What is USAID? Explaining the US foreign aid agency and why Trump and Musk want to end it

 https://apnews.com/article/usaid-foreign-aid-freeze-trump-peter-marocco-8253d7dda766df89e10390c1645e78aa

Republicans typically push to give the State Department — which provides overall foreign policy guidance to USAID — more control of its policy and funds. Democrats typically promote USAID autonomy and authority.

Funding for United Nations agencies, including peacekeeping, human rights and refugee agencies, have been traditional targets for Republican administrations to cut. The first Trump administration moved to reduce foreign aid spending, suspending payments to various U.N. agencies, including the U.N. Population Fund and funding to the Palestinian Authority.

In Trump’s first term, the U.S. pulled out of the U.N. Human Rights Council and its financial obligations to that body. The U.S. is also barred from funding the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA, under a bill signed by then-President Joe Biden last March.

Trump repeats false claim that US sends condoms to Gaza

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/29/trump-condoms-gaza

Speaking at the White House on Wednesday, Donald Trump boasted that his administration had “stopped $50m being sent to Gaza to buy condoms for Hamas”, doubling down on a claim first made by his press secretary which appears to be contradicted by the facts.

As the Guardian reported on Tuesday, a comprehensive report issued in September by the US Agency for International Development (USAid), not a penny of the $60.8m in contraceptive and condom shipments funded by the US in the past year went to Gaza. In fact, the accounting shows, there were no condoms sent to any part of the Middle East, and just one small shipment, $45,680 in oral and injectable contraceptives, was sent to the region, all of it distributed to the government of Jordan.

The claim was first made by White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, as she tried to justify Trump’s sweeping order to freeze federal funding by citing what she called important new research from Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency” (or Doge), a special group that Trump has created, and the office of management and budget (OMB).

No evidence that $50 million was designated by the US to buy condoms for Hamas

 https://apnews.com/article/gaza-condoms-fact-check-trump-50-million-26884cac6c7097d7316ca50ca4145a82

CLAIM: The Trump administration stopped $50 million from being sent to the Gaza Strip to buy condoms for Hamas.

THE FACTS: Trump and his spokesperson appeared to be referring to a grant or grants that USAID awarded to a group called the International Medical Corps worth $102.2 million to provide medical and trauma services in Gaza. The State Department earlier Wednesday described this as an example of “egregious funding” not aligned with American interests or the president’s policies.

RFK’s hearings remove all doubt: He’s not fit to lead a key federal health agency

 https://nypost.com/2025/02/03/opinion/rfk-jr-s-hearings-remove-all-doubt-hes-not-fit-to-lead-a-key-federal-health-agency/

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s two-day Senate confirmation hearing should remove all doubt: He’s absolutely unfit to head the Department of Health and Human Services.

His testimony did nothing to change anyone’s minds about that.

Take his refusal to deny a link between vaccines and autism — despite mountains of scientific evidence refuting any such connections.

Trump Blinks on North American Tariffs

 https://www.wsj.com/opinion/donald-trump-tariffs-canada-mexico-claudia-sheinbaum-justin-trudeau-concessions-trade-border-d5bbed97?mod=hp_opin_pos_0

The President pauses after minor concessions from Canada and Mexico.

President Trump never admits a mistake, but he often changes his mind. That’s the best way to read his decision Monday to pause his 25% tariffs against Mexico and Canada after minor concessions from each country.

Trump says he agreed to pause tariffs on Mexico and Canada for one month

 Trump says he agreed to pause tariffs on Mexico and Canada for one month

 President Donald Trump announced that he’s pausing tariffs on Mexico and Canada after speaking to leaders of both countries on Monday — just hours before the sweeping actions were set to go into effect.

The proposed tariffs, which Trump announced Saturday, consisted of a 25% duty on all imports from Mexico and most from Canada (there was a carve-out for a 10% tariff on energy products), and a new 10% tariff on Chinese goods. Trump said earlier Monday that he’d be speaking with China soon.

Trump paused the tariffs on America’s neighbors after Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made commitments, some of which they’d already made, to bolster security at their respective borders with the United States.

10 Everyday Items Trump's Tariffs Could Make Pricier

 https://money.com/trump-tariffs-price-increases/

In the coming weeks, certain categories of goods like automotives, consumer electronics, apparel, and food and beverage are at particular risk of major price hikes from this round of tariffs. Here’s a closer look at what’s expected to get more expensive.

Trump Floats Bonkers Claim About Hamas and Condoms

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-floats-bizarre-claim-about-hamas-and-condoms/

President Donald Trump doubled down on a bogus claim Monday that the U.S. is supplying Hamas with tens of millions of dollars worth of condoms. Trump, who had previously claimed that he prevented $50 million in taxpayer dollars from being used to help the terror group with safe sex, cited the expenditure again—this time claiming the figure was around $100 million—while explaining why the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, needs access to sensitive payment systems at the U.S. Treasury Department. “He’s a very talented guy from the standpoint of management and costs,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. He claimed that Musk, who has been charged with leading the Department of Government Efficiency, is responsible for exploring cost-cutting options for “certain groups.” “Some of the numbers are horrible what he’s found. A hundred, think of it, a hundred million dollars on condoms to Hamas,” Trump said, without providing evidence of the initiative. He continued: “And many other things that are frankly even more ridiculous, and they’re finding tremendous waste, really waste more than anything else you could say. Probably, fraud and abuse can be added to it.” An anonymous White House employee told the Associated Press on Monday that Musk has been designated a “special government employee” and has been assigned a government address as well as office space inside the White House.

