Things are happening fast.  So fast that the political enemies have no time to respond.  I could have done without finding out where some of our tax dollars have gone.  The list is startling, and goes on and on.  For years we didn’t want to know.  We knew there were evil forces in our government directing money to things we never contemplated.  To hear the list is unbelievable.  Who else knew about all this massive funding of stuff we never heard of?  Somebody knew and was OK with it.

The media is trying desperately to get some disagreement between Trump appointees.  There will be some hurt feelings along the way, no doubt about it.  But its got to be done.  We’ve lived our lives knowing that someday the U. S. would run out of money and credit.  Well now, maybe not.

Trump thinks our debt, huge as it is, is only a drop in the bucket compared to our assets.  He’s no spring chicken when it comes to assets and liabilities.

We can finally sleep at night knowing that geniuses are on the job, and they mean business.  Are you kidding me?  The richest man in the world going after government waste?  He’s cut the lion’s share of the workforce in the businesses he’s acquired, and knows a thing or two about cutting inefficiencies.

I don’t know about Tesla, but everything else he touches turns to gold.  The media is making like he’s going to reap trillions with inside knowledge after auditing (for lack of a better term) the Federal Government.  

On other fronts, who knows.  I never liked Zelensky after I saw a poster advertising his comedy tour in Russia.  I’m not going to describe it.  He made a fool of himself during the televised White House meeting.  Now, who knows?  I have a feeling he promised Ukraine’s minerals to the Brits and is stuck.  We’re hearing that most of the minerals are on lands that the Russians have already taken, so he may be bluffing.  Anyway, he acted like… well, you’ve presumably seen it, so you already know.  

He started in on this diatribe, when he started telling us what we would feel.  That was a mistake.  Trump interrupted saying, “Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel.”  That was when things blew up.  Apparently Zelensky was escorted off the White House grounds, and it served him right.

Cross your arms and talk to president Trump, and all of us, like we owe you something.  That’s how I reacted, and I’m sure there’s room for other reactions.  He’s well practiced at getting Western nations to pony up.  But it didn’t work out too well in the White House.

It’s time to make a deal and stop the slaughter.  Trump is being tough on Putin too.  He promised tariffs that’ll have everybody crying if they don’t stop shooting in Ukraine.  

Trump has warned the terrorists.  They better come up with those hostages quickly, and I’m talking this weekend, or there’s going to be trouble.  Maybe they’ll be the first to call Trump’s bluff.  If that happens I’ll try to sleep through it.  I’ve heard it all, having been in the Middle East many years ago.  These must be the grandchildren of the people I talked to.  They must have been raised in the same system, because they all say the same thing over and over.  “The Jews took our land.”  Somebody’s land always gets taken in war.  You idiots started it!  Sorry.  I don’t have much sympathy.

But the hostages better get released or there’s going to be a reckoning.

Everybody’s on notice.  They’re jumping around all over the world, wondering what they can do to keep their heads down.  If we’re sending them money, it’s about to stop.  You think they’re going to stick their heads up and complain?

Two things are muddying the water right now.  The war in Ukraine and the situation in the Middle East.  The U. S. is in a crazy situation right now, and we need to stop funding these wars.  It’s not like we have direct involvement, but we might get sucked into one of these conflagrations.  I hope, for whoever decides to take Trump on, they won’t.                            

For a long time we thought there wouldn’t be a revival of the United States.  It looks like we were wrong.   

Mark

The post Weekly Update by Mark Armstrong – March 7, 2025  first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

It’s hard not to watch, almost impossible.  Elon Musk is “auditing” agencies, and we’re finding out some things we didn’t know were going on.  Hidden in the massive budget were things that you wouldn’t tell your children.

The Panama Canal is serious. I remember my Dad lamenting that the United States had lost control of this passage.  His contention was that the world’s shipping lanes could be used against us.  But he never saw President Donald Trump coming.  How I wish HWA and GTA could be alive to see what has happened. They never thought we’d make it to 2025, and even I had my doubts.  But now we’re here, and it’s like America is going to have a revival!

Executive orders are coming at such a pace that nobody knows how to respond, or if they do they’re keeping it to themselves.  Who wants to be humiliated by the President?  Ask a dopey question, and he’ll make you look stupid in front of everybody.  You notice, the press conferences are crowded with outlets previously uninvited, and the President takes questions for a long time.

Greenland, the Panama Canal and Gaza?  Does the United States really want to extend it’s jurisdiction to the far reaches?  You never know when he’s serious and when he’s just blowing off steam.  But everything he’s mentioned in his speeches, he’s since doubled down.  All those places that seemed out of reach, he’s brought back to light.  

Now there’s some scandal involving Politico, a name commanding respect among news organizations.  Turns out that tax dollars may have been paying for whatever the media wanted us to believe.  Right now you can’t keep up.  Things are happening fast.  So fast, making the explanation in advance, that the opponents have no time to respond.

