47

[Crusades]

https://www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-ELECTION/RESULTS/zjpqnemxwvx/

Welcome back. 

[Crusades]

toomuchbaloney said:

Hahaha 

First, the link is broken.  Second, why would you take the word of the dishonest oligarch who is stealing from you? That seems especially naive. 

Like George Sorus?  Bill Gates? 

[toomuchbaloney]

Crusades said:

Like George Sorus?  Bill Gates? 

That's an interesting deflection.  I guess that's your answer to the question of why you would believe and accept the word of a known liar who is stealing from you. You believe the liars because you're convinced that everyone believes lying oligarchs even though you wouldn't be able to give me a example of a lie that Soros or Gates has told Americans recently. 

I do appreciate you reminding us that the right-wing animus toward George Soros grew substantially during the first Trump administration. Trump, of course, shared crazy conspiracy theories about Soros on social media.  

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

toomuchbaloney said:

I do appreciate you reminding us that the right-wing animus toward George Soros grew substantially during the first Trump administration. Trump, of course, shared crazy conspiracy theories about Soros on social media.  

Don't forget that Bill Gates became the punching bag of conspiracy theories around covid. 

Speaking of Gates.   I understand that USAID most likely has some waste and spending that needs to be looked at.  I'm not sure I'm buying into that it's fraudulent an corrupt.  I think we have to decided how cruel to we want to be in putting America first and stopping all USAID, such as food security and medical security programs to property stricken areas around the world.  Do we stop it all and say "there are Americans that need help and we're sending all this money overseas" (something I've heard my entire life) and let the cards fall where they may?  Or do we be a little more selective and drop programs that can be dropped and weed out unnecessary spending?

Quote

 Billionaire Bill Gates, a philanthropist and co-founder of Microsoft, said he met with President Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday to advocate for continuing foreign aid disbursements from the U.S. Agency for International Development.

"I went by the White House because there's a lot in this transition, what we keep, in terms of foreign aid, what we keep — it's all kind of up in the air," he told NBC's "TODAY" show anchor Savannah Guthrie in an interview. "And I'm doing my best to make sure we keep the things that I think are very value-based."

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/bill-gates-defend-usaid-foreign-aid-donald-trump-susie-wiles-rcna190926

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

USAID apparently is the largest aid agency in the world accounting for 40% of worldwide distribution.

This is an interesting article that rants that Dems are concerned about billionaires in government positions when they have hob knobbed with them selves (although I'm not sure having the world richest man slash aid programs isn't apples and oranges).

Quote

Take the shuttering of USAID. For the Dems, this was one of their agencies. One of those taxpayer-funded boondoggles that allowed Democrats to pursue and further their own interests. Not America's interests — their own interests. As bizarre as some of them were.

None of it came cheap. In the fiscal year 2023, USAID's budget totaled some $40 billion. To put that in context, that is roughly the GDP of a small country like Estonia.

https://nypost.com/2025/02/06/opinion/soros-funded-dems-suddenly-upset-by-billionaires-in-government/

Again, I think it might be a good idea to take a look at government agencies and cut the fat.  

Quote

Andrew Natsios, a self-described conservative Republican who ran the agency in the George W. Bush administration, said Musk's claims about USAID are "a bold-faced lie.” He added that USAID is "the most private-sector-oriented, pro-business, pro-market" agency in the world of international development, citing partnerships that have boosted income for people in poor countries while improving supply chains for U.S. companies and strengthening America's alliances at the same time.

https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2025/feb/06/republican-who-ran-usaid-under-bush-calls-dismantl/

Quote

"The law is very specific that if there's going to be a reorganization of USAID that Congress has to be informed 15 days in advance and a detailed explanation of any changes has to be provided. All we have received is a very brief letter which we got today. I do not believe that satisfies the requirements of the law,” Collins said on Monday evening.

https://www.semafor.com/article/02/03/2025/usaids-breakup-sparks-little-outcry-from-even-pro-foreign-aid-republicans

[toomuchbaloney]

Tweety said:

USAID apparently is the largest aid agency in the world accounting for 40% of worldwide distribution.

