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Zelensky v. Trump.

By now the world has watched - over and over - the heated exchange during the White House presser last Friday. Snowflakes (aka Liberals) reacted in horror. Running through the same tired litany of anti-Trump slogans. "ashamed to be an American" etc. Protests outside Vance's residence.

Let's break this down.

The event was designed expressly for the purpose of signing an already agreed minerals deal between the US and Ukraine. Trump started off by making a series of warmly positive remarks about Ukraine and Zelensky. Very quickly Zelensky turned the discussion to a demand for Ukraine security. Repeatedly - on camera, as a guest in the White House, he tried to corner President Trump into a commitment on long term security. Trump was calm and quiet for quite a while. Eventually JD Vance, also present, recognizing that Trump was quietly seething, tried to get Zelensky off security guarantees and back onto the purpose of the meeting.

Finally, Trump had enough. He lit into Zelensky in no uncertain terms. Unfortunately this was for the all the world to see. These kinds of heated exchanges between world leaders occur all the time. Just not on camera. Zelensky left the White House and Trump has since suspended aid to Ukraine, albeit temporarily I'm sure.

So what's really going on?

With Trump...

No need for speculation. He wants peace. He wants the Europeans to step up and pay their share for both NATO and Ukraine security. And he wants the best deal possible for the American taxpayer. Is he cozying up to Putin? Hell no! He just understands that, first a ceasefire, and, hopefully, then a lasting peace require that both parties come to the table. Trump knows that shaming Putin will do no good. Putin is a loose cannon. He is beholding to the Oligarchs. His job, indeed his existence, would be in jeopardy if this whole thing goes south. It does no good to embarrass or taunt Putin, lest he become more intractable. Putin needs an off ramp.

For goodness sake, will everybody just give Trump some room? If he doesn't know about negotiating and the art of the deal, who on God's green earth does?

As for Zelensky, who knows what he's playing at?

First of all he campaigns in PA for Harris and against Trump. Not smart. Then he publicly puts the US President and Vice President on the hot seat - in their own home. What the hell did he think would happen? That Trump would be cowed and roll over? Yeah right.

Now maybe Zelensky, because he knows Trump and he are like oil and water (especially after Hunter and Burisma), is acting this way to force the Europeans hand. Maybe he figures future US support is a lost cause and he better lock in the Europeans. Essentially saying...if the US bails, who will keep Putin from going further? To the Balkans which belong to NATO? To Poland?

What Zelensky ignores is the indisputable fact that an American stake in Ukraine (via a minerals partnership) is the best kind of security. Imagine if we have US companies and employees present in Ukraine. Do you think Trump will stand by if Russia stages any type of incursion? C'mon man. As usual, Trump is thinking 10 steps ahead.

In a related development. TSMC, the Taiwan semiconductor goliath, has announced it will build a $100 billion plant in AZ. Once a Taiwanese company is making sophisticated chips on US soil, what do you think the chances are Trump will let the Reds invade Taiwan?

So,maybe it's time...

For Ukraine to decide whether the once poster child for fearless resistance can really carry the ball across the goal line...or is it time for a leader who can deal with a real US President so Volodymyr can go back to sitcoms and comedies?

PS. Zelensky met with a bevy of Democratic Senators before he went to the aforementioned White House meeting. They (reportedly) assured him he did not have to agree to the minerals deal. WTF. Since when do opposition politicians meet with foreign leaders to directly undermine the US President? Again, WTF.

UPDATE: Volod just sent a letter saying he wants peace and reports say he is ready to sign the mineral deal.

You Know One of the Things I Love Most...

Besides a 10-1 winner at Gulfstream? Someone who has the integrity and self confidence to admit when they are wrong. Not just to reverse positions to curry favor or escape punishment. Not to offer some mealy mouth excuse for their wrong-headedness. Or simply change sides without acknowledgment. Someone who has the cojones, after reconsidering the facts, to step up and say - My bad. I got this one wrong.

Unfortunately, that's a rarity in today's world. Nonetheless, I genuinely appreciate persons like that. As much as I value those willing to say...I don't know. But I'll find out. It's surprising how much appeal integrity has.

Do the Math

500 millions Europeans expect 340 million Americans to defend them against 140 million Russians from the other side of the ocean. Some strategy. By the way...those same Europeans bought more oil from Putin than they gave in aid to Ukraine.

In fairness, seems like some Euros got the memo.

UK PM ... "Europeans must do the heavy lifting. The UK will play a leading role and stands ready to put boots on the ground and planes in the air." Same sentiment from others including EU President, Ursula von der Leyen. By the way this is exactly what Trump wanted. Euros to step up. Maybe Zelensky too. But remember, Volod, you said Putin always doubles back on commitments. Well, so do Euros.

So What Do They "Stand" For?

In the other night's SOU address, the Democrats once again showed their profound inability to get on the right side of things. As President Trump outlined the positions of his Administration on core issues, Democrats sat silent, refused to stand or, in the case of 77 year old Al Green from Houston, got shown the door.

Dems refused to stand for -

D.J. Daniel the 13 year old cancer survivor who was given honorary membership in Secret Service.

