We’re approaching the denouement of the Russo-Ukraine War: Trump’s team will be meeting Putin’s team in Saudi Arabia soon in order to work out the preliminary deal. Many people are upset with this because it is clear that the USA will not insist upon Russia evacuating all Ukrainian territory and, further, that we are not interested in Ukraine joining NATO (that is, we’re not interested in committing to Ukraine’s defense and thus endless friction and hostility with Russia). What the final terms are remains to be seen but Zelenskyy and other European leaders have already said they reject whatever deal is made.
And that’s just too darn bad: they don’t get a say.
For the European leaders, the bottom line is that they don’t have significant military forces ready for action and there is a distinct lack of will on committing European youth to war. The European Ruling Class is barely hanging on via increasingly repressive measures against dissidents and telling European youth that its time to ruck up and enter the trenches would be immensely unpopular (can you imagine? “Ok, Nigel from Liverpool – you get to go to Ukraine to die for the Donbas while Abdul from Pakistan gets to stay on welfare here in Blighty grooming your younger sister!”. Not gonna work out). If you don’t have force on the table, you don’t get to decide how a war goes.
As for Ukraine: they’ve been bled white (those who stayed: looked like a couple million Ukrainian youths bailed out early) and they simply lack the power to expel the Russians. At this point, it doesn’t matter what weapons we give them: there just aren’t enough Ukrainians in uniform to get through what are by now multiple layers of Russian defensive positions against a Russian army which hasn’t even begun to really call on Russia’s manpower reserves. Ukraine’s chance to have a say in the war was the 8 years between Russian invasions – they could have built up a powerful, mobile army to strike at Russia just as (or, better, just before) the Russians came on. They didn’t. Zelenskyy staked his country on the moral character of the European leadership and Joe Biden. Bad call. While Ukraine retains sufficient force to make total Russian conquest prohibitively expensive, they don’t have enough to go beyond that. Exhausted military forces also don’t get much of a say in how a war ends.
And both the USA and Russia have bigger fish to fry. Our challenge is in China, Russia’s challenge is to rebuild their military force and industrial base as quickly as possible to keep China from getting froggy about Siberia (people forget that large parts of Russian Siberia were Chinese until the mid-19th century). Bottom line: there’s no will for the war to continue, and so it will end. And if by some chance Ukraine and Europe reject the deal and decide to fight on? Then it is no skin off our nose – and we’ll have no reason to help Ukraine further.
CBS News had the day yesterday – making some of the most stupid statements ever made by an alleged news organization. One thing they highlighted as how cool it is that Europe oppresses free speech…with the capper being a CBS news actor telling Rubio that the Nazis used free speech to create the Holocaust. We all had a good laugh at that but I used the opportunity to remind everyone that only one nation on Earth actually secures the rights of the people: the USA. It is only our Constitution which has the phrase “Congress shall make no law”. All other Constitutions, no matter how wonderfully written or how much they talk about human rights has that – and all of them have provisions which allow the government to suspend every human right when the government decides it needs to. There is only one free nation on Earth: the USA. There only ever has been one, and only ever will be one – no other nation’s Ruling Class is ever going to allow the people to write it into basic law “Parliament shall make no law”. Our Constitution kinda slipped into being almost by accident…nobody was paying attention to what we were doing and the powers that would want to stop us were too far away. The whole thrust of the Progressive Left in the USA, by the way, has been to annul “Congress shall make no law”. Via bureaucratic and judicial fiat the Left has tried everything it can to get around that…and they never will stop trying to. It is the final bulwark of human liberty.
Blogs For Victory 
I never thought I’d live to see the American Left in the utter disarray that it finds itself in. That a lot of their problems are self-inflicted wounds just adds to the delicious irony. I know that could all still change, but nothing grabs peoples’ attention like prosperity and transparency, and the Left is incapable of providing either. That’s going to become increasingly apparent over the next few years. That said, when people start going to jail, then I’ll believe that this is, indeed, a historical shift.
Jesse Watters: Why are we spending US taxpayer money on foreign elections when we’re still counting ballots in CA?
Did you catch Trump’s wonderful post on Truth Social?
I love this attitude. It’s great that we finally have a King!
Bless your heart, Lynne. You tried to kill the King, but you failed. Suck it up buttercup.
Meow. “Lynne” is really on a roll, isn’t “she”. I guess this is what is supposed to pass as political discourse, though it always really comes across as just passing gas.
Great. Let’s talk political philosophy. Mark calls himself a monarchist; that is, someone who supports government by a monarchy. It is also clear from his own words that Donald Trump would like to govern as a monarch (or to use a different term, as a dictator).
How do you feel about government by monarchy, Amazona? Is that firmly within the American tradition of governance? Would the Founders support government by monarchy? How does government by monarchy square with the Constitution?
A Monarch and a Dictator are not remotely the same thing. A Dictator has all power, a Monarch has strictly limited powers (usually based on common law). I’m a Monarchist at heart because, as also stated before, you can have Rules or you’ll have a Ruler. I doubt humanity’s long term ability to obey Rules. This is evidenced by the way things are now – when the very simple and easy to understand Rule “The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America” is held by you on the Left to mean the opposite of what it says. You’ve also got significant problems with the other, easy to understand Rule “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed”. Heck, you guys think “nor prohibit the free exercise thereof” means you can’t pray before a high school football game. Really, really loused up – it is like for you on the Left the only Rule is “we get to do whatever we want”.
You also fail to understand the sense of the Trump quote of Napoleon…no doubt because you’ve been over on Bluesky soaking up the Liberal Tears. I explained where he was going with that…and the more you on the Left try to fight reform, the worse it is going to get for you.
But I’m also a practical man and realize my romantic attachment to Monarchy is not something we can have today – it will rise again if you on the Left get your wish and totally destroy Civilization, but absent that it just ain’t happening. So, my goal right now is to get back to enforcing the Rules. This requires Musk and DOGE to bring that unlubed Dildo of Consequences to the Deep State.
