K-9

I didn’t say anything about our involvement being OK or not. I merely point out the reality of the situation. As for my take on the middle east, every historian who has researched the subject agrees, so I’m in good company with my shortsighted and uninformed take. Tell me, what scholars agree with your take that SS is an infringement on your personal freedom? As far as I know SS never denied anyone medical care like GOP laws do. It never sought to deny people the right to marry like the GOP is seeking to do. Nor did SS ever seek to deny certain people the right to serve in the military. Those are just a few example of actual personal freedoms under attack by radical right wing politicians. Do you feel that all taxes infringe upon your personal freedoms? So if I understand your point in your third paragraph, it’s not OK for the US to protect its interests abroad? When USAID was created in an attempt to thwart the USSR’s efforts to exert influence and spread their brand of communism, was that not important? Are you paying attention to the efforts by China and Russia to gain footholds worldwide? The other side is wrong because they are doing things that are not in accordance with our Constitution. Sometimes there is only ONE side and that’s the side that stands by our Constitution and the rule of law instead of seeing it trampled like it is now by a party whose leader wishes to see it “terminated” as he came right out and said. It saddens me to see so many who are OK with that.

Ah, the sweet taste of radical right wing propaganda. When it comes to a thirst for confirmation bias, nothing quenches it better than a steaming pile of radical right wing propaganda. Yummy.

That DOGE staff is just full of the best people, from avowed racists to young punks with ties to Russian websites. Yeah, let’s give these guys access to the most sensitive government data bases. https://www.wired.com/story/edward-coristine-tesla-sexy-path-networks-doge/

Isn’t Karmanos the GM in Rochester the last few years? May not be an opening there. Hey, maybe Karmanos and Adams can switch positions.

So Musk and his team of Gen Z post (or possibly pre from the looks of them) pubescent engineer geniuses only needed three weeks to uncover 3 trillion dollars in mis-spent funds while nobody in the history of these agencies, from internal and external audits to inspectors general whose job it is to investigate such waste, with all the sophisticated technological tools to assist in those efforts, never even noticed? Horse. Crap. Another dog and pony show for people who have to believe it’s all true to satisfy their confirmation bias.

Perhaps the most short-sighted and uninformed take on the social security program I’ve ever read. Safe to say we have no more to discuss on that subject. Our involvement in the middle east was solidified when the new border lines were drawn by the British and French after WWI. That will only change when oil becomes an antiquated energy source and the other petroleum products we derive from it can be made from other sources. Good luck with that, world. Many middle eastern countries don’t accept ours or any other foreign presence. Others welcome it. And it’s not that we are attempting to control their very existence, it’s that it’s extremely important to our interests to prevent other hostile/adversarial countries from exerting influence. Ironically, we can thank USAID for that as that has been their mission since it’s inception in 1961.

It’s ironic that the funding for the future terrorist’s education was provided under a Republican administration.

Not impressed in the least.

Perhaps Pamela Brown should revisit how the Regan administration armed and funded Osama Bin Laden and the Mujaideen, many of whom became the Taliban. Or how they backed Sadam Hussein in his war against Iran. We don’t have a crystal ball to see which current enemies of my enemy won’t come back to haunt us. You make your best assessments of a situation at the time when it’s critical to make them. Brown’s article is just an example of 20/20 hindsight armchair quarterbacking with the intent to frame a narrative in order to convince us that everything Musk or Rubio or cheeto man says about USAID is the gospel truth. It’s 1930s Europe all over again. One would think history informs us. Apparently not.

I won’t believe ANYTHING that comes out of the mouths of Trump, Musk, Rubio, or any other GOP politician without actual PROOF.

Good luck following the action with Dunleavey doing the PbP.

