Opinion - Chestertown Spy

The Year of Wishful Thinking and Broken Promises By Aubrey Sarvis

July 7, 2025 by Spy Desk Leave a Comment

The jubilant House of Representatives leadership claimed their narrow win, 218-214, on the President’s reckless and cruel tax bill was a “wonderful thing for all Americans.” For the loyal and faithful Christian right, House Speaker Mike Johnson, on cue, insisted, “a lot of credit goes to God and freedom loving Members of the House who have been working on the President’s bill for over a year.” But it fell to the peppy Republican Chairwoman of the House Conference Committee, Lisa McCain (R-Mich), to put a winning face on the wobbly sow she had just voted to heap upon her unsuspecting constituents outside of Detroit. “This bill.” she declared beaming, “is about putting more money in the pockets of more Americans.”

Now why would a perfectly pleasant looking mother with four photogenetic children repeatedly spew out such nonsensical rubbish? Greed and ambition. Lisa McCain is eager to do what it takes to play big in Trump’s world and she expects to be rewarded.

Belatedly, some have decided enough. Time to take exception to and challenge Trump and his battalion of liars, posers, and zealots. They might begin with the facts, challenge the wishful thinking, and confront the shameless McCain liars. The bill just passed, plain and simple, is Trump’s ugly sow. Sows need a lot of slopping. They love to wallow in the slushy mud and tumble in the mire and then wobble back to the trough for more slopping. Make sure Trump and every Republican who fed and kept this greasy sow alive is stuck in their swampy pen with the ugly sow they sired.

Lisa McCain and the Republicans know Trump’s massive bill puts more money in the pockets of the rich and super rich capitalists and pays for some of that historic largess by taking away Medicaid health and hospital care and food from the very poor, including children and seniors. Lisa McCain didn’t misspeak. She may even believe part of what she said. After all this is the same careless congresswoman who recently claimed Social Security payments were going to people born 150 years ago; the same Congresswoman who in 2022 declared Trump had “caught Osama bin Laden.”

The mean, wacko, and reckless Trump sow, H.R. 1, is about money and who gets what, and a total lack of concern for the poor and those in need. This perverse Trumpian show includes the classical elements of arrogance, entitlement, and hubris. Indisputably President Trump controls the executive and legislative right down to dictating the day and hour the House convenes and adjourns, and he may be close to capturing the judiciary. Trump and his team are dancing and popping corks. They are on a roll. They may have also convinced themselves that they can do no wrong and are entitled to do pretty much what they can get away with while they control the levers of power or until they are stopped.

That arrogance and swagger of power was painfully apparent July 4^th, the day of our country’s birthday, when the president with his detached first lady in summer white, standing by his side, went on and on with his tired shtick out on the Truman balcony before he signed his reckless bill into law. Only Trump would try to make our country’s birthday celebration about him and his recent steamrolling the House and Senate again. Only Trump would have the hubris to suggest that his great tax bill is up there with our country’s accomplishment of two hundred and forty-nine years of a consecutive functioning democracy.

Only Trump would have the chutzpah to use the Social Security Administration on July 4^th to send out the message below to every Social Security recipient in America:

“The Social Security Administration (SSA) is celebrating the passage of the One Beautiful Bill, a landmark piece of legislation that delivers long-awaited tax relief to millions of older Americans.”

This free political flier from a federal government agency paid for by U. S. taxpayers is outrageous and illegal, and straight out of the Trump playbook. The day Trump signed his reckless tax bill into law he officially launched his campaign of lies and distortions to sell the American people on what he did for them in his 900 plus pages tax bill.

He is now in campaign mode to convince American voters he kept his promises to the working class and seniors; he never touched Medicaid; never added trillions to our debt nor kicked millions of Americans off health care; he never lied to the American people; and most especially, he wants you to know he loves you; he never left you. Don’t keep your distance (don’t abandon me and the Republican senators and members of the House I own in next year’s election).

I kept my promise; don’t keep your distance. I never sought fame nor fortune; I never invited them in, though it seemed to the world that was all I desired. I haven’t made hundreds of millions in my first six months in office, no matter the fake Wall Street Journal and New York Times documents.

I love you and hope you love me. One look at me and you know it’s true. I made America great and strong and safe and beautiful again, and I did it for you.

This blueprint is straight out of his all-time favorite Broadway musical “Evita,” based upon his favorite fascist political operatives Juan and Eva Person. (Why do you think he loves waving to his people from his Truman balcony?) Trump just put Democrats on notice this is how he is going to sell his unpopular ugly sow bill to America and beat Democrats again next year. Even Fox News admits the Trump sow is hugely unpopular and a big gamble for Republicans.

Still, Trump may well sell his ugly and wobbly sow. Notwithstanding the Trump madness and corruption, his lack of focus and discipline, as well as a noticeable declining ability to respond in real time to a direct question, he remains a proven salesman with a remarkable track record when scripted.

If Democrats are going to take back the House and regain some measure of power, they will have to outsell the President. That will take selling the American people with specifics on a more solid, measurable, and reasonable way forward as they reconnect with millions of Americans they lost over the past two decades. Democrats must touch, connect, and enlist new Democrats. That challenge will require a campaign against the sow H.R. 1, and a team equipped to fight, communicate, and win. This requires putting together the team and plan in the next 90 days.

One starting point for Democrats to reconsider is where they stand on spending for defense. There is a hard-core group of Democrats who have taken pride for much too long in never having voted for a defense spending bill. Nancy Pelosi tried without much success to change that. With real dangers coming from China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran, rigid opposition to an effective military is a recipe for remaining in the minority for decades. How do you put up a yard sign touting support for Ukraine and then vote against a bill to pay for the weapons and service members to wage that fight? Trump is foolish and dead wrong on Ukraine.

