DOGE - USAID et al
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Yeah, thanks, I just learned that too....
Illegal orders are void orders.
SCOTUS time. Followed, immediately after a SCOTUS ruling, with arrest of this Obombaton.
SCOTUS time. Followed, immediately after a SCOTUS ruling, with arrest of this Obombaton.
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Freedom is like inflation: you lose 2-3% every year.
March 13, 2025
My grandfather was born on April 19, 1915 in a dirty, one-room shack in the town of Bonham, Texas. Given the era, they had no electricity and no running water. And the family considered themselves fortunate that both mother and baby survived childbirth.
Pretty much everyone in the area was a farm laborer; they worked long, hard days in the unforgiving Texas heat trying to beckon life from ungenerous soil. But it was a living-- one that my grandfather joined at an early age.
He was 14 years old-- considered a “man” by the standards of his time-- when the Great Depression struck.
Few people, including my grandfather, would have understood that the worst economic crisis in American history was a manmade virus cooked up in the laboratory of political incompetence. All he knew was that banks in his home town failed… and many of his neighbors lost their life savings overnight.
This led to a lifelong mistrust of the banking system-- not just for my grandfather, but for an entire generation.
Throughout his life he kept his savings in an old coffee can. It wasn’t a lockbox or combination safe. He didn’t even bother hiding it; my grandfather literally just stuffed bills and coins into a metal can under the kitchen sink. He didn’t worry much about security because everyone in town knew and trusted one another, and no one would dare violate another man’s home… let alone his coffee can.
The other thing he did was save. If there was one thing my grandfather hated, it was spending money. On anything. You name it.
Food? He grew it himself and fished at the nearby lake. Medical care? The man barely ever went to the doctor in his entire life. Insurance? He had no concept of what that even was. Recreation? No one had time for such trivialities.
So, he saved just about everything he earned, depositing his meager wages with a satisfying and encouraging ka-ching into the ‘Bank of the Coffee Can’ week after week.
Whenever the coffee can became overly full, he knew it was time to invest his savings into something more durable and long-lasting.
But I’m not talking about stocks. In fact, given that he lived through the Crash of 1929, my grandfather believed that only a reckless, crazy person would buy stocks. And this trauma was shared by much of his generation.
So instead, he emptied out the old coffee can and invested in the one thing that he truly understood: land, i.e. one of the realest of real assets.
He always knew, worst case, he could plant more food on his new land. And this security had far more value to him than any other asset.
Then the cycle would begin anew: work, save, work, save… until, eventually, the coffee can would fill up again. He’d then use that money to buy building material and then build a small house on the land. No construction crew, no contractors. Just his own two hands and some basic tools.
Once complete, he’d put the house up for rent-- I remember he typically charged by the week to coincide with the farm laborers’ weekly pay. And, again, everything was settled in cash… so the coffee can began to fill more quickly.
Soon there was enough money to build another small house. Then another. And another. This man was living a real-life version of the old board game Monopoly; the only thing he didn’t do was trade his houses out for hotels.
But he wasn’t unique. My grandfather was extremely typical of his generation: highly productive, self-reliant savers who worked hard and never expected anything for free.
In their value system, being unproductive was frowned upon. Vagrancy was a crime. If there were any jobs available, you were expected to have one, no matter what it was. If there were no jobs available, you were expected to be looking for one-- or figure out how to produce something of value on your own.
My grandmother was cut from the same cloth. And the two of them eventually had a pretty substantial real estate portfolio of rental homes.
One particular complex had about a dozen or so houses on it, and my grandmother was in charge of collecting all the rent. They built her a small office near the entrance of the property, and not being one to waste resources, my grandmother decided to open a beauty salon there.
Bear in mind, my grandmother never went to cosmetology school. She didn’t have a license. She didn’t pass through a myriad of state and local permitting inspectors. She just hung her shingle out one day and customers started showing up. And because she provided good service, the customers kept showing up.
This is the sort of thing you used to be able to do in America. The government didn’t smother its citizens with endless regulations; if you wanted to start a business, you started one. No one asked permission to produce.
This is an incredible contrast to the America of today. God help you if you want to start a restaurant in the State of California, where you’ll spend years in the permitting, licensing, and inspection process, only to have employees go on strike over Gaza while customers brazenly steal from you with legal impunity.
That may be an extreme example, but government regulation at the federal, state, and local levels continues to strangle businesses-- small and solo businesses in particular.
