Good grief… Your saying the aid was for “Gaza” without specifying the country was misleading, at least. How many people have heard of Gaza, Mozambique? (I hadn’t.) What Gaza immediately comes to mind when you hear the name except the one in Palestine?
It would be helpful if you’d post links when you post lists like that one so we could see your source as well.
Neal-- it’s not complicated. Neither is it black and white-- where you can comfortably post bible verses about lying. It wasn’t a lie in the least-- it was real misinformation.
Some 20-year old kid sleeping on a couch, working 16 hours a day for DOGE sees a line item when auditing Biden Admin earmarks for USAID. The line item says $50 Million for condoms in Gaza.
And just like you and me-- he’s never heard of Gaza, Mozambique. So he excitedly points out the expenditure to someone else and it gets reported to someone else and in zero seconds the expenditure gets conflated with Gaza and Hamas-- who do inflate condoms with helium to float incendiery weapons into Israel to spark fires. So the two unrelated realities get conjoined in a headline-driven world where sensationalism travels at light speed. They all got caught up in it. It was an error to do so, but it wasn’t a lie or intentional deception. Expect a correction… that’s how adults handle situations like this. Here’s some links>>>>
And do make sure to check out the link to USAID-- where they used to say the following>>>> 
The support from USAID is part of the more than $500 million in annual assistance the U.S. Government provides to improve the quality of education and healthcare, promote economic prosperity, and support the overall development of Mozambique. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) leads the U.S. Government’s international development and disaster assistance through partnerships and investments that save lives, reduce poverty, strengthen democratic governance, and help people emerge from humanitarian crises. For more information about USAIDs work to foster sustainable development and advance human dignity visit www.usaid.gov.
A pic of one of the explosive devices that didn’t detonate/ignite…
I apologize.
I understand that mistakes happen and while they may not be true, they’re not intentional lies. I just have been so focused on truth for so long (the last knowing untruth I remember saying was in about 1983) and have heard so many repeated blatant lies and half truths from Trump, his spokespeople, and some of the media (and other lies going back to Obama and the ACA) that it’s too easy to see something that’s not true and immediately conclude that it’s a deliberate lie. I’m getting really tired of it, and have grave concerns about what these massive, thoughtless cuts are going to do to our economy and our standing in the world.
Years (decades) ago I was upset and frustrated about something my supervisor at work said or did, and a consultant told me I cared too much. I still do, but I have to admit to myself that I can’t do anything significant to fix the bull-in-a-china-shop mess that Trump and Musk are making.
Hey I totally get it. I recall thinking that Clinton was lying when he said he did not have sex with that woman! And then I figured Obama was lying when he told us if we liked our doctor we could keep them. But Joe really was lying when he said that his son’s laptop was Russian disinformation and that he had nothing to do with any of Hunter’s business dealings.
One thing you might consider-- Trump won. He won the electoral college and the popular vote. The people that voted for him are getting all they hoped for and just what they voted for. We knew that Musk was going to partner with him to help balance the budget and eliminate fraudulent waste. It’s all going better than any of us could have imagined.
So you think it’s good to stop food and medical services provided by USAID from going to starving people - and good for the US economy for farmers to no longer have USAID as a customer? Good to halt funding for repair and upgrading of critical infrastructure, and numerous public services in the US?
Just give it time for the cuts to percolate through the economy. With gutting essential federal agencies left and right, in a few months Americans are going to start feeling it.
Regarding the popular vote - over 50% of the country voted for someone else. He got 49.8%, Kamala got 48.3% and the rest went to other people. (The 2024 Election by the Numbers | Council on Foreign Relations)
Do a little research Neal…
Do you know the difference between “popular vote” and “the majority of votes?”
And no. I don’t think that it’s in the best interest of Americans to give more than $500 Million PER YEAR to countries like Mozambique while we are $36 Trillion in debt.
We don’t need to fund transgender operas in Columbia, nor Chelsea Clinton’s wedding.
Well, I’ve searched for a definition of"popular vote" that’s different from"the majority of votes" and can’t find one. My point remains, though - slightly less than 50% of the votes cast were for Trump.
I’m not talking about transgender operas, I’m talking about helping people in real life or death situations.
This article tells some of it. It talks about how catastrophic Trump’s and Musk’s actions are for numerous international aid agencies. Toward the bottom of the article is this:
"World Relief, one of the few agencies funded by USAID to speak up about the impact of the funding cut, says it has 3.9 metric tons of bean seeds in Haiti that it cannot distribute, because of the stop-work order. “If they are not distributed soon, then the seeds will rot, farmers will miss planting season, and families will be at high risk for food insecurity,” the organization said in a statement to TIME. “These are real people, real lives, hanging in the balance. This isn’t about politics; it’s about the very real consequences of these funding delays on the people we serve.”
Matthew 25:45 NET
Then he will answer them, ‘I tell you the truth, just as you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for me.’
Editing your original post where you stated that Trump did not win the popular vote, doesn’t change the fact that you stated it.
You need better sources. “The popular vote” refers to ‘who got the most votes.’ You know? Who was the “most popular” candidate on the ballot? If there were 5 people on the ballot and one got 35%, one got 30%, one got $25% and one got 10%— then the one who got 35% of the vote won “the popular vote.” Does that make sense?
In the scenario above, no one got the majority of the votes, but one candidate clearly won the popular vote.
As an aside-- the system most clearly needed “shaking.”
OK, I understand what you’re saying. The popular vote winner is the one who received the most votes. In most cases in US elections (with only two major candidates) the popular vote winner would also receive the majority of the votes, but in this case the election was close enough that Trump won the popular vote even though just over 50% of the voters voted for someone else.
