We need oil deals! Not new wars!
Gas prices all around the globe are soaring because of the Iran situation and the Houthis! Did Iran fund Hamas? That's all the excuse the US would need to justify attacks on Iran! BUT, is war really what the US wants? People need affordable fuel MORE than they need to destroy oil infrastructure in Iran. Think twice! Make some peace deals with Iran, people, before gas becomes too expensive to afford!
If oil costs continue to rise, mobility EVERYWHERE will be adversely affected, and people anywhere can starve or die as a result!
Make this world a better, safer place in 2026!
Make Peace Not War!
Why Are Mass Shootings Happening in SE Asia?
Speculating About Reasons Why the Philippines is Experiencing Mass Shootings in Schools.
John E. Staff Editor TLO.
While this speculation about the recent, increasingly disturbing, trend of mass school shootings in the Philippines is not meant to explain the Philippines' national history or Filipino cultural experiences and modern educational expectations within the Philippines that may be part of the reasons why children are killing other children with guns in SE Asian nations today, this article will ask the question of whether or not Western culture and crime trends are involved. Maybe access to lethal weapons has become easier in some parts of the Southern Philippines (Mindinao) and the Southeastern Philippines (Visayas) where these crimes are happening, or maybe the social trends in those Philippines regions have become pervasively less spiritual and more prone to expressing various formats of violence in media and entertainment.
Under edit.
The Recent 2025 School Bombing in Jakarta, Indonesia.
TLO News Commentary.
Under edit.
What Caused the Mass School Shooting in Thailand?
What Caused the Mass School Shooting in Thailand?
TLO Analysis Op-Ed.
What is happening in education in Thailand that could result in a crime such as a mass school shooting?
Under edit.
Trump's Bloody Reign in Washington DC.
The Reigning in of ICE.
Analysis by TLO.
Ever since the former Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem was fired by Trump after allegedly misusing allocated funds for that department, ICE has been noticably taking itself into account as being held responsible almost to a person for everything that goes wrong under that agency's watch. That is a positive and progressive improvement compared to events taking place since January 2025. Newly elected President Trump, who was just back from being convicted of 37 counts of elections interference and hush money payoffs after an impeachment-Trump's second-proceeding, followed Federal investigations into the circumstances of the Jan. 6 2020 Capitol Riots. Trump's appointment of Kristi Noem for DHS Secretary mystified many in Washington who noted that as former Governor of South Dakota, as well as previous positions in South Dakota's State government, she had no actual training in law enforcement or for that matter, US Federal immigration laws. This catastrophic dual set of Executive circumstances did not go unnoticed in US Congress as Noem was consistently blamed by the Congressional oversight committee appointed to manage ICE of incident after incident of poor training of ICE agents, as well injuries, deaths and wrongful arrests and detentions of ICE agency victims and complete and flagrant violations of US immigration laws and US State laws protecting the rights of immigrants and asylum seekers and illegal immigrants and migrants workers.
Previous to 2025, Trump's use of ICE to conduct similar illegal forms of cruelty, violence and even murder against alleged illegal aliens and migrants ran amok in 2016-2020, until the Covid pandemic took over planetary priorities, resulting a thorough, worldwide evaluation of public anti-disease practices and business and government responsibilities during any form of general pandemic. The whole country had bitter memories of Trump's actions conducted through the ICE agency and several documentary -and fiction - movies were produced that provided public awareness and information about actual and potential goings-on in what many people perceived at that time as "America's New Concentration Camps". None of the films mentioned were complementary of the ICE agency. Today, the situation involving Trump and his particular penchant for being associated with ICE agency legal hegemony, includes masked ICE agents armed with Armalite machine guns and Tasers and paintball pepper balls, and has grown into a full-fledged fiasco of critical public societal events which ICE leadership under Noem repeatedly describe as domestic terrorism. But as bodycam evidence has shown, the accused are in fact mostly frightened citizens trying to record ICE agents legally- and then quickly escape ICE's masked agents who are all-to-often dressed in plainclothes and tactical bulletproof vests driving around in unmarked vehicles. Their behaviors often included chasing down targeted vehicles and pedestrians, as well as legal observers, arresting them during sweeps and arrests of targeted individuals (often without the legal right or cause to do so) before they disappeared into ICE's privately-owned prisons, and shooting-with sometimes fatal results -at escaping vehicles, events that took place within the observers' own hometowns and neighborhoods.
MarcWayne Mullin was nominated and appointed to the position of DHS Secretary after Kristi Noem was fired and has notably been attempting to repair and retrain the ICE department and agents to following US Constitutional laws. His efforts have been notably successful in many ways, conforming to more strict Congressional oversight of ICE work by field agents and keeping within lawful boundaries when notifying people about their immigration status as well as setting appointments for court hearings without fear of arrest and in some cases the options to self-deport. There is much work to be done however, and the issues of unaccompanied children of migrant workers and arrested parents together with lengthy or illegal arrests and detentions and deportations, as well as conditions inside private ICE prisons are still being attended to and criticized by Americans, Congresspeople and even former ICE agents! Most recently the potential issuance of "shock gloves" to ICE agents met with legal and political as well as public disgust at the cruelty involved with that sort of weapon being used on ANYONE, much less victims of arrest! Concerns about the possibility of cardiac arrhythmia and even heart attack, stroke or death are still being used to disable the uses of this new weapon in favor of traditional riot shields and pepper spray for dispersing large violent crowds who decide to physically threaten or attack ICE agents conducting Judicial warranted arrests. More reporting on the ICE tactics and practices developments are coming in a future news article.
Trump's Extrajudicial US Military Executions of Alleged S.A. Drug Runners.
TLO Commentary.
At last count, over 210 Venezuelan sailors alleged by the US military -albeit without proof or evidence- to have been involved in illegal drug trafficking while operating in the waters of both offshore Venezuela and the Caribbean as well as the Eastern Pacific Ocean have been killed by US Naval forces operations using "kinetic strikes" that effectively target and explode the boats into oblivion while killing all aboard.
Questions asked of US War Secretary Pete Hegseth and Department of War representatives by the Congressional oversight committee managing public outcry over this situation have only resulted in back and forth rambling talks between the War Department leaders and Congress and NO PROOF OR EVIDENCE PROVIDED FOR CONGRESS as to whether or not the victims of the boat bombings were carrying illicit drugs.
This is an ongoing news article reporting available facts about kinetic lethal strikes against suspect boats traversing Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean and Eastern Pacific international waters.
Trump's Venezuelan Invasion.
TLO Commentary.
TRUMP-LED US TERRORISM ACTIONS AGAINST VENEZUELA.
