Friday, Socialist Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders used a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, to announce that he was willing to work with the incoming Trump administration to accomplish mutually beneficial legislation.

I look forward to working with the Trump Administration on fulfilling his promise to cap credit card interest rates at 10%.

He received a quick reply from Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley. "An anti-usury bill capping outrageous credit card rates," said Hawley, "ought to be a top priority of the next Congress." //

In my view, the number of times the government has intervened in markets directly and produced the intended result can probably be counted on the fingers of one hand. The obvious problem with a return to the medieval system of slapping usury laws on lenders is that when interest rates spike, banks lose the ability to adjust their interest rates. This, by definition, creates a drought in the credit market, which is quickly felt by commercial enterprises that rely on credit card transactions. If one is hellbent on regulating credit cards to save people from themselves, then allow a certain rate against the Fed's bank rate. //

Years ago, the Fed sponsored a study of the impact of usury ceilings:

Economic research clearly supports the current legislative moves toward deregulation of usury ceilings. The evidence on the impact of usury ceilings shows that they have not achieved their objectives. According to the empirical studies surveyed, usury ceilings have significantly reduced the availability of credit and created hardships for those who were supposed to be protected. Ceilings have encouraged lenders to use credit rationing devices such as higher down payments, shorter maturities, higher fees for related non-credit services, which increase the effective interest rate. They have curtailed the amount of credit available to lower income and higher risk borrowers, harming primarily those individuals whom the ceilings are intended to benefit. Finally, the lack of uniformity in usury laws across states has distorted credit flows and economic activity, favoring those states and regions which are less regulated.

What is worse, a guy holding a credit card that carries a 30% interest rate or his car breaking down and losing his job because he can't get to work all due to some well-meaning Karen in DC deciding it is more virtuous for him to be destitute than enrich some bank?

Trump needs to back off faux-populist issues like this. I understand the sugar rush of applause as well as the next guy, but cutting off credit card access from banks doesn't mean that poor people won't pay exorbitant interest rates.

How much does a payday loan cost? //

We have two parties here, and only two — one is the evil party, and the other is the stupid party. I’m very proud to be a member of the stupid party. Occasionally, the two parties get together to do something that’s both evil and stupid. That’s called bipartisanship. —M. Stanton Evans //

DaleS an hour ago edited

The graphes don't go back that far, but I'm old enough to remember when the federal funds rate (the rate when banks borrow from each other) was well over 10%. What do you suppose happens to the credit card market when credit card holders can borrow from the bank at a lower rate than they can borrow from each other?

Even if you thought an anti-usury law was a good idea, it would be madness to peg it to a fixed rate. I believe every card I've ever had (ignoring promotional rates) has been set at an offset on prime. Pegging the maximum interest to Prime+5 would still allow the banks to offer credit cards as a product no matter where interest rates go -- but it would be to a far smaller group of consumers. Markets work better than government. Lowering interest rates for everybody means that good credit risks lose their rewards, and bad credit risks lose their credit. This would not be a good thing. //

Musicman an hour ago

The Founding Fathers created a government that required consensus to get anything done. But don't confuse consensus with "bipartisanship." Bipartisanship means each Party gets something it wants. And often that means the two most extreme elements of our body politic--the far right and the far left--get something they want. It's also called log rolling. It's too often a compromise that benefits Washington insiders rather than the country. It's why we have a 35 trillion dollar debt.

A consensus is where you can get more than a pure majority, say 60 or 70 % of the people behind something. Or in the case of a Constitutional Amendment, 75% (of the states). Trump can reach a consensus without giving the Dems--or at least their left wing base--a damn thing. He just needs to get most Republicans and independents, and then a slice of the Democrat Party behind whatever he does. That is how to build a lasting movement.

Kyrsten Sinema @kyrstensinema
·
What’s the one tool that requires the Senate to work in a bipartisan way?

Oh look, the filibuster.

