WEBVTT - Oh, DOGE! 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:04.680 From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies. History is 0:00:04.760 --> 0:00:09.080 riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or 0:00:09.160 --> 0:00:12.119 learn the stuff they don't want you to know. A 0:00:12.200 --> 0:00:13.880 production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:25.120 --> 0:00:28.040 Hello, welcome back to the show. My name is Matt, 0:00:28.120 --> 0:00:28.880 my name is Nol. 0:00:29.160 --> 0:00:32.240 They call be Ben. We're joined as always with our 0:00:32.320 --> 0:00:36.159 super producer Dylan the Tennessee pal Fagan. Most importantly, you 0:00:36.280 --> 0:00:39.879 are you. You are here. That makes this the stuff 0:00:39.960 --> 0:00:43.320 they don't want you to know. Ed, we are pleased 0:00:43.320 --> 0:00:47.840 as punch that you are joining us tonight, folks. This 0:00:47.960 --> 0:00:52.320 is going to be an exploration of memes, an exploration 0:00:52.440 --> 0:00:58.160 of conspiracies, and the just the ridiculous, surreal situation of 0:00:58.240 --> 0:00:59.840 something called doge. 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:01.840 That's the stuff they Doze wants you to know. 0:01:02.480 --> 0:01:04.759 We're gonna play a bit of doge ball as we're 0:01:04.760 --> 0:01:11.400 talking off air. Okay, Department of Government Efficiency, we've heard 0:01:11.400 --> 0:01:11.600 of it. 0:01:11.840 --> 0:01:14.640 I love it when you like walk backwards into the acronym, 0:01:14.800 --> 0:01:15.080 you know. 0:01:15.120 --> 0:01:16.560 A backronym that's weird for it? 0:01:16.600 --> 0:01:18.960 Is that really true? Yeah? Yeah, If it's not, then 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:21.720 you've coined it, and I do I doff my cap 0:01:21.800 --> 0:01:22.920 to you, sir, oh man. 0:01:23.000 --> 0:01:29.120 It's a whole thing. Uh, let's get right into it, guys. 0:01:31.240 --> 0:01:36.080 Here are the facts. Despite the name, the Department of 0:01:36.360 --> 0:01:41.479 Government Efficiency is not an official department. 0:01:41.040 --> 0:01:42.240 But it has department in the name. 0:01:42.240 --> 0:01:44.679 Man, true department in the name. And what do we 0:01:44.680 --> 0:01:46.479 always say about innocuous names. 0:01:47.360 --> 0:01:53.880 Yeah, isn't it of another service that did exist. 0:01:53.280 --> 0:01:58.680 Mm hmmm in twenty fourteen. Yeah, this thing technically is 0:01:59.120 --> 0:02:05.240 an initial from the second Trump administration. Look at it 0:02:05.280 --> 0:02:09.520 on paper. The idea is DOZE will modernize government. It 0:02:10.480 --> 0:02:16.360 Doze will reduce harmful spending and financial waste, and it 0:02:16.400 --> 0:02:20.239 will at the same time cut all those pesky regulations 0:02:20.880 --> 0:02:26.560 and fraud getting waste and fraud keeps. Yeah, maximize productivity. Right, 0:02:26.639 --> 0:02:29.680 that doesn't sound too bad. We got to introduce one 0:02:29.680 --> 0:02:35.000 of our first players here. Doze is the brainchild of 0:02:35.120 --> 0:02:41.000 Ellen Musk. This guy was the largest known individual donor 0:02:41.160 --> 0:02:45.359 to the twenty twenty four US election cycle, more than 0:02:45.400 --> 0:02:47.680 two hundred and ninety million dollars. 0:02:48.240 --> 0:02:50.079 This guy is fine. That seems fine. 0:02:50.480 --> 0:02:53.320 I mean, we could have we could have done cool stuff. 0:02:53.400 --> 0:02:56.280 It just seems interesting that the guy that you know 0:02:56.720 --> 0:02:58.560 spent all that money on the election is the one 0:02:58.560 --> 0:03:01.840 that then gets to single handedly gut the government. 0:03:04.080 --> 0:03:06.120 Well, it's going to get to one of the theories 0:03:06.200 --> 0:03:07.600 they're going to put forward today. 