Happy Saint Patrick’s Day 2017!

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I sincerely hope you’ll all be down by the river swilling that green beer today. Go ahead. I can manage the traffic-free roads in the hinterland.

Saint Patrick was born a Roman citizen in Britain. At age 16 he was kidnapped and enslaved in Ireland. He suffered his bondage for six years before escaping back to his home. Later, as a priest and a bishop, he returned to Ireland as a missionary of the Church. This in itself is a miracle I think.

Have a great, greenish day!

Perrin’s FY 2018 Federal Budget Review and Counter Analysis

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Totally. Out. Of. Control.

President Trump released his 2018 Budget Blueprint to MAGA yesterday.

See the Budget Blueprint HERE.

Well, it’s really a little more than 1/3 of the Budget, the “discretionary” spending. The other, majority, parts are essentially off-limits. Those are the “entitlements” – namely: Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

Here’s the big picture, courtesy of President Obama’s 2017 Budget, which is 99% accurate for comparison:

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National Priorities.

And that was not a true budget, a complete budget. Washington doesn’t do those anymore (unless Trump succeeds). Lately, for the past decade or so, “budgets” have been cobbled together from various separate spending proposals.

Another off-limits chunk is the interest on the federal debt – $303 Billion or 7% for 2017 – it will be much the same for 2018. So, that’s off-limits as is “health” and SSI.

Trump did do some seeming major cutting proposals for much of what’s left:

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NBC News.

That NBC chart looks pretty drastic. It seems horribly radical if you’re a liberal. It seems wonderfully radical if you’re a conservative. I’m neither (or both plus some [or minus some]) and it seems utterly unimpressive to me. Recall that those percentage cuts are each tied to numbers representing other percentages of the whole thing. The net effect is minimal. An explanation from the MAGA Budget 2018, page 49, Table 1 (Caps):

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White House / OMB (BS).

If trump has his way, discretionary spending will be $1.151 Billion for 2018, as opposed to $1.181 Billion in 2017 – a savings of $30 Billion (2.5% of 2017 totals). That’s a cut of .7% off the approximate total budget.

In other words, Trump has taken a fingernail file to a job fit for an axe or a chainsaw or some TNT…

I’m just not impressed … at all. Yes, this is a step in the right direction. Rather, it’s a slight turning of the foot for a small, baby step in that direction. The journey of 1,000 miles begins as such, kind of, sort of, maybe, a little…

Then again, I’m only one of 330 Million or so who resides inside the defunct borders of the Old Republic (maybe one of 270 Million or so actual Americans). I can’t vote on this and no one in power cares what I think. Therefore, I am liberated. I can give you my analysis and counter-proposal free from interference. Here goes:

Let’s imagine that I had dictatorial or god-like powers over the matter. Here’s how I might approach it:

Social Security – Not in the Constitution. Cut 100%. Gone. $1.4 Trillion saved.

Medicare/Medicaid – Not in the Constitution. Cut 100%. Gone. $1.2 Trillion saved.

Interest on the debt – The debt is based on Congress’s Satanic relationship with the Federal Reserve, all of which is contrary to the Constitution. As such, I would abolish the Fed. And I would repudiate and cancel 100% of the debt. In fact, I’d have a total debt Jubilee: all debts (public and private) totally erased. And I would make debt illegal. Usurious lending would be a capital felony. All interest payments eliminated. $.3 Trillion saved.

Military – The Constitution says they can have a standing army for 2 years. They’ve had one for 200 years. And it has nothing to do with Defense – all Offense and that is geared towards money-making for special interests and has nothing to do with “winning” anything. I’d cut it to around $100 Billion for 2018. After that, a 100% complete deletion as all air and land functions are turned over to the Several States and their Militias (or not). The Navy, actually provided for in Article I, I would also turn over to the States or to Privateers on a profit (or not) basis – (that’s how we ran off the British in large part and technology has come a long way since). $.5 Trillion saved.

