Friends, Trump's show trials may be over, for now, but in a sense his fate, and our nation's too, is no less vulnerable to judicial overreach, obstructionism, and abuse. That's because court challenges are about the only (legal) tool that the Dems have left to slow down the Trump train, which, as we've all found out in the last two weeks, has left the station with a very big head of steam. The current battle over DOGE and USAID is a great test case for whether Trump and Musk really will be able to exercise the powers of the executive branch to impose fundamental change in Washington, D.C. (and, in this case, globally). Success is by no means guaranteed, because, so far at least, a single federal judge can, with a unilateral injunction, halt literally ANY executive action or initiative. We can't even rule out the possibility that a judge would, by himself or herself, toss Elon Musk off his perch as head of DOGE once and for all. The corruption and waste that USAID represents is real -- make no mistake. But the principles that 1) federal spending ought to be transparent and in the national interest, and 2) federal bureaucrats ought to be accountable to the American people, rather than solely to themselves and their friends in the Deep State, are vital and non-negotiable, from a MAGA, conservative, and frankly patriotic perspective. The battle that is brewing at DOGE and USAID, therefore, is a proxy for the battle royal that is just getting started between Trump, Musk, and the American people, on one side, and the entitled and entrenched elitists, on the other. Buckle up, because it's bound to be a bumpy ride!
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/3312999/making-sense-war-doge/
https://issuesinsights.com/2025/02/07/wait-you-mean-theres-corruption-in-washington/
Richie from Jack : I neglected to read your extensive Feb 2 reply to me and am sorry for doing so! I'm little busy right now (I'm getting documentation together so I can urge my Congressman to use his influence to get Doge to fix the gimlet eye on the National Endowment for the Arts , if they haven't already) but I promise I will return to your comments and reply asap.
ReplyDeleteRAY TO JACK
DeleteAnd when you get done with your Congressman, I would appreciate it if you would take the time, and the courtesy of a response, to let me know what you think about my comments on Gaza, and references to author Devin Sper on this subject. Thank you.
Ray from Jack: Will do. I have been remiss.
ReplyDeleteRAY TO JACK
DeleteThanks. You were just about to receive a lashing from the headmaster. Ha!
Richie from Jack: My belated comments : Yeah King was sumthin'. I had a prof. who had worked with him and Gen. Marshall during the war. When King took command of a carrier before the war his speech was three or four words followed by "Carry on!" Vaccines: I was among the first batch to have received the Salk vaccine for polio and given my fortuitous bad health ( so for me because for me, it kept me out of school and not for my parents whose concerns I only appreciated when I became a parent) I might well have ended up in an iron lung. I'll continue further down; I must needs reply to Doc. Waddy and Ray.
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: It is an early but not necessarily decisive test of DJT's executive power. You are right, it will be a long go to defeat far left totalitarianism and sure we are going to lose some battles along the way. For antiamerica to misuse the present "custom" of allowing Federal District Court judges with their limited jurisdiction to stop Presidential administrative law is as sure as that which cows do every now and again. They can always find a shill. Maga must address that anomaly soon; the power those leftist judges have presumed should be practiced only at a level equal to the Chief Executive: SCOTUS itself. Obviously there would be a winnowing process inherent in that requirement. It would involve fulfilling traditional and sometimes exceptional standards for SCOTUS consideration (like in the 2000 election) and that would put a damper on frivolous legal guerrilla raids.
ReplyDeleteThe CNN article reflected a frantic dem view of the now engaged contest. They might have only a narrow window of opportunity before precedent (which they despise) and public disgust with their selfish disloyalty weighs them down into the "slough of despond"
Oh my, they are shocked , shocked - by DJT's alleged refusal to enforce established law and right in some of his executive orders. Gee, wasn't it Obama and his dreamy AG who disingenuously claimed "prosecutorial privilege" in openly refusing to enforce laws in which they conveniently saw political incorrectness? And gee, what about the dem Biden regime trashing Federal Immigration law and the consequent imitation of this crime by idealistic localities. C'mon dems , why even Slick Willy, a consummately amoral carnival con man, might well counsel you "never play the same game twice!" Clintonesque preemption has lost it clout, (consider hapless Hillary) especially when you use it so prematurely and openly. Why even Slick himself ( a proud Vietnam era radical "antiwar" punk) is being outradicalized by these piss ants today.
You call President Clinton a radical "antiwar" punk while supporting a draft dodger? Jack, you are being a major hypocrite here.