In August, 2026, most Latin-American countries including the National Assembly of Venezuela (formerly their National Congress) declared Trump's invasion of Venezuela- during which then- Venezuela President Nicholas Maduro and his wife were kidnapped by US military forces (UN news, You Tube 2026) and then brought to the United States forcibly-was a terrorist state action brought by the US against Venezuela.(2026, International Bar Association). Trump's decision to use an overnight campaign of invasion against the residence of Maduro and his wife, capturing them against their will while they were in bed using the combined special forces of the United States military was a mission that left several Venezuelans dead and US Congress people shouting at each other about Trump's reckless disrespect and disregard over his actions which bypassed Congressional authority-and forcing Congress to authorize war powers for itself to control potential actions involving the US military against Venezuela in the foreseeable future. Prior to and since the political kidnapping of Maduro and his wife by the US Administration, over 210 alleged "narco-terrorists" mainly sailing on boats traversing "illicit drug smuggling routes" originating from Venezuela have been targeted and killed by US military operating in the Gulf of Mexico (America) starting in mid-2025 soon after, and at the express orders and approvals, of Donald Trump after was elected for his second term as US President. However, he Pentagon has yet to provide any proof of the dead boater's drug smuggling activities to Congress's oversight committees, strangely. This lack of proof hasn't stopped SouthCom from continuing to carry out Trump's kill orders and apparently no conscientious objectors have come forward to complain to Congress about any illegal extrajudicial US military killings of alleged Venezuelan and other boaters roaming the suspect areas in the seas inside and around the Gulf, the Caribbean and the Eastern Pacific Ocean.
EARTHQUAKE.
Venezuela experienced two massive earthquakes in a row, separated by 39 seconds, which both measured over 7.5 on the Richer scale on June 24, 2026. To date over 6500 people reportedly had died in collapsed buildings all throughout Caracas, the Capitol city of Venezuela and surrounding areas. Thousands of people are still missing. Recovery efforts were delayed due to the altitude and natural heavily forested geography surrounding the coastlines where much of the building damage took place, but transportation throughout those areas improved throughout July as the whole nation concentrated their combined efforts from their outlying unaffected cities for humanitarian rescue and recovery support near the epicenter of the quakes.
Some international humanitarian help also was present, including, some interesting government involvement and actions from the United States. US Secretary of State Rubio...and US Secretary of War Hegseth... constructed an investment plan with the acting Venezuela President Delcy Rodriguez for a 100 bil. US investment into Venezuela for the development and control of 17 oil fields in Venezuela which have a potential output of over 65 billion barrels over time. However, because the oil deal involves future development and harvesting of oil estimated to be underground in those fields in order to harvest and produce the new oil, the multi billion USD investment probably will not immediately lower global gas prices, as oil hasn't yet been harvested from those fields, and it is only by investors' speculation on that unharvested potential that is currently driving world markets as this news develops. Also, US Congress must approve any such deal before any possible payout because the US Executive Cabinet, just like the US President, has no "power of the purse".
(Under edit).
The Unprovoked First Strike of "Trump's Military" Against Iran.
TLO Commentary.
Most of the US public was taken by surprise in 2026 after it was discovered from news reports that US President Trump had taken unilateral actions in coordination with Israel to hit the country of Iran with a hard military first strike against both military and civilian targets all throughout most of the Western regions of Iran. The attacks killed all of the spiritual heads of State of Iran who were residing in a southern Iranian city and also killed Iranian schoolgirls when a large elementary school in Southern Iran was hit by a Tomahawk missile.
These attacks came after the bombings in 2025 by the US -also conducted by Trump- which penetrated into the subterranean geography of Iran where Trump alleged that nuclear reactor materials were ostensibly hidden and where Trump also accused Iran of hiding nuclear bomb capable enriched uranium. The Iranians were also taken by surprise in both encounters with the US as they had an agreement with the US previously under former US Presidents Obama and Biden which provided the unfreezing of sanctioned Iranian money as well as nuclear reactor energy progress in favor of a new peace with Iran and neighboring countries in the Gulf Region. Trump tore up the agreement on a whim and proceeded to attack Iran without giving any reasons why except his delusional beliefs seen in retrospect that " ...they would attack first..." which did not happen. Trump constantly used the excuse of "I won't permit Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon!" in order to justify his military attacks against a country that never militarily attacked the US except for an attack against US bases in response to Trump's assassination of an Iranian military general who was respected all throughout the Middle East as a moderate -Gen. Solemein- because Trump suspected him-in another delusional tirade-of trying to create a rebellion in Iraq during the General's observations of Iranian transfer students who were protesting and studying in Iraq under an agreement between Iraq and Iran after the US pullout from Iraq.
Trump's incoherent and inexplicable military attacks against Iran have resulted in over 3500 Iranian military and civilian deaths as well as the resulting Iranian attacks against US airbases all throughout the Middle East which have resulted in the deaths of hundreds of US servicepeople to date! These incidents were not reported in news media due to Pentagon censoring which it is believed in public among many political observers to be a campaign of terror and killings conducted by Trump against Iran for no apparent reason which Trump continues to explain away by his repeated statements of "not allowing Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon!" which has become a stale excuse for his consistent killings of Iranians using war machines and his on again off again "attempts at negotiations" and naval blockade of Iran which seems straight out of a playbook that Israel used to blockade the entire Gaza Strip after agreeing to leave Gaza to itself during the Israeli evacuations of that part of the Palestinian lands in 2005.
The US Congress seems in complete denial of this war that Trump started with Iran, and retrospectively appears not to remember that Trump assassinated a popular Iranian General during his first term, again for no apparent reason! And when an investigation ensued, Congressional oversight members were treated like children with excuses that had little to do with anything involving Iran or US national security! This Trump behavior has been repeated during his second term, when Trump single -handedly bombed Iran without Congressional approval or input, and then hit them with further military strikes in a "hunch" only! GOP majority Congress has wiped their hands of this atrocity, and voted continually not to impose US Congressional War Powers, relieving Trump of war authority decisions involving Iran, maybe for fear of answering to the international bodies involved in the Gulf region for war crimes committed against Iran by Trump! This apparent lethargic and inept GOP nonsense continues at the time of this writing, and Trump's threats against Iran have escalated to punishment of Iran (and for what, we don't know) by international sanctions (which were already ended) and asking for international support and cooperation in this lunacy (as if the international bodies involved in this situation were completely unaware of Trump's inexplicable and multiple failures of command and policies involving Iran to date.)
In late August, following several online media reports of US military personnel leaving the military because of conscientious objections to bombing civilians and civilian infrastructures in Iran, the US military operating under Trump decided, after a weeks-long cessation of fighting between the US and Iran, to bomb military launch sites in Iran near the Strait of Hormuz, sparking yet another predictable series of new Iran vs. US fighting and violating US CONGRESSIONAL attempts at war powers resolutions. The cost of continuing this Iran War currently exceeds 38.5 bil. USD.
Trump's Threats Against Greenland.
TLO Commentary.
US President Trump has concocted a baffling excuse for his attempts at invading and annexing Greenland! Trump has stated that ..
"America needs Greenland for national security purposes!" which is a statement that can easily be a paraphrase of Putin's reasons for invading Ukraine during the US Biden Administration! A SECURITY MISSION. No details needed. As if that were in any way legal internationally. What that really amounts to is an act of war against Greenland and Denmark, NATO allies of the US, for hitherto unknown purposes outside of Trump's well-known "I can do whatever want to!" whims while acting as US President! Trump never really explained in detail any of his wars, started by himself only in 2025-26!
