Bipolar syndrome. Can the patient, in this case the Democratic Party, find a cure?

BBC online, date uncertain: 

'Trump was right' - John Kerry says Democrats allowed migrant 'siege' of US border

Former US Secretary of State John Kerry has told the BBC his fellow Decratmocrats allowed the US-Mexico border to be "under siege" during Joe Biden's presidency.

In sometimes sharp words, Kerry - who was the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004 and a US senator from Massachusetts - said he told Biden the party had "missed" on the issue of immigration for years.

He said this had allowed Republicans like Donald Trump to gain political advantage.

[...] Democrats have also wrestled with how they should handle Trump's recent nationwide attempts to detain and deport undocumented migrants

"The first thing any president should say - or anybody in public life - is without a border protected, you don't have a nation," Kerry said. "I wish President Biden had been heard more often saying, I'm going to enforce the law."

Such words have been a familiar refrain for Trump during his time in national politics and were included in the 2024 Republican Party policy platform.

But Democrats - many of whom advocate more relaxed immigration laws and a pathway to citizenship for undocumented migrants - attempted to portray Trump's positions as harsh and discriminatory.

According to Kerry, that was a mistake.

"Trump was right," Kerry said. "The problem is we all should have been right."

[... In LA]  Over the weekend, armed federal agents and 90 California National Guard troops conducted an operation in the city's MacArthur Park - a gathering place for nearby immigrant communities. The officials swept through the park on foot, horseback and in armoured vehicles.

"To me, this is another example of the administration ratcheting up chaos by deploying what looked like a military operation in an American city," Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, a Democrat, said at an impromptu news conference near the park. 

Rob Bonta, the California attorney general, issued a statement denouncing what he said was a "cruel and familiar pattern of attacks on our immigrant communities by an administration that thrives on fear and division".

The denunciations, and the legal battles, echo the tactics Democrats relied on during Trump's first presidential term, when the Republican policy of separating migrant families that crossed the US-Mexico border generated widespread national outrage.

Such concerns faded, however, and by 2024 stringent immigration enforcement once again became a top Republican talking point. 

Can't have it both ways. Either say the idea behind the effort itself is okay, as Kerry asserts, but the  way Trump's doing it is insane, or oppose it all with the fact that birthrate and population dynamics are that more citizens are going off the labor market than into it to take menial jobs, so immigration is an answer, or avoid that and only carp over handling of things. Labor mobility vs capital mobility across a border is how the issue sits in its most abstract terms. Moneied employers want labor mobiliity to oversupply the labor market to enhance employer price power, while the UAW, for example, wants labor pricing to be as high as they can get in their market segment. Ag workers, they're underpaid for long hard hours in hot sunlight, farm ownership knows this, and wants high illegal labor mobility.

It is not easy, but Kerry is correct that the Dem Party must articulate a sound policy explanation and can then maintain criticism of ways and means. Opinions can differ, but nobody can deny the Republicans made the issue key to their win in the Nov 2024 elections. Winning legislative thin majorities, both houses, and taking the executive Brance while already having poisoned the top judiciary. 

_______________UPDATE______________

Breitbart carries its version of the story, dated yesterday, including: 

The BBC’s compliant reporter, James Naughtie, quickly changed the subject from Biden’s failure to Biden’s retirement during the 2024 race. This shift allowed the BBC reporter to not ask Kerry why Biden and his deputies welcomed roughly 10 million migrants which flatlined wages, spiked housing inflation, and handed the 2024 election over to Donald Trump.

Democrats are dodging those questions in the aftermath of the 2024 disaster, partly because lobbyists are pushing them to increase the inflow of migrants through the nation’s borders and into Americans’ jobs, schools, communities, and politics.

On July 6, for example, two Indian-origin Democrats pushed a plan that would welcome millions of immigrant workers from India.

The plan was drafted by the president of the influential Center for American Progress, Neera Tanden, and the center’s senior director of Immigration Policy, Debu Ghandi. Tanden was a top advisor to Joe Biden, and Ghandi formerly worked for Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Il).

[...] The plan echoes President George W. Bush’s “Any Willing Worker” scheme that would have allowed U.S. employers to hire poor people from around the world instead of hiring Americans. The Tanden plan also echoes the economic priorities of the Indian government, which is seeking to migrate many Indians into Americans’ jobs, schools, and legislatures.

