Two questions. First, name the Secretary of Agriculture. Answer? Brooke Rollins. Second, is Brooke Rollins a man, a woman, or something in-between? Answer: Not based on personal knowledge, but the press refers to Rollins as a she.
Rollins is a Texas lawyer who, along with Education Secretary and wrestling executive Linda McMahon, founded the America First Policy Institute. Never heard of AFPI either?
It’s a think tank formed four years ago, which brings in about $25 million in revenue each year. It seems to rival the Heritage Foundation and its Project 2025 in that, according to its website, the Trump administration has adopted about 170 of its policy recommendations (that is almost all of them). And it is not only McMahon and Rollins who have been involved with AFPI, according to Wikipedia, but Pam Bondi (AG), Kash Patel (FBI), Larry Kudlow, Lee Zeldin (WPA), Scott Turner (HUD), Doug Collins (VA), and John Ratcliffe (CIA). It is bested only by Fox News as a source for Trump administration top picks.
It supports virtually every public policy that each of you is opposed to (with the exception of my sadly politically demented first cousin in Arkansas). It is anti-choice, anti-trans, pro fossil fuels, pro tariffs, pro work requirements for Medicaid, and strongly pro-gun, while denying climate change as related to human activity. It loves lowering taxes.
Think you should know more about such an organization with so much influence on your life?
Like…..would you like to know who contributes more than $25 million a year to funf AFPI? Ah, I am sorry. That information is just not available.
And, as you would expect, AFPI is a nationalist organization. But, you should know as well (Larry Kudlow aside), it is an avowed Christian Nationalist organization. Just look at its website, americafirstpolicy.com.
Why am I thinking about this today? Because Brooke Rollins just said something wacky, and she is the Secretary of Agriculture. Brooke Rollins just said that there will be no disruption to the deportation of undocumented seasonal agricultural workers. So who will the farmers hire to pick the pecks of pickled peppers? You may have guessed. The 35,000,000 Medicaid recipients who will now have to comply with work requirements that’s who. That is what she said.
In the meantime, have you been following the latest of Trump’s old buddy, Jeffrey Epstein? Trump now calls him “that creep”, but when they palled (a word easier to say than to read) around together, he was a great guy who Trump said he shared an interest with as they both liked their girlfriends to be very young.
The latest is that the surveillence tape that would show whether anyone entered Epstein’s the night before he was discovered dead has a 60 minute (not 18, like Watergate) gap. And the list of Epstein’s clients which Pam Bondi had said not long ago was “on my desk” now mysteriously does not exist. I think that may be correct, but if it does not exist, the question is: who destroyed it? I will give you a hint. Not Biden.
Anything else? Musk’s America Party can not be listed on the ballot in New York because of a state law thar prohibits the word “America” in a political party. What else can go wrong for Elon the Magnificent?
And what about Hegseth, the man whose chest tattoos could be an advertisement for AFPI, suspending shipments to Ukraine without telling his boss? You believe that one?
Things are getting bumpier. Better plant your victory gsrden. I gotta run; it’s getting late.
Art is 80 
One response to “Tote that Barge, Lift That Bale”
Thanks, Art.
Per Wikipedia: “According to New York Times () reporter Ken Bensinger, key policy proposals from the AFPI’s policy book, The America First Agenda, include eliminating most civil service protections for federal employees, allowing summary dismissals without appeal; expanding domestic oil and gas production by opening up new federal lands for fast-tracked petroleum exploration and drilling, and resumed construction of the Keystone pipeline (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keystone_pipeline (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Times)); imposing supervised ultrasound requirements and mandatory waiting periods before abortions, as well as ending federal funding for organizations like Planned Parenthood (); opposing red flag laws that restrict gun ownership for high-risk individuals; and supporting nationwide reciprocity for concealed carry permits, enabling a permit from any state to authorize concealed carry (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concealed_carry_in_the_United_States (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_Parenthood)) across all 50 states.[12] () Other policy proposals include imposing tariffs on imports, reducing corporate taxes, protecting religious freedom [vague (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Vagueness (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America_First_Policy_Institute#cite_note-12))], rolling back climate change initiatives and getting out of the Paris climate agreement, opposing transgender rights, adding work requirements for Medicaid and limiting U.S. involvement in global conflicts. It proposes the restriction of immigration by completing the U.S.-Mexico border wall, boosting funding for border agents, and ending legal immigration programs like family-based visas and the visa lottery.[13] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America_First_Policy_Institute#cite_note-13)”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America_First_Policy_Institute
I won’t be joining it anytime soon.
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