All Wet Publishing (2025)

13/07/2025

THE DOGE REPORT: PRESS REPORTING

Depending on the medium and sources by which one receives one’s news, there is discussion whether or not the reporting of DOGE’s actions and effects is accurate.

“Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a hundred thousand bayonets.” — Napoleon Bonaparte*

“If the government wishes some fact to remain unknown, almost all major organs of publicity will assist in concealment. In such cases it often happens that the truth can only be made known, if at all, by persistent and self-sacrificing efforts involving obloquy and perhaps disgrace. Sometimes, if the matter rouses sufficient passion, the truth comes to be known in the end.” — Bertrand Russell.**

“…without fairness and balance journalism may become indistinguishable from vigilantism.” — Don Kowet***

“Partial truths are divisive; comments out of context, destructive. Carefully chosen words that obfuscate facts are lying. The selective elimination of pertinent details a willful misrepresentation. These are sins of omission.…Discourse must be truthful….Failure to do so only feeds the continual distrustful narrative.” — Augustus Lincoln Treatise****

*(Appears to be fabricated, as it is not known from surviving print before 19 March 1845 when it appeared in “Mississippi Democrat” in an article titled 'The Press' and in “The North-Carolina Standard” on its own as a column filler. On April 17, 1845 a longer version of ‘The Press’ article appeared in “The Guard” (Holly Springs, Miss.) crediting the article to the “New Orleans Jeffersonian,” a newspaper edited by Col J F H Claiborne (Life of Col. J.F.H. Claiborne by Franklin L. Riley, p.232). The relevant issue of the Jeffersonian does not appear to have survived but is possibly the original source of the invented quote. Claiborne again uses the "quote" in 1846 in a tribute to Professor Thomas R. Dew, (Richmond Enquirer (Richmond, Va.), October 20, 1846). The "quote" then quickly spreads across the english-speaking world, arriving in England by 26 April and appearing in “The Sentinel” (Sydney, Australia) on 5 November 1845. It appears to be unknown in french. Source: Napoleon - Wikiquote as of 29 June 2025.)

** (Russell, Bertrand. Essay titled “On Civil Disobedience” (undated), page 3. It accompanied a letter dated 17 September 1961 to Clara Urquhart for the essay’s inclusion in her work “A Matter of Life,” pages 189-196. Mrs. Urquhart did not include Russell’s title. Edited by Clara Urquhart, © 1963 by Clara Urquhart, published by Jonathan Cape, Thirty Bedford Square, London, printed in Great Britain by Billing & Sons Limited, Guildford and London on paper made by John Dickinson & Co., Bound by A.W. Bain & Co. Ltd., London.
Russell’s essay was extracted from “A Matter of Life” and titled [The Committee of 100] in “The Borzoi College Reader: Shorter Edition,” 1968, pages 180-185. Edited by Charles Muscatine, University of California, Berkeley, and Marlene Griffith, Laney College, © 1966 by Charles Muscatine and Marlene Griffith. Published by Alfred A. Knopf: New York, published simultaneously in Toronto, Canada, by Random House of Canada, Limited, distributed by Random House, Inc.)

***(Kowet, Don. ‘Inside Story,’ in “A Matter of Honor: General William C. Westmorland versus CBS News,” Page 263, Macmillan Publishing Company, New York, 1984, and Collier Macmillan Publishers, London, 1984.)

****(Williams, Tom. ‘State of the Union,’ in “President You: How a Thoughtful Ordinary Citizen Could Change the Most Complex Government on Earth,” Page 49, All Wet Publishing, LLC, © 2019)

02/07/2025

What is an American?

As we celebrate the 249th year from when British colonial subjects, who called themselves Americans, declared their independence from both king and country, might we ask ourselves, “What does it mean to be an American?”

We are, as written in that July 4, 1776 document, “created equal” and bestowed by our “Creator with certain unalienable Rights” of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

We are, as J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur wrote in 1782, “…that strange mixture of blood, which you will find in no other country…individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men, whose labours and posterity will one day cause great changes in the world… here they are incorporated into one of the finest systems of population which has ever happened…The American ought therefore to love this country much better than that wherein either he or his forefathers were born…”

We are the people of the United States and charged with the responsibility of continually striving to “form a more perfect Union,” not make a perfect country in our own individual image. We must, as written in our Constitution’s preamble, “secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity” for every citizen and our progeny, not the few whose shouting voices and destructive methods demand special consideration.

