Newsbusters

Instead of considering why Americans voted for Trump and his campaign promise to task Elon Musk with creating a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to attack government spending, Wednesday’s CBS Evening News and Thursday’s CBS Mornings chose to tug at one’s emotional heartstrings by holding up food sent through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to starving babies in Sudan as why the agency shouldn’t be shut down.

Nothing about $400 million for LGBTQI Africans to have access to the internet, launching a social media platform in Cuba, workshops about white men threatening “gender equity” in artificial intelligence programs, $2 million for sex changes in Guatamala, or even $32,000 to produce a trans comic book in Peru. No nuance!

Starting with the former, co-anchor John Dickerson pivoted from a piece by Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan commiserating with a scared USAID employee as though they’re a whistleblower in witness protection to stating that “[s]ome of the humanitarian aid USAID provided went to the African nation of Sudan,” which has been in years-long civil war.

 

 

South Africa-based correspondent Debora Patta took awhile to actually get to her point about USAID after saying it took her “nearly two years to get visas to enter Sudan” and tough images of starving adults, children, and newborns with some struggling for life inside shanty hospitals:

Doctors and nutritionists here all told us the same thing. Without humanitarian aid and medical intervention, the children you see in this ward would not be alive. And much of that aid comes from USAID. America is also the World Food Program’s biggest funder. And a lot of the grain you see in this warehouse is paid for by the U.S. There’s an urgent race to get it to famine-stricken areas. It had been gathering dust for more than a month, while the WFP waited for permission to transport it. Food has frequently been weaponized by rival warlords. And, if that wasn’t hard enough, then came President Trump’s announcement of a 90-day suspension of aid. 

She then found someone with the World Food Program to argue USAID should have it’s funding increased, not trimmed and “every single delay means lives are lost” and thus “digging” graves “instead of feeding” people.

Back live with Dickerson and co-anchor Maurice DuBois, she lectured viewers that USAID going down the drain could mean “eight million Sudanese could starve to death” (click “expand”):

DICKERSON: Debora, I want to ask you about some of the other ramifications of this humanitarian aid from USAID. What happens down the line if it doesn’t — if it doesn’t make it?

PATTA: Well, John, let me give you a concrete example. In the last few weeks, two ships have docked at Port Sudan, American ships carrying food provided by USAID. Now, each of those ships could potentially feed over a million people. That food has to be off-loaded, stored in a warehouse, then at some point loaded onto a truck and driven to where these starving people are. So, when we talk of aid, it’s not just food. It’s the trucks, the drivers. There’s no one to pay the drivers. Staff have been locked out of their computers. They don’t have access to their phones, their contacts. We are talking about the unraveling of an entire system, which will be hard to bring back. And, as that system collapses, one source told us, eight million Sudanese could starve to death.

DUBOIS: And, Debora, that little boy in your piece, Ibrahim is his name. His situation tugs us at your heart. Do you know how he’s doing tonight?

PATTA: Oh, thanks for asking that, Maurice. Well, we went back to see baby Ibrahim a day later, and, sadly, his condition had worsened. Now, this is a very common problem for children suffering from severe malnutrition. If left unchecked, if they do not get help, they usually develop an infection that could kill them. He was on oxygen, an intravenous drip. Doctors were very worried. But I’m happy to report that we checked up on him today, and he’s doing a lot better. In fact, he’s even gained a little weight.

On CBS Mornings, featured co-host Vladimir Duthiers set the table for a largely reracked Patta report by declaring “CBS News is seeing firsthand how U.S. humanitarian aid is vital to millions of people in war torn countries like Sudan.”

“There are fears of a shutdown of USAID in Washington, which could mean less medicine for the sick, fewer first responders to treat the wounded, and less food for starving families, including babies…We want to warn you, some of the images are graphic,” he solemnly added.

Prior to Patta’s CBS Evening News report, Brennan — a Swamp creature who seems to be a masochist when it comes to being schooled by Republicans — griped that Musk and Trump are going after an agency “work[ing] to feed the world, combat disease and respond to disaster” while only making up “a very small fraction of the federal budget, less than one percent.”

She then had a woe-is-me interview with a current USAID employee, whom they allowed to blur their face and voice as though there were on the run from a mafia (click “expand”):

 

 

BRENNAN: USAID personnel have been locked out of their offices and e-mail since Monday, leaving many confused as to whether they will even have health care or paychecks coming. We spoke with one of those individuals who has spent the past decade at USAID. [TO ANONYMOUS EMPLOYEE] Why in our conversation do you think you need to remain anonymous?

USAID EMPLOYEE: Everyone is really scared. First, we were scared for our jobs. Then we were scared for the safety of our programs. I have a family, like most Americans, and I want to be brave, and I just don’t want to put them at any more risk than I have to.

BRENNAN: Elon Musk posted on X: “USAID is a criminal organization. Time for it to         die.” What did you think when you heard that?

USAID EMPLOYEE: He said that. He said we were vipers. He said that we were worms and not a bad apple, but just worms. He said that we are evil lunatics.

BRENNAN: In recent days, the Trump-appointed chief of staff resigned and the two heads of security put on leave after they refused to let DOGE-linked staffers access classified information. Are you still officially employed by the U.S. government?

USAID EMPLOYEE: I do not know what my status is. Part of that is that what’s been happening has been moving with incredible speed and also an incredible level of sloppiness.

BRENNAN: The Trump administration argues the cuts will increase efficiency.

USAID EMPLOYEE: Not only have we abandoned our colleagues, which is an absolute moral atrocity, but we have abandoned our partners in the world. If you have ever seen those photos of people delivering bags of food or wearing the USAID vests or delivering medicines or the big trucks coming in with aid, it’s got big USAID logos on it, right? It’s got American —

BRENNAN: It’s for a reason.

USAID EMPLOYEE: — for a reason. It’s got American flags on it. It shows people, this is the U.S. coming to your aid.

Brennan later added live to Dickerson and DuBois some emotional blackmail that refusing to dole out foreign aid left and right emboldens America’s enemies like China (and, as CNN at least noted less than an hour later, Russia).

To see the relevant CBS transcripts from February 5 and 6, click here (for the CBS Evening News) and here (for CBS Mornings).

In an appearance on Thursday’s CNN Newsroom, Republican Congressman Brandon Gill (TX) ran circles around host Pamela Brown and the network’s purported fact-checkers. At one point, Gill called out how taxpayers had been wasting money by paying for “left-wing activism” at NPR and PBS, to which Brown tried to defend it as just “journalism.” She also repeatedly warned him that CNN’s fact-checkers were ready to pounce, but Gill stayed many steps ahead of them.

