Given that I know people at CEI:
Flanked by Donald Trump in the Oval Office this week, Elon Musk claimed his much-vaunted, but ill-defined, “department of government efficiency” (Doge) was providing “maximum transparency” on its blitz through the federal government.
Its official website was empty, however – until Wednesday, when it added elements including data from a controversial rightwing thinktank recently sued by a climate scientist.
New elements include Doge’s feed from X, Musk’s social network, and a blank section for savings identified by the agency, promised to be updated “no later than” Valentine’s Day.
At the top of the website’s regulations page, Doge used data published by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a libertarian thinktank that claims to fight “climate alarmism”.
The CEI’s “unconstitutionality index”, which it started in 2003, compares regulations or rules introduced by government agencies with laws enacted by Congress.
CEI has taken Koch and fossil money.
Which is a lovely ad hitlerium, no? Because it doesn’t agree about climate change therefore it must be wrong about everything. That source of information, that well, is poisoned. Which is, as we all know, a logical fallacy. The truth or not of the constitutionality of a piece of spending is wholly and entirely unconnected to the climate change attitude of the person making the claim.
True, we might subject such claims to a bit more examination if they come from those we don’t trust for other reasons. But the right or wrong is something that stands by itself. Hitler was nice to Blondi. Should we be nice to dogs or not is unrelated to whether we’re genocidal maniacs or not, whether we like arguments from genocidal maniacs or not.
How dare you get on with your job instead of keeping your website updated.
They’re terrified of Musk and his crew of young tech weirdos because they have the capability, energy and motive (via the threats and abuse Musk has suffered) to unwind their web. The only real response to people saying ‘We’re looking under the bonnet and finding all sorts of shit’ is ‘Tell us more.’
they’re holding very sparse street protests and trying to game the justice system by finding friendly judges with histories of recording videos calling Trump a tyrant, and wives who were paid handsomely by the very NGOS that Musk is exposing, to injunct the chief executive to stop him executing executive powers.
Worth following Mike Benz and ‘data republican’ on Twitter, and Jeff Childers on Substack – his latest post suggests ways in which the lawfare will fail. All very entertaining.
https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/swamp-apocalypse-wednesday-february
Come on Tim, who wouldn’t be nice to a group with Debbie Harry in it?
You missed a trick. The article says “Last January, the CEI lost a lawsuit filed against it by the climate scientist Dr Michael Mann for $1m in punitive damages” but that isn’t true: the component against CEI was dismissed, as the (Guardian) article the Guardian references says…
The part against Steyn was a disgrace, too, but then American justice has long been corrupted and the lies of climate alarmists and grifters like you have tainted it all further still.
I’m just re-reading ‘Executive Orders’ by Tom Clancy. That was published in 1996 but probably written in 1995. The stuff in there is remarkably prescient as to what’s going on now. It even has Mossad creating an exploding phone for a particular foe. A biowarfare attack with Ebola, c.f. COVID. A plane crash into the Capitol, c.f. 9/11 etc, and President Jack Ryan doing his version of dismantling the Deep State.
It’s a fun read if a little long.
Hitler was nice to Blondi.
Not really, he killed Blondi with cyanide in the fuhrerbunker.
I knew there was something off about that Hitler fella and it turns out he’s a dog poisoner.
He also made the poor doggy jump high walls.
I’ve seen films of it.
Wasn’t the CEI piece actually reduced to a nominal $1 sum which was then extended to the other two defendants for puntive damages – $1,000 to rand Simberg and $1 million to Mark Steyn. Mann evaded court for over a decade – as Steyn said ‘The process is the punishment’ .
Many followers of Mark, who sadly has been in poor health recently, have petitioned both Musk and indeed Trump himself to get his appeal fast tracked through the Supreme Court so it can be overturned. We’d also like to see DOGE turn its eye towards the entire Climate Science gig, focusing on Mann in particular – a uniquely loathsome figure that could even be a greater embodiment of evil than Richard Murphy.
Hitler was a vegetarian and therefore he was bearded and wore sandals. QED.
“Not really, he killed Blondi with cyanide in the fuhrerbunker.”
Cruel bastard. Couldn’t he have just got her to swallow it instead ?
Ah but a crafty vegetarian, PiP. The mustache & he painted his ankles black instead of wearing socks with shoes.
@Interested, it’s an over-used word, I appreciate: But that Coffee & Covid article is *awesome*.
To paraphrase Father Ted: “More of this sort of thing”.
“Elon Musk claimed his much-vaunted, but ill-defined, “department of government efficiency” (Doge) ”
ill-defined? You what?
Wide ranging maybe, but every American knows exactly what its job is.
@Rev Spooner
It’s definitely upbeat. I am counting no chickens but Trump has clearly learned from last time. He’s cracking on and taking names, with a team of true believers alongside. I think a lot of people realised that the window of opportunity to save the US by peaceful means was shutting for good if they managed to fix the election for that airhead Harris, and more will come to that view as the bins are emptied.
I think my favourite bit is this:
But what probably most panicked the Swamp creatures was when Elon said —with the President of the United States nodding along right beside him— that DOGE plans to investigate public officials who somehow got rich in office despite their nominal salaries. Boom again.
Yes, how did Chuck Schumer, who has never had a job outside getting himself elected to councils and then the senate, wind up with close to $100 million in the bank? Could the answer be related to Chuck’s sudden passion for street protest on behalf of obscure government departments that 95% of Yanks hadn’t even heard of until last week?
Interested
It’s a tremendous article – obviously the forces of darkness:
– The DIE advocates
– The Environmentalists
– Militant Trans
Will try a ‘battle of the bulge’ strategy and launch a counterattack and we know that evil is sadly eternal – but it’s certainly encouraging. Let’s hope that he doesn’t allow the momentum to shift back…
Otto – That’s why cats are better than dogs. a
A cat would never let you feed her a cyanide pill. It’d be wild hissy Hitler claw time.
Philip – “Elon Musk claimed his much-vaunted, but ill-defined, “department of government efficiency” (Doge) ”
ill-defined? You what?
Wide ranging maybe, but every American knows exactly what its job is.
They’re doing their best to make it sound like a government auditing its own spending is all Highly Irregular and probably some sort of illegitimate “far-right” plot that needs to be stopped by Democrat Party activists in robes.
Y’know, like the time Hitler got elected promising to reduce public spending.
It’s from the guardian.
So I already know it is very likely to contain some or all of: factual inaccuracies; data manipulation; bias.
Hey, remember the Guardian used to be a Left wing paper, rather than a ringpiece for colour revolutions and forever wars?
Steve members. But this is the Guardian now, after Hitlertrump appointed a left wing anti-war woman to his cabinet:
Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman who has been publicly questioned over her affinity for foreign dictators and promoting conspiracy theories, has been confirmed as director of national intelligence by the US Senate.
If the Iraq War happened in 2024 rather than 2003, the Guardian would be baying about Saddam’s WMD and 45 minute attacks on Cyprus while smearing war critics as having “an affinity for foreign dictators” (just not the foreign dictators who donate millions to the Clinton Foundation).
“I knew there was something off about that Hitler fella and it turns out he’s a dog poisoner.”
To his credit, he did kill Hitler.
In terms of politics and stuff I actually think he was more normal than is portrayed, but was also a massive weirdo in other ways.
Creepy article. Sainato and Noor telling us they don’t like CEI. Has FA to do with Musk/DOGE/Trump, who were obviously mentioned simply as click bait.
What’s really winding up the usual suspects is that they took decades on their slow march through the institutions, Trump is going to reverse it all in double quick time.
Trouble is the long marchers themselves will still be around, still with their heads stuffed with deluded shit, but with a turbocharged sense of grievous entitlement. They’ll organise into Soros-funded NGOs, or jobs will be found for them in the transnational agencies.
True, Norman. Defeated commies are still commies.
I think a lot of them are going to be in jail.
I think a lot of them may go broke paying lawyers to stay out of jail. Or at least I hope. More the process is the punishment stuff. It can work both ways.