Labor and Working – The Tarbabys Blog

“I Left The US 15 Years Ago”: Expats Are Revealing The “We’re Being Scammed” Realizations They Had After Moving Abroad

BuzzFeed

“I Left The US 15 Years Ago”: Expats Are Revealing The “We’re Being Scammed” Realizations They Had After Moving Abroad

Dannica Ramirez – September 12, 2025

Last year, we featured a viral TikTok that compared the cost of living in the US and Australia, which brought up the notion that “America is a scam.” Many people (like myself) were shocked by the numbers, but those in the BuzzFeed Community who’ve either moved to or from the US to another country knew about the differences all too well. Here are some of the most insightful and surprising “America is a scam” stories people shared:

1.”Credit scores. An arbitrary number that you have no control over can bar you from living in a decent area, landing a job, getting fair rates for insurance and loans, and even costing you opportunities to improve your life. Full disclosure: I left the US nearly 15 years ago. I now live in Poland and own my own business with full civil rights and privileges.”

A person focuses on budgeting, using a notebook, phone, and cards, seated at a table — José Araújo / Getty Images

—glitterysinger70

2.”I lived in Northern England for a time on a student work abroad visa. I was in need of birth control, so I went to the doctor. I was offered an implant that wasn’t available in the US until years later. When setting up my appointment, I asked about the out-of-pocket cost, and the staff looked at me like I had grown two heads. There was no cost, of course. When my British roommate later became pregnant with her children years later, her doctor did house calls. She also received a year of maternity leave with a guarantee she could return to her job. Living abroad did a ton to break the spell of ‘American exceptionalism’ and showed me how a ‘we’re #1’ philosophy could blind us to subpar conditions. When I was young, I wanted to move from the US for positive reasons, like adventure. It saddens me that my desire for it is now due to a seemingly worsening quality of life and a tenuous political situation here at home.”

—Anonymous

3.”I went to Panama on vacation and accidentally went without my asthma inhaler. I had to do was walk into a pharmacy — with no prescription required — and Albuterol was $11. In the US, with a required prescription, it’s about $150.”

Pharmacist in conversation with customer at a pharmacy counter, discussing healthcare or medication options. Shelves of products visible in background — Tom Werner / Getty Images

—oldskull713

4.”I have multiple chronic pain conditions, including a couple of autoimmune diseases, and I had very little pain and no flare-ups in the two weeks I spent in Europe — even with all the sitting on planes and coaches. As soon as I got back to the US, my pain started flaring up again. So, quite literally, the United States makes me sick.”

—emilydimiceli

5.”I paid $2,800/month to live in Los Angeles. Now, I pay $400/month to live in Taipei. My purchasing power is five times greater after I left the US to live in Asia.”

Person with curly hair looks out a window at tall buildings, conveying contemplation or reflection related to work or financial concerns — Frazao Studio Latino / Getty Images

—Anonymous

6.”I live in the UK and work in the public sector, which is unionized — holiday leave, healthcare, and retirement packages are all phenomenal. But even better, if I get really sick with something serious, I would get six months of PAID leave. Plus, I would still get all my holiday leave when I get back to work. I don’t have children, but my colleagues are getting a full year or more of maternity leave. America is a definite scam whenever they try to present unions as a ‘bad’ thing for workers. If you can, unionize!”

—kembrah

7.”I lived in Korea for a few years, and I have to say that I never needed a car since public transport is awesome and cheap, and so many people walk. Also, I got really sick once and had to visit the emergency room. I had to get meds, and it was less than $40. Everything is more expensive in the US”

People walking by a tram stop, dressed in business and casual attire, in an urban area with tall buildings in the background — Gerhard Joren / Getty Images

—Erin, 40

8.”I’ve lived in Germany and loved it. I actually felt more at home there than anywhere in the US, and I’ve lived all over America. The pace of life, values, and culture just really suited me. Living in the US can be an awful challenge, especially now that we are NOT doing great. So many of us are suffering under the boot of corporate America and bad government policy. Don’t get me wrong — there are a lot of things I love about my home country and the people: so much natural beauty, Americans’ confidence and can-do spirit, and how unique the country is. However, I’ve thought a lot about moving back to Europe. If I did move back, it would be for the community, connection, and ease, something that the US, unfortunately, is really lacking. No place is perfect, and there are headaches and problems everywhere, but it’s about choosing which ones you can tolerate.”

—violetbleustar

9.”When people think Europeans don’t want to work and take time off constantly because they’re ‘lazy,’ but Americans are hardworking individuals who help create a great economy. I worked in London for 15 years at some of the fastest-growing companies in Europe, and guess what? They had fast and sustainable growth, all while people used their statutory minimum required vacation time of 30 days per year or more. By the way, why does one of the richest countries in the world have one of the lowest quality of life for its citizens? It makes no sense.”

Three people relax by a pool on lounge chairs under umbrellas, with trees in the background. The scene suggests leisure and a break from work — Mondadori Portfolio / Getty Images

—LS, California

10.”One of my buds retired and lives in Mexico. He pays less than $100 for major car repairs, $300 for rent in a big apartment (with an included cleaning service), and very little for medical treatment. He lives a wonderful, full life. His pension is less than half of what I make, yet he seemingly lives the life while I struggle. It’s warm and beautiful where he lives with plenty of ex-pats. I’ve heard other Americans who’ve retired to Mexico say the same thing. It’s something to think about.”

—fayeesnow

11.”I’m a Scottish guy who lived in America for a few years. I had insurance covered as part of my visa, and I had a bike accident resulting in a bad head injury. I took an ambulance to the hospital, saw a doctor, got stitches, had a follow-up appointment, got medicated, and the lot. The bill was $25,000.”

