Chuck Darwin<p>'Chatham House Rule'</p><p>Torenberg launched Chatham House the summer of 2024, <br>naming it after a British think tank that formalized the insight that <br>trusted conversations require a degree of privacy. </p><p>Two of its conservative participants said they see the group as a way to shift centrist Trump-curious figures to the Republican side, <br>but its founder said he’d begun it to have “a left-right exchange where we could have real conversations because of filter bubble group chats.”</p><p>Chatham House includes high-profile figures like the economist<br> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Larry" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Larry</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Summers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Summers</span></a> and the historian <a href="https://c.im/tags/Niall" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Niall</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Ferguson" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Ferguson</span></a>, <br>and more partisan figures like <a href="https://c.im/tags/Shapiro" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Shapiro</span></a> and the Democratic analyst <a href="https://c.im/tags/David" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>David</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Shor" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Shor</span></a>. </p><p><a href="https://c.im/tags/Andreessen" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Andreessen</span></a> lurks. </p><p>But several participants described it to me as something like a gladiatorial arena with <a href="https://c.im/tags/Cuban" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Cuban</span></a> most often in the center, <br>sparring with conservatives.</p><p>(“no idea what you are talking about :)” Cuban emailed in response to an inquiry about his arguments on Chatham House.)</p><p>The Group Chat Era depended on part of the American elite feeling shut out from public spaces, <br>and on the formation of a new conservative consensus. </p><p>Both of those are now fading <br>(though Torenberg has invested in a company called <a href="https://c.im/tags/ChatBCC" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ChatBCC</span></a> that wants to commercialize the heady experience of sitting in on texts among the power elite).</p><p>Since Elon Musk turned X to the right <br>and an alternative media ecosystem emerged on Substack, <br>“a tremendous amount of the verboten conversations can now shift back into public view,” Andreessen told Fridman. </p><p>“It’s much healthier to live in a society in which people are literally not scared of what they’re saying.”</p><p>And Trump’s destabilizing “Liberation Day” has taken its toll on the coalition Andreessen helped shape. </p><p>You can see it on X, <br>where investors joke that they’ll put pronouns back in their bios in exchange for a return to the 2024 stock prices, <br>and where <a href="https://c.im/tags/Srinivasan" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Srinivasan</span></a> has been a leading critic of Trump’s tariffs.</p><p>“Group chats have changed on the economy in the last few weeks,” <br>said <a href="https://c.im/tags/Rufo" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Rufo</span></a>. <br>“There’s a big split on the tech right.”</p><p>The polarity of social media has also reversed, <br>and while participants used to keep their conservative ideas off social media, <br>“now the anti-Trump sentiment is what you’re afraid to say on X,” one said.</p><p>By mid-April, <a href="https://c.im/tags/Sacks" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Sacks</span></a> had had enough with Chatham House: <br>“This group has become worthless since the loudest voices have TDS,” <br>he wrote, shorthanding <br>“Trump Derangement Syndrome.” </p><p>Then he addressed Torenberg: <br>“You should create a new one with just smart people.”</p><p>Signal soon showed that three men had left the group: <br>The Sequoia partner <a href="https://c.im/tags/Shaun" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Shaun</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Maguire" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Maguire</span></a>, <br>the bitcoin billionaire <a href="https://c.im/tags/Tyler" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Tyler</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Winklevoss" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Winklevoss</span></a>, and <a href="https://c.im/tags/Tucker" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Tucker</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Carlson" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Carlson</span></a>.</p><p><a href="https://www.semafor.com/article/04/27/2025/the-group-chats-that-changed-america" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">semafor.com/article/04/27/2025</span><span class="invisible">/the-group-chats-that-changed-america</span></a></p>
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Chuck Darwin<p>Along with the tech-centric WhatsApp groups Krishnan had organized out of a16z, <br>Andreessen joined a slew of others, <br>including ones that Torenberg set up for tech founders and for more political discussions. </p><p>The tech chats tended to be on WhatsApp and the political ones on Signal, which is more fully encrypted, <br>and they had different settings. </p><p>(“Every group chat ends up being about memes and humor and the goal of the group chat is to get as close to the line of being actually objectionable without tripping it,” Andreessen told Fridman. </p><p>“People will set to 5 minutes before they send something particularly inflammatory.