quote:

Originally posted by bdylan:
degradation of Russian forces and regime change as an ultimate goal.

But the Russian economy seems solid, defense manufacturing is up, they've solidified economic cooperation with axis powers, they've survived the sanctions, disengaged from western companies and seem generally unaffected by it all.

Does anyone here remember Vietnam?

quote:

Originally posted by bdylan:
Ukraine should sit down this morning with their Russian counterparts and start laying out the parameters for peace. Today, while they are well funded and in a position of power.

Concur it would be worth the attempt in the current situation. I've suggested before that 2024 is the critical year for Ukraine to survive, as continuation of US support was stuck in domestic politics, European stocks have largely run dry of equipment that can still be delivered without compromising donor countries' own security, and new equipment production both outside and within Ukraine will only pick up from next year.

With this turn of events, I'd tell Putin "Look, this means that both candidates in the American presidential race have decided Ukraine faltering before the election would be bad for their campaign. The next administration may or may not continue the support, but European financial aid for the coming five years is already far outstripping everything pledged by the US, and their production is ramping up to meet the capacities that can pay for. You know you can't break through our lines if the Americans dump the amount of artillery assets on us they can with this new package in the next few months. We know we can't break through your lines after the experience of last year's offensive, and you have a pretty hard grip on the population behind those now anyway. Both of us have created grandiose expectations of sweeping additional gains, but let's just negotiate a cold peace based upon those current lines with international guarantees."

Not sure though Ukraine would make such an initiative, Russia would accept it, and the international community would make the committments necessary to make it work. For Putin it's probably politically (and personally) safer to just continue at the current pace of expending ressources indefinitely; and after all the historic experience, Ukraine could never trust a bilateral agreement with Russia, much less unilaterally declaring to give up the territory they lost and hoping that Russia won't come back for more at the first opportunity. Any solution would have to have a lot stronger guarantees than the rather toothless 1994 Budapest Memorandum, or the even worse terms Russia offered in the early 2022 "peace" negotiations.

Long ago, all parties should have negotiated a partition of Ukraine, with the native Russian speaking regions becoming part of Russia and the Ukrainian speaking regions remaining independent. There is no way to win against Russia in the long term. France (Napolean) and Germany (Nazis) learned this the hard way.

The U.S. position is two fold - an attempt to cover up a decade of corruption and payoffs/contributions/patronage, and old men trying to win yesterday's war, after they already won. Communism failed, the USSR collapsed, and Russia is an also-ran power now.

quote:

Originally posted by Lefty Sig:
Long ago, all parties should have negotiated a partition of Ukraine, with the native Russian speaking regions becoming part of Russia and the Ukrainian speaking regions remaining independent. There is no way to win against Russia in the long term. France (Napolean) and Germany (Nazis) learned this the hard way.

Yes. The deal won't get any better for Ukraine.
Only worse. Only more lives lost. They could have spared a half-million lives...

quote:

The U.S. position is two fold - an attempt to cover up a decade of corruption and payoffs/contributions/patronage...

That's it. The US is attempting to cover up the Biden family crimes (and others) and also feed the military industrial complex. They don't care about Ukraine.

The big problem is that the US is beyond broke. We are headed toward a crisis and we will keep spending like this until it happens.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:
To me, he looks scared.

Question is: Of what?

I doubt that he's got that many or that bad of skeletons in his closet. There's something else going on.

If they can’t get dirt they threaten some violence, maybe let him know in that skiff who they have taken care of and how. Either way if the blob can’t control you one way or another they won’t stop. When I saw him walking down the stairs with Paul Ryan I knew he was going to be controlled one way or another.

The New York Post ran a story yesterday headlined, “MTG lashes out after Ukraine aid bill passes, demands Speaker Mike Johnson’s resignation: ‘Complete betrayal’.”
https://nypost.com/2024/04/21/...n-complete-betrayal/

This weekend, Speaker Mike Johnson delivered a Masterclass on how to burn a budding political career to the ground in only 72 hours. The word “rage” barely describes how the Republican base feels about Johnson’s U-turn on Ukraine aid, which was approved on Saturday in the House with 100% democrat support, and will be approved tomorrow in the democrat-controlled Senate. Then it will be signed into law ten seconds later by a very lifelike, rubber-coated, Joe Biden animatronic robot with the extra mumbling package.