Lastly, for over fifty-five years Republicans and Democrats both failed to secure our borders. That delay and neglect came crashing down during President Biden’s watch, and Trump seized on the Biden ineptness and inability to act and made that a winning campaign issue. Most voters favor enforcing border security. What Democrats oppose is the unlawful and often inhumane and uneven way Trump goes about enforcement. It is not a sign of weakness to admit Trump has been right or partially right on some key issues. In fact, candor may well make Democrats more accessible and appealing to more voters.

There are stark and Important differences between how Republicans and Democrats act, give and take, allocate, and govern today; and those differences and inequities are reflected in the tight vote count on Trump’s not so beautiful sow H.R. 1. Democrats must connect with and sell America on a clear message.

Aubrey Sarvis,

Army veteran and retired lawyer

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Not Normal: Where Are We Going? By Aubrey Sarvis

June 14, 2025 by Opinion 5 Comments

This has been a deeply troubling and dangerous week, complete with risky calls and delicate dances, some high wire acts in the streets of Los Angles without safety nets. We see good and bad and ugly players, and, yet, somehow, cool and measured LA professionals on the scenes have contained most of the chaos in the streets without deadly violence. Nearly everyone is rooting for the soldiers and Marines and policewomen and men who have been thrown together and expected to manage and control legal and illegal immigrants, aggressive ICE agents and frustrated demonstrators, most peaceful, a few violent.

This concocted political show of excessive force and power and danger is unfolding live on television in the city of make believe with thousands of extras straight out of a lavish Cecil B. DeMille production. The star, of course, even when he is not on camera, is none other than our President of the United States. It’s his show, another Trump theatrical production conceived for MAGA believers and Fox News distribution but paid for by taxpayers of the United States. Trump, ever the cheap blowhard producer, never picks up the bills. (That’s for losers.)

Our president who moonlights as playwright, theater critic, and head of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts gives his frightening California show and inept contract players—Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, House Speaker Mike Johnson, and Senate and House Republicans smashing reviews. Five stars, Trump’s highest rating, for his compliant confederacy of dunces. And our president has no doubt America loves his phony strong man act, that it will play to sold out houses for years, breaking all records, including those for the Nazi satire “The Producers”.

Our president isn’t interested in lowering the volume as we approach the 250^th birthday celebration of the U.S. Army. No, he is reveling in his ugly and shocking show of force and itching for a bloody fight. The visuals and dangers become more disturbing and apparent with each passing day. Indeed, with each passing hour.

This is not normal, not in the United States of America.

Fascism arrived unannounced early Thursday afternoon inside a nondescript Los Angeles federal building when federal agents threw down and handcuffed a United States Senator who had identified himself to the Homeland Security Secretary holding a press conference there. The first duly elected Latino United States Senator was attempting to ask the Secretary important questions on behalf of his constituents. Millions saw the stunning and bold takedown and heard the Senator identify himself, and we should be very afraid. This happened in the very building in which the senator works when he is in LA.

This is not normal, not in the United States of America.

The president isn’t ready to call off his menacing henchmen. The creator, artistic director, producer, and bully-in-chief of this mean mess is threatening to take his alarming strong man act on the road. Another opening, another show. He said maybe Atlanta, Dallas, D. C., and New York City. Foley Square! His Marines on Broadway! George M. Cohen was there with “Over There” and, after all, if George Clooney can play Broadway and be nominated for a Tony, why not POTUS who can order up his Marines as extras and props.

The LA Trump show opened just as the president envisioned. Television networks fell in line immediately. They stopped or curtailed their coverage of his big, beautiful tax bill stalled in the Senate, and pretty much forgot about the promised tariff deals that never materialized, and the Musk Trump breakup quickly became page 10 gossip. Little and big screens and niche podcasters and young influencers began running Trump’s free content 24/7 – all showing how he and his ICE team were rounding up illegal and legal immigrants, be they at work or home or in schoolhouses or in the streets.

To interject immediate drama and ensure attention grabbing headlines and millions of cool hits, the president ordered National Guard troops to Los Angeles over the objections of the mayor and governor, both of whom insisted that local and state police trained in law enforcement were managing a tough situation on the ground well and federal troops were not needed.

Some of the most disturbing images in recent days were those of physically fit young combat airborne soldiers at Fort Bragg wearing red berets seated directly behind President Trump as he delivered a blistering political speech. It doesn’t matter that those young soldiers volunteered and were screened to be in the prop. That backdrop was straight out of the president’s campaign playbook. It was implicit that those patriotic soldiers supported him and his tirade in a political speech.

That is not normal in the United States of America.

In fact, service members are explicitly prohibited from attending or participating in political rallies in uniform. Even the stumbling, bumbling Secretary of Defense knows that. I believe Hegseth orchestrated the Bragg event. After all, he is the president’s military cultural warrior.

Perhaps the most troubling aspect of what we witnessed at Fort Bragg was the unabashed and defiant racism on full display by the president and the secretary. Everyone should understand those two bullies chose Fort Bragg to gloat and kick off the Army’s 250th birthday celebration because of its naming history and acts of bigotry and white supremacy.

We Americans do not celebrate bigotry and white supremacy and racist generals in our military today.

That is not normal today, and it is not who we in these United States of America are today. Yes, we are striving to become better and embrace equality for all. Yes, we are a work in progress, and we are determined to forge ahead, not fall back.

A final thought as we old soldiers celebrate the 250^th anniversary of our United States Army. Some of my friends in the sixties sweated out being called for Vietnam. They took advantage of the college deferments as long as they could and prayed hard for a lucky number in the draft lottery. None of us faulted them for doing so. Only a few of them ended up being called, but the ones who were called went. However, one of my college classmates fled to Canada where he remained for decades. He apologized for doing so before he died.

