Weekend Open Thread
[guest post by Dana]
Let’s go!
First news item
May these sweet little ones rest in peace with the angels in the heavenly place:
BREAKING
Israeli authorities have confirmed that the two bodies of children which were handed over by Hamas this morning are indeed the bodies of Ariel and Kfir Bibas.
But the body of the adult which was handed over is NOT that of Shiri Bibas.
“Following the completion of… pic.twitter.com/aV0TtdSvUm
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) February 20, 2025
“Ariel and Kfir were not killed in an airstrike. Ariel and Kfir Bibas were murdered by terrorists in cold blood. The terrorists did not shoot the two young boys. They killed them with their bare hands. Afterwards, they committed horrific acts to cover up these atrocities. This assessment is based on both forensic findings and intelligence.”
I won’t link to it, but there is video of Palestinians basically having a party and cheering while the coffins are paraded before them.
Second news item
A few Senate Republicans pushing back on Trump about his comments about Zelensky and Ukraine:
Public comments from President Trump blaming Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for Russia’s invasion of his country are unnerving Senate Republicans, who have largely sought to avoid conflicts with the White House.
Trump’s escalating war of words with the Ukrainian leader comes as hawks in both parties plead with the president not to give Moscow a free pass in talks to end the bitter three-year conflict.
From Sen. Wicker:
“Any sort of peace talks that might get a fair result would definitely need to have the Ukrainians at the table and make sure that European interests are considered and carefully weighed,” said Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), a leading Ukraine proponent, adding that the Russian leader should not be trusted in these talks.
“Putin is a war criminal and should be in jail for the rest of his life — if not executed,” he added.
From Sen. Tillis:
“I’m concerned with anything that would ultimately allow there to be a moral equivalency between Zelensky and Putin,” said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who visited Ukraine alongside a pair of Senate Democrats over the weekend and toured parts of suburban Kyiv that have been ravaged by fighting.
He also pushed back on Trump’s criticism of Zelensky on Wednesday, when he took to Truth Social and called the Ukrainian president a “dictator without elections” who was doing a “terrible job.”
“Zelensky is frustrated, but he’s also been the right head of state for the time. He’s kept a nation together focused on Russian occupiers, and I think we should give them a fair amount of credit for that work,” Tillis said.
More at the link.
Third news item
America isn’t looking too good, thanks to Trump:
The U.S. is refusing to co-sponsor a draft U.N. resolution marking three years since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine that backs Ukraine’s territorial integrity and again demands Russia withdraw its troops, three diplomatic sources told Reuters, in a potential stark shift by Ukraine’s most powerful Western ally.
Washington has also objected to a phrase in a statement the Group of Seven nations was planning to issue next week that would condemn Russian aggression, two other sources told Reuters.
The U.S. refusal to agree to language that has been regularly used by the U.N. and G7 since February 2022 comes amid a widening rift between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and U.S. President Donald Trump.
You can read the latest polling data on how Americans feel about supporting Ukraine here.
Fourth news item
Buttigieg making more sense than most Democrats:
Former Biden administration official Pete Buttigieg said that the Democratic Party’s approach to promoting diversity was too heavy-handed and led to the election of President Donald Trump.
“What do we mean when we talk about diversity? Is it caring for people’s different experiences and making sure no one is mistreated because of them, which I will always fight for? Or is it making people sit through a training that looks like something out of ‘Portlandia,’ which I have also experienced,” Buttigieg said.
“And it is how Trump Republicans are made,” Buttigieg added.
Mandatory unconscious bias trainings, and inclusivity and diversity trainings have been the rage at places of employment for a number of years. With DEI now on the outs, maybe the Democratic Party can actually start to focus on what voters of all stripes care about: the price of eggs and the economy.
More:
Buttigieg explained that the DNC event “was a caricature of everything” wrong with the Democratic Party’s “ability both to cohere as a party and to reach to those who don’t always agree” with them.
“I think — and this might sound counterintuitive — if we were more serious about the actual values and not caught up in vocabularies and trying to cater to everybody only in terms of their particular slice of combinations of identities versus the shared project.”
“It’s a problem, especially for men and White men,” Bibb said. “Both educated and non-educated college degree White men.”
Fifth news item
No one should be surprised if Trump refuses to vacate the office in four years. He has already refused to go peacefully once before. It would be foolish to think he wouldn’t do that again:
Steve Bannon: “The future of MAGA is Donald Trump. We want Trump in ‘28. That's what they can't stand. A man like Trump comes along only once or twice in the country’s history. We want Trump!”
This is what fascism looks like pic.twitter.com/Yz69Rmbjyu
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) February 20, 2025
Sixth news item
The American demand is of an extraordinary scale. In Kyiv and again in Munich, the Americans proposed that Ukraine concede half of the profits from its mineral rights in perpetuity and from other national resources and from its ports in perpetuity with a lien on everything important — in exchange for essentially nothing. This is not really a monetary proposition, let alone a “deal,” but rather the demand that Ukraine become a permanent American colony. It amounts to blackmail enabled by ongoing Russian invasion. In effect, the United States is telling Ukraine to concede its resources to the United States, under the threat that American aid will be otherwise withdrawn, and those resources will be taken by Russia.
Seventh news item
Yep:
Today's cover: Mr. President: Putin is THE dictator and 9 other Ukraine-Russia war truths we ignore at our peril https://t.co/x4XMTe9l2g pic.twitter.com/6Jo7ubR4wo
— New York Post (@nypost) February 21, 2025
Eighth news item
He will do anything in Ukraine’s best interest to save the country and its people. They are Priority 1. No wonder Trump hates him. Zelensky is not a petty wanna-be king. He is a serious leader who seeks to save his country and not bring needless ruin to it:
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said on Sunday that he was willing to step down if it meant peace in Ukraine. His remark came days after President Trump questioned his legitimacy and called him a “dictator without elections,” echoing a Kremlin talking point.
At the same time, he continued to push back against Mr. Trump’s insistence that he sign a minerals deal that Ukraine says is unpalatable. And he announced a meeting on Monday of over 30 countries in person or online as a kind of coalition of support for Ukraine’s war effort.
It was not immediately clear whether Mr. Zelensky had seriously considered the option of stepping down or was merely responding to the latest jabs from Washington and Moscow. He added that he could trade his departure for Ukraine’s entry into NATO — a highly unlikely scenario given Mr. Trump’s opposition to allowing Ukraine into the military alliance.
“If it brings peace to Ukraine, and if you need me to step down — I am ready,” Mr. Zelensky said during a news conference on Sunday, on the eve of the third anniversary of the war. “Second, I can exchange this for NATO.”
Note, that while Trump blathered on at CPAC about the “deal” they were close to, it’s a non-starter for Ukraine because it would saddle many generations to come with an unrealistic and absurd financial burden to carry and with no security agreement.:
Under the proposed deal, those revenues would be directed to a fund in which the United States would hold 100 percent financial interest, and Ukraine should contribute to the fund until it reaches $500 billion. That sum is more than four times as much as the value of U.S. aid committed to Ukraine so far and more than twice the value of Ukraine’s economic output in 2021, before the war.
“It’s astronomical for us, and I don’t understand why would you impose such a burden” on an economy already reeling from the war, said Victoria Voytsitska, a former Ukrainian lawmaker and energy expert. “It sounds like the next couple of generations will have to pay reparations under such a scheme.”
The agreement does not commit the United States to security guarantees for Ukraine, or promise further military support for Kyiv. The word “security” was even deleted from a formulation contained in a previous version of the deal, dated Feb. 14 and reviewed by The Times, which stated that both countries aimed to achieve “lasting peace and security in Ukraine.”
Have a great weekend.
—Dana
Hello.
Dana (8ffd34) — 2/21/2025 @ 8:23 amFrom your link in 2:
Is Trump that petty and vindictive that he would send 50 million people into the Gulag?
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/21/2025 @ 8:51 amThe problem with “Republicans against Trump” is that the advertise their bias: “Orange Man Bad”, making any criticism they have, valid or not, seem like just another personal attack.
Not everything Trump is doing is noxious, and Harris had her own pathology. I would much rather hear from “Republicans against MAGA” where they criticize the divergences from the historic Republican agenda and promote those portions of what rump is doing that align with that (e.g. downsizing government) than this seeming propaganda effort.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/21/2025 @ 9:08 amSee the 6th point.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 2/21/2025 @ 9:11 amWhat Buttigieg seems to miss is Biden’s disconnect with working people. His general response to economic displacement (whether by immigration or manufacturing exodus) was to create a new welfare entitlement or assistance program. It was insulting for people who used to be self-supporting to be offered a dole. Trump (and Vance!) brought that home effectively. But the Democrat Party still sees government as the solution to every problem.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/21/2025 @ 9:15 amI’m sure you can find a kernel or two in this giant pile of shyte, but most think that 100>1.
2 good things out of 200 bad things isn’t a great “deal”.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 2/21/2025 @ 9:16 amBannon:Trump::Röhm:Hitler
The man is so stupid as to take on Musk.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/21/2025 @ 9:19 amThe destruction of the administrative state is a good thing. You will note that there is not a lot of sympathy for bureaucrats. IF there was, they’d go on strike.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/21/2025 @ 9:21 amThe American demand is of an extraordinary scale.
It is not even a contract if it offers nothing in return.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/21/2025 @ 9:23 amI recommend everyone read all the Ten Truths in that NY Post piece. “Putin is a dictator” is Truth Number 5.
Paul Montagu (84c026) — 2/21/2025 @ 9:28 amThe author is a conservative, works at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank.
As I said, Trump is burning a lot of political capital here. There are quite a few people who accepted his presidency when the only alternative was Harris, but are NOT OK with this shameful betrayal of Ukraine (and America) for what seems a petty resentment.
That translates to an unwillingness to support his other endeavors and electoral disaster at the midterms where 22 GOP senators (and their 3-vote House margin) are up for re-election.
Obama and Clinton both did this in their first terms and it cost them dearly. Trump is sowing the wind.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/21/2025 @ 9:28 amZelensky:Trump::Churchill:President Lindburg to make an alternative 1941 analogy. Just think, we could have avoided WWII if we’d only elected our own fascist!
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/21/2025 @ 9:31 amFrom the Post article:
Well, it IS true, but not in the sense he means. The Holodomor inhabits the Ukrainian mind as the Holocaust does Israel.
Putin:the fall of the USSR::Stalin:the Russian Revolution. The death of hope.
Hopefully this offends someone.
Which should the US emulate? Ukraine or Russia?
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/21/2025 @ 9:44 amThe author is a conservative, works at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank.
Trump is not a conservative. He is a radical reactionary.
Some things align with conservatism (opposition to DEI and other crank social notions, and attempting to reduce bureaucratic power). Much does not, including “America First” which, as Klink will agree, harkens back to Father Coughlin and 1930’s isolation, and the entire tariff war which is reminiscent of the disastrous Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/21/2025 @ 9:51 amAnd now we have one.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/21/2025 @ 9:53 amhttps://rmx.news/article/afd-supporting-lawyer-fined-e3000-for-criticizing-german-government-has-gun-license-revoked-and-complaint-filed-with-bar-association/
Paul, care to defend this?
NJRob (5a7f85) — 2/21/2025 @ 10:15 amhttps://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/zeldin-epa-discovers-2-billion-stashed-away-by-biden-admin-for-stacey-abrams-linked-climate-group/ar-AA1zps0T
This is the type of graft that Musk and his team are uncovering. It’s corruption on a scale previously unimagined.
NJRob (5a7f85) — 2/21/2025 @ 10:17 amWhy would I? It still doesn’t mean that Germany isn’t a free nation, albeit less free than us on matters of speech and assembly. It would help the discussion if you read a link and learned something. The Germans also “preemptively and arbitrarily banned a number of pro-Palestinian protests—especially following the October attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas in Israel—based on nonspecific concerns that the protests may incite violence, hate speech, and antisemitic activity.” I don’t agree with that either.
Also, hate speech in Germany, especially Nazi-related kind, is punishable by law. I don’t agree with that, but they do have a history.
Meantime, Trump’s good buddy Putin is a mass-murdering terrorist who runs an authoritarian regime, with no free press (162nd freest out of 175 nations, while Germany is 10th).
And since you brought up “defend”, how about defending your lie that I “pushed the 51 intelligence officials garbage hook, line and sinker”, and that I “took the bait because you wanted the lie to be true”. Try to use facts.
Paul Montagu (84c026) — 2/21/2025 @ 10:43 amLA Mayor Karen Bass throws LA Fire Department chief under the fire engine.
Rip Murdock (c15934) — 2/21/2025 @ 11:41 amAssumes facts not in evidence.
Rip Murdock (c15934) — 2/21/2025 @ 11:42 amIt seems so; and as I have pointed out, most Americans don’t care.
Rip Murdock (c15934) — 2/21/2025 @ 11:43 amBut the coffins were labeled with the wrong names – each in the coffin that said the other.
They seem to have come up with varied lying propaganda – maybe indicating that until recently, different men had custody of different hostages.
Sammy Finkelman (7e5f34) — 2/21/2025 @ 11:46 amA small price to pay for a Nobel Peace Prize.
Rip Murdock (c15934) — 2/21/2025 @ 11:52 amThere doesn’t seem too be anything here mentioned about a microphone. I have only headphones,
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/use-voice-typing-to-talk-instead-of-type-on-your-pc-fec94565-c4bd-329d-e59a-af033fa5689f
Sammy Finkelman (7e5f34) — 2/21/2025 @ 11:53 amPeggy Noonan on Trump and Ukraine:
She does like what Musk is doing though.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/21/2025 @ 1:06 pmLA Mayor Karen Bass throws LA Fire Department chief under the fire engine
Where she deserves to be for her tragic attempts to save overtime pay just before the fires started. DWP should join her for keeping a reservoir empty that was BUILT to prevent what happened.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/21/2025 @ 1:09 pmAssumes facts not in evidence.
OH? Really? Have you seen my reaction? I wonder if you even have one. See Noonan above or several (too few) GOP Senators. Not to mention National Review.
I’m not talking about MAGA — they will back him if he nukes Boston — but about the center-right who chose him as the lesser of two evils and but is rapidly looking towards primaries in 2026.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/21/2025 @ 1:13 pmIt seems so; and as I have pointed out, most Americans don’t care.
Some people just accept crap they cannot change. You seem to bask in it.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/21/2025 @ 1:15 pmThere doesn’t seem too be anything here mentioned about a microphone. I have only headphones,
Voice typing without a microphone is much harder. Reminds me of the co-worker who was upset her CD-ROM drive wasn’t burning CDs.
Any microphone would seem to work. I have one in my camera, many headphones have mikes for phone calls and gamer trash-talk.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/21/2025 @ 1:19 pmNoonan has a warning, too:
Congress needs to take back control of things. It’s not so much Trump grabbing control as it is several decades of Congressional abdication.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/21/2025 @ 1:22 pmPaul the article Is critical of Trump. Therefore it’s written by a radical leftist one who is deranged and just hates Trump without any reason. Everything he writes should be dismissed out of hand now. /snark
Also, it’s factually really good, and the logic’s nice. Thank you for sharing it.
Time123 (8dc535) — 2/21/2025 @ 1:42 pmKevin You have been making a ton of sense lately. Really enjoying your comments, don’t really have much to add to the conversation so mostly lurking. But I wanted you to know that I think you’re killing it.
Time123 (5401c9) — 2/21/2025 @ 1:43 pmTo try to make people accept his policy. To justify what it might become.
why is it his policy? He wants to stand alone and he wants to wean Americans from doing good things.
Why that?
Maybe because he took advantage of people to get richer and he doesn’t wnt people to despise him.
Sammy Finkelman (7e5f34) — 2/21/2025 @ 1:49 pmTrump sometimes reverses himself, or reverses Musk, when opposition arises, like he did about cuts to the 9/11 fund. (which by the way looks like a trial lawyer bonanza since most of the illnesses probably were not caused by the fire, but nobody’s arguing)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/19/nyregion/doge-ground-zero-health-care-cuts.html
https://abc7ny.com/post/trump-doge-cuts-president-reverses-changes-world-trade-center-health-program-staffing-funding/15940879/
Sammy Finkelman (7e5f34) — 2/21/2025 @ 1:56 pmThank you, Time.
Paul Montagu (84c026) — 2/21/2025 @ 2:07 pmItem 4 buttigieg is running for president. What he didn’t say is why party runs on social issues. DEI, transgenders doesn’t cost the donor class money. Bernie Sanders economic populism appealing to the working class does. Kamala didn’t run on raising the minimum wage, raising taxes on the rich or single payer as the donor class wouldn’t be happy and no $$$. Men a high percentage of donor class are wealthy gay men like buttigieg. White women These our the most activist guilt driven liberals who push DEI the hardest with black women following not far behind. Gay activists will not put up with attacks on wokeness. Black activist in the party will join them to protect their agenda. I haven’t even mentioned the palestinian supporters. If they come after buttigieg while he is campaigning in democrat primary it will get messy. Hell hath no fury as a woke activist scorned.
asset (3b72cc) — 2/21/2025 @ 2:09 pmIf you want to know how the markets are reacting to Trump’s betrayal of Ukraine and cozying up to This Century’s Biggest Terrorist, the Dow dropped 1,200 points from Wednesday’s close to today’s close.
Paul Montagu (84c026) — 2/21/2025 @ 2:15 pmKevin, yes, Trump (oops, I mean stupid Hitler) is a child of his times and has never bothered to learn anything. So his knowledge is based on economic theory of the late 1800s and early 1900s crafted in the 1950s before things like software and global supply chains actually.
His dad was a big America first guy. He was a big supporter of the American Bund, big believer in mercantilism as would many rich white people born in the late 1800s.
No one should be surprised that this administration is acting like Lindberg in 1940. There is no good that will come of this. It will be a disaster for America and while it may not push us down the list of the most powerful countries in the world, our gap with everyone else is going to shrink dramatically.
And then there are things like healthcare where we are significantly behind most other countries and one of the excuse, excuses that our healthcare is so Much more expensive is that we spend many federal dollars developing cures for things that private industry couldn’t do which drives the price of pharmaceuticals in the US up as well as drives our taxes. At the end of the day almost every notion that this administration has is 180° from being actually reality based. They are purely anti-reality. They live on Earth 616 but we are actually on Earth 1218. I’m pretty sure that’s our reality in the Marvel Multiverse that Maga believes is reality.
FYI, this entire entry was done with the voice to text tool from Meta in CarPlay while I’m driving
Colonel Klink (ret) (42cb90) — 2/21/2025 @ 2:29 pmOr possibly other reasons:
What’s the evidence that investors care about Ukraine? The Dow trimmed its losses at the close at -748 points.
Rip Murdock (c15934) — 2/21/2025 @ 2:50 pmPolling on Ukraine has remained relatively stable. Believing fantasies that Americans are deeply committed to Ukraine’s future when they’re not is reality some cannot accept.
Rip Murdock (c15934) — 2/21/2025 @ 2:54 pmI’m not aware of significant destabilizing actions by an American president not affecting the markets, Rip.
Paul Montagu (1888f5) — 2/21/2025 @ 2:55 pmThe current Republican congressional majority seems quite happy to let DOGE (and Trump) do the dirty work of firing federal employees and shutting down agencies.
Rip Murdock (c15934) — 2/21/2025 @ 2:58 pmYour reaction (and Peggy Noonan’s) are irrelevant to what is going on in the American electorate. Poll after poll shows at best lukewarm support for Ukraine overall:
If the “center right” voted for Trump as lesser of two evils, they were apparently blind to Trump’s campaign promises. What is the evidence that “the center right” is rapidly looking toward the 2026 primaries (without quoting the National Review, which is an avowedly anti-Trump publication?) Any changes in 2026 will be at the margins, and with the already occurring Democrat retirements, the Republicans could pick up additional Senate seats.
Rip Murdock (c15934) — 2/21/2025 @ 3:23 pmBeyond yourself, who do you represent?
Rip Murdock (c15934) — 2/21/2025 @ 3:32 pmTime123 (5401c9) — 2/21/2025 @ 1:43 pm
Thanks. I’m sure I’ll tilt back towards the Orange side on some other issue. But it will take a really big surprise for me to get right with Trump on Ukraine.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/21/2025 @ 3:42 pmThe “center right” in Congress will have a chance to demonstrate their displeasure of DOGE’s actions and Trump’s Ukraine policy when his “”one big beautiful” reconciliation bill comes up for a vote in the the House and Senate. My guess is that no Republican will vote against it.
Rip Murdock (c15934) — 2/21/2025 @ 3:49 pmAnd then there are things like healthcare where we are significantly behind most other countries
Yet people come here from Canada and the UK for health care. I guess your valuation is based on whether a homeless guy can get a heart transplant, and it is true that is unlikely here. Of course, the development of heart transplants was mainly done in the USA, as is most medical research.
Yes, the USA spends the most (by 50%) per capita over other countries, but those other countries do that in part by controlling wages and costs though law and regulation and maintaining a monopoly on health-industry employment. A NHS doctor in the UK does not make all that much. Certainly less than a solicitor. Drug costs are also suppressed. Both these things externalize a good deal of the cost, so comparisons aren’t that easy to make.
And of course, single-payer also means single-service and single-decider.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/21/2025 @ 4:00 pmIf you want to know how the markets are reacting to Trump’s betrayal of Ukraine and cozying up to This Century’s Biggest Terrorist, the Dow dropped 1,200 points from Wednesday’s close to today’s close.
The markets react to a number of things, and sometimes just themselves. People sell after new highs, or buy because they see some technical change in a stock’s price, and they are not wrong to do so if it correctly indicates the future price.
I know of no one who would buy or sell Microsoft based on Trump’s dissing of Zelensky.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/21/2025 @ 4:06 pmOh, yeah, I guess I’ll have to repeat myself: polls are a lagging indicator. They reflect past observations with unknown (and largely indeterminate) lag times. Plus a lot of noise as not everyone they poll is basing their thoughts on any common knowledge. See endless late night comics polling the man on the street.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/21/2025 @ 4:10 pmMy guess is that no Republican will vote against it.
There are currently three centrist holdouts in the House.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/21/2025 @ 4:12 pmWe’ll see when push comes to shove whether they follow through. My guess is that there be a legislative bribe in the final bill.
Rip Murdock (c15934) — 2/21/2025 @ 4:45 pmA Russian bear and an orange hyena.
And it’s not even a choice for Zelensky.
You know Trump and his cronies hope to scavenge whatever scraps they can either directly from Putin or from a Putin-installed puppet in Ukraine.
nk (967aeb) — 2/21/2025 @ 4:49 pmTrump fires Joint Chiefs Chairman
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/21/2025 @ 4:55 pmThe trend lines at the link are pretty consistent, so I don’t think they are missing muchh. What is your evidence that Americans secretly care about what happens to Ukraine? If Ukraine does fall to the Russians, the public will be outraged for about 6 months, then after the media stops covering the atrocities it will become about as important to Americans as the Chinese absorption of Tibet. That is to say, not at all.
Rip Murdock (c15934) — 2/21/2025 @ 4:56 pmWith Trump taking the Russian terrorist leader’s side, we can name the “peace” deal Ribbentrop-Molotov 2.0, only this time it won’t be Poland being carved up.
Paul Montagu (84c026) — 2/21/2025 @ 5:06 pmApparently, Trump reached out to a retired 3-star general to be chairman of a board of 4-star serving officers. It’s kind of weird. And why did Caine retire in 2024?
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/21/2025 @ 5:07 pmRibbentrop-Molotov 2.0
Closer to Munich 2.0
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/21/2025 @ 5:07 pmI expect Brown and other joint chiefs to face courts martial for their role in the Afghanistan debacle.
Rip Murdock (c15934) — 2/21/2025 @ 5:08 pmI wonder how Rubio likes playing the Ribbentrop role.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/21/2025 @ 5:09 pmI expect Brown and other joint chiefs to face courts martial for their role in the Afghanistan debacle.
That will require replacement of much of the JAG corps. I’m not sure enough lickspittles are available who are in search of their last job.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/21/2025 @ 5:11 pmPresumably because he wasn’t promoted to general. It’s up or out.
Rip Murdock (c15934) — 2/21/2025 @ 5:15 pmTrump’s SC appeal rejected, for now
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/21/2025 @ 5:15 pmPresumably because he wasn’t promoted to general. It’s up or out.
That isn’t actually an answer.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/21/2025 @ 5:16 pm@Kevin@47 Our healthcare is great if you have endless amounts of money to spend. If you don’t almost all of the other developed nations have better healthcare.
Nic (120c94) — 2/21/2025 @ 5:30 pmMore Pentagon firings:
Rip Murdock (c15934) — 2/21/2025 @ 5:36 pmOur healthcare is great if you have endless amounts of money to spend. If you don’t almost all of the other developed nations have better healthcare.
They have egalitarian healthcare, not “better.” They also, as I said externalize costs to make their public expenditures look lower.
* They have a monopoly on health care. This allows them to be the sole employer, at salaries they control.
* They force drugs to be sold under market rates, again using the coercive power of the State.
