Free Republic

According to USAID (United States Agency For International Development), the federal agency in charge of distributing the vast majority of foreign aid monies to other countries, United States taxpayers have paid for over one billion dollars in foreign aid packages to help support the “Syrian Humanitarian Response." Despite the threat of continued chemical attacks against the Syrian people that has served as the focal point of rallying cries for advocates of US military intervention (including the Obama administration), The Daily Beast reported that gas masks were not among the items

The U.S. government has decided privately to act as if the military takeover of Egypt was a coup. After asserting this was not a coup has now decided to go with a temporarily press blitz attributing the spontaneous De-Morsification is connected directly to earlier ant-imam, video and California pure pork sausage sponsor, according to this leading U.S. senator. “The decision was we’re going to avoid saying it was a Coup, Embassy attack, Muslim fanatic rampage, Gun running grab, but to stay on the safe side of the law, we are going to act as if the , designation has been...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans in the Senate want to make sure the federal government does not become involved in the financial maelstrom hitting Detroit, which filed for the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history last week. They have proposed at least three "No Bailout" amendments to spending bills that the Senate is currently considering, all of which would limit the U.S. government's ability to help cities in fiscal crisis. Even though the amendments will likely fail in the Democrat-dominated chamber, cities and counties are alarmed by legislation they say could jeopardize funding for hundreds of local governments and are pushing...

This article has been updated to reflect new developments. It was first published on Jan. 31, 2011. The recent military coup in Egypt has prompted a renewed debate about American aid to the country. Sens. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, and Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, have both called for cutting off aid, while the White House has said it's in no hurry to end the aid. We've taken a step back and tried to answer some basic questions, including how much the U.S. is giving Egypt, what's changed in the two years since the Arab Spring and who is...

In a sharp escalation of the U.S. role in Syria's bloody civil war, the White House announced late Thursday that it will provide military aid to rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad after confirming that his government used chemical weapons on the opposition. Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes told reporters on a conference call that President Barack Obama had heard pleas from Syria's rebel Supreme Military Council (SMC) for more help. "Our aim is to be responsive," Rhodes said, underlining that the new assistance would have "direct military purposes."

London - The claim was made by the Israeli liberal newspaper “Haaretz” citing a report of the British Government’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills which oversees security exports. Israel is reported to have exported to Pakistan a range of military equipment purchased from Britain, but Islamabad denied the claim with a spokesman for the Directorate of Inter-Services Public Relations describing it as “baseless”. “The report is misleading and not based on facts,” he said. The claim was made by the Israeli liberal newspaper Haaretz citing a report of the British Government’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) which...

Secretary of State John Kerry last month secretly sent $1.3 billion in U.S. military aid to Muslim Brotherhood-controlled Egypt, waiving the restrictions put in place by Congress to withhold such aid unless the country could meet certain democracy standards. “Under U.S. law, for the $1.3 billion to flow the secretary of state must certify that the Egyptian government ‘is supporting the transition to civilian government, including holding free and fair elections, implementing policies to protect freedom of expression, association and religion, and due process of law’,” Reuters reports. Kerry’s quiet decision came before an Egyptian court this week sentenced 43...

Secretary of State John Kerry quietly acted last month to give Egypt $1.3 billion in U.S. military aid, deciding that this was in the national interest despite Egypt's failure to meet democracy standards. Kerry made the decision well before an Egyptian court this week convicted 43 democracy workers, including 16 Americans, in what the United States regards as a politically motivated case against pro-democracy non-governmental organizations. Rights groups believe Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi is retreating from democratic freedoms, notably in a new civil society law and in proposals for judicial reform that critics see as a way to purge judges...

Raymond Ibrahim’s fundamental new book Crucified Again: Exposing Islam’s New War on Christians (Amazon USA), (Amazon UK ), has been widely reported, covered and praised and does not require an introduction, but it prompts a reflection. The problem of Christian discrimination and persecution by Muslims is in fact two problems. Like unpunished crimes’ victims who suffer twice, for the crime and for the injustice of the criminal’s going scot-free, while the atrocities committed against Christians are unbearable enough on their own, the total indifference of the rest of the world adds to the pain. Floods, earthquakes, natural calamities and...

Bolivian President Evo Morales declared Wednesday he was expelling the U.S. Agency for International Development from the country, accusing the aid agency of conspiring against his government. “Surely to think that you can still manipulate us economically, politically -- those times are past,” Morales said at May Day celebrations in La Paz, according to the Bolivian national news agency. The Bolivian leader asserted that USAID had sown divisions and destabilized the country and his government. Ejecting USAID was also a message to U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry, “who says that Latin America is the backyard of the United...

