The Common Ills: The Snapshot

Tuesday, July 21, 2026

The Snapshot

Tuesday, July 21, 2026. Chumps caught hiding the number of US service members wounded in his war, Chump's economy continues to shed jobs as the Iran War goes broader on inflation, and much more.

Chump did not serve in Vietnam. Nor did he protest the war. He had his father buy him out of the war. He has no idea what it's like to serve. And he doesn't care. That's why he's been lying about the number of US troops injured in his Iran War Eric Schmitt (NEW YORK TIMES) reports:

In the week leading up to the Iranian attack on Friday that killed two U.S. soldiers and left one service member missing in Jordan, Iran carried out three other strikes against U.S. forces in the country.

Those attacks injured dozens of U.S. service members and damaged several helicopters, according to several U.S. officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters.

The Pentagon did not disclose the earlier strikes, nor the casualties and damage they inflicted. Yet later on Monday on social media, its chief spokesman said that the number of U.S. military casualties from Iranian attacks since July 7 had risen to nearly 100.

They are hiding the wounded. They are also hiding the dead. When Ben notes that it said 18 had died in the war and now its dropped down to 17? The 18th is the remains of the service member that were found over the weekend.

We called out Bully Boy Bush for many things during the Iraq War but w didn't have to call him out for hiding the number of wounded or dead.

Karen DeYoung, Tara Copp and Dan Lamothe (WASHINGTON POST) report:

The United States and Iran moved closer to all-out war over the weekend, as the exchange of attacks on civilian and military structures continued to escalate and with at least three and possibly four U.S. service members killed since combat resumed a week ago.

The U.S. Central Command launched another wave of attacks against military sites in Iran on Sunday night that it said was designed to “further diminish Iran’s ability to attack” commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. President Donald Trump told reporters after landing at Joint Base Andrews following the World Cup final that the attacks were retribution “in honor of the … great patriots who were killed.”

On Monday morning, the Pentagon identified two U.S. service members killed in action Friday at a base in Jordan as 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan, 25, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, and Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Carrollton, Texas. It said the incident was under investigation.

Centcom also said Sunday that unidentified remains of a third person had been found at the base in Jordan. Separately, it reported that a U.S. service member in northern Iraq was killed in action on Saturday during a “controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance” from a downed Iranian drone.

[. . .]

“The U.S. is planning for a wider war,” said one U.S. official familiar with internal administration discussions.

But the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media, cautioned that the expansion of U.S. operations will be limited by dwindling stockpiles of air defense and long-range munitions and constraints on the ability to surge more troops and aircraft into the area because of battle damage.

“We do not have enough to safely sustain operations, and I don’t think the White House is aware of that,” the official said.

Military experts have said that in addition to the toll taken on U.S. equipment and munitions stocks, the U.S. is unprepared for possible ground operations inside Iran, which Trump last week refused to rule out.

The White House is not aware of that? They are not aware of so many things. Jessie Williams and Clare Walsh (THE I PAPER) note:

As Donald Trump hunts for a way out of his unpopular war, he faces a conundrum: take a massive risk and escalate – or stand down once more in what he would see as an embarrassing surrender.

The US President is frantically looking for a route out of renewed conflict with Iran after his fragile memorandum of understanding (MOU), signed only weeks ago, officially collapsed following Tehran’s attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

Since then the US has renewed strikes on targets across Iran and reimposed a blockade of Iranian ports. Meanwhile Tehran has escalated its campaign against tankers in the vital maritime corridor, sending oil prices skyward again, and launched deadly attacks on US allies across the region.

At least three US troops have been killed in Jordan and Iraq over the past few days, putting more pressure on Trump – who was elected on a promise of no more “forever wars” – to bring the conflict to a resolute end.

As the November midterm elections tick closer, Trump is frantically looking for a way out that saves face. But as more US service personnel die, his options are getting slimmer.

