In 1975, my ROTC professor, a three-tour Vietnam veteran, asked me during a scholarship interview if our government should use mercenaries in future conflicts. The Vietnam conflict had ended horrifically that year. Our military had won every battle but lost the war. He approved of my answer and granted me the scholarship.
I answered without hesitation. I thought the US should never use mercenary forces. Mercenaries are not subject to the Uniformed Code of Military Justice, and they would also not be subject to the Status of Forces Agreement, a negotiation between our government and foreign countries outlining judicial necessities if our military violates their laws. Historically, neither document has been perfectly followed, but they provide guidance and accountability.
Donald Trump has inserted mercenaries into our government. Elon Musk and his cyber-creeps have invaded our Treasury Department. They don’t have the people’s blessing to handle government funds. These unauthorized people don’t have security clearances to tinker with our data or manipulate our governmental funds. We did not elect Elon Musk, aka Mr. X. Mr. X and his mercenaries are doing a combination of their own and Trump’s bidding. Not ours.
I have begged Representative Thompson and Senators Schiff and Padilla in Congress to invoke the 14th Amendment, Section Three, to stop President Trump from continuing his insurrectionist agenda. A hundred and fifty years ago, our Congress made the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments the law of the land to prevent another civil war. I humbly ask the Democratic leadership in Congress to stop this evisceration of our government and the incursion of mercenaries who serve no one but themselves.
Major Mel Brinkley, USAF, Retired
Is it so terrible that DOGE is cutting unneeded waste from our government that is almost $40 trillion in debt? Have you seen some of the programs and pet projects that our taxpayer money is being wasted on? It’s about time that someone looks into this and makes the needed adjustments. Musk is not a mercenary, he’s a true patriot.
For example, here’s where some of our taxpayer funded USAID ends up:
USAID ‘Care Packages’ Found with Hezbollah Weapons in Lebanon
https://yournews.com/2025/02/06/3207600/usaid-materials-discovered-among-hezbollah-weapons-in-lebanon/
There is plenty of room to reform USAID, but simply unilaterally ending a congressionally approved program is neither the way to do it nor likely legal.
Atul Gawande confirms 50 top USAID officials removed. DOGE teams forced their way into USAID offices this weekend, he confirmed to Fox News.
“This is a gift to our enemies and competitors. This pause is not a pause. It’s the destruction of the agency.”
“Two weeks ago I was combatting diseases. We had 21 serious outbreaks at the time worldwide. Three are serious now: an Ebola outbreak in the capital of Uganda. Bird flu has broken out in 49 countries. Our efforts to contain them have all been shut down.”
In terms of HIV treatment and prevention: USAID was funding the treatment for 20 million people with HIV worldwide including 6.5 million orphans and their care givers.
“We were on the verge of ending HIV, TB, and malaria. That has all ended with this pause. It is a gift to our enemies and competitors,” Gawande said.
“We were funding demining operations in Vietnam to allow farmers to get back to their fields so people can farm.”
“The insanity and cruelty to break this independent agency…they (DOGE teams) took down the USAID Memorial Wall which honored employees killed in the line of duty overseas…Lebanon in the 1980s, USAID personnel killed during the bombing of the U.S. Embassy. Their Memorial torn down.
These attacks are spurious and dangerous.”
Those who have worked for USAID now and in the past: “They are being treated with enormous disrespect and fear. The top 3 layers of experienced employees have been removed. All contract employees have been or will be terminated…2/3 of the malaria staff, child immunization experts. This kills our capacity. It’s insane to break this. It’s cruel and it does our country enormous damage.”
“If you want to end foreign aid, let’s have that discussion, but this is a Congressionally statutorily created agency that President Kennedy signed into law. What is happening now is an unlawful shutdown and purge,” Gawande told Fox News.
“800 people work for USAID’s Global Health, 400 have been terminated. It’s not legal.”
“It’s an unlawful shutdown, purge and dismantling of the agency.”
“John Voorhees, our experienced security expert, was put on administrative leave for not letting unauthorized people from DOGE into classified systems. He was just following the law.”
“They have turned into a shell overnight an organization that reaches 100s of millions of people around the world. Our health programs added 6 extra years of life to children by eradicating diseases. That is all being decimated with spurious charges of corruption and mismanagement. It is a playbook coming to an agency near you.”
“Every administration does a top to bottom review of programs and whether they are working or wasteful. There is no need to shut down the agency to do a review. It’s like pausing a hospital or stopping a plane mid flight. You are pausing funding to hospitals where 100 malnourished children are being given life saving support. Teams have been hollowed out. You can’t just switch that back on. There will be large scale layoffs at U.S. companies that we have worked with for years to provide these services overseas. It is very dangerous and cruel.”
“USAID is a massive pool of waste and corruption and should be shut”
“Shutting USAID’s doors won’t put much of a ding in how America helps others. It will, however, put a stop to those who seek to exploit USAID funds for political and personal purposes, and It will, however, flood the agency with a light of accountability that has been so long lacking. That, undoubtedly, is why the left is so up in arms.”
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/feb/3/usaid-massive-pool-waste-corruption-shut/
Some examples of the waste. This just touches on the abuse. Is this really what we should be sending our tax dollars for?
$1.5 million to “advance diversity equity and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities”
$70,000 for production of a “DEI musical” in Ireland
$2.5 million for electric vehicles for Vietnam
$47,000 for a “transgender opera” in Colombia
$32,000 for a “transgender comic book” in Peru
$2 million for sex changes and “LGBT activism” in Guatemala
$6 million to fund tourism in Egypt
Hundreds of thousands of dollars for a non-profit linked to designated terrorist organizations — even AFTER an inspector general launched an investigation
Millions to EcoHealth Alliance — which was involved in research at the Wuhan lab
“Hundreds of thousands of meals that went to al Qaeda-affiliated fighters in Syria”
Funding to print “personalized” contraceptives birth control devices in developing countries
Hundreds of millions of dollars to fund “irrigation canals, farming equipment, and even fertilizer used to support the unprecedented poppy cultivation and heroin production in Afghanistan,” benefiting the Taliban
Did you read anything that I posted?
This Trump catastrophe was entirely predictable given the fact he has already been ranked as the worst President in American history. Trump has allowed a South African born self-proclaimed Nazi to run rampant with illegal actions throughout the Federal Government. He is an unelected and unconfirmed shadow government official that has been handed enormous power. As I speak the Federal Judiciary is fighting back with numerous preliminary injunctions to stop this widespread lawlessness.
“South African born self-proclaimed Nazi”
This is so false, why does the Vanguard allow statements like this?