0:03:07.400 --> 0:03:07.880 About the. 0:03:09.680 --> 0:03:14.120 The real meaning and goals of doge as it was 0:03:14.320 --> 0:03:16.200 thought about and then implemented. 0:03:16.800 --> 0:03:19.200 Yeah, Yeah, nailed it, okay. 0:03:19.480 --> 0:03:24.720 Doge is technically the result of an executive order EO 0:03:25.040 --> 0:03:29.080 one four one five eight, which is really a rebranding 0:03:29.280 --> 0:03:34.160 of another thing. Also, starting an initiative like this via 0:03:34.400 --> 0:03:38.520 an executive order means that you're already starting in a 0:03:38.560 --> 0:03:42.880 pretty sticky place with Congress, because they're super into laws 0:03:43.080 --> 0:03:48.680 and institutions, in theory, in theory on paper. Yes, come 0:03:48.720 --> 0:03:53.440 election time, everybody's a good boy. Doge is to our 0:03:53.480 --> 0:03:57.560 earlier point there, no. Doge is a purposeful backronym. A 0:03:57.640 --> 0:04:01.440 backronym is where you take an exisiting word and then 0:04:01.720 --> 0:04:04.360 turn it into an acronym. 0:04:04.000 --> 0:04:06.560 Right an existing word. Also, you can refer to a 0:04:06.640 --> 0:04:10.640 cute pupper, a doggo, a little doge. It also refers 0:04:10.680 --> 0:04:15.120 to a cryptocurrency that was I believe named after the 0:04:15.120 --> 0:04:16.640 shiba enu meme. 0:04:17.080 --> 0:04:19.919 Yeah, kabosu kubasu. I don't know how to say the 0:04:20.000 --> 0:04:22.680 actual name of the cute little doge. 0:04:22.800 --> 0:04:25.040 I don't know that I really was in on the 0:04:25.080 --> 0:04:28.640 original Doge or what you're talking about. Can you describe it? 0:04:28.880 --> 0:04:35.799 Very? Wow much dog much dog? Oh, heck right, Doge. 0:04:36.480 --> 0:04:41.520 It's a it's an adorable sheba eud sometimes doing a 0:04:41.640 --> 0:04:46.440 very excited face. Oh, sometimes doing a very like side 0:04:46.440 --> 0:04:47.000 eye face. 0:04:47.839 --> 0:04:50.920 Of course I know this guy. Yeah, yeah, it's very 0:04:51.400 --> 0:04:53.560 You've seen his word too many situations. So it is 0:04:53.600 --> 0:04:56.640 a bit of a side eye sort of a surprised look. 0:04:57.120 --> 0:04:59.640 But also depending on the text that you accompany it with, 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:01.760 could be the side eye situation. 0:05:01.880 --> 0:05:03.320 Yeah, like a knowing look. 0:05:05.720 --> 0:05:09.760 The things left unsaid Doge. We also know that the 0:05:09.800 --> 0:05:13.800 real name for Doge is, to your earlier point, Matt, 0:05:13.839 --> 0:05:18.320 the US Digital Service. This was created by the Obama 0:05:18.360 --> 0:05:24.520 administration President Barack Obama on August eleventh, twenty fourteen. So Doge, 0:05:24.640 --> 0:05:27.720 as it's being sold to you in the media now, 0:05:28.240 --> 0:05:31.720 is not an original thought. It is a rebranding, or, 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:36.360 according to critics, it is a weaponization of an existing thing. 0:05:36.839 --> 0:05:43.400 Yes, and interestingly enough, the department or the digital service 0:05:44.800 --> 0:05:47.520 in this thing that was created in twenty fourteen is 0:05:47.560 --> 0:05:51.800 a direct result of the botched healthcare dot gov launch. 0:05:52.160 --> 0:05:54.000 Right, that was such a nightmare. 0:05:54.560 --> 0:05:57.720 Yes, So back then they went, ooh, we should probably 0:05:57.760 --> 0:06:01.320 get better at websites and you know, digital technology and 0:06:01.360 --> 0:06:04.440 stuff as a government. So that's what this thing was 0:06:04.480 --> 0:06:08.080 supposed to do. It's it was designed in twenty fourteen 0:06:08.480 --> 0:06:11.960 to just do a better job on the internet basically. 0:06:12.560 --> 0:06:15.239 And I want to take a moment to that excellent point. 0:06:15.279 --> 0:06:19.880 I want to take a moment and just congratulate all 0:06:19.920 --> 0:06:23.880 of us for being able to talk so much valid 0:06:24.000 --> 0:06:27.719 trash about this government and not get black backed. 