When Brown tried to pin Gill on the possibility that some or all of the 7,030 federal employees in his district would be fired, Gill stated: “You know, my constituents are more focused than ever on our federal debt and our federal deficit, which is a result of Biden-level spending. They want to rightsize the federal government, and they want to get rid of left-wing activism.”

The example he gave of the left-wing activism he was talking about were the liberal media outlets of NPR and PBS. Which got a snide defensive remark from Brown:

GILL: We’re spending, for example, over $500 million every single year to fund state sponsored media like NPR and PBS to promote left wing values that are utterly antithetical to the American experience. That is a problem. That is what my constituents are focused on.

BROWN: It’s journalism.

For a more detailed breakdown of Five Reasons to Defund ‘Public’ Broadcasting, click here for the study.

Throughout the interview, Brown repeatedly told Gill that CNN’s so-called fact-checkers were working in the background trying to catch him on something. “So, I do want to note that we’re also doing a fact check on what you said. My producer is doing that right now,” she warned Gill after he noted: “We’ve been spending millions of taxpayer dollars on transgender activism in South America.”

 

 

“And you’re welcome to fact check anything I have to say. I invite you to do that,” he confidently told her. “In fact, I think that given the record of fact checkers over the past four years, I don’t think many people are going to put a whole lot of stock in it. But you’re welcome to do so.”

Brown shot back by announcing they’ll “be sure to look at the source.” “I’m not saying you’re right or wrong, I’m just saying I have a duty on this show to make sure that any, any information that goes out is, is fact checked,” she proclaimed.

But as CNN fact-checker Fuzz Hogan admitted under oath in a defamation trial against CNN, they don’t check facts. CNN was found liable for malicious defamation against Navy veteran Zachary Young.

After a few minutes of them going back and forth, Brown eventually came back to admit “they have done gender activism in South Africa.” But she tried to qualify it by arguing that, “It’s not possible, though, to verify the millions of dollars of taxpayer dollars being spent.” She also chose to speak for USAID by saying, “USAID would say it’s not doing left-wing activism. It’s helping vulnerable populations.”

“We spent $2 million on LGBT and transgender activism in Guatemala,” Gill shot back.

Later in the segment, Brown threw her standards for checking facts out the window when she falsely claimed Gill said Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) “should be deported to her home country of Somalia.” He corrected the record by noting he said: “America would be better off were she deported.” He went on to explain that he said that because “Omar was advising illegal aliens, Somalis, on how to evade ICE detection.”

Brown demanded to know his source for that information. “What evidence?! Where are you getting that from specifically,” she ordered him. Gill obliged by pointing out that Omar said it in an interview and that there was audio of it.

Despite being obviously oblivious to what Omar had said – or else she wouldn’t have asked Gill for his source – Brown suddenly somehow divined Omar’s intent. “She is helping people understand what the laws are,” she insisted, without evidence.

So much for having the “duty on this show to make sure that any, any information that goes out is, is fact checked.”

The transcript is below. Click “expand” to read:

CNN Newsroom
February 6, 2025
11:13:08 a.m. Eastern

(…)

REP. BRANDON GILL (R-TX): Well, first of all, Democrats had the opportunity to invite Elon Musk to the committee that’s on them. If they want to ask him questions, they are welcome to do that.

But what I’d like to know, if we want to talk about transparency, how do we not know until now that taxpayer dollars have been going – We’ve been spending millions of taxpayer dollars on transgender activism in South America. There is an enormous amount of waste in our federal government, and we’re uncovering new, just egregious ways that the federal government has been spending our taxpayer dollars. We’re uncovering new ways every single day. That’s where the lack of transparency is.

And we finally have an executive branch and president Trump, who is serious about going after this waste. And that’s exactly what the American people elected President Trump to do. That’s exactly what they elected House Republicans to do. And that’s what we’re doing.

PAMELA BROWN: And I just want to note, Gerry Connolly, your colleague on the committee on the other side of the aisle, he has invited Elon Musk to come. He has said, please come testify to this committee. We haven’t heard from anything. We haven’t seen any disclosures from him, despite a federal law requiring conflict of interest disclosures.

So, I do want to note that we’re also doing a fact check on what you said. My producer is doing that right now.

But I want to ask you something, because I know some viewers might be watching this right now, Congressman, and saying, ‘Well, hold on a second. So, you’re all on board with what Elon Musk and his team of staffers are doing. Would you be okay if Democrats were doing this?’ If, for example, George Soros came in under a Democratic administration and had his staffers gain access to sensitive programs about Americans and their personal information and dismantling agencies, would you be okay with that?

GILL: It’s amazing that Democrats are acting as if this is something that’s novel. I’ve been talking to my constituents for months and months and months about Elon Musk coming in, having a serious business person coming in and using his team to go through the federal budget with a fine-tooth comb. There is nothing that’s surprising about what’s happening right now. And again, if my colleagues want to invite him, they could have done that yesterday.

And you’re welcome to fact check anything I have to say. I invite you to do that. In fact, I think that given the record of fact checkers over the past four years, I don’t think many people are going to put a whole lot of stock in it. But you’re welcome to do so.

BROWN: Well, we’ll be sure to look at the source. I’m not saying you’re right or wrong, I’m just saying I have a duty on this show to make sure that any, any information that goes out is, is fact checked. That’s just a personal that’s what I have to do. But fair enough.

So I just want to go back though. Would you be okay? Because it is unprecedented what Elon Musk is doing? I know you say it’s not a surprise, but it is. I mean, we have not seen the world’s richest man come in and go agency to agency with his staffers. You know, they’re all unelected and have access to these sensitive programs. Would you be okay if Democrats did this? If a George Soros came in with his staffers and did the same thing that Elon Musk is doing, would you accept that?

GILL: Well, what’s unprecedented is spending our taxpayer dollars on left-wing partisan political projects all over the globe. That’s what the American people are focused on. This is a result of this election. This is a result of President Trump getting a very clear mandate from the American people to get rid of this kind of nonsense from our federal government, and we’re doing it more efficiently than we’ve ever been done, than it’s ever been done before.

And again, the fury that we’re seeing from the other side of the aisle isn’t about this waste. It’s not about paying for left-wing activism on the other side of the globe. It’s that it’s being exposed finally. And that’s what the American people want.

