Stefanik has work cut out explaining why we don't care
Democrats talk about slowing down election to choose Stefanik replacement
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Rep. Elise Stefanik was moved to tears by the outpouring of love and affection Saturday morning as she embarked on a three-stop farewell tour through Schuylerville, Plattsburgh and Ogdensburg.
Imagine the emotions if she had bothered to tell anyone about the event.
But that's Stefanik, she's shy except when there is someone to attack on television.
State Sen. Tedisco, who previously had a reputation as a straight shooter, became the latest suck-up to the Stefanik train by kicking off her 2028 presidential campaign.
“Listen, in four more years, I’ve got a feeling that congresswoman, and now ambassador of the United States, is going to make history once again,” the Ballston Spa Republican said as reported by the Times Union. “The first Republican, conservative woman in the Oval Office.”
The Times Union reported there was much applause.
Stefanik cited the close relationships she had with so many of her constituents and how "deeply" she had gotten to know so many of them over the past 10 years, even though she had stopped holding town hall meetings and announcing public events.
I was reminded of her close, personal relationship with the North Country Deplorables during the summer of 2019 when they turned downtown Glens Falls into a war zone with ugly counter protests against liberals. Stefanik rewarded their violent behavior by inviting them to her town hall meeting in Kingsbury.
Stefanik should be confirmed as U.N. Ambassador by a full vote of the Senate this week - unless Republicans believe they need her vote in Congress - because despite her shortcomings in helping North Country residents - honestly, what did she do that her predecessors had not done - she may be the least controversial of all Trump's nominees.
Her presence at the U.N. would allow her to get to work explaining to the world why we will no longer provide humanitarian aid.
President Trump, with the aid of his right-hand man Elon Musk, has stopped all aid
flowing to poverty-stricken countries around the world before Secretary of State Marco Rubio stepped in to say that the State Department would handle take over, but no one seems to know what will be funded or for how long.
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has been taken over by Musk. He tweeted over the weekend, “USAID is a criminal organization. Time for it to die.”
As ambassador to the United Nations, it will be Stefanik's job to explain why these actions were taken. The New York Times reported Monday, "Lifesaving health initiatives and medical research projects have shut down around the world in response to the Trump administration’s 90-day pause on foreign aid and stop-work orders."
Consider the specifics:
- In Uganda, the National Malaria Control Program has suspended spraying insecticide into village homes and ceased shipments of bed nets for distribution to pregnant women and young children.
- Medical supplies, including drugs to stop hemorrhages in pregnant women and rehydration salts that treat life-threatening diarrhea in toddlers, cannot reach villages in Zambia because the trucking companies transporting them were paid through USAID.
- Dozens of clinical trials in South Asia, Africa and Latin America have been suspended.
And those claims by the president that $50 million was spent on condoms for Hamas, well, not surprisingly that is not true.
I'm waiting for Madam Ambassador's response.
Like it or not, the reason the United States of America has been a beacon of hope to the rest of the world is because of our generosity and willingness to give third-world countries a helping hand.
It hasn't always worked out, but we continue to make an effort to help others instead of using our wealth and power to become an empire.
The U.S. Agency for International Development is another one of those government entities you did not know anything about. It was established by Congress - not the Deep State if you think that is a thing - in 1961 to coordinate foreign aid programs by focusing on long-term socioeconomic development to help get small countries to be able to take care of themselves. Its budget is $50 billion, but for context that is less than 1 percent of the U.S. annual budget. Surely, we are rich enough to give that much to charity.
Here is what has happened since the USAID was frozen by Trump as reported by the New York Times this weekend:
- In famine-stricken Sudan, soup kitchens that feed over 800,000 civilians trapped in a war zone have shut down.
- In Thailand, war refugees with life-threatening diseases have been turned away by hospitals.
- In Ukraine, residents on the frontline of the war with Russia are living without heat in the middle of January.
-In Cambodia, officials worry a halt in funding will set back their chances of eradicating malaria.
- In Nepal, a $72 million program to reduce malnutrition has been suspended.
- In South Africa and Haiti, officials and aid workers worry that hundreds of thousands could die if support for an American program to fight H.I.V' and AIDS is stopped.
Consider this one quote from reporting by the New York Times:
“It feels like one easy decision by the U.S. president is quietly killing so many lives,” said Saw Nah Pha, a tuberculosis patient who said he was told to leave a U.S.-funded hospital in the Mae La refugee camp, the largest refugee camp on the Thai-Myanmar border.
Admit it, many of you couldn't find some of these countries on a map and maybe you think that money could be better spent here at home, but isn't part of our responsibility in being the richest country in the world to help others.
As U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Elise Stefanik is now in a position to save lives and stop suffering.
What will she do?
The United Nations Population Fund is the U.N.’s sexual and reproductive health agency. It was reported this weekend that because of the funding freeze, maternal and mental health services to millions of women in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Gaza, Ukraine, and other places had been disrupted or eliminated.
