60 Minutes Allows Laid Off Federal Employees to Whine: ‘All Gone Overnight’
The program also showcased how Germany cracks down on speech.
Man, 60 Minutes is beyond pathetic. We all know the show has been declining for a long time, but Sunday is an all-time low.
The propaganda news program hit an all-time low on Sunday when it allowed laid-off federal employees to cry and bashed free speech.
Laid Off Federal Employees
To me, Elon Musk and DOGE aren’t doing enough. Government spending and waste have gotten so out of hand that we need to bulldoze everything and start from scratch.
60 Minutes gave laid-off employees a platform, allowing them to cry about paychecks and other difficulties they will face.
“Twelve days ago, people knew where their next paycheck was coming from. They knew how they were going to pay for their kids' daycare, their medical bills. And then, all gone overnight,” says Kristina Drye, who was fired in the USAID shutdown. https://t.co/cysOqteb8p pic.twitter.com/bUcOAnhMjs
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) February 17, 2025
Kristina Drye: People are really scared. I think that, you know, 12 days ago, people knew where their next paycheck was coming from. They knew how they were gonna pay for their kids’ daycare, their medical bills. And then, all gone overnight.
‘All gone, overnight,’ for Kristina Drye and Adam Dubard — fired this month in the chaotic shutdown of foreign aid distributed by the U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID. More than 8,000 USAID employees were sent home by the administration.
Adam Dubard: They’re not looking for competency. They’re not looking for– if you are good at your job. They’re looking for pure loyalty tests and if you don’t give it, you will be punished.
Kristina Drye: And they had to leave the building. And these are folks who had decades and decades of public service serving USAID across administrations from, you know, George Bush, to Obama, to the first Trump administration. And they were never able to walk back in the building again.
Scott Pelley: There was no process? No one explained to them why they were being relieved?
Kristina Drye: To my knowledge, they received an email and then, if they didn’t leave the building, they were escorted out of the building.
60 Minutes pulled in 2 comms consultants who were never actual employees of USAID and presented them as though they were longtime employees who were fired for lack of "loyalty."
— Eli Steinberg (@HaMeturgeman) February 17, 2025
This woman cosplaying as a low-wage worker was a Georgetown graduate and overpaid speechwriter for Samantha Powers.
Here she is 10+ days ago complaining during *another* TV interview that she "took down our pride flags" as @DOGE walked in
https://t.co/nNDRbzNHRe pic.twitter.com/M5RuMWrrGk
— Brian Anderson (@AZBrianAnderson) February 17, 2025
Then there’s Andrew Natsios, who cracked me up when he said this because he probably thinks people believe him:
Andrew Natsios: It’s utter nonsense. The most accountable aid agency in the world is USAID. I have written actually widely on this subject. Forty percent of the staff are accountants and lawyers and people trying to make sure no money is stolen. We’ve created systems to monitor that. What they did was, they went back 20 years to try to find things, if you have to go back 20 years to find abuse, that means there isn’t that much abuse.
USAID’s spending in 2023 was 38 billion, that’s less than 1% of the federal budget. Natsios told us there is waste and occasional fraud like any big agency, think of the Pentagon, but the money he says is watched by officials including those in the OMB—the Office of Management and Budget.
Andrew Natsios: The question is why did the Congress approve all these contracts, and grants, and programs all these years? Why did OMB approve them? Why did the State Department F Office? The F Office controls all foreign aid spending. Every line item in the USAID budget is approved by three different bodies, the F Office, OMB and the congressional oversight committees, of which there are four. Four! No one caught all these horrible abuses? That’s just not believable.
Oh, honey. It’s unbelievable that no one caught these abuses? Are you serious? There has never been accountability within the government. No one is shocked that these departments and bureaucrats approved all of this crap. It’s easy to spend money that isn’t yours.
USAID’s spending in 2023 was $38 billion — less than 1% of the federal budget. https://t.co/s1MB6wgxQK pic.twitter.com/4jlmo3yWug
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) February 17, 2025
Did 60 Minutes ever talk to people who lost their jobs because the government forced businesses to shut down during COVID? Authorities arrested and charged people who dared to keep working.