DeleteRod
Ray from Jack: I recall the appalling scenes of the population shift in South Asia when India and Pakistan split, in the film Gandhi. I took history of South Asia as an Asian studies major. I read accounts of entire trains arriving at their destinations with everyone aboard dead.a This must never be reprised. For some people , Gaza is home. The pictures of vast columns of Gazans returning to their almost certainly wrecked dwellings are compelling. No, no population transfers , for the sake of the civilization to which we claim membership, no. For anyone wishing to leave such a desolate scene, let us be of the help of which we are, with our wealth, fully capable . I'll look for the article(s) and get back to you. Having recently read a history of the Zionist movement of which I was theretofore ignorant, I'm anxious to learn more about the founding of Israel. It has given me misgivings about Israel, though I still consider modern Israel "an island of civilization in a sea of barbarism".
ReplyDeleteRAY TO JACK
DeleteRead Devin Sper's articles at his site, and then get back to me when you are able, and it is convenient for you.
Richie from Jack: Again in belated reply to your Feb. 2 comments:To your suggestion that a good start in cleaning up the apparatus of the health care industry is a good airing out; that makes eminent sense . You and Ray have creditably raised many concerns for which such examination may well have reached its time in this pioneering administration and in RFK.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course . . . "and Doc Waddy." Jack
ReplyDeleteFortunately, the courts (including a Reagan judge) are stopping the Musk/Trump unconstitutional actions. Unfortunately, Musk/Trump are defying the release of funds that the courts have directed them to do. If they continue to defy the law, it means we are right now in the middle of a coup.
ReplyDeleteThe only good thing is that Musk/Trump and their positions are becoming less popular with the public -- a finding that bodes well for the Dems taking back the House, and perhaps the Senate.
Rod
Dr. Waddy from Jack : Hooray for DJT yet again. I see he has taken over management of the tax payer supported Kennedy Center. And for the eminently common sense reason that up 'til now it has been managed by limousine liberals, for limousine liberals and they seem to presume it just to host things like drag shows . Its "just" that , well gee , things like that are probably not high on the list of edifying experiences sought by the gauche majority of taxpayers . DC isn't like most anywhere between Binghamton and Bakersfield. If effete snobs want a venue for their airy tastes, then let it be on their own dime.
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: I was brought to the verge of regurge listening to an MSNBC commentator pontificate on the sacredness of the "rule of law"in urging resistance to Maga. My Dramamine please. After the last four years of far left lawfare, they have the crust to say a thing like that!? These people perceive no limits on their disingenuity and their forlorn hopes that they can still get away with it.
ReplyDeleteRod from Jack: I'm not a major anything. But Slick Willy was the defin ition of a draft dodger with all the games he played. Too bad for him actually because had he been inducted he would simply have wheeled and dealed and got himself stationed in Brussels, a short hop from the voluptuary delights of Amsterdam. And people like Clinton were not antiwar; they were simply anti any American war effort , or considered themselves much too promising to fight for their country ,so I guess I did misspeak in using that term. But yeah, Clinton is a punk.
ReplyDeleteRAY TO JACK
DeleteI will NEVER like The Clintons, but ironically they will be in the history books long after I am dead and gone in obscurity. On that note, I don't care if Clinton ever served in The Armed Forces of The United States of America. In fact, my personal opinion is that it is no advantage or disadvantage if any POTUS has ever served in The Armed Forces. Clearly, FDR could not serve, and yet he picked excellent military and naval commanders to win WW 2 for us. With that said, did any president after FDR have a distinguished military background or career? I think not, if you examine the military records of any of them. Look at Carter, who was an asset to the navy in peacetime, but who made disastrous decision that affect our country today. What kind of glorious military service did Nixon have? How about LBJ that embroiled us in Vietnam, and Bush Jr. who got us into a 20 year disaster in Afghanistan. For that matter, was Obama some sort of military genius?
No offense Jack, but I think you need to rethink this. I do have one exception, and that would be Grant who served with distinction as a soldier in combat, and wanted to serve with distinction as POTUS but was hampered with dishonest men around him.
Finally, as far as Clinton is concerned, I think he is an asshole. All he really did was push the ticket on gays in the military, which led to trans in the military, and so on, which was primarily the masterpiece of Biden. So what sort of military service did Biden
have? Come to think of it, what sort of great military service does Trump have? He did attend a military school. Okay, that's nice.
Well, the next four years of the Kennedy Center will be a clown show.
ReplyDeleteRod
Hey Rod,
DeleteI could care less about the fucking Kennedy Center, or any of the snobbish or degenerate shit that is presented there past or present. Time to tear the damn place down and replace it with a shopping mall. Fuck the Kennedy Center! Fuck tradition! Fuck the Super Bowl too. The existence of art centers for the elite and football games for the sports addicted will never provide security for this country.
