USAID-Son of Satan

And Other Musings

So on Twitter the Trump-Musk simps are all over USAID and pretty quiet on Gaza. Indeed it seems Gaza comments are being deboosted.

For some reason the State Department is now this trusted organization who is going to take over functions authorized by Congress and a $40-50 billion annual budget with only 300 of USAID’s 10,000 staff. And USAID is the Son of Satan whose disappearance solves most of our financial problems despite accounting for 1% of the total budget. Something like that.

It’s also been somewhat amusing to see all the attention paid to USAID subscriptions and dealings with journalists/media , although not inconsequential.

$268 million that was earmarked to fund “independent media and the free flow of information” this year. In the recent past, USAID had boasted of supporting more than six thousand journalists, around seven hundred independent newsrooms, and nearly three hundred media-focused civil society groups in thirty or so countries

https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/usaid-and-the-media-in-a-time-of-monsters.php

Let me just give a few quick examples of other agencies influence on US media which seems to dwarf USAID influence

Today it costs the U.S. Postal Service more to deliver news magazines than the postage it charges. The Annual Compliance Determination. has shown periodical mailers pay postage 25 percent below the cost of delivery. $500 million annual giveaway.

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-federal-governments-500-million-subsidy-to-magazine-publishers/

Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s (CPB) primary role is to receive and distribute federal funding to local public radio and television stations.

For more than 20 years, Congress has provided federal funding, separate from CPB funding, for public media’s interconnection system, which requires periodic updates to meet advancements in broadcast technology.

https://protectmypublicmedia.org/public-media-funding/

For fiscal year 2025, CBP appropriation was US$535 million

• $267.83M for direct grants to local public television stations;

• $96.78M for television programming grants;

• $83.33M for direct grants to local public radio stations;

• $28.63M for the Radio National Program Production and Acquisition

• $9.58M for the Radio Program Fund

• $32.10M for system support

• $26.75M for administration

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporation_for_Public_Broadcasting

Federal government agencies in the United States spent more than $1.8 billion on discretionary advertising in 2023 – more than double the 2018 spend, according to federal procurement records analyzed by Rebuild Local News.

The increase from the $778.5 million agencies spent on advertising in 2018 was driven by multiple forces, including the COVID-19 pandemic response, inflation, and increased efforts around military recruitment

It is unclear how much is going to social media companies compared to national or local media. Maybe Elon can tell us.

The Defense Department spent $1.14 billion on advertising in 2023. Within DoD, the Department of the Army was the top advertiser, spending nearly $640 million in 2023.

The second-highest spend, by the General Services Administration, of $253.6 million, encompasses ad campaigns across many federal agencies, including responses to natural disasters such as hurricanes and floods. Rounding out the top five spenders were Department of Transportation ($96.65 million); Homeland Security ($88.2 million); and Health and Human Services ($72.5 million).

Homeland Security ads highlighted issues from emergency readiness to “See Something, Say Something” anti-crime messaging. The COVID-19 crisis drove a significant vaccination ad campaign by Health and Human Services and increased its ad spending from less than $37 million in 2019 to a peak of $453.6 million in 2022.

However, the contract award often does not show which specific media outlets or technology platforms received the ads.

https://www.rebuildlocalnews.org/federal-government-advertising-spending-has-doubled-to-1-8-billion-since-2018/

I think its also a good time to remind you of the Media Influence Database set up by the DHS during the first Trump administration in 2018.

As part of its “media monitoring,” the DHS seeks to track more than 290,000 global news sources as well as social media in over 100 languages, including Arabic, Chinese and Russian, for instant translation into English. The successful contracting company will have “24/7 access to a password protected, media influencer database, including journalists, editors, correspondents, social media influencers, bloggers etc.” in order to “identify any and all media coverage related to the Department of Homeland Security or a particular event.”

“Any and all media coverage,” as you might imagine, is quite broad and includes “online, print, broadcast, cable, radio, trade and industry publications, local sources, national/international outlets, traditional news sources, and social media.”

The database will be browsable by "location, beat and type of influencer," and for each influencer, the chosen contractor should "present contact details and any other information that could be relevant, including publications this influencer writes for, and an overview of the previous coverage published by the media influencer."

https://www.forbes.com/sites/michellefabio/2018/04/06/department-of-homeland-security-compiling-database-of-journalists-and-media-influencers/

I bet USAID had access to that (read and write acess). Maybe ELon also has access to that database. Might be a way to funnel money to influencers doing a good job. And debank /defund those that he doesn’t like. Ya think?

Back to USAID

As a CIA cutout I certainly have no love for USAID nefarious functions involving color revolutions and virus hunting activities, but they do some good work, so I think its time for a history lesson

The idea of restructuring USAID was first put forward in Vice President Al Gore’s Reinventing Government blueprint. The plan was to fold USAID, USIA, and the independent Arms Controls and Disarmament Agency (ACDA) into the State Department. ACDA was happy to merge with the State Department given that its functions were diplomatic in nature. In contrast, USIA and USAID had different functions and skills from diplomacy and resisted the consolidation

USAID survived as an independent agency but was formally linked to the State Department with the USAID administrator reporting to the secretary of state.

USIA and ACDA were merged into the State Department.

U.S. Information Agency (USIA) was created in 1953 to provide a home for public diplomacy activities in support of U.S. foreign policy.