That was a side point, though. The really important thing is that the bulldozer approach being taken instead of careful review and reform is hurting or literally killing hundreds of thousands, even millions, of people all over the world - damaging our country’s standing and reputation and providing a huge opening for China to step in and fill the gap. That’s what you voted for and that’s what you’re saying you approve of.
My greatest fear is that Trump will grow tired of winning and stop short of some of these initiatives.
“USAID secretly poured uncountable hundreds of millions of dollars toward Hamas, including tens of millions of cash they could never account for. Throughout the Biden admin, they knew the money they were pouring into Gaza would benefit Hamas. They did it anyway,” (Senator Ted Cruz on X)
Here is a recent fact sheet that the Whitehouse put out (note that they removed the condoms to Gaza bullet point)
These are just a few examples of the waste, fraud and abuse they highlight. The cutting of these programs is wildly popular. Polling at something like 80% approval across political lines…
The list literally goes on and on — and it has all been happening for decades.
As I’ve already said several times, I would have no problem with thoughtful reform and am not trying to say that there hasn’t been waste or unnecessary expenditures, but Trump, through Musk, is “throwing the baby out with the bath water”. Are you really saying, that the bad choices justify precipitously cutting finding to organizations like World Relief that are regularly audited and that provide life-saving help to desperate people around the world?
Nice try. Do you consider yourself an activist?
America First, is not “un-Christian” despite Leftist attempts to portray it as such. How about this?— (since this is exactly what is being done)… How about we shut the whole money-printing machine down and shutter USAID completely to end the abuse, fraud and corruption immediately while we get our financial house in order.
Then, once that monumental task has been completed, we can proceed with “thoughtful” expenditures on a case by case basis-- without the waste and abuse. I don’t know what “Works Relief” is or what they do, but other groups like Catholic Charities, or Lutheran World Relief don’t operate using charitable donations as a primary funding source at all. They use tax dollars, and they use those dollars to fund and support illegal immigration. We literally fund the problem we created by funding.
Sorry - typo. I meant World Relief.
World Relief, like all of these tax-payer funded NGO’s might have had good beginnings. Many were obvious scammers right from the get-go, but let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and say that they were all well-intentioned when they started, in their desire to help settle “refugees.” I mean what “Christian” would be opposed to helping a poor, persecuted, migrant fleeing for his or her life, right? So the government -you, as a taxpayer- through bureaucratic layers of agents at USAID (14,000 of them) and usually Washington DC -based Administrators, living large while lobbying for, and then ‘administrating’ the distribution of funds-- these groups become well-funded enablers at the least, and in some cases, outright grifters and money-launderers in the worst cases.
It’s a well known principle that when you incentivize something-- you get more of it. That’s exactly what happens with ‘refugee’ programs, where you can be ‘vetted’ online and granted legal status despite coming to the country illegally. You want to fund and house and support illegal immigrants? Easy. Call them refugees.
In 2024-- the Biden/Harris Admin welcomed 100,034 refugees into places like Spokane, or El Paso who were supported and resettled with funds through groups like World Relief --the largest resettlement number in 30 years.
And now, for the fat cat Administrators living in Virginia and Maryland-- to be closest to their source of income— it’s all dried up, while Trump and Musk take the necessary steps to stop the profuse bleeding of cash that USAID had become. The bloodsuckers best be aware.
On Charity Navigator World Relief has a rating of 98%, with an accountability score of 100 out of 100. Charity Navigator - Rating for World Relief
And it’s only partially taxpayer funded. Feel free to look at their financials: Financials - World Relief
“World Relief is a global Christian humanitarian organization whose mission is to boldly engage the world’s greatest crises in partnership with the church.”
They are dedicated Christian professionals who are taking Jesus’ words in Matthew 25:31-46 seriously. If only we all did.
When you say “only partially taxpayer funded” perhaps you meant to say–
Almost 80% US taxpayer funded… $126 Million in taxpayer funds last year.
My greatest fear… To be honest, I was a Christian Ministries major in college. I was a devout Christian believer at that time. But after 9/11 I began to see something in the Christian church that I could not make peace with and I began to question my religion. And I don’t mean Jesus. I mean the people telling me what I should and should not believe.
It culminated some years later when President George W Bush vetoed a bill that would outlaw WaterBoarding… And it was the silence of the church that told me everything I needed to know. I knew the church had fallen.
I don’t know what god is being worshipped in the church today, but it has nothing to do with Jesus. It can’t be Jesus if you feel nothing but hatred for your enemies, hold nothing but contempt for your neighbors, and have not one iota of mercy or empathy for those being hurt by what is going on around us. You are spiritually bankrupt.
Grant it, I know not every believer in Christ can be lost or corrupted by the darkness moving in our world today, but my fear is most of you are. That is my greatest fear. That so many are proclaiming the name of Jesus and don’t really know Him, let alone love Him. Its just one big game of pretend, isn’t it? And so easy for a people hellbent on enshrining lies over truth. I see you just as easily as I see that darkness.
One last food for thought. These may actually be the end times. The weather and environment are going crazy, the nation is being undone, the whole world is in turmoil with brother against brother just as the Bible said it would be… And there are a few asteroids flying pretty close to earth in the near future. The AntiChrist and False Prophet may not be far behind if they aren’t already in power and in place. So if you aren’t praying for this world, for the children and most vulnerable, or anyone but yourself and your prosperity, maybe ask Christ for mercy and forgivenss before it is truly too late.
Show me the fruit of their sowing, not just their words. You will know them by their fruit.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
New International Version
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
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