Ambulance driving quickly on a road, indicating an emergency response — Richard T. Nowitz / Getty Images

—cornygoose88

12.”I wouldn’t say America is a scam, but the price comparison is jarring. I spent several months in France, and the rent was lower and did not rise rapidly as it does here. The biggest thing that stuck out to me was the cheap availability of high-quality food. Fresh and organic food in France costs about the same as bargain preservative-laden food in the States. You could also go to a nice restaurant without feeling like a total splurge. Plus, the price of the menu was the price you’d pay. France has a really well-developed leisure and tourism industry that benefits from its scale in a way that is not really matched to that of the States.”

—Anonymous

13.”I’ve lived in multiple countries but will use London as my reference since I’ve lived there for 10 years. I returned to the US because of the pandemic, and there are so many scams. First, people do not have free health insurance. We are one of the wealthiest countries in the world and have the best healthcare, but only if you can afford it. Meanwhile, in the UK, you can pay for private healthcare, but even if you don’t, there’s the NHS (National Health Service). Regardless, everyone has access to a doctor, period. In America, prescription costs vary depending on the drug and your insurance. In London, you either pay for prescriptions or you don’t. All prescriptions cost the same, and birth control is free. I could go on and on, but I’ll stop my anger from building up more than it is.”

Prescription pill bottle labeled for insomnia treatment on a plain surface — Fatcamera / Getty Images

—Mairin, 41, Wisconsin

14.”Food in places like Egypt, Japan, and even countries in Europe is more wholesome and tastier. Come on, America, why the shit food?”

—Anonymous

15.”I moved from the US and now live in Hong Kong. My tax rate is 12%, and my electricity costs less than $500 USD per year. I spend $400 a year on healthcare, $75 a month for public transit, and $15 a month for my phone. My largest expense is my apartment with a part-ocean view, and I pay $2,800 a month, which is a good price for staying outside the city.”

Person in a cap relaxes on a rooftop lounge chair overlooking a city skyline — Yalana / Getty Images

—braveprincess26

16.”I haven’t moved (yet), but I am in Germany now, and so far, the food is a lot better, ALL the beer is food, public transportation is SO MUCH BETTER, and, from what I’ve seen, most things cost less. Germany also has monetary government help if you have children or older adults in your family. Yep, monthly stipends with no means testing. This is a far cry from the USA, which has absolutely none of that, and where you can just die on the streets if you can’t make it. Really, in about 95% of ways, living in the USA kind of sucks. It does hurt me to admit this, but it’s true.”

—Suzan, 66, Oregon

17.”I have been living in Thailand and Bali this past year, and in both cases, I am far, far ahead of when I lived in the Seattle area in the US. My expenses are around half, and I lack almost nothing except some peccadillo-like things like major music concerts (some are in Bangkok, but that’s not a place I choose to pass through). Further, the culture is so much better — none of the fear and anger that have reared their heads since Trump entered the scene. The people here are so kind, accepting, and joyful. I haven’t even seen a case of road rage! I have no desire to go back to the USA.”

Street vendor serving a dish from an array of prepared foods at a busy market, illustrating bustling street business activities — Hadynyah / Getty Images

—clevermug83

18.”When my daughter was born in Amsterdam, we didn’t find out until she was a few weeks old that she needed corrective heart surgery. Never mind that we didn’t pay anything out of pocket for the birth, but her heart surgery and appointments for it didn’t cost a thing either. If we still lived in the States, we would have been bankrupt, even if we had good insurance.”

—Mark, 43, Netherlands

19.”We are being scammed. One of the biggest differences I noticed when living abroad was that even wealthy people were outspoken about prices. America’s rising cost of living is vastly outpacing inflation — and we accept it without much protest. I’ve spent a fair amount of time in Germany, Czechia, and Argentina, where I have local friends and some family. People would tell the servers that the prices were too high, or they’d complain at the supermarket and leave items at the register saying, ‘This is too expensive.’ In America, we’ve been trained to accept things as they are because we are gaslit into thinking it’s OUR fault that we suddenly can’t afford to eat out or go to the hair salon.”

Person in yellow jacket holding a long shopping receipt, standing by a shopping cart full of groceries — Lordhenrivoton / Getty Images

—stellarfellar

20.”I lived in Mexico my entire adult life and moved back to America in 2022. My salary in Mexico was lower than in dollars, but I had a much higher standard of living there. Healthcare is free unless you choose to go private, and you can still get free healthcare even without a job. Car insurance costs far less, and even the cars are cheaper because they sell more basic models of the same brand. My rent in Mexico was only about 20% of my salary, and it was easy to find plenty of places in a similar price range. In the US, it’s at least 30% of my salary. I’ve realized that in the US, everything is designed to be bigger, fancier, and more expensive.”

—Anonymous

21.”In the late ’90s, I studied in Paris, France. I could pay my tuition, dorm, groceries, and public transportation for 18 months on a $15K US school loan. In 2015, I lived in Quebec, Canada for five months, and my rent in a very nice three-bedroom apartment was $400 CAD a month, with all utilities included. I’ve compared my US salary with friends in Germany, France, and Norway; though my salary is ‘higher,’ they have much lower utility, cellphone, and other costs. Plus, they never had school loans to pay back, and even after taxes, they still had MORE money at the end of the month than me — not to mention the six weeks of vacation every year, parental leave, etc.”

People walk along a busy cobblestone street in Paris, featuring cafes and shops, with Le Consulat restaurant in the background — Julian Elliott Photography / Getty Images

“They have walkable cities and towns with sidewalks everywhere, reliable and efficient public transportation, and affordable fresh food. If most Americans understood the stark reality that we are paying into a system with a broken infrastructure — where most of our tax money goes to pay for ‘defense’ — they’d hopefully take their outrage to the polls and vote for better policies. Those in power, however, turn to fearmongering scam tactics to prevent people from demanding more.”

