On 2/3/2025 8:01 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

The press is running for the fainting couch over Trump setting DOGE loose on USAID with plans to gut the entire organization.

Here's a small taste of what USAID has been doing with your tax money:

--$1.5 million to advance DEI programs in Serbia's workplaces

--$70,000 to produce a DEI musical in Ireland

--$47,000 to produce a transgender opera in Colombia

--$32,000 to publish a transgender comic book in Peru

...and the list goes on.

They don't need to just put a stop to outrageous spending of tax dollars on crap like this, they need to burn down the entire organization and start from scratch.

Why, as an American taxpayer, do I even care if Serbia's workplaces have DEI, let alone want to spend millions on it?!? If Serbia wants DEI, they can damn well fund it themselves.

Same with Ireland. If it loves DEI so much it wants to praise it in the form of musical theater, then Ireland can pay for it.

And Colombia... and Peru. Why in the fuck are we spending untold amounts of our money on this crap in the first place, let alone for other countries?

Some backward nations don't recognize DEI as an unpardonable scourge...

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Feb 3, 2025 at 7:43:51 PM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote:

On 2/3/2025 8:01 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

The press is running for the fainting couch over Trump setting DOGE loose on
USAID with plans to gut the entire organization.

Here's a small taste of what USAID has been doing with your tax money:

--$1.5 million to advance DEI programs in Serbia's workplaces

--$70,000 to produce a DEI musical in Ireland

--$47,000 to produce a transgender opera in Colombia

--$32,000 to publish a transgender comic book in Peru

...and the list goes on.

They don't need to just put a stop to outrageous spending of tax dollars on >> crap like this, they need to burn down the entire organization and start
from
scratch.

Why, as an American taxpayer, do I even care if Serbia's workplaces have
DEI,
let alone want to spend millions on it?!? If Serbia wants DEI, they can damn
well fund it themselves.

Same with Ireland. If it loves DEI so much it wants to praise it in the form
of musical theater, then Ireland can pay for it.

And Colombia... and Peru. Why in the fuck are we spending untold amounts of >> our money on this crap in the first place, let alone for other countries?

Some backward nations don't recognize DEI as an unpardonable scourge...

Again, if they want it, they can fucking pay for it themselves. It's not my responsibility as an American taxpayer to fund DEI musicals in goddam Ireland, for fucks sake.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

The press is running for the fainting couch over Trump setting DOGE loose on >USAID with plans to gut the entire organization.

I don't care. Elon Musk isn't fucking president of the United States;
Trump needs to reign this guy in.

Here's a small taste of what USAID has been doing with your tax money:

I'm sure every single government agency, including Library of Congress,
has absurd spending on pointless projects. But true government reform
takes real work, not just these power trips locking all the employees
out. Or lobby Congress to sunset the agency. Anything is better than
these stupid games.

. . .

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Feb 3, 2025 at 9:35:52 PM PST, ""Adam H. Kerman"" <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

The press is running for the fainting couch over Trump setting DOGE loose on >> USAID with plans to gut the entire organization.

I don't care. Elon Musk isn't fucking president of the United States;
Trump needs to reign this guy in.

He can't actually do anything. He can only make recommendations to Trump, who can accept or reject them. If any cuts are made, they'll be made legally by authorized government officials.

Here's a small taste of what USAID has been doing with your tax money:

I'm sure every single government agency, including Library of Congress,
has absurd spending on pointless projects.

All of which need to be ruthlessly slashed. Have you looked at out debt
lately?

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Tue, 4 Feb 2025 05:35:52 -0000 (UTC), "Adam H. Kerman"
<ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

The press is running for the fainting couch over Trump setting DOGE loose on >>USAID with plans to gut the entire organization.

I don't care. Elon Musk isn't fucking president of the United States;
Trump needs to reign this guy in.

At this point I am thinking Musk has broken the law and should be
arrested. Not that I think anyone will do it.

Here's a small taste of what USAID has been doing with your tax money:

I'm sure every single government agency, including Library of Congress,
has absurd spending on pointless projects. But true government reform
takes real work, not just these power trips locking all the employees
out. Or lobby Congress to sunset the agency. Anything is better than
these stupid games.

Agreed. I'm not even against the review of where the money is going. I
am against just shutting these organizations down while doing the
review. Just let them go about their normal operations while a review
is done.

. . .

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Tue, 4 Feb 2025 05:39:08 -0000 (UTC), BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com>
wrote:

On Feb 3, 2025 at 9:35:52 PM PST, ""Adam H. Kerman"" <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

The press is running for the fainting couch over Trump setting DOGE loose on
USAID with plans to gut the entire organization.

I don't care. Elon Musk isn't fucking president of the United States;
Trump needs to reign this guy in.

He can't actually do anything. He can only make recommendations to Trump, who >can accept or reject them. If any cuts are made, they'll be made legally by >authorized government officials.

Well he's got access to all sorts of private information and is
cutting off money which sure seems like an over reach by Musk.
Otherwise USAID would still be operating even if it offends Musk while
working with Congress to shut down USAID or parts of it.

Here's a small taste of what USAID has been doing with your tax money:

I'm sure every single government agency, including Library of Congress,
has absurd spending on pointless projects.

All of which need to be ruthlessly slashed. Have you looked at out debt >lately?

All we need is that trillion dollar coin to be minted to help fix the
problem.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 2/3/2025 9:35 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

The press is running for the fainting couch over Trump setting DOGE loose on >> USAID with plans to gut the entire organization.

I don't care. Elon Musk isn't fucking president of the United States;
Trump needs to reign this guy in.

Here's a small taste of what USAID has been doing with your tax money:

I'm sure every single government agency, including Library of Congress,
has absurd spending on pointless projects. But true government reform
takes real work, not just these power trips locking all the employees
out. Or lobby Congress to sunset the agency. Anything is better than
these stupid games.

I had a thought tonight.. .If we don't fund these programs what if China
steps in to do so? Then what happens?

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

On Feb 3, 2025 at 9:35:52 PM PST, Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote: >>BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

The press is running for the fainting couch over Trump setting DOGE loose on >>>USAID with plans to gut the entire organization.

I don't care. Elon Musk isn't fucking president of the United States;
Trump needs to reign this guy in.

He can't actually do anything. He can only make recommendations to Trump, who >can accept or reject them. If any cuts are made, they'll be made legally by >authorized government officials.

Elon Musk demamded all sorts of classified information from USAID to
perform an "audit". He was denied it because it's, uh, espionage. The
two senior officials who refused to share classified materials were put
on suspension, and in revenge, Musk told Trump to shut the whole thing
down. Why is Trump complying with Musk's orders?

Here's a small taste of what USAID has been doing with your tax money:

I'm sure every single government agency, including Library of Congress,
has absurd spending on pointless projects.

All of which need to be ruthlessly slashed.

Let Trump do the real work of audits for compliance and effectiveness,
naming the actual grants approved speciously, then getting rid of the
specific employees who approved these monies. Don't get rid of the
decent employees who may very well oppose this nonsense.

Trump has no intention of doing the right thing in the right way because executing the law in a way that would truly reform governmemt is real
work that Trump will never do.

Have you looked at out debt lately?

This would be the mational debt that Trump added trillions to during his previous admimistratiom? Trump doesn't give a shit.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Feb 3, 2025 at 9:57:31 PM PST, "suzeeq" <suzeeq@imbris.com> wrote:

On 2/3/2025 9:35 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

The press is running for the fainting couch over Trump setting DOGE loose on
USAID with plans to gut the entire organization.

I don't care. Elon Musk isn't fucking president of the United States;
Trump needs to reign this guy in.

Here's a small taste of what USAID has been doing with your tax money:

I'm sure every single government agency, including Library of Congress,
has absurd spending on pointless projects. But true government reform
takes real work, not just these power trips locking all the employees
out. Or lobby Congress to sunset the agency. Anything is better than
these stupid games.

I had a thought tonight.. .If we don't fund these programs what if China steps in to do so? Then what happens?

If China wants to fund a DEI musical in Ireland, let them.

If China wants to throw its money away paying for transgender operas in Colombia, who cares?

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Tue, 4 Feb 2025 06:04:52 -0000 (UTC), "Adam H. Kerman"
<ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

On Feb 3, 2025 at 9:35:52 PM PST, Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote: >>>BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

The press is running for the fainting couch over Trump setting DOGE loose on
USAID with plans to gut the entire organization.

I don't care. Elon Musk isn't fucking president of the United States; >>>Trump needs to reign this guy in.

He can't actually do anything. He can only make recommendations to Trump, who >>can accept or reject them. If any cuts are made, they'll be made legally by >>authorized government officials.

Elon Musk demamded all sorts of classified information from USAID to
perform an "audit". He was denied it because it's, uh, espionage. The
two senior officials who refused to share classified materials were put
on suspension, and in revenge, Musk told Trump to shut the whole thing
down. Why is Trump complying with Musk's orders?

It's even worse from what I'm hearing with what he's done with the
Treasury Department's central payments database. He's got access to
all sorts of information that it doesn't seem he should have access
to.

Here's a small taste of what USAID has been doing with your tax money:

I'm sure every single government agency, including Library of Congress, >>>has absurd spending on pointless projects.

All of which need to be ruthlessly slashed.

Let Trump do the real work of audits for compliance and effectiveness,
naming the actual grants approved speciously, then getting rid of the >specific employees who approved these monies. Don't get rid of the
decent employees who may very well oppose this nonsense.

It's not even like he would have to do the work. Just tell his people
to do the actual review and then get rid of that which he doesn't
think should have been approved. The only issue is that he couldn't do
the quick action since the reviews would take some time.

Trump has no intention of doing the right thing in the right way because >executing the law in a way that would truly reform governmemt is real
work that Trump will never do.

Have you looked at out debt lately?

This would be the mational debt that Trump added trillions to during his >previous admimistratiom? Trump doesn't give a shit.

Trump made it clear in his Presidential campaign that he clearly
intends to add more to the national debt. Mainly by giving more tax
breaks to the corporations and his fellow billionaires.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

moviepig wrote:

On 2/3/2025 8:01 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

The press is running for the fainting couch over Trump setting DOGE loose
on USAID with plans to gut the entire organization.

Here's a small taste of what USAID has been doing with your tax money:

--$1.5 million to advance DEI programs in Serbia's workplaces

--$70,000 to produce a DEI musical in Ireland

--$47,000 to produce a transgender opera in Colombia

--$32,000 to publish a transgender comic book in Peru

...and the list goes on.

They don't need to just put a stop to outrageous spending of tax dollars
on crap like this, they need to burn down the entire organization and
start from scratch.

Why, as an American taxpayer, do I even care if Serbia's workplaces have
DEI, let alone want to spend millions on it?!? If Serbia wants DEI, they
can damn well fund it themselves.

Same with Ireland. If it loves DEI so much it wants to praise it in the
form of musical theater, then Ireland can pay for it.

And Colombia... and Peru. Why in the fuck are we spending untold amounts
of our money on this crap in the first place, let alone for other
countries?

Some backward nations don't recognize DEI as an unpardonable scourge...

OK, who's forging postings from moviepig?

--
Not a joke! Don't jump!

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

In article <vnrosl$1hkm6$1@dont-email.me>, atropos@mac.com wrote:

The press is running for the fainting couch over Trump setting DOGE loose on >USAID with plans to gut the entire organization.

Here's a small taste of what USAID has been doing with your tax money:

--$1.5 million to advance DEI programs in Serbia's workplaces

--$70,000 to produce a DEI musical in Ireland

--$47,000 to produce a transgender opera in Colombia

--$32,000 to publish a transgender comic book in Peru

...and the list goes on.

Political contributions from employees at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) went almost entirely to Democrats, according to a Daily Wire analysis.

In the 2024 election cycle, USAID staff made a total of $406,790 in political contributions, according to data collected on OpenSecrets. More than half of that, $241,079, went to the former Vice President Kamala Harris. Only $999 — a quarter of a percent — went to President Donald Trump.

In all, just over $377,000, or 97%, went to Democrats, while just $12,704 went to Republicans. Open Secrets tracked all political donations of USAID
employees to PACs and candidates over $200 via data from the Federal Election Commission.

These numbers highlight the political bias Trump and his team have said they need to root out from USAID. Trump on Monday said that the agency and its $50 billion annual budget were run by “radical left lunatics” who “went crazy during the Biden administration” and were giving money “to people that shouldn’t be getting” it. Elon Musk, who has been tasked with slashing federal waste through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), said the agency was “beyond repair.”

The Trump administration is in the process of rolling USAID into the State Department, making Secretary of State Marco Rubio the acting administrator of USAID. Rubio said his frustrations with the agency’s “insubordination” go back to his time in Congress.

“We would ask them questions — ‘Who does this program fund? Who gets the money?'” and not get responses, Rubio said. “These are taxpayer dollars,” he added, saying, “We owe the American people assurances that every dollar we are spending abroad is being spent on something that furthers our national interest.”

Rubio noted that “a lot of functions” of the agency will continue, but they will be aligned with American foreign policy.

Thousands of USAID staffers have been laid off since Trump took office, and a slew of programs have been shut down.

On Monday, USAID staffers were told to stay out of the agency’s headquarters
in Washington, D.C., where yellow police tape and officers blocked the entrance. The agency’s website disappeared on Saturday, and hundreds of USAID employees reported being locked out of the agency’s computer systems Sunday night.

Several Democrat senators have claimed that it is “illegal” for the president to shut down the agency.

“Elon Musk may get to be dictator of Tesla. And he may try to play dictator here in Washington, D.C., but he doesn’t get to shut down the Agency for International Development,” Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) said at a press conference in front of the USAID headquarters on Monday.

Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) threatened to place a “blanket hold” on all of Trump’s State Department nominees until the administration stops attacking the agency.

--
Not a joke! Don't jump!

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Tue, 4 Feb 2025 05:35:52 -0000 (UTC), "Adam H. Kerman"
<ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

The press is running for the fainting couch over Trump setting DOGE loose on >>USAID with plans to gut the entire organization.

I don't care. Elon Musk isn't fucking president of the United States;
Trump needs to reign this guy in.

He is acting on authority and approval of the President. What's to
"reign in" if he's done this?

Here's a small taste of what USAID has been doing with your tax money:

I'm sure every single government agency, including Library of Congress,
has absurd spending on pointless projects. But true government reform
takes real work, not just these power trips locking all the employees
out. Or lobby Congress to sunset the agency. Anything is better than
these stupid games.

. . .

What's your issue with the list of waste that you deleted?

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Tue, 4 Feb 2025 01:01:10 -0000 (UTC), BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com>
wrote:

The press is running for the fainting couch over Trump setting DOGE loose on >USAID with plans to gut the entire organization.

Here's a small taste of what USAID has been doing with your tax money:

--$1.5 million to advance DEI programs in Serbia's workplaces

--$70,000 to produce a DEI musical in Ireland

--$47,000 to produce a transgender opera in Colombia

--$32,000 to publish a transgender comic book in Peru

...and the list goes on.

They don't need to just put a stop to outrageous spending of tax dollars on >crap like this, they need to burn down the entire organization and start from >scratch.

Why, as an American taxpayer, do I even care if Serbia's workplaces have DEI, >let alone want to spend millions on it?!? If Serbia wants DEI, they can damn >well fund it themselves.

Same with Ireland. If it loves DEI so much it wants to praise it in the form >of musical theater, then Ireland can pay for it.

And Colombia... and Peru. Why in the fuck are we spending untold amounts of >our money on this crap in the first place, let alone for other countries?

It amazes me how everyone think the world is entitled to our tax
dollars.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Tue, 4 Feb 2025 06:04:52 -0000 (UTC), "Adam H. Kerman"
<ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

On Feb 3, 2025 at 9:35:52 PM PST, Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote: >>>BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

The press is running for the fainting couch over Trump setting DOGE loose on
USAID with plans to gut the entire organization.

I don't care. Elon Musk isn't fucking president of the United States; >>>Trump needs to reign this guy in.

He can't actually do anything. He can only make recommendations to Trump, who >>can accept or reject them. If any cuts are made, they'll be made legally by >>authorized government officials.

Elon Musk demamded all sorts of classified information from USAID to
perform an "audit". He was denied it because it's, uh, espionage. The
two senior officials who refused to share classified materials were put
on suspension, and in revenge, Musk told Trump to shut the whole thing
down. Why is Trump complying with Musk's orders?

Citations required.

Here's a small taste of what USAID has been doing with your tax money:

I'm sure every single government agency, including Library of Congress, >>>has absurd spending on pointless projects.

All of which need to be ruthlessly slashed.

Let Trump do the real work of audits for compliance and effectiveness,
naming the actual grants approved speciously, then getting rid of the >specific employees who approved these monies. Don't get rid of the
decent employees who may very well oppose this nonsense.

Trump has no intention of doing the right thing in the right way because >executing the law in a way that would truly reform governmemt is real
work that Trump will never do.

Laughter. We had four years of an autocracy and a figurehead for a
President under Biden. You're concerned NOW???

Have you looked at out debt lately?

This would be the mational debt that Trump added trillions to during his >previous admimistratiom? Trump doesn't give a shit.

And yet here he is doing just that and you're here whining about it.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 2/3/2025 10:19 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 3, 2025 at 9:57:31 PM PST, "suzeeq" <suzeeq@imbris.com> wrote:

On 2/3/2025 9:35 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

The press is running for the fainting couch over Trump setting DOGE loose on
USAID with plans to gut the entire organization.

I don't care. Elon Musk isn't fucking president of the United States;
Trump needs to reign this guy in.

Here's a small taste of what USAID has been doing with your tax money: >>>

I'm sure every single government agency, including Library of Congress, >>> has absurd spending on pointless projects. But true government reform
takes real work, not just these power trips locking all the employees
out. Or lobby Congress to sunset the agency. Anything is better than
these stupid games.

I had a thought tonight.. .If we don't fund these programs what if China
steps in to do so? Then what happens?

If China wants to fund a DEI musical in Ireland, let them.

If China wants to throw its money away paying for transgender operas in Colombia, who cares?

USAID does a lot more that DEI. This is the new boogey man y'all are so
afraid of, a coupla years ago it was critical race theory.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Tue, 4 Feb 2025 08:27:31 -0800, suzeeq <suzeeq@imbris.com> wrote:

On 2/3/2025 10:19 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 3, 2025 at 9:57:31 PM PST, "suzeeq" <suzeeq@imbris.com> wrote:

On 2/3/2025 9:35 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

The press is running for the fainting couch over Trump setting DOGE loose on
USAID with plans to gut the entire organization.

I don't care. Elon Musk isn't fucking president of the United States; >>>> Trump needs to reign this guy in.

Here's a small taste of what USAID has been doing with your tax money: >>>>

I'm sure every single government agency, including Library of Congress, >>>> has absurd spending on pointless projects. But true government reform >>>> takes real work, not just these power trips locking all the employees >>>> out. Or lobby Congress to sunset the agency. Anything is better than >>>> these stupid games.

I had a thought tonight.. .If we don't fund these programs what if China >>> steps in to do so? Then what happens?

If China wants to fund a DEI musical in Ireland, let them.

If China wants to throw its money away paying for transgender operas in
Colombia, who cares?

USAID does a lot more that DEI. This is the new boogey man y'all are so >afraid of, a coupla years ago it was critical race theory.

And even if they were wasting money on DEI, so what? It's not like
there aren't areas of the government that wastes even more money, like
defense. But we can't touch the areas where billions might be wasted.
Instead we have to go after the areas were only millions might be
wasted because those areas play better for the camera and our dear
leader.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Feb 4, 2025 at 8:27:31 AM PST, "suzeeq" <suzeeq@imbris.com> wrote:

On 2/3/2025 10:19 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 3, 2025 at 9:57:31 PM PST, "suzeeq" <suzeeq@imbris.com> wrote:

On 2/3/2025 9:35 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

The press is running for the fainting couch over Trump setting DOGE >>>>> loose on
USAID with plans to gut the entire organization.

I don't care. Elon Musk isn't fucking president of the United States; >>>> Trump needs to reign this guy in.

Here's a small taste of what USAID has been doing with your tax money: >>>>

I'm sure every single government agency, including Library of Congress, >>>> has absurd spending on pointless projects. But true government reform >>>> takes real work, not just these power trips locking all the employees >>>> out. Or lobby Congress to sunset the agency. Anything is better than >>>> these stupid games.

I had a thought tonight.. .If we don't fund these programs what if China >>> steps in to do so? Then what happens?

If China wants to fund a DEI musical in Ireland, let them.

If China wants to throw its money away paying for transgender operas in
Colombia, who cares?

USAID does a lot more that DEI. This is the new boogey man y'all are so afraid of, a coupla years ago it was critical race theory.

DEI is just CRT with a shiny new name.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 2/4/2025 9:43 AM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 4, 2025 at 8:27:31 AM PST, "suzeeq" <suzeeq@imbris.com> wrote:

On 2/3/2025 10:19 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 3, 2025 at 9:57:31 PM PST, "suzeeq" <suzeeq@imbris.com> wrote:

On 2/3/2025 9:35 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

The press is running for the fainting couch over Trump setting DOGE >>>>>> loose on
USAID with plans to gut the entire organization.

I don't care. Elon Musk isn't fucking president of the United States; >>>>> Trump needs to reign this guy in.

Here's a small taste of what USAID has been doing with your tax money:

I'm sure every single government agency, including Library of Congress,
has absurd spending on pointless projects. But true government reform >>>>> takes real work, not just these power trips locking all the employees >>>>> out. Or lobby Congress to sunset the agency. Anything is better than >>>>> these stupid games.

I had a thought tonight.. .If we don't fund these programs what if China >>>> steps in to do so? Then what happens?

If China wants to fund a DEI musical in Ireland, let them.

If China wants to throw its money away paying for transgender operas in >>> Colombia, who cares?

USAID does a lot more that DEI. This is the new boogey man y'all are so
afraid of, a coupla years ago it was critical race theory.

DEI is just CRT with a shiny new name.

So what do you care? USAID does a lot more, like feed hungry people,
provide medical care, build infrastructure and other humane help.

This is just to take eyes away from what Musk is doing with access to
Treasury information. When your pension is cut, then let me know how
much you care about DEI.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Feb 4, 2025 at 9:31:18 AM PST, "shawn" <nanoflower@notforg.m.a.i.l.com> wrote:

On Tue, 4 Feb 2025 08:27:31 -0800, suzeeq <suzeeq@imbris.com> wrote:

On 2/3/2025 10:19 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 3, 2025 at 9:57:31 PM PST, "suzeeq" <suzeeq@imbris.com> wrote:

On 2/3/2025 9:35 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

The press is running for the fainting couch over Trump setting DOGE >>>>>> loose on
USAID with plans to gut the entire organization.

I don't care. Elon Musk isn't fucking president of the United States; >>>>> Trump needs to reign this guy in.

Here's a small taste of what USAID has been doing with your tax money:

I'm sure every single government agency, including Library of Congress,
has absurd spending on pointless projects. But true government reform >>>>> takes real work, not just these power trips locking all the employees >>>>> out. Or lobby Congress to sunset the agency. Anything is better than >>>>> these stupid games.

I had a thought tonight.. .If we don't fund these programs what if China >>>> steps in to do so? Then what happens?

If China wants to fund a DEI musical in Ireland, let them.

If China wants to throw its money away paying for transgender operas in >>> Colombia, who cares?

USAID does a lot more that DEI. This is the new boogey man y'all are so
afraid of, a coupla years ago it was critical race theory.

And even if they were wasting money on DEI, so what?

So what? "They're wasting huge sums of money, but who cares?"

This is why we're tens of trillions in debt. Forty years of everyone saying
"So what?" to every lunatic expenditure.

It's not like there aren't areas of the government that wastes even more money

Gut them, too.

It's idiotic to say, "Well, those guys over there waste more money than we do so we should be allowed to keep wasting money!"

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 2/4/2025 9:59 AM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 4, 2025 at 9:31:18 AM PST, "shawn" <nanoflower@notforg.m.a.i.l.com> wrote:

On Tue, 4 Feb 2025 08:27:31 -0800, suzeeq <suzeeq@imbris.com> wrote:

On 2/3/2025 10:19 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 3, 2025 at 9:57:31 PM PST, "suzeeq" <suzeeq@imbris.com> wrote: >>>>

On 2/3/2025 9:35 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

The press is running for the fainting couch over Trump setting DOGE >>>>>>> loose on
USAID with plans to gut the entire organization.

I don't care. Elon Musk isn't fucking president of the United States;
Trump needs to reign this guy in.

Here's a small taste of what USAID has been doing with your tax money:

I'm sure every single government agency, including Library of Congress,
has absurd spending on pointless projects. But true government reform
takes real work, not just these power trips locking all the employees
out. Or lobby Congress to sunset the agency. Anything is better than >>>>>> these stupid games.

I had a thought tonight.. .If we don't fund these programs what if China
steps in to do so? Then what happens?

If China wants to fund a DEI musical in Ireland, let them.

If China wants to throw its money away paying for transgender operas in >>>> Colombia, who cares?

USAID does a lot more that DEI. This is the new boogey man y'all are so
afraid of, a coupla years ago it was critical race theory.

And even if they were wasting money on DEI, so what?

So what? "They're wasting huge sums of money, but who cares?"

This is why we're tens of trillions in debt. Forty years of everyone saying "So what?" to every lunatic expenditure.

Aid programs to other countries are less than 1% of the US budget. Those trillions of debt got there during Trump v1 administration. He doesn't care.

It's not like there aren't areas of the government that wastes even more
money

Gut them, too.

It's idiotic to say, "Well, those guys over there waste more money than we do so we should be allowed to keep wasting money!"

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 2/4/2025 12:20 AM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 3, 2025 at 7:43:51 PM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote:

On 2/3/2025 8:01 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

The press is running for the fainting couch over Trump setting DOGE loose on
USAID with plans to gut the entire organization.

Here's a small taste of what USAID has been doing with your tax money: >>>
--$1.5 million to advance DEI programs in Serbia's workplaces

--$70,000 to produce a DEI musical in Ireland

--$47,000 to produce a transgender opera in Colombia

--$32,000 to publish a transgender comic book in Peru

...and the list goes on.

They don't need to just put a stop to outrageous spending of tax dollars on
crap like this, they need to burn down the entire organization and start >>> from
scratch.

Why, as an American taxpayer, do I even care if Serbia's workplaces have >>> DEI,
let alone want to spend millions on it?!? If Serbia wants DEI, they can damn
well fund it themselves.

Same with Ireland. If it loves DEI so much it wants to praise it in the form
of musical theater, then Ireland can pay for it.

And Colombia... and Peru. Why in the fuck are we spending untold amounts of
our money on this crap in the first place, let alone for other countries? >>

Some backward nations don't recognize DEI as an unpardonable scourge...

Again, if they want it, they can fucking pay for it themselves. It's not my responsibility as an American taxpayer to fund DEI musicals in goddam Ireland,
for fucks sake.

DEI isn't inherently evil, but merely suffering from a transformation
into religion ...which inevitably few principles survive. Its positive
values, otoh, may be as worthy as any of being spread.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Tue, 4 Feb 2025 17:59:03 -0000 (UTC), BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com>
wrote:

On Feb 4, 2025 at 9:31:18 AM PST, "shawn" <nanoflower@notforg.m.a.i.l.com> >wrote:

On Tue, 4 Feb 2025 08:27:31 -0800, suzeeq <suzeeq@imbris.com> wrote:

On 2/3/2025 10:19 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 3, 2025 at 9:57:31 PM PST, "suzeeq" <suzeeq@imbris.com> wrote: >>>>

On 2/3/2025 9:35 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

The press is running for the fainting couch over Trump setting DOGE >>>>>>> loose on
USAID with plans to gut the entire organization.

I don't care. Elon Musk isn't fucking president of the United States; >>>>>> Trump needs to reign this guy in.

Here's a small taste of what USAID has been doing with your tax money:

I'm sure every single government agency, including Library of Congress,
has absurd spending on pointless projects. But true government reform >>>>>> takes real work, not just these power trips locking all the employees >>>>>> out. Or lobby Congress to sunset the agency. Anything is better than >>>>>> these stupid games.

I had a thought tonight.. .If we don't fund these programs what if China >>>>> steps in to do so? Then what happens?

If China wants to fund a DEI musical in Ireland, let them.

If China wants to throw its money away paying for transgender operas in >>>> Colombia, who cares?

USAID does a lot more that DEI. This is the new boogey man y'all are so
afraid of, a coupla years ago it was critical race theory.

And even if they were wasting money on DEI, so what?

So what? "They're wasting huge sums of money, but who cares?"

This is why we're tens of trillions in debt. Forty years of everyone saying >"So what?" to every lunatic expenditure.

It's not like there aren't areas of the government that wastes even more
money

Gut them, too.

It's idiotic to say, "Well, those guys over there waste more money than we do >so we should be allowed to keep wasting money!"

No, but my guess is they will not bother to go after the ones that
waste huge amounts of money. Instead they will go after the smaller
agencies where it's easier to try and bully the people involved. I
would love to see Musk and DOGE group try to force their way into the
Pentagon.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Feb 4, 2025 at 10:01:36 AM PST, "suzeeq" <suzeeq@imbris.com> wrote:

On 2/4/2025 9:59 AM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 4, 2025 at 9:31:18 AM PST, "shawn" <nanoflower@notforg.m.a.i.l.com> >> wrote:

On Tue, 4 Feb 2025 08:27:31 -0800, suzeeq <suzeeq@imbris.com> wrote:

On 2/3/2025 10:19 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 3, 2025 at 9:57:31 PM PST, "suzeeq" <suzeeq@imbris.com> wrote: >>>>>

On 2/3/2025 9:35 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

The press is running for the fainting couch over Trump setting DOGE
loose on
USAID with plans to gut the entire organization.

I don't care. Elon Musk isn't fucking president of the United States;
Trump needs to reign this guy in.

Here's a small taste of what USAID has been doing with your tax money:

I'm sure every single government agency, including Library of Congress,
has absurd spending on pointless projects. But true government reform
takes real work, not just these power trips locking all the employees
out. Or lobby Congress to sunset the agency. Anything is better than
these stupid games.

I had a thought tonight.. .If we don't fund these programs what if China
steps in to do so? Then what happens?

If China wants to fund a DEI musical in Ireland, let them.

If China wants to throw its money away paying for transgender operas in
Colombia, who cares?

USAID does a lot more that DEI. This is the new boogey man y'all are so >>>> afraid of, a coupla years ago it was critical race theory.

And even if they were wasting money on DEI, so what?

So what? "They're wasting huge sums of money, but who cares?"

This is why we're tens of trillions in debt. Forty years of everyone saying >> "So what?" to every lunatic expenditure.

Aid programs to other countries are less than 1% of the US budget.

A percent here and percent there and before long you're talking about real money.

Those trillions of debt got there during Trump v1 administration.

Not just Trump. Don't be disingenuous. We were $20 trillion in debt when Obama left office.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Feb 4, 2025 at 10:06:23 AM PST, "shawn" <nanoflower@notforg.m.a.i.l.com> wrote:

On Tue, 4 Feb 2025 17:59:03 -0000 (UTC), BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com>
wrote:

On Feb 4, 2025 at 9:31:18 AM PST, "shawn" <nanoflower@notforg.m.a.i.l.com> >> wrote:

On Tue, 4 Feb 2025 08:27:31 -0800, suzeeq <suzeeq@imbris.com> wrote:

On 2/3/2025 10:19 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 3, 2025 at 9:57:31 PM PST, "suzeeq" <suzeeq@imbris.com> wrote: >>>>>

On 2/3/2025 9:35 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

The press is running for the fainting couch over Trump setting DOGE
loose on
USAID with plans to gut the entire organization.

I don't care. Elon Musk isn't fucking president of the United States;
Trump needs to reign this guy in.

Here's a small taste of what USAID has been doing with your tax money:

I'm sure every single government agency, including Library of Congress,
has absurd spending on pointless projects. But true government reform
takes real work, not just these power trips locking all the employees
out. Or lobby Congress to sunset the agency. Anything is better than
these stupid games.

I had a thought tonight.. .If we don't fund these programs what if China
steps in to do so? Then what happens?

If China wants to fund a DEI musical in Ireland, let them.

If China wants to throw its money away paying for transgender operas in >>>>> Colombia, who cares?

USAID does a lot more that DEI. This is the new boogey man y'all are so >>>> afraid of, a coupla years ago it was critical race theory.

And even if they were wasting money on DEI, so what?

So what? "They're wasting huge sums of money, but who cares?"

This is why we're tens of trillions in debt. Forty years of everyone saying >> "So what?" to every lunatic expenditure.

It's not like there aren't areas of the government that wastes even more >>> money

Gut them, too.

It's idiotic to say, "Well, those guys over there waste more money than we do
so we should be allowed to keep wasting money!"

No, but my guess is they will not bother to go after the ones that
waste huge amounts of money. Instead they will go after the smaller
agencies where it's easier to try and bully the people involved. I
would love to see Musk and DOGE group try to force their way into the Pentagon.

So would I.

I'd love to see them force their way into every nook and cranny of that
federal behemoth in Washington, DC.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Feb 4, 2025 at 9:59:17 AM PST, "suzeeq" <suzeeq@imbris.com> wrote:

On 2/4/2025 9:43 AM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 4, 2025 at 8:27:31 AM PST, "suzeeq" <suzeeq@imbris.com> wrote:

On 2/3/2025 10:19 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 3, 2025 at 9:57:31 PM PST, "suzeeq" <suzeeq@imbris.com> wrote: >>>>

On 2/3/2025 9:35 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

The press is running for the fainting couch over Trump setting DOGE
loose on
USAID with plans to gut the entire organization.

I don't care. Elon Musk isn't fucking president of the United States;
Trump needs to reign this guy in.

Here's a small taste of what USAID has been doing with your tax money:

I'm sure every single government agency, including Library of Congress,
has absurd spending on pointless projects. But true government reform
takes real work, not just these power trips locking all the employees
out. Or lobby Congress to sunset the agency. Anything is better than
these stupid games.

I had a thought tonight.. .If we don't fund these programs what if China
steps in to do so? Then what happens?

If China wants to fund a DEI musical in Ireland, let them.

If China wants to throw its money away paying for transgender operas in >>>> Colombia, who cares?

USAID does a lot more that DEI. This is the new boogey man y'all are so >>> afraid of, a coupla years ago it was critical race theory.

DEI is just CRT with a shiny new name.

So what do you care?

Because it's neo-Marxist and racist and my tax money shouldn't even be going
to fund it *here* in America, let alone paying for it in other countries.

If other countries want it, let them frakking pay for it themselves. Why is this such a hard concept to comprehend?

USAID does a lot more, like feed hungry people,
provide medical care, build infrastructure and other humane help.

And it sounds like those are the programs Rubio will keep in place now that it's under the State Department.

This is just to take eyes away from what Musk is doing with access to Treasury information. When your pension is cut, then let me know how
much you care about DEI.

Pensions are legally binding contracts. If they try and cut those, they'll be shot down by the courts before the ink is dry on the order. And what would my pension have to do with DEI in the first place? If they cut my pension why would my feelings about DEI change?

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Feb 4, 2025 at 10:06:41 AM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote:

On 2/4/2025 12:20 AM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 3, 2025 at 7:43:51 PM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote:

On 2/3/2025 8:01 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

The press is running for the fainting couch over Trump setting DOGE >>>> loose on
USAID with plans to gut the entire organization.

Here's a small taste of what USAID has been doing with your tax money: >>>>
--$1.5 million to advance DEI programs in Serbia's workplaces

--$70,000 to produce a DEI musical in Ireland

--$47,000 to produce a transgender opera in Colombia

--$32,000 to publish a transgender comic book in Peru

...and the list goes on.

They don't need to just put a stop to outrageous spending of tax
dollars on
crap like this, they need to burn down the entire organization and start
from
scratch.

Why, as an American taxpayer, do I even care if Serbia's workplaces have
DEI,
let alone want to spend millions on it?!? If Serbia wants DEI, they can >>>> damn
well fund it themselves.

Same with Ireland. If it loves DEI so much it wants to praise it in the >>>> form
of musical theater, then Ireland can pay for it.

And Colombia... and Peru. Why in the fuck are we spending untold
amounts of
our money on this crap in the first place, let alone for other countries?

Some backward nations don't recognize DEI as an unpardonable scourge...

Again, if they want it, they can fucking pay for it themselves. It's not my >> responsibility as an American taxpayer to fund DEI musicals in goddam
Ireland,
for fucks sake.

DEI isn't inherently evil, but merely suffering from a transformation
into religion ...which inevitably few principles survive. Its positive values, otoh, may be as worthy as any of being spread.

Then Ireland can pay for it themselves. They're a first-world modern country. If they want DEI musicals, they can pay their own bills.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

Feb 4, 2025 at 9:31:18 AM PST, shawn <nanoflower@notforg.m.a.i.l.com> wrote: >>On Tue, 4 Feb 2025 08:27:31 -0800, suzeeq <suzeeq@imbris.com> wrote:

On 2/3/2025 10:19 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 3, 2025 at 9:57:31 PM PST, suzeeq <suzeeq@imbris.com> wrote: >>>>>2/3/2025 9:35 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

The press is running for the fainting couch over Trump setting DOGE >>>>>>>loose on
USAID with plans to gut the entire organization.

I don't care. Elon Musk isn't fucking president of the United States; >>>>>>Trump needs to reign this guy in.

Here's a small taste of what USAID has been doing with your tax money:

I'm sure every single government agency, including Library of Congress, >>>>>>has absurd spending on pointless projects. But true government reform >>>>>>takes real work, not just these power trips locking all the employees >>>>>>out. Or lobby Congress to sunset the agency. Anything is better than >>>>>>these stupid games.

I had a thought tonight.. .If we don't fund these programs what if China >>>>>steps in to do so? Then what happens?

If China wants to fund a DEI musical in Ireland, let them.

If China wants to throw its money away paying for transgender operas in >>>>Colombia, who cares?

USAID does a lot more that DEI. This is the new boogey man y'all are so >>>afraid of, a coupla years ago it was critical race theory.

And even if they were wasting money on DEI, so what?

So what? "They're wasting huge sums of money, but who cares?"

This is why we're tens of trillions in debt. Forty years of everyone saying >"So what?" to every lunatic expenditure.

This is NOT why the national debt is $36 trillion. Addressing waste,
fraud, and abuse, and spending that is STOOPID, could save billions. It
cannot possibly save trillions.

The administration's control over the national debt is highly limited as
long as there is no political solution enacted into law by Congress.

You're a constitutionalist. You know the president lacks the authority
to deal with the national debt without a political deal with Congress.

You of all people would understand that what Trump has done is
posturing. There is no plan. At the end of the administration,
government will not have been reformed. He doesn't seem to care about
lasting change.

. . .

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

A percent here and percent there and before long you're talking about real >money.

Hahahaha

You are quoting Everett McKinley Dirksen, senator from the state of
corruption. No true Chicagoist would do that.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 2/4/2025 1:27 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 4, 2025 at 10:06:41 AM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote:

On 2/4/2025 12:20 AM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 3, 2025 at 7:43:51 PM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote: >>>

On 2/3/2025 8:01 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

The press is running for the fainting couch over Trump setting DOGE >>>>> loose on
USAID with plans to gut the entire organization.

Here's a small taste of what USAID has been doing with your tax money:

--$1.5 million to advance DEI programs in Serbia's workplaces

--$70,000 to produce a DEI musical in Ireland

--$47,000 to produce a transgender opera in Colombia

--$32,000 to publish a transgender comic book in Peru

...and the list goes on.

They don't need to just put a stop to outrageous spending of tax >>>>> dollars on
crap like this, they need to burn down the entire organization and start
from
scratch.

Why, as an American taxpayer, do I even care if Serbia's workplaces have
DEI,
let alone want to spend millions on it?!? If Serbia wants DEI, they can
damn
well fund it themselves.

Same with Ireland. If it loves DEI so much it wants to praise it in the
form
of musical theater, then Ireland can pay for it.

And Colombia... and Peru. Why in the fuck are we spending untold >>>>> amounts of
our money on this crap in the first place, let alone for other countries?

Some backward nations don't recognize DEI as an unpardonable scourge... >>>

Again, if they want it, they can fucking pay for it themselves. It's not my
responsibility as an American taxpayer to fund DEI musicals in goddam
Ireland,
for fucks sake.

DEI isn't inherently evil, but merely suffering from a transformation
into religion ...which inevitably few principles survive. Its positive
values, otoh, may be as worthy as any of being spread.

Then Ireland can pay for it themselves. They're a first-world modern country. If they want DEI musicals, they can pay their own bills.

But we're in the business of exporting our virtues, at least nominally.
So, to me, you'd have to argue that these are just virtue-*signaling*.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Actually I just found out Musk wants to shut it down because they're investigating HIM.
https://bsky.app/profile/davidsirota.com/post/3lhep765i3s2d

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 2/4/2025 4:31 PM, suzeeq wrote:

Actually I just found out Musk wants to shut it down because they're investigating HIM. https://bsky.app/profile/davidsirota.com/ post/3lhep765i3s2d

In other news (or is it?), Trump is demanding the names of FBI agents
who investigated the Jan6 uprising. And he's being resisted...

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

President Trump is moving faster than any president of my lifetime to get things done.

It is astonishing. _Astonishing_.

I’ve never seen an administration move this quickly to do as many different things as the Trump administration is doing right now.

Whether you’re talking about walking back support for the UNRWA, ending
support nationwide for transitioning children, ending DEI initiatives all
over the country, reconstituting the Defense Department (by the way, recruitment immediately skyrocketed since the appointment of Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense), or getting wins at the Panama Canal (where the Panamanian government has now announced it is not going to participate in the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative anymore), this administration is pushing so hard, so fast on so many fronts, that it’s exceptionally difficult for any opposition to truly form around any one issue.

The best the Democrats have done so far is mobilize around the end of USAID. USAID is an agency that was originally brought into being by foreign aid initiatives of Congress and then put into power by an executive order by JFK all the way back during the middle of the Cold War. USAID essentially was designed as a way of spreading America’s foreign policy tentacles all over
the world. That was the explicit purpose. It wasn’t just to do nice things;
it was to do nice things and also to support institutions in various
countries that were going to be a bulwark against communism.

Since the end of the Cold War, USAID has been transformed into supporting
trans pride flags in Africa or boondoggle projects that are designed to pay millions or billions of dollars to Left-wing NGOs, both in the United States and outside the United States, and keep up an entire employment line for
people who are out of power.

While Republicans are in power, USAID is still paying many blue organizations to keep trains running on time and to make sure money continues to flow to various organizations abroad that are willing to spread social leftism.

The idea of USAID is not wrong. The idea that you want to find non- governmental organizations in countries that are teetering between China and the United States and support them to make that country more pro-America is
not a bad idea.

The problem is that the USAID infrastructure has been hijacked by the radical Left. What the Left has done with so many institutions — and USAID is only
one of them — is to take the original purpose of the institution, gut it, and then wear the face around like Hannibal Lecter.

That is exactly what the Left has done with the university systems in the United States. They did it with the mainstream press in the United States,
and they did it with USAID.

USAID has been participating in tremendous waste and fraud for a long time.
As Daniel Greenfield of the David Horowitz Freedom Center points out, USAID
has sent $9.3 billion to Islamic terrorist states collectively responsible
for killing over 3,000 American soldiers. There are an enormous number of terrible organizations supported by USAID.

A wing of the Republican Party wishes to use the fact that these institutions have been so thoroughly corrupted to go totally isolationist, which is a mistake. Two things can be true at the same time: USAID has become a totally corrupted institution, but that doesn’t mean that the best strategy for the United States is to retreat from the world entirely and simply grant that vacuum to the Chinese, the Russians, or the Iranians.

Elon Musk said that there basically is nothing left at USAID that’s worth saving. The budget of USAID is somewhere between $40 and $50 billion. It is
an extremely large governmental program. So when people say things like,
“It’s only 1% of the American budget,” that’s true. But that’s just because
our budget is far too large. That doesn’t mean we should be wasting tons of money on interests that are antithetical to American interests abroad.

The spread of social leftism in Zimbabwe should not be the goal of American foreign policy. Flying “Pride Progress” flags outside the Vatican should not
be a goal of American foreign policy, and neither should supporting Left-wing NGOs that are also supported by people like George Soros.

President Trump deployed Elon Musk and the Department of Governmental Efficiency to go into USAID’s headquarters, dig through the personnel files, and try to figure out where all the money is going. The acting heads of USAID tried to resist. So President Trump fired them.

Many people on the Left got very upset about all of this for a couple of reasons. First, they actually like the “Pride Progress” flag being flown in far-flung African nations with American taxpayer dollars. They want America
to fund abortion abroad. They support precisely the things the American taxpayers don’t want to do.

But there’s something else going on, too, which is that USAID, like so many other federal government programs, is an absolute gravy train for Democratic allies. It is a bunch of money that is being spent on various constituencies that Democrats cultivate and use as the incoming State Department officials
if Democrats win office. It is not a coincidence that so many Democrats, both elected and non-elected, worked at places like or funded by USAID. It’s a
giant grab bag of cash which has essentially become a handout mechanism for
the Left-wing.

The administration’s strategy seems to be to move fast and break things, to make all of these cuts, to bring a chainsaw to the party.

The way an executive branch agency works is that everyone serves at the pleasure of the president of the United States. If you don’t like that, there is a way this could have been avoided: not having created a massive administrative bureaucracy.

But since the beginning of the 20th century, the Democrats centralized extraordinary power in the executive branch. And now they’re furious that the person in charge of the executive branch is using that power to carve away
all of their permanent substructures.

What we are watching is a sea change in the way that government is done, not because Trump is “dictatorial” or “authoritarian,” but because he is using precisely the same power every Democrat has used so that he can carve away
the permanent root of the Democratic Party.

President Trump is seeking victories and attempting to minimize defeat.

The caterwauling from the Left is about the fact that the plaything of the permanent Democratic Party, the administrative bureaucracy they built and
have lavished with trillions of dollars over the course of decades, is now being redone by the Trump administration, and they are freaking out about it.

And when the Left freaks out about a thing, I tend to like the thing.

Very much.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Feb 4, 2025 at 4:31:26 AM PST, "NoBody" <NoBody@nowhere.com> wrote:

On Tue, 4 Feb 2025 05:35:52 -0000 (UTC), "Adam H. Kerman"
<ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

The press is running for the fainting couch over Trump setting DOGE loose on
USAID with plans to gut the entire organization.

I don't care. Elon Musk isn't fucking president of the United States;
Trump needs to reign this guy in.

He is acting on authority and approval of the President. What's to
"reign in" if he's done this?

Here's a small taste of what USAID has been doing with your tax money:

I'm sure every single government agency, including Library of Congress,
has absurd spending on pointless projects. But true government reform
takes real work, not just these power trips locking all the employees
out. Or lobby Congress to sunset the agency. Anything is better than
these stupid games.

. . .

What's your issue with the list of waste that you deleted?

Never fear! I've got more...

USAID spent taxpayer dollars on

--$43 million on a gas station in Afghanistan that had no customers

--$1.5 million to promote LGBT Jamaicans

--$4 million for trans Hungarians

--$5.5 million for gay rights in Uganda

--$17 million for "trans inclusion" programs in Vietnam

--$25 million to promote "green transportation" in Georgia

--$1 million for Arab and Jewish photographers

--$20 million for the fund George Soros uses to get prosecutors like L.A.'s George Gascon elected

--$8 million to teach Sri Lankan journalists how to avoid "binary-gendered language", and...

--$122 million ended up in the hands of terrorists

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Feb 4, 2025 at 8:27:31 AM PST, "suzeeq" <suzeeq@imbris.com> wrote:

On 2/3/2025 10:19 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 3, 2025 at 9:57:31 PM PST, "suzeeq" <suzeeq@imbris.com> wrote:

On 2/3/2025 9:35 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

The press is running for the fainting couch over Trump setting DOGE >>>>> loose on
USAID with plans to gut the entire organization.

I don't care. Elon Musk isn't fucking president of the United States; >>>> Trump needs to reign this guy in.

Here's a small taste of what USAID has been doing with your tax money: >>>>

I'm sure every single government agency, including Library of Congress, >>>> has absurd spending on pointless projects. But true government reform >>>> takes real work, not just these power trips locking all the employees >>>> out. Or lobby Congress to sunset the agency. Anything is better than >>>> these stupid games.

I had a thought tonight.. .If we don't fund these programs what if China >>> steps in to do so? Then what happens?

If China wants to fund a DEI musical in Ireland, let them.

If China wants to throw its money away paying for transgender operas in
Colombia, who cares?

USAID does a lot more that DEI.

To all the people defending the USAID spending, name any other country that taxes their citizens and sends the money to the United States.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 2/16/2025 2:35 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 4, 2025 at 8:27:31 AM PST, "suzeeq" <suzeeq@imbris.com> wrote:

On 2/3/2025 10:19 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 3, 2025 at 9:57:31 PM PST, "suzeeq" <suzeeq@imbris.com> wrote:

On 2/3/2025 9:35 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

The press is running for the fainting couch over Trump setting DOGE >>>>>> loose on
USAID with plans to gut the entire organization.

I don't care. Elon Musk isn't fucking president of the United States; >>>>> Trump needs to reign this guy in.

Here's a small taste of what USAID has been doing with your tax money:

I'm sure every single government agency, including Library of Congress,
has absurd spending on pointless projects. But true government reform >>>>> takes real work, not just these power trips locking all the employees >>>>> out. Or lobby Congress to sunset the agency. Anything is better than >>>>> these stupid games.

I had a thought tonight.. .If we don't fund these programs what if China >>>> steps in to do so? Then what happens?

If China wants to fund a DEI musical in Ireland, let them.

If China wants to throw its money away paying for transgender operas in >>> Colombia, who cares?

USAID does a lot more that DEI.

To all the people defending the USAID spending, name any other country that taxes their citizens and sends the money to the United States.

Umm, the idea is to send money to countries poorer than the sender...

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

Feb 4, 2025 at 8:27:31 AM PST, suzeeq <suzeeq@imbris.com> wrote:

2/3/2025 10:19 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

Feb 3, 2025 at 9:57:31 PM PST, suzeeq <suzeeq@imbris.com> wrote: >>>>2/3/2025 9:35 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

The press is running for the fainting couch over Trump setting DOGE >>>>>>loose on USAID with plans to gut the entire organization.

I don't care. Elon Musk isn't fucking president of the United States; >>>>>Trump needs to reign this guy in.

Here's a small taste of what USAID has been doing with your tax money:

I'm sure every single government agency, including Library of Congress, >>>>>has absurd spending on pointless projects. But true government reform >>>>>takes real work, not just these power trips locking all the employees >>>>>out. Or lobby Congress to sunset the agency. Anything is better than >>>>>these stupid games.

I had a thought tonight.. .If we don't fund these programs what if China >>>>steps in to do so? Then what happens?

If China wants to fund a DEI musical in Ireland, let them.

If China wants to throw its money away paying for transgender operas in >>>Colombia, who cares?

USAID does a lot more that DEI.

To all the people defending the USAID spending, name any other country that >taxes their citizens and sends the money to the United States.

Mexico!

I knew that punch line.

Say, didn't we fight two wars in Iraq to fight terrorism at its home im
the Middle East so it doesn't come here? Well, I'm in favor of fighting highly-communicable infectious disease in Africa so it doesn't spread.

It would have been possible to assess which USAID spending was in the
indirect or direct interest of the United States, eliminating the
bullshit. But that's actual work the Musk, er, Trump presidency was disinterested in performing.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Feb 16, 2025 at 12:14:19 PM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote:

On 2/16/2025 2:35 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 4, 2025 at 8:27:31 AM PST, "suzeeq" <suzeeq@imbris.com> wrote:

On 2/3/2025 10:19 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 3, 2025 at 9:57:31 PM PST, "suzeeq" <suzeeq@imbris.com> wrote: >>>>

On 2/3/2025 9:35 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

The press is running for the fainting couch over Trump setting DOGE
loose on
USAID with plans to gut the entire organization.

I don't care. Elon Musk isn't fucking president of the United States;
Trump needs to reign this guy in.

Here's a small taste of what USAID has been doing with your tax money:

I'm sure every single government agency, including Library of Congress,
has absurd spending on pointless projects. But true government reform
takes real work, not just these power trips locking all the employees
out. Or lobby Congress to sunset the agency. Anything is better than
these stupid games.

I had a thought tonight.. .If we don't fund these programs what if China
steps in to do so? Then what happens?

If China wants to fund a DEI musical in Ireland, let them.

If China wants to throw its money away paying for transgender operas in >>>> Colombia, who cares?

USAID does a lot more that DEI.

To all the people defending the USAID spending, name any other country that >> taxes their citizens and sends the money to the United States.

Umm, the idea is to send money to countries poorer than the sender...

Really? So Ireland is so poor it needs the U.S. taxpayer to fund its DEI musicals, does it?

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 2/16/2025 5:00 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 16, 2025 at 12:14:19 PM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote:

On 2/16/2025 2:35 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 4, 2025 at 8:27:31 AM PST, "suzeeq" <suzeeq@imbris.com> wrote:

On 2/3/2025 10:19 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 3, 2025 at 9:57:31 PM PST, "suzeeq" <suzeeq@imbris.com> wrote: >>>>>

On 2/3/2025 9:35 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

The press is running for the fainting couch over Trump setting DOGE
loose on
USAID with plans to gut the entire organization.

I don't care. Elon Musk isn't fucking president of the United States;
Trump needs to reign this guy in.

Here's a small taste of what USAID has been doing with your tax money:

I'm sure every single government agency, including Library of Congress,
has absurd spending on pointless projects. But true government reform
takes real work, not just these power trips locking all the employees
out. Or lobby Congress to sunset the agency. Anything is better than
these stupid games.

I had a thought tonight.. .If we don't fund these programs what if China
steps in to do so? Then what happens?

If China wants to fund a DEI musical in Ireland, let them.

If China wants to throw its money away paying for transgender operas in
Colombia, who cares?

USAID does a lot more that DEI.

To all the people defending the USAID spending, name any other country that
taxes their citizens and sends the money to the United States.

Umm, the idea is to send money to countries poorer than the sender...

Really? So Ireland is so poor it needs the U.S. taxpayer to fund its DEI musicals, does it?

Your contention seems to be that other countries should send the U.S.
money ...because reciprocity. My description of the practice clarifies
why the U.S., as the richest country, is never a recipient. Meanwhile,
I haven't your insight into Irish DEI musical theater.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Feb 16, 2025 at 2:37:29 PM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote:

On 2/16/2025 5:00 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 16, 2025 at 12:14:19 PM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote: >>

On 2/16/2025 2:35 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 4, 2025 at 8:27:31 AM PST, "suzeeq" <suzeeq@imbris.com> wrote: >>>>

On 2/3/2025 10:19 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 3, 2025 at 9:57:31 PM PST, "suzeeq" <suzeeq@imbris.com> wrote:

On 2/3/2025 9:35 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

The press is running for the fainting couch over Trump setting DOGE
loose on
USAID with plans to gut the entire organization.

I don't care. Elon Musk isn't fucking president of the United States;
Trump needs to reign this guy in.

Here's a small taste of what USAID has been doing with your tax money:

I'm sure every single government agency, including Library of >>>>>>>> Congress,
has absurd spending on pointless projects. But true government reform
takes real work, not just these power trips locking all the employees
out. Or lobby Congress to sunset the agency. Anything is better than
these stupid games.

I had a thought tonight.. .If we don't fund these programs what if China
steps in to do so? Then what happens?

If China wants to fund a DEI musical in Ireland, let them.

If China wants to throw its money away paying for transgender operas in
Colombia, who cares?

USAID does a lot more that DEI.

To all the people defending the USAID spending, name any other country >>>> that
taxes their citizens and sends the money to the United States.

Umm, the idea is to send money to countries poorer than the sender...

Really? So Ireland is so poor it needs the U.S. taxpayer to fund its DEI
musicals, does it?

Your contention seems to be that other countries should send the U.S.
money ...because reciprocity. My description of the practice clarifies
why the U.S., as the richest country, is never a recipient.

The U.S isn't the richest country. Both China and Luxembourg are richer than the U.S. as a percentage of per capita GDP.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

On Feb 16, 2025 at 2:37:29 PM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote:

On 2/16/2025 5:00 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 16, 2025 at 12:14:19 PM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote: >>>

On 2/16/2025 2:35 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 4, 2025 at 8:27:31 AM PST, "suzeeq" <suzeeq@imbris.com> wrote: >>>>>

On 2/3/2025 10:19 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 3, 2025 at 9:57:31 PM PST, "suzeeq"

<suzeeq@imbris.com> wrote:

On 2/3/2025 9:35 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

The press is running for the fainting couch over Trump >setting DOGE
loose on
USAID with plans to gut the entire organization.

I don't care. Elon Musk isn't fucking president of the

United States;

Trump needs to reign this guy in.

Here's a small taste of what USAID has been doing with

your tax money:

I'm sure every single government agency, including Library of >>>>>>>>> Congress,
has absurd spending on pointless projects. But true >government reform
takes real work, not just these power trips locking all

the employees

out. Or lobby Congress to sunset the agency. Anything is >better than
these stupid games.

I had a thought tonight.. .If we don't fund these programs

what if China

steps in to do so? Then what happens?

If China wants to fund a DEI musical in Ireland, let them.

If China wants to throw its money away paying for

transgender operas in

Colombia, who cares?

USAID does a lot more that DEI.

To all the people defending the USAID spending, name any other country >>>>> that
taxes their citizens and sends the money to the United States.

Umm, the idea is to send money to countries poorer than the sender...

Really? So Ireland is so poor it needs the U.S. taxpayer to fund its DEI >>> musicals, does it?

Your contention seems to be that other countries should send the U.S.
money ...because reciprocity. My description of the practice clarifies
why the U.S., as the richest country, is never a recipient.

The U.S isn't the richest country. Both China and Luxembourg are richer than >the U.S. as a percentage of per capita GDP.

The world's poor gangsters had to switch to corrupt bankers in
Luxembourg when Switzerland bankers grew a conscience. The skiing isn't
as good.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 2/16/2025 6:58 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 16, 2025 at 2:37:29 PM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote:

On 2/16/2025 5:00 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 16, 2025 at 12:14:19 PM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote:

On 2/16/2025 2:35 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 4, 2025 at 8:27:31 AM PST, "suzeeq" <suzeeq@imbris.com> wrote: >>>>>

On 2/3/2025 10:19 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 3, 2025 at 9:57:31 PM PST, "suzeeq" <suzeeq@imbris.com> wrote:

On 2/3/2025 9:35 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

The press is running for the fainting couch over Trump setting DOGE
loose on
USAID with plans to gut the entire organization.

I don't care. Elon Musk isn't fucking president of the United States;
Trump needs to reign this guy in.

Here's a small taste of what USAID has been doing with your tax money:

I'm sure every single government agency, including Library of >>>>>>>>> Congress,
has absurd spending on pointless projects. But true government reform
takes real work, not just these power trips locking all the employees
out. Or lobby Congress to sunset the agency. Anything is better than
these stupid games.

I had a thought tonight.. .If we don't fund these programs what if China
steps in to do so? Then what happens?

If China wants to fund a DEI musical in Ireland, let them. >>>>>>>
If China wants to throw its money away paying for transgender operas in
Colombia, who cares?

USAID does a lot more that DEI.

To all the people defending the USAID spending, name any other country
that
taxes their citizens and sends the money to the United States.

Umm, the idea is to send money to countries poorer than the sender... >>>

Really? So Ireland is so poor it needs the U.S. taxpayer to fund its DEI >>> musicals, does it?

Your contention seems to be that other countries should send the U.S.
money ...because reciprocity. My description of the practice clarifies
why the U.S., as the richest country, is never a recipient.

The U.S isn't the richest country. Both China and Luxembourg are richer than the U.S. as a percentage of per capita GDP.

"With contributions totaling more than €64.4 million to date, Luxembourg
is one of the Global Fund's largest donors per capita."

https://www.theglobalfund.org/en/government/profiles/luxembourg/

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Feb 16, 2025 at 7:56:01 PM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote:

On 2/16/2025 6:58 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 16, 2025 at 2:37:29 PM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote: >>

On 2/16/2025 5:00 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 16, 2025 at 12:14:19 PM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote:

On 2/16/2025 2:35 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

To all the people defending the USAID spending, name any other country >>>>>> that taxes their citizens and sends the money to the United States. >>>>>

Umm, the idea is to send money to countries poorer than the sender... >>>>

Really? So Ireland is so poor it needs the U.S. taxpayer to fund its DEI
musicals, does it?

Your contention seems to be that other countries should send the U.S.
money ...because reciprocity. My description of the practice clarifies >>> why the U.S., as the richest country, is never a recipient.

The U.S isn't the richest country. Both China and Luxembourg are richer than
the U.S. as a percentage of per capita GDP.

"With contributions totaling more than €64.4 million to date, Luxembourg
is one of the Global Fund's largest donors per capita."

https://www.theglobalfund.org/en/government/profiles/luxembourg/

How does that meet the challenge I presented?

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 2/17/2025 12:19 AM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 16, 2025 at 7:56:01 PM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote:

On 2/16/2025 6:58 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 16, 2025 at 2:37:29 PM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote: >>>

On 2/16/2025 5:00 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 16, 2025 at 12:14:19 PM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote:

On 2/16/2025 2:35 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

To all the people defending the USAID spending, name any other country
that taxes their citizens and sends the money to the United States. >>>>>>

Umm, the idea is to send money to countries poorer than the sender...

Really? So Ireland is so poor it needs the U.S. taxpayer to fund its DEI
musicals, does it?

Your contention seems to be that other countries should send the U.S. >>>> money ...because reciprocity. My description of the practice clarifies >>>> why the U.S., as the richest country, is never a recipient.

The U.S isn't the richest country. Both China and Luxembourg are richer than
the U.S. as a percentage of per capita GDP.

"With contributions totaling more than €64.4 million to date, Luxembourg >> is one of the Global Fund's largest donors per capita."

https://www.theglobalfund.org/en/government/profiles/luxembourg/

How does that meet the challenge I presented?

Cutting to the chase: you said Luxembourg should send the U.S. Money.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Feb 17, 2025 at 12:18:37 PM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote:

On 2/17/2025 12:19 AM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 16, 2025 at 7:56:01 PM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote: >>

On 2/16/2025 6:58 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 16, 2025 at 2:37:29 PM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote:

On 2/16/2025 5:00 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 16, 2025 at 12:14:19 PM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> >>>>>> wrote:

On 2/16/2025 2:35 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

To all the people defending the USAID spending, name any other country
that taxes their citizens and sends the money to the United States. >>>>>>>

Umm, the idea is to send money to countries poorer than the sender...

Really? So Ireland is so poor it needs the U.S. taxpayer to fund its DEI
musicals, does it?

Your contention seems to be that other countries should send the U.S. >>>>> money ...because reciprocity. My description of the practice clarifies
why the U.S., as the richest country, is never a recipient.

The U.S isn't the richest country. Both China and Luxembourg are richer >>>> than
the U.S. as a percentage of per capita GDP.

"With contributions totaling more than €64.4 million to date, Luxembourg >>> is one of the Global Fund's largest donors per capita."

https://www.theglobalfund.org/en/government/profiles/luxembourg/

How does that meet the challenge I presented?

Cutting to the chase: you said Luxembourg should send the U.S. Money.

No, I asked anyone to name a country that taxes its citizens and sends the money to the United States.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 2/17/2025 3:36 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 17, 2025 at 12:18:37 PM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote:

On 2/17/2025 12:19 AM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 16, 2025 at 7:56:01 PM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote: >>>

On 2/16/2025 6:58 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 16, 2025 at 2:37:29 PM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote:

On 2/16/2025 5:00 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 16, 2025 at 12:14:19 PM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com>
wrote:

On 2/16/2025 2:35 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

To all the people defending the USAID spending, name any other country
that taxes their citizens and sends the money to the United States.

Umm, the idea is to send money to countries poorer than the sender...

Really? So Ireland is so poor it needs the U.S. taxpayer to fund its DEI
musicals, does it?

Your contention seems to be that other countries should send the U.S.
money ...because reciprocity. My description of the practice clarifies
why the U.S., as the richest country, is never a recipient.

The U.S isn't the richest country. Both China and Luxembourg are richer
than
the U.S. as a percentage of per capita GDP.

"With contributions totaling more than €64.4 million to date, Luxembourg
is one of the Global Fund's largest donors per capita."

https://www.theglobalfund.org/en/government/profiles/luxembourg/

How does that meet the challenge I presented?

Cutting to the chase: you said Luxembourg should send the U.S. Money.

No, I asked anyone to name a country that taxes its citizens and sends the money to the United States.

I thought we'd dispensed with the absurdity of an eminently wealthy
nation receiving foreign aid. But maybe only I did.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Feb 17, 2025 at 2:02:22 PM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote:

On 2/17/2025 3:36 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 17, 2025 at 12:18:37 PM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote: >>

On 2/17/2025 12:19 AM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 16, 2025 at 7:56:01 PM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote:

On 2/16/2025 6:58 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 16, 2025 at 2:37:29 PM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> >>>>>> wrote:

On 2/16/2025 5:00 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 16, 2025 at 12:14:19 PM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com>
wrote:

On 2/16/2025 2:35 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

To all the people defending the USAID spending, name any other country
that taxes their citizens and sends the money to the United States.

Umm, the idea is to send money to countries poorer than the sender...

Really? So Ireland is so poor it needs the U.S. taxpayer to >>>>>>>> fund its DEI
musicals, does it?

Your contention seems to be that other countries should send the U.S.
money ...because reciprocity. My description of the practice clarifies
why the U.S., as the richest country, is never a recipient.

The U.S isn't the richest country. Both China and Luxembourg are richer
than
the U.S. as a percentage of per capita GDP.

"With contributions totaling more than €64.4 million to date, Luxembourg
is one of the Global Fund's largest donors per capita."

https://www.theglobalfund.org/en/government/profiles/luxembourg/

How does that meet the challenge I presented?

Cutting to the chase: you said Luxembourg should send the U.S. Money.

No, I asked anyone to name a country that taxes its citizens and sends the >> money to the United States.

I thought we'd dispensed with the absurdity of an eminently wealthy
nation receiving foreign aid. But maybe only I did.

Ireland is wealthy but it somehow expects us to dump our citizens' money on them.

Meanwhile, the latest USAID scandalous spending to come to light is millions
to Guatemala to pay for sex change operations for Guatemalans. Why are the
U.S. taxpayers paying for sex change operations for *anyone*, let alone some other country's people? If Guatemala thinks it needs more troons, it can pay for them itself.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

On Feb 17, 2025 at 2:02:22 PM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote:

On 2/17/2025 3:36 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 17, 2025 at 12:18:37 PM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote: >>>

On 2/17/2025 12:19 AM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 16, 2025 at 7:56:01 PM PST, "moviePig"

<nobody@nowhere.com> wrote:

On 2/16/2025 6:58 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 16, 2025 at 2:37:29 PM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> >>>>>>> wrote:

On 2/16/2025 5:00 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 16, 2025 at 12:14:19 PM PST, "moviePig" ><nobody@nowhere.com>
wrote:

On 2/16/2025 2:35 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

To all the people defending the USAID spending, name any >other country
that taxes their citizens and sends the money to the

United States.

Umm, the idea is to send money to countries poorer than

the sender...

Really? So Ireland is so poor it needs the U.S. taxpayer to >>>>>>>>> fund its DEI
musicals, does it?

Your contention seems to be that other countries should

send the U.S.

money ...because reciprocity. My description of the

practice clarifies

why the U.S., as the richest country, is never a recipient. >>>>>>>

The U.S isn't the richest country. Both China and Luxembourg

are richer

than
the U.S. as a percentage of per capita GDP.

"With contributions totaling more than €64.4 million to date, >Luxembourg
is one of the Global Fund's largest donors per capita."

https://www.theglobalfund.org/en/government/profiles/luxembourg/ >>>>>

How does that meet the challenge I presented?

Cutting to the chase: you said Luxembourg should send the U.S. Money.

No, I asked anyone to name a country that taxes its citizens and sends the >>> money to the United States.

I thought we'd dispensed with the absurdity of an eminently wealthy
nation receiving foreign aid. But maybe only I did.

Ireland is wealthy but it somehow expects us to dump our citizens' money on >them.

No, that's a real-life thing. Ireland has super-low corporate income
taxes that gets them in trouble with the rest of the EU, essentially encouraging multi-national corportions to pretend their foreign earnings
were truly earned in Ireland and not subject to domestic income taxes
where the income was earned.

Hence, multi-nationals formerly based in the United States moved to
Ireland.

If we didn't have an income tax, this wouldn't have happened. Whatever
nonsense foreign aid spending from the United States pales in
comparison.

It's like the joke pre-Trump alleged "fiscal conservatives" in Congress
had about gutting Amtrak's budget to address budget deficits, ignoring
that Amtrak is the single smallest federal program or in the bottom 5.

Meanwhile, the latest USAID scandalous spending to come to light is millions >to Guatemala to pay for sex change operations for Guatemalans. Why are the >U.S. taxpayers paying for sex change operations for *anyone*, let alone some >other country's people? If Guatemala thinks it needs more troons, it can pay >for them itself.

In today's mail, while being informed of close to a 20% increase in the
cost of her Medicare supplement by her insurance company that was
pleased to serve her, my mother was infrrmed of a variety of conditions
that would change her rates like a change of address, or, wait for it...
a change of gender.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 2/18/2025 1:56 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 17, 2025 at 2:02:22 PM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote:

On 2/17/2025 3:36 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 17, 2025 at 12:18:37 PM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote:

On 2/17/2025 12:19 AM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 16, 2025 at 7:56:01 PM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote:

On 2/16/2025 6:58 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 16, 2025 at 2:37:29 PM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com>
wrote:

On 2/16/2025 5:00 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 16, 2025 at 12:14:19 PM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com>
wrote:

On 2/16/2025 2:35 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

To all the people defending the USAID spending, name any other country
that taxes their citizens and sends the money to the United States.

Umm, the idea is to send money to countries poorer than the sender...

Really? So Ireland is so poor it needs the U.S. taxpayer to >>>>>>>>> fund its DEI
musicals, does it?

Your contention seems to be that other countries should send the U.S.
money ...because reciprocity. My description of the practice clarifies
why the U.S., as the richest country, is never a recipient. >>>>>>>

The U.S isn't the richest country. Both China and Luxembourg are richer
than
the U.S. as a percentage of per capita GDP.

"With contributions totaling more than €64.4 million to date, Luxembourg
is one of the Global Fund's largest donors per capita."

https://www.theglobalfund.org/en/government/profiles/luxembourg/ >>>>>

How does that meet the challenge I presented?

Cutting to the chase: you said Luxembourg should send the U.S. Money. >>>

No, I asked anyone to name a country that taxes its citizens and sends the
money to the United States.

I thought we'd dispensed with the absurdity of an eminently wealthy
nation receiving foreign aid. But maybe only I did.

Ireland is wealthy but it somehow expects us to dump our citizens' money on them.

Meanwhile, the latest USAID scandalous spending to come to light is millions to Guatemala to pay for sex change operations for Guatemalans. Why are the U.S. taxpayers paying for sex change operations for *anyone*, let alone some other country's people? If Guatemala thinks it needs more troons, it can pay for them itself.

As I mentioned before, one could suppose that the Irish musical was
produced at *our* request, not theirs ...to proselytize DEI/LBGTQ.

Meanwhile, re the Guatemalans, you're probably viewing those operations
as frivolous luxuries ...contrary to some serious medical opinion.

Whatever your stand on those issues, none equates to woodchuck trivia.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

In article <vnrosl$1hkm6$1@dont-email.me>, atropos@mac.com wrote:

The press is running for the fainting couch over Trump setting DOGE loose on >USAID with plans to gut the entire organization.

Here's a small taste of what USAID has been doing with your tax money:

--$1.5 million to advance DEI programs in Serbia's workplaces

--$70,000 to produce a DEI musical in Ireland

--$47,000 to produce a transgender opera in Colombia

--$32,000 to publish a transgender comic book in Peru

...and the list goes on.

They don't need to just put a stop to outrageous spending of tax dollars on >crap like this, they need to burn down the entire organization and start from >scratch.

Why, as an American taxpayer, do I even care if Serbia's workplaces have DEI, >let alone want to spend millions on it?!? If Serbia wants DEI, they can damn >well fund it themselves.

Same with Ireland. If it loves DEI so much it wants to praise it in the form >of musical theater, then Ireland can pay for it.

And Colombia... and Peru. Why in the fuck are we spending untold amounts of >our money on this crap in the first place, let alone for other countries?

Over the past several decades, billions of hard-earned American taxpayer dollars have
been funneled into left-wing initiatives around the globe through the United States
Agency for International Development.

Established in 1961, the agency was intended to administer foreign aid and assistance to
developing nations, but it has since apparently become an unscrutinized black hole of
waste, fraud, and abuse.

With a mandate from American voters nationwide, President Donald Trump and his administration have set their sights on rooting out the federal government's wasteful
spending.

DEI
• $45 million to diversity, equity, and inclusion scholarships in Burma. The DOGE
reported that seven "DEI-related" USAID contracts valued at $375 million were canceled.

• $1.5 million "to advance diversity, equity and inclusion in Serbia's workplaces and
business communities, by promoting economic empowerment of and opportunity for LGBTQI+
people." The program aimed to "expand opportunities" and "reduce[] workplace discrimination."

• $1.5 million to "art for inclusion of people with disabilities."

• $19 million for two separate "inclusion" programs in Vietnam.

• $1.3 million to "provide Arab and Jewish [Israeli] residents … with a collaborative
platform, photography skills." The program offered participants "mixed identity photography workshops."

LGBT

• $2 million for "activity to strengthen trans-led organizations to deliver gender-
affirming health care" in Guatemala.

• $37.7 million to study HIV among "sex workers (SWS), their clients, and transgender
(TG) people" in South Africa.

• $7.9 million to teach Sri Lankan journalists about "gender-sensitive reporting."

• $1.1 million to "empower the LGBTI community" and "protect them from violence and
discrimination" in Armenia.

• $1.5 million to "upscale LGBT rights advocacy" in Jamaica.

Climate hysteria

• $520 million for consultant-driven environmental, social, and governance investments
in Africa, according to the DOGE.

• $2.5 million to build electric vehicle charging stations and other related infrastructure in Vietnam. Through the USAID Vietnam Urban Energy Security project, the
agency has "provide[d] funding and technical assistance for innovative solutions that
address urban energy and environment issues."

• $1 million to assist disabled people in Tajikistan to become "climate leaders."

• $24 million for a "green transportation and logistics program" in Georgia.

Cultural & educational propaganda

• $20 million on "Ahlan Simsim," a new "Sesame Street" show in Iraq. According to a
now-archived version of USAID's website, the children's series was "designed to promote
inclusion, mutual respect, and understanding across ethnic, religious, and sectarian
groups."

• $6 million for tourism in Egypt, according to the White House. Corporate media outlets
were quick to "fact-check" a press release linked by the Trump administration, arguing
that it did not mention that the funds would be used for tourism purposes. However,
USAID has invested $100 million in taxpayer dollars that have either directly or
indirectly boosted Egypt's tourism, including an $8.6 million campaign in 2022.

• $1.2 million to construct a "state-of-the-art 440 seat auditorium" for the African
Methodist Episcopal Church Service and Development Agency in Washington, D.C.

• $31.5 million on "counseling, organizational resilience, wellness, and work-life
support" for USAID employees, Fox News reported.

• $29 million to "improve the skills of young and female Egyptians in the manufacturing
and service sectors," Fox News reported.

• $4.5 million to "advance integrity and accountability in the information space, and
build societal resilience in the face of disinformation" in Kazakhstan.

• $6 million to "transform digital spaces to reflect feminist democratic principles."

Foreign policy & security risks

• $160 million to update payment systems in Afghanistan.

• $1 million to a Hamas-linked charity in Gaza.

• $15 million for condoms and oral contraceptives in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.

• $4.67 million to EcoHealth Alliance, a research organization that funded the Wuhan lab
linked to the COVID-19 virus.

• $330 million to fund alternative development projects that failed to "deter farmers
and [drug] traffickers from cultivating" poppy plants, thereby "inadvertently" fueling
heroin production and trafficking in Afghanistan.

The federal government gave "hundreds of thousands of meals that went to al Qaeda-
affiliated fighters in Syria," according to a November report from the Washington Times.

Based on reporting from the Washington Examiner, the White House stated that the
government provided "hundreds of thousands of dollars for a nonprofit linked to designated terrorist organizations — even _after_ an inspector general launched an
investigation." It also allegedly funded "print[ing] 'personalized' contraceptive birth
control devices in developing countries."

Further, USAID awarded $1.2 billion to undisclosed recipients, according to DOGE.

To provide context for USAID's spending, in fiscal year 2023, the agency managed a
roughly $43.8 billion budget.

Outside USAID, the federal government also made questionable funding decisions through
the State Department, providing $70,000 for a DEI musical in Ireland, $35,000 for a
transgender comic book in Peru, $47,000 for a transgender opera in Colombia, and $22,231
on a "USAID Social Media Influencers Campaign."

While the USAID-funded initiatives listed above are alarming, they represent only a
small fraction of the agency's total spending. We will continue to update this tracker
as more shocking revelations emerge.

--
Let's go Brandon!

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Feb 18, 2025 at 11:52:46 AM PST, ""Adam H. Kerman"" <ahk@chinet.com>
wrote:

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

On Feb 17, 2025 at 2:02:22 PM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote:

I thought we'd dispensed with the absurdity of an eminently wealthy
nation receiving foreign aid. But maybe only I did.

Ireland is wealthy but it somehow expects us to dump our citizens' money on >> them.

No, that's a real-life thing. Ireland has super-low corporate income
taxes that gets them in trouble with the rest of the EU, essentially encouraging multi-national corportions to pretend their foreign earnings
were truly earned in Ireland and not subject to domestic income taxes
where the income was earned.

Hence, multi-nationals formerly based in the United States moved to
Ireland.

If we didn't have an income tax, this wouldn't have happened. Whatever nonsense foreign aid spending from the United States pales in
comparison.

It's like the joke pre-Trump alleged "fiscal conservatives" in Congress
had about gutting Amtrak's budget to address budget deficits, ignoring
that Amtrak is the single smallest federal program or in the bottom 5.

https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/1891943377530241024/vid/avc1/720x1280/4tL3_JrVw9eyowwc.mp4?tag=16

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Feb 18, 2025 at 2:28:41 PM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote:

On 2/18/2025 1:56 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 17, 2025 at 2:02:22 PM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote: >>>

I thought we'd dispensed with the absurdity of an eminently wealthy
nation receiving foreign aid. But maybe only I did.

Ireland is wealthy but it somehow expects us to dump our citizens' money on >> them.

Meanwhile, the latest USAID scandalous spending to come to light is millions
to Guatemala to pay for sex change operations for Guatemalans. Why are the >> U.S. taxpayers paying for sex change operations for *anyone*, let alone some
other country's people? If Guatemala thinks it needs more troons, it can pay
for them itself.

As I mentioned before, one could suppose that the Irish musical was
produced at *our* request, not theirs ...to proselytize DEI/LBGTQ.

Meanwhile, re the Guatemalans, you're probably viewing those operations
as frivolous luxuries ...contrary to some serious medical opinion.

Whatever your stand on those issues, none equates to woodchuck trivia.

Democrats are acting like a cheating boyfriends right now.

What this DOGE audit is reminding me of is a girl taking her boyfriend's phone and locking herself in the bathroom while she goes through his texts and DMs and discovers he's been hitting up dozens of other girls. And the Democrats
are banging on the bathroom door screaming, "You're invading my privacy! You can't go through my phone!" And Elon Musk is like, "Yes, I can. I can see what you've been up to." Every time Elon comes out of the bathroom and holds up the phone and says, "Look, see what you did," they scream "You invaded my privacy, this is *your* fault. You broke *my* trust!"

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/1891943377530241024/vid/avc1/720x1280/4tL3_JrVw9eyowwc.mp4?tag=16

Extortion through taxation is democracy; hehehehe

Uh, why did somebody copy her video, reverse the image, then re-upload
it violating copyright? I was trying to read what her cap said.

"My pronouns are they, them, and Elon."

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 2/20/2025 12:18 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 18, 2025 at 2:28:41 PM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote:

On 2/18/2025 1:56 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Feb 17, 2025 at 2:02:22 PM PST, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote: >>>>

I thought we'd dispensed with the absurdity of an eminently wealthy
nation receiving foreign aid. But maybe only I did.

Ireland is wealthy but it somehow expects us to dump our citizens' money on
them.

Meanwhile, the latest USAID scandalous spending to come to light is millions
to Guatemala to pay for sex change operations for Guatemalans. Why are the
U.S. taxpayers paying for sex change operations for *anyone*, let alone some
other country's people? If Guatemala thinks it needs more troons, it can pay
for them itself.

As I mentioned before, one could suppose that the Irish musical was
produced at *our* request, not theirs ...to proselytize DEI/LBGTQ.

Meanwhile, re the Guatemalans, you're probably viewing those operations
as frivolous luxuries ...contrary to some serious medical opinion.

Whatever your stand on those issues, none equates to woodchuck trivia.

Democrats are acting like a cheating boyfriends right now.

What this DOGE audit is reminding me of is a girl taking her boyfriend's phone
and locking herself in the bathroom while she goes through his texts and DMs and discovers he's been hitting up dozens of other girls. And the Democrats are banging on the bathroom door screaming, "You're invading my privacy! You can't go through my phone!" And Elon Musk is like, "Yes, I can. I can see what
you've been up to." Every time Elon comes out of the bathroom and holds up the
phone and says, "Look, see what you did," they scream "You invaded my privacy,
this is *your* fault. You broke *my* trust!"

You DO understand that both issues can be alive and well. You could
impute the same pseudo-cognitive dissonance to the 5th Amendment...

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Thu, 27 Feb 2025 03:20:08 -0000 (UTC), "Adam H. Kerman"
<ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

On Feb 26, 2025 at 12:35:08 PM PST, "Ubiquitous" <weberm@polaris.net> wrote:

The now-shuttered U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) paid >>>Ukrainian models and designers to go to Paris Fashion Week and other >>>frivolous
luxuries, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) said Wednesday.

I'm sure moviePig will arrive shortly with his reasons why this is a perfectly
acceptable use of tax money.

"I wanted to have sex with a hot Ukrainian pr0n star."

Now would that be a quote from MoviePig or Trump? (Probably the one
and only time he's been confused with the Donald...)

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)