Nancy Pelosi has been quiet lately. Maybe it's just a result of falling down a set of stairs or maybe she's just getting old...er. Been a little quiet over there ever since the inauguration... that she didn't attend. Pretty odd since, for that month, the Executive Branch has been ripping up the old roads and laying down new pavement faster than Lightning McQueen in Radiator Springs. You'd think she'd be making a Haj to "The View" or posting videos gargling about Elon Musk as driblets of Black Diamond Ice Cream channeled down her bib. But she isn't. Is she just fading away like an old flower? Like a bad smell in a confined space? What's going on with Nancy?

Well, earlier this month, the octogenarian issued a press release on her website, so at least we had proof of life at the time:

Pelosi, House Democrats Introduce New Bill to Stop Musk From Invading Americans' Privacy followed by the slug just beneath: Taxpayer Data Protection Act ensures trusted public servants, not Elon Musk, can access personal information.

Well, I guess if you're not issuing loaded statements, you're not a real politician, and this one is more loaded than a potato skin from TGI Fridays. So here's the intro to the bill (emphasis hers):

 "This legislation is a direct response to Elon Musk’s shameful invasion of Americans’ privacy. It will stop people with conflicts of interest or without a security clearance from accessing the highly sensitive Treasury Department payment system – which is responsible for Social Security and Medicare benefits. 

“With the Taxpayer Data Protection Act, the Congress can hold the Trump Administration accountable and prevent Elon Musk and his minions from accessing the private data of everyday Americans to serve their own interests,” Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi said. “Elon Musk’s seizure of the federal payment system jeopardizes the personal information and privacy of San Franciscans and working families across the country – and we must act now to stop it.  Democrats will not rest until we end Elon Musk’s illegal seizure of the Treasury payment systems and secure the sensitive personal information of Americans.”

Eeeeek.....Minions? Minions are Scary. Shameful? Democrats spent the last of their credibility on shameful. Conflicts of interest? Democrats....please.

Musk is a Special Government Employee. That means he is retained by the Federal Government for his expertise in a certain area and for a limited amount of time. He is not subject to the exact same ethics and conflict of interest rules that generally affect typical government workers. However, he is still bound by  "guidance" (the left so loves that word) that regulates such actions.

Musk is held to the same standards of behavior and ethics as any other government employee, and cannot use his position for political or financial gain, etc., etc., etc. Musk does not have to have a security clearance if the president appoints him to fill a particular slot, although he does in fact have one. Interestingly enough, the POTUS himself has no official security clearance. His ability to gain access to the nation's most sensitive documents is simply implied in his election by the people. Therefore, he is free to appoint Musk to dig around into Nancy Pelosi's "trusted public servants" bidniss. Because it's our personal business and not their personal business because we pay for it with our personal money. 

Odd, too, that while Nancy cares about Musk getting access to your tax information, etc., she lodged no complaint about Hunter Biden getting access to the previous administration's high-level meetings. I don't think he has a security clearance, though he does have a clearance sale on some of his artwork. Also, today, unless you have a VPN or a digital lock on your fiduciary information, once you are "out there" you are "out there" --  email records, social security numbers, blood type, favorite cartoons...it's all there and likely accessed by thousands of the sort of minions that Nancy Pelosi likes...you know...like anybody on the federal payroll.  (and who really considers IRS employees "trusted public servants" anyway?)

As a historical note, the War Production Board, established by FDR in 1942 by EO to oversee all aspects of war material manufacturing, employed thousands of "minions" (mathematicians, accountants, efficiency experts) to streamline the country's manufacturing outlets as they shifted from making butter to guns. These people had no formal security clearances. Their advisory authority flowed from Donald M. Nelson, previously a Big with Sears Roebuck, which flowed from the president. Academic Calvin Christman of William Penn College wrote in 1972:

"Nelson, in Executive Order 9042, received complete authority to 'exercise general direction of the war procurement and production program.' There can be no question as to his complete power over the nation's industrial components. He now held, or would soon receive through additional delegations, the President's powers over allocations, rationing, etc. etc."

So there's a long and well-established precedent for Musk to be appointed and for Musk to dig around. Maybe Nancy knows this, but I don't think she knows that you might know this. I didn't until this morning, but now you do too. And Nancy's bill to prevent Musk from performing his perfectly legal task at the behest of a perfectly legal president through a perfectly legal precedent is full of perfectly typical garbage that the Progs like to use to stir up fear among voters. I think what Musk has done is exactly what Trump wanted him to do, and that is to stir up fear in all of those Real Life Unelected Minions who have been siphoning off the tax revenue in the darkness of political red tape and layers of intentionally crafted obfuscation. 

As for the life of the Bill, I think as does the author of this article, that its purpose is mainly symbolic. The democrats won't have the votes needed to do anything with it and it will go off to die like an old water buffalo. Make a hole, Nancy.