Law be damned, Trump asserts unilateral control over executive branch, federal service (3 Viewers)

[superchuck500]

Following the Project 2025 playbook, in the last week, Trump and his newly installed loyalists have moved to (1) dismiss federal officials deemed unreliable to do his bidding (including 17 inspectors general) - many of which have protections from arbitrary dismissal, (2) freeze all science and public health activity until he can wrest full control, (3) freeze all federal assistance and grant activity deemed inconsistent with Trump's agenda, and (4) moved to terminate all federal employee telework and DEI programs.

The problem is much of this is controlled by federal law and not subject to sudden and complete change by the president through executive order. Most notably is the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 that simply codifies what is the constitutional allocation of resources where Congress appropriates money to the executive branch for a specific purpose, the executive branch must carry out that statutory purpose. This is indeed a constitutional crisis and even if Congress abdicates to Trump by acquiescing, the courts must still apply the law - or rule it unconstitutional.

And meanwhile the architect of much of this unlawful action is Russell Vought, Trump’s OMB nominee who the Senate appears ready to confirm.

120. The Impoundment Crisis of 2025

The Trump administration's Monday spending freeze is likely to provoke a crisis over the constitutionality of "impoundment"—one that the justices could well have to resolve *very* soon.

www.stevevladeck.com

 

[wardorican]

It has every last bit to do with what you said. You don’t like DOGE, so you ran a candidate (and voted for her) which led to DOGE’s arrival. Elections have consequences hermano. Maybe next time you will check yourself before you wreck yourself.

You are just trolling at this point.

I was actually interested in what DOGE could have been. I do want to curtail govt spending. Very underwhelmed and disappointed in how they've deliberately shut things down without thought and all of the blatantly illegal actions. It's a clown show. But it's owning the libs, right?

 

[wardorican]

 

[DJ1BigTymer]

Then do it the right way. Review all govt spending for the year, and create a new budget proposal for the next fiscal year and get your party in congress to vote on it. The executive doesn't just get to shut down programs and funding they don't like, for dubious, at best, reasons.

Just because you don't agree with sending US rice overseas to starving people who have food scarcity, it doesn't make it waste.

Just because you have an issue with people getting limited govt backed loans to use for their education, with the general idea that there is a decent probability of that investment paying off in higher wages, thus higher taxes... does not make it waste.

You may not trust government, but I definitely do not trust your ability to find your own amswers, comprehension, nor your decision making.

QFT

This very point has been brought up multiple times and not a single DOGE-bro has even attempted to answer. All they could do is deflect or offer up a tired "both sides" false equivalency.

 

[barbar]

This is a thing that drives me nuts. Why would you trust DOGE? Musk has a huge conflict of interest, and no experience with this sort of thing at all. He's already released outright falsehoods.... and people are still saying, "I just want to see what he'll find"?

Not to mention they have just made all the documents "presidential records" which means that we will never see them. Sure they will say some bullshirt on TV like the stuff about trans opera and condoms for Gaza or whatever to keep the base riled up, but they will not provide real, concrete data. They have not done any audit that they can provide, anyway.

I still understand how anyone thinks a few software engineers plus a billionaire CEO who's best quality is taking credit for other people's work are qualified to perform an audit.

It's really mind-boggling the level of mental gymnastics people are doing here.

 

[J-DONK]

It has everything to do with what you said. You don’t like DOGE, so you ran a candidate (and voted for her) who led to DOGE’s arrival. Elections have consequences hermano. Maybe next time you will check yourself before you wreck yourself.

"Elections have consequences" when talking about an unelected billionaire making a unconstitutional power grab for the executive.

Great takes as always el caliente.

 

[Dragon]

You are right, I don’t like cultural exchanges if I don’t even know where to buy a ticket for the event. Seems like something nefarious.

It is a play for god sake and you claim they are paying for gender change operations. Have you ever heard of acting ? How many hollywood actors have played female roles over the years without having an operation?

I guess you are a christian so maybe look in the mirror before casting the first stone...

 

[barbar]

It’s true. People didn’t care when Biden’s handlers controlled the government, but now that Elon is making things happen they are up in arms.