In other words it was our Propaganda Arm and it moved over to the State Department which gave birth to the Global Engagement Center (GEC) which played a big role in censoring during the 2020 election and COVID

Anyways, the USAID brand, while linked to the U.S. government, allows partners who would not otherwise work with the United States to partner with us.

The ability to convince others to follow our lead would be lost in Africa and other regions, where China is waiting to step in—with a far different set of values and interests. Moreover, if the United States were to lose its bilateral development expertise, there would be a temptation to “outsource” development work to UN agencies and multilateral development banks.

Development, as a process for transforming socioeconomic and political conditions and lifting people out of poverty, cannot be achieved if it is exclusively tied to short-term and rapidly evolving policy imperatives. Development outcomes need time and consistency to come to fruition.

For example, improving security and creating the conditions for a peace agreement in Colombia have taken almost 20 years. Such achievements would not have been possible had USAID been operating on the State Department’s one- or two-year timelines.

https://www.csis.org/analysis/folly-merging-state-department-and-usaid-lessons-usia

More Musings

I read somewhere (no link) that Trumps doing a great job, leaving his latest Gaza boondoggle alone

Let me address each point

• Mexico putting 10k troops at border

Biden got Mexico to send 10k troops in 2021 and maintain that. Trump just got them to send 10k more. Thats great. Meanwhile we have what, only 2000 of our own?

• Canada putting 10k at border and spending $1.3B to help keep Americans safe.

Canada denies it will put 10,000 troops at the border. They announced $1.3 B in December over 6 years, likely to pacify Trump, but illegals and Fentanyl are not coming across the border from Canada in great numbers. Not much impact IMO.

https://globalnews.ca/news/11002453/canada-border-security-no-military-troops-mcguinty/amp/

• Illegal crossings down 95% without a "bipartisan bill"

Border encounters dropped for 1,400 a day in Biden’s last days to 600 a day. Since last summer when Biden implemented tougher measures crossings have been tolerable. A bit too late though. Fortunately its over with for now. Still have a lot of work to do removing those that are here.

For some reason we have to wait for Congress to authorize the money to authorize large scale deportations but we can ignore Congress on other issues.

https://nypost.com/2025/01/28/us-news/illegal-border-crossings-drop-significantly-just-one-week-into-trump-presidency/

• Military just had the best recruiting month in 12 years.

Well, it was the best December. The top month was August. Credit goes to Bidens Future Soldier Prep Course although ending Vaccine mandates and that Woke nonsense probably helps.

In 2023, there were several initiatives to try and help lower-performing recruits — including adding courses like the Future Soldier Prep Course, at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, to help them meet the military academic and physical standards to move on to basic training.

Army Secretary Christine Wormuth told the Associated Press last month that the Army is on track to meet its 2025 enlistment goals, expecting 81,000 new recruits. She said she expects the Future Soldier Prep Course will contribute about 30% of this year’s recruits

According to Army data, recruiting numbers have been increasing steadily over the past year, with the highest total in August 2024 before the November election. Army officials closely track recruiting numbers.

https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/military/army-recruiting-record-highs-trumps-win/amp/

• Panama just notified CCP that they won't renew the lease letting China operate the canal we built - and just waived any charges for US ships

China never had a lease to operate the canal. Panama did opt out of BRICS so thats a plus. Chinese companies still have ports in Panama, and Panama denies giving US ships free passage.

Panama’s President Raúl Mulino said he was “very surprised” by the US State Department’s claim and criticized it as an “intolerable” falsehood.

Over the past 26 years the US has paid a total of $25.4 million dollars for the transit of warships and submarines, equivalent to less than one million dollars per year, according to a Panama Canal Authority release

Panama would not renew a 2017 memorandum of understanding to join China’s overseas development initiative, known as the Belt and Road initiative, Mulino said, also suggesting that the deal with Beijing could end early.

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/06/americas/panama-canal-state-department-hnk-intl/index.html

• Denmark is now open to allow us to expand our presence in Greenland to strategically secure N. America and allow us to secure the Arctic

We already have a base in Greenland and all we needed to do was ask for more access. Denmark is an ally who sent troops to Afghanistan and also has an interest in Arctic Defense

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2025/01/27/europe/denmark-greenland-trump-defense-latam-intl

• 40,000 and counting lazy government bureaucrats have taken the early retirement.

Lazy workers wont take that deal since it’s hard for lazy workers to find a good job. The workers who take the deal are the better workers whose skills are in high demand. Also, those already close to retirement might enjoy a long vacation before collecting their retirement paychecks. 40,000 is only 2% of the civilian workforce and the offer isn’t available to those who work in jobs related to immigration enforcement and national security. There is some question about the legality of the offer as its not authorized by Congress.

https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/trump-deferred-resignation-fork-in-the-road-elon-musk-opm-lawsuit/

• The liberal slush fund USAID is getting crushed - no more $8 million dollar grants to Politico and no more $40 million going to the Wuhan lab.

USAID has less than 3% of the discretionary budget (1% of total) . Politico got no grants , the agency purchased subscriptions from them. Politico is more center than left. Its 98% owned by 2 Germans, one of whom is a Trump supporter. USAID has not funded Wuhan since Trump was in office. I suppose the slush fund will be run out of the State Department now.

It seems like Trump is going to war against our allies and government workers and people seem happy about it. Wait till he comes for us, and that may be you too.☹️

End