| Substack | https://povertypimpslayer.substack.com/ |
@manusai @Facebook
@Manus
I’m a disabled veteran and loyal Manus customer of 2+ years. Since April, their platform has kept me stuck in a loop that forces me to repeat the same steps, resets my progress, and drains my limited credits.
I rely on this tool for my investigative journalism and content work. This ongoing issue has damaged my credibility with supporters and potential donors and has taken a serious toll on my PTSD, anxiety, and depression.
A veteran’s Social Security and VA disability checks are paying for the investigations no one with money wants to touch. I am a Disabled Veteran running an investigative platform that documents how poverty is turned into a business model in the U.S., Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. I don’t have a foundation, a think tank, or a billionaire behind me. I fund this work out of my Social Security and VA disability checks — every server bill, every tool, every hour I spend digging through case files and receipts. I have no donations coming in. After about a year on Substack with roughly 267 subscribers, only one person has been able to pay for an annual subscription. The rest of this project is paid for by the same checks that are supposed to cover my basic survival. Meanwhile, people like Nick Shirley are treated like national heroes, showered with millions, flying off to Cuba, and held up as the face of “courage” and “truth” — while independent, disabled veterans doing the hard, unglamorous work of exposing exploitation are left to burn out in the dark. Ask yourself what that says about our priorities. A disabled vet funding an investigative platform with Social Security and VA disability checks is invisible. Someone backed by money and PR becomes a “hero.” If you think that’s backwards, here’s how you can help me keep this archive alive and free for the people who actually live this poverty: Support The Vault Investigates I’m a Disabled Veteran running an independent investigative archive on how poverty becomes a business model in PH / PR / US. There are no institutional sponsors propping this up. It’s just me, my checks, and the work. If you want to keep this work alive, here’s how you can help: Ko‑fi (small or monthly support): https://ko-fi.com/thevaultinvestigates PayPal (one‑time or once‑a‑year gifts): https://paypal.me/thevaultinvestigates Substack (paid subscriptions for The Vault Investigates): https://thevaultinvestigates.cloud GoFundMe (Help a Disabled Vet Keep The Vault Investigates Alive): https://www.gofundme.com/u/vault-archivist Every dollar goes to: Keeping the archive online and accessible Covering research tools, records fees, and secure backups Making investigations free for working‑class readers in the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. If you can’t support financially, you can still help: Share this Note. Talk openly about the real cost of independent investigative work. Stop pretending the people with the biggest budgets are the only ones telling the truth.
Two hundred forty-two people can subscribe for free, read the work, watch the archive grow, and say they support independent journalism — but when it comes time to keep it alive, too many disappear. The Vault Investigates is being built and sustained by a disabled U.S. veteran funding this work out of a Social Security and VA disability check, while documenting how poverty, fraud, and public money are exploited across the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. That’s the part people love to skip: the archive, the receipts, the tools, the hosting, the hours, the grind, the personal cost. People will fund spectacle in seconds, but real investigative work gets treated like it should survive on sacrifice alone.
Nick Shirley can ask followers to fund security and travel to show “communist oppression” abroad, but The Vault Investigates asks for donations to expose real fraud, preserve records, and keep independent reporting alive — and gets crickets. That tells you everything about what people choose to support. http://Truthdrop.io https://www.gofundme.com/u/vault-archivist.