—Stephanie, 50, US

22.”After I moved to America, I realized that how the US presents itself to the rest of the world is bull. There’s a poor healthcare system, no labor laws to get paid for statutory holidays, the wages are a joke compared to the cost of living, and if you’re wealthy, the law is yours to bend. It shocked me to see how the US votes in judges and how fragile the separation of church and state really is! It’s scary living here.”

Trump administration hands over Medicaid recipients’ personal data, including addresses, to ICE

Associated Press

Trump administration hands over Medicaid recipients’ personal data, including addresses, to ICE

Kimberly Kindy and Amanda Seitz – July 17, 2025

Special needs teacher Deja Nebula sets up an art installation displaying names and faces of people who have been detained, deported, or sent to offshore camps during ICE raids in Southern California, at Olvera Street Plaza in Los Angeles, on Thursday, July 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)More

WASHINGTON (AP) — Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials will be given access to the personal data of the nation’s 79 million Medicaid enrollees, including home addresses and ethnicities, to track down immigrants who may not be living legally in the United States, according to an agreement obtained by The Associated Press.

The information will give ICE officials the ability to find “the location of aliens” across the country, says the agreement signed Monday between the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Department of Homeland Security. The agreement has not been announced publicly.

The extraordinary disclosure of millions of such personal health data to deportation officials is the latest escalation in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, which has repeatedly tested legal boundaries in its effort to arrest 3,000 people daily.

Lawmakers and some CMS officials have challenged the legality of deportation officials’ access to some states’ Medicaid enrollee data. It’s a move, first reported by the AP last month, that Health and Human Services officials said was aimed at rooting out people enrolled in the program improperly.

But the latest data-sharing agreement makes clear what ICE officials intend to do with the health data.

“ICE will use the CMS data to allow ICE to receive identity and location information on aliens identified by ICE,” the agreement says.

Such an action could ripple widely

Such disclosures, even if not acted upon, could cause widespread alarm among people seeking emergency medical help for themselves or their children. Other efforts to crack down on illegal immigration have made schools, churches, courthouses and other everyday places feel perilous to immigrants and even U.S. citizens who fear getting caught up in a raid.

HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon would not respond to the latest agreement. It is unclear, though, whether Homeland Security has yet accessed the information. The department’s assistant secretary, Tricia McLaughlin, said in an emailed statement that the two agencies “are exploring an initiative to ensure that illegal aliens are not receiving Medicaid benefits that are meant for law-abiding Americans.”

The database will reveal to ICE officials the names, addresses, birth dates, ethnic and racial information, as well as Social Security numbers for all people enrolled in Medicaid. The state and federally funded program provides health care coverage program for the poorest of people, including millions of children.

The agreement does not allow ICE officials to download the data. Instead, they will be allowed to access it for a limited period from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, until Sept. 9.

“They are trying to turn us into immigration agents,” said a CMS official did not have permission to speak to the media and insisted on anonymity.

Immigrants who are not living in the U.S. legally, as well as some lawfully present immigrants, are not allowed to enroll in the Medicaid program that provides nearly-free coverage for health services. Medicaid is a jointly funded program between states and the federal government.

But federal law requires all states to offer emergency Medicaid, a temporary coverage that pays only for lifesaving services in emergency rooms to anyone, including non-U.S. citizens. Emergency Medicaid is often used by immigrants, including those who are lawfully present and those who are not.

Many people sign up for emergency Medicaid in their most desperate moments, said Hannah Katch, a previous adviser at CMS during the Biden administration.

“It’s unthinkable that CMS would violate the trust of Medicaid enrollees in this way,” Katch said. She said the personally identifiable information of enrollees has not been historically shared outside of the agency unless for law enforcement purposes to investigate waste, fraud or abuse of the program.

Trump team has pursued information aggressively

Trump officials last month demanded that the federal health agency’s staffers release personally identifiable information on millions of Medicaid enrollees from seven states that permit non-U.S. citizens to enroll in their full Medicaid programs.

The states launched these programs during the Biden administration and said they would not bill the federal government to cover the health care costs of those immigrants. All the states — California, New York, Washington, Oregon, Illinois, Minnesota and Colorado — have Democratic governors.

That data sharing with DHS officials prompted widespread backlash from lawmakers and governors. Twenty states have since sued over the move, alleging it violated federal health privacy laws.

CMS officials previously fought and failed to stop the data sharing that is now at the center of the lawsuits. On Monday, CMS officials were once again debating whether they should provide DHS access, citing concerns about the ongoing litigation.

In an email chain obtained by the AP called “Hold DHS Access — URGENT,” CMS chief legal officer Rujul H. Desai said they should first ask the Department of Justice to appeal to the White House directly for a “pause” on the information sharing. In a response the next day, HHS lawyer Lena Amanti Yueh said that the Justice Department was “comfortable with CMS proceeding with providing DHS access.”

Dozens of members of Congress, including Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California, sent letters last month to DHS and HHS officials demanding that the information-sharing stop.

“The massive transfer of the personal data of millions of Medicaid recipients should alarm every American. This massive violation of our privacy laws must be halted immediately,” Schiff said in response to AP’s description of the new, expanded agreement. “It will harm families across the nation and only cause more citizens to forego lifesaving access to health care.”

The new agreement makes clear that DHS will use the data to identify, for deportation purposes, people who in the country illegally. But HHS officials have repeatedly maintained that it would be used primarily as a cost-saving measure, to investigate whether non-U.S. citizens were improperly accessing Medicaid benefits.