BROWN: It certainly want more transparency about everything, right? About how taxpayer dollars are being spent and about what is happening within their federal government. I do want to note that that they have done gender activism in South Africa through gender based violence and promote women’s empowerment. It’s not possible, though, to verify the millions of dollars of taxpayer dollars being spent, but USAID would say it’s not doing left-wing activism. It’s helping vulnerable populations. I take your point, though. Look, a lot of Americans want the money–

GILL:  To spent $2 million on LGBT and transgender activism in Guatemala.

BROWN: And look, and there’s a big question with putting Donald Trump in office and what he has campaigned on, whether, you know, where that money should be going. And that is fair to discuss. That is fair to discuss. Go ahead.

GILL: And if Democrats want to defend that, then they are absolutely welcome. If they want to go to the American people and tell the American people that they think that it’s appropriate to spend millions of taxpayer dollars on radical transgender activism in foreign countries, and they are absolutely welcome to defend that.

BROWN: I want to follow up with you. You said you were hearing from your constituents. There are more than 7,000 federal workers in your district who are likely impacted by these orders to either accept a buyout or be fired. They have until midnight to make a decision. What are you hearing from them?

GILL: You know, my constituents are more focused than ever on our federal debt and our federal deficit, which is a result of Biden-level spending. They want to rightsize the federal government, and they want to get rid of left-wing activism. We’re spending, for example, over $500 million every single year to fund state sponsored media like NPR and PBS to promote left wing values that are utterly antithetical to the American experience. That is a problem. That is what my constituents are focused on.

BROWN: It’s journalism.

But, you know, we can agree to disagree on that. I don’t want to get into a for tat on that, Congressman.

I just want to follow up with this post that you had on X. You said that Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, a U.S. citizen, should be deported to her home country of Somalia. Omar became a naturalized citizen at 17. Why did you do that?

GILL: Well listen, my colleague Ilhan Omar, she is an American citizen. She is a member of the House of Representatives. I didn’t call for her to be deported, but I did say that America would be better off were she deported.

I think that there is a serious problem, particularly given after the past four years of open borders of Democrats facilitating the invasion of our country by illegal aliens. My colleague Ilhan Omar was advising illegal aliens, Somalis, on how to evade ICE detection. That is as un-American as you can possibly get. It’s unbecoming of a congressperson.

BROWN (interrupting): What evidence?! Where are you getting that from specifically? Where are you getting that from, specifically?

GILL: We have the audio of her doing that. It was in an interview.

BROWN: She is a duly – she is a duly elected member of Congress. Her constituents put her in office.

GILL: She has a duty to uphold the values and customs of America, not to represent foreign illegal aliens who shouldn’t be here to begin with. And I think that that raises serious questions.

BROWN: She is helping people understand what the laws are. But listen –

GILL: That raises serious – to whom is she most loyal, illegal alien Somalis or American citizens? I think that’s a very –

BROWN: Well her constituents. Well, she’s representing her constituents and a member of Congress.

GILL: -legitimate question.

BROWN: Congressman Brandon Gale [sic], I really appreciate your time. I appreciate this conversation. I think it’s really important.

GILL: So do I.

BROWN: I and I think our viewers appreciate it as well. Thank you so much, Congressman, and look forward to having you back on the show soon.

GILL: Thanks for having me.

The filing of a lawsuit by the litigious, now wholly left-wing American Civil Liberties Union isn’t exactly a stop-the-presses moment, but Tuesday night’s edition of the PBS News Hour treated it as such.

Co-host Amna Nawaz set up the show’s most liberal correspondent, Laura Barron-Lopez, in support of the same “gender-affirming care” misnomer PBS has used in its previous excessive coverage of so-called transgender minors. Nawaz sounded impressed by the ACLU’s wording

Amna Nawaz: Today, the American Civil Liberties Union sued the Trump administration over the president’s executive order targeting gender-affirming care for minors. The lawsuit says Trump’s actions, quote, “unconstitutionally usurp congressional authority by withholding lawfully appropriated federal funds” and violate the rights of trans youth by, quote, “depriving them of necessary medical care solely on the basis of their sex and transgender status.” Our White House correspondent, Laura Barron-Lopez, has been covering this and joins us now….

Laura Barron-Lopez: Last week, President Trump signed an executive order targeting gender-affirming care for minors….The order also threatens to withhold federal funding from hospitals or institutions that may also happen to provide gender-affirming care….We should note, Amna, that gender-affirming care is endorsed by the majority of major U.S. medical associations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics.

As long as Barron-Lopez and PBS keep citing the Democratic hacks at AAP in favor of transgender surgery for teens, we’ll keep pointing out the group’s institutional credibility has been on a well-deserved decline since it recommended masking up toddlers, requiring student athletes to compete in masks, and flushing down the memory hole its own previous insistence that seeing faces is critical for early childhood development.  

Barron-Lopez also ignored that medical groups in Europe and elsewhere have withdrawn their previous support for puberty blockers to so-called “gender dysphoria.”

PBS also ran a clip of ACLU lawyer Chase Strangio, who embarrassed himself before the Supreme Court last December.

Nawaz: I know you have been talking to a family in Texas who says they’re feeling an immediate impact. What are they telling you?

Barron-Lopez: A couple of years ago, we interviewed a Texas family, John, Mary, and their now 14-year-old trans daughter, Leah. [Editor’s Note: Here’s our coverage of that interview.] We have changed their name to protect their identity. And after Texas banned gender-affirming care for minors, they started going to New Mexico for treatment. We spoke to John and Mary again today. And since the executive order, they say that they haven’t been able to get a hold of their doctor in New Mexico. They were actually planning to try to move to Colorado, one of the states that supports and provides gender-affirming care for minors….

Barron-Lopez went full activist on her hobby-horse issue, which rides along uneasily with her supposed beat as the News Hour’s White House correspondent.

Barron-Lopez: The White House claims that this is about protecting children, and they have increasingly described gender-affirming care in graphic and sometimes disdainful terms, calling it — quote — “chemical castration” and — quote — “mutilation.” And it’s important to fact-check that treatments like puberty blockers are commonly used and are reversible, and gender-affirming care for minors is rare….

Amputating breasts and penises shouldn’t be called “mutilation” — it’s “graphic and sometimes disdainful.” 

Is Barron-Lopez following the science or a leftist agenda? The Mayo Clinic, for one, had concerns about “long-term effects” regarding growth spurts, bone growth, bone density, and fertility.

