BILLIONS FOR TERRORISTS, INSULTS FOR MUSK: The contrast between GOP and Democrat members of the House DOGE Subcommittee could not have been more abrupt during yesterday’s hearing on how foreign aid has undermined legitimate U.S. overseas interest.

From the opening statements by Chairman Rep. Marjorie Tayler Greene (R-Ga.) and Ranking Member Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM), the pattern was set: A Republican would describe a grant that resulted in U.S. tax dollars going to Hamas or Hezbollah or another of the Islamic terrorist outfits, and a Democrat would follow with variations on “What About Evil Musk?” First it was TDS, now there is MDS.

THE FREE PRESS:  “Adults With Disabilities Deserve to Work:  For Many People with Intellectual Disabilities, a Subminimum-Wage Job Offers Pride, Responsibility, and Some Extra Cash.  So Why Are Activists Fighting to Eliminate Their Programs?”

I wrote on this subject for the Commission on Civil Rights a few years ago (during the late, great lockdown). It struck me then as jaw-droppingly stupid that so-called disability rights groups would advocate abolishing the special minimum wage laws for severely disabled employees.  For them, it’s that or unemployment.  I wondered at the time whether unions like the SEIU were funding the effort, since dues-paying unskilled workers, probably immigrants with low English skills but no other problems, would likely replace the severely disabled workers.  I admit I have no particular evidence of this.  But the massive effort (and it is massive) behind the “Abolish the Subminimum” campaign is just plain weird.  The public comment we got from the parents and guardians of severely disabled employees was OVERWHELMINGLY against doing away with the program.  And yet the campaign marches on.

#JOURNALISM:

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Related:

FASTER, PLEASE: Republicans Go There: Jacking the Tax Up on University Endowments. “As presented by Rep Troy E. Nehls (R-TX-22), the beautifully named Endowment Tax Fairness Act would raise the tax on the endowments of private schools that were sitting on cash hoards of $500K per student or more from 1.4% to 21%.” The rate may drop to 14%, but in a way that sweeps in more schools.

As Democrats have been telling us for years, the wealthiest among us need to pay their fair share.

SARAH HOYT’S SHOCKED FACE IS ENJOYING A MIMOSA ON THE LIDO DECK: Inflation Reduction Act is Over Budget and Underperforming.

The Congressional Budget Office originally projected the clean energy incentives and tax subsidies in the IRA would cost $390 billion in the 10-year period from 2022 to 2031. Over the last two years, other groups have placed the cost much higher.

Goldman Sachs estimates the legislation’s clean energy provisions will actually cost $1.2 trillion. The National Bureau of Economic Research also believes the climate provisions will cost $900 billion to $1.2 trillion. Credit Suisse’s estimate came in at $800 billion — still more than twice what the CBO projected.

Meanwhile, the Princeton Net Zero Project estimated last year that by 2035, U.S. emission levels will only fall by 40% compared to 2005 levels. Princeton originally predicted the IRA would help cut emissions by 50%.

Lawmakers’ stated goal for the IRA was to cut emissions by 80% by 2030, when compared to 2005 levels.

It doesn’t accomplish what it was ostensibly designed to do while costing two or three times more than the Democrat congress “budgeted.”

Of course, what the IRA was really supposed to accomplish was to shovel money at favored groups. By that measure, it’s a smashing success — and a must-repeal for the GOP congress.

SARAH ANDERSON: The Truth About Melania.

I’ve never met our first lady. I don’t know her, though I’d love to interview her one day. I’m guessing most of you don’t know her either. But if you were to rely on the mainstream media’s reporting, you’d probably draw some unfavorable conclusions.

A quick Google search of her name over the last 48 hours brings up headlines about how she’s been “absent” for the last month, how she doesn’t want to “play the role of first lady,” or how she “keeps to herself.” One newspaper even called her “aloof,” and the most liberal ones of the liberal like to make assumptions about her marriage to the president.

But here’s the thing: These people don’t know her either. They’re just twisting a few facts in a way that fits their anti-Trump agenda and adding a little speculation for good measure.

These are, after all, the same people who tried to sell us on DOCTOR Jill Biden as a fashion maven and super-duper-genius Ph.D.

WHEN BIG FIRMS REPRESENTED AL QAEDA TERRORISTS THEY SAID EVERYONE HAS A RIGHT TO COUNSEL.

#JOURNALISM:

SHE WAS THERE:  In At the Beginning.

Note that money from government always corrupts.