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Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-VA07) Sworn In as Member of 119th Congress, Calls for Bipartisan Solutions to Lower Prices, Improve Public Education, Protect Freedoms

By
Blue Virginia
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1

From Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-VA07)’s office:

Vindman Sworn In as Member of 119th Congress, Calls for Bipartisan Solutions to Lower Prices, Improve Public Education, Protect Freedoms

WASHINGTON – Congressman Eugene Vindman (Va.-07) released the following statement after being sworn into office to serve the people of Virginia’s Seventh District in the 119th Congress.

“I am honored and humbled to officially begin serving the people of Virginia’s Seventh District in the U.S. House of Representatives. In Congress, I will fight to keep the promise of America alive for everyone across the Commonwealth and our country. Only in America could I, a refugee from Soviet Ukraine who fled with my family as a child, have the honor of serving this great nation in the Army for 25 years and now in Congress.

“I know the kind of hard work and determination it takes to realize the American Dream. My Dad lugged furniture for $20 per day until he could learn enough English to pass an engineering exam. I want every working American like my Dad to have the chance to live their American Dream, and I will fight everyday for families and workers chasing the Dream. That work starts by working across the aisle to lower costs, improve public education, and protect our most basic rights and freedoms.

“I am optimistic that my colleagues and I will find bipartisan solutions by listening to constituent concerns, responding with pragmatic legislation, and delivering real results for communities across the Seventh District and the nation.

“I would not be here today without the support of my extraordinary wife Cindy and our two kids. I know I have big shoes to fill and would like to thank former Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger for skillfully serving the people of the Seventh District for the past six years.

“Time to get to work.”

Before representing the people of the Seventh District, Vindman served as an infantry officer and paratrooper including assignments in the 82D Airborne Division and as a company commander leading troops. Soon after, he transitioned to the U.S. Army Judge Advocate Generals (JAG) Corps. As a JAG, Eugene served as an international law advisor during combat operations in Iraq; as the senior prosecutor in the busiest jurisdiction in the Army; and as a White House National Security Council (NSC) deputy legal advisor. He attained the rank of Colonel before retiring in 2022 after 25-years of service.

After retirement, Eugene investigated war crimes in Ukraine for 18 months, completing 14 trips as a senior consultant for a Department of State funded program. He is a recognized expert in criminal international law and has published extensively on topics related to national security and international relations.

Fairfax County’s Sole Remaining Republican Supervisor, Pat Herrity, Announces Candidacy for Lt. Governor of Virginia

By
lowkell
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11

See below for Fairfax County Supervisor Pat Herrity (R)’s announcement of his candidacy for the 2025 VA GOP’s Lt. Governor nomination. With Herrity throwing his hat in the ring, we now have two Republicans (Herrity and John Curran) plus five Democrats (former Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney, Prince William County School Board Chair Babur Lateef, State Sen. Aaron Rouse, State Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, attorney Victor Salgado) running for their parties’ respective Lt. Governor nominations. Most likely, several other Republicans will also jump in – possibly MAGA radio host (at WRVA in Richmnond) John Reid; also possibly VA GOP chair Rich Anderson, State Sen. Glenn Sturtevant, State Sen. Tara Durant, former State Sen. Amanda Chase (for governor or LG?), etc. Stay tuned…

As for Pat Herrity, Richmond Times-Dispatch political columnist Jeff Schapiro says he’s “a NoVa Republican legacy – the son of late supervisor Jack Herrity, a close ally of the developers, homebuilders and fedl contractors whose money and muscle long kept now-heavily Democratic Fairfax safe for a biz-friendly GOP.”  We’ve written about Pat Herrity here at Blue Virginia, including Endorsing Pat Herrity’s Reelection Is Another Piece of Evidence That the WaPo Editorial Board Has Sh*t for Brains (“The WAPO editorial staff also hasn’t looked carefully at Mr Herrity’s record…Herrity is an antigovernment and anti tax [and anti-enviro, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ, etc.] Republican”); In Increasingly Blue Fairfax County, Supervisor Pat Herrity (R) Demagogues on Illegal Immigration, Overstates Legal Defense Fund Money 1,000-Fold; With His Nasty, Xenophobic, Trumpian Campaign, Fairfax Supervisor Pat Herrity (R) Demonstrates Why Republicans Keep Losing Badly in Northern Virginia; etc.

