Login
Gov. Gavin Newsom's administration lost track of $24 billion it spent over the past five years on the homelessness crisis, an audit found.
The post Audit: California Lost Track of $24 Billion Spent to Combat Homelessness appeared first on Breitbart.
At the urging of the United Nations, aid is being sent to Gaza, where it will be received and distributed by Hamas, the authority in Gaza. Designated as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) by the U.S. government in 1997, Hamas imposes taxes on all imports and exports, including aid, which has contributed to Gaza’s initial poverty. Now, with the humanitarian crisis caused by Hamas’s October 7th attack on Israel, the United Nations and the global community are providing funding to Hamas.
Aid given by sovereign nations comes from taxes; therefore, U.S. taxpayers are now funding Hamas. Under U.S. law, providing material support to designated terrorist organizations is a federal offense. President Trump has urged that all support for Palestine and Gaza be halted because the money is supporting terrorism, but the UN, the Biden administration, and globalists and liberals have criticized him. Additionally, the UN has refused to designate Hamas as a terrorist organization.
In Myanmar/Burma, roughly two million people have fled their villages and are taking shelter in the jungle because of attacks by the military junta, which seized power in a 2021 coup. While these people are running out of food and water and lack proper shelter and clothing, the UN is providing humanitarian aid to the junta. Ostensibly, the junta has promised to ensure that the aid reaches the people the army is trying to kill; however, having been in the jungle in Burma with displaced people, I can assure you that the only things the government is dropping into the camps are bombs and artillery shells.
Private aid organizations would like to assist the internally displaced people in Burma. However, it is prohibited by the regulations of the UN to violate a country’s sovereignty by providing aid without permission. Consequently, small, privately funded groups, mostly Christian organizations from the U.S., such as the Free Burma Rangers (FBR), take significant risks to cross the mountains, often under cover of darkness, through minefields, and under fire, to deliver small amounts of rice and medicine to those in need. Meanwhile, the generals receive millions of dollars in aid from the UN.
According to the Annual Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community, North Korea ranks approximately fourth in terms of national security threats to the US and second to the national security of Japan, our closest ally in Asia. It is also one of the poorest and most repressed countries in the world due to government mismanagement. The UN continues to provide aid to North Korea, freeing up resources for Kim Jong Un to allocate toward his rocket program.
Since the US pullout of Afghanistan, the UN has provided the country with $2.9 billion worth of aid. The Taliban remain designated as a foreign terrorist organization. With the UN aid, plus the money they are making from selling the US weapons Biden left them, they must be sitting comfortably.
The UN allegedly strives to deliver aid to those in dire need, regardless of the political situation. This is a noble goal, as civilians often suffer the most during conflicts. However, achieving this goal is difficult. Corruption, conflict, and political agendas can divert aid or make it hard to reach those who need it most.
As the list of countries where aid was diverted or stolen is quite long, the UN has implemented stricter guidelines and monitoring programs to reduce diversion. Independent Audits: The UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) investigates allegations of misuse of funds. Currently, the People’s Republic of China, the US’ number one national security threat and the world’s most prolific trade cheat and intellectual property thief, sits on the United Nations Board of Auditors.
UN investigators or inspectors have no authority. They must obtain permission from the country they are investigating, and access may not be granted. Beijing denied access to UN investigators who were attempting to confirm the genocide against the Uygur ethnic minority in China’s Xinjiang. To this day, China remains in the lead in four UN agencies and has the ability to deny the existence of genocide at home because it has never been proven.
Even if the UN could prove violations, it has no law enforcement capabilities. It can do nothing but issue a strongly worded letter. It could cease aid, as it has in some countries with egregious violations, like they did in Eritrea, but even then, they just wind up reducing rather than completely cutting aid. Often, the aid is restored later. And any number of despots and terrorists continue to receive aid unabated.
China and Russia sit on the United Nations Security Council and have vetoed UN interventions in genocide. Cross-border relief is another major issue where despotic countries can veto. In countries like Burma and Syria, internally displaced people need help, but the government refuses to let the aid get in. The Security Council could vote to bypass the need for permission, but China and Russia hold veto power.
Iran, one of the most heavily sanctioned countries in the world, has held seats on the governing boards of aid organizations such as UNICEF and the UN Development Program. The list of dictators and despots that have sat on the Human Rights Council reads like a parody, including Saudi Arabia, Rwanda, Cuba, Venezuela, China, among others. Since 2022, dictators have comprised 68% of the UN Human Rights Council. Additionally, Syria was elected to the WHO and Iran was elected to the top of a women’s rights body.
In summary, the UN provides funds to dictators and terrorists. The US’s top enemies, China and Russia, hold seats on the Security Council and have the power to veto the provision of aid to those who truly need it. Furthermore, a rogue’s gallery of pariah states sits on various committees, facilitating aid and preventing sanctions against some of the world’s worst actors.
