The US Aid Purge & Big Eva

Conversations That Matter

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:01

We are live on the conversations that had our podcast and I think I'm coming through yay

00:06

I had some technical issues before starting. I'm not sure exactly what they were related to but we did have what they were calling a blizzard

00:14

I'm looking outside now. It doesn't look like a blizzard It just looks like some snow, but that could have affected some things.

00:20

So hopefully the podcast goes smoothly I did go outside a little earlier and I did a little video just to promote the album

00:28

So I do have hard copies of it right here so what it looks like and I'll show you that which also gives you a chance to see what it looks like outside in upstate,

00:36

New York and then we're gonna start the issue at hand, which is USAID and what's going on with some of these

00:43

Christian ministries the reaction to the funding cuts and We'll get to all your questions

00:50

Concerns cries of outrage and whatnot. So here's what it looks like outside my house

00:56

Hey everyone, just want to let you know my new album driving down a mountain road is available now at John Harris tunes .com

01:03

You can also get a signed copy This is what it looks like and this is just an album that features songs that I've written

01:09

It's really a passion project more than anything else. A lot of people have said they enjoy it I wanted to show you today in the video though I know a thing or two about driving down a mountain road because I live on one and You might call it a hill but it gets precarious in the winter and boy

01:25

Does it feel like a mountain road when the weather gets bad? I'm not going anywhere today Not driving on a mountain road today. That's for sure.

01:31

Anyway, thank you for all the support. John Harris tunes .com for more. God bless All right

01:36

There you have it and you can see my chairs around the fire pit in the fire pit because the wind blew them there

01:41

We get just when you live in a almost a canyon. I don't know what to call it. Holler hollow

01:49

I'm between two rock ledges. You get some good wind currents going through so well, we have a lot to talk about today, like I said, and I Probably should have done this episode a day or two maybe three days ago but I really wanted to get through the stuff on Our daily bread because I had that on the back burner for a little while and because of that letter

02:14

I received in the mail I just thought we need to talk about this So hopefully people found that helpful.

02:19

And if you heard that there was a massive Snowplow that just went down my street

02:25

Sometimes you can hear it through the mic But anyway, we were talking about it now and it is important and this is an ongoing debate

02:32

It seems like it's intensifying and I think it probably will intensify some more. I think more things will be uncovered

02:38

So this is an ongoing conversation, but what is unique about this podcast? I think is

02:44

I'm going to bring you some Some clips from a USA ID talk in 2023 and this features.

02:52

I'm not sure if they are all fired I couldn't confirm if they're all fired But the majority of these people have been fired or let go or they're not working at USA ID And they're talking about you

03:03

USA ID policies this it's the Brookings Institute showed or hosted this panel and This is what it looks like if you go on YouTube You can find if you don't want to watch the whole one hour and 38 minutes

03:18

You came to the right place because we're not gonna play the whole thing. But this was May 20 Sorry, May 3rd rather 2023

03:24

May 3rd 2023 not ancient history This is not even two years old.

03:30

And this is a video entitled understanding USA ID Policy framework and if we're gonna understand this whole debate over World Vision and Lutheran family charities and now there's debates over all kinds of funding for Russell Moore for for Actually, I did

03:49

I say World Vision World Relief is what I meant to say earlier, but World Vision now, of course being also Questioned and all kinds of other organizations.

03:56

We need to understand. I think what USA ID actually is and The people who have received funding from USA ID What their expectations are and you're gonna get a framework you're gonna get an understanding of that from this 10 -minute video so I may stop it here and there but if you want to get just the raw footage of This it will be up on my ex account later on today after this podcast

04:22

I'm gonna post it as soon as the podcast is over So hopefully by at least at least by two o 'clock if not before that Hopefully before that you will be able to access that on my ex account.

04:34

So John Harris 1989 but we'll play that clip that montage that a 10 -minute montage that I Summarized this whole one hour and 38 minutes

04:47

Panel and these speeches down to and we're gonna start there and then we'll we'll go from there to the

04:53

Christian Charity stuff. So here we go buckle your seatbelt The second priority is to support partner countries in to mitigate and adapt to climate change by leading partnerships and initiatives that Reduce global emissions and expand access to climate mitigation finance

05:16

USAID's partners around the world are calling on us now more than ever to scale the impact of our climate assistance

05:23

Including through the just energy transition partnership the president's plan to conserve global forests and power

05:31

Africa Through prepare the president's emergency plan for adaptation and resilience

05:37

We will also do our part to make sure the u .s Meets its goal of helping more than half a billion people in developing countries

05:45

Adapt to and manage the impacts of climate change by 2030 We will improve integration across global health programming including in digital health and invest in a stronger primary health workforce and community health workers capable of adapting to shifting needs and working towards universal health coverage and The fifth agency priority is to help countries address the grueling

06:11

Economic headwinds that so many are facing in order to help them get back on a path of inclusive

06:18

Economic growth finally and critically the policy framework focuses on empowering and Supporting our workforce as an investment in our impact and our effectiveness as an organization by reducing

06:33

Burdens that needlessly trap staff behind desks and piles of paperwork instead of directly engaging them with partners by growing and Investing in the workforce so they have the support they need to do the job.

06:50

They love without burning out By informing our work with the latest development thinking and data making it easier for staff to wield rigorous evidence

07:00

Make informed decisions and hone our tools For development impact to take those lessons forward by prioritizing diversity equity inclusion and accessibility and Reforming aspects of our recruitment and retention strategies that have traditionally sidelined underrepresented voices and limited our potential as a development partner the international community

07:27

Okay, so we'll stop there before we get to Sarah Rose So which the voice you just heard was Isabel Coleman who is the former and I say former because she left her job hmm within Two weeks ago.

07:39

What could that have been but she is the former deputy administrator of USA ID and She in this you hear talks about a number of things that I think are concerning.