Looking at Herrity’s “issues” page on his website, you can see that he’s now pretty much a right winger (despite having previously been more “moderate”), with his view on abortion as follows: “Defend the lives of the unborn and oppose the Democrats’ radical agenda of abortion up to the moment of birth.” (note that this is a wild distortion – in fact, the VAST majority of abortions  take place in the 1st trimester, with late-term abortions almost never happening, and only then in cases where the life/health of the mother is in grave danger, the fetus isn’t viable, etc.).  On guns, Herrity pledges to “defend the 2nd Amendment in Virginia and preserve the right of law-abiding gun-owners to keep and bear arms.” Etc.

P.S. Also, note that the magisterial district Herrity has represented since 2007 on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors – Springfield district – has been one of the least “blue” parts of Fairfax County for years. Still, Herrity came very close to losing reelection in 2019, defeating Democrat Linda Sperling by just 1 percentage point (50.4%-49.4%)…

Supervisor Pat Herrity Announces Campaign for Lieutenant Governor
Springfield, VA – Today, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors member Pat Herrity, of the Springfield District, announced his campaign for Lieutenant Governor of Virginia in 2025.

Against a backdrop of Glenn Youngkin’s leadership in Richmond, Pat called for a continuation of the conservative legacy established by Governor Youngkin, Lieutenant Governor Sears, and Attorney General Miyares.

“In 2021, we put Virginia on the right track by electing Governor Youngkin. In 2025, it is crucial that we continue that path by electing Winsome Sears to the Governor’s mansion, re-electing Jason Miyares as our Attorney General, and electing a strong leader to be the next Lieutenant Governor,” Pat said.

“In Richmond, I will continue to bring about the commonsense, conservative solutions that best serve our communities and our Commonwealth. I will work to lower taxes, support law enforcement, and advocate for our children. I’ll focus education resources on students and quality teachers – not on political agendas. I’ll stand up to the progressive prosecutors releasing repeat violent offenders into our neighborhoods, and I’ll penalize localities that refuse to cooperate with ICE to keep our communities safe.”

Pat Herrity currently serves on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and is the last elected Republican in the county. In 2023, Pat won re-election with 54% of the vote, in a district where Governor Youngkin received just 38%. He attributes his success to being a strong balancing voice on the Board, getting things done and delivering commonsense, conservative solutions to the voters who elected him.

Learn more about Pat Herrity: www.PatforVA.com
Watch Pat Herrity’s announcement video: https://youtu.be/SuqKi6y3M3E

Friday News: Mike Johnson May Not Have the Votes; “New Orleans truck attack restarts the Fox-Trump feedback loop”; Eugene Vindman (D-VA07), Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA10) Start Their New Jobs in Congress; Fairfax Supervisor Pat Herrity (R) to Run for LG

By
lowkell
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26

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, January 3.

Video: Rep. Jennifer McClellan (D-VA04) Says Dems Need to Stay Unified, Build Coalitions, Do Better Job of Communicating, Use Legislative and Legal Tools at Our Disposal to Fight Back Effectively Against Trump’s Excesses, Lawlessness

By
lowkell
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0

Key points from this interview with Rep. Jennifer McClellan (D-VA04) include:

  • “I think the biggest strategy I’m deploying is recognizing you can’t fight every battle yourself, because if you do you’ll you’ll burn yourself out. And so I’m trying to focus on what I can control and is actually as a member of Congress is quite a bit, even in the minority. Republicans have proven that they can’t govern in the House, at least when they have a five-person majority, let alone a two-person majority. And with the filibuster in the Senate, I do think it’s going to be difficult for Congress to do anything that gets too far ahead of the American people. My biggest worry of course is what Trump will try to do with the executive power that he has; he has proven that the law doesn’t mean anything to him, rules don’t mean anything to him and the Supreme Court’s basically has given him carte blanche to do what he wants. So I am worried about that, but there’s only so much of that I can control. And I’m going to focus my energy on the issues that impact the people that I represent and still get up every day focused on how do I help them, how do I solve problems and how do I, with the power that I have and the coalitions that I can build in Congress and outside, stop the worst of the worst that the Trump Administration tries to push through.”
  • “One of the things that is the same as in the 118th Congress is we have got to stay together. And Hakeem Jeffries as our leader has done a really good job of keeping us together when it matters. And inevitably the Republicans show us they can’t govern, they can’t stop fighting amongst themselves. And when we stay united, it forces them to come to the table to negotiate with us. Now I’ll be frank with what happened with the government shutdown and Mike Johnson sort of reneging on a deal that he made because Elon Musk had a temper tantrum, you know that’s broken the trust between the two of them a little bit. But the Democratic caucus, we trust our leader to have the  country’s best interest at heart. And we’ve got to stick together and we’ve got to all show up every single day show up every single day.”
  • “What’s interesting is [Trump]’s dialing back his rhetoric. So I don’t know if that means that he’s starting to see that doing what he campaigned on is not going to be as easy as he thinks it is. But what I’m particularly keeping an eye on is what are they going to do to the federal workforce. I’m very concerned about the DOGE bros, who have no clue how government works, who just bash federal employees. And you know Virginia has over 170,000 federal employees and contractors, over 140,000 active-duty military personnel and contractors. And so I’m concerned about what they’re going to do to the federal workforce and just trying to break federal government overall. And then of course I’m very concerned about what they’re going to try to do on on immigration and the border. But even there, they’re fighting amongst themselves. So I think just making sure that we are calling out abuses when we see them, that we are pointing out the impact that their proposals would have not only on my constituents but theirs and the people that voted for them. And hopefully…he will realize that he’s not going to be able to do what he promised in this campaign.”
  • “People often decry how difficult it is to get anything done in Congress, but it was actually designed that way to protect political minorities. But often those same checks and balances can be used to protect marginalized communities. And while it’ll be very difficult over the next two to four years to proactively pass laws or do anything to protect communities, we do have a lot of power through the rules, through the filibuster, even through the court system – as frustrating as  the Supreme Court is right now  – to fight back on anything that would harm marginalized communities. And I think again we’ve got to stay united, we’ve got to stay focused on our priorities in doing that. And we need to, I think it’s much more important that the coalition between the establishment, the activist community that we all stay very focused on our goals, which right now is do no harm, and that we stay focused on that. We have very different roles…the role of the activist community is to put pressure on the outside, but the role of the minority party in Congress is to use the levers inside the system that we have to be able to to stop anything bad from happening.”
  • “I think the first step is – and one of the lessons learned from the election is we need to do a much better job of communicating with each other – we as members of Congress need to talk to not just voters but the activist community in non-inside-the-Beltway speak, about here’s what’s happening, and meet people where they are – yes, come on your show, yes go on TV, but we’ve got to start collaborating more on social media and then these other forms of communication that people use to make sure we are reaching people where they are. And I think the storytelling is is going to be much more important, because what I have always found – and I spent 14 years in the minority in Virginia government – and what has always been much more effective than statistics or talking points or or sometimes even the rallies is the stories that people tell about this is how this proposed policy will hurt me and hurt my community. And if we can center those stories and not necessarily ourselves as elected officials, we will be much more successful. And that’s the the first point. The second point we’ve got to recognize, people are tired, and people I think for a lot of people the election put them in a state of depression if I’m being honest. And we’ve got to recognize we’ve got to take care of ourselves first, put your own mask on first is my other mantra of the year. And once you’ve taken care of your own needs, then you’re in a much better place to advocate as part of the Resistance. And so I think the New Year is a really good time for everybody to focus on what do you need to refresh so that you will be ready to be part of the Resistance in the next four years.”
  • “You kind of put your finger on it, making sure you are centering the influencer community in your comms strategy. So, for example, tomorrow when we start uh the 119th  Congress and the caucus has a media row set up for members, they’ve included online influencers. But I also think we need to sometimes the temptation is just focus on national influencers, we’re really starting…to also focus on who are the influencers locally in our communities that may not have you know millions of followers, but they’ve got a significant following on the ground. And if all 215 of us create and develop and nurture relationships with local influencers in our district, that’s going to have a huge impact, because for a lot of people they pay more attention to those local influencers than they do to the national influencers.”
  • “What I have found is, at the end of the day, no matter where you are in the political spectrum, you want to know that you can pay your bills and that your kids have an opportunity to do better than than you did. You want access to healthare so that you can go go to the doctor and not be bankrupt if you get sick. And you want to live in a safe community and keep your family safe. And if we focus on those things that we have in common even, on issues that are on their face polarizing, we can find common ground and move people forward. I disagree a little bit in that, you know, having been on the the campaign advisory council, I heard the message, there WAS a message about the economy, there WAS a unifying message that could appeal to everyone. Too many people didn’t hear it. And I think that we allowed too many people to only hear MAGA and Republican framing of what the Democratic message was, rather than hearing the Democratic message itself. So it goes back to what I said earlier, making sure you have a clear message that is written in a way that somebody in Brunswick County or in you know Manhattan can understand, and that you are meeting people where they are, where they get their information to give them that message. But more importantly you’re listening to them and when you’re listening, you’ll see if your message isn’t resonating, you will see if you’re talking about something that is not top of mind to that voter and you can adjust. And so that’s what I think went wrong – not necessarily that we had a message that didn’t resonate, it was that too many people didn’t hear it.”
  • “First is we’ve got to call out every time they try to implement part of [Project 2025]. You know, Trump and MAGA did a pretty good job of trying to disavow Project 2025. And now, they can’t. And so the first step is for us to stay in touch with folks and say, look, here’s this bill that they’ve introduced and here’s what it’s going to do and here’s how it’s going to affect you and here how it’s going to hurt our democracy. And fight it. And again, it’s staying unified, it’s showing up for every single vote, whether it’s a committee vote or rule or whatever, to use every tool that we can to stop these bills if they’re bills. And if it’s the executive branch, working very closely not only with the advocate community but with the legal community and the organizations that can use the court system to stop the worst of the worst. And I still believe in our court system. I still believe that ultimately it can and will be a check on on the president. But we’ve got to hold their feet to the fire and make sure that they do it.”
  • “I think it is possible. I have joined over a hundred of my colleagues to call on the president to order the archivist to publish [the ERA]. It has met all of the requirements of the constitution, and under federal law once it does that it, it SHALL be published. The so-called deadline that the archivist uses to try to argue it shouldn’t be published is NOT a constitutional requirement, is not authorized in the constitution in my opinion. And so hopefully President Biden will issue an order directing the archivist to publish it…I think he could submit his legacy as a defender of women’s rights going back to his days in the Senate when he passed the Violence Against Women Act, it would be a perfect capstone for his legacy. If he does not though, the ERA caucus which I’m a member of…we’re pushing to still try to get it published by removing the deadline or passing legislation. That’ll be harder. So…hopefully President Biden before he leaves will will issue that order.”