That apology was authentic and acceptable. The shameful way the President of the United States is using the army and military during this celebration is not acceptable.

His behavior is not normal.

The very least our president can do is salute the Army, and try very, very hard not to hog the celebration. This important celebration is not about the young Donald Trump or bone-spurs or his 79^th birthday. The President of the United States had repeated opportunities in the mid and late sixties to be a part of the United States Army. He used his father’s wealth, privileged position, and medical doctors to ensure that didn’t happen.

The decent thing for this president to do now is stop using the United States Army for props and political gain and stay out of the way during the army’s big birthday. Saturday belongs to the United States Army and the men and women who wore the army uniform and their families, not to Donald Trump who avoided the call to duty when his draft board and Selective Service called in 1968.

You cannot have it both ways, Mr. President.

Aubrey Sarvis

United States Army veteran

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Character Rot: Sounding the Alarm by Johnny O’Brien

May 15, 2025 by Opinion 5 Comments

Most of us are aware of the damage Donald Trump is doing to government service, freedom of expression, our universities, and democracy. And the moral decay our “national role model” is inflicting upon America with his daily lying, greed, spite, and vindictiveness.

But most of us are less aware of the grave threat Trump and his spineless minions represent to our precious children, just by broadcasting his malignant narcissism every day. It is not too early to sound the alarm.

For starters, just picture our vulnerable teens bombarded by their commander-in-chief, who rules as a greedy, lawless king—where kindness, honesty, humility, and cooperation are for “suckers and losers.” Our kids, with their online tools and savvy, know this. They see and hear it every day. The most powerful leader in the world (their “leader”) is trashing the most sacred values that have defined America since its founding.

And to what effect on our coming-of-age children? At a minimum, confusion about what behavior or character counts. More frequently, they embrace the loss of moral guardrails and behave (as in Golding’s Lord of the Flies) any way they want.

This is not a theory. I first saw it recently at a boarding school for needy children I once led. It has over 2,000 students and prides itself on building character. Just four months into Trump’s leadership model, more students are flouting rules and debasing their school’s Sacred Values.

When challenged, responses include:

“Why should I be kind to a weak classmate?”
“Why do I need to tell the truth?”
“Why should I share credit with a teammate?”

The school’s Sacred Values—like Integrity and Mutual Trust—are being routinely tested.

Note: These behaviors seem to be more manifest in boys, who are more likely to challenge norms and authority (and who already have excessive learning difficulties these days). And, BTW, where were these teens during Trump’s first term? In late elementary and early middle school, where early character formation is founded.

What fate, then, for our children and their character? What is the future for the sacred values of our critical institutions?

Awareness of a real and present danger is always the first step to combating a serious threat. “This too will pass” is not a sufficient response to 8–12 years of socially induced character decay.

Such a grave challenge will fall first to our parents… and then to our teachers and coaches, who influence behavior the most. And then to our community, church, and political leaders—who, when organized, can effectively resist the moral decay.

But also to each of us who care about America’s character and the moral fiber of our children—those of us who still value kindness, honesty, and the greater common good, and do not want our young folks to become the “Greedy Me Generation.”

Johnny O’Brien is a former president of the Milton Hershey School and its first alumnus to lead the institution. Orphaned at a young age, he was raised at the school and graduated in 1961 before earning a degree from Princeton University and pursuing graduate studies at Johns Hopkins. O’Brien later founded Renaissance Leadership, a firm that coached executives at major corporations. In 2003, he returned to Hershey as its president. He is also the author of Semisweet: An Orphan’s Journey Through the School the Hersheys Built, and currently lives in Easton.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Op-Ed: Anything Goes, but Pete Hegseth May Go First By Aubrey Sarvis

April 26, 2025 by Spy Desk 5 Comments

Springtime in Trump’s Washington is a mad, mad, mad world, one without humor, subtlety, or joy. Washington is now a dangerous and chaotic place to work and live. Just ask the senator from Alaska, Lisa Murkowski, who has been among the few Republican senators with the courage to respectfully disagree with President Trump and vote against him when she believed he was wrong.

The Alaska Daily News first reported that while speaking in Anchorage this week Senator Murkowski told a startled audience, “We are all afraid.” The context involved her colleagues in the U. S. Senate and the President of the United States. After a few moments of silence and reflection, the senator elaborated, “It’s quite a statement. But we are in a time and a place where I have not been here before. I’ll tell you, I’m oftentimes very anxious myself about using my voice, because retaliation is real. And that’s not fair.”

In a few words, the senator went to the crux of what is happening in our nation’s capital and none of it is flattering to our unstable president, nor to many of Murkowski’s spineless senate colleagues.

Most of the madness and chaos and fear of the last 100 days began with and remains with our fickle president who flips and flops and is incapable of being honest and trusting the American people with the truth. I fear the president cannot trust himself with painful truths, something as elementary and factual as the Electoral College results of the Biden-Trump 2020 election.

Long before Donald Trump’s 2020 defeat and brazen scheme to remain in office, lying was the essence of Donald Trump’s character. Lying remains a cornerstone of how he manages, controls, and manipulates. President Trump admits he operates pretty much by instinct, acknowledging there is no overarching comprehensive plan in place. How he runs our country of 340 million people is mostly by the seat of his pants, and much of it is raw, offensive, often vulgar, and invariably presented as factual on social media.

So of course, lying and vulgarity are now part and parcel of business throughout Trump world, especially among those who serve at his beck and call or are out to curry favor with our transactional president. No surprise that among the first causalities in this Trump White House are truth and integrity.