The plan is chiefly intended to boost the inflow of migrants — mostly of whom will vote Democratic — which will worsen the damage to Americans’ wages, productivity, and innovation caused since 1990.

Aiming shame at Democrats and mainline non-MAGA Republicans together, pure Breitbart. That outlet was all over Biden month after month before the 2024 election with stories of border porosity.

Biden had made Harris his border czar and then let her twist slowly in the wind before tardily withdrawing and saying, "Here's Kamala." As if it might not have been happenstance, but instead intentional, after the Clyburn/South Carolina endorsement was withheld until Biden gave Clyburn a committment to name a woman of color as VP. Perhaps the condition was Harris specific, but as an Asian African American she checked two boxes. At any rate Clyburn's guy is out at DFC and Martin is in and purging the likes of Hogg while Teacher and Pubic Worker union heads have resigned from the committee. Damage control enough, but party unity behind "support American workers" still needs implementation in full.

Martin is trying his best, while entrenched disgruntled people are making the road hard.

But, yes, Breitbart is correct in pointing out the Bush family was promotionally big on labor market expansion in the US to help big business to keep labor costs low as a near-religious mantra, whether firms faced labor intensive situations or were greatly automated. As in, Musk needs union workers to leaven his spirit and broaden his perspectives. Teach him a military salute instead of a fascist one, etc. 

 ____________FURTHER UPDATE____________

With Crabgrass's discerning readers it could be viewed as an insult to reader intelligence, but it gets pointed out anyway that Breitbart's last two quoted paragraphs say W Bush had the same plan, which was to boost Democratic Party voters. That's meeting yourself walking your story back the other way, which deserved at least an intervening paragraph to make things float better. But factor in, it is Breitbart. And the truth is neither party represented worker interest in fair pay for fair work. 

Each party favors and is loyal and in thrall to big donor/big money so that Breitbart misrepresents causation about the fact that since 1990 wages have stagnated, as that is the result of conscious bipartisan policy, from Clinton/Newt onward, each party meeting the big donor expectations of the times. Together. 

And AI marches on. Percentage of labor force unionized has gone down, in parallel to decline in inflation adjusted pay. Now Chat and Claud and other LLM usage can automate the pencil pushing, so grunt labor is not the only sector to suffer. The big money is getting us all. 

Trump is a social Darwinist, with his voters not the fittest. 

Bless implementation of Project 2025. Bless the Heritage Foundation and its leader Kevin Roberts, and bless John Roberts, with the two kindred in spirit, if not genetically. Twin sons of different mothers, fathered by greed and pliability. Class warfare by the rich against the People, that's as old as sin. And generation of warriors that way keep showing up, some in bloodlines, others as opportunists. A cosmetic difference from the Roberts situation, John Foster Dulles and Alan Dulles were actual brothers during Eisenhower days and later John Kerry and W Bush ran against each other while each stunk of money and class privilege. It is our Constitutional democracy in action. As the founders of the nation planned it.

I think "Great Again" means to Trump the period after the Civil War and before trust busting thoughts matured into the wealthy facing some token regulation. The period when the Buffalo Soldiers were recruited by government to hunt down indigenous people so railroad owners could lay track wherever they wanted without risk of mishap. But you'd have to ask Trump. That is only my guess. Today I guess his mind runs: no frontier, no immigrants needed to bust sod or find and mine silver. Who knows.

___________FURTHER UPDATE__________

Another Breitbart item: 

DHS Memo Requires ICE Agents to Stop Carrying Certain Sig Sauer Service Weapons, Switch to Glock

 The Buffalo Soldiers, were provided Buffalo Springfield rifles, or Remingtons or Sharps, for their hunting. The Buffalo Guns were the first sniper rifle. One shot, one kill. They were cartridge rifles, not muzzle loaders. At some distance to the herd animals could be dropped without any real likelihood of spooking a stampede and  being trampled. And at a distance the animals expected no danger and were there, quiet for the shooting. Detention and transporting illegal aliens by ICE is more humane than shooting dead and using the skulls for fertilizer. So humane our nation's ICE agents are.

Is Trump fucking with copper pricing to punish Musk/Tesla, or to boost Pete Stauber and Tom Emmer's efforts to make Minnesota pristine waters toxic?

