So.......what COMPANIES do you dislike?

[CoElkHunter]

I am a fan of Glocks, for what that matters.

IMO, they are the AK-47 of pistols.

I've never used a more reliable pistol.

+1.

 

[CoElkHunter]

I read somewhere that tax savings basically paid for that purchase really quickly I can see how such things happen. Then a successful business looks at efficiency of scale. Buying deals get renegotiated with the sudden increase in volume. Some suppliers get on board, others do not and in the tough World of negotiating, bluffs get called and some miss their bet. Or some don't wish to play the new game.

Lots and lots of different ways to do business. Many successful, some less so, some not at all. I personally do not like the Bass Pro stores nor their business model. But I do admire a successful business.

I fully agree they had two distinctly different store types and could have leveraged that.... They chose not to and that is the American way. We can also choose to participate or not.

I’m glad Sportsman’s Warehouse backed out of being bought by Bass Pro. They still have some decent stuff.

 

[deewayne2003]

BTW, anyone notice companies like Blue Bell ice cream cutting back on quality of ingredients? Had some of the best ice cream in years during the Super Bowl. It was HEB chocolate covered truffle. So good my wife won't even let me buy any--too dangerous.

HEB creamy creations ice cream has been superior to Blue Bell in every way for over a decade now, Blue Bell has name recognition and much larger distribution than HEB which is Texas only.

Every once in a while HEB rolls out the "Adams Best Extract" versions of their ice creams and it's the best on earth.

 

[Bandera]

Bud Light.
Dick’s Sporting Goods
Dillards, terrible customer service & return policy.
Blue Cross Blue Shield, even though that is my insurance carrier.
Montgomery Wards, they are rightfully out of business.
Ford Motor Co. Would not replace the transmission on a 6 month old F150. The torque converter failed. Ford figured it was good enough to just flush the transmission and install new TC. Gas milage dropped from 21 to 17 mpg. Transmission failure was going to happen.
TGI Fridays.
Any and all Methadone Clinics. Legalized drug dealers with no intention of helping people. Lost a child to these Jack Wagons.

Guess it is time stop. Starting to feel a bit …

 

[Ptero]

USAID. Also Bank of America, which has become firearm unfriendly as I understand it. Dick's Sporting Goods became a dick a few years back with regard to outdoorsmen.

You shouldn't believe everything being fed to you. What's going on to dismantle government agencies and what federal employees are enduring right now is beyond the pale and unconstitutional. Ask me how I know...

That being said I hate any company that tries to push any social agenda...if you sell cars, beer, clothes, or anything else...then hock your wares, but don't try to tell me how I should think or feel, and I don't care how you feel about it either.

Oh yeah, and I hate the media...all media, they only give you half the story with only about 20% of the information being correct or in context, and even then it's probably by accident. Again don't tell me what to think or how to feel, just give me the facts.

Now you kids get off my lawn, I have to go outside and yell at the clouds.

 

[mdwest]

What's going on to dismantle government agencies and what federal employees are enduring right now is beyond the pale and unconstitutional. Ask me how I know...

I'll bite...

How do you know?

 

[towserthemouser]

You shouldn't believe everything being fed to you. What's going on to dismantle government agencies and what federal employees are enduring right now is beyond the pale and unconstitutional. Ask me how I know...

That being said I hate any company that tries to push any social agenda...if you sell cars, beer, clothes, or anything else...then hock your wares, but don't try to tell me how I should think or feel, and I don't care how you feel about it either.

Oh yeah, and I hate the media...all media, they only give you half the story with only about 20% of the information being correct or in context, and even then it's probably by accident. Again don't tell me what to think or how to feel, just give me the facts.

Now you kids get off my lawn, I have to go outside and yell at the clouds.

Northern Virginia..... location checks out.

As a taxpayer, I've been enduring confiscation of the sweat of my brow for decades. I get very little of value for my tax dollars, and it's infuriating to watch it wasted on pet political projects. Or used for political attacks on the very people who support it.

We took our kids to Washington on spring break a few years ago. The cherry trees were in blossom. The Smithsonian was awesome. The monuments were great.