* They control what services you can get, cutting people off after they’ve had enough (in the US this was the now-outlawed lifetime insurance cap, but it’s OK when government does it).
* They also deny services, or ration them by rule or by availability. When a US insurance company denies coverage, it’s evil, but when the government does it, it’s just Tuesday.
* They tax everyone heavily for the “free” medical care.
I notice that people say, oh, Medicare, pretty good government medical service. But it’s NOT government medical, it’s provided by thousands of competing providers and the supplement programs are offered by private insurers. Medicaid isn’t quite the same as the only sure providers are government-run hospitals. Some are good, like UCLA, some other-than-good.
And a lot of what they do in places like Canada would run afoul of Constitutional rights (e.g. outlawing private medical practices), and considering that all new drugs are developed here, at great cost, hammering the price down to what would seem a bargain in Bombay would mean R&D stopped.
Of course, that’s the real problem with socialism: divide what we have equally, but stifle all attempts to have better in the future.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/21/2025 @ 5:53 pmAfter serving 34 years in the Air Force and the CIA, he became a venture capitalist, so another reason may have been to make some money.
Rip Murdock (c15934) — 2/21/2025 @ 5:54 pmRip Murdock (c15934) — 2/21/2025 @ 5:36 pm
Donnie doesn’t like it that all those b*tches who charge him for sex get jobs just because they’re women, unlike Donnie who has to earn everything on merit.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/21/2025 @ 5:55 pmOnly if providers are willing to accept what the government will pay.
Rip Murdock (c15934) — 2/21/2025 @ 5:57 pmGiven the number of officers relieved of duty for “loss of confidence” and other reasons over the past year, it’s no surprise that Adm. Franchetti has been held responsible for her own leadership failures.
Rip Murdock (c15934) — 2/21/2025 @ 6:06 pmOnly if providers are willing to accept what the government will pay.
That’s their choice. Here. It is not their choice other places, or their choice is coerced by the near total loss of business otherwise.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/21/2025 @ 6:08 pmhe became a venture capitalist
Interesting.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/21/2025 @ 6:09 pm@kevin@66 none of that makes a difference to a mom whose baby has 103 degree fever and no medical insurance. And some of it is pure medical industry propaganda. They would still do tons of R&D because that is where new profits come from when patents run out. And the “market rate” on drugs is a joke. Tell someone that they have to take a med or they’ll die and if they can possibly figure out a way to pay for it, they will. The medical industry already isn’t free market in any way. I can’t even choose what region I’m going to be served in when the difference is hundreds of dollars a month and the nearest clinic to me is in the cheaper region.
Nic (120c94) — 2/21/2025 @ 6:23 pmhttps://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14423219/volodymyr-zelensky-surrenders-donald-trump-sign-mineral-deal-hours.html
Interesting to say the least.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 2/21/2025 @ 6:29 pmnone of that makes a difference to a mom whose baby has 103 degree fever and no medical insurance.
How does that happen? Obamacare is nearly free to the working poor, and Medicaid IS free to the actual poor. Sloth is a poor excuse. People keep putting up these poster children in dire straits, but there is no reason for that other than “didn’t bother.” I am going to bet that you need a card of some sort to get NHS to treat you.
Or is this an admission that Obamacare was a fraud?
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/21/2025 @ 6:52 pmFrom your article, Rob:
So, he’s not signing the deal as it stood, which was more a rape than a deal.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/21/2025 @ 6:54 pmGiven that Trump has asserted both the right to refuse to spend money appropriated by Congress *and* the right to spend money not appropriated by Congress, why does the reconciliation bill even matter?
Trump will do what he wants regardless of the bill, and Congress won’t lift a finger to stop him.
aphrael (173689) — 2/21/2025 @ 6:56 pmJudge refuses for now to drop Adams charges, appoints outside lawyer
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/21/2025 @ 6:57 pmZelenskyy, the victim, has no leverage. Musk threatened to pull the plug on Ukrainian access to Starlink.
Paul Montagu (84c026) — 2/21/2025 @ 6:59 pmThe firing of the Army, Navy & Air Force JAG chiefs indicates they would not do something Trump wanted. Wonder what it was.
(Not really)
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/21/2025 @ 6:59 pmCongress won’t lift a finger to stop him.
Until they do. It won’t be a gradual change, although it might be delayed until Jan 4th, 2027.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/21/2025 @ 7:01 pmThe pressure is out there
At Testy Town Halls, Republicans Take Heat for Trump’s Bold Moves
I have no doubt that a lot of the attendees were bussed in by Democrats and government trade unions. But these deep-red congressmen are getting a piece of folks’ minds.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/21/2025 @ 7:08 pmThe ISW has presented a helpful fact sheet. There’s some overlap with the 10 Ukraine-Russia war truths in the NY Post piece.
Paul Montagu (84c026) — 2/21/2025 @ 7:13 pmThe firing of General Brown and other military officers is reminiscent of exactly what President Obama did early in his first term. A nothing burger.
Rip Murdock (054976) — 2/21/2025 @ 7:28 pm53, Kevin- yeah its beyond belief that Trump would want his own appointee in the Joint Chief job.
Vindman decided to leak a phone call; Milley’s tactical genius on display in the Afghanistan with drawl, with only 8 billion in war gear left behind, and trashing Trump and saying that he called the Chinese on his own to explain that he would give them a heads up if his commander in chief did anything.
Trans soldiers getting free gender care. DEI courses at West Point. Enlistments falling.
I don’t know why he just didn’t keep Biden’s appointee, or appoint the mayor of Los Angeles.
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (b52192) — 2/21/2025 @ 7:35 pm64: Nic: I don’t think that’s true if you consider (1) infant mortality rates are done differently in other countries: here, if a kid is alive when she comes out, and dies its a death: other countries require the kid to be alive for longer than that to be counted as a death (2), there are more CT scanning machines in some US cities than in all of Canada; (3), try getting an appointment for elective surgery outside the US w/o cash; (4) Canada choppers in people to Albany Medical Center–we don’t chopper anyone to Winnipeg; (5) w import far more unhealthy, unvaccinated and poor people from South of the border than do most Euro countries and the % make up of ER’s and medicine beds reflect that. In short, you’re wrong. Sorry, but you are.
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (b52192) — 2/21/2025 @ 7:42 pmRelated :
Despite Clement‘s appointment, Ho is essentially required by Second Circuit precedents to dismiss the case. The only question is whether Ho can dismiss “with prejudice,” which would prevent the DOJ from refiling charges.
Rip Murdock (c15934) — 2/21/2025 @ 7:45 pmTrump’s voters are getting exactly what they deserve, whether they voted for Trump’s policies or because he was the lesser of two evils. Sad!
Rip Murdock (c15934) — 2/21/2025 @ 7:55 pmProbably more aggressive interpretations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the laws of war.
Rip Murdock (c15934) — 2/21/2025 @ 8:05 pm88: RIP – – Out of the Paris Agreement–again;
Border closed; although Mr. Mayorkas insisted all along it was “secure.”;
WHO–bye!;
what seems to be a $2 billion slush fund for a Georgia state senator-interdicted; LGBTQ operas in foreign countries defunded.
Kennedy Center people sniffily saying in 2017 that they would not accept an honor at the White House finding that in 2025, “OK, you snub us: your board is replaced! Bye!”;
administrative replacements made in FBI and Treasury (but Yellen was so good at wasting money);
the J6 circus ended, despite 5,000 FBI agents being used in that proceeding – -although I’m sure some grandmas that only walked in and out had yet to be imprisoned;
states being called on their sanctuary city policies (remember what we were told under Obama–federal law is supreme in immigration matters!);
The unvoted and unexamined issue of Birthright citizenship finally being pulled into the light to be examined.
Some say the famed CA “Bullet Trian” after 15 years and 10 billion without even a mile of track laid may be audited!
Oh wait–some federal job holders who have never faced a layoff are on leave with pay? Zelensky is being squeezed to deliver something we can use for the billions we are paying? (Some are in shock–“The US is never supposed to benefit from anything! Its more virtuous if we lose money!”)
Some see it as Christmas every day, RIP
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (b52192) — 2/21/2025 @ 8:16 pmMore:
Rip Murdock (c15934) — 2/21/2025 @ 8:23 pmIf Musk did this, it would be beyond reprehensible. I can’t even think of an adequate word. . . Perhaps absolutely criminal.
Dana (f7651c) — 2/21/2025 @ 8:57 pmMusk has Trump’s blessing, Dana.
Paul Montagu (84c026) — 2/21/2025 @ 9:11 pmWe’re the Baddies.
@NJRob@74 I’m so glad that we, as a country, are doing such an excellent job extorting “protection” money from our allies.
@Kevin@75 There are people who don’t know they can get obamacare or medicaid (medi-cal where I am). There are people who are so close to the margins that even a nominal fee is the difference between milk and no milk for the baby and so they just hope everything will be OK. There are people who are only semi-literate and can’t figure out the paper work. There are people who can’t take the time off work to sit forever to prove they are really people with real kids who aren’t attempting to defraud the rest of us. The benefit system for the poor is very time consuming and complicated.
@HFM@86 Our mortality rates are pretty terrible for still-birth and maternal mortality too. And in all fairness to Canada, it has only a slightly higher population than California. The only Canadian I can find who was flown into Albany medical center was in a bus crash in New York. And “we have more poor people who need more care” is an excuse for the reason US healthcare is a problem, not a argument that it isn’t. The US medical industry is not a free market industry. It’s an industry that takes advantage of people who are afraid for their lives. It overcharges us for almost everything and often we don’t have any way to access less expensive services. The most expensive CT scanner is $300,000. The cheapest charge for a CT scan is 300 (it can go up to almost $7,000). A hospital breaks even on the cost of the scanner in less than a year. This doesn’t cause the cost of a CT scan to go down because the US medical industry is neither regulated for our benefit nor free market.
Nic (120c94) — 2/21/2025 @ 9:18 pmOnce again, Trump saying to Zelenskyy, “do me a favor”.
Paul Montagu (84c026) — 2/21/2025 @ 9:56 pm@47 Not people. Rich people who think they deserve better health care then their fellow countrymen. We have really great health care if you can afford it. BTW we on the verge of a treatment for pancreatic cancer if doge doesn’t fire everybody working on it.
asset (7f9308) — 2/21/2025 @ 9:58 pmTrump and neville chamberlain. Will trump join chamberlain in starting a world war? After selling out the czechs in 1938 at munich he told france and soviet union he would not join them in a defence pact against hitler. Britain and france had a defence agreement with each other. So stalin signed a non-aggression pact with hitler as stalin too had purged his generals and was not ready for war. Hitler then invaded poland. Chamberlain’s cabnet said they needed to send an ultimatum to hitler to pull out of poland or they would declare war with germany. Chamberlain said no that would be unacceptable to hitler and said he would send a letter of protest instead. The cabinet led by samuel hoare said if he did that they would all have to resign and his government would fall. Would trump’s cabinet do the same?
asset (7f9308) — 2/21/2025 @ 10:17 pm94 Nic: its not possible to discuss things with someone like you, on a crusade. I could say anything and you’d still insist that the US is horrible, even as people outside and inside the US prefer to get care here.
FYI: if you want to do a deep dive into cost one day, ask what unionized nurses and staff cost, not just the wage rates but the productivity loss from union CBA’s that almost immunize nurses from poor performance terminations; delve into the history of MLK hospital in Los Angeles; then add the cost of uninsured patients that must be treated under federal law; the cost of long repeat addicts dropped off by the cops; the cost of uninsured aliens (of did I hurt your feelings? “uninsured undocumented people”) who need dialysis, cannot pay, but are treated regardless and eventually force hospitals to abandon their one free dialysis.
Medical equipment costs a lot because–forget it. You go to the Cuban medical clinic. I’ll be treated here.
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (0368d7) — 2/21/2025 @ 11:17 pmAnd his boss is an Army reserve Major and part time weekend tv host with zero experience in command…of anything. He wasn’t in command track, specialist track, so an IC in private parlance.
And his boss is a failed real estate developer, conman, and reality TV host, to claimed bone spurs to avoid the draft.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 2/21/2025 @ 11:58 pmAnd stupid Hitlers bleat about him talked about him being a successful entrepreneur, in the weeks he was a VC.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 2/22/2025 @ 12:04 am@HFM What I hear you saying is that you don’t have a response to my concerns and would rather not consider them directly because discussing the areas where I think we could improve things makes you uncomfortable. Also, I wasn’t criticizing the cost of the CT scanner, I was criticizing the cost of the CT scan over time.
The median annual salary of a nurse in the US is $86,000, so it isn’t their union rates that are causing problems. (MLK community Hosp in LA doesn’t appear to be a union hospital at this time, also I can’t find their contract on line, if you have a link I’ll read it.) And the fed pays hospitals back for care given to the uninsured poor.
Nic (120c94) — 2/22/2025 @ 12:25 amAlso, lots of states opted out of the ACA as much as possible, so Ohio vs Kentucky vs Indiana, the premiums for silver (no Gold in Kentucky any longer), which is a fairly decent plan. Caresource provides service in all three, and the plans are essentially the same too. For spouses only, it runs from $1600 to $2200 a month, and you still have a $1k deductible and $20 co-pays, and those rates are based on the couple earning $72k a year, that’s the cutoff for payment assistance. If you fall below the poverty line you can get medicaid, but for 2 people, $72k isn’t a lot.
That’s nearly $25k, there are some tax savings so you’ll get some of that back, but you still need to pay the monthly.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 2/22/2025 @ 12:31 amKentucky initially had the full ACA market, but the primary option let citizens get the equivalent of a gold plan for less than $500/m because they pushed you toward an integrated buy with the state employees plans, economies of scale/bigger pool, etc.
When Bevin came in he cut the plans to minimum requirements, pulled the ACA folks out of the state plan, to save money…but, when you pull out all those people from the state pool, it raised the price of that too, and the state hasn’t actually seen any lower spending, because the working poor have shifted to working under the table or for a bit less money just so they have healthcare.
The way we pay for healthcare is just dumb, but it’s where we are. We’ve decided that we’re going to ignore the Pareto Principle even if the cost of getting slightly better outcomes approaches infinity.
When the GOP was trying torpedoing the ACA, they were right when they said you’d have to “ration” care. Which is always the case, we’ve just decided our ration is all, immediately. That has a huge cost on innovation and entrepreneurship, our healthcare system makes it almost impossible for small business and startups to provide effective coverage. We spend more per capita, both on private and public sector funded, than most of the developed country, and it isn’t even close.
I’m fine if we, as a society, decide that this is what we want (assuming our society understands the complexity of the this.
But if Dogie wants to cut waist spending and abuse, they should look at putting a plan together to create a better system…
…Nah, just randomly break things, on tuesdays Viagra’s covered but not antibiotics. Antibiotics are covered saturdays between 11:50AM and 12:37PM. Also, it would be the best idea to cancel the contracts for things like payment processing, electricity, etc in CMS, plus fire all the folks that actually review claims for fraud, waist, and abuse.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 2/22/2025 @ 12:52 amhah, waist
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 2/22/2025 @ 12:55 am2026 is coming. 2025 virginia. Time to primary the running dogs and stooges of the “good” billionaires. Even the democratic party drones are angry. The tea party came after 2008 when elected rethugs said what can we do to stop Obama? The tea party answered then we will primary you! Prices are going up not down. Trump and elon want to give every one a $5000 dollar check with firings and cuts dividends. How will the democrat party respond?
asset (7f9308) — 2/22/2025 @ 2:29 amBut these deep-red congressmen are getting a piece of folks’ minds.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/21/2025 @ 7:08 pmOr by Steven Cheung and Chris LaCivita to take the wind out of the sails of genuine organized opposition.
Like the phony GOP primary.
It was a favorite tactic of Fidel Castro who formed hundreds of fake “opposition groups” during his tenure; plus hundreds of fake conspiracies to “suppress” and fake “assassination plots” to blame on the CIA.
nk (7d4b4d) — 2/22/2025 @ 4:56 am[Apologies. Let me try to reformat that.]
Or by Steven Cheung and Chris LaCivita to take the wind out of the sails of genuine organized opposition.
Like the phony GOP primary.
It was a favorite tactic of Fidel Castro who formed hundreds of fake “opposition groups” during his tenure; plus hundreds of fake conspiracies to “suppress” and fake “assassination plots” to blame on the CIA.
nk (7d4b4d) — 2/22/2025 @ 4:59 amThey decided my wife needed an MRI. She got an appointment in less than a week and for a reasonable rate, with insurance.
Good luck getting an MRI anywhere outside the US in less than months if you can find one that works.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 2/22/2025 @ 5:27 amMy wife hurt her knee in Paris and got an MRI at an Urgent Care type of thing in about 40 minutes and it cost 17 euro, and she got a prescription with that, delivered via a series of tubes (pneumatic) when you check out.
13 Rue de la Pépinière, 75008 Paris, France, I’m pretty sure that’s the place.
Docs and nurses also spoke english perfectly.
My mom broke her hip in Panama, and had a hip replacement and was in recovery in 3 days, and was back in the US in a week. Thanks to Delta removing 3 rows of seats on its plane so they could put in the gurney, which set my AMEX on fire. Guess how much her hospital stay was?
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 2/22/2025 @ 8:02 amReading the google reviews, people are irate at this place because they may wait 2 hours. Those poor babies. And dentistry isn’t really their thing.
Never understood why tooths are always an afterthought. For quality of life, I’m not sure that tooths and eyes aren’t the most important. Ears too, basically all the face holes.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 2/22/2025 @ 8:07 amInteresting…..
Rip Murdock (c15934) — 2/22/2025 @ 8:12 amEven more interesting………
Rip Murdock (c15934) — 2/22/2025 @ 8:16 amMaine governor chooses her hill to die on: trans participation in women’s sports.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/22/2025 @ 8:54 amZelenskyy is trying to work Trump’s mineral exploitation deal from a full-blown rape to a pizda-grabbing, but the terms remain a non-consensual assf–king by Trump.
Trump just keeps telling the world that he’s the Baddie, and this suckass deal is just his latest communique.
Paul Montagu (84c026) — 2/22/2025 @ 8:54 amProbably more aggressive interpretations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the laws of war.
So, like soldiers who shoot civilians or mistreat prisoners? Or is it just senior officers who pollute our precious bodily fluids with their DEI and trannies and fluoridation?
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/22/2025 @ 9:02 amThe benefit system for the poor is very time consuming and complicated.
And so you would fix this by what? An unaccountable and document-free system? I really don’t get it. “No sparrow must fall”?
If people are so unaccountable, where is Children & Family Services? Sorry, but I believe in some minimum amount of personal responsibility and the co-dependence (with other people’s money) that you are expressing doesn’t move me at all.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/22/2025 @ 9:07 am99, 100: Col–why the new guy sounds a lot like US Grant before he went into the army–total failure at everything but being a general.
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (bc8284) — 2/22/2025 @ 9:13 amThe only Canadian I can find
How about these:
Crossing the Border for Care
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/22/2025 @ 9:15 am101: I cannot debate with a man on a mission or one who skims AI or Google to support his positions as debating points but does not read to know what is going on.
One day, for yourself not for this exchange look at: the salaries and benefits (not just salaries) including overtime laws etc., of nurses in large cities where lots of people live, where undocumented migrants tend to live, and you’ll note the salaries are not the measly 86,000 you cite, using a nationwide average that includes the smallest town and all kinds of nurses–did you limit your search to RN’s? You can find CBA’s on line if you look for NYC for example, but they are deliberately opaque and you’ll actually have to talk to hospital adminstrators and nurses to get a grip on it.
MLK used to be, years ago, a fully unionized County of LA Hospital; it was so bad, LAPD officers begged ambulance crews to take them anywhere but “killer king.” The LA Times has some articles–a patient actually bleeding to death on the floor of the ER while staff ignored her; doctors billing for full days while playing golf. The Feds finally revoked its license–not the city or state–the Feds did. Despite millions on millions it was so bad it was closed.
And you can’t provide free care–for such it is–to millions of undocumented migrants w/o costs being raised somewhere, or money being infused somewhere.
I’ve worked all my life. Always had insurance. never had a problem. Insurance covered it or the deductible was so small–$200 for a 16,000 procedure for one kid–that it was de minimis.
Anyway, please read up on this when you can. You seem motivated to do so, and I hope you do.
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (bc8284) — 2/22/2025 @ 9:25 amKlink @102
You don’t have to tell me about the extreme costs for Obamacare, particularly at the beginning, for older people with “too much income.” You try to live in L.A. with less than $60K in income. It was a $15K welfare trap. The wife and I were there in our early 60s’.
In California (hardly a Trumpian mecca), the state intentionally dumped all their excess imposed costs (e,g, trans care) onto the silver plans, pointing out that the subsidies would cancel those costs out. Sucks to not be getting a subsidy though.
However….
For the working poor — people making $20K or so annually — Obamacare has near-total premium subsidies and ALSO greatly subsidizes co-pays (IIRC, a CAT scan is $3), making coverage rather better than what can be had with a Platinum plan.
To providers there is no difference between someone with the super-subsidies and someone with the full-load premium plan, so there isn’t the discrimination there might be with Medicaid (and nowadays, there isn’t much of that as Medicaid pays over 100% of Medicare rates in many places).
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/22/2025 @ 9:26 amNic@94:
You forgot to mention there are many millions who don’t qualify for ACA because they’re here illegally. Want them covered too? Yeah, let us know.
The folks who fret over “a mom whose baby has 103 degree fever and no medical insurance” are the same folks who have known what’s been going on with children trafficked across the border and glibly dismissed it, as they’ve glibly dismissed the millions streaming in the past four years with no medical insurance.
lloyd (7437e0) — 2/22/2025 @ 9:38 amNow, as far as Obamacare goes, if you can afford the premiums, in some places the coverage is pretty good, even if providers can be spotty.
As I said, the wife and I got dumped onto Obamacare when our private insurance was cancelled by the new law. All we could afford was Catastrophic care (essentially the first $7K out of pocket, per person, followed by 100% coverage (in-network)). And she way diagnosed with cancer shortly thereafter.
Because I had picked the insurer who had the best hospitals in plan (catastrophic coverage suggests hospitals might be needed), she was able to get the very best cancer care available in Los Angeles: The Angeles Clinic and UCLA (Cedars was also an option). And they cured her cancer with surgery, radiation and chemo.
So, I agree that Obamacare is (or was) overpriced and that the subsidy cutoff was too low*. But the service can be pretty good (it can also be pretty bad if you choose the bottom cost plan). Don’t know what it’s like now because, well, Medicare. I do know that the insurer we had in L.A. has since dropped out of the program there, so maybe it’s not as good as it was.
———–
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/22/2025 @ 9:42 am*I will point out that Paul Ryan tried to fix that in 2017, but the Democrats refused to vote for it even though it improved their program (they later did the same thing in 2021). NIH isn’t just for private business.
Paul doubling down on anti-Americanism. So shocked.
Are you rooting for Canada and Mexico against our country, like prominent Democrats?
lloyd (7437e0) — 2/22/2025 @ 9:45 amColonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 2/22/2025 @ 8:02 am
Emergency care for foreigners in many countries is markedly better than care for natives, and there are usually no delays in emergency care anyway. You would get the same results in the US, although the bill would be higher. Some travelers to the US carry insurance, either private or a benefit of their home health service.
Emergency care is not a useful measure.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/22/2025 @ 9:46 amDonald Krasnov Trump. If only he were recruited by Ukrainian KGB.
Paul Montagu (84c026) — 2/22/2025 @ 9:47 amYou got it backwards as usual, lloyd, because your boy Donny is the unpatriotic un-American guy.
Paul Montagu (84c026) — 2/22/2025 @ 9:48 amWelshing on deals like the Budapest Memorandum isn’t the act of a patriotic American.
Paul Montagu (84c026) — 2/22/2025 @ 9:48 amWorking a deal for Trump Tower Moscow while running for president is unpatriotic un-American act. So is attempting a coup.
Paul Montagu (84c026) — 2/22/2025 @ 9:50 amCrossing the Border for Care
Literally tens of thousands a month in border states go to Canada for their drugs, and not Labatts. This isn’t new of course, it goes back at least 30 years.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 2/22/2025 @ 9:53 amFor quality of life, I’m not sure that tooths and eyes aren’t the most important.
There is probably too much elective dentistry. Eyewear can also have elective costs. I agree that some of this ought to be part of most health systems, but I understand why it is not.
Most US health insurance covers neither, public or private. I know that Medicare covers cataract surgery or other MEDICAL eye problems (e.g. glaucoma) but it does not cover add-on services like astigmatism correction during cataract surgery even though that is worth every dime. My wife’s 20/200 vision in her better eye was 20/25 uncorrected after surgery. I think that cost $4K extra. Even if you are less affluent, it’s something you want to borrow for.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/22/2025 @ 9:53 amDonald Krasnov Trump. If only he were recruited by Ukrainian KGB.
Here I was betting it would be nk who brought up that silly report. Senile old coots from Upchukistan are not the most reliable reporters. IF this was about Burisma, you’d have the same reaction.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/22/2025 @ 10:02 amSeems more like you are anti-good, paul is pro-good.