“)</p><p>After a group of liberal intellectuals published a letter in Harper’s on July 7, 2020, some of its signers were invited to join a Signal group called “Everything Is Fine.” </p><p>There, writers including <a href="https://c.im/tags/Kmele" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Kmele</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Foster" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Foster</span></a>, who co-hosts the podcast <br>"The Fifth Column", Persuasion founder <a href="https://c.im/tags/Yascha" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Yascha</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Mounk" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Mounk</span></a>, and the Harper’s letter contributor Williams joined Andreessen and a group that also included the anti-woke conservative activist <a href="https://c.im/tags/Chris" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Chris</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Rufo" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Rufo</span></a>.</p><p>The new participants were charmed by Andreessen’s engagement: <br>“He was the most available, the most present, the most texting of anybody in the group <br>— which shocked me because it seemed like he was the most important person in the group,” one said.</p><p>But the center didn’t hold. </p><p>The liberal Harper’s types were surprised to find what one described an <br>“illiberal worldview” among tech figures more concerned with power than speech. </p><p>The conservatives found the liberal intellectuals tiresome, committed to what Rufo described to me as “infinite discourse” over action.</p><p>The breaking point came on July 5, 2021, when Foster and Williams, <br>along with the never-Trump conservative <a href="https://c.im/tags/David" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>David</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/French" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>French</span></a> and the liberal academic <a href="https://c.im/tags/Jason" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Jason</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Stanley" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Stanley</span></a>, <br>wrote a New York Times op-ed criticizing new laws against teaching “critical race theory.”</p><p>“Even if this censorship is legal in the narrow context of public primary and secondary education, <br>it is antithetical to educating students in the culture of American free expression,” <br>they wrote.</p><p>The conservatives had thought the Harper’s letter writers were their allies in an all-out ideological battle, <br>and considered their position a betrayal. </p><p>Andreessen “went really ballistic in a quite personal way at Thomas,” <br>a participant recalled. </p><p>The group ended after Andreessen “wrote something along the lines of <br>‘thank you everybody, I think it’s time to take a Signal break,’” another said.</p><p>The meltdown of this liberal-tech alliance was, to <a href="https://c.im/tags/Rufo" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Rufo</span></a>, a healthy development.</p><p>“A lot of these technologists hoped that the centrist path was a viable one, because it would permit them in theory to change the culture without having to expose themselves to the risk of becoming partisans,” <br>he said. </p><p>“By 2021, the smartest people in tech understood that these people were a dead end <br>— so the group chats exploded and reformulated on more explicitly political lines.”</p><p>Rufo had been there all along: <br>“I looked at these chats as a good investment of my time to radicalize tech elites who I thought were the most likely and high-impact new coalition partners for the right.”</p><p> <a href="https://c.im/tags/MarcAndreessen" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>MarcAndreessen</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/LexFridman" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>LexFridman</span></a> <br><a href="https://c.im/tags/ChrisRufo" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ChrisRufo</span></a><br><a href="https://c.im/tags/VivekRamaswamy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>VivekRamaswamy</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/ErikTorenberg" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ErikTorenberg</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Krishnan" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Krishnan</span></a> <br><a href="https://c.im/tags/NoahSmith" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>NoahSmith</span></a></p><p><a href="https://www.semafor.com/article/04/27/2025/the-group-chats-that-changed-america" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">semafor.com/article/04/27/2025</span><span class="invisible">/the-group-chats-that-changed-america</span></a></p>
Chuck Darwin<p>Vaccine skeptic hired to head federal study of immunizations and autism </p><p>A vaccine skeptic who has long promoted false claims about the connection between immunizations and autism has been tapped by the federal government to conduct a critical study of possible links between the two, <br>according to current and former federal health officials.<br>
The Department of Health and Human Services has hired <br><a href="https://c.im/tags/David" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>David</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Geier" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Geier</span></a> to conduct the analysis, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. </p><p>Geier and his father, <a href="https://c.im/tags/Mark" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Mark</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Geier" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Geier</span></a>, have published papers claiming vaccines increase the risk of autism, <br>-- a theory that has been studied for decades and scientifically debunked.<br>
David Geier was disciplined by Maryland regulators more than a decade ago for practicing medicine without a license. </p><p>He is listed as a data analyst in the HHS employee directory.
Public health and autism experts fear that choosing a researcher who has promoted false claims will produce a flawed study with far-reaching consequences. </p><p>They fear it will undermine the importance of the lifesaving inoculations <br>and further damage trust in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. </p><p>The government’s premier public health agency has stressed vaccination as the safest and most effective measure to control the spread of some contagious diseases, <br>including the growing measles outbreak in Texas and New Mexico.</p><p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/03/25/vaccine-skeptic-hhs-rfk-immunization-autism/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">washingtonpost.com/health/2025</span><span class="invisible">/03/25/vaccine-skeptic-hhs-rfk-immunization-autism/</span></a></p>
AllQuakes - EMSC<p>🔔<a href="https://masto.ai/tags/Earthquake" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Earthquake</span></a> (<a href="https://masto.ai/tags/sismo" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sismo</span></a>) M3.3 strikes 175 km S of <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/David" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>David</span></a> (<a href="https://masto.ai/tags/Panama" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Panama</span></a>) 29 min ago. More info: <a href="https://m.emsc.eu/?id=1786802" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="">m.emsc.eu/?id=1786802</span><span class="invisible"></span></a></p>
Chuck Darwin<p>Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Friday sent a letter to Donald Trump’s crypto and AI czar <a href="https://c.im/tags/David" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>David</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Sacks" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Sacks</span></a> <br>raising concerns about potential conflicts of interest in his role <br>and asked him to make his financial disclosures with the government public, <br>days after Trump announced the creation of an American “crypto strategic reserve</p><p>In her letter, the senator asks Sacks how he has addressed his <br>“conflicts of interest” <br>and how he intends to prevent “the President and other private individuals from directly profiting off of the Trump Administration’s efforts to selectively pump the value of certain crypto assets.”</p><p>Warren’s letter raises alarm at several moves made by the Trump administration on crypto recently, <br>including the SEC’s assertion that meme coins are not securities, <br>the regulator dropping its case against Coinbase <br>and the pause in the case against crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun.</p><p>Warren, who is a ranking member on the Senate’s banking committee, <br>asks Sacks to reveal whether he has filed any financial disclosures with the Office of Government Ethics, if he has recused himself on any matter after accepting the role and how long he intends to serve as a “special government employee.”</p><p>Warren’s letter also seeks disclosure on the exact dates Sacks divested Bitcoin, <br>Ether, and Sol tokens from his portfolio <br>(as per his claims) <br>and the exact date his firm Craft Ventures divested from crypto asset manager Bitwise investments.</p><p>Warren also wants Sacks to make several other disclosures covering his potential advanced knowledge of Trump’s crypto reserve announcement and how the Trump administration picked the tokens to be included in the reserve, among other things.<br><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2025/03/07/sen-elizabeth-warren-raises-conflict-of-interest-concerns-in-letter-to-trumps-crypto-czar-seeks-financial-disclosures/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/</span><span class="invisible">2025/03/07/sen-elizabeth-warren-raises-conflict-of-interest-concerns-in-letter-to-trumps-crypto-czar-seeks-financial-disclosures/</span></a></p>
Chuck Darwin<p>At 10:24am on Sunday morning in Washington, D.C., Donald Trump posted to Truth Social that the upcoming US Crypto Reserve would contain XRP, SOL, and ADA.</p><p>That Trump decided to bless three assets that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had previously designated as unregistered securities barely registered with post-Gary Gensler crypto investors.</p><p>Indeed, since Trump’s inauguration, lawsuits initiated by Gensler’s SEC against Uniswap, Coinbase, Robinhood, Gemini, Metamask, OpenSea, Justin Sun, and Richard Heart have been abruptly terminated.</p><p>Moreover, that Trump decided to first bless non-bitcoin assets after debuting his promise of a sovereign stockpile at a 2024 BTC maximalist conference was also unsurprising <br>after he and his wife decided to launch two meme coins on Solana during his Inauguration week.</p><p>Even less of a surprise is the financial conflict of interest that Trump’s appointed Crypto Czar <a href="https://c.im/tags/David" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>David</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Sacks" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Sacks</span></a> has with XRP, SOL, and ADA. </p><p>For example, Sacks is one of the earliest investors in SOL via his limited partnership in Multicoin Capital and has publicly laughed about selling his early bags to latecomers.</p><p>Sacks is also a lead investor in Bitwise Asset Management, whose flagship BITW index fund is maximally allocated to all five of the crypto assets that Trump named. </p><p>Over 97% of BITW consists of XRP, SOL, ADA, BTC, and ETH holdings.</p><p>The potential conflicts of interest extend beyond David Sacks to Trump himself, <br>as recent financial disclosures reveal significant holdings in XRP, SOL, and ADA through various Trump entities like World Liberty Financial.</p><p>That presidential entity owns staked ETH and wrapped BTC — two assets that Trump endorsed yesterday.</p><p><a href="https://protos.com/trumps-crypto-reserve-conveniently-mirrors-david-sacks-backed-fund/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">protos.com/trumps-crypto-reser</span><span class="invisible">ve-conveniently-mirrors-david-sacks-backed-fund/</span></a></p>
Chuck Darwin<p><a href="https://c.im/tags/David" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>David</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Valadao" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Valadao</span></a> </p><p><a href="https://valadao.house.gov/contact/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="">valadao.house.gov/contact/</span><span class="invisible"></span></a></p><p><a href="https://c.im/tags/Young" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Young</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Kim" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Kim</span></a></p><p><a href="https://youngkim.house.gov/contact/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="">youngkim.house.gov/contact/</span><span class="invisible"></span></a></p>
Chuck Darwin<p>California Republicans face weighty vote over House budget resolution </p><p>Republicans representing swing congressional districts in California <br>— including Reps. <a href="https://c.im/tags/David" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>David</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Valadao" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Valadao</span></a> (R-Hanford) and <a href="https://c.im/tags/Young" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Young</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Kim" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Kim</span></a> (R-Anaheim Hills) <br>— must decide whether to support their party’s agenda at whatever cost, <br>or face potentially disastrous blowback in their home communities for agreeing to cut Medicaid.</p><p>In Valadao’s 22nd congressional district in particular, 67% of the population is on Medi-Cal, as Medicaid is known in California <br>— the highest percentage in the state, according to the UC Berkeley Labor Center.</p><p><a href="https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2025-02-25/house-budget-resolution-california-lawmakers" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">latimes.com/politics/story/202</span><span class="invisible">5-02-25/house-budget-resolution-california-lawmakers</span></a></p>
Chuck Darwin<p>The Justice Department’s chief tax official is resigning rather than accept a forced transfer to a new unit, <br>raising fresh concerns about the Trump administration’s aggressive drive to reshape the agency to fit the president’s agenda.<br><a href="https://c.im/tags/David" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>David</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Hubbert" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Hubbert</span></a>, a career official whose 40 years at the office included serving as interim chief for the entire Biden administration and part of Donald Trump’s prior term, <br>opted to retire to avoid a reassignment to the sanctuary cities enforcement group.
Hubbert’s departure comes on the heels of numerous other veteran career supervisors at the Justice Department receiving orders to choose between quitting or taking reassignments to the upstart immigration team. <br>It creates a vacancy that current and former federal tax enforcers say they worry could ease the administration’s path to <br>overhaul a division with immense authority over civil and criminal tax prosecutions.</p><p><a href="https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/justice-departments-top-tax-enforcement-official-is-forced-out" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-w</span><span class="invisible">eek/justice-departments-top-tax-enforcement-official-is-forced-out</span></a></p>
Chuck Darwin<p>The Fiscal Assistant Secretary of the United States Treasury <a href="https://c.im/tags/David" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>David</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Lebryk" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Lebryk</span></a> has been put on paid administrative leave <br>and plans to resign after refusing to give Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) access to the operational details of the Treasury’s payment system and the data it processes. </p><p>In particular, Musk’s DOGE team has been asking for what the New York Times reporting refers to as <br>“source code information” since December and has been rebuffed. </p><p>CNN reporting specifically states that they were inquiring about the technical ability to stop payments.</p><p>Lebryk is widely credited with being the person responsible for the continuity of cash inflows and outflows during recurrent debt ceiling crises of the past 15 years <br>while concurrently ensuring the debt ceiling limit was not breached.</p><p>Scott Bessent’s full willingness to cooperate with DOGE’s desire to access the operational aspects of the Treasury’s payment system, <br>even to the point of overruling Lebryk, <br>is an extremely shocking development. </p><p>It implies a level of willingness to serve Trump’s interests that has not previously been understood by Congress, Wall Street, or corporate America at-large. </p><p>The danger is also not in the near future, it is here.</p><p>The danger of operational access to the payments system is precisely that there are very little safeguards for its improper use or manipulation. </p><p>It turns out that the greatest barrier was David Lebryk, <br>and he was shunted aside at the direct order of the White House. </p><p>We also have no idea what circumstances, or even if it is true, that “Career Treasury Department attorneys signed off.” </p><p>It’s likely they are pursuing using this to block payments <br>-- since the impoundment constitutional crisis has not been resolved. </p><p>They absolutely can shut down payments from a disfavored agency <br>even if they can’t shut down “individual” payments operationally.</p><p>Musk and his cronies are clearly aiming to redesign the payments system to serve their agenda. </p><p>The most chilling statement is this from the Wall Street Journal:</p><p>"It couldn’t be determined what DOGE representatives intended to do with their access to the payment system. </p><p>Musk and his team think the payment system should be overseen by political appointees selected by President Trump, the people said."<br><a href="https://www.crisesnotes.com/elon-musk-wants-to-get-operational-control-of-the-treasurys-payment-system-this-could-not-possibly-be-more-dangerous/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">crisesnotes.com/elon-musk-want</span><span class="invisible">s-to-get-operational-control-of-the-treasurys-payment-system-this-could-not-possibly-be-more-dangerous/</span></a></p>
