jallajall

Så når det settes av en viss sum til USAID for å dekke driftsutgifter, så MÅ de bruke opp alle disse pengene for å unngå konstitusjonell krise? Til globale helseprogram settes det av det av $3,8B frem til september 2026 for å dekke utgifter iht Foreign Assistance Act. Selvfølgelig basert på en hel haug av forutesetninger. Hva skjer hvis USAID ikke får napp på anbudene de legger ut og kun klarer å bruke opp halvparten til september 2026? Er det konstitusjonell krise? Hvor mye av det som settes av MÅ brukes opp? Det er noen donasjoner til div internasjonale fond og slik som er ganske låst, men for de fleste tildelinger forøvrig settes det av en viss sum for å dekke. Om man har noe til overs, så er det også en åpning for å donere dette til Verdens matvareprogram.

Ser ikke ut til å være en spesiell aktuell problemstilling slik mesteparten av USAIDs midler i budsjettet er tildelt. Nåvænde "budsjett" varer uansett bare frem til midten av mars, ut fra det som er meldt tidligere i dag satses det på å banke nytt budsjett i.l.a. neste uke (tar nok uansett sikkert en uke eller to lenger).

USAID has left the building..... Nesten alle er permitert. De få som er igjen er overført til Utenriksdepartementet....

It’s Russian Men Against Ukrainian Machines on the Battlefields in Ukraine Desperately short of infantry, Kyiv is using aerial drones to pick off Russian infantry. It’s slowing, but not stopping, the Russian advance. After nearly three years of fighting, Ukraine is desperately short on infantry to man the trenches. They are outnumbered at least 5-to-1 along most of the eastern front, and the men they have are mostly older, recently conscripted, and lacking motivation and experience in battle, Ukrainian officers said. When Russian soldiers advance toward Ukrainian positions, explosive aerial drones are dispatched to pick them off, while larger drones drop bomblets onto them. Infantry fire their weapons only when the occasional Russian soldier manages to slip past the phalanx of unmanned aerial vehicles. The strategy has worked, up to a point. In nearly a year since Moscow began marching on Pokrovsk, Russian troops have failed to capture the city, despite huge advantages in manpower and artillery ammunition. Their slow progress is a testament to just how difficult the proliferation of drones has made attacking. Neither side sends large armored vehicles all the way to the contact line much anymore—they are easy targets for drones. Instead, infantry usually hike the last few miles on foot, often in groups of just two or three soldiers, which are harder for drones to spot. The Russians are still advancing, albeit slowly. To halt their progress, Ukraine would need a large influx of troops, according to several officers fighting in the area—something that is unlikely in the near future. Without drone support, he added, “the situation would be horrific.” Now, Ukraine is producing roughly 200,000 drones a month. Munin sends out at least 60 on a normal day—and can afford to use them on severely injured The Russians are suffering at least seven casualties for every Ukrainian soldier injured or killed, he said, but added that Kyiv would need 10 times as many troops here to stop Moscow’s troops entirely. Commanders around Pokrovsk say the quality of reinforcements has also become a problem, with most of the new arrivals recent conscripts in their 40s and 50s with little motivation to fight. Some abandon positions, they say, or refuse to go to first-line trenches. One brigade commander said 30 men of the quality he had early in the war would be more effective than 100 of the men he has now.

De kan jo fortsatt samle seg så mye de vil på egenhånd, men forsvaret bruker bare ikke lenger penger og ressurser på å arrangere og forelese i grupper som er sentrert rundt etnisitet, rase, kjønn eller sexualitet.

Hvorfor det egentlig?

Igjen!? Hvorfor var det ingen som advarte mot dette??

Angry Democrats Try To Force Their Way Into Education Department The Trump administration has begun drafting an executive order to eliminate ED and direct Congress to pass legislation to officially dissolve the agency in order to ensure public education is managed by the states. Democratic Congress members, including California Rep. Maxine Waters, lamented the security guard as he denied them access into the building. Tidligere i uka var de hos USAID. Der slapp de inn i lobbyen, men ingen fra ledelsen hadde tid til å snakke med de da de var opptatt med andre ting. Han som kom å snakket med de visste ikke en gang om det var noen DOGE representanter der eller hva de evt gjorde der.

She's not wrong though.

Progressives should cheer Trump’s FBI purge My father, the Marxist scholar Michael Parenti, was a fierce and public opponent of the Vietnam War, and he came under FBI surveillance. He even got a copy of his file. They harassed him, visited our home, bothered my mother. And so, when I read of stunned bureau officials seeking to calm the “fear and angst within the FBI ranks” and vowing to “dig in”, I felt that some little bit of cosmic justice was being done for Dad, who like many radicals of his generation spent years at the sharp end of FBI bullying. The FBI has a long and sordid history of framing people; disrupting, misdirecting, and destroying progressive social movements; and blackmailing politicians of any persuasion. As a result, there are many who dislike Trump yet cheer for him — because they dislike the FBI even more. Progressives who wish to preserve room for real politics, and who know their FBI history, should stand with the Trumpians in this tug-of-war.

Sesam Stasjon: $53.2M siden 2008?

