From the Hill:
Trump declares New York ‘saved’ from congestion pricing: ‘Long live the king!’
President Trump on Wednesday declared New York “saved” after his administration announced it would rescind the Biden-era approval of a congestion pricing plan.
“CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED.” Trump posted to his Truth Social. “LONG LIVE THE KING!”
The move pulls back a toll charging $9 for drivers to enter part of Manhattan, a plan that New York City and state officials had touted as reducing traffic and air pollution, while opponents argued it overburdened commuters.
“New York State’s congestion pricing plan is a slap in the face to working class Americans and small business owners,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement. “Every American should be able to access New York City regardless of their economic means. It shouldn’t be reserved for an elite few.”
Trump’s added call of “long live the king,” which was reshared on the social platform X by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, comes just after protesters rallied in cities across the country on Monday, dubbing the Presidents Day holiday as “No Kings Day.” Demonstrations took place in Washington, D.C., and New York City, among other places.
Other White House officials echoed the Trump-as-a-king illustration.
White House deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich doubled down, posting on X a screenshot of Trump’s message alongside an image of the president wearing a crown against a city skyline. The official White House accountshared a similar image likening Trump to royalty, with the label “long live the king.”
https://www.reddit.com/r/fednews/ is clearly ground zero right now.
That was a good move on his part.
Good move on his part for sure…Now Leland is in charge of Social Security..
“Leland Dudek was an obscure bureaucrat at the Social Security Administration who dedicated his career to stopping fraud. But when he worked with the Department of Government Efficiency to do just that, he came close to being fired.
“At 4:30pm EST, my boss called me to tell me I had been placed on administrative leave pending an Investigation,” Dudek wrote on LinkedIn. “They want to fire me for cooperating with DOGE,” he wrote in a now-deleted post obtained by The Daily Wire.
Then, a stunning reversal occurred. It was Acting Social Security Commissioner Michelle King who was out of a job. And Dudek was reinstated with a big promotion — taking her job leading the massive agency on an interim basis.
The Washington Post reported that King exited the agency after refusing to let DOGE access agency data and was replaced by Dudek. But it has not been reported that managers at the agency had moved to punish Dudek as he cooperated with the efficiency czars.
The LinkedIn post said “I confess. I helped DOGE understand SSA. I mailed myself publicly accessible documents and explained them to DOGE. I confess. I moved contractor money around to add data science resources to my anti-fraud team. I confess. I asked where the fat was and is in our contracts so we can make the right tough choices.”
“I confess. I bullied agency executives, shared executive contact information, and circumvented the chain of command to connect DOGE with the people who get stuff done,” it continued. “Everything I have ever done is in service to our country, our beneficiaries, and our agency.”
The Social Security Administration and the White House did not return requests for comment. A SSA employee, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Daily Wire that the person who put Dudek on leave was Gina Clemons, Deputy Commissioner for Analytics, Review, and Oversight, and that she is still on the job.
Dudek, a career civil servant, is an example of how there are a few fiscally conscious longtime government employees, and how the Trump administration and DOGE can maximize their impact by joining forces with people who know where the bodies are buried.”
https://www.dailywire.com/news/almost-fired-for-working-with-doge-social-security-fraud-expert-now-leads-the-agency
That strategy worked really well for the naz1s…
Looks like today and tomorrow are going to be a bloodbath of layoffs.
Going to be interesting to see if the jobless claims jump materially, last week’s data due out today at 8:30am.
Curious if the fed leans on for cause dismissal to deny unemployment. That’d be brutal.
Probies all getting the pink slip.According to government data maintained by OPM, 220,000 federal employees had less than a year on the job as of March 2024.
Juice,
You were asking about the market?
One month in, and the investor euphoria around the so-called Trump trade is fading. The S&P 500’s record run still trails European, Chinese and Mexican benchmarks, crypto assets are off their peak and the greenback looks anemic. On the bright side, Musk’s companies are set to add $613 billion in value since the election.
I really don’t think they left is really doing a good job with this resistance.
We have yet to see a single arrest and execution by guillotine which was the preferred method for the high profile arrests by the Nazis.
Many of the Germans in the resistance served in government or the military which enabled them to engage in subversion, sabotage and conspiracy.
800,000 Germans were arrested by the Gestapo for resistance activities. It has also been estimated that between 15,000 and 77,000 of those Germans were executed.
So the $1,200 covid destroyed the economy and now trump’s gonna give $5,000 to maga?
What kind of collectivist Maoist is this?
On the probation tip, I heard it from my BIL firsthand. If you were recently promoted, you are probationary for the first year. Lot’s of people who worked hard to get promoted are not being shown the door.
THIS is MAGA!
I also heard that the amazing 50 billion in savings was more like 16 billion, but MAGA cult leaders are repeating the lies anyway because the SHOW must go on.
THIS is MAGA!
You elected him. You get to live with the consequences. Unless you are hearing and vision disabled, you are clearly in denial if you can’t see it coming. Biden might have had dimentia, but how do you explain the shitshow of lies and mistakes that keep pouring out of the president’s pie trap? Oh right, MAGA can do no wrong.
Good Morning ‘Merica!
“ Musk Mulls Sending All Americans $5,000 Checks”
How the heck can Musk decide what to do with my taxes?
Juice,
The resistance is scared of their political future. Never before have politicians been threatened by empowered “patriots” who believe they are doing God’s work. These are the unintended consequences of releasing cop killers and the rest of J6. There are tons of morons MAGA cult supporters who now know they can get away with murder, and if it’s in support of The King, will be pardoned. I mean, he pardoned Patriots who killed Cops. He pardoned Mayors, who were headed to prison. Law means nothing to a King. He makes the laws. And everyone is now afraid to even refute him. So I am not surprised at all by the lack of push back by the Dem leadership who are afraid for their personal futures. Trump has rapidly turned into a dictator. It will be up to the people to band together to shut him down. Mark my words, he’ll be discussing his third term before the first quarter of his first year is over. And MAGA, who already admitted they want a dictator and a king can do no wrong.
We know a Georgetown law school graduate, honors student all her life, brilliant, who was fired by Musk
Libturd says:
February 20, 2025 at 8:20 am
On the probation tip, I heard it from my BIL firsthand. If you were recently promoted, you are probationary for the first year. Lot’s of people who worked hard to get promoted are not being shown the door.
On its official website, the Department of Government Efficiency has itemized the contracts and savings it has cut from the federal budget, committing to real-time updates twice a week. Of the $55 billion DOGE has claimed, it has only itemized approximately $17 billion — although the website notes that termination notices issued by DOGE make up 20% of its savings and will have a one-month lag before they are reported through the Federal Procurement Data System. Additionally, $8 billion of the savings has come from a contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement that was erroneously listed in 2022 and was actually worth $8 million. DOGE has corrected the contract, but as of publication has not adjusted the total savings it claims.
A complete and total incompetent, lying shitshow.
THIS is MAGA!
All Presidents have had advisors. I mean is Elon worse than say Robert McNamara? Perhaps we would have ended Vietnam earlier if he wasn’t advising the president?
How about Cheney and Rumsfeld. Those trillion dollar wars which we are arguably still fighting and which we are passing down the costs to your grandchildren might have not happened. Heck Rumsfeld is dead and Dick Cheney the Sith lord is barely hanging in, somehow they found him a new heart a decade ago..
they became rich by confiscating all jewish assets.
Same thing ongoing with the property of illegals
grim says:
February 20, 2025 at 7:42 am
That strategy worked really well for the naz1s…
DOGE is overselling, for sure, but the fact that an $8m contract existed in an accounting system with a value of $8b (1000x it’s actual value) and was never corrected is equally concerning.
A friend of mine works on federal projects and he submitted a proposal for a NASA project. His submission was number 2,367. At this rate he expects at least 5,000 proposals to be submitted.
Five Thousand Proposals! That’s unheard of.
While most of its actions seem to be legal, the Department of Government Efficiency, as led by Elon Musk, has not demonstrated sufficient competence to justify its requests for high-level access within the government.
