What I'm Reading: Russo/Ukrainian War

By Rich Kozlovich

Outright conflict between Russia and Ukraine has been going on for 12 years, ever since Russia annexed Ukraine's Eastern area and Crimea.  The current conflict has gone on for 4 1/2 years and has devastated both nations economically and demographically.  

Russia's demographic problems were already substantial long before Putin invaded Ukraine outright, but now it's gone beyond a "problem", it's a crisis for Russia, even if no one is admitting it.  He's had tremendous difficulty recruiting men for his army for a number of reasons so now he's decided to reinstate "martial education for students", which was a traditional social paradigm in all the Soviet Union states, including Ukraine, which is following suit now.  But there's a difference.  

It's been said "generals always fight the last war", and that's what Russia's doing, while Ukraine is forced into fighting tomorrow's wars. 

Russia is pushing for boots on the ground and Ukraine is pushing for more and better technology involving drone warfare, especially since Ukraine doesn't have the population necessary to offset Russia's population.  It's a matter of mathematics, and for Ukrainians, "mobilization is still a source of public discontent."  So they've chosen a different path toward militarization of their population.  Technology, as in drone warfare.  Their program toward militarization involves "building a network to train more drone operators, engineers and designers."  Geopolitical Futures notes:

At first, Kyiv relied on private companies to organize summer schools. Gradually, it developed a nationwide network of private schools that today graduates thousands of drone specialists each year. Still, the supply of drone experts was failing to meet the demands of Ukraine's military, suggesting a need to transform public education in the country. At this point, robotics is better integrated into Ukraine's formal education system than drone training, which is usually offered as an elective course or through training at vocational schools, special university programs or specialized centers.

The conclusion some have come away with is all this won't stop the war and will merely strengthen "internal cohesion", but the fact is war is... expensive.... and neither nation has the economic wherewithal to continue this indefinitely.   

This is part of what historians call a "historical cycle", of which there are six stages.  We're at the end stages of this current cycle, and all end stages are filled with violence and economic downturns.  Currently, depending on who you read, we're at the end of the fifth stage or the beginning of the six stage.  The six stage is often defined by revolutions and civil wars, and it seems clear that's a very real potential, and in my view, that's coming to Russia.  Will Ukraine face that same consequence? It's quite possible!   If reports are to be believed, their government is blatantly corrupt, and their people despise them.  I could see a violent overthrow of their current government.  

Update:  Ukraine’s ousted defence minister challenges Zelensky and calls for wartime elections - Mykhailo Fedorov says Ukraine faces ‘systemic crisis of governance’.   Ukraine’s former defence minister has called for wartime elections in a direct challenge to president Volodymyr Zelensky. Mykhailo Fedorov, 35, whose ouster as defence chief in July triggered major protests in the country, issued the call in a video address shared on YouTube. “Democracy cannot be held hostage by Russia. We must find a legal, safe and realistic mechanism that will allow Ukraine to renew its full democratic process even in the conditions of a long war,” he said........ 

It might be noted one of the things Fdeorov was attempting to do was fix the financial issues involving Ukraine's military, i.e., corruption.  It's believed senior military personnel demanded his outing and he was ousted with Zelenskyy's approval. 

 Update, 8/21/26: 

1. Ukraine farmers despair as Russian Black Sea blockade traps harvest - Ukrainian farmer Serhiy Rybalko lost two-thirds of his land when Russia occupied a large part of southern Ukraine at the start of the invasion in 2022.  Now he is suffering a different kind of torment as a potentially good harvest is thrown into jeopardy by a Russian campaign of attacks that has almost halted agricultural ​exports from Ukraine's Black Sea ports.  Ukraine is among the world's largest producers of wheat, corn and sunflower seeds and around 90% of its exports of such crops go through the Black Sea.   Compounding the problem, Ukraine's wheat harvesting campaign is ‌at its peak. Rybalko's grain storage is already nearly full and Ukraine's corn harvest is due to start next month. "There is nowhere to send this grain," the 57 year old farmer said as he stood at his silo.......

Note: One subscription site noted that "Ukraine shipped just 500,000 tons of grain since the start of August, about one-fifth of its potential volume, after intensified Russian strikes suspended commercial traffic through the Odesa-area ports in late July....."

What Governor Maura Healey Really is: A Proud Abortionist

By Rich Kozlovich, Tags:

On August 12, 2026 I posted this piece, Abortion and the Morally Vacuous, saying:

The word vacuous means: "empty, lacking in intelligence, or showing a lack of ideas and thought and describes something or someone that has no substance, meaning or expression."  

Morally vacuous is the term that clearly defines those politicians who support abortion at any level, but this action by this Massachusetts Governor even has some Democrats balking calling this law barbaric, and since she professes to be a "proud" Catholic, she needs to be called to task on that.  This article was published yesterday, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey Responds to Excommunication Calls After Legalizing Abortions Until Birth, saying:

The office for Democrat Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey responded to calls for her to excommunicated from the Catholic Church for legalizing abortion up until birth in the state.  Healey, who identifies as lesbian and is a self-proclaimed Catholic, signed a bill on Aug. 10 called the Prioritizing Patient Access to Care Act or H. 5595, which allows unborn babies to be aborted throughout pregnancy up until birth and strikes down the state’s 24-week limit, which had exceptions for the life of the mother and deadly fetal diagnoses. 

Under the bill, doctors have the discretion to decide whether or not to perform a late-term abortion.......CatholicVote President and CEO Kelsey Reinhardt also sent a letter on Wednesday to the Catholic Bishops of Massachusetts calling for Healey to be excommunicated and asking for the Church to provide clarification and guidance to people of faith.......

Over the years I've watched politicians who profess to be devout Catholics, like Andrew Cuomo, Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden, Dick Durbin proclaim their absolute support of abortion.

Andrew Cuomo: Friend of animals, crusher of babies' skulls The New York governor, who bans the use of elephants for entertainment, seemed proud to deny both sanctuary and medical assistance to the unborn.  

Dick Durbin: America is About ‘Flag, Family, God’---and Late-Term Abortion - Sen. Dick Durbin (D.-Ill.) said in a speech on the Senate floor yesterday that he believes American culture is about “flag, family, God.” This comes just five weeks after he voted against cloture on the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, thus helping to block a final Senate vote on a bill that would have prohibited aborting a baby after 20 weeks into pregnancy.

Pelosi on Backing Legislation to Guarantee Abortion on Demand: ‘I Come to This as a Catholic Mother  - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) gave a speech on the House floor today talking about her status as a “Catholic mother” before the chamber voted to approve the Women’s Health Protection Act—which guarantees a nation-wide right to abortion on demand.  “I come to this as a Catholic mother of five in six years and one week and with the joy that all that meant to us,” said Pelosi.  “But with the recognition that it was my husband and I –our decision.  It was our decision,” Pelosi said. “And we should not, in this body or in that Court, be making decisions for the women in America.”.

 Pres. Biden Declares That ‘No One Knows Precisely When Does Human Life Begin,’ Contradicting Catholic Catechism - “I’m a practicing Catholic,” President Joe Biden announced Tuesday, before contradicting the teachings of the Catholic Church by claiming that “no one knows” when human life begins. Biden made the comments at a reception in Golden Beach, Florida, for Democrat Gubernatorial Candidate Charlie Crist, where the president repeated his desire to pass a law providing a national right to abortion.... 

