administration officials — working closely with Elon Musk’s associates at the Department of Government Efficiency — scurried to fire nearly all the agency’s employees. By the following Thursday afternoon, bureau leaders sent termination notices to nearly 1,500 employees, retaining barely 200 people, and ordered that the fired workers’ access to agency systems be shut down the next day.

A judge has again stopped the cuts for now. .... Firing so many workers at once, with no transition period, would destroy the bureau’s ability to operate, employees warned their bosses in emails, chat messages and verbal conversations, according to court records. Within days, critical technical systems would fail, enforcement lawyers would miss court deadlines and agency data that federal courts had ordered be preserved would be lost (which is exactly what kleptocratic MAGA elites want). (emphases added)

Workers could be fired if agency leaders determined, after a “careful assessment”?? Bwahahahahaha!! The only assessment that elite MAGA thugs conducted was to send out emails to the CFPB employees telling them YOU’RE FIRED!! That’s one heck of an “assessment.” 

Once again, the sheer ruthlessness of morally rotted djt, MAGA elites and Project 2025 is crystal clear. They are authoritarian, cynically kleptocratic and deeply opposed to protecting democracy, consumers, workers, the environment, the rule of law, civil liberties, and honesty, transparency and competence in government, or even a meaningful existence of a democratic government.

Q: Are (1) rank and file supporters of all of this, whether they know or believe they are supporters or not, good, decent, honest people who are simply deceived, manipulated and betrayed, or (2) am I a fool who has been deceived, manipulated and betrayed by MSM and socialist propaganda, lies and slanders, or (3) is something else going on here and both rank and file supporters and me are right, wrong, or something else?

MAGA horrors on parade

Elite MAGA and djt horrors are coming fast and furious. They're deadly. Instead of lots of details, short descriptions are in order, at least for the time being for most of it. I need to avoid TL/DR.

Law & Crime reports: ‘Trump is spitting in the face of law enforcement’: President pardons ‘Lady Trump’ for spending slain officer charity funds on ‘rent, cosmetic procedures, and her daughter’s wedding’ --  djt granted a “full and unconditional pardon” to Michele Fiore, the former Las Vegas councilwoman also known as “Lady Trump,” who was convicted of “fleecing” the community out of about $70,000 in a scheme to defraud donors to a charity for a police officer who was killed in the line of duty, using the money she collected for plastic surgeries, rent, and her daughter’s wedding. Fiore, a former Republican gubernatorial candidate who was a justice of the peace when she was federally indicted on six counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, was convicted on all seven charges following an eight-day trial in October 2024. .... A White House spokesperson told The Hill that Trump issued the pardon because Fiore was allegedly targeted for prosecution due to her “outspoken conservative views.”

Pardoned corrupt, cynical elite MAGA thug Fiore

She stole 100% of the contributions to her "charity",

not 1¢ went to real charity

Comment: Here, djt is both spitting on law enforcement and openly lying to the American people. This shows he feels the same kind of cynical contempt toward the rule of law, the courts, American democracy and the American people. 

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Above the Law reports that one of DoJ's  Pam Bondi-style court filings was flat out lying about what the USSC ordered the DoJ to do about getting the illegally deported Abrego Garcia back from El Salvador: DOJ Makes Up Fake Supreme Court Quote About Deportation Hoping No One Notices -- The government’s response is basically “everyone knows the Supreme Court unanimously ordered us to ‘facilitate Abrego Garcia’s release from custody,’ what this filing we’re signing as officers of the court presupposes is… ‘maybe they didn’t?'” .... For the record, the Supreme Court’s order reads: The order properly requires the Government to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador. 

[The DoJ’s filing reads] “take all available steps to facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia to the United State.” .... “United STATE”?!?! That’s an embarrassing “[sic]” in any circumstances but for the United States Department of Justice you’d think they’d get it right because it’s RIGHT THERE IN THEIR NAME. They put “emphasis added” on a quote that ISN’T IN THE USSC ORDER!

The highlighted quote is allegedly but falsely

claimed to be what the USSC said in its order to the DoJ

BTW, the DoJ continues to flaunt that order by stonewalling it

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Gizmodo reports that djt's MAGA DoJ is attacking Wikipedia for posting foreign propaganda: Trump DOJ Threatens Wikipedia’s Nonprofit Status Over Alleged ‘Propaganda’ -- Between scrubbing government websites of information about everything from vaccine efficacy to LGBT health matters and the ongoing war with higher education, the Trump administration seems to have has a problem with freely available information that doesn’t align with its particular ideology. That war on knowledge appears to have extended now extends to Wikipedia. Earlier this week, a Trump appointed attorney sent a letter to the Wikimedia Foundation accusing it of allowing the spread of propaganda and threatening its nonprofit status. [The DoJ's letter] accuses the Wikimedia Foundation of falling short of requirements to maintain that status because, he claims, Wikipedia is “allowing foreign actors to manipulate information and spread propaganda,” and “permitting information manipulation on its platform, including the rewriting of key, historical events and biographical information of current and previous American leaders, as well as other matters implicating the national security and the interests of the United States.” (edits added for clarity and accuracy)

Comment: MAGA elites are OK with allowing Russian propagandists to manipulate information and spread propaganda and permitting pro-MAGA or MAGA-approved disinformation manipulation on any platform. But inconvenient content, factual or not, is now being openly attacked by djt and his elite, morally rotted MAGA goons. People, this is deadly serious, real time democracy-killing dictatorship, not a fever dream or hallucination.

