Friday, February 7, 2025
USAID was not just great in the opinion of the old Marco Rubio, both Melania Trump and Ivanka Trump thought so too, deploying millions of its dollars for their pet projects under Trump I lololol
A bunch of phony baloney plastic banana good time rock 'n rollas, but I repeat myself.
Melania and Ivanka Trump used thousands of dollars from USAID to fund pet projects during Trump's first term it's been revealed as the agency's spending comes under scrutiny from the president.
The president has gone scorched-earth against the USAID this week, berating its use of tax-payer dollars and saying it had to be 'corrupt' in its spending.
But despite Donald's disdain for the aid agency, it has maintained close ties with his wife and daughter for years by investing in their government ventures.
USAID helped fund Melania Trump's Be Best program and Ivanka Trump's Women's Global Development and Prosperity Initiative during the first Trump term.
And each woman traveled with the agency on separate trips to Africa, where they praised the investments it was making on the continent.
Ivanka Trump travelled with then-USAID administrator Mark Green to Africa in April 2019, where they met with women entrepreneurs in Ethiopia and rural cocoa farmers on the Ivory Coast.
USAID oversaw $265 million per year in spending Ivanka Trump's women's business initiative and an associated antipoverty program.
Melania Trump partnered with the agency on her 2018 trip to Ghana, Malawi, Kenya and Egypt.
In Malawi, the first lady promoted USAID's national reading program, which was donating on Trump's behalf 1.4 million textbooks to the more than 5,600 primary schools in the poverty-stricken nation.
'I am so proud of the work this administration is doing through USAID and others,' the first lady said at the time, 'and look forward to the opportunity to take the message of my Be Best campaign to many of the countries, and children, throughout Africa.'
In his first term, Trump heavily cut funding for the aid agency but it still found money to invest into his family's government ventures.
Ivanka Trump used USAID for her program to promote women in business, claiming 12 million women around the world had been helped by it.
She travelled with the agency to Colombia in September 2019 to run a workshop for women entrepreneurs.
That same year, she also used over $11,000 from the agency to buy video recording and reproducing equipment for a White House event, its records show.
Meanwhile, USAID was one of the first agencies to name an ambassador to Melania Trump's Be Best initiative.
When Melania Trump first announced her signature program in May 2018, she asked government agencies to name a liaison to her group. USAID immediately did so.
At her one-year anniversary celebration in May, Melania acknowledged the agency and thanked it for naming the first Be Best ambassador.
'For the first time in history, the United States Agency for International Development has appointed a Be Best ambassador,' she said.
'On this one year anniversary of my initiative, I call on all of our partner agencies to appoint a be best ambassador who will serve as a liaison between my office and their respective agency to better highlight and promote the programs and services offered to parents and children on behalf of the US government,' she added.
Donald Trump was sitting in the audience listening.
Neither the East Wing, the West Wing, nor Ivanka Trump's office responded to DailyMail.com's request for comment.
USAID delivers billions of dollars in humanitarian aid overseas.
The Trump administration is threatening to shut it down or bring the independent agency under the umbrella of the State Department.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is now acting director of the agency it's been announced this week.
Hundreds of USAID contractors were placed on unpaid leave and some were terminated. Elon Musk, who is running Trump's Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE program, said the agency would be eliminated.
Its Washington D.C. office is closed and employees were either put on leave or told to work from home.
Trump has said of the agency: 'It's been run by a bunch of radical lunatics, and we're getting them out.'
He also claims it 'had to be corrupt' to approve certain initiatives.
The president has berated the agency for its spending practices, including having a subscription to Politico Pro, a service that tracks legislation and other government news.
And his press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, gave a blistering account of USAID's spending. Speaking to reporters at the White House last week, she held up a sheet of paper giving details of the astonishing ways in which taxpayers' money had been doled out.
It was an apparent reference to a story in Daily Mail, which first outlined the shocking expenditures related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), on which President Trump has ordered a crackdown.
'I don't know about you. But as an American taxpayer, I don't want my dollars going toward this crap. And I know the American people don't either. And that's exactly what Elon Musk has been tasked by President Trump to do. To get the fraud, waste and abuse out of the federal government,' Leavitt said.