07:51

One of them is this just energy policy essentially what that is is trying to ensure that these developing countries that USA ID gives some resources to are investing in alternative energy not

08:10

Fossil fuels but wind solar that kind of thing and so there's very much a

08:17

Elimination of greenhouse gases a left -leaning agenda here wouldn't be surprised if Companies that are invested in these kinds of technologies are gaining from this

08:29

But this is one of the big priorities, of course and another big priority. Is this DEI?

08:36

Policy and and this is she is speaking on behalf. This is important to realize of USA ID at the top level

08:43

This is an organization that has 10 ,000 people or at least did have about 10 ,000 people working for them they have 60 staff that were just fired at least that were numbers probably growing and it's because they refuse to disclose information

08:59

That's why they were fired people don't seem to understand that or at least they're not reporting it if you watch

09:05

CNN They're just saying, you know how people in Africa aren't getting food and water. That's how they're portraying this whole thing

09:12

Humanitarian efforts are ceasing but they don't tell you that actually there is a den of corruption going on.

09:18

They would not allow the folks from the Doge Administration or the

09:26

Doge entity to come in and actually assess Look at the books.

09:31

And so this was what led to the at least the first wave of firings

09:37

They're reorganizing the federal government's reorganizing this they can't actually eliminate it part of the reason is because this

09:44

Organization was though. It was formed during the Cold War Under the

09:49

Kennedy administration through an executive order 1998 Congress Actually cemented this as an organization and the whole idea was it was supposed to take other organizations in the general government that were doing similar things fuse them together under this one heading of USAID and it was

10:08

Essentially, it was a cold war measure to ensure that these developing countries wouldn't fall into the hands of the

10:15

Soviets That's obviously a very Probably rudimentary summarization of it, but it was not meant or intended to be a charitable organization from the beginning it served the national the foreign policy

10:31

Priorities of the US government that was the whole reason for it and now you have different foreign priorities foreign policy priorities and They're acting like though.

10:39

This is a big Charity that people have depend are depending on and if they don't get these resources, we're just taking the food out of children's mouths and And this is a horrible horrible thing and obviously this is taxpayer money

10:55

This is going to all kinds of places and part of the problems We don't know exactly where it's going and there we need to figure out where this money is going who's actually getting paid

11:07

What kinds of efforts are being promoted here? There seems to be indications that not only was this and there's verification of this but not only was this going to fund

11:18

Transgender and DEI type Normalization policies across the globe.

11:25

This was also Going to refugee resettlement and there's of course with refugee resettlement. There is a huge problem because this has ended up being a means by which people can come into the country illegally by claiming asylum status and saying that They are afraid to go home because of retribution and persecution for whatever reason and then they're given a court date

11:48

Down the road and then they can disappear Sometimes they're not vetted properly There was a gentleman not too long ago in Michigan who stabbed his caseworker who was an asylum seeker

11:58

I mean these kinds of things also happen you have Christian organizations receiving these people into the country and sometimes they don't even have stories that are

12:09

Accurate. So it's a big loophole and the previous administration was more than willing to make this a mechanism by which people could come into the country under sometimes false pretenses and now it's being cracked down on and USA ID was one of the drivers of that and they were doing things that The United States government could not do the

12:30

United States government couldn't engage in some of these things directly And so they rather they fund these kinds of activities through charitable

12:39

Organizations even Christian ones and this is part of what's going on with the debate over world vision so you just heard from Isabel Coleman though the priorities of USA ID and you have to ask yourself a question if those are the priorities of the organization

12:52

Then the expectation is those working with this organization and receiving funding from this organization

12:58

Partnering with this organization are going to have to fit in those guardrails They're gonna have to be part of these priorities

13:05

And if you think that's just a one -off listen to some of these other clips the next portion of this comes from Sarah Rose who is the former and I say former because the same issue here

13:15

She all of a sudden doesn't have a job over the last few weeks Former senior advisor for localization of USA ID localization is kind of where the rubber meets the road.

13:24

This is where USA ID Actually puts boots on the ground and administers their plans.

13:30

What are the priorities of localization? How does this money on a T in a tangible way actually gets spent in the places.

13:37

It's supposed to be spent Well, I'm glad you asked and partner the international community has been talking about Locally led development or country ownership as it was called sort of in the era of the

13:47

Paris Declaration 20 years ago But there is an opportunity to think about it in new and different ways now

13:55

Really sort of underscored by this groundswell around diversity equity inclusion accessibility with new thinking about you know

14:02

How can we think about? Grappling with some of the inequities that have been baked into the aid system for a long time

14:07

I think that of course, you know the Biden Harris administration One of their key priorities is inclusion. And so that is something that USAID has really embraced

14:13

We also have the inclusive development hub that we've set forth in the Bureau for development democracy and innovation in DDI And this hub is really, you know framed around this understanding of inclusive development as an important angle to all of what we do

14:28

And when we work and we talk about inclusive development what we what we're talking about is really this approach that's built on the understanding that sort of all people in all communities with all of their diversity have a role to play in the development process and Need to be able to bring all of those voices that diversity of voices to play in order to really have sustained results

14:47

And I would just highlight to that there is a very strong linkage, of course between inclusive development and and localization, right?

14:54

I also want to reinforce that inclusive development Gender equity women's empowerment, you know

15:00

These are all Aspects of the policy framework and really integrated into the various aspects of the policy framework

15:07

It's also captured these issues are also captured across a suite of policies That really sort of describe and elaborate on our commitment to inclusive development

15:16

So we launched our updated gender equality and women's empowerment policy in late March We are anticipating a new

15:24

LGBTQI plus policy later this year, which will build on and expand upon the existing

15:30

LGBT vision for action We're also updating our disability policy and we've issued an updated youth and development policy just just recently

15:39

Or just last year and then we're also We have our promoting the rights of indigenous peoples policy, which really promotes sort of this thoughtful Engagement on how to engage with indigenous people.

