Biden Appointed Judge Orders Trump Admin To Resume Wasteful Foreign Aid Spending

By William Teach February 21, 2025 – 10:30 am

You just have to love how one unelected judge is demanding that stupid foreign aid be taken off of pause and spent right now

Judge warns Trump administration not to dodge court order unfreezing foreign aid

A federal judge delivered a stern warning to the Trump administration that it must abide by a court order to unfreeze foreign-aid funding, but he stopped short Thursday of holding administration officials in contempt of court for continuing to hold up some of the money.

In a seven-page order, U.S. District Court Judge Amir Ali seemed troubled by complaints from aid groups that much of the funding remained on hold despite his Feb. 13 order suspending the blanket freeze put in place by the Trump administration.

An official overseeing the administration’s foreign-aid revamp, Peter Marocco, filed a declaration with the court Tuesday that seemed to confirm the bulk of payments remained suspended. Marocco said, however, that the administration was not invoking the across-the-board freeze to suspend those payments; rather, he insisted, officials had separate authority stemming from the aid contracts or federal law to halt those payments.

That prompted aid groups to seek to hold Marocco and his boss, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in contempt for what the groups called the officials’ “brazen defiance” of the court’s order.

In the new ruling, Ali said his Feb. 13 restraining order was “clear.” He warned officials at the U.S. Agency for International Development and the State Department not to attempt to use other labels or directives to avoid the court’s order.

Is this what they want to continue?

The judge wants the Congressional authorized spending to continue right now. Did the budget, er, continuing resolutions specify a time frame? Because there is plenty of time in the government calendar to spend it. I doubt the continuing resolutions authorized for “$15 million for ‘contraceptives and condoms’ in Taliban-Controlled Afghanistan” specifically. Is any of the crazy spending time sensitive? They don’t need money for transgender puppet shows in Ukraine immediately, right? Is it that important that the left wing groups get their slush funds immediately? How about giving it a chance to audit exactly how the money is being spent, whether it is going where it’s supposed to go.

Judge denies unions’ request to block mass firing of probationary employees, buyout offer

A federal judge has denied federal labor unions’ request to temporarily block the Trump administration from carrying out mass firing of probationary employees and deferred resignation offers, saying the court “likely lacks subject matter jurisdiction” over the matter.

Instead, Judge Christopher Cooper, overseeing the matter, wrote in his ruling that the matter should be brought before the Federal Labor Relations Authority.

“The Court will now deny the motion because it likely lacks subject matter jurisdiction over the unions’ claims,” the judge wrote.

“They must pursue their challenges instead through the scheme established by Congress in the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute (‘FSLMRS’), which provides for administrative review by the Federal Labor Relations Authority (‘FLRA’) in the first instance, followed by judicial review in the courts of appeals,” he added.

If the Chief Executive cannot do Chief Executive things, they, why do we actually have a Chief Executive? At least this judge ruled using law.

Read: Biden Appointed Judge Orders Trump Admin To Resume Wasteful Foreign Aid Spending »

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Interesting: $2 Billion In Climate Scam Money Linked To Stacey Abrams

By William Teach February 21, 2025 – 7:15 am

Funny how so much of the money isn’t really for solving problems but spreading around

‘Extremely Concerning’: EPA Uncovers $2 Billion Set Aside for Climate Group Linked to Stacey Abrams

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has uncovered $2 billion set aside for a climate group linked to Democrat Stacey Abrams –Power Forward Communities — despite the fact the organization reported just $100 in total revenue, raising eyebrows.

The organization itself was founded in October 2023 as part of a coalition led by the leftist group Rewiring America, and Abrams quickly made her involvement known.

“Thrilled to be part of @rewiringamerica and the Power Forward Communities coalition. This is how we expand access to clean energy —by prioritizing housing, equity and resilience,” Abrams wrote on October 15, 2023.

“We are building a future where everyone, regardless of income or place, can thrive,” she added.

Have they actually received the money yet?

Despite reporting merely $100 in revenue in its first few months, the Biden administration — championing Green New Deal policies — awarded the group a $2 billion grant the following year, in 2024. According to the Washington Free Beacon, only eight of these Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund grants were distributed by the Biden-era EPA.

