The Destruction of Our Military

Posted: July 23, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

 Pvt. Isabella Gonzales; 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan; Sgt. Angel Rampersad; Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton. The latest Americans killed in combat in the Middle East.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is the least qualified person to lead the military since the creation of that position and it shows. He first came to Trump’s attention as a Fox News weekend host who advocated for the pardoning of three convicted or indicted war criminals. Trump obliged Hegseth’s request opining that “You know, we teach them how to be great fighters, and then when they fight sometimes they get really treated very unfairly.” Perhaps in his mind the convicted felon president thought that he was providing a lift to the morale of the military members. In fact, he was undermining the discipline and spirit of our warfighters. The actions of the three individuals pardoned were reported by uniformed personnel in their own units that saw what happened and knew it was wrong. Thus, the beginning of the demise of our professional military. It continues today on many fronts, not the least of which is Trump’s War in the Middle East.

There is so much un-American activity afoot under this administration that it is difficult to know what to worry about and where to focus. To me, it is incredibly dispiriting. Whether Trump is embarrassing us at the World Cup, stealing Venezuelan oil, putting a fifty percent tariff on Canada for invading our country with wildfire smoke or using his Truth Social account to sell information for insider trading to other members of the Epstein Class, the level of disregard for traditional American values, ethics and morality is truly astounding. One thing is clear however, Trump and his hand-picked flunky in the Pentagon are driving our much admired and truly spectacular Armed Forces into dangerous territory. Put plainly, Trump’s War against Iran is not going well. Additionally, Hegseth is systematically replacing respected senior officers that have real world experience with officers that seem to be chosen for their allegiance to Trump and Hegseth. Some top ranking officials have been fired, others have resigned, presumably because they did not agree with the direction that Hegseth was taking the institution.

So far, over two dozen generals and admirals have been fired. Additionally, one of the true institutions run as a meritocracy has been poisoned by Hegseth’s involvement in promotions for senior officers. Traditionally, the Secretary of Defense does not interfere with the selection process unless some new information comes to light after the selection boards make their choices — such as criminality or other major disqualifying activities. Hegseth routinely strikes officers from the list. Media accounts report that sixty percent of those taken off of the lists were women or minorities. For the first time in over a decade, no woman will be promoted to admiral in the U.S. Navy. All were de-listed by Hegseth. These actions have a direct impact on readiness, morale, and the stability of the force. Women and minorities are being shown that their service does not count. The message is simple. Pete Hegseth does not want you in his military. No matter how hard you work or the experience you have demonstrated in the most demanding of circumstances, you will not be rewarded with a leadership position. Go home.

Hegseth is, however, apparently in favor of gender affirming care. He announced that all service members aged thirty or over must undergo annual testing for “testosterone deficiency.” If the results are too low, testosterone treatments are available so that the troops can operate at their “absolute best.” Apparently, Hegseth wants to fire up his “warriors.” It is also part of his response to the “manosphere” that touts macho, macho men. I am not a physician, but I do understand that in some cases testosterone treatments are medically recommended. But for the whole force? It also does not take a physician to know that the process for testing for testosterone deficiency is spread over time as testosterone levels vary based on a number of daily factors. A quick look on the internet also reveals that treatment can have dangerous side effects such as blood clots, increased cardiovascular problems, accelerated prostrate cancer, mood swings and increased irritability, to name a few.

Hegseth began his tenure in the Pentagon’s top spot by giving away sensitive military operational details classified “SECRET” over a “Signal” group chat using his personal device. Included in the chat, by accident, was the civilian editor for the The Atlantic magazine. The information included the specifics of a pending attack by U.S. forces. He did a similar group chat on a commercial app with his wife, brother and personal lawyer, none of whom had any clearances for classified information. His leadership skills were evidenced by his lying about the whole thing and claiming that it was a “media smear.” Thankfully, the mission went off without any Americans killed or wounded.

