January 28, 2025

It keeps getting worse by the day. The missus got a call today from our friend, Kathy, who wondered if I had heard about tRump suspending foreign aid funding. Her brother delivers medicines to Africa and he told Kathy that the grant program has been suspended, effective immediately.  I’ve been working on projects around the house and hadn’t checked on the latest destructive actions from Herrs Musk and Trump, but have just started doing my daily research and yep, there it is in black and white. Beginning today at 5:00 PM Eastern Time, there is a freeze on all federal grants and loans effecting not only foreign aid programs, but domestic ones as well. These are on hold while the administration makes sure that the programs are aligned with Donnie’s priorities, including his executive order to end diversity, equity and inclusion. Evidently, states are now having trouble accessing Medicaid funds for about 70 million low-income American as a result of this action. Oregon U.S. Senator Wyden said his office has confirmed that the portal used by doctors to secure payments from Medicaid has been deactivated in all 50 states. Other programs such as Head Start, housing, and homeless services are also being affected. This move by the administration stopped the distribution of drugs for HIV, malaria and tuberculosis, medical supplies for newborn babies, clean water for infants, ending trafficking of girls, and basic education for children and adults in foreign countries. Trump says that the US “foreign aid industry and bureaucracy are not aligned with American interests and in many cases antithetical to American values.” Marco Rubio, our new Secretary of State, says that every program will be evaluated and “every dollar we spend, every program we fund, and every policy we pursue mut be justified with the answer to three simple questions: Does it make America safer? Does it make America stronger? Does it make America more prosperous?” So there you have it, the key question being ‘does cutting this funding  make our oligarchs more prosperous?’ Where once the USA was respected as the biggest donor of aid globally we are fast becoming seen as the dog that shit on your carpet. Of course the GOP has no problem with this move as ‘the man’ is just following through on his campaign promises and the mandate he received from his supporters to shake up the swamp. Unfortunately, or fortunately, many of his f____ing MAGA’s are going to experience this cruel and destructive action. I wrote yesterday about the destruction that began a week ago and today it continues. Wait until they start on Social Security and Medicare, then it’ll be time to get the popcorn popper cranked up.

With that being said, I’m going for a walk to clear my brain and then I’ll come back and compose an email to my senators and representatives. Talk to ya’ later. Ziggyman