||| MIDNIGHT MUTTERINGS by JACKIE BATES |||
There are a lot of nice things to say about some parades and I won’t bore you here with what I think makes a parade worth watching. Except it just might be local, include people some of the watchers will recognize, horses, small children, local musicians (some inexpert), dancers, vintage cars, hand built floats with the builders riding along. And a parade I can love doesn’t last too long, and doesn’t leave trash behind.
Ever since I decided I could write about politics after all, even if I am offending people I like and respect, sometimes things are too silly and/or serious, I just feel I need to comment. Here. Now.
And I am lucky enough to have this platform and a laptop I can use to record my thoughts even if its sticky keys (in the lower middle of the keyboard) help me add even more typos than I normally do on my own.
First I need to mention DOGE: the Department of Government Efficiency, which our esteemed POTUS invented at the beginning of his second term in office. As best as I can tell, this department has one director, Elon Musk, appointed by the President, who is supposed to search out and weed out government departments and programs which are wasteful and inefficient which add to our national debt. To that end large numbers of government workers have been fired, bribed to resign, or have become so disgruntled (one of my favorite words) that they resign in droves. Whole government agencies have been threatened with elimination notably: the Department of Education and the US Post Office (which POTUS says should be privatized).
You can read the list of 19 agencies Trump has suggested eliminating. And there are more lists of programs that have been eliminated or threatened.
The parade will involve some 6,600 soldiers (one source says 7,500 soldiers) tanks, canons and infantry vehicles, helicopter flyovers and parachute jumps, according to several people familiar with the planning effort, and will also occur on President Donald Trump’s 79th birthday.
The Army is celebrating its 250th Birthday with multiple events leading up to June 14, the Army said in a statement Friday evening. The national level celebration will include a spectacular fireworks display, a parade, and a day-long festival on the National Mall in Washington, DC. The festival will feature displays of Army equipment, military demonstrations, musical performances, and a fitness competition.
Some have suggested tanks will tear up the streets, with significant repair costs. I’m not sure how these heavy vehicles can be brought into downtown Washington, DC, though I did read they will not cross the bridges between Virginia and D.C. due to weight safety concerns.
During his first term, President Trump suggested a big military parade, reminiscent of those of other countries, but this time he may get his way. On his 79th birthday and to honor the 250 years of the Army. This self-aggrandizement party is being held by the same President who has been so disrespecting of wounded and killed military personnel. And this is at a time when citizens of Gaza, for example, are dying of starvation.
Cost estimates range between 25-50 million dollars. The New York Times estimate $45,000,000. This is at the same time US Aid to other countries is being cut along with suggested cuts to US social support programs proposed by DOGE.
Plans for this preposterous birthday party for the President are not final. Maybe we have to wait to see what happens on June 14, 2025. So far, though, I am discouraged that this parade takes priority over human needs at home and abroad.
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I’d like to say, “This is not who we are” but it seems this is actually ”who we are’. Let’s keep in mind the long term consequences as we watch our $45,000,000 parades.
The 20% reduction in total aid to Africa will produce long-lasting economic, humanitarian, and political impacts. The crippling economic fallout…. will take years to correct, and many jobs, businesses, and cities will suffer in the meantime. The damage is beyond economic, however. The humanitarian impact of USAID’s withdrawal can also not be understated; entire communities will be left to die, not just from hunger and disease, but from the collapse of the health and agricultural programs that USAID once supported. The disappearance of vaccines and food aid has placed millions of lives at risk and eroded decades of developmental progress in a matter of months. Finally, the governmental instability created by the end to USAID will drive thousands of young men into the arms of militant groups around the continent, causing further political havoc. (From Michigan Journal of Economics)