Secretary of State John Kerry had hoped to offer considerably more aid to Egypt than the $250 million he announced during his trip to Cairo but was blocked by Congress, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-Calif.) said. “This is not the aid package that the administration wanted to announce,” Royce told The Hill. The administration wanted to release a “larger sum,” but bowed to the wishes of Royce's committee as well as congressional appropriators, he said. Royce wouldn't say how much Kerry had hoped to announce, but the State Department has been pressing Congress to greenlight $450 million...

In all of his infinite wisdom and glory, President Barack Obama has waived restrictions placed on the direct funding of the Palestinian Authority. If you remember, this is the group that is run by Hamas. Going further back in your memory, you will recall Hamas is the terrorist organization that has refused to acknowledge Israel’s right to exist. In fact, their charter calls for the destruction of Israel. -snip- If you will look at the date of the press release on the White House website, you will find it was Friday. The Obama administration is so open and transparent that...

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration adopted a strict definition of affordable health insurance on Wednesday that will deny federal financial assistance to millions of Americans with modest incomes who cannot afford family coverage offered by employers. In deciding whether an employer’s health plan is affordable, the Internal Revenue Service said it would look at the cost of coverage only for an individual employee, not for a family. Family coverage might be prohibitively expensive, but federal subsidies would not be available to help buy insurance for children in the family. The policy decision came in a final regulation interpreting ambiguous language...

**SNIP** The president says that he is "under no illusions" about the situation in Syria, where government forces and rebel groups have clashed for two years. But he says Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime continues to weaken and will eventually come to an end.

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- There's a good news update on a home ransacked and spray painted by a pair of teen burglars in northwest Houston. While the burglars are now in custody, community members and Marines stepped in to help the homeowner -- a 93-year-old World War II veteran. The Marines quickly marched into the defaced home of WWII veteran Elbert Wood, eager to help. "It's important that he knows we're here for him and that we're always his brothers," Major Roberto Rodriguez said. The presence of these local Marines is just one example of the outpouring of support for Wood...

Can anyone name the countries that sent aid to the United States after Hurricane Sandy? I am asking this because I got an e-mail from a friend that I am trying to fact check. Here it is ... ____________________________________ As you know, America is always the first country to send aid to other countries when they are in trouble. It is highly appropriate that we Americans, must now send our "THANKS" to all those countries that reciprocated our help with their disasters, misgivings, social turmoil, & poverty when they returned to the USA monetary and physical help after Hurricane Sandy...

New Delhi - Its healthcare system crippled by international economic sanctions, Iran has asked India for help to procure life-saving drugs for patients battling critical illnesses in that country. Tehran has put in an urgent request to New Delhi for drugs to treat lung and breast cancers; brain tumours; heart ailments; infections after kidney, heart and pancreas transplants; meningitis in HIV patients; arthritis; bronchitis and respiratory distress in newborns; and epilepsy, South Block sources told The Indian Express. On December 27, the sources said, the government forwarded the request for 28 essential medicines to Indian pharmaceutical companies. The required quantities...

Greetings! I just published an invention on Quirky, and would like to get some up votes, and other positive thoughts from the FR community. Thanks in advance, FRiends.

There are no plans to withdraw aid to the Palestinian Authority following the United Nations vote to recognize Palestine as an independent state, a White House spokesman said Friday. Josh Earnest told reporters traveling on Air Force One that the U.S. opposed the resolution to give the Palestinian Authority nonmember observer state status because the Israel-Palestinian conflict should be resolved “only through face-to-face negotiations, not unilateral actions,” according to the White House pool report. A bipartisan group of senators had threatened to cut off millions in U.S. financial aid to the Palestinians if the vote succeeded. Earnest said there were...

Israel Pitches In With Disaster Relief After Hurricane SandyMembers of various NGOs put Israeli knowhow to work, getting food, fuel and other supplies to emergency workers and victims.New York --- When ISRAEL21c spoke with Israel relief volunteer Joel Leyden in New York yesterday, he had just received a phone call from the Nassau County Office of Emergency Management on New York’s Long Island. “They confirmed that there is a police escort waiting to bring in Israel Flying Aid’s delivery of fuel, which will go to county hospitals to be dispensed to doctors and nurses so they will be able to...