“Wow @TheTNStar just broke a huge story. You know the illegal immigrant that Democrats are trying to free from an El Salvador prison?
In 2022, he was stopped driving without a license and Tennessee Highway Patrol suspected him of trafficking the 7 people inside. THP then learned he was on a terrorist watch list so they called Biden’s FBI but Biden’s FBI told THP to RELEASE HIM.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia was then released due to the Biden FBI order and the THP concerns about trafficking were ignored by the government.”
“Consider that Joe Biden allowed approximately 20 million illegal aliens into our country. This placed extraordinary burdens on our country–our schools, hospitals, housing, and other essential services were overwhelmed. On top of that, many of these illegal aliens committed violent crimes, or facilitated fentanyl and sex trafficking. That is the situation we inherited.
The American people elected the Trump administration to solve this problem. The President has successfully stopped the inflow of illegal aliens, and now we must deport the people who came here illegally.
To say the administration must observe “due process” is to beg the question: what process is due is a function of our resources, the public interest, the status of the accused, the proposed punishment, and so many other factors. To put it in concrete terms, imposing the death penalty on an American citizen requires more legal process than deporting an illegal alien to their country of origin.
When the media and the far left obsess over an MS-13 gang member and demand that he be returned to the United States for a *third* deportation hearing, what they’re really saying is they want the vast majority of illegal aliens to stay here permanently.
Here’s a useful test: ask the people weeping over the lack of due process what precisely they propose for dealing with Biden’s millions and millions of illegals. And with reasonable resource and administrative judge constraints, does their solution allow us to deport at least a few million people per year?
If the answer is no, they’ve given their game away. They don’t want border security. They don’t want us to deport the people who’ve come into our country illegally. They want to accomplish through fake legal process what they failed to accomplish politically:
The ratification of Biden’s illegal migrant invasion.
“Nikita Casap, the teen who murdered his parents in Wisconsin in February and plotted to assassinate Trump, wasn’t acting alone.
FBI records show he was in contact with Ukrainians, discussing how to carry out the attack and frame it as a Russian operation. He also asked how soon he could flee to Ukraine afterward — and whether he’d be able to have a normal life there.
This should have been headline news. No mainstream media outlet has touched these public records.”
I’m with Kevin regarding the links. I don’t always read all of the links but if the information is not well documented elsewhere, I do want to see that it came from a credible source and not just an X tweet.
I suspect the nation will be in for a series of equally chaotic ricochet moves once the Democrats are back in power. Sigh. Unless the delusion is that this Trump movement is somehow unstoppable? (it’s not – unstoppable).
~ … you have to believe there will be more elections. And if there are going to be more elections, you have to believe that there will come a time when Democrats will win an election again.
And yet, the way Trump and Republicans are governing—or “governing”—you’d think Republicans will never, ever, lose another election.
If the last 30—or 300—years of democratic politics have taught us anything, it’s that when your side unilaterally claims a power or prerogative for itself, you’re also validating that same power or prerogative for the other side when its turn to be in charge comes. …
It has been a dream of the left for ages to get rid of the tax-exempt status and relative autonomy of religious institutions—Christian universities, charities, hospitals, etc. If Trump succeeds in making the IRS revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status, based in no small part on personal opposition to what Harvard teaches, what will be the principled objection to a President Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez or Elizabeth Warren when the Eye of Mordor swings rightward?
Or consider the Trump administration’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act and the bootstrapping of anti-terrorism powers to accelerate deportations. I think it’s a stretch to call these horrible criminal gangs “terrorist organizations.” Lots of stuff can be bad without being terrorism. In fact, lots of stuff can be better than MS-13 and be closer to the definition of terrorism. For instance, I think the people vandalizing Tesla dealerships are closer to actual terrorists—they use violence for expressly political purposes—than MS-13. But MS-13—which murders, tortures, and rapes—is definitely worse than the vandals. And, of course, that doesn’t mean I think that idiots burning Teslas should be declared terrorists, never mind shipped to El Salvador.
