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  State Dept Notifies Congress USAID is Formally Being Dissolved, all Employees Will Be Fired

  March 29, 2025 | Sundance | 175 Comments

  Losing USAID likely means the CIA will hit back hard on the subject of Ukraine as retaliation.  USAID was the front group for CIA interventionist operations globally.  The omnipotent silo will not accept this decision by Secretary Marco Rubio.

  The State Department has formally informed congress of their intent to dissolve USAID terminating the employment of every associate within the agency.  [per this release]

  Watch the geopolitical events/actions closely in the next few weeks. This is a very big hit against the Intelligence Community network, and likely one of the reasons for CIA manager John Ratcliffe scheduling a meeting with DOGE head Elon Musk.

  This announcement coincides with a 3-judge appeals court ruling that now permits DOGE and Elon Musk to take apart the USAID silo. [Ruling pdf Here]

  (Via Politico) – A federal appeals court on Friday cleared the way for Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency to resume their efforts to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development.

  The ruling from a three-judge panel of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals lifted a lower-court judge’s injunction that had temporarily blocked Musk and DOGE from playing any role in dismantling USAID.

  […] The challengers can appeal the ruling further, and other lawsuits contesting various USAID cuts remain pending in other courts. Supporters of the agency also promised further litigation over the new cuts announced Friday.

  For now, though, the 4th Circuit ruling removes a significant roadblock to one of President Donald Trump’s Day 1 priorities: pausing foreign assistance and shuttering the agency tasked with implementing it. (read more)

  

  Posted in Big Government, CIA, DOGE, media bias, President Trump, Uncategorized

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Have been doing spring leaf cleanup all week that was not done last fall. Should end up with 20 or 21 leaf bags full.  Been doing 3 to 5 hours a day.

Takes me a long time to get around the yard with an upright walker using the leaf blower making piles here and there. I sit in a chair to do the bagging. I use the upright walker to tote two bags at a time around to the front of the house. Placing the bags on the front porch under cover of the roof. Leaf pickup does not start until April the 4th and I do not want the bags getting wet.

I have about 3 or 4 hours of bagging and toting to finish up the job today. Looks like rain coming east and want to git-r-done.

Grass is just starting to turn green here and there. Seen some spring wild flowers while out in the yard. Little tiny yellow flowers about the size of a dime. Pretty little things.

Look around and appreciate nature when possible.

update 18:30

All bagged, all  bags taken to front porch.

Got-r-done

Why Supreme Court Opinions Are Not The “Law Of The Land”, And How To Put Federal Judges In Their Place

At the amount of financial malfeance being uncovered in our Gov't.

Makes you want to

5:57 PM EDT today

Rooting for a safe journey back to earth.

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  Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick Outlines Global Impact and Response from USA Tariff Hammer

  March 12, 2025 | Sundance | 82 Comments

  Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick appears on CBS News to outline how the MAGAnomic tariff program immediately creates positive outcomes when President Trump identifies the specific targets.

  As Lutnick appropriately notes, the EU has received one-way tariff benefit since the creation of the Marshal Plan in 1945.  President Trump is on track to finally end this exfiltration of American wealth.  Lutnick cuts through the nonsense and delivers a very non-pretending reality as he outlines how Canada doesn’t stop fentanyl, and Mexico doesn’t stop migration caravans.

  This is an excellent explanatory outline of how President Trump paints the target, then Commerce Secretary Lutnick supports the targeting, and how foreign nations immediately respond to change their approach. WATCH:

  As we notice today, for the first time since last year the Consumer Price Index now shows inflation slowing rapidly [CPI DATA HERE] as basic essential prices on energy and gasoline are dropping quickly and all downstream products start dropping in sequence.

  Bold emphasis by jap69

  Here is our current status after one month: – mortgage rates are down – egg prices are down – gas prices are down – overall inflation dropping – illegal immigration stopped at the border – wages going up – foreign aid shut down – woke initiatives being removed – massive manufacturing investments ongoing.

  Hey, it’s winning folks, and it has only just begun.  Lutnick is absolutely correct.

