Always treat others with respect and kindness, even if you disagree with them. Avoid making personal attacks or insulting others, and try to maintain a civil and constructive tone in your discussions.
- Manlobbi
Stocks A to Z / Stocks B / Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A)
No. of Recommendations: 11
We were told that Musk’s DOGE staff were brilliant young professional staff. Cream of the crop.
Hard to believe that Musk would ever lie.*
Oops. Turns out they’re just like the guy that hired them.
Just a few items that DOGE staffer, Marko Elez, has posted on social media (according to the link below):
“Just for the record, I was racist before it was cool”
“I would not mind at all if Gaza and Israel were both wiped off the face of the Earth”
“You could not pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity”Trump only hires the best people.
*sarcasm
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/06/musk-doge-staffer-...
No. of Recommendations: 6
For the record, that’s one of the guys who has access to our $6 trillion payment system, not to mention all the personal records that the government has about you.
No. of Recommendations: 2
For the record, that’s one of the guys who has access to our $6 trillion payment system, not to mention all the personal records that the government has about you. - AW
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BTW it is your assumption that they have access to personal identifying records.
You guys spend all your energy condemning the data collection process and appear indifferent to the problems revealed by tho agency audits. Main street is expecting these problems be addressed.
No. of Recommendations: 4
You guys spend all your energy condemning the data collection process and appear indifferent to the problems revealed by tho agency audits.
Calling them “agency audits” is like calling the guillotine “brain surgery”
Tell us what these audits consisted of.
No. of Recommendations: 9
BTW it is your assumption that they have access to personal identifying records.It’s not an assumption. Trump’s Treasury department already has stated DOGE has read-only access. And I’m going to go out on a limb here, but I bet every DOGE member owns a smart phone with a camera.
And then there is this:
On Sunday, Musk stated that DOGE had stopped payments from the U.S. Department of Health and Human services to Lutheran Family Services, a faith-based charity that had been offering social services to refugees.Who knew you could stop payments with read-only access?
You guys spend all your energy condemning the data collection process and appear indifferent to the problems revealed by tho agency audits. You mean by the 17 Inspector Generals across many agencies that were fired?
If anyone finds fraud it must be corrected and the individuals responsible for the fraud should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
Stopping payments is the responsibility of Congress, not some unelected immigrant who adores nazis. Of course, finding a Republican with a spine is like looking for a shrimp with a spine. Cowards and traitors all.
You’re better than this, Mike.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/musk-treasury-social-...
No. of Recommendations: 3
Who knew you could stop payments with read-only access? - AW
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Lots to work there AW, so I'll pick this one....
How do you know they did not submit a request to the Treasury employee who routinely handles such requests and is authorized to enter transactions?
As I said the libs in response to any question, assume the worst possible outcome, point out how evil Musk is, but never get around to agreeing that we should not be paying for DEI comic books in Peru. Or maybe you think we should. Anyway that would be more interesting and informative to discuss rather than an endless stream of DOGE is useless and Musk is evil. It gets old.
No. of Recommendations: 2
You guys spend all your energy condemning the data collection process and appear indifferent to the problems revealed by tho agency audits. Main street is expecting these problems be addressed.
Heard a great quote today that was attributed to Thomas Sowell that I'll paraphrase: When you've been getting special treatment for so long and all of a sudden you're treated like everyone else, it feels like discrimination.
So it is with the democrats. We joked that when they lose they still get their policies in place and DOGE is telling us just how true that is.
And no, no lib here has said a word about paying Politico $11 grand for a "pro" subscription or funding trans operas in Peru or wherever. They claim that Trump is 'looting the Treasury' but were just revealed to be the ones draining taxpayer cash for who knows how long.
But...it's all being fixed.
No. of Recommendations: 12
BHM:
How do you know they did not submit a request to the Treasury employee who routinely handles such requests and is authorized to enter transactions?Because a current Treasury official, Jonathan Blum (Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury) said so.
From the link below:
Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency team has been given "read only" access to the Treasury Department's federal payment system, and federal expenditures have not been affected, the Treasury said in a letter to Congress late Tuesday.
The letter, from Jonathan Blum, a Treasury official, said that a review of the Treasury's Fiscal Service payment system has not caused "payments for obligations such as Social Security and Medicare to be delayed or re-routed."And, as I pointed out up thread, Musk himself claimed he had access to the system. Are you calling Musk a liar?
BHM:
As I said the libs in response to any question, assume the worst possible outcome, point out how evil Musk is, but never get around to agreeing that we should not be paying for DEI comic books in Peru. Or maybe you think we should.Of course I assume the worst possible outcome, and for 2 very good reasons:
1) I’ve worked as both an internal and external auditor. I’ve seen what happens when outsiders get access to sensitive programs. Trust me, it’s not good.
2) Both Trump and Musk are full of shit.
If you’re really concerned about DEI comic books, show me the proof that they even exist in the real world. I’m OK reducing waste.
But if you’re really serious about waste, why aren’t you angry that Trump fired 17 Inspector Generals across multiple agencies? Those guys knew the agency programs and knew where to find waste.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/treasury-says-elon-mu...
No. of Recommendations: 6
Oh, and Mike, because you never responded to the actual subject matter of my original post, should I assume you’re OK with a racist serving in the Trump administration?
No. of Recommendations: 2
Oh, and Mike, because you never responded to the actual subject matter of my original post, should I assume you’re OK with a racist serving in the Trump administration?