The trifecta GOP US Congress tried but failed miserably to stop this lunatic from killing innocent people all over the world, but especially in Iran where over 3500 people died during the US first strikes against Iran, which took place only because of a Trump "hunch" which after turned out to be a complete delusion on Trump's part! No evidence of any national security threat against the US by Iran, no Iranian threats against the US homeland and no actual warfare against the US with the exception of a lethal retaliation strike against US forces stationed in the Gulf States because of Trump's assassination of Iranian General Soleimani had taken place during Trump's second term! Trump's own actions as POTUS brought the world and Iran to where we are today!
It can be realized at length that the person the US should actually be fighting against is none other than Trump himself, and his delusional international "policies", most if not all of which involving blaming any other country for actions against the US (without evidence) and then taking punitive tariff and/or military actions against them! It's a stale, repetitious "Trump move" that is meant to invoke fear, but nowadays produces laughter and anti-Trump international aggressions against Trump himself! That would explain so many retaliation tariffs against Trump and even trade wars forming-also against Trump (and not Americans as a people). Trump could be deemed the USA's own worst enemy in both foreign policy and international economic involving the USA today!
Trump's Threats Against Cuba.
TLO Commentary.
The following is a White House government posting concerning the ongoing US Embargo against and US military blockade of Cuba:
WHITE HOUSE GOVERNMENT FACT SHEET CONCERNING CUBA IN 2025-26.
(Under edit).
Trump's Threats Against Oman.
TLO Commentary.
In August 2026, as Iran was concluding negotiations with neighboring Oman along the Strait of Hormuz, US President Trump made public statements internationally of his intent to bomb Oman if Oman "got in the way" of US ships operating throughout the Strait.
(Under edit).
Trump's Attacks on US Military and Public and Private Free Speech and Free Press.
TLO Critical Commentary.
Trump is a fascist dictator. That fact was shown clearly to US and international political observers everywhere after Trump's second election to the US Presidency. During his attempts at adversely controlling public media access to the WH Press pool, and Air Force One, and the Pentagon, and international meetings held in the US, it soon became obvious that Trump was in fact attempting to manipulate public opinion using the ages-old trick called "LYING." For example If a solidly reputable news reporter tried to tell Trump to his face that numerous facts already available to the public defended the truth that faulty painting methods and natural events caused new paint to peel off at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Trump would insist that that pool was vandalized and then have innocent people arrested in order to scare people, it is assumed, into believing him! This behavior is the exact behavior of former dictators such as Hitler, and Stalin before their rapid singular and absolute control over their national government's actions became the basis for civil and world wars! Trump's insistence upon an "America First" ideology was his own excuse to fire government workers and military personnel en masse in 2025 soon after being elected, people who did not and could not align with Trump's definition of his "Administration's direction" when that direction completely contradicted and violated so many US Constitutional laws and government legal protections for Americans and immigrants and many protected others!
Because of his executive orders, Trump has gotten away with criminal endings of DEI civil rights protections in US government, military and educational institutions in the US, illegal and weaponized trade tariffs that affected the whole world, superficial "renamings" of the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Ontario, the invasion of Venezuela and kidnapping of contested Venezuela President Madero and his wife, the illegal bombings of Iran without Congressional authorizations, the demolition of the White House East Wing without ANY government approvals whatsoever, the assumption of leadership at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the firing of board members inside so that he could have his name placed on the Center building, and the misallocation and illegitimate transfer of 400 mil. USD of Secret Service approved funding to Trump's "White House Ballroom project."
Preying upon-or hoping for- the forgetfulness of many intelligent voting Americans, Trump has attempted all out psychological, notably illegal and often thorough and obvious military and military -style government attacks (some lethal) against the whole US population of legal and illegal citizens and immigrants, legal asylum seekers, legal migrant workers and innocent traveling people caught in the ever-expanding jurisdictional web of the US Department of Homeland Security! Trump does this on a day to day basis, using executive orders to attack US Constitutional laws and bend them to his will using tactics and legalese that would blind even the most gifted magician. Convincing his followers that he is God, or a reasonable facsimile, shouldn't have been so easy in decades past, but new communications technology and visually simplistic efforts at spreading lies and pro-Trump propaganda -without background proof of his accusations against his intended victims, those people who get in his way of self-aggrandizing power manipulation for his own personal gain- reach millions of people connected by the Internet, the world wide web, and smartphone apps! It's as if these life -critical "can't live without it" technologies are made into bullhorns for Trump to envince loyalty to Trump and a Trump mandate for US Americans to "follow him into a new "American Golden Age"- as if some fictional unattainable utopia can save Americans from a war that Trump started in Iran, a steadily growing national debt of over 40 TRILLION USD per year, a failing highly inflated national economy driven by erratic market speculation and probable and illegal US government insider investments, Trump's attempted thefts and re-allocations of private taxpayer monies from paid-into US and State government benefits programs and his blanket attacks against media professionals who have earned their reputation for reporting the truth and who aren't afraid of belittling, fully immature and downright stupid accusations and comments by Trump against them!
Trump has earned a bad reputation for insulting reporters who are just doing their job, and we at TLO believe Trump has inadvertently exposed his truly weak side-his frail ego and childish bully behavior- on so many occasions in public and private, that it is easier today to predict what Trump will do with his Administration in coming months while his Iran war drags on and Americans suffer under increased food and energy and fuel prices and his contemptible "I hate everything!" posts which make up about 99.9% of all of his personal "Truth Social" online social network writing which is more about Trump telling people what to do and what he is doing, and never about anything or anyone else! (Unless he is insulting them, however.)
These are not the actions of a US President. but of a US fascist dictator.
More anti-Trump commentary coming.
Israeli Government Assaults Against Palestinians.
Israeli Government Leaders' Historic and Recent Punitive Actions Against Palestinians.
TLO Analysis.
For a while before and during the creation of the State of Israel, it was believed that the concept of Zionism was the right pathway to take for the leadership of the new nation, nevermind that the British Mandate of Palestine (Mandatory Palestine) prior to the Balfour Declaration held people from numerous and different ethnic and religious backgrounds, and all of them considered themselves Palestinians! But that was years before 1948, and also before increased emigration from post WWII Europe increased the Jewish population of what was to become the State of Israel.
European Jews had suffered and died under the murders by Nazis of over 6 mil. European Jews and many other anti-Nazi Germans and non-Germans all throughout countries previously occupied by Nazi armies during WWII, before Hitler killed himself as Berlin fell to the Allies during their bombing campaigns against Nazi Germany towards the end of the war.