That America’s Bund is embracing being a force for bad in the world; pointing to the morons, sieg heiling, and bailing on our friends to try to rape the natural resources of other countries, not by a free market economic policy, but by literally talking about invasion and blackmail isn’t a bad thing.
Patriotism isn’t a suicide pact, you are a nationalist, not a patriot, when your country is doing bad things, being brave enough to speak out is patriotism.
You may think you are pro American, but you’re not. Whether it’s for the LOLZ, or mental illness, only you can know. And really, if you can’t tell the difference, then that’s a tell too.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 2/22/2025 @ 10:02 amNo way would the KGB make stupid Hitler an agent, at least after speaking with him.
Now, they may have viewed him as a useful idiot, they were sure right about the idiot part. Seems like they are getting good value for the useful part too.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 2/22/2025 @ 10:05 am@129 There’s a bill to address that. In the long run, Canada probably won’t be pleased since markets will adjust.
Canada produces very little of these drugs themselves, so border crossings aren’t just the human kind.
lloyd (7437e0) — 2/22/2025 @ 10:05 amLiterally tens of thousands a month in border states go to Canada for their drugs
Indeed, I did it too because Obamacare wouldn’t pay for them. But the reason they are lower there is because Canada uses the power of the state to coerce steep discounts from drug companies. If we did that here (assuming it was constitutional) you’d kill the golden goose.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/22/2025 @ 10:07 amAh, you were using the royal “We”. LOL
lloyd (7437e0) — 2/22/2025 @ 10:07 amCanada probably won’t be pleased since markets will adjust.
In particular, should US sales drop and Canadian sales incrase, drug companies will refuse to sell at the previous prices in Canada. If Canada tries to lock them out of the Canadian market, oh well. They sell more in California alone.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/22/2025 @ 10:10 amThe former.
Rip Murdock (c15934) — 2/22/2025 @ 10:10 amIt’s just funny for the leftists here to complain about all the ways America is doing things wrong. People are voting with their feet, in the millions, and it’s not the first referendum the usuals here have gotten catastrophically wrong.
lloyd (7437e0) — 2/22/2025 @ 10:13 amEventually I gave up on the Canadian pharmacy. I was getting a critical drug from “Canada” but it was really coming from India. The quality of the drug, or at least its effectiveness, was noticeably less and my health suffered from relying on it.
I found a US option that cost more than Canada but was less than what I had been paying here, and worked as advertised.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/22/2025 @ 10:15 amIt’s just funny for the leftists here to complain about all the ways America is doing things wrong.
Says the guy who has been complaining about socialist America for the last 20 years.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/22/2025 @ 10:16 amMedical tourism cuts both ways.
Rip Murdock (c15934) — 2/22/2025 @ 10:16 amAmericans travel overseas for cosmetic surgery, dental care, cancer treatments, etc. for the same reasons foreigners come here: treatment availability and cost
Rip Murdock (c15934) — 2/22/2025 @ 10:19 am#140 Hope the replacement drug worked well for you.
Jim Miller (9aa09c) — 2/22/2025 @ 10:20 amLOL your lie about Paul and the 51 blowhards at least made more sense.
lloyd (7437e0) — 2/22/2025 @ 10:30 amExcept I didn’t, and I continue to note your bad faith in carrying water for a suckass self-centered human being.
Paul Montagu (84c026) — 2/22/2025 @ 10:30 am“Are you rooting for Canada and Mexico against our country, like prominent Democrats?”
Why are we at war with Canada and Mexico
Davethulhu (4f8f0c) — 2/22/2025 @ 10:31 amMy last company actually had a “medical tourism” option. If you had a problem like a knee replacement, you could go to the Cayman Islands and they’d put you up for two weeks and they’d pay for all of it. But you had to opt in for our medical BPO to review your healthcare and monitor you, for a cheaper rate on the Gold+ plan.
Basically it was an effort to productize our own healthcare expenses (which then allows it to move to a different part of the financials).
No one could tell me what we were learning, but it’s been going on for at least 6 years at this point, so that should probably say that it at least isn’t terribly inefficient.
I think they offered it regionally, so if your were in APAC, it was Singapore, EU was Ukraine, so…
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 2/22/2025 @ 10:38 amTrump is the Baddie, therefore America, my country, is the Baddie, and it pisses me off to no end…
Paul Montagu (84c026) — 2/20/2025 @ 12:46 am
We’re the Baddies.
Paul Montagu (84c026) — 2/21/2025 @ 9:11 pm
(Emphasis mine.)
Paul the anti-American.
lloyd (6e9b4d) — 2/22/2025 @ 10:48 amSo then who cares?
Rip Murdock (c15934) — 2/22/2025 @ 10:49 amBetter question: Why do you not know what “war” means?
lloyd (6e9b4d) — 2/22/2025 @ 10:50 amI love my country. I hate where it’s going under this Baddie president.
You know, lloyd, I’ll continue to note that you attack the commenter when your Dear Leader is criticized. You should just grow the f-ck up and stop being such snowflake.
Paul Montagu (84c026) — 2/22/2025 @ 10:59 amHope the replacement drug worked well for you.
It did. Being between drug plans wasn’t great, but Obamacare had gotten my private plan cancelled and didn’t cover my drug. As it turned out generics were just coming out, with a price of $150/month instead of the $500/month which had me going to Canada.
I am very aggressive these days with my inspection of Part D formularies. They seem to change a lot every year, and there were big changes this year after Biden rewrote all the rules. I expect also that there will be more hesitation and advanced approval needed given how OOP is capped at $2000. Great for people like me who will hit that in May, not so good for seniors in less need.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/22/2025 @ 11:00 amWhy are we at war with Canada and Mexico
We are at peace with Eurasia at least.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/22/2025 @ 11:02 amQuestion: Do you hope that Trump fails? Yes or no, is there a qualification?
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/22/2025 @ 11:04 amPaul, you attacked this country. Your own words. Own it.
lloyd (6e9b4d) — 2/22/2025 @ 11:06 amYou’re a liar, asshole and bully, just like your Dear Unpatriotic Leader.
Paul Montagu (84c026) — 2/22/2025 @ 11:12 amAs I’ve said before, I hope he succeeds (without qualification) inn doing everything he promised, as his voters need to see that their votes made a difference. Unfortunately, Trump is likely to be stymied by Congress and the courts.
Rip Murdock (c15934) — 2/22/2025 @ 11:14 am“Better question: Why do you not know what “war” means?”
don’t be deliberately obtuse
Davethulhu (4f8f0c) — 2/22/2025 @ 11:15 amI mean, I know that’s your “thing”, but stop it.
Davethulhu (4f8f0c) — 2/22/2025 @ 11:15 amI also say this. I’m calling out Trump’s treachery and where he’s taking my country because I love my country.
Paul Montagu (84c026) — 2/22/2025 @ 11:20 am@Kevin@116 You asked why someone might be uninsured given obamacare and medicaid. That’s one of the reasons. As far as the risk of fraud, I think it’s a balance. I realize that some people are mortally offended that some fraud might take place, but I think the long term benefit of providing social support for kids who need it is worth the risk of some minor levels of fraud. As far as what I would do do help make things easier? Vary the times the offices are open to accept paperwork. Have at least one day a week when the hours are shifted later and they are open until 8 PM and one where they are shifted earlier and open at 5 AM. It wouldn’t cost us anything and there are a lot of working poor out there and we shouldn’t punish them because they have a job and are trying to get on their feet.
@Kevin@118 I appreciate the article. It wasn’t what HFM was talking about but is an interesting article to read anyway. As I said at the beginning of this conversation, if you have the money, the US is a great place to get medical care. (the article also mentioned that the US is still ranked below Canada on how good our system is).
@HFM@119 Yes, that was the average for RNs. Overtime for nurses is the same as it is for any other hourly worker, 1.5 times their base hourly wage. Yes, how our healthcare system works for the actual people using it is something I’m interested in, so I keep up on it from time to time. Thanks for the conversation!
@lloyd@121 Do you have a contribution to the conversation, or did you just want to seagull?
Nic (120c94) — 2/22/2025 @ 11:23 amTrump is a reaction to a lot of past top-down social control, misgoverance and oppression of segments of the population.
As with all populist reactions, MAGA is a terribly blunt instrument in its attempted corrections. I’d prefer they used scalpels, but they seem to think meat cleavers and oak mallets are needed and they may be right.
Sadly, the guy at the top is Trump, with his vindictive nature. Vance would not be doing this to Ukraine. Musk would not be doing this to Ukraine. Damn few in Congress would either.
But I won’t waste a tear on the administrative state.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/22/2025 @ 11:32 amNic,
What degree of social support should go to uninvited immigrants? What reduction in service to US citizens would you accept to accomplish that? I think it was Milton Friedman who said “You can either have open borders or a welfare state, but not both.”
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/22/2025 @ 11:35 amIn the world of populist uprisings, Trump is pretty tame. Consider Khomeini or Lenin or Castro — or most of the rest of the world. AFAIK there have been no mass executions, no People’s Courts, no seizure of property, etc. Even past movements here (e.g. Huey Long) have been tame by world standards. The worst ever populist uprising was Andy Jackson’s, and even that would make Mao laugh at it’s civility.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/22/2025 @ 11:41 amOne of the better lines coming from the Kremlin has been: The West is willing to fight Russia down to the last Ukrainian
This may be the most accurate line to leave the Kremlin in the previous 40 years.
Incrementalism
De-escalation
It is a war of meat-grinding attrition—a war in which Russia is losing more men and material than Ukraine. Still, since Russia is 2X larger than Ukraine, the grind eventually favors Russia.
De-escalation has resulted in the consolidation of Russian positions in Ukrainian territories.
I am in favor of disassembling the status quo of the conflict. Predictably, Trump did not bring a scalpel but a wrecking ball.
How do the pieces look?
Crimea, Luhansk, and Donetsk were a done deal back in 2014. Russia was allowed to take them back and has held them for 10 years, and come hell or high water isn’t going to budge.
After three years of Biden, the shores of the Sea of Azov are solidly under Russian control, and I don’t see them moving on that either.
This was avoidable; if we’d supplied Ukraine with more of the modern weapons earlier, more Bradleys and modern tanks before the drone wars developed, they might have held more of the shore of the Azov.
Sure, Russia started the mess and should have been thrashed into stopping short. Go home and clean up your mess. But now it’s too late. That was what should have been done in 2022.
The person to blame for where we were on Jan 20 was Biden. This is what appeasement brought about.
I’m still in a “wait and see” mode because Trump still has some stuff to break and a few more sacred cows to slaughter. How will he cobble it together? Probably very close to today’s line of combat with a Russian concession of a little territory for withdrawal from Kursk
steveg (116c95) — 2/22/2025 @ 12:08 pmDeath of a cultural icon:
Bond fans are not amused. No doubt the James Bond franchise will end up as bloated as the Disney Star Wars and Marvel universes. And the new James Bond will be as far away from Ian Fleming’s original character as possible.
Rip Murdock (c15934) — 2/22/2025 @ 12:09 pm@kevin@164 I’m not particularly into benefits for adults who arrive in the country illegally (insert entire discussion about how to fix our immigration system so it matches more with the reality of the needs of our country). They paid their money, they takes their chance, though I don’t think we should leave them dying in the ER and I’d rather they have a driver’s license than not. I think kids should get free school meals and medi-cal as part of the general “be supportive of poor children system” because it isn’t the kids’ fault and I don’t think kids should go sick or hungry just because of their parents’ choices.
Nic (120c94) — 2/22/2025 @ 12:17 pmDamn the torpedos, full speed ahead:
Rip Murdock (c15934) — 2/22/2025 @ 12:33 pmAfter tearing down the administrative state, tear down the welfare state. Medicaid and Medicare should be 100% state-funded, and Social Security should be privatized.
Rip Murdock (c15934) — 2/22/2025 @ 12:37 pmBarbara Broccoli and her stepbrother Michael Wilson
Michael Wilson was a graduate of (and donor to) my alma mater, so I’d been following this story. I hope they made Bezos bend over.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/22/2025 @ 12:37 pmI’m not particularly into benefits for adults who arrive in the country illegally (insert entire discussion about how to fix our immigration system so it matches more with the reality of the needs of our country
The problem though, is that the moment you qualify benefits, you need ID cards. These exist now, and anyone who needs to get into Medicaid can (eventually) get one. If you say that the bureaucratic inertia and form-filling is too much for some, well I have no problem with making the bureaucracy perform. Most of what they are doing is essentially data-mining anyway.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/22/2025 @ 12:40 pmIt reportedly cost Amazon another billion dollars, but Broccoli and Wilson surrendered.
Rip Murdock (c15934) — 2/22/2025 @ 12:41 pmAll you have are emotional appeals. I guess you think that contributes to the conversation.
No one can possibly glean what it is you want, other than simply not what the US does.
lloyd (7437e0) — 2/22/2025 @ 12:42 pmMedicaid and Medicare should be 100% state-funded
Medicare as it exists now is partly funded by payroll taxes (I think that means state-funded) and party user premiums. deductibles and copays. There are add-on options for people who want them (the Supplements and Part D drug coverage) at noticeable added expense. For those that want some add-ons and no copays there is an HMO version (Medicare Advantage AKA Part C) for people who need to save money and/or who are no longer able to manage their own care.
Original Medicare is funded 100% by the feds. The Supplements and drug plans are funded entirely as insurance options by medical insurance companies, following federal rules making comparisons easier.
Medicare Advantage plans are funded 100% by government, with the HMO managing all service and provider payments. Ideally, the government’s cost is identical to the cost of Original Medicare but there are issues there.
AFAIK Medicaid/MediCal is 100% government funded by a fed/state arrangement, with states having some leeway as to what services they offer and their portion of the cost. If a state wants to expand coverage they can, at their sole cost.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/22/2025 @ 12:55 pmOr do you mean State-funded as in no federal participation? That could work for Medicaid, but there would be a LOT of unwinding for Medicare.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/22/2025 @ 12:57 pmIt reportedly cost Amazon another billion dollars, but Broccoli and Wilson surrendered.
I can do a lot of surrendering for a billion dollars.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/22/2025 @ 12:58 pmSocial Security should be privatized
Well, I said the same thing when I was 20. At 70 I’m not so keen. I can’t see any company signing on to take up the debt. If you mean younger people, well fine, in principle. But most people my age long since factored SS into our retirement planning and we will destroy any political party that fukks with that.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/22/2025 @ 1:01 pmPope Francis is in critical condition
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/22/2025 @ 1:03 pmIsrael Confirms Body Returned by Hamas Is That of Shiri Bibas
The prisoner release has been delayed, for unstated reasons.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/22/2025 @ 1:08 pmTwo more standings in Europe, for which we’ll never be sure of the motivation.
One dead in stabbing in French city of Mulhouse
Suspect arrested for stabbing at Holocaust memorial in Berlin
lloyd (7437e0) — 2/22/2025 @ 1:12 pmBTW, Rip, after a bit of thought I’m against having government medical programs Balkanized by state. It doesn’t work very well with Obamacare or Medicaid and even Medicare Advantage has state-line problems.
People travel. Even poor people travel. The expense of traveling to the next state, at least on the East Coast is minimal, to the point where people often live and work in different states. Getting care out-of-state can be difficult, confusing, or just onerous even with a valid ID card. Anyone who has valid mail locations in separate states (or can manufacture same) will choose the state with the best deal.
The hybrid system we have now is creaky enough without doubling down on dysfunction.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/22/2025 @ 1:21 pm@kevin@172 The problem though, is that the moment you qualify benefits, you need ID cards. well you need some kind of identification. A lot of people have ID, even people who are here illegally, they may just not have US ID. All of my students have birth certificates and I’m not going to fool myself that they have all always been here legally.
@lloyd@174 So no productive contribution then, just seagulling. Sometimes you have a discussion about something to talk about where the problems are and see what other people think and if maybe they have an idea that will work with your thoughts and might be better than the current system. Sometimes you have a discussion with people with different viewpoints to see what they think are the benefits or difficulties with something. Discussion and advocacy aren’t the same. If all you ever do is treat things like a competition betwen 2 teams, all you get are 2 teams with lousy ideas.
Nic (120c94) — 2/22/2025 @ 1:32 pmWhat does a solution look like to you, Nic? You might start with that.
lloyd (7437e0) — 2/22/2025 @ 1:54 pm@181
lloyd (7437e0) — 2/22/2025 @ 1:55 pmstandingsstabbingsNot really sure what seagulling is, but just complaining about something without proposing any specific solutions is probably equivalent.
lloyd (7437e0) — 2/22/2025 @ 1:58 pm@lloyd@184 At very least publicly posted costs. But Germany seems to have a pretty good system that is a split public/private system that looks like it could work within the general US world view.
Nic (120c94) — 2/22/2025 @ 2:37 pmSome words about honor and dishonor…
Paul Montagu (84c026) — 2/22/2025 @ 3:39 pmHarc, here’s the AEI analysis of aid to Ukraine. Most of the money stays in the US.
Paul Montagu (84c026) — 2/22/2025 @ 3:49 pmCFR also has a good breakdown.
Correct.
States should decide what level of medical assistance they wish to provide-there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Some states, like California, may decide to provide generous medical coverage; other states, like Mississippi, should be able not to provide any coverage at all if they wish. People can vote with their feet.
Rip Murdock (c15934) — 2/22/2025 @ 4:01 pmGovernment medical programs aren’t a right; they should be an option.
Rip Murdock (c15934) — 2/22/2025 @ 4:02 pmOn second thought, government funded medical care shouldn’t exist.
Rip Murdock (c15934) — 2/22/2025 @ 4:09 pmStates should decide what level of medical assistance they wish to provide
They do that now, to some degree. Are you expecting the costs to go down in CA if they aren’t spending fed dollars?
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/22/2025 @ 4:22 pmOn second thought, government funded medical care shouldn’t exist.
We should ban medical insurance, too. Just drives up the cost. If those poor people weren’t jamming up the system with their petty complaints those of us with money would have our pick.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/22/2025 @ 4:24 pmKevin, if you keep this up Dana’s going to ask you to start writing full posts. Don’t agree with you 💯 but damn sir. You’re on fire.
Time123 (b65d8a) — 2/22/2025 @ 4:29 pmNon-sequitur. Taxpayers aren’t on the hook for private medical insurance, but they are on the hook for government funded medical care.
Rip Murdock (c15934) — 2/22/2025 @ 4:31 pmToday may very well be the first time I have seen, heard or thought the word “honor” in any context involving Trump.
“Pearls” and “swine”, “dogs” and “holy”, even “arsenic” and “old lace”, sure; but “honor” and “Trump” never.
They are two things too far apart to be encompassed in a single thought.
nk (073d55) — 2/22/2025 @ 5:05 pmKevin, if you keep this up Dana’s going to ask you to start writing full posts.
But .. but .. but I’d have to think first.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/22/2025 @ 5:07 pmTaxpayers aren’t on the hook for private medical insurance,
But it drives up the cost government has to pay.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/22/2025 @ 5:09 pmThis has nothing to do with cost reduction, but federalism. States should decide what level of government-funded healthcare they want. The level of government funded healthcare in California should be their decision, just as it would be the decision of the Mississippi legislature.
Rip Murdock (054976) — 2/22/2025 @ 5:11 pmLike I’ve said, why should government be involved at all in paying for healthcare? And if government is involved at all, it should be at the state, not federal, level.
Rip Murdock (c15934) — 2/22/2025 @ 5:14 pmOutside of military veterans, government really doesn’t have the obligation to provide healthcare to anyone.
Rip Murdock (c15934) — 2/22/2025 @ 5:19 pmThe only purpose of government is to collect next year’s taxes.
Emphasis on next year’s — any band of bandits can collect this year’s.
Governments try many approaches to fulfill that purpose.
nk (073d55) — 2/22/2025 @ 5:28 pmOutside of military veterans, government really doesn’t have the obligation to provide healthcare to anyone.
After collecting Medicare taxes since the 60s, with a promise that Medicare would be available when the payors got older, it damn well has an obligation. Most blood oaths are like that.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/22/2025 @ 5:39 pmThe only purpose of government is to be around to collect next year’s taxes.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/22/2025 @ 5:40 pmhttps://www.westernjournal.com/bombshell-kathie-lee-gifford-recalls-time-donald-trump-saved-baby-murderer-rapist/
Not a side that people discuss when talking about the President.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 2/22/2025 @ 5:48 pmCreating Medicare was the federal government’s first mistake. It’s time that it be unwound.
Rip Murdock (054976) — 2/22/2025 @ 5:58 pmRick Reilly: ‘Donald Trump will cheat you on the golf course and then buy you lunch’
What to believe?
nk (073d55) — 2/22/2025 @ 6:03 pmParagraph breaks added.
Rip Murdock (c15934) — 2/22/2025 @ 6:32 pmI wold think that issuing patents involves he coercive power of the state. And in an inefficient manner. The government also forces new drugs to cost more with its drug approval and even medical device approval process,
Sammy Finkelman (51aa32) — 2/22/2025 @ 7:22 pm@139 their are no leftists here ;but me and I don’t get things wrong. Others here you call leftys will tell you they are not. mostly moderates and maybe a liberal. I remember I got something wrong once and admitted my mistake unlike some.
asset (98a955) — 2/22/2025 @ 8:19 pmRethug wants to change constitution so trump can run again. (msDNC) 84 year old trump vs 67 year old Obama.
asset (98a955) — 2/22/2025 @ 8:22 pm167: RIP-Bond died with Connery, was reduced to the caricature of every woman’s 1st husband when Broccoli made a “woman’s bond” (Roger Moore) who was not threatening, didn’t smoke Turkish cigarettes and was so polite around women he might have been birthed by a group from the American Association of Women University Professors. A brief resurgence with Dalton, and with the first return of Casino Royale. A last gasp with Skyfall, then it lapsed into something written by a bunch of castrated monks on Xanax. Its gone.
181: Lloyd: Of course its a mystery! What did he mean when he said “where is the snack bar?
207 RIP: Unwind Social Security? But that’s like unwinding rent control. Its embedded.
209: RIP, 9th is off: its so basic: but then the old lawyer’s joke is the answer: “Your Honor I am here on an appeal from an adverse decision of the 9th Circuit, and I have other compelling arguments as well.”
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (bc8284) — 2/22/2025 @ 9:11 pmBy Joan (sic), I think I’ve got it!
The Senate-confirmed Secretaries and Directors, such as Hegseth, Gabbard, Roadkill, Patel et al, shockingly unqualified as they appear to be, are figureheads and rubber stamps, there only to obtain the fig leaf of a Senate confirmation.
In Musk’s case, the dazzle of celebrity.
In Rubio’s, Bondi’s, Noem’s, and Burgum’s cases, the staidness of the usual party faithful appointee.
For all of them, the real work of the vandalizing of our government will be done by their unconfirmed, unexamined, and unchecked lower-tier henchmen — Deputies, Assistants, and Assistant Deputies — only a few of whom, such as Homan and Bauve, will even appear in the radar but will have direct lines to the Oval Office.
Democratically elected!
The people have spoken!
Meet the Shale State!
nk (1307fe) — 2/23/2025 @ 6:28 amSpeaking of foreign-born triple-citizenship globalists vandalizing our government, has Elon Musk heard of the Civil Service Acts? https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/23/elon-musk-tells-us-federal-workers-to-explain-what-they-achieved-last-week-or-be-fired
nk (d575aa) — 2/23/2025 @ 7:19 amCreating Medicare was the federal government’s first mistake. It’s time that it be unwound.
The average lifespan, and the average enjoyable lifespan, would both be a decade shorter without Medicare. There would be no meaningful research into diseases related to aging and few of the drugs now available that extend life as there would be no financial rewards.
The problem that Medicare addressed was that insurers refused to insure older people at any cost they could afford. Few get to 65 without some “preexisting condition” and even those that do still had to pay for the condition of “being old.” Obamacare’s initial failure to address the premiums of the 55-65 cohort that resulted in huge “welfare traps” is just a pale example of what faced older Americans under the old regime.
I guess there is the argument that they have a “duty to die” and “thereby reduce the surplus population”, but as a people we have rejected that.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/23/2025 @ 8:16 amI wold think that issuing patents involves he coercive power of the state.
It is not possible to preserve intellectual property rights without the “coercive power of the state.” They do not, and cannot, exist in a state of nature. Some inventions can be held as proprietary secrets (and some are even now, e.g. Coca-Cola) but many (most?) are obvious the moment you put a product in the marketplace (e.g. the Bic lighter).
Trademarks and copyrights are obviously unprotectable once the enter the marketplace. The idea of using the power of the state to protect (and thereby encourage) creations for a limited time goes back to Queen Anne and was adopted as part of the US Constitution as an enumerated power of Congress. That it has been lately corrupted in the case of copyright does not change that, even if it calls for reform.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/23/2025 @ 8:26 am[Republican] wants to change constitution so trump can run again.