COPPER PRICING: Minnesotans know about the Iron Rangers' greed causing their will to poison the water via copper mining where sulfide toxic waters have more or less resulted wherever copper has been mined before. For a stinking handful of short term jobs, in exchange for doing it.

Emmer, not his district, and stauber, his district, pose a few jobs for the spoiled Rangers, as a fit thing for the rest of us in state to suffer undue risk. The risk, the long term poisoning after the ore's been depleted short term, all that mischief can happen. What havoc is possible is in a future nobody can claim to fully predict, but the copper mining industry has a consistent tawdry history elsewhere. And Emmer as whip, and Stauber as a willing vote per a thin passage majority in the House for the Billionaires'  Beauty Bill - does that mean the pair are owed a bargained poison payback for pushing that monstrosity over the hump and onto the People?

Or does a strong streak to seek revenge for the slightest thing (e.g., punishing Brazil for seeking redress for excesses while in power by the dude who gave Musk the chainsaw on primetime showtime) now work against Musk, who has had the temerity to criticize the Billionaires' Bill and be exiled and figuratively flogged for speaking out?

It could be both. Trump can multitask his meanness. He has practiced being a mean ass over time, including his reality TV stuff and his honing the retribution promises he campaigned on as somehow deserved by a white male Republican bloc voting faction. He may have just been born mean, and then schooled further by father Fred in collecting rents while consigliore Roy taught NYC business realities. Who knows? Stories have been published.

UPDATE: He could wrongly believe he's doing the right thing, by tariff threats to the world's economy. Who knows for certain, from outside of the space between Trump's two ears? He seems to pick golfing partners and yes men over others, in forming an echo chamber governing team. For better or worse.

FURTHER: Financial Times has reported facts about the copper price intervention intentions, and likely fallout. With golfing partner Lutnick mentioned:

Howard Lutnick, commerce secretary, said in a CNBC interview that he expected the copper tariffs to be put into place as soon as the end of this month or early August.

Copper futures traded in New York soared 13 per cent to $5.69 a pound, marking an all-time closing high and the biggest jump on records stretching to 1969, according to FactSet data. Copper prices on the London Metal Exchange dropped 2 per cent on Wednesday morning, reflecting fears that the tariffs would reduce copper consumption in the US and dent global demand.

 FT also published market analyses of the move:

“Our expectation is official confirmation of a 50 per cent rate within weeks and implementation within 30 days,” Citi analysts said. 

“We think this is a watershed moment for the copper market in 2025 as imminent flagged tariff implementation should abruptly close the window for further significant US-bound copper shipments — possibly for the rest of 2025,” they added.

There's more to FT's report, and the copper tariff threat has been widely reported. 

This does not sit well. Mac Hammond can endorse JD vance from his Living Word pulpit, without losing his tax-free status, but the Sierra Club cannot.

 This whole development of Trump Administration NEW Policy brings to mind an image in my mind of a preacher endorsing a candidate, with it clear I am not favorably inclined toward the practice. That image stuck in mind after seeing it among others, here.

(Worth an aside, this other item is one of the more famous Bosch paintings where he did not like the crowd which he depicted in a more "antisemitic" way than ignorantly using the term "Shylocks." But I digress.}

  

 The AP headline for its version of the story:

 Now this is THE TRUMP IRS, which has the power but arguably is not a truly impartial taxing service. 

IT'S TRUMPS IRS AFTER ALL.  (Do read all about that ownership.)

Now some Minnesotans may recall Pastor Mac [https://machammond.org/] saying from his pulpit earlier this century that he "was going to vote for Michel Bachmann," while she was attending his Living Word warehouse-converted-to-house-of-worship when he did not even live in her Congressional District. He got some heat over that and being tax-free at the same time, while, also, his congregatrion had bought him an airplane. MPR has its reporting of that story still online.

Crabgrass will excerpt almost all of an MSN carry of an Alternet report:  

'This won't end well': Critics rip new IRS ruling that allows churches to endorse candidates

Back in 1993, the Rev. Jerry Falwell Sr.'s television program, "The Old Time Gospel Hour," was fined $50,000 by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and saw its tax-exempt status suspended for two years for engaging in overtly political activity from the pulpit. People For The American Way, the organization television producer Norman Lear (famous for 1970s sitcoms like "All in the Family" and "The Jeffersons") founded to combat the Religious Right, applauded the decision but also felt that $50,000 was a slap on the wrist — as Falwell's Moral Majority and Liberty University were bringing in millions of dollars.

