A screwworm is a maggot burrowing deep and feeding on the living flesh of its host with a foul-smelling discharge, causing severe debilitation and even death. There is a screwworm infestation in the United States of America. I am not referring to the one in Texas.
There is one that is more impactful to our country. The one that I am referring to resides in Washington D.C.
There are screwworms that have been deliberately placed in critical agencies within our government.
Pete Hegseth, an individual who has in the past shown a lack of good judgement, whether it is with accusations of sexual assault, excessive drinking, or reckless use of unsecured communication lines to discuss critical military operations, is a screwworm that has been planted in our Department of Defense, debilitating the living flesh of the institution by firing senior officers who have risen to ranks for greater than what he achieved through a merit-based system. He has replaced the corporate knowledge and critical strategic judgement with theatrics that degrade the effectiveness of our military.
Kash Patel, a beer-guzzling QAnon conspiracy theorist is a screwworm that has been placed within the Federal Bureau of Investigation, jet-setting around the country with his girlfriend on the taxpayers’ dime while making theatrical announcements that undermine legitimate investigations or directing staff to pursue frivolous accusations against political rivals.
Todd Blanche, the screwworm that is replacing the less effective screwworm Pam Bondi, was not only Trump’s personal attorney on the Stormy Daniel’s hush-money payments, his election obstruction cases, Trump’s removing classified documents and storing them at Mar a Lago, and the 34 felony counts against Trump for falsifying business records. In addition, Blanche was personal attorney for Rudy Guiliani’s associates for the Trump-Ukraine controversy. While working for the DOJ, Blanche oversaw and defended Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns, which benefited Trump and his associates; changed the DOJ’s enforcement policies towards cryptocurrency; and directed DOJ investigations over Trump’s perceived opponents. Like Bondi, Blanche has so politicized the Department of Justice that the institution has been hollowed out by a mass exodus of critical staff members and has lost its ability to attract quality personnel. As a result of his actions and that of his predecessor, it will take a verry long time for the Department of Justice to recover and gain the trust of the people that it is supposed to serve.
Linda McMahon, the president of World Wrestling Entertainment, is burrowing her way through the Department of Education. Unlike her predecessor, who had worked in public education for twenty years, was Commissioner of Education for the State of Connecticut, has two advanced leadership certificates from the University of Connecticut, and has a Doctorate in Education, Ms. McMahon lacks the credentials to understand the complexities of the issues being handled by the department nor the implication of her decisions as, like a corporate raider, she dismantles it and redistributes the parts. As a result, an education system that once offered social mobility for anyone who aspired to better himself or herself is slowly being eroded and research and development that has been vital to the well-being and competitiveness of the United States is being hollowed out and exported to other countries. Make America Great Again? Not for future generations.
How can one talk about screwworms without mentioning the man who claimed that he personally had a worm in his brain, RFK Jr., a man who stated that he snorted cocaine off toilet seats. Could there ever be a better individual to infiltrate and absolutely destroy the very fabric of the country’s health system? Internationally recognized and respected institutes such as the Center for Disease Control and National Institute of Health have been hollowed out. Important health research programs have been abandoned. International alliances with institutions such as the World Health Organizations have been severed. Vaccines? Who needs them? Make America Healthy Again? Good luck with that!
So many worms. Such an infestation!
Yes, there is a screwworm epidemic and the foul smell in Washington is not just coming from the green algae bloom in the Mall’s reflecting pool.
Rob Overly
Linn
