white house
The epicenter of DC and by extension, the country: The White House is US government incarnate, it's hard to discern what goes on behind those walls...
The Case For Direct Family Payments. AI-Generated.
The strongest fiscal and family policy available to governments that already spend large sums supporting households with children is to convert a discounted share of that spending into direct, controllable cash. When the state is already prepared to expend tens of thousands of dollars per year on a given family through child-care subsidies, nutrition programs, housing assistance, refundable credits, disability-related caregiving authorizations, and the administrative machinery that operates them, offering the family sixty to seventy-five percent of that total as unrestricted income while retaining the remainder as taxpayer savings produces three simultaneous results: lower overall public expenditure, greater household autonomy, and a reduction in the bureaucratic overhead required to police multiple restricted channels. The arrangement is especially coherent for households that have already demonstrated limited earning capacity and high need—families with young children, multiple children, or children whose care demands exceed ordinary parental obligations.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcast2 months ago in The Swamp
Stop Spending More to Keep Families Poor. AI-Generated.
American social policy contains a contradiction that becomes hard to defend once the full ledger is placed on the table. Government can spend tens of thousands of dollars a year supporting a low-income family through child-care subsidies, food programs, housing assistance, cash aid, refundable tax credits, disability-related caregiving authorizations, and the case-management systems that administer all of it — while the family itself continues living with almost no financial margin. The household is officially poor, dependent on half a dozen agencies, unable to save, and one unexpected bill away from crisis. Meanwhile taxpayers may already be spending enough on that family's behalf to give it a substantially higher standard of living, if even a discounted share of that spending were handed to the family directly.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcast2 months ago in The Swamp
What the Border Numbers Actually Show
The argument over whether the true number was 14 million, 16 million, or 20 million points to a larger failure. The government failed to give the public a reliable answer about who came in, who stayed, who was released, who disappeared, who gave false information, who had criminal history, who had foreign ties, who received meaningful vetting, and who could be found and removed later.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcast3 months ago in The Swamp
Tucker Carlson: MAGA and Trump Over.
Once upon a time, Tucker Carlson stood shoulder to shoulder with Donald John Trump. But even when Trump could do no wrong, and the Republican Party was under his command, Tucker Carlson, though a supporter, was not entirely taken in by the Orange One's aura. He and a few others, though they were supporters of Trump, always stood ready to advise POTUS if they thought he had taken a wrong turning. And this is exactly what Tucker Carlson did as Trump started his disastrous war with Iran alongside Israel.
By Nicholas Bishop4 months ago in The Swamp
Read More Banned Books
• Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo "Seventeen-year-old Lily Hu can't remember exactly when the feeling took root—that desire to look, to move closer, to touch. Whenever it started growing, it definitely bloomed the moment she and Kathleen Miller walked under the flashing neon sign of a lesbian bar called the Telegraph Club. Suddenly, everything seemed possible.
By choreomanias4 months ago in The Swamp
Op-Ed: Calling Sin a Sin Is Not Bigotry (Part 5). Content Warning. AI-Generated.
Series Note: This article expands the argument beyond the specific dealership call and beyond female-coded social aggression. The earlier articles examined a particular example, then moved into the broader problem of social aggression and identity-based deflection. This article addresses the deeper moral principle: no person should be protected from accountability because of sex, race, religion, sexuality, nationality, political tribe, trauma, victim status, social class, or any other identity category. Evil conduct remains evil conduct, even when the person doing it belongs to a group society has been trained to protect.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcast4 months ago in The Swamp
250 years you disgraced
Look at this picture my countrymen. Then go look in a mirror. That's who you blame for this. You. The United States of America is turning 250 years old and instead of marking it as a glorious occasion to freeing ourselves from one form of tyranny, it's being celebrated with a tyrant in charge, along with bread and circuses.
By Johann Hollar4 months ago in The Swamp
Read Banned Books . Top Story - June 2026.
• The 1619 Project by Nikole Hannah-Jones "In late August 1619, a ship arrived in the British colony of Virginia bearing a cargo of twenty to thirty people stolen from Africa. Their arrival led to the barbaric and unprecedented system of American chattel slavery that would last for the next 250 years. This is sometimes referred to as the country’s original sin, but it is more than that: It is the source of so much that still defines the United States.
By choreomanias4 months ago in The Swamp
PACO Calling TACO - 14
This conversation happened on June 14, 2026, Trump's eightieth Birthday. "Hello, Donnie!" [cheerful] "Hi, Vlad!" "Happy Birthday, my dear friend! I wish you all the best for this day and for many more days and years to come! How does it feel, to turn 80?" To the side: "and be the oldest president in the US history?"
By Lana V Lynx4 months ago in The Swamp
The Outrage Economy
It is ironic how similar the structures are on both sides. ActBlue and WinRed may serve opposite political teams, but they operate within the same kind of incentive system: turn moral outrage into money, lists, mobilization, and political power.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcast4 months ago in The Swamp