“HHS acted entirely within its legal authority – and in full compliance with all applicable laws – to ensure that Medicaid benefits are reserved for individuals who are lawfully entitled to receive them,” Nixon said in a statement responding to the lawsuits last month.

King Donald? Supreme Court grants Trump power to repeal laws at his whim

The Hill – Opinion

King Donald? Supreme Court grants Trump power to repeal laws at his whim

Kimberly Wehle, opinion contributor – July 16, 2025

“The executive has seized for itself the power to repeal federal law by way of mass terminations, in direct contravention of the Take Care Clause and our Constitution’s separation of powers.”

Read that again. These are the words of Justice Sonia Sotomayor in a dissenting opinion to the Supreme Court’s one-paragraph July 14 ruling, in which the majority basically held — without any justification or explanation whatsoever — that it’s fine that America has become a land of lawlessness with power consolidated in one person.

President Trump is the law now.

The case is McMahon v. New York, and it involves Trump’s stated plan to abolish the Department of Education by basically firing half of its workforce so that it cannot function. Unlike Elon Musk’s slash-and-burn DOGE experiment, this maneuver is not even thinly disguised by the pretense of government “efficiency.” Trump just wants the Department of Education to go.

The trouble is that, as a matter of the Constitution’s core separation of powers, Congress makes the laws. In 1979, Congress enacted the Department of Education Organization Act for purposes of “ensuring access to equal educational opportunity for every individual.”

As Sotomayor explained in her dissent, which Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson joined, “only Congress has the power to abolish the department. The executive’s task, by contrast, is to ‘take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.’”

By shutting down the Department of Education “by executive fiat,” Trump is blatantly intruding on the powers of the legislature to make the laws while ignoring the constitutional mandate, and his oath of office, that he duly execute those laws.

Trump’s plan ignores a bunch of other laws that the Department of Education is also responsible for executing, including laws governing federal grants for institutes of higher education; federal funding for kindergarten through high school (more than $100 billion during the 2020-2021 school year, or 11 percent of the total funding for public K-12 schools across the country); and laws banning discrimination in federally-funded schools on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex and disability.

Then there’s the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which, according to the department’s current website, “is a law that makes available a free appropriate education to eligible children with disabilities … and ensures special education and related services to those children, supports early services for infants and toddlers and their families, and awards competitive discretionary grants.” Seven million students across the country receive special education services supported by that law.

Another statute the department administers, the Elementary and Student Education Act, provides financial assistance programs to tens of millions of low-income students, too.

All of these laws are now being gutted by the stroke of Trump’s pen, as if he were a king.

There has been no public debate in Congress, no mark-ups of bills amending the law, no ability for voters to call representatives to lobby for or against proposals to amend the Department of Education and the statutes it administers. There has been no budget analyses, no media coverage of congressional horse-trading, no interviews of people from both parties on the steps of the Capitol, no hearing from public school officials or teachers or parents on whether this is a good idea.

Trump simply snatched the power to make and repeal major federal legislation and programs that affect millions of American children for himself.

Worse, the majority on the Supreme Court is letting him do it. Like Trump, it made its ruling on-the-fly and behind closed doors — without full briefing, oral argument or a written decision explaining the justices’ rationale for allowing this end run around Article I of the Constitution (which lodges the lawmaking power in Congress) and Article II (which mandates that the president take care that the laws are faithfully executed).

The majority’s silence left it to the dissenting justices once again to try and back-fill the majority’s reasoning in a dissenting opinion so that the public has some sort of record about what is possibly going on here.

Sotomayor explains that Trump, shortly after taking office, condemned the Department of Education as a “big con job” that he would “like to close immediately.” A week into her tenure, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon eliminated “nearly 50 percent of the Department’s workforce” as “the first step on the road to a total shutdown.” She closed entire offices — including the team responsible for administering bilingual education, every lawyer in the general counsel’s office responsible for K-12 education funding and IDEA grants, numerous regional offices that deal with civil rights laws and most of the office that certifies schools to receive federal student financial aid.

On March 20, Trump signed an executive order with a directive titled “Closing the Department of Education and Returning Authority to the States.” Twenty states and the District of Columbia sued, arguing that his actions violated the Take Care Clause and the Constitution’s separation of powers, incapacitating core components of the Department of Education on which the states rely. A similar lawsuit by school districts and unions followed. The cases were combined, and a district court issued an injunction preserving the status quo, keeping the department and the nation’s school system intact while the case was pending. An appeals court upheld that injunction.

Mind you, the district court issued its injunction after considering dozens of affidavits from Department of Education officials and recipients of federal funding describing how McMahon’s mass terminations have already affected the ability to pay teachers, purchase materials and equipment, and enroll students on federal financial aid — and how full implantation of Trump’s plan could be far worse. The government submitted no evidence in response.

Ignoring the record entirely, and on an emergency motion filed by the administration, the Supreme Court’s right-wing majority simply overturned the injunction, effectively handing Trump a win — just weeks before the start of the new school year — without even bothering to actually grapple with the Constitution, the lower court’s findings or the dire impacts on millions of children and young adults that rely on the department’s programs in order to get an education.

This sounds like a dystopian science fiction storyline that a bunch of Hollywood writers and producers dreamed up. But it’s real. This is Trump’s — and the Supreme Court’s — America.

Kimberly Wehle is author of the book “Pardon Power: How the Pardon System Works — and Why.”

Nobody in Texas is Showing Up To Construction Sites

The Resistance:

June 28, 2025 – Bravo Taco! You are collapsing our economy one industry at a time. Racism has blinded most MAGAs to one universal truth: the backbone of our economy is immigrant labor.

