Ulti

https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/3853242-weaponization-democrats-gear-up-a-response-machine-to-gop/ https://judiciary.house.gov/subcommittees/committee-judiciary-118th-congress/select-subcommittee-weaponization-federal Again you are right as far as need for revamping systems to make them more apolitical….1) they need to be made under the context of keeping our country safe asap paramount…2) and , no offense intended, I am not a Trumpian zealot like you… I have a very heathy distrust of both sides and this new weaponization committee seems like politics as usual.

https://www.wired.com/story/inside-cisa-under-trump/

https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/michael-lewis-interview-big-short-who-government-0kp8ms5v6

‘Green’ countries will get military protection and tariff relief, but must embrace a currency accord. I just wonder what type of shape our military will be in if this is the policy .. Currently: https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-24-107463 Military Readiness:Actions Needed for DOD to Address Challenges across the Air, Sea, Ground, and Space Domains and with the anti DEI movement… difficulties recruiting as well as fighting multiple fronts as “ mercenaries “ for green countries… I suspect that there will be a lot less military personnel .

+1 they are great and no hassle with claims

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-economic-excuse-industry-is-booming?isFreemail=true&post_id=158833872&publication_id=277517&r=9qf5o&triedRedirect=true&utm_campaign=email-post-title&utm_medium=email&utm_source=post-email-title

https://apnews.com/article/enrique-tarrio-capitol-riot-seditious-conspiracy-sentencing-da60222b3e1e54902db2bbbb219dc3fb Nice grandmother

From my viewpoint; it’s going to take a multi pronged approach primarily on a regional and local level… For example in Atlanta you can combine the multi year plan of the BeltLine which opens up new areas for living and construction…. with smaller and less expensive domiciles… combine that with changes in zoning and more affordability…with the more liberal lending laws with less money https://downsizegeek.com/best-sheds-to-convert-to-homes/ https://beltline.org/visit/ https://www.greatlakestinyhome.com/what-counties-in-georgia-allow-tiny-houses/ As far as the clickbait… totally agree with Spek…. Seems like with social media.. everyone is trying to to monetize…kinda like these Onlyfan gals who sleep with lotsa guys and make bank… don’t see the boys doing that haha

Nope, just trying to point out with different sources that things are more complex than blanket statements…such as the one below These institutions are not evil….that doesn’t mean that politicization can’t happen at the appointment as well as the rank and file level…and that happens with all administrations… That’s why I believe that the checks and balances our founding fathers designed are so important… I also believe that different viewpoints can be expressed with rational thought and expression rather than accusations of bullshit…

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2025/01/20/trumps-promises-radically-change-military.html https://www.cia.gov/resources/csi/static/Use-Abuse-Intelligence.pdf https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/ex-fbi-informant-who-fabricated-bribery-story-about-biden-and-his-son-hunter-gets-6-years-in-prison/ar-BB1r7ELX Unlike you , I am not willing to condemn whole departments… And certainly not without transparency…. And I certainly don’t want to this while sacrificing intel on foreign adversaries

And again all this comes at a price… and by that I mean a sacrifice that all members of society can and should do in order for you to be free… …. All this destruction of relationships between allies… And destruction of domestic relationships .. hopefully your family and mine are not called upon to make that sacrifice in the future … so you can be free and tell me to STFU haha

