Woke Kennedy Center Worker Fired Over Naked Meltdown Video About Trump & Musk
Tavish Forsyth, a woke leftist and former program director at the Kennedy Center’s Opera Institute, was fired after bizarrely stripping down in a 35-minute video posted on YouTube and X, during which he ranted against President Trump’s takeover of the national cultural center on the eastern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C.
“Trump has taken over the Kennedy Center and that’s a place where I work,” Forsyth said in the video while clothed.
With a snap of his fingers, the troubled man went from clothed to naked in an utterly weird video.
“Does staying make me a collaborator or somehow complicit in a hostile government takeover that’s systematically targeting the livelihood and liberty of poor people, queer people, Black/brown people, people of color, immigrants, Muslims, victims in war-torn countries, ethnic cleansing, women?” Forsyth said, adding, “And gosh, when I put it that way it seems obvious. Fuck Donald Trump and the Kennedy Center.”
The crazed leftist also called Elon Musk a “Nazi.”
Forsyth posted the video on Wednesday, and one day later—according to the New York Post, citing Roma Daravi, vice president of public relations at the Kennedy Center—the pronoun-wielding activist was fired.
“The video was extremely disturbing and does not represent the values of the Kennedy Center. Most concerning of all, his contracted position was specifically to work with minors,” Daravi told NYPost.
Daravi said, “Who knows what kind of radical ideology they have been pushing on the youth. Not anymore. They’re fired.”
Public records and forensic data reveal that Forsyth is the founder of Bird City Improv, LLC, which is described on the company’s website as a “liberation-focused school, improv theatre, and consultancy that centers the experiences and wisdom of queer, BIPOC, and femme artists.”
Bird City Improv offers “accessible workshops, community-focused classes, and personal coaching” on all things woke and has worked with these entities:
Maryland Economic Development Association
Agora Financial
T. Rowe Price
Johns Hopkins
And others…
Maryland State Arts Council’s website has an entire section dedicated to the DEI warrior, promoting his services and explaining his audience types: “High School (9-12 grade), Creative Aging (Older Adults), LGBTQ+ community, Educators, Other Population/Community.”
For DOGE, we suggest looking into the taxpayer-funded grants that have funded/ or are funding Forsyth’s DEI activism…
As for Forsyth—well, melting down naked on camera is bizarre. There’s a great mental hospital north of Baltimore called Sheppard Pratt.
* * *
Eh, so anyway… You can support ZeroHedge by picking up a waxed canvas hat!
Germany has seized an oil tanker of the Russian shadow fleet that was found adrift in the Baltic Sea in January, German magazine Spiegel reported on Friday, quoting security sources.
The tanker, Eventin, was traveling under the flag of Panama when German authorities said in January that the vessel, belonging to the Russian shadow fleet, was stuck in German waters in the Baltic Sea.
The tanker had lost power and steering and was found adrift in the sea, north of the German island of Rügen.
Germany secured the vessel and blamed Russia for the use of a shadow fleet of tankers.
“Russia is endangering our European security not only with its illegal war of aggression against Ukraine, but also with severed cables, displaced border buoys, disinformation campaigns, GPS jammers and, as we have seen, dilapidated oil tankers,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said at the time.
Two months after the incident was reported, Germany has now seized the tanker along with its cargo of about 100,000 tons of crude oil, Spiegel reports. The ship and the cargo, which is worth about $43 million (40 million euros), are now the property of Germany.
The tanker’s original route was to ship the oil from the Russian port of Ust-Luga through the Baltic Sea to Port Said in Egypt.
When found adrift in German waters, the tanker was towed to the waters off Sassnitz, due to an imminent danger of oil spill from the decrepit vessel. German coast guard and federal police have been monitoring the tanker since then, Spiegel reports.
Eventin was included in the latest EU sanctions against Russia at the end of February. The EU’s 16th sanctions package against Russia targeted 74 additional vessels, bringing the total number of sanctioned vessels to 153.
“These vessels are part of the shadow fleet or contributed to Russia’s energy revenues,” the EU said.