15:50

And so we're also providing in addition to the policy You know base, which is an important but in terms of how we bring that into action what we are doing is providing these new tools and resources to really help enable our mission staff to be able to Translate this policy into praxis and this includes

16:06

USAID's first guidance on inclusive development and this will highlight sort of the roles of equity of intersectionality of Localization as part of our development efforts and we're also developing an inclusive development toolkit that will really help

16:19

USAID staff You know be able to again bring this to the floor In terms of gender specifically because this was something that and measuring impact.

16:27

Yeah, you know, you know Like USAID continues to affirm right that you know

16:33

Gender equity and women's empowerment is is vital and important, right? And so the policy really underscores that you know

16:42

That there are there are specific kinds of challenges that women face that gender diverse

16:48

Individuals might face that LGBTQI plus individuals face and and specific challenges that are faced by men and boys as well

16:55

And so lays out seven principles to think about how to think through some of these things We are also bringing to bear

17:03

Like workforce capacity issues to try to address some of these as well and within the next three years We are going to ensure that there will be sort of a gender expertise at all of our missions and all of our bureaus

17:13

Across the board and are also working to strengthen our operational policy our ADS if you will to be able to bring

17:19

These angles into it as well. There is a key role for everybody in terms of thinking about how we advance locally led development

17:28

International implementing partners have very key roles With their technical expertise that they bring they have key roles as mentors and capacity strengthening

17:37

We talk to local partners quite a bit who talk about the value that they get from their relationships with local

17:43

With international implementers in that case When you think about local private sector as well, you know, they have you know strong connections innovation, etc

17:51

That and and relationships there and of course international faith -based groups have you know, deep roots and good connections as well

17:57

We really do have I think Okay at the end their faith -based groups

18:03

She mentions make no mistake about what you just heard some are saying it's a word salad in the comments I agree.

18:09

There's a lot of Repetition going on but I think that she is saying something that's fairly clear

18:15

If you really listen to what she's saying, she's saying that they have these DEI intersectionality driven

18:21

LGBTQ plus normalization driven Really gender theory driven in policies or Priorities and this is what they use to help determine

18:35

Who they partner with who they give grants to? How their staff members behave this is driving the entire organization guys

18:43

This is not something that is off in a corner somewhere at USA ID. This is something that is going on over the entire organization again the title of the

18:53

Brookings Institute discussion you are listening to is understanding USA IDs policy framework

18:59

This is their policy framework So when you talk about world vision when you talk about Lutheran Family Services when you talk about any of these

19:05

Christian organizations That have received money. The first thing you need to be asking is if this is what

19:11

USA ID is Expecting of them. How are they conforming to this agenda?

19:17

And that is something that I want to delve into more as we End these clips, but I don't know the full answer to that But there are some clues and I'm going to show those to you so next we have

19:30

Susan right. I think the last person was Susan, right? So Susan Sarah, sorry, Sarah Rose was what you just heard now.

19:37

We're gonna go to Susan Rachel And she spent 13 years with USA ID and is now the

19:44

CEO of the International Youth Foundation Now this is another important thing for me to point out because this happens a lot

19:49

It's called rotating door theory when it comes to elite theory but this is the idea that there are elites in a certain strata of society and they will

19:59

Once they lose a job, let's say in the private sector They can go to the government and vice versa and they're going to reward their friends the people in their social strata

20:09

Their loyalty is not to their people necessarily or you could say it is to their people but their people are now those who are in their same social strata whether it's in the media or in government or in even

20:21

You could say Big Eva could you know, I think Big Eva tries to enter this strata But has a hard time and they want to be accepted, but they're generally not so Someone like Susan Rachel is a good example.

20:33

She spent 13 years She's loyal to USA ID and then she becomes the CEO of International Youth Foundation Well, what's the

20:38

International Youth Foundation an organization that gets their funding? I don't know if they all get all of it, but a good portion of it from USA ID So she's still basically doing the same kinds of things and what does the

20:49

CEO for International Youth Foundation push? I'm gonna show you in a moment, but it's some pretty crazy stuff related to children and transgenderism

20:58

And this is what she has to say as she's on this panel discussing USA ID's policy

21:04

Framework development where we're talking about inclusion. We're talking about decolonization

21:09

We're talking about issues many of you are members of the Coalition for Racial and Ethnic Equity and Development We're the hundred development organizations have signed on that the administrator has leaned forward on Inclusive development obviously as the deputy administrator talked about with inclusive growth several questions came in online about inclusive development and you know questioning with the policy framework where you know, whether it's gender and women's empowerment clearly the administration has made a huge commitment in the

21:43

FY 24 budget of You know an hundred and eighty percent increase but questioning by the community of you know

21:50

Is this still ticking the box of integrating it? Okay, we'll count that as gender and women's empowerment or obviously youth as the head of the

21:58

International Youth Foundation It's wonderful to have a youth policy But again, how is that as well as the disabilities community the indigenous populations?

22:10

LGBTQI all the things that are so important for inclusive development How do we actually have program dollars and most importantly, how do we measure impact right?

22:19

I mean, sir, this is your area and as well as Michelle's of Being able to show we're actually making a difference as we drive towards the sustainable development goals when the agency puts

22:33

So driving towards sustainable development goals. That is another buzzword that you're going to hear a lot and I'm gonna

22:42

Explain to you What how this fits into it? But sustainable development is something that I heard

22:50

I think first maybe 2020 actually or maybe it was 2019 It was right before 2020 and I probably had heard the phrase but I didn't think much of it.

23:00

It sounded like just trying to be efficient with resources to sustainable development is somewhat of a broad concept but it revolves around meeting the needs of the present without Compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

23:15

That's the whole idea. So that is efficiency, right? that's what we think of at least that's that's in its best possible form and And this really came on the scene in the late 80s

23:25

But when you look at economic sustainability what they're talking about is they don't want to run out of fossil fuels

23:32

So we shouldn't have fossil fuels. We need to ensure that we have these alternative energy approaches.

