Free Republic

Though the federal government is struggling to make Obamacare functional for Americans, the administration is simultaneously helping to upgrade the health-care system in Kenya. The ambitious plan to expand health-care and social-services access to millions of Kenyans is one of several recent U.S. endeavors to surface, indicating that yet another spike in assistance to Kenya is taking place. As U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor reported, the U.S. Agency for International Development in June 2012 alerted contractors that its Kenyan aid portfolio was growing “exponentially.”Now, the most recent endeavor is the enhancement of an existing “five-year mission supporting the centralized health-care...

Nearly two years after the U.S. military left the country, Iraq is now asking for more American weapons, training and manpower to fight a bloody resurgence of al-Qaida. Violence in Iraq has risen in recent months to levels comparable to the darkest days of the nation’s civil war. …

Though the government shutdown has reached its tenth day, the federal government has deemed the collection of grant proposals for the improvement of reproductive health of women in Pakistan “essential.” The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) created a grant on Thursday seeking applicants to administer “family planning” in the south Asian country through its Maternal and Child Health (MCH) program. “The MCH Program’s overall goal is to dramatically and sustainably improve health outcomes of women and children in target areas, and the MCH Program comprises five components: 1) Family Planning/Reproductive Health; 2) Maternal, Newborn and Child Health; 3) Health...

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) recently awarded a $24.5 million contract in a program whose stated aim is to "build a more effective and competent Palestinian justice sector that is accountable to the public and responds to citizens' needs." According to the solicitation: The program will support the Palestinian Authority's commitment to strengthen and reform government institutions, and will focus on supporting visible improvements in the delivery of services that contribute towards increased public confidence. USAID noted that "Ethics and anti-corruption will be cross-cutting themes of the program." Chemonics will provide the Palestinians with a combination of equipment,...

Also giving Indonesians more college scholarships Budget deficits, spending limits, the sequester and economic headwinds all seem to fall by the wayside for Barack Obama’s overseas spending program. Now that a $305 million U.S. initiative has built and renovated hundreds of Pakistani schools – including private Islamic madrassas in addition to public institutions – the Obama administration is set to infuse $25 million to improve student reading skills in those schools. Using congressionally authorized FY 2010-FY 2012 funds, a pair of U.S. Agency for International Development initiatives will embark upon the literacy phase of the massive educational project, according to...

Nearly two months after Egypt’s June 30 Revolution, it is interesting to note how the final dialogue between ousted President Morsi and General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi—full of threats and vows of determination on both sides—have all come to pass, including in the very details, specifically the U.S. government’s role. On July 5, the Arabic language, Egyptian newspaper El Watan published what it said were the final words between the two Egyptian men, as transcribed by an eyewitness, before the general put the president in prison. The relevant portions of the dialogue between Sisi and Morsi follow, interspersed with my retrospective...

A U.S. government effort to discourage students from dropping out of secondary and even primary school has been extended, giving a federal contractor two more years to achieve the Obama Administration's goals in this program. The initiative, however, focuses on students in the Middle East and Asia. Creative Associates International since 2010 has carried out the School Dropout Prevention Pilot program (SDPP) in Cambodia, India, Tajikistan, and Timor Leste on behalf of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which awarded Creative a three-year task order with a $51.5 million maximum ceiling. The contract balance is projected to remain around...

Plan suggests more public spaces for inter-ethnic minglingThe Obama administration intends to leverage U.S. leadership in lowering racial tensions in the U.S. by making such ethnic-peacemaking expertise available globally. Obama’s most recent endeavor specifically wants to “increase constructive inter-ethnic cooperation and interaction” among people in the Balkans region of southeastern Europe. Although this approximately $15 million U.S. Agency for International Development venture arguably could benefit the minority Christian Serb population, its scope is notably miniscule in contrast to other ethnic and tribal peacemaking initiatives around the globe, particularly in Africa. In and around Nigeria, for example, USAID is engaged in...

Up to $500 million is slated for improvements that the U.S. Agency for International Development seeks to achieve in its global-health resources network. USAID's Global Health Supply Chain Program is seeking contractor help in modernizing how the agency manages and secures its health-specific supply system. The half-billion cap on procuring technical assistance, or TA, is for "supply chain management and commodity security" in foreign assistance recipient-nations. "Since 2005, USAID has procured and delivered more than 4,300 different products valued at $2.4 billion and has provided more than $500 million in supply chain technical assistance in more than 50 countries," according...

Allegations of corruption, praise for terrorists not obstaclesThe U.S. government recently awarded a batch of contracts worth up to $300 million to Palestinian construction companies, including a firm targeted in a Palestinian Authority corruption probe. PA Prosecutor-General Ahmed al-Mughni, likewise, survived the investigation, having escaped a car-bomb assassination attempt related to his probe of Tarifi Contracting & Reconstruction Co., other companies and PA officials, the Jerusalem Post reported at the time. The chairman of Tarifi Contracting is H. E. Jamil Al Tarifi, the former PA civil affairs minister. At the time of the investigation, he reportedly co-owned the firm with...