Lies and liars consume a great deal of attention and time. Working for a serial liar is demanding, demeaning, and exhausting. Constantly the handmaidens show the needy boss how much they believe in his enterprise. Shamelessly some throw in “genius” and, “Wow, Mr. President!” This is about performance, demonstrating fierce loyalty. These toadies were not hired for their credentials, high IQs, or remarkable achievements. No Lincoln or Roosevelt team of rivals here.

You can catch several of them performing in the president’s staged press conferences in the ostentatious, redecorated gilded oval office. There, the not so esteemed and clueless Attorney General Pam Bondi on cue ignores the subject of due process, a man’s right to be heard in court before he is deported. Instead, Attorney General Bondi glibly asserts the United States is powerless to facilitate an imprisoned Maryland man’s return to the United States. The mighty United States and our all-powerful president cannot spring a man from a flea bag prison in a third-rate country. Really? Need more? Watch Stephen Miller, the president’s deputy chief of staff, tell a whopper regarding Supreme Court language refusing to lift a lower court’s order directing the Administration to ‘facilitate” the return of a Maryland man jailed in El Salvador so he can be heard in a United States court. Rushing in to foolishly play lawyer, non-lawyer Miller declared a White House legal setback was in fact a victory for the president. Some victory, when the highest court in the land agrees with the lower court directing the White House to comply forthwith.

Trump itches for an immigration court showdown, lying and stalling to deflect and focus on “immigration” rather than his disastrous and costly on and off again tariff fights against most of the world that has cost American trillions of dollars in just a few weeks. Of course, Trump would prefer a noble fight between a dangerous immigrant and a heroic president battling the courts and overeducated liberal judges to keep America safe from a notorious gang member who robs our good men and does unspeakable bad things to our fine women.

The president picked this cabinet. This is his best and brightest. Unfortunately, they are also the folks who will guide and advise him when we face the next military threat to our security and well-being. They will be front and center managing any Russian-Iran-Chinese nuclear crisis.

The president’s favorite in his cabinet is the smug Pete Hegseth who has been tap dancing since he was nominated for and became Secretary of Defense, a critically important post for which Mr. Hegseth is uniquely unqualified for by intellect, temperament, experience, and judgement. Beware of the “warrior” who promotes his patriotism, bravery, and brand on and in the clothes he wears. The Hegseth wardrobe includes a bright stylized U. S. flag handkerchief, folded inside his front jacket pocket; a U.S. flag stitched on his socks, and the colors of our flag for the inside lining of his tightly tailored suit jacket. This is the same preening defense secretary who, according to The Washington Post, recently ordered a make-up studio near his office in the Pentagon be upgraded for his many TV appearances, but the secretary’s aides were quick to insist he does his own make-up. On that, I believe him. I suspect Mr. Hegseth does his make-up very well; he has had years of practice.

However, I do not believe Mr. Hegseth when he repeatedly lies and denies he put classified information about an upcoming dangerous military operation on the commercial Signal chat platform. We already know from whom and where Hegseth received that Yemen intelligence about Houthi targets. We know the reckless secretary’s actions could have put service members under him in harm’s way.

This is not just another Hegseth “rookie” mistake. He is now the leader of the most powerful military in the world, and he is exercising the judgement of a whining junior officer. I fear the entitled Hegseth expects a waiver from any rule or regulation that gets in his way or his priorities. This Signal Gate began with Hegseth determined to get around a Pentagon prohibition on cell phone use in his area of the building, a prohibition deemed necessary to protect our security and nation’s secrets.

Secretary Hegseth who served twenty-years of duty retired a major. When asked about that rank, Hegseth pointed to generals who didn’t know how to fight and lead in war, and Pentagon lawyers in air-condition offices who wouldn’t let him shine in combat for his not attainting a much higher rank. He played the victim card, blaming others, just as he is doing today, fingering his hand-picked aides and MAGA appointees in the Pentagon out to get him.

Secretary Hegseth fails to grasp that a warrior’s responsibility is to protect the men and women who serve under his command, not use them as props to show off before friends and family on a commercial chat platform. An investigation has been requested by the Senate Armed Services Committee. If it is a thorough investigation, Mr. Hegseth’s lying, and conduct will be exposed and neither President Trump nor his Defense Secretary will be able to withstand the heat. Mr. Hegseth will have to go.

Secretary Hegseth serves under a reckless president who craves attention and blames others. They have a lot in common. In a passage from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby one might easily substitute the president and the secretary for Tom and Daisy:

They were careless people, Tom and

Daisy – they smashed up things and

creatures and then retreated into

their money or their vast carelessness

or whatever it was that kept them

together, and let other people clean up

the mess they had made.

Aubrey Sarvis is an Army veteran and retired lawyer.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

OP-ED: Mayor and Council: Trust in you has evaporated By Robert Miller

March 3, 2025 by Spy Desk 3 Comments

The re-introduction of Chestertown Resolution 06-2023 is more than strange. The resolution is more insult after injury on the citizens of Chestertown inﬂicted by the Mayor and Council

This is the same resolution Mayor David Foster and council members Tom Herz, Jose Medrano and Meghan Eﬂand passed in bad faith in November 2023 to create a legal ﬁction that allowed then-Ward 1 council member Timothy O’Brien to remain in oﬃce illegally after he had moved to Ward 4.

On December 18, 2024, Judge Harris P. Murphy brought this “fast one” to an end, admonished the Mayor and Council for conduct the Court found “disturbing,” and ordered a special election for Ward 1.

Chestertown Charter Section 3(c) is unambiguous. If a councilmember moves from his/her ward, their term in oﬃce terminates automatically. The facts show that the Mayor and these three Council conspired together to deprive Ward 1 of lawful representation in order to allow Mr. O’Brien to remain in oﬃce.

