Condoms to the Taliban! (Or Was It Hamas?)

Once again, I am in receipt of a communications from my not-so-esteemed Congressional Reprsentative, Robert Aderholt of the 4th district of Alabama.

Actualy, Representative Aderholt was responding to a phone call from my wife.  She was expressing concerns of some of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) actions. One of her concerns was the cancellations of funds going to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and foreign aid through the State Department.

The respresentative's letter to her listed a litany of MAGA/DOGE talking points.  No surprise there.

It was the conclusion about USAID that caused me to pay particular attention.

Representative Aderholt cited a statement by Representative Brian Mast, Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which concerned waste, fraud, and abuse by the agency.  The list included:

• $15 million for condoms for the Taliban through USAID.  (The White Huse Press Secretary had it for Hamas, but details don't matter do they?)

Now let's think critically about that for a minute.  Is it likely that the oh-so-forward-thinking Taliban are even interested in family planning, especially family planning where the male has responsibility?  That leftist pinko publication Forbes refuted this and other silly claims in Forbes.  There have been disbursements to the International Medical Corps that provides aid to victims of war, totaling more than $100 million, in which “family planning programming,” including contraceptives, were included, which is typical for aid packages to developing countries, the Associated Press reported.  In the last three years, there have been no disbursements for condoms to any countries in the Middle East.

(Man, this fact checking can be exhausting!)

Other equally suspect items on the list:

• $1 million to boost French LGBTQ in west and central Africa through the State Department.
• $20,600 for a drag show in Ecuador through the State Department.
• $446,700 to promote the expansion of atheism in Nepal through the State Department.

From Newsweek:  The source for his claim is likely the U.S. government proposal from April 2021, which offered funding to help overseas groups "combat discrimination, harassment and abuses against atheist, humanist, non-practicing and non-affiliated individuals of all religious communities."

Read in detail, the proposal from the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) is an offer to fund these groups so they may practice their views with safety and support—much like American citizens do under the guarantees of the U.S. Constitution.

The money, to be used over an 18 to 30 month period, was made available to groups and organizations in South/Central Asia and Middle East/North Africa (excluding Libya, Syria, and Yemen) only.

Not exactly the same as "promoting" atheism, is it?  It's more like we're promoting the spirit of the establishment clause of the First Amendment.

The point I guess is we have a department of the government, Treasury, making misleading statements to Congress and Congress (two of the representatives) simply repeating those statements.  Joseph Goebbels couldn't do it any better.

Oh, and Representative Aderholt proudly tells us that he has joined the DOGE caucus.  It's all very cringe worthy.