The legal system is about to be clogged with multiple battles over Trump's second and imperial presidency, which has deployed Elon Musk as the embodiment of the line-item veto which it does not possess
It's a strange day when I find myself agreeing with Ed Markey.
. . . “The courts, if they interpret the Constitution correctly, are going to stop Musk, are going to stop Trump,” Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Ed Markey told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Thursday.
“Article One is the Congress. Article Two is the president, Article Three is the judiciary. There is not an Article 3.5 where Elon Musk gets to do whatever he wants to do,” Markey said. “They are trying to rewrite constitutional law in this country.” . . .
Three weeks in, the growing storm of lawsuits means some of this young administration’s most extraordinary applications of unilateral presidential power could be reined in. But the litigation also conjures a scenario that no one wants to think about: what would happen if the administration refused to recognize court rulings — even one handed down by the Supreme Court?
This is a particularly acute matter because it’s the Justice Department, which is now operating under Trump’s firm hand, that’s responsible for enforcing the law. The constitutional remedy for a president who breaks the law is impeachment, but Republicans have twice shown that they will not hold Trump to account in such trials, making moot this key check on power envisioned by the founders.
“That is the doomsday scenario,” Ryan Goodman, a former Defense Department special counsel and NYU law professor, told CNN’s Burnett. “So far, they are complying with all the court orders, but what happens come the day that they do lose at the Supreme Court?” Goodman asked.
“If they really want to push it, we are in a real constitutional crisis.”
From the story here.
January 2025 is the fifth consecutive January with full time employment not as good as in January 2020 when 49.85% of civilian population usually worked full time
January 2020: 49.85%
January 2021: 47.42%
January 2022: 49.29%
January 2023: 49.32%
January 2024: 49.16%
January 2025: 49.22%
Thursday, February 6, 2025
Judge George O’Toole Jr. pauses Trump's federal employee buyout nationwide, says he will consider arguments on the legality of the buyout on Monday
. . . O’Toole’s order Thursday is the latest in a series of judicial
rulings pausing implementation of key policy initiatives of President Donald Trump.
Kinda like a libertarian convention
. . . fiscal hawks said they could not support the massive package without more spending cuts. ...
Welcome to end stage libertarianism: The executive branch of the United States does not possess a line-item veto power
What Trump is doing will be challenged all the way to the Supreme Court, which already ruled the 1996 version of the line item veto unconstitutional.
Trump is a renegade.
Imagine a Democrat president simply canceling programs Republicans passed and firing all the people in them. That's what this is. And that's what the future will bring if Trump gets away with any of this.
It's anarchy, and it's unconstitutional, however much you may agree with the cuts. The Court will set this straight or the federal government is finished as an institution.
Despite record highs in stocks in 2024, real return since the last secular peak in August 2000 still significantly lags previous periods of peak-to-peak returns
During four months in 2021, real return since August 2000 briefly hit the 5s: 5.06% in August, 5.02% in September, 5.17% in November, and 5.15% in December.
Real return swooned after that, as low as 3.63% in October 2022, making it seem like 2021 might have been a secular turning point.
But by October 2024 real return since August 2000 had recovered to 5.11%, and 5.2% in November, and 5.24% in December.
Is this the new secular peak?
Return might suggest, No, seeing how low it still is.
Valuation might suggest, Yes.
The annual average of the S&P 500 divided by GDP in trillions hit 186 in 2024, a level not seen since 1930 (228) on an annualized basis.
That ratio never got above 139 (2000) between 1937 (165) and 2020 (151).
And this ratio was 180 in 2021, 158 in 2022, and 155 in 2023, all unprecedented for the post-war.
But 186 in 2024 really takes the cake.
The price of the market is really, really rich for the return you get.
Wednesday, February 5, 2025
Gold prices continued their record run on Wednesday
... Spot gold was up 0.8% at $2,865.61 per ounce by 01:59 p.m. ET (1859
GMT), after hitting a record high of $2,882.16 earlier in the session. ... Spot silver rose 0.8% to $32.36 per ounce . . ..