But why? No adequate explanation has been oﬀered then or now.

The whole situation has created a new deﬁnition for S.T.U.P.I.D: Sanity Tripped Up, Preventing Intelligent Decision-making. It is diﬃcult to ﬁght against reasons and excuses that do not make sense.

Chestertown residents support democracy. The Ward 1 Special Election drew two candidates and over 200 voters who turned out on cold January day.

The Mayor and these three Council members have betrayed their oaths. They have not acknowledged their misconduct or oﬀered to reimburse the Town for the legal fees their actions forced the Town –using your tax dollars and mine – to incur.

Trust has evaporated in the Mayor and these three Council members.

Mayor Foster, Herz, Eﬂand and Medrano should resign and make way for a new Mayor and three new Council members now.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Kent County and a serious healthcare hit? By Tom Timberman

February 28, 2025 by Tom Timberman 1 Comment

This article focuses on Kent County, but the possibly very damaging Federal legislation now being considered, if passed, will affect every US county, particularly those in rural areas. On 2/24/25, the Republican majority in the House of Representatives passed a budget resolution ( H Con Res 14, 119th Congress) that serves as their blueprint for the actual budget appropriations process. It has been passed on to the Senate.

Its major focus is to identify existing Federally financed programs that could be cut, to fund President Trump’s tax reduction priorities, but be deficit neutral. His agenda includes extending his 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), but also further reducing corporate and high earner tax rates. Moreover, the approach includes increasing the standard deduction and family tax credits, eliminating personal exemptions and limiting deductions for state and local income and property taxes.

The Republicans in both Congressional Houses face a difficult challenge because the amount needed to support Mr. Trump’s tax plan, but not increase the deficit, is $4.5 Trillion. And directly related to this issue, is Congress’s looming duty to raise the debt ceiling to avoid the USG’s first ever debt default.

The “Blueprint” targets the House Energy and Commerce Committee which oversees health care and disability programs, to find $880 million in reductions (over the next 10 years). And the only program the Committee monitors that could offer that large a reduction, is MEDICAID/CHIP, which is a joint Federal/state program. It receives circa $ 600 Billion annually from the Federal Government and $14.6 Billion from Maryland’s.

Nearly, 80 million Americans, .6 million Maryland residents and some 6,200 in Kent County. are enrolled in MEDICAID/CHIP

The House Ways and Means Committee is reviewing how to achieve the $880 Million cut to MEDICAID/CHIP. The current thought is to reduce the standard percentage (90%) the Federal Government contributes to state costs for those who received coverage under the ACA (Obama Care) expansion provisions. The national total of these individuals is approximately 21 million people.

This approach would reduce the Federal match for the expansion population (90%) to what states receive for the traditional MEDICAID population: 50% for the rich states and 77% for the poorer. The options for states should this become law, are not easy.

The first is they could use their own money to make up the difference. Given Maryland’s current strained financial situation, that would be difficult unless additional larger state programs budgets (education) were reduced further. Another option is to scale back MEDICAID coverage for some groups, eliminate optional benefits or reduce provider payment rates. And then there is the 3^rd option: raise taxes.

Those Impacted:

Given the millions of Americans who currently benefit from MEDICAID, one could anticipate some millions will be affected negatively should the plan discussed above become law and be carried out. However, there is another category that relies on MEDICAID reimbursements that would also be be harmed: hospitals, nursing homes and community health centers. The Kaiser Family Foundation reports that in 2023, 32% of MEDICAID spending was for hospital based care. These facilities are generally underfunded, particularly in rural areas, and this potential loss of funding, could be expected to force more to close.

Recent White House policies beyond MEDICAID, have reduced care for the disabled. .It is estimated that some 20-25% of Americans are disabled: physically, psychologically or intellectually. The 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, required employers of more than 15 people, not to discriminate against otherwise qualified candidates because of their disability. It also required that reasonable accommodations be made for disabled workers

However a 1/20/25 Presidential Executive order directed all relevant government agencies to terminate “…all discriminatory programs, including diversity, equity, and accessibility. On 1/21/25 the President put federal accessibility employees on administrative leave.

It may just be me, but reducing or removing care for Americans needing help in order to reduce taxes on corporations and the wealthy, without the potential political cost of raising deficits and debt by noticeable billions/trillions with some political cost, strikes me as severely objectionable.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Op-Ed: Making American Great Again?

February 19, 2025 by Spy Desk 3 Comments

The President and his henchmen, full of themselves, began implementing their agenda at breakneck speed on a freezing January afternoon to install, pardon, and enrich their devoted loyalists. The White House assured the American people their clever and smart disrupters were agents of change and among the very best in our country. They also promised these patriots would make America Great Again.

Pete Hegseth, now U.S. Secretary of Defense, couldn’t stop putting his foot in his mouth for four days last week in Germany while meeting with our closest allies and delivering key Putin talking points. The Defense Secretary’s blunders and bluster on the world stage were especially painful when he declared the days of the United States using its military power and treasure to protect Europe were over, suggesting thousands of American troops might well be pulling out of Europe soon. The Hegseth smackdown and threats were hardly in keeping with how most U.S. diplomats deliver a message to respected allies and partners who will surely be needed down the road. And while holding court, Mr. Hegseth informed Europeans leaders in no uncertain terms there would be no place for them or Ukraine at the table when President Trump sat down with Putin to decide terms and conditions for how that war would end, who would get what, and who would keep the peace and pay for keeping it.

