Your Tax Dollars At Work -- Hegseth's Spending Spree

 

Those warfighters boys at the Pentagon sure know how to spend our money -- like "Whiskey Pete" Hegseth on a toot :

The Pentagon spent more money in September—the end of the 2025 fiscal year—than it had in any other year since 2008. But a good chunk of the budget wasn’t used for anything that could be considered a pertinent military expense.

The Defense Department burned through $93 billion that month alone, signing checks left and right in order to dry up its congressionally allocated budget, according to a recent analysis by the government watchdog Open the Books. 

There is pressure to spend: If federal agencies don’t use the entirety of their budgets by the end of the fiscal year, then they lose access to that cash forever, potentially putting themselves in a situation where they have to request a reduced budget the following year. But the Pentagon’s long list of luxuries is hardly defensible.

Some of the frivolous September purchases made under Secretary Pete Hegseth’s stewardship include a $98,329 Steinway & Sons grand piano for the Air Force chief of staff’s home, $5.3 million for Apple devices such as the new iPad, and an astronomical amount of shellfish, including $2 million for Alaskan king crab and $6.9 million worth of lobster tail. (Lobster tail is apparently a favorite of Hegseth’s Pentagon—the department spent more than $7.4 million total on the luxury item in March, May, June, and October.)

In other pricey food purchases, the government decided to drop $15.1 million for ribeye steak (again, just in September), $124,000 for ice cream machines, and $139,224 on 272 orders of doughnuts.

Weeks later, millions of Americans would lose their SNAP benefits amid the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. More still stand to lose eligibility to the food assistance program thanks to a Republican crusade that added stricter work requirements to the program, piling on paperwork and documentation mandates.

One of the largest bulk expenditures was just for furniture, for which the Pentagon decided to shell out $225 million. That included $12,000 for fruit basket stands, and checks totaling more than $60,000 for Herman Miller recliners. All in all, the agency spent more on furniture in 2025 than it had in over a decade.

In the last five days of September alone, the department blew through $50.1 billion on just grants and contracts. For context, only nine other countries spend that much on the entirety of their defense budget per year. It’s also more than the total military budgets of Canada and Mexico combined... (our emphasis)

Good to know those MAGAts who embraced DOGE to cut social safety net programs are just as hypocritical about "fiscal conservatism" as they are about illegitimate wars, a pedo president, free and fair elections, deficits, etc., etc.  Well, as long as the "right" people are comfy and well-fed, let everyone else eat cake, amirite?!

The Republicans' Greatest Skill -- Stealing Valor

As should be clear by now, the MAGAt Republican Party/ cult is not a governing party.  You simply have to look at the chaotic Trump administration and the last two years of Republican dysfunction in the House of Representatives to see that.  The cult traffics in amorphous white nationalist grievance, race baiting, and hateful sloganeering.  To the extent it has policy proposals, they've been exposed as the authoritarian fever dreams they are in the wildly unpopular Christofascist "Project 2025."

So, what are they good at?  As Catherine Rampell reminds us -- "The GOP's greatest skill: taking credit for things Democrats did:"

Republican vice-presidential nominee JD Vance has accused his Democratic counterpart of “stolen valor,” a term that typically refers to lying about a military service record.

But the actual perpetrators of “stolen valor” in this election are Vance and his party — if not in the military context, then at least in the public service one. Republican politicians have repeatedly claimed credit for valiant actions they didn’t take, pro-family legislation they didn’t support and other popular policies they’re trying to repeal.

For instance, as Democrats celebrated the Inflation Reduction Act’s two-year anniversary last week, Republicans, who unanimously voted against the law in 2022, condemned it and pledged to claw it back. (They’ve already voted a couple dozen times to repeal various portions of it.)

