Good Clay Jones

Sith and Boogers by Clay Jones

Another bad pick in the Oval Office Read on Substack

Elon Musk visited Donald Trump in the Oval Office yesterday and was a total disgrace.

Elon, who was in all black, wearing a black T-shirt and a black MAGA hat, said he was “open” and “honest” in his work finding waste and fraud in federal spending.

When asked about his lie that $50 million was spent on condoms for Gaza, Elon said, “Some of the things that I say will be incorrect and should be corrected. Nobody’s going to bat 1.000.” A good example of “some” of the things he says that are incorrect is his statement that DOGE was “open” and “honest.”

Before you tell a lie, like Elon’s condom bullshit, you can easily look up the facts, like when Elon lied about the last budget and claimed it included $300 billion for a football stadium in Washington DC, Congress would get a 40 percent pay increase, or that it funded bioweapons labs. Elon could have looked all this shit up before posting about it on his platform X/Twitter…over 100 times within 24 hours.

Unfortunately, we can’t fact-check Elon’s claims that the federal bureaucracy had been corrupted by cheats and officials who had approved money for “fraudsters.”

We can’t fact-check his claim that officials at USAID were taking “kickbacks.”

We can’t fact-check his claim that some officials “managed to accrue tens of millions of dollars in net worth while they are in that position.”

We can’t fact-check his claim that some people were receiving Social Security benefits at the age of 150.

We can’t fact-check his statement, “There are quite a few people in the bureaucracy who have ostensibly a salary of a few hundred thousand dollars but somehow managed to accrue tens of millions of dollars in net worth while they are in that position.”

The reason we can’t fact-check any of that is because Elon didn’t provide any proof of his claims and DOGE is operating in secret. There is no transparency with DOGE. None, nada, zip, zip, zippity-doo-dah, none.

Here’s a case of irony: The employee Musk claims made millions off the government had to file a financial disclosure form. Elon does not because Trump designated him a “special employee.” So just as we can’t see Trump’s tax returns, we can’t see Elon’s either.

When asked about the conflict of interest of him scouring billion-dollar contracts while his company Space X has billion-dollar contracts with the government, he said, “First of all, I’m not the one filing the contract. It’s the people at SpaceX or something.” As Sarah Marshall said in the great film Forgetting Sarah Marshall, “bullshit, bullshit, bullshit, bullshit.” It’s still a conflict of interest, even if he’s not lying.

Elon said, “I don’t know of a case where an organization has been more transparent than the DOGE organization. He also said, “We are actually trying to be as transparent as possible,” and then some more crap came out of his mouth when he said, “So all of our actions are maximally transparent.”

Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit, bullshit.

Without exhibiting any self-awareness, Elon said the bureaucracy is an “unelected, fourth, unconstitutional branch of government, which has, in a lot of ways, currently, more power than any elected representative. That might be the only thing Elon said that is true other than when he said, “There are boogers in my ears.” We’ll get to that.

Elon also lacked self-awareness when he said this bureaucracy “does not match the will of the people.” That’s true because nobody voted for Elon.

A lot of Elon/Trump defenders say we did vote for Elon because Trump said Elon was going to find government waste if he won the election. What Trump did NOT say was that Elon would fire people himself, cut government spending himself, gain access to all our financial information, or hire Nazis to help (which he has rehired after momentarily firing him).

Elon also really really really really really lacked all fucking self-awareness when he said, “The goal is to “restore democracy. If the bureaucracy’s in charge, then what meaning does democracy actually have?”

People like Musk and Trump don’t know the meaning of words like “democracy.” When they say “democracy,” they mean fascism. When they say “patriot,” they mean traitor beholden to Vladimir Putin, whom Trump surprised with a phone call today because it’s two days before Valentine’s. And when Trump says “vegetable,” he means ketchup.

Every MAGAt who defends Elon’s claims is too stupid to realize they don’t see any evidence of his claims. A few days ago, an Elon-defending MAGAt asked me, “What do you have against transparency?”. Again, total lack of awareness. People who defend Elon and Trump take them at their word, which is bizarre because they’re both huge sack-of-shit liars.