0:06:27.880 --> 0:06:29.720 Bye for now, for now. 0:06:30.120 --> 0:06:34.159 Interestingly enough, it's described on the Obama White House dot 0:06:34.279 --> 0:06:38.679 archives dot org site as a startup at the White 0:06:38.680 --> 0:06:42.040 Holes that pairs the country's top technology talent with the 0:06:42.080 --> 0:06:45.640 best public servants to improve the usefulness and reliability of 0:06:45.640 --> 0:06:47.920 the country's most important digital services. 0:06:48.000 --> 0:06:50.000 And then everybody clapped. 0:06:50.040 --> 0:06:54.120 Well, hey, I hear what you're saying, Ben, But I 0:06:54.160 --> 0:06:58.240 also think that's kind of a great thing. I think 0:06:58.360 --> 0:07:01.000 maybe we've all over the course of our years, had 0:07:01.040 --> 0:07:04.680 to do some thing for either a local government, state government, 0:07:04.760 --> 0:07:08.000 or the federal government online and it was just through 0:07:08.000 --> 0:07:11.760 some web portal that was clearly developed twenty years. 0:07:11.880 --> 0:07:19.200 For geo cities style, you know, construction, add in regulatory capture. 0:07:19.520 --> 0:07:23.640 Like the entire reason that it is difficult to pay 0:07:23.640 --> 0:07:28.520 your taxes is do it's because there is a industry 0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:33.560 of middlemen. Right Look, the private public thing, as you 0:07:33.600 --> 0:07:35.840 were pointing out there and all the private public thing 0:07:36.080 --> 0:07:38.000 is always going to come back to bite you in 0:07:38.000 --> 0:07:42.720 the butt as a civilization right now, Alon Musk his 0:07:43.040 --> 0:07:47.000 role with Doge is a little murky. We were talking 0:07:47.040 --> 0:07:52.480 about this off air. There are numerous clips memes that 0:07:52.520 --> 0:07:56.400 went viral of the guy holding a chainsaw or standing 0:07:56.520 --> 0:07:59.640 next to the current President of the United States in 0:07:59.720 --> 0:08:03.960 the Oval office while they talked about Doge and wearing 0:08:04.080 --> 0:08:09.520 multiple hats, messing with his spinners, his kid, I think stemming. 0:08:09.720 --> 0:08:13.000 I wonder if the kid picks his nose anyway? 0:08:13.200 --> 0:08:15.000 They all do? We all do? We all did? 0:08:18.400 --> 0:08:20.560 What was the thing that the kid mauthed at Trump 0:08:20.800 --> 0:08:23.760 like you're a horrible person or I hate you, or 0:08:25.640 --> 0:08:28.600 you don't know anything. It was something very sinister like that. 0:08:28.680 --> 0:08:30.720 We talked about it just looking at that picture though, guys, 0:08:30.760 --> 0:08:35.320 I mean, we've often brought back the WWE imagery of 0:08:35.360 --> 0:08:39.560 it all, you know, relating to the recent politics in 0:08:39.600 --> 0:08:42.680 the US and that image that you're referencing Ben. I'm 0:08:42.720 --> 0:08:47.800 looking at it. It's posted on an MPR finger and oh, 0:08:48.679 --> 0:08:50.040 it's like an America chainsaw. 0:08:51.080 --> 0:08:54.559 It's we got a little idiocracy, to be honest, it's 0:08:54.600 --> 0:08:55.120 really quickly. 0:08:55.120 --> 0:08:56.600 I'm just so excited I had to share. I am 0:08:56.640 --> 0:09:00.400 going to my first WWE events on Monday. I'm going 0:09:00.440 --> 0:09:05.600 to see what w w E raw show. I'm pretty pumped. 0:09:06.040 --> 0:09:08.400 You should call hop okay. 0:09:11.000 --> 0:09:12.280 Get the special treatment. 