Meanwhile those of us who didn’t vote for any of this mess are just loving the theater of people showing their posteriors.

This is not what's happening at all. Whatever Biden did with the government compared to whatever is going on now are two completely and totally different things.

So far every conservative poster in this thread are just boot lickers. They have given me ample evidence to completely ignore anything they ever say at any point in the future.

 

[barbar]

Perhaps that’s a perk to hiring a bunch of 20 somethings tech people to do the digging. Have you ever seen a 3 year old with a cell phone, these young kids find a way to figure things out.

I’m still trying to understand the audit process being used. Are they using an algorithm to pick out expenses that don’t make sense? Are they actually digging into the books? What does this process look like?

The fact that you don't know what the process looks like and neither do I or anyone else is a huge problem. Do you agree?

 

[bird]

Of course I don’t want money spent on certain things. Are you opening a tab at the bar for your brother who is in AA?

Wtf?

 

[bird]

Dave, did we not talk about the Truman Committee from the 1940s, and National Partnership for Reinventing Government created in the 1990s? These entities were created under executive orders by Democrats in order to cut waste, find efficiencies, and make Americans feel better about their hard earned dollars being sent to Washington. Those were great at the time, and DOGE appears to be following their lead.

Even the GAO is aware of billions in fraud taking place every year, so an extra set of eyes, coming from the corporate world, can only help.

Like the billions in Medicare fraud that Rick Scott’s company committed?

Fraud exists wherever money exists. This means it exists in the private sector. In point of opinion, there is less actual fraud within government itself. The fraud happens when the private sector engages with government. It is driven from the private sector side.

 

[bird]

I thought that it was $15-$20M.

And no, I’m not a fan of his actions. That said, the man said that part of the reason that he was running was to eliminate waste and hold government accountable for their spending, and the voting public bought into it.

I blame the Democratic Party for not running a better candidate.

Bullschlitz.

 

[bird]

The 335M user claim comes from this site.

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thesocialshepherd.com

I believe the claim that a big chunk of users are bots is overstated. I’ve seen the % of bots on Twitter range from 15-37%, but nobody is really confident about those numbers.

Has anyone here tried bluesky? Is it good, or is it full of pedophiles like my crazy coworker told me? I see people share links from that site, but those same people share links from Twitter as well, so maybe people aren’t fully converted?

Your crazy coworker is just that.

 

[RobF]

Tell me, did it hurt you when your party sold your boy short and told him to retire so that they could run the inferior candidate?

At the end of the day, you deciding to support a party that dgaf about you is the reason we are now having to deal with DOGE.

People "deciding to support a party that dgaf about you is the reason we are now having to deal with DOGE" is actually correct, but in the opposite way you intended; that applies to the people who voted for the Republican party under Trump. You know, the people who are actually doing the whole DOGE thing.

I mean, what is it with you guys constantly trying to argue that up is down? It's obvious that the overwhelming responsibility, and blame, for the people doing a thing lies with the people who said, "We're going to do the thing," who are now doing the thing, and the people who voted for them to do the thing. The people who aren't doing the thing and the people who voted for them are at the end of the list of those to blame.

Like, if you see an article about a conman offering a fake miracle cure for something, and someone falls for it with unfortunate consequences, do you really go, "Well, that's not the fault of the conman! And the people who fell for it, nope, not them either! No, it's the fault of the doctors, the ones who said it was a fake cure, wouldn't work, and people shouldn't take it! They should have been more persuasive!" Come on.

This is why basic accountability and truth matters. You can't compete with a liar or a fantasist in a popularity contest if their lies and fantasies are believed, because they can promise literally anything. Reality will always win in the end of course, when fantasy comes crashing down, but it causes a lot of damage in the process.

But if you're not actually thinking through any of this and it's just trolling in a, "Haha, I said something stupid and people replied saying they think I'm stupid! I win!" way... well done, I guess?

 

[bird]

It’s not a strawman, it’s the reason we are dealing with DOGE now. Thanks!

No, it actually isn’t.

DOGE is utter bullschlitz. All it is, is a tool for an idiot given to said idiot by another idiot.