Historically, Jews, Palestinians and Islamics created and controlled their own terrorist groups for their own reasons. Jewish terrorists "Irgun" attacked British authorities for four years before the Balfour Declaration, Palestinians started increasing terrorist actions against Israelis soon after the 6-Day War, and Islamists from Palestinian and Shiite backgrounds fought for Palestinians' rights to self-defense throughout the whole existence of the new State of Israel. Whether through internal regional and/or national politics and/or terrorism, and/or funding of terrorist organizations, the question of Palestinians' defense capabilities against armed Israeli aggressions, imprisonment, killings and takeovers of land and property of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the ongoing plight of Palestinian refugees since 1948 were at the core of these newer terrorist organizations. Israel seemed always to want to occupy all of what was once Mandated Palestine, and used military force to control the lands that the UN mandated for Palestinians and NOT Israel! Israel has a long history of destruction of even the marginal attempts at self-government and armed self-defense of Palestinians' lands, instead bombing them into submission and describing Palestinians attempts at armed self-defense as "terrorism", with the limited exceptions of the Palestinian Police agency which operates in collaboration with the Palestinian Authority and Israeli leaderships within the Northern OPT areas.
2025-6. The End of the Gaza War.
At the present time, despite the dissolution of Hamas and an agreed upon Hamas-Israeli ceasefire, Israeli forces continue to airstrike Gaza, without evacuation warnings as in past years, hitting tent populations of homeless Gaza Palestinian civilians, Gaza ambulances, and what is left of already destroyed hospitals where medical teams from Palestine and foreign doctors are working day and night treating wounded Palestinians as the ongoing and apparently selective Israeli bombardments of already damaged Gaza locations are again being hit . International humanitarian rights groups are concluding that all of this Israeli military action constitutes international human rights violations and the repeated conclusions by humanitarian agencies and several European countries that Israel is in actuality conducting a campaign of genocide against Gaza civilians and that planned efforts at maintaining security and peace from the Gaza Board of Peace are inconsistent, inconclusive and mostly absent, despite the billions of dollars invested by many different nationalities under the UN mandate carried forth by US President Trump in early 2026.
This is time of turmoil for Israelis as well as Palestinians who are both suffering under governments that are either inadequate or inept concerning national security objectives post Gaza War. In the New State of Palestine, no publisher has come forward to separate Israeli news headlines from Palestinians' although the Palestinian Authority (under President of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas) coordinates Palestinian police operations with Israeli Defense Forces within both Palestinian lands and the occupied West Bank, occasionally. The expected Gaza Board of Peace International stabilization force composed of international military forces intended to assume pro-Palestinian controls in Gaza, replacing the IDF who are presently there has not coalesced into anything substantial or real. In addition, despite the investment of billions of USD and Euro towards liberating Gaza under peace plan operations, several European countries are demanding explanations from Israel about settler treatment of Palestinians by Israelis and the UK has notably described Israeli settlers as conducting an ethnic cleansing campaign against Palestinians in the West Bank and elsewhere.
(Under a continuous updated edit).
Israeli-US Military Situations Involving US Congress.
TLO Analysis.
Ever since Israel's creation by a United Nations mandate after WWII, the US has been a strong ally and defender of Israel and their leadership, providing funding and military assistance to Israel through decades of peace and war involving that State throughout the whole Middle East. The State of Israel has grown from a once small, mandated occupation of once Palestinian lands by emigrant European and other Jews into a significantly well-populated and well-armed nation-state calling itself "Israel" that has on various and numerous occasions had to defend itself and their nationalist and Zionist beliefs against internal and external acts of anti-Israel and anti-Jewish terrorism, Palestinian displacement and refugees from once Palestinian and now Israeli lands.
Israeli wars against neighboring Arab countries in the 20th and 21 st centuries have involved mainly land possessions, and the ever growing belief by Israeli leaders in the restoration of historical "Biblical lands" that Israel claims were once given exclusively to them through Abrahamic inheritance and Moses' Exodus by God (from slavery in Egypt into occupation and destruction of the people of those ancient lands -which are now called Israel) thousands of years ago, forever. It is the latter belief that forms the core tenets of practical Zionism at present. And that belief also causes most of the problems associated with Israeli government beliefs -and practices in the present -day -as well as their treatment of Palestinians who live on their own lands right next door to modern Israel and whose homes and lands are under constant threats of invasion and theft by Israeli settlers who come from just about anywhere these days!
Citing ancient Biblical texts to justify their illegal present -day occupations of such Palestinian lands as the OPT (Occupied Palestinian Territories), namely the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Israel has gained a notorious reputation for not always being able to distinguish between a "homeland" country where Jews are always protected and safe, and a country where only Jews are permitted to rule and exist and hold legal citizenship, at the expense of non-Jews who also live and own lands in the same country! Indeed, prior to 1957, Israel had within its legislative body, members from different religions and backgrounds who lived within Israeli borders, including Arabs and Druze! Today, all of the lawmakers are Jewish, despite the presence of so many non-Jews, Arabs and Catholic and Christian faithful throughout the whole of Israel.
There are of course numerous and sundry books and various formats of published information about Israel, Palestinians, as well as the histories of 20th century Israeli wars. They include descriptions of Islamic and other nations who have fought militarily against Israel to defend their own borders since the Israeli 6-Day War, and subsequent Israeli defensive actions against Iraq and Iran. Those nations purportedly supported pro-Palestinian causes and funded anti-Israel Palestinian terrorism, or Palestinians' self defense, depending upon which side of the religious fence one happened to be sitting upon. Israel has recognizably increased their aggressions against Palestinians ever since the Hamas invasion of Southern Israel and the Israeli destruction of Gaza is the end result of this latest attack against Israelis.
The US has only recently recognized the State of Palestine which is itself the result of decades of negotiations between Israeli leaders and Palestinians as well as other nearby Mideast nations whose intent was to secure the safety of Israelis while finishing or ending Israeli attacks against Palestinians who were not involved in terrorism and who owned land and lived within the OPT. Former US President Clinton is famous for working with former Israeli PM Ariel Sharon in this situation and they tried hard at this balance of security effort, but years of trying had not eliminated prejudice on both sides Israeli and Palestinian, as both still had memories of lethal attacks against each other from years past! And much later, ever since Gazans and Israelis in the early 2000's agreed upon the forced evacuation of Israeli settlers there, the IDF had maintained a blockade of the Gaza Strip which did not permit sole Palestinian leadership over travel or food harvesting in Gaza, not to mention acquisition of weapons for Palestinians' self defense. This approach towards Israeli control over Gaza led to 16 years of systemic "imprisonment" of Gaza Palestinians although Israeli leadership only defined their blockade as the prevention of weapons supplies for the newly elected Gaza ruling party Hamas, which was notorious for being a known pro-Palestinian armed terrorist group affiliated with Iran's Shiite Muslims and primarily funded by Iran and possibly also by Qatar.
