Taxpayers to Blame for Pandemic Disaster
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) accidentally discovered that US taxpayers provided the funds that the US Aid for International Development (USAID) paid for the gain-of-function research in China that created the covid-19 virus that killed millions of victims around the world. Taxpayers also paid the salaries of the folks at the FDA who authorized the emergency use of the dangerous mRNA vaccines. Taxpayers also paid Pfizer and other manufactures billions so inoculations with these vaccines would be free to the recipients. Taxpayers also paid the salaries of the FBI personnel who intimidated social media like Facebook into censoring medical information that contradicted the government's claims that these vaccines were safe and effective even though they were neither safe nor effective. Taxpayers also paid the salary of the man who tried to coerce individuals into taking the vaccines by threatening their jobs.
"For years right-wing extremists have tried to blame Fauci, WHO, the CDC, the media, and the Democratic Party, but thanks to DOGE, we now know that if it weren't for the availability of the funds contributed by taxpayers none of the nefarious actions undertaken would've been affordable," Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Tex) observed. "Yet, shockingly, it is DOGE that is suggesting that a portion of the savings they have identified are possible if wasteful, fraudulent, and unnecessary federal outlays are eliminated could be paid out as 'dividends' to those same guilty taxpayers. Well, let me tell you government is not in the business of handing out money to taxpayers. Redistributing money from taxpayers to folks who really need it is what government should be doing. What Musk is claiming to be fraud or waste is an essential step in this process. Exposing it to public scorn as he has done is a profoundly immoral act."
In related news, during an interview with Piers Morgan, Dr. Deborah Birx, the top pandemic health official who served as White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator in President Donald Trump's first term, claimed that "Covid mRNA vaccines were only developed as a desperate measure for vulnerable citizens and were never meant to be widely distributed among the population. They couldn't prevent a person from getting infected nor could they prevent the transmission of the virus from one person to another. Over-hyping these vaccines wasn't the only deadly misinformation pushed by President Biden. The intentional maligning of hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, which were shown to be effective treatments, caused a huge number of unnecessary deaths."
AZ Gov Vetoes Election Bill
Arizona is one of those states where counting the ballots can take weeks after election day has passed. In an effort to expedite the counting of ballots Republicans in the legislature passed a bill modeled on the system used in Florida where all the ballots are counted on election day. Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) vetoed this legislation.
"The main hold up in counting ballots is the requirement for signature verification," Hobbs asserted. "One obvious solution is to do away with signature verification. Another solution would be to do away with voter registration. Since voting is a human right why not just give a ballot to every person who requests one. They could immediately cast it on the spot at any polling place in the state. Or they could take it with them and mail it in or drop it off at a later date. There would be no need to verify anything and the counting could proceed more expeditiously."
"An unappreciated benefit of my approach is that it would prevent a Secretary of State from trying to sabotage the opportunity of voters of an opposing Party by supplying too few ballots, or ballots that don't fit the machines, or machines that break down in areas where the opposing Party has more registered voters," Hobbs argued. "Since their would be no voter registration no one would know the strength of any Party in any district. Even if they tried to guess, any voter could cast a ballot in any polling place in the state."
"The only potential problem that might arise with my preferred system is that it is possible that more votes could be cast than there are persons over the age of 18 in the state," the Governor conceded. "These kinds of discrepancies have occurred from time-to-time in a few locations, but have never, to my knowledge, resulted in an election being declared invalid. Since there would be no way of knowing who cast the excess ballots there would be no proof of who was cheating. I view this as a minor issue because all sides would have an equal opportunity to cheat. Realistically, I think that this method would be the fairest and most efficient way to conduct an election."
State Senate President Warren Petersen (R-Gilbert) called Hobbs' veto "a missed opportunity to increase voter confidence and reduce frustration on election night. Her alternative suggestions would go even further toward destroying voter confidence that the one-person, one-vote standard of a healthy democracy could ever be attained. Luckily, we have prepared a resolution that encompasses the same reforms of the legislation she just vetoed to go on the November 2026 ballot. So, eventually voters will directly determine the type of voting system they want."
