I respect Republican Senator Joni Ernst for her service as the commanding officer of a transportation company during the Iraq War. I also don’t know how an accomplished military officer got tangled up with the DOGE caucus yet she did. She has been a cheerleader, saying, “DOGE will sweep over this city (Washington, D.C.) and forever alter the way it operates.” Indeed, the task force is attempting to do that and the Veterans Administration is not exempt.
When the 2022 PACT Act passed, Ernst was on board. “Our veterans, who have sacrificed so much and continue to pay the price for their service, deserve the life-saving benefits in this bill,” she said. “The PACT Act works to fulfill our duty to care for those who put on the uniform in the name of protecting our freedom, both past and present.”
President Biden staffed the VA to accommodate the new law by hiring some 83,000 new workers. DOGE now seeks to return staffing to 2019 levels, according to Military.com. What happens to the PACT Act if the VA cuts employees hired to fulfill its commitments? Ernst must decide. Support our veterans or support DOGE.
The good things Senator Ernst may have done are undermined by her declaration in support of DOGE. In the meanwhile, veterans may be left untreated while a diminished VA tries to care for their special needs with significantly reduced staff.
Senator Ernst should support the VA or find another line of work.
~ Published as a letter to the editor in the April 27, 2025 Cedar Rapids Gazette.
Who knew the house of cards would fall apart after rendition of legal U.S. residents to El Salvador without due process? But there you have it. The coffee tastes bitter today. Here’s hoping the coming days are sweeter.
If immigration reform and rounding up undocumented U.S. residents was the first goal of the administration (and it was), they did a terrible job preparing for it. The present goal apparently is to deport one million people per year, far short of what was said on the campaign trail. They did not adequately ramp up the legal system to accommodate due process for each one of this number of deportees. They seemed shocked that the judiciary system won’t let them load random people on cattle cars and sent them off to foreign lands with gulags without charges or a hearing of any kind. They just assumed the judiciary would go along. This lack of due process appears to be a line in the sand. When it get the the U.S. Supreme Court, the hand-picked justices seem unlikely to accept it. We shall see.
One has to ask how much time to spend thinking about Trump and his minions. I follow the news in a cursory way. I am usually familiar with a story someone raises in conversation. It is best for my personal productivity to spend as little time as possible occupied with figuring out what the administration is doing. I do care, yet it seems pointless to try to make sense of it when there is no conventional sense to be made about much of it. There are two key threads: Russell Vought’s implementation of Project 2025, and the daily changing whims of the president. I am not interested in being a spectator in the coliseum.
To maintain my sanity, I have to stay focused on finishing writing the current book. Once it is put to bed, I can turn my attention to other important things.
Today marks eleven weeks since the inauguration. Who knew we would be where we are? I’m not really sure where we are.
Of the many reckless changes the administration made, the following are most concerning to me: elimination of the Institute of Museum and Library Services; changes to the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.; threatened changes to the Smithsonian Institution; defunding NOAA; vast cuts in medical research funding; all the programmatic changes to Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security; and of course, the reconciliation bill that moved through the U.S. Senate over the weekend providing stunning tax cuts for the well-to-do in society by borrowing money to pay for them. The hits against what we once thought was good keep coming.
On Saturday, millions of people, in all 50 states, demonstrated against the administration’s changes. Crowd estimating is an inexact science yet some say 5 million people showed up. The demonstrations appeared to be peaceful. The president was busy at his golf club, so I doubt he was engaged. The resistance is getting stronger.
The government was stable under Biden. The next president introduced uncertainty about the future. There is no perceptible benefit to the increased instability and uncertainty of our government. We now have a society in which the rich get richer and the rest of us can fight over scraps. Here’s the thing, though. Out of those scraps we will make a meal to nourish and sustain us to make our lives better than we have ever had them. Above all else, we must persist on the path toward righteousness.
Bulletin board at H Mart in Niles, Ill. On April 2, 2025.
Someone shared a photo of the interior of a Korean grocery store in Niles, Illinois in a social media post. I had to visit the next time I was in the area, so this week, I did. The experience was a bit surreal.
For the first time in a long time, I entered a grocery store and left without buying anything. It was the H Mart in Niles, an Asian Grocer larger than the American grocer I frequent near home. They had aisles and aisles of foodstuffs with Korean lettering on the packages. Two of us walked from end to end to see what was on offer. It was a lot. It would be easy to drop $500 in one visit and not scratch the surface of what was available.
There was a food court near the entryway. It was well past the lunch hour when we arrived, and two hours until supper time. I would have thought someone would be eating, yet few were. Every person behind the counters was not doing anything, just standing or sitting, I suppose waiting for a customer. The store was almost empty of customers on a Wednesday afternoon.
At the other end of the store near the exit was a row of other kinds of merchants, such as the nail salon that stood out. In between were well-stocked, well-faced shelves. There were a couple of stockers, who each had a single box of a product to refill a shelf. This is unlike our grocer in that here, the stock person fills a large flatbed cart with dozens of items which are wheeled to the floor and parked while the entire aisle is re-stocked. Maybe it’s a cultural difference, although I’m struggling to figure out why.
