#Listening to a podcast of Thai jazz-funk dummer Salin and her band, doing a live-to-air on KEXP;

https://omny.fm/shows/kexp-live-performances-podcast/salin-performance-interview-only

This is great organic dance music, reminiscent of the collective who did the original Cowboy Bebop soundtrack. It's fast, fresh, fidgety, fun, upbeat, and not all the appropriate thing to be listening to this close to the witching hour. But I have a podcast to finish and post ...

#podcasts#KEXP#KEXPLive #music #world #jazz #funk#Salin

Evening Reflection: In just a few days, it will be BSD Cafe's second birthday. Two years ago, I never anticipated what would follow. What was once a dream - this kind of community - has transformed into a reality. I set the table, but the Cafe isn't just me; it's all of you.
It's the Fediverse, it's Matrix, it's a group of people who want to communicate, who want positivity, who want to grow, who have a passion and an interest. This morning, I announced the Journal, and the enthusiasm shown was comparable. And that, for me, was a gift.

Even though it's not yet Tuesday here, it already is in many places. While I might sound repetitive, I feel compelled to dedicate this #ThankYouTuesday to you all: friends of BSD Cafe (both in and outside the cafe), of the Fediverse, of Matrix, of every communication channel.
Because FREE communication channels are tools, and they are merely extensions of people.

Wonderful people, who make the world a little less bleak.

Thank you.

#ThankYou#BSDCafe#Fediverse#World

"here in West Africa, the heavy metal doors of a warehouse creak open. Inside are boxes piled high with millions of doses of medicines donated by Merck and other pharmaceutical companies for a #UnitedStates aid program. Yet the medications are gathering dust, and some are approaching their expiration dates and may have to be destroyed, at immense expense.

this waste of drugs exists only because [Trump's] administration shut down #USAID"

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/21/opinion/waste-musk-trump.html

#Trump#USPol #News#World#USA

"CHILDREN ARE DYING because medicines have been abruptly cut off, & risks of Ebola, tuberculosis & other diseases reaching #America are increasing — while medicines sit uselessly in warehouses.

After #ElonMusk boasted about feeding #USAID “into the wood chipper” over a weekend, he claimed that no one had died as a result...

Come with me on a trip to the villages where your aid cuts are killing #children. Open your eyes."

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/21/opinion/waste-musk-trump.html

#Musk#Trump#USPol#Politics#Health#World

Text from article:
I’ve been traveling through Sierra Leone and Liberia to gauge the impact of Trump’s closing of U.S.A.I.D., to see how bad things have gotten since an earlier trip through South Sudan and Kenya. Here’s what I see: Children are dying because medicines have been abruptly cut off, and risks of Ebola, tuberculosis and other diseases reaching America are increasing — while medicines sit uselessly in warehouses.

After Elon Musk boasted about feeding U.S.A.I.D. “into the wood chipper” over a weekend, he claimed that no one had died as a result. Secretary of State Marco Rubio repeated that claim just last month.

So I challenge them both: Come with me on a trip to the villages where your aid cuts are killing children. Open your eyes. And if you dare to confront actual waste and abuse — the kind that squanders lives as well as money — join me in the village of Kayata, Liberia,
Text from article: I’ve been traveling through Sierra Leone and Liberia to gauge the impact of Trump’s closing of U.S.A.I.D., to see how bad things have gotten since an earlier trip through South Sudan and Kenya. Here’s what I see: Children are dying because medicines have been abruptly cut off, and risks of Ebola, tuberculosis and other diseases reaching America are increasing — while medicines sit uselessly in warehouses. After Elon Musk boasted about feeding U.S.A.I.D. “into the wood chipper” over a weekend, he claimed that no one had died as a result. Secretary of State Marco Rubio repeated that claim just last month. So I challenge them both: Come with me on a trip to the villages where your aid cuts are killing children. Open your eyes. And if you dare to confront actual waste and abuse — the kind that squanders lives as well as money — join me in the village of Kayata, Liberia,

"One of the most dangerous things a woman can do in a poor country is get pregnant. The Guttmacher Institute estimates that #American assistance has prevented some 34,000 maternal deaths per year around the world. That suggests that ending such aid may lead #women to perish in pregnancy approximately once every 15 minutes."
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/21/opinion/waste-musk-trump.html

#ElonMusk#Musk #Doge#Trump#GOP#USPol#Politics#USAID#Health#Healthcare#World #News#US#USA

Text from article:
So when I hear glib talk about waste and abuse in U.S.A.I.D., I think of how we American taxpayers purchased ambulances for Liberia at a cost of more than $50,000 each and then abruptly cut off gasoline funds, leaving a young mom to bleed to death.

Freeman is buried in an unmarked grave on the edge of the forest. Her two daughters, ages 3 and 6, weep for their mother. “The three of us sit together and cry,” said Freeman’s younger sister, Annie.