Burgess Everett @burgessev
Schumer to Republicans: "Take care not to misread the will of the American people"

"Do not abandon bipartisanship. It's the best and most effective way to get things done"
2:22 PM · Nov 18, 2024 //

The less Washington gets done, the better for everyone involved. We don't need a Congress that can make sweeping, dramatic changes to the nation based on winning an election by a few percentage points. That's how you end up with internal unrest under the tyranny of the majority.

It may not be a popular position on the right given we just won a sweeping victory, but strengthening, not removing the filibuster is the right move. There's nothing the government can do for me that is that important. I'd rather the behemoth stay out of my way more often than not, and the moment the filibuster ends, it's never coming back. That'd be very bad news the next time Democrats take power. Republicans should use their current leverage to ensure that can't happen.

people are sick and tired of people in Washington, D.C., doing nothing as these people tried to destroy the country and getting upset at someone who actually might root out the corruption there.

We don't have a Department of Justice.

We have a Department of Injustice, and that's why you get Matt Gaetz as a nominee. //

ConservativeInMinnesota
4 hours ago
The deep state themselves offer the strongest possible endorsement of Gaetz. By all reports they are in a complete panic. We’re not hearing rallying cries of ‘resist’. That means the deep state fears Gaetz.

Gaetz spent years battling the deep state and knows their ways. Trump only asked for recess appointments from a new Senate leader to get Gaetz in. Trump has carefully chosen Gaetz for good reason.

Doni 🤓🏴🏴‍☠️
@DoniTheMisfit
·
Follow
I remember when the government decided which jobs were "essential" and which weren't. Politicians on the left, along with their pundits, dismissed the livelihoods of countless families with a callous:

"Oh well, find a new career."

That same indifference resonates with me now in… Show more
celia
@_celiabedelia
Quick question - when 3 million civil servants lose their jobs, can’t pay their bills, taxes, contribute to the economy….how does that HELP the economy?
2:42 PM · Nov 16, 2024. //

Pastor in OKC
14 hours ago edited
As someone who was DoD contractor for years and still does some consulting, let me tell you that the bureaucratic workforce today is lazy and incompetent. Over the last 10 years many quality personnel have retired and some quit because it was not based on merit. In so doing, the contracts I see now are so poorly written and administered it is embarrassing. A purge of federal employees will be good and they get jobs they are more qualified for like fast food. //

anon-x8p1
18 hours ago
When 99% of all government employee political donations go only to Democrats, we have a wretched "spoils system" already in place.

Bust it up and ban all government employee unions.

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that FEMA Director Deanne Criswell and FEMA reservist Marn'i Washington violated the civil rights of conservative Floridians by denying services to anyone displaying Trump campaign signs or banners. //

This saga began with a whistleblower leaking internal FEMA communications to the Daily Wire after they were ordered to avoid residences displaying items supporting President-elect Trump's candidacy. //

The supervisor who, in imitation of an episode of The Wire, documented a criminal conspiracy to violate the civil rights of Trump voters, has confirmed in television interviews on two occasions, the last being today, that what she did was carry out agency policy. According to her, workers were told to treat the homes of Trump supporters as though there were vicious dogs on those properties. //

charlie
an hour ago
This behavior is reminiscent of Hitler's treatment of Jews, gays, and gypsies. Yet we on the right are called fascists, and Trump is called Hitler. Seems to me there is a tremendous amount of projection in the thinking and behavior of the left. If there had been rainbow signs in those yards rather than Trump signs, the left would be exploding with rage. Why isnt this behavior considered a "hate crime" and punished as such? IMO, the FEMA employees who crafted and implemented this 'rabid dog' policy should be facing 25 to life sentences

In its Tuesday night hit piece on Hegseth, authors Joe Gould, Robbie Gramer, Paul McLeary, Connor O’Brien, and Jack Detsch published critical remarks from an anonymous defense lobbyist, who gave the game away by lamenting how the Trump nominee isn’t embedded in D.C.’s military-industrial complex.

“Who the f-ck is this guy?” the source reportedly said. The lobbyist wanted “someone who actually has an extensive background in defense. That would be a good start.”

