Tag: DEI

We’ll have none of that!

It has been a few days (well, four) since I blogged about politics in the United States, so today I’ll try to briefly hit on some things you might have missed.

Office of Special Counsel

Paul Ingrassia was appointed the lead the Office of Special Counsel by President Trump and be his liaison with the Department of Homeland Security. That is the office that handles such things as illegal campaign actions by high officials. Thirteen of Trump’s senior aides were found to be in violation of the Hatch Act during his first term in office.

The problem with Paul Ingrassia being appointed to this position is: He is a former far-right podcaster who in while Trump tried to overthrow the 2020 election posted, “Time for @realDonaldTrump to declare martial law and secure his re-election.”

Don’t expect any whistle blowing within the Trump Administration.

The National Association of the Deaf

During the Covid 19 pandemic, all 50 states provided American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters during their governors’ press briefings, but the Trump White House refused to do so even after repeated requests from the National Association for the Deaf (NAD) and members of Congress. This led NAD to file a lawsuit against Trump on August 3, 2020 which asked for the immediate use of ASL interpreters during television broadcasts of coronavirus press conferences and briefings.

The suit maintained that the White House was in violation of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The Act mandates that people with disabilities have access to all White House communications. That is, of course, crucial during a public health crisis. After a judge ordered the White House to provide ASL interpreters for all Covid 19 press briefings, that was done.

President Joe Biden took office on January 20, 2021, and four days later announced that there would be ASL interpreters for all White House press briefings.

Fast forward to January 20, 2025, the day Trump’s second term began. On that day, he signed an Executive Order to halt all Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) programs and activities in the federal government.

No more ASL interpreters at the White House or in any department in the Executive Branch of the US Government.

“It’s Déjà vu all over again.” The National Association for the Deaf filed a lawsuit against President Trump, press secretary Karoline Leavitt, and Chief of Staff Susie Wiles for being in violation of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

Closed-captioning is helpful, but it usually skips or misinterprets some words. For people who are completely deaf, being able to watch an ASL interpreter is of paramount importance.

What’s the point of complaining about cuts to Medicaid if we’re all going to die anyway?

At a town hall meeting on Friday, Republican US Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa was questioned about the cuts to Medicaid that are in the “big, beautiful bill” passed by the US House and now under consideration by the Senate. Her response to her constituents: “People are not – well, we all are going to die, so, for heaven’s sakes.” Her words were met with jeers.

NBC News also reported, “Ernst also got into testy exchanges about DOGE cuts and her support for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at the Butler County town hall, but was asked repeatedly about the proposed Medicaid changes.”

When this happens when citizens go to public meetings held by a US Senator or US Representative, their questions should not be brushed off in such a way.

When writing your US Senators and Representative appears to be a waste of time

Three weeks ago, I wrote emails to both US Senators from North Carolina and my US Representative expressing my concern that the US had been placed on the CIVICUS Monitor Watchlist due to human rights.

Senator Thom Tillis responded the next week and thanked me for writing him about the border crisis.  

Senator Ted Budd responded last Thursday and told me repeatedly that he is working hard to uphold the US Constitution.

Representative Mark Harris responded a week or so ago and only praised the job President Trump is doing and said that every Executive Order signed by Trump should be codified into law by the Congress.

Now that I know how they feel about the CIVICUS Monitor Watchlist….

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)

On Friday, Trump fired Kim Sajet, the Director of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. She had held the position for 12 years. Her crime, according to Trump was for being “a highly partisan person, and a strong supporter of DEI.”

So, if you hire or promote persons of color or women, you are not welcome in the Trump orbit.

If a person can lose their job for being “a highly partisan person,” it seems to me that would include everyone Trump has hire or appointed… or pardoned.

A false economy and a public health gamble.

Reuters reported that the Trump Administration cancelled a federal government contract with Moderna for the late-stage development of its bird flu vaccine for humans.

Are we heading for Remigration?

Remigration is a policy that calls for the removal of migrants. The goal appears to be to create white ethnostates.

It came to light last Thursday that the US State Department had sent a 136-page notification document to six Congressional Committees for approval by July 1. In addition to creating an Office of Remigration in the State Department, the document says that the new office “will also actively facilitate the voluntary return of migrants to their country of origin or legal status.”

