How Elon Musk can gain access to the payment systems of the American government confounds me. Are there no laws or restrictions that would deny a private citizen from doing this? I’d love to hear from government employees or experts on this.
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Because people like Chuck Schumer think all they have to do is post on social media about tomato and pizza prices and things will be fixed. Apparently.
As long as Pelosi and Schumer still exist, we are never gonna win again 😫 We need young people to vote which requires the gerontocracy to give up power (but they love their insider stock trading info so much that they won't let go of the money that enriches their friends and family...like Feinstein!
This is a choice point for humanity. Do we allow Felon 47 to have his way or stand in our power to unite against a coup? This is no longer about being right or wrong. It's an existential crisis. Everybody needs to play an active part at this point. We came here to do this! United we stand.
Unauthorized breach. Must be illegal. And Trump has failed as president to protect us. It seems we’re all wondering who enforces the law here? And why aren’t news agencies breaking into regular programming and screaming this at the top of their lungs… the US Treasury has been breached!?
Of course it’s illegal. But who is going to stop them? They have weaponized the department of Justice, neutered Congress and the FBI, have Scotus in the bag. We are on our own. No one is coming to save us.
Our question also! It seems felonious. Yet no action from Congress? They shouldn’t be afraid of being primaried from above. Voters have that same power. No matter the party.
Well at least our government is willing to call a spade a spade and talk to the American people and the Canadian people and tell them about the tariffs and who it will affect. The orange clown you have all he does is lie about everything. He is even going to take relief from California and lie.
We learned that from merrick garland who wasted all of his resources chasing angry trailer dwellers , only to see them all pardoned after he watched democracy burn to the ground.
There are no more laws we just experienced a national coup. Look at the state department website. In the upper left-hand corner, the American flag has been replaced with one that has nine stars.
HELLO EXPERTS WHERE THE HECK ARE YOU? I really hope you're having a good skull sesh about how we're going to stop this madness before they completely destroy us and most of the rest of the world too. Been pretty quiet over there tho 🧐
I did read something about the new Sec of Treasury sending them it okaying them. I’d personally like to get a court order to lock down ALL the backup tapes of ALL the servers and locations for all the data that is being poked around so a comparison forensic look can be taken.
Best/fastest option is to write/call your state attorney general and ask them what they are going to do about the potential theft and/or misuse of the private data of their states' citizens.
He was gifted access to those systems by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, hedge fund billionaire, who was voted into that office a few days ago by all the Republicans and 15 Democrats.
My concern if he’s in the Treasury database, many citizens’ personal info is available. I do not want Musk to have access to my SSN, my home address and worst of all, my bank account info!
Common...laws and restrictions are only as good as they are enforced and if they are enforced quickly.
It's enforcement that stops the people robbing the bank
We're now to understand that laws are more in the nature of 'suggestions' and only losers follow the rules anyway 😑
ALL the money and ALL the power are theirs for the taking now, and it doesn't matter anymore they we can see them take it in plain view.
Serious question: If the person in charge has publicly broken numerous laws in just 12 days, what difference would it make if there is a law preventing this?
MAGA sees lawbreaking as necessary while the courts already said Trump’s above the law. So why focus on that?
Are you familiar with Curtis Yarvin and TESCREAL? Per Yavin, "ignore the courts." Musk reads Yarvin and so does Vice President Vance. Musk has stated, "I am a proud TESCREAList!" This is a slow-moving coup.
Yep. Yarvin’s recommendation to the US is to get over our phobia of dictators. He’s a jackass that wasnt shown love by his parents but thinks he’s smart &insightful enough going to plan our Nation’s future.
I've listened to him and I've attempted to read some of his stuff...clunky and giant leaps in logic that make no sense whatsoever. And yeah, he thinks he's smart/insightful - even refers to himself as an "intellectual."
All they could come up with was a magic memo, pulled out of who knows who’s ass, that declared a sitting POTUS was immune to TREASON! Nobody opposed, which allowed Moscow MAGA Mitch to stack KKKlownCOTUS and not convict the TRAITOR for Impeachment! No accountability allowed unleashing the FASCISM!