And the American people didn't want the war and don't want the war. That's been true from the start. But Chump doesn't care. Harry J. Kazianis (NATIONAL SECURITY JOURNAL) writes:

Donald Trump entered the Iran war with more opposition than support, and nearly five months of fighting have made the political problem worse. The president still holds the loyalty of most MAGA Republicans, but polling since early March shows independents, non-MAGA Republicans, and voters focused on household costs moving away from his strategy.

A March 3 YouGov survey found that 48 percent of Americans disapproved of the initial U.S. attacks, while 37 percent approved. Independents were more than twice as likely to oppose the operation as to support it. Trump never received the broad rally-around-the-flag effect that sometimes follows the opening of a military campaign.

The resistance held through the spring. Pew Research Center found in March that 59 percent believed using force was the wrong decision, and 61 percent disapproved of Trump's handling of the conflict. A second Pew survey completed in late April produced almost identical results, while the share saying the campaign was going badly increased.

By July, the gap had widened. The latest Economist/YouGov poll found that 57 percent called the war the wrong decision and 27 percent called it right. A Reuters/Ipsos survey found that 79 percent expected prolonged American involvement, only 37 percent approved of the strikes, and 60 percent expected gasoline prices to worsen.

[. . .]

Foreign policy rarely dominates a midterm election for months without connecting to daily life. Iran has made that connection through gasoline, shipping, inflation, and federal spending. A June Reuters/Ipsos poll put Trump's approval at 35 percent and found that 70 percent disapproved of his management of the cost of living.

The economic link is politically dangerous because the war is reaching voters through household expenses, not only through television coverage from the Gulf. Republicans planned to campaign on tax cuts and affordability. Higher fuel costs and another request for war funding make that argument more difficult.

The White House still has several possible exit paths, but none offer a quick political reset. A settlement that looks weak could anger Trump's base. Continued fighting keeps the risk of costs and casualties alive. A larger operation around Hormuz would increase the military and economic burden.

Sean Williams (THE MOTLEY FOOL) notes, "The Fed's July forecast implies that Iran-war-driven inflation has spilled over into the broader economy and is about far more than just energy prices. If that's the case, FOMC policymakers may have no choice but to raise interest rates to stabilize prices." Our nation's 12 Federal Reserve members may be forced to raise interest rates."

It's the Chump economy. David Wainer (WALL STREET JOURNAL) reports:

America’s biggest food companies have tried everything to win shoppers back. They’ve cut prices, ramped up marketing and added protein to everything from Cheerios to Goldfish.

It hasn’t worked.

Profits are falling at flagship names such as General Mills and Kraft Heinz as consumers turn away from their legacy products. Management mostly blames a strained consumer and insists conditions will improve. The market has reached a harsher verdict: These businesses are shrinking and don’t know how to stop.

[. . .]

Then there’s the K-shaped economy, which squeezes from both ends. Affluent shoppers are getting more health-conscious and trading up, often to smaller brands. Meanwhile, lower-income households are counting every dollar and trading down, increasingly to private labels. (Premium private label is also a competitive threat at the higher end.) The pressure has only intensified as food-stamp aid has been cut.

Walmart's gotten a lot of credit for lowering prices in recent weeks. Have they? I asked that in the gina & krista round-robin and I've gotten replies from community members most of who repeat what Sabina (Dallas, TX) said in the round-robin: She buys small packs of chips like you'd put in a lunch box. She gets plain Lays and the queso flavored Ruffles. Two weeks ago, they were 49 cents a package at Walmart, as they'd been for a few years. One week ago, they went up to 65 cents. This is while Walmart's getting credit for supposedly cutting prices on beef and other items.

Jules Rimmer (MARKETWATCH) explains inflation is broadening out:

During his Congressional testimony last week, new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh emphasized that one of his primary responsibilities was to ensure that individual price spikes, of which there have been many in recent years, “don’t broaden out.”

The bad news is that on the whole they are. The good news is that they are nowhere near as bad as the inflation crisis of 2022.