Much of the Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Bureau will be eliminated, as if the US isn’t already on a human rights watchlist!

The document tells of dramatic changes coming to the US diplomatic service, and the establishment of a new Deputy Assistant Secretary of State position to oversee “Democracy and Western Values.”

That last part is cringe-worthy. Trump’s disdain for democracy is one thing that worries me, and what do they mean by “Western Values?”

American Bar Association, thanks but no thanks

In a letter to William R. Bay, President of the American Bar Association, on May 29 US Attorney General Pam Bondi informed Mr. Bay that the US Department of Justice will no longer take ABA ratings into consideration in judicial nominations because “its ratings invariably and demonstrably favor nominees put forth by Democratic administrations.”

The letter went on to say the American Bar Association will be treated like any other “activist organization.”

Kudos to CNBC reporter Megan Cassella

Photo of three tacos
Photo by Jarett Lopez on Unsplash

Kudos to CNBC reporter Megan Cassella for daring to ask Trump what he thought about TACO: Trump Always Chickens Out.

In fairness to the Republicans…

On Tuesday, May 27, the US Supreme Court declined to review a lower court’s decision that allows the transfer of sacred Apache land in central Arizona to a foreign copper mining company.

The Apache Stronghold coalition of indigenous and non-indigenous people last year lost their case in front of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals. So, this started under the Biden Administration.

The Apache Stronghold maintains that copper mining in the Tonto National Forest sacred lands will create a crater.

Once more, the federal government slaps the faces of indigenous people.

Until my next blog post

Keep reading everything you can. I hope you’re reading a really good book now.

Hold family and friends close.

Remember the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.

Janet

More Snippets of What’s Happening to and in the US

As we continue through another week of the Trump Administration, I’m blogging again today about some of the things that are going on here in the United States. I wish I did not need to do this. It is not what I ever had in mind for my blog. With the free press continually under attack by Trump, though, I believe I’m doing what I must do.

Yesterday’s ambush of South Africa’s President

In another embarrassing and bizarre ambush, yesterday Donald Trump blindsided President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa in the Oval Office with a video and stack of papers claiming widespread genocide of white farmers in South Africa. I had flashbacks of how he ambushed Ukrainian President Zelensky in February.

At least once, Trump made a mistake he has made before when he said, “Africa and other countries.” Apparently, the private education Trump claims to have received did not include geography.

Before the day was out, Agence Frances Presse was rightfully calling yesterday’s meeting: “The Ambush Office: Trump’s Oval becomes test of nerve for world leaders.”Perhaps other world leaders will not request meetings with Trump or accept any invitations that come from him.

With ambush as the US President’s modus operandi, it is unlikely any other nations want their presidents or prime ministers to visit our country.

Emboldened by his week of being praised in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, Trump is full of himself and showing his true colors. He just can’t help himself.

The flying palace

The US Secretary of Defense accepted the $400 million airplane “gift” from Qatar yesterday, so now the American taxpayers are on the hook for the estimated $1 billion it will cost to gut it and rebuild it to Air Force One security standards. All this, so Trump can take it to his future presidential library, which is an oxymoron if there ever was one.

States’ rights

I read on Sunday that although Trump brags about being all for “states’ rights,” there is a provision in his budget bill that bans state and local governments from regulating Artificial Intelligence for 10 years. States can’t make laws about AI. No state laws about facial recognition, AI surveillance, or the misuse of date AI collects.

Miscellaneous Research

In the name of eliminating waste in the US Government, thousands of studies being conducted at state-supported colleges and universities have been cancelled by the Trump Administration. Without taking the time or even making the effort to analyze what they are cutting, they decided it would be easier to just de-fund anything and everything remotely associated with diversity, equity, or inclusion (DEI).

The Charlotte Observer published a report about 17 grants totaling $469,069 that had been awarded to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte that have been cancelled by Trump, while WSOC-TV reported that UNCC has lost $14 million in federal funds.

The 17 grants that the newspaper wrote about were cancelled, some of which were already in progress, included such things as the spread of online misinformation; encouraging girls and black youth to pursue careers in computer science; youth with disabilities transitioning into independent living; autoimmune disease (pemphigus) research; and black youth suicide detection and prevention.