Thank God, that is my question. Only people who work within these agencies with "approved access" and valid reasons can access these systems. Yet Must and his teenage pirates can just walk in and take whatever data they want form whatever system?
Would it really matter if there were laws? The enforcers of the laws are the ones committing the crimes.The law and the courts are not going to save us because Trump will never acknowledge that he is subject to them. We'd have to wait for the next Dem admin to prosecute. By then it will be too late.
Well hell, Steven. We'd like to hear something as well. We've resigned ourselves to not hearing anything from Democrats...they're all asleep..Wake up you group, @schumer.senate.gov.
Don't Republican constituents and Republican elected officials realize that their private personal information has been stolen, too? Why don't they care about this!
It depends on how it happened. There are legal and normal ways that civilian federal employees get access to federal systems. But that usually means clearance, appropriate training, and least privilege access. This level of access is definitely NOT supposed to happen.
Definitely seems like a breech of data. Employee private information (social security numbers) is stored in those payment systems. Maybe employees need to start a class action lawsuit?
Musk illegally accessed the records of private citizens. That act is a crime in every State in the US. State AGs have standing to bring charges against him … and must do so immediately. He is nothing but a common cyber criminal and must be dealt with accordingly.
He has no authority. Congress must have him arrested ablnd detained. Put a stop to this DOGE criminality. He works for Putin, he is a vengeful, hideous little troll and will hurt millions of people.
It's UNCONSTITUTIONAL and illegal! It's ALL supposed to go through CONGRESS!!! This is exactly why Biden should have refused to transfer power! They knew! They fucking KNEW this shit would happen.
i heard that Treasury official resigned due to an "either or" threat from Musk operatives to give up the access codes to the financial database or else resign.
I don’t have your optimism. I think maga is fully entrenched within Congress and even if trump and Vance are gone there will be other scumbags to step right in. They won’t be losing any more elections, such as they may be.
I'm not usually the optimistic one, by the way. No doubt Republicans will continue to behave badly. I'm just referring to the ridiculously outsized, cult leader / Messianic profile that Trump cuts. I just don't think anyone else inherits that.
Everyone seems to be waiting on Captain America to save the day. It's scary to find out there is no real hero or system in place to protect democracy. Not even a leader emerging.
The good old American bullshit goes as follows: 'Well, the Founding Fathers never thought there would be a need for it, and since Republicans don’t need it, we Democrats won’t do anything because we don’t want to disrupt 250 years of history.'
A person born in a foreign country, for whom the foundation of his wealth springs from apartheid S.Africa, who came here with temporary permission, (to go to school, but went straight into business instead), has the keys & authority to do this? Unelected? Unconfirmed by our representatives? WTF?
Clearly, the democrats are paralyzed with fear.
An injunction would be in order, but at this point it's a mute point. He's copied the hard drives.For sale to the highest bidder.
I would think the class action suit exposure is immense. They are violating a lot of individuals’ right to privacy.
And while they might try to hide behind some bs permission slip signed by a Trump crony, the preponderance of evidence would point to this being a corrupt action.
The best way to eliminate the Musk threat to democracy (which I believe it is) is for Dear Leader Trump to see him as competing for the stage. If everyone started call Musk the “real” President, directing Trump, the Dear Leader would ban him in a nanosecond.
Um. Should you not, with your stature and position all over TV, know more than me, or the corner bodega owner? We’re looking to you for guidance. You know nothing more than we?
@stevenbeschloss.bsky.social did you hear that tonight an American official was quoted by a Canadian journalist as saying that Canada is no longer an ally? They said this during PM Trudeau’s speech tonight.
Or perhaps @wyden.senate.gov @sanders.senate.gov @whitehouse.senate.gov @fetterman.senate.gov @booker.senate.gov @schumer.senate.gov @markey.senate.gov @amyklobuchar.com
Can you people explain?