But when it comes to the projects the law subsidized, these same Republicans are big cheerleaders — both for the projects and their own (imagined) role in enabling them.  [snip]

This is hardly the only initiative Republican lawmakers have bogarted credit for despite their efforts to stop it. Last fall, House Speaker Mike Johnson (La.) cheered the expansion of Florida’s Sarasota airport, which he toured with Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.). That project received at least $16 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. While some Republicans supported this law, both men voted against it.

Similar examples abound for Republicans who voted against the Chips and Science Act. [snip]

More recently, Vance spent the past month defending his “childless cat ladies” remarks by explaining he simply meant Republicans are more devoted to family-friendly policies than Democrats are. Which family-friendly policies should Republicans be so proud of, you ask? Oh, you know: the ones championed and passed by Democrats.

For instance, Vance often says he’s been fighting to expand the child tax credit. But earlier this month, when the Senate voted on a bill to do that, Vance couldn’t be bothered to show up. His Republican colleagues blocked the bill from advancing.

Similarly, in 2021, not a single Republican voted for President Joe Biden’s temporary expansion of the tax credit, which cut child poverty in half.  [snip]

To be fair, Vance has not stolen all the undue credit for himself. He’s also praised Trump for things Trump didn’t do. For instance, Vance credited Trump for a recent prisoner swap that, ahem, President Joe Biden negotiated. And Trump himself is of course the master of laying claim to other presidents’ valorous and public-spirited achievements.

You know what they say: impersonation is the highest form of flattery.

They also say, when you elect clowns, expect a circus.  

For far too long, they've been allowed to employ the tactic of posing as "small government" conservatives, while voting against needed projects and then taking credit for the benefits that land in their congressional district.  (Their impulse to have the government control the reproductive freedom of families and other aspects of life and culture is a whole other hypocrisy for these "small government" conservatives.)  They're starting to be exposed for the frauds they are, but expect the "stolen valor" tactics to continue, because it's all those nihilists have.

Lying MAGAts Tout Projects They Opposed

Nearly three years after passage, President Biden's infrastructure bill is pumping roughly $1.2 trillion into local projects, ranging from public transportation, to improvements in roads and bridges, to power plant upgrades. Now that an election year is upon us, deceitful Republicans who voted against the bill with the encouragement of the Malignant Loser are showing up locally to claim credit for the projects it created. Politico has details:

"Only 13 House GOP lawmakers voted for the 2021 law to fund roads, rails and bridges, a deal shaped in large part by Senate negotiators whom conservatives mistrust. Some of those 13 left Congress after facing threats from the right and vociferous criticism from former President Donald Trump, who said they should be 'ashamed of themselves.' The vast majority of Republicans opposed the bill due to the huge price tag, and many simply didn’t want to give President Joe Biden a win.

But almost three years later, the slow-moving machinery of the federal purse is kicking into gear. Highway projects in Iowa have already opened, more than a billion dollars have been pledged for a power plant upgrade in California and millions have been slated for a public transit project in South Carolina. There’s still a ways to go on most projects, but announcements and preparations have started across the country.

Those battleground Republicans who opposed the law are careful not to tout their personal involvement in it on Capitol Hill — instead, they’re showing up at opening ceremonies and praising the actions of local leaders." (our emphasis)

Politico reports on some of the vulnerable Congressional Republicans who voted against infrastructure projects and who are now praising them: Marianette Miller-Meeks (IA), Nancy Mace (SC), David Valadao (CA), and Michelle Steel (CA). The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is promising to target all of the hypocritical and dishonest MAGAts who are claiming credit for something they fought against: 

“Since House Republicans have no record of accomplishments, they are trying to falsely take credit for ones that aren’t theirs,” said Viet Shelton, a spokesperson for House Democrats’ campaign arm. “This is exactly the sort of hypocritical behavior that the public hates, and the DCCC will be sure to remind voters of Republicans’ do-nothing agenda between now and November.”

Given the public's general unawareness of how their Congresscritter votes on most issues, it's important that this MAGAt hypocrisy be highlighted regularly from now to November.

