This Week’s News, Information, Opinions
Politics analyst Paul Waldman has an opinion essay in today’s MS NOW, Why Musk is the Worst Person to Become the World’s First Trillionaire. This excerpt encapsulates his premise:
“…Some investors consider Musk a genius and a visionary; others just want a piece of the cash grab. But all of them are pretending that this IPO can be separated from the repugnant things about Musk — his promotion of white supremacy and antisemitism, the poison his social media network pours into global debate every day, the damage he has done to the federal government. None of that exists in a separate sphere from his businesses. It is not a hobby or a sidelight. It is the very heart of who he is and the world he is seeking to create. Musk and his IPO are where greed meets hate, and that stain should be on anyone who participates…”
This same opinion is one that I’ve shared in many of my conversations and blogs. Americans are poised to lead the world into multiple wars, a catastrophic economic collapse, an equally catastrophic healthcare collapse, and suffering the likes we have not experienced since World War II. Why?
Therefore, though Americans with money to invest in Musk’s and trump’s schemes are a minority, they will invest because Musk is a blatant White Christian Male Supremacist, not despite it. Yes, the very idea is deplorable but here we are!
In his June 7th essay, Fred Wellman writes about Pete Hegseth’s deplorable presence and speech at the 82nd Anniversary of D-Day at the Normandy American Cemetery:
“… his speech at the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, in front of the last few remaining survivors of that day and dignitaries from around the world was reprehensible. A day that should talk about the sacrifice of the brave veterans and the civilians caught in the crossfire was instead turned into a pathetic anti-immigrant political hit job against our allies by the man who likes to pretend he is a warrior while acting like a petulant child…”
“Sadly, today, different European beaches are stormed by different dangerous ideologies. Beaches in Spain and Italy and Greece and Bulgaria. Boats and men arrive. When will European capitals do something about that invasion? Or is it too late? I pray not, and I believe not." (Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth)
What a national disgrace! What a disgusting indictment of America’s worst people and values! We are not all white supremacists; we do not all share this hatred for refugees and immigrants; we do not all believe that Christianity is a superior religion and that people of other religious faiths are subhuman; we do not all support MAGA and Pete Hegseth and the Christian Nationalist movement. But we are all in this together – until we rid ourselves of this fascist scourge.
And on his Substack page in #1 in the Dictator's Playbook: Crush One to Warn a Thousand, Thom Hartmann analyzes another matter about which many Democrats and Independents disagree – whether the Trump regime is perpetually and innately incompetent or they are using their court failures to intimidate people who would speak out against the regime.
“...Earlier this week, a Cable TV host did an extended rant about how many cases Trump has lost in court, arguing that “these guys are really bad at what they do” or words to that effect. I beg to differ: they know exactly what they’re doing, and getting convictions to imprison protesters isn’t (yet — they haven’t yet finished building out their network of concentration camps) their real goal. Stop thinking of it as law enforcement and start thinking about it as punishment and intimidation. That’s their real goal, at least for the moment. The indictment, the predawn FBI raid, the mugshot, the bail hearing, the ankle monitor, the year of massive, retirement-fund-draining legal bills and sleepless nights, and the GoFundMe that a protestor, politician, schoolteacher, or a local trustee has to set up just to defend herself against the most powerful government on Earth: those are the punishments that Trump and his lickspittles are so gleeful about inflicting on those of us they decide to target. Former Trump DHS Chief of Staff Miles Taylor, noting this morning that he’s heard more indictments of Trump “enemies” are coming soon, summarized it this way: “The Soviet-ization of American life is farther along than most people realize.” The eventual dismissal in court or quiet non-indictment by a grand jury is just paperwork stapled to the end of a campaign of brutal intimidation that already did exactly what it was built to do. A prosecutor who only brings cases he expects to win is enforcing the law. But, in Trump’s case, corrupt prosecutors who keep bringing cases that grand juries reject, that judges ridicule, that they themselves abandon the moment real scrutiny shows up, aren’t trying to win at all. They’re trying to make examples of people, to destroy them financially, and to intimidate anybody else who may think of speaking out.Because making examples of people who criticize those in power is Rule One in the Dictator’s Playbook…”
This perspective should not be dismissed. If more Democrats and Independents would consider this point and discuss it as critical thinkers should, more Democratic and Independent voters would participate in the voting process and protest the Trump regime’s actions. Once our rights and privileges as citizens and non-citizens are gone, they will not be easily returned to us. Even if we manage somehow to demolish far right control of the conservative party, the far broader and deeper damage on Trust, Truth, Justice, and Integrity will take generations to repair.
And, finally for this post, I’ll share Steven Beschloss’ thoughts about the new trillionaire that we – yes, WE…all of us who work every day and pay our taxes and seldom have enough in savings to cover our emergency expenses – created. From What Do You Think of Elon Musk Becoming a Trillionaire?...
“…But Elon Musk’s new singular status cuts hard for another reason. It not only means he’s richer beyond anyone’s wildest imagination, he also has increased his power in the process. And we’ve already seen how this South African-born businessman, who grew up under apartheid, abuses his power. With all his high-minded talk about turning humans into an inter-planetary species that can build a colony on Mars, Musk is the guy who bought Twitter for about $44 billion and proceeded to turn it into a hateful cesspool of right-wing extremist propaganda, including his own frequent white supremacist postings. He’s the guy who spent more than $290 million in the 2024 campaign to help Trump and other Republicans win, then could be seen on the day of Trump’s inauguration standing behind a presidential podium thrusting a Nazi salute—not once but twice. He’s also the drug-addled sociopath who could be seen repeatedly beside Trump in the Oval Office—where he lied about the benefits of his DOGE operation to cut waste, fraud and abuse—while his young operatives without government experience dug through sensitive files to recklessly and illegally cut thousands of federal jobs and dismantle government programs. Most appallingly, this included ending funding for the U.S. Agency for International Aid, which has saved an estimated 92 million lives from the ravages of infectious diseases and malnutrition. The careless actions of Musk—who last year stood on a stage proudly wielding a chainsaw—was estimated to have caused the deaths of over 600,000 people in the first year, two-thirds of whom are children…”
Please stay informed. Subscribe to and monetarily support independent journalism while we still have it. My daily reminder to me: Even though 99.99% of this corruption, violence, and chaos is out of my control, I am responsible for the boundaries I set, the lives with whom I interact, sharing what I have, and loving from a deep reservoir of self-respect.
Jeff Tiedrich’s Saturday Recap This Week In Stupid just dropped in my email. This excerpt must be shared:
“Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins on solving the screwworm problem: “you put AI on the drones.” oh, goody — what could possibly go wrong? Donny’s sewer clowns created the screwworm problem when they let the Space Nazi’s merry band of pimply DOGE incels cut funding to the programs that prevented infestations in the first place — and now they’re attempting to solve the problem they created by [checks notes] shoving random buzzwords together and hoping for the best. this is such a waste of taxpayer money — because, quite frankly, we already have the technology in place to fuck every screwworm’s shit…”
Like toddlers, teenagers, drug addicts, and Donald J Trump, America’s far right destroys the good stuff, then tries in their own idiotic ways to fix the chaos they create. #NeverVoteRepublicanEverAgain
#1 in the Dictator's Playbook: Crush One to Warn a Thousand