I just tried to log into my IRS account (I had an existing https://ID.me credentials) but was LOCKED OUT. It said it would send an email with a verification code but none came. Maybe they trying to get BACKDOOR access but unable unless someone clicks the reset password link. Anywho I don’t have any money
I don’t think they bothered to check. They said from the beginning they probably weren’t going to bother with FBI background checks. For obvious reasons,
Yes, there are. But there is apparently no limiting force on
🍊💩 or his sugar daddy Elon.
We are lost when literally no one is willing to hold them accountable. How did we get to the point where we let these people break laws publicly and indiscriminately?
Why wouldn't a number of states have standing to bring judicial actions against him, for infringing on the privacy of that information of their states' citizens??? And why does someone like me have to think of this shit?
Good! And agreed. And I think it's going to get a lot worse before it gets any better. In my heart of hearts, I believe we will vanquish these monsters.....but it won't be without some Herculean efforts and a good dose of luck. We let this advance way, way too far -- last November.
Pardoning all the January 6th rioters, even the violent ones, was a step in this direction. They now know they have his official blessing and the green light to do whatever is needed. It's astonishing how fast and low we've sunk.
I’m one of the people (many of us are) who’s private information is now in the hands of individuals who were not elected or confirmed by Congress. I would be very interested in knowing how to pursue. I don’t know why you had to be the one to mention it but I’m damn glad you did.
I mean. I'm seeing it mentioned a bit more. But you would think this would be a slam dunk. People have been found guilty and imprisoned for over a decade for far less than what this creep has done in just 2 weeks.
But my thought is that we just use the judicial system to gum up their progress. I think you're right, we should not hope for ultimate accountability. Because that never occurs with him and his tribe.
Of course I realize that. The goal would be to gum up the works. To jam their efforts. Progress to the Supreme Court usually (though not always) takes time. And as horrible as scotus has become, I can't believe there isn't a tinge of regret even at this early point in Trump 2.0.
When all legal options to stop madmen go to the wayside, what other options will we be left with? Violence…unless that’s what everyone wants…then we must strike back harder
Call Bessert back before Congress to explain why he authorized illegal access to sensitive information. Only took a week for him to act illegally and Trump only 12 days to get us into a trade war with our neighbors and allies. G-d help us.
I'm completely baffled and unless I'm missing an explanation from one of them, no one in House or Senate is explaining how this can or cannot happen. They just simply state that it is happening.
And again, if I'm missing the explanation it's because they are not being vocal or loud enough about it.
A slew of laws were most likely broken:
Fed Cybersecurity Act
Electronic Comms Act
Sabanes-Oxley
SEC protections depending what was accessed
Gramm-Leach-Bliley
FTC protections depending
Maybe HIPAA depending on what was accessed.
But state privacy and some tort laws were likely also violated and we individually may even have standing to sue for a temporary restraining order against musk accessing our data - We need to file suits. Anything that sticks. State AG’s will hopefully do same.
I thought about that to the extent states have such laws maybe I think there’s a standing issue (maybe) & a pre-emption issue but if such laws exist they can amend their existing payment lawsuits.
I mean we don’t know but unlikely Musk’s people are federal employees (maybe they are) but DOGE isn’t a federal agency it’s an advisory board but even if it was, not every federal employee has authorization to access the kind of info that’s talked about.
So, I am assuming, in HIS mind, "strict parameters on the use & purpose of such information" translates to "Doesn't apply to me, just to suckers and losers. I am King. Just ask John Roberts."
This is an egregious breach of government systems. If we had a functioning FBI, they would be issuing warrants right now. How do I know this? I used to have access to the national crime database. I had to pass a background check and know the laws. Big fines and prison time for any breach.
You and me both! And if he was GIVEN access, why is that okay? If Trump didn't give him access, who did? Congressional Republicans need to be blasted ONLINE, PHONE. MAIL about THEIR silence and inactivity!
