The model is conservative, assuming, for example, that the State Department will fully sustain the programs that remain. As of November 5th, it estimated that U.S.A.I.D.’s dismantling has already caused the deaths of six hundred thousand people, two-thirds of them children.
JESUS FUCKING CHRIST. Watching Christian nationalists defend Trump and possibly influence this decision is baffling.
They really have no idea that its even happening, they don’t know how foreign aid works, they don’t know that people don’t just “figure it out”. They’ll just call this a lie and carry on about...
They really have no idea that its even happening, they don’t know how foreign aid works, they don’t know that people don’t just “figure it out”. They’ll just call this a lie and carry on about their lives as they always have cause nothing has changed for them besides the news, which they call fake.
That's more generous than I'd say. I think they don't give a shit and the fact it's poor brown people makes it even harder to care. For all his insane faults, at least W cared and followed through...
That's more generous than I'd say. I think they don't give a shit and the fact it's poor brown people makes it even harder to care. For all his insane faults, at least W cared and followed through with his compassionate Christian bullshit and provided foreign aid to a lot of these places but that whole wing of conservativism is dead and hated by MAGA
Yeah, I live in an area where good people are only good to you if you’re white and dress like they do. Idk what to do about it. Id like to say if they actually believed the news they’d stop voting...
Yeah, I live in an area where good people are only good to you if you’re white and dress like they do.
Idk what to do about it. Id like to say if they actually believed the news they’d stop voting for him, but their hatred towards democrats is so deep at this point that many of them aren’t even Trump supporters and will admit they don’t like him and maybe even that he’s not doing a good job “but at least he ain’t no democrat”
wtf do you do with that? Literally the moment you say anything that even vaguely sounds like a liberal talking point they tune out and shut down.
I do honestly believe if a goldfish ran for the republican party they’d have voted for the goldfish.
Just for scale comparisons because I struggle with that. The population of Portland Oregon is 635,000, it's the 28th biggest city in the US. The US was going to save an equivalent amount of lives...
Just for scale comparisons because I struggle with that. The population of Portland Oregon is 635,000, it's the 28th biggest city in the US.
The US was going to save an equivalent amount of lives because it was judged a good use of our tax dollars but because USAID was involved in an investigation into Elon Musk those people died.
To steelman that argument (I grew up around a lot of people who were conservative, but were also good people… most of them now vote democrat), there is a difference between individuals donating...
To steelman that argument (I grew up around a lot of people who were conservative, but were also good people… most of them now vote democrat), there is a difference between individuals donating and the government donating. I don’t see it as two-faced.
If you’re a small-c conservative or classical liberal who believes in liberty basically above all else, it’s not insane to think that the government shouldn’t take your money and give it to other people, even if you yourself feel personally compelled to donate that same money to try to make their lives better. The element of choice is all-important there.
Criminals against humanity. The world cannot move forward from the evil of this administration without another Nuremberg. No reconciliation without reckoning.
Criminals against humanity. The world cannot move forward from the evil of this administration without another Nuremberg. No reconciliation without reckoning.
I think a good framework is discussing WW2 Germany vs WW2 Japan. Japan was permitted to ignore their crimes for the sake of political expedience, whereas Germany was force-fed a mirror. The end...
I think a good framework is discussing WW2 Germany vs WW2 Japan. Japan was permitted to ignore their crimes for the sake of political expedience, whereas Germany was force-fed a mirror. The end result is that Germany has pretty solid relations with Poland (and France/Belgium/Czechia/etc), while Japan has strained relations with Korea et al, despite having a solid trade relationship and much geopolitical incentive to get along thanks to China.
But, Japan still works. Also, Germany is still flirting with AfD which is frankly a bit too nazi-ish. So it pains me to write this, but the US absolutely can move forward from the evil of this administration without another Nuremberg. Just like the US moved forward after the 1860s civil war. It would be suboptimal and setting themselves up for another Lost Cause/Jim Crow/etc, but it's quite viable nonetheless.
Of course, the bigger problem is the underlying political causes: FPTP and the lack of majority-rule voting, money in politics, political gridlock etc. Frankly, the political division is not possible to fix without replacing the two-party system that forces bilateral partisanship (i.e. every issue must have exactly two sides, and each side has an associated political party that thus welds your stance on issue A to the party's stance on issue B) as a requirement for political change.
One could argue that the US never successfully moved past The Civil War, in large part because Reconstruction was never finished. I would argue that the biggest underlying issue in the US has got...
One could argue that the US never successfully moved past The Civil War, in large part because Reconstruction was never finished.