 (image: depositphotos.com)

 

QOTD -- Weaponization

 

"... [E]ven before the indictment was unsealed, voters were treated to an onslaught of GOP comments tarring the case as corrupt and unconscionable. See House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) decrying a 'grave injustice.' Listen to former vice president and 2024 presidential candidate Mike Pence contort himself into an impossible position arguing simultaneously that no one should be above the law and that the indictment shouldn’t have moved forward.

"If anyone is guilty of turning the legal system into a political hand grenade, it has been the Republicans themselves. In the 2016 campaign, when questions were raised about Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, Mr. Trump himself urged rally crowds to chant 'lock her up. This time, however, they’re the ones on the defense with regard to the possibly illegal handling of sensitive government information." -- Washington Post editorial board on the reaction by his cultists and their exploiters to the indictment of the Malignant Loser on 38 felony counts. 

In a bonus article, Philip Bump writes about "The Three Tiers of Trump Sycophancy," which does a pretty nice job of sorting out the clueless dead- ender base from the exploiters and the re- directors.  One of the slicker operators is oleaginous Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn "Red Vest" Youngkin, who gets some needed blow- back for his accusation that a "two- tiered system of justice" is what's to blame for the Malignant Loser's indictment.  What a two- dimensional phony (meaning he has a bright future in the Republican/ Seditionist/ Forced Birth Party).

"Dark Brandon" Rises, Rips Republicans

 

President Biden in recent rallies has taken the gloves off in attacking un-American MAGA Republicans and their enablers, turning their referentially obscene "Let's Go Brandon" taunt around on them as "Dark Brandon." From his dismissive term for them as "Trumpies," to his observation that they're eager to take credit for popular bills that they voted against, he's sharpened his attack less than nine weeks before the mid-term elections. From the Associated Press:

"Biden’s increasingly stark warnings about Trump-fueled elements of the Republican Party are making up the core part of his midterm message, combined with repeated reminders to voters about recent Democratic accomplishments and a promise that democracy can still produce results for the American people. But it’s the blistering statements from Biden about his predecessor and adherents of the 'Make America Great Again' philosophy that have given many Democrats a bolt of fresh energy as they campaign to keep control of Congress. [snip]

Biden’s forceful campaign-year posture comes as Democrats are feeling more optimistic about the midterms, when the party controlling the White House has historically faced losses in Congress. A combination of legislative accomplishments, polarizing Republican candidates and voter fury stoked by the overturning of Roe vs. Wade have Democrats feeling they could see smaller losses in the House than initially anticipated, while retaining their barebones majority in the Senate."  (our emphasis)

In an appearance in Cleveland yesterday to promote the benefits of the America Rescue Plan which provided $1.9 trillion in relief for businesses and individuals, and which passed with no Republican votes. NBC News had the story:

"'My Republican friends in Congress — not a single one of them voted for the rescue plan. I'm not going to embarrass any one of them, but I have here a list about how back in their districts, they're bragging about the rescue plan,' Biden said during his remarks at Cuyahoga Community College. 'I mean, some people have no shame,' he said with a laugh.

'But I'm happy they know that it benefited their constituents,' he added.

Biden held up a copy of the list as he spoke, but did not read it aloud. It had 13 names on it that were visible, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R.-N.C., and Rep. Greg Pence, R-Ind., brother of former Vice President Mike Pence."  (our emphasis)

Biden mocked their hypocrisy in a quick imitation of them boasting to their constituents about something they didn't do: 

Biden does an impression of Republicans trying to take credit for legislation they didn’t vote for lol pic.twitter.com/bx8vyJSgfV

— Acyn (@Acyn) September 8, 2022

We've been waiting for this combative, energized Biden to appear, and with no time to spare. Keep going after the shameless, "semi-fascist" Rethuglicans now that you have the wind in your sails. 

