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Stargate? Great, now Egyptian gods are going to wreak havoc on us...

Trump fires heads of TSA, Coast Guard and guts key aviation safety advisory committee


https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-fires-heads-tsa-coast-224441644.html

The aviation security committee, which was mandated by Congress after the 1988 PanAm 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, will technically continue to exist but it won't have any members to carry out the work of examining safety issues at airlines and airports. Before Tuesday, the group included representatives of all the key groups in the industry — including the airlines and major unions — as well as members of a group associated with the victims of the PanAm 103 bombing. The vast majority of the group's recommendations were adopted over the years.

_____


How does this help the US?

It doesn’t but Boeing’s lawyers are dancing arm and arm..

You’re right. I find it utterly disgusting that this is a constitutional permission. The stuff of kings. Both sides abuse it. I think Obama was a great president but no president in modern history had more. It’s filthy.

No long term sentences for bringing your armed paramilitary domestic terrorist organization to DC, planning the coup with Trump’s people at his hotel, telling people “come for J6, it’s going to be wild”? You people have lost your minds. Those people should be locked up and the key thrown away. If they were duped, oh well, blame the tangerine totalitarian.

I thought that as well. I am probably tipping my hand more than I should right now, but I will say out of all the companies I have dealt with, individually, they are one of two absolutely most ruthless I have ever come across.

Trump rolls back Biden directive to study methods of lowering prescription costs

Among the dozens of Biden-era executive orders he rescinded on day one, President Trump nixed one that aimed to explore new health care payment models that would lower prescription costs for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.

Trump rescinded former President Biden’s Executive Order 14087, “Lowering Prescription Drug Costs for Americans.” He included this directive among those he deemed to be “unpopular, inflationary, illegal, and radical practices.”

Biden’s executive order asked the Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary to look into “new health care payment and delivery models that would lower drug costs and promote access to innovative drug therapies for beneficiaries enrolled in the Medicare and Medicaid programs.”

The secretary could include models “that may lead to lower cost-sharing for commonly used drugs and support value-based payment that promotes high-quality care.” This executive order was meant to complement and build off of the health care cost provisions included in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) did explore payment models in respect to this order, publishing a report of its findings in 2023.

Among the models that were looked into, then-HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra chose one that would have allowed Medicare Part D sponsors to offer a “Medicare-defined standard set of approximately 150 high-value generic drugs with a maximum co-payment of $2 for a month’s supply.”

HHS also looked into a system that would have incentivized manufacturers to “expedite and complete confirmatory clinical trials” and have CMS develop payment methods for drugs approved under accelerated approval.

This method would have theoretically reduced CMS spending on clinical confirmatory trials that missed their completion date. At the time of report, it was noted about a third of drugs approved through the accelerated approval process had incomplete confirmatory trials.

Another model HHS proposed for testing looked into whether CMS could coordinate multi-state outcomes-based agreements (OBA) with manufacturers of high-cost specialty drug, instead of having state Medicaid agencies pursue individual OBAs. This would have reduced costs by in theory pooling “bargaining power to obtain discounted pricing.”

While these models were explored, they ultimately were not put into action during the Biden administration.

Several Biden-era provisions aimed at lowering prescription costs for Medicare beneficiaries will be going into effect throughout Trump’s second term. The IRA provision limiting Medicare out-of-pocket spending on prescription drugs to $2,000 went into effect at the start of this year.

The lowered prices of the first 10 drugs picked for Medicare negotiations will go into effect at the start of 2026 and the Medicare rebate program yielded temporary savings on dozens of prescriptions last year.

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5098715-trump-executive-order-biden-prescription-drug-costs/

Maybe this is a part of that concept trump said he had for healthcare.

The moves by Trump, experts say, are likely to be inconsequential to many Americans in terms of what they pay in out-of-pocket health care costs.