When Hamas attacked Israel's southern border in an incident which killed over 1000 Israelis in a day and ended with the kidnapping of over 250 Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers by Hamas fighters, the Western world was stunned into silence. Years of complaints by Palestinians against Israeli occupation of the West Bank and control over the Gaza Strip had also resulted in accusations of crimes against humanity committed by Israeli leaders against Palestinians, and made especially more bitter by nations such as South Africa and Myanmar who also had condemned Israeli treatment of Palestinians previous to the Hamas attacks and had once held productive relationships with Israel. The Israeli response to the Hamas incident took place over a three year period, resulting in the eventual release and recovery of all Israeli hostages, both living and deceased, from Hamas, as well as the almost complete destruction of Gaza, which is a strip of land comparable in size to the US city of Los Angeles, CA. Within Gaza, once a prospering Palestinian coastal land located underneath Israel's Tel-Aviv along the Southeast coastline of the Mediterranean Sea, lived 2 million Palestinians before the Hamas invasion and Gaza War. At the conclusion of the war, over 75,000 Palestinian civilians and thousands of foreign workers and journalists and medical personnel who were living and working in Gaza had been killed in fighting involving Hamas and IDF forces.
Updated and under edit.
Israeli Government Statements Against Palestinians in Gaza.
TLO News.
Aside from the ongoing Israeli airstrikes in Gaza after Hamas' effective surrender, only a few statements from the Israeli PM about investigating Israeli setter violence against Palestinians in the West Bank have made it towards international news reports as of this month. There was a singular report of an entire IDF base refusing to follow orders regarding taking further action in Gaza centering around troop payments but that issue has not been widely published. Several reports of continued airstrikes by IDF in Gaza which are killing Palestinians, mainly children, have been widely circulated, as are appeals from Palestinians, Palestinian and foreign medical doctors currently working in Gaza to help with money and food donations as well as stop the IDF airstrikes against Palestinian Gaza war survivors' tent communities in Gaza.
Infamous Israeli political party leader Itamar Ben Gvir has posted ugly and repugnant Israeli media portrayals of his desire to kill Palestinians en masse using ways that recall Nazi killings of Jews during WWII. Ben Gvir has a long personal history of hating Palestinians and according to Israeli news sources wants to "evict" Palestinians from Gaza in order to "reoccupy Gaza" with Israelis. Disturbingly, he is currently the Security Minister of Israel and leader of the far right Israeli political party Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) and is one of the Netanyau-aligned power parties currently involved in competing in Israeli national elections scheduled for late October 2026.
Important updates coming.
Germany in the 21st Century.
Germany, The European Union, and Current Events.
TLO Anonymous Staff.
Germany has an extraordinary national participation in the 21st century European community! Since the turn of the century, the European Union has created a body economic and politik that has grown from only the major and leading economic powerhouses, such as the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, France, to later include Northern and Eastern Europe and potentially even Ukraine! Today's Germany is a large contributor to both the food and defense industries of all of Europe, and is a NATO member as well as participatory in important economic and climate changes agreements throughout the many European nations.
During the early 2000's, Germany, along with many Western European EC founders, helped lead Europe in prosperity plans and EU planning and governance. The international trade that passed through Europe had largely been positively affected by the Schengen Agreement, signed in 1985 in Luxembourg, which permitted free travel through around 29 European Community countries without strong border controls and limited visa requirements in order to expedite travel, tourism and trade relations all throughout the new EU economy. Germany's participation allowed for increased market and trade opportunities within, and set the course for new national constructions and progressive architectural renovations of buildings in major cities such as Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich. Among them, smaller German cities were added to and developed by extranationals, increasing local interest in Germany's already existing and native population diversity, and adding some increasing amounts of national political depth to the country, as new immigration to Germany from the Middle East and North Africa increased at the turn of the century.
As that immigration situation developed, some German nationals took stock of what was happening inside of the country. Public and private situations that were affecting Germany's once-recognizable majority political opinions were conflicting with strong multi-religious influences originating from outside of Germany that contradicted traditional old world German post-Nazi, post-unification values (East-West Germany). And the results were a growing set of right-wing immigration platform political parties that have gained in national popularity since the end of former German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Administration.
The German economy prospered remarkably during Merkel's Administration. Exports from Germany grew at a substantial rate, greatly increasing their national GDP over the entire course of her 16 years of national leadership. When pressed to accommodate refugees fleeing from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria around 2015, Merkel's slogan was "We can do it!" At that time, war was still raging in those countries involving mainly US forces operating in the Middle East post "9/11", and after the collapse and restructuring of the Iraqi and Afghanistan leaderships, with help also from the US and many UN support nations.
After Merkel's term ended, Olaf Sholz, the newly elected German Chancellor and a national unifier, attempted to bring competing German political parties to the table to cooperate with each other in helping to manage Germany's developing refugee crisis and deal with the situation involving the potential breaking away of the UK from the European Union. Both countries were strongly contributory and economically dependent upon the EC construct and Euro currency valuations would become a major issue if the UK proceeded with "BREXIT", the EU name for "England's Exit" from the European Community. In 2018, BREXIT was made into law and in 2020, BREXIT was finalized, affecting countries all throughout Europe.
Unfortunately that event coincided with the COVID pandemic of 2020, which lasted for 2 years. And to add even greater misfortune, in 2021, during this international medical crisis, Russia, a country which sat at the other end of the Nord Stream 2 oil pipeline established under Merkel in 2015 which joined Russian oil harvesting together with delivery to Germany, militarily invaded Ukraine. The whole world condemned this action, and sanctions against Russia affected pipeline output as well, and in 2022, in the midst of the new "Ukraine War", the Nord Stream pipelines were sabotaged by undersea explosions, rendering them inoperable. Of course, this event, coupled with Covid-related government and business shutdowns all around the world, greatly and adversely affected the German economy, leading to national anti-government protests due to Covid responses and business shutdowns due to the ill-timed coincidences of plague and warfare involving Europe.
The United States, Joe Biden, and Donald Trump.
In the United States, a country strongly aligned with modern Germany, a new US President by the name of Donald Trump, was elected in 2016. Trump's Presidency, marked by right-wing severely nationalist political decisions included a strong attack- using heavily armed and masked national security forces- against illegal immigrants. At the same time, Trump threatened the whole NATO alliance, accusing many European nations of "not paying their fair share" into the NATO defense budget. That turned out to be a false accusation. European nations had been paying exactly the same proportion of their national defense budgets-around 3.8%-as the United States had been, for many many years! Trump started to earn a reputation as a bully President who was vaingloriously seeking hegemonic and his own personal power as the POTUS, often using his office to order unscrupulous decisions which violated US Federal laws and that were interfering with the normal legislative decisions being made by US Congress. Notably, by the end of Trump's first term, he had been impeached twice for elections interference and incitement to riot as well as other crimes. In 2020, soon after the US had voted for US Democrat Biden as the next US President, Trump decided to rally support from his followers to invade Washington DC and prevent the Congress from "stealing the vote" trying to convince them that he had actually won the Presidential elections of 2020, which afterwards led to the Jan. 6. Capitol Riots. Biden was later certified as the legitimate new US President, succeeding Trump after a significant number of US voters apparently decided that they had had enough of Trump-style leadership. Many books were written about this subject!