Rod from Jack: I see no evidence that DJT and his close council, Musk, are less popular now that they have acted on many of DJT's campaign promises (promises kept, unlike the "restraint" and "nonjudgemental"postures of past Rinos). All I see is widespread elation at the ascent of a President unlike any we have seen, even Reagan.
ReplyDeleteWas FDR's close adviser Harry Hopkins, so reflexively excoriated? How about Obama's pal, the "Rev." Al Sharpton? How about the aged Hungarian Hungarian revolution denier leftist philanthropist Soros (after the Russian marxist exemplars of the american neomarxists he supports RAPED his native country in 1956)? None of them was elected! Businessman DJT is IN CHARGE and one of the ablest capitalists of all time is his enthusiastic assistant. Naturally that it is repugnant to the American devotees of the most inhuman, thoroughly condemned doctrines ever to plague mankind, Marxism and its poisonous sprouts.
RAY TO JACK
DeleteI'm sure you have not forgotten that unless the GOP retains control of The Executive, the House and the Senate for the
next 12 years, that DJT being "in charge" for now won't mean much in the long run. The year 2028 is crucial, because the DemoSHITS will be back in full force, and it is never impossible for them to be in charge again. So pray that Vance is able to win the presidency in 2028 and keep it for 8 years. Otherwise, (and I will be crude here), the donkey will fuck the elephant once again.
Keep your eye on J.D. Vance!
Rod from Jack: Clown shows? What are drag shows in the pedestrian common sense settings in which most of us are confined? They were heretofore, unoffensively conducted in secluded settings which were meant only for their aficionados and which refrained from presumptuous claims on the attention of the "broad masses" How, pray, would they have gone over in the Soviet Russia, Maoist China , Fidelist Cuba or wildly murderous Cambodia so celebrated on Ivy League dorm room walls for the last 50 years? Oh I quake to consider!
ReplyDeleteRAY TO JACK
DeleteHow many people attend (or are able to attend) Kennedy Center? My guess is a bunch of rich snobs to the left and right.
Sorry, but f... the place! Who gives a shit.
What really counts is what goes on at theaters (summer stock) all over the nation, all the time. I dare say red states might put out better stage plays then red. Take for example Utah (a red state) which hosts a wonderful Shakespeare Theater most every Summer in Cedar City, Utah. I have been there and it's great. Go West when you get a chance.
RAY TO JACK
ReplyDeleteI meant to say that red states might put out better stage plays than blue states.
Dr. Waddy from Jack: Rod laments the possibility of a coup in Musk and DJT blithely "defying the law" Well of course there is precedent for a coup in our country; how about 2021-2025 ? It was the first time we have ever been ruled by a junta: Obama and the "Democratic Socialists of America " cadre he did not dare to expose to the public eye during his luxurious nominal executive tenure. We know feeble minded Joe was simply a factotum.
ReplyDeleteAnd I think we can safely say that defiance of our Immigration Law and Equal Protection laws was the "order " of the day for the ruling cabal during that eventually seminal period. Invasion of our country by uncontrolled multitudes expected to be grateful to their cynical and vicious marxist benefactors, together with gross misuse of our legal system (par for the course by the antiamerican Critical Legal Studies crowd) to destroy DJT, were the obvious consequences of the far left coup of the "darkness before dawn" days we have blessedly exited of late.
Naturally the radicals are desperate to stop the glorious reform taking place now. Gee, it makes them FEEL, well, "less than. . . " and that is icky!And of course team DJT fully anticipated their misuse of the jurisdiction of biased Federal District Court Judges. A reckoning on this
may be coming in the SCOTUS chamber and I wouldn't bet on the far left; they are on a very long slippery slope for now and we must hope, for good.
Roberts and Barrett have too much respect for the Constitution to put up with the unconstitutional actions of this administration.
DeleteRod
HEY ROD
DeleteWhen did you Left-Wing pukes ever respect the Constitution except when it suited your asshole agendas? Get a life, you f...ing hypocrite!
Rod, if you are stuck on DJT's evasion of the draft back in the mists of time, you are taking TDS to a level seldom seen! Who cares who had bone spurs and who didn't? We have bigger fish to fry.
ReplyDeleteJack, you may be right that Gaza isn't the time and place for "population transfers", but they are as old as mankind itself, and we will certainly never abolish them altogether. Tell the Serbs who were forced out of Kosovo how indignant we are at the thought of "population transfers"! Or the Germans, for that matter. Ethnic cleansing can and often does get extremely ugly, but that doesn't mean that it's never okay to force someone to move. The very concept of eminent domain implies as much.
