The original definition of state capture refers to the way formal procedures (such as laws and social norms) and government bureaucracy are manipulated by government officials, state-backed companies, private companies or private individuals, so as to influence state policies and laws in their favour.
State capture seeks to influence the formation of laws, in order to protect and promote influential actors and their interests. In this way it differs from most other forms of corruption which instead seek selective enforcement of already existing laws.[4]
[…]
A distinguishing factor from corruption is that, though in cases of corruption the outcome (of policy or regulatory decision) is not certain, in cases of state capture the outcome is known and is highly likely to be beneficial to the captors of the state. In 2017, a group of South African academics further developed the concept in a report on state capture in South Africa, titled “Betrayal of the Promise Report”.[7] The analysis emphasised the political character of state capture, arguing that in South Africa a power elite violated the Constitution and broke the law in the service of a political project, which they believed unachievable in the existing constitutional/legal framework.
A 2023 academic paper argued that “the concept of state capture helps to structure our understanding of patterns of grand corruption seen around the world in varied contexts, and increasingly even in countries once regarded as secure democracies.”
President Trump showed no humanity when suggesting the U.S. should forcibly relocate every resident of Gaza, the CIA and FBI are purging their ranks at the behest of the Trump administration, and a fast food brand is bringing back a problematic mascot that probably should have stayed retired.
“Elon Musk—the man Republicans are letting dismantle the government—has a direct personal and financial interest in dismantling much of the government. He’s a walking conflict of interest,” says Chris Hayes.
Tim Ryan. all grey now, just trashed Schumer’s appearance as Schumer was chanting “we will win—we won’t rest” Ryan said it’s not a good look for our party. Scarborough agrees. We do need a strategy, true. We need Musk in front of Congress. I agree with Ryan, and I voted for him.
The protests were shown online, but not on the evening news. The evening news network depends on who is home. I prefer Lester Holt on NBC, because he doesn’t sound like his hair is on GD fire, like David Muir at ABC.
Last night, someone else put on CBS. Two men at a desk never mentioning protests not Musk. They spent most of the time showing what USAID does, including a long clip in a village somewhere, that looked like it was from 60 Minutes.
Then, they mentioned the FCC demanding the 60 Minutes tape of the interview with Kamala Harris. Apparently, Adolf-the-Insecure thinks the interview was edited to make her look smart. He is such a loser.
Anyway, there’s more news out there, but the folks who look at the TV around dinner time have no idea what’s going on.
“Among the signatories of the impeachment complaint was the president’s son, Rep. Sandro Marcos, and Romualdez. The petition urged the Senate to shift itself into an impeachment court to try the vice president, “render a judgement of conviction,” remove her from office and ban her from holding public office.”
“Han Duck-soo, who was briefly acting president after Yoon was impeached and suspended from power on Dec. 14, before being impeached himself, on Thursday joined acting President Choi Sang-mok, the finance minister, in facing parliamentary questioning over their role in the shock martial law decision.”
“press is not able to keep up with the deluge”
pogo, yep, as mused yesterday about the media: their headlines, interviews, and panel discussions are mostly on the man spinning the glittery tariff and terror plates while ignoring the guy over there manipulating* your privates (info) while shutting down gov’t at will.
“Some federal employees say they found a program downloaded to their govt computers that could be used to sift through their team chats to search for key words.
Treasury computers reportedly included in this.
Some staff told @CBSNews
they think Musk’s team is looking for signs of progressive thinking or disloyalty to Trump.”
I’ve already called both of my Senators today. It’s your turn. Switchboard: 202-224-3121
18 U.S.C. § 1752 is a federal law that prohibits disorderly conduct or trespassing in restricted buildings or grounds. It also makes it illegal to disrupt government business at certain residences and offices
*********
18 U.S.C. § 2071
This section of the U.S. Code covers the concealment, removal, or mutilation of records, documents, and other items. It is part of Title 18, which covers crimes and criminal procedure. The section states that anyone who willfully and unlawfully conceals, removes, or destroys a record can be fined, imprisoned, or both. They may also forfeit their office and be disqualified from holding any office under the United States.
*******
The Privacy Act of 1974 (Pub. L.93–579, 88 Stat.1896, enacted December 31, 1974, 5 U.S.C.§ 552a), a United States federal law, establishes a Code of Fair Information Practice that governs the collection, maintenance, use, and dissemination of personally identifiable information about individuals that is maintained in systems of records by federal agencies. A system of records is a group of records under the control of an agency from which information is retrieved by the name of the individual or by some identifier assigned to the individual. The Privacy Act requires that agencies give the public notice of their systems of records by publication in the Federal Register.