“Stacey Abrams’ Power Forward Communities received $2 BILLION to be a pass through entity for Biden EPA’s $20 billion ‘gold bar’ scheme,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said on X. “They reported just $100 in total revenue after their founding in late 2023.” (snip)

“When we learned about the Biden Administration’s scheme to quickly park $20 billion outside the agency, we suspected that some organizations were created out of thin air just to take advantage of this,” he continued.

“As we continue to learn more about where some of this money went, it is even more apparent how far-reaching and widely accepted this waste and abuse has been,” Zeldin said, emphasizing how “extremely concerning” it is that “an organization that reported just $100 in revenue in 2023 was chosen to receive $2 billion. That’s 20 million times the organization’s reported revenue.”

What does Abrams know about any of this? Was it a scam? Would the money have been spent correctly? The company, such as it is, doesn’t seem viable for even a small loan.

Read: Interesting: $2 Billion In Climate Scam Money Linked To Stacey Abrams »

Posted in AGW Socialism, Global Warming | 3 Comments | Trackback URL

Illegals Sent To Panama Whining About Being Put Up In Luxury Hotel

By William Teach February 21, 2025 – 7:00 am

I have the sniffles. How about you?

From the BBC sob story

In a room at the luxury Decápolis Hotel in Panama City, two girls hold a piece of paper to the window with a written message. “Please help us,” it reads.

The hotel offers its clients rooms with sea views, has two exclusive restaurants, a swimming pool, a spa and private transportation. But it has now become a “temporary custody” centre housing 299 undocumented migrants deported from the US, the Panamanian government said on Tuesday.

Some migrants raise their arms and cross them at the wrists to indicate that they are deprived of their freedom. Others hang small signs with other messages such as: “We are not safe in our country.”

However, of the 299 undocumented migrants – from India, China, Uzbekistan, Iran, Vietnam, Turkey, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka – only 171 have agreed to return to their countries of origin.

The remainder now face an uncertain future, and it is the Panamanian authorities who are in control of what happens next.

Don’t like the luxury hotel and not being able to leave it? Go back to your home country. But, maybe they should not have whined

Migrants, Deported to Panama Under Trump Plan, Detained in Remote Jungle Camp

Nearly 100 migrants, recently deported by the United States to Panama where they had been locked in a hotel, were loaded onto buses Tuesday night and moved to a detention camp on the outskirts of the jungle, several of the migrants said.

It is unclear how long the group, which was deported under the Trump administration’s sweeping effort to expel unauthorized migrants, will be detained at the jungle camp.

Conditions at the site are primitive, the detainees said. Diseases, including dengue are endemic to the region, and the government has denied access to journalists and aid organizations.

Well, go home. Or go elsewhere. The United States will not be your sugar daddy/momma. You didn’t have to put yourself in this situation. Maybe a European country will take you in, as the Elites are hell bent on overrunning their countries and erasing them.

Read: Illegals Sent To Panama Whining About Being Put Up In Luxury Hotel »

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U.K. Unions Shocked EV Mandates They Voted For Are Bad For Jobs

By William Teach February 20, 2025 – 3:22 pm

Wait till they realize the same thing in the U.S. and Canada

‘Blunt’ electric car targets put thousands of jobs at risk, warn unions

Union chiefs have warned that thousands of jobs are at risk if the Government refuses to water down “blunt” electric car targets.

Unite the Union, Labour’s biggest union backer, has hit out at “punitive” rules requiring carmakers to sell an increasing number of electric vehicles (EVs), claiming they will threaten jobs and place “downward pressure on pay and conditions”.

Sharon Graham, Unite’s general secretary, said Britain’s so-called zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate would not alone bring about the changes needed to phase out petrol and diesel cars.

Instead, she said the Government had to encourage demand by reducing VAT on UK-made EV sales for private drivers, while also increasing investment in charging infrastructure.

She said the ZEV mandate, which requires at least 28pc of cars sold by manufacturers to be electric, was a “blunt tool that risks jobs rather than encouraging people to purchase EVs”.