Iceland’s Minister For Children Quits After Admitting Having Baby With 16 Year Old
Iceland’s minister for children has resigned after admitting she had a child over 30 years ago with a 16-year-old boy while she was a 22-year-old church group counselor, according to the New York Post.
Ásthildur Lóa Thórsdóttir, whose name has forced us to remember Word keystrokes we haven’t used in years, is now 58 and a member of the center-left People’s Party.
She confirmed the relationship after local outlet RUV received a tip. She revealed the teen father was present during the birth, and later paid child support.
The NY Post article says that the teen father, Eirík Ásmundsson, paid child support for 18 years, though Thórsdóttir allegedly limited his access to the child after marrying, according to reports.
“I understand… what it looks like,” Thórsdóttir said, claiming it’s “very difficult to get the right story across in the news today.”
While Iceland’s age of consent is 15, sex with a minor under 18 is illegal if one is their teacher or mentor.
It’s unclear if authorities are investigating. Thórsdóttir resigned as minister after being summoned by Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir, who called it a “very personal matter.” Thórsdóttir says she’ll stay in parliament because…well, of course she will.
I’m a realist. I understand there’s always going to be hypocrisy on both sides of the political aisle. And I also understand that, as far as politics go, monetary policy is pretty much “the third rail.”
As I’ve always said, if there’s one thing that should alarm you about today’s monetary policy — which is damn close to full-on modern monetary theory — it’s the fact that both political parties agree on it. Are there any other issues that you can think of off the top of your head that both parties agree on and never argue about? I sure as hell can’t.
But while both parties have generally embraced the way the country has run monetary policy, their respective stances on how the country runs fiscal policy are quite different. And therein lies the basis for why today’s revelation matters.
Right now, the political climate consists of Republicans taking a chainsaw to anything they can get their hands on in government to cut spending, and Democrats protesting any and all cuts for any reason they can drum up. Hashing out individual issues worthy of cuts is not what this article is about, so we’ll save that discussion for another day.
This article is meant to point out the fatal hypocritical flaw that exists in Democrats’ reasoning as it relates to the country’s financials. Everybody understands the simple idea that if we run up too much debt, the country could, in essence, go bankrupt. But what’s really alarming now is the pace at which we are running up this debt. It’s why this chart of the national debt is going parabolically higher. The number $35 trillion is astonishing — but the rate with which we are moving higher is beyond breakneck.
Source: Kobeissi Letter
The cuts that are being attempted are a direct effort to address the size of the deficit, which is a fancy word for how much more money the U.S. goes into debt every year. The idea is to slow the pace of debt accumulation and then eventually reverse course to start paying it down.
Make no mistake about it—the Biden administration did not give a single solitary f*ck thought to how fast we were running up debt. The deficit under the Biden presidency propelled the debt to unprecedented levels that put us on an extremely dangerous trajectory. There appeared to be zero discretion or care in how the Biden administration spent. This is pretty much par for the course for Democrats, who generally believe there should be no ceiling on how high taxes can go and how big government can get, and nothing is off-limits to tax, regardless of how regressive.
The topic of government ever getting too big or taxes getting too high is never broached. As policy, Democrats fight for their right to push the economy to the brink.
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Economists on the left have supplemented this asinine policy with the complex-sounding bullshit jargon of modern monetary theory, which, without getting into the intricacies of it, posits that the Fed can print as much money as it needs without any consequence, and we have through the miracle of academia, in essence, unlocked some Game Genie-like cheat code for the nation’s economy.
Again, both parties embrace monetary policy as it exists today (i.e. Trump calling for rate cuts this week) but only one party believes that spending can be unlimited and that there are no consequences to poor economic decisions.
The modern-day left presents themselves as the party that fights for not just equality, but equity. They’re no longer happy with just equality of opportunity; they want to push for equality of outcome. In other words, Democrats claim they want a system that moves closer toward a socialist state planned economy. While I don’t agree with the idea, I understand that many people who vote Democrat do and think the world would be a better place if the rich had a little less, paid a little more in taxes, and the lower class had a little bit more. These voters believe that more top-line revenue should go toward increased federal spending and social services to benefit those at the bottom of the economic totem pole. Sounds altruistic enough, right?