Yesterday, irate Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), vowed on Fox News Sunday that “Mike Johnson’s speakership is over.” She is correct. Absent a miracle, sooner or later, Johnson is finished. Democrats might help Johnson cling on to the Speakership for a while pursuant to some hideous backroom political scheme, which will only make Johnson look even more corrupt. But the Johnson clock is ticking.

Inexplicably, President Trump has failed to mention Speaker Johnson at all in his most recent Truth Social posts, even ones about Ukraine aid. Instead, he’s complained only about the U.S. having to shoulder the whole burden — and oddly recently remarked that “everyone agrees … Ukrainian survival is … important to us”:

Prior to this post, Trump has consistently and opposed Ukraine aid, and usually in capital letters. It’s a mystery what turned Trump around. Could it have had something to do with Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Cameron’s personal visit to Mar-a-Lago last week? After all, Trump’s most popular book is titled “The Art of the Deal.” Now, I’m sure it didn’t probably happen this way, but the timing is highly suggestive, and it’s still a fun thought experiment: what could Cameron have possibly offered Trump to get him (and Speaker Johnson by proxy) on board for more Ukraine support?

Like wretched fentanyl junkies swaying incoherently on the streets of Philadelphia, America sways in the grip of a Ukraine addiction. Or more accurately, America’s security state sways incoherently under its Ukraine addiction. Over the weekend, watching the unfolding drama in the House of Representatives, foreign commenters observed that Ukraine appears to be the Biden Administration’s most important political issue.

Ukraine, which first burst onto the national scene after Trump requested an investigation and got impeached for his trouble, does seem to be driving everything else right now.

https://www.coffeeandcovid.com...rue&utm_medium=email

A Saturday Massacre in Congress

On a Saturday to mark and remember, congress funds two wars and hands the intelligence agencies sweeping new surveillance power, getting nothing in return

Matt Taibbi

We did it! We sold everybody out!

Saturday, April 20th, 2024. The NBA opened its playoff season, the city of Pinecrest, Florida was overrun by peacocks, and congressional Republicans cozied up to Democrats in in one of the all-time legislative betrayals, overriding voter sentiment to hand the national security establishment a series of historic unearned victories.

Do members of Congress work for voters, or for the Pentagon and the Intelligence Community? You be the judge:

SURRENDER #1: CONGRESS ALLOWS EXECUTIVE BRANCH TO RE-AUTHORIZE ITS OWN POWER

The first betrayal began with a lie. Heading into the weekend, it was widely reported that unless the Senate reathorized section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which among other things allows the government to collect communications of Americans without a warrant, an April 19th deadline would expire. Our poor government would be forced to make do for whole days, if not longer, without warrantless spying authority.

“House to take up bill to reauthorize crucial US spy program as expiration date looms,” as the AP put it, was a typical headline. House Speaker Mike Johnson was one of many politicians who pushed the notion, saying on April 12th, “We still have time on the clock” to get FISA re-authorized by the 19th.

This was all fake. The law was already extended. On April 5th of this year, Joe Biden’s Department of Justice effectively granted itself a one-year extension of FISA, meaning the real deadline was April of 2025. Illinois Democrat Dick Durbin and others repeatedly announced the fact, even on the Senate floor, but press didn’t report it.

“The U.S. Department of Justice has already obtained a fresh one-year certification from this Court to continue Section 702 surveillance through April of 2025,” Durbin said Thursday, while arguing the need to require warrants to spy on Americans. “There is no need for the Senate to swallow whole a House bill that expands—rather than reforms—Section 702.”

Similarly, at the end of last year, Section 702 had been set to “expire” on December 31st amid another panic. Congressional leaders inserted an extension through April 19th into the “must-pass” National Defense Authorization Act, seemingly tying the FISA extension to all military appropriations and staving off the horror of even temporary FISA-less existence.

But that too, was fake. As the ACLU, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Freedom of the Press Foundation, and over two dozen other groups wrote to congressional leaders at the end of last year, the government was already conducting surveillance “pursuant to a one-year FISA Court authorization” from the previous year.

In other words, the Executive Branch has been re-authorizing itself two years running, and Congress has gone along, setting the precedent that spy agencies need not ask permission to do anything at all.

It turns out the only real check on the continuation of the FISA program is the FISA court itself, which approved the Department of Justice’s request in late February of this year for an early extension. Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen told the New York Times when the request was made that bypassing Congress was necessary because it is “our responsibility” to “avoid a dangerous gap in collection.”