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA11): House Republican Rules Package “seek[s] to cement the Republican crusade against the civil service and to protect Donald Trump and his Administration from legitimate congressional scrutiny”

By
Blue Virginia
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0

From Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA11)’s office:

Connolly Statement on Republican Rules Package for the 119th Congress

Washington, DC – Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA), the incoming Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, released the following statement:

“As Oversight Committee Democrats prepare for 119th Congress, House Republicans are already signaling their intent to continue the dysfunction, chaos, and petty partisanship that defined their tenure during the 118th Congress. Of particular importance for the Oversight Committee are two provisions in the recently released Republican rules package that seek to cement the Republican crusade against the civil service and to protect Donald Trump and his Administration from legitimate congressional scrutiny.

“Republicans have retained the Holman rule in their rules package, which will again allow Congress to retaliate against and reduce the salaries of individual federal employees. We have seen this show play out in the current Congress, where Republicans have used the Holman rule in mindless and vindictive fashion to target federal employees not for legitimate wrongdoing, but for personal grievances and targeted political attacks. Oversight Democrats are prepared to defend the federal workforce from this egregious and unwarranted assault on the patriots who keep the federal government up and running.

“Also included in the Republican rules package is a holdover provision from the current Congress that severely weakens the seven-member rule, which is intended to allow any seven members of the Oversight Committee to compel the release of information from the Executive Branch on matters related to the Committee’s jurisdiction. The Republican rules package would again require authorization from the Chairman to enforce this rule, a clear sign that House Republicans will trample on the rights of the minority to protect the Trump Administration from any real oversight. That effort will fail, and Committee Democrats will use every tool at our disposal to hold the incoming Administration accountable.

“President-elect Trump has openly pledged to use his Administration to commit grave abuses of power. He has promised to purge tens of thousands of dedicated and high-performing federal employees, weaponize the justice system to prosecute and imprison political opponents, carry out inhumane mass deportations that tear families apart, sell immunity to polluters who poison our environment and endanger public health, undermine voting and civil rights, and exploit public office for his own personal enrichment. Oversight Committee Democrats will fight relentlessly to block these dangerous abuses, safeguard our democracy, and protect the American people from a leader who has already shown his willingness to incite political violence, including against the United States Congress.”

