For the life of me, I really don't understand why it is in our interests to fund research at foreign universities using federal funds. Research funding is a zero-sum affair. Doling out $386 million to Australian universities means that money will not be available for funding opportunities for American scientists or world-class scientists living in other countries who want to come to America. We should've learned the folly of pushing our research dollars into foreign universities where we can't control what goes on with our Wuhan Institute of Virology tragedy.

As the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) looks to slash waste and correct inefficiencies, one DOGE adviser revealed it's "hard to really grasp the scale" of problems facing the IRS.

"A huge part of our government is collecting taxes. We cannot perform the basic functions of tax collection without paying a toll to all these contractors. We really have to figure out how to get out of this hole. We're in a really deep hole right now," DOGE representative Sam Corcos said on "The Ingraham Angle" Thursday.

Department of Government Efficiency @DOGE
·
There is a pattern across all agencies where IT “modernization” contracts do not pay for outcomes/performance; instead, they pay for time. Therefore, the incentive is for contractors to “never finish,” resulting in incredible waste.

As an example, IRS modernization started in 1990 to be delivered in 1996. Today, the work is not complete and the contractors say it’s still 5 years away. 29 years behind schedule and ~$15b over budget. Everyone loses, except the government contractors.

This must change. This week, the IRS froze ~$1.5B in modernization contracts, none of which have any effect on tax filings. All of those contracts will then either be cancelled or the contract terms will be changed to pay-for-performance.
9:25 AM · Mar 21, 2025 //

The U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) launched a chaotic, short-lived rebellion against Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) on Monday, sabotaging their own building and communications infrastructure in a failed attempt to resist a Trump administration takeover, sources exclusively told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The standoff stemmed from President Donald Trump’s Feb. 19 executive order demanding the dramatic downsizing of numerous federally-funded organizations, explicitly requiring USIP to reduce its operations and personnel to the minimum levels required by law. //

Further reinforcing the deliberate, calculated nature of the rebellion, an internal memo from Feb. 6 titled “External Agency Visitor Procedure,” also obtained exclusively by the DCNF, outlined detailed contingency plans for resisting the Trump administration’s attempts at a leadership transition. The document asserts USIP’s discretion over its own facilities, security protocols and access control, buttressing the leadership’s belief that they could reject external overseers.

It also postulates the institute’s control over its own physical infrastructure, implying leadership believed they had the authority to disable security systems, destroy locks and otherwise render the building inoperable as a means of resistance. The document confirms advanced planning more than ten days before Trump’s inciting executive order, contradicting the outward appearance of Monday’s showdown as a spontaneous and purely reactionary resistance.

One of the seven small federal agencies that President Donald Trump ordered downsized or eliminated on Friday was rife with corruption, with its employees hiring friends and relatives, commissioning paintings of themselves, and using government credit cards to indulge in constant luxuries.

The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) occupied a nine-story office tower on D.C.’s K Street for only 60 employees, many of whom actually worked from home, prior to the pandemic. Its managers had luxury suites with full bathrooms; one manager would often be “in the shower” when she was needed, while another used her bathroom as a cigarette lounge. FMCS recorded its director as being on a years-long business trip to D.C. so he could have all of his meals and living expenses covered by taxpayers, simply for showing up to the office.

FMCS is a 230-employee agency that exists to serve as a voluntary mediator between unions and businesses. As an “independent agency,” its director nominally reports to the president, but the agency is so small that in effect, there is no oversight at all — and it showed, becoming a real-life caricature of all the excesses that the Department of Government Efficiency has alleged take place in government.

"If it continues like this, the United States will not score as a democracy when we release [next year's] data," said Staffan Lindberg, head of the Varieties of Democracy project, run out of Sweden's University of Gothenburg.

"If it continues like this, democracy [there] will not last another six months."

His project includes 31 million data points for 202 countries, compiled by 4,200 scholars and other contributors, measuring 600 different attributes of democracy.

Lindberg happens to be in the U.S. this week presenting this year's report — which only includes data through the end of 2024. //

The number of autocracies (91) has just surpassed democracies (88) on this list for the first time in two decades, and nearly three-quarters of humans now live in an autocracy — where one person has unconstrained power — the highest rate in five decades.

The latest report still ranks the U.S. as a "Liberal Democracy," the highest of five tiers, one higher than Canada, which is classified as an "Electoral Democracy."

The report adds an important caveat: this year's version does not include events in 2025, meaning it does not cover the start of Donald Trump's latest presidential term. //

Liberal democracy
Requirements of electoral democracy are met; judicial and legislative constraints on the executive along with the protection of civil liberties and equality before the law.