One Goldman Sachs economist examined the risk of those price spikes becoming normalized. Jessica Rindels published a report examining whether inflationary trends are widening across sectors.

She calculated the numbers using a few key filters: first, she used personal consumption expenditure, the Fed’s stated preferred measure of inflation.

Then she aggregated them over the six-month annualized change. And finally, she categorized either by their weights in the PCE or by treating each category individually.

Rindels discovered that on a scale of 0-10 (where the 1990-2019 average was zero and peak inflation in 2022 was 10), the share of categories with inflation above 3% is 6 on a weighted basis.

Unweighted — that is, category by category — the imbalance is a more muted reading of 2 on the 0-to-10 scale.

Those categories where the price rises are fastest are in video/ audio, financial services, medical services and airfares/ transportation.

It's a bad economy for most Americans. But for low paid workers in this Chump economy, it's even worse. Sasha Rogelberg (FORTUNE) notes:

The last time the U.S. raised the federal minimum wage, Apple’s Siri hadn’t even been invented yet.

July marked the 17th full year in which the federal minimum wage has remained at $7.25, the think tank Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) noted in a recent post. Apple would introduce its AI iPhone bot two years after the current wage was set. The base pay staying the same as inflation continues to rise means today’s wage floor is at its lowest value in 70 years, with a purchasing power lower than its 1968 peak.

“We are currently in the longest period of inaction on the federal minimum wage since its inception in 1938,” CEPR senior economist Sylvia Allegretto wrote. “In fact, today the federal wage floor is officially a poverty wage.”

Indeed, last year the federal minimum wage became a “poverty wage,” meaning a full-time, year-round job paying $7.25 an hour would fall under the $15,650 poverty threshold created by the Department of Health and Human Services.

Minimum wage has reentered the national spotlight amid an ongoing affordability crisis marked by increased inflation from tariffs and the Iran war, as well as stubbornly high home prices and childcare costs. Among the bleak economic markets for Americans is stagnating wage growth, which has declined from its peak of 6.7% in July 2022 to 3.6% as of last month, according to Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta data.

You can work full time for minimum wage and you will be making poverty wages. How is that possible?

Rich Duprey (24/7 WALL ST.) explains:

The U.S. economy has delivered a confusing message in 2026. Stock markets have continued to price in growth, corporate profits remain resilient, and headline unemployment data has not triggered widespread panic. But beneath the surface, a different picture is emerging.

The labor market is losing participation at a pace that deserves investor attention because consumer spending, economic growth, and corporate earnings all depend on Americans earning paychecks. A job market can appear healthy when viewed through one metric while quietly weakening through another.

The Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) database, which tracks data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), shows a troubling trend: the number of Americans outside the labor force reached an all-time high in June.

The number of people who are neither employed nor actively looking for work increased by 832,000 during the month, reaching 105.8 million Americans. That figure is not simply a new record. It is higher than the worst period of the pandemic shutdown.

In 2020, when businesses closed, travel stopped, and millions of jobs disappeared, the number of Americans outside the labor force peaked at roughly 103.6 million. Today’s figure is 2.2 million higher. The trend has accelerated in 2026. Since the start of the year, 2.5 million Americans have exited the labor force.

And everywhere you look, companies are shedding jobs. Luke James (TOM'S HARDWARE) notes, "Samsung has cut jobs across its U.S. consumer electronics business as it prepares to move Samsung Electronics America's headquarters from New Jersey to Texas by the end of the year, with a WARN notice listing 739 affected roles at its Englewood Cliffs offices and roughly 100 workers let go at its Plano, Texas, site, according to a Reuters report."