Thirty-two years later, critics of the Religious Right are still arguing that far-right fundamentalist evangelicals get away with violating IRS rules that allow their tax-exempt status. But the IRS, on Monday, July 7, said, in a court filing, that individual churches can endorse political candidates without violating their rules.

According to New York Times reporter David A. Fahrenthold, "The agency made that statement in a court filing intended to settle a lawsuit filed by two Texas churches and an association of Christian broadcasters. The plaintiffs that sued the IRS had previously asked a federal court in Texas to create an even broader exemption — to rule that all nonprofits, religious and secular, were free to endorse candidates to their members. That would have erased a bedrock idea of American nonprofit law: that tax-exempt groups cannot be used as tools of any campaign."

Fahrenthold adds, "Instead, the IRS agreed to a narrower carveout — one that experts in nonprofit law said might sharply increase politicking in churches, even though it mainly seemed to formalize what already seemed to be the agency's unspoken policy."

Fahrenthold notes that the "ban on campaigning by nonprofits" was "introduced by" Lyndon B. Johnson in 1954, when he was serving in the U.S. Senate. LBJ went on to become president and enjoyed a landslide victory over Republican Barry Goldwater in 1964. But despite all their political differences, LBJ and Goldwater agreed on the need for a separation of church and state — and Goldwater, during the 1980s and 1990s, was a scathing critic of Falwell and the Religious Right. Trump, however, wants to abolish the 1954 ban.

Fahrenthold's reporting is receiving a lot of feedback on X, formerly Twitter.

Some church figures are applauding the IRS' decision.

Pastor Travis Johnson tweeted, "This game changing announcement was reported the New York Times moments ago. Listen, it was ALWAYS wrong for the undue pressure for pastors to be silent AND it was always wrong many pastors choose to be silent. Now Pastors can influence the way God called them in the first place without fear and now pastors don't have an excuse not to take a stand clearly in elections."

Other X users, however, didn't have a favorable reaction.

SiriusXM host James St. James posted, "But they still don't have to pay taxes. Funny how that works…. But universities have to be apolitical to keep their tax exempt status? Got it."

Attorney Amy Bresnen argued, "This won't end well. Someday there will be a Democrat in power. I don't know when. But this person will possess temerity and an exquisite amount of 'out of f-----' that will resonate with People. It’s coming."

A social worker who goes by Dolly Madison on X tweeted, "The party of Goldwater is dead!"

Catherine G. Bennett wrote, "Not a Goldwater fan but he was so RIGHT ON THIS ISSUE! Look at us now."

That is almost the entire item, but worth full fair-use quoting.If you've any doubt, the party of Goldwater has a vestigial few, while it mostly went MAGA, (with JD tagging along), and now he may be endorsed by each and every U.S. agents of his Pope (while this Pope, like the last one, is HIGHLY unlikey to make any such J.D. endorsement.)

And, Friends of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, what may they say without being hounded by Pam Bondi or this Billy Long (new IRS top dude), over candidates who square with their wilderness-not-sulfide-mining  belief set, while retaining, not forfeiting, their Iax-free status (if they have one)? For now, that might depend upon IRS new/old policy, and enforcement bias. We know Stauber, having the BWCAW in his district, is a lockstep Trumpster as much as (unfortunately) my Rep., Mr. Emmer. 

And MAGA is about power in numbers and not fairness or clarity or good sense.

This is what Billy Long looks like, and he was a Missouri Republican politician/officeholder  (an AP image speaking louder than words).  So we can go figure. 

REMEMBER, IT ALL STICKS TO TRUMP, AND SMELLS, AND IT'S HIS MORE THAN ANYBODY'S.  HEAD OF THE SNAKE BEING AN ADAGE IN MIND, BUT NOT SUGGESTING THE "CUT OFF" PART  OF THAT OLD SAYING. OTHER THAN FIGURATIVELY. WE ARE CIVILIZED WITH OTHER LESS DIRECT WAYS AVAILABLE. TO WHICH WE SHOULD LIMIT OURSELVES OUT OF DECENCY.