Farmers Plead ‘Stop Our Fields Flooding’ as Trump Opens Dams

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/farmers-plead-stop-our-fields-flooding-as-trump-opens-dams-in-california/

Officials in California have revealed that President Donald Trump nearly flooded the region’s farms when his administration tried to send an excessive amount of water south, a feat he bragged about on Friday.

“Today, 1.6 billion gallons and, in 3 days, it will be 5.2 billion gallons. Everybody should be happy about this long fought Victory!” Trump gloated in a Truth Social post.

Multiple water management experts told Politico that moves like the one initially planned to hit Tulare County could have serious consequences.

“Something really bad could happen because of their nonsensical approach,” said a former official at Bureau of Reclamation, the primary agency responsible for delivering water in the western U.S. “Floods are real. This isn’t playing around with a software company.”

Experts told The New York Times that the water released by the Army Corps on Friday has no way of reaching the region affected by the wildfires, which is over 200 miles away, and could have been useful to farmers months from now as irrigation.

Cackling Putin Pals Celebrate Trump’s ‘Simply Sensational’ 1st Week of U.S. Self-Destruction

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/cackling-putin-pals-celebrate-trumps-simply-sensational-1st-week-of-us-self-destruction/

Stern proclamations by U.S. President Donald Trump concerning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine initially caused trepidation in Moscow, but Trump’s latest actions have transformed the reaction into pure joy over America’s self-destruction as a global superpower. In anticipation of Trump’s return to the Oval Office, Russian experts often shared their hopes that he would destroy the U.S. government from within and undermine international relationships with allies—and he is exceeding their expectations

Trump Administration Releases California Dam Water Without State Approval

 https://www.newsweek.com/trump-administration-releases-california-dam-water-wildfires-2024659

According to the Times on Friday, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had then been directed to dramatically increase the flow of water as federal data confirmed that by the end of Friday increased releases from Terminus Dam at Lake Kaweah and Schafer Dam at Lake Success would total approximately 1.6 billion gallons of water.

The sudden water release has since stunned local officials, who scrambled to prevent potential flooding as state and federal water managers typically coordinate releases carefully, ensuring that enough water is retained for future agricultural use while preventing flood risks. However, the Trump administration's order bypassed this process, creating a chaotic response among local officials.

The unprecedented release, which sent water rushing into the Central Valley, had no impact on the recent Los Angeles wildfires, despite Trump's claims, who took to his Truth Social account to tout the release of water.

"Photo of beautiful water flow that I just opened in California," he posted, hailing the release as a "long fought Victory" that he suggested could have prevented the wildfires. "I only wish they listened to me six years ago—There would have been no fire!"

Ban by over a dozen Rabbonim, against New-Age advocate, Rephoel Szmerla, author of "Alternative Medicine In Halacha,

Serious inquiries welcome.

Rabbi Noson Shmuel Leiter,

Executive Director,

Tomim Tih'yeh [countering New Age influences internationally]: 

Tomim1679@gmail.com

845.642.1679

Direct: 771.215.8892

Israeli Helpline: 03.721.3337

Heard weekly on New Jersey's WSNR Radio 620AM, on the renowned LevinAt11 program, every Thursday evening, 11pm to midnight (Eastern Time).

Holocaust and Plague of Darkness

Rav Yaakov Kaminetsky (Emes L’Yaakov Shemos 10:22) Rashi asks, “Why did G-d bring about the plague of Darkness? Because the Jews in that generation were wicked and did not want to leave Egypt and therefore thousands died in the three days of darkness.” Even though that entire generation were not considered righteous (tzadikim) as we see the angels claimed that both the Jews and Egyptians were idolaters –why were the Egyptians killed to save the Jews. In other words the angels could not see the slightest difference between the Jews and the Egyptians and thought all should die. And thus the Jews that died were apparently killed entirely because they were preventing the other Jews from leaving Egypt because they had a tradition that the Jews must remain enslaved in Egypt for 400 years and since the time had not passed they were afraid that they would suffer the fate of the Ephraimites who left prematurely. They thus did not believe the words of Moshe and the Elders that G-d's calculation was based on the merit of their forefathers. Therefore G-d killed only those but not all the Jews even though in the eyes of the angels they were all idolaters. Only G-d was able to distinguish Jews from the Egyptians and know that the Jews would eventually be capable of accepting the Torah at Sinai. How did the Jews react to this mass death at the very time they were expecting to be redeemed? He says that this can be a source of comfort for the Holocaust in Europe that we are closer to the final Redemption 

Checking for bugs

 Igros Moshe (YD iV #2|)  Concerning the small bugs which are found in a number of types of vegetables

I have heard that a number of people have said in my name a certain view regarding the small worms that are known to be found in many types of vegetables. In fact I did not say any ruling in this matter. On the contrary, I am in fact more inclined to be lenient and as you and my son wrote that something which is not visible to the naked eye is not prohibited and is at least not considered an entity that is not nullified in a mixture. This in addition to the justification mentioned in Shulchan Aruch.  Or it is possible to rely on the view that an entity is nullified in a mixture of 1 to a thousand. Or the view that an entity that doesn’t survive forever separately in its original state but is attached to a mixture and can’t be separated becomes nullified or that the Rabbis did not decree that an entity is not nullified in something disgusting that a person views as repellent Also as I wrote to you and to many others that as a general rule there is great importance given in halacha to minhag (custom) of what people typically do and have done. It is prohibited to cast aspersion on the previous generations who were not concerned with these things because they didn’t know about them. Therefore I say without investigating the matter thoroughly since because of my health it is difficult at present. it is impossible to rule strictly and publicize that the matter is prohibited  And of greater importance I don’t want my name associated with those who rule that it is prohibited.