Student Debt Relief Helps Working And Middle Class; Republicans Mad

 

Contrary to much of the disinformation being spread out there, a new analysis shows that it's primarily working and middle class borrowers who will benefit from President Biden's student loan debt relief plan:

President Joe Biden's student loan debt relief plan is expected to help mainly working and middle class borrowers, an updated report from an influential research group found. That's a shift from its earlier projection that more higher-income borrowers would benefit from basic loan forgiveness.

About 75% of the benefit will go to households making $88,000 or less per year, according to the Penn Wharton Budget Model analysis released Friday.

 

The three-part relief package could cost up to $605 billion over 10 years, though the price tag could exceed $1 trillion depending on how the proposed income-driven repayment program is actually set up and how many people participate, Penn Wharton found. That's substantially higher than its initial estimate of a less comprehensive debt relief plan.

 

The revised report takes into account the plan's provision that would forgive up to $20,000 of debt held by those who qualified for Pell grants as undergraduates, as well as the measure to forgive up to $10,000 for those who did not receive such grants.

It was the added provision of the Pell grants, which are directed more toward lower income borrowers, that shifted the potential benefits toward working and middle class students.  This isn't full debt cancellation by any means, but it's going to help a lot of people who desperately need some relief -- not the upper crusty Ivy League alums working at Goldman Sachs, as Republicans would have you believe.

The pause on loan repayments, initiated to ease financial burdens brought on by the covid pandemic, was extended to December 31.

 

We've seen the strong pushback from various folks, including the White House Twitter account, pointing to the blatant hypocrisy of Republican office holders and right- wing bloviators who received loan forgiveness for their PPP loans.  Now, Michael Hiltzik at the Los Angeles Times puts some more of the "I got mine, too bad about you" philosophy of the 1%er Republican Party on display:

They’ve been assailing the plan as an undue burden on American taxpayers.

There isn’t much to say about this argument, aside from this: They have some nerve.

We can say so because some of the loudest voices attacking the proposal are those of GOP senators and representatives who got their own university degrees courtesy of huge subsidies from taxpayers. 

They’re graduates of public state universities, generally in the era when in-state tuition at those institutions was far, far lower than it is today, even accounting for inflation. Who picked up the tab back then? Taxpayers, that’s who.  [snip]

The bottom 50% of households, who report $41,000 or less in taxable income, pay only 3.1% of federal income taxes (but a much larger share of payroll taxes, which aren’t affected by student loan forgiveness).

That helps explain why Republicans are so exercised about Biden’s plan, which would concentrate financial relief on middle- and working-class families.

The Republicans don’t care about them, except as pawns in a political battle; they care about their patrons, the rich. It’s the latter who will pay for the student loan relief. Should they have our sympathy? Not after they received an enormous handout via the Republican tax cuts of 2017.

What gets overlooked in all the discussion of the student debt crisis is the value of higher education, access to which is ostensibly the goal of America’s clumsy financing system. Republicans obviously understand that value, since so many of them sought support from their home state taxpayers to acquire it. 

They just want today’s generation of students and their families to pay full-price, unlike themselves.  (our emphasis)

Forever lying, dividing and punching down:  your *semi-fascist* Republican Party, folks.

BONUS:  As Gene notes in comments, the oleaginous weasel and representative of the "working man's party" Sen. Ted "Cancun" Cruz had his revealing comments about who would benefit from the loan relief. 

QOTD -- Full-Time Republican Hypocrisy

 

"Covering the hypocrisy of the Trump right is a full-time beat these days. 'Law and order' Republicans now embrace insurrectionists. Those who decried 'cancel culture' now ban books and history lessons. Conservatives who supported 'tort reform' now enshrine the rights of private citizens to sue one another. A party that welcomed libertarians now has officials incentivizing people to report on their neighbors. Onetime Cold Warriors now sympathize with Putin.

"The inconsistency over street protests is particularly black and white.

"When a convoy of White people in trucks promotes chaos and lawlessness on the northern border, Republican officials call them heroes, and former president Donald Trump invites them to the United States. When a caravan of Brown people on foot posed a remote chance of chaos and lawlessness on the southern border in 2018, Trump called in the military to protect against the 'MANY CRIMINALS.'