0:09:12.440 --> 0:09:17.160 Speaking of special treatment, right, the White House has had 0:09:17.280 --> 0:09:22.880 some strangely I don't know, fluid information is not the 0:09:22.960 --> 0:09:27.600 right word, contradictory statements about the role of ELM. Musk 0:09:27.800 --> 0:09:30.520 in DOGE or Elon Musk, if you want to say 0:09:30.559 --> 0:09:33.600 it that way. At various times they have said he 0:09:33.760 --> 0:09:37.960 is a senior advisor to the president. At other times 0:09:38.000 --> 0:09:42.600 they have denied that he makes any decisions whatsoever. And 0:09:42.640 --> 0:09:46.839 then also from the President himself, they have claimed that 0:09:47.120 --> 0:09:50.839 Musk is in fact the head of DOGE and does 0:09:50.920 --> 0:09:54.480 make all the decisions. This is coming from the same place. 0:09:54.280 --> 0:09:56.360 Except when they're openly beefing on Twitter. 0:09:57.120 --> 0:10:01.199 Except when they're openly beefing on Twitter at least me five. 0:10:01.320 --> 0:10:05.720 That's when Musk said he was pivoting from this initiative, 0:10:05.760 --> 0:10:08.600 which again is not a real department, just to be 0:10:08.920 --> 0:10:09.800 very clear about that. 0:10:10.040 --> 0:10:14.040 Oh yeah, it's really strange to see initial reporting and 0:10:14.080 --> 0:10:17.520 statements from Elon Musk himself in the early stages of 0:10:17.559 --> 0:10:22.480 this January February twenty twenty five, when he's saying things like, oh, 0:10:22.679 --> 0:10:25.960 I'm I think I'll probably spend a day, maybe two 0:10:26.040 --> 0:10:30.040 days a week on government work, and then just imagining 0:10:30.080 --> 0:10:33.400 being appointed to something that was touted as such an 0:10:33.440 --> 0:10:37.080 important part of an administration, thinking that the head guy 0:10:37.120 --> 0:10:39.880 would only be there, and he wasn't the only head guy, right, 0:10:39.960 --> 0:10:42.920 there was another dude that was going to there were 0:10:42.920 --> 0:10:46.920 gonna be co heads or something, Vivik Rebmaswami. Yeah, And 0:10:46.960 --> 0:10:48.720 then they just splipped it and said, well, we like 0:10:48.880 --> 0:10:50.880 this other we like Elon's way better. 0:10:51.800 --> 0:10:58.000 So per their official website, Doge's official website Doze dot gov, 0:10:58.600 --> 0:11:03.080 this initiative had already saved the United States hundreds of 0:11:03.160 --> 0:11:06.959 billions of dollars per them. But if you look at 0:11:07.000 --> 0:11:10.920 other government agencies gonna they're gonna tell you this has 0:11:11.040 --> 0:11:16.160 already cost Uncle Sam almost twenty two billion dollars. And 0:11:16.200 --> 0:11:21.760 then other analysts are gonna say doges actions will eventually 0:11:21.840 --> 0:11:25.160 cost this country as much as one hundred and thirty 0:11:25.200 --> 0:11:26.880 five billion bucks. 0:11:27.120 --> 0:11:29.319 Well, that seems counter to the spirit of the initiative, 0:11:29.320 --> 0:11:32.520 doesn't it. Right. It's almost as though there were another 0:11:32.720 --> 0:11:34.559 reason to do the whole thing. 0:11:34.679 --> 0:11:38.560 It's like starting a nonprofit called People for Cheese and 0:11:38.840 --> 0:11:44.200 our first thing is to eliminate all cheesemongers. 0:11:44.480 --> 0:11:48.240 Let just get rid of the middle. Yeah, yeah, go straight. 0:11:49.600 --> 0:11:50.400 Straight from the utter. 0:11:52.400 --> 0:11:55.080 Guys, I'm looking at the DOGE website. 0:11:56.120 --> 0:11:58.040 Exists. Yes, it is. 0:11:58.160 --> 0:12:03.439 Just a weird little legs out of different tables, I guess, 0:12:03.440 --> 0:12:05.400 and you click on a couple of things around here. 0:12:05.800 --> 0:12:06.960 It does Twitter speed. 0:12:07.640 --> 0:12:09.960 Yeah, that's what it feels like. You can't join it, 0:12:10.080 --> 0:12:12.720 I guess. But it is weird to me that that exists. 0:12:12.920 --> 0:12:18.440 But the USDs dot gov also still exists. Note well, 0:12:18.440 --> 0:12:20.760 and now that we're gonna get to it, and I 0:12:20.800 --> 0:12:23.960 don't want to spoil too much, but DOGE had a 0:12:24.000 --> 0:12:26.720 limited time window that it was going to operate under, 0:12:27.440 --> 0:12:30.720 and we're still in that window. But for some reason, 0:12:31.720 --> 0:12:34.720 if you go to the USDs dot gov website, it's 0:12:34.760 --> 0:12:39.240 still You will find DOSEE references in there, but it's 0:12:39.400 --> 0:12:42.440 mostly back to USDs, which is weird. 