Donald Trump fired a few thousand Park Service workers, but apparently Doug Burgham has decided to hire them back. Efficiency! However, the one maintenance guy at Yosemite who has the keys to unlock people from the bathrooms remains fired.
Elon Musk got mad at Danish astronaut Andreas Morgensen and called him "fully retarded." The contretemps turns out to be related to the return of two astronauts stuck on the ISS. Apparently Musk has grown very fond of the slur "retarded," using it over a dozen times since November.
You already know this, but Trump has decided that Ukraine started the war with Russia. Quite so. Remember how Poland started WW II with Germany?
President Donald Trump and billionaire adviser Elon Musk have said on social media and in press briefings that people who are 100, 200 and even 300 years old are improperly getting Social Security benefits — a “HUGE problem,” Musk wrote. 300 years old! That would be a problem. Now, it so happens that Social Security was created in 1936 and the first beneficiaries go back to the 1880 census. So that's an absolute max of 145 years old as of this year. "Fully retarded" barely begins to describe this.
Donald Trump says he's going to expand IVF. Not quite, it turns out:
Within 90 days of the date of this order, the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy shall submit to the President a list of policy recommendations on protecting IVF access and aggressively reducing out-of-pocket and health plan costs for IVF treatment.
A list of policy recommendations falls a little short, no? What's more, Congress would have to pass these recommendations, something they've shown no inclination of doing in the past. It's just more smoke and mirrors.
"The DOGE subcommittee just discovered $2.7 trillion in improper payments in Medicare and Medicaid overseas, to people who should not have gotten it.” That seems unlikely, doesn't it? In fact, this is since 2003, so it comes to about $120 billion per year. That's not peanuts, but here are the real numbers:
- Medicare: 5.3%
- Medicaid: 3.5%
- Social Security: 0.8%
Entitlement fraud is a real thing, but it's only a few percent of total spending, not $2.7 trillion. These guys are lunatics.
Yes the maggots are endangering the world. At this moment though, I'm ecstatically happy to see another post from Kevin.
They're not lunatics. They're liars.
They fully understand that their base is ensconced in an impenetrable bubble of Fox News and half of them will never be aware of the lies. The other half doesn't care if they lie.
I wish it was only crazy.
Yeah, this. This is worse than simply crazy.
+1
+1
You nailed it!
In the interests of fair play, I would like to point out that they might be both. You have to be pretty crazy to pursue power at all. Happiness is where it's at, and these twin blights are never happy.
Welcome back!
Aaaayyyy he's back! Thanks for sticking it out with us, Mr. Drum.
Adding my voice to the chorus of
a) Mump and Trusk are fucking us over, and
b) we're glad to have you here with specifics.
I'm sure charts will come soon!
It's remarkable how quickly these two extremely insecure men respond to insults.
To this point, I strongly urge well-known, high-cred people to barrage them constantly with demeaning, parodic insults, but in a very specific way: Express it through concern-trolling just as Zelensky did. It completely confuses them and would make everyone laugh if they tried to sue for defamation.
Also, put a disclaimer at the top of it:
"If you are subject to the 5th Circuit's jurisdiction, you are not authorized to read this; by doing so, you acknowledge it was done without permission and shall hold harmless the author".
Just for shits and giggles. You know these two men would have the gall to attempt to use such things in their emails, and if they think that kind of shit works, might as well use it against them, amirite?
Sample social media post:
If you are subject to the 5th Circuit's jurisdiction, you are not authorized to read this; by doing so, you acknowledge it was done without permission and shall hold harmless the author
I hope Elon Musk is okay. This detached-from-reality screed sounds like what a retarded old man who has had multiple strokes might write. Take some time off and get better, Mr. Musk; I'm pulling for you.
🤣
MAGA is what happens when you take the guy standing near the freeway offramp in a tinfoil hat screaming at invisible beings and put him in charge of the government.
Kevin, it is great to see you posting (and so well!)
Since you did not include any references to your health, I'm assuming you are feeling better today, but maybe not out of the woods?
You will continue to be in, I am sure, all of our thoughts and prayers.
Looking forward to future posts.
So damned glad you're still kicking.
Glad to see you are back to writing! Looking forward to many more, and health updates, please.
Don't forget that Sen. Rick Scott is a member of the DOGE caucus. He knows all about Medicare fraud.
A good point. There is a *lot* of Medicare and Medicaid fraud out there and precious little of it is committed by individuals (poor, Black, undocumented, esp.), which is what DOGE is trying to suggest. It's committed by wealthy and powerful medical associations like the one headed by the good Senator here who fraudulently bill or overcharge the government for services they claim they've provided. If DOGE takes down these assholes and sends them to prison, well, I'll change my mind about it.
Something tells me none of that is going to happen, however. If you're poor and weak, they'll come after you. But if you're some MAGA multi-millionaire doctor down in FL running a chain of shady nursing homes, you'll probably be fine.
The chaos and suffering resulting from all this is exactly what I want to see; not because I'm in favor of these cuts, but because there is nothing short of chaos which stands a chance of breaking the MAGA fever. Even so, the chances are low it will break.
It's over. We have reached the tipping point, crossed the Rubicon, and there is nothing left to be done. FBI director Patel will now begin purging US government, media, and business of all MAGA opponents. The looting and plundering is on. (To be fair, the looting has been going on for a while now.)
Otherwise, it's over. Stop pretending. Protect yourself and those you care about.
As usual, the only way people change is for them to experience pain in one form or another. Most likely extreme pain. If anyone can accomplish this it's the derpity duo of Trump and Musk. Add Project 2025 and make it a trio.
Using the R word is a sure sign of Musks emotional immaturity. The guy has the emotional age of a 15 year old at best. We have an emotionally stunted man child dictating things to an even more emotionally stunted man child. Yippee!
A "list of policy recommendations" = ""concepts of a plan," right?!
Inflated numbers aside, I don't see what's wrong with Medicare reimbursements abroad. Are retirees not supposed to travel?
Yeah, this probably saves the government money, because not offering overseas reimbursements will naturally prompt Americans to come home to get care, which is virtually certain to be more expensive than what's on offer in Mexico or Panama or wherever it is that retired Yanks go abroad.
As far as I know, you can't charge overseas treatments of any kind to Medicare or Medicaid, unless maybe you're on a military base or something. You either pay out of pocket or buy travel insurance. I have no idea what the hell DOGE is talking about.
I know "retarded" mainly as the word that the boys in my elementary school class used to insult each other back in the 1990s.