23:38

That's sustainable of that development this these are the restrictions that Trump just did away with that ensured that a certain percentage of cars had to be electric by whatever it was 2031 2032

23:50

These are the kinds of things that are making war on our economy and benefiting special interests

23:57

And this also now incorporates a broader meaning in that it's

24:06

Incorporates the DEI stuff so equity and access to health education housing

24:11

You're going to find I mean if I haven't played the clip yet You're gonna hear the clip in a moment But I think I might have already played it where they talk about universal health care.

24:19

Literally USAID is pushing universal health care This is a policy that is controversial in the

24:26

United States itself between political parties and yet USAID blatantly pushing socialist stuff in other countries.

24:34

That's what you need to think about when you hear sustainable development This is globalist socialist stuff and it's happening now one.

24:41

How does this apply? How does Susan Rachel and her International Youth Foundation actually? Factor into this.

24:46

Well, I'm glad you asked because I incorporated some screenshots to show you here In the video itself.

24:54

Some of you might have seen them if I can pull them up again I'm not finding them. Oh There it is.

25:01

Okay, press release from International Youth Foundation International Youth Foundation to lead USAID's flagship global propel youth and gender project

25:10

That's October 3rd, 2023 after this panel. So they're going to do the youth and gender thing.

25:16

What is that? Well, they're gonna improve reproductive health and family planning. What does that mean? Well, you're

25:21

You probably know what that means already reproductive health and family planning. We're in gender equality

25:27

We're talking about potentially abortions here We're certainly talking about contraception in other countries.

25:33

And what does it say to dismantle the root cause of gender inequity? We're going to dismantle the root cause of gender inequity.

25:40

We're gonna smash the patriarchy guys We're gonna use USAID to do it your taxpayer dollars

25:45

And we're gonna give it to entities like this because they're the ones carrying out the mission. So what's World Vision doing?

25:51

What's World Vision doing? How does World Vision's mission fit in with this? That's the question you have to ask yourself How are they driving us towards sustainable development?

26:00

Now, I'm going to play a final clip for you here this is from Actually, you know what we're continuing here

26:09

I think with Susan so there was a question that she was asked and then we'll answer that and get to the final clip

26:16

When the agency puts out a policy on DEI and makes it a major issue

26:22

What is the experience of that policy being picked up by implementers by partners? Absolutely, and I'm sure you know

26:29

Michelle who's dialoguing so much with our partner governments

26:35

I was on the phone today with a big British private sector company and this is exactly what we were talking about And they were excited to learn about the work that's being done

26:46

Here in the US on advancing DEIA because they know it's important for this company, which sorry

26:53

I can't reveal it's a big global partnership IOF is about to launch and it was so interesting to share the experience of everything we're doing here

27:02

With them and how we can be one community. So it has an impact, right Michelle. It does

27:08

This is such an issue that is really dear to my heart and there are a couple things that I think are just really Important that I wanted to to pull out of the conversation.

27:15

One is that in addition to all the new offices that we're establishing New policies we're putting in place

27:21

We're also doing a ton of work and a lot of that is being done by our Learning Evaluation and Research Office and PPL on Helping our staff, foreign service officers, civil servants, etc to show up at the table differently

27:33

We're doing tons of trainings tons of sensitivity work around How do you moderate a meeting?

27:41

Where do you sit at a table? These are what words do you use in those conversations? These seem like small things but they change the tenor of the conversation.

27:51

In addition to all that We're also working on changing how we're evaluating each other and our colleagues and our work and our peers

27:58

So we're changing the way foreign service officers are evaluated

28:03

We're changing how civil servants are evaluated to make sure that we're taking into account their application of these things

28:11

So I want to point something out this is Michelle Sumilas who is the deputy and I don't know if she's been fired or not because I couldn't verify online but she either was or is the

28:22

Deputy Administrator for Management and Resources at USAID and What you hear her saying there and the question that was asked was

28:30

With the partners with the people that USAID is working with the organizations they're working with.

28:35

How are they implementing these policies? So you just heard all this DEI stuff Well, how are we gonna make sure that the people that we're working with also are interested in it?

28:43

I mean, are they coming around and and that now you just heard Michelle Sumilas say, yeah, we're training

28:51

Our people our staff I guess how to even sit at the table where to sit how to talk

28:56

We're deconstructing everything is what you're really hearing here. We're deconstructing the way that we Interact with each other and and this is making an impact with the people we're working with That's the point guys.

29:08

The purpose of this organization is what it does That is what it's doing and that is USAID.

29:14

This is not ancient history. This happened not too long ago This is less than two years ago This is what

29:19

Elon Musk is walking into and if you think this looks like the longhouse. Yes, it does you're in it

29:25

You're looking at it. This is This is an organization that fundamentally from the top has serious problems and every

29:32

Christian should be suspicious of it not defending it Here is the last clip. I want to play for you before we talk about World Vision and the rest of it

29:41

Climate change we have not talked a lot here about climate change. It is one of our core priorities

29:47

And with the new World Bank president just approved today It'll be one of his priorities, but I think that a lot of the progress we've made over the years is being

29:57

Whittled away by climate change And so how do we in court how do we you know development has often seen climate change as something over there?

30:05

And it's really important that we really integrate climate change and the administrator often says that we're a climate agency

30:10

So we're trying to really as we think about integration. How do we how do we own that and feel that? How do we own that and feel that there you go?

30:21

That is what you have with USAID You can go watch if you want. I left stuff out that I could have included the whole entire

30:28

Hour and 38 minutes and you're gonna hear a whole bunch of this. That's what it was about These USAIDs policy framework is

30:35

DEI. It's social justice. It's Marxism. It's It's every globalist that it's all the things that you as a

30:43

Christian as a conservative See as your enemy. That is what this organization represents or represented and for Elon Musk to come in and Say hold the phone.