It is obvious that any studies or programs that had anything to do with diversity, equity, or inclusion (DEI) were the grants being cancelled. Grants to study or help African Americans were obviously targeted, while 74% of patients with the potentially fatal autoimmune disease pemphigus are white and 61% of them are women.

UNC-Charlotte is just one of the 16 institutions that are part of the UNC system. What UNC-Charlotte has lost is a drop in the bucket compared to the federal grant losses at UNC-Chapel Hill and NC State University at Raleigh.

This has happened in every state and at countless colleges and universities, both state-supported and private.

Our apologies to France

In a 51 to 45 vote, The US Senate confirmed Charles Kushner as US Ambassador to France. He is the father of President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. In 2005, the elder Kushner was sentenced to two years in prison for 18 counts, including tax evasion and witness tampering. He pleaded guilty to the tax evasion and making illegal campaign contributions.

Ashli Babbitt Settlement

US taxpayers learned on Monday that the Trump Administration is paying the family of Ashli Babbitt nearly $5 million. Ashli Babbitt was the insurrectionist killed at the US Capitol riot on January 6, 2021. Yes, you read that correctly.

Ms. Babbitt was shot as she tried to breach the barricaded House Speaker’s Lobby. President Trump has called her a “martyr” and a “patriot.”

Making America Safe Again?

There was a glimmer of hope after the elementary school massacre in Uvalde, Texas in 2022. There was bipartisan support for investing in mental health support for students. But then the Trump Administration came along in 2025.

The US Department of Justice cancelled hundreds of grants that funded local government and community organizations’ gun violence prevention programs.

Photo of children holding signs saying thoughts and prayers don't stop bullets.
Heather Mount on Unsplash

Then the Trump Administration blocked $1 billion in grants for student mental health because this was no longer in “the best interest of the federal government.”

The latest example of the Trump Administration’s “Make America Safe Again” mantra is the legalization of “forced reset triggers.” I’m no firearms expert, but the best I can tell from reading and hearing the news reports is that this device enables a semiautomatic weapon to become even more deadly as it makes the shooter able to fire hundreds of rounds in a minute.

So when US Attorney General Pam Bondi said last week that this “will enhance public safety,” what did she mean? I guess I’m just stupid, because I don’t understand any of this.

Venezuelans losing Temporary Protected Status (TPS)

On Monday, the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Trump Administration. The Court granted emergency application to the Department of Homeland Security to proceed with the deportation of hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans who had been given TPS by the Biden Administration. This ruling overruled a district court order.

US loses its AAA bond rating

And then there’s this, which sent stock markets around the word into a loss on Monday.

Shall I say something good that Trump did?

To be fair, I will point out that on Monday President Trump signed into law the Take It Down Act. The bill, which was championed by First Lady Melania Trump, sets stricter penalties for the distribution of non-consensual intimate imagery online and “revenge porn.” The bill had overwhelming bipartisan support in Congress.

Finally, something most Republicans and Democrats can agree on!

Trump’s US Interior Department loves plastic

The US Department of the Interior was recognized last June for its ongoing efforts to phase out the use of any and all single-use plastics. That was Joe Biden’s Department of the Interior.

Donald Trump’s Department of the Interior has rescinded the order behind that phase-out. So much for curbing pollution in our national parks. All bans on plastics on all federally managed land are being lifted.

US Secretary of Homeland Security’s Misunderstanding of Habeas Corpus

US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem got tripped up in a Congressional hearing on Tuesday when US Senator Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire referenced White House advisor Stephen Miller’s comment earlier in May that the Trump Administration was “actively looking at” suspending habeas corpus.

Senator Hassan asked Secretary Noem, “What is habeas corpus?”

Secretary Noem’s response was jarring. She said, “Well, habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country, and suspend their right to –”

Senator Hassan jumped in to cut her off. “That’s incorrect,” Hassan said. She went on to explain to Noem what habeas corpus is.

As I stated in my May 14, 2025, blog post, The New American Dream?: “Habeas corpus is a legal procedure by which a report can be made to a court alleging the unlawful detention or imprisonment of an individual, and requesting that the court order the individual’s custodian to bring the prisoner to court, to determine whether their detention is lawful.”

I also referenced habeas corpus in my May 19, 2025, blog post.

Senator Hassan and Secretary Noem’s exchange did not stop there.

