Tag Archives: Haiti

The Supreme Court Steps In

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Some of the lower courts in America have decided that they are the President. It’s getting very old to see anything President Trump does result in a lawsuit filed in a lower court to stop whatever it is. I think that if President Trump declared that grocery shopping on Saturday was a good thing, the courts would try to close the stores on Saturday. However, the Supreme Court is slowly stepping up to the plate.

On Friday, The Epoch Times reported:

The Supreme Court has temporarily stayed a lower court decision that halted the Trump administration’s attempt to remove a protection known as parole for immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.

The court’s decision, which came on May 30, blocks the lower court order as the issue plays out in the court system. Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor dissented from the court’s decision.

The Trump administration had argued that the decision to remove parole was discretionary for the secretary of homeland security and not reviewable by courts.

We need controlled, legal immigration. We need to bring people into America who will assimilate and who will work to help build this country. We definitely need to revise our immigration policies to make it easier for people to come to America, but we also need to limit the number of immigrants we allow in at any one time. We need to control immigration in a way that allows for assimilation. Britain, and some of the European Union Countries are currently in danger of losing their identity because of mass migration by people who are not interested in assimilating into their various cultures. This is a threat to western civilization. There are differences in civilizations–and people need to live where they are most comfortable with the culture–they do not need to take over the culture of another country. The takeover of the British culture is currently happening in Britain. I don’t want it to happen here.

The Death Of USAID

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On Monday, PJ Media posted an article about the death of USAID. The death of USAID may not actually be official, but its money is being taken away.

The article reports:

Whatever USAID was or wasn’t meant to be when President John F. Kennedy created the program by executive order in 1961, it effectively is no more.

Wall Street Mav reported on Sunday that the White House intends to “eliminate roughly $60 billion in foreign aid spending and terminate 92% of grants issued by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).”

“The figures were included in a State Department memo detailing the results of a 90-day review of US foreign aid ordered by President Trump,” which identified “nearly 15,000 grants and targeted almost 10,000 for elimination — the majority of which were issued by USAID.”

Before you get too upset over the humanitarian aid that may be cut, you might want to look at where the money has actually gone in the past.

The article notes:

Of the $4 billion earmarked for Haiti, almost half of it never went much farther than the D.C. beltway. More than half went to “other.” About 2% went to Haitian firms. Six houses were built.

There’s a case to be made that charitable people like us should help feed the hungry and provide disaster relief to those who can’t afford it. But USAID ain’t it.

The article also notes:

Back in 1988, George Soros’s Open Society Foundations (OSF) helped establish the East-West Management Institute (EWMI). Exactly how isn’t well understood, so I asked both Grok and ChatGPT to look into it for me. Neither LLM was able to come up with much but they both described the relationship as “opaque.”

Fine, whatever — Soros can do what he wants with his money. Except that over the last decade or two, EWMI received an estimated $270 million in tax money, largely through USAID, with another $90 million on tap. What does EWMI do with your money? That’s none of your business. Your tax dollars go — or rather, went — to a Soros organization that does what Soros wants. You just get to pay

Giving money to billionaires to thwart the popular will in this country hardly sounds like “international development” to me. Unless, that is, you’re talking about the postmodern version of “international Communism.”

Somehow I don’t expect to see any of this reported in the mainstream media.

How Does The Amount Of Money Actually Used To Solve The Problem Compare To The Amount Of Money Given To The NGO ?

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On Saturday, The New York Post posted an article about the misuse of American taxpayer dollars under the banner of USAID.

The article reports:

DOGE wants to see where our tax dollars go, and we should let them. No surprise that the “government industrial complex” will resist every effort to bring transparency and accountability to how those funds are spent when the system is ripe with problems.

I’ve had first-hand experience with USAID and other international aid organizations, such as the World Bank, UNESCO, and even the Red Cross, during my 40-plus trips to Haiti after being invited by then Haitian President René Préval to help rebuild the nation following the devastating 2010 earthquake.

And I’ve seen how USAID, along with other NGOs, delivered on very few of their promises, failed to coordinate relief activities, and even skimmed money off the top.

…What happened in Haiti captures, at the very least, the incompetence — if not the outright corruption — of these international relief organizations. There is probably no more corrupt government agency than USAID.

Since the 2010 earthquake in Haiti killed as many as 300,000 people, the US government has disbursed around $4.4 billion in foreign assistance to the small island nation.

