For years, Congress has dispensed with the pretense of informed legislative process when it comes to major bills and appropriations. The new $1.5 trillion omnibus spending bill, however, took the notion of blind legislating to a disgraceful degree. Democratic leadership dumped the almost 3,000 page bill on the members (and the public) on Wednesday with only a couple days to review the massive spending. That includes over 4,000 pork projects in earmarks.
According to the Hill, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.) alone has a long list of earmarks for his state ahead of his reelection bid. That includes 59 earmarks totaling nearly $80 million in the transportation and housing and urban development (HUD) section alone.
While Congress disavowed earmarks, the pork-ridden bill shows that both parties have abandoned the pledge. Spending trillions in the last couple years appears to have removed any sense of fiscal responsibility or accountability. We are now over $30 trillion in debt so what are a few pork items — or in Schumer’s case 142 such items. (Some argue that debt is really only $22 trillion and that debt does not matter).
It was a clever move at a perfect time. With Ukraine raging and people traumatized over the war, leadership like Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Cal.) kept bringing questions back to $14 billion in aid for Ukraine. Members stressed that there was no time to waste — or in this case to read — before voting.
It is a familiar tactic on pork spending. You can hide an entire drove of pigs behind a single redeeming budget item.
What is most alarming is the level of duplicity. The bill was withheld by leadership to guarantee little time for the members, let alone the public, from seriously considering the specific expenditures. It shows utter contempt for the concept of public deliberation and debate in the legislation. One must accept the word of the leadership and vote in the blind.
In the meantime, even before this package, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget predicted that the debt-to-GDP ratio is at 101% and the total federal debt, including intragovernmental debt, may exceed 120%. Even if debt does not matter (as some have claimed) most citizens oppose pork barrel spending.
All of that is worth discussing but it is hard to have that debate when congressional leaders are dumping massive bills and calling for quick votes on little more than the cover page.
“A lawyer (politician) with his briefcase can steal more than a hundred men with guns.” Mario Puzo
It’s a race to the bottom. Shameful!
Taxpayers have become the feeding through for politicians and corporations.
“You can hide an entire drove of pigs behind a single redeeming budget item”
That drove of pigs ought to be driven over a cliff.
Not Surprised and Says It All Department:
Quinnipiac University Poll (3/7/22): “As the world witnesses what is happening to Ukraine, Americans were asked what they would do if they were in the same position as Ukrainians are now: stay and fight or leave the country? A majority (55 percent) say they would stay and fight, while 38 percent say they would leave the country. Republicans say 68 – 25 percent and independents say 57 – 36 percent they would stay and fight, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐬𝐚𝐲 [by a margin of] 𝟓𝟐 – 𝟒𝟎 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐲.”
This is the Democratic Party: Home of the freaks and land of the knave.
4000 earmarks, say it ain’t so.
“𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐬𝐚𝐲 [by a margin of] 𝟓𝟐 – 𝟒𝟎 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐲.”
+++
I think this is partly because schools, particularly in Democrat districts, aren’t making Americans anymore.
Schools AND parents not making Americans.
Schools don’t deserve all of the credit for the devastation.
What source of energy is predominantly used to produce the electricity that charges electric vehicles? In other words, if we eliminated fossil fuels, how are the charging stations operating?
https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fy9dczplzv2p31.jpg&f=1&nofb=1
It’s like these idiots have told us they want to transition to flying cars, so they started to demolish roads. And their solution to the obvious problem they created is to tell us to go buy a flying car.
“What source of energy is predominantly used to produce the electricity that charges electric vehicles?”
And where’s the electricity to come from to heat and cool your home, your businesses, your factories. your hospitals. And to run the factory equipment, farm equipment, trucks, trains, planes, construction equipment. And to . . . (The list is nearly endless.)
“[I]f we eliminated fossil fuels, how are the charging stations operating?”
And it’s not just charging stations.
But, apparently, you didn’t get the memo. Hydroelectric dams and nuclear plants are verboten. But not to worry: That massive increase in the demand for electricity will be produced by rubbing a genie’s lamp or clicking your heels three times. Depending on the increased demand, you might need to do both.