******
Title 18, United States Code, Section 1030 is the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). It is a federal law that criminalizes unauthorized access to protected computers, also known as hacking
It does not matter if Adolf directed him to do this, because this is not part of his duties in the Executive Branch.
If we were still a nation of laws, if Republicans weren’t currently wiping their backsides with the US Constitution, this would’ve been shut down on day one. They are arrogant and forgetful. Sure, Hitler had a ~good~ run, but those n@zis lost, as will these n@zis.
How long before FBI, CIA, or military takes out Elon and the incels, if not Adolf?
“The most noteworthy new program for free tax-prep, IRS Direct File, came under fire this week from Elon Musk, who tweeted Monday that the service had been “deleted.” Democrats and Republicans in Congress are battling over its future.”
“Scott Bessent, the new Treasury secretary, committed to keeping Direct File open through the current tax season.”
“However, in a post Monday on X, Elon Musk suggested Direct File had been “deleted” as part of his campaign against government overspending.
The program’s website was still up Wednesday morning, although an X account for an associated IRS agency was down. The IRS offered no official comment. The big question now is whether taxpayers will still entrust their returns to the embattled service.”
More chaos from un-elected President MuskRat.
Anyone owing should just file for an extension. Not a dime until this South African ketamine addict is gone.
“A photograph purporting to show the American flag being flown upside down outside the State Department has gone viral on social media.”
“It is unclear whether the viral photo is genuine or, if it is, whether the upside-down flag was a mistake or an act of protest by a disgruntled employee.”
“DOGE to Make ‘Rapid Safety Upgrades’ to Air Traffic Control: Elon Musk”
“In posts on X (formerly Twitter), recently sworn-in Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said, “Big News – Talked to the DOGE team. They are going to plug in to help upgrade our aviation system.”
Hmmm, didn’t Elon say Space-X crashes were good because they were educational?
RR – The flags around here at banks, etc., have remained at half-staff. I took a video of one outside of a restaurant and flipped it to appear upside-down, but I’ve yet to get a picture to post.
Would the coup fing team have installed kill switches? I tend to think the systems involved do not lend themselves to that (see my legacy post). What they could have and rumoured to have done, is tamper with the systems that direct data, either add more of the addressee links or added links a step earlier. Someone who was kicked out said they were directing data to an outside server which was going to multiple locations, one being where the data collection for training, for a “AI” system. We also know they have been testing ways to kill outputs, things such as payments or access.
They probably are not able to understand they systems internals, but the user interfaces are usually current coding due to interfacing the constantly changing external world. As long as there is no feedback circuit cut, they would muck with the face and how data is intake and outtake.
“On Wednesday evening, the U.S. State Department said in a social media post: “U.S. government vessels can now transit the Panama Canal without charge fees, saving the U.S. government millions of dollars a year.”
“The Panama Canal Authority put out its own terse statement later Wednesday night saying it had “not made any adjustments” to the fees, adding that it was “willing to establish a dialogue with the pertinent officials from the United States in regards to the transit of U.S. Navy ships.”
“Mulino said the U.S. statement “really surprises me because they’re making an important, institutional statement from the entity that governs United States foreign policy under the president of the United States based on a falsity. And that’s intolerable.”
“Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino on Thursday denied the U.S. State Department’s claim that his country had reached a deal to allow U.S. warships to transit the Panama Canal for free.”
“DOGE Staffer Resigns Over Racist PostsEmployee has links to a deleted social-media account that advocated for racism and eugenics”
“A staffer for Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency whose access to U.S. Treasury payment systems was approved by a federal judge on Thursday has links to a deleted social-media account that advocated for racism and eugenics.”
“The 25-year old employee, Marko Elz resigned…” (pay wall)
Hmm, sounds like more of a requirement to work for the yt supremacist’s fake governmental department. If it’s actually a problema, shouldn’t MuskRat resign?
A rebuke from the prophet Isaiah has been ringing in my ears the past few weeks: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter” (5:20).
stuff
1 month ago
connections had a hidden KKK reference today
oh wait nvm i’m associating “grand duke “ with “david duke” and “grand wizard”
they got me jumpy, still a weird fuckin’ puzzle today
“Congress has the power to overturn an executive order by passing legislation that invalidates it, and can also refuse to provide funding necessary to carry out certain policy measures contained with the order or legitimize policy mechanisms.”