After watching the low-class antics of the Obamas on the world stage, oblivious to or at least flouting established rules of conduct (repeatedly touching the Queen of England, for example) I floated the idea that maybe we needed a kind of monarchial, hereditary, entity which would handle ceremonial duties, much as the Royal Family does in the U.K. instead of expecting low-rent, unsophisticated rubes to act properly.
And oh, the hysterics! Not a glimmer of understanding what I really said, or its implications regarding the classless behavior of the Obamas, but just a knee-jerk reaction to the WORD. Much as we see here, with poor deluded “Lynne” screeching ‘REEE REEEE REEEE he used WORDS I can react blindly to! Not his own words, just a quote of someone else’s words, with no actions to match to them, but the WORDS, the WORDS! REEEE REEEE!“
“unlubed Dildo of Consequences “—Wow, you really did go there, didn’t you? Time to go to Amazon to check out next day delivery of mind bleach.
ROFL
I feel the same way about government by a powerful Central Authority that the Founders felt. This is why they set up a unique form of government in which the federal/central entity is restricted in its size, scope and power with most authority left to the states or to the people.
There is a political movement which is antithetical to this, a movement based on consolidation of power in the hands of elites who govern/rule from the top down, from the same kind of powerful Central Authority we rebelled against and which many of us are still trying to combat.
One of the tactics of this movement is to, quite simply, lie about its opposition. It has its eager supporters, but we have learned that you/they never come right out and admit to any kind of actual ideology, merely getting cheap thrills from attacking an Invented Other. They seize upon a few words here and there and breathlessly obsess about them, but never stop to look at reality to realize that their elaborate fantasies simply do not exist.
We are emerging from the closest this nation has ever come to being ruled by a true dictator, a dark period in which a single signature allegedly by a president could force people to inject experimental drugs or lose their jobs, their military positions and the ability to travel freely. It was a period in which the might and power of the federal government was brought to bear on the citizens, the bootheel of the State on the necks of people for exercising their Constitutional rights, such as the right to petition the government for the redress of wrongs, the right to freedom of assembly and the right to freedom of religion. We saw the State using and abusing its power to spy on its citizens and harass, intimidate and persecute them. We saw American citizens fearing the middle-of-the-night knock on the door as they saw political opposition to the State hauled out of their homes by the new American Gestapo, or accosted and shackled by heavily armed storm troopers in an airport.
We are now in a new era, one in which the size, scope and power of the federal government is starting to be restricted, as the Founders intended and the Constitution mandates. We are seeing the resurgence of the freedoms guaranteed by our Constitution, and the abuses of power by the State being identified, punished and ended. We are seeing the extra-legal de facto fourth branch of government dismantled, with rules and regulations to be legislated by our only legal legislative body, Congress, and not simply imposed by unelected political appointees to advance political agendas.
The reaction to this by those threatened by it is to simply try to reframe reality, to recast the rejection of dictatorship as a movement toward dictatorship, to redefine terms like “fascist” and “dictator” and, now, “monarchy.” It’s a desperate tactic, but the only one left as the nation starts to wake up to the dangers of Leftist governance and choose that of the Constitutional model. And the desperation of the Left is seen in its dispatching of vacuous, obedient little foot soldiers like you, with your silly posturing and fake questions and transparent though feeble efforts to simply snarl and spit and attack.
Forget your silly semantic games. “Monarchy” is merely the new narrative word for the Central Authority that represents Leftist governance. Sometimes the word is “dictatorship”. It can be called “totalitarian” or “authoritarian” or “despotism” or just plain “tyranny”. You all like to use the word “fascist” though you never use it correctly, as fascism is a Leftist construct with nothing in common with the structure of the Constitutional model or the governance by any entity following it. But it is always the consolidation of power in elites who govern/rule from a powerful Central Authority, no matter what the current script may call it.
But while you engage in your pseudo-political squealing, jumping up and down and claiming that the current political direction is one of moving toward any of these centralized authoritarian forms of government, sane and rational people are watching the opposite occur, as elites are removed from their positions of power, the rules are reinstated, and authority is increasingly returned to the states and to the people.
Thank you for opening the door to this kind of explanation of the foolishness of the new Leftist narrative and the odd lack of personal dignity that allows the kinds of posts you and your cohorts seem to think are compelling but are really just stupid.
“Monarchy” is merely the new narrative word for the Central Authority that represents Leftist governance.
Nonsense. You know as well as I do that Mark has repeatedly expressed his preference for a monarchy as a form of government. Use the search field on this blog and search for “monarchist.” The very first sentence of the very first article that comes up is Mark writing, “I’ve always been a Monarchist at heart.” I’ve asked you about this before, as I did tonight, and you always studiously avoid addressing it, as you did tonight. Instead, you try to turn it into a semantic game perpetrated by “Leftists.”
You all are fond of quoting one clause in Article II the Constitution: “The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.”
How about Section 3 of the same Article, which states, “[the president] shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.” What does that mean? And what happens when the president fails to faithfully execute the laws? Does the judiciary have a say in that?
Or how about Article I, Section 1, which states, “All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States.” What does that mean? Do you think the president gets to ignore the legislative powers of Congress, or ignore or defy such laws as passed by Congress and signed into law by the current or a former president?
It appears that your political philosophy is one thing when a Republican holds the presidency, and quite another when a Democrat does. That doesn’t sound like a political philosophy at all, unless your philosophy is rank partisanship.
I’m not Mark. I’m not responsible for anything Mark has said. And unlike you I don’t take it upon myself to interpret what he has said.
My “semantic game” has been to actually use real definitions for the words you people use. While you obediently read your scripts and parrot each new narrative, substituting new words you think might have more emotional impact as your old efforts stumble and falter (“fascist” just didn’t have the staying power you thought it would, especially not after you linked it so immutably to Hitler and then openly advocated for a version of Hitler’s Final Solution) but the fact is that words do have meanings and the words I provided all mean the same thing.
“what happens when the president fails to faithfully execute the laws?” Based on what we saw the last four years, absolutely nothing.