But the darkest secret of the party that pushes for far-left monetary policy and far-left fiscal policy is this: the more the Federal Reserve continues operating as it has — monetizing debt, bailing out the U.S. economy, and generally perpetually implementing easing conditions — the faster our nation moves away from the socialist utopia that Democrats often say they envision. And you don’t need any more proof of that than a look at how the inequality gap has widened over the last three decades.
This one chart tells the whole story, and lays bare the Democrats’ attitude toward monetary and fiscal policy bare for the hypocritical farce it is. So much for equity:
Once again, on monetary policy, both parties are guilty.
But on fiscal policy, the Democrats are causing significantly more harm than Republicans with the way they view the nation’s finances. Most modern-day Democrats believe that since the U.S. dollar is the world’s reserve currency, we can print as much as we want and there will be no consequences. They don’t believe in any type of basic economic laws anymore, instead choosing to have faith that these laws have been hypnotized, stunned and then usurped by the magic spell of modern monetary theory, which has solidified the ideas that up is down, down is up, the sky is green, the grass is blue, and Paul Krugman has superpowers that supersede thousands of years of mathematics and economic laws as the human race once knew them.
Looking at the above chart, I think both parties would agree that we have an inequality problem, and the current trajectory we are on with monetary policy is making it worse.
But only one party is at least trying to do something fiscally to keep this monetary fueled gap somewhat steady at where it is today. Democrats, on the other hand, believe they have perfected both monetary and fiscal theory, and that, for the years they have been in charge, everything has gone exactly as planned.
Except it hasn’t. What the above chart shows is that the top 10% of the nation gets significantly, extraordinarily, disproportionately wealthier every time the Federal Reserve steps in to implement quantitative easing.
And what you’ll notice in the chart is that the gap between the lowest 50% of the nation and the top 10% continues to widen. In other words, this is a problem that is getting worse, accelerating and shows no signs of stopping today. On this trajectory, at some point, quality of life for the bottom 50% of the nation is going to get so poor that someone will make this same point on a platform that garners significant attention, and it’s going to click with more everyday people. Maybe at that point, both parties will come together and have a legitimate discussion about monetary policy.
But one thing is for sure: If a lot of center-left Democrats I know understood this point clearly, they might seriously reconsider what it is that their party claims to be fighting for in the first place. And if the concept takes hold and has time to sink in with the nation, it could wind up being yet another issue that Democrats lose a significant tranche of voters over—at a time when their party can least afford it.
Both parties are to blame for flawed monetary policy, but at least Republicans are now floating some sound money ideas and cuts that work toward balacing the budget. As for Democrats, they may say their interests are in increasing equity and equality for their voters, but the policies they put forth instead scream that they want the billionaires and the mega-rich to get significantly wealthier, while the bottom 50% of the nation’s quality of life continues to be brutalized.
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The data comes from the U.S. Mint and the World Gold Council. For illustrative purposes, we considered a pallet of 1,190 gold bars (400 troy ounces each) weighing approximately 14.8 tonnes.
What Is Fort Knox?
Located in Kentucky, Fort Knox is a U.S. Army installation that serves as the primary storage site for America’s gold reserves. The facility was established in the 1930s to protect gold from potential foreign attacks.
The first gold shipment arrived in 1937 via U.S. Mail from the Philadelphia Mint and the New York Assay Office. During World War II, Fort Knox safeguarded important U.S. documents, including the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. It has also housed international treasures, such as the Magna Carta and the crown, sword, scepter, orb, and cape of St. Stephen, King of Hungary, before they were returned in 1978.
Currently, it holds 4,175 tonnes of gold, equivalent to nearly half of China’s gold reserves and four times the Swiss central bank’s reserves.
Only small samples have been removed for purity testing during audits; no major transfers have occurred for years.