The authors went on to fearmonger that Hegseth’s nomination “will do little to quell fears inside the Pentagon” that the former president will select a defense secretary who agrees with his agenda — something presidents have been doing for centuries. They also noted, “Trump’s campaign trail rhetoric has primed fears that his second term could see a swift and divisive overhaul at the Pentagon.”

Got that? The left’s problem with Hegseth isn’t that he’s a Fox News commentator. It’s that he’s someone from outside the incestuous government-defense contractor system who actually cares about the men and women in uniform. //

For all of their unhinged outrage about his nomination, Hegseth understands the biggest problems plaguing the military better than the Democrats and media hacks calling him “unqualified.”

During his recent interview with fellow veteran Shawn Ryan, the Army veteran eloquently explained how the sole purpose of the military should be winning wars — not conducting left-wing social experiments. He further chastised the Pentagon bureaucracy for its ineptitude and detailed the ongoing threat that Red China poses to the United States and the global security environment. //

For the left, Hegseth’s biggest crime is his willingness to buck the corrupt system that’s been allowed to fester in D.C. for decades. Unlike many of his predecessors, he understands that the men and women who wear the uniform are devoted human beings and not pawns in a geopolitical chess match that can be cast aside to fulfill the wants of the Pentagon blob that’s shepherded Washington’s failed foreign policy for decades.

His outsider status makes him a threat to the bureaucratic rot infecting the highest levels of the military. And that’s the reason he’s the perfect man for the job.

Early in his third presidential campaign, Donald Trump vowed to establish a “Truth and Reconciliation Commission” to “declassify and publish all documents on Deep State spying, censorship, and abuses of power.” The phrase “Truth and Reconciliation” recalls bodies established to investigate abuses by toppled Communist regimes such as East Germany’s, or the former apartheid government of South Africa. The framing suggests that Trump views the entire past decade, from “Russiagate” to the “lawfare” cases entangling himself and his advisers, as the fruits of an illegitimate regime that threw the rule of law out the window.

This interpretation of recent history, surely viewed as partisan by Trump’s opponents, will be tested by the facts, once they become better known and documented. But the president-elect’s suggestion that the workings of the U.S. government must be more transparent is long overdue. //

It is high time for a serious overhaul of classification procedures, with the appointment of a presidential “task force” of the kind suggested in the Classification Reform for Transparency Act (which still awaits passage). President Obama’s Executive Order 13526 of 2009 limited classification times for ordinary records to 10 years and established a cap of 25 years for more sensitive files. But the nine telltale “exemptions” were left in place, allowing security agencies to continue stonewalling — while adding massively to the vault of our nation’s secrets.

If we streamline exemptions to a few simple categories such as “sources at risk,” private data of living citizens, and military-technological and trade secrets and shorten classification to a single presidential term of four years (e.g., to prevent an opposition party from mining recent presidential files for use in election campaigns), we could exponentially reduce the expense of classification going forward and restore public trust in Washington, D.C. — not least by putting a healthy fear into our public servants that they cannot abuse their powers and get away with it.

Meanwhile, why not declassify all U.S. government files more than 25 years old? If a strict exemption threshold is met, government agencies could still redact personal data or trade or military secrets — but the files themselves should be opened. Rather than require citizens and historians to pry information out of Washington via FOIA applications, the burden of classification should be placed where it belongs — on the government.

Files should be open to the public unless otherwise specified, not secret by default. We the people have a right to know what our government does in our name, and to know our own history.

The analyst claimed during a discussion with the Committee and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government that the Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF) division of the FBI was using the tool to "search open-source databases about content indicative of criminal conduct."

“According to the analyst’s testimony, the FBI uses this tool to monitor social media posts by users, regardless of whether the users are American citizens or foreign actors, to search for ‘content indicative of criminal conduct,'” Jordan wrote. //

House Judiciary Committee Republicans posted a copy of the letter on X asking, "Was the FBI using a software tool to spy on you during election season?"

"Seems like it," they concluded. //

Americans will recognize this example of the FBI spreading its tentacles of election interference into social media and squeezing the hell out of free speech as the norm, not an exception.

