Politics has always been an advance auction of the loots able to be transferred to the victor. Very few are willing to go through the process of getting selected/elected in order to actually serve the common good. More are driven by the actual greed and envy. This becomes more apparent election cycle after election cycle. We willingly as a nation abdicate our personal responsibility and authority to the same people to try and curry their favor. We can not afford them, or more honestly have been out of for them and their “services”. As a nation we need to be more cognizant of where our treasure is allocated, some aspects of government require a veil of secrecy, but for the most part let the disinfectant light of day shine. Our political overclass has demonstrated pure contempt for the very people it claims to represent. Mandating equal outcome regardless of personal input, blatant 2-tier justice for politically preferred actions, sponsorship of NGO actions that are if not outright illegal, just plain shady. Let the sun shine in, if we only save a fraction of what is wasted that is something. The very people who are outraged told us elections have consequences and we need to shut up and stay in our place.
Category: Guest Contributors
Rebuild the Middle Class
In the comments to yesterday’s post was this one by TomD:
“For a number of years, I saw leftism coming and attributed it to a politically motivated elite with a brilliantly executed long focus political motive. There’s probably at least some of that but the revelations of last few weeks lead me to think that what we have been observing with such dismay over the past decade or so is coming from a much baser motivation: greed.
The revelations coming from DOGE seem to imply a very large and intricate network of NGO’s lavishly endowed from scantily controlled government disbursement programs. Apparently, the amount of money disappearing into these dark and uncontrolled conduits is well into the $trillions.
Everybody close to government is getting RICH and they do not want the trails to become illuminated.”
I think a lot of us who were just plain old patriotic Americans, or what they now call civic nationalists, assumed that the Left really was sincere with all the craziness they preached and that the waste and inefficiency were symptoms of their myopia and unwillingness to use meritocratic selection when populating the federal government with useless people of all imaginable types.
But just like TomD I’ve finally gotten it through my thick skull that for the most part all these people in government are just plain crooks stealing us blind. And I include almost all the Republicans in that category too. All they want is a way to cash in on their positions in the machine that prints money and hands it out to those in the know.
I suppose that I should be philosophical about all this. After all, greed is what makes capitalism work supposedly. And I suppose if they were just wetting their beaks but still doing their jobs to keep this country healthy, rich and strong I’d be inclined to say, “Well, that’s just human nature. They’re just good old boys picking up some crumbs from the floor of the bakery.”
But it’s nothing like that. They’re like Mitt Romney’s company Bain Capital. They’re selling off the assets of a company (America) and sending the employees home without jobs and without their pensions. They’re liquidators. It’s a giant going out of business sale with us as the former employees forced to take temporary employment, boxing up the equipment as it’s shipped off to China and elsewhere.
But for as long as the Merry Go Round keeps turning, they get paid by skimming off of the proceeds from the sales of what’s still left.
Eventually, our bodies will be all that’s left. And the only use for those will be as cannon fodder for the forever wars that still bring in value to the people running the show. And that’s why Ukraine and the Middle East and Taiwan are always in the news and why we still have to hear about how important democracy is. They need our sons to suit up and fly to the desert and die in the heat.
And that’s why we should hate these people with all the hate we can manufacture. To them we’re cattle and that’s all. They feel not the least kinship toward us and we should not have the least compunction about them failing, losing their jobs or anything else. Hearing about how NGOs are laying off people means less than nothing to me. In fact, I’m overjoyed to hear about some Harvard graduate who was making mid-six figures working for a George Soros “open society” NGO shocked and dismayed to be out of work and stuck with a huge mortgage on a five-million-dollar house in Northern Virginia.
Compare his plight to a family that’s been living for the last two hundred years in Ohio or Pennsylvania while the industries that were located there systematically relocated to China and left the working class more and more desperate and poor. Trump has looked at what is going on and clearly seen the liquidation game for what it is. If the rest of his team are smart, they’ll see that their only hope (and ours) is to continue this process to force the corporations to invest in us. To quote a mythical small town American, “this rabble you’re talking about, they do most of the working and paying and living and dying in this community. Well, is it too much to have them work and pay and live and die in a couple of decent rooms and a bath?”
Call it populism, nationalism, whatever -ism you care to. This used to be a great nation. A balance has to be struck that allows for a prosperous middle class. Instead, the masters of the universe think they can settle into a feudal system with them at the top and us as the serfs. I think it’s time we let them know that if this is going to be feudalism then we might as well bring the time up to the French Revolution and make a big old bonfire out of their cool stuff.
Enough is enough. Empty out Washington, slash the federal budget, lower our taxes, stand pat on the nuclear arsenal, fix all the broke stuff, bring back our jobs, fill up the prisons and rebuild the middle class.
Tom’s World – 13FEB2025 – The Ultimate Pyramid Scam
The Federal Government is history’s absolute worst fiduciary administrator even theoretically possible. SS and Medicare are supposed to be involuntary pay in advance programs for medical insurance and pension. I seem to remember having roughly 15% of my wages deducted throughout my life and sent to the Fed, supposedly to supplement or finance my retirement. So, how did the benefits for which I paid in advance throughout my working career become a line item expenditure on the federal budget?
If you are a pension fund administrator and spend every cent the second you get it and hopefully pay retirees from current funds, there’s a name for that: Pyramid Scam, a felony.