Barron-Lopez corrected herself to maintain her political correctness.

Barron-Lopez: ….And I should note, Amna, that I accidentally said that gender-affirming care for minors is rare. It’s gender-affirming care surgery for minors is incredibly rare.

Nawaz solemnly noted that “important clarification.”

Which makes it odd that News Hour can find so many examples to cover.

Co-host Nawaz set her colleague up to broaden her condemnation of Trump.

Nawaz: When you look at the rights of transgender people, where does this move from the Trump administration fit into any broader pattern that we have seen?

Barron-Lopez: Trump’s actions have been very sweeping when it comes to trying to dismantle some transgender rights. That includes instructing the government to acknowledge only two genders, moving trans women to men’s prisons….

It’s amazing if Barron-Lopez truly thinks it would be better for biological men and boys to have access to women in prison or to take over girls’ sports.

This segment was brought to you in part by Cunard.

A transcript is available, click “Expand.”

PBS News Hour

2/4/25

7:41:38 p.m. (ET)

Amna Nawaz: Today, the American Civil Liberties Union sued the Trump administration over the president’s executive order targeting gender-affirming care for minors.

The lawsuit says Trump’s actions — quote — “unconstitutionally usurp congressional authority by withholding lawfully appropriated federal funds” and violate the rights of trans youth by — quote — “depriving them of necessary medical care solely on the basis of their sex and transgender status.”

Our White House correspondent, Laura Barron-Lopez, has been covering this and joins us now.

So, Laura, just lay out the scope for us of the president’s executive order and what’s happened since it was signed.

Laura Barron-Lopez: Last week, President Trump signed an executive order targeting gender-affirming care for minors. And that action states that the federal government will not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called transition of a child from one sex to another.

And we should note that that order defines child as anyone under the age of 19, which includes legal adults in many states. The order also threatens to withhold federal funding from hospitals or institutions that may also happen to provide gender-affirming care.

And that’s led some providers, even in states that protect this kind of care, to suspend it. Children’s National in D.C. said that it is pausing all puberty blockers and hormone treatment prescriptions for youth. Reports of similar moves are also in Colorado and New York, which led New York Attorney General Letitia James, she told providers that canceling care would violate state law.

We should note, Amna, that gender-affirming care is endorsed by the majority of major U.S. medical associations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Amna Nawaz: I know you have been talking to a family in Texas who says they’re feeling an immediate impact. What are they telling you?

Laura Barron-Lopez: A couple of years ago, we interviewed a Texas family, John, Mary, and their now 14-year-old trans daughter, Leah. We have changed their name to protect their identity.

And after Texas banned gender-affirming care for minors, they started going to New Mexico for treatment. We spoke to John and Mary again today. And since the executive order, they say that they haven’t been able to get ahold of their doctor in New Mexico. They were actually planning to try to move to Colorado, one of the states that supports and provides gender-affirming care for minors.

But Leah had her — Leah had her bags packed and was ready to go, but now they say that the signals from Colorado are murky, and it’s unclear if they’re going to continue to provide treatments. And here’s John.

John, Father of Leah: It was definitely going to be just a safer move. And to be in a place where our daily lives just felt safe and accepted was worth the effort to do that move. But now, with these executive orders, he’s already talked about going after sanctuary states if they don’t comply with his orders.

So we’re kind of now in this weird floating place where, yes, we want to get out of here, but can we really go anywhere we’re going to be safe?

Laura Barron-Lopez: Leah’s parents told us that she has enough medication — that’s puberty blockers and hormone treatment — to last until about June, but they don’t know what may happen after that, Amna.

Amna Nawaz: Laura, back it up here. What is the White House argument for this executive order, and what is the ACLU saying their legal argument is to challenge it here?

Laura Barron-Lopez: The White House claims that this is about protecting children, and they have increasingly described gender-affirming care in graphic and sometimes disdainful terms, calling it — quote — “chemical castration” and — quote — “mutilation.”

And it’s important to fact-check that treatments like puberty blockers are commonly used and are reversible, and gender-affirming care for minors is rare. All gender-affirming care treatments are part of extensive evaluations between doctors and families.

But the White House’s main argument here is that, with this action and other sweeping actions that they have taken so far, they say that the president has the authority to stop funding from going to anything that they believe is against or the opposite of the president’s ideological agenda.

Now, we spoke to Chase Strangio, who’s an attorney at ACLU, who argues the opposite.

Chase Strangio, American Civil Liberties Union: President Trump simply does not have the authority to attempt to cut off federal funding for institutions that provide medical care for transgender adolescents and that he is directing his federal agencies to violate federal law that in fact protects the provision of this care.

We’re also arguing that these attempts to restrict care violate the individual constitutional rights of transgender adolescents and their parents.

Laura Barron-Lopez: Now, Chase said that their argument also is saying that the transgender people are protected under the equal protection rights clause against discrimination based on sex, and this is also about due process rights of parents.

And I should note, Amna, that I accidentally said that gender-affirming care for minors is rare. It’s gender-affirming care surgery for minors is incredibly rare.

Amna Nawaz: Thank you for that important clarification, but a broader look here now.

When you look at the rights of transgender people, where does this move from the Trump administration fit into any broader pattern that we have seen?

Laura Barron-Lopez: Trump’s actions have been very sweeping when it comes to trying to dismantle some transgender rights.

That includes instructing the government to acknowledge only two genders, moving trans women to men’s prisons, directing the DOD to reinstitute the trans military ban, and stopping social transitioning in schools.

And, tomorrow, we are expecting that the president will sign another executive action that would ban trans athletes from playing on girls and women’s school sports teams, Amna.

Foreign aid is not the most popular category of government. So when Team DOGE shut down the USAID payment system how did Politico attempt to garner sympathy from its readers for that agency? By absurdly labeling foreign aid as an “industry.” In fact, the very title of the foreign aid sympathy story on Tuesday by reporters Maggie Miller and Carmen Paun invokes “industry” as in “Foreign aid freeze results in mass layoffs that could ‘crash’ the industry.”

The title is unintentionally ironic since one of those “mass layoffs” could be at Politico itself due to the cutoff of government funding for USAID. Former Fox News producer Kyle Becker offered the receipts:

Fun Fact: @Politico received USAID funds.
Everything makes sense now. pic.twitter.com/YkkrXhbOui
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) February 5, 2025
So we see that team Politico has a vested interest, namely their paychecks clearing the bank, in foreign aid in general and USAID in particular. Their relabeling “foreign aid” as an industry shtick continues right after the title with the subtitle: “Thousands of U.S. workers in the foreign development field are being furloughed or laid off, as the industry coffers run dry.”

