Tom

[James Franklin @coachjfranklin]

Welcome to the 'Burg!!

#ThisIsHome

[DataRepublican (small r) @DataRepublican]

@JDVance In short, Schwartz is one of the many thousands in a technocratic ruling class based on institutional pluralism, is funded as a self-licking ice-cream cone, and sees populists such as Trump as its existential enemy.

[Charlie Kirk @charliekirk11]

By all appearances, Israel's initial wave of attacks on Iran has been remarkably successful. They have killed the head of Iran's general staff and the commander of the Revolutionary Guard, along with numerous nuclear scientists. They appear to have caught Iran totally unprepared and have been able to operate with total impunity over the skies of Iran.

That's great. But right now is the easy part. Israel is attacking without any casualties and there has been zero military, diplomatic, or financial blowback so far. If it stays that way, awesome. But it almost certainly won't.

In the hours and days to come, there will be hawks who urge America to increase its involvement in this conflict. They will call for us to "finish off the mullahs," or to help Israel with "mopping up." They will claim (tell me if you've heard this before) that if we topple the Iranian regime, we will be welcomed as "liberators." We should be deeply skeptical of these arguments.

America's interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya were all easy at the start. It was in the months and years afterwards that they became costly, wasteful quagmires. None of them were worth it. Collectively, they were hugely costly in terms of debt, reputation, national unity, and American lives.

Iran can strike at American military bases in the Gulf more easily than they can strike at Israel. Dragging America into this war might be irrational and suicidal, but wars have a habit of making their participants irrational and suicidal (just look at the Ukraine war). In any drawn-out war with Iran, America loses — even if we win.

Our focus must not be on seeking regime change or any further escalation of America's involvement. The last thing America needs right now is a new war. Our number one desire must be peace, as quickly as possible.

We need humility, prudence, and prayer in the days to come. This situation is extremely fluid and no one knows with certainty how this will end. Arrogance, cockiness, and boastful celebration is the worst posture we can have.

Israel believed their existence was at stake, and they acted accordingly and impressively. This is Israel’s fight to finish as they see fit, not America’s.

[Tom @FarBlueMountain]

@ReOpenChris @tatereeves Best to beat Florida to it!

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore.

This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination.

Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.

[Nick Sortor @nicksortor]

🚨🧵 EXPOSED: “INFLUENCEABLE” — The company cutting Big Checks to “influencers” on behalf of Big Soda

Over the past 48 hours, several large supposedly MAGA-aligned “influencers” posted almost identical talking points fed to them, convincing you MAHA was out of line for not wanting soda purchases with food stamps (SNAP)

Some even slimely invoked PRESIDENT TRUMP as an emotional manipulation tactic, referring to his Diet Coke button.

Not a SINGLE ONE of them disclosed they were paid for these posts, which led readers to believe a general SODA BAN was in the works.

[DataRepublican (small r) @DataRepublican]

@elonmusk @JDVance @WhiteHouse I just remember the events of Butler, PA and remember Who really is in charge.

[Tom @FarBlueMountain]

@SenatorWicker Can you explain your reasoning for not voting for this?

https://t.co/rRz076waWT

[Rand Paul @RandPaul]

Just tried to put President’s Doge foreign aid cuts into law.

27 Republicans voted to cut foreign aid but 26 Republicans and all Democrats voted to keep funding foreign aid at Biden levels.

What a disappointment!

Those who voted with me:

YEAs ---27
Banks (R-IN)
Blackburn (R-TN)
Britt (R-AL)
Budd (R-NC)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Cotton (R-AR)
Cruz (R-TX)
Curtis (R-UT)
Daines (R-MT)
Ernst (R-IA)
Hagerty (R-TN)
Hawley (R-MO)
Husted (R-OH)
Johnson (R-WI)
Justice (R-WV)
Kennedy (R-LA)
Lee (R-UT)
Lummis (R-WY)
Marshall (R-KS)
Moody (R-FL)
Moreno (R-OH)
Paul (R-KY)
Risch (R-ID)
Schmitt (R-MO)
Scott (R-FL)
Sheehy (R-MT)
Tuberville (R-A

[Tom @FarBlueMountain]

@SenHydeSmith @SenBillCassidy Can you explain why you didn't vote for Rand's proposal to codify DOGE findings? If you have a reason I welcome you to make your case. Silence is deafening.

https://t.co/rRz076waWT

[Rand Paul @RandPaul]

Just tried to put President’s Doge foreign aid cuts into law.

27 Republicans voted to cut foreign aid but 26 Republicans and all Democrats voted to keep funding foreign aid at Biden levels.

What a disappointment!

Those who voted with me:

YEAs ---27
Banks (R-IN)
Blackburn (R-TN)
Britt (R-AL)
Budd (R-NC)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Cotton (R-AR)
Cruz (R-TX)
Curtis (R-UT)
Daines (R-MT)
Ernst (R-IA)
Hagerty (R-TN)
Hawley (R-MO)
Husted (R-OH)
Johnson (R-WI)
Justice (R-WV)
Kennedy (R-LA)
Lee (R-UT)
Lummis (R-WY)
Marshall (R-KS)
Moody (R-FL)
Moreno (R-OH)
Paul (R-KY)
Risch (R-ID)
Schmitt (R-MO)
Scott (R-FL)
Sheehy (R-MT)
Tuberville (R-A

[Rand Paul @RandPaul]

Just tried to put President’s Doge foreign aid cuts into law.