But as I drove around town I was absolutely stunned to see block after block after block occupied by gray concrete buildings, demonstrating the most oppressive "government layer cake architecture" imaginable. I looked at all the windows and realized each and every one corresponded to a person's office. And then I realized that didn't even address all the interior offices or cubicles without a window view. And that every single one of those offices and cubicles likely represented a juicy salary, benefits package, and pension plan.

And then you'd make the corner and see the sign out front announcing it was the Department of......... something I never heard of, never voted for, and was pretty dang sure we didn't need. I had not realized until that moment what a bloated leviathan our government had truly become.

Sorry about whatever it is you're enduring..... but just know that the taxpayers have been enduring the cost of it all for way too long. This government needs a high dose of Ozempic, and a good enema.

 

[Russ16]

HEB creamy creations ice cream has been superior to Blue Bell in every way for over a decade now, Blue Bell has name recognition and much larger distribution than HEB which is Texas only.

Every once in a while HEB rolls out the "Adams Best Extract" versions of their ice creams and it's the best on earth.

I agree except for Pralines and Cream which is the only ice cream I eat. The HEB pecan turtle flavor just isn’t the same.

 

[Captain Munro]

CZ for discontinuing the 550 (particularly the safari models)
Sako for discontinuing the Sako 85 (safari, grizzly, brown bear, arctic)
Ruger for discontinuing the RSM and RSE
Kimber for discontinuing the Caprivi (maybe they still make the 375 Caprivi?)

I don't really hate them haha. Just don't like the lack of semi-affordable African rifles.

 

[Ptero]

I'll bite...

How do you know?

This response is also for @towserthemouser.

I've been in service to our country for 36 years. 25 in the Army, and the rest as a federal employee working in, shall we say, the "National Security" field. I am in charge of, among other things, the counterterrorism vetting unit at USAID. The agency which happens to be the ONLY agency in the federal government mandated BY LAW to ensure tax dollars DON'T fund terrorism. Not even the State Dept. does that. The agency is also one of the DoD'S closest partners worldwide, amongst other agencies.

Is there corruption and agendas at USAID? Absolutely, just like there is at EVERY other agency I have worked for, just like there is in Congress (who, by the way, approves the budgets for USAID line by line, so if special interest programs were funded, it was with their full knowledge and consent). That's what the Office of the Inspector General is responsible for weeding out, but then again, they were amongst the first to get fired across the agencies. So lumping everyone in the agency into the category of criminals or left wing nuts is both hypocritical and misguided. Right now DOGE is taking all the good the agency and it's people do and lumping us in with a few bad apples. Throwing out the baby with the bathwater, if you will. Worse yet, they are violating laws to do it, with the expressed approval of the administration.

Does government need to shrink, YES, do we need to reform things, ABSOLUTELY! But not at the expense of dedicated, hard working, patriots and DEFINITELY not at the expense of our laws and the Constitution. Hell, I voted for the current President! But if I had thought that for one moment he would turn the fate of this country over to a narcissistic billionaire, and start shredding the Constitution and Bill of Rights to suit his whims, I would have sat this election out.

At the end of the day, we all have to chose what we want to believe. Maybe some folks don't care that people overseas (some of them Americans) will die due to the decisions being made. Maybe some folks don't care that fellow Americans, thousands of them (including all the contractors that suddenly lost their jobs too) who are also taxpayers, by the way, are being punished for trying to do their jobs the best they can for something they had no control over or anything to do with. Is every government employee a selfless drone working tirelessly for the masses? NO. But why not just give everyone a urinalysis test and fire those that test positive, then fire the bottom 20 percent of performers, based on our mandatory yearly evaluations, that are left after the drug users are kicked out? That ought to cull some of the bad apples. Then investigate and ACTUALLY hold accountable those that make and allow those poor decisions to happen in the first place. I guess having a kangaroo court and saying " your fired!" is easier and makes for better sound bites.