There was a lot of seafood, reminding me that marine life everywhere on Earth is under pressure from over fishing. There were many kinds of pickled products, including kimchi and daikon radishes. I wouldn’t know how to choose one type of pickled product for a meal among so many options. There were small shelves of U.S. company products. Notable was a wide set of shelves of Spam products, actually multiple sets in different locations in the store.
South Koreans eat lots of Spam, according to National Public Radio. It is the second-largest consumer of Spam in the world, eating roughly half as much as the United States, which has six times as many residents. U.S. soldiers introduced Spam to Korea during the Korean War. Dishes such as Kimchi Spam Musubi, Bibimbap bowl with Spam, and others are considered to be delicacies. When my uncle was stationed in Persia during World War II he ate so much Spam in his rations he never ate it again after military service. To each their own, I suppose.
The reality of H Mart did not measure up to the internet posting. In person, it seemed a vast, well-stocked warehouse for people with a specific culinary interest. How does one decide which pancake mix to choose when there are so many? Maybe there are too many varieties. Inside H Mart it is a world of its own.
They even had boxes of Aunt Jemima pancake mix, with the iconic figure on the box, from before Pepsico took a step into the future of racial equality and removed her. Quaker Oats, a subsidiary of Pepsico, may have felt it was doing the right thing by removing the aunt’s image. In the bright neon lights of the store there was consumer comfort in seeing her image persist. Maybe they got the message about DEI and put Aunt Jemima back in her place.
I found the visit fun, the most fun I’ve had in a while. I don’t get out much. Since I didn’t buy anything, it was cheap fun. I don’t know if the internet ruined me for experiences like this. I would never have seen the inside of H Mart without that social media post. It is one more bit of reality incorporated into my online world view. I just need to develop a taste for kimchi and I’ll be set.
Large crop fields have been worked along many of the roads I traveled to Chicago this week. Ready or not, the season turned to spring. Next on my indoor planting schedule is tomatoes, followed by cucumbers and squash. I’m waiting for conditions outdoors to improve to tear down some of last year’s garden and prep the soil. It’s how I’ve learned to be a gardener.
I finished reading The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley. I wrote a book review on the Goodreads social media platform:
The public library had this book and I heard about it from Barack Obama’s reading list. It was a fast-moving, engaging read. The 20k+ reviews already written on Goodreads are a trip and highly recommended. Here is a link to the page. Couple things to add:
The main value of this book is the author’s use of language. It is right on the surface and had me looking up things she wrote for usage. Most fiction I read does not engage like this. The writing worked sometimes, and sometimes not. I found this invaluable to my own writing.
Did not care for romanticizing tobacco use. Too many friends who died of lung cancer.
Lord Franklin’s search for the NW passage is being rediscovered. Not sure this fictionalized version helps or hurts. Probably not positive to actual history.
Hard to put down once started.
The imperfect character of the female lead was compelling.
Author’s summary of how she created the male lead from the historical record is a must read.
Rated 5 stars because among dozens of fiction books read in the past several years, this one stands out with enduring quality. It is likeable because it is different. Give it a go!
I’ve been away from my writing computer for two days. It’s time to get back to work on my memoir. Thanks for reading.
On Monday, March 31, National Public Radio reported the Institute of Museum and Library Services placed its entire staff on administrative leave. While the employee count is low at about 70, the impact of the institute across the country is high. I recently posted about all they do to help public libraries in my community.
According to a statement from AFGE Local 3403, which represents IMLS workers, the agency’s staff was notified by email about being placed on paid administrative leave for 90 days after a “brief meeting between DOGE staff and IMLS leadership.” Employees had to turn in government property, and email accounts were disabled. (National Public Radio, March 31, 2025).
The future of previously awarded, yet unpaid grants is uncertain. Work on new proposals stopped. One assumes the institute won’t be returning from leave except to wind down the Congressionally approved institute. Whether the grant-writing process would be transferred to another agency hasn’t been discussed in public. The uncertainty is not good for people who work in public libraries, especially in smaller communities where libraries are widely used as a resource and a foundation of community life.
I wrote my federal representative and senators. Senators Grassley and Ernst replied, and based on that communication, we are in a wait and see period while the intentions of the Department of Government Efficiency become public and the process evolves. Placing staff on paid administrative leave throws cold water on initial belief the institute could be saved.
Why is this so important? Public libraries are the lifeblood of our democracy. In addition to public facilities made available for little or no fees, reading is a valued way of learning. The anti-intellectualism behind the assault on museums and libraries is on prominent display with this action. The endgame is the deliberate destruction of knowledge. We are already seeing evidence of this in other parts of the state and federal government.
If locals need to fund our public library, I believe money could be raised if federal grants disappear. Uncertainty is in the air. Just tell us what you are doing, federal government, and with clarity library lovers everywhere will do what is needed to support our public libraries. While this action in unwelcome, it is not the end of the discussion of public libraries and museums.
Below is the message I sent to my federal representatives in Washington, D.C. The president signed an executive order on March 14, which said in part, the Institute of Museum and Library Services is an unnecessary bureaucracy.
