A face in the crowd
Only 1,426 days to go...
Do you remember, when the Russian invasion started and there was a video that went viral of an older woman coming up to one of the young militants? She was hailed for her bravery after she confronted a heavily-armed Russian soldier and offered him sunflower seeds — so that they might bloom on his grave, when he died.
We enumerate the thousands of people who have died defending their homeland from Putin’s ruthlessness and the numbers of many brave Ukrainians. And Zelensky may have gotten a lot of press coverage with his quote: “I need ammunition, not a ride.” But for me, it was that one woman, who put a face to represent the Ukrainians’ resistance to the unprovoked Russian invasion of their country.
Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Charles Q. Brown, Jr. had a distinguished military career. Brown entered the Air Force in 1984 and served as a fighter pilot, where he logged over 3,000 flight hours, including 130 hours in combat. He had commanded the Pacific Air Forces, U.S. Air Forces Central Command, 31st Fighter Wing, 8th Fighter Wing, U.S. Air Force Weapons School, and 78th Fighter Squadron. He had also served as deputy commander of the U.S. Central Command. He served as the 22nd chief of staff of the Air Force from 2020 to 2023.
He was fired on Friday, to be replaced by a Trump loyalist; scary thought. The story has been written up in hundreds of news outlets. Editorials have been written about it, etc. I’m sure most people understand that this was probably going to happen to someone, who takes their oath of loyalty to the Constitution rather than to a wanna-be-dictator. General Brown is one person, whose life has been upended. It’s a tragedy and that is how it is being reported. But what about the 5,400 other Pentagon workers who are being fired? What about their lives?
It was Joseph Stalin who said, "The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic."
A friend sent me an editorial written in the Washington Post by David Ignatius entitled: There’s a story in each shard of the shattered USAID (If you would like to read it, let me know, and I can forward the email.)
“At least 11,500 Americans and 54,575 foreigners have lost their jobs. Nearly $1 billion in payments for work already done has been frozen. Nearly $500 million in food is sitting in ports, ships and warehouses. In Syria, a country struggling to recover from chaos, food and other support for nearly 900,000 people has been suspended. In West Africa, 3.4 million people in 11 countries have lost drug treatment for deadly tropical diseases. At least 328,000 HIV-positive people in 25 countries aren’t getting lifesaving drugs.”
When you read these numbers your eyes gloss over — 100K here or there; it does become a statistic, just as Stalin said. But what about Ohio farmer, Bryn Bird…
Bryn Bird, a Licking County farmer … whose family’s farm, Bird’s Haven, depend on one purchaser for around a quarter of the farm’s annual income. Farms also often operate on “razor thin” profit margins, sometimes as low as 3%. Losing a large purchaser like USAID can have a major impact. (Ohio farmers may feel impact of USAID foreign aid freeze)
Or Steve Schmida…
“My wife and I run a consulting firm called Resonance. In 2024, we had about 100 employees in the US and 50-70 elsewhere in the world. For many years, USAID has been our largest client, accounting for 70-80% of our revenue…For Resonance, this has been a life and death struggle because the USG is not paying its invoices. Right now, we have millions in past due invoices from December and January.” (“Breaking Things” in Government has Consequences)
What is happening in our beautiful country to every day people is a tragedy. We must not let these individuals become just statistics. We need to put a face on all of these people, who are being impacted by this irresponsible and callous administration. We need to tell the stories loudly, so Americans can fully understand how much damage is being done.
For example, here’s a story:
My sister has a good friend, who lives in DC. Her partner is an engineer, who was working for the Department of Transportation. He had been leading a project to design and develop traffic lighting for greater safety on our roads and highways. With over 20% of the population being baby boomers, finding ways to improve safety for people, who are becoming visually impaired (like me) is becoming a bigger priority. Unlike the big baby boomer who is playing golf at Mar-a-Lago, most of us aren’t being chauffeured around in limousines at the taxpayers’ expense. The project was considered a “DEI project,” so his department was eliminated by Musk and his Musk-rats.
Is there “fluff” in government spending? Sure - I know there is. Was this a necessary project? I don’t know, but neither does Elon Musk. He never took the time to find out. He just took his chainsaw to it. Firing people indiscriminately for simply doing the jobs, that they were hired to do, well, this is a tragedy.
This team of people are now out of work, which means they are joining the ranks of the unemployed, not paying taxes, may well lose their homes because they can’t make the mortgage payment, will be filing for unemployment insurance thus putting a further strain on state finances… and on and on. Each one of these folks has a family and lives in a community, which will be impacted by their job termination.