Chuck Darwin<p>Elon Musk’s team has gotten access to the Treasury Department’s payments system</p><p>Treasury Secretary <a href="https://c.im/tags/Scott" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Scott</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Bessent" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Bessent</span></a> gave representatives of the so-called "Department of Government Efficiency" full access to the federal payment system late on Friday, <br>handing <a href="https://c.im/tags/Elon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Elon</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Musk" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Musk</span></a> and the team he is leading a powerful tool to monitor and potentially limit government spending.</p><p>The new authority follows a standoff this week with a top Treasury official who had resisted allowing Mr. Musk’s lieutenants into the department’s payment system, <br>which sends out money on behalf of the entire federal government. <br>The official, a career civil servant named <a href="https://c.im/tags/David" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>David</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Lebryk" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Lebryk</span></a>, was put on leave and then suddenly retired on Friday after the dispute.</p><p>The system could give the Trump administration another mechanism to attempt to unilaterally restrict disbursement of money approved for specific purposes by Congress -- a push that has faced legal roadblocks.</p><p>Mr. Musk, who has been given wide latitude by President Trump to find ways to slash government spending, <br>has recently fixated on Treasury’s payment processes, <br>criticizing the department in a social media post on Saturday for not rejecting more payments as fraudulent or improper.</p><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/02/01/us/trump-tariffs-news/treasury-department-payments-system?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">nytimes.com/live/2025/02/01/us</span><span class="invisible">/trump-tariffs-news/treasury-department-payments-system?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare</span></a></p>
Chuck Darwin<p>The highest-ranking career official at the Treasury Department <br>is departing <br>after a clash with allies of billionaire Elon Musk <br>over access to sensitive government payment systems.<br>
<a href="https://c.im/tags/David" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>David</span></a> A. <a href="https://c.im/tags/Lebryk" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Lebryk</span></a>, who served in nonpolitical roles at Treasury for several decades, <br>announced his retirement Friday in an email to colleagues. </p><p>Donald Trump named Lebryk as acting secretary upon taking office last week. </p><p>Lebryk had a dispute with Musk’s surrogates over access to the payment system the U.S. government uses to disburse trillions of dollars every year.</p><p>The exact nature of the disagreement was not immediately clear.<br>
Officials affiliated with Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” have been asking since after the election for access to the system<br>— requests that were reiterated more recently, including after Trump’s inauguration.<br>
A spokeswoman for DOGE declined to comment. </p><p>Typically only a small number of career officials control Treasury’s payment systems. </p><p>Run by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, <br>the sensitive systems control the flow of more than $6 trillion annually to households, businesses and more nationwide. </p><p>Tens, if not hundreds, of millions of people across the country rely on the systems, <br>which are responsible for distributing Social Security and Medicare benefits, <br>salaries for federal personnel, <br>payments to government contractors and grant recipients <br>and tax refunds, among tens of thousands of other functions.<br>
The clash reflects an intensifying battle between Musk and the federal bureaucracy <br>as the Trump administration nears the conclusion of its second week. </p><p>Musk has sought to exert sweeping control over the inner workings of the U.S. government, <br>installing longtime surrogates at several agencies, <br>including the Office of Personnel Management, <br>which essentially handles federal human resources, <br>and the General Services Administration, <br>which manages real estate. </p><p>(Musk was seen on Thursday visiting GSA, according to two other people familiar with his whereabouts. </p><p>His Department of Government Efficiency, <br>originally conceived as a nongovernmental panel, <br>has since replaced the U.S. Digital Service.<br><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/01/31/elon-musk-treasury-department-payment-systems/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">washingtonpost.com/business/20</span><span class="invisible">25/01/31/elon-musk-treasury-department-payment-systems/</span></a></p>