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Of course. Can't be avoided since you guys have figured out Trump supporters are mostly racists. I am also OK with Marxists, Anarchists, Fascists, Xenophobes and Cultists. Bitter clingers, smelly Walmart people, Deplorables, and Garbage are all welcome too, we have a big tent.
No. of Recommendations: 1
“Just for the record, I was racist before it was cool”
Ok, that I feel disqualifies him from serving -
*****************
“I would not mind at all if Gaza and Israel were both wiped off the face of the Earth”
Well, the loss of life - tragic buy beyond that, I would sort of agree.
So would a plurality and possibly a majority of the human race now and before.
*******
"You couldn't pay me to marry outside my ethnicity"
As someone whose immediate family and extended family has multiple great interracial marriages, and nothing but stable nuclear families - I vehemently disagree *but* - if a boy can chop off his nuts and pretend to be a girl, this man has every right to decide his marriage criteria.
No. of Recommendations: 7
Mike, because you never responded to the actual subject matter of my original post, should I assume you’re OK with a racist serving in the Trump administration?
Of course he is...
Racism/hate fits squarely within the mainstream of the conservative movement, from slavery through the Civil War, from Reconstruction through Jim Crow,
from the battle for civil rights, to the southern strategy, to the reactionary, nazi saluting MAGA movement that Trump leads today.
No. of Recommendations: 6
You’re better than this, Mike.
You keep saying that, but the evidence proves otherwise.
No. of Recommendations: 11
Of course. Can't be avoided since you guys have figured out Trump supporters are mostly racists.
I don’t know who “you guys” are, but I’ve never said that Trump supporters are mostly racist.
However, I have said most racists are Trump supporters.
Nice try avoiding to answer my question, though.
No. of Recommendations: 2
Of course. Can't be avoided since you guys have figured out Trump supporters are mostly racists. I am also OK with Marxists, Anarchists, Fascists, Xenophobes and Cultists. Bitter clingers, smelly Walmart people, Deplorables, and Garbage are all welcome too, we have a big tent.
Damn, Banksy's post reminds me about Nazi's. I tried to remember all the big ones used by the left but somehow forgot the Nazi's. Certainly they are welcome too, as evidenced by Elon practicing their salute.
No. of Recommendations: 8
to the problems revealed by tho agency audits.
Inspector Generals gutted, and you want to worry about problems revealed by audits? That's nuts. This administration is going to be the most opaque ever. You will be fed a steady diet of lies and, sadly, seem quite ready to swallow them all whole.
This is not healthy for our Republic.
No. of Recommendations: 11
“ As I said the libs in response to any question, assume the worst possible outcome,…”
Is there a worse possible outcome than a formerly illegal immigrant without national security clearance and illegally appointed to head an unconstitutional “federal department” being given unfettered access to the books of the United States of America to do as he pleases with? What’s the worst outcome you are imagining?
No. of Recommendations: 2
But if you’re really serious about waste, why aren’t you angry that Trump fired 17 Inspector Generals across multiple agencies? Those guys knew the agency programs and knew where to find waste.
Good point. And so depressing. It demonstrates how even good, intelligent people can become part of the cult. And it IS a cult.
No. of Recommendations: 2
Inspector Generals gutted, and you want to worry about problems revealed by audits? - ges
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IG's who are employees of the Department they audit is a big problem. I like DFope's idea for a separate IG Corp who are free to make recommendations without risking their pension, or that aside, we the people will actually see the reports rather than them being bottled up or sanitized by the agency under audit.
Auditors are good, but 17 are not nearly enough, you need at least that many just to wade through the DOD. We could start with 100 IG positions and add more later as needed. Their work is important, especially if they are empowered to ask not only for the numbers but can also document the justifications behind some of them. They can continue and build upon the processes pioneered by DOGE.
No. of Recommendations: 2
IG's who are employees of the Department they audit is a big problem.
Exactly. Criticizing the firings of IG's blindly is a classical example of IWI thinking: the assumption is made that these IG's were just cranking along and getting things done.
They weren't. Witness the Pentagon, which aside from the Marine Corps has failed every audit they've tried for several years now. In what universe is it okay to allow a bureaucracy to get so big it can't keep track of itself? These are the problems we need to tackle. An independent IG corps that rotates around is a step in that direction.
No. of Recommendations: 8
IG's who are employees of the Department they audit is a big problem. I like DFope's idea for a separate IG Corp who are free to make recommendations without risking their pension, or that aside, we the people will actually see the reports rather than them being bottled up or sanitized by the agency under audit.
By statute, IGs have a dual and independent reporting relationship to the agency head and to the Congress. However, ONLY the president (with 30 days notice ha ha ha) can fire them.
The reports they produce ALREADY are typically published on the Agency’s OIG website, although some sensitive items may be redacted. This allows anyone, even you, to access these reports. Have fun reading them.
Auditors are good, but 17 are not nearly enough, you need at least that many just to wade through the DOD. We could start with 100 IG positions and add more later as needed. Their work is important, especially if they are empowered to ask not only for the numbers but can also document the justifications behind some of them.
OMG!!! IGs are NOT auditors. The role of the IG is to conduct, supervise, monitor, and initiate audits, evaluations, and investigations relating to programs and operations of the Department. Their staff already includes many auditors that the IG directs. And they are already empowered to ask for numbers, authorizations, documentation, and much more.
And DOGE will be tearing all this down on the whim of one person who is ignorant about what the Agency does. I guarantee they will make unforced errors that will negatively impact people lives, people’s livelihoods, and businesses.