Yes, the “industry” coffers run dry and apparently so do the Politico coffers at exactly the same time.

Returning to the Politico reportorial duo whose paychecks are in limbo we see they continue to push the idea of foreign aid as an “industry” in the body of the story.

Eight U.S.-based individuals who work in the foreign aid sector, all granted anonymity due to concerns about retaliation from the administration, told POLITICO that the foreign aid freeze had undermined their ability to carry out global aid efforts. Some predict that thousands of foreign aid professionals across the industry may soon be out of work.

And apparently Politico reporters may soon be out of work as well unless they can meet their payroll in the wake of the USAID funding freeze.

One person who spoke to POLITICO said their group had not received federal funding for more than a month. Another individual said they expected multiple non-governmental organizations to declare bankruptcy this week. A third blamed what they said was the “30-day world” of development, where the organizations are paid out by the federal government month to month. If that lapses, funds run out fast, making the situation urgent.

“Every company has lost so much now as a result of offering these furloughs,” one person who works in the industry said. “Even if they start back up say two months from now, there’s likely going to be very few implementations … they will have no more staff.”

Do any of those anonymous persons Politico spoke to happen to have Politico Pro subscriptions. Just asking for a friend below:

I looked at these contracts and I have my own fun fact. This is occurring because agencies (not just USAID) are buying subscriptions to Politico’s Pro editorial product, not because Politico is getting grants or other federal funding. https://t.co/3pVWK986bG
— Byron Tau (@ByronTau) February 5, 2025
Now back to the foreign aid “industry.”

A State Department spokesperson said via email that some salaries and administrative expenses, including travel for U.S. direct-hire staff conducting ongoing programs, will be allowed to continue under waivers. “Staff have been given a template for waiver requests,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson underlined the purpose of the aid freeze was to ensure it’s aligned with the America First foreign policy agenda. “For far too long, the United States foreign aid industry and bureaucracy have not been aligned with American interests, and in many cases, antithetical to American values,” the spokesperson wrote. “They serve to destabilize world peace by promoting ideas in foreign countries that are directly inverse to harmonious and stable relations internal to and among countries.”

Does that spokesperson also have a PoliticoPro subscription? I hear it costs about $10,000 a pop.

Some influential Republicans support the idea of folding USAID into the State Department and welcome a mass restructuring across the industry. Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.), who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday that he wasn’t concerned about the layoffs “because of the grift that has been working on to the American taxpayer, the American worker.”

“Industry” as in foreign aid industrial complex? It sounds like something that President Eisenhower warned us about.

With new reporting Wednesday night about CBS News employees enraged by its compliance with the FCC demand for the full, unedited Kamala Harris 60 Minutes interview and rumors of a settlement with President Trump, Puck’s Dylan Byers bolstered the argument the liberal media are filled to the brim with insecure partisans.

The subhead said it all: “Inside the agony and finger-pointing at CBS News, where executives and journalists are protesting Shari Redstone’s eagerness to settle Trump’s suit, countenancing their diminishing place in the firmament, and girding for the FCC to extract maximum political pain.”

Byers first griped that CBS took “the irregular step of acquiescing to a Federal Communications Commission request” before revealing 60 Minutes executive producer Bill Owens “was fervently trying to defend the network’s integrity” with “an all-hands meeting” Monday.

In it, he conceded the network would turn over its footage to the FCC, but declared he would “not apologize for anything” and their editing of Harris’s answers and correspondent Bill Whitaker’s questions was “perfectly fine.”

Unsurprisingly, the Trump-hating liberal network’s employees were aghast:

Owens’s remarks hardly calmed the waters at CBS, where employees are still quietly rebelling against owner Shari Redstone’s plan to settle the lawsuit that President Trump brought against the network over the interview. As I reported last week, Shari has privately determined that a low-eight figure gift to the Trump Presidential Library is a small price to pay to close her tortured $8 billion deal to sell the company to Skydance.

(….)

In any event, Owens’s remarks triggered mixed emotions among the 60 Minutes anchors and correspondents in the room and, eventually, journalists across CBS News. 

He added “everyone at the network….opposes the settlement and views it as a gross incursion on press freedom” before delivering the kicker about possible rage quitting, which host Scott Pelley and correspondent/CNN host Anderson Cooper allegedly stepped into beg staff not follow through:

Some in Monday’s meeting discussed issuing public statements or even resigning, though both Scott Pelley and Anderson Cooper advised their colleagues against such dramatic steps. (Anderson candidly posited that, in today’s media landscape, there were few other places, if any, where they could go and produce similar work.) Some interpreted Owens’s remark as a dare to the parentco to fire him, which might then catalyze an actual rebellion.

(….)

[I]n Monday’s meeting, Pelley told his colleagues that any public displays of protest would be moot, since Trump would almost certainly reframe the narrative to his benefit. 

Byers did find someone at CBS News to anonymously pivot to blame Owens for, in Byers’s words, “leaving them vulnerable to this situation in the first place” given the interview’s profile and Harris’s performance in them writ large were a major campaign theme:

“Is the edit fine?” one CBS News insider asked rhetorically. “It’s obviously an unforced error.” Several sources said the discrepancy was preventable, and argued that Owens and 60 Minutes should have taken greater care to ensure consistency between the two interview clips, 

The funniest part? Towards the end, Byers said CBS’s “internal protests” are nothing more than “bitch[ing] and moan[ing]” to other reporters and “a round of layoffs shortly” this hubbub included “Jen DePriest, one of the veteran lawyers responsible for—wait for it—reviewing transcripts in order to ensure the integrity of the broadcast.”

Reacting to President Donald Trump signing an executive order against biological men competing in women’s sports as transgenders, MSNBC host Katy Tur falsely claimed the number is “just so infinitesimally small, and you’re just talking about a handful of kids.”

The Women’s Sports Policy Working Group, formed by a group including many female Olympians and tennis stars like Chris Evert and Martina Navratrilova, offers an opposing set of facts:

After tracking incursions into girls’ and women’s sports spaces for nine months, we abandoned this project — but not our commitment to girls and women — because there are simply too many male victories. Fortunately, HeCheated.org has now created a robust tally. As of September 2024, they’ve logged 5,149 males in women’s sports, and you can sort by sport, level, place, etc.

