What Happens When You Trim Fat?

Today a big story at Time Magazine is "U.S. Added to Global Human Rights Watchlist Over Declining Civil Liberties."

I know, the first thing you think is, "Is Time Magazine still in business? I didn’t even know that." Well, apparently it is, and some people apparently think it's a news source.

In this case, a human rights organization called CIVICUS that publishes a list scoring human rights in various countries made a press release announcing that they had added the United States to a "watchlist," of which the other prize winners are the Democratic Republic of Congo, Italy, Pakistan, and Serbia.

Of course, the DRC has been the subject of many human rights stories. According to Amnesty International, one of the members of CIVICUS:

Persistent large-scale attacks against civilians by armed groups and the Congolese security forces fuelled the humanitarian crisis in which nearly 7 million people were internally displaced and thousands of others fled the country. Armed groups killed thousands of civilians, and the army carried out extrajudicial executions. Sexual and gender-based violence remained prevalent, with over 38,000 reported cases in Nord-Kivu province alone during the first quarter of the year. The rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association were routinely violated. Journalists, opposition members and activists, among others, were subjected to arbitrary detention and faced unfair trials. Mining projects in Lualaba province led to the forced eviction of thousands of people from their homes and livelihoods, while Indigenous Peoples faced eviction in the name of conservation.

According to the State Department, Serbia has:

Significant human rights issues included credible reports of: torture or degrading treatment at police establishments; harsh prison conditions; serious problems with the independence of the judiciary; serious restrictions on free expression and the press, including violence, threats of violence, and unjustified arrests and prosecutions against journalists; serious government corruption; lack of investigation of and accountability for gender-based violence including domestic or intimate partner violence, sexual violence, and early marriage among Romani children; trafficking in persons; and crimes, including violence, targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex individuals.

Pakistan, again according to Amnesty International, has problems because:

Political volatility increased and authorities continued their assault on dissenting voices, political opposition and people critical of the government and the military establishment. Human rights violations such as enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests and detentions, excessive restrictions on protests and violence against religious minorities continued unabated with little or no justice for victims. In particular, Hindu Pakistanis have been targeted for abduction, forced conversion, and their temples for destruction.

So what heinous crimes has America committed to place it in this rogues' gallery? According to CIVICUS:

A spate of arbitrary executive orders has resulted in mass firings of federal government employees coupled with the takeover of key positions in the administration including the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation by Trump loyalists. They are likely to severely impact constitutional freedoms of peaceful assembly, expression, and association. ... United States, once a global champion of democracy and human rights, joins the first 2025 watchlist along with Democratic Republic of Congo, Italy, Pakistan, and Serbia. The arbitrary US pullbacks from aid and multilateral cooperation, including the World Health Organisation and the UN Human Rights Council, will likely impact civic freedoms and reverse hard-won human rights gains around the world. [emphasis added]

So what puts America among countries like Pakistan and the DRC is that... the new administration brought in its own appointees to political appointments and cut funding and support to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Human Rights Council, some notable members of which include Afghanistan, China, Iraq, Cuba, and Nicaragua.

I mean, it's obvious that the U.S. is like the DRC and Pakistan. (Pakistan, just by the way, is also a member of the UN Human Rights Council.)

Curious, I looked at the estimable DataRepublican Nonprofit Financials page, where I found that in its most recent filing, CIVICUS has a total of $10,573,000 (rounded to the nearest dollar) in receipts, of which $7,882,463 — or about 75% — came from the US taxpayer.

At this point, the light dawned. What is the United States' cruel human rights abuse? Cutting back on funding to NGOs.

Recently, on the Larry Kudlow show (March 8, 2025), Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) — always good for a sound bite — observed: "When you trim fat, pigs squeal."

If you want to see the U.S. continue to heiniously not send money to the UN and NGOs with fancy D.C. offices, help us continue to report on DOGE's accomplishments and expose leftist corruption. Join PJ Media VIP and use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your membership.