Russia Labels Barents Observer ‘Undesirable’ After European Court Ruling Russian authorities on Friday designated the Norwegian online news publication The Barents Observer as an “undesirable” organization, a day after Europe’s top human rights court ruled against its ban inside Russia. The Prosecutor General’s Office accused the Arctic-focused outlet of publishing “anti-Russian” content written by exiled Russian citizens who are “listed as foreign agents or terrorists and extremists.” Russian authorities also claimed The Barents Observer, which publishes both in English and Russian, is financed by foreign organizations already labeled “undesirable” in Russia, though it did not specify which organizations.

WEF, men sikkert likevel ikke helt idiotisk. "The Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation supports governments in developing and least developed countries in implementing the World Trade Organization’s Trade Facilitation Agreement. Alliance projects cut through red tape and end costly delays at borders by bringing together governments and businesses of all sizes as equal partners to deliver targeted trade reforms."

Det var jo en tid da CIA finansierte pro-amerikansk media og journalister i andre land, men den tiden er vel forbi..kanskje. For USAIDs det vel bare for å slå et slag for "fri presse", men så kan vel diskutere i hvilken grad det kommer den jevne amerikaner til gode..

Mye journalisme som USAID støtter.

Trump’s Suspension of US Foreign Aid Hits Hundreds of Balkan Projects From 2020 until the end of 2024, the United States invested US $1.7 billion in aid in the Western Balkans Six, supporting civil society organisations and state institutions and projects ranging from human rights and media to energy efficiency. “The expenses we had until January 27 will be eligible to be covered from the project money, while everything after that has to be stopped,” the editor of a small investigative media outlet from Sarajevo, Bosnia told BIRN on condition of anonymity. “The blockade will also mean that we will have to fire one of the journalists, while the remaining three will work for 60 per cent of their original pay cheque,” he added. He said they are not certain what will happen after the 90-day revision. Available data from the USAID website show that more than $72 million allocated for 22 ongoing projects in North Macedonia are now on hold. These include projects related to reducing corruption, improving economic competitiveness, increasing the public’s social engagement, various projects tackling youth, as well as projects designed to help local municipalities and authorities. Iris Luarasi, a professor at Tirana University who leads an organisation focusing on domestic violence and women’s rights, called Counselling Line, told BIRN that the US decision “to freeze funding for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) programmes has implications for civil society organisations, especially for communities in need and in our specific case for women victims of domestic violence. “If these funds are eventually cut, it will be troubling and impactful to marginalised communities, where women often face the greatest barriers to accessing aid. DEI programs have been very important in addressing these disparities, and their loss could further deepen the gap in services,” she added.

USAID slankes fra 14.000 ansatte til 290 ansatte. Trump admin to reduce USAID jobs from over 10,000 to 290 Sources told the New York Times on Thursday that the jobs remaining will include employees who specialize in health and humanitarian assistance. Officials were also told that approximately 800 awards and contracts administered through the agency were being canceled. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whose department took over the agency on Monday, said that some of the terminations were because of insubordination within the agency's ranks.

Selv om det var JFK som opprettet USAID ble senere etablert som egen etat av kongressen "to ensure that programs critical to the promotion of United States national interests be maintained". President kan jo ikke selv legge ned etaten, men han kan i høyeste grad strupe den. Det er en litt ny problemstilling, som regel vil jo executive og de ulike etatene ha mer penger av kongessen, ikke mindre.. Det er nok mange av programmene i USAID som bør videreføres, men er vel også på tide å ta en liten opprydding der..

Karoline Leavitt Reveals Trump Admin’s Massive Tax Cut ‘Priorities’ White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt revealed on Thursday the Trump administration’s “tax priorities,” saying President Donald Trump will work with Congress to pass the largest middle-class tax cut in American history. - no tax on tips - no tax on seniors’ Social Security - no tax on overtime pay - a renewal of Trump’s 2017 middle-class tax cuts - an adjustment of the SALT cap - elimination of tax breaks for billionaire sports team owners - closure of the carried interest loophole - tax cuts for products made in America

Michigan legislator says she underwent sterilization to avoid pregnancy during Trump presidency Michigan state Rep. Laurie Pohutsky (D-Livonia) said Wednesday that she underwent surgery earlier this year to become voluntarily sterile out of fear for the future of reproductive health care access with President Donald Trump back in office. “Just under two weeks ago, I underwent surgery to ensure that I would never have to navigate a pregnancy in Donald Trump’s America,” Pohutsky said. “I refuse to let my body be treated as currency by an administration that only sees value in my ability to procreate.

Sjakk er jo i utgangspunktet åpen klasse, men det er en grunn til at de også der begynner med kjønn når det blir litt nivå på de. Den beste 100 mennene har bedre rating enn den beste kvinnen.

Hva kom de frem til der?

At Politico har mottatt $8M er ikke helt sant, det er strengt tatt $36,5M om man summerer sammen alle kontraktene/PO siden 2016. Det var $8,4M i fjor. Det er ikke fra USAID, men fra drøyt 50 forskjellige føderale enheter. USAID alene har bare brukt ca $44.000 på subscriptions fra Politico i fjor. Mulig de også har fått andre kontrakter fra USAID. Har bare tilfeldig sjekket 10-15 innkjøpsordrer fra i fjor, men ser så langt ut som de $8.4M er for subscriptions selv om det ikke alltid kommer like klart frem (ala "exercise an option").

Er det ikke bare rundt 25-26% av totalen eller noe da som faktisk brukes på nye våpen? Hvor mange nye amerikanske arbeidsplasser får man for $183B i disse dager?

Åpner slusene for massiv desinformasjonskampanjer fra Russland på hvilken måte?