Featured

Trump: Iran asked me to be Supreme Leader, but I said no thanks

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Featured

‘Men need to be perp-walked’ after Epstein files release, Massie tells BBC

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Buried.News

The stories buried under the noise

Primary focus

Trump fires Kristi Noem as Homeland Security Secretary

A Cabinet secretary was forced out amid contracting and oversight scrutiny, signaling that executive control—not transparent accountability—can dictate leadership of the agency driving mass detention and deportation.

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Featured

The Trump gold coin is not normal : Consider This from NPR

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Featured

White House Confronted Over Huge Bets Made Minutes Before Trump’s Big War Move

A $580 million burst of oil-futures selling minutes before Trump’s Iran “talks” post raises a basic public-interest question: did anyone trade on advance knowledge of a market-moving national security decision?

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Norms Impact

Turns Out There Was Voter Fraud in Georgia—by Elon Musk

A super PAC crossed a legal line by pushing prefilled absentee-ballot paperwork, testing the boundary between political persuasion and the state’s control over election administration.

State Politics

Feb 20, 2026

Sources

https://newrepublic.com/post/206857/georgia-voter-fraud-elon-musk

Summary

Georgia’s State Elections Board voted to issue a formal letter of reprimand to Elon Musk’s America PAC over partially prefilled absentee ballot applications sent to voters. A state election oversight body moved to formally sanction a major political operation for conduct flagged as unlawful under Georgia election administration rules. The outcome is a documented enforcement action that reinforces limits on private actors injecting official-looking voting materials into the electorate.

Reality Check

When private political money distributes official-looking voting materials with voters’ data already filled in, it erodes the integrity of the ballot process and normalizes end-runs around the guardrails that protect our right to a free and fair election. Based on the conduct described, the most direct exposure is under Georgia election law restricting prefilled absentee ballot applications and required disclaimers; the enforcement response here is administrative reprimand rather than criminal referral. Even without a federal charge on these facts, the precedent is corrosive: campaigns and their proxies learn they can push the machinery of voting itself—not just speech—to manipulate participation and trust.

Detail

Members of the Georgia State Elections Board voted Wednesday to issue a formal letter of reprimand to Elon Musk’s America PAC.

John Fervier, the board’s chairman, said the Georgia secretary of state’s office opened an investigation in October 2024 after receiving reports from residents across several counties that they had received partially prefilled absentee ballot applications from America PAC.

Janice Johnston, the board’s vice chairman, said there was evidence suggesting America PAC violated a state law prohibiting any person or entity, other than an authorized relative, from sending an elector an absentee ballot application prefilled with the elector’s required information. Johnston also said America PAC failed to display, in a conspicuous location, that the material was not an official government publication, was not provided by the government, and was not a ballot.

The board then voted to issue the letter of reprimand to America PAC.

Norms Impact

‘What a coincidence’: Musk’s $1 million Wisconsin giveaway won by chair of state’s College Republicans

A billionaire’s million-dollar “giveaway” timed to a Supreme Court election tests the line between political speech and illegal voter inducement—and our courts are being dared to look away.

Elections

Mar 31, 2025

Sources

https://www.dailydot.com/debug/elon-musk-giveaway-wisconsin/

Summary

Elon Musk handed out two $1 million checks at a Wisconsin rally days before the state’s Supreme Court election, and one recipient was identified as the chairman of the Wisconsin College Republicans. After legal scrutiny, the giveaway shifted from being framed as tied to voting to being tied to signing a petition opposing “activist judges,” while Musk’s America PAC separately offered $100 for petition signatures. The sequence normalizes election-adjacent cash inducements aimed at shaping turnout and judicial power, while skirting state prohibitions on paying to motivate voters.

Reality Check

Cash inducements deployed around an election, then reworded after legal scrutiny, set a precedent that allows wealth to substitute for consent—and that weakens our right to elections free of private purchase. Based on the conduct described, the principal legal exposure is under Wisconsin’s prohibition on payments that would motivate a voter, especially where the messaging initially framed the money as “appreciation” for voting before being revised. Even if prosecutors can’t prove a vote-for-cash nexus beyond a reasonable doubt, the pattern—million-dollar checks plus a separate $100 per signature offer—pushes a pay-to-participate model that corrodes basic anti–quid-pro-quo governance norms. When judicial elections become targets for cash-driven mobilization, the legitimacy of the court itself becomes collateral damage.

Media

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Detail

On Sunday, Elon Musk distributed two $1 million checks at a rally in Wisconsin ahead of the state Supreme Court election scheduled for Tuesday. One recipient, Nicholas Jacobs, was identified as the chairman of the Wisconsin College Republicans after an online post noted the match and a friend confirmed the win and his role in a Facebook message.

The giveaway occurred after the state Supreme Court declined to intervene in Musk’s efforts to mobilize conservatives against “activist judges in Wisconsin.” Wisconsin law prohibits payments that would motivate a voter. Musk deleted an initial X post that described the giveaway as an “appreciation for you taking the time to vote.” On Friday, he stated the giveaway would not depend on whether someone voted, but would be open to people who “signed [his] petition in opposition to activist judges.” Musk’s America PAC separately promised $100 to registered voters for signing the petition.

In addition to Jacobs, graphic designer Ekaterina Diestler received a check at the event, and Green Bay mechanical engineer Scott Ainsworth received money from Musk on Thursday.