So, all Congress has to do is revoke the EO that created DOGE (which was never authorized by Congress and was not funded-so where’s the money coming from to pay MuskRat’s incels?) and then charge him with all of the crimes I listed earlier today.
“Trump energy secretary allowed 23-year-old DOGE rep to access IT systems over objections from general counsel”
“Wright granted access to DOGE representative Luke Farritor — a 23-year-old former SpaceX intern — even over objections from members of the department’s general counsel and chief information offices, the people told CNN. The DOE chief information office is the department’s IT and cybersecurity office.
Members of the general counsel and chief information offices “said this is a bad idea” because Farritor hadn’t had a standard background investigation needed to access the department’s system, one of the people told CNN. “He’s not cleared to be in DOE, on our systems. None of those things have been done.”
“In addition to DOGE presence in the building, Energy Department employees — including the National Nuclear Security Administration — have received the so-called buyout emails that employees in many other agencies have been receiving. The “buyouts” generally allow employees to leave their jobs but be paid through the end of September. NNSA being included in the “buyout” wave is significant because it manufactures and maintains the nation’s nuclear stockpile and does other critical national security work.”
Sooo, Elon is just going to hand us over to Russia?
and with him the deluge
Wiki on state capture:
meanwhile DODO intends to capture Gaza
President Trump showed no humanity when suggesting the U.S. should forcibly relocate every resident of Gaza, the CIA and FBI are purging their ranks at the behest of the Trump administration, and a fast food brand is bringing back a problematic mascot that probably should have stayed retired.
but back to the thread topic
“Elon Musk—the man Republicans are letting dismantle the government—has a direct personal and financial interest in dismantling much of the government. He’s a walking conflict of interest,” says Chris Hayes.
Anti-Trump protesters rally in cities across US
— USA TODAY
Tim Ryan. all grey now, just trashed Schumer’s appearance as Schumer was chanting “we will win—we won’t rest” Ryan said it’s not a good look for our party. Scarborough agrees. We do need a strategy, true. We need Musk in front of Congress. I agree with Ryan, and I voted for him.
Gaza.
It wouldn’t be the first time Whitey stole land from the natives.
latest from FL cartoonist Andy Marlette
and
The protests were shown online, but not on the evening news. The evening news network depends on who is home. I prefer Lester Holt on NBC, because he doesn’t sound like his hair is on GD fire, like David Muir at ABC.
Last night, someone else put on CBS. Two men at a desk never mentioning protests not Musk. They spent most of the time showing what USAID does, including a long clip in a village somewhere, that looked like it was from 60 Minutes.
Then, they mentioned the FCC demanding the 60 Minutes tape of the interview with Kamala Harris. Apparently, Adolf-the-Insecure thinks the interview was edited to make her look smart. He is such a loser.
Anyway, there’s more news out there, but the folks who look at the TV around dinner time have no idea what’s going on.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/05/asia/philippines-vp-duterte-impeachment-intl-hnk/index.html
“Among the signatories of the impeachment complaint was the president’s son, Rep. Sandro Marcos, and Romualdez. The petition urged the Senate to shift itself into an impeachment court to try the vice president, “render a judgement of conviction,” remove her from office and ban her from holding public office.”
************
https://www.voanews.com/a/south-korea-s-impeached-prime-minister-says-cabinet-had-concerns-over-martial-law/7964811.html
“Han Duck-soo, who was briefly acting president after Yoon was impeached and suspended from power on Dec. 14, before being impeached himself, on Thursday joined acting President Choi Sang-mok, the finance minister, in facing parliamentary questioning over their role in the shock martial law decision.”
It seems to be going around.
I believe I can say without fear of being contradicted that the waters are being muddied and the press is not able to keep up with the deluge.
“press is not able to keep up with the deluge”
pogo, yep, as mused yesterday about the media: their headlines, interviews, and panel discussions are mostly on the man spinning the glittery tariff and terror plates while ignoring the guy over there manipulating* your privates (info) while shutting down gov’t at will.
*variation of “grab ’em because they let you”
Spotted reference to a temporary hold on the coup, maybe from D.C. judge?
today’s meme…
The press has become The Enemy of Our Being Informed.
https://x.com/JenniferJJacobs/status/1887499686119915893
“Some federal employees say they found a program downloaded to their govt computers that could be used to sift through their team chats to search for key words.
