Dismantling “the Administrative State”
The White House just announced that Cheeto Jesus will be unveiling his new budget priorities tomorrow which include slashing the EPA budget by 31% and the State Department by 28%. Son of Jabba the Hut, known as Steve Bannon to non-aliens, said this was part of CJ’s efforts to “dismantle the administrative state.”
Funny they bring up the State Department…A couple of weeks ago, I was in Canada for a meeting; stupidly I had let my passport expire at the end of the month, so to make it easier to get back into the states the following week, I decided to just go to a US Consulate and get an emergency renewal. I called the US Consulates in Vancouver, Calgary, Ottawa, and even Houston. I called no less than 10 times, never got a human, and never got a call back to my numerous messages. In the end, I was able to talk my way back in since I am part of Global Entry. The customs agent was actually pretty cool, said it happened all the time, and signed me through.
When I got back to Houston, I called the US Passport office to get an appointment to renew – and called and called and called. So, far, no call back, no one answering the phones here, either. So, I’ve got a great idea, why don’t we slash the State Department budget so services to citizens will suck even MORE?
Oh, I left out the good part about CJ’s plan – he’s going to take the savings and reduce the deficit build more war machines. After all, spending half of our discretionary spending on war making simply isn’t enough.
Jesus. No, really. Jesus.
Hmmmm… El Jefe. Sounds like they don’t want to let anyone come into the USA or leave it. What’s the term for that? Oh, right! Solitary confinement.
Hey. Here’s a moneymaker. Signs that say BROKEN. We can hang them all over the place in a few months.
1I hate those bastards. The upside down flag on my bumper is becoming more appropriate by the day. The good news is, their idiot supporters will come to hate the snacilbupeR too.
2When the trains no longer run on time there will be an accounting.
3Alan, where I live the trains aren’t a problem, but when the planes can’t go, we’ll hear about it…
4Unfortunately, their supporters aren’t bright. When things go south, the GOP will tell them that we wouldn’t have these problems if we didn’t have gay marriage – an they will believe it, even though those dots don’t connect. The supporters will never think that they were conned, only that they need a new scapegoat.
5What “half of discretionary spending”? Last I saw, it was 57% (and that doesn’t count the sums given for veterans’ care and other corollary spending for military matters).
Does no one remember that, because Congress reduced funding to the State Department in 2010-2012, security for diplomatic facilities in places like Benghazi, Libya was severely compromised?
6Destroy the administrative state? Does that mean Social Security Administration has a target on its back? Virtually everything that makes this country run has an administration. Yea, I know there are people out there who think the whole thing is done by magic. They have yet to figure out what to do when the “magic” no longer exists. I am so damn glad I have family in Canada!
7We already spend more on the military than the next ten countries combined… but by all means let’s throw more money into warmaking and slash funds for clean air and water, health services, and anything else that makes life in the US worth living.
You know what this is building up to. Trump wants to win a war. Any guesses where he’ll start one?
8Rhea? At the rate he’s going, the USA.
9Oy. Looks like my decision to renew my passport in December while Obama was still in office was a good one (it was due to expire this month). Eleven days after I sent off my renewal, my new passport arrived in the mail, even though the forms said it would be a longer wait.
Now… who knows?
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