-- CNBC
One nutball era ends, another begins, Wednesday edition
He's the Gentrifier in Chief lol, move the poor out, let the wealthy take over:
Tuesday, February 4, 2025
Gold hits record high as investors flock to safe-haven amid tariff war
Spot gold gained 1.1% to $2,843.06 per ounce after hitting a record high of $2,845.14 earlier in the session. ... Spot silver rose 1.9% to $32.15 per ounce.
-- CNBC
The revenge of the bond vigilantes
The Fed started cutting the Federal Funds Rate last September (DFF 5.33 then, 4.33 now), and average yields for notes and bonds started climbing and haven't stopped lol.
Monday, February 3, 2025
Banana Republican Donald Trump hastily makes Elon Musk a special government employee AFTER THE FACT of allegations of impropriety since January 20
White House says Elon Musk serving as a ‘special government employee’
There is nothing in this story indicating that Musk or his employees have undergone the standard background checks.
Unvetted individuals are working with the most sensitive personal data of hundreds of thousands of federal employees and contractors.
Reminds me of nothing so much as Bill and Hillary Clinton possessing the FBI's files on government employees.
More tariff theatre: Trump announces 25% tariffs on Canada on Saturday, reverses himself before dinner on Monday lol
Trump pauses tariffs on Canada imports for 30 days after doing the same for Mexico
... Trudeau said Canada had made new commitments “to appoint a Fentanyl Czar.” 😉😉
“Canada
is implementing our $1.3 billion border plan — reinforcing the border
with new choppers, technology and personnel, enhanced coordination with
our American partners, and increased resources to stop the flow of
fentanyl,” the prime minister wrote. “Nearly 10,000 frontline personnel
are and will be working on protecting the border.” ...
In 2024, more than 21,100 pounds of fentanyl was seized by U.S.
authorities on the border with Mexico, compared to only about 43 pounds
seized at the Canadian border. ...
Clueless Marco Rubio appoints Taiwan surrender monkey Darren J. Beattie to State Department job
As if the nine-dash line doesn't even exist.
Beattie is a total suck-up, just like Rubio.
Gold hits record high as Trump tariffs spur safe-haven buying
Spot gold rose 0.6% to $2,816.53 per ounce by 09:38 a.m. ET, after hitting a record of $2,818.58 earlier in the session.
More.
Later in the day gold hit $2,830.49.
Trump announces 25% tariffs on Mexico on Saturday, reverses himself before lunch on Monday lol
Stocks that got hit the most from Trump’s tariffs before the Mexico reprieve
... Shares of companies spanning the auto, industrial, retail and beverage industries with international supply chains were hit particularly hard. ... The president said Monday that he’s pausing the Mexico tariffs for one month after Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum agreed to immediately send 10,000 soldiers to her country’s border to prevent drug trafficking.
The country which can't stop the drug cartels from operating unchecked within its own borders is going to stop drug traffic to the USA because it puts its troops closer to our border?
Phony baloney plastic banana good time rock 'n rolla.
Trump will crow that Panama has bowed the knee by agreeing not to renew participation in China's Belt and Road Initiative, but Panama was already dissatisfied with China from 2019
Events quickly shifted, however, following the election of Laurentino Cortizo as Panama’s president in early 2019. After taking office, Cortizo suspended or cancelled multiple Chinese investment projects. A review by the Panama Maritime Authority (PMA), the government agency that oversees the country’s ports, of the PCCP concession found that the Landbridge-led consortium had failed to comply with numerous contractual terms, including investing only roughly one-fifth of the promised amount, failing to provide key project documentation, and employing much less local labor than promised. The review led to the PMA’s decision to revoke the PCCP concession in June 2021.
More here.
Panama pledges to end key canal deal with China, work with US after Rubio visit
... José Raúl Mulino, Panama's president, said his
nation's sovereignty over the 51-mile waterway, which connects the
Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, will remain unchanged. But he said
he would not renew a 2017 memorandum of understanding to join China’s
Belt and Road global development initiative and that Panama would
instead look to work more closely with the U.S. ...
Trump's tariff gambit has little to do with fentanyl but everything to do with increasing revenues on the backs of consumers so that he can pass his temporary tax cut package and not increase deficits
It's complete madness. It's Donald Trump: "Everything will cost more but I'm cutting your taxes!"
