
On January 31, David Lebryk, the most senior career civil servant in the Treasury, announced he would retire; he had been placed on administrative leave after refusing to give Musk’s DOGE team access to the federal payment system. The next morning, sources tell WIRED, Elez was granted read and write access to PAM and SPS.
On February 3, Politico reported that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Republican lawmakers in the House Financial Services Committee that Musk and DOGE didn’t have control over key Treasury systems. The same day, The New York Times reported that Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said that DOGE’s access was “read-only.”
...Sources tell WIRED that by afternoon of...February 5, Elez’s access had been changed to “read-only” from both read and code-writing privileges.
...The significance of this is that the ability to alter the code on these systems would in theory give a DOGE technologist—and, by extension, Musk, President Donald Trump, or other actors—the capability to, among other things, illegally cut off Congressionally authorized payments to specific individuals or entities.
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Mark Harmon:
Inspired by a recent trip to Walt Disney World, I’ve decided the only way to understand the current Tennessee legislative session is to approach it as a theme park. Here is my guidebook to Legislative Land.
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Trump did not place his hand on the Bible.
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A summary of what's going on:
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Tennessee State Republicans have filed a bill that would allow Tennesseans to sue the manufacturers of abortion-inducing medication if a family member uses it to obtain an abortion.
The House sponsor of the latter bill is Rep. Gino Bulso, a Brentwood Republican who also happens to be trial attorney with a successful track record of personal injury suits. The Senate sponsor is Joey Hensley, the Hohenwald Republican physician who was found in 2020 to have violated medical ethics by prescribing opioids to his medical assistant/cousin/romantic partner.
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There are two articles that speak to where we, in America, are right now:
(link...)...
The first one indicates what Tennesseans think and how far off base from reality they are. The second tells us why this is so.
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Kids who ride electric school buses to school are getting a healthier trip to school. One that is not exposing their developing lungs to asthma and cancer causing pollution because electric school buses don’t have a tailpipe like fossil-fueled buses.
Additionally, electric school buses account for less than half the greenhouse gas emissions of diesel- or propane-burning buses, helping us lower the risk of a warming planet. For communities across the Southeast that are ground zero for rising heat, sea-levels, and catastrophic hurricanes knowing that these buses reduce carbon pollution that is driving these threats is a double benefit.
Additionally, the economics of implementing electric buses mean real savings for the school district because the lifetime cost of operating those vehicles is significantly lower.
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Of course, R Congressmen like Chuck Fleischman voted against the Biden monetary Bill but tried to take credit for all it did for Tennessee. r's helped themselves to the money and now Biden won't help them any more with the result that the TN economy is slowing down.
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The decision concluded TWRA’s warrantless forays onto private property violate Article 1, Section 7 of the Tennessee Constitution, which reads in part: “The people shall be secure in their persons, houses, papers and possessions, from unreasonable searches and seizures.”
This part of the ruling still concerns me:
"The ruling does not apply to privately-owned acreages that are left wild and unused — land the U.S. Supreme Court has dubbed “wild or waste lands” and concluded in a so-called “open fields doctrine” are not subject to traditional search and seizure Constitutional protections. The open fields doctrine has long allowed law enforcement to enter such properties without a warrant."
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Eco warriors and politics
- The state of our society: A prophetic perspective on Tennessee and Memphis (TN Lookout)
- Tennessee’s own EV charging program still running as Trump hits brakes on federal grants (TN Lookout)
- Lawsuits multiply against Trump barrage of orders as Democrats struggle to fight back (TN Lookout)
- U.S. Department of Justice backs out of Tennessee transgender care case (TN Lookout)
- Tennessee speaker’s bill would defund local governments for violating state law (TN Lookout)
- Stockard on the Stump: Old hands, not dark money, push vouchers to passage (TN Lookout)
- U.S. Senate confirms Russ Vought, a Project 2025 author, to manage the nation’s budget (TN Lookout)
- Seattle judge is second to indefinitely block Trump’s birthright citizenship order (TN Lookout)
Science and stuff
- Readers discuss an unsung scientist, a mutant bacterium named Chonkus, Science News’ new look (Science News Daily)
- A daring plan to hold back the sea (Science News Daily)
- Cuttlefish ink may overwhelm sharks’ sense of smell (Science News Daily)
- This bird’s eye view of a shark hunt won a photo contest (Science News Daily)
- A second version of bird flu is infecting cows. What does that mean? (Science News Daily)
- How mantis shrimp deliver punishing blows without hurting themselves (Science News Daily)
- Sleeping pills may have unexpected effects on the snoozing brain (Science News Daily)
- The best way to cook an egg — in 32 minutes (Science News Daily)
- Extinct moa ate purple trufflelike fungi, fossil bird droppings reveal (Science News Daily)
- Can geoengineering plans save glaciers and slow sea level rise? (Science News Daily)
Discussing
- Maybe it's time to reenergize RoaneViews...Or does anyone have a better idea? (2 replies)
- The Constitution Won, Trump Lost in Colorado...Now What? (1 reply)
- Our Very Own George Santos, TN GOP Congressman Ogles is Pretty Much Insane (1 reply)
- Destroying Jim Jordan, All Without Mentioning Jordan's Support For Sexual Abusing Athletes (1 reply)
- Want to See Who Owns Your State Senators and Reps? (1 reply)
- 9-11 Strangest Uninvestigated Fact (2 replies)
- It's Gettin' Real, Now...Gloria Johnson Made Wonkette! (1 reply)
- Does Rep Fritts Want School Shooters to Have Access to AR 15s? (2 replies)
- How many Trees Died Trying Save Us From Global Warming? (1 reply)
- Feel Good Friday,,,From our "If Only" Dept. (1 reply)
- Tennessee Education Worsens Under Bill Lee and GOP (1 reply)
- The Most Important Thing You Will Read Today! (1 reply)
Lost Medicaid Funding
Sponsors
Brother Websites
Local Interest:
Folks that Help:
Progressiveness:
- All Hat No Cattle
- American Progress
- Campaign for America's Future
- Daily KOS
- digby
- Paul Krugman
- Talking Points Memo
- Whitehouse.gov
Local News Media:
Local Government:
- City of Harriman
- City of Harriman Code
- City of Kingston
- City of Kingston Code
- City of Oliver Springs
- City of Oliver Springs Code
- City of Rockwood
- City of Rockwood Code
- Congressman Charles 'Chuck' J. Fleischmann
- Rep. Kent Calfee
- Rep. Ron Travis
- Roane County
- Roane Schools
- St. Sen. Ken Yager
Candidates: