The Common Ills: The Snapshot

Monday, February 03, 2025

The Snapshot

Monday, February 3, 2025. Elon Musk now has the papers of every American citizen, he's announced that he and Donald Chump are ending USAID, Junior sends a letter after his testimony and we're supposed to pretend that carries the same weight as a statement made in front of witnesses in an open hearing, and much more.

Let's start with HIPAA. Last week, we noted Chump's Justice Dept is refusing to prosecute a HIPAA violation:

On Sunday, Wally, Cedric, Betty, Ann, Isaiah and I did a group post:

"Pull Dr. Eithan Haim's medical license," "Run Dr. Eithan Haim out of the medical profession for violating patient privacy," "HIPAA allows for civil litigation as well as criminal," "Sue Dr. Eithan Haim for every cent he has," "THIST JUST IN! CIVIL LAWSUITS AGAINST DR EITHAN HAIM!" and "The very sick doctor"

There are real issues and if you're on the left and helped put Donald Chump back in the White House, you damn well should be working to address real issues and not fan-boying online about Bernie or Rashida or Amy Goodman or anyone else. I will support Rachel Maddow, she is under attack. But I'm not fan-girling her. At a certain age, you should damn well grow up. Alex Bollinger (LGBTQ NATION) reports:

Prosecutors believe that Haim had access to Texas Children’s Hospital records even though he didn’t work there because he had previously done part of his residency there. He asked the hospital to reactivate his login and accessed the medical records of children not under his care. This happened after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton declared gender-affirming care a form of child abuse in a nonbinding opinion.

Haim insisted that he anonymized the identities of the patients whose records he gave to Rufo, but there is dispute over whether he really did that. Assistant Clinical Professor Carmel Shachar of Harvard Law School told Assigned Media that the records Haim leaked were not de-identified in compliance with HIPAA, meaning that people could figure out who the records originally belonged to. This could potentially make the children whose records Haim leaked targets for harassment and bullying.

He also claimed that he had to make the records public because he is a mandatory reporter of child abuse, but Texas’ mandatory reporting law requires reporters to go to state authorities like the Texas Medical Board, not the media.

I can understand families might want to put this behind them. But they do have the law on their side. A medical professional illegally accessed their records. A facility allowed that to happen. There are strong grounds for suing both the doctor and Texas Children's Hospital. He no longer worked there and did not need access. He was granted access and that was a mistake but once giving this doctor who did not practice at the hospital computer access, it was their job to audit his computer access and to determine what he was doing. Both the doctor and the hospital are legally liable. In addition, by breaking HIPAA, he could be disbarred.

He did not follow whistle-blower guidelines but, more to the point, he was not a whistle-blower. Chelsea Manning comes across documents and exposes them? Whistle-blower. Someone going on an illegal hunt into a person's medical records is not a whistle-blower. As a doctor he understood the importance of medical privacy and he elected to shred the legal rights of people who were not even his patients. I'd sue his ass and the hospitals and walk away with everything they had.

MAGA nuts and transphobes have e-mailed the public account since that went up insisting it doesn't matter. Really, our medical records do not deserve privacy? Well that's your (uninformed) opinion. And others want to insist no law was broken because no names were released.

You don't know that no names were released. This took place in Texas, where Ken Paxton was seeking medical records on trans patients and had been denied because of the law. You don't now what that piece of s**t doctor did or did not see delivered to Paxton.

But more to the point, HIPAA didn't create something news. It was always known that you didn't access patient's records for fun or to be nosy and that you didn't release personal information.

Four years before HIPAA became law, actor Anthony Perkins died. Perkins' biggest films included PSYCHO, PRETTY POISON and MAHOGANY. In 1990, THE NATIONAL ENQUIRER outed him as having AIDS ("Anthony Perkins Desperate Bid To Save His Life"). He denied it, but it was true. It's far too complicated to go into here, but that's the gist of it. Two years later, he was dead from complications resulting from AIDS.

That was a violation -- even before HIPAA.

Who is allowed to access medical files? Those treating a patient and those handling the insurance aspect.

Eithan Haim broke the law. He had no right to access the medical charts that he did. None of those people were his patients. He broke into their medical records, that's what happened. Yes, he tricked the hospital into giving him access -- his credentials had expired because he was no longer with that hospital. But he broke the law.

And if you had a child at that hospital seeking trans care, you should contact that hospital and tell them to immediately conduct an audit of the chart. That would tell you everyone that accessed it. If Haim accessed your child's records, you should immediately sue him and the hospital.

For those who still don't get how serious this is, Paxton wants the same thing on female medical records on pregnant patients. Do we have to wait for another criminal to try to pass for a whistleblower?

And the reason that we're noting our privacy rights as citizens today is that South Africa's Elon Musk has not been elected to any US government office. So why does he have access to our records?

Mehdi Hassan put this up at BLUESKY on Sunday.

Why does the world’s richest man, a man no one voted for, have access to my Social Security number?
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan.bsky.social) February 2, 2025 at 8:00 PM

Good question. Friday, Senator Ron Wyden's office issued the following:

In New Letter to Treasury Secretary Bessent, Wyden Warns That Political Meddling in Treasury Payments Risks Severe Economic Damage, Calls Out Dangerous Conflicts of Interest Stemming from Elon Musk’s Close Business Ties to the Chinese Government

Washington, D.C. – Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., demanded answers from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent today following a report that personnel affiliated with Elon Musk have sought access to a highly sensitive Treasury Department payment system. That system, which is maintained by non-political staff, disperses trillions of dollars each year, such as Social Security and Medicare benefits, tax credits for individuals and businesses, grants and payments to government contractors, including those that compete directly with Musk-owned companies.

Senator Wyden wrote in a new letter: “To put it bluntly, these payment systems simply cannot fail, and any politically-motivated meddling in them risks severe damage to our country and the economy. I am deeply concerned that following the federal grant and loan freeze earlier this week, these officials associated with Musk may have intended to access these payment systems to illegally withhold payments to any number of programs. I can think of no good reason why political operators who have demonstrated a blatant disregard for the law would need access to these sensitive, mission-critical systems … The federal government is in a financially precarious position, currently utilizing accounting maneuvers to continue paying its bills since it reached the debt limit at the beginning of the year. I am concerned that mismanagement of these payment systems could threaten the full faith and credit of the United States.”

His letter continued: “The press has previously reported that Musk was denied a high-level clearance to access the government’s most sensitive secrets. I am concerned that Musk’s enormous business operation in China -- a country whose intelligence agencies have stolen vast amounts of sensitive data about Americans, including U.S. government employee data by hacking U.S. government systems -- endangers U.S. cybersecurity and creates conflicts of interest that make his access to these systems a national security risk.”

The full text of the letter is available here. The questions posed in the letter follow below.

Have officials associated with Elon Musk or DOGE requested access to the Bureau of the Fiscal Service’s payment systems? If so, please provide the identities of those individuals.
Has the Treasury Department granted Bureau of Fiscal Service payment systems access to officials associated with Elon Musk or DOGE? If so, please provide the following information:
1. The legal authority under which the Treasury Department granted access to any of the Fiscal Service’s payment systems to officials associated with Elon Musk or DOGE
2. A detailed description of why the Treasury Department gave officials associated with Elon Musk or DOGE and the intended changes to the system that merits such access
3. A list of all officials associated with Elon Musk or DOGE who have been granted access to the Fiscal Services Payment Systems.
4. Copies of all communications between officials associated with Elon Musk or DOGE and Treasury staff related to the Bureau of the Fiscal Service’s payment systems.
Has the Treasury Department given access to payment system databases related to the disbursement of Social Security and Medicare benefits? If so, why?
Has the Treasury Department conducted any screenings, background checks, screening of security clearances or other vetting of officials associated with Elon Musk or DOGE? If so, please describe these efforts and whether they took place prior to granting officials associated with Elon Musk or DOGE access to the Fiscal Service’s payment systems.
Has the Treasury Department done any vetting of potential conflicts of interest posed by Elon Musk’s significant business operations in China prior to granting him access to the Fiscal Service’s payment systems or any other Treasury databases?
Please describe what information security measures and other operational security steps will be taken to ensure that providing officials associated with Elon Musk or DOGE such access does not result in hackers and foreign spies breaching or otherwise gaining access to the Fiscal Service’s payment systems.

###

I'm sorry, has Donald Chump just decided The Fourth Amendment no longer exists?

I've not signed any waiver allowing non-governmentals to have access to my private information. That's a recipe for abuse.

Now we all wonder whether or not Donald can count to four but one would hope someone at the White House could pull him aside and explain the purpose of The Fourth Amendment.

Trump has given Elon Musk your Social Security number.

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— Mark Jacob (@markjacob.bsky.social) February 1, 2025 at 3:12 PM

"We need DOGE to cut your social security and Medicare because the government isn't brining in enough money to afford them." --Elon Musk

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— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@mrsbettybowers.bsky.social) February 1, 2025 at 2:53 PM

Remember we were so worried about TikTok getting our data that we banned it? Then we gave Elon Musk and his cronies access to Social Security and Medicare benefits, tax refunds, federal salaries, and other sensitive information.
— Hoodlum 🇺🇸 (@nothoodlum.bsky.social) February 1, 2025 at 5:47 PM

It’s alarming that Elon Musk has access to government payment systems used to deliver Social Security and Medicare benefits. He also drove out the senior career official at Treasury responsible for preventing a potential default on U.S. debt. Congress must investigate.

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— Elizabeth Warren (@warren.senate.gov) February 1, 2025 at 4:32 PM

CAN YOU SAY THE SAME?! 🤚 I want Elon Musk arrested for breaching my Social Security and bank data! Let’s. Do. This. ✨
— Jeras Ikehorn… 😎 🌊🐾🌴🌈✨ (@jerasikehorn.bsky.social) February 3, 2025 at 3:31 AM

Musk, Trump & Our Money Trump ousted a top Treasury official for blocking Elon Musk’s cost-cutting team access to the system that pays Social Security, Medicare, tax refunds, and federal contracts. They’re not just coming for government waste—they’re coming for our money.

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— Christopher Webb (@cwebbonline.com) January 31, 2025 at 10:48 PM

When I think of Elon Musk hacking into hundreds of millions of tax files and Social Security records I am reminded of the case of Aaron Swartz. He face five years in prison because he hacked into M.I.T's computer system.
— Dean Baker (@deanbaker13.bsky.social) February 2, 2025 at 1:24 PM

I keep thinking how lucky it is that Elon Musk isn't Jewish. Then it might look weird that a foreign billionaire spent $1B to elect a president in exchange for the authority to steal your social security information and cancel congressional grants for children's healthcare
— Jake Grumbach (@jakemgrumbach.bsky.social) February 2, 2025 at 2:15 PM

The Fourth Amendment: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, [. . .]" No warrants were issued. But our papers are no longer secure -- our papers is the information that the government has on us that Chump has turned over to Elon Musk.

This morning, David Ingram (NBC NEWS) reports:

Tech billionaire Elon Musk said Monday that he and President Donald Trump were in the process of shutting down the U.S. Agency for International Development, escalating their war on the federal bureaucracy and defying the constitutional power of Congress to determine how money is spent.

Musk, the head of Trump’s government efficiency initiative, announced the shutdown in the middle of the night in an audio-only appearance on his social media site X.

“We’re shutting it down,” he said. At another point, he said "we’re in the process” of “shutting down USAID.”

Musk did not say what legal authority he believed the White House has to shut down a federal agency without congressional approval, or how quickly the administration planned to act. He said the idea had “the full support of the president” and that he had spoken with Trump on the matter several times.

As we all know, Elon is a racist who was taught racism by his racist parents as he grew up in his country of birth South Africa. When apartheid finally began to collapse in South African, Elon ran like the coward he always has been. He couldn't handle the thought of living in South Africa if Black people had equality. The people of South Africa -- predominately Black but also some Whites -- fought to topple apartheid. One of the things that assisted with the toppling? USAID.

So this unelected foreigner is being given our personal data and he's being allowed to seek his revenge on the world. That's all his embrace and popularization of racism has been -- his trying to get back at the world for the end of apartheid in South Africa.

And too many fools got taken in and thought he was something to applaud and admire. Oh, let's build an episode of THE SIMPSONS around him! Oh, let's buy a car from him!

If any of those people had done the basic due diligence they would have known that he was nothing but vengeful piece of garbage bound and determined to stomp out any progress for people of color.

But, big surprise, big media did none of the work required and little media was too busy amusing itself to grasp what was coming.

Let's wind down. We've got two things from Senator Elizabeth Warren's office. First up:

Musk Repeatedly Attacked FAA Head after Agency Fined SpaceX

“[T]he fact that FAA has no Senate-confirmed Administrator in place to lead the response provides a concrete example of how your self-interest may not be consistent with the public interest.”

