The rot in the “establishment” is very deep and expansive. Extremely wealthy people have taken advantage of opportunities to enrich themselves at the expense of hardworking people for so long that it seems implausible we can correct course now. I’m almost giddy about the revelations to date, yet I know that it’s so much worse and a lot of honest people are going to be negatively affected by the necessary changes and people simply don’t want to endure change. Unfortunately the changes will come eventually, if not now, they’ll be worse later… worse for the middle class (I abhor that distinction) but not for the ELITIST kleptocracy who have benefited all along and will continue to be enriched until the grand reckoning. I grew up with baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, and all that was good about our culture and I can’t imagine the self centered, obnoxious perverted greed that was already well underway but has now infiltrated us in a way that threatens to upend a once great nation of faithful and fruitful citizens who’s biggest mistake was trusting the establishment, the government, the blob, or whatever description you think best fits. Thankfully I don’t place my faith in manmade institutions but I am happy to assist with making course corrections if possible to enable the American experiment to continue for a few more generations.
Apparently Taibbi discovered the fact there's more money to be made spreading right-wing conspiratorial spin nonsense than truth
The Dispatch 5 Feb. 2025-
The post, which had been viewed more than 2 million times as of midday Wednesday, includes a screenshot showing that Politico LLC received $8.1 million from the agency. In a follow-up post, Becker linked USAID funding freezes to a payroll issue at the company earlier this week. “The ‘technical error’ was reportedly resolved,” Becker wrote, referencing an email sent to Politico employees explaining that the issue had been caused by a system glitch. “The error of sending U.S. taxpayer money to a biased, partisan, establishment publication, however, is being fixed.”
The claim was picked up by right-wing political commentator Benny Johnson, who called the news “the biggest scandal in news media history” in an X post with more than 3 million views. “No employee at Politico got paid yesterday. First time ever the company missed a pay period. This is a crisis,” Johnson wrote. “Now we learn Politico — a ‘news company’ — which spent the last 10 years trying to destroy the MAGA Movement was being massively funded by USAID.
Becker and Johnson’s claims are false. The only payments received by Politico LLC from USAID were for two subscriptions to E&E—an energy and environment publication it produces—totaling $44,000 over two years.
According to USAspending.gov, an official source for U.S. government expenditure data—and the resource used by Becker in his post—Politico received $8.2 million in total payments in the previous 12 months. However, payments from USAID are a small fraction of that total. Of the two payments from the agency, only one was in that timeframe.
In September 2023, a staff assistant for the Center for Environment, Energy, and Infrastructure—part of USAID’s Bureau for Development, Democracy, and Innovation—purchased a subscription to E&E for $20,000. According to E&E, prices for its professional subscription packages typically start in the upper four-figure range and vary based on how many users have access to a subscription. Another subscription to E&E was purchased in September 2024 for $24,000 by the Center for Climate Positive Development—an office within USAID’s Bureau for Resilience and Food Security.
Funds received by Politico LLC from other government agencies also came mostly from subscriptions to E&E, or for the company’s policy intelligence platform, Politico Pro. The largest spenders have been the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Department of the Interior (DOI), and Department of Energy (DOE).
In July 2020, for example, HHS paid $73,857 for a Politico Pro subscription licensed for 37 users. The department exercised options to extend the contract in 2021 and 2022, and eventually increased its subscription to 49 users in 2023 for $130,185. The DOI similarly purchased a subscription to E&E in September 2021 for $200,000, which it has been extending since. The DOE has also been extending a Politico Pro contract since June 2020 for a four-year total of more than $400,000.
Neither Politico nor Johnson returned a request for comment from The Dispatch Fact Check. Becker could not be immediately reached.
Corrections, February 6, 2025: The headline of this piece has been updated to more accurately describe the contents of the fact check. While Politico LLC did receive funds from USAID and other government agencies, the money was not for grants but payment for subscriptions to its publications. Also, the $8.2 million figure cited refers to payments in the 12 months leading up to February 2025, not dating back to 2016.
One possible benefit from all of this exposure is the confirmation of ones' intuitions. I know I've often doubted the validity of a lot of MSM "news" for one subtle reason or another but was never able to prove it. Too much complexity and conflicting "facts." Seeing so much exposure validating them makes me more confident now.
It's like most "conspiracy theories" of the last 10 years or so have proved true, so maybe at the very least people will stop denying that conspiracies exist and apply their common sense and life experiences ... AND intuitions.
I believe the democrats are corrupt. I believe the republicans are corrupt. I believe that taxpayer money is regularly wasted. I believe that believing that the current batch of crooks will fix the problems is wishful thinking.
In your opinion. I suspect he no longer satisfies your need for daily bias confirmation that animates your fantasy ideology. Such a shame to offer up your closed mind.
It is impossible to press the “like/love” button on this one. But with a concerted effort to not give up on the World/Cesspit that we are wading through, there seems to be a sliver of hope that we are starting an ascent from a very deep Valley of Darkness. Onwards! Andele’!!! Stay Strong and Forge On!
💥💥USAID FUNDED IRISH DEI MUSICAL FOOTAGE💥💥
For some, albeit slight, light relief, here is footage from the USAID funded Irish DEI Musical:
https://open.substack.com/pub/twentyx/p/usaid-funded-irish-dei-musical-footage
Right on dude!!!
