Free Republic

There are many types of “reform”
1) The Dept of Ed should be eliminated. Some other Depts should be eliminated.
2) There is Waste, Fraud, Abuse that should be eliminated. EG Deloitte is a big WFA in Medicaid and HHS. Both Left wing KFF and right wing can agree on that. It is separate from “the mission”. But the “mission” itself could be part of the waste.
3) All Congress-critters agree that the DOJ and FBI, The Dept of State, the Dept of Ware and other agencies have a legitimate reason to exist, unlike the 2 scenarios above. Within the FBI (and similar agencies) there are situations where the staff are just “doing what they are told”. They are told to arrest a J6 protestor, or to bomb a Venezuelan ship and they do it. Their job is to obey orders and not he Congress-critters who question those giving orders.

And then there are people in the legit agency who give orders that are not consistent with the laws set by congress. The are levels of “gray” accross this legit agency are many. On one issue a person might be on the side of the law. In a different situation it is not that clear.

At the same time as the desire to clean house, one has to continue with the routine work of the agency. Murders, rapists do not get a free holiday just because there needs to be focus on cleaning house.

It should be relatively easy to clean house in situations 1) and 2) above. Situation 3) is difficult. Few have accomplished it. And they are not the ones throwing stones at Bongino or Patel or Bondi.

I, for one, would like to see a lot more DOGE in situations 1) and 2) above as it should be relativel easy for a chainsaw Al to come in and do it.

Chevron is in the news for 1) staying in Venezuela and 2) Leaving CA. Does that mean CA is worse than VZ?

And that defensive lineman bumped me. Boo Hoo.

Our team should not act like the other team. Step up your game. Don’t grovel to the lowest common denominator.

The main role of Epstein is to tittilate us and distract us from real issues. If federal crimes were committed then Bondi should prosecute. But if Bondi prosecutes in the press she destroys any case she has in court.

Do we want Bondi to be successful in court? or in the tittilation media?

Trump and his administration and supporters need to do a much better job of messaging.

Gas is down. Most food is down. But beef is high. Why? The number of cattle in the US under Biden declined due to regulations, mostly EPA regulations The process to remove the regulations has been slow. The process to grow the herds of cattle has been slow.

Part of messaging needs to relate excessive regulation to the real world of prices.

Tariffs have become an albatross. The messaging on tariffs makes no sense. Peter Navarro makes no sense.

On part of the MAGA coalition that feels abandoned is those who feel betrayed or abandoned due to tariffs.

In contrast, Tom Homan of ICE does a much better job of messaging on illegal immigrants.

As POGO says “We have met the enemy and they have become us”

“half a century of progress”

If there has been progress, then how can they claim the climate crisis is worse than ever?

If there was progress, the why is the Colorado river dry?
Why does California have so many climate events of concern?

Historically the Republican consultants are paid to zero in the the heavy red areas and write off the Blue areas and many purple areas.

MAGA has not changed that much. To win in the larger district or state, it is often necessary to do well in the Blue area and turn it purple, even if the Red team doesn’t win it.

A major problem is that people who know how to win in Red areas don’t know how to do “better than expected” in Blue and Purple areas. And the money is not there to change this defect.

Why is this catching on now? Back in the 1970s my activist friend said the same thing and said it repeatedly as the internet came of age in the 80s and 90s. He was one of many saying it. Many pro-life men were saying it. Many Libertarians of various life positions where saying it.

But it never caught on to be a movement.
Why now does it seem be be emerging NOW..and not before?

Yes, bizzare for Wiles to say this. Not bizarre for a high school sophmore to say it.

“Conspiracy” is not a crime. “Conspiracy to commit a crime” might be a crime. But conspiracy to throw you a birthday party, for to beat the opposing team in football is not a crime.

should be considered for immigrant status: people who love us, want to be one of us, and promptly self-support.

Amen.

“She also opposed tariffs.”

Tariffs are a fringe element within the MAGA coalition. But every 2% or 3% was needed to build a winning coalition. The point is that she has her own opinions and expresses them. But when the decision is made, she goes with the decision.

This is good teamwork. The wide receiver thinks that every play should be a pass to the wide receiver. But when the decision is for the halfback to run around his end, he is a team player.

“a conspiracy theorist for a decade.”