He's a practicing Catholic?  No, he may go to church, but he's not practicing Catholicism.  In point of fact under church law his position on abortion qualifies him for excommunication, right along with Cuomo, Durbin, Pelosi and now Governor Maura Healey, who if reports are true is in serious violation of church teachings in her personal life as well.  Now they're calling for her excommunication, and the real question is this:  Since abortion is considered a mortal sin by the church, why haven't all of these heretics  been excommunicated?   

Truth be told, and I have stated over and over again that any practicing Christian or Jew who supports abortion is a heretic.  You simply can't be a legitimate Christian or a Jew and a Democrat without being a heretic, and that includes these clerics from the various denominations that support Democrats and their heretical views.  If  that's true, and it is, then being a member of the Democrat party is heresy!  It really is that simple. 

New International Version 2 Timothy 4:3.  "For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear."

New International Version Matthew 22, 23.  "Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

 New International Version Isaiah 5:20.  "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter."

Can we expect to see some action by Church leaders?  Based on past history, I think we can assume the answer is ... no!  Is it any wonder the sound you're hearing is the crash of civilization.  

Add-on's:  

1. Democrat Senate Candidate and Pastor Adam Hamilton Said He Studies Where the Apostle Paul Is ‘Wrong’ in the Bible
2. New President of “Catholic” Biblical Association Is JEWISH, Supports Baby Killing, Is Pro-Homo, and Thinks the Pharisees Received a Bad Rap
3. Bishop of Ceuta: “Migrants are Missionaries of Hope that Widen Our Hearts” 

What Is It You Find That's So Unattractive?

By Rich Kozlovich 

Today Noel S. Williams posted this article, Passport Bros: 'I wish they all could be Filipina girls' saying:

Nowadays, the misguided Gen Z chicks get a kick out of rejecting any tradition, even pleasing standards of classical beauty..... Confusedly, they are still spending on so-called “beauty” products......So why are they getting so ghastly ugly? Is it so their skin-thin facade mirrors their inner ugliness?  

They are using beauty products to intentionally project an unglamorous vibe, that’s why. 

In some twisted way that only a mixed-up feminist could understand, it is a perverted manifestation of their futile “I don’t need a man” independence movement. To prove it, they use beauty products not to veil blemishes, but to enhance them. They want to turn men off, and it’s working.

Well, hey, c’mon man. Just because a woman may have issues with depression, anxiety, gender confusion, is unemployed with her credit cards maxed out, and spends her money on weed, tattoos, dyes her hair in unnatural colors, never met a man that wasn't seriously flawed, is an overweight vegan due to her lack of impulse control and insists on telling everyone  how to fix the country....... you seem to think that’s unattractive?  Imagine that.   You may find her picture among Powerline's This Week In Pictures, which was the source for most of this.   

Race Hustlers Will Always be Race Hustlers

By Rich Kozlovich  

It was recently reported the WNBA players were refusing to wear the USA 250 patch for their All Star game because 250 years ago there was slavery in America.  Okay, so what? 

1. Did it ever occur to them slavery existed for thousands of years?  
2. Did it ever occur to them slavery was ubiquitous in those days, including .... watch out now... here it comes.... in Africa.....where African slavery was created by Africans and Muslim slave traders who did the enslaving and merely sold them to everyone else?  
3. Did it ever occur to them it's still going on in Africa?
4. Did it ever occur to them America was the only nation in the history of the world that went to war to end slavery costing over 600,000 lives, some even claim 700,000 lives? 

That was a massive sacrifice to end the something that should have never taken place, and while there were black soldiers who fought in the war, that massive sacrifice was a white sacrifice.  Did any of that occur to them?  If it did, would they care?  No, they wouldn't because it's all about race hustling to justify everything that goes on in black America that's vile.  Ergo, all things great and small are racist now. 

Obama cast aspersions over the Founding Fathers because so many were slave holders, but that's typical of his ignorant corrupt race hustling.   Before he became President race relations was on a upward trend, and he had a chance to really make a positive difference in race relations in America.  He chose to sink down into the race hustling sewer instead.  

Originally there was an anti-slavery clause in the Constitution… promoted by slave owner Jefferson…. as it was clear that slavery was antithetical to the freedom being promoted by the Founding Fathers, and they understood that right from the beginning, but in spite of that, the battle over slavery was a major issue that was fought over in order to get the Southern colonies to sign the Constitution. 

The abolitionist Founding Fathers realized there would be no unified nation unless they gave in to slavery. What were they afraid of?  At that time the United States wasn't really united at all and worked under the Articles of Confederation.  The central government wasn't really a government.  The states truly were independent, and what they feared was if they didn’t unite and become a real nation, they’d become like Europe with its unending wars, and a very real potential of European intervention.  Truthfully, that’s what France wanted as they were ready to set up embassies in each state.

But for Obama to cast aspersions on the Founding Fathers takes real gall. They put their lives on the line, struggled with the revolution, and in the end they accomplished something that was unique in all of the world’s history. What we know as American democratic capitalism has brought more people out of misery and suffering than any other system in world history, ultimately including the descendants of those whose ancestors were slaves.  

And then Obama, who never had a real job, and never accomplished anything that didn’t turn into crap while President, has the nerve to criticize them. 

Race hustlers will always be race hustlers because they're shake down artists and grifters like Jesse Jackson and have nothing else.  So they live by the first rule of the criminal mind:  Never give up the con.  

Update, 8/21/26:  

•  It’s Reparations Season Again, Again - In California, never a slave state, it is reparations season again – again.  As Politico recently noted in a major piece, African-American lawmakers in the Golden State have “narrowed their reparations agenda to a single bill,” following years of “bruising battles” in the legislature. The bill would “require large corporations to disclose (any) historical connections to slavery,” and in fact seems to be the only significant legislation being pushed by California’s Legislative Black Caucus during this term. Akilah Weber Pierson, current Chair of the CLBC, defended the body’s decision “to pursue only one bill this year,” calling it a way to “give that…that priority the best opportunity for success.”.......

What I'm Reading: Russia

By Rich Kozlovich Tags: The World's Nine Orders 

Some of what appears here is from subscription sites and I can't link the information, so, you will just have to take my word for it... or not.... as it please you.

Military Issues 

If you measure how long the Russo/Ukrainian War has gone on starting in 2014 with Russian's annexation of Crimea until now it's lasted 12 years.  But If you count from Putin's Special Military Operation where he invaded Ukraine in February of 2022 it's lasted four and a half years, and it's been devastating to both Ukraine and Russia, but considering the vast difference between Russia's military, population, and economy, the real loser is Russia in my view.  

Russia's demographic pyramid before this war was a mess and it was estimated by 2040 ethnic Russians would be a minority in their own country.  That's no longer true as Putin has devastated the age group that makes the babies, creates an economy, and does the work.  Fifteen years ago Russia believed it has seven defensive positions they must man, but they only had the manpower to man three of them fully.  It seem clear they must not have the manpower for those three now.    

In July alone Russia lost 42,860 soldiers, killed and wounded, with Russia's total casualties amounting to around 1.5 million, and in spite of recruitment efforts, he's running out of soldiers having to use an estimated 30,000 to 50,000 North Koreans troops adding to the 15,000 N. Korean troops already there to take the place of Russian soldiers who just don't exist, with N. Korea deploying a missile unit in western Russia.  

