A Continuing Resolution
This week House Republicans will face another test of their unity as they attempt to pass a continuing resolution which will keep the government open until September 30th. The stop gap measure will likely set up Republicans to eventually cut taxes and spending in Reconciliation, while effectively freezing spending this year. Some things are being cut to allow for slightly more defense spending. It is a conservative bill in many ways since democrats have already voiced plans to shut down the government. Speaker Johnson has to expect that every democrat in the House will vote against it.
The democrat strategy is to pretend that Republicans intend to cut Medicaid. Republican leaders in Congress have directed the committee that oversees Medicaid to cut $880 billion from the next budget. The question that democrats raise is whether benefits will be cut. Medicaid was designed to divide a patient’s medical bills: the federal government and the state would each pay a set share. Over time the federal share has grown larger as the state share has grown smaller. In 2014 then president Obama grew Medicaid enormously under Obamacare by adding everyone who earned less than a certain income (around $21,000 for a single person). That is why Republicans couldn't pass a "repeal & replace" Obamacare bill in 2017. Too many were getting the benefits. Congrats to Obama for growing another dependent constituency. Republicans now seek to impose a work requirement on this group for people who aren’t disabled.
A 99-page piece of legislation was released on Saturday that would roughly maintain current government funding levels through the beginning of fiscal year 2026, which begins Oct. 1. House Republicans have said that they are confident the bill will pass on Republican support alone.
In other news:
Mark Carney, a former governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, won the Liberal Party leadership election and will replace Justin Trudeau as Canada's Prime Minister. Canada's Liberals had been struggling, but their polling has surged since Trump came into office. Carney is expected to quickly call a federal election. It is not expected to last long. The world is moving away from the left.
The Trump administration said Friday that it’s pulling $400 million from Columbia University, canceling grants and contracts because of what the government describes as the Ivy League school’s failure to squelch antisemitism on campus.
Israel cut off electricity to Gaza, which is now a wasteland.
The Romanian electoral commission barred a Nationalist candidate from the presidential race. He won the first round of an aborted election last year. Can we admit that democracy is all but dead in Europe?
President Trump is expected to meet with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte today. The main topic of discussion will certainly be the ongoing negotiations to reach a cease-fire agreement between Russia and Ukraine.
On Wednesday Trump is expected to welcome Taoiseach Micheál Martin, the leader of Ireland. The President recently declared March Irish- American Heritage Month.
While many American companies oppose President Trump’s tariffs, leaders of the Steel & Aluminum industry welcome them. They say they’ve been harmed by unfair trade. It has become common for most countries to enjoy one sided trade deals with the US.
Trump is entering his eighth week back in the White House with at least 87 executive orders under his belt since Jan. 20, which include 45 he signed in his first 10 days. He may even get a very elusive peace deal between Ukraine and Russia.
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Good morning and welcome to the News Section.
Elon Musk is blaming nationwide protests against his electric car company Tesla on left-wing billionaire George Soros, billionaire Democratic mega-donor and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and others, claiming they are bankrolling the destructive "protests."
The protests at dealerships and other locations have occurred even as some Tesla vehicles and charging stations have been damaged and destroyed, though it is not clear that the protests and the vandalism are linked. Musk, Tesla's CEO, took to his social media platform X on Sunday morning to say an investigation found five ActBlue-funded groups were responsible for Tesla "protests."
"An investigation has found 5 ActBlue-funded groups responsible for Tesla ‘protests’: Troublemakers, Disruption Project, Rise & Resist, Indivisible Project and Democratic Socialists of America," Musk wrote.
Musk says Soros, Hoffman are funding protests against Tesla | Fox News
Ah yes, billionaire democrat bad, billionaire republican good ... it's all so conivingly confusing. /s
The difference is the violence and destruction.
You mean peaceful protests?
Nah, it's just unending bullshit. Had Biden hired Soros to exactly do what Musk is up to you'd be wailing louder than a banshee.
Lol, like in 2020.
No comparison...
Musk loves this country.
Soros wants to destroy it.
Think about what you are saying. Biden hiring anyone to cut government waste is ridiculous.
BTW Musk wasn't hired. He is a volunteer.
I only know of one, I believe it is fondly referred to as J-6. Such a fun game eh?
Soros isn't into saving anything except his interests via his bank account.
LOL ... what he volunteered for is to further his reach into the pocket of gov't largesse.
