Claudia Muir

YouTube video by Malcolm HQ Douglas Muir worked for USAID

My husband speaks about his job - video produced by the @malcolmkenyatta.bsky.social team at the Dems Abroad meeting in Germany earlier this year. I know lots of other things have happened in the meantime, but the destruction of USAID is still causing harm every single day. @maddow.msnbc.com

Als die Gruppe in Schwallungen aussteigt (um 17:01, wer's wissen möchte), zeigen sie ihr den Stinkefinger. Sie hat ein Video gemacht. Ehrlich, ich kann nicht mehr. Nazis. Niemand hilft. Niemand sagt etwas. Die dürfen einfach. #Männertag #Thüringen #Nazis

Heute in Dtld: Zug von Eisenach nach Neuhaus a.R. - Gruppe sturzbetrunkener 40jähriger Männer singt lauthals "Ausländer raus". Meine 16jährige Tochter, allein unterwegs, halb Ausländerin, setzt sich weg. Was folgt ist Nötigung: Anschreien, anmachen, warum sie sich wegsetzt, anzügliche Bemerkungen.

Democrats Abroad turned up in Frankfurt, Germany today! Small but loud! #handsoff

@maddow.msnbc.com @booker.senate.gov Not only the US paid attention to this! These are screenshots of leading German newspapers (and my local one): Süddeutsche Zeitung, Die Zeit, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Mainpost - almost all have the story on the front page.
Germany salutes and thanks you.

I am subscribed to so many newsletters but yours is the one I read religiously. Thank you for this. And also, I am happy to hear that I am not the only one who needs to prepare for the worst in order to cope with crisis! I have a tourniquet in my first aid box... :-)

Finde ich überzeugend. Sofort füttern!

I’m having similar conversations and sharing international opportunities a lot. I’m sure for a lot of US based trainees that feels overwhelming. I moved to Europe for my postdoc.Happy to chat with any trainees about my experience if it would be helpful.

Ukraine is Europe!
We stand by Ukraine.

We will step up our support to Ukraine so that they can continue to fight back the agressor.

Today, it became clear that the free world needs a new leader. It’s up to us, Europeans, to take this challenge.

Thank you! Without a US address?

If your lips are movin', then you're lyin', lyin', lyin', baby -- Meghan Trainor

That is so annoying. For US Americans living outside the US who need a US phone number but have no US address anymore, Skype was the only option. You cannot give a foreign phone number to the Social Security people or the IRS or even most companies that manage your 401(k)s...

My husband's project is among those. We did not save lives, we taught people democracy and governance. Tedious work that lays the foundation for so many countries. Maybe that also saves lives. But we knew the UN doctors in Tajikistan who worked on MDR-TB. I am thinking of them a lot these days.

I will miss you - and follow you wherever you go next! Loved your show and to all those US Americans who think you were a raving leftie -- hahaha. Here in Europe, your opinions are normal.

So, is @joyannreid.bsky.social getting a new show? Or is @msnbc.com caving. I wanna know.

They cancelled your show????? F*ckers. Tell me where I can watch you b/c I love your show.

And again, forgetting about the contractors who implement USAID programs. We are always forgotten. Dispensable. Although we did all the work. It is maddening.

I am in Germany, not using a VPN. I am disappointed, Google Maps.

How Elon Musk is actually destroying US foreign assistance Just keeping USAID staff employed is not solving the problem

New Substack post up - where I explain the trickle down effects of the USAID spending freeze and stop-work order.

Important note: the freeze of USAID funds resulted in non-payment of the project implementers - we are talking 100s of millions of outstanding payments for implementing companies - and they won't survive much longer. Soon, there will be nobody left to implement projects, even if USAID survives.

The US Treasury Claimed DOGE Technologist Didn’t Have ‘Write Access’ When He Actually Did Sources tell WIRED that the ability of DOGE's Marko Elez to alter code controlling trillions in federal spending was rescinded days after US Treasury and White House officials said it didn't exist.

DOGE operative Marko Elez got the ability to alter US Treasury payment system code on Feb 1, WIRED's sources say.

For days, Trump officials fed members of Congress and the press a different story.

Elez is out now for posts reading "I was racist before it was cool" and "normalize Indian hate."

Unbelievable. I actually have a plan to reform USAID on my computer - after 23 of life with a USAID contractor, living in 13 countries, raising four kids, etc, etc... I have seen what could be improved. There are a lot of little tweaks that would achieve a lot. But this is murder.

Woman carrying a handbag with USAID sticker in rural Tajikistan

School class in rural Tajikistan with school books sponsored by USAID

Teacher using a book sponsored by USAID in rural Tajikistan

What USAID does - sponsoring books for literacy in Tajikistan. Because an educated people makes smarter choices.

Indeed. People who have NEVER EVER risked a hair on their head for their country. How dare they.

Who is paying for this? The people who process the payments are gone. The people who organize the moves are gone. We were in between moves and only needed a suitcase to move but what about families at post, with kids in schools? Back home? Who will rent them a place without a job?

USAID funding for 2025 prioritized countering China by offering strategic infrastructure alternatives to PRC-led initiatives and by strengthening alliances through economic, diplomatic, and security investments. It's not near enough, but it's something.

Here's what Musk stopped:

Republicans control Congress. They have the White House. It is well within their power to abolish USAID and for President Trump sign it. They're not doing that. Instead they're enabling the largest security breach in US history and allowing the world's richest man to end lives on a whim. Why?

Michele Bachmann: "January 6 was like a prayer meeting"

Image credits
1 - Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty
2 - John Minchillo/AP
3 - Joseph Prezioso/AFP/Getty Images

Mein Buch «Die Rhetorik der Rechten» ist leider sehr aktuell. Ich schaffe es zeitlich nicht, eine überarbeitete Neuauflage zu veröffentlichen. Das Buch ist mittlerweile vergriffen.Ich habe mich entschieden, es gratis zum Download zur Verfügung zu stellen: www.franziskaschutzbach.com/die-rhetorik...

Ich kam hierher, um genau das zu schreiben: er ist einer der wenigen, der erkennt, in welcher Gefahr wir gerade schweben.