MAGA wants to replace real medicine with alt/MAGA-medicine; MAGA guts the 4th Amendment

A STAT News article reports that the NEJM (New England Journal of Medicine) recently received a letter from MAGA thug Edward R. Martin (appointed by chief thug djt). Martin is the interim US Attorney for the District of Columbia. His letter questions alleged editorial bias. NEJM’s editor-in-chief, Eric Rubin, responded by reaffirming the journal’s commitment to evidence-based research, rigorous peer review, and editorial independence, while also invoking First Amendment protections for scientific discourse. The inquiry is part of a broader pattern, as similar letters were sent to at least three medical journals, including CHEST, a pulmonary care publication. The DoJ’s letter demands explanations about how journals handle “misinformation”, “competing viewpoints”, i.e., pseudoscience and crackpottery, and potential influence  (presumably woke/DEI influence) from funders like the NIH. 

Jeremy Berg, former editor of Science, called them an attempt to pressure editors into accommodating unscientific “alternative perspectives.” The DOJ’s threats her show radical MAGA aggression against peer-reviewed scientific publishing. Martin’s letters frame peer-reviewed journals as “partisan”, which is a blatant lie that misrepresents the role of academic rigor and peer review in validating research.

No, I am not saying that academic rigor and peer review always works. But, it beats the hell out of the alt-perspectives (crackpottery and lies) that MAGA crackpots, liars, grifters and poisoners want to inject into medical and all other science, including climate science. 

Q: Why would MAGA want to poison science and public health, e.g., to avoid inconvenient science that contradicts or undermines MAGA’s fake reality, and its idiotic and kleptocratic policies?

(yes, that’s why)

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The Daily Boulder reports that attorney general and MAGA thug Pam Bondi has issued a memo telling ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents they no longer need to get a warrant to look for possibly illegal immigrants. ICE is a federal law enforcement agency in the Department of Homeland Security. Bondi’s March 14 order, uses the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 as authority to give law enforcement nationwide the power to bypass basic constitutional protections. So now ICE agents can break into a home if getting a warrant is “impracticable.” They don’t need a judge’s approval. Instead, immigration officers can sign their own administrative warrants. The bar for action is low, requiring a “reasonable belief” that someone might be part of a Venezuelan gang is enough. In this matter, a “reasonable belief” can be reasonable or unreasonable because it is a mostly subjective standard [1], which is significantly lower than traditional Fourth Amendment requirements.

The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1791, protects people from unreasonable searches and seizures. It ensures that no warrants shall be issued without probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and that the place to be searched and the items to be seized are particularly described.

Bondi’s memo was obtained by watchdog group Property of the People from a public records request that the group posted online. The 12-page memo is here. What it shows is a massive expansion of federal power that skips over courts and due process. Bondi has put anyone suspected of gang ties at risk of deportation without a hearing. The DOJ memo is clear that anyone labeled an “Alien Enemy” is “not entitled to a hearing, appeal or judicial review.”

The dishonorable, corrupt MAGA thug and traitor,

Pam Bondi telling us to STFU and take it like a patriot

or risk deportation to a death camp with no due process

And, in case you missed it, here’s djt putting it all in his own words on his lovely antisocial media site, Lies Antisocial: 

Here djt tells us that due process is toast

And, in his humble, gracious Easter Day comments to the public on his Lies Antisocial website, djt made clear what is on his mind:

“Happy Easter to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting and scheming so hard to bring Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, the Mentally Insane, and well known MS-13 Gang Members and Wife Beaters, back into our Country.”

“Happy Easter also to the WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Judges and Law Enforcement Officials who are allowing this sinister attack on our Nation to continue, an attack so violent that it will never be forgotten!”

“Sleepy Joe Biden purposefully allowed Millions of CRIMINALS to enter our Country, totally unvetted and unchecked, through an Open Borders Policy that will go down in history as the single most calamitous act ever perpetrated upon America. He was, by far, our WORST and most Incompetent President, a man who had absolutely no idea what he was doing. But to him, and to the person that ran and manipulated the Auto Pen (perhaps our REAL President!), and to all of the people who CHEATED in the 2020 Presidential Election in order to get this highly destructive Moron Elected, I wish you, with great love, sincerity, and affection, a very Happy Easter!!!”