Home Builder in Texas says ICE raids has ground construction to a halt, as the vast numbers of laborers are immigrants. Video:

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/16jZHKnHay/

John Hanno: Most Texan’s understand this, but they keep voting for the spineless republi-cons in congress, and for legislators in Texas who “ARE” the problem, and who couldn’t care less about a solution. Their elected leaders keep attacking and terrorizing the women and people of color who ARE part of the solution, and who are an asset to our nation. The question is, are their prejudices too ingrained for them to change their backwards ways? WTFU merica

The huge banner of a glaring Trump in front of the USDA is a literal sign the U.S. has lost its democracy

The Advocate

The huge banner of a glaring Trump in front of the USDA is a literal sign the U.S. has lost its democracy

John Casey – May 16, 2025

Donald Trump official presidential portrait

A colossal, brooding image of Donald Trump now looms over the U.S. Department of Agriculture headquarters in Washington, D.C. The banner is unmistakably authoritarian in both style and scale. It features a stone-faced Trump gazing down upon the capital like a watchful overlord.

This is not a campaign advertisement. It is a signal. A warning. A literal and metaphorical sign that democracy in America is no longer functioning as intended.

Historically, such displays of obnoxiousness have not heralded democratic renewal. Quite the opposite. They’ve marked the entrenchment of dictatorship. Authoritarian regimes the world over have relied on these massive visual monuments to instill fear, demand obedience, and project omnipresence.

For decades, and most especially during World War II, Stalin’s steel-eyed portraits towered over Soviet streets and public buildings, reminding citizens that the state saw everything. Mao Zedong’s image hung from Tiananmen Gate like a secular deity watching over the masses. It was massive, larger than life, eternal, aloof for a reason..

History books and other visions etched in my memory bring images of Kim Jong Un of North Korea, Saddam Hussein of Iraq, Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, Fidel Castro of Cuba, and of course Hitler, who all followed the same playbook. They saturate public space with the leader’s face and saturate your mind with the leader’s authority.

Imagine, for a moment, if Franklin Delano Roosevelt had plastered massive banners of his face across Washington during World War II. Hanging a 30-foot portrait from the Treasury Building or looming over war bond posters with cold, impassive eyes. The public would have been outraged. Congress would have rebelled. Even amid war, Roosevelt respected the distinction between democratic leadership and personal cult.

Trump has now joined this visual canon of despots with his banner brooding over a government institution. It is not just “deeply creepy,” as some observers have said. It is the textbook behavior of a man who believes the state belongs to him. It is fascist iconography, domesticated.

This chilling banner didn’t emerge in a vacuum. Since being sworn in for his second term on January 20, Trump has governed not as a president but as a ruler unbound by law, or at least he thinks he’s unbound by law.

His Department of Justice has been purged of independence, its prosecutors reassigned or fired if they resisted Trump’s will. And don’t even get me started about the “yes, yes, yes” attorney general, Pam Bondi, who is a perfect lackey for the wannabe dictator. No to Trump in not in her vocabulary.

Trump’s suggestion that he should be allowed a third term because one was supposedly “stolen,” is no longer a fringe fantasy. It’s a real and present threat, floated not only at rallies and interviews but by White House aides and conservative media outlets that now function more like state-run propaganda than independent journalism.

He has declared that federal workers must show “personal loyalty” to him. Inspectors general and career civil servants have been removed en masse and replaced with unqualified loyalists. Programs that support education, public health, and environmental protection have been gutted in favor of funding massive security forces that answer directly to the Executive Branch.

And his takeover of the Kennedy Center, his chosen board of directors, naming himself as chairman, is just another check-mark on the autocrat bucket list and that is control of the arts.

Meanwhile, efforts to erase and rewrite history are accelerating. Trump’s allies are systematically removing references to slavery and civil rights from textbooks, recasting the January 6 insurrectionists as “patriots,” and purging LGBTQ+ references from public libraries. This is not governing. It’s regime-building, complete with a giant portrait.

As Trump’s face stares down from the side of a federal agency building, it’s a 30-foot reminder of who is in charge, who is watching, and who cannot be questioned.

This use of personal imagery as a weapon of psychological control is not just about ego, and it’s a key mechanism of authoritarian rule. During Stalin’s Great Purge, his image became synonymous with the state itself. To criticize Stalin, even in private, was to invite arrest, or worse.

Saddam Hussein commissioned thousands of portraits of himself, placing them in every school, airport, and office in Iraq. The size and frequency of his image sent a clear message that this country was his.

So too with Kim Il Sung, his son Kim Jong il, and his son Kim Jong Un. whose portraits are reportedly required in every home in North Korea, and most people clean them on a regular basis. Disrespecting the image is a punishable offense.

These leaders understood something simple but potent: Symbols shape reality. And control of the visual environment is control of the collective psyche.

The USDA banner is not just gaudy or excessive. It’s strategic. It’s authoritarian. It’s a message not just to the public but to the bureaucracy itself that loyalty flows up, power flows down, and both are enforced with fear.

Democracy depends on a humble, limited executive, and while we’ve had some egomaniacs as president here in the U.S. (think Richard Nixon), we’ve been fortunate not to have one who plasters banners of himself outside of government buildings.

Our presidents have been elected, not enthroned. They serve, not rule. The placement of a massive Trump banner on a government building reveals that this line has been crossed, and we are no longer a republic. We are living under the cult of one man.

When the government starts using public property to display the ruler’s image, when dissent is criminalized, when history is rewritten and power is centralized, we are not looking at the future. Instead, we are seeing the end of something. The end of accountability. The end of democratic pretense. The end of America as we knew it.

The banner may yet come down. But the damage it represents is already done.