After covering some of President Trump’s comments at the signing ceremony, Tur turned to liberal Purdue University professor Cheryl Cooky and began by asking about the issue of how many transgenders there are taking part in women’s sports, leading Cooky to immediately dismiss the issue:

KATY TUR: I’m just curious. What are the actual numbers on this? How many — how many instances of transgender girls were playing in women’s sports?

CHERYL COOKY, PURDUE UNIVERSITY: Yeah, I think this is really — the ban is — or I should say the executive order is really a solution in search of a problem.

After the two recalled data finding that there are only a tiny number of men competing on women’s teams as transgenders, Tur suggested an ulterior motive by Republicans:

The numbers are really small, and I point that out because it became such a big campaign issue, it made it seem like it was happening everywhere, and that every, you know, girl’s team was at risk of either having unfair competition or, as the President just said, being beat up by somebody. I’m struggling to understand, unless it’s just pure politics at play, why there is so much attention on an issue that is just so infinitesimally small, and you’re just talking about a handful of kids. You’re really just targeting a handful of kids.

As she agreed with the MSNBC host, Cooky misdirected by bringing up other issues and claiming that they are more important problems:

Yeah, and I think the point that you’re making is spot on, right, that the bans aren’t about transgender participation. This isn’t about saving women’s sports or protecting girls and women in sports. And if so, then we really should be focusing on the actual issues that are threats to girls and women in sports — such as the lack of access and opportunity, the lack of funding, the lack of media coverage, sexual abuse and harassment in sports spaces, right? The ban itself, I think, is part of a larger context by which there’s an effort to reassert conventional and traditional gender norms in society.

She added: “This is part of a larger attack on bodily autonomy for women and for folks who identify as women.” 

Tur theorized that Republicans just want to exploit “social fears” as she then wrapped up the segment:

Yeah, it feels like a proxy to politically capitalize on a social issue, social fears, and discomfort in this country. Again, Donald Trump signing this executive order. Cheryl Cooky, thanks so much for joining us and helping us understand just the broad data on this. I think it’s important context that everybody could use.

Transcript follows:

MSNBC’s Katy Tur Reports

February 5, 2025

3:54 p.m. Eastern

KATY TUR: I’m just curious. What are the actual numbers on this? How many — how many instances of transgender girls were playing in women’s sports?

CHERYL COOKY, PURDUE UNIVERSITY: Yeah, I think this is really — the ban is — or I should say the executive order is really a solution in search of a problem.

(…)

TUR: The numbers are really small, and I point that out because it became such a big campaign issue, it made it seem like it was happening everywhere, and that every, you know, girl’s team was at risk of either having unfair competition or, as the President just said, being beat up by somebody. I’m struggling to understand, unless it’s just pure politics at play, why there is so much attention on an issue that is just so infinitesimally small, and you’re just talking about a handful of kids. You’re really just targeting a handful of kids.

COOKY: Yeah, and I think the point that you’re making is spot on, right, that the bans aren’t about transgender participation. This isn’t about saving women’s sports or protecting girls and women in sports. And if so, then we really should be focusing on the actual issues that are threats to girls and women in sports — such as the lack of access and opportunity, the lack of funding, the lack of media coverage, sexual abuse and harassment in sports spaces, right? The ban itself, I think, is part of a larger context by which there’s an effort to reassert conventional and traditional gender norms in society.

This is part of a larger attack on bodily autonomy for women and for folks who identify as women, and so really for me as a scholar who studies sports, it’s such an interesting sight for thinking through the days in which sport isn’t necessarily reflecting gender as it exists in our society, but sport really plays a powerful role in sort of constituting gender, right? So the reassertion of biological difference between men and women can really happen in a space of sports because it is sex-segregated.

TUR: Yeah, it feels like a proxy to politically capitalize on a social issue, social fears, and discomfort in this country. Again, Donald Trump signing this executive order. Cheryl Cooky, thanks so much for joining us and helping us understand just the broad data on this. I think it’s important context that everybody could use.

Over the past several days, Democrats have run around with their hair on fire over Elon Musk and his DOGE team’s effort to find wasteful government spending, but on her Wednesday show, CBS’s Taylor Tomlinson demanded they “man up” because “sometimes you gotta fight Big Balls with bigger balls.”

The use of “Big Balls” as a proper noun refers to one of the members of Musk’s team, “If you weren’t already freaked about this happening, don’t worry, it gets worse. All these guys are also really young. They’re all under 26. Call me crazy, but I don’t love handing the federal government to guys who are still on their parent’s health insurance. I don’t like that. That doesn’t feel good. People online uncovered the LinkedIn page of one of these DOGE members, a 19-year-old that goes by the username ‘Big Balls.’”

 

 

Tomlinson then put up a picture of the man whose real name is Edward Coristine and quipped, “Also, look at Big Balls: Have you ever seen a more Joffrey-looking mother[bleep] in your life. He looks like if Jimmy Neutron joined the Hitler youth. This guy looks like if the phrase “Do you know who my father is?” gained sentience. I’m afraid.”

Lamenting the whole situation, she added, “According to Wired, some government employees said that Crown Prince Big Balls has appeared on calls where workers were made to go over code they had written and justify their jobs. Imagine working decades in public service, distributing humanitarian aid, and then having to defend your job to a kid who just discovered the show Family Guy, probably. Like, he’s like, ‘We need to fire these people. They are so not giggity.’”

Talking over a photoshopped image of Musk and President Donald Trump, Tomlinson rolled on, “This entire story is basically to say: There is a bull in the China shop. And there was already a bull in that China shop. The shop is our government. All the delicate, easy-to-shatter plates and glasses are Medicare and social services.”

Finally, Tomlinson turned to Democrats, “And the people who were supposed to stop them, Democrats in Congress, are the shop attendant saying [bleep] like ‘Can I get you anything? If there’s anything else you want to smash, just let me know, we have more in the back room. Anything you need?’ I hate to ask the Democrats to man up, but sometimes you gotta fight Big Balls with bigger balls. And right now they are fighting Big Balls with blue balls. [bleep]. What are we doing? 

 It’s a good question. What are we doing turning what was supposed to be a fun little game show and slowly turning it into just another liberal late night show?

