Kathy Hochul Does Something Right – Albany Dems Demur
We at the Ops Desk haven’t had many positive things to say about New York Governor Kathy Hochul, but when she does something positive, we give credit where credit is due. Last week the Governor included in her $9 billion spending hike proposal (bad), was a plan to expand involuntary mental health commitment powers (good).
All New Yorkers want a better mental health system, and the state and local governments have essentially done nothing except spew platitudes and waste time and money. This expansion of commitment power could have a positive effect on our state’s mental health system. A positive effect that people will be able to see on our streets and the mentally ill feel in their improved treatment.
Naturally, the Democrat controlled New York Assembly and Senate immediately rejected the idea. They want more of the same “solutions” that have been failing mentally ill New Yorkers in the past – i.e. throw money at the problem and hope for the best. That’s not going to accomplish anything.
As a bit of a civil libertarian, I am not excited about giving the government the power to force people into the mental health system. However, we must see the scope of the problem and work on solutions. Expanded involuntary commitments are a necessity at this point. Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity, yet New York Democrat legislators want to just more funding for the same old failing programs. New Yorkers have been through that experiment – DeBlasio’s ThriveNYC scam is still a sore subject with taxpayers.
So Hochul’s plan looks dead on arrival in Albany. The mentally ill will continue to suffer and New Yorkers will continue to call for answers. Same old same old in the Empire State.
IRS v DOGE
DOGE has turned its attention on the IRS in recent days. DOGE is looking for more access to agency records and has started the process of cutting the staff. In February the Trump administration fired 6,700 employees out of the total headcount of about 100,000. This naturally has sent Trump and Musk opponents into a pearl clutching tizzy. How can the country survive with a reduction of 6% of IRS employees? We have a feeling the nation will survive.
After Trump took office he fired Daniel Werfel, the head of the IRS before his term ended in 2027 and installed former Republican Congressman Billy Long. The New York Times warned that Trump was turning the IRS into a more political agency. There is no evidence to support that claim, but The Times imagines an out-of-control IRS that targets political enemies of the President.
Perhaps The Times forgot that Obama’s IRS under Lois Lerner and Steven Miller did just that. They knowingly targeted Tea Party and conservative groups using the power of the IRS. They both were forced to resign, but disgraced former FBI head James Comey gave them a public pass on prosecution (despite the FBI not being a prosecuting agency). If you recall when Congress began in investigation into this matter, they were told that many of Lois Lerner’s IRS emails were destroyed. Very convenient for a non-political agency.
The IRS Chief Counsel William Paul was shown the door last week as he objected to DOGE access that may run afoul of federal law. MAY run afoul. Can we get some clarification on that before we start panicking? The fact that Trump opponents, including The Times, decry DOGE and Musk gaining access to IRS records is a joke. It negates any legitimate arguments that they might have. DOGE naysayers make it seem like Musk is going to be running some ID theft ring out of the basement of 1111 Constitution Avenue. Perhaps he and his evil cronies will be selling your social security number on the dark web – get real!
Perhaps the New York Times will recall that an IRS contractor leaked the tax returns of both Trump and Musk. They should remember, they were the recipients – and publishers – of the leaked data. We guess that they have a newfound respect for the tax records and personal identifiers of American citizens.
We can detail news headline after news headline of misconduct and inefficiencies at the IRS. I can speak to years of personal financial crime experience with fraud schemes perpetrated on the IRS that were allowed to continue with little action or concern for American taxpayers. The agency literally watched for years as hundreds of millions of dollars were dished out to people filing false returns. The IRS is another federal agency that could use a health serving of what DOGE is dishing out. We will save our outrage for a real scandal.
Thanks for reading The Ops Desk. Stay Safe!
Go DOGE