Author Archive: Glenn Reynolds
February 6, 2025
February 5, 2025
SO FAR, INDEED:
This USAID could be the single greatest government corruption story so far.
Fixed it for you.
— John Ringo SF Author (@Jringo1508) February 6, 2025
MY LATEST SUBSTACK ESSAY: Donald Trump, libertarian president?
OPEN THREAD: Hump Day.
MAYBE IT’S BECAUSE FLYERS ARE TREATED LIKE CRAP NOWADAYS: Airports Have a Strange Effect on Human Behavior. Here’s Why.
THREAD: Why DOGE went after USAID first.
WELL, YES. MOST OF THE OPPOSITION TO TRUMP AND SUPPORT FOR THE DEMOCRATS TURNS OUT TO HAVE BEEN GOVERNMENT-FUNDED PROPAGANDA AND ASTROTURF: “I don’t know that people are tired of protesting or tired of needing to be upset about one thing or the other out there in the political world every damned day. I think a lot of people who are just keeping quiet actually like what Trump is doing.”
JOHN LUCAS ON LEADERSHIP: “President Trump has now been in office for just over two weeks. Anyone notice a difference yet?
MORE KETCHUP FOR THESE FRIES, PLEASE: New Research Reveals How Lycopene Revitalizes Brain Health and Fights Depression.
ELON, TAKE THE WHEEL: Tesla’s Latest Deal: Let It Drive, Get Cheaper Insurance. In a few years, this deal will be standard with all insurers.
ICYMI: MY NEW YORK POST COLUMN: Smashing the ‘rice bowls’ — Why elites are lashing out at Trump and Musk’s reforms.
SO EVERYTHING POLITICO HAS PUBLISHED IS NOW SUSPECT:
Remember when Politico leaked the Dobbs decision and conservative Supreme Court justices were almost assassinated?
Turns out that was govt-funded pic.twitter.com/2AfOxy2ZOL
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) February 5, 2025
MOVE FAST AND BREAK THINGS: CIA Employees Get A Buyout Offer. “The staggering speed with which Donald Trump has implemented his agenda has caught progressives flatfooted and without a coherent message. The USAID crisis turned into the Gaza crisis, which is now the CIA crisis, and the week is only halfway over. But as progressives lose their mind again over a voluntary buyout offer that has only been accepted by a small percentage of federal employees, a majority of Americans are increasingly wondering, ‘What’s the big deal?’ Meanwhile, Trump is making tangible progress with reining in federal agencies and uprooting entrenched bureaucrats who oppose his agenda. This is a good thing, especially at the CIA.”
NEWS YOU CAN USE: Always Carry Pepper Spray: Conflict can pop up in unexpected places.
ALSO THOMSON/REUTERS:
It's not just Politico. The Associated Press has been raking in millions of dollars in government money for years.
The AP's bias also makes perfect sense. pic.twitter.com/RrH5JPykvY
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) February 5, 2025
What is this? pic.twitter.com/YYW73hlFMq
— Phil Holloway ✈️ (@PhilHollowayEsq) February 5, 2025
ANSWERING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Does wearing a continuous glucose monitor help people without diabetes? We asked experts.
WHEN THE DEMON IS AT YOUR DOOR, IN THE MORNING HE WON’T BE THERE NO MORE: Generally, things really do seem better in the morning, large study suggests.
IF CANADA WERE A STATE, THEY’D HAVE RFJ, JR. TO FIX THIS: Ultra-processed foods provide nearly half of calories for Canadian children.
THIS.
Perfect response. I have no notes. https://t.co/82S00gi6XW pic.twitter.com/U6NSn2pdO0
— Upstate Federalist (@upstatefederlst) February 5, 2025
I AGREE: Jeffrey Carter: Strategic Funds: Both Are Terrible Ideas.
I call them as I see them. I have thoroughly enjoyed the first two weeks of the Trump Administration and I hope it keeps going right until he leaves office. Wouldn’t it be funny if his last act in office was an Executive Order that limited Presidential power to the original meaning in the Constitution?
Trump signed an executive order authorizing a Strategic Wealth Fund (SWF) for the US. It’s a terrible idea. Wyoming Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis wants a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR). It too is a terrible idea. I hope David Sacks has enough sense to push back on it.
There are similarities in why both are terrible ideas. There are also unique aspects of both that make them singularly terrible ideas.
Sooner or later, a strategic fund will turn into a slush fund just like what we’re dismantling at USAID.
I’VE HAD PEOPLE ASK ME: “How can you, as a libertarian, support Trump?”
In one week Donald Trump dismantled an agency that has 10,000 people in it and a 70 billion dollar budget. He shuttered the space and put the remaining 1,400 employees on administrative leave (statistics per WSJ).
I would say he is pretty serious about taking down the deep…
— Insurrection Barbie (@DefiyantlyFree) February 5, 2025
What should concern Democrats isn't the immediate threat of defunding USAID. What's concerning is that extent of corruption and government waste is no longer abstract — it's concretely evident to normie voters.
Political debates will never be the same after DOGE.
— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) February 5, 2025
We do indeed appear to be funneling large sums of tax money to @politico so that some bureaucrats can read left-wing journalists complain about Republicans https://t.co/sAhsJcJxoN pic.twitter.com/HDiBfZrj5U
— Sunny (@sunnyright) February 5, 2025
Good Politico Morning !
Your Federal tax dollars used as revenue to underwrite hit pieces on OUR revenue. 🤡
Your tax dollars IN ->https://t.co/MNwKKkA0RJ
Their hit pieces OUT -> https://t.co/wYEXyzlhfq pic.twitter.com/dwwWtGgmRa
— Rasmussen Reports (@Rasmussen_Poll) February 5, 2025
It's not just Politico. The Associated Press has been raking in millions of dollars in government money for years.
The AP's bias also makes perfect sense. pic.twitter.com/RrH5JPykvY
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) February 5, 2025
Related:
“I didn’t vote for Elon Musk and his autistic tech bros to get a line-item veto on federal spending!”
Yeah well I didn’t vote for Joe Biden’s non-binary Deep State theater kids to get a blank check to give my tax dollars to fringe left-wing NGO slush funds for four years, but… pic.twitter.com/FHeCnTSNNe
— Robert Sterling (@RobertMSterling) February 3, 2025
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 5, 2025
The U.S. government has become one corrupt, progressive shell game after another
It’s time to break it all down and then put it back together—this time sticking to the original structure and blueprint supplied by the Constitution https://t.co/rfXf2FjoLi
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) February 5, 2025
Plus:
and all the Democrats screaming about it are just the customer service agents screaming:
"ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO CANCEL?!!!!"
😂
— Matt Van Swol (@matt_vanswol) February 5, 2025
Democrats Warn Trump’s Unelected Shadow Government Is Dismantling Their Unelected Shadow Government https://t.co/ZD1Z8wOPYp pic.twitter.com/JKCOwjdA3S
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) February 5, 2025
Also, it’s just so damn entertaining.
THAT’S BECAUSE IT WAS NEVER ABOUT IMPROVING EDUCATION. It was literally just Jimmy Carter repaying the teachers’ union for support.
Massive increase in spending after the Department of Education was created with no actual improvement in education! https://t.co/J72BUVqGsl
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 5, 2025