Nothing good seems to come from keeping up with the daily outrages in DC. Today I read about the military parade the president wants to have on his birthday in June. The event would cost the taxpayers $92M and involve all branches of the military. DC streets would be damaged by tanks, bridges may not bear the weight of some of the equipment, military personnel would be ordered to participate. The whole thing is no more than a reflection of narcissism and ego. On top of the golfing trips the president has taken, involving personnel, travel, millions in miscellaneous expenses, this expensive parade makes no sense. Meanwhile massive cuts of government personnel are leaving departments without the intellectual expertise and experience necessary to run the day to day business. All of this leaves the country vulnerable to serious delays, mistakes, multiple problems and foreign interference. 

Another piece of news yesterday was that a member of congress boasted about taking advantage of the volatile stock market to buy currently affordable stocks. And the rich get richer.

Possibly the most frightening was the Justice Department’s defying the Supreme Court. The Court ordered the return of an American citizen wrongfully sent to a prison in El Salvador. The Justice Department has defied that order. The Court is the one entity empowered to be the final arbiter. The Constitution makes that clear. 

Is there a way out of this nightmare? Other countries are unsettled because the US isn’t behaving predictably. Prices are rising here and abroad as a result of the outrageous tariffs that are changed whimsically, leaving our allies troubled, even angry at the unusual lack of US stability.  No longer leading the free world responsibly, the US is fumbling and erratic. Many of its citizens are frightened by all of this, and some MAGA faithful are feeling economic pain.

Life goes on, for now.