Good luck with that. First, get 290 votes in the House and 67 votes in the Senate.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/23/2025 @ 8:28 am“Your Honor I am here on an appeal from an adverse decision of the 9th Circuit, and I have other compelling arguments as well.”
The 9th Circuit is not like it was. Note that the panel in question was 2-1 GOP appointees. The entire circuit makeup is 16D-13R by appointing president, although that still tilts a bit to the left due to senatorial Blue Slip considerations as the majority of states in the 9th circuit have had Democrat Senators.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/23/2025 @ 8:42 amhas Elon Musk heard of the Civil Service Acts?
Sure he has, and he is exploring every loophole.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/23/2025 @ 8:44 amI’m awaiting the black lesbian Bond with some trepidation. But at least we’ll still have Bond girls.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/23/2025 @ 8:46 amI’ve just added a new item to the post.
Dana (bef6c9) — 2/23/2025 @ 9:21 am“We have a very corrupt country — a very corrupt country.” — President Donald J. Trump, 2/18/2025
That was far from the only time that Trump has trashed America, yet MAGAs insist he is deeply, heroically patriotic.
Radegunda (ddd71b) — 2/23/2025 @ 9:24 amZelensky would fly to Moscow and surrender himself to Putin if NATO membership was assured by it.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/23/2025 @ 9:24 amIn defense of Trump’s supporters (if not Trump himself), I’m so old I remember when dissent and resistance was patriotic, as is working for change.
Being true to one’s own vision of America, as ridiculous as it may be, has always been “patriotic.” It’s one of the things that makes a pluralistic society work.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/23/2025 @ 9:28 amZelensky may not be a dictator but he has not had elections. And with a nod to those who note that the Brit’s didn’t in WWII, WE had elections during the civil war and WWII. And even Churchill faced two votes of no confidence that flamed out both times. But those votes were held, and either had been successful, there would have been an election. Just saying that holding the torch for “democracy” when the man cancelled elections is ..yeah.
The minerals deal: some feel the US proposal to be outrageous. ‘Beneath our dignity,’ etc. But its not. The US insisted on 99-year leases of multiple British bases in the Carribean in WWII–we still are using them. That was a win/win: it also meant that Germany would leave those bases alone. As I recall we also swiped a lot of their gold. And charged interest on some post WWII loans.
Rome always insisted on troop and food contributions. Prior to our entry to WWI, we insisted on cash or debt obligations for food and armaments we shipped.
So there is no saintly precedent that compels war aid to be given w/o a hook. Quite the contrary.
The opposing position also fails to consider US interests (remember those?). we can use those minerals. The idea that we spend borrowed billions for the Ukraine which won’t cut a beneficial deal, (and even pay pensions of their officials), for a country that refuses some contribution to us is other worldly. we are spending the US treasury at the expense of baristas, nurses, cab drivers, and all of us.
Z’s refusal to consider a deal on minerals is also stupid: you want a tie to the US? That’s one that will last long beyond the fickle enthusiasm of the “save the Ukraine” people who won’t go there themselves, and ignore that we have a lot of other obligations in the world besides the Ukraine. His refusal to do the deal is also going to give DT support if the Ukraine is lost: “he wouldn’t help us.”
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (bc8284) — 2/23/2025 @ 9:45 amFor some Trumpistas, this will sound like a great start:
For others, it will be outweighed by something good the Loser may (or may not) have done for a celebrity family years and years ago.
Jim Miller (9747c2) — 2/23/2025 @ 9:48 am223- Radegunda–When Trump is attacked as corrupt, indicted four times, including for a loan he repaid even as the lending bank testified that they wanted to lend him more money, that’s fine. No greater patriotism.
When Trump attacks taxpayer billions for CA’s “Bullet Train”-over 10 years and not one mile of track, payments to NGO’s that seem to be populated by one party, and for whatever reason are funding plays and electric bikes in foreign countries, or payments to donor companies like Solyndra–he’s “trashing” the US. Good to know.
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (0368d7) — 2/23/2025 @ 9:57 am227-Jim– some humble questions:
Were the 11,500 workers federal workers that took a buyout? Or mostly in DC? I mean they aren’t manufacturing workers, or even oil pipeline workers like those laid off when Keystone pipeline was cancelled, right?
Why can’t someone else in the 3+ billions of people in the world unload the food you say is in ships? Does no other country have dockworkers and trucks?
Why are we supporting 900,000 people in Syria? And drug treatments for 11 countries in W Africa? Can’t those countries reduce their military budgets to pay for that themselves? (Even NPR commentary acknowledges that those countries should be doing more for themselves).
“Key regional partner Taiwan.” Ah. That would be the Taiwan which has 2X the population of Israel, but spends less than Israel on defense? Where compulsory military service was only recently (sort of) extended to 4 months? Which has a ‘parade ground’ army? Where most kids under age 26 would rather work in a factory than in the military–and say that if China takes over it makes no sense to fight? That key partner?
I think I am with the old geezers here, worried about the solvency of social security and medicare. Disaster relief that is needed for states that experience disasters. Paying down some debt. Buying new ICBM’s. Some new guided missile cruisers.
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (bc8284) — 2/23/2025 @ 10:12 amOn Tapper, Envoy Witkoff well communicating my country’s betrayal of Ukraine.
One, he perpetuated the lie that Putin’s War Against Ukraine was “provoked”, which is an appeasement to Putin as Russian borders were never threatened, not by NATO, not by Ukraine.
Two, Witkoff is lying that we’re funding the “majority share” of aid to Ukraine (link).
Three, he is misleading when he said the Europeans “had agreements to pay it back”, because less than a quarter of the aid were loans.
Four, Witkoff mentioned the Istanbul Protocol as a “framework” for an agreement, which was ridiculously weighted in Putin’s favor. There’s a reason Ukraine rejected it back in 2022, because it was basically a surrender agreement with no security assurances for the rest of unconquered Ukraine, requiring Ukraine to disarm, and to become “neutral” in status. Given Trump’s crap deal with the Taliban, our president evidently Trump knows a thing or two about surrender agreements, only this time he’s screwing the Ukrianians instead of the Afghan people.
Every one of Witkoff’s dishonest points disfavors Ukraine and favors the Russian terrorist dictator, which is complete bullsh-t and wrong.
So yes, Trump is the Baddie for aligning with Putin the Baddie and for sticking it to the victim, Ukraine, which is putting my country in Baddie status. We used to stand up for countries striving for freedom and we used to stand up to tyranny, but no longer under this fascist president.
Paul Montagu (84c026) — 2/23/2025 @ 10:18 amHarc, that’s only half the story and it’s misleading, because Putin is the reason Ukraine cannot hold elections. If he ends his invasion, then their parliament can end martial law which, by their constitution, prohibits elections while the country under martial law.
Regarding Zelenskyy’s reluctance to sign a deal under duress that plunders his country’s economy, it’s a blatant exploitation against the victim of his war. What does Putin pay for all the destruction and deaths he’s directly responsible for? Trump hasn’t said a word.
Paul Montagu (84c026) — 2/23/2025 @ 10:25 amThanks Rad. I’ll put up my patriotism to Trump’s any day.
Paul Montagu (84c026) — 2/23/2025 @ 10:27 amOh, Witkoff also lied when he said that Trump wouldn’t welsh on Article V of the NATO treaty.
Paul Montagu (84c026) — 2/23/2025 @ 10:53 amTrump and his supporters define “corruption” in the same way that he does: Anything that contravenes his will, exposes his misdeeds, or tries to hold him accountable under the law. They endorse the deeply self-centered ethics of a malignant narcissist who lacks a moral compass – as even his good pal Jeffrey Epstein noticed.
Trump was indicted by grand juries of citizens.
One of the indictments was for defying a subpoena for sensitive national-security documents he willfully retained (& carelessly handled) after his own lawyers told him he could not lawfully keep them. He deceived his lawyer, enlisted lackeys to hide the documents, and flagrantly lied to the public about what the law permits. The evidence against him is overwhelming, but one of his judicial appointments 1) improperly meddled with the investigation; 2) defied the urging of superiors to recuse herself; 3) put both elbows on the scale for Trump; 4) seized upon a flimsy excuse to dismiss the case, thrown to her by Clarence Thomas (whose personal corruption has been documented).
That is a textbook example of judicial corruption.
He was also indicted for what Judge J. Michael Luttig, a leading light of conservative jurisprudence, called the gravest crime ever committed against the Constitution by any president: trying by various means to stay in power after losing an election, up to inciting a mob to attack the Capitol – a mob he praises as great patriots. Trump’s ideological allies on SCOTUS contrived to delay the trial, and then issued a disgraceful ruling, without a plausible constitutional basis, that effectively places the president above the law.
Trump has openly expressed his belief that he should not be restrained by law and his desire to be “king.” He has often praised despots who “rule with an iron fist” and don’t need to follow any rules.
There are people who once acknowledged his obvious amorality and his history of fraud, and they claimed to find it disqualifying – but then they chose to defend him as a way of serving their political agendas or personal ambitions, and to reorient their ethical judgment to define “corruption” as “whatever goes against Trump.”
Radegunda (ddd71b) — 2/23/2025 @ 11:08 amZelensky may not be a dictator but he has not had elections.
MY GOD Harry, have you still no clue? All parties in Ukraine agree that elections cannot be held, and their Constitution says that they cannot be held under martial law.
Why do you keep banging on this falsehood?
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/23/2025 @ 11:10 amDuring the last Supreme Court term, the Ninth and Fifth Circuits had ten cases each reviewed by the Court. However, it was the Fifth Circuit that had more rulings overturned (8) than the Ninth (5). And since 2007, the Sixth and Ninth Circuits are virtually tied in the percentage of cases reversed (80.7 and 79 percent respectively). The lowest percentage among all Article III courts has been the Fourth Circuit (62 percent).
Source
Rip Murdock (539f9d) — 2/23/2025 @ 11:12 amI’m sorry but I don’t feel much sympathy for apparatchiks losing their jobs. I’d feel more for secretaries and the like, but they have actual skills and don’t make their living making life hard for everyone else.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/23/2025 @ 11:15 amAnd the First, Fourth, Sixth, Seventh, and the Federal Circuits had 100% of their cases reversed during the last SC term, though some circuits had only a single case appealed to the Supreme Court.
Rip Murdock (539f9d) — 2/23/2025 @ 11:24 amIn saying “We’re the baddies,” Paul clearly referred to how Donald Trump, basically single-handedly (though with support from the pro-Putin reactionary right), has reoriented American foreign policy to align with the world’s autocratic bullies, against liberal democracies. It is Donald Trump who is putting us on the side of the baddies.
When Trump calls America a “corrupt country,” and his apologists chime in with attacks on what they call “deep state corruption,” they are bashing America in a more sweeping way. They’re claiming that our whole system has become rotten and has been run by vast numbers of “corrupt” people. They’re attacking our free press, and attacking the way our judicial system works in multiple jurisdictions, etc. And now they’ve taken out their sledgehammers to play at counterrevolution.
Radegunda (ddd71b) — 2/23/2025 @ 11:26 amAnd the spillover effects caused by contractor layoffs in communities when programs are shut down? I wouldn’t be surprised to see NASA or DOD programs that compete with one of Musk’s companies cancelled in the of “efficiency.”
Rip Murdock (539f9d) — 2/23/2025 @ 11:29 amRip,
There are several factors that complicate these stats, such as how consolidated cases are counted. And of course it varies by year.
Volokh suggests that it is actually the 2nd Circuit that was most reversed (2023) with 6 out of 7 cases reversed. The 5th circuit had more cases reversed (8 out of 11), while the 9th circuit was 7-5-2.
Several courts had all their reviewed cases reversed, but only had 1 or two on the block. It probably counts for something if few of a court’s cases get cert.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/23/2025 @ 11:31 amIf Patterico wants to add another writer it should be you.
👍
Rip Murdock (539f9d) — 2/23/2025 @ 11:31 amAnd the spillover effects caused by contractor layoffs in communities when programs are shut down?
This being the government-driven jobs program aspect of things? I would have thought you’d object to that in the first place.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/23/2025 @ 11:33 amTrump is doing this because his supporters want to drag down every person/institution in the hope America will be rebuilt to suit their economic needs and cultural agenda. I feel their disillusionment but America is not unbreakable. At some point, I am not sure it can be rebuilt.
DRJ (a84ee2) — 2/23/2025 @ 11:34 amI support that Rip 242.
What happened to JVW?
DRJ (a84ee2) — 2/23/2025 @ 11:35 amI wouldn’t be surprised to see NASA or DOD programs that compete with one of Musk’s companies
Does United Launch Alliance actually compete with SpaceX? Suppose the money went to Bezos and some of the other upstarts?
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/23/2025 @ 11:37 am231, 235, Paul and Kevin-the fact remains-no elections.
The formalistic and circular argument that “martial law” prevents it begs the Q: who declares an end to martial law so elections can be held? A: the people who would be challenged in an election.
The constitution says elections are off during martial law; but Zelensky declared martial law.
And (devil’s advocate) why would anyone in power end the law that lets them stay in power? Sorry guys: I see the wartime “necessity” argument, but insisting that we can’t have elections because the people in power won’t allow one, because they declared martial law and won’t end it, is less than compelling.
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (bc8284) — 2/23/2025 @ 11:38 amOur combined point is that the view that Ninth Circuit is the most overturned circuit is outdated, without any circuit realignment. Some posters would rather attack the messenger rather debate the legal arguments.
Rip Murdock (539f9d) — 2/23/2025 @ 11:39 amSo Jim,
you’re a bug fan of further indebting our children to provide foreign welfare?
NJRob (7baa7d) — 2/23/2025 @ 11:42 amIdle thought: How would everyone feel if Trump declared martial law and refused to hold elections or leave office, assuming America was not at war? What if America was at war?
DRJ (a84ee2) — 2/23/2025 @ 11:43 amI feel their disillusionment but America is not unbreakable.
It’s damn hard though. FDR did as much as Trump is trying. I doubt MAGA will have the same success, or popular support going forward. FDR crushed his opposition in 1936. I am becoming convinced that the GOP will lose both Houses of Congress in 2026 and by 2028 the entire party will spurn MAGA candidates in the primaries.
It’s not that everything Trump is doing is bad, but enough is. Particularly foreign policy where he actually does have a lot of plenary power.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/23/2025 @ 11:43 amWhat if America was at war?
If it was a case of actual invasion, I could see martial law imposed in affected areas. But even then we should hold elections. Lincoln did in 1864 — against a peace-now candidate — and the US in 1864 was pretty badly effed up.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/23/2025 @ 11:46 amAmerica is not unbreakable. At some point, I am not sure it can be rebuilt.
Not wishing to actually live through such, but Jefferson Davis and General Lee were unable to break America irrevocably, and they actually tried.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/23/2025 @ 11:48 amBoth build and launch rockets for NASA and DOD, so they do compete. ULA’s Vulcan Centaur rocket is to replace the Atlas V, and is jointly funded by NASA and ULA. I could see DOGE arguing that it’s redundant to the SpaceX Falcon Heavy.
All the other rocket companies are vanity companies. Blue Origin is years away from competing with SpaceX.
Rip Murdock (539f9d) — 2/23/2025 @ 11:51 amRadegunda–you’re wasting your talent here. The people at Jacobin with raised fist posters on the wall can use you.
PS: “Judge Luttig” is commonly called “conservative” by people who don’t know any conservatives. Like people who think WaPo’s Jen Rubin is “conservative.”
Luttig even endorsed Kamala Harris, so while he may have been considered a “conservative” decades ago, he has not been one since the iphone replaced flip phones.
PPS: “Indicted by juries of citizens…” Do you know anything about how grand juries decide to indict someone? As to verdicts at trials, did you by chance watch, just as one example, the NY appellate arguments in the bank loan case?
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (bc8284) — 2/23/2025 @ 11:51 amthe people in power won’t allow one, because they declared martial law and won’t end it, is less than compelling.
You ignore the other one: the Ukraine opposition also opposes elections now.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/23/2025 @ 11:52 amLuttig even endorsed Kamala Harris, so while he may have been considered a “conservative” decades ago, he has not been one since the iphone replaced flip phones.
Endorsing Trump does not make one “conservative.” It makes on a radical.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/23/2025 @ 11:53 amWhy would DOGE promote SpaceX rivals-not that they are any threat to SpaceX’s dominance of commercial and governmental launch markets.
Rip Murdock (28ab8e) — 2/23/2025 @ 11:54 amRadegunda attacking Justice Thomas on spurious charges because he dared to not support the leftist lawfare against Trump to try and prevent his reelection.
NJRob (7baa7d) — 2/23/2025 @ 11:55 amIn only half of the country.
Rip Murdock (539f9d) — 2/23/2025 @ 11:56 amSo now we are seeing rumblings that Ukraine is close to signing a deal. Maybe next week, but probabaly taking until early march
steveg (c55fba) — 2/23/2025 @ 12:07 pmAnd then we get to see something real
Blue Origin is years away from competing with SpaceX.
The base Vulcan Centaur costs $110 million to launch, versus $70 million for a Falcon 9. The Vulcan can lift 20% more weight than the Falcon 9.
The base Falcon Heavy costs $100 million to launch and can lift more than twice the payload as a Vulcan Centaur. (140,000 lbs vs 60,000 lbs).
The Vulcan is always expended. The Falcons can be recovered, depending on launch profile.
So, it is only marginally competitive and is just now coming on line while Falcon is well tested and reliable.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/23/2025 @ 12:11 pmWhy would DOGE promote SpaceX rivals-not that they are any threat to SpaceX’s dominance of commercial and governmental launch markets.
Because it’s a more efficient way to spend money? Efficiency is in their name!
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/23/2025 @ 12:13 pm257- Is it “radical” to a prefer smaller government? Less $ sent abroad, a sealed border, and a sharp stop on social policies that 70%+ of the country oppose? A military shift from social policies to lethality?
I suppose if one felt that all was well, $36 T in debt is no problem, that we can fund the world, etc., it might seem radical to stop that. Or if one felt that it was fundamentally indecent to vote for someone who will actually DO something to restore smaller government, etc., instead if delivering bromides tossed aside when they get to DC.
Anyway, endorsing Harris is fundamentally inconsistent with being any type of “conservative.”
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (bc8284) — 2/23/2025 @ 12:16 pm256: and you know that because people in a country under martial law said so? I u/s that people in Cuba and Venezuela say the same thing.
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (bc8284) — 2/23/2025 @ 12:18 pmAn idle thought: How did Trump miss appointing Jack “Ziz” LaSota to head the FDA? Would someone who advocates killing meat-eaters necessarily fail the confirmation?
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/23/2025 @ 12:20 pmYou confuse “Reactionary” with “Conservative.”
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/23/2025 @ 12:23 pm238, RIP: The dry stats from Volokh or ballotpedia tell you nothing. There is a big difference between circuits that followed the law but were reversed because of a conservative shift (e.g., Chevron doctrine), and the oft time, far out decisions of the 9th that accounted for their reputation. That willingness to depart from precedent is still there, and it still has a liberal majority even if less of one than before.
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (bc8284) — 2/23/2025 @ 12:25 pm267: Kevin: OK, so what does your political dictionary call support for:
– sending US funds abroad for all manner of expenses while we are borrowing 2 Trillion a year and paying debt interest of $1.5 trillion at current rates?
-Having the FBI monitor school board meetings?
-The advancement of social policies that 70% or more of voters across all categories oppose?
-Opening the southern border so a surge of “undocumented migrants” can settle in US cities, escalating rent, filling spaces in schools, and hospitals (or at hotels in NY for 352 per night)?
-Failing to detect the development of hypersonic missiles by the Chinese while we played “what’s your pronoun?”
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (bc8284) — 2/23/2025 @ 12:40 pmThere were a couple of actual conservatives in the race: Haley and DeSantis. Either one of them would have trashed Harris or Biden. But no, radicals who posture as conservatives chose Yosemite Sam.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/23/2025 @ 12:41 pmAt another site where I comment from time to time, Political Betting, they sometimes get Russian operatives. (I suppose if you live in St. Petersburg and need a job, there are worse options.)
One of the arguments these operatives often make is that Zelenskyy hasn’t held an election since Putin’s war on Ukraine began. They never respond to the explanations, that Ukraine’s constitution forbids elections during war time, and that the opposition agrees with Zelenskyy.
Nor do they respond to an important analogy. In WW II, the UK did not hold an election until after VE day. This, despite the large differences among the coalition government’s five parties. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churchill_war_ministry
So there was no UK election between 1935 and 1945.
(The moderators at Political Betting usually let these operatives post for a day or so, mostly for entertainment, before banning them.)
Jim Miller (66c00a) — 2/23/2025 @ 12:43 pmHaley would have agreed with you on all but the the first part of the first point. We defend well away from our borders for a reason.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/23/2025 @ 12:45 pmGerman elections are over, Sholz is out, Merz is in, so now we can have meaningful engagement with Germany rather than with a lame duck
steveg (116c95) — 2/23/2025 @ 1:17 pmHarc, you’re still engaging in a half-truth, or half-falsehood, because the fact remains that Zelenskyy cannot hold elections because of Putin and his terrorist invasion.
Paul Montagu (84c026) — 2/23/2025 @ 1:27 pmYour statement is not honest because it implies that it’s Zelenskyy’s fault.
Also, Zelensky didn’t declare martial law, the 450-seat Rada did.
Paul Montagu (84c026) — 2/23/2025 @ 1:29 pm271-Jim-but the US had elections even during the civil war. And as noted above, the Brits held not one but 2 votes of no confidence during WWII. If WC had lost either one, they’d have had a new government. But banning opposing views is always a good idea for sure. Nothing says “I understand and support democracy” like that.
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (bc8284) — 2/23/2025 @ 1:29 pm275-point taken. Other point remains tho, those in power are content to stay there.
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (bc8284) — 2/23/2025 @ 1:31 pmSeriously, if a full-scale war isn’t good enough to declare martial law, then what is?
Paul Montagu (84c026) — 2/23/2025 @ 1:31 pm274-Paul–I don’t know if that is true: legally the elections can be held simply by excepting them form martial law or suspending martial law for the elections. Practically, you may be right, but no one has explained how we could have elections during the civil war, but he can’t.
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (bc8284) — 2/23/2025 @ 1:34 pmRadegunda didn’t include context or provide a link, for obvious reasons. The full statement is here.
Just another “bloodbath” lie from Nevertrump.
lloyd (b87927) — 2/23/2025 @ 1:36 pmGreat stuff, Rad.
Paul Montagu (84c026) — 2/23/2025 @ 1:38 pmDon’t be a stranger, but I understand why you’d stay in stranger status.
Cruel: Elon Musk Cuts Off Social Security Benefits For Thousands Of Revolutionary War Veterans.
lloyd (b87927) — 2/23/2025 @ 1:41 pmYes, Trump is unpatriotic un-American piece of sh-t. His working a deal for Trump Tower Moscow while running for president is evidence enough. He also Blamed America First after O’Reilly challenged Trump on Putin.
It’s that kind of dishonest bogus equivalency where Trump puts his country down to the level of a sheethole terrorist state.
Paul Montagu (84c026) — 2/23/2025 @ 1:44 pmNor did bother to find out for yourself. Instead, you chose to blame victim.
Paul Montagu (84c026) — 2/23/2025 @ 1:48 pmbut no one has explained how we could have elections during the civil war, but he can’t.
The states that seceded had no role in the 1864 elections, and those were the only places that the US military was active by then. The issue of martial law has to do with the implications of soldiers controlling movement during election, and in the US the Army was not doing that.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/23/2025 @ 2:00 pmShira Ovide wonders why people around the world are buying such expensive smart phones.
She offers five theories, but I think she misses the obvious one: Such phones have become “Veblen goods”.
(Links omitted.)
If I am right, Apple could increase the value of its top-of-the-line phones — for many customers — by increasing the prices it charges for them. And putting a “luxury tax” on them might also increase demand.
Jim Miller (66c00a) — 2/23/2025 @ 2:09 pmThe German elections have left the country relying on a very brittle “firewall” keeping the second-place party out of power. The problem with doing this, instead of co-opting the Right, is that you inflame tensions and insult (officially “deplorable”) voters.
The AfD vote doubled this time amid massive frustration with the federal government. If Merz fails to reduce tension (and joining in coalition with the people he beat isn’t promising), the fire next time could be epic. He should find a way to get them into the government. Inside pissing out, as they say.
Vance was correct that intentionally disenfranchising 1 out of 5 voters is a terrible idea, and the suggestion that it has to be done to protect democracy is as insulting as it is ironic.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/23/2025 @ 2:09 pmwhy people around the world are buying such expensive smart phones.
Some of those phones are extensively discounted and/or tied to customer promotions. I got my Pixel 9 Pro for less than half the posted price, paid for monthly. And it’s a very good phone.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/23/2025 @ 2:20 pmOh, and for those concerned about such things, Metropolitan’s price for eggs is still $3.49 for a dozen large eggs. Trader Joe’s has raised their price, though not enough to match the Kroger stores. On the other hand, Trader Joe’s still has the best price for lactose-free milk, $3.99.)
