Saturday, February 8, 2025

Off With Their Heads!

Coffee may not be enough to keep me going this morning. I had wanted to sleep late but Jack Jack, our mane coon mix, decided to not only wake me up at 5:45 AM, but both dogs as well. The dogs woke up and realized they were hungry and needed to poop. Going back to sleep wasn’t an option. My head feels as though it is about to implode. Today shows no sign of being as relaxing as I want.

I’m picking up on a couple of items that may have flown under everyone’s radar in the past 24 hours. Let’s start by acknowledging that Flu season in the US is the most intense it’s been in at least 15 years. This isn’t political so if you go trying to blame one side or the other I’m going to slap you. This year’s flu is bad to the bone, literally. While one can speculate on the effects of climate change being responsible, the bottom line is that flu strains have been growing in strength for a while. If you’re as old as I am, get the damn flu shot. The rest of you, be honest with yourself about how you’re feeling. If you’re showing any signs of the flu, stay the fuck home.

I’m also aware that claims about USAID funding are spreading online. Many are not based on facts. What bothers me most about this situation is that much of the misinformation I’m seeing isn’t coming from this insane federal administration. Instead, it’s the idiots sitting next to us who are spouting lies amidst gleeful vitriol over “burning this hellhole of a country to the ground.” They’ve yet to realize the effect that all the cuts and canceling of services are going to have. By the time the pain starts hitting home, it may be too late to do anything about it.

Sure, there was some rejoicing when a judge blocked Punk from placing thousands of USAID workers on leave and giving them a 30-day deadline. A different Federal judge blocked Elon Musk’s DOGE from accessing sensitive US Treasury Department material. However, a US judge declined to block DOGE from Labor Department systems. And late yesterday afternoon, Punk said he’s firing the Kennedy Center board of trustees members and naming himself chairman. No, he does not have the power to do that, but he’s certainly making it an issue.

Both MSNBC and CNN have reported about a defiant letter from someone within the FBI. Here’s the full text of the letter. Please, read it carefully.

Uncommon Sense was a Common Vice

Those with knowledge of the United States Marine Corps will recognize the irony of this title. I wish its words were not true, but as I write this, I believe they are.

Currently, there is an effort to cull a significant number of career Special Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This is an unthinkable action that will gravely undermine the security of the nation well beyond what many of our citizens are aware. For those seeking to raise their awareness, I offer this vignette, free of political bias or moral judgment. It is not about any one person, but an amalgamation of multiple FBI Special Agents.

I am the coach of your child’s soccer team. I sit next to you on occasion in religious devotion. I am a member of the PTA. With friends, you celebrated my birthday. I collected your mail and took out your trash while you were away from home. I played a round of golf with you. I am a veteran. I am the average neighbor in your community. This is who you see and know. However, there is a part of my life that is a mystery to you, and prompts a natural curiosity about my profession.

This is the quiet side of me that you do not know: I orchestrated a clandestine operation to secure the release of an allied soldier held captive by the Taliban. I prevented an ISIS terrorist from boarding a commercial aircraft. I spent 3 months listening to phone intercepts in real time to gather evidence needed to dismantle a violent drug gang. I recruited a source to provide critical intelligence on Russian military activities in Africa. I rescued a citizen being tortured to near death by members of an Outlaw Motorcycle Gang. I interceded and stopped a juvenile planning to conduct a school shooting. I spent multiple years monitoring the activities of deep-cover foreign intelligence officers, leading to their arrest and deportation. I endured extensive hardship to infiltrate a global child trafficking organization. I have been shot in the line of duty.

Something else about me, I was assigned to investigate a potential crime. Like all previous cases I have investigated, this one met every legal standard of predication and procedure. Without bias, I upheld my oath to this country and the Constitution and collected the facts. I collected the facts in a manner to neither prove innocence nor guilt, but to arrive at resolution.

I am now sitting in my home, listening to my children play and laugh in the backyard, oblivious to the prospect that their father may be fired in a few days. Fired for conducting a legally authorized investigation. Fired for doing the job that he was hired to do. I have to wonder, when I am gone, who will do the quiet work that is behind the facade of your average neighbor?

How long are we willing to let this mess continue? Why are we ‘waiting to see how it all plays out’ when by the time it all plays out hundreds of thousands of people could be in foreign jails without any access to justice? Why are we content with temporary blocks on illegal power grabs? When Democratic members of Congress were denied access to the Department of Education, why did no one knock down the damn door? Where’s the real anger and outrage?

The entire world is in trouble. Right-wing extremism is growing everywhere and I’m not seeing anyone, anywhere, who has a legitimate chance of stopping it. We’re too content with making phone calls, sending letters, and threatening to vote against people who may not let us vote at all.

This is a call to arms. This is the moment when we have to decide whether we are going to defend our country and our freedoms against fascism and tyranny. That critical moment is here.

THIS is what real resistance looks like:

Prepare the barricades and let’s see who joins in the fight.