0:12:43.400 --> 0:12:46.600 Yeah, it might be kind of a grift under the 0:12:47.000 --> 0:12:51.920 maybe leadership of Musk Vivek Ramaswami and Amy Gleeson at 0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:56.200 various points, Gleason's the one you're going to hear the 0:12:56.360 --> 0:13:01.360 most directly attached to policy or action by Doge because 0:13:01.480 --> 0:13:05.679 Gleason reports to the Chief of Staff for the White House. 0:13:06.240 --> 0:13:12.599 Doge got unprecedented access to sensitive information on individuals, on businesses, 0:13:12.800 --> 0:13:17.920 on government affairs, while also cutting tons and tons of funding, 0:13:18.240 --> 0:13:21.720 more money than we could ever imagine, cutting tons of 0:13:21.760 --> 0:13:26.679 funding to various existing government programs, as well as creating 0:13:26.800 --> 0:13:29.400 what they call deferred resignation. 0:13:29.880 --> 0:13:32.199 Remember that one, right, that was the letters that were 0:13:32.200 --> 0:13:35.440 sick in the road working the road. And I gotta ask, 0:13:35.480 --> 0:13:37.880 where does big Balls fit into this ORG chart? 0:13:39.120 --> 0:13:39.320 Oh? 0:13:39.480 --> 0:13:41.480 Yeah, that was one of the kids, right mm hmm. 0:13:41.600 --> 0:13:43.240 I mean I believe he was kind of running the 0:13:43.280 --> 0:13:48.079 team that stormed into some government's offices and demanded all 0:13:48.120 --> 0:13:51.680 of these documents and access to terminals and sorry, terminals, 0:13:51.720 --> 0:13:55.520 what am I doing? In the fifties, very very raid 0:13:55.720 --> 0:13:59.079 like behavior. Folks were not giving the heads up. Heads 0:13:59.080 --> 0:14:01.120 of departments were not told what was going on, and 0:14:01.160 --> 0:14:04.599 it just felt very much like an invasion. 0:14:04.600 --> 0:14:08.800 When many judges stopped specific actions from happening, or at least, 0:14:08.880 --> 0:14:10.520 you know, put out we're going to get into it. 0:14:10.880 --> 0:14:14.720 But there are several times there are attempted to be stopped. 0:14:14.800 --> 0:14:17.920 But then there were also secret actions taking place that 0:14:18.120 --> 0:14:20.280 we're going to talk about. Even when there was a stoppage, 0:14:21.080 --> 0:14:24.280 a federal judge said no, and they're like, OK, well. 0:14:24.120 --> 0:14:26.680 You also can't stop what has already occurred. You can 0:14:26.760 --> 0:14:29.840 try to keep it from happening again, happening further. But 0:14:30.200 --> 0:14:32.360 a lot of these things were just such a swoop in, 0:14:32.640 --> 0:14:34.720 do the thing, the damage is done. Oh now the 0:14:34.800 --> 0:14:38.000 judge weighs in. If you don't really you know, pay 0:14:38.040 --> 0:14:41.240 attention or follow the orders of the judges, then it 0:14:41.280 --> 0:14:43.720 doesn't really have much effect. 0:14:43.920 --> 0:14:46.800 And to be clear, obviously one of the most important 0:14:46.800 --> 0:14:50.320 things here is that we don't body shame. The guy's 0:14:50.520 --> 0:14:53.760 street name is big Balls, and it might be a 0:14:53.760 --> 0:14:54.640 medical condition. 0:14:55.320 --> 0:14:56.400 It's more of an attitude. 0:14:56.600 --> 0:15:00.360 You know, well, please get yourself checked, folks, is what say? 0:15:03.120 --> 0:15:05.720 Walk down the street for that one ballsy. 0:15:05.960 --> 0:15:07.480 M down by your giant balls. 0:15:07.720 --> 0:15:10.640 Oh jeez, tell me about it. I mean, this is 0:15:10.680 --> 0:15:13.920 divisive stuff. Right. It might surprise a lot of us 0:15:14.000 --> 0:15:19.120 outside of the United States to know that some people, 0:15:19.880 --> 0:15:24.480 a not insignificant portion of this country loved the idea 0:15:24.640 --> 0:15:29.840 of DOGE because it spoke directly to ongoing concerns. Right, 0:15:29.880 --> 0:15:35.080 the idea of big red tape, of massive bureaucracy, inefficient government. 