At least $1.5 billion was disbursed for immediate humanitarian aid, while another $3 billion went to recovery, reconstruction and development.

Of the at least $2.13 billion in contracts and grants for Haiti-related work, less than $50 million, or 2% went to Haitian organizations or firms. By comparison, $1.3 billion, or 56%, has gone to firms located in or near the US capitol. Little wonder USAID is so threatened by the sudden scrutiny.

The article concludes:

Money is lost when charities give funds to other organizations to implement the work they had promised. For example, the Red Cross set aside some of the original Haiti funds for their own administrative fees. Then, the charities they hired took a cut of their subsequent administrative fees.

Finally, the Red Cross had yet another charge which they described as “program costs incurred in managing third-party projects,” or an oversight fee.

Ultimately, this lack of transparency allows for ineffective and misleading uses of large donations that might otherwise have the potential to make an important impact in long-term relief.

The lack of information required by these organizations also complicates further analysis of this distribution of money and its long-term success.

The US provided $72 billion in aid to 180 countries in 2023, with USAID serving as its lead agency. DOGE attention to USAID is much deserved and long overdue as American goodwill and generosity have been repeatedly squandered.

The Haitian experience is the best case study of the failures of the American foreign aid program’s lack of transparency and accountability.

Governmental agencies such as USAID and their NGO partners and collaborators act as if they are sovereign nations — accountable to no one.

I don’t mind helping countries in need. I do mind lining the pockets of people who run charities where very little of the collected money actually goes where it needs to go.

Good News From Haiti

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On Friday, The Western Journal reported that the missionaries kidnapped in Haiti on October 16 have escaped and been reunited with their families.

The article reports:

The entire ordeal began when a group with Christian Aid Ministries was returning from a visit to an orphanage. They were intercepted by a well-known gang, 400 Mawozo, and were kidnapped. The gang demanded $1 million apiece for their release.

According to a statement released by CAM, the missionaries were bold witnesses for their faith even as they were captured and kept in captivity. They sang hymns, recited scripture and encouraged one another as well as tried to convince their captors to repent and believe.

In November, the gang released two of the missionaries. In December, they released three more.

But on Dec. 15, after feeling “nudged” to make a break, the remaining 12 missionaries — including children and an infant — solidified a plan.

They walked for miles over the rough terrain, in gang territory, filled with brambles, with nothing to guide them but the light of the moon and their faith. It was enough.

…“After much discussion and prayer, they became solidly united that God seemed to be leading them this way. When they sensed the timing was right, they found a way to open the door that was closed and blocked, filed silently to the path that they had chosen to follow, and quickly left the place that they were held despite the fact that numerous guards were close by.

This is wonderful news.

Another Incredible Coincidence

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On Wednesday, the Miami Herald reported that Klaus Eberwein, a former Haitian government official had committed suicide in a motel room in Florida.

The article reports:

A supporter of former Haitian President Michel Martelly, Eberwein served as director general of the government’s economic development agency, Fonds d’assistance économique et social, better known as FAES. He held the position from May 2012 until February 2015 when he was replaced. He was also a partner in a popular pizza restaurant in Haiti, Muncheez, and has a pizza — the Klaus Special — named after him.

…During and after his government tenure, Eberwein faced allegations of fraud and corruption on how the agency he headed administered funds. Among the issues was FAES’ oversight of shoddy construction of several schools built after Haiti’s devastating Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake.

Eberwein was scheduled to appear Tuesday before the Haitian Senate’s Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, the head of the commission, Sen. Evalière Beauplan confirmed. The commission is investigating the management of PetroCaribe funds, the money Haiti receives from Venezuela’s discounted oil program.

A website called Yournewswire gives a slightly different description:

Klaus Eberwein, a former Haitian government official who was expected to expose the extent of Clinton Foundation corruption and malpractice next week, has been found dead in Miami. He was 50.

Eberwein was due to appear next Tuesday before the Haitian Senate Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission where he was widely expected to testify that the Clinton Foundation misappropriated Haiti earthquake donations from international donors.

According to Miami-Dade’s medical examiner records supervisor, the official cause of death is “gunshot to the head“. Eberwein’s death has been registered as “suicide.”

Eberwein, who had acknowledged his life was in danger, was a fierce critic of the Clinton Foundation’s activities in the Caribbean island, where he served as director general of the government’s economic development agency, Fonds d’assistance économique et social, for three years.