Some conspiracies actually exist. Some do not. Russian collusion clearly was a conspiracy. Candace Owens comments about Erika Kirk, TPUSA clearly no basis in fact.

Every football team has a playbook and runs a conspiracy that the other team can only guess at. Every business with competitors has a business plan with elements, trade secrets they do not want their competitors to know.

If Vance believes in conspiracies grounded in fact, great. If Vance believes in hallucinations then not so great.

We do not know how many are employed. We do not know how many are unemployed.

It is hard for us to admit that we don’t know.

We know “approximately” and we have levels of certainty about what is “approximately”

1) Collection of data is unequal. I knew several friends of each other who were census takers. One friend was much better at finding everyone to be counted and not counting those who should not be counted than the other friend. In another situation the friend was a democrat with the blatant motivation to count “everyone” thus a lot of people were double counted... immigrants who lived in both Mexico and the US depending on the season, people who were away at college, people who owned two homes, people who slept with their girlfriend ocaisionally.

2) Some people want to fly under the radar and do not want to be seen. This includes both criminals, drug dealers and good people who are paranoid. It especially includes people who are trying to stay one step ahead of the repo man.

3) Our Census and BLS procedures are basically based on a 1950s style economy. They do not logically count bit workers, consultants, sub-contractors of sub-contractors and many new types of income that involve a person’s time or talent.

At some point we need to reassess both the decennial census process and the other processes. A major failure of the first Trump administration was that the swamp controlled the 2020 census.

Who will control the 2030 census?

We do not know how many are employed. We do not know how many are unemployed.

It is hard for us to admit that we don’t know.

We know “approximately” and we have levels of certainty about what is “approximately”

1) Collection of data is unequal. I knew several friends of each other who were census takers. One friend was much better at finding everyone to be counted and not counting those who should not be counted than the other friend. In another situation the friend was a democrat with the blatant motivation to count “everyone” thus a lot of people were double counted... immigrants who lived in both Mexico and the US depending on the season, people who were away at college, people who owned two homes, people who slept with their girlfriend ocaisionally.

2) Some people want to fly under the radar and do not want to be seen. This includes both criminals, drug dealers and good people who are paranoid. It especially includes people who are trying to stay one step ahead of the repo man.

3) Our Census and BLS procedures are basically based on a 1950s style economy. They do not logically count bit workers, consultants, sub-contractors of sub-contractors and many new types of income that involve a person’s time or talent.

At some point we need to reassess both the decennial census process and the other processes. A major failure of the first Trump administration was that the swamp controlled the 2020 census.

Who will control the 2030 census?

“Federal Gov’t printing presses are the ONLY cause of inflation” False. They are one of the causes.

Government regulation is also a major cause of inflation. Currently housing prices experience inflation because there are too many regulations. It takes time for builders to work through all those regulations. Meanwhile, builders are on borrowed money that has interest.

Beef has inflation because government regulation reduced the number of cattle. Simple supply and demand. McDonald’s, Steak n Shake should sell more Pork, Chicken, etc less beef.

“only thing they’ll be offering the voters”

This seems like a Democrat plant intended to trick MAGA.

As it stands now Democrats in 2026 will have several issues they hope will resonate.
1) Its the economy stupid. The upper middle class is doing well. The working class, which is a large number of MAGA voters, is struggling. Struggling with the cost of healthcare. Struggling with the cost of .....

2) Deporting, detaining illegals who work hard, take care of their family and sit beside us in church. Many MAGA voters support deporting murderers, rapists, drug dealers, DUI Drivers, Dunk n Disorderly. But many MAGA voters do not support deporting the illegals that go to their church.

Tom Homan of ICE seems to be doing it right. Bovino and Border Patrol are about to jump the shark.

3) Other issues will emerge in 2026

4) The Democrats have an effective ground game that is not based on issues at all, that is not based on Trump or DC at all. The Democrats hope that TPUSA or FR or anything MAGA wakes up and runs a ground game. Better that we be distracted by crazies like Tucker Carlson, Nick Fuentes, Candace Owens.

“of these punks in the hospital and this shit stops.”

You obviously do not understand the real world. The clear strategy is to bait ICE into over-reacting and putting a clergyman, a politician, a grandma, a saint...in cuffs where the saint can fall and act as if being beaten.

People go to acting classes and practice how to do this.

Tom Homan and ICE seem to understand this.

Bovino and Border Patrol do not seem to understand this reality.