Other discretionary – Not in the Constitution. Cut 100%. Gone. $.5 Trillion saved. And all unnecessary. The Dept. of Education educates no one. The Department of Energy produces no energy. The Treasury is little more than a middleman between the Fed and Goldman Sachs. The VA would not be needed without a Dept. of Offense. NASA did great things but the future is private space works. Earth existed for something like 4 Billion years without Dept. of the Interior management; odds are it could continue to do so. Etc. Etc. Etc. The States and private citizens could feel free to provide any “services” they thought lacking.

“Government” – It’s fascinating that the actual operation of the government is by far the smallest chunk of the government budget. It’s for the lights and heating for Congress, the White House, etc. With all those other programs eliminated, there would be nothing there to spend on. Therefore, I would completely eliminate that segment completely. Gone. $ saved.

You may have noticed that after one year I would completely eliminate the federal government. To entertain foreign leaders and for other, assorted buffoonery, the various Governors could rotate as “Head of State” in a lottery system.

I also would eliminate your mortgage, credit cards, student loans, etc. – an added bonus of my dictatorship.

Having finished so quickly, I would, like Cincinnatus, retire and return to the farm. I might light up a cigar. I might use this paper to start it:

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White House / OMB (BS).

Building a Wall Around my Museum

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President Trump has proposed slashing the fire out of liberal-leaning arts programs:

President Donald Trump made good on a long-time conservative goal in his first proposed budget Thursday morning, targeting the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities for complete elimination.

I suppose, if this is successful, it would put a kink in my Corvette Museum idea… Just when I was getting ready to submit my application. Figures…

admiral-blue

 

The Taxing of Donald Trump

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I recall more than a few making a mountain out of Trump’s mountainous taxes. He wouldn’t release his returns. He used the law to defer losses. So what? What were they looking for?

We just found out, inadvertently, for the year of 2005. PMSBC and some reporter committed a felony by releasing part of Trump’s taxes for that year.

Surprise, surprise. The man paid 25% of his net income, or $36.5 Million to the IRS. If you don’t pay a similar annual amount, or a lifetime total, maybe now would be a good time to shut up.

For the “equality” crowd, wouldn’t it be nice if everyone paid the same amount? You know, to keep things equal, fair. Everyone is equal, right? It’s fair. I might suggest 0, both as a percentage and as a total number.

The Obvious

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I cover a good range of topics here, from how bad government is to how good cigars are. Actually, that is pretty much the blog. Anyway, I touched on some things recently and made some wishy-washy predictions. As usual, they came true, are coming true. It’s obvious:

1. BREXIT

When was it? January? A British Court declared more obnoxious process was necessary, via Parliament, to slow the exiting demanded by voters – reverse “democracy”. BREXIT was never supposed to happen last summer. It did. I said nothing would stop BREXIT. Nothing is stopping BREXIT.

2. I’ve been on Congress and the GOP to fix ObamaCare or else rid us of it. They’re doing something – slow as usual. The CBO just analyzed the GOP replacement/amendment Bill. I’ve seen this reported a number of ways, usually as a scare tactic about people losing coverage. Some will, but it will be because they want to. And they won’t be taxed for it. The CBO concludes prices will come down and normalize within a few years – even as federal deficit spending on the failure decreases. The WSJ reports.

3. NBC News was shocked to discover DHS is illegally searching American citizens at the border and as they reenter the country. Naturally NBC found as poor-Muslims angle to work, though their reported test case was the exception to their demographic presentation (consistency, that). I covered this previously. Nothing new – and not limited to the borders. As I said, I can kind of see the border searches (especially of the questionable). It’s the interior harassment that gets me. But, also as I reported, there are ways around that.

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Harassment of the traditional America, another gift of 1965. NBC.

Get it here a week, a month, or five years in advance. Or, wait for the MSM to catch up. he choice is obvious.

Ryan’s Way or the Highway

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Paul Ryan says his Bill is the only way to save ObamaCare from total collapse.

Casting his ObamaCare replacement bill as the only chance to save America from a complete health-care collapse, Speaker Paul Ryan Sunday countered his conservative critics who say the bill fails to make good on Republicans’ promise to repeal ObamaCare.