Before diving in, I want to echo something Tangle Managing Editor Ari Weitzman wrote when we first covered this topic a few weeks back. To paraphrase, Ari said that supporting efforts to reduce government waste and opposing DOGE’s methods are not mutually exclusive. Since we published that edition, this notion has only become more resonant.
My biggest concerns with DOGE’s activity are at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Social Security Administration (SSA). First, though, let’s examine DOGE’s recent efforts to address government waste.
On Monday, DOGE updated its website to include information about the $55 billion in savings it says it has generated through “a combination of fraud detection/deletion, contract/lease cancellations, contract/lease renegotiations, asset sales, grant cancellations, workforce reductions, programmatic changes, and regulatory savings.” Much of the website is incomplete (lacking full documentation for each entry), but it still contains valuable information about the cuts the group has been making. For example, almost all of the listed savings have come from contract cancellations, and many entries in the “savings” column are zero (seemingly because the contract in question had run its course). Other entries, however, show savings ranging from the thousands to the billions. We can’t fully assess these cuts without complete information on these contracts and why DOGE deemed them wasteful, but publishing this data is an encouraging act of transparency.
After a cursory glance, many of DOGE’s cuts seem defensible — like eyebrow-raising contracts of $25 million for Agriculture Department DEI training or $4.5 million for “leadership development.” But these cuts are drops in the bucket relative to DOGE’s goal of trillions (or hundreds of billions) in spending reductions, and the sizable missteps they’re making in the process (which I’ll discuss below) do not engender confidence in their ability to do the job. All the while, daily federal outlays have actually increased in Trump’s second term compared to Biden’s first weeks in office.
DOGE still needs to update its top-line savings to reflect the $8 billion/$8 million mixup in a Department of Homeland Security contract, which will decrease its total reported savings by roughly 14.5%. Regardless, more concerning than the accuracy of its savings numbers are its errors of improper diligence or rash decisions: the firing and attempted rehiring of hundreds of staffers at the National Nuclear Security Administration; the apparent confusion over the meaning of “probationary” employees, leading to the firings of thousands of federal workers for allegedly invented claims of poor performance; hiring a staffer who had previously been fired by a cybersecurity firm for leaking company secrets; and putting Education Department employees on leave simply for attending a DEI training course encouraged by Trump’s education secretary during his first term.
The lack of cogency is the most concerning aspect of these actions; Musk’s team is moving carelessly, leaning on artificial intelligence and a “move fast, break things” ethos to take blind swings at massive, complex agencies. As conservative writer John Podhoretz recently remarked, the government may be broken, but Musk’s approach is likely to “break it further.”
That brings me to the IRS and SSA. At the IRS, DOGE is seeking access to the agency’s Integrated Data Retrieval System (IDRS), which contains personal identification numbers and bank information about every taxpayer, business, and nonprofit in the United States. The White House declined to offer a rationale for this request, other than to say that “waste, fraud and abuse have been deeply entrenched in our broken system for far too long. It takes direct access to the system to identify and fix it.”
This explanation is fundamentally irreconcilable with Musk’s insistence that “all aspects of the government must be fully transparent and accountable to the people.” It’s impossible to know what DOGE will do within one of the most protected data systems in the entire government, and the chance that they might find some waste or inefficiencies is not cause to do away with well established protocols managing access to the system. And again, DOGE has done little to prove its competence in managing sensitive information.
With the SSA, Musk has demonstrated a lack of understanding of the systems he’s auditing. On Sunday, he posted a table purporting to show that millions of people over the age of 100 were receiving Social Security benefits, including some over the age of 150. Musk then said the discovery “might be the biggest fraud in history.” While Social Security fraud is real and well documented, the agency has already addressed the discrepancies that Musk highlighted. In 2015, the Office of the Inspector General for SSA released a report that explained the SSA’s system was not configured to account for people who had exceeded “maximum reasonable life expectancies and were likely deceased,” while a follow-up report found that “almost none” of the people in this group were receiving payments. It’s reasonable to say the SSA should update its codebase (the agency estimated that doing so would cost $9 million), but it’s not accurate to say this is evidence of fraud.
Musk’s claims have the added effect of distracting from important areas of reform that DOGE should be targeting within the SSA, like modernizing the agency’s 60-year-old programming language. Additionally, there’s plenty of waste and fraud that we already know of for DOGE to target, like Employee Retention Credit fraud at the IRS and Medicare/Medicaid abuses.
DOGE’s actions also risk short-term disruptions. Mass layoffs at the IRS during tax filing season seem like a recipe for inefficiency, while even a temporary disruption to Social Security payments amid upheaval at the agency would affect tens of millions of Americans. If pressing changes are needed, why can’t DOGE explain them in clear terms? Furthermore, why can’t they explain what steps are being taken to ensure critical government services continue to function?
But I want to end by clarifying my criticism: I think DOGE has been rash, counter-productive, untrustworthy and inefficient, but I don’t think DOGE has acted illegally. Some judges have blocked its attempts to gain access to sensitive government systems, but these rulings are temporary and stop short of saying that DOGE has broken the law. At the same time, several other judges have ruled against challenges to DOGE’s access, often because the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue. While the courts may establish some guardrails on the extent of DOGE’s actions, I think it’s unlikely that their access is significantly curtailed as long as they have the White House’s backing.
The most frustrating aspect of this story, to me, is that DOGE’s mission is something most Americans truly care about. We know a lot about government waste but have struggled to act on it. DOGE could be the catalyst to change course, but the group seems committed to a strategy of shock and awe over diligence and competence — with little to show for it thus far.
re: “give $5,000 to maga”
So you are going to return the check to the Treasury in protest?
I personally think any savings they manage to scrape from cutting real waste and unfortunately cutting muscle, and tendons and even bone too should go to the deficit…
Everyone is oblivious…They are glib to the real cause of the inflation. The deficit is $5 Billion dollars a day. Can they cut $5 billion a day in spending and actually balance the budget? It’s possible folks. It all depends on how much pain we are willing to endure.
Like non-partisan Tangle believes. It’s all a show.
Grab your popcorn if you can still afford it.
This is the private equity housecleaning handbook.
101 style.
Just cut, anyone, anywhere, start sniffing, anything that smells off, just cut. No analysis paralysis. Eventually you get to a point at which you start to see the impact of those cuts start to materialize, you cut a little more for good measure, and you are done. New hires? Cut em all. Open recs? Close em all. Middle management? Cut em all. Contractors? Cut em all. Ask HR to pull performance reviews, anyone not 5/5? Cut em all. Look at outliers from a pay perspective, top quartile? Cut ’em all.
Congratulate everyone left with a pat on the back, they are the best of the best.
Profit.
Juice,
“The deficit is $5 Billion dollars a day. Can they cut $5 billion a day in spending and actually balance the budget? It’s possible folks. It all depends on how much pain we are willing to endure.”
And that there is the crux. Who will be feeling the pain? It won’t be the 1%, that’s for sure.
Suicides already being reported.
Fab: You are wrong on Harris period. As for vitriol against Harris, yes I do. I don’t like arrogance and stupidity. She was an embarrassment, and the Democrats tried to pawn her off on Americans as highly competent and qualified; she was anything but .
Grim,
My company was LBO’d by Private Equity about as decade ago. That is exactly what they did. After reducing our workforce by 15% (though we smartly chose who to cut) and cutting all salaries by 10%, I saw my first bonus ever. Cause we were the best of the best. The non-salaried staff got nothing. I felt horrible for them. To this day, they just sucked up that pay cut.
destruction of the government in the name of efficiency is a Red Herring.
maga doesn’t have a proposal as to what an efficient government looks like. They will replace all the fired with Jan 6 insurrectionists. that’s the plan
Jobless claims 219k vs. 216k expected, slightly more than the 4 week moving average, nothing to see here.
The ripple effect will be a tsunami.
These cuts as big as they are, are also a catalyst. We are seeing the private sector follow suit and laying off employees top-down. I heard from a pharma director yesterday, who just got off a call where they announced the company is merging departments.
This will lead to reduced taxes from the employees of course.
Reduced spending on small ticket items. no more takeouts, uber deliveries, etc.
