In his opening remarks at the Senate confirmation hearings for incoming DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, GOP Senator Rand Paul, Chairman of the Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee, laid out brilliantly, the case as to why the behemoth that is DHS, begs for some serious oversight.
Senator Paul characterized DHS as a very powerful agency that was created after the 9/11 attacks to secure the homeland, but has since veered from its intended course, and into attacks against Americans simply exercising their free speech rights.
#BREAKING: @SenRandPaul : "Think about it, an agency [DHS] commanding over $110 BILLION annually, CAN'T account for its own activities. This is not just bureaucratic incompetence, it's emblematic of a deeper issue. An agency unsure of its own boundaries and commitments."😳 pic.twitter.com/m9C4drVSwe
Sen Paul: “Think about it, an agency [DHS] commanding over $110 billion annually, can’t account for its own activities. This is not just bureaucratic incompetence, it’s emblematic of a deeper issue. An agency unsure of its own boundaries and commitments.”
He went on to add that DHS is increasingly focusing on people’s social media posts, and even placing people on terrorism watchlists based on such posts—a total travesty.
Sen Paul for 🏆: "Instead of focusing on critical threats like securing the southwest border, DHS has shifted its gaze INWARD, targeting LAW ABIDING Americans. DHS…has often used its vast powers to target Americans exercising their constitutional rights. It's become an agency…
Bottom line folks, the criticisms Senator Paul levels at DHS are well founded and longstanding. The only question now is whether he’ll follow through, and use his position as Senate Homeland Security Chair, to provide the much-needed oversight DHS cries for.
Sadly, if the past is anything to go by, Sen Paul’s oversight promises might devolve into his just using his lofty committee chair perch to score political points by digging into, idk, Hunter Biden files. Let’s hope that doesn’t end up being the case, but I’ll readily admit, I would not be surprised.
On 03/04/25, President Donald Trump delivered the customary State of The Union address before a joint session of Congress. Per MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, this was the longest State of The Union speech ever delivered by a U.S. president.
Moments after President Trump’s address, Maddow delivered a blistering fact check to Trump’s address
#BREAKING: Legendary #Maddow: "For the record, the worst inflation in this country was in 1980. For the record, the economy that he [Trump] was left by President Biden was not a catastrophy, it was literally the BEST economy in the world…For the record, social security is not… pic.twitter.com/S9LxOhaoXu
Among the issues that Maddow fact checked President Trump on, was his assertion that he had spoken with the heads of U.S. auto manufacturers, and that they were happy with his proposed tariffs on the auto industry.
Maddow specifically said, “For the record, U.S. auto company CEOs are NOT psyched, and delighted, and sooo excited about Trump’s economic policies, including his tariffs.”
Less than 24 hours after Maddow’s fact check, news broke that the Trump administration was pausing it’s proposed tariffs on automakers—a tacit admission that the said CEOs had never expressed optimism about the proposed auto tariffs, as the president had indicated on his State of The Union address.
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In the 03/03/25 edition of MSNBC’ s Rachel Maddow Show, host Maddow pointed out the striking resemblance between how the U.S. dealt with Hitler’s assault on Europe, and the way the Trump administration is dealing with Putin’s current assault on Ukraine in particular, and Europe generally.
#BREAKING: Legendary #Maddow: "On 07/10/1940, the German Airforce started its large scale attack on our closest overseas ally, Great Britain…At that point Great Britain was the last man standing…in the way of total Nazi domination of western Europe…President Roosevelt sent… pic.twitter.com/JOnRk1HbMi
Maddow pointed out that by July 1940, Great Britain was the only European country left standing after Hitler’s forces had practically run over every other European country.
Then U.S. President Roosevelt was doing everything in his power to assist the Brits against Hitler’s forces. But interestingly, there was no consensus in the U.S. that the we should be assisting the Brits, which is quite similar to what we hear today from some leading Republican voices re Ukraine.
One of the leading Republican voices against Roosevelt assisting the Brits, was a U.S. Senator from Minnesota, one Ernest Lundeen.
Senator Lundeen apparently argued that Britain did not deserve America’s aid because it was not “grateful enough” for America’s past assistance(World War I, etc). He also argued, much like Republicans are arguing today, that Britain and other European allies needed to dig into their own mineral resources and pay America for its assistance–again, the same argument we are hearing today from leading Republicans.
It later came out, however, that during the entire time Senator Lundeen had been making these otherwise reasonable arguments against aid to Britain (on fiscal grounds), he was actually being paid by Hitler’s Germany to make their case from his lofty perch as a U.S. Senator.
The $1 million question now is, who is Putin paying to make his case in the U.S. Congress or even from a loftier perch, which I’ll leave to your imagination? Only time will tell.
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U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) appeared on CNNSOTU (022825) where he dropped a bombshell, telling host Dana Bash that the shouting match we recently witnessed at the White House between President Trump, his VP Vance, and the President of Ukraine, was not an anomaly, but rather, a conscious effort by Trump-Vance to steer America towards kleptocracy.