Here is a transcript for the February 5-taped show:

CBS After Midnight

2/6/2025

12:39 AM ET

TAYLOR TOMLINSON: If you weren’t already freaked about this happening, don’t worry, it gets worse. All these guys are also really young. They’re all under 26. Call me crazy, but I don’t love handing the federal government to guys who are still on their parent’s health insurance. I don’t like that. That doesn’t feel good. People online uncovered the LinkedIn page of one of these DOGE members, a 19-year-old that goes by the username “Big Balls.” The crazy part is that someone that young is on LinkedIn. I guess the only bright side here is he probably will only steal Social Security numbers that end in 420 or 69. So, some of us are safe.

Also, look at Big Balls: Have you ever seen a more Joffrey-looking mother[bleep] in your life. He looks like if Jimmy Neutron joined the Hitler youth. This guy looks like if the phrase “Do you know who my father is?” gained sentience. I’m afraid.

These guys are going to go into the Oval Office and replace the desk with a plastic lawn chair and a PS5. 

According to Wired, some government employees said that Crown Prince Big Balls has appeared on calls where workers were made to go over code they had written and justify their jobs. 

Imagine working decades in public service, distributing humanitarian aid, and then having to defend your job to a kid who just discovered the show Family Guy, probably. Like, he’s like, “We need to fire these people. They are so not giggity.”

This entire story is basically to say: There is a bull in the China shop. And there was already a bull in that China shop. The shop is our government. All the delicate, easy-to-shatter plates and glasses are Medicare and social services. 

It’s—we shouldn’t be clapping. It’s not good. And the people who were supposed to stop them, Democrats in Congress, are the shop attendant saying [bleep] like “Can I get you anything? If there’s anything else you want to smash, just let me know, we have more in the back room. Anything you need.” 

I hate to ask the Democrats to man up, but sometimes you gotta fight Big Balls with bigger balls. And right now they are fighting Big Balls with blue balls. [bleep]. What are we doing? 

Over the weekend, CNN viewers several times got to see a pre-recorded piece in which reporter Rosa Flores rode with a liberal activist in Chicago who helps illegal aliens hide from ICE by delivering food to their homes.

The report first aired on Saturday afternoon with weekend host Fredricka Whitfield setting it up thusly: “While President Trump is making good on his promise to deport undocumented migrants, volunteers across the country are working to make sure those hiding from law enforcement are getting fed. CNN’s Rosa Flores rides along with one of those volunteers in Chicago.”

As Flores was seen riding with a woman whom she identified as “Sam,” the CNN reporter was heard noting in a voiceover that her identity was being kept hidden: “Sam is not her real name. She asked CNN not to reveal her identity for fear of retaliation.”

Another voiceover soon filled in viewers:

ROSA FLORES:  She volunteers to deliver groceries to undocumented migrant families, many seeking asylum, in the Chicago area, who have stopped going to work, to school, and to the store for fear of deportation. Every delivery costs $80 to $100. Sam says she has made up to 15 deliveries since Trump took office.

Then came a clip of the two of them speaking during the ride:

FLORES (to Sam): So some of these families that you visit haven’t left their homes since Trump took office?

SAM: Yes.

FLORES: Since Inauguration Day?

SAM: Yeah.

Flores then noted that Sam has been receiving more requests for food deliveries since ICE began its recent raids in Chicago: “Sam says her nonprofit has received dozens of requests from migrant families since the ICE enforcement blitz started. Chicago police say more than 100 people have been arrested in the metro area. This day, Sam’s meeting a Venezuelan mom of three teens.”

The CNN reporter was then seen speaking with one of the women who received groceries:

FLORES (voiceover): This Venezuelan mother was waiting outside. She doesn’t want us to use her real name. She arrived in the U.S. 17 months ago seeking asylum.

FLORES (speaking to unidentified woman): So you’ve been in your apartment for two weeks? (asks question in Spanish and then translates) Do you send your family to school?

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: No. 

The report concluded with Sam discussing her fears of her own son being targeted by ICE even though both she and her son are U.S. citizens. At no point was it questioned whether such activity helping illegal aliens to stay hidden from ICE violates the law…or whether some of the hidden have criminal convictions. 

The report was repeated on Sunday’s CNN This Morning Weekend and again on Sunday afternoon.

Transcripts follow:

CNN Newsroom

February 1, 2025

3:24 p.m. Eastern

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD: While President Trump is making good on his promise to deport undocumented migrants, volunteers across the country are working to make sure those hiding from law enforcement are getting fed. CNN’s Rosa Flores rides along with one of those volunteers in Chicago.

ROSA FLORES (voiceover): What might appear to be a simple case of extreme stockpiling is actually the preamble to an emotional day.

FLORES: (sitting in a car speaking with the driver): Sam, first of all, thank you so much for doing this.

FLORES (voiceover): Sam is not her real name. She asked CNN not to reveal her identity for fear of retaliation. 

FLORES (to Sam): Could you tell us where we’re going?

SAM: To an apartment to drop off groceries for a mother and three children. They only have enough groceries for the day, and then, after that, it is bare cabinets, empty fridge.

FLORES (voiceover): She volunteers to deliver groceries to undocumented migrant families, many seeking asylum, in the Chicago area, who have stopped going to work, to school, and to the store for fear of deportation. Every delivery costs $80 to $100. Sam says she has made up to 15 deliveries since Trump took office.

FLORES (to Sam): So some of these families that you visit haven’t left their homes since Trump took office?

SAM: Yes.

FLORES: Since Inauguration Day?

SAM: Yeah.

FLORES (voiceover): Sam says her nonprofit has received dozens of requests from migrant families since the ICE enforcement blitz started. Chicago police say more than 100 people have been arrested in the metro area. This day, Sam’s meeting a Venezuelan mom of three teens.

FLORES (to Sam): So we’re pretty close. What’s usually your plan?

SAM: So usually I will notify them on WhatsApp that I’m outside.

FLORES: What touches your heart the most?

SAM: The fact that our site is feeding into this propaganda that it’s criminals, and yet what I’m seeing is that it’s families.

FLORES (voiceover): Families like hers, she says. Sam’s mom is Mexican American — her dad is indigenous. She says she sees herself in the children of the mothers she serves.

SAM: It is very emotional work. If we’re not stepping up, no one is feeding these families.

FLORES (voiceover): This Venezuelan mother was waiting outside. She doesn’t want us to use her real name. She arrived in the U.S. 17 months ago seeking asylum.

FLORES (speaking to unidentified woman): So you’ve been in your apartment for two weeks? (asks question in Spanish and then translates) Do you send your family to school?

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: No. 

FLORES: No. (woman then speaks Spanish) Why don’t you send them to school?