In addition, and to me more concerning than the monetary aspect… is the destruction of relationships with our allies… disruption of intelligence cooperation to monitor our adversaries and what’s happening here .. domestically..all in the name of DOGE…. column by David Ignatius What happens when so much national security expertise is tossed aside? Trump’s focus on “weaponization” at the Justice Department and FBI risks ignoring foreign threats. David IgnatiusUpdated March 14, 2025 at 1:57 p.m. EDTtoday at 1:57 p.m. EDT A potentially dangerous feature of President Donald Trump’s drive to revamp the federal government is that it has stripped away many of the FBI and Justice Department officials with the most experience in protecting the nation against foreign terrorist and intelligence threats. Many experts have been warning for more than a year that the dangers from abroad are increasing. Yet the new administration has been focused on removing those who supposedly “weaponized” Justice and the FBI against Trump in the past, rather than mobilizing to deal with future perils. Trump is expected to deliver a major speech later Friday at the Justice Department explaining his big changes there. “By kneecapping that entire level of management and expertise, I have real, profound worry that [it] is going to translate into public safety and national security impacts,” warned Lisa Monaco, who served as deputy attorney general in the Biden administration and was a senior FBI official under President George W. Bush. Monaco spoke at a March 5 symposium organized by New York University’s law school. The foreign threats include cyberattacks, terrorist plots and spy operations. Then-FBI director Christopher A. Wray said nearly a year ago, “I’m hard-pressed to come up with a time when I’ve seen so many different threats, all elevated, all at the same time.” Those threats remain in a world in turmoil. Follow Trump’s first 100 Days Kash Patel, the new FBI director, said during his confirmation hearings that “the top areas, when it comes to national security … have remained unchanged, and the threat dynamic has increased. It’s thwarting terrorist activities and terrorist attacks here and overseas against our citizens and our allies.” He specifically mentioned dangers related to China and Iran. Patel also said during his hearings that “all FBI employees will be protected against political retribution.” Nonetheless, purges at Justice and the FBI have pushed out many prominent officials dealing with foreign threats. It’s a long list, but bear with me, because it shows how much national security experience the nation has lost. At the Justice Department, most top leaders of the national security division have departed — through resignation, reassignment or dismissal. Devin DeBacker, the acting head of the division, was removed in February. George Toscas, a veteran counterintelligence official who was DeBacker’s deputy, was also moved, along with other top division officials Eun Young Choi, Brad Wiegmann, Melissa MacTough and Scott Damelin. A century of experience prosecuting terrorism and espionage cases is going unused. The wipeout at the FBI has been even greater. Mark R. Warner (D-Virginia), vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, disclosed the firings in early February. They included Robert Wells, assistant director for counterintelligence; Michael Nordwall, assistant director for cyber investigations; Ryan Young, assistant director in charge of the intelligence branch; and Jacqueline Maguire, assistant director for science and technology. The housecleaning has continued since that initial round. The directors of the New York, Washington, Miami and Las Vegas field offices have been dismissed. Though most of these firings weren’t explained publicly, press reports said many of these officials had been involved in FBI investigations of Trump. James Dennehy, head of the New York office who has focused on counterintelligence for more than two decades, spoke for many colleagues when he said in an email, quoted by the New York Times, that he would hold tight to the FBI’s principles: “We will not bend. We will not falter. We will not sacrifice what is right for anyone or anything.” What happens with the loss of so many experienced people? Obviously, it’s harder to coordinate the basic work of overseeing complex national security cases. A Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant can stretch to 100 pages or more. Mistakes get made, as an egregious example from the FBI investigation of Trump adviser Carter Page during the 2016 campaign showed. Without enough experienced people, the risk of such errors will grow. To monitor terrorism, top FBI officials met with their Justice Department colleagues each morning during the Biden administration for a “threat assessment.” That allowed them to coordinate operations to disrupt any plots disclosed by intelligence. When I asked an FBI spokesman if these daily top-level reviews were continuing, he referred me to Patel’s statement during his hearings about continuity. He did not address a question about when national security positions will be filled. A hidden danger is that FBI agents will steer clear of issues that could be career-killers. Investigations of Russian espionage, public corruption, classified documents and other hot-button topics could offend current or future FBI leaders, so ambitious agents may avoid them. Inevitably, that will lead to a loss of morale and aggressiveness. The FBI’s counterintelligence staff was already struggling to field enough agents to perform surveillance and investigations, several FBI experts told me. Political backlash will affect agents assigned to investigate the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol. FBI officials, after initially resisting, provided their names to the bureau’s new leadership. FBI experts expect the agents on that list to be examined by the Office of Professional Responsibility. Even if they’re cleared of wrongdoing, their careers could be on hold for months or years. The personnel shortage in national security investigations will probably worsen after Patel’s order to send 1,500 headquarters staff and agents to field offices around the country. Those transfers will include hundreds of field agents who had been helping with counterintelligence on a temporary basis. They’re known as HSIs, short for the FBI’s Headquarters Staffing Initiative. That will probably leave intelligence and terrorism cases with fewer staff. Meanwhile, the need for aggressive counterintelligence operations will only grow, as Trump resets relations with Russia. Regaining contact with Russia might be politically sensible, but it probably will bring dozens more Russians to their embassy in Washington and other facilities in the United States — creating a surveillance headache. In recent years, the FBI has been able to vet Russia’s list of applicants for diplomatic visas to weed out spies. It isn’t clear whether the agency’s capacity to do such vetting in the future will be less effective. Here’s the odd thing about the “America First” agenda. It targets drugs, migrants, criminal gangs. But so far, it doesn’t seem focused on traditional threats such as terrorism or spying. Protecting the nation from dangers posed by foreign adversaries should be at the top of any administration’s to-do list. If Trump gets this one wrong, history won’t be forgiving.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/odd-lots/id1056200096?i=1000699002805 we speak with Kevin Erdmann, a senior affiliated scholar at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, who proposes a simple idea. He argues that after the Great Financial Crisis, regulators over-tightened lending standards, and in so doing, took out the entire "starter home" segment of the new housing market. He says that if Fannie and Freddie were to liberalize their lending standards, homebuilders would be incentivized to build more homes that cater to people with lower incomes and lower FICO scores, essentially re-creating a whole slice of the new home market that's disappeared over the last 15 years

