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It's Come To This's avatar

But Norm, the guy ran away with the silver and the tablecloth! He made out like a bandit stealing the identities of millions of us so he can make even more billions later on! Talk about "stop, thief!"

No victories until we claw back our private information out of his cold, ketamine-addicted Nazi hands.

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Shelly's avatar

I absolutely agree with you. Adolf Musk got exactly what he came for… first party information on every single person that is registered with Social Security. Actually, his plan is to make trillions with this information and it looks like he is well on his way.

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donna woodward's avatar

He was on the brink of manipulating the system so that all Social Security payments went through X--the plan being to make that a financial payments platform.

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Jon's avatar

Absolutely agree. You’re fighting the good fight, Norm, with tremendous courage and success, but this week’s moments are, at best, the end of the beginning of the battle of Musk. Don’t let him up!

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Leigh Horne's avatar

cold, ketamine-addicted, Nazi, egomaniacal, delusional, mysogynistic hands....

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Bryan Sean McKown's avatar

The Mayo Clinic has three (3) peer-reviewed studies posted on Ketamine.

I scanned the abstracts & did not see any cohorts that accounted for adulteration of ketamine with other chemicals by millionaires, billionaires, white Afrkaners or anyone else that hangs-in the Oval Office.

MUSK Tonight: "To be clear, I am NOT taking drugs" with no identification of month(s) year(s), place(s) or 'drug's his plural or does he identify as "it".

Reminds me of Nixon's: --- "I'm not a CROOK".

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Peter Mirrasoul's avatar

Thank you for all you do at The Contrarian! Keeping us informed and supporting legal efforts by friends and colleagues of The Contrarian to defend the Constitution and our freedoms. Keep up the great work!

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Dina Dorich's avatar

“I think one reading of the record is that this rushed, indeed chaotic, grant of access in early weeks was without regards to established standards to granting access.”

Your celebration of the demise of DOGE may be premature. I'm disappointed in the judge's comment. One reading? Of course it was "without regards to established standards to granting access." The only reading I see. Also, while Musk may be gone from DC day to day, aren't his minions still wreaking havoc? I have not seen anything to indicated that DOGE has been totally dismantled.

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patricia's avatar

and still trump does what he wants...

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Diane's avatar

Thanks for giving us credit. I’m delighted to be supporting your excellent work.

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Nadine Bangerter's avatar

Great to read about the success in court!! Heather Cox Richardson reported this in her post last night - "Today, Sheera Frenkel and Aaron Krolik of the New York Times reported that Musk put billionaire Peter Thiel’s Palantir data analysis firm into place across the government, where it launched its product Foundry to organize, analyze, and merge data. Thiel provided the money behind Vice President J.D. Vance’s political career. Wired and CNN had previously reported how the administration was using this merged data to target undocumented immigrants, and now employees are detailing their concerns with how the administration could use their newly merged information against Americans more generally. "

Very concerned we just replaced Musk with Thiel - who has huge incentive to gather data on everyone.

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bitchybitchybitchy's avatar

More light needs to be shone on Thiel and Palantir. Perhaps Jake Tapoer might take some time off from his book peddling to do some actual reporting

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Pam Birkenfeld's avatar

I couldn’t agree more, been worried about it since I read HCR’s column last night. It’s no wonder I don’t sleep!

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patricia's avatar

trump still doing what he wants...

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Steve 218's avatar

Thank you for the comprehensive report on Musk's departure. It appears that moving fast and breaking things has real-life consequences. Now, if we could be rid of his garbage (DOGE and the crew of computer "experts" that came with him) we'd be leagues more ahead.

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Kathleen M. Eisenhauer's avatar

All I can say after reading the first few paragraphs of this article, is that I am so very thankful for you..and, all the Contrarians in this platform. Thank you for all you do to inform our community!!!!!

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Anca Vlasopolos's avatar

Thank you, Mr. Eisen, for playing a crucial part in bringing Musk down. Yes, the damage is incalculable and will haunt us for many years to come, but at least it won't continue anew.

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Hal Brown's avatar

Is your arm hurting from trying to pat yourself on the back? Nobody filing lawsuits helped knock Musk out of DC. If anybody did this it was those who boycotted Tesla and those who unloaded their Tesla stock. Basically, though, Musk knocked himself out of DC by failing to fulfill his promise of ginormous savings DOGE would bring in.

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Anca Vlasopolos's avatar

Norm Eisen congratulated all of US for bringing Musk down. He didn't take all credit. Perhaps you need to read more carefully?

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Michael H's avatar

The point that Hal Brown is making is spot on.