If you had the slightest idea of what you are saying instead of parroting a script, you would realize that when you fret about the wording “All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States” you are really advocating for Trump’s use of his executive powers to unwind the Bureaucratic State, AKA the Deep State, AKA The Swamp, which has been a de facto extra-legal fourth branch of government merrily acting as a legislative body, making rules and regulations which have the force of law while being nothing but unelected political appointees promoting political agendas.
In other words, you are whining about the President using his Constitutionally guaranteed executive powers to reinstate Constitutional governance. And this is a threat to the Left, resulting in the panicky reaction we are seeing here.
You try to imply that the President has somehow usurped legislative powers, but there are no examples of him actually doing this. No, he is carefully using his Constitutionally-directed powers to remove the impediments to true legislative control over our laws.
Your whiny little final paragraph pretty much sums up the impotent rage of the Left as its power base is eroded and facing total collapse. The only way to write such shrill dreck is to simply ignore the facts. All your citations of Constitutional articles served only to support what the president is doing. And it can all be summed up in the last article of the Bill of Rights:
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
THIS is my political philosophy, and evidently that of the President and those he has chosen to work with him.
Amazona already explained it best – regulatory agencies are a violation of the power of Congress. And if you want to say, “well, Congress granted the agencies authority” then you’re simply talking nonsense…the Branches cannot annihilate themselves. It is unconstitutional for the Legislative to pass rule-making authority over to the Executive, even if in a quasi-official agency. All legislative powers belong to Congress – if we are to live under a law, it can only come into existence via a vote in Congress…not some unelected bureaucrat deciding what’s what. Congress giving bureaucrats power to make things with the force of law is as ridiculous as the Executive giving the Speaker power to command the armed forces. It is not something that can be done under the Constitution.
“And if you want to say, “well, Congress granted the agencies authority” then you’re simply talking nonsense” I don’t remember the year, but I clearly remember the event. Bill Clinton, late on a Friday afternoon after the news cycle had shut down (this was before the 24/7 “news” frenzy of today) signed an Executive Order giving the EPA the total authority to declare what is a “pollutant” and then to devise any rules or regulations the agency deemed fit to allegedly address this problem. I remember it so clearly because at that time the head of the EPA was Colorado political whore Ken Salazar, a radical Leftist, and it was immediately clear to me that the reins of power had been turned over to a political appointee whose political model was that of a massively powerful Central Authority controlling everyone and everything.
That may not have been the official birth of the Bureaucratic State, but it was certainly the most obvious contribution to it. Any claim that Congress gave legislative authority to agencies is not only false, it is internally contradictory. While Congress may have passively allowed the Bureaucratic State to assume legislative power it has never officially sanctioned it, and this presumed power is and always has been based on the fleeting authority of Executive Orders.
Now that DOGE is really showing the extent of it, I think we’re all having our eyes opened – even the most hard-headed realists among us didn’t fully comprehend that we’re living under a system where the Legislative has passed lawmaking authority over to the agencies while they concentrate on merely shoving into omnibus bills the money to steal. The Executive pretends it has authority it doesn’t (“pen and phone”!) while not exercising the authority it has (ie, deciding what actually happens)…meanwhile, the Judiciary has set itself up as a sort of super-legislature quasi executive no longer ruling whether a law is Constitutional or not, but attempting to decide what the Executive will do in its functions. Its a huge mess…and here comes Trump trying to get everything back into its proper role.
Trump wants the Executive to be the power that does things, the Legislative to decide the laws the Executive will act upon and the Courts to only be there to tell both Executive and Legislative whether or not their laws and actions upon laws meet Constitutional muster. It is going to be confusing for everyone – more so for the Left but even we on the Right simply haven’t lived under such a system since the 1930’s.
You want something done?
Ok.
Pass a law.
President enforces the law as it figures best.
Court can call a halt if the law is deemed a violation of the Constitution.
Don’t like how the Constitution works?
Fine.
Amend it.
How about Section 3 of the same Article, which states, “[the president] shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.” What does that mean?
Not sure where you’ve been the last four years, sport; obviously not paying attention.
Nonsense. You know as well as I do that Mark has repeatedly expressed his preference for a monarchy as a form of government. Use the search field on this blog and search for “monarchist.” The very first sentence of the very first article that comes up is Mark writing, “I’ve always been a Monarchist at heart.”
The “nonsense” is that I don’t think you read past that first sentence.
I’m not Mark. I’m not responsible for anything Mark has said. And
unlike you I don’t take it upon myself to interpret what he has said.
My “semantic game” has been to actually use real definitions for the words you people use.
So on the one hand you object to me, as you perceive it, lumping you and Mark into the same boat, and on the other hand you respond to me by referring to “real definitions for the words you people use.” Sorry. If you’re going to play that game, then expect it in return. But thanks for putting words into my mouth.
If you had the slightest idea of what you are saying instead of parroting a script, you would realize that when you fret about the wording “All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States” you are really advocating for Trump’s use of his executive powers to unwind the Bureaucratic State, AKA the Deep State, AKA The Swamp, which has been a de facto extra-legal fourth branch of government merrily acting as a legislative body, making rules and regulations which have the force of law while being nothing but unelected political appointees promoting political agendas.
Actually, no. If an agency or department is created by an act of Congress, then it requires an act of Congress to eliminate it. But that would be too messy, too inconvenient, for Musk and his toady Trump, not to mention you.
BTW, any update on the supposed millions of dead people getting paid Social Security? That turned out to be a whopper of a lie by Musk, didn’t it. It’s almost like he’s… not smart. Or perhaps more accurate, not honest.
Annnddd….the bickering begins. Notice that nothing has really been addressed, there is just the typical sniping and snarling about how it is presented.
Name an agency that has been “eliminated”. And while you are it, with all your investigative juices flowing and all, produce the charter for each agency. That is, its official—as designated by Congress—purpose and scope of authority. As I correctly said, “merrily acting as a legislative body, making rules and regulations which have the force of law while being nothing but unelected political appointees promoting political agendas.” For someone posturing as a defender of the legislative process and the authority reserved to Congress, you seem pretty upset at upsetting this apple cart of extra-legislative acts.
