Your Tax Dollars At Work

I have held back on making critical statements about Trump for a while now, primarily because there are so many occasions when the initial impulse is to proclaim how moronic Trump is. But today Trump tweeted that he wanted a waiver to be granted to people at the service academies (West Point, Annapolis, etc.) if they excelled in sports and could become professionals at their sports. His conclusion was that those people could always serve after they finished their professional careers.

Okay, there have already been several instances of athletes who either skipped their military requirements because of their gifts in a single sport or who went in to the military but performed their required service as more or less good will ambassadors, making public appearances.

But Trump's idea is reprehensible on multiple levels. The service academies are not supposed to be athletic academies as so many other schools have become. Tax dollars go to provide those young men and women with the most modern education possible but an education focused on national defense. That is the primary reason the academies are far more expensive than state colleges or even private colleges. Expenses are covered for the students because they are expected not only to serve in the military for their obligated time but it is hoped that they will stay in the service to become the leaders of the various branches.

Where playing baseball (Trump's sport) or football falls in national defense I don't know. How women who are good athletes fall into Trump's scheme eludes me as well. And keep in mind that Trump is not a fan of the new NFL rules that are supposed to mitigate concussion events.

I am delighted that Trump's newest chief of staff,  Mick Mulvaney, has decided to give Trump free rein to be himself. It provides more opportunities for him to show what a moron he is (does he even know what "stollen" is?). Unfortunately, Trump followers are as moronic as he is and applaud every appalling move. The country they love is far more fascistic than the country I love.

The good news on my personal horizon is that my husband finished his IMRT and his last blood test showed indiscernible psa levels. Never any  guarantees in life but we are breathing a little more easily now.