30:57

You're not even opening your books to tell us what's going on. We're gonna fire some people We're gonna get to the bottom of this freeze.

31:03

Everything is totally reasonable. They were never meant to be a charitable organization Now I'm going to play for you.

31:10

This is a clip from World Vision. I believe this is a

31:17

This is how this is being portrayed. I'm going to show you some articles from Christianity Today and some other Mainstream sources that show how these shutdowns are being portrayed.

31:26

You might already know this but I think it's worth Seeing after watching that video how this is being portrayed out there.

31:33

So here we go Now there is a global hunger crisis driven in part by regional conflicts around the world

31:40

Including those raging in Africa the Middle East and Haiti millions of people face displacement malnutrition disease

31:49

Starvation and every day children are dying One of the most critical and effective resources in providing relief for crises like this is u .s

32:00

Foreign assistance with the support of foreign assistance over the last 20 years Extreme poverty and child mortality have been reduced significantly

32:09

AIDS deaths are down by 50 % Polio is nearly eradicated and more children are attending school than ever before in the u .s

32:19

Foreign assistance accounts for less than 1 % of our federal budget But despite these significant results, there's a push in Congress to radically reduce this already small contribution

32:31

At a time when our help is needed most these cuts would have severe consequences

32:37

They would undo years of progress and put millions of lives in jeopardy Ask yourselves, which is the steeper price to pay as?

32:47

Followers of Jesus we believe the answer is clear We are called to serve the most vulnerable people whether they live next door or across the world

32:56

The call doesn't change based on geography and neither should our response One of the most powerful ways we can do this is by stewarding the influence

33:05

God has given us with our government leaders We live in a country where our voices matter

33:11

Just 10 phone calls or 15 mentions on social media can capture the attention of a member of Congress Your leaders need to hear from you that continuing to fight poverty and save lives around the world is not

33:25

Optional it's essential use your voice and contact your members of Congress today

33:31

So there you have it. That's from World Vision.

33:37

That's how they have been in Anticipating the possible shutdowns here.

33:42

That's how they have been framing this whole thing if you want to cut them They're not even talking about shutting the organization and they're saying cutting the budget is going to leave all these people in a lurch now.

33:51

I When you when you look at it, I have enough friends in Africa doing work there when you look at the way that these

33:58

NGOs Combat AIDS I'm here to tell you it is not

34:06

The the message that they're pushing isn't abstinence, it's not

34:12

That you know, we have a Christian ethic and you should this is immoral. This is evil. You shouldn't be engaging

34:17

It's through and and I don't know whether the stats they cited are actually accurate or not,

34:22

I mean they have a certainly an incentive to try to show that they're doing good work, but It's through You know things like You know treatments medical treatments.

34:35

It's through Barriers sexual barriers. It's you know handing out condoms I mean, this is these are the kinds of things they do they provide a lot of these

34:42

NGOs provide abortions. They give out Condoms, I mean, it's that kind of thing that they're spreading to these other places now, where does

34:50

World Vision fit into this? I'm not exactly sure but I'm going to show you something in a minute that a minute that does raise an eyebrow on exactly what

34:57

They're doing in these places But I think the bigger thing I wanted to show you from that is That they are so beholden to this organization that you just heard clips from their leadership on their priorities.

35:07

They want that organization Funded they they don't want it cut. They think if you cut it you're taking food out of children's mouths

35:16

You're taking medical supplies out of these regions in which people need them And so this is the play that has been going on out there.

35:25

I want to show you some More articles from Christianity Today and some other places of how they're framing this whole thing

35:37

Let's start here. This is Christianity Today, and I've highlighted a few sections that well,

35:42

I did highlight I guess my highlights are gone. I had to restart my computer So I lost my highlights, but the title is is this the end of USAID Christian partners around the world suddenly fired

35:52

He funded without answers worried that the new administration is done with this development agency. Yeah, they're a development agency

35:58

They're trying to get you to sustainable development. That's what they're doing But you know the way they couch this whole thing is sunshine and roses

36:08

Musk announced that it's a criminal organization. So Musk, you know, he's not a guy that's typically going to He's not

36:17

In government. This is I think his first time as I understand it being in a governmental role and he doesn't couch his words

36:24

He just says what he thinks and that's what he thinks about it And so this affects

36:29

Samaritan's Purse, by the way, not as much Samaritan's Purse is about 5 % Franklin Graham said Of their budget and Franklin Graham said that as he understands it, there's an earmark for emergency services

36:40

So if you have emergency services There's going to be an appeal process whereby you can get gain the funding that you need to perform those emergency services

36:50

So that's one of the things that's not being reported Franklin Graham, obviously someone who was pro -trump And so he is saying hey, well, we're gonna still keep doing what we're doing 95 % of our funding comes from private charities

37:01

Anyway, if you're gonna fund anyone, by the way, who's doing that kind of work I would recommend giving it to Samaritan's Purse because Samaritan's Purse 95 % of it is not

37:10

USA ID and They're not dependent on taxpayer dollars as much and he's actually not freaking out and trying to raise all kinds of revenue over this

37:18

He's saying Trump administration has said that they're going to we don't know how this is gonna work yet but there's gonna be an appeal process and we're gonna be able to fund what we're doing and so I would just suggest their organization over an organization like World Relief or or I keep saying

37:34

World Vision World Relief World Vision either one They give some tangible

37:41

Examples in this of people in need that would be hurt with this funding being cut and That's pretty much the gist of this article

37:52

If they say the way it works is USA idea staffers outline a need and a solution like building a well for thirsty people and they form it into a project and then a face based or nonprofit charity comes in and Implements the project and they apply for u .s.

38:07

Foreign assistance to complete it Now is this really the way that we want the government running and what are the things that I?