Meanwhile, our troops are fighting in the Middle East and Trump and Hegseth continue to lie about the course of the war and the impact that it is having on our troops, our economy, and the people that live in the region. Until today, the Defense Department had not given a press briefing on the war since early May. Sadly, our troops are now under fire daily. Eighteen have died and almost 500 have been wounded, that we know about. We get more information from foreign sources and foreign media, including verified commercial satellite imagery used by the New York Times, than we do from our own government. That imagery shows wide-spread damage to U.S. bases and equipment throughout the region. Iranian strikes have hit Kuwait and the King Faisal Air Base in Jordan. Yesterday Iran hit Bahrain, homeport to the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet and launched the first ever Iranian ballistic missile to hit Saudi Arabia. Media reports indicate that the U.S. is departing some bases in the Persian Gulf region and consolidating forces in Israel to receive protection from drones and ballistic missiles under the Israeli Iron Dome air defense system. Hegseth confirmed to Congress this week that Russia and China are aiding the Iranians with new weapons systems and providing targeting data from their satellites. Yet, we take no action to pressure them to stop. Indeed, Trump calls their leaders good friends and openly admires them.

Meanwhile, the Iranians continue to control the Strait of Hormuz which is shutdown for all practical purposes. The Houthi forces in Yemen, under the encouragement of Iran, are threatening shipping in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait which is the southern exit from the Red Sea. Several tankers have already turned around rather than run that gauntlet. A barrel of oil is back over 100 dollars.

All is not well despite the stream of lies coming from the administration. I do not put that on the backs of our forces in theater. I put it directly on the backs of the leadership in Washington D.C. who have yet to articulate a strategy for winning the war. Bullying and bluffs from Trump do not get the job done. The Iranians are willing to wait out the barrage. They have nowhere to go. Modifying an old Afghan proverb, the Iranians believe that “the U.S. has the watch, we have the time.” They will wait us out. Persia has been an entity for centuries. They are not going to just go away.

Trump continues to express his lack of knowledge about military operations. He thinks he knows the language of war but he does not, and apparently he does not care to understand it. Worse, he has no respect for those serving in uniform. Before the dignified transfer ceremony yesterday at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, a very solemn occasion honoring the return of the four soldiers killed in action, he told reporters before hand that “all of them said very strongly, we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon.” He honors them by putting political statements into the mouths of deceased warriors. This comes after his social media posts this week where he compares the eighteen military members lost in the Gulf so far to those of previous wars.

He is proud, as he said, that there are “only” eighteen dead in the Iran War. Only. I am sure that gives great solace to the families and friends of those killed in action. After all, in a campaign speech yesterday, he said the war against Iran is only a “skirmish.” Skirmish, conflict, or special operation, call it what you will, but for those on the front lines it is a war.

The country’s leadership still thinks only in terms of munitions expended and targets destroyed. The men and women of the U.S. military are doing a commendable and skillful job. But to what end? No nuclear weapons for Iran? Trump and Hegseth said that those capabilities were “obliterated” last summer. To open the Strait of Hormuz? It was open to free navigation for all nations before the war. In March Hegseth claimed that the U.S. had achieved an “overwhelming victory” that the Iranian military had been “destroyed” and “made combat ineffective.” In April he claimed that the operation achieved “every single objective.” They claim that the Iranian Navy sits at the bottom of the Persian Gulf. Yet, here we are. For eleven days now, and counting, the Iranians have engaged U.S. and regional forces, destroyed equipment and bases and killed and wounded our warriors. After nearly five months of fighting we are no closer to a resolution than we were at the start. In fact, our military as a whole, is less ready to take on another adversary than we were six months ago. Munition stocks are seriously depleted. Forces and equipment need rest and maintenance. What was supposed to take four weeks (at most!) has surpassed four months and we are worse off than before.

In hearings this week, Senator Gary Peters (D-Mich) summed it up nicely in a direct exchange with Hegseth. “Because I use the word ‘failure’ to their leaders. You sir are the failure, not the men and women who are on that front line, not the men and women who hold up their honor with distinction, but if there’s a lack of a winning strategy, they’re in harm’s way. Their leaders have failed them, and that’s what’s happening. You don’t have a strategy. You don’t have a long-term plan to actually win this war.”  Hegseth responded by accusing the Senator of having Trump Derangement Syndrome.

