The Shitshow Macro Weekly Wrapup Podcast for Friday, February 14, 2025 is out:
-Both the post and podcast for Cutting the Deep State’s Tentacles are out from behind the paywall and free for all to read, listen to, and share now:
open.substack.com/pub/robertplew…
-If you have not read or listened to its predecessor, Defining the Deep State (and its component parts), I highly suggest you start there (also free for all to read, listen, and share):
open.substack.com/pub/robertplew…
Domestic:
-After the confirmations this week, we have a new head of HHS (RFK Jr, happy dance), ODNI (Tulsi, also happy dance), and Energy (Wright, also happy dance).
--I will include a 1-pager infographic that DOE put out with Wright’s 9 goals for US energy dominance in the show notes.
--Between Bessent’s (Treasury) 3-3-3 strategy and Wright’s focus on making energy procurement/distribution more efficient and cost-effective, I really do think we’re heading in the right direction for the American Golden Age.
--Note: Mitch “Glitch” McConnell was the only Republican to vote against RFK Jr and Tulsi.
--Kentucky, do better.
-RFK Jr gave a short speech after he was officially confirmed:
x.com/AutismCapital/…
-VP JD Vance spoke at the Munich Security Conference this week.
--The speech was incredibly uplifting to hear for those of us who have paid attention to just how far NATO and the EU have gone down a dark path.
--As I’ve said before, I’m certainly not anti-European; I’ve lived in Germany & France, et j’ai parlais française.
--My first Afghanistan trip was spent working alongside SOF units from across Europe, and many of them were great to work with.
--I love the European people - but the leaders seem to have been using 1984 as an instruction manual rather than a tale of warning for the past decade or so.
--His speech hit on some of the big ones we’ve covered here in the past year: the canceling of Romanian & Ukrainian elections, the mass migration that nobody voted for (and the UK populace voted against, based on polling, in their BREXIT votes), and of course the mass domestic surveillance, censorship, and arrests for “wrongthink.”
--Here’s a wrapup from Sundance at CTH that has the video embedded into it as well as the transcript and Sundance’s take:
theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2025/02/1…
--And the 20-minute speech itself. Please watch, it’s well worth the 20 minutes:
youtube.com/live/pCOsgfINd…
-@MikeBenzCyber was on Rogan again this week, and it’s a banger.
--This is longer than others, goes deeper than previous BenzPills, and should be required listening for all:
open.spotify.com/episode/2rXdCT…
-Recent Oval Office photos seem to show that President Trump framed & hung his mugshot in his office.
--Gangster AF.
--Picture in the show notes.
-A reveal this week was that Medicare & Medicaid sent $2.7 trillion overseas to people who were not even eligible to receive those funds.
--That’s 8% of the national debt.
x.com/realdogeusa/st…
-Another $1.9 billion of HUD money was found by DOGE that had been “misplaced” under the Biden administration.
x.com/DOGE/status/18…
-@ParkerThayer found one that would be funny if it wasn’t a total burning of taxpayer cash.
--According to his post linked below, AbilityOne is a $4 billion per year Federal jobs program for the disabled that is so wasteful that even the National Council on Disability recommended eliminating it:
x.com/ParkerThayer/s…
-And of course, we have new reporting alleging that USAID funneled $1.7 billion to the Taliban.
--From @Sultanknish:
x.com/Sultanknish/st…
-And another from @Gekaminsky alleging that in the final days of the Biden admin (see: looting the treasury), $50mm was sent to an obscure non-profit whose leader has a history of self-dealing and financial mismanagement:
x.com/gekaminsky/sta…
-Both the post and podcast for Cutting the Deep State’s Tentacles are out from behind the paywall and free for all to read, listen to, and share now:
open.substack.com/pub/robertplew…
-If you have not read or listened to its predecessor, Defining the Deep State (and its component parts), I highly suggest you start there (also free for all to read, listen, and share):
open.substack.com/pub/robertplew…
Domestic:
-After the confirmations this week, we have a new head of HHS (RFK Jr, happy dance), ODNI (Tulsi, also happy dance), and Energy (Wright, also happy dance).
--I will include a 1-pager infographic that DOE put out with Wright’s 9 goals for US energy dominance in the show notes.
--Between Bessent’s (Treasury) 3-3-3 strategy and Wright’s focus on making energy procurement/distribution more efficient and cost-effective, I really do think we’re heading in the right direction for the American Golden Age.
--Note: Mitch “Glitch” McConnell was the only Republican to vote against RFK Jr and Tulsi.
--Kentucky, do better.
-RFK Jr gave a short speech after he was officially confirmed:
x.com/AutismCapital/…
-VP JD Vance spoke at the Munich Security Conference this week.
--The speech was incredibly uplifting to hear for those of us who have paid attention to just how far NATO and the EU have gone down a dark path.
--As I’ve said before, I’m certainly not anti-European; I’ve lived in Germany & France, et j’ai parlais française.
--My first Afghanistan trip was spent working alongside SOF units from across Europe, and many of them were great to work with.
--I love the European people - but the leaders seem to have been using 1984 as an instruction manual rather than a tale of warning for the past decade or so.
--His speech hit on some of the big ones we’ve covered here in the past year: the canceling of Romanian & Ukrainian elections, the mass migration that nobody voted for (and the UK populace voted against, based on polling, in their BREXIT votes), and of course the mass domestic surveillance, censorship, and arrests for “wrongthink.”
--Here’s a wrapup from Sundance at CTH that has the video embedded into it as well as the transcript and Sundance’s take:
theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2025/02/1…
--And the 20-minute speech itself. Please watch, it’s well worth the 20 minutes:
youtube.com/live/pCOsgfINd…
-@MikeBenzCyber was on Rogan again this week, and it’s a banger.
--This is longer than others, goes deeper than previous BenzPills, and should be required listening for all:
open.spotify.com/episode/2rXdCT…
-Recent Oval Office photos seem to show that President Trump framed & hung his mugshot in his office.
--Gangster AF.
--Picture in the show notes.
-A reveal this week was that Medicare & Medicaid sent $2.7 trillion overseas to people who were not even eligible to receive those funds.
--That’s 8% of the national debt.
x.com/realdogeusa/st…
-Another $1.9 billion of HUD money was found by DOGE that had been “misplaced” under the Biden administration.
x.com/DOGE/status/18…
-@ParkerThayer found one that would be funny if it wasn’t a total burning of taxpayer cash.
--According to his post linked below, AbilityOne is a $4 billion per year Federal jobs program for the disabled that is so wasteful that even the National Council on Disability recommended eliminating it:
x.com/ParkerThayer/s…
-And of course, we have new reporting alleging that USAID funneled $1.7 billion to the Taliban.
--From @Sultanknish:
x.com/Sultanknish/st…
-And another from @Gekaminsky alleging that in the final days of the Biden admin (see: looting the treasury), $50mm was sent to an obscure non-profit whose leader has a history of self-dealing and financial mismanagement:
x.com/gekaminsky/sta…