The Secretary’s debut as leader of the U.S. armed forces and manager of a vast arsenal of mass destruction was so unsettling and off-putting that the Chairman of the Senate Armed Services, Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss, who had successfully steered Hegseth through committee and to confirmation, rushed in to do damage control, suggesting Hegseth’s hiccups were understandable “rookie mistakes” and no disrespect was intended. I suspect those “rookie mistakes” hardly reassured senators who believed Hegseth who had told them only days earlier he was smart enough to know what he didn’t know and would reach out for expertise. Maybe some were wondering why Hegseth, who can’t resist a TV camera or photo opportunity, was in the diplomatic lane reserved for the Secretary of State.

Last month the White House complained that several of their incredible nominee warriors had been wronged or looked down upon by educated elites. I wondered if they had in mind their gay cabinet members. Surely not the bright U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent from rural Conway, South Carolina via Yale and Wall Street and the hedge fund billionaire world.

Not withstanding his pedigree and smarts and vast experience, Bessent abandoned his Horry County common sense in early February, and approved turning over some IRS sensitive secured data to Trump political appointees at Treasury who are acting without congressional authority as they masquerade as so-called efficiency and waste experts. The seasoned Treasury Secretary in an effort to silence critics claimed he personally limited access to “read only access” to the government payment system, but his access to young White House flunkies alarmed several former Treasury Secretaries. Access is access, Mr. Secretary, and it can easily be manipulated and expanded in the wrong hands. The Bessent decision resulted in several former Treasury Secretaries taking the unusual step of publicly expressing their concerns. It appears the Secretary never risked challenging the Musk/Trump DOGE authority to obtain such documents. Bessent is now part of the Musk/Trump shenanigans, and he will come to regret his swift compliance. Of course it’s not too late for Secretary Scott Bessent to acknowledge he made a huge mistake and become the first Trump cabinet member to resign in protest. That course would require an extraordinary act of courage, and Bessent would pay a huge price for putting country above the Musk/Trump charade.

Fortunately this week the courageous Acting Secretary of the Social Security Administration, Michelle King, refused a similar demand from the Musk lieutenants for sensitive data from her agency. She is not an Ivy League billionaire and part-time Ivy League professor like the Treasury Secretary. Commissioner King is, however, a cum laude graduate from Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, and when DOGE came after her she knew what was the lawful and right thing to do. Her decision to stand up to the richest man in the world acting without legal authority cost her the job she loves.

What we are now seeing weekly is the 2025 Musk/Trump version of the Nixon Saturday Night massacre, and, unfortunately, this costly and well- orchestrated massacre is going to continue for weeks, if not months, with few Trump appointees having the courage to stand up and say no.

Let me state the obvious. Musk and his squad are making much of this stuff up as they storm into government agencies and systems. This so-called government agency was never created, authorized, or funded by Congress. This faux DOGE concoction is a Musk/Trump White House invention designed to look and act like a federal agency created by Congress. It is no such thing. What is really going on is a bold illegal scheme operating in plain sight. Naturalized citizen Musk and Trump and their DOGE lapdogs are seizing secured government documents without Congressional authority, oversight, accountability, and safeguards, and doing so for illegal political purposes as they seriously undermine the independence and legitimacy of a critically important revenue collecting government agency as well as a government agency that pays out earned benefits. This is just to emphasize two legitimate federal agencies already harmed by the DOGE boys. Mr. Musk, in cahoots with President Trump, is daring Congress, the courts, and the American people — look, folks, I’m smarter than all of you; by the time you catch up or figure our what we’re doing in our DOGE White House operation we will have rewritten the meaning of democracy in the United States, changed and updated the software and program language for our purposes, and achieved most of our objectives to gut federal agencies without interference from Congress and the courts. Agencies like USAID will be dead or forgotten. Several federal agencies will only be shells by the time we curb and rewrite their programs and systems. Understand we are agents acting for the President of the United States in his official capacity carrying out his official responsibilities, and all federal systems and employees fall under the sole jurisdiction and control of President Trump.

Whoa! Not so fast, Musk/Trump. Did Chief Justice Roberts and the majority in Trump v.United States and other cases dealing with presidential powers decide what you have been claiming — unlimited and unchecked powers across the board for the President even if those acts are unlawful and beyond his official duties? I think not, but let’s find out and soon. Yes, the president is the Commander in Chief of our armed forces, and the SCOTUS gives great deference to recommendations coming from the pentagon, but the president is not the Commander in Chief of federal civilian employees nor does the President have total authority over all federal agencies.

What we are now seeing is the 2025 Musk/Trump version of the Nixon Saturday Night massacred, and, unfortunately, this costly and well-orchestrated massacre is going to continue for weeks, if not months, with few Trump appointees having the courage to stand up and say no. Nixon Dirty Tricks 1972 are back. Fifty three years ago that quaint young gang only manipulated primaries, our political system, and broke laws to achieve their political purposes. The initial dirty little tricks originated on the campaign trail and then some of the schemes became larger and were brought inside the Nixon White House at the highest levels and massaged by smart lawyers, but then a series of unexpected events happened and things spun out of control and over a couple of years nearly all the players, including the President of the United States, members of his cabinet, an Attorney General, a Commerce Secretary, the President’s Chiefs of Staff, and a cadre of younger bit players all went down in their lies, hubrus, petty ambitions, and illegal acts. Several went to jail for years, including two members of the Nixon cabinet. The disgraced outgoing President of the United States needed a pardon from the incoming President to stay out of jail.

What is happening today in the Trump/Musk White House and throughout this administration is a much more serious threat to our country than Watergate, but it will take time for the country to comprehend the scope of the power grab now unfolding, just as it did during Watergate. But time is not on our country’s side today. We must all get up and act smartly with a sense of urgency if we are to keep our democracy and country. It will take we the people acting if we are to stop this outrageous threat from Musk and Trump. We cannot count on corporate CEOs and other so-called leaders who have already capitulated in public and kissed the ring, nor can we count on those Members of Congress in both parties who are failing to protect our country and government, but if we the people act by insisting that what is happening under Musk/Trump must stop, Congress will listen; and Congress will follow us. And courts will take notice too.