Wolfgang Munchau, here:
Economically, his tariff war will act like a tax on US consumers. The increased costs are inevitably borne by the consumers. But, as a form of rebalancing, it will raise a lot of revenue for the US treasury and together with the shrinking of the federal government, may well end up lowering the budget deficit and strengthening the US current account balance. Of course, there will be repercussions that could push in the other direction: the dollar might rise; the world might plunge into recession. But the truth is we have no experience of what happens when the largest economy on earth, with the dominating global reserve currency, imposes massive tariffs on its trading partners.
Munchau thinks Trump will win his tariff war. I do not. Munchau overestimates Trump's political support at home, and underestimates the fickleness of the US electorate. Continued inflation will throw sand into the gears of this gambit and sow discontent.
Control of the US House is everything, and Trump barely has it. He has two years and is already blowing it.
Trump has nothing but little gimmicks up his sleeve, not fundamental lasting transformation
To help pay for Trump tax cuts, new taxes on worker benefits become GOP target
... House Republicans recently floated
a list of potential measures to help compensate for lost revenue from
trillions of dollars in tax cuts championed by President Donald Trump.
Taxing employees for fringe benefits such as employer-provided
transportation, free food and on-site gyms is up for discussion. ...
To be sure, these proposals are still in the early stages and there’s a lot of jockeying by lawmakers to accommodate Trump’s $4 trillion extension of the 2017 tax cuts as well as make good on campaign promises for tax breaks on tips, overtime pay and Social Security benefits — in all, the tax cut promises made on the campaign trail by Trump could take the total to near $10 trillion. The situation is especially tenuous given the hefty $36 trillion federal deficit. ...
Whatever gets passed will happen under reconciliation anyway, and therefore will be . . . temporary, just like Trump.
All of this small thinking is a reflection of the reality of the GOP's narrow majority in the US House, about which Donald Trump seems to care not at all, and will therefore most likely lose in 2026 unless Republicans push back against Trump, do what's right, and maybe save their own skins.
Elon Musk and Donald Trump stop USAID payments authorized by Congress, some of which Marco Rubio used to be for before he became Secretary of Suck-Up and is now against
I expect a federal judge to intervene on this one perty quick like.
The sums involved are paltry, but Elon Musk amusingly makes a mountain out of this molehill and says “This is our shot. This is the best hand of cards we’re ever going to have,” he said. “Now or never.”
Seems more like an admission that it will be impossible to slay the federal leviathan.
Elon Musk says he and Trump are shutting down USAID
... Congress annually appropriates money for USAID to spend, primarily for foreign aid and internationally focused charities. Its budget for the 2023 fiscal year was about $40 billion, according to a report last month from the Congressional Research Service. That’s a tiny fraction of the overall federal discretionary spending of $1.7 trillion. ...
A 1974 federal law known as the Impoundment Control Act says that the president generally cannot withhold funds that Congress has approved. Some Trump aides argue that the law is unconstitutional, foreshadowing a potential fight in the courts. ...
Sunday, February 2, 2025
RFK Jr gets a nicotine fix during Senate testimony
Yeah, that's what we want to see in our next Secretary of Health.
Ciga-reetes, and heroin, and wild, wild Olivia Nuzzis, they'll drive you crazy, they'll drive you insane.
Trump's new Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, has given Elon Musk control of the payment systems which control everyone's Social Security and Medicare benefits
Billionaire Elon Musk’s deputies have gained access to a sensitive Treasury Department system responsible for trillions of dollars in U.S. government payments after the administration ousted a top career official at the department, according to three people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe government deliberations.
On Friday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent approved access to the Treasury’s payments system for a team led by Tom Krause, a Silicon Valley executive working in concert with Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency,” the people said.
David A. Lebryk, who served in nonpolitical roles at Treasury for several decades and had been the acting secretary before Bessent’s confirmation, had refused to turn over access to Musk’s surrogates, people familiar with the situation told The Washington Post. Trump officials placed Lebryk on administrative leave, and then he announced his retirement Friday in an email to colleagues.
Spokespeople for Treasury and DOGE declined to comment.
The sensitive systems, run by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, control the flow of more than $6 trillion annually. Tens of millions of people across the country rely on the systems. They are responsible for paying Social Security and Medicare benefits, salaries for federal personnel, payments to government contractors and grant recipients, and tax refunds, among tens of thousands of other functions.