How about the people who lost their jobs because they refused to get the COVID vaccine? How about the people demonized because they wouldn’t jab their kids?
Germany and No Free Speech
Vice President JD Vance caused quite a stir in Germany when he warned Europe of the dangers of censorship.
The Munich Security Conference chairman even cried.
I mean, did you hear what Margaret Brennan told Secretary of State Marco Rubio?
I guess that’s how CBS News rolls because 60 Minutes had a segment showcasing censorship laws in Germany.
Showcasing, as in…censorship rocks! Germany’s limits aren’t the same ones we usually have in America, like defamation and libel (both of which are hard to prove, especially if you’re a public figure, because it comes too close to censorship).
60 Minutes even posted a video of a police raid of a person’s home because the person posted a racist cartoon online.
Interpreting those limits is part of the job for Dr. Matthäus Fink, Svenja Meininghaus and Frank-Michael Laue: a few of the state prosecutors tasked with policing Germany’s robust hate speech laws, online. After its darkest chapter, Germany strengthened its speech laws. As prosecutors explain it, the German constitution protects free speech but not hate speech. And here’s where it gets tricky, German law prohibits any speech that could incite hatred or is deemed insulting.
Sharyn Alfonsi: It’s illegal to display Nazi symbolism, a Swastika or deny the Holocaust. That’s clear. Is it a crime to insult somebody in public?
Svenja Meininghaus: Yes.
Frank-Michael Laue: Yes, it is.
Sharyn Alfonsi: And it’s a crime to insult them online as well?
Svenja Meininghaus: Yes.
Dr. Matthäus Fink: The fine could be even higher if you insult someone in the internet.
Sharyn Alfonsi: Why?
Dr. Matthäus Fink: Because in internet, it stays there. If we are talking face to face, you insult me, I insult you, okay. Finish. But if you’re in the internet, if I insult you or a politician.
Sharyn Alfonsi: It sticks around forever.
Dr. Matthäus Fink: Yeah
The prosecutors explained German law also prohibits the spread of malicious gossip, violent threats, and fake quotes.
Sharyn Alfonsi: If somebody posts something that’s not true, and then somebody else reposts it or likes it, are they committing a crime?
Svenja Meininghaus: Yeah, in the case of reposting it is a crime as well, because the reader can’t distinguish whether you just invented this or just reposted it. It’s the same for us.
The punishment for breaking hate speech laws can include jail time for repeat offenders. But in most cases, a judge levies a stiff fine and sometimes – keeps their devices.
Sharyn Alfonsi: How do people react when you take their phones from them?
Frank-Michael Laue: They are shocked. It’s a kind of punishment if you lose your-smartphone. It’s even worse than the fine you have to pay.
Sharyn Alfonsi: Because your whole life is typically on your phone now.
German state police raid a home, seizing the suspect’s laptop and phone. The crime? Posting a racist cartoon online. https://t.co/4LHUP1ZWrB pic.twitter.com/tEC1N1Nm1L
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) February 17, 2025
In Germany, posting hate speech online is illegal. The law is enforced with pre-dawn police raids. https://t.co/DNAJyNxILt pic.twitter.com/OHvWTVaRjQ
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) February 17, 2025
Posting or reposting false information in Germany can be a crime, and the punishment for repeat offenders can include jail time. pic.twitter.com/25OLFeLfna
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) February 17, 2025
“We see that online hate can sometimes find a way into real life and then hurt people,” says Svenja Meininghaus, a state prosecutor in Germany, explaining why the country strictly enforces its online speech laws. pic.twitter.com/q0uDXQlm2A
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) February 17, 2025
Frank Michael Laue says his unit has successfully prosecuted about 750 hate speech cases in Germany over the past four years. pic.twitter.com/XG1T319q60
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) February 17, 2025
“Free speech needs boundaries… Without boundaries, a very small group of people can rely on endless freedom to say anything that they want, while everyone else is scared and intimidated,” says Josephine Ballon, CEO of HateAid. https://t.co/YjlBa7YJ3s pic.twitter.com/xqI88oiiO2
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) February 17, 2025
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Comments
I guess we’re fortunate the left makes it so clear how vehemently opposed they are to personal liberty..