Voices is dedicated to featuring a wide range of inspiring personal stories and impactful opinions from the LGBTQ+ community and its allies. Visit Advocate.com/submit to learn more about submission guidelines. Views expressed in Voices stories are those of the guest writers, columnists, and editors, and do not directly represent the views of The Advocate or our parent company, equalpride.

What Happens To Your Body When You Walk For Just 2 Minutes—Or As Much As 60 Minutes

Women’s Health

What Happens To Your Body When You Walk For Just 2 Minutes—Or As Much As 60 Minutes

Bridie Wilkins – May 16, 2025

a young asian woman in colorful clothes walks along a black wall. lifestyle and youth culture. — How Walking Duration Affects Your Body Tatiana Maksimova – Getty Images

“Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links.”

Don’t underestimate the power of walking. Studies show that just two minutes a day is enough for considerable benefits. But between boosting your mood, regulating blood sugar levels, and reducing blood pressure (to name a few), the gains you get will depend on how long–or short–your walks are.

Here’s how a 2, 5, 10, 30, 40 and 60-minute walk will affect your body.

The effects of a 2-5-minute walk

Regulates blood sugar (and aids weight loss)

A meta-analysis published in Sports Medicine analyzed seven studies which compared the impact of sitting, standing and walking on blood sugar regulation. The participants in the studies included were asked either to stand or walk for two to five minutes every 20-30 minutes throughout the day. The results showed that a short walk after eating caused the participants’ blood sugar levels to rise and fall more gradually than standing or sitting. The participants’ insulin levels also remained more stable.

The study didn’t investigate how this might affect weight loss, but we caught up with sports and exercise medicine consultant Dr Rebecca Robinson to explain: “Walking straight after a meal appears to be more effective at reducing both blood sugar [glucose] and the level of glucose in your interstitial fluid [the thin layer of fluid surrounding your body’s cells]. If you don’t walk straight away, excess glucose in your bloodstream will be stored by insulin and may be stored as fat.”

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“The contractions of your muscles during walking increase glucose uptake as the glucose is metabolized by your muscles for energy. This reduces the amount of sugar in your bloodstream. Digestion also uses glucose for energy, but walking boosts the total metabolic cost on your body after eating.”

“Spikes in your blood sugar will naturally occur after eating. If a diet is high in refined sugar and high glycemic index carbohydrates, this can increase the amount of insulin needed to store the excess blood sugar, which you may not have. If you don’t have enough insulin and are then left with excess blood sugar levels, this may be stored as fat, and this type of fat is often stored in your abdominal area and around your organs, which can cause heightened inflammation and conditions like heart disease.”

“A blood sugar spike also often leads to a crash, whereby your sugar levels rise, and your insulin response rises to store glucose quickly. This can make you crave more high sugar food and an increased calorie intake, leading to weight gain.”

“Walking after a meal rich in sugars or refined carbohydrates can help reduce the amount of insulin needed and may reduce the amount of glucose that gets stored as fat.”

The effects of a 10-minute walk

Reduces blood pressure

According to a study published in The Journal of Human Hypertension, ten minutes of walking could be enough to reduce blood pressure. The study’s participants completed three 10-minute walking sessions at moderate intensity over a three-hour period, and the results showed a significant reduction in systolic blood pressure after the third session.

Improves mood

A study published in Psychology of Sport and Exercise analyzed the emotional responses of participants after 10-minute and 30-minute walks, including an analysis of their future intentions for walking. The authors found that all walking sessions improved the participants’ mood—including just 10 minutes—while those who walked for 10 minutes also reported higher self-efficacy and intentions for future exercise.

Reduces illness risk

A meta-analysis published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine analyzed data of over 30 million people in 196 peer-reviewed studies and found that just 11 minutes a day of brisk walking was enough to reduce the risk of stroke, heart disease, and some cancers, while reducing inflammation.

The effects of a 30-minute walk

Reduces feelings of depression

Researchers for the journal, Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, found that people suffering from depression who walked on a treadmill for 30 minutes reported feeling more vigorous and had a greater sense of psychological wellbeing for up to an hour after completing their walks. Those patients also reported reductions in negative feelings such as tension, depression, anger and fatigue.

walking benefits — Walking on a treadmill for 30 minutes is proven to help reduce feelings of depression EmirMemedovski – Getty Images

Boosts bone density

A 2022 study published in PLOS ONE found that long-term brisk walking is an efficient way to improve bone density. Specifically, taking brisk walks for 30 minutes per day three or more times per week is recommended to prevent bone loss in premenopausal women.

The effects of a 40-minute walk

Improves memory

Researchers at Colorado State University recruited 180 adults over 60 who were generally healthy but inactive. One group walked for 40 minutes three times a week, while the second group danced three times a week, and the third did stretching three times a week. The results analyzed the brain’s white matter, which acts as the wiring that connects and supports billions of neurons and enables memory. MRI scans after six months showed improvements in this white matter in the brains of the people who walked, while these people also scored higher on memory tests. Those who remained sedentary did not show such improvements.

Boosts heart health

According to a 2018 observational study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology analyzing over 90,000 participants, walking at least 40 minutes two or three times a week was associated with a reduced risk of developing heart failure in postmenopausal women.

The effects of a 60-minute walk

Improves sleep

A 2019 study from Sleep found that postmenopausal women who do 60 minutes of light- to moderate-intensity physical activity, like walking, per day have longer, more restful sleeps than those who are sedentary.

Reduces risk of depression

Walking for an hour a day can reduce your risk of depression, according to a 2019 JAMA Psychiatry study. Researchers saw a 26-percent decrease in odds of developing depression with increased physical activity, like walking. “Intentionally moving your body in more gentle ways throughout the day–like walking, stretching, taking the stairs, doing the dishes–can still add up in good ways for your mood,” study author Karmel Choi told Harvard Health.

