In the three weeks since Trump was inaugurated, Popular Information and its new sister publication, Musk Watch, have been breaking news and making an impact.
I saw this on BlueSky: “The armed individual who blocked senators from entering federal property bears the insignia of "Triple Canopy", which merged with Blackwater in 2014.
This is a mercenary paramilitary guard for Musk and his minions. *Anyone wearing this insignia should be considered extremely dangerous.*
Is it legal to prevent the senators from entering, and, how many of these guards are in the shadows waiting to fight fellow Americans?
I saw in a news report after the incident that there were about 2 dozen officers on the other side of the glass door. You could kind of see them but not the patches in a video. Reporter said Homeland Security and I believe “private security.”
The photo I'm referring to was posted by user @spartacus-nemik.bsky.social on Feb. 8, 2025. I'm not able to copy it. Thank you for your news article link. This whole thing stinks and makes me worried.
BTW, I wasn’t doubting what you said. There was more than one man at the door. One in civvies and the other earlier who moved out of the video frame. I thought it was a p/r move. Knowing it was on video they preferred the cameras be on the guy in civvies. Have no idea if there were others are different points of time. Regardless this involved multiple players.
Would like to,see more about how main stream media is ignoring protests and other things taking place and instead have become Trump/Musk tools for misinformation.
And why if, for example the story is about Trump and tarrifs with Canada, do we always get a picture of Trump and not a picture of what the story is about (did I espresso that vorrectly?) I’m tired os sēdina his mug shot everywhere
They have been bought out by the oligarchs over the last decade or so. They print what they're told to print. They are essentially the propaganda arm of MAGA.
Please we need your investigative prowess turned to the media itself . You work and the work of many independents is appreciated and vital. There is a great need for all media to explain in terms of human live effected or potentially effected exactly what is happening. The need is for IMMEDIATE HUMAN LIVES IMPACT. Not abstract nut gritty real effects. This is what “sells” . We need loud impact stories .
Yes, the word has to get out about what is happening and how it will affect all Americans. But the current media will not make that happen. I would like to hear more ideas about how we can let everyday people, many of whom are ignoring what is going on, know the consequences for them. I have shared one idea: A small group can put together a website where on the homepage is listed the Actions, Consequences, and Likely Consequences of the Trump administration actions. The language would be simple so it is easy to follow. After each action and consequence, links to "See Details" and "See Evidence" would be provided. This site could be a place where people return to to catch up on what is happening and how it is affecting them. A site where journalists and others can reference in their discussion of these issues. Keep it simple.
It'd be nice to see documented the utterly harmful effects of this administration's actions are having on the voters who chose to empower these bastards.
Further?
We need to know what the actual substantive options ARE for the citizens in the face of this gleeful murdering of representative democracy.
Is there a road map out of what Trump 2.0 is doing? The non response to obeying court orders seems like he is already a dictator. As for Musk, how does he have so much authority, is Congress even a valid check to him or is he free to run amok?
I have contacted my Maga rep and 2 blue Senators both of whom voted for some of his cabinet pics. SMH. Reposted your articles and other substack writers I follow. I know what happened in 1933/34 Germany and I see so many parallels.
Thanks for substack writers like you Judd are our beacon of hope in a scariest of landscape.
Echoing what others have said about the need to break through to Americans that what is currently happening at the federal level will have profound consequences for everyone, not just those affected within the federal government — I am a federal employee and am seeing firsthand the disconnect that even friends who "read the news" have with what's currently happening. When I forward them communications I'm receiving from OPM and from within my agency, they're aghast—yet they've been seeing and reading the news report on these goings on. Somehow, though, the language and tone of the news media do not break through; they are trance-inducing; they seem to normalize or legitimize what's happening before the full import can reach people. Perhaps this itself can be reported on. What do the news media need to be doing differently to break through to people? Why won't the media sound the alarms that need to be sounded? Does the media benefit from people not taking to the streets in protest?
