Debra, there has been bad parenting, parenting by poor people, parenting by single people, parenting by alcoholics, parenting by drug addicts, etc, for thousands of years. Noah, Lot, Eli all come to mind. By far, most of those children turned out fine. Some learned better parenting, others repeated. The more the government steps in, the more people rely on it and the less parenting takes place. Some make headway, a lot just sink further, using the system to continue their selfish lifestyle.
“UKRAINE: What if 58% of the U.S. taxpayer dollars sent to Zelensky never even reached Ukraine? Where did it go? Did the CIA skim a cut? Did Ukrainian officials and generals pocket their share? Did The Big Guy get his usual slice? If Zelensky’s claim is true—that he only received $75 billion of the $177+ billion Washington sent—what happens next? Do we shrug and move on, or do we finally demand answers and accountability? @DOGE? h/t @BRICSinfo”
I’ve told you all along, our govt is complicit with the Chinese in unleashing Covid on the world.
USAID is a CIA front group, that disappears taxpayer dollars, and where a portion of the taxpayer dollars always get laundered back to the politicians.
“USAID funneled $53 million to EcoHealth Alliance, which then used U.S. taxpayer funds to support gain-of-function research on coronaviruses at the Wuhan lab—research that likely led to the creation of COVID-19.
The CIA’s deception regarding COVID-19 origins becomes much clearer when considering USAID’s long history of serving as a CIA front organization.
With an annual budget exceeding $50 billion and activities in over 100 countries, USAID has repeatedly been linked to intelligence activities. Former USAID Director John Gilligan once admitted the agency was “infiltrated from top to bottom with CIA people,” explaining that “the idea was to plant operatives in every kind of activity we had overseas: government, volunteer, religious, every kind.”
In 2013, a U.S. cable published by WikiLeaks outlined the U.S. strategy to undermine Venezuela’s government through USAID by “penetrating Chavez’s political base,” “dividing Chavismo,” and “isolating Chavez internationally.”
In 2014, the Associated Press revealed that USAID funded the creation of a Twitter-like platform intended to incite a rebellion in Cuba.
USAID funding has been linked to coups in Haiti, Ukraine, Egypt, and other nations.
From 2009 to 2019, USAID partnered with EcoHealth Alliance on the PREDICT program, which identified 1,200 new viruses, trained 5,000 people globally in disease detection, and enhanced 60 research labs.
This partnership provided the CIA with a direct channel for embedding human assets within biological research facilities worldwide in exchange for funding and technology transfers.
In 2022, Dr. Andrew Huff, a former Vice President at EcoHealth Alliance, publicly revealed Dr. Peter Daszak’s alleged ties to the CIA.
The core issue?
The CIA lied to the American public about COVID-19’s origins because acknowledging the truth would expose its likely role in funneling taxpayer money through USAID to finance gain-of-function research at the Wuhan lab.”
—–
Crazy talk! Conspiracy theorist!
Until it’s all true. Then we pretend their was no way we could know, except we did. It was always the most likely source of Covid, not some wet market as the “experts” assured us, the same “experts” behind all the research and unleashing of it due to their negligence and funding in the first place.
“Like I said before, USAID is a front for the CIA. And together with NGO’s like the Open Society Foundation, they have been using US tax dollars & govt resources as their personal piggy bank. It has been infuriating to watch. Hopefully now the whole truth will come out.”
“I think the CIA was involved certainly in this research. They were funding it through USAID. The NIH gave about $26 million in funding to the Wuhan lab. But USAID, which was functioning as the CIA surrogate, gave over $64 million.”
It didn’t work for Nazi guards, and that excuse won’t work here. You imprisoned people, withheld evidence, overcharged, and financially ruined these political prisoners for politics. No hiding from your deeds now. Firing and civil suits should be the least you should be facing. His self righteous attitude is disgusting.
——
“FBI leaders going full “we were just following orders” as accountability for turning the agency into a full-time Anti-Trump operation looms.”
“Expecting a bloodbath at FBI today and tomorrow. My guess is acting FBI director Brian Driscoll will be gone by this evening for defying a direct order seeking names of FBI employees—perhaps more than 6,000—involved in Jan 6 cases.
Hard to see how James Dennehy, who runs the NY field office, keeps his job after sending defiant email to colleagues over the weekend promising to “dig in” and not step down or follow orders.