…the non-statutory components and functions of the following governmental entities shall be eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law, and such entities shall reduce the performance of their statutory functions and associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law… (Continuing the reduction of the federal bureaucracy, The White House, March 14, 2025).
Here is the message I sent:
What can you do to save the Institute of Museum and Library Services?
I’m writing to express my disappointment that the president intends to dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) “to the maximum extent of the law,” via executive order. As you know, the Congress created IMLS and, by law, only the Congress can dissolve this federal agency. As a resident of your district, I don’t understand how the executive branch can intervene in a congressionally created agency, cancel grants, and in effect put it out of business. Please explain.
Our local public library in Solon, Iowa depends on IMLS funds for things like inter-library loans, platform fees, shared online resources with other Iowa libraries, website hosting, the People’s Law Library of Iowa, and more. Depending upon the timeline for ending grants, if that is the final decision, these library services upon which we depend could be disrupted.
If the federal government pulls the plug on IMLS, the community will respond and replace it as we can. We’ll see what the courts say about the president’s executive order. What can the Congress do?
Our community is self-reliant. When we didn’t like that the library was located under the band stand in the city park, we solved the problem by contributing more than $1 million to build the current facility. When we quit claimed the building to the city, they made a commitment for staffing. Ever since, the library has been a valuable community asset.
Thanks for considering my email. Good luck navigating these turbulent times.
Regards, Paul Deaton
Senators Grassley and Ernst replied, and Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks has not. Grassley and Ernst did not really address my concerns, yet they say they support libraries and don’t have an opinion on the effective closing of this agency. Like me, they are concerned and describe the current situation as actively unfolding with a lot to learn. I posted part of Grassley’s response here.
What seems clear from the executive order, and the other actions the president has taken, is the impacts on plain folks like me will be many and will hit me where I live.
The next step is figuring out what I can to about the many changes proposed by the federal government.
According to the U.S. Treasury website the national debt as I write this letter is $36.22 trillion and growing. The politics should be simple. Don’t provide any new tax breaks to corporations and individuals until the debt is substantially paid down.
The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act expires this year. It increased the national debt and should be allowed to expire without action. It was a bad idea for America. Will the people who enjoy its tax cuts miss them after the law expires? Likely yes, but we all should make sacrifices for the betterment of our country.
Republicans in the Congress passed H.Con.Res.14 which provides a framework for establishing a federal budget through reconciliation. According to the bill, it “requires the maximum deficit increase permitted by the reconciliation instruction… ($4.5 trillion in the resolution).” Whatever bill is written seeks a total of at least $2 trillion in deficit reduction.
The Congress is having trouble finding $2 trillion in deficit reductions, and settled on $1.5 trillion which they can’t find either.
I took arithmetic in grade school. The Congress is proposing adding some amount, maybe $2.5 trillion or more to the deficit. We are going the wrong way, especially if we are funding tax cuts with these loans.
It is common sense to stop increasing the national debt to provide tax cuts and pass a budget that reduces the deficit instead. Politicians are not known for their common sense, so we plain folk need to keep reminding them.
~ Submitted as a letter to the editor, not published
The Situation Room during the death of Osama Bin Laden, May 1, 2011. Photo credit – Official White House photo by Pete Souza
While stationed in Europe, I drew an assignment to serve as a visiting officer to a French battalion of Infantry Marines in the coastal city of Vannes in Brittany. Not many American officers knew the French language, and even though my French was marginal, the command felt it would improve and be needed in case the balloon went up. That is, there was war on the central plains of Europe. After returning to garrison, I was asked to write a classified account of my observations while assigned to a French platoon. Our battalion S-2 officer knew what the word classified meant and complied with Army procedure in handling my report. Today, I don’t recall what I wrote, except to say the French were liberal in the use of corporal punishment by officers on enlisted personnel. I filed the report and hadn’t thought about it much since then.
The news this week is of the operational security breach when National Security Advisor Michael Waltz added national security reporter and editor in chief of The Atlantic Jeffrey Goldberg to a chat about an ongoing attack in Yemen on the messaging application Signal. I had not heard of this app, which is an American open-source, encrypted messaging service for instant messaging, voice calls, and video calls. Signal has known vulnerabilities to infiltration by Russian and Chinese intelligence. Worse case scenario, bad actors were listening in on the chat in real time, in addition to an experienced national reporter present by apparent mistake. There are issues.
First, the president was not part of the chat and likely should have been. When people on the chat asked whether the attack should commence, whether the president authorized it, no one knew. The decision to make the strikes then appears to have been made by deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, according to Heather Cox Richardson. What was the president doing then, instead of being in this meeting? Watching television or doom scrolling his phone? The president said he didn’t know anything about it.
Content of the chat aside, why weren’t the participants using secure channels for this discussion? Even if the Situation Room at the White House is not a viable option, the government has secure channels for use in its place. Either the administration hopes to avoid scrutiny by using a commercial messaging app, or they are incompetent… maybe both.
I would much rather write about other things on this blog. The truth is I need to process what I’m hearing and writing about it helps. What we heard this week is important and we can’t look away. Plenty of other sources have better detail and analysis about the security breach. I’ll let the story run its course, which is expected to be a long one.
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