Electoral democracy
Multiparty elections for the executive are free and fair; satisfactory degrees of suffrage, freedom of expression, freedom of association.
↑
Democratization

Grey zone
Countries belong here if confidence intervals between electoral democracy and electoral autocracy overlap, making the classification more uncertain.

Autocratization
↓

Electoral autocracy
Multiparty elections for the executive exist; insufficient levels of fundamental requisites such as freedom of expression and association, and free and fair elections.

Closed autocracy
No multiparty elections for the executive; absence of fundamental democratic components such as freedom of expression, freedom of association, and free and fair elections.

Florida’s Voice
@FLVoiceNews
·
Follow
BREAKING: President Trump is tomorrow signing an executive order commencing the closure of the U.S. Department of Education through @EDSecMcMahon, White House confirms to Florida's Voice, first reported by USA Today
6:02 PM · Mar 19, 2025. //

Popdaddy eburke
4 hours ago
I think the EO directs McMahon to identify what can be done at the executive level and develop a plan to present to Congress to clean up their mess.

In referring to tax cuts/breaks for the so-called rich, unnamed business owners who he referred to as a "small group of greedy, wealthy people" who control the Republican Party, here's what Schumer said in a mocking tone:

"You know what their attitude is, 'I made my money all by myself. How dare your government take my money from me?' I don't want to pay taxes.

[...]

They hate government. Government is a barrier to people. A barrier to stop them from doing things. They want to destroy it and we are not letting them do it. We are united.". //

So, just to recap, Schumer has not only ticked off just about every mover and shaker in his party (not to mention all the hacktivists), but now he's just confirmed what Republicans have been saying for decades about Democrats on the issue of taxes and business ownership and how they love to punish success.

You're doing just fine, Chuck. Keep right on talking, buddy.

On Monday we reported on what Elon Musk termed 14 "magic money" computers spread out at various agencies that he said were issuing payments out of thin air. He said most of them were in the Treasury, but there were some in other agencies as well, such as Health and Human Services, one at the State Department, and one at the Department of Defense.

Musk added that his goal is to save $1 trillion of waste and fraud by fiscal year 2026. Musk went on to describe instances where there were software licenses and media subscriptions that outnumbered employees in a department. Musk also stated that DOGE has found "twice as many government credit cards as there are humans." //

Pulte then explained he was in "second headquarter[s] at Freddie Mac," and again no one appeared to be there -- the desks were "clean," he said. He went to a cafeteria where the staff was working five days a week, but the cafeteria was empty because the workers weren't there five days a week. That doesn't make a lot of sense.

Pulte told Laura Ingraham that at Fannie Mae there were about 2,900 people who were supposed to work in the building, but that it turns out only about 49 were showing up full-time. He said on average that was the highest number they found. He said Freddie Mac had a similar problem and they were going to fix it. So what's happening with all those workers who aren't showing up? Are they working from home or are they not even needed?

Erick Erickson @EWErickson
·
To the left: u chose to engage in ideological capture of institutions. The right has no choice other than razing those institutions. We would have taken neutrality. You chose to use the neutral institutions to advance progressivism. This is you losing now.
politico.eu
Trump’s move to silence pro-democracy media sparks outrage
11:23 AM · Mar 16, 2025

When starting a reform process, the rule generally is: You only need to fire one person. After that, word gets around quickly.

It only took the Trump administration one action to impose the funding equivalent of a termination. Columbia University got the “set an example” treatment late last week. The White House announced Friday that they would immediately cancel $400 million in grants and other funding. The new Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism (JTFCAS) warned that they could eventually end billions of dollars in financial support for the school’s refusal to defend its Jewish students and faculty from organized anti-Semitic intimidation campaigns.

That got the attention of two other Poison Ivies yesterday. //

Get ready for more financial reckonings in Academia. The JTFCAS sent warning letters to 60 schools today over their failures to abide by federal law in ensuring access for students regardless of religious affiliation. "All 60 colleges — which include high-profile institutions like Columbia University, Yale University and University of Southern California – are under investigation by the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights,” reports Higher Ed Dive. Five of those investigations have apparently escalated: //

Update: A number of commenters wonder why we're funding Academia at all. Just to remind everyone, I've been making that argument for the last 18 months. But this is an excellent start in the "hoist by own petard" sense.

Americans should support Elon Musk as President Trump has. His push to slash government waste through DOGE could lighten the tax load and boost economic vitality for all people.

The reason leftists are going after Tesla is not simply because it's his "baby." It's because the company is a symbol of his proven cost-cutting success.