They tipped the scales of the 2020 presidential election by intimidating Facebook and Twitter (now X) to censor stories regarding the New York Post's bombshell Hunter Biden laptop story.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg dropped jaws by admitting Facebook throttled information about the laptop scandal in the days leading up to that election thanks in part to the FBI coming to them with a message having all the subtleties of a mob boss meeting.

I look forward to Elon and Vivek making changes to the Federal Bureaucracy with an eye on efficiency and, at the same time, making life better for all Americans. Importantly, we will drive out the massive waste and fraud which exists throughout our annual $6.5 Trillion Dollars of Government Spending. They will work together to liberate our Economy, and make the U.S. Government accountable to “WE THE PEOPLE.” Their work will conclude no later than July 4, 2026 - A smaller Government, with more efficiency and less bureaucracy, will be the perfect gift to America on the 250th Anniversary of The Declaration of Independence. I am confident they will succeed!

The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit summarily vaporized 46 years of Federal environmental regulations. Writing in a case called Marin Audubon Society, et al v. FAA, et al, the majority of a three-judge panel ruled that the Council on Environmental Quality, a cabal inside the Executive Office of the President charged with ensuring that National Environmental Protection Act requirements are interpreted uniformly across the federal government, had illegally used the Federal Register to publish that guidance thereby giving citizens, agencies, and even the courts the impression that their internal guidance had the authority of law. //

The CEQ regulations, which purport to govern how all federal agencies must comply with the National Environmental Policy Act, are ultra vires.

Ultra vires means the CEQ was acting "beyond the legal scope of it authority."

The court goes on to detail the shenanigans by which an advisory body with no regulatory authority was able to write environmental regulations for the entire United States for nearly a half-century just because it decided it could.

Making the case even more awesome is that it was set off by enviro-wackos suing the FAA for allowing sightseeing flights near some national parks. The enviros claimed the FAA used the wrong standard established by the CEQ to permit the flight. They ended up being right in a backhanded kind of way. //

frylock234
13 hours ago
I love the smell of bureaucracy burning in the morning. Which windows do I leave open to enjoy that scent? Do you think Mrs. Walz would know?

During the response to Hurricane Helene, there were numerous stories of late or nonexistent federal response to heavily Republican areas in western North Carolina. //

Despite this driving the "fact checkers" bonkers, the allegation clearly merits revisiting.

As I posted Saturday, the odds of a low-level part-time FEMA employee creating a policy to deprive Trump supporters of federal assistance and violate federal law in the process seem remote. The fact that Trump supporters were refused federal aid in Florida and that Trump had heard about the same happening in North Carolina suggests a more comprehensive FEMA policy aimed at displacing Trump supporters either for purposes of the 2024 election or to destroy conservative communities permanently.

Firing Marn'i Washington looks and smells like a cover-up. //

Political-Paige
14 hours ago
My family has a home in WNC, and we've been actively involved in purchasing & trucking in supplies, organizing distribution centers, & getting critical needs to trapped & suffering residents.
We've been doing it for over a month.
On the ground. Daily.
I can tell you that, outside of deep, deep Blue Asheville, FEMA has been nowhere. They've done nothing. Unless you're a Dem voter, you were just left -- I mean this literally -- to die.
ALL of the rescues were by private groups. ALL of the donations outside Asheville were by private groups. ALL of the donations that actually got to anyone were the ones that avoided FEMA confiscation. ALL of the on-going efforts --- the supplies, the housing, the road clearing, the cadaver dogs --- are still by private groups.
If you think this one leftist lunatic punishing Trump supporters in FL is a scandal, I invite you to talk to the residents of WNC.
She's the tip of a very ugly iceberg.

