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PaperclipPerfector  3mo ago (text post)   37378 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of January 27, 2025

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Reuters:

Trump orders sweeping freeze for federal grants and loans

Trump order set to halt supply of HIV, malaria drugs to poor countries, sources say

Apparently based on this memo (pdf).

This seems very... crude. The question is if it's purposefully crude, if there's some structural reason it can't be better implemented, or if the person in charge is incompetent.

Also, impoundment? We'll see?

Several hours have passed and this is still the top post, so please forgive me for replying a second time.

Here's a good theory for why this is happening. It's all about immigration. Edit: A large part of it is about immigration.

https://x.com/njhochman/status/1884339632210600161

The whole thread is worth a read but it paints a damning picture of the NGOs who receive these federal grants:

They provide "humanitarian transportation" to ferry immigrants up to our border, waypoints with shelter and medical services along the way, Spanish-language maps showing the best route to the U.S., and legal services for immigrants to beat our immigration laws once they get here.

Oh, and money. They just give them cash cards, vouchers, and often even just stacks of cash in envelopes. Tough to think of a more direct 1:1 redistribution: You pay your taxes. Your government sends that money to the NGOs. The NGOs hand it to immigrants. You work, they benefit.

So, one one hand, the government is funding ICE to deport illegal aliens. On the other hand it's funding thousands of NGOs to encourage illegal immigration. The rot goes really deep, and it's astounding both how many of these orgs there are and how much money they get from the federal government. It's going to be really hard to untangle the mess.

I've been following this Twitter account that is digging into these NGOs on a more systematic level. I'll admit it's a bit of a Gish gallop, but once you see dozens of examples of far-left NGOs who get nearly all their money from the federal government, it's not hard to want to burn it all down. In her words (the owner of the Twitter account):

After spending too much time on the award search tool, I’m starting to wonder if we’ve had a UBI system all along for one political party—just disguised as grants.

If the Trump administration went about rooting out partisan activity deliberately, it would take a lot longer than 4 years. So that's probably why they are doing it all at once. But I still think they should make carve-outs for the best stuff, at least temporarily.

Bit of an aside, but it's incredible how the Internet allows people to contribute through sheer autistic dedication, even if they're literally deaf mute cripples IRL.

I'd also recommend oilfield rando if you don't follow him. He just does individual grants.

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