Aw, what lovely sentiments. I do not recall any president making uplifting comments anything like these.  /s

Footnote:

1. The normal, old-fashioned “reasonable belief” standard is for targeted people, Venezuelan crime gang members, in this situation: 1) being a Venezuelan national without U.S. citizenship or permanent resident status, 2) at least 14 years of age, 3) having alleged association with the Tren de Aragua gang, and 4) being present at the residence in question. 

Bondi's new “reasonable belief” standard applies the old 4-point standard in a fun and easy scoring game to determine gang affiliation where alleged aliens scoring 8 points and higher are “validated” as members of the crime gang. Aliens scoring 5 points or less should not be validated as gang members. It is unclear what happens to 6 and 7 pointers, but they probably get boxed up and mailed off to a death camp somewhere along with the 8 and above pointers. Points are assigned based on various factors including court history, communications with alleged gang members, observations of hand signals (like 🖕?), graffiti usage, clothing choices, tattoos and other symbolic associations. The factors presumably also include whether the ICE agent is in a bad mood, hungry, racist or in caught up in a messy divorce.

See? That’s clear as mud. Relax. You probably won't get boxed up and mailed out. Probably.

 

He is in charge of your civil liberties,

including taking them away

The theology of lies and deceit: Lying for God

I am not very familiar with the Bible. Not an expert, not even a novice. I've read some scholarship about the origins and conflicting messages in it. I understand that there are about 45,000 denominations of Christianity, which presumably reflect about 45,000 different interpretations. One projection is that there will be about 49,000 denominations by some time in 2025, which is this year!  

A question that comes up a lot is why is there so much lying by Christian nationalists and some other kinds of Christianity when the Bible says do not lie? The bible says things like you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor (Exodus 20:16), you shall not steal, nor deal  falsely, nor lie to one another (Leviticus 19:11), lying lips are an abomination to the LORD: but they that deal truly are his delight (Proverbs 12:22), put away falsehood and speak the truth (Ephesians 4:25), and the Bible designates Satan as "the father of lies" (John 8:44). To me it seems pretty clear, don't lie. 

But, lying by some Christian nationalists is off the charts. Why? Welp, the Bible condones lying in some situations. In the Hebrew Midwives story (Exodus 1:17-21), Pharaoh ordered Hebrew midwives to kill male infants, they disobeyed and lied about why the babies survived. The text states that "God dealt well with the midwives" and "gave them families" after their deception. In the protection of spies (Joshua 2:1-7), Rahab hid Israelite spies and lied to authorities about their whereabouts. Rather than being condemned, she is praised in Hebrews 11:31 and James 2:25 for her faith and actions. So there's two examples of lying condoned by God to save lives.

But in Samuel's deceptive mission (1 Samuel 16:1-5), God sent Samuel to anoint David as king, but Samuel expressed fear that Saul would kill him. So God instructed Samuel to say he came to sacrifice, concealing his primary purpose. That is, or seems to be, an example of lying for God.

Some Christian theologians, including some church fathers, have maintained that lying is inherently sinful without exception. This view is often associated with Augustine, who defined lying as "communicating contrary to what one thinks or knows" and considered it necessarily wrong. From this perspective, even deception for seemingly noble purposes remains sinful. In that theology, God blessed the Hebrew midwives and Rahab for their faith and protective intentions, not for their deception.

Other Christian thinkers adopt a more nuanced approach, suggesting that in extreme circumstances—particularly when innocent lives are at risk—deception may be morally justified. Theologian Martin Accad writes that "a justifiable lie is not evil, it's justified and good. Therefore those who implement a justifiable lie on an appropriate occasion are not committing an evil act, but rather a righteous one."

Accad's theological thinking about the morality of lies and deceit aligns with my secular thinking. Lying and deceit, especially in politics in a democracy, is usually morally bad (unjustifiable), say, maybe ~99% of the time. Why? Because when people are lied to or deceived, e.g., by irrational emotional manipulation, and they act on false beliefs, their power to choose on the basis of truth has been taken from them. Thus, in my opinion lying and deceit is inherently authoritarian in a democracy. In an authoritarian regime, that doesn't matter because the leaders (dictators, plutocrats, theocrats and/or kleptocrats) act mostly as they wish, regardless of facts, truths, sound reasoning and opposing public opinion.

What about Christian nationalism?

I asked Pxy about lying and deceit by Christian nationalist elites and how aware of the corrupt, authoritarian wealth and power agenda most of the rank and file are. Short answer, not very aware, mostly deceived.

Q: To what extent do modern Christian nationalist elites rely on lies or deceit to advance its wealth and power agenda? To what extent is rank and file supporters and sympathizers aware of the level of deceit and lying their elites rely on?

A: Modern Christian nationalist elites systematically employ deception to consolidate wealth and political influence, leveraging fabricated historical narratives, conspiracy theories, and manipulated religious rhetoric. While rank-and-file supporters often perceive their engagement as morally justified, evidence suggests many remain unaware of the movement’s reliance on falsehoods, instead trusting leaders who frame their agenda as divinely ordained. This is based on data from investigative journalism, sociological studies, and primary source materials to analyze the interplay between elite manipulation and grassroots comprehension.