Aubrey Sarvis

Army veteran, retired lawyer, and former ED of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network

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The Political is Personal: Reflections on DEI by Margaret Andersen

February 1, 2025 by Opinion 5 Comments

As the women’s movement was unfolding in the late 1960s, all across the country women gathered in small, informal groups called consciousness raising (CR) groups—conversations that helped us identify the societal origins of problems we were facing in our individual lives. Domestic violence, rape, job discrimination, illegal abortion, the lack of birth control—you name it: These were experienced as personal problems, but their origins were in society and required political, not just personal solutions. For so many of us in my generation, “the personal is political” was a rallying call–a call for change not just in our personal lives, but in society and our social institutions.

This was a time (and it wasn’t that long ago) when there were no women in what we studied in school. Colleges were places where women could only wear dresses. Blue jeans, which became the symbol of a generation, were forbidden on campus—until women revolted. Blue jeans were a symbol of the working class and wearing them, as suggested by SNCC (the activist group, Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee), was a symbol of solidarity with the working class. Women demanded their rights—on campus, at home, at work: everywhere!

We embarked on a course of compensatory education, trying to learn through any means necessary all that had been left out of what we were taught. There were few studies about women; even medical science routinely excluded women from research samples. When I was in graduate school (where I had no women professors), what we learned about women came from newsprint pamphlets, our CR groups, and whatever we could put our hands on that taught us about women’s history, lives, artistic contributions, and everyday experiences. This was the birth of Women’s Studies—or what is now often called gender studies.

My compensatory education had to offset all I had not learned about women, about people of color, about LGBTQ experiences—in other words, my education excluded more than half the world’s population. Ironically, the term “compensatory education” at the time usually referred to what was perceived as inadequate education for people of color in racially segregated schools, but we all need an education that teaches us about the full range of human experience.

As time proceeded, our efforts to “integrate” education by including the work, experiences, and contributions of women, people of color, immigrants, and LGBTQ people became institutionalized in women’s studies programs, ethnic and racial studies programs, LGBTQ studies, and—yes–diversity initiatives: the now demonized DEI!

Now the assault on so-called DEI feels like a punch in the gut to me. I have devoted fifty plus years of my education and the education I have passed on to others in the interest of an inclusive, not exclusive, curriculum. Scholarship in these diverse areas of study has flourished and people have learned that having more inclusive educational and workplace settings actually improves performance for ALL groups. What is it that is so threatening about DEI that powerful interests are now trying to wipe it out of every institution?

I’ll hazard a guess that most opponents of so-called DEI cannot tell you what it is. Of course, many of us have sat through boring workshops intended to raise our awareness of “DEI.” A lot of us have raised our understanding of what changes—both personal and political—are necessary to achieve a more fair and equitable society—in all its dimensions. To me, DEI is just about that—respecting and understanding the enormous diversity of people living and working all around us; desiring more equitable (just plain fair) opportunities for people to achieve their dreams; and being inclusive, not exclusive, in how we think and who we think about—and value.

I take the current assault on DEI as a personal affront—an affront on all I have worked for over fifty plus years as a professor, author, and college administrator. The time is frightening and, like many of my friends, colleagues, and family members, most days I just want to crawl in a hole. I feel powerless to change the retrograde actions that are happening all around us, every day. But the changes I have witnessed in my own lifetime are vast and should not be taken for granted. We must speak out even when it feels like there are big risks in doing so.

Even putting these thoughts in print feels scary given the retribution that is now all too common. But I ask you to remember: I am your neighbor, might have been your teacher, am not a criminal. I am an American and love my country, as I hear you do too. But before you post some nasty comment to this letter, I ask you also to think about whether you want your child, your friend, your neighbor to grow up in a country where we learn little, if anything, about people’s experiences other than our own and where powerful interests ask you to ignore the hard work of so many who fought to bring you a more inclusive, just, and open society.

I also ask you to deeply care about anyone, maybe in your family or friendship network, who loves a lesbian or gay daughter or sibling, even when the coming out process asked them to change everything they thought they knew. Love those who cherish and embrace a trans member of the family even when their old beliefs were upended by this reality. Love those who have fully welcomed an interracial couple and their children into an otherwise all white family. Care about anyone from an immigrant background who came to this nation to seek a better life for themselves and their children. Know their experiences; don’t believe the myths.

To all of you, my heart is with you even as I rage!

Dr Margaret L. Andersen is the Elizabeth and Edward Rosenberg Professor Emerita, Founder and Executive Director of the President’s Diversity Initiative, University of Delaware, who lives in Oxford.

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New report reveals value of resource conservation for Shore businesses by John Horner

January 30, 2025 by Opinion Leave a Comment

I consider it a privilege to live and work in a place so many Marylanders associate with vacations, retirement, recreation, and quiet retreats. But as good as our parks, rivers, beaches, and charming towns are for those very activities—the Eastern Shore is equally a place of everyday living and hard honest work, schools and small businesses, boat builders and watermen. At Easton Utilities, we are invested in it all – whether we’re powering the air conditioning in a vacation home so that a young family can escape a summer heat wave, keeping the lights on in a farmer’s winter workshop, helping a local restaurant cook with natural gas, or providing high speed internet to a long-awaited new healthcare facility.

It’s easy to see how a utility company economically benefits the residents and visitors of the Shore. But all of our services would be irrelevant if not for the benefits provided by our water, woodlands, clean air, wildlife, fertile soil, beaches, and abundant seafood. These natural resources offer more than an admirable landscape and deep cultural identity, they drive our economy. Eastern Shore Land Conservancy (ESLC), in collaboration with the Delmarva Restoration and Conservation Network (DRCN), recently released a report titled, “Economic Impact of Natural Resources Conservation on the Delmarva Peninsula.” This comprehensive study highlights the undeniable benefits of the Eastern Shore’s natural resources.