Then you can go through each and every regulation and rule each agency has foisted off on the American public and relate it to an actual legislative act by Congress. But that would be too messy, too inconvenient, and most of all too revelatory.
As for games, I leave that up to you unserious quibblers. You represent a political movement, parroting its narratives and scripts wherever you are directed, whereas Mark represents an individual expressing an individual opinion.
unlike you I don’t take it upon myself to interpret what he has said.
Yet that is exactly what you did do. That’s what makes it kind of fun to watch you get all tangled up in your own lies and stupid comments.
BTW, any update on the supposed millions of dead people getting paid Social Security? That turned out to be a whopper of a lie by Musk, didn’t it. It’s almost like he’s… not smart. Or perhaps more accurate, not honest.
Jeff Childers did a marvelous job of responding to that this morning.
Jeff Childers did a marvelous job of responding to that this morning.
Wherein he admits that it isn’t true that tens of millions of dead people are receiving Social Security. Perhaps Trump’s press secretary should get on Childers’ mailing list because she was on Hannity last night claiming Elon Musk and DOGE “suspect there are tens of millions of deceased people who are receiving fraudulent social security payments.”
You do realize we can tell when you are just making s**t up, don’t you? And it goes beyond the simple fact that you posted something, though that is always a start. It’s why you and your silly posts generate nothing but scorn and contempt here.
Wherein he admits that it isn’t true that tens of millions of dead people are receiving Social Security.
He admits no such thing. You didn’t even read Childer’s post, did you?
Your using this blog as a verbal litter box is annoying, but you’re altering people’s word to make your point in unacceptable, so piss off.
Given the clear accounting weaknesses in the system, the reason why SSA administration said “almost none” is because they figure the number is small enough to not cause concern pre-DOGE (“concern” being “something the people will find out about”). But they couldn’t say “none” because they really just do not know. Nobody probably knows. Until proper accounting procedures are implemented, nobody can know…and if you think a loose SSN just lying around out there is harmless, I’ve got a bridge to sell you. The SSN is the key to the entire financial kingdom of the USA, public and private. With it you can get on your path to everything…including massive theft if you’re so inclined. The reason they’re trying to keep DOGE out of the system is because once an outsider gets into it, they’ll be able to see where the money is going.
Can’t emphasize this enough – all these grants and payments and so forth…the money leaves the Treasury for some stated (but usually vague) purpose…and it winds up…where? That’s what we really need to know. If we gave a $5 million grant to the Society for Tipping Your Hat to the Lady we’re not really interested if anyone actually tipped their hat to the lady…we want to know into who’s bank account(s) the money went. That will tell the real tale…and probably tell us why so many people in government have net worth vastly above what their stated income indicates.
I have wondered if there might be a way to replace SS numbers. Remember, back in the day Americans were assured that their SS numbers would be used for one thing and one thing only—for the administration of Social Security benefits. We were promised that these numbers would never be required or used for any other purpose. Well, we’ve seen how quickly those promises degenerated into SS number being used and abused, for everything.
Just as there have been times when a currency has been replaced due to counterfeiting or some other problem, I would love to see some other metric that is to identify people for purposes other than Social Security, keeping the SS numbers in place now, or some other way to isolate the Social Security identity from credit, drivers licenses, contracts, etc.
Just occurred to me – they admit that huge amounts of money come in via taxes paid on bogus SSNs…but then they assure us that none of this money is going out to bogus SSNs. What is more likely:
Their assertion?
The system is set up to make sure bogus SSN money keeps coming is so that it can be stolen via bogus SSN claims?
“almost none” = “we have no idea how many”. And that refers solely to SS payments themselves. Even the bureaucrats admit that a SS number can be used to access all sorts of payments and benefits that might not come directly from the SS office.
unlike you I don’t take it upon myself to interpret what he has said.
Yet that is exactly what you did do. That’s what makes it kind of fun to watch you get all tangled up in your own lies and stupid comments.
Sorry, I accidentally failed to italicize all of your words I quoted, which included the phrase “unlike you I don’t take it upon myself to interpret what he has said.”
That you don’t even remember writing it and then act as though I said it… what were you saying about getting all tangled up? lol
And it’s just more bickering
Mark wrote:
You want something done?
Ok.
Pass a law.
President enforces the law as it figures best.
Court can call a halt if the law is deemed a violation of the Constitution.
Don’t like how the Constitution works?
Fine.
Amend it.
Exactly. And this is why some of Musk’s, I mean Trump’s actions are being challenged in court. Challenges which you previously described as “simply absurd.” We’ll see how all this is adjudicated as it works its way through the judiciary.
Meanwhile, I don’t see a lot of laws getting passed while the Republicans hold both houses of Congress as well as the presidency.
It hasn’t even been a month.
Geesh.
And the cases being brought are ridiculous – there is no Constitutional issue in the Executive deciding to dispense with the services of an Executive Branch employee…absolutely none at all. Nobody has a right to employment by the Executive Branch. The Constitution secures no such mythical right. If the Executive doesn’t want you there, then you are no longer there. Period. End of story. Move on with your life. You don’t get to sue to get back in.
“Musk’s actions”. You have really bought into the Musk narrative, haven’t you? But of course you have. It’s the Script of the Day
He admits no such thing. You didn’t even read Childer’s post, did you?
Previously Childers claimed there were “tens of millions” of zombies “potentially still receiving benefits.” Now it’s “almost none.” Meanwhile, Trump is still insisting today that “if you take all of those millions of people off social security, all of the sudden we have a very powerful social security.” That is plainly idiotic.
Childers (it’s not Childer) is kind of like the John Stossel of the internet. He fancies himself as some sort of truthteller who simply looks into things that no one else ever has and lo and behold, he discovers all sorts of as-yet unknown truths. But when pressed, he backs down because his so-called “discoveries” are full of hyperbole. You know, the kind you complain about me doing. Not only that, he is a partisan who injects is own pet theories into his discoveries. For instance, he writes, “Conspicuously absent from the OIG’s report was any mention of what is likely the real reason for all the bureaucratic snow-blindness: fraudulent voting.“
Note the phrase “what is likely.” Meaning, what is likely in Childers’s imagination. He has no factual basis for saying this. He screeds are riddled with stuff like that.
