It’s been almost two months.
The price of eggs has skyrocketed, if they are even available, but the Department of Agriculture has announced that they no longer support the HPAI/H5N1 (bird flu) vaccine for chickens.
The president’s “spiritual advisor,” Robert Morris, has been indicted by the state of Oklahoma for repeatedly abusing a 12-year-old girl.
The U.S. Air Force has removed classes about the Tuskegee Airmen and the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPS), both renowned for their heroic World War II service to our country, from their service academy.
Arlington National Cemetery has removed information about Black, Hispanic and female servicemembers, including numerous Medal of Honor recipients.
The U.S. Army has removed the page about the largely Japanese-American 442nd Regimental Combat Team, one of the most decorated combat units in American history, from their website. The 442nd was awarded 9,486 Purple Hearts and 21 Medals of Honor.
The Secretary of Health and Human Services said in an interview at a fast food restaurant that being infected with measles and eating french fries was healthier than getting a measles vaccine.
The vice president in the Oval Office tried to scold like a child for not saying “thank you,” the man perhaps more thankful for American military aid than anyone in history, and certainly since 1945. President Volodmyr Zelenskyy has said “thank you” to the U.S. literally hundreds of times, including in an address to Congress.
We have entered a pointless will-they-won’t-they-will-they-won’t-they-will-they trade war with our biggest trading partner and closest ally (Canada is the only nation with military forces permanently stationed in the United States). We have threatened them with military occupation, economic force, and repeatedly insulted their prime minister by calling him the “governor of the 51st State.”
We have engaged in repeated military and economic threats against another ally, Denmark, about the self-governing territory of Greenland, and have tried to bully NATO, an alliance which we founded, into letting us take over.
The stock market has tumbled. The Dow Jones is down over 5%. The S&P 500 and NASDAQ are down nearly 10%. The Russell 2000 is down almost 15%. Those indices represent the majority of the American peoples’ retirement savings, mine included, and in two months, billions of dollars of ordinary, middle-class citizens’ wealth has been wiped out.
Lee Zeldin, the EPA Administrator, has announced a massive deregulation effort, including removing limits on mercury and other heavy metals, and smog-causing emissions.
A 10-year old girl, a natural-born United States citizen, undergoing treatment for brain cancer in Houston, Texas, was deported to Mexico, where she will not be able to receive life-saving medical treatment.
The U.S. has disabled the AN/ALQ-131electronic countermeasure (read: radar jammer) pods on the F-16s supplied to Ukraine, including those supplied by European countries such as Belgium and Denmark. These pods are not an offensive weapon, they primarily serve to protect the jet and its pilot, and are already there, in Ukraine’s arsenal, but now cannot be used (note, this action may already have been reversed).
DOGE, the unofficial meme-based agency of unelected Shadow President Elon Musk, has and continues to cut essential programs like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and Veterans’ Administration benefits. Most Alaskans benefit from one or more of these programs, and will be left holding an empty bag if this is not reined in.
DOGE is also trying to close the Alaska Volcano Observatory, which is ill-timed given the heavy activity observed at both Mount Spurr near Anchorage, and Great Sitkin in the Aleutians.
This is just the tip of the iceberg, and all in two months.
These actions aren’t reducing waste, fraud and abuse. These actions aren’t about making the government more efficient or making America safe or healthy or in any way great. These actions are destroying the lives of a great many Americans, and the dignity of our nation.
A recent letter to the editor wrote that “[we] are happy to have President Donald Trump leading our country and Rep. Nick Begich beside him helping to make America great again;” and “[we are] standing up for what is right, what is moral and what is ethical.” I’d like to ask that writer, which of the 15 above items is making America great again? Which of the above is right? Which is moral? Which is ethical?
We are in an unprecedented and deepening crisis, and the way back up is going to be incredibly long and difficult. I pray that the America that will eventually emerge on the other side forgives those of us who have let this happen.