There is still no sign of shortages at Metropolitan, no sign limiting you to one package. Won’t claim to understand why Metropolitan, but think part of it may be that they are a “neighborhood” store, rather than a “destination” store, so bargain hunters may not think of them when they are looking for lower prices.
Jim Miller (66c00a) — 2/23/2025 @ 2:31 pm#288 Kevin- Ovide mentions that as one of the possible reasons, and she is probably right, but I do think status seeking is an important part of the demand for high end phones. (In my original comment, I should have been said that was an important reason, not the reason.)
Jim Miller (66c00a) — 2/23/2025 @ 2:36 pmI don’t think this is the Civil War 2.0, Kevin, but I do think that tearing everything down — while satisfying to those who have lost faith in our legislative, judicial, and executive branches — will make it hard to rebuild confidence.
In the future, each side will decide it is easier to tear it down, instead of compromising. The Civil War was a tear down neither side wanted to try again. I fear Trump’s scorched earth approach to politics will be the new normal. It won’t destroy us but it will be hard to rebuild when the goal on each side is to tear it all down.
DRJ (a84ee2) — 2/23/2025 @ 3:21 pm284 and 285, Kevin and Paul–Paul: i didn’t “find out” the existence of some practical inability to hold elections because no one knows that: neither do you. You seem to simply assume “war=no elections.”
Kevin makes an observation that does not explain why Ukraine can’t have elections in wartime. Both of you have become very testy, but the facts remains: we had elections; Britain had 2 no confidence votes. Kevin’s point may be closest to a reason–troops everywhere—but he does not explain that such a condition exists in Ukraine to prevent a vote in its cities and rural areas. Its just “assumed” to be the case.
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (bc8284) — 2/23/2025 @ 3:24 pmIt is satisfying to see so much change in areas that needed change. As a conservative, though, it is disconcerting to think that all federal government functions will be axed. Does that include air traffic control at all airports? What about the Secret Service details that st protect our federal officials? The Federal Reserve and the Mint branches? Those strike me as vital and essential.
DRJ (a84ee2) — 2/23/2025 @ 3:26 pmFalse. I didn’t assume anything. I stated an easily verifiable fact.
Paul Montagu (84c026) — 2/23/2025 @ 3:26 pmIt’s you who’s making a misleading comment, blaming the victim instead of the criminal aggressor.
Different constitutional arrangements. Furthermore, the 1864 elections were only held in Union territories.
Rip Murdock (539f9d) — 2/23/2025 @ 3:28 pmToday’s election in Germany was good news, because the more conservative party won and the Nazi-adjacent party lost. The right-wing AfD is also pro-Putin, like so many right-wingers here in the US. It could be that VP Hamel’s scolding in Munich last week backfired.
Also this…
This is how quickly Trump has disintegrated a decades-long relationship with a decade-long ally.
Paul Montagu (84c026) — 2/23/2025 @ 3:42 pmWashington Post/Ipsos Poll 2/20/25:
Rip Murdock (539f9d) — 2/23/2025 @ 3:55 pmWe can only hope that the “decades long” ally that has been largely a spectator in its own defense, will finally take its defense and its NATO obligations seriously, and up the % of its GDP spent on defense.
It was politely asked to do so under Obama, and less politely and with more urgency in 2018. It might become a “real” ally which we need with Putin and Xi in the world.
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (bc8284) — 2/23/2025 @ 4:02 pmWon’t claim to understand why Metropolitan
They are losing money on the eggs, but getting you into the store with their _other_ prices makes up for it.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/23/2025 @ 4:08 pmI fear Trump’s scorched earth approach to politics will be the new normal.
Perhaps. Or perhaps it will be “never again” from the center, who may also rein in the control freaks that took over the administrative state. Trump’s is not the only pathology on display.
We have courts that are willing tools of extremes (a problem growing since Roe, or earlier).
We have a dysfunctional Congress where compromise will get you primaried and a 50/50 electorate won’t force the issue.
We have an executive issuing Executive Orders like Congress didn’t exist (and, tbf, it mostly doesn’t).
We have an electoral system geared towards a bipolar result, where the center — which is where most voters live — is largely unrepresented.
And we had a bipartisan consensus on some things, but those were mostly to support the needs of the college-educated donor class.
———
Some of this needs tearing down and rebuilding. Trump will serve as an object lesson and case study, but trying to lay the blame on him is blaming the symptoms for the disease.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/23/2025 @ 4:17 pmIn 2014, only three nations were at the 2% of GDP threshold. By the end of Trump’s first term, there were nine nations, which is commendable. However, the person who was effective at getting NATO nations to reaching the guideline is terrorist Putin, because today the number is 23.
Paul Montagu (84c026) — 2/23/2025 @ 4:17 pmThe problem polling people about Trump’s first month is that things are chaotic and reports people get, pro and con, contain a lot of misinformation and some are just lies. Trump is a journalist’s dream — eyeballs are glued to the news to be sure that Trump hasn’t sold Texas to Mexico or declared a state religion.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/23/2025 @ 4:21 pmTrump’s most popular initiative is on immigration
Hardly. His most popular move involves defending women’s sports, where you get numbers around 80%
The thing about polls is the questions drive some of the results. Saying what is “most popular” only relates to what you asked about.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/23/2025 @ 4:27 pmCall me cynical, but I don’t DOGE will do anything that interferes with Musk’s government contracts and will do anything to prevent rivals from gaining an advantage. Most of the known senior DOGE staff comes from his companies.
Rip Murdock (539f9d) — 2/23/2025 @ 4:31 pmTrans issues have never been an interest of mine, though I know some posters are more animated by culture war issues than issues that directly affect people’s lives, like the economy or immigration.
Rip Murdock (539f9d) — 2/23/2025 @ 4:38 pmThat’s about a self-evident statement as there is.
Rip Murdock (28ab8e) — 2/23/2025 @ 4:39 pmThat’s about a self-evident statement as there is.
And yet …
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/23/2025 @ 4:48 pmDoes Musk really need to promote SpaceX? If anything he is harming Tesla sales. You can get a used Tesla cheap in Santa Monica.
I can see Musk interfering with bureaucrats who “interfere” with his businesses. This could range from the folks who want to obstruct SpaceX, to the people who want to hold Tesla to task for its false, misleading and sometimes fatal “full self-driving” claims.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/23/2025 @ 4:52 pmHis most popular move involves defending women’s sports, where you get numbers around 80%
Something over which he has no lawful authority except maybe in directing the DOJ not to enforce the protections of Title VII (See also Bostock v. Clayton County) and Title IX against sex discrimination in the workplace and in education (kind of like the Eric Adams prosecution), and his EO has no other legal force until West Point, Annapolis, and the Air Force Academy put transgenders on their sports teams.
nk (9f6cbd) — 2/23/2025 @ 4:52 pmBiden had no problem asserting that anti-discrimination law mandated his preferences. To say that putting men on women’s teams is NOT sex discrimination is as silly as saying it is.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/23/2025 @ 5:09 pmConfusion reigns:
Rip Murdock (28ab8e) — 2/23/2025 @ 5:09 pmSince the contexts of the WaPo/Ipsos and NYT/Ipsos polls were different, both can be right.
Rip Murdock (28ab8e) — 2/23/2025 @ 5:29 pmI keep forgetting what kind of people choose to go into government service, no matter how tedious and underpaid the job may be.
People who value security and routine and want to avoid the risk and uncertainty of the civilian job market.
In other words, the kind of people a punk-ass like Musk would find easy to bully.
nk (9f6cbd) — 2/23/2025 @ 5:32 pmNot so fast. The Social Democratic Party (SPD) may have lost (badly) but since Merz has said he will not form a coalition government with the AfD, that leaves the SPD as the only coalition partner. And they will demand a share of power.
Rip Murdock (539f9d) — 2/23/2025 @ 5:48 pmPeople in the public sector make more than people in the private sector do for an equivalent job.
But nk’s script hasn’t been updated in decades.
NJRob (7baa7d) — 2/23/2025 @ 5:54 pmThe Social Democratic Party (SPD) may have lost (badly) but since Merz has said he will not form a coalition government with the AfD, that leaves the SPD as the only coalition partner. And they will demand a share of power.
Did you know that the AfD took its name from a statement by Merkel that there was no alternative to the centrist coalition?
Othering 1 out of every 5 voters is not a good plan for democracy.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/23/2025 @ 6:30 pmI keep forgetting what kind of people choose to go into government service, no matter how tedious and underpaid the job may be.
People working for the federal government service average more in salary and benefits than people working in the private sector. Even if you include the military. Honest to God. Doubt me, go look at the Department of Labor wage and benefit data.
People working in state and local government served are at par with the private sector. Lower salaries, bigger benefits.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/23/2025 @ 6:35 pm“People in the public sector make more than people in the private sector do for an equivalent job.”
“People working for the federal government service average more in salary and benefits than people working in the private sector”
So close to realizing where the real problem lies.
https://www.econdataus.com/wagegap.html
Davethulhu (80b780) — 2/23/2025 @ 6:53 pmSO UNFAIR!
Covfefe, too.
nk (9f6cbd) — 2/23/2025 @ 6:53 pmWe simultaneously posted, Davethulhu. I was not responding to your comment.
nk (9f6cbd) — 2/23/2025 @ 6:56 pmBureau of Labor Statistics – Employer Costs for Employee Compensation by ownership
Wages and benefits for private industry workers: $44/hr
Wages and benefits for state & local government workers: $63/hr
Wages and benefits the above, merged: $47/hr
Breakdowns at link.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/23/2025 @ 6:57 pmSO UNFAIR!
That you are wrong? Certainly!
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/23/2025 @ 6:58 pm297 Wa Po polls: like the ones that had Kamala ahead when her own polls did not?
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (0c349e) — 2/23/2025 @ 6:58 pmFor some reason BLS does not have a corresponding table for federal workers, but elsewhere they show annual wages for federal workers, exclusive of benefits, to be $44/hr or $91K/year.
So, federal wages alone are as much as public sector wages + benefits.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/23/2025 @ 7:05 pmBetter link for 324
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/23/2025 @ 7:08 pm“People in the public sector make more than people in the private sector do for an equivalent job.”
But I think they make less than they could get in another job, (i.e., they are overqualified . It’s tough to get a government job)
Sammy Finkelman (8d835e) — 2/23/2025 @ 7:14 pmFed workers pay increases track pretty close to inflation. What does that say about private sector wages (outside of the c-suite, of course)?
Davethulhu (80b780) — 2/23/2025 @ 7:17 pmDo you think federal jobs should be open to non-citizens?
lloyd (d6ab0e) — 2/23/2025 @ 7:25 pmDemocrats are getting desperate to impress the base so they don’t get primaried. Robert Garcia threatening violence saying democrats need to bring actual weapons to fight republicans. On faux news they had a preacher yelling how they have to shoot back! Deputy a.g. threatens to arrest congressperson Robert Garcia. Last week they threatened to arrest AOC!
asset (e9f989) — 2/23/2025 @ 7:26 pmDo you think federal jobs should be eligible for out sourcing?
lloyd (d6ab0e) — 2/23/2025 @ 7:26 pmCompare by job classification
Private sector: https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm
Federal Government: https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/999101.htm#00-0000
Except at the high end (e.g. lawyers) federal workers make more, just in straight wages.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/23/2025 @ 7:29 pmDo you think federal jobs should be eligible for out sourcing?
Some. Cafeteria workers sure. FBI agents, no, not really.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/23/2025 @ 7:30 pmI agree. Just wondering if Davethulhu is aware of non Marxist explanations for wage deltas.
lloyd (d6ab0e) — 2/23/2025 @ 7:39 pm“Just wondering if Davethulhu is aware of non Marxist explanations for wage deltas.”
Dear American Worker: You’re not getting a raise because your job has been outsourced or given to a non-citizen. You can take solace in the fact that these were done for non-Marxist reasons.
Davethulhu (80b780) — 2/23/2025 @ 7:49 pm“You’re an idiot.”
lloyd (d6ab0e) — 2/23/2025 @ 8:08 pmKevin, small problem. The “public sector” jobs linked include office and skilled trades, private sector includes fast food and other jobs.
So, the low to high spread is very low for public sector, with private including everyone from a 16yo at Subway, to the CEO of Subway. Not a job I’d want, either of them really.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 2/23/2025 @ 9:11 pmSo…Trump picked talk-show host Dan Bongino for Deputy Director of the FBI. He has no legal or prosecutorial experience, no law degree, and minimal investigative experience.
Paul Montagu (84c026) — 2/23/2025 @ 9:47 pmHe’ll fit right in. God help us.
private sector includes fast food and other jobs.
They also include IC design and brain surgeon. Government jobs include private in the motor pool and mail sorter. Are you saying that government hires generally more capable and/or smarter people>
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/24/2025 @ 12:03 amBesides, #331 has job categories in each. It’s not monolithic — government lawyers average a bit less than lawyers in private practice, and similar stuff at the top end, but cafeteria workers get a lot more in a government cafeteria,
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/24/2025 @ 12:04 amMy point is that the ancient refrain that government workers sacrifice the higher pay of the private sector for job security is utter hogwash. It ceased to be the case decades ago.
The BLS site has a LOT of information, including historical. Some assembly required.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/24/2025 @ 12:07 amKTLA 5 reports democrat activists doing anti-ice patrols in south central LA. Ready to call in reinforcements if ICE officers are spotted. It begins. Soon militant groups of democrats will force the corporate democrat donor stooges to fight back or make their primaries a living hell!
asset (e9f989) — 2/24/2025 @ 1:55 amRIP singer/songwriter Roberta Flack (88).
Rip Murdock (28ab8e) — 2/24/2025 @ 7:37 am@340, Kevin, It looks like a Public sector job pays better then a private sector job if you don’t have a college degree, and pays worse if you do have a college degree.
From the Report
Time123 (bf9676) — 2/24/2025 @ 8:36 amBased on the report I linked I don’t think it’s hogwash, but i do think the situation is complex. If you’re going to be a clerk with no real expertise it’s a better deal, if you have an advanced degree or a lot of experience it’s a worse deal.
Time123 (bf9676) — 2/24/2025 @ 8:38 am@56
I don’t think people are registering how much of the bomb to the current 4-star generals.
IT’S the same as telling the 4-stars that they’re not trusted.
whembly (b7cc46) — 2/24/2025 @ 8:54 amYeah, not trusted to put Trump above their oath to uphold
Time123 (5c9056) — 2/24/2025 @ 8:59 amThe constitution.
@343:
Yes, you can see that from the raw data. For some reason the BLS doesn’t have easily findable data on federal benefits by job category, but the wage info I posted is in line with that.
I assume that the private sector is very competitive for highly-educated people, which isn’t surprising, driving both wages and benefits progressively higher. Lawyers, doctors, engineers (especially CS and EE), architects, etc, have individual contributions to profits that you don’t find on the warehouse floor. And at the government level, these talents are often put to minimal use, or the quality of individuals is less, with the possible exception of lawyers.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/24/2025 @ 8:59 amif you have an advanced degree or a lot of experience it’s a worse deal.
If you have talents fought over by the private sector, and you are working for the government you are either dedicated, seek security, or just uncompetitive in the private marketplace. All of those would suggest lower pay.
Also, there are salary caps.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/24/2025 @ 9:04 amSo, who among us thinks the Musk “What Did You Do Last Week?” e-mail was a good idea? I am curious how anyone might defend it.
Appalled (c61c5d) — 2/24/2025 @ 9:13 amBTW, Time, thanks for that CBO link. I do think it proves my point that the old saw about government workers getting less is “Mostly False.”
And there is that salary cap. The average compensation for a software engineer at Apple is $250K + benefits. Pretty sure that would be hard to match at the federal level.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/24/2025 @ 9:14 amSo, who among us thinks the Musk “What Did You Do Last Week?” e-mail was a good idea? I am curious how anyone might defend it.
Those are two separate questions. I think it was a bad idea primarily for the utter arrogance it exposed. Yet I understand the motivation: “What do you do in this job?” is an important question and in the morass of bureaucracy it’s not all that obvious from job titles.
I would think a better question would be to ask managers what their group is responsible for and what tasks they are working on. The way they did it is too personal and largely useless due to the variable skills that the staff members might have in explaining/exaggerating their job function.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/24/2025 @ 9:19 am@349 Seems mostly like another way to show contempt for ppl they believe are ideologically opposed to them.
Thing is that there are a lot of ppl working for the government that aren’t part of the ‘deep state’, ‘regime’ or whatever the conspiracy theorists are calling it.
OSHA, VA, DCMA, NHTSA, SSA all do work we seem to generally agree we want the government to do. Musk / Trump’s need to treat others with open contempt continues to make them and their supporters look insecure.
Add to that the idea is a bad one from a managerial standpoint.
Time123 (bf9676) — 2/24/2025 @ 9:20 am@350, Kevin, we agree the old statement is mostly false overall. Very true for low skilled workers, very untrue for highly skilled workers. I wonder how it looks for workers represented by a Union? (I don’t wonder enough to do the research, but that would be a more apples to apples comparison.
Time123 (bf9676) — 2/24/2025 @ 9:23 amIn cutting the federal government bureaucracy, drilling down to the employee is pretty silly, and doing it by threat is in so many ways wrong.
What should concern DOGE (or at least an evenhanded DOGE) is functions at the Department, Division, Section, etc level. If you are going to close the entire D.Ed. and you want to move some of it elsewhere, you would be doing that by groups, not individuals.
Even in private industry (maybe not in Muskland) RIFs are not done by the C-suite, they are done by line management working off of quotas and as close to the direct managers as possible. At the top level, they decide to cut staff on a product or project level, or maybe spin them off, but they don’t decide which F-150 assemblers to fire.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/24/2025 @ 9:27 amI wonder how it looks for workers represented by a Union? (I don’t wonder enough to do the research, but that would be a more apples to apples comparison.
Not quite as federal unions are far more constricted than unions in the private sector. No right to strike in most cases, for example. Countering that is that management isn’t as constrained in what they can offer, and may be more sympathetic to demands. Benefit schedules are a case in point: nowhere are federal benefits less than equivalent skill levels in the private sector and are almost always greater.
Then again, in both regimes, unions have more effect for the general workforce than they do for individual contributors. Government unions may set a floor under benefits, but the CBO chats show that those do go up at the high end, most likely due to competition with the private sector — something that isn’t present at the low end.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/24/2025 @ 9:35 amOSHA, VA, DCMA, NHTSA, SSA all do work we seem to generally agree we want the government to do.
One quibble: Too much paper. SSA, Medicare & Medicaid, at least, need a massive overhaul to both serve people better and reduce the opportunities for fraud. I think it was Gingrich who said (years before Trump) that AmEx could take this over and do a far better job.
“Efficiency” might relate to combining redundant operations, trimming mission-creep, or pruning unneeded activities, but it also might relate to fixing poor systems.
None of those things are going to be helped by a flood of paper from employees making up stuff about how very important their work is. Unless maybe you want to fire everyone who can’t write worth a damn.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/24/2025 @ 9:46 amYes, Trump is the Baddie, for not condemning Putin’s terrorist invasion…
Paul Montagu (84c026) — 2/24/2025 @ 9:48 amTrump joined such democratic stalwarts as Nicaragua, North Korea, Sudan and Belarus in the vote.
Paul Montagu (84c026) — 2/24/2025 @ 9:56 amThe Ugly American isn’t fiction anymore.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/24/2025 @ 10:10 am@356, I agree with you about efficiency. But Musk’s email seems more likely to make ppl quit than anything else. If you want to grind the will to live from the Depart of Unnecessary Forms go hog wild. But if this went to all employees we’re asking Nurses at the VA hospital, Analysts looking for trends in vehicle safety, and Inspectors who make sure Lockheed Martin aren’t ripping us off to justify their jobs.
Also, a huge % of the federal work force are retired military veterans
Again, I want to the government to be smaller and cost less. But I don’t see how this email does that in a productive way.
Time123 (bf9676) — 2/24/2025 @ 10:12 amI blame Biden of a lot of this. Not only did his grudging support of Ukraine leave them in a cynical meatgrinder, but his utterly willful opening of the southern border to everyone who could repeat a few magic words (“I fear”) allowed Trump to turn the GOP away from foreign engagement (“we care more about Ukraine’s borders than our own!”).
A truly despicable administration, so bad that Donald Trump seemed like a better choice (“The wrong answer to the right problems” — David Brooks).
Sure Trump is a noxious troll internationally, and in aligning our foreign policy with Russia he is diminishing us. But Biden set the stage.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/24/2025 @ 10:17 amWe had the chance in the GOP primary to get a better choice. The GOP primary voters overwhelmingly wanted Donald Trump.
Time123 (bf9676) — 2/24/2025 @ 10:19 amI liked the (initial) response by the Secret Service:
LOL!
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/24/2025 @ 10:22 am@360:
Yes the indiscriminate bothering of public servants and basement-dwellers alike is arrogant, stupid and destructive. And also useless. As for Department of Unnecessary Forms, well DOGE has its own now.
There has to be a better way of getting hold of what the government is doing. It can be frustrating to see the job titles everywhere, meaning much different things. An NSA analyst is not the same as a D.Ed. analyst. An FBI field agent is different than a D.Ag. field agent.
If there had to be an email, it should have gone to top-level management. Such as:
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/24/2025 @ 10:27 amThe fifth and final bullet said: “I exceeded expectations in the delivery of the above
Perhaps not call them “bullet” points?
But, yes, I can see this kind of response. Sadly, it is likely not the first time employees have responded to weekly progress reports in that manner.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/24/2025 @ 10:29 amThe GOP primary voters overwhelmingly wanted Donald Trump.
To misquote:
Frustration leads to Anger. Anger leads to Hate. And Hate leads to the Dark Side.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/24/2025 @ 10:32 amI’m already tired of the whole “Well, Biden did a bad thing, so we can do 100 worse things because bad=bad”.
If you think Biden was terrible for putting limits on the massive amounts of weapons we shipped them, great. But then you can’t whatabout stupid Hitler switching sides on the conflict. If the problem with Biden is he only went 50% far enough, not sure how dumbbutt going full -100% is better.
stupid Hitler has been saying he was going to do this for years, so I blame all of you who voted for Hitler Jr, it was part of the deal, stated openly. Don’t clutch your pearls now that all the worst things going to happen, is happening
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 2/24/2025 @ 10:47 am@82
There were absolutely democrat activist bussed in from neighboring counties.
The Obama campaign used to do this all the time.
whembly (b7cc46) — 2/24/2025 @ 11:17 amI’m already tired of the whole “Well, Biden did a bad thing…”
1) I think the above is more accurate of your position.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/24/2025 @ 11:24 am2) I don’t see where I am excusing Trump, I just said that Biden was so bad that Donald Trump seemed like a better choice.
3) The question is not whether Trump is noxious (he is), but why did people so despise Biden/Harris that they chose a man who they already had grave doubts about?
Also, Klink, I forgot to mention: Biden and the Democrats made the GOP’s choice of Trump inevitable. The NY trials were both travesties of trumped-up charges, producing political show-trials and making GOP opposition much much harder. The documents case would have been righteous but there is still no way it would not have been political.
Personally, I think Biden’s calculation was to both make Trump the inevitable nominee and to damage him so much that even a feckless administration (and senile President) would seem the better choice. Only half worked.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/24/2025 @ 11:25 amHolding my nose, the best spin I can put on the Trump-Putin thing is that pulling Russia out of the Chinese orbit has got to be useful in the long run.
But even then, since it is something that Putin desperately needs (possibly as much as Ukraine needs NATO) — lest Russia find itself a Chinese client state getting its natural resources raped in order to buy Chinese goods — why Trump isn’t driving a hard bargain wrt withdrawal from Ukraine is a mystery.
OK, so it’s not, but we really have a lot of ways here to squeeze Russia. And we aren’t.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/24/2025 @ 11:31 am@127
Dammit Obama!
whembly (b7cc46) — 2/24/2025 @ 11:39 amVivek Ramaswamy to Kick Off Run for Ohio Governor in Cincinnati
Predictions: He will spend an ungodly amount of money to win the GOP nomination, but be beaten if the Democrats run someone with strong credentials (e.g. Sherrod Brown). Ramaswamy is too weak with women voters, with a 2-1 split on favorability by sex. Also, he will be running in an election unlikely to favor Trump-supporters.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/24/2025 @ 11:45 amSupreme Court won’t hear challenge to abortion clinic buffer zones
Of course, the Trump administration has decided to expend DoJ resources faithfully defending other things.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/24/2025 @ 11:50 am@250
How would everyone feel if Trump declared martial law and refused to hold elections or leave office, assuming America was not at war?
Ridiculous.
What if America was at war?
whembly (b7cc46) — 2/24/2025 @ 11:51 amEven more ridiculous.
California officials push to cut energy credits to households with rooftop solar panels
The cost for electricity from SC Edison is around $0.50/KWhr, substantially above national averages. LADWP isn’t all that much less, with a higher Tier 3 and a lower Tier 1 & 2.