The point is that words mean things. And the Trump administration is using words like “war,” “enemy,” “terrorism,” “crisis,” etc., to concentrate legislative, judicial, and executive power in the president and the president alone (and the Republican-controlled Congress, in its abject cowardice, is letting it). Trump has not only declared a crisis to bypass due process and defy courts, he’s declared a crisis so he can use tariffs at a whim to scuttle the global economy and vandalize America’s economic reputation.
Do you really think Democrats are incapable of playing the same game? … ~
That was Charles Krauthammer’s admonition and insight, offered in 2009 at the dawn of Barack Obama’s administration. The award-winning columnist noted that pronouncements regarding China’s inevitable march to global dominance were always accompanied by lamentations about America’s certain decline. As Beijing’s prospects went up, Washington’s would have to go down, as if by the rules of physics.
Krauthammer rejected the premise. “My thesis is simple,” he said. “The question of whether America is in decline cannot be answered ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ There is no ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ Both answers are wrong, because the assumption that somehow there exists some predetermined inevitable trajectory, the result of uncontrollable external forces, is wrong. Nothing is inevitable. Nothing is written. For America today, decline is not a condition. Decline is a choice.”
Krauthammer was correct then, and, although he is sadly no longer with us, his point is correct today. But the tectonic plates of American politics have shifted over the past 16 years. In 2009, Krauthammer served as the indispensable intellectual backstop of American conservatism, with advocates of managed decline mostly arrayed on the other side of the ideological spectrum. Fast forward four presidential election cycles, and Krauthammer’s worldview is now mocked and derided by the new leaders of the American right and Republican Party.
For the most ardent—and online—defenders of Donald Trump on the intellectual new right, “Make America Great Again” has been displaced as the organizing ideological slogan by, “Do you know what time it is?” The point of this juvenile rhetorical question is that the postliberal elite who support and staff the Trump administration have an almost gnostic insight invisible to the rest of us. In their invincible faith in what often seems like an unpatriotic love of political power, they insist that the old rules—of American global leadership, free markets, limited government, fidelity to the Constitution—have passed their sell-by date. What is required is “new thinking” and “fresh ideas.”
What are these new and fresh ideas? For some, they are literally monarchism or autocracy. For others, they are mercantilism and a division of the world into “spheres of influence.” In short, their foreign policy was ancient when Charlemagne was on the throne, and their economic philosophy was hatched in the 15th century. … ~
do Christian universities take government money? They should not. PCC does not as they don’t want to be told who to hire and what to teach. I would think most others would be the same.
President Trump has very limited time to make significant changes and try to prove their worth and appears to be going all out to do just that. So the American people can make an informed decision. If we then choose Socialism, so be it. He is trying, knowing time is short to prove his points.
You don’t think that the Trump administration is characterized by global leadership, free markets, limited government, and fidelity to the Constitution?
I think the administration is characterized primarily right now by a disturbing drift toward authoritarianism with too much power centered in the hands of one man and his appointees.
Our form of government will bring that to an end, of course.
I don’t disagree with Trump on all issues. But I disagree with him on some, often many, of his stances and his actions.
I am not an isolationist, I think the tariff “rollouts” have brought pure chaos and likely will hurt Americans financially, and I’m fascinated by your definition of “limited government” and how you square that with an authoritarian president?
Is authoritarianism OK as long as it’s from being executed by the right?
The next elections will come soon enough, 2026 and 2028. I suspect Trump and his loyal men and women in charge are going to see some pushback at the polls.
What about k-12 public schools, should the president have some executive authority over those? I always thought state and local control of schools was a conservative value. But maybe not now that power has been so centralized in this administration — and has become too strong a temptation for the right to wield now that they have it?
Seems he is very supportive of state and community control of education. But if an institution is going to accept fed money they have to accept fed rules. Which is why, historically, most homeschoolers did not want fed money. Which is how the fed government is able to take over so many areas. “We want the money! Give me! Give me!”
Most of our church families home school, they are part of a pretty active home schooling “hub” with other churches in our beach area, with some certified teachers helping to teach, field trips organized, etc. I don’t know a lot about it but it sounds like a pretty well-oiled machine, been in place for many years now.