Then comes the entire eco system that is based on Americans spending. If you didn’t know our economy is based on consumerism. So what happens to that?
And the tsunami cannot be stopped by a few counter ripples/measures.
Exactly as designed by Putin. We got taken.
this is how Reagan’s trickle down economics destroyed the middle class
and maga’s plan is to double down
grim says:
February 20, 2025 at 8:44 am
This is the private equity housecleaning handbook.
101 style.
Just cut, anyone, anywhere, start sniffing, anything that smells off, just cut. No analysis paralysis. Eventually you get to a point at which you start to see the impact of those cuts start to materialize, you cut a little more for good measure, and you are done. New hires? Cut em all. Open recs? Close em all. Middle management? Cut em all. Contractors? Cut em all. Ask HR to pull performance reviews, anyone not 5/5? Cut em all. Look at outliers from a pay perspective, top quartile? Cut ’em all.
Congratulate everyone left with a pat on the back, they are the best of the best.
Profit.
re: “almost none” of the people in this group were receiving payments.”
Comical……so there were 130 year old dead people getting social security checks? Which is it?
“sufficient competence”… again it’s not something we don’t already spend $650 million dollars a year for the Government Accountability Office. They publish about 800 reports a year on government waste. There is plenty of data but too much bureaucracy. Case in point is the civil servant mentioned above. Leland Dudek they tried to fire his ass. The bureaucrats already lost in court, so they are filing more and more lawsuits about 20 lawsuits have been filed in various federal courts. I gather if they shop it around to enough judges they will get one sympathetic to issue a restraining order on DOGE, which will be overturned a few months down the road. They can only delay at this point and try to run out the clock to the mid-terms and maybe just maybe win enough seats back to have power again. Right now they have none….it’s all over except for the tears…
3B,
I have always fully agreed with 3B on Harris. It is party bias that is responsible for you thinking otherwise.
1) It does look like she blew her way to the top.
2) She constantly lies about her black experience, especially around integrated bussing. That girl was not her at all. Look it up. Solid middle class if not upper class upbringing. Dad a liberal prof at Berkely and Mom an Indian and high level research chemist who could afford to put her daughter in private school in Canada. Not your typical black experience.
3) Her performance in the debates was attrocious. Not even in the top five.
4) She was shut down as VP due to her many faux pas.
5) Never been to Europe? Damaged world perspective.
6) Her campaign was the same three repeated talking points verbatim. You ended up with no clue as to what she was really about or running on.
7) With the equity pendulum already swinging to far, why the heck would choose a black woman to run?
8) Why didn’t Biden step down ages earlier, like when I said he should about two years into his term?
it’s all over except for the tears…
Yes, we will all be crying soon enough.
Lib – “Who will be feeling the pain?”
We shall see Trump floated cutting defense spending by as much as 50%. I would say the senile orange man is headed for an impeachment by his own party if he does that.
It’s not unreasonable to believe these cuts could trigger a larger economic or market event.
In my sector, lots of questions. Is this shift positive or negative, it’s not clear. Will feds make greater use of outsourcing to save money, or will their cuts trickle down to cancelled contracts.
Big players are Maximus, Accenture, Serco, Conduent, Deloitte, IBM, General Dynamics,CGI Federal, Booz/EY/PWC/ETC, etc. Maybe a bit of Concentrix, Cognizant, Teleperformance, etc.
I’m actually a bit suprised they haven’t already based on the forward looking tendency of the market.
It has certainly slowed greatly this past month compared to the pace of growth in the prior 16 years, making the Pandemic and outlier.
re: ” private sector follow suit”
Yup every board of directors already got their marching orders from Wall St.
We were told during our all hands meeting that even though we exceeded our annual plan numbers there would be no raises. There would also be another culling, you know “Transparency” and all. The new plan is also a bunch of reworked performance indicators designed for CYA for the execs.
I survived three layoffs since joining because well I am me…. I feel sorry for the rest especially the younger crowd who cannot afford to buy a home and perhaps may even get laid off in this belt tightening and coming recession. We cannot cut government, consumer and other spending without causing a recession. We are well overdue for a recession as well. Place your bets accordingly.
For years, it was said that printing and borrowing… and theft and abuse was going to have consequences. How could we do this to future generations? Jacob Marley would tell you that you forged this chain, link by link. When the demolition crew arrives to do the needful, the masses arrive at the town hall in protest with torches and pitch forks. Because the status quo is like comfort food. The stress is unbearable. It’s too hard to elicit change. And besides, the polls say that the masses can’t stomach it so, just leave it all alone and hope it doesn’t leave you/us/our administration without a chair when the music stops.
Grim,
After 2017-2019, where the corporate tax cuts and repatriation of income went almost entirely to the 1%. Plus, even before Covid, in 2019, “during the strongest stock market ever” the markets were about to bust and recession was imminent. Trump forced Powell to make three rapid-fire rate interest rate cuts starting that August. Even prior to this, Trump’s deficits were still increasing. Even with the tariffs too. What makes you think This will work this time. All of these DOGE cuts don’t even equal the cost of an arms shipment to Ukraine. It’s all a damn show and lots of people are getting hurt by it. I’m sure your life will improve dramtically now that they cut the transgender puppet show. I mean, what do you plan to spend your 1/10,000th of 1 cent on? That’ll sure turn your life around.
https://www.reddit.com/r/fednews/ is clearly ground zero right now.
That’s twice in two days that you’ve mentioned reddit. You’re one of the most intelligent and worldly people that I know, offering insight and opinion on multiple topics that is immeasurable in value. Please don’t get sucked into the toxic vortex of lunacy and madness that is the foundation of that platform.
Speaking of a recession and a deficit. NJ has about a several billion dollar hole in it’s budget. Govenor Murphy will be giving his budget address on Tuesday Feb 25th.
He is expected to include significant cuts in spending, removal of nearly all one-time appropriations from fiscal year 2025 and a significant if not complete cut of discretionary and non-competitive grants.
The cuts are expected to be in the billions.
Eddie,
Reform does not mean throw out the good with the bad. That’s not reform. There is still no will to reform. The consequences of these actions are going to be horrific. I’ve been trying to tell you all this for ages. Cutting govbernment is good. But there is a right way and a wrong way. It’s nice to see it being attempted, but I honest to truly feel Trump is doing more damage than help. If I worked for the FEDs today, I would plan on leaving ASAP. Especially if I was talented and high up the food chain. I hope you are happy when your government services resemble what they look like in Mexico.
Gary,
You get all your news from Truth Social and X. Sharing Reddit is just fine.
I hope you are happy when your government services resemble what they look like in Mexico.
They already do. That’s part of the problem.
There is still no will to reform.
Exactly. Thus, go in with a bulldozer and do what needs to be done.
Speaking of social media. Lots of now brave “retired” government workers speaking up about waste, nepotism and other strange things they experienced during their careers that only could have happened because they worked for the government. They feel safe now in retirement, so they are happy to dish up plenty of criticism Many from FAA and other Federal agencies.
I suspect Elon has Grok combing all of these social media posts looking for budget cutting ideas.
“You get all your news from Truth Social and X”
I have accounts on neither.
Hahaha…this coming from boomer addicted to Fox News
Fast Eddie says:
February 20, 2025 at 9:21 am
That’s twice in two days that you’ve mentioned reddit. You’re one of the most intelligent and worldly people that I know, offering insight and opinion on multiple topics that is immeasurable in value. Please don’t get sucked into the toxic vortex of lunacy and madness that is the foundation of that platform.
Fast Eddie 9:21, If you go to LinkedIn you will throw up. It’s all Mary Poppins there.
Reddit news is mostly negative today – but it more accurately reflects the current mood among the peasants.
Human/Computer symbiosis… brains and bytes… that’s Musk while the left grapples over the number of sexes that exist.
re: suicides..
And violence starting up too…Tesla Showroom has been shot up in you guessed it Oregon.
Very Stable Genius says:
February 20, 2025 at 8:31 am
We know a Georgetown law school graduate, honors student all her life, brilliant, who was fired by Musk
Guess she didn’t want a baby from him named ADEIOU7790X.