We need reporting on the downstream impacts of the smash and grab, especially in red states. Also the enrichment/engorgement of the #DirtyOldRapist and his band of marauders. THANK YOU FOR YOUR FEARLESS WORK.
I'm frightened. I call and write my senators and representative, but fear it does no good. I'm from Indiana, but am considering moving, this is not a happy place.
I depend on on Judd and NPR and PBS for honest news. And the Indy Star as well, they are trying hard.
The question is: What can we do to fight? I absolutely refuse to be a frog in the water. I will fight! I will Not give in! I may go down, but as I hold these truths to be self evident, I will go down swinging!
I really like that you created a Musk-specific newsletter. I am afraid that the "flood the zone" plan is going to create a lot of noise and we are going to miss what is really happening. Some of the best reporting that PI has done is at the local level - where the policies of the ideologs meet reality.
Hey Popular Information, you've become popular information in the top rungs of government--just where yo were meant to be! This is your calling: to bring truth to power! Your work (and we know how hard and long you and your team work) is THE way to fight back against this corrupt and destructive ways in which the frauds are finding fiendish ways to get the power they cannot earn on their merits.
Has everyone seen Rachel Maddow's report on how hundreds of people ALL over our country are protesting to their R Senators and Congressmen and women [Deb Fisher], and organizing groups of hundreds that overflow the offered venues in which to voice how they feel about what Trump and Musk are doing? Take heart! The people--WE--are speaking and acting and being seen and heard. They have caught so many of their elected representatives in the lie that Musk was given the "read only" when we all now KNOW that he was given the "read and write" approval.
I've been involved in letter writing campaigns per Scott Dworkin and Heather Cox-Richardson provides phone links to the various representatives. I'll start the links next.
There's an app for that -- 5Calls -- if you put in your zip code it gives you the phone #s for your elected reps, the top topics you can choose from, and it tracks how many calls are made. Simple and effective, makes it easy to call and have your voice heard.
Great job Adam! My sister and I have been doing the same. Each day contacting another representative, voicing disagreement, sometimes support, regarding the news of the day. It so often doesn't feel like much. I would appreciate Judd including suggests for those of us who want to voice our resistance. What is the most effective use of time?
I got curious about what the FAA fined Musk $633,000 for, although I doubt he paid it since he got the FAA head to "resign." I looked into it. Apparently there were 2 fines. The first seems to be about not allowing a countdown for launch to be interrupted past a certain point. The second has to do with an unauthorized "tank farm". A tank farm is a place with lots of tanks of rocket fuel. They are supposed to get authorization whenever they change tank farms, presumably for safety reasons, but I guess Musk didn't care to wait for the authorization so they started using a new tank farm. Now, I live near the NASA/Kennedy/SpaceX/BlueOrigin complex in FL. An "accident" at a tank farm could blow my town to smithereens. Is anything being done to police the untouchable Musk/SpaceX? This should be researched by persons who know more about flammable tanks than I.
Trans people are really scared right now. The ACLU says passports are being denied, original documents kept, in some cases passports seized. What's next?
Are we losing access to adult care? Is it possible that the Musk brats, with their access to so much personal information, can turn over a list of names and addresses?
It’s the America that people before me grew up in. It’s the America I grew up in.
It is the America they want to drag us back to. An America before there was any recognition of rights for marginalized people. Before there was a serious thought that health care was a right not a privilege or something to be ‘earned’. Before there was a Civil Rights Movement and the 60s-70s that had so much turmoil; so many people in the streets; and so much violence.
But we’ve mostly wiped it from our brains and history.
I truly appreciate everything you are doing. I would like to know what happens when T&M refuse to obey rulings by fed judges. I understand that impeachment is out of the question, but is there any recourse for us? Other than phone calls and letter writing... I'm ready to fight for my country, but would rather not resort to violence.
Indivisible.org has a sub-section called "Truth Brigade" that helps train people (like you and I) how to talk calmly with those infected by the Fox virus (ie disinformation). They offer regular trainings and on-line meetings to help formulate strategies for countering disinformation.