AllQuakes - EMSC<p>🔔<a href="https://masto.ai/tags/Earthquake" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Earthquake</span></a> (<a href="https://masto.ai/tags/sismo" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sismo</span></a>) M4.1 strikes 24 km W of <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/David" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>David</span></a> (<a href="https://masto.ai/tags/Panama" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Panama</span></a>) 33 min ago. More info: <a href="https://m.emsc.eu/?id=1763189" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="">m.emsc.eu/?id=1763189</span><span class="invisible"></span></a></p>
David Palk#RejoinEU 💖🇪🇺🤎🕊<p><a href="https://mas.to/tags/onthisday" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>onthisday</span></a> in #1955 Jean <a href="https://mas.to/tags/Palk" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Palk</span></a> of the matriarchal line that stretches back to the <a href="https://mas.to/tags/Andersons" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Andersons</span></a> of <a href="https://mas.to/tags/Argyle" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Argyle</span></a> (the so called <a href="https://mas.to/tags/BlackAndersons" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BlackAndersons</span></a>) gave birth to <a href="https://mas.to/tags/David" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>David</span></a>. The rest as they say is history. Every day from now on is a bonus, somehow I've managed the 3 score & 10. A little backstory at the age of 35 a Dr said "you won't reach 40 if you carry on like you are" (Class A ++). Well I made it! Thanks be 🙏🏽❤️</p>
AllQuakes - EMSC<p>🔔<a href="https://masto.ai/tags/Earthquake" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Earthquake</span></a> (<a href="https://masto.ai/tags/sismo" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sismo</span></a>) M3.9 strikes 23 km NE of <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/David" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>David</span></a> (<a href="https://masto.ai/tags/Panama" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Panama</span></a>) 46 min ago. More info: <a href="https://m.emsc.eu/?id=1760868" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="">m.emsc.eu/?id=1760868</span><span class="invisible"></span></a></p>
Chuck Darwin<p>The man tapped by President Donald Trump to be second-in-command of the federal agency that protects the public from environmental dangers <br>is a lawyer who has represented companies accused of harming people and the environment through pollution.</p><p><a href="https://c.im/tags/David" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>David</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Fotouhi" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Fotouhi</span></a>, a partner in the global law firm Gibson Dunn, <br>played a key part in rolling back climate regulations and water protections <br>while serving as a lawyer in the Environmental Protection Agency during Trump’s first administration.</p><p>Most recently, Fotouhi challenged the EPA’s recent ban of <a href="https://c.im/tags/asbestos" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>asbestos</span></a>, which causes a deadly cancer called mesothelioma. </p><p>In a brief filed in October on behalf of a group of car companies called the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, he argued that, for the specific uses that were banned, the “EPA failed to demonstrate that chrysotile asbestos presents an unreasonable risk of injury.”</p><p>The EPA banned the carcinogen in March, long after its dangers first became widely known. </p><p>More than 50 other countries have outlawed use of the mineral. </p><p>The agency had worked toward the ban for decades, and workers died while lobbyists pushed to delay action, as a 2022 ProPublica investigation showed.</p><p><a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/david-fotouhi-donald-trump-epa-pollution" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">propublica.org/article/david-f</span><span class="invisible">otouhi-donald-trump-epa-pollution</span></a></p>
Wayne Moran Photography<p>Michelangelo David, Accademia Gallery, Florence, Italy</p><p>The David by Michelangelo, housed in the Accademia Gallery in Florence, Italy, is one of the most iconic works of art in the world. This 17-foot-tall marble sculpture, created between 1501 and 1504, represents the biblical hero David. </p><p><a href="https://fineartamerica.com/featured/2-michelangelo-david-marble-statue-accademia-gallery-florence-italy-art-print-wayne-moran.html" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">fineartamerica.com/featured/2-</span><span class="invisible">michelangelo-david-marble-statue-accademia-gallery-florence-italy-art-print-wayne-moran.html</span></a></p><p><a href="https://photog.social/tags/David" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>David</span></a> # Michelangelo <a href="https://photog.social/tags/MarbleStatue" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>MarbleStatue</span></a> <a href="https://photog.social/tags/Statue" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Statue</span></a> <a href="https://photog.social/tags/FineArt" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>FineArt</span></a> <a href="https://photog.social/tags/AccademiaGallery" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AccademiaGallery</span></a> <a href="https://photog.social/tags/museum" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>museum</span></a> <a href="https://photog.social/tags/gallery" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>gallery</span></a> <a href="https://photog.social/tags/Florence" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Florence</span></a> <a href="https://photog.social/tags/Italy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Italy</span></a> <br><a href="https://photog.social/tags/photography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>photography</span></a> <a href="https://photog.social/tags/travel" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>travel</span></a> <a href="https://photog.social/tags/travelphotography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>travelphotography</span></a></p><p><a href="https://photog.social/tags/AYearForArt" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AYearForArt</span></a> <a href="https://photog.social/tags/buyintoArt" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>buyintoArt</span></a> <a href="https://photog.social/tags/art" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>art</span></a></p>
