I, admit that I do frequent Carbon Upfront! to debate the Left. That said, at least most of the folks there are normal when it comes to their writing/comments even if it is a bit blinkered regarding Freedom and Liberty. It is, after all, a Left-leaning Eco-Socialist site, but at least the conversations are a bit “reasoned.” And when Lloyd sticks to his specialty domain, I do learn things. Sometimes. But I can find opportunities to debate, and that suits me just fine.
And then there is “Gizmodo” – a site that used to be all techie news and gizmo reviews. Then it added movie and TV reviews (still with a techie bent) and then environmentalism. Lefty drift ensued, and you can probably guess where that led. Back in the day, Democratic Underground was considered the cesspool for politics (I haven’t visited in years), but Gizmodo could give it a run for its money, especially in the comments section.
While the post “Unelected Billionaire Elon Musk Is Shutting Down the Government Agency USAID” is now 6 days old, so the info about USAID is now dated, I wanted to point out 1) how bad our “citizens” truly understand how our Republic & States are organized and work, 2) that those that write often “wing it” instead of doing any checking before they put their fingers to keyboards, 3) the commenters are even worse, and 4) Democrat politicians are “worser” despite making $174K/year; one would think that those making our laws would understand their system best of all.
Yeah, not so much. I have my faults, but at least I try to get things right before starting a post or comment. And my brain goes faster than my fingers can keep up, and they are dealing with “dyslexia of the fingertips” syndrome, so that is what mars my writing.
The topic of the post was Elon and his whiz kids (literally, both words are valid – the kids ARE teens/early twenties, for the most part), and they are genius level. Add in using AI tools, and we get the horrific funding results that are coming out of USAID – it seems it was turned into a progressive donor to leftist pet projects all over the world.
However, the concern wasn’t about how our tax monies were used but that this crew couldn’t do what they were doing. The author, one Matthew Gault, makes a few claims that he should have looked up before writing them:
- “In an unprecedented flexing of the power of the executive branch, unelected billionaire Elon Musk is shutting down the U.S. Agency for International Development.”
- “On Monday morning, employees for USAID got an email telling them to stay out of their headquarters. The email was signed by Gavin Kliger, one of the young engineers working with Musk who helped him gain control of the Office of Personnel Management last week.”
- In America, Congress is supposed to control the purse strings, set the budget, and fund or defund government agencies. It’s their job to oversee departments like USAID and shut them down. Ending a six-decade-old government agency that spends billions of dollars around the world is under their jurisdiction. This move by Musk on behalf of the executive branch is likely illegal and unconstitutional.
- Again: “…is likely illegal and unconstitutional.”
None of these bolded parts is true – but they are part and parcel of the TDS that has overtaken Gault in trying to paint what Trump campaigned on and is now carrying out. Sure, Musk is all over it along with his crack minions from Tesla, SpaceX, et al but to be sure, Musk CAN’T shut down USAID, Musk can’t grant Kliger access to anything on his own word, and NO, “by Musk on behalf of the executive branch” is also untrue even if he has been hired as a “Special Government Employee” (but not accepting payment).
Now, Musk has the ear of Trump who CAN issue security clearances, pick up the phone and make the calls necessary, and make any such decisions – but not Musk himself. In this prose, Gault is just yet another TDS-ridden scribbler overcome by the lack of commonsense civics.
And US CongressCritter Chris Murphy (D-CT) adds to the confusion with his eye toward propagandizing it:
“A President cannot eliminate an appropriated federal agency by executive order. That’s what a despot – who wants to steal the taxpayers money to enrich his billionaire cabal – does.
So Murphy doesn’t know his history and the “steal” part is ridiculous – WHY would someone worth over $430 Billion risk anything for a paltry (relatively speaking, of course) billion or so? It’s just slander of the political type and meant for his base. I do hope that Elon does decide to take him to court under the aegis of “the process is the punishment” although I’m betting that Elon, being a “Public Person” can get Murphy on intent.
But is was Gault’s “…is likely illegal and unconstitutional” bit that caught my eye. Commenter “Priest of Maiden” decided to amplify it:
“This move by Musk on behalf of the executive branch is likely illegal and unconstitutional.”
It’s 100% illegal and unconstitutional. Why can’t you state the obvious? Nobody elected Musk and he doesn’t actually hold an official government position.
No, no one elected Musk but 99% of government workers were not elected, either. As I pointed out, he is a government employee as a SGE (even if you want to consider it “honorary” as an official advisor). But can Musk and crew do what they have been doing in researching where OUR money has been sent? And with what oversight? And can it be shut down?
My response to “Maiden” (because I wanted to see if it was a statute based agency, and if so, what law created it and when):
Live by the Presidential Executive Order, die by the E.O. – From Perplexity.AI:
“President John F. Kennedy issued Executive Order 10973 on November 3, 1961, which created the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)”
As anyone that knows the basic civics of our Republic, any E.O. that has been issued, regardless of its “age”, can be undone by a later President’s E.O.
Therefore, it is NOT illegal and is perfectly constitutional. Yes, Musk cannot shut anything down but he and his assistants, given the directive for DOGE, can research pretty much anything. HOWEVER, only Trump can issue an E.O. that can shut down USAID.
Which has been done, sorta sideways, by folding its functions into the Dept of State.
And since that was done, most employees have been put on paid leave and, soon I bet, learning how to code. There are some questions that are being sorted out with respect to how to handle some functions required by Congressional mandates and appropriations.
But yes, it can be shut down as an independent agency. In fact, its building has been emptied out, the signage over the front door has been removed, and the space has already been lent out to another agency US Customs and Border Control.
Quite appropriate.