This is an interesting article that rants that Dems are concerned about billionaires in government positions when they have hob knobbed with them selves (although I'm not sure having the world richest man slash aid programs isn't apples and oranges).

https://nypost.com/2025/02/06/opinion/soros-funded-dems-suddenly-upset-by-billionaires-in-government/

Again, I think it might be a good idea to take a look at government agencies and cut the fat.  

https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2025/feb/06/republican-who-ran-usaid-under-bush-calls-dismantl/

https://www.semafor.com/article/02/03/2025/usaids-breakup-sparks-little-outcry-from-even-pro-foreign-aid-republicans

I give you credit for getting through that entire NYPOST article to find something that was quote worthy.  

Everyone would like to cut the fat.  Generally we do that using the congress which requires a discussion and negotiation of priorities by hundreds of people from every state representing all of our values and interests.  In this instance Republicans are cutting fat by appointing an unelected billionaire, with no specific expertise in these matters to determine the definition of fraud independently, after dismissing the Office of Inspectors General. The staff and agency we developed to look for and pursue fraud is considered unnecessary by the billionaire lair who says he's looking for fraud.  

[toomuchbaloney]

https://www.statnews.com/2025/02/07/nih-slashes-indirect-costs-on-all-grants-to-15-percent-trump/

Quote

The National Institutes of Health, the nation's premier funder of biomedical research, announced Friday night that it will immediately slash support for "indirect costs" paid to universities, medical centers, and other research grant recipients, funding that the nation's science enterprise relies on for basic operating costs. 

In an announcement issued by the NIH Office of the Director, the agency noted that it has historically supported indirect costs — administrative, facility, and other expenses not directly linked to the goals of a scientific project — with funds that averaged at around 27% of the cost of a research grant. Going forward, the rate of support will now be 15% for new and existing grants. The cut is a major blow to the nation's most elite research universities, which often get a rate of more than 50% to cover indirect costs.

My daughter will have to decide which members of her team (working on beating glioblastoma) are least necessary to the research at the university.  Because that's wasted money in the eyes of Musk apparently.  

https://www.axios.com/2025/02/08/nih-cut-university-medical-research-costs

Quote

The reductions will particularly hit elite institutions including Harvard, Yale and Johns Hopkins and fulfill a long-sought conservative goal that was included in the Project 2025 blueprint.

Trump proposed a similar change during his first term, but Congress didn't act. Project 2025 says the reimbursements "cross-subsidize leftist agendas" and that universities use the funds to pay for diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

There are quite a few women on my daughter's research team.  

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

toomuchbaloney said:

https://www.statnews.com/2025/02/07/nih-slashes-indirect-costs-on-all-grants-to-15-percent-trump/

My daughter will have to decide which members of her team (working on beating glioblastoma) are least necessary to the research at the university.  Because that's wasted money in the eyes of Musk apparently.  

https://www.axios.com/2025/02/08/nih-cut-university-medical-research-costs

There are quite a few women on my daughter's research team.  

Buget cuts will be painful for sure.  I just hope science and research doesn't take too much of a hit.  The US has the most Nobel Prizes by a tremendous margin and this is what makes America great.  For generations we've been the science superpower of the world leading in innovation and research.

Even before now scientists have sounded the alarm (now some of this might be self-interest) of falling behind in science and research, while other countries, particularly China are forging ahead.  

[mtmkjr, BSN]

Tweety said:

USAID apparently is the largest aid agency in the world accounting for 40% of worldwide distribution.

An interesting thought - if USAID accounts for 40% of worldwide distribution that means total is 100 billion for this kind of assistance. Elon Musk could fund the world's entire distribution out of his pockets and still have over 300 billion left. 