The NYT obtained the email.
Dennehy: “Today, we find ourselves in the middle of a battle of our own, as good people are being walked out of the F.B.I. and others are being targeted because they did their jobs in accordance with the law and F.B.I. policy,” Dennehy wrote.
Dennehy also said the removal of top officials including at Miami and Washington field offices have caused “fear and angst within the F.B.I. ranks.”
He compared his insubordination to being a Marine “in the early 1990s, when he dug a small foxhole five feet deep and hunkered down for safety.
“It sucked,” he wrote. “But it worked.”
Don’t think this is going to end well for Mr. Dennehy.”
“Richard Grenell is absolutely right. What Samantha Power did at USAID should be investigated immediately. This is an official who funneled billions in taxpayer dollars into shady NGOs, foreign regimes, and programs that had nothing to do with serving American interests.
She oversaw grants that likely funded illegal immigration into the U.S., money laundering operations, and even organizations linked to Hamas. And now, when asked direct questions by Senator Rand Paul about potential involvement in Wuhan research, she refuses to answer.
USAID under Power was a slush fund for the globalist elite. While Americans struggled with inflation, crime, and disasters like the North Carolina hurricane, she was more focused on growing Ukraine’s economy and handing out billions overseas. The Biden administration prioritized foreign aid over its own citizens at every turn, and Power was at the center of it.
This isn’t new. Samantha Power was involved in one of the biggest abuses of power in modern history—unmasking hundreds of Trump officials in 2016 and 2017. Now, she’s back in a powerful position, obstructing transparency, and likely covering up the corruption of the last four years.
Rand Paul’s questioning of Power is just the beginning. The American people deserve to know if their money was funneled into dangerous biological research in Wuhan. They deserve to know how much of their money went to Hamas, and how many billions were funneled to left-wing NGOs pushing open borders.
The Biden administration has been one of the most corrupt in modern history, using agencies like USAID as political weapons. Power must testify under oath. Investigations must happen. No more cover-ups, no more excuses. America first, not last.”
“MIKE BENZ: TRUMP PROSECUTORS WERE FUNDED BY USAID
“This push to prosecute Trump by Alvin Bragg, Soros was a minor co-funder.
He gave them $10,000, that’s it!
The $14 million he gave to the parent company, the fiscal sponsor of FJP (Fair and Just Prosecution, a nonprofit that supports and influences progressive prosecutors in the U.S.), well, that ain’t @#%$ compared to the $27 million that USAID gave them.
Every time you hear the word Soros prosecutor, no, they’re USAID prosecutors.””
“Why is USAID funding this organization with 7 CIA directors on its board to train hundreds of people in censorship training seminars on how best to flag Donald Trump’s tweets for misinformation?”
“Case in point: AOC, promoting USAID all over X today, actually came from a USAID program in college to jumpstart her miracle political career.”
—–
“What you will quickly find as you enter The Amazing USAID Vortex Of Despair is that virtually every powerful political & financial motor of American society that promotes & lobbies for USAID is either directly on USAID’s payroll, works at a place that is, or his/her donors do.”
Cheryl — I’m one of those who are of the opinion that if your business can’t pay a living wage, you shouldn’t be in business. If your business can only exist by paying poverty wages, it’s not a legitimate business model, its instead exploitative. Exploitation is unethical and immoral.
We live in a pro business economy. Instead of investing and providing jobs, corporations are investing billions to replace labour with AI and robots — they are actively seeking to eliminate the need for workers.
School Lunches — The stories from yesterday further my conviction that we are better off just giving parents the money.
X continues to wave the bloody flag always with new outrages.
The furor over USAID is rather amusing. For decades, leftists esp outside of the US, have argued that USAID was designed to use foreign aid to advance the interests of US power and corporations. Hence, these accusations aren’t surprising.
What is surprising is Republicans led by a South African/Canadian billionaire are willing to risk national security to prove “what”? That Musk gets access to computers? Similar to his demands at the Treasury Dept. Why aren’t Republicans raising alarms here. Instead you have AOC pointing out the obvious national security implications.
Despite its interactions with the “security state”, USAID did do good work. I believe it was the agency responsible for eradicating polio. It was in the process of vaccinating the Afghan-Pakistan border region when it was correctly accused of being used as a cover by the CIA to spy and find Bin Laden. Unfortunately they were chased out before they completed the program. Polio remains in the area. A few more months longer and polio would’ve gone the way of smallpox.