Unfortunately, during and soon after Biden took office in 2020, it was discovered that Biden's son Hunter Biden had been working as a board member of Ukrainian energy firm Burisma Holdings, under the leadership of a well-known oil oligarch named Mykola Zlochevsky for quite some time. Ukraine had become once again a separate sovereign and independent nation immediately after the dissolution of the Soviet Union during the 1990's and had made significant national progress internally and internationally since that time! The timing of this new US discovery, in retrospect, was profoundly and depressingly ironic, because at around the same time, the Russians decided to hastily use their military forces to invade Ukraine, possibly believing Russia to be at border risk because of the new discovery that elements of US intervention in Ukraine had been taking place involving relatives of the new US President. Objectively, though, neither Hunter Biden's job or Burisma Holdings ever presented any national security threat to Russia.
Russia moved troops into Ukraine, citing a "security operation" invading and killing thousands of unarmed Ukrainian civilians using soldiers, tanks, cruise missiles and airstrikes which later led to their forced occupation and attempted annexation of all of Eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian leadership was forced to declare martial law and conscript defense forces from their untrained civilian populations. Along with international condemnation and economic sanctions against Russia that war is still being fought today. Western Europe, the US and many other nations are presently helping Ukraine arm and defend itself against Russian attacks and since the start of the war, Ukrainian forces have made significant headway involving attacks against invading Russian forces and also against Russian military sites.
When Trump was re-elected by a very slim margin-and after what some observers believe was a "staged political assassination attempt" in 2024, Trump's renewed international "punitive tariff" policies and repeated aggression, again using military -style force in anti-immigration mass deportation operations throughout the US, and his previous term inflammatory rhetoric regarding asylum seeking internationals fleeing from US wars in the Middle East had been making serious impressions upon German nationals. And the creation of right-wing anti-immigration political parties started forming in Germany. Several of these parties gained widespread adherents throughout the country during Sholz's German Chancellorship, and in 2022, Frederick Merz, a center-right wing Christian Democrat, narrowly defeated a candidate from the German Green Party, Annalena Baerbock. The AfD (Alternative for Deutschland) party, a well-known right wing extremist group also seeking representative power in German government, mysteriously lost 6 of their candidates.....to untimely deaths.....all at around the same time as the Parliamentary votes. Despite numerous conspiracy theories, their deaths remain mostly seen as "a coincidence".
During the ongoing Ukraine War involving the Russian invasion, Europe as a whole supported Ukrainian defense missions and sanctioned Russia, along with help from the US and assorted UN nations. Europeans in Ukraine suffered under evacuation orders as Ukrainian civilians were called upon to fight against Russia for defense of Ukraine under martial law imposed by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky. The economic effects of this new war were deeply felt all throughout Europe, as the European Community involving NATO operations decided to help send arms and munitions to Ukraine to repel the 300,000 troops-strong invading Russian military forces. International economies including those of their US partners were reeling from the increased military contribution operations and billions of dollars were spent by the new US President Biden to orchestrate the overall defense of Ukraine while sparing direct attacks against Russian targets as a condition of helping supply Ukraine with military weapons assistance. As Covid vaccines were developed and distributed worldwide, and people began returning to work during the early 2020's, Germany became less of an international force within Europe, opting to strengthen their northern borders against potential Russian attacks and increase national defense spending all throughout the country. This was to become a time for national introspection and inward accounting as to where Germany stood in light of the most recent global situations affecting not only the national economy, but internal business and immigration policies as well.
In 2026, after two major ceasefire attempts coordinated under the new US Administration run by a re-elected US President Trump to end the War in Ukraine failed, Russian bombers and fighter jets were seen and increasingly intercepted flying close to European borders, over the Baltic Sea.
Russia and Belarus's next-door proximity to NATO nations in Northern Europe are a strong cause for concern. Both Poland and Finland are within easy reach of Russian weapons and still, US President Trump has recently tried to adapt to the current global oil crises caused by Gulf Region warfare- that was initiated by Trump's bombings of Iran, ironically- by undoing sanctions against the purchase of Russian oil by Europeans. Because of the Nord Stream pipeline sabotages, this possibility seems rather remote, but there is still the question of why Russia is experiencing a fuel shortage currently. The war against Ukraine could be using up Russian national food and oil supplies at unprecedented rates and also making oil processing in Russia more difficult as Ukraine targets Russian ships operating in Crimea and Russian energy sector targets in Russia. Russia seems more likely to pressure their own people to endure these events, which means that food and fuel rationing can be expected to continue in Russia in the immediate future as their war against Ukraine rages on. The effects upon Europe if Russia decides to attack any of several potential NATO targets out of spite, perhaps, would result in similar reactions throughout Northern Europe, predictably. European leaders have discussed this possibility and have also met with US leaders about what to do in case of any such devastating developments.
So why can't the Nord Stream pipelines be repaired? Maybe because they are deep undersea pipelines and would require submersibles and heavy machinery equipment to fix, and during a war. And the pipelines run mostly through the cold, cold Baltic Sea, where defense operations involving both NATO and the Russian Federation make even commercial travel in the area extraordinarily risky! And, also, any resulting new massive flow of oil from Russia to Germany would predictably create an economic and political instability in Russia, creating potentially crippling and highly political deals, and serious compromises involving their occupations of Ukraine and Crimea, which are being bombed by both Russia and Ukraine at the time of this writing.
In Germany, the recent investigation of a Ukrainian suspect possibly involved in sabotaging the NordStream oil pipeline connecting Russia to Germany made headlines, albeit unexpectedly due to the somewhat and seemingly illogical aspects of such a crime. Ukraine before the Russian invasion was a potential customer for European oil and an aspirant to NATO and EU membership. But it logically follows that when Russia invaded Ukraine that Russia was attempting an annexation of all of Ukraine after their Crimean War which dispossessed Crimea from Ukraine by force and annexation soon after Ukraine celebrated "Maidan Day", their day of liberation from the former control of ex-Soviet forces, internal Russian sympathizers, and Soviet-style leadership paradigms. Since the war started and oil has stopped flowing between Russia and Germany, many frightening occurrences have taken place in Germany and nearby international borders involving NATO interceptions of Russian fighter jets and even an explosive drone package suspected to be either of Russian or Ukrainian origins discovered at a German international airport very recently. According to German and European news reports, two suspects -a visiting Russian intelligence agent holding a Latvian passport and a Belarusian holding a Russian passport have been discovered to have been operating the drone along with explosives and a detonator found at the Leizpeg, Germany airport in August, 2026.
Related News from the UK.
