Reality bites man

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David Stom: Watch Jon Stewart's Mind Blown By Ezra Klein Describing How Government Really Works

…. Ezra Klein, who very much wants to reverse the decline has noticed that liberals suck at doing what they say, and while he still believes (for some reason) that liberals actually want to accomplish things like connect rural homes to the internet, he has noticed that over $44 billion in federal funds have connected not a one. 

So he looked into why, and the story is exactly as you and I expected and shocking to the people who believed Democrats wanted to accomplish the stated goal. 

Watch the entire video and weep. And laugh. 

You can duplicate this experiment with any liberal program to "accomplish" some goal. Eradicating homelessness--how many "10-year-plans" to eliminate it, and how many billions of dollars spent, to increase the number of homeless people? How about "affordable housing?" Same thing. Housing more expensive than ever, but a lot of people have gotten wealthy or wealthier "fixing" the problem. 

Jon Stewart screams 'OMFG' and is rendered speechless after hearing all 14 steps to apply for 'Build Back Better' funding: 

Ezra Klein: "We have to issue the notice funding opportunity within 180 days that's step one. 

Step Two: States who want to participate must submit a letter of intent. After they do that, they can submit a request for up to $5 million in planning grants.

Then the NTIA Step Four has to review and approve an award again. States who want to participate must submit that letter of intent.

Step three: "They can request up to $5 million in planning grants. Just planning, just planning.

Step four : "The requests are reviewed, approved and awarded by the NTIA." States must submit a five year action plan.  All 56 had passed through at least step 5, it took more than 3 years. 

[Step 6] Then the FCC, must publish the broadband data maps before NTIA allocates funds. So having done the no vote. So the letters of intent, the the the request for planning grants, then the review approval and awarding of the planning grants, then the five year action plans in between that the federal government has to put forward a map saying where it thinks we need rural broadband subsidies. And then, of course, the states need an opportunity to challenge the map for accuracy.  

step seven So then the NTIAhas to use the FCC maps to make allocation decisions. It's hard even to talk about this, man. 

Step eight is states must submit an initial proposal to the NTIA." 

Jon Stewart: "But then what was the five year plan and what the fuck did they apply for?" 

Ezra Klein: "Step nine NTIA must review and approve each state's again initial proposal. By my read, we have had at least two initial proposals here, but that's a different issue. 

Step ten. States must publish their own map and allow internal challenges to their own map.

Step 11 the NTIA must review and improve the challenge results and the final map. So the NCAA has put forward a map. 

Step 12 states must run a competitive sub granting process." 

Jon Stewart: "Oh, my fucking God. At step 12. After all this has been done!?" 

Ezra Klein: "Step 13 States must submit a final proposal. This all all the proposals weren't enough to NTIA. Now that goes to three of 56. 

Step 14 the NTIA must review and approve the state's final proposal. And that is three of the 56 jurisdictions. And states are there." 

Jon Stewart: "I'm speechless."

Jon just learned why "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help'"

Strom:

You and I figured this out a long time ago because we are not allied with the grifters. We see through their lies and see the grift. And, to be sure, that isn't primarily because we are smarter than the people doing the grift, or those who still believe the grifters. It is because we figured out they were grifters. We started with a different fact base--the Pravda Media is filled with propaganda outlets in on the grift--and are mostly immune to the lies and hoaxes.

Truck drivers, plumbers, electricians, business owners, and most people who work in the real world have figured out that they are the marks and walk past the con men. It was the best and the brightest who gave their money to Bernie Madoff. 

Klein is only scratching the surface, and he likely doesn't understand that all the complications are the point, not the obstacle to success. What do you think all the bureaucrats do all day--the one that DOGE is firing and that all the Democrats are working day and night to save? 

Other than voting Democrat, that is. 

Then there are the consultants, the lobbyists, the people who skim off the top, the contractors, and all the other beneficiaries. Booz Allen, Halliburton, and all the rest. Who keeps McKinsey in business, other than USAID? The academia to government to consulting firm to lobbyist to...merry go round is the point of the system. High-paying jobs for overeducated, useless people whom we overproduce at an astounding rate. 

Every single one of those people in rural America could be hooked up to high speed, reliable internet tomorrow by buying and subsidizing Starlink terminals. You could even buy mobile terminals for tractors and have a ton of money left over. Just do a bulk purchase and be done with it. 

But then how will the cable and phone companies get their cut? What will bureaucrats do? 

What Klein and Stewart see as inefficiency is the point of the system. The government is a massive employment system for overeducated economic and social parasites whose job it is to make productive employees subsidize them. If Russia is a gas station with a military, the government has become a den of con artists with a more powerful military. 

Related:

GOODER AND HARDER, CALIFORNIA: 

75 Days After the Palisades Fire, Only Four Building Permits Have Been Issued.

The Pacific Palisades fire burned more than 6,800 structures, both homes and businesses. Clearly, the rebuilding process is going to take a while for many families even if insurance covers the losses. What should not take a long time are permits for people who lost everything to get started. Indeed, Mayor Karen Bass vowed to streamline the process and made a big show when the first permit was issued.

The first permit was issued March 5, less than two months after the Palisades fire destroyed or seriously damaged more than 6,000 homes in Pacific Palisades and surrounding areas.

“We want this to be happening on your lot, too,” said Mayor Karen Bass at a news conference in the Palisades on Friday.

Bass and L.A. County leaders have pledged to streamline permitting procedures for property owners who want to rebuild.

The home which got the first approval was mostly intact and just needed repairs. The second approval went to a home that had been completely rebuilt a year before the fire. The owner just resubmitted the same blueprints for a rebuild. None of these approvals should have taken a week. They were no brainers.

And yet, more than two months after the Palisades Fire was put out, only four permits for rebuilding have been issued.