You can’t stop something that hasn’t been implemented and while everyone and their mother knew Trump was gonna implement the Project 2025 playbook (even though he knew nothing about it (yeah, right)), upon his potential inauguration, there was nothing to be done until it became a reality. As I’ve said previously, there are multiple lawsuits already followed with more on the way. And I don’t give a crap about approval ratings and I don’t belong to the Democratic party. Having a convicted felon as president who has no compunction about trampling on the Constitution and the rule of law is all I’m concerned about. It’s a shame many of my fellow Americans aren’t.

It’s uncanny how the Sabres so often serve as the “get right” team for struggling opponents.

That’s a total bull$hit stat. We are being conditioned to make social security the enemy. Then again, I was told in this very forum that social security is an infringement on one’s personal freedoms, so apparently some already do think SS is a bad thing and are already conditioned to accept Musk’s findings without question.

In 2023, Japan’s investment in the US was $783.3b so, once again, Trump’s boast lacks luster. And it ain’t so much Japan “avoiding tariffs” as it is the American consumer. Why are so many people OK with Trump’s threats to impose higher costs on us when we already have high inflation? Makes zero sense.

Offset language in their contracts is usually boilerplate for coaches. If a fired head coach takes a job or position that pays less, the difference is made up by his former employer. If the new position pays equal or more than previously, then his former employer is off the hook.

Agreed. We don’t really need another Bryson.

Musk certainly isn’t alone as the “kill the beast” ideology has been around for a long time and arch-conservative GOPers have been seeking to undue FDR’s New Deal policies since they were enacted. And profit Musk and others will. Their next big target is the Dept. of Education as they’ve been looking to privatize that for years now. It won’t save taxpayers a penny as they will just put the nearly $50b budget into private pockets while at the same time lowering standards and attracting less capable people to administer and teach at public education institutions. And let’s look forward to science being edged out in favor of delusional fundamental religious dogma.

I’d rather give Novikov a taste.

It’s good to take media messages with a grain of salt. But facts are facts, regardless of who is reporting them, which touches upon a huge issue I have in our current hyper-partisan environment among us electorate and that is to base truth upon our political leanings. Left, right, or center the truth is the truth no matter how uncomfortable it may be for us to accept and it should AWAYS be country before party. We have an epidemic of cognitive dissonance in our country and the cure, I suspect, will be uncomfortable for many.

Senators of both parties often give false information on the Senate floor, either knowingly or unknowingly, which I believe is the case most of the time. Perjury doesn’t apply as they aren’t under oath to tell the truth anyway, which is good for Trump who is the biggest liar imaginable. I attached an interesting article on Musk and his DOGE (well, interesting to those of us who still care about the Constitution and the rule of law, anyway). I particularly appreciated the info on why USAID was created. That reminder underscored for me how the agency is more important than ever given China’s efforts to buy influence around the world the last couple decades. https://newrepublic.com/article/191141/musk-government-takeover-supreme-court But let’s be honest, oligarchs, regardless of where they’re from, don’t give a crap about China’s or any other friend or foe’s influence around the world as they will continue to do business and make billions with those countries, anyway.

All due respect to Senator Kennedy, but all federal agencies’ spending is reviewed each month by the non-partisan CBO, who then issue their monthly reports on federal spending. Because these monthly reports are based on figures given to them by the Treasury Dept., I suspect the aim of Musk as it is in Project 2025, is to impugn the validity of the Treasury reports by accusing various agencies of all sorts of “fraud and corruption”, which he offers ZERO proof of as yet btw, as a pretense for eliminating those various agencies. But they have to create the propaganda narrative first. It’s a time-honored chapter in their fascist playbook.

Per the bold, do you think DOGE is the first and only government entity charged with rooting out corruption and fraud in various government agencies? Do you find it mere coincidence that Trump summarily fired 17 Inspectors General (illegally I might add) before sicking DOGE on various agencies? Do you also find it ironic and hypocritical that the sitting Senator from Florida was the CEO of a company convicted of 14 felony counts of defrauding medicare, medicaid, and other government agencies?

How is Musk breaking the law you ask? Some food for thought: https://www.vox.com/politics/398618/elon-musk-doge-illegal-lawbreaking-analysis