Tag Archives: Vivek Ramaswamy

Some Of The Spending Cuts Are Obvious

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On Wednesday, The Epoch Times posted an article about some of the federal budget cuts that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) could investigate.

The article reports:

In a letter sent on Monday to DOGE advisors Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) outlined her “instruction manual” of ways to eliminate government waste.

“With $3 billion of interest being added to our national debt every day, the longer we delay tackling the problem, the further away the finish line gets,” Ernst wrote in the letter. “To give you a head start, here are a trillion dollars’ worth of ideas for trimming the fat and reducing red ink.”

Ernst pointed out that the cost of maintaining and leasing government buildings costs $8 billion every year.

She noted that the federal workforce still works remotely and “not a single headquarters of a major government agency or department in the nation’s capital is even half full.”

Ernst targeted the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in her blueprint of cost-cutting targets. She cited her audit of the tax collection agency which revealed that 5,800 employees and contractors owe nearly $50 million themselves.

The lawmaker also called for the DOGE to act as the “Grinch” on the government’s end-of-year “use it or lose it” spending spree which she called “Christmas in September.” The senator said that Sept. 20 every year marks the deadline for the federal government to spend money left over at the end of a fiscal year.

Part of the problem is baseline budgeting–your budget for next year starts with this year’s spending as the bottom line–thus the rush to spend all of your budget. Therefore, if you ask for a 10 percent increase and only get a 5 percent increase, you can say that you budget was cut 5 percent even though your budget grew. It’s very similar to the wife who goes shopping, spends $300, and tells her husband she saved $100.

There is hope that we will finally see government spending cut in the upcoming Trump administration.

Is Anyone Surprised By This?

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There has been some serious hand wringing about the creation of a new government department–the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) headed by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. I am sure there are many bureaucrats in Washington that will say it is completely unnecessary. However, the numbers tell the story.

On Sunday, Red State reported:

It was reported on Friday that the Pentagon, the nation’s largest government agency, failed its seventh audit in a row, still unable to fully account for its more than $824 billion budget. Worry not, suggested Pentagon officials, who stressed that they’re making “good progress” toward a clean audit in 2028.

Two thousand twenty-eight? Something tells me that in the minds of Elon and Vivek, more than four years isn’t good enough.

According to reports, the Department of Defense — led by often-under-fire Secretary Lloyd Austin –technically earned a disclaimer of opinion, meaning it failed to provide sufficient information to auditors to form an accurate opinion. 

First question: Why? I’ll venture a guess that the answer is because sufficient information was nowhere to be found, which raises the second question: Why not?

The article concludes:

Incidentally, the Pentagon has never passed an audit since the agency became legally obligated to conduct them in 2018. 

Without mentioning names, as I suggested earlier, I have a feeling that the Defense Department will be held fully accountable for both its expenditures and its initiatives long before 2028.

I think I’ll just leave it here, for now.

The next two years are going to be very interesting.

I Am Impressed

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It has become obvious that neither President Trump nor JD Vance are welcome in Springfield, Ohio. Heaven forbid we should find out exactly what is going on there. However, Vivek Ramaswamy is planning on holding a rally there. Just for the record, I have two reports from people there saying that the Haitians there that practice voodoo are continuing their practices–which include animal sacrifice.

On Wednesday, Hot Air reported:

Vivek Ramaswamy will be there tomorrow, and he is ensuring that it won’t just be a bitch session aimed at Haitian immigrants. He is inviting people from all walks of life to attend, and I expect that he will do an outstanding job representing the Republican ticket there.

I love Vivek; although I am unconvinced he is the kind of guy who would succeed in the job of being chief executive of the country. Frankly, he is too smart for the job and too intellectual in particular. He is smart, quick on his feet, makes the political and policy cases for our cause extremely well, and appeals to people like me because of it.

But what I am not certain of is whether a quick-talking intellectual is the sort of guy Americans can identify with. He is so smart that you kinda wonder whether he is “just like me” when it comes to empathizing with our day-to-day concerns.