  

   

  Posted in Auto Sector, Big Government, Donald Trump, Economy, energy, media bias, NAFTA, President Trump, THE BIG UGLY, Trade Deal, Transportation, Uncategorized, USMCA

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Noticed the hot water getting cold sooner than normal  recently.Figured it had to be a faulty thermostat or a burned out element.

To solve the problem of which is at fault I purchased a water heater tune up kit [$35.00].   The kit included 2 4, 500-Watt, 240-Volt water heater HWD screw-in elements, 1 Therm-O-Disk 240-Volt lower thermostats and 1 Therm-O-Disc upper thermostat.  Also an element removal tool [$8.00]

Yesterday I shut off the water heater breaker, Ran the hot water at the sink until turning cold, drained the water from the tank, Charted the wiring schematic, removed and replaced the upper and lower elements, removed old thermostats, replaced with new thermostas rewiring according to the wiring schematic, turned on the cold water line to the tank filling tank to pressuried level after closing the hot water faucet at the sink, Checked the elements for any leaks at the threaded connection for leaks, no leaks, replaced the platic shield over thermostats and elements. replaced insulation, put access covers back on.

Turned breaker back on. Did not see the breaker trip or smoke coming from the tank. Left the breaker on and waited for the water to heat up to thermostat setting temperature [120 degrees] . After I figured it had time to heat up to temperature I turned on the hot water at the faucet and checked the water temperature with a probe type temperature gauge [ topped off at 120 dgrees].

Been 24 hours since fixing and all looks OoKa.

Al least I will not need to finish my shower in cold ass water.

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  U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson Rules the Bureaucracy Controls the Executive Branch, Not the President

  March 2, 2025 | Sundance | 199 Comments

  Not unexpectedly, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson has ruled that unelected bureaucrat, Hampton Dellinger, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel head has more unilateral power within the executive branch of government than President Donald Trump. [RULING pdf HERE]

  

  This ruling stems from the same mindset as former AG Bill Barr, former FBI Director James Comey, former Deputy AG Sally Yates, former IC Inspector General Michael Atkinson, and the entire organization of professional Lawfare activists that includes Mary McCord, Andrew Weissmann and Norm Eisen. The collective belief is that in the modern “continuity of government” framework, the bureaucracy of government controls things, not the elected and plenary President.

  Basic constitutional civics has been destroyed in the modern era by progressive advocacy saying the executive branch is an omnipotent organism that is not controlled by the duly elected President of the United States. Current Lawfare activists and activist judges seek to retain this <snip>ized view of constitutional government.

  Let us hope the Supreme Court finally puts an end to decades of this ridiculous nonsense. The earlier ruling in the Presidential Immunity decision indicates SCOTUS is positioned to do exactly that.

  (Via POLITICO) – A federal judge ruled Saturday that President Donald Trump’s firing of a federal workforce watchdog was illegal — teeing up a Supreme Court showdown over the president’s claim to nearly absolute control of the executive branch.

  U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson concluded that Hampton Dellinger — confirmed last year as head of the Office of Special Counsel — may continue to serve his five-year term despite Trump’s effort to remove him from the post via a brusque email last month.

  Jackson ruled that Dellinger’s duties, which include holding executive branch officials accountable for ethics breaches and fielding whistleblower complaints, were meant to be independent from the president, making the position a rare exception to the president’s generally vast domain over the executive branch.

  Dellinger’s “independence is inextricably intertwined with the performance of his duties,” Jackson wrote in a 67-page opinion. “The elimination of the restrictions on plaintiff’s removal would be fatal to the defining and essential feature of the Office of Special Counsel as it was conceived by Congress and signed into law by the President: its independence. The Court concludes that they must stand.”

  […] Less than an hour after Jackson ruled, the Justice Department appealed her decision to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. (more)

  It’s worth remembering, the basic construct of Lawfare is not necessarily to win the final legal challenges – Lawfare is designed to shape public opinion, impede the target and advance an adversarial narrative.

  

  Posted in Activist Judges, Big Government, Big Stupid Government, Deep State, Dept Of Justice, Lawfare, media bias, President Trump, Uncategorized

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https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1324