US Energy Information Administration: Virginia Has Most Rapid Power Demand Growth in US, Largely Due to “rapid development of large-scale computing facilities such as data centers”

By
lowkell
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0

The other day, I wrote about the rapid growth in data centers here in Virginia, as well as how those data centers might be powered – or fail to get sufficient power, thus limiting their growth. This morning, the US Energy Information Administration further highlights the challenge facing Virginia policymakers, power producers, etc., as it reports:

“… the growth in commercial demand for electricity [between 2019 and 2023] is concentrated in a handful of states experiencing rapid development of large-scale computing facilities such as data centers. Electricity demand has grown the most in Virginia, which added 14 BkWh, and Texas, which added 13 BkWh. Based on our expectation that regional electricity demand will grow, we revised our forecasts upward for commercial electricity demand through 2025 in our June Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO).

Electricity demand has grown the most in Virginia, largely driven by Dominion Energy Virginia, the main electricity utility in the state. Virginia has become a major hub for data centers, with 94 new facilities connected since 2019 given the access to a densely packed fiber backbone and to four subsea fiber cables.”

This finding corresponds with the recently released JLARC data centers study, as well as Ivy Main’s analysis, namely that: 1) “JLARC notes we are headed for a tripling of the state’s electricity usage over just the next decade and a half”; and 2) “Building enough infrastructure to provide electricity for even just half the data centers projected for development across the state will be difficult, requiring far more generating facilities than are under development today.”

Another crucial point by Ivy Main is that “meeting that much demand…would be ‘very difficult to achieve,’ even if the state jettisoned the carbon emission limits imposed by the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA).” Of course, not only shouldn’t the VCEA’s goals for Virginia clean energy growth be “jettisoned,” if anything they need to be much MORE aggressive. As Cindy Cunningham and I wrote back in 2020, the main problem with VCEA is that its goals are too far into the future. And as Sen. Dave Marsden’s VCEA recent summit found:

  • While “75 localities have approved solar projects…one solar company said during a panel the uncertainty of the local approval process is causing ‘sleepless nights.'”
  • “PJM has a backlog of about 208,500 megawatts of energy generation sources awaiting approval across its entire footprint, which stretches across the mid-Atlantic. About 53,492 megawatts is awaiting approval in Virginia, with about 29,600 of that being solar.”
  • “Will Cleveland, a former Southern Environmental Law Center attorney now with his own private practice, said “the Virginia Clean Economy Act, doesn’t work if it doesn’t deliver you a zero- carbon grid that is both affordable and reliable. ‘If we don’t get all three of those things, it’s not going to work and it’s not a sustainable policy,’ Cleveland said. ‘I think energy efficiency and demand response have a much larger role to play in achieving those … three goals than they do now.'”

In sum, VCEA was a good start, but the rapid growth in power demand – in large part due to data centers and the growth of AI – plus obstacles to rapidly building new clean energy projects AND connecting them to the grid, as well as energy efficiency goals not being nearly ambitious enough, are threatening to undermine what was one of the biggest pieces of legislation in 2020, and arguably in many years, here in Virginia.  The big question, as the 2025 Virginia General Assembly gears up next week, is what policymakers plan to do about this challenging situation.

Thursday News: “John Roberts Absurdly Suggests the Supreme Court Has No ‘Political Bias’”; “New Year’s Violence Rattles U.S.”; “Weaponizing Tragedy: [Trump, Right-Wing] Lies Spread After the New Orleans Terrorist Attack”; “Enshittification Comes to Washington”

By
lowkell
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14

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, January 2.

Important Special Elections Next Tuesday, Then Virginia General Assembly Convenes Next Wednesday for Youngkin’s FINAL Session as Governor

By
lowkell
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6

With 2025 now here, it also will shortly be time for the start of the 2025 Virginia General Assembly session – convening one week from today, on January 8. One day before that, next Tuesday (January 7) to be exact, don’t forget the special elections for SD10 (Democrat Jack Trammell vs. Republican Luther Cifers), SD32 (Democrat Kannan Srinivasan vs. Republican Tumay Harding) and HD26 (Democrat JJ Singh vs. Republican Ram Venkatachalam), which will determine which party controls the State Senate and House of Delegates.