Deplorable Extraordinarius Political-Paige
12 hours ago
There’s an old saying that personnel is policy. I’m skeptical that we’ll find the memo that directed this or that a whistleblower will come forward who will indict people higher up. But I’m absolutely of the belief that the Deep State very much hires for political orientation. A little joke followed by a wink and nod during the interview process is all it takes. And then you get the same thing we saw during the 2020 election. Hundreds of operatives who all believe they are bravely resisting fascism by working against Trump and his supporters. And who, precisely, do we have to thank for this? The MSM and the educational establishment. Time to push back against their BS and go after the root cause. //

frylock234 Political-Paige
13 hours ago
That squares with what I've been hearing from someone I know a bit who's gone in to WNC with an aid group and who has been on the ground there helping. //

anon-fjor
12 hours ago
We live here in Bat Cave, NC. FEMA was no help. Actually, they were a hinderance, proving once again the 9 scariest words you'll ever hear: "we're from the Government and we're here to help." Everything Political-Paige said is true. Here's some news that you might not have heard .....all the people that came here to help were all volunteers from all over and every one of them that we worked with was armed. Order was kept. There were a few instances of looting or attempted looting but they were thwarted. Thank you all for helping us. You're loved and we thank GOD we live in America. MAGA forever. //

Pittiemom anon-fjor
4 hours ago
The Cajun Navy, the Mule Packers, the WV coal miners and so many more citizens have brought help and hope to so many forgotten folks, and they’ve saved lives. I have NO doubt that all the horror stories we have heard about FEMA’s actions in NC are true. //

wvcitizen
11 hours ago
The Samaritans Purse and other volunteers took over from FEMA. Proud WV coal miners made a road in a week that the bureaucrats said it would take a year. Volunteers flew in supplies and a mule train took supplies to stranded people. Meanwhile, the volunteers got rotor washed by National Guard helicopters. The people in East Palestine are still suffering from the disaster. FEMA appears to be another agency for a complete makeover and cost reduction.

anon-ybry wvcitizen
8 hours ago
Just cost reduction. To zero. //

ConservativeInMinnesota
9 hours ago
It takes a rampant culture of corruption for leaders to openly tell their staff to commit felonies. Something like that doesn't happen in isolation. There needs to be an investigation by the OIG to see how widespread this corruption is. How many people were deprived of their rights? //

anon-cdoc
8 hours ago
First - one of the things that absolutely fascinates me about Donald Trump is his ability to come up with something that seems far-fetched/conspiratorial, etc., then the next thing you know - IT'S TRUE!!!

Second - there is not a question in my mind that the federal workers/Biden administration would do this. I have never seen an administration so willing to punish 'the other side' as this administration. Not so blatantly... //

BJW WE did it 😂‼️
13 hours ago
Knowing Biden and who heads FEMA, would it even be much of a surprise? We all SAW and learned from friends or family in the area of the invisible FEMA workers. Thanks to Samaritans Purse and Trump and Musk and NONE from the D governor, people got help asap. NO thanks to FEMA, washed out bridges were not repaired even temporarily, whole communities were cut off totally from any help. Thanks to medical personnel ON HORSES some help got out while FEMA did what? Is it so out there to think this Marn'I Washington, AKA Mary Ann Adams, RN, was just acting in her own hate? No one questioned the order! As if it was just business as usual. //

anon-201n
12 hours ago
In the last 60 years, the Democrat party has gone from seemingly helping the common man to dictating what all should follow. The GOP, in contrast, has changed from the country club supporters (Rockefeller republicans) to helping the common person. The Democrats constantly tell us what to think and what policies the masses should support. The authoritarian streak in the Dems now is pretty frightening. This FEMA incident, plus many of the Obama/Biden administration, are so typical of this Dem mindset. And to that mindset, Trump is a real threat so hence the unhinged responses to his win.

Daily Wire @realDailyWire
·
EXCLUSIVE: Internal messages obtained by The Daily Wire show a FEMA official ordered relief workers in Florida not to help houses with Trump signs
4:28 PM · Nov 8, 2024. //

FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell announced the firing of a FEMA manager who ordered her staff not to assist residents displaying flags or yard signs supporting President-elect Donald Trump's campaign. Using a Saturday afternoon message on the social media platform "X," formerly known as Twitter, Criswell acknowledged the veracity of the report that first appeared in the Daily Wire (see OUTRAGE: FEMA Workers Working Hurricane Milton Aftermath Ordered to Bypass Houses With Trump Signs). This follows a report that the responsible official was "removed" from their position on Friday. //

Firing is a necessary but not sufficient step.