I notice 60 minutes didn’t ask the ethnicity or ideological orientation of those filthy hate-crime perpetrators.
“when it [CBS] allowed laid-off federal employees to cry and bashed free speech”
They were never federal employees. They were/are employees of gimme-us-more-money federal “contractors” sucking off the federal teat.
If the document were followed as written (e.g., Article I, section 8) fedgov would be no more than 5% of today’s monster.
Look at Overview of America, a 30-minute video explaining the system the Framers gave us. Available on the web.
The most memorable lines from that video are,
It wasn’t what government did that made America great; it was what government was prevented from doing that made the difference [i.e., limiting the reach/power of government so that we aren’t over-regulated].
What set America apart from all other lands was freedom – for the individual. Freedom to work, to produce, to succeed and, especially, to keep the fruits of one’s labor.
America became great precisely because the stifling effects of too much government had been prevented.
—–
When the Founders/Framers/we speak of “freedom” we mean freedom FROM government.
That’s standard procedure in corporate America. Once someone is fired they are immediately locked out so they can’t steal stuff, change things, hide papers, vandalize the place …
Also, this Drye character was evil, anti-American turd Samantha Powers’ speechwriter, I gather.
The people at USAID are all guilty. They all knew what was going on there and how they were not only wasting taxpayers’ money but using taxpayers’ money to attack those taxpayers. I’m sure they used to joke about that and get lots of laughs in the office. They are ALL scum. Most of them are traitors. They’re lucky they are just being fired. Most of the deserve to be arrested.
The last time I was laid off we were called individually into the head guys office, HR was there, they spent about 10 min telling us what our severance benefits were. By the time we left the office our ids did not work and our badges did not work. We had 30 min to pack our desks and leave.
Interesting that the earlier video identifies Drye as a consultant, but only in the chyron.
From the Daily Wire this morning: ” … they were not actually employees of USAID but consultants for an outside company. Kristina Drye and Adam Dubard, according to their own LinkedIn pages, had short-lived gigs at a company called XLA, providing consulting services to USAID”.
That’s useful info. Could you post a link?
A three second Google search would have revealed this for you.
https://www.dailywire.com/news/fired-usaid-victims-featured-on-cbs-were-actually-consultants-not-employees
I made that request for the convenience of other readers. My apologies if you found that consideration offensive.
You could have done it yourself for other readers, however, and taken a break from sleuthing for sociopaths.
Offensive? No.
Lazy and provocative? Yes.
I certainly appreciate the downvote for posting the link for you and for actually overestimating how long it took me to find it.
Here you go, sealion.
Google: drye dubard XLA site:dailywire.com
One shot, one kill.
Hmmmm … An upvote-downvote score of 0-6 on a post that acknowledged the usefulness of ekimremmit’s info, and requested the link for the convenience of other readers.
Hmmmm… another plea for relevance from someone who was simply too damn lazy to post the link himself, “for the convenience of other readers.”
Get it yet? Each time you post this soggy-diaper whining, you’ll accrue numerous additional downvotes.
Reduced to complaining about voting for comments. The epitome of pathetic.
There is no longer ANY reason to take you seriously, if there ever was.
Of course. It’s all they, they, they.
“They knew……”
“And they had to……”
“To my knowledge, they….”
There is no “we” there.
“60 Minutes” can’t do much more in one episode to end their long run than this one. It was woke liberalism on steroids!
Boo feffing hoo. This is the same playbook lefties use when a government shutdown looms on the horizon: Woe is us, lowly feds, no pay, no bennies, babies will starve, grandma will freeze, etc. Boo hoo. (all lies, btw).
To lefties, govt. is their religion. DOGE is emptying their collection plates, scattering the worshippers, and destroying their places of worship.
I voted for k!lldozer. DOGE needs to do even more damage to the lefty religion. Boo feffing hoo.
They don’t seem to realize that we regular peons are hired “at will” and thus could be let go at a moment’s notice.
(Of course the converse of that is we can also quit at a moment’s notice, but people whining about at-will tend to overlook that side of the two- edged sword, which gives power to the employee as well.)