Gold Bar Specifications
Size: 7 inches × 3 5/8 inches × 1 3/4 inches
Weight: 400 ounces (27.5 pounds)
Extreme Security
Only a select few know the full security procedures, and no single person knows how to fully open the vault.
In 1974, a group of journalists and a Congressional delegation were allowed inside—marking the first official visit since Fort Knox’s creation. Previously, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was the only person other than authorized personnel to access the vaults.
In 2017, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin, and several Congressional representatives became the second group to visit the vault.
If gold was shared equally, how much would you get? Check out this graphic to find out.
The Ukraine war has already cost hundreds of thousands of lives, but Germany’s top intelligence chief is predicting far more carnage, and Ukraine’s opposition is reacting with outrage.
Bruno Kahl, the head of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) made the comments in an interview, saying:
“If a war in Ukraine comes to a standstill earlier than (2029 or 2030), then all the means (of Russia) – both the technical and the material – are able much earlier to provide a threat against Europe.”
In Ukraine, this portion of the interview has been met with sharp backlash.
German newspaper Berliner Zeitung now asks:
“Will the war be waged on the backs of the Ukraine?”
Perhaps a ridiculous question concerning it has already been waged on their backs for the last three years.
The paper further writes:
“In Ukraine, that passage is causing excitement. The reading in Kyiv: The German intelligence chief publicly declares that the Ukraine war should not end before 2029. Otherwise, Russia could use its resources faster to pose a threat to Europe.”
🇭🇺🇺🇦 PM Orbán: Europe’s wars lead to fewer White Christian Europeans and more migrants
Hungary’s leader says the war in Ukraine is a demographic disaster, just like WWI and WWII were for Hungary. Now, migrants will be being used to fill the missing gaps. pic.twitter.com/IEwMOcJmxv
In other words, a peace deal would not benefit Europe if it happens before the next five years. Instead, the German chief hints that it is in Europe’s interest to continue sending waves of Ukrainian men to die at the front.
The former prime minister of Ukraine, who still remains one of the most powerful voices in the country, Yulia Tymoshenko, reacted to Kahl’s statements. On her Facebook page, she wrote that “something slipped” out of Kahl’s mouth that Ukrainians “did not want to admit” to themselves.
“Did someone decide to pay for the exhaustion of Russia in the name of security in Europe with the existence of Ukraine and the lives of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians? I never thought that it would be discussed so officially and openly,” she wrote. She then called for Zelensky to immediately end the war and sign a peace agreement.
As chairman of the opposition Fatherland Association, Tymoshenko complained that even the closest allies of Ukraine primarily pursue their own interests. She is calling on the Ukrainian parliament to address Kahl’s statement.
Oleksij Hontscharenko, from the European Solidarity Group, also made a similar statement on Telegram:
“Not in five or ten years. Let’s end it. To rebuild the economy and expand the army. It is important to preserve our country now, We don’t have to save anyone. We have to save ourselves.”
Ukrainian political scientist Anatoliy Oktysjuk said that Kahl’s statements only confirm what he has been saying for some time.
“Of course, peace negotiations and an end to our war are unfavorable for Europe. Should the Ukrainians struggle as long as possible so that it remains calm in Europe?”
On social media, Oktysjuk wrote that Kahl is only now honestly admitting what Oktysjuk had been talking about for the past two years.
There is growing unease in Ukraine about the humanitarian toll the war is taking on the Ukrainian population, which is seeing the worst demographic development in the entire world due to its high death rate, low birth rate, and a huge wave of emigration. In short, Ukrainians are increasingly fighting for a land that may not exist when the war is over. Already there are calls from business leaders in Ukraine to import Third World migrants to replace the men who have been lost.
Tymoshenko has become more outspoken in the media in recent months and has taken to sniping at Zelensky. Zelensky, however, has nothing to fear, as elections have been suspended in Ukraine as long as the war continues.
France has talked a big, hawkish anti-Russia game of late, but this week President Macron has actually backed up the rhetoric with action, but which brings Europe another step closer to nuclear escalation with Moscow.
