162 Comments

This is the kind of journalism the mainstream media should be doing. Were this woman a Trump appointee, they would be all over it. It is maddening that the rot in our institutions has such dire consequences and yet goes unnoticed by all but the most savvy media consumers. This one makes me sad on multiple levels. Thank God for TFP. Keep up the good work. Maybe one day, journalism will return to its true job of holding power accountable.

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"This is the kind of journalism the mainstream media should be doing."

On a related note The Border

When is enough ENOUGH?

I'm waiting for 4-5-6 "Reporters" at the WH press briefing to ask these questions. What The Hell Is Going On? How Did This Happens? What Are You Doing About It?

Then do the same the next day, and the day after..etc. Until a straight plain answer is given.

There are millions of people that would really like to know. Why

GA State Senator Captures Video Showing Groups of Illegal Migrants Hidden In Rooms at ATL Airport

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/saraharnold/2024/01/31/a-ga-state-senator-appears-to-show-groups-of-illegal-immigrants-in-a-room-at-atl-airport-n2634457

5 asylum-seekers arrested for assault on police officers in Times Square

https://abcnews.go.com/US/5-asylum-seekers-arrested-assault-police-officers-times/story?id=106825390

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KJP and her department at the White House don't know how to give straight answers. They will spin, they will put off, they will refuse to answer but they will not give straight answers to anything uncomfortable for them or for the administration. No integrity.

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She's a Diversity Hire. Much like Kamala.

OTOH its a tough job. Defending This administration. Thinking Baghdad Bob (Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf) every time I see her.

"There are no American infidels in Baghdad."

"Our initial assessment is that they will all die."

"No I am not scared and neither should you be!"

"We will welcome them with bullets and shoes."

"I can say, and I am responsible for what I am saying, that they have started to commit suicide under the walls of Baghdad."

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I call her "Baghdad Babs," and John I-didn't-see-chaos-from-my-perch Kirby "Baghdad Bob."

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Baghdad Babs. I Like It!

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But KJP says they are "taking the matter seriously"!

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She's been known to stretch the truth.

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Sharon, the rot infests the UK too, with a spineless government and police force that arrests Christians for silently praying but accepts barbarian mobs calling for jihad on our streets.

Our Home Office decided it was a good idea to give an Afghan “illegal” the right to stay as he pretended he’d become a Christian and he’d face death if he was sent back to Afghanistan. Of course it was all a lie, he continued to live as a Muslim and on Friday he threw a strong alkali on to a woman and her two children and remains on the run. Our police are captured and our government is rudderless.

And in Europe, tens of thousands of farmers and truckers are in open revolt against the unelected EU. The West is a mess.

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Met an afghan translator the other day , only reason he and his family got out was he knew the marine commander in charge of the airbase security. He told me it was a total disaster. On a related note , this is why people are flocking to Trump, Zero accountability of the elites

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They’re not even the elites. They’re just morally bankrupt bureaucrats who are more interested in their pension than the lives of those poor souls.

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I know internet doesn’t do sarcasm but I really mean elite as an insult , I sometimes refer to them as our betters .

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Perhaps overlords

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I presume the reason the Trump team scheduled the Afghan withdrawal when it did was because those officials knew the complete scam the two-decade Afghan occupation was and leaving was going to be a disaster. So they kicked the withdrawal date to after the 2020 election. If the Trump administration could have executed a competent exit, an exit a large majority of Americans wanted, it would have been such a huge feather in Trump's cap.

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Fair comment, although competence is generally expected and Trump gets no credit for anything he does so pulling us out without the shit show would have gone unrecognized.

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The Trump withdrawal plan was contingent on the Taliban's meeting some criteria. The withdrawal from Afghanistan was not assured.

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I guess we will never know.But trump spoke the language of the Taliban and other bad guys. I know where your family is. Follow your commitments or they will be the first to die. Ever notice how those who speak such language have so much less trouble with the bad guys? The odds were in favor of Trump. joe threw them away not out of intelligence but ego and hatred. Which always insures disaster.

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Did the Taliban not meet those criteria?

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No. One requirement was that the Taliban negotiate an agreement with the Afghan government. That never happened.

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The government that was excluded from the Trump-Taliban negotiations because that government was corrupt and incompetent?

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The date was scheduled in the spring, before the Taliban is able to gather their forces.

