Let's Pause on Epstein and Consider Reconciliation
Congress is not giving up the power of the purse to vest all power in the Executive
As the concept of non-partisan civil service is under attack as seen through a desire for loyalty oaths, there is much about which to be concerned. Oaths to support the Constitution are a long-standing tradition and generally considered constitutional, however, oaths that go beyond this, particularly those targeting specific political beliefs or affiliations, can face legal challenges. Without demanding one, it seems patently clear that if this administration cannot force people to bend the knee to the Felon, they will simply fire them. Case in point: Maureen Comey, a prosecutor in the Jeffrey Epstein cases and the daughter of the former F.B.I. director James Comey, was abruptly fired by the Trump administration.
The real leader of this crazy reconciliation process is Russel Vought, the Felon’s budget chief, and as I have incessantly reported, a primary author of Project 2025. It seems that for whatever reason, or whatever deal the Felon made, it is this guy that is running the country. He has publicly claimed that nobody voted for a bipartisan appropriations process, which is his way of saying Fuck You to anyone who didn’t vote for the Felon. He has said some of the slimiest things, including, but not limited to, talking about wanting “to have very good relationships with all Republican appropriators—or Democrat appropriators, if they conduct themselves with decorum. But as for Republican appropriators, I want to have a great relationship with them. We’re going to disagree at times, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a very good relationship, and I do, in fact, have a good relationship with them.” I am happy to translate, it’s my way or the highway, or for the less civil, fuck you, we won.
There are some on the GOP side, perhaps only Senators Murkowski and Collins, that are concerned about the practice of sending rescission packages to Congress that cut chunks out of their previously negotiated spending. What is the fear? That it will lead to a further-diminished role for the Congress that has the power of the purse, but seems willing to let the Executive overrule that body. Vought likes to attack the concept of bipartisanship making false, or at least spurious claims that the country is deeply in debt and we cannot continue to run the country on continuing resolutions. His solution is to have a partisan appropriations process, but that is because of who controls Congress. At such time as the Democrats gain control, Russell will certainly sing another tune.
If you haven’t figured out that this administration has as its primary goal to strip our country down to an all powerful executive, then you haven’t been paying attention. Whatever Donny wants, Donny gets, although in this case I don’t think any of us can be sure that the Felon knows what he wants, but he know with the Project 2025 people want and he has bought in hook line and sinker. Over the past few days Trump’s public facing comments are going deeper and deeper into something well beyond word salad. Watch any comments he has made over the past couple of months and you have to ask WTF was he talking about?! I am not sure of relevance of this to anything other than the Felon’s grasp on reality, but the Felon made a claim during one of many off-the-cuff moments earlier this week at a roundtable with business leaders in Pittsburgh, (when he wasn’t falling asleep…Sleepy Donny T?) where he touted tech and brought up his uncle, who taught electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for 37 years; "There is very little difference between a madman and a genius. But Kaczynski … I said, 'What kind of a student was he, Uncle John? Dr. John Trump, what kind of student?'….He said, 'Seriously? Good.' He would go around correcting everybody.' But it didn't work out too well," Trump claimed. Uh, okay, but John Trump died in 1985, long before Kaczynski was identified as the Unabomber or in the public discourse."Kaczynski was one of his students," Trump claimed. "Do you know who Kaczynski was?" Not to have to go fact checking, but Kaczynski attended Harvard University and the University of Michigan.
In moving around appropriated money because it is directed at too woke of programs, like foreign aid and public broadcasting, the geniuses following the Vought leadership, have taken a less than 1 percent savings to the budget. But what about rural area and Native American lands that rely on public broadcasting for news and alerts? And if we cut foreign aid, does anyone think that China will not rush in and fund those programs? This is some of the most foolish fiscal policy I could ever imagine. Moreover, the absurd increased funding for ICE makes it clear that this country wants to support overt racism. This is not a color blind policy, this is straight up racism.
ICE is now detaining at least 60,000 people, which is almost 45 percent above the capacity provided for by Congress. Detainees in at least seven states are complaining of overcrowding, food shortages, and hunger. The stories coming out of Alligator Alcatraz may be even more alarming, and with this giant windfall, more of those so called detention centers will be opened. If anyone actually thinks that they are stops until deportation, then I think you don’t understand the level of evil at play. Might freedom be offered after some number of years working in the fields for the government; I mean the Bible says you can have slaves, but they get freed after 6 years (Deuteronomy 15:12-18). Could the government look to create an indentured servitude class to provide free labor? It is not unthinkable.
All of the existing camps, and the ones to be built with the money provided in the Big Boondoggle, are run by private contractors who evidently don’t care about conditions in the camps. DOGE cuts to the independent watchdog within the Department of Homeland Security means even fewer means of complaining about inhumane conditions will be available.
What may be worse that the pursuit of racist programming is the way that the Felon and his enablers and followers refuse to acknowledge the Constitution. Secretary Noem-nothing famously had no idea what habeas corpus was. She tried to tell a US Senator that it was a president’s prerogative to ignore. Others in Congress are actually trying to say that the due process rights in our Constitution do not apply to “illegals.” Nowhere in the 5th or 14th Amendments to the Constitution does the word “citizen” appear. It is due process that separates us from police states where people can be grabbed off the streets and held without charges or a right to counsel, let along getting a shot at judicial process. It is exactly what Pee Wee German has authorized in America.
The hypocrisy knows no limits. While Trump prevents people from many countries from coming here because it’s too dangerous to allow people from those countries into the United States, somehow it’s totally safe to send people to their prisons. Was this another great deal whereby taking the deportees would obviate the travel ban? Thanks to the the Supreme Court blocking a lower court order, via the shadow docket, requiring immigrants to have a reasonable chance to challenge their deportations, we can expect more human rights violations. Now, people can be deported to any random country of Trump’s liking with as little as 6 hours notice, and even the outside window of 24 hours is insufficient..
As if trying to deport 3,000 undocumented people a day wasn’t evil enough, especially, as almost none where the bad guys the Felon kept taking about getting rid of (phew, those dogs and cats in Ohio must be happy), now more than 50,000 Hondurans and Nicaraguans are staring down the loss of their legal status. The administration is on a warpath to seek to end their protections, in place since the Clinton era, under the temporary protected status program, or TPS. The Department of Homeland Security said that because “conditions have improved” in Honduras and Nicaragua, it is ending the program for natives of those countries in early September. These are people that have been here for decades, working hard, raising families, following the law. About 72,000 Hondurans and 4,000 Nicaraguans have temporary protections, although roughly 22,100 of them have received green cards, according to the Department of Homeland Security, and therefore will be able to stay….for now. Reports are that millions of people could lose protected status and work authorizations.
What happened to the greeting to and promise of America: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free." It is no longer what we stand for here in America. It is anathema to the racist mob in control of our country. If you are a person of color, someone with a different political philosophy than the cult, or not a Christian, beware. Yes, my fellow Jews, beware. The is a faith meeting in DC lead by a guy named Ralph Drollinger that has people very high up in our government attending that follows his teaching that Jews killed Jesus. This is a teaching that lead to the Inquisition and many other terrors against the Jews throughout history. So, if any of my brethren believe we are safe, stop kidding yourselves.
Get up. Stand up.