Trump and Elon talk about fraud and theft in the federal government while taxpayers are paying millions for Trump to sleep in his own bed at his bedbug-ridden golf resorts. Remember when Trump tried to host an international summit at one of his golf clubs? If you believe that was the best venue in the nation for a G7 summit, then let me sell you some golf club memberships and some bridges.

The only person who didn’t lie to the press in the Oval Office yesterday was Elon’s booger-mining kid, named X. At one point, X, who is Elon’s 11th child, stuck his fingers in his father’s ears…the same fingers he was picking his nose with. Trump seemed very uncomfortable with the kid in the room, probably because he’s jealous that X has at least outgrown his diapers. X can probably also hold a water bottle with one hand.

Elon wants to cut funding to feed children living in poverty, but his little trust-fund baby has so much White privilege that he gets to pick his nose in the Oval Office because his dad has so much White Privilege that he’s not required to wear a suit and tie in the Oval and instead can come dressed as a Bond villain.

Now there will have to be DNA experts to figure out which boogers under the Resolute Desk belong to Little X…and which belong to Trump.

Drawn in 30 seconds: (snip-go watch)

Some Justice

thanks to FOIA and Jason Leopold:

By Susie Madrak — February 11, 2025

The dismissal of criminal charges against the Yam Man for concealing classified records at Mar-a-Lago eliminated a significant barrier to making records about the probe public, a federal judge ruled Monday. Via Politico:

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell said Trump’s election as president — which forced the end of the criminal case — combined with the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity mean Trump is effectively insulated from any criminal responsibility for his conduct. That means the FBI’s previous reasons for refusing to gather and disclose records related to the probe no longer apply, Howell wrote in a ruling in a Freedom of Information Act case brought by journalist Jason Leopold.

She noted that while the dismissal of charges against Trump may have reduced his criminal exposure, it “ironically” made him more susceptible to public scrutiny for his conduct. “With the far dampened possibility of any criminal investigation to gather evidence about a president’s conduct and of any public enforcement proceeding against a president, the [Supreme Court’s] decision … has left a FOIA request as a critical tool for the American public to keep apprised of a president’s conduct,” Howell ruled.

https://bsky.app/profile/plaintanjane.bsky.social/post/3lhu7clii5s2v

https://bsky.app/profile/luciecatnip.bsky.social/post/3lhu27ltj422c

https://crooksandliars.com/2025/02/judge-fbi-must-disclose-records-trump

Peace & Justice History for 2/11

February 11, 1790

The Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, composed mostly of Quakers and Mennonites, petitioned Congress for emancipation of all slaves. Benjamin Franklin had become vocal as an abolitionist and in 1787 began to serve as President of the Society which not only advocated the abolition of slavery, but made efforts to integrate freed slaves into American society.
The proposed resolution was immediately denounced by pro-slavery congressmen and sparked a heated debate in both the House and the Senate.

More on early Abolitionist and Anti-Slavery Movements 
February 11, 1916
Emma Goldman was arrested for lecturing on birth control, presumed a violation of the 1873 Comstock Law which prohibited distribution of literature on birth control, considered obscene under the act.
Goldman considered such knowledge essential to women’s reproductive and economic freedom; she had worked as a nurse and midwife among poor immigrant workers on New York’s Lower East Side in the 1890s. She also organized for womens’ suffrage, later opposed U.S. involvement in World War I, and was imprisoned for allegedly obstructing military conscription.

Emma Goldman speaking on Birth Control -Union Square, New York City May 20, 1916
“. . . those like myself who are disseminating knowledge [of birth control] are not doing so because of personal gain or because we consider it obscene or lewd. We do it because we know the desperate condition among the masses of workers and even professional people, when they cannot meet the demands of numerous children.”
– Goldman letter to the press following her arrest

Emma Goldman’s courageous efforts
————————————————————————————–
February 11, 1937
Forty-eight thousand General Motors workers won their 44-day sit-down strike in Flint, Michigan. On December 30 workers at Fisher Plants 1 & 2 sat down and refused to leave, forcing workers around them to stop work and preventing the next shift from starting.