.................................................. 

DON'T BLAME ME, I VOTED HARRIS. NOT THAT SHE WAS SPECIAL BUT THAT SHE WAS NOT TRUMP; THAT BEING ABOUT ALL SHE RAN ON, ALSO.

 

Elon Musk - Paperwork filed with the FEC for a new "America Party." [UPDATED - Musk repudiates filing story]

 He said he would do it if the Trump bill passed. It passed. He filed. Not the hardest step such as building an operation and finding candidates with winning appeal, but step one, and done.

The move was noted worldwide, with that link being from India.

Also, AJ reported:

Musk said previously that he would start a new political party and spend money to unseat lawmakers who supported the bill, which experts say will pile an extra $3.4 trillion over a decade onto the US deficit.

“They will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth,” Musk had said.

There was no immediate comment from Trump or the White House on Musk’s announcement.

Trump earlier this week threatened to cut off the billions of dollars in subsidies that Musk’s companies receive from the federal government, and to deport the South African-born tycoon.

“We’ll have to take a look,” the president told reporters when asked if he would consider deporting Musk, who has held US citizenship since 2002.

It is not clear how much impact the new party will have on the 2026 mid-term elections, or on the presidential vote two years after that.

On Friday, after posting the poll, Musk laid out a possible political battle plan to pick off vulnerable House of Representatives and Senate seats, and for the party to become “the deciding vote” on key legislation.

“One way to execute on this would be to laser-focus on just 2 or 3 Senate seats and 8 to 10 House districts,” Musk posted on X.

All 435 US House seats are up for grabs every two years, while about one-third of the Senate’s 100 members, who serve six-year terms, are elected every two years.

Despite Musk’s deep pockets, breaking the Republican-Democratic duopoly is a tall order, given that it has dominated US political life for more than 160 years, while Trump’s approval ratings in polls in his second term have generally held firm above 40 percent, despite the president’s often divisive policies.

Crabgrass has previously complained in posts about "the two party stranglehold" so on the surface the move is welcome as movement from that stranglehold. However, Musk can position himself as a swing vote bloc controller if his candidates get seats and if he can ride herd on their actions to see them doing his bidding. That reaches to the ultimate worry - what would Elon Must want? A libertarian small party thing perhaps, but also likely an issue-by-issue, "I call the shots."

Elon calling the shots via having swing votes is fraught with doubts and uncertainties.

If he follows through, and if election successes are reached, wtf will result? Guess. It could be ugly.

There is more for a separate post which shows Elon's actions going beyond words. And it's another wtf will those actions spawn situation. Likely the next post here.

In closing, AJ embedded a video about Musk. That is noted for any readers who might seek out the original, since the video is worth viewing.

___________UPDATE____________

At ten PM last night it was published that Musk says he did not file with the FEC.

The link for that denial: Musk Says Party Paperwork Is ‘False’ After MAGA Melt Down. The latest word:

Former “First Buddy” Elon Musk’s plan to wade back into politics with a new political party has roiled MAGA influencers across X.

However, despite reports that Musk had already filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission Sunday to establish his so-called “America Party,” the billionaire took to his social media platform to shut them down.

“This filing is false and has been reported as such to the FEC,” Musk wrote.

Musk’s latest move comes after he pledged to hit back against Republicans for passing President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” which is projected to add $4.5 trillion to the national debt.

Despite no paperwork being filed, Musk has still been promoting his party on X with posts like “The America Party is needed to fight the Republican/Democrat Uniparty,” and, “the America Party is the solution.”

Musk, who became an American citizen in 2002, claimed in a Friday post on X that his new political party would focus “on just 2 or 3 Senate seats and 8 to 10 House districts,” CNBC reported. Musk also holds citizenship in Canada and his native South Africa.

“By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it!” Musk added in a Saturday post on X, referring to an X poll he conducted asking his followers if they would support a third party. “Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom.”

Earlier, MSM had carried the "has filed" story, attributed to the same source, THE DAILY BEAST. 

The last word on the has/has not filed with the FEC is Musk's "has not." Yet the promotion of the idea clearly continues. Crabgrass notes this is not the first time a Musk story has been walked back.

