Musk's Drug Use, By Hal M. Brown

 

Shown below is how the opening page of HUFFPOST looked when I wrote my Substack this morning:

The top article begins (here):

He forcibly and potentially illegally gained access to wildly sensitive government data that he hired a bunch of unvetted 20-somethings to oversee ― and he was potentially blitzed out of his mind at the same time.

Just days after tech billionaire Elon Musk officially left his role as a top adviser to President Donald Trump, The New York Times reported that the tech mogul was consuming large quantities of drugs around the same time he became a fixture on the campaign trail.

Citing private messages obtained by the Times and interviews with Musk’s associates, the outlet reported that Musk took ketamine, ecstasy, psychedelic mushrooms, Ambien, Adderall, and other drugs, and traveled with a daily medication box that held about 20 pills.

The CEO of SpaceX and Tesla reportedly took so much Ketamine, a dissociative anesthetic known to induceschizophrenia-like symptoms, that it affected his bladder function.

This story just isn’t being reported in HUFFPOST where it was the top story. Here’s a Google News search. Clicking the image below will enlarge it.

I consider Musk to be a phallocentric member of the manosphrere where Trump and almost all of his male and many of his female associates and cult members reside. In fact I wrote Here's proof that Elon Musk resides in Trump's toxic MAGA phallocentric misogynistic manosphrere in November.

I do not dislike Musk any less after reading about his use of various drugs. However, I don’t dislike him any more. I don’t think I understand him any better either. I know more about him, but I can’t claim any new insights as to why he is the way he is. Even so, I think it bears exploring his drug use in more depth.

Assuming reports are accurate, there are three elements to Musk’s drug use based on what the drugs were. 

If he was treating the medical conditions of clinical depression, insomnia, and ADHD, ketamine (which is sometimes used for treatment resistent depression), Ambien, and Adderall could have been targetting these illnesses. 

On the othert hand, ecstasy and psychedelic mushrooms are very different drugs. 

“Taking ecstasy leads to feelings of euphoria, happiness, and well-being in which you feel drawn to or connected to other people as if you love them. You may feel a need to touch and be touched, and you’ll experience sexual arousal and a heightening of your senses.” (Reference) This could be categorized as a recreational drug. Some people who go to raves use it. Others use it for personal sexual experiences. I heard from one friend that she used it and she and her partner enjoyed the experience (I’m not meaning to suggest it was me, it wasn’t.)

The so-called psychedelic mushrooms are probably psilocybin mushrooms. These can be used for the treatment of depression. (See “Psychotherapy with Psilocybin for Depression: Systematic Review” in a NIH goverment publication and in a Wikipedia entry about psilocybin therapy. In fact, my state of Oregon was the first state to legalize psilocybin therapy and start a program for training facilitators. Other states are moving towards doing the same thing.

Psilocybin mushrooms, which are sometimes called magic mushrooms, have been used for spiritual enlightenment. Indigenous people still use them. They are sometimes referred to as sacred mushrooms. They are used today at places (like this) devoted to spiritual healing. 

If Musk has been using the mushrooms for therapy he should be doing this with a trained facilitator. If he is doing it for spiritual enlightenment, something people have done with mushrooms and psychedelics like LSD, and reported that their minds expanded and that it was a positive life altering experience, I would say that he’s utterly failed. I was tempted to write “bigly failed” but I ought to resist using the word Trump put into the Slang Dictionary even though it was already in regular dictionaries.

What this in toto tells me is that charitably we can give Musk the benefit of the doubt for taking two of the three caterogies of drugs. 

Even the third, the rave drug ecstasy, can be considered just a quirky recreational indulgence for a 53 year old.

Aside from the fact he was waving a potentially dangerous weapon around near another person, so what if Musk was stoned out of his fucken mind when he did his manic DOGE customized chain saw dance (not the first person to do this with the same make chain). Not only was it a demonstration of upper body strength (these machines can weight 10-15 pounds), but it was such a flamboyant show, which achieved what I assume was his purpose, of being a great visual for the main story in the national news.

I would be remiss if I didn’t give Musk credit for not having an alcohol problem, especially considering Pete Hegseth’s history and the postion he holds. For all I can determine with a web search (here’s a typical article) he is a light to moderate drinker.

If I had to choose between a possibly drunk Hegseth and Musk on mushrooms in the Situation Room during a crisis where nuclear Armageddon was possible, I would be hard pressed to reach a decision as to who would be more dangerous.

Thanks for reading my Substack! Subscribe for free to receive new posts by email.

This post is public so feel free to share it.

Share

Read all my Substacks here.

Most recent (click to enlarge)

Should we laugh at things like this, should we cry, or should we scream? By Hal M. Brown

 

I had nothing to write about a few minutes ago, but then Ann’s sister, Nancy, sent her this and she showed it to me. I didn’t know whether to laugh, cry, or scream.

I had the same feeling when I saw online what, with my perverse sensibility, I thought was the best anti-Trump protest sign (click for footnote: 1

Look at the editorial cartoons by Ann Telnaes (here).2 They are definitely not amusing They are somewhere between cry or scream inducing. Don’t look to Ann Telnaes or any of these editorial cartoonists to get a good laugh. If you want to laugh look at these New York cartoons.