Zelensky has complained about the slowness of American aid before. There’s nothing new here and nor does it indicate corruption. As Ukrainian president the bureaucratic slowness of aid of course is a huge irritant and a threat to his independence. Protesting usually speeds things up.
HRW, you say, “if your business can’t pay a living wage, you shouldn’t be in business. If your business can only exist by paying poverty wages, it’s not a legitimate business model, its instead exploitative.”
So why don’t people simply refuse to work for that business?
Perhaps it is because some people (e.g., teenagers) don’t have the job experience and/or skills to get a better job, and would rather take this job than not work at all.
That doesn’t mean there is no such thing as an exploitative business. When I lived in Nashville, for a while I had a housemate who had gotten a master’s degree in a field where there weren’t many jobs. So upon graduation, she took an unpaid internship (!). She worked for the company for several months, as they told her they loved her work, and that as soon as they brought in enough money to hire her, they would do so. Eventually she got tired of waiting for that, and quit. In the next few months they “hired” two or three other suckers, presumably with the same promises they never intended to keep. They were wrong to treat her that way. But she was an adult, and did have a choice in the matter, and she did gain some experience and a line for her resume.
But truly, the only way some people will have jobs is if companies are allowed to pay employees what those employees are worth. And “poverty wages” are surely better than no wages at all! Get the job experience, get the skills or education, and then get a better job.
HRW, you say, “if your business can’t pay a living wage, you shouldn’t be in business. If your business can only exist by paying poverty wages, it’s not a legitimate business model, its instead exploitative.”
So why don’t people simply refuse to work for that business?
Perhaps it is because some people (e.g., teenagers) don’t have the job experience and/or skills to get a better job, and would rather take this job than not work at all.
That doesn’t mean there is no such thing as an exploitative business. When I lived in Nashville, for a while I had a housemate who had gotten a master’s degree in a field where there weren’t many jobs. So upon graduation, she took an unpaid internship (!). She worked for the company for several months, as they told her they loved her work, and that as soon as they brought in enough money to hire her, they would do so. Eventually she got tired of waiting for that, and quit. In the next few months they “hired” two or three other suckers, presumably with the same promises they never intended to keep. They were wrong to treat her that way. But she was an adult, and did have a choice in the matter, and she did gain some experience and a line for her resume.
But truly, the only way some people will have jobs is if companies are allowed to pay employees what those employees are worth. And “poverty wages” are surely better than no wages at all! Get the job experience, get the skills or education, and then get a better job.
HRW, unlike Biden’s sweeping blanket pardons which covered everything the people did for years, the J6 pardons were specifically for things related to that day or the planning of that day. The rational was that the process was tainted and the prosecutions political.
People can and do disagree with whether or not any of them should have been pardoned ( I was glad to see it) but those pardons did not put them above the law in my opinion. The fact that some can and are being prosecuted for other things is actually evidence of that.
This is a stark contrast to the Biden pardons. Theoretically [and I’m not making this accusation] if their office computers were to be found stuffed full of child porn they could not be prosecuted for it.
Wandering Views 
Debra, there has been bad parenting, parenting by poor people, parenting by single people, parenting by alcoholics, parenting by drug addicts, etc, for thousands of years. Noah, Lot, Eli all come to mind. By far, most of those children turned out fine. Some learned better parenting, others repeated. The more the government steps in, the more people rely on it and the less parenting takes place. Some make headway, a lot just sink further, using the system to continue their selfish lifestyle.
mumsee
LikeLiked by 3 people
Remember kids, Bill’s a true conservative, principled and unyielding in his values, not like us Trump people.
https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1886260544903979083?t=GLjro-EVdMkfUsGJ39qDbw&s=19
“Why is USAID giving millions of dollars to @BillKristol?”
