Flotsam and Jetsam - DOGE Rebates? Kash Ekes By

At ET, Trump Makes Sweeping Changes in First 30 Days in Office and 30 Takeaways From Trump’s First 30 Days in Office, "The president is reshaping federal government and foreign policy through a staggering number of executive actions and policy moves." At Da Fetched, Michael Cohen on President Trump’s Executive Orders: ‘He Already Owns the Libs.’ Althouse finds President Trump and Elon Musk vouch for each other's goodness. "On Fox News, in the presence of a mumbly, inert Sean Hannity" Well, everybody is a good guy in their own mind, but I agree. Trump wants to save the US, and Elon wants to save mankind. Also, I was reading Trump's social media posting — "'Congestion pricing is dead. Manhattan, and all of New York, is saved. Long Live The King!" At NewsMax, Trump Still Wants 'One, Big, Beautiful' Budget Bill. In the immortal words of Mick Jagger, "You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you can get what you need." Toni Airaksinen remembers Trump Promised to Fix McDonald’s Ice Cream Machines—Will He Deliver?. I doubt he can, but Elon can. Insty, ME, TWO MONTHS AGO: "End Home Rule for Washington, DC. Trump, now: End home rule for Washington, DC." At Da Caller, You May Have Missed This, But California Taxpayers Dodged A Green Bullet … With Trump’s Help.

Mike Solana@micsolana, "the reason they keep hammering on this offensively stupid position — that trump, in a few weeks of governance, has somehow caused these plane crashes — is they literally have nothing else. the democrats have never been this lost in any of our lives." Quote Rep. Eric Swalwell @RepSwalwell, "No president has had more planes crash in their first month in office than Donald Trump. x.com/briantylercohe…" Bonchie@bonchieredstate, "Gayle King tried to bait the Delta Air Lines CEO into blaming Trump for the recent crashes. It did not go as she planned." Christopher F. Rufo @realchrisrufo, "Airlines that started promoting DEI quotas for pilots made it inevitable—and rational—for the public to ask questions about every plane crash from that point onward. When competence is no longer the highest criterion, the whole system is compromised." Quote United Airlines
@united "Our flight deck should reflect the diverse group of people on board our planes every day. That’s why we plan for 50% of the 5,000 pilots we train in the next decade to be women or people of color. Learn more and apply now: http://uafly.co/UnitedAviateAc." Twitchy, That had to Hurt! Delta CEO Sets Gayle King Straight on FAA Cuts and Plane Crashes. Christopher F. Rufo @realchrisrufo "It's okay that most pilots are white men. It's okay that most cornerbacks are black. It's okay that most nail salon owners are Asian. It's okay that most nurses are women. Demanding mathematical "representation" assumes that people have the same interests and talents. Absurd." At LI, Pete Buttigieg Suddenly Interested in Transportation Issues, Sean Duffy Responds, “Mayor Pete failed for four years to address the air traffic controller shortage and upgrade our outdated, World War II-era air traffic control system.”

Tom Knighton at Bearing Arm sees a Senator Try to Bash Kash Over GOA Support. At WaEx, Senate confirms Kelly Loeffler as next SBA administrator. Drew Berquist hears Pete Hegseth Launches Investigation Into One Of Joe Biden’s Biggest Scandals, the Afghanistan debacle. At LifeZette, RFK Jr. Kicks Off First Federal Probe as HHS Chief—And It’s Huge [WATCH]. From TCW, RFK has the vaccine cultists in a spin. Matt Vespa at Town Hall thinks This Trump Pick Might Have the Toughest Path to Confirmation. PJMs Stephen Kruiser fears Trump's Labor Secretary Pick Is a Commie Fox in the MAGA Henhouse. Yet another department that could be eliminated.