The article notes:

And Springfield may turn out to play an outsized role for a couple of reasons: there are allegations that the mayor is making bank on the influx of migrants as he appears to have recently invested in rental housing in a big way, and despite denials from local officials that there is any truth to the rumors of pets being killed, recent footage from a town meeting shows that at the very least the city manager knew of the allegations and of reports that they were.

There are a number of people profiting from the migrant influx. Taxpayer money is given to NGO’s to bring people into the country and provide housing, medical care, etc. with American tax dollars. Landlords and hotel owners are evicting Americans because the government pays them more to house legal and illegal immigrants. Meanwhile, we have homeless Americans who are getting none of these benefits. This is not rational policy.

The Generosity Of Americans

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On Sunday, The Carolina Journal posted an article about the attempted assassination of President Trump. The article includes the general information on the shooter, but it also includes some other information showing how Americans can respond positively to a negative event.

The article reports:

A GoFundMe account authorized by Trump and launched by Meredith O’Rourke, Trump’s campaign national finance director, has been set up for donations to the supporters and families wounded or killed Saturday. Donations have surpassed $2.4 million as of Sunday afternoon by such people as former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Kid Rock.

The current information on the shooter includes the following:

According to the Associated Press, Crooks had used an AR-style rifle that was legally purchased by his father at least six months ago, and bomb-making materials were found inside Crooks’ vehicle near where the shooting took place and in the suspect’s home.

Crooks graduated from Bethel Park High School in 2022 and was one of nearly twenty-five students from the school to earn a $500 “star award” from the National Math and Science Initiative.

According to Fox News, Crooks would have turned 21 in September. He had no reported criminal or traffic citations and no reported bankruptcies, liens, or foreclosures.

Fox News also said that voting records showed he was a registered Republican, but due to his age, he only voted in the state election on November 8, 2022.

Records show that he made a $15 donation to ActBlue, a political action committee (PAC) that raises money for left-leaning and Democratic politicians, according to a 2021 Federal Election Commission filing. The donation was earmarked for the Progressive Turnout Project, a Chicago-based political action committee that supports Democratic candidates for public office and claims to advocate for “key Democratic constituencies: young people, minorities, and low-income people,” according to Fox and Reuters.

In a July 13 post on its X page, Progressive Turnout Project has a post that says, “It’s simple people: Donald Trump is a threat to our democracy, and another four years of him would be detrimental to our country,” along with a quote allegedly made by President Joe Biden, “The choice in this election is simple: Donald Trump will destroy our democracy. I will defend it.”

There are more questions than answers surrounding this event. The conspiracy theories abound and the false reporting is rampant. Please evaluate carefully anything you read. It will be at least six or seven months before we actually know the truth of what happened.

The Narrative Is Slowly Changing

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On Friday, The BizPacReview posted an article about some comments made by former Capitol Police Lt. Tarik Johnson.

The article reports:

A former U.S. Capitol Police lieutenant has said that Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy “got a lot right” about the events of January 6, 2021, during his controversial CNN town hall appearance with moderator Abby Phillip.

Liberal heads melted down after Ramaswamy told CNN’s audience that he believed Jan. 6th was “an inside job.”

As has been previously noted, the January 6th ‘insurrection’ was a rare insurrection–no one was armed and there were tour guides.

The article notes:

Johnson noted that “no one would benefit more than I if J6 was an insurrection as I (Tarik Johnson) was the Commander that ordered and led the evacuations of the Senate and the House during the J6 breach after begging former Assistant Chief Yogananda Pittman for permission to do so as she sat comfortably in the Commander Center watching the events unfold on CCTV while Chief Steven A Sund was obtaining National Guard approval and getting assistance from local law enforcement agencies.”

“Pittman flat out ignored me so I was forced to forge ahead with the evacuations without obtaining approval from her,” he explained. “Three days later I decided to call Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont to report Pittman’s malfeasance and approximately an hour after I got off the phone with the senator I was contacted by the USCP internal affairs section and informed I was suspended.”

“The suspension lasted for 17 months and I was under a USCP gag order not to speak about the events of January 6, 2021 to the media until I separated from the Department,” he continued. “I was also required to remain in my house Monday through Friday from the hours of 8am to 4pm and unable to step off my property without notifying the USCP for fear of being disciplined up to and including termination during those 17 months.”