"When (predominantly White) crowds protest for the right to ignore public health rules in mostly peaceful but occasionally violent and highly disruptive actions, Republican officials hail the glory of civil disobedience. When (heavily Black) crowds protested for racial justice in mostly peaceful but occasionally violent and highly disruptive actions, Trump called them 'rioters, looters and anarchists' not to mention 'terrorists,' 'arsonists' and 'violent mobs.'"  -- Dana Milbank, on the full-time hypocrisy beat of the rotted out, fascist Republican Party.  But, we're beyond hypocrisy.  Their brand has been forever changed: Trump is the party, the party is Trump. 

No Bottom To Rand Paul's Cynical Hypocrisy

 

The people of several states, including the Commonwealth of Kentucky, were devastated by the tornadoes and severe storms that swept through their communities on Friday (see photos below). Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) has been proactive in getting Federal emergency disaster relief. Then there's Kentucky's far right, nihilistic, wanker clown of a Senator, Rand "Ayn Rand" Paul, who sent this letter off to the White House, begging for Federal assistance:

(click to enlarge)

The fact is that Paul, in his despicable two terms in the Senate, voted against disaster relief for other states, like Florida, Texas, New Jersey and New York. He also voted against aid to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria devastated the island in 2017.

Federal disaster relief will go to Kentucky and the other affected states, as it should. But it would be nice if President Biden would respond to Paul's letter by pointing out that, while Paul now requests relief for his state, he's been maliciously consistent in his opposition to aid to other states after natural disasters. List each example of Paul's opposition, but let him know that, thanks to Gov. Beshear, relief is on the way, so take a seat. Oh and STFU when it comes to disaster relief henceforth. Copies to every media outlet in Kentucky.

Youngkin's Hypocrisy

 

The folks across the river from us have an off-year election coming up in a few weeks (early voting is well underway). Trump- endorsed lying weasel Glenn Youngkin is in a tighter- than- it- should- be race against former Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe.  Mask and vaccine mandates have become wedge turnout issues for Youngkin (as well as the racially- charged topic of "Critical Race Theory," which is not taught in K-12), with Youngkin trying to have it both ways by opposing mandates while saying he got the vaccine.  This ad exposes his hypocrisy:

QOTD -- "Republicans' Galling Bad Faith"

"Now, facing another presidential election that they expect to lose, Republicans are caterwauling about Democratic calls to expand the court. As they prepare to jam through Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, Republicans are shocked — shocked! — that Democrats would contemplate playing constitutional hardball just as Republicans do. If Democrats jettison the Senate filibuster and add judges to the Supreme Court, Senator Ben Sasse said on 'Fox News Sunday,' they’d be 'suicide bombing' American institutions.

"Say this for Republicans: They are very good at umbrage. It might even be sincere; from Reconstruction to the New Deal to the civil rights revolution, conservatives have long felt genuinely victimized by the prospect of equality. That doesn’t mean, however, that bad-faith right-wing arguments about the courts merit a respectful hearing. [snip]

"... On Monday, the first day of hearings for Barrett, Senator Sasse delivered a sanctimonious lecture about 'eighth-grade civics,' denouncing proposals to 'change the outcome of what courts do in the future by trying to change the size and composition of the court.' It was hard to tell if he’s really that pompously oblivious to Republican hypocrisy, or if he was just trolling. Maybe it doesn’t matter.

"Republicans once insisted that Merrick Garland, Obama’s final Supreme Court nominee, didn’t deserve a hearing because the election was only 11 months away. They should be taken exactly as seriously when they claim, after nearly four years of Trumpism, to care about the unwritten rules of American governance." -- Michelle Goldberg, in "Republicans' Galling Bad Faith About The Supreme Court." Perhaps others in the media will stop repeating bad faith Republican talking points about the courts.  The norm- demolishing Trumpist Republicans have sown the wind;  after the election, they must reap the whirlwind.