They don't want that. Liberals want the waste and fraud to continue unabated. It's their "baby."

temporary guest Edmund Burke
2 hours ago edited
I recall, when Bill Clinton was president, I got two calls from pollsters wanting to know if I thought character was an issue in an American president. I answered with a quote that I had heard attributed to Fletcher Christian in the movie, "Mutiny On The Bounty" (I have never seen the movie) ... The quote, Fletcher Christian to Captain Blythe, "Sir, if honor abides not in the captain of the ship, it is not on board".

Another quote, if I remember correctly, from G.S. Weaver, D.D. in his book, "The Lives And Graves Of Our Presidents" published by Elder Publishing Company, Chicago, in 1888: "No nation will ever be stronger than the virtues of it's men".

The fact that so many folks just don't seem to notice, understand or give a rip any more about such things as honor, decency, fidelity, loyalty and personal integrity doesn't change the fundamental realities of life. Character Matters. It always will. The lack of it does not negate that truth; it only demonstrates a weakening rot within men, and their nations.

Department of Government Efficiency
@DOGE
·
Follow
In 2020-2021, SBA granted 5,593 loans for $312M to borrowers whose only listed owner was 11 years old or younger at the time of the loan. While it is possible to have business arrangements where this is legal, that is highly unlikely for these 5,593 loans, as they all also used… Show more
Department of Government Efficiency
@DOGE
In 2020-2021, @SBAgov issued 3,095 loans, including PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) and EIDL (Economic Injury Disaster Loan), for $333M to borrowers over 115 years old who were still marked as alive in the Social Security database.

In one case, a 157 years old individual received $36k in loans.
4:10 AM · Mar 9, 2025. //

While it is possible to have business arrangements where this is legal, that is highly unlikely for these 5,593 loans, as they all also used an SSN with the incorrect name.

@DOGE and @SBAgov are working together to solve this problem this week. //

ShowMeGrl/Maybe Maybe Not Steve351C
4 hours ago
Bingo! I think that's where ActBlue has been getting its illicit funds - that and overseas dark money. I guarantee Soros didn't spend one penny of his own money, the money he's spent came through his bogus foundations which has been funded by USAID. I've also noticed that the rent-a-crowds have disappeared too. //

polyjunkie
5 hours ago
It is almost certain that these fraudulent loans ended up with some funding going to the Democrat party. In any event, the Democrats have overseen the greatest waste of taxpayer funds in the history of the galaxy.

The Danish postal service has said it will deliver its last letter at the end of this year, instead focusing on packages to respond to changing forms of communication.

PostNord said on Thursday it would cut 1,500 jobs in Denmark and remove 1,500 red postboxes, citing the “increasing digitalisation” of society.

The company, formed in 2009 in a merger of the Swedish and Danish postal services, is owned by the Danish and Swedish states in a respective 40:60 split. Letter distribution in Sweden would not be affected, it said.

The Danish postal service has been responsible for delivering letters in the country since 1624, but since 2000 the number of letters has declined by more than 90%, it said.

PostNord Denmark will deliver its last letter on 30 December.

The TSA has no legal right to organize, but negotiations were opened with the AFGE to represent TSA screeners in June 2021. The agreement was signed in March 2024.

As an aside, on social media, you routinely read comments to the effect that federal employee unions were created in 1962 by John F. Kennedy's Executive Order 10988, and all that is needed to abolish them is to repeal that order. That is utter nonsense. While the Kennedy executive order did open the door, the right of federal employees was codified by the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 (P.L. 95-454), which you can find at 5 USC 71.

This is undoubtedly headed for court because AFGE can't afford to cede this ground without a fight. Because the TSA union does not have Title 5 recognition, the administration will prevail in the end, but we can count on leftist judges to slow things down along the way.

One could argue that Arizona Senator and 1964 Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater was the pre-Reagan. He was one of the early champions of today's conservatism, of small government and low taxes. He famously said:

“I have little interest in streamlining government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size. I do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom. My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them. It is not to inaugurate new programs, but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Constitution, or that have failed their purpose, or that impose on the people an unwarranted financial burden. I will not attempt to discover whether legislation is "needed" before I have first determined whether it is constitutionally permissible. And if I should later be attacked for neglecting my constituents' "interests," I shall reply that I was informed that their main interest is liberty and that in that cause I am doing the very best I can.”. //

“Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem,” Ronald Reagan famously said. No doubt he believed it.