There are cracks forming but not among the ‘hard core.’ A gal on facebook advised people to consult experts on the economy - “he knows what he’s doing” - prices will come down.
I told her it was mathematically impossible to bring prices down by adding costs (tariffs / taxes). I’d studied economics enough to know companies use formulas to estimate how much it will increase prices & reduce sales. Reducing sales = less product = higher prices.
Loved her answer. “I didn’t read all of your comment. If I wanted that information I’d take an economics class.” 😂
My ignorance is BETTER than yer GD facts, praise Trump Jesus n God, amen!
PS: Once upon a time I worked for US Customs Ministerial Division in the section that calculated the formula for any particular VAT (value added tax) for any particular product from any particular country.
Precisely. The laughing emoji was added by me because the irony of telling anyone who disagrees to consult experts as she admitted to wallowing in ignorance was too much.
I know for straightforward blanket increases in cost of materials or additional taxes it is a relatively simple formula to find the point of “equilibrium” which is “price”. Tariffs are more complicated because of retaliation & a multitude of variables - including whimsical & corrupt ones.
As I understand VAT it applies to finished products versus components & raw materials. This gem from the not-so-liberal CATO Institute shows how crazy tariffs can be:
Seven Charts Showing How Canada/Mexico Tariffs Would Harm the US Auto Industry (and American Car Buyers)
“The North American automotive supply chain is so interwoven across all three USMCA countries that an engine, transmission, or other automotive component might cross the US-Canada and US-Mexico borders as much as seven or eight times before it ends up in a finished vehicle.“
For people who feel like nothing is being done in opposition, it would be nice to have a resistance report of some kind like "this week there were x number of protests and x number of lawsuits filed" etc. Maybe including some information on the different groups who are protesting. It's just as important to know who you're fighting for as who you are fighting against.
Also, under all the favorable polling data are negatives that will grow as the clown show continues. It’s looking like concepts are more popular than the plan. Yahoo News collected and reported current negative factoids from a variety of sources with the positive polling:
13% of Americans said it would be a “good idea” for the U.S. to take over Gaza
Most oppose new tariffs on Canada (62%), Mexico (56%) and Europe (60%)
52% oppose U.S. government establishing large detention centers to be used while the government determined whether immigrants should be deported.
58% of Americans oppose Trump’s decision to pardon Jan 6ers who “forced their way” into the U.S. Capitol
74% disapprove pardons to Jan 6ers convicted of violent crimes
51% of Americans believe Musk has a lot of influence within Trump’s administration
13% Approve
46% do not want Musk to have any influence.
60% have an unfavorable view of the president relying on a billionaire for advice about government policy
66% said Trump is not focusing enough on “lowering the prices of goods and services.”
51% say grocery prices will increase versus decrease 28%
73% said proposed tariffs would make things more expensive versus 8% less expensive
I saw this on BlueSky: “The armed individual who blocked senators from entering federal property bears the insignia of "Triple Canopy", which merged with Blackwater in 2014.
This is a mercenary paramilitary guard for Musk and his minions. *Anyone wearing this insignia should be considered extremely dangerous.*
Is it legal to prevent the senators from entering, and, how many of these guards are in the shadows waiting to fight fellow Americans?
This is very troubling.
I saw in a news report after the incident that there were about 2 dozen officers on the other side of the glass door. You could kind of see them but not the patches in a video. Reporter said Homeland Security and I believe “private security.”
This just says Homeland Security. https://oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2025/02/07/oregon-rep-bonamici-among-electeds-inexplicably-locked-out-of-u-s-education-department-friday/
The photo I'm referring to was posted by user @spartacus-nemik.bsky.social on Feb. 8, 2025. I'm not able to copy it. Thank you for your news article link. This whole thing stinks and makes me worried.
BTW, I wasn’t doubting what you said. There was more than one man at the door. One in civvies and the other earlier who moved out of the video frame. I thought it was a p/r move. Knowing it was on video they preferred the cameras be on the guy in civvies. Have no idea if there were others are different points of time. Regardless this involved multiple players.