It's a chump economy because it's Chump's economy. He took our economy that Joe Biden had moved into recovery and Chump destroyed it -- first with tariffs and then with the Iran War. And now gas prices are going back up again. Chris Isidore (CNN) observes, "The average price US drivers pay for a gallon of gas hit $4 on Monday, as fighting between the United States and Iran intensified, further disrupting oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz. The average price is now just above $4 a gallon, according to the American Automobile Association, or AAA. Gas first crossed the $4 mark, a psychologically important threshold, on March 31, a month into the conflict." Eleanor Pringle (FORTUNE) notes:

So far, U.S. households have managed to navigate the latest wave of cost-of-living increases, though UBS’s top economist, Paul Donovan, warns that “economic gravity” will catch up with families at some point.

In a note shared with clients this morning, Donovan wrote that “while oil costs are rapidly being passed to consumers, the response is to cut monthly savings rather than non-oil consumption.” However, “this cannot be sustained indefinitely if oil prices remain elevated—in the Wile E. Coyote scenario, economic gravity eventually exerts itself—but it could easily be sustained for the remainder of this year.”

Donovan is referring to the famous Road Runner cartoon in which Wile E. Coyote runs off a cliff-edge without realizing, hangs motionless in the air in a moment of disbelief, before crashing down to earth.

It will be painful for U.S. households—already stretched after sticky inflation for the past few years—to suffer the same fate. Even over the past few weeks, the reignition of conflict in the Middle East has begun to stretch their wallets once again.

Turning to ICE, Matthew Chapman (RAW STORY) notes:

When former Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin was confirmed as President Donald Trump's new Secretary of Homeland Security, he stated that his key goal was that "we’re not in the lead story every single day.”

According to Jonathan Derbyshire of the Financial Times, he has failed utterly in this goal, as the Immigration and Customs Enforcement killings have continued to generate public outrage, and DHS has continued to skirt all accountability for it.

Multiple ICE agents were involved in shooting deaths in the past few weeks in Texas and Maine. Shortly after, "ICE suspended vehicle stops in the wake of the shootings," with border czar Tom Homan calling it a "short pause just to make sure we're doing the right thing" — only for Trump to decree the pause over hours later on Truth Social.

Part of the issue for Mullin, said the report, is that he has done little to change the toxic hiring culture at the agency that is setting ICE up for abuses of power. "In January, the Department of Homeland Security announced that it had hired more than 12,000 officers and agents in less than a year and that it had received 'more than 220,000 applications to join ICE from patriotic Americans'" noted the report — but an Associated Press investigation suggests "many of those applying, and indeed a significant number of those who ended up getting hired, were unsuitable for the job."

Let's wind down with this from Senator Patty Murray's office:

ICYMI: Murray Blasts Trump and McMahon’s Decision to Abandon Students with Disabilities & the Administration’s Legal Responsibility to Protect Students’ Civil Rights

Murray calls on Republican colleagues to join her in stopping illegal transfer of ED’s offices of special education and civil rights

Murray made clear she will not let any legislation that seeks to abolish the Department of Education make any progress in the Senate

*** WATCH PRESS CONFERENCE HERE, DOWNLOAD HERE***

Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member and former chair of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) committee, held a virtual press conference to sound the alarm on Education Secretary Linda McMahon’s plan to illegally transfer the responsibilities of the Department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) through Inter-Agency Agreements (IAA).

Senator Murray was joined by Katy Neas, CEO of the Arc and former Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services at the U.S. Department of Education under the Biden administration; Stephanie Smith Lee, Policy & Advocacy Co-Director for the National Down Syndrome Congress and former Director of the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) at the U.S. Department of Education under the George W. Bush administration; Catherine Lhamon, Executive Director for the Edley Center on Law and Democracy at UC Berkeley and former Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education during the Obama and Biden administrations; Dr. Lanya Elsa, Special Education Researcher, Family Support Professional, and mother from Washington state of two sons who are deafblind; and Luisa Sparrow, special education teacher at Oliver Hazard Perry School and 2025 Massachusetts Teacher of the Year.