Zap Productions<p>David, Radio DJ • Plamondon, Alberta, Canada</p><p>Rolleiflex 2.8 D • Kodak Tri-X 400 • 2024</p><p><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/FilmPhotography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>FilmPhotography</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Kodak" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Kodak</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/TriX" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>TriX</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Film" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Film</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Camera" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Camera</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Film120" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Film120</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/MediumFormat" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>MediumFormat</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Rolleiflex" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Rolleiflex</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/BWfilm" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BWfilm</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Monochrome" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Monochrome</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Photography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Photography</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Plamondon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Plamondon</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Alberta" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Alberta</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Canada" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Canada</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/David" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>David</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Radio" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Radio</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/DJ" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>DJ</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Music" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Music</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/BorealFM" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BorealFM</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/December_23_2024" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>December_23_2024</span></a></p>
Chuck Darwin<p>Steve Bannon condemns Elon Musk as ‘racist’ and ‘truly evil’</p><p>Ex-Trump adviser denounces tech CEO’s embrace of some forms of immigration and vows to ‘take this guy down’</p><p>In an escalation of discontent among the highest-profile far-right followers of Donald Trump, <br>his former adviser Steve Bannon has called Trump’s newest favorite, <br>Elon Musk, <br>“racist” and a “truly evil guy”, <br>pledging to “take this guy down” and kick him out of the Maga movement.</p><p>In an interview with the Corriere della Sera newspaper in Italy, excerpts of which were publishedthis weekend by Breitbart, <br>Bannon criticised Musk’s embrace of some forms of immigration <br>and vowed to ensure that Musk does not have top-level access to the White House.</p><p>“He is a truly evil guy, <br>a very bad guy. <br>I made it my personal thing to take this guy down,” Bannon said. <br>“Before, because he put money in, I was prepared to tolerate it <br>– I’m not prepared to tolerate it any more.”</p><p>He added: “I will have Elon Muskrun out of here by inauguration day”, <br>which falls on 20 January. <br>“He will not have full access to the White House. He will be like any other person.”</p><p>Musk became one of Trump’s biggest cheerleaders, <br>and certainly his richest, <br>during the Republican’s ultimately successful campaign to regain the US presidency, <br>spending reportedly about $270m and being rewarded with a place at Trump’s side ever since.<br>After his victory Trump tapped Musk to help lead an advisory group theoretically dedicated to cutting US government spending by up to $2tn, a quarter of its entire budget.</p><p>But Musk’s embrace of H-1B visas, which allow companies – such as Musk’s own SpaceX and Tesla – to hire skilled professionals and engineers from outside the US, has been taken badly by other Maga acolytes who are opposed to nearly all forms of immigration. Musk, who was born in South Africa, has himself held an H1-B visa.</p><p>“This thing of the H-1B visas, <br>it’s about the entire immigration system is gamed by the tech overlords. <br>They use it to their advantage. <br>The people are furious,” <br>said Bannon, whom Trump fired from his White House position during his first administration <br>but who later reinvented himself through his War Room podcast<br> as one of the chief evangelists of the Maga movement.</p><p>Bannon further widened his aim to attack Musk’s fellow tech giants <a href="https://c.im/tags/Peter" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Peter</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Thiel" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Thiel</span></a> and <a href="https://c.im/tags/David" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>David</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Sacks" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Sacks</span></a> for having South African heritage.</p><p>“He [Musk] should go back to South Africa,” Bannon said. <br>“Why do we have South Africans, the most racist people on earth, white South Africans, <br>we have them making any comments at all on what goes on in the United States?”