I’m a state employee. Our State is facing a budget deficit. Jobs will be cut. It happened to me at a previous state job during a RIF that was similarly made because of a budget shortfall. I don’t recall anyone complaining as if the jobs were our due.
I guess they are going to have to learn to code. Tough shit, no sympathy on government contractors who apparently think they have lifetime tenure and can never be fired. Welcome to the party, pal.
Laid off federal employees now know what it’s like in the private sector working for an at-will company.
We knew before. And “contractors” aren’t the same thing as feds. It’s happened before–in the 90s there were major RIFs under Clinton (noticie how nobody is talking about that).
The same people who five years ago were decreeing what are essential and non-essential private sector jobs are now upset that Trump is now doing the same thing with federal jobs?
I’m running out of popcorn.
Some government employees were essential. All non-government employees were essential to the economy.
You’ve got this woman whining about taking down pride flags as DOGE came in the door and worrying about where the next paycheck is coming from. Maybe if she was concerned more about doing her job properly and less about pride flags, it wouldn’t be that big a worry. The government isn’t supposed to be a jobs program, certainly not for woketivist diversicrats.
As for Nastios and his “less than 1% of the federal budget” shtick, accepting that as a valid argument is saying that the waste, fraud, and abuse, is acceptable so long as it’s a small amount.
And I don’t care how many accountants and lawyers are on staff allegedly in compliance roles if they’re allowing this kind of waste, fraud, and abuse to take place right in front of them, they’re not doing their jobs.
Let’s see what happens the next time there’s a government shutdown and non-essential workers are furloughed.
“USAID’s spending in 2023 was 38 billion, that’s less than 1% of the federal budget.”
Each termite brought before the magistrate claimed parsimony as a defense.
USAID’s consumption of only 1% of the federal budget isn’t relevant. What’s relevant is the percentage of USAID’s spending that was wasteful.
>”People are really scared. I think that, you know, 12 days ago, people knew where their next paycheck was coming from. They knew how they were gonna pay for their kids’ daycare, their medical bills. And then, all gone overnight.”
Welcome to the real world and cry me a fecking river. Welcome to the world where you don’t know if you’re getting a paycheck next week. Welcome to the world where you don’t have a clue as to if you’re going to be able to afford your kid’s daycare. Or their medical bills let alone your own. Welcome to the world where food has become so expensive you can’t even afford to buy a fecking dozen eggs any longer. Welcome to the world where you have to decide between heating your home or feeding yourself and your family. So as I said, cry me a fecking river because I simply don’t give a hoot in heck that you lost your cushy government desk day job and are now having to deal with situations that normal people have to deal with on a daily basis.
I simply do not care to listen to the whining of these professional victims.
I went back to review the similar interview 60 Minutes did with the Keystone pipeline workers.
Just kidding, they never did one.
These projects are so unusual, and impossible to audit once the checks are delivered, that I think there is even more to the story. That the money makes it back into American hands to enrich Democrats personally, and to deliver to ActBlue as election dark money…like to the Wisconsin Supreme Court election.
$486 million to the “Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening”, including:
$22 million for an “inclusive and participatory political process” in Moldova
$21 million for voter turnout efforts in India
$47 million for “improving learning outcomes in Asia”
$40 million for a “gender equality and women empowerment hub”
$32 million to the Prague Civil Society Centre
$29 million for “strengthening the political landscape in Bangladesh“
$20 million for “fiscal federalism” in Nepal
$19 million for “biodiversity conservation” in Nepal
$14 million for “social cohesion” in Mali
$14 million for “improving public procurement” in Serbia
$10 million for “Mozambique voluntary medical male circumcision”
$9.7 million for UC Berkeley to develop “a cohort of Cambodian youth with enterprise-driven skills”
$2.5 million for “inclusive democracies in Southern Africa“
$2.3 million for “strengthening independent voices in Cambodia“
$2 million to develop “sustainable recycling models” to “increase socio-economic cohesion among marginalized communities of Kosovo Roma, Ashkali, and Egypt“
$1.5 million for “voter confidence” in Liberia
I feel heart broken about “social cohesion” in Mali and “voter confidence” in Liberia.
I’m not going to touch uncircumcised men in Mozambique with a 10 foot pole.
