John Drake

It's a boneheaded idea that will just increase the attention on the Middle East. The US should be refocusing on China and the Far East. That's where the major problem lies. Let Israel and the Palestinians solve their own problems. Too many resources are being devoted to a relatively minor geopolitical region and conflict.

This was true during the Vietnam War and in the Secret War in Laos. You had USAID operatives assigned to individual villages, regional USAID directors, and USAID coordinators operating with CIA field agents. I know in Laos that the key USAID guy just packed his bags after the country fell and moved into Thailand where he set up shop again. They and the CIA case officers worked hand in hand with Air America, because aircraft were the only way you could move around the country.

I'm seeing a confused emoji on every post critical of USAID. I guess there is still at lest one of the agency's employees in Bangkok at the embassy. Now, with time on their hands.

Ought to give permanent space to Alex Jones. Watch legacy media's heads explode.

This investigation should be nationwide. And it should be broadened to all acts of political intimidation and threats towards students and faculty. Best way to start is to pull their funding. And tax their endowments. Taxing endowments for all universities should take place anyway.

What Americans wanted and mostly thought they were getting was an agency that helped developing nations in the aftermaths of catastrophes or gave them advice on healthy and safe high yielding agricultural practices (could use that in Thailand), clean water and local level financial management. What they were getting were exports to foreign countries of tranny operas, DEI kid shows, and recommendations from anti-farm zealots to eat bugs and stop agricultural development. And not to mention the money going to ngos that ran pro censorship campaigns both inside and outside the US. Then there are the intelligence agencies who were using it as a blind to overthrow governments and impose puppets who steal from their own people. All this modeled in Vietnam 60 plus years ago. All it did was make enemies and lose minds.

Overseas staff given 30 days to get out. How many, I wonder, are packing their bags at the Bangkok embassy? https://www.usaid.gov/

fiddledeedee

Can't do that. There are probably already a large group of people who have just been employed to do the new procedure and nothing else. Likely a lot of family relations and important people already raking in salaries.

Alas, Thailand.

Greenland?

The logical end result of so-called hate speech laws and restrictions. You either have free speech or you don't. Looks like the UK doesn't.

Transfer and disburse the employees to new offices in Minneapolis, Seattle, Portland, and Barstow. Close down and sell the current buildings in DC. Or turn them into apartments for Haitians and Venezuelans with asylum status.

That is precisely what USAID has been doing since the Vietnam War.

All this talk about USAID and how it helps versus China in developing countries, all this talk needs to get back to what appears to be an uncomfortable fact: what has USAID money done to help the US in these nations? Where we unload millions and billions, the countries turn around and vote against us or our allies in the UN, they denounce us publicly, complain about American culture, and even object to our nationality, claiming we're not Americans but United Statesian. Take our money and deny our nationhood. Time to cut them all off.

How is giving millions of dollars to Bill Kristol through USAID shadow ngos in the American interest?

If Trump is going to give up on tariffs already, how is he going to get rid of the IRS? His Department of External Revenue will not have much to collect if he's going to retreat from tariffs this early in his admin.

These look like face saving measures for Trump. And bringing any more Mexican army troops to the US border only makes the situation worse, not better. They've actually pulled cross border intrusions in order to run cover for the cartels.

10,000 Mexican troops on the border is not the good thing some people think it is. In 1990s, the Zetas came from "elite" Mexican army commandos and went on to become the country's most powerful drug cartel. Today, the army itself is directly integrated into cartel activity.

Confusing. So many people on this forum assured me that tariffs would be bad for Americans and make Americans suffer. But Americans aren't angry. Canadians are, and nobody in America is raising prices on them. They just want to hate the US.

Stay sober. Stay polite. Stay cool. Stay away from shady people and places, especially at night. And your chances of a bad encounter are infinitesimal.

But considered an American company HQed in Irving, Texas. I grew up with 7 Eleven. From the 1970s on it was always a lot more expensive than alternatives. But people went there for Slurpees in the summer. The Thai franchise, I think, is really well run and does far more than the American stores I was familiar with. Japanese ownership has been beneficial, too. I hope they keep control of it.

Hope you are correct.

I didn't support Trump. I do support targeted tariffs. And I had hoped that Trump's focus would be on China as well as some scoundrels in SE Asia. Frankly, I don't know about the Canadian situation to comment there (btw how are you going to export hydro "elsewhere?" Oil and ng maybe but the US is self sufficient in those latter two). I do understand taking action against Mexico, albeit I like Mexicans and Mexico, because successive governments there have not only encouraged violation of the US border but they've made their country a transit highway for everyone else from Central and South America. The cartels are another matter and need to be tracked down and eliminated.

And realize there are many more Thais in the US than Americans in Thailand, especially rich ones holding valuable houses and businesses.