Putin has become so desperate in recent months, he’s had to lure his countrymen to join the war effort with false promises of “quiet service” — or recruit Africans under similarly deceitful schemes.

According the Zelenskyy (correct spelling by the way) "This is the first time in Russia's history when they no longer have a strategic reserve", and without North Korea Russia is sunk, but that's from Zelenskyy, and his trustworthiness is subject to debate.  Allegedly Putin is now going backwards in equipment and deploying post WWII-era tanks.  I do think that's a reality for Putin as his ability to manufacture military hardware was already in the toilet.  He not only has insufficient man power for his military, he has insufficient man power to fill his needs in factories.   

"Russian President Vladimir Putin signed orders to negotiate amendments to existing military-technical cooperation agreements with Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. The agreements regulate the supply of weapons and military equipment, the exchange of military products, and the transfer of technology and documentation."

Ukraine was on the receiving end for most of this war but now they've pushed Russian troops back "more than seven miles on the southern front, near the intersection of the Dnipro, Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions, through small attacks to gradually erode Russian control gradually."  They're also launching long range missile, jet aircraft, and drone attacks deep inside Russia causing serious damage to both military objectives, "an oil depot and and  a state-run aerospace center."

1. Ukraine Attacks Russia’s Samara Industrial Site as Kyiv Ramps Up Long-Range Strikes
2. Ukrainian drone attack on Russian city of Nizhnekamsk kills 12, authorities say 
3. Ukraine, Russia Trade Blows As War of Attrition, Innovation Continues

Update, 8/16/26:  

• Ukraine launches hundreds of drones into Russia in one of the largest aerial attacks of the war - Ukraine launched hundreds of drones across Russia Sunday, killing at least six people in one of Kyiv's largest aerial attacks of the war. Russia's Ministry of Defense said that it had destroyed 822 Ukrainian drones overnight. Some 600 drones were detected headed toward the Russian capital, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said, with a third of those destroyed over the Moscow region itself.
• UK-made drones strike targets inside Russia (Note:  I don't subscribe to the BBC so this is all I can post, but I posted the headline for those who do, and truthfully, the headline tells the story. RK)

One thing is clear, no one expected this kind of warfare.  It's been said, "generals always prepare to fight the last war", and that's certainly true in this case.  While before this everyone... including me.... thought if the US left NATO and Russia decided to attack western Europe, nothing could stop them from rushing down the north European plain right into France.  Well, it appears even without US support they'd have failed, and now Putin, who always styled himself as a powerful world shaker has demonstrated to the world's leaders he's an incompetent nitwit.  And he knows it as his strut is gone, and if reports are true, he's scared and living in a bunker.  

Economic and Social Issues

Russia has been the big energy supplier for Europe, China and India, and Russia can't function without that trade and sanctions have had a major impact on them, having to use a "shadow fleet" to avoid western price caps, and even working to created Arctic shipping lanes and wants to develop a rail link to the Indian Ocean to avoid disruptions of traffic via the Bosporus Strait and the Strait of Hormuz.  Which would be massive economic and diplomatic effort dealing with "Turkmenistan, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan", and I don't think he's capable of such an effort.  Currently refining bottlenecks have forced Russia to import fuels from other nations.

Russia's energy problem. Belarusian gasoline and diesel fuel exports to Russia reached a record high in July amid fuel shortages driven by repeated Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian oil refineries. Belarusian gasoline supplies to Russia increased 13 percent last month compared with June, while diesel shipments doubled. To address the shortage, the Russian government on Wednesday adopted a resolution permitting the production, import and release of lower-quality types of gasoline until July 1, 2027.

The Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia region is experiencing a "critical" water supply problem related to disruptions in electricity supplies, the regional governor said. Work is being done around the clock to restore deliveries, Yevhen Balitsky said. His comments come amid escalating Ukrainian attacks on energy infrastructure in Zaporizhzhia.

Russia’s economy has defied the skeptics. Cracks are getting harder to hide  Russia’s wartime economy is still growing, but analysts say the headline data mask deeper strain.  Civilians appear to be feeling the squeeze, with households trading down to cheaper and store-brand foods as real incomes come under pressure.  Analysts do not expect economic stress alone to end the war in Ukraine. Some warn worsening conditions could instead incentivize President Vladimir Putin to escalate it. 

After four-and-a-half years of full-scale war with Ukraine, Russia has become a two-tier economy.“If you are lucky and you’re employed by a tank production company, then everything’s good. Otherwise, you are probably facing problems,” Alex Kolyandr, director for Europe at consulting firm Eurasia Group, told CNBC.

Russia’s wartime economy has been brought into sharper focus in recent weeks by Ukraine’s long-range drone attacks on oil refineries and delivery warehouses. Though it has defied expectations and is even growing slowly, according to recent data, analysts say this masks problems, such as the Kremlin’s reliance on military spending, higher taxes and subsidized bank lending.

Putin's all upset that Germany is participating in French nuclear exercises wanting to know if Germany is trying to acquire nuclear weapons.  Ya just gotta see the humor in that.  Putin threatens Ukraine and even European nations with a potential nuclear attack and then is shocked and upset these nations might want their own nuclear deterrent.  There was a time when it was thought Putin really was sharp, but time and circumstances keep making him look like what he really is.  A fool, and one that's in trouble and afraid.  

Other Issues

 Note:  Some of this is being quoted from Geopolitical Futures subscription site and can't be linked. RK

1. Belarus  Military Buildup Is About Survival Minsk is trying to keep pace with its neighbors rising defense spending and protect a long-neglected border.   
2. Russia has threatened Ireland with serious consequences if its armed forces help detain merchant vessels suspected of involvement in Russia's "shadow fleet", Russian Ambassador to Dublin Yuri Filatov said. He made the comment in response to the passage of a bill last month allowing Ireland's military to board ships to prevent violations of sanctions against Russia.
3. Azerbaijan: Very Small, Very Significant - Azerbaijan is a small country in the South Caucasus, a region that was part of the Soviet Union until  most of its constituent parts became independent in 1991. After Vladimir Putin came to power,  Russia tried to retake the region in 2008, first by invading Georgia. The invasion failed, and the Caucasus was left independent of Moscow. 
4. Don't ask me to explain this one as it's beyond me other than perhaps Putin is looking to recruit South Africans as troops.   South Africa and Russia have agreed to defense ties  
5. Russia is in talks with China, India and others about developing Siberia's Angara-Yenisei cluster for deep processing of rare earths, according to Alexander Maslennikov, the deputy secretary of the Russian Security Council. He said partners were interested despite potential restrictions on access to technology, payment issues and the risk of secondary sanctions.   
6. Zelensky: Russia Providing Iran With Satellite Imagery Of US Bases - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday he will share evidence with the United States showing Russia is assisting Iran in targeting U.S. bases in the Middle East via satellite surveillance.  
7. New ideas needed. Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed the Russia-Ukraine war with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Manila. After the meeting, in which Lavrov reiterated Moscow's readiness to negotiate on the basis of proposals from last year's U.S.-Russia summit in Alaska, Rubio said new ideas were needed.  My Take - I think this is interesting, as now all of a sudden Putin thinks the deal negotiated wasn't so bad after all.  I see Putin as a clueless desperate man running out of people around him he can trust or ideas that will get him out of the mess he created.  RK 
8. According to news sources Trump frequently uses separate phone calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to try to broker an end to the war in Ukraine. These high-level diplomatic contacts often involve discussions on front-line conditions, potential ceasefires, and upcoming international summits.

