Let Loose the Frogs of War

“Folks this is not a protest. It is a well orchestrated attack on America's major cities with plans to attack the police, riot, loot, and burn buildings. The so-called ‘protestors’ are, in fact, domestic terrorists who were organized and paid for by George Soros to further divide our country. These terrorists were bused into these large cities. We must repel this attack and hold those responsible for their actions. This must be brought to a stop now or we will lose control of our country!”

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller

And if you can't believe a man who apparently has had a cowboy hat surgically attached to his scalp, who can you believe? Seriously, do a google search and find a photo without one.

And how could I forget this...

I honestly considered taking a week off from these scribblings, but since my Soros check has not arrived for some reason, I'm stuck writing again.

But let me start in atypical fashion. I want to praise President Trump for two things this week. Firstly the peace deal that has for now, stopped the fighting in Gaza.

As I write this on Sunday, the first of the remaining living Gaza hostages are to be returned soon, and for that, honesty compels even the harshest critic of this administration to offer a tip of the hat. The next steps are tricky to be sure. Disarming HAMAS and then the end game of some sort of self-government for the Palestinians. But for now, the shooting has stopped, the hostages are heading home and aid is finally going in in large amounts.

For that, kudos.

The second is the President's announcement on drug price reductions.

“We’re gonna be reducing drug prices down to a level that nobody – not by 20%, 30% – by like 1,000%. Because, you know, we’re paying sometimes 10 times more than other nations, and we’re not doing it anymore.” He said Monday: “We have something else called ‘favored nations,’ where I’m going to be reducing drug prices by 1,000% – by 900, 600, 500, 1,200.”

If I'm understanding the President's math here, when I risk it all buying a bottle of Tylenol, I get a couple of hundred bucks back. Thank you, sir. I will now buy so much Acetaminophen it may risk, in the words of Major King Kong in Dr. Strangelove, "... if it harelips everybody on Bear Creek."

But it will eventually pay for that Jaguar I've had my eye on.

As an aside, our madcap Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert Kennedy, Jr. told us this week that you can also tie autism to circumcision. Without getting too personal here, and as you can tell from my writing, that horse left the barn for me years ago. But it's not too late for you future parents of boys. Bobby warned you.

Oh, and by the way for you anti-vaxxers out there. When the President had his annual, no make that semi-annual check up at Walter Reed Army Hospital, he got both a flu shot and Covid booster. How will he explain this to his dunderheaded HHS Secretary?

But now, to the point Sid Miller was making. The burning war zone hellhole that is Portland is soon to be remedied by the White House. Well, as soon as they can clear away the pesky US Judiciary system. And for war torn Oregonians, it won't be a moment too soon.

I mean, come on, people. Inflatable unicorns, frogs and a rendition of the "Electric Slide" in public and in front of ICE officers? How much are mere humans expected to take?

And as for Chicago and the Texas National Guard troops(?) sent there by Governor Ironside, my former Texas Outlaw Writer colleague Deece X made an interesting point in his Substack column. The governor has sent these Texas Guard troops to Chicago to help ICE with the illegal immigrant problems there.

The irony here is that Abbott in the last couple of years also sent 35,000 undocumented migrants to Chicago at a cost of $124-million. He is spending your money to solve a problem he spent your money to create. But actually, it is to further his fever dream of becoming Trump's successor. That is about as likely as ME winning the Nobel Prize.

Speaking of fever dreams. We come to our director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought. He was one of the authors of Project 2025, the handbook for reducing the size of government and enlarging the scope of executive power. And now, the government shutdown has offered him the chance to make it all happen.

In lieu of the usual furloughs that have been the norm in all former shutdowns, where workers go without pay until it ends and they are paid back wages, Vought and Trump will now permanently fire workers in what the President said was a chance to purge government of workers deemed to be aligned with the Democratic Party.

Only, of course, he said "Democrat Party," as a proud member of the "Republic Party," I guess. It's an infantile affectation that I wish would end.

Senator Mike Lee stated on Fox News that Vought had been "dreaming about this moment, preparing for this moment, since puberty".

I know, most of us had other dreams back then, usually fed by Hugh Hefner. But to each his own.

The Hill outlined some of the firings so far...

Department of Health and Human Services

Between 1,100 and 1,200 employees were laid off on Friday, according to the DOJ filing.

“All HHS employees receiving reduction-in-force notices were designated non-essential by their respective divisions,” the department said. “HHS continues to close wasteful and duplicative entities, including those that are at odds with the Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again agenda.”