I just looked at the membership roster for the House Rules Committee and noticed that my “representative” is on that committee. I will send him an email tomorrow that will have a link to this post by Professor Turley. I will also make some recommendations relating to: (1) the maximum page length for any bill: (2) a requirement that each member of the House of Representatives attest that he or she has read the bill; (3) a requirement that an accurate and meaningful summary of the bill be posted on an electronic billboard; (4) a requirement that each member of Congress shall solicit comments on the bill from his or her constituents and take those comments into account when voting on the bill; and (5) a minimum period of time that is required prior to voting on the bill, subject, of course, to certain exceptions for emergency legislation. Next on the agenda: term limits. Nancy Pelosi has served 18 terms. Enough already!
A common tactic is to hinge one well supported, bipartisan spending line item, upon the rest of a bloated bill loaded with pork. If you vote against it, you’ll be condemned for voting against that one popular item.
People can claim debt doesn’t matter all the way up until we lose our credit rating, Social Security and Medicare run out of money, and we go insolvent. Then they’ll point fingers.
They need to pass the spending bill to learn what’s in the spending bill.
Right.
DuckDuckGo is DuckDuckGone. They are going to curate [censor] their searches to discourage ‘misinformation’.
I tried a search [my last on The Duck] and compared the result with the same on Bing. Bing was better.
A lot of the people using The Duck were there because they wanted to avoid big tech manipulation like that suspected of Google.
The Duck had a niche. I am not sure there is much of a niche for a Google-Lite-Duck.
I can’t help but wonder if the autocratic Biden administration had a hand in The Duck’s ‘Come to Satan’ moment.
15:43 minutes below ( Those Globo Homo Pedo Bankers have been herding us all like cattle for decades & even if people can’t/will not admit it those aholes are closing the gates on them/us all now with likely now way out. There’s another few important 5 minute videos that should be seen.)
Global Central Bank Head Announces Social Credit Score System
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The Alex Jones Show
The Alex Jones Show
Support Infowars and find the latest deals on the products you need at https://www.infowarsstore.com
Alex Jones breaks down the Mark of the Beast future ahead as big banks announce digital currency control systems worldwide.
Help us stay on the air by visitng InfowarsStore.com and share the articles and videos at Infowars.com and Banned.Video.
https://www.banned.video/watch?id=62293ca6456fae60bcddd127
Oky1………I like your new “moniker”!
Thanks Cindy. Thanks for your comments.
I wish the US Truckers were getting more press. I watched Canada’s Trucker’s Protest on Lawyer’s Viva Frie & Roberts Barnes site.
To much important news/events for any of us to keep track of right now.
There’s lots of issues involved but at least a couple of the demand by the truckers, Others/I, for our basic Rights not to allow the Govts/Corporation from them to take what we know a bio-chem – weapon & the globalist forcing us all to have travel passports including medical/financial anywhere.
Most of the these many issues are interconnected.
There was said by George Rep Martha T Greene, MTS the numbers I recall was like 22 Billion in this 1.5 Trillion Omnibus Bill ( sic) for the next bio/chem/weapon they want to hit with here.
My long of the short, tonight/this morning , I see Russia goes to the UN tomorrow.
All the events the recent times has been leaving me exhausted.
Enjoy your day. 🙂
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Breaking: Russia Convenes UN Security Council Meeting to Present BioLab Evidence — Friday at 11 AM
By Larry Johnson
Published March 10, 2022 at 9:46pm
1041 Comments
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/03/breaking-russia-convenes-un-security-council-meeting-present-biolab-evidence-friday-10/
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I’m about to turn the rest of this below & listen to the rest later.
********
Banned By YouTube: Watch Full Send / Trump Podcast Here
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Mar 10, 2022
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FULL SEND PODCAST
FULL SEND PODCAST
The fascist pricks at Youtube want to silence the 45th President of The United States. We won’t let that happen. Lets make this the biggest video on Banned.video. Watch and Share.
https://www.banned.video/watch?id=622adc25616d716676274dba
Young…..I’m so uninformed sometimes! Don’t know Duck Duck Go, now Gone.
