RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://issuesinsights.com/2024/11/15/one-month-in-and-the-govt-is-already-257-billion-in-the-red-doge-has-a-lot-of-work-to-do/

On Tuesday, Donald Trump announced that Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy would head the “Department of Government Efficiency.” That same day, the Treasury Department released a report showing why this effort is so desperately needed.

In his announcement, Trump said that he’s assigned the two to “dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies.” It will, he said, “become, potentially, ‘The Manhattan Project’ of our time.”

At Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally in late October, Musk, when asked how much he thought he could “rip out of this $6.5 trillion Harris-Biden budget,” said: “Well, I think we could do at least $2 trillion.”

Washington insiders scoffed at the entire idea of a “government efficiency” department or that these two government outsiders could somehow find $2 trillion to cut.

The truth is a Manhattan Project-level effort will be needed to restore a semblance of fiscal responsibility to the federal government.

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/on-trumps-foolish-futile-matt-gaetz-ag-nomination/?utm_source=recirc-desktop&utm_medium=homepage&utm_campaign=hero&utm_content=related&utm_term=first

I’m as stunned as anyone that President-elect Trump has nominated Representative Matt Gaetz (R., Fla.) for attorney general, reminding everyone of Trump’s propensity to step on his own good publicity and provoke needless fights that undermine his ability to accomplish things the country needs done. That said, I suspect Nathan Wade would have a better chance of getting confirmed to run the Justice Department than Gaetz does, so I don’t see the point in wasting a lot of time discussing this.

I’m not going to dwell further on the sex-trafficking investigation in which Gaetz was implicated but never charged. I wrote about it at the time. The feds couldn’t make the case and he’s presumed innocent. As Luther related early this year, it’s been reported that Gaetz’s ridiculous, solipsistic move to oust House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) was payback for the latter’s role in an ongoing ethics probe of Gaetz. The congressman has denied any wrongdoing. Nothing has been established, so I’m not going to repeat mere allegations at this point. I imagine we’re about to hear a lot more about them in the coming weeks, and become better informed about whether there’s fire under the smoke.

In that regard, the president-elect has done his eccentric protégé no favors.

I also don’t see much use in going down the rabbit hole of whether, as the rabidly anti-Trump, highly irregular House January 6 committee claimed, Gaetz was among a group of GOP Congress critters who broached the subject of a pardon following the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. I thought it was underhanded of the committee to imply that people were guilty of crimes — potentially including crimes of violence — based on speculation about pardons, particularly when Trump didn’t grant such pardons. A pardon is not necessarily an admission of guilt — something to bear in mind in an era of lawfare, when politicized actors weaponize investigative processes against their adversaries mainly for the purpose of humiliating and bankrupting them.

https://openthebooks.substack.com/p/diversifying-doulas-hhs-spends-hundreds?utm_campaign=email-half-post&r=8t06w&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

“Equity” concept appears 829 times in Department’s 2025 budget request, reaching academia, bureaucrats, researchers and care providers.

The private sector is learning the hard — and costly — way that much of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion model is discriminatory and subject to expensive litigation. That has corporations “quietly altering” their approach, according to the Associated Press.

While federal agencies have also faced a mountain of legal challenges, the Biden administration has nevertheless pressed on with the President’s commitment to a “whole of government” DEI effort.

The Department of Health and Human Services — with a budget surpassed only by the Pentagon — employs 294 DEI staffers at an annual cost of $38.7 MILLION.

That’s doesn’t even include another $29.4 million in payroll for seven Offices of Minority Health embedded within various HHS agencies!

While their roles are dedicated to DEI, related efforts have permeated through virtually every area of the department.

Variations of the term “equity” appear an astonishing 829 times in the department’s 2025 budget request to Congress, impacting hundreds of millions of dollars of spending programs.

Resulting funds pour out across the country to achieve equity and “justice” in public health — to Black churches recruited to push vaccinations; to universities for hiring diverse researchers; and to special outreach for anyone from criminals, to the LGBTQ+ community, to the indigenous, and…doulas??