There are around 3 million federal workers working on behalf of the over 300 million Americans in this country. Now I went to public school so my math may be off, but that is 1% of the population working to do what they can with what they are given to support everyone else. So when something goes wrong and someone says, " why don't the gub'ment fix this?!" consider those numbers. Most of the jobs and agencies in the government exist for a reason, whether most people realize it or not, so be careful what you wish for when you ask for sweeping cuts and say "it's only those lazy government employees getting cut, so screw them!" Because in the end you may not like the end result.

Tyrade over. My sincerest apologies to the OP for the lecture.

 

[Russ16]

This response is also for @towserthemouser.

I've been in service to our country for 36 years. 25 in the Army, and the rest as a federal employee working in, shall we say, the "National Security" field. I am in charge of, among other things, the counterterrorism vetting unit at USAID. The agency which happens to be the ONLY agency in the federal government mandated BY LAW to ensure tax dollars DON'T fund terrorism. Not even the State Dept. does that. The agency is also one of the DoD'S closest partners worldwide, amongst other agencies.

Is there corruption and agendas at USAID? Absolutely, just like there is at EVERY other agency I have worked for, just like there is in Congress (who, by the way, approves the budgets for USAID line by line, so if special interest programs were funded, it was with their full knowledge and consent). That's what the Office of the Inspector General is responsible for weeding out, but then again, they were amongst the first to get fired across the agencies. So lumping everyone in the agency into the category of criminals or left wing nuts is both hypocritical and misguided. Right now DOGE is taking all the good the agency and it's people do and lumping us in with a few bad apples. Throwing out the baby with the bathwater, if you will. Worse yet, they are violating laws to do it, with the expressed approval of the administration.

Does government need to shrink, YES, do we need to reform things, ABSOLUTELY! But not at the expense of dedicated, hard working, patriots and DEFINITELY not at the expense of our laws and the Constitution. Hell, I voted for the current President! But if I had thought that for one moment he would turn the fate of this country over to a narcissistic billionaire, and start shredding the Constitution and Bill of Rights to suit his whims, I would have sat this election out.

At the end of the day, we all have to chose what we want to believe. Maybe some folks don't care that people overseas (some of them Americans) will die due to the decisions being made. Maybe some folks don't care that fellow Americans, thousands of them (including all the contractors that suddenly lost their jobs too) who are also taxpayers, by the way, are being punished for trying to do their jobs the best they can for something they had no control over or anything to do with. Is every government employee a selfless drone working tirelessly for the masses? NO. But why not just give everyone a urinalysis test and fire those that test positive, then fire the bottom 20 percent of performers, based on our mandatory yearly evaluations, that are left after the drug users are kicked out? That ought to cull some of the bad apples. Then investigate and ACTUALLY hold accountable those that make and allow those poor decisions to happen in the first place. I guess having a kangaroo court and saying " your fired!" is easier and makes for better sound bites.

There are around 3 million federal workers working on behalf of the over 300 million Americans in this country. Now I went to public school so my math may be off, but that is 1% of the population working to do what they can with what they are given to support everyone else. So when something goes wrong and someone says, " why don't the gub'ment fix this?!" consider those numbers. Most of the jobs and agencies in the government exist for a reason, whether most people realize it or not, so be careful what you wish for when you ask for sweeping cuts and say "it's only those lazy government employees getting cut, so screw them!" Because in the end you may not like the end result.

Tyrade over. My sincerest apologies to the OP for the lecture.

Thanks for your perspective I’m sorry you’re dealing with this.

I think it would do us all good to realize that the people being cut are real people. Very few of them are high level decision makers. Most are like doing their job as they are told to do it. And they have families and mortgages and kids who need college paid for.

I work in a government adjacent industry and know good and bad government workers in about the same proportion I know good and bad private sector workers.

When a company has leadership make bad decisions and that results in factory workers being laid off I have sympathy for the workers.

I don’t delight in seeing anyone lose their income even if their job needs to be eliminated. I have empathy for the people suddenly thrust into difficult situations by forces larger than them.

 

[deewayne2003]

I agree except for Pralines and Cream which is the only ice cream I eat. The HEB pecan turtle flavor just isn’t the same.