Democrats support blocking insurgents from entering government buildings.
No, it's not. The only way to get past them is armed force unless their commander orders them to stand down.
Yes, it is. The military is under the Orange Felon’s command.
Congress does not and cannot give orders to the military.
Would like to,see more about how main stream media is ignoring protests and other things taking place and instead have become Trump/Musk tools for misinformation.
And why if, for example the story is about Trump and tarrifs with Canada, do we always get a picture of Trump and not a picture of what the story is about (did I espresso that vorrectly?) I’m tired os sēdina his mug shot everywhere
Agree agree agree, and was thinking the same thing yesterday: always his picture like a deity???
The corporate media is addicted to him and the money he generates—would love to see a breakdown of their profits as it relates to him somehow
'The mainstreammedia' are corporations. Selling a product to you. Up to you to buy or seek small businesses such as on substack
They have been bought out by the oligarchs over the last decade or so. They print what they're told to print. They are essentially the propaganda arm of MAGA.
Because people will scroll past a picture of groceries, a car or an aluminum factory in the bat of an eye.
Yes!
Please we need your investigative prowess turned to the media itself . You work and the work of many independents is appreciated and vital. There is a great need for all media to explain in terms of human live effected or potentially effected exactly what is happening. The need is for IMMEDIATE HUMAN LIVES IMPACT. Not abstract nut gritty real effects. This is what “sells” . We need loud impact stories .
Yes, the word has to get out about what is happening and how it will affect all Americans. But the current media will not make that happen. I would like to hear more ideas about how we can let everyday people, many of whom are ignoring what is going on, know the consequences for them. I have shared one idea: A small group can put together a website where on the homepage is listed the Actions, Consequences, and Likely Consequences of the Trump administration actions. The language would be simple so it is easy to follow. After each action and consequence, links to "See Details" and "See Evidence" would be provided. This site could be a place where people return to to catch up on what is happening and how it is affecting them. A site where journalists and others can reference in their discussion of these issues. Keep it simple.
Also, keep it hierarchically tagged/organized by type and extent of impact and urgency/time sensitivity.
Many people can address just one thing and need to focus, but in a manner coordinated with the whole.
Excellent suggestion.
Great idea!
It'd be nice to see documented the utterly harmful effects of this administration's actions are having on the voters who chose to empower these bastards.
Further?
We need to know what the actual substantive options ARE for the citizens in the face of this gleeful murdering of representative democracy.
Many local groups are forming via Indivisible.org. Find a local group and join it if you're ready to take substantive action.
Is there a road map out of what Trump 2.0 is doing? The non response to obeying court orders seems like he is already a dictator. As for Musk, how does he have so much authority, is Congress even a valid check to him or is he free to run amok?
I have contacted my Maga rep and 2 blue Senators both of whom voted for some of his cabinet pics. SMH. Reposted your articles and other substack writers I follow. I know what happened in 1933/34 Germany and I see so many parallels.
Thanks for substack writers like you Judd are our beacon of hope in a scariest of landscape.
Trump is letting him run wild.
Echoing what others have said about the need to break through to Americans that what is currently happening at the federal level will have profound consequences for everyone, not just those affected within the federal government — I am a federal employee and am seeing firsthand the disconnect that even friends who "read the news" have with what's currently happening. When I forward them communications I'm receiving from OPM and from within my agency, they're aghast—yet they've been seeing and reading the news report on these goings on. Somehow, though, the language and tone of the news media do not break through; they are trance-inducing; they seem to normalize or legitimize what's happening before the full import can reach people. Perhaps this itself can be reported on. What do the news media need to be doing differently to break through to people? Why won't the media sound the alarms that need to be sounded? Does the media benefit from people not taking to the streets in protest?
We need reporting on the downstream impacts of the smash and grab, especially in red states. Also the enrichment/engorgement of the #DirtyOldRapist and his band of marauders. THANK YOU FOR YOUR FEARLESS WORK.