I don't believe this chaotic government got the proper background checks and clearances for the alleged new treasury employees so quickly. Also they would need compliance training in those jobs.Hope the media follows up on this
The leader of this mess said he wasn’t worried about background checks. In fact his own son-in-law didn’t pass the background check and couldn’t get a security clearance. Daddy said that’s fine he doesn’t need one. And off he went to the Middle East.
due to al
Consider the McDonald’s phone call scam- where they convinced employees to strip search other employees. It’s the perception of authority that’s needed. That’s it.
I'm a former govt employee. Of course there are laws in place to prevent this kind of thing. I have to keep saying this - Trump is operating outside the law in plain view and no one seems to care.
Have we learned nothing? Sure there are laws. So what? They’ll never be held accountable. There will be endless investigations and delays. The SC has been bought and paid for and will ultimately decide in a 6-3 or maybe a 5-4 decision there is nothing to see.
Trump 2.0 is a non-stop series of headlines that once upon a time we would have thought would be on "The Onion" parody website, e.g., Fox News Host appointed as Secretary of Defense. Here’s another one:
A nagging little voice says there is much more to Trump’ confessions re Musk and voting machines. If so, Trump can’t turn on Musk because they all would go to jail.
Because Dems have control over the House and Senate??? Maybe wake up and find out who is in control of this Government and maybe, just maybe, stop blaming Democrats ....
Not BLAMING Democrats but where are their voices? I am fucking AWAKE and have been for decades. When the idiots didn’t hold either the house or senate, we certainly heard them.
Not defending anyone here, but I have a feel Dems don't fight because they don't have that in them. Alot of Dems, like me, aren't confrontational. Apparently we need to get all upset and angry. That will solve things. Instead of blaming Dems why don't you do something? You have a voice. Use it.
@stevenbeschloss.bsky.social We’ve been living in a post-law society since SCOTUS invented presidential immunity and allowed an insurrectionist to become President, backed by the world’s richest person. Other levers are all that remain - collective action, economics, finance and threat of force.
“Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gave Mr. Musk’s representatives at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency a powerful tool to monitor and potentially limit government spending.”
Trumps Treasury secretary gave them permission. Republicans in Congress could stop him but they won’t . Democrats can’t even call a special session. They have no power
You’re not really still expecting laws and restrictions to save us, are you? We cannot prevent the oligarchy from taking over. That will happen. What needs to happen in response is us taking the fight to them.
That’s not unlikely, but what I am talking about is impossible to accomplish any sooner. March 15th is optimistic but possible. Meanwhile people can do other things they think will work. I just haven’t heard any.
I understand the logistics of setting the event any sooner, but it will be over by then. Either this blows up in their faces, and they are toast, or we lose our country. Jack Smith is back at the Hague, and he has the proof that the felon sold classified intelligence that endangers our allies.
Maybe we just forget it and check in as every 50,000 people die or suffer greatly and see if interest in fighting back grows. I’ll be ready whenever everyone else is.
I think it will be over by then. I think we lose our country by then. And I don’t think it can be stopped. To me, this is what’s next after the fall. If someone has an idea that would prevent this I have not heard it.
THIS IS NOT A PROTEST. THIS IS AN IDEA ALMOST GUARANTEED TO WORK. All that is required is getting large enough numbers.
March 15th is an AMBITIOUS date to be ready to grind the economy to a permanent halt. This isn’t a worthless little protest and it doesn’t even require leaving your house.
In fact, not leaving your house is doing your part. If people think they can organize something effective sooner, they can. I am not aware of any faster method that will work, so I won’t. If they don’t think we have that much time, that is only if you want to save the country. I don’t.
I want to defeat the oligarchy. That will take a lot of sacrifice of comforts we are used to, like Amazon and Starbucks, even the grocery chains. Trust me. They will still need to be fought on March 15th no matter what else anyone does.
The US may very well be all but history at that point, but do we want to save it?? I say no. We won’t be any more or less oppressed if it continues. We still have to confront the regime. THE GOAL IS NOT A STRONG MESSAGE. This will not be easy. But it might have saved 6 million Jews in Nazi Germany
I am a Canadian and it confounds me after watching US news channels talking about what is happening and what Trump is controlling but no one talks about what the law abiding government officials are going to or can do to stop the takeover.