Bicker bicker bicker. Childers is a brilliant and accomplished attorney with great skill in seeing through bullshit. And, as usual for you, you just bicker bicker bicker quibble quibble quibble and snarl at him as a person instead of addressing what he says.
The one takeaway from your comments is that you don’t want waste, fraud, and abuse exposed. Why is that, and what level of waste, fraud, and abuse do you consider acceptable?
The one takeaway from your comments is that you don’t want waste, fraud, and abuse exposed.
That’s your takeaway? Just to clarify, I agreed with Mark when he wrote this, and in fact I quoted it back when I said I agreed, but maybe you missed it:
You want something done?
Ok.
Pass a law.
President enforces the law as it figures best.
Court can call a halt if the law is deemed a violation of the Constitution.
Don’t like how the Constitution works?
Fine.
Amend it.
What I don’t like is the president lying about millions of dead people getting Social Security. I don’t like Elon Musk and his teenagers getting access to our tax returns, Social Security records, and other personal information. Do you? Once upon a time you and your friends here vociferously complained about non-elected quasi-government individuals you called czars. Now? Not so much apparently.
I don’t like Elon Musk firing the people in charge of maintaining our nuclear arsenal because Elon didn’t understand what they did, then having to try to hire them back, which was difficult for him because he didn’t know how to contact them. This is Elon’s pattern. Break things now, then go back and fix them later. I don’t think that’s a real good plan for things like our nuclear arsenal. Or air travel safety.
Of course I agree that fraud should be eliminated, but what fraud has Elon found, other than claiming incorrectly that 150-year olds are collecting Social Security? I am happy to learn about specific examples of fraud uncovered by Elon as opposed to meaningless generalities, like this from Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.): “The gravy train for a lot of these folks, it’s been on biscuit wheels. It’s about to run off the dadgum tracks. It’s about done. Could you imagine standing up here and defending waste, fraud, and abuse? But I think that’s what we’re seeing. When people squeal and don’t ask questions, I think it shows the American public what the heck’s going on and that little gravy train is getting ready to run out. The spigot is getting ready to be turned off.”
Of course in an organization as large as the federal government, there will be some amount of fraud and abuse. Just don’t lie to us about what you claim to have found, or offer meaningless speeches. Otherwise no one trusts you. (And at this point, Elon’s trust is rapidly eroding.)
You’re a nice, little Goodthinker – you don’t want to get caught in the position of saying there is no fraud, but you also don’t want to admit there’s a huge problem…so, “there will be some amount of fraud” (concession) then over to “just don’t lie to us” (assertion that Musk and Trump are the bad guys here).
It seems pretty clear by now that at least half of federal government spending is stolen…that a huge amount of it was legally stolen doesn’t change this fact. It is useless, wasted money…
And here’s the thing you on the Left should be angry about: your own side did this. You’ve been out there being cooperative serfs shouting “Medicare for all!” and “fight for 15!” on command and all the while the money for these goals was being stolen. You should also be happy that we’re going to catch a lot of GOPers with their hands in the cookie jar.
But, no: none of that. Your minds are so enslaved by the Ruling Class that all you’re doing now is assuming the position and saying, “thank you, sir; may I have another!”.
Are you sure millions of dead people aren’t getting Social Security? Because the admission is that no one knows for sure. Naturally, you snap to your default of merely attacking a person (the President) rather than doing your research and learning the facts.
Why do you care about the ages of the people involved in the investigations into fraud and waste of money? Oh, that’s right—once again that’s what you do. Whine, whine, snarl, bicker and attack. Love the coy little “Do you?” I guess that’s supposed to indicate that you want your screed to look like a real effort to engage in discourse instead a mere parroting of the latest narrative. The “teenagers” BTW is a giveaway.
Musk hasn’t fired anyone.
And the cases being brought are ridiculous – there is no Constitutional issue in the Executive deciding to dispense with the services of an Executive Branch employee…absolutely none at all.
I have not closely followed the cases closely, but I would say that Constitutional grounds is the only basis for such cases. Grounds could including violating the law. If the government wants to argue that certain laws are unconstitutional, then that is their perogative.
I would also say that it is possible that certain actions, such as withholding or suspending Congressionally mandate payments, is a violation of law. We shall see.
would be, could be, possible….in other words you, as usual, know nothing but the compulsion to post anyway overrules everything else.
Donald Trump works with the top Constitutional attorneys in the country. You, on the other hand, merely parrot what the Leftist Agenda Media provide as the Daily Narrative.
Gotta be from Bluesky – its all just repetitions of what known liars are saying there.
Of course in an organization as large as the federal government, there will be some amount of fraud and abuse. Just don’t lie to us about what you claim to have found, or offer meaningless speeches.
So, would it be fair to say that you were not pleased with the waste, fraud, and abuse and the rampant lawlessness of the last four years, and that you want the same outcome that most of us on this blog want, but that you would be more inclined to let the perfect be the enemy of the good?
Well, right off the top I disagree with your premise of “rampant lawlessness of the last four years.”
Of course you do, LOL! I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree.
I think you’re at the point where you really do need to consider the First Rule of Holes.
The Defender of the Ruling Class wants me to prove it in court.
This is like the 2020 vote – unless I can prove it here on the blog beyond a reasonable doubt I’m supposed to fold like a cheap suit in the debate. Sorry: I’m not stupid.
You know darned well they are stealing. But your entirely unreasonable hatred of Trump is more important – you are psychologically invested in hating Trump and don’t want to climb down, admit error and just move on.
This is how tyrannies flourish…people like you who will swallow anything as long as it doesn’t challenge your beliefs.
We discussed this a couple days ago. Please try to keep up.
Colorado Congressman Jason Crow (D-Death Spiral State) is actually bragging about going abroad to try to undermine the message the president is sending to Europe.