I find it interesting when some have problems with so called authoritarian moves of an administration fighting for what is good and right yet seem to have no problem with what this past administration has done! Sure let’s make Easter all about transgender recognition… yes he did! This current president will have none of it nor will he light up the White House in rainbow colors to spit in the face of followers of Christ. And yes… I want a President to bring down the hammer on K-12 when they are usurping rights of parents, allowing boys in girls bathrooms and beating girls up in sports…Nj
Kevin – I agree. There have been times when I have managed to find the original source for a post on X that was shared here, and found that the person on X had manipulated or greatly misinterpreted it.
Trump now would like to fire Jerome Powell, Federal Reserve Chair, based on remarks Powell made that displeased the President.
~ Mr. Trump has long sought to exert control over the politically independent Fed, often denouncing Mr. Powell for keeping interest rates too high for his liking. In an early morning social media post that ricocheted around Washington, Wall Street and beyond, Mr. Trump reprised those attacks, saying: “Powell’s termination cannot come fast enough!”
The president continued his offensive in the afternoon, accusing Mr. Powell of “playing politics.” Speaking from the White House, Mr. Trump said, “If I want him out, he’ll be out of there real fast, believe me.”
Mr. Trump’s broadsides arrived a day after Mr. Powell warned in a speech that the president’s tariffs could create a “challenging scenario” by putting the Fed’s two main goals — stable inflation and a healthy labor market — in tension. ~
It seems to me he wishes for an almost complete takeover of every branch and department in the federal government.
But that’s not how our government was set up by the founders, it was designed to have independent-operating branches – and to operate under checks and balances so one man does not have total control. Every indication seems to be that’s what Trump desires or feels is “due” him.
There is no separate branch called Bureaucracy. Generally, that falls to the Executive branch, though some duties are shared by Congress. The exact lines of authority are highly debatable.
I guess the Bulwark has gone all in on bringing ‘home’ the MS-13 gang member deported back to his home country:
“The opposition to President Donald Trump “must go to the mattresses to bring [deported migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia] home,” says a senior writer for NeverTrump Bill Kristol’s Bulwark media site.
“Bring. Him. Home. Our cause is here; our time is now,” author Jonathan Last declared on April 15, adding:
In an authoritarian regime, the opposition needs symbols and stories. [El Salvador illegal migrant] Kilmar Abrego Garcia is that symbol. His abduction in front of his autistic son and imprisonment in a foreign concentration camp is that story. All of the opposition’s energy should be focused on him.
…
An elected Democrat ought to be on the ground in El Salvador every minute of every day until Abrego Garcia is brought home … Congressional Democrats should do the job that Justice Department lawyers, in contravention of the Supreme Court, are refusing to do. They should take it upon themselves to facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia….”
“A federal judge has ruled that Google illegally monopolized some online advertising technology markets, dealing a significant blow to the tech giant’s main revenue source.
Bloomberg reports that U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema has delivered a mixed ruling in the ad tech antitrust case against Google, finding that the company violated antitrust law in the markets for advertising exchanges and ad server tools used by websites to sell ad space. However, the judge did not find Google to be a monopoly in the market for tools used by advertisers to buy display ads.
The decision marks the second time in a year that Google has been found by a court to be an illegal monopolist….”
I found the government’s link for the police affidavit of Abrego Garcia’s March 2019 arrest which Pam Bondi released. The man even has a rank and nickname in MS-13.
Tychicus, you asked DJ, “You don’t think that the Trump administration is characterized by global leadership, free markets, limited government, and fidelity to the Constitution?”
Is that a trick question? Or rather, does that mean you DO think the Trump administration is characterized by all, or most, of these traits? The first one maybe (depends on what you mean by “leadership”). The others?
dj: For almost 250 years we’ve had a wonderful system of checks and balances that isn’t going to change anytime soon – I don’t think that you have to worry about authoritarianism.
The current administration is shrinking government and cutting all the ridiculous spending. Add in the checks and balances and you have limited government.
If you don’t disagree with Pres. Trump on all issues, then why is every single one of your posts that relates to him negative?