Since I first began at Easton Utilities, we have made sustainability a priority. Our Easton Sustainability Campus is constantly developing new innovative ways to pursue our sustainability mission of conserving natural resources in a way that is economically viable. Located at our Enhanced Nutrient Removal (ENR) Wastewater Treatment Facility, this campus also houses our cost-effective 2 MW solar array which was significantly grant-funded by the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE). In fact, our ENR Wastewater Treatment Facility’s exceptional performance regarding nitrogen and phosphorous discharge concentrations has resulted in additional grant funding year over year from MDE. These funds are reinvested in the wastewater facility for ongoing operations and maintenance undertakings in order to continue optimal performance.

In addition, from our annual tree planting initiative to our pollinator habitat, we remain committed to enhancing the quality of life in our beloved coastal communities by making environmental stewardship a priority and seeking out cost-effective projects which can help us to address the needs of both our place and our people.

Now more than ever, ESLC’s economic report reveals just how critical conservation efforts are if we want to preserve our beautiful peninsula home and unique way of life. Land conservation anchors environmental stewardship; it’s a cornerstone for preserving the Eastern Shore’s cultural heritage and its economy. By safeguarding Delmarva’s natural resources, we ensure that future generations can experience the beauty, traditions, and productive, meaningful work that define this unique region.

In my role as the President and CEO of Easton Utilities, I am ever mindful of what drives the Eastern Shore quality of life for both our employees and our customers. This new report shares in numbers what we all feel daily: the natural resources of the Shore keep us afloat. I am confident that Easton Utilities, through our partnership with the Town of Easton and Mayor Megan Cook, will continue to do everything in our power to conserve our precious region while providing for our community, and now with an even greater understanding of the essential value of our natural resources.

John Horner is the president and CEO of Easton Utilities

The report can be read here.

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History of US Territorial Acquisitions By Tom Timberman

January 27, 2025 by Spy Desk Leave a Comment

President Trump’s second Administration has begun. And one of his most memorable goals mentioned during the 2024 Campaign, is to expand the geographic size of the United States. The locations Mr. Trump identified as potential additions are: the Panama Canal Zone, Greenland and Canada (as 51^st state). The last strikes me as highly unlikely, but the other two may be more serious contenders.

Whether his Administration’s pursuit of these two represent negotiating tactics to gain some other concession or represent actual targets for acquisition, is unknown. However, if the latter, then some background to earlier territorial additions and how they were obtained, would be of interest.

Since the founding of the United States on July 4, 1776, twenty nine very large to very small acquisitions have been made. The first was the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 (827,987 sq. miles) and the last, the Northern Mariana Islands in 1947 (467 sq. miles). The USG used six methods over 144 years to grow the square miles subject to US sovereignty: (1) Purchase, (2) Cession, (3) Annexation, (4) Incorporation, (5) Treaty and my favorite, (6) by the authority of the Guano Act of 1856, which permits US citizens to claim uninhabited islands on behalf of the United States, if they contain Guano.

The Treaty of Paris (9/03/1783) granted the 13 colonies their independence and established the external borders of the new United States of America. However, sovereignty over the territory of the 13 states (892,137 Sq. Miles) wasn’t settled until 1802, when they were ceded to the US Federal Government and the individual states.

In 2025, the size of the United States is 3,531,905 Sq. Mi. How the USG gathered an additional 2,,596,937 square miles after 1783/1802 is an interesting 144 years of our history.

Growing Bigger and Bigger: The table below describes when, how and what territory, the USG acquired those accounts for the country’s current size.

It is important to understand the different circumstances under which territory was transferred to the United States. For instance, under the category “Purchase”,between 1803 and 1944 America gained 1,636,695 Sq. Mi. at a cos5t of $57,200,,000. And in 1854, 72,000 Sq. Mi. were bought from Mexico for $10,000,000, but another 529,189 Sq. Mi. were Ceded to the US after Mexico lost the Mexican-American War.

The Spanish-American War lasted only 8 months, but netted the US through Annexation 389,166 Sq. Mi (Texas plus) and by Treaty also from Spain at the same time, another 3508 Sq. Mi. (Puerto Rico)

However, without doubt, the $15,000,000 President Jefferson paid France 1803, for the Louisiana Purchase, Napoleon had earlier seized from Spain, was a bargain. It added 827 million Sq. Mi., almost doubling the country’s size. However, Jefferson’s major reason for pursuing the deal, was national security – the US gained control over the Mississippi River.

And Hawaii’s 6,450 Sq. Mi. of beauty and beaches was annexed in 1898, following a successful coup against the Queen, by a group of wealthy American landowners. And in 1906, the USG annexed 31, 069 Sq. Mi. of Indian Territory.

Turning to President Trump’s possible interest in acquiring Greenland (836,300 Sq. Mi., 80% of which is covered by an ice cap) , the low prices of the past, no longer exist. Moreover, it’s the largest island in the world, inhabited by some 60,000 people and is a largely self-governing part of the Kingdom of Denmark, a US NATO Ally. And then there is the Panama Canal Zone (553 Sq. Mi), the US leased it from Panama under the terms of the 1903 Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty (upfront payment of $10 million and an annual rent of $250,000). Eleven years later the Canal, constructed by the US, opened for public use. President Carter terminated the lease in 1979 and gradually returned the zone to Panama.

And if somehow Canada becomes the 51^st State of the USA, it would more than double the size of our country again, by adding another 3,850,000 Sq. Mi.

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