RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://justthenews.com/government/congress/democratic-led-congress-might-still-pass-bidens-spending-package-after-raising

The Democrat-led Congress might still be able to garner enough votes to pass President Biden’s massive spending package, despite already raising federal spending by more than 6% and presiding over record deficit and debt levels.

The national debt is climbing to a staggering $31 trillion for the first time in U.S. history. The federal deficit hit record numbers in FY2020 ($3.1 trillion) and FY2021 ($2.8 trillion), driven by large coronavirus stimulus measures. The deficit in the first 5 months of this year is $475 billion.

According to a recent analysis by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, the fiscal year (FY) 2022 omnibus appropriations bill that Congress recently passed “provides $1.512 trillion of budget authority for FY2022, $88 billion (6 percent) higher than FY 2021 levels, $50 billion higher than in the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) most recent baseline, and in line with FY 2021 levels when adjusted for higher inflation.”

https://straightarrownews.com/cc/manchin-i-intend-to-vote-for-supreme-court-nominee-ketanji-brown-jackson/

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) may have decided whether Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson will become the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court. After four days of nomination hearings with the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Manchin released a statement Friday, saying, “I have determined I intend to vote for her nomination to serve on the Supreme Court.”

“I am confident Judge Jackson is supremely qualified and has the disposition necessary to serve as our nation’s next Supreme Court Justice,” Sen. Manchin said in the statement. “Her wide array of experiences in varying sectors of our judicial system have provided Judge Jackson a unique perspective that will serve her well on our nation’s highest court.”

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/mar/27/most-americans-lack-confidence-bidens-ability-hand/

An NBC News poll released Sunday found more than two-thirds of Americans doubt President Biden has the chops to manage the Ukraine crisis as his approval rating hit a new low.

The poll of 1,000 adults showed that 71% have “just some” or “very little” confidence in Mr. Biden when it comes to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, while 28% said they had “a great deal” or “quite a bit” of confidence in the Democratic president.

The survey was conducted March 18-22, before Mr. Biden met last week with European allies on Ukraine and before he declared that Russian President Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power,” an unscripted line that the administration immediately walked back.

In addition, the poll found Mr. Biden’s job approval rating fell to 40%, down from 43% in January, for his lowest score on the survey since taking office. More than half, or 55%, disapproved of the president’s performance, up from 54%.

“What this poll says is that President Biden and Democrats are headed for a catastrophic election,” said GOP pollster Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategy, who conducted the survey with Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt of Hart Research Associates.

https://spectator.org/the-corruption-of-the-biden-administration-is-now-in-plain-sight/

EXCERPTS

Corruption has been around for a long time.

The problem is when we detach power from benevolent responsibility.

So, it should not be surprising that our government of the people, by the people, and for the people could and has at times become the playground of corrupt people. Even in the cabinet of Abraham Lincoln, an exceptional politician in any age, there was corruption. Carl Sandburg writes of how Rep. Thad Stevens complained that Secretary of War Simon Cameron was so dishonest that the only thing he wouldn’t steal was a red-hot stove. Cameron, of course, took offense, and Lincoln tried to calm things down by asking Stevens to retract. “All right,” goes a version of how Stevens replied, “I will retract. He would steal the stove, too.”

In the words quoted, Amos skewered the use of power to obtain sex as well as money. History confirms that this too is a proclivity of powerful people. Whether we speak of the constant parade of women through the bedchambers of such monarchs as Charles II of Britain or Louis XV of France, or of similar parades through the chambers of the Kennedy White House or of wherever Bill Clinton went, or the line of the powerful who flew on the Lolita Express, there is much evidence that power is a supreme aphrodisiac. In grimmer governments, force was used instead (which was made the object of very dark cinematic humor in the British masterpiece The Death of Stalin).

Implicit in Amos’ words is that there is an inevitable price to pay for tolerating corruption. Skilled politicians, adept at feeling the pulse of the people, lose their sharpness through their indulgences. As their corruption increases, competence decreases. Managing the many pretenses that hide its ill-gotten benefits takes up more and more time and energy. Lies need more lies to hide them and so the story keeps getting more and more complicated and less and less plausible. Leaks spring in the dike that quickly become controllable. The collapse can come very quickly.

https://bariweiss.substack.com/p/a-ghost-story?token=

EXCERPT

In the summer of 2020, George Floyd was killed by a white police officer, and Black Lives Matter protests erupted in cities all over the United States. I feel comfortable saying this now: I felt conflicted. I remember surrendering to the peer pressure to donate every single day, and to post receipts of those donations (like I was in trouble for something—oh yeah, being “white”). I remember my Instagram stories were just re-post after re-post of this, that and the other activist, of whom I had no background knowledge, but who I was told were the people to re-post. I’ve since unfollowed them all because all of them showed themselves to be antisemitic.

I was performing. I was absolutely performing. And I am not ashamed to admit it. I was so scared. I was still a hired freelance journalist, and I knew the impact of staying silent. Freelance writing isn’t a joke. You cannot pay rent if you offend people. So I kept a foot in the world of music writing, and with my paychecks, I splurged on bailing out protestors via GoFundMe pages, or whatnot. At least, I think I did. Who knows?

I remember that Lady Gaga’s album “Chromatica” came out within 48 hours of Floyd’s death, and there was an unspoken directive on Twitter that only BIPOC people were allowed to be joyous about this album release. It was for them and nobody else.