Politics/Religion Consolidated Megathread Extravaganza

[Lokmar]

The failure of both Democrat and Republican plans to extend or partially replace enhanced Obamacare subsidies offers a clear lesson: Escaping an entitlement trap almost never happens.

The reality is, once government creates a welfare entitlement, logic and sustainability exit the conversation. Politicians do not debate whether to grow the program. They argue only over how much to increase spending and how to disguise the costs. That pattern now governs the fight over enhanced Obamacare subsidies.

My source with the State of Illinois told me years ago that once a program starts, a judge will always step in and force continued funding regardless of the budget.

Its a bit different on a federal level but nothing short of a civil war will hit the reset button.

America is closer to having the same type of problems Iran has right now than anyone cares to admit.

[Brent]

Yea, getting rid of her is a pipe dream. Sometimes the guilty go free.

Guilty progtards always go free.

[Lokmar]

Guilty progtards always go free.

Sad, but mostly true.

[Herman]

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, the Massachusetts-based Obama judge who blocked the Trump administration from cutting federal funds to Planned Parenthood last month, issued a temporary restraining order on Saturday preventing the Department of Homeland Security from revoking the legal status of tens of thousands of foreigners.

The Trump administration announced last month that it was terminating all categorical family reunification parole programs and corresponding work authorization for aliens from Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, and Honduras as well as for their immediate family members, effective Dec. 15.

[Brent]

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, the Massachusetts-based Obama judge who blocked the Trump administration from cutting federal funds to Planned Parenthood last month, issued a temporary restraining order on Saturday preventing the Department of Homeland Security from revoking the legal status of tens of thousands of foreigners.

The Trump administration announced last month that it was terminating all categorical family reunification parole programs and corresponding work authorization for aliens from Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, and Honduras as well as for their immediate family members, effective Dec. 15.

Indira Talwani. I wonder what country she is from

[Brent]

Mark Carney's approval and polling numbers are dropping. With some Liberal MP's resigning he cannot bribe his way into a majority government like he planned. The media is panicking over his slipping numbers because Canada could have a general election this year.

[Brent]

Dutch Parliament has passed the strongest asylum policy the nation has ever seen:

- Asylum seekers will no longer be allowed to get permanent residency.

- Leftist NGO's will be punished by law for aiding the illegal invasion.

The Netherlands is finally waking up.

[DKG]

The U.S. Senate voted on Wednesday night to shelve a Democrat-led resolution to constrain President Donald Trump's ability to direct continued military action against Venezuela.

Senators were on track to take the War Powers resolution, sponsored by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), to a final vote, but Sen. James Risch (R-Idaho) raised a point of order challenging the premise of Kaine's resolution.

Though U.S. forces had carried out a pre-dawn raid on Jan. 3, resulting in the successful capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, Risch said the War Powers resolution lacked relevance because U.S. forces are not currently deployed inside Venezuela.

[Herman]

Kinda Canada related as there is Canadian names on that Epstein list.

[DKG]

Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, revealed that health care fraud in Minnesota is more significant than previously known.

After speaking to whistleblowers across the state, Oz said there has been a "cover-up" for years and that it reaches the "highest levels" of state government.

Oz made reference to Somalian Americans and Somalian nationals who have a significant presence in the Minneapolis-Twin Cities area, who have recently been accused by administration officials of engaging in the defrauding of the federal government.

[DKG]

One of the core executive powers is the authority to prosecute criminals. Article II of the Constitution assigns "the executive power" — all of it — to the president of the United States. In practice, the power to execute the laws against those who have violated them is delegated by the president to the attorney general, the Department of Justice she heads, and the 93 U.S. attorneys spread across the country.

Yet since he took office for the second time last January, President Trump and his attorney general, Pam Bondi, have had a heck of a time getting their people in place.

Of the roughly 50 U.S. attorney nominations the president has sent to the Senate, fewer than half — just 19 — had been confirmed by December 15, and all of those but three were confirmed en masse in October, some 10 months after Trump took office. Although another 13 were confirmed en masse on December 18, 14 are still awaiting confirmation as we approach the one-year mark of Trump's second term.