Fabricated Historical Narratives
Christian nationalist leaders frequently distort U.S. history to claim the nation was founded as an explicitly Christian polity. Organizations like the National Council of Churches highlight how elites propagate the myth that “America is a Christian nation” by selectively citing colonial-era theocracies while ignoring the secular framework of the Constitution 16. For instance, fundraising letters from groups such as the Family Research Council falsely assert that the Ten Commandments underpin American law, despite no evidence of their influence during the founding era 14. These claims are amplified through media networks like ReAwaken America, which blends election fraud conspiracies with pseudo-historical revisionism 18.

.... long analysis ....

Ignorance Among Supporters
Rank-and-file adherents exhibit varying levels of awareness. Surveys cited by the Brennan Center show that 64% of white evangelicals endorse Christian nationalist tenets like declaring the U.S. a Christian nation, yet only 12% self-identify with the label 8. This disparity suggests many supporters unconsciously absorb movement rhetoric without critically examining its contradictions.

Podcast hosts like Matthew Maher argue that elites weaponize terms like “Christian nationalism” to marginalize traditional believers, framing dissent as persecution 12. This victimhood narrative insulates followers from critiques, as seen in reactions to Diane James’ praise of Putin: when pressured, she retracted her statement, illustrating how adherents prioritize social acceptance over ideological consistency 3.

The Role of Media Echo Chambers
Disinformation thrives in tightly curated information ecosystems. Analysis by Cailee Page reveals that 78% of Christian nationalists rely on partisan media (e.g., Fox News, Breitbart) and religious leaders for news, creating a feedback loop where falsehoods go unchallenged 4. For instance, repeated claims of “voter fraud” in 2020 were debunked yet still cited by 61% of supporters in 2024 polling 7.

Theological Manipulation and Moral Licensing
Elites exploit theological concepts to sanctify deception. By framing political goals as “biblical mandates,” leaders like Franklin Graham conflate partisan agendas with divine will, granting moral license to unethical tactics. The NAR’s “Seven Mountain Mandate”—which calls for Christian dominance over education, media, and government—reinterprets the Great Commission as a call to political conquest, legitimizing lies as “strategic spiritual warfare” 9.

Conclusion: Power, Deception, and the Crisis of Accountability
Christian nationalist elites have institutionalized deception as a core strategy, leveraging historical revisionism, conspiracy theories, and theological manipulation to consolidate power. While rank-and-file supporters are not universally complicit in these tactics, systemic factors—including media fragmentation and doctrinal authoritarianism—limit their capacity to recognize manipulation.

The movement’s success hinges on conflating religious identity with political loyalty, a dynamic that incentivizes elites to perpetuate falsehoods while shielding themselves from accountability. Countering this threat requires dismantling the financial networks and media infrastructures that profit from deception, alongside grassroots education initiatives that empower adherents to critically engage with their beliefs 15 16. Until then, the gap between elite deceit and grassroots awareness will remain a defining feature of Christian nationalism’s rise.

MAGA's moral rot: The USSC & Christian nationalism’s homophobia

Slate writes about how a hyper-biased, homophobic USSC Republican Party MAGA judge, Sammy Alito, blatantly lies about anything that irritates or offends his arrogant Christian nationalist majesty:

The Supreme Court’s conservative justices unleashed a torrent of homophobia on Tuesday as they debated the meaning and propriety of several LGBTQ-themed children’s books. Throughout arguments in Mahmoud v. Taylor, these MAGA justices voiced concern—and at times, outright disgust—toward these books for portraying LGBTQ+ people as normal and loving. They argued that parents should have a First Amendment right to shield their children from such material in public schools, ostensibly to protect them from exposure to diverse families under the auspices of religious liberty. Justice Samuel Alito reserved special ire for Uncle Bobby’s Wedding, a gentle picture book that homophobic parents initially attempted to censor when it debuted in 2008. Alito suggested, over the objections of Justice Sonia Sotomayor, that the book is devious propaganda aimed at indoctrinating children who harbor reservations about same-sex marriage.

He is wrong. Alito did not just arguably miss the point of the book; he fundamentally distorted it.

So what was the message of Uncle Bobby’s Wedding? “That change can be hard for children,” Brannen told me. “Change in their families can be hard, but Uncle Bobby’s Wedding shows that can be good.” When writing the book, Brannen was not attempting to trick children into supporting same-sex weddings, but to impart a more timeless message about the importance of open-mindedness when life presents challenges. She depicted a gay wedding as an utterly normal occurrence that fades into the background of the book’s central narrative. And it was this choice that may have broken Alito’s brain: He could not grasp the idea that no one in the book objects to Bobby’s sexual orientation, injecting a fraught conflict over homosexuality that does not exist on the page.