This Should Break Your Heart!

By Rich Kozlovich

I came across this story a few days ago, and it was heartbreaking, and as it unfolds it becomes even more heartbreaking, where  a seven year old boy was tortured to death by his mother and her two transgender live in partners, and this article demands the end to polite silence.  He says that because he finds it strange how "reporters are extraordinarily careful about how they describe the adults accused of brutalizing him."

 

Last week, Cincinnati police entered an apartment and found 7-year-old William Evans dead in a closet and bound with duct tape. Prosecutors and the coroner say he had endured more than two months of abuse, including burns, blunt-force injuries, “bruises too numerous to count” and long stretches held underwater.

The mother's two accomplices are men, and jail records confirm it. 

Yet much of the news coverage incorrectly called them female, likely because the men were masquerading as women. To complicate it further, news reporting (make sure to follow the link) shows the boy’s biological father also claims to be a woman. Like the other men in William’s life, he wants to be called “she,” and we can expect some news outlets to indulge him."...."That contrast matters. Several of the men in William’s life falsely presented themselves as women, and the press has largely adopted those descriptions. The question is bigger than pronouns: What happens when a society trains people to be afraid to say what they know to be true?

The author goes on to say:

Such misbegotten courtesy sits at the center of everything that follows. A developmentally disabled 7-year-old spent his last two months in a closet in a household infused with a delusion as to who the grown-ups were. In that web of cruel confusion, he breathed his last.

William did not die without warning signs. He was trapped in a sick, dangerous situation that read like an entire flag store of red flags. Because of his developmental disability, William could not reliably tell anyone what was being done to him. But one call to child protective services, one visit that put an investigator inside that apartment, would have exposed the madness of what was happening and saved his life.

If anyone can read that and not have their hearts broken then they have no heart.  Unfortunately, leftist/atheist ideology has destroyed the natural affection that should exist between parents and their children.  If you can accept abortion as health care, you can accept any degradation of thought and action promoted by these Satanic hordes of the left. 

All I can think about is the pain, the tears, the agony, the fright, the eyes pleading for mercy, and ultimately the death of this poor seven year old child.  And yes, they deserve the death penalty, including the father.  

 

Observations From the Back Row

By Rich Kozlovich

Cartoons carry messages that words can't really convey, but, some cartoons and/or pictures can't be reproduced here at P&D.  So, here's my take from Powerline's, This Week In Pictures.

Academia has a unique sense of what students need to succeed in the modern world.  It's been reported first year students will be given the opportunity to study Wonder Woman, Queer Art, and the Occult.  After incurring massive debt from student loans and graduating from college with four grueling years in gender studies a prospective employer asks a graduate:  Can you say, "Welcome to McDonald's".  

What is the number one skill of all leftists?  Taking things others own and calling it redistribution for social justice.  Others call it legal theft by losers for losers.    

In a recent interview AOC is demonstrated how mature and intelligent she is now, assuring us that although she said things in the past that were, like, out there, but, you know, like, woke one was crazy.  But, even though I’m, like, a DSA member, I’m, like, super moderate for now until I, like, get elected President and stuff.

If socialism is a form of tyranny, can we assume that Democratic Socialism is an oxymoron, or just a moron?  Here's a question worth pondering.  Who had the deadliest jab; Muhammad Ali, Joe Fraser, Mike Tyson or Anthony Fauci?  

There was an call to the British police triggering an emergency response.  Someone was on the internet telling the truth.  I'm not entirely sure, but it may have been actor John Cheese saying:

 I’m not a racist. I’m a culturalist. I believe some cultures are superior to others.  I prefer cultures that do not encourage wife beating, paedophilia, clitorectomies, or stoning.  Notice that hate does not come into this.  Only moral preferences. 

 You can see the danger of that kind of talk.  First thing you know people in Britain might start demanding their government start doing something about the Muslim rape gangs instead of arresting people who dare to express any contrary thoughts.  After all, censorship is freedom of speech.  Right?  Now, repeat it again, and again, and again, until you believe it.  

Conversation between a man and a woman.  

Man says: “I don’t think women should have any rights, and LGBT should be executed.

Woman exclaims: Wow! What an a hole, you must be a conservative. 

Man responds: No, actually, I’m a Muslim and those are my religious beliefs. 

Woman contritely says: Oh!  I’m so sorry!!I apologize and I hope you don’t think I’m Islamophobic!!!

Afterward she takes the meal delivered to her by Door Dash, and gets into her Uber to go to an affordability rally followed by a Free Palestine rally while contemplating how much she's learned from her Women's Studies courses from U.C. Berkeley and Cornell University, seeing herself as a true Joan of Arc battler for justice.  Well, perhaps.... just perhaps..... others just might see her as a spoiled, privileged bawling brat? Just a thought.  

The WNBA is having a bit of a problem with their Woke thinking about transgenderism.  It seems they think it's just fine for men who think they're women to play against actual women.  At least they did until a number of ex-NBA players have declared they're now women and intend to play in the WNBA.  It appears the coaches, owners and administrators can't seem to define what the W in WNBA really means.  Especially since when it comes to women's athletics men make the best women.  

Now they're twisting in the wind since they will have to do one of two things.  Either accept men who claim to be women on teams, or.......  watch out now.... here it comes.... declare men who claim to be women really aren't women after all and have no place on a WNBA team, outraging all the LGBTQXYZABC123 crowd, not to mention the rest of the left wing community of nitwits, including the media and especially Hollywood.  

Reality can be a real downer for virtue signalling wokesters.  

Republicans Actually Can Get Something Right

By Rich Kozlovich

In the last few weeks I beat up on the Republicans in four articles, Part I, Part II, Part III and Part IV, and I think perhaps it's time to acknowledge their positive side.  One of the problems with the Republican party is, as a party, they have no idea who and what they are.  The party has no shared identifiable vision unlike the Democrats.  The Democrats have a vision they share in lockstep, which is why they're rightly called the party of treason!  

Pathetic’ Vandals deface WWII Memorial in ‘deranged’ attack on DC landmark - Vandals struck the World War II Memorial on Thursday — dumping bubble soap into a fountain and scrawling a bizarre protest message.  “Clean Hands Dirty $” red graffiti declared — without making it clear why the site commemorating a conflict that ended 81 years ago was targeted.  Frothy bubbles stood several feet tall from a fountain honoring the Allies’ victory over Nazi Germany in the Atlantic Theater.......

Almost all Democrats are opposed to all the traditional American values, and the Republican party is filled with Democrats running as Republicans.  As one writer noted:

 ".....let’s be honest: a great many conservatives are cowards, plain and simple, though they sound very ferocious. As Schiller put it, “Bold were my words because my deeds were not.”

However, there are individual Republicans who do have a vision who are not only bold in their words, but bold in their deeds.  Conservatives who really believe America, with all our faults:

"has still done more than any international organization or institution, and more than any other country, to improve this world", and (b) that American values (specifically, the unique American blending of Enlightenment and Judeo-Christian values) form the finest value system any society has ever devised and lived by."

Let's take a quick run at seeing this taking place.  