One Biden effort overturned by Trump, for example, had directed Medicare to look at ways to lower drug costs, including whether to impose a $2 monthly out-of-pocket cap on certain generic drugs.

That initiative, however, was only in the development stage, said Stacie Dusetzina, a health policy professor at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, and it was unclear whether it would be implemented at all.

Biden’s bigger health care initiatives, such as a $35 monthly cap on insulin, a $2,000 annual out-of-pocket cap on prescription drugs and Medicare’s negotiating drug pricing provision weren’t affected by Trump’s executive actions Monday.


https://www.nbcnews.com/health/heal...licies-drug-pricing-obamacare-rcna188555

I'm pretty sure that depends on which "experts" you ask. And it's not in the developmental stage anymore.

If he messes with medicare and SS to much Republicans will be voted out of office by the fasting growing segment of our society ( Us OLD SOB'S)

Problem is, if he wants to reduce deficit and still be able to implement tax cuts, he will HAVE to issue cuts to those areas, and/or he'll have to substantially reduce defense spending, which is also a no-can-do.

While he just decided to spend 500 billion on Stargate. It seems odd how he keeps increasing spending while claiming he will cut spending. That's because it's not really about cuts to spending. It's all about who will be the winners and losers on the money spent.

Something I wanted to add in regards to that 500 billion dollars to be spent on Stargate while trump's claim was that he would cut spending. As of now the two largest contractors in America's space program are owned by Bezos and Musk. Both were on stage during trump's inauguration.

While I am not going to make any predictions it will be interesting to see who the lead contractors are when that 500 billion dollars gets spent.

Like I said, trump doesn't really care about spending. He just wants to decide who the winners and losers are when the money is spent.

man please, yall aint gonna do anything but vote for republicans again.

Trump orders US exit from World Health Organization

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/tr...ng-world-health-organization-2025-01-21/

I don't see reducing the defense as a no can do.

How much waste and graft do you think inflate the defense budget? If we can cut that in half, it would add up to hundreds of million IMO.

I have seen you write in here about how you see excessive spending all the time and you are just one man over one area. You aren't the only one seeing it. It's just that you don't have much chance of changing it until you get more favorable leadership in the DOD.

I think we have that now and you and an army of others who will be charged with rooting it out. What you see isn't going to be swept under the rug anymore. Tit for Tat is over.

It's possible that you're right Peen. I mean who knows? But during his first term he increased military spending "hugely" and bragged about how it made America stronger. Unless he's done a total 180 on that topic, which I've seen none of, I would expect more of the same.

Trump administration directs federal health agencies to pause communications


CNN
—
Amid a deluge of executive actions, the Trump administration has directed federal health agencies to pause external communications, such as regular scientific reports, updates to websites and health advisories, according to sources within the agencies.

The initial orders were delivered Tuesday to staff at agencies inside the US Department of Health and Human Services, including to officials at the US Food and Drug Administration, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Institutes of Health, according to the Washington Post, which first reported the story.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/21/health/hhs-cdc-fda-trump-pause-communication/index.html

Ku Klux Klan fliers in Kentucky order immigrants to ‘leave now,’ police say


https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/k...ants-to-leave-now-police-say/ar-AA1xEipa

At this point nothing surprises me. To this point none of it has surprised me. The only people that are surprised are the people who believed that most of what he was saying on the campaign trail was noise and rhetoric. They still hadn't figured out that his obsession with vengeance along with his ego would dictate he would do exactly what he's doing.

Pete Hegseth says US military bases should restore names of Confederate generals

https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/13/politics/pete-hegseth-confederate-generals-military-bases/index.html

Make America Confederate Again?

I cant even begin to imagine the vitriolic reaction from the right wing media of that had come out of a Democratic government or nominee. Smh

If only it were that simple, I might agree. Plus, defense spending is in third place behind the other two, anyhow, but for the sake of this conversation, let's dive into defense spending.

