As US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirms USAID was not “dismantled” and instead streamlined to make it a more effective tool of interference and regime change (that is all USAID ever was), there are some other interesting facts regarding USAID…
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Tag: Privatization
How to DOGE USAID: The Wall Street Consensus under Trump
How to DOGE USAID: The Wall Street Consensus under Trump
We often hear that the new Trump administration inaugurates the age of technofeudalism. Just look at Elon Musk, pontificating about so-called “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) democracy from the Oval Office while undemocratically occupying the US Treasury payment system. But is the administration simply using bullying as a mode of power, as Adam Tooze recently diagnosed it, destroying institutions without measure or plan?
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Musk Undercuts Trump’s Promise Not to Cut Social Security
Has he looked at TSLA recently? Or is he too busy “dismantling government bureaucracy“?
Musk Undercuts Trump’s Promise Not to Cut Social Security
Read More »Libertarian City Dream in Honduras Becomes $11 Billion Nightmare + More
US Ukraine Mineral Deal- Shades of Iraqi reconstruction scandal- US to provide security & the Trump admin connection to Iraq’s post-war reconstruction scandal
US Ukraine Mineral Deal- Shades of Iraqi reconstruction scandal- US to provide security
Elbridge Colby and Keith Kellogg both served in the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Iraq in 2003 under Paul Bremer and are now part of the Trump administration. The CPA, which acted as the transitional government overseeing post-war reconstruction in Iraq, faced significant criticism for its mishandling of reconstruction funds. Over $8 billion allocated for Iraq’s rebuilding remains unaccounted for, including more than $1.6 billion in cash that was discovered in a basement in Lebanon.
Meanwhile, in Iraq, Chinese companies are actively engaged in constructing a wide range of infrastructure projects, including housing units, universities, commercial centers, schools, health facilities, and power stations. They have also played a key role in developing the Nasiriya airport.
Sources:
Read More »Speak Up Before VA Health Care Is Gutted #Project2025
While controversy swirls around last week’s mass firing of 1,000 Department of Veterans Affairs’ employees, a far greater threat to veterans’ health care is going completely unnoticed. Powerful leaders in Congress have quietly unveiled their plan to gut VA-delivered care, wrapped in the misleadingly titled “Veterans’ ACCESS Act.” If veterans don’t act fast, they will lose the VA health care system they know and depend on.
The bill appears innocuous enough, with aspirations of accountability. But don’t be fooled. Hidden in its depths like a ticking time bomb is a provision intended to dismantle the integrated VA health care system faster than you can say “privatization.”
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Follow the money, which will hemorrhage from the VA to the private sector. The likely outcome is that the VA will close its inpatient services and instead become a sprawling assortment of outpatient clinics. If that sounds familiar, it is the plan laid out in the Project 2025 playbook. Veterans are being hoodwinked that the VA facilities they rely on won’t be impacted. Don’t buy it for a second.
Previously:
What’s in Store for VA Disability Benefits with New Office of Management and Budget Chief?
Read More »Donald Trump’s Next Diversity Target: People With Disabilities
President Trump’s suggestion last month that the tragic Potomac air crash was somehow the fault of disabled federal air traffic controllers was appalling—but it should have come as no surprise. Trump’s contempt for people with disabilities has been well documented, and it’s that animus, combined with the accelerating MAGA assault on diversity throughout the United States, that has disability rights advocates preparing to defend decades worth of hard-won protections.
One month into his presidency, Trump has unleashed a government-wide attack on people with disabilities, from anti-diversity executive orders to proposed special-education rollbacks to threats to slash programs like Medicaid that are lifelines for disabled people across the country. If successful, these actions could have catastrophic consequences for millions of Americans, according to disability rights experts.
Donald Trump’s Next Diversity Target: People With Disabilities
Related:
In the video below, Rep. Jahana Hayes mentions how Trump’s DEIA order is already affecting special education.
DEI (A?) – The Effect of Donald Trump’s DEI Executive Order on Accessibility
On President Trump’s first day in office, he immediately issued a new Executive Order declaring Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (“DEI”) efforts “illegal.” With this new order in effect, previous mandates that implemented DEI efforts both in the federal government and among federal contractors were revoked.
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While the primary focus is on race- and sex-based affirmative action, the Order lumps together “DEI” and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (“DEIA”) efforts. So, disability inclusion efforts may now be under scrutiny as well.
DOGE Sets Its Sights on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid
The Republican record on Social Security: Getting worse all the time
Related:
Social Security at Risk? The Impact of Trump and Musk’s Reforms
Cutting Social Security Disability Benefits Can Backfire Horribly
FAIRNESS OF REAGAN’S CUTOFFS OF DISABILITY AID QUESTIONED
The US Treasury Claimed DOGE Technologist Didn’t Have ‘Write Access’ When He Actually Did
Elon Musk’s DOGE Allies Search Medicare Agency Payment Systems For Fraud
Trump 2.0: The further dumbing down of America officially begins
Donald Trump School Choice Executive Order: Here’s Who’s Impacted
President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order to expand school choice across the country. While this policy could allow more students access to alternatives outside of public schooling, critics warn it might divert essential funding from public schools and exacerbate educational inequalities.
According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which provides a comprehensive measure of students’ academic achievement across the country, overall student achievement has not returned to pre-pandemic levels. The percentage of eighth-graders reading below NAEP Basic is the highest in the assessment’s history, and the percentage of fourth-graders scoring below NAEP Basic is the largest in 20 years.
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Recent audits revealed that private school parents, and now voucher recipients, have used the funds for a slew of, at best, questionable expenses, including kayak lessons, horseback riding lessons, home gyms, televisions, and more. Earlier audits conducted prior to the most recent expansion revealed similarly questionable uses.”
Related:
Read More »PH: Stratbase, CIPE (NED), and the Belt and Road Initiative
07-31-2024: If it’s bad business, it’s bad for the Philippines (archived)
Our organization, the Stratbase ADR Institute, received an award from the prestigious Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), one of the four core institutes of the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington, DC. We were recognized for our research, advocacy, and strategic communication on four infrastructure projects entered into by the Philippines, during the administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte, under the Belt and Road Initiative of China.
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The Philippines has currently withdrawn from the Belt and Road Initiative and the current administration has been careful to consider other partners aside from China.
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Victor Andres “Dindo” C. Manhit is the president of the Stratbase ADR Institute.
Just like the National Endowment for Democracy, CIPE has been scrubbing their website. Search for the Philippines and click on the results. Most of the links are missing.
Related:
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Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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