So would I! Also, I would like to know why the people who worked in those offices allowed Musk’s people to even ask about things in the office much less work in them.
Elmo + Team have already installed new software + hard drives at Treasury, OMB, + OPM computers.
Govt employees locked out.
Complete secrecy,
No one knows where $$$ have moved, which
files + data deleted.
@wyden.senate.gov
@whitehouse.senate.gov
@npr.org
@cnnbrk-bot.bsky.social
@raskin.house.gov
What he is doing is illegal. He is a private citizen and not even a true USA citizen hacking our social security and private data. He has violated every privacy law anywhere and there needs to be a massive billion+ class action lawsuit against musk and trump administration. Let’s bankrupt those MFr
Well it’s the weekend so they’re at home. Unlike Musk who has a sofa bed in his office while he works through the weekend hooking up external hard drives to the Federal Govt database 🤷♀️ Glad the Dems don’t seem to think there’s a fire happening
Elmo team working 24/7.
Beds brought for for the workers. Work has accelerated over the weekend to complete the takeover of the computer systems and to be even more secretive.
Certainly seems the Acting Sec. of the Treasury just violated his oath of office to allow someone without a security clearance to have department hard drives.
How do we get rid of him ? That’s a start.. I would prefer Musk. But start with the low hanging fruit. Must be illegal to allow a civilian to hack my Social Security!
Just about everything that’s happened in the last week is illegal. But especially in the last 24 hours or so. They are doing illegal things and they know it. They don’t care.
There are apparently no rules anymore. Musk gets to do whatever he wants. Seems to me many things they are all doing are illegal. But who the hell is going to stop them? Nobody.
Did those in charge of these agencies simply hand over computer access and data to these ballsy arrogant kids? Why didn’t anyone push back? I’m really curious—there must be an explanation.
Although laws may be broken, in the court of public opinion, there is a standard that is more immediately available when the question is phrased, "Is this right or wrong?" in comparison with "Is this illegal?" which often now sadly leads to expert discussion on panel shows instead of public outrage.
Comments
Too late for CIA
We learned that from merrick garland who wasted all of his resources chasing angry trailer dwellers , only to see them all pardoned after he watched democracy burn to the ground.
HELLO EXPERTS WHERE THE HECK ARE YOU? I really hope you're having a good skull sesh about how we're going to stop this madness before they completely destroy us and most of the rest of the world too. Been pretty quiet over there tho 🧐
It's enforcement that stops the people robbing the bank
ALL the money and ALL the power are theirs for the taking now, and it doesn't matter anymore they we can see them take it in plain view.
MAGA sees lawbreaking as necessary while the courts already said Trump’s above the law. So why focus on that?
Does someone have a plan?
𝖣𝖾𝗆𝗌 𝗄𝗇𝖾𝗐 𝖯𝗋𝗈𝗃𝖾𝖼𝗍 𝟤𝟢𝟤𝟧 𝖺𝖼𝗍𝗂𝗈𝗇 𝗉𝗅𝖺𝗇 𝗐𝖺𝗌 𝖼𝗈𝗆𝗂𝗇𝗀; 𝗐𝗁𝖾𝗋𝖾 𝗂𝗌 𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗂𝗋 𝖼𝗈𝗈𝗋𝖽𝗂𝗇𝖺𝗍𝖾𝖽 𝗈𝖿𝖿𝖾𝗇𝗌𝗂𝗏𝖾 𝗋𝖾𝗌𝗉𝗈𝗇𝗌𝖾?