You have ACTUAL proof of this or just pulling out of the netherlands?
You must have a short memory. J6 was a riot, Summer of 2020 was peaceful protests.
PROVE IT
I doubt it. If Soros was brought on to cut government and he actually did it the right would be OK with that. Of course in reality Soros would look at more ways to spend money.
LOL. What complete and utter bullshit. I don't give a fuck about Soros, which is the same amount of fuck I gave about Musk until he started fucking with our government trying to remake it into a more lean and mean Russian cock sucking machine.
I guess you told us!
No guessing necessary.
I know, just keep tossing. Nothing but FACTS means anything.
Well, if there was a true competition for dumbest internet post, this one is in the running.
... and here I thought it was an antifa organised picnic.
Speaking of antifa, weren't about two dozen people killed in the 2020 riots?
How many were prosecuted?
Where was the FBI then?
Unlike those on the left I call them what they are.
That sounds like a 5th grader wrote it.
A normal person would be upset at the fraud and waste that has been happening. You are pissed it's being identified.
I applaud getting rid of waste and fraud. What Musk is doing is throwing the baby out with the bathwater and I happen to be a fan of babies. If this was a targeted, scalpel precise surgery identifying and cutting out the waste and fraud after it had been exposed so everyone could see why it needed to go, I would be cheering this action. Sadly, it's just a chainsaw massacre where everyone dies, and then they just find Trump loyalists to fill any necessary positions that provide some benefit white rightwing conservatives can't live without. So no Jeremy, I'm not pissed its being identified. I'm pissed that so many people doing good and necessary work are getting hurt in this slash and burn and I fear that with the loyalist replacements Trump is making, we slide that much closer to a fascist nation with all the sectors of government being loyal to a man instead of the constitution and the country.
Very good. Musk himself said that if you have a complaint, please specify where he is cutting into the muscle. That may eventually be inevitable, but easy, juicy targets like USAID was a great place to start.
I'm not pissed its being identified. I'm pissed that so many people doing good and necessary work are getting hurt in this slash and burn
I must have missed your concerns when candidate Hillary told the coal miners to find something else to do for a living, or when Joe Biden told fracking workers to learn code.
Look at the speed all the wasted money has been identified. That's an indication that this is a cursory look, a quick glance. And they found BILLIONS in wasted money. Who is to say that they won't be going back and getting more into the details and find even more. The federal government is inflated to the point it's become a sever burden on the people they are supposed to represent.
1.1.14 and 1.1.24 show otherwise otherwise.
Exactly what has happened that it's become a "fascist nation"?
I have yet to see actual evidence of waste and fraud, all I hear about are some conservatives bitching about transgenic mice. Where's the actual forensic accounting? Show us the evidence of waste and fraud, don't just blow smoke up dumb shit conservatives asses knowing they won't ever ask for proof and just be placated like the gullible rubes they are.
? You lost me there. Nowhere in either of those comments do I say anything about being upset that fraud or waste is being uncovered. I simply point out that Musk is taking a chainsaw to our government and neutering our ability as a nation to defend itself against Russian influence and capitulation. Musk has been essentially holding public executions which has diverted the American peoples concerns away from the plight of our allies in Ukraine and forced our attention onto whether our government will get funded and whether tens of thousands of Americans who had been doing amazing work in multiple fields of research, development and protection of our citizens in multiple ways in multiple different government programs from the CIA, FAA, FEMA, Consumer Protections, Department of Education, the IRS to the DOD. This kind of veritable massacre among our government is dangerous and makes us weaker when facing global threats like Russia.
Exactly what has happened that it's become a "fascist nation"?
Fascism is a far-right (check!), authoritarian (loyalty to a man, not the constitution, check!), and ultranationalist political ideology and movement (MAGA, check!), characterized by a dictatorial leader (The Mango Mussolini, check!), centralized autocracy (rule by 1 person with absolute power, getting there...), militarism (the belief or desire of a government or people that a country should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote national interests, check!), forcible suppression of opposition (DOGE, current Trump retaliation, enemies list, punishing those who didn't support him), belief in a natural social hierarchy (white conservative Christian makes right), subordination of individual interests for the perceived good of the nation or race (check!), and strong regimentation of society and the economy(Tariffs anyone? How's that stock market doing?).
Then you, really, are complaining just for the sake of complaining. Do some research, it's all out there.
Yeah, I somehow knew you'd get the definition wrong.