There has been plenty of positive work getting court cases filed against the Trump admin... no doubt about that. But the Democratic leadership, and our liberal media outlets like these various Substacks, have indeed been patting themselves on the back, or, to be more accurate, are engaging in whistling past the graveyard while the monster is still loose. There is a lot of repetition of the "Trump is bad, let us recount the ways" meme, which is absolutely pointless. And virtually NO ONE among the leadership or the media is really digging into the prospect and threat of Peter Thiel's rollout of Palantir software in linking up to all the data that is STILL being collected by Musk's embedded DOGE operatives. So... yes... stop all the ballyhoo that "Musk is gone". He most definitely is not - the effect of what he has wrought is not and his mindset remains the same. We (citizens and judges alike) have not *actually* banished him in the true sense of the word, and in any case, the Trump admin barrels ahead, ignoring court orders and the Constitution. Where is the enforcement mechanism... contempt fines? Please. These are minor speed bumps (after the appeals process) to a president and an anti-American administration hell-bent on destroying the guardrails of democracy, which only existed as part of the American social contract with the rule of law. Enabled by a Supreme Court majority which handed him the golden gift of immunity from criminal behavior.

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donna woodward's avatar

I fear that the blitz of illegal EOs and the growing, blatant disregard of judicial rulings is the prelude to a declaration of martial law. Will it creep up on us, as the increasingly scalding heat vanquished the oblivious frog?

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Hal Brown's avatar

In the first two paragraphs Eisen compares a court victory to a Perry Mason moment... cringe... and then there's more self-congratulation. The YOU of the title is how being a Contrarian YOU helped in ways that aren't clear except through your contributions. By the way, the reson you can read this is that I am one of them and thus can comment, and I am one who paid to be a founding Contrairian at that.

I don't totally dismiss his lawsuits and those from others, but I see them more at slowing down Trump blitzkrieg. Trump still hasn't decided to declare himself a total monarch who can ignore court rulings which go against him with impunity.

I have critiqued this Substack's contributors before for being purveyors of optimism unlike those savvy truth tellers like Timothy Snyder ( https://timothysnyder.org ), Thom Hartmann ( https://www.thomhartmann.com ), Sabrina Haake ( https://sabrinahaake.substack.com ), Steve Schmidt ( https://steveschmidt.substack.com ) myself ( https://halbrown.substack.com ) and others who are trying to sound the alarm that we are as far the road to dictatorship as the Nazis were when they invaded Poland and were poised to take over Europe which they did in 54 days.

It took four years until the Allies were strong enough to mount D-Day.

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Hal Brown's avatar

As for the Perry Mason comparison, fans know that in the TV series he only lost three cases. His clients are always innocent and when he gets them off they go free. When Norm Eisen and others go after Trump, who is always guilty, and they are victorious he never goes free. His illegal and/or unconstitutional actions may be stalled by the side of the road but he has his own personal auto club in the waiting whether a higher court or the Supreme Court who will eventually give him a jump start and he'll be embarked on his juggernaut to destroy democracy again. He'll keep doing this until he's strong enough to ignore courts altogther. See: Law and Justice in the Third Reich - https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/law-and-justice-in-the-third-reich

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donna woodward's avatar

"Purveyors of optimism" is a terrific phrase. I can understand why Norm et al see the need to bolster optimism in the face of despair. But you're right to be "contrarian" and point out the danger of resting on our laurels too soon, that stopping Trump from his unconstitutional, unconscionable acts is the real goal. Thank you for the citations.

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bitchybitchybitchy's avatar

The lawsuits do matter, as do the Tesla takedown and other protests.

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Hal Brown's avatar

See what Michael H wrote above. There have been speed bumps but Trump is just waiting until, to use Michael's analogy, he will force democracy through the guardrails and off the cliff. I am more hopeful about massive protests forcing Trump into a postion where he declares marital law. Then the horror is that the military will enfoce it and the hope is that there will a major revolt of true armed forces patriots and we'll have a military coup to dethrone him.

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Hiro's avatar

Thank you for fighting for democracy. Using money explicitly for litigations against Trump - Musk destruction of our governments is direct, most effective and easy to understand. We are glad to keep subscribing with thanks.

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Maya Ram's avatar

Now, now, it ain't over until DOGE is shed until oblivion and so is Elon Musk.

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patricia's avatar

and trump

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earl's avatar

Thanks and keep at 'em!

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Lynne Olson's avatar

Thank you again for another great weekly summary. I feel privileged to be a part of the Contrarians. I appreciate your insights, fighting spirit and positive attitude.

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Michael L Hays's avatar

When Ms. Rubin gets around to another word which we can do without, I suggest the word "conservative" in a political (Republican) context. The appropriate substitute is "vandal."

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willoughby's avatar

Jared Isaacman's nomination to head NASA has abruptly and without explanation been withdrawn.

One suggestive detail: very, very close to Elon, he is closely identified with SpaceX and with Elon's imperial ambitions. Whatever the real reason, his nomination has crashed like an Elon rocket ship.

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John Villinski's avatar

Well, Musk did what he wanted to do, which was to make sure he shut down any investigations into him or his ventures. Plus he enriched the heck out of himself. So it doesn't surprised me that he left.

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