</p><p>Arguing that Musk’s “sole objective is to become a trillionaire” <br>and calling him a proponent of “techno-feudalism on a global scale”, <br>Bannon said, “I don’t support that and we’ll fight it,” <br>adding: “He won’t fight. He’s got the maturity of a little boy.</p><p>“He will do anything to make sure that any one of his companies is protected or has a better deal or he makes more money.</p><p>“His aggregation of wealth, and then – through wealth – power: <br>that’s what he’s focused on.”</p><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/12/steve-bannon-calls-elon-musk-racist?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">theguardian.com/us-news/2025/j</span><span class="invisible">an/12/steve-bannon-calls-elon-musk-racist?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other</span></a></p>
Chuck Darwin<p>In addition to being the originator and leading purveyor of most of the bogus Christian nationalist propaganda circulating today, <br><a href="https://c.im/tags/David" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>David</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Barton" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Barton</span></a> is also a virulently anti-LGBTQ religious-right activist <br>who has repeatedly said that AIDS is God "penalty" for those who engage in "shameful sexual acts."</p><p>As such, Barton has asserted multiple times that AIDS is something for which there will never be a cure.</p><p>In a shocking development, <br>the confident predictions of a right-wing activist with a bachelor's degree in Christian education from Oral Roberts University have been refuted by actual scientists</p><p>As ABC News reported, "modern medication can keep the virus at bay, <br>and studies looking into preventing HIV infection with a vaccine are also underway," <br>which is also something that Barton repeatedly asserted would never succeed. </p><p>Despite having obtained only a Bachelor of Arts degree from Oral Roberts University in the 1970s, <a href="https://c.im/tags/David" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>David</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Barton" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Barton</span></a> now routinely bills himself as <br>“America’s premier historian” <br>and has established a reputation as the Religious Right’s go-to “expert” for making the case that <br>the Founding Fathers intended to establish America to be a Christian nation that operates according to the laws of God as set out in the Bible.</p><p>In addition to running WallBuilders, <br>a right-wing organization through which he broadcasts a daily radio program and organizes hundreds of speaking engagements a year, <br>Barton is also a Republican Party activist, <br>having served as a past vice chairman of the Republican Party of Texas, <br>a delegate to the Republican National Convention, <br>a member of the Republican Platform Committee and the head of a super PAC that supported Sen. Ted Cruz during his 2016 presidential run.</p><p>Earlier this year, Oklahoma’s Christian nationalist state superintendent of education Ryan Walters announced that he was creating an executive review committee to overhaul the state's social studies curriculum <br>-- and that it would be stocked with far-right activists and ideologues.</p><p>Among those appointed to the committee was Christian nationalist pseudo-historian <a href="https://c.im/tags/David" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>David</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Barton" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Barton</span></a>, a longtime religious-right activist who has repeatedly misrepresented his academic credentials and whose scholarship is so shoddy that one of his books was pulled off the marked by his own publisher in 2012 after it concluded that “basic truths just were not there.”</p><p>Barton is notorious for misrepresenting history in order to bolster his right-wing political agenda <br>and for continuing to repeat his false claims long after they have been debunked. </p><p>Both of these tendencies were on display when Barton appeared on "The War Room" over the weekend.</p><p>"According to University of Houston, they did a 10 year study," Barton said. "They collected the writings the Founding Fathers in the founding era<br>—15,000 they used<br>—and they found in those 3,154 direct quotes. <br>They said, 'All right, now let's see who the Founding Fathers quoted.' <br>The number one source for their quotes was the Bible. <br>Thirty four percent of all those political quotes came out of Bible verses, <br>and the number one Bible book [was] the book of Deuteronomy."</p><p>Barton's statement is certainly misleading, as Right Wing Watch has pointed out time and again:</p><p>This claim is a deliberate misrepresentation of a 1984 study conducted by professor Donald S. Lutz of the University of Houston <br>that sought to identify which writers and sources of ideas were most cited in “the political writings of Americans published between 1760 and 1805.” </p><p>Lutz found that the Bible was cited most frequently solely because many of the pamphlets included in the research were sermons that had been reprinted for mass distribution. </p><p>Once the sermon pamphlets were excluded, Lutz reported that quotes from the Bible appeared no more frequently in the political writings of the era than citations of the classical or common law.</p><p>More importantly, Lutz also noted that when the focus was solely on the public political writings from 1787 to 1788, when the U.S. Constitution was written and ratified, “the Bible’s prominence disappears” almost completely.</p><p><a href="https://www.peoplefor.org/rightwingwatch/people/david-barton" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">peoplefor.org/rightwingwatch/p</span><span class="invisible">eople/david-barton</span></a></p>
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