The sit-down strike ended when the company agreed to recognize the United Automobile Workers union as the representative bargaining agent for the striking hourly employees. Other automakers gradually accepted the legitimacy of the union. The success of the sit-down was an inspiration to workers in other industries to organize their own unions.
Nearly 100 images on the Flint sit-down from
Detroit’s Wayne State University Walter Reuther Archive

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February 11, 1978
Native Americans began The Longest Walk, a march from Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay to Washington, D.C.
Native American Activism: 1960s to Present

A Brief History of the
American Indian Movement



photo Ilka Hartmann
The Walk was intended to be a reminder of the forced removal of American Indians from their homelands across the continent, and drew attention to the continuing problems plaguing the Indian community, particularly joblessness, lack of health care, education and adequate housing.
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February 11, 1979
Poet John Trudell, a former national chairman of the American Indian Movement (AIM), burned an upside-down flag and spoke from the steps of the FBI building in Washington, D.C. during a vigil for Leonard Peltier. Peltier, also a leader of AIM, was imprisoned (and is still today after 30 years,) and is considered a political prisoner by Amnesty International. (NOTE: Leonard Peltier’s sentence was commuted to home confinement in 2025.)
Twelve hours later Trudell’s wife Tina, her mother, and their three children died in an arsonist’s attack of their home on the Duck Valley Reservation in Nevada. The FBI did not investigate even though the crime fell under its jurisdiction.

Learn about Leonard Peltier 
Remembering John Trudell 
———————————————————————————————-
February 11, 1990

Nelson Mandela was freed after 27 years in a South African prison following months of secret negotiations with South African President F.W. (Frederik Willem) de Klerk.
In 1952, Mandela became deputy national president of the African National Congress (ANC), the oldest black political organization in South Africa, having joined as a young lawyer in 1944.

He advocated nonviolent resistance to apartheid – South Africa’s institutionalized system of white supremacy, black disenfranchisement and rigid racial segregation.
However, after the massacre of peaceful black demonstrators at Sharpeville in 1960, Mandela helped organize a paramilitary branch of the ANC to engage in guerrilla warfare against the white minority government.


He and de Klerk were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace prize in 1993 “for their work for the peaceful termination of the apartheid regime, and for laying the foundations for a new democratic South Africa.”
Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/11/newsid_2539000/2539947.stm

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryfebruary.htm#february11

Unless Someone Somewhere Changes Their Mind/s Again…

Trump administration agrees to restrict DOGE access to Treasury Department payment systems

The agreement came in response to a lawsuit accusing Treasury of committing an “unlawful action” by giving private info to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.

By Daniel Barnes, Dareh Gregorian and Zoë Richards

Attorneys for the Justice Department have agreed to temporarily restrict staffers associated with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing information in the Treasury Department’s payment system.

The agreement comes after a group of union members and retirees sued the Treasury Department alleging that providing DOGE access to the federal government’s massive payment and collections system — and the personal data housed in it — violated federal privacy laws.

The Trump administration filed a motion Wednesday night seeking to enter a proposed order that detailed the agreed-upon terms.

“The Defendants will not provide access to any payment record or payment system of records maintained by or within the Bureau of the Fiscal Service,” the proposed order says.

The order would allow exceptions for two special government employees at the Treasury — Tom Krause and Marko Elez — saying they are permitted access “as needed” to perform their duties, “provided that such access to payment records will be ‘read only.'”

The restricted access would remain in effect pending a subsequent hearing on the lawsuit. The judge still needs to sign off on the proposed order.

The White House and the groups that filed the lawsuit did not immediately respond to requests for comment. (snip)

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/trump-administration-agrees-restrict-doge-access-treasury-department-p-rcna190898

Trade Wars News From Janet

From “The Root:” A List Of Companies That Continue To Support DEI

While places like Walmart rolled back their initiatives, these places have doubled down on diversity.

By Candace McDuffie PublishedYesterday

(There’s a slideshow on the user-friendly page; click through here. Some of these companies have been sued by Stephen Miller’s lawyer group, but were found by the Justice Dept. to be well within law. So there’s a thing I guess we watch, also…)

Despite a slew of companies like Walmart, Meta and Amazon rolling back their diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, other companies have remained firm in continuing these vital initiatives. Donald Trump has attacked diversity on both the campaign trail and now during his second presidential term. Even though Trump set on getting rid of inclusive practices, here’s a list of places advocating for marginalized communities to be part of their workforce.

Peace & Justice History for 2/5

February 5, 1830
America’s first daily labor newspaper began publication in New York City.
George Henry Evans, a 29-year-old journeyman printer, was the publisher of “New York Daily Sentinel.”