Surely as a woman and a mother that will have an impact on Stefanik.
After all, the fact that she was moved to tears on her farewell tour shows there is a heart in there somewhere.
Right? Right?
Stefanik future
If Stefanik is confirmed as expected this week, the Democrats have been plotting in Albany to postpone a special election for her replacement.
There is precedent in Florida where Gov. Ron DeSantis has repeatedly held open seats in Democratic-leaning districts for months without calling a special election while quickly filling Republican-held seats.
Democrats want Gov. Kathy Hochul to do the same with Stefanik's seat.
Hochul is required to call a special election at least 10 days after Stefanik resigns.
Democrats in the State Legislature may grant the governor an exception to wait as late as June when the state holds primary elections or even the general election in November.
That would leave Republicans in Washington with a 217-215 edge in the House of Representatives.
Republicans have countered saying they might push back Stefanik's confirmation if that happens.
That would give her plenty of time for another farewell tour of the North Country.
Support Local Theater
The Adirondack Theater Festival will hold its big fundraiser Saturday night at Heritage Hall in the Cool Insuring Arena.
It will be having a Las Vegas-themed night complete with gambling.
More importantly, the fundraiser is there to ensure that live theater thrives in Glens Falls during the summer. ATF will announce its lineup for summer shows Saturday.
It's always a great evening of entertainment and I'm flying back just for this event. Hope to see you there.
Opening Night
They had a "Opening Night" Super Bowl party at the Superdome Monday night. This was the traditional day when sportswriters get to talk to the players before the big game Sunday. They had 11 different players sitting in booths down on the field holding their own press conferences.
The Eagles took the field at 8 p.m and the Chiefs at 9:15.
Sorry, no sign of Taylor Swift, although she did play the Superdome for three nights back in November.
If you tapped into the special NFL app during the interviews, you could hear what each player was saying.
I listened to former Giant Saquon Barkley. And while I can't root for the Eagles in the Super Bowl - too much bad blood with the Giants - I am hoping that Barkley does well. Letting Barkley sign with the Eagles was one of the worst front office blunders I have ever seen in the NFL.
The "Opening Night" event allowed anyone - and lots of families - to be part of the Super Bowl festivities since most can't afford thousands of dollars for tickets.
There is also a Super Bowl parade in the French Quarter on Saturday.
It was a fun evening and a necessary diversion from what is happening in Washington.
EPA shows
I mentioned in Tuesday's story about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau "pausing" two cases in the Fifth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals in New Orleans because of its change in leadership.
I visited court again Tuesday morning and was happy to see that EPA lawyers had showed up for its appointment with the state of Texas.
That hearing went on as scheduled. Apparently Lee Zeldin has not imposed any such pause since he took over the Environmental Protection Agency last week.
Tariff deal
The comment on the Adirondack Explorer website - where they had reprinted by Front Page entry on tariffs - pointed out that Canada had already caved in to Trump's demands.
The reality was far different.
What was agreed to was a 30-day pause in tariffs and there actually were no concessions by Mexico or Canada. Both agreed to things they already agreed to do during the Biden administration.
“Any news outlet reporting Mexico conceded anything to Trump to get him to delay tariffs has not done its homework,"Catherine of the Washington Post commented. "Trump boasts he got Mexico to commit to stationing 10K troops at our border. Apparently he didn’t realize Mexico already has 15K troops deployed there[.]”
Mexico also got a concession from Trump that the president did not mention. The U.S. committed to sopping the flow of guns into Mexico that eventually end up in Cartel hands.
On the northern border, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau agreed to appoint a border czar and to implement a $1.3 billion border plan. The reality was that Canada had announced that plan back in December.
Ken Tingley spent more than four decades working in small community newspapers in upstate New York. Since retirement in 2020 he has written three books and is currently adapting his second book "The Last American Newspaper" into a play. He currently lives in Queensbury, N.Y.
My dad worked for USAID in the 60’s in the Indian subcontinent with a team of educators. The important impact these US programs had on our reputation as a beacon of democracy and an aspirational model to struggling, new countries was obvious. But equally significant was the impact on we Americans abroad, living in completely different cultures, learning an appreciation for what we had at home, but also learning that ‘our way’ isn’t always the only way. I doubt Stefanik will bring that important humility and humanity to her role representing us to the rest of the world.
Where is the Musk Cancer Wing? Where is the Zuckerberg Center For Childhood Illness, Where id the Bezos Wing of a college library? Why we don't see the ridiculous need for more by these folks as a disease that should be treated in a secure facility is beyond me. Aid for the starving? Not my problem, Help wipe out disease? , nah, cost too much. The lack of understanding is exceeded only by the lack of empathy. I don't know how to face this current destruction off all that makes us the richest nation ever and based on lies. 50 mill for condoms for Hamas? They are eating the cats.