In the UK, a previously resigned Parliament member, Nigel Farage, was re-elected in 2026 to a new Parliamentary seat and beat out his major opponent, "Binface", a man dressed up as an extraterrestrial garbage can, by a 2/3 majority. Farage is largely reputed to be a right-wing UK reformer who helped originate the BREXIT movement and encouraged stronger illegal immigration enforcement throughout the UK during his previous term as an MP. He has known political ties to the current Trump Administration and could be influencing Eurosceptics in Germany and elsewhere with his own particular brand of anti-immigration rhetoric, as well as right-wing and what some consider to be a White supremacist set of personal viewpoints. The oft-criticized German extremist political party AfD is known to have a welcoming attitude towards Farage, but majority political parties throughout Germany see him as an obstacle to European inter-societal integration both inside the EU and internationally.
Sadly, this integration could be too little too late for the EU to manageably address as EU now faces a crisis affecting the whole union involving hybrid warfare being conducted by Russia against the NATO alliance. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in late August, 2026 delivered a speech to the EU community describing in detail cumulative events which have lead to the tentative conclusion that Russia is conducting hybrid warfare currently against Northern and Western Europe. Germany has shut down the Russian Consulate in Bonn effective September 18, 2026 and has expelled Russian Embassy staff workers from Germany back to Russia.
To make matters even more complicated, German voters have elected more AfD party members to a Federal State Parliament. AfD comprises the second largest party representation membership in the whole NATIONAL German Parliament. New party wins would indicate new German political trends possibly driven (or brought about) by any ongoing cultural conflicts within Germany, or a potentially even stronger AfD membership growth in other German Federal States whose goal is enforcing German national culture teaching and ending "multiculturalism". The AfD foci upon ending foreign country mosque financing and concentrating German national efforts at suppressing Muslims and traditional Islamic religious practices in Germany while changing the German Constitution and setting severe limits on new immigration into Germany is part of the AfD political platform. Again, potential socio-political integration of recently arrived refugees, asylum seekers and new immigrants is not part of AfD's plans and their party seeks to establish Germany as an important ethnocracy, favoring and teaching strong and ancient Germanic history and folk values outside from EU constructs, rejecting participation in an EU military force and protecting the German nation as German, based on Swiss political ideations (can one recognize US President Trump's previous and similar ideations about Switzerland for the United States from his 2016-2020 term?) and religiously somewhat Christian, but factually mostly irreligious, atheist and populist. To outside-of-Germany European cultural observers, the current public voting results and political trends happening in Germany point to a very real, modern, 21st century German public fear of a potential loss of German national identity and German national culture definitions while surrounded by newly naturalizing peoples in Germany originating from predominantly Muslim nations. It is important to recall that the last time this similarly exclusive type of politically empowered right-wing German nationalism strongly influenced the early 20th century German Parliament was during the 1920's and 30's before Adolf Hitler was appointed German Chancellor. Are today's Germans able to see clearly what poses any current existential threat to their "volkskultur", and what doesn't?
Under edit.
(Frankfurt, Germany photo courtesy Adobe© stock images, free photographic source materials 2026).
Author note: History reference information used in this commentary about recent German national developments were gleaned in part from independent TLO research and AI assistance.
US Early Education and Early 21st Century International Influences.
Critical Commentary by John E. Staff Editor.
Early Education curricula including subject priority assignments for grades Pre-K, TK and K-6 affect children during their most active discovery years! Children are curious and physically agile and remarkably receptive just before entering Kindergarten and the years during and following up until age 12 are critical years for educators and education professionals who are teaching children the basic subjects of language acquisition, math, science and age-appropriate community participations. Professional and licensed educators require years of training and preparation time in college and university and schools experience before being trusted to lead a classroom filled with with eager, learning students! Even in this new century, the basics of early education instruction haven't changed but there are always credible effects from international events that can affect any range of subjects of study under any existing curriculum and that includes education of children coming from affected countries, and/or military families, or typical basic academic subjects such as social studies in high school and up until college grades.
When Generation X, people born in the 60's-70's who came of age during the 90's, was being educated, aside from basic curricula were lessons in the importance of interpersonal communications between extraordinarily different types of races, cultures and religions. The emphasis on this generation of students was civility, equality and appreciation for the intrinsic humanity of each person, each individual, despite already obvious differences. It was those differences that made each person unique and special......and all part of the human race. Subsequent generations were taught more than that basic foundation and I'll list them, in part, below:
Gen X: (1960-1980) Social and societal redemption from the prejudices of past generations leading to a multicultural human civilization who could love each other wholly and bear children for the future.
Gen Y: (1980-2000) Social exemptions from created "new normals" and tribal, personal responses in critique of modern iconoclastic social designs and cultures that originated in Europe and Africa during the 1960's.
Gen Z: (2000-2010) Latin cultural "world holism" and latinized cultural and societal formats that possessed and taught new knowledge gained from newer forms of economic and literary and musical participations. Together with advances in science and medicine research and the development of an interconnected society that required machines of highly advanced technology to support the economic infrastructure of different societies, this culture is at present the victim of a war started by Russian leader Vladimir Putin in favor of Russian expansionism and a "retro" 1930's style of product, architecture and vehicle designs that have their basis in Bauhaus styles in Europe during the pre-WWII era.
Gen Next/Gen Alpha: (2010-2020) Adaptations of asymmetric styles of Middle East cultural holisms, Islamic religious foci in all aspects of education and participations and research into organic, synthetic organic and genetic medicine. New electronic, hybrid Middle East-Western music compositions, and literature studies by Western fiction writers of remakes of traditional ancient civilizations and examinations of race and religion in Western society and "multiculturalism" as a "separatist" undesirable trait in modern civilizations.
The Danger of Populist Neo-Nazism and Fascism in the 21st Century.
We are currently living and rearing children in the last of the mentioned Generations, Gen Next/Gen Alpha, one which will likely produce results within a fragmented society of peoples who no longer regard their neighbors as "complete equals" and actively condemn any mention of prejudice or hatred based upon race or religion or national origin.....but through their daily actions actively support these prejudiced ideas. The election of Donald Trump-twice- is a recent example of that societal fragmentation. Trump's first US Presidential term was permeated with mass deportations of "illegal aliens", as is his second term. But this time around, the casual and almost total neglect and Congressional majority dismissals of violations of US Federal laws originating from within his Administration are becoming examples of the new possibilities of creating "unimportant" and "expendable people" coming from "expendable groups of people" who are "not good enough" to conform to the almost impossible standards of new societal conduct that are being suggested by the Trump Administration. In this new generation, impressment by "beautiful" world leaders, grandiose destructions of old and revered buildings of all types and sorts, both legally and illegally, and extremes of public craftsmanship for present day creations by artists and societal architects of advanced-looking yet abstract forms of impressionism and mixed-media surrealism will make the future development stages of the future civilization that we all live in next to Gen Next, considerably hard to accurately predict or envision, albeit to say that one person's idea of "beauty" can be another person's vision of an absolute nightmare of egalitarian proportions!
Without even adequate-and free-public education opportunities and quality teaching, entire communities of people, and even whole civilizations, could collapse from war, dysfunctional economics, culturally distorted or warped types of nationalist populisms, bad leadership, sheer public and private political apathy, public and government abuse of human rights, interpersonal social neglect or weariness, or worse, and lead to a whole generation of people who were taught by experience that people aren't necessarily "born equal" and that "social equality" is something that is, somehow, "earned" and not something that one is "born as or born into". And that type of devolved social teaching, the worship of monarchy and world leaders and economic elites as "gods", is not only false worship, but completely contradicts not only previous generations of inclusive and progressive world societal education, but centuries of it!
