The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

 

The good:

A U.S. judge on Saturday declared President Donald Trump's firing of the head of a federal watchdog agency illegal in an early test of the scope of presidential power likely to be decided at the U.S. Supreme Court.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington had previously ruled Hampton Dellinger, the head of the Office of Special Counsel who is responsible for protecting whistleblowers, could remain in his post pending a ruling.

 

Jackson said in her ruling  that upholding Trump's ability to fire Dellinger would give him "a constitutional license to bully officials in the executive branch into doing his will."

 

The Justice Department filed a notice late on Saturday saying they were appealing Berman's ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

 

Dellinger, who was appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden and approved by the Senate to a five-year term last year, said in an email to Reuters he is "grateful to see the court confirm the importance and legality of the job protections Congress afforded my position."

 

He added his "efforts to protect federal employees generally, and whistleblowers in particular, from unlawful treatment will continue."...  (our emphasis)

The convicted felon Malignant Fascist will continue to press this and other challenges to his power as a would- be autocrat.   Eventually, along with other cases challenging his assuming dictatorial powers, this will end up in front of the Republican Supreme Court, as corrupt a group as has ever sat in judgement other than in Russia or Nazi Germany.

The bad:

Legendary investor Warren Buffett made a rare comment on President Donald Trump’s tariffs, saying punitive duties could trigger inflation and hurt consumers.

“Tariffs are actually, we’ve had a lot of experience with them. They’re an act of war, to some degree,” said Buffett, whose conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway has large businesses in insurance, railroad, manufacturing, energy and retail. He made the remarks in an interview with CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell for a new documentary on the late publisher of the Washington Post, Katharine Graham.

“Over time, they are a tax on goods. I mean, the Tooth Fairy doesn’t pay ’em!” Buffett said with a laughter. “And then what? You always have to ask that question in economics. You always say, ‘And then what?’”

This marks the first public remark from the 94-year-old “Oracle of Omaha” on Trump’s trade policies. Last week, Trump announced that the sweeping 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada will go into effect March 4 and that China will be charged an additional 10% tariff on the same date. China has vowed to retaliate... (our emphasis)

The moron madman seems determined to wreck the "goldilocks" economy gifted to him by President Biden through ruinous tariffs affecting consumers, multiple industries and agriculture, as well as through his mass deportation of immigrant labor.  "But we didn't vote for that," the plaintive cry of the American cuckoo was heard throughout the land.

The ugly: 

Elon Musk is calling Social Security a “Ponzi scheme,” prompting suspicion that the world’s richest man is merely hoping to privatize a social safety net that has existed since the 1930s — and has kept millions of elderly, poor and disabled Americans from destitution.

The billionaire argued Friday on “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast that the United States government is “one big pyramid scheme” before blasting Social Security as “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time.” 

When asked to clarify, Musk said, “Well, people pay into Social Security and the money goes out of Social Security immediately, but the obligation for Social Security is your entire retirement career. If you look at the future obligations of Social Security, it far exceeds the tax revenue.”

Musk, who oversees Trump’s cost-cutting initiative for federal spending, the Department of Government Efficiency, added that “people are living way longer than expected” and thus the government’s obligation to pay the debt “will be much worse in the future.”

He is far from the first conservative to characterize Social Security as a “Ponzi scheme,” which refers to a type of fraud in which existing customers get payouts that come from the investments of new customers. 

The Social Security Administration has said it could face a shortage of funds by 2035. But many Democrats have argued that the program’s funds should simply be shored up by eliminating the cap on Social Security taxes for high earners, meaning that people who make a lot of money would pay proportionately more into the program.

Elsewhere during his podcast appearance, Musk shared debunked claims about Social Security...  (our emphasis)

The illegal immigrant South African, ketamine- addled richest man in the world would love to see us go back to the Depression era when there was no social safety net, and if you lost your job and savings in an economic crash it was tough nuts;  so you worked until you dropped.  It's not like most retirees can live on their Social Security alone now as it is.  What is ugly and galling is that this sociopathic ignoramus has no clue what it's like to live on a budget, or to try to plan for a secure retirement.  He wasn't brought up in American and hasn't the foggiest notion of what the lives of average Americans are like.  This skipping dipshit who started his business with his daddy's millions now has the shitfaced gall to chainsaw his way through our country, to hell with the consequences and who gets cut in the process. (To underscore his basic un- American core, he's calling for the U.S. to get out of NATO and the UN -- Putin's got another asset in DC!)

But, if you want to see how a real Ponzi scheme works, the convicted felon Malignant Loser's got one going.