A good bit of the holdup is caused by the Senate's "blue-slip" process, whereby nominations will not be considered unless both senators from the nominee's home state return a blue slip allowing the nominee to be considered.

Originally designed to allow input from the elected senators who presumably are most familiar with the nominee's qualifications and temperament — the "advice" part of the "advice and consent" process mentioned in the Constitution — the refusal to return a blue slip has become an obstructionist tactic deployed by Democratic senators bent on blocking as much of Trump's agenda as they can.

[DKG]

The communist regime in Beijing has long worked to undermine the United States.

China — which the first Trump administration recognized as a "revisionist" power keen on shaping "a world antithetical to U.S. values and interests" — and its agents have run intimidation and coercion campaigns out of illegal police stations on American soil; engaged in espionage and political destabilization efforts in the U.S.; and launched numerous cyberattacks on American institutions and critical infrastructure.

Perhaps most importantly, China has bought up vast swathes of strategically significant U.S. land.

Some states have taken meaningful steps to fight back against these and other subversive initiatives.

he efforts by Arkansas, in particular, to defend against Chinese communist influence and infiltration have not only captured Beijing's attention but that of State Shield, a foreign-influence watchdog group founded by Joe Gebbia, the co-founder of Airbnb who went to work last year for the Department of Government Efficiency.

State Shield, which works in over 10 states to advance policies to counter Chinese influence and bolster regional and national security, has awarded Arkansas an A+ rating in its inaugural 2025 State Shield Scorecard and named Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) "Best Governor for National Security."

"Arkansas was the first state in the country to kick Communist China off our farmland and out of our state, and we didn't stop there," Sanders said.

Whereas subsequent scorecards will reflect annual reviews of legislative activity, State Shield indicated its inaugural scorecard reflects an evaluation of work completed from 2021 to 2025. During that period, Arkansas passed numerous laws aimed at curbing foreign influence.

Last year, for instance, the Natural State, enacted legislation:

withholding funding for a state-supported institution of higher education that has a Confucius Institute or similar institute related to China, prohibiting state-sponsored investment in China, and banning sister cities with China;
barring Chinese Communist Party-controlled businesses from leasing any interest in Arkansas land or holding any interest in agricultural land located within a 10-mile radius of critical infrastructure; and
prohibiting colleges and universities from engaging in the creation of agricultural products, conducting classified research, or conducting agricultural research under a contract with a prohibited foreign party.

In addition to ratifying these and other pieces of legislation on-theme, Gov. Sanders moved the needle on countering Chinese influence with numerous actions and executive orders.

[DKG]

A judge's ruling temporarily blocking President Donald Trump's order to end billions in social services funds could have met its match if Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky has his way.

The president tried to end federal funds being sent to California, New York, Minnesota, Illinois, and Colorado, but U.S. District Judge Arun Submaranian ruled against him on Jan. 9.

The group of states had requested a temporary restraining order against the spending freeze and was granted 14 days while the court considers a longer order.

On Wednesday, Massie said he had crafted an amendment to legislation that would allow the president to bypass the ruling.

He posted the text of the amendment.

"None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to make payments under the Child Care and Development Fund, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, or the Social Services Block Grant program to any State that the Secretary of Health and Human Services has identified, pursuant to existing law, as failing to comply with Federal eligibility or documentation requirements applicable to such program," the text reads.

HHS Sec. Robert Kennedy Jr. claimed that the states were not punished for being Democrat-controlled, but rather because they did not comply with the federal request to create a plan to stop fraud.

[Brent]

Rep. John James, a Michigan Republican running for governor, has launched a new ad tying the fate of Trump's second term and the America First agenda to James' home state of Michigan.

On Thursday, James released an ad titled "Impeached," claiming that Michigan, with its open U.S. Senate seat and four competitive House races, is "ground zero" in the fight to keep Congress under Republican control.