Everything posted by Anastasis
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Trump’s America
Equivalent of just putting your fingers in your ears. Look the modeling results that you are citing are extremely sensitive to the parameters and model specifications used. I understand that the results fit your prefered political narrative, so you are going to run with them, and are going to ignore other arguments. That's fine. But you are really not going to impress me with an argument that is basically oriented to calling the morality of people with a different political perspective on the historical and recent role of USAID as an entity in to question. Let me know if you need me to link you to some charities in Bangladesh you can include in your end of the year giving.
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Trump’s America
What's a few hundred thousand force sterilized or some light regime destablization and torture training, right? Humanitarian efforts need to be totally divorced from regime change and other front operations. Sorry that when you mix those things and roll them up under the same umbrella it is going to be to the detriment of the valuable humanitarian efforts. These are not particularly outlandish thoughts, and would have been widely accepted on this board prior to the Orange Man. Here's a NYT opinion piece from 2014 striking the same chords: https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/04/15/when-is-foreign-aid-meddling/secret-programs-hurt-foreign-aid-efforts There is a world of difference between American foreign assistance programs that openly support democratic development, human rights and socioeconomic progress, and the type of clandestine operations aimed at regime change that United States Agency for International Development has been running under the guise of a “democracy” promotion program in Cuba. Those programs are not only counterproductive, they are an abject violation of Cuba’s sovereignty, undermine American interests in Cuba’s slow but steady political and economic transition, and endanger the legitimate missions of U.S.A.I.D. around the world. U.S.A.I.D. was created in 1961 to help the United States win the “hearts and minds” of citizens in poor countries through civic action, economic aid and humanitarian assistance. As a cold war policy tool, the agency was, at times, used as a front for C.I.A. operations and operatives. Among the most infamous examples was the Office of Public Safety, a U.S.A.I.D. police training program in the Southern Cone that also trained torturers. In the 21st century, U.S.A.I.D. has overcome its tainted legacy and undertaken humanitarian, political and economic work around the globe. It runs democracy promotion efforts from Afghanistan to Kenya — building political leadership capacity, electoral education and registration programs, and judicial reform projects — with little controversy. It is when U.S.A.I.D. undertakes “discreet” regime change operations that it runs into trouble. Indeed, its Office of Transition Initiatives now seems to be competing with, or at least complementing, the C.I.A. on hi-tech propaganda and destabilization programs in Cuba, if not elsewhere as well. Regime-change programs have a negative impact on larger U.S. foreign policy interests as well as on the legitimacy of U.S.A.I.D.’s own core missions to advance global health and economic welfare. At a Senate hearing on U.S.A.I.D.’s budget last week, Senator Patrick Leahy told the agency's administrator, Rajiv Shah, that his oversight committee was receiving “lots of emails” from aid workers around the world asking this question: “How could they do this and put us in such danger?” The solution is simple: ban U.S.A.I.D. from conducting such covert operations in the name of advancing democracy.
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Trump’s America
I am not going to lose my mind over USAID funding cuts. They intermingled the very good with the very bad under that orgs banner. My greater wish generally in terms of haircuts would be for substantial military spending cuts. We all know that that is one of the two primary areas in government where fraud, waste, and abuse is out of hand.
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Trump’s America
Funding has been continued, yes at reduced level. According to that article we are sending aid money there at greater than a 2 to 1 ratio compared to the rest of the world combined.
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Trump’s America
From the article: In a statement to the AP, the State Department said the U.S. has provided more than $168 million to the Rohingya since the beginning of Trump’s term, although data from the U.N.’s financial tracking service show the U.S. contribution in 2025 is $156 million. Asked about the disparity, the State Department said the U.N.’s financial tracking service had not been recently updated and “generally does not show the latest information on all U.S. funding.” The department said it had “advanced burden sharing and improved efficiency” in the Rohingya response, resulting in 11 countries increasing their funding by more than 10% year on year, collectively contributing $72 million. To that quoted text you can add "funded forced sterilization programs in Peru". Thanks for the opportunity to update. Let me know wildcat if you need me to find an appropriate charity for you to send the checks representing your genuine concern on the issue in Bangladesh, versus just trying to score message board points.
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Markets still falling like whoa
This Santa wishes he had bought more GLD and SLV to ho ho ho with.
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Eat What You Kill - Game Recipes, Food Prons
Testing an hour in, masa seems to have set but could use some more time still. Flavor is next level.
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Eat What You Kill - Game Recipes, Food Prons
Steaming now. Not sure how long these are suppose to go but reading recipes that say up to 2 hours.
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Eat What You Kill - Game Recipes, Food Prons
Finally got around to the batch. Deer shoulder/shank and pork butt.
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Epstein and Maxwell
If this was RFK, Jr. there would be social media regurgitation across a couple threads on the board.
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Shooting at Brown university
How do you know what pronouns they use?
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Epstein and Maxwell
The pee pee tapes are scheduled for release on Friday. Plenty to talk about then.
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Epstein and Maxwell
Its not really an exchange about the vaccine BOOM.
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Epstein and Maxwell
Thanks for sourcing me the direct quote re: testing: "The way he (Trump) talks about the vaccine is not particularly rational. He’s talking about it being ready, he’s going to talk about moving it quicker than the scientists think it should be moved … . People don’t believe that he’s telling the truth, therefore they’re not at all certain they’re going to take the vaccine. And one more thing: If and when the vaccine comes, it’s not likely to go through all the tests that need to be done, and the trials that are needed to be done."
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Trump’s America
I haven't read Texags in nearly a decade, but if you got back over there tell them that Anastasis thinks they are degens.
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Trump’s America
I haven't seen a single person here defending Trump's post. It's bottom on the barrel narcissistic lack of humanity shit. Here is what Reiner said after Kirk's murder. "I unfortunately saw the video of it and it’s beyond belief what happened to him and that should never happen to anybody. I don’t care what your political beliefs are. That’s not acceptable..."
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Epstein and Maxwell
Oh please. Joe Fn Biden was literally on the campaign trail undermining the COVID vaccine development and regulatory process. Paraphrasing..."You want to be the first to get in line?" "It's not going through all the testing". A year later his administration is threatening to take away people's livelihood to coerce them to get vaccinated. Don't act like that shit was not political fodder.
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Jeffrey Epstein needs his own thread
This is how crackhead blueanon shit spreads. Social media rots brains.
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Epstein and Maxwell
They were anti vax when it was trumps vax. Doernt tape much effort to roll that tape. Facts are facts.
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Charlie Kirk Assassinated [Shooter in custody]
Noted.
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Obama
Same day a CIA drone strike killed two western aid workers.
- Bourbon
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Bourbon
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So, back to that legalization thing
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/12/11/trump-marijuana-reclassification-executive-order/
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So, back to that legalization thing
Bump for wapo.