I'm frightened. I call and write my senators and representative, but fear it does no good. I'm from Indiana, but am considering moving, this is not a happy place.
I depend on on Judd and NPR and PBS for honest news. And the Indy Star as well, they are trying hard.
The question is: What can we do to fight? I absolutely refuse to be a frog in the water. I will fight! I will Not give in! I may go down, but as I hold these truths to be self evident, I will go down swinging!
Many local groups are forming via Indivisible.org. Find a local group and join it if you're ready to take substantive action.
I really like that you created a Musk-specific newsletter. I am afraid that the "flood the zone" plan is going to create a lot of noise and we are going to miss what is really happening. Some of the best reporting that PI has done is at the local level - where the policies of the ideologs meet reality.
Hey Popular Information, you've become popular information in the top rungs of government--just where yo were meant to be! This is your calling: to bring truth to power! Your work (and we know how hard and long you and your team work) is THE way to fight back against this corrupt and destructive ways in which the frauds are finding fiendish ways to get the power they cannot earn on their merits.
Has everyone seen Rachel Maddow's report on how hundreds of people ALL over our country are protesting to their R Senators and Congressmen and women [Deb Fisher], and organizing groups of hundreds that overflow the offered venues in which to voice how they feel about what Trump and Musk are doing? Take heart! The people--WE--are speaking and acting and being seen and heard. They have caught so many of their elected representatives in the lie that Musk was given the "read only" when we all now KNOW that he was given the "read and write" approval.
I've been involved in letter writing campaigns per Scott Dworkin and Heather Cox-Richardson provides phone links to the various representatives. I'll start the links next.
There's an app for that -- 5Calls -- if you put in your zip code it gives you the phone #s for your elected reps, the top topics you can choose from, and it tracks how many calls are made. Simple and effective, makes it easy to call and have your voice heard.
I read about that app and will get it!!!
PS: Muchos gracias!
Great job Adam! My sister and I have been doing the same. Each day contacting another representative, voicing disagreement, sometimes support, regarding the news of the day. It so often doesn't feel like much. I would appreciate Judd including suggests for those of us who want to voice our resistance. What is the most effective use of time?
Likewise, kudos to you and your sister Kelli. Like the two of you, I want to do something more than voice "concern."
I got curious about what the FAA fined Musk $633,000 for, although I doubt he paid it since he got the FAA head to "resign." I looked into it. Apparently there were 2 fines. The first seems to be about not allowing a countdown for launch to be interrupted past a certain point. The second has to do with an unauthorized "tank farm". A tank farm is a place with lots of tanks of rocket fuel. They are supposed to get authorization whenever they change tank farms, presumably for safety reasons, but I guess Musk didn't care to wait for the authorization so they started using a new tank farm. Now, I live near the NASA/Kennedy/SpaceX/BlueOrigin complex in FL. An "accident" at a tank farm could blow my town to smithereens. Is anything being done to police the untouchable Musk/SpaceX? This should be researched by persons who know more about flammable tanks than I.
Trans people are really scared right now. The ACLU says passports are being denied, original documents kept, in some cases passports seized. What's next?
Are we losing access to adult care? Is it possible that the Musk brats, with their access to so much personal information, can turn over a list of names and addresses?
How is it that our most vulnerable citizens now have the least protections? This is not the America I grew up in.
It’s the America that people before me grew up in. It’s the America I grew up in.
It is the America they want to drag us back to. An America before there was any recognition of rights for marginalized people. Before there was a serious thought that health care was a right not a privilege or something to be ‘earned’. Before there was a Civil Rights Movement and the 60s-70s that had so much turmoil; so many people in the streets; and so much violence.
But we’ve mostly wiped it from our brains and history.
I truly appreciate everything you are doing. I would like to know what happens when T&M refuse to obey rulings by fed judges. I understand that impeachment is out of the question, but is there any recourse for us? Other than phone calls and letter writing... I'm ready to fight for my country, but would rather not resort to violence.
