Project 2025

[PAL]

Yeah, so he should resign now, not step aside, and guess who would be President. Your biggest nightmare-Kamala Harris, ha ha ha.
Actually the last 2 times I have heard her speak, she has been quite clear and has pointed out the lies of Mr. Trump.
And she has spoken up for women's rights. Rise up ladies and vote. Our lives depend on it.

[dorankj]

For one Joe is loosing it and can’t possibly make it another term (which actually means he can’t be president now!) There are many, many more when the scales fall from your eyes.

[Rideback]

Where are the 'LIES' that you're referring to Ken. Be specific.

[dorankj]

Face it Jim, you’ve been lied to, you believed the lies and furthered them. You are hurt and angry and lashing out wildly. Stop! Consider who did this to you and maybe why you accepted those lies and consider where you may have made things worse and perpetrated falsehoods knowingly or not and consider carefully how to proceed.

[just-jim]

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Timothy Snyder has more to say, today…

https://snyder.substack.com/p/fascist-froth

“Mainstream media have treated President Biden with prejudice and arrogance. Quite a few Democrats, reacting to this, treat any mention of President Biden’s fitness as disloyalty. This is mistaken, if understandable.

One source of the negative energy is Trump’s fascism. Focusing on it will not answer the question of what Democrats do, but will help us to understand the context in which the discussion is taking place. By fascism I just have in mind (1) the cult of personality of a Leader: (2) the party that becomes a single party; (3) the threat and use of violence; and (4) the big lie that must be accepted and used to reshape reality: in this case, that Trump can never lose an election.

Much more could be said (as I have done elsewhere), but it is the official big lie and the threats of violence that are dangerous to those whose job is to report truth. Trump is on the record as regarding reporters as enemies of the people. What should I make — a journalist might ask — of Trump’s talk of arresting journalists? When not confronted, such questions become self-realizing fears.”
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[just-jim]

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La France dit NON a le fascisme!
Mange le merde, Le Pen!
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It gets complicated, but Fascist Le Pen isn’t a winner!
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/artic ... appen-next
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[Jingles]

David apparently you missed the part where I said Social security should not be taxed as it was taxed when the person earning the wage paid taxes on their entire income. Yes investments would be an income so they are included in the taxable amount. No it does not unfairly tax low income families they pay the same 15% on their income as the Billionaire paying 15% of their income. Not sure what you are referring to when you say found money, treasure hunting? Sunken ship diving? Gold/Mineral prospecting? Buried money from years past? . Myself being on fixed income everything is taxed , social security (taxed when initially earned the wages now taxed again which if you look at it is taxing me on the money that I paid into the system, is that double taxation?, military retirement the whole ball of wax is taxed

As far as student aid goes will compromise the student can get student aid but is responsible for repayment of the amount borrowed, the same as if you or I borrowed money from a bank or other lending institution, we are obligated to repay that loan, NONE of this crap of forgiving student loan debt. Maybe schools should be teaching basic economics to include balancing a budget and checkbook

[just-jim]

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The folks behind ‘2025’ are not acquaintances or neighbors who just happen to be misguided, ill-informed, or just kinda stupid. They have the end of Democracy in mind. They are to be feared….and recognized for what they are: Fascists.

Historian Timothy Snyder’s column today;

A partial….(bold emphasis is mine)

“Yet today a taboo hovers around anything concerning Hitler. As soon as the collapse of the German republic in 1933 is evoked, American voices commence a fake lament — America is uniquely good so nothing about Nazis can ever apply, and/or Hitler was uniquely evil and so nothing concerning him is relevant.

To be sure, every person and every event is in some sense unique. But history is precisely the interaction of individuals and situations which, seen in isolation, will appear unique. The taboo on fascist history shoves people back to a turbulent present, leaving them feeling more helpless. It is an element of the fascist takeover.

The lessons from Germany that I present below are not at all new. We have been trained by digital media to believe that only what happens right now matters. But the people who intend to destroy the American constitutional republic have learned from the past. One of the basic elements of Project 2025, for example, is what the Nazis called Gleichschaltung: transforming the civil service into a fascist nest.

Those who wish to preserve the American constitutional republic should also recall the past. A good start would be just to recall the five basic political lessons of 1933.”

He goes on to list the five lessons of the 1930s;

https://snyder.substack.com/p/how-to-stop-fascism
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[mister_coffee]

Just a practical question here.

No sane person would want to live in a society where medications were unregulated. So how exactly would we regulate medications under the regime that Jingles is describing? He seems to be arguing that Congress shouldn't delegate any regulation-writing. So under that system, you are requiring a literal act of Congress for each new medication that comes on the market. Is that really a good idea.

I've visited countries with no effective regulation of medications. You do not want to live in such a country. But if you get sick there you won't be living very long...

[PAL]

Beg pardon Jingles, not MY Project 2025. You know that. To eliminate all these, the administrative state, requires much time and a whole new way the US would function. Expenditures need to be look at and I believe they are.
However this is a dangerous plan. Chaos will ensue.

[mister_coffee]

Prohibit federal agencies from making rules that act as law without prior Congressional approval. Agencies like BATF, EPA, USFS, DOJ, after all Congress is the legislative body not an agency that has a specific agenda.