The Slate article points out that the book’s author, Sarah Brannen, says that Alito completely distorted the story’s central conflict. IMHO, he knowingly lied about it. Brannen said that the child character, Chloe, worries about losing time with her uncle post-marriage—not opposing same-sex unions. Brannen’s assertion is corroborated by direct quotes from the book, which Sotomayor raised in rebuttal arguments. Being told that Alito was full of crap pissed Alito and Roberts off. The Slate article points to Alito’s critique as part of a pattern of MAGA (Christian nationalist) justices framing LGBTQ+ representation as “indoctrination.” MAGA judges argue that parents should have a First Amendment right to opt children out of exposure to such morally horrific content.

People, this is what our morally rotted MAGA-dominated USSC has degenerated into. I think it's been like this at least since ~2019-2020. When it comes to Christian fundamentalist morality, Christian nationalist judges (1) openly lie about inconvenient evidence in important cases that affect fundamental civil liberties, and (2) apply MAGA flawed, biased reasoning to the evidence there is. 

I asked Pxy, how likely is it that Alito is lying by knowingly mischaracterizing the children's book, Uncle Bobby's Wedding, in view of his intelligence and years of experience in analyzing complex litigation with complex written evidence? What about his Christian nationalism? Pxy said:

Given Alito’s analytical precision, the book’s unambiguous text, and his pattern of distorting facts in ideologically charged cases, the likelihood that he knowingly mischaracterized Uncle Bobby’s Wedding is high. While ideological bias might explain a genuine misinterpretation, the disparity between the text and his description—coupled with authorial and judicial corrections—suggests a calculated narrative rather than an innocent error. 

Justice Alito’s Christian nationalist beliefs significantly increase the likelihood that he deliberately mischaracterized Uncle Bobby’s Wedding. His ideological framework motivates opposition to LGBTQ+ inclusivity and, by viewing queer identities as threats to “traditional values,” Alito is predisposed to rely on distortion or denial of inconvenient facts. While cognitive bias might explain some misreading, the combination of Alito’s analytical rigor, the book’s clarity, and his pattern of ideological misrepresentation points to deliberate action. Christian nationalism does not merely inform his jurisprudence—it actively shapes how he constructs factual realities to serve its ends. [that’s Pxy’s nice way of saying that Alito knowingly lied about the evidence] (comment and emphasis added)

Qs: Is Alito a cynical, bald-faced liar and arrogant breaker of God’s Commandment to not lie? Are the other five Christian nationalist, Republican Party judges basically the same?

Getting to know your local tyrant-kleptocrat: Elon Musk

Musk claims to be a lot of wonderful things, intelligent, successful businessman, honest, etc. Maybe at one time he was mostly that. Nowadays, he seems to be seriously flawed, authoritarian, hypocritical, cynically corrupt and opaque. The NYT reports about his hypocrisy regarding his false claims of supporting absolute free speech: They Criticized Musk on X. Then Their Reach Collapsed. -- "When Mr. Musk purchased X in 2022, he promised to create a free speech haven and named himself a “free speech absolutist.” Critics still feared that Mr. Musk would use his control of the app to pick and choose his favorites, amplifying voices he admired while suppressing people or topics he loathed. The New York Times found three users on X who feuded with Mr. Musk in December only to see their reach on the social platform practically vanish overnight. Musk is the most popular user on X with more than 219 million followers, so his actions to block or mute users could hold holds significant sway." (clarification added)

In my experience, what Musk did to his critics is a lot like most or nearly all other radical right MAGA demagoguery and lies sources do. They don't tolerate criticism. Musk, like other MAGA propagandists and liars just shut it down. In my case, I get banned or blocked, but have never had an account on X. The point is simple: MAGA cannot handle inconvenient truth or any criticism.

In other Musk sleaze, the great entrepreneur has been sued by a Tesla owner for rigging the odometer on Teslas to show higher mileage than was actually driven. Reuters reports (and others report) that Tesla has been sued in a proposed class action lawsuit for cheating people out of their warranty rights. By making the software-controlled odometer clock more miles than people actually drove, their warranties expire sooner. Normal odometers are mechanical, not software calculations like on Teslas.

The person who filed the lawsuit said that his Tesla's odometer was running at least 15% faster than his other vehicles based on his typical driving patterns. He claims his particular Tesla recorded an average of 72 miles daily despite him driving only about 20 miles per day (a lot more than 15% faster). Quantitative data from Road & Track further reinforced these claims, documenting discrepancies ranging from 15% to 117% higher odometer readings compared to Hinton’s other vehicles under similar conditions. The case is now sitting in a California federal court. Part of the scam could also include putting fake miles on the odometer would deceive people into believing they get more driving range than they actually were. 

The empirical basis, clear & convincing evidence of distrust in Musk

Will Tesla get whacked for odometer fraud? Maybe. Musk himself publicly called the lawsuit “idiotic” in a social media post, so there's that marvelous defense. These days, corporations reign supreme and are mostly above the law. And, djt can pardon whoever and whatever he wants. What about Musk's track record? I checked on his profile with Pxy. 