Apples and oranges comparison on those two flavors, but I get where you are coming from.

Wait until the next time HEB has the Adam's Best Extract - Pecan Pie ice cream on the shelf

 

[towserthemouser]

I also appreciate your thoughtful response and your perspective. And I agree that these are real people with real family needs, etc. So no, I do not take any pleasure in seeing anyone lose their job.

I just happen to agree with what Milton Friedman said. I think that every single dollar spent by the Federal government is a tax on the American people, either in the form of direct taxation, or indirectly in the form of inflation. Put another way, it is a drag on the efficiency and productivity of our economy.

The government does not produce wealth; they forcefully confiscate and consume wealth.

There are clearly cases where the government is the best or perhaps the only solution to a problem. National defense being the most clearcut example. There are also clearly MANY cases where the government is perhaps the least efficient solution to the problem, and we would be better served to leave it in other hands.

I just fundamentally prefer a much smaller government.

We are spending $6.5T and we are bringing in $4.5T and we are $30T in debt. It doesn't matter how worthy the cause, or how good the idea, we simply cannot sustain that without being brought to our knees.

Oh and btw: I truly do appreciate your service to our country.

 

[mdwest]

This response is also for @towserthemouser.

I've been in service to our country for 36 years. 25 in the Army, and the rest as a federal employee working in, shall we say, the "National Security" field. I am in charge of, among other things, the counterterrorism vetting unit at USAID. The agency which happens to be the ONLY agency in the federal government mandated BY LAW to ensure tax dollars DON'T fund terrorism. Not even the State Dept. does that. The agency is also one of the DoD'S closest partners worldwide, amongst other agencies.

Is there corruption and agendas at USAID? Absolutely, just like there is at EVERY other agency I have worked for, just like there is in Congress (who, by the way, approves the budgets for USAID line by line, so if special interest programs were funded, it was with their full knowledge and consent). That's what the Office of the Inspector General is responsible for weeding out, but then again, they were amongst the first to get fired across the agencies. So lumping everyone in the agency into the category of criminals or left wing nuts is both hypocritical and misguided. Right now DOGE is taking all the good the agency and it's people do and lumping us in with a few bad apples. Throwing out the baby with the bathwater, if you will. Worse yet, they are violating laws to do it, with the expressed approval of the administration.

Does government need to shrink, YES, do we need to reform things, ABSOLUTELY! But not at the expense of dedicated, hard working, patriots and DEFINITELY not at the expense of our laws and the Constitution. Hell, I voted for the current President! But if I had thought that for one moment he would turn the fate of this country over to a narcissistic billionaire, and start shredding the Constitution and Bill of Rights to suit his whims, I would have sat this election out.

At the end of the day, we all have to chose what we want to believe. Maybe some folks don't care that people overseas (some of them Americans) will die due to the decisions being made. Maybe some folks don't care that fellow Americans, thousands of them (including all the contractors that suddenly lost their jobs too) who are also taxpayers, by the way, are being punished for trying to do their jobs the best they can for something they had no control over or anything to do with. Is every government employee a selfless drone working tirelessly for the masses? NO. But why not just give everyone a urinalysis test and fire those that test positive, then fire the bottom 20 percent of performers, based on our mandatory yearly evaluations, that are left after the drug users are kicked out? That ought to cull some of the bad apples. Then investigate and ACTUALLY hold accountable those that make and allow those poor decisions to happen in the first place. I guess having a kangaroo court and saying " your fired!" is easier and makes for better sound bites.

There are around 3 million federal workers working on behalf of the over 300 million Americans in this country. Now I went to public school so my math may be off, but that is 1% of the population working to do what they can with what they are given to support everyone else. So when something goes wrong and someone says, " why don't the gub'ment fix this?!" consider those numbers. Most of the jobs and agencies in the government exist for a reason, whether most people realize it or not, so be careful what you wish for when you ask for sweeping cuts and say "it's only those lazy government employees getting cut, so screw them!" Because in the end you may not like the end result.

