"One of President Donald Trump's closest advisors [Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick] is now suggesting that most of the tens of millions of Americans who rely on Social Security wouldn't be concerned if they didn't receive their benefits."

#Musk #Trump #Republicans #DOGE #fascism #destruction #chaos #SocialSecurity #Lutnick
/17

https://www.alternet.org/trump-official-social-security/

As Dan Rather reports, with Trump's blessing, Elon Musk continues to go after Social Security, and,

"Trump and Musk must be betting that Americans care more about possible waste, fraud, and abuse at the Social Security Administration (SSA) than they do about getting their monthly benefit checks.

That’s a bad bet."

#Musk #Trump #Republicans #DOGE #fascism #destruction #chaos #SocialSecurity
/16

https://steady.substack.com/p/elon-musk-made-no-promises

And just to drive a point home for the #GavinNewsom of this world:

You think that #fascists give a single fuck about #women's #sports? You're finding common cause with people who are unconvinced #women should be allowed to vote, & you're taking them at their word?

Not defending the most vulnerable groups makes everyone else *more* vulnerable, not less.

If they can get you to accept their narrative on #trans kids in #sports, it's easier for them to push their narrative on legal recognition of trans people. If you accept that " #gender ideology" needs to be taken out of #schools, you're more likely to accept that " #DEI" needs to go too.

"• The Administration is implementing policies at the Social Security Administration — no longer verifying identities over the phone, but instead requiring online verification or in-person identity checks for new and existing recipients — that, contrary to their claims, will make this system less efficient, and actually serve the purpose of dismantling the program"

#Musk #Trump #Republicans #DOGE #fascism #destruction #chaos #SocialSecurity
/15

"• The Trump Administration targeted private universities — canceling $400 million in grants and contracts to Columbia University; pausing $175 million for the University of Pennsylvania; and Johns Hopkins cut research after losing $800 million in USAID grants

• Trump began dismantling Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and Radio Free Asia"

#Musk #Trump #Republicans #DOGE #fascism #destruction #chaos #universities #research #grants #USAID #VoiceofAmerica
/14

"The Administration is taking a wrecking ball to services and institutions Americans rely on for essentials, as well as the fundamentals of American civic life. For example, this week:

• An Executive Order directed at the evisceration of the Department of Education"

~ Joshua Kolb

#Musk #Trump #Republicans #DOGE #fascism #destruction #chaos #DepartmentofEducation #education
/13

https://contrarian.substack.com/p/the-democracy-index-02a

"USIP filed a motion for a temporary restraining order...

But the most telling moment of the hearing...

She pointed out how eagerly law enforcement has been to aid in DOGE’s hostile takeover, implying #USIP would be outgunned. It was a stunning admission in a court of #law, & revealed the palpable fear that enforcing the law would lead directly to #violence."

https://www.thehandbasket.co/p/us-institute-of-peace-break-in

Sen #DickDurbin, a #Democrat, & Sen #LindseyGraham, a #Republican, plan to introduce a bill that would set an expiration date of Jan 1, 2027, for #Section230, acc/to a congressional aide familiar…. The senators have wide support from their respective parties: #Republicans #JoshHawley & #MarshaBlackburn & #Democrats #SheldonWhitehouse & #AmyKlobuchar have agreed to co-sponsor the bill. 2 more Dems, #RichardBlumenthal & #PeterWelch, have discussed cosponsoring.

"What independent journalism offers that legacy media increasingly doesn’t is transparency about where it’s coming from. There’s no pretense of objectivity that masks institutional biases and billionaire influence."

#Musk #Trump #Republicans #DOGE #fascism #destruction #chaos #media #NewYorkTimes
/12

"When the New York Times was treating Trump’s Tesla stunt on the White House lawn like a car show instead of corruption, independent outlets were the ones pointing out that having a president use the people’s house to promote his billionaire donor’s private company is, in fact, a serious ethical breach."

#Musk #Trump #Republicans #DOGE #fascism #destruction #chaos #media #NewYorkTimes
/11

"There was a time when people collectively agreed on what constituted 'the news.' Walter Cronkite would sign off with “And that’s the way it is,” and most Americans nodded along. The New York Times was the 'paper of record,' and if something appeared in its pages, it existed as fact in our shared reality.

That world is dead. And we should stop pretending otherwise."

~ Parker Molloy

#Musk #Trump #Republicans #DOGE #fascism #destruction #chaos #media
/10

https://www.damemagazine.com/2025/03/19/is-legacy-media-dead/

"Part of the reason they’re unaware is their own fault. They should be aware. It’s a luxury to be unaware of what’s happening in the government. ...

"The legacy media isn’t telling them what the threat level is. And that’s the thing that I think I have the most problem with."

#Musk #Trump #Republicans #DOGE #fascism #destruction #chaos #media #MediaFail
/9

"Most people in this country, most of them are unaware of what’s happening right now. They do not know the direness of the threat that we’re under. They just don’t, people don’t understand what’s happening. Plenty of people do, for sure. And plenty of people are also for it; you know—they love Trump, they love MAGA, they think Elon Musk is a genius, they’re just fascists, whatever."

~ Greg Olear

#Musk #Trump #Republicans #DOGE #fascism #destruction #chaos #media
/8

https://gregolear.substack.com/p/ramble-on-this-is-all-totally-normal