From NewsMax, Trump Rips Zelenskyy: 'Dictator Without Elections' and in return, Zelenskyy says Trump Lives in Russian 'Disinformation Space'. Also, Russia Mocks US With Massive Drone Strike on Ukraine. Sundance at CTH sees IT BEGINS: President Trump Starts Peeling Back the Zelenskyy Mask and French President Macron and British PM Starmer Coming to U.S. to Discuss Ukraine with President Trump.  Dave Strom at Hat Hair hears Yes, Newsweek Really DID Say That Out Loud... Newsweek @Newsweek "There are concerns that the Ukrainian president could be voted out of office if the country holds an election." Hat Hair's John Sexton wonders Is the US Position on Taiwan Changing? Althouse, "If you are running in fear of your own voters, there is nothing America can do for you. Nor, for that matter, is there anything that you can do for the American people that elected me and elected President Trump." "Said JD Vance, quoted by Jonathan Turley, in "Vance rightly excoriates Europe: What values are we defending?" (NY Post)." TCW,  Bravo, JD Vance, speaking up for real Europeans. At RCW, In Dealing With China, Trump May Have a Trick Up His Sleeve. From Breitbart an Exclusive — Secretary Rollins: USDA Exploring ‘Federal Solution’ to Stopping China from Purchasing U.S. Farmland. Hat Hair's Beege Welborn hears Canadians Talking Tough About 'Not Kissing the Ring of the Gangster From 'Mar-A-Lago'.

Jim Thompson at RedState reports a Retired NFL Punter Disrupts a Council Meeting, Declares MAGA a 'Nazi Movement'. Drew Berquist, NYU College Republican Leader Ousted Over Barron Trump Remark. Nick Ballas @NicholasBallas, "Video of Democrats protesting the Trump administration at the Kennedy Center via interpretive dance." The Fourth Rail wonders Is Donald Trump Destroying The Left's Political Sanity? Destroy what? 

From Liz Stauffer at LI, Elon Musk: We’re Watching the ‘Thrashing’ of the Bureaucracy. “If the will of the president is not implemented, and the president is representative of the people, that means the will of the people is not being implemented, that means we don’t live in a democracy, we live in a bureaucracy.” Althouse finds "Musk is a parasitic illegal immigrant. He wants to impose his freak experiments and play-act as God without any respect for the country’s history, values or traditions." Said Steve Bannon, quoted in "Bannon Calls Musk a ‘Parasitic Illegal Immigrant’/Stephen Bannon, a top adviser during President Trump’s first term and a popular figure among his supporters, said Elon Musk wants to 'play-act as God' as part of his push to overhaul the federal government" (NYT). I think he's jealous. 

NewsMax, Musk Shows Interest in DOGE Rebate Checks to Taxpayers. Matt Margolis at PJM, This Might Be the Best Idea for DOGE Yet. Rebates? I think some rebate, say 25% of the money saved by DOGE would be a good idea, to keep people invested in it, but the majority should go into reducing the deficit, which will kill the nation in the long run. Reason reasons DOGE Can't Slash Government Without Congress "The federal leviathan can’t be dismantled by executive action alone. To truly cut spending and rein in the bureaucracy, the administration needs buy-in from the branch that built it." It's tough, though; Congresses main power is to spend money to buy votes. Vicky Taft at PJM, Officer, I'd Like to Report the Wreck of Another CNN 'News' Host. Dave Strom, CNN Flummoxed as Stephen Miller Explains the Rule of Law. Nick Arama at RedState sees Stephen Miller Breaks Out the Crayons for Awesome Schooling of CNN Host

Stephen Miller has to whip out the crayons to explain how the federal government and presidential advisers work.

"I understand that even a temporary interruption in federal employment is a great crisis and catastrophe for you and CNN." pic.twitter.com/lVudki9XHe

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) February 18, 2025

'Becca Downs at TownHall hears Chuck Schumer Makes Quite the Admission About Wasteful Spending. Breaking911 @Breaking911,"SEN. SCHUMER: "Of course, there's some wasteful spending, but you don't use a meat axe & cut everything!" Nope, the gentle approach hasn't worked. Matt Margolis, WATCH: Did a Senate Democrat Just Call for an Insurrection? “Massachusetts is where revolutions are born,” Markey began. “And the revolution against Donald Trump and Elon Musk starts here.” Ward Clark at RedState notes Dems Are Still Freaking Out About the DOGE, but Karoline Leavitt Just Isn't Having It. Karoline Leavitt @PressSec, "To all of the Democrats who are planning to protest this week, here’s an explanation on DOGE, from your party’s own beloved leaders!" Quote Rapid Response 47@RapidResponse47 "Presidents Obama and Biden clearly love the work @DOGE is doing" Video at link. mrcTV reports By Blocking Federal Funding Freeze, Judge Kept Millions Flowing to a Non-Profit He Headed. Joy Pullman at Da Fed says Besides Bludgeoning The Constitution, The Judges Stopping DOGE Are Boosting Inflation. BrownStone explains How USAID Assisted the Corporate Takeover of Ukrainian Agriculture. Tyler O'Neil at Da Signal details USAID’s Troubling Ties to the Woke Nonprofits That Called the Shots in the Biden Administration

At NYPo, Zeldin EPA discovers $2 billion stashed away by Biden admin for Stacey Abrams-linked climate group. From the Center Square, DOGE says it has saved taxpayers $55 billion so far. Da Fetched reminds us the Biden Admin Spent $20 Billion in Taxpayer’s Money on Services for Migrants – Inc Cars, Home Loans. Ace, Just One Agency, the Department of Health and Human Services, Spent More Than Ten Billion Dollars to Care for Illegal Aliens In One Year Alone, "This is just one agency, in just one year." At LifeZette, MSNBC Admits to Huge Social Security Overpayments, Anchor Left Speechless. Christopher F. Rufo @realchrisrufo, "SCOOP: Following my investigation, the Department of Education has terminated $226 million in grants to its "comprehensive center" NGOs that have been pushing schools to "decenter whiteness," reject the "gender binary," and reduce the number of "white students" in STEM. Winning." Madeline Leesman at TownHall hears DOGE Share an Alarming Update About the Treasury Department. 

NYT whines I.R.S. to Begin Laying Off Roughly 6,000 Employees on Thursday. Sundance is jazzed, The IRS will Begin With 6,000 Layoffs This Week? Atop Da Hill, National Science Foundation cuts 10 percent of staff, mostly probationary. Madeline Leesman hears Are NASA Staffers Next on the DOGE Chopping Block? ABC News @ABC "As thousands of federal employees continue to be terminated, sources at NASA tell @ABC News that 10% of its workforce has been laid off." Daniel McCarthy at Chronicles discusses The Civil Service’s Partisanship Problem.

Presidents come and go, but the permanent federal bureaucracy remains the same, and it has a distinct partisan tilt. When Americans send a Republican to the Oval Office, they get a government still administered mostly by the other party.

Yes, that makes a sham of democracy. But no president before Donald Trump was prepared to confront the problem.

Because the bias in the federal civilian workforce (which consists of more than 2 million employees) favors their side, the likes of Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden were never going to fix it. And earlier, when the parties were less ideologically polarized and there were still quite a few conservative Democrats and liberal Republicans, it wasn’t as obvious as today that the bureaucracy’s partisan slant meant a workforce opposed to the duly elected president—when he’s not a Democrat.

Plenty of good links at the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 02.19.25 (Morning Edition) 357 Magnum: Bubbles of Useless Research, also Don’t Hurt the Terrorist’s Feelings, EBL, Delta Toronto Crash, Twitchy: Chuck U. Schumer Claims Trump Is Crashing Planes To Enrich Billionaires, ABC News Headline Inspires Gutfeld’s Four-Step Summary Of Why Legacy Media Is Circling The Drain, and CNN Anchor Upset At DOGE Nuke Firings Was Unaware Sam Brinton Stole Women’s Luggage At Airports, Louder With Crowder, The new cringe leftist protest anthem dropped, this one squeals about “moving forward” from Trump and Elon, Vox Popoli: Nobody Asked You, The 7-Year Honeypot, State Implies Support for Independence, and Cold Water, Jim McCoy: A Brief Interminable Peace, CDR Salamander: So, About VP Vance’s Speech, Don Surber: AP’s silly gulf war, and STUMP: Visualization of Social Security Fraud(?).

From Da Fetched, Elon Musk: Biden Left ISS Astronauts in Space on Purpose for ‘Political Reasons’. From Behind the Black, Musk: Biden delayed the return of Starliner’s astronauts “for political reasons” thinks that is exaggerated. 

From Da Caller, DOJ Prosecutor Leading DC Criminal Division Suddenly Resigns. Objected to probe of some of Biden's awards to climate groups. I thought all the top prosecutors were being fired anyway. Paul Bedard at WaEx hears Watchdog pushes for investigation of ex-Gen. Milley’s Jan. 6 planning. At Hat Hair reports FBI Houston Says They've Thwarted a 'Mass Casualty Attack' at Local School. All well and good, but did they have a hand in conceiving it too? You have to ask.

Stacy McCain still on the case of the Trans Vegan Death Cult, ‘Ziz’ Misgendered and Other Highlights of Tuesday’s Court Hearing for Cult Suspects. 

PJM's VodkaPundit, As Promised: Trump Hits Latin American Gangs, Cartels With 'Terrorist' Label. Mary Chastain at LI, State Dept. to Designate Tren de Aragua, Cartels as Terrorist Organizations. "On his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to put these gangs on the FTO list." At Althouse, "During Trump's 2017-2021 presidency, he considered terrorism designations for cartels but ultimately shelved the plans." "But now: "US declares Tren de Aragua, other cartels are global terrorist organizations" (Reuters)." Econ Times, US declares Tren de Aragua, other cartels are global terrorist organizations. Sundance, State Dept Poised to Designate Latin-America Gangs Tren de Aragua, MS13 and the Sinaloa Cartel as Foreign Terrorist Organizations. Breitbart REPORTS: CIA Flying Surveillance Drones over Cartels in Mexico. Cathy Salgado at PJM notices Illegal Crossings Dropped as Soon as Trump Took Office. From ET, Judge Denies Trump’s Bid to Partially Implement Birthright Citizenship Order, "The Trump administration asked the court to ‘stay the injunction’s nationwide application,’ limiting its effect to the plaintiffs in the case."

From Da Blaze, ABC News faces fury for labeling 'slain' Hamas hostages as merely 'deceased'. At Twitchy, ABC News' Trump Headline Inspires Greg Gutfeld's 4-Step Summary of Why Media Is Circling the Drain GregGutfeld@greggutfeld, "step one: foment anxiety. step two: report on the anxiety. step three: pretend you didn't cause the anxiety step four: wonder why everyone hates the media." QuoteABC News@ABC, "President Donald Trump's immigration policies already are affecting schools across the country, as officials find themselves responding to rising anxiety among parents and their children, including those who are here legally. Read more: https://abcnews.link/BMuLEov"

From Da Wire, Boy Wins Girls’ Pole Vault Championship In Maine Days After State Pledged To Defy Trump Order. “Two years ago, [boy’s name] tied for 5th place in boys pole vault. Tonight, ‘[girl’s name]’ won 1st place in the girls’ Maine State Class B Championship.” Beege Welborn, Orange Resistance: Maine Goes Boldly Forth Allowing Males to Compete As Women. Scott Renor at Da Fed, Defying Trump Executive Order, California Forces Girls Into Basketball Playoff With Boy. Take away any federal funding. Greg Piper at JTN reports a Shot fired at women's volleyball coach who exposed male on team as she preps suit over termination "Melissa Batie-Smoose was in a virtual meeting for her Title IX lawsuit with Mountain West Conference players when "I see the bullet hole." California lawmakers offer bills to protect girls, women, parental rights against gender ideology." NewsMax, Kan. Bans Gender Care for Minors as GOP Lawmakers Reverse Gov's Veto. The Washingtonian whines Trump’s Kennedy Center Cancels Pride Concert That Would Have Featured Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington "No explanation was given, the chorus says: "We regret that this opportunity has been taken away.""

From the College Fix, UVA professor compares Kamala Harris loss to ‘violence of chattel slavery’. At Breaking Defense, DEI, DOA: How the defense industry is racing to bury its diversity efforts.

Just in! Kash Patel confirmed, 51 -  49, Murkowski and Collins joining the Democrats. Ace, with the trademark flaming skull and red italic font, Kash Patel Confirmed as Next Director of the FBI, 51-49; Only Murkowski and Collins Vote "No" on the (Fake) Republican Side

The Wombat has FMJRA 2.0: Aspiring to Mediocrity ready and waiting at The Other McCain.