At some point Trump is going to have to prove he means business.  I feel sorry for the poor guy who ticks him off that much.  

But they’re going after Elon, scrutinizing his financial contracts with the government, and finding conflict of interest!  Long ago, back in the 80’s when Reagan beat Carter, I was told you want somebody so rich that nothing matters. They don’t need to steal.  My Dad used to say,  “You can only eat one steak at a time.”  

We’re going to be finding out things that make us angry. They’ve been wasting money on a colossal scale, and we’ve known it.  But knowing it and proving it are two different things, and much to our disgust we’re going to get our faces rubbed in the corruption that’s been our government for ages.

There are going to be some tears alright. Some people may go crazy. Executive orders are coming down the pike so fast, nobody knows what to do. Some are screaming bloody murder, and not without reason.  We’re going to find out things we’ve suspected but hoped were not true.

I saw a clip by Senator John Kennedy from Louisiana, and it made me mad.  You can’t believe some of the stuff we’re funding around the world, to the tune of millions of dollars.  If this garbage gets into the public consciousnesses there’s going to be anger.  When we find out all the idiocy they’ve been wasting our money on, we’re not going to like it.  

We’re just finding out about the underground caves.  Apparently, while we’re wondering about AI, they’re storing all the documents, on paper, in a giant underground facility. They ride around on three wheeled tricycles to retrieve documents.  That’s not going to go over very well, in the age of computers.  

The left is losing its collective mind. Some of them thought they had it made, and now they don’t.  If there’s been graft, they’re scared to death. So they’re lashing out. Good luck! 

The rest of the world has taken notice. You can’t rip off the United States any more. We’re finding out our money went to causes we know nothing about, many that we wouldn’t agree with. Millions of dollars we knew nothing about.  

On the international scene, everybody wants to talk with the possible exception of the guys who have their identities covered. There is another deadline coming, and Trump has said all you-know-what is going to come if the agreements are not honored.  

Maybe we’re going to stop supplying the Ukrainians.  Word is that Trump is making agreements with Putin that Zelenskywill have to cover. Ukraine dare not be allowed entrance into NATO.  Zelensky better choke down whatever deal is offered.

There’s no way to keep up with all that is being done. You dare not blink. So far it seems like the things that Dad and Grandpa were talking about are still going to happen, just not now.  I wish they were here to see it. Me? I still can’t believe my eyes!                                    

Mark

The post Weekly Update by Mark Armstrong – February 14, 2024 first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

PARIS (AP) — Economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic has set back decades of progress against the most severe forms of malnutrition and is likely to kill 168,000 children before any global recovery takes hold, according to a study released Monday by 30 international organizations.

The study from the Standing Together for Nutrition Consortium draws on economic and nutrition data gathered this year as well as targeted phone surveys. Saskia Osendarp, who led the research, estimates an additional 11.9 million children — most in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa — will suffer from stunting and wasting, the most severe forms of malnutrition.

Women who are pregnant now “will deliver children who are already malnourished at birth, and these children are disadvantaged from the very start,” said Osendarp, executive director of the Micronutrient Forum. “An entire generation is at stake.”

The fight against malnutrition had been an unheralded global success until the coronavirus pandemic struck.

“It may seem like it’s a problem that is always with us but the numbers were going down prior to COVID,” said Lawrence Haddad, executive director of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition. “Ten years of progress eliminated in 9 to 10 months.”

Before the pandemic, the number of stunted children declined globally each year, from 199.5 million in 2000 to 144 million in 2019. The number of children suffering from wasting stood at 54 million in 2010 and had dropped to 47 million last year. It’s expected to rise again to 2010 levels, according to the study.

The research was released at the start of a year-long effort to raise money against malnutrition. Around $3 billion was announced, though some of that includes prior commitments. Pakistan, which has some of the world’s most widespread malnutrition, pledged to spend $2.2 billion by 2025.

The consortium includes the World Bank, World Food Program, UNICEF, and USAID as well as private health foundations and universities. UNICEF pledged to spend $700 million on nutrition programs annually over the next five years, $224 million more than it has spent over the past five years.

Haddad said the next step is holding governments accountable for their promises, especially those whose citizens suffer the most from malnutrition.

“A lot of hunger is about governance,” he said. He added that the pandemic makes the benefits of nutrition clear because malnutrition leaves the body vulnerable to all kinds of disease, including coronavirus. “Nutrition is everyone’s best bet until the vaccine arrives.”

___

Follow AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

Source: https://apnews.com/article/pandemics-africa-nutrition-coronavirus-pandemic-0e2a17d63163d8558d203b2824a844fe

The post Hunger study predicts 168,000 pandemic-linked child deaths first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.