The Biden admin scheduled the exit for September because they're a bunch of political hacks who wanted to sync it with the 20 year anniversary of 9/11. The problem is that September is the end of summer, when the Taliban is at their peak of fighting strength.

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I meant that they scheduled it in 2020 after the US elections.

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Feb 1·edited Feb 21

We have to stop calling them elites, “ruling class” “parasites in charge”. There is nothing elite about them.

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They are barnacles, attached to the government Titanic, sucking sustenance and nutrition from our pockets. I'm with you. Elites? I think not.

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With their arrogance, we have to use titles they understand. Other wise they will once again think, thank goodness they aren't talking about me.

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Yeah, yeah Biden fucked up. But I can't help but respond - depending on your definition of 'elites' (such an over used useless term) - would you not consider Donald one of them with his supposed Wharton School education? And if he is one (he clearly is not, because he is a buffoon), where's the accountability on him having classified docs in his possession who refused on many occasions to relinquish them, when asked repeatedly by the US Government? How about accountability for illegal alternate Electors in five states after the election was certified in 2020? Shouldn't he answer for those actions?

So far, it's been zero.

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Really? That’s the one thing you are concerned with that you think Trump is guilty of? Stop consuming the fake media narratives and read more of TFP.

Trump isn’t in the class of the typical suckers that infest Washington. They hated him and worked every angle to destroy him.

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I don’t have to consume anything, Kyle. I saw it. Trump doesn’t understand election results unless he wins them. He signed on to an illegal fake Elector scheme that people in Michigan and Georgia have already been found guilty of. Trump doesn’t have the mind to be part of the ‘sucker’ elites infesting Washington. He’s hated because he’s stupid, demagogic and can't read a policy briefing book. It’s so bad now his handlers won’t even let him debate.

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That’s an interesting view.

I would contend that the reason he isn’t liked is not because people think he’s stupid. He wasn’t in the club. I’ve been a federal contractor and seen the massive waste that goes on in the federal government. Trump certainly added to that problem. One day we will have to deal with the consequences of wasteful spending. The parasites that play the politics game don’t want to stop the spending because it’s a circular game. The more they spend the more they get back for their next campaign. It’s a big joke. We are the ones who end up screwed while the ruling parties play the game. My view is that Trump was smart enough to talk like he isn’t part of the political class. Who knows what he truly is. All I know is that as long as it’s the insiders getting shuffled through the system nothing much will really change. D or R acts the same behind closed doors. Who is funding their lifestyle? Military? Media? They’ll do whatever they have to to stay in power.

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I certainly agree that government waste is rampant and has been for decades, and yet Trump in his four years in power only perpetuated it. GOP talk big when a Dem administration is in power about debt, but when they hold the reins they're just as bad. Trump changed absolutely nothing, and for the life of me I don't see how he'll do anything different now - except wreak revenge on all the people he deems disloyal. And you are right - Both parties are the same and to blame.

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At the end of the day I truly believe most Americans are good people. Possibly the biggest challenge we all face is being able to see through all the distractions before us. It is so easy to make noise and create an illusion. While people are distracted and separated into “opposing camps” we are weak. We are unable to change the system as long as we, the regular everyday people, are focused on battling each other. My kids used to watch a Pixar movie, It’s a Bugs Life, the grasshoppers rule over the ants, take a major portion of their hard earned goods and stomp on them from time to time. The ants lived in fear of their governors. Finally one of them stands up and inspires the others to recognize their power if they would unite to push off the power hungry rulers. When that happened their rulers were tossed out and the heavy burden was lifted.

I hope that someday people will remember who we all are and see through the darkness.

Have a great day Lee!

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One thing though, nobody really believes that Biden got 81 million votes.

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And I can't believe Trump got 74 mil..

:)

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I would specify Washington class and the feeder schools as well as associated oligarchs ngos and such

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Rob, Biden’s Afghanistan exit was a chaotic disaster but please remember, he was handed a poisoned chalice from the Trump administration that left the U.S. with virtually no leverage over the Taliban. The result was unfortunately entirely predictable.

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Did the Taliban have B-52s or F-16s? Did the Taliban have thousands of American POWs in custody?

These flaccid excuses are the typical hogwash of a President who is doing his best to ignore the 3 Americans killed in Jordan, just as he did his best to ignore the Marines killed guarding the withdrawal from Kabul (we did kill innocent civilians in response).

This is how a supposed superpower does nothing but lose: Pathetic leadership.

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Failing upward? How about Victoria Newland and the mother of all upward failures, Kamala Harris.

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In Kamala’s case, she was hitting her knees long before BLM. No mystery there.

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True. She was sleeping with her boss, Willy Brown, who admitted to promoting her. But does that besmirch her reputation? Not with democrats.

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Blow jobs in the Oval while on duty do not besmirch their reputations.

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They all think they’re characters in House of Cards, but in reality it’s Veep.

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If I hear the statement (Kackala is famous for it) one more time: "We have more work to do." You haven't done ANY work, quit acting like progress has been made.

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She was know as "Heels Up Harris" years ago. See 'How did the new VP get the nickname “Heels Up Harris”?' (https://womensfootwear.quora.com/https-www-quora-com-How-and-when-to-Kamala-Harris-get-the-nickname-Heels-up-Harris-answer-Chaz-Miller-10)

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"Heels-Up-Harris" even has her own line of Etsy merchandise. See https://www.etsy.com/market/heels_up_harris for some examples.

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hilarious, wearing, what else, “come F—- me” shoes

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Don't forget Barak and Michelle Obama. Ask anyone who had to suffer through working with them at law firms back in the day.

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Oh, did she finally pass the Bar exam?

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Well yeah, Federal employees are not fired. Ever. Full stop.

It's also next to impossible to get into the Federal government unless you went to a select number of schools and while in school got into a select number of internships, all of which you would only know about as a teenager or young adult if your parents are already a part of the system. The US Federal government - State, Commerce, Energy, Homeland Security, you name it - is one giant, incestuous circle jerk. I'm not speaking from ignorance. While I have never been a Federal employee - not for lack of trying - I know many who were/are, and I have served in the Peace Corps and worked for a Federal institution. No one is held to account for anything. Even before Covid, more senior employees rarely came to the office because who wants to commute all the way from Alexandria or Bethesda (it's about 45 minutes on average)?

FEMA still doesn't require employees to come into the office, and it's far from the exception in that regard. A close friend works for the Dept. of Agriculture. He's a genuinely dedicated civil servant, and he's not the only one, but he's definitely in the minority. He says he has colleagues he will not see for an entire calendar year at times. None of them will ever be fired.

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The protection of civil service workers and unionization insulates them from accountability. My suggestion to cull the herd is to relocate departments away from DC. The government has empty building space throughout the land. Disperse them to Iowa, Ohio, Indiana, anywhere in flyover country away from DC, NY and Philadelphia. Let them live amongst the people they screw over everyday. My guess is the attrition rate would be substantial so couple that policy with a hiring freeze and take a shot at decertification of their union. I know, one can only dream, but hope often lies within those dreams.

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and make sure to cut their pay commensurate with their new, lower cost of living

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Thanks for the reply. Certainly moving all government workers into the Social Security/Medicare system and making salaries commensurate with the private sector for similar positions and responsibility would help as well. As happens in authoritarian regimes it is necessary to pay the military very well to establish loyalty so they will turn on their own people in support of the regimes. We have a similar situation with the federal bureaucracy.

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Agreed. Plus, as anyone who has ever lived in one will agree, small town America will provide full-time supervision.

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You are correct Michael. Splitting them up, like an elementary teacher separating disruptive students would at least put some geography between their mischievous agendas. That would mean they would have to live among us peons in flyover. I can hear the wailing from them as we speak of it.

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Like when Trump moved the Bureau of Land Management (Dept. of the Interior) to "the interior" in Colorado!

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I love this idea.

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England is doing the same thing. London has become so expensive, they are moving some departments to the north where it is less expensive to live. We should too.

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Retired career fed here... With the Forest Service (part of USDA) 32 years, all over the country, including DC.. in my world laggard employees were rare and while it was very difficult to remove people, it could be done. Of more concern to me is that agencies have a great deal of overlap and duplication with each other that is never examined (Do we need a Good Governance party to enter the scene?) and that many more people are hired to do oversight and planning than actual work. Can you imagine a whole-government review process of gaps and overlaps of programs and reviews of job descriptions? Neither can I, but obviously as Ed Abbey said growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.” And each agency by its nature thinks it should grow.. even if it encroaches into other agency’s statutory responsibilities.

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Some questions should be asked though. For instance I have read that Social Security and the IRS both have an armed force like a police force. Why would that be? If IRS agents need help would they have the FBI on speed dial?

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Sure.. we don’t know that. That’s what a Good Governance Bipartisan Task Force would take a look at .. how many agencies have their own armed forces? Are there gaps or duplication?

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That sounds like a great idea.

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Some branches of the federal government have dedicated employees who do good work. They still have excessive paperwork and bureaucracy but at least respond to questions.

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And a startling number of the "new jobs created" to pump up the awful economy are government jobs.

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I worked at a VA hospital. I wasn't required to do very much work. Not a good fit for me.

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Gang members, cartel members, terrorists, and violent criminals are being welcomed into this country with open arms; yet people who risked their lives and the lives of their families protecting Americans are discarded like trash. Yet, I still have friends and family that say they can’t vote for Trump on moral reason. If they only knew.

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Trump cares about no one but himself. You're kidding yourself if you think otherwise.

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Feb 1·edited Feb 1

If they only had some. Sorry, no offense.

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Why is immigration so hard for our government to figure out? This is infuriating.

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Because both sides use it to demonize each other. And big business loves it. Depresses wages, keeps costs down. Employees have no say because they're terrified of being turned in. Win win all around.

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founding

We have several families of interpreters who come to the park in the evening to play with their kids. Terrific people and great future citizens. But once they get to know you they will tell you of the scores of family and friends that did not get out. It is a sad testament to our country’s ignorance and callousness that has been repeated (think of those left to the reeducation camps of Vietnam) time and time again.

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But no discussion of her intersectionality?

How many boxes does she check?

Any plagiarism?

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I understand not voting or even tolerating Trump, but this entire administration is just so criminally incompetent they cannot be left in power; I’m still hoping for a Nikki win or Trump indictment. The USA is in trouble, plain to see.

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Actually, they're extremely competent at concealing treason.

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The Biden admin & Democrat party's primary goal is to replace heterosexual white men with women and minorities regardless of merit. Biden stated it early in his presidency Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is their primary goal. Look at our Vice President. It's essentially a war on straight white men.

It started in the Obama admin. A hatred for our country and its culture

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My niece works at the state department. A total, uninformed ditz. She said her co- workers watch porn all day.

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This appointment seems emblematic of this administration.

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I was able to get two Afghan families out of Afghanistan (Afghans, not Afghanis, that's their currency) during the confusion but still have 5 families waiting in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The families who got out were smuggled out because the US left them, pure and simple.

Our family living in Pakistan had their Embassy interview, usually the last step in the process, almost a year ago. Ask the State Dept, they simply say "The application is in processing." Meanwhile the family avoids attention by the Pakistani authorities and Taliban who hunt for refugees while they wait, and wait, and wait.... This is what Biden and Jacobson wrought.

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Unfortunately this is not just because they are in Pakistan (though it does play a part). I have been through the wringer with the US Immigration department pre and post-9/11 and even as a white westerner my case took almost two years to process and it was next to impossible to talk to anyone. My boyfriend at the time (now husband) was working his first job, on a bit of a budget and couldn't be throwing away money at their $3/minute phone line to call for questions. He ended up using his parents' US rep at the time to push things along at the very end. It's all completely bloated whether you're online or in person. Being in a country like Pakistan only further hampers the process. I hope you get some better news soon!

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founding

The Afghanistan withdrawal is when I knew we were in serious trouble. The people in charge of the US Government were acting irrationally and the military went along without a fight. Nobody with a shred of intelligence thought that was the way to withdraw. Now we see just how deeply the State is compromised.

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Afghans are the people of Afghanistan. Afghanis are the currency of that country.

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Had there been any integrity in the Administration, Gen Milly and Sec Austin would have been fired shortly after the Afghan withdrawal for their lack of preparation. This woman should have also been fired for reneging on all of our promises to the Afgan contractors. Who in their right mind would ever help us now if they remember Afghanistan?

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Didn't we do this in Vietnam too? I'm not defending Biden's handling of this-I think it's shameful. But unfortunately we do have a history of doing this :/

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Actually no, we took as many of the Vietnamese and their families who helped us as we possibly could and we didn't leave millions of dollars worth of materiel there, we took out as much and as many as we could.

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