I recently got into an online argument with an old coworker and someone I knew personally – about Musk being a nazi. My point was that he made the salute twice and had a right wing guy at the inauguration and so he is a nazi – if not at least a supporter. My (Italian American) friend thought the left was making this all up, etc. Needless to say, neither of us changed our minds. He is still a connection and we respectfully disagreed.
Today he donated some money to a friend who’s gay son committed suicide and who was fundraising for an org that prevents suicide among LGBTQ+.
My point is – this sh1t will hit home to all of us – regardless of which side of the aisle you are on.
Fast Eddie says:
February 20, 2025 at 9:16 am
For years, it was said that printing and borrowing… and theft and abuse was going to have consequences. How could we do this to future generations?
Boomer, you did this ^^^^^^^
Thanks Eddie for confirming this for me.
” Zizians” trans terror cult leader arrested.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/18/us/leader-zizian-group-held-without-bail/index.html
The domestic violence will follow soon as Americans are now being put into a massive
Instant Pot. Families are going to implode, and with no safety net, high credit card debt, massive mortgages, large car payments, increasing rent payments.
High pressure, High temperature, high volatility, no stability lifestyle. Well, except for Boomer who caused this. Yes boomer, it was you.
More road rage, more violence, it’s all coming.
Embrace the Dark Side.
It’s all predictable.
Juice Box says:
February 20, 2025 at 9:40 am
re: suicides..
And violence starting up too…Tesla Showroom has been shot up in you guessed it Oregon.
grim says:
February 20, 2025 at 8:47 am
Suicides already being reported.
Boy, the scatter-brained leftists are all over the place at this point, spinning from ‘Reps will never really cut spending’ to ‘what we really need is reform’ to ‘DOGE is no good because its not surgical’ to ‘Musk is a nazi’ to ‘DJT is a dictator’, blah, blah, blah…
There are so far, two essential take-aways from DOGE…
1. The Dem party is utterly contemptuous of law-abiding, tax-paying citizens
2. Many once-legitimate charities have been completely co-opted by the Dems (NGO’s are already known to be money-laundering arms of the Dem party, but the rot at places like Catholic Charities is unbelievable)
Maybe they were tired of the douche raising their rent:
The Zizians have been tied to the death of a woman during an attack on a California landlord in November 2022, the landlord’s subsequent slaying in January,
Actions have consequences….
(NGO’s are already known to be money-laundering arms of the Dem party, but the rot at places like Catholic Charities is unbelievable)
Those f’n heathens. Yeah I know a few.
What is the problem with Catholics? I’ll tell ya. Most are good, but they allow the bad ones to congregate around them, and don’t kick their ass to the curb as long as they provide money.
I hope all of these people laid off ask God for help. Can he print money for them? Or pay their rent, feed their child, or whack the car repo guy before their Odyssey minivan is on the flatbed?
Ain’t no guy in the sky coming to save you folks. Sorry, it’s a pipe dream.
All hands on deck, every man for themselves.
RentL0rd says:
February 20, 2025 at 9:43 am
I recently got into an online argument with an old coworker and someone I knew personally – about Musk being a nazi.
Can someone please clarify the word nazi for me.
It gets thrown around everywhere. Even by Putin. Or they put Neo in front of it, is that aome kind of amplifier? Years ago it seemed to be one thing, like bad Germans or some shit.
Now it seems if you get shorted a shot of espresso in your coffee at Starbucks that barista is a nazi.
And yeah, I’m too lazy this AM to look it up. Just looking for the Cliff notes version as I eat my breakfast while I can still afford it.
10:15 – Anyone willing to put you in the oven, just ‘cuz you are different.
Ghoulish display by Hamas as they release the bodies of dead hostages, including a mother and her 2 young sons. Absolutely disgusting.
RentL0rd says:
February 20, 2025 at 10:18 am
10:15 – Anyone willing to put you in the oven, just ‘cuz you are different.
I always wondered what the back of Cybertruck was.
It’s an electric oven? Yeah, that makes sense. It’s usless otherwise, about the right shape…
10:18. Hamas is disgusting. Israel running an apartheid state and attempting genocide is also disgusting.
Next.
re: ” neither of us changed our minds.”
Are you familar with Public Law 77-623 or Public Law 77-829??? Do we need a new statute to make a salute legal or illegal?
You never answered why Elon should be arrested…… I would love to know what crime you think he has committed….
RentL0rd says:
February 20, 2025 at 10:18 am
10:15 – Anyone willing to put you in the oven, just ‘cuz you are different.
Well I work in an industry where everyone is different. You couln’t find a pot that is more melted, from religion, to finance, to race, to religion,to education level, to sexual orientation.
I don’t understand the hate for things like this. Mabye it’s not so bad where I work as there is always a way to balance power between everyone even slightly for some.
Seniority seems to be the biggest issue.
A person is smart, people are stupid.
So stop joining all of these groups and dumb ass religions.
That’s how you get people with pitchforks calling others witches and burning them at the stake.
In other dark news, I’ve never seen one of his reports making an airline look so bad. I’m not afaid to fly, but ain’t gonna get on one of these planes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haBxjK70yt0
I normally like the government cutting out waste because it has just gotten too big and bloated. However, the cuts are coming way too fast and too deep. Systems like to be in a steady state and the system is now becoming unstable. People have bills to pay, and losing your job from one day to the next is extreme. Everyone needs to plan. The government needs to plan. We may be in for some unintended consequences (or maybe they will be intended consequences).
10:26 – why elon should be arrested.
Musk should be arrested cuz of stock manipulation, labor violations at Tesla, misleading investors, unsafe self-driving tech, spreading disinformation on X, and using Starlink in ways impacted national security. You want more reasons?
He bought himself out of jail. He was afraid of Kamala.
Chad, they were offered buyouts equivalent to 8 months salary. The opportunity to come out way ahead was easily there. Certain people they relied on gave them terrible advice…but isn’t this what unemployment insurance is for?
Oh, now they have a group attempting to change Delaware business laws just to appease him and punish DE for attempting to stop his $50B payout to himself.
Rent: I don’t believe Israel is attempting genocide, as by the definition of what genocide is, which is the deliberate, organized, systematic attempt to eliminate a people or ethnic group. That’s what Hitler did by putting people in ovens.
The fact remains that had Hamas not attacked Israel, and slaughtered innocent people, and took men, women, old and young and children as hostages, the slaughter in Gaza would not have happened. Israel barely even guarded the border between Israel and Gaza, which of course was a huge mistake for them. Also, Hamas at any time could have released the hostages, and perhaps limited all the death and destruction in Hamas.
It’s awful what has happened in Gaza, and the loss of life and destruction is appalling, but the ultimate responsibility was with Hamas.
As for running an apartheid state , Israel has come close to reaching agreement with the Palestinians on establishing an independent Palestinian state, only to have the Palestinians back out at the last minute. I believe the last time was in 2006. Hamas used their own people as canon fodder , and bought nothing but death and destruction to their people.
For a guy who wants to save a few billion here and there, it’s pretty greedy to want $50 Billion for himself by manipulation.
https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2025/02/18/firm-representing-musk-tesla-drafts-bill-for-delaware-corporate-law.html
Musk ain’t no Buddha.
Chad,
When you have extremes like this, the vultures will circle. Fear ensues. People panic.
Realtors salivate when houses come up on the market. Repo guys enjoy the increased business. Police have more people for target practice instead of those silly paper targets that aren’t as much fun. Credit card banks have massive multiple orgasms from all of those late payment fees. Women go out monkey branching cause they know poverty sucks.
Some people enjoy causing chaos, and for many reasons.
Chaos is coming to a family near you.
10:49, I have a close jewish zionist friend who is originally from apartheid SA, who believes Israel is running an apartheid state. Like many moderate Jewish folks believe. I will take his word over yours.
Just asking,
You receive a government pension, or are going to, am I correct? If not, I remember incorrectly.
If so, do you like your pension? Planning to collect. Gonna help you when you are older?
Government jobs meant stability in the past.
