X-ed

2/3/2025
After a “possible” Nazi Salute by Elon Musk and this weekend’s corruption and overtaking of the Treasury Department’s information systems, I have deactivated the Henri account on X. For more information on the extreme dangers to us all caused by DOGE’s actions see the unfolding story links below.

Heather Cox Richardson’s discussion linked below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Xzjqr495EI
“… Trump has turned the government over to Elon Musk, and that’s not sort of some vague, “Oh, he’s turned the government over.” This is literally the man’s computers are the ones that are running the US government’s treasury payment system.”

Keith Olbermann: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/musk-and-trump-are-staging-a-coup-and-how-to-stop-it-2-3-25/id1633301179?i=1000688418705
“It’s a coup. Elon Musk is running a palace coup. Musk is taking classified information. Musk has taken YOUR social security number. Everybody involved should be arrested, by local DA’s if that’s all we can do, and denied bail,” 

Articles of interest below:
https://waleedshahid.substack.com/p/elon-musk-is-staging-a-coup
https://web.archive.org/web/20250131191322/https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/01/31/elon-musk-treasury-department-payment-systems/
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/musk-doge-treasury-payment-system-rcna190222
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/musk-aides-lock-government-workers-out-computer-systems-us-agency-sources-say-2025-01-31/
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/2/3/2300994/-Why-DOGE-Doesn-t-have-authority

Contact your representatives and express your outrage.
Go here for further information on what you can do!
Plan for our representatives to fight back is here.

2/4/2025 – updated info
https://www.citizen.org/wp-content/uploads/1-Complaint-7.pdf
DC Federal Court Complaint in DC.
News below:
https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/doge-musk-legal-government-explained-6a09aed5
https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/treasury-department-says-doge-access-is-read-only-2563712d?mod=hp_lead_pos4
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/03/us/politics/elon-musk-treasury-payment-data.html?searchResultPosition=1
https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2025-02-04/elon-musk-grip-on-federal-government-raises-questions
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/elon-musk-white-house-reminder-power-not-unchecked-rcna190659
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/04/musk-digital-assault-washington-00202516

Bulwark Podcast – https://www.thebulwark.com/p/anne-applebaum-outside-the-rule-of?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
“There is no legal basis for what Musk is doing.”

Heather Cox Richardson – https://youtu.be/6IkzlB8gLzY
“We’re living through a coup in America, the United States of America.”

2/5/2025 – continuing
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/05/us/trump-federal-law-power.html?searchResultPosition=3
“The array of legal constraints Mr. Trump has violated, Mr. Shane added, amounts to “programmatic sabotage and rampant lawlessness.””
https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/democrats-elon-musk-doge-0cfc0d33?mod=hp_lead_pos8
“Rep. Jared Golden, a centrist Democrat from Maine who represents a district that voted for Trump, said his office has been inundated by calls in recent days about Musk, not the president. “My constituents, and a majority of this country, put Trump in the White House, not this unelected, weirdo billionaire,” he tweeted.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/02/05/trump-congress-usaid-power/
“Republicans have largely cheered on the moves — though there are a few exceptions. Some senators have said they want more information about Musk’s access to the Treasury Department’s payment system, which prompted the resignation of a longtime civil servant who refused to turn over the system last week.”
https://web.archive.org/web/20250204231404/https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/02/04/elon-musk-government-legal-doge/
“Despite Trump’s assurances, federal officials have widespread concerns about the legality of many of the Musk team’s actions, though career staffers don’t have the power to do much about it.”
https://www.crisesnotes.com/elon-musk-wants-to-get-operational-control-of-the-treasurys-payment-system-this-could-not-possibly-be-more-dangerous/
“For the past 36 hours (writing these words at Midnight on Saturday) my mind has returned over and over to the idea that they have been asking for “source code information” to the Treasury’s internal payments system. The concept of Elon Musk asking for the Treasury payments system’s “source code” would make any veteran of legacy mission critical IT laugh hysterically, and  then perhaps weep.”

This hacking of the US government began with the attack on USAID.
https://futurism.com/elon-musk-conflict-interest-shutting-down-usaid
“…USAID’s office of inspector general informed Congress in September that it was reviewing “USAID’s oversight of Starlink Satellite Terminals provided to the Ukrainian government, and USAID’s efforts to protect against sexual exploitation and abuse in Ukraine.”
https://oig.usaid.gov/node/6814
“Inspection of USAID’s Oversight of Starlink Satellite Terminals Provided to the Government of Ukraine
to determine how: 1) the Government of Ukraine used the USAID-provided Starlink terminals, and 2) USAID monitored the Government of Ukraine’s use of USAID-provided Starlink terminals.”
https://web.archive.org/web/20250124214817/https://www.usaid.gov/news-information/fact-sheets/feb-2023-one-year-later-helping-ukraine-win-war-and-build-lasting-peace
“One Year Later: Helping Ukraine Win the War and Build Lasting Peace”
https://web.archive.org/web/20250120101928/https://www.usaid.gov/news-information/press-releases/apr-05-2022-usaid-safeguards-internet-access-ukraine-through-public-private-partnership-spacex
“USAID Response In Ukraine”
https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2025/02/05/usaid-controversy-live-updates-nearly-all-of-usaids-10000-global-staffers-to-be-placed-on-leave/
“USAID Controversy Live Updates: Nearly All Of USAID’s 10,000 Global Staffers To Be Placed On Leave”