——
Orrrrr……
B. Bill’s just a grifter that Never Trumpers fell for.
B. Final answer.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Speaking of grifting….
https://x.com/amuse/status/1886129360744177950?t=Jsha0Scz_tcKAxOGsNAZeg&s=19
“UKRAINE: What if 58% of the U.S. taxpayer dollars sent to Zelensky never even reached Ukraine? Where did it go? Did the CIA skim a cut? Did Ukrainian officials and generals pocket their share? Did The Big Guy get his usual slice? If Zelensky’s claim is true—that he only received $75 billion of the $177+ billion Washington sent—what happens next? Do we shrug and move on, or do we finally demand answers and accountability? @DOGE? h/t @BRICSinfo”
LikeLiked by 4 people
I’ve told you all along, our govt is complicit with the Chinese in unleashing Covid on the world.
USAID is a CIA front group, that disappears taxpayer dollars, and where a portion of the taxpayer dollars always get laundered back to the politicians.
https://x.com/KanekoaTheGreat/status/1886126881889755557?t=Du1J8OEozkJDOv3rTwdGkA&s=19
“USAID funneled $53 million to EcoHealth Alliance, which then used U.S. taxpayer funds to support gain-of-function research on coronaviruses at the Wuhan lab—research that likely led to the creation of COVID-19.
The CIA’s deception regarding COVID-19 origins becomes much clearer when considering USAID’s long history of serving as a CIA front organization.
With an annual budget exceeding $50 billion and activities in over 100 countries, USAID has repeatedly been linked to intelligence activities. Former USAID Director John Gilligan once admitted the agency was “infiltrated from top to bottom with CIA people,” explaining that “the idea was to plant operatives in every kind of activity we had overseas: government, volunteer, religious, every kind.”
In 2013, a U.S. cable published by WikiLeaks outlined the U.S. strategy to undermine Venezuela’s government through USAID by “penetrating Chavez’s political base,” “dividing Chavismo,” and “isolating Chavez internationally.”
In 2014, the Associated Press revealed that USAID funded the creation of a Twitter-like platform intended to incite a rebellion in Cuba.
USAID funding has been linked to coups in Haiti, Ukraine, Egypt, and other nations.
From 2009 to 2019, USAID partnered with EcoHealth Alliance on the PREDICT program, which identified 1,200 new viruses, trained 5,000 people globally in disease detection, and enhanced 60 research labs.
This partnership provided the CIA with a direct channel for embedding human assets within biological research facilities worldwide in exchange for funding and technology transfers.
In 2022, Dr. Andrew Huff, a former Vice President at EcoHealth Alliance, publicly revealed Dr. Peter Daszak’s alleged ties to the CIA.
The core issue?
The CIA lied to the American public about COVID-19’s origins because acknowledging the truth would expose its likely role in funneling taxpayer money through USAID to finance gain-of-function research at the Wuhan lab.”
—–
Crazy talk! Conspiracy theorist!
Until it’s all true. Then we pretend their was no way we could know, except we did. It was always the most likely source of Covid, not some wet market as the “experts” assured us, the same “experts” behind all the research and unleashing of it due to their negligence and funding in the first place.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before comrades….
The CIA is once again neck deep in the drug trade.
https://x.com/MikeBenzCyber/status/1886134501295751657?t=MGgrNNAY8TwYk0lg4713zw&s=19
“Why was USAID funding the production of heroin in Afghanistan?”
LikeLiked by 3 people
USAID needs a good dose of sunshine.
You’d be surprised at some of the critters that will skitter away.
https://x.com/DataRepublican/status/1886026673805840477?t=qNd71c5txqZsR_3Quy8zng&s=19
“Senator Lindsey Graham, @LindseyGrahamSC , is a Director at the International Republican Institute, a nonprofit funded by USAID.
🔹 Government Funding: $130.7M reported on IRS Form 990
🔹 Active Grants: $9.2M
🔹 EIN: 521340267 | UEI: V2DWM1KMJNK5
Many Congresspeople are not neutrals when it comes to closing down USAID, because they are a part of it.
That is a fact.”
—-
CYA people at the CIA tried to Community Note it, but the tax filings clearly show it.
—-
“The community note on this is moronic. His title is literally listed as Director on the 990 filing.”
projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/org…
https://x.com/DataRepublican/status/1886088261673889964?t=k91z0rFI1aYNURutT6lNfA&s=19
LikeLiked by 3 people
“Like I said before, USAID is a front for the CIA. And together with NGO’s like the Open Society Foundation, they have been using US tax dollars & govt resources as their personal piggy bank. It has been infuriating to watch. Hopefully now the whole truth will come out.”
https://x.com/MikeBenzCyber/status/1885836321848963449?t=5s9lAhiP64X7u2GIl5l1Qw&s=19
“No, really: why was USAID backing Burisma?”
