Veterans Day and a Vandal's Threat

 

by Pa Rock

Veteran

I was alerted to the fact that Veterans Day was fast approaching last weekend when I received the annual Veterans Day card from the nurses who run Cardiac Rehab here in the fair city of West Plains, MO.  They send out cards to the members of the group who are veterans each year in early November, and cards to all group members on their birthdays.   Those hilarious ladies always put a big pinch of glitter in thie cards, but I have been receiving them long enough that I know to open mine over a trash can!

My community has an annual Veterans Day parade, and students at the local high school prepare a free breakfast for those in the community who served in their nation's military.   West Plains has a strong patriotic spirit.

Donald and Melania Trump are headed to Arlington National Cemetery later today to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and then Trump is scheduled to give some remarks.  It will be interesting to see how long he can stay on subject before wandering off into a fragmented spiel about rigged elections, the war on Iran which will be won any day now, or the construction progress on the ballroom, the renovations of the DC golf course, plans for his new presidential library and hotel, the quality of the granite in the new White House helipad, or changes to the Kennedy Center.

One of the topics Trump should avoid today while speaking at Arlington National Cemetery is his proposed 250-foot triumphal arch that he plans to immediately begin construction on and that will be located just outside of the historic national cemetery and in the direct line of sight between that hallowed burying groud and the Lincoln Memorial.  Trump's eyesore of an arch will be so tall and imposing that it will cast a shadow onto Arlington National Cemetery which will darken te gravesites of thousands of  brave veterans as well as those of the Kennedy family members including President Kennedy and his brothers, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and US Senator Ted Kennedy - as well as the grave of former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, the woman whose famed White House Rose Garden was plowed under on the orders of Donald and Melania Trump.  Just sayin . . . 

(Note:  There are currently multiple legal challenges pending which are attempting to stop construction of Trump's vanity arch, and on November 6th a US District Judge put a fourteen-day hold on construction which will last until November 20th.  Meanwhile, members of the Kennedy family entered the legal fray yesterday by joining in a couple of the lawsuits to block construction of the arch.   The plaintiffs in the Kennedy portion of the suits include 7 of the surviving 9 children of Robert and Ethel Kennedy (but not current HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr), Robert and Ethel's grandson - former Congressman Joe Kennedy, and Ted Kennedy's son, Edward Kennedy, Jr.)

In addition to the lawsuit filed by the Commonwealth of Virginia and the District of Columbia that was enjoined by members of the Kennedy family, the construction of Trump's big arch is also being opposed in court by the County of Arlington, Virginia, and Vietnam Veterans and Historic Preservationists (which is being supported with an amicus brief filed by several Democratic members of Congress.)

Meanwhile, Donald Trump, a man who dodged the draft five times with the help of his rich daddy and a compliant doctor, is frothing at the mouth to bring in the heavy equipment and begin 20-hour-day construction of a monument to himself that will leave thousands of America's revered war dead lying in the shadow of his vanity.  It is an insult beyond contempt!

Trump's vanity arch will cast a shadow of disrespect on thousands of America' bravest and finest.  Plans for its construction should be abandoned today, before countless millions are wasted building a monstrosity that the next administration will have to spend more millions on to have it knocked down and carted off.

Happy Veterans Day.