France unveiled earlier this week plans to establish a new nuclear-capable air base, which will be its fourth, also to be home to two squadrons of the latest version of its domestic-made Dassault Rafale multirole fighter.
France plans to invest around 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion) to establish the new nuke-capable installation. A moment, the three air bases equipped with secure weapons storage for nuclear missiles are: Saint-Dizier, Istres, and Avord.
Speaking of the location of what will become the next base to play nuclear host, Macron said, “The Luxeuil air base is about to be upgraded in an unprecedented way and regain its full role in France’s nuclear deterrent,” describing that it will need “massive investment” to be modernized.
“Announcing the storage of modern nuclear missiles on an air base less than 200 kilometers from the German border is strategic signaling,”Politico has commented. “It also comes after Germany’s chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz said he wanted to hold talks about France’s nuclear deterrent as fears grow of a U.S. retreat from the continent.”
“If we are to avoid war, our country and our continent must continue to defend, equip and prepare themselves,” Macron said.
Storing ASN4G air-launched hypersonic nuclear missiles there will require the permanent staff to double to at least 2,000 people. The French President set a bar of preparing Luxeuil to host an expansion of next-generation Rafale fighter jets and their hypersonic nuclear missiles by the year 2035.
The double-engine Rafale is capable of flying supersonic speeds and can depart runways as short as 400 meters. Produced by Dassault Aviation, it has been a central fighter of the French Air Force since 2000.
Macron has recently floated the idea of France extending its nuclear deterrent to all of Europe, amid fears in NATO that the US under Trump is retreating from its leadership role, also as Washington holds direct talks with Moscow.
France remains the only nuclear power in the European Union, and it possesses some 290 nuclear warheads – according to media estimates – which is why Russian leaders have slammed all of Macron’s latest comments as “extremely confrontational”.
This suggests that Russia expects a political settlement or at least an armistice within the next six months so it’s now prioritizing the further legitimization of its control over the new regions by finally completing their legal integration into the country at the local administrative level by 10 September.
Putin signed a decree on Thursday obligating all Ukrainians in Russia without valid residence documents to legalize their stay by 10 September. They can do this by either applying for Russian citizenship via the simplified procedure for Ukrainian nationals that entered into force in summer 2022 or for residency by either proving legal employment or enrollment in a Russian education program. Many assumed that this had already happened some time ago, especially in the new regions, yet it’s only just now occurring.
Some Ukrainian nationals’ legally ambiguous status doesn’t mean that the state isn’t aware of who they are and what they’re doing, just that it wasn’t hitherto a priority to clarify this with regard to Russian law, likely due to stereotypically slow bureaucracy and the state’s focus on waging the specialoperation. With the Ukrainian Conflict drawing to a close due to the nascentRussian–US “NewDétente”, it’s now time to wrap up loose ends such as these for further legitimizing Russia’s control over its new regions.
Ukrainian and other foreign nationals must therefore legalize their presence there just as they’d have to do in any other country otherwise it would look like Russia is doubting the legitimacy of its own claims by making an exception for these locals. If Putin didn’t get around to decreeing that this is finally done within less than six months, the timeframe of which suggests approximately how long he expects the peace process to last at max, then that category of residents would literally be above the law.
From there, Ukraine could claim that Russia is “atoning for its guilty conscience of illegally occupying foreign land” by letting the locals over whom the state assumed responsibility “preserve their separate Ukrainian legal status”, thus serving as the pretext for Kiev to meddle in those lands after hostilities end. By mandating that they voluntarily legalize their presence in line with Russian law or be deported, Moscow neutralizes Kiev’s aforesaid claims, thus delegitimizing any post-conflict meddling on that basis.
In other words, this decree is meant to facilitate the incipient peace process by fortifying Russia’s legal claims to the four former Ukrainian regions that unified with it after September’s 2022 referenda, which reaffirms that Russia won’t cede these lands since they’re now being fully treated as integral territories. They were constitutionally considered as such for over two and a half years, but local bureaucracy took a long time to catch up in all legal regards, though that’s finally changing as a result of Putin’s decree.