They definitely do not have a real, viable plan. All they know how to do is post threats on social media.

If they are truly concerned about nuclear weapons in the Middle East, then why did the administration announce yesterday that they signed a deal with Saudi Arabia to help them build nuclear power plants? Especially when the deal explicitly contains language that exempts the Saudis from international inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) or any other international inspection teams. This clearly gives the Saudis a path to enriching their own uranium. The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia (sometimes known as “Prince Bone Saw” for ordering the murder and dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi a journalist critical of the regime) has openly expressed his desire for a nuclear weapon if Iran gets one. The agreement goes against all previous U.S. policies concerning nuclear development that requires strict controls and compliance with conventions often called the “Gold Standard” of nuclear non-proliferation. I am sure that the billions of dollars invested by Saudi Arabia in Trump family businesses had nothing to do with the special treatment. Late today, Trump put a condition on the deal which was not in the original signed yesterday and may be a deal breaker for the Saudis. To come to fruition, Trump says that Saudi Arabia must normalize relations with Israel through the Abraham Accords. We will see if a few more billion dollars headed west makes that condition go away.

Every day there is a new outrage. Some policies are just plain bad but can be overcome. Monetary and economic policies can be adjusted or changed. The number one job of a government is to keep its citizens safe. Screw up national security policy and degrade our military and it is extremely difficult to recover before other nations take advantage of our weaknesses, real or perceived.

Please vote in November.

That Was The Year That Was

Posted: December 30, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The plaque below an image of an autopen signing former President Joe Biden’s signature, displayed in place of a portrait on Trump’s “Walk of Fame” at the White House.  Apparently, he has nothing better to do than to mock his predecessors and to put his social media screeds in bronze. (picture by Jessica Koscielniak of Reuters)

“The only thing that has truly served as an anchor of the United States of America is that we have been, and by the grace of God we always will be, a Christian nation.”

J.D. Vance on 21 December 2025 at the “Turning Point USA” national rally. As usual, a member of the Trump regime ignores the Constitution, specifically the First Amendment. The founding fathers clearly spelled out that there was no religious foundation to the Constitution.

Many of us prefer to look forward at the end of a year hoping that the new year will be better — regardless of whether the last year was personally good or bad. It is also a tradition to gather lists of key events, books, movies, songs and other notable achievements from the past year. I could not resist the temptation to do the same for the Trump regime and gather the ten worst things that they have done to our country. It was hard. Not because of a lack of anything to say. Rather, because there was so much to choose from. For example, Ron Filipkowski of Meidas+ posted the top 500 worst things that Trump did since taking office. There is a lot to choose from scanning the spectrum from trying to overturn the 14th Amendment and birthright citizenship via an Executive Order (now before the Supreme Court) to turning the White House, the People’s House, into his own personal vision of Mar-A-Lago meets Versailles. In looking back, it is astounding how much our government has been corrupted in eleven months. I had forgotten some of his worst efforts because everyday we get more and more incredibly poor actions, decisions, and self-enriching “deals.” It is hard to keep track.

I am still at a loss as to how he got re-elected. The best analogy I have heard is to compare it to hurricane warnings and how people react. His first term was predicted to be a Category Five storm of destruction. For most people, it was only a Category Two. As they often due in the south, people evacuated for a “five” but would have ridden out a “two.” Predictions of a second Category Five storm are received skeptically since they survived and the predictions were wrong about the first one. No one believes the predictions. “It can’t be all that bad. We rode it out before.” And here we are.

Many of you may disagree with my list or the order of the rankings. Feel free to let me know where I went wrong. In order from bottom to top — the worst — is my list.

