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In Presidio We Trust - The Latest Casualties [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-02-20

The latest madness in the destruction of everything good in America in the guise of saving money, comes not with one, but four assets to our history being shuttered:

The Presidio Trust The Inter-American Foundation The United States African Development Foundation The United States Institute of Peace

It's all in the name of Commencing The Reduction Of The Federal Bureaucracy

The latest in a series of unnessary cost cutting measures that save little and cause harm to our nation in safety and history, this latest executive order is without merit. It's the latest withdrawl into a cocoon of cutting ourselves off from the rest of the world in the arts, science and technology, international goodwill and replacing it with a babbling, rabid joy in destruction.

The Presidio is a 1500 acre national park overlooking San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge.

Their website, Presidio.gov, is filled with reasons for it's existence. As it says, it's "More Than A National Park."

It's "A Forever Park For All." Not when Trump and Musk and DOGE put it on the chopping block. It's got trails for hiking, beaches, hotels and camping. You can rent a home on the sprawling acreage. You can get married there.

San Francisco has been a sanctuary city since 1989. Donald Trump hates all of California, but he has an especially deep hatred for San Francisco, the hub of alternative culture and lifestyles. Make no mistake. This is punishment for San Francisco being San Francisco.

The Inter-American Foundation, IAF.gov, touts "Directly investing in community-led development across Latin America and the Caribbean."

"NOTICE: The IAF only awards community development grants to local organizations that meet our eligibility criteria and have submitted a formal application. We do not give charitable donations to individuals or families."

Seems to me that they are putting their funding to good use. It has funded $972 million in small grants since 1972, and made America great again in Latin America and the Carribean. That's $18 million per year. This is a ridiculous cost cut in order to give billionaires and corporations a tax cut.

The United States African Development Foundation, USADF.gov. Their job is "Creating Pathways to Prosperity for Communities in Africa.

"USADF does development differently by utilizing community-led development approach and a pan-African network of local developing partners to support African-designed and African-delivered solutions."

Closing the Foundation down is as asinine and hurtful to our image abroad as dismantling USAID. $28 million last year spent on agriculture, off-grid energy access, and youth and women entrepreneurship. It's so little to ask.

The United States Institute of Peace, USIP.gov, "Making Peace Possible."

"Congress founded the United States Institute of Peace in 1984 as a non-partisan, independent organization dedicated to protecting U.S. interests by helping to prevent, mitigate, and resolve violent conflicts abroad. Our work helps reduce the risk that the United States will be drawn into costly foreign wars."

Do I even need to explain why this government agency is both useful and necessary?

How can the "peace" president spout his garbage about keeping us out of costly wars abroad when he shutters the very agency designed to do that?

Instead, Trump says that;

"The non-statutory components and functions... shall be eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law, and such entities shall reduce the performance of their statutory functions and associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law."

This is just as bad as shuttering USAID. USAID had a sizeable budget in the comparison to these government agencies. They do so much for so little. Is it a crime to help those in need? Is it a crime to have a beautiful National Park? Is it a crime to prevent wars? Is it a crime to generate goodwill across the rest of the world that doesn't have our resources?

Once we had government leaders that cared about us and our history and our charitable deeds abroad. No more. This new administration is as black and bleak as their websites, WhiteHouse.gov and DOGE.gov.

Nobody voted for this. Not even the opposition who were voting for a man and a few of his promised policies, evil as they were.

Will this latest tragedy get the attention it deserves? Not with even bigger catastrophes and battles occurring every day. Only the people of San Francisco will shout from the rooftops about The Presidio. The rest will get swept under the rug.

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