A few years ago, the Institute for Justice sampled 102 lower-income occupations in American and found a total of 2,749 license requirements across the fifty states, demanding hundreds of dollars in fees, exams, and an average 362 days of bureaucracy.
These are for vocations like tree-trimmer, hair-braider, fisherman, auctioneer, locksmith, upholsterer, florist, and even farm laborer.
(Neil Gorsuch, sitting US Supreme Court Justice, bemoans similar statistics in his excellent book Overruled, which I can’t recommend enough.)
But this didn’t happen overnight. From my grandparents’ era to today, the bureaucratic, administrative state crept in little by little.
The effect is much like inflation where you lose 2-3% of your purchasing power year after year. One year’s inflation is no big deal; it’s only after looking back 10 or 20 years can we see how expensive things have become.
I really appreciate the tremendous efforts by Elon Musk and the people at DOGE to cut government spending. It needs to happen-- responsible spending is critical to solving America’s $36+ trillion debt crisis.
But perhaps even more important is turning back the clock on regulations… and going back to an era where you didn’t need to ask permission to be productive.
To your freedom,
James Hickman
Co-Founder, Schiff Sovereign LLC
March 13, 2025
My grandfather was born on April 19, 1915 in a dirty, one-room shack in the town of Bonham, Texas. Given the era, they had no electricity and no running water. And the family considered themselves fortunate that both mother and baby survived childbirth.
Pretty much everyone in the area was a farm laborer; they worked long, hard days in the unforgiving Texas heat trying to beckon life from ungenerous soil. But it was a living-- one that my grandfather joined at an early age.
He was 14 years old-- considered a “man” by the standards of his time-- when the Great Depression struck.
Few people, including my grandfather, would have understood that the worst economic crisis in American history was a manmade virus cooked up in the laboratory of political incompetence. All he knew was that banks in his home town failed… and many of his neighbors lost their life savings overnight.
This led to a lifelong mistrust of the banking system-- not just for my grandfather, but for an entire generation.
Throughout his life he kept his savings in an old coffee can. It wasn’t a lockbox or combination safe. He didn’t even bother hiding it; my grandfather literally just stuffed bills and coins into a metal can under the kitchen sink. He didn’t worry much about security because everyone in town knew and trusted one another, and no one would dare violate another man’s home… let alone his coffee can.
The other thing he did was save. If there was one thing my grandfather hated, it was spending money. On anything. You name it.
Food? He grew it himself and fished at the nearby lake. Medical care? The man barely ever went to the doctor in his entire life. Insurance? He had no concept of what that even was. Recreation? No one had time for such trivialities.
So, he saved just about everything he earned, depositing his meager wages with a satisfying and encouraging ka-ching into the ‘Bank of the Coffee Can’ week after week.
Whenever the coffee can became overly full, he knew it was time to invest his savings into something more durable and long-lasting.
But I’m not talking about stocks. In fact, given that he lived through the Crash of 1929, my grandfather believed that only a reckless, crazy person would buy stocks. And this trauma was shared by much of his generation.
So instead, he emptied out the old coffee can and invested in the one thing that he truly understood: land, i.e. one of the realest of real assets.
He always knew, worst case, he could plant more food on his new land. And this security had far more value to him than any other asset.
Then the cycle would begin anew: work, save, work, save… until, eventually, the coffee can would fill up again. He’d then use that money to buy building material and then build a small house on the land. No construction crew, no contractors. Just his own two hands and some basic tools.
Once complete, he’d put the house up for rent-- I remember he typically charged by the week to coincide with the farm laborers’ weekly pay. And, again, everything was settled in cash… so the coffee can began to fill more quickly.
Soon there was enough money to build another small house. Then another. And another. This man was living a real-life version of the old board game Monopoly; the only thing he didn’t do was trade his houses out for hotels.
But he wasn’t unique. My grandfather was extremely typical of his generation: highly productive, self-reliant savers who worked hard and never expected anything for free.
In their value system, being unproductive was frowned upon. Vagrancy was a crime. If there were any jobs available, you were expected to have one, no matter what it was. If there were no jobs available, you were expected to be looking for one-- or figure out how to produce something of value on your own.
My grandmother was cut from the same cloth. And the two of them eventually had a pretty substantial real estate portfolio of rental homes.
One particular complex had about a dozen or so houses on it, and my grandmother was in charge of collecting all the rent. They built her a small office near the entrance of the property, and not being one to waste resources, my grandmother decided to open a beauty salon there.
