Tag: donald-trump

Reflect on THIS

~ Bruce Ray ~ Leave a comment

Yesterday, ABC News reported that the Department of Justice sought to drop the charges against David Hearn who had been accused of vandalizing the Reflecting Pool at the base of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. At the time of his arrest on June 19, 2026, Hearn claimed he had seen parts of the newly installed membrane floating on the surface and had placed his hand in the water to confirm what it was. But Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, accused him of “forcefully and violently” ripping up parts of the pool floor that was part of the President’s pet project to repair and beautify the reflecting pool and address algae growth that had plagued the pool for decades. The project had been rushed to ensure that the reflecting pool would be finished in time for the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 2026.

For weeks after Hearns’s arrest, the President repeatedly blamed vandals for intentionally destroying the project. “It’s a shame that the Radical Left Lunatics, most likely Dumocats, who have spent their lives trying to ruin our Country are free to do it [ie destroy the pool],” he posted on Truth Social. Jeanine Pirro got a Grand Jury to indict David Hearn for destruction of federal property — a felony. Five other people were also arrested for putting their hands in the pool water.

Ooops! Never mind. On Friday, Pirro’s office said it was seeking to drop the case against Hearn after it received documents from the Department of Interior that pointed to evidence that the lining had failed due to “a rushed and flawed installation process.”

So it wasn’t “malicious vandalism”; it was shoddy work on a project that was going to cost only $1.5 million dollars. The final cost of fixing the fix is now $15 million and counting. That’s our tax dollars going down the drain, literally.

You would hope that the administration would come clean, but our President has never been one to let facts get in the way of his Truth Social posts. Today, he acknowledged that while there may have been some contractor difficulties, he disagreed “100%” with Jeanini Pirro’s assessment of the pool lining’s installation and her decision to drop the case, insisting that “the major damage was caused by VANDALS!” Yes, “VANDALS!” in capital letters so everyone reading it would be shaking in their boots.

In my humble opinion, the only VANDAL! is the one that continues to rip up the Constitution, chip away at the infrastructure of democratic governance, and plaster his face and name on anything he can.

Meanwhile, the algae returned — bigger and badder than ever — requiring the swamp…I mean, the pool…to be drained again. There is a metaphor there. Be algae.

Budgets Are Moral Documents

~ Bruce Ray ~ Leave a comment

On Tuesday, February 25, the US House of Representatives passed a budget by the slimmest of margins (217-215). Once a budget is passed by the House, it goes to the Senate, where it will likely be met with a competing budget that will have to go through a process of “reconciliation.” The final budget may look different from the House version–at least I hope so.

The budget passed by the House was exactly what the President wanted–$4.5 trillion in tax cuts, about $2 trillion in spending cuts, but with spending increases in the hundreds of billions of dollars for the military and border security over the next 10 years..

So who suffers from the spending cuts? Though the budget is not specific to program, it is widely assumed that the cuts will be targeted at programs that make up the safety net for poor and working families–programs like Medicaid (healthcare), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – aka SNAP (hunger), and HeadStart (early childhood education).

And who benefits from the tax cuts? The budget proposal extends the President’s previous tax cuts which reduced corporate rates from 35% to 21%. Tesla (owned by Elon Musk) has paid NOTHING in federal taxes in 2 of the last 3 years despite making a profit in each year. And giving tax cuts to the wealthy increases the national debt. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates that the deficit would increase at least $2.8 trillion to the deficit in the next 10 years. (see Financial Times).

In the end, most of us lose with this budget. Budgets that make the rich richer on the backs of the poor aren’t just unfair, they are immoral. Proverbs 22:16 speaks to the immorality of robbing the poor and giving gifts to the rich. “One who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and one who gives gifts to the rich—both come to poverty.” God’s justice protects the afflicted. Jesus announced his mission to “announce good news to the poor.” This budget is an announcement of bad news for anyone already struggling. Reducing SNAP benefits while grocery prices continue to rise is condemning children and seniors to malnutrition. Cutting Medicaid is sentencing people to sickness and death. Cutting HeadStart is delivering children to the school to prison pipeline. Every cut to the social safety net is a cut to the heart of Jesus.

These cuts expose the truth. The very same people who called for the elimination of foreign aid so we can take care of the problems in the US, actually have no interest in helping people or solving social problems. The cuts make it obvious that their priority is their own wealth and power. And God has a name for that: idolatry.

Now is the time to tell our Senators that we will not accept a budget that delivers hardship to those already suffering. We will not accept any cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, HeadStart or any other social program that protects the vulnerable and is necessary to their survival. We. will not accept an immoral, idolatrous budget. Period.