Quote from: Ravey on December 21, 2024, 04:43:21 PMIt wasn't a 40% raise, it was a 3.8%... Haven't been able to find if they received a raise in the final bill, tho.
https://news.yahoo.com/news/no-failed-spending-bill-did-194358267.html

The way they do spending bills in the US congress is sneaky.

On "Zero Hour," Senator Rand Paul joined James Poulos to discuss his new book, "Deception: The Great COVID Cover-up," government accountability, and the "Make America Healthy Again" movement.

They discussed the COVID cover-up, which came to light with the release of private emails by order of a federal court: "Privately, Anthony Fauci and his colleagues were all from the very beginning alarmed that they may have funded this research and that the virus looked to be a virus that had gained in function or a virus that had been manipulated."

Rand Paul continued to criticize the government officials behind the COVID debacle and the abhorrent state of health care in America: "This is the problem with these people. They're now advocating for things that seem to enrich a billion-dollar company, but they don't seem to have factual evidence that it's beneficial to their child. So now people are distrusting them on everything."

The "Make America Healthy Again" movement, Senator Paul suggested, is not only a major turn in the tides, but also an opportunity to increase government transparency: "The government needs to turn over a new leaf and try being honest. Because of their vast dishonesty, people are hesitant, people don't believe the government anymore." Honesty is the only way to truly "Make America Healthy Again" because people need to trust that some medicine is beneficial.

Border Czar Tom Homan says migrant criminals days in the US are numbered.

Quote from: Reggie Essent on December 21, 2024, 04:20:53 PMDisaster relief and the Farm giveaways should have been a separate bill.

This overspending shit ain't gonna get fixed until they actually start fixing it.

Musk and Ramaswamy's DOGE advisory panel will not change that either. It is up to Congress to stop this type of spending increases by stealth.

Quote from: Ravey on December 21, 2024, 04:43:21 PMIt wasn't a 40% raise, it was a 3.8%... Haven't been able to find if they received a raise in the final bill, tho.
https://news.yahoo.com/news/no-failed-spending-bill-did-194358267.html

They never approve a funding bill unless it has a lot of add-ons.

Quote from: DKG on December 22, 2024, 06:42:36 AMMusk and Ramaswamy's DOGE advisory panel will not change that either. It is up to Congress to stop this type of spending increases by stealth.

Agreed.  Elon and Vivek are in "advisory" roles now and it is up to Congress to make a Department of Government Efficiency an official thing.  What's good about it all is it puts a big spotlight on the utter waste, fraud and corruption that plagues all governments.  A good example is this last round of continuing resolutions.  In the past, all the bloat and pork that everyone noticed this time would have sailed right through.

Quote from: Reggie Essent on December 22, 2024, 11:13:48 PMAgreed.  Elon and Vivek are in "advisory" roles now and it is up to Congress to make a Department of Government Efficiency an official thing.  What's good about it all is it puts a big spotlight on the utter waste, fraud and corruption that plagues all governments.  A good example is this last round of continuing resolutions.  In the past, all the bloat and pork that everyone noticed this time would have sailed right through.

Singapore's government is so transparent there is not a need for something like a DOGE. If I was an American, I'd want it to become an official government department.

Quote from: Shen Li on December 22, 2024, 11:21:50 PMSingapore's government is so transparent there is not a need for something like a DOGE. If I was an American, I'd want it to become an official government department.

I'm not versed on your government there, so I'll take your word for it.  My sister and her husband lived there for a few years back in the oughts.  She said it was nice but too fucking humid and hot.

Quote from: Reggie Essent on December 22, 2024, 11:13:48 PMAgreed.  Elon and Vivek are in "advisory" roles now and it is up to Congress to make a Department of Government Efficiency an official thing.  What's good about it all is it puts a big spotlight on the utter waste, fraud and corruption that plagues all governments.  A good example is this last round of continuing resolutions.  In the past, all the bloat and pork that everyone noticed this time would have sailed right through.

We have the Parliamentary Budget Office here which has kind of a similar role. Trudeau has tried to muzzle it since he bacame our supreme leader. He has had some success too, but that office is still a thorn in his side at times.

Matt Gaetz's ethics report may not be the bombshell Democrats were hoping for.

The House Ethics Committee released the long-anticipated report on former Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida on Monday.

Many thought the report would be damning. However, Gaetz has already been investigated for all the allegations detailed in the report and was never charged by the Biden-Harris Department of Justice. Through it all, Gaetz has stood firm and denied all allegations against him.

"The Biden/Garland DOJ spent years reviewing allegations that I committed various crimes," Gaetz said in a post on X ahead of the report's release. "I was charged with nothing: FULLY EXONERATED. Not even a campaign finance violation. And the people investigating me hated me."

Quote from: Reggie Essent on December 22, 2024, 11:30:38 PMI'm not versed on your government there, so I'll take your word for it.  My sister and her husband lived there for a few years back in the oughts.  She said it was nice but too fucking humid and hot.

Canada is brutally cold, corrupt, a crushing tax burden, few opportunities and censorship.

A sitting member of Congress was found in a dementia living care home after not making a public appearance for months, and some online expressed outrage over the incident.

Republican Rep. Kay Granger of Texas was first elected to the U.S. House in 1997 and announced in late 2023 that she was not seeking re-election. She also abruptly stepped down from the powerful House Appropriations Committee and last cast a vote in July.

An investigative reporter with the Dallas Express was unable to find the 81-year-old's whereabouts until he got a tip that the congresswoman had been admitted to a local memory care facility in Fort Worth after she was allegedly found wandering and lost.

Many online reacted with anger over the revelation.

"I've knownKay Granger since she was a school teacher. Whatever you think of her politics, whoever made the decision to hide her condition from her constituents ought to be shoveling out horse stalls tomorrow," responded journalist Jody Dean.

"Records show she has a staff of 25. If any of them knew - and it would be hard not to know - they are complicit," replied Angela Morabito.

Some used the incident to call for term limits.

https://x.com/EricLDaugh/status/1871299690261885219

Quote from: Ravey on December 24, 2024, 07:53:45 PMhttps://x.com/EricLDaugh/status/1871299690261885219

I agree, but I don't know if it helps the cause. She might get away with it because she is a Spic.

Dems appear keen to once again thwart the will of the American people after spending years blathering about threats to democracy.
Despite spending years complaining about threats to democracy, Democrats are scheming to thwart the collective will of the 77.2 million Americans who voted for President-elect Donald Trump in a fair and free election.

In a Dec. 26 op-ed for The Hill titled "Congress has the power to block Trump from taking office, but lawmakers must act now," David Schulte, a Chicago investment banker friend of both Barack Obama and failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, joined the former Democratic president of the New York City Bar Association, Evan Davis, in echoing Rep. Jamie Raskin's (D-Md.) February call for Congress to block Trump from taking office.