Bear in mind, my grandmother never went to cosmetology school. She didn’t have a license. She didn’t pass through a myriad of state and local permitting inspectors. She just hung her shingle out one day and customers started showing up. And because she provided good service, the customers kept showing up.
This is the sort of thing you used to be able to do in America. The government didn’t smother its citizens with endless regulations; if you wanted to start a business, you started one. No one asked permission to produce.
This is an incredible contrast to the America of today. God help you if you want to start a restaurant in the State of California, where you’ll spend years in the permitting, licensing, and inspection process, only to have employees go on strike over Gaza while customers brazenly steal from you with legal impunity.
That may be an extreme example, but government regulation at the federal, state, and local levels continues to strangle businesses-- small and solo businesses in particular.
A few years ago, the Institute for Justice sampled 102 lower-income occupations in American and found a total of 2,749 license requirements across the fifty states, demanding hundreds of dollars in fees, exams, and an average 362 days of bureaucracy.
These are for vocations like tree-trimmer, hair-braider, fisherman, auctioneer, locksmith, upholsterer, florist, and even farm laborer.
(Neil Gorsuch, sitting US Supreme Court Justice, bemoans similar statistics in his excellent book Overruled, which I can’t recommend enough.)
But this didn’t happen overnight. From my grandparents’ era to today, the bureaucratic, administrative state crept in little by little.
The effect is much like inflation where you lose 2-3% of your purchasing power year after year. One year’s inflation is no big deal; it’s only after looking back 10 or 20 years can we see how expensive things have become.
I really appreciate the tremendous efforts by Elon Musk and the people at DOGE to cut government spending. It needs to happen-- responsible spending is critical to solving America’s $36+ trillion debt crisis.
But perhaps even more important is turning back the clock on regulations… and going back to an era where you didn’t need to ask permission to be productive.
To your freedom,
James Hickman
Co-Founder, Schiff Sovereign LLC
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and there's the rub... what if all this so-called debt is fraudulent?
D.O.G.E. is revealing the depth of the abuse... the only thing remaining is who got the kickbacks.
I'm sure they already know in who's pockets where $50 million for Trojans to a 3rd world nation ended up. That's just the snowflake on the tip of an iceberg.
They haven't revealed just yet, but when they do I suspect the remaining lefties will trip over their jaws at the news!
If we have that much wealth being squandered, reversing it should put every adult into their own home free and clear!
Cigarlover
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From credit cards to agency grants to USAID and a gazillion more programs, at least 50% of the government was in on the grift and quite possibly a whole shitload more than that. The taxpayers will never b made whole and probably 90-95% of the grifters will walk away with all their ill gotten gains.
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**Note: It's more than six agencies. The judge, rightfully so, said they lied about the reason they got rid of them in a way that would make it hard for them to obtain new employment and collect unemployment.
U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco handed down his order in a challenge brought by a group of unions against the Trump administration from the bench. He said that neither OPM nor its Acting Director Charles Ezell had the authority to direct the terminations across agencies.
More:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/j...ationary-workers/ar-AA1ARy7y?ocid=socialshare
Rachel Maddow reads from the court transcript in which a federal judge blasts the Trump administration's defense of its firing of thousands of federal workers and orders that the jobs be restored, with some harsh words for Trump's lawyers to boot.
12:14
Judge orders 6 federal agencies to rehire fired probationary workers
Washington — A federal judge in California ordered six federal agencies to reinstate probationary employees who were fired last month, finding that their terminations by the Office of Personnel Management were unlawful.U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco handed down his order in a challenge brought by a group of unions against the Trump administration from the bench. He said that neither OPM nor its Acting Director Charles Ezell had the authority to direct the terminations across agencies.
More:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/j...ationary-workers/ar-AA1ARy7y?ocid=socialshare
Rachel Maddow reads from the court transcript in which a federal judge blasts the Trump administration's defense of its firing of thousands of federal workers and orders that the jobs be restored, with some harsh words for Trump's lawyers to boot.
12:14
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**Note: This article is behind a paywall. I read it using: https://www.removepaywall.com/
www.wired.com
Here's the link where I read it: https://www.removepaywall.com/searc...om/story/elon-musk-digital-coup-doge-data-ai/
Inside Elon Musk’s ‘Digital Coup’
Inside Elon Musk’s ‘Digital Coup’
Musk’s loyalists at DOGE have infiltrated dozens of federal agencies, pushed out tens of thousands of workers, and siphoned millions of people’s most sensitive data. The next step: Unleash the AI.