1. House Republicans Celebrate the America That Democrats Are Trying to Destroy - As America comes together to celebrate her 250th anniversary of independence, Republican lawmakers have come together for a patriotic video celebrating the achievements that have defined our nation throughout our history..... 
2. DeSantis to Designate More Than 90 Groups as Foreign Terrorist Organizations - Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says he plans to formally designate more than 90 organizations as foreign terrorist organizations in a sweeping antiterrorism measure. After signing HB 1471 into law, DeSantis says he has greater statutory authority to identify, designate, and combat terrorist organizations operating in Florida.....
3.  Rubio Targets Cuban Influence Network, Sanctions Group Linked to Left-Wing Activist - Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced new sanctions against a prominent Cuban organization with longstanding ties to American activist groups, continuing the Trump administration’s effort to confront a decades-old communist influence network operating inside the United States. The sanctions target the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, known as ICAP, an organization founded by Fidel Castro in 1960 to promote support for Cuba’s communist revolution and cultivate relationships with political activists around the world. “For decades, Cuba has been the world capital for radical left-wing terrorism,” Rubio said.  “The regime in Havana has recruited, trained and backed violent Marxist and third-worldist movements across our hemisphere and beyond,”.......
4. 'Executive prerogative': Trump wins in court ruling over ousting alleged gang members from U.S. -President Donald Trump has been given a victory in a fight over his use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport people with a decision from the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals that one case is over because the plaintiffs already have been deported. The panel concluded, "The Supreme Court remanded this case to us when the three named petitioners were still in the country. But we have since learned that the government has removed them. Given this change, we conclude that the appeal is moot. … Given the lack of any named petitioners to whom we could grant relief in this appeal, and given that this case has never and does not now feature any class, we conclude that the appeal is moot. We therefore DISMISS the appeal for lack of jurisdiction." .....
5. Trump Smashes Socialist Turn of ‘Dumocrat' Party Concept of Give Away Everything Ends up In Squalor, Crime, and Death’ - President Donald Trump told Breitbart News exclusively that the hard-left radical socialist turn of the modern Democratic Party is dangerous for American citizens, and that throughout history, it always ends up the same way, which is disaster whenever socialism and communism are implemented......
6. Trump reins in the World Bank’s climate programs - The World Bank just delivered another blow to the immensely powerful and well-connected green movement. This week, the World Bank announced it is abandoning its plans to devote nearly half its lending capacity to climate-related projects. In a statement innocuously titled, “Update on the World Bank Group Climate Change Action Plan,” the World Bank announced it still plans to continue and extend the so-called “Climate Change Action Plan,” but it will be retiring the specific funding targets......
7. Trump Praises Exodus of Government Attorneys - President Donald Trump on Sunday blasted The New York Times for portraying the departure of thousands of federal government attorneys as a negative development, arguing instead that the exodus is helping rid Washington of entrenched bureaucrats who opposed his agenda......
8. Did Trump cut off the Democrats' slush funds, leaving them bereft of money? - Democrats are notoriously bad managers of money. All you have to do is look at virtually any one-party blue state's finances. And if that's not instructive enough, recall Kamala Harris's post-2024 election finances -- one billion dollars raised and wasted, and she still ended up $20 million in the hole. Money, see, is other people's money, and that always runs out, to mangle the Margaret Thatcher quote a little.   But there's also another factor: Donald Trump.   Trump may have done to their finances what Ronald Reagan did to the Soviets' finances: He cut them off.......
9. Trump’s Fraud Division takes the gloves off in fight against foreign nationals, others - The Department of Justice's fight against fraud is going to the next level. The Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division has now released its first comprehensive enforcement strategy. Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald circulated the memo on Thursday to all Fraud Division personnel, highlighting five focus areas: public trust, health care fraud, internal revenue scams, global trade subversion, and corporate misconduct........
10. Exclusive: HUD Secretary Announces Crackdown on NGOs, Non-Profits Receiving Tax Dollars with Automatic Renewal - Turner said, “We just, made an announcement on our 2026 Continuum of Care (NOFO), And really, for you and your listeners, The Housing First model, which was the model, that was, has been in place over the last decade or so, what this really created was a homeless, industrial complex. And so it was just housing our homeless neighbors. But we had no way to treat them, to get them transform and get them back to a life of self-sufficiency.”.......
11.  House Republicans Threaten Democrat Fundraising Machine ActBlue with Contempt - House Republicans are pressuring the CEO of Democrat fundraising machine ActBlue to comply with subpoenas regarding documents important to the investigation into possible foreign donations......
12. This Republican Has a Wild Idea for Fixing Housing Prices: Let the Market Actually Work - As America approaches its 250th birthday, it's worth remembering why the colonies declared their independence from Britain. The Revolutionary War wasn't just about taxes; it was about resisting a government that increasingly believed it knew better than the people how to run their own affairs, where they could live, what they could build, and at what price. Early Americans understood a hard truth: government intervention was rarely the neutral hand it claimed to be. It picked winners, distorted markets, and made life more expensive for everyone in the name of helping society. Two hundred fifty years later, that same instinct remains......

There are other factors to take into consideration.  Senator John Kennedy says of Trump "he lives loud, and has anxiety when he has an unexpressed thought", and that's clearly obvious, at least to me, but there's another side to him I find appealing.  He's done this kind of thing before as he walked off the stage to personally comfort the grieving parents of 12-year-old Bronx shooting victim.  I think it's genuine on his part, and that's priceless.    

There is one point being made in this City Journal article, Beware, Republicans, of Angry Voters, I think is valid saying: 

 

Last week’s elections brought another round of victories by far-left candidates in Democratic primaries, continuing a trend that emerged earlier this year in states like New York and Colorado. In response to the results, the National Republican Senatorial Campaign dropped a quick ad attacking Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary winner, Abdul El-Sayed, as “the most radical Senate candidate in America.” The ad embodied an increasingly prevalent GOP strategy for the midterms: focusing on a radicalized Democratic Party rather than promoting Republican candidates and the party’s agenda.............. That’s a bigger problem for Republicans as the incumbent party. “Anger is stronger than fear” in elections.....

 

I have no doubt that's a valid observation.  For one, I would really like to see someone.... anyone.... explain to the nation how they intend to stop spending around two trillion dollars more a year than they're taking in, and what they intend to do about the 40 trillion debt maelstrom they're sending the nation into that's costing the nation a trillion and a half a year in interest payments!   It gets worse.  The Bank of America is predicting our national debt will rise.... in three years.... to 50 trillion dollars. 

 

John Mauldin says the nation is caught in a debt trap, where service for our national debt is either equal to or more than what we spend on national defense.  Does anyone besides me think explaining what they want to do about that might be a good idea before they take their next vacation?

Observations From the Back Row

 By Rich Kozlovich

Recently I posted this piece on fraud and government waste, Fraud and Government Waste is Rampant and Ubiquitous, and as I was doing my searches this morning this caught my eye.  Two federal agencies routed taxpayer dollars to terror-linked charities, new reports find saying:

Two federal agencies gave away roughly $2 billion in taxpayer-funded health and humanitarian contracts to charities that watchdogs and a Senate committee have flagged for terror ties, meaning the government's own vetting either missed those records or decided their terrorist-linked status didn't disqualify the groups. .....

The Middle East Forum (MEF) recently reported that 14 terror-linked and extremist organizations, led by CAIR, collected nearly $80 million from HHS through the Refugee Resettlement, Health, and Mosque Renovation grants. Through this fund, the Council on American-Islamic Relations' (CAIR) California chapter received the most of any Islamist group, collecting $42.2 million in funding from the HHS to provide legal and social services to Afghan refugees.