Q1: Why does the absence of conclusive large-scale data and Tesla’s vehement denials introduce reasonable doubt about systemic intent? Musk is a well-known liar and criminal. Why give him the benefit of one shred of doubt? Consider in detail (i) all the lies about cost savings and transparency that Musk has alleged from his DOGE effort, (ii) his lies about support for unfettered free speech, as exemplified in this article (I forgot to put in the link), and (iii) other lies you can find in the public record. What empirical basis is there to trust anything from Musk or Tesla?

A1: Systemic Dishonesty in Government Efficiency Claims: Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has repeatedly made unsubstantiated or demonstrably false claims about cost savings, undermining trust in his transparency pledges. In March 2025, DOGE asserted it had saved taxpayers $115 billion through measures like contract cancellations and workforce reductions, .... 

The scale of these discrepancies is staggering. .... A canceled Immigration and Customs Enforcement contract, initially touted as an $8 billion saving, was later exposed as a $5.5 million saving. Such patterns suggest are solid evidence of deliberate inflation of figures to create a false narrative of fiscal responsibility while obscuring the minimal real-world impact of DOGE’s actions.

Hypocrisy on Free Speech and Platform Governance:  Musk’s professed commitment to “free speech absolutism” collapses under scrutiny. While claiming that X (formerly Twitter) should function as a “digital town square,” he has threatened legal action against users criticizing Tesla, stating, “We’re going to go after the ones pushing the lies and propaganda.” This contradiction is stark: Musk leverages free speech rhetoric to defend far-right conspiracy theories but weaponizes legal threats to silence detractors of his businesses.

Documented Lies and Misrepresentations in the Public Record 
False Claims About Vehicle Safety and Autonomy: Tesla’s marketing of its Full Self-Driving (FSD) and Autopilot systems has repeatedly overstated capabilities. .... Internal communications revealed in lawsuits show engineers warned Musk about overpromising FSD’s readiness, yet public statements continued to assert its reliability.

Election Disinformation and Conspiracy Theories: Musk has promoted baseless claims undermining democratic institutions. During a 2024 Pennsylvania town hall, he falsely alleged Dominion Voting Systems conspired to rig elections in Philadelphia and Maricopa County, despite Dominion clarifying it had no contracts in Philadelphia and all its systems use voter-verified paper ballots. ....

.... more analysis ....

Behavioral Consistency: Musk’s conduct aligns with a documented strategy of “lying for the greater good,” as described in Walter Isaacson’s biography. This includes overpromising timelines (e.g., Cybertruck, Starship) to buoy stock prices and dismissing critics as “propaganda pushers” to deflect accountability.

Conclusion: The Absence of Doubt in a Pattern of Deception
The “reasonable doubt” argument collapses when confronted with Musk’s cross-domain history of deception. From DOGE’s fabricated savings to election lies and safety misrepresentations, the empirical record reveals a consistent disregard for factual accuracy. Legal settlements, third-party audits, and platform data all corroborate this pattern. Trusting Musk or Tesla requires ignoring a decade of evidence that their public claims are engineered narratives, not empirical realities. In the absence of systemic reform, skepticism remains the only rational response.

Q2: Please repeat your analysis in view this article, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/04/23/business/elon-musk-x-suppression-laura-loomer.html, which I mistakenly failed to include in my original queries. Does consideration of that article change your analysis?

A2: The New York Times’ April 23, 2025, investigation into Elon Musk’s suppression of critics on X provides empirical confirmation of systemic deception that directly undermines any remaining basis for granting Musk or Tesla the benefit of doubt. This new evidence corroborates and amplifies the pattern of dishonesty previously documented across Musk’s government, corporate, and platform governance activities.

Operationalizing "Freedom of Reach, Not Speech"
The NYT analysis demonstrates Musk’s direct involvement in suppressing critics through three mechanisms: 

Algorithmic Demotion: 

Premium Access Revocation: Both Loomer and Owen Shroyer (Infowars host) lost X Premium status during disputes with Musk, stripping their ability to monetize content or amplify posts—costing Loomer an estimated $50,000 1.

Selective Reinstatement: Engagement metrics rebounded only after Musk resumed interacting with their posts, illustrating his personal control over visibility. Loomer’s account recovered when Musk replied “You’re welcome” to her February 2025 gratitude post 1.

This contradicts Musk’s November 2024 claim that “there is no shadowbanning anymore” and his February 2025 assertion that he “doesn’t attempt to silence critics” 1. The suppression occurred despite X’s public policy stating it “does not block, limit, or remove content based on an individual’s views” 1.

.... long analysis ....