First, this announcement does not appear on FEMA's website in any form other than a tweet. It seems to me that this should rate some sort of an official statement.

Second, Washington's message does not give the impression that she came up with it independently. In my opinion, it looks very much like a safety briefing she took down at a meeting.

Third, firing her and referring the case to the Office of Special Counsel looks more like an exercise in butt-covering and scapegoating than concern about her actions.

Fourth, while her actions may be viewed as just the petty tyranny we've come to expect from a highly politicized federal bureaucracy, depriving citizens of federal assistance because they supported a major party candidate is a violation of multiple federal laws. FEMA seems to be attempting to appear to take action until the heat dies down. Fortunately, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis isn't going along to get along. //

At a minimum, all staff working under her supervisory chain need to be questioned about the instructions they received. It is entirely possible that Washington was the only team leader dim enough to write down and disseminate something meant to be unsaid. In fact, it is unbelievable that this was not FEMA policy in that area. A thorough investigation that results in firing everyone involved with this policy is not enough. Asses need to go to jail. //

Dutchsinse @RealDutchsinse
·
In their own words this is illegal Mr. Desantis .. see here!!!! https://dhs.gov/civil-rights-emergencies-and-disasters

Political discrimination during disasters is also covered under the law confirmed. Screenshot from DHS site directly attached.
5:12 AM · Nov 9, 2024

What government does for anyone, it must do for everyone or it must do for no one. That's a pretty good, basic principle of good government; sadly, it's not always handled that way, and a bureaucrat with a political agenda can hurt a lot of people.

Case in point: On Friday we reported on the case of a FEMA supervisor who, in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton's damaging pass across Florida, ordered aid workers to bypass homes bearing Trump signs or flags. This was called a "best practice.". //

We can now report that the supervisor in question has been "removed from the role." //

This is an unforgivable breach of trust. In any disaster recovery operation like this, bypassing any citizens because of their political affiliation should be dealt with more harshly than just "removing them" from the role - dismissal would be indicated, right? //

[James Comer] "FEMA admits this happened but doesn’t say if the bureaucrat responsible has been fired," the House Oversight Committee wrote on X. "Democrats relentlessly defend the rules that insulate unelected bureaucrats from accountability and make it nearly impossible to fire bad employees. This is why we need President Trump’s reforms to make bureaucrats accountable." //

SWA ct
13 minutes ago
A DEI hire, she needs more than a reassignment. A nice term In Federal Prison is a good place to start. And all the ones that obeyed her illegal orders need to be fired.

“For all you stupid f*cks out there that still believe military service will be voluntary. Remember Germany 1936.” //

Selective Service @SSS_gov
·
Yesterday an inappropriate X post related to a mandatory draft was reposted on the Selective Service Agency’s X account. We are investigating this incident to determine how this happened and are proactively taking steps to prevent this from happening in the future. The reposted… Show more
10:25 AM · Nov 7, 2024. //

DaveGinOly in reply to inspectorudy. | November 7, 2024 at 4:17 pm
A POTUS’ authority to conduct the business of the United States (executive authority) is delegated down the chain of command. A POTUS can rescind that authority from any non-compliant agency, agency office, agency official, or employee. Those so divested of authority to act in the stead of the POTUS would no longer be able to access government networks or classified documents, authorize spending/purchasing, nor to conduct any government business. They will still be employed, they will still be paid. But they will only be able to twiddle their thumbs. Congress will have no say in this. An attempt to meddle with the POTUS’ authority to grant/rescind delegations of executive authority would be a violation of the separation of powers. //

CommoChief in reply to inspectorudy. | November 7, 2024 at 4:44 pm
Yep. Reassigned to Ice Station Zebra in the Arctic Circle to help count snowflakes as part of an ‘interagency TF’. They can always resign instead….

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of this new report involves the FBI sources who admit that they're worried about Elon Musk coming in and cleaning house as well.

Trump made a campaign promise vowing to create a government efficiency commission to audit the entire federal government. Musk would reportedly lead the effort.