0:15:35.080 --> 0:15:38.320 You're taking my money and you're wasting it. Why so 0:15:38.360 --> 0:15:41.560 if we could save the government and the taxpayer a 0:15:41.600 --> 0:15:44.440 bit of scratch, a bit of cheddar, why not tighten 0:15:44.480 --> 0:15:49.080 the belt? So other people absolutely hate this idea, and 0:15:49.120 --> 0:15:54.040 they say, look, we're allowing a level of private involvement, influence, 0:15:54.080 --> 0:15:58.800 and interference into public institutions. This will bite us in 0:15:58.840 --> 0:16:03.880 the ass later. And now, as we record on February twentieth, 0:16:03.920 --> 0:16:09.480 twenty twenty six, we are officially at later the Yeah, 0:16:09.560 --> 0:16:14.880 officially ass bitten. Would Yeah, the leopards have eaten the face. Uh, 0:16:15.120 --> 0:16:18.600 the ass has been didten. It's no surprise that a 0:16:18.600 --> 0:16:21.920 lot of these critics and even a few early supporters 0:16:22.360 --> 0:16:26.360 of DOGE have concluded it is less a government agency 0:16:26.840 --> 0:16:28.400 and more a conspiracy. 0:16:28.640 --> 0:16:33.480 Oh for sure, let's not forget when this thing was initiated, 0:16:34.080 --> 0:16:37.280 the public statements were Doge is going to save the 0:16:37.320 --> 0:16:43.320 government two trillion dollars in spending, and that that goal 0:16:43.800 --> 0:16:47.840 went almost immediately down to one trillion, and then that 0:16:47.880 --> 0:16:49.920 got slashed down to one hundred and fifty billion. 0:16:50.280 --> 0:16:50.920 Yeah. 0:16:51.200 --> 0:16:53.560 Yeah, always start big, you know what I mean. 0:16:54.120 --> 0:16:57.840 But it makes you, it makes you call into question 0:16:58.240 --> 0:16:59.840 what is this thing really for? 0:17:00.640 --> 0:17:00.760 Right? 0:17:01.320 --> 0:17:04.480 If it's not to save tremendous amounts of money on 0:17:04.680 --> 0:17:08.520 operating costs, and you know, government budgets, what are they 0:17:08.680 --> 0:17:09.480 actually doing. 0:17:09.960 --> 0:17:13.960 They're trying to project twenty twenty five of five the 0:17:14.000 --> 0:17:15.320 government like. 0:17:15.560 --> 0:17:16.120 Five to five. 0:17:16.200 --> 0:17:16.760 That's nice. 0:17:16.840 --> 0:17:21.399 Yeah, depending upon whom you ask, Doge is not a warm, 0:17:21.600 --> 0:17:25.800 fuzzy angel farts and Trumpet's good faith effort to clean 0:17:25.920 --> 0:17:29.439 up financial waste. There is one criticism we want to 0:17:29.480 --> 0:17:32.920 point out before we get to the crazy part, which 0:17:33.000 --> 0:17:37.520 is the following quote. Under the auspices of finding fraud, waste, 0:17:37.560 --> 0:17:41.639 and abuse, Doge has hurt the middle class, created chaos, 0:17:41.680 --> 0:17:45.919 and attempted to usurp Congress's power of the purse with 0:17:46.000 --> 0:17:50.440 illegal impoundments end quote. That quote is not from a 0:17:50.560 --> 0:17:54.040 random podcast or person on the internet. That is from 0:17:54.080 --> 0:17:59.400 the House Committee on the Budget. The government itself does 0:17:59.480 --> 0:18:02.480 not like what the government itself is doing. 0:18:02.760 --> 0:18:08.399 Yeah, or at least the new digital services. This thing is, 0:18:08.600 --> 0:18:09.080 let's do it. 0:18:09.160 --> 0:18:11.880 Yeah. Okay, So what exactly is DOSE done? Why are 0:18:11.920 --> 0:18:16.119 so many people concerned? Perhaps most importantly, what's it really for? 0:18:16.480 --> 0:18:18.440 And what's it going to do in the future. We're 0:18:18.440 --> 0:18:21.080 going to pause for a word from our sponsors and 0:18:21.480 --> 0:18:24.919 hope our bosses don't catch up with us before we 0:18:24.960 --> 0:18:34.760 finish this episode. Here's where it gets crazy. Despite