27 Republicans voted to cut foreign aid but 26 Republicans and all Democrats voted to keep funding foreign aid at Biden levels.

What a disappointment!

Those who voted with me:

YEAs ---27
Banks (R-IN)
Blackburn (R-TN)
Britt (R-AL)
Budd (R-NC)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Cotton (R-AR)
Cruz (R-TX)
Curtis (R-UT)
Daines (R-MT)
Ernst (R-IA)
Hagerty (R-TN)
Hawley (R-MO)
Husted (R-OH)
Johnson (R-WI)
Justice (R-WV)
Kennedy (R-LA)
Lee (R-UT)
Lummis (R-WY)
Marshall (R-KS)
Moody (R-FL)
Moreno (R-OH)
Paul (R-KY)
Risch (R-ID)
Schmitt (R-MO)
Scott (R-FL)
Sheehy (R-MT)
Tuberville (R-A

[Tom @FarBlueMountain]

Here comes Amos Moses 😆😆

[United Cajun Navy @Unitedcajunnavy]

Somebody tried swatting us. It's not going well. 🫡💪🐊 #CajunNavy https://t.co/wwNr3PNHbm

[Tom Woods @ThomasEWoods]

Massie's point is, in part: how can we justify a spending bill that spends all the money DOGE identified as wasteful?

The president just got elected, and he has more influence now than he'll have in six months or at any other time in his term, so why not fight back now?

We keep getting told: now isn't the time to fight. Wait six months and we'll fight next time.

Now I understand if you youngsters haven't caught on yet, but there's no excuse for us oldsters, who should have figured out the trick by now: next time never comes. So you may as well fight right now.

David Stockman, director of the Office of Management and Budget under Ronald Reagan, is suggesting: rather than just capitulate to the Democrats as usual, why not introduce a perfectly constitutional rescission package, clawing back some of the leftover spending, in order to get the budget at least partly under control, as a condition of approving any continuing resolution?

Why the hell not indeed?

Why simply cave, and then get angry at the guy who refuses to go along?

Stockman explains that the spending situation "is a consequence of the stacked institutional mechanics that Elon Musk is just beginning to grasp":

For example, the appropriations authority for every one of the hundreds, if not thousands, of idiotic foreign aid contracts that DOGE has exposed and cancelled must by law be recycled and re-spent on another contract. So the “savings” will be therefore be wasted on projects perhaps only slightly less stupid but in any case no less unaffordable.

We are referring to the impoundment control act of 1974 and the passel of UniParty-appointed Federal district judges sitting out there across the land waiting to pounce in favor of lawsuits claiming funds are being illegally withheld by the executive....

Fortunately there is a pretty creative hack.... To wit, as Elon Musk apparently discovered earlier this week the congressional rescission tool is a pretty good workaround to un-spend money that has already been appropriated.

This method of cutting existing spending authority does require Congressional approval within 45 days, but rescissions are subject to an up-or-down vote with no amendments and no filibuster in the Senate.

So what the DOGE team needs to do right now is bundle up a massive pile of rescissions and send them to Capitol Hill to be approved as a pre-condition for passage of the next CR. We think there is enough fraud, waste and abuse based budget authority lying around the Federal bureaucracy such that a massive $600 billion rescission package could be sent to the Hill within the next week; and it should rightly become known as “The Mother of All Rescissions,” or MOAR!

The White House proposition to Congress would be simple. Either pass MOAR or shutdown the government when the current CR expires on March 14th. You choose.

That's much better than just caving to the Democrats.

And what specifically would he ask for?

This:

*Rescission of Leftover Pandemic Relief Appropriations at SBA and the Departments of Energy, Education, HHS, Labor and HUD: $139 billion.

*Cancellation of Leftover Green New Deal/IRA funding: $317 billion.

*Rescission of Wasteful Foreign Aid Spending: $30 billion.

*6.9% Across-the board Rescission of FY 2025 CR Funding Levels for all Discretionary Appropriations: $114 billion.

*Total Rescission Package (MOAR): $600 billion.

You won the electoral college, the popular vote, and all the swing states. Act like it! Criticizing Thomas Massie instead of following David Stockman's recommendation is an extremely sad move.

[Thomas Massie @RepThomasMassie]

@debragarrett Do the twelve separate bills so shutdown is off the table and spending can be adjusted down. Cut 5% (or even 1%!) across the board. Quit funding the programs that DOGE exposed.

[Tom @FarBlueMountain]

@ssavage0914 @amitylee13 @RepThomasMassie Yep!

[Eluna177 @Eluna1771]

@amitylee13 @RepThomasMassie

[Good Morning Liberty @GoodAMLiberty]

@elonmusk Milton Friedman: “You don’t have to change Congress.”

He explains that we should actually focus on changing the minds of the American people. Congress will do whatever it takes to keep their jobs- including cutting spending.

[Thomas Massie @RepThomasMassie]

The CR isn’t Trump’s agenda.

The CR extends the last year of Biden’s agenda at substantially the same spending levels.

[Thomas Massie @RepThomasMassie]

This tweet from Trump's account is very misleading.

I never voted for a CR that became law. I did vote for a CR under McCarthy that included an 8% cut to all discretionary spending, but unfortunately that CR did not become law.

Do research and you’ll find I’ve been consistent.

[Thomas Massie @RepThomasMassie]

POTUS is spending his day attacking me and Canada.

The difference is Canada will eventually cave.

😂