For now, the only sensible choice is to wait for more precision. This situation causes Crabgrass to wonder about other reporting alluded to above. 

Perhaps Crabgrass has misunderstood Elon Musk. Crabgrass, to be revelent, should be willing to learn.

 This is early notice of a reevaluation. One which may go one way. Or another.

Some thoughtful reflection is needed, so this post is in the spirit of Mies van der Rohe's adage, "Less is more." SO -- More detail later - maybe. In the spirit of busy being born instead of busy dying, a caption has been added atop the sidebar, but also, the image and footer are NOT withdrawn. NOT YET.

UPDATE: Add a little David Bowie, as part of theme prep. Stay tuned.

FURTHER: As always, details matter. So read a little on the web, wait to see ambiguities fleshed out, see if MSM adds anything of value. Then publish or drop it, or some third way.

A tariff showdown is coming. [UPDATED]

 Noting that the earlier ninety day time frame is close to ending, without Crabgrass having any way to guess what Trump, called by some TACO Trump, will do.

Chicken Out, or get meaner and closer to Making Depressions Great Again?

Soon we see.

UPDATE: BRICS conference is opening in Brazil, with Yahoo offering a sampling of reporting. Any web search will give more links. Xi and Putin are absent. Tariffs are pending while the leaders meet. Indonesia is a  BRICS member now.

FURTHER: Politico reports on July 6, 2025, that Bessant announced the drop-dead deadline has been moved to Aug 1, so, not now a backs-to-the wall situation. But not a giant window to wort things out either.

KNOW YOUR ENEMIES: Tom Emmer -- He whipped Trump's fuck-the-poor bill through the house, then poses and boasts, not saying downside truth about that evil Trumpian - Republican abomination --

 Even Elon noticed that bill as bad stuff! Screen capture from the email:

Posing per the embedded image, not saying boo about cuts to rural Medicaid and food stamps, about rural hospital jeopardy, about putting thousands more of ICE goons onto the nation's streets and lands to hunt people while masked and in unmarked vans, or about doing trillion-dollar cuts to low-income Americans while STILL RUNNING A NET DEFICIT B00ST of trillions of dollars of debt load on the young -- so that he and his wealthy donors could thereby avoid facing fair taxation. 

Elon has said he disliked the deficit incremental pumping and old industries subsidy (Koch et al.) but Elon also avoided casting shame onto the bill's disrespect for poor rural and urban Americans - as if that part was alright with Elon's billion dollar aims and needs.

What a bunch of dishonorable turds. Emmer included as integral to the Trump - JD - Stephen Miller immoral hatefest against the most vulnerable of the People, by the Republicans, for no valid reason but possibly their narcissistic enjoyment of exercise of power in ways recognized by them as hurtful to others.

Or do I exaggerate?

--------------------------------------------------

_______________UPDATE______________

Emmer has his Congressional website, and it is fair to him to link to it.

Sixth District | Congressman Tom Emmer

Readers should freely explore it to form independent impressions.

One item striking Crabgrass-

Emmer’s Flagship CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act Passes House of Representatives | Congressman Tom Emmer

In that item Emmer's staff write:

Washington, D.C. - Today, the House of Representatives considered and passed Congressman and Majority Whip Tom Emmer’s (MN-06) flagship legislation, the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act. 

In a vote of 216 - 192, the House of Representatives passed Emmer’s bill that would prohibit the Federal Reserve from issuing a surveillance-style central bank digital currency (CBDC) that could give the federal government the ability to monitor and control individual Americans’ spending habits. 

“For more than two years, we have worked to educate, grow support, and pass this important legislation, which prevents unelected bureaucrats from issuing a financial surveillance tool to fundamentally undermine our American values. My legislation ensures that the United States' digital currency policy remains in the hands of the American people so that any development of digital money reflects our values of privacy, individual sovereignty, and free market competitiveness. This is what the future global digital economy needs. We are proud to have led this effort and thank my colleagues for their support,” Congressman Emmer said. 

Click here to see what key stakeholders are saying in support of the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act.

There's a slide and glide to things, since an act could have allowed a CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) with an absolute bar upon using it for any surveillance purposes. That would not throw out the baby with the bathwater. A CBDC would allow unbanked persons to trade an online central bank account when regular banking system players avoid allowing such a person a true bank account.