The unions overwhelmingly support Labour, and were excited to support the EV mandates, and are now realizing that this could cause a big problem for workers. Of course, they do not seem to get that the solution is not more government, but, removing the mandates, because it will get worse quickly

A consultation on the Government’s ZEV mandate ends this week and could pave the way for a watering down of the rules. The 28pc target is expected to rise gradually before hitting 80pc of sales by 2030.

Do UK drivers want these? Some do. Let them buy them. Do not force citizens to buy them. Especially since the people forcing this are themselves not driving EVs.

The number of cars made in Britain fell to 779,584 last year, according to the SMMT, which was the lowest level since 1954, aside from the pandemic.

There are similar struggles across Europe, with German parts supplier Continental Auto Parts on Tuesday unveiling plans to cut 3,000 jobs in its research and development arm.

Perhaps government should stop trying to control every little bit of the vehicle sector. Socialism doesn’t work.

Read: U.K. Unions Shocked EV Mandates They Voted For Are Bad For Jobs »

Posted in AGW Socialism, Global Warming | 3 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach February 20, 2025 – 1:00 pm

…is a frozen pond from carbon pollution driven polar disruption, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Climate Change Dispatch, with a post on the Trump admin ending NYC’s climate toll.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 34 Comments | Trackback URL

Trump Admin Is Reportedly Going To Go After Pentagon Budget

By William Teach February 20, 2025 – 10:30 am

This will probably make Democrats very happy after DOGE has gone after, and continues to go after, waste and fraud in lots of other agencies, since they tend to hate the military. Republicans will be unhappy, but, if they think about it, reducing waste and fraud in the military will give more money for actual operations. It could allow for increasing pay for service members. And it could reduce the budget as it stands, since the military budget has always been overly bloated. That might have been fine during the Cold War, not now

Trump Admin Reportedly Set To Cut Billions In ‘Unnecessary’ Spending From Pentagon Budget

Donald Trump’s administration is reportedly moving to gut billions of dollars from the Pentagon’s budget, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

Department of Defense (DOD) Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote to senior Pentagon leadership Tuesday that he wanted an 8% reduction in the defense budget in each of the next five years, according to a memo obtained by The Washington Post. Hegseth directed leaders to deliver a plan for the budget cuts by Feb. 24, citing wasteful spending and “bureaucracy” as part of the reasons for the cuts.

The move comes as the defense budget has ballooned to $850 billion, according to the DOD.

“President Trump’s charge to DOD is clear: achieve Peace through Strength,” Hegseth reportedly said in the memo. “The time for preparation is over — we must act urgently to revive the warrior ethos, rebuild our military, and reestablish deterrence. Our budget will resource the fighting force we need, cease unnecessary defense spending, reject excessive bureaucracy, and drive actionable reform including progress on the audit.”

Government agencies are extremely competitive in an attempt to increase their budget every year, and the military branches are some of the worst, which leads to wasteful spending and significant overspending. You know the $600 dollar hammer story? Well, the hammers weren’t actually $600. They were like $15. But, there was a $420 add-on for R&D. Every time for every hammer. They could have gone and gone a Stanley or Craftsman hammer with lifetime warranties. $7600 coffee makers. $500 ashtrays (some might remember Al Gore going on a late show trying to break one. Could have gotten plastic ones from Walmart for $10). Building cost overruns into contracts, guaranteeing there will be cost overruns.

Some questionable purchases from the Pentagon included $6.1 million on lobster tails in September 2024, and $16.6 million on ribeye steaks and $6.4 million on salmon. Additionally, the Pentagon spent $5.1 million on Apple products, including 130 iPhone 16 Pro Maxes, which are considered luxury versions of the base iPhone 16 model.

Pissing away money to make sure they spend the whole yearly allocation so they can get more the next year. This is how you get surplus. Surplus of bullets is great. Surplus of lots of other stuff is not. How much does it cost to actually operate? That should be the basis of every agency, just like in the private sector. If something comes up, OK, there might be money for that. Remember, the Pentagon has failed 7 straight audits. What would happen in the private sector if a division failed one, much less 7?