Suppose somebody went through that list and switched all the countries around—give money to Mali to circumcise men and pay for social cohesion in Mozambique, etc. What difference would it make? It wasn’t going to any of that stuff anyway.
Indeed. One could print out that post, curate it with a pair of scissors, and assemble several boxes for a new game of Political Mad Libs.
Some of that stuff could be consolidated:
Send Cambodian youth to Africa to practice circumcision on people who come to vote thereby strengthening the political landscape and leading to deeper social cohesion
Now you’re thinking like a Trump!
Yes, I would love to have a $50 million contract to provide condoms to a poor country. Heck, I’ll even send a million condoms to them, that’s how generous I am.
Their budget was “only” 38 Billion dollars.
-Thirty Eight THOUSAND Million Dollars-
That is equal to or greater than the GDP of almost half the 177 nations listed on Worldometer.
For that amount of money my employer could pay my salary and benefits for over 300,000 years. And I live quite well on what I make.
I don’t know…that sounds like quite a lot of money to me, regardless of what percentage of the total US budget is.
It’s money that does not need to be spent.
It’s LESS THAN A PERCENT! They whine.
Well, gotta start somewhere. Our country is not made of money.
It’s like the “wealth gurus” and such have always said: Cut out your Starbucks coffee and make your first cup at home, on the cheap. You don’t think it will make a difference, but it will empower you to make other changes and it will get you to thinking about what other stupid things you’re wasting money on. And, at the end of the year, you can spend the money saved on something (like a high-powered coffee machine).
A billion her , a billion there and soon you are talking about real money.
The leftists reside in a bubble so thick as to make it nearly an alternative reality. The exercise of Individual liberty by one person isn’t a threat to individual liberty of another but it is a threat to those who would seek to constrain freedom.
Govt workers in the past 3 decades have been the one group shielded from upheaval in the employment market created by globalization and offshore manufacturing. As others noted these are the same sorts of credentialed class bureaucrats who went full Karen during Covid. That a review of the necessity of their job function in our debt constrained govt spending environment brings them any long delayed job insecurity is tough cookies.
How about
The country is broke and can’t afford what isn’t needed to run the country
As for the Germans, they just can’t help themselves: they go Full Stasi and Gestapo even when they’re supposedly *protecting* free speech.
The good news is that in the upcoming German elections, the AfD is on track to become the second largest party in the Bundestag. Who knows, t might even become the biggest in a shocker. Whatever the case, I’ll be eating plenty of popcorn as I watch lefty heads explode on election night.
The AfD won’t be allowed to govern, though. I am surprised they didn’t just ban it, but they still might. The so-called “conservative” CDU/CSU will ally with a lefty party to form a coalition to keep the AfD out of power.
They tried that before (and in France it didn’t work). It might not work this time.
*hoists a large glass mug of beer*
Here’s to hoping it doesn’t.
The looting of the Republic has gone on too long
These people are not taking losing very well, and showing their true colors. Imagine if they had won, they would take winning even worse.
What a shame, they might have to do something actually useful and really work for their living. Welcome to the real world, where nobody owes you a living and you have to earn your way.
They still have the talent that they were selling to the government. Obviously they’re regarding that as worthless and the job as a charity given to them in return for nothing.
Some talents are useless to any employer outside of government. “Masters in Taxation” is one that immediately jumps to mind. DEI professional and speechwriter are somewhat high on the list.
“They’re not looking for competency. They’re not looking for– if you are good at your job. They’re looking for pure loyalty tests and if you don’t give it, you will be punished.”
Hate to break it to you, snookums, but it’s that way EVERYWHERE you go, whether it be government or private sector work. You pretty much have to brown nose if you want to move up the ladder. It’s never been about being MVP for your team.
At a minimum, you have to do what you’re told. Actually working against your boss’s goals is a sure way to be shown the door. You “just don’t fit in.”
Maybe they should learn to code.
Oh, yes! Can I get a contract to teach laid off gov workers how to code?
I’d start my class with a month-long unit on the history of coding, starting with the weaver Jacquard (a dead white dude), through Boole and Babbage (also dead white dudes), Hollerith, Turing, Backus, Naur, and Hopper (all dead white dudes with one chick and one gay, historically accurate proportions).
