Tag: America’s 250th Birthday

What’s been happening since last week – Part II

Yesterday’s blog post (https://janetswritingblog.com/2026/06/04/whats-been-happening-since-last-week-part-i/) got to be too long, so I had to divide it.

Today’s blog post got even longer after the news broke about the removal of 900 scientific deep-sea instruments and Trump’s plans for the Lincoln Memorial.

Pour yourself a glass of sweet tea and settle in for a wild ride.

Golf Resort in Vietnam

Not satisfied just to destroy farmland and forests, etc. and rip people off in the United States, the Trumps are developing a $1.5 billion golf resort in the Hung Yen province in Vietnam.

Besides farmers being forced off their land for very little compensation, they are also having to exhume the bodies of their ancestors and bury them somewhere else.

It seems that Eric Trump is in charge of this project, which he says will be “the envy of all of Asia and of the entire world,” according The Daily Beast, which included a photo of Eric at the indoor ground-breaking ceremony.

Can Gaza be far behind?

Kushner’s Resort in Albania

Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners firm is building a $4 billion luxury resort, including 10,000 hotel rooms in the Vjosa-Narta “protected” coast in southern Albania.

At the mouth of the Vjosa River, the land became a protected national park three years ago. Flamingos, Mediterranean monk seals, loggerhead turtles, 200+ species of birds. Sounds like a beautiful place. No wonder it was given “protected” status.

But blatant corruption is not limited to Washington, DC. The Albanian Parliament conveniently changed the rules just weeks before Kushner submitted his resort plans. Would you believe the rules were changed to only allow five-star resorts? Surely that had nothing to do with Kushner’s father-in-law being the U.S. President.

You can’t make this stuff up!

Thousands of Albanians are protesting in the streets of the capital city of Tirana. They are demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama. Power to the people!

CBS fires Scott Pelley

The Trump Administration did not fire Scott Pelley… directly. However, the current leadership at CBS has cow-towed to the Trump Administration on every turn.

“60 Minutes” was the longest running new magazine on TV. It was a highly-respected broadcast. CBS is destroying it. Bit by bit. Piece by piece. And with it goes a bastion of exceptional investigative journalism.

Long-time CBS journalist and regular “60 Minutes” contributor Scott Pelley dared to stand up to the CEO of CBS on Monday, so he was fired on Tuesday.

CBS fired one of its giants. I hope a more wise and honest television broadcast company will give him a job, if he wants it.

I include this news item in today’s blog because it is one more piece of evidence that Donald Trump’s campaign to rid our nation of truth in journalism and truth in history is trickling down into the corporations that for nearly 100 years stood for integrity. The example he sets as an alleged businessman now stands as the example the wealthy and influential capitalists in our country aspire to emulate.

Seeing the collapse of CBS in real time is sad. It is also infuriating, because it is being done on purpose by either short-sighted or evil people. I don’t know which.

Another thing that infuriates me

This month, the National Science Foundation will begin (or perhaps has begun) to bring up more than 900 deep-sea instruments that track the collapse of climate as we have enjoyed it.

The instruments, placed and monitored by the Ocean Observatories Initiative are off the coast of North Carolina (where the Gulf Stream famously collides with the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean), and off the coasts of Oregon and Alaska. They are also in the Denmark Strait between Greenland and Iceland.

These instruments were collecting and transmitting data in real time about ocean temperatures, carbon absorption, chemicals, and geological and biological conditions.

But the Trump Administration is not interested in people knowing about trends in the climate or the conditions in the world’s oceans. After all, Trump hasn’t figured out yet how to build a money-making resort on the ocean floor.

He isn’t interested in people knowing about hurricanes until they hit. We saw that demonstrated in the Oval Office when Trump took a Sharpie pen and literally thought he could thereby change the path of a hurricane.

Congress tried twice to try to stop Trump from slashing the Ocean Observatories Initiative’s budget by 80%. By ordering the more than 900 climate measuring instruments to be hauled up from the oceans, he is essentially giving Congress the middle finger. Again.