In many American communities, the public institutions serviced by the Federal government are essential to the local economies, e.g., towns like Cody, WY near Yellowstone Park or Williams, AZ near the Grand Canyon. When National Parks don’t open, because Musk has takes his metaphorical chain saw to them— which he has — what happens to all the people, who own hotels and restaurants in these small communities and whose livelihood is dependent on families taking their summer vacations to see our national treasures? There is always a ripple effect.
I think we need to tell the individual stories; share and repost pictures on social media. They just can’t become statistics or faces in the crowd. For example — here’s a picture worth sharing:
I saw this picture in this wonderful essay written by Anne Helen Peterson, which I hope you’ll take the time to read and post everywhere you have a social media account.
“…the long-term reality is bleak. The cuts aren’t just to park rangers who staff a national monument in a corner of Nebraska or the people doing fire mitigation in Western Washington. The cuts affect the systems that make so many parts of public life work.”
The fabric of our society is being uprooted in a way that is incomprehensible. Our way of life is being changed right in front of us. Individuals are being hurt in such a way, that there will be a long term affect not only to our economy but to our culture and to our values as Americans.
These are not just faces in a crowd. They each have a story that needs to be told. We can’t let them become just statistics.
Thought for the day in honor of his birthday…
“God grant me the courage not to give up what I think is right, even though I think it is hopeless.”
~ Chester W. Nimitz
Quote of the day:
“Not getting the VA prescriptions automatically filled is the point. Making public services worse is the point. Making people (further) dislike and devalue public infrastructure — the point. How else do you get millions of citizens on board with a handful of robber barons profiting off what rightfully belongs to the public?”
~ Anne Helen Petersen
What I’m reading today…
Being George Clooney Is Harder Than It Looks
As for Trump’s 2024 election, he said: “The Biden administration was terrible at explaining that we’re a world economy, where we were actually doing better than all the other G7 countries. They were bad at telling the story because their messenger was not working at his best, to say the least.”
Musk gives all federal workers 48 hours to explain what they did last week or face consequences
“Consistent with President @realDonaldTrump’s instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week,” Musk posted on X, which he owns. “Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”
‘Terrified’ Federal Workers Are Clamming Up
“People are terrified not for losing their jobs but for losing democracy.” … Many workers say they live in a constant state of fear, unable to trust their colleagues, unable to speak freely, reflexively engaging in self-censorship even on matters they view as crucial to national security. One team that works on issues related to climate change has gone so far as to seal itself off in a completely technology-sanitized room for in-person meetings—no phones, watches, computers, or other connected devices.
Asheville veterans show in numbers with protesters against Trump's federal workforce purge
In a sweeping attempt to reduce the size of the federal government after taking office, Trump ordered a freeze on all federal hiring alongside buyout offers for more than 2 million federal employees. Labor unions have questioned the legality of the buyouts in federal court, but more than 60,000 federal workers have already accepted the offer. It’s unclear how long the hiring freeze might last and whether seasonal job offers — like those within the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park — will be reissued.
How Federal Employees Are Fighting Back Against Elon Musk
Musk and his associates have swept rapidly through government agencies, dismantling programs and seizing access to sensitive databases, some federal employees are pushing back — using whatever levers they have to resist the orders of the world’s richest man, both in public and behind closed doors.
What the firings at FEMA could mean for the next hurricane or wildfire
Whether you're a Republican or a Democrat, regardless of who you voted for or what state you live in, nobody should feel particularly assured that FEMA is coming to their assistance in your time of need… The firings hit employees who have held their position for less than a year, known as having "probationary" status. That includes personnel new to the agency. But the category also includes long-time employees who were recently promoted, some with more than a decade of experience.
Courage, Principle, and Second Guessing
So it’s worth remembering — amidst the ruins of 2024 and the confused response to Trump’s reign of shock-and-awe — how utterly crucial it was to sound the claxons about the threat that Trump posed. And, for all the second-guessing, no one sounded that alarm with more clarity or courage than Cheney. No one tried harder to convince Republican voters that Trumpism was a betrayal rather that the fulfillment of their values. No one was more forceful in making the case that this was the moment to set aside party loyalties and ideological priors — that 2024 was not a normal choice between right and left; Democrat vs. Republican — than Cheney.
NBA legend Michael Jordan opens up fourth North Carolina health clinic for the uninsured
After the success of the first clinic, Jordan gifted $10 million to Novant Health to expand and create others. Each location was chosen based on the barriers the community was facing in obtaining health care, including transportation. Many patients had their first primary care visit with a physician thanks to Jordan’s clinics providing these services for people who cannot afford health insurance.