The article at Yournewswire also reports:

According to the Haiti Libre newspaper, Eberwein was said to be in “good spirits“, with plans for the future. His close friends and business partners are shocked by the idea he may have committed suicide.

“It’s really shocking,” said Muncheez’s owner Gilbert Bailly. “We grew up together; he was like family.”

Bailly said he last spoke to Eberwein two weeks ago and he was in good spirits. They were excited about future business plans and were working on opening a Muncheez restaurant in Sunrise, he said.

Wow. Just wow.

It Just Gets Worse

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The presidency of the United States used to have an air of dignity about it. Unfortunately, in recent years that seems to have disappeared. I understand that we are not responsible for the actions of our family members, but sometimes you just have to shake your head.

The Weekly Standard posted a story today about Hillary Clinton’s brother. The New York Times has posted a story in which Tony Rodham (Hillary Clinton’s brother) states, used the Clinton family foundation to make deals. I suppose that is not a surprise, but still…

The article reports:

“I deal through the Clinton Foundation. That gets me in touch with the Haitian officials,” Mr. Rodham said, according to a transcript of his testimony. “I hound my brother-in-law, because it’s his fund that we’re going to get our money from. And he can’t do it until the Haitian government does it.

“And he keeps telling me, ‘Oh, it’s going to happen tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow.’ Well, tomorrow hasn’t come yet.”

…“I was complaining to my brother-in-law I didn’t have any money. And he asked McAuliffe to give me a job,” Mr. Rodham said during the court proceedings, which were the result of a lawsuit over unpaid legal bills filed by his lawyer in a child support case.

Do we really want this family back in the White House?

 

The Baggage Increases

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Hillary Clinton seems to be the frontrunner for the Democrat presidential nomination in 2016, but things keep turning up. Yesterday Hot Air posted a story about the Clinton Foundation‘s adventures in Haiti. It’s a rather complicated story (complete with videos), so I can understand why the major media has not paid a lot of attention to it. A soundbite will simply not tell the story. It is a typical Clinton scandal, involving money and influence–the Clintons make money and questionable people (or countries) gain influence.

Please follow the link above to read the entire story.

Here is the conclusion:

So to sum up, the foundation rifles money from the nefarious human rights violating Algerian regime through donations that were in breach of Hillary’s agreement with the Obama administration when she joined it, kept them secret while being lobbied more heavily than before on the human rights concerns at State, and when caught about the appearance of impropriety with the donations, pointed to the good work done in Haiti. Naturally, the ones protesting the loudest are the Haitians, who think the Clintons have used the island nation as their own personal front company to funnel money. One of the few natural resources the island apparently has is gold in them thar hills. One company gets the permit, and of the seven billion people who populate Earth who could possibly be chosen to join the advisory board, it’s Tony Rodham, Hillary Rodham Clinton’s brother, and all apparently without Hillary Clinton’s knowledge. With the ability to beat the odds like this, you’d think Hillary would skip the presidential aspirations altogether and try and make some real money. I mean, she could totally make a killing betting on cattle futures or something.

Sure glad we can trust her. If she can run this shell game in Haiti for five years, she can totally decide which emails are public and which ones are private, right?

This really isn’t anything new.

One Consequence Of Changes In Immigration Law

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Yesterday the Miami Herald reported on the case of Kesler Dufrene, an illegal immigrant from Haiti who was a twice-convicted felon serving a five-year jail term. When Mr. Dufrene’s sentence was up, he was released from prison rather than deported to his native Haiti because the Obama Administration ordered an indefinite halt of deportations to Haiti after the nation’s devastating earthquake. U.S. authorities could not legally detain Dufrene indefinitely. The story does not have a happy ending.

The article reports:

Instead, when Dufrene’s state prison term was up, Miami immigration authorities in October 2010 released him from custody. Two months later, North Miami police say, he slaughtered three people, including a 15-year-old girl in a murder case that remains as baffling today as it did the afternoon the bodies were discovered.
DNA on a rifle found inside the house and cellphone tracking technology later linked Dufrene to the Jan. 2, 2011, slayings.

Eighteen days after the murders, Mr. Dufrene shot and killed himself when he was cornered by Manatee County sheriff’s deputies in Bradenton after an unrelated break-in and shooting there.

It seems to me that a mistake was made somewhere along the line that resulted in the unnecessary death of three people. We need sanity in our immigration policy. If you are here illegally and you commit a crime, you should be sent home–regardless of where home is.

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