Treasury computers reportedly included in this.
Some staff told @CBSNews
they think Musk’s team is looking for signs of progressive thinking or disloyalty to Trump.”
I’ve already called both of my Senators today. It’s your turn. Switchboard: 202-224-3121
This is the “surprise” Adolf said he and Elon had planned. It’s a coup.
“After this you won’t have to vote again.”
Beyond stupid
Laws MuskRat & his helper monkeys have broken:
18 U.S.C. § 1752 is a federal law that prohibits disorderly conduct or trespassing in restricted buildings or grounds. It also makes it illegal to disrupt government business at certain residences and offices
*********
18 U.S.C. § 2071
This section of the U.S. Code covers the concealment, removal, or mutilation of records, documents, and other items. It is part of Title 18, which covers crimes and criminal procedure. The section states that anyone who willfully and unlawfully conceals, removes, or destroys a record can be fined, imprisoned, or both. They may also forfeit their office and be disqualified from holding any office under the United States.
*******
The Privacy Act of 1974 (Pub. L. 93–579, 88 Stat. 1896, enacted December 31, 1974, 5 U.S.C. § 552a), a United States federal law, establishes a Code of Fair Information Practice that governs the collection, maintenance, use, and dissemination of personally identifiable information about individuals that is maintained in systems of records by federal agencies. A system of records is a group of records under the control of an agency from which information is retrieved by the name of the individual or by some identifier assigned to the individual. The Privacy Act requires that agencies give the public notice of their systems of records by publication in the Federal Register.
******
Title 18, United States Code, Section 1030 is the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). It is a federal law that criminalizes unauthorized access to protected computers, also known as hacking
It does not matter if Adolf directed him to do this, because this is not part of his duties in the Executive Branch.
If we were still a nation of laws, if Republicans weren’t currently wiping their backsides with the US Constitution, this would’ve been shut down on day one. They are arrogant and forgetful. Sure, Hitler had a ~good~ run, but those n@zis lost, as will these n@zis.
How long before FBI, CIA, or military takes out Elon and the incels, if not Adolf?
Ummm, yesterday Adolf said US troops would clear unexploded bombs. So, now zero troops. Got it.
BY the way, Gaza is a distraction from what Elon is doing. The media needs to pay attention to what’s important right now.
Adolf thought confirmation hearings would give Elon cover to rob the US Treasury, but it didn’t work…so let’s float something about Gaza.
Pay attention! It’s Evil Elon that needs the spotlight. Let it burn that effing, South African vampire like the sun!
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2025/02/04/did-elon-musk-delete-free-irs-tax-preparation/78193236007/
“The most noteworthy new program for free tax-prep, IRS Direct File, came under fire this week from Elon Musk, who tweeted Monday that the service had been “deleted.” Democrats and Republicans in Congress are battling over its future.”
“Scott Bessent, the new Treasury secretary, committed to keeping Direct File open through the current tax season.”
“However, in a post Monday on X, Elon Musk suggested Direct File had been “deleted” as part of his campaign against government overspending.
The program’s website was still up Wednesday morning, although an X account for an associated IRS agency was down. The IRS offered no official comment. The big question now is whether taxpayers will still entrust their returns to the embattled service.”
More chaos from un-elected President MuskRat.
Anyone owing should just file for an extension. Not a dime until this South African ketamine addict is gone.
“ It’s the Elonomy, Stupid.”
everything the junta is doing is blatantly illegal and unconstitutional, they took an oath (well, besides Elon), impeach
BB – I’m remembering an old X-Files or something, where the bad guy installed a kill switch as insurance. Do you think MuskRat has done this?
“Trump’s Justice Department shutters specialized FBI team combatting foreign election interference threats”
https://www.newsweek.com/us-flag-upside-down-outside-state-department-photo-appears-suggest-2027065
“A photograph purporting to show the American flag being flown upside down outside the State Department has gone viral on social media.”
“It is unclear whether the viral photo is genuine or, if it is, whether the upside-down flag was a mistake or an act of protest by a disgruntled employee.”