Rod, you keep saying that you're winning the popularity contest, and Trump and Musk are going down the tubes, polling-wise, but the numbers tell a different story. At worst for Team Trump, it's steady as she goes.
Jack, I couldn't agree more about "effete snobs". They can afford to fund their own art and entertainment, which, uncoupled from federal largesse, would be free to descend even further into the depths of depravity!
Ray, I agree that the Dems would undo many of Trump's positive changes, if they got half a chance, but putting back together whole agencies that have been dismantled will not be an easy thing to do. If Trump really can push federal spending, waste, and corruption down, that will create a whole new baseline, which, granted, the Left will do its best to blow up on day one of a Whitmer-Ossoff administration...
Agreed, Ray -- popular culture is way more important than elite culture, although the two are more closely related than we might assume. The filth at the top does tend to seep down. It's cultural gravity, I guess.
On the face of it, Rod's expectation that SCOTUS will come to the aid of the Deep State (or truth, justice, and the American way, as he would have it), while it seems far-fetched on the face of it, cannot be dismissed out of hand. The dedication of establishment Republicans, including Supreme Court Justices, to the revolution that Trump and Musk are unleashing cannot be taken for granted. It's certainly not clear that Trump and Musk can count on a "Republican" House and Senate for backup. In the same way, the ultimate loyalties of the judiciary are...questionable.
Dr, Waddy from Jack: I agree with you. How could someone march with bone spurs and there ain't no getting away from marching in that 'ol Army. Now Slick Willy promised his draft board , which was going to draft him, that if they let him go do his Fulbright in England he would go in when he returned. But then the draft lottery gave him a number which would have kept him from being drafted. So he said"catch me if you can and now you can't". A promise is for an amoral con like him as much as dust. Rod's comparison doesn't hold up.
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: I anticipate that some of the probably many decisions SCOTUS will have to make on the Constitutionality of DJT's reforms will go against us. Can't win 'em all and I'm confident that this lawful SCOTUS will confirm DJT enough to make of his administration a signal, perhaps unprecedented phenomenally successful redemption of America after the bizarre far left incursion on our national life.
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: Re DJT vs. Slick Willy: Military morale is reportedly already one hell of a lot better under DJT and SecDef Hegseth than it was under "loather of the military" Clinton and his " wife" , who wanted to make waiters out of Marine officers. Those two would have fluffed out of the first day of Marine Officer training.
ReplyDeleteRyan from Jack: I can understand an unwillingness to consider for any Presidential candidate a lack of military experience as a drawback.But it isn't Clinton's lack thereof which renders him so detestable; its the manner in which he dodged his statutory military obligation and the subsequent disrespect he and his hate filled "wife" directed at our forces, which so thoroughly discredits him.
ReplyDeleteI read the Sper article about Palestinian society being complicit in savagery against Israel. The elections among Palestinians which are affirmed as partial proof of this assertion are not reliable measures , I think, of the free will of Palestinian people. They are dominated by savagely militant organizations who have proved they will rule out NOTHING in achieving their goal of extirpating Israel and as much of world Jewry as they can.
My guess is that most Palestinians are willing to trade acquiescence in the inevitable survival of Israel for peaceful lives . But the inexorable terrorists among them are as terrible to them as they are to Israel and should they ever achieve a state , will rule with continuing equal inhumanity both toward Palestinians and Israel. That of course means unending unrest in the Middle East .
Dr. Wady from Jack: As for the possibility of the GOP being defeated in 2028, partly due to the rigors to be expected from DJT's reflorms ; I am reminded how late in our first civil war Lincoln was expected to lose reelection.
ReplyDeleteBut he beat haughty McClellan handily, partly due to the votes of the people who had been most taxed by the war - Union soldiers.
If the far left thinks it has any notion it can win the next Pres. election it will probably select as bad a candidate as dismissive and disdainful Dukakis or Jean Kerri' or Hillary or Kamala! Fetterman might be their best candidate if he doesn't bolt them as have so many of good will and common sense.
Jack, I'm glad to hear that about military morale, but do we have any hard evidence to go on? I wonder how all the woke whippersnappers in uniform are handling the "New Order"?
ReplyDeleteNot much danger that Hamas will be given charge of a "Palestinian State", although it hardly matters, since you don't need a state to cause carnage...
Jack, I would remind you that Rod has already declared the winner of the Dem presidential primaries in 2028. He has anointed Gretchen Whitmer. Fingers crossed that this is his one prediction that comes true!