You are correct that you have heard me on here talking, probably ad nauseum, about the mixture of waste, corruption, greed, et al that ties into our defense spending in no short order. All you have to do is Google "Defense Spending 60 Minutes" or "Transdigm" to see the prima facie evidence of it. The former DPAP Director who I used to brief all the time, Shay Assad, talks at length on 60 Minutes about how badly we're getting gouged. During the last Trump administration, he attempted to implement cash flow punishment to contractors who were not performing and/or gouging the Government. Lo and behold, he was very ambiguously relieved from his duties after he torqued off all "The Big 5." He was dubbed "The Most Hated Man in the Pentagon." Look it up...it's actually quite interesting.

Also, while you only see one of me on here talking about the inside scoop on how badly we're getting screwed, you will see a multitude of other posters talk about how we don't spend enough on defense, how we're falling behind, and how we need to invest more to counter threats like China. That is the controlling narrative behind defense spending, especially with Xi's 2027 Taiwan initiative. It is still being spoonfed and the majority still holds that ideal. There are so many falsities that I come across when it comes to defense spending that I've actually gone numb on how bad it has gotten.

The problem with defense spending isn't just that it's an acute mess on the floor that you can clean up. It is rotten down to the roots. Let me lay out all the ways:

1. We encouraged the defense sector to merge to the point where there is now just The Big 5. The vast majority of our weapon systems are sole source, and our competitive solicitations often only have two bidders, maximum, anymore. In the hey-day of Eisenhower, it was probably 12 or so. The sole source setup has created a situation where the sole source company most assuredly leverages the fact that we need to equip our troops in order to gouge us. We are given the tough choice to either pay or delay arms to our troops. Sofie's choice. Again, they are the only makers of the materiel. How bad do they gouge us? Well, you can look at the Transdigm IG report to get an idea. I also recently got data for two subcontracts where a sole source contractor achieved a 73% and a 75% margin. That's unconscionable.

1a. Republicans currently control Congress. This isn't meant to be a Republican-bashing post, but if you watch any hearing, especially the Transdigm hearings, watch Republicans, like Comer, 100% go to bat for the very companies who are gouging for us. It's sickening. With Republicans in control, I don't have any hope that the defense dollars will decrease or be spent more efficiently.

2. It's not just Republicans who are at fault at the big picture level. It's a vast majority of Congressional Representatives and Senators. That is by design. Defense contractors are in every state. They are waayyyy more ubiquitous than most realize. They are also very avid lobbyists and campaign contributors. If you don't play ball, then expect them to close shop in your district/state and move elsewhere, and also your campaign funds will dry up. They literally spend taxpayer dollars on keeping puppet politicians in place, and those puppet politicians route them back tax dollars. It's a cycle from hell.

3. Along the same lines as 2, we are incentivized to be inefficient. For years, the Pentagon has demanded that we close down certain programs we don't need, or realign ourselves in a way that makes sense. We're not allowed to do that, because shutting down programs and realigning bases means lost jobs and lost federal money routed to states and districts.

Basically, no matter what one thinks of this administration, the reason why I think it's no-can-do is because Congress has the power of the purse. Unless you can find a Rep or Senator that is willing to sacrifice for the greater good (good luck!), I do not see a realistic way the defense budget will be challenged, let alone decreased.

One other solution is to implement contract type changes, like I've talked about before. Things like changing FFP contracts to FPIF. That doesn't decrease the amount of funding obligated, but in instances where contractors have egregious cost underruns (like the 73% and 75% example I mentioned above), rather than them pocketing that, we would get 50-70% of that money back into either the program budget or the treasury. People at my level have been screaming about this for years because we see the front lines, but the powers that be would rather be out there capturing headlines and keeping their constituents in reaction mode.

To overcome the defense shortfalls, we would have to really tear things down to the studs, spray the mold killer and rebuild the process and the culture.