Why is impeachment out of the question? Completely? Irrevocably? It wouldn’t be if we all took to the streets, ala South Korea recently …
How can you get the truth you investigate out to rural areas?
Indivisible.org has a sub-section called "Truth Brigade" that helps train people (like you and I) how to talk calmly with those infected by the Fox virus (ie disinformation). They offer regular trainings and on-line meetings to help formulate strategies for countering disinformation.
Good thought. People won't question anything if they think they already know the answers.
There are cracks forming but not among the ‘hard core.’ A gal on facebook advised people to consult experts on the economy - “he knows what he’s doing” - prices will come down.
I told her it was mathematically impossible to bring prices down by adding costs (tariffs / taxes). I’d studied economics enough to know companies use formulas to estimate how much it will increase prices & reduce sales. Reducing sales = less product = higher prices.
Loved her answer. “I didn’t read all of your comment. If I wanted that information I’d take an economics class.” 😂
My ignorance is BETTER than yer GD facts, praise Trump Jesus n God, amen!
PS: Once upon a time I worked for US Customs Ministerial Division in the section that calculated the formula for any particular VAT (value added tax) for any particular product from any particular country.
Precisely. The laughing emoji was added by me because the irony of telling anyone who disagrees to consult experts as she admitted to wallowing in ignorance was too much.
I know for straightforward blanket increases in cost of materials or additional taxes it is a relatively simple formula to find the point of “equilibrium” which is “price”. Tariffs are more complicated because of retaliation & a multitude of variables - including whimsical & corrupt ones.
As I understand VAT it applies to finished products versus components & raw materials. This gem from the not-so-liberal CATO Institute shows how crazy tariffs can be:
Seven Charts Showing How Canada/Mexico Tariffs Would Harm the US Auto Industry (and American Car Buyers)
“The North American automotive supply chain is so interwoven across all three USMCA countries that an engine, transmission, or other automotive component might cross the US-Canada and US-Mexico borders as much as seven or eight times before it ends up in a finished vehicle.“
https://www.cato.org/blog/seven-charts-show-how-us-tariffs-would-harm-american-auto-industry#:~:text=Multiple%20Tariffs%20on%20a%20Single,up%20in%20a%20finished%20vehicle.
Wow! You DO know how to research your subject matter. Thank you for nuanced and practical lesson.
Thank you!
Please continue to cover the assault on science in America and what it means for patients, now and in the future.
There's several good Substacks run by real scientists on almost every topic, including medicine, immunology, public health, etc.
For people who feel like nothing is being done in opposition, it would be nice to have a resistance report of some kind like "this week there were x number of protests and x number of lawsuits filed" etc. Maybe including some information on the different groups who are protesting. It's just as important to know who you're fighting for as who you are fighting against.
Keep up the good work! I appreciate you.
Also, under all the favorable polling data are negatives that will grow as the clown show continues. It’s looking like concepts are more popular than the plan. Yahoo News collected and reported current negative factoids from a variety of sources with the positive polling:
13% of Americans said it would be a “good idea” for the U.S. to take over Gaza
Most oppose new tariffs on Canada (62%), Mexico (56%) and Europe (60%)
52% oppose U.S. government establishing large detention centers to be used while the government determined whether immigrants should be deported.
58% of Americans oppose Trump’s decision to pardon Jan 6ers who “forced their way” into the U.S. Capitol
74% disapprove pardons to Jan 6ers convicted of violent crimes
51% of Americans believe Musk has a lot of influence within Trump’s administration
13% Approve
46% do not want Musk to have any influence.
60% have an unfavorable view of the president relying on a billionaire for advice about government policy
66% said Trump is not focusing enough on “lowering the prices of goods and services.”
51% say grocery prices will increase versus decrease 28%
73% said proposed tariffs would make things more expensive versus 8% less expensive
32% believed such tariffs would create new jobs.
This is a good idea. A resistance report.
THIS. 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻
There is something on Bluesky associated with David Hogg