I have three questions.  First, how in the world did it become American's responsibility to fund efforts to "provide legal and social services to Afghan refugees"?  Second, why are these terrorist associated groups even to be in this country?  Third, how did these agencies fail to vet them properly?  I can answer all three.  We shouldn't, they shouldn't and the federal government is filled with corrupt Deep Staters.    

As it turns out, this is the tip of the iceberg, as Sharia Financing Is Becoming Government Policy Across America.  

Sharia-compliant finance is being woven into government policy across the United States. Cities have restructured public lending programs to accommodate Islamic prohibitions on interest. States have changed laws and tax treatment for Sharia financing. Federal banking regulators have formally approved Islamic financial structures and explained how existing rules can accommodate them. Here are the government’s own receipts showing how Sharia-compliant finance is being normalized across America.

 In Texas schools are busing kids to mosques in order for them to experience Islam. Why?  "Their teachers wanted them to see a different side of the Muslims, the diversity within our community, and these are brothers and sisters."  So they wanted to have them believe all this "brotherhood" propaganda and ignore the terror, murder, rape, and genocide Islam perpetrates worldwide.  The true  history of Islam is a bloody one far beyond Europe's bloody history.  All anyone needs to understand about Islam are the deaths of 2977 victims of Islam that occurred on September 11, 2001, and whomever organized this needs fired. 

• WARNING TEXAS: Islamic Enclave Rising Next to Active U.S. Army Training Base Outside San Antonio — Led by Imam Who Celebrated Hamas’ Oct 7 Massacre as a 'Day of Remembrance' (Video)
• Pakistanification of Texas Law Enforcement: How a Wealthy Pakistani Immigrant Became Constable - A wealthy Pakistani is running a Texas police station, courting foreign officials from a terrorism hub – all under a Republican ballot.
•  What has happened to our country?  When I think about the changes I’ve seen in this great nation over the course of my life, I’m stunned at the many bizarre deviations that have occurred right under my nose.  Did I not see it coming?  Was I so confident that the U.S. would always be rooted in moral values that I let down my guard? Looking back, I’m reminded of the maxim about the frog placed in a pot of comfortable room-temperature water while the heat gradually turns up until the frog is boiled alive.  How many of us are so comfortable that we pay scant attention to the rising fever of corruption that has become SOP?............

This article appeared at the Issues and Insights web site,  Defund The U.N. Green Climate Fund, saying:

The United Nations GCF is nothing but a racket. “It is neither green nor about climate,” it is “a wasteful fraud,” says David Wojick of the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow. The fund has received and spent more than “$20 billion to date, with more billions coming.” As if in defiance of the extravagance, Earth’s temperature has refused to respond.  Despite its name, the GCF is simply another vendor of foreign aid............. Unlike USAID, which doubled as a taxpayer-bankrolled slush fund for Democrats, the GCF hasn’t been taken down. But it needs to be dismantled, just as its parasitic parent, the United Nations, should be shut down and run out of the country. The world would be better off without this meddlesome, venal, and baleful organization. And its many poisonous tentacles.

Since the corruption of USAID was exposed as a vast wasteland of fraud and abuse the Trump administration ended it.  It also ended it's real function. A slush fund for the Democrats, but now they're claiming as a result of shutting USAID down millions around the world are starving, and it's a lie.  

• Despite Media Claims, USAID Cuts DID NOT Kill 14 Million People

But the left embraces the first rule of the criminal mind.  Never give up the con.  Cindy McCain, who is the Executive Director of  the World Food Program is telling the Trump administration: ‘We need help’ with food aid." 

If we see starving children most of us will find that unacceptable, and that's the hook they use to reel everyone in.  Helping the needy is a foundational Judaic/Christian moral principle.  But how far should that go?  How long should it go on? How did it become America's responsibility to feed the world?  Why are these nations starving in the first place? How many people in the world should we be feeding?  How many of those millions of dollars were squandered on keeping tyrants in power, versus actually feeding their societies?  I think perhaps Cindy McCain needs to provide some answers to those questions first.  

1. McCain-Feingold, USAID and the NGO Network
2. Seven ‘Far-Right’ Candidates Have Won in Latin America Since USAID Was Defunded 
3. GAO Faults State, USAID For Poor Oversight Of $1.2 Billion China Counter-Influence Effort

I saw this article, Democratic senators demand answers about conditions aboard USS Abraham Lincoln, and it touched a nerve.  I served in the Navy and on one occasion had an extended line period and I can tell you it gets difficult being cooped up in tight spaces working 12 on and 12 off seven days a week, and eating food that's reconstituted, and that was nowhere near as long as what this crew is facing.   I can only imagine how difficult an extended tour of  "more than 250 days" at sea must be like, and I have no doubt about how it's taking a toll in the mental health of the crew.  

Let's face it, just as in the normal world there are those who just can't face adversity as well as others.  I can also say...... this is the military, it's not meant to be a regular job,...... and anyone who joins has to know that. Fortunately, as it stands now another carrier is on it's way to replace the long serving USS Lincoln.  The real question that needs answering is why they weren't they relieved long before this?

Update, 8/18/26:  

• Somali “Outstanding Refugee” Winner Charged in Sex Trafficking Health Care Fraud By Daniel Greenfield • August 19, 2026 - What does it take to be an ‘outstanding refugee’ in Minnesota?   What does it take to be an ‘outstanding refugee’ in Minnesota? It’s not enough to be involved in Medicaid fraud. Any halfway competent Somali refugee who can invent his or her own health care company can do that.  To be truly outstanding, there also needs to be some sex trafficking allegedly involved.  So let’s honor the truly outstanding refugee achievements of Salman Elhi who raised the bar for Somalis all across Minnesota.......

What I'm Reading

By Rich Kozlovich

From the very beginning there was more than enough information available to show all this clabber about the poor starving Gazans, a theme lovingly embraced by the Pravda media, was nothing short of blatant leftist/Islamophilic propaganda.  All of which they could have easily proved was mythological.  Now....after all these years the United Nations has put out a report that debunks ...... debunks mind you.... the propaganda about children starving in Gaza. And in point of fact states "child nutrition in Gaza surpasses that of neighboring Arab states.   Why isn't that headline news?  

• Spare Us the Selective Outrage - Since October 7, we have been lectured nonstop about the supposedly singular sins of Israel. The campuses, the left-wing media, and the new Democratic Socialist officials, both federal and state, following the cue of student activists and professors from the Middle East, have painted Israel and their Jewish supporters as Nazis, fascists, and among the worst murderers in today's bloody world.  This is nonsensical. The medieval-style massacre of 1,200 Jews in their homes on October 7, during a time of peace, should have increased awareness of the existential dangers Israel faced. Instead, it spawned a gathering storm of antisemitism.....

Hate crimes are skyrocketing in New York City, and guess which group is the number one target for that aggression?  The Jews, and we're shocked? Mamdani's jihadist rhetoric has turned the monsters loose on a city with a huge Jewish population, many of which voted for Mamdani.  He's a jihadist. It isn't like no one knew who he was, what he believed, and who he supported.  So, why do people vote for people who tell you they hate you and approve of those who would kill you?

Let's get this once and for all.... just once please.... whether or not you like or dislike Jews; whether on not you like or dislike the state of Israel ....... they're the canary in the coal mine....... and western civilization had better start getting that.  