…

Over the past few months alone, the Defense Department has had to explain why it’s been paying $14,000 for individual 3-D printed toilet seat lids and purchasing cups for $1,280 each. These are just the latest examples on a long list of unacceptable purchases made by the department, including $436 for hammers in the 1980s, and $117 soap dish covers and $999 pliers in the 1990s.

If you were in charge of procurement in the private sector, would you be employed once your bosses saw something similar? Would your small business still be open if you did this?

(Ashlime) Back in January of 2015, as far fewer people know, the Pentagon issued a internal study which found the agency could cut $125 billion in unneeded spending over a five-year period. That averages to about $850 for each of our nation’s 140 million taxpayers. In other words, for the money that was wasted, by their own admission, they could have bought a $600 hammer for every taxpayer in the country—and still returned $250 to every one of them.

Is that a realistic number, or, could it be more like $250 billion? So, yeah, if you are a conservative you should want the military to be a lean, mean, fighting machine and not waste taxpayer money. They should have what they need, but, be responsible.

Read: Trump Admin Is Reportedly Going To Go After Pentagon Budget »

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Bummer: Trump’s Funding Freeze Is Causing Freakouts In Red States For Solar

By William Teach February 20, 2025 – 7:15 am

Oh, please, stop, you’re just embarrassing yourselves at this point, Warmists

Solar has taken off in red states. Trump’s funding freeze is causing panic

Mike Mullett strains to see through sheets of misty rain while driving through working-class neighborhoods of Columbus, a quaint town in southern Indiana.

He’s trying to find the senior center, multi-family homes and rent-assisted properties – more than 530 in total – that he and many other locals hope will receive $4.42m in federal funding for solar electricity projects.

But now that money is at risk.

On 20 January, Donald Trump paused billions of dollars of federal grant funding for clean energy and other projects around the country initiated by the Biden administration’s Green New Deal.

“We’ve been slavishly working on a plan since April 2023 that would provide solar energy to hundreds of households in two low- and moderate-income Columbus neighborhoods,” says Mullett. The project was expected to be rolled out in April, with previously approved funding thought to have been made available by 14 February.

“Unless the Trump administration makes a 180-degree turn on funding, that expectation will obviously not be met.”

So, without massive amounts of taxpayer money they cannot do the project? Why is that? Is it because solar is just too damned expensive? Why would it take two years? If they wanted to install natural gas hookups, it would be easy peasy and a whole lot less expensive. I mean, the Warmists keep telling us that the cost of solar has plummeted, yet, it seems that without massive subsidies and payoffs few want to install it. Weird.

He says that if the federal funding is lost, private funding that has been committed to help pay for the project would be gone too.

“If the pending litigation in federal district courts must run its course all the way to the US supreme court, the delay in the rollout of the [funding] would certainly be measured in months, perhaps extending even into 2026,” he says.

OK, go for it. Get your private funding. But, really, give it time. Some portion of the funding has simply been frozen pending review, and, since it has already been appropriate a portion will come back. Once they make sure it is being used wisely and not fraudulently.

Read: Bummer: Trump’s Funding Freeze Is Causing Freakouts In Red States For Solar »

Posted in Global Warming | 8 Comments | Trackback URL

IRS To Begin Laying Off Employees Today

By William Teach February 20, 2025 – 7:00 am

It’s a good start, though, this is making Democrats very upset (right up till the IRS audits them)

IRS layoffs expected to begin tomorrow, union official says

The IRS is expected to begin laying off employees tomorrow as part of the job cuts slicing through the federal government, a union official told workers Wednesday.

Though it could potentially disrupt tax-filing season, Shannon Ellis, a local union official, said in a video message that an indeterminate number of newer hires at the agency’s Kansas City facility will be let go.

Layoffs are also expected at other IRS facilities.

“We received notification today that employees in SB/SE who are on probation are scheduled for termination,” she said in a video message, referring to the agency’s Small Business/Self Employed Division.

In another video message, Ellis said: “Our probationary employees will be removed as of tomorrow — we don’t know what time, we don’t know how it’s going to happen, we don’t even know if it includes all of our probationary employees,” she said, adding probationary periods can be either one or two years from the time someone begins work.