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/trevor-rose-podcast/id1493491566?i=1000699015560 This episode we are joined by Mr. Arjun Murti - Partner at Veriten LLC and a Senior Advisor at Warburg Pincus. Mr. Murti has spent over 30 years on Wall Street as a sell-side equity research analyst, buy-side investor, advisor and board member covering the global energy sector. Mr. Murti previously served as a Partner at Goldman Sachs from 2006 to 2014. Prior to becoming Partner, he served as Managing Director from 2003 to 2006 and as Vice President from 1999 to

“Back in our own country, over 20% of Americans struggle to pay their energy bills and roughly 10% have received the utility disconnection notice in the last 12 months. Think about that for a moment. The last administration recklessly pursued policies that were certain to drive up electricity prices, “ While he mentioned part of the price of energy going up is the rapid advancement of AI data centers…… the cost of extra energy consumption being borne by the states residents ( at least in the state of Georgia even with the new very expensive and way over budget nuclear power plant). Legislation has yet passed the republican house and senate in Ga as well as no help from the all republican members of the state PSC. “We have outsourced far too much manufacturing and our allies in Europe have gone much further in this destructive direction” yea we have and this was driven for many years by corporations corporate profits and. cheaper goods for the consumer .(. Not a leftist or rightist policy per say) overall I agree a more rational energy policy … no more windmill giveaways like in Cape Cod where there’s been an environmental crisis from failure https://www.capecodtimes.com/story/news/environment/2024/07/24/nantucket-select-board-turbine-blade-failure-vineyard-wind-cape-cod-marthas-vineyard-offshore-wind/74506581007/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/03/11/russia-wagner-mali-mercenaries-putin/ meanwhile back at the Russian ranch

https://warontherocks.com/2025/03/exposing-chinas-legal-preparations-for-a-taiwan-invasion/

+1

Good Man! And get that good honey theu Costco when it’s on sale

That’s awesome I’ll have to try… but I’m partial to the green tea shincha …. Especially with all the long term data of the health benefits behind it…… and I admit I cheat a little and add some Manuka honey in the am for a kickstart

Again , progressive policy is only part of the Democrats issue…. If Biden had kept his word about being a 1 term president… if they had a primary instead of forcing K Harris on us …. If they had picked a centrist vp candidate that would have shown a move towards the political middle… none of this happened; That’s why we have Trump ; and until the Dems move to the middle and show they mean it … or a centrist 3rd party is formed….im afraid the gifting to the Trumpican party will continue.

https://www.ochaandco.com all their teas and matcha are excellent… I’ve been a bit of a snob for years and like them very much

One of the biggest I see is the deliberate attempt to destroy the checks and balance system here in the USA that keeps both parties somewhat in line no matter who is in power

I’m surprised no one has mentioned green tea….much better than coffee and alcohol I get 1st cut shincha green tea sent from Japan .. not that expensive.. Taste great and , been doing it for years .. Also have been using an Oura rings since they came out/ tea has no effect on deep sleep / rem readings

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/ceraweek-top-oil-executives-reckon-with-downturn-even-trump-cheers-them-2025-03-09/