Crow is a do-nothing back bencher with no authority to try to speak for the United States, here or abroad, in anything like an official capacity, and to brag that he and his little “group” are “engaging in real diplomacy” in undercutting the official stance of the United States, as expressed by our Vice President and Secretary of Defense, is basically admitting to a level of attempted insurrection. After all, he and his buddies are trying to assume the powers of the government, which is one of the two elements of insurrection, the other being the overthrow of the existing government.
Jason needs to be slapped down, sanctioned and disciplined. He was an Army Ranger, but clearly has no respect for the chain of command. If he is still in the Reserves, he might find himself answering to his bosses, the Secretary of Defense and his Commander In Chief.
It is pathetic but also dangerous – it gives the European Ruling Class the idea that they can still help to undermine MAGA in the USA – and they feel they have to because MEGA is starting to grow.
The Secretary of Defense can call up retired Army officers to active duty, and I’d love to see Crow called up and then having to face a court martial for his actions.
DOGE Says $4.7 Trillion in Treasury Payments Missing Identification Codes
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) said on Feb. 17 that a total of $4.7 trillion worth of payments from the Treasury Department are almost impossible to trace because of missing account identification codes.
DOGE said the Treasury Department has assigned identification codes called Treasury Access Symbols (TAS), designed to note which account a Treasury payment is linked to, which DOGE said was a “standard financial process” for bookkeeping. However, the codes were not assigned for trillions of dollars worth of payments as the field was considered optional, according to the agency.
“In the Federal Government, the TAS field was optional for ~$4.7 trillion in payments and was often left blank, making traceability almost impossible,” DOGE stated on the social media platform X.
How absurdly / convenient the code to track spending was optional up until Saturday. Absurd in that massive amounts of money lost traceability, convenient for anyone who knows how to game/abuse the system for personal gain. What are you guesses as to how much of this particular money was siphoned for leftist purposes?
https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/doge-says-4-7-trillion-in-treasury-payments-missing-identification-codes-5811855?utm_source=RTNews&src_src=RTNews&utm_campaign=rtbreaking-2025-02-18-1&src_cmp=rtbreaking-2025-02-18-1&utm_medium=email&est=AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAZe8kewcNx8Da4%2BAuuWhYArg0yEwDPvCLSRzO6sIrQqEFTVeDyQ%3D%3D
A $trillion here and a $trillion there, and before you know it you’re talking about real money.
Taxpayers could soon be relieved of footing the bill for the generous pensions and annual allowances of former presidents Barack Obama, George Bush, and Bill Clinton, thanks to proposed legislation by Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa.
Titled the Presidential Allowance Modernization Act, the proposed law would cap pensions and allowances for former commanders-in-chief earning less than $400,000 annually. Both would be set at $200,000.
Individuals who make more than the limit could see their taxpayer-funded perks reduced, effectively affecting all current former presidents.
Trump already give up his Presidential pay so if he followed suit with his pension this wouldn’t affect him directly. I would support using this same legislation for presidents, members of congress AND all government bureaucrats who exceed a certain income threshold.
https://headlineusa.com/multi-millionaires-obama-clinton-may-soon-be-cut-off-from-taxpayer-funded-pensions/?utm_source=HUSA_EMAIL_NSP2000&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=HUSAemail
I believe that Presidential pensions became a thing because of what happened to Grant – he made a great deal of money post-Presidency but then lost it all…and so as he was dying of cancer had to write his autobiography (assisted by Mark Twain) in order to provide some financial security for his family. It was felt we didn’t want our former Presidents and so forth dying in penury.
My view: that’s a “you” problem, not a “me” problem. I don’t care what happens to a politician once out of office. Cancel all pensions.
This excellent guest essay is from Robert Malone’s substack.
Catholic Bishops Sue Trump Demanding Guaranteed Income
Though the USCCB is focusing on a specific $65 million grant, it has been the recipient of massive amounts of federal cash. In 2024, it took in $253 million from the State Department.
This is in part why the US is $37 TRILLION in debt. Nowhere in the US Constitution is there any provision that designates tax payer money for charity. This was argued long ago by the founders.
Actions from many of the Church’s leaders have led to massive payouts to victims of clergy abuse. That disaster has caused several dioceses to file bankruptcy, whose funds were garnered by faithful followers willing DONATIONS. Anyone think it beneficial to give additional truck loads of money (through forced taxation) to those who were complicit in this, especially when it is used in part to further the advancement of illegal immigration? I think the church needs to return to the business of saving souls and living a life of austerity / poverty.
There are lots of people waiting to see if the actions Trump is taking will result in the federal deficit actually going down. If it doesn’t happen soon, a country just like an individual can go broke. Those fighting this effort are complicit.
https://redstate.com/streiff/2025/02/19/catholic-bishops-sue-trump-demanding-guaranteed-income-n2185749
I’m dismayed at how bad Catholic Charities has become…but, I guess I should have seen it coming. Anything gets that large with that amount of money will attract the corrupt. The mind has Catholic Charities being fellow parishoners passing out food to the bums downtown…the reality is multi-billions of dollars providing high paid sinecures for the connected.
For anyone wondering why the ATF has been getting so much negative feedback over the past several years, this would be one of many reasons.
Former sailor Patrick Tate Adamiak once bought a replica STEN Mk. II submachinegun at a local gun show. He paid $75 for the non-firing Spanish replica—or toy—which was made by Denix and is still sold online for hundreds of dollars more.
At the time, Adamiak felt pretty good about his replica STEN purchase. Sure, it could not chamber a live round, was mostly made of a zinc alloy and had a smooth rather than rifled barrel, but he planned to feature it prominently in a weapons museum he dreamed of creating. He had purchased other firearm replicas for the same reason.
Unfortunately, Adamiak had no idea how badly the ATF would lie about this completely legal purchase. The STEN toy became the most tested and most written about gun of all the legal firearms parts seized by the ATF during their raid. At his trial, none of the other weapon parts received the amount of testimony as the fake STEN.
This legal toy, Adamiak believes, is one of the main reasons why he is now serving a 20-year prison sentence.
The question then becomes, how?
I mean, it’s a toy, basically. It’s a non-firing replica. The word “non-firing” is kind of the point here, right? How could he get 20 years for this?
