Whirlwind

Last night the U.S. Senate, powered by Republicans, approved moving convicted felon president Donald Trump's Big Beautiful (tax and spending) Bill forward toward becoming a reality by a narrow 51-49 vote.

If you're paying attention, you know this is the bill that will take cuts out of key social programs, most notably Medicaid, which stands to lose hundreds of billions of dollars. If the bill eventually passes as written, peoples' very lives could be in jeopardy. Especially – and ironically – those in red-state fly-over country.

The bill provides the lifeblood for many services, but it's particularly the sustenance for rural hospitals. If passed, expect many rural hospitals to eventually go out of business. People will suffer.

Even Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled that some of the bill's provisions did not comply with Senate budget rules. Angry and irresponsible Republicans ignored her anyway. I guess this is what happens when a convicted felon sets the example.

In reality, the bill is designed to pay for Trump's pledged tax cuts for the incredibly wealthy. It will also add upwards of $5 trillion to the national debt.

And I thought Republicans were the party of fiscal responsibility. If this bill passes, expect more hardships for all of us – unless you're in the top one percent. It's wealth disparity personified.

•   •   •

I woke up one day and discovered that the United States has a secret police force. It's called Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Apparently, it has the power to seize, kidnap and arrest American citizens off the street and deport them – without the constitutional right of due process – to foreign nations for detention.

ICE officers wear masks, which is something I thought criminals did. Oh, OK. Right. They beat on people who fit a certain racial profile. Almost exclusively it involves people with dark skin. It doesn't even matter if targeted people were born in this country because the 14th amendment (1868) – the birthright amendment which proudly distinguishes this nation from all others – is under fire.

Even recent rulings by the Supreme Court seem to be ignoring the Constitution, granting Trump even more power to arrest and deport people considered to be criminals. 

I think what is happening here is a reaction to the browning of America, which is a demographic reality some folks are trying to reverse. People with white skin are in power and apparently they'll do anything to circumvent the Constitution to stay in power. And to keep the country white.

It's an abomination. It's unAmerican.  It's unconstitutional. This is what happens when an arrogant convicted felon is in charge.

•   •   •

Trump has declared that the bombing strike he ordered against Iranian nuclear facilities last week "obliterated" Iran's capacity to make a nuclear bomb.

But early assessment from his own military analysts seem to suggest otherwise. "Leaked" reports (probably from people in Trump's own administration) indicate that Iran's program may have been set back perhaps three to six months. That's far from obliteration.

There's even doubt that nuclear fuel needed to build these bombs was even in these facilities. Even Tulsi Gabbard, the Trump-appointed director of National Intelligence, said it was unlikely Iran was building a nuclear bomb. Trump, the bone-spurred military genius that he is, disagreed with her and his own intelligence agencies, and Gabbard hasn't been seen since.

If the early damage assessments we've been given are any indication, the 30,000-pound bunker bombs (designed to penetrate upwards of 200 to 300 feet underground) did not have the intended effect of obliterating the Iranian program. It's likely those B-2s bombed an empty mountain. Nobody is certain exactly where that weapons-grade fissionable material is right now.

The absurdity here is that Trump is desperately trying to bomb his way to a Nobel Peace Prize. You know, because President Obama has one.

The most reliable way to destroy a military target is to put boots on the ground.

This got me to thinking of the historical past.

During World War II, the Nazis had reinforced concrete pens along the French, German and Baltic states coastlines to house and protect their U-boat submarine fleets. Repeated bombing missions could not destroy those pens, and some still exist today. None were obliterated.

Concrete pillboxes still dot the Normandy beaches. Castles still abound in the French and English countrysides. Sometimes it pays to learn from the past.