—–
Two words, and they impeached the 45th president to hide it.
Joe Biden….
LikeLiked by 2 people
“I think the CIA was involved certainly in this research. They were funding it through USAID. The NIH gave about $26 million in funding to the Wuhan lab. But USAID, which was functioning as the CIA surrogate, gave over $64 million.”
@RobertKennedyJr
https://x.com/Simply4Truth_/status/1886024617459929578?t=NDM5Sx-lS9mecOysfcnMsQ&s=19
Crazy Talk! Right?
LikeLiked by 3 people
“Large protest in National City, CA with hundreds of people waving Mexican flags turns violent as some start vandalizing property.
The protesters appear to love Mexico enough to wave the flags but not enough to live there considering they are 15 min from the border.
The protesters, who blocked traffic, were lashing out against Trump’s deportation operation against illegal aliens.
Police were forced to break up the protest after deeming it “unlawful.””
https://x.com/CollinRugg/status/1885770879017132039?t=8M7iyuHSoUkAxxSpB5cDWg&s=19
LikeLiked by 2 people
🫤
https://x.com/BurtMaclin_FBI/status/1886410405901136278?t=nv2Ji9kyFsi1RXjcBeCofQ&s=19
“The FBI Agent walkout/protest outside the Hoover building has begun. Very large turnout.”
🤣
LikeLike
Aren’t some of those, the one on the left blue shirt, some of the J6 rioters?
mumsee
LikeLiked by 1 person
It didn’t work for Nazi guards, and that excuse won’t work here. You imprisoned people, withheld evidence, overcharged, and financially ruined these political prisoners for politics. No hiding from your deeds now. Firing and civil suits should be the least you should be facing. His self righteous attitude is disgusting.
——
“FBI leaders going full “we were just following orders” as accountability for turning the agency into a full-time Anti-Trump operation looms.”
https://x.com/MZHemingway/status/1886472954751672387?t=2LbEgV1diqFinDAHvg2ZBw&s=19
—-
https://x.com/julie_kelly2/status/1886405681219088831?t=A_w7hcvO3LRqxhyCxeaZ-Q&s=19
“Expecting a bloodbath at FBI today and tomorrow. My guess is acting FBI director Brian Driscoll will be gone by this evening for defying a direct order seeking names of FBI employees—perhaps more than 6,000—involved in Jan 6 cases.
Hard to see how James Dennehy, who runs the NY field office, keeps his job after sending defiant email to colleagues over the weekend promising to “dig in” and not step down or follow orders.
The NYT obtained the email.
Dennehy: “Today, we find ourselves in the middle of a battle of our own, as good people are being walked out of the F.B.I. and others are being targeted because they did their jobs in accordance with the law and F.B.I. policy,” Dennehy wrote.
Dennehy also said the removal of top officials including at Miami and Washington field offices have caused “fear and angst within the F.B.I. ranks.”
He compared his insubordination to being a Marine “in the early 1990s, when he dug a small foxhole five feet deep and hunkered down for safety.
“It sucked,” he wrote. “But it worked.”
Don’t think this is going to end well for Mr. Dennehy.”
LikeLiked by 2 people
Huh. Time to disinfect.
https://x.com/stillgray/status/1886305232755229005?t=NPBGWWeE2bnmZD9kZv516Q&s=19
“USAID funds Rockefeller Institute, which is funding the pro-Hamas protests in campuses across the US. Did you know that?”
LikeLiked by 2 people
“What Samantha Power did with your tax dollars at @usaid should be an FBI Investigation.
She used your money to fund crazy radical programs and far Left activists.
Investigate!”
https://x.com/RichardGrenell/status/1886200655712596110?t=9ud1-kBBgoQKlkEMOdZxhg&s=19
—
“Richard Grenell is absolutely right. What Samantha Power did at USAID should be investigated immediately. This is an official who funneled billions in taxpayer dollars into shady NGOs, foreign regimes, and programs that had nothing to do with serving American interests.
She oversaw grants that likely funded illegal immigration into the U.S., money laundering operations, and even organizations linked to Hamas. And now, when asked direct questions by Senator Rand Paul about potential involvement in Wuhan research, she refuses to answer.
