Hank

Thank you.

USAID building is now occupied by CBP according to Musk.

#BREAKING: President Donald Trump is taking away the security clearances from the following individuals. - NY A.G. Letitia James - Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg - Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken Per the NYP, they also won’t be allowed to enter secure federal facilities. I assume James and Bragg may occasionally need to go inside a federal building for work. Anyone know for sure if Trump can legally keep the out? Or would a courtroom/jail no be considered "secure"?

I won't question if what Musk is doing is legal, I have no idea. Do I think it's right? Probably not. Will the ends justify the means regarding fraud, waste and abuse? All we can do is wait and see. what I do know is this, Trump was transparent about this. He said way back in September, maybe sooner, that he was implementing his DOGE program and putting Musk in charge of it. Democrats had FOUR MONTHS to figure out if it was illegal and how to stop it. If it is legal they had FOUR MONTHS to figure out a way to come up with a strategy to combat it. All I've seen is a couple feeble protests with congressmen screaming the same ***** they've been screaming for the last four years that got Trump elected in the first place. The Biden/Harris administration was so bad it caused a shift in the base, people are moving from far left towards center. People are tuning out CNN/MSNBC, evident by thier tanked viewership. Approval rating for dems is at an all time low, Trump's Approval rating is at an all time high. Orange man bad doesn't work anymore, it's time for a new playbook.

I browsed "the new republic" home page. My impression is they're extremely left leaning, so I'll take anything they write about Trump or Musk with a huge grain of salt. Thank you for linking the article though, I thought it was an interesting read.

Thank you for the bolded. I don't want USAID to go away, but some of the spending practices need to be cleaned up. I'm okay with it being audited. I know there's various slush funds in there the military uses for covert ops, I'm sure there's many that are not okay with that but I am. YMMV on your acceptance of much of what comes out of this. I read that the Department of Education is next on Musks audit list. That will no doubt piss off alot of people on both sides.

Wouldn't all the expenditures be line item numbers? I'm sure at some point a report will be published, maybe even a book. If it turns out the senator is giving false information in that setting would that mean he's purgering himself? Genuine question, I don't know the answer. Is this how you want your tax dollars spent?

It's a bit long, but a good listen.

I think Trump is a vindictive man who will go after his opponents the way he believes they went after him. I believe he's corrupt like I thought Biden was corrupt. I don't trust FOX news any more than I trust CNN/MSNBC. I'm positive USAID is not the first corrupt organization tax payers fund and I don't believe they'll be the last. I believe there were organizations pre-DOGE, and will be post-DOGE, that investigate corruption. I believe we were given two shifty options to elect. I believe there is absolutely nothing I can personally do to alleviate my concerns with our government or my lack of trust in the media, the republican's or the democrats. All I can do is see what happens and hope for the best.

I have no desire to communicate with you at all. I don't respect you. I'd prefer you skipped over my posts and pretended I don't exist. Now I'll go back to pretending you don't exist.

The bolded is 100% correct, I participated in some of it. I agree with you about putting Biden in the rear view and focusing on the current and future. I see now point in constantly looking back and bitching about mistakes made after the fact. Regarding Doge: I like the concept. The practice of it may be questionable, but I think it's a good thing. I want waste eliminated and corruption uncovered, and those who committed it prosecuted. I'm less concerned with who's in charge of it. I don't believe USAID is the only thing they're looking into, I think it's where the initial focus is and there will be more to follow. Regarding democrats: if you watched any of the DNC elections it was a complete shitshow. They learned nothing from the last election. I think the biggest thing that killed Harris was the Dems/CNN/MSNBC lying to us for years about Biden being "sharp as a tack", and it passed alot of voters on the dem side. Harris couldn't escape the association being his VP, and many democrats voted for Trump or just didn't vote. I think if the party doesn’t make some fundamental changes, and quick, they'll have no chance of regaining the house OR congress in 26 and we'll be swearing in President Vance in 29 (with possibly Trump as his VP?) Trump: I don't like him and didn't vote for him but I don't hate him as much as you do. He's an ***** and a lying blowhard but over the first two weeks I think there's been more good than bad.

When president Trump signed his executive order regarding birthright citizenship the dems immediately filed suit and a judge put a stop to it. The fact the Musk is still going strong and dems are reduced to protesting should tell you that what he's doing is not illegal. Do you not care at all about all the corruption they're uncovering? Or do you only care that Trump put Musk in charge of finding the corruption?

Unintended consequences of forcing Harris down our throat. Good job democratic leaders for forcing her on us, and Good job democratic party party for not voting for her. We knew what Trump was, we got what we deserve.

You have any thoughts on Hegseth?

I think something that gets overlooked is that many countries are smaller than the size of Texas, and they have a much narrower scope of disasters to contend with. It's much more logical for those nations to have a centralized emergency relief than a country the size of the US.

Bad day for Liz Cheney.

Interesting.... Nancy Pelosi trying to ‘tank’ Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s House Oversight Committee bid: Report by Victor Nava Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has reportedly launched a behind-the-scenes effort to thwart Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-NY) bid to serve as the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee. Pelosi, 84, would rather see Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) serve as ranking member on the high-profile panel and is “actively working to tank” the 35-year-old New York Democrat’s bid, according to Punchbowl News. The former House speaker has been “making calls” urging Democrats to support Connolly, 74, over Ocasio-Cortez, the outlet reported on Thursday. https://nypost.com/2024/12/13/us-news/nancy-pelosi-trying-to-tank-alexandria-ocasio-cortezs-house-oversight-committee-bid-report/

Pardoning him is one thing, but you have to ask why the pardon covers a period of eleven years. You also have to wonder if it could have unintended consequences. I believe if Hunter has immunity he loses his 5th amendment rights. I don't think this is over.

Thank you all. I'm not trying to argue FOR tariffs, or say they are a good thing. I'm ignorant about them and would like to be a little less ignorant.