“So, Secretary Noem, do you support the core protection that habeas corpus provides, that the government must provide a public reason in order to detain and imprison someone?” the senator asked.

Noem’s response was lame and telling: “I support habeas corpus. I also recognize that the president of the United States has the authority under the Constitution to decide if it should be suspended or not.”

In case we needed any more proof, we now have a member of President Trump’s Cabinet and his close advisor both stating in public that the suspension of habeas corpus is under consideration.

Meanwhile

Against my better judgment, I signed up for my US Representative’s newsletter. This former Baptist preacher does not disappoint. This week’s newsletter sang the praises of Trump ad nauseum. He is pushing for congress to codify into law every Executor Order Donald Trump has signed.

Here’s just one paragraph from his long newsletter of Trumpian praise: “It doesn’t matter if we have to vote seven days a week. The Republican Congress needs to be passing bills that codify the executive orders that have been advancing the America-first agenda. That’s why I joined 16 of my colleagues in calling on Speaker Johnson to prioritize codifying President Trump’s wins into law.’

In case you missed my May 19, 2025, blog post, I gave a little background information about Representative Harris and the election fraud that landed him in court in 2018.

Mr. Harris has not responded to my email to him a couple of weeks ago about my distress over the fact that the United States is on the CIVICUS Monitor Watchlist for a narrowing of civil liberties.

He is a prime example of why I am frustrated with people who claim to be Christians but support Donald Trump. There is a disconnect there that I will never understand.

Until my next blog post, which I hope won’t be until next week…

I hope you have a good book to read and time to read it.

Remember the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.

Janet

They’ve gone too far, Harriet Tubman!

NOTE: At 2 a.m., just three hours before this blog post was scheduled to be published, I learned that the Harriet Tubman/Underground Railroad webpage on the National Park Service website had been restored! Rather than cancel today’s blog post, I will go forward with it because the only thing that has changed is that for whatever reason that one webpage has been restored.

Nothing else has changed, though. The Trump Administration continues to recklessly… and intentionally… try to erase and destroy American history and democracy. Whether they justify it under the guise of getting rid of “waste and fraud” or eliminating “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” it is all part of this sham racist and misogynist Administration.

What has taken place regarding Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad since January 20, 2025, is a prime example of the incompetence and insidious hate held by members of the Trump Administration.

It offends me when I hear people say that all government employees are corrupt and incompetent. That is the mantra of the Trump Administration. Trump and the people in his inner circle despise federal employees. They are perfectly happy to collect government paychecks and benefits, but no one else working in the government deserves anything but ridicule. Think about that for a minute.

If you want to see corruption and incompetence, you need look no further than the Trump Administration. It is made up entirely of businessmen. Businessmen are never corrupt or incompetent, are they? But evidence to the contrary lies in the fact that almost on a daily basis since January 20 this Administration has made an announcement then had to retract it, has fired federal employees and then had to try to re-hire them, has erased information from a website and then had to restore it. Not to mention high level national security people conducting business on a less-than-secure app, first denying it, then halfway owning up to it, then proclaiming it was no big thing.

The Administration’s total disregard for truth, transparency, and the rule of law and never taking responsibility for mistakes is on display daily for all to see.

It astounds me how the businessmen who are running the federal government have a total lack of knowledge of what government’s purpose is. They only think in terms of profit and loss, but that’s not what government is about. Government is about serving the people, and that’s why Trump and the people in his Administration have it all wrong. Serving the people is a foreign term for them. They only think in terms of making money from the people, and running over anyone who gets in their way. What a pathetic way to see the world!

They delight in firing employees willy-nilly. There’s no rhyme or reason to it. They don’t consider what anyone’s job is. They don’t consider anyone’s expertise. They just conduct wholesale firings.

Hours or days later, when someone has the courage to point out to them that some of those employees helped planes land safely, or some of them were conducting research into cancer treatments or possible cures, or some of them risk their lives to fight wildfires… then a handful of them might be re-hired. That is, if they can locate them, because in the name of anti-waste, anti-fraud, anti-diversity, anti-equity, and anti-inclusion, they erased all the fired employees’ contact information.

I guess that’s the business mentality. After all, more than one person said to me before Trump ran for office the first time, “We need a businessman in the White House.” And that’s supposedly what we got.