USAID under Power was a slush fund for the globalist elite. While Americans struggled with inflation, crime, and disasters like the North Carolina hurricane, she was more focused on growing Ukraine’s economy and handing out billions overseas. The Biden administration prioritized foreign aid over its own citizens at every turn, and Power was at the center of it.
This isn’t new. Samantha Power was involved in one of the biggest abuses of power in modern history—unmasking hundreds of Trump officials in 2016 and 2017. Now, she’s back in a powerful position, obstructing transparency, and likely covering up the corruption of the last four years.
Rand Paul’s questioning of Power is just the beginning. The American people deserve to know if their money was funneled into dangerous biological research in Wuhan. They deserve to know how much of their money went to Hamas, and how many billions were funneled to left-wing NGOs pushing open borders.
The Biden administration has been one of the most corrupt in modern history, using agencies like USAID as political weapons. Power must testify under oath. Investigations must happen. No more cover-ups, no more excuses. America first, not last.”
https://x.com/TorstenProchnow/status/1886206722676515224?t=6WFnXGFiIqrZymGVWxvwQw&s=19
LikeLiked by 2 people
This is the real reason the establishment types hate her. She threatens their grifts on taxpayers.
The rot from this scam infects both parties deeply.
https://x.com/RepMTG/status/1886393848516985005?t=rRK1dDK2J8pDodZSfZMtug&s=19
“7 months ago, I tried to DEFUND USAID.
Only 81 Republicans voted “aye” which is “yes” to my amendment to prohibit funding to USAID.
127 Republicans and 204 Democrats voted NO to my amendment and voted to FUND USAID.
I FULLY SUPPORT ELIMINATING USAID!!!”
LikeLiked by 2 people
She provides a helpful link to the vote record, which is public. You can see for yourself.
Many are the usual suspects.
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/118-2024/h308
LikeLiked by 2 people
“MIKE BENZ: TRUMP PROSECUTORS WERE FUNDED BY USAID
“This push to prosecute Trump by Alvin Bragg, Soros was a minor co-funder.
He gave them $10,000, that’s it!
The $14 million he gave to the parent company, the fiscal sponsor of FJP (Fair and Just Prosecution, a nonprofit that supports and influences progressive prosecutors in the U.S.), well, that ain’t @#%$ compared to the $27 million that USAID gave them.
Every time you hear the word Soros prosecutor, no, they’re USAID prosecutors.””
https://x.com/MarioNawfal/status/1886167348282863630?t=dNvnn4V-U2mugcpYn4MQvQ&s=19
LikeLiked by 2 people
These people have had their slimy little fingers everywhere.
https://x.com/MikeBenzCyber/status/1886233952421367993?t=zqsX0JijjBWxWspW5qR0UQ&s=19
“Why is USAID funding this organization with 7 CIA directors on its board to train hundreds of people in censorship training seminars on how best to flag Donald Trump’s tweets for misinformation?”
LikeLiked by 2 people
It just gets better. It’s essentially a shadow govt.
https://x.com/MikeBenzCyber/status/1886252477743321213?t=arysbafyCSbVsufFsm7m7A&s=19
“Case in point: AOC, promoting USAID all over X today, actually came from a USAID program in college to jumpstart her miracle political career.”
—–
“What you will quickly find as you enter The Amazing USAID Vortex Of Despair is that virtually every powerful political & financial motor of American society that promotes & lobbies for USAID is either directly on USAID’s payroll, works at a place that is, or his/her donors do.”
https://x.com/MikeBenzCyber/status/1886192012975587757?t=YsqCYj9_v8veFbMuSv2tZA&s=19
LikeLiked by 2 people
I see privately funded charities deliver more humanitarian aid internationally than USAid does.
mumsee
LikeLiked by 2 people
Cheryl — I’m one of those who are of the opinion that if your business can’t pay a living wage, you shouldn’t be in business. If your business can only exist by paying poverty wages, it’s not a legitimate business model, its instead exploitative. Exploitation is unethical and immoral.
We live in a pro business economy. Instead of investing and providing jobs, corporations are investing billions to replace labour with AI and robots — they are actively seeking to eliminate the need for workers.
School Lunches — The stories from yesterday further my conviction that we are better off just giving parents the money.
hrw
LikeLike
X continues to wave the bloody flag always with new outrages.
