“We the people -- that is still the most powerful phrase -- created government for our own convenience. It can have no power except that voluntarily granted to it by the people.” Ronald Reagan
October 1, 2025, And Every Wednesday
By Linda Case Gibbons, Esq.
(Check out Lest We Forget and FYI.)
President Obama was a special guy. So was President Joe.
While he was Commander in Chief, Obama thought it was important to change the Marine Corps. hats to something more “unisex” in design, a move some criticized as “girly.”
His Rules of Military Engagement were basically, “You’re not allowed to shoot them until they shoot you first.” He even proposed giving medals for “not shooting.”
Fortunately, both directives bit the dust.
Biden was the same kind of fella’.
Under Commander in Chief Joe, the Army lowered its minimum passing standards. Push-ups were lowered to a “Non-RFK, Jr. 10,” and the two-mile run time was upped to 23 minutes from 19.
He decreed that active military could take time off to get sex change surgeries, with hormones and drugs thrown in at taxpayer expense.
Under Joe and Barack, Woke found a home in our military.
Generals said they wanted to explore their attitude toward race, and wanted soldiers to do the same.
The U.S. Military Academy at West Point taught a course in Critical Race Theory, and “understanding whiteness and white rage.”
Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Michael Gilday, added Ibram X. Kendi’s book “How to Be and Anti-racist” to the reading list for sailors.
Kendi’s chief argument was that “Capitalism is essentially racist,” and “to truly be antiracist, you also have to be truly anti-capitalist.”
Marxism anyone?
When questioned about the book, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Milley said angrily, “I want to understand white rage, and I’m white.” He said the education (from the book) could be useful in understanding the January 6 insurrection.
He didn’t say how it would explain why he reportedly said he would give his Chinese counterpart, Gen. Li Zuocheng, a heads-up if the U.S. was going to attack.
Gilday explained that the book was added “after the murder of George Floyd to help sailors engage in conversations about racism.”
In 2021, the Navy released a training video to help sailors learn the proper use of personal pronouns to create a “safe space for everybody,” by using “inclusive language.”
In the same year, Defense Secretary U.S. Four Star General Austin called for a one-day military-wide-stand-down to address “extremism” in the ranks.
Officers were required to discuss, among other topics, “What is up with us white people?”
And we’d be remiss if we didn’t include Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman.
Vindman was the decidedly chunky guy who testified about President Trump’s phone call to Ukrainian President Zelensky, and helped along Trump's impeachment
On the call, Trump asked for an inquiry into former Vice President Biden and son Hunter’s role in the Ukrainian gas company Burisma.
We’ve come a long way, baby. Away from the types of generals and policies Obama and Biden preferred. Defense Secretary Hegseth’s speech yesterday was appropriate and timely.
We don’t need fatties in the military. We don’t need people, men and women, who can’t do the job.
Standards should never be lowered. Anywhere. For anything. If you do, all you end up with is mediocrity.
However, and there’s always a however.
Somehow the visual of RFK Jr. and Hegseth doing push-ups for the cameras didn’t sit well. As Cabinet members, I think working out in front of the media was somehow off-putting.
What is, and has been missing is a mention of our veterans. They are, after all, the other side of war.
I believe veterans should have been standing behind President Trump at the Fourth of July parade, not just healthy young soldiers.
They should have been included in Hegseth’s speech.
Somewhere.
These are the people so battered from fighting for their country that they can’t work out as they did when they enlisted. When they were young. When they weren’t disabled.
But guaranteed, if called to. If there was the need, they can still kick ass. It's called spirit. Patriotism. It needs to be said.
As for the generals, the good ones are there for their experience. They shouldn’t be counted out because there is a Big-Belly problem.
After all, there could have been an Eisenhower or a Patton in yesterday’s audience.
And I’m not sure either of them could do push-ups at a certain point in their careers, but they knew how to win World War II.
Hold the line, Americca.
Stay strong, Patriots.