Hegseth may not be up to reform at Pentagon.

 NO MORE MONEY WITHOUT AUDIT AND REVIEW

IS HEGSETH ASKING FOR $200 BILLION MORE? 

One must wonder if Pete Hegseth has already been incorporated into the giant Pentagon swamp. After only a few weeks as the head of the biggest department in the federal government, we have not as yet seen any action on reform or indications that it will happen. We have heard of the indication that they expect to increase the budget by $200 billion in the next 2 years and amazingly has proposed that a complete audit would be completed in the next 4 years, after he may no longer be in the position. 

While everyone believes in a strong, modern defense, it can only be accomplished with a strong America. A strong America will not be the reality by throwing more money at an unaccountable bureaucracy. Audit first, then see were more money is needed. A complete and thorough audit and also a review of present practices and decision making as to what is being produced for the end users, the men in uniform.

The biggest strength of the U.S. military in WW2 was the strength of the U.S. manufacturing capacity, a midget compared to 70 years ago, without a strong manufacturing capacity, independent of foreign imports, it is a very vulnerable fact.

There are indications from many, that the products and weapons currently being produced are over engineered, over expensive, complicated to operate and require specialized and difficult maintenance. They may be amazing in the controlled environment of a congressional sales pitch, but in the mud, rain, snow and heat of battle may be not as effective as more basic weapons. How is it that Russia with a budget of less 10% of all of NATO can outproduce them in artillery shells? Not a hard question, but maybe difficult to answer.

Can our aircraft fly without the use of complicated electronics, I don't know, but I think it is a relative question? Is anyone asking that question? Can our complicated electronic controlled equipment be neutralized with electronic warfare.

There are many who believe the Navy, except for submarines, is a bunch of floating slow moving targets for sophisticated cruise missiles a drone swarms, Is that a fact? Is anyone asking? Is it now possible that a billion dollar aircraft carrier and thousands of crew members are vulnerable to weapons now possessed by third world adversaries.

We have watched as warfare has evolved in a very fast time in Ukraine. With all the tanks and sophisticated weapons it is an artillery war with drone warfare becoming the dominate new weapon.  Not million dollar drones, but often jury rigged weapons fashioned by not genius soldiers. They have been the most effective weapon by the Ukraine military. It is also clear that Ukraine has voiced its opinion that much of the training provided by the west is non effective in this war. Is anyone listening?

We have not yet heard of the fate of 44 four star generals or how many bureaucrats does it take to make an artillery shell. Without real reform, review and a audit, the Pentagon will continue to be sink hole of funds without what is needed for the future defense.

Common theme of Trump's foreign policy, No U.S. troops.

 NO TROOPS IN GAZA OR UKRAINE

HOPEFULLY IT WILL STAY THAT WAY

We see Trump's ideas for solutions in Gaza and Ukraine, both do not seem to be serious proposals. 

The proposal for Gaza is the IDF is going to remove 2 million from Gaza and then hand it over to the U.S. for a long time to redevelop.  Unlikely that the now overstretched IDF can even attempt to undertake such a solution, even if there was somewhere for them to go.  He also says no U.S. troops.

Then we see the leaked peace plan for Ukraine, one that will not get the time of day from the Russians, because it doesn't address NATO expansion, but envisions a demilitarized zone occupied with UK troops, again no U.S. troops. I doubt that the U.K,  actually the biggest supporter of war with Russia, can muster enough troops to police a 800 mile demilitarized zone. Maybe, they can be helped by Lithuania and Estonia other advocates of war with Russia.

While many are attempting to take these proposals seriously, I doubt that Russia, Middle east powers or even Trump believe they will ever happen. 

I suspect that Trump is messaging in a round about way, that the those involved in these disputes will need to come up with a workable plan, a realistic plan, it could take a long time until that situation is ripe for serious negotiations. Meantime, Trump may very well concentrate on domestic policy, which is in vital interest of the United States.

General thoughts about current news.

 OFTEN QUOTED LINES THAT ARE NOT TRUE

SOME REFORMS TO LESSEN CORRUPTION

We see the intensity of reaction to current efforts to limit corrupt government. USAID was an unaccountable vehicle that has damaged the reputation of the U.S., it was used for social engineering in countries that have different cultural and religious backgrounds, not our business. It was used to to infiltrate and interfere in the political workings of foreign governments often creating chaos, unrest, revolution and death, again not in the best long term interest of the U.S., It was also now known to be what it really was, a CIA front with some good works for window dressing.

Fact, Ukraine never had nuclear weapons that they were forced to give up. Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, which had nuclear weapons positioned in the Ukraine region. Are U.S. nukes in Turkey or Germany their or ours? Are nuclear weapons in Nebraska Nebraska's?,

Iran is not or never was the biggest financier of world terrorism. While it does and has supported opposition groups in the mideast, it has not supported terrorism in Europe or the U.S. The biggest supporter of sunni terrorism was the wealthy in Saudi Arabia. Much of that has now been suppressed, when the new head of the Saudi government, Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud, MBS, came to power in 2022. He has introduced many reforms that have moved Saudi Arabia in a new direction.