“I have believed for a long time we need to be doing a lot more for students with disabilities. Programs like IDEA are not funded at nearly the level they should be,” said Senator Murray. “Just talk to any parent of students with disabilities—they’ll tell you the system is not perfect. But what Trump is doing threatens to make things so much worse. We have seen how this administration operates—it’s been haphazard and totally destructive. The agencies taking over these programs simply do not have the expertise and so many of the experts who oversaw these programs were fired or pushed out by Trump already. If Trump breaks the programs our kids with disabilities rely on, the outcomes will be grim… America has to stand up for kids with disabilities right now. This is not a partisan issue… I am calling on my Republican colleagues to listen to the parents of kids with disabilities. Listen to the teachers in our schools. Dismantling the Department of Education—continuing on this path—will be devastating for kids with disabilities in America.”

“A student who is denied services, disciplined for disability-related needs, or blocked from an accessible classroom needs one federal education system that can see the whole picture and act,” said Katy Neas, CEO, The Arc of the United States and former Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services at the U.S. Department of Education under the Biden administration. “Moving special education to HHS and civil rights enforcement to DOJ would split apart the offices responsible for making disability rights real in schools, leaving families chasing answers across the federal government instead of getting accountability from one education agency.”

“Families are counting on Congress to reject the misguided notion that dismantling the U.S. Department of Education will reduce bureaucracy,” saidStephanie Smith Lee, Policy & Advocacy Co-Director for the National Down Syndrome Congress and former Director of the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) at the U.S. Department of Education under the George W. Bush administration. “I joined a bipartisan group of former officials who led federal special education under Republican and Democratic presidents since the Nixon Administration in urging Congress to stop the transfer of special education to another department. For decades, Congress has repeatedly reaffirmed that the Department of Education should oversee special education because students with disabilities need strong federal leadership, accountability, and oversight. Congress should not abandon that bipartisan commitment in favor of a disruptive experiment that creates confusion for families, burdens states and school districts, and adds more bureaucracy—not less.”

“After returning millions of dollars rather than spend it on civil rights protections for students in schools, terminating more than half of civil rights enforcement staff, and resolving a historic low in cases leaving students dangerously unprotected, now the Department of Education commits to a system designed to fail by agreeing to transfer its core civil rights enforcement functions to another agency with insufficient staff or expertise to meet the volume of need our nation’s students experience in their education journeys,” said Catherine E. Lhamon, Executive Director of the Edley Center on Law and Democracy at University of California, Berkeley School of Law and former Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education during the Obama and Biden administrations. “This move, if unchecked, will at best only further delay justice and relegate students to federal afterthoughts rather than treating them like the valuable learners they are, who deserve Congress’ promise that they will not experience the ugly discriminatory harms our laws protect them against.”

“As both a special educator and the mother of two sons who are deafblind, I have seen firsthand what fifty years of federal protections and educational expertise have made possible for children with disabilities,” said Dr. Lanya Elsa, Special Education Researcher, Family Support Professional, and mother of two sons who are deafblind from Washington state. “My sons are now a college graduate and a college-bound student—but fifty years ago, children like mine were often segregated or institutionalized. We cannot turn back that progress. Special education deserves to remain within the Department of Education, overseen by leaders who understand that children like mine are not problems to be fixed—they are students who belong in our schools, alongside their peers. Moving special education programs to HHS and fragmenting civil rights enforcement puts at risk the expertise and accountability that families depend on. This is no longer about my sons. It is about every child coming behind them, and we owe those children the same opportunities to learn, thrive, and belong.”

“Students with disabilities have a civil right to the supports that will help them learn as much as possible in school, in learning spaces that include their general education peers,” said Luisa Sparrow, special education teacher at Oliver Hazard Perry School and 2025 Massachusetts Teacher of the Year. “I’m here to advocate for my students, and for all students with disabilities, by highlighting the harm caused by moving special education to the Department of Health and Human Services. Isolating special education from general education in this way sends a damaging message that special education is about meeting healthcare needs rather than learning needs, and that it is separate from the main purpose of school.”

