The French influence in Africa is crumbling in front of our eyes. After a long impasse with the Coup junta in Niger, President Emmanuel Macron announced that France is leaving the West African nation, diplomatically and militarily.

Associated Press reported:

“President Emmanuel Macron announced Sunday that France will end its military presence in Niger and pull its ambassador out of the country after its democratically elected president was deposed in a coup.

The announcement is a significant, if predicted, blow to France’s policy in Africa, after French troops pulled out of neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso in recent years after coups there. France had stationed thousands of troops in the region at the request of African leaders to fight jihadist groups.”

France has maintained some 1,500 troops in its former colony of Niger, even though, since the July coup, they had repeatedly refused orders by the new junta for its ambassador to leave.

Macron has expressed that France didn’t recognize the coup leaders as legitimate.

“In an interview with France-2 television, Macron said that he spoke Sunday to ousted President Mohamed Bazoum, and told him that ‘France has decided to bring back its ambassador, and in the coming hours our ambassador and several diplomats will return to France’.

He added, ‘And we will put an end to our military cooperation with the Niger authorities.” He said the troops would be gradually pulled out, likely by the end of the year’.”

He made a point of reminding everyone that France’s military presence in Niger was in response to a request from Niger’s government.

The move deals a tremendous blow to France’s influence in the region, while Macron said France would ‘not be held hostage by the putschists’.

He has time and again argued that he still regarded Bazoum, currently held prisoner by the coup leaders, as the country’s legitimate leader.

BBC reported:

“Mr Macron’s statement also comes hours after Niger’s coup leaders banned ‘French aircraft’ from flying over the country.

The regional air safety organization, ASECNA, said that Niger’s airspace was open to all national and international commercial flights except for French aircraft or aircraft chartered by France including those of the airline Air France.

The air space would remain closed for ‘all military, operational and other special flights’, unless receiving prior authorization, the message said.

Air France told the AFP news agency simply that it was ‘not flying over Niger airspace’.”

Read more about Niger:

DEVELOPING: French Ambassador to Niger Held Hostage in Embassy

The post MACRON FOLDS: France Withdraws Diplomatic Presence in Niger – Security Agreement Is Also Over, and French Military Troops to Depart in the Next Few Months appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

The Biden Regime never seems to get anything right. Biden foolishly squandered $800,000 on a “Harm Reduction” program in Texas. Translation: free crack pipes are given out to addicts to enable their ongoing addiction.

Since last year, the Department of Health and Human Services has been handing out “smoke kits.”

The Dallas Express reported:

The Biden administration’s “harm reduction” program funds a Texas organization that distributes crack pipes, possibly violating state law, according to an investigation by The Dallas Express.

Since last year, the El Paso Alliance has received nearly $800,000 from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of the nation’s first federal harm reduction program. The group distributes “smoke kits” to drug addicts and told a reporter from The Dallas Express that such kits include a “small, cylinder glass.”

The distribution and possession of drug paraphernalia in Texas is banned under Health and Safety Code 481.002(17).

“A person commits an offense if the person knowingly or intentionally uses or possesses with intent to use drug paraphernalia … to inject, ingest, inhale, or otherwise introduce into the human body a controlled substance in violation of this chapter,” the law reads.

So even though Texas law banned drug paraphernalia, the Biden Regime is still handing out these kits to addicts. Instead of getting the addicts the help they need to get clean, they instead provide them free and clean pipes to smoke themselves into a stupor. Typical leftist solutions designed to keep people trapped in their vice.

The El Paso Alliance, which is the recipient of these Federal Funds, did not comment on whether or not they use the funds on the smoke kits.

In addition to that, the El Paso Police Department did not comment on whether or not they are making exceptions to the law for the El Paso Alliance.

In early 2022 when the program started, numerous news agencies in the mainstream media came to the defense of the Biden Regime. Even Jen Psaki called it a “Conspiracy Theory.”

The Washington Free Beacon went to five different cities to request “safe smoking kits” funded by the Biden Regime’s harm reduction grant program.

The Biden Regime has repeatedly denied free crack pipes are included in the smoking kits.

Psaki previously said crack pipes were ‘never part of the kit’ and blamed it on ‘inaccurate reporting.’

The Free Beacon obtained five safe smoking kits from harm reduction organizations and they all included crack pipes.

The Free Beacon’s findings not only prove Psaki is a liar, they also contradict the left-wing ‘fact-checkers’ who also claimed crack pipes were not included in the kits.

The post Biden Regime Spends $800,000 On “Harm Reduction” Program That Distributes Crack Pipes In Texas appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.