WELL, GOOD: Sanctions on Iran’s Oil Trade to Reimpose Maximum Pressure. “We will continue to disrupt such illicit funding streams for Iran’s malign activities. As long as Iran devotes its energy revenues to financing attacks on our allies, supporting terrorism around the world, or pursuing other destabilizing actions, we will use all the tools at our disposal to hold the regime accountable.”
Author Archive: Stephen Green
February 24, 2025
ANALYSIS: True.
🎯 I've said it again, I'll say it again. Taxpayer-funded NGOs function as a parallel government.
Even worse, many sitting members of Congress are directly involved in them. They see themselves as the real government, prioritizing debates with other bureaucrats on the global… https://t.co/5WPsLWtNT9
— DataRepublican (small r) (@DataRepublican) February 24, 2025
More:
The Bill of Rights was meant to keep Feds out of religion & press.
NGOs grab $30B+ in grants to bypass it: faith-based groups resettle migrants, 'nonprofit' journalism pushes propaganda.
Regan v. Taxation (1983) made it legal. It’s a loophole undermining freedom.
Time to…
— Publius (@OcrazioCornPop) February 24, 2025
VOX POPULI, VOX DEI:
🚨🇺🇸83% OF VOTERS DEMAND SPENDING CUTS
New poll: 83% of Americans want the government to cut spending instead of raising taxes—but D.C. just kept spending under Biden.
– 67% say the debt is unsustainable
– 83% want the budget balanced
– 77% demand a full review of government… https://t.co/NIKtdoWIpJ pic.twitter.com/s6rga6WLRn— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) February 24, 2025
Trump and DOGE have a mandate and that scares the hell out of the rest of Washington.
FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH, HERE ARE THE RANKINGS FOR THOSE TRENDING OVER 50% AT POLYMARKET:
But by volume, nobody has generated more bets than Barack Obama. A yes vote for him is only 24 cents — what a bargain!
Update: Oops, I forgot the link.
STARSHIP FLIGHT TEST 8 IS SCHEDULED FOR FRIDAY:
The seventh flight test of Starship ended before reaching its ambitious goals. Lessons learned are being applied to future vehicles to make them more reliable. A technical summary of the investigation can be found here → https://t.co/bPVruJ0uY7 pic.twitter.com/9noR4rrs7W
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) February 24, 2025
YOU GOTTA PUMP THOSE NUMBERS UP, THOSE ARE ROOKIE NUMBERS: Concealed carry grows in Colorado; over twenty-nine thousand new permits in 2024. “Colorado is what is what is known as a ‘shall issue’ state, meaning as long as an applicant passes the basic requirements set out by law, the issuing authority is, for the most part, required to issue a permit.”
The Democrats who dominate our state government have made it more difficult to obtain a CCW, but they haven’t gone after the state’s shall-issue status that’s been in effect since 2003.
At least not yet.
MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT: Big Brother, the Special Relationship & Doing the Best Wrong Thing.
LET THE SUNSHINE IN: DOGE Might Hold the Key to Opening up all of Washington’s Dirtiest Secrets
CHANGE? Conservative opposition wins German election and the far right is 2nd with strongest postwar result.
Germany’s conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz won a lackluster victory in a national election Sunday, while Alternative for Germany doubled its support in the strongest showing for a far-right party since World War II, projections showed.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz conceded defeat for his center-left Social Democrats after what he called “a bitter election result.” Projections for ARD and ZDF public television showed his party finishing in third place with its worst postwar result in a national parliamentary election.
Merz said he hopes to put a coalition government together by Easter. But that’s likely to be challenging.
AfD won’t be allowed in, regardless.
KEVIN DOWNEY JR: Nothing Steams My Clams Like Liberal Cucks Pretending to Be Virtuous. “I’m finished trying to remain friends with people who are too stupid to realize they are now Marxists or are too Marxist to be honest about their political views.”
FAIL, BRITANNIA: Apple turns off data protection in the UK rather than comply with backdoor mandate.
In 2024, the UK revamped its UK Investigatory Powers Act of 2016 to give itself the authority to legally — and secretly — compel Apple to break the end-to-end encryption that its security and privacy depends on. Despite bipartisan protests from the US, the UK issued the order and Apple cannot continue to operate its end-to-end encryption without breaking the law.
