In 1978, Sweet had a hit with Love Is Like Oxygen. The chorus was simple enough. You get too much, you get too high. Not enough, and you're doing to die. Love makes you high. So does a lot of American dollars sent to NGO's.

Sarah Newey, the global health security correspondent for the Telegraph based in Bangkok, Thailand, filed this report about the first victim of Elon Musk and DOGE's USAID cuts. 

Here's the takeaway.

A 71-year-old woman has died after her oxygen supply was cut off when the United States announced a freeze on aid funding. 

Pe Kha Lau, a refugee from Myanmar living in a displacement camp in neighbouring Thailand, died four days after she was discharged from a USAID-funded healthcare facility operated by the International Rescue Committee (IRC). 

She is thought to be one of the first people to have died as a direct result of Washington’s decision to freeze all funding for aid projects for 90 days. 

Her family told Reuters that she had frequently been sent to hospital in the last three years as she was dependent on a supply of oxygen, but was sent home after the IRC received a “stop-work” order in late January.

There's a lot that can be said about Newey's story here, but honest reportage is not one of those. 

I am sorry about the passing of Ms. Lau. May God grant her peace and eternal rest. It's astounding to me that in a hospital, a place that takes care of people in critical need of care, Thailand could not cover another tank of treatment without the United States taxpayer paying for it. 

But here's where the story gets interesting, and yet doesn't make it into the Telegraph at all. 

Oilfield Rando on X is all over this story, and the truth paints a very different picture. The NGO that was providing the money for the oxygen tank is the International Rescue Committee. They run the clinic Ms. Lau visited to get her oxygen. Here's what you need to know about IRC.

Its president and CEO is David Miliband, a former Labour Party member of British Parliament who was in leadership, serving as Defence minister for a time. Being an NGO, they have to file 990 disclosure forms, which include the salaries of all senior officers. Mr. Miliband is bringing down, depending on the year, between $1.1 and $1.2 million dollars annually. The rest of the 11 named officers? None make less than $283,000 and range up to $440,000. 

Also, from their 990 submission, for the tax year 2021, the most recent data posted online, this was their financial status - a little over $1.3 billion in revenue, including $728.3 million in government grants. In 2021, they had $527 million in assets, $210 million of it in cash, and $119 million in securities. And yet we're led to believe by the Telegraph that this woman's death is on Elon Musk and Donald Trump's hands because she was literally starved of oxygen to save a buck or two. The cost of an oxygen tank for personal consumption? Between $75 and $150 dollars. 

So what have we gotten for the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on a former Labour MP's charity? Antisemitism and a push for allowing more illegal immigration into the United States.

From their Administration's Assessment of Israel Under National Security Memorandum 20, 

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is deeply disappointed by the Biden Administration’s National Security Memorandum 20 assessment that the Israeli government is not restricting humanitarian assistance. This ignores the core concerns and experience of over 20 humanitarian organizations operating on the ground in Gaza. 

The U.S. conclusion is based on the assertion that aid flows have substantially increased in recent weeks. Yet in the past month, an average of 200 aid trucks per day entered Gaza – more than 60% lower than the pre-October level. During that same period, more than one in three requested aid missions to northern Gaza – where famine is imminent – were denied or impeded by Israeli authorities, preventing onward distribution of aid to all people in need. In recent days, as Israel began a military incursion into part of Rafah, no aid has been allowed to enter through either of the two crossings into Rafah despite worsening needs inside. 

The report finds that U.S.-origin Israeli systems are “likely to have been involved in incidents that raise concerns about Israel’s IHL compliance”. The report also notes it is “reasonable to assess that defense articles covered under NSM-20 have been used by Israeli security forces since October 7 in instances inconsistent with its IHL obligations or with established best practices for mitigating civilian harm.” The IRC urges the Biden administration to heed its own findings and immediately cease the transfer of arms to Israel which risk being used to commit violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza.

No concern whatsoever about the cause of the calamity in Gaza. No recognition that Hamas launched a mini-holocaust on Israel. Just a charity group taking hundreds of millions from us and sniping at the Biden administration for being "too pro-Israel". Imagine what they think of this administration. 

From Oilfield Rando's blog, here is the work IRC has done on behalf of illegal aliens worldwide trying to get into the United States.

According to USAspending, grants to the organization since 2021 include: 

* $167.5 million for refugee placement and reception services, including $55.6 million for resettling refugees from Afghanistan 

* $110.7 million for “Preferred Communities Program” assistance (refugee aid program established in the 1990’s by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, includes one year of comprehensive assistance 

* $77.9 million for the Voluntary Agencies Matching Program (refugee employment assistance program) 

* $32.4 million for processing refugees in foreign countries into the United States 

* $16.1 million for various assistance programs for refugees admitted to the United States 

* $13.9 million for assistance to Unaccompanied Minors $8.8 million to assist asylum seekers in Central/South America, with $5.8 million targeting Venezuelans.

Dozens of grants from multiple federal agencies, including the Department of States. Hundreds of millions of dollars, just in the last four years. And Miliband can't cover a $75 dollar oxygen tank for Meemaw in Thailand. 

Elon Musk is doing the Lord's work. This grift has to stop. It has to.