Expel Wayward Republicans from the Senate? (1 Viewer)

[RogerCooper]

Now your going to redefine the word fraud or play the substitution game? What do you want to call it? This is merely an attempt to dismiss fraudulent findings from the auditors that affected 72 Billion dollars. I kind of like number 13 myself.

Take your pick:

1. Deceit
2. Misrepresentation
3. Scam
4. Cheat
5. Chicanery
6. Double-Dealing
7. Fake
8. Dupery
9. Sham
10. Swindle
11. Treachery
12. Bamboozlement
13. Pulled a fast one

This is what the audit report you reference said.

Our audits confirmed SSA’s reliance on beneficiaries to report changes in their circumstancesresults in improper payments. Wages and income, resources, and living arrangements are afew of the factors that affect OASDI and/or SSI eligibility and payment amounts. SSA explicitlyinforms individuals of their reporting requirements during the application process, in their awardletters, and in periodic correspondence. However, beneficiaries do not always comply with,or understand, their responsibility to report this information. Obtaining data that assist withmaking eligibility and payment determinations from external sources, such as other Federal andstate agencies and financial institutions, is critical to preventing and detecting improperpayments.

For example, in a September 2023 audit, we reported that not all beneficiaries informed SSA ofthe workers’ compensation and public disability benefits (WC/PDB) they received, which led toSSA improperly paying them. We estimated SSA paid $138 million more from the DisabilityInsurance Trust Fund in 2019 than it would have had it been able to impose WC/PDB offset forover 22,000 beneficiaries who received payments from reverse offset plans. SSA has authorityto collect WC/PDB information to administer SSA’s programs; however, a state may determine itlacks authority to share information with SSA based on state law. Without these state data,SSA must rely on beneficiaries to report any WC/PDB they have received.

They are not talking about fraud or any kind of criminality. I suspect the most Workmen's Compensation beneficiaries assume the Social Security adjusts their benefits automatically.

 

[Steve R.]

Babylon Bee parody, highlighting the absurdity of the District judges.

Federal Judge Orders Astronauts Be Returned To Space Station

U.S. — A district judge has issued a ruling saying Trump lacked the Constitutional authority to pick up two astronauts who have been stranded at the International Space Station for several months.

babylonbee.com

"I will not stand by while Donald Trump abuses his power like a dictator," said Judge Earl Flanders in his ruling. "Trump has no authority to pick up these astronauts, and I can say that because I'm a federal judge, and no one is allowed to argue with me, and everyone has to do what I say."

 

[RogerCooper]

From The Onion

WASHINGTON—Warning that Americans should brace themselves for an economic “period of transition,” President Donald Trump told reporters Monday that a recession would be an unfortunate but necessary step on the way to all-out depression. “Look, what we’re doing is very big and will cause some pain, but that pain is necessary to cause total economic collapse,” Trump said during a press conference, adding that while his decision to implement billions of dollars in tariffs on foreign imports and fire 20,000 federal workers could cause a temporary disturbance, Americans would ultimately emerge much, much worse for it. “Things might be bad for a little while, but we’re okay with that, because we know that in the end these policies will drive markets into a deadly tailspin and push the economy to a point of no return. Trust me. Some hardship now will only make your bank accounts more empty in the long run. If everything goes right, none of you will be able to afford food, housing, or retirement ever again.” At press time, many of Trump’s most vocal defenders stressed that they trusted the president to usher in the greatest depression the nation had ever seen.

 

[Mike Krailo]

This is what the audit report you reference said.



They are not talking about fraud or any kind of criminality. I suspect the most Workmen's Compensation beneficiaries assume the Social Security adjusts their benefits automatically.

When payments are made with the same error year after year and nothing gets done about it, what do you call that? I'd say it's something that should have been fixed many years ago, and we now have someone in office that will fix it. Ain't it great.

 

[Uncle Gizmo]

When payments are made with the same error year after year and nothing gets done about it, what do you call that?

This really hit home for me because I’m currently going through my bank statement, canceling all those ridiculous monthly subscriptions I’ve somehow signed up for—like Babbel, which I’ve barely used but has been happily draining my account for nearly five years!

Then there’s the Filerev Add-In—a tool I got for deleting duplicate files on my Google Drive. I used it once, and let’s just say it wasn’t exactly a roaring success. It flagged nearly identical PDF documents as duplicates, despite the fact that they were bank payment records with slight variations in amounts. Apparently, Filerev decided that "close enough" was good enough for deletion. Needless to say, I stopped using it!

We’re all guilty of signing up for things and forgetting about them. For an individual, this might add up to a few dozen, maybe a hundred pounds. But when it comes to the government, where no one has a personal stake in saving money or managing resources properly… well, let’s just say the waste makes our little subscription mishaps look like pocket change.

 

[Pat Hartman]

According to that report, the improper payments were less than 1% of the total paid and it does not say that it was fraud.

The government ITSELF, before DOGE got on the case said the fraud was far more than that. I think the number was ~72 billion.

Asylum seekers did not come here illegally, most presented themselves at the border in accordance with US law.

Except that international law says that asylum seekers must claim asylum in the first safe country. They don't get to break into your house and tell you that YOU have to support them for years until you decide whether or not their asylum claim is valid. Therefore, the ONLY two countries where asylum seekers could come from under those conditions are Canada and Mexico and neither country is unsafe so the asylum claim would be denied. Get your facts straight.

That doesn't mean that we will not accept asylum seekers from anywhere in the world. We do all the time since obviously asylum seekers are not Mexican or Canadian. They just need to apply from the first safe country and WE WILL DECIDE BEFORE THEY GET HERE whether we will accept them and care for them until they get on their feet. It costs a lot of taxpayer money to support an asylum seeker. They are likely to have no marketable skills and probably don't speak English either so even if they were lawyers or engineers or doctors, there is no way they could support themselves in this country for years. So no one simply walks across the border, turns themselves into an ICE agent and claims asylum. NOT VALID procedure.