  • Destroyed Valued Institutions. The Trump administration is systematically destroying or changing our military, cultural, educational, and other institutions. For example, the Smithsonian Institution has been directed to remove from The African American History Museum, The Women’s History Museum and the American Art Museum any exhibits that promote “divisive narratives” (discrimination and slavery) or that promote “improper ideology” (does not conform to Project 2025). It also means firing senior military officers and other officials that are women or minorities. By the administration’s definition, they only got to where they were because they are “DEI hires.” A potent indicator of the racist and misogynistic tendencies of this administration.
  • Undermined the Rule of Law. Trump uses the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), two institutions that were the gold standard for justice and law and order throughout the world, as his personal tools of retribution. He has directed the prosecution of his perceived enemies from the former FBI Director Jim Comey to former President Barack Obama (yes, in order to prove the “Russia, Russia, Russia hoax” is really an ongoing conspiracy to rig elections.) On his first day in office he pardoned or commuted sentences for all of those involved in the January 6 attempted coup. Most of those pardoned had either pleaded guilty or were found guilty at trial for breaking the law and attempting to overthrow the government. They also injured 174 law enforcement officers, four of whom later died. Every FBI agent and federal prosecutor that had anything to do with investigating and prosecuting J-6 was fired.
  • Used Grift and Graft to Enrich Himself. If you are a “crypto bro” or a billionaire, or a staunch defender of Trump and you broke the law, you have nothing to worry about. A “contribution” of a few million dollars and you can walk free. Pardoned of all crimes. Which also means you do not have to pay your victims the millions of dollars that you took from them in your schemes. They were all suckers anyway. Need approval from the government for a corporate merger? No problem. Just make a “contribution” to Trump’s PAC or ballroom or buy a few million of his meme coins. If you have a spare five million dollars you can get a Trump Gold Card and become a citizen.
  • Destroyed Our Health and the Environment. The two are interlinked. First, get rid of the scientists. Whether it be health care or climate change, like everything else (these folks have a limited vocabulary) it is a hoax. No need to spend money on research to keep people healthy. It is all waste, fraud and abuse. Fire most of the experts at the National Institute of Health (NIH) and Center for Disease Control (CDC) and replace them with non-doctors and influencers. Vaccines? No need to worry about that even though diseases we thought we eradicated are making a come back. Polio anyone? It is just natural selection. Hey! Look at all that land in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge (AWR) in Alaska. Perfect for drilling for oil and gas. Clean coal rules! Renewable energy is a hoax (again). Besides, wind turbines spoil the view. Deregulation is the way to go. Make toxic emissions great again!
  • Demonstrated Incompetence with Signalgate. Is there is any better symbol of the incompetence, abrasiveness and contemptuousness of the Secretary of Defense than putting out tactical attack information over an unclassified network hours before pilots and others were going in harms way to attack the Houthis in Yemen than the scandal surrounding Signalgate? Hegseth checks all the boxes for what is wrong with this administration. And no accountability.
  • Destroyed the Economy with Arbitrary Tariffs. The ups and downs and pure arbitrariness of this administration is fully on display with their policies around tariffs. Besides outright lies that the country of manufacture pays the extra money — they don’t, American companies and consumers pay the tax — it is the sheer lack of understanding or consistency that makes it worse. Trump seems to think that tariffs are some magic panacea to solve all of our problems. Recall that he earned his nickname of TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out) because one phone call — good or bad — changed what a country or industry would be charged that day. Tomorrow it could be different. Good bye strategic planning and hello chaos.
  • Conducted Illegal Murders in the Caribbean Sea and East Pacific. Trump continues to murder people on boats at sea in international waters. Drug dealers or not, there are legal processes to deal with criminals. Extrajudicial executions where Trump is judge, jury and executioner is not how we, as Americans, roll. This is not about stopping drugs. As I have written before, this is not how the flow of drugs into the U.S. will stop. This is pure and simple a case of Trump throwing around his weight because he can and he wants to rule the Western Hemisphere. More money into his pockets and his buddies pockets from larger access to oil is a benefit. So far, the administration has provided no proof of anything that they are claiming is a justification. Indeed, the evidence points in other directions, especially when Trump pardons a convicted drug kingpin who is quoted as saying that he will “stuff the cocaine right up the noses of the gringos.”