For those who don't understand that metaphor; before they properly ventilated coal mines miners faced high levels of toxic, odorless gases such as carbon monoxide and methane, so they carried canaries down in cages which were more sensitive to these gases than people. If the canaries got sick or died they knew to evacuate the mine immediately.  The destruction of Israel is merely a stepping stone toward their real goal;  destruction of western civilization.   

Israel rejects Trump's 15-point plan for Gaza and for good reason. It's a stupid plan!   Apparently the plan calls for Israeli forces to agree to a phased withdrawal, without a total, provably, disarmament of Hamas.  Hamas says no because Israel must end all forms of aggression first.  Now that takes a lot of crust.  But hey... not to worry, the plan calls on mediators to assure all parties are complying.  Get real, that's just another ploy to string out their ability to hide what they're really up to, and that's continuing their terrorist activities.  

This clabber about this being a plan that's "verifiable, that is reversible, that at each stage can be stopped, and that we have built up with a very clear-eyed understanding of what are the challenges ahead" is nonsense.  If at any time Hamas reneges the international community will ignore it or tell Israel they have to restrain their reaction to any violations.  All in order "to give the process a chance" it's "the only way forward", so  "just give peace a chance".  They never say that to these terrorists movements; odd isn't it?  Worse yet, they plan on spending billions of American dollars to rebuild Gaza.  I say...let them move to Egypt.... oh..wait... I forgot.  Egypt won't take them in, neither will any of the other Muslim nations of the world.  Wow, isn't that amazing, I wonder why?

It appears the federal government has a stricter view of terrorists in America, as:

The State Department’s War on Far-Left Terrorism The obituary for the Trump State Department’s efforts against “Far-Left Terrorism” (FLT) may have been premature. The Washington Post—from its lofty position as stenographer for the federal bureaucracy—declared the State Department’s Ministerial on the Resurgence of Political Terrorism a flop before it even began. Anonymous sources lined up to chortle that it was a waste of time and was intended only as public spectacle. According to the credentialed experts popular with the Post, the threat of far-left violence exists only in the minds of the president and his supporters.

Fraud and Government Waste is Rampant and Ubiquitous

By Rich Kozlovich

Fraud permeates everything the left touches, and many of those who profess to be on the right are either silent, complacent or complicit.  Then there are those who are happy about it.  In Godfather II gangster Hyman Roth told Michael Corleone, “Michael, we’re bigger than U.S. Steel.” 

The mobsters in “The Godfather” set their sights way too low. If they really wanted to make it big time, they should have targeted federal entitlement programs instead of gamblers and drug addicts. Not only does it pay better, but you can count on one political party to look the other way.  The Government Accountability Office (GAO) figures that fraudsters make off with more than $500 billion of federal taxpayer money a year, plus another $184 billion in “improper payments.” That isn’t just bigger than U.S. Steel. That’s five times as big as the entire steel industry.

1. Treasury Warns of Fraudsters Creating ‘Ghost Students’ to Steal Federal Student Aid.
2.  Beyond Fraud: Citizen Journalists Unmask Crazy Government Waste
3. GAO: Federal fraud could exceed $500B annually
4. GAO Says Fraud Risk High In $1.1T Of State-Run Federal Programs 

Health care costs have skyrocketed in the nation, the cost of health insurance for one can be as high as 10,000 a year.  Make no mistake, a big portion of this was caused by Obamacare, and more by massive levels of fraud.  In one case the Trump administration tracked nearly $300 billion fraud tab of that falls under the domain of the Department of Health and Human Services.  An agency that like all the rest is most likely filled with Deep Staters.  

1. Daycare centers without children taking in over 100 Million from Medicaid
2. The fraud and waste of California's $220 billion dollar Medi-Cal program, which are leaving taxpayers with massive runaway costs, and it got so bad the federal government suspended one billion dollars in Medicaid funds to California and to Minnesota.  More here. 
3. A man in New York stole 19 million in a Medicaid Fraud scheme.  
4. A man in Atlanta stole over five million from a children's hospital.
5. In this case over 2000 native Americans ended up either dead or missing in a scheme for criminals to steal could billions from Medicaid.  
6. Radicals in Wisconsin hiding behind a "nonprofit' scan is in reality protest group that since 2020 has been funded by the "federal government....including from the Department of Justice and state officials."  to the tune of  "$5 million in government funds.  

"For Today’s Democrats, Fraud Is A Feature, Not A Bug"

Its been discovered the left has been faking donations to their fund their political schemes.  ActBlue claims about donors has proven to be troublesome.  From people who said they they've never... ever.. made political donations to a man living in poor conditions having made "7,878 donations worth $93,168".  

“Many of the donors have a high frequency of donations, but low donation amounts,” Corrigan wrote. “These types of financial transactions are often used in money laundering and identity theft crime rings to not arise suspicions with high dollar amount transactions. The victims are chosen carefully because their information is publicly available, and Act Blue already has it.”

 In this case the criminals would be political operatives.  

1.   Concerns over Ilhan Omar's links to massive fraud explode on new evidence
2.   Why Are So Many Muslim Migrants Involved in Massive Fraud Schemes?
3.   Mamdani’s Wife Fundraised for Gaza Then Never Donated the Money 

With fraud at over a half trillion dollars you would might imagine someone would think something needs to be done.  Yet key GAO recommendations are being ignored.  Why?  Because, at least in my opinion, these agencies are filled with Deep Staters and lazy losers, and a Congress that goes on vacation while we're spiraling down a maelstrom of 400 trillion dollars in debt. 

 

There are over 200 programs paid for by the federal government that are run by the states costing 1.2 trillion dollars a year, "and despite their openness to fraud, the government does little to combat it."

Is there a fix?  Yes, and at the very least it's a good start. 

1. There was legislation that required agencies to report on their anti-fraud measures the Congress allowed to lapse in 2020, under .... guess who.... Joe Biden's administration. Congress needs to reimplement that legislation to "drive accountability".
2. Eliminate two thirds of the federal government. 
3. Here’s another option that nobody mentions yet would do much, much more to permanently combat fraud. Stop sending taxpayer money to the states altogether:  

"States have little incentive to combat fraud in these programs. Why should they? It’s not their money they’re trying to protect. If anything, this kind of fraud is good for state politicians. As we saw in Minnesota, it brings lots of money in, and every year they can push for more federal funds by claiming the need is greater than ever."

Will any of this happen? No. Democrats love it and the Republicans are invertebrates.  Remember, no matter how much they wail in sackcloth and ashes, they went on vacation while the nation spirals down a maelstrom of debt.  

Update:  

1. All Democrat State AGs Were Invited To VP Vance’s Anti-Fraud And Corruption Discussion, None Showed. Why? - All Democrats Boycott JD Vance's Anti-Fraud Roundtable, Because They're the Party of Looters and Shooters; Nick Shirley's Right-Hand Man Says That Autism Billing Went Up 47,000% (Which Means 470x) In Past Few Years. 

Update:  

1.  Two federal agencies routed taxpayer dollars to terror-linked charities, new reports find6h ago - Two federal agencies gave away roughly $2 billion in taxpayer-funded health and humanitarian contracts to charities that watchdogs and a Senate committee have flagged for terror ties, meaning the government's own vetting either missed those records or decided their terrorist-linked status didn't disqualify the groups. .....