The way spending bills are designed encourages pork spending.
They promise “earmarks” to get votes.
Everyone else is getting earmarks for their states. You’re remiss in your duty to your own state if you don’t get investment/earmarks/pork. Other senators go home to their constituents and brag about how they go the government to “invest” in their state. They reward big donors with earmarks. They reward grassroots organizations that help get out the vote with earmarks.
It all sucks taxpayer money down the drain, often with little to show for it. It’s a bunch of rich people patting each other on the back with wads of taxpayer money. This is why there is a government ruling class, and elite caste system with access to other people’s money. And, oh, how they do love other people’s money. That’s why taxes go up and up. Any effort to get them back down again are condemned as helping the rich, or not doing enough for the middle class. A tax cut requires prying money out of the fingers of greedy politicians, who got rich off the taxpayer dime instead of by their own entrepreneurial or inventive spirit.
What incentive is there to do away with pork? The politician with a conscience can decline to add pork, and just vote on the merits of the bill. Meanwhile, everyone else packs the pork in, which is viewed as good for reelection.
Kind of makes you wonder who is the greater criminal here. The rioters on Jan 6 or the suited thugs who steal trillions and have thrown away any sense of shame or propriety.
Wonder, perhaps for a split second, but the answer is clear: the politicians are no better than common criminals. My solution would be to congratulate the winners of each congressional election, then immediately escort them to the nearest prison, to save time. Of course, a few honest men will also be incarcerated, unfortunately, but occasionally, that is a price that has to be paid.
The “rioters” who walked around behind the red ropes and took pictures?? What a riot. So much damage…Billions in damages. Oh wait….that wasn’t the Capitol…that was Progressive cities throughout America.
Uh, Turley: you left out the earmarks by REPUBLICANS. Could this just be an oversight? Nah.
But would you take a bullet for the cause?
Maybe you should actually read the piece. Nah, too much work. They must not be paying you enough
“… the pork-ridden bill shows that both parties have abandoned the pledge.”
Natacha——Whenever I see your name in print, whether here on the blog, or on a bathroom wall, I am hoping that you’ve taken your meds.
Cindy Bragg – Since Natasha is advertising for a good time on bathroom stalls, she needs to be up-to-date on her meds. 😉
LOL Paul……And hope none of her “friends” are allergic to penicillin..LOL
Cindy Bragg – reminds of years back when Paris Hilton “forgot” to pay the fees on her storage locker and someone bought it. Among other things, they found her prescription for genital herpes. 😉
Paul….. Oops! I hadn’t heard that one!
Do you think the Professor is aware of the following?
“With sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine.” – from The Twelve Networking Truths, circa 1996
Cindy Bragg – you could send JT a personal note and ask him. The theory sounds right. 😉
Paul…I’ll try!
Paul……..I could not figure out how to send Prof. a message.
Cindy Bragg – JT’s email used to be in the header section. although I cannot remember which category.
Paul…Thank you……it’s not there now.
Cindy Bragg – it is jturley@law.gwu.edu. I had that one in 2020.
Paul!! Thank you for that address…I sent it!
Thanks so much!!!
For a good time.
They started it. Come on children.
The population is struggling with fuel prices which is cutting deeply into their lives, a potential of war (again) and inflation in general. They’re writing checks on an overdrawn account and they don’t seem to care? The problem is there’s no banker to stop payment. It’s like their waging war on Americans.
The elites in this country are at war with the working middle class.
The United States has only been the world’s superpower since the end of World War Two. It’s not guaranteed we can keep this status. Congress, especially Democrats, should be funding things with “return-on-investment”. For every dollar spent, what is the return on that investment?
Also what about freezing or reducing some government programs that have mission-creeped way beyond their original mission? When their original missions shrink, the budgets keep growing. For example: we have had “Fusion Centers” located in every state (created for 9/11 terrorism) being used to investigate non-violent tree sitters, LGBT-Americans and all-black universities having nothing to do with terrorism. Some are being used to investigate suspicious persons blacklisted since at least the 1980’s (essentially making illegal practices appear legal). Guantanamo costs over $500,000,000 per year. Simply switching to a domestic prison saves a huge amount of tax dollars.