  • Expanded Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Raids. Trump and his minions continue to insist that they are only arresting and deporting the “worst of the worst” criminals who are not in the country legally. Somehow, as the publication ProPublica has been able to document, there are at least 170 U.S. citizens arrested in 2025 by ICE and the Border Patrol that we know about. Not arrested for interfering with legal arrests but swept up in raids because of the language they spoke or the way they looked. A year ago who among us would have thought we would have a paramilitary force on our streets, out of uniform with no identifying markings, driving unmarked cars, wearing masks, and that they would snatch people off the street without a warrant and spirit them away to a detention center in another state without legal representation? It seems to me that rhymes a lot with a form of national government that starts with an “f”.
  • Undermined Allies and Hindered Ukraine. It is astounding to witness the degree that Trump will go to assuage Putin’s every whim. Putin is determined to restore the Russian/Soviet Empire. Trump, apparently, wants to help him or at least stand by with admiration at how powerful he is. He continues to denigrate NATO and our other allies and takes Putin’s side in every way. We can speculate as to why, but Trump, and now his administration, stand by a dictator that invaded a democracy rather than supporting that democracy. He continually pushes Ukraine to end the war by giving in to Russian demands and expects Russia to do nothing. Threatening Denmark over Greenland does nothing to dissuade our allies from their increasing realization that the U.S. has the worst possible motives. It fits Trump’s world view that only three leaders matter in the world today, Trump, Putin and Xi. They are powerful and everyone else is weak and therefore unimportant. Eighty years of a generally stable world order is fading away. We may never get it back. Even if a new administration tries to renew and strengthen our ties to Europe, Canada and elsewhere, the damage is done. Two Trump terms taught the world not to trust us. We are no longer a reliable partner and therefore they are going to look elsewhere to strengthen their security and economies. We will become ever more isolated.
  • Shutdown US AID. In my view the shuttering of nearly every U.S. Agency for International Development (AID) program is the worst thing this administration has done on many different levels. It is amoral, it is un-American and it is short sighted. In practical terms thousands of people around the world have already died who could have been saved. Over the next few years hundreds of thousands will needlessly die from diseases and malnutrition that could have been prevented. Despicable. The U.S. has always been a force for good in the world. Now we are despised. It was also a symbol of soft power — giving people insight into America and its people and that we are basically kind. That can pay dividends in the geo-political world, the intelligence world and the peace keeping world. In a practical selfish sense, those programs also gave us access to and “eyes on” governments, movements and potential threats — natural, military or terrorist — around the world. That is lost. At home, thousands of people’s jobs depended on that aid as well. Farmers, truck drivers, shippers, dockworkers and others that depended on supplying those programs for their livelihoods. We should be ashamed.

If J.D. Vance thinks we are a “Christian nation” then he must be talking about a different Christianity than the one I know. This administration is perhaps the most un-Christian like in its policies concerning dealing with real human beings that I know about. What he really means are the principles outlined in their operating manual Project 2025. A white Christian nationalist nation ruled by powerful white men.

If asked on a scale of one to ten, with ten as doing great, how bad the administration has been to date, I would give it a three. It has been worse than I expected — not in what they have tried to do because they told us exactly what was coming — but because I did not think that they would be able to pull it off. I especially did not think that they would be able to do it as fast as they have. So, I give it a three because they are capable of doing even worse, more damaging things and I have to leave room to rank it. Call it the Trump Scale.

And yet. I believe in the United States of America. I believe that the majority of us see exactly what is going on, where we are headed and how bad it could be unless we raise our voices and register our dissatisfaction. I believe that Trump has built a house of fake gold gilded cards and that soon, it will come crashing down. How bad that crash will be is anyone’s guess, but from it we will restore our foundational values, put morality back in our policies and move forward as a renewed democratic republic.

Best wishes to all for a great 2026. As Sergeant Phil Esterhaus would say at the end of roll call on the television police drama Hill Street Blues, “Hey! Be careful out there!”