One source tells the Times that cutting waste at the FBI will naturally lead to a massive reduction in staff, because the waste is everywhere in this partisan cesspool.

“When he tries to do efficiency at headquarters, the place is going to have five people … if he’s talking about a lot of dead weight,” they said, according to Picket.

“Try to find a person that’s actually working,” they continued, suggesting the FBI is clearly "bloated." //

pat
17 minutes ago
Those that agree to testify about FBI corruption, malfeasance and misfeasance and bring receipts, can stay.

Graham Allen @GrahamAllen_1
·
This was the greatest interview EVER!

JOE ROGAN: “Did you just float out the idea of getting rid of income taxes and replacing it with tariffs? — Were you serious about that?”

DONALD TRUMP: “Sure, why not?”

8:26 AM · Oct 26, 2024 //

Trump went into American political history to explain why tariffs are a better source of government revenue than a system such as an income tax on citizens. The American Founders agreed.

They debated and soundly rejected a federal income tax system, opting instead in 1789 to institute an ad valorem tariff on “all articles of foreign manufacture” as the sole mechanism for funding the federal government. The Tariff Revenue Act of 1789 was the very first law on the books of the very first Congress. That’s why a constitutional amendment was required in 1913 just to make an income tax system legal in this country. //

The income tax system has fueled a monstrous expansion of federal power and created a military-industrial complex that is insatiable in its quest for control of global resources to keep itself in power. This complex seeks to destroy the last vestiges of our Founding system in favor of a globalist “New World Order” and will destroy or even kill anyone who stands in its way — including Trump.

Tariffs Mind America’s Business
Our founders, by contrast, sought not an empire, but a peaceful commercial republic. Our national purpose was to avoid at all costs foreign entanglements that made us vulnerable to the whims of foreign powers.

The tariff revenue system, they reasoned, achieved that. It also met their two major domestic objectives: 1) it was sufficient to obtain the annual revenue for a very limited but fully functional federal government, and 2) it is by far the least oppressive option for Americans.

Indiana's Constitution includes a list of officials who could temporarily become governor in the event the position is vacant due to death or other inability to serve. This list is called the line of succession.

This fall, voters will see Public Question #1 on the ballot, which asks Hoosiers to update the line of succession.

The Indiana Constitution currently lists seven officials in the line of succession:

1. Lieutenant Governor
2. Speaker of the House
3. Senate President Pro Tempore
4. State Treasurer
5. State Auditor
6. Secretary of State
7. State Superintendent of Public Instruction

The language listing the State Superintendent in the line of succession is left over from the era when Indiana had an elected State Superintendent, but now the governor appoints the head of the Department of Education in the same way other heads of agencies and departments are appointed.

Since Indiana no longer elects a State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and the position no longer exists, Public Question #1 proposes removing this office from the line of succession for the governor's office. This proposed amendment leaves the other six offices in the line of succession the same as they are today and ensures that every person serving in the emergency line of succession for governor is someone who has been publicly elected by Hoosiers.

But since when did Democrats become pro-war? Why would they defend someone like Liz Cheney, who ostensibly represented everything they claim to despise?

The answer is simple: They only pretend to be antiwar when it suits them. If they can score a few cheap political points against their most hated political opponent, they will welcome every single bloodthirsty warmonger with open arms. //

GreenLanternMD
2 hours ago
I remember reading that, after Clinton was elected following 12 years of Reagan and Bush, one leftist looked out on some troops and said, “Those are ours now,” and realizing that they really weren’t really antiwar at all. In the same sense, leftists hated the CIA and FBI until they were in charge.

The upshot is that leftists and neocons are authoritarians, more alike than different, consolidating behind Harris and (God forbid) Walz, while the free speech, antiwar, and now MAHA Democrats and MAGA Republicans and embracing a more skeptical paleolibertarian view of government. It’s a realignment that has needed to happen for a century.

Appalachian Liberty
@Liberty_Xtreme
·
Follow
A group of coal miners from West Virginia have finished building a road from Big Chimney in under a week.

