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Trump’s War on Education |
March 11, 2025 / Chris Hedges / The Chris Hedges Report - The attacks on colleges and universities — Donald Trump’s administration has warned some 60 colleges that they could lose federal money if they fail to make campuses safe for Jewish students and is already pulling $400 million from Columbia University — has nothing to do with fighting antisemitism. Antisemitism is a smoke screen, a cover for a much broader and more insidious agenda. The goal, which includes plans to abolish the Department of Education and terminate all programs of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), is to turn the educational system, from kindergarten to graduate school, into an indoctrination machine.
Totalitarian regimes seek absolute control over the institutions that reproduce ideas, especially the media and education. Narratives that challenge the myths used to legitimize absolute power — in our case historical facts that blemish the sanctity of white male supremacy, capitalism and Christian fundamentalism — are erased. There is to be no shared reality. There are to be no other legitimate perspectives. History is to be static. It is not to be open to reinterpretation or investigation. It is to be calcified into myth to buttress a ruling ideology and the reigning political and social hierarchy. Any other paradigm of power and social interaction is tantamount to treason..
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What you need to know about the Pentagon budget |
February 12, 2025 / Michael Merryman-Lotze / AFSC - The Pentagon has failed its annual audit for the 7th time in a row. In fact, it cannot account for half of its inventory, and yet the U.S. government – both Democrats and Republicans – continue to give it blank checks.
There is incredible waste, fraud, and abuse in the Pentagon budget. For example, a single pin for the Stinger Missile costs less than $.05 to manufacture, but was purchased by the Pentagon for $71 apiece. And the Pentagon paid $80 for a pipe that costs less than $1.50 to produce. There is no accountability for this fraud and waste.
In 2022, the top 6 military contractors – Lockheed Martin, RTX, Northup Grumman, Boeing, General Dynamics, and L3Harris – received over 210.5 billion dollars in contracts from the U.S. government. That is more than 4 times as much as the U.S. spends on foreign affairs and diplomacy, and more than 5 times as much we spent on USAID last year.
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Letter: Ban JROTC |
February 22, 2025 / Greg Alderete / The Suburban Times - In our schools, where young minds are meant to learn the art of questioning authority and embracing the complexity of human experience, the presence of Junior ROTC is a stark contradiction to these ideals. This program, designed to inculcate a militaristic mindset, pushes the notion that violence is an acceptable solution once diplomacy fails—a notion that has been used to justify brutal acts of killing throughout history. By introducing teenagers to a worldview where the defined enemy must be eliminated, we risk teaching them that conflict can only be resolved through violence.
Greg Alderete was a former Army Logistician for “Nonstandard Logistics Support in the Stryker Brigade Combat Teams”
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The Critical Importance of School System Involvement |
January-March 2025 / Isidro Ortiz, PhD / Draft NOticesDraft NOtices - Written by acclaimed investigative journalist Mike Hixenbaugh, this book is worth an earnest read because of its focus, timeliness and documentation. It will be of interest to a diverse audience, especially those concerned with public schools and their roles and impact on youth development in society, and how elements of the Right have managed to achieve political power.
COMD, Project YANO and other organizations engaged in counter-recruitment and anti-militarism work have long recognized public schools as sites of ideological and political contestation. Fueled by this understanding, they have struggled to influence policies and practices like the involuntary placement of students in JROTC. Regrettably, as this book makes clear, they have not been the only ones to recognize the role of schools in shaping the country’s political climate.
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The Army Is Losing Nearly One-Quarter of Soldiers in the First 2 Years of Enlistment |
March 07, 2025 / Steve Beynon / Military.com - The Army is grappling with a staggering attrition rate among newly enlisted troops, even as recent recruiting figures suggest the service is clawing its way out of a yearslong enlistment crisis.
Nearly one-quarter of soldiers recruited since 2022 have failed to complete their initial contracts, according to internal Army data reviewed by Military.com. While the Army's recruiting totals look solid on paper, a high dropout rate raises serious doubts about whether those numbers are an accurate portrayal of how well the service is manned.
It remains unclear why the Army is losing so many soldiers, but one explanation could be the declining quality of its recruiting pool. One-quarter of all enlistees last year had to go through at least one of the Future Soldier Preparatory Courses, which were set up as a sort of silver bullet for recruiting woes -- getting applicants up to snuff with academic or body fat enlistment standards before they ship out to basic training.
Listen to this article Now on Military.com
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Project 2025 – Department of Defense Notes – February/March 2025 |
March 12, 2025 / Libby Frank / NNOMY Report - The report opens with a comment on the nature of war which they warn has become too dependent on technology. From the report: “the most powerful weapon systems will remain the six inches between the ears of our citizens and the strength of their hearts and content of their souls.”
It also points (several times) to China as the biggest threat. It also notes the threat of Russia. It refers to the invasion of Ukraine as “Vladimir Putin’s brutal war in Ukraine” which seems to conflict with Trump’s view.
It notes that weapon sales are way down and recommends ending informal congressional notification of such sales. The review process is not required; it is a practice by which the Department of State provides a preview of prospective arms transfers before Congress is formally notified.
What will be the ramification of this change? Shouldn’t arms sales get Congressional review? What if Trump decides to negotiate a big sale to Russia as a tradeoff for something he wants?
DOD Personnel
It opens the section by talking about how our military makes extraordinary sacrifice which is not appreciated by the American public. Also “Young civilians who would thrive in a military environment are disenfranchised when educators and influencers discourage them from learning about military service and preparing for the honor of wearing America’s uniform.” (I guess that’s us.}
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