“Threatened” Grizzly Bears are now threatened by U.S. Government

Grizzly bears in the lower 48 states were already officially “threatened,” but that did not satisfy the U.S. Government when it came to the grizzlies living in the Helena – Lewis and Clark National Forest in Montana.

For decades, scientific research has proven that a female grizzly bear needs 2,500 acres of land that is free of roads and other human activity, but the U.S. Government has decided that in order to cut down part of the forest, a female grizzly in the Helena – Lewis and Clark National Forest only needs just one acre.

The 2,500-acre policy still stands elsewhere… for now.

That particular area is crucial to the healthy genetic exchange between the grizzlies in Glacier National Park and Yellowstone National Park.

Cut down the forest and squeeze a huge grizzly bear onto one acre of land surrounded by logging roads and see what you get. For starters… starving bears run over by logging trucks.

Maybe that’s the goal?

The “Greatest Show on Earth” invitation has a catch

Trump says he loves the military. He says he has done more for the military than any other U.S. President. (He also says he has done more for people of color, Puerto Ricans, children, the elderly, the poor, the middle class….)

He issued an invitation of sorts to our military personnel. He wants hundreds of them to come watch the display of men fighting on the White House grounds on his birthday. They must have a waist to height ratio of .55 or less. They must wear short sleeve dress uniforms. They cannot be stationed in the Washington, DC area, and … there’s just one other thing. They must pay for their own transportation.

Thank you for the invitation, Sir!

Too bad thousands of them were deployed to the War with Iran in March and April and won’t be able to make it to Washington on June 14. Of course, where they are, they’ll probably take a moment to remember that it is Flag Day.

“Rally to End all Rallies!”

I was ready to schedule this blog post last night when I read Trump’s announcement about his celebration of America’s 250th birthday has changed names. It is no longer “The Great American State Fair” or whatever he was calling it a few days ago. It is now, “the Greatest Rally, EVER! It will be special at every level – A Rally to end all Rallies!”

All I can say is, “I hope it is the rally to end all rallies. We don’t need any more Trump rallies.”

Trump said that Christopher Macchio will sing “Ave Maria”. I don’t know what “Ave Maia” has to do with the 4th of July. Am I missing something here?

There is no end to the tacky or the expense

It was revealed on Friday that without going out for competitive bids or getting permission from Congress or anyone, Trump had the two matching bronze statues of horses on either side of the street from the Lincoln Memorial to Arlington National Cemetery… you guessed it… painted with 23.75 karat gold leaf. They and two other bronze statues were painted gold by a company in Maryland.

Want to know what we, the American taxpayers paid for this? A mere $5 million.

How does that sit with you?

They look like something one would see in China… or the Land of Oz.

This is the same Administration that created DOGE to rid the government of all waste. That was just a year ago. Thousands of medical and scientific researchers were fired and the USAID program was ended, but I don’t think we were ever told how much waste was identified by the teenagers Trump and Elon Musk hired to do the job.

The price for painting of the bottom of the Reflecting Pool bright blue has increased from $13 million to $20 million.

Even tackier than that…

I didn’t know until yesterday that the tacky arch on the White House lawn over where the big birthday fights are going to be held has a name. It is “The Claw” and it holds the lights so the men can fight all night if they want to, I suppose.

“The Claw” is huge, tacky, and ugly. It dwarfs the White House and makes the place look like a poorly planned amusement park.

It prevents the Marine One helicopter from landing at the White House, which seems like a National Security issue to me. (The President must now be transported via motorcade to and from Andrews Joint Air Force Base for his weekly excursions to play golf.)

Lo and behold, Trump thinks it is so beautiful that maybe it will never be torn down. He even compared it to the Eiffel Tower, saying it was supposed to be there temporarily but the people liked it so much they left it up.

“The Claw,” Mr. President, is no Eifel Tower.

Comparing apples and oranges?

Was I the only one who found it bizarre that Trump displayed a large poster in the Oval Office on Wednesday to show us that the Reflecting Pool is longer than some skyscrapers are tall?

He also said it had never worked since it was built in 1922. Who knew? I’ve seen it several times. I didn’t realize it wasn’t working.

