Will Democrats Lose the Plot Again?

“I love killer robots.” - Palmer Luckey

I think it's pretty clear that I think this administration has been a disaster on so many fronts. The war and the inflation it caused, tariffs, ignoring climate change, the military, money wasted on vanity projects, ending healthcare for thousands, the war on our National Park Service and the parks themselves. This is not to mention the crude dismantling of the FBI and other oversight agencies, the undermanning, if that's a word, of important agencies like the IRS and National Weather Service. The unnecessary fights with allies and cozying up to enemies.

In what sane world are Putin, Kim and Xi our good buddies, and Canada an enemy, especially when the other 3 are helping Iran to fight us? In what sane world do we actually talk about selling our sophisticated weaponry to China? In what sane world do we blow up boats willy-nilly merely assuming they are carrying drugs?

The Voting Rights Act is being torn apart, and voting rights themselves are threatened because of some ego-driven fantasy that Trump couldn't have actually lost an election. Congress has turned a blind eye to obvious graft, like presidential investments in industries that the government can regulate, or more importantly, not regulate. Gifts like a $400 million dollar jet from a foreign leader or other foreign leaders investing in companies owned by the President, his children or in-laws.

He has wasted time, and international respect, by renaming large bodies of water or actual technology. Super Intelligence?

And really, proposing drones and snipers on top of that gaudy arch he wants to build outside of Arlington National Cemetery like some GI Joe play fort?

Then there's the general disdain for any court order with practices like his idiot media ban or tariffs going on no matter what some judge says. Add to that, the scorn for things like freedom of the press or protections from arbitrary arrest, the latter carried out by under-vetted and under-trained yahoos wearing masks.

And of course, trying to change history at the Smithsonian and various colleges around the country. He has signed an executive order declaring war on mosquitos and ticks and the Congress is actually going to waste time investigating whether Nixon was framed in Watergate.

There's so much more, but that's a good start on my list of gripes. So, if the Democrats take over one or both houses of Congress, what should they tackle first?

Knowing them it will be important stuff like trying to get Caitlin Jenner back into the Olympics. Or how about wasting time on another impeachment attempt that still won't have the votes to actually happen.

Democrats seem to have a real penchant for dying on the wrong hill. If you look at accusations usually thrown their way by the GOP, it will be something about race, trans rights or abolishing ICE. Oh and how they'll spend us into oblivion, which is pretty much where we are now.

Will you make that case, Democrats? Of course not.

The public is concerned about the economy, jobs, high cost of education, medical care and affordability. I know Trump said that's a new term, but I think I've heard it before. You know, like groceries. They don't care about cultural issues when they can't afford said groceries.

If you had a dollar for every trans woman in college sports, you still couldn't afford a gallon of diesel.

You won't succeed in impeaching Trump, but you can reign in some of these looney ideas and return some sanity to government spending and government policy. Call out RFK Jr for the nutcase he is and insist on real scientific information from HHS - not some dopey internet meme. Another kid has died from measles this week in Pennsylvania. That matters more than the gender of the Almighty.

That of course is a reference to James Talerico, running for the Senate here in Texas, and his divinity school coffee house musings on the subject in a public hearing. Just, freaking stop that!

You, a guy who looks like he's running for Class President not the US Senate, have been gifted by said Almighty with Ken Paxton, who only believes in two sexes and has been cheating with one of them for the last few years. So focus, for heaven's sake.

I know what you meant, but there's an axiom in politics. If you're explaining, you're losing.

Which brings us to another item on the Democratic to-do list. Pete Hegseth.

In his ludicrous "State of the Force" address to a dumbfounded group of military officers, Pete strutted around in a tight suit that was so ill-fitting, it even included high-water pants.

For reference, guys, this is how you wear a suit...

He placed himself in front of a giant flag, since apparently he has seen "Patton" too many times, and went on about no fatties, beardos or weirdos will be accepted in this man's army. He also referenced his sacred cow, well, aside from Brylcreem, that being testosterone testing and supplements for those who are too low-T.

It makes you wonder how these guys managed to beat the Nazis...

He also announced two new departments. The religious affairs office to address what Hegseth calls a loss of religious community within the military after an era of “political correctness.” And the Autonomous Warfare Command, or AutoWarCom, which will have service-like authorities and is intended to scale autonomous and robotic capabilities across the military.

Yeah, robots in war. Nothing can go wrong there, right? As former Labor Secretary Robert Reich wrote recently...

The specter of autonomous lethal weapons — weapons that kill without human beings first deciding who, how, or when — is the nightmare of many who deal with AI. Autonomous AI weapons are fraught with unpredictability. And what happens when AI weapons escape their controls and go rogue, as recently occurred at OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, and Google?

Yep robots and drones. And the brain trust that will head it up? Well, a couple of familiar faces. Elon Musk is coming back, because DOGE was so successful.

He'll be joined by Newt Gingrich. Yes, that Newt Gingrich. Why, you ask? Beats the hell out of me.

And finally, a guy named Palmer Luckey. Who, you ask? Some flip-flop-wearing tech bro billionaire Trump donor...

Seems Yosemite Sam wasn't available right now. So, add to this the fact that Whiskey Pete is cutting 20% of the generals and admirals in the military because, I guess, he figures all those folks who dedicated their lives to defending the country and worked their way up the ranks aren't up to snuff or something, and so at last, we are now a lean, mean fighting machine.

So, Democrats, in the name of all that's holy, if you win, don't be your usual ineffectual selves. Cowboy up and tackle the real things that need tackling, skip the brie and Merlot stuff and do some actual legislating.

Or I swear I'll sic the ghost of Barbara Jordan on you.