George Henry Evans
More about George Henry Evans 
February 5, 1991
49 German troops conscientiously objected to serving in Turkey during the Gulf War. The German peace movement actively supported U.S. soldiers stationed there by helping them file for conscientious objector (CO) status. By the end of the month, there were nearly 30,000 civilian COs refusing to serve in the military.
February 5, 2007

Lieutenant Ehren Watada
Lieutenant Ehren Watada faced a court martial for refusing to deploy to Iraq and for publicly criticizing the war, the first officer since Vietnam to be so tried. A volunteer from Hawaii who joined the U.S. Army prior to the invasion in 2003, he had refused to serve because:
“It would be a violation of my oath because this war to me is illegal in the sense that it was waged in deception, and it was also in violation of international law.”
Initially having served in South Korea, he learned more about the Iraqi conflict and the bogus claims of Saddam Hussein’s possession of weapons of mass destruction. He offered to resign or serve in Afghanistan but was refused:
“Mistakes can happen but to think that it was deliberate and that a careful deception was done on the American people – you just had to question who you are as a serviceman, as an American.”

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryfebruary.htm#february5

The GLAAD Weather Watch

It’s an interactive site, and it looks like a fine resource. I’m not aware of problematic things with GLAAD, but am aware I don’t see them mentioned here, so if there is something I’ve missed about them, please let us know. Also then, my apologies. But this looks like an excellent resource, so I hope they haven’t messed up anything for people. The blue GLAAD Weather Watch below is the link.

Take Action to Protect LGBTQ People with the GLAAD Weather Watch!

This year, anti-LGBTQ extremists are continuing their dangerous mission to ban LGBTQ people from access to bathrooms, schools, sports, and medical care. We need your help to defeat bad legislation, and to celebrate wins: Tune in to the GLAAD Weather Watch and sign up to receive updates of how you can take action!

Is It, Truly?

Trump’s tariffs by Ann Telnaes

Hopefully his supporters can take a yoke (I’m sorry) Read on Substack

Peace & Justice History for 2/3

February 3, 1816
Paul Cuffee, a shipowner and a free negro (born to slave parents in Massachusetts), arrived in Sierra Leone with 38 African Americans intent on setting up a colony for free blacks from the United States. He had earlier set up the Friendly Society of Sierra Leone, a trading organization, to encourage commerce between England, the U.S. and the British colony on the Atlantic coast of Africa.
February 3, 1893
Abigail Ashbrook of Willingboro, New Jersey, refused to pay taxes because she was denied the right to vote because she was a woman.
February 3, 1964
In New York City, more than 450,000 students, mostly black and Puerto Rican, comprising nearly half the citywide enrollment, boycotted the New York City schools to protest the system’s de facto segregation. The Parents’ Workshop for Equality, led by Reverend Milton Galamison, had proposed a plan to integrate the city’s schools but it was rejected by the school board. Freedom Schools were set up for the kids during the one-day direct action.
February 3, 1973
Three decades of armed conflict in Vietnam officially ended when a cease-fire agreement signed in Paris the previous month went into effect. Vietnam had endured almost uninterrupted hostility since 1945, when a war for independence from France was launched. A civil war between the northern and southern regions of the country began after the country was divided by the Geneva Convention in 1954 following France’s military defeat and troop withdrawal. American military “advisors” began arriving in 1955.
Between 1954 and 1975, 107,504 South Vietnamese government troops, approximately 1,000,000 North Vietnamese and National Liberation Front soldiers, and 58,209 American troops died in combat. The number of Vietnamese civilian deaths is unknown, estimated between one and four million killed, and millions
more wounded or affected by defoliants such as Agent Orange.
February 3, 1973
President Richard Nixon signed the Endangered Species Act, intended to avoid species extinction, especially through loss of habitat.
February 3, 1988
The U.S. House of Representatives rejected President Ronald Reagan’s request for at least $36.25 million in aid to the Nicaraguan Contras, an insurgent group trying violently to overthrow the Sandinista government.
February 3, 1994
President Bill Clinton lifted the trade embargo against Vietnam, which had been in place since the end of the Vietnam war.

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryfebruary.htm#february3