The dystopian man
who lives in the House that Enslaved People
Built campaigned that he would reduce
inflation (not), eliminate “fraud waste and
abuse” and address immigration issues through
mass deportations. He can’t fix inflation by
attempting to bully Fed chairman Jerome
Powell, who is justifiably standing his ground
until his term ends as Chairman of the Fed in
May 2026. If he chooses to be a thorn in the
side of the man who appointed him, he can stay
on the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors
until January of 2028.
The President’s
promise to end “fraud, waste and abuse” meant
that he had his chainsaw carrying toady, Elon
Musk, slash his way through government
agencies, laying off or firing thousands,
eliminating critical programs, and generally
creating havoc until the bromance ended badly.
Hell hath no fury like a billionaire scorned.
Children are
starving all over the world, but especially in
Gaza where the evil annihilator, Israel’s
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is limiting
food aid to Gaza and denying that children are
starving there. The media visuals of little
children with ribs protruding, young boys
scrambling to collect flour, and mothers
crying with anguish as their children languish
in their arms would touch even the hardest of
hearts, except for Mr. Netanyahu, who declares
that there is no starvation in Gaza. Even our
President, not well known for his tender
heart, has challenged his crony on this
matter. If our President is so concerned,
though, why has he authorized the destruction
of life-saving food because, thanks to cuts in
USAID, there was no way to distribute the food
before its expiration date in late July.
About 500 tons of
food, valued at $793,000, would have fed at
least 30,000 children. Instead, US taxpayer
dollar funded food was either used as landfill
or incinerated, costing another $100,000 in
disposal costs. Fraud, waste and abuse,
anyone?
A month or so ago,
the State Department destroyed $10 million
worth of birth control supplies purchased by
USAID for women in developing countries. The
supplies included birth control pills,
injectable contraceptives, IUDs and other
forms of birth control. Stored in warehouses
in Belgium, the January 2025 foreign aid
freeze included this birth control, valued at
nearly $10 million. Several global agencies,
including Planned Parenthood International,
offered to pay for the distribution of these
products, but our government refused, choosing
to incinerate the items instead, at a cost of
$167,000. Some had a shelf life of several
years, possibly good until 2027 or later. This
administration would rather light a match to
useful birth control supplies, incinerating
the hopes and dreams of women internationally.
This administration embraces and, instead,
celebrates fraud, waste and abuse when it fits
their ideological purposes. A bipartisan group
of legislators, including Alaska’s Lisa
Murkowski (R), and New Hampshire’s Jean
Shaheen (D) opposed the wasteful destruction,
but it happened anyway! More fraud, waste and
abuse from an administration that promised to
eliminate it.
The attacks on
science and research are also examples of
fraud, waste and abused. One of the most
egregious cases is that of Dr. Uri Manor, won
a grant from the National Institute on
Deafness and Other Communications Disorders.
His research looked at ways the hearing
impaired - about three percent of the
population - could be better included in the
workplace. Dr. Manor, himself
hearing-impaired, was also conducting
experiments on ways to restore hearing. He had
a five year grant and spent about $1.5
million, but his grant was abruptly cancelled
because of the anti-DEI stance this
administration has taken. A judge has ruled
that the cancellation of the grant is illegal,
and the matter is now bogged down with
legalities. Some of Manor’s team have been
laid off, and his research has been derailed.
Millions of dollars into important research
Manor’s work and his years of effort are now
up in the air. Fraud, waste and abuse, anyone?
There are hundreds
of other cases of research suspended in the
name of “efficiency”. For the researchers
impacted, and for the millions of us whose
quality of life could be enhanced, this is
nothing more than fraud, waste, and abuse.
Food and birth
control products incinerated. Valuable
research halted. The very administration that
says they want to eliminate fraud, waste and
abuse is causing it, lighting a fire to
taxpayer dollars, golfing through crises, as
myopic as Nero, fiddling while Rome burned.