Editorial cartoons reflect where the country is. Consider these cartoons and Biden. Here’s a search for Obama cartoons.

While many are critical none suggest that Biden or Obama were hellbent to utterly destroy democracy.

Whether in cartoons (some with words and others without words) protest signs, in articles, or on TV, the messages about what Trump is doing to wreak havoc on both democracy and what used to be considered the underpinnings of social order and common sense must be sent out across the nation in a way that the people who need to hear it pay attention before it is too late. It has to come as if it is the thundering word of God from sky.

Our rights to tell in any way we choose to do so what we sincerely believe is true are embodied in the First Amendment. 

This is the relevant, the crucial part, related to my Substack today:

Freedom of Speech / Freedom of the Press

The most basic component of freedom of expression is the right to freedom of speech. Freedom of speech may be exercised in a direct (words) or a symbolic (actions) way. Freedom of speech is recognized as a human right under article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights . The right to freedom of speech allows individuals to express themselves without government interference or regulation . The Supreme Court requires the government to provide substantial justification for interference with the right of free speech when it attempts to regulate the content of the speech. Generally, a person cannot be held liable , either criminally or civilly for anything written or spoken about a person or topic, so long as it is truthful or based on an honest opinion and such statements.

A less stringent test is applied for content-neutral legislation. The Supreme Court has also recognized that the government may prohibit some speech that may cause a breach of the peace or cause violence. For more unprotected and less protected categories of speech see advocacy of illegal action , fighting words , commercial speech , and obscenity . The right to free speech includes other mediums of expression that communicate a message. The level of protection speech receives also depends on the forum in which it takes place.

Despite the popular misunderstanding, the right to freedom of the press guaranteed by the First Amendment is not very different from the right to freedom of speech. It allows an individual to express themselves through publication and dissemination. It is part of the constitutional protection of freedom of expression. It does not afford members of the media any special rights or privileges not afforded to individuals in general.

As long as we have a democracy this means we can get the message out that Trump is trying to undermine democracy. We can use whatever methods and means we have to educate, motivate, and inspire people to wake up from their “what me worry” sleepwalking through life and realize they must actually do sonething before the First Amendment, and in fact the entire Constitution, is rendered irrelevant.

Update:

My friend Sabrina Haake and I must have a cosmic connection since we wrote about similar topics today. Like I wrote yesterday (here), when it comes to a later stage of the round-up of Trump enemies the MAGA Gestapo will be knock at (or busting down) out doors. Read Sabrina’s Haake Take here.

She also references the First Amendment:

Social media vetting is viewpoint discrimination under the 1^st A

When the government engages in viewpoint discrimination, it singles out a particular opinion, perspective or “viewpoint” for treatment that differs from how other viewpoints are treated. Viewpoint discrimination, where the government persecutes or otherwise punishes someone for expressing views it dislikes or disagrees with, is illegal.

In 1995 the Supreme Court explained: “When the government targets not subject matter but particular views taken by speakers on a subject, the violation of the First Amendment is all the more blatant. Viewpoint discrimination is thus an egregious form of content discrimination. The government must abstain from regulating speech when the specific motivating ideology or the opinion or perspective of the speaker is the rationale for the restriction.”

She concudes:

Scared yet? Sabrina has a link to NPR story about Trump jailing and deporting US citizens abroad.

What, you haven’t subscribed for free to receive new posts by email? Here’s your chance.

This post is public so feel free to share it. I always appreciate it when you do.

Share

Read all my Substacks here. Don’t forget that comments are always welcome.

Recent (click image to enlarge)

1

You have to scroll down Stormy Daniels’ X page to find any posts about Trump. Mostly she promotes her shows there. I keep posting to her account hoping that she reposts something I write. This could get me many more followers. 

2

Telnaes made the news when she quit as the editorial cartoonist for The Washington Post when Jeff Bezos spiked this cartoon showing him to be a Trump tool. That backfired big time on Bezos since prior to that only subscribers could see the cartoon and then it was all over the news (Google search here).

There's only one good thing about Stephen Miller.

When I looked at this RawStory article, even before I read it, I was struck by the photo they used.

Joseph Goebbels, one of Hitler’s closest allies and the Nazi propaganda minister who advocated for the extermination of Jews (as Wikipedia tells us) was known for his public speaking. We don’t see Stephen Miller making speeches. We don’t know why this is. It may be because Trump doesn’t trust him not go on a full-bore Nazi-like propaganda rant about ridding the country of the vermin scum without the pesky annoyance of their having the right of habeas corpus.

Nonetheless, Miller makes the news frequently. Here’s a Google News search.

I am far from the first person to compare Miller with Goebbel based on how they look. These are Google Image searches.

Here’s a Google Image search for cartoons about Stephen Miller.

This is one of the best. It is from The Week.

Trump, with a few exceptions, has selected people to be in the public eye who look good on TV. Kristi Noem is a notable exception. 

As Trump gets older and finds it more and more difficult to look like the studly hunka-hunka burning love this vain preening narcissist fancies himself to be, he compensates by surrounding himself with reasonably good looking people and Miller doesn’t fit this mold.