Stablity for families. Stability for children. Ability to live a decent life not suddenly upended when a freak gets elected.
You have stability. Funny how you don’t want it for others, but you enjoy it for yourself.
BRT says:
February 20, 2025 at 10:46 am
Chad, they were offered buyouts equivalent to 8 months salary. The opportunity to come out way ahead was easily there. Certain people they relied on gave them terrible advice…but isn’t this what unemployment insurance is for?
Lib: How any Democrat can defend Harris and say she was qualified and competent is simply beyond me. They are delusional. Support your party by all means, but criticize it when necessary, and Harris deserved all the criticism she got.
I even defend Biden in some respects for not dropping out earlier, because he too probably realized when he was fully engaged that she was a disaster. Of course he should have stepped down earlier, and perhaps an open convention would have chosen a qualified, competent candidate to run against Trump.
Rent: Interesting, you have a close Jewish ZIONIST friend who says Israel is running an apartheid state. I will let you figure out your disconnect on that comment.
3b
Didn’t need to have a 10 page document like Lib wrote to know what she is.
Worked for managers just like her at my old place.
Same mannerisms, same atttude. F’n nightmare.
They say you can’t judge a book by it’s cover, well sometimes you can.
Next book burning, throw that one in the pile. It sucked.
Funny how so many Boomers that enjoy pensions for themselves don’t want anyone who comes after them to get one.
F’n hypocrites.
You know who you are.
Boomer you did this ^^^
I know 3b. The issue is complex.
Simplifying it for your little brain to understand, in an ideal world, you can have a two-state solution without apartheid. That still allows for a Jewish state.
Anyone know what percentage of the people on this board have government pensions or are married to someone who does? Get state healthcare from a spouse?
Glass houses.
Dark Phoenix: Absolutely. But, we had the Democrat Party apparatchiks tell us she was competent and qualified, and if we disagreed then we are racists and misogynists. Their attitude was she will be your candidate and you will vote for her, end of discussion.
All my years in corporate America, I have seen it multiple times. A man or woman with great credentials, highly educated and all the rest, and they are complete morons, and you would ask yourself how did he or she reach that position. That was and is Kamala Harris.
Every small developing third world country aspires to be a small USA. With incompetent uni-party and aggressive techno-feudalist leaders USA has already become one. The abhorrent lies about who started wars, who committed genocides, who caused the crises, who had fault in plane accidents and on and on.
These minimization or destruction of government services and confidence will not be coming back. Dumbass folks who should be asking for universal healthcare will end up mini Medicare with almost no benefits. Curtis Yarvin’s RAGE program is being run with the name of DOGE.
Musk the Billionare probably gets a Government pension and government healthcare.
Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
Puts that check in rootmeansquarepiShatnermultiqup’s fund for when he gets older.
Greed is rampant in the USA. The centrifuge is on high now and the money will be placed in the Oligarchs pockets.
Not yet, but almost game over. Toodles!
ohhhh impeach now!!!!!
CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!”
–President Donald J. Trump
Rent: Like I said I will let the disconnect on your original comment sink in. As for a two state solution Israel tried multiple times over the years and the Palestinians rejected them.
It’s ironic how when you are challenged on something, or you don’t like a comment myself or someone makes, you resort to name calling. But, thats what people do who can’t debate an issue , they resort to name calling. Feeble little minds indeed.
RentL0rd says:
February 20, 2025 at 10:25 am
“Israel running an apartheid state and attempting genocide”
Rant outing himself as a casual ‘liberal’ antisemite, spouting the same evil as Iran’s murderous ayatollah’s. Not much different than Lib, who outed himself as a casual ‘liberal’ racist with his comment last week. Dems are truly dangerous!
3b
No argument from me on Harris.
Post is spot on.
Just trekked outside.
My nipples are hard. It must be cold, or my ex must have switched my tylenol with her birth control.
3b 11:15, you did not vote. So you can take a timeout and not give your useless analysis.
Fascinated by all these video game playing geeky nerds that think reality is just like games.
3 Big things not related but starts to add up.
– From Bloomberg this morning, expect ~200k increase in unemployment in next figures.
– LordTurd attempt to change DE corporate law will have a serious effect for DE. DE corporate law knowledge, expertise and integrity is renowned, just like SDNY for financial crimes. Just like Texas and Florida courts are know for being in the pockets of local powerbrokers that will act for a price. If the integrity or either is questions, business world will move away, think BlackBerry faux pas of opening their proprietary servers to the secret police state enforcers, anybody heard of Blackberry lately.
– Finally, I expect DOGExcrement hunting season is now open. The thing about vets that have experienced battle and have killed is that it withers bothers them or not and both are not good. If it does not bother them the probability of presence of dark triad markers and being psychopathic traits are high. If it does bothers them, the guilt, shame, blame and if religious the fear can push the anger/rage either towards themselves and lead to suicide or toward others and lead to violence. The flippancy, arrogant and greedy ways DOGExcrement is taking its #2 on everyone does not endear any logic or compassion. It just comes across as sadistic bullying. Which in the context of what I explained means that someone, somewhere is likely getting ready to hunt himself some DOGExcrement.
Rent:Typical, you can’t address the comments , so you deflect. The only one posting useless analysis , or rather crap is you,
3b – Don’t engage pumpkin brains……
Juice: Sorry, you reminded me yesterday and I forgot. I will put the old chap on ignore.
Speaking of Pumpkin Brains…
Mitch McConnell will not seek reelection next year.
Mitch McConnell’s corpse announced his retirement. When asked what he is looking forward to doing with all this time, Mitch said, ‘Dying.’
Juice: I just saw that about Mitch. Good news, now we need to get rid of that old codger Schumer. These old fogies need to retire and make room for the younger generations. Schumer has been a Senator since 1999, and Mc Connell since 1985!
Juice: We desperately need term limits for Senators and Congressmen, and age limits too.
Chad Powers says:
February 20, 2025 at 10:41 am
“I normally like the government cutting out waste…However, the cuts are coming way too fast…and the system is now becoming unstable.”
I understand your concern, but you fail to acknowledge how broken our government already is, including what were once gold-standard institutions like the FBI. So are you really concerned about damaging an agency like the Secret Service, that allowed an assassin to take an unobstructed shot at DJT from 150 yards away? Or an FBI that knowingly lied to judges to spy on law-abiding members of the DJT campaign in 2016, or that colluded with the Clinton campaign on the phony Russian dossier, or that was unable (or unwilling) to identify who brought cocaine into the White House? Or a BLS that routinely issued phony employment stats and then revised down every single one of them last year? Or a CBP that deliberately failed to secure our southern border for the past 4 years? Bottom line: everything in our govt is broken so DJT and DOGE driving a steamroller through these institutions is absolutely warranted.
Brt + fed workers don’t get unemployment benefits like state workers. So no they will not get unemployment
Walking: Not true. As per NBC News, Fed workers are entitled to unemployment benefits.
“I have seen it multiple times. A man or woman with great credentials, highly educated and all the rest, and they are complete morons, and you would ask yourself how did he or she reach that position.”
That’s funny. This is exactly how I feel about Trump voters. Not because they are evil republicans, or because they don’t want to see trans athletes absolutely lay waste in their grand kids sports leagues; but because they continue to click on malware links, and vote candidates who do not have their interests in mind. How can they be this fkn dumb sit on two houses worth just under a shade mil each? And yet, these people exist. They’re out there, eating pancakes with their grand kids on the weekend, corporate careers and all.
Boomer: The Democrats need to engage in self criticism, but they will not, as noted with your comment. The question you should be asking is why would people rather vote for Trump again, ( and all the chaos) then vote for Harris. It was transparently clear to any reasonable person that Harris was not competent or qualified, of course the same can be said of Trump, but people decided they would take a chance with him again rather than go for Harris, says a lot. If that’s not cause for the Democrat to engage in self reflection and criticism, then nothing is. As for the Democrats and having people’s interests at heart, that’s one of the issues the Democrats should examine, because millions don’t believe that.
As for trans kids playing in women’s sports, that’s another issue Democrats need to look at. Millions and myself included, believe it is wrong, and simply unfair. The Democrats / Left in general need to get away from the mindset that they know best, and anyone who disagrees is bad or sick. Perhaps, thats why the old Soviet Union and their communist puppet states in eastern Europe sent so many people to prison camps or locked them up in mental hospitals.
3b – nbc news states will likely be eligible, that’s not a guarantee , depends on the wording of how they were let go
1:23 It has nothing to do with “qualifications”. Saying so is simply ridiculous.
Walking: As I read it, it seems more likely that they will in fact receive the unemployment benefit, even if terminated for poor performance. Have to see how it goes.
LAX: Yes it does, and no it’s not. I will leave it at that.
In fact what you here is simply right wing politics and people with far fewer “qualifications” to run ANYTHING in trump-world 2. You’ll get the short end of the stick and the Country will suffer. They’ll be a massive recession, people with brains and skills will leave the US and the management of the Country will go to the least competent as long as they bend the knee.
LAX, as my boomer friend said, ehh we had a good run. What 240 years give or take. Not so bad right?
LAX: I don’t necessarily disagree at this point, I simply don’t know how it will all turn out. It’s too early to tell with only a month in.
As for a recession, we are due for one, and what’s going on may worsen it, but we were definitely due for one. People have been living way above their means for years now.
All that said, it does not change my view that Harris was not qualified to be President, and the Democrats if they do view themselves as the adults in the room so to speak, then they had an obligation to offer Americans a candidate they could get behind and vote for. They failed, and people voted for Trump instead or like myself did not vote again. If you are right, then you get to say I told you so, for all that might be worth.
As for people leaving the country, if it all goes to shit, some will, most won’t, as they simply will not have that opportunity. We can leave if we want to, as we have a place to go, as do our kids if they decide they want to leave. We shall all see how this all turns out.
Peace.
1:51 Well, Boomer Friend will be dead soon. They don’t care. But they’ll squeal like a stuck pig if their entitlements are touched.
Walking: All empires come to an end, so too perhaps the U.S, and as far as empires go, we never really had one vs other empires throughout history. And our reign was not all that long.
3b I think you will find that the absolute worst people you can imagine are now in charge. There will be consequences and they will be vast and ugly.
LAX: As I said you may be right, time will tell.
In other news Forever 21 is closing hundreds of stores , bankruptcy in sight , and no potential buyers. JC Penny, Brooks Brothers, and Aeropostale continue to struggle.
Boomer Remover says:
February 20, 2025 at 12:59 pm
“How can they be this fkn dumb…out there, eating pancakes with their grand kids on the weekend…”
Drivel. You could’ve saved a lot of typing by just saying that you’re a Dem stooge who hates baby boomers. And speaking of dumb, you liked being governed by a dementia patient and hoped to be governed for the next 4 years by Carmella and Tampon Tim. That’s fkn dumb! like Lib, take a nap for the next 4 years.
It won’t take four years for this “regime” to implode. You are counting on someone who has failed at literally everything he has ever tried. I give it a year.
As far as boomers are concerned, you are vanishing from the planet. You’ll leave the place a whole lot worse. Trust me.
2:03 We are erasing decades of “good will” with NATO Countries because Trump “says so” and Putin wants this. It’s very clear to me and others who are watching this trainwreck, there will be no “happy ending”. Trump will kill the US economy and it will take years to rebuild the infrastructure that project 2025 is destroying..
Oh this Project 2025
https://youtu.be/fov7Mq75gYE
Or this Project 2025
https://youtu.be/_jmXS87BmnU?si=YsQrvha1P7IKvTZ-
Or maybe, this Project 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGiIrnvbvJI
So many repeated lies. So much denial by MAGA. But MAGA can do no wrong.
Just asking,
You receive a government pension, or are going to, am I correct? If not, I remember incorrectly.
If so, do you like your pension? Planning to collect. Gonna help you when you are older?
Government jobs meant stability in the past.
Stablity for families. Stability for children. Ability to live a decent life not suddenly upended when a freak gets elected.
You have stability. Funny how you don’t want it for others, but you enjoy it for yourself.
I got RIFed my first year when Christie convinced all towns to vote budgets down. There was no stability. I also gave up my tenure to move districts. I’ve maintained for 15 years on this board that the federal governments course is unsustainable. This is the first case of someone actually trying to put it on a stable trajectory. Can they be successful, I don’t know. But what I do know is that stability is a pipe dream with our current fiscal outlook. Like I said, if you were offered a buyout knowing the situation and didn’t take it, who is to actually blame here?
No republican administration is going to bail out NJs pensions when they go belly up. Same for Illinois. But they WILL spend billions giving tax break to the wealthy and corporate America.
3b,
To be clear 249 years of democracy.
Everyone else, stop whining that is the end of the road. It will be the end of the road military, economically, educationally with us at the center of the world. Think more like Australia with the corruption of Mexico. Just don’t be an adventurous and get yourself in trouble in some 3rd world DOGExcrement land. There won’t be a State Department, Marine Corps or Special Forces coming to your rescue.
JC Penney merged into Catalyst Brand with SPARC Group, a partnership of Simon Properties and Authentic Brands Group that bought Brook Brothers, Aerospostale, Forever 21 and other failing retailers out already. Their strategy is retail space in Simon Properties and web based warehouse shipping a la Amazon.
You senile traitor, I would vote a qualified republican candidate over democratic stooge all day, every day. I hope to one day vote for one.
I did not and will not, ever, vote Trump. Get rekkt.
These are not serious people. The “C” students are running the Country. With a possible few exceptions.
“You could’ve saved a lot of typing by just saying that you’re a Dem stooge who hates baby boomers.”
I mean, it’s right there in my handle small gov…. should read:
“You could’ve saved a lot of typing by just saying that you’re a moderate republican who will dance on the gravy of any baby boomer.”
The world can’t be rid of these folks fast enough.
So goes Walmart, So goes the Country.
Gullible boomers vote Trump.
Patriots vote republican.
You are the former.
Boomer: If you are referring to me , I did not vote for Trump. The last time I voted for President was in 2012, and that was for Mitt Romney. That was after I voted for the hope and change Obama, only to find out he was just an empty suit. If and when the two miserable parties we have decide to run good candidates I will resume voting.
A huge percentage of Americans didn’t care enough to cast a vote in this election.
Is “not voting” a little like staying single your whole life because you just can’t find the One??
LAX says:
February 20, 2025 at 3:33 pm
“they WILL spend billions giving tax break…”
Only a Dem stooge would think that reducing taxes for law-abiding taxpayers is spending. How are things in LA, or at least what’s left of it?
4:01 It’s a gorgeous day today. I live in a paradise. Dumbass
Friend of mine from college dies of Cancer about 10 years ago. Lived in a house in the Palisades with his wife and son. That home was her place apparently for thirty years. It burned to the ground. Based on the Demographics of the Palisades I would surmise that there are quite a few Republicans there as well.
It’s always “fun” to mock the misfortune of others until the time when that misery lands on your front door. The republicans are the misery party. The Party of grievance. Everything you fear will come to pass and eventually land on your doorstep. Careful what you wish for, comrade.
I also voted for Romney. So what the fk do I care what democrats have to reflect on? Go preach to someone else.
Of course Kamala was unqualified to be president, but I held my nose and voted for her it was my motha fkn duty to protect this country from a clear and present danger: The human embodiment of a malicious link that says “We are going to erase pictures of your grand kids unless you click here to re-verify your Apple account”, which your peers were dumb enough to click on since 2016.
You gotta be as gullible as the aforementioned boomer eating pancakes to vote for the grifter.
You see, no different than CCP Xi Ping,
However, be very careful what products you buy or financial transactions. He who pays the highest bribe aka contributions will get the protection. But you as customer certainly won’t.
From Reuters,
UNITED STATES
February 20, 2025 9:07 PM UTC
Trump tightens grip on independent agencies to test limits of presidential power
Summary
Trump targets independent agencies’ autonomy
Critics call it an unprecedented power grab
Challenge to legal precedents sparks US debate
Testing the limits of presidential power, Donald Trump this week tightened his grip on U.S. government agencies that for years have taken pride in their independence overseeing such matters as elections, stock markets and labor unrest.