Jocelyn Nungaray, the 12 year old girl murdered by Venezuelan illegals.

Peyton McNabb, the female volley ball player smashed in the face by a trannie spike causing Traumatic Brain Injury.

Jason Hartley, whose great grandfather, grandfather and father served in the military and just got accepted into West Point.

Capture of the Terrorist responsible for bombing Kabul's airport, which killed 13 US servicemen and 170 Afghan civilians.

The Dems are in such a fog, overcome with blind hatred, they cannot recognize reality.

So what do they stand for? Clearly not secure borders and lawful immigration, not fair treatment by our allies, not being energy secure or fighting for peace through strength or that God made only two sexes. None of these 80-20 issues. Nope - all they stand for is impeaching Trump yet again. They offer no solutions, no constructive alternatives. Only slurs and insults.

Liberal give new meaning to the phrase - tone deaf.

They are such a mess that even leftwing pundits like Jake Tapper are condemning their disarray.

On the other side of the aisle, for those who want Trump solutions, it was a delicious night. Brit Hume called Trump a political colossus. Polls favored the speech in stunning numbers. A CBS poll reported 69% rated the speech favorable to very favorable.

Oh yeah - another tantalizing thing happened this week. The Oscars were held. Nobody knew anybody who won. No one cared. Heck, no one I know even watched.

Best line from SOU - Democrats have been screaming forever that NEW LEGISLATION was required to fix the border situation. Turns out that was wrong. All that was needed was a NEW PRESIDENT.

Illegal immigrants are down 97% in just 46 days. Boom!

It Ain't Medicare or Social Security.

I found myself wondering the other day...How does China have so damn much money? How can they can fund billion $ Belt & Road projects all over the world, massively upgrade their military, pay off everybody? Meanwhile the US owes $36 trillion. I know labor costs are cheap so infrastructure projects cost a song but still.

Well the answer is we run a welfare state. Pure and simple.

Ask any budget expert in Washington to explain the ballooning deficit and debt, and Social Security and Medicare will be high on the list of causes. Turns out that’s wrong. According to a recent WSJ Op-Ed penned by Senator Phil Gramm and House Budget Chair Jodey Arrington, the real driver, the elephant in the room, is means-tested social-welfare spending—Medicaid, food stamps, refundable tax credits, Supplemental Security Income, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, federal housing subsidies and almost 100 other programs whose eligibility is limited to those below an income threshold. (NB: Most of the following is from that editorial. A bit lengthy but important.)

True, Social Security and Medicare are a drain on general revenue and will become big fiscal problems if not reformed. But they aren’t the major source of our current fiscal crisis, because both are financed in large part by dedicated payroll taxes. Since its inception, Social Security has produced cash surpluses 60% of the time. In 2023 Social Security payroll taxes funded 88.9% of benefits. The cost of Social Security’s Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance program, net of payroll tax collections, was only $88.1 billion. Medicare payroll taxes and premiums funded 49.7% of Medicare expenditures, producing a net cost of $509 billion.

Means-tested social-welfare spending totaled $1.6 trillion in 2023. Welfare spending now absorbs an astonishing 72.6% of unobligated general revenue (total revenue net of Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes and premiums and mandatory interest on the public debt) and is larger than the claims against unobligated general revenue by Social Security (4.1%), Medicare (23.5%) and defense (37.2%) combined.

Since funding for the War on Poverty ramped up in 1967, welfare payments received by the average work-age household in the bottom quintile of income recipients has risen from $7,352 in inflation-adjusted 2022 dollars to $64,700 in 2022, the last year with available household income data. This 780% increase was 9.2 times the rise in income earned by the average American household.

Since 1967 defense spending has fallen from 68% of unobligated general revenue to 37.2% in 2023, almost a mirror image of the growth in means-tested welfare benefits. As defense spending plummeted, swords weren’t beaten into plowshares, which would have increased economic growth and wages, but were instead used to fund welfare payments. As a result, the U.S. today redistributes a larger share of its gross domestic product, 29.4%, through transfers and taxes than any developed country in the world except France with 30.1%.

After counting all transfer payments as income to the recipients and taxes as income lost by taxpayers, and adjusting for household size, the average households in the bottom, second and middle quintiles all have roughly the same incomes—despite dramatic differences in work effort. With the explosion of means-tested transfer payments, the portion of prime work-age persons in the bottom quintile who actually work has fallen to 36% from 68%. In the second quintile, households with a work-age adult who actually works have declined to 85% from 90%. While work effort fell in the bottom two quintiles, the percentage of middle-income households with a prime work-age person who works has risen to 92% from 86%.

The injustice of this government-created income equality is palpable. For about the same income, 2.4 times as many work-age persons in the second quintile actually work and on average work 85% more hours than those in the bottom quintile. And 2.5 times as many work-age middle-income persons actually work and work on average 108% more hours. This is nauseating.

Americans overwhelmingly support an effective mandatory work requirement for able-bodied adults receiving welfare benefits. That’s evident in public opinion polls and ballot measures; in purple Wisconsin almost 80% of voters supported this in 2023. The bipartisan effort to reform Aid to Families with Dependent Children during the Clinton administration was a success.