BiD… this is making the rounds on FB…
https://www.newsweek.com/doge-rapid-safety-upgrades-air-traffic-control-elon-musk-2026875
“DOGE to Make ‘Rapid Safety Upgrades’ to Air Traffic Control: Elon Musk”
“In posts on X (formerly Twitter), recently sworn-in Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said, “Big News – Talked to the DOGE team. They are going to plug in to help upgrade our aviation system.”
Hmmm, didn’t Elon say Space-X crashes were good because they were educational?
Rapidly? Yeah, quick fixes are all the rage.
RR – The flags around here at banks, etc., have remained at half-staff. I took a video of one outside of a restaurant and flipped it to appear upside-down, but I’ve yet to get a picture to post.
Would the coup fing team have installed kill switches? I tend to think the systems involved do not lend themselves to that (see my legacy post). What they could have and rumoured to have done, is tamper with the systems that direct data, either add more of the addressee links or added links a step earlier. Someone who was kicked out said they were directing data to an outside server which was going to multiple locations, one being where the data collection for training, for a “AI” system. We also know they have been testing ways to kill outputs, things such as payments or access.
They probably are not able to understand they systems internals, but the user interfaces are usually current coding due to interfacing the constantly changing external world. As long as there is no feedback circuit cut, they would muck with the face and how data is intake and outtake.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/panama-canal-president-mulino-denies-deal-free-passage-us-warships-rubio/
“On Wednesday evening, the U.S. State Department said in a social media post: “U.S. government vessels can now transit the Panama Canal without charge fees, saving the U.S. government millions of dollars a year.”
“The Panama Canal Authority put out its own terse statement later Wednesday night saying it had “not made any adjustments” to the fees, adding that it was “willing to establish a dialogue with the pertinent officials from the United States in regards to the transit of U.S. Navy ships.”
“Mulino said the U.S. statement “really surprises me because they’re making an important, institutional statement from the entity that governs United States foreign policy under the president of the United States based on a falsity. And that’s intolerable.”
“Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino on Thursday denied the U.S. State Department’s claim that his country had reached a deal to allow U.S. warships to transit the Panama Canal for free.”
Ha! Nice try, Little Marco.
Senator Ed Markey and others have been denied entrance in to the EPA office.
https://www.wsj.com/tech/doge-staffer-resigns-over-racist-posts-d9f11a93
“DOGE Staffer Resigns Over Racist PostsEmployee has links to a deleted social-media account that advocated for racism and eugenics”
“A staffer for Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency whose access to U.S. Treasury payment systems was approved by a federal judge on Thursday has links to a deleted social-media account that advocated for racism and eugenics.”
“The 25-year old employee, Marko Elz resigned…”
(pay wall)
Hmm, sounds like more of a requirement to work for the yt supremacist’s fake governmental department. If it’s actually a problema, shouldn’t MuskRat resign?
Trump’s Attack on USAID Is Evil | Sojourners
connections had a hidden KKK reference today
oh wait nvm i’m associating “grand duke “ with “david duke” and “grand wizard”
they got me jumpy, still a weird fuckin’ puzzle today
General strike date: Feb 28th
“Congress has the power to overturn an executive order by passing legislation that invalidates it, and can also refuse to provide funding necessary to carry out certain policy measures contained with the order or legitimize policy mechanisms.”
So, all Congress has to do is revoke the EO that created DOGE (which was never authorized by Congress and was not funded-so where’s the money coming from to pay MuskRat’s incels?) and then charge him with all of the crimes I listed earlier today.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/06/climate/doge-energy-department-trump/index.html
“Trump energy secretary allowed 23-year-old DOGE rep to access IT systems over objections from general counsel”
“Wright granted access to DOGE representative Luke Farritor — a 23-year-old former SpaceX intern — even over objections from members of the department’s general counsel and chief information offices, the people told CNN. The DOE chief information office is the department’s IT and cybersecurity office.
Members of the general counsel and chief information offices “said this is a bad idea” because Farritor hadn’t had a standard background investigation needed to access the department’s system, one of the people told CNN. “He’s not cleared to be in DOE, on our systems. None of those things have been done.”
“In addition to DOGE presence in the building, Energy Department employees — including the National Nuclear Security Administration — have received the so-called buyout emails that employees in many other agencies have been receiving. The “buyouts” generally allow employees to leave their jobs but be paid through the end of September. NNSA being included in the “buyout” wave is significant because it manufactures and maintains the nation’s nuclear stockpile and does other critical national security work.”
Sooo, Elon is just going to hand us over to Russia?
NEW THREAD