A road that North Carolina Government Officials said would take several months to a year for them to do. #appalachianstrong
4:45 AM · Oct 26, 2024. //

Men doing the work. Celebrities doing the complaining. The contrast cannot be clearer. I admit that I don’t know the politics of those West Virginians, and I don’t know who they are voting for president, but I think I can make an educated guess. Is there any doubt that an EPA hack will step in soon and demand that the Big Chimney terrain be returned to a mass of boulders because the coal miners didn't pull permits and didn't get an environmental study? //

NavyVet Blue State Deplorable
7 hours ago
I don't think EPA will try to do anything; they see the Trump Train a'coming down the track, so they are too busy scrambling and trying to burrow in somewhere. The last thing they want to do is make public asses of themselves right now.

Joe Swyers
12 hours ago
The following was written by Robert Teesdale decades ago.
I've not found it again on the net, yet. Maybe others here more adept at internet sleuthing
So I post it in full here. Please pass it along.
Maybe the censors got to it -- and you will see why when you read it.

Coming Trials
There are moments when one is chilled... when one feels the truth of a spoken word, or a gesture - or when one hears with the heart, and not merely with the imperfection of the ears.
Such a moment came to pass in my own life, many years ago.
It was a lingering summer in southern Ohio, hot and dusty and lazy in the dying afternoon. I sat in a small-town barbershop, having my hair cut and trading quiet conversation with the locals.
The conversation turned to hunting, and then to guns - and as always, to the inherent rights of our people which have always been held as a bulwark against the natural tyranny of Men.
We discussed the latest gun-control laws, and how they infringed upon those same rights. We spoke of the anger we each felt. Of the simple wrongness of it, and of the consequences of this progression.
Our words were carefully chosen - for even then, before the ascension of William Clinton to the presidency and the disgusting abrogations of freedom that followed - we were aware that such talk amongst the People was not approved of.
It was dangerous, we knew. Seditious. Militias ran amok, and the force of the law waited with eager anticipation to intervene.
Young and old, we sat there. Talking. Sharing our thoughts quietly... and asking each other where it was leading.
Someone said with a shake of the head, "I don't like where this is headed." We all nodded agreement... and then I sat in sorrowed fear as I heard the next words spoken.
An old man, sitting in a leather-and-steel chair by the entrance, leaned over and spat grimly into the dust of the Midwest that blew gently along the road outside. His words were cold, and contained a sad and unmistakable finality.
"It's coming," he said.
We all fell silent.
....

Our people are marching in the streets, demanding justice - and demanding that our rights be respected, lest they be defended by more than merely passionate arguments.
Men are no longer afraid to speak their minds. The power of fear that was held over those who dared to give voice to their patriotism has subsided... and now it is openly asked in our homes, in our shops and in our places of work.
What will happen when that line is crossed?
For there is no longer any question that it has been drawn... and no longer a question of whether to draw it was right.
In this day, when I speak to people and hear their words... when I look into their eyes and take their hands in my own - the question is no longer if revolution is possible, or if it could be done.
The questions now are how...
...and who will lead.
I fear for our nation.
For we stand at the brink. And those who bring us there, with a blind faith in their own special privilege and a dismissive contempt for the rights of the People - ignore the fearful resolve that burns within the breasts of millions of souls that will not acquiesce.
Our nation is not immune to civil war. It is not immune to the deadly and horrific strife of citizen against citizen... of brother against brother, of fathers leading sons against cousins.
There are ninety million firearm owners in America. Such a serpent should bear respecting... rather than used as a convenient scapegoat for the hypocritical lashes of those who seek to rule this nation.
And how close are we?
I see leaders arising. And rather than exhorting men to action, I see them working desperately to pacify.
I do not see them urging the loading of rifles... but rather a waiting, and a pleading for more patience and faith in the power of the vote to preserve our freedom.
I see them working to prevent bloodshed, not to instigate it. And this ominous sight fills me with foreboding.
We are not trying to create a revolution.
We are trying to stop one.
I hope that old man was wrong.
But in my heart, a sorrowed chill lingers.