What follows is my original blog post scheduled for April 8, 2025:

Until around 9:30 Sunday night, I planned not to blog again about politics until Thursday. That’s when I learned that sometime between January 21 and March 19, 2025, the National Park Service removed all references to Harriett Tubman from its “Underground Railroad” webpage.

Yes, THAT Harriet Tubman! The Harriet Tubman who was the most famous “conductor” on the Underground Railroad.

That’s the Harriet Tubman whose image appeared on a 13-cent first-class postage stamp in the United States in 1978. If you weren’t born until the 1990s, you probably can’t truly appreciate how difficult it was to get the United States to honor a non-white person on a postage stamp. She was the first woman of color (almost any color!) whose image was chosen for a US postage stamp. (Here’s a list of them, if you are interested in digging deeper into that aspect of American history: https://about.usps.com/who/profile/history/african-american-stamp-subjects.htm.)

If you don’t know what the Underground Railroad was, please look it up somewhere while you still can. It was not an actual railroad, but it operated like one in many ways except in secret.

Apparently, the “Underground Railroad” webpage’s lead story until the Trump Administration decided to erase all history except that of white men!

Not only did they remove Harriet Tubman and her photograph, they removed references to “enslaved” people and the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.

Harriet Tubman, enslaved people, and the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 have been replaced on the webpage with… and you aren’t going to believe this… or I guess you will if you are a person of color or a female… “Black/White Cooperation.”

The webpage used to (until a matter of weeks ago) open with FACTS about slavery, how slaves struggled to gain their freedom, how the Underground Railroad came about after the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.

Now, the page’s first two paragraphs emphasize “American ideals of liberty and freedom” and slavery isn’t mentioned.

There is a separate National Park Service webpage dedicated to Harriet Tubman. It has not been removed… yet.

The name “Harriet Tubman” is was synonymous with “Underground Railroad.” Her name will continue to be synonymous with the Underground Railroad until her name is wiped from the entire internet and all books about her or the Underground Railroad are destroyed… and after that, her name will still be whispered and kept alive through oral history.

The Trump Administration has also targeted the National Museum of African American History and Culture and the Smithsonian American Art Museum for having exhibits and using language he doesn’t like… or someone has told him he shouldn’t like. After all, we all know what a limited vocabulary he has.

The Administration continues to threaten universities, libraries, museums under the guise of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), but if Trump and his minions were truthful they would just admit that they are racists, bigots, and mysogenists. We all know, though, the truth is not in them. They are small, fearful, hateful bullies.

I believe God is weeping. He gave us freewill, but it must grieve him to see what so many Americans have done with that freedom and responsibility.

In case you can’t see the forest for the trees…

Before you jump on me for making a mountain out of mole hill… for getting all bent out of shape over “just” the removal of Harriet Tubman, the Underground Railroad, and slavery from a US Government webpage, I’m worried about the big picture. Yes, I’m upset over those specific things being scrubbed from a government webpage, but I’m more concerned over what this portends.

I’m 72 years old and I NEVER thought the United States Government would erase our history. It has taken hundreds of years for indigenous peoples and Americans of African descent to get their stories – their history – in the history books. All that progress is under siege and threatened today.

Where do we go from here?

It falls on each of us to learn as much history as we can… while we still can… and commit it to memory so we can tell future generations the truth.

It falls on us to protest any way we can. It you are fortunate enough to be represented on any level of government by someone not affiliated with the Republican Party, call them, write them, encourage them, support them in their efforts to stop this madness.

If you are represented by Republican politicians, your have your work cut out for you. They have been advised not to hold town hall meetings. I know from experience that when you write them (letters or email) if you get a response it might not be on the topic you wrote them about.

The response you receive will quickly descend into a regurgitation of the usual Republican talking points singing the praises of Trump and how we all need to just be patient because great wealth is going to come to each of us and it is coming quickly.

On the other hand, we’re told it might take years for us to realize that prosperity because it took decades of our allies taking advantage of us to get us in the dire economic situation we were put in by the Democrats.

In other words, if we live long enough, this great American nightmare might end.

Make a sign and join a non-violent protest. Respond to hecklers with “Bless your heart!”

We must follow the example set by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and protest peacefully. Only the other side storms Capitol buildings and attacks police officers.