As I wrote in my “25 for 2025” post on December 25, one big question is how several proposed constitutional amendments –   HJ1 (“a constitutional amendment protecting reproductive freedom in Virginia”), HJ2 (Right to vote – restoration of rights for ex-felons) and HJ9 (Marriage equality) – fare. More broadly, it will be interesting to see how the 2025 Virginia General Assembly session – Youngkin’s final one as governor, thank goodness – plays out (e.g., will Youngkin continue to veto excellent legislation just because it’s not far right/MAGA?). And, of course, we’ll see how chaos and extremism in Washington, DC, with Trump back in charge, plays out here in Virginia. Should be interesting – even if only in the “ancient Chinese curse” sense of “may you live in interesting times.”

With that, check out the following from VA Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, which goes into further detail on the proposed constitutional amendments on voting rights, marriage equality and reproductive freedom. Also, see Sen. Surovell’s “sneak peak” at his legislative agenda, which covers a wide variety of topics, including a bill to “[a]llow Fairfax County to authorize a referendum on casino gaming in Tysons Corner”; a study on “aligning federal and state elections to save taxpayer funds and increase turnout”; and improving “incentives to install heating and cooling systems in Virginia powered by Geothermal energy.”

By the way, make sure you bookmark the Legislative Information System website, for information on legislation, meetings, minutes, video, etc. It’s really an invaluable source of information if you want to follow what’s going on in the Virginia legislature.

“DOGE” is a Lie and a Crypto Ad

By
kindler
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3

by Kindler

Like every noteworthy con man, Donald is entrepreneurial only when it comes to creating new ways to lie and cheat others. So here’s a new twist – why not create an initiative with a name that completely misleads people about what that initiative actually is?

Which brings us to the SO-CALLED “Department of Government Efficiency” or “DOGE.” I am pleading with you not only to NOT use these names but also to call out the media or social media influencers every time they do. And here’s why:

Probably most people reading this know that no president – much less a mere president-elect with zero constitutional powers at the moment – can simply create a new government agency by snapping his fingers. The Congressional Research Service has made clear that the power to create new federal departments is vested in Congress, not the White House. And that makes sense, since a real agency needs actual statutory authority to define and limit its mission as well as a budget to carry it out.

Yet if a poll were conducted tomorrow asking if “DOGE” is a government agency, I’m willing to bet that a large percentage of the respondents, and a majority of Republicans, would say “yes”. Nor could I blame them for doing so, since the answer appears to be embedded in the question itself, as in the old trick question, “Who’s buried in Grant’s Tomb?” Of course something called “Department of” must be a Department of Something!

Hence you see Donald’s ingenuity when it comes to dishonesty. But there’s another stinky wrinkle here, which is Elon Musk’s blatant conflict of interest. The Musk-Ramaswamy task force was quite clearly named in order to create this acronym, which happens to take the name of the cryptocurrency “Dogecoin.”

The history of this cryptocurrency is way too stupid to get into here, but the important thing to understand is that Musk has a history with it – to the point that he was sued for hundred of millions of dollars by Dogecoin investors for allegations of market manipulation. It seems pretty obvious that he came up with the dumb commission name in order to get the dumb acronym, but contrary to some press coverage, this is not a “joke” any more than Trump University was. Nah, it’s yet another money-making scam.

Dogecoin value spiked after Trump announced the commission, just as it has done multiple times over the years after Musk has brought attention to it, leading to the allegations (which he recently dodged in court) above. And Musk keeps getting richer off these slimy little tricks.

So, whenever this unofficial commission is referred to by the D word, both the lie and the market scam get normalized, legitimized and advanced. I’m sure that the media will point to its ground rules that they employ the words that the politicians behind them use, but once again, you can’t treat shysters who refuse to play by any rules the same way you treat decent people who respect the law, the truth and basic social norms.

So, call it the “Musk-Ramaswamy Task Force” or the “Muskaswamy Mafia” or the “Billionaire Beavis and Butthead Brigade”, but please don’t spread their self-serving deceptions. Language to these power-mad narcissists is just another tool of control – let’s piss them off and ruin their little scheme by refusing to play the game.

Please check out my Substack and subscribe for free.

New Year’s Day 2025 News: “Russia and Ukraine End Five Decades of Gas Transit to Europe”; “Musk Assumes New X Identity Linked to White Supremacists”; “10 killed, 30 injured after vehicle drives into New Orleans crowd”; Spanberger “honored to serve [VA07]”

By
lowkell
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9

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Wednesday, January 1, 2025 – happy New Year’s (with the caveat that 2025 is likely going to be…uh…”interesting,” in the “Chinese curse” sense of “may you live in interesting times”)!

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