I don't think anyone at all would argue that there is waste and abuse of taxpayer funds. But they've come in and thrown the baby out with the bath water. I'm sure we will be hearing about the ripple effect on people's lives and livelihoods for years to come.

[Beerman, BSN]

Tweety said:

USAID apparently is the largest aid agency in the world accounting for 40% of worldwide distribution.

This is an interesting article that rants that Dems are concerned about billionaires in government positions when they have hob knobbed with them selves (although I'm not sure having the world richest man slash aid programs isn't apples and oranges).

https://nypost.com/2025/02/06/opinion/soros-funded-dems-suddenly-upset-by-billionaires-in-government/

Again, I think it might be a good idea to take a look at government agencies and cut the fat.  

https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2025/feb/06/republican-who-ran-usaid-under-bush-calls-dismantl/

https://www.semafor.com/article/02/03/2025/usaids-breakup-sparks-little-outcry-from-even-pro-foreign-aid-republicans

Here's another take on it.  The point is made that there doesn't seem to be much worldwide outrage and there seems to be some support for Trump on thus issue from some unexpected sources.

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/david-marcus-usaid-so-vital-where-global-outrage

 

[toomuchbaloney]

Beerman said:

Here's another take on it.  The point is made that there doesn't seem to be much worldwide outrage and there seems to be some support for Trump on thus issue from some unexpected sources.

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/david-marcus-usaid-so-vital-where-global-outrage

 

I guess if Viktor Orban approves then it must be the best way for the US to ferret out fraud?  That's just weirdly funny.   I guess I'm not surprised that this opinion is published by Fox. That media outlet has no reservations about publishing straight up lies if the lies help people to accept Trump's crazy behavior. That was proved in court. When they are straight up lying they are feeding their audience a porridge of lies and misleading baloney. 

  Clearly, millions of Trump supporters have zero reservations about trusting people and organizations who have been proved to have intentionally lied to them.  Not little white lies or misleading partly true info.  They do that too. But Fox publishes lies and baloney about important matters as if truth doesn't matter.  

If we look elsewhere for discussion of President Musk's desire to shut down or limit USAID we see that the idea isn't celebrated by the UN.

https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/02/1159746

It isn't celebrated by the UK.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2q13113wwo

It isn't celebrated by experts in any of the fields involved.  

https://apnews.com/article/usaid-hiv-humanitarian-assistance-disease-spending-20f9cb969ffb6773e57886e34bf69165

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trumps-aid-freeze-keeps-life-saving-programs-shut-sparks-mayhem-2025-02-08/

 

 

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

Beerman said:

Here's another take on it.  The point is made that there doesn't seem to be much worldwide outrage and there seems to be some support for Trump on thus issue from some unexpected sources.

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/david-marcus-usaid-so-vital-where-global-outrage

 

Receipients aren't going to be outraged because they won't bite the hand that feeds them.  Other rich countries with their own aid packages have no need to be outraged at the US for this.  So I'm not sure "where is the outrage from countries" is a valid point.  

Rwanda is supporting a war in the Congo who happens to be a USAID recipient, so using him as an example seems to be a bit twisted.  It also ignores the issue that USAID works with countries to encourage self-reliance.  

Experts around the world are alarmed.  

I'm not saying all programs are necessary and there isn't waste that should be cut.  Whenever there is a huge organization this needs to be looked at.  

[Beerman, BSN]

Tweety said:

Receipients aren't going to be outraged because they won't bite the hand that feeds them.  Other rich countries with their own aid packages have no need to be outraged at the US for this.  So I'm not sure "where is the outrage from countries" is a valid point.  

Rwanda is supporting a war in the Congo who happens to be a USAID recipient, so using him as an example seems to be a bit twisted.  It also ignores the issue that USAID works with countries to encourage self-reliance.  

Experts around the world are alarmed.  

I'm not saying all programs are necessary and there isn't waste that should be cut.  Whenever there is a huge organization this needs to be looked at.  

What "experts around the world are alarmed"?