If need be, we can protest and wait patiently to vote in the mid-term election on November 3, 2026, when every one of the 435 seats in the US House of Representatives will be up for election and 33 US Senate seats will be up for election.

One thing I hope to live to hear

I hope to live long enough to hear a sane future US President speak the words that President Gerald Ford uttered to the nation after President Nixon was forced to leave the White House in shame: 

“My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over. Our Constitution works; our great Republic is a government of laws and not of men. Here the people rule. But there is a higher Power, by whatever name we honor Him, who ordains not only righteousness but love, not only justice but mercy. As we bind up the internal wounds of Watergate, more painful and more poisonous than those of foreign wars, let us restore the golden rule to our political process, and let brotherly love purge our hearts of suspicion and of hate.” ~ newly-sworn in US President Gerald R. Ford, nationally televised from the East Room of the White House on August 9, 1974.

I heard President Ford say those words, and I desperately want to hear a future US President say them, substituting “the Trump Administration” for “Watergate.”

Until my next blog post, probably tomorrow

I hope you have a book or something to give you a few minutes respite from what’s happening.

Janet

“First they came for the…”

Every week I think I’ll write a shorter blog post, but every week there’s something in the news about which I’m compelled to comment. Every week I think I’ll get back to work on the novel I’m writing.

The original blog post I wrote for today came in at more than 3,000 words. No one wants to read a 3,000-word blog post, so I’ve divided it into three posts.

Tomorrow I will blog about a couple of US Supreme Court rulings made in 1898 and 2025 that I initially was going to blog about today.

Wednesday’s post will include a breakdown of the $524 million bill passed by the NC General Assembly and signed by Governor Josh Stein las week as well as highlights from the National Hurricane Center’s final report about Hurricane Helene.

And you know me… if something else happens before I post tomorrow and Wednesday, I’m liable to go off on another tangent. While we still have a modicum of free speech in America, I will take advantage of every opportunity to speak out about injustice and actions that run counter to the US Constitution.

A blog post update

Last week I reblogged Tangie T. Woods’ post from her “Mrs. T’s Corner” blog about Lt. Col. Charles Calvin Rogers’ information being taken down from the Department of Defense (DoD) website.

The DoD seemed to get confused about exactly what on its website qualified as the “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” (DEI) that the Trump Administration wants eradicated from all federal government departments and resources.

Under the Trump Administration, the online record of the Medal of Honor that Lt. Col. Rogers received on May 14, 1970 was changed to read, “dei-medal-of-honor.” There is no such medal and there was no such thing as DEI in 1970.

Of course, the teenagers working for Elon Musk would not know that. They wouldn’t care that Lt. Col. Rogers served in the war in Vietnam. They probably could not find Vietnam on a map if their lives depended on it.

And, since Elon Musk is from South Africa, he probably doesn’t know anything about the war in Vietnam either.

The last I heard, Lt. Col. Rogers’ information has been corrected, but the bigger problem still exists as every single day something else is erased from history by the computer geeks working for Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency.

According to the Associated Press on Saturday, March 22, 2025: “The restoration process has been so hit or miss that even groups that the administration has said are protected, like the Tuskegee Airmen, the first Black military pilots who served in a segregated World War II unit, still have deleted pages that as of Saturday had not been restored.”

Would someone please explain to me what the online removal of the records of the Tuskegee Airmen and military Medal of Honor recipients has to do with “Efficiency” because I’m having trouble understanding it?  

Last week, Principal Chief Mitchell Hicks of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians issued a statement about how indigenous peoples on the North American continent have been marginalized by the government since European settlers arrived here.

Chief Hicks pointed out in his statement that even though the US Government tried to wipe out the Cherokee language, during World War I it was the Cherokee who developed a secret code based on their language for the US military to use. He said in his statement that the Cherokee people will make sure their military history is not erased.

Thank goodness the Cherokee people are doing this, because we cannot depend on the United States Government to preserve it.

We are not stupid. We all know exactly what is behind all these anti-DEI actions. White men have dominated politics and business in the US since the country’s formation, and many of them cannot accept the fact even in the 21st century that women and people whose skin is all shades of brown and black have brains.