“Our” responsibility. Not yours.

Nonetheless, having Congressional approval is better than not, so yesterday, the Senate passed reauthorization of section 702 in a blowout. The 60-34 win included crushing defeat of two key amendments. Durbin’s amendment seeking requirement of a warrant to review the communications of Americans was squashed 50-42. An even more important Amendment introduced by Democrat Ron Wyden and Republican Cynthia Lummis (it ended up being called the Wyden-Hawley amendment) was routed 58-34.

That one was designed to cut out a seemingly small provision, covered here last week, that massively expands the number of companies and individuals who’ll be forced to cooperate with FISA surveillance requests under the new law. The new provision has been dubbed the “Everybody is a Spy” law, and all it needs now is for someone to help Joe Biden add his signature.

SURRENDER #2: KILL FISA, BUT NOT REALLY?

“KILL FISA, IT WAS ILLEGALLY USED AGAINST ME!” Donald Trump posted on Truth Social on April 10th:

It would take too long to chronicle all the huffing and puffing Republicans have done about FISA in recent years, after it was used illegally as part of an investigation into Donald Trump’s campaign in 2016, but also to obtain the communications of “tens of thousands of protesters, racial justice activists, 19,000 donors to a congressional campaign, journalists, and members of the U.S. Congress.” Republican as a result now overwhelmingly oppose reauthorization of FISA, and members like Devin Nunes effectively sacrificed their careers to expose its misuse. How could the party cave on this issue?

When Trump posted “KILL FISA,” it coincided by a move among a cadre of House Republicans to block a procedural vote allowing a vote on the overall bill. It was the fourth such instance and deemed a “major embarrassment” for leadership, suggesting that Trump, rather than Johnson, really controlled the House caucus.

Despite all this, two days later, Trump received Johnson at Mar-a-Lago and gave the appearance of backing him against a leadership challenge, among other things over this issue. “He’s doing a great job,” Trump said. Once Johnson cast the key vote to reauthorize warrantless FISA, it set the stage for yesterday’s Senate vote.

To say this is confusing is an understatement. Both Trump and Johnson spent a lot of time talking about the border in their presser, but a major subtext was mutual surrender on other issues like FISA. There is no price imaginable that Trump could extract from Johnson that would seem to make giving in on FISA worth it, politically. Was Republican opposition to FISA ever real?

SURRENDER #3: UKRAINE Shortly after Saturday’s FISA vote in the Senate, the Johnson-led House voted overwhelmingly to approve $91 billion in foreign aid, including $61 billion in aid for war in Ukraine. The House also approved a ban on TikTok as part of the same vote. This measure passed by an astonishing 311-112 margin, and just three hours later, the Pentagon announced it was considering sending more military advisers to Kiev.

Start with the obvious. As Democrats increasingly don’t want funding for Israel, Republican voters do not want more spending in Ukraine. This is from a Gallup poll in March, when Republicans were still refusing to budge on Ukraine funding:

Seeing that poll, it was hard to imagine House Republicans folding on Ukraine funding anytime soon. Then, in the first week of April, a source sent a mailer from a high-profile weapons lobby firm, offering an assessment of Johnson’s intentions:

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) made news last weekend when he laid out a plan for passing Ukraine aid in a Fox News interview after previously remaining circumspect… This statement was significant because it demonstrated political will from Johnson that he hasn’t expressed in the past… Now that Johnson has put his oar in the water, we expect he will see it through… We don’t expect Johnson to walk away from Ukraine aid… it’s clear that he sees it as a quasi-must-pass issue.

From the moment Johnson first put his “oar in the water” on Ukraine on April Fool’s Day, it took less than three weeks to guide the caucus to forking over $61 billion to the Pentagon, whose Defense Secretary just a few months ago was threatening members in a classified briefing to send “your uncles, cousins and sons to fight Russia.”

The House somehow went in a few months from not having the votes to pass Ukraine aid to a 199-vote victory. What happened?

On December 20th, after refusing to support $60 billion in new military aid for Ukraine sought by the White House, Johnson insisted his intransigence wasn’t a negotiation tactic. Yes, Republicans wanted more funding for border security, but also needed to see a plan. What was the money for, beyond continued fighting? ......