Government weenies love this sort of forced cultural enrichment as part of any classes they have to take. They used to call it DEI. I think ours will be called OBN.
Amazing, isn’t it? All of these highly paid people don’t seem to know how at-will employment works. It’s called RIF. But at least they get to draw unemployment.
They are from that segment of society desperately committed to OUTLAW at-will employment, as well as to outlaw right-to-work.
Yep. Because they think everything should be centrally commanded and controlled. You should fit into your career like a good little Prussian, and remain there until the state decides it’s time to move you on to a retirement home.
These people have this ingrained in their smooth little brains such that they literally can’t live without it.
Since she’s going to be home, she can look after her own kids.
Particularly since her Consuela from Guatemala got deported.
It’s just as well. Her tats didn’t complement the decor.
Poor child.
FNC’s Jennifer Griffin’s husband works for NPR and her daughter worked in the Biden White House.
No wonder she’s so biased. I wonder how many NGO’s they sit on the boards of.
She’s actually right. They aren’t looking for competency, because it’s irrelevant.
Because what you are doing and spending money on does not need to be done AT ANY PRICE, no matter how competent you are.
But of course we know you’re not competent, or you wouldn’t be melting down like this. If you had actual marketable skills you’d already have found another job.
But it is why I’ve been arguing “I don’t care about efficiency. I want small – so small efficiency doesn’t matter much.”
Then you can start arguing about “competency.”
You would think CBS learned something after the election and after getting caught editing Kamala’s 60 minutes interview to make her sound semi-competent, thus attempting to influence the election. But no… they’re doing the leftist thing and doubling down on stupid
The standard response has always been, “Are they really that stupid or do they just think we are?”
I used to automatically assume the latter, but now I’m increasing willing to entertain the alternative.
Embrace the power of “AND”.
Please do research rather than pasting in MSM reporting.
Here is what Kristina Drye wrote on Linkedin:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristina-drye-she-her-082bbb53/
“Worked through XLA and Jefferson Partners to support the USAID Administration team, serving on the speechwriting and communications group for Administrator of USAID Samantha Power.”
She was not a civil servant or FED. She was a contracted speechwriter…Her customer resigned. she lost her well paid gig. No way she didn’t know that after Jan 20th, her employment had hours to run.
“And these are folks who had decades and decades of public service serving USAID across administrations from, you know, George Bush, to Obama, to the first Trump administration.”
In other words, The Culprits.
Surgical.
It doesn’t matter that you’re competent and good at your job, if your job shouldn’t be done!
And an employee’s first duty is loyalty to the employer’s mission and policy. You are there to implement his policy. If you refuse to do that, let alone if you use your position to undermine it, then it doesn’t matter how competent and good you are, you’re not doing your job.
And the USSR protected free speech, but not counterrevolutionary speech, or religious speech, or lewd speech, or… or…. or…, but apart from all those Soviet citizens enjoyed full freedom of speech!
What if we were to protect “free speech but not Marxist speech”, or “free speech but not subversive speech”? They would complain that that is not free speech. And they’d be right.
The really sad thing is that it’s not just Germany, it’s almost every so-called “free” country in the world. The USA is the only bastion of free speech left.
And barely that.
I am quite enjoying seeing federal “workers” discovering the boundless joys of finding out not every job is permanent. Welcome to the peasantry!
Learn to code
Welcome to the real world.
Who in the hell thinks Fed employees have ANY understanding of what it is like to be an employee or an employer!!
We knew before. And “contractors” aren’t the same thing as feds. It’s happened before–in the 90s there were major RIFs under Clinton (noticie how nobody is talking about that).
Oops. Sorry if this is a duplicate.
Welcome to the real world.
Who in the hell thinks Fed employees have ANY understanding of what it is like to be an employee or an employer!!
Depends on the office. All the places I’ve worked sure as hell made it clear what an employee was v. a boss or employer.
60 Minutes gave laid-off employees a platform
Except, actually, they are NOT. The woman is a consultant to Samantha Power. I don’t know about the other one, but he is evidently not an employee of USAID, either.
So, yet again, 60 Minutes lies.