Mexico Wants to Protect Drug Cartels
Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum has taken the first steps to amend her country's constitution. "Initially I thought the idea of cooperating with the United States in its quest to reduce the quantity of drugs being smuggled over the border would improve our relationship with our neighbor to the north," she said. "But after considering all of the aspects of what this might mean, I'm not so sure it's a good idea."
"For one thing, exporting drugs to the US boosts our economy," she pointed out. "Is President Trump going to compensate us for the loss of this revenue if we help put the cartels out of business like he wants? I doubt it. He only cares about his country and its prosperity. He wants to put tariffs on the cars we export to the US. This also hurts our economy. He wants to send Mexican immigrants back here instead of welcoming and taking care of them like President Biden did. He calls the people who work for the cartels 'murderous thugs.' But they only murder people who threaten their business interests."
"Here is the constitution revision that I propose," she said. "Any members of any of our cartels that are caught in the United States can be prosecuted under the laws of the United States. Members of any cartel that reside in Mexico will enjoy the full protection of our laws. Any US troops or law-enforcement officers who are caught in Mexico harassing any Mexican cartel member will enjoy the full penalties available under our laws--including no bail imprisonment until we can get around to holding a trial for them."
Judge Demands USAID Payments Resume
Angered that the Trump Administration has not obeyed his Feb 13 ruling ordering it to resume the payments the US Agency for International Development (USAID) had been previously been handing out, US District Court Judge Amir Ali demanded that "the payments be resumed or President Trump will face being found in contempt of court."
A lawyer representing several of the foreign recipients of the money handed out by USAID pointed out that "my clients depend on this funding to carry on their work. Without it they will have to dismiss personnel who administer their grants to organizations that have become accustomed to getting this money. If the payments aren't immediately restored a constitutional crisis will occur."
Judge Ali concurred with the plaintiff's lawyer, saying "the defendant's desire to review the uses to which the funds were being applied before sending more money does not comply with my ruling. Their owed funds have not been disbursed, and they continue to suffer the same irreparable harms."
President Trump countered the Judge, saying "the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) found significant irregularities in the payments USAID made. Money is being paid to terrorist organizations, funding a raft of transgender propaganda, and opium production in Afghanistan, to cite just a few of the very very many dubious and wasteful uses of the taxes the American people have paid. Irreparable harm has already been done by making these payments. It is both sensible and essential that further scrutiny be applied before any more money is given away."
Can a Free Market Work in America?
In November of 2023, Javier Milei was elected president of Argentina. His campaign promised a free-market policy to revive the economy. During the campaign 108 economists signed a letter predicting this approach of "laissez-faire economics and significant reductions in government spending, are fraught with risks."
Since he took office on December 10, 2023 he reduced government spending by 5%, public work programs were put on hold, welfare was slashed, subsidies were eliminated, government-owned companies were privatized, regulations were cut, taxes were simplified and reduced, the number of government agencies was reduced from 18 to 9, a job freeze was implemented on federal positions, and tens of thousands of public employees were fired.
A year later, inflation has dropped from 300% per year to 2.4%, the economy has gone from recession to a 4% annual growth rate, and foreign investment in the country has increased. David Henderson, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, explained that the 108 economists who predicted disaster "have a poor understanding of how markets work and how governments undermine efficiency and fairness."
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) warned that "Trump's efforts to imitate Milei's actions here won't work. There's not a single Democrat in the House who will support any of the cuts DOGE wants to make in any of the government agencies they have attacked. We've already seen the courts ordering the payments to be resumed and the personnel discharged to be reinstated. The American people are demonstrating in the streets against Trump's policies. It's only a matter of time before Trump will have to admit defeat in his insane attempt to reduce the size and scope of the government's role in guiding our economy, our culture, and our lives."