He also surrounds himself with plated crap. If you subcribe to the NY Times look at the photos in Trump’s Oval Office Is a Gilded Rococo Nightmare. Help.

Somehow he thinks that surrounding himself with gold (and getting that palace in the air 747) will gild away the actual fact that he’s a jowly old man with thinning hair and a crepe paper neck who wear orange pancake makeup. But Trump, who says truly evil things, doesn’t really “look” evil the way Miller does.

Miller remains in the background at Cabinet meetings, but in the photo above you can see how he watches the man he has incredible influence over like a hawk.

Pictures of Miller should be front and center in more articles and TV coverage so it sinks in to more and more people, even those who don’t see him as a Goebbels clone and think Hitler wasn’t a good guy, that he just looks like an evil fuck. They need to ask whether they’d trust him to babysit their children.

Thanks for reading my Substack! If you haven’t already please consider subscribing for free to receive new post links by email.

This post is public so feel free to share it.

Share

Read all my Substacks.

Recent:

Every honest paper in the country should have headlined yesterday's Memorial Day story "Trump Destroys Democracy. Thom Hartmann said it very well today.

 

Thom Hartmann is one of the most read and listened to progressive writers and broadcasters in the country. (SeeWikipedia profile) 

He has a five day a week call-in radio show broadcast on numerous stations and on Free Speech TV.

He begins his Substack today, When a President Spits on Unity: The ‘Scum’ Speech That Should Warn Us All

Once you’ve labeled your opponents as subhuman, how do you work with them? How do you compromise? You don’t.

as follows:

Trump opened Memorial Day in the most disgusting way possible, not by praising our fallen heroes but by attacking Democrats. He wrote on his Nazi-infested social media site on Monday morning:

“Happy Memorial Day to all, including the scum that spent the last four years trying to destroy our country through warped radical left minds…”

When the President of the United States calls members of the oldest political party in the world and a former president “scum,” it’s not just another ugly outburst that embarrasses America before the rest of the world: It’s a warning sign. A bright red flag.

It tells us that something far more sinister than partisan posturing is afoot. Something our media has already decided to overlook in their perpetual effort to normalize the abominable.

Hartmann concludes:

We can’t afford to normalize this. We can’t laugh it off as Trump being Trump. We can’t wait and hope that someone, somewhere, will step in and draw a line. We have to be that line. We have to call this what it is: a deliberate, dangerous assault on the core of American democracy.

Words matter. In every fascist movement of the 20th century, it started with the words. Before the arrests, before the beatings, before the camps, there were the words. And in every case, those words went unchallenged until it was too late.

It’s not too late now. But we are closer than we’ve ever been. We must push back hard against this dehumanizing rhetoric, demand better from our leaders, and defend the democratic principle that every citizen, no matter their party, is entitled to dignity, voice, and full participation in the political process.

Because once a president gets away with calling fellow Americans “scum,” it’s only a matter of time before he treats them that way.

I urge you to read his entire essay. He is saying it loud and clear, but despite the fact that he’s one of the top progressive voices in the country he’s not the mainstream media. How, then does the mainstream media paly this? 

Not unexpectedly Fox News glorifies Trump here:

Just looking at the other titles of the articles about the speech ( click here) you see how none got it right and how most or all of them got it wrong. Those that said he honored fallen solderiers got it TOTALLY wrong even though they may have said he peppered the speech with political attacks. USA Today for example: "Trump honors veterans at Arlington National Cemetery after lashing out at political opponents in Memorial Day post." At least The Guardian led with

"Trump peppers Memorial Day speech with personal boasting and partisan attacks" but their subtitle was "President paid tribute to fallen soldiers at Arlington cemetery, and also veered off into rally-style remarks."

Trump dishonored the people he was supposedly honoring. In doing so he dishonored democracy and when you do this you debase the sacrifice of those who gave their lives fighting for it.

As Hartmann notes, the speech (and the commencement address at West Point where he wore a MAGA hat) was testing the limits of how much he could get away with in his Hitlerian rehetoric.

Trump was reading words someone wrote for him off the teleprompter which he barely glanced away from to look at the camera and audience showing he probably didn’t rehearse at all and possibly hadn’t even read the speech at all before hand. He read it in what only could be charitably called a wishwashy monotone. Trump, ever the performer, couldn’t even manage to pull off a half-way decent performance showing he cared about those words. The only time he showed any passion was when he called his enemies “scum” and went off on his usual vicious tangents. I doubt these words were on the teleprompter. 

Of all the titles I look at in a Google News search only NorthJersey.com got it in the ballpark:

What was Donald Trump's Memorial Day message? What he said about 'monsters' and 'scum'

So did The Independent:

Trump can’t resist attack on Biden during Memorial Day speech honoring fallen heroes

The newspaper headlines should have shouted out "Trump declares democracy dead on Memorial Day."

This is a follow-up to my Substack from yesterday.

Thanks for reading my Subsstacks.

Subscribe for free to receive new posts by email.

Share

Read all my Substacks here.

Most recent: