Government Funding of Religious/501(c)(3) Charities / Social Services

[SeekingUnderstanding]

8 minutes ago, Calm said:

If a university receives any aid from a government agency, do you see any project done by the university as being paid for by the agency even if overall university expenses far exceed the aid?

Asked another way, is interest from tithing still tithing?

[Doctor Steuss]

8 minutes ago, SeekingUnderstanding said:

Asked another way, is interest from tithing still tithing?

Paying over $300,000 per flight for the theatrics of using a C-17, and treating Colombian deportees so abhorrently that their country of origin risks a trade war:  Meh.

Paying $47,000 to a Colombian university that they use for the production of an opera.  Aiiieeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

[Zosimus]

6 hours ago, smac97 said:

What "critical life-saving government-funded projects that were de-funded last week" are you referencing here?

There are a number of them, and I've already linked to a couple articles.

But I'll speak to only the ones that I know from my time working with them. There are eight refugee camps along the Thai-Burma border housing refugees from the conflict with the Myanmar military. Two weeks back, USAID funding was frozen for all projects that work there providing food distribution and medical facilities. 

US aid freeze leads to suspension of health care to Myanmar refugees in Thailand

The USAID  provides almost 70% of the funding to maintain these camps, and that all vanished overnight. OVERNIGHT. Imagine 100,000 people including women and children suddenly abandoned in camps that have no electricity (its not allowed) or waste disposal (the garbage collectors also lost funding). The refugees can't go over into Thailand or they'll be arrested and deported back to a war zone, and they can't go back home because they'll be, well, in a war zone. Potentially captured, forced by the military to run as a gun/drug mule, raped, burned to death, who knows really.

Those that are sick, have been removed from the now closed camp hospitals and put in Thai hospitals:

• US Aid Freeze Threatens Ailing Myanmar Refugees On Thai Border
• Myanmar refugees face sudden discharge from Thai hospitals shuttered by US aid freeze

But this has become a huge burden on Thai infrastructure and doctors are already threatening to quit because of the insane expectations.

"Dr Nuttagarn Chuenchom, a specialist in infectious diseases, posted her concerns on her Facebook page on Monday, arguing that it was unfair for the hospital—already struggling with an inadequate number of doctors—to divert resources to treat Myanmar refugees while local patients were left waiting. In her post, Nuttagarn stated that she had been ordered to visit a refugee camp to treat patients with tuberculosis and HIV after healthcare centres serving tens of thousands of refugees along the Thai-Myanmar border were ordered to close." (source)

As for Rubio's assurance that life-saving projects won't be defunded, its a load of bunk to make the American people feel better about what is going on and how recklessly DOGE has handled the "audit" of USAID. This is the risk of getting all your information from the government and biased armchair "journalists" like the guy you linked to that all the sudden is an expert on USAID because of what he reads on Musk's Twitter account. The present State Department and White House Press Secretary only want you to know about the transgender comic book that got $30K in Columbia, they don't want you to know about the 100K refugees that no longer have hospitals and food:

"According to Reuters, Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed that “life-saving humanitarian assistance,” which Rubio defined as “core life-saving medicine, medical services, food, shelter, and subsistence assistance, supplies and reasonable administrative costs as necessary to deliver such assistance,” would not be impacted by the aid freeze. However, right now it is unclear if the hospitals in Thai refugee camps will be counted in this category. Thai public health minister Somsak Thepsutin responded to the freeze: “We cannot abandon or chase them away since they have lived here in the camps for a long time… no matter who they are, we have to take care of them.” Yet a Reuters article has also stated that the Thai hospitals are not equipped to deal with the influx of people long-term, and will have to find another solution." (source)

You see, while trying to handle tens of thousands of patients, the medical clinics in the camps are required to file a request to the State Department for a waiver. Problem is, nobody knows how this waiver process is meant to work and there's nobody in the State Department to review, file and process the requests. Even if there was, there's no guarantee that the waiver will be approved and/or processed in time. So the staff, convinced they won't see their next paycheck, have already moved on. Projects have already folded up and left. There's noone left in the camps, just 100,000 refugees wondering who is going to send that waiver request to Marco Rubio.

Edited February 7, 2025 by Zosimus

[smac97]

49 minutes ago, Calm said:

For accuracy purposes, it wasn’t USAid paying for the transgender opera.

It was the Department of State which has a different mission than USAid.  

The amount was also $25,000.

Not saying it was a good use of funding as I would never have approved it.  I am not thrilled about using taxpayer money to fund art projects and spaces outside of important memorials and making government buildings modestly attractive without spending too much, even the art projects with social implications I support.  Just saying they didn’t take food from little kids’ mouths to fund any opera.  I think art in general is too niche, a very limited audience in most cases.  Art is something imo that should be funded by private donors with very few exceptions as much as I believe it has great, great value in our lives.

When you are making accusations of corruption, etc, it is very important to keep the accusation accurate whether it’s an individual or an agency, imo.

https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_SCO20021GR3086_1900

Given the error on the opera, I want to see the documentation on funding for the comic book before accepting it was a USAID project.  I am skeptical.

I look forward to seeing how many of these expenditures really happened:

Quote

Several egregious examples include:

$15 million for condoms to the Taliban through USAID.
$446,700 to promote the expansion of atheism in Nepal through the State Department.
$1 million to boost French-speaking LGBTQ groups in West and Central Africa through the State Department.
$14 million in cash vouchers for migrants at the southern border through the State Department.
$20,600 for a drag show in Ecuador through the State Department.
$47,020 for a transgender opera in Colombia through the State Department.
$32,000 for an LGBTQ-centered comic book in Peru through the State Department.
$55,750 for a climate change presentation warning about the impact of climate change in Argentina to be led by female and LGBT journalists through the State Department.
$3,315,446 for “being LGBTQ in the Caribbean” through USAID.
$7,071.58 for a BIPOC speaker series in Canada through the State Department.
$80,000 for an LGBTQ community center in Bratislava, Slovakia through the State Department.
$3.2 million to help Tunisian migrants readjust to life in Tunisia after deportation through the State Department.
$16,500 to foster a “united and equal queer-feminist discourse in Albanian society” through the State Department.
$10,000 to pressure Lithuanian corporations to promote “DEI values” through the State Department.
$8,000 to promote DEI among LGBTQ groups in Cyprus through the State Department.
$1.5 million to promote job opportunities for LGBTQ individuals in Serbia through USAID.
$70,884 to create a U.S.-Irish musical to promote DEI in Ireland through the State Department.
$39,652 to host seminars at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on gender identity and racial equality through the State Department.
$2.5 million to build electric vehicle charging stations in Vietnam’s largest cities through USAID.
$425,622 to help Indonesian coffee companies become more climate and gender friendly through USAID.

Res ipsa loquitur.

And here:

Quote

In March 2023, USAID set aside up to $1 million to help disabled people in Tajikistan become "climate leaders."
...
In May 2023, USAID unveiled a $1.5 million effort aimed at "empowering women to adapt to climate change in northern Kenya."
...
According to a non-public congressional funding notice reviewed by The Washington Free Beacon, USAID "quietly" distributed $15 million worth of contraceptives and condoms in Afghanistan, which would require "some" "necessary" "coordination" with the Taliban "for programmatic purposes." USAID earmarked the cash infusion last July and transmitted the funds in August. The procurement was part of a $100 million package meant to support "basic rights and freedoms" and empower women and girls living under Taliban rule.

USAID also funded the mass production of 3D-printed "personalized" contraceptives for women in developing countries.
...
Between October 2009 and May 2019, USAID partnered with Wuhan lab collaborator EcoHealth Alliance on "PREDICT," a project of USAID's Emerging Pandemic Threats (EPT) program. USAID accordingly awarded EcoHealth Alliance approximately $1.1 million over that 10-year period as part of a "sub-agreement" with the Wuhan Institute of Virology "for the purpose of advancing research on critical viruses that could pose harm to human and animal health."
...

USAID insists that they "never authorized or funded any work that aimed to increase the ability of infectious agents to cause disease by enhancing its pathogenicity or by increasing its transmissibility," otherwise known as gain-of-function research.

Under the auspices of the PREDICT project, which identified nearly 950 novel viruses, including SARS-related coronaviruses, USAID says that their "work in China" ended abruptly in 2019. Since then, no additional USAID Global Health Security funding went to Wuhan, the agency maintains.
...
Courtesy of USAID, 38,000 meals went to al Qaeda-affiliated fighters in Syria. Mahmoud Al Hafyan, who ran an NGO regional office in Syria, skimmed as much as $10 million worth of meals, which we were supposed to go to Syrian civil war refugees, the USAID's inspector general's office charged. 
...
In another "inadvertent" act of material support for terrorism, USAID funded irrigation canals, farming equipment, and even fertilizer used to cultivate poppy production in Afghanistan, an industry mainly benefitting Taliban narco-jihadists. In 2018, the U.S. Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) released a report revealing that after USAID devoted at least $330 million in funding to failed alternative development projects (ADP), these agricultural programs "inadvertently" supported poppy cultivation. 
...
In 2023, USAID sent more money to a terrorism-tied NGO after the inspector general began investigating the cash flow. Around February of that year, USAID's oversight office began looking into a $110,000 grant issued in 2021 to Helping Hand for Relief and Development, which lawmakers warned shares ties to terrorists, including Pakistan's Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation. Still, in October 2023, USAID reportedly sent another $78,000 to that same charity.

USAID beneficiaries have called for their land to be "free" "from the filth of the most dirty Jews." In 2021, Unlimited Friends Association (UFA) director Jomaa Khadoura said Al-Aqsa should be "cleanse[d] from the impurity of the Jews." A year later, USAID celebrated the construction of a USAID-funded UFA "educational and community center" in Gaza. UFA often hosts events providing financial support to the "the families of martyrs and prisoners" and organizes meetings at their offices with prominent Hamas figures, such as Mustafa Sawwaf, who says "Israel's disappearance" is "a necessity [according to] the Koran."

USAID has directly contributed to terrorism sympathizers and abettors, giving $100,000 to an Islamic charity that's been banned in both Israel and the United Arab Emirates for providing financial assistance to Hamas as well as other terrorism-tied organizations. Under USAID's Foreign Assistance for Programs Overseas, Islamic Relief Worldwide, a known fundraiser for Hamas, was awarded a $100,000 grant in 2016 for various foreign projects.
...
For years, USAID has given the Bayader for Environment and Development Association, a Gaza charity with documented ties to Hamas, generous disbursements of grant money, including a payment in the lead-up to the October 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel. Bayader secured a total of nearly $1 million in funding from USAID, according to the U.S. think tank Middle East Forum (MEF). The most recent USAID grant, for $15,219, was paid out on October 1, 2023, six days before the mass slaughter of over 1,200 Israelis.

Yeesh.

And here:

Quote

The data is coming in so hot and fast today that it's all I can do not to fall behind too much, but the numbers all tell the same story: the Mainstream Legacy Media is a bought-and-paid-for arm of the Deep State. So while I was busy researching how more than $8 million in tax money went to Politico...

...you did see that story, didn't you?
...

Politico's financials aren't public. I found estimates today that its 2023 revenues were as high as $400-plus million and as low as $7 million. Whatever the case, nobody, and I mean nobody forgets who paid it $8 million in subscription fees. 

Anyway, a couple of hours later, Ian Miles Cheong reported, "The US Government gave the New York Times tens of millions of dollars over just the past 5 years despite paying relatively little money to the NYT in the years preceding 2021." We know who came into power in 2021. "For instance, in August 2024, the US government awarded $4.1 million to the NYT."

"The bulk of the funds came from the US Department of Health and Human Services at $26.90m, followed by the National Science Foundation at $19.15m."

Interesting that it was DHHS and the NSF ponying up 50 million American taxpayer dollars to a paper owned by a Mexican billionaire at a time when Washington wanted to silence certain voices on health issues pertaining to the emergence of COVID and the ridiculous government measures taken to "combat" it. 
...

Don't think just because we're learning all of this courtesy of Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and the DOGE boys that we've won the war. Aesthetica —  a reliable X source with Democrat friends in high places — claims that one connection told him that "initial plans by the Democrats is to have their people at USAID hide the partisan funding under 'unimpeachable initiatives.' They will push back really hard on certain line items that on their face look like reasonable USAID expenditures and hide their political spending under these programs.”

That sounds exactly right. There's too much money at stake for anyone to simply roll over.

And what the hell? Look at this: "U.S. Government Caught Funding 'Large Scale Social Deception' Through Thomson Reuters Special Services." 

A newly uncovered federal contract shows that Thomson Reuters Special Services LLC (TRSS) was awarded over $9 million for a secretive program labeled “Active Social Engineering Defense (ASED) Large Scale Social Deception (LSD).” 

The contract, issued by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), suggests the U.S. government is funding large-scale influence operations designed to shape public narratives.

 

Tens of millions of dollars to news outlets.  

“Active Social Engineering Defense (ASED) Large Scale Social Deception (LSD).”

What could possibly go wrong?

And here:

Quote

USAID created a “Disinformation Primer” in 2020-2021 in collaboration with the State Department’s Global Engagement Center (GEC). GEC, which was shuttered last month, strayed outside its legal functions to partner with NGOs which attempted to censor the constitutionally protected speech of American citizens.

USAID also partnered with the Ukrainian oil company Burisma Holdings Ltd. in its Municipal Energy Reform Program (MERP) beginning in October 2014 — just months after then-Vice President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, took a well-compensated seat on its board. President Biden would pardon his son for any crimes he committed from 2014 until last December, a nearly 11-year window. Preemptive pardons for other family members, including his brother James, followed.
...
USAID now distributes 60% of all U.S. foreign aid, approximately $43.8 billion a year. One out of every five U.S. foreign aid dollars went to Ukraine in 2023. Critics accuse the agency of working with foreign NGOs to foment domestic political revolutions. “Most governments don’t want USAID funds flowing into their countries because they understand where much of that money actually ends up. While marketed as support for development, democracy, and human rights, the majority of these funds are funneled into opposition groups, NGOs with political agendas, and destabilizing movements,” said Nayib Bukele, president of El Salvador.

Yeesh.

And here:

Quote

Former employees say the agency, which is supposed to distribute foreign aid to nations around the world, has long been engaged in promoting far-left political agendas.

“Much else of what the agency does is not helpful and is, in fact, often counterproductive,” Mark Moyar, who served as director of USAID’s Office of Civilian Military Cooperation in the first Trump administration, told “Washington Watch” on Monday. “They’ve spent huge amounts on DEI, on dubious climate change initiatives, advancing radical LGBT policies. I think those sorts of things we will see getting cut and eviscerated here in the very near future.”

Deeply entrenched, thoroughly corrupt grants were the norm, rather than the exception, as well as a culture of deceit, he said.

“There are people in the agency, including me, who thought there is a lot of waste, fraud, and abuse. When we tried to report that, we became targets, and the bureaucracy has sought to protect itself and put its own interests first. That’s why I think you’re seeing these drastic measures,” said Moyar. “In the first Trump administration, it was very difficult to get the career bureaucracy to go along with what the administration, the State Department, wanted to do.” Placing the agency under the purview of the State Department will “eliminate any sort of disparities between what USAID and State are doing.”

I sure would like to see some clinical and objective news reporting of this stuff.  As it is, tens of millions of taxpayer dollars are being funneled to Politico, the NY Times, and who knows where else.

I want the United States to be generous with its bounty.  Sadly, I think there is immense corruption in USAID and throughout the international humanitarian relief industry.

Thanks,

-Smac

[Calm]

1 hour ago, SeekingUnderstanding said:

Asked another way, is interest from tithing still tithing?

Yeah, my brain went there too, lol.

I decided to edit the post when I found out the funding was directed to the opera, just not by USAID.

The description of the $25,000, link in previous post on bottom of previous page

Quote

TO RAISE AWARENESS AND INCREASE THE TRANSGENDER REPRESENTATION THROUGH THE OPERA AS ONE, BY AMERICAN COMPOSER LAURA KAMINSKY.

 

Edited February 7, 2025 by Calm

[Calm]

25 minutes ago, smac97 said:

look forward to seeing how many of these expenditures really happened:

I take it you aren’t going to bother factchecking any claims yourself before posting? As in looking at actual government documents when available as I did an hour ago in about 5 minutes of my time?

Edited February 7, 2025 by Calm

[Tacenda]

1 hour ago, smac97 said:

I look forward to seeing how many of these expenditures really happened:

Res ipsa loquitur.

And here:

Yeesh.

And here:

Tens of millions of dollars to news outlets.  

“Active Social Engineering Defense (ASED) Large Scale Social Deception (LSD).”

What could possibly go wrong?

And here:

Yeesh.

And here:

I sure would like to see some clinical and objective news reporting of this stuff.  As it is, tens of millions of taxpayer dollars are being funneled to Politico, the NY Times, and who knows where else.

I want the United States to be generous with its bounty.  Sadly, I think there is immense corruption in USAID and throughout the international humanitarian relief industry.

Thanks,

-Smac

A nice CFR on your statement that tens of millions of taxpayer dollars are being funneled to Politico/NY Times....

[Zosimus]

52 minutes ago, smac97 said:

I want the United States to be generous with its bounty.  Sadly, I think there is immense corruption in USAID and throughout the international humanitarian relief industry.

my friend, if you think USAID is bad, wait until you hear about the good ol boys over at the Department of Defense

Pentagon fails 7th audit in a row, unable to fully account for $824B budget

Once we see that DOGE isn't concerned about the billions of dollars missing over at the Pentagon, then we'll be sure DOGE was never serious about government efficiency, and all this hand wringing about $50K (with a k) DEI comic books is really hand waving so you don't find the trillions (with a t) of defense dollars that just went *poof*

[Zosimus]

2 hours ago, smac97 said:

Res ipsa loquitur.

Now that those woke regime-changing scammers over at USAID are gone, DOGE can step it up and poke the real bear. Behold President Trump's OCO:

"H.R. 6157, the FY19 Department of Defense Appropriations Act, provides $674.6 billion for the Pentagon, nuclear weapons, and war, an increase of $20 billion over the FY18 enacted level. This includes $68.1 billion for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) – an unaccountable slush fund used to continue funding illegal wars and overseas military operations that are counterproductive to our national security. If OCO were a federal agency, it would be the fourth largest, behind the Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, and Health and Human Services.Despite possessing more than $2.2 trillion in assets and eating up well over half of federal discretionary spending, the Defense Department has never been audited until this year....Examples of the Pentagon’s wasteful spending abound: (source)

• The Pentagon overspent $16 million on electronic breast pumps.
• The U.S. Air Force’s Assistant Secretary Will Roper reportedly claimed that the Pentagon is spending $10,000 on toilet seat covers for C-17 cargo planes.
• A Pentagon-commissioned study found $125 billion in bureaucratic waste over five years.
• The Pentagon awarded a $7 million cloud-computing contract to a 1-person company.
• The Defense Logistics Agency lost track of $800 million in construction projects.
• Guantanamo Bay cost $454 million in 2013, averaging $11 million per prisoner, compared to annual costs of $78,000 per prisoner at the most expensive federal prison.

USAID spending was terribly inefficient. But like with any government program, some good and some bad. Its also pretty bad over there at the OCO and DOD. Let's hope DOGE rises above the partisanship and does their job:

DOGE can save taxpayers $60+ billion by targeting DoD waste

Edited February 7, 2025 by Zosimus

[Analytics]

@smac97,

Here are my answers to some of the questions you asked, and answers to some of the questions you should have asked but didn’t.

1. Should the LDS Church seek federal funding for humanitarian efforts?

No, but that doesn’t make it morally superior to churches that do. The difference isn’t independence—it’s wealth. Other religious charities apply for grants because they lack the LDS Church’s income, not because they’re less principled.

If Catholic Charities gets grants to feed the hungry while the LDS Church funnels billions into hedge funds instead, the issue isn’t who takes federal money, but why an organization with immense resources isn’t using more of them for humanitarian work.

2. Should religious groups receive federal funding for charity?

If a religious charity feeds the hungry, shelters refugees, or aids disaster relief, it’s reasonable for it to apply for the same grants as secular nonprofits.

The real issue is accountability, not religion. Many faith-based groups do critical work in areas the government struggles with. The problem isn't that they get funding—it's whether the funds are used effectively and transparently.

3. How much oversight exists on federal grants to religious charities?

Receiving federal money requires strict compliance with regulations. If oversight is inadequate, the solution isn’t cutting all funding—it’s improving transparency.

Ironically, tax-exempt church investment funds receive far less oversight than federally funded charities. If we’re worried about how taxpayer dollars interact with religion, shouldn’t we also question why churches can operate billion-dollar investment portfolios tax-free with zero transparency?

4. Are faith-based charities more effective than government programs?

Some religious charities are highly efficient; others misuse funds just like government programs can.

Many faith-based groups subcontract government services rather than replace them. If they’re doing the same work, with the same money, effectiveness depends on the organization, not whether it’s religious.

5. Are tax exemptions for religious groups equivalent to government funding?

Yes. Tax-exempt status is a subsidy because it allows religious organizations to amass wealth without taxation. The LDS Church doesn’t need federal grants because it already benefits from billions in indirect taxpayer subsidies.

If the LDS Church had to pay taxes on Ensign Peak Advisors, it might have to choose between hoarding wealth or expanding charitable work. Right now, it doesn’t have to choose, because the system lets it accumulate tax-free billions while relying on others to handle most direct humanitarian aid.

6. Is it too late to change this system?

Religious charities receiving government funding isn’t the real problem—the bigger issue is who gets subsidized and why.

If a Lutheran charity receives $50 million to house homeless families, and Ensign Peak receives billions in tax-free investment gains, which one is being "subsidized" more? The issue isn’t just funding—it’s priorities.

7. Are LDS critics wrong for faulting the Church’s spending priorities?

The issue isn’t that the LDS Church avoids federal grants—it’s that it prioritizes investment growth over charity.

If the Church spent:

• 50% of its income on religious operations
• 40% on education
• 10% on charity

That would be commendable. Instead, it spends something like:

• 20% on religious operations
• 15% on education
• 5% on charity
• 60% on growing its investment fund

Running Bishop’s Storehouse without federal funding is good. But hoarding tax-free billions while doing the bare minimum for charity isn’t.

8. How do LDS humanitarian efforts compare to other religious and secular groups?

A true apples-to-apples comparison isn’t possible because the LDS Church doesn’t fully disclose its finances. Other religious groups report their charitable spending in detail—the LDS Church does not.

But what we do know:

The Church has billions in assets.
It spends less of its income on charity than many other religious groups.
It could do far more without jeopardizing financial stability.

9. The real question: Are religious people outsourcing charity to the state?

If we’re concerned about outsourcing charity to the government, shouldn’t we also be concerned with churches using their tax advantages to act like hedge funds rather than doing religious and charitable work?

If taxpayer dollars are going to subsidize something, I’d rather it be subsidizing feeding the hungry than subsidizing the expansion of a multi-billion-dollar religious hedge fund.

[Dario_M]

11 hours ago, smac97 said:

The State has an important role to play in this stuff, to be sure.

Thanks,

-Smac

Yes. I wish the government would take those matters more serious though. 

[Tacenda]

3 hours ago, Tacenda said:

A nice CFR on your statement that tens of millions of taxpayer dollars are being funneled to Politico/NY Times....

@smac97in case you missed it. 

[The Nehor]

The reality is that the US Federal Government’s spending is roughly 75% made up of:

-Social Security
-Medicare and Medicaid
-Defense Spending
-Debt Servicing

Trying to save nickels by cutting art funding and finding expenditures that seem ridiculous won’t save anything like the money this whole stupid venture is supposed to be saving. Of course that is not the point. The point is to find some outrage porn. Hopefully we will ignore how expensive this mass deportation is going to be if we are upset over an opera or that a transgender person might have gotten a thousand dollars for a project they are working on somewhere in South Dakota.

This also still ignores that the whole DOGE thing is completely extralegal but is acting like a part of the federal government and issuing directives to federal employees. This should be being screamed to the heavens. This is giving government authority to a technocrat who doesn’t answer to anybody. That anyone is paying attention to their complaints is an indictment of our intelligence and commitment to maintaining a sovereign government. The constitution and our institutions are burning but that is okay as long as we have an extralegal commission to make sure Christians aren’t being discriminated against or whatever other yahoo idea happened while I tried to ignore the news for the last week.

[The Nehor]

8 hours ago, smac97 said:

I look forward to seeing how many of these expenditures really happened:

Res ipsa loquitur.

And here:

Yeesh.

And here:

Tens of millions of dollars to news outlets.  

“Active Social Engineering Defense (ASED) Large Scale Social Deception (LSD).”

What could possibly go wrong?

And here:

Yeesh.

And here:

I sure would like to see some clinical and objective news reporting of this stuff.  As it is, tens of millions of taxpayer dollars are being funneled to Politico, the NY Times, and who knows where else.

I want the United States to be generous with its bounty.  Sadly, I think there is immense corruption in USAID and throughout the international humanitarian relief industry.

Thanks,

-Smac

No concern that a technocrat with no government position was given access to the US Treasury and sensitive data on every US citizen? None? Just going to focus on whether this idiot and his collection of interns might have a point? Not that government employees are getting dictated to by groups outside of the government?

Big picture here!

 

I am old enough to remember when you tried to sound like a sage warning about the dangers of removing Chesterton’s fence without adequately studying why it is there. Now they are bulldozing Chesterton’s fence, his dam, his levee, his security fence, and bulldozing his house and you are just wondering if the bulldozers might actually take out one or two unnecessary things while they are trashing everything else.

[SeekingUnderstanding]

10 hours ago, The Nehor said:

Trying to save nickels by cutting art funding and finding expenditures that seem ridiculous won’t save anything like the money this whole stupid venture is supposed to be saving.

And it’s worth pointing out that one of the main purposes of such expenditures is to build good will overseas to advance US interests in other areas when the time comes. Cutting such small expenditures might feel good in the moment, but the Chinese aren’t shy about spending money overseas and calling in their own favors. A bit of cutting off our nose to spite our face. 

[smac97]

9 hours ago, The Nehor said:

No concern that a technocrat with no government position was given access to the US Treasury and sensitive data on every US citizen? None?

Yes, I had that concern.  Then I examined the matter and found that the premise was incorrect.

See here: DOGE Is Coming for the Bureau of Labor Statistics - Knees Are Already Knockin'

Quote

With everything happening at USAID and the unending flow of jaw-dropping, infuriating revelations, I hadn't really thought about anything else the DOGE team had on their plate as far as crawling up the internal pipes at other departments.

But of course, they have other places to visit and get to work, and golly Nell, if it isn't sending the shivers up the spine of some folks.

Over at the Labor Department, nervous Nellies have already filed lawsuits to keep Elon's Wonder Boys out before they ever step foot in the building.

Why so twitchy, I wonder?

A coalition of labor groups filed suit Wednesday seeking to stop DOGE from coming to the Labor Department and gaining access to some of the world's most vital macroeconomic data.

Why it matters: This isn't the first lawsuit against Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency, but appears to be one of the first filed as a preventative measure — instead of after some major action.

The big picture: The Labor Department houses an enormous amount of confidential data, and includes the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which produces important economic data, including inflation readings and market-critical employment statistics.

The BLS is an interesting outfit.  As noted above, it has access to "an enormous amount of confidential data." 

Quote

What if - what IF - the Wonder Boys get in there and find out the past four years of #Bidenomincs have been a manipulated fantasy?

A badly managed fraud?

A theater piece for the gullible who didn't pay attention to the numerous, massive, downward revisions in data quietly done months after publication.

Who never said a word when data - like 818,000 jobs - just...vanished. Then they kept on truckin' as if nothing had happened.

Job growth in the United States in the year ending in March was far less robust than previously reported by the federal government, giving ammunition to critics who suggest the Federal Reserve may be late to cutting interest rates.

The government reported Wednesday that the economy created 818,000 fewer jobs from April 2023 through March 2024, in the biggest revision to federal jobs data in 15 years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Boy, I remember being flummoxed at a "revision" of job data amounting to "818,000 fewer jobs from April 2023 through March 2024," the months heading into the 2024 election.

It sure seemed convenient that the then-current administration was able to trumpet - smack-dab in the middle of the election cycle - the "creation" of these jobs, only to have them quietly disappear a few months later.  It was even . . . concerning.

It appears that BLS may have been fabricating job numbers to bolster the election prospects for one of the two viable candidates, that is, the incumbent, non-orange one.

Anyway, the article goes on to address the concern you raise:

Quote

And as much as everyone sounds like parrots squawking 'ELON! ELON! ELON!' it might not do them a lick of good legally, as it is the DOGE team, not Musk, doing the house cleaning. According to this fellow below, the entire DOGE department was set up very carefully to be within all the legal parameters from the beginning to prevent challenges based on its legality.

This is part of his thread explaining what the Trump team did and it is so interesting. They didn't create a new department out of whole cloth. They renamed an existing one that was already authorized within the scope of the president's authority to oversee (an executive branch department) and had all the funding, etc, in situ.

The article goes on to cite an X thread that lays it all out, including images of the relevant statutes and other formal government documents:

Quote

As you can see this document is barely 2 pages and certainly not written in legalise. While not a complicated read - the plan was brilliant. Trump did NOT actually create a new agency. Instead what he did was repurpose an existing agency - the USDS - into something more useful.

The USDS was an Obamacare office created to make government software better. They were essentially software development for the bureaucracy. Trump renamed the United States Digital Service (USDS) the United States DOGE Service which even kept the acronym the same. Not only did repurposing an appropriate existing department allow Trump to ensure there was funding for DOGE without having to fight with Congress - he also ensured its legality.

You see Trump has power to set priorities for Executive branch departments but there are limits. In the case of DOGE, Trump clearly had a team of lawyers looking at ways to accomplish this goal legally. USDS was already there and funded for the specific purpose. 44 USCS Chapter 36 is the law that facilitates much of USDS. It is generally about developing tech for the government. This means that focusing on efficiency and evaluating the entire government through the lens of the IT that runs it is not really substantially altering the agency - just its focus.

At the same time Trump also wanted to bring in @elonmusk (and at the time @VivekGRamaswamy) and his team for an initial major audit/clean sweep. To do this Trump referenced another law 5 USC 3161. This law governs the creation of and staffing for what is known as a “temporary organization” in the government. This group will focus on pushing the DOGE agenda and will exist for 18 months (though their work will survive). By including this group as temporary, Trump dodged several potential lawsuits as he may not have been able to create his own new administrative entity on a permanent basis without Congressional approval.

Trump also ordered that DOGE teams be hired in every administrative branch agency. These teams are to include a team lead, a lawyer, an HR person, and an engineer. These teams work for USDS (DOGE) but work with and within various agencies. While all this is part of a “software modernization initiative,” looking at the software and how things are managed is a great way to find out where there is waste - particularly when part of the mandate it to ensure efficiency.

The last part of the post is all important boilerplate. Trump orders all agencies to support the DOGE initiative, disclaims any other prior EOs that could interfere with this order, and makes a conflict of laws statement. This was further insulation to make this harder for political opponents to fight in court.

Last point. I don’t like that this has to be done and think the executive branch has far more authority than they should. That said, this order was very well done and Trump and Musk have really done a good job strategically here. Here’s to hoping these guys follow through on the MAGA/MAHA mandate that we the people have given and do everything possible to ensure the American people have the best future imaginable for our kids.

So, contrary to your claim that the guys doing the housecleaning have "no government position," it appears they do.

As it happens, I largely concur with the the X thread's final comment about the executive branch having "far more authority than they should."  I think the entire federal government has far more power and authority and money that it should.  I would prefer to have that power and authority and money devolved to the several states, or to the people.  

That said, I find it very interesting that folks like you, who are currently experiencing having fits of apoplexy about efforts to reduce the size and scope of the State are doing so by objecting to the use that tremendous power.  Isn't that . . . inconsistent?  You and yours have long wanted Big Government.  This is what Big Government looks like.

And the author of the a key component of that tremendous power currently which is now being deployed by the Bad Orange Man (that is, the power to give DOGE legal authority to do what they are doing) was . . . President Obama, as a part of the hallmark of his presidency, Obamacare.

The irony.  It burns.

It looks like Théoden may have been on to something. 

9 hours ago, The Nehor said:

Just going to focus on whether this idiot

"This idiot" being . . . Elon Musk?

You seem to be channeling the observations of that AOC, who herself has a long track record of accomplishments and demonstrated intellect as compared to Mr. Musk.  Or . . . not.

I invite readers to compare the accomplishments of Mr. Musk to the accomplishments of Rep. Occasio-Cortez and decide for themselves whether the latter's critique of the former is sound.

9 hours ago, The Nehor said:

and his collection of interns

Meanwhile, what are the credentials/accomplishments of these "interns"?  See here.

9 hours ago, The Nehor said:

might have a point?

I am going to focus on whether widespread corruption, incompetence, graft, etc. has been happening with taxpayer dollars, yes.

I would think all Americans would be concerned about such things.  This is the funny thing about politics.  It tends to have a "It can't be bad when my side does it"-style effect on us.  I try to avoid this by resisting strong devotion to any particular political ideology.  Instead, I use my noggin, my legal training, the counsel from the Brethren, and common sense to suss out my own path and preference, and then try to find others whose preferences more or less align with mine.  This is why I can approve and appreciate some of the policies and enactments of the Bad Orange Man as "President," while at the same time reserving the right to disagree with other policies/enactments that go against my preferences (which are present), and also while not approving his personal failings (also present).

In other words, I'm not a "blood is thicker than water" kind of guy as to any political party or figure.  As it is, though, what we are currently seeing is the Bad Orange Man cleaning up corruption and mismanagement in government.  I am glad of that.  Very glad, in fact.

9 hours ago, The Nehor said:

Not that government employees are getting dictated to by groups outside of the government?

See above.  DOGE is not "outside the government."

As for "government employees {} getting dictated to," I refer you to these remarks from Secretary of State Marco Rubio:

Rubio says 'no choice' but to bring USAID 'under control' after agency takeover: 'rank insubordination'

Quote

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is accusing USAID of "rank insubordination," adding "we had no choice but to bring this thing under control."  The top U.S. diplomat made the comments in an exclusive interview with Fox News in El Salvador, just after announcing he would take over as acting director of the humanitarian agency.  

Rubio blasted USAID for being "completely unresponsive" telling Fox "they don’t consider that they work for the U.S., they just think they’re a global entity and that their master is the globe and not the United States, and that’s not what the statute says, and that’s not sustainable."

Rubio refused to say whether the agency "needs to die," as DOGE chief Elon Musk is suggesting, instead stressing the goal was always to reform it.  

"There are things that we do through USAID that we should continue to do, that make sense, and we'll have to decide, is that better through the State Department or is that better through something, you know, a reformed USAID? That's the process we're working through."

Secretary Rubio is not "outside the government."

Here's a blast from the past:

Quote

When Barack Obama took over as president in 2009, Democrats controlled both the House and the Senate. During a meeting with Republicans, Obama reminded them “elections have consequences” and at the end of the day, “I won.”

That door should swing both ways, right?  Right?

9 hours ago, The Nehor said:

I am old enough to remember when you tried to sound like a sage warning about the dangers of removing Chesterton’s fence without adequately studying why it is there.

Sure.  Again, from Secretary Rubio:

Quote

On the first question about aid, no one’s talked – this is a 90-day freeze through which it allows us now to review programs.  Before we did the freeze we couldn’t find out anything about some of these programs, and USAID in particular they refused to tell us anything.  We won’t tell you what the money is going to, where the money is for, who has it, which contractor it’s been – in some cases it goes through four different contractors before it reaches the intended recipient.  These are not my numbers.  These are USAID’s number.

In some cases, with USAID, 10, 12, 13 percent, maybe less of the money was actually reaching the recipient and the rest was going into the overhead and the bureaucracy.  This isn’t my money.  This is taxpayer money.  So, we’re not going to eliminate foreign aid.  We’re going to have foreign aid that makes sense.  We’re going to have foreign aid that works.  We’re going to have foreign aid that furthers the national interest.  We’re going to have foreign aid that benefits our trusted partners and our allies.

I am here today – we’ve issued a waiver today – because in Costa Rica we have a trusted partner and an ally who has proven that they have taken aid from the United States and used it to fix a problem, to help us, to do it in a way that actually helps the United States.  They’re stopping drugs.  They’re stopping criminals.  They’re identifying terrorists.  This is foreign aid that furthers the national interest.

Other programs we have questions about, and – but we’ve also issued waivers because we don’t want anybody – to see anybody die or anybody be harmed in the short term.  But we are going to conduct a review, and we are going to have foreign aid in this country that is going to further the national interest of the United States.  If it doesn’t make us stronger or more prosperous or more secure, we aren’t going to spend taxpayer money on it.  We owe that to the people of our country.

"{T}his is a 90-day freeze through which it allows us now to review programs."

Thanks,

-Smac

Edited February 7, 2025 by smac97

[Tacenda]

4 minutes ago, smac97 said:

Yes, I had that concern.  Then I examined the matter and found that the premise was incorrect.

See here: DOGE Is Coming for the Bureau of Labor Statistics - Knees Are Already Knockin'

The BLS is an interesting outfit.  As noted above, it has access to "an enormous amount of confidential data." 

Boy, I remember being flummoxed at a "revision" of job data amounting to "818,000 fewer jobs from April 2023 through March 2024," the months heading into the 2024 election.

It sure seemed convenient that the then-current administration was able to trumpet - smack-dab in the middle of the election cycle - the "creation" of these jobs, only to have them quietly disappear a few months later.  It was even . . . concerning.

It appears that BLS may have been fabricating job numbers to bolster the election prospects for one of the two viable candidates, that is, the incumbent, non-orange one.

Anyway, the article goes on to address the concern you raise:

The article goes on to cite an X thread that lays it all out, including images of the relevant statutes and other formal government documents:

So, contrary to your claim that the guys doing the housecleaning have "no government position," it appears they do.

As it happens, I largely concur with the the X thread's final comment about the executive branch having "far more authority than they should."  I think the entire federal government has far more power and authority and money that it should.  I would prefer to have that power and authority and money devolved to the several states, or to the people.  

That said, I find it very interesting that folks like you, who are currently throwing experiencing having fits of apoplexy about efforts to reduce the size and scope of the State are doing so by objecting to the use that tremendous power.  And the author of the a key component of that tremendous power currently being deployed by the Bad Orange Man (that is, the power to give Elon Musk legal authority to do what he is doing) was . . . President Obama, as a part of the hallmark of his presidency, Obamacare.

The irony.  It burns.

It looks like Théoden may have been on to something. 

I am going to focus on whether widespread corruption, incompetence, graft, etc. has been happening with taxpayer dollars, yes.

I would think all Americans would be concerned about such things.  This is the funny thing about politics.  It tends to have a "It can't be bad when my side does it"-style effect on us.  I try to avoid this by resisting strong devotion to any particular political ideology.  Instead, I use my noggin, my legal training, the counsel from the Brethren, and common sense to suss out my own path and preference, and then try to find others who conform to those preferences.  This is why I can approve and appreciate some of the policies and enactments of the Bad Orange Man as "President," while at the same time reserving the right to disagree with other policies/enactments that go against my preferences (which are present), and also while not approving his personal failings (also present).

Here, the Bad Orange Man looks to be cleaning up corruption and mismanagement in government.  I am glad of that.  Very glad, in fact.

See above.  Elon Musk is not "outside the government."

As for "government employees {} getting dictated to," I refer you to these remarks from Secretary of State Marco Rubio:

Rubio says 'no choice' but to bring USAID 'under control' after agency takeover: 'rank insubordination'

Secretary Rubio is not "outside the government."

Here's a blast from the past:

That door should swing both ways, right?  Right?

Sure.  Again, from Secretary Rubio:

"{T}his is a 90-day freeze through which it allows us now to review programs."

Thanks,

-Smac

When are you going to answer my CFR?

[smac97]

15 hours ago, Tacenda said:

A nice CFR on your statement that tens of millions of taxpayer dollars are being funneled to Politico/NY Times....

See here.

Thanks,

-Smac

[smac97]

1 hour ago, SeekingUnderstanding said:

And it’s worth pointing out that one of the main purposes of such expenditures is to build good will overseas to advance US interests in other areas when the time comes. Cutting such small expenditures might feel good in the moment, but the Chinese aren’t shy about spending money overseas and calling in their own favors. A bit of cutting off our nose to spite our face. 

I question the merits of buying "good will overseas" through projects which USAID has spent years actively obscuring and refusing to disclose ("rank insubordination," as Sec. Rubio has put it), and which are only now seeing the light of day. 

I also think that "build{ing} good will overseas" creates a perfect pretext for unelected bureaucrats to use billions of tax dollars to fund stuff which A) would likely not get funded through direct means (such as legislation), B) comports with their ideological preferences (as opposed to the best interests of the United States and genuine "humanitarian" efforts abroad), C) results is massive waste of taxpayer dollars when we are already 35+ trillion dollars in debt.

I am in favor of across-the-board reductions in government spending.  Let's kill off the DOE, as it's been a massive waste of time and effort.  Let's heavily scrutinize the defense budget and clean up mismanagement, malfeasance, corruption in how money is spent there.  Let's find ways to let technology work to our advantage so as to create savings on entitlements and social programs.  Let's let Americans keep as much of their own money as possible, and then hope that they turn around and - of their own volition - fund and participate in humanitarian efforts.

Thanks,

-Smac

Edited February 7, 2025 by smac97

[smac97]

USAID.  The grift that keeps on grifting:

Of the billions in questioned USAID spending, millions went to fund terrorism

Quote

Of the billions of tax dollars spent by the U.S. Agency for International Development Office (USAID) that are being questioned by the Trump administration, millions went to fund terrorism.

A multi-year investigation brought by the Justice Department and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia reveals the scope of how funds were used in one recent terrorism-related case.

“The case represents one of the most significant diversions of USAID-funded humanitarian aid that USAID-OIG has investigated,” USAID’s Office of Inspector General said.

"'The case represents one of the most significant diversions of USAID-funded humanitarian aid that USAID-OIG has investigated,' USAID’s Office of Inspector General said."

Gadzooks.

Quote

It involved a Syrian national, Mahmoud Al Hafyan, who was charged with illegally diverting more than $9 million of taxpayer money through USAID to armed combatant groups, including the Al-Nusrah Front (ANF), a designated foreign terrorist organization affiliated with al-Qaida in Iraq.

According to the indictment, Al Hafyan led a non-governmental organization (NGO) in Syria, managing 160 employees.

"{M}ore than $9 million of taxpayer money through USAID to armed combatant groups."  Boy, I bet that money went a long way.

Quote

Since Syria’s civil war began in 2011, and through 2020, U.S. taxpayers funded more than $12 billion of USAID money to Syria intended for food and medical supplies that was supposed to be administered by United Nations agencies and NGOs.

The NGO that Al Hafyan led received $122 million over a three-year period, diverting food kits meant for refugees to ANF commanders, according to the complaint. ANF, fighting to overthrow the Syrian government, was known for committing human rights atrocities, including conducting mass executions of civilians, suicide bombings and kidnappings.

Al Hafyan allegedly sold the food kits on the black market to the ANF commanders, falsifying documents to make it seem like refugees were receiving the food.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, USAID OIG, and the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division were involved in the case.

“This defendant not only defrauded the U.S. government, but he also gave the humanitarian aid he stole to a foreign terrorist organization,” U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves said in November. “While this foreign terrorist organization fought with the cruel al-Assad regime, the people who were supposed to receive the aid suffered.”

"{D}iverting food kits meant for refugees to ANF commanders."

Thanks, USAID!  Great job!  Good oversight!

Quote

Some other examples of misuse of USAID funds prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia relate to a range of fraud schemes.

In one case, a former executive of a digital consulting firm in Delaware agreed to pay a $100,000 settlement to resolve allegations that he knowingly caused company employees to submit false claims to USAID in order to receive government contracts, overbill and charge for work that was never performed, according to a 2022 complaint.

In another case, a global health nonprofit organization based in San Diego agreed to pay nearly $550,000 to resolve allegations that it knowingly submitted false claims to USAID to receive grants to purportedly provide agricultural and other aid to developing countries.

In another case, the International Rescue Committee agreed to pay $6.9 million to settle allegations under the False Claims Act related to USAID-funded programming related to the civil war in Syria. The money IRC received was intended for humanitarian assistance but IRC staff participated in a kickback scheme with a Turkish supply ring involving contract bid rigging instead, according to the complaint.

In another case, a former NGO official was sentenced to 40 months in prison for paying bribes to NGO officers in exchange for sensitive procurement information related to NGO contracts partially funded by USAID. In this case, for five years, a Turkmenistan citizen coordinated a bid-rigging scheme, instructed employees to lie to law enforcement agents and destroyed emails related to the investigation, according to the complaint.

In another case, a former USAID deputy director and resident of Maryland pled guilty to charges related to a contract-steering scheme, conspiracy to defraud the United States and making false statements to law enforcement, according to the complaint.

I get that a lot of you guys dislike the Bad Orange Man, but do you oppose what is being exposed here?

The complaint was apparently filed in 2022, but it did not get much attention until now.  I wonder why that is.

Another fun example:

Quote

A DOGE-centered discussion has broken out around USAID, which suddenly has no website and an empty office as the Trump administration moves to shut it down. It’ll be a huge loss for America, because now who’ll fund the Ecuadoran drag queens and Peruvian trans comic books? When you crowdsource a “let’s dig through the funding database” effort, the discussion quickly becomes…interesting.

 

A quarter billion here, a quarter billion there, and pretty soon we're talking about some real money.

Where did this $250 million go?  To whom?  For what purposes?  Might it be a good idea for the State to look into it?

Thanks,

-Smac

Edited February 7, 2025 by smac97

[longview]

12 hours ago, The Nehor said:

The reality is that the US Federal Government’s spending is roughly 75% made up of:
-Social Security
-Medicare and Medicaid
-Defense Spending
-Debt Servicing
Trying to save nickels by cutting art funding and finding expenditures that seem ridiculous won’t save anything like the money this whole stupid venture is supposed to be saving.

You might have a point only IF the national debt was not so crushingly huge. Politicians have rationalized the debt by always kicking the can down the road. BUT we can NOT continue this insanity. Servicing the debt will soon become the largest budget nightmare.

Argentina's inflation rate peaked near 300% in April 2023, making it one of the highest in the world. Printing money out of thin air is BAD policy. It leads to massive inflation. A major reason why the people voted for libertarian President Javier Milei. He is making hopeful gains by grabbing the bull by the horns and bringing everything under control.

America demands accountability. We are shining blazing sunlight into every dank recesses of the Deep State.

[Doctor Steuss]

Quote

$15 million for condoms to the Taliban through USAID.

This is a pretty cool magic trick, since in 2023, the Taliban banned condoms and birth control.  Pealing back the obvious shock-factor snarling of this by the so-called "Chairman," I want to congratulate him on his "discovery" that the US provides family planning tools in war-torn and other destabilized areas.  Particularly where sexual assault is prevalent, and women are treated as lesser-than.  That's something that no one knew... except for, y'know everyone with minimal media literacy.

"America gave millions so terrorists can have sex" sounds a lot better than "America helped women who were victims of sexual assault in war-torn areas, and in places where spousal rape is legal, to have the tools to decide for themselves if they want to have a child."  Funds for these things aren't just for condoms.  Are you ready for your fainting couch?  They're also for pharmaceutical abortion pills. Hopefully the next thing we can all feign outrage over is all of the money we were wasting preventing babies from getting AIDS.  The 90-day freeze, based on a report from amfAR, will result in approximately 137,987 babies being born with HIV that otherwise wouldn't have.  So very pro-life.

Curiously, none of the waste identified is funds that the richest man in the world uses for his pet project to go into space.  Money for outer space?  Neeto.  Money to stop babies from getting AIDS?  Stop being so wasteful!!!!

Edited February 7, 2025 by Doctor Steuss

[Duncan]

25 minutes ago, smac97 said:

USAID.  The grift that keeps on grifting:

Of the billions in questioned USAID spending, millions went to fund terrorism

"'The case represents one of the most significant diversions of USAID-funded humanitarian aid that USAID-OIG has investigated,' USAID’s Office of Inspector General said."

Gadzooks.

"{M}ore than $9 million of taxpayer money through USAID to armed combatant groups."  Boy, I bet that money went a long way.

"{D}iverting food kits meant for refugees to ANF commanders."

Thanks, USAID!  Great job!  Good oversight!

I get that a lot of you guys dislike the Bad Orange Man, but do you oppose what is being exposed here?

The complaint was apparently filed in 2022, but it did not get much attention until now.  I wonder why that is.

Another fun example:

A quarter billion here, a quarter billion there, and pretty soon we're talking about some real money.

Where did this $250 million go?  To whom?  For what purposes?  Might it be a good idea for the State to look into it?

Thanks,

-Smac

Keep in mind the Chief Grifter of your absolute S&**hole of a country wife was involved in USAID

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-calls-usaid-tremendous-fraud-wife-daughter-promoted/story?id=118547473

"On her four-country jaunt through Africa in 2018 -- her first major solo international trip as first lady -- Melania Trump offered praise for what she described as "successful" USAID programs as she observed them up close."

 

 

oh, the hyprocrisy of the MAGA Cultists

[smac97]

1 hour ago, smac97 said:

See here: DOGE Is Coming for the Bureau of Labor Statistics - Knees Are Already Knockin'

The BLS is an interesting outfit.  As noted above, it has access to "an enormous amount of confidential data." 

Boy, I remember being flummoxed at a "revision" of job data amounting to "818,000 fewer jobs from April 2023 through March 2024," the months heading into the 2024 election.

It sure seemed convenient that the then-current administration was able to trumpet - smack-dab in the middle of the election cycle - the "creation" of these jobs, only to have them quietly disappear a few months later.  It was even . . . concerning.

It appears that BLS may have been fabricating job numbers to bolster the election prospects for one of the two viable candidates, that is, the incumbent, non-orange one.

More Re: BLS:

Quote

Every single month in 2024 just got revised down in today’s jobs report—by an average of -626k. And if that wasn’t bad enough, the BLS business employment dynamics data and the Philly Fed’s early benchmark suggest even bigger downward revisions coming in the next annual update.

I think examining how accurate this stuff is ought to be an important thing.

thanks,

-Smac

[smac97]

6 minutes ago, Duncan said:

Keep in mind the Chief Grifter of your absolute S&**hole of a country

Wow.

6 minutes ago, Duncan said:

wife was involved in USAID

Was she, as FLOTUS, aware of its corruption, mismanagement, etc.?  It seems unlikely, since USAID stonewalled members of Congress as to such matters.

Thanks,

-Smac