One of the most dangerous things a woman can do in a poor country is get pregnant. The Guttmacher Institute estimates that American assistance has prevented some 34,000 maternal deaths per year around the world. That suggests that ending such aid may lead women to perish in pregnancy approximately once every 15 minutes.
Text from article: So when I hear glib talk about waste and abuse in U.S.A.I.D., I think of how we American taxpayers purchased ambulances for Liberia at a cost of more than $50,000 each and then abruptly cut off gasoline funds, leaving a young mom to bleed to death. Freeman is buried in an unmarked grave on the edge of the forest. Her two daughters, ages 3 and 6, weep for their mother. “The three of us sit together and cry,” said Freeman’s younger sister, Annie. One of the most dangerous things a woman can do in a poor country is get pregnant. The Guttmacher Institute estimates that American assistance has prevented some 34,000 maternal deaths per year around the world. That suggests that ending such aid may lead women to perish in pregnancy approximately once every 15 minutes.

"Each tax dollar invested in mass administration of drugs like these leverages $26 in donated medicines, making the effort astoundingly cost-effective. One of the medications languishing in this warehouse is sufficient to protect 7.6 million #children & adults from a parasitic disease called river blindness. Other donated medicines... would rid more than 2 million children of worms, plus protect 1.4 million kids from a debilitating parasitic ailment called schistosomiasis"

#Musk #News#Health

Text from article:
It’s an excellent example of the waste that President Trump claims was rife in the United States Agency for International Development. (“Absolutely obscene,” as he put it in February.) But this waste of drugs exists only because his administration shut down U.S.A.I.D. and canceled plans to distribute these medicines, even though the pills cost America nothing and are ready to use.

Each tax dollar invested in mass administration of drugs like these leverages $26 in donated medicines, making the effort astoundingly cost-effective. One of the medications languishing in this warehouse is sufficient to protect 7.6 million children and adults from a parasitic disease called river blindness. Other donated medicines in the warehouse would rid more than two million children of worms, plus protect 1.4 million kids from a debilitating parasitic ailment called schistosomiasis that causes pain, weakness and bloody urine.

These medicines also have the side benefit of protecting against worms that cause elephantiasis, a disfiguring and humiliating ailment.

“People come to ask for these drugs,” Tamba Koroma, the warehouse’s watchman, told me. “We tell them we can’t distribute them.”
Text from article: It’s an excellent example of the waste that President Trump claims was rife in the United States Agency for International Development. (“Absolutely obscene,” as he put it in February.) But this waste of drugs exists only because his administration shut down U.S.A.I.D. and canceled plans to distribute these medicines, even though the pills cost America nothing and are ready to use. Each tax dollar invested in mass administration of drugs like these leverages $26 in donated medicines, making the effort astoundingly cost-effective. One of the medications languishing in this warehouse is sufficient to protect 7.6 million children and adults from a parasitic disease called river blindness. Other donated medicines in the warehouse would rid more than two million children of worms, plus protect 1.4 million kids from a debilitating parasitic ailment called schistosomiasis that causes pain, weakness and bloody urine. These medicines also have the side benefit of protecting against worms that cause elephantiasis, a disfiguring and humiliating ailment. “People come to ask for these drugs,” Tamba Koroma, the warehouse’s watchman, told me. “We tell them we can’t distribute them.”

"CHILDREN ARE DYING because medicines have been abruptly cut off, & risks of Ebola, tuberculosis & other diseases reaching #America are increasing — while medicines sit uselessly in warehouses.

After #ElonMusk boasted about feeding #USAID “into the wood chipper” over a weekend, he claimed that no one had died as a result...

Come with me on a trip to the villages where your aid cuts are killing #children. Open your eyes."

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/21/opinion/waste-musk-trump.html

#Musk#Trump#USPol#Politics#Health#World

Text from article:
I’ve been traveling through Sierra Leone and Liberia to gauge the impact of Trump’s closing of U.S.A.I.D., to see how bad things have gotten since an earlier trip through South Sudan and Kenya. Here’s what I see: Children are dying because medicines have been abruptly cut off, and risks of Ebola, tuberculosis and other diseases reaching America are increasing — while medicines sit uselessly in warehouses.

After Elon Musk boasted about feeding U.S.A.I.D. “into the wood chipper” over a weekend, he claimed that no one had died as a result. Secretary of State Marco Rubio repeated that claim just last month.

So I challenge them both: Come with me on a trip to the villages where your aid cuts are killing children. Open your eyes. And if you dare to confront actual waste and abuse — the kind that squanders lives as well as money — join me in the village of Kayata, Liberia,
Text from article: I’ve been traveling through Sierra Leone and Liberia to gauge the impact of Trump’s closing of U.S.A.I.D., to see how bad things have gotten since an earlier trip through South Sudan and Kenya. Here’s what I see: Children are dying because medicines have been abruptly cut off, and risks of Ebola, tuberculosis and other diseases reaching America are increasing — while medicines sit uselessly in warehouses. After Elon Musk boasted about feeding U.S.A.I.D. “into the wood chipper” over a weekend, he claimed that no one had died as a result. Secretary of State Marco Rubio repeated that claim just last month. So I challenge them both: Come with me on a trip to the villages where your aid cuts are killing children. Open your eyes. And if you dare to confront actual waste and abuse — the kind that squanders lives as well as money — join me in the village of Kayata, Liberia,