Wealthy ones most often have several accounts, some in offshore tax havens, or in South Dakota.  Kristi Noem's state. Only poor people end up unbanked, so a CBDC would help THEM. As long as surveillance is barred, why not give them aid. They get and have so little. See: here.

Yet Emmer's thing is to totally ban CBDC competition with Crypto privateers. Crypto entrepreneurs, private sector profit chasers, generally don't want a CBDC competitor. This is a worldwide finance thing, e.g., in India. Morningstar notes online:

Key Takeaways

• Some governments view issuing a central bank digital currency, or CBDC, as providing a substitute for private cryptocurrencies, while enthusiasts of the latter commonly tout them as alternatives to government-controlled money.

• But the average global consumer doesn’t see the two forms of digital currency as opposites when it comes to their effects on the broader economy. People who said they thought private cryptocurrency would decrease financial stability also oppose their government issuing a CBDC, and vice versa, highlighting how views of the two are intertwined.

• Spotlighting this relationship can help launch a public-private sector dialogue about how to formulate regulations that position private crypto and

 See,also: CBDC vs. Cryptocurrency: Competition or Collaboration Towards the Future of Digital Finance?

Well, possibly due to personal emotion or perhaps a Republican paranoia of a surveillance state, or otherwise, Emmer pushed a slammed door against the Fed issuing a CBDC - where you can decide, sensible, or not? Libertarian or authoritarian? Permissive or over-restrictive.

Emmer takes crypto campaign donations. 

Weigh that in your thinking. Fronting "crypto townhalls" is a part of Emmer's Gestalt, and he is open about it.

US Congressman Tom Emmer Will Accept Crypto Donations for Reelection Campaign

Sandali Handagama - Updated August 20, 2020 2 min read

In This Article:

XRP-USD

+0.58%

BTC-USD

+0.47%

BTCUSD=X

BCH-USD

+0.62%

REP-USD

-1.12%

Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota will accept crypto donations for his campaign.

The chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) and member of the Congressional Blockchain Caucus opened his first cryptocurrency town hall on Thursday with the announcement, telling CoinDesk that BitPay will process all donations.

The town hall, announced last week, was held in conjunction with the Chamber of Digital Commerce PAC to celebrate innovators in the crypt industry and to encourage engaged voters to participate in political discourse.

Leave it there. Emmer is not being judged here over Crypto, that part of the post is informational and not judgmental. On flogging the tainted Trump bill, that is judged, and the headline says "enemies" so there is no doubt of where Crabgrass stands on that monstrosity and Emmer's role in kissing Trump's whatever, and flogging the bill through the House's exceptionally narrow Republican majority. He pushed, it passed. Cast shame on him over how it went.

--------------------------------------------------------

Well, not leaving it there. Getting down more in the weeds against the individual representing the Congressional District in which I live, our Mr. Emmer kissing Trump's ass and seeming proud of it, nose up in the air in that emailed image, here is the truth of the degree of abandonment of conscience that supporting that bill represents: a DEW item with an embedded Bernie YouTube truth segment, and WallStreetOnParade. Kissing Koch too; and being unpopular in major polls for the beating given the People by the fat cat politicians such as Rep. Emmer 

WallStreeOnParade:

Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” Is a Grotesque Giveaway to Fossil Fuel Billionaires While Adding $3.3 Trillion to Nation’s Debt

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: June 30, 2025 ~

DWT - 

The House That Trump Broke— Nothing Matters Anymore But The Photo Op -- From Freedom Caucus to Bootlickers Anonymous: They Knew It Was Garbage. They Passed It Anyway

Bernie - YouTube: Watch This or be ashamed forever for neglecting it.

And last, Mr. Emmer's pride in passage aside, polls show voters know the bill is toxic - per these polling results DWT reported:

Bernie's video is the most powerful counter Crabgrass can offer to Mr. Emmer's pride in having whipped this crapball over the finish line while likely knowing in his heart the damage to the nation Trump and others had him doing. 

So, Emmer -- Bless him. He really, really pissed me off, the arrogance, the chutzpah of that email newsletter - astounding! Unsettling! Fellow travelling! Compromised! Knowing right from wrong and electing wrong! Trump got him and now-on seems to own him.