There isn’t time to fuck around‼️
I think he's worse
@pattymurray.bsky.social
@hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social
@repricklarsen.bsky.social
@cantwell.senate.gov
@aoc.bsky.social
@wyden.senate.gov
@amyklobuchar.com
@sanders.senate.gov
@jeff-merkley.bsky.social
@warren.senate.gov
@repjasmine.bsky.social
@repilhan.bsky.social
#50501
@pattymurray.bsky.social
@hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social
@repricklarsen.bsky.social
@cantwell.senate.gov
@aoc.bsky.social
@wyden.senate.gov
@amyklobuchar.com
@sanders.senate.gov
@jeff-merkley.bsky.social
@warren.senate.gov
@repjasmine.bsky.social
@repilhan.bsky.social
An injunction would be in order, but at this point it's a mute point. He's copied the hard drives.For sale to the highest bidder.
Harangue Republican legislators without mercy! RAISE SOME CAIN!
Trolls on internet are trying to divide Dems. DONT TAKE THE BAIT.
Now there isn't anyone.
The math is simple.
And while they might try to hide behind some bs permission slip signed by a Trump crony, the preponderance of evidence would point to this being a corrupt action.
(Not a lawyer)
The restriction we have is disabling the take over.
i hope you find them soon.
we poor have already lived this extreme reality for decades.
we get it. ✊🏻🩶
Can you people explain?
W T H is going on❗️❗️🤬🤬🤬
🍊💩 or his sugar daddy Elon.
We are lost when literally no one is willing to hold them accountable. How did we get to the point where we let these people break laws publicly and indiscriminately?
Now. Who enforces the law? The executive branch - the DOJ.
Who can we appeal to if the DOJ doesn’t do its job? The judicial branch - ending at the Roberts SCOTUS.
America is so fucked right now.
https://newrepublic.com/post/190784/trump-lawsuit-funneling-info-federal-workers-elon-musk
But my thought is that we just use the judicial system to gum up their progress. I think you're right, we should not hope for ultimate accountability. Because that never occurs with him and his tribe.
I don’t think they’d obey an injunction. Do you?
And again, if I'm missing the explanation it's because they are not being vocal or loud enough about it.
Fed Cybersecurity Act
Electronic Comms Act
Sabanes-Oxley
SEC protections depending what was accessed
Gramm-Leach-Bliley
FTC protections depending
Maybe HIPAA depending on what was accessed.
The problem is Trump’s DOJ would bring charges.
The SCOTUS gave Trump "total immunity."
So, I am assuming, in HIS mind, "strict parameters on the use & purpose of such information" translates to "Doesn't apply to me, just to suckers and losers. I am King. Just ask John Roberts."
I would be more than happy to be proven wrong...
Do and take anything you think you can get away with at whatever level of hubris you can muster.
Elon was invited in, shown the system he wants to steal from and he locked everyone out and walked out with whatever he wanted.
That cow is out of the barn now. He has the ability to wreak financial havoc upon this nation.
That information is long gone.
They had unfettered access to the system for 24 hours.
due to al
@hakeemjeffries
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/01/us/politics/elon-musk-doge-federal-payments-system.html?unlocked_article_code=1.t04.1cLB.T3RLhzFHnaQz&smid=url-share
A nagging little voice says there is much more to Trump’ confessions re Musk and voting machines. If so, Trump can’t turn on Musk because they all would go to jail.
“Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gave Mr. Musk’s representatives at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency a powerful tool to monitor and potentially limit government spending.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/01/us/politics/elon-musk-doge-federal-payments-system.html
March 15th is an AMBITIOUS date to be ready to grind the economy to a permanent halt. This isn’t a worthless little protest and it doesn’t even require leaving your house.
Govt employees locked out.
Complete secrecy,
No one knows where $$$ have moved, which
files + data deleted.
@wyden.senate.gov
@whitehouse.senate.gov
@npr.org
@cnnbrk-bot.bsky.social
@raskin.house.gov
Govt employees locked out.
Complete secrecy.
What files are destroyed?
Money diverted where?
@therickwilson.bsky.social
@bloomberg.com
@justsecurity.org
https://bsky.app/profile/mikescarcella.bsky.social/post/3lh2sfsc6lc2
Beds brought for for the workers. Work has accelerated over the weekend to complete the takeover of the computer systems and to be even more secretive.