Here's the link where I read it: https://www.removepaywall.com/searc...om/story/elon-musk-digital-coup-doge-data-ai/
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Decided to look up the proper way for the government to downsize / do a reduction in force. Here's what I found.
What is a Reduction in Force (Federal Government)
When a federal agency chooses to abolish one or more employment positions, this is what is known as a Reduction In Force (RIF) in the federal government.
www.fedelaw.com
Now you have to wonder why these procedures weren't followed. Why would the Trump administration simply lie about everything?
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Whoops!
HOLY CR*P
Joe Biden was paying off his blackmail bribes by sending USAID Money
The BILLION DOLLARS Joe Biden sent to Ukraine after getting the prosecutor who was investigating Burisma fired, “It was a USAID grant”
Mike Benz “Remember when Joe Biden was at the Council on Foreign Relations and bragged that he got the top prosecutor in Ukraine fired by the Ukrainian government because he explicitly conditioned the firing of the prosecutor who was investigating Burisma?
He expressly conditioned their receipt of a billion dollars in U.S financial assistance on the firing of Victor Shokin, the prosecutor —You know what that billion dollars in financial assistance was?
It was a USAID grant”
WOW
HOLY CR*P
Joe Biden was paying off his blackmail bribes by sending USAID MoneyThe BILLION DOLLARS Joe Biden sent to Ukraine after getting the prosecutor who was investigating Burisma fired, “It was a USAID grant”
Mike Benz “Remember when Joe Biden was at the Council on Foreign Relations and bragged that he got the top prosecutor in Ukraine fired by the Ukrainian government because he explicitly conditioned the firing of the prosecutor who was investigating Burisma?
He expressly conditioned their receipt of a billion dollars in U.S financial assistance on the firing of Victor Shokin, the prosecutor —You know what that billion dollars in financial assistance was?
It was a USAID grant”
WOW
The corruption is so massive, I don't see how they can stop it. Much less, prosecute it.
It's the rot of late-stage Rome. The PURPOSE of legal prosecution is to preserve the stability of society, and in this case, the integrity of government. That's all-but-impossible now. An entire class, the Coastal Elites, is now shown to be on the take - along with most of the Permanent Bureaucracy, at least 2/3 of elected officials, and huge numbers of various "charities."
I marvel, showing the wholesale anarchy and the wild money-creation at base, that the dollar has not yet collapsed. And I'm convinced that ONLY a dollar-collapse will stop this and bring retribution to the offenders.
It's the rot of late-stage Rome. The PURPOSE of legal prosecution is to preserve the stability of society, and in this case, the integrity of government. That's all-but-impossible now. An entire class, the Coastal Elites, is now shown to be on the take - along with most of the Permanent Bureaucracy, at least 2/3 of elected officials, and huge numbers of various "charities."
I marvel, showing the wholesale anarchy and the wild money-creation at base, that the dollar has not yet collapsed. And I'm convinced that ONLY a dollar-collapse will stop this and bring retribution to the offenders.
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As the reserve currency we enjoy a certain immunity to failing. Not that it can't happen... but as the largest consumer economy in the world it's a privilege for the world to access it.
If you shop at Sams or Costo you pay a fee to be a member. That seems to be the model Trump is implementing using tariffs.
As for retribution via a dollar-collapse, I couldn't say.
All I know is corruption is being exposed and we kind of know who is responsible. Whether or not they are prosecuted remains to be seen.
If you shop at Sams or Costo you pay a fee to be a member. That seems to be the model Trump is implementing using tariffs.
As for retribution via a dollar-collapse, I couldn't say.
All I know is corruption is being exposed and we kind of know who is responsible. Whether or not they are prosecuted remains to be seen.
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Rep. James Comer and FBI to Bring CRIMINAL CHARGES Against ActBlue Operatives in Largest Money Laundering Scheme in U.S. History
The hammer is about to drop on Act Blue, the Democrats’ golden goose of fundraising, as House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) teams up with the FBI to expose what could be the biggest money-laundering scandal in American political history.In an explosive interview with Benny Johnson, Comer laid out a damning case against the far-left fundraising juggernaut, accusing it of funneling billions in suspicious cash—potentially from foreign adversaries—into Democrat coffers under the guise of “grassroots” donations.
Read more here...
