DOGE Thugs Profiting Off Their Destruction – The Wednesday AM Quickie 10/14/26
Over at the Prospect, I wrote about the $100 million domestic surveillance program ICE is planning to build, which former military contractors told me should scare everyone. Stay safe out there everybody. Corey is back tomorrow. -Whitney
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THE BIG NEWS
DOGE Thugs Profiting Off Their Destruction
Elon Musk followed the same playbook with DOGE that every tech oligarch does: destroy a public service and leverage that for private-sector profits. That’s what his DOGE thugs are doing after they gutted various federal agencies, a project that has so far resulted in nearly half a million workers leaving, the Washington Post reported.
Two dozen DOGE alumni “have parlayed their government experience” to parallel private-sector jobs or investments. They are refashioning themselves as “founders, securing CEO positions or senior executive roles, amassing large stakes in start-ups looking to win government contracts or approvals, or taking the skills developed at DOGE to the private sector.” At least six are registered to receive government contracts.
Many of the startups aim to cram more artificial intelligence down our collective throat, like Cathedral, founded by Gavin Kliger and Luke Farritor, which is valued at $1.4 billion and sells cybersecurity; and Special, founded by Nate Cavanaugh and Justin Fox, who drew funding from venture capital firm Banner, which was founded by yet more ex-DOGE thugs, Adam Ramada and Brooks Morgan. Then there’s Blitz Industries, founded by Ethan Shaotran, who posted on LinkedIn that he is “Rapidly hiring!” though the Post does not say for what job or industry. There’s Tyler Hassen, who was appointed to dismantle the Department of Interior, and now leads Zone Frontier to run infrastructure and permitting for data centers. One of Elon Musk’s attorneys, Alex Spiro, is that company’s board chair. You get the idea. One big revolving door of endless grift for soulless trenchermen.
We’ll see how they do in the middle future. Per the Post:
For some investors, however, the DOGE connection carries a potential downside: It could draw scrutiny if Democrats regain control of Congress, according to two of the people familiar with DOGE investment pitches.
Investors have advised some of the founders to prepare for a potential midterm sweep by seeking to avoid the appearance of impropriety or hyper-partisanship, according to the two people.
“Everything has been done fairly, cleanly, openly, transparently and assuming that anyone could be the poster child … for congressional ethics targets,” said one of the people.
MORE STORIES TO WATCH
Friend of Child Rapists Ken Paxton ‘Partied in Dubai With Fugitives’ and Woman Who Was Not His Wife
Another day, another scandal for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has mysteriously survived in politics despite securities fraud allegations and other claims against him, despite his ghastly decision to help out a child rapist, and despite his terrible policy positions. News of a new scandal comes thanks to the Wall Street Journal, which reported that Paxton welcomed 2025 in Dubai at the Burj Khalifa skyscraper with girlfriend Tracy Duhon and a pair of American fugitives who the US had indicted on federal healthcare fraud charges months before and who had failed to return to face charges. Interesting friends for the top cop of America’s second biggest state!
The fugitives, Anosh Ahmed and Sameer Suhail, were indicted in 2024 in federal court for allegedly embezzling $15 million from the Chicago hospital where Ahmed was the chief financial officer. Ahmed was later charged with an even bigger fraud related to allegedly receiving at least $195 million from the government for false Covid-19 tests. Campaign finance records show that Ahmed donated $190,000 to Paxton, including $25,000 in the days after he was indicted. Both men are now back in the US to face charges and Ahmed is in custody. Paxton walks free, however, despite all the theft, securities fraud and bribery claims he’s faced over his two-decade career.
Meanwhile, the Texas Tribune and ProPublica reported that Paxton has taken almost 1,000 trips with state-funded security detail since 2015, saddling taxpayers with a $3.3 million bill. Only one out of six trips had a listed business purpose.
Rogue Agent: FBI Arrests OpenAI Worker for Spying on OpenAI
Executives of a company whose chatbot allegedly makes people kill themselves did not like it when they found out one of their employees had bugged a conference room, NBC News, the New York Times, and the Washington Post reported. The employee, Saudi Arabian national Abdulrahman Alfozan, allegedly planted a device to monitor audio and had plans to plant more in “sensitive areas” to record meetings. The FBI arrested him on Oct. 9 and he appeared in court yesterday, charged with using a device to “intercept oral communications.” According to the Justice Department, he had concealed the bug in a room in one of the company’s San Francisco buildings and that the picture of what happened came into focus when security personnel found a bag Alfozan left unattended in a different room, opened it, and found similar bugs. OpenAI, meanwhile, claims it “used its internal AI models to identify the person responsible for planting the device and to trace its origins.”
QUICKEST QUICKIES
- Five Dead in Mexico as Hurricane Simon Rages The storm has caused destruction across western Mexico; meanwhile, Tropical Storm Rachel caused flooding in southwestern US. via the Associated Press.
- Cyberattaque en France Turned Up Heat on Supermarket Fridges to 122 Degrees Fahrenheit The “unprecedented” attack caused fires and ruined food at several hundred stores; “Targeting equipment essential to the preservation of fresh products and to the food supply of the French people is of extreme gravity and is unprecedented,” the chief executive of one supermarket chain wrote on social media. via the Guardian.
- Bank of America Pays $1.2 Billion Fine for Money Laundering The penalty relates to the bank’s failure to report billions worth of suspicious transactions “linked to potential Chinese money laundering networks and illicit finance around the southern US border.” Failing to report suspicious transactions is also how banks enabled Jeffrey Epstein to move millions of dollars around the globe to finance his sex trafficking operation. via the Financial Times.
- Corrupt Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle Resigns Maybe she can set up a payment plan for that $100,000 in credit card debt like the rest of us would have to do. via the Wall Street Journal.
SOME NUMBER
$50,000
That’s how much money Kelly Johnson, the wife of Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, was paid for 10 hours of work per week to provide Christian ministry to congressional staffers through her religious nonprofit, Onward Christian Education Services. According to the Washington Post, Kelly Johnson won’t say who funds the evangelical organization, only that she has “several large benefactors” who are “primarily just individuals who have an interest in this and have a heart in this.” She also wouldn’t say whether those donors also support her husband’s political career. $50,000 for 10 hours a week means that if she worked a typical year of 520 hours, her hourly rate of pay would be $96.15. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 for nonexempt workers. It’s $2.13 for tipped workers.
ON THE SHOW TODAY
10/14: Emma and Sam are hosting today, and their guest is Meron Rapoport, editor of Local Call and writer at +972 Magazine, on to discuss the upcoming elections in Israel.
DON'T MISS MR CLIPS
THIS BACKFIRED INSTANTLY…
C’mon guys, it was her first day. I’m sure she’ll learn how to read in time for the next briefing!
Professional Loser Caucus Leaving A Vacuum
It’s a good look to proudly and clearly say you believe in progressive values.
PARTING WORDS
“This is part of the fascist playbook to rile up Trump’s die-hard supporters and give them a big distraction in advance of the midterms. With this obviously political investigation, Trump is telling his voters: ‘Ignore the price of gas, ignore the war in Iran, ignore that you’re losing your healthcare—we want you to get angry about this instead.’”
– Progressive Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), in a statement hours after the Trump regime raided her DC home for alleged immigration fraud. As AMQ pointed out yesterday, Trump has targeted her with racist hatred for a decade and every time he whips up his base with it, the number of death threats she gets skyrockets.
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