We are believing, feeling, thinking, and understanding human beings who ought deeply consider the Freedom and Liberty bestowed upon us citizens of this magnificent nation. Adopting “The American’s Creed” is not too much to ask as payment for living in what many have called the great and glorious American experiment.

27/06/2025

THE DOGE REPORT: EDUCATION

President Trump plans to use DOGE in his justification for eliminating the U.S. Department of Education. Recently Mr. Trump stated America’s youth ranked 40th out of forty other industrialized nations. As such, he wants to return the education of U.S. youth to the states.

“Some recent studies indicate the United States has the best education system in the world. Yet student test scores reveal American children are well behind other nations. People understand a company can have the best design system yet a bridge fails because of harmonics; the best assembly line system and still require automobile recalls; the best maintenance system and parts fall off airplanes; the best food preparation system and people get sick. America may have the best education system — the system is working — but the output is faulty.

“The education of our children is one area from which big government should extricate itself,” said Augustus. “As president, I will reduce the size, scope, and budget of the Department of Education. I might eliminate the position of Cabinet Secretary. One can safely state since the creation of the Education Department and Cabinet Secretary, public perception, research, and data indicate the quality of the education of America’s children has steadily declined.” — Augustus Lincoln Treatise*

*(Williams, Tom. “Chapter 22,” in “The Third Party Candidate: In a Divided States of America,” Pages 135 - 136, All Wet Publishing, LLC, © 2024)

22/06/2025

THE DOGE REPORT: SOCIAL SECURITY

How hard is it to create an App, write an algorithm, modify lines of code, or develop a computer program that will identify multiple users of a single social security number, multiple social security numbers used by one individual, and social security payments to deceased persons? Media reports state that DOGE found billions of dollars paid to dead or undeserving people. Several dozen people whose age listed as 120 or older are receiving, or received, benefits when the current oldest living humans are not yet 117 years of age. Most important, since Social Security was enacted, only one person exceeded 120 years of age – she was French, and died in 1997.

“To cut down on fraud or taxpayer money sent to deceased persons, Augustus directed the Social Security Administration, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Treasury Department compare and coordinate each other’s records. The Social Security Administration developed computer algorithms, much like the sort program for spreadsheets, and reviewed the entire database. The first sort started with Social Security number 000-00-0000 and, in numerical sequence, ended with 999-99-9999. That checked for the same number being repeated and used by different people. A second sort listed everyone alphabetically and identified individuals who used several different Social Security numbers. The third sort compared dates of birth with the Social Security number. That weeded out numbers assigned to persons before they were born. A final sort compared numbers already issued against those available for assignment. That methodology looked for fake and stolen numbers.” — Tom Williams*

*(Williams, Tom. “Social Security,” in President You: How a Thoughtful Ordinary Citizen Could Change the Most Complex Government on Earth, Pages 208-209, All Wet Publishing, LLC, © 2019)

13/06/2025

THE DOGE REPORT: ELON MUSK – PRESIDENT TRUMP’S LOBBYIST

Recent video and photographic news reports show members of Congress and other individuals protesting against DOGE, some carrying signs that read “Nobody Elected Musk” and “Nobody Elected Elon.” The protestors and Congresspersons seem bothered that an unelected individual has access to and undue influence over American government functions.

One must call to their attention that approximately two thousand special interest groups, with hundreds of employees, lobby members of Congress daily. These individuals, also NOT ELECTED, have exerted, and continue to apply, overwhelming pressure on American government operations to a far greater degree — and have done so for years.

“One of the reasons for his election to the highest office in the land was that an overwhelming majority of Americans believed their elected officials were too influenced by self-serving lobbyists who did not have the best interests of the country at heart.” — Tom Williams*

“We shall effect the programs necessary, pay our government’s bills, balance our budget, shed the shackles of debt, and create a new era of prosperity free from monetary yokes of politicians, lobbyists, the elite, other nations, or international financial entities.” — Augustus Lincoln Treatise**

*(Williams, Tom. “Executive Order,” in President You: How a Thoughtful Ordinary Citizen Could Change the Most Complex Government on Earth, Page 41, All Wet Publishing, LLC, © 2019)

**(Williams, Tom. “Inauguration,” in President You: How a Thoughtful Ordinary Citizen Could Change the Most Complex Government on Earth, Page 13, All Wet Publishing, LLC, © 2019)

07/06/2025

THE DOGE REPORT: MEDICARE FRAUD

Concerns raised are that DOGE, President Trump, and Mr. Musk will eliminate MEDICARE. The President has stated he will not do that. Elon Musk wants to identify and eliminate the fraud, waste, and abuse that already exist — well known in government circles. One news outlet reported recent MEDICARE fraud amounted to $100 billion.

“. . . in 2017*, approximately $60 billion in fraud (about 9% of the entire Medicare budget) took place, and the government recouped only about $3 billion—less than ½ percent of the total Medicare budget and 5% of the amount stolen—in criminal judgments.” — Tom Williams**

*(Source: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services – www.cms.gov, 2019.)

**(Williams, Tom. “Health Care,” in President You: How a Thoughtful Ordinary Citizen Could Change the Most Complex Government on Earth, Page 191, All Wet Publishing, LLC, © 2019)

29/05/2025

THE DOGE REPORT: GENIUS

Because of Elon Musk’s success as an entrepreneur, businessman, techie, and his acumen for creativity, some people think he is a genius. When it comes to non-career politician Donald Trump, many people feel his ability to keep political opponents off guard is pure genius. Maybe they are geniuses. Maybe they are mad. Maybe they aren’t.

“There is no great genius without some touch of madness.” — Aristotle*

“When a true Genius appears in the World, you may know him by this infallible Sign; that the Dunces are all in Confederacy against him.” — Jonathan Swift**

“I do not know, unless it is malice; upon the general principle that when a man attains a high position people are always found to carp at him and endeavor to pull him down.” — Dan Butterfield***

*(Attributed to Aristotle in Seneca the Younger, "On Tranquility of Mind [De Tranquillitate Animi]" (17.10) (c. AD 60). (Source (Latin)). This quotation as such is not found in surviving Aristotle. It may either represent something from Aristotle that has been lost since Seneca, or else Seneca fabricating a quote, quoting something spurious, or paraphrasing something Aristotle did write, e.g., his comments about madness/melancholy and poets/prominent talents (here and here). See also the Pseudo-Aristotle, “Problemata,” Book 30, ch. 1) (https://wist.info/aristotle/1343)

**(Swift, Jonathan. Various Thoughts, Moral and Diverting (a.k.a. Thoughts on Various Subjects), Written October 1, 1706; included in his Miscellanies in Prose and Verse, The First Edition, Printed for John Morphew, near Stationer’s-Hall, 1711.)

***(General Dan Butterfield to the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War in 1864 – regarding the source of allegations General Joe Ho**er was drunk at Chancellorsville.)

24/05/2025

THE DOGE REPORT: PROLOGUE

Before President Trump established DOGE; before Mr. Musk was appointed DOGE czar; before there even was a DOGE; historical figures, famous writers, and this author wrote about government, its supporters, its detractors, politicians, bureaucrats, and entities that report on same.

The next several posts, under this publisher’s banner called “THE DOGE REPORT,” will endeavor to address DOGE using excerpts, which may have some applicability, from written and published works before creation of the Department of Government Efficiency.

18/05/2025

Graduation & Reflection

College, High School, even Eighth Grade graduations are a time for student joyous celebration and hopeful dreams of what is yet to come. They are also, or could be, an opportunity for reflection. To think about the challenges faced and overcome, the influences of professors and teachers, the guidance from parents, the friendships made and lost, and the chance to give pause on how one has grown and matured.
For parents, these ceremonies are highlights of youthful journeys. At such events, one may well recall one’s own pathway to adulthood. And, perhaps impart some gained wisdom onto one’s at-home or off-to-conquer-the-world progeny.
Farther back in time, my parents experienced graduation and received guidance for themselves and their peers. “The American’s Privilege” was one such offering. Another from Charles M. Schwab was, “The difference between getting somewhere and nowhere is the courage to make an early start. The fellow who sits still, and does just what he is told, will never be told to do big things.”

10/05/2025

Tom’s Book Sale & Autograph Event

Hello one and all. On April 26, I was at Monarch Bookstore and Gifts shop, in Overland Park, Kansas, to sell and autograph my books. While there, I met and chatted with other authors as well as many book lovers. Food and drink were available, and children enjoyed the face painting. For those of you who were not able to attend, you can purchase each one, all, or a combination of my books from Amazon – or order from your favorite book shoppe.

24/04/2025

Book Sale and Author Autograph Event

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