Jc



Boy the clementine swine is using his new super powers to be Captain Chaos in DC. He brings out all the best MAGA folk to aid his mission of hate. We told you this was going to go bad, it will. And when the ish hits your personal fans; when abuela gets deported, stocks crash, small businesses suffer, and nobody knows what’s going on because all you get is “STATE TV” …. Nobody that supported his fascist BS gets to cry in my presence without a good dose of “well you effed around and found out, huh?” FAFO IDIOTS. Y’all hired a narcissistic tyrant with the spine of an ameba to fix all of YOUR problems while ignoring that he’s never done a damn thing that wasn’t for himself.

He dismissed 160 national security advisors to replace them with cronies… this will go well.

He shut down health reporting to make sure you don’t know if something is going to kill you like rOnA, just to make sure he doesn’t compete with the truth again. bRiLlIaNt!

He laid off all DEI officials in order to purge government of all non-Trump supporting career officials, and ALL POC. Black MAGA, you voted to become second class citizens, good job Hispanic MAGA, there are no dumber people on this planet than you, except toothless white MAGA and they all voted to deport you while asking for your help to elect grand wizard T to carry our their race hating fantasy… Need proof? See his executive orders to the DOJ investigate (or disappear) any officials who try to stop him from deporting you all. He declared birth right citizenship ends now with naturalized citizenship next on the chopping block, so immigrants both legal and illegal can be shipped off even if their own country won’t accept them. And not just immigrants but their kids who were born here… unless you have a rich white daddy, like Baron. He also stopped the legal immigration of refugees that had gone through the clearance process and were days away from escaping a brutal theocratic reign of terror. You can’t make this crap up, straight out of the NAZI playbook called Project 2025. Well, it’s 2025 and we warned you.

Rammyswammy must of got the clue about his Indian H1B visas for his ‘smarter than any American because jocks and prom’ Indian engineers. I can’t imagine any brown intelligent people wanting to come here under dementia Don’s Fickle Fascist rule.

Let me ask, how does any of the things he’s done in his first two days lower the cost of eggs, gas, or rents? Dumbass dupes.

In a sudden twist of fate:

Convicted US Capitol rioter turns down Trump pardon
Robert Plummer - BBC News


https://www.yahoo.com/news/convicted-us-capitol-rioter-turns-115826022.html

Pamela Hemphill wears a golden scalf and a grey hat as she looks directly at the camera in a portrait photograph

One of the people who served jail time for taking part in the US Capitol riot four years ago has refused a pardon from President Donald Trump, saying: "We were wrong that day."

Pamela Hemphill, who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 60 days in prison, told the BBC that there should be no pardons for the riot on 6 January 2021.

"Accepting a pardon would only insult the Capitol police officers, rule of law and, of course, our nation," she said.

"I pleaded guilty because I was guilty, and accepting a pardon also would serve to contribute to their gaslighting and false narrative."


Hemphill, who was nicknamed the "Maga granny" by social media users - in reference to Trump's "make America great again" slogan - said she saw the Trump government as trying to "rewrite history and I don't want to be part of that".

"We were wrong that day, we broke the law - there should be no pardons," she told the BBC World Service's Newsday programme.

Proud Boys and Oath Keepers among those pardoned over riot

What are presidential pardons and how do they work?

Trump's decision to pardon or commute the sentences of nearly 1,600 people involved in the attempt to violently overturn the 2020 election came just hours into his presidency.

In a news conference on Tuesday at the White House, he said: "These people have already served years in prison, and they've served them viciously.


"It's a disgusting prison. It's been horrible. It's inhumane. It's been a terrible, terrible thing."

However, the move has drawn an uneasy reaction from some Republican politicians.

Senator Thom Tillis, from North Carolina, said he "just can't agree" with the move, adding that it "raises legitimate safety issues on Capitol Hill".

Another Republican US senator, James Lankford from Oklahoma, told CNN: "I think we need to continue to say we are a party of law and order."

He added: "I think if you attack a police officer, that's a very serious issue and they should pay a price for that."

