60 Minutes Allows Laid Off Federal Employees to Whine: ‘All Gone Overnight’
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.
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.
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.
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: YeahThe 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.
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