2/7/2025
https://www.wsj.com/politics/elon-musk-doge-medicare-medicaid-fraud-e697b162?mod=WTRN_pos7&cx_testId=3&cx_testVariant=cx_168&cx_artPos=6
Musk, on his X platform, posted: “Yeah, this is where the big money fraud is happening,” referring to the Medicare agency in a repost of another user who referenced the Journal’s reporting.
https://www.wsj.com/health/healthcare/white-house-preparing-order-to-cut-thousands-of-federal-health-workers-bd1e0b7f?mod=latest_headlines
The job cuts under consideration would affect the Department of Health and Human Services, which employs more than 80,000 people and includes the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, in addition to the FDA and CDC.
https://www.wsj.com/tech/doge-staffer-resigns-over-racist-posts-d9f11a93?mod=latest_headlines
A key DOGE staff member who gained access to the Treasury Department’s central-payments system resigned Thursday after he was linked to a deleted social-media account that advocated racism and eugenics.
https://www.democracydocket.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/132025-02-06-Order-granting-consent-motion.pdf
According to the order — issued by a federal judge Thursday after the DOJ reached an agreement with the plaintiffs — the Treasury “will not provide access to any payment record or payment system of records maintained by or within the Bureau of the Fiscal Service,” with the exception of two special Treasury employees who need access for their jobs. The order states that “access to payment records will be ‘read only,’” meaning they won’t be able to alter any records.
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.277150/gov.uscourts.dcd.277150.5.0.pdf
Defendants represented to the Court that DOL will not allow DOGE access to any DOL data until after this Court rules on the TRO motion on Friday.
https://www.semafor.com/article/02/06/2025/inside-doges-march-with-the-social-security-administration-soon-to-come
The Social Security Administration is an upcoming focus of the Department of Government Efficiency, a source with knowledge of its work told Semafor, and one person involved in DOGE is currently preparing to work with the agency that provides benefits to the elderly and disabled.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/worried-about-elon-musk-and-doge-getting-your-social-security-number-heres-how-to-protect-yourself-6b556f6e
But given the febrile political atmosphere in the country, the chaotic developments in Washington and a systemic breakdown in trust, many will remain concerned about who has access to their data and what they can see.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/ar-AA1yxMHV
Microsoft Azure can be used to access AI tools made by many different companies, and it is unclear which the DOGE workers used. Representatives from DOGE and Microsoft declined to comment. A spokesperson for the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/news/ar-AA1ywMIs
Records obtained by The Post show that several members of Musk’s DOGE team — some of whom are in their early 20s and come from positions at his private companies — were given “administrative” access to OPM computer systems within days of Trump’s inauguration last month. That gives them sweeping authority to install and modify software on government-supplied equipment and, according to two OPM officials, to alter internal documentation of their own activities.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ar-AA1yBjdM
The contractor emphasized that nobody yet knows which information DOGE has access to, or what it plans to do with it. Spokespeople for the White House, and Musk himself, did not respond to emailed requests for comment. Some reports have revealed the scope of DOGE’s incursions at individual agencies; still, it has been difficult to see the broader context of DOGE’s ambition.

PIVOT podcast Kara Swisher & Scott Galloway – https://youtu.be/53nuJFYSZnE?t=317
 I think what you’re doing is trespassing. I think this is a coup, and be clear, just because the new insurrectionist who was elected… I don’t believe this is legal. And I’m going to hold the people accountable who are trespassing and part of a coup.

2/10/2025
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/news/ar-AA1ywMIs
Records obtained by The Post show that several members of Musk’s DOGE team — some of whom are in their early 20s and come from positions at his private companies — were given “administrative” access to OPM computer systems within days of Trump’s inauguration last month. That gives them sweeping authority to install and modify software on government-supplied equipment and, according to two OPM officials, to alter internal documentation of their own activities.

https://www.ibtimes.com/trump-signs-order-kill-federal-agency-investigating-tesla-3762848
Trump Signs Order to Kill Federal Agency Investigating Tesla
The order dismantled the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), the agency responsible for enforcing equal employment laws among federal contractors.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/02/08/trump-administration-job-candidates-loyalty-screening
Candidates for top intelligence and law enforcement jobs were asked to give “yes” or “no” responses to questions such as: Was Jan. 6 “an inside job?”

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/countdown-with-keith-olbermann/id1633301179?i=1000690550811
“Quote, who is your real boss? This is, if you do not know, in The Washington Post’s brief damning, almost-despite-everything, unbelievable, nightmarish report posted Saturday night. The Post is quoting applicants for the FBI and other top national security positions, and they hint some of these people who were in these organizations were dismissed and were being the opportunity to return to work.

https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/doge-maga-budget-cut-plans-f65f8357?mod=mhp
More than half of the cost savings that DOGE says it has found is related to diversity, equity and inclusion, totaling more than $1 billion, according to a review of the group’s posts on X, where it publishes its results. Since taking office, President Trump has ordered federal agencies to terminate diversity programs and contracts, which reflects his desire to put the culture wars at the center of his presidency.