Guest Contributor – Chemist – 13FEB2025 – $1T
Talcove from LexisNexis Special Services testifying before the DOGE committee yesterday:
“What amount of fraud can be prevented in the entitlements programs and how?”
“By putting identity confirmation requirements in at the front end of payment systems, eliminating self-certification, and monitoring the back end – $1T.”
A trillion dollars sounds like a good start on cutting the budget.
Update:
Comment by TomD
Yeah, 1 $trillion as in 10^12th power, is a start. You want to see the logical conclusion of this process?
This is the largest real bill printed in the history of man. When I got the bill, the value was approx. 1/10th the value of the paper that it is printed on. Ironically, due to now scarcity, the bills are selling for well over $100 on ebay. I’m pissed, I bought 20 of them for $1 each and was giving them away as jokes/object lessons.
Tom’s World – 09FEB2025 – Photo – A Rose by Any Other Name …
Guest Contributor – ArthurinCali – 07FEB2025 – In the Moment
The optimist in me understands that Trump’s superpower is that the Left, Media, and others constantly underestimate the man’s intelligence and act as if he is a barely functioning special ed student. This impression is amplified by the sycophant news outlets that produce slanted coverage of practically everything the man does; from his policies to even what the man decides to eat for dinner.
Those of us who follow politics closely can recall from memory the litany of dishonest accounts of the man. Remember “Very fine people” and “Injecting Bleach” are still told as gospel. This doesn’t even begin to include the rumors and tall tales reported as truth.
FWIW, my take on the Gaza announcement is an orchestrated strategy with a plan that hasn’t been fully revealed yet. No, we aren’t going to see American boots on the ground in Gaza. (I pray we don’t) But there is something in the works behind the scenes that should play out in the coming months. I know, I know, it sounds a little too much like “Trust the Plan” thinking.
However, I have been blown away with what the incoming administration has done so far, especially after today when they threw down the gauntlet over the DOGE kid getting doxxed and attacked from the Left. Trump, JD, and Elon coming out and telling, well, the world really, that these cancelling tactics aren’t going to work was exactly what I voted for. Many of us on the Right are done with the past, watching scalps offered to the Leftist altar of morality with no chance of absolution or grace for the offenders.
“I refuse to cut one blade of grass for my enemies delight.”
The Left has long had their radicals and vanguard of folks within the Progressive coalition. Do they routinely perform purification rituals to placate and appease the Right? No.
Have a great weekend OCF
Tom’s World – 07FEB2025 – Photo – Dandelion
Below is my take on a Southern dandelion. This image could have used some focus stacking.
Guest Contributor – Chemist – 04FEB2025 – Reasons for Hope
Points of optimism for you:
You say the Left controls most of the institutions; the schools, the universities, the Media, Hollywood, the book publishers and most of Silicon Valley.
Our schools are failing and school choice is getting bigger every day. Trump may well end the Dept of Education.
The Universities are losing students and power – that means influence as well.
The old media is dying. The new media (Twitter, podcasts, etc) is ascendant.
Hollywood is burning and will probably disperse into other states as CA is too expensive.
The legacy book publishers are becoming more irrelevant every day and will probably go through a period of consolidation and reduction. New publishers are emerging every day and self publishing is a viable option for eBooks.
The Tech Bros of silicon valley are coming over to our side.
Sometimes, all it takes is a leader. Like Trump.
Guest Contributor – Ed Brault – 03FEB2025 – The Dreaded White Stuff
Good luck with the snow. I grew up on the MA North Shore and then 40 years on the Northern Tier with the Air Force and Army. Heartily agree about freezing rain. We lost power for 27 days in Plattsburgh NY due to an ice storm back in ’98 (Thank Ghu for wood stoves and oil lamps), and saw a lot of VERY slick road and dead-stopped traffic due to iced pavement. Major reason for moving to South Carolina in 2014. And what happens in 2015? The first snow in 40 years, followed by more of the cussed stuff 10 years later! I tell ya I don’t get no respect!
Guest Contributor – War Pig – 28JAN2025 – You Can’t Go Home
You really can’t go home again. The memories remain but the scene has changed.
Virginia Beach in the late 60s and early 70s was fun. A boardwalk, a pally where they had rollerskating one night and a dance another night. On the boardwalk were carnival games. I was banned from the rifle arcade shoot for winning too many prizes. South of town along the coast were beaches and especially dunes. We’d go down at night, dig a pit in the sand, gather driftwood and cook hot dogs and brats over the fire, followed by roasting marshmallows and some made s’mores. We drank beer and wine and watched the lights of the ships out on Chesapeake Bay. We’d skinny dip in the surf and make love among the dunes. A few were in committed relationships but most were lovers of convenience. The gals chose their partners for the night. Sort of like Kid Rock’s song “All Summer Long”. There was one girl who favored me but after she went back to college I never saw her again.
Now the dunes are replaced by cookie cutter condos. There had to be a law passed to mandate public access to the beach and now there are bar steel armored tunnels every so many buildings to allow the public to use the beach. Where there once was the boardwalk, arcade and pally, are hotels so tall that you have to look between them to see the beach from the strip.
The memories are still alive in my mind, but the X, Y, and Z are gone. Just the T remains.