Ukraine will predictably try to exploit this move by claiming that it amounts to some violation of the locals’ rights, but the reality is that locals can continue living as they were before the latest phase of the conflict broke out in early 2022, they just have to abide by Russian law. That was already the case ever since the state assumed responsibility for them, but it’ll now be more strictly enforced as the situation begins normalizing, which will likely lead to a ramping up of the FSB’s counter-intelligence operations.
After all, some of these same locals might remain loyal to Ukraine even after legalizing their presence, in which case they could gather and pass along intelligence about local military-political developments and/or carry out acts of terrorism. That was always a threat and will remain one far into the future, albeit under more difficult conditions for Kiev’s assets than ever before as these lands complete their integration into Russia after Putin’s latest decree with all that entails for strengthening local security.
Germany’s Baerbock Humiliated: Denied Handshake (Again) By Syrian Leader
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock visited Syria on Thursday for the second time since the overthrow Bashar al-Assad three months ago. She was there for talks with the ruling Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and its self-declared President Syrian Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa (Al-Qaeda name: Abu Mohammad al-Jolani), as well as to oversee the re-opening of the Germany embassy in Damascus which closed back in 2012, in protest of the Assad government.
“A new political beginning between Europe and Syria, between Germany and Syria, is possible,” declared Baerbock while emphasizing this must include freedom, security and equal opportunities for all Syrians, regardless of gender, ethnicity, or religion. And yet, for the second time, Sharaa refused to shake her hand. Watch:
‼️🇸🇾🇩🇪 Meanwhile #Europe, represented by Baerbock, is again humiliated by former terrorist Al-Julani. He again refused to shake hands with #Baerbock during a visit to Damascus. #Syriapic.twitter.com/baUzQBIhtR
This is Europe being humiliated once again by the very armed group it helped put into power. Islamic extremists refuse to have any contact with women who are not their wives or family members.
Being a hardline Islamist, the Syrian leader avoided all physical contact with the foreign dignitary, other than simply pointing her to her chair.
She went to Damascus despite that a similar scene had played out in early January, which Politico dubbed ‘Hand-shake Gate in Syria’. The male dignitary she had been traveling with was offered a handshake, however:
She came to advocate the rights of women and minorities. She left without a handshake. The Syrian leader’s refusal to offer a greeting handshake during a visit to Damascus this week was predictable, Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said.
The incident nonetheless prompted a vigorous online debate over global political greeting protocols, as well as the label “handshake scandal” by German daily Bild, as Baerbock’s traveling partner, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, was offered a handshake.
She still had tried to write off that January encounter as some kind of protest win. “As I traveled here, it was clear to me that there would obviously be no ordinary handshakes,” Baerbock had said in the aftermath.
“But it was also clear … that not only I but also the French foreign minister did not share this view. And accordingly, the French foreign minister did not extend his hands,” she stressed.
So it sounds like Germany is simply bowing to the dictates of Sharia law and fanatical, Wahhabi Islam – in the aftermath of Europe and the US having supported regime change in Syria – but none of this comes as a great surprise.
For most of the past six decades, the United States has been facing the threat of implosion from a growing federal budget deficit. Today, that threat is no longer lurking. It is here. The annual federal budget deficit has left Americans saddled with unimaginable debt. It has increased more than sixfold in the last 20 years. Today it is on steroids. This year, interest on the federal debt will be approximately $1.1 trillion. By comparison, our annual defense budget is $850 billion.
Think of the exciting opportunities Republicans had when they narrowly captured control of the House of Representatives in 2022. Unfortunately, even before they were sworn in, the House leadership called for a secret vote on how to spend taxpayer dollars. By a vote of 158-2, they brought back to life earmarks that had been put to bed under Speaker John Boehner in 2011. Earmarks are special appropriations tailored to member’s pet projects. Historically, they were known as “pork-barrel” spending.