Trump takes aim at Lincoln Memorial

Photo of the Lincoln Memorial, apparently in the pre-Trump days when the reflecting part wasn’t working?
(Photo by Andy Feliciotti on Unsplash.)

Yesterday, in addition to claiming to know about numerous times someone attempted to build an arch in Washington, DC, Trump spilled the beans on his latest project: Corrections made to the Lincoln Memorial.

He claimed from the Oval Office yesterday afternoon that the Lincoln Memorial is facing the wrong direction and two streets were built that shouldn’t have been built so he is going to add a promenade to the Lincoln Memorial. He, of course, sneaked in his favorite phrase: “some are even calling it the Trump Promenade.”

At that point I was literally in tears. The Lincoln Memorial is my favorite building in Washington, DC. It is devastating to think of what it will look like when TACO gets through with it.

Will it resemble the current East Wing of the White House? (A big hole in the ground.)

Will it have gold paint poured all over it? (Like the bronze horses at the entrance to Memorial Bridge.)

Will it be 80 stories high? (So it can be a tall as the Reflecting Pool is long.)

Will the exquisite statue of a seated Abraham Lincoln be replace with a triumphal statue to Trump with his fist in the air and that ever-present scowl on his orange face?

Ending this post on three positive notes…

  1. On Friday, a federal judge ordered that Donald J. Trump’s name must be removed from The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts because it is a living memorial to President John F. Kennedy!

          Trump’s minions have two weeks to remove his name from the building and all signage.

          The judge also called a halt to the two-year long “complete rebuilding” of the Kennedy Center that had been announced by Trump after he appointed himself as Director of the Board of the Center. That was set to begin after the 4th of July.

          Thank goodness parts of our judicial system are still working for the    American people and not for the sitting U.S. President!

          That was the best news I’d heard in a long time.

  • Then, on Monday, June 1, the White House announced that it will abide by the federal court ruling that paused Trump’s $1.776 billion slush fund! He’s going to have to find another way to financially compensate his people who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

          Of course, when asked by CNN’s Caitlin Collins on Wednesday if the fund is dead or just on hold, he said he did not know… he’ll have to ask his lawyers.

  • Also on Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill (215 to 208) to force Trump to end the war against Iran if he fails to get Congressional approval for the war he threw us into without Congressional approval. Will the Republicans in the Senate have as much courage?

Light at the end of the tunnel? It’s too early to tell whether it is the light of justice on the horizon or an on-coming train. I know one thing: this is exhausting.

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.

What’s been happening since last week – Part I

The fire hose of corruption and trickery continues from the White House. I’m trying to keep up, but it’s impossible.

The New Acting Director of National Intelligence

Saying that Bill Pulte, who Trump named as Acting Director of National Intelligence on Tuesday has no intelligence experience is not a joke. It’s true.

When the position of Director of National Intelligence was created by the U.S. Congress in 2004, the law stated that the holder of that title “shall have extensive national security expertise.” That seems like a no-brainer, right?

So much for the law.

We learned during Trump’s first term in office that he prefers to have “acting” directors because “acting” directors and “acting” secretaries of departments of the Executive branch do not have to go through a Congressional confirmation process.

Pulte is the grandson of the Pulte Group’s founder. The company is the nation’s largest residential developer. (In fact, it is developing an 1,100-home development near my home.)

His genealogy and Mr. Pulte’s loyalty to Trump (such as a social media campaign to oust Jerome Powell as Chairman of the Federal Reserve and pushing to get Trump’s non-supporters like Lisa D. Cook, a Federal Reserve Board of Governors member, prosecuted for fraud – which hasn’t panned out) landed him his current position as Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. In other words, he oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

According to a June 2, 2026 New York Times report, Pulte will continue in that position while he also serves as Director of National Security.

Does that make sense to anyone?

Trump chose not to visit 14 veterans wounded in the Iran War

While Trump was at Walter Reed Medical Center last Tuesday for a physical examination, he chose not to visit 14 veterans who were wounded in the Iran War.

Trump has downplayed the sacrifices made by our military personnel and their families. He still prefers to call the war “an excursion.”

