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SimulationCommander's avatar

The worst part is that while USAID is obviously a huge corruption machine, it's one of the smallest huge corruption machines in DC. Hopefully DOGE uses this momentum to go after the corruption in the DoE, or the other DoE, or the DoD!

This is just a tiny tiny tiny glimpse at the malfeasance of the swamp.

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Skenny's avatar

Yes, yes, and hell yes! BC and SC, y'all have hit the nail squarely on the head. We don't know, and can't yet fathom how many of these "Acacia Centers for Justice" there are out there. Still reading, but R. Starbuck makes this point too. Peel back a few layers and you'll be stunned to find that these NGOs/"non profits" are overrun with people connected to names like Warren, Biden, Clinton, etc. We've been robbed. And if we don't stop it, we'll continue to be.

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okboomer's avatar

This project has to be seen through to the end with the people responsible put in prison, or the hell Trump went through 2021-2024 will look like a picnic, and they will come for all of us.

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Owain Glynd┼╡r's avatar

Those shrilling the loudest give you a clue to where to look next. I don't think we've yet seen what the DJT team is going to unleash on the swamp. Wait until his Cabinet is in place, or as it comes into place. It will be a continual assault on the entrenched interests.

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Jefferson Perkins's avatar

We named our son after Owen Glendower. Kewl name

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Owain Glynd┼╡r's avatar

Our son as well, with this spelling.

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Epaminondas's avatar

"the circle of malfunction is like a plasmid for anti-social outcomes. it takes taxpayer money and uses it to fund agencies that create outcomes (like homelessness or illegal immigration) which taxpayers hate. these agencies then donate some of that taxpayer money to politicians who then force taxpayers to pay more money to solve the now larger problem."

This sounds exactly like how public employee unions work. Take taxpayer money, use it to fund their preferred candidates, perform terribly at their jobs, then use that as an excuse to grant themselves even more funding. And in some states, they've even managed to embed protection for this model into state constitutions!

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Contrary to Ordinary's avatar

Governments are the only entity on the planet that when they fail they get bigger. (I count unions as the governmentsтАЩ front office)

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Owain Glynd┼╡r's avatar

The National Unions, yes. Just like politics, idiots at the top, pretty decent people at the local level. Not to say the practices of some Local Unions are stellar.

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23 SKIDOO!'s avatar

People who do the "anti-union" bit are usually spoiled trust fund kids come pseudo-techbro libertarian who spend all their time online, without connection to actual facts.

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Doc Ellis 124's avatar

@23 Skidoo!

I am anti-union and have no access to a trust fund, and don't spend all my time online. I have a business that I started in 1997 and it is still going fine.

Unions are shit for shit-working shit-brained shit-shaggers. I have watched union folks work; they don't. They just milk clocks.

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23 SKIDOO!'s avatar

Hi, I am a lifelong union employee and union organizers.

Parasites are everywhere, inside of unions and outside of them. You are apparently a parasite outside of them that needs to rationalize it by shitting on people you don't know and an ignorant ideology that has nothing to do with a solution.

Congratulations. It doesn't matter if you own your own business (not sure how this adds credibility) or how much time you spend on line. You have a strong opinion about something, as an outsider, you don't know anything about. Any other ways you'd like to share how you've wasted your life?

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Owain Glynd┼╡r's avatar

What Union - local would be good? And what "organizer's" are you referring to, yourself? That's singular.

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Owain Glynd┼╡r's avatar

Wow. I just saw this after replying to your earlier innuendo.

Talk about "strong opinions...on something you know nothing (sic) about".

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Doc Ellis 124's avatar

@23 SKIDOO! I have watched union folks work; they donтАЩt. I stand by what I wrote about union workers.

You calling me a parasite tells me everything I need to know about you. I notice that you have trouble writing a coherent sentence, as well.

Are there more than one of you? You refer to yourself as a plural being.

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Owain Glynd┼╡r's avatar

And some people spout off without a clue. "bro".

I grew up, at best, lower middle-class, but never on welfare. After the USN for some years, I put myself through college with the help of my spouse. Then yes, into tech and then into Sr. Mgmt of multi-national teams in tech.

My son has been in a Local Iron Workers Union for most of his adult life, 25 years or so. He's been laid off just once I believe. His work ethic is stronger than mine probably. But the stories he tells...about the Locals and about what the Local members think of the Local leaders let alone the National leaders.

And just to set the deck, until mid-late 2019, would have considered myself a classical liberal. Today...not so much. Put whatever label you want on that.

(edit: changed to: "...mid-late 2019")

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MarshaLouise's avatar

DonтАЩt you step in dem pies! Familiar?

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INGRID C DURDEN's avatar

by the time they are done, quite a bit of the deficit will be gone.

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Sharon Ledbetter's avatar

do not settle for quite a bit, all it the goal. This is our $$$$.

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ScottyG's avatar

At this point, this is our great grandkidsтАЩ moneyЁЯШм

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Jefferson Perkins's avatar

I am afraid that as long as we have SS, Medicaid and Medicare, we will have a very bad deficit problem. Still: every little bit helps.

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Bandit's avatar

ЁЯдЮЁЯЩП

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suannee's avatar

I would love to see what they do, if anything, to the National Labs, which are DOE, DOD, Darpa. LANL has not ever passed a financial audit as far as I can find out about. I can't imagine the powers that have taken over even wanting to expose the labs because military supremacy(?) over China and Russia.