Johnson was reitierating conditions laid out first at a meeting with Jake Sullivan after being named Speaker, then again in a letter to Joe Biden on December 4th, in which he said Republican support was dependent upon “security at our border, and critical answers regarding the funds requested.” Johnson added that “in light of the current state of the U.S. economy,” American taxpayers “deserve a full accounting of how prior U.S. military and humanitarian aid has been spent,” and an explanation for “failure thus far to present clearly defined objectives.”

Translated from Congress-ese, Johnson’s message was, Israel yes, Ukraine no.

The White House and Pentagon both threw fits, seeming to understand this was a crucial moment. To the administration’s left, support for aid to Israel was eroding quickly. To Joe Biden’s right, Republicans were refusing to budge on Ukraine. White House sources started telling reporters we were on the precipice of sending American troops, then Biden said it out loud....

Fast forward to yesterday. A compromise immigration bill, H.R. 3602, also went to a vote yesterday and failed, 215-199. H.R. 2 passed the House last year but not the Senate. The vote on the similar 3602 bill was widely seen as a sham tactic, designed to decouple immigration from military aid.....

Right on cue, after yesterday’s surrender to Langley and the Pentagon, CNN ran, “By passing Ukraine aid, the accidental speaker became an unlikely Churchill.”.......

https://www.racket.news/p/satu...massacre-in-congress

Speaker Mike Johnson Believes “History Will Judge Well” Extending Warrantless Searches and Giving Ukraine Unlimited Funds

I’ve said this so frequently it almost becomes obscene to keep repeating it. Many of the most professional political class in Washington DC just flat out believe the echo-chambering bubble created by the intelligence apparatus inside the beltway. The Republican political leadership, in this case Speaker Mike Johnson, genuinely believes they are doing what the American people want them to do.

I can say this with certitude, because I have looked at their eyes when challenging their assumptions and mindset, and I can tell they truly do not think they are lying. They are so detached from comprehending anything adverse to their worldview, they genuinely believe what they are saying is factually accurate and true. It’s not; all of it is total nonsense, but the pressure from the intelligence apparatus is so strong and encompassing, these politicians cannot fathom it’s wrong.

To be sure, there are some like Mitch McConnell, Chuck Schumer, John Cornnyn, John Thune etc. the UniParty leadership, that know the IC narrative is completely false; they know what they are doing is corrupt and wrong, but they dare not challenge the administrative state apparatus that controls them. However, in the case of Johnson and others like Scalise, he really doesn’t know. He’s a believer in this fraud.
WATCH (1 minute):



The 30 Republican Senators who voted to authorize FISA surveillance and simultaneously authorize funding an insufferable and unwinnable conflict in Ukraine are:

John Barrasso of Wyoming, John Boozman of Arkansas, Katie Britt of Alabama, Ted Budd of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, John Cornyn of Texas, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Mike Crapo of Idaho, Joni Ernst of Iowa, Deb Fischer of Nebraska, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi, John Kennedy of Louisiana, James Lankford of Oklahoma, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Jerry Moran of Kansas, Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Pete Ricketts of Nebraska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Mike Rounds of South Dakota, Marco Rubio of Florida, Dan Sullivan of Alaska, John Thune of South Dakota, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Roger Wicker of Mississippi and Todd Young of Indiana.

The ROLL CALL VOTE IS HERE. Please remember these names.

These are the same Senators who said nothing while the weaponized system of government organized a corrupt intelligence operation against candidate Donald Trump in 2016. These are the same Senators who are looking for any reason to support the removal of Donald Trump from the GOP ticket. These are the same Republican senators who refuse to contemplate representative government. They live in a bubble of deceit, and they despise the American electorate.

https://theconservativetreehou...d-funds/#more-260257

With all this going on, WHY does DJT even want to be associated with these traitors?

quote:

Originally posted by downtownv:
With all this going on, WHY does DJT even want to be associated with these traitors?

Well, because voters keep sending them back, so he and any POTUS is stuck dealing with them...

quote:

WHY does DJT even want to be associated with these traitors?

What I think downtownv means is why does DJT even want to run for President again if it means being associated with these traitors?

I would have to say it's a combination of ego and patriotism.

quote:

If they can’t get dirt they threaten some violence, maybe let him know in that skiff who they have taken care of and how.

Joe Rogan and Tucker Carlson ...

Stunningly, Carlson tells Rogan that congressmen were "terrified" that intelligence agencies will frame them with "kiddie porn" if they openly opposed the "warrantless spying" bill.