Trump was right. The US needs to rethink its involvement in the United Nations.
The post UN Aid Funds Terrorists and Tyrants appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
25th_anniversary_of_hamas_18
Fars Media Corporation, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
“U.S. Doubles Pentagon Budget for Multinational Haiti Force,” reports The Miami Herald. And just like that, the U.S. has another war on its hands, and soon the refugees will arrive. Despite Republican opposition blocking $40 million in security aid, $10 million is already on its way to buy guns for the Haitian police.
The situation in Haiti is unwinnable, and U.S. meddling has only made things worse. More U.S. money, weapons, and diplomatic support for any of the warring factions will just perpetuate the cycle of violence, coups, assassinations, and corruption that have rendered Haiti an effectively failed state.
In 2021, the Biden Administration backed Haiti’s unpopular Prime Minister Ariel Henry, a move that many feel helped to fuel much of the current violence. James Foley, a retired career diplomat and former U.S. ambassador to Haiti, remarked that the Biden Administration “rode the horse to their doom” by supporting the wrong man.
Now, the country has collapsed into chaos, with a figure known as Barbecue leading the country’s gang coalition. However, Barbecue has been excluded from a transitional governmental council established with the UN’s blessing.
Last year, under Henry’s watch, gangs killed an estimated 4,800 people. Between January and the beginning of March, an additional 1,200 were killed. The streets were littered with decomposing bodies, while gangs waged war for control.
Innocent civilians suffered; they were robbed, raped, or caught in the crossfire. Business owners were forced to pay for protection, and shortages of essential goods occurred as delivery drivers refused to risk their lives.
Kidnapping for ransom had become a mainstay industry. A humanitarian crisis exploded as doctors, nurses, and patients were afraid or unable to reach hospitals. More than 300,000 Haitians have been forced to flee their homes, while refugees have flooded into or attempted to flood into the Dominican Republic.
While Haiti burned, gangs demanded Prime Minister Henry’s resignation.
The gangs attacked police stations, raided a jail, and released 3,000 inmates. Already in control of 80% of the territory in the capital city, they laid siege to both the presidential palace and the interior ministry. The gangs were struggling to gain control of the country’s primary seaport and airport when Prime Minister Henry jumped on a plane.
He flew to Africa to meet with leaders there and also held meetings with CARICOM, the 15-nation bloc of Caribbean countries, trying to organize an international peacekeeping mission to restore order in Haiti.
However, those nations were not willing to step into the quagmire of trying to prop up an unpopular government in a country that has never had stability.
On his way back to Haiti, the situation had become so dire that it was no longer safe for him to land at the country’s main international airport. So, he attempted to find a friendly port to take refuge in.
Neighboring Dominican Republic, as well as other Caribbean nations, refused to let him in. Finally, the U.S. gave him permission to land in Puerto Rico.
Now a former police officer, Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, previously accused of participating in several large-scale massacres in Port-au-Prince, has emerged as the leader of a coalition of gangs attempting to negotiate the formation of a new government.
Aid groups estimate that 1.5 million people are now in need of protection and assistance. President Biden believes the aid should come from America, while many Americans hold a contrary opinion.
Haiti has never experienced stability, and the situation appears unresolvable at this point. By assuming the burden of fixing Haiti’s problems, the US would be stepping into another situation akin to Iraq or Afghanistan, which is deemed completely unwinnable due to a long history of dysfunction and numerous warring parties, all vying for control of one of the world’s poorest and least developed countries.
Between 1945 and 2023, Haiti witnessed 24 coup d’états, and six Haitian presidents were assassinated. The most recent assassination occurred in 2021 when President Jovenel Moïse was killed.
Following his assassination, Claude Joseph, who was the acting Prime Minister at the time of Moïse’s death, declared a state of siege in Haiti. However, there was a dispute over leadership, as Ariel Henry, who had been appointed as Prime Minister by Moïse just days before his assassination, claimed the right to lead the government.
Eventually, Ariel Henry was recognized as the Prime Minister by international actors, principally the United States, and took office, succeeding Claude Joseph.
On March 11, Henry finally resigned, and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed his support for a transitional council that would appoint a successor to Henry until elections could be held.
The first problem with this plan is that Ariel Henry’s assumption of office as Prime Minister was initially intended to be temporary, with the goal of overseeing the organization of elections in Haiti.
After assuming office, Henry pledged to work towards holding elections and facilitating a peaceful transition of power. However, the situation remained tense as various factions did not accept Henry’s rule.
A systemic issue that has contributed to violence and instability is that each of the successive governments for the past 20 years or more has utilized street gangs as enforcers.
Consequently, the powerful and well-funded gangs demand a piece of the action. As soon as a government resorts to extra-governmental militias to enforce its policies, democracy is compromised.
Now that the genie is out of the bottle, Biden, the UN, and other well-meaning actors mistakenly believe that a democratic transition is possible.
The transition, which the UN approves of, was agreed upon in Jamaica by the intergovernmental Caribbean Community (CARICOM), along with representatives of Haiti’s government and opposition.
When the list of political groups was released by CARICOM, some Haitian political factions were enraged because they were not represented. Some rejected the list completely, while others criticized the fact that Haiti’s political class, which had steered the country into its current crisis, were to be brought back to power.
Barbecue, for his part, threatened to kill politicians and their families who participate in the council.
The situation is completely untenable. The gangs are not going to accept the interim government, and the violence will continue unabated. Biden needs to steer the US clear of this dumpster fire. The last thing America needs is another expensive and hopeless foreign military intervention.
The post Biden Sending Aid, Guns, and Money Won’t Fix Haiti appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
haiti-gang
FILE - A protester carries a piece of wood simulating a weapon during a protest demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, in the Petion-Ville area of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Oct. 3, 2022. Source: Voice of America (VOA)
Trump warned Europe of being too dependent on Russia. He warned NATO that they were not spending enough on defense. And now, both of his warnings have proved correct.
Furthermore, he argued that if NATO does not step up its defense spending, the cost will be passed on to American taxpayers, and it has. Not only has the defense of a lazy, ungrateful, smirking, effeminate Europe been passed on to Americans, in the form of tax money being shipped to Kyiv, but Americans are also paying in the form of higher oil prices.
In a 2018 headline from The Washington Post, “Trump accused Germany of becoming ‘totally dependent’ on Russian energy at the U.N. The Germans just smirked.”
The story goes on to report that after Trump said: “Germany will become totally dependent on Russian energy if it does not immediately change course. Here in the Western Hemisphere, we are committed to maintaining our independence from the encroachment of expansionist foreign powers.” The delegates laughed at him, and the German representative smirked.
At the time, Trump detractors applauded the story, focusing solely on the part where delegates lowered themselves to laughing at the president of the United States.
The incident was widely shared across social media, serving as supposed evidence that Trump was not a good leader. However, his warnings have since proven to be true.
Trump demanded that NATO spend more on defense, threatening to shift US defense priorities away from Europe if they didn’t comply. At the time, only two or three NATO members were meeting their 2% of GDP spending requirement.
Trump argued that Europe was leaving the US to foot the bill, as the US provided about 70% of the total funding for the then 30-member group. NPR claimed to have debunked this assertion, citing the absence of an actual tab or written ledger.
However, this semantic counterargument overlooks the fundamental point that the US has been footing the bill for Europe’s defense for 70 years, all while facing criticism from Europe for its perceived militancy and warmongering stance.
Europe outsourced their defense to the US and then criticized the US for its large defense budget. These countries can’t even defend themselves, while the US has to spend enough to defend the free world.
Europe has always criticized the US for its lack of socialized medicine and higher education. Essentially, by hiding beneath the US nuclear defense umbrella, they were able to channel their defense budgets into healthcare and education.
Not only did Europe refuse to spend the agreed-upon percentage, but they were also funneling money to Russia through energy purchases. At the NATO summit, Trump emphasized, “We have to talk about the billions and billions of dollars that are being paid to the country we’re supposed to be protecting you against.”
Every dollar Putin receives is money that could be used to purchase weapons to threaten Europe. And given Europe’s reluctance to defend itself, the US is obligated to match Russia dollar-for-dollar.
In order to protect Europe from Russia, the US has to outspend Russia, which is being funded by Europe.
At a recent campaign rally, Trump stated that, as far as he was concerned, Moscow could do whatever it wanted to NATO allies who refused to meet defense spending requirements.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg criticized Trump, stating that such comments “undermine all of our security, including that of the U.S.” However, the secretary’s response overlooks the fact that NATO allies are freeloading and forcing US taxpayers to fund their defense.
The European allies don’t want Trump back in office because he called them out on their refusal to defend themselves. However, in addition to holding them accountable, Trump also kept Putin and Xi Jinping in check.
Some Democrats and mainstream media have accused Trump of being a Russian asset because he and Putin understood one another. However, the Ukraine invasion occurred under Biden, not Trump.
Trump faced similar criticism for his relationship with Saudi Arabia, but Saudi Arabia is the US’s primary ally in countering Iran in the Middle East. Biden, on the other hand, referred to Saudi Arabia as a “pariah,” and now the Middle East is exploding in Iran-backed violence.
Trump warned them, but they dismissed his words because they were triggered by his tweets. They also didn’t appreciate being held accountable for their actions.
Now, Ukraine has been invaded, the Middle East is engulfed in violence, shipping through the Red Sea is disrupted, Somali pirates are back in action, gasoline prices are up, inflation is up, and the risk of a world war is increasing. Despite all this, Democrats claim victory because the angry tweets have stopped.
The post Trump Warned them About Russia and NATO appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
President_Trump_Departs_for_NATO_Meeting_(49173287976)
The White House from Washington, DC, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Vaunce News 