Reduces stress

Any amount of walking reduces the stress hormone cortisol, which helps you feel less stressed and more relaxed, says Joyce Shulman, co-founder and CEO of 99 Walks and Jetti Fitness and author of Walk Your Way to Better. But a 2022 study published in Molecular Psychiatry found that a 60-minute walk in nature decreases activity in brain regions involved in stress processing. In contrast, brain activity in those regions remained stable after a 60-minute walk in an urban environment.

Have DOGE cuts lowered the national debt?

News Nation

Have DOGE cuts lowered the national debt?

Hena Doba – May 16, 2025

(NewsNation) — The Trump administration faced another loss this week after a federal judge blocked an executive order allowing mass firings of federal employees and delayed any current layoffs until May 23.

It’s the latest legal setback for the Department of Government Efficiency, which has been trying to slash $1 trillion from the federal budget.

In March, a different judge ruled that probationary workers laid off by DOGE had to be rehired. While many of those workers are back on payroll, many are not working due to other cuts.

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Overall, the numbers show DOGE has not been successful in its efforts to reduce spending. The department claims to have saved $170 billion, mostly by cutting government contracts, grants and leases.

But those numbers appear to have been overstated, with only a small portion verified and clear accounting errors in the math.

The cuts have also not brought down the national deficit.

In fact, the government spent $20 billion more in President Donald Trump’s first three months than the Biden administration spent over that same time frame last year.

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The deficit has grown from $840 billion in January to more than a trillion dollars today, according to the U.S. Treasury — a $290 billion increase in the past year, partly due to tax cuts that Trump wants to make permanent in his “big, beautiful” budget bill.

Some Republicans are raising the alarm about growing debt.

“We have to get back to weeding out the fraud, the waste, abuse. We are careening towards a sovereign debt crisis, and if we don’t get our spending under control, all of this doesn’t really matter because the dollar won’t mean anything anymore,” said Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C.

DOGE said 40% of the Social Security Agency’s calls were ‘fraudulent.’ Data suggests it was actually less than 1%

Fortune

DOGE said 40% of the Social Security Agency’s calls were ‘fraudulent.’ Data suggests it was actually less than 1%

Irina Ivanova – May 16, 2025

Elon Musk, here seen on Capitol Hill on Dec. 5, 2024, has called Social Security “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time.”

An oft-repeated claim that 40% of Social Security calls are fraudulent is wildly overstated, according to a report, which found that less than 1% of calls have any possible link to fraud. However, changes the administration made to combat the alleged problem have led to payment delays and a “degradation” in service, the report found.

Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency is moving to overhaul Social Security on the pretext that the government’s premier safety-net program is losing massive amounts of money to fraud. Musk has claimed his engineers have found $100 billion a week in fraudulent entitlement payments, a situation the Tesla CEO called “utterly insane.”

DOGE made similar claims in an April interview with Fox News. DOGE engineer and Musk employee Aram Moghaddassi told Bret Baier that 40% of calls to Social Security trying to change direct-deposit information are from fraudsters.

“So when you want to change your bank account, you can call Social Security. We learned 40% of the calls that they get are from fraudsters,” Moghaddassi told Fox.

Even Trump’s Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick suggested in a podcast appearance that the only people complaining about missing payments are fraudsters.

“The easiest way to find the fraudster is to stop payments and listen, cause whoever screams is the one stealing,” he told All-In, using his 94-year-old mother-in-law as an example of someone who wouldn’t call in.

‘No significant fraud‘

But the true rate of phone fraud, according to a news outlet that covers government technology, is just a fraction of 1%.

Nextgov/FCW, which obtained an internal SSA document, reported that just two Social Security claims out of 110,000 had a high probability of being fraudulent. Fewer than 1% of claims had any potential for fraud at all, according to Nextgov.

“No significant fraud has been detected from the flagged cases,” the internal document said, according to the site.

The SSA’s own justification for changing the benefits process in March said that roughly “40 percent of Social Security direct deposit fraud is associated with someone calling SSA to change direct deposit bank information,” not that 40% of all calls are fraudulent.

DOGE did not respond to Fortune’s request for comment.

A Social Security spokesperson told Fortune that, between March 29 and April 26, SSA’s new fraud detection tools flagged 20,000 distinct social security numbers where “a direct deposit change was requested over the phone and failed a security measure,” and said its fraud measures helped the office avoid $19.9 million in losses.

The office “continues to refine the anti-fraud algorithm to flag only the claims with the highest probability of fraud,” the spokesperson said in an email.

‘Delays’ and ‘degradation‘

However, the changes have also created a “degradation of public service,” according to Nextgov. In addition to requiring ID checks, the SSA put an automatic delay on new benefit claims so it could run fraud checks, Nextgov reported. The move “delays payments and benefits to customers, despite an extremely low risk of fraud,” the document noted, according to Nextgov.

An Inspector General report from February found that, in fiscal year 2023, 0.6% of all payments made across Social Security’s old-age and disability programs were “overpayments.” That term includes payments made in the wrong amounts when people don’t update their earnings information or other information that would change their eligibility, such as living in a nursing home.

In March, Social Security announced that no benefits claims could be made by phone, before reversing the policy amid outrage. It has added more requirements for people changing their bank information, requiring beneficiaries to either visit a Social Security office in person or use two-factor authentication to confirm their identity.

DOGE’s Fraud Tracker at Social Security Turns Into a Massive Self-Own

The Daily Beast

DOGE’s Fraud Tracker at Social Security Turns Into a Massive Self-Own

Josh Fiallo – May 15, 2025

How’s that for efficiency?

