Monthly Archives: August 2025

DHS moves to bar aid groups from serving undocumented immigrants

Disaster aid groups said the new contracts would make it harder for nonprofits to help the most vulnerable Americans in the aftermath of a disaster.

“The Department of Homeland Security is now barring states and volunteer groups that receive government funds from helping undocumented immigrants, according to a Washington Post analysis of updated guidelines and interviews with Federal Emergency Management Agency employees. The new rules also require groups to cooperate with immigration officials and enforcement operations.”

“Several disaster assistance groups, FEMA employees and emergency management experts said the new requirements in the department’s fiscal 2025 aid contracts would make it harder for nonprofits to help the most vulnerable people in the aftermath of a disaster. Some members of the national volunteer disaster group network also questioned whether the new requirements are constitutional and point out that they seem to violate some local and state laws that prevent asking about a person’s immigration status.”

This administration is way out of line. … and if anyone in this administration considers themselves Christian, they need to reread the direct teachings of Jesus.

There are those in the administration who are evil – and drunk with power. Stephen Miller, Tom Homan, Kristi Noem amongst others….

https://wapo.st/4lWOQcr

DOGE Exposed Everyone’s Social Security Number

NE Representatives Mike Flood told three Town Halls that he “strongly supported” DOGE. What a joke – and now, a huge cyber threat. Flood’s judgement is lacking – BIG TIME!!!

“Members of the Department of Government Efficiency uploaded a copy of a crucial Social Security database in June to a vulnerable cloud server, putting the personal information of hundreds of millions of Americans at risk of being leaked or hacked, according to a whistle-blower complaint filed by the Social Security Administration’s chief data officer.

The database contains records of all Social Security numbers issued by the federal government. It includes individuals’ full names, addresses and birth dates, among other details that could be used to steal their identities, making it one of the nation’s most sensitive repositories of personal information.”

The 2021 Tragedy @ Abbey Gate

Nebraska Representative Don Bacon has posted four times today on Facebook – blaming Biden for the tragedy at Abbey Gate in Afghanistan.

Senator Fischer has posted once.

Here is my response to both of them:

You really have no personal sense of honor, do you? You prioritize personal and party politics over personal ethics, morals and honor.

So sad for a vet (and a former officer to boot) to do that….. (this sentence left off of reply to Fischer, for obvious reasons)

Yet again, you seek to mislead and obfuscate. The absolute worst of a politician is to lie and purposefully mislead.

It is VERY CLEAR that Trump & Biden share the responsibility for the tragedy at Abbey Gate.

Trump signed a 4 page agreement directly with the Taliban in Feb 2020. Trump did not include the Afghan government in the negotiations – he just negotiated directly with the terrorist Taliban.

Click to access Agreement-For-Bringing-Peace-to-Afghanistan-02.29.20.pdf

He gave away – a lot. He got nothing in return.

As part of that agreement, Trump forced the Afghan government to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners.
Trump agreed to draw our forces down to 2,500 when he left office. Trump committed that the USA would exit Afghanistan completely by May 1, 2021.

So, Trump left Biden with 2,500 troops in country – far short of the number required to control what was happening across the country.

As soon as Trump abandoned and betrayed the Afghan government in Feb 2020, the Taliban began to infiltrate and corrupt the Afghan security services across almost the entire country. In fact, that is how the Taliban took over most of the equipment we had provided – we provided it to the Afghan security services – who folded across most of the country – and gave the equipment to the Taliban. During our rushed and chaotic exit, the Taliban did not take control over important equipment that we were using – we destroyed it before we left.

Now, what did Trump get back? No security guarantee for Americans spread out across the country, no security guarantee for Afghani’s who had helped our troops for decades, no security guarantee for Afghan women, no security guarantee for our troops and personnel as we exited the country, etc. etc.

Trump set the stage.

I agree that Biden could have taken action to counter all the weaknesses that Trump created and passed on to Biden. Biden did delay the withdrawal date – but could have done more – surged troops to greatly increase the odds of our successful withdrawal, for example.

It is VERY CLEAR that Trump & Biden share the responsibility for the tragedy at Abbey Gate.

Abuse of the National Guard

Adam Kinzinger discusses the National Guard:

“At any moment, the president can grab control of the guard, even over the objections of the governor. And if that sounds strange, it kind of is. It’s not just strange. It might actually break the spirit of the Second Amendment. Because remember the Second Amendment, it’s not just about your right to keep and bear arms. It actually starts with this line. A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state. A militia by definition was supposed to be independent of federal power. But if the president can just federalize the guard at any time he wants, especially for domestic use, can we honestly call it a state militia?”

“The founders did not put militias in the Constitution so that they could just be turned into a second standing army. They put them in there as a check on federal power. Joseph Story was an early Supreme Court justice. He said that militias were quote the natural defense of a free country and a protection against the usurppation of rulers. By the way, that only works if states actually have a militia that the president can’t just commandeer.”

“But now in an era where executive powers stretched and abused, where Donald Trump openly talks about and uses the military against American citizens, it’s not just a dusty legal question anymore. It’s actually urgent. So I want you to think about it. If your state’s guard, the force that you think of as yours, can be grabbed by Washington at any time and turned against you, then what’s left of the militia of the Second Amendment promise. You know that safeguard against tyranny, it’s gone.”

“And if the guard isn’t really a state militia anymore, then one of the pillars of the Second Amendment that the right loves so much has already crumbled without us even noticing. This isn’t about right or left. It’s about balance of power.”

“Governors should have more authority over their guards.”

“And if we care about the Constitution, not just the slogans, but if we care about the real thing, then we need to recognize that a militia controlled by the president isn’t a militia at all. It’s just another arm of the federal government.”

“So ask yourselves, if the founders wrote the Second Amendment to make sure militias could act as a check on federal overreach, what happens to our freedoms when that militia no longer exists in any real sense or when it’s turned against its own people?”

“Maybe it’s time to fight for the independence of the Guard again, particularly for domestic use before the Guard is continuing to be used against us in more states, in more communities.”

4 ¼ minute video:
https://youtu.be/AHNPxMSj6qA?si=CL78rhjHrGEfPch9

WSJ: The Farm Belt is Hurting; as is John Deere

Wall Street Journal Editorial Board:
“One reason the Farm Belt is struggling is lower exports to China despite the recent tariff truce. The U.S. exported $5.5 billion in farm goods to China in the first half of this year, roughly half as much as in the same period a year earlier. The overall U.S. agricultural trade deficit hit a record in the first half of this year, rising to $28.6 billion. Farm exports used to be an American strength.”

“House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith issued a press release last week based on his op-ed in the Washington Examiner headlined “Trump’s trade agenda will fuel an economic boom.” The Missouri Republican hails from the Farm Belt so we wonder if he has spoken with workers at Deere & Co.”

“The farm equipment maker is an American manufacturer that Republicans say tariffs will help. Maybe not. The Moline, Ill., company is laying off 238 workers at three factories in Moline, East Moline, and Waterloo, Iowa, in the coming weeks.”

“This month the company reported a 26% drop in net income and 9% decline in sales, owing to lower commodity prices and higher tariffs. “Tariff costs in the quarter were approximately $200 million, which brings us to roughly $300 million in tariff expense year to date,” said director of investor relations Josh Beal.”

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/deere-tariff-costs-farm-belt-jason-smith-donald-trump-josh-beal-f42ea4ab