 

[Steve R.]

Think about this, at this very moment Elon Musk is performing a SPACE RESCUE that literally no one is talking about.

The hatred is crazy.

Gutfeld had a follow-up to this. Especially poignant, Gutfeld lambasts Mark Kelly, a former astronaut, for not expressing care concerning the stranded astronauts. Not only that but, but Kelly (who claimed to be an environmentalist) traded-in his electric Tesla for a gas guzzling Chevy Tahoe. Kelly turns out to be an ethical fraud (out to cancel Musk) who makes self-aggrandizing decisions based on the political optics.

Greg Gutfeld: Elon Musk is Team Trump's superhero | Fox News Video

Fox News host Greg Gutfeld fires back at Sen. Mark Kelly, D-N.J., selling his Tesla over his disdain for Elon Musk's politics on 'Gutfeld.'

www.foxnews.com

 

[moke123]

Except that international law says that asylum seekers must claim asylum in the first safe country.

No it doesn't.

• No obligation in international law:
  The 1951 Refugee Convention, which defines a refugee and outlines their rights, doesn't mandate that asylum seekers must claim asylum in the first safe country they reach.

 

[Pat Hartman]

If you found this on one of your favorite "fact-check" sites, it probably needs to be fact-checked.

Requiring Migrants to Apply for Asylum in the First Country They Enter May Not Resolve the Central American Crisis | Bipartisan Policy Center

In May 2019, Mexico and the United States negotiated an agreement expanding enforcement along Mexico’s southern border in response to President Trump’s threats of…

bipartisanpolicy.org

 

[RogerCooper]

When payments are made with the same error year after year and nothing gets done about it, what do you call that? I'd say it's something that should have been fixed many years ago, and we now have someone in office that will fix it. Ain't it great.

Fixing the WC/SSA problem would require better coordination with the states and probably legislation to incentivize states to provide better quality information. Trump didn't fix this problem from 2017 to 2020. DOGE hasn't done anything about it and most of the claims of savings from DOGE don't hold up under scrutiny.

Expect this to another empty promise from politicians to cut "waste, fraud and abuse" that leads to nothing. Remember Trump's campaign promise to lower prices which he has already abandoned.

 

[Mike Krailo]

Expect this to another empty promise from politicians to cut "waste, fraud and abuse" that leads to nothing. Remember Trump's campaign promise to lower prices which he has already abandoned.

Oh ye of little faith. Pretty sure no one expects him to have a magic wand that fixes everything in a blink. These things obviously take time. In addition, if there are rouge judges that keep getting in the way, that is going to delay things because we all know now that democrats love FWA in the government and are willing to fight to keep it.

He has already fulfilled his promise by working towards eliminating FWA in the most aggressive way possible in American history by creating DOGE. Hello, is there anybody in that noggin of yours? The voters are thrilled someone actually delivers on promises. The full effect of this will of course not be felt until sometime in the future. The damage done by the last administration was huge, so of course it will take time to fix fully.

 

[RogerCooper]

Those are not rogue judges. The Constitution says the job of the President is to execute the law faithfully. If the President ignores the law, judges have a duty to stop them.

Laws can be changed but they can't be ignored.

I don't expect a President to fix everything a blink. However, Trump had four years and all we got was a doubled deficit. DOGE talks big and accomplishes little. They are constantly withdrawing their claims of savings and are refusing to comply with FOIA requests to get more information. Can you identify a big saving that DOGE made? They are already reversing themselves on cancelling leases for unneeded space (return to office policies require more space).

 

[Steve R.]

A ridicules statement:

Laws can be changed but they can't be ignored.

• Laws are subject to interpretation. Democrats are masters at reinterpreting laws to further their political objectives.
• Recall Obama's famous comment (paraphrased): "When Congress fails to act, I have a pen and phone."
• Biden ignored court decisions concerning student loans.
• Biden refused to enforce immigration laws. Now that Trump is deporting illegal immigrants, Democrats now have a legal problem?
• Democrats have used lawfare to persecute conservatives.

If the President ignores the law, judges have a duty to stop them.

Where where the judicial actions demanding that Biden enforce immigration laws?
Biden gave the Supreme Court the finger concerning student loans and he was not stopped.

 

[RogerCooper]

A ridicules statement:

• Laws are subject to interpretation. Democrats are masters at reinterpreting laws to further their political objectives.
• Recall Obama's famous comment (paraphrased): "When Congress fails to act, I have a pen and phone."
• Biden ignored court decisions concerning student loans.
• Biden refused to enforce immigration laws. Now that Trump is deporting illegal immigrants, Democrats now have a legal problem?
• Democrats have used lawfare to persecute conservatives.

Where where the judicial actions demanding that Biden enforce immigration laws?
Biden gave the Supreme Court the finger concerning student loans and he was not stopped.

The Democrats had a bad practice of interpreting laws in such a way as to create effectively new bodies of law not written by Congress. The Supreme court recently overturned the Chevron doctrine which tolerated such actions.

However, Trump is now doing the same thing. For example he declared a Fentanyl emergency and raised taxes on imports from Canada. Invoking the Alien Enemies act when we are not at war. (Only Congress can declare wars).

By the way, Biden complied with the Supreme Court decision on student loans.

Let's hope the Supreme Court continues to strike down unilateral executive branch actions.

 

[Mike Krailo]

Those are not rogue judges.

"Turn that plane around. Turn it back around." I beg to differ greatly.