Specifically, he says US lawmakers "told" him that they are "worried" about being punished by intel agencies if they oppose reauthorizing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

"People don't say that because they're worried about being punished. They’re worried about someone putting kiddie porn on their computer. Members of Congress are terrified of the intel agencies. I'm not guessing at that. They've told me that — including people on the intel committee, including people who run the intel committee," Carlson said.

"The people whose job it is to oversee and keep in line these enormous, secretive agencies whose budgets we can't even know - their 'black budgets'," Carlson continued, raising his hands into air-quotes.

That it is "tyranny", not democracy, for "unelected people who are not accountable to anyone making the biggest decisions", Carlson raged, to force congressmen to support reauthorizing "warrantless spying" of American citizens because "they're threatened."

"They're the parents, the agencies are the children. They're afraid of the agencies. That's not compatible with democracy."

“It’s playing out in front of everyone, and no one cares and no one does anything about it,” Carlson said.

"I think the reason is because they’re threatened. And if you look at the committee chairman who allowed this shit to happen year after year, they’re all - and I don’t know, people say, ‘Oh, they’re compromised or being blackmailed,’ whatever. I don’t have evidence of that. But I know them. And they have all the things to hide. I know that for a fact."

“It’s not a stretch of imagination to imagine that, you know, some committee chairman who’s allowing warrantless spying on Americans to continue, or whatever abuse they’re allowing... It’s not impossible to imagine that some guy with a drinking problem or a weird sex life — and that’s very common, very common up there — that’s why they’re doing it. Because they don’t want to be exposed,” Carlson added.

“I said to somebody, a very powerful person, the other day, in a conversation in my kitchen, an elected official - holds a really senior position...

But I was like, ‘All these people are controlled. They’ve all got weird s*x lives, and all these things they’re hiding, and they’re being blackmailed by the intel agencies.’

And he said, and I’m quoting, ‘I know.’ I was like, okay, so at this point, we’re just sort of admitting that’s real? Like, why do we allow that to continue?”

https://twitter.com/VigilantFo...ll-frame-them-kiddie



https://www.zerohedge.com/poli...ll-frame-them-kiddie

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:

quote:

WHY does DJT even want to be associated with these traitors?

What I think downtownv means is why does DJT even want to run for President again if it means being associated with these traitors?

Exactly, and they are there, only to make his and our lives miserable.

https://rumble.com/v4r9mro-ron...aign=TheLibertyDaily

quote:

Originally posted by downtownv:
Exactly, and they are there, only to make his and our lives miserable.

So, we just throw our hands up and give up? Sit around and bitch?

You Only Had To Listen: Ron Paul Destroys Mike Johnson For Betraying America

Former US Congressman Ron Paul has gone completely ham on Speaker Mike Johnson, first - writing in a recent Op-Ed that Johnson has "betrayed liberty and the Constitution" after reauthorizing FISA surveillance but casting the deciding vote that tanked an amendment to require a warrant.

Section 702 authorizes warrantless surveillance of foreign citizens. When the FISA Act was passed, surveillance state boosters promised that 702 warrantless surveillances would never be used against American citizens. However, intelligence agencies have used a loophole in 702, allowing them to subject to warrantless surveillance any American who communicated with a non-US citizen who was a 702 target.

...

Despite the fearmongering by Mike Pompeo and others, as well as the opposition of both President Biden and Speaker Johnson, the amendment failed to pass by only one vote. The amendment would have passed had Speaker Johnson not cast a rare floor vote (speakers usually do not vote on legislation) against the amendment. -Ron Paul

Paul went further this week - calling Johnson out for being a complete sellout and acting, once again, against the interests of Americans.

"Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is reported to have bragged to his colleagues about how easily Speaker Johnson gave Democrats everything they wanted and asked for nothing in return," Paul noted, adding that Johnson "reached across the aisle, stiffed the Republican majority that elected him speaker, and pushed through a massive gift to the warfare corporate welfare state." in passing a massive aid package for Ukraine and Israel.

"After the House voted to send another $60 billion to notoriously corrupt Ukraine, members waved Ukrainian flags on the House floor and chanted, ‘Ukraine! Ukraine!’ While I find it distasteful and disgusting, in some ways, it seemed fitting."