I would argue that the biggest underlying issue in the US has got to be white supremacy, which is foundational to much of what we're seeing right now. It also neatly ties into Reconstruction. We, as a nation, have never really stopped being a colonial, genocidal power, one rooted in white Christian identity from the get go.
The two party system is no help, to be sure, and it's a big problem too. But I think the underlying power structure of white identity and Christian nationalism is the 500-pound gorilla of US national issues.
Related: "Trump Aid Cuts Kill More Christians Than Jihadists Do." The New York Times. (Despite the framing, the article is more generally about religious persecution, not just that against...
Paywall bypass.
JESUS FUCKING CHRIST. Watching Christian nationalists defend Trump and possibly influence this decision is baffling.
They really have no idea that its even happening, they don’t know how foreign aid works, they don’t know that people don’t just “figure it out”. They’ll just call this a lie and carry on about their lives as they always have cause nothing has changed for them besides the news, which they call fake.
That's more generous than I'd say. I think they don't give a shit and the fact it's poor brown people makes it even harder to care. For all his insane faults, at least W cared and followed through with his compassionate Christian bullshit and provided foreign aid to a lot of these places but that whole wing of conservativism is dead and hated by MAGA
Yeah, I live in an area where good people are only good to you if you’re white and dress like they do.
Idk what to do about it. Id like to say if they actually believed the news they’d stop voting for him, but their hatred towards democrats is so deep at this point that many of them aren’t even Trump supporters and will admit they don’t like him and maybe even that he’s not doing a good job “but at least he ain’t no democrat”
wtf do you do with that? Literally the moment you say anything that even vaguely sounds like a liberal talking point they tune out and shut down.
I do honestly believe if a goldfish ran for the republican party they’d have voted for the goldfish.
Just for scale comparisons because I struggle with that. The population of Portland Oregon is 635,000, it's the 28th biggest city in the US.
The US was going to save an equivalent amount of lives because it was judged a good use of our tax dollars but because USAID was involved in an investigation into Elon Musk those people died.
Theres this weird 2 faced attitude I've seen from these types of people. They believe individuals should donate, not the government.
To steelman that argument (I grew up around a lot of people who were conservative, but were also good people… most of them now vote democrat), there is a difference between individuals donating and the government donating. I don’t see it as two-faced.
If you’re a small-c conservative or classical liberal who believes in liberty basically above all else, it’s not insane to think that the government shouldn’t take your money and give it to other people, even if you yourself feel personally compelled to donate that same money to try to make their lives better. The element of choice is all-important there.
Please remember that this is Elon Musk's fault. The world's first trillionaire is also a mass murderer.
All to punish South Africa for daring to tackle about a hundred years of white-only land ownership, too. Complete and utter evil.
He's not a trillionaire yet (just 0.5 trillionaire), but that doesn't absolve him either.
Sounds like a holodomor. A man made starvation.
Criminals against humanity. The world cannot move forward from the evil of this administration without another Nuremberg. No reconciliation without reckoning.
I think a good framework is discussing WW2 Germany vs WW2 Japan. Japan was permitted to ignore their crimes for the sake of political expedience, whereas Germany was force-fed a mirror. The end result is that Germany has pretty solid relations with Poland (and France/Belgium/Czechia/etc), while Japan has strained relations with Korea et al, despite having a solid trade relationship and much geopolitical incentive to get along thanks to China.
But, Japan still works. Also, Germany is still flirting with AfD which is frankly a bit too nazi-ish. So it pains me to write this, but the US absolutely can move forward from the evil of this administration without another Nuremberg. Just like the US moved forward after the 1860s civil war. It would be suboptimal and setting themselves up for another Lost Cause/Jim Crow/etc, but it's quite viable nonetheless.
Of course, the bigger problem is the underlying political causes: FPTP and the lack of majority-rule voting, money in politics, political gridlock etc. Frankly, the political division is not possible to fix without replacing the two-party system that forces bilateral partisanship (i.e. every issue must have exactly two sides, and each side has an associated political party that thus welds your stance on issue A to the party's stance on issue B) as a requirement for political change.
One could argue that the US never successfully moved past The Civil War, in large part because Reconstruction was never finished.
I would argue that the biggest underlying issue in the US has got to be white supremacy, which is foundational to much of what we're seeing right now. It also neatly ties into Reconstruction. We, as a nation, have never really stopped being a colonial, genocidal power, one rooted in white Christian identity from the get go.
The two party system is no help, to be sure, and it's a big problem too. But I think the underlying power structure of white identity and Christian nationalism is the 500-pound gorilla of US national issues.
I knew it'd be bad but that's a mind-boggling number.
Related:
(Despite the framing, the article is more generally about religious persecution, not just that against Christians.)