“Waste, fraud and abuse” is nothing more than a meme. It is meaningless. Congress appropriates monies. They have the actual ability to limit spending. And, boy, does the RW howl about pork (which is what we are really talking about) and then they thump their chests when said pork benefits them. Beyond that the next meme we have is “inordinately burdensome” which is applied to any law, rule or regulation that “business”(read: billionaires) don’t like. The private sector wants opacity because there is profit in opacity.

No, this is nothing like any previous concepts that sought to limit how government gets forked by the private sector. This time the fox is in the henhouse forking government.

 

[DaveXA]

What is the difference between the three other than “Elon is yucky, and Trump is a doodoo head?”
The mission of the three has been to identify and eliminate waste. God speed on that endeavor.

The GAO number I am referencing is below.

Fraud Risk Management: 2018-2022 Data Show Federal Government Loses an Estimated $233 Billion to $521 Billion Annually to Fraud, Based on Various Risk Environments

No area of the federal government is immune to fraud. We estimated that the federal government could lose between $233 billion and $521 billion...

www.gao.gov

If you read further down in the report under their recommendations to OMB to prevent frauds they recommend “(1) identify and establish consistent data elements and terminology for use across OIGs”.

the status of this recommendation as of the time of reporting is “In a July 2024 update, OMB stated that it has not started action on the recommendations but plans to. To fully implement these recommendations, OMB will need to work with the oversight community to develop a plan--with timelines for implementation--for collecting consistent fraud-related data.”

Perhaps having the second set of eyes on things isn’t a bad idea until OMB gets this under control.

I really am looking forward to seeing how DOGE tackles the DoD. While both sides benefit from the war machine, one side benefits far more, so not coming away with a pound of skin will be very telling, and very disappointing.

You know well the difference and since you're so insistent on carrying their water, there's nothing I can say or do to convince you of the obvious truth.

Ultimately, you're pretty clearly trolling, so, moving on.

 

[DaveXA]

The 335M user claim comes from this site.

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thesocialshepherd.com

I believe the claim that a big chunk of users are bots is overstated. I’ve seen the % of bots on Twitter range from 15-37%, but nobody is really confident about those numbers.

Has anyone here tried bluesky? Is it good, or is it full of pedophiles like my crazy coworker told me? I see people share links from that site, but those same people share links from Twitter as well, so maybe people aren’t fully converted?

I have, and for what it is, it's not bad and miles better than X. I deleted my X entirely and don't miss it at all. I use BlueSky sparingly, but that's more because many people making the switch has taken some time. Change is hard for some, which is understandable.

Regardless, this isn't about bluesky or even X itself, it's about a megalomaniac who is hell bent on crippling and destroying the agencies he doesn't like. His conflicts of interest relative to the agencies he's going after makes it glaringly obvious what he's doing. If you can't see that, then that's a you problem.

 

[DaveXA]

The 335M user claim comes from this site.

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thesocialshepherd.com

I believe the claim that a big chunk of users are bots is overstated. I’ve seen the % of bots on Twitter range from 15-37%, but nobody is really confident about those numbers.

Has anyone here tried bluesky? Is it good, or is it full of pedophiles like my crazy coworker told me? I see people share links from that site, but those same people share links from Twitter as well, so maybe people aren’t fully converted?

Lol, that link pretty much destroys any argument that X is somehow doing well. They're not even in the top 10 in total users among social media platforms. Lmao.

I'd also add that they quote Musk who claims 230 million plus daily users. Like, dude, you're getting your numbers from the guy known for his blatant lying? That's hilariously bad. I don't believe much of anything that idiot says.

 

[TampaJoe]

Let's put this way. I think @Sendai, @TampaJoe, @el caliente - would all agree that the President has a fair amount discretion on how he is to execute the laws that Congress sets right?

The last President was Joe Biden, right? Joe Biden had a value of diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as transgender rights as part of his administration correct? So, the programs listed were well within Biden's priorities, correct? And all grants had gone through a review process and documented. Therefore, what did USAID do wrong (well not only USAID, b/c some of the listed expenses were from other departments)?

I don’t know that USAID did anything “wrong”. Obviously the current administration believes there is a better use for those funds.