Given the low cost for solar panels these days, one would think every in L.A. would install them if they had the unobstructed roof space. This move by the state will make that less obvious.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/24/2025 @ 12:04 pm*every HOME in L.A.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/24/2025 @ 12:05 pm@362
Yes.
We failed to convince our peers that a not-Trump candidate would be an easier bet.
We failed to convince our peers that nominating Trump is like setting the game’s difficulty level to it’s hardest setting.
We failed to convince our peers that there are myriad of reasons why Democrat/Leftist/#NeverTrumpers own lawfare tactic was designed to hurt Trump as much as possible, AND to garner outrage from former Trump voters to the point that he’ll walk into the primary.
We failed…Time, because we didn’t acknowledge the hard work it would take to build a sustainable NOT TRUMP candidate from the beginning. There was no primary cohesion from the NOT TRUMP candidates… that allowed Trump to win.
We failed, to select ONE “NOT TRUMP” candidate to take Trump on head-on. Trump may have till prevailed, but that one NOT TRUMP candidate would’ve had a better chance.
There’s plenty of blame to go around for this.
So, take this as an object lesson: If you don’t like where your party is headed…the time is NOW to begin the hard work in convince your peers to select your preferred candidate. Because, right now, JD Vance is in that driver seat for 2028…if you don’t want Vance as the candidate, don’t wait till 6 months prior to the election. The time is NOW.
whembly (b7cc46) — 2/24/2025 @ 12:07 pmHow would everyone feel if Trump declared martial law and refused to hold elections or leave office, assuming America was not at war?
Take 2: If large portions of the country were occupied by an invading power, they might. Of course in that case sepukku might be in order, too.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/24/2025 @ 12:08 pmBruh…
whembly (b7cc46) — 2/24/2025 @ 12:09 pmhttps://www.cnn.com/2025/02/24/politics/dan-bongino-fbi-deputy-director-pick/index.html
Bongino is going ham soon.
As I said above, the politically-motivated NY fraud trials made opposition to Trump in the GOP primaries akin to siding with Democrats in the minds of many voters. It guaranteed that Trump would be the nominee.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/24/2025 @ 12:10 pm@380:
I think CNN is wrong to cast Bongino as a “media personality” since he has considerable law-enforcement experience. But boy does he look angry in that photo. Probably just a random file photo.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/24/2025 @ 12:13 pmWe failed to convince our peers that there are myriad of reasons why Democrat/Leftist/#NeverTrumpers own lawfare tactic was designed to hurt Trump as much as possible, AND to garner outrage from former Trump voters to the point that he’ll walk into the primary.
Pretty sure that #NeverTrump’s motivations did not expend to guaranteeing Trump the primary wins.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/24/2025 @ 12:15 pm*extend
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/24/2025 @ 12:15 pm@383
It’s why I said “for a myriad” of reasons.
NeverTrump’s motivations seems to come from zero foresight as to the implications of their advocacy.
The 14th amendment bruhaha is a perfect example of that. We’ve had legit legal experts, including our host, opined that it was perfectly constitutional to kick Trump off the state ballot per 14 Amendment.
whembly (b7cc46) — 2/24/2025 @ 12:18 pmWe’ve had legit legal experts, including our host, opined that it was perfectly constitutional to kick Trump off the state ballot per 14 Amendment.
I would have kicked him off the entire ballot. As would our host. The Supremes’ decision on this wasn’t even neutral by the way as it mostly gutted that provision of the 14th and ignored post Civil War precedent.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/24/2025 @ 12:25 pmMacron is running all over Trump at this press conference. Trump just looks like a fool on the world stage as Macron chops to pieces any notion that Trump can handle any foreign policy at all. This will go down as bullet point central on how to dispatch the orange marmalade fool. The sound bites will be leading news for a while.
BuDuh (4214e4) — 2/24/2025 @ 12:27 pmI have no problem with Trump going to Moscow ….
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/24/2025 @ 12:32 pmHow would that have worked? Trump had an insurmountable lead over all other candidates combined before the primaries even started.
Rip Murdock (539f9d) — 2/24/2025 @ 12:57 pm@389
The whole primary would be Trump vs. that ONE not-Trump candidate.
Polls would shift.
whembly (b7cc46) — 2/24/2025 @ 1:00 pmAnd the “major” alternative to Trump quit after the Iowa caucuses.
Rip Murdock (539f9d) — 2/24/2025 @ 1:01 pmHow would you have convinced the other candidates to leave the race?
Rip Murdock (539f9d) — 2/24/2025 @ 1:03 pmAnd how would you determine who should leave.
Rip Murdock (539f9d) — 2/24/2025 @ 1:07 pm@393
The not-Trump candidates should’ve gotten together, and negotiated who gets to run against Trump.
This stuff isn’t hard.
whembly (b7cc46) — 2/24/2025 @ 1:10 pmWhat you need is for votes from different candidates to be combined. They are not now – since 1972. In 1976 people voting in the Democratic primaries for president tried to stop Carter; in 1992 to stop Clinton.
The way to ensure that candidates stay in the race is to require something like 62% to win the nomination – maybe gradually lowering it on late ballots.
One problem: Nowadays, since Eagleton 1972 vice residents go through an extreme vetting process and are picked in advance of the convention.
We alao need te ability of new candidates to jump into the race. The last time people thought that way was 1968.
In 2016, the wrong candidates were the last Republicans standing. It was Ted Cruz and John Kasich. It should have been Marco Rubio, even thouh he lost the Florida primary.
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 2/24/2025 @ 1:11 pmEveryone would have thought they were “the best one”.
LOL!
Rip Murdock (539f9d) — 2/24/2025 @ 1:12 pmhey did, and they pretty much decided on Hilary Clinton.
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 2/24/2025 @ 1:13 pmYou don’t know politicians egos. Every single one thinks they’re “the one.” And doing that would have fed into Trump’s persecution complex-“They’re all against me!”
Rip Murdock (539f9d) — 2/24/2025 @ 1:16 pmAnd Trump would have been right.
Rip Murdock (539f9d) — 2/24/2025 @ 1:19 pmIt’s a fairly straightforward way to find out who is plugged in to their jobs enough to check and compose an email. To some, I guess that’s asking too much.
I must submit a report on my activities to my boss every week. It’s not hard, really. But YMMV
That this needs to be defended has to be some kind of joke.
lloyd (fdb88b) — 2/24/2025 @ 1:19 pm357-358 There was then a second resolution proposed by the United States. It was amended and the United States wound up abstaining on its own resolution:
https://www.newser.com/story/364783/us-backs-russia-at-un-on-ukraine-resolution.html 2nd resolution: The US attempted to pass a separate resolution calling for an end to the war without blaming Russia, but the assembly added language critical of Moscow, per the AP. That one passed 93-8, with 73 abstentions, including the US once the amended language was added. The resolutions, which come on the three-year anniversary of the war’s start, are not legally binding.
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 2/24/2025 @ 1:22 pm@400 I’m sure Musk thinks there are a lot of folks who have blown off work to the extent that they don’t even check email. I don’t know that that’s true. I’m sure there’s a perfectly good reason thousands haven’t responded.
lloyd (9e8c4b) — 2/24/2025 @ 1:25 pmHarcourt Fenton Mudd (bc8284) — 2/23/2025 @ 1:34 pm
Different constitution and the opposition in Ukraine doesn’t want one until 6 months after the war ends.
Also there has been more disturbance in unoccupied territory.
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 2/24/2025 @ 1:26 pmScrew all the pearl clutching. This is the mess we are in today; stupid Hitler is president, what thing is he doing today, and is that thing good or bad for the country.
To date, he’s had zero days as a positive for America, every day he makes the dumbest possible decision, every decision, every bleat, every idea, all making America worse.
Now, all of you who voted for him are going to get what you wanted, good and hard. The rest of us are along for the ride, because a bunch of internet trolls love the guys going out and acting like a troll in government. Without regard to the harm, because LOLZ.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 2/24/2025 @ 1:28 pmIsrael left things very unclear when they did not release the prisoners they had planned. As it stands now Israel want a guarantee that more (living) hostages will be released and there will be no more celebrations by Hamas before releasing any more prisoners.
They had actually been put on buses and then the buses returned to the prison.
I think it’s important that they attack Iran before resuming the war in Gaza.
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 2/24/2025 @ 1:29 pmThe New York Times runs a weekly summary.
The latest: (as of Sunday)
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/us/trump-agenda-2025.html
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 2/24/2025 @ 1:36 pmBut a whole bunch of agencies have told their workers not to answer (FBI attorney in Washinton DC)
Musk can’t fire anyone. He can’t interpret a non-response as a resignation.
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 2/24/2025 @ 1:38 pmHey Lloyd send me a list of your 5 biggest accomplishments last week or I’ll assume you’ve resigned.
See the difference? I have as much right to that as Musk does to his ask.
Time123 (5c9056) — 2/24/2025 @ 1:43 pmKevin occilates between the voice of reason and then weird stuff. The weird: He feels that Trump voters morphed from frustration to hate (357). Since of course, hate is the sole motive to vote to trim spending, close the border, and end Biden’s proclivity for enacting Manhattan Salon social policies by Order. But Trump voters always seemed exhuberant and happy. Even NYT reader comments after election day said Biden sealed his fate with them by top down policies 80% of people opposed. Face it: the voters rejected the open border spenders and the “you’re going to love this!” special experimenters.
Why the GOP didn’t pick “better” candidates, you wonder (389)? Aside from your view that they were hate-filled, I suspect that no one trusted Boeing board member/”George W. Bush II” Haley to take the heat needed to act. And she was not “aware.” Tallking about trimming social security benefits? Why not propose raising taxes too. She would have been buried. (DeSantis is a good man. He’ll be back).
Kevin you also favor unelected judges kicking candidates off ballots, presumably for insurrection,a crime for which he was never charged.(386). Wow. Can you at least admit the potential for utter chaos from such a policy? A bad precedent maybe? Not to mention why are you so opposed to letting people decide?
So much common sense in many of your posts (371), yet so much just out there.
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (0c349e) — 2/24/2025 @ 1:44 pm406, Sammy:
The nice, and acceptable candidates you wish the voters would have selected spent 30+ years causing carnage. They raised the national debt to unsustainable levels, weakened our defense, paid for NATO countries to spend on social welfare, left our border open, and turned most of our uiversities into anti-semitic centers of frivolous “studies.” And for good measure, ignited the worst inflation in 40 years, causing some nice guy named Miller to post pieces here about egg prices.
The nice professionals repeatedly failed the voters. In 2024, the voters were done. They left the next “professional” candidate –the latest nice, dullard the parents wanted their daughter to marry (Haley, Harris) and ran off with Dustin Hoffman. (If you have not seen the “Graduate”) the imagery won’t be as vivid, but you get the idea).
Obssessing that Trump is chaotic is so “mom,” wondering why you are swearing while putting out a fire in the house. If the “professionals” had done their job, Trump would not have made it off the escalator in 2015.
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (0c349e) — 2/24/2025 @ 1:58 pmAnd doing that would have fed into Trump’s persecution complex-“They’re all against me!”
So what, as long as he lost.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/24/2025 @ 2:09 pm@410, that makes sense as a thing to say in 2017….but by 2024 we know what Trump is like and can look at the results he delivers…at this point I think Kevin’s explanation is more accurate.
But Trump seems to be doing a lot of culture war stuff at the expense of increasing executive power. If you’re a big government conservative I’d expect this to be great.
We’ll see how he ends up doing on the budget. The bills being passed by congress will increase the deficit and most of the DOGE cuts are targeted at people perceived to be political enemies and may be overstated.
Both Trump and Elon are great at Marketing….results will take more time to see.
Time123 (bf9676) — 2/24/2025 @ 2:11 pmIt’s a fairly straightforward way to find out who is plugged in to their jobs enough to check and compose an email. To some, I guess that’s asking too much.
So, what does this tell the top boss? Utterly no private company would do this. It’s useless and it pisses people off.
What they need to find out is what their managers think their group does and how it serves the people. This does not do that. At best it finds who can’t write or spell.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/24/2025 @ 2:12 pm@411….If you add up the vote counts for all the Anti-Trump candidates in the primary Trump still wins.
Time (bf9676) — 2/24/2025 @ 2:13 pmKevin you also favor unelected judges kicking candidates off ballots, presumably for insurrection,a crime for which he was never charged.
That’s how they did it in 1865. Admittedly, I’d prefer an adversarial fact-finding of some sort first, but the Supremes made even that difficult. I do think that the state had no right to do that, but in the absence of a formal enforcement mechanism, the Supreme Court does.
Your position is that the 14th Amendment is unenforceable. I guess you would not have voted for it.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/24/2025 @ 2:15 pmWhy the GOP didn’t pick “better” candidates, you wonder (389)? Aside from your view that they were hate-filled, I suspect that no one trusted Boeing board member/”George W. Bush II” Haley to take the heat needed to act.
Yeah, no hate there. Haley has more balls than Trump.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/24/2025 @ 2:17 pmIf lloyd and Klink touched, how big would the explosion be?
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/24/2025 @ 2:18 pm@417 LMAO!
Time (bf9676) — 2/24/2025 @ 2:28 pm[Haley] Talking about trimming social security benefits? Why not propose raising taxes too. She would have been buried.
I am on SS, so I paid attention to what she actually said. You apparently just read Trump’s tweet. She was talking about the deal going forward for people still with time to plan (20-45, say), raising the age by a year and maybe a bit more on the Medicare tax.
I will point out that they did this to my generation in the 80’s, where they raised everything, some of it a lot.
* They raised the tax rate.
* They raised the tax base (raising the income cap).
* They doubled the self-employment tax by making you pay the “employer” half as well.
* They delayed retirement by more than a year, over time (a year for me).
* They did NOT raise the maximum benefit equation.
More recently (matter of fact 1 month before I could take advantage of it) they eliminated a strategy where a two-earner family could maximize benefits by staggering retirement.
So, what Haley proposed is weak tea compared to what my generation was forced to accept.
World’s smallest violin.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/24/2025 @ 2:47 pmWhy is it ridiculous, whembly?
DRJ (a84ee2) — 2/24/2025 @ 3:06 pmDidn’t South Korea’s President try it? It isn’t working out that well but he tried. I doubt he will be the last to try.
DRJ (a84ee2) — 2/24/2025 @ 3:14 pmMore bogus equivalency. Providing insufficient security assurances is not the same as betraying Ukraine and aligning with Putin, the guy who actually welshed on Budapest by invading.
Paul Montagu (84c026) — 2/24/2025 @ 3:35 pmBiden at least stepped up, and he knew who was at fault for invading, and who the dictator is and who’s not, even through the gauze of his diminished mental acuity.
Paul Montagu (84c026) — 2/24/2025 @ 3:37 pmBecause, right now, JD Vance is in that driver seat for 2028…if you don’t want Vance as the candidate, don’t wait till 6 months prior to the election. The time is NOW.
I expect Trump to crash and burn attempting to remake the entire government by the stroke of a pen. He does not seem to care a lot about regular order. When he is repudiated at the mid-terms, Vance’s prospects will dim considerably.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/24/2025 @ 3:41 pmI never wondered “why the GOP didn’t pick better candidates.” If you recall during the primary campaign, I argued (and the polls supported) that Trump’s primary win was inevitable; and that the “leading” non-Trump candidates were either cold fish, mistake prone, and/or flip floppers. I tried to bring a dose of realism among all the crazy ways that Trump could be overtaken; the latest being that the non-Trumpers could get together and pick a champion. Every other candidate thought they were the solution (why else were they running?) so there would be no meeting of the minds.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/24/2025 @ 3:46 pm#400 (Lloyd)
I appreciate the response.
Appalled (53e790) — 2/24/2025 @ 3:54 pmI’m not surprised.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/24/2025 @ 4:07 pmOuch!
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/24/2025 @ 4:11 pmHere’s some encouraging news about Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick — and the House Republican leadership.
(“Czar” Putin would not approve of that choice.)
Jim Miller (d91ea0) — 2/24/2025 @ 4:11 pmCongratulations to RFK,Jr. on this success:
(The Loser will be pleased.)
Jim Miller (d91ea0) — 2/24/2025 @ 4:27 pmhttps://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/feb/24/tony-evers-wisconsin-governor-blasted-replacing-mother-inseminated/
The left continues their war on women and families. The dehumanization of mothers continues.
NJRob (7baa7d) — 2/24/2025 @ 5:05 pm#349
So, who among us thinks the Musk “What Did You Do Last Week?” e-mail was a good idea? I am curious how anyone might defend it.
Don’t lawyers sometimes send itemized bills? How do you itemize a bill without itemizing “What I did last week?”.
I once had up to 50 employees, and all 50 were required to write down what they did each day, memorializing their week by day, hour, task. Millions of service business and construction workers turn in time cards like this every week.
Its not hard.
I’ve seen hispanics with 3rd grade (3rd grade in Mexico) learn to handle it with ease (lots of misspellings, Spanglish, and phonetic aberrations)
Like this: Lunes Casa 870 Picacho. Haciendo zanja para esprincos con el mini excabator JD 25 2 horas, Marcando pipas para drenajes 2 horas, Tapando zanja y apretando con guaker 4 horas
So I look at it and see Irrigation 2 using John Deere 25 mini excavator, Drainage 2, Backfill and compact using the Wacker (2 Irrig +2 Drains)
Then, at the end of the week, I can see if my Irrigation, Drainage, and equipment estimates are on track.
Without that, I’m flying blind
I could see asking IRS agents to do it. No point having Earl C. spend a full 8 hours chasing Fast Eddie Z’s $250. You can encourage Earl to instead spend 5 minutes sending a form letter
steveg (116c95) — 2/24/2025 @ 5:06 pmWhat duly elected president gave you this task?
And even if you had this task assigned to you, you don’t seem to understand the difference between a federal job and one in the private sector.
lloyd (331058) — 2/24/2025 @ 5:34 pmCongratulations to RFK,Jr. on this success:
He has also managed to put a halt to any new vaccines by forbidding the approval board to meet. This includes updates to the flu and Covid shots. He says this is so that he can review the committee members for conflicts of interest.
I predict he will replace them with vaccine skeptics like Andrew Wakefield and Jenny McCarthy.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/24/2025 @ 5:54 pmI once had up to 50 employees, and all 50 were required to write down what they did each day, memorializing their week by day, hour, task. Millions of service business and construction workers turn in time cards like this every week.
OK, 50 people. Now suppose you have 500,000 employees. Would this seem like a good way to find out what is going on?
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/24/2025 @ 5:58 pmPersonally, I hope that everyone fills out a form, prints it out, and mails it to Musk. Adding a dead fish isn’t necessary.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/24/2025 @ 6:00 pmAlso, all those workers in the government actually report in detail what they do as part of the HR and Team Effectiveness tooling. This isn’t new, one of my firms specifically worked with DoD and other security related agencies to create the tools for every manager to structure what they want their direct reports to record hourly/weekly/daily, for more than 3M employees.
So, no, this email had zero value other than to threaten, intimidate, and ruin morale, specifically because DOGE has zero power to do any of this. But if you ruin every minute of every day, people may ignore the good works they’re there to do, and just want a job that doesn’t have as many d-bags in charge. If they wanted what they claimed, it’s already available.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 2/24/2025 @ 6:07 pmIt’s not the idea of reporting your daily accomplishments that’s the problem. It the context that generated the request. It would be impossible for Musk and his troupe of 4chan nazi incels to meaningfully review the reports of millions of government employees. It’s deliberately insulting with the baked in assumptions that either people are so detached from their work that they don’t bother checking email or that they have no concept of daily or weekly status reports. There’s no accommodation for people who are on sick leave, or vacation, or who have jobs involving classified subjects. It’s a poorly thought out joke, except that the consequences aren’t a joke for the people involved.
Davethulhu (6a5b80) — 2/24/2025 @ 7:06 pm@366 remember an angry scientist working on anthrax in 2001? A lot more angry microbiologists fired now.
asset (db7ff7) — 2/24/2025 @ 7:57 pmpeople may ignore the good works they’re there to do
Assumes facts not in evidence. I have worked with government workers who were supposedly in important roles and there was a large variation in how much effort they put out.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/24/2025 @ 8:12 pmIt would be impossible for Musk and his troupe of 4chan nazi incels to meaningfully review the reports of millions of government employees.
Yeah, I said that (admittedly with less bile) a few hundred comments up. If you went down 3 – 5 levels (depending) in each organization and asked managers what they were up to, the answers might be worthwhile.
If the DOGE task is to find deadwood, it’s pretty hard to do from the top. If instead it is to find redundancies, poor ideas and wasteful spending, you have to go down the T.O.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/24/2025 @ 8:17 pmKevin:
1865, insurrectionists=fought against the US for 4 years in a declared separation: subject of US armies chasing them; fought against US armies; held US soldiers prisoner; killed US soldiers in battles.
2021 A dude who said go demonstrate “peacefully” and spent his first term wrapping himself in an American flag.
I think liberals call is “nuance.”
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (bc8284) — 2/24/2025 @ 8:21 pm418 Kevin- – Haley was more specific than just raising the retirement age for people in their 20’s.
She said we should limit benefits for the wealthy (people making more than $100K say “is that me?” and people making 75K say “they will get to me”).
She also volunteered that SS should stop matching the cost of living and stick to the rise in inflation – -which everyone knows is massaged by the government to be less than the cost of living.
The Democrats would have buried her on the second point alone. She was naive and foolish to bring it up. She was foolish to offer specifics. She was moribund as a candidate from that remark on.
https://www.newsweek.com/what-nikki-haley-has-said-about-cutting-social-security-1848779
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (bc8284) — 2/24/2025 @ 8:29 pmJoy Reid fired from msDNC for being to militant and having to many bernie sanders lefties on. Like asking hakeem jefferis why the democrats in congress don’t do something! Unlike democrat establishment host rachel maddow running interference for hakeem jefferies saying I am sure you are doing all you can!
asset (db7ff7) — 2/25/2025 @ 1:30 amThe Loser asks: “‘Who would ever sign a thing like this?’
Too bad no one then handed him a mirror to help him remember.
Jim Miller (91b265) — 2/25/2025 @ 7:20 amMeanwhile, about that government funding deadline in 17 days:
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/25/2025 @ 9:13 amShe said we should limit benefits for the wealthy (people making more than $100K say “is that me?” and people making 75K say “they will get to me”).
Make it up, will you? “Some people fear” isn’t actually information, it’s fearful speculation.
Besides, we already limit benefits through taxation if other income exceeds a fairly modest level, and the higher the income the higher the tax. We also put surcharges on Medicare premiums based on income levels. When we sold our L.A. house, we paid an extra $5000 in Medicare premiums in a following year.
Perhaps she would put higher surcharges on, or more taxation for people making huge amounts (>$1 million) but that would have almost zero effect compared to what is taken out now.
She also volunteered that SS should stop matching the cost of living and stick to the rise in inflation – -which everyone knows is massaged by the government to be less than the cost of living.
What is the difference between the “cost of living” and “inflation”? And if government figures are untrustworthy, what do you think the government should use?
In actuality what she proposed was moving to a different calculation of “Cost of living” called Chained CPI, first suggested by Alan Greenspan. Whether this is more or less that the current index depends greatly on where inflation happens as it is weighted differently.
Besides, the Medicare premium also increases, at the rate of medical inflation, as do premiums for drug plans and Supplements. This often reduces the effect of the COLA anyway.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/25/2025 @ 9:30 amIf there is any injustice as to how the SS COLA is calculated, it is using the vanilla CPI (CPI-W). Inflation hits older people differently than the average. In particular, medical inflation should be weighted more heavily and transportation costs less heavily. Food, utilities, etc are pretty much on par.
Housing inflation may affect older people a lot, or not at all — not sure how to handle that. Many have paid off their mortgage, or used equity to downsize or relocate to a house bought for cash (that’s what we did). Those paying a mortgage have fixed costs. Others are renting and that can be tough.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/25/2025 @ 9:42 amKevinM I am assuming the 500,000 have an appropriate contingent of supervisors who are charged with accomplishing goals.
If I was tasked with reading 500,000 email replies by myself, I’d have my IT people run them all through AI, distill them, categorize them. One category would be “no reply sent”.
steveg (116c95) — 2/25/2025 @ 9:48 amI am assuming DOGE is using AI not reading them.
Now that Ed Martin, the Acting DC US Attorney has been named by President Trump to be the permanent US Attorney, his confirmation hearing should be interesting……
Ed Martin has declared that federal prosecutors are “President Trump’s lawyers” on the official DC US Attorney’s X account.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/25/2025 @ 9:52 amKevinM I am assuming the 500,000 have an appropriate contingent of supervisors who are charged with accomplishing goals.
What you would do is ask the top 3-5 levels of management what their sections were doing, and what they’ve accomplished over the last month or even year. It is impossible for the boss to weed out deadwood with that many employees, and using “AI” is no help when the answers are free form descriptions and/or claims.
BUt indificual deadwood is not what DOGE is after. They are after redundancies, inefficiencies and idiocies.
Each level of management could take a report from the lower level management, summarize it and pass it up. The lowest level might well ask each of their workers to file progress reports (and they probably do already).