Fascism ( / ˈ f æ ʃ ɪ z əm / FASH -iz-əm ) is a far-right , authoritarian , and ultranationalist political ideology and movement, [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy , militarism , forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy , subordination of individual interests for the perceived good of the nation or race , and strong regimentation of society and the economy.
Fascism - Wikipedia
Fascism : a populist political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti ) that exalts nation and often race above the individual, that is associated with a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, and that is characterized by severe economic and social regimentation and by forcible suppression of opposition
FASCISM Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
Is it that rightwing conservatives have redefined fascism in their minds so now only they know what the word "fascist" is supposed to represent? Because it seems they've redefined it to mean anything other than the things they support, when in actuality it encompasses nearly everything righting conservatives are clearly enamored with.
There is a better chance you will be elected pope at the next conclave than he will show you any evidence of anything.
Wow. You're the first to use the CORRECT definition. Don't know what that nonsense is from Wikipedia though.
Now that you finally have the right definition, I'll ask my question again (since you are trying to dodge it) - Exactly what has happened that it's become a "fascist nation"?
Fascism : a populist political philosophy, movement, or regime (MAGA) that exalts nation and often race above the individual, that is associated with a centralized autocratic government (Musk) headed by a dictatorial leader ("Except for day one" when Trump pushed through his authoritarian agenda "After that, I’m not a dictator."), and that is characterized by severe economic and social regimentation (Tariffs anyone? How's that stock market doing?) and by forcible suppression of opposition (DOGE, current Trump retaliation, enemies list, punishing those who didn't support him).
There really isn't a lot of daylight between the two definitions if you know what the words used mean.
Universities being allowed to make life on university campuses a living hell for Jewish students in the name of "Free Speech" is unAmerican, and Trump is making an example of Columbia Universty that it doesn't pay to ignore harmful antisemitism. What surprises me is that Trump is being nice to the Prime Minister of Ireland, one of the most ant-Israel nations in the world.
Trump is declaring March Irish American month. I assume that is the reason for the PM's visit.
A Republican-led House committee fired off a letter to the Treasury Department on Friday that demanded access to bank documents as part of a new investigation into a Democratic fundraising platform’s “potentially fraudulent” donations.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and New York GOP Rep. Nick Langworthy wrote to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen asking for all Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) generated since Jan. 1, 2023, involving the political action committee ActBlue .
The suspicious activities may include “money laundering, counterfeit credit/debit card, credit card or debit card fraud, false statements, wire transfer fraud, or identity theft,” Comer, Langworthy and 22 other Republicans on the panel said.
Exclusive | GOP panel demands Treasury records on 'fraudulent' Dem donations
The Department of Homeland Security has started giving employees lie detector tests to find out who is leaking details about upcoming immigration raids.
The polygraph tests have been taking place for about three weeks, a DHS spokesperson confirmed to CBS News . It wasn’t immediately clear how many employees had already undergone a polygraph.
President Trump’s DHS Secretary Kristi Noem issued an internal directive Feb. 18 ordering staffers to submit to polygraph tests to crack down on those trying to hamper Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deportation operations, the outlet reported, citing sources.
“The Department of Homeland Security is a national security agency. We can, should, and will polygraph personnel,” a DHS spokesperson said.
DHS starts giving lie detector tests to employees to try and find ICE raid leakers
Did an MSNBC guest recently say we should again stand with our allies against Russia like we did in WWII?
I'm trying to remember who it was.
Does it really matter if some rando progressive made a mistake about which fascist we were fighting in WWII? It's just another attempt by the right to justify their clearly immoral and disgusting protection of a murderous authoritarian because of a "gotcha" comment by some insignificant talking head on one side or the other. What matters is what is actually happening right now, the selling out of a trading partner, friend and ally, taking sides with the aggressor in an unprovoked war that is slaughtering tens of thousands of innocent civilians, women, children, their homes, schools, livelihoods, all for Putin's pride, and now that blood is also on Americas hands as it will been seen that way by the rest of the world for the rest of recorded history. Such shame, yet many seem oblivious to this and in fact are wallowing in such reckless disgusting behavior.
Actually, it does.
Russia, SOVIET RUSSIA was our ally in that war. After they had been Hitler's ally.
And it was they who did the heavy lifting losing about 11 million soldiers and almost as many civilians.
Of course they will. It could give the US a few trillion surplus and Democrats would vote against it. All because...."Trruuummmmppppp"!