Donald Trump is doing something about it. //

Ron Paul has been happy about this. On February 7, he wrote glowingly, “DOGE is ripping through the federal government like a tornado. This morning it has been reported that DOGE sent out firing notices to 9,400 USAID employees, leaving only 611.”

“Democratic politicians are furious, of course. But we hope that when it’s all said and done, ALL politicians, Democrat AND Republican, are furious with DOGE,” he added.

“Then we will know that it was a job well done for the American people.”

The point is not about Donald Trump, and the meaning of the moment is much larger than most of the reporting suggests. The claim that it’s outrageous, unprecedented, and a crisis to fire flag officers is laughable. It’s also dangerous and threatens to reduce civilian control of the military if the premise is accepted at all. If it’s an illegitimate act for President Donald Trump to fire senior military officers, then it’s illegitimate for presidents to fire senior military officers — all presidents. It means that anyone who wears stars on his or her collar is somehow untouchable, a member of a protected guild that stands above political control. “You can’t fire me — I’m a general.” Good luck with that. //

The current president’s decision to fire flag officers isn’t a break with American law and tradition. The “Appeal to Congress” from former secretaries of defense certainly is. The warning about a crisis is the crisis. This dangerous argument needs to be hammered into its grave, quickly and forcefully.

The regulation, known as the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Rule, was allegedly based on a provision of the 1968 Fair Housing Act. I say "allegedly" because that portion of the law is anodyne and aspirational, not a call for federal nannyism. //

The 2015 rules required cities and towns, in order to receive funding from HUD to document patterns of racial bias in their neighborhoods, to publicly report the results every three to five years, and to set and track goals to reduce segregation. Under the new rules, any jurisdiction that receives money from HUD must analyze its housing occupancy by race, disability, familial status, economic status, English proficiency, and other categories. It must then analyze factors which contribute to any prohibitive barriers in housing and formulate a plan to remedy the impediments. //

In my view, the rule had three functions. First and foremost, it used awarding Community Development Block Grants to allow advocacy groups to control all zoning decisions. Communities knew if they went against advocacy groups, they would face loss of funds and probably a costly court battle. Second, it was a way of declaring war on established communities and neighborhoods by using their demographics as a way of forcing the construction of no- or low-income housing units. Third, it was another way that the federal bureaucracy could be weaponized to punish political opponents by using lawfare. Oh, it also provided guaranteed employment for a consultant class that could be hired to help communities navigate the rule and its interpretations. //

So, a costly and destructive rule has been sent to the scrap heap. But we can't rest on our laurels. Just as Trump took down the Obama rule, Biden replaced it. We have to create a regulatory web that will take decades to unravel to prevent this kind of nonsense from happening again and shrink government so that even if a future administration wanted to create the rule, they wouldn't be able to enforce it. Yes, it would be easier for Congress to amend the Fair Housing Act, but I stopped believing in leprechauns a long time ago.

Rep. Tim Burchett: Mr. Roman, are you aware that we are sending $40 million a week to the Taliban?

Gregg Roman: Yes, sir.

TB: Can you name other instances of foreign aid going to terrorist organizations?

GR: We have assisted Al-Shabaab in Somalia, there's been instances of the Hamzi network in Sudan, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, Kata'ib Hezbollah, Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham in Syria. Dozens of terror organizations have received indirect assistance from US foreign aid.

TB: Could you elaborate a little on the mechanisms in place to stop foreign aid from going to terrorist groups and why are they not working if we have any in place? (Goes on to explain a graphic display of terrorist weapons and explosives.)

GR: Let's use Gaza as our case study. $2.1 billion in American taxpayers' money to Gaza since October 7th when Hamas invaded southern Israel. USAID money was going in terms of an emergency use authorization to try to go to parties that USAID formerly had a relationship with in the Gaza Strip. That had to have been vetted by (Office of Foreign Assets Control) OFAC, they should have been vetted against the special designated terror list from the State Department and from other Treasury organizations. Waivers were granted because they said that there was an emergency use to have that money come into Gaza, thereby jettisoning the usual, typical screening procedures. As a result, 90 percent of aid that was going from the United States by way of its agents in Gaza ended up in Hamas-controlled areas.

This is EXCELLENT on the differences between a Democracy and a Republic.

Thinking and behaving like we live in a democracy will be our downfall.

Leslie Johnson
@bithits
·
Oct 21, 2024
The first true democracy was in Athens, Greece. It was a disaster. If 51% wanted you dead, you were executed.
If 51% wanted a war, they got it. And it did happen, often.

Truth Slinger X
@TruthSlingerX
·
Oct 21, 2024
That's why we have a Democratic REPUBLIC and the checks and balances that brings.