In order to successfully (??) prosecute him, ATF firearms enforcement officer made several significant modifications to the replica in order to fire a single round, not multi rounds from depressing the trigger once like a typical machinegun, but a single round. This is one of many reasons there is such dislike of bureaucratic government agencies and why the government is so over bloated. They involve themselves in all kinds of crap to ensure their survival and growth.
https://bearingarms.com/tomknighton/2025/02/16/former-sailor-railroaded-by-atf-in-most-egregious-miscarriage-of-justice-in-ages-n1227691?utm_source=thdailypm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&bcid=52ce413f6fb58c7873c6b911b92d704d389047e1deec5d09abd903754eeb0b1f&lctg=26664402
Low key version of the Branch Davidians…even supposing laws were being broken, a much less intrusive method of enforcing the law could be sought, but wouldn’t generate enough splash and thus budget justification.
I did watch that recent documentary on Waco and there were three people I came away disliking: David Koresh, the wounded ATF agent and the FBI sniper who claimed he once had a clear shot at Koresh. To me, it was clear that all three men were lying and the ATF and FBI guys were engaged in post-f*ckup justification.
Biggest take-away in the documentary: the front door of the house which would have clearly shown who fired first was miraculously lost by the FBI.
People are being bussed in to do dance protests. lol 😂 they’ve run out of ideas, and it’s spectacular to watch.
https://x.com/libsoftiktok/status/1892299151192260693?s=46&t=i3nFdoOJBaYcipis8iTWEA
Aside from the sheer silliness of the entire concept there is the fact that these people think they are “protesting Trump“. That is, they don’t have the intellectual capacity to understand what Trump is trying to accomplish, or obviously even a desire to find out, much less the ability or interest to understand it, because they are so indoctrinated into the whole idea that politics is about PEOPLE. They want a way to express themselves, but all they have to express is FEELINGS—vague, incoherent but persistent feelings of dismay–generated by the Complicit Agenda Media.
It’s really quite sad. These people are sincere in their distress, no matter how misguided and unfounded it is, and really want to feel part of something bigger than they, but they let themselves be emotionally manipulated into thinking the problem that upsets them is a man. A person. Not a political ideology, because they don’t have one and wouldn’t understand one if it were explained to them in three part harmony with video and worksheets with colored pencils. Not even concern about real events happening in real time around them, because they are limited to the most basic element of Identity Politics—the identity of one man. They don’t have to think, they don’t have to understand, they just have to FEEL.
But their pain is real, and they have the need to express it, so they find comfort in joining a tiny little community which shares their vague sense of discomfort and feel (FEEL!) that participating in some kind of ritual, no matter how foolish, will soothe them. And maybe it will. So much of the base of the Democrat Party depends on distilling complex concepts of governance down to primitive emotional reactions to individual people, emotions controlled by the sources of their “information”, that this little exercise in collective expression of—–something that somehow is upsetting—-might meet the human need to DO SOMETHING when a problem is perceived.
That the “doing something” is purely performative and insubstantial and unproductive is not the point.
At least it seems more benign than spouting line after line after line of vitriol about all the people someone hates and all the reasons to hate them, and then obsessively posting the litanies of complaints, that seems to pass for political discourse for some people.
I saw this post on Facebook and had to share … this guy frickin nails it.
So I get into it with a friend on another platform who keeps spewing the same propaganda as if anyone who voted for Trump lost their minds and rely on him like God to make our lives better. He also accused me of being willing to sidestep democracy to get the things I want.
You know what I wanted out of Trump? The same thing I wanted out of Obama, Biden, Bush, Big Bush and and Clinton.
Those things are the following:
– Transparency
– A secure border
– Honesty
– Common sense leadership
– Doing exactly what you campaigned on
– A strong military
– An end to political indoctrination in our schools
– Respect for personal freedom
– And someone who would think about America first before giving everything to the world while his own people suffer.
Not one of them came through. Each one of them failed. Most didn’t even try. They just faked it well enough that you are still pining for their pipe dream. But guess who did come through? As flawed as he is as a person, it was freaking Trump. A man I was never a fan of personally but respect because he does the hell what he says he’s going to do or tries.
That’s what I voted for. Not some polished fake politician who pretends to be an angel but is doing the devils work as we are distracted by their platitudes and symbolic gestures that get us absolutely no where.
No one is side stepping democracy, genius. By the way, we don’t live in a democracy. We live in a constitutional republic.
But let’s go with your twisted idea of democracy.
Was it democracy when Biden coerced Big Tech into silencing millions of Americans for their opinions and thoughts?
Was it democracy when that old man lied to you and told you he didn’t know about his sons dealings and that the laptop didn’t exist? Because for many that may have changed their vote in the 2020 election if they knew then candidate Biden was compromised.
Was it democracy when he got 51 intelligence agents who we are supposed to trust, to go along with the lie and call it Russian disinformation?
Was it democracy to force people to choose between feeding their damn family and a damn shot in the arm that is causing damage to a lot of people?
Was it democracy when Biden flew in hundreds of thousands of migrants in the middle of the night without telling us and also opened the borders? Did we the American people have a say in that? No the heck we didn’t.
Was it democracy when if we question elections or vaccines that we get silenced and are forced to self sensor just to survive?
It that’s your democracy? You can keep that crap bro, respectfully.
Trump is no God or saint but it’s a shame it took a flawed man to do right by the American people. He’s showing you how corrupt your government truly is and I’m here for it. No regrets whatsoever.”
The same guy must have written this right before the election:
Definitely the same vibe … and just common sense. Ironically it was Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich who were the last politicians to put Americans first with the balanced budget amendment and the “era of big government is over” agenda, unfortunately they didn’t go far enough but I believe they had good intentions. Ever since then though, Americans have come in last to the grift and corruption of the federal agencies and corrupt politicians as they added $30 trillion of debt in just the last 20 years. Think about that. $30 trillion in debt in 20 years. That doesn’t even pass the smell test.
