I’m genuinely shocked to see this article as my old boss, Hilary Franz, has been such a media darling for so long. Many of you know I was fired in 2021 when my manager told me that I had to stop interviewing people on my podcast who “undermined” the agency (Franz’s) vaccine mandate. Would you like me to do a video about this article - if so, what would you like to know?
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/hilary-franzs-dnr-work-prioritized-political-gain-some-staffers-say/
I can’t confirm it was Pete but I know his antics, and this measures up.
Kat Brooks is coming on the show to tell her story tomorrow. She is a seasoned reporter, copy editor, photographer and filmmaker who most recently worked for the local paper in Chewelah, WA. While covering what she would describe as corruption among city leaders, she began publishing a fictitious blog that detailed the issues from behind the scenes, but with made up characters like “Mayor McKnuttsak”. She was fired for this when the local politicians figured it out - and complained to her boss. ANY QUESTIONS?
https://mayormcknuttsak.wordpress.com/page/5/
The AP, one of the alleged recipients of USAID largesse, has come out swinging:
https://apnews.com/article/usaid-funding-trump-musk-misinformation-c544a5fa1fe788da10ec714f462883d1
Do read the very last paragraph as it's hilarious. The article is basically "We're just neutral fact-checkers examining these claims..." [spends whole article doing technical nitpicking] "And by the way, did you know USAID is a wonderful independent agency bringing hope and innovation to 100 countries for 60 glorious years?"
The cognitive dissonance is amazing:
"These claims about USAID are misleading and need careful fact-checking. Also here's some unexamined agency propaganda we'll just drop in at the end apropos of nothing in particular!"
It's like watching someone insist they're not biased while wearing the team jersey.