being 0:18:34.800 --> 0:18:38.560 around for a very short amount of time, DOGE has 0:18:38.680 --> 0:18:44.520 already created a massive amount of controversy tsunamis of controversy, 0:18:44.640 --> 0:18:48.720 some of which we talked about in earlier episodes, some 0:18:48.760 --> 0:18:57.040 of which we mentioned in Strange News. I'm thinking of usaid, Yeah. 0:18:56.080 --> 0:18:59.240 That thing is weird, I think specifically for the show, 0:18:59.320 --> 0:19:04.800 because we understand the positives that something like the United 0:19:04.800 --> 0:19:09.280 States Agency Agency for International Development can do, right, we 0:19:09.359 --> 0:19:13.600 also know the pitfalls of that kind of money injection 0:19:13.800 --> 0:19:19.440 to other countries, especially when you are quietly involved in 0:19:19.520 --> 0:19:22.200 nation building and coups and things like that. 0:19:22.359 --> 0:19:24.600 Well, let's also just point out too, that there is 0:19:24.680 --> 0:19:28.720 a lot of opportunity for waste abuse and fraud within 0:19:28.840 --> 0:19:33.159 these systems, which makes it such a solid cover story 0:19:33.320 --> 0:19:36.320 because who doesn't want to eliminate some of that stuff 0:19:36.359 --> 0:19:39.920 in bureaucracy and you know, to safeguard our tax dollars 0:19:39.960 --> 0:19:41.959 and make sure they're going to the right things and 0:19:41.960 --> 0:19:45.440 not being funneled into, you know, things that are a 0:19:45.480 --> 0:19:46.520 little more untoward. 0:19:47.200 --> 0:19:50.959 Yeah, but there's you bring up a great point because 0:19:51.040 --> 0:19:54.240 there is an interesting disconnect, a little bit of a 0:19:54.320 --> 0:19:58.680 logical leap that the supporters of DOGE failed to clock 0:19:59.440 --> 0:20:03.280 when the big cuts happened to fundy. It is not 0:20:03.400 --> 0:20:07.200 as though you the individual get some kind of money back, 0:20:07.400 --> 0:20:11.480 right USA funding gets cut. It's not as though everybody 0:20:11.480 --> 0:20:14.960 in the United States gets a dollar thirty five back, 0:20:15.280 --> 0:20:15.439 you know. 0:20:15.760 --> 0:20:18.159 That is what the DOGE website says. Though it's like 0:20:18.160 --> 0:20:20.879 this is the amount of money saved per American. So 0:20:20.920 --> 0:20:23.680 it makes makes you feel as though, oh, I might 0:20:23.720 --> 0:20:24.560 get that money back. 0:20:24.680 --> 0:20:26.879 Wasn't there talk about issuing some kind of that was 0:20:26.960 --> 0:20:28.520 the tariffs, issuing a dividend? 0:20:28.760 --> 0:20:29.000 Cheh. 0:20:29.720 --> 0:20:32.600 A lot of talk about you know, getting. 0:20:32.200 --> 0:20:34.240 Anything but Epstein, you know. 0:20:34.560 --> 0:20:36.480 Did you guys see the news from the Supreme Court 0:20:36.600 --> 0:20:40.320 this morning on February twentieth, as we record the Supreme 0:20:40.359 --> 0:20:43.600 Court is basically shutting down his sweeping tariffs. 0:20:43.960 --> 0:20:45.240 Oh well, I'm cool. 0:20:45.280 --> 0:20:49.000 Yeah, Well, messing with the money and that's always going 0:20:49.080 --> 0:20:52.840 to be the third rail outside of the theater of culture, 0:20:52.920 --> 0:20:54.200 wars and politics. 0:20:54.400 --> 0:20:56.399 We also mentioned enough of Mike this whole ten billion 0:20:56.440 --> 0:20:59.520 dollars to the Bureau of Peace or whatever it's called. 0:21:00.800 --> 0:21:02.520 Lit'll put a pin in that and save that for 0:21:02.560 --> 0:21:06.159 another time, but very interesting use of our tax dollars. 0:21:06.640 --> 0:21:10.000 Yeah, Dylan. Dylan notes that there was a several thousand 0:21:10.040 --> 0:21:14.240 and five thousand dollars DOGE refund that was like discussed several. 0:21:13.880 --> 0:21:16.560 Times, discussed, discussed, Yeah. 0:21:16.480 --> 0:21:18.480 Yeah, yeah, yeah, like, oh yeah, we're gonna do this 0:21:18.560 --> 0:21:18.960 for sure. 0:21:19.680 --> 0:21:23.320 I love discussing stuff because it's different. It's just close 0:21:23.400 --> 0:21:24.760 enough to doing stuff. 