Tyrade over. My sincerest apologies to the OP for the lecture.

I dont discount anything youre saying.. and and agree with much of it..

I also spent a good bit of time in the military (most of that time in a unit tasked with certain AT/CT mission sets).. and have since leaving the military worked for neo-governmental agencies (not NGOs) and/or worked in government contracting for the last 20+ years.. I know A LOT of folks on the USG side of the house, in numerous organizations and agencies (my firms primary customers are the DOD, DOS, and the IC..)..

I get that many of the people I know on the USG side of things (many of whom I consider friends) are enduring a lot of pain, considerable chaos, etc right now..

FWIW things arent a whole lot better on the "contractor" side of the house.. I've spoken with a significant number of my peers in other businesses, and also taken a hard look at whats happening inside my own firm as a result of whats been going on for the last few weeks.. the chaos is absolutely extending to the service providers to the USG that don't know if their contracts are going to be cancelled or continue.. don't know if work they've been involved in for the last several years is going to go away or continue to exist, etc.. there is a LOT of uncertainty (we've already had a stop work order delivered on a job that we've been on in Somalia for the last decade+ issued and sent our people home from Mogadishu, and are waiting on further guidance for example)..

That said.. many of those people Im talking to that are directly effected on both the USG and the contractor side of things are fairly understanding of whats going on... and while they don't like the personal impacts.. and most don't like the associated messaging (I don't know anyone that thought the "fork in the road" email was messaged appropriately for example) they acknowledge that much of whats happening right now is long overdue..

their agencies are overstaffed with countless bodies filling slots that do no measurable or meaningful work.. that some (in many cases most) of the work their agencies are doing brings little value and not in the interest of the American people, etc..etc..

They also agree that some really good people and some really good missions are going to get harmed in the process of excising out all of the bad people and the bad missions... and that while that sucks.. its sorta what happens when a cancer gets removed from the body (even the best surgeons will end up taking out a bit of good tissue in addition to the bad)..

Im going to go back to your original statement though... that this is UNCONSTITUTIONAL..

While we probably agree that the methodology that is being used is tantamount to someone using a broadsword to do surgery rather than a scalpel.. and there might be a better way to accomplish the mission at hand..

Im not sure we (or many) would agree that what is going on is unconstitutional..

Thats frankly for the lawyers, specifically the constitutional scholars and constitutional lawyers and the courts to determine..

For every left wing lawyer and every D politician that is claiming whats going on is illegal and/or unconstitutional, I can show you 2 right wing lawyers and 2 R politicians that are claiming its all within the confines/restrictions of the law, and absolutely constitutionally supported..

There is a reason there have been lawsuits filed, but nothing has occurred as of yet that is shutting down the DOGE effort..

Ultimately several of those lawsuits will end up in the circuit courts, and a few might end up at SCOTUS.. but until then, I hardly think someone like you or I have a clue as to whether or not what is happening is "constitutional"...

I'd go so far as to state that I'd bet my next paycheck that at least a couple of years ago, while Trump was planning what his next term in office was going to look like, he had constitutional scholars and very experienced legal teams reviewing exactly how to get this done....

A successful CEO doesn't just make decisions.. they go to their "experts".. they tell them what it is they want to do.. and then they tell their "experts" to give them COA's and make recommendations for how they are going to accomplish the mission..

Im betting teams of human resource experts, contracts experts, federal govt employment law experts, constitutional scholars, etc..etc.. all got eyes on this well before the first executive order was signed..

Trump learned A LOT between 2020 and today.. he spent the last 4 years figuring out how to get things done after getting shut down over and over again between 2016-2020, then watching Biden accomplish agenda item after agenda item for the last 4 years..

 

[deewayne2003]

This response is also for @towserthemouser.

I've been in service to our country for 36 years. 25 in the Army, and the rest as a federal employee working in, shall we say, the "National Security" field. I am in charge of, among other things, the counterterrorism vetting unit at USAID. The agency which happens to be the ONLY agency in the federal government mandated BY LAW to ensure tax dollars DON'T fund terrorism. Not even the State Dept. does that. The agency is also one of the DoD'S closest partners worldwide, amongst other agencies.