The furor over USAID is rather amusing. For decades, leftists esp outside of the US, have argued that USAID was designed to use foreign aid to advance the interests of US power and corporations. Hence, these accusations aren’t surprising.
What is surprising is Republicans led by a South African/Canadian billionaire are willing to risk national security to prove “what”? That Musk gets access to computers? Similar to his demands at the Treasury Dept. Why aren’t Republicans raising alarms here. Instead you have AOC pointing out the obvious national security implications.
Despite its interactions with the “security state”, USAID did do good work. I believe it was the agency responsible for eradicating polio. It was in the process of vaccinating the Afghan-Pakistan border region when it was correctly accused of being used as a cover by the CIA to spy and find Bin Laden. Unfortunately they were chased out before they completed the program. Polio remains in the area. A few more months longer and polio would’ve gone the way of smallpox.
Zelensky has complained about the slowness of American aid before. There’s nothing new here and nor does it indicate corruption. As Ukrainian president the bureaucratic slowness of aid of course is a huge irritant and a threat to his independence. Protesting usually speeds things up.
hrw
LikeLike
Speaking of J6th rioters, here’s an update on some of the pardoned
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/03/january-6-pardons-trump
Perhaps a little research and a less than blanketed approach should have been used
The view from the left
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/03/the-guardian-view-on-donald-trumps-power-grab-a-coup-veiled-by-chaos
hrw
LikeLike
HRW, you say, “if your business can’t pay a living wage, you shouldn’t be in business. If your business can only exist by paying poverty wages, it’s not a legitimate business model, its instead exploitative.”
So why don’t people simply refuse to work for that business?
Perhaps it is because some people (e.g., teenagers) don’t have the job experience and/or skills to get a better job, and would rather take this job than not work at all.
That doesn’t mean there is no such thing as an exploitative business. When I lived in Nashville, for a while I had a housemate who had gotten a master’s degree in a field where there weren’t many jobs. So upon graduation, she took an unpaid internship (!). She worked for the company for several months, as they told her they loved her work, and that as soon as they brought in enough money to hire her, they would do so. Eventually she got tired of waiting for that, and quit. In the next few months they “hired” two or three other suckers, presumably with the same promises they never intended to keep. They were wrong to treat her that way. But she was an adult, and did have a choice in the matter, and she did gain some experience and a line for her resume.
But truly, the only way some people will have jobs is if companies are allowed to pay employees what those employees are worth. And “poverty wages” are surely better than no wages at all! Get the job experience, get the skills or education, and then get a better job.
LikeLiked by 1 person
HRW, you say, “if your business can’t pay a living wage, you shouldn’t be in business. If your business can only exist by paying poverty wages, it’s not a legitimate business model, its instead exploitative.”
So why don’t people simply refuse to work for that business?
Perhaps it is because some people (e.g., teenagers) don’t have the job experience and/or skills to get a better job, and would rather take this job than not work at all.
That doesn’t mean there is no such thing as an exploitative business. When I lived in Nashville, for a while I had a housemate who had gotten a master’s degree in a field where there weren’t many jobs. So upon graduation, she took an unpaid internship (!). She worked for the company for several months, as they told her they loved her work, and that as soon as they brought in enough money to hire her, they would do so. Eventually she got tired of waiting for that, and quit. In the next few months they “hired” two or three other suckers, presumably with the same promises they never intended to keep. They were wrong to treat her that way. But she was an adult, and did have a choice in the matter, and she did gain some experience and a line for her resume.
But truly, the only way some people will have jobs is if companies are allowed to pay employees what those employees are worth. And “poverty wages” are surely better than no wages at all! Get the job experience, get the skills or education, and then get a better job.
LikeLike
HRW, unlike Biden’s sweeping blanket pardons which covered everything the people did for years, the J6 pardons were specifically for things related to that day or the planning of that day. The rational was that the process was tainted and the prosecutions political.
People can and do disagree with whether or not any of them should have been pardoned ( I was glad to see it) but those pardons did not put them above the law in my opinion. The fact that some can and are being prosecuted for other things is actually evidence of that.
This is a stark contrast to the Biden pardons. Theoretically [and I’m not making this accusation] if their office computers were to be found stuffed full of child porn they could not be prosecuted for it.
LikeLike