An Appalling International Embarrassment

 https://www.youtube.com/shorts/TcPzvq_ANr4

 

Cornyn threatens to block Trump’s ambassadors over AIDS prevention funding - Live Updates - POLITICO

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) is threatening to sink the ambassador nominations of two high-profile allies of President Donald Trump unless the White House commits to distributing AIDS funding in Africa...

 https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/07/21/congress/cornyn-pepfar-lake-mastriano-nominations-01006984

 

‘A matter of life or death’: the activists confronting Congress about slashing HIV funding

The Trump administration’s new Medicaid rules, issued this month as part of the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act, require millions of low-income Americans to prove they are working, studying or otherwise active for at least 80 hours a month just to keep their health coverage. It’s a paperwork hurdle that could cost 5 million to 10 million people their Medicaid by 2028, the Urban Institute estimates. For the roughly 40% of Americans with HIV who rely on Medicaid at any given time, and the 85% who depend on it at some point in their lives, the new rules could cost them their lives. 

“For people with HIV, that’s a matter of life or death, because if your treatment is interrupted, even for a short time, you can lose viral load suppression,” said Virginia Shubert, a senior policy adviser at Housing Works, the New York City advocacy organization dedicated to ending the HIV/Aids and homelessness crises. “It goes beyond the law, and it’s very cruel.”…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/22/us-hiv-aids-funding-cuts-activism

 

Aid cuts have shaken HIV/Aids care to its core – and will mean millions more infections ahead

Reports highlight devastating impact of slashed funding, especially in parts of Africa, that could lead to 3.3m new HIV infections by 2030…

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/dec/01/global-health-hiv-aids-funding-cuts-infections-prevention

 

Why have evangelical Christians turned their backs on PEPFAR?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUp_oSluMPE

 

‘It’s made up’: Democrats say Rubio isn’t playing it straight about foreign aid cuts - POLITICO

The State Department would not provide data to support the secretary's repeated claim that 85 percent of the US global AIDS program is operational…

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/09/rubio-pepfar-aids-usaid-democrats-00392794 

 

US evangelical groups urge Trump to spare HIV/Aids program from aid cuts

Christian organizations helped create Pepfar, credited with preventing 25m early deaths, particularly in Africa…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/17/hiv-aids-pepfar-christians-trump

US shutdown of HIV/Aids funding ‘could lead to 500,000 deaths in South Africa’

USAid cuts to clinics dispensing antiretroviral drugs will be 'death sentence for mothers and children', expert warns…

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/feb/28/usaid-funding-health-development-hiv-aids-antiretroviral-mothers-lgbt-sex-workers-south-africa

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is crazier than you think

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t2O3MHTRNM

Opinion | I’m a Pro-Life Priest. Anti-Abortion Groups Are Wrong to Oppose PEPFAR. - The New York Times

The debate over PEPFAR kicked off in May when the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, published a report that, without any substantiation, accused PEPFAR of "promoting" abortion. That same report callously referred to H.I.V. as a "lifestyle disease" and framed antiretroviral therapy as a partisan talking point. In doing so, it flouted not only consensus on how to end AIDS but also the Christian teaching that everyone deserves dignity and compassion. In the wake of the Heritage report, some prominent anti-abortion and conservative groups have said they will give negative ratings to elected officials who vote to reauthorize the program in its current iteration...

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/05/opinion/abortion-pepfar.html

Opinion | Partisan Politics Put a Huge Win for Public Health at Risk - The New York Times

Bipartisan support continued through three reauthorizations of the program. That ended this year, when Republicans took over the House with a slim majority that was beholden to the MAGA wing of the party, which has been looking for opportunities to damage any Biden administration priorities. PEPFAR became a target when the Heritage Foundation released a falsehood-ridden report in May saying the administration was using it as a "vehicle to promote its domestic radical social agenda overseas," specifically abortion and L.G.B.T.Q. issues.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/01/opinion/pepfar-abortion-republicans.html

Ron Johnson takes his anti-vaccine rhetoric to a weird new place - The Washington Post

Johnson expressed openness to Callender's idea that maybe the coronavirus vaccines are a conduit for deliberately giving people AIDS...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/05/03/ron-johnson-takes-his-anti-vaccine-rhetoric-weird-new-place/

Fact-checking Trump’s knocks at Obama in his Fox town hall - The Washington Post

Obama left the national stockpile "empty." Obama "did nothing" on AIDS. As usual, Trump's attacks on his predecessor fall short.....
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/05/05/fact-checking-trumps-knocks-obama-his-fox-town-hall/

Trump's Spin on AIDS Epidemic - FactCheck.org

In his campaign rally speeches, President Donald Trump often boasts of his administration’s plan to end the AIDS epidemic in the U.S. in 10 years. It’s true he has proposed funding for that initiative, but he’s wrong to say “the previous administration spent no money” on such efforts. https://www.factcheck.org/2019/10/trumps-spin-on-aids-epidemic/

Trump Said U.S. Is About to Cure Child Cancer, AIDS. Science Suggests Not - Newsweek

During Thursday night's rally in Cincinnati, President Donald Trump elicited a rapturous response from his supporters by claiming the U.S. is about to cure childhood cancer and end the AIDS epidemic. The president provided no evidence to support the assertion, and did not explain how or when he expects these hugely significant milestones to be achieved. ....
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-america-cure-cancer-aids-science-suggests-otherwise-1452263

H.I.V. Is Reported Cured in a Second Patient, a Milestone in the Global AIDS Epidemic - NYTimes

Scientists have long tried to duplicate the procedure that led to the first long-term remission 12 years ago. With the so-called London patient, they seem to have succeeded...
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/04/health/aids-cure-london-patient.html

Trump says he wants to end AIDS. His party’s history tells a different story - The Washington Post: Perspective

The president's State of the Union rhetoric doesn't line up with the record. ...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/02/06/trump-says-he-wants-end-aids-his-partys-history-tells-different-story/

The Trump administration is paying Focus on the Family to stop the AIDS epidemic in South Africa – ThinkProgress

The anti-LGBTQ “church” took federal funds to give purity pledges to South African youths.....

https://thinkprogress.org/focus-on-the-family-south-africa-aids-grant-purity-pledges-ae8ff7ca0815/

Some Republicans are latching onto a dubious new theory about the Australian diplomat who was pivotal to launching the Trump-Russia probe - Business Insider

Alexander Downer, Australia's High Commissioner to the UK. Republicans have gone on the offensive against a top Australian diplomat. On Monday, The Hill reported that Alexander Downer, Australia's top diplomat in the UK, helped secure $25 million in aid for the Clinton Foundation to combat AIDS in Asia. ....
http://www.businessinsider.com/republicans-think-alexander-downer-was-supporting-clinton-2018-3

Here are 6 awful details being omitted from Billy Graham’s fawning obituaries -- Raw Story

Billy Graham, the firebrand evangelical who helped usher in the rise of the evangelical right, is dead at 99. Graham is getting tributes from all corners right now. And he deserves praise for supporting the civil rights movement, supporting Nelson Mandela during his imprisonment and embracing Muhammad Ali during the fall-out of his conversion to Islam. All those good deeds will be covered in great detail today....
https://www.rawstory.com/2018/02/6-awful-details-omitted-billy-grahams-fawning-obituaries/