The Middle East Forum (MEF) recently reported that 14 terror-linked and extremist organizations, led by CAIR, collected nearly $80 million from HHS through the Refugee Resettlement, Health, and Mosque Renovation grants. Through this fund, the Council on American-Islamic Relations' (CAIR) California chapter received the most of any Islamist group, collecting $42.2 million in funding from the HHS to provide legal and social services to Afghan refugees. 

Update:   

1. Trump’s Fraud Division takes the gloves off in fight against foreign nationals, others - The Department of Justice's fight against fraud is going to the next level. The Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division has now released its first comprehensive enforcement strategy. Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald circulated the memo on Thursday to all Fraud Division personnel, highlighting five focus areas: public trust, health care fraud, internal revenue scams, global trade subversion, and corporate misconduct........

Update:

1.  Why Democrats Might Be So Friendly to Medicaid Fraud – 2026  “Don’t look, don’t think” looks to be the attitude politicians from state Sen. John Liu to Gov. Kathy Hochul to then-Health Secretary Xavier Becerra took to what seems blatant Medicaid fraud in Flushing. Donations and other political support may help explain the New York pols’ obliviousness, though like Becerra these Democrats seem to think stopping fraud is a waste of taxpayer money. The Post’s Chadwick Moore uncovered a trail of campaign contributions to Hochul and other pols from owners of some Flushing’s biggest Social Adult Day-Care businesses — centers that were empty of clients when our reporters visited (though none yet stands accused of wrongdoing). In 2022, Hochul’s campaign took in $55,000 from adult day-care operators who billed Medicaid more than $40 million since 2018.......
2. For Today’s Democrats, Fraud Is A Feature, Not A Bug –One of the unanswered questions raised by Minnesota’s massive welfare scandal is how it could have gone on so long, given its scale and the fact that alarm bells had been clanging for years. The New York Times provided the answer, if inadvertently, when it quoted a former fraud investigator in the state attorney general’s office, who said that “There is a perception that forcefully tackling this issue might cause political backlash among the Somali community, which is a core voting bloc” for Democrats. That is it in a nutshell when it comes to government waste, fraud, and abuse......

Why Conservatives Hate Democrats, Part I

By Rich Kozlovich

 

I recently ran a four part series on why conservatives hate Republicans, Part I, Part II, Part III and Part IV, and now it's the Democrats turn, and ya just gotta love this picture.  I have to assume this was an AI generated picture, but it's profound!  This appeared in today's Issues and Insights article entitled, Fake It ‘Til You Make It calling that the "Dems’ New Campaign Motto", saying:

What is it with Democrats and their fake supporters, fake accents, fake backgrounds, fake accomplishments? Is it because they think voters are that shallow and stupid? Or because they don’t want anyone to know how incredibly out of touch they are with regular Americans? 

Okay, and that's new how?   

The article goes on to show how they go so far disguise themselves as Republicans who are all in for Democrats. Talarico masquerades as a meat eating Texan and dedicated Christian.  AOC fakes a southern accent and babbles incoherently backtracking to hide her insanity which was caused by.... watch out now here it comes..... COVID.  I'm just shocked she didn't blame the Jews and/or Trump.  

Mamdani poses as the child of a poor immigrant family... when it suits him, with Kamala posing as just another working girl, also faking a black accent.  El-Sayed says he's a physician, he wasn't.  Planter was an oyster farmer who had one customer.... his mother, and he was shocked.... shocked I tell you.... to find out his tattoos were Nazi tattoos.  Imagine that.  Tim Walz lied about ... wellll.... everything.  If he wasn't talking he wasn't lying, and if he's not certifiable, no one is.   All attempting to present themselves as "just a buncha gosh-darn banjo-pickin’ hillbillies from yonder flyover country."

This isn't anything new, and it's not just done by Democrats, but this is part and parcel of Democrats more so than for Republicans, Independents or Libertarians.  

I've been saving articles about the Democrat party for months and it's amounted to 15 drafts in queue.  Well, it's long overdue for me to start publishing as series of what I've saved going back to June of this year.  

On June 21, 2026 Derek Hunter posted this article asking, Were Democrats Always This Dumb?, saying:

It’s a rhetorical question, but it’s one worth asking: 

1. Were Democrats always like this? 
2. Did they always hate the country? Did they always side with our enemies if they didn’t like the President? 
3. Did they always choose abusers of women if they voted in the right way? 
4. Were they always willing to overlook anything, no matter how horrendous, if it was done by someone on their team? 

Ultimately, the real question is whether or not Democrats were always this dumb?

He then goes on to enumerate just how stupid and crazy they are, and how this isn't anything new,  "Kamala Harris is a stupid person, educated well beyond her intelligence, famous for tossing word salads full of empty calories and meaningless platitudes."  Adam Schiff is an economic idiot, Al Gore is the consummate corrupt hustler and con artist,  Graham is their new hero, in spite of the fact he's a self acknowledged Nazi and communists who abuses women and cheated on his wife "before the ilk dried on his marriage license".  But this isn't anything new.  They loved Ted Kennedy, a drunk, a notorious philanderer, and can reasonably be held accountable to the death of Mary Jo Kopechne.  They just thought House member Gerry Studds' defiance over having had sex "with a minor in the House Page Program" was laudable.  

Now they're lining up with an Ick factor weirdo, James Talarico, from Texas who was for open borders, global warming initiatives, veganism, and trans operations for children..... before he was against them.  

The interesting twist to this story is he beat an even more radical than Talarico, Jasmine Crockett, who being the party loyalist and is in no way resentful he beat her in the primary, (that's a bit of snarc by the way), she's insisting black voters won't support him because she won't support him.  Well, there may be some to which that applies, but let's face it, I think black voters may think he's as icky as do white voters.

The real foundational values of the left are hate, greed, envy, selfishness and violence.  What's worse is they're transferring their stupidity to the next generations via our corrupted public and higher education systems.

On June 20, 2026 Francis Menton published this piece, Socialism: On The March, Or Not So Much?, saying; 

The famous quote from Winston Churchill about Socialism is as apt today as when first uttered in 1948: "Socialism is the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy." Forty-three years later in 1991, Churchill stood fully vindicated, as the Soviet Union fell, following decades of not just stagnation and decline, but immense human suffering and death. At the time I thought, no one could ever possibly again take this ideology seriously.

 Well, here we are in the United States of 2026, and you could easily get the impression that Socialism is on the march. Politicians proudly claiming the Socialist (or even Communist) brand hold the mayoralties of all the largest cities, and their movement is the source of all the energy in today’s Democratic Party........

He goes on to point out the insanity the Democrats have embraces is not being discarded by our neighbors to our South saying: 

It’s almost as if the Latin Americans have finally looked at the ruin that the left and Socialism have wreaked on places like Argentina, Bolivia, Venezuela, and Cuba, and decided that it is time to try something different.

What's startling is history and reality have profoundly demonstrated that leftism in all of it's socialist manifestations is an abject failure economically, culturally, socially, and morally.  If that's so, and it is, why are we having to debate the value of socialism after 237 years of historical proof that socialism is a disaster? 

Update: Republican Senate campaign arm previews messaging offensive exposing Democratic hypocrisy  - According to a memo obtained by the Washington Examiner, the NRSC is targeting Democrats who “claim the moral high ground on corruption while engaging in the same behavior they condemn—proving their supposed crackdown is nothing more than a campaign talking point.”.......