THEY’RE FLAILING: House Dems reintroduce reparations legislation: ‘We refuse to be silent.’

House Democrats on Wednesday reintroduced legislation that aims to find ways to deliver reparations to Black Americans who are descendants of slaves.

Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., is co-leading the reintroduction of H.R.40, or the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act, to Congress with Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J.

Pressley, a progressive member of the Squad, said during a news conference that “reparations are a necessary step in achieving justice.”

“We are in a moment of anti-Blackness on steroids and we refuse to be silent,” Pressley said. “We will not back down in our pursuit of racial justice.”

That’s a strange way to say “other people’s money.”

Democrats had four years’ worth of opportunities to pursue reparations, 2009 through 2010 and 2021 through 2022. They didn’t because they know it’s political suicide. This news is just a desperate attempt to change the subject from Trump’s early successes.

But one day the Crazy/Back-in-Power circles might overlap enough that they’ll finally go and do it — and break the country.

ICYMI: Swamp Apocalypse. Yesterday was a terrible, no-good, very bad day for the Swamp. Trump struck back in a coordinated assault on all fronts. He’s not waiting for the courts to do the right thing—nor is he defying them.”

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Strap In Dems — Republican Women Are Here to Manhandle You. “Letitia James is soon going find out that she’s way out of her league after baiting Pam Bondi into a legal street fight. I can’t pinpoint what James is thinking here. Even she can’t be stupid enough to think that the Department of Justice was bluffing about how it would go about dealing with Democrats who tried to interfere with Trump’s immigration agenda. She’s probably just so used to being able to play mini-tyrant in New York that she’s begun to think that she is untouchable. This isn’t going to go well for her.”

ANALYSIS: TRUE. Trump’s Greenland Gambit Is a Masterclass in Statecraft.

Donald Trump is serious about boxing China out of the Arctic. A month before assuming the U.S. presidency for the second time, Trump notched another geopolitical win in the Arctic competition space and set the tone for the next four years. On December 29th, Trump revived his 2019 proposal to purchase Greenland from Denmark, saying U.S. ownership of the largest island in the world “is an absolute necessity.” A week before the inauguration, Trump’s son Don. Jr. traveled to Nuuk, Greenland to discuss Trump’s interest, leading to further speculation about the incoming President’s intent. In 2019, few supported Trump by publicly describing Greenland’s strategic importance – and reminding that the U.S. twice attempted to purchase Greenland from Denmark. Others warned about China’s expanding presence and influence in Arctic affairs, highlighting Beijing’s desire to build airports in Greenland. Still, during Trump’s first term, most claimed his interest in acquiring Greenland was “absurd.”

Not much has changed today with pundits casting Trump as impulsive – as they did in 2019 – and lacking knowledge of geopolitics. This time even the Danish Prime Minister chimed in saying “Greenland is not for sale” tacitly hinting at Trump’s perceived neocolonial provocation. Weeks later, Denmark reversed the message and indicated interest in discussing Greenland’s future with Trump. While Greenland’s future is yet to be determined, the mainstream narrative is naïve – Trump’s masterclass in statecraft is now in session – and Beijing is taking note.

Where the media focuses on Trump’s claim to use the military to acquire the island, they miss the effect of the rhetoric. The reality is this was a deliberate strategic provocation few will see or acknowledge. In poking Denmark about his intent to purchase, or even forcefully acquire the island, Trump gave a masterclass in geostrategic chess, saving the U.S. billions, furthering deterring China from staking a claim on Greenland, and improving U.S. national security in the process. As the dialogue progresses, the stakes could evolve further.

The “crazy talk” act also sows confusion in Beijing as an added benefit.

PICKING THE 20 SIDE OF THE 80/20 ISSUE: Democrats lose touch with voters over Musk, Trump, DOGE.

The crude and insulting attacks Democratic lawmakers have leveled at President Donald Trump and Elon Musk threaten to drive away voters who want the party to work with the new president to cut wasteful spending.

In two Rasmussen Reports surveys shared with Secrets, voters by a wide margin of 19 points prefer the opposition party to work with Republican Trump.

What’s more, they generally have a positive view of Musk and approve of him leading the new Department of Government Efficiency.

The two polls revealed just how dangerous Democratic opposition to Trump and Musk could be, especially if support for the president’s efficiency movement continues to be supported by the country heading into the upcoming mid term elections.

Over the past two weeks, Democrats have protested the president’s moves to close USAID and the Department of Education, charging that he is threatening democracy.

Remember, “threatening democracy” means “threatening bureaucracy.”

FLASHBACK: The Next POTUS Should Reclaim The Constitutional Spending Power Congress Stole.

Enacted in 1974, the ICA made it unlawful for the president not to spend every dollar Congress appropriated regardless of whether he needed to use all the funds. This law went against 200 years of history in which both Congress and the president agreed he was not required to spend every dollar of an appropriation if he could carry out a program for less money and even, in many cases, if he disagreed with the program itself.

Appropriation laws were always meant as a ceiling, not a floor. Stretching back to our English forebears, the British Parliament used the legislative power of the purse to make it unlawful for the king to incur obligations that exceeded the appropriations provided. No one wants to incur debts they can’t pay. Parliament worried about the king spending more money than provided, not less.

That was the case in our new republic, and our founding era is replete with examples of presidents not spending the full amount of appropriated funding. The most famous early impoundment precedent came in 1803 when President Jefferson impounded a congressional appropriation of $50,000 for 15 gunboats for use on the Mississippi. The impoundment was on pure policy grounds: Jefferson did not want to provoke France during the secret negotiations over access to New Orleans and the purchase of the Louisiana Territory. Once the purchase was completed, Jefferson spent the funds.

Today:

Endorsed.

‘DURING GOOD BEHAVIOR:’ That phrase may not instantly come to mind when federal court rulings are the topic of discussion, but in another must-read analysis, the mysterious “EKO” points out that issuing rulings that protect corruption in government just might not constitute “good behavior.” And Congress has on occasion impeached corrupt federal judges.

SHE’S RIGHT, YOU KNOW:

GOODER AND HARDER, LOS ANGELES. Eric Spiegelman, a Los Angeles-based attorney and podcaster tweets:

Who could have seen this coming?

Exit quote: “This is why Californians pay the highest taxes: So that their government can completely fail them in their time of need.”

KRUISER: Dumbest TDS Hot Take This Week…So Far: The ‘Wrong People.’

Welcome to the next phase of my “Trump Derangement Syndrome Meltdown of the Week” column. That was always intended to run just through the end of the 2024 election cycle. As we are all too well aware, however, the meltdown situation with the poor dears on the Left has gotten much, much worse now that President Trump is large and in charge again.

Ain’t it grand?

You’ll want to read the whole thing.

HE’S RIGHT, YOU KNOW:

Plus:

It used to work that way.

FROM HIS MOUTH:  Swamp Apocalypse.

(Exceptionally well written.)