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And this is,
Trump’s Deputy National Security Advisor K.T. McFarland:
“We now have black and white evidence.” BEYOND THE SHADOW Of A DOUBT
that the FBI attempted the overthrow of the United States government on
behalf of Hillary Clinton in 2016,
And, the CIA toppled the United States government on behalf of Joe Biden in 2020,
Now, issue the warrants, the arrests and the subpoenas.
Last edited:
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This is inaccurate and misleading. @SocialSecurity is protecting our seniors by ensuring bank accounts aren’t changed with little to no authentication.
Approx. 40% of Social Security direct deposit fraud is associated with fraudsters calling SSA on the phone and changing the direct deposit bank account from the correct one to a fraudulent one.
Starting on March 29, in order to change the direct deposit bank account, one can:
-Change it online using 2FA (Call Center Technicians available to assist beneficiaries with website)
-Change it in person at a SSA Service Center
This is identical to the fraud protections at almost all major banks, where deposit changes are made either online or in person.
All other SSA phone services remain unchanged.
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Once again, we're being told of all this sensational evidence of wrongdoing and over the top fraud and waste of taxpayer money, and corruption and greed within the walls of our most sacred institutions blah blah blah.
When is somebody's ass going to prison?
When is somebody's ass going to prison?
Are you implying that Canada and Mexico should be buying 5-gallon buckets of pickles and mayomnaise from the USA?
Cigarlover
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81% of the American people are in favor of DOGE finding the waste and the government cutting it. Yet yesterday the Senate voted down a measure to make the cuts permanent.
Also this CR that just passed kept funding everything at last years levels.
So, WTF is being accomplished here? Everything is being exposed and yet nothing is being eliminated.
Also this CR that just passed kept funding everything at last years levels.
So, WTF is being accomplished here? Everything is being exposed and yet nothing is being eliminated.
This is why I'm so negative.
Because the corruption is so broad and deep...so entrenched. The Elites love it - I have no idea how many new millionaires owe their status to NGO grants, but I'm guessing (of new-money, again) most. The ENTIRE bureaucracy is benefiting from it, some massively, some only in that their jobs are secure.
At least 2/3 of the elected Federal structure is getting something out of it. And of those who aren't, directly, they benefit from other corruption, such as permission to trade on insider information, or on their own pending laws/regs.
So it's not so simple as arresting a few and sending them to life in prison. Not so simple as a couple of hangings for Treason. THE WHOLE ARTIFICE IS ROTTEN TO THE FOUNDATION.
I don't think it can be saved or the corruption can be rooted out. Collapse is not only eventual and inevitable, but it's necessary for a cleansing and rebirth.
Cigarlover
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I agree.
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as soon as there is a trial and a conviction.
For all we know there could be a grand jury or two going on right now.
Cigarlover
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Everyone hates the IRS but my guess is they are one of the cleaner agencies. All they do is collect the money that gets laundered through the other agencies.
Cigarlover
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Thats nothing new though. Lois Lerner did a bunch of that under Obama too. Trump didn't prosecute her when he had the chance. She collects her comfy gov pension now.
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EXPOSED
Department of Education is laundering money back to the Democrat Party“This is why Democrats are losing their minds over Elon Musk. It's all about money”
Rep Harriet Hageman “The Federal Department of Education spends it as a budget of about $280 billion a year. Less than 25% goes to educating our students. So where does the other $220 billion go? It goes to a bureaucracy, it goes to a consultant, and that consultant then donates money BACK TO DEMOCRATS, and then it goes to a different consultant, and then it goes to an NGO. I mean, IT IS MONEY LAUNDERING and money churning at its absolute best.”
“Is the DOGE Program targeted at these bureaucrats?”
“Yes”
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Bondi Slams ‘DC Trial Judge’ Who Blocked Trump Using Alien Enemies Act to Deport Tren de Aragua
Bondi Slams ‘DC Trial Judge’ Who Blocked Trump Using Alien Enemies Act
Attorney General Pam Bondi criticized a judge who blocked the deportations of suspected members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
www.breitbart.com
He was told - by Insiders - to let bygones be bygones.
Of course, the Insiders were sharpening their shanks.
I don't know if she's now outside the Statute of Limitations; but SURELY she can be stripped of a government pension in civil action.
The thing limiting this right now, is TIME. Trump needs a whole phalanx of Special Prosecutors, and I haven't even heard him mention it. He needs them, not for the law, but because he has other things on his plate.