38:13

Get frustrated about a little bit is how the Democrats are saying this whole thing is unconstitutional The president doesn't have the authority to eliminate this organization this organization came into being by executive order now,

38:24

I don't see in the Constitution where that is a constitutional thing under the

38:31

Presidential powers but you might be able to try to justify it under his role as the commander -in -chief

38:37

And this was a Cold War measure. Okay, I Don't think that flies but let's just say it flies

38:44

And then President Trump comes in and eliminates it under executive order now He hasn't actually done that.

38:50

They're restructuring the organization. That's what they're doing They've there have been things said that seem to indicate they're getting rid of it

38:55

But really they don't they don't have the authority because Congress enshrined it in 1998 so Congress has the authority to get actually rid of it.

39:04

So they're just restructuring it But why can't President Donald Trump do that? Why isn't there an outcry about the fact the organization exists in the first place for constitutional reasons?

39:14

That's my question. It's so unconstitutional to get rid of it Well, is it was it constitutional to? Implement it in the first place.

39:21

It was by executive order. It came into being That's an interesting question to ponder and it's not for the purposes of this podcast to go into great detail on that But I just want to point that out the

39:29

Democrats don't seem to Obviously Democrats do this a lot, but they don't apply their logic evenly

39:37

So Christianity today is in full defense of this particular Organization this

39:43

Government organization you have an article from Time magazine and they're getting in on specifically the

39:49

Christian aspect of this how Christian groups are responding to Trump's foreign aid freeze and they outline world relief

39:56

It's the first one in this an evangelical charity and they quote Matthew Sorens who he just always seems to be there when the topic of immigration comes up to say how

40:07

Christians are obligated to Essentially assist in illegal immigration, but here he is saying

40:16

That they have to stop all work We were not going to not show up at the airport when they had to pick up some refugees

40:23

We were gonna show up, you know, we're bravely showing up even though we were told to shut down all work now

40:28

Here's the thing you got to think about this put this in context It's it they're not being told that they have to shut down everything they're doing

40:36

They're being told that this spigot of federal money is not going to flow into them for a limited period of time

40:41

So they can evaluate what's going on. That means the organization can still fund themselves and that is happening

40:47

They're freaking out and they're telling people fund us so we can continue our work our work of things like refugee resettlement

40:52

They were getting a lot of money for this a lot of money. I think I had the figure somewhere

40:57

I have to find it again. But oh, I think actually do I have it? Let's see. I think it's right here

41:03

Yeah, I think I actually do have it pulled up because Megan Basham pulled that up on X the other day 126 million dollars world relief 126 million dollars in government grants.

41:14

So there you have it and So they're freaking out about this and you have times magazine times magazine time magazine rather getting involved in the outcry on all of this and Saying that this is really bad and so Catholic Relief Services International Justice Mission is mentioned and all these organizations including

41:38

Samaritan's Purse add up to a four hundred and seventy six million dollars with the and So That's that's quite a jump of change there.

41:48

I would say and and so of course they're freaking out of course, I mean they're relying on this money to do what they're doing and And so This is also painted as a negative

41:59

You have other and I'm not gonna highlight all of these but you have a number of these things going on This is from a statement from the

42:07

Council of Bishops of the United Methodist Church Chiding the Trump administration. Once again, this is horrible.

42:13

You're you basically hate people. That's what you're I mean I'm obviously surprising but you just you know

42:18

You don't really seem to care about people and that's why you're doing these horrible things and you got to stop

42:24

World relief we need you to stand in the gap People are depending on you 4 ,000 refugees are depending on you.

42:33

Here's what I wanted to show you from world relief This is interesting. This is the scope which is a project of world relief partnering with communities to end maternal and child mortality and It blatantly says on this page.

42:45

It's still on world relief forward slash scope you can go there and follow along with me if you wish to it talks about it mentions

42:52

USA ID and So USA ID is I believe funding this.

42:58

Let's see if I can pull up the yes. It's a USA ID funded New partnership initiative, so it's a new partnership and you just heard what how they're vetting new partnerships or the priorities

43:09

At least they have for new partnerships and somehow world vision fits into this Well, what's one of the things that's going on here?

43:15

It says maternal and newborn care as part of this and if you read

43:21

What it says here see if I can find the actual Says scope interventions directly supported improve access to community -based contacts with quality care for pregnant women and That's not it hold on I'm looking for it

43:47

There's a family planning side of this Let me see if I search it.

43:52

Yeah, there it is Okay under community health workers scope trained CHWs in the delivery of community -based family planning.

43:58

This comes up eight times on the page technical areas reproductive age and children under five

44:06

Including family planning and reproductive health. There it is family planning again reproductive health It comes up over and over and over family planning family planning family planning conversations about family planning

44:18

Community -based family. So this is just That this is used on as language on the website.

44:24

What does it actually mean? No, it doesn't go into detail. Is this Does this mean abortions? I don't know but normally when you hear the term family planning

44:32

What do you think and when you just literally heard their priorities? These aren't pro -life people that are

44:39

Deciding where this money goes so refugee resettlement, which we know has a lot of has loopholes in it

44:46

We know that that's that's fraught with issues. And then we know that there's some kind of family planning thing going on with World Relief Doesn't smell good.

44:55

I don't know all the details of everything I don't know if anyone outside the organization does at this point, but it doesn't smell good

45:01

So to ask questions and want to investigate this is perfectly reasonable. And of course this led people to now question other organizations and Other people who are getting government money.

45:12

So why did For example Christianity Today get almost two million dollars in taxpayer grants

45:22

People are going on to The website what's the name of that website that that shows you the grants and so forth?

45:31

USA spending is the website and They're finding things like this. They're finding out that Yeah, Russell Moore seems to or you know, his organization seems to be getting almost two million the

45:42

Christianity Today Well, what's that for? You have Lutheran immigration refugee services Making million or having millions of dollars apparently allocated to them for refugee resettlement or asylum seekers

45:53

And same thing that you see happening with World Relief you have

46:01

Here's some other things on X that people were pulling up Now that's not it.