To admit that 13 American military personnel have been killed and somewhere between 140 and 400 American military personnel have been wounded would be a negative reflection on him and his perfect deal making and war-ending prowess. It is such a distasteful admission from Trump or the Pentagon to make that the public cannot find out how many have been wounded. Hence, the 140 to 400 figure. Just try finding a definitive number in an online search.

I remember back in the 1960s and 1970s when the Pentagon released such information weekly. Some said later that those reports were inaccurate, but at least they made an effort to keep the American people informed about war casualties.

Then there’s the 250th Birthday of America Great American State Fair

For starters, Trump wouldn’t know a state fair if he fell into one. This 10-day or 16-day celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence was organized by Donald Trump’s nonprofit Freedom 250.

(“Donald Trump’s nonprofit…,” sounds like an oxymoron to me, but that is how Freedom 250 is described.)

Many singers and artists were invited to perform. Some of them, like Martina McBride, signed on because they thought it was a nonpartisan event.

Most of them, including Trump’s buddy, Kid Rock, have announced they aren’t going to participate. It’s pretty bad if Kid Rock won’t even show up.

I guess it will just be Lee Greenwood singing “I’m Proud to Be an American” over and over and over and over….

Of course, now Trump is calling the performers who have cancelled “third rate.” He wrote on social media that they were “overpriced singers, who nobody wants to hear, whose music is boring, and yet who do nothing but complain.” 

So why did his nonprofit organization invite them?

He now says he might just host the whole thing and turn it into a MAGA Rally… as if that wasn’t what he wanted all along. It’s all about him.

The 4th of July was a nonpartisan celebration of freedom for 249 years. Of course, Trump had to do everything imaginable to try to ruin it this year. Of all the years for him to be in office!

This year’s celebration of a week or two won’t hold a candle to our bicentennial celebration in 1976, which lasted all year – no matter how Trump claims otherwise.

Don’t let him ruin our nation’s 250th birthday for you!

I wonder who told Trump this was our nation’s 250th birthday. I wish they hadn’t told him.

A spelling lesson

It was so classy for the U.S. President to spell “dumb” for us last week. He was excited to point out that “most people” don’t’ know that “dumb” ends in a “b,” then he went on and to claim he had coined the word “dumocrat.” In fact, he went into detail to explain to us exactly what he did to transform “democrat” to “dumocrat,” as if it rocket science.

Mr. President, I’ve heard the word “dumocrat” before you so proudly said it and explained to us in detail how you came up with it. I even had a cousin call me and my grandfather dumocrats in an email to me during Trump’s first term after she found out that I did not support his policies.

To say that I found that offensive is a gross understatement. My grandfather (her great-grandfather) died in 1956 when I was three years old. Frankly, I had no idea of Grandpa’s political leanings, and I don’t know if my cousin knows what she’s talking about. It does not matter to me how Grandpa voted. He’s the only one of my four grandparents who was still alive when I was born. I have only faint memories of him. It brings tears to my eyes as I type these words. For anyone to call him a “dumocrat” when he was a farmer born in the 1870s is abhorrent.

Trump thinking it was cute, clever, funny, mean – whatever his motivation – last week in bringing the word “dumocrat” back to my attention was like pouring gasoline into an old wound and then striking a match. The saddest part, though, is that this example of Trump’s name calling is probably the least offensive one he’s ever used. He is normalizing bad behavior. The derogatory names he calls and things he says about women, for starters.

Microsoft Word is even offended, for it keeps automatically changing “dumocrat” to “democrat” every time I type it. It will be a miracle if I get this published on WordPress the way I’ve written it.

Words are weighty. Words can be used like daggers. The “leader of the free world” should choose his words carefully. They perhaps carry more weight than those of anyone else in the world. And the world is watching and listening.

I cringe to imagine what horrors loom in the 10 days until Trump’s birthday and then the remaining three weeks until the 4th of July.

By the way, we have troops who were sent to the Middle East with very little notice in March and more were sent on April 19 for the war in Iran. No one is talking about them, but they were deployed, and they have no idea when they’ll get to come home.

Trump says he is in no hurry to reach a peace agreement (which he incorrectly calls “a deal.) He keeps drawing a line in the sand. A few minutes later, he moves the line. A businessman conducting a war….

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.