#BREAKING: Sen Murphy: "It is absolutely SHAMEFUL what is happening right now. The White House has become an arm of the Kremlin…"😳 pic.twitter.com/47YwD25K1o
The characterization by the mainstream media thus far, has been that the confrontation at the White House was just an unfortunate case of a good meeting gone bad—something that happened out of happenstance.
What Sen Murphy is saying however, is markedly different, and that is, this was a pre-meditated, conscious effort by Trump-Vance to humiliate the President of Ukraine for the benefit of Vladimir Putin. Furthermore, Sen Murphy adds that this is part of their larger effort to align America with dictators around the world, so as to make it easier for them to transform America into a kleptocratic oligarchy like Russia.
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An interesting segment on the 02/10/25 edition of MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show revealed that the recent decision by the Trump administration to halt federal subsidies for EV charging stations directly benefits Elon Musk’s Tesla.
#BREAKING: Legendary #Maddow: "Did you notice the little announcement that the Trump admin has ordered a halt to all federal funding for electric vehicle(EV) chargers across the U.S… @elonmusk's company, #Tesla, already has the biggest private charging network in the… pic.twitter.com/cYyivQUbpW
This is a glaring conflict of interest, which once again underscores the need for some congressional oversight regarding the work Musk and his DOGE are doing, ostensibly to identify and eliminate government waste and fraud.
Simply put, Congress needs to step in to ensure that Musk’s “waste cutting” operations are not benefiting his private businesses.
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In one of his post election posts on X, President-Elect Donald Trump promised to “dismantle the Deep State.” This as you know, was a central theme of his presidential campaign so it should come as no surprise to anyone. The question now is whether he will actually deliver on this seemingly tall order that may play well on the campaign trail, but prove very difficult in terms of actually pulling it off.
Different people have different notions as to what the Deep State actually means, or whether it even exists, but the general consensus is that they are powerful but unelected bureaucrats, who control the levers of power behind the scenes, and span different administrations (both Democrat and Republican)–essentially a permanent unelected ruling class, who ruthlessly protect their power from “outsiders”–ambitious people they don’t approve of/like. They use the instruments of government(the ABC agencies we shall not name) to crush their perceived enemies.
Trump has cast himself as one of those outsiders, and he points to his endless criminal prosecutions as proof of the Deep State coming after him. He has repeatedly singled out the FBI as one of the key instruments of the Deep State that he wants hollowed out.
Whether or not the FBI has become an instrument of the Deep State as Trump alleges, is a question Yours Truly chooses to sidestep for now–way above my pay grade. What Yours Truly finds very encouraging about Trump’s proclamation however, is that during his 4 years, maybe, just maybe, we may achieve something I have begged and prayed for for quite a long time now, and that is, a Church-type Committee to look into the abuses of our intelligence agencies.
The last time we did an audit of our intelligence agencies was way back in the 1960s so reasonable people will agree that a fresh audit is way past due. A lot of “dirt” was uncovered in the previous audit (cointelpro being the main one) so smart money is that 70 years after that, there are bound to be some let’s just say, “interesting” new programs to be “unearthed”. I for one, would keep my eyes open for the notorious Targeted Individual program, which our intelligence agencies have categorically dismissed as a conspiracy theory. A Church-type committee would be the perfect venue to get to the bottom of this supposed “conspiracy theory”.
Yours Truly has long advocated for the enactment of a new Church-type commission to investigate the abuses of power by our intelligence agencies. Though President-Elect Trump doesn’t outrightly call for the creation of such a commission, reasonable people will agree that his recent post on X is the most serious attempt yet by a modern American president to rein in our out of control intel agencies, and for that, he deserves a lot of praise. Whether he will keep his promise is a different matter altogether.
President-Elect Trump is known to desire things/issues that cast him aside from other American presidents in terms of greatness. Well, 70 years later, historians are still talking about the historic Church Committee hearings, and the administration that was in charge then. If Trump pushes for a new Church-type committee during his four years, historians will also be talking favorably about his administration 100 years from now, especially if a lot of illegal government activity is uncovered.
President-Elect Trump should also know that a much overdue audit of our intelligence agencies is an issue that enjoys tremendous bipartisan support despite the media’s depiction of it as a partisan MAGA issue.
Interesting report on CNN News Central says (06/17/24) says that after weeks of treading carefully around the subject of former President Trump’s recent felony convictions, Team Biden has finally decided to take the gloves off, and make the convictions a key part of their 2024 campaign message.
Some, including Yours Truly, will translate this CNN report thus: “Team Biden has finally decided it wants to win the 2024 presidential election.” Make no mistake about it, this is Team Biden’s strongest message from now until the November election day, which will effectively boil down to a fight for independent voters.
CNN’s Sara Sidner(0:22): “Today, the Biden campaign escalating its attacks against Donald Trump with a new $50 million ad push rolling out in battleground states, taking on the former President’s character and felony convictions.”