Wandering Views 
These are unserious people, and their actions are reprehensible and un-American.
https://x.com/C_3C_3/status/1912511396937343127?t=huolJmperjURvBDs6fG6-g&s=19
“Never forget…
The same Chris Van Hollen that voted NO on the Laken Riley Act is flying to El Salvador to try to bring back an illegal gang member.
The Democrats hate America.”
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For those lying and saying he wasn’t a gang member…
This is who Dems support and are flying to El Salvador to advocate for. Disgusting, him, and Democrats.
https://x.com/robbystarbuck/status/1912664913329221816?t=Tub545YI0SyKbIBSGBl5rg&s=19
“Wow @TheTNStar just broke a huge story. You know the illegal immigrant that Democrats are trying to free from an El Salvador prison?
In 2022, he was stopped driving without a license and Tennessee Highway Patrol suspected him of trafficking the 7 people inside. THP then learned he was on a terrorist watch list so they called Biden’s FBI but Biden’s FBI told THP to RELEASE HIM.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia was then released due to the Biden FBI order and the THP concerns about trafficking were ignored by the government.”
https://x.com/nicksortor/status/1912657667576983967?t=JKGrIzdF8wqt5LQPjajyVQ&s=19
“The wife of deported MS-13 gang member testified that he was a REPEATED WIFE BEATER and she was afraid to be around him
And this guy is the DEMOCRATS’ HERO?
“I have multiple photos/videos of how violent he can be and all the bruises he has left me,” his wife wrote
“In November 2020, he hit me with his work boot.”
“In August 2020, hit me in the eye leaving a purple eye.””
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Trump Fatigue already?
Ya’ll are in for a long 4 years. 😁
He’s just getting started.
https://x.com/JDVance/status/1912320489261027374?t=lbGTkV46zAhtdhmJqMVw_A&s=19
“Consider that Joe Biden allowed approximately 20 million illegal aliens into our country. This placed extraordinary burdens on our country–our schools, hospitals, housing, and other essential services were overwhelmed. On top of that, many of these illegal aliens committed violent crimes, or facilitated fentanyl and sex trafficking. That is the situation we inherited.
The American people elected the Trump administration to solve this problem. The President has successfully stopped the inflow of illegal aliens, and now we must deport the people who came here illegally.
To say the administration must observe “due process” is to beg the question: what process is due is a function of our resources, the public interest, the status of the accused, the proposed punishment, and so many other factors. To put it in concrete terms, imposing the death penalty on an American citizen requires more legal process than deporting an illegal alien to their country of origin.
When the media and the far left obsess over an MS-13 gang member and demand that he be returned to the United States for a *third* deportation hearing, what they’re really saying is they want the vast majority of illegal aliens to stay here permanently.
Here’s a useful test: ask the people weeping over the lack of due process what precisely they propose for dealing with Biden’s millions and millions of illegals. And with reasonable resource and administrative judge constraints, does their solution allow us to deport at least a few million people per year?
If the answer is no, they’ve given their game away. They don’t want border security. They don’t want us to deport the people who’ve come into our country illegally. They want to accomplish through fake legal process what they failed to accomplish politically:
The ratification of Biden’s illegal migrant invasion.
President Trump and I will not stand for it.”
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Meanwhile, our joke of a media continues to beclown themselves
https://x.com/bennyjohnson/status/1912609833842520304?t=w7q4DCtN7mTxkHNFCcPRNg&s=19
“The DOJ releases documents from Homeland Security showing the criminal alien who was deported to El Salvador is IN FACT an MS-13 terrorist.
Big kick in the face to the FAKE NEWS”
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A further indictment of our trash media.
And newsflash, Zelensky and Ukraine are not our allies.
https://x.com/M_Simonyan/status/1912546188919701880?t=egKWtGGBGNqXL71Jcj35CA&s=19
“Nikita Casap, the teen who murdered his parents in Wisconsin in February and plotted to assassinate Trump, wasn’t acting alone.
FBI records show he was in contact with Ukrainians, discussing how to carry out the attack and frame it as a Russian operation. He also asked how soon he could flee to Ukraine afterward — and whether he’d be able to have a normal life there.