Watch:
https://twitter.com/VigilantFo...on-betraying-america



https://www.zerohedge.com/poli...on-betraying-america

Democrats Run House Agenda as Hakeem Jeffries Brags: ‘Those Are Just the Facts’

https://www.breitbart.com/poli...s-brags-those-facts/

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) took a victory lap on CBS’s 60 Minutes on Sunday to brag about wrestling away control of the House from Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).

Jeffries’ boast followed three startling Democrat victories in the Johnson-led House that delivered significant lifelines to President Joe Biden, desperate for legislative victories to tout as he continues struggling in the polls against former President Donald Trump.

Johnson’s actions spurred Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) to commit to force a vote this week to eject Johnson from the Speakership.

Jeffries and his leadership team committed to saving Johnson in late April, issuing a remarkable statement praising him for partnering with a “bipartisan coalition” that include President Biden and “traditional Republicans” to “[push] back against MAGA extremism” and unleash tens of billions in aid to Ukraine and Gaza.

His statement on Sunday clarifies, with no uncertainty, why Democrats support Johnson.

“Even though we’re in the minority, we effectively have been governing as if we were in the majority because we continue to provide a majority of the votes necessary to get things done,” he said. “Those are just the facts”:

CBS’s Norah O’Donnell agreed, saying, “The fact is, Republicans in the House are a majority in name only.”

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) has labeled the Democrat victories Johnson’s “three betrayals.” Specifically, Johnson ended the work to pass each of the 12 individual appropriations bills and passed a two-part omnibus bill overwhelmingly supported by Democrats, rammed through a reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) after casting the deciding vote to kill a warrant requirement for spying on Americans, and carried out a scheme to unlock tens of billions in Ukraine aid despite promising not to do so without addressing the border crisis.

Johnson also passed a National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that was opposed by the majority of House Republicans.

Greene agreed with Jeffries’ assessment, posting on X, “House Republicans know this is true and Hakeem Jeffries started controlling the House when Johnson became Speaker. Anyone that hears this and still defends Mike Johnson’s Speakership is ok with Uniparty control.”

She could trigger the motion to vacate at any time, giving the House two legislative days to vote. Johnson is expected to immediately call for a motion to table.

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:

Joe Rogan and Tucker Carlson .......................

Here is the whole interview:

Meet the new boss...

Congress Gives Itself A Raise: Johnson Tries To Ram Through Pork-Filled Funding Package

Speaker Mike Johnson, (R-LA), has unveiled a 1,547-page government funding bill that has Republicans seeing red - and not just because of the looming Friday midnight shutdown deadline. Packed with disaster relief, farmer aid - oh, and they're giving themselves a raise, the short-term spending bill is a hot mess of pork.

The bill, known as a continuing resolution (CR), keeps the federal government funded through March 14, buying Congress a little breathing room. But in classic Capitol Hill fashion, the measure is loaded with provisions unrelated to basic spending - and House conservatives are furious, according to Punchbowl News.
[LIST]

$100 billion in disaster relief for hurricane-hit states.

$30 billion in economic assistance for farmers.

Restrictions on U.S. capital investment in China, a win for GOP hawks wary of Beijing’s influence.

A delay in the implementation of a "beneficial ownership" database meant to curb money laundering until 2026.

The transfer of RFK Stadium to the District of Columbia, clearing the way for a shiny new Washington Commanders stadium.

The relocation of an Air National Guard fighter squadron from D.C. to Maryland.

Even the American Music Tourism Act of 2024 got squeezed in

They've also given themselves a pay raise through the resumption of the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA):

Since 2009, Congress has blocked COLA for lawmakers by inserting language into annual spending bills. While other federal employees receive regular pay increases, members of Congress have deliberately frozen their own salaries for over a decade.

The new CR, however, quietly amends language in a prior bill that blocked the member COLA, effectively clearing the way for a pay raise. As Bloomberg Government’s Jack Fitzpatrick first reported, the provision appears on page 15 of the 1,547-page bill and doesn’t state the pay increase explicitly.

Currently, members of Congress earn $174,000 annually—a substantial sum compared to the average American salary, but one that lawmakers argue no longer reflects the cost of serving in office. If COLA adjustments had been in place, their 2024 salaries would reach $243,300, according to a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report.

https://x.com/elonmusk/status/...sane-funding-package



https://www.zerohedge.com/poli...sane-funding-package

---

"Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets; unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit. The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible."
-- Justice Janice Rogers Brown

"The United States government is the largest criminal enterprise on earth."
-rduckwor