Trump’s order on Tuesday was the latest show of force in a series that has removed critics from office, defunded federal programs, loosened government oversight and frozen billions of dollars in spending approved by Congress.
The order allows the White House to shift the budget and policies of the Federal Election Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the National Labor Relations Board and other agencies whose day-to-day activities are traditionally kept at arm’s length from the president.
The White House said such oversight provided accountability. Trump has been outspoken in his opposition to what he sees as burdensome regulations, saying they are killing jobs and curtailing Americans’ freedom.
Critics called the order another unprecedented power grab, while legal scholars said it would likely be challenged for overstepping the president’s constitutional authority.
“What Trump has done is try to push through what are fairly accepted boundaries on presidential authority,” said Justin Crowe, a Williams College political science professor.
“Trump’s conception of power is one in which the president should be able to do whatever he wants and control whomever he wants. That’s how he thinks government should work.”
Congress and presidents have traditionally supported the independence of these agencies, believing they needed to be insulated from political pressures to carry out their missions. But many of Trump’s fellow Republicans see them as unaccountable and overly stringent on the companies and people they oversee.
Trump has flexed his presidential muscle on issues big and small since taking office on January 20, saying voters gave him a mandate to pursue sweeping changes. He has fired and sidelined hundreds of civil servants and top officials at agencies, installed himself as chairman of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and called for a return to plastic straws.
In a social media post on Wednesday, Trump embraced the notion of a powerful monarch, writing “LONG LIVE THE KING!” with respect to his administration’s decision to rescind federal approval of New York City’s traffic congestion pricing program.
Official White House social media accounts posted a fake magazine cover showing Trump wearing a crown.
On Wednesday night aboard Air Force One, he threw his support behind calls for the federal government to take over the U.S. capital city of Washington, D.C. He also signed an executive order instructing the heads of every agency to undertake a review of all regulations, working with members of billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
Americans are divided over Trump’s steps on executive power, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in the past week.
Some 63% of Republicans think the country is in crisis and needs a president who rules without much interference from courts and Congress, the poll found, while 52% of Americans overall disagree.
‘POWER GRAB’
The Trump order on Tuesday required the defective-product recall overseers at the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the bank insurers at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the power regulators at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to run any substantive policy changes by the White House.
Each must install a political appointee on its staff who consults with the White House.
The order bars executive branch employees from expressing legal opinions at odds with the president as the official view of the government. The White House says this will prevent a range of agencies offering conflicting legal interpretations.
“For the Federal Government to be truly accountable to the American people, officials who wield vast executive power must be supervised and controlled by the people’s elected President,” said the order, which refers to the regulatory agencies as “so-called” independent.
Critics accused Trump of overstepping executive authority.
“This is a dangerous power grab by an unhinged president willing to put Americans’ lives and livelihoods at risk to consolidate his own control,” said U.S. Representative Frank Pallone, a New Jersey Democrat.
“We are not subservient to a king or anyone else out of Washington,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul said.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
The executive order gives the president new leverage to intervene in a sector of the government that holds vast powers over industries from finance to energy, the internet and consumer products, and that has on occasion angered the corporations it polices.
Trump’s effort tests a legal precedent set in a 1935 U.S. Supreme Court case, Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, which upheld the ability of Congress to create agencies with more independence from the White House, according to legal scholars.
“It (Trump’s effort) basically overrides congressionally enacted statutes and gives the president power to do what he wants,” Bill Baer, an official at the Federal Trade Commission during the Clinton administration, said of Trump’s order.
The FTC is among the agencies whose independence is challenged by Trump’s move.
Its actions on consumer protection and antitrust actions drew corporate ire during the Biden administration, and the agency is pursuing cases accusing both Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) and Facebook owner Meta Platforms (META.O) of maintaining illegal monopolies.
Amazon executive chairman Jeff Bezos and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg both attended Trump’s inauguration and have sought to gain favor with the president.
“The concern is that this president, who has been shown to favor those people who are supportive of him, is basically accumulating additional power to reward friends and disfavor enemies,” Baer said.
LEAVING THE FED ALONE
Trump’s order does not challenge the independence of the Federal Reserve’s control over monetary policy. The order’s reach is limited to the Fed’s financial regulations.
Trump has occasionally threatened the Fed’s longstanding independence and pushed it to lower interest rates, but he has avoided a direct clash on the issue.
Analysts said the order could nonetheless result in much more dramatic swings in financial regulation as future presidents exert additional control over bank oversight.
Beyond the impact on individual industries, Mitchel Sollenberger, a professor of political science at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, said the U.S. is seeing a smashing of presidential norms.
“It’s a much more sophisticated Trump presidency than the first term,” said Sollenberger, author of a book on the “unitary executive” theory, a conservative legal theory that argues the president enjoys sole authority over the federal government’s executive branch.
“And I think in many regards, this is a much more aggressive and sophisticated presidency in terms of pushing presidential interest than any presidential administration,” he added.
Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt, Valerie Volcovici, David Shepardson, Howard Schneider, Richard Cowan and Pete Schroeder in Washington, Jody Godoy in New York and Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Howard Goller
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles
Boomer Remover says:
February 20, 2025 at 4:14 pm
“Kamala was unqualified to be president, but I…voted for her”
That pretty much says it all. I’m sure everyone will keep that in mind if they bother reading any of your worthless posts in the future.
Lax: I found the one, so not single. And, I voted in every presidential election until 2016.
Boomer: You did what you believed to be right, which is of course your right to do I elected not to vote for either of the two candidate running, which was also my right.
LAX: Maybe many did not care as you say, but many more I believe opted not to go along with the charade anymore. It has not been easy for me to elect not to vote in the last 3 Presidential elections, as I was always believed in the “ don’t vote, don’t gripe slogan “. But, I no longer do.
I almost always have voted for NONE OF THE ABOVE. Of course, I live in NJ, so it didn’t matter until King Trump came along.
Sit back and watch it all burn. That was the mantra here for a while.
Well, I’ve watched my share of burn zones and it’s ugly when it actually occurs.
Like hell on earth. Yet somehow some loser behind a keyboard feels superior because their little shitshack is paid off and they are “safe”. Sometimes “Boomer” it’s not about you.
The fact that one political party and it’s denizens would take pleasure in other’s tragedy and use these events as a political wedge tells you everything you need to know about these evil scumbags.
4:54 play stupid games. win stupid prizes.
By not voting you are in a sense “voting”.
You are practicing the head in the sand method of living in a democracy. those who don’t vote essentially gave our Country to an imbecile. A compromised, pathetic liar, who WILL bring this Country down. You “voted” for that by not voting.
LAX: And if I did vote, I would be acknowledging that all the Democrats could offer was an arrogant, clueless, dingbat, and say well at least it’s not Trump. Sorry, but not good enough for me. In fact it feels like coercion.
LAX: Me not voting was not playing stupid games.
What’s with all this apathy and ignorance?
I don’t know….and I don’t care…!
LAX says:
February 20, 2025 at 5:00 pm
“The fact that one political party and it’s denizens would take pleasure in other’s tragedy…tells you everything you need to know about these evil scumbags.”
I agree. The fact that so many Dems openly admit to enjoying when a hurricane hits Florida (like the one in the story below) is despicable! And let’s not even talk about SlowJoe’s FEMA skipping homes with DJT lawn signs. Evil scumbags indeed!
https://nypost.com/2024/09/30/us-news/helene-was-act-of-god-to-punish-trump-supporters-ex-kentucky-u-staffer/
LAX: Apathy because it’s justified. Ignorance? Well I wish I was, it would make things much easier.
5:27 Any time someone post a link to a New Post or Daily Mail “news story” it’s a sign of just how dumb the poster is…..that crap is rage bait. Designed to divide people and play to the lowest common denominator. Congratulations. You’re an idiot.
5:32 cry me a river brainiac
Square (Block) is killing their business. Everyone who uses it wants out.
They are nickel and diming the customer base to death. Everything useful gets carved out and upsold. Any revenue increases are temporary based on pushing monetization across their customer base.
