MAGA (1 Viewer)

[Pat Hartman]

Seems to me like a law that should be challenged. TDS has spawned a variant it seems. Now we have MDS as well. Same symptoms. Same idiotic rhetoric. Same unfounded accusations. Sooooooooooo booring.

 

[Steve R.]

NPR has been virulently anti-Trump. The cartoon below may have been inspired by the ridiculous claim by NPR that the Hunter Biden laptop scandal was not worth investigating since it was not "real" news.

 

[Isaac]

So if musk found fraud and abuse where are the prosecutions and efforts to recoup the money?

I think it's more "soft" abuse - like just money being spent in an uncareful and foolish manner, but not criminal - I think these are the biggest categories. I can't remember at the moment but there was some item that an agency was paying thousands for that can be bought for $50 retail - can't quit remember what item it was. Stuff like that.

And as for 'recoup', it's more like "don't do it again"

 

[Isaac]

It just reinforces my position on Musk. Uber Geeks like me were fans long before average conservatives. He should have stuck with being a visionary futurist, instead of a modern day Joseph Goabels wanna-be.

Similarly, I question his efficacy even just in being currently spread too thin. But some kind of spending revolution had to begin, and if all Musk does is popularize the idea of reducing spending, just that might be worth it.

The national deficit/debt is the most understated waiting to happen catastrophe. What we need is to make it as cool to be in favor of reducing spending as it is to buy sustainable fish, etc. etc. etc. Musk is popularizing the concept of being more fiscally responsible and/or smaller/less expensive government. Popularization is not particularly something ole' Mitch M. can do

 

[Isaac]

A judge just ordered 6 agencies to re-hire the 10's of thousands of fired probationary workers because they were illegally fired.
Department of Agriculture, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, Department of the Interior, Department of Treasury, and Veterans Affairs.

That's a lot of backpay, not to mention the trove of lawsuits that are sure to come. How is that efficient?
This is going to cost a lot more than what doge alleges it saved.

I do worry, I admit, about the way they are going about it. I hope their solutions are not worse than the problems were.

 

[Isaac]

The "law" limits the power of local judges to local issues. No local judge gets to govern the United States of America in place of its duly elected President. That would create chaos, don't you think? Every Tom, Dick, and Harry in Podunk NY, thinks he controls the federal government. The President is the CEO of the Executive branch. He gets to make staffing decisions. And probationary employees can be fired at will. That is what "probationary" means in this context.

I think it's a very interesting legal question about federal judges giving injunctions against executive orders, for example.
I mean it certainly qualifies as a 'federal question' for jurisdiction, but hopefully the most important stuff goes up to the USSC for final decision.

 

[Isaac]

Never would I believe that I'd agree with Karl Rove.

So if musk found fraud and abuse where are the prosecutions and efforts to recoup the money?

example of soft 'abuse' that borders but doesn't get to criminality, but is so ludicrous:

DOGE uncovers VA’s agreement to pay $380K per month for minor website modifications

DOGE discovered the Department of Veterans Affairs had a contract to have a company make minor modifications to the website for about $380K.

www.foxnews.com

 

[moke123]

 

[moke123]

Just in case Fox viewers don't get the above...

 

[AccessBlaster]

Trump needs to stick to reciprocal tariffs only it’s easier to understand. If he gets too deep into the weeds on trade deficit issues, he risks losing Republican support and jeopardizing his mandate, especially if higher prices persist.

The Republicans have a history of folding like a cheap suit when the pressures is on.

 

[moke123]

Remember this?

 

[AccessBlaster]

 

[Pat Hartman]

Trump needs to stick to reciprocal tariffs only

That's what his chart was all about. How to calculate a rational tariff across the board. Literally reciprocal is next to impossible except in cases where we import and export the same item. If we import cars and export cars then it is easy to apply but if we import cars but export drugs, not so easy. Hence the calculation and the chart.

 

[moke123]

 

[AccessBlaster]

What the chart actually says vs the lefts interpretation.

"Tariffs charged to the U.S.A. including currency manipulation and trade barriers"

 

[The_Doc_Man]

However, it should be noted that the Chinese (PRC) trade is almost continuously being subjected to currency manipulation. I remember that being discussed in news articles 30 years ago.

 

[AccessBlaster]

The chart reflects that.

 

[Cotswold]

Sir Starmer is proposing to have the King provide Donald with afternoon tea at Balmoral.
He apparently thinks that a cup of tea and a cake with the King will make Donald amenable to agreeing to reduce the UK tariffs.
It has been suggested and can we conclude, that Starmer and his advisors think the King will be happy at being a political bribe and that Donald is simple minded? Embarrassing to say the least for so many in Britain.

And this is when we thought it couldn't get any worse. Britain can only look forward with great foreboding to the next four years.
Possibly Starmer and his cabal are a classic example of promotion to a position of incompetence?

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Possibly Starmer and his cabal are a classic example of promotion to a position of incompetence?

In U.S. Government circles, this is called "The Peter Principle" - meaning, as you expressed it, that we rise to our level of incompetence. It is a well-known phenomenon in USA circles of governance. Also happens in private business.

Just F.Y.I., reaching your level of incompetence is usually followed by you getting shuffled off to new assignments repeatedly, getting reassigned without being promoted. You can tell when a mid-level manager has reached that point... his/her career becomes a succession of lateral assignments rather than promotions. Which is why the government has a wide range of what we call step-raises. You get a step-raise rather than an actual promotion, and this continues until you get red-lined - meaning you are paid at the top of your rank's pay range and thus cannot get another pay-raise until someone alters the range for your current level. I don't know about getting promoted past a particular level because as a contractor I was never "management." But more than once I got red-line pending an Act of Congress.