I realize that the first tweet should say "donated" and not "donation" but if I try to fix it now I will mess up the thread so please accept my apologies.
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1. In an extraordinary affidavit filed in federal court on Friday, a former senior civil servant at the Social Security Administration (SSA) detailed how deputies for Elon Musk forced their way into the agency, formed a clandestine unit, and gained access to its most sensitive databases.
Tiffany Flick, the affiant who served as the acting chief of staff to the commissioner of the agency until mid-February, also warned that careless actions by Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) could lead to interruptions in Social Security payments.
2. The SSA was pressured to quickly onboard Akash Bobba, a 22-year-old software engineer who works for DOGE. They were also instructed to give Bobba extraordinary access to the private data of millions of Americans.
3. Much of the information DOGE sought from the SSA related to Musk’s fallacious belief that a significant percentage of Social Security payments are going to dead people
Flick explained that DOGE also misread the agency’s data again by assuming that multiple benefits paid to a single Social Security number indicated fraud.
However, payments to spouses and dependents can be routed through one Social Security number.
The Veterans Administration is requiring therapists to return to the office full time, but does not have enough space for them
As a result, they are forced to provide mental health counseling to veterans in open cubicles
It is an unethical and likely illegal practice
2. In an internal chat among clinical resource hub staff obtained by Popular Information, one therapist reported they were "relocated to a VA call-center cubicle space."
According to the therapist, "VA staff around my cubicle can hear my sessions."
3. The therapist said they were "worried about issues of licensure [and] ethics code violations related to confidentiality."
Another therapist reported that they are being told by leadership that "screen protectors, a white noise machine, and a headset is sufficient to ensure patient privacy in a large bullpen of cubicles." The therapist was skeptical and reported that "these items are not always available."
1. Trump is pushing forward with his plans to create a "Crypto Strategic Reserve."
No one has bothered to explain why diverting government resources into crypto has ANY STRATEGIC BENEFIT FOR THE UNITED STATES.
The only benefit is for people who are current investors in crypto.
It's a grift.
🧵
2. Trump expanded on his plans in on Truth Social on Sunday.
He specified that the "Crypto Strategic Reserve" would not only contain well-known tokens like Bitcoin and Ethereum, but also newer entrants like XRP, Solana (SOL), and Cardano (ADA).
(Ed note: Who is actually writing these posts??)
3. A strategic oil reserve is beneficial in the event of a disruption to the oil supply.
When would a reserve of cryptocurrency be useful, exactly?
Popular Information has obtained an email, sent yesterday by a Trump administration official, explicitly instructing CFPB employees not to carry out activities REQUIRED BY LAW
This directly contradicts what administration lawyers told a federal court
Read it:
2. The Monday email instructs members of the CFPB supervision staff that they are not authorized to resume "supervision/examination activity, even though the Bureau is required by law to carry out these activities."
3. Huggins' email is related to a legal battle between the Trump administration and CFPB employees that started in earnest on February 7, when President Trump named Russell Vought as the acting head of the CFPB.
Vought was one of the principal authors of Project 2025, which called for abolishing the CFPB. On February 10 Vought informed CFPB staff that the office was closed and "employees should stand down from performing any work task."
Soon after almost all CFPB employees were placed on administrative leave
1. The Trump administration has crippled cancer and Alzheimer's research by imposing a freeze on all government credit cards at NIH.
An NIH source with direct knowledge tells Popular Information that scientific research has ground to halt because necessary supplies can no longer be purchased.
2. The credit card freeze, imposed by Trump in a February 26 executive order, allows for "categorical exemptions" for "critical services"
But there is no categorical exemption for NIH research.
3. Musk has angrily rejected claims that DOGE and the White House are hindering funding for cancer research.
"The White House can lie all they want about how they're not stopping cancer research," the NIH source said, "but they're stopping cancer research on [NIH's] Bethesda campus."
1. The benefit of Trump's "shock and awe" approach to governance is that there is so much going on that brazen corruption goes virtually unnoticed.
Consider Coinbase. It was charged by the SEC in 2023 with violating numerous laws.
Now the SEC is dropping the lawsuit.
Why? FOLLOW THE MONEY
2. Coinbase tried to convince a federal judge to dismiss the suit, but the judge ruled against Coinbase in March 2024. Since then, the parties have been conducting discovery -- a process that was scheduled to be completed in August 2025. This has been a major ongoing legal problem for Coinbase.
3. On February 21, Coinbase's CEO wrote that he had "reached an agreement with SEC staff to dismiss their litigation against Coinbase." In exchange for the SEC dismissing the suit, Coinbase will pay "$0 in fines" and make "zero changes"