Actual intelligence is better than pretend intelligence.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/25/2025 @ 10:48 am* But individual deadwood is not what DOGE is after.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/25/2025 @ 10:49 amhis confirmation hearing should be interesting.
And altogether pointless.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/25/2025 @ 10:51 amI wonder how many employees are going to say “I spent the week reviewing contract proposals for meeting our racial and gender quotas and weeding out MAGA supporters.”
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/25/2025 @ 10:53 amHR already has the tools that do this, this is all just for S&Gs.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 2/25/2025 @ 11:01 amKnife’s edge:
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/25/2025 @ 11:25 amIt’s called governing.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/25/2025 @ 11:26 amHR already has the tools that do this, this is all just for S&Gs.
Klink, maybe you have some inside knowledge of how things work in the D.Ed or D.Ag, but my experience with local government tells me that HR in those places is not assuredly focused on efficiency or work quality. As long as you show up for work, sober, it is pretty hard to get fired.
One thing that stick in my mind was when Los Angeles had a severe budget crisis. The City Council crowed about how they were able to solve it without layoffs, although many workers had nothing to do. Example: street sweeping went from once a week to once a month, with no decrease in staff. Also no decrease in tickets for parking on street-sweeping day, even though 3 weeks a month had no sweeping. After all, they needed the money so the tax-farming continued.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/25/2025 @ 11:38 amIt’s called governing.
No, it’s called commandeering. In the past, even big changes (e.g. Reagan’s 1981 tax cuts, taking the top rate from 70% to 28%) had bipartisan support due to carrots in the bill for Democrats on domestic spending. But, at least since Obamacare, it’s each side grabbing sole control and pushing ahead.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/25/2025 @ 11:44 amIt’s also why Congress is unable to act without control of both houses and the WH.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/25/2025 @ 11:45 amThe Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the White House. If they can’t govern with all that, what’s the point of electing Republicans?
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/25/2025 @ 11:52 amwhat’s the point of electing Republicans?
To move the center of Congress to the Right. Not to be Congress all by themselves.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/25/2025 @ 12:02 pmNo, to enact the President’s program.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/25/2025 @ 12:08 pmFrom Financial Times on Minerals deal
https://archive.is/T6Bsr
Still lacks an explicit security agreement
steveg (36c652) — 2/25/2025 @ 12:22 pmAssuming this isn’t a bluff, amazing how quickly leakers can be found if you actually try to find them.
lloyd (ca9351) — 2/25/2025 @ 12:37 pmWhy should it-Ukraine’s security is not the point.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/25/2025 @ 12:51 pmI’ll wait to see the indictments.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/25/2025 @ 12:53 pm“I’m using polygraphs to go after and to really interview these folks because we are a national security agency”
Perhaps she can also consult some tea leaves or observe the flight of birds.
Davethulhu (14e9e4) — 2/25/2025 @ 12:55 pmAbsent names, Noem’s statements are self-serving.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/25/2025 @ 12:55 pm@451
https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/article-2/section-1/
Article II Executive Branch
Section 1 Function and Selection
Clause 1 President’s Role
Technically… Ed isn’t wrong.
whembly (b7cc46) — 2/25/2025 @ 1:33 pmWhen a court asks for names of the parties, US Attorneys say “(insert name) for the government,” not “for President Trump” or whomever is the current President.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/25/2025 @ 1:36 pm@462
A very tenuous control.
Particularly since Senate Democrats can filibuster and the majority cannot override.
So, no, Republicans don’t “control” every part of the government. They have outsized influence, but not control. (no like Democrats in 2008 when Democrats had unified control, including filibuster proof Senate).
whembly (b7cc46) — 2/25/2025 @ 1:36 pm@472
True, and the “President’s Lawyers” are technically the WH counsel.
But, every federal officials derives their power from POTUS. There’s no independence here, and as a practical matter, yes even the federal prosecutors are beholden to POTUS.
whembly (b7cc46) — 2/25/2025 @ 1:39 pmBudget resolutions, reconciliation bills and Presidential nominees cannot be filibustered. Why does everyone make excuses for the fact that Republicans have a majority? Go large!
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/25/2025 @ 1:41 pmAs we have seen.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/25/2025 @ 1:41 pm@478
Which is proper.
Places the onus on the politically accountables.
whembly (b7cc46) — 2/25/2025 @ 1:45 pm@475
You have a point on presidential nominees. Which so far, seems to be working fine.
As for Budget resolutions or reconciliation bills? You’re better off trying to herd cats across rapid rivers than to get every GOPers on board. GOPers has never been as a unified voting bloc as Democrats.
whembly (b7cc46) — 2/25/2025 @ 1:47 pmThat’s their problem. If Republicans want to be seen as a governing party they need to get their act together, otherwise they will be out on their ear in 2026. No one is going to save them from themselves, certainly not the Democrats.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/25/2025 @ 1:50 pmI may have flipped the “too many links” tripwire. I have a good one in moderation.
BuDuh (80f76a) — 2/25/2025 @ 2:10 pmHere is the text without the hyperlinks:
‘Subject to the Jurisdiction Thereof’: Birthright Citizenship and the Fourteenth Amendment
I watched this hearing in its entirety. The video is at the link. I also read all four testimonies.
Testimony of Charles J. Cooper on
“ ‘Subject to the Jurisdiction Thereof’: Birthright Citizenship and the Fourteenth Amendment”
Hearing Before the House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government
“‘Subject to the Jurisdiction Thereof’: Birthright Citizenship and the Fourteenth Amendment”
Tuesday, February 25, 2025 Testimony of R. Trent McCotter Partner, Boyden Gray PLLC
TESTIMONY OF
Matthew J. O’Brien Former Immigration Judge
And
“‘Subject to the Jurisdiction Thereof’: Birthright Citizenship and the Fourteenth Amendment”
Feb. 25, 2025
Testimony of Amanda Frost
David Lurton Massee, Jr., Professor of Law University of Virginia School of Law
If Professor Frost is the best the Democrats can come up with there will be many tears shed along this process.
I do recommend to anyone interested in this subject to do as I did, and watch the hearing and read the documents.
BuDuh (80f76a) — 2/25/2025 @ 2:08 pm Your comment is awaiting moderation.
BuDuh (80f76a) — 2/25/2025 @ 2:17 pmhttps://judiciary.house.gov/committee-activity/hearings/subject-jurisdiction-thereof-birthright-citizenship-and-fourteenth-0
BuDuh (80f76a) — 2/25/2025 @ 2:18 pmFirst two testimonies:
https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/republicans-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/Cooper%20Testimony.pdf
https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/republicans-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/McCotter%20Testimony.pdf
BuDuh (80f76a) — 2/25/2025 @ 2:19 pmSecond two testimonies:
https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/republicans-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/O%27Brien%20Testimony.pdf
https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/republicans-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/Frost%20Testimony.pdf
Good stuff.
BuDuh (80f76a) — 2/25/2025 @ 2:20 pmRegarding Trump’s Gold Card, does he know there’s already an EB-5 residency program for rich investors? The difference seems to be that, with an EB-5, you actually have to invest a lot of money in a job-creating business. Trump’s Gold Card seems to be a straight payoff.
Russian oligarchs not excluded, of course.
Paul Montagu (eacde9) — 2/25/2025 @ 2:56 pmOligarch gangster money is as good as anyone else’s, no?
No, to enact the President’s program.
Reagan did it in 1981 with a Democrat House. This is pathological.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/25/2025 @ 3:03 pmPerhaps she can also consult some tea leaves or observe the flight of birds.
Polygraphs are generally effective. While some people claim to be able to beat them, NSA and CIA use them all the time. If it didn’t work, they’d stop.
They aren’t used in criminal proceedings because of the 5th Amendment, not because they don’t work.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/25/2025 @ 3:08 pmWhen a court asks for names of the parties, US Attorneys say “(insert name) for the government,” not “for President Trump”
L’État, c’est moi
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/25/2025 @ 3:09 pmBut, every federal officials derives their power from POTUS
But they are not Trump’s lawyers. If he believes they are, I suggest that he discuss his coup, his personal deal with Putin, and what really happened with those fake electors with a US Attorney. Attorney-client privilege, amiright?
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/25/2025 @ 3:12 pmGo large!
Go stupid. Anything you put though like that can be undone in the next administration. It’s only when you craft enough of a compromise to get bipartisan votes that you get something that lasts.
But the plan right now seems to be immediate gratification and stroking donors.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/25/2025 @ 3:15 pmTo paraphrase Congressional testimony…
Bondi: “Enemies list? I don’t know any enemies list.”
Patel: “Enemies list? What?! No way!”
Just short weeks later…
It’s just a coincidence that Comey is on Patel’s enemies list, no?
Paul Montagu (eacde9) — 2/25/2025 @ 3:18 pm@485:
Many countries have a program for residency like that. Britain, for example. These aren’t new. I would be surprised if the majority of countries don’t have a similar deal.
Besides, the filthy rich don’t actually live in one place anyway.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/25/2025 @ 3:20 pmPaging Aldrich Ames.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/25/2025 @ 3:21 pmWas Trump on Letitia James’ enemies list?
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/25/2025 @ 3:22 pmPaging Aldrich Ames.
But how many did they catch that you haven’t heard of?
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/25/2025 @ 3:23 pmPaging Aldrich Ames.
Also, he would want to get rid of it, wouldn’t he?
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/25/2025 @ 3:25 pmSince Ames was a counterintelligence specialist working for the Soviets, it is unsurprising he would try to dissuade the CIA from continuing with the polygraph. He would want his Soviet co-conspirators to have an easier time of it.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/25/2025 @ 3:28 pmBoth comments are open to dispute.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/25/2025 @ 3:39 pmYou are missing the point that Ames defeated multiple polygraph exams over 30 years while acting as a Soviet spy.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/25/2025 @ 3:40 pmMore on the Supreme Court and polygraphs:
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/25/2025 @ 3:55 pmSee also Scientific Validity of Polygraph Testing: A Research Review and Evaluation.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/25/2025 @ 4:03 pmJustice Stevens, in a powerful dissent, noted the incongruity between the government’s extensive use of polygraphs to make vital security determinations and its argument in Scheffer stressing the inaccuracy of the tests.
As I said.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/25/2025 @ 4:06 pmToo bad it was a non-binding dissent.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/25/2025 @ 4:14 pmThe court majority (what counts) still doesn’t trust polygraphs to be used at trial, due to their unreliability, lack of standardization, and lack of scientific proof; none of which is related to the Fifth Amendment. But among counterintelligence professionals, there is an aura of religious fervor about their usefulness.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/25/2025 @ 4:20 pmNeverTrump, by its very name, self identifies as an enemies list.
lloyd (ca9351) — 2/25/2025 @ 5:01 pmThree strikes:
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/25/2025 @ 5:14 pmLOL All three judges appointed by Biden.
lloyd (ca9351) — 2/25/2025 @ 5:20 pmJudges Loren AliKhan, Amir Ali, and Jamal Whitehead could soon join this club:
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/25/2025 @ 5:20 pmApple Pledges to Fix Transcription Glitch That Replaces ‘Racist’ With ‘Trump’
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/25/2025 @ 5:36 pmIf Comey tried to honeypot Trump I hope he gets all that’s coming to him.
What a corrupt piece of trash.
NJRob (7baa7d) — 2/25/2025 @ 6:24 pmPolygraphs are not used to check for the subjects truthiness, it’s the trained analyst that lets the subject believe they’re effective and out themselves with tells that a trained analyst uses.
If it were a science with rules and quantifiable data, it would be admissible in court, but it isn’t. You would be able to add in rudimentary AI and it just green/red lights them, none of that is possible.
Now, the interview when you were taking the test, that is something else.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 2/25/2025 @ 8:19 pmWell, that’s your extremist pathology, but thanks for the reveal. Fight the real enemy, lloyd.
Paul Montagu (eacde9) — 2/25/2025 @ 9:21 pmThese two would be tied to a chair and thrown off the top of Trump Tower Gaza. But the AI fantasy by Trump is, uh, something.
Paul Montagu (eacde9) — 2/25/2025 @ 9:30 pmApple Pledges to Fix Transcription Glitch That Replaces ‘Racist’ With ‘Trump’
Just random chance.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/25/2025 @ 11:56 pmIf it were a science with rules and quantifiable data, it would be admissible in court, but it isn’t.
The only cases have been about using the results in a defense. The state opposes that for a number of reasons, but mostly because it is only offered after someone passes it.
Other reasons include no common standards and variations of examiners. The IC can establish standards and commonality of procedures so that isn’t a huge issue.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/26/2025 @ 12:01 amFor the third time in two weeks, a federal judge has had articles of impeachment filed against him in the U.S. House of Representatives over temporary pauses imposed on Trump administration policies.
It’s like perps filing complaints against arresting officers.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/26/2025 @ 12:03 amI really don’t know enough about these grants and such that Trump wants to stop.
If Congress passed a law naming recipients and amounts, that would be one thing.
If instead they passed a law saying that the administration should spend X on ______ grants, then the executive can pick and choose. I don’t think a court can choose instead.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/26/2025 @ 12:07 amThe court majority (what counts) still doesn’t trust polygraphs to be used at trial, due to their unreliability, lack of standardization, and lack of scientific proof; none of which is related to the Fifth Amendment. But among counterintelligence professionals, there is an aura of religious fervor about their usefulness.
That is not what the case you cited was about. Read what you posted:
….
The choice of introducing the evidence would be the defense’s. The issue of whether the State can compel a polygraph is quite a different question (and not a part of this case) and it obviously impacts 5th amendment rights, notably the right to silence.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/26/2025 @ 12:13 amSo I’m a mathy kind of person. Currently US revenues are about 5T, our spending is about 6.75T. Which means our deficit is about 1.75T (It’s really 1.83 when you don’t round, but I’m trying to make the math clear).
How does this make any sense?:
-The Hill
If that is what Trump’s budget says, it means that he intends to cut roughly 1/4 of our current spending and then increase the spending on the military and the border. That means that military spending will be abt 1.2T and over 20% of the federal budget. Medicare is about .8t and social security is 1.5. and medicaid is .9t. Those programs alone are 4.5T and he’s made promises to several house members not to reduce them. leaving 750B for the entire rest of the government. And he wants to reduce taxes on certain corporations and the wealthy, which would mean less than 750B for the entire rest of the Federal government. I can’t see how the math maths.
Is the plan to more than double the current deficit? And how can you have a 4.5t deficit increase but limit the debt limit to 4T increase? Does anyone see a way to make that math work?
Nic (120c94) — 2/26/2025 @ 12:58 amAnti-ice activists doxx ice agents with posters around LA. Faux noise wants them arrested for protesting. Remember both sides can escalate. After kent state protesters began arming themselves. Their is a picture of police pointing guns at protesters after kent state in SF and several people in crowd pointing guns back at police thankfully no agent provocatures like terry norman at kent state fired their guns.
asset (7fa485) — 2/26/2025 @ 1:45 amThat’s what I said when they announced this type of budgetary “wizardry”.
It’s wizardry because it requires magic to work. They can’t believe it, but if they get the rubes to believe they are actually not just ruining things for LOLZ, then it’s a win…I guess.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 2/26/2025 @ 5:25 am@517, I think there is some expectation of a good faith effort to execute the appropriations as well as some legal precedent that limits words open to interpretation from being used as a pretext to do whatever the exectuve likes.
Additionally, If the new interpretation is otherwise I would expect the budget process to become even more cumbersome and stupid.
Time (bf9676) — 2/26/2025 @ 6:10 amNic, i want to reduce spending and shrink the government. I hope Trump does that. But looking at the budget that was passed it seems like they might be restricting their cuts only to functions they feel are opposed to them in the culture war.
Time (bf9676) — 2/26/2025 @ 6:11 amNJRob, No disrespect intended and I share your feelings on if this True. But the same ppl covering this story told me that Covid wasn’t real and that there was a sex dungeon in the basement of DC pizzaria.
Time (bf9676) — 2/26/2025 @ 6:13 amSorry for the bad grammar. I hit send too soon.
Basically this has the look and feel of a lot of the bogus stories that have been pushed over the last few years by various partisans…interested to see what comes of it.
Time (bf9676) — 2/26/2025 @ 6:14 am@489
That’s for the Whitehouse Counsel.
Look, I agree with you… but, I think you’re missing the point.
The point is this: there is this desire to keep this “status quo” or “veneer” that the DOJ (including the US Attorney) enjoys this “independence” from the Whitehouse.
This is a fiction.
The real purpose of this fictional “independence” is so that maintain appearances in such a way that doesn’t disrupt good-faith prosecution.
Nevermore obvious of this fiction when that idea is undermined when Main Justice dropped the Adams case, or Jack Smith’s warpath to “get Trump”, or the DC Attorney going heavy-handed hamfisted on the J6er.
At any time, these officials can be moved off their case, up to outright firing for any reasons at all. IE, they’re in a chain-of-command following orders of the Deputy AG-to AG-to-POTUS.
There’s no exception to this because the Orange Cheeto is now POTUS.
Ed’s statement isn’t that different than Eric Holder’s admission that he’s Obama “wingman”:
whembly (b7cc46) — 2/26/2025 @ 6:22 amhttps://www.politico.com/blogs/politico44/2013/04/eric-holder-im-still-the-presidents-wingman-160861
@491
Are you saying that a former FBI Directory orchestrating an off-the-books honeypot scheme against the incoming administration is some ginned up allegation?
whembly (b7cc46) — 2/26/2025 @ 6:25 amAs I said, it didn’t matter how scrupulously the DOJ attempted to be even handed in investigating crimes committed by Donald Trump or his supporters.
Any action would be taken as justification for Trump and his supporters to enact their revenge.
Worrying about how appropriate law-enforcement activities would be interpreted was a complete waste of time. Trump and his supporters would treat all actions and are treating all actions as equivalent to a Soviet show trial the rhetoric at the time set as much.
Time123 (bf9676) — 2/26/2025 @ 6:26 amGiven the people were talking about, this was the inevitable result of the perpetual grievance
Time123 (bf9676) — 2/26/2025 @ 6:26 am@527, maybe. Still waiting on a decent explanation / evidence.
Time123 (bf9676) — 2/26/2025 @ 6:29 am@530
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/feb/25/fbi-looking-james-comeys-books-honeypot-operation-targeting-2016/
Seems like there’s more fire than smoke here.
The key if they can find the two woman to corroborate.
whembly (b7cc46) — 2/26/2025 @ 7:07 amIt’s an allegation, that’s for sure.
Paul Montagu (eacde9) — 2/26/2025 @ 7:36 am@531 The Nevertrump reaction is in line with what I’ve noted before. They’re not concerned about an enemies list or a corruptly partisan DOJ. They’re concerned the DOJ is no longer corrupt for Democrats and is no longer consulting their enemies list.
lloyd (ad7579) — 2/26/2025 @ 7:39 amThere have been problems in the right wing with whistleblowers.
Paul Montagu (eacde9) — 2/26/2025 @ 7:39 amWet market, bogus laptop, Joe is mentally fit. Yeah Time (or is it Time123?), better go with those sources LOL
lloyd (e2d91f) — 2/26/2025 @ 7:46 amSorry Paul, I don’t think our country is the real enemy like you do.
lloyd (e2d91f) — 2/26/2025 @ 7:47 amElon asked this leading question: Do you trust the government?
And my answer is no, I don’t*, and Elon and Trump and right-wing hacks like Patel and Bongino are the government.
* Not since the Reagan era, for a time, and a period in the GW Bush era.
Paul Montagu (eacde9) — 2/26/2025 @ 7:58 amI’m sorry, but it’s lying bullying assholes like you who are stupid to distinguish between country and the buffoon who runs it.
Paul Montagu (eacde9) — 2/26/2025 @ 7:59 am…too stupid…
Paul Montagu (eacde9) — 2/26/2025 @ 8:01 amIn other words, the House GOP is being fiscally irresponsible in their budget plan by adding trillions to our current $36 trillion national debt.
The House of Representatives voted 217-215 to pass a Republican-backed budget bill, with Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky joining Democrats in opposition of the measure. The resolution, which calls for $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and $2 trillion in government spending cuts over the next 10 years, followed the Senate’s passage of a narrower bill last week. With Tuesday’s vote, Republicans moved one step closer to unlocking the reconciliation process, which would allow them to sidestep a Senate filibuster in a victory for President Trump’s domestic policy agenda.
Adios the tax cuts.
Paul Montagu (eacde9) — 2/26/2025 @ 8:19 amRight now NeverTrump is arguing in favor of drunk drivers. This is quite an illuminating hearing.
BuDuh (80f76a) — 2/26/2025 @ 8:33 amWhembly, Yes, I’ve seen that…Will be interesting to see what the investigation reveals. Shame this wasn’t turned over to the IG office when it first came up. They had a good history of investigating these types of allegations. When I was googling it last night I also found an article starting that the main target was George P….but those links are buried under the recent flurry of stories on this. Will wait to see if additional credible evidence is produced.
Time123 (bf9676) — 2/26/2025 @ 8:40 am@539….remember the rule of mud wrestling pigs…..
Time123 (bf9676) — 2/26/2025 @ 8:41 am@531, etc
Should these allegations be back by credible evidence and testimony, Comey et al should be charged under the Civil Rights Act (18 USC 241 – Conspiracy Against Rights).
But I note that previous “bombshells” of this sort have fizzled out.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/26/2025 @ 8:56 amThere have been problems in the right wing with whistleblowers.
Indeed. I think the complaint though is that those on the left are given the benefit of the doubt by “#neverTrump” folks who do not extend that to things-that-help-Trump.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/26/2025 @ 8:58 am@544
Even if true, I don’t think Comey could be charged with that.
In fact, I’m not sure if its illegal (as in, black & white letter prohibition).
Comey might be charged (but SOL may have expired) for is leakage of confidential memos to Ignatious (sp?).
But, it would serve as sort of vindication of how biased that institution was…
whembly (b7cc46) — 2/26/2025 @ 9:21 amIran Has Enough Highly Enriched Uranium for Six Nuclear Weapons
Non-proliferation is dead. The risk of nuclear war is a function of the number of nuclear-weapons states, more than “N”, less than “N^2”.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/26/2025 @ 9:23 amKevin, My view: Media is paid for attention. A bombshell presented isn’t he most impactful way possible gets the most attention. See it in finance and health news also. ‘Does this 1 thing mean you’ll live forever/go broke/Trump will go to jail for life, Turmp’s enemies will be executed for treason.”
The answer is never the maximal case that’s presented / hypothesized at first. But that’s dull and a headline “Whistleblower allegations need to be investigated to understand validity and implications.” Is a boring headline that only commenters here would read
Hence we get the exaggerated presentation we did here.
But you know all that already.
One interesting things is that they call it a “honeypot” which implies that they were trying to use sex or some other illicit incitement to compromise a target, but in the article all it says is that the investigative agents were female. Undermines the credibility of the article IMO.
Time123 (bf9676) — 2/26/2025 @ 9:23 amNope, if Comey ran an ilegal and secret investigation it would imply the institution as a whole isn’t biased If it was he wouldn’t need to hide his actions.
Time123 (bf9676) — 2/26/2025 @ 9:25 amIndeed, Time.
Paul Montagu (eacde9) — 2/26/2025 @ 9:32 amUnvaccinated Child Dies of Measles in Texas
This is in the oil patch.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/26/2025 @ 10:15 amI loved her in Euro Trip, an underrated movie. RIP.
Paul Montagu (eacde9) — 2/26/2025 @ 10:30 amR.I.P. Michelle Trachtenberg, 39, actress
Achieved fame as “Dawn”, as the suddenly-appearing kid sister of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/26/2025 @ 10:33 amBezos Narrows Washington Post Opinion-Section Focus to ‘Personal Liberties and Free Markets’
I wonder how this will affect their slant on news stories.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/26/2025 @ 11:10 amTrump Proposes Fines, Prison Time for Migrants Who Don’t Join Registry
This is a perfect example of why you repeal laws instead of just ignoring them.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/26/2025 @ 11:15 am@549
Illegal? Debatable.
Secret? Not so secret that another FBI agent witnessed the alleged honeypot.
That the institution as a whole isn’t biased if true? Bullcaca. It just means that if the Director felt an “off the books” activity is needed to claim plausible deniability, the questions are thus:
How often does this happen?
Who else witnessed this?
If the Director can do this, can others in the FBI pull this off?
If there’s rot at the top, the rot spreads…
Isn’t that what you said of Trump and his administration?
whembly (b7cc46) — 2/26/2025 @ 11:39 amIF the allegations are true, the idea that only Comey knew about it is really quaint.
lloyd (fb63f4) — 2/26/2025 @ 12:12 pmDonald J. Trump, Jr. is on the side of evil…
…and his dad* has aligned with evil. Shiddy Americans both.
* Who unpatriotically said earlier today that, “This country has gotten bloated and fat and disgusting and incompetently run.”
What Rad said.
Paul Montagu (eacde9) — 2/26/2025 @ 12:15 pm552-me tooo; nice, a good kid. Such a waste.