46:06

Hold on. I Think this is one of the things I wanted to show everyone Yeah, the Land Center, I was a little surprised the

46:13

Land Center Richard Land former ERLC president

46:19

Apparently they're getting That also money from the federal government a lot of it

46:25

Hundreds of thousands of dollars. What's that for? We don't know You have here as Anyone sponsored a child with World Vision.

46:35

This is an interesting chart They're getting taxpayer funds 660

46:42

Over six hundred and sixty one million dollars apparently in taxpayer funds they also have money coming in in the form of contributions to the tune of over 827 million and they're coming in from places like the

46:57

National Endowment for Democracy The National Democratic Democratic Institute for I don't know what that says humanity

47:04

Maybe that these left -wing organizations or pouring money into World Vision Why is that?

47:10

I'm gonna have to have a conversation with my wife about this. We sponsor a child through World Vision and I there's a way that we can sponsor this child without going through World Vision I'm gonna try to figure out a way to do it because I don't want

47:22

I don't know what they're up to I do not want know what they're up to but this doesn't look good and I know

47:29

I already know from talking to Judd Saul who is with voice of the per the

47:36

Yeah voice of the persecuted. I'm mixing that I'm missing voice of the martyrs, which is an organization I don't support anymore with equipping the persecuted.

47:42

That's his organization, but he's told me that yeah They're as far as efficiency goes. It's really bad.

47:48

It's really bad So a lot of that money is not making it to the people that need it that you're actually sponsoring

47:56

So people are starting to ask these questions. These are questions that need to be asked check this one out This is an interesting one. I saw this is

48:02

World Vision and they have overseas refugee assistance programs for the

48:07

Western Hemisphere overseas refugee assistance programs and Specifically says enhanced protection and welfare conditions of vulnerable

48:14

Venezuelan immigrants especially unoccupied Unaccompanied rather and separated children.

48:20

Well, how would that happen? Unaccompanied and separated children that's I mean this is what's happening at our border when they show up with Coyotes whether the the parents have paid for the children to come or whether this is sex slavery, whatever is going on here that's the situation and specifically

48:38

Venezuelans and to the tune of 4 .8 million dollars from the

48:43

United States government Something seems fishy about this. So I wanted to just give you the broader context of what's actually going on with USAID You're not going to hear this kind of thing on other outlets

48:55

I mean, I know because I searched around I was looking at other outlets and seeing what they're saying And there's a lot of good information out there

49:02

For example, 97 % of political contributions from USAID workers went to guess guess which political party

49:09

Democrats or Republicans? They went to Democrats went to Democrats Yes, 97 % and of course the press secretary for the

49:17

United States pointed out some of the ridiculous things millions of dollars for things like a

49:22

DEI Initiative in Serbia in the workplace musicals in Ireland that are

49:28

DEI a trans opera in Colombia $47 ,000 trans care in Peru.

49:34

I mean these are the things that are Being funded and there's all these initiatives going on. We don't know

49:40

Because the books are just now getting open where exactly all this money is going And so it's perfectly reasonable to say this wasn't even supposed to be a charitable function in the first place

49:49

If there's an emergency situation, you can appeal that later So keep doing what you're doing in theory, you should already have some finances you shouldn't be totally relying on the federal government, but But yes, you know, you're gonna continue to fund emergency things

50:04

But no more spending money until we figure out what's going on. That's what's going on in USAID This isn't for the purpose of taking

50:12

Bread out of hungry children's mouths, which is how it's being portrayed by Christians Who are at World Vision in other places and I'll tell you what in closing

50:21

I want to tell you I'm very happy with my vote for Donald Trump very happy with it more happy than I thought

50:27

I even would be and one of the reasons is he has in the last two Weeks, I think exposed and cleaned out some of the big problems with big

50:35

Eva problems I don't even know. I don't think we know the extent of and He is

50:41

Cracking down on these things. They're freaking out over it and he's doing more good than I've seen done in the past Really by almost anyone

50:49

I mean You know, I've been obviously working hard. I've written books to expose what's going on You have

50:55

Megan Basham writing a phenomenal book by the way, Megan Basham pray for her. She Announced that she has cancer.

51:01

This is I've known about this for a little while, but she's now made it public and We're praying for her.

51:07

Please pray for her. This is such a challenging thing. We we do I do appreciate her voice. She what let me say something real quick side tangent here that I appreciate about Megan I Have struggled in the past.

51:20

I still struggle I think it's sometimes with being a little a little bit jaded and I think I just want to be honest with myself about that where you know

51:27

I've I feel like I put my heart and soul sometimes into exposing and refuting the social justice stuff and evangelicalism

51:33

And I'm not a victim here at all by any means. I never planned to do this It's an immense blessing to be able to have this podcast

51:39

I'm not making the kind of money that I would have made before at all Pursuing the the line of work I had previously but it's

51:46

I mean I I'm get to be home with my daughter I can walk into the other room and see my daughter who I Who distracts me on a daily basis and it's the greatest thing and I'm so grateful for all of that and you everyone who?

51:58

Donates to what I'm doing you support my books the new book. I have coming out soon on Natural law the or natural the natural order even my music is subsidized by this

52:10

I mean, I'm honest with you about where your money goes I mean it goes to feeding my family directly and it goes to all the efforts the documentary film work

52:18

I'm gonna be doing in two weeks. It goes to that. Anyway enough about me I've been discouraged over time to see

52:25

People especially larger voices not care about these things, right? and and then sometimes take information and then later on pretend like they are

52:36

Somehow very concerned about some of the things I've been talking about and people like my other people to like 80

52:41

Robles is another good example Protestio things we've been talking about and they won't give us the time of day there's many cases like this

52:49

I could point to especially with Conversations behind the scenes like they see the u .s. Is the enemy still?