OCR is charged with enforcing federal civil rights laws to protect students’ rights in the classroom, and the Department of Education Organization Act of 1979 mandates the existence of the Office for Civil Rights at the Education Department to carry out these responsibilities.

Last year, the Trump administration thoughtlessly eliminated more than half of the staff in the Office for Civil Rights and closed half of the regional field offices, and in the time since, there has been a precipitous drop-off in the resolution of students’ cases. In 2025, the Department reached the lowest number of resolutions in 12 years and reached zero resolutions for students facing serious incidents including sexual harassment, sexual violence, seclusion, restraint, racial harassment, and discriminatory school discipline. Senator Murray has mobilized against the administration’s efforts to hollow out OCR, called out how it’s hurt students and families, and she’s repeatedly pressed Secretary McMahon on the issue.

OSERS is charged with implementing and enforcing the Rehabilitation Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which mandate that students with disabilities get the free appropriate public education and independence they deserve. In April, Senator Murray pressed Secretary McMahon on her plans to potentially offload OSERS’ responsibilities and told McMahon: “That is exactly why these parents and advocates are spitting mad because what they want to make sure is that their child with a disability has an education.”

Senator Murray has aggressively pushed back against Secretary McMahon’s efforts to dismantle the Department, including through the illegal use of IAAs, and she fought to insert ironclad language in the fiscal year 2026 funding bill for the Department that would bar Secretary McMahon from using IAAs to dismantle the Department—but Republicans refused to include new, binding language that would block arrangements like the ones announced in June. Last week, Senator Murray blasted House Republicans for working to advance a slate of legislative proposals to rubberstamp the administration’s efforts to dismantle the Department of Education—Murray made clear she will not let any legislation that seeks to abolish the Department of Education make any progress in the Senate.

Senator Murray’s remarks, as delivered, are below:

“Thank you for joining us today. I am really pleased to be here today with a parent, a teacher, and some experts from both Democratic and Republican administrations.

“We all know that public education in America is not going to get better by dismantling the Department of Education. But Trump is determined to raze it to the ground. Instead of helping kids get a great education, instead of supporting the unique needs of all our children, the Trump administration is spending its time, its energy, and your tax dollars on illegally trying to shutter the Department of Education.

“Now I am fighting tooth and nail against any efforts to dismantle the Department of Education, but I am especially concerned about what this could mean for all students, especially students with disabilities in America.

“Trump and Linda McMahon have fired and pushed out over 2,000 staff at the Department, and with them decades of institutional knowledge and that includes the staff they need to enforce our civil rights laws for students with disabilities. They have created absolute chaos and pandemonium for school districts across the country by holding up federal funding that our communities rely on, and last month, they announced they are illegally scattering federal education programs that support students with disabilities all over the government with different agencies managing programs that they have no business or expertise running.

“And you know who gets left behind? Students and their parents, who break their backs and lose sleep worrying about how to make sure their kid with a disability gets the individualized support they need.

“It is outrageous and completely unacceptable that Donald Trump and Linda McMahon want to pass off the essential work of the Office for Civil Rights to the Department of Justice, and specifically to a division at DOJ that is being run by a right-wing extremist. And it is outrageous they are abandoning their obligation to manage the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services and handing it over to RFK Jr at HHS—everyone who is here today knows these offices are critical, but they are especially important for students with disabilities.

“I have believed for a long time we need to be doing a lot more for students with disabilities. Programs like IDEA are not funded at nearly the level they should be. Just talk to any parent of students with disabilities—they’ll tell you the system is not perfect. But what Trump is doing threatens to make things so much worse. We have seen how this administration operates—it’s been haphazard and totally destructive. The agencies taking over these programs simply do not have the expertise and so many of the experts who oversaw these programs were fired or pushed out by Trump already. If Trump breaks the programs our kids with disabilities rely on, the outcomes will be grim.