Conclusion: No Room for Doubt
The X suppression evidence eliminates any residual credibility for Musk’s denials. When combined with his documented lies about DOGE savings, election integrity, and vehicle safety, the NYT findings confirm a cross-platform strategy of deception. Trusting Musk or Tesla now requires willful disregard of the evidence. .... The only rational response is categorical distrust.[1]

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Footnote 1, for the wonks

roaming in the land of the TL/DR

This focuses on the two levels of evidence in court cases. One is the preponderance of the evidence level (more likely than not or >50% likely), which is evidence level needed to find liability in civil lawsuits. The other is the clear and convincing level of evidence needed to support a finding of civil fraud or civil rights violations. The clear and convincing evidence standard is expressed qualitatively as enough evidence to be "highly probable" or "highly and substantially more probable to be true than not." I liken it to enough evidence to lead a person to be at least ~80% sure, but courts staunchly reject putting a % likelihood number on it.

Footnote 1: 

Q3: You assert that Musk’s conduct meets the preponderance of evidence standard for systemic fraud. Does it meet a clear and convincing standard, keeping in mind that in criminal trials, especially for high profile white collar crimes, guilt at a beyond a reasonable doubt standard is often based only on circumstantial evidence, e.g., patterns of conduct.

A3: The question of whether Elon Musk’s alleged misconduct meets the "clear and convincing" standard for systemic fraud requires analyzing the interplay between legal evidentiary thresholds, patterns of conduct, and the unique challenges of proving white-collar crimes. Drawing on the NYT investigation into X’s suppression tactics, prior DOGE savings fabrications, election disinformation campaigns, and Tesla’s safety misrepresentations, the evidence demonstrates a systemic pattern of deception that not only meets but exceeds this standard.

This standard sits between the civil "preponderance of the evidence" (50.1% likelihood) and the criminal "beyond a reasonable doubt" (near certainty). It is often applied in fraud cases where intent and systemic misconduct must be established by direct or circumstantial evidence 13.

.... long analysis .... 

Conclusion: Systemic Fraud Proven to a "Clear and Convincing" Standard

While criminal "beyond a reasonable doubt" would require a jury’s determination, the "clear and convincing" threshold is met by the sheer weight of circumstantial and direct evidence. Musk’s conduct reflects not isolated missteps but a corporate philosophy prioritizing deception over transparency—a conclusion that is "highly probable" under any rigorous analysis.

Well, there we have it, a legal analysis by Pxy of the solid evidence that reasonably leads a reasonable person to distrust Musk and his companies, including Tesla.

Trump's final descent into the moral rot of full-blown kleptocracy

A NYT article (not paywalled) reports the last step into total corruption of djt. He is now open to business with anyone or anything (corporation, criminal organization, dictatorship, etc.) that can pay him in exchange for a solid return from djt in return for an adequate payoff.

Trump Media Enters Deal With Crypto Trading Platform

The agreement will allow the president’s social media company to market investment products, including crypto, to retail investors through a series of exchange-traded funds

Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of Truth Social, which has become Mr. Trump’s main online megaphone, said on Tuesday that it had signed a binding agreement with a crypto trading platform and a newly created Florida investment firm to launch a series of exchange-traded funds, or E.T.F.s, by the end of the year.

The move to market E.T.F.s to investors is part of a strategy by Trump Media to generate a more reliable source of revenues after failing to attract sufficient advertising dollars to Truth Social.

In the deal, Trump Media will team up with Crypto.com, a digital asset trading platform with more than 140 million customers, and Yorkville America Digital, a company with ties to the founders of Yorkville Advisors, an investment firm based in Mountainside, N.J. 

Any investment products sold by the companies are likely to require regulatory approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is led by Paul Atkins, a business-friendly lawyer who was nominated by Mr. Trump. Republicans now hold a 3-to-1 majority on the commission.

Crypto.com and Yorkville America Digital, like djt and maybe many other corporations, have public track records of varying degrees of corruption. The MAGA/djt-corrupted SEC will approve the deal and the MAGA/djt-corrupted FBI and DoJ will not lift a finger. The DoJ disbanded its national cryptocurrency enforcement team, reducing or completely ending investigating cryptocurrency crimes. Shortly after Justin Sun, a crypto entrepreneur facing SEC fraud charges, invested $75 million in Trump's World Liberty Financial, the SEC suspended its investigation against him. The SEC has stated that memecoins fall outside their authority, effectively removing regulatory oversight from an area where the Trump family has significant financial interests (and link 1, link 2).[1] 

9.https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/1jec87g/cryptocom_just_scammed_their_users_again_and/

10. https://bitcoinist.com/zachxbt-crypto-com-borderline-fraud-trump-deal/

13. https://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanvardi/2012/10/17/sec-charges-formerly-1-billion-yorkville-advisors-hedge-fund-with-fraud-and-bogus-valuations/

14. https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2012-2012-209htm

15. https://www.forkeylaw.com/blog/yorkville_advisors_llc_mark_angelo_and_edward_schinik_-_fort_lauderdale_florida_investment_advisor_f/

17. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-07-16/trump-media-slides-as-yorkville-deal-may-add-to-share-dilution

18. https://crypto.com/en/product-news/crypto-com-security-report-next-steps

Crypto.com’s CEO, Kris Marszalek, has a documented history of fraudulent business practices predating his crypto ventures. Under his leadership at ENSOGO (a Southeast Asian e-commerce platform), Marszalek allegedly deceived investors and abandoned the company before its 2016 bankruptcy, leaving stakeholders financially stranded. Just 11 months later, he launched Monaco, a cryptocurrency credit card project that raised $26 million through an initial coin offering (ICO). Investors were promised rewards tied to the Monaco token ($MCO), but Marszalek abruptly rebranded the project as Crypto.com after acquiring the domain for $12 million, phasing out $MCO in favor of a new token ($CRO) at unfavorable exchange rates. In addition to that, Marszalek has other sleaze in his past including this from March 2025.

Kris Marszalek, one of djt's

fine crypto business partners

Congress will remain neutralized by corruption and paralysis. The MSM will mumble, fumble, stumble, bumble and generally be useless as usual, e.g., the NYT article content sucks.[1]

This media deal with Crypto.com expands djt's cryptocurrency interests. At the same time he has dismantled and gutted regulatory oversight of crypto. That creates multiple avenues for corruption through regulatory capture, policy influence, and direct financial benefit to djt and his family.

In my opinion, djt's systematic dismantling of cryptocurrency enforcement while his affiliated ventures receive investments from people previously under investigation constitutes corruption. The structure of these crypto deals creates opportunities for outside interests to buy favors by investments that used to be illegal campaign contributions. Now that ethical guardrails have been obliterated, there very likely will be unprecedented levels of corruption, self-dealing, and regulatory capture in the cryptocurrency industry and everything else djt can sink his kleptocracy claws into.

Footnote:

1. Reporting on this is split, negative, neutral, and positive. I am very negative, but IMHO for damned good, evidence-based reasons. I asked about djt's trustworthiness. I got an expected answer for expected reasons.

Q: You assert that all sources confirm Trump’s pro-crypto policies, but Citation Needed uniquely ties them to self-interest rather than economic strategy. What empirical or fact basis is there in Trump's public track record, including self-dealing, mendacity and criminality, to believe that he is significantly motivated by anything other than self-interest?

A: Donald Trump’s pro-crypto policies and broader political decisions are inextricably linked to a documented 50-year pattern of self-enrichment, rule-breaking, and institutional exploitation. This analysis synthesizes empirical evidence from legal records, financial disclosures, and behavioral analyses to demonstrate that self-interest—not economic strategy or public welfare—drives his policy agenda.

Self-dealing 

Trump Foundation Self-Dealing: The foundation admitted to IRS violations by illegally transferring assets to Trump or his affiliates, .... 8.

Trump University Fraud: A $25 million settlement in 2016 resolved claims that Trump defrauded students through deceptive marketing .... 8.

Presidential Conflicts of Interest
As president, Trump institutionalized self-enrichment through unprecedented conflicts:

3,700+ Documented Conflicts: CREW tracked over 3,700 instances where Trump’s official actions intersected with his financial interests, including foreign governments spending $16 million at Trump properties and federal agencies directing $3.6 million to his businesses 3 6.

Mar-a-Lago Commercialization: Trump filmed a Tesla commercial at the White House in 2025, days after Elon Musk donated $100 million to his campaign—a direct exchange of political access for financial support 7.

 

Criminality and Rule-Breaking
As of 2024, Trump faced 88 felony charges across four cases, including:

Election Interference: Conspiring to overturn the 2020 election via fake electors and pressuring state officials 2.

Classified Documents: Willful retention of national defense information at Mar-a-Lago and obstructing investigations 2.

Business Fraud: Falsifying records to conceal hush money payments 2.

Mendacity as Operational Strategy
Trump’s reliance on falsehoods—over 30,573 documented during his presidency—serves to obscure self-interested motives 4:

"Flood the Zone" Tactics: Adviser Steve Bannon advocated overwhelming media with disinformation to prevent scrutiny of individual actions, a strategy Trump employed during the 2020 election "Big Lie" 4.

Financial Misrepresentation: The Trump Organization routinely inflated asset values to lenders while deflating them for tax purposes, a practice central to New York’s $464 million civil fraud judgment against him 6.

.... more analysis .... 

Conclusion: Self-Interest as Governing Philosophy
The empirical record leaves little ambiguity: Trump’s crypto policies—like his real estate ventures, presidency, and legal defenses—are extensions of a lifelong pattern where self-enrichment supersedes strategy, legality, and public trust. From defrauding students to weaponizing regulatory agencies, his actions consistently prioritize personal gain, establishing a through-line that renders alternative explanations (e.g., ideological commitment to crypto) implausible without radical behavioral change. Until confronted with meaningful accountability, this pattern will persist as his defining operational mode. (emphasis added)

That sounds right to me.