Musk-a-geddon
Trump has lobbed multiple missiles into the Swamp, in the form of Hegseth, RFK Jr, Gabbard, Bondi, Radcliffe, and Leavitt. With no doubt, Patel to come. He has a formidable team of mini-me's all aligned to the MAGA agenda.
But the most stunning, at least so far, is the impact of Musk and DOGE. Singlehandedly, Musk has exposed the waste, and blatant 'fraud' perpetrated on the US budget by politicians and the Woke public service. And he has only started. Indeed the very first curtain of what will turn out to be a series focused on USAID, the US government's International Aid programs. By simply reviewing the flow of money Musk exposed programs that would never have been approved by anyone had they been visible to the electorate. Funding Climate Change measures in Sri Lanka, sending Condoms to Afghanistan, and sending funding to Left Wing media organisations like Politico.
USAID's budget is relatively small bikkies compared to the many other departments that DOGE is yet to target. But already USAID has been suspended and no doubt any future US Aid will be better targeted.
Have a look at this video of Rand Paul listing many of the blatant abuses of USAID. Mind-boggling!
Future reviews will cover Education, Defense, Health and even the IRS. These will not doubt raise far more significant expenditure savings.
So how have the Democrats reacted? Not well. Heads are exploding everywhere! The rhetoric is loud and shrill. One has to ask is this the hill they want to die on? It seems by their reaction the Democrats are exposing their ownership of these fraudulent payments. I would have thought that if you were in a hole you would stop digging, but no it seems the Democrats have not yet learned that lesson.
What's next? Well, some Democrat and Republican politicians are about to receive inconvenient scrutiny. Musk and Trump have asked the heretofore forbidden question "How have some politicians accumulated large nett worth inconsistent with their parliamentary salaries?" This is a two-edged sword as it will strike at Republican members too. But it is popular. The average Joe will want answers to this one.
Gaza's inconvenient history
We hear so many claims by so many 'experts' that we tend to turn a deaf ear, at least I do. Every now and then it is good to hear some people willing to call out the lies.
The most recent example I happened upon is about claims that Gaza was a sovereign state, at some time in the past. This video calls out this claim as false, and at the same time addresses many ofthe other false claims about the existence of a Paletinians state, the desire of peaceful palestinians for a so called two state solution, etc. It is not long, but worth a reminder.
Democrats pound the table
Trump's 200 odd executive orders have landed on the Democrats like a ton of bricks. He has gone a long way in unwinding Biden's Woke political culture in just three weeks. Elections certainly have consequences. With the political capital gained by winning the popular vote, the substantial majority in electoral colleges, the majority in Congress, the Senate, and the Supreme Court, Trump has the wind at his back.
The Democrats have indeed been in shock and had remained silent, at least for a week. But they are now starting to fight back. Several judges have put temporary holds on the executive orders, multiple state attorneys general have started litigation against Trumps edicts, and parliamentarians have taken to the streets in protest. It was to be expected. I expect every single one of Trump's executive orders to be tested mostly in court. Some will proceed through the court system ending up at the Supreme Court. While I am no expert, I have heard commentary from experts like Alan Dershowitz stating that most if not all will survive this protest.
There is a saying in the legal fraternity widely attributed to different people that goes
"If the facts are on your side pound the facts into the table. If the law is on your side, pound the law into the table. If neither the facts nor the law are on your side, pound the table."
It seems the Democrats amplified by their media allies will be pounding the proverbial table for the next four years.
How to protect Western culture.
This is a rather confronting and direct short TikTok video. Confronting as it addresses a topic made taboo by many governments who are still trying to sell the advantages of multiculturalism and immigration. Douglass Murray puts the case for the citizens of the country that has accepted immigrants who do not assimilate, do not want to assimilate but want to convert their newly adopted country into the society they had left. Needless to say, I think this is one of the most serious challenges to Western civilization and one which up to this point the West has been turning a blind eye. There are signs in many countries, the UK, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the US, that the average bloke is sick of it. They are turning to the ballot box to elect politicians who will protect their Western Culture. We will see.
In the meantime here is the video. Murray is one of the few commentators who is articulate and gutsy to call it out.
Excess mortality still high!
Dr John Campbell, a popular YouTuber who regularly presents his analyses of medical research papers, has recently posted a video. Like many of his videos, it is on the impact of COVID on the population, in this case, the change in mortality for young adults in the US over the period 2019-2023. Excess all cause mortality increased dramatically over the period by up to 70%, and equally significant, has hardly recovered. So for some reason for the increase is not speculated in the paper, and while John believes the COVID mRNA vaccine is a contributing factor , he is not explicit in stating it. Past history has taught him that mentioning vaccine issues will lead to YouTube dropping the video. He does allude to that not too subtly.
In any case it is worth a view.
Given the change in political orientation in the US, I expect there will be much more open research on vaccine efficacy, and "the truth will out."
Is Microsoft Misleading us?
I don't recall how I came across this short YouTube video, but it is interesting. As a Microsoft's Office365 subscriber, I now feel I may have been misled into accepting the recent subscription price increase. So, I thought I should share this with you, as you may well be in the same position.
The author, Atomic Shrimp, claims Microsoft has misrepresented the recent annual subscription price increase. It was indeed a rather large increase, in my case, it was from A$100 to A$170. Rather steep, I think. It was presented as a price increase with no qualification. The author however presents a cogent case claiming that the price increase is to pay for the introduction of Copilot which is now a part of the Office365 suite. That would in itself not be a misrepresentation, but for the fact that there is a lower cost Office365 available that does not include the new Copilot. So like the author, many of us have been 'tricked' into paying a price increase for some additional software that we may or may not have wanted.
That Mr Microsoft is not right! You should not treat your customers as mugs.
Watch the video, the Atomic Shrimp presents his case with panache!
Trump watch
The Trump whirlwind continues at pace. It is hard to keep up. So I will include this Trumpwatch section while this pace continues, both to keep you updated and myself too.
This last week has seen; -
- executive order to prevent biological men from competing in women's sports
- government workers have been ordered back to their offices
- USAID has been suspended pending a review of projects
- more than 20,000 public servants have accepted the offer of a generous termination package
- Universities have been told that they will not receive any funding if they fail to stamp out antisemitism on their campuses
- Sanctuary cities have been advised that they too will have funding restricted if they fail to enforce federal immigration laws
- recruitment to the US military has suddenly jumped with some 20,000 new enquiries
- sanctioned the International Criminal Court for its actions against Israeli PM and Defence Minister
- withdrew US funding of UNRWA
- withdrew the US from the UNHRC
- Released water from Dams in California
- announced a task force to address anti-Christian bias
- removed Climate Change mentions from government websites
- elimination of paper straws
Phew, and it continues apace!
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