Part of the ad says: “In the courtroom, we see Donald Trump for who he is. He’s been convicted of 34 felonies, found liable for sexual assault, and he committed financial fraud. Meanwhile, Joe Biden’s been working…”
CNN’s Arlette Saenz(1:10): “This new ad is significant, as it marks the first time the Biden campaign is using former President Donald Trump’s legal woes in television advertisements…In this ad, they [Team Biden] are trying to frame this election as a choice between a convicted criminal who is looking out for himself, with President Biden who in his words, ‘works for the American people.’ This ad will run as part of a $50 million ad push in key battleground states…”
Bottom line folks, this is the best move Team Biden has made thus far, regarding the upcoming November 2024 presidential election. Simply put, if they preach this message steadily–the other guy is a convicted felon–Biden wins reelection easily, thanks in large part to the independent vote. It’s really that simple.
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Kristy Greenberg, Former Deputy Chief at SDNY’s Criminal Division, appeared on MSNBC’s The Weekend show (06/09/24) where she made quite a compelling case as to why former President Trump should be imprisoned after being found guilty of 34 felony counts in the hush money case–the best case yet, as far as Yours Truly is concerned.
Kristi Greenberg: “I think that if you objectively look at all of the factors that are taken into account in sentencing, the prosecutors here should be seeking a jail sentence, and the judge should impose one. Look at the nature and the seriousness of the conduct…This was about the subversion of democracy. This was about depriving the voter of information that they would need when they go to the ballot box and decide who to vote for. What is more important than that?”
She also knocked down the argument one regularly hears on Fox News and other pro-Trump media outlets–that Trump should be accorded some deference and spared prison time, simply because he’s a former president. She argued instead that, because Trump wrote the hush money checks from the Oval Office, the judge should treat that as “an aggravating factor” for sentencing purposes.
In conclusion, she made the case that because Michael Cohen went to jail for the same conduct, Trump should likewise be imprisoned, especially given the fact that he was directing the criminal scheme–a slam dunk argument in my opinion. She specifically told the MSNBC hosts (1:09): “Michael Cohen went to jail for the same conduct, and he was less culpable than Donald Trump, who was directing him to do it. So if it’s serious enough for Michael Cohen to go to jail, it is certainly serious enough for Donald Trump to go to jail as well.”
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Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) appeared on the 05/22/24 edition of MSNBC’s All In w/Chris Hayes show, where she dropped a bombshell by calling for a U.S. Senate probe into the affairs of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. Rep AOC’s call for an investigation is of course related to recent news reports that say a flag known to be sympathetic to the January 6th insurrection, was spotted flying at Justice Alito’s residence.
Asked by host Chris Hayes what she thought about the Alito news reports, Rep AOC replied(2:22): “I don’t even think that we have to wait until we have a Democratic House majority, because we have a Democratic Senate majority. This is an alarm that I have been sounding for quite some time now. I think that what we’re seeing here, is an extraordinary breach of not just the trust and the stature of the Supreme Court, but we’re seeing a fundamental challenge to our democracy. [Justice] Samuel Alito has identified himself with the same people who raided the Capitol on January 6th, and is now going to be presiding over court cases that have deep implications over the participants of that rally.”
Rep AOC went on to add that Democrats cannot just keep on sitting on power after getting elected. They actually have to use the power that voters bestow upon them, to start addressing this runaway Supreme Court, and other burning voter concerns.
Rep AOC specifically told host Chris Hayes(3:13): “Democrats have a responsibility for defending our democracy, and in the Senate, we have gavels. There should be subpoenas going out, there should be active investigations that are happening, and I believe that when House Democrats take the majority, we are preparing and ensuring to support the broader effort to stand up our democracy…When Democrats have power, we have to use it. We cannot be in perpetual campaign mode. We need to be in governance mode, we need to be in accountability mode, with every lever that we have…”
As you know, Yours Truly has for a long time lamented weakness by congressional Dems. It was therefore quite refreshing to see Rep AOC calling it out too.
A bombshell segment on the 05/20/24 edition of The Rachel Maddow Show (TRMS) delved into the GOP’s long history of using political pressure to scuttle criminal investigations and prosecutions targeting them.
Maddow’s intent was to bring attention to the Republican political attacks currently being leveled against Fulton County DA Fani Willis, as she tries to hold former President Trump accountable for trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential elections in Georgia.
It is widely assumed by many, that the political attacks currently playing out against DA Willis are somehow novel, or totally unheard of in America, when as Maddow clearly illustrates, there is a very long and sordid history of Republican politicians successfully employing similar tactics in the past.
The full Maddow segment (YouTube) is available here for context, but my posts on X(formerly Twitter) get to the crux of her argument, and that is, the Republican attacks on Fulton County DA Fani Willis are nothing knew. Republicans have been doing these political pressure campaigns against prosecutors dating as far back as the 1940s. Such pressure campaigns have largely evaded media scrutiny because as she puts it, they make the country and all the stakeholders look bad.
#Maddow: "The prosecutors and investigators personally were CRUSHED. They were smeared and discredited and destroyed, so they were in no position to tell the story either, and so the story, mostly, was not told. But we NEED TO KNOW that story and stories like that…" pic.twitter.com/UsZnixTvpw
As Maddow correctly points out, it’s incumbent upon any democracy-loving individual, to step up and defend DA Fani Willis, or any other similarly situated prosecutor, against such political pressure campaigns. They are antithetical to a free and democratic society.
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