More.
These guys are up against the debt ceiling and are obviously looking for other ways than the customary "extraordinary measures" to cut spending under the circumstances of a new administration trying to pass new tax and spending legislation. That's why Trump has offered buyouts to government workers so they quit, among other novel spending gambits like freezing program spending for 90-days.
The Treasury stopped paying into certain accounts from January 17th, before Trump and Musk took over, as part of the extraordinary measures undertaken by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to keep from hitting it.
She's been keeping the national debt at $36 trillion to $36.2 trillion ever since Thanksgiving.
It's all very troubling, as elected officials like to say.
Typically, only a small group of career employees control the payment systems, and former officials have said it is extremely unusual for anyone connected to political appointees to access them.
Trump tariffs will increase costs of fruits, vegetables, potatoes, and grains, among a hellish host of things
... The sweeping tariff could make more expensive a host of items that
the U.S. imports from its neighbors. Among the common Mexican imports
that will now get pricier to bring into the country: fruits, vegetables,
beer, liquor and electronics. And from Canada: potatoes, grains, lumber
and steel. ...
Trump is enacting the tariffs under the International Emergency
Economic Powers Act, which allows the president to respond to
“extraordinary threat,” which Trump has identified as a fentanyl and
drug crisis that he alleges China, Mexico, and Canada facilitate. ...
More.
Because some Americans use illegal drugs, Trump is punishing all Americans.
Makes sense, right?
I mean George Floyd's blood fentanyl level was fatal and we lit the nation's cities on fire because of it, so yeah, we deserve it.
Saturday, February 1, 2025
Black Hawk helicopter collision with passenger jet was part of a routine, annual re-training of night flights on a standard corridor for a continuity of government mission
Crashed US Army Black Hawk unit was responsible for doomsday readiness
... The three soldiers killed in the collision were part of the 12th Aviation Battalion at Fort Belvoir in Virginia, whose responsibilities in a national crisis include evacuating Pentagon officials. Another 64 people were killed in the passenger plane. ...
Incompetence from sea to shining sea: Trump releases water needed for summer agricultural irrigation in the San Joaquin Valley to fight fires but that water will simply evaporate in Tulare Lake
... The two reservoirs are used to hold supplies for agricultural
irrigation districts. Nemeth noted that winter is not the irrigation
season for farms, which require more supplies to grow crops in the
summer months, “so there isn’t a demand” for the water in the San
Joaquin Valley at this time. ...
Peter Gleick, a water scientist and senior fellow at the Pacific Institute, said dam managers would typically only release large quantities of water in the winter when major storms create a need to make space for large inflows of runoff. But Southern California has been very dry and the snowpack in the southern Sierra remains far below average, so “there is no indication that that’s why these releases occurred.”
“In addition, when those kinds of releases do occur, they’re always done in consultation with local and state agencies,” Gleick said.
“I don’t know where this water is going, but this is the wrong time of year to be releasing water from these reservoirs. It’s vitally important that we fill our reservoirs in the rainy season so water is available for farms and cities later in the summer,” Gleick said. “I think it’s very strange and it’s disturbing that, after decades of careful local, state and federal coordination, some federal agencies are starting to unilaterally manipulate California’s water supply.”
Vink agreed, saying that given how dry it has been in the region this winter, there was no need to make such a release. In fact, he said, farmers were counting on that water to be available for summer irrigation.
“This is going to hurt farmers,” Vink said. “This takes water out of their summer irrigation portfolio.” ...
It's great to be a Trumpist
Trump Media gifts DJT shares to FBI pick Kash Patel, Linda McMahon and president’s son
Trump Media this week gifted thousands of shares of company stock to President Donald Trump’s nominee for FBI director, Kash Patel, to Trump’s eldest son and to four other board members, new regulatory filings show.
The company awarded 25,946 stock shares each to Patel, Donald Trump Jr., and the president’s pick for Education secretary, Linda McMahon, who all serve as Trump Media directors, the filings Thursday reveal.
Three other directors — former U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer, Eric Swider and Kyle Green — received the same number of DJT shares at no cost, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
The filings said the awards were granted Tuesday. Trump Media that day closed trading at $30.04 per share.