Clinton’s balanced budget was a total myth and based on an unsustainable, unrealistic 10-year estimate. On top of that it was under Clinton that changes were set in place changes that led to the Fannie & Freddie fiasco that severely hurt the US citizens in every walk of life.
While I understand and agree with the emotions expressed here, I also think this illustrates what I think is a major defect if not fatal flaw in how people make their voting decisions. He makes a passing reference to “ideology” and then never mentions it again, instead listing a litany of ISSUES that guide his decisions.
I’m not saying the stated issues are unimportant, but most of them, if not all, could be addressed just as easily—more easily—by a compliant Central Authority that has assumed most of the power in the country and severely eroded state sovereignty. In other words, ISSUES don’t necessarily define ideology, and they are often if not always based on emotion. That’s not to say that emotion automatically disqualifies an issue as valid and important, but emotions shift over time and so do ISSUES and priorities and policies.
The author never touches on the framework of governance that keeps these ISSUES in the control of the states, or the people. I consider issues to be a subset of Identity Politics, which should influence but not guide our decisions. I still believe that in a more perfect world people would set aside identities and issues and even policies until a decision has been made about an actual format of governance.
That is a decision between the Constitutional model or the Leftist model. Then and only then should the question shift to what goals and agendas fit into that model and which person is most likely to follow and advance that particular model of governance.
Let’s not forget that it was Bill Clinton whose Friday-afternoon Executive Order granting total authority to the EPA to decide what is and what is not a “pollutant” and then decide what should be done to address it, set the stage for the explosion of rules and regulations with the power of law being made across the entire federal agency spectrum by unelected political appointees usually enacting ideological agendas.
And let’s not forget his “Heritage River Act” EO which declared strict regulations on rivers deemed to be Heritage Rivers, with the caveat that other rivers could be added to this list later on. “The American Heritage Rivers Protection Program was authorized by Executive Order 13061 during the Clinton Administration on September 11, 1997. The initiative was to support existing community-based efforts to preserve, protect, and restore rivers and their communities. It was
consideredpresented as an avenue to deliver federal resources more efficiently and effectively in support of voluntary community efforts at enhancing and protecting rivers or river segments.” but it actually gave the EPA unprecedented control over water usage in the entire countryThe grift and fraud that Elon is revealing is not unexpected, but still shocking
… revealing that the U.S. government has over 4.6 million active credit cards in circulation, processing a staggering 90 million transactions worth nearly $40 billion in Fiscal Year 2024 alone.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/02/shocking-doge-uncovers-4-million-government-credit-cards/
I had to go back and read that again, to make sure I read it right—-that this figure is not for the number of credit cards in use in the country but the number of credit cards in circulation that are guaranteed and paid for by the U.S government.
That’s an audit that Musk’s “teenagers” (none of whom are younger than 20) could take on once they have sorted through the other government waste and fraud. I can just imagine the underwear changes caused by the prospect of having to repay the government for charges made on government cards.
Oh let’s audit that – I’d like to find out what they’ve been putting on Uncle Sam’s Mastercard!
Trump Wants to Give Every American a $5,000 ‘DOGE Dividend’
He said at an investment conference in Miami that the administration is considering a concept in which 20% of the savings produced by DOGE’s cost-cutting efforts goes to American citizens and another 20% goes to paying down the national debt.
I wonder what the anticipation for the other 60% is. The idea of dispersing a dividend for savings realized by DOGE sounds interesting and could incentivize people to report waste but it seems more a lofty short-lived concept than a long-term reality. It would be interesting to see the results of a survey asking what people would prioritize higher; 1.) Getting a dividend and paying down a smaller portion of the debt or, 2.) Forgoing dividends, at least initially, and aggressively paying down the debt? While this money was basically stolen from taxpayers and getting at least some of it back would generate a sense of relief, (smart) people also realize a standing debt accrues ongoing interest payments and the interest alone of the current debt is staggering, and that interest also has to be paid by taxpayers at some point.
https://headlineusa.com/trump-wants-to-give-every-american-a-5000-doge-dividend/?utm_source=HUSA_EMAIL_NSP2000&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=HUSAemail
These are the people some think should be given a free pass to go back into Gaza, where they can continue their savagery and inhumanity and threat to civilized people. I think they should be surgically sterilized so they cannot reproduce and then forced to live in camps till they die.
They are evil people. Can they be redeemed? The mercy of God is endless – but the first step in obtaining mercy is to repent. I don’t see a lot of “repent” going on here. Keep in mind that these are people who have been whacked pillar to post by the IDF for more than a year. Only IDF restraint explains their being alive at this moment. And they’re out in force to cheer for the murder of a baby.
A lot of people can’t comprehend the fact of evil, nor that whole populations can fall into it. Much is written about how cruelly the Romans treated the Carthaginians and, indeed, the Romans were cruel (they were, after all, Romans)…but they were dealing with people who would literally get dressed up in their finest clothes to go watch babies being roasted alive. What steps the people of Carthage had to take to arrive at that point are unknown – the Romans didn’t bother recording it and the people of Carthage and all their own history was totally destroyed. In the end, it doesn’t matter how they got there – whatever it was, it wasn’t right.
We can debate how modern Israel came to be and who did what to whom – but all such debates are now sterile. It doesn’t matter what happened – the Palestinians are parading an infant’s corpse and cheering it. Nothing anyone did them justifies that. They have fallen into evil. As a people, they must be destroyed. We’re not Romans so we won’t kill all the men and sell the women and children into slavery…but someone has suggested Socotra – an island off the coast of Yemen. It is ten times larger than Gaza so that’s actually a benefit for them and it only has a population of 60,000. The 2.1 million people of Gaza will fit just fine there. Drop them off with six months supplies of food and medicine and then I never want to hear about them again.
That’s not very fair to the Socotrans, unless they would be happy being relocated to a lovely new developed Gaza. But I like your idea—food, medicine, tools, seeds, etc. No internet, no electronics at all, for about ten years, and maybe not even then.
Totally unfair to them – but this can be worked out.
Kash Patel is confirmed as Director of the FBI!!!!!!!!
Good time to be a criminal defense attorney in the District of Columbia.