This should have been headline news. No mainstream media outlet has touched these public records.”
—
https://x.com/M_Simonyan/status/1912556943253586029?t=pSGAKg8i7MVnFyIBWu71kg&s=19
“Link to the FBI affidavit cited above. More fascinating revelations in there.”
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If the DOJ released documents, why is X the only source cited? Why does the X poster not give us a link to an original DOJ source?
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One due process deserves another. There was no due process when these illegal aliens entered.
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I’m with Kevin regarding the links. I don’t always read all of the links but if the information is not well documented elsewhere, I do want to see that it came from a credible source and not just an X tweet.
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Click the link Kevin.
The documents showing this are there, and here’s more.
https://x.com/bennyjohnson/status/1912651923540279372?t=ge6sbvdu8HVpD_vTwA1bUw&s=19
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Thanks Kevin
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I suspect the nation will be in for a series of equally chaotic ricochet moves once the Democrats are back in power. Sigh. Unless the delusion is that this Trump movement is somehow unstoppable? (it’s not – unstoppable).
Be careful what you wish for.
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You may not see it living in the far-right X silos, but opposition is growing the more authoritarian the behavior of this administration becomes.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/04/donald-trump-authoritarian-actions/682486/?gift=FiVuCS9F2zRYsePBXH8CQ_ZJyhVYWLFurg_yyv6d0DY&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
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~ … you have to believe there will be more elections. And if there are going to be more elections, you have to believe that there will come a time when Democrats will win an election again.
And yet, the way Trump and Republicans are governing—or “governing”—you’d think Republicans will never, ever, lose another election.
If the last 30—or 300—years of democratic politics have taught us anything, it’s that when your side unilaterally claims a power or prerogative for itself, you’re also validating that same power or prerogative for the other side when its turn to be in charge comes. …
It has been a dream of the left for ages to get rid of the tax-exempt status and relative autonomy of religious institutions—Christian universities, charities, hospitals, etc. If Trump succeeds in making the IRS revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status, based in no small part on personal opposition to what Harvard teaches, what will be the principled objection to a President Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez or Elizabeth Warren when the Eye of Mordor swings rightward?
Or consider the Trump administration’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act and the bootstrapping of anti-terrorism powers to accelerate deportations. I think it’s a stretch to call these horrible criminal gangs “terrorist organizations.” Lots of stuff can be bad without being terrorism. In fact, lots of stuff can be better than MS-13 and be closer to the definition of terrorism. For instance, I think the people vandalizing Tesla dealerships are closer to actual terrorists—they use violence for expressly political purposes—than MS-13. But MS-13—which murders, tortures, and rapes—is definitely worse than the vandals. And, of course, that doesn’t mean I think that idiots burning Teslas should be declared terrorists, never mind shipped to El Salvador.
The point is that words mean things. And the Trump administration is using words like “war,” “enemy,” “terrorism,” “crisis,” etc., to concentrate legislative, judicial, and executive power in the president and the president alone (and the Republican-controlled Congress, in its abject cowardice, is letting it). Trump has not only declared a crisis to bypass due process and defy courts, he’s declared a crisis so he can use tariffs at a whim to scuttle the global economy and vandalize America’s economic reputation.
Do you really think Democrats are incapable of playing the same game? … ~
LikeLiked by 1 person
https://thedispatch.com/article/decline-choice-tyranny/
~ Slouching Towards Tyranny
On a dark hour for the American right ~
~ “Decline is a choice.”
That was Charles Krauthammer’s admonition and insight, offered in 2009 at the dawn of Barack Obama’s administration. The award-winning columnist noted that pronouncements regarding China’s inevitable march to global dominance were always accompanied by lamentations about America’s certain decline. As Beijing’s prospects went up, Washington’s would have to go down, as if by the rules of physics.
Krauthammer rejected the premise. “My thesis is simple,” he said. “The question of whether America is in decline cannot be answered ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ There is no ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ Both answers are wrong, because the assumption that somehow there exists some predetermined inevitable trajectory, the result of uncontrollable external forces, is wrong. Nothing is inevitable. Nothing is written. For America today, decline is not a condition. Decline is a choice.”