So, how can such a potentially destructive sequence of events be interrupted and intervened with, in order to prevent future wars of economic rivalries between the haves and have-nots, and the suppressions of equality and fair and humane treatment of all people regardless of their backgrounds or circumstances? Advanced academia alone might not be enough when confronted by armed thugs who kill off society's intellegensia and replaces them with idiotic leaders and drugged or badly or non -educated sycophants who haven't the cognitive abilities to think and ask questions -and answer those questions - all by themselves. The type of "minion mentality" which seems to gain advantages from connecting to corrupted leadership that steals from the people whom they govern while also attacking them while they sleep in order to further weaken any resolve they may develop while internally questioning the actions of their leadership, is a typical and recognizable pattern of behavior of severely undereducated, or, essentially stupid people who follow without question the commands of their leaders. Even when, to an idiot, the commands make no sense whatsoever! And if you think this type of overwhelming "combination of negative factors" societal situation can't happen today, feel free to study the societal circumstances that were locally existing before the breakup of the nation of Yugoslavia in the early 1990's, or the overall economic and political situations of the people living in post WWI Eastern Europe prior to the surrender of Czechoslovakia to Hitler in 1938-39. Enough said.
US Education: State Objectives, Cultural Paradigms, Curriculum Objectives.
"The New Style." Defending and Promoting US Educational Standards Without a US Department of Education.
TLO Critical Commentary.
Obviously.....there is always continuous work to be done involving maintaining expectations of success and national standards of US education. And the continuity of US State-mandated student curriculum objectives is of utmost importance, despite the current Trump Administration and their gross deficiencies in planning and administration of nationally funded educational approaches and applications of educator talent and availability of Federal funding for the education of America's schoolchildren.
Under edit.
Objective Vs. Subjective. An Ages-Old Confrontational Battle Between Educator Styles in US Public School English Language Grading Evaluations.
By John E. Staff Editor.
"So You Want to Become an American Schoolteacher?" Personal Thoughts and Ponderings While Meandering in the Ocean of US American Schoolchildren in the 21st Century.
“You don’t have to reinvent the wheel, just attach it to a new wagon.”
Mark, if only it were that easy! Observing schoolchildren and their assorted interactions with each other and their teachers all throughout the US was once ostensibly a significant part of the job of the US Secretary of Education. Several previous Secretaries had extensive work experience backgrounds in US education, together with doctoral and master's degrees in education, such as the one working under former US President Biden. Today, the department is headed by an owner of a professional wrestling agency who once was appointed to a local school board, and then resigned after one year of service. That was over 15 years ago, and she hasn't any formal background in education management or administration of educational programs! She was in fact hired by Trump to end the US Department of Education after being provided with thousands of USD worth of Trump Organization stocks from Trump before Trump's election win in 2024. This fact was exposed in numerous financial publications soon after her nomination was confirmed for the Education Department Secretary position in early 2025. The question about wheels and wagons above has become therefore unique. Today the quote following the wheel reinvention is "But when no wagon is available, what do you do with a wheel?"
It's not an easy question to answer. DOGE employees working directly under Trump and Elon Musk used their implied-but not actually given- "authority" -to disrupt existing Federal agencies and authorities all throughout Washington DC! They invaded and occupied Federal buildings, blocked Federal workers from entering their workplaces, downloaded private, personal and sensitive information without ANY authority in order to "make recommendations for downsizing the Federal government spending routines". In so doing, Congress and SCOTUS gave tacit permission for Trump to eviscerate 4th and 5th Amendment laws governing ALL US and non-citizens whose data was stored within US government files! DOGE then made firing recommendations all throughout the whole US government, eliminating or reducing necessary agencies and staff to nothing or to a bare minimum of workers, and then cut their budgets! The response was immediate from SCOTUS who recognized the problems DOGE was causing and forcefully demanded the establishment and rehiring of many eliminated and laid-off Federal agencies and their staff workers who had been tempted by Trump himself to accept severance pay for quitting, and elimination of their earned pension benefits-which Trump had no authority to offer! These actions were involved in a shutdown of US government in a widely reported budgetary dispute involving all of US Congress in 2025! Whether or not this act was bribery is still being questioned in both US Congress and US judicial circles.
So of course, US educational agencies were also severely affected. Trump wanted to eliminate the US Department of Education supposedly because he believed education decisions belonged to the States. What he did not know -or knew but didn't care- was that education funding from the US Federal government was channeled through the USDOE, an important assignment as Federal funding for US education per State constituted a significant portion of education funding all throughout the US and territories. US States are not prepared for such a paradigm shift in allocations funding, and what was once an established process for yearly education funding in the US has become a haphazard attempt at States "asking" Congress for needed monies, which makes State education work -without necessary staffing for such assessments and evaluations per schoolyear- more of a problem when Congress is dealing with traditional and Constitutional level funding of the Federal government! Basically Trump in his ignorance has taken steps to eliminate funding processes and procedures for US education and thrown it to the Treasury Department which is NOT part of the normal job of that department!
Even worse is Trump's treatment of disabled US students. Trump wants their student data turned over to the ICE agency! For what purpose, no one really knows! That is a thoroughly illegal and non-appropriate violation of student privacy and the 4th and 5th Amendments, no matter what anyone says, as the danger of assigning US students information to a department of immigration enforcement not only violates US childhood protection and disabled protective laws but also sends US data about citizens to an immigrant department that routinely arrests and detains illegal immigrants! Applying for student disability benefits in the US includes redundant Federal and State laws preventing fraud and misuse of funds. The US government already has that student information! Why demand a reassignment of that data to ICE, an agency of the Department of Homeland Security? Where is the justification or competence in Trump's decision?
For US American schoolteachers and professors, teachers and instructors in higher education starting this Fall, 2026, key unresolved issues face their day-day operational plans. They are listed below:
A) Severe weather, earthquake, fire, flood and mass shooting drills. (Public, private Pre-K-12).
B) Dealing with ICE agents approaching school campuses. (All US campuses).
C) Ongoing and developing State and school district funding shortfalls.
D) Non-availability of qualified school teachers, substitute teachers, teacher aides, student counselors, school nurses and maintenance staff.
E) Higher education student loans, amounts and availability.
F) Illegal attempts by the Trump Administration to access private student records without parental approval.
G) Illegal attempts by the Trump Administration to acquire disabled students' personal records without any approval and send them to ICE.
H) Illegal attempts by the Trump Administration to extort or impound money already allocated by Congress for universities in the US by imposing Congressionally unapproved DEI elimination orders and forced addressing of on-campus anti-Semitism procedures by Trump, prior to being accepted for already-allocated US Federal university funding.
(Under edit).