Procedures implemented by the Department of Government Efficiency suggested that just two out of 110,000 calls to the Social Security Administration this spring had a “high probability” of being fraudulent, Federal Computer Week reported.

That is a far cry from the 40 percent figure that was parroted by MAGA in recent months, including by DOGE’s recently departed leader, Elon Musk, and Vice President JD Vance. The real figure is about .0018 percent.

The anti-fraud procedures were put in place by DOGE last month and have seemingly done more harm than good, according to an internal memo viewed by Federal Computer Week. The new procedures reassured DOGE staff that fraudsters are not phoning the SSA every second, but reportedly slowed processing times at the administration by 25 percent and may soon be removed from protocol.

DOGE’s anti-fraud procedures have seemingly done more harm than good. / Samuel Corum/Getty Images

Such delays were described in a memo as a “degradation of public service,” which is the antithesis of DOGE’s supposed goal.

“No significant fraud has been detected from the flagged cases,” the internal document said, according to the magazine.

DOGE’s anti-fraud protocol required a three-day hold to be placed on phone claims in order to check for fraud. This procedure “delays payments and benefits to customers, despite an extremely low risk of fraud,” the memo said.

The 40 percent figure circulating in MAGA circles stems from a Fox News segment on March 27, where the DOGE engineer Aram Moghaddassi wrongly claimed that 40 percent of calls made to the SSA to change direct deposit information are from fraudsters.

In reality, Federal Computer Week reports that 40 percent of direct deposit fraud at the agency is associated with phone calls—not that four out of every 10 calls to the agency are from fraudsters.

Likely based on the exaggerated fraud figures, the SSA announced in March that it would phase out allowing people to make account changes or claims over the phone. That policy was scrapped a short time later, following a public backlash.

Musk has been notably quieter the last month. / JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images

Musk, who has been notably quieter the last month, did not immediately address his department’s face-palm on Thursday.

Foreign groups are stealing $1 trillion a year through identity theft – and DOGE is just letting it happen

Independent

Foreign groups are stealing $1 trillion a year through identity theft – and DOGE is just letting it happen

John Bowden – May 15, 2025

A new report details how the federal government is ignoring billions of dollars in identity theft-related fraud every year as outdated systems leave government agencies and Americans both vulnerable to scammers.

The report from Socure, a firm which sells identity verification services, found that fraudsters are using stolen identities to scam government agencies out of billions and bilk Americans from receiving benefits they are entitled to in the process. The problem is so vast, according to the report, that false or fraudulent claims originating from crime rings primarily based abroad make up between 2 percent to 12 percent of all applications for US government services.

Government estimates project that federal agencies annually lose about $500bn to fraudulent claims. Socure’s report indicates the number could be nearly twice that high.

For comparison, that’s more than 10 times the annual budget of USAID, the hub of US foreign aid and soft power now eviscerated by Elon Musk’s DOGE campaign and due for rehousing at the State Department.

First reported by NBC News, the report went on to find that a lack of identity verification systems at the federal level was having a cascading effect, as scammers often target private entities with information improperly obtained through government agencies.

“There is a real need for fraud prevention solutions which leverage simple consortium data that spans commercial and government programs,” it reads.

The report cited basic issues with federal identity verification efforts: callers who connected with agencies were often able to access information by providing information which by itself could have been illicitly obtained, like Social Security numbers and answers to security questions. Red flags, like Social Security numbers that do not match an applicant’s date of birth, applications filed from international IP addresses, or phone numbers with area codes that don’t match a person’s place of residence, are often ignored.

“Today, in many agencies, if someone calls into a call center and says that I’m locked out of my account, many of them will allow them to get access to their account by saying, ‘Hey, we’ll let you change your name and your password on here,’” Socure vice president Jordan Burris told NBC News. “They’ll probably ask them something to the effect of, ‘Hey, can you tell me your name? Can you tell me Social Security Number? Can you perhaps answer this question about a car that you probably had once upon a time?’”

One international fraud ring described as “sophisticated” by Socure’s analysis used stolen identities to launch 60 fraudulent claims across “multiple” agencies during a one-month span last fall.

It’s a bipartisan problem, too: according to Socure’s findings, fraud targeting government agencies jumped during the Covid pandemic as the federal government distributed assistance checks millions of Americans and insituted loan programs for businesses to support workers during lockdowns. The figures never recovered when those programs ended.

But it’s not part of the “waste, fraud, and abuse” which either Elon Musk’s DOGE effort or the Republican Congress are addressing through federal means and the effort to craft a budget bill that could pass the House and Senate. Republicans in Congress are hoping to find nearly $900bn in savings to fund a renewal of the 2017 Trump tax cuts, but are doing so by instituting work requirements for Medicaid which Democrats say just amounts to a layer of red tape aimed at kicking people off the program. The Republican plan also calls for cuts to food stamps and other changes to Medicaid aimed at lowering the burden for the federal government.

Elon Musk’s DOGE efforts have largely focused on cutting foreign aid programs and government grants (Getty Images)

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimates that Medicaid and Medicare together make more than $100bn in improper payments every year. The GOP budget plan includes changes to eligibility requirements that make checks more frequent, but there’s no organized push for stronger electronic verification practices.

DOGE, meanwhile, is largely sputtering out after taking an axe to USAID and, by most accounts, urging large-scale cuts to federal staff rosters rather than changes to programs to improve efficiency, or even efforts to identify fraud. A website last updated on Sunday operated by the Musk-led effort indicates that his team is taking credit for $170bn in supposed savings, though that number is highly disputed.

Elon Musk is expected to take a public step back from his role in the coming days, while his team seems to largely view government programs as fraudulent and wasteful by design, rather than undermined by criminal groups.