Despite the subsequent granting of numerous waivers of work requirements, according to the Congressional Research Service, the 1996 Clinton welfare reforms reduced the rate of dependency of families on what is now called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families by 80%. Six years after the adoption of the reforms, the number of program beneficiaries had fallen dramatically, the labor-force participation rate of never-married mothers had increased, and child poverty had declined. State-imposed work requirements for food-stamp eligibility in Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri and Florida have thus far also been successful.

Demand for reform would be even stronger if the public understood how generous social-welfare benefits are. In reporting household income, the Census Bureau doesn’t count 88% of transfer payments made to households that are defined as being poor. The census doesn’t count refundable tax credits (for which the beneficiary receives a check from the Treasury), food-stamp debit cards, free medical care through Medicaid, or benefits from about 100 other federal transfer payments as income to welfare recipients. When those benefits are counted as income, 80% of those who are today counted as being poor are no longer poor, and almost half have incomes equivalent to American middle-income earners.

A mandatory welfare work requirement for able-bodied adults receiving welfare benefits, a requirement that the Census Bureau count all transfer payments as income, and a mandate that all federal agencies use the same income measure when determining eligibility for welfare would be major steps toward righting the nation’s finances.

Requiring all able-bodied Americans to work as a condition for receiving welfare would do more than reduce the deficit. It would bring people back into the economy, the source of prosperity and economic independence. A job is the best nutrition, housing, healthcare, education, child-care and general welfare program. That welfare reform isn’t a major issue in the November elections is a missed opportunity to improve the well-being of low-income families and the overall economic health of the nation."

The Bottom Line:

Unchecked spending on means-tested welfare programs is a main driver of today’s massive debt. In 2023 alone, spending totaled $1.6 trillion, accounting for 26 percent of federal expenditures. To get our fiscal house in order, we must reform the nation’s welfare system. The reforms must emphasize the dignity of work.

Unfortunately, the Biden-Harris Administration’s ill-advised policymaking has promoted policies that discourage people from working, creating a labor shortage and fueling our fiscal crisis by trapping a whole new generation of people in government dependence.

By promoting opportunity and self-sufficiency, the House Budget Committee is leading the charge to ensure the long-term sustainability of welfare programs and put our nation on a path toward a brighter fiscal future.

More from the House Budget Committee:

Seven Things You Can't Say about China (by Senator Tom Cotton)

Let's start with the Seven Things

1. China is an Evil Empire

2. China is preparing for War.

3. China is already waging an Economic War.

4. China has infiltrated our society

5. And our government.

6. And now is coming for our kids.

7. China could Win.

   
   

Let's start at the beginning. #1 - China is an Evil Empire.

Remember Tiananmen Square? When Party shock troops beat, shot and massacred 10,000 protestors in the heart of the capitol, Beijing?

Go back earlier to Mao.

After WW2, Mao killed 7 million fellow Chinese in the Chinese Civil War. Aided by Soviet Russia, he drove the nationalists to the island of Taiwan.

In the Great Leap forward, Mao sought to industrialize China. Farms were seized and peasants forced to melt farm equipment to make steel. Farmers and resistors were starved and tortured. The Great Famine resulted and 45 million died.

Next came Mao's cultural revolution. Monuments were torn down, libraries burned to the ground, music banned. 20M were exiled.

The Party so revered Mao that his body was not buried, but rather embalmed and displayed in The Great Mausoleum in Beijing.

Next came Deng Xiaoping whom Jimmy Carter (recently demoted to 2nd Worst President Ever) lauded saying Deng wanted..."to open China with more human rights and greater freedom."

So what did the Great liberator actually do?

Well his most noteworthy contribution was the famed One Child Policy. Under which the Party infiltrated the most sacred of units - the family. Over 40 years, they did 330,000,000 abortions and 200,000,000 sterilizations. The damage was so profound that today China has a serious shortage of manpower that will last for generations.

Then along came Chee (Xi)!

Today, China is a police state. Think 1984. Half of the world's 1 billion surveillance cameras are deployed in China. Every one of its 1.4 billion subjects can be identified in one second. Individuals are given a "social" credit score which grades one's allegiance to the party. A lousy social credit score prevents you from traveling abroad, buying a train ticket or even getting a job. In 2019, 30 million train tickets were denied. China's police force is 2 million strong augmented by 3.5 million private security guards and a paramilitary force of 660,000.

Persecution of groups antagonistic to the party has taken on a genocidal character. Chinese Christians, Falun Gong, Tibetan and Uyghurs are all subject to arrest, beatings, torture and even death.

And there is no end in sight as Xi did away with term limits, so he is President for life. China is indeed an evil empire.

Next...China is preparing for War.

BS

Gavin Newsom, the leftwing Governor of the Wildfire State, was caught saying Boys playing Girl's sports is "unfair". This has Lib's hair on fire. But, as Brian Kilmeade pointed out, if he had an ounce of sincerity he'd sponsor a law to stop it. Since that might cost him votes, there's no way.

Have a nice weekend.