“These are SOME of many facts USCP Chief J Thomas Manger (who is arguably the most corrupt politician in the country) was brought in to cover-up,” he stated.

Please follow the link to read the entire article. I hope that the truth will come out eventually. The people who set up this ‘insurrection’ need to be held accountable.

I Really Don’t Understand This

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On Friday, The Daily Caller reported that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Vivek Ramaswamy will speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) this year.

The article quotes Matt Schlapp in explaining the reasons behind the decision:

“Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has a unique voice in advocating for the defunding of the weaponized bureaucracy and ensuring the constitutional right of medical freedom,” Matt Schlapp, CPAC Chairman, said in a statement to the Daily Caller. “Kennedy joining such an important event is a reflection of the splintering of the left-wing coalition that has gone full woke Marxist to the point that traditional liberals don’t feel welcome anymore.”

In the past, Matt Schlapp has been a supporter of President Trump, so I wonder why he is giving these two people a platform. There are major problems with both of them as presidential candidates. I am not sure if Vivek Ramaswamy has a chance at the Republican nomination, nor would I be comfortable with him as a candidate. There are some serious questions as to some of his past associations. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., certainly does not represent the conservative movement. He is anti-vaccine, but in his case he is not only against the covid vaccine, he also opposes many of the childhood vaccines. It would be a stretch even to call him a moderate based on his views on the Second Amendment and on abortion.

The article concludes:

“We are also honored to have Vivek Ramaswamy – a true patriot and rising star fighting for the values of life and liberty for every American,” Schlapp said in a statement to the Daily Caller. “Ramaswamy has made a massive impact on the political scene in a short amount of time. He comes from the world of business and is willing to courageously fight the woke agenda of corporate America.”

The October CPAC event is an investors summit and will not be open to the media.

Interesting.

The ‘Elephant’ In The Room

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On Thursday, Breitbart posted an article about the question that was not asked during the Republican debate on Wednesday night.

The article reports:

The first Republican presidential primary debate hosted by Fox News on Wednesday featured no questions on election integrity, despite polls showing the issue is important to conservatives.

“Not one question about election Integrity tonight,” former Arizona governor candidate Kari Lake posted on X. “If we can’t talk about our broken elections, how are we ever going to be able to fix them?”

Could that possibly be that no one wants to fix them?

The article notes:

A recent poll conducted by the Honest Elections Project (HEP) from July 13-16 showed that the vast majority of U.S. voters support election integrity initiatives such as voter ID requirements and limiting mail-in voting, according to a report last month by the Federalist.

The poll found some 88 percent back voter-ID rules — including black (82 percent) and Hispanic voters (83 percent), according to the report. It also found three-fourths of voters think in-person voting is better than mailed-in ballots, and “overwhelming opposition” to noncitizens and minors voting in U.S. elections.

The article concludes:

Former U.S. Senate candidate for Pennsylvania Sean Parnell posted on X, “For the most part, this debate was not in anyway representative of where the base of the Republican Party is. Most of these candidates miss the moment. It’s not difficult to see why Trump is by far & away the front runner.”

None of the candidates on the state last night have any idea what Americans are thinking. This is illustrated by where their campaign money comes from. It is interesting that (according to The Daily Caller on August 3rd):

Over 80% of Trump’s campaign fundraising has been financed by small donors, contributing less than $200, which political experts say underscores his large advantage over DeSantis, who is reliant on wealthy donors.

According to The Tampa Bay Times on August 22nd:

Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy

Campaign’s cash on hand: $9 million

Cash on hand at super PAC supporting the candidate: $225,000

Portion of individual contributions that came from small-dollar donors: 52%

Notable facts: Ramaswamy personally loaned his campaign more than $15 million, providing by far the largest chunk of his campaign’s cash. His small-dollar donor percentage is high in part because the total sum of donations from individuals is only about $3 million. Still, the roughly $1.6 million his campaign has received from those small-dollar donors is comparable or higher than some other, more established political veterans.

Who is backing the majority of the Republican candidates? That is something that voters need to investigate before they vote?