After a secret vote, those 158 GOP members enabled a system in which 7,500 pork-barrel projects were enacted at a cost to the taxpayers of $16 billion. It was not only – or even primarily – liberal “tax and spend” Democrats pigging out. Fifty of the largest earmarkers in the House were Republicans. In the Senate, eight of the 12 largest offenders were Republicans. Nor was it only established Republicans. Some of the largest MAGA voices were busy pushing earmarks. They include Florida representatives Matt Gaetz (who requested over $1 billion) and Brian Mast (who received some $437 million).
In the second year, the top seven earmarking specialists in the Senate were Republicans, for a grand total of $2.3 billion. In the last two years, highlights of congressional pork included the following:
Sen. Susan Collins earmarked $870 million for her own state, Maine (population 1.4 million). Those projects included “an outdoor heating facility” and “space education simulators.”
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski earmarked $851.1 million, including a “whale abundance survey” and a “crab enhancement project.”
Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky requested 26 earmarks totaling $640.9 million.
A total of 31 members earmarked taxpayer dollars for universities they attended.
Another four lawmakers set aside taxpayer dollars for companies where their wives worked.
Actions speak louder than words. These GOP earmark enthusiasts have made a clear statement –they are totally comfortable with the exploding federal debt. Yes, it is true that many Democrats pushed earmarks. But it is also true that the Democratic Party did not bring back earmarks when they controlled the House. Those 158 GOP members did. And they far outspent the Democrats.
What those GOP House members and senators failed to realize is that the world has changed dramatically since Speaker Boehner left Washington.
A decade or so ago, The Economist pointed out that Big Data would change social science like the microscope changed medicine. That was a prophetic observation. Government is a social science. The combination of Big Data and the cloud is bringing a massive change to every aspect of our lives, including how we govern ourselves. It is bringing transparency. For the first time in our nation’s history, non-classified money spent by our governing class is available for public scrutiny. Today, it is difficult to hide government duplication, fraud, and incompetence.
Transparency also works to change the culture within our government.
Transparency educates the voting public by giving them access to federal, state, and local government expenditures on their cell phones, iPads, and computers. While the voters’ eyes glaze over budgets presented in billions or trillions (too many zeroes), they do understand fiscal irresponsibility when presented with egregious examples of government profligacy. Transparency has the potential to change our culture – and political outcomes – while encouraging competition in primary elections, since the lack of fiscal responsibility will no longer be hidden.
Changing the culture within government is encouraged by constant communication with the voting public and the governing bureaucracy. Again, actions speak louder than words. Actions send a clear message to a wider constituency of voters. Here are four actions President Trump and his administration can put in place to encourage a turn-off-the-lights culture, an it’s-taxpayer-dollars-I’m-spending culture.
Call for Congress to eliminate every earmark immediately. Point out that you will publish every remaining earmark every month until they are eliminated.
Announce that the White House will cut expenses by a fixed percentage. The president and the Department of Government Efficiency led by Elon Musk are already taking a broadsword to the executive branch agencies, but the symbolism of cutting White House expenses would set a powerful example. Successfully attacking the colossal federal debt requires the participation of everyone in government.
Suggest that Congress join the White House and cut their office and committee expenses and report their progress to the public quarterly. Again, everyone in the government must participate. If the White House can cut expenses, so can everyone else in government.
Announce that every department in your administration with a budget will focus on cutting waste, fraud, duplication, and incompetence and report to the public quarterly. And that you will monitor progress (or lack thereof) and report to the public quarterly.
The cloud, Big Data, and technology have given us tools we never had before to attack waste, fraud, duplication, and incompetence. Transparency! It is nonpartisan. It is not controllable. It is a culture-changer.
Mr. President, your administration is fortunately positioned to be the transparency launching pad. It will bring much-needed efficiency and effectiveness to the world of government.
The last time the U.S. budget was not in the red was during the Clinton administration. President Clinton pointed out that the federal debt could be eliminated in about 15 years. That did not take place. Our debt then was $5 trillion. Today it is more than $36 trillion. Think of where our great country would be today if it were not saddled with interest payments of over $1 trillion. That is an exciting thought.
The Trump administration has its work cut out for it. But transparency and political resolve can meet the moment.
Thomas W. Smith is the founder of Prescott Investors, Inc.