Instead of allowing the UK backdoor access to encrypted data, however, Apple has announced that it is switching off the encryption. This technically complies with the law, but means Apple does not create a backdoor that the UK or other bad actors could use.
Compliance would have meant giving UK authorities a backdoor into any iPhone or iPad anywhere in the world.
CORN, POPPED:
Goldman was lead counsel for House Dems during Trump's first impeachment.
Designed to prevent Trump from uncovering Biden's actions in Ukraine-and Obama’s knowledge & involvement.
Goldman knew everything Biden did. He even met w/Hunter during the trial. Of course he’s nervous. https://t.co/m7fUSZ7PPd
— Jeff Carlson (@themarketswork) February 24, 2025
Bring on the sunlight.
A HUNDRED BILLION HERE AND A HUNDRED BILLION THERE AND PRETTY SOON YOU’RE TALKING REAL MONEY: Apple’s Tim Cook Just Went Full Dr. Evil (But in a Good Way).
CHANGE: US Agency Reportedly Plans to Shut Down 8,000 EV Chargers, Offload EVs.
The General Services Administration (GSA), an agency that manages the federal government’s buildings, is planning to shut down all 8,000 of its electric vehicle chargers, The Verge reports.
The GSA is also expected to offload its current stock of EVs, though it’s unknown if the vehicles will be sold or put into storage. The agency will reportedly begin instructing employees to remove the chargers—which are used for both federally owned EVs and employees’ personal vehicles—as early as next week.
The agency informed employees at one regional office that, in its efforts “to align with the current administration,” it had received direction stating that all GSA-owned charging stations “are not mission-critical,” according to an email first reported by Colorado Public Radio.
“The GSA is working on the timing of canceling current network contracts that keep the EV chargers operational. Once those contracts are canceled, the stations will be taken out of service and ‘turned off at the breaker,’” the email continued. “Other chargers will be turned off starting next week.”
The web page dedicated to the electrification of the GSA’s fleet has also been taken offline, The Verge notes.
Can’t say I have much pity for EV carmakers whose business model depended on government purchases.
KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: The Never Trump Grift Goes On, But It Has a Shelf Life Now. “The Low-T doyens of the Never Trump movement who’ve been turning vitriolic obsession into cash since 2016 are still cashing checks, which may surprise a lot of people. Sadly, there’s still a lot of money to be made when any Republican wants to stab other Republicans in the back. That’s been true for a long time but, as with so many things, it’s gotten more intense since President Trump’s first White House tenancy.”
AMERICANS: “Do you think Democrats learned anything from their historic loss last November?”
Democrats:
The “C-ndoms for Kiddies” Bill, which installs c-ndom vending machines in preschools – high schools, is set to be passed in Maryland. Democrats are pushing to require all K-12 schools to implement the same s-x ed curriculum endorsed by Wisconsin State Superintendent Jill Underly. pic.twitter.com/EqsUEUap81
— Scarlett Johnson (@scarlett4kids) February 22, 2025
Who are the condoms for in pre-school?
XI’S GOTTA HAVE IT: New Ag Secretary Says This Is Now the USDA’s Top Priority. “”One of the very, very top of the list perhaps is the Chinese purchase of our farmland. A lot of that land is around some of our military outposts.”
Imports of manufactured goods into China have grown by an average of just $15 billion annually over the last six years, essentially unchanged after accounting for inflation. But exports from China have shot up by more than $150 billion.
“When it comes to manufactured goods, trade with China is virtually a one-way street,” Setser said.
That massive disparity is hurting other economies, especially other export-oriented ones like Germany and Japan, he added.
The problem can be traced back to China’s refusal to rebalance its economy after the global financial crash away from its heavy dependence on investment and trade. Rather than shift the economy toward the consumer sector, Beijing fueled a real estate and infrastructure bonanza. But fearing a bubble, Xi clamped down on the boom, setting off a slump that China still hasn’t recovered from.
At the same time, Xi avoided directing massive stimulus to consumers during the pandemic, unlike many other countries that fueled demand for Chinese products. Instead of consumers, China offered support to its manufacturers, resulting in overproduction that only overseas demand couldn’t match.
Now, China alone has the capacity to produce two-thirds of the world’s demand for cars, Setser said. Similarly, China makes more than half the world’s supply of steel, aluminum, and ships. China’s volume of exports is expanding three times faster than global trade, meaning its gains are coming at the expense of others.
“This points to a world economy in which China has no need for the industrial inputs of other countries while leaving those countries dependent on Chinese-made goods—and vulnerable to Beijing’s political and economic pressure,” he predicted.
The West needs to deregulate, hard and fast.
JUST FINISH LEVELING GAZA ALREADY: Hamas Sickos Make Unreleased Israelis Watch Hostage Release.
February 21, 2025
HMM: Elon Musk recommends that the International Space Station be deorbited ASAP.
“It is time to begin preparations for deorbiting the @Space_Station. It has served its purpose. There is very little incremental utility. Let’s go to Mars,” Musk wrote at midday on Thursday.
This original statement was somewhat ambiguous. Last July, NASA awarded Space X an $843 million contract to modify a Dragon spacecraft to serve as a propulsive vehicle to safely guide the aging space station into the Pacific Ocean in 2030. So in some sense, preparations are already underway to shut down the laboratory.
I asked Musk if he meant that NASA and the US government should commit to the 2030 end-of-life date, or if he wanted to accelerate the timeline for the station’s demise.
“The decision is up to the President, but my recommendation is as soon as possible. I recommend 2 years from now,” Musk replied.
Is it a good idea? Maybe. But it could certainly get complicated:
President Trump could propose shutting down the space station, but the budget for the deorbit vehicle (which is necessary, otherwise the station might make an uncontrolled reentry over land) must be funded by Congress.
The space station has key supporters in Congress, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), in whose state the orbiting laboratory is managed. Cruz has long been an advocate of the space station. Ars reached out to Cruz for a comment on Thursday, but the senator did not immediately respond.
However, a key source said Cruz was “furious” with the sentiment from Musk. The timing of Musk’s tweet could make the confirmation of private astronaut Jared Isaacman to become NASA administrator more difficult. As part of the confirmation process, Isaacman is due to begin meetings with US senators in the coming week.
Having to answer questions about the end-of-life for the space station will make some of these meetings uncomfortable.
Whether ISS is deorbited in 2027 or in 2030 as planned, I just hope somebody finally brings Butch and Suni home first.
NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG: By Blocking Federal Funding Freeze, Judge Kept Millions Flowing to a Non-Profit He Headed.
I missed this one on Monday, but it’s still worth reposting:
A judge who blocked President Trump’s federal spending freeze is Chairman Emeritus of a nonprofit that will continue to receive millions in government funding as a result of his ruling, in an apparent conflict of interest seen as a second cause for the judge’s impeachment.
On Wednesday, Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) announced articles of impeachment against federal Judge John McConnell on the grounds that he overreached his authority and engaged in partisan activism by blocking Trump’s executive order freezing federal funding while Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) searches for wasteful spending.
“Impeach this pseudo-jurist!!,” Musk responded to Rep. Clyde’s post.
Then, on Sunday, America First Legal Foundation (AFL) reported that Judge McConnell appears to have had a conflict of interest, which he did not disclose, when he ruled on the lawsuit petitioning him to block the spending freeze.
Exit quote: “In the 18 years Judge McConnell has been on the board of Crossroads Rhode Island, it has received over $128 million in government funding.”
Data Republican’s database shows that last year, Crossroads Rhode Island received $18,616,874 in taxpayer dollars. That’s just shy of two-thirds of all money it recieved.
AMERICANS: “Do you think Democrats learned anything from their historic loss last November?”
Democrats: Princeton course applies ‘queer’ and ‘trans* theory’ to ‘architectural histories.’
The asterisk is actually part of the class description because of course it is.
NEVER CHANGE, DEMS:
Democrats are about to go to court to force taxpayers to keep paying welfare to illegals.
Gonna be an optics disaster. But they have no choice. Ask yourself why. https://t.co/Shkez5RaHm
— Oilfield Rando (@Oilfield_Rando) February 20, 2025
Give them this much credit: Washington Democrats understand who their most important constituents are, and are willing to service them despite fierce public opposition and legality that doesn’t even rise to questionable.