0:21:25.040 --> 0:21:26.760 Yeah, we have an idea of a concept of a. 0:21:27.000 --> 0:21:28.600 Concept of an idea concept. 0:21:29.720 --> 0:21:32.800 It's actually it's funny you say that, guys, because I 0:21:32.840 --> 0:21:35.240 was talking to our pal friend of the show, Josh 0:21:35.280 --> 0:21:40.000 Clark about a potential collaboration as we're out in the 0:21:40.000 --> 0:21:43.359 field and broad uh, and he said that sounds cool. 0:21:43.359 --> 0:21:45.199 What are you thinking. I said, I don't know. I 0:21:45.200 --> 0:21:46.679 think we should hang out. And he said so you 0:21:46.720 --> 0:21:48.560 don't have a plan, and I said, we got the 0:21:48.600 --> 0:21:52.760 concept of a plan, so you need Yeah. But the 0:21:52.840 --> 0:21:57.560 thing is, we're talking about podcasting and doing fun shows 0:21:57.600 --> 0:22:01.560 to entertain and educate. These folks are talking about billions 0:22:01.600 --> 0:22:05.920 of dollars and they are putting lives on the line. USAID. 0:22:08.200 --> 0:22:12.800 USAID was always targeted by Musk and the Doge folks 0:22:12.880 --> 0:22:16.320 at all. For a while, Musk repeatedly stated on his 0:22:16.400 --> 0:22:22.480 favorite social media platform that too much of the USAID 0:22:22.640 --> 0:22:28.840 budget was either misappropriated through fraud or they weren't putting 0:22:28.840 --> 0:22:32.320 the money in the right place. They were misprioritizing stuff. 0:22:32.960 --> 0:22:38.119 Up until Doge, USAID had like fourteen thousand full time employees, 0:22:38.640 --> 0:22:42.480 and now it's looking more like maybe three hundred, depending 0:22:42.520 --> 0:22:44.000 on all the court stuff works out. 0:22:44.119 --> 0:22:45.960 I think the part that really stuck with me too 0:22:46.000 --> 0:22:51.320 about this was the food aid that was not distributed right, 0:22:51.320 --> 0:22:54.239 that literally just sat in a warehouse to rhyme. So 0:22:55.240 --> 0:22:57.399 it just seems like cruelty is at the heart of 0:22:57.440 --> 0:22:59.919 a lot of that stuff, and not actual savings. Because 0:23:00.200 --> 0:23:02.720 the money's been spent, why wouldn't I just distribute it 0:23:02.760 --> 0:23:05.080 to the people who need it as opposed to like 0:23:05.320 --> 0:23:06.320 throwing it in the fire. 0:23:06.680 --> 0:23:09.160 I'm so glad you brought that up, because, like we're 0:23:09.240 --> 0:23:13.280 saying on Strange News, when we first talked about that 0:23:13.359 --> 0:23:17.879 food waste, it's it's just unclean. You're right, it's a 0:23:17.960 --> 0:23:21.000 sunk cost. The food was already purchased, the food on 0:23:21.160 --> 0:23:26.560 expiration date. The only real cost would have been transportation 0:23:26.840 --> 0:23:32.560 and logistics, which already had a paid contract. Right, So 0:23:33.720 --> 0:23:37.960 what are we saving. We're not saving people. We're definitely 0:23:37.960 --> 0:23:40.159 not helping folks. 0:23:40.600 --> 0:23:43.520 Let's send a message too that we that we don't 0:23:43.560 --> 0:23:45.640 want to help folks, that we're trying to have much 0:23:45.680 --> 0:23:47.600 more of an isolationist kind of approach. 0:23:48.359 --> 0:23:52.399 It's also tremendously I was just gonna say, upsetting when 0:23:52.440 --> 0:23:56.000 you think about this forty billion dollars being targeted as 0:23:56.080 --> 0:24:00.320 the thing that's wasteful when everybody in the in that 0:24:00.400 --> 0:24:04.160 world knows that it's the Department of Defense and the 0:24:04.200 --> 0:24:07.840 military industrial congressional complex that is the thing that loses. 0:24:08.520 --> 0:24:11.880 As we've talked about on this show, palettes of billions 0:24:11.920 --> 0:24:15.719 of US dollars that loses, you know, who knows how 0:24:15.800 --> 0:24:18.720