Is there corruption and agendas at USAID? Absolutely, just like there is at EVERY other agency I have worked for, just like there is in Congress (who, by the way, approves the budgets for USAID line by line, so if special interest programs were funded, it was with their full knowledge and consent). That's what the Office of the Inspector General is responsible for weeding out, but then again, they were amongst the first to get fired across the agencies. So lumping everyone in the agency into the category of criminals or left wing nuts is both hypocritical and misguided. Right now DOGE is taking all the good the agency and it's people do and lumping us in with a few bad apples. Throwing out the baby with the bathwater, if you will. Worse yet, they are violating laws to do it, with the expressed approval of the administration.

Does government need to shrink, YES, do we need to reform things, ABSOLUTELY! But not at the expense of dedicated, hard working, patriots and DEFINITELY not at the expense of our laws and the Constitution. Hell, I voted for the current President! But if I had thought that for one moment he would turn the fate of this country over to a narcissistic billionaire, and start shredding the Constitution and Bill of Rights to suit his whims, I would have sat this election out.

At the end of the day, we all have to chose what we want to believe. Maybe some folks don't care that people overseas (some of them Americans) will die due to the decisions being made. Maybe some folks don't care that fellow Americans, thousands of them (including all the contractors that suddenly lost their jobs too) who are also taxpayers, by the way, are being punished for trying to do their jobs the best they can for something they had no control over or anything to do with. Is every government employee a selfless drone working tirelessly for the masses? NO. But why not just give everyone a urinalysis test and fire those that test positive, then fire the bottom 20 percent of performers, based on our mandatory yearly evaluations, that are left after the drug users are kicked out? That ought to cull some of the bad apples. Then investigate and ACTUALLY hold accountable those that make and allow those poor decisions to happen in the first place. I guess having a kangaroo court and saying " your fired!" is easier and makes for better sound bites.

There are around 3 million federal workers working on behalf of the over 300 million Americans in this country. Now I went to public school so my math may be off, but that is 1% of the population working to do what they can with what they are given to support everyone else. So when something goes wrong and someone says, " why don't the gub'ment fix this?!" consider those numbers. Most of the jobs and agencies in the government exist for a reason, whether most people realize it or not, so be careful what you wish for when you ask for sweeping cuts and say "it's only those lazy government employees getting cut, so screw them!" Because in the end you may not like the end result.

Tyrade over. My sincerest apologies to the OP for the lecture.

I appreciate your service..... But

If you do X it will hurt Y...... and only EVIL RACIST people would hurt group Y!

Has been the excuse for continuing every bit of government waste; it's past time we pull the band-aid off.

@mdwest - Probably the most thoughtful, concise and relevant post in forum history!

 

[Doug Hamilton]

Dick's Sporting Goods
REI
Subaru

Hypocritical, virtue signaling companies thatbwork.against gun owners and hunters.

I've also refused to do business with Target for many years due yo their DEI/woke foolishness. They also.made an issue out of how they did not welcome armed shoppers.

 

[Ptero]

Like I said, folks will believe what they choose to believe. I'm not going to get into a debate with folks or defend my position further. I've had my fill.

It's really easy to say, "it's just the cost of doing business"...until you are suffering the consequences later on down the line. We should be better than that as Americans...but I guess "I got mine, sucks to be you" still reigns.

Out.

 

[mdwest]

No one is asking you to debate.

You however made a very definitive statement. That the actions were unconstitutional..

That position is merely an opinion.. you however chose to present it as a fact…

If you choose not to defend your opinion.. that’s on you..

But don’t then get frustrated or upset when no one else holds the same opinion…

 

[deewayne2003]

Like I said, folks will believe what they choose to believe. I'm not going to get into a debate with folks or defend my position further. I've had my fill.

It's really easy to say, "it's just the cost of doing business"...until you are suffering the consequences later on down the line. We should be better than that as Americans...but I guess "I got mine, sucks to be you" still reigns.

Out.