“For far too long, these kids were outright denied the education they need and deserve right here in America. Most Americans don’t realize that as recently as the 1970s schools in the United States only educated about one in five children with disabilities, and a whole lot of states had laws excluding certain students, including kids who were deaf or blind or had some kind of intellectual disability.

“That is so wrong, and while progress has not been perfect—we have made tremendous progress since then. Over 50 years ago, parents and educators fought to enshrine basic protections in federal law to guarantee their right to a quality education—and to create mechanisms in law to right wrongs when they are denied the resources or support they deserve. That victory and many others since have ushered in a lot of hard-won progress—but instead of building on it, this administration is intent on rolling back the clock to a much darker time.

“It’s enough to make your blood boil. We cannot go backwards, but that’s exactly where this administration is taking us.

“Thanks to the Trump administration there is already a massive backlog of cases at the Office for Civil Rights and that list will just get longer. And under this administration, if a kid with disabilities is discriminated against, they are almost certainly not going to have their rights protected. Last year, OCR reached nearly 80 percent fewer disability discrimination resolution agreements compared to 2024. That’s not by accident, it’s by design–thanks to Trump’s staffing cuts and dismantling of the Department of Education.

“And it gets even worse. Let’s talk about RFK Jr. RFK Jr. should have nothing to do with making sure students with disabilities are getting the high-quality public education they deserve and are entitled to. The idea of him being put in charge of special education for our kids is absolutely appalling. Earlier this year, RFK Jr. went on a sick and offensive tirade spreading lies and taking cheap shots at kids with Autism. He said ‘autism destroys families’ and is an ‘individual tragedy as well.’ He talked about how kids with autism would never have a job, pay taxes, write a poem, or even go on a date. Those remarks are horrifying, and they are simply false. And they display a total lack of respect for the dignity, the humanity, and the limitless potential every child possesses to make their own way in this world.

“No way should RFK Jr. be in charge of programs meant to help students with disabilities learn, grow, and thrive.

“Look, as Vice Chair of the Appropriations Committee, I have a lot of say over how we spend taxpayer dollars—and you can bet I will fight to protect funding for the Department of Education. I have also fought to outright stop Trump from spinning off these critical education programs to other departments that have zero relevant expertise. But we are still deep in the minority, and in last year’s funding bills, Republicans refused to work with us to stop Trump’s destruction of the Department of Education. But with Trump and McMahon’s latest efforts to undercut the programs students with disabilities rely on, I am really hoping we can rally parents, teachers, and communities across America—in red states and blue.

“America has to stand up for kids with disabilities right now. This is not a partisan issue.

“So, I am desperately hoping this will be a wake-up call to my Republican colleagues who I know do care deeply about students with disabilities. I can fight to increase funding for special education in our spending bills—absolutely. But I can’t wave a magic wand on my own to stop the illegal transferring of special education to RFK Jr.’s HHS and student civil rights protections to DOJ.

“So what can we do? Well, a lot actually. With enough Republican support we could undo some of this destruction, whether in our funding bills or otherwise. I am calling on my Republican colleagues to listen to the parents of kids with disabilities. Listen to the teachers in our schools. Dismantling the Department of Education—continuing on this path—will be devastating for kids with disabilities in America.

“Join me in putting a stop to this before it’s too late.

“Finally, I want to address legislation we’ve seen in the House of Representatives that would rubberstamp much of the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the Department of Education. As long as this former preschool teacher is a United States Senator, every one of those bills is dead on arrival. I’m very pleased to be joined by some of those very parents and teachers that every member of Congress ought to be listening to.”

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The following sites -- plus Stan's "Weekend Box Office, Ellen Burstyn, PRACTICAL MAGIC II," Betty's "Larry Ellison keeps trying to create a career for his baby boy," Trina's "Creamy Corn Pasta in the Kitchen" and Kat's "Mariah Carey, Etta James, Diana Ross, Jennifer Finch" -- updated: