Bits n’ pieces from east, west and beyond

East, west or beyond, sooner or later events elsewhere may have a local impact. A recent sampling:

Funding for the federal government runs out March 14, unless Congress reaches a bi-partisan deal. Politico says it appears Dems are willing to support a shutdown to address DOGE “chainsaw” actions. 

The Republicans’ bill calls for cutting $13 billion, including deep cuts to the Social Security and Medicare administration (causing benefit disruptions), food assistance, housing, education and the environment. Funds would go instead to increasing military spending and immigration “enforcement.” 

Dem Sen. Patty Murray favors a short-term funding bill to prevent a shutdown. The House Minority Leader has said “illegal” DOGE actions “must be choked off in the upcoming government spending bill.”

According to Customs and Border Protection, in 2024 Canada seized 43 pounds of fentanyl at their border, whereas in the same time frame 21,000 pounds of fentanyl were seized at the Mexican border, at odds with Trump Administration arguments that Mexican cartels have “taken over” Canada.

Regarding warnings of Social Security’s collapse in the next 30 to 90 days, Social Security Works has laid out specifics: The new SSA Commissioner, a DOGE sympathizer, is said to be planning layoffs, even though SSA is already “understaffed” and “overworked,” as evidenced by 30,000 Americans dying annually while waiting for their earned benefits. SSW commented that “Nobody voted for this.” 

Trump’s campaign flyers pledged he would not touch SS.

SS refresher: Elon Musk says SS is a “Ponzi scheme.” But former SS Trustee Robert Reich says a Ponzi scheme involves luring an investor to funnel cash to earlier investors; when there are no new investors, the scheme collapses. How SS is different: it’s “pay as you go” -- 85% of every dollar paid in goes to the trust fund, and the rest goes to people with disabilities. He says the simplest way to fix a funding shortfall is to lift the lid on the SS payroll tax. The current lid is $176,100 (the ultra rich reach the cap shortly after midnight on Jan. 1); after paying in on that, the rich pay no more into the SS fund.

Trump’s U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia wrote to Georgetown, a private Catholic University, to demand immediate termination of all diversity, equity and inclusion curriculums. He threatened repercussions for failure to obey, such as loss of employment opportunities for students. 

The Dean responded: “Given the First Amendment’s protection of a university’s freedom to determine its own curriculum and how to deliver it, the constitutional violation behind this threat is clear, as is the attack on the University’s mission as a Jesuit and Catholic Institution.” 

Faithful America and Christian historian Jemar Tisby noted that the fight against DEI isn’t about stopping discrimination -- it’s about maintaining control, in particular for men over women, fathers over households and “white folks over everyone else.”

Sen. Sanders commented on President Donald Trump’s recent address to Congress: During the lengthy talk Trump failed to mention economic realities faced by 60% who live paycheck-to-paycheck; the 25% who can’t afford prescriptions; the housing crisis; three Americans owning more wealth than all of the bottom half of society; campaign finance corruption; cutting Medicaid by $880 billion (cutting 36 million from heathcare), or the climate change crisis. 

Sanders: “Think about it—we’re talking about people who own their own spaceships who are trying to take away healthcare for millions of kids.”

A new Hitler-esque move by the Trump regime: various media reported that a graduate of Columbia University, Mahmoud Khalil, who is legally in the US with permanent status, was taken from his home last weekend by immigration officials. 

At this writing he has not been charged with a crime. He did engage in peaceful pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University. On Truth Social Trump stated that Khalil was detained because of his politics, and “This is the first of many arrests to come.”

Migrants recently sent to Guantanamo Bay were shackled, then held in what the Washington Post called “cages.” They’ve been denied calls to lawyers and have been held in “prolonged” isolation. 

Recent notable headlines: US economy facing potential slowdown amid "heightened uncertainty”; Markets Tumble as Trump Recession Fears Grow; Supreme Court denies Trump request to block $2 billion in USAID funds; No more in-person town halls, NRCC chief tells House Republicans; ‘An American President is Not a King’: Judge Reinstates Labor Regulator Illegally Fired by Trump; CDC tells about 180 fired employees to come back to work; Trump planning to revoke legal status for 240,000 Ukrainians; Multimillionaires will decide tax policy in GOP-led Congressional Committees; As Trump pivots to Russia, allies weigh sharing less intel with US (US officials say they are no longer sharing intelligence with Ukraine that allows them to target Russia); Now it’s CDC’s turn to beg fired workers to please come back; (likely due to the bird flu crisis and rapid spread of measles); US added to international watch list for rapid decline in civic freedoms; China slaps tariffs on $22 billion of US farm goods; and, VA promised DOGE cuts won’t harm veterans. Employees say it’s already happening.

Blast from the past: “There’s a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.” Leonard Cohen, 1934-2016, Canadian songwriter, singer, poet, novelist.