At
that price, the shares have a paper value of more than $779,400. But
most of the stock awarded has restrictions on when it can be sold. ...
Friday, January 31, 2025
Core pce inflation in 2024 at 2.8% remains higher than at any point since 1992, progress down looks stalled since 1Q2024: The Fed's weak tea hasn't worked
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| year over year annually |
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| year over year monthly |
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| year over year quarterly |
Gold hits new record high of $2,800.99, climbs as high as $2,817.23 before the close
Gold prices scaled an all-time high on Friday, briefly touching the $2,800 mark, as market participants rushed to the safe-haven asset after U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his tariff threats.
Spot gold steadied at $2,795.52 per ounce, after hitting a record peak of $2,800.99 earlier in the session. Prices rose more than 6% for the month and 1% for the week.
U.S. gold futures were little changed at $2,820.10.
More.
PM Update:
Gold prices surpassed the key $2,800 mark for the first time ever on Friday, fuelled by a rush to safety on U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats, which heightened concerns about global economic growth and inflationary pressures.
Spot gold rose 0.6% to $2,810.55 per ounce, after hitting a record high of $2,817.23 earlier in the session.
U.S. gold futures were little changed at $2,822.90, trading at a premium to spot gold rates.
Thursday, January 30, 2025
Trash headline from Drudge says airline CEO blames US Army for last night's collision at DCA
I've watched the videos. He doesn't blame anybody. The helicopter collided with the passenger jet on its descent to land at Reagan National. We don't know why.
Meanwhile Trump is already shooting his mouth off about DEI under his predecessors being to blame when there are still bodies in the wreckage in the water.
Trump sucks. Drudge sucks.
You'd think a 71-year old guy like RFK Jr would know something about Medicare Parts A, B, C, and D, but you would be wrong
He is not qualified, on top of being a lunatic.
RFK Jr. stumbles over basics of Medicare, Medicaid during Senate confirmation hearings
When asked what Medicare Part A is for, Kennedy said it is “mainly for primary care or physicians.” Hassan clarified that it is coverage for seniors who receive inpatient care at hospitals.
Kennedy, when asked what Medicare Part B is, said it is “for physicians and doctors.” Part B is coverage for a range of medical services such as doctor visits, outpatient care, home health, certain medical supplies and preventive services.
When asked what Medicare Part C is for, Kennedy called it “the full menu of all the services – A, B, C and D.” Hassan noted that Part C is also known as Medicare Advantage, which are privately run plans contracted by Medicare. Those plans serve as an alternative to traditional Medicare plans.
Kennedy insisted that he “just explained the basics” of the program, but Hassan said she had to correct him on several things.
On the surface today's report of real gross domestic product is actually pretty good
The first estimate of real GDP for 4Q2024 and for annual 2024 has been reported here, 2.3% and 2.8% respectively.
On a big picture basis, the compound annual growth rate for real annual GDP 2020-2024 came in at 3.55% per annum, which compares very favorably with 1929-2007 at 3.45% per annum.
Unfortunately 2007-2024 is still wallowing at 1.957% per annum.
The country got over the Great Depression, but we're still working on the Great Recession.
Germany's Friedrich Merz angers ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel over harder line against "irregular migration" supported by AfD
Merz, determined to show his center-right Union bloc’s commitment to cutting irregular migration after a deadly knife attack last week by a rejected asylum-seeker, put a nonbinding motion to parliament calling for Germany to turn back many more migrants at its borders, although it might need AfD’s backing to pass. The measure squeaked through thanks to the far-right party’s support. ...
Merz took over the CDU after Merkel, a former rival, stepped down as chancellor in 2021. A more conservative figure, he has taken a more restrictive stance on migration. He said last week that Germany has had a “misguided asylum and immigration policy” for a decade — since Merkel allowed large numbers of migrants into the country. ...
AfD lawmakers celebrated after Wednesday’s vote while others sat stony-faced. Merz said he had sought a majority in the “democratic center” and he regretted that didn’t happen. But he also insisted that “a correct decision doesn’t become wrong because the wrong people approve it.”