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (0c349e) — 2/26/2025 @ 12:17 pm“I honestly can’t imagine that anyone in their right mind would be picking Ukraine as an ally when Russia is the other option. I mean think about it, a massive nuclear power, loaded with natural resources everyone needs.
And to hear them talk about the evils of “globalism.”
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/26/2025 @ 12:19 pm507: federal judges just can’t resist:
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (0c349e) — 2/26/2025 @ 12:20 pm“I’m going to run the refugee program.”
“I’m going to run the border.”
“I’m going to ensure the requisite number of federal employees as I see it.”
Whembly, Why are you calling Honeypot? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey_trapping
I know why the media is doing it, but I’m curious if you have any details about the alleged opariton that would make that term appropriate?
Honestly, I think what this proves will depend on the details of what happened. In the vein of your most current suggestion (that it proves the FBI is biased) I can hypothesize reasonable fact patterns that prove that (e.g. It was an open secret that many ppl were aware of it and no cared because it was Trump). Fact patterns that disprove it (e.g. Comey kept it super secret because he was afraid it would be condemned if it got tout and the whistleblower found out by accident) and fact patterns that show the entire thing to be an exaggeration / misunderstanding (e.g. There was a reasonable predicate to investigate a lower level staffer and the WB isn’t aware of the details and process that were followed.)
Saying what we know right now proves anything is silly.
Time123 (bf9676) — 2/26/2025 @ 12:21 pm@558 Maybe being morally bankrupt is a genetic condition in the Trump family.
Time123 (bf9676) — 2/26/2025 @ 12:23 pmTrump is the Baddie, therefore America, my country, is the Baddie, and it pisses me off to no end…
Paul Montagu (84c026) — 2/20/2025 @ 12:46 am
We’re the Baddies.
lloyd (fb63f4) — 2/26/2025 @ 12:25 pmPaul Montagu (84c026) — 2/21/2025 @ 9:11 pm
Jonah’s previous was about honor. Today it’s about truth…
Paul Montagu (eacde9) — 2/26/2025 @ 12:25 pmSaid the right-wing hack who’s too stupid to comprehend what “NeverTrump” means, despite being shown more than one definition. Your trolling is weighted accordingly, bub.
Paul Montagu (eacde9) — 2/26/2025 @ 12:27 pmThis bears repeating, but Trump’s tariffs, if he goes ahead with welshing on the USMCA, is akin to smacking oneself in the face, and Michigan’s face will get smacked hardest.
Paul Montagu (eacde9) — 2/26/2025 @ 12:30 pmJake Tapper is peddling his new book called, get this, “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again”
LMFAO
lloyd (fb63f4) — 2/26/2025 @ 12:32 pm536: Lloyd:- – -Paul is basically a good guy, and a smart guy. But I think he is one of the people that years ago, were characterized as those who always blame America first. If the US cuddles up to a right wing dictator that aids the US, we’re complicit. If its a left wing dictator, no problem. If the US does anything to advance its own interests, its evil, or at least disappointing. It must always give, pay, sacrifice and it will ever be enough. He has a prisim–as if the US has a permenant duty to expiate for some sin.
And he seems oblivious to the slippage of the country in the last 30 years: and now that someone is drilling central lines, shouting, and doing compressions to save the patient, shoving aside an incompenent nurse or doctor, and there’s blood, mess and sponges everywhere, he’s upset by the noise, the haste, the mess, and wants to know why we can’t do it quietly, nicely and so on.
Not entirely like the old French lady who complained to US troops about the noise and dust caused by D-Day.
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (0c349e) — 2/26/2025 @ 12:33 pmBozo says he is taking wapo in new conservative direction: Capitalist greed and freedom for the rich to rob and pillage. Instead of investigating watergate we would be firing woodward and bernstien and supporting nixon. Good! Another defender of the democrat establishment goes away! msDNC next? Soon no more corporate establishment media defending the corrupt donor class stooges like schumer, jefferies, pelosi, clintons and the dnc. Soon left media vs right media let the internet not donor class the news thats fit to print. No more ignoring AOC until she defeated joe crowley or down playing Sanders run for the presidency.
asset (fa71c7) — 2/26/2025 @ 12:58 pm@567, it’s worse then you think. A lot of parts cross the border multiple time on their way to becoming a car.
Time123 (bf9676) — 2/26/2025 @ 1:01 pmRFK jr says he a second child has died of measles in texas after go many years with measles eradicated.
asset (fa71c7) — 2/26/2025 @ 1:06 pmThat’s a gross micharacterization, Harc.
I’ve been blogging since 2003 and had a stint at RedState for three years.
I was the guy who chastised liberals for Blaming America First when GW Bush was prez. I’m also chastising right-wingers for Blaming America First for Putin’s acts of warcriming in Ukraine.
I was the guy who went after left-wing dictators like Chavez-Maduro and communist dictators like Xi and Kim.
I am the guy saying that Trump cozying up to a terrorist like Putin does not advance our interests. Reagan has to be spinning in his grave like a turbine.
Oh, and I reject your alarmism about America, that we’re like a coding patient on an operating table. It’s that kind of attitude that gives MAGAs an excuse to ignore the Constitution and rule of law, to “save” America. It’s the exact wrong thing.
Paul Montagu (eacde9) — 2/26/2025 @ 1:07 pmWith all the unnamed sources, where’s the fire?
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/26/2025 @ 1:10 pmCorrection. DJTJ didn’t say the above. It only sounded true, given his previous Ukraine-blaming and Putin-supporting comments.
Paul Montagu (eacde9) — 2/26/2025 @ 1:18 pmRegarding Bezos reshaping the WaPo opinion pages, I have no objection since it’s his paper and there’s nothing wrong with focusing on “personal liberties and free markets”.
The more relevant issue is whether their reporters adhere to the highest standards of journalism.
Paul Montagu (eacde9) — 2/26/2025 @ 1:34 pmTacky, but not unexpected.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/26/2025 @ 1:59 pm@562
I’m using “pot” to “trapping” interchangably.
Cool.
But, it’s a legit investigation…no? The allegation meets the bar, which is too low imo, for which the DOJ can investigate Comey in good faith. Right?
whembly (b7cc46) — 2/26/2025 @ 2:18 pm@565
Legit criticisms for sure.
But, don’t care because Harris/Walz isn’t running the show.
whembly (b7cc46) — 2/26/2025 @ 2:19 pmWhat bar is met?
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/26/2025 @ 2:23 pm@580 You have a whistleblower.
whembly (b7cc46) — 2/26/2025 @ 2:44 pmWhat bar is met?
I can think of two
“Believe all whistleblowers” and Believe all women”
I’m also joking because I believe all of neither of them.
Comey has always struck me as a self-righteous, sanctimonious person, so for him, my bar is set at the level of whatever detonates his own petard
steveg (8be186) — 2/26/2025 @ 2:53 pmVaccine meeting to prepare for coming winter’s flu season canceled
Send Bill Cassidy mail.
Question: is this one of those things that citizens can sue over, because the 150 million Americans who get annual flu shots have standing if sovereign immunity doesn’t apply. I’d think they should name RFK Jr in particular and let him try for qualified immunity.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/26/2025 @ 5:41 pmNext up: promoting homeopathy.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/26/2025 @ 5:48 pmSo what? The last time the Republicans relied on a “FBI informant” to make their case it blew up in their faces. Even with all of the named whistleblowers that testified in front of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, Republicans couldn’t even draft, let alone pass, impeachment articles against President Biden.
Whenever there is a salacious allegation there is always an anonymous whistleblower, and you seem to accept their claims without question. What is the evidence the “whistleblower” is a) telling the truth and/or b) doesn’t have an axe to grind?
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/26/2025 @ 5:49 pmSaid the right-wing hack
It’s funny. I used to tell people my politics were “on the right” or “conservative” but now I just say libertarian. It’s not quite accurate, of course, but Trump is smearing all the old labels with his muck.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/26/2025 @ 5:52 pmWembley, if I understand the process correctly, the whistleblower complaint should have been handled by the IG office. Not sure why it wasn’t when it was first lodged with the house committee that would also be interesting to know. Itshould be a fairly straightforward matter for the IG to investigate the concerns raised by the whistleblower.
Time123 (5c9056) — 2/26/2025 @ 6:00 pmNo, because standing requires plaintiffs to show something beyond speculative injuries that might be caused by the cancellation of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee meeting:
See here for discussions of Court cases that define concrete, particularized, and actual or imminent injuries; causation; and redressability.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/26/2025 @ 6:09 pmSpeaking of tariffs…
When Biden passed the ironically-named Inflation Reduction Act, one of the provisions was a large tax credit for certain American-built electric cars. Just so long as they were built with American batteries and union labor.
Functionally, this was an internal tariff, pricing non-qualifying cars higher than their UAW-sanctioned competitors. Which is to say, Tesla. Biden also excluded Tesla from participation in meetings with other US electric vehicle manufacturers.
Then Musk did the unthinkable — he threw down with Trump.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/26/2025 @ 6:13 pmThat it is likely, as opposed to merely speculative, that the injury will be redressed by a favorable decision.
So, getting the flu qualifies you?
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/26/2025 @ 6:14 pmStill, I would still file the 150 million member class action lawsuit demanding $1000 per member plus punitive damages, and let them toss it on this technicality if they dare.
Counting coup at the very least, and perhaps several million fewer votes for their side at the midterms.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/26/2025 @ 6:20 pmThen again, why am I taking legal advice from a pretend lawyer on the Internet?
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/26/2025 @ 6:21 pmTesla was the primary beneficiary, they weren’t excluded, they lobbied successfully to create it.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 2/26/2025 @ 7:12 pm573-Paul M: my apologies: should not have linked you to that outlook.
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (f90479) — 2/26/2025 @ 7:22 pmThank you, Harc.
Paul Montagu (eacde9) — 2/26/2025 @ 7:31 pm> is this one of those things that citizens can sue over
probably not.
besides, we need five years or so for each new flu shot to prove that it’s safe and doesn’t cause autism, right?
aphrael (b827ae) — 2/26/2025 @ 7:48 pmIt’s not legal advice, it’s the state of law, and because I provided links to back up my argument. Whether you agree or not, any court in the country would toss your class action in a heartbeat.
Rip Murdock (539f9d) — 2/26/2025 @ 7:48 pmIf you can prove the cancellation of the vaccine committee directly caused you to get the flu and which injured you, you might have a case, but I doubt it.
Rip Murdock (539f9d) — 2/26/2025 @ 7:53 pmThis is our HHS Chief, lying about measles after a child’s recent death in Texas.
Deaths from measles are unusual. The last one happened a decade ago. The previous occurrence was 2003.
This is the same RFK Jr. who continued to lie about MMR* vaccines after Lancet retracted their debunked 2005 article about the dangers of the vaccine (Stossel fact-check here).
* Measles, Mumps, Rubella.
Paul Montagu (eacde9) — 2/26/2025 @ 8:27 pmRIP two-time Oscar winning actor Gene Hackman (95).
Rip Murdock (539f9d) — 2/27/2025 @ 3:55 am@599 The child that died is described as “school aged.” The MMR vaccination is required to attend school in Texas. Do you think we’ll ever find out why this child wasn’t vaccinated? Hint: The answer won’t be “RFK Jr.”
lloyd (ba96aa) — 2/27/2025 @ 7:42 amIt’s not legal advice, it’s the state of law, and because I provided links to back up my argument.
And you’re wrong anyway.
While “speculative injury” might not be a valid basis for a suit, scientifically accepted statistical likelihood of injury is a different matter. While RFK Jr might argue that the lack of vaccinations is only speculative, the entire history of vaccinations, and why the government has been pushing them for a century, argues otherwise.
To dismiss a suit on the basis you suggest would require the defense to prove that vaccinations do not have a direct and predictable effect on disease. The class complaint — that a significant number of the class members WOULD be harmed by the lack of a current vaccine — reflects the current state of medical science. The defense would have to overcome that to say it was a baseless assumption.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/27/2025 @ 7:59 amRIP two-time Oscar winning actor Gene Hackman (95).
And his wife and one of 3 dogs. No obvious cause.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/27/2025 @ 8:01 amRFK Jr. and other anti-vax grifters have been peddling their anti-vax propaganda for decades, so let’s not pretend that it had no effect.
Paul Montagu (eacde9) — 2/27/2025 @ 8:23 amIf you can prove the cancellation of the vaccine committee directly caused you to get the flu and which injured you, you might have a case, but I doubt it.
Not so. There are different rules about injury when seeking an injunction than when asking for damages.
Clapper vs Amnesty International, footnote 4 (Alito)
Monsanto Co. v. Geertson Seed Farms, holding 1(b) (Alito)
The idea that vaccines reduce potential harm to recipients (and, indeed to the community) is scientific fact, accepted all but the most brain-dead anti-vaxxers. It is a fundamental holding of the public health system. Given that, the risk of harm is not only not speculative, it is numerically calculable.
Persons denied a vaccine have standing to request an injunction and demand that HHS show cause why such a vaccine is being withheld, sufficient to overcome the certain harm to a statistical number of the class.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/27/2025 @ 8:42 am* Oops. Footnote FIVE
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/27/2025 @ 8:47 amAgain, under current standing doctrine, plaintiffs would need to prove a “concrete” injury:
And that it is “particularized“:
And the injury is “actual or imminent“:
Footnotes omitted.
You are certainly entitled to your opinion as to what law should be, but not what the law actually is.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/27/2025 @ 8:48 amFrom RFK Jr.’s CDC, until he changes the link or takes it down…
Paul Montagu (eacde9) — 2/27/2025 @ 8:51 amAnother fact-free rant.
lloyd (b39571) — 2/27/2025 @ 8:56 amI’m not sure how “footnote 4” helps your position. The holding of Court was that:
So Amnesty International completely lost their standing arguments.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/27/2025 @ 8:56 amMonsanto confirms current standing doctrine, so it is not much help.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/27/2025 @ 9:01 am“RFK Jr. and other anti-vax grifters have been peddling their anti-vax propaganda for decades” is fact, young man. As Putin and Trump have established, propaganda operations work.
Paul Montagu (eacde9) — 2/27/2025 @ 9:08 amRip, again, you are decidedly wrong and as usual you refuse to consider it. But to fisk you:
There are several concrete or statistically-calculable injuries.
1) Insurance companies will not pay for a vaccine that is not approved by the suspended board. This is a concrete cost that those affected would have to pay to address the HHS inaction.
2) A statistically-calculable risk of disease or death from the lack of a vaccine is not “abstract”, at least as far as seeking an injunction. If this were a suit about damages after-the-fact then, sure, only those who HAD been harmed would have standing. But to demand that actual injury be shown BEFORE the fact is absurd; only a clear likelihood is required.
If the danger of injury to every member of the class is sufficient, this does not apply. Perhaps the class need to be restricted to those with ongoing respiratory conditions, but that would not excuse HHS, nor eliminate the need for the court to order them to proceed.
This is your first point restated. Do you believe that the lack of a flu vaccine, or even the lack of a flu vaccine paid for by insurance, poses a risk to people with COPD or asthma or another respiratory impairment? To SHOW that, you would have to disprove almost all vaccine science.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/27/2025 @ 9:08 am* correction
When a plaintiff has to spend money to address the risk to them posed by respondents actions, it is a concrete injury in itself.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/27/2025 @ 9:11 am* poses NO risk
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/27/2025 @ 9:12 amMonsanto confirms current standing doctrine, so it is not much help.
Really? Which litigant did they toss out on standing?
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/27/2025 @ 9:13 amAs footnote 5 says:
It would be hard for plaintiffs to prove an injury under a “substantial risk” standard since it would require an “attenuated chain of inferences necessary to find harm” and “plaintiffs bear the burden of pleading and proving concrete facts showing that the defendant’s actual action has caused the substantial risk of harm.”
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/27/2025 @ 9:17 amThe holding in Monsanto regarded the scope of the injunction issued and was remanded for them to reconsider that injunction and consider lesser action that would be more equitable.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/27/2025 @ 9:18 amIt certainly is, since standing requires an individual determination of injury, not the possible injury to a class of millions that may or may not be similarly situated.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/27/2025 @ 9:20 amYour argument isn’t with me, it’s with the Supreme Court.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/27/2025 @ 9:21 amIt would be hard for plaintiffs to prove an injury under a “substantial risk” standard since it would require an “attenuated chain of inferences necessary to find harm” and “plaintiffs bear the burden of pleading and proving concrete facts showing that the defendant’s actual action has caused the substantial risk of harm.”
I spent a good minute attempting to unpack this word-salad. But it appears that you believe that vaccines do not reduce the likelihood of disease, permanent disablement or death. However, all scientific evidence and 100 years of the FDA says they do.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/27/2025 @ 9:21 amWhich had nothing to do with standing. The Court agreed that the plaintiffs had standing, so the issue was moot.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/27/2025 @ 9:23 amThe “concrete” and “particularized” injury needs to affect a legally protected interest, so I don’t think financial expenditures would qualify.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/27/2025 @ 9:29 amIt’s not a question about what I believe about vaccines (my opinion about vaccines are the same as yours), but the point of this discussion is whether members of the public would have standing to sue the government for failing to hold vaccine committee meetings or failing to approve a vaccine. The trail from identifying a particular injury suffered by a plaintiff to the government failing to approve a vaccine is an “attenuated chain of inferences necessary to find harm” and if plaintiffs are required to proving concrete facts showing that the government’s actions (or failure to act) has caused the substantial risk of harm.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/27/2025 @ 9:39 amIt certainly is, since standing requires an individual determination of injury, not the possible injury to a class of millions that may or may not be similarly situated.
You are again conflating damages cases and injunction requests. TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez, clearly says that, in a damages case, the risk of injury is meaningless. Only those who can point to damages incurred have standing, and not all costs expended to ameliorate risk are covered (they have to be narrowly applicable to the risk).
However a clear distinction was made in Transunion (a damages case) between that and Spokeo, one asking for an injunction.
In Spokeo, the problem was that the plaintiff’s concern about an allegedly inaccurate data file being disseminated to someone AND that such dissemination might cause him some unnnamed injury was insufficient to show any particular risk of harm, and that particularity was required.
The lack of a flu vaccine to someone with COPD, asthma, long COVID, previous lung resection, etc, is particular in kind. Although the degree is unknown, all are bad. It is not the same as a paranoid worry as in Spokeo.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/27/2025 @ 9:39 amAnd based on SC cases and commentary I have linked to above, the answer is that the public would not have standing to sue.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/27/2025 @ 9:41 amNo, I am comparing your arguments in favor of a class action lawsuit suing the government for the lack of a flu vaccine with standards articulated by the Supreme Court upheld over the past 30+ years that would allow such a lawsuit to proceed. And the two don’t match up.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/27/2025 @ 9:53 amThe “concrete” and “particularized” injury needs to affect a legally protected interest, so I don’t think financial expenditures would qualify.
I believe that “life” and “health” are protected liberty interests. Governmental action or inaction that requires me to make an expenditure to DIRECTLY counter that gives me standing.
Take Spokeo, where the claim was that he might be damaged by an inaccurate credit record, and the court found that insufficient. Suppose that the (alleged, said the court) credit bureau had offered a program where one could remove their data file for $100, and the plaintiff did so, THEN sued. Now we have an actual cost to directly redress the issue. The standing argument would be different.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/27/2025 @ 9:53 amAnd the two don’t match up.
They clearly do. You cherry-pick quotes without relating them to the reasons the cases were decided, such as Monsanto where standing was upheld for both parties, both of which were projecting future damages and one of those was based on statistical injury that was calculable but not certain to any individual plaintiff.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/27/2025 @ 9:56 amEven if a class bringing suit was restricted to, say, people undergoing treatment for lung cancer, with the claim that the likely injury to them from influenza (as well as the need to boost their immune system) would be life-threatening.
The government’s action would preclude creating a new vaccine authorized solely for that class.
Would you argue they do not have standing?
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/27/2025 @ 10:02 amCitations?
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/27/2025 @ 10:03 amYes, for the reasons outlined above. The plaintiffs would need to prove an injury in fact, not a “likely injury”.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/27/2025 @ 10:09 amThis isn’t Trump’s fault.
Organ Transplant System ‘in Chaos’ as Waiting Lists Are Ignored
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/27/2025 @ 10:09 amThe plaintiffs would need to prove an injury in fact, not a “likely injury”.
They do not. Go and read the goddam decisions.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/27/2025 @ 10:10 amIf a group could sue to force the government to approve a flu vaccine, then others would sue to force the approval of other vaccines.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/27/2025 @ 10:16 amThere is only one decision to read, Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, where the standing requirements were developed.
Since you have become over emotional, this discussion is over.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/27/2025 @ 10:21 amNone of the other cases (Monsanto, Clapper, etc.) have changed the Lujan standing three-part test.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/27/2025 @ 10:22 amI believe that “life” and “health” are protected liberty interests.
Let’s start with any of your arguments against abortion. Or nearly any discussion of Due Process, of which there are too many to count.
But I have not the time or inclination to try to prove things to an obstinate person dead set on ignoring them and regurgitating already debunked off-point citations.
Please find a recent case that says that citizens do not have a right to life, or a liberty interest in determining the course of their medical care.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/27/2025 @ 10:27 amThere is only one decision to read, Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, where the standing requirements were developed.
And I have repeatedly shown that all three of those tests were met under the current meaning of those tests as refined in later decisions, which you still have not read.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/27/2025 @ 10:30 amI’m done.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/27/2025 @ 10:30 amIf a group could sue to force the government to approve a flu vaccine, then others would sue to force the approval of other vaccines.
Not what I suggested. Requiring the approval committee to meet and make decisions based on evidence does not mean that they would have to approve. With the flu vaccine all they actually do is pick the target strains for manufacture anyway. RFK Jr is not allowing them to do this nearly ministerial function.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/27/2025 @ 11:05 amYou find it, I’m not going to do your research for you.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/27/2025 @ 11:43 amYou find it, I’m not going to do your research for you.
Funny, as the thing I was replying to was your demand that *I* do research.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/27/2025 @ 11:48 amThe really annoying this, Rip, is that when people DO do research and post it, you ignore it and regurgitate your original pontifications.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/27/2025 @ 11:50 amWhatever; I doubt any court would entertain a lawsuit the would compel RFKJr to allow the vaccine committee to meet. As I have repeatedly said, plaintiffs would need to show harm to themselves to establish standing to ask a court to require the vaccine committee to meet; and as you acknowledge, compelling a committee to meet doesn’t mean they would have to approve a vaccine.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/27/2025 @ 11:51 amI do acknowledge what you have posted, i just don’t think it is germane.
Because it was you who made the assertion (without evidence.)
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/27/2025 @ 11:54 amTo be honest, why is anyone surprised about RFKJr’s actions as HHS Sec so far? It was inevitable that he would get a top health job when he endorsed Trump.
Elections have consequences, and this is what Trump’s voters wanted (or at least got).
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/27/2025 @ 12:03 pmKevin and RIP: I swear, we need to rent a remote mansion with a roaring fire, high backed chairs, waitstaff and food, and some pricey bourbon and petruse for the wine drinkers, and have you two go at it. “RIP you ignorant slut…” “Kevin you tedious blowhard…” But you’re both really good.
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (0c349e) — 2/27/2025 @ 12:36 pmSadly, that would require I drink, a lot, and I do not.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/27/2025 @ 1:15 pmNeither do I.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/27/2025 @ 2:49 pmAh. well that means more for me and I’ll bring a laptop with westlaw. Maybe Paul, Sammy, lloyd, NJRob Whembly and Dana can help drink.
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (c9b801) — 2/27/2025 @ 7:20 pmTrump about to cancel moderna’s bird flu vaccine.
asset (d05ec5) — 2/27/2025 @ 7:38 pmI’d bet more on RFK doing it.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/27/2025 @ 8:01 pmI’ll pass.
Rip Murdock (539f9d) — 2/28/2025 @ 7:31 amCabinet officers are mere agents of the President.
Rip Murdock (539f9d) — 2/28/2025 @ 7:33 amCabinet officers are mere agents of the President.
They have their own agendas, too. Junior cancelling the flu vaccine update was his own thing.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 2/28/2025 @ 7:46 amFrom Reuters:
“The U.S. will invest up to $1 billion to combat the spread of bird flu, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said earlier on Wednesday.”
Nothing has been canceled. The contract, according to Reuters, is being reevaluated not canceled.
Take a deep breath.
lloyd (afee54) — 2/28/2025 @ 7:54 amhttps://www.upi.com/Health_News/2025/02/27/canada-Ontario-measles-outbreak/4321740708228/
Must be Trump and RFK Jrs fault… somehow.
NJRob (a6d288) — 2/28/2025 @ 8:14 amLet me think……who selected RFKJr as HHS Secretary……..
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/28/2025 @ 8:55 amTrump said he2 would let RFK Jr “run wild” – that is let him do what he wants. So it is his own thing. But Trump is committed mostly to not overruling him on health matters.
Sammy Finkelman (2f6bf2) — 2/28/2025 @ 9:44 am