Text of Letter (PDF)

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) sent a letter to Elon Musk, Administrator of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), regarding his role in the resignation of the head of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Michael Whitaker, in the wake of the tragic plane crash in Washington, D.C.

“This resignation—which you called for after the FAA fined your company for safety issues —has left this critical agency without leadership while facing significant challenges, including the tragic midair crash of American Eagle Flight 5342 and an Army Black Hawk helicopter that killed 67 individuals—including at least six from Massachusetts —on the approach to Washington Reagan National Airport,” wrote Senator Warren.

Despite having a term set to run through 2028, Mr. Whitaker resigned from the agency on January 20, 2025, in the aftermath of a series of public attacks by Musk including calls for, “[Mr. Whitaker] … to resign.”

“You got what you wanted after President Trump was elected,” wrote Senator Warren.

Immediately after inauguration day, the Trump Administration took aim at the FAA and at airline safety, announcing a federal hiring freeze that included air traffic controllers, and disbanding the Aviation Safety Advisory Committee.

“It is not clear what direct or indirect role you played in any of these decisions, but at a moment of crisis, with 67 dead, the FAA is understaffed and was without a Senate-confirmed leader,” continued the senator. “[T]he fact that FAA has no Senate-confirmed Administrator in place to lead the response provides a concrete example of how your self-interest may not be consistent with the public interest.”

Senator Warren pushed Elon Musk for answers regarding his role in decisions made during the Trump transition or after January 20 about the FAA and airline safety, his current role in the Administration, and the ethics rules governing his actions.

###

Very, very important points. I'm not impressed with the next one:

Washington, D.C. – During Wednesday’s Senate Finance Committee hearing, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)questioned President Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. about his apparent conflicts of interest. Following pressure from Senate Democrats, RFK Jr., today in written responses to Senator Warren, agreed to amend his flawed ethics agreement (see Warren QFRs at the end of Part 2 and start of Part 3).

In response to this new information, Sen. Warren released the following statement:

“After public pressure from Senate Democrats, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has acknowledged dangerous conflicts of interest that would allow him to profit from an anti-vax lawsuit while serving as HHS Secretary. While he has now pledged in writing to fix his flawed ethics agreement, the answers he has provided to this committee also raise new questions about the scope of his conflicts.

“Given these ongoing questions, RFK Jr.'s nomination must not move forward to any Senate vote until the details of his revised ethics agreement can be thoroughly reviewed. It’s also critical that the revised ethics agreement ensures that he cannot use his role as Health Secretary to open the floodgates to more anti-vaccine litigation and then cash in after he leaves office, including adopting a four-year post-employment ban on accepting any compensation from lawsuits involving any entity regulated by HHS.

“It would be insufficient for RFK Jr. to only divest his interest in the Gardasil case while leaving the window open to profit from other anti-vax lawsuits, including future cases he could bring after leaving office.”

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Nothing's changed. He didn't say in a Senate hearing. Where we'd have footage and where he would be considered bound by it being part of his testimony before the Senate. He did it outside of the Senate. And he's not doing much at all.

Didn't see everything you wanted to in the snapshot? You won't. Friday ended with more destruction of the government by the Convicted Felon. Congress needs to stand up and to do so immediately -- that's all members of Congress.

If we had more time, we could note Glenneth Greerwald found his new woman to attack: Emma of THE MAJORITY REPORT and we could not what a liar he is and how "" really needs to focus on Brazil but if he's going to try to hold up Tucker a better than Emma, he needs to remind people that Tucker is so nuts that he's claiming a demon came into his bedroom and assaulted him -- sodomized him in some of the tellings. He's nuts.

Glenneth's also attacking David Hogg. Old man Glenneth is probably attempting to work through his sexual attraction for Hogg.

24-year-old David Hogg was elected vice chair of the DNC on Saturday. Great for him, great for new blood in party leadership. Let's note this from Florida's Democratic Party:

Today, David Hogg was elected Vice Chair of the Democratic National Committee. In response, the Florida Democratic Party has issued the following statement:

“Congratulations to our new DNC Vice Chair, David Hogg” said FDP Chair Nikki Fried. “David Hogg’s journey is truly remarkable — from Parkland survivor to national gun violence prevention advocate to now, the first member of Gen Z to serve as Vice Chair of the DNC. David’s unique life experiences and skills will transform the way Democrats engage with young voters and elevate how we run campaigns.

“I’m excited for his generation — and Florida — to have a seat at the table and I look forward to working with him as Vice Chair.”