Project is to assess south-of-the-border social conditionsThe Obama administration intends to keep contractors on stand-by to help officials evaluate conditions on the Mexican side of the U.S. border, but U.S. companies are not allowed to apply for the work. Tracking remittances – funds sent over a distance – from the U.S. to Mexico is one of several possible research and consulting services that Obama through the U.S. Agency for International Development may solicit. Such a task will not support, for example, tax- or drug-enforcement operations. Instead, it would help determine the extent to which the funds subsequently are “invested into...

(Family Research Council) - If the president doesn't respect America's views on marriage, what makes us think he would respect other countries'? Certainly not his latest USAID project. In April, to relatively little fanfare, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) embarked on one of the most shocking abuses of taxpayer dollars in the last five years. With help from the Levi Strauss Foundation and millionaire liberal Tim Gill, the U.S. government is spending $11 million to train homosexual activists in other countries. The Washington Blade, D.C.'s gay newspaper, praised the Obama administration for creating an army of international lobbyists...

The terrorist attack in Benghazi is far more disturbing than previously thought. Although it has not been reported in the U.S. media, the possibility exists that the Egyptian government may have played an operational role in the attack. YouTube videos of the terrorist strike raise a serious problem that only an Arabic speaker would detect: some of the terrorists are speaking in the Egyptian dialect of the Arabic language. Indeed, one of the videos shot with a cell phone of one of the attackers emerged around the time four Americans were killed. It shows a mob approaching the American compound...

We are witnesses to murder,and our governments are accomplices. The relentless destruction of the last remnants of the Middle East’s Judeo-Christian civilization is well under way. And we are silent. Captives of political correctness,our governments cater to radical immigrant tantrums as our leaders contort the truth to deny the existence of Islamist terrorism. Meanwhile,our Middle Eastern “allies” and foes alike eradicate thousands of years of Jewish and Christian heritage. Our diplomats treat the persecution as a minor embarrassment,best ignored. The banishments and butchery aren’t new, but the breakdown of the last rotting order in the wake of the “Arab Spring”...

In addition to leaving Inspector General posts at key agencies vacant, a March 5 report from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform claims the Obama administration has ignored 16,906 recommendations from 73 agency OIG’s that could potentially save taxpayers $67 billion per year. “This report chronicles $67 billion in unimplemented reforms that non-partisan Inspectors General have identified,” said Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R–CA). “President Obama should listen to the recommendations of his Administration’s own Inspector Generals and work with Congress to implement common sense spending cuts that target wasteful and poorly performing programs instead of settling for the...

Joseph Kony 2012: filmmaker Jason Russell arrested on suspicion of masturbating in public One of the creators of the “Kony 2012” film about Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony has been arrested for allegedly being drunk and masturbating in public. Jason Russell, 33, was also accused of stripping off his clothes and vandalising cars before he was detained in San Diego. Russell, an evangelical Christian, is a co-founder of the American advocacy group Invisible Children. Their 29-minute film has been watched by more than 100 million people and become the fastest spreading video ever.

U.S. taxpayers funding 'gender equality' in Ghana's energy developmentPresident Obama recently joked that he should just “pack up and go home” if Congress is going to continue resisting his policies. But before he heads back to Chicago, his administration plans to spend up to $400 million on “green” projects around the world, survey the satellite television viewing habits of Africans and simultaneously try to spark private-sector investment in the West Bank and Gaza, among other federal endeavors.

Earlier today, I said that we should cut the father of the two bombing suspects some slack for calling his younger son– now on the run from police — “a true angel.” On the other hand, the apple does not fall far from the tree, apparently:Unfortunately your browser does not support IFrames.Watch More News Videos at ABC |Technology News |Celebrity News The father of suspected Boston Marathon bomber called on his son today to give up peacefully, but warned the U.S. that if his son is killed “all hell will break loose.”Anzor Tsarnaev spoke to ABC News from his home...

The militarization of a population, the manner by which a regime systematically destines its people for a perpetual clash with an enemy, is a prime method for dangerously prolonging a conflict, sometimes for decades. Indeed, the past couple of weeks of unrestrained provocations have reminded us of the 60- year-old war footing maintained by the North Korean government against the West. But one need not look so far eastward to find another example of a regime using its resources for waging hostilities with both its external and internal enemies. Indeed, Israelis can find a more telling example of a government...

The White House, at odds with Iran over its nuclear program, offered on Wednesday to help Tehran grapple with a deadly earthquake in southern Iran. The powerful 6.3 magnitude quake struck close to Iran’s only nuclear power station on Tuesday, killing 37 people and injuring 850 as it destroyed homes and devastated two small villages, Iranian media reported. …