OK, why would this effect tax season? These are new employees, not the ones already there. These are not replacements, for the most part. It’s just scaremongering from Democrats, who would have a completely different opinion if Trump sicced the IRS on them and their groups, right?

The IRS is especially vulnerable to the initiative because it has been on a hiring binge in recent years as part of a sweeping effort to improve services at the agency. Between 2021 and 2024, the workforce increased by one quarter, to more than 100,000.

“Improve service”. Funniest joke I’ve heard in months. We were told they would be hiring 86K to go after those icky rich folks. It’s a whole lot easier to say “one quarter in 3 years” than “yeah, we hired 25,000 employees in 3 years”, right? But, hey, here’s some pure Trump Derangement Syndrome along the same lines

Firing civil servants and dismantling government departments is how aspiring strongmen consolidate personal power – lessons from around the globe

(4 wackadoodle paragraphs to start)

This unprecedented sequence of events in the U.S. has left many observers in a daze, struggling to make sense of the dramatic reshaping of the bureaucracy under way.

Yet, as researchers on authoritarian politics, it is no surprise to us that a leader bent on expanding his own power, such as Trump, would see the bureaucracy as a key target. Here’s why.

Go that? Reducing the federal bureaucracy and whacking agencies, which Trump really has no intention of replacing, is going down the authoritarian route.

A well-functioning bureaucracy is an organization of highly qualified civil servants who follow established rules to prevent abuses of power. Bureaucracies, in this way, are an important part of democracy that constrain executive behavior.

Except, we do not have one. We have a politicized, unaccountable one which doesn’t respond to the people and thinks they are the lords of the people. Who spend taxpayer money however they so see fit, lord knows how much ends up in their own pockets and in the pockets of their cronies. We could keep going on, but, it’s just another case of moonbats manufacturing Reasons that Trump, who is attempting to reduce the power of the federal government on citizen’s lives, is the next Hitler.

Read: IRS To Begin Laying Off Employees Today »

Posted in Barking Moonbats, Government | 11 Comments | Trackback URL

Sweden’s Top Court Rejects St. Greta’s Climate (scam) Suit

By William Teach February 19, 2025 – 3:00 pm

It’s so terrible, why wouldn’t the court listen to this esteemed scientist?

Sweden’s top court rejects Greta Thunberg lawsuit on climate action

st greta carSweden’s Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that Greta Thunberg and hundreds of other activists cannot proceed with a class action lawsuit that had sought to force the state to take stronger action against climate change.

Activists filed a lawsuit in 2022 arguing that the state violates the European Convention on Human Rights by not doing enough to limit climate change, or mitigate its effects, and the case has since been subject to review on procedural grounds.

The group of 300 plaintiffs in the case, who call themselves the Aurora group, wanted the courts to order Sweden to do more to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit).

“A court cannot decide that parliament or the government should take any specific action without the democratic bodies deciding independently on those issues,” Supreme Court Justice Jonas Malmberg told Reuters.

But the court did not rule out that a climate lawsuit formulated differently could be heard in Sweden, as the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has said groups meeting certain requirements may have the right to sue over climate change.

In other words, the court decided that democratically elected lawmakers have the primary responsibility for instituting any scam legislation, that it is not up to courts to unilaterally implement cult Beliefs. Too bad they didn’t ask the 300 plaintiffs if they had given up their own use of fossil fuels, stopped eating meat, and made their own lives carbon neutral.

The Aurora group said it would review its legal options.

“We will continue to desperately try to prevent planetary collapses and get Sweden to do their legal duty to respect human rights and stop making the planetary crisis worse,” Aurora’s legal and scientific coordinator Ida Edling told Reuters.

What about their own duty to practice what they preach? Seriously, would the court implement the beliefs of other cults, forcing citizens to practice, say, Scientology? Of course not. At least Scientology and other cults tend to mind their own business, rather than attempting to force everyone to believe the same.

Read: Sweden’s Top Court Rejects St. Greta’s Climate (scam) Suit »

Posted in Climate Cult, Global Warming | 4 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach February 19, 2025 – 1:00 pm

…is an area flooded by fast rising seas, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Jo Nova, with a post on the Royal Society only caring about the money.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 13 Comments | Trackback URL
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