Krauthammer was correct then, and, although he is sadly no longer with us, his point is correct today. But the tectonic plates of American politics have shifted over the past 16 years. In 2009, Krauthammer served as the indispensable intellectual backstop of American conservatism, with advocates of managed decline mostly arrayed on the other side of the ideological spectrum. Fast forward four presidential election cycles, and Krauthammer’s worldview is now mocked and derided by the new leaders of the American right and Republican Party.
For the most ardent—and online—defenders of Donald Trump on the intellectual new right, “Make America Great Again” has been displaced as the organizing ideological slogan by, “Do you know what time it is?” The point of this juvenile rhetorical question is that the postliberal elite who support and staff the Trump administration have an almost gnostic insight invisible to the rest of us. In their invincible faith in what often seems like an unpatriotic love of political power, they insist that the old rules—of American global leadership, free markets, limited government, fidelity to the Constitution—have passed their sell-by date. What is required is “new thinking” and “fresh ideas.”
What are these new and fresh ideas? For some, they are literally monarchism or autocracy. For others, they are mercantilism and a division of the world into “spheres of influence.” In short, their foreign policy was ancient when Charlemagne was on the throne, and their economic philosophy was hatched in the 15th century. … ~
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Agreed on all of that, DJ at 2:28, however…
do Christian universities take government money? They should not. PCC does not as they don’t want to be told who to hire and what to teach. I would think most others would be the same.
President Trump has very limited time to make significant changes and try to prove their worth and appears to be going all out to do just that. So the American people can make an informed decision. If we then choose Socialism, so be it. He is trying, knowing time is short to prove his points.
Words do matter.
mumsee
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dj: You don’t believe there is a crisis?
Isn’t Harvard a private university?
You don’t think that the Trump administration is characterized by global leadership, free markets, limited government, and fidelity to the Constitution?
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I think the administration is characterized primarily right now by a disturbing drift toward authoritarianism with too much power centered in the hands of one man and his appointees.
Our form of government will bring that to an end, of course.
I don’t disagree with Trump on all issues. But I disagree with him on some, often many, of his stances and his actions.
I am not an isolationist, I think the tariff “rollouts” have brought pure chaos and likely will hurt Americans financially, and I’m fascinated by your definition of “limited government” and how you square that with an authoritarian president?
Baffling and contradictory.
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Is authoritarianism OK as long as it’s from being executed by the right?
The next elections will come soon enough, 2026 and 2028. I suspect Trump and his loyal men and women in charge are going to see some pushback at the polls.
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What about k-12 public schools, should the president have some executive authority over those? I always thought state and local control of schools was a conservative value. But maybe not now that power has been so centralized in this administration — and has become too strong a temptation for the right to wield now that they have it?
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Our founding fathers warned about all of this, of course …
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Seems he is very supportive of state and community control of education. But if an institution is going to accept fed money they have to accept fed rules. Which is why, historically, most homeschoolers did not want fed money. Which is how the fed government is able to take over so many areas. “We want the money! Give me! Give me!”
mumsee
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Fair point, mumsee.
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Most of our church families home school, they are part of a pretty active home schooling “hub” with other churches in our beach area, with some certified teachers helping to teach, field trips organized, etc. I don’t know a lot about it but it sounds like a pretty well-oiled machine, been in place for many years now.
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Of course I clicked the link before I asked the questions, AJ, and saw only an image that could have been faked. My questions remain:
If the DOJ released documents, why is X the only source? Why do they not give us a link to an original DOJ source?
If the Xer was able to get it, they can and should give us a link so we can verify its legitimacy. If they don’t, I have no confidence that it’s real.
The second link is no better. Same questions.
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Kevin – I agree. There have been times when I have managed to find the original source for a post on X that was shared here, and found that the person on X had manipulated or greatly misinterpreted it.
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NJ – The conservatives or moderates I know who are unhappy with Trump’s authoritarianism were also not in favor of what Biden was doing.
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Trump now would like to fire Jerome Powell, Federal Reserve Chair, based on remarks Powell made that displeased the President.