If Congress doesn’t start being responsible stewards of our tax dollars, Americans will elect candidates that want to abolish entire agencies instead of improving their efficiency.
The one solution for all this is to put in place a requirement that every bill passed by Congress stand alone on its own merits. There would be no place to bury these handouts then.
This is the weak point of “representative democracy” — the representatives are supposed to be responsible individuals capable of weighing differences and making far-sighted, balanced decisions. But if they are not, if they are self–serving scoundrels, the results are horrendous. Sure, they can be voted out next election, but with the system of lobbyist bribes and widespread crony-criminal mentality, the scoundrels have become the majority, making money hand over fist to support their next election campaign (and their privileged lifestyle). Totally out of touch with their electorate
Both of my Democratic Senators (junior though they are) were able to get a couple of items in and have ads on the air already/
Closing Guantanamo would net about $500,000,000 per year to be used on real projects that actually benefit Americans.
Ashcroft, maybe they’ll give it back to us.
Closing the DC gulag would do the same. Hoaxes by the left SHOULD be laughed out of court.
It is time to flush the clogged toilet that is our two party system. Wringing our hands over pork at this stage of the game is hypocritical, worthless and shows signs of ignorance of the real problem. The problem lies in human nature and our lack of enthusiasm to curtail the worst impulses of our human nature. We have no one to blame but ourselves for this mess and we are the only ones to clean it up however the method required.
“Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.”
H.L. Mencken
GENERAL = ALL
WELFARE = WELL PROCEED
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Government really is severely limited and restricted…really!
Americans really are free…really!
You communists (liberals, progressives, socialists, democrats, RINOs) really can’t impose central planning and compel Americans to install solar panels and buy electric cars through the tax code…really.
Free Americans decide the course of America and conduct “central planning” in the competitive free markets of the private sector.
The judicial branch must declare bills that tax for anything other than “…general Welfare…” void.
The judicial branch must be impeached and convicted for abuse of power, usurpation of power, negligence, dereliction, subversion and treason.
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Article 1, Section 8, provides Congress the power to tax ONLY for “…general Welfare…,” omitting and, thereby, excluding any power to tax for individual welfare, specific welfare, redistribution of wealth or charity. The same article provides Congress the power to regulate ONLY money, the “flow” of commerce, and land and naval Forces. Additionally, the 5th Amendment right to private property is not qualified by the Constitution and is, therefore, absolute, allowing Congress no power to claim or exercise dominion over private property, the sole exception being the power to “take” private property for public use.
Government exists, under the Constitution and Bill of Rights, to provide maximal freedom to individuals while it is severely limited and restricted to merely facilitating that maximal freedom of individuals through the provision of security and infrastructure.
The entire communistic American welfare state is unconstitutional including, but not limited to, matriculation affirmative action, grade-inflation affirmative action, employment affirmative action, quotas, welfare, food stamps, minimum wage, rent control, social services, forced busing, public housing, utility subsidies, WIC, SNAP, TANF, HAMP, HARP, TARP, HHS, HUD, Agriculture, Commerce, Education, Labor, Energy, Obamacare, Social Security, Social Security Disability, Social Security Supplemental Income, Medicare, Medicaid, “Fair Housing” laws, “Non-Discrimination” laws, etc.
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“…courts…must…declare all acts contrary to the manifest tenor of the Constitution void.”
“…men…do…what their powers do not authorize, [and] what they forbid.”
“[A] limited Constitution … can be preserved in practice no other way than through the medium of courts of justice, whose duty it must be to declare all acts contrary to the manifest tenor of the Constitution void. Without this, all the reservations of particular rights or privileges would amount to nothing … To deny this would be to affirm … that men acting by virtue of powers may do not only what their powers do not authorize, but what they forbid.”
– Alexander Hamilton
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“[Private property is] that dominion which one man claims and exercises over the external things of the world, in exclusion of every other individual.”
– James Madison
Fiat Money leads to Fiat Markets,
Fiat Markets lead to Fiat Debt(s).
Fiat Debts lead to War(s).