In Ukraine
Killed and Never Coming Back
Small Man Must
War is not friend to anyone on the front lines
Not to any who take the shrapnel wounds
No, all the kind words given to war
Are from those tucked safely in back rooms
The large man makes the war
And leaves the small man to fight it
The large man calls for blood
And it's the small man who must provide it
Along with the Savings, Consider the Costs
If Trump got his way, the Department of Education would vanish. And how much money would that save us? No small sum -- $268 billion dollars.
For the slash-and-gash fans, that goes a reasonable distance in solving our deficit woes. Somebody has suggested we shouldn't be spending more than we make, right?
But as important as gaining control of our spending is, other things are all so important. Let me float you a host of questions.
What of the student loan programs? More than half of our undergraduates receive federal loans to help pay for their college educations.
What of the jobs that will be lost if student loans are axed? Each college in the nation has a crew that administers the loans. Perhaps at some of these colleges, the role of dibbing out the loans might be a side task - I don't know. I do know it is a full-time assignment at many colleges. That is a lot of people heading for the unemployment line.
Speaking of people hitting the unemployment line, about 4,400 are employed by the Department of Education itself?
How about the people teaching special education? How many are there? Will they, too, lose their jobs, or will state and local funding be found?
How about those in DEI functions at our schools scattered across the U.S. Trump clearly would like to do away with these positions, but how many of them are there that we should be setting them up for unemployment?
Will the quality of education suffer? Federal spending soared in the '50s through the '70s as we sought to stay ahead of the Soviet Union in education. Is that no longer important?
How much time should state and local entities have to prepare for assuming the functions and expenses now carried by the DOE?
Will some children be left behind? Some state and local governments might take on all the functions, but others will choose not to -- or be unable to financially.
Don't just slash and burn, Mr. President. Along with considering the savings, consider the costs.
The Art of the Deal
There is irony in this: We live in a nation where we are told we will lose our freedom if we lose our weapons; the government will first take our guns, then take our freedom.
Freedom fades where guns are no longer found.
And now Trump has defunded the supply of weapons to Ukraine. I guess the moral of the story is, never fight with a borrowed gun. The Ukrainians are rallying to find weapons from other sources but, as Trump has observed, they don't have a chance without his help. He refers to it as their not having the cards, the U.S. has them all.
Cards, guns -- whichever. Depends on whether you're playing poker or fighting a war.
Have you ever seen on of those old westerns where a gun-less man gets in a fight and someone throws him a gun so he can defend himself? That's Zelenskyy and Trump. Zelenskyy is in a fight and Trump is refusing to throw him a gun. Well, not completely refusing to toss him a gun. He notes Zelenskyy has a mine up in the hills and exchange for half of what's in it, he'll toss Zelenskyy a gun.
Whoever thought the art of a deal would ever come to a gunfight.