Many of them claim to be Christians, but they reject the essence of the teachings of Jesus Christ. Their words and actions fly in the face of the teachings of Jesus Christ.

As a Presbyterian, I believe that in the eyes of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, all people – women and men – of every shade of skin hold equal value. It is offensive when someone claims to be a Christian but they endorse political leaders who demean women and disrespect people of color.

If some of those old white men in the White House, the US Congress, and the US Supreme Court are not getting that message at their churches, maybe they need to find another church.

If you think I’m being disrespectful to the US President and other old white men, my words don’t hold a candle to the disrespect they are showing me and my fellow citizens every day through their words, their actions, and their inactions.

DEI was about making sure everyone had an opportunity to get into the college they were academically-qualified to attend. It did not guarantee that they would pass the courses and graduate. It was about everyone having the opportunity to apply for a job. It did not guarantee them the job. It was about making sure everyone had a chance to sit at the proverbial table.

When I was a little girl in the 1950s, it wasn’t like that. In fact, when I was a teenager in the late 1960s, things were just beginning to change. I pray our country never goes back to the dark days of racial segregation and gender discrimination.

The Republican Party (i.e., Donald Trump, for he is the Republican Party now) has twisted the opportunities that DEI offered into something ominous, vile, and discriminatory. Through Project 2025 that his friends wrote, he is attempting to erase opportunity and history.

But some of us were entering the workforce in the 1970s and we know from personal experience how it was. It makes me sick to my stomach to know that my four great-nieces who are in their early twenties will not have the same opportunities their mothers had in the 1990s.

You see, the problem wasn’t solved when Lt. Col. Rogers’ military record was restored to a website. That was accomplished only after a public outcry. But the evil, hate, ignorance, small-mindedness, and fear (yes, fear!) that resulted in his record being mislabeled and removed is very much still with us.

If you think I’m reckless in my use of the word “evil,” according to Merriam-Webster, evil is defined as “morally reprehensible,” “arising from actual or imputed bad character or conduct,” “causing harm,” and “something that brings sorrow, distress, or calamity.”

The Trump Administration and his Department of Government Efficiency is all about evil, hate, ignorance, small-mindedness, and fear (yes, fear!). They work from a place of evil. They set out to hurt everyone they hate, don’t understand, and fear. They fear that white people will soon be in the minority in the United States. They fear that since women are going to colleges and universities in greater number than men, that eventually more women will attain positions of leadership in government and business.

Elon Musk has been quoted as saying that the biggest weakness of “the West” is empathy. I beg to differ. I think empathy has been one of our strengths. We showed empathy through the work of the USAID. Through the Voice of America radio broadcasts we showed empathy toward people who were trapped in authoritarian governments.

Trump and Musk have ended USAID and stopped the Voice of America. Being from South Africa, though, Mr. Musk has little experience with empathy. The word “empathy” is not in Trump’s vocabulary.

That takes us to “ignorance.” The people who took down the photograph of the Enola Gay airplane took it down because it had the word “Gay” in it. Well, duh! “Gay” just happens to be a woman’s name.

If you don’t believe me, look it up. And if you don’t know what the Enola Gay was, by all means, look it up if you still can.

While we’re on the topic of Government Efficiency…

US Department of Agriculture has halted $500 million in deliveries to food banks nationwide that the Biden administration announced last year. Even The Washington Post has reported this. One more slam at farmers and people who need a little help putting food on the table.

And even though under 26 U.S. Code 7213 it is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison, a $5,000 fine, and mandatory termination of employment for a federal employee to give anyone access to a taxpayer’s tax return information, the US Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is working on an agreement with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to gain access to private tax records.

ICE claims to only be going after the tax records of undocumented immigrants, but this is a slippery slope.

If you aren’t careful, Mr. Trump, someone outside the IRS could someday gain access to your tax records! We all know how much you don’t want that to happen, even though every US President for decades before your first term made their tax records public. You promised to follow suit as soon as your 2015 tax audit was completed. We’re still waiting….

Until my next blog post

I hope you have a good book to read.

Hold your family close.

Remember the people of Ukraine.

And remember the people of western North Carolina where a half-dozen wildfires were still burning out-of-control yesterday afternoon. Three of them are in Polk County, which was hit hard by Hurricane Helene last September.

Look for my next blog post tomorrow!

Janet