WOMAN: Por miedo.

FLORES: Because of the fear?

WOMAN: Si.

SUPERINTENDENT LARRY SNELLING, CHICAGO POLICE DEPARTMENT: With this level of fear —

FLORES (voiceover): Chicago’s police superintendent acknowledged the fear in immigrant communities could impact public safety.

SNELLING: — I’m pretty sure that there are some people who have not stepped up and reported a crime that may have been committed against them out of fear.

SAM: It’s — it’s heartbreaking.

FLORES (voiceover): Sam says it’s not just undocumented moms who are in fear for their children.

FLORES (to Sam):  What did you tell your son to say?

SAM: If he was questioned by ICE, I told him to say, “I’m an American citizen — please call my mom.”

FLORES (voiceover): She and her 10-year-old son are both U.S. citizens.

SAM: It breaks my heart.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD: Rosa Flores, thank you so much.

(…)

CNN This Morning Weekend

February 2, 2025

6:49 a.m.

AMARA WALKER: Now, while President Trump is making good on his promise to deport undocumented migrants, volunteers across the country are working to make sure those hiding from law enforcement are getting fed. CNN correspondent Rosa Flores has more.

(Rosa Flores report is repeated.)

(…)

CNN Newsroom

February 2, 2025

5:42 p.m.

JESSICA DEAN: President Trump’s promise to deport illegal migrants has terrified a lot of people across the U.S. Some undocumented families have been too frightened to leave their homes since Trump took office, and our Rosa Flores rode along with a volunteer in Chicago who was working to ensure that those in hiding get what they need to survive.

(Rosa Flores report is repeated.)

A major immigration raid happened today in a notorious hotbed of migrant crime, and the Trump-Deranged media mostly looked the other way. It is not difficult to understand why, as the media chose to mostly ignore this crime wave when it was shown to be inconvenient to the electoral prospects of Joe Biden and then Kamala Harris.

Of the major three broadcast network newscasts, ABC World News Tonight was the only one to report on the raids, and then very lightly:

ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT

2/5/25

6:45 PM

DAVID MUIR: Tonight, dramatic video showing sweeping immigration raids in the Denver area. Federal agents swarming apartment buildings before sunrise this morning. Heavily armed officers seen knocking on doors, stopping cars and taking several people into custody. Authorities saying they were targeting more than 100 members of a violent Venezuelan gang in nearby Aurora. Residents were asked about documentation and ID. Tonight, ICE now reporting more than 8700 people have been arrested nationwide since the raids began last week. 

There’s a bit of geographical sleight-of-hand going on in this brief. Muir buried the lede, which is that the raids were in Aurora, Colorado. Instead, he initially went with “Denver area”. Aurora is more notorious to viewers than Denver, because of the scope of Tren de Aragua’s (TdA) known activities in Aurora.

Aurora, is of course, where TdA took over several apartment complexes, which was the basis of then-Senator JD Vance’s seminal “Do you even hear yourself” moment with ABC’s Martha Raddatz. Muir’s brief seems built on the assumption that people have forgotten about that moment.

For more robust reporting, look to The New York Post:

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers hit multiple apartment complexes across Aurora, Colorado in raids targeting 100 Tren de Aragua gang members on Wednesday — just five months after the Democratic governor dismissed reporting by The Post that the violent migrant gang had taken hold in the Denver suburb.

ICE’s Denver branch said officers made arrests alongside federal agents from numerous other agencies including the DEA, FBI, US Marshals and Customs and Border Patrol.

Aurora, Colorado, you say? Has anything of note recently happened in Aurora?

Some agents were also reportedly seen at the Edge of Lowry and Cedar Run apartment complexes, the outlet reported.

The Edge, which is located in Aurora, had become overrun by Tren de Aragua gangbangers from Venezuela, who took over the building after it fell into disrepair.

…

The Edge was the site of a viral video showing gun-toting gangbangers forcing their way into units before taking part in a fatal shooting.

TdA gangbangers also conducted a violent kidnapping at the complex, where they tortured a couple and burglarized their apartment for hours in December.

The vast majority of immigration stories to come out of the resistance media have to do with day laborers and farm workers potentially being separated from their families. The roundup of gangbangers political leaders say “didn’t exist” is politically devastating, not just to the politicians that shield these illegal migrants but to the media outlets that continue to advocate for their stay.

As paltry as ABC’s brief was, it was the only network newscast that covered the arrests. The same could not be said for NBC and CBS, choosing to look the other way as yet another former conspiracy theory turns out to be true.

 

Brian Flood at Fox News reports FCC Chairman Brendan Carr is going to look into San Jose radio station KCBS unmasking undercover law-enforcement agents conducting operations in a town plagued with gang activity. MRC Business editor Joseph Vazquez had the story for NewsBusters, and he joins the show to discuss.

In 2024, George Soros entered the picture, purchasing $400 million of radio giant Audacy’s debt, giving him a 40 percent share in the company. KCBS is an Audacy station, one of 225 stations in 46 markets, 16 of which have a massive 50,000-watt range. Biden’s FCC rushed through this sale, but it’s Trump’s FCC that the media will present as the ideological one, not the Soros enablers. 

It’s a little shocking that the liberals who crow about Trump being a “convicted felon” look like eager advocates to keep convicted felons from being deported, a mission that a vast majority of Americans support. Murderers, rapists, human traffickers, drug dealers — media outlets seem to be eager to defend their “rights” to stay and be a menace to society. 

In national and local journalism outfits, wokeness demands that illegal immigrants deserve to be spared from deportation, and “immigrant rights groups” are championed as the compassionate ones. They should be called “illegal immigrants rights groups,” since that is who they are seeking to protect. 

On the Soros front, Joseph also pointed us to a Mike Benz tweet reporting that the U.S. Agency for International Development is developing the Left in America. They gave twice as much money ($27 million) to the fiscal sponsor of the group organizing and directing the Soros-funded prosecutors across America than Soros did ($14 million). Under Democrats, the government is like a Soros foundation, pumping money into leftist advocacy groups. 

Then we discuss the media trying to blame President Trump for slow economic growth in the fourth quarter of 2024 (before he was inaugurated), and how his tariff threats are eagerly presented as economically disastrous, before they were even implemented (and then they were delayed when Canada and Mexico made border concessions to Trump). Then there is columnist Paul Krugman, who actually complained that the New York Times was watering him down, so now on the internet he can freely proclaim “Donald Trump Wants You to Die.”

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