Doge Is Trying to Gift Itself a $500M Building | Hacker News Reader

Doge Is Trying to Gift Itself a $500M Building

wired.com

87 pointsthefreeman35 comments

Next DOGE will defund gasoline in police cars and applaud their "trillions of savings" over the next 1,000 years.

I feel bad for anyone that is spending their lives on forums defending these puffed up hall monitors who were sent in to "fuck shit up" and will eventually end up in jail as scapegoats.

To be clear the United States Institute for Peace is not a federal agency. It's a non-profit buisness with an EIN 52-1503251 and a W9 like every other non-profit. DOGE seized a private business. If they can seize USIP they can seize your start up. There's no legal difference. Here's their 990 form: https://filing-service.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/scanned-pd...

The USAID building, which may not have actually been an executive agency under WhiteHouse control

They are in full spite mode.

Will take DECADES to rebuild and that may be the point.

That’s assuming you’ll start rebuilding this year.

It's the United States Institute of Peace building the dogebags are stealing. It's hard to keep up with all the grift.

Name a single major accomplishment of the USIP. That's the grift.

Whatever education system you went through and came out saying shit like that is the real grift.

Think about it for a second. The USIP is a think tank. Think tanks don't accomplish things, that's not their purpose. Their stated mission is "education and training" ffs.

Next time at least read the opening paragraph of the wikipedia article of an org you call a "grift" on the public internet, you'll look a lot smarter that way.

So, the government funds them, the President issued an order to dismantle them, and now another government agency wants the building? That last part seems reasonable.

Whether dismantling them is right or wrong seems to be the real question here.

Both are wrong. The "real question" just isn't about this specific case on its own. In a vacuum, this wouldn't really be news in the first place.

The problem is the pattern that this is an example of, and together with all the other cases, it starts to reveal an image of the USA turning into a cleptocracy.

A Kleptocracy is when the government takes its own buildings from one department and transfers them to another department?

Where's your creativity? Then the other department sells the building "on the private market" (some Musk company) for a "fair price" (Musk makes an offer he can't refuse to himself) and Bob's your Uncle.

Have some patience, sheesh. Rome wasn't razed in day.

In what f'ng way does it seem reasonable. That is almost colonialist logic.

They invaded the premises.

These people are probably beoynd saving. Up Musks "shit creek" if you will, with no map and no paddle, nor will to find one.

This is the peak of government efficiency

Hard to know if this is April Fools. United States Institute of Peace doesn't have a funny acronym.

Article is from March 18

Right now, regarding US news, if it sounds like satire, it probably isn't.

Click bait headlines allowed on here now? It clearly states they are giving it to the GSA which is the government - where the funds originally came from. Can't hand these people money without them complaining ..

The US government was intentionally split into 3 parts. This "Institute of Peace" was established and funded by the US Congress. The Executive should be pursuing the intent of the legislation. In general they've been failing to faithfully execute the law.

I'd be totally fine with Congress cancelling the whole thing, but it hasn't happened.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/22/4604

Which is a polite way of saying the GP doesn't know what the fuck they are talking about. Or they are trolling or filling airspace for the machine.

It is not an executive building, and they have not claim to it. They will take credit for the cost savings, hence "gift".

This is not clickbait and can't be overstated, there is no precedent for this sort of action in recent history in the US. Your normalcy bias is the problem.

No, nothing vaguely critical of the current administration is allowed here now. Astonishing really, I didn't think it would happen on HN of all places.

It’s an independent non-executive non-profit established and funded by congress, not an agency under the executive branch.

What, Elon can’t afford another office building now?

Honestly? Probably not, no. He could convince some loser investor to lend him the money because he's Elon fucking Musk, but I wouldn't assume he has even that much money just lying around.

That being said, an office building or two he could probably fund by just selling some other assets, but he wouldn't have gotten this rich with an attitude of using his own money to buy things for himself.

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