The HHS was among the agencies hardest hit by layoffs earlier in the year through the Department of Government Efficiency’s efforts to slash the size of government.

Department of Homeland Security

As of Friday night, 176 DHS employees were let go, per the DOJ.

Specifically, many employees working in the Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), were set to be laid off.

Environmental Protection Agency

Contingency plans posted online ahead of the shutdown showed roughly 89 percent of the EPA’s workforce was slated to be furloughed during the shutdown.

The EPA confirmed in June it was down more than 700 staffers since January,

Department of Education

Approximately 466 Department of Education employees were laid off on Friday, according to the DOJ.

The Education Department has already been targeted by the Trump administration for mass layoffs. President Trump earlier this year signed an executive order calling for the closure of the department, and roughly half of the agency’s workers were laid off in a move that sparked court challenges.

Department of Housing and Urban Development

Around 442 HUD employees were let go Friday, the legal filing stated.

Treasury Department

The DOJ stated that 1,446 employees were laid off on Friday. Multiple reports indicated the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which has already seen staffing reductions this year, was impacted.

And there are more to come, we are told. So as hostages are released in one country, more are taken in a political fight in another. So at what point do we have a government so gutted it can't function? Probably sooner than we think, but not soon enough for Vought and his crew. Here's what I found...

• Significant workforce reduction: As of August 2025, a Trump official stated that there would be 300,000 fewer federal workers by the end of the year, representing the largest single-year decline since World War II.
• Voluntary departures: Much of this initial reduction came from voluntary resignations and retirements spurred by "incentives" from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a program initially led by Elon Musk.
• Specific department vulnerabilities: Agencies like the IRS, already operating with a thin staff, have warned that any further cuts will cripple their ability to function.
• Weakened national security and services: Critics have warned that cuts have already weakened U.S. national security by shrinking agencies like the State Department, intelligence offices, and the National Security Council.
• Increased safety and health risks: A report from January 2025 warned that mass workforce reductions could lead to increased health and safety risks due to fewer inspectors at the FDA and USDA. 

Experts and analysts point to several factors that could accelerate the breakdown of government functions:

• Mass resignations: Initial workforce reductions were driven by voluntary departures, suggesting morale is low and more experienced employees may be ready to leave.
• Schedule F: The threat of reinstating Schedule F, which would strip civil service protections from potentially thousands of employees, could drive even more skilled workers out of government.
• Increased politicization: Replacing career professionals with political appointees could lead to "instability" and diminish the quality of governance by removing institutional expertise. 

The severity of the government's dysfunction will depend on how long the current shutdown and firings last, which specific roles and departments are targeted next, and whether legal challenges to the layoffs are successful. 

The irony to me is the description of those who oppose the administration's agenda as "anarchists." Well, what do you call people who want the government hobbled and unable to do it's job? That frankly sounds like anarchy to me.

But conversely, we have reached a point in our political polarization that these things simply do not matter. We are so entrenched on each side that conversation is impossible. There are no more facts to agree upon, no information that is trusted, and that information is delivered in political bubbles guaranteed to not offend your pre-conceived point of view.

Angering the other side is the only victory worth having for many. Read any series of comments on Drudge, Huffpost or Mediaite and they are full of childish, schoolyard insults that are supposed to pass for argument. Families don't talk on the phone anymore for fear of yet another political fight. Hearts and minds? Both closed for the duration. So what if a particular policy hurts me. Just as long as it makes you mad.

Libtards and MAGAT's.

Farmers who voted for Trump are finding that out sadly. His misguided and honestly stupid tariff policy is driving them out of business. They don't want a bailout. They want their customers back.

You got the tax cut you wanted, but the debt it will rack up will mortgage this country's future.

Health care? Who cares if my premiums go up, as long as we don't have what they have in foreign countries. And anyway, I read somewhere on the internet that thousands of Canadians and Frenchmen are dying every year due to no doctors, or something like that. And, no matter what the actual law says, I'm convinced illegals are using it all up.

And as for those guys, send them all home. OK, grocery and home prices will go up, but just as long as I can see a Mexican guy arrested, I'm happy.

So, for starters, let's end the shutdown. Easy. Democrats need to agree to vote for the Continuing Resolution on 2 conditions. There will be a full and public debate on healthcare costs and the end of ACA subsidies, followed by a public vote so everyone is on the record. And the fired workers will be hired back.

Like I said, easy. Mike Johnson can then stand on tippy-toes at the mic and declare victory and Chuck Schumer can drone on about something. I really won't know because it will put me to sleep.

And your brother-in-law, whichever side he's on, can pump his fist in the air and go back to Fox or MSNBC.