52:55

But but they will start saying the same things We're saying use the information that we've been putting out there and and that's a little frustrating

53:01

It's not that you know, I I'm a team player and I want to see Righteousness prevail, but it does get frustrating a little bit because you think

53:09

I mean are these people in it for the right reasons, right? it's the same thing with with even world vision and big Eva like you don't

53:15

I want to support guys doing good work, but The problem I've had is

53:20

I think and all of us have had is we don't trust institutions We have been lied to so many times we have seen deception and then when there's someone else who's saying the right thing

53:28

We're a little slow to trust It takes time to build that up right and I don't even blame people for not wanting to warm up to me or anything

53:35

Right away. That's totally understandable. I totally get it. I think you need to be a little cautious today With all the duplicity out there

53:42

Megan Basham. I want to just say this about her She has she's got to be one of the best

53:49

Actors in this whole thing. She cares about the truth. She wants the truth to get out there. She is a team player

53:55

She will go on who whoever's gonna wants to have her on her their show She'll go on the show to proclaim the truth.

54:02

I don't see her pick have feuds or pick You know She wants to be friendly and affable to everyone until they prove to be an enemy to her and there's been cases like like Neil Shen be

54:13

I guess is a good example of that who starts attacking her and she wanted to you know be in good terms with someone like that until she's attacked and And I just have to say that's something that's been missing even from many of the men who have

54:28

Been trying to do something similar. They just don't have that they're trying to build their own platform Which you know is a commendable thing

54:35

But we do need people that are virtuous that don't care who gets their credit That care about the glory of God that care about the truth getting out there and if they don't get the credit

54:44

That's totally fine. I think of Paul when he said those who preach Christ from even ill motives to make his chains worse

54:50

He just rejoices in that and I want to have that attitude. I'm and I I confess I don't maybe always have it

54:56

Hopefully, I think I consistently do I think I do for the most part but you know, we could always be blind to our own

55:02

Flesh and so I don't want to You know say that that doesn't happen. I definitely have had thoughts like and why is that guy?

55:09

You know, I did that guy didn't you know He didn't say those things even think I'm thinking of a name that I'm not gonna say because I don't want to be that way

55:16

But no, they didn't say those things three years ago. They were on the opposite side of this fight So anyway, all that to say

55:22

I wanted to give a plug to Megan I don't normally do this, but I just felt compelled to do this in this episode She has been proven right through everything.

55:29

I said on this episode about the government funding. It's real. It's happening everything She said in her book about Russell Moore and Curtis Chang is it

55:40

Yang? Chang I can't remember his last name but Curtis who did the after party

55:47

David French these guys think it's Curtis Yang Getting taxpayer money. She's absolutely right.

55:53

They were getting left -wing money from the Rockefeller Foundation. There was taxpayer money going into these left -wing causes For these kinds of purposes.

56:00

She was called a liar She was smeared all of the rest of it all the things That are said about myself and she was right and this week has confirmed it even more in the coming weeks

56:10

We'll confirm it even more be on the side of those who are right who are calling it And support what they're doing support their efforts.

56:17

That's all I got to say about that Okay, I'll take some questions and then and comments and then we will end the podcast

56:24

There's so many so I'm not gonna go into the comments that happened earlier in the show I'm gonna go to the more recent ones

56:29

If you have one that you left earlier in the show Just rewrite it put it in the comment section now and I'll get to it

56:35

John is this whole finding of NGOs part of the ghw B's thousand points of light

56:41

I'm embarrassed to say I'm not exactly sure what the ghw B's thousand points of light is

56:48

Maybe I should look that up real quick ghw B thousand points of light that is according to grok a

56:59

Phrase synonymous with the presidency of George HW Bush. Hmm. Okay, man, I I'm this is out in left field for me.

57:08

Sorry The way Ortlund Gavin Ortlund and Neil Shenvey have treated her as reprehensible I totally agree it exposed them big -time when they went after her and she was a she had all the receipts so You can look up 990 forums.

57:23

Yes, you can It doesn't mean that you always know with organizations like BOM who just being asked about voice of the martyrs

57:28

What their efforts are going towards but you can certainly look them up You can certainly look up like taxpayer money how much they're receiving

57:35

It doesn't mean that you know exactly what they're doing with it though, but it's a safe bet that You should be suspicious when you see taxpayer money going to these organizations

57:45

Question what about USA ID for kovat? That's what revoice is claiming. They got for it. Yes. I've noticed this

57:51

I think Christianity today is also claiming Ironically, I mean kovat was 2020 and you know, they're still

57:59

Apparently getting aid in 2023. That's a weird thing to me I Think that things were probably that my gut tells me that things are being taken advantage of but I can't really

58:09

Say more about that There's not much to say because I don't have we're in the dark and this is one of the reasons you need

58:16

Doge or at some kind of organization to go in there and reveal what's going on Which is why

58:21

I'm really glad that that's happening. But yes, that is going to be I think the deflector that is going to be

58:27

The and I want to know okay, so it was it was kovat. Really? What's your excuse in 2023 for receiving that much money for kovat hundreds of thousands of dollars millions of dollars.

58:37

It's kovat That's really weird All right, i'll take one more question and then

58:43

I gotta go so I see a lot of comments here Chelsea clinton took 84 million from usaid

58:52

The that's interesting All right, I don't see any more questions. So we're gonna end the podcast. Thank you everyone.

58:58

Please share this podcast around I mean it I don't usually say that about podcasts, but I think Every american needs to know what's going on with usaid.

59:04

They need to hear those clips at the beginning And again, i'm going to put those out immediately After this podcast i'm going to upload them to x so you can go to john harris 1989 on x and you can find the raw clips of usaid officials former officials in I think perhaps every case and what they were

59:21

Talking about as far as the priorities of the organization the administrative priorities. God bless you all