~ Mr. Trump has long sought to exert control over the politically independent Fed, often denouncing Mr. Powell for keeping interest rates too high for his liking. In an early morning social media post that ricocheted around Washington, Wall Street and beyond, Mr. Trump reprised those attacks, saying: “Powell’s termination cannot come fast enough!”
The president continued his offensive in the afternoon, accusing Mr. Powell of “playing politics.” Speaking from the White House, Mr. Trump said, “If I want him out, he’ll be out of there real fast, believe me.”
Mr. Trump’s broadsides arrived a day after Mr. Powell warned in a speech that the president’s tariffs could create a “challenging scenario” by putting the Fed’s two main goals — stable inflation and a healthy labor market — in tension. ~
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It seems to me he wishes for an almost complete takeover of every branch and department in the federal government.
But that’s not how our government was set up by the founders, it was designed to have independent-operating branches – and to operate under checks and balances so one man does not have total control. Every indication seems to be that’s what Trump desires or feels is “due” him.
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There is no separate branch called Bureaucracy. Generally, that falls to the Executive branch, though some duties are shared by Congress. The exact lines of authority are highly debatable.
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There’s little doubt who thinks he should be in complete charge.
But all of this is temporary, of course.
The House could easily flip in ’26 — GOP, such as it’s apparently still officially ‘called’ anyway, has a 3-member advantage?
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Continuing prayer for those in authority, wisdom and humility.
mumsee
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I guess the Bulwark has gone all in on bringing ‘home’ the MS-13 gang member deported back to his home country:
“The opposition to President Donald Trump “must go to the mattresses to bring [deported migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia] home,” says a senior writer for NeverTrump Bill Kristol’s Bulwark media site.
“Bring. Him. Home. Our cause is here; our time is now,” author Jonathan Last declared on April 15, adding:
In an authoritarian regime, the opposition needs symbols and stories. [El Salvador illegal migrant] Kilmar Abrego Garcia is that symbol. His abduction in front of his autistic son and imprisonment in a foreign concentration camp is that story. All of the opposition’s energy should be focused on him.
…
An elected Democrat ought to be on the ground in El Salvador every minute of every day until Abrego Garcia is brought home … Congressional Democrats should do the job that Justice Department lawyers, in contravention of the Supreme Court, are refusing to do. They should take it upon themselves to facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia….”
https://www.breitbart.com/immigration/2025/04/17/nevertrump-media-urges-all-energy-to-return-illegal-migrant-abrego-garcia/
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This is significant.
“A federal judge has ruled that Google illegally monopolized some online advertising technology markets, dealing a significant blow to the tech giant’s main revenue source.
Bloomberg reports that U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema has delivered a mixed ruling in the ad tech antitrust case against Google, finding that the company violated antitrust law in the markets for advertising exchanges and ad server tools used by websites to sell ad space. However, the judge did not find Google to be a monopoly in the market for tools used by advertisers to buy display ads.
The decision marks the second time in a year that Google has been found by a court to be an illegal monopolist….”
https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2025/04/17/guilty-google-2-0-judge-rules-internet-giant-illegally-monopolized-some-ad-tech-markets/
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I found the government’s link for the police affidavit of Abrego Garcia’s March 2019 arrest which Pam Bondi released. The man even has a rank and nickname in MS-13.
https://www.justice.gov/ag/media/1396906/dl?inline
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Tychicus, you asked DJ, “You don’t think that the Trump administration is characterized by global leadership, free markets, limited government, and fidelity to the Constitution?”
Is that a trick question? Or rather, does that mean you DO think the Trump administration is characterized by all, or most, of these traits? The first one maybe (depends on what you mean by “leadership”). The others?
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dj: For almost 250 years we’ve had a wonderful system of checks and balances that isn’t going to change anytime soon – I don’t think that you have to worry about authoritarianism.
The current administration is shrinking government and cutting all the ridiculous spending. Add in the checks and balances and you have limited government.
If you don’t disagree with Pres. Trump on all issues, then why is every single one of your posts that relates to him negative?
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Cheryl: Yes, I do. You don’t?
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