“Understand the speaker’s plan doesn’t repeal ObamaCare,” a member of the House Republicans’ Freedom Caucus, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), said Sunday. “Even Charles Krauthammer said that, called it ObamaCare Lite, as you said earlier. It doesn’t bring down premiums and it doesn’t unite Republicans. So, why not do what we all voted for just 15 months ago, clean repeal, and then get focused and build some momentum to actually replace ObamaCare with something that’s going to bring down costs?”

Ryan said his bill, called the American Health Care Act, is in fact the only way to successfully repeal ObamaCare.

It’s collapsing with or without you, Paul. And you guys have had more than a few years to fix this. The time would certainly seem to be now. Do something. That, or prepare to foist the bailout bill on the people – as per your usual policy of ineptitude.

The Benefit of the Doubt in Tesla City

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Somewhere in here, maybe more than once, I’ve knocked self-driving autos, computers, and technology. I’ve noted Telsa’s reliability in their current Crash-mobiles.

Still, I’ve noticed an inordinate number of Teslas buzzing around Tampa. There’s something like 1 in every 40 cars or a whole lot, whichever is more. That, and there’s quite a few Maseratis down here.

Anyway, I have observed these electro-cars in action and I read the local news. For all that daily operation I’ve yet to see or hear of a crash. Maybe, just maybe, it’s a sound concept. I feel generous today. (Could be the coffee talking).

And the things seem peppy. Direct electric drive does offer superior torque to the average gas engine. The thing that holds them back is the range. I suppose commuting around SOHO, Palma Ceia, and downtown is well within the capability.

As far as the power thing goes, the largest and heaviest off-road trucks utilize a dual diesel-electric system (yes, giant 400-ton hybrids) with an electric motor mounted behind each wheel(s).

There’s all that to ponder. And this lovely picture:

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Morning.

It’s Not Just the CIA Spying Everywhere

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There’s nothing like a Big Box in bed with the police state.

Recently unsealed records reveal a much more extensive secret relationship than previously known between the FBI and Best Buy’s Geek Squad, including evidence the agency trained company technicians on law-enforcement operational tactics, shared lists of targeted citizens and, to covertly increase surveillance of the public, encouraged searches of computers even when unrelated to a customer’s request for repairs.

To sidestep the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition against warrantless invasions of private property, federal prosecutors and FBI officials have argued that Geek Squad employees accidentally find and report, for example, potential child pornography on customers’ computers without any prodding by the government. Assistant United States Attorney M. Anthony Brown last year labeled allegations of a hidden partnership as “wild speculation.” But more than a dozen summaries of FBI memoranda filed inside Orange County’s Ronald Reagan Federal Courthouse this month in USA v. Mark Rettenmaier contradict the official line.

But evidence demonstrates company employees routinely snooped for the agency, contemplated “writing a software program” specifically to aid the FBI in rifling through its customers’ computers without probable cause for any crime that had been committed, and were “under the direction and control of the FBI.”

A $500 incentive to rifle through customer files. No PC. No warrant. No suspicion of a crime. Probably no need to look at data files either in most cases.

Given the cash promised, and the abandonment of the Constitution and the rule of law, who’s to say Geek Squad didn’t plant some evidence where and when they couldn’t find it.

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US Backlash.

Under no circumstances should one take a device to these Stasi hacks. Probably best not to do business with Best Buy at all. The Big Box of Entrapment.

Dutch Riots Will Help Greet W. MNGA *The Last Refuge

On Saturday the Dutch government withdrew landing permission for a Turkish foreign minister’s aircraft, sparking a furious reaction by Turkish president Recep Erdogan and escalating a diplomatic dispute between the two NATO allies. The primary concern of the Dutch was the Islamic Turks inability to assemble without violence in Rotterdam. Throughout the day tensions grew […]

via Turkish Islamists Riot in Rotterdam Holland After Turkish Minister Refused Entry… — The Last Refuge