So I suppose that means you are opposed to the FDA regulated the safety of medications and the DOA to regulate how much rate feces can be in our oatmeal? I note that congresspeople are much easier to bribe and much harder to prosecute when they get caught taking a bribe. Faceless government bureaucrats using science to guide their decisions probably are harder to bribe.

Implementing flat tax, as I have stated previously this should be the tax system as EVERYONE pays their fair share be it 15% of 1million or 15% of their monthly welfare check, it still ends up being 15% of their income.

Practical questions:

Are investments and found money taxed at the same rate? Or at all? Is social security and other entitlements bundled in there or are they still taxed separately? If they are taxed separately, didn't you just effectively jack the tax rate of lower income folks? And I note that lower income folks don't live as long so they are less likely to get as much of their social security taxes back.

Reduce federal student aid exceptional idea If a person want to go to an institution of higher learning get a job and earn the money.

A four-year degree costs over $100k in 2024 (average cost with in-state tuition is about $108k, out-of-state is $182k). That's a lot of money for someone to earn. Also keep in mind that folks' earning power without a college degree is considerably less. Locking talented people out of higher education isn't likely a great path forward for our country.

[Jingles]

Pearl while I agree that writing federal Legislators is a good idea, writing to Newhouse is like trying to get milk out of a bulls teat, a waste of time and effort.
Several of the items listed in your project 2025 project are pretty good ideas there are some that should be reconsidered, plus a couple that come to mind that should be added.

Should be added

Prohibit federal agencies from making rules that act as law without prior Congressional approval. Agencies like BATF, EPA, USFS, DOJ, after all Congress is the legislative body not an agency that has a specific agenda.

Good ideas

Implementing flat tax, as I have stated previously this should be the tax system as EVERYONE pays their fair share be it 15% of 1million or 15% of their monthly welfare check, it still ends up being 15% of their income.
Reduce federal student aid exceptional idea If a person want to go to an institution of higher learning get a job and earn the money.

Reduce the size of federal workforce. Another grand idea one needs look no further than the local FS workforce that could should have a R.I.F (Reduction In Force) of at least 25% no need for 5 people being required to clean and repair a trailhead outhouse, if 1 person can't do it get someone that can and get rid of the deadbeat. In addition being as we live in a summer fire prone area federal employees should all be able to respond and work a fire on federal land.in addition to normal fire crews, smoke jumpers and hotshots

Couple bad ideas

Privatizing Social security. Just return Social security to it's own fund and make Social security payments non taxable after all the recipient paid taxes on it once already when they earned it

Privatizing Veterans Health Care
Veterans served for the Federal Government and should be responsible for their health care resulting from that service.

Dismantle Department of Education.
Not all federal education curriculums fit every school. The local school boards should be deciding what curriculum fits the students in their area

[PAL]

Chilling. I have started writing our state represenatives and Newhouse regarding this issue.

[mister_coffee]

"We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be,” -- Kevin Roberts, Heritage Foundation about Project 2025.

If you don't hear the menace in the above words you aren't listening.

[PAL]

If you are unfamiliar with what Project 2025 is about and don’t want to dig into lots of words on hundreds of pages to explain it, here is a quick, easy-read partial list of their malevolent plans.
Partial list of proposed changes by Project 2025, with chapter and page references:
• Privatize Social Security (c22, p715)
• Privatize veterans' healthcare (c20, p635)
• Privatize infrastructure projects (c19, p555)
• Privatize the Federal Aviation Administration (c19, p565)
• Reduce federal disaster relief programs (c16, p610)
• Reduce funding for federal research programs (c12, p415)
• Decrease regulations in healthcare (c14, p450)
• Reduce funding for public health programs (c14, p455)
• Repeal the Affordable Care Act (c14, p460)
• Promote free-market healthcare (c14, p465)
• Dismantle the Department of Education (c11, p365)
• Reduce federal student aid (c11, p385)
• Increase private sector role in public education (c11, p390)
• Limit federal involvement in technology standards (c28, p850)
• Reduce federal government intervention in various sectors (c1, p25)
• Cut federal support for renewable energy projects (c12, p405)
• Reduce regulations by the Environmental Protection Agency (c13, p425)
• Withdraw from international climate agreements (c13, p430)
• Reduce environmental regulations on businesses (c13, p440)
• Promote energy production on federal lands (c16, p600)
• Limit the jurisdiction of federal courts (c1, p40)
• Decrease the size of the federal workforce (c3, p95)
• Restructure the Department of Homeland Security (c5, p165)
• Reform the Department of Justice (c17, p565)
• Repeal Dodd-Frank financial regulations (c27, p800)
• Abolish the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (c27, p815)
• Repeal net neutrality regulations (c28, p845)
• Eliminate the Department of Commerce (c21, p660)
• Limit federal involvement in local policing (c17, p575)
• Reduce business regulations (c18, p520)
• Reduce federal oversight of labor standards (c18, p530)
• Implement a flat tax system (c22, p700)
• Lower corporate tax rates (c22, p725)
• Restrict the powers of the Federal Reserve (c24, p770)
Bye, bye democracy. Bye, bye America. Enter Authoritarianism, fascism.
If you think average people are “ignored” now and in dire straits, enactment of Project 2025 under Trump will make you miss the good old days.

Goodbye to clean air and water. Lower corporate tax rates. Nice. Goodbye Dept. of Education. Double nice.