The rot in the “establishment” is very deep and expansive. Extremely wealthy people have taken advantage of opportunities to enrich themselves at the expense of hardworking people for so long that it seems implausible we can correct course now. I’m almost giddy about the revelations to date, yet I know that it’s so much worse and a lot of honest people are going to be negatively affected by the necessary changes and people simply don’t want to endure change. Unfortunately the changes will come eventually, if not now, they’ll be worse later… worse for the middle class (I abhor that distinction) but not for the ELITIST kleptocracy who have benefited all along and will continue to be enriched until the grand reckoning. I grew up with baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, and all that was good about our culture and I can’t imagine the self centered, obnoxious perverted greed that was already well underway but has now infiltrated us in a way that threatens to upend a once great nation of faithful and fruitful citizens who’s biggest mistake was trusting the establishment, the government, the blob, or whatever description you think best fits. Thankfully I don’t place my faith in manmade institutions but I am happy to assist with making course corrections if possible to enable the American experiment to continue for a few more generations.
"Officer, I was not having a transaction with the prostitute. I was funding her college education."
Apparently Taibbi discovered the fact there's more money to be made spreading right-wing conspiratorial spin nonsense than truth
The Dispatch 5 Feb. 2025-
The post, which had been viewed more than 2 million times as of midday Wednesday, includes a screenshot showing that Politico LLC received $8.1 million from the agency. In a follow-up post, Becker linked USAID funding freezes to a payroll issue at the company earlier this week. “The ‘technical error’ was reportedly resolved,” Becker wrote, referencing an email sent to Politico employees explaining that the issue had been caused by a system glitch. “The error of sending U.S. taxpayer money to a biased, partisan, establishment publication, however, is being fixed.”
The claim was picked up by right-wing political commentator Benny Johnson, who called the news “the biggest scandal in news media history” in an X post with more than 3 million views. “No employee at Politico got paid yesterday. First time ever the company missed a pay period. This is a crisis,” Johnson wrote. “Now we learn Politico — a ‘news company’ — which spent the last 10 years trying to destroy the MAGA Movement was being massively funded by USAID.
Becker and Johnson’s claims are false. The only payments received by Politico LLC from USAID were for two subscriptions to E&E—an energy and environment publication it produces—totaling $44,000 over two years.
According to USAspending.gov, an official source for U.S. government expenditure data—and the resource used by Becker in his post—Politico received $8.2 million in total payments in the previous 12 months. However, payments from USAID are a small fraction of that total. Of the two payments from the agency, only one was in that timeframe.
In September 2023, a staff assistant for the Center for Environment, Energy, and Infrastructure—part of USAID’s Bureau for Development, Democracy, and Innovation—purchased a subscription to E&E for $20,000. According to E&E, prices for its professional subscription packages typically start in the upper four-figure range and vary based on how many users have access to a subscription. Another subscription to E&E was purchased in September 2024 for $24,000 by the Center for Climate Positive Development—an office within USAID’s Bureau for Resilience and Food Security.
Funds received by Politico LLC from other government agencies also came mostly from subscriptions to E&E, or for the company’s policy intelligence platform, Politico Pro. The largest spenders have been the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Department of the Interior (DOI), and Department of Energy (DOE).
In July 2020, for example, HHS paid $73,857 for a Politico Pro subscription licensed for 37 users. The department exercised options to extend the contract in 2021 and 2022, and eventually increased its subscription to 49 users in 2023 for $130,185. The DOI similarly purchased a subscription to E&E in September 2021 for $200,000, which it has been extending since. The DOE has also been extending a Politico Pro contract since June 2020 for a four-year total of more than $400,000.
Neither Politico nor Johnson returned a request for comment from The Dispatch Fact Check. Becker could not be immediately reached.
Corrections, February 6, 2025: The headline of this piece has been updated to more accurately describe the contents of the fact check. While Politico LLC did receive funds from USAID and other government agencies, the money was not for grants but payment for subscriptions to its publications. Also, the $8.2 million figure cited refers to payments in the 12 months leading up to February 2025, not dating back to 2016.
One possible benefit from all of this exposure is the confirmation of ones' intuitions. I know I've often doubted the validity of a lot of MSM "news" for one subtle reason or another but was never able to prove it. Too much complexity and conflicting "facts." Seeing so much exposure validating them makes me more confident now.
It's like most "conspiracy theories" of the last 10 years or so have proved true, so maybe at the very least people will stop denying that conspiracies exist and apply their common sense and life experiences ... AND intuitions.
I believe the democrats are corrupt. I believe the republicans are corrupt. I believe that taxpayer money is regularly wasted. I believe that believing that the current batch of crooks will fix the problems is wishful thinking.
It seems impossible to unsubscribe from Matt Taibbi emails, just another corruption.
why, what's wrong with Taibbi? You can choose to ignore them.
He's a lying propagandist.
In your opinion. I suspect he no longer satisfies your need for daily bias confirmation that animates your fantasy ideology. Such a shame to offer up your closed mind.
Nation never was 50 / 50 divide. Rip the election processes OPEN! Usurpers of old doing dEvil.
It is impossible to press the “like/love” button on this one. But with a concerted effort to not give up on the World/Cesspit that we are wading through, there seems to be a sliver of hope that we are starting an ascent from a very deep Valley of Darkness. Onwards! Andele’!!! Stay Strong and Forge On!
Show of hands....how many are tired of being played?
I am starting to wear Charlie Brown shirts.