This is not the first instance of someone refusing a pardon and it is within an individual's right to refuse under the US Constitution, the supreme Court previously ruled, according to Cornell Law School.


Also among those pardoned was one of the riot's most recognisable figures, Jacob Chansley, the self-styled QAnon Shaman, who was released from jail in 2023 after serving 27 months of his 41-month jail sentence.

He told the BBC that he heard the news from his lawyer while he was at the gym.

He added: "I walked outside and I screamed 'freedom' at the top of my lungs and then gave a good Native American war cry."

Maga has made it more racist again so why not.

You've got this completely wrong. $500 billion AI infrastructure investment is compliments of OpenAI, Oracle, SoftBank, and MGX12. They'll build new data centers and energy infrastructure to power the next wave of AI.

A couple weeks ago, Trump announced 100B investment from Masayoshi Son (SoftBank) and tried to talk him into 200 right there on the stage (if you haven't seen that, it was hilarious). Yesterday, Son said "I said I would bring you 100 billion, you asked for 200, now I bring you 500".


BTW, for all the "Musk is president" people, Musk is not happy about this alliance. Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman have been going at it for years. This won't be the last time Trump "puts him in his place", so to speak.

It depends on what kind of puppets you're offering up. I voted for Clinton the second time, Obama the first time, and my vote for Trump the first time was basically a vote against $hillary.

psstt bro who did I vote for in the last election? Who did I vote for in 2020? Hint, hint, it wasn't a Republican.

Just got this in a newsletter this morning. This semi-confirms Elon wants the power to meddle with other billionaire AI projects. AI is about to be the new industrial revolution and the robber barons of today are fighting it out:

The Rundown: Elon Musk just publicly challenged the funding for OpenAI’s recently announced $500B Stargate Project in a reply on X, sparking a heated exchange with CEO Sam Altman on the social media platform.

The details:

OpenAI announced Stargate on Tuesday, with plans to build extensive AI infrastructure across the U.S. with funding from Oracle, Softbank, and others.

Musk claimed on X that SoftBank has "well under $10B secured," questioning the project's financial foundation despite close ties to the Trump administration.

Altman refuted the claims and invited Musk to the project’s first build site, also saying that Musk is “the most inspiring entrepreneur of our time.”

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella publicly reinforced the project's backing in an interview on CNBC, confirming the company's $80B commitment.

Why it matters: Following the White House Stargate reveal, many wondered what Musk’s reaction would be given his ascension into Trump’s orbit and OpenAI vendetta. We quickly have an answer — and the fight now moves into the political realm, with Elon’s role as both competitor and government advisor complicating issues even more.

Newsletter Source: https://www.therundown.ai/


This doesn’t prove bad intentions, but it is a space to watch closely. Control of the first super intelligence on the planet will most undoubtedly be in American hands with this $500B infrastructure spend, and is Altman’s “stated reason” for doing it. Altman is suspected of seeking that power for himself over making OpenAI not open source nor free after their mission statement to insure ASI should be open source to benefit all mankind. Obviously, we don’t want China being first and everyone is worried about bad actors getting their hands on it… imagine Trump and Elon controlling it. What a nightmare.

EDIT: typos bro

Btw- those with the cash to invest should look at Nvidia and it’s competitors in the GPU and AI inference chip space. It will see trillions in new revenue while countries compete for ASI. Nvidia is top dog, but there are some startups with crazy fast inference chips that blows Nvidia’s chips out of the water, but everyone is using Nvidia GPUs. Everyone. And the demand and orices keep climbing.

I'm very stupid when it comes to this topic, so I appreciate these takes.

This email went out to I believe all federal employees yesterday. I can confirm I received it as well.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/federal-employees-told-name-colleagues-035335758.html

Federal employees are told to name colleagues who work in DEI roles or risk 'adverse consequences'
Megan Lebowitz


WASHINGTON — Federal employees received emails Wednesday warning that they could face repercussions if they do not report on co-workers who work in diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility positions that might have gone unnoticed by government supervisors.