Most everyone agrees that the the U.S. has become very corrupt and its representatives have not been responsive to the desires of the citizenry. Much of the problem is that when representatives move to Wessington they become part of Washington and soon become representatives of Washington to their districts, often soon touting the policies of Washington insiders and "Experts".

A move in the right direction would be for representative not have a permanent situation in Washington, they should have an office and live in their district and only go to Washington for possibly 2, 30 days sessions to vote on legislation, all other communication can be done electronically and they possibly will retain some more allegiance to the people they are supposed to represent.

The reality is the United States cannot sustain the spending, deficits and debt as is the current situation. While many will say, well, that has been situation forever and life goes on, but it will not continue much longer and may have already exceeded the ability to correct. There are many interests to keep the gravy train rolling and the correction will come, either by willful action or circumstances beyond anyone's control,. either will be painful, but that latter will be catastrophic.

Trump's Gaza plan: Universally rejected.

 I DOUBT THAT TRUMP IS WILLING TO SACRIFICE HIS PRESIDENCY 

AN IMPOSSIBLE SOLUTION, BETTER IDEAS WELCOME

The reaction to Donald Trump's solution in Gaza has created outrage, shock and universal rejection. It seemed no one has seen this coming, including Benjamin Netanyahu. Has Trump again created mass hysteria just by proposing a plan, that is so very unlikely, to ever be implemented?

I could go through all the reasons why this plan is near impossible, but it would take a very long article. 

Briefly, the residents are not going willingly, and the death and destruction would be worse than the last 13 months to get them out.

Trump's supporters would not approve U.S. troops in Gaza. It would in effect be a the end of all his plans for reform at home.

The Muslim community in the region is vehemently opposed.

The Israeli, "Greater Israel " faction would be opposed to the U.S. owning Gaza for along time.

Egypt and Jordon cannot take these people as it would likely cause the overthrow of their governments.

What Trump proposed, I suspect, is that there are no credible solutions being offered and he is going to reject attacking Iran and possibly supporting any more bombing in Gaza. Trump is under a lot of pressure to do both. Now everyone can discuss the impossibility of this solution, and attacks on Iran are put on the back burner.

It is expected that Trump is going to remove U.S. troops from Syria, It will cause a lot of opposition in the U.S. and Israel.

Trump has in the past offered proposed plans that are exaggerations of actual plans either already being implemented or proposed, that he does not support. One is when he stated that the U.S. should take the oil in Syria, which was already being taken, and created outrage by those who were actually taking the oil. 

John Bolton stated that Trump actually damaged the Greenland deal by his hamfisted proposal. Was that a intentional? 

Is this Gaza plan an exaggerated actual plan being proposed by Israel?

It is clear that Trump's proposal, that seems to have not been discussed with anyone, is not a viable plan. His opponents can now say that he is deranged and dangerous, I don't think he cares. He will keep his supporters happy, by actual actions, rather than speculation. 

Rubio, maybe the diplomat for the time?

 ADMITS WE NOW LIVE IN A MULTIPOLAR WORLD

WE NEED TO CONSIDER THE NATIONAL INTERESTS OF RUSSIA AND CHINA

Marco Rubio was the most troublesome cabinet pick by Donald Trump. He at one time was a advocate of the policy's of George Bush, Dick Cheney and Mitt Romney. After watching several interviews in the last few days, I have changed my mind, at least for now.

I now understand why Trump picked Marco Rubio for the position of Secretary of State. He has been very transparent and very clear in his vision of U.S. strategic interest and his, and we can assume Donald Trump's, goals. He is better at describing the new Trump policy than Trump. 

It is becoming clear that the Trump administration is focusing on the Western Hampshire as its main sphere of influence, it does appear to be Monroe 2.0. Rubio being fluent in spanish is the man for this job.

His first trip was to Panama in which he described his approach, as a diplomatic approach, to let Panama know that the U.S. is concerned with China holding influence on the Panama canal and that there is a treaty with U.S. that is in violation, if China has control of the canal. I can expect that they also discussed Panama take action to stop migrants from moving north through the narrow portion of Panama. 

He next went to El Salvador were it is reported the country has eliminated much of the crime in the country, under the new leadership. It was also revealed that El Salvador will agree to take any illegal criminal held in the U.S. and house them for a fee. A cost that is much less than in the U.S. It is also made clear that this action can start immediately. A great savings for the U.S. prison system by opening up space were many prisons are overcrowded and cut costs for federal and state and local prison systems.

Then there is an agreement with Venezuela that caused several U.S. citizens to be released and an agreement to receive all Venezuelans deported from the U.S. There are also indications of some thawing of relations with Venezuela.

Rubio has voiced his belief that it is indeed a multi-polar world and that Russia and China are great powers that we need to deal with and recognize their strategic interests, while protecting our own interests. A breath of fresh air for U.S. foreign policy. 

It again appears that there is recognition of spheres of influence that may be the basis of a new global security policy that will look for areas of cooperation and solve conflicts through diplomatic efforts, rather than sanctions and intimidation.

An indication of the administrations view of  the Ukraine conflict:

Rubio made this comment in an interview with Megyn Kelly,  "What the dishonesty is that we somehow let people to believe that Ukraine would be able not just to defeat Russia, but destroy it, push it all the way back to what the world looked like in 2012 or 2014"  

Why Treasury payments and USAID?

ITS VERY SIMPLE, FOLLOW THE MONEY

IF YOUR LOOKING FOR FRAUD, START WITH THE PAYMENTS 

Much ado about DOGE or "Department of government efficiency" getting access to the U.S. government payments. In effect, a record of every dollar officially spent by the U.S. government, it is a lot of dollars, and growing by the day.

We hear weeping and gnashing of teeth that now Musk and his cohorts are going to rob the treasury or use the data to intimidate senior citizens. If we want to look at the finances of the federal government, then we need to examine all the expenditures, the treasury is the place to start and expect we will see follow ups to other places once they examine what is going on at treasury.

Yes, the question is, are all the social security payments going to live senior citizens that actually exist? Are payment going to people who are actually eligible for such payment? Social security is just part of this plan, all departments will likely have their payments scrutinized and that has to start by examining the governments payments. Just wait until they get to the defense department, that should be very interesting.

It seems the first casualty is the USAID program, sounds so nice and wholesome, giving food and medical supplies to the unfortunate. The reality is this $50 billion, and likely more, is often used to funnel money into countries targeted by the CIA to cause disruption and hopefully regime change all around the world. The problem is it has become so blatant that much of the world now knows what is happening and it is causing a loss of credibility and respect for the U.S.. It appears it is now going to be under the control of the state department and we can assume that real aid will resume without the strings.   

Fraud and abuse are the first priority of DOGE, and maybe they will find that all is well, that would be good news. Then they will move to efficiency, new policies, new computer programs, maybe even AI, a penny saved is like a penny earned still. There are lots of pennies being spent, I expect a new look can go along way to getting the most bang for the taxpayers dollars.

  

Actions result in reactions, both political and economic.

REFORM OF THE INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY IS ESSENTIAL FOR THE SURVIVAL OF THIS COUNTRY 

LETS GET IT CLEANED UP NOW

Bad actions and also good actions often lead to reactions and collateral damage.

The overcharging and over sentencing of the Jan. 6 protesters is a very good example. While everyone agrees that there needed to be punishment for some of these people, the reemergence of the idea that crimes committed against certain persons or groups have harsher consequences than the precedent for these crimes.

While similar crimes committed all across the country were often minimized, crimes against the elite of Washington needed to be made an example of.  If the proportional sentences had been handed out, most of these people would have already served their sentence, before Trumps inauguration and it would have been the end of the matter.

Trump reacted by pardoning them all, rather than take years for individual reviews.

We now see that the FBI personnel are going to be reviewed in the coming days, they all need to be reviewed, to weed out the partisan bad actors or to receive testimony from many as to what they were ordered to engage in and who gave the orders. It is not retribution, it is a seeking of justice and return of the bipartisan confidence.

It is documented that the FBI new before Trump's first inauguration that the Russian collusion hoax was just that, yet they engaged in actions to destroy the presidency for 2 1/2 years. Those actions will require an investigation and a reaction to insure the survival of the Republic.

It seems the CIA has been engaged in giving knowingly bad intelligence to presidents in an effort to accomplish THEIR agena. Weapons of mass destruction in Iraq is only one example. The revelations of Edward Snowden let Americans know that the U.S. intelligence community was illegally and unconstitutionally collecting mass information on every communication by every American, then storing that information for purposes not known. Likely a system of profiling of all Americans for future use, like the programs in Communist China. We watched as the director of National intelligence, Jame Clapper, lied about this in congressional testimony on national television without consequence. We also witnessed just last week that Senate Democrats insisted that the nominee for this post, Tulsi Gabbard confirm that she will continue to lie about this program. Her refusal, may disqualify her for this position. It seems protecting the abuses of the intelligence community are a priority over the confidence of the American people.

The U.S. has used its dollar dominance to punish, intimidate and even overthrow governments, confiscated assets and other abuses, those actions are now resulting reactions, most likely irreversible, that will change the global financial system. Hopefully Trump will know where he can reverse things and were the act of reversal will push this reality and accelerate it.

U.S. regime change policy has resulted in the death of millions and suffering for more millions, their quest of damaging Russia by baiting them with NATO expansion to their doorstep, has resulted in the reaction that has destroyed the hopes of  Ukraine ever being a viable country. It is not over, and there is little hope of reversing these consequences into a positive result for NATO and the west. Time to face reality or suffer the consequences of more reactions.

Trump has used tariffs to open up negotiations or to adjust for tariffs by others, but if he actively engages in a trade war, it will result in a reaction that will not have a positive result, we will see were all this is going.

The actions of the two political parties in this country have resulted in the reaction that is now Trump. People tired of the same result from both parties after the election is over. The Republican insiders lost control of their primaries, but the democrats still control their primaries with the result of nominees like Biden and Harris, with no hope of better candidates on their depleted bench. 

While at present many have hope that we can recover from the massive corruption in this country, it will be long process and it will require the support of all Americans, that justice and honest government can be restored, only time will tell.