On Friday, the [Christian Democratic] Union plans to call a vote on months-old proposed legislation that calls for an end to family reunions for migrants with a protection status that falls short of asylum. The measure also could pass with AfD votes, though it would need approval from parliament’s upper house, which is uncertain.
More.
Wednesday, January 29, 2025
Bill Kristol and leftists of his ilk are numbskulls on birthright citizenship, which 83% of the world eschews unlike us
... One of my critics on the “conservative” Left who once claimed to be an originalist illustrates the point. He says that the simple fact of birthright citizenship being “age-old” makes it somehow sacrosanct. There is not even a pretended appeal to the Constitution. Beyond this, someone with a philosophic education ought to know that it is a mistake to identify the old with the good. Even if it were not, his argument still fails on its own terms. Before the Wong Kim Ark decision of 1898, America did not have birthright citizenship. Hence the true “age-old” practice—going back to the beginning of the republic—is not to have it. If the old is the good, why is the younger birthright citizenship practice sacrosanct but the prior, and far-older practice of granting citizenship only to the children of citizens and lawful immigrants bad?
This, ladies and gentlemen, is the quality of “conservative” argument in 2018. ...
A social compact that can be joined contrary to the will of its existing members is an impossibility, a self-contradiction.
It’s no wonder, then, that only around 30 countries out of nearly 200
practice birthright citizenship. The highest accounting that I have
seen says 33. There are 197 countries in the world (193 UN members, two
observers, and two non-members). Thus 83% of the world’s nations do not
allow birthright citizenship. Those countries that do have a combined
population of 958 million (in all cases, rounding estimates up in order
not to be accused of fudging the numbers in my direction). According to
the UN, the world population is today 7.6 billion. Our “conservatives”
insist that opposition to birthright citizenship is “nativist,
xenophobic, bigoted, racist, white nationalist, white supremacist” and
more. This means that 6.642 billion of the world’s people (give or take)
must also be “nativist, xenophobic, bigoted, racist, white nationalist,
and white supremacist.” The latter two would truly be something, given
how few of those people are white. ...
More.
Of all the offspring of Time, Error is the most ancient, and
is so old and familiar an acquaintance, that Truth, when discovered,
comes upon most of us like an intruder, and meets the intruder's
welcome. We all pay an involuntary homage to antiquity. ... To the great
majority of mortal eyes, Time sanctifies everything that he does not
destroy.
-- Charles Mackay
Michael Anton made a persuasive case that if America could correct the error of the Dred Scott decision of 1857, surely it can correct the error of the Wong Kim Ark decision of 1898
... Before the Wong Kim Ark decision of 1898, America did not have birthright citizenship. ...
Can we do it without a war this time, please?
Bill King is skeptical that Donald Trump's birthright citizenship gambit will be fruitful
Here:
Adopting a rational immigration system that included better criteria for granting citizenship would greatly benefit our country. Many of the issues surrounding birthright citizenship are the legacy of the inability of Congress to enact such a rational system. I wish I believed Trump’s executive order might spur a thoughtful debate and legislative action in that direction. But sadly, our representatives from both sides of the aisle seem more interested in demagoguing the issue than working together to enact a rational system.
Tuesday, January 28, 2025
Monday, January 27, 2025
Ugly Americanism is not the way
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
A Democrat moves to the center: Ritchie Torres (NY-15) calls out AOC (NY-14) and Governor Hochul
Here:
“I’m a controversial figure in Democratic politics,” he says. His affection for the Jewish state makes him “particularly radioactive to the far left. There’s no issue on which I face more hate, harassment, and even death threats.” Mr. Torres says there is “a deep strain of antisemitism on the far left.” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who represents the neighboring 14th District, has repeatedly accused Israel of “genocide.” ... On Jan. 16, two days after Gov. Kathy Hochul delivered her State of the State address, Mr. Torres accused her of failing to support the state’s Jews. “Antisemitic hate crimes have risen to historic highs in New York,” he tweeted. “Yet when I searched the Governor’s State of the State for the word ‘antisemitism,’ nothing came up.” He tells me the next day that “the governor had a 140-page policy document and there was not a single mention of antisemitism. Never mind that Jews are the target of more hate crimes than everyone else combined. None of that mattered to her.”
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