"We are aware of efforts by some in government to disguise these programs by using coded or imprecise language," said emails sent to government employees and obtained by NBC News.

Employees were directed to notify the Office of Personnel Management if they are "aware of a change in any contract description or personnel position description since November 5, 2024 to obscure the connection between the contract and DEIA or similar ideologies."


"There will be no adverse consequences for timely reporting this information," the email said. "However, failure to report this information within 10 days may result in adverse consequences."

Workers across multiple agencies and departments have received emails with the same language as of Wednesday night.

White House spokespeople did not immediately respond to questions about the nature of the "adverse consequences" or how the directive could be enforced.

We’re looking to hear from federal government workers. If you’re willing to talk with us, please email us at tips@nbcuni.com or contact us through one of these methods.

The Office of Personnel Management issued a memo Tuesday directing the heads of departments and agencies to send the notice to employees by 5 p.m. on Wednesday. The office provided a template email that multiple heads used. It is unclear if any department or agency head altered or omitted the DEI reporting language to their employees.


The Trump administration had also called for agency heads to place federal employees in DEI roles on paid leave by the end of the workday Wednesday.

Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office Monday to shutter DEI and accessibility "mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities in the Federal Government, under whatever name they appear."

"These programs divided Americans by race, wasted taxpayer dollars, and resulted in shameful discrimination," said the OPM template letter for agency heads to distribute to employees.

The move is the latest in a series of anti-diversity efforts Trump has made already. On Monday, he also signed an executive order saying that U.S. policy would "recognize two sexes, male and female."

Also this week, Trump revoked an executive order aimed at prohibiting discrimination by federal contractors and subcontractors. The decades-old order had required “affirmative action and prohibits federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin,” according to a summary by the Department of Labor.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

I am not talking about making the country weaker. I am talking about waste. I think you know that people have been complaining about defense bloat for decades.

I don't know how successful they will be, but I applaud the fact they are going to try. You don't lose weight until you try to lose weight. Even if we don't actually reduce spending but make sure the money is going to useful things, that makes us better off, right?

I don't think "We the People" have any real concept of how much money we pay for stupid things.

To try to put it in perspective to which we all can relate, if you are sitting in the bar with $15 in your pocket you sip those beers pretty slow and eat a hard boiled egg or two. Maybe one of those pink pigs knuckles. You and some of the older dawgs know what I am talking about. If you have $200 you sip a whole lot faster, maybe order the double smash burger with onion rings.

For you younger dawgs, back in the days of my youth, corner bars didn't usually have grills. At least not the ones I frequented. It was also more like $6 in my pocket. They would sell hard boiled eggs and at the end of the bar had these 5 gallon jars filled with pigs knuckles, pickled in a pink brine solution. They could sit there for years. Some speculated it was formaldehyde. Not the most appealing thing but after 4-5 mugs of PBR or some other cheap brew, they weren't bad.

You're right. Most people don't have any real concept of how much money you pay. Stupid things I wouldn't say is the main problem. The bigger problem is the bang for your buck on things we do need.

It would take a miracle. The TLDR version of my previous post on defense spending is that it would take cultural change in Congress, especially on the Right, and it would also take overcoming a VERY powerful Defense lobby.

To add to that, there are also a lot of Defense ETFs and indices. If their margins and cash flow are reduced, I'm sure Wall Street would chime in as well.

So are you saying it is pointless to try?

No, not at all. I try individually every day. I'm on a Teams call right now with a contractor, trying

I just don't think anyone in Congress right now - and that's both sides - will actually try due to the aforementioned reasons I stated.

It will take We The People waking up, but I haven't seen any signs of that yet either.

So, in the meantime, people like me will just try to be like Captain America in End Game walking toward Thanos' army alone

Oh, but that's before they trashed federal employees, too, so I'm now seriously considering joining Thanos' army.