So you’re suffering the consequences of other people’s actions…. I get it! I really do

However if it means the vast majority of American tax payers getting worked over for generations to come; in the name of maintaining you’re glass tower….. Sorry hoss you came to the wrong shoulders to cry on.

just like during the government “shutdowns” where people were screaming about the poor government employees not getting paid, only to receive their full back pay after weeks of paid vacation. - Zero sympathy!

What happened to #learntocode?…. If it’s good for all those coal miners that got put out on their ass then it’s good enough for federal employees!

 

[steve white]

This response is also for @towserthemouser.

I've been in service to our country for 36 years. 25 in the Army, and the rest as a federal employee working in, shall we say, the "National Security" field. I am in charge of, among other things, the counterterrorism vetting unit at USAID. The agency which happens to be the ONLY agency in the federal government mandated BY LAW to ensure tax dollars DON'T fund terrorism. Not even the State Dept. does that. The agency is also one of the DoD'S closest partners worldwide, amongst other agencies.

Is there corruption and agendas at USAID? Absolutely, just like there is at EVERY other agency I have worked for, just like there is in Congress (who, by the way, approves the budgets for USAID line by line, so if special interest programs were funded, it was with their full knowledge and consent). That's what the Office of the Inspector General is responsible for weeding out, but then again, they were amongst the first to get fired across the agencies. So lumping everyone in the agency into the category of criminals or left wing nuts is both hypocritical and misguided. Right now DOGE is taking all the good the agency and it's people do and lumping us in with a few bad apples. Throwing out the baby with the bathwater, if you will. Worse yet, they are violating laws to do it, with the expressed approval of the administration.

Does government need to shrink, YES, do we need to reform things, ABSOLUTELY! But not at the expense of dedicated, hard working, patriots and DEFINITELY not at the expense of our laws and the Constitution. Hell, I voted for the current President! But if I had thought that for one moment he would turn the fate of this country over to a narcissistic billionaire, and start shredding the Constitution and Bill of Rights to suit his whims, I would have sat this election out.

At the end of the day, we all have to chose what we want to believe. Maybe some folks don't care that people overseas (some of them Americans) will die due to the decisions being made. Maybe some folks don't care that fellow Americans, thousands of them (including all the contractors that suddenly lost their jobs too) who are also taxpayers, by the way, are being punished for trying to do their jobs the best they can for something they had no control over or anything to do with. Is every government employee a selfless drone working tirelessly for the masses? NO. But why not just give everyone a urinalysis test and fire those that test positive, then fire the bottom 20 percent of performers, based on our mandatory yearly evaluations, that are left after the drug users are kicked out? That ought to cull some of the bad apples. Then investigate and ACTUALLY hold accountable those that make and allow those poor decisions to happen in the first place. I guess having a kangaroo court and saying " your fired!" is easier and makes for better sound bites.

There are around 3 million federal workers working on behalf of the over 300 million Americans in this country. Now I went to public school so my math may be off, but that is 1% of the population working to do what they can with what they are given to support everyone else. So when something goes wrong and someone says, " why don't the gub'ment fix this?!" consider those numbers. Most of the jobs and agencies in the government exist for a reason, whether most people realize it or not, so be careful what you wish for when you ask for sweeping cuts and say "it's only those lazy government employees getting cut, so screw them!" Because in the end you may not like the end result.

Tyrade over. My sincerest apologies to the OP for the lecture.

Sorry, with 55,000 plus NGO's and the corrupt projects already discovered, I'M NOT BUYING IT. If you/they lose your jobs, that's too bad. Plus, by your own argument, they are 1% of the population--and my point would then be that they are getting more than 1% should get! Though irrelevant in the sense that I don't want one cent of my tax dollars going to transgender operas in Colombia, ad nauseam!
As to your job and the statement that "not one dollar goes to terrorism" I have severe doubt that $50 million dollars for condoms in Gaza went for condoms! Just like I do know that concrete let through the former embargo "for hospital construction" also went to build the Hamas tunnels. And what control could you possibly have over redirection of funding in the associated NGO's? Who's kidding who?