It’s going to backfire.
(as I just got my 5th or 6th price increase email in the last 12 months). It’s insane.
I thought with Catholics it was all hands on the young boys?
Phoenix says:
February 20, 2025 at 10:10 am
All hands on deck, every man for themselves.
Grim, we are seeing this on the street. Businesses are charging 4% uncharge to the customer. I started taking my checkbook when I go shopping.
It’s not long, between layoffs, crazy inflation that customers will start to shrink back.
I’m curious to hear from the MAGA supporters here – what’s going to stop the runaway inflation? And when are you going to protest? And how are you going to protest – join the democrats?
Have you ever set foot in Israel? If not, your opinions hold less weight with me……
RentL0rd says:
February 20, 2025 at 10:25 am
10:18. Hamas is disgusting. Israel running an apartheid state and attempting genocide is also disgusting.
Next.
I always said – my opinions don’t matter. It’s not going to move the needle on anything. It’s all about the facts.
Hear Scott Bessent on Bloomberg this morning….. not excusing, but rather giving a rationale…. the lobbysts and embedded interests in DC are mobilizing against the relentless DOGE attack…. the intention is to shred everything before the locusts can target and attack… at least we have a reason…..
Chad Powers says:
February 20, 2025 at 10:41 am
I normally like the government cutting out waste because it has just gotten too big and bloated. However, the cuts are coming way too fast and too deep. Systems like to be in a steady state and the system is now becoming unstable. People have bills to pay, and losing your job from one day to the next is extreme. Everyone needs to plan. The government needs to plan. We may be in for some unintended consequences (or maybe they will be intended consequences).
I speak to people every day that would kill for that kind of package….. especially 60-something boomers…..
I did have one take a package from Verizon that refused unemployment insurance on ethical grounds. I respect him for that decision, but he is literally one or two of maybe 25-30 I’ve seen go in that direction. He stands out only because he is the last.
BRT says:
February 20, 2025 at 10:46 am
Chad, they were offered buyouts equivalent to 8 months salary. The opportunity to come out way ahead was easily there. Certain people they relied on gave them terrible advice…but isn’t this what unemployment insurance is for?
You know that inherent sense of danger you feel just walking around the reflecting pools at Ground Zero or the Occulus? Just because….. imagine all of NYC felt that way…… that is what it is like over there….
RentL0rd says:
February 20, 2025 at 10:53 am
10:49, I have a close jewish zionist friend who is originally from apartheid SA, who believes Israel is running an apartheid state. Like many moderate Jewish folks believe. I will take his word over yours.
Nice catch!
3b says:
February 20, 2025 at 11:04 am
Rent: Interesting, you have a close Jewish ZIONIST friend who says Israel is running an apartheid state. I will let you figure out your disconnect on that comment.
I saw Flab’s comment last night and thought a variation of this comment.
SmallGovConservative says:
February 20, 2025 at 11:22 am
RentL0rd says:
February 20, 2025 at 10:25 am
“Israel running an apartheid state and attempting genocide”
Rant outing himself as a casual ‘liberal’ antisemite, spouting the same evil as Iran’s murderous ayatollah’s. Not much different than Lib, who outed himself as a casual ‘liberal’ racist with his comment last week. Dems are truly dangerous!
This one. Excuse what? When you consider the broad perspective that produces this post, it explains years of disingenous manure by a gadfly.
On the face, it is simple virtue signaling. However, upon further review, it is obvious that if he truly owns the position of moral authority from which he condescends to us, then first he would not post the video, but second, he would actually feel strongly enough that he could not enjoy the video. Instead, he is merely a putz (Yid-intentional).
Fabius Maximus says:
February 19, 2025 at 10:15 pm
Here’s a song on my Record player tonight that always puts a smile on my face. Excuse the cultural appropriation, it was the 90’s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA2V7fIzoOY
CA & NJ votes did not matter…. no?
LAX says:
February 20, 2025 at 5:09 pm
By not voting you are in a sense “voting”.
You are practicing the head in the sand method of living in a democracy. those who don’t vote essentially gave our Country to an imbecile. A compromised, pathetic liar, who WILL bring this Country down. You “voted” for that by not voting.
Exactly.
Chicago: Thanks!
Hochul is leaving Adam’s alone. Proof that the Dems Haven’t learned a thing.
LAX: I guess I touched a nerve with you. That was not my intention, but honestly it’s hard to tell when one can have a back and forth calm conversation even if we disagree, and then you kind of go off. Just an observation.
Meaning what?
Trump: no more tax payer money going to illegal immigrants.
Discuss….
LAX: Not meaning anything, just an observation re: the brainiac comment.
Lib: Not surprised, bad optics removing a Black mayor.
For anyone that did not see it, You Tube has the video up of the Hamas releas of the 4 dead Israeli hostages. It’s appalling, so sick and evil.
7:07 you do seem very intelligent.
“Yet somehow some loser behind a keyboard feels superior because their little shitshack is paid off and they are “safe”. Sometimes “Boomer” it’s not about you. ”
Eddie comes to mind, yes?
In other news, De Niro a Tribeca Grill will close on March 1. I are there years ago, and the food sucked.
7:25 some of us are risk takers. Some are not.
Most maga folks I know never left the County they were born in.
Just asking,
You receive a government pension, or are going to, am I correct? If not, I remember incorrectly.
If so, do you like your pension? Planning to collect. Gonna help you when you are older?
To put this in more perspective, I have been consistent in stating current pension system for NJ teachers is in horrible shape and not sustainable. I would be happy to collect 50% of what’s promised. Btw, my contributions have been continually raised every year, likely making me a victim more than a beneficiary. We will see. What I won’t do is go around and scream murder when they don’t deliver. I have a bunch of colleagues who put their full faith in the system and will likely do just that. I’ve been planning for the worst for the past 15 years with investments outside of the pension.
Government jobs meant stability in the past. Stablity for families. Stability for children. Ability to live a decent life not suddenly upended when a freak gets elected.
This is not the past, and it’s a different time. The government has been continually expanded to ridiculous unsustainable levels. They are not entitled to that on our dime. Moreover, Washington DC was the only area that did not enter recession in 2008 or 2020 if I remember correctly. Way too much of these people have been living the high life on our dime. These people were offered 8 months severance and a chance to double dip for the year…that’s the most generous package I have ever seen. Their union leaders told them not to accept it.
You have stability. Funny how you don’t want it for others, but you enjoy it for yourself.
I never once demanded stability. I would be job secure because nobody is going to do the job that I do. You’d be hard pressed to find another teacher in NJ that has the content load that I have taken on. I would welcome the elimination of tenure and fully dare the state of NJ to institute a form of merit based compensation.
And for what it’s worth, I would have loved to enter the private industry. It wasn’t an option in 2008 and became even less of an option as the state of NJ chased every major pharma operation out of state with their nonsense. You could eliminate my job tomorrow and I’ll land on my feet.
Yet another interesting / heated day in here today. Lots of passion!
Anyhow, I have to finish packing, we are off to Scotland for a wedding on Saturday in Edinburgh, and will also spend a few days in Inverness. Temperatures in high 40s, balmy compared to here. Behave yourselves while I am away.
“Yet somehow some loser behind a keyboard feels superior because their little shitshack is paid off and they are “safe”. Sometimes “Boomer” it’s not about you. ”
Eddie comes to mind, yes?
AI Input: “Eddie paid off his shitshack yet, he’s a loser. Explain.”
AI Output: “Post on njrereport forum for the answer.”
Shitshack. A place no one wants to live.
Government service my entire life – personal and business – and fed, state and local has ranged from the “typical DMV” experience of shoulder-shrugging apathy and inefficiency to Kafka-esque illogic and vicious malevolence. And, my household pays well over the six-digit mark for this poor treatment.
I don’t know how effective of a political strategy it would be for the D’s to like up behind fired government workers, unaccountable overseas spending and congestion pricing. I frankly cringe whenever an online post or tv commentator refers to a reduction in government “service”.
Not a big fan of most government services.
I do hope to collect social security one day.