It's certainly not pointless to try. But if you look at what they're "trying" as of now it certainly has nothing to do with defense spending. And if trump's first term of big military spending increases resembles what he does in his second term, that guy walking into the corner bar is going to have even more money in his pocket to spend.

Released Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes goes to Capitol campus to meet with GOP lawmakers

Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the Oath Keepers who was convicted of seditious conspiracy in relation to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, was in the Capitol complex on Wednesday to meet with GOP lawmakers — shortly after getting out of prison because President Trump commuted his sentence.

Rhodes was spotted in the Dunkin’ Donuts inside Longworth House Office Building, which is accessible to the public, with a group of people. He said he did not go into the actual Capitol building.

Rhodes said he was advocating for the release of Jeremy Brown, another Oath Keeper who is in prison on federal weapons charges stemming from an investigation into his alleged involvement in the riot.

Rhodes said Brown was not included in Trump’s sweeping pardon of nearly 1,600 people arrested in connection to the rampage and that he went to the Capitol with Brown’s family members. He said that no members of Congress invited him to the Capitol specifically.

“We’re advocating members of Congress, advocating that he be given a pardon also,” Rhodes told reporters.

Also accompanying Rhodes was Ivan Raiklin, a retired Green Beret who created a memo that outlined a theory about how then-Vice President Mike Pence could disqualify electoral votes for former President Biden, which Trump reposted on social media.

Rhodes and Raiklin said they met with Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.), who represents Brown, about advocating for his release.

A spokesperson for Bilirakis confirmed the meeting, saying: “Congressman Bilirakis met with Jeremy Brown’s mother and girlfriend. Mr. Rhodes joined them.”

Raiklin also said that they briefly talked to Rep. Keith Self (R-Texas) on Tuesday, but the interaction was a quick hallway run-in.

“It was a very short conversation, believe me. It was not a meeting,” Self told The Hill. As for the Brown case, Self said he did not know enough about the case to decide whether he would advocate for Brown’s release.

Rhodes, who had been sentenced to 18 years in prison, said he did not regret the actions that led to his conviction.

“I didn’t go into the Capitol. I didn’t tell anybody else to go inside. We’re here to do security for two permitted events on Capitol grounds,” Rhodes said. “I regret that my guys went in. They blundered in along with everybody else. It doesn’t make them criminals. It just makes me kind of stupid.”

In the days after the Capitol attack, Rhodes said that “My only regret is they should have brought rifles,” and that he would “hang [f—ing] Pelosi from the lamppost.”

Rhodes said he regretted that comment when asked about it Wednesday.

“I do regret that. I was drunk and pissed off,” Rhodes said. But he noted it was “after the fact” and “I’m not proposing anything, I’m just being pissed off.”

He is still hoping for a full pardon for himself and the 13 other Jan. 6 commutations from Trump, but he said he has not talked to anyone from the Trump administration. He also said he did not receive a Capitol tour from anyone and had not been inside the Capitol since 1999.

Rhodes’s presence at the Capitol sent shock waves through staff in the complex.

At one point, a woman who said she was a staffer but declined to identify herself went up to Rhodes as he was speaking to reporters and said he should not be here.

“You shouldn’t be here,” the woman said. “You are welcome [to] First Amendment free speech, but it is disrespectful … please tell your story elsewhere.”

Rhodes told reporters that the woman believed “certain people, in her mind, don’t deserve free speech and should be wiped off the face of the planet when it comes to their free speech.”

Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), who was on the Jan. 6 select committee that investigated the riot, also had a quip about Stewart Rhodes being in the Capitol building.

“I think it’s new and interesting that they’re using the front door this time,” Aguilar said, according to The Associated Press.

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5101576-oath-keepers-stewart-rhodes-capitol/

This is an actual example of the inmates running the asylum.

Yes. Thanks.