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Me's avatar

They are probably hard at work on a strongly-worded position paper right now.

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SimulationCommander's avatar

New nightmare unlocked, thanks!

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Ryan Gardner's avatar

Makes me sick. And they feel entitled for it!

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2001_Odd's avatar

The actual work being done at DOE and DOD labs is however legitimate and high quality, the number of frivolous non scientist/engineer positions of bureocracy they've managed to tag to even the Constitutionally LEGAL agencies is ridiculous. Unfortunately, we don't have what we actually need - which is conversion of all our positions to at-will so we can dump the grifters and the empty suits. The amount of redundancies in things like HR, facility management, budget process, shit, even having paid millions to develop a slightly different pixel pattern for each service is where a LOT of the waste goes. Along with the black ops stuff being as slush fund and unaccountable with no oversight as any of the other agencies.

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suannee's avatar

I am convinced the black ops stuff is real. I am a retiree from LANL. I saw first hand some of the programs at the Lab. One was hot dry rock geothermal energy. It was found to be more expensive to do than almost any other mode of producing energy to drive turbines. It was actually supported by oil companies. It was, in fact, research into fracking operations at tax payer expense. The Yucca Mountain High Level Waste Repository was known almost from the first 13 million $ spent that it would never come to fruition. That was in the days when a million$ meant something.

Who knows what the meteorologists and epidemiologists have been and are doing regarding weather manipulation and modification. Modelers knew what their funders wanted. That's one of the ways CO2 became a culprit without much investigation into whether it is a driving force of extreme weather. There is still controversy concerning that, not "settled science". Start with a false premise that CO2 is a problem, come up with false solutions like electric cars, hot dry rock geothermal energy, and all the environmental outfits' solutions that profit from the public's fear, etc.

These were not admins doing the work on these projects. It was the scientists and engineers. My husband was a PhD electrical engineer there. I was a mere data analyst. Yes, some people did worthy work. There were 8,000 employees when we took a generous retirement plan in 1993. There are now 18,000 employees. When one of the directors in the 70s was asked how many people worked at the Lab, he answered "optimistically, about half of them".

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Owain Glynd┼╡r's avatar

DOGE target.

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suannee's avatar

We'll see. Aaron Mate has a very even handed article re USAID. If you subscribe, it's worth a read.

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2001_Odd's avatar

The acquisition process and all the big equipment contracts are RIFE with fraud, waste and abuse though - and so many improper set asides and kickback deals with retired flag/GO's now at major OEM's in bed with Congress and Congress Aides on both sides. Should audit the plus up / pork / NDAA rider process - BS top to bottom.

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Owain Glynd┼╡r's avatar

The revolving door. Trump has revoked security clearances from some high level idiots in recent days. I'd suggest a much broader sweep of revocations that includes any government employee leaving government employee in the last ten years.

Also, why do you think the 'blob' is trying so hard to keep DOGE from analyzing Treasuring Dept payments? Treasury has never had a transparent audit before. The blob, left and right, are terrified.

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suannee's avatar

Agree with you given what I know about these things. Not as much as you, obviously.

I was involved in a couple of secret programs and am somewhat cautious, so I won't talk about them.

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Candis's avatar

I knew someone a couple of decades ago that doled out taxpayer funded grants at one of the Cabinet agencies. They were educated at one of those trendy private colleges that spews out fed bureaucrats. That individual took great pride in being able to reward or punish people with that money.

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SheThinksLiberty's avatar

The largest and deadliest organized crime syndicate in the world, with the world's deadliest enforcement arm, the U.S. "military."

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suannee's avatar

Agree.

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Owain Glynd┼╡r's avatar

Please explain.

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SheThinksLiberty's avatar

The United States federal government is the largest and deadliest organized crime syndicate in history.

Through the unLawful and illegal use of its enforcement arm, the U.S. military, it has wreaked death, destruction, murder, unrest, and suffering throughout virtually every part of the world.

The U.S. Cavalry, the domestic arm of the U.S. Army, carried out an almost complete genocide of the native peoples. All in the name of the "sea to shining sea" empire. Land theft, murder, mutilation, rape. "Buffalo Bill" became famous (!!!) for his mass killing of buffalo to help starve the Plains people into submission.

At home in more recent times, this crime syndicate has slowly unraveled basic freedoms and their protections through criminal B.S. "legislation." This includes garbage legislation such as the U.S.A. P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act or the PREP Act. Or the CARES Act. And much more...

In the earlier part of the last century during its "Prohibition," (more unLawful legislation) the U.S. government ordered the poisoning of industrial alcohol. This alcohol they knew bootleggers often used to make "spirits." As a result of this mass poisoning, unknown to the bootleggers and other Americans, it is estimated that the U.S. government indirectly killed about 10,000 Americans.

I could go on, but I hope this answers your question, Owain.

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Jon Kocourek's avatar

That would be on the Treasury systems. DOGE got that too.

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Owain Glynd┼╡r's avatar

Limited, so far.

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Jack McCord's avatar

Jesus. I knew, but it hadn't registered, that there are two profoundly corrupt DoEs.